一诺：跟施一公学英文

这周一是盖茨基金会和科技部联合大挑战2015年会的开幕式，早晨9点半是施一公作为大会科学委员会联席主席做主旨演讲。

参加会议的是来自世界各地50个国家的近800名科学家，科研资助机构和政府组织工作人员。 他几分钟的讲话完了，全场热烈鼓掌。我当然也觉得特别棒，因为他既全面地讲了中国的创新，又把这放在世界和中国近三十年发展的历史背景下。而且用词丰富而准确，语言组织流畅。既逻辑严密，又充满了真挚的情感。我觉得在内容之外，真是学习英文的好素材。

而且一公告诉我， 这是他当天早上5点爬起来现写的。我只能说，学霸人到中年，还是学霸…...

要看活的，视频链接在这里，你自己看（因为不是腾讯视频，需要拷贝链接在游览器里打开）

下面是一公的英文演讲稿，我特别用黑体标注了我喜欢的英文用法。你喜欢什么， 欢迎留言讨论。

另外文末的左下角阅读原文是“彩蛋”，小小秀一下咱的英文。这是大挑战最开始800人入场，会场黑咕隆咚的时候放的第一个video。我一张大脸出现在巨大的屏幕上，吓人一跳。大家自己可以脑补当时的场面。咱这个没写稿，录了两遍，剪吧剪吧看着竟然也挺专业。

下面是一公的发言稿。

Colleagues, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning! I am both honored and privileged to speak at this important conference. On behalf of the local Scientific Advisory Committee, I would like to extend our warmest welcome to all of you who have traveled from every corner of the world to Beijing for this global science gala!

In the next three days, 800 scientists and healthcare workers from 50 different countries will meet under the same roof, combining expertise of different disciplines to address common health challenges that face the mankind. We share one common goal – that is – to improve the health and welfare of mankind through education, research innovation, and synergistic effort.

It is of particular significance to have this gathering in Beijing – not just because Beijing is the capital of a nation with the largest population on earth, or because Beijing has a rich cultural history of three millennia and owns seven world heritage sites – the largest for a single city, or because China has pressing healthcare issues that exemplify the challenges of the world community. It is for all these reasons and beyond. In my humble opinion, perhaps the single most important reason for coming to Beijing is to capitalize on the emerging power of innovation promised by a rapidly transforming society.

Rather than giving you a barrage of statistical data on China which you can easily find on the internet, I’d like to offer my personal reflection of China’s transformation. In fact, like hundreds of millions of my fellow countrymen, my personal journey epitomizes this transformation.

I was born in the tumultuous 1960s and spent my childhood in the countryside of south-central Henan Province. Despite shortage of food and toys, life was always beautiful in the eyes of free-spirited children. As a fourth grader in 1978, I saw a foreigner – a tourist from New Zealand – for the first time in my entire life. Following the late Chinese legendary leader Deng Xiaoping’s historic visit to the United States in January 1979, China opened her door to the outside world for the first time in three decades. During that year, a small number of students and scholars from mainland China ventured into the US to embark upon precious opportunities of education and research. The open-door policy, together with restoration of a purely merit-based National College Entrance Examination system, spurred unprecedented levels of motivation and enthusiasm among the younger generations to pursue their dreams.

By the mid-1980s, studying abroad had become so fashionable in mainland China that a sizable fraction of the undergraduate students in top universities were thinking about taking the TOEFL and GRE tests. By now, more than three million mainland Chinese students have had the opportunity to study in the West, creating perhaps the biggest wave of studying abroad in the history of mankind. Such a movement has had a huge consequence not just on China, but also for the host countries and the rest of the world. What was once regarded as a “brain drain” problem disappeared as more and more students chose to return to China after they received advanced degrees. I was one of these three million students, and I am among those who returned.

When I left China in 1990, there were only three weekly flights between China and North America, and there were plenty of empty seats on board. Because the planes departed China on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the flights were numbered 981, 983, and 985. When I returned in 2008, there were 20 daily flights and I had to make my reservation weeks ahead of time to ensure a seat.

Similar to many other Chinese students, I have been extremely lucky in my entire life: receiving decent education from elementary school all the way to undergraduate college in China. I even had the opportunity to study and work in the US for nearly 18 years! But many others in China are not so lucky. Only 15 miles from the area where I grew up, the under-privileged peasants in Wenlou village have been fighting the debilitating disease of HIV/AIDS since the 1990s. The HIV/AIDS outbreak occurred while I was away. Thanks to the care and help of the local government, Wenlouvillagers are winning the war against HIV/AIDS. But many, many others in China and the rest of the world are not nearly as lucky as these Wenlou villagers. Many are desperately waiting for help. They need help, not just from government, but also from the lucky individuals.

Heeding the call, many individuals and institutions have begun to act. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been leading a heroic global effort since year 2000. Tsinghua University established a Comprehensive AIDS Research Center in 2007. Aided by government grants, industry funding, and the Gates Foundation, virologists and microbiologists at the Tsinghua Center are working hard to search for new therapeutic opportunities for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Scientists at Tsinghua have reached out to collaborate broadly with other universities and research institutes in China and throughout the world. We are working with government, industry, as well as private foundations. We have joined forces worldwide and are determined to win the fight against these haunting pandemics.

Collaboration stimulates innovation, engenders miracle, and transcends history and geography. Ancient Chinese discovered the utility of Artemisia annuaextract in the treatment of malaria thousands of years ago; 40 years ago, a collaborative team of scientists led by TuYouyou isolated the effective ingredient Artemesinin, saving millions of lives worldwide. Arsenic compounds had been used by Chinese medicine to attack diseases of most malignant nature; a group of medical doctors led by Zhang Tingdong in northeastern China uncovered the efficacy of arsenic trioxide against acute promyelocyticleukemia, or APL, in the 1970s. A team of scientists led Wang Zhenyi used all-trans retinoic acid to treat APL. Through collaboration both within China and throughout the world, a combination of arsenic trioxide and all-trans retinoic acid has become the standard therapy for the treatment of APL, resulting in greater than 90 percent complete remission for patients worldwide.

Last but not least, on behalf of the local Scientific Advisory Board, I wish all of you a wonderful stay in Beijing and the 2015 Grand Challenges Meeting a spectacular success.

Thank you all for coming! Thank you for offering your expertise and help!

关于学英语，我有几个经验，其实一定程度上都是废话：

我在美国读博士的时候，喜欢读国家地理杂志，觉得除了图片，每一篇的语言也都不可思议的美。我会选一篇读的很慢，好好琢磨其中的用词，不会的查字典，对特别好的句子，会背。

背好句子，背文章。我现在回想，对我当年学英语影响最大的，也许就是背新概念英语，当时应该是背到了第四册。而且背出声来。那时候每天放学骑车，和好朋友一路背几篇文章回家。语音这个东西是有韵律的，背诵可以让你掌握这种韵律感。

图：一诺大挑战年会发言。

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