“外研社杯”英语演讲比赛优秀稿.doc

Unity and Diversity, the Two Pillars of the New Era四川大学 解峥Honorable judges, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!Unity and diversity are often seen as mutually exclusive. Unity expresses the value of homogeneity while diversity celebrates uniqueness. As a matter of fact, in the modern age, the core values of humanity are commonly shared by most people, while the ways of expressing those values vary from one place to another. In the Model United Nations Conference held a few months ago, we participants from Asia and the Pacific shared the joyful celebration of national diversity in our own diverse manners. We Chinese presented our tea ceremony representing our traditional culture; Indian dancing exerted its sensual charm; Russian singing infused our souls as if it came from heavenGuided by our core values, connected by revolutionary science and technology, motivated by faith for a better world, the global village is embarked upon a long and winding journey towards the wonders of the new era. It no longer only seeks a balance between great powers; it seeks to nurture harmony within the international community and between human and nature. This explains why thousands upon thousands of blankets and tents were sent to Pakistan for the reconstruction after the earthquake in 2005; this also explains why US dollars, Euros, RMB money from all over the world was donated to help the numerous victims of the Tsunami in Southern Asia. As famous scholar Michael Novak put it, unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the noblest possibilities of the human race.Ladies and gentlemen, we are now living in a world filled with a wondrous diversity of experience, opinion, and physical appearance. One of the challenges of this age is not only to live in harmony with people different from us, but to celebrate human diversity and learn from it. We are also living in a world led by a unified vision of human fulfillment. As a result, we may hope that conflicts based on differences will ultimately disappear; we may also hope that the dreams of prosperity and harmony will one day be fulfilled. So let us embrace unity and diversity. Thank you very much.Comments:This speaker has demonstrated a thorough understanding of the theme, a strong language competence and a comfortable manner to convey her ideas. Throughout her speech, she keeps on explaining and emphasizing her argument as has been presented in the title of her speech that “unity and diversity” are “the two pillars of the new era” convincingly and successfully.At the very beginning of her speech, she highlights her points of view very clearly: unity and diversity may be seen exclusive, yet they can reside with each other harmoniously. Then she strengthens her viewpoints by giving different examples such as the different national presentations at the Model United Nations Conference, the rescue efforts of the international community after the natural disaster, etc. She has conveyed effectively the idea that because of the common core values shared by the humanity, the unity can be achieved through the recognition and celebration of the national diversity.The speaker is peaceful, graceful, confident and friendly. Wearing a lovely smile and supported by a few gestures, she is guiding the audience with a very comfortable manner and the audience follows her very closely and is eventually convinced. A very rewarding experience for both the speaker and the audience! The communication and understanding has achieved. The audience cannot help agreeing with her just as she has quoted from the famous scholar Michael Novak: “Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the noblest possibilities of the human race.”Though a prepared speech of only three minutes, the speakers purpose of convincing the audience has realized.A perfect speech delivered as it is, there might be a few places that can be further improved. For instance, the speaker is a bit too graceful, and she can be more powerful. Secondly, the articulation of certain key words can be improved as well. Thirdly, examples are too great, yet the audience has to think hard to connect the examples with the main ideas why unity and diversity are not contradictory.（点评专家：樊葳葳，华中科技大学外国语学院院长、教授，主要研究领域为英语教学与跨文化交际，对英语口语教学、英语演讲有深入研究。讲稿及点评摘自英语演讲选评100篇（2006-2011）The Importance of Being DifferentBe Different from Yourself!武汉大学 陈东Nowadays, people all over the world, at least in this house, seem to be emphasizing the importance of being different from others. They say that to be different from others makes you stand out, wins you an edge, brings you more chances and so on. I believe this is totally true. But we might have overlooked another kind of being different, that is, to be different from yourself. I suppose to be different from the inside is even more important than to be different from the outside. It is because trying to be different from yourself directly results in essential improvement inside you whereas the efforts to be distinct from others might stay in the superficial level. I would like to give a story to illustrate. I guess lots of you are using Nokia mobile phones, a famous brand from Finland. But I dare say not many of you know how these phones came into being. Actually, when I was visiting Helsinki University in Finland, a Finnish friend told me that Nokia was once a company engaged in making boots. And one day, when the highest leaders were discussing how to strengthen their company, one of them said “Lets make something different!” And then, they began to make phones. Today, Nokia is well-known throughout the world for its phones but not for its boots. I think without making such a difference from itself, Nokia would never be so successful. To sum up, I would say that to be different from yourself is more important than to be different from others. As long as we concentrate on improving ourselves and transcend ourselves, we would not be the same and cannot be the same as others. Excellence will make you stand out saliently! Thank you. Comments: The speaker has conveyed his idea about the topic “being different from yourself” very successfully. The angle he chooses to discuss the topic is refreshing. Instead of talking routinely about being different from others, he chooses to emphasize that being different from yourself is more challenging to oneself and doing so can contribute to humanity. He also further strengthens his point of being different from yourself by saying that being different from inside is more important than being different from the outside. This is a very enlightening idea which makes the audience interested and want to listen on. The example of Nokia being different from itself, from a boots making company to a mobile-phone making one is convincing and illuminating since Nokia enjoys popularity among Chinese people. The speaker speaks with comfort and confidence. He maintains a proper speed of speaking and this enables a full understanding for the audience, who are led by and eventually convinced by him. He has got good pronunciation, intonation and good control of pauses while he is speaking. He smiles towards the audience and maintains close eye contact with them. The speaker uses gestures during his speech. Some gestures are properly used though some sometimes seem to be a bit awkward. The suit Chen Dong wears seems to be one size larger so it hangs a bit loose on him. Except these less than satisfactory aspects, that is, some improper gestures and the loose suit, the speaker has extinguished himself from the other speakers in the aspects of content, the organization and delivery of a speech. A very convincing and competent speaker! A Word That Has Changed the World湖南师范大学 彭培根Ladies and gentlemen, It is an art of language: Once it helped to spread the evil fire of Fascism but also soothed the pain of World War II; it helped to stir racial discrimination but also brought us the dream of equality; it claimed the division of a nation but also held the two parts together. So what am I talking about? Not guns, not bombs, not nuclear power. Im talking about speech-a word that has changed the world. Speech has changed the world at different times. From these speeches, we sucked the meadow of wisdom, and gained our faith and courage. The world has become a different place because of these speeches. When the whole Britain was facing the awe-struck world during World War II, Winston Churchill firmly claimed, “We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls!” And by his speech, the British people were greatly inspired and kept on fighting until totally beating Hitler. When the federate army was at the dawn of their victory at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln uttered, “Government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” And this line is still being frequently quoted even today. When Nelson Mandela finished serving 27 years of prison time, he was still hopeful and told the world, “That the greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” And his speech has passed the spirit of freedom to the whole South Africa. So why can speech change the world? Ralf Emerson once said, “Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” The power of speech, unlike the power of weapons, works to give people hope over despair, passion over indifference and positivity over negativity. And that is why speech has changed the world. At a a应改为the。 time of Great Depression, Roosevelt spoke to assure his people a bright future. At a 同上。 time of racial discrimination, Martin Luther King claimed “I Have a Dream” and inspired millions of African Americans. A great speech shares the best of minds to the mass of people. And when the mass of people receive that wisdom, huge differences are going to be made, differences that may shape the history of a country and influence the world.Ladies and gentlemen, as a saying goes, “Words create worlds”, speech has changed the world by words and the greatness the words carry. Speech has changed the results of wars, the idea of millions, the wheel of history and it has undoubtedly changed the world. Thank you! Comments: This is a very good speech. It is well structured, logically written and effectively delivered. The opening comments are intriguing, or would have been more so if the word speech had not appeared in the title. The development is very well explained with examples of speeches at famous points in history. The speaker cleverly chose examples of speeches that are so well known, he didnt have to explain them in any detail. Had he had to do so, it would have slowed the rhythm of his argument and taken up too much time. He did rather ignore his own point that a speech can also stir people to negative and destructive action, such as racial discrimination. It would have been a helpful example of how a speech can stir racial discrimination if he had mentioned how Hitler, another great orator, had stirred the German nation up against the Jews. He chose to concentrate on the positive outcomes of great oratory so perhaps should not have mentioned the negative or at least should have argued that the positive has generally outweighed the negative. His vocabulary is excellent and he uses some interesting phrases that cleverly produce word pictures in the minds of his audience. For example, “we sucked the meadow of wisdom” and “A great speech shares the best of minds to the mass of people.” This use of language helps to bring the ideas in a speech alive. His delivery is also very good. He has a strong voice, speaks at a comfortable pace, uses pauses and emphasis extremely well, and he does not harangue or shout but makes his belief and passion clear. This does not mean that all speakers should try to speak in this way. We all have different types of voice and to use such a strong voice when speaking about a more sensitive topic may not be so effective. His pronunciation and enunciation are excellent. His eye contact is quite good, although he could look a little longer into the eyes of some of his audience. His gestures are natural and the final wide stretch of his arms to encompass the audience and the world very effective. By Sue Kay （点评专家：Sue Kay，中国社会科学院外籍专家，博士生导师，多次担任“外研社杯”全国英语演讲大赛和“外研社杯”全国英语辩论赛评委。讲稿及点评摘自英语演讲选评100篇（2006-2011）。）Global Citizenship Begins at Home宁波大学 蒋春晖Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is my second time speaking for this competition, and the third time is the charm. Take a look at the street. We can see people walking around wearing Nike and Adidas while listening intently to the latest American Idol over their ipod nanos. Beyond the curb, there are vehicles moving like wind on the tar among which therere named BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and some of the so-called Volkswagen whose price Im afraid is not so “volks” at all. Theyre all moving towards the same direction: the New Oriental Language School, because with the approaching of the Olympic Games, learning English is currently the hottest way of blowing away all your after-work time and money in town. Everything about this picture is so global that one can hardly find if its Beijing or Belgium. But just like any other rosy pictures, this one has another side, too. At the other end of the street, there is a nationally-acclaimed university half of whose students are made up of native-residents. Students from other cities would sometimes have to be times as outstanding in exams to be admitted. And if we zoom out far enough, well be able to see that this is not the only case of regional biases in the country. People from metropolises tends tends应改为tend。 to have a sense of superiority over those small-city residents, but as city dwellers, they share their sense of revulsion against those whore from the countryside. As for the massive rural population, just because they come from a different place, they dont even have the same right to some of very basic public benefits like medical insurance and free compulsory education as the city men do. Ladies and gentlemen, Im impressed by the development globalization has bought us over the years, and Im shocked, by the preposterous biases that we still hold against our own compatriots. If the point of global citizenship is to break down the regional biases and work hand in hand for a better tomorrow for everybody, we should first ask ourselves the question: How can we talk about global citizenship when were not even so civil to our own citizens? Ladies and gentlemen, all these years, we took it for granted that a global citizen is someone who looks out to the world, never knowing that it actually begins at where we stand.