“Trying to recreate, and rephrase a little, what I said at the end last night; please pass this along to our Chinese colleagues.
We are at a very difficult moment in the relationship between our two countries. Tensions have been increasing sharply after a long period of improvement and engagement. In many ways, this reflects a harsh, uncertain, and perhaps dangerous moment in my country's history. In times like these, direct contacts between people are so very important. And it is a special thing when those contacts can evolve into cooperation between institutions.
I feel privileged to have been invited to participate in a project that draws such wonderful young students into science research. Their curiosity and enthusiasm for learning directly about the world around us is inspirational. To see through their videos how they are working with their friends and learning about the physical world by direct experience makes me very happy. The students' research projects showed an extremely high level of work, and at the same time exhibited the humor and playfulness we all want for our children. The students of Hong Kong and Macau remind me very much of teenagers I work with in New York City, who learn through environmental and ecological studies in the City and the waters, wetlands and forests nearby. I look forward to being able to have our students physically together again, hopefully as soon as next year.



我想重述一下我昨晚最后说的话，并稍作修改；请将此话转告我们的中国同事。

我们两国之间的关系正处于一个非常困难的时期。双方经过长时间的改善和磋商之后，紧张局势（反而）快速加剧了。在许多方面，这反映了我国正处于历史上一个严酷、不确定、甚至是危险的时刻。正是在这样的时期，人与人之间的直接接触就尤为重要。而当这些接触能够发展成为两个机构间的合作时，那就更是一件特别的事情。

我很荣幸受邀参加这个赛事，这个赛事吸引了如此优秀的青少年学生参与科学研究。他们怀着好奇心和热情，去直接探索我们周围的世界，这一切鼓舞人心。透过他们的视频，我看到他们如何与朋友们一起工作、如何亲力亲为来了解物理世界，这都让我感到非常高兴。参赛选手们的研究项目表现出了极高的水平，同时，也展示出了我们都希望孩子们能拥有的幽默感和游戏性。

香港和澳门的学生们让我非常想念那些和我一起工作的纽约青少年们，他们从环境和生态研究中学习，考察纽约市和附近的水域、湿地和森林。我期待我们的学生能够再次聚首，最早明年吧