2010年6月28日

首先代表北大法学院感谢尊敬的罗豪才老师出席今天的毕业生欢送会，他也是今天在座的我们法学院最年长的毕业生；感谢曹康泰老师加入北大法学院，令我们——用姜明安老师的话来说——兵强马壮；更感谢各位远道而来的家长，来参加这个欢送会，来看你们的孩子真的长大了。

因为学院换届，各位同学，我原以为今年不用致辞了，可以轻松了；但新班子还没定下来或是没宣布，临了临了，我只好再一次，也是最后一次，在这里代表北大法学院真诚祝贺并欢送你们毕业。

尽管有些年了，但致辞还真不是件惬意、风光的事。我嗓子也不行，唱不了高调，还老跑调，每每让那些挤在真理身边的人士听了窝心（都往那儿挤，若是把真理挤掉下去，那可就狼狈了）。而且也就那么些话,真诚的重复还是重复，深情的唠叨也还是唠叨，这两年还有了赝品，今年就有，还不能算什么“山寨版”（差别是声称的作者）；因此，我很担心你们厌烦。何况这一次还是临阵磨枪，昨晚和今天一大早我都在办公室写和修改。但怎么办呢？我们生活在一个日益制度化即所谓法治的时代，不管你愿意不愿意、喜欢不喜欢，都得遵守制度，履行职责。

因此就不全是调侃。因为，法治并非某个文件或书本上那些让一些人热血上头让另一些人昏昏欲睡的语词，而就是现代生活少不了的大大小小的规矩，包括毕业由谁致辞，说些什么，以及怎么说等等，自然也就不得假冒。规矩不一定起眼，有时还让人闹心，却大致能给人们一个稳定的期待。而你即将踏入的社会，就是我们参与创造的这样一个制度网络。她对你会有全新的稳定的期待；你要从更多接受他人的关爱和宽容转向更多地关爱和宽容他人；甚至仅仅因为你北大法学院毕业，要求更高、更苛刻。

不错，我说过“发现你的热爱”，那是在新生入学之际，是就大学学习而言；对于毕业生，我的告诫从来都是“责任高于热爱”。记住，承担责任，有时不是因为你喜欢，而是尽管你不喜欢。这是对成人的要求；理解并做到了这一点就算大人了。这或许是毕业对于你最重要的意味。

Plagiarists are large, human-like animals which are found in Academia. When reports came into London Zoo that a wild plagiarist had been spotted forty-five miles south of London, they were not taken seriously. However, as the evidence began to accumulate, experts from the Zoo felt obliged to investigate, for the descriptions given by people who claimed to have seen the plagiarism were extraordinarily similar.

The hunt for the plagiarist began in a small village where a woman picking strawberries saw ‘a large tome’ only five yards away from her. It immediately ran away when she saw it, and experts confirmed that a plagiarist will not attack a human being unless it is cornered. The search proved difficult, for the plagiarist was often observed at one place in the morning and at another place twenty miles away in the evening. Wherever it went, it left behind it a trail of conference attendance and small talks like keynote speeches. Re-prints were seen in a number of places and dust jackets were found clinging to bushes. Several people complained of ‘cut-and-paste noises’ at night and a businessman on a fishing trip saw the plagiarist up a tree. The experts were now fully convinced that the animal was a plagiarist, but where had it come from? As no plagiarist had been reported missing from any university in the country, this one must have been in the possession of a private collector and somehow managed to escape. The hunt went on for several weeks, but the plagiarist was not caught. It is disturbing to think that a dangerous wild animal is still at large in the quiet countryside.

参见: L. G. Alexander, “A Puma at Large,” New Concept English, Bk. 3 Developing Skills.

转载自：Mondanité

另外插播一则图书广告：理查德·波斯纳：《论剽窃》，北京大学出版社，2010年。