feeling of youth
no young man believes he shall ever die. it was a saying of my brother's, and a fine one. there is a feeling of eternity in youth, which makes us amend for everything. to be young is to be as one of the immortal gods. one half of time indeed is flown-the other half remains in store for us with all its countletreasures; for there is no line drawn, and we see no limit to our hopes and wishes. we make the coming age our own-
the vast, the unbounded prospect lies before us.
death. old age. are words without a meaning. that paby us like the idea air which we regard not. others may have undergone, or may still be liable to them-we "bear a charmed life“, which laughs to scorn all such sickly fancies. as in setting out on delightful journey, we strain our eager gaze forward-
bidding the lovely scenes at distance hail!
and see no end to the landscape, new objects presenting themselves as we advance; so, in the commencement of life, we set no bounds to our inclinations. nor to the unrestricted opportunities of gratifying them. we have as yet found no obstacle, no disposition to flag; and it seems that we can go on so forever. we look round in a new world, full of life, and motion, and ceaseleprogress; and feel in ourselves all the vigor and spirit to keep pace with it, and do not foresee from any present symptoms how we shall be left behind in the natural course of things, decline into old age, and drop into the grave. it is the simplicity, and as it were abstractedneof our feelings in youth, that (so to speak) identifies us with nature, and (our experience being slight and our passions strong) deludes us into a belief of being immortal like it. our short-lives connection with existence we fondly flatter ourselves, is an indissoluble and lasting union-a honeymoon that knows neither coldness, jar, nor separation. as infants smile and sleep, we are rocked in the cradle of our wayward fancies, and lulled into security by the roar of the universe around us0we quaff the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the more-objects prearound us, filling the mind with their magnitude and with the strong of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.
once upon a time, a weenie ant was walking on his way. as he was walking, suddenly he felt the ground shaking terribly. he looked around with his paranoid eyes and saw an elephant walking right behind him. quickly, the little ant covered himself with dirt, but one leg was unfortunately left out. a sparrow saw everything, so she flew down with the purpose of teasing the ant: “hey, chicken! watch out your leg, it’s out!” the ant felt embarrassed at first but then calmly responded: “ shi…i am going to trip that elephant.”
right now, i’m standing on this glamorous stage. but everything here reminds me of is a not so fun memory. around this time last year i was in nanjing competing in another speech contest. that was the first time for me to be in such a large event. of course the pressure i was under was immense too. after a sleepless and stressful night, i went onto that stage without the feeling in my legs. that speech turned out to be horrible. i don’t remember how i get down from there, but i do remember afterwards i just wanted to find a hole to hide in just like the ant in the story. back at my school, it took a long time for me to recover. thanks to all the help i got from my special friends. my confidence was restored. after rounds of giving speeches and answering tough questions, i am here today. from all that i’ve been through i’ve learned that a good future is based on a forgotten past, if i want my life to go on well i have to let go of my past failure. so today, with out fear, i am tripping my elephant again.
the east and the west, let’s enjoy the combination of the two cultures?
kipling said:“east is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet!” but now, a century later, they have met.
they have met in business. they have met in education. they have met in the arts. some people will argue that these meetings will leave us with a choice between east and west, but i believe that the best future lies in the creative combination of both worlds. we can make western ideas, customs and technology our own, and adapt them to our own use. we can enjoy the best of both worlds, because our tradition is, above all, one of selecting the best and making it our own.
i love beijing and hennan opera because it always reminds me of who i am. but i am also a fan of pop music, especially english songs. so i have combined eastern melody with western language. it is called western henna opera.
when two cultures meet, there may be things in one culture, which do not fit into the tradition of the other. when this happens, we need to learn to understand and respect the customs of another culture. then there are certain things some people may not like. to this, i will say, if you do not like it, please try to tolerate it. to learn to tolerate what you personally don’t like is a great virtue at a time when different cultures mix and merge. before us, there are two rivers, eastern and western cultures. at present, they may run in different courses. but eventually, they will converge into the vast sea of human culture.
right now, i can see peoples of eastern and western cultures, standing side by side, singing the olympic theme song: we are hand in hand, heart to heart, together we will shape a beautiful tomorrow! thank you!
by the time john pulled into the little town, every hotel room was taken. "you've got to have a room somewhere." he pleaded. "or just a bed--i don't care where."
"well, i do have a double room with one occupant," admitted the manager," and he might be glad to split the cost. but to tell you the truth, he snores so loudly that people in adjoining rooms have complained in the past. i'm not sure it'd be worth it to you."
"no problem," the tired traveler assured him. "i'll take it."
the next morning, john came down to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. when asked about how he slept, he replied, "never better."
the manager was impressed. "no problem with the other guy snoring, then?"
"nope. i shut him up in no time."
"how'd you manage that?"
"he was already in bed, snoring away, when i came in the room," john said. "i went over, gave him a kion the cheek, said, 'goodnight, beautiful.' with that he sat up all night watching me."
The world we live in is becoming more and more intolerable because of environmental destruction. For example forest destruction results in decrease of planting land and unpleasant weather. In addition man is faced with problems of water pollution and air pollution.
A lot of measures have been taken. Planting trees helps improve and beautify the environment. Besides laws concerning environmental protection have been put into effect and achieved good results.
However the problem of environmental protection remains far from being solved. On the one hand the environment pollution and destruction are getting worse and worse in the modern world. On the other hand the lack of knowledge about the importance of protecting environment hinders the solving of the problem. In a word there is a long way to go before we enjoy a clean and comfortable world.