[ti:Message to 2023 Graduates: ‘Want Things to Change? Take Over’] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Musicians, actors, politicians, business leaders, [00:04.84]writers, and Nobel Prize winners [00:08.00]were among the commencement speakers in 2023. [00:12.20]At Howard University in Washington, D.C., [00:16.72]graduates heard from U.S. President Joe Biden. [00:21.56]Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin [00:24.40]spoke at New York University. [00:26.64]And the actor, Tom Hanks, [00:29.04]visited Harvard University to offer his words. [00:33.60]Other speakers included Nobel Peace Prize-winner Maria Ressa, [00:39.08]who spoke at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee; [00:43.72]the jazz musician Wynton Marsalis at the University of Michigan; [00:48.84]and Nobel Prize-winning chemist Carolyn Bertozzi, [00:53.92]who spoke with medical students [00:56.28]at Stanford University in California. [01:00.72]In most cases, students cheered advice [01:04.04]and encouragement from the speaker. [01:07.00]But in at least one case, they called out in protest. [01:11.20]That happened on May 21 [01:14.12]at Boston University to David Zaslav, [01:17.76]the head of the media company Warner Brothers Discovery. [01:21.68]As Zaslav talked, the students called out, [01:26.12]"Pay your writers!" so often [01:30.20]he had to stop speaking. [01:32.80]The students were supporting [01:34.44]striking film and television writers. [01:38.16]Not all the events at Boston University caused disagreement. [01:43.76]Ketanji Brown Jackson, [01:45.60]the first Black female member of the U.S. Supreme Court, [01:50.36]spoke to law school graduates. [01:53.76]Brown Jackson discussed her legal career [01:56.96]and her love for musical theater. [02:01.60]She mentioned the famous show Hamilton [02:04.56]and said students should work to "find something you care about, [02:08.48]and get yourself into the room where it happens." [02:13.48]The Room Where It Happens is a song from the show. [02:17.72]At New York University, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin [02:22.88]told graduates that it is not enough to want change. [02:27.00]"To change things, you have to take over," she said. [02:31.88]Marin told the students they must not wait [02:34.52]for others to solve the world's problems. [02:38.08]She talked about the war in Ukraine and climate change. [02:43.12]She expressed her concerns about artificial intelligence. [02:47.72]And she told the graduates to take charge [02:50.52]and make changes if they are concerned. [02:54.48]"These are challenges that need to be solved," she said. [02:57.92]"And there is no one else to do that, other than you." [03:03.28]Sabrina Vazquez was one of the graduates [03:05.88]who gathered to listen to Marin on May 17. [03:10.68]She agreed with the message and told VOA: [03:14.36]"Through our ... education and our experiences, we were like [03:17.60]given the tools to be able to enact change, [03:22.00]maybe not immediate because change never happens overnight, [03:26.00]but it's something that if we work towards [03:30.08]consistently and it's always a goal [03:32.36]that we are trying to reach, we can enact change." [03:38.00]Just days earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden [03:41.88]spoke with students at Howard University, [03:44.68]an HBCU, or Historically Black College or University. [03:49.88]Jheannelle Johnson is the first person in her family [03:54.24]to graduate from college. [03:56.32]She said she was honored that the president [03:59.32]wanted to speak to her and fellow graduates. [04:03.44]Johnson told VOA that Biden's message [04:06.16]was similar to what he might have used in the campaign. [04:10.68]But he also told the 2023 graduates [04:14.40]that they have a chance [04:16.00]to "change the trajectory of the country." [04:20.04]The president then added, [04:22.32]"... and I know you will meet the moment." [04:25.44]"This is something that I want to take with me, [04:28.84]that the President could come here to my university, [04:31.92]and say that we have the power to change things [04:34.16]in a climate where it feels like sometimes change isn't [04:37.84]moving as fast as we want it to. [04:40.24]It's knowing that the future is still bright." [04:43.64]Both Johnson and Vazquez agreed [04:46.88]that they, and fellow graduates, [04:49.44]have a chance to change people's lives, [04:52.32]even if it is just in a small way. [04:56.32]"It's an important message for us to understand [04:59.68]we can be change-makers, [05:02.28]even right now," Johnson said. [05:05.84]Commencement is an English word that means "the beginning." [05:09.56]So while both Vazquez and Johnson [05:12.92]celebrated the end of something, [05:15.48]they also know the next part of their lives is coming fast. [05:21.08]"It's important to know [05:22.88]that my work shouldn't stop here," Johnson said. [05:26.12]I'm Dan Friedell. [05:28.44]And I'm Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM