米歇尔·奥巴马在北京大学演讲英语(4)
Take the example of Royale Nicholson from Cleveland,Ohiowho attends New York University’s program inShanghai.
Like me, Royale is a first generation college student…and her mother worked two fulltime jobs while her father worked nights to support their family.
Of her experience inShanghai, she said, “This city oozes persistence and inspires me to accomplish all that I can.”
And then there’s Philmon Haile from the University of Washington whose family came to theU.S. as refugee from Eritrea when he was a child.
Of his experience studying inChina, he said, “study abroad is a powerful vehicle for people-to-people exchange as we move into a new era of citizen diplomacy.”
“a new era of citizen diplomacy ”- I couldn’t have said it better myself, because that’s really what I’m talking about...I’m talking about ordinary citizen reaching out to the world.
And as I always tell young people back in America, you don’t need to get on a plane to by a citizen diplomacy.
I tell them that if you have an internet in your home, school, or library, within seconds, you can be transported anywhere in the world and meet people on every continent.
That’s why I’m posting a daily travel blog with videos and photos of my experiences in china - because I want young people in America to be part of this visit.
That’s really the power of technology - how it can open up the entire world and expose us to ideas and innovations we never could have imagined.
And that’s why it is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the internet and through the media.
Because that’s how we discover the truth...that’s how we learn what’s really happening in our communities, our country and our world.
And that’s how we decide which values and ideas we think are best - by questioning and debating them vigorously…by listening to all sides of every argument...and by judging for ourselves.
And believe me, I know this can be a messy and frustrating process.
My husband and I are on the receiving and of plenty of questioning and criticizing from our media and our fellow citizens...and it’s not always easy...but we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
Because time and again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices and opinions of all their citizens can be heard.
And as my husband said, we respect the uniqueness of other cultures and societies.
But when it comes to expressing yourself freely, and worshipping as your choose, and having open access to information – we believe those are universal rights that are the birthright of every person on this planet.
今天，来自不同背景的学生正在中国学习。以来自俄亥俄州克利夫兰的罗亚尔·尼克尔森(Royale Nicholson)为例，她参加了纽约大学在上海的项目。像我一样，罗亚尔是家里的第一代大学生。她母亲做两份全职工作，而她父亲晚上工作以维持他们的家庭。谈到她在上海的经历时，她说：“这座城市充满韧性，它激励我完成所有我能做的事。”
还有来自华盛顿大学的费尔蒙·黑尔(Philmon Haile)，他还是孩子的时候，他的家人作为厄立特里亚难民来到了美国。谈到他在中国学习的经历时，他说：“在我们进入公民外交的新时代之际，留学是人民间交流的一种强大工具。”
“一个公民外交的新时代”一一我想不出比这更好的说法了，因为这正是我正在谈的，那就是普通公民走向世界。
正如我经常对美国年轻认说的那样，你不需要登上飞机才能成为公民外交官。
我告诉他们，如果你在家里、学校或者图书馆能上网，只要几秒钟，你就可以被带到世界任何地方，遇见来自每个大陆的人。
这就是为什么我每天都要发一篇旅行博文，里面有我这次中国之行的视频和照片―因为我希望美国的年轻人能成为这次访问的一部分。
这确实是技术的力量——它打开整个世界，让我们接触到以前根本难以想象的思想和创新。这也是为什么信息和思想在互联网上、并通过媒体自由流动是如此重要。
因为那是我们发现真理的途径，那使我们得以了解我们的社群、我们的国家和我们的世界到底在发生着什么。
那也是我们何以决定哪些价值观和思想是最好的―通过有力地对它们提出疑问，进行辩论，倾听各方观点，并做出自己的判断。
相信我，我知道这是一个令人困惑而沮丧的过程。有大量来自我们媒体和公民的质疑和批评，而我丈夫和我位于接收端。这并非易事，但我们认为它的重要无可取代。
因为我们一次又一次地看到，当所有公民的声音和观点都能得到倾听之时，国家会变得更加强大和繁荣。
正像我的丈夫曾说过的，我们尊重其他文化和社刽的独特性。然而，就自由的表达自我、选择自己所崇拜的东西，以及享有信息公开而言―我们相信那是地球上每个人与生俱来的权利。
“美国面孔”，“中国面孔”
