Good evening, everyone. My name is WangHaili. I am an outgoing girl who likesreading and traveling. It’s really my great honor to stand here and giveeveryone a short speech.
People say, youth is fire which is ignited by passion. People say, youth is achapter of the poem which is written by stories. The color of youth is brightand we make most use of our ardor to draw the scenes to the canvas of painting.But we may be confused and lose our direction in the youth time. Under this,youth slips away. Roman Roland says, life doesn’t issue return ticket and cannever come back once sets out. So we should seize the short youth time and tryour best to pursue our ideal. Do what should we do and let our youth withoutregret.
When we refer to ideal, we will realize the importance of ideal. Ideal is thebeacon,. Without ideal, we will lose the firm direction. Without direction, wewill lose our life. According to this, every one of us should establish our ownideal .so that we have the direction of straggle to the future. Tolstoy tellsus, we should have the life objective from the whole life to the second. So weshould cherish every moment and form our systematic objective. Youth is theprime time. We have strong body and energy and can sense the meaning of lifeunder the guide of ideal.
As we know, the ideal is plentiful and reality is skinny. But we shouldbelieve that we will become stronger and stronger in the way to pursue ideal.Future is unknown,. If we hope our future is nice, we should enrich our youthtime and find the direction of future.
Let us use our youth to pursue our ideal and make our future wonderful. So wewill have gorgeous life.
18年的生命中，有着许多美好的经历，初入大学校园，又是另一种生活，同时，作为当代大学生，你的身上肩负着成为我们民族的脊梁，为社会做出巨大的贡献的重任。今天和小编一起来看看这篇演讲稿吧。
In my 18 years of life, there have been many things. University days are the best part of them. I can never forget the days when I stepped into my university. I was impressed by its garden-like campus, its enthusiastic students and especially its learning atmosphere. I at once fell in love with it.
在我这18年的生命中，有着许多美好的经历，而大学生活则是其中最难忘的一段。我永远不会忘记刚刚跨进大学校园的那几天：花园一样的校园，热情活跃的学生，特别是那里的学习气氛，给我留下了深刻的印象。
After the arduous military training, I get absolutely absorbed in my studies. The classes given by the teachers are excellent. They provide us with information not only from our textbooks but from many other sources as well. They easily arouse my insatiable desire to take in as much as I can.
经过了一段艰辛的军事训练后，我完全融入到了学习中。老师的讲课真是棒极了。他们传授给我们的不仅是课本上的知识，还包括其他各种各样的信息。我渴望获得尽可能多的知识，是老师激发起了我这个不能满足的*。
Frankly speaking, at first I had some difficulty following the teachers. However, through my own efforts and thanks to my teachers' guidance, I made remarkable progress. Now I've benefited a lot from lectures and many other academic reports.
坦率地说，一开始我还不能跟上老师的讲课。但是，通过我自己的努力以及老师的指导，我取得了巨大的进步。我从老师的授课和其他许多学术报告中获益匪浅。
Learning is a long process; I'll keep exploring in the treasure house of knowledge to enrich myself. This summer I got out of the ivory tower and entered the real world. A publishing house offered me a part-time job in compilation and revision.
学习是个循序渐进、长期的过程，我会在知识的宝库中不断探索，丰富自我。今年暑假，我跨出象牙塔，进入并接触到了真正的社会。一个出版社给了我编辑和校对的兼职工作。
At the beginning I was belittled by my colleagues. But they were really surprised when I translated seven English articles over 5,000 words on only one day. Gradually, they began to look at me with respectful eyes. In their opinion I turned out to be a useful and trustworthy colleague.
工作初期，同事们都礁不起我。但是，当我在一天之内翻译完7篇（总字数超过5000字）的英语文章后，他们真的是大吃一惊。渐渐地，他们开始用尊敬的眼光看待我。他们认为，我变成了一个有用并值得信赖的好同事。
I also realize that only those who bring happiness for others can be truly happy. So I often take part in activities concerning public welfare. I once went to a barren mountain village with my classmates. We taught the kids there who could not afford school. While showing them how broad and how civilized the outer world is, I was deeply touched by their eagerness to learn, their honesty and their purity. I couldn't control my tears on the day when we left. The precious experience with the poor kids made me aware of the responsibility on the shoulders of us, future teachers.
我也同样意识到，只有那些为别人带来幸福的人才能真正的幸福。因而，我经常参加有关公众福利享业的活动。有一次，我和同学去了一个贫痔的山区村庄。在那里，我们教那些没钱上学的孩子。我向他们展示了一幅宽广、文明的外部世界的画面，但同时我也被那些孩子学习的渴望、他们的真诚和纯洁深深打动了。在我们离开的那一天，我那不争气的眼泪禁不住流了下来。这次珍贵的经历让我们这些未来的教师意识到了自己肩上的责任重大。
Besides study and social practice, there are entertainments as well. I do body building every day, hoping to keep healthy and energetic. We also write a play and put it on in our spare time.
除了学习和社会实践，我还经常参加娱乐活动。我每天都锻炼身体，希望保持健康和充满活力。我们还在业余时间写剧本并排练演出。
Campus life is the most splendid time. But different people have different choices. The majority of students cherish their beautiful season and cherish the hope that one day they'll become outstanding. But there are indeed some students still under ignorance. They gather together for eating, drinking or playing cards. They're busy in searching for a girlfriend or a boyfriend. They forget completely about their mission as college students and the hope of their motherland.
园生活是最丰富多彩的。但是，不同的人有着不同的选择。大多数的学生珍惜他们的美好时光，并殷切希望将来能出类拔萃。可是，的确有学生无动于衷。他们聚在一起吃喝玩乐，他们忙于追求异性朋友，他们完全忘记了自己作为大学生的使命和祖国对他们的厚望。
Finally, I do hope everybody can try their best to become a worthy citizen of the country. I do hope everybody can become the backbone of our nation and make great contributions to society!
最后，我希望每个人都能尽努力成为国家的有用人才。我也希望每个人都能成为我们民族的脊梁，为社会做出巨大的贡献!
Man’s life is a process of growing up, actually I’m standing here is a growth. If a person’s life must constituted by various choices, then I grow up along with these choices. Once I hope I can study in a college in future, however that’s passed, as you know I come here, now I wonder what the future holds for (= what will happen to) me.
When I come to this school, I told to myself: this my near future, all starts here. Following I will learn to become a man, a integrated man, who has a fine body, can take on important task, has independent thought, an open mind, intensive thought, has the ability to judge right and wrong, has a perfect job.
Once my teacher said :” you are not sewing, you are stylist; never forget which you should lay out to people is your thought, not craft.” I will put my personality with my interest and ability into my study, during these process I will combine learning with doing. If I can achieve this “future”, I think that I really grow up. And I deeply believe kindred, good-fellowship and love will perfection and happy in the future.
How to say future? Maybe it’s a nice wish. Lets make up our minds, stick to it and surely well enjoy our life.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My topic today is “The pursuit of happiness” and am I going to start with a definition? NO! That is not how I am going to approach this. After knowing the topic, I can imagine students cutting directly into the definiton of happiness, sharing their little happy stories, setting criteria for happiness and using puns to show what happiness consists of. But that is not where I am going.
To be honest, there is actually not much to talk about happiness and there is no need to hold an open discussion about it, because the sense of happiness is a mere personal and private concept. We define our own happiness. Some people like peace and nature, so they prefer to live tranquilly in the countryside; some people are drawn into arts and literature, so they become wild and let imagination take their wheels; while some others are simply fancy about the betterment of life, in other words, to make big money, so they work their asses off to get to the top of the pyramid, like me. Am I happy? Yes. Are they happy? Of course. People have different beliefs, different targets and they are simply different beings and they deserve the rights to pursue their own happiness.
However, there is a popular set-pattern catching on recently, claiming to be the happiest way of living and it goes like, “Enter a key school! Then a pretigious university! Get a decent job! Large houses! Stunning spouse! Children! And finally rest in peace with four generation crying and remembering you besides your coffin.” And the pattern passes on to the next generation. There are actually a lot more set-patterns and stereotypes in our lives: “Boys go for science; girls are for arts.” “English major? You’ve gotta learn a double degree. Economy will be the best for boys.” “Don’t ever listen to Lady Gaga, that’s for women and gays.” And whenever I want to fight against those stereotypes, the responses will all be like, “That’s how it works in China! Be a man! You are too naive [Sigh], you’ve gotta learn the systems, boy.” The seemingly-established patterns are dangerous. They make us lose our ability to think and analyse, or become too realistic to think: if we make one step out of the set-circle, we will be outcasted and no longer experience happiness. But that is not true. I became an art student in a class of only 5 boys; I broke the first pattern. I didn’t apply for the economy degree, because I hate math; I broke the second pattern. I am sure there will be many more patterns for me to break, but I am not afraid; a little excited actually. If I followed any of those patterns, I swear, I couldn’t be happy like I am now.
I don’t want to live like a bee flying in circles: “Get the honey! Get back to the hive and get ready to die!” No. Even though I can’t make big money in the future, I still want things to be in my way, not from the pattern. I want to live my life, not a life. I can only be happy if I can be true to myself.
Thank you.
someone said “we are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book, whose pages are infinite”. i don’t know who wrote these words, but i’ve always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want it to be. we are all in the position of the farmers. if we plant a good seed ,we reap a good harvest. if we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.
we are young. “how to spend the youth?” it is a meaningful question. to answer it, first i have to ask “what do you understand by the word youth?” youth is not a time of life, it’s a state of mind. it’s not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips or supple knees. it’s the matter of the will. it’s the freshness of the deep spring of life.
a poet said “to see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour. several days ago, i had a chance to listen to a lecture. i learnt a lot there. i’d like to share it with all of you. let’s show our right palms. we can see three lines that show how our love.career and life is. i have a short line of life. what about yours? i wondered whether we could see our future in this way. well, let’s make a fist. where is our future? where is our love, career, and life? tell me.yeah, it is in our hands. it is held in ourselves.
we all want the future to be better than the past. but the future can go better itself. don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened. from the past, we’ve learnt that the life is tough, but we are tougher. we’ve learnt that we can’t choose how we feel, but we can choose what about it. failure doesn’t mean you don’t have it, it does mean you should do it in a different way. failure doesn’t mean you should give up, it does mean you must try harder.
as what i said at the beginning, “we are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book, whose pages are infinite”. the past has gone. nothing we do will change it. but the future is in front of us. believe that what we give to the world, the world will give to us. and from today on, let’s be the owners of ourselves, and speak out “we are the world, we are the future.”
一些人说“我们正在读一本无穷的书中的第一章的第一节。”我不知道谁写了这些话，但是我一直很喜欢它，因为它提醒了我，我们能够创造我们想要的未来。
我们都是农夫。如果我们播下好的种子，我们将会丰收。如果我们的种子很差，有很多草籽，收割的将是无用的庄稼。如果我们什么也不播种，什么收获也没有。
我们是年轻的。“怎样度过青春?”这是个有意义的问题。为了去回答它，我首先要问“从‘青春’这个词中你能理解到什么?” 青春不是人生的一个时期，而是精神的一种状态。青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，。青春是生命的深泉在涌流.
一位诗人说“从一粒沙看世界，从一朵花看天堂，把无限放在你的手掌，永恒在一刹那里收藏”。几天前，我有了一个听讲座的机会，从中我学到了很多东西。现在，我想把这些与大家共享。让我们伸出右手，我们可以看到手掌中的展示我们的爱，事业和生活的三条线。我在生活方面这条线很短，那你们的呢?我想知道我们是否可以用这种办法去看我们的未来。好的，让我们一起握拳。我们的未来在哪儿?我们的爱、事业和生活在哪儿?告诉我!是的，它们就在我们的手中。它们被我们自己掌握着。
我们所有人都希望未来能比过去更美好，但是未来能自己变得更好。不要因为结束而哭泣，微笑吧，为你的曾经拥有。从过去来看，生活是艰苦的，但我们是更坚强。我们知道我们不能选择感觉，但是我们能选择和它相关的东西。失败并不意味着你不拥有成功，它只意味着你应该用另一种方式去做这件事。失败并不意味着你应该放弃，只意味着你应该更加努力。
6am when I put on this ZARA dress, I found its label writes this: “Designed in Spain. Made in Vietnam.” And it is now available all over the Chinese market. ZARA is the fastest among various fashion brands. With advantages generated by globalization, from raw material to labor, from warehouse to shipping, it takes only 12 to 15 days for ZARA to turn a design on sketch paper to clothes on shelves.
Globalization has eliminated numerous barriers and made the world flat ever since it gained momentum in the 1990s. But recently it seems to be rolled back by someone like Donald Trump in US and Marine Le Pen in France. Public opinions are being misled by their claim that recoiling from globalization seems to be the panacea to the two most urgent problems troubling many people in the west—employment and refugees. But can we buy the story?
Withdrawing from TPP seems to be an act that can move factories back from third world countries so that new jobs can be created and therefore unemployment rate reduced. However, the cost of the products would also be raised since the labor at home and the transport of raw materials are more expensive, which causes greater pressure on all the families in terms of household expenditure. People may manage to get new jobs but the living standard does not improve. And this is the story that anti-globalization politicians would never tell to the voters.
In addition to the concern of employment, the influx of refugees also touches a highly sensitive nerve. Rejecting asylum seekers may promote domestic security in the short run, but it tramples what’s equally important--humanitarianism and responsibilities. Refugees such as those from Syria are not born refugees; they are made refugees by the Wars that shattered their homes and countries. The real solution therefore is not isolation but globalization because globalization promotes interdependence among nations whereby conflicts and wars are more likely to be prevented.
Yes, there are defects in globalization, such as environmental deterioration, polarization between the rich and the poor, and exploitation of workers, to name just a few. But what we need to do is not putting an end to it but putting it right. As the second largest economy of the world, China should hold a lead. We should promote global governance fight against contamination. We should strike a balance between efficiency and equity so that different countries, different social classes and different groups of people can all enjoy the benefits of globalization.
Globalization has just stepped into its twenties, pretty much like us young adults. Every twenty something is so energetic, striding to achieve more and surely deserving a second chance to pull back from the deviation. As we consumers are enjoying benefits and convenience brought by ZARA and other international brands, we see clearer that the question now is not whether to accept or reject globalization but how to make it fairer, cleaner and a win-win for all.
As you slowly open your eyes, look around , notice where the light comes into your room; listen carefully, see if there are new sounds you can recognize; feel with your body and spirit, and see if you can sense the freshness in the air. Yes, yes, yes, it’s a new day, it’s a different day, and it’s a bright day! And most importantly, it is a new beginning for your life, a beginning where you are going to make new desicisions, take new actions, make new friends, and take your life to a totally unprecedented level! You know all this is real as long as you are confident,passionate and committed! And you are confident, you are passionate, you are committed!
You will no longer fear making new sounds, showing new facial expressions, using your body in new ways,approaching new people, and asking new questions. You will live every single day of your life with absolute passion, and you will show your passion through the words you speak and the actions you take. You will focus all your time and effort on the most important goals of your life. You will never succumb to challenges of hardships. You will never waver in your pursuit of excellence. After all,you are the best, and you deserve the best!
As your coach and friend, I can assure you the door to all the best things in the world will open to you, but the key to that door is in your hand. You must do your part, you must faithfully follow the plans you make and take the actions you plan, you must never quit, you must never fear. I know you must do it, you can do it, you will do it, and you will succeed!
Now stand firm and tall, make a fist, get excited, and yell it out: I must do it! I can do it! I will do it! I will succeed! I must do it! I can do it! I will do it! I will succeed! I must do it! I can do it! I will do it! I will succeed!
saying goodbye to childhood,we step into another important time in the pace of young,facing new situations,dealing with different problems.....
everyone has his ownunderstanding of young,it is a period of time of beauty and wonders,only after you have
experienced the sour ,sweet ,bitter and salty can you really become a person of significance.thre time of young is limitted,it may paby without your attention,and when you discover what has happened ,it is always too late.grasping the young well means a better time is waiting for you in the near future,or the situation may be opposite .
having a view on these great men in the history of hunmanbeing,they all made full use of their youth time ,to do things that are useful to society,to the whole mankind,and as a cosquence ,they are remembered by later
generations,admired by everyone.so do something in the time of young,although you may not get achievements as these greatmen did ,though not for the whole word,just for youeself,for those around!
the young is just like blooming flowers,they are so beautiful when blooming,they make people feel happy,but with time passing by,after they withers ,moet people think they are ugly.and so it is the same with young,we are enthusiastic when we are young,then we may lose our passion when getting older and older.so we must treasure it ,don't let the limitted time paby ,leaving nothing of significance.
Every one has his own dream.When I was a little kid ,my dream was even to have a candy shop of my own .But now ,when I am 16 years old ,standing here ,my dreams have already changed a lot.
I have got quite different experience from other girls.While they were playing toys at home,while they were dreaming to be the princesses in the story .I was running in the hard rain,jumping in the heavy snow,pitching in the strong wind.Nothing could stop me ,because of a wonderful call from my heart -- to be an athlete.Yeah ,of course ,I'm an athlete,I'm so proud of that all the time .
When I was 10 years old ,I became a shot-put athlete.The training was really hard ,I couldn't bear the heavy shot in my hands .But I always believe that god only help those who help themselves.During those hard days,I find I was growing more quickly than others of the same age.To be an athlete is my most correct choice.But,I quit my team after entering high school because of a silly excuse.I really didn't want to stop my sports career anyway.
Today I say to you my friends that even though I must face the difficulties of yesterday ,today and tomorrow .I still have a dream .It is a dream deeply rooted in my soul.
I have a dream that one day ,I can run,jump and pitch just like I used to be.
I have a dream that one day , I can go back to my dream sports and join the national team.
I have a dream that one day ,I can stand on the highest place at the olympic games.With all the cameras pointing at me.I will tell everyone that I'm so proud to be a Chinese athlete!
This is my hope .This is the faith that I continue my steps with!!!
With this faith ,I will live though the strong wind and heavy rain ,never give up !
So let victory ring from my heart,from all of you.When we allow victory to ring .I must be the one!
In my imagination,I'm a bird ,a magical bird.I carry my dreams all with me by my big wings. I fly though the mountains ,though the forests ,over the sea,to the sun ,the warmest place in the aerospace!
Every night ,I have a dream ,I see a girl ---smiling
The romantic love story——The film describes a love story between a harlot and a rich man. It is a fairy story about Cinderella of modern version. Being the he-ro-in-e in a fairy tale seems to be the dream of every girl since very young. All girls are looking forward to romantic love stories descending on them. The more impossible the love is going to happen, the happier the girl to be, which is definitely decided by the nature of girls. The most impressed things came to me in the film were the hero’s (Richard Gere) character. He was charming, a real confident man, so perfect, so charming, however, that didn’t make you think he was conceited or he was pretend to be attractive. As a matter of fact, he is an indeed gentleman, with a natural gentle manner. His charm actually comes from his inner refinement. His personality is a great magnet to me.In the meanwhile, the difference between a rude woman and elegant women are obviously high lightened in this film, which I has paid attention to for a long time.
WeAreTheWorld,WeAreTheFuture
世界是我们的，未来是我们的
Someonesaid“wearereadingthefirstverseofthefirstchapterofabook,whosepagesareinfinite”.Idon’tknowwhowrotethesewords,butI’vealwayslikedthemasareminderthatthefuturecanbeanythingwewantittobe.Weareallinthepositionofthefarmers.Ifweplantagoodseed,wereapagoodharvest.Ifweplantnothingatall,weharvestnothingatall.
一些人说“我们正在读一本无穷的书中的第一章的第一节。”我不知道谁写了这些话，但是我一直很喜欢它，因为它提醒了我，我们能够创造我们想要的未来。我们都是农夫。如果我们播下好的种子，我们将会丰收。如果我们的种子很差，有很多草籽，收割的将是无用的庄稼。如果我们什么也不播种，什么收获也没有。
Weareyoung.“Howtospendtheyouth?”Itisameaningfulquestion.Toanswerit,firstIhavetoask“whatdoyouunderstandbythewordyouth?”Youthisnotatimeoflife,it’sastateofmind.It’snotamatterofrosycheeks,redlipsorsuppleknees.It’sthematterofthewill.It’sthefreshnessofthedeepspringoflife.
我们是年轻的。“怎样度过青春？”这是个有意义的问题。为了去回答它，我首先要问“从‘青春’这个词中你能理解到什么？”青春不是人生的一个时期，而是精神的一种状态。青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，。青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
Apoetsaid“Toseeaworldinagrainofsand,andaheaveninawildflower,holdinfinityinthepalmofyourhand,andeternityinanhour.Severaldaysago,Ihadachancetolistentoalecture.Ilearntalotthere.I’dliketoshareitwithallofyou.Let’sshowourrightpalms.Wecanseethreelinesthatshowhowourlove.careerandlifeis.Ihaveashortlineoflife.Whataboutyours?Iwonderedwhetherwecouldseeourfutureinthisway.Well,let’smakeafist.Whereisourfuture?Whereisourlove,career,andlife?Tellme.Yeah,itisinourhands.Itisheldinourselves.
一位诗人说“从一粒沙看世界，从一朵花看天堂，把无限放在你的手掌，永恒在一刹那里收藏”。几天前，我有了一个听讲座的机会，从中我学到了很多东西。现在，我想把这些与大家共享。让我们伸出右手，我们可以看到手掌中的展示我们的爱，事业和生活的三条线。我在生活方面这条线很短，那你们的呢？我想知道我们是否可以用这种办法去看我们的未来。好的，让我们一起握拳。我们的未来在哪儿？我们的爱、事业和生活在哪儿？告诉我！是的，它们就在我们的手中。它们被我们自己掌握着。
Weallwantthefuturetobebetterthanthepast.Butthefuturecangobetteritself.Don’tcrybecauseitisover,smilebecauseithappened.Fromthepast,we’velearntthatthelifeistough,butwearetougher.We’velearntthatwecan’tchoosehowwefeel,butwecanchoosewhataboutit.Failuredoesn’tmeanyoudon’thaveit,itdoesmeanyoushoulddoitinadifferentway.Failuredoesn’tmeanyoushouldgiveup,itdoesmeanyoumusttryharder.
我们所有人都希望未来能比过去更美好，但是未来能自己变得更好。不要因为结束而哭泣，微笑吧，为你的曾经拥有。从过去来看，生活是艰苦的，但我们是更坚强。我们知道我们不能选择感觉，但是我们能选择和它相关的东西。失败并不意味着你不拥有成功，它只意味着你应该用另一种方式去做这件事。失败并不意味着你应该放弃，只意味着你应该更加努力。
AswhatIsaidatthebeginning,“wearereadingthefirstverseofthefirstchapterofabook,whosepagesareinfinite”.Thepasthasgone.Nothingwedowillchangeit.Butthefutureisinfrontofus.Believethatwhatwegivetotheworld,theworldwillgivetous.Andfromtodayon,let’sbetheownersofourselves,andspeakout“Wearetheworld,wearethefuture.”
正如我在前面所说的“我们正在读一本无穷的书中的第一章的第一节。”过去的已经过去，无论我们无力改变，但是未来却在我们前方。相信“我们给了世界什么，世界也将给我们”。并且从今天起，让我们一起做我们自己的主人，一起大声说出“世界是我们的，未来是我们的。”
Ladies and gentlemen, youth is precious. It is a time of our lives where we are energetic, idealistic and passionate but also clueless, insecure and naive. This small fragment of time in our lives may sometimes feel like a grey area between childhood and adulthood. A time where most of us feel lost but yet excited about what’s to come. It is a mixture of bliss, toxicity and adrenaline. Youth is bright and sunny but it is also dark and stormy. Let me explain.
Youth is happiness. Youth is trying things for the first time. It is being a bit braver, a bit bolder, a bit... mercurial! Perhaps, for some, it is the first time we fall in love and it’s magical - like a story in a fairytale. Youth now, is spending time on the Internet, with our friends, on our hobbies, on the things we enjoy - but, all this time is not time wasted because we are happy. Youth is a Pandora’s Box of memories with childhood friends and high school classmates - making fun of our teachers behind their backs and sometimes copying each other’s homework.
But youth is also pain. It is a time of metamorphosis and sometimes we learn things that are simply excruciating. For those who fall in love, youth is your first heartbreak and it feels like the end of the world. Youth is a time for goodbyes - the friends we used to see every day are now scattered across the globe and everyday becomes once a year. Youth is a time for acceptance - where we get rejected by universities, by our parents and even by ourselves. We beat ourselves up over things we can’t change yet don’t understand - why did that university not accept me? Why am I not good enough? Why?
Youth is both happiness and pain. It has moments of highs and lows, light and dark. It is the zenith and the nadir. You can’t have one without the other. Rather, it’s a balance of both - a yin and a yang, a complete whole.
So ladies gentlemen, do not fear the darkest of nights because it will always be followed by day - the boy or girl who broke your heart will never meet the spouse of your future, the friends you thought you’d never see again come back to you - perhaps on your wedding day and to those who didn’t think that we were good enough, well, look how far we’ve come.
Thank you.
“Way to Blue. Everybody Hurts. Glad to be Unhappy.”
These were some of the chart-toppers announced on the radio while I was at the barbershop a year ago. Quite depressing, huh.
I asked my brother, Joe, why songs that display such unhappiness reach the charts. Joe is an established businessman who is always confident with his viewpoints. He reacted quickly and questioned me in a matter-of-fact tone, “can’t you relate to the song?” He then confidently pointed to the Buddhists’ explanation of happiness, explaining to me that happiness is never a constant state, but rather only a temporary escape from suffering. While I respect the Buddhist explanation, I couldn’t help but ask: so what is keeping you from experiencing happiness? Joe lost his assertiveness when I mentioned this and he replied, “While I gain acceptance from my peers and family, I feel like I’m a nobody. These songs act as a route for me to escape. I don’t see happiness as attainable in my life.”
While Joe transformed from a confident speaker to a soft-spoken melancholic within a matter of a minute, my barber offered him a sympathetic smile. He spoke up. “I was exactly like you - once upon a time, I deceived myself into thinking I was happy. I followed the majority’s norms of a stable job in brokerage and felt I gained society’s acceptance. I was loved! But deep down, I loved songs like these because I felt so useless. I felt that whatever I did made no difference in the world. I found an escape from this mainstream music as a means of explaining myself. Then the next day, I’d put on my suit and be a nobody again.
Then I asked, but how about now? “Now?” The barber said, smiling. “Now, I don’t think this music deserves its place on the charts.” He flipped over to his playlist and played us a song - “Mayfly” by Cheer Chen.
The lyrics goes “Everyday when we open our eyes, we are all mayflies. Living a simple life, chasing a dream vigorously, searching for nothing but happiness.”
“I think this music deserves a place on the charts. I wish people could search for happiness by only looking forward, and be brave enough neglect harsh criticisms and mockeries along the way - just like a mayfly. A mayfly only sees what is ahead of it - why else would their lives be so simple otherwise? I became a barber because I wanted to attain happiness - sure, I experienced disapproval from peers and such, but I did not want to become “a firefly without light”. I find happiness when I mix with trendy young people that are eager to make their customers look better - sure, some may not understand why this brings me happiness, but does it matter?”
My brother Joe and I had a long conversation that evening. We debated vigorously on our different values of happiness - while the conversation with the barber relit my childhood dream of being a conductor, Joe still questions whether stable happiness can achieved even if his dreams are fulfilled. But ultimately, we agreed that one should not let others decide your own standard of happiness. Don’t deceive yourself into sadness and despair; pick yourself up and find your own definition of happiness. Thank you.
Hello, Dear teachers and fellow students. It is my honor to be here on this beautiful Friday morning to share with you my view on “Me- time”.
In my opinion，finding me-time is important. With the development of the modern society, we students in China have more and more pressure. We have to spare every minute to study very hard and join various kinds of out-of-class training courses to improve ourselves. So we are really in lack of me-time which is helpful to keep ourselves from being over-stressed、tired and worried.
I do not have as much fun as before and I always miss my childhood. Three hours of homework and two piano lessons one day make me have hardly any me-time to relax myself. I was once an active basketball player on my school team. But now, basketball, my best friend, I haven’t touched it for almost two months. Me- time seems to have become a luxury.
Last week, when I heard there was going to be a basketball match between our school and No 1 Middle School, I was so excited that I rushed home and told my parents the news. I asked my father, “ Dad, may I play basketball after school ? The coach says I am the best guard in our school. If I join the school basketball team, we are sure to beat No 1 Middle School this time.” My father showed his dispproval and said, “ Of course you can’t . I’m disappointed at you. Why do you have such a silly idea? Don’t forget to work hard on your schoolwork and piano lessons.” In my parents’ points of view, playing basketball is a waste of time.
As far as I’m concerned, the school assignment to the junior school students is too heavy. To grow into healthy and well-rounded adults, we should be allowed to have more me-time for relaxation. The pressure put on our students by excessive schoolwork can cause serious stress, which is unhealthy physically and mentally.
My dear teachers, I hope you can assign less homework so we students can enjoy a period of me-time. My dear parents, would you please not follow me and remind me of study all the time? Please trust me that I will do my best. My dear friends, why not stop for a while from your heavy homework and do anything you like? It’s me-time. I do think, that a reduction of the current heavy load would be beneficial to us students and to the society as a whole. Finding me-time will make our life rich, colorful and rewarding.
Thank you for your attention!