第十一届21世纪全国英语演讲比赛前十名选手的精彩视频【英语...

第一名 曹丰 清华大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjI5MDg=.html

第二名 吴相臣 天津师范大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjM1NTI=.html

第三名 徐鸿达 外交学院

/v_show/id_XMTAxNTQ2MzI=.html

第四名 王冠 中国传媒大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjM2NzI=.html

第五名 廖若琛 华南理工大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjM5MzY=.html

第六名 崔笑笑 北京语言大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjQwOTI=.html

第七名 王默 四川外国语学院

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjQxNzI=.html

第八名 钟文天 解放军外国语学院

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjQ2MDA=.html

第九名 胡懿 复旦大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjQ2MjQ=.html

第十名 赵婷 北京外国语大学

/v_show/id_co00XMjAxNjQ2NTY=.html

第二篇：第十六届“21世纪杯”全国英语英语演讲比赛选手必读(二)

Teachers need to promote sex education rather than rules

ISSUE NO: 847 DATE: 2010-03-24

"Campus sexual awareness is far from enough", page 8-9, March 3

MANY people tend to be embarrassed at the mere mention of sex, but that's by no means the reason sex education is far from enough. For students'sake, teachers ought to promote courses on sex awareness, otherwise more undesirable things may result unexpectedly. The other day I came across a news story about an accidental pregnancy at a Chongqing university. The boy was expelled from school.

"Others just do it and everything goes smoothly," he was quoted as saying. So, it was revealed that students have sex without enough

knowledge. Sexual desire overruled them and sensibility overrode sense. They called it love but were thinking only of transient pleasure. This was certainly not an isolated case – it's a common phenomenon. And it seems to be getting worse. There should be some useful steps taken now. But which way? Stern rules? Repeated warnings? The best way is to give more instruction, I think, the boy also said that, had they known more about sex, the tragedy could have been avoided.

Anyway, knowledge is more than math, physics, chemistry, philosophy or economics – sex is also an important area that's close to each one of us, and it cannot be ignored any more.

Sun Shiling,

Shanghai Normal University

Stay healthy

"Some students singing the blues after holiday", Page 8, March 3 When students live on campus, they have a more regular life. They attend classes, study, do exercise like playing basketball or going to the gym. When they stay at home, they just eat, sleep, and hang out with friends. There's not much regular life to talk about. By keeping a healthy lifestyle, the post-holiday blues can be avoided. Wurg, i21st.cn

Don't indulge

Don't complain too much about your campus, the canteen, the food and the bed in your dorm. You need to remind yourself why you're in college. You came here to learn new things, not to enjoy your life and indulge yourself. Study hard and make your parent's monetary support worth it, young fellows!

Shanghai netizen, i21st.cn

Avoid lazine

I think returning to campus early is a good way to deal with

post-holiday syndrome. We should do everything diligently and actively. In fact, many college students are becoming lazy. And their attitude to life is negative. So, re-adjusting as early as possible is the way.

Beijing netizen, i21st.cn

Inequality

Students who live a more comfortable life at home may complain more than others. But perhaps it's a good opportunity for them to see the difference between their wealthy life and other people's not so wealthy life. The post-holiday syndrome also reminds parents that they should give children more chances to experience a different standard of living.

Make divorces more difficult?

CHINESE Style Divorce has been one of the most popular drama series on TV in recent years. It captured the hearts of Chinese viewers with its vivid description of a serious social problem. During the National People's Congress' (NPC) session in March, one delegate proposed

making divorces more difficult, to make couples think twice before they decide to part ways.

According to NPC delegate He Xinwen, civil affairs offices recorded

1.71 million divorces in 2009, a 10.3 percent increase year-on-year. That statistic doesn't include divorces that ended up in court. Not only do divorces break up families, bring emotional and psychological trauma to children, but they can also lead to depression, anxiety, alcoholism and other problems.

China gradually came to accept the idea of "guilt-free" divorce in the early 1980s. That's where couples don't have to point to faults on either side, such as adultery or abuse. People now only need to claim or

demonstrate a loss of love, or "irreconcilable differences". Some experts blame the low legal divorce threshold for the increase in divorces,

especially among people who marry for a short time and break up over minor problems. He, the NPC delegate, said making divorces more difficult can discourage people from making rash, immature decisions they may regret later.

So what's your opinion on this? Should divorces be made harder to get?

YES

Many people are getting divorced without fully understanding the consequences.

1. The "flash divorce" phenomenon is growing rapidly among the young, especially those born after 1980. Many of these couples could have worked out their problems without breaking up. More complex divorce procedures could save some of these marriages.

2. Chinese divorce procedures are currently among the easiest in the world. Often there's no mandatory separation period. This is a bad government policy and should be corrected as soon as possible.

3. Divorce shouldn't be the first thing people turn to if they encounter marital problems. Couples should learn to work on their marriage. A harder divorce would force them to seek other solutions, thus avoiding the damage a divorce might cause.

NO

For really dysfunctional marriages, a harder divorce could only cause more problems.

1. Whether to stay married or get a divorce is the couple's decision. The state or the law shouldn't interfere in this highly personal matter. That would only put more of an economic and emotional burden on an already troubled couple.

2. Simply making divorce more complicated won’t solve the

fundamental problem. Instead, the government should teach family values and more responsibility to prevent people from rushing into divorce.

3. If the government wants to face the social problems associated with a high divorce rate, it could improve social services like marriage counseling and psychological counseling, instead of making divorce more difficult.

BONUS

Terms concerning divorce:

Contested divorce/uncontested divorce 有争议离婚/协议离婚 Custody 监护权

Custodial parent 有监护权的一方父/母

No-fault divorce 无过错离婚,指要求离婚的一方配偶无需证明对方配偶存有过错，而只需简单说明夫妻双方无法继续共同生活便可获取法庭的离婚判决

Property settlement agreement 财产分配协议

英语词汇解析

delegate 代表

immature 不成熟的

monetary 金钱的

rash 轻率的

stern 严厉的

syndrome 综合病症

transient 短暂的

adultery 通奸行为

alcoholism 酗酒

counsel 指导

irreconcilable 不能协调的

mandatory 强制的

marital 婚姻的

pregnancy 怀孕

override 制服

overrule 支配

sensibility 感觉

trauma 精神上的创伤

Opinion

Blame for high real estate prices falls on state-owned companies

A HANDFUL of state-owned companies stirred up a public storm by buying up property in Beijing shortly after Premier Wen Jiabao vowed to control runaway housing prices at last week’s National People’s Congress session.

The companies set new price records by buying parcels of land for residential and commercial development in Beijing, capitalizing on the current market.

The punishment was swift.

Shortly after the purchases, the State Asset Supervision and

Administration Commission (SASAC) announced it had ordered 78 centrally-managed corporations to pull out of the real-estate business.

SASAC's decision may slow surging housing prices. But as long as local governments rely on selling land-development rights as a main source of income, prices will continue to rise, according to Wang Haitao of The Beijing News.

In the future, state-owned companies may be barred from joining bidding wars, but other companies will still dive into the lucrative business. When they do, land and housing prices will continue to push higher. According to Wang, the solution is to end local governments’ monopoly on land.

Commentator Ma Guangyuan praised SASAC’s swift response. However, he said it seems to be supporting the 16 other

centrally-controlled companies in the real estate business if they’re still allowed to profit from the housing sector.

SASAC statistics show these companies account for 5 percent of housing sales profits nationwide. However, 60 percent of 2009’s

record-breaking land prices were created by these companies. Their investments distorted the market and pushed up prices markedly, according to Ma.

The government can no longer ignore the phenomenon of state-owned companies entering the real estate market en masse, according to Fan Xi, on Nfdaily.cn. These companies seem to be operating by market rules, but receive beneficial treatment in bank loans and government policies. They’re powerful enough to start bidding wars regardless of cost, says Fan. In case the market turns bad, all potential losses will be shouldered by the tax payers.

Yuan facing pressure

AN international chorus is calling for China to boost the yuan’s

exchange rate. While the choir has lost a few voices this time, it is still dominated by American politicians.

More than a hundred US lawmakers have called on US President Barack Obama to label China as a “currency manipulator” in an upcoming mid-April report. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman is one of many American economists criticizing China's currency policy.

However, Premier Wen Jiabao said in mid-March that the yuan is not undervalued and that China would not bow to external pressure on its exchange rate policy.

The yuan is facing unprecedented pressure to appreciate, writes finance scholar Liu Yuhui in the 21st Century Economic Herald. Liu says the yuan's appreciation will not help reduce the huge US trade surplus. Citing International Monetary Fund chief economist Olivier Blanchard, Liu says that even if the yuan appreciates 20 percent against the dollar and major Asian currencies, it would only increase US export values by 1 percent of GDP.

Stephen Roach, Asia chairman of the investment bank Morgan Stanley, hit back at Krugman’s criticism of China last week.

“I think we should take a baseball bat to Paul Krugman,” Roach said in an interview in Beijing. “I mean I think the advice is completely wrong. We’re lashing out at China rather than tending to our own business.”

The US should try to raise its savings rates instead of blaming China for its economic woes, according to Roach.

Krugman suggested that Washington use trade weapons against China on the yuan issue.

BONUS

cement巩固

The two leaders hope that signing this agreement will cement economic cooperation in the future.

两位领导人希望该协议的签署能巩固未来的经济合作。

lash out抨击

The editorial lashes out at the inefficiency of some government agencies.这篇社论抨击了一些政府部门的低效。

take a (baseball) bat to教训，惩罚

The mafia boss ordered his goons to take a bat to the traitor.黑社会老大让他的手下去教训教训那个叛徒。

英语词汇解析

gratitude 感激

surge 急剧上升

surplus 盈余, 过剩

chorus 合唱

distort 扭曲

irony 讽刺

monopoly 垄断

ailment 疾病

appreciation 增值

choir 合唱队

confidant 知己

currency manipulator 货币操纵国,指的是一国利用其确定本国货币汇率的能力，来调高或调低本币兑外币的价格，致使货币向有利于本国的方向流动。

en masse 一同地

gloomy 阴郁的

lucrative 赚钱的

property 房地产

residential 住宅的

runaway 失控的

vow 承诺

woe 灾祸

Plenty of friends, but I'm still lonely

BEING lonely in a nation of 1.3 billion might seem like the very definition of irony.

But according to a recent survey, the situation is all too common. Sixty percent of Beijing students interviewed said they felt lonely, according to a China Population Communication Center report. Loneliness, and other anxiety problems–worrying about life's pressures –can come from psychological problems that could ultimately lead to suicide.

An article in China Daily earlier this month gave no reason for this other than the usual blaming of the post-80s generation. According to one high level official, young people suffering from depression are mostly "spoiled and have not been taught to be independent,

responsible and express gratitude."Well how do you like that! First, I don't think China's youth are exactly spoiled. They certainly have more things than their parents did but a lot of the money spent on them is for their education, including numerous extra classes.

Also, the same effects are being seen around the world. Depression and anxiety are now the fastest growing ailments in modern societies,

according to the World Health Organization. A US study analyzed the proportion of people who said they lacked a close confidant–that is, a friend who they could talk to openly and honestly. In 1985, it found that one in 10 people did not have such a friend. In 2006, it was one in four.

It's easy to see the connection between loneliness and depression, but what actually causes this increasing loneliness?

Surely, with Internet social networking sites such as Kaixin, we have more friends than ever? Meanwhile, in New Zealand, a new study has shown that the more time teenagers spend in front of the TV or

computer, the less close they are to friends and family. The researchers stressed that attachment to parents and friends is particularly important for teenagers.

It seems that collecting Kaixin or QQ friends may be fun but it lacks meaning and fulfillment, compared to personal connections in the real world. And then there are those endless computer games. Online games are very popular with young Chinese but increasingly there are more

interesting options. For example, new sports such as skateboarding are starting to catch on in bigger cities, as is playing music in a band.

These creative hobbies are done in a group and can help cement strong friendships. Hopefully they will also draw young people out of those gloomy Internet cafes and the "interactive" computer games that in fact fail to recreate a real, human, interactive experience.