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西交利物浦大學2020屆畢業典禮
學生代表致辭——楊月含
尊敬的各位教授、工作人員，尊敬的嘉賓、家屬和將要畢業的同學們:
大家好，我的名字是月含。我要感謝大家和我一起參加並慶祝這個特殊的日子，同時我也想對2020屆畢業生説聲祝賀你們畢業了。雖然我現在很緊張，但今天能代表2020屆畢業生演講，令我感到非常榮幸。在開始演講之前，我必須承認寫這篇演講稿並不比寫作業和寫畢業論文容易多少。首先，我可能要説一些話讓你們笑一下，然後再讓你們哭一下。在你哭的同時，我還要説一些有意義的東西，來激勵你對現在或未來的看法。所以正如你瞭解到的，寫演講稿真的不是一件容易的事。
但是，當我開始回想自己在西交利物浦大學的一年半時間裏，和教授、家人、朋友、同學們一起度過的碩士經歷，再想想2020年這特殊的一年，我發現也許演講並沒有我想象中的那麼難，而我也相信這些經歷會成為我們大家牢記心中的回憶。
今天是我們人生中重要的一天，我現在站在這裏，想起了那些難忘的時刻。對於我們中的一些人來説，這可能是學生時代的最後一天，但對於所有的畢業生來説，這將是他們新旅程的開始。我相信大家都會珍惜在西交利物浦大學學習成長的經歷，因為西浦也在和我們一起成長。由於今年的疫情，我們打算出國深造、找工作就業的計劃都被打亂了。不過，也正是因為這次疫情，使今年的畢業典禮變得與眾不同。作為一個即將畢業的學生，我相信在座的每一位都有自己的2020故事和將要畢業的興奮，而這些都將伴隨他們的一生。
於我而言，作為西浦國際商學院的一名學生，我在研究生學習階段面臨了諸多挑戰，語言就是其中之一。西浦是一所國際化的大學，英語是我們主要使用的語言，然而對我和絕大多數同學來説，英語則是第二語言。因此，我在閲讀和交流中有時會遇到語言障礙。但是在學習的過程中，我瞭解到溝通和合作不僅在現實的商業世界中起着重要的作用，在課堂上也是如此。儘管語言上有一定的難度，但我和我的組員們都能有效地進行交流，以達到我們共同的目標。在小組討論中，我們用肢體語言和手勢來幫助表達，這也是學習英語和學習對方語言的有效途徑。我想大部分留學生都提高了自己的普通話水平，當然，也包括與淘寶的客服的溝通能力。所以，在我們的合作和努力下，結果總是令人滿意的。能夠和大家分享這樣獨特的經歷，我感到非常幸運和榮幸。
語言並不是我們在研究生階段面臨的唯一挑戰。因為我們的課時安排真的很緊湊，所以必須保證安排好自己的時間，從而能夠上好每一節課，參加每一次小組會議，完成足夠多的額外學習活動課時以及作業。這時，截止日期便成了我們最主要的動力。相信你與我一樣，都曾為了確保在截止日期前提交作業，而瘋狂地趕作業。而且截止日期彷彿是所有教授都討論過並且一致同意的，因為它們幾乎都出現在同一天，或者每個星期總有幾個截止日期來保證我們忙得不可開交。因此，我很難平衡我的學習、作為研究助理的工作和我的社交生活，我也試圖好好地休息。而這也使得時間管理成為我在碩士學習期間的另一個挑戰。我必須提前計劃好所有的事情，以確保我有足夠的時間來學習，完成我的課程作業，與朋友出去玩，或者我可以休息放鬆一下。相信大家和我差不多，甚至在碩士期間中要做的事情更多。在每一次瘋狂的 "截止日期周 "或者 "截止日期月"之後，我們都有一種劫後餘生的感覺。然而，當我們看到自己優異的成績時，我們知道，所有的努力都是有回報的。
雖然研究生階段給我們帶來了很多不同的挑戰，但正是這些挑戰促進我們去學習和成長。今年世界也面臨着重大挑戰，新冠疫情影響着世界上的每一個人，給全世界的社會、經濟造成了嚴重的損失。在此，我想特別感謝所有為控制這場疫情做出貢獻的人，因為他們的不懈努力，我們才有機會在這裏一起舉行畢業典禮，我也相信世界終將戰勝這場疫情。正因為這次特殊的經歷，我們將會更有信心地去應對未來的一切挑戰。再次祝賀所有的畢業生，同時非常感謝親愛的西浦、教授、工作人員，以及家人、朋友和同學與我分享這段旅程。祝願你們在未來的道路上越走越好。謝謝！
Graduate representative's address - Yuehan Yang, MSc Operations and Supply Chain Management, IBSS
Dear Professors, staff, distinguished guests, families, and fellow graduates,
My name is Yuehan, I want to thank you all for joining in and celebrating this special day with us and I also want to say congratulations, graduates of the class of 2020. As nervous as I am now, I also feel much honoured to represent the graduating class of 2020 to deliver this speech today. Before I start, I have to admit that writing this speech is not much easier than writing papers and writing my dissertation. First of all, I may have to say something to make you laugh, and then make you cry a little bit. While you are crying, I also have to say something meaningful to inspire you about the present or the future. So as you can see, it is really not an easy task.
But when I started to think about my master's experience in the past year and a half at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University with my professors, families, friends, and my classmates, and then I thought about the experience of this special year of 2020, I realiase maybe delivering a speech is not as hard as I thought, and I believe that these experiences will become unforgettable memories for all of us.
Today is an important day in our lives. When I am standing here, it also reminds me of all the memorable moments. It might be the last day for some of us as students but it is a new beginning of a journey for all graduates. I believe that all of us would cherish the experience of studying and growing at XJTLU as it is also growing with us. Due to this year's pandemic, our plans of going abroad for further studies or looking for and taking up jobs have been disrupted. However, it is also because of the pandemic, our graduation this year has become unique. Talking from the perspective of a graduating student, I believe everyone here has had their own share of stories for this year and excitement of graduation that they will carry along with their life.
For me, as a student of the International Business School Suzhou at XJTLU, I faced many challenges in my postgraduate study, and language is one of them. XJTLU is an international university, where English is the main language we use. It is the second language for me and for most of other students here. Therefore, I sometimes experienced language barriers during reading and communication. However, in the process of learning, I have learned that communication and cooperation not only play a significant role in the real business world but also in the class. Despite the difficulty of language, my group members and I have managed to communicate and cooperate effectively with each other to achieve our common goals. We used body language and gestures to help us express meanings in group discussions, which were also useful ways for us to learn English and to learn each other's language. I think most international students improved their mandarin skills, or, of course, including communication skills with Taobao customer service. So, thanks to our cooperation and efforts, the results turned out to be satisfactory. I feel so lucky and honoured to share the unique experience with you.
However, language was not the only challenge we faced in postgraduate school. Since our class schedules were really tight, we have to make sure we arrange our time well to attend every class and every group meeting, to complete enough hours for our additional learning activities, and to finish our coursework. And the deadlines are always the primary productive force. I believe that we have all gone through crazy hours to make sure that we submitted our assignments right before deadlines. And it seemed that the deadlines were discussed and agreed by all professors. Because deadlines were pretty much all around the same date or each week always had a couple of deadlines to keep us busy. So it was hard to balance my study, my work as a research assistant, and my social life, and I also tried to get enough time to sleep as well. And this makes time management become another challenge for me during my master's study. I had to plan everything ahead to make sure I got enough time to study, to finish my coursework, to hang out with my friends, or I could take a break and just relax. I believe everyone was pretty much the same as me, or even had more things to do during their master's life. After every crazy "deadline week" or "deadline month", we had the feeling of being a survivor of disasters. However, when we saw our excellent results, we knew that all the efforts were paid off.
Although graduate school challenged us in so many different ways, it is those challenging moments that have helped us learn and grow. Same as the challenge the world has been facing this year, the pandemic of COVID-19 has affected everyone all over the world, causing serious damage to humans, society, and economy worldwide. By standing here, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to helping control this pandemic. Because of the efforts of each of us, now we can hold a ceremony here together to celebrate our graduation. It proves that we have the confidence to overcome the challenge of the pandemic, and I believe the world will overcome it eventually. With this special experience, we will be more confident to cope with all the challenges arising in the future. Congratulations again to you, all the graduates. And thank you very much, our dear XJTLU, professors, staff, families, friends, and fellow classmates for sharing this journey with me. I wish you all the best of luck with the future ahead. Thank you!