What Is Real Beauty?
It is human nature that all of us should be fond of beauty. Everybody was born with a heart for beauty.
Today in China,with the rising of our living standard, people's requirement of beauty has been heightened accordingly. Some people spare no money or energy on beautiful clothes, fashionable hair styles,the decoration of their houses and even the improvement of their looks. But it seems to me,all
these are more or less confined to the beauty in appearance,or rather,the outward beauty.
In my opinion,we shouldn't only pay attention to beautiful appearance and neglect the beautification of the mind and what we are after should be the perfect unity of the outward beauty and the inner beauty. As we all know,so far as objects and animals are concerned,there is only beautiful appearance to be mentioned, but to us humanbeings, although the outward beauty really matters, the inner beauty is much more important. This was confirmed by a famous Russian writer in words much like this: \"A person is
not lovely for being beautiful but beautiful for being lovely. \"
Here, I'd like to quote two typical instances and I'm sure, my dear friends,from them you'll find out what real beauty is.
Recently I learned from the radio an unpleasant incident about a well known singer. She is very charming with a sweet beautiful voice and very famous for singing the song.\"Devotion of Love\". Not long ago,she was invited to Zhejiang Province to give performance. The moment she was to appear on the stage,she suddenly asked for more reward. Worse still,after her request was satisfied, she didn't begin to sing at once. Instead,she took her time to count all the money piece by piece. Thus she kept the audience waiting for half an hour. So when she at last showed up and started to sing \"Devotion of Love\man rose up from his seat and shouted at her,\"You don't have any devotion of love. You are not qualified to sing this song ! \"Hearing this, the singer stopped singing and began to shout abuses with her finger pointed at the man. At this time the whole audience burst into an uproar.
How disappointed her keen listeners were when they learned this! It is the singer herself who spoiled her beautiful image in the eyes of others.
Now, I'm coming to another true story. It's about a poor, ordinary looking old woman. She was a widow without any children, living barely from hand to mouth by picking odds and ends from rubbish heaps. However,she took in more than ten homeless orphans successively and managed to bring them up. Every day she labored from morning till night. In order to earn as much money as possible to raise the children and to keep them in school,she even went to a hospital regularly to sell her blood. She got so weak for the loss of blood that she sometimes fell in a faint on her way home.
When asked why she chose to burden herself with so many children,she smiled and simply answered,\"Oh,I love children and I like to have their company. \"
Though the old woman was poor materially, she was full of affection and rich in spirit. She was loved dearly by her children. She was also highly appreciated by the local government, and truly respected by people in her community.
Maybe you can't help wondering, \"What makes that ordinary woman so extraordinary?\" It is nothing else but her inner beauty, her true devotion of love without any thought of rewarding. What a sharp contrast there is between the great woman and the selfish singer]
So,to answer the question \"What is real beauty?\I declare definitely,it is the beauty lying in one's heart of hearts and embodied in his actions and deeds,that is,the inner heauty! （96年湖南省第二届非英语专业大学生英语演讲比赛团体二等奖获奖者之一的演讲辞）
Responsibility is a Badge of Honour for Youth
Facing this audience on the stage, I have the exciting feeling of participating in the march of history, for what we are facing today is more than a m
ere competition or contest. It is an assembly of some of China's most talented and motivated people, representatives of a younger generation that are preparing themselves for the coming of a new century.
I'm grateful that I've been given this opportunity, at such a historic moment, to stand here as a spokesman of my generation and to take a serious look back at the past 15 years, a crucial period for every one of us and for this nation as well.
Though it is only within my power to tell about my personal experience, and only a tiny fragment of it at that, it still represents, I believe, the root of a spirit which has been essential to me and to all the people bred by the past 15 years.
In my elementary years, there was a little girl in the class who worked very hard but somehow could never do satisfactorily in her lessons.
The teacher asked me to help her, and it was obvious that she expected a lot from me. but as a young boy, restless, thoughtless, I always tried to evade her so as to get more time to enjoy myself.
One day before the final exam, she came up to me and said, \"Could you please explain this to me? I want very much to do better this time. \" I started explaining, and finished in a hurry. Pretending not to notice her still confused eyes, I ran off quickly. Nat surprisingly, she again did very badly in th
e exam. And two months later, at the beginning of the new semester, word came of her death of blood cancer. No one ever knew about the little task I failed to fulfill, but I couldn't forgive myself. I simply couldn't forget her eyes, which seem to be asking, \"Why didn't you do a little more to help me, when it was so easy for you? Why didn't you understand a little better the trust placed in you, so that I would not have to leave this world in such pain and regret?\"
I was about eight or nine years old at that time, but in a way it was the very starting point of my life, for I began to understand the word \"responsibility\" and to learn to always do my duties faithfully and devotedly, for the implications of that sacred word has dawned on me: the mutual need and trust of people, the co-operation and inter-reliance which are the very foundation of human society.
Later in my life, I continued to experience many failures. But never again did I feel that regret which struck me at the death of the girl, for it makes my heart satisfied to think that I have always done everything in my power to fulfill my responsibilities as best I can.
As I grew up, changed and improved by this incident and many other similar ones, I began to perceive the changes taking place around me and to find that society, in a way, was in its formative years like myself. New buildings, new commodities and new fashions appear every day.
New ideas, new information, new technologies. People can talk with each other from any corner of the earth in a matter of seconds. Society is becoming more competitive.
Words like individuality and creativity are getting more emphasis and more people are rewarded for their hard work and efforts. Such is the era in which this generation ,grows and matures.
Such is the era in which this generation will take over the nation from our fathers and learn to run it. Yet in the meantime, many problems still exist.
We learn that crimes take place in broad daylight with crowds of people looking on and not assisting. We hear that there are still about 1 million children in this country who can't even afford to go to elementary schools while enormous sums of money are being squandered away on dinner parties and luxury cars.
We buy shoddy medicines, or merely worthless junk in the name of medicines, that aggravate, rather than alleviate our diseases since money, many people believe, is the most important thing in the world that must be made, even at the expense of morality and responsibility.
Such an era, therefore, determines that we are a generation with a keener sense of competition and efficiency and a greater readiness to think critic
ally and act creatively.
Such an era, furthermore, demands, that we are a generation with a clear perception of our historical responsibility and an aggressive will to take action and solve the problems. History has long been preparing these qualities in this generation and it is now calling us forward to give testimony to our patriotism and heroism towards this nation and all humanity.
Standing here now, I think of the past 15 years of my life as an ordinary student. Probably I'll be an ordinary man for the rest of my life. But this doesn't discourage me any, for I know that with my sense of responsibility and devoted efforts to always strive, for the best, it's going to be a meaningful and worthwhile life that I will be living.
Standing here now, I think of the past 15 years of this nation, which has achieved greatness that inspired millions of people of my age, most of whom will not attain fame or prestige and only a few of whom will be remembered by posterity. But that doesn't discourage us any, because we know that the world watches, the world listens, the world is waiting to see where this nation will be heading in a time of rich opportunities and fierce competition.
I can't ever forget that little girl in my class who couldn't had the same opportunities as any of us here to enjoy a wonderful life today and a hopeful world tomorrow.
It is the sacred responsibility of this generation to face up to the challenges of the new century and to devote our sweat and blood, our wisdom and passion, to the historic cause of making this nation a greater and happier land for every one of us.
We are not going to evade that responsibility. We are going to let people down. And people, far and near, will hear of us. Frost will be brought to their backbones and tears to their eyes when our stories are told and retold, So let us go forth, my fellow members of this luckily chosen generation, and meet the new century in victory and glory. （96年“21世纪杯全国大学生英语演讲比赛”二等奖获得者，北京外国语大学)
A Scene to Remember
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today I would like to begin with a story.
There was once a physical 1) therapist who traveled all the way from America to Africa to do a 2) census about mountain 3) gorillas. These gorillas are a main attraction to tourists from all over the world; this put them severely under threat of 4) poaching and being put into the zoo. She went there out of curiosity, but what she saw strengthened her determination to devote her whole life to fighting for those beautiful creatures. She witnessed a scene, a scene taking us to a place we never imaged we've ever been, where in the very depth of the African rainforest, surrounded by trees, flowers and
butterflies, the mother gorillas 5) cuddled their babies.
Yes, that's a memorable scene in one of my favorite movies, called Gorillas in the Mist, based on a true story of Mrs. Dian Fossey, who spent most of bet lifetime in Rwanda to protect the ecoenvironment there until the very end of her life.
To me, the movie not only presents an unforgettable scene but also acts as a 6) timeless reminder that we should not develop the tourist industry at the cost of our ecoenvironment.
Today, we live in a world of prosperity but still threatened by so many new problems. On the one hand, tourism, as one of the most promising industries in the 21st century, provides people with the great opportunity to see everything there is to see and to go any place there is to go. It has become a lifestyle for some people, and has turned out to be the driving force in GDP growth. It has the magic to turn a backward town into a wonderland of prosperity. But on the other hand, many problems can occur---natural scenes aren't natural anymore. Deforestation to heat lodges is devastating Nepal. Oil spills from tourist boats are polluting Antarctica. Tribal people are forsaking their native music and dress to listen to U2 on Walkman and wear Nike and Reeboks.
All these 7) appalling(令人震惊的) facts have brought us to the realization that we can no longer stand by and do nothing, because the very thought
of it has been 8) eroding(侵蚀) our resources. Encouragingly, the explosive growth of global travel has put tourism again in the spotlight, which is why the United Nations has made 2002 the year of ecotourism, for the first time to bring to the world's attention the benefits of tourism, but also its capacity to destroy our ecoenvironment.
Now every year, many local ecoenvironmental protection organizations an: receiving donations--big notes, small notes or even coins--from housewives, 9) plumbers(水管工人), ambulance drivers, salesmen, teachers, children and 10) invalids(残疾人), Some of them can not afford to send the money but they do. These are the ones who drive the cabs, who nurse in hospitals, who are suffering from ecological damage in their neighborhood. Why? Because they care. Because they still want their Mother Nature back. Because they know it still belongs to them.
This kind of feeling that I have, ladies and gentlemen, is when it feels like it, smells like it, and looks like it, it's all coming from a scene to remember, a scene to recall and to cherish.
The other night, as l saw the moon linger over the land and before it was sent into the invisible, my mind was filled with songs. I found myself humming softly, not to the music, but to some- thing else, someplace else. a place remembered, a place untouched, a field of grass where no one seem to have been except the deer.
And all those unforgettable scenes strengthened the feeling that it's lime for us to do something, for our own and our coming generation.
Once again, I have come to think of Mrs. Dian Fossey be- cause it's with her spirit, passion, courage and strong sense of our ecoenvironment that we are taking our next step into the world.
And no matter who we are, what we do and where we go, in our mind, there's always a scene to remember, a scene worth our effort to protect it and fight for it.
Thank you very much.（全国大学生英语英语演讲比赛第一名 ）
Facing this audience on the stage, I have the exciting feeling of participating in the march of history, for what we are facing today is more than a mere competition or contest. It is an assembly of some of China’s most talented and motivated people, representatives of a younger generation that are preparing themselves for the coming of a new century.
I’m grateful that I’ve been given this opportunity, at such a historic moment, to stand here as a spokesman of my generation and to take a serious look back at the past 15 years, a crucial period for every one of us and for this nation as well.
Though it is only within my power to tell about my personal experience,
and only a tiny fragment of it at that, it still represents, I believe, the root of a spirit which has been essential to me and to all the people bred by the past 15 years.
In my elementary years, there was a little girl in the class who worked very hard but somehow could never do satisfactorily in her lessons.
The teacher asked me to help her, and it was obvious that she expected a lot from me. but as a young boy, restless, thoughtless, I always tried to evade her so as to get more time to enjoy myself.
One day before the final exam, she came up to me and said, Could you please explain this to me? I want very much to do better this time. I started explaining, and finished in a hurry. Pretending not to notice her still confused eyes, I ran off quickly. Nat surprisingly, she again did very badly in the exam. And two months later, at the beginning of the new semester, word came of her death of blood cancer. No one ever knew about the little task I failed to fulfill, but I couldn’t forgive myself. I simply couldn’t forget her eyes, which seem to be asking, Why didn’t you do a little more to help me, when it was so easy for you? Why didn’t you understand a little better the trust placed in you, so that I would not have to leave this world in such pain and regret?
I was about eight or nine years old at that time, but in a way it was the very starting point of my life, for I began to understand the word responsi
bility and to learn to always do my duties faithfully and devotedly, for the implications of that sacred word has dawned on me: the mutual need and trust of people, the co-operation and inter-reliance which are the very foundation of human society.
Later in my life, I continued to experience many failures. But never again did I feel that regret which struck me at the death of the girl, for it makes my heart satisfied to think that I have always done everything in my power to fulfill my responsibilities as best I can.
As I grew up, changed and improved by this incident and many other similar ones, I began to perceive the changes taking place around me and to find that society, in a way, was in its formative years like myself. New buildings, new commodities and new fashions appear every day.
New ideas, new information, new technologies. People can talk with each other from any corner of the earth in a matter of seconds. Society is becoming more competitive.
Words like individuality and creativity are getting more emphasis and more people are rewarded for their hard work and efforts. Such is the era in which this generation ,grows and matures.
Such is the era in which this generation will take over the nation from our fathers and learn to run it. Yet in the meantime, many problems still exis
t.
We learn that crimes take place in broad daylight with crowds of people looking on and not assisting. We hear that there are still about 1 million children in this country who can’t even afford to go to elementary schools while enormous sums of money are being squandered away on dinner parties and luxury cars.
We buy shoddy medicines, or merely worthless junk in the name of medicines, that aggravate, rather than alleviate our diseases since money, many people believe, is the most important thing in the world that must be made, even at the expense of morality and responsibility.
Such an era, therefore, determines that we are a generation with a keener sense of competition and efficiency and a greater readiness to think critically and act creatively.
Such an era, furthermore, demands, that we are a generation with a clear perception of our historical responsibility and an aggressive will to take action and solve the problems. History has long been preparing these qualities in this generation and it is now calling us forward to give testimony to our patriotism and heroism towards this nation andFacing this audience on the stage, I have the exciting feeling of participating in the march of history, for what we are facing today is more than a mere competition or contest. It is an assembly of some of China’s most talented and motivated people, repre
sentatives of a younger generation that are preparing themselves for the coming of a new century.
I’m grateful that I’ve been given this opportunity, at such a historic moment, to stand here as a spokesman of my generation and to take a serious look back at the past 15 years, a crucial period for every one of us and for this nation as well.
Though it is only within my power to tell about my personal experience, and only a tiny fragment of it at that, it still represents, I believe, the root of a spirit which has been essential to me and to all the people bred by the past 15 years.
In my elementary years, there was a little girl in the class who worked very hard but somehow could never do satisfactorily in her lessons.
The teacher asked me to help her, and it was obvious that she expected a lot from me. but as a young boy, restless, thoughtless, I always tried to evade her so as to get more time to enjoy myself.
One day before the final exam, she came up to me and said, Could you please explain this to me? I want very much to do better this time. I started explaining, and finished in a hurry. Pretending not to notice her still confused eyes, I ran off quickly. Nat surprisingly, she again did very badly in the exam. And two months later, at the beginning of the new semester, word cam
e of her death of blood cancer. No one ever knew about the little task I failed to fulfill, but I couldn’t forgive myself. I simply couldn’t forget her eyes, which seem to be asking, Why didn’t you do a little more to help me, when it was so easy for you? Why didn’t you understand a little better the trust placed in you, so that I would not have to leave this world in such pain and regret?
I was about eight or nine years old at that time, but in a way it was the very starting point of my life, for I began to understand the word responsibility and to learn to always do my duties faithfully and devotedly, for the implications of that sacred word has dawned on me: the mutual need and trust of people, the co-operation and inter-reliance which are the very foundation of human society.
Later in my life, I continued to experience many failures. But never again did I feel that regret which struck me at the death of the girl, for it makes my heart satisfied to think that I have always done everything in my power to fulfill my responsibilities as best I can.
As I grew up, changed and improved by this incident and many other similar ones, I began to perceive the changes taking place around me and to find that society, in a way, was in its formative years like myself. New buildings, new commodities and new fashions appear every day.
New ideas, new information, new technologies. People can talk with each
other from any corner of the earth in a matter of seconds. Society is becoming more competitive.
Words like individuality and creativity are getting more emphasis and more people are rewarded for their hard work and efforts. Such is the era in which this generation ,grows and matures.
Such is the era in which this generation will take over the nation from our fathers and learn to run it. Yet in the meantime, many problems still exist.
We learn that crimes take place in broad daylight with crowds of people looking on and not assisting. We hear that there are still about 1 million children in this country who can’t even afford to go to elementary schools while enormous sums of money are being squandered away on dinner parties and luxury cars.
We buy shoddy medicines, or merely worthless junk in the name of medicines, that aggravate, rather than alleviate our diseases since money, many people believe, is the most important thing in the world that must be made, even at the expense of morality and responsibility.
Such an era, therefore, determines that we are a generation with a keener sense of competition and efficiency and a greater readiness to think critically and act creatively.
Such an era, furthermore, demands, that we are a generation with a clear perception of our historical responsibility and an aggressive will to take action and solve the problems. History has long been preparing these qualities in this generation and it is now calling us forward to give testimony to our patriotism and heroism towards this nation andFacing this audience on the stage, I have the exciting feeling of participating in the march of history, for what we are facing today is more than a mere competition or contest. It is an assembly of some of China’s most talented and motivated people, representatives of a younger generation that are preparing themselves for the coming of a new century.
I’m grateful that I’ve been given this opportunity, at such a historic moment, to stand here as a spokesman of my generation and to take a serious look back at the past 15 years, a crucial period for every one of us and for this nation as well.
Though it is only within my power to tell about my personal experience, and only a tiny fragment of it at that, it still represents, I believe, the root of a spirit which has been essential to me and to all the people bred by the past 15 years.
In my elementary years, there was a little girl in the class who worked very hard but somehow could never do satisfactorily in her lessons.
The teacher asked me to help her, and it was obvious that she expected
a lot from me. but as a young boy, restless, thoughtless, I always tried to evade her so as to get more time to enjoy myself.
One day before the final exam, she came up to me and said, Could you please explain this to me? I want very much to do better this time. I started explaining, and finished in a hurry. Pretending not to notice her still confused eyes, I ran off quickly. Nat surprisingly, she again did very badly in the exam. And two months later, at the beginning of the new semester, word came of her death of blood cancer. No one ever knew about the little task I failed to fulfill, but I couldn’t forgive myself. I simply couldn’t forget her eyes, which seem to be asking, Why didn’t you do a little more to help me, when it was so easy for you? Why didn’t you understand a little better the trust placed in you, so that I would not have to leave this world in such pain and regret?
I was about eight or nine years old at that time, but in a way it was the very starting point of my life, for I began to understand the word responsibility and to learn to always do my duties faithfully and devotedly, for the implications of that sacred word has dawned on me: the mutual need and trust of people, the co-operation and inter-reliance which are the very foundation of human society.
Later in my life, I continued to experience many failures. But never again did I feel that regret which struck me at the death of the girl, for it makes my heart satisfied to think that I have always done everything in my power
to fulfill my responsibilities as best I can.
As I grew up, changed and improved by this incident and many other similar ones, I began to perceive the changes taking place around me and to find that society, in a way, was in its formative years like myself. New buildings, new commodities and new fashions appear every day.
New ideas, new information, new technologies. People can talk with each other from any corner of the earth in a matter of seconds. Society is becoming more competitive.
Words like individuality and creativity are getting more emphasis and more people are rewarded for their hard work and efforts. Such is the era in which this generation ,grows and matures.
Such is the era in which this generation will take over the nation from our fathers and learn to run it. Yet in the meantime, many problems still exist.
We learn that crimes take place in broad daylight with crowds of people looking on and not assisting. We hear that there are still about 1 million children in this country who can’t even afford to go to elementary schools while enormous sums of money are being squandered away on dinner parties and luxury cars.
We buy shoddy medicines, or merely worthless junk in the name of medicines, that aggravate, rather than alleviate our diseases since money, many people believe, is the most important thing in the world that must be made, even at the expense of morality and responsibility.
Such an era, therefore, determines that we are a generation with a keener sense of competition and efficiency and a greater readiness to think critically and act creatively.
Such an era, furthermore, demands, that we are a generation with a clear perception of our historical responsibility and an aggressive will to take action and solve the problems. History has long been preparing these qualities in this generation and it is now calling us forward to give testimony to our patriotism and heroism towards this nation and
Facing this audience on the stage, I have the exciting feeling of participating in the march of history, for what we are facing today is more than a mere competition or contest. It is an assembly of some of China’s most talented and motivated people, representatives of a younger generation that are preparing themselves for the coming of a new century.
I’m grateful that I’ve been given this opportunity, at such a historic moment, to stand here as a spokesman of my generation and to take a serious look back at the past 15 years, a crucial period for every one of us and for this nation as well.
Though it is only within my power to tell about my personal experience, and only a tiny fragment of it at that, it still represents, I believe, the root of a spirit which has been essential to me and to all the people bred by the past 15 years.
In my elementary years, there was a little girl in the class who worked very hard but somehow could never do satisfactorily in her lessons.
The teacher asked me to help her, and it was obvious that she expected a lot from me. but as a young boy, restless, thoughtless, I always tried to evade her so as to get more time to enjoy myself.
One day before the final exam, she came up to me and said, Could you please explain this to me? I want very much to do better this time. I started explaining, and finished in a hurry. Pretending not to notice her still confused eyes, I ran off quickly. Nat surprisingly, she again did very badly in the exam. And two months later, at the beginning of the new semester, word came of her death of blood cancer. No one ever knew about the little task I failed to fulfill, but I couldn’t forgive myself. I simply couldn’t forget her eyes, which seem to be asking, Why didn’t you do a little more to help me, when it was so easy for you? Why didn’t you understand a little better the trust placed in you, so that I would not have to leave this world in such pain and regret?
I was about eight or nine years old at that time, but in a way it was the
very starting point of my life, for I began to understand the word responsibility and to learn to always do my duties faithfully and devotedly, for the implications of that sacred word has dawned on me: the mutual need and trust of people, the co-operation and inter-reliance which are the very foundation of human society.
Later in my life, I continued to experience many failures. But never again did I feel that regret which struck me at the death of the girl, for it makes my heart satisfied to think that I have always done everything in my power to fulfill my responsibilities as best I can.
As I grew up, changed and improved by this incident and many other similar ones, I began to perceive the changes taking place around me and to find that society, in a way, was in its formative years like myself. New buildings, new commodities and new fashions appear every day.
New ideas, new information, new technologies. People can talk with each other from any corner of the earth in a matter of seconds. Society is becoming more competitive.
Words like individuality and creativity are getting more emphasis and more people are rewarded for their hard work and efforts. Such is the era in which this generation ,grows and matures.
Such is the era in which this generation will take over the nation from
our fathers and learn to run it. Yet in the meantime, many problems still exist.
We learn that crimes take place in broad daylight with crowds of people looking on and not assisting. We hear that there are still about 1 million children in this country who can’t even afford to go to elementary schools while enormous sums of money are being squandered away on dinner parties and luxury cars.
We buy shoddy medicines, or merely worthless junk in the name of medicines, that aggravate, rather than alleviate our diseases since money, many people believe, is the most important thing in the world that must be made, even at the expense of morality and responsibility.
Such an era, therefore, determines that we are a generation with a keener sense of competition and efficiency and a greater readiness to think critically and act creatively.
Such an era, furthermore, demands, that we are a generation with a clear perception of our historical responsibility and an aggressive will to take action and solve the problems. History has long been preparing these qualities in this generation and it is now calling us forward to give testimony to our patriotism and heroism towards this nation andall humanity.
Standing here now, I think of the past 15 years of my life as an ordinary
student. Probably I’ll be an ordinary man for the rest of my life. But this doesn’t discourage me any, for I know that with my sense of responsibility and devoted efforts to always strive, for the best, it’s going to be a meaningful and worthwhile life that I will be living.
Standing here now, I think of the past 15 years of this nation, which has achieved greatness that inspired millions of people of my age, most of whom will not attain fame or prestige and only a few of whom will be remembered by posterity. But that doesn’t discourage us any, because we know that the world watches, the world listens, the world is waiting to see where this nation will be heading in a time of rich opportunities and fierce competition.
I can’t ever forget that little girl in my class who couldn’t had the same opportunities as any of us here to enjoy a wonderful life today and a hopeful world tomorrow.
It is the sacred responsibility of this generation to face up to the challenges of the new century and to devote our sweat and blood, our wisdom and passion, to the historic cause of making this nation a greater and happier land for every one of us.
We are not going to evade that responsibility. We are going to let people down. And people, far and near, will hear of us. Frost will be brought to their backbones and tears to their eyes when our stories are told and retold,
So let us go forth, my fellow members of this luckily chosen generation, and meet the new century in victory and glory.
“Life is just a series of trying to make up your mind.” Making a choice means something is kept while something is eliminated. But as a great many development of the international community usher in a new world, which is, paradoxically, more culturally diverse(升调) AND globalized(降调), I begin to wonder
if we must make a choice,
if things are only black and white,
if there’s a win-win coexistence of diversity rather than just the cruel “Survival-of-the-fittest” elimination that results in a world of monotonous unity.
My hometown is Dalian, and my university is in Shenyang. The changes that are taking place in both cosmopolitans are breathtaking. International conglomerates, BMW, G.E. are hiring the finest of the younger generation, while Starbucks, Haagen-Dazs, and McDonald’s are competing aggressively with local brands. As we immerse ourselves so happily in the international convenience, traditional brands and ways of life are withering in the jungle law of the commercial society. One lifestyle and another lifestyle does not always mean two lifestyles will simultaneously survive.
When foreigners come to China and see the same image of streets as in their own country, they feel more baffled than excited. YES, globalization brings international consumer goods and services, yet, such convenience shouldn’t be at the price of losing the Chinese ingredient in the recipe of global diversity. And when Starbucks opened a shop in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the emperor turned over in his grave.
It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the job of the younger generation to make sure things will only be better off for China and the world. With a leap of faith, I came to a decision half a year ago. So, I set my mind on overseas education. Such a decision was not to pursue a blind pilgrimage of Western culture, but to provide my self a new perspective, a catalyst for personal growth as I integrate wisdom and experience of both worlds to become truly international. As I celebrate Chinese culture with the rest of the world, one education AND one education trigger development that can’t be measured with a number, 停顿 two.
The world is evolving. The only thing not changing is change itself. Yet however fast the world changes, the essence remains the same. It is our responsibility, NO, our obligation as young people, (which ever country we’re from,) to make sure that when worlds come together, our respective characteristics are kept while new traditions are formed in the process. Hand in hand, I’m more than confident that we CAN offer future generations a world of unprecedented harmony and diversity.
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