（本文摘录自2015年6月12日毕业典礼教师代表Mr B发言稿，全文有删节）

观看完整视频请点击这里：http://v.qq.com/page/b/9/u/b0158wmwj9u.html



 

Being educated is a moral obligation. And I don't mean educated as in, "i'm good at math!" I mean educated in every sense of the word; knowledge about yourself, the world around you, the humanities, history, music, science, and the entire spectrum of human knowledge.  And because not one person could ever hope to master all these subjects, making education into a moral obligation will help you be a student for life. That's the first reason you should think about education in moral terms.

受教育是一项道德义务。接受教育不仅仅是指"我很擅长数学!"。我想表达的是教育在每个方面的意义; 跟你有关的知识、 你周围的世界、 人文、 历史、 音乐、 科学和人类世界所有知识。因为没有一个人能够掌握所有这些学科知识，让教育成为一种道德义务将帮助你成为一个在终生学习者。这就是你需要从道德角度去思考教育的第一原因。

But what is a moral obligation? A moral obligation is the sense of personal responsibility someone feels honor-bound to perform because of their personal beliefs and values. Having a sense of moral duty arises from ideas about right and wrong. These ideas are usually shaped by your culture, family and even peer pressure. Generally, people are not legally required to donate money to children with cancer, they just do, because they believe it is the right thing to do.

什么是道德义务呢?道德义务是一个人因为有了他自己的信念和价值，使他为自己的行为有荣誉感和责任感。这种道德责任感包括了一个人对正确和错误的认知。这些认知通常是由你的文化、 家庭甚至是来自同龄人的压力而形成的。一般来说，法律是不会强迫人们把钱捐给癌症患儿，但捐款的人这么做了，是因为他们相信这是正确的事。

I want to convince you that this calculus of doing the right thing already resides within you. To prove it to you I want to share something that happened yesterday in my physics class with two of my students; Bob and Steve.  I have changed the names of the students to protect their privacy. 

你要相信，这种做正确事情的决算已经扎根在你心里面了。为了证明这个，我想要跟你分享我的昨天物理课的故事; 我的两个学生Bob和Steve，为了保护学生的隐私，我更改了他们的名字。

To the chagrin of my Physics students I actually taught a lesson yesterday and even gave them a quiz. Chagrin means, NOT HAPPY!  So while my students were taking the quiz I was thinking about this speech and about how angry Mandy and Mickey would be if I didn't write it on time. So I took it upon myself to ask my students the following question:

使学生感到懊恼的是，昨天上了一整节的物理课，并且给了他们一个小测验。大家都知道懊恼就是不快乐!当学生在做测验的时候，我就在思考今天的发言我该说些什么，如果我没有按时写完稿子Mandy和Mickey会有多生气。所以我就自己去问我的学生以下问题：

Why is education important and what can Mr.Bdo to be a better teacher?

为什么教育是非常重要的？Mr.B怎样才能成为一名更好的老师？


 

The number1 answer to what can Mr. B do to be a better teacher was "don't give so much homework!"

第一个对于Mr.B怎么才能成为一名更好的老师的答案是：不要给我们太多的家庭作业。

The number 2 answer to why is education important was "don't give so much homework!"

另一个对于教育为什么重要的答案也是：不要布置太多的家庭作业。

Then I read Bob's answer. Bob is not the best Physics student in my class and he is only about 16 years old. This was his answer to "why is education important?"

然后我看了Bob的答案。Bob不是我班上物理最好的孩子，而且他才只有16岁，这是他对于“教育为什么重要”所做出的答案：

"Because it can teach me how to be a good human.  I am a student."

“因为我是一个学生，而教育使我懂得怎么样去做一个更好的人。”

Now if that doesn't convince you that we have the best English teachers in Suzhou, I don't know what does.  He used the verb to be correctly!

如果这都不能说服你我们学校有着全苏州最好的英语老师，那我就不知道什么能说服你了。因为学生这句英文写的完全正确，没有语法错误。

That made my day. My day couldn't get any better after that. Then I read Steve's answer. Steve is one of the best academic students  inPhysics.

这就是我的一天，因为他的这句话，我这一天变得无比美好。然后我看了Steve的答案，他是我班上物理成绩最好的学生。

This was his answer to "What should Mr. B do to be a better teacher?"

这是他对于“Mr.B怎样才能成为更好的老师”做出的答案：

"Please help my friend, Bob."

“请帮助我的朋友Bob提高物理成绩。”

So, why is education a moral obligation? Because our perennial thirst for knowledge has benefitted all of mankind!  Think about it.

所以，为什么教育是一项道德义务?因为我们常年对知识的渴求已经惠及全人类!请想一想。

I want to leave you with some final thoughts.

最后，我想留给大家一些思考的东西。

You are the most privilegedChinese generation in the history of China. No one has had as many opportunities like the ones you have today.No one. Change is a constant in life. What is here today can be gone tomorrow. Don't waste it.

你们是中国历史上的最幸运的一代。没有人像你们一样有这么多的机会，没有人。生活总是在改变。你今天所有的一切，明天就可能会失去，请不要浪费它。

And to that end, here's some quick advice:

最后，给大家一些小建议：

Don't keep so much distance between you and the people who are trying to help you! Come closer. Heed their advice. Seek their wisdom. You should talk to teachers more often. You do know they have experienced some level of success.Learn from them!

不要和正试图帮助你的人保持很远的距离!请靠近一点，听取他们的建议，寻求他们的智慧。你还应该经常跟老师交谈。你肯定知道他们有很多成功的经验。请向他们学习!

Be present in the NOW. If your nose is stuck on a cell phone all day, then your scenery never changes. Experience the moment. All we have as human beings is conversation. Put the phone down and engage others in conversation. The people of China have this beautiful ability to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. Don't lose that.

活在当下。如果你的眼睛整天盯在一部手机上，那你人生的风景就从不会改变。请感受现在的每时每刻。作为人类，我们所有的就是交谈。放下手机，与别人交谈。中国人民有着优秀地与陌生人交谈的能力。请不要失去它。

You’ll most likely fail. Often. But that’s part of life. Success will be determined by how you overcome and master your obstacles in life. Get up, dust yourself off and keep moving forward.  Take me for example. At the beginning of the year, I had this pipe dream that every student at Ulink would wear their uniform. That lasted for about a week.

你们都可能会失败，而且是经常性地失败。但这是生活的一部分。成功将取决于你是如何克服你生活中的障碍。爬起来，掸掉灰尘，继续前进。以我为例。今年初，我幻想我们学校的每个同学都能每天穿校服，这个幻想持续了大约一周。

Take care of your bodies!!! Do some exercise! Learn a sport and become good at it.

照顾好你自己，多运动，学一门运动，并使之成为自己的擅长。

Have goals, but more importantly surround yourself with people who have goals!

设定自己的目标，但更重要的是与一群有目标的人为伍。

And finally, honor your family! Everything you have. All the opportunities you have at your disposal is a reflection of their hard work. Honor them.

最后，请为你的家庭感到自豪。你所拥有的一切，你所有可以任意支配的机会都源自他们努力工作的结果。请以他们为荣。

Good luck.

祝大家好运！