媽媽八十八 :: mom at 88

Our whole family celebrated my mother's 88th birthday last night.  I was perhaps the most excited person on the spot, since I hadn't been able to take part in this celebration over the past few years when I was away from home.  I presented to her a priceless gift -- a small paragraph from my PhD thesis, framed.  (See below for content.)

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昨天農歷八月二十日，家母生日。

一家人上館子大吃大喝，媽也大吃。（感激大家姐和大哥的安排，超豐富的。）

如果近年的『歷史重構』沒有錯誤的話，老媽應該是八十八歲了。Amazing！

這幾年老媽生日，我都不在香港，所以昨晚其實我的感覺最特別、最興奮，可能家人都沒留意。

我還煞有介事的預備了一份『秀才人情』，是把我的博士論文前言部份的最後一段，加上中文撮譯，印出來，框起來，送給媽媽。此刻無價。

謹公諸於世：

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While my mother may not fully understand what I study, I nonetheless owe my earliest exposure to film, media, and theology to her. My earliest memory of cinema-going was watching a foreign film with her, and I can still remember its translated Chinese title was 《霸海奪金鐘》; she bought our first television set at home, on which I watched numerous old Cantonese films; and when I asked how the world came into existence, 'created by God' was her answer even though she was not a practising believer of any religion at that time. I am thankful that, despite her gradually deteriorating physical health in recent years, she is able to witness the endpoint of my doctoral study.

To my beloved mother, Madam Leung Ching Chun, I therefore dedicate this thesis.

extracted from page vi in Yam Chi-Keung's Doctor of Philosophy thesis completed at

the School of Divinity, the University of Edinburgh, 2008

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家母或許對我所讀的未必完全了解，卻是最先讓我接觸電影、傳媒、和神學的第一人。我對戲院的最早記憶，是跟她去看一部中譯《霸海奪金鐘》的外語片。家裡第一部電視機是她買的，從中我看了無數舊粵語電影。她那時雖然不信仰任何宗教，竟跟童年的我說，世界是上帝創造的。近年她的身體健康縱使漸不如前，仍能見證到我這博士研究的終點，為此我感恩無盡。

如是，謹將此論文敬獻給摯愛的母親 — 梁靜珍女士。

摘自任志強於2008年在愛丁堡大學神學院完成的哲學博士論文，第vi頁

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