October 18 witnessed the commencement ceremony of the 2020 postgraduate students of the School of Foreign Studies in the Yifu Auditorium.
Prof. Mao Haoran, dean of School of Foreign Studies, Researcher Zhang Yongning, secretary of the Party Committee of School of Foreign Studies, Prof. Xu Wanzhi, director of Professorial Committee, Prof. Wang Xinbo, associate dean of School of Foreign Studies, Associate Prof. Han Shuqin, associate dean of School of Foreign Studies, Prof. Guo Yueqin, associate dean of School of Foreign Studies, Associate Researcher Zou Weizhong, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of School of Foreign Studies, the tutors of the Class of 2020, all counselors, all postgraduate students of the Class of 2020, members of the Student Party Branch, cadres of the General Committee, cadres of the Student Union and the Postgraduate Student Union attended the ceremony, which accounted for more than 100 people. And the ceremony was hosted by Prof. Sun Daman, associate dean of School of Foreign Studies.
Now it’s time to focus on the ceremony!
At 9:00, the ceremony began with the solemn national anthem.
The teachers and students present sang the national anthem.
Dean and Doctoral Supervisor Prof. Mao Haoran delivered a speech.
Professor Mao Haoran, dean of the School of Foreign studies, delivered a speech entitled “Be hushed but not rushed”. Based on personal experience, he puts forward four expectations to the freshmen:
First, one should learn to swim upstream to overcome the inherent weaknesses and keep natural instincts under control. The first instinct rooted in our minds sees laziness. To control this instinct represents to take efforts under set-backs, to move ahead despite difficulties, and to stay away from the comfort zone. You have to find your own groove, overcome inertia, take actions and get yourself going again, which sees the model of thriving. One will feed his efforts to addiction to hard-working, especially, after tasting the sweetness of it. The second instinct is obsequiousness that people are easily subjected to. One must stand up to the tutor’s spot-on reminders and criticism, and reduce glassy-eyed. The third instinct is being too controlling. One must possess a sense of boundaries, leaving rooms for others, for himself and for academic for academic. The fourth instinct is learning without thinking. One should carry out critical thinking thoroughly, and learn to ask questions featuring logical, academic, and that lack of information.
Second, one must learn to think systematically and manage time well. The first principle of it is to be fully prepared. One must learn to plan ahead and don’t just wait for a better state of mind even in a bad state, one can still make adjustments through self-psychological to complete study and research. For time is analogous to a rabid dog, if you do not run faster, it will bite you sooner or later. The second principle is to sort in order of importance rather than of urgency. Be sure to do the important and non-urgent things first, then the urgent and unimportant. And let the important and non-urgent things be the main theme of study and life. The third principle is to have high efficient communication. Communication should be directly to the point, which can not only manage their own time but also save the time of others.
Third, we must learn to think differently. Try to debate with yourself in an objective point of view and focus on ways, skills and tones to solve the problem. Stop saying that “I am all for your own good”, and always look for a better way to tackle the same problem. Moreover, only insist on constructive works instead of wasting your time on the unproductive and nonconstructive. And don’t forget your original aspiration, and don’t be frustrated by the constructive and never turn it to the destructive.
Fourth, ones must learn to nourish each other and maintain the true heart. The company that can nourish each other sees the longest confession. In the process of getting along with others, firstly, don’t just blindly asking everything since one shall know how to give, know how to be grateful, and never take everything for granted; Secondly, weaken the social utilitarianism and know how to treat each other sincerely, to create a comfortable atmosphere, to help learn and research. And here is a suggestion that you should avoid using some expressions such as “huh” and “if not, forget it”.
On behalf of the freshmen, Du Bojie and Jiang Tingwei, postgraduate students of the Class of 2020, said that they would maintain the spirit of hard work as well as the determination and courage to tackle difficulties, to think globally and act locally, and, eventually, to be the messenger of culture communications and the backbone of academic research.
On behalf of current students, Yu Jianjian and Yu Haodong, postgraduate students of 2019 class, shared their personal stories in UPC. They believed that postgraduates must be active and insist on all-round development, which not only to improve their professional level, but also to cultivate the ability to adapt and learn. By combining interdisciplinary disciplines to develop personal advantages.
Additionally, they encouraged freshmen to further the sense of patriotism and view globally to make contributions in academy and practice.
Dr. Zhao Tingting, the tutor of masters, gave a speech on be half of the faculties. She put forward four points to the freshmen from her own experience: firstly, love the language one study and keep the original aspiration when enrolled in UPC; secondly, calm down, fasten your mind on the book and cherish the time you have to study; thirdly, keep optimistic to resolve the momentary difficulties and make good mental adjustments; fourthly, strive to become a better version of yourself and meet your own wonderfulness with confidence. She wished everyone to cherish the three years of being a postgraduate and sincerely wished everyone to learn more, make achievements, and do not have regrets.
Prof. Xu Wanzhi, master tutor and director of the professorial committee of the college, gave a speech on be half of the faculties and answered the question of how to improve one’s research ability to the freshmen with his own experience. He said that it was necessary to have a sense of questioning to find questions in our daily life.To accomplish this goal, one must be highly sensitive to daily linguistic phenomenon and facts, then discover and accumulate the interested questions with research values. Namely, if you have a sensitivity to linguistic issues in daily lives, it is rewarding to find interesting and research-worthy issues.
In order to facilitate teachers, students and parents to watch the opening ceremony, the opening ceremony was on air on the Tiktok platform, received wide attentions.
Translator: Zhao Yanhan, Wang Di, Xiu Wenxing
Proofreader: Fu Xiao
Tutor: Fu Xiao
