今天偶見網友分享彭定康當年在立法會的答問環節，十分精彩，馬上找來全文閱讀。論娛樂性，彭定康說話當然比不上昨天李家超的「互動交流答問」，但肥彭有幾段話講得不錯，還是值得大家重溫。
1997年6月19日，即27年前，末代港督彭定康最後一次出席立法會的答問會，當時主席是黃宏發，議員李柱銘、劉慧卿、葉國謙、陸恭蕙、何承天、梁智鴻等人皆有提問。我在此節錄三條問答。
一
何承天問彭督：「你能夠用兩句話，盡可能老實評價英國150年殖民統治的成績，尤其是在民主發展的表現嗎？」（笑聲）
這問題的確不易答，但彭定康沒有帶議員遊桃花源，他只是漫不經心地先講了個笑話，然後就直接回答問題：
Two sentences? I think that Hong Kong is an astonishing Chinese success story ─ Sentence One. But I think it is a success story with British characteristics ─ Sentence Two. I think that to elaborate slightly, I think that what Britain has helped provide, as a result of the accidents of history, is a framework within which people ─ particularly in the last 50 difficult years in this region, Chinese men and women, ordinary Chinese men and women ─ have been able to do extraordinary things.
I do not think any fair-minded observer would deny any role for British administrators or the rule of law in what has happened, but equally any British observer, any of my predecessors as Governor, like this Governor, would stand back in awe at what Chinese men and women have managed to do here in Hong Kong given the chance, given the chance to be free in an economic and a political sense.
意思是：「兩句話？我認為香港是一個驚人的華人成功故事——這是第一句。 但我認為這也是個帶有英國色彩的成功故事——這是第二句。 我稍微詳細解釋一下：我認為在歷史偶然事件的牽引下，英國為香港提供了框架，讓人們——尤其是過去艱難的五十年間，這裏的中國男女，一群平凡的華人——能夠做出非凡的事。
「我認為任何公正的觀察者，都會認同香港有今天的成績，英國政府官員及法治功不可沒。同樣地，看到華人得到經濟和政治自由後所取得的成就，任何一位英國觀察者，任何一位像我這樣的前任港督，都會肅然起敬。」
的確，普通華人也可創造出連英國人也意想不到的非凡成就，昔日香港已示範了一次，但前提是：他們要有政治和經濟上的自由。
二
李柱銘問彭定康：「離港在即，你有什麼最大的遺憾？你想為香港做而沒做到的事，最重要的那件是什麼？」彭定康答：
Perhaps what I would have liked to have done was in the circumstances impossible. But what I would have liked to have been able to do was to convince the leaders in Beijing that there was nothing to worry about in Hong Kong, that they could trust Hong Kong, that they could be relaxed about Hong Kong, that the development of democratic institutions in Hong Kong, living up to the promises in the Joint Declaration, was not a question of planting British time bombs around the community. It was a question of reflecting the aspirations of the people of Hong Kong (...)
But I remember, when I saw Director LU Ping in the autumn of 1992, saying to him, "if you try to accommodate the legitimate interests of people in Hong Kong you won't find it difficult and you won't find them difficult. You will find that they will respond extremely well because people in Hong Kong want the transition to be a success." People in Hong Kong would be irrational if they did not want it to be a spectacular success.
So, that is my main regret. There are one or two others which I could add as postscripts but I hope you will not turn this into a sort of political equivalent of Strauss's last four songs.
意思是：「也許我期望做到的事，在當時形勢下是不可能的。我渴望能夠做的，是令北京領導明白：香港是無需擔憂且值得信任的，而香港發展民主制度，只是履行中英聯合聲明承諾，並非埋下英國人的定時炸彈（⋯）
「但我記得1992年秋見魯平主任時，我對他說：『如果你嘗試照顧香港人應有的利益，你不會覺得困難，也不會覺得他們難纏。到時你將發現他們非常配合你，因為香港人都希望過渡成功。』只有不可理喻的人，才會不期望香港風生水起。
「這就是我最大的遺憾。還有其他一兩件事可以補充，但希望大家不要把這些視作史特勞斯最後四首歌的政治版。」
瞧，彭定康也會展示自己的文化修養，但用典不像李家超那麼平易近人，令大家一聽就會心微笑。所謂「史特勞斯最後四首歌 」，指德國名作曲家史特勞斯死前不久寫的「春 (Frühling)」、「九月(September)」、「就寢時(Beim Schlafengehen)」及「日落時（Im Abendrot）」，表達他對死亡的沉思。我想彭定康只是借此說笑，希望大家不要過度渲染他的「臨別遺憾」吧。
三
劉慧卿問彭定康，將來若有人違反中英聯合聲明，你可告訴大家你會為香港人做什麼嗎？
彭定康答道，自己不會在離任後指手畫腳充當時事評論員（這方面跟梁姓網紅實有天淵之別），而會盡可能謹言慎行，but——
But on big issues, I hope I will continue to be in a position in which I can speak out in support of Hong Kong as a prosperous and free society; and I am sure it is the case that I will be able to keep in touch with individual members and other members of the community, particularly once I have stopped writing for a living.
意思是：「但在重大議題上，我希望自己能夠繼續發聲，支持香港這個繁榮自由的社會。一旦我不再靠寫作謀生，我深信自己將與社會的不同成員保持聯繫。」
看到肥彭這句話，不由得感慨萬千。如今27年過去，有目共睹，彭定康信守承諾，始終支持香港人。想起日前我在文章引過《左傳》的一句：「非我族類，其心必異。」肥彭在港人來說應該是「非我族類」吧，怎麼反而不離不棄沒有「異心」呢？可見真正的「族類」根本不以膚色、國籍區分，它只取決於價值觀。
客觀來說，彭定康和李家超的答問演講都各有特色，一個字字珠璣，一個「耐人尋味」。雖然說「沒有比較就沒有傷害」，但這兩個人就算勉強比較了，相信也不會有傷害，因為他們一個鶯啼，一個豬叫，根本不在同一檔次，甚至不在同一世界。
附錄
Official Record of Proceedings, 19 June 1997
HONG KONG: CHRIS PATTEN SPEAKS AT LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL FOR LAST TIME
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（編者按：本文僅代表專欄作者個人意見，不反映本報立場。）@
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