北大校長林建華爲校慶大會念錯"鴻鵠"致歉大綱
Peking University President Lin Jianhua has apologized after his mispronunciation of a word at its 120th anniversary celebration triggered online criticism.
在北京大學校長林建華在該校120週年校慶上唸錯了一個詞的發音、招致網友批評之後，他於日前就此致歉。
The word should be pronounced "honghu", indicating birds that can fly high. The president pronounced it as "honghao", which has no meaning.
“鴻鵠”一詞應該念成“hong hu”，指飛得很高的鳥，但林校長卻讀成了“hong hao”。
It triggered heated debate online, with some netizens criticizing Lin for not knowing the word and questioning whether he was qualified to be head of one of China's best universities.
這一錯誤在網上引發了熱議，一些網民對林校長不知道這個詞語進行了批評，並且質疑他是否有資格擔當這所中國最好高校之一的校長。
Lin posted a letter of apology on Weiming BBS, the university's online bulletin board, last Saturday. He admitted in the letter that "I was not familiar with the pronunciation and learned it this time".
上週六，林校長在北大在線論壇“未名BBS”上發表了致歉信。他承認自己“真的不熟悉這個詞的發音，這次應當是學會了。”
Some netizens applauded Lin's honest and brave apology, acclaiming him for being "able to face his shortcoming". But others did not accept his apology and said Lin should have been "prepared before reading the speech".
一些網民對林校長誠實和勇敢的道歉表示讚賞，並稱贊他“能夠直面自己的不足之處”。但是其他一些網友則不接受他的道歉，稱林校長應該“在發表演講之前做好準備”。
Lin, a chemist, said in the letter that despite being university president, he is "not good in literature and may have disappointed students and friends".
林建華是一名化學家，他在信中表示，雖然是北大校長，但他的文字功底不好，讓同學和朋友失望了。
He said he received a poor education in primary and middle school due to the "cultural revolution" and spent his childhood and youth in a small farm in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
他稱自己由於“文化大革命”的原因，在小學和中學階段都沒有接受到好的教育，是在內蒙古自治區的一個小農場裏度過自己的童年和青少年的。
He barely understood the difference between the subject and verb in a sentence before taking the college entrance exam.
他在參加高考之前才勉強弄懂一個句子中主語和謂語的區別。
"I am not writing this letter to defend my ignorance and mistake, but I want you to know the real me," he wrote. "Your president is not a flawless man. I have shortcomings and deficiencies, and I make mistakes."
他寫道：“我寫這封信，告訴大家這些，並不是想爲自己的無知或失誤辯護，只是想讓你們知道真實的我。你們的校長並不是一個完美的人，也有缺點和不足，也會犯錯誤。”
