【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 ummer nights, I remember, when our apartment gottoo hot, we’d all sleepoutside on our back meant everything to us, includingourextended grandparentslived nearby, and my elderly great auntand uncle lived in the apartmentdownstairs from when theirhealthstarted to decline my parents stepped in, helping my uncle shave anddress eachmorning, dashing downstairs in the middle of the night to check onmy in my family, like in so many ofyourfamilies, we took care of each while we certainly weren’t rich, my parents had big dreams formeand my had only a highschool education themselves, butthey were determined to send us both they poured all of their love and alloftheir hope into us, and they worked saved every Iknow that wasn’t easyfor them, especially for my see, my father had a seriousillnesscalled multiple as he gotsicker, it got harder forhim to walk, and it took him longer to get dressed inthe no matter how tired he felt, no matterhowmuch pain he was in, my father hardly ever missed a day of work, because hewasdetermined to give me and my brother a better every day, likeso many of you, I felt theweight of my parents’ sacrifices on my day, I wanted to make while most American kids attendpublicschools near their homes, when it was time for me to attend high school,I tookan exam and got into a special public high school where I could get abetter the school was very far from my home, soI had toget up early every morning and ride a bus for an hour, sometimes anhour and ahalf if the weather was every afternoon, I’d ride that same bus back home andthenimmediately start my homework, often studying late into the nightandsometimes I would wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to study even it wasn’t whenever I got tired or discouraged, Iwould justthink about how hard my parents were working for I would remembersomething my motheralways told me –she said: “A goodeducation is something that no one can take away from you.”And when it was time for me to applytouniversity, I had many options, because in America, there are many are aretwoyearmunity colleges which are less areuniversities where you take classes at night while workingduring the you don’t have to beatop student to attend a even if your parents don’t have much money or you live in a tinytown in a rural area, inAmerica, you can still attend you can get scholarshipsand governmentloans to help pay your I attended Princeton University formyundergraduate degree, and I went on to Harvard University for mygraduatedegree in with those degrees Iwas able to bee alawyer at a large law firm, and then I worked as anexecutive at a cityhospital, and then I was the director of an organizationthat helped disadvantagedyoung my story isn’t unusual in of our most famousathletes, like LeBronJames, and artists, like the singer Janelle Monae, camefrom strugglingfamilies like mine, as do many business leaderslike ’s the head of a pany calledStarbucks,which many of you may have heard was a boyhis father lost his job, leaving their got a scholarship to auniversity, and eventually built thelargest coffeehouse pany in the then there’s this other guy I know whowas raised by a single mother whosometimes struggled to afford food for like me, this guygotscholarships and loans to attend became a lawyer and aprofessor, and then he was a state senator andthen a national then, hebecame President of the United guy I’m talking about is my husband, Barack Obama.(Applause.)These stories are the stories of somanyAmericans, and of America in America, we believe thatno matter where you live or how muchmoney your parents have, or what race orreligion or ethnicity you are, if youwork hard and believe in yourself, thenyou should have a chance also believe that everyoneisequal, and that we all have the right to say what we think and worship aswechoose, even when others don’t like what we say or don’t always agreewith whatwe of course, living up to these idealsisn’t always there havebeentimes in our history where we have fallen decades ago,there were actually laws inAmerica that allowed discrimination against blackpeople like me, who are aminority in the United overtime,ordinary citizens decided that those laws were they heldpeaceful protests called on governmentofficials tochange those laws, and they voted to elect new officials whoshared their slowly but surely, got rid of those today, just 50 years later, myhusbandand I are President and First Lady of the United that isreally the story of America –how over the course of our short history, through so many trialsand struggles,we have bee more equal, more inclusive, and more today in America, people of everyrace,religion and ethnicity live together and work together to build a betterlifefor their children and in the end, that deepyearning to leave something better for thosewho e after us, that issomething we all truly fact, there’s a Chinese saying that I lovethatsays, “To achieve true happiness, help the nextgeneration.”And like so many of your parents, myparentssacrificed so much so that I could have opportunities they today, as a mothermyself, I want even more opportunities for myown of course, as I always tell my daughters,withopportunities e that is true for all of you all have the opportunity toreceive an education from this wonderful school,and you all have an obligationto take the fullest advantage of I know that’s exactly what you all ’re winning prizes in math , you are stagingmusicalperformances around the ’revolunteeringin your of you are working hard to get an educationyour parents never dreamed you all have so much to offer –andthat’s agood thing, because the world needs your world needs yourcreativity and energymore than ever we facebig challengesthat know no borders –like improving the quality ofour airand water, ensuring that people have good jobs, stopping the soon, it will all fall toall of you to e together withpeople on every continent and solve t