Editor's note: On the evening of July 8, 2018, Ms. Gao Jin delivered a speech on behalf of the teachers of Xinya College at the graduation ceremony. Since 2014, Ms. Gao has been giving the "Nineteenth-Century English Literature" course to students studying at Xinya College. She once served as class adviser of students enrolled in 2016 and 2017. Her speech at the graduation ceremony is as follows.

Good evening, everyone! For quite a while, all kinds of feelings welled up in my heart at the thought of this graduation ceremony. The young Xinya College is about to make a farewell to its first class. A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Your study and practice mark the beginning of the college's career. Other teachers and I have witnessed your growth and changes in the past four years. You have grown up from innocent high school students who concentrated on textbook knowledge to the young that also care about and think about many important issues of the contemporary world and China.

Graduation from the college provides you with an opportunity to introspect and embark on a new journey. In the past four years, you may sometimes felt bitter. For example, some students suddenly found in the senior year that they could not reject courses selected; some students were worried about choosing Europe or the United States as the destination of their overseas exchange. From now on, you will gradually learn about more aspects of social life and experience something much more bitter and complicated. Please be fully prepared.

Many students will enter graduate schools and continue to study. If you are going to engage in academic research, please bear in mind that "believing everything in books is worse than having no books at all." You should not completely believe in what the person standing on the podium has said, either. While respecting the existing research, you should also explore independently. Even if the results of exploration aredissatisfactory, you should enjoy the process and not be overwhelmed by the pressure to obtain answers.

I always firmly believe that life itself is beautiful. Mr. Lu Xun said, "Hope is attached to what exists. Where there something exists, there is hope and the future is promising.” From the day of graduating fromthecollege, there will be about 28,500 days left for you, assuming you can reach the age of one hundred. Please cherish every day. No matter what is your life planning or life ideal after graduation, I hope you can be upright and not be tired by the pursuit of worldly success. I hope you can still be optimistic and upright in adversity. "Life in the eyes of ordinary people is empty and insipid." The extraordinary is nurtured in the ordinary. What we need are curiosity and inclusiveness.

I hope you will benefit more people in various ways with your reading, thinking and writing habits developed through the college's general education. You are definitely not guinea pigs. You are Tsinghua graduates in the 21st century. You enjoyed the best educational conditions in China in a hundred years. The faculty, funding, equipment and other resources are far beyond the imagination of your predecessors. In addition, as students of Xinya College, you gained more attention. Nevertheless, you should not become arrogant because of such superior conditions and educational results, and never look down on others or refuse to communicate. Confucius said, "When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them." Such modest and introspective attitude can make our life richer. The Roman historian Plutarch said, "The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting." Many people think it is a saying from the English poet Yeats about comparing two educational models. It is actually misquotation. What Plutarch wanted to emphasize is the action of the subject. It is better to practice than to listen and listening alone is not enough. Deep thinking is a warm fire and only with the fire can one dispel the coldness and darkness in the mind. At Xinya College, we united as a fire. After we separate, every one of us should ignite the fire in our heart.

Please bring the "kindling" of Xinya College to more places!