中国：一个古老而常青的国家
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 Young
Speech by H.E. Ambassador Liu Xiaoming at Eton College
Election 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 England's 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 both produced a wealth of talents.
I wonder whether you have a word ‘Oxtonian’ for those attending both Eton and Oxford! Eton plus Oxford is an optimal combination of education. This combination is distinctively British. Together they have cultivated a galaxy of great people. Thirteen Prime Ministers have come from Eton and Oxford, including the incumbent one. As a traditional description explains, Eton is truly the “the chief nurse of England’s statesmen.”James Bond is in the news again with his latest movie called ‘Skyfall’. You may be interested to know his films are very popular in China! A less known story is James Bond also went to Eton and Oxford. I gather that the story goes that he was expelled by Eton for his talent in trouble making!
今天在座的不少是伊顿公学“前沿社”的成员。刚开始看到“前沿”这个词，让我一下子想到了我曾经两次工作过的美国。在美国历史上，Frontier有着特殊含义，指19世纪后半期美国开发的西部边疆。在20世纪60年代，美国总统肯尼迪又提出了开发“新边疆”(New Frontier)，也就是探索太空。当然，你们社名中的Frontier被赋予了新的后现代含义——新兴经济体或在未来有重要影响的世界大国，这其中包括中国。今天，也有一些来自“东方社”和“凯恩斯社”的成员，你们三个社团共同感兴趣的话题无疑是中国。
Many of you are members of the Frontier Society. The word frontier reminds me of the United States where I was posted twice. In the US history ‘frontier’ was a term with special meaning. It referred to the ‘wild west’ that was developed by the US in the second half of the 19th century. In the 1960s President Kennedy made an initiative to explore the ‘New Frontier’, which meant space. I have been told that the word ‘frontier’ in the name of your society has taken on a new post-modernist meaning—emerging economies or powers that will assume major influences in the future. These include China. In today’s audience there are also members from the Oriental Society and Keynes Society. Obviously a common subject that interests all the three societies is China.
