中国驻英国大使刘晓明在英国伊顿公学演讲.docxVIP

中国驻英国大使刘晓明在英国伊顿公学的演讲2012年10月17日，英国伊顿公学China: Ever Old, Ever YoungSpeech by H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming at Eton CollegeElection Hall, Eton College, 17 October 2012尊敬的托尼·里特尔校长，老师们、同学们：Headmaster Anthony Little,Teachers and students,我和夫人胡平华非常高兴访问伊顿公学。感谢伊顿公学“前沿社”（The Frontier Society）社长Fred Kim刚才热情的介绍。It is a real pleasure for me and my wife Pinghua to visit Eton College. Thank you for the warm welcome. I also want to thank Secretary of the Frontier Society Fred Kim for the kind introduction.你们来到伊顿求学，风华正茂，令人羡慕。在今天这个迅速发展的时代，我个人的体会是，学习是终生的。最近我就学习了两个英文单词，一个是Oxonian（牛津校友）,因为就在上周，我刚访问了牛津大学，在牛津学联发表了一个演讲，在演讲中提到了不少曾为中英关系发展作出贡献的牛津校友。今天，我来到了伊顿，又学习了一个新词：Etonian(伊顿校友)。我要祝贺伊顿校友(Old Etonian)约翰·格登荣获今年的诺贝尔医学奖，尽管他在校时曾被时任校长评价为“生物学得糟糕透顶”（too stupid for biology）。You have come to Eton College to learn. I hope I may also encourage you that, in such a fast changing world, the habit of learning will be a life-time occupation. Certainly that is my experience! Recently I have learned two English words. One is Oxonian. I just visited Oxford University last week and gave a speech at the Oxford Union. In my speech I mentioned several Oxonians who made huge contributions to China-UK relations. Today at Eton I have learned another word—Etonian.Many Old Etonians have made a profound impact on the world. The most recent is Sir John Gurton who shared this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine. I warmly congratulate him especially as he overcame the burden of former Eton Headmaster’s comment that he was “too stupid for biology”!伊顿和牛津，同样具有数百年历史，同样坐落在泰晤士河畔，同样是《哈利·波特》的拍摄地，同样是英才辈出，我不知道英语中是否有这么一个词：Oxtonian,用来指先后就读于伊顿和牛津的学子。因为，“伊顿+牛津”，这是一个最富英国特色的黄金教育组合，培养了许多杰出人才。一个最为人津津乐道的例子是，伊顿和牛津共同造就了13位英国首相，包括现任首相，名副其实地成为英国政治家的摇篮（“the chief nurse of Englands statesmen”）。还有一个不为人知的例子是，詹姆斯·邦德（007）据说也是伊顿和牛津校友，不过听说他因为惹了麻烦，伊顿开除了他。Eton and Oxford have a lot in common:· They both have a history of hundreds of years.· They are both located by river Thames.· They were both chosen to be the settings for the film Harry Potter.· And they have