Acceptance Speech by Prof Yonath / Yonath 教授致答謝詞

Acceptance Speech by Prof Ada Yonath For Honorary Doctorate Awardees	Ada Yonath 教授代表眾榮譽博士 致答謝詞
Pro-Chancellor, Council Chairman, President and Distinguished Guests:	副監督先生、校董會主席、校長、各位貴賓：
It is a great moment for me to be able to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for the award of Honorary Doctor of Science of City University of Hong Kong. I also want to convey my deep appreciation to my two fellow Awardees at this delightful event, namely Professor Frederick Ma Si-hang, Chairman of MTR Corporations Limited, and Mr Yeung Kin-man, Founder and Chief Executive, Biel Crystal (HK) Manufactory Limited.	在這美好的時刻，請容許我由衷感謝、並表示誠心領受香港城市大學授予我的榮譽科學博士學位。在這令人喜悅的場合，我也要對一同領受榮譽博士學位的兩位人士表達真摯讚賞：一位是香港鐵路有限公司主席馬時亨教授，另一位是伯恩光學（香港）有限公司創辦人兼總裁楊建文先生。
I am not a natural speaker. Therefore when I was approached by CityU to give this speech my first, spontaneous response was negative, which became stronger when the justification for this speech was “traditional”. It is very difficult to associate me with “common” “customary” or “traditional”. My resentment to such reasoning is known among my colleagues. Actually, my courage to embark on a project believed worldwide to be formidable is a proper example to my untraditional attitude.	我天生不善於言辭；因此，起初城市大學請我來致詞，我不假思索就一口謝絕；待到得知要我致詞的理由乃是「遵從習俗」，就更是竭力推辭了。說起「常規」、「慣例」、「習俗」，很難令人聯想起我這個人；我最厭惡據此為由來論證事理，這在我的同事之間已人人皆知。事實上，全世界眾人望而生畏的某項課題，我竟有膽量去著手研究，正是我離規脫俗心態的恰當寫照。
The fact that I have agreed to deliver this speech indicates the importance of CityU to me, and shows clearly its high level.	我終於應允來致這篇答謝詞，表明了城市大學在我心目中的重要意義，也突顯了這所大學的崇高地位。
Actually, although I have received many awards and honours in my career, the only formal speech I have ever given so far was during the dinner ceremony of the Nobel Prize, namely the prize acceptance speech, on behalf of all three Chemist Laureates, who belong to different nationalities, genders, views and upbringings.	我雖然在科研生涯中曾多次得獎、多次獲頒榮譽稱號，但其實至今僅僅作過一次正式演講，那是在獲得諾貝爾獎後的晚宴儀式上發言，也即代表全體三名化學獎得主致獲獎答謝詞。我們三人的國籍不同，有男有女，各人的想法和身世也不同。
As in the Nobel event, here, too, I am representing all three laureates, namely Professor Frederick Ma Si-hang and Mr Yeung Kin-man, and myself. Similar to the Nobel case, the three of us belong to different nationalities, genders, views and upbringings.	此刻我在這裏致詞，也好似那次獲諾貝爾獎的情形，乃是代表同時領受榮譽學位的三人，也即馬時亨教授、楊建文先生，還有我自己；與當年的那次相似，我們三人的國籍也不同，有男有女，各人的想法和身世也不同。
Nevertheless, all three of us share a common passion: to set for ourselves significant goals and to perform our utmost in reaching them. Consequently, all three awards are bestowed in recognition of our significant contributions to humanity, to advancing enthusiasm for creativity and to increasing the respect for knowledge among the younger generation. These are great human principles and I am certain CityU will continue to show its appreciation to such values.	儘管如此，我們三人都懷有同一份熱忱：要為自己立下有意義的目標，並竭盡全力去達致目標。因此，城大頒授這三個榮譽博士學位，意在表彰我們的重大貢獻有益於人類、有利於社會更熱心培育創造力、有助於使青年一代多尊重知識。這些都是全人類共有的偉大原則，我深信城市大學會繼續彰顯而崇尚這些原則理念。
Let me express again my sincere gratefulness to CityU, and to all of you for coming to this ceremony.	請容許我再次由衷感謝城市大學，也感謝全體來賓前來出席今天的儀式。 (Tr. by Allen Zhuang)
(City University of Hong Kong conferred Honorary Doctorates on three distinguished persons at a ceremony on 13 October 2016.  Professor Ada Yonath, one of the awardees, gave this speech in English on behalf of the group.  The Chinese version had been prepared for the benefit of some participants in the ceremony.)

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