Words of Advice at Graduating

graduates and my fellow students,

you all are leaving your alma mater now. i have no gift to present you all except a piece of advice.

what i would like to advise is that "don't give up your study." most of the courses you have taken are partly for your certificate. you had no choice but to take them. from now on, you may study on your own. i would advise you to work hard at some special field when you are still young and vigorous. your youth will be gone that will never come back to you again. when you are old, and when your energy are getting poorer, you will not be able to as you wish to. even though you have to study in order to make a living, studies will never live up to you. making a living without studying, you will be shifted out in three or five years. at this time when you hope to make it up, you will say it is too late. perhaps you will say, "after graduation and going into the society, we will meet with an urgent problem, that is, to make a living. for this we have no time to study. even though we hope to study, we have no library nor labs, how can we study further?"

i would like to say that all those who wait to have a library will not study further even though they have one and all these who wait to have a lab will not do experiments even though they have one. when you have a firm resolution and determination to solve a problem, you will naturally economize on food and clothing.

as for time, i should say it's not a problem. you may know that every day he could do only an hour work, not much more than that because darwin was ill for all his life. you must have read his achievements. every day you spend an hour in reading 10 useful pages, then you will read more than 3650 pages every year. in 30 years you will have read 110,000 pages.

my fellow students, reading 110,000 pages will make you a scholar. but it will take you an hour to read three kinds of small-sized newspapers and it will take you an hour and a half to play four rounds of mahjian pieces. reading small-sized newspapers or playing mahjian pieces, or working hard to be a scholar? it's up to you all.

henrik ibsen said, "it is your greatest duty to make yourself out."

studying is then as tool as casting. giving up studying will destroy yourself.

i have to say goodbye to you all. your alma mater will open her eyes to see what you will be in 10 years. goodbye!

诸位毕业生同学：

你们现在要离开母校了，我没有什么礼物送给你们，只好送你们一句话吧。这句话是："不要抛弃学问"。以前的功课也许有一大部分是为了这张文凭，不得已而做的。从今以后，你们可以依自己的心愿去研究了。趁着现在年富力强时候，努力做一种专门的学问。少年是一去不返的，等到精力衰退时，要做学问也来不及了。既为吃饭计，学问绝不会辜负人的。吃饭而不求学问，三年五年之后，你们都要被先进的少年淘汰掉的。到那时再想做点学问来补救，恐怕已晚了。

有人说："出去做事之后，生活问题急需解决，哪有功夫去读书？即使要做学问，既没有图书馆，也没有实验室，哪能做学问？"

我要对你们说：凡是要等到有了图书馆才读书的，有了图书馆也不肯读书；凡是要等到有了实验室才做研究的，有了实验室也不肯做研究。你有了决心要解决一个问题，自然会节衣缩食去买书，自然会想出法子来购置仪器。

至于时间，更不成问题。达尔文一生多病，不能多做工，每天只能做一小时的工作。你们看他的成绩！每天花一小时看十页有用的书，每年可看三千六百多页书，三十年读十一万页书。

诸位，十一万页的书可以使你成为一个学者了。可是，每天看三种小报也得费你一小时的功夫；四圈麻将也得费你一个半小时的光阴。看小报呢？打麻将呢？还是努力做一位学者？全靠你自己选择！

易卜生说："你的最大责任是把你这块材料铸成器。"

学问便是铸器的工具。抛弃了学问便是毁了你自己。

再会了！你们的母校眼睁睁地要看你们十年之后成什么器。