Speech Given by Colin Lucas at Beijing University(科林·卢卡斯在北京大学的演说)
牛津大学副校长科林·卢卡斯在北京大学的演说
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues:
Because I am the Vice-Chancellor of the oldest of the foreign universities represented here today, I have been chosen to speak on their behalf. I am pleased to be their voice in presenting our heartfelt congratulations to the professors, teachers, researchers and students of Peking University on the 100th anniversary of its foundation.
Our universities form a great intellectual community round the world. Science has no nationality; knowledge belongs to everyone.
Our universities creat new knowledge. They teah this knowledge, together with that of other universities and also the best of the great storehouse of knowledge, which those who came before us have uncovered, tested and accumulated.
All universities contibute to the prosperity and success of their country. They also conserve the culture and inheritance specific to their country's civization. But, they do more. Knowledge is secure only when it is hard won by the independent tests of accuracy, rational explanation and ture. So, when we teach our students skills, we also give them values. On the one side, these are values for personal and civic conduct. On the other side, these values underwrite the personal need for independent understanding which is the source of human creativity.
These duties give universities a high responsibility. They are rooted in a great and fine tradition of honesty. university is a beacon of light in its own society and, by its association with its sisters, its knowledge and its values are spread wide.
A tradition is not built easily ir quickly. During one hundred years, Peking University has been fashioning its tradition. Present and future members of the University! We hope to see you elaborate and consolidate your tradition. We hope to see you become a keystone of the intellectual community. In your next century, we hope to see you contribute to the international academic movement as a whole, as more and more of you numbers come to paticipate in the activities of your sister universities.
Congratulations, Peking University on your first century of achievement! |