…That’s my second piece of advice, very simple: Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes; take responsibility where you fall short as well.
Now, the truth is, no matter how hard you work, you’re not going to ace (取得好成绩) every class. You’re not going to succeed the first time you try something. There are going to be times when you screw up (弄糟). There will be times where you hurt people you love. There will be times when you make a mistake and you stray (偏离) from the values that you hold most deeply.
And when that happens, it’s the easiest thing in the world to start looking around for somebody else to blame. Your professor was too hard; the coaches were playing favorites; your friend just didn’t understand.
No, but this is an easy habit to get into. You see it every day in Washington — every day -—folks calling each other names, making all sorts of accusations on television. Everybody is always pointing a finger at somebody else. You notice that?
Now, this community could have easily gone down that road. This community could have made excuses — well, our kids have fewer advantages, our schools have fewer resources — how can we compete? You could have spent years pointing fingers— blaming parents, blaming teachers, blaming the principal , blaming the superintendent.
But that’s — Class of 2010, I want you to pay attention on this because that’s not what happened. Instead, this community was honest with itself about where you were falling short. You decided to do better, push your kids harder, open their minds wider, expose them to all kinds of ideas and people and experiences.
So, graduates, I hope you’ll continue those efforts. Don’t make excuses. And I hope that wherever you go, you won’t narrow the broad intellectual and social exposure you’ve had here at Kalamazoo Central — instead, seek to expand it. Don’t just hang out with people who look like you or share your political views. Broaden your circle to include people with different backgrounds and life experiences, because that’s how you’ll end up learning what it’s like to walk in somebody else’s shoes. That’s how you’ll come to understand the challenges other people face.
And this is not just an academic exercise. It’s a way to broaden your ambit (范围) of concern and learn to see yourselves in each other.
—adapted from US President Barack Obama’s graduation ceremony speech at the Kalamazoo Central High School. The underlined words “fall short” in Paragraph 1 probably mean .
| A．make a decision | B．begin to experience something |
| C．have someone else to blame | D．fail to reach a standard |
The underlined word “this” in Paragraph 4 refers to .
| A．misunderstanding your friends | B．straying from the values you hold |
| C．making accusations on television | D．blaming someone else for your mistake |
We can infer from Paragraphs 5 and 6 that the community .
| A．has got used to making excuses | B．has lived up to its responsibility |
| C．is satisfied with itself | D．provides fewer resources than it used to |
In the last two paragraphs, Obama calls on the graduates to .
| A．welcome different ideas, people and experiences |
| B．participate in as many social activities as they can |
| C．make friends with people who share their political views |
| D．be honest and concerned about the community |
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