未来永远不是线性的 | 陈博士在2022届毕业典礼上的演讲

Distinguished guests, Dear Teachers, Parents, Students,

尊敬的各位来宾，老师、家长、同学们:

Welcome to the SAIE 2022 Graduation Ceremony. Congratulations to SAIE Class of 2022! Thank all of the hard-working teachers that have guided our students to success! Class of 2022, you have come through a difficult high-school career with COVID lurking, a challenging college admission season with the acceptance rate dropping to an all-time low. As your 12 long years of K-12 education comes to close, you can proudly proclaim high education, here we come!

欢迎来到 SAIE 2022 毕业典礼。祝贺博纳 2022 届毕业生！感谢所有辛勤工作的老师指导同学们取得成功！2022 届毕业生，你们经历了充满挑战的高中生涯，新冠疫情盘踞，大学申请竞争异常激烈，录取率降至历史最低点。你完成了长达 12 年的 K-12 教育！你可以自豪地宣布：高等教育，我们来了！

As you reach the finish line of your K-12 education, our parents of the Class of 2022 would also be very proud. It is never easy to raise a child, just like growing up, there are frustrations and disappointments, many sleepless nights, and meaningless evenings for parents and students. But, today, parents and students, you have all done it.

当我们即将向 K-12 教育终点线冲刺时，我们 2022 届的家长也会感到非常自豪。养育孩子是件不容易的事，成长中有挫折和失望，做父母的有不眠之宿和迷茫之夜。但是今天，家长和同学们，我们共同完成了人生的一件大事！

Every year, China has 7-8 million high school graduates. Among them around 40,000 (0.5%) will go abroad for college study, 20000 (0.25%) will enroll in undergraduate programs in the United States, and about 10,000 (0.125%) will get into US Top 50 universities, where 80% of SAIE graduates will go, 5000 (0.075%) will get into Top 40, and 2000 (0.0375%) will get into Top 30. So every SAIE graduate should thank your Mom and Dad for bringing you these precious educational opportunities!

每年中国有7-8百万高中毕业生。其中约4万人（0.5%）出国留学，2万人（0.25%）赴美攻读本科，约1万人（0.125%）进入美国前50名大学，其中80%的博纳毕业生已经跻身，5000人（0.075%）进入Top 40，2000人（0.0375%）进入Top 30。所以每一位博纳毕业生都应该感谢你的爸爸妈妈给你带来了这样宝贵的教育机会！

My speech today is “Keep Going and Light Shines Through.”

我今天的演讲题目是“步履不停，向光而行”。

Having the names of world-class universities attached to your name and your next four years, to name a few, HKU, Richmond, UCSB, UCSD, BC, Brandeis, and more, is already an outstanding achievement for the whole family. When you graduate from one of these great universities in the next four years, it will be the second greatest achievement of your life! But, we shall keep going.

在接下来的四年里，HKU、Richmond、UCSB、UCSD、BC、Brandeis 等等世界一流大学的名字跟你的人生串联起来，对每个家庭来说已经是很了不起。当四年后从这些名牌大学毕业时，这将是你人生中第二大成就！但是，我们要继续前进。

Today, I want to share my journey and understanding of my belief that “Light Shines Through” when you Keep Going.

今天，我想分享我的旅程和我对信念的理解，即当你步履不停，曙光在前。

Please allow me to share a secret with our graduating class. Hopefully, it does not shock you. At SAIE, I am teaching you in a way that I was never taught in high school, even though I went to arguably the best high school in China. But I never studied any AP, did not take the SAT, not even the TOEFL. My English vocabulary by the time I graduate from high school is about 2000. My first TOEFL was taken after graduating from university. I got 627 out of 680, not bad. But I was in no way achieving anything internationally to your level with 5,6,7 APs, TOEFL above 110, SAT/ACT in the upper 99% percentile. But, I think that one thing going for me is that because I wasn’t pushing myself to the extreme in high school through college, I have a lot of energy left when I eventually meet my rude awakening in life. Remember this, graduating class, sooner or later, we all will get a dose of hard reality.

跟我们的毕业班分享一个秘密。你可能会吃惊。我出自于全国最好的高中。但是我从来没有学过任何AP，没有考过SAT，没有考过托福。我高中毕业时的英语词汇量大约是2000。我第一次考托福是在大学毕业后。我在 680 分中得到了 627 分，还不错。但是我远没有达到你的国际水平，AP 5,6,7门，托福超过 110，SAT/ACT 达到 99% 人群水准以上。对我有利的方面是我在高中和大学期间没有用尽我的智慧和潜能，因此当我最终遇到人生中的挫折而觉醒时，我还有很多的潜能。记住这一点，毕业班同学，我们迟早都会遇到残酷现实的冲击。

I belong to Generation X. To understand what it means requires a sense of humor. Gen X is the generation of Jack Ma and Bill Gates. They are not just Tech Billionaire. They are the very FIRST generation of Tech Billionaire. Gen X saved the world from the post-Cold War collapse of the corporate salaried man culture. Before Gen X, high schoolers would get a degree, find a job and work till retirement, in a very unexciting way of life. By today’s standard, it is called “lying flat（Tang Ping）” 

我属于 X 世代。要理解它的含义需要一点幽默感。X世代是马云和比尔盖茨的一代。他们不仅仅是科技亿万富翁，而是第一代科技亿万富翁。X 世代从即将崩溃冷战后企业工薪族格局中拯救了世界。在 X 世代之前，高中生们只会读一个学位、找一份工作并一直干到退休，过着非常平淡无奇的生活方式，今天我们称之为“躺平”。

COVID, and the mesmerizing nature of US college application, must have taught our graduating class to prepare for life turning out unexpectedly. I have my great future of physics discovery set only to encounter the ending of the Cold War and a significant cut to scientific research funding. It is not just physicists, Aerospace Engineers, Nuclear Arms Negotiation Game Theorists, and Russian Experts in the 1990s who all have a dose of “hopelessness” like today’s “Nei Juan.“

新冠疫情以及美国大学申请的玄学教会了我们的毕业班同学准备好生活带来的意想不到。我憧憬的物理学研究探索之美好未来遭遇了冷战结束和科学研究经费的大幅削减。不仅仅是 1990 年代的物理学家、航空航天工程师、核武器谈判博弈论学者和俄罗斯国际关系专家都经历了像今天一样的“内卷”般“绝望”。

Thankfully, I was not super exam-oriented then, and I was able to apply my observation, critical thinking, and research skills to my own life’s dilemma. In the darkest hours of post-Cold War “Nei Juan” or in China’s pre-Deng Xiaoping Southern Trip, remarkable opportunities lurk. In the West, it is the Internet, and in China, it is the roaring Economic Reform.

所幸我没有经历应试教育，我将观察能力、批判性思维和研究方法论应用到生活的解困中。冷战后“内卷”最黑暗时刻的西方正好同步邓小平南巡前中国的迷茫，都孕育着非凡的机遇。在西方是互联网，在中国是经济改革的大潮。

For graduating class, you have to believe that SAIE has given you more than just knowledge, skills, grades, transcripts, and diplomas. We have also taught you to ADAPT. Your moment of success often does NOT go as planned. No matter how prepared you are, there is always an element of chance. We have taught you NOT to let go of small chances. It could turn into Big One!

即将毕业的同学们，你要知道SAIE给你的不仅是知识、技能、成绩、成绩单、文凭。我们还教会你去适应！你的成功时刻往往不会按计划到来。不管你准备得多么充分，一切都有运气成分。我们已经教你不要放弃小机会，因为它可以变成大突破！

This year is also when my twin daughters are graduating from high school. They have done a lot for the community, volunteering and being around during the challenging early years of SAIE. Learning from my loving wife and their mother, Film Professor Pan, they always had an inkling of performing art. Still, they never knew that they would be recognized by being admitted to the Top performing art and cinematic art school in the United States. These small but potentially significant successes all come from taking important chances, otherwise quickly slipping by. My elder daughter got a hint about the Interarts Performance program from a University of Michigan summer program, which she procrastinated applying. My younger daughter squeezed in her University Research application at moments of notice. Just like in entrepreneurial adventure, one small action leads to others. Just when she prepared to be a historian, physicist, and economist, the best and the most storied film school in the world, USC SCA came knocking, again, UNEXPECTEDLY.

今年也是我的双胞胎女儿高中毕业的时候。在博纳充满挑战的创校早期，他们连续四个暑假来为社区志愿服务。她们跟妈妈学习，我亲爱的妻子电影学教授潘老师学习，她们对表演艺术有着憧憬。尽管如此，他们从不曾想会被美国顶尖的表演艺术和电影学院录取和看中。这些潜在重大的小成就来自于抓住重要的机会，不然机会很快就会溜走。我的大女儿从密歇根大学的暑期项目中得到了关于跨艺术演艺项目的提示，这机会差点儿就溜走因为小姑娘申请密歇根夏校时一直拖沓。我的小女儿2天内仓促却保质地完成大学研究项目参与申请。就像创业冒险一样，一个小行动会引来其他行动。就在她准备去读历史、物理或经济时，世界第一和最具传奇色彩的电影学院USC SCA 出人意料地来发出召唤。

What do we learn here? Your future trajectory is never linear. You grow by seizing opportunities and making breakthroughs. You must KEEP GOING despite challenges or setbacks. "Tang Ping" is never the way. You must believe that “Light Shines Through” "Nei Juan” is just the moment before dawn and new horizon. Life will turn out the way unexpected from the outset going forward. But that’s okay, precisely making life exciting and rewarding. Congratulations to our Class of 2022 and our parents and teachers again!

我们从这一切学到什么？你未来的轨迹永远不是线性的。你是通过抓住机会和实现突破来成长。尽管有挑战或挫折，你必须步履不停。躺平永远不是办法。您必须相信“曙光在前”。内卷只是黎明和地平线出现前的那一刻。从一开始，生活就会以意想不到的方式向前发展。但这没关系，正是这样让生活变得令人兴奋和有意义。再次祝贺我们 2022 届的学生以及我们的家长和老师！

Best wishes and good luck! 

向大家的未来致以最良好的祝愿，祝同学们好运！