英国文化协会总监、教育参赞Joana Burke致感谢辞

英国文化协会总监、教育参赞Joana Burke致感谢辞

英国文化协会总监、教育参赞Joana Burke

　　尊敬的来宾们，女士们、先生们，我谨代表英国大使馆文化教育处以及雅思的官方合作伙伴非常荣幸地欢迎大家来到这里，共同庆祝国际英语语言考试，也就是中文雅思20周年纪念。

　　自1989年起，雅思就在全球范围之内成为值得信任的、安全的以及权威的考试，它可以真实地衡量出考生在现实生活当中用英语沟通的能力，同时雅思也被认为是全球高端英语考试之一，其完整性、可靠性、研究性也已得到公认，而且有关雅思的数字也是非常巨大的，现在已经有超过六千家认可雅思成绩的机构和院校，全球有125万考生，其中27万是来自中国的考生。

　　但是，对于我来说，雅思更好的一点，也就是像我们英国文化协会这样的文化组织，希望能够成为雅思的主办方之一的原因，是因为雅思过去曾经帮助几百万的人实现了他们自己的梦想，为他们打开了一个海外的学习、工作和移民的大门，如果我们想在不同的国家、不同的人民之间实现更好的相互理解、尊重和信任，我们强烈地认为，获得这样交流的机会是至关重要的。

　　今晚我们这里的20周年纪念，以及我们在今天白天的时候听到的关于雅思的数据、内容以及专家之间的讨论，使得我们了解到了雅思在每一次考试当中对于每一个人的重要意义，今晚之后，我们会邀请20位代表，每一个人代表雅思走过的一年，他们每一个人都对于雅思考试曾经做出重大的贡献，或者说他们也是雅思考试的受益人。

　　但是，由于名额有限，我们只能选出20位代表，但是我知道，对于雅思做出巨大贡献的人远远不止这二十位，没有你们的支持，雅思在中国不可能取得这样巨大的成功，而且我知道，今天在座的很多人都是雅思考试的贡献者。在这个特别的二十周年纪念的时刻，我想衷心地感谢大家对于雅思无价的支持，而且无价是很重的一个词，感谢你们在过去的二十年中给予雅思的支持，同时我也感谢戴主任以及教育部海外考试中心的同事的支持，感谢澳大利亚教育国际开发署，剑桥ESOL考试委员会，他们是雅思全球合作伙伴，以及来自全国31个雅思考试中心的负责人和工作人员，来自于各驻华大使馆的代表，各认可机构的代表，培训学校，留学中介以及教育媒体的代表们，当然还有那些在过去通过雅思考试而取得了巨大成功的所有考生们。同时，最后让我们一起祝雅思考试20岁生日快乐，以及祝贺那些在过去20年当中通过雅思考试取得成功的考生们。

　　Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentleman

　　On behalf of the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy and the IELTS partners, it’s an honour to welcome you here to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the creation of the International English Language Testing System – otherwise known as IELTS or in China as “Ya Si”.

　　Since its launch in 1989, IELTS has come to be globally recognised as a trusted, secure, and authentic test to measure the candidate’s true-to-life ability to communicate in English. It is now widely recognised as leading the high stakes English language testing industry for integrity, reliability and research; and the numbers are indeed impressive - over 6,000 recognising organisation worldwide; 1.25 million candidates and over 270,000 from China.

　　But, for me, a more inspiring part of the IELTS story, and the reason that a cultural relations organisation like the British Council became one of the owners, is the contribution it has made to helping millions of individuals realise their personal ambitions by opening up life-changing opportunties for overseas study, work and immigration. We strongly believe that access to such opportunities is vital if we are to build greater understanding, respect and trust between the people of different cultures.

　　The celebration tonight, therefore, seeks to complement the growth graphs and statistics and learned debate that you have participated in today by reminding ourselves of the huge personal significance and expectation invested in each of those IELTS tests. Later we will be recognising 20 inividuals, one for each year, who have made a significant contribution to, or who have benefited from, IELTS.

　　Unfortunately, we only have 20 places to fill and there are far more than 20 people who have played such a significant role, with out whom the enormous growth that IELTS has seen in China would not have been possible. Many of you are here tonight in this room.

　　On this special 20th anniversary, I would therefore like to extend our sincere thanks to you all for your invaluable (and I do not use the word lightly) support to IELTS over the past two decades. I would like to formally thank Dr Dai and his colleagues from the National Education Examinations Authority , IDP:Australia and Cambridge ESOL (our global IELTS partners), the Directors and staff of our 31 IELTS test centres nationwide, the representatives from the embassies and other receiving organisations, training schools, overseas agents and the education media. And of course the candidates who have achieved great success through the IELTS test.

　　Last but not least, let us all together wish IELTS a happy 20th anniversary and congratulations to all who have made IELTS a success over the past two decades!