【中级听力】The Year in Hope

The Year in Hope

This may not be a word-for-word transcript.

It’s the holiday season and as we gather with our friends and loved ones to celebrate our traditions and mark the start of a new decade, it’s natural to think about what the years ahead might bring.

For me? Well, this may not surprise you, but I’m full of hope. Still. I’m as inspired as ever about the progress we’re making together, especially the example of a new generation of leaders who are rising up everywhere to help lead us into the future. 

As I’ve said before, this hope isn’t blind optimism. It’s anchored in the stories of grace and innovation and common bonds that fill the world around us. My optimism today is born from the work of young entrepreneurs, scholars and leaders who see the world as it is, and have the courage to remake it as it should be. 

They’re people like Nicholas Marchesi, a 25-year-old from Brisbane, Australia, who pioneered the world’s first free mobile laundry system for people experiencing homelessness. People like Columbia’s Anna Maria Gonzalez-Forero, who’s using tourism to reintegrate ex-combatants into Columbia’s economy, recruiting them to lead tours into areas that were once warzones. And people like Veronica Crespin-Palmer from Aurora, Colorado, who’s transforming education for minority, immigrant, and refugee students by inviting their families into the classroom and ensuring they can help drive the policy decisions that impact their kids. 

2019 was filled with stories like these, stories that I hope give you as much optimism for the future as they give me. 

Here’s to a happy and hopeful New Year.

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