評論
打印
My father's father worked in the Chevy plant in Flint, Michigan. He was an assemblyline worker.He drove his two children here to Anna Arbor,and told them: That is where you're going to go to college.I know it sounds funny now.Both of his kids actually did graduate from Michigan.That was the American dream.
我的爺爺在密歇根州弗林特的雪弗蘭汽車廠工作。他是裝配線上的一名工人。他曾開車帶兩個孩子來到安娜堡。告訴他們：你們以后要上這所大學！我知道現在聽起來很好笑。他的兩個孩子也確實從密歇根大學畢業了。這就是美國夢。
His daughter, Beverly, is also with us today.My Grandpa used to carry an "Alley Oop" hammer,a heavy iron pipe with a big hunk of lead melted on the end.The workers made them during the sit-down strikes to protect themselves.When I was growing up, we used that hammer whenever we needed to pound a stake or something into the yard.It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt object for protection anymore.But just in case, I brought it with me.My Dad became a professor at uh…Michigan State,and I was an incredibly lucky boy.A professor's life is pretty flexible,and he was able to spend oodles of time raising me.Could there be a better upbringing than university brat?
我姑姑貝弗利今天也來了。爺爺以前經常扛著一個大鐵錘，鐵管上鑄著大鉛坨的那種。那是用來在靜坐罷工時，保護自己的武器。小時候，我們常用它在后院打樁子。現在世道好了，大家不需要鐵錘保護自己了。但以防萬一，我還是把它帶來了。后來我的父親成為了一名教授，密歇根州立大學的教授，我很走運，因為教授的工作比較靈活，有大量的時間陪我。還有比大學校園更適合培養孩子的地方嗎？
What I'm trying to tell you is that this is way more than just a homecoming for me.It's not easy for me to express how proud I am to be here,with my Mom, my brother and my wife Lucy, and with all of you,at this amazing institution that is responsible for my very existence.I am thrilled for all of you,and I'm thrilled for your families and friends,as all of us join this great, big Michigan family I feel I've been a part of all of all my life.What I'm also trying to tell you is that I know exactly what it feels like to be sitting in your seat,listening to some old gasbag give a long-winded commencementspeech.Don't worry. I'll be brief.
我想告訴大家的是，來這里不僅僅是重回母校。我非常自豪能跟我的媽媽，哥哥，妻子露西，還有你們大家聚在這里。這里見證了我的成長。我的自豪難以言表。我為你們感到驕傲，也為你們的家人和朋友感到驕傲，因為我們都是密歇根大家庭的一員，它是我生命中不可或缺的一部分。同時，我也知道你們現在坐在臺下的感受：聽我們這些老家伙絮叨，老生常談。別擔心，我簡單說幾句。
