…That’s my second piece of
advice, very simple: Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your
successes; take responsibility where you fall short as well.
Now, the truth is, no
matter how hard you work, you’re not going to ace (取得好成绩) every class. You’re
not going to succeed the first time you try something. There are going to be
times when you screw up (弄糟). There will be times where
you hurt people you love. There will be times when you make a mistake and you stray
(偏离) from the values that you
hold most deeply.
And when that
happens, it’s the easiest thing in the world to start looking around for
somebody else to blame. Your professor was too hard; the coaches were playing
favorites; your friend just didn’t understand.
No, but this
is an easy habit to get into. You see it every day in Washington — every day
-—folks calling each other names, making all sorts of accusations on
television. Everybody is always pointing a finger at somebody else. You notice
that?
Now, this community
could have easily gone down that road. This community could have made excuses —
well, our kids have fewer advantages, our schools have fewer resources — how
can we compete? You could have spent years pointing fingers— blaming parents,
blaming teachers, blaming the principal , blaming the superintendent.
But that’s — Class of
2010, I want you to pay attention on this because that’s not what happened.
Instead, this community was honest with itself about where you were falling
short. You decided to do better, push your kids harder, open their minds
wider, expose them to all kinds of ideas and people and experiences.
So, graduates, I hope
you’ll continue those efforts. Don’t make excuses. And I hope that wherever you
go, you won’t narrow the broad intellectual and social exposure you’ve had here
at Kalamazoo Central — instead, seek to expand it. Don’t just hang out with
people who look like you or share your political views. Broaden your circle to
include people with different backgrounds and life experiences, because that’s
how you’ll end up learning what it’s like to walk in somebody else’s shoes.
That’s how you’ll come to understand the challenges other people face.
And this is not just
an academic exercise. It’s a way to broaden your ambit (范围) of concern and learn to
see yourselves in each other.
—adapted
from US President Barack Obama’s graduation ceremony speech at the Kalamazoo
Central High School.
1. The underlined
words “fall short” in Paragraph 1 probably mean .
A. make a decision B.
begin to experience something
C. have someone else
to blame D. fail
to reach a standard
2. The underlined
word “this” in Paragraph 4 refers to .
A. misunderstanding
your friends B. straying from
the values you hold
C. making accusations
on television D. blaming someone else for your
mistake
3. We can infer
from Paragraphs 5 and 6 that the community .
A. has got used to
making excuses B.
has lived up to its responsibility
C. is satisfied with
itself D.
provides fewer resources than it used to
4. In the last two
paragraphs, Obama calls on the graduates to .
A. welcome different
ideas, people and experiences
B. participate in as
many social activities as they can
C. make friends with
people who share their political views
D. be honest and
concerned about the community