On spring days like today, it is traditional for us to ponder the steer of the world all you areto help to make it a better place which implies things are somehow worse today, then we're uphere where you are sitting right now. I'm not so sure the plan of the earth, it was shape, wasthirty, no eighteen, no four years ago. That's not to say some better shape either. Refrainingfrom waxing, steering engine, comparing ours then to yours now, avoiding any talk of youkids these days, with your rap, your hip-hop, your snoopy dog, daddies with daddy pops, withyour feety sects, sending your quarter sense. A sober look shows that just as the world hasgotten to be a better place after all, it has also grown a bit worse, at the exact same rate. Onestep up, one step back to the cosmic balance between forward progress and cultural trade, itputs mankind on a belt curve as an existence. It shows small segments of joy, ease, andcomfort on equal proportion struggle on with little hope, when the fortune remains, theeither on the rise, on the winning, on this confounding tight so many damn things we growoblivious to the shifts in the quality of our lives. Graduation day is a proper occasion to put atoe in the global waters, and I think the mercury shows that things are much as they alwayshave been. 在今天的場(chǎng)合,照例該說(shuō)些指點(diǎn)江山、勉勵(lì)各位通過(guò)努力讓世界變得更好的場(chǎng)面話。似乎是說(shuō)現(xiàn)在的這個(gè)世界每況愈下,一代不如一代,我們來(lái)這里拯救世界。其實(shí),跟三十年、十八年或四年前比起來(lái),我并不覺(jué)得今天的世界變得更糟,只是,也沒(méi)有變得更好。不提打蠟技術(shù)、蒸汽操舵裝置,不拿我們那時(shí)候的和你們現(xiàn)在的比較,避免說(shuō)一些你們現(xiàn)在的話題,你們的說(shuō)唱樂(lè),嘻哈樂(lè),史努比狗狗,稱(chēng)daddy為pop……不過(guò)冷靜地觀察一下,其實(shí)世界變得愈來(lái)愈好,但有些方面同時(shí)變得愈來(lái)愈糟。人類(lèi)就是這樣,前進(jìn)一步倒退一步,永遠(yuǎn)沿曲線前進(jìn)。經(jīng)過(guò)適當(dāng)?shù)钠床?,它帶?lái)短時(shí)間的幸福、輕松和舒適。當(dāng)運(yùn)氣還在,但既不上升也不能讓我們獲得成功,這個(gè)混淆的世界有太多的事情,讓我們察覺(jué)不到我們生活質(zhì)量的改變。畢業(yè)時(shí)正是我們可以在國(guó)際大形勢(shì)下一試身手的時(shí)候,我認(rèn)為事物還是他們一直以來(lái)的樣子。 1. refrain from 克制;忍住; eg. Please refrain from smoking. 請(qǐng)勿吸煙。 eg. It may be wise to keep your opinions and refrain from criticizing everyone around you. 最好不要發(fā)表看法,盡量克制住,不要批評(píng)身邊的人。 2. compare to 與……相比; eg. I can only compare the experience to falling in love. 我只能把這段經(jīng)歷比作墜入愛(ài)河。 eg. What Bill made at his job is peanut compare to what paul made as an actor. 比爾工作所得和保羅當(dāng)演員的收入相比是微不足道的。 3. struggle on 勉力維持;在困難中堅(jiān)持; eg. The rest of the world struggles on with its perpetual problems, poverty and debt. 世界上其他國(guó)家仍在苦苦同永恒的貧困和債務(wù)問(wèn)題作斗爭(zhēng)。 eg. Only those who struggle on can achieve success. 只有那些克服困難堅(jiān)持下來(lái)的人們才能取得成功。