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My Grandpa used to carry an "Alley Oop" hammer--a very iron pipe with a big hunk of lead melted on the end. The workers made them during the sit-down strikes to protect themselves. When I was growing up, we used that hammer whenever we needed to pound a stake or something into the gard. It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt object for protection anymore. But just in case, my brother is with me.
我的祖父经常扛着一个大铁锤——在末尾熔了一大块铅的重铁管。那是工人们静坐罢工时用以保护自己的。在我小的时候，我们就用那个大铁锤在地上砸树桩什么的。现在人们不再需要扛着个笨重的大家伙保护自己了，这很好。但为了以防万一，我兄弟跟我一起来了。
My Dad became a professor at uh... Michigan State, and I was an incredibly lucky boy. A professor's life is pretty flexible, and he was able to spend oodles of time raising me. Could there be a better upbringing than university brat?
我父亲后来成为……密歇根州立大学的教授，我也是个非常幸运的孩子。教授的生活是非常有弹性的，他有大量的时间培养我。哪里有比在大学培养孩子更好的地方呢？
What I'm trying to tell you is that this is WAY more than just a homecoming for me. It's not easy for me to express how proud I am to be here, with my Mom, my brother and my wife Lucy, and with all of you, at this amazing institution that is responsible for my very existence. I am thrilled for all of you, and I'm thrilled for your families and friends, as all of us join the great, big Michigan family I feel I've been a part of all of my life.
我想告诉大家的是，我来这里不仅仅是回家看看。我难以表达我来这里的自豪感，与我母亲、我哥哥、我的妻子露西，还有你们大家，在这个证明我存在的神奇的学院。我为你们感到骄傲，为你的亲朋好友们感到骄傲，我们都加入了伟大的、大密歇根家庭，我感觉它是我生命的一部分。
What I'm also trying to tell you is that I know exactly what it feels like to be sitting in your seat, listening to some old gasbag give a long-winded commencement speech. Don't worry. I'll be brief. I have a story about following dreams. Or maybe more accurately, it's a story about finding a path to make those dreams real. You know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don't have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?
我想告诉大家的是，我很清楚你们坐在座椅上，听着一个老家伙废话连篇地做毕业典礼演讲的感受，不要急，我会很简短地说。我有个关于追寻梦想的故事。或者更准确地说是一个找到梦想成真之路的故事。你们知道，午夜从一个逼真的梦境中醒来是什么感觉吗？你们知道如果床边没有纸笔，而第二天一早就忘个精光又会怎样吗？
