2014浙江外国语学院校长洪岗开学典礼致辞
President's Speech at the OpeningCeremony
Ladiesand Gentlemen, my dear colleagues, and most importantly, the new students of2014:
Good Morning. It is my great honor andpleasure to talk with you today. Dear new students, I wish you all a warmwelcome to Zhejiang International Studies University andcongratulations to all of you on surviving high school! I’ve noticed that youcome from 10 different provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian,Jiangxi, Shanxi, Gansu, Hebei, Guangxi and some of you are from Xihu Districtof Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province! I want to extend my gratitude to all of you forchoosing Zhejiang International Studies University.
Today is your second day here, so let me giveyou a short briefing about us and what we can offer you. I’m sorry if what I’mabout to say disappoints you, but you will no longer enjoy the pleasure ofsitting through eight hours of lectures for five to six days a week. You willno longer have the privilege of waking early for mandatory self-study. Teachersand parents will no longer be chasing you around trying to coax you intostudying for one more hour or finishing another practice test. No one will tellyou what you should do next; you are now the sole person making decisions foryourself.
I can assure you, however, that your timehere will not be boring. We have many wonderful opportunities for you. Forexample, you can choose from a wide variety of interesting electives andlectures. We offer our students not only internationalized curricula, bilingualclasses, courses taught completely in English but also courses on Chineseclassics. We invite scholars to deliver lectures of various kinds both at theuniversity level and at college level. We also offer special programs andcourses to students from abroad, which are open for all students. As you allknow, college isn’t just a place for you to bury your noses in books. It isalso a platform for you to gain new experiences and to prepare yourselves foryour future careers. As a foreign language institute, we have partnerships withhigher education institutions and organizations all over the world. We provideour students with more than 30 study-abroad programs and many overseasinternship opportunities. For example, we have students going to theUnited StatesandMexicoto teach Chinese every year.We also have cooperation with Beijing Foreign StudiesUniversity and Beijing International Studies University.Our students are encouraged to experience university life in Beijing by applying for exchange study witheither of these two universities. It has always been, and will continue to be,our mission to provide opportunities for our students. Thirty five years ago, Iwas a student just like you. Now with a professional career spanning more than30 years in academia, I’ve witnessed success stories for thousands of graduateand undergraduate students. As a person that has been there and done that, Iwould like to share a few thoughts with you on how to make the most of yourcollege life.
First, aim high, work hard, and be the masterof your own life. Think about where you would like to be in three or fouryears. Set your goals and work steadily towards achieving them. If you findthat your study field isn’t your favorite, you can always choose a minor, or workhard to get into a master’s program of your choice. If you are worried aboutyour college expenses and need financial aid, you can always apply forscholarships, tuition reduction, and work study opportunities. Our faculty andstaff are more than happy to help you. If you are concerned about jobopportunities after college, study hard and participate in as much internshipas you can. I can assure you that graduates with outstanding academicperformance and extensive work experience are always highly desired. Don’t letyour past, your community, your family, or what others tell you or say aboutyou be an excuse for not working hard today. You are the master of yourdestiny. What you do today determines where you will be in three or four years.
Second, cherish every learning opportunity.Three or four years in college is the best time to dig deeply into your studyfield and enlarge your general knowledge. Knowing your field well in collegelays a solid foundation for your future career or your follow-on education.Thirty five years ago, when I was an undergraduate, resources were scarce. Ibought almost every English book I could find and read them from cover tocover. It paid off. The solid English foundation I built enabled me to graduatefrom my MA program one year earlier than my peers and it helped me survive andthrive in both my PhD studies and my teaching career. On the other hand, don’tperceive courses outside your study field as unimportant. In a 2005commencement address given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University,he discussed learning various beautiful typefaces in a calligraphy class hetook in college. This may not have seemed important at the time; however, tenyears later, it came back to him when he was designing the first Mac computer.He used this knowledge when creating typefaces for the first Mac. You neverknow what will be useful later in life. Seize every opportunity to learn asmuch as you can.