Theme: Dream of China

● 初三（5）班 倪梓璇（Casio杯英语演讲比赛冠军）

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is my great pleasure to stand here and share some of my ideas.

I firmly believe that everyone is born to be a dreamer, but what if I say that I dream to become Sponge Bob who can dress up in uncle McDonald’s costume and own a hamburger company? You’ll probably laugh at me! Because you know that’s just a “daydream”.

Yet a dream is not alike. I dreamed to become a great speaker like Michelle Obama, so when I’m delivering the speech right now, there’s an intangible elf who keeps warning me to be confident and passionate. It comes along with my sensation of life and doesn’t even need a reason. It jumps with my heartbeats, throbs with my pulse and connects my every single nerve. Dream it is!

However, when this miraculous word-“dream” relates to China, what can we think of then? That actually reminds me of the time when I see the online discussion about the conflict between the development and protection of the environment. I joined that debate, too, because I care about this issue and I believe you do, too. So dream it is. It is my dream ,our dream and dream of China. When I see those people who are discontented with some social circumstances but have no access to say it out loud, I want to make our voice heard, and most of us do, too! So dream it is. It is my dream , dream of generations and dream of China! When I see those kids who suffer from poverty and lack of electricity even water, I want to fight against these phenomena, and I’m deeply convinced that everyone, everyone is willing to give a helping hand. That’s the reason why we set up charities, donated our possessions. So dream it is! It is my dream , dream of generations and dream of China!!!

All these feelings above come along with our perception of life, and don’t even need a reason. That’s just quite familiar, isn’t it? As we’re thinking further, we are approaching the point where we started. Therefore, I assume that our dreams were bonded with the dream of China since the very beginning. We grow the same intention of revolution, so do we share the same dream! It will eventually push the country forward.

Everyone is born to be a dreamer. This specialty makes our minds combined and develop into the dream of China which is TRULY a DREAM we would contribute our blood and tears instead of just daydreaming about Sponge Bob or uncle McDonald for a lifelong time.

Thank you very much!

● 初三（5）班 何轶（Casio杯英语演讲比赛冠军）

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Nowadays, China has become a powerful country and will certainly become stronger in the future. Right now, China has confidence and bravery to survive, to thrive and to revive in this world. And Chinese people, who are no longer abject slaves or worthless tools for making money, have their own points of views, own feelings and own dreams. These dreams are Chinese dreams, which exist, in the deep hearts, of you, and me.

I have a dream that one day young boys and young girls will not live under the shade of heavy schoolwork and be able to enjoy bright sunshine with ease.

I have a dream that one day even on the high mountains of western territory, a place suffering from the torture of poverty, bearing the harshness of natural environment, will be transformed into an oasis of pleasure and prosperity.

I have a dream that one day people in every valley, every hill and every mountain can have a similar living standard as people in cities, and the dream of letting all Chinese get rich can finally come true.

I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where there are few corruptions and there is the true demonstration of democracy.

I have a dream today.

To fulfill these dreams, every single Chinese should make a contribution to the country, with their talents and hard work. Several decades ago, American people pursued an American dream to step towards prosperity by their diligence, courage, creativity and determination. And today, Chinese people should move towards success depending on their own intelligence and hard work rather than assistance from past generations.

Former American president John F. Kennedy once said, “don’t ask what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” Today I stand here and propose, “don’t think about what your country can do to make your dream come true—think about what you can do to make your country’s dream come true!

Thank you very much！

● 初三（3）班 陈可馨

Dear honorable guests and judges:

I’m Sally Chen from 3A. We’ve been talking about dream of China for a long period of time. Since Mr. Xi Jinping became the president of China and gave a speech about dream of China, it has started a great upsurge in the discussion and propaganda of the topic.

However, what exactly is dream of China?

Well, we are sure that something’s going to change. But what do we change? How do we change? And what’s the result? It’s like there’s a man standing in front of us. We can see the hazy outline of his body, but we’re not sure about how his blood runs, how his brain works and how his heart beats. So to a certain extent, I believe finding the meaning of dream of China does count as a significant part of it.

Now, let’s start with values, the core of our culture. From all the things I’ve known, I can feel it.

From Tang poetries, I can feel the spirits of poets. Romance, fraternity and unconventionality.

From the fragmentary music chapters, I can feel the affections of musicians. Their roar, love and sincerity.

From the historical documents, I can feel the rise and decline of every dynasty as if I was in it.

And there are more. I can see spectacular scenery and transient accomplished youths, just by a quick glance,

I admit that our culture has somehow lost part of it. Suffered from decades of damage, it’s being cured slowly, but always effectively. In a way, finding the meaning of dream of China is a process to discover and explore our roots, to trace back the history and meet the truth.

And there’re always problems, of course. There are often some people who are not satisfied with the contemporary situation. They sometimes will consider of leaving the country for another new life with distinguished western culture. I didn’t mean they are rude or something. This phenomenon implies a certain conflict between Chinese culture and western culture, between tradition and modernity. So I firmly hold that finding the purpose of dream of China is a way to find proper method of this conflict. Maybe not only this conflict, but all the problems will have a way out.

All in all, finding out the meaning and purpose of dream of China is sufficient. When that is solved out, everything will be clear. What we will do, where we will be lead to and what we always believe in.

I believe that is all. I deeply appreciate you for giving me this chance to ponder on this question for my dearest countries.

● 初三（5）班 郝宁

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today my topic is the dream of China.

When I first saw the title" the dream of China”, I felt very strange. I wonder why it is so called “the dream of China”, but not "the Chinese Dream" like “the American dream". Well, maybe it helps us to distinguish the Chinese dream from the American one.

The early European settlers, holding the faith of The American Dream, had gained their wealth and finally became successful.

The dream of China has also existed for a long time. But unlike the American dream, the general content of the Chinese dream has been changing.

Chinese economy, overall national power has made a significant progress in recent years.

As you can see, I'm talking to you, wearing decently, with my stomach full, and do not have to be worried about a sudden bomb explosion. So the dream of China in my heart is certainly not just defending our nation from war attack, finding enough food to eat or something else like that. The dream of China now has a new meaning to me and to all the youths in China.

Chairmen Mr. Xi Jinping once said that the dream of China was about the nation's rejuvenation. But when it comes to me, a high school student, what is my understanding of the dream of China?

Since we are still students, the only possible way to contribute to the country seems to be eating less and controlling the breathing frequency to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. Hhhh

But as we look around. We could always find some problems. Are we eating safe food? Are we having sufficient medical care?

Helping around and concerning about national issues must be a great representation of the Chinese dream.

Although we are just small part of the huge population, we still are essential to the big Chinese dream. The essence of the dream of China, which hasn’t been changed, is a big earnest wish in every Chinese heart throughout the centuries.

In wartime, the soldiers fought for the Chinese dream. The founder of this country worked day and night because of the Chinese dream.

The dream of China once supported the elders, and it is also supporting everything that we are doing. Even a tiny little thing like picking up litter in the street is also supported by the Chinese dream. Some student wants to be a scientist; another may want to be a policeman. These individual dreams come together, and construct the Chinese dream.

So a stand up now, it’s your time! Fight for your dream. And fight for the Chinese dream.

● 初三（3）班 胡菡文

Good afternoon, everyone.

And I bet you all know what I’m going to talk about. Yes, dream of China, such a fresh word to us. Unlike American dreams, which have been talking for so long, we’ve just heard it recently.

And now it seems unavoidable to compare those two things together. People of American are from all parts of the world. They become Americans mainly because they have the same desire and believe America is the place they can achieve their dreams. But we are Chinese just because we share the same ancestor. And our faith has been pounded by realities and history. Therefore we need to firm, or even rebuild our dreams.

And by the way, what exactly it is?

Some may describe it like the fast rising GDP, or that we send a spacecraft to the universe successfully again. But these are just the government’s work or whatever you like, but never the dream of China.

And what is most Chinese fighting for, or even dying for? It is money. Yeah, in know it sounds depressing but that is the fact. You can see workers of construction plans in every corner of China with their tired and numb faces. I bet their desires don’t have so many things to do with spacecrafts but money. They need money to live, to feed their families. Urban people driving in their cars pass by the workers. They seem to live in different worlds but they have one thing in common that they’re all busy working earning money, and tell their children to busy studying in order to make more money in the future.

Anyway, the whole society seems to work perfectly because of everyone’s effort, and is that the achieving of the dream of China?

I could say it’s not. Because can’t you see that there is something obviously wrong that everyone is just doing what the society tells them to do? That makes me feels like they are more like products on a flow line than real people.

We are now talking about dreams while most of us cannot even sleep.

At least we should be let know what we want and how we can achieve it. And the thing you want doesn’t mean something that will give you some benefits or something somehow forced by the society, but what you desperately want all by yourself.

I know it sounds unrealistic but that makes it a dream. Because who could ever realize a dream easily?

And how I wish that everyone could do the right thing with the right motivation in my dream of China.

● 初三（3）班 支业繁

Honorable judges, classmates, good afternoon.

Speak of the dream of China, I first think of what Zhou Enlai said when he was a student: Study for the rise of China. Our school was established according to Zhou’s instruction, too. His purpose was to educate high-level foreign languages talents for China.

Probably a small percentage of students want to be translators and a lot are preparing for going to college abroad. Zhou’s dream had come true in some ways, and he had expectations on us. Shall we take this direction? What is and what to do with the dream of China?

Lately, senior high held a speech contest in Chinese with the same topic. I heard something but I got nothing. It’s hard for me to say, what on earth the dream of China is. You might agree that the dream of China is the rise of China, but what is it more specifically? I thought of some points China needs to improve during one song’s time: The gap between the rich and the poor is to big; The safety of food needs an improvement; Our government officials should get rid of corruption; Our men’s soccer team is losing face of the country. I might think of innumerable point but they are just like bugs of a computer program. We need to fix it up and that’s it. It’s not like a dream. Dream tends to be something fuzzy.

You see, I can’t give a definition to the dream of China. Every morning when I wake up, how will I think of something like the dream of China? I work hard to pass every exam and deal with relation between friends properly. I hardly ever have a dream. Sometimes I walk along the campus and think of my future. It seems the one who cares most about my future isn’t me but my parents. My relatives are planning my future now and then. I’m confused if I’m having their dreams.

I know the topic is the dream of China, but I’m not the whole China. As a child who was born in a good family, grew up in a good city, studied in good schools, I don’t think I’ve tastes the true flavor of life. If I’m a little older, I may know what a man to a country is. So far, I believe it must be nice of me to help others and make my motherland a more beautiful place.

Just let the dream of China lies deeply in my heart. I’ve never seen its true colors but it’s beating fast. That gives me strength.

Thank you.

● 初三（1）班 朱妙

Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Now, imagine you’re standing on boundless grassland. The last sunshine falls with romantic affection upon the tiny flowers beneath your knees. There are lights glittering on the surface of the creek, which is like a golden ribbon, twining the vast green field. Everything around seems so close and pure that you could hardly fail to get it. ‘Is this a dream?’ You may ask yourself. Yes, indeed, and that’s my dream of China.

With the accelerated pace of life, we truly benefit a lot from prosperous technology. People 30 years ago definitely couldn’t imagine how fast China was going to change—we’ve already had high speed railways and well-developed communicating systems bringing us great convenience together with loads of problems.

Recently, we Chinese people come to love accolades more than genuine achievements. That’s why consumers’ rights have been violated again and again. That’s why many of the young people vie for higher positions by fair means or foul. No wonder there are some girls idolizing wealth and luxuries who ‘would rather cry in a BMW than smile on a bicycle’.

Furthermore, China’s phony atmosphere has had a bad influence on the international community.

I can clearly remember when I was breathlessly awaiting a brilliant badminton match during London Olympic game. When the two athletes from China played slackly just like two old dull men, I could hardly believe what I’d seen. Obviously, the profit of the leaders and coaches manipulated everything though it was strongly against the spirit of the Olympics.

It was really a shame. But after reading this piece of news, were you just sitting in front of the computer criticizing Chinese society or abreacting your own anger? Yes, we’re all great critics. At the same time, we’re the exact ones who are believed to take the mission, to bring some changes, to make our motherland better! We’re grabbing the future of China tightly in hands, with the dream and passion; we have no excuse to fail!

I’ve always been expecting for one day coming, that’s the day when we’ll have constructed a transparent government and perfect security insurance for all of our citizens. That’s the day when everybody returns to the original simplicity of the nature, when the girl smiles sweetly on the backseat of the bicycle with her black straight hair fluttering in the wind.

Thank you.

● 初三（1）班 竺仕鹏

Good afternoon, dear judges, teachers and students. Today I’m going to talk about Dream of China.

When visiting an exhibition, Chairman Xi interpreted Dream of China as “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

As a young Chinese in the new era, I have my own ideal Chinese dream:

I have a dream of a powerful and prosperous China that doesn’t have to be the best country in the world, but must be a place where people can live and work in peace; and that doesn’t have to be very rich, but must be a place where people can live a happy life.

I have a dream of a united and friendly China where every individual, every class, and every people can hold together, and everyone has a loving heart to protect it. We no longer benefit others at the cost of our own interest.

I have a dream of a warm and harmonious China, which is a great nation for its large population with high quality. The society is gentle and fragrant. There will be no elderly people who are not taken good care of, and there will not be a person who finds it hard to get help when needed.

I have a dream of a fair and safe China where all men are equal under the law and for opportunities, and where people are reassured of food, clothing, housing and transportation.

In 2012, the blaze of dream was lightened in people’s heart. President Xi annotated “Dream of China”, to be accomplished, this mighty dream needs effort and determination from all of us. This Chinese dream has moved all of us, there is certainly a dream looking forward to happiness and felicity in everyone’s mind. So long as every Chinese works on his/her own dream, we can realize our Chinese dream and rejuvenate our Chinese nation!