Obama 当选总统了. 撤军, 加大对科研投入, 减税等等, 对我们这些在美国的学生是一件好事情. 

在赢得胜利的演讲中, Obama 说到了一个106岁的修女 Ann Nixon Cooper 的故事,

“She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky, when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin. And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can. 

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed. She lived to stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot, yes we can;

When there was despair in the dust bowl, and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a new deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose, yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbour and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved, yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, a bridge in Selma and a preacher from Atlanta who told the people that we shall overcome, yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall come down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination and this year, in this election she touched her finger to a screen and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America through the best of times and the darkest of hours she knows how America can change, yes we can. ”

(她是废除奴隶制后的第一代人, 是个没有汽车和飞机的时代. 因为性别和肤色,  她没有投票权. 今晚, 我思考着她观察到的一个世纪的美国–心痛和希望; 抗争和进步; 从我们被告知我们不能改变, 到今天, “我们可以” 成为美国人的信条代代相传的信念.  

当妇女的声音不能被听到, 当希望被剥夺的年代, 她站起来, 为妇女的投票权抗争: 我们可以. 

当大萧条弥漫这个国家, 当黑风暴带来绝望的时候, 她见证了这个国家用新政, 新的工作和新的公共福利战胜恐惧. 是的, 我们能! 

当炸弹在珍珠港落下, 当暴政威胁整个世界, 她见证了一代人的伟大, 见证了民主被捍卫. 是的, 我们能! 

她见证了在蒙哥马利种族隔离的公共汽车, 见证了在民权运动的起源地, 见证了那个亚特兰大牧师(MLK)对人们说: 我们终会克服这些. 是的, 我们能!)

我最爱的小说是<百年孤独>, 一百年后的拉丁美洲和一百年比, 一场大洪水之后什么都没剩下; 而在美国, 100年, 足可以让一个没有人权保障和普遍选举权的国家, 变成一个民主自由的世界灯塔. 也就100年. 

一个国家的下一百年, 是走向百年孤独, 还是走向自由民主, 值得我们深思. 也就100年, 我们同龄的大多数人至少能见证70年, 70年过后, 回问自己: 在被别人告知不可以的时候, 你是什么也不做, 还是握紧拳头在心里和手掌心都深深的刻下: 我们可以改变. 

改变一样东西, 100年足够了. 别信什么一万年太久, 只争朝夕, 那也是谎话. 别着急, 也别绝望, 用切实的行动, 改变我们这个世纪.