Bulletin Special Supplement Bidding Farewell to Prof. and Mrs. Charles K. Kao

楊振寧教授致辭 A dd res s b y P ro f. C .N . Y an g 參 加 「高錕星」命名典禮有感 童年的我，生活在安徽合肥— —個非 常落後閉塞的地方，沒有見世面的機 會 。暑天的夜晚，不下雨的時候，母親 和我常常把藤牀搬到院子中乘涼。新月 的夜空，漫天星斗，億萬顆閃爍的星 星 ，既美麗又神秘，那是我第一次見到 外面的世界。 三十年後的我，生活在美國普林斯 頓 。沒有月亮的夜晚，我和孩子望著天空， 一 同唱著 Tw inkle tw inkle little star, how I wonder what you a r e 。 億萬顆星星仍然在不斷閃爍，仍然既美麗又神秘。 今天以後，我知道每次我和小孫女看夜空的時候，看著仍然閃爍的繁星，既美麗又 神秘，我將會告訴她，其中一顆是「高錕星」。我還會對她說，就在那剎那，數不淸的 光纖，正在傳遞著數不盡的 b i t s ，把人類世界推進高速資訊的新紀元。□ A fte r th e N am in g o f a Star as 'K a o k u e n ' As a little boy, I liv e d in H e fe i, A n h u i, a v e ry b a c kw a rd and u n e n lig h te n e d place, w ith o u t chances o f seeing the outside w o rld . O n summer nights w h e n it d id n o t rain, m y m o the r and I o ften m oved o u r rattan bed to the cou rtya rd to cool off. O n moonless nights, w e looked u p at m illion s and m illion s o f glitte ring stars, b e a u tifu l and m ysterious. For me tha t was the firs t tim e I had seen the great w id e w o rld outside. T h irty years later, I was liv in g in P rinceton, N ew Jersey. D u rin g moonless nights, m y son and I o ften loo ked up at the sky and sang 'Tw in k le tw in k le little star, how I w onde r w ha t you are'. M illions and m illions o f stars were still glittering, beau tifu l and mysterious. A fte r today I k n o w every time I lo o k at the sky w ith m y little granddaughter, adm iring the g litte ring stars, beau tifu l and mysterious, I shall te ll her that one o f them is called 'Kaokuen'. I shall also te ll her that, at that ve ry moment, countless optical fibres are transm itting countless bits, push ing m an k ind in to a century o f h igh speed in fo rm a tion . □ 中文大學校刊．特刊 Chinese University Bulletin • Special Supplement 36