Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, dear students,

It is my great honor to deliver a speech at this very first semester opening ceremony of the joint school.

I received this task to deliver speech in English. To make it in order, I wrote a couple of sentences on this paper. Yet the back side of this piece of paper, it’s just like you and the joint school, empty, white and clean. So, I’m very much looking forward to drawing together with you a very beautiful picture of thejoint school!

Dear students, actually, I am a little bit jealous to see you guys with your faces, young and fresh, and your eyes, bright, full of curiosity and expectation.I wish I could sit among you, listening to the story of an old, old professor with the funny Einstein hairstyle. But, as a not very old older brother, let me share with you four key words.

The first is to ENJOY. Enjoy both SWJTU and LEEDS, for these two universities offer you a starting point to explore the world. Enjoy the joint school. The union of these two historical universities will bring you to the frontiers of science and technology. Enjoy your college life, for you will have the best teachers who are willing to tell you all they know. Enjoy your classmates, they will be your life-time friends. If you are lucky enough, enjoy your love and your lovers, for these will accompany you growing up.

The second is to CHERISH. Cherish this opportunity ofbeing the very first generationstudents of the joint school. You are inherently witnesses and coworkers of this uniqueprogram. Cherish your time of being young. The time of life is short, saidWilliam Shakespeare, to spend that shortness basely were too long (人生苦短，若虚度年华，则悲哀至极). I’m not sure if this is the original quote from Shakespeare, but I like it, and would like to share this with you for the rest of the four yearswhich we are going to spendtogether.

My fellow students, the other keywords I would share with you today, are theORIGINAL INTENSION and the HOPE. Always remember your originalintention. Never give up your hope. The world is diverse and variant. You will face challenges andexcitation. You will have success, and believe me, also a lot ofdisappointments and failure. Failure will never fade away. It is not bad to fail. It ishorrible to be afraid of failures.Always remember your original intention, for this will navigate you on the right path. Never lose your hope. Hope will guide you to the opposite bank.Hope will make you young,too.

My dear friends, lovely girls and boys, the last but not the least, I wish you all a very happy beginning of the joint school. May you have a lot of success, and also very important, a lot of fun in the new semester!

Thank you very much!