在最困难的岁月里，对牛津的记忆支撑着我。那些记忆是我内心最重要的力量之一，帮助我应对必须直面的挑战。
那些记忆其实非常简单。有些是这样的日子，我和朋友一起在查韦尔(Cherwell)河撑船前行，坐在圣休学院的草地上念书，或者在图书馆却没有看书，而是望向窗外的风景。
但它们是无比珍贵的回忆——因为我度过了快乐的人生。而这让我能更好地理解缅甸的青年人——他们希望过快乐的人生，却从没机会引领自己的生活。
当我今天再次看到牛津，当我看到今天牛津的学子，当我昨天在圣休学院遇见他们，我又重新看到曾是年轻学生的自己：无忧无虑、幸福快乐、正直美好。我们曾是如此美好，今天的学子们是如此美好，因为他们有机会做一个美好的人。
这是一个简单却重要的词。当你望着他们的脸庞，你看不到任何阴暗，他们是如此明朗，就像曾经的我们——因为我们有机会变的明朗。我们没有恐惧——因为没有理由让我们恐惧——这让我们能对世界敞开心胸。
照片来源网络（1966年，昂山素季和同学庆祝期末）
我记得很多小事。我经常回想起和我最好的朋友安·帕斯特那克·斯内德（Ann Pasternak Slater）一起坐公车。公车在班伯里路（Banbury Road）上行驶，我们并排坐着，四个穿牛仔裤的膝盖紧挨着，然后安低头一看，说道：“好不公平啊，连膝盖都是不一样的。”还真是那样。我记不太清楚是谁的膝盖，但一个人的膝盖尖尖的，而另一个的膝盖却是圆润的。这是你学生时代会注意谈论的细节，而你整个哲学观就建立在这些细小的事实上，我们有不一样的膝盖，我们生来不同。
这个世界生来不同，但我们并不害怕。不同意味着我们在一起会更强大，我们学会应对各自必须面对的不同问题。
此刻我必须提一下我受人尊敬的校友，因为当我被软禁时，约翰·勒·卡雷（ John Le Carré）著名间谍推理小说作家）的书也给我很大帮助。书是一种逃离——也许我不能称其为逃离，但是它们是通往更广阔世界的旅行。更广阔的世界并不只是其他国家，也是各种思想和理念。而这些精神旅行让我觉得我并没有在人类世界与世隔绝。我从不孤独，因为有无数条大道通向远方，远离我身处的一隅。
而我能尽力做到这一切，都是因为我在牛津的岁月，因为我在牛津交的朋友。
牛津对我而言最重要的学习，不是我在那里必须阅读的课本和图书，而是学会尊重人类文明中最好的部分。
人类文明最好的部分来自世界各地。它不局限于牛津，不局限于缅甸，不局限于任何一个国家。但因为在牛津我学会了尊重所有人类文明最好的部分，它帮助我度过很多不算太好的岁月。
因为那些不好也许有一天，仍然可能会改善，成为最好。这给予我对人类的信心。也给我对人类内在智慧的信心——并不是所有人都被赋予这种智慧，但已经有足够多的智慧让整个世界分享，并为他人物尽其用。
我常常觉得，对于缅甸来说过去几十年最伤感的，是我们的大学学子缺少校园生活。校园生活对年轻人来说应该是这样的生活，他们可以创造自己的世界，或者把世界变成自己的，并且有充分自由和条件去实现这些。我们在缅甸的青年人过去几十年都没有这样的自由。因为有观念认为要维持学生秩序，于是校园生活被粉碎了。可这根本不可能啊：所有人都知道学生没法被维持秩序！所以我们不该浪费时间在这无用也不讨好的使命上。我希望能看到缅甸校园生活恢复往日的光彩。如果我的母校牛津大学能帮助恢复缅甸的校园，我将无比感激。
我希望我们的年青人能感到，这个世界属于他们而他们也属于这个世界。希望他们能在迈入成年的门槛上，满怀信心自己能为这个世界做到最好，也相信这世界同样希望能给他们最好的。
牛津教会我去重视人的价值。因为当我在牛津时我是唯一来自的缅甸学生。在开始的若干年，我相信我是整个牛津唯一的缅甸人。而我所有的朋友都不是缅甸人，当然有不少英国学生，但也有来自世界其他国家的学生，来自加纳、来自印度、来自泰国、来自斯里兰卡，来自世界各地。
照片来源网络(昂山素季和当时来自世界各地的好友)
而我从未感到我们有所不同。我们都一样，都是这所大学的学子，而这所大学有一种魔力，让你觉得没有什么可以让彼此产生隔阂，——不论是宗教、种族、国籍，甚至是学业的表现。
牛津是思想无比包容的地方。没有任何人会因为他人的不同，或者取得成就的多少而对别人另眼相看。牛津相信每个人都有各自的价值和尊严。
这也是为什么在我为缅甸人权奋斗的岁月里，我觉得我在做一件我的母校会赞同的事。而感到身后有这样的赞同，给了我莫大的帮助。
缅甸还在道路的起点。这条路不是你在英国会看到的公路：它不平坦；没有维护保养；事实上，它还不存在。这是一条我们必须为自己开拓的道路。这是一条我们前行时踩出的路。
此刻，太多人对缅甸有太高的期望。他们觉得我们脚下的路，就像我从伦敦来牛津的高速公路——快得几乎让我晕车——直通且平坦。对我来说这也许有些过于平坦直达，因为我不习惯如此平坦。
但我们的路，如我所说，是一条我们必须自己开创的路，艰难地一寸又一寸。而我希望当我们努力时有你们同在。我希望你们能理解这条路存在于我们的心灵和脑海，但事实上还不在我们眼前，而我们需要你的帮助，以及来自世界各地的帮助，以确保这条道路能通向我们希望我们祖国到达的彼岸。
那么我希望我的祖国去往何方？24年来我第一次海外旅行并不是这次来欧洲，而是在5月底去的泰国。在那里我住在一家叫香格里拉的旅馆。我想每个牛津人，或者至少大部分人，都知道在《消失的地平线》小说中，香格里拉被描绘为“有一点像牛津的地方”。
那么我们希望去向何方？我希望去的地方，我希望我们人民去的地方，是他们能亲眼看见世界有多开阔宽广的地方，也是他们能在世界中找到自身位置的地方——同样开阔宽广，足够包容每个人。
我希望在缅甸能有一片像牛津的香格里拉的地方。
照片来源网络(1977年，昂山素季和好友在牛津)
这是我希望奋斗的方向：非常实际，因为这需要苦干、知识、现代科研，当然还有资金。我们不能忘了资金，它是如今建设任何成功机构都至关重要的部分。我强调资金因为我希望我们所有的朋友，所有心怀美好愿望的人，都牢记对缅甸的投资应该伴随相应的责任感，也希望提醒那些想利用缅甸给予的新商机的人们，要牢记在投资者收益的同时，我们缅甸人民应该同样获益。
请帮助我们确保所有在缅甸的投资都能有助民主和人权，不论是商业的、发展的、人道的，这一切投入在某种意义上都是投资。请确保这些投资能在我们祖国帮助推动你们倡导的价值观——那些你们曾教导我的价值观。
今天对我而言是一个非常感动的日子。感动因为我发现过往岁月常在，从未远离，但你可以从过往岁月中汲取最美好的部分，帮你向未来前行。在我的学院，我母院圣休学院，我发现我可以认出一草一木：即使有了很多新的建筑，他们仍和古老的部分浑然一体。新老建筑一起构成一幅如此和谐的画卷，并肩伫立宛如对未来的承诺。
我非常骄傲能回到过去的学院，院长、他家人以及师生给予我和我团队的欢迎让我深感温暖。学生们的热情也无与伦比。
我觉得我又回到年轻学生时代的岁月。我觉得那些日子并没有改变。某种意义上，今天的我和当年牛津的那个年轻学生并没有不同，但我又截然不同，因为我不得不面对不同的人生经历。
但当我把所有经历随我带回牛津时，我发现牛津足够博大也足够宽广，博大宽广到也能包容我所有新的经历。
正如我提到的，前方的路注定不会一帆风顺。但是我知道牛津期望它所有学子做到最好。今天，因为牛津接纳我为它的一员，我能更坚强地前行，全力做到最好，来迎接未来道路上新的挑战。
中英文对照如有出入，以英文为准。
Aung San Suu Kyi
Full transcript of Aung San Suu Kyi's Encaenia speech.
Today, many strands of my life have come together. The years that I spent as a student at St Hugh’s; the years I spent in Park Town as a wife and mother; the years I spent under house arrest - when my university, the University of Oxford, stood up and spoke up for me.
During the most difficult years I was upheld by memories of Oxford. These were among the most important inner resources that helped me to cope with all the challenges I had to face.
The memories were in fact very simple ones. Some are days like these, when I went on the Cherwell with friends in a punt, or sat reading on the lawn at St Hugh’s, or in the library - not looking at a book, but out of the windows.
But these were very precious memories – because I had lived a happy life. And this made me understand so much better the young people of Burma – who wanted to live a happy life and who had never been given an opportunity to lead one.
When I see Oxford now, when I see the students of Oxford now, when I met some of them at St Hugh’s yesterday, I saw myself again as a young student: carefree, happy, nice. We were nice, the students now are nice. They have been given a chance to be nice.
It’s a very simple word, but it’s an important one. When you look at their faces, you don’t see any hidden agenda there. They were so open, as we were open – because we had been given a chance to be open. We were not afraid – there was no reason for us to be afraid – and this opened us to the world.
I remember small things. I remember so often going in a bus, with my very dear friend Ann Pasternak-Slater, sitting side by side, in a bus on the Banbury Road, our four denim-clad knees next to each other; and Ann looked down, and said: ‘It’s not fair, even knees are different.’ And it was true. I’m not sure quite which way it was, but one set of knees was pointed, and one set of knees was round. These were the sort of things we noticed as students, and talked about, and built a whole philosophy on this little fact that we had different sets of knees, our knees were shaped differently.
The world was shaped differently. But we were not afraid of it. The differences meant that we were all the stronger. We learned how to cope with the different problems that we would have to face.
I have to mention one of my fellow honorands at this time, because when I was under house arrest I was also helped by the books of John le Carré. They were an escape - I won’t call it an escape, they were a journey into the wider world. Not the wider world just of other countries, but of thoughts and ideas. And these were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind. I was never alone, because there were many, many avenues to places far away from where I was.
And all this I was able to do to a great extent because of the years I spent at Oxford, the friends I made there.
The most important thing for me about Oxford was not what I learnt there in terms of set texts and set books we had to read, but in terms of a respect for the best in human civilisation.
And the best in human civilisation comes from all parts of the world. It is not limited to Oxford; it is not limited to Burma; it is not limited to any other country. But the fact that in Oxford I had learned to respect all that is the best in human civilisation helped me to cope with what was not quite the best.
Because what is not yet quite the best may still, one day, become the best; it may be improved. It gave me a confidence in humankind. It gave me a confidence in the innate wisdom of human beings – not given to all of us, but given to enough of us for the rest of the world to share, and to make use of it for others.
I have often thought that the saddest thing about Burma over the last few decades has been the lack of campus life for our university students. Campus life means a life in which young people can create their own world – or make the world their own. They have the freedom and the facilities to do so. Our young people in Burma have not had this freedom for the last few decades. University life has been shattered because of a perceived need to keep students in order. That’s not possible: everybody knows that students can’t be kept in order! So we shouldn’t spend our time on such a futile and really undesirable mission. I would like to see university life restored to Burma in all its glory. And I would be so grateful if my old university, the University of Oxford, could help to bring this about once again.
I would like our young people to know what it is to feel that the world belongs to them and they belong to the world. To be able to stand at the threshold of full adulthood in full confidence that they will be able to do their best for the world and in the belief that the world also wants to do the best for them.
Oxford taught me to value humankind, because when I was in Oxford I was the only student from Burma. I think I was the only Burmese person resident in the university for the first couple of years. And all my friends were non-Burmese – of course English students, but students from all over the world, from Ghana, from India, from Thailand, from Sri Lanka, from all over the world.
And I never felt that they were different from me. We were all the same: we were all students of this university, which has some magic that makes us feel that nothing separates us - neither religion, nor race, nor nationality, nor even different levels of excellence in academic affairs.
Oxford is a place of tremendous broad-mindedness. Nobody discriminates against anybody else because he or she may be different, or may not have achieved as much as others. Every human being is expected to have a value and a dignity of her kind or his kind.
And that’s why throughout the years when I was struggling for human rights in Burma I felt I was doing something of which my old university would have approved. And to feel the approval behind me has helped me a great deal.
Burma is at the beginning of a road. It is not the sort of road that you find in England: it is not smooth; it is not well-maintained; in fact, it is not yet there. It is a road that we will have to carve out for ourselves. This is a road that we will have to build as we go along.
Too many people are expecting too much from Burma at this moment. They think that the road where we are standing is like one of those highways on which I travelled from London to Oxford – and almost got carsick! – very straight and very smooth. Too smooth and too straight perhaps for me, because I not used to such smoothness.
But our road is one which is, as I said, one we have to build for ourselves, inch by difficult inch. And I hope that you will all be with us while we are doing this. I hope that you will understand that this road is there in our hearts and minds, but not actually there yet in real fact. And that we will need your help and the help of others all around the world to make sure that it leads to where we want our country to go.
And where do I want my country to go? My first trip abroad in 24 years but not really this one to Europe, but to Thailand, towards the end of May. And I stayed in a hotel called the Shangri-La. And I think every Oxonian, or most every, knows that in Lost Horizon Shangri-La was described as “something a little like Oxford”.
So where do we want to go to? Where I want to go to, where I want our people to go to, is a place which will enable them to see for themselves how wide open the world can be, and how to find our own place in the world - which is also open enough and wide enough for everybody to be included.
I would like a bit of Oxonian Shangri-la in Burma.
This is what I would like to work towards: very practical, because it’s based on hard work, and knowledge, and modern research, and of course funding. We mustn’t forget funding, which is a very important part of building any kind of successful institution these days. And I mention it because I would like all our friends, all our well-wishers, to remember that investing in Burma should be done with a sense of responsibility, and to remind those who are thinking of making use of the new opportunities that Burma is offering to remember that we, the people of Burma, need to benefit from these investments as much as investors themselves.
Please help us to make sure that all investments in Burma – business, development, humanitarian, all these in a sense are investments – that these investments are democracy-friendly and human rights-friendly. That these investments will help to promote in our country the kind of values for which you stand – the kind of values that you taught me.
Today has been a very moving day for me. Moving because I have found that the past is always there, it never goes away, but you can select what is best from the past to help you go forward to the future. In my college, my old college St Hugh’s, I found that I could recognise every bit of it: even though there were very many new buildings, yet they had merged in with the old. It was such a harmonious picture of the old and the new standing together as a promise for the future.
I was very proud to be back in my old college, and warmed by the reception given to me and my team by the principal of the college and his family, and by the students. The warmth of the students was wonderful.
I felt that I was back again in my young student days. I didn’t feel any different to them. And in a sense I am no different now to the young student who was at Oxford so many years before. But also I am different, because I’ve had to face different experiences.
But I bring all these experience back to me here at Oxford, and I find that Oxford is big enough and broad enough to contain my new experiences as well.
The road ahead, as I said, is not going to be easy. But Oxford, I know, expects the best of its own. And today, because they have recognised me as its very own, I am strengthened to go forward to give of my very best in meeting the new challenges that lie ahead.
照片来源网络
