陳冠希的道歉聲明實在寫得好

Today I have come back to Hong Kong to stand before you and account for myself.

短短一句就表明自己願意承擔，一洗以往逃避責任的形象。接著他承認自己就是拍照者，同時表明從沒想過讓第三者看到：

I admit that most of the photos [...] were taken by me. But these photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone.

留意這幾句巧妙地運用被動式。如果這句寫成主動的話：I took the photos 和 I never intended to show，聽者很容易會聯想到主語「我」和動詞「拍照」及「公開相片」的關係。誰說主動句一定比被動句好?

他坦承責任之餘，同時以強硬而不煽情的措詞指出盜相者的惡意和罪行：Stolen illegally，without my consent，malicious，deliberate。但這只佔極少篇幅，演辭其他部份都用來向受害人和全港市民道歉。這一著很是高明，能很有效地擺脫那個深深不憤的受害者形象。

他道歉的語句也極誠懇，好像以下幾句：

I give my apology sincerely to you all, unreservedly and with my heart.

I hope, after today, I can have your forgiveness. With regards to thise case, with everything, everything that has happened, I am deeply sorry.

當然，陳的聲明非全無沙石，例如 with malicious and deliberate intent 一句就犯了語義重覆（redundancy）的毛病，因為意圖 intent 本來就含 deliberate 之意，所以說 deliberate intent 就像說 past history，free gift 一樣徒廢唇舌，其實寫 with malicious intent 就可以了。若要保留鏗鏘的節奏，則可改寫成 malicious and evil/felonious/destructive intent。另一句：apologise to everyone in HK and everyone in our society 亦有近似的毛病。不過這些瑕疵關係不大，因為整篇實在寫得太好，也講得太好。

不必理甚麼深字淺字，長句短句，總之最能有效表達自己的，就是好的語文。陳冠希的道歉聲明，就是個好例子，也是香港近年少見的出色演講。

蕭愷一

（常有電郵問我可否把文章轉載或貼在討論區，當然可以，也請寫上出處吧。以後不用問了。）

陳冠希道歉聲明全文：

Today I have come back to Hong Kong to stand before you and account for myself. I have never escaped from my responsibility. During the past few weeks, I have been with my mother and my family and loved ones to show support and care and at the same time to have them support and care for me.

I admit that most of the photos being circulated on the Internet were taken by me. But these photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone. These photos were stolen from me illegally and distributed without my consent（沒有我同意下發佈）.

There is no doubt whoever obtained these photos have been uploading them on the Internet with malicious（惡意的） and deliberate（故意的） intent. This matter has deteriorated to the extent that society as a whole has been affected by this, and this regard, I am deeply saddened. I would like now to apologise to all the people for all the suffering that has been caused and the problems that have arisen from this. I would like to apologise to all the ladies and to all their families for any harm or hurt that they have been feeling. I am sorry. I would like to also apologise to my mother and my father for the pain and the suffering I have caused them during these past few weeks. Most importantly, I would like to say sorry to all the people of Hong Kong. I give my apology sincerely to you all, unreservedly（毫不保留地） and with my heart.

I know young people in Hong Kong look up to many figures in our society. And in this regard, I have failed as a role model. However, I wish that this matter will teach everyone a lesson. To all the young people in our community, let this be a lesson for you all. This is not an example to be set for you.

During my time away, I have made an important decision. I will whole-heartedly fulfill all commitments that I have to date. But after that, I have decided to step away from the Hong Kong entertainment industry. I have decided to do this to give myself an opportunity to heal myself and to search my soul. I will dedicate my time to charity and community work within the next few months. I will be away from Hong Kong entertainment indefinitely. There is no time frame.

I have been assisting the police since the first day the photos were published and I will continue to assist them. After this press con（記者招待會，press conference 的簡稱）, I have obligations to help them with their investigation and hope that this case can end soon, as everyone I think has the same wish.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank the police for their hard work on this case. Thank you. I believe everyone's priority now, my priority now is to stop the suffering and pain, for not letting this...we do not want to let this situation become more out of control. We need to protect all the innocents, and all the young from matters like this. In this regard, I have instructed my lawyers to do everything possible within the law to protect all the innocent victims of this case. I believe that a press statement is being issued as we speak, on what my lawyers have advised me to do.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for coming here today and listening to what I have to say. I would like to also apologise once again to all the ladies and their families, my family, and to everyone in Hong Kong and everyone in our society. I am deeply saddened by this, and I apologise to everyone who has had to go through this. I would like to also thank you for giving me this opportunity to say what I have wanted to say all along in my heart.

I hope, after today, I can have your forgiveness. With regards to this case, with everything, everything that has happened, I am deeply sorry.

I hope you all will accept my apology and give me a chance.

Thank you.