21世纪英语演讲比赛历届冠军合集

21

世纪英语演讲比赛历届冠军

合集

A Century’s Dance

My great-great-grandfather was

very nervous, even though he had

done it thousands of times.

He and his teammates held their

breath in total darkness…waiting for

the music. At the age of 101, he knew

it was likely his last chance to

compete in a dancing contest.

The drums kicked in and, slowly

but surely, he started the moves of

Gaoshan -- a folk dance unique to my

part of China.

The music was serene... the

motion was graceful.... and

everything was so harmonious.

And then, everything changed!

The tempo sped up. The dancers

started shaking their hips. It was

completely unexpected but yes, they

were dancing modern disco.

I was delighted, but not everyone

liked it. Some argued that the

traditional dance was compromised

by the inclusion of Western fluff.

So I asked Angong, “Why not just

do a typical Gaoshan dance?”

“Are you kidding me,

sweetheart?” he replied. “Where

would we be without some clashes

and conflicts?”

That was Angong’s gut reaction,

but what he implied set me thinking.

“Where would we be without some

clashes and conflicts?”

Looking back on the life of my

great-great-grandfather, it was a

journey marked by clashes every

step of the way.

When he was a teenager, China’s

door was busted wide open. He cut

off his ponytail following the end of

Qing---

China’s last feudal Dynasty.

During the day, cars ran alongside

rickshaws. At night, jazz clashed

with Chinese opera. Dancing was a

luxury reserved for the rich and

privileged.

When the People’s

Republic was

founded in 1949, Angong danced on

the streets with joy. After years of

unrest, he felt a sense of belonging

and new possibilities. That was the

moment he knew he wanted to be an

artist.

After the Cultural Revolution,

Angong witnessed China’

s reform

and opening-up. Both Deng Lijun of

Taiwan and the Carpenters of

America were huge stars at the time.

For the first time in years, Angong

didn’t have to follow one set of

doctrines or one form of dancing for

that matter.

Angong’s personal journey

mirrored the transformation of a

nation, a

transformation encapsulated in the

life of a man who pursued artistic

expression.

Please remember, Angong and

his generations were born into a

China that was struggling to keep at

bay an outside world that threatened

China’s self

-perception and self-rule.

A century later, this is a different

China, and fortunately, a China that

has learned lessons history had to

offer, and now it seeks to re-engage

the west.

Angong was a man of his times,

but he has always been open to new

voices, new ideas, new dances. He

adapted, changed and grew by

learning from the world around him,

both Chinese and Western.

By being open to each other, we

can grow in unexpectedly beautiful

ways, just like my Angong’s disco

Gaoshan dance. Ladies and

gentlemen, I implore you to join my

great-great-grandfather and me as

we dance with a spring in our step

into that great unknown that will be

our future.

Cultural clashes vs. coexistence

between China and the West: My

personal perspective

There is a place in the world

where traditional Chinese

architectures can be found near

decorated churches and mosques;

where citizens celebrates Lunar New

Year as well as Christmas and Easter;

where in restaurants chopsticks lay

side by side with knives and forks;

where people on the street speaks

both Chinese dialects and fluent

English; where East meets West;

where cultures clash and coexist.

Honorable judges, ladies and

gentlemen. You now get where I am

referring to: Hong Kong. It is the city

I am from. And I will give you my

personal perspective.

I am part of my university’s

English Debating Team. This year we

have two exchange students, a girl

from Beijing and a guy from the

United States. In one debate, the

motion was “Liberal democracy

should be the only form of

government.” The American argued

for the affirmative by justifying how

liberal democracy upholds self

determination; the Beijing girl

debated on the negative by refuting

self determination as the supreme

goal overriding social development.

It was a particularly heated debate

probably because of the two

members’ background, or because

they had genuine opinion on the

issue. But after the debate we all

went for friendly chats and beer.

What has my debating story to do

with our theme? It came to me that

my team is like a miniature Hong

Kong, a society that sees cultures

clash and coexist. I find the analogy

inspiring on two levels.

On the first level, cultural clashes

and coexistence are never mutually

exclusive. Our team members are

made to disagree with the opposite

side. But after the exchange of

arguments and ideologies we can

still sit down and hang out. Hong

Kong works pretty much the same

way. People have different styles.

Westerners are passionate, while

Chinese appears conservative.

Westerners prefer direct criticisms;

while Chinese exhibits courtesy. We

do not concede to avoid conflict, yet

despite these divergences we come

along harmoniously in school,

business, and social life. So it is not

clashes versus coexistence, but

clashes and coexistence.

On the second level, cultural

clashes and coexistence shape our

success. From the debate, the

American learned the Asian

emphasize on society, the Chinese

learned the underpinnings of

Western political systems, and at the

end of the day all of us learned and

the team moved a step forward. In

Hong Kong’s a

-century-and-a-half

history, we cherish different

architectures, religions, festivals,

cuisines, and languages. We make

our diversity an advantage, not

hindrance. We take cultural clashes

and coexistence as a motivation for

progression, not source of conflict.

This is what makes Hong Kong the

Oriental Pearl.

Cultural clashes and coexistence

will continue to mold 21

st

Century

world. I believe Hong Kong is a great

demonstration of the famous

Confucius interpretation ‘harmony

without homogeneity’. I believe

similarly the East can learn from the

success of the West, while the West

can join hand with the emerging East.

I believe cultural clashes and

coexistence will be a force for the

betterment of mankind.

Thank you very much.

Cultural Clashes vs. Coexistence

between China and the West: My

Personal Perspective

Like every girl who always wants

to show the most charming facet of

her before her beloved boy, I always

want to show the best side of my city

to my foreign friends. So last year,

when a Canadian friend of mine paid

a short visit to Guangzhou, without a

second thought, I took her to the new

CBD. Expecting complements and

praise for the dazzling sky-crappers,

I was amazed by her remarks.

it is a modern metropolis indeed.

said,

Guangzhou.

I looked around, trying to find the

traces of the city that raised me. But

I failed. The old little house my

grandmother used to live in was

replaced by a glaring office building.

The tranquil alley where I used to

play hide-and-seek with my little

buddies were widened, crowded with

shoppers and cars. The shy little girl I

knew when I was young has grown

to a charming metropolitan lady that

I hardly recognized.

At that moment, I could 't help

asking: Where is the city I used to be

familiar with? What really defines us,

the breath-taking architecture which

visitors admire, or the common roof

under which every household

continues its own story from

generation to generation?

The real Guangzhou should be the

miraculous cuisine that smells like a

warm bowl of

Tingzai

porridge and

tastes like a delicious cage of shrimp

dumplings, a lovely garden where

the old walks the dogs and the young

plays the games, and a wonderland

which attracts millions of tourists

and fortune-hunters while its people

call

Are cultural clashes inevitable?

Yes, because we are different. And

thanks to the differences, curious

travelers like me never find it

disappointing to explore the

wonderfulness of the world.

However, cultural clashes don't

indicate that different cultures are

incompatible. I firmly believe

diversified cultures can coexist

because as human beings we must

have shared something in common.

We celebrate harvest and mourn

over death. That's why when Chinese

people are having fun at Christmas,

the top of the Empire State Building

is also lit to red for celebrating the

Chinese Spring Festival.

To coexist, we need to treasure

the similarities we share. More

significantly, we need to preserve

cultural diversity because it is way

more substantial than mere tourist

attraction. It is closely related to

every individual's everyday life, the

way we eat and the way we speak.

Whatever colors we are,

wherever we are from, we express

feelings, tell stories and sing folk

songs to our descendants in our own

words. We are no great people, but

also making history, in an oral way.

The demise of any language or

dialect not only takes away the

medium of a culture, but also the

spiritual sustenance of generations.

In preserving cultural diversity, we

are not only protecting the treasury

of human wisdom, but also showing

respect for different people's life

styles. And the respect for every

individual composes the foundation

of a peaceful cultural coexistence.

I've promised to my Canadian

friend, next time she comes to China,

I'll take her home and cook the soup

from my great- grandmother's secret

recipe. It may not be state-of-the-art,

but it must be one-of-a-kind.

In gossip, we grow up.

许吉如演讲稿：

Have

you

ever

bought

any

food

on

the

train?

And

do

you

ask

for

the

receipt after buying it? Nowadays, all

trains in China provide its passengers

with receipts for commodities, but 7

years

ago,

things

were

quite

different.

On

13th

of

October,

2004,

the

train

T109

from

Beijing

to

Shanghai

was

speeding on the railway. A graduate

student bought a sausage at 1 yuan

on the train, then asked for a receipt.

“Are you kidding? It’s just one yuan!”

The crew member was surprised.

The student, however, answered in a

determined voice, “I paid the money,

so I deserve the receipt.”

“But

we

never

give

receipts

on

the

train.’ As a result, his further request

was turned down by a cold shoulder.

Several days later, the student sued

the National Railway Ministry, for not

providing receipts for

passengers.

To his dismay, the court turned down

the case for lack of evidence. But he,

who

majored

in

law

at

that

time,

believed

law

as

a

most

powerful

weapon,

so

he

did

not

give

up.

Instead,

he

began

his

journey

of

collecting

first-hand

evidence

by

taking

trains

and

buying

his

commodities

aboard.

When

classmates

were

playing

soccer,

he

was

taking

the

train;

When

his

classmates

were

buying

food

at

Mcdonald’s,

he

was

buying

food

on

the train; When his classmates were

asking

girls

out,

he

was

asking

for

the

receipts.

As

he

joked,

‘I

was

either taking the train or on the way

to take the train.’

One month later, he appeared in the

court

again,

with

newly-collected

evidence and a stronger confidence.

And

I

guess,

ladies

and

gentlemen,

you

will

all

cheer

for

the

result

because

this

time,

the

student

won

the

case.

Very

soon,

a

regulation

about receipts on the train came out.

And

whatever

we

buy

on

the

train

now, there’s a receipt for us.

Outside

the

court,

the

student

was

asked,

“How

do

you

mak

e

it

to

the

end?”

He

said,

“As

a

law

student,

I

root

my

faith

in

law.

I

believe

that

law is there, to protect every person

with

no

exception,

and

to

ensure

every person has a say.”

His words spread a strong faith in law,

which is not only a doctrine of a law

student,

but

also

a

belief

that

all

citizens ought to hold. It is this faith

that initiates the student to resort to

law for a tiny issue; it is this faith that

supports

him

to

endure

all

the

exhausting

trips

when

collecting

evidence; It is this faith that makes a

seemingly

“ridiculous”

receipt

request

legal

and

rightful.

It

is

this

faith

that

helps

to

change

our

life,

enhance

our

judicial

system

and

bring social justice.

To

many,

a

receipt

of

1

yuan

is

too

small to mention, however rights are

to

be

respected

and

law

is

to

be

believed

in.

It

all

starts

with

a

tiny

receipt

of

1

yuan,

but

we

get

a

monumental

case,

a

new

regulation

and

a

bumper

harvest

in

social

justice.

The

bridge

that

leads

a

tiny

start to a bumper harvest is faith, the

faith in law, rightful and strong.

第三届

“21

世纪杯

”

全国英语演

讲比赛冠军

——

梁励敏

专家点评

:

引用文学大师的诗句作为开 场白，与

结束语首尾呼应，

颇有感染力。

东西方文化的融

合表现得十分鲜明，

意味深长，

是篇优秀的演讲。

Crossing the Sea

穿越海洋

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The

title of my speech today is

Sea

女士们、先生们，晚上好。今天，我演讲的题目

是

:

《穿越海洋》。

An English poet by the name of Rudyard

Kipling once wrote in his poem

< br>They

英国诗人罗得雅德

?

吉 卜林曾写过一首诗，名叫

《我们与他们》，其中写道

:

像我们的人是我们

And everyone else is They

其余的人是他们

We live over the sea

我们生活在海这边

While They live over the way

他们生活在路那边

We eat pork and beef with

cowhorn-handled knives

我们用牛角柄的刀叉吃猪牛肉

They who gobble their rice off a leaf

Are horrified out of their lives.

吞吃粽叶包饭的他们吓得要死。

When these lines first caught my eyes, I

was shocked-how could two peoples

remain so isolated and ignorant of each

other in the past? Today's society, of

course, is an entirely different picture.

Those people who used to eat with

cowhorn- handled knives might be very

skillful in using chopsticks, and those

people who used to gobble their rice might

be as well have taken to fish and chips.

第 一次读到这首诗，

我很震惊

——

过去两 个民族

何以如此疏离、彼此陌生

?

当然 今日的社会呈现

出完全不同的情景

:

那 些过去吃米饭的人们也开

始喜欢吃鱼和薯条。

Indeed, just take China as an example: Our

modern life has been influenced by

Western style of living in so many ways that

it's no longer surprising to see teenagers

going crazy about rock-and- roll, whole

families dining out at McDonald's and even

rather elderly people dressed in Apple

Jeans.

< br>的确如此，

就拿中国来说，

西方的生活方式已经

广泛地影响了我们的现代生活，

以致对于年轻人

对摇滚乐着迷，

全家去吃麦当劳，

老年人穿苹果

牌牛仔裤，大家都已习以为常。

However, these are only some expressions

of the cultural changes taking place in our

society today. What is really going on is a

subtle but significant restructuring of the

nation's mentality. Just look around.

然而，

这不过是我们当今社会中所发生的文化 变

迁的表面现象而已，

真正发生的却是我们的民族

心理开始了微妙而又有重大意义的重建，

大家只

要看 看周围就会清楚。

How many college graduates are ready to

compete aggressively for every job

opportunity, whereas not long ago they

were asked just to sit idle and wait for

whatever was to be assigned to them by the

government?

不久以前，

大学生还只是束手空坐，

等待政府给

他们分配工作

;

如今，又有多少大学生正在做充

分准备，为争取任 何工作机会而激烈角逐

?

How many young people are now eager to

seek for an independent life whereas only

two decades ago they would rely totally on

their parents to arrange for their future?

Ask anyone who participates in today's

speech contest. Who has not come with a

will to fight and who has not come

determined to achieve self-fulfillment in

winning the game? And I'm quite certain

that if Confucius had lived to see today's

China, he would have been horrified to see

young lovers kissing each other in public

places in an unreserved expression of their

passion.

20

年前年轻人还完全依靠父母为他们安排未

来，

的生活

?

试问今天参加演讲比赛的诸位，谁不是

带着志在一搏的心情来 到这里

?

谁不是铁下心来

赢得这场比赛 以实现自我

?

如今年轻人毫无顾忌

地宣 泄情感当众亲吻，我确信，倘若孔子在世，

他必被吓坏。

It is therefore evident that we as

descendants of an ancient Eastern

civilization are already living under strong

inf1uence of the Western culture. But it is

not only in China that we find the

incorporation of the two cultures.

很明显，

我们这些东方古老文明的后裔们早已生

活在西方文化的强烈影响之下，

然而出现这种异

质文化合流的现 象不止是在中国。

Take the United States as an example:

During the 1980s,in face of the

overwhelming competition from Japan,

many American companies such as the

Ford began to adopt a teamwork

management from their rivals, the essence

of which, lay at the very core of Eastern

culture.

20

世纪

8 0

年代，

面对来自日本的

强大竞争压力 ，

许多美国公司如福特公司开始采

用对手的集体合作管理方式，

而这种方式正是东

方文化核心之精华。

Take the Chinese acupuncture as another

example: This traditional treatment of

diseases is finally finding its way to the

West and hence the underlying notion that

illness is resulted from the imbalance

between Yin and Yang within the body -- an

idea which would strike any Westerner as

incredible in the past!

再以中华针灸为例，

这种传统的医疗方法以及这

种疗法的依据

——

即人体阴阳失调导致疾病最

终得到西方社会的承认，

而在过去，

西方人还认

为这是无稽之谈。

Ladies and Gentlemen, we live in a great

epoch when the global integration of

economy and the information revolution

have brought cultures of the world closer

than ever before. We live in a particular era

when countries, East and West, find

themselves in need of readjusting their

traditional values. We live, at the same time,

at a critical juncture of our evolution

because such problems as ethnic conflicts

and regional unrest are increasingly posing

a threat to the peace and happiness of the

whole human race. To cope with such an

era and to embrace an even brighter future,

we need to learn to live more harmoniously

in a world community which is becoming

smaller and smaller.

女士们，先生们，我们恰逢一个伟大的时代

:

< br>全

球经济一体化、

信息革命使得世界各种文化联系

比以往更加紧密

;

我们恰逢一个特殊的年代

:

无

论是东方国家还是西方国家都意识 到自身急需

调整传统价值。

与此同时，

我们正生活在发展的

关键时刻

:

种族冲 突，地区动荡正越来越威胁着

整个人类的和平与幸福。

如何对待 这一时代，

拥

抱更加灿烂的未来，

我们 需要学会在越来越小的

世界大家庭中更加和睦地生活。

My dear fellow students, our command of

the English language renders it possible for

us to gain an insight into Western culture

while retaining our own cultural identity.

亲爱的同学们，

我们 掌握英语，

得以了解西方文

化，与此同时，又不失本民族的文化 特征。

Therefore, it is our sacred responsibility to

promote the cultural exchanges and hence

the mutual understanding between China

and the rest of the world.

因此，

促进中国与世界的文化交流与相互理解是

我们神圣的责任。

It is my happiest dream that the new

generation of Chinese will not only grow up

drinking Coca-Cola and watching

Hollywood, but also be blessed with the

far-reaching benefits of multiple cultures;

benefits that our forefathers had never,

ever dreamed of.

我有一个美好的梦想，

我梦想中国的年轻一代不

仅仅在喝可口可 乐、

看好莱坞影片中成长，

而且

还受益 于我们的父辈所从未梦想过的多元文化

所带来的深远影响。

To end my speech, I would like to quote

Rudyard Kipling again: