中研院陳長謙副院長勉勵應屆博碩士畢業生全文

　　　　　　　　陳長謙副院長，1936年出生。　　　　　　　　1960年獲柏克萊加州大學化學系博士學位，　　　　　　　　現任中研院副院長(1999-　)、　　　　　　　　中研院化學研究所特聘研究員(1996-　)、　　　　　　　　台灣生物物理學會理事長(1998-　)、　　　　　　　　香港中文大學名譽教授(1996-　)。　　　　　　　　1987年獲選美國物理學會Fellow，　　　　　　　　1988年當選中央研究院院士。　　　　　　　　主要研究為生物物理化學等相關領域。

　　　　　　　　Commencement Address NTU June 17, 2000

President Chen, Graduates, Parents and Friends of the Graduates,Faculty of NTU, Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

What an honor to be invited to speak to the Graduates!　I thankPresident Chen and the Faculty Committee on Convocations for thespecial honor. To do justice to this formal occasion, I wish I coulddeliver my remarks in Chinese.　I could, but it would be in the wrongdialect.　After having heard Ah Bian delivered his speeches inMandarin, in Taiwanese, and even in the Hakka dialect, I have come toadmire your multi-lingual capabilities and to appreciate that anydialect of the language would be politically correct.　Butunfortunately, Cantonese is not among your dialects.　So I apologizethat I shall have to say what I have to say here in English.　I shallspeak slowly and limit the body of my talk to twenty minutes.　Thereis another reason to be brief.　I certainly do not want to keep youfrom your diplomas that you have earned.　So short and sweet, as theysay!

Graduates, this is your day!　Yes, you have finally done it, and Isalute you on this occasion!　I was once a graduate student myself(How many years ago?　40!), and I know how much effort it takes tofinish the work. Of course, I was nowhere as smart as you are!Nevertheless, you all had to fulfill a program of rigorous coursework and pass the required examinations to show that you have master-ed a body of knowledge in your respective fields of concentration.　Iam sure that it was a lot of work, and certainly not all of it fun orinteresting! Knowing your professors, some of them are good friendsof mine, I think that they all feel obliged to challenge you everystep of the way.　After all, their own professors have once challeng-ed them.　But, the truth is that it is more difficult to obtain anadvanced degree now than it once did.　When my son was workingtowards his Ph.D. in chemistry at Berkeley during the '80s, I askedhim, when he was starting his sixth year in graduate school, why itwas taking him so long to finish his thesis research.　I added, "Son,I did it in three years."　Michael retorted "Dad, but there is 100times more knowledge to learn now than 30 years ago."　And of course,he was right on!　Nevertheless, without pain, there can be no gain".

Many of you have had to complete a project of one sort or another toshow that you are capable of some independent scholarly work.　If youare receiving the Ph.D. degree today, you know what I am talkingabout.　Some of you must have toiled for no fewer than 4 or 5 years,and even 6 or 7, in order to complete your thesis research.　If youare married, your spouses must have spent many lonely nights orweekends while you grinding in the laboratory or the library, tryingto find that stroke of insight that would lead to the big result andculminate in the thesis.　Today, I offer this group of graduates myenvy and admiration.　The road hasn't been easy, I know, but it won'tbe long now when we welcome you to the community of scholars.　Alongthe way, I'm sure that there were many anxieties, including momentsof doubts, whether or not it was all worth the effort, even self-doubts, whether or not I had the intellectual capacity or motivationto finish, not to mention the many personal sacrifices I notedearlier.　But, today, there is not even an iota of doubt that youhave finally attained the educational goals that you have set out foryourselves several years ago.　We are gathered here, your teachers,parents, and friends, to show you how proud we are of your achieve-ments.

But I'm afraid that this is just a beginning!　Some of you I knowwill be taking some time off to fulfill your obligations in themilitary service.　I consider you the lucky ones, because by entrust-ing the next two years of your life to the military, some of you arein essence taking time off to ponder over your career plans.　Some ofyou will enter the work force.　You will start to make money, getmarried, and start a family.　Almost right away, there will be morechallenges for you to face and more decisions for you to make.Finally, some of you will continue some form of graduate,postdoctoralor other professional training, either here in Taiwan or abroad, inorder to develop your professional goals further.　Regardless of thecareer path that you have selected for yourself in the immediate ornear future, you will be starting the process all over again.　Itwill be a different one to be sure, but there will be more work andmore uncertainties.

Uncertainties have become a fact of life in this highly complexsociety in which we live.　There has never been a moment of historywhen mankind has been subjected to a more rapid pace of change thatwe are encountering today, not only in what we have to learn to keepabreast with the rapid technological developments around us, but alsoin the manner which we must communicate and interact with one anotheron the day-to-day basis.　We certainly do not do things the same waynow as we did in the good old days.

Allow me to give a simple example that some of you might be able torelate to at the moment.　When I wrote my thesis in 1960, I hired oneof the secretaries in the department to transcribe my handwrittentext onto bond paper with a typewriter.　It was necessary to have 6copies.　The graduate office needed the original.　The departmentneeded 1 copy for the library. There were 3 members of the committee.And I needed one copy for myself.　So it was necessary to produce atotal of six copies.　That is, my typist had to prepare the originaland five carbon copies.　Just imagine the mess when you make amistake and have to correct not only the original, but also fivecopies.　In those days, there was no whiteout, just an eraser andmaybe a razor blade.　 So those of us who were teachers, you couldn'timagine how ecstatic we were when the Xerox copier was introducedinto the office during the late 60's.　That was quite a machine.　Youwould still have to type the desired document, but only the original,and you could edit and make corrections on the original by snowingthings out, or by cutting and pasting.　We did away with the carboncopies.　But, more importantly perhaps, the final copies were alwaysbeautiful and professional.　So, overnight, we have had to increasethe standard of our finished work.　Also, with the Xerox copier, youcould make a duplicate copy, at first, one page at a time.　Later on,Xerox copiers were improved so that you could reproduce multiplecopies, enlarge and reduce the text, print on both sides of the paper, collate the pages, and even staple the document when the job hasbeen completed.　Well, this technology evolved and lasted for almost20 years.　Of course, now with word processing, you type, correct,edit as you compose, vary the font, spacing as you see fit, and whenit is all done, you simply have to press a few buttons, and the laserprinter will produce the necessary copies, and even in color, all asperfect as you could prepare the document.　The point that I want tomake here is that even when it comes to something as simple as makingcopies for documents, there has been a new technology every decade orso.　I still remember arguing with my family 10 years ago as to whether I should learn word processing on a personal computer.　Atfirst, I refused because I felt that I getting too old to learn a newgame and a new set of rules.　At my age, I didn't think that I couldlearn it, remember all the symbols, and remember which keys to pressand for what purpose.　But then I went on sabbatical to Hong Kong in1992, and it turned out the Internet and electronic mail was the onlyway that I could afford to communicate with my research group.　Isimply didn't have any choice.　So my wife presented me with apersonal computer on one of my birthdays.　Nowadays, I would betotally helpless in my office without my personal computer and with-out the Internet.

Yes, these are times of extremely rapid change. Hopefully, Taida has provided you with the kind of education that will enable you to cope with change, including the mental stress that is associated with a high pace of change.　Hopefully, your education here at Taida has prepared you for a lifetime of learning.　Otherwise, you will find the road ahead of you pretty rough.

During these times of rapid change, you will soon find that what you have learned the past couple of years would have to be updated or renewed in a few years.　What you know today would become obsolete within ten years, if not sooner.　This is what I often tell my own graduate students these days.　If you discover a new field in your research today, the cream would be skimmed off within 5 years, maybe faster, and the field will be over in 10 years.　A century ago, if you discover something, you could continue to work in the field you created until you die.　I'm afraid that this is no longer the case.

But change is good, and change is healthy.　Look what has happened to Taiwan during the past 20 years or so.　When you were a kid, some of you might remember that times were relatively harsh.　To be sure, you had enough to eat, a roof over your head, and adequate clothing to keep yourselves warm during the cold winter months.　But, for most of you, your parents had to work pretty hard to keep you fed and housed, and to ensure that you have a decent education.　Not only were there few luxuries then, but you also did not enjoy many freedoms either.　You grew up in a tightly controlled society.　Taiwan was a relatively poor country then, and everyone was trying to survive.　But today, Taiwan is a developed country, with a robust economy, an educated populace, and with a democratic system of government led by many able and visionary leaders. You not only enjoy many luxuries, but also many freedoms.　Human life has become something that everyone treasures, and there is a general respect of human rights.　Who would have predicted this outcome 20 years ago?

So, Graduates, when you leave here today, you have a lot to be thankful for.　You owe a lot to your parents' generation for their foresight, their vision, and their hard work to build Taiwan into the dynamic society it is today.　It is a society that is safer and freer to live in than the one your parents had to raise you in.　There is now more material wealth to share, more luxuries to enjoy and more time to enjoy them, greater opportunities to explore and find yourselves, more opportunities to create, and more opportunities for you to develop yourselves to your real potential.　All this enhances the human spirit, and lead to the greater self-esteem and self-confidence that I have seen in your people.

Graduates, it is easy to take these freedoms and rights that have been so hard earned, for granted.　So I will conclude this afternoon by urging all of you to leave here with some sense of responsibility toward building Taiwan into a better and safer to live for yourselves, your children, and even your grand children.　With your Taida education, you should take the leadership to engineer those changes in your society that will ensure Taiwan on a path that will lead the country to greater personal freedoms, an even more robust economy, and a dynamic and forward-looking society for others to emulate.　Help Taiwan to sustain a strong economy by staying innovative and exercising your creativity, by developing new echnologies, and by exporting no only your goods and services, but also your ideas and culture.　Taiwan needs a new technology to ultimately replace the one that has been fueled by microelectronics and the computer industry.　Some of us say that it is going to be biotechnology.　Maybe.　We could certainly use your creative inputs and your collective wisdom.　Second, help to instill the concept of sustainable development into your society.　Be environmentally concerned.　The air you breathe, the water your drink, your rivers, forests, soil, and your shorelines need your attention and protection to ensure the biodiversity of the island.　This biodiversity is necessary to ensure the robust ecosystems to keep Taiwan the beauti-ful island it is.　Clean air, clean water, adequate energy, healthy soil and adequate water for irrigation are key to the development of bioagriculture and the development of new industries in Taiwan.　Finally, try to work toward a fair political solution to the Cross-Strait problem.　Mainland China needs your ideas and suggestions on how to improve its economy, on how to open up and develop the western half of the country, how to deal with the corruption and greed that must necessarily accompany instant economic success in any society, and how to develop a political system with the self-esteem, self-confidence and the trust and good will that will do away with the paranoia and the need to suppress human rights. One way to overcome Taiwan's present political isolation would be work towards increasing globalization to facilitate the export some of these ideas abroad in the hopes that they might ultimately be assimilated by our counter-parts on the other side of the strait.

So Graduates, use your NTU education to contribute to building Taiwan along these lines.　The future of Taiwan is in your hands.　Once again, I salute you on this momentous occasion.　Congratulations!