For throughout all this history, the fate of this city came down to a simple question: Will we live free or in chains? Under governments that uphold our universal rights, or regimes that suppress them? In open societies that respect the sanctity of the individual and our free will, or in closed societies that suffocate the soul?
“Go into overdrive” 的字面意思是 “超速运转”，实际意思是 “在短时间内加倍努力或开展高强度的工作”。
比如，在一个项目的最后阶段，剩下的时间不多了，需要加快速度才能完成工作，这时就可以用 “go into overdrive” 来表示 “加倍努力工作”。
I would like to share 5 lessons what did I learn at the kitchen table: First, do your best; Second, find your purpose; Third, listen to understand; Fourth, be honest always; And fifth, include one more. I’ve learned, time and again, how fundamental these lessons have been and continue to be.
We have learned by experience a fruitful lesson that an implicit and undeviating adherence to the principles on which we set out can carry us prosperously onward through all the conflicts of circumstances and vicissitudes inseparable from the lapse of years.
《迷人的四月》是英国作家伊丽莎白·冯·阿尼姆1922年创作的小说。讲述了生活在20世纪20年代英国的四位性格迥异的女性，她们离开多雨、灰暗的环境，前往意大利度假。租住在同一个城堡里的她们在经历了最初人际关系的紧张，最终走到了一起，在周围宁静美丽的环境中找到了复兴，重新发现了希望和爱。
“Like a cat on a hot tin roof” 的字面意思是 “像热铁皮屋顶上的猫”，但它实际用来描述 “某人极度焦虑或担心的样子”，相当于汉语歇后语 “热锅上的蚂蚁——团团转”，突出了一个人坐立不安的状态。
在谈论金融方面的话题时，如果有人被要求 “dig deep”，意思就是让这个人 “尽力寻找或付出额外的努力凑够一笔钱，倾力出资”。短语 “dig deep” 也可以用来表示 “在身体或精神上竭尽全力地去做一件困难的事情”。
Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained. In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist.
As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis.
Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty–all have been promoted by the Government under which we have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back to that generation which has gone by and forward to that which is advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful exultation and in cheering hope.
Duke Class of 2021: I wish you lives with Desmond’s kind of love: Love for our neighbors—and for people who feel like they’re a world apart. Love for justice—defined by a spirit of mutuality and community. Love for a world where we don’t need to win at someone else’s expense, even if they’re Tar Heels—where we can win together.
“A shot in the arm” 的字面意思是 “打在胳膊上的一针”，但实际上我们用它来比喻 “一个可以快速刺激并改善某件事情的行为”，类似于汉语里常说的 “一剂强心针”。
The child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief in times of emergency and disaster. The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation and shall not be admitted to employment before an appropriate minimum age.
In this great nation there is but one order, that of the people, whose power, by a peculiarly happy improvement of the representative principle, is transferred from them, without impairing in the slightest degree their sovereignty, to bodies of their own creation, and to persons elected by themselves, in the full extent necessary for all the purposes of free, enlightened and efficient government.
拔牙 “pulling teeth” 的感觉不好受吧？在英语中，人们常用短语 “like pulling teeth（像拔牙一样）” 形容 “某件事情很辛苦、很难做”。
Everything I’ve done in my life is a result of persistence. And I challenge all of you to do the same. We’ve all had a New Orleans education. I lived in New Orleans for four years as well. Cultivate what you’ve learned, make something special out of it. And never give up.
“We have not inherited this land from our forebears, we have borrowed it from our children.” So now is the time for us to do the hard work of living up to that inheritance; of building a Kenya where the inherent dignity of every person is respected and protected, and there’s no limit to what a child can achieve.
“Off the beaten track” 用来描述 “一个游客不常光顾的地方”，意思是 “人迹罕至的，偏远的”。其中，“the beaten track” 的意思是 “游客们正常的旅游目的地和路线”。
As you go forward today, use your minds and hands and your hearts to build something bigger than yourselves. Always remember, there is no idea bigger than this. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, “All life is interrelated. We are all bound together into a single garment of destiny.”
“Split one’s sides” 用来描述某人 “捧腹大笑，笑破肚皮”。你也可以用它的形容词 “side-splitting” 来表达某件事情 “极为有趣，让人开怀大笑”。
