Graduation Dinner 毕业晚宴

It is my joy to attend the graduation dinner of the first batch of graduates who have completed their nine months of cross-cultural training. To mark their completion, one of the highlights is having dinner with the sponsors and friends.

Although eating or having meal together is important in many cultural settings, there are implications for having graduation dinner. The first implication is a celebration as the graduates have laboured for nine months. Indeed, celebration is vital for people who have worked hard and completed a task, a program or a project. The celebration can be an encouragement for those who have laboured irrespective of the level of achievement.

The second implication of the graduation with the sponsors participating is a preparation for the days ahead. As far as the cross-cultural training is concerned, there will be new batch of recruits. We look forward to having the second batch, third batch and many more batches in the days ahead. Therefore, having the dinner with the sponsors is an opportunity to inspire them to participate in this worthwhile long term project for the blessing of our cross-cultural society.

我很高兴能够参加已经完成九个月跨文化培训的第一届学员的毕业晚宴。完成了这一个階段，其中一个亮点就是与赞助人和朋友来一个晚宴。

根据不同的文化，一起吃饭或用餐具有重要的意义。这次晚宴的第一个含义是学员已经完成了九个月的训练，现在是时候庆祝一番。事实上，庆祝活动对于那些努力工作或完成了任务的人会相当重要。这对于那些已经努力的人，无论他们成就如何，有关庆祝活动则是一种鼓励。

第二个含义则是对赞助人及朋友提供了一个参与的场合，也即是为曰後作准备。就跨文化培训而言，将会招收新一批新的学员，我们期待会有第二批、第三批和更多批的学员。因此，与赞助人共享晚宴是一个激励他们参与这个有价值的长期工程，以造福我们的跨文化社会。