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And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
我還想起了我的家鄉伊利諾伊州芝加哥市的尚特爾·史蒂夫。她曾在芝加哥最困難的社區生活，寄養于多個不同的家庭，但她設法在一家地方醫療中心找到工作，并開始了一項幫助年輕人遠離犯罪團伙的計劃，他即將以優異成績從中學畢業，接著將上大學。
And Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they've got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
賈茲敏、安多尼和尚特爾與你們中間的任何一個人沒什么兩樣。跟你們一樣，他們在生活中面臨種種挑戰。在某些情況下，他們的處境比起你們許多人更差。但他們拒絕放棄。他們決定要為自己的一生、自己的教育負起責任，為自己設定各項奮斗目標。我希望你們都要這樣做。
That's why today I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education—and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way, I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
因此，我今天呼吁你們每一個人為自己的教育設定目標——并盡自己最大努力來實現這些目標。你的目標可以是一件十分簡單的事情，例如完成家庭作業、上課專心聽講，或每天花一點時間讀一本書。也許你會決定要參加課外活動活在你的社區提供志愿服務。也許你會決定挺身而出保護那些因為身份或長相而受人戲弄或欺負的孩子，原因是你和我一樣認為所有的年輕人都應該享有一個適合讀書和學習的安全環境。也許你會決定更好地照料自己，以便有更充沛的精力來學習。順便提一下，除了這些事情外，我希望大家要勤洗手，身體感到不舒服的時候要呆在家里不去上學，這樣我們能防止人們在今年秋冬季節染上流感。
