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Well, thank you, President Mellow, distinguished faculty, friends and above all else the Graduating Class of 2013.
啊……謝謝，麥羅校長，各位尊敬的老師，朋友以及2013年的畢業生們。
It is a great honor for me to share in your accomplishment and pride today.
我很榮幸能在今天分享你們的成就和榮耀。
But I must admit that I approached this address with some trepidation.
但是我必須承認，來進行這次演講我心中帶有一些惶恐。
I suppose that more commencement speeches have been delivered more seriously, listened to more attentively, and forgotten more promptly than any other form of human communication.
我想，曾經有過更多更認真的畢業典禮發言，有過更加認真的聽眾，但是相比其他任何溝通形式，仍以更快的速度被遺忘。
So I will try to be brief and practical.
所以，我會盡量簡短而實用。
My advice is grounded in my own experience.
我的全部建議都是來自我自己的經歷。
And my experience, in many respects, is not that different from many of yours.
而我的經歷，從很多方面來看，和你們當中的很多并沒有什么不同。
I grew up with the idea that college was more an aspiration than an expectation.
在我成長的過程中，我始終認為大學更多是一個奠定志向而不是實現期望的地方。
I saw my parents struggle most of their lives and the daily battle to keep afloat sometimes even drained what hopes and dreams they had for me.
我見證我父母大半生的奮斗，每天僅為了維持生計而努力工作，有時這些甚至會打消他們對我的期望和夢想。
They didn't go to college and neither did my only, older sibling.
他們都沒有上過大學，我唯一的兄長也沒有讀過大學。
My father sorted mail for the post office.
我的父親在郵局整理郵件。
He worked nights because it paid 10% more than a day shift.
他選擇夜班工作只是因為報酬比白班多了10%。
My mother was a receptionist at a burglar alarm company — one of the few growth industries in our neighborhood.
我的母親是一個防盜警報公司的接待員——這也是我所在社區為數不多的增長行業之一。
I grew up in the Linden Houses, which, as some of you know, is a housing project in East New York.
我在林登小區長大，你們當中的很多都知道，這是紐約東區的一個住宅項目。
It was and is a tough neighborhood, though it produced some accomplished people who, despite or maybe because of their background, did well.
它一直都是一個貧窮的社區，但是也孕育了一些有成就的人，有些是因為克服了這一背景而成功，而有些或許是因為這一背景而成功。
I attended Thomas Jefferson high school, which has since shut down as a high school and operates different training programs for various skills.
我在托馬斯·杰斐遜高中畢業，學校在之后關閉了高中部，僅僅提供多種技能培訓項目。
