潘基文2013年斯坦福大学演讲

爱思英语编者按：当地时间1月17日下午，联合国秘书长潘基文在斯坦福大学发表演讲，称亚太地区经济快速发展驱动世界转型，鼓励青年学子担当世界公民责任。

联合国秘书长潘基文2013年斯坦福大学演讲

Remarks at Stanford University

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Palo Alto, California (USA), 17 January 2013

It is a real pleasure to be here at this prestigious university.

Stanford has certainly made its mark on the world.

You dominate the field. You tackle obstacles. You reach your goal.

And that’s just your football team!

Congratulations on winning the Rose Bowl.

And while I am at it, let me also salute your outstanding women’s basketball team.

Stanford’s success on the playing field has been clear for years in the field of international affairs.

I have personally benefitted from the leadership, advice and guidance of so many of Stanford’s own.

Secretary of Defense William Perry and Secretary of State George Schultz have helped lead the way on nuclear disarmament – reflecting a consensus for common sense solutions that transcends party lines.

I have also worked closely through the years with Secretary Condoleezza Rice …Ambassador Susan Rice ... Ambassador Michael Armacost …and many others including a good number of United Nations staff serving around the world.

Our wonderful hosts this afternoon – the Walter Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center and the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies – have both greatly advanced global understanding and the work of the United Nations.

I am honoured to be here to thank you deeply for all of that.

But I am also here for another reason.

I try my best to travel this country, engage directly with the American people, raise awareness about the United Nations and thank you for your support.

Every day, the United Nations feeds over 90 million people – and assists more than 33 million refugees. We vaccinate almost 60 percent of the world’s children. We keep the peace with 115,000 peacekeepers in 15 operations on 4 continents.

We deliver more humanitarian aid than anyone and to the toughest places. We fight poverty and climate change and advance democracy, supporting dozens of elections around the world. And we push for human rights and education everywhere.

The record shows whether in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan or beyond, an investment in the UN yields an outsize return. By working with the UN, no country needs to tackle big challenges alone. And no country is alone in footing the bill.

More and more often in our globalized world, good international solutions are in the national interest.

I want to thank you and all of the American people for that vital support.

More specifically, let me say how good it is to be in this great state.

California is a beacon for the world. You spark the global imagination. You are an epicentre of entrepreneurship and innovation.

You are on the frontier of new ways to solve problems and see the world.

The United Nations itself was born in the Bay area with the San Francisco Conference that approved the UN Charter. And in many ways my life as a global citizen also came to life here.

This is the first place I visited outside of Korea.

More than 50 years ago, I came to California as a wide-eyed high school student. I was part of a Red Cross exchange program.

I was a simple country boy. South Korea was a poor country, still devastated by the war less than ten years before.

Our group travelled around the country. We even met President John F. Kennedy in the Rose Garden.

But, for me, it all started about 70 miles from here – in Novato, California to be exact.

That is where I stayed as a guest of the Patterson family for 8 unforgettable days. The Patterson family became my American family and Mrs. Patterson, my American mother.

We have stayed in close touch over the last five decades.

Mrs. Patterson is now 95 years old.

And I am pleased to say that she is with us today.

Please join me in welcoming my American mother, Libba Patterson and my American brothers and sisters, the Patterson family.