Speech at Opening Ceremony for Freshmen of 2011

2011级新生开学典礼讲话

Tao Wenhao

9 September 2011

Good evening, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the School of Foreign Languages , Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, I would like to express my warmest welcome to our school. I would also extend my thanks to your parents and teachers in the high school. Now your secondary education is over and your tertiary education shall begin here. We shoulder the task of providing you with on-going education of higher learning. I am filled with too many things to say to you, and I will make the choice of starting with the introduction of the School of Foreign Languages of Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai (or BNUZ) which was established on June 16th, 2003. Through the development of 8 years, we now have 75 members of staff. Of all the teaching staff members, there are 30 native teachers of English or Japanese which accounts for nearly a half. Five of the native staff hold PhD degrees and two hold full professorship.

亲爱的新同学们，你们好！我代表北师大珠海分校外国语学院全体教职工热烈欢迎你们考入美丽的北师大珠海分校！在此，我向你们的家长和中学老师表示深深的敬意和感谢。感谢他们完成了中学阶段对你们的辛勤培养，顺利把你们送到了北师大珠海分校外国语学院。现在下一个阶段的培养就落在我们身上了。我们肩负着对你们进行高等教育的重任。我此时此刻有好多话要说，但是首先还是从介绍我们的学院开始。北师大珠海分校外国语学院于2003年6月15日成立，经过8年的发展，我们现有教职工共75人，其中有30位外教，外教几乎占了我们教师人数的一半。这些外教中，五人具有博士学位，两位是正教授。

The School of Foreign Languages is one of the largest schools of the university. Besides more than 1,000 students of English and Japanese majors we have, the School of Foreign Languages undertakes the foreign language teaching of about 20, 000 non-English majors of the university.

外国语学院也是我校最大的学院之一。我院现有一千多名英语专业和日语专业学生，也同时承担全校2万多名同学的公共外语课程。

The English Department of the School was founded on August 15th, 2004 and started to enroll its first batch of English majors in October of the same year, a total number of 150 students. Our school-running guideline is to highlight quality and innovation, so as to cultivate first-rate interdisciplinary, independent English professionals for Guangdong Province and the country at large. Since its foundation, the faculty has been exploring the possibilities of fine-tuning its features of major teaching. In 2008, it set up four new major orientations, including English-Japanese, English-French, Business English, Tourism & Translation, besides English Language & Literature and English Education, the original two orientations, thus offering more practical or practice-oriented courses for the juniors and seniors and pushing forward the cultivation of qualified English professionals. The Department of Japanese was founded in September 2010 and started its first year of enrollment of 87 students of Japanese. We are happy to tell you that we will start to enroll MA students of English in Education next year. Also starting from this September, we will offer Portuguese as an optional course to all students of the university. The School of Foreign Languages now has staff members of 6 foreign languages of English, Japanese, French, German, Russian and Portuguese. We are panning to enroll students of Portuguese major in September 2013.

我院英语系于2004年8月15日成立，当年10月首次面向全国招收英语专业本科学生150人。我院的宗旨是以质量为生命，以创新为灵魂，为广东省和全国培养一流的复合型、有特色的外语人才。外国语学院自建院以来，不断积极探索专业办学特色，从2008级开始，外国语学院英语系在保留原有的通用英语方向和英语教育方向的基础上，增加了英日双语、英法双语、商务英语、旅游与翻译四个方向，在高年级的课程模块中增加更多的实用、实践类课程，以促进实用型外语人才的培养。我院的日语系建于2010年9月，首次招收87名日语专业学生。我很高兴地告诉大家，明年我院将开始招收英语教育硕士生。同时也于本学期，我院面向全校开始葡萄牙语。葡萄牙语将作为公共选修课程开设。目前我院具有六个语种的师资，他们是：英语、日语、法语、德语、俄语和葡萄牙语。我院计划于2013年9月招收葡萄牙语专业学生。

My dear students of all, both English majors and Japanese, you must be very much impressed by the beauty of the university. I would like to share with you my feelings that I came here eight years ago. I was as excited as you, as happy as you in seeing the blue sky, the green grass, the unknown and smiling trees, the quiet lakes and the strong mountains around. What a pleasure to be in such a dream land! Yes, it is so attractive as you are still in the dream. However, I would like to wake you up after the ceremony this evening. Because tomorrow, we will begin to set up a new dream for us to realize in the coming four years.

亲爱的同学们，无论你们是英语专业还是日语专业，此时此刻，你们一定都被我们校园的美景深深地吸引了。在此我愿意和在座的每位同学分享我8年前来到北师大珠海分校的情景，看到那蓝蓝的天空，青青的草地，静静的湖水、健壮的山峦，多么迷人啊！我和你们一样激动，一样兴奋，就连不知名的树木也似乎路出笑脸招呼新来的面孔，我感到来到这样的梦幻般的境地是多么幸福！是的，这里太迷人了，大家还在梦中，还没到梦醒时分，可是，今晚的开学典礼之后，我就要唤醒大家。因为明天我们要建筑一个新的梦想在四年内实现它！

What is the new dream? The answer is different for different students. Some would say, I want to be a translator or interpreter. Some would say, I want to be a diplomat. Some would say, I want to be a teacher. Some would even say, I want to be a PhD.

那么这个新的梦想是什么呢？答案当然依人而定，有人会说，我要当名翻译。有人会说我想做个外交家。有人会说，我想当老师。也有人会说我想继续攻读博士学位。

Here in this place and at this moment, I am as exited as you, but more than excitement, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts of the School of Foreign Languages . For the past eight years, I have been thinking of the following three questions:

First, what is the spirit of the School of Foreign Languages ?

Second, what is special about the students of the School of Foreign Languages of BNUZ? In other words, what makes you different from other students of foreign languages in other universities?

Third, what can we provide you with?

此时此刻，我的心情和同学们一样的激动。但是激动之余，我得把大家的思维稍稍引向一些理性思考。在过去的八年办学过程中，我都在思索着这三个问题：

第一，外国语学院的精神是什么？

第二，外国语学院的同学特殊在哪里？即我们和其他大学的外语专业学生有什么不同？

第三，外国语学院能给大家提供什么？

For the first question, I would answer in three words: diligence, truth and creativity. From the first day you enter the School of Foreign Languages , remember you have to work very hard. Diligence can take you to the final success. I am not quoting well-known examples of the famous people in history, they are far away from us. Instead I will tell you some facts of the success of our own students in the past two years in our school. Last year, we had 264 BA graduates, 30 of them went to pursue MA studies either in China or abroad. Encouraging examples for you are: Miss Chen Chao went to study for MA in Beijing University of Foreign Studies, Miss Lu Yao went to study for MA in Beijing University , Miss Luo Yiwen went to study for MA in Chinese University of Hong Kong and Miss Xie Jing went to study for MA in the University of Edinburgh . This year, among the 200 BA graduates, 45 went to study for MA. Therefore the percentage of the MA study was from 11.2 of last year to 22.5 this year. Still some of them are studying in the famous universities like Beijing University of Foreign Studies and University of London , etc. I would assume by the time you graduate, more than half of you shall be enrolled by the prestigious universities all over the world. With the spirit of diligence, seeking truth and creativity, I am absolutely positive you will realize your new dreams.

对于第一个问题，我愿意用三个词汇来表述：勤奋、求真和创新。同学们，进入北师大珠海分校外国语学院的第一天开始，请记住，你要勤奋学习，也只有勤奋才能带你走向最终的成功。我在此不想列举历史名家，他们离我们太远了。我想仅以本院今年和去年同学们的成功来和大家分享几个数字。去年我院共有毕业生264人，30人成功报读国内外硕士研究生，其中陈超同学考上北京外国语大学、陆遥同学考上北京大学，罗漪文同学考上了香港中文大学，谢静考上英国爱丁堡大学。今年我院的200人毕业生中，45人考入国内外大学研究生，考研出国率从去年的11.2%上升到今年的22.5%。其中张靓同学考上北京外国语大学，罗倩同学上了英国伦敦大学等海内外著名高等学府。值得一提的是，今年我们有六位同学都上了香港中文大学。以此发展速度，到你们毕业时，我大胆估计你们中间会有一半同学进入国内外著名学府攻读硕士学位。带着外国语学院的“勤奋、求真和创新”精神，我相信每位同学都会实现自己新的梦想。

For the second question, I would answer in another three words: bilingual, bi-major and multi-competence. This is special about you and makes you different from other students of foreign languages. We strongly encourage that each of you would study two foreign languages in the four years here. We know that most students of foreign languages in China can only use one foreign language, but here more and more of you can use two foreign languages fluently. Also taking two majors has now become another trend in our students. I know more and more of our students are busy with their two majors and are paving a much broader road for their future. I appreciate this and hope you follow suit. So bilingual and bi-major make you different and special from other students of foreign languages.

对于第二个问题，我用另外三个词来回答：双语、双专业和多能。这三点才是你们的特别之处，也是你们不同于其他高校外语专业学生的地方。我们特别鼓励同学们在校四年学好两门外语。众所周知，国内外语专业毕业生中，大多数只会一门外语，但是在我们这里不同，越来越多的同学们能够流利地说两门外语。从去年开始，我院同学学习两个专业也人数剧增，这无疑对他们的未来有巨大优势，为未来铺好了康庄大道。我非常欣赏这一点，希望大家也向他们学习。所以选择双语学习、双专业学习才能使得大家多能，才能不同于他人。

For the third question, I would still answer in three words: freedom, character forming and maturity. In the beginning of my speech I said we are having the responsibility of providing you with tertiary education. But what is that? Academically we may not finish its contents even in a monograph. Here in this school can we all come to one understanding in agreement? We will provide you with the freedom of thoughts and the opportunity of character development and by the time you graduate, you are a mature person of independent thinking and nice personality.

对于第三个问题，我还要用三个词回答：追求自由、性格塑造和成熟。在我的发言开始时，我说到，我们肩负着对你们进行高等教育的重任。可是什么是高等教育呢？从学术上来看，也许一本专著也未必论述清楚，但是在外国语学院，我们是否能达成一致意见？我们将竭尽全力给大家提供一个追求思想自由的场所、一个人格塑造的机会，到大家毕业时，你们将会成为一个成熟的年轻人，具有独立思想和人格健全的可爱的人。

Before I conclude my speech today, I would like to quote two points of what I said to the students last year.

1. Follow your interests and be open to every possible subject reading. Your courses of majors are important, but you will find years later, what captures your imagination is the subjects of your interests. It is like your first love for a girl or a boy. She or he is the most precious. These will be the possibility of making you successful as a prominent figure in the society. I hope English or Japanese is your first love.

在我结束今天的讲话之前，我想引用一下我去年对大家说过的两点：

1．发展自己的兴趣，博览群书。同学们自己的专业课程当然很重要，但是若干年后，你们会猛然发现，那个兴趣点才是让你魂牵梦萦一生的学科。这就像你的初恋情人，他/她是最珍贵的。这些兴趣点才能把你培养成为社会的栋梁之才。我真诚希望英语或日语就是你们的初恋情人。

2. Make good friends and learn from each other. Four years in the university is the formation of your personality and your life of philosophy. The Chinese culture tells us, look at the friends he has before you judge a person. It means your friends will teach you and make you a good person or a bad man. A good friend will always take you to the right road to success while an evil friend does the opposite.

2．交结好朋友（即正面朋友），互相学习。同学们的个性和人生观就是在大学四年时期形成的。中国传统文化告知我们，看一个人就得首先看他身边的朋友。也就是说近朱者赤，近墨者黑。好朋友总会把你带上康庄大道，走向成功。坏朋友会教你堕落，走向毁灭。

My dear boys and girls, this is the advice I have for you. Please remember the motto of our university: Of Studies, be the Master; Of Behaviour, be the Model. Let us set up the great goals of developing ourselves under the development of the university as well as the country. As we often say, for each student, you are the hope of your parents, your teachers and the university and the People’s Republic of China . We are happy to see the future by looking at you now.Thank you!

亲爱的同学们，这就是我对于你们的忠告。“学为人师，行为世范”是我们的校训，我们要树立远大目标，把个人的发展融入到学校的发展和祖国的发展之中。我们每个新同学身上都寄托着父母和亲人们的期望、寄托着老师们的期望，更寄托着祖国的希望。同学们，未来属于你们！谢谢！