first, i would like to know, what does your destiny offer you? happiness, wisdom, a strong body or something else. if i had asked this question to Psident nixon, he would probably had said,”our destiny offers not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity.”
needless to say, one of the biggest opportunities given to china is the xx olympic games. till now, we have used two sevenths of the Pparation time. how much changes have you seen? new roads, new subway lines, public-exercising equipments with beautiful colors, large blocks of grass fields, and also lots of modern gyms which are under construction.
other than those, there are even more good effects brought to us by the olympic games that cannot be seen directly. for example, more and more people will get to know china. i’m sure the mysterious chinese culture will attract them strongly. and the games will also do good to the economy and environment, for it is gaining the attention of foreign investors and the awareness of environmental protection is being strengthened. what is more, olympic games give a unique opportunity to inspire and educate a new generation of chinese youth with the olympic values and the olympic spirit. now that we have seen so many advances, could you even imagine us losing the holding rights?
i’ve already said a lot about the olympics and china. but i think everyone should use some time to think of this question, ”does the olympic games have any special meaning to you?”
for us, i mean the chinese youth, xx olympic games is a tremendous gift. because what we are waiting for is to do something significant as repaying the love given to us .the society is just like a ship, and in our dreams the captain is waving his hand and saying ”hey! come here and take the helm! ”how charming his voice is, but we have never heard of it in our true life. this morning, however, when we wake up, we will see the olympic games waving its hand. after chewing, most of us will have at least one plan about what to do for the olympic games. and mine is to be a “comforter” ----that is someone who will give comfort to others.
at the end of my speech, i hope all the Pparation will go well, and everyone will show their ability to the world. let us seize opportunities and give a big smile to challenges.
Itake with me the memory of Friday afternoon ACM happy hours, known not for kegs of beer, but rather bowls of rainbow sherbet punch. Over the several years that I attended these happy hours they enjoyed varying degrees of popularity, often proportional to the quality and quantity of the accompanying refreshments - but there was always the rainbow sherbert punch.
I take with me memories of purple parking permits, the West Campus shuttle, checking my pendaflex, over-due library books, trying to print from cec, lunches on Delmar, friends who slept in their offices, miniature golf in Lopata Hall, The Greenway Talk, pision III basketball, and trying to convince Dean Russel that yet another engineering school rule should be changed.
Finally, I would like to conclude, not with a memory, but with some advice. What would a graduation speech be without a little advice, right? Anyway, this advice comes in the form of a verse delivered to the 1977 graduating class of Lake Forest College by Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as Dr. Seuss - Here's how it goes:
My uncle ordered popovers from the restaurant's bill of fare. And when they were served, he regarded them with a penetrating stare . . . Then he spoke great Words of Wisdom as he sat there on that chair: "To eat these things," said my uncle, "you must excercise great care. You may swallow down what's solid . . . BUT . . . you must spit out the air!"
And . . . as you partake of the world's bill of fare, that's darned good advice to follow. Do a lot of spitting out the hot air. And be careful what you swallow.
Psident clinton:
thank you. thank you, Psident chen, chairmen ren, vice Psident chi, vice minister wei. we are delighted to be here today with a very large american delegation, including the first lady and our daughter, who is a student at stanford, one of the schools with which beijing university has a relationship. we have six members of the united states congress; the secretary of state; secretary of commerce; the secretary of agriculture; the chairman of our council of economic advisors; senator sasser, our ambassador; the national security advisor and my chief of staff, among others. i say that to illustrate the importance that the united states places on our relationship with china.
i would like to begin by congratulating all of you, the students, the faculty, the administrators, on celebrating the centennial year of your university. gongxi, beida. (applause.)
