经典英语演讲稿

第1篇：经典英语演讲稿

because in their mind，medical workers are upright，kind，selfless and friendly. despite the rumour and social prejudice，nantingger gave up her rich physical life，firmly，committing herself to nusing career……

every classmate，every friend！have you heard of white dream？perhaps，you think hope is green，youth is red，and dream is only natural gold！but，i think medical workers' dream is white. you're likely to say：white stands for blank，white symbolizes poverty. but，i will tell you white also signifies creation！white also is the embodiment of vast and pureness. people usually speak highly of medical workers as angels in white. because in their mind，medical workers are upright，kind，selfless and friendly. despite the rumour and social prejudice，nantingger gave up her rich physical life，firmly，committing herself to nusing career.

in this way，she destronmasted the glory of white dream. benqiuen strode over country boundaries，devoting himself to medical career without hestion. extremly beautiful scenery often exists in dangerous and high mountains.extremly grand music is always dismal. extremly noble life frequently lies in heroic sacrifice.

in a sense，isn't medical workers' job great？if one can sacrifice his life for human，isn't he or she happy？as it going：if there isn't inveteracy，there isn't prosperous leaves and sweet-smelling flowers，if there isn't headstream and flowing water，thereisn't rapids and waterfall，if there isn't medical workers' hard work，there isn't good and healthy life of people. in a word，no matter what situation we might face，we must stick to the white dream.

第2篇：经典英语演讲稿

Good morning/afternoon, teachers！

I’m happy to be here. Firstly, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is xxx , my English name is xxxxx . I like to go to school. I think it’s interesting and fun. I have many hobbies in school, Ilike reading books, playing balls, drawing , painting and so on. Now, I am a football player of my school team. Look at this picture, this girl in red is me , What a proud thing!

Today, my topic is about “a sport star”. Iwant to talk about is a famous woman football player in our Country.

A girl who loves football, at the age of 12, began to play. She failed to be admitted by the football team for many years , but thecoach always encourages her: "you must be succeed next time." Later, she came into the football team. After many years, she became the captain of the Chinese women’s football team.She is Sun wen.(展示孙雯照片)

Sunwenand her women's football team,have seen relative success ——they reached the World Cup final in 1999. The national women's team, has been knownasthe "Iron Roses"by the world.

During her training process, she suffered two serious injury, one is almost blind in the right eye; theotheris the left knee joint damage, in addition, her body hasgotdifferent degree of injury. But thosedidn’t stop her from playing , because she said: "I chose this road, I love football too much, this is my favorite cause."

She also said, “who want to make some achievementsor success ,must pay the extra effort, the reason isalsothe sameto any other area. ”

Sun Wenhas been playedfootball for 14 years, she thinks the most important thing is football, it gave hera out of the ordinary life experience, it makes hergenerous, self challenge. She also told us that, only when their team is strong , will it be respectedby audience; only when our country is strong, the motherland will be win the world'srespect.

In 20xx, International Federation of Association Footballgive The title “The Best Woman Football Player of the Millenium” to Sun Wen. At this moment, all China is encouraged.

Though she is retired now, her struggles and spirit are still moving. It will always affect the fans of football, including me. She left an unforgettable wealth for the women's football.she will be respected for her super performance in the sport always.

Sports, including football, make us grow in the wind and rain, make us stronger and more beautiful. Come on, friends, don't wait! Come on, let’s go for dreams!

That’s my share , thank you!

第3篇：经典英语演讲稿

Good morningafternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Consider the lowly toilet. Many of you may not think of the toilet as a form of technology if you think of toilets at all. But, it is and has contributed greatly to the improved health and overall quality of life for mankind.

On a recent trip to Japan, I was impressed by, among other things, a gadget in most public women's restrooms, called Otohime or Sound Princess. This device produces the sound of flushing water without the need for actual flushing. The technology saves the user both the embarrassment of being heard during urination and some 20 liters of water per use in cases where a woman might flush the toilet continuously while using it.

Every time I used Otohime, I felt like a princess, an environmentalist princess on the toilet.

It was a longed for feeling. Over the past decade, I shuffled in and out of many kinds of public restrooms in China--filthy smelly water closets in outlying areas, acious luxurious lavatories in five-star hotels, forever-occupied girls' stalls on campus during school, and smart modern mobile toilets in international fairs. But not one single "room" evoked my pride of being a princess.

And I knew why the Sound Princess had. It was not because of the high technology the small bathroom boasted which is becoming ubiquitous worldwide. It was the idealism embodied in the technology that keeps reminding me that in this ever-changing world, I am a reonsible and dignified human being even when sitting on a toilet.

Humanism, no matter how it is defined, aims to strike a balance between us being at the mercy of nature and being too human-centered. In my case, I haven't relieved myself under a tree for a while. I am a proud, dutiful Chinese citizen. Gone are the days when people just found a corner to do their business resulting in poor sanitation and threats to public health. The Otohimetechnology renders me two warnings: First, I am a humble human being with an obligation to save not only my face but also natural resources. Second, there is still a long way to go in my own country not just in developing technology and the economy, but also in upholding human dignity and promoting human welfare. Take the toilet: Dirty, crowdedtoilets shall, at least, give way to clean, human-friendly ones.

Fortunately, I have seen improvements. At Shanghai World Expo 20xx, 8,000 toilets, all modern and technologically sophisticated, were installed across the site. What really delighted the visitors, however, was the user-friendly design and services. Toilets were situated every 00 meters. Several hundred volunteers served as toilet guides and sanitation workers. The ratio of female to male toilet ace was set at 2.5 to . Soft music was played in the toilets. All this seems to celebrate the glory of comprehensive humanism.

Ladies and gentlemen, science and technology are here to improve earthly life and maximize human happiness. When our world benefits from technology, coupled with human considerations, we are bound to enjoy our life. Conversely, we suffer.

The toilet is a piece of sanitaryware and the quintessence of humanism that underlies technological innovation. Like GNP, employment rates, and ace exploration efforts, the lowly equipment is an equally important measure of a progressive society. When on a toilet if we feel like a princess, we shall be proud of living in a society that values humanity. If not, we must stand up and make some changes.

And if you are still baffled with what I have said, I suggest you take off right now and go experience the bathrooms in this auditorium, because they are what makes our life beautiful or ugly, humanism considered or ignored.

第4篇：经典英语演讲稿

Dear teachers and students: Good morning! My name is , is a primary school. 11 years old, the Ming Road Primary School in fifth grade reading. I have today and we talk about "my story with an school "----- since coming to the school, with, , and three teachers to learn English, I began to have a strong interest in English! My first English teacher was American, her name is , her tall, very young, very beautiful! Her eyes are blue. She taught me courage to speak English. I like her. But she returned to the . Where her father and mother, that is her home. My current English teacher is , he is also an , he is a male teacher, he's tall, very thin. I like his English class. We play in the classroom, play games, play in the process, I learned to speak English and foreign friends to speak. Another teacher she called , she is Chinese. Her big eyes, long hair. She is very beautiful! She told us very well! I know a lot of children here, they are in a different school. However, every Saturday, we are gathered here to listen to and lectures, play games together with , we all very happy together! Also learned a lot.very big schools, where teachers from the, the , as well as . I like English! Because it's fun! When I grow up, I'm going to the, and travel, get to know people there. I also want to go to Harvard University to study! I have an uncle who read the book in Harvard, he is very good! He is now working in. Another uncle visited the, Bell Labs study, he was great! I want to be like them, learn, grow, and to use their knowledge to build our country!

亲爱的老师和同学们：上午好! 我叫,是一名小学生。今年11岁，在路小学读五年级。我今天和大家谈谈关于"我与xx学校的故事"-----自从来到了xx学校，跟，,和三位老师学英语后，我开始对英语产生了浓厚的兴趣!我的第一个英语老师是个美国人，她叫,她个子高高的，很年轻，很漂亮!她的眼睛是蓝色的。她教会了我勇敢的开口说英语。我很喜欢她。但是她回美国了。那里有她的爸爸和妈妈，那是她的家。我现在的英语老师是Ray，他也是一个美国人，他是一个男老师，他的个子很高，很瘦。我喜欢上他的英语课。我们在课堂上玩儿，做游戏，在玩的.过程中我学会了用说英语和外国朋友说话。还有一位老师她叫,她是中国人。她眼睛大大的，长头发。她很漂亮!她对我们很好!我在这里认识了很多小朋友，他们在不同的学校读书。但是，每到周六，我们就聚在这里听和讲课，跟一起做游戏，我们大家在一起很开心!也学到了很多东西。xx学校很大很大，这里的老师有来自，，还有。我很喜欢英语!因为它很有趣!等我长大了，我要去，和旅游，去认识那里的人。我还想去哈弗大学念书!我的一个舅舅曾经在哈弗读过书，他很优秀!他现在在工作。另一个舅舅去过贝尔实验室学习，他也很棒!我要像他们一样，好好学习，长大了，用自己的知识建设我们的国家!

第5篇：经典英语演讲稿

落叶在空中盘旋，谱写一首感恩的乐曲，那是树对大地的感恩;白云在蔚蓝的'天空飘荡，描绘了一幅感恩的画卷，那是白云对蓝天的感恩。

感谢我的父母，是他们给了我生命和温暖;感谢我的朋友，是他们给了我关怀和友谊;感谢我的老师，是他们给了我知识和帮助。

感恩是中华民族的传统美德，感恩也是一种感情的抒发，让我们把这优秀的传统美德一代一代地流传下去吧!

让大家行动起来吧!用心去感谢曾经爱过你的人吧!让我们一起体会，让感恩行动起来吧!

Fallen leaves hover in the air and compose a song of Thanksgiving, thetree's Thanksgiving to the earth; the white clouds float across the blue sky,and paint a picture of gratitude, the white clouds of gratitude to the bluesky.

Thank my parents, they gave me life and warmth; thank my friends, they gaveme care and friendship; thank my teacher, they gave me knowledge and help.

Thanksgiving is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, Thanksgivingis also a kind of emotional expression, let us pass this fine traditionalvirtues generation by generation!

Let's take action! Thanks to those who have loved you! Let us experience,let Thanksgiving action!

第6篇：经典英语演讲稿

my name is Sam , for those of you in the assembly that don’t know me, i am in year ………. ( may also say if they are representing the src or other group in the school etc).

i am not sure how many of you realise that today marks a very important worldwide celebration for children. today is universal children’s day. so what, you may say, what does this mean to me, and why should i even bother to listen?

well the answer is very simple, as students in china we live a life of privilege and relative safety compared to children and young people in many other parts of the world. we are very lucky. but this shouldn’t mean that we don’t care about other children and communities around the world less fortunate than ourselves.

i think some classes have been learning about how students just like us in other parts of the world have to struggle to survive. some children cant afford the things we take for granted like food, clothing, safe water and sanitation and having the opportunity to go to school.

today is a day set aside to promote worldwide unity between children and to increase the awareness by all people of the plight of vulnerable children in some parts of the world.

in nsw, we are calling our contribution to universal children's day, unicef day for change. as part of this day, our school is doing..(brief description of activity).

on behalf of the students and staff who have put time into planning this activity, i would like to thank you in advance for your support.

thank you

第7篇：经典英语演讲稿

This day, is a great pleasure to the platform, and so much more willing to make contributions to the class the classmate to run for class cadre. I think, I will use the exuberant energy, a clear mind to do a good job in the class cadre to give full play to my strengths to help classmates and x class people work together to improvement

I didn't pull a year from the moment the class cadre, but my whole body is clean, there is no "officer officer phase state", "newspeak" bureaucratic AIRS; Timidity is less about the private, more aggressive, aggressive.

I think I deserve a doer, do not need those beautiful words to modify. Work has tempered my, life makes me. Dale Carnegie said, "don't be afraid to sell yourself, as long as you think yourself have talent, you should think that self is qualified gives this or that position".

I believe that with my new well read "officer", with my courage and talent, with me in the same boat with you deep friendship, this campaign speech brought me must be the inaugural address of the next. I will at any time, any situation, the first is "to the students of thought, the anxious students of urgent." I never believe in "done no work" is the creed, on the contrary, I think a class cadre "reactive power is too". Because I usually get along well with everybody, better interpersonal relationships, it reduces the work resistance objectively. I will work with the young students in together, opine, a cry of our youth. When the conflict between teachers and students, I have to distinguish between right and wrong, insist the principle. Personality is or is not correct as a teacher, I will dare to heart to seek the students legitimate rights and interests if the classmates to I distrust, can put forward "no-confidence" at any time, to impeach me. You trust, I wouldn't like to impeach Clinton impeachment trouble, I will not die not to walk.

Now that is a flower, I'm going to open; Now that is a tree, I would grow into pillars; Since this is stone, I will go to spread out the road; Since this is the class cadre, I would become an excellent pilot!

The sparkling light of meteoroids comes from the frictions, and the bright pearl of tears from the shell, and a class of good leadership and the joint efforts of all the students from the class cadre.

Introduce myself I'm confident speech synthesis under the help of the classmates, I am qualified for the job, is because of this drive, when I went to the podium, I feel confidence one hundred times.

Are you holding the hand of the votes will hesitate? Thank you very much trust!

第8篇：经典英语演讲稿

Good morning/afternoon!

First thing first, I gotta say,wow,it's funny thing to be given a chance like h be told,I really got a little bit nervous before I stand right here ,so called 'stage fright' you look specifically on me may find my hands shaking,pretty assembles the guy who suffered from Pakinson's disease,and legs wobbling ,like I caught so-called ball leg. Okay,let's stop going around the bush and get back to my topic today.I really like to talk a funny story I have just heard.A lady called Lucy emigrated to United States several years spoken English is not that fluent one day,she is just sitting on the couch with his U.S friends Mandy watching Sit-Com.A noise of bump had the attention of Mandy,which led her to go out of the house trying to figure out what had you imagine that Mandy go straight out with merely a Lucy shouted at her,"Lucy ,turn your clothes on." What suprised her most,beyond her wildest imagination, is that almost all the male in this country took their head out of the ttedly,Lucy made a mistake here word spitted means Mandy is totally naked to the reason that male looked out of the right sentence shall be,"put your clothing on."The story inspires you to take a careful look on the vast difference between eastern and western culture. That's full of it,thank you for your time!

Good morning/afternoon! First thing first, I gotta say,wow,it's funny thing to be given a chance like h be told,I really got a little bit nervous before I stand right here ,so called 'stage fright' you look specifically on me may find my hands shaking,pretty assembles the guy who suffered from Pakinson's disease,and legs wobbling ,like I caught so-called ball leg. Okay,let's stop going around the bush and get back to my topic today.I really like to talk a funny story I have just heard.A lady called Lucy emigrated to United States several years spoken English is not that fluent one day,she is just sitting on the couch with his U.S friends Mandy watching Sit-Com.A noise of bump had the attention of Mandy,which led her to go out of the house trying to figure out what had you imagine that Mandy go straight out with merely a Lucy shouted at her,"Lucy ,turn your clothes on." What suprised her most,beyond her wildest imagination, is that almost all the male in this country took their head out of the ttedly,Lucy made a mistake here word spitted means Mandy is totally naked to the reason that male looked out of the right sentence shall be,"put your clothing on."The story inspires you to take a careful look on the vast difference between eastern and western culture. That's full of it,thank you for your time!

第9篇：经典英语演讲稿

There’s Prospero in the Tempest, while the Duke of Milan he wishes quote to only be transported and wrapped in the secret study and he feels his library large enough. This, however, creates the opportunity for this evil brother to stage a coup, landing him on a remote island were to be sure his dark arts mastered in secret study come in handy, as may yours.

Or there’s Ferdinand, king of Love’s Labors Lost, who enlisted three subordinates to join him as quote brave conquerors who will forswear the baser impulses of love, food and sleep in order to study and learn only to be confounded in his dedication when he finds himself falling in love.

I suspect that many of you during your time here have lived closer to the experience of Ferdinand than to the experience of Prospero.

The advent of modern American university which largely happened in the last century has been the institutionalization of that human dream and this little physical space in which we gather together this morning is in many respects the near perfect fulfillment of that human vision. I know no other that can match it.

The columns, pillars, pediments, demes, classical inscriptions ascending steps, granite and limestone and marble and brick facades, which surround us convey the message that this is its own universe, a place governed by strictly observed code of academic inquiry, an insistence on open dialogue, informed by all-pervading skepticism and respect for the legacy of human achievement, created about a century ago, the Morningside campus represents the idea of an ordered, classical and even inward-looking world. To walk on to this campus is to feel one’s I.Q go up by 10 points.

第10篇：经典英语演讲稿

Travel is avery good means of broadening a person39s perspective. It makesyou come intocontact with different cultures，meet people of different colorsand go through peculiarrites and ceremonies. Travelling much，you will not on lyenrich your knowledge andexperiences，but also be aware of the vastness ofnature. Travel may also relieve personof boredom and gloom. Travel brings youenjo yment and attraction. It gives you apleasant experience，which willdisperse your boredom and make you forget whateverannoys you. Travel broadensyour mind and leaves you good memories.

Later，you maygo over these memories andenjoy your past experiences，thus keeping a fresh and sunnymind.The field39s hisstudy，nature was his book. Travelers can choose different modesoftransportation which have advantage s and disadvantages. Airplanes are thefastest butalso the most expensive. Bus es and trains are less expensive，butthey soon make youfeel cramped and unco mfortable. Ships provide you withcomfort unless you get seasick.Most people c an afford traveling by bicycle，which，although slow，can limber upyour mus cles and get you closer to nature. Ilove traveling.Traveling not only broadens my horizons but also opens my eye sto the world.What39s more it refreshes me.

You can go to Disneyland and experience whatit39s like to be “a child again” You can visit one of the “sevenwonders of theworld” such as the Grand Canyon and feel the magnificence of nature You can taste the“magicial” ice water on a glacier which can help yo ubecome more beautiful and makeyou live longer. Just forget all trifles and burdens that you have in your mind. Experienceis a type of living knowledge. You39ll be sure to experience many new things whentraveling. You don39t even needa tour guide if you long for more freedom. Justdon39t forget to bring your backpack

第11篇：经典英语演讲稿

"5.12" the international nurse festival is the founder - Englandnurses which nurses for the commemoration modern times Florence.Nightingale sets up. Florence. Nightingale (on May 12, 1820 -1910 year on August 13)had been born in Italy's historical famous city Florence, afterwardsmoved England along with the family, when her childhood harboredbenevolent and the fine mind, loathed has a high and respectedposition with the bored social life, did not attend to the parentsfirmly to oppose, resolutely left home in 1850 Prussia to studynurses, accepts short-term the medical treatment and nursing training,in 1853 was hired holds the post of London to be sick the woman tonurse the meeting the surveillance duty. From 1854 to 1856, English, the law, the Turkish allied armies andczarist government joined battle in Crimea, England field hospitalmanagement bad, condition range, also did not have the nurse to nursethe patient, the soldier mortality rate reaches as high as above 50%,after Nightingale this news, led 38 nurses to arrive at the frontimmediately, carried on the service in four field hospitals, at thattime, the front drugs lacked, the water source was insufficient,hygienic range, but she was not discouraged, removed all sorts ofdifficulties by might and main, solved the essential thing and foodfor the patient, organized the soldier family member joint operation,increased their nutrition, thus caused the field hospital appearanCETo have a new look. In the short half year time, causes patient'smortality rate to drop to 2.2%, her merit disseminates thegreat-hearted immediately. [ You are glancing over article which "Old Hundred Dawns On-line"provides ] Nightingale kind gentle, deeply loves the patient seriously,the work is earnest, can day and night bustle about by the high senseof responsibility and the splendid management. In the dark lateautumn, she grasps the oil lamp to patrol the hospital ward, in everypossible way looks after each wounded soldier, the bed wounded soldieris moved lies down is kissing her form on the bed which falls on thewall, expresses to her respect and the deep love, and identicallycalls her is "the inspection lamp goddess". Nightingale in the Crimea battlefield the absorbed offer which doesfor the patient, had driven afterwards soon established Red Cross'smember, also regular script present their humanity objective.Therefore, in her before death, International Red Cross has set upNightingale Medal in at 1907 London congress, takes the encouragementvarious countries nurse's international highest honor prize. In 1912,after namely Nightingale died the second year, holds in Washington atthe ninth session of Red Cross international congress the officialdetermination issues Nightingale the medal. In 1912, was commemorates Nightingale to nurse the achievement whichthe enterprise developed, the international nurse council south ofproposed Nightingale the birthday - on May 12, commemorated Nightingaleas the various countries hospital and the nursing school to hold eachkind of active the day. At first called "the hospital date" (HospitalDay), also called "the Nightingale date" (Florence Nightingale Day),is called "the international nurse festival" in China (National NurseDay). Vigorously propagandizes in this day nurses the work, encouragesthe nurse to learn from Nightingale to save from impending deathassists the wounded devotes the spirit.

第12篇：经典英语演讲稿

change the world? change ourselves

good evening, honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen.

it’s my great pleasure to stand here to present my speech—change the world, change ourselves.

it’s noticable that western holidays are becoming increasingly popular day by day, while chinese traditional festivals are being somewhat neglected. not long before about 10 doctors in beijing

university and qinghua unversity announced that we should reject the invasion of western holidays ,because they regard western holidays as an challenge against our traditional festivals and culture.

frankly speaking, i don’t quite agree with them.indeed, we should never neglect or even discard our traditonal festivals as china boasts a brilliant history and splendid traditions. (examples).but why can’t we absorb the meaningful western holidays and culture. there are obvious reasons why some western holidays are so popular in china. on the one hand, some of the western holidays which we chinese don’t have are reasonable and meaningful, such as father’s day and april fool’s day etc. on the other hand,the prevalence of

globalization enables western culture to prevail in china.

overwhelmed by such a trend,chinese unconsiciously get involved in western holidays and culture.

with the further development of the whole world, the cultural

communication between different countries and nations becomes faster and more and more important. we are indeed from different nations, but we are the citizens of the same world, so the outstanding culture of different nations is the commom wealth of everyone on the

earth.the only way for us to protect our traditional culture is to reject the foreign culture? the answer is definitely no. what we ought to do is to spare no effort to educate chinese to get to know and treasure our splendid traditions instead of rejecting foreign culture. only by educating can we set our confidence and belief towards our culture. only by educating can we preserve and promote the wealth that our ancesters left for us.

at last i’d like to share a famouse saying of gandhi with all of you ,that is:if you want to change the world, then you must change yourself first.”

第13篇：经典英语演讲稿

We have only one earth.But now,the environment becomes worse and worse.As you know,there's no enough clean water for people.So many of them lose their lives because of water.In a lot of countries,people have to cut trees for living.So there's nothing to keep water from running away.Also we have polluted the land,the river and the air.Some people may say:we are the masters of nature.Now the "master" seems to be confronted with problems that are far beyond his control.

the holes of the ozone layer make the earth less suitable to live for some creatures including human beings.Facing all the disasters made by ourselves,we have the responsibility to deal with the problem.

we must do something useful to protect our environment.We can plant trees and take good care of them.We can save the water and ask our parents to do so.We can't throw any litter onto the ground and we should collect them for recycling.If we take good care of our earth today,it will be more beautiful tomorrow.

我们只有一个地球。但是现在,环境变得越来越糟。如你所知,也没有足够的清洁饮水的人.所以许多人失去了他们的生命,因为水.在很多国家,人们不得不砍树的生活.所以没有什么能阻止水的流失.我们还污染了土地,河流和空气.有些人可能会说：我们是自然的主人，现在的“主人”似乎面临的问题远远超出他的控制.

臭氧层的空洞使得地球不再适宜于某些生物包括人类生活.面对着自己造成的灾难,我们有责任来处理这个问题。

我们必须做些什么来保护环境.我们可以种树,好好照顾他们.我们可以节约用水,并要求我们的.父母这样做.我们不能把垃圾丢在地上,我们应该收集回收.如果我们好好照顾我们的地球上,这将是更加美好的明天。

第14篇：经典英语演讲稿

It is a great honor and prestige to be asked to make a speech here tonight. I have chosen a rather serious, unpleasant subject for tonight's speech: it is the problem of trade friction between China and the United States.

It seems that criticism is directed mainly toward China for its large trade surplus vis-a-vis the United States. As of the summer of 1997, the annual surplus amounted to some US $ 50 billion. The reason for that is that automobiles and electronic products of China are outselling the American equivalents. Criticism also goes to the closed market of China. Americans demand that China open its market for American agricultural products such as crops, fruit, and food-meat, and that the complex Chinese distribution system be simplified.

However, I think the basic posture the Americans are taking needs to be changed. That is, Americans tend to assume that the Chinese are all to blame, and they also demand quick changes from the Chinese. I think what we really need is a little more patience and effort to understand each other. Mutual understanding is indispensable today when international interdependence is the rule.

I hope my speech will serve as "food for thought" and that you will be able to "digest" it well. Thank you.

第15篇：经典英语演讲稿

i'd like to share with you a discovery that i made a few months ago while writing an article for italian wired. i always keep my thesaurus handy whenever i'm writing anything, but i'd already finished editing the piece, and i realized that i had never once in my life looked up the word "disabled" to see what i'd find.

let me read you the entry. "disabled, adjective: crippled, helpless, useless, wrecked, stalled, maimed, wounded, mangled, lame, mutilated, run-down, worn-out, weakened, impotent, castrated, paralyzed, handicapped, senile, decrepit, laid-up, done-up, done-for, done-in cracked-up, counted-out; see also hurt, useless and weak. antonyms, healthy, strong, capable." i was reading this list out loud to a friend and at first was laughing, it was so ludicrous, but i'd just gotten past "mangled," and my voice broke, and i had to stop and collect myself from the emotional shock and impact that the assault from these words unleashed.

you know, of course, this is my raggedy old thesaurus so i'm thinking this must be an ancient print date, right? but, in fact, the print date was the early 1980s, when i would have been starting primary school and forming an understanding of myself outside the family unit and as related to the other kids and the world around me. and, needless to say, thank god i wasn't using a thesaurus back then. i mean, from this entry, it would seem that i was born into a world that perceived someone like me to have nothing positive whatsoever going for them, when in fact, today i'm celebrated for the opportunities and adventures my life has procured.

so, i immediately went to look up the online edition, epecting to find a revision worth noting. here's the updated version of this entry. unfortunately, it's not much better. i find the last two words under "near antonyms," particularly unsettling: "whole" and "wholesome."

so, it's not just about the words. it's what we believe about people when we name them with these words. it's about the values behind the words, and how we construct those values. our language affects our thinking and how we view the world and how we view other people. in fact, many ancient societies, including the greeks and the romans, believed that to utter a curse verbally was so powerful, because to say the thing out loud brought it into eistence. so, what reality do we want to call into eistence: a person who is limited, or a person who's empowered? by casually doing something as simple as naming a person, a child, we might be putting lids and casting shadows on their power. wouldn't we want to open doors for them instead?

one such person who opened doors for me was my childhood doctor at the a.i. dupont institute in wilmington, delaware. his name was dr. pizzutillo, an italian american, whose name, apparently, was too difficult for most americans to pronounce, so he went by dr. p. and dr. p always wore really colorful bow ties and had the very perfect disposition to work with children.

i loved almost everything about my time spent at this hospital, with the eception of my physical therapy sessions. i had to do what seemed like innumerable repetitions of eercises with these thick, elastic bands -- different colors, you know -- to help build up my leg muscles, and i hated these bands more than anything -- i hated them, had names for them. i hated them. and, you know, i was already bargaining, as a five year-old child, with dr. p to try to get out of doing these eercises, unsuccessfully, of course. and, one day, he came in to my session -- ehaustive and unforgiving, these sessions -- and he said to me, "wow. aimee, you are such a strong and powerful little girl, i think you're going to break one of those bands. when you do break it, i'm going to give you a hundred bucks."

now, of course, this was a simple ploy on dr. p's part to get me to do the eercises i didn't want to do before the prospect of being the richest five-year-old in the second floor ward, but what he effectively did for me was reshape an awful daily occurrence into a new and promising eperience for me. and i have to wonder today to what etent his vision and his declaration of me as a strong and powerful little girl shaped my own view of myself as an inherently strong, powerful and athletic person well into the future.

this is an eample of how adults in positions of power can ignite the power of a child. but, in the previous instances of those thesaurus entries, our language isn't allowing us to evolve into the reality that we would all want, the possibility of an individual to see themselves as capable. our language hasn't caught up with the changes in our society, many of which have been brought about by technology. certainly, from a medical standpoint, my legs, laser surgery for vision impairment, titanium knees and hip replacements for aging bodies that are allowing people to more fully engage with their abilities, and move beyond the limits that nature has imposed on them -- not to mention social networking platforms allow people to self-identify, to claim their own descriptions of themselves, so they can go align with global groups of their own choosing. so, perhaps technology is revealing more clearly to us now what has always been a truth: that everyone has something rare and powerful to offer our society, and that the human ability to adapt is our greatest asset.

the human ability to adapt, it's an interesting thing, because people have continually wanted to talk to me about overcoming adversity, and i'm going to make an admission: this phrase never sat right with me, and i always felt uneasy trying to answer people's questions about it, and i think i'm starting to figure out why. implicit in this phrase of "overcoming adversity" is the idea that success, or happiness, is about emerging on the other side of a challenging eperience unscathed or unmarked by the eperience, as if my successes in life have come about from an ability to sidestep or circumnavigate the presumed pitfalls of a life with prosthetics, or what other people perceive as my disability. but, in fact, we are changed. we are marked, of course, by a challenge, whether physically, emotionally or both. and i'm going to suggest that this is a good thing. adversity isn't an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life. it's part of our life. and i tend to think of it like my shadow. sometimes i see a lot of it, sometimes there's very little, but it's always with me. and, certainly, i'm not trying to diminish the impact, the weight, of a person's struggle.

there is adversity and challenge in life, and it's all very real and relative to every single person, but the question isn't whether or not you're going to meet adversity, but how you're going to meet it. so, our responsibility is not simply shielding those we care for from adversity, but preparing them to meet it well. and we do a disservice to our kids when we make them feel that they're not equipped to adapt. there's an important difference and distinction between the objective medical fact of my being an amputee and the subjective societal opinion of whether or not i'm disabled. and, truthfully, the only real and consistent disability i've had to confront is the world ever thinking that i could be described by those definitions.

in our desire to protect those we care about by giving them the cold, hard truth about their medical prognosis, or, indeed, a prognosis on the epected quality of their life, we have to make sure that we don't put the first brick in a wall that will actually disable someone. perhaps the eisting model of only looking at what is broken in you and how do we fi it, serves to be more disabling to the individual than the pathology itself.

by not treating the wholeness of a person, by not acknowledging their potency, we are creating another ill on top of whatever natural struggle they might have. we are effectively grading someone's worth to our community. so we need to see through the pathology and into the range of human capability. and, most importantly, there's a partnership between those perceived deficiencies and our greatest creative ability. so it's not about devaluing, or negating, these more trying times as something we want to avoid or sweep under the rug, but instead to find those opportunities wrapped in the adversity. so maybe the idea i want to put out there is not so much overcoming adversity as it is opening ourselves up to it, embracing it, grappling with it, to use a wrestling term, maybe even dancing with it. and, perhaps, if we see adversity as natural, consistent and useful, we're less burdened by the presence of it.

this year we celebrate the 200th birthday of charles darwin, and it was 150 years ago, when writing about evolution, that darwin illustrated, i think, a truth about the human character. to paraphrase: it's not the strongest of the species that survives, nor is it the most intelligent that survives; it is the one that is most adaptable to change. conflict is the genesis of creation. from darwin's work, amongst others, we can recognize that the human ability to survive and flourish is driven by the struggle of the human spirit through conflict into transformation. so, again, transformation, adaptation, is our greatest human skill. and, perhaps, until we're tested, we don't know what we're made of. maybe that's what adversity gives us: a sense of self, a sense of our own power. so, we can give ourselves a gift. we can re-imagine adversity as something more than just tough times. maybe we can see it as change. adversity is just change that we haven't adapted ourselves to yet.

i think the greatest adversity that we've created for ourselves is this idea of normalcy. now, who's normal? there's no normal. there's common, there's typical. there's no normal, and would you want to meet that poor, beige person if they eisted? (laughter) i don't think so. if we can change this paradigm from one of achieving normalcy to one of possibility or potency, to be even a little bit more dangerous -- we can release the power of so many more children, and invite them to engage their rare and valuable abilities with the community.

anthropologists tell us that the one thing we as humans have always required of our community members is to be of use, to be able to contribute. there's evidence that neanderthals, 60,000 years ago, carried their elderly and those with serious physical injury, and perhaps it's because the life eperience of survival of these people proved of value to the community. they didn't view these people as broken and useless; they were seen as rare and valuable.

a few years ago, i was in a food market in the town where i grew up in that red zone in northeastern pennsylvania, and i was standing over a bushel of tomatoes. it was summertime: i had shorts on. i hear this guy, his voice behind me say, "well, if it isn't aimee mullins." and i turn around, and it's this older man. i have no idea who he is.

and i said, "i'm sorry, sir, have we met? i don't remember meeting you."

he said, "well, you wouldn't remember meeting me. i mean, when we met i was delivering you from your mother's womb." (laughter) oh, that guy. and, but of course, actually, it did click.

this man was dr. kean, a man that i had only known about through my mother's stories of that day, because, of course, typical fashion, i arrived late for my birthday by two weeks. and so my mother's prenatal physician had gone on vacation, so the man who delivered me was a complete stranger to my parents. and, because i was born without the fibula bones, and had feet turned in, and a few toes in this foot and a few toes in that, he had to be the bearer -- this stranger had to be the bearer of bad news.

he said to me, "i had to give this prognosis to your parents that you would never walk, and you would never have the kind of mobility that other kids have or any kind of life of independence, and you've been making liar out of me ever since." (laughter) (applause)

the etraordinary thing is that he said he had saved newspaper clippings throughout my whole childhood, whether winning a second grade spelling bee, marching with the girl scouts, you know, the halloween parade, winning my college scholarship, or any of my sports victories, and he was using it, and integrating it into teaching resident students, med students from hahnemann medical school and hershey medical school. and he called this part of the course the factor, the potential of the human will. no prognosis can account for how powerful this could be as a determinant in the quality of someone's life. and dr. kean went on to tell me, he said, "in my eperience, unless repeatedly told otherwise, and even if given a modicum of support, if left to their own devices, a child will achieve."

see, dr. kean made that shift in thinking. he understood that there's a difference between the medical condition and what someone might do with it. and there's been a shift in my thinking over time, in that, if you had asked me at 15 years old, if i would have traded prosthetics for flesh-and-bone legs, i wouldn't have hesitated for a second. i aspired to that kind of normalcy back then. but if you ask me today, i'm not so sure. and it's because of the eperiences i've had with them, not in spite of the eperiences i've had with them. and perhaps this shift in me has happened because i've been eposed to more people who have opened doors for me than those who have put lids and cast shadows on me.

see, all you really need is one person to show you the epiphany of your own power, and you're off. if you can hand somebody the key to their own power -- the human spirit is so receptive -- if you can do that and open a door for someone at a crucial moment, you are educating them in the best sense. you're teaching them to open doors for themselves. in fact, the eact meaning of the word "educate" comes from the root word "educe." it means "to bring forth what is within, to bring out potential." so again, which potential do we want to bring out?

there was a case study done in 1960s britain, when they were moving from grammar schools to comprehensive schools. it's called the streaming trials. we call it "tracking" here in the states. it's separating students from a, b, c, d and so on. and the "a students" get the tougher curriculum, the best teachers, etc. well, they took, over a three-month period, d-level students, gave them a's, told them they were "a's," told them they were bright, and at the end of this three-month period, they were performing at a-level.

and, of course, the heartbreaking, flip side of this study, is that they took the "a students" and told them they were "d's." and that's what happened at the end of that three-month period. those who were still around in school, besides the people who had dropped out. a crucial part of this case study was that the teachers were duped too. the teachers didn't know a switch had been made. they were simply told, "these are the 'a-students,' these are the 'd-students.'" and that's how they went about teaching them and treating them.

so, i think that the only true disability is a crushed spirit, a spirit that's been crushed doesn't have hope, it doesn't see beauty, it no longer has our natural, childlike curiosity and our innate ability to imagine. if instead, we can bolster a human spirit to keep hope, to see beauty in themselves and others, to be curious and imaginative, then we are truly using our power well. when a spirit has those qualities, we are able to create new realities and new ways of being.

i'd like to leave you with a poem by a fourteenth-century persian poet named hafiz that my friend, jacques dembois told me about, and the poem is called "the god who only knows four words": "every child has known god, not the god of names, not the god of don'ts, but the god who only knows four words and keeps repeating them, saying, 'come dance with me. come, dance with me. come, dance with me.'"

thank you. (applause)