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My Grandpa used to carry an "Alley Oop" hammer--a very 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 gard. It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt object for protection anymore. But just in case, my brother is with me.
我的祖父經常扛著一個大鐵錘——在末尾熔了一大塊鉛的重鐵管。那是工人們靜坐罷工時用以保護自己的。在我小的時候，我們就用那個大鐵錘在地上砸樹樁什么的。現在人們不再需要扛著個笨重的大家伙保護自己了，這很好。但為了以防萬一，我兄弟跟我一起來了。
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?
我父親后來成為……密歇根州立大學的教授，我也是個非常幸運的孩子。教授的生活是非常有彈性的，他有大量的時間培養我。哪里有比在大學培養孩子更好的地方呢？
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 the great, big Michigan family I feel I've been a part of all of my life.
我想告訴大家的是，我來這里不僅僅是回家看看。我難以表達我來這里的自豪感，與我母親、我哥哥、我的妻子露西，還有你們大家，在這個證明我存在的神奇的學院。我為你們感到驕傲，為你的親朋好友們感到驕傲，我們都加入了偉大的、大密歇根家庭，我感覺它是我生命的一部分。
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 commencement speech. Don't worry. I'll be brief. I have a story about following dreams. Or maybe more accurately, it's a story about finding a path to make those dreams real. You know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don't have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?
我想告訴大家的是，我很清楚你們坐在座椅上，聽著一個老家伙廢話連篇地做畢業典禮演講的感受，不要急，我會很簡短地說。我有個關于追尋夢想的故事。或者更準確地說是一個找到夢想成真之路的故事。你們知道，午夜從一個逼真的夢境中醒來是什么感覺嗎？你們知道如果床邊沒有紙筆，而第二天一早就忘個精光又會怎樣嗎？
