評論
打印
各位選手、各位評委、各位來賓：
Judges and contestants,
Ladies and gentlemen,
首先，祝賀“漢語橋”世界大學生中文比賽十周歲生日。我很高興再次出席英國區預選賽。當你再到一個地方或再次出席一項活動，中國有一句唐詩叫：“前度劉郎今又來”。恰好我姓“劉”，所以這句話形容今天的場合是再貼切不過了。
I have real pleasure attending this 10th "Chinese Bridge" Competition. I enjoyed it so much last year – so it's very good to be back! We Chinese people love poetry and are always looking for amusing word links. So I cannot resist giving you a link about 'coming back' - and it's from a poem written over a thousand years ago. The poem was written in the Tang Dynasty – a period which we think produced many great poets. This line describes the feelings of a person coming back to a place that means a lot to him. It goes: "Qian Du Liu Lang Jin You Lai." This literally means "Here comes Mr Liu again". Now that's rather apposite tonight - as I am indeed a Mr Liu come back again!
我再度前來，是要給各位選手加一把油，希望再次給你們帶來好運。去年，英國賽區選拔的蔣思哲等三位同學在中國舉行的總決賽中取得了特等獎及兩個三等獎這一前所未有的好成績。我希望今年你們再接再厲，能有新的優秀選手脫穎而出，再創佳績。我也希望你們不僅僅把這里當作是一個賽場，更把這里當作是一個展現學習成果的舞臺，互相交流學習心得的平臺。
I come back to bring you good luck again. The same event last year produced three finalists. One of them, Mr Stewart Johnson, went on to win the very top prize in China. The other two won third prizes in the finals. That was Britain's best ever performance. I wish you the very best of luck to achieve the success of the UK contestants last year – and they set you a rather high standard! So there's the challenge! I wish you more world-beating success from you British contestants this year!
我再度前來，是要給在英的“漢語熱”添一把火。我高興地看到，近10萬英國人正在學習中文，英格蘭1/6的中小學開設了漢語課程，英國54所大學開設了中文課程，其中7所大學設有中文專業，13所孔子學院和54間孔子課堂在英落地生根。不久前，我應邀與查爾斯王子一同為威爾士蘭德福瑞公學孔子課堂揭牌，令我意外的是，查爾斯王子用非常標準的漢語對我說：“威爾士歡迎你！”我想，有你們的王儲親作表率，你們的漢語一定會學得更好！
I come back to heat up the Mandarin fever. The contest is motivating the learning of Mandarin. I cannot tell you just how thrilled I am by that. Nearly one hundred thousand people are learning Mandarin in Britain. In your secondary and primary schools - one out of six schools is teaching Mandarin. In your higher education - 54 British universities teach Mandarin. 7 of those universities offer Mandarin as a major subject. Then there are 13 Confucius Institutes and 54 Confucius Classrooms that have been opened. On a personal note, not long ago, I had the honour of joining His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in the opening ceremony of a Confucius Classroom at Llandovery College in Wales. His Royal Highness said to me - in surprisingly pure Mandarin - "Wei Er Shi Huan Ying Ni!" (Wales Welcomes You). What a wonderful example of leadership by the Prince to encourage young people to learn Mandarin! His example is very valuable.
