米歇爾：奧巴馬的失敗足以談一下午

First lady Michelle Obama has some advice for some Tennessee high school graduates: Strike your own path in college and life and work to overcome inevitable failures with determination and grit.

Mrs. Obama spoke for 22 minutes to the graduates of Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School on Saturday in her only high school commencement address this year. The ceremony took place in the gymnasium of nearby Tennessee State University.

The first lady told the 170 graduates that she spent too much of her own time in college focusing on academic achievements. While her success in college and law school led to a high-profile job, she said, she ended up leaving to focus on public service.

“My message to all of you today is this: Do not waste a minute living someone else’s dream,” she said. “It takes a lot of real work to discover what brings you joy … and you won’t find what you love simply by checking boxes or padding your GPA.”

Mrs. Obama lauded the school — it’s on the site of one of the city’s first to educate African-Americans — for its graduation rate, spirit of volunteerism and healthy food programs. She noted that each graduate was going on to either higher education or the military.

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She said MLK reminded her of her own high school experience in Chicago.

“My No. 1 goal was to go to a high school that would push me and challenge me,” she said. “I wanted to go somewhere that would celebrate achievement. A place where academic success wouldn’t make me a target of teasing or bullying, but instead would be a badge of honor.”

But Mrs. Obama lamented that not all students have the same opportunities.

Unfortunately, schools like this don’t exist for every kid,” she said. “You are blessed.”

The first lady told graduates that failure may be a part of their college lives and careers, and that how they respond to any pitfalls will define them.

“That’s when you find out what you’re really made of in those hard times,” she said. “But you can only do that if you’re willing to put yourself in a position where you might fail.”

Overcoming adversity has been the hallmark of many great people, she said.

“Oprah was demoted from her first job as a news anchor, and now she doesn’t even need a last name,” she said of media giant Oprah Winfrey. “And then there’s this guy Barack Obama … he lost his first race for Congress, and now he gets to call himself my husband.”

The first lady joked: “I could take up a whole afternoon talking about his failures.”

Mrs. Obama later presented graduate diplomas on stage and posed for photos with graduates.

“We didn’t know we would get to hug her,” said graduate Natey Kinzounza, 18. “She’s got a great sense of humor. She’s like my mom, she’s just a very real person.”

又是一年畢業(yè)季，美國第一夫人米歇爾·奧巴馬5月18日向畢業(yè)生現(xiàn)身說法，告誡他們在大學、生活和工作中要走自己的路，依靠決心和勇氣戰(zhàn)勝不可避免的失敗。

據(jù)美國媒體報道，米歇爾當天在田納西州馬丁·路德·金高中畢業(yè)典禮上致辭。在22分鐘的演講中，她告訴170名畢業(yè)生，當年她在大學致力于學業(yè)，之后如愿以償?shù)卣「呗殻罱K投身公共服務。

“今天我要告訴大家的是：不要為別人的夢想浪費一分鐘。要想知道帶給你快樂的是什么，必須付出真正的努力。僅僅依靠查看郵箱或夸大成績，你不會找到鐘愛的工作。”

她說，馬丁·路德·金高中讓她聯(lián)想到自己在芝加哥的高中經(jīng)歷。

“我的第一目標是進入能提高和考驗我的高中。”她說，“我想去一個歌頌成績的地方。在那里，學術成功不會使我成為戲弄或欺負的對象，而是榮譽的象征。”

但奧巴馬夫人感慨萬千：并非所有學生都有同樣的機遇。她說，“可惜，這樣的學校并非為每個孩子而存在，你們很幸運。”

她告訴畢業(yè)生們，失敗也許是他們大學生活和職業(yè)生涯的一部分，未來取決于他們?nèi)绾蚊鎸щy和錯誤。

她說，戰(zhàn)勝逆境一直是許多偉大人物的標志。

“奧普拉從事第一份新聞主播工作時曾被降職，而今，提到她甚至不需要提她的姓。”她提到傳媒巨人奧普拉·溫弗里，“還有巴拉克·奧巴馬這個家伙。第一次國會競選，他大敗而歸，而現(xiàn)在，他開始自稱是我的丈夫。”

第一夫人開玩笑說，“我可以用整個下午講他的失敗。”

隨后，奧巴馬夫人在臺上為畢業(yè)生頒發(fā)了畢業(yè)證書，并與他們合影留念。

“我們不知道我們會擁抱她。”18歲的畢業(yè)生納蒂·金宗齊說，“她幽默詼諧。她就好像我媽媽，是非常真實的人。”