5月24日中午，2号楼一楼报告厅人声鼎沸，座无虚席。

作为杭外学子在初中阶段英语学习最高规格的赛事，“校友杯”的参赛选手是通过初中三年英语成绩排名选出的八名“top students”。比赛伊始，主持人播放了参赛选手们的自我介绍视频，同学们既为其中不时穿插的学长学姐或班级同学的应援视频惊喜不已，也为参赛选手们的幽默风趣忍俊不禁。

本次演讲比赛的主题为“proud to be a     ”。与往年既定主题相比，今年的半命题式主题具有相当大的开放性，同学们也围绕这个主题各抒己见，让在场同学享受了一场思维的盛宴。从初三1班孙晨舒富有哲学意味的”proud to be a human with knowledge”到初三5班朱一宸关乎梦想的“proud to be a clarinet player”；从初三4班邱天润以自信为荣的“proud to be a man who is proud of himself”到初三4班李沐芷教会我们接受不完美的“proud to be imperfect”；从初三2班朱晏的“proud to be a member of a team”的演讲之后关于examples的提问勾起同学们关于group work的回忆，到初三2班俞懿轩的“proud to be a HFLSER”引起同学们关于进杭外的初心与未来的思考……但归根究底，相信每位演讲者都有像初三2班单煜清一样“proud to be a speaker”的感触，评委老师“演讲者是否一定不善于倾听”的提问也使她与初三4班朱佳仪的“proud to be an introvert”演讲及问答遥相呼应。

除了精彩的演讲环节，本次比赛的串场节目同样博人眼球。无论是初三4班时尚的舞蹈还是初三2班周佳琳带来的歌曲《Yellow》，抑或是临时被通知要make comments的外教老师们互相“推让”的场景，都让大家暂时忘却了等待结果的紧张而会心一笑。

最终，初三2班的单煜清（女）和初三2班的俞懿轩（男）成为本次比赛的获胜者。

（初三2班 胡莺韵 供稿）

附参赛者演讲稿：

Honorable judges, dear teachers and fellow students: good afternoon!

When I was 8 years old, I prepared for a speech in the election of a class leader. I stayed up late to practicing and practicing. However, the next day I became too scared to make the speech in front of the 42 classmates. Right after the election, I regretted, regretted not being active, not being courageous, and most importantly, not being a speaker.

Famous speakers like Winston Churchill are shining public figures with charisma and wisdom. They are the focus of people’s attention so made this central position on the stage attractive. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be the one successfully drawing other’s attention, being listened to, being valued and thus feeling proud?

Right now, being a speaker standing here, I saw sparks of wisdom from all the other speakers. I’m proud to get these glittering thoughts; I’m proud to be the one who gives something to everyone else here as well.

Though accidents may happen at any time, as I may simply forget what I planned to say, I don’t see it as a shame anymore. For a speaker, fighting to win the title of “eloquent master” isn’t the only aim; for a speaker, trying to prevail over the so-called opponents isn’t my goal. As I speak up, I overcome my fear and go beyond the obstacles; as I speak up, I am on my way to achieve self-development, leading to a better “me”.

So it’s easy to understand why a lot of people including me, attempt to seize every opportunity to express ourselves. Speech making happens not only on TED talks or in conferences, but also in our daily life. It could happen on various occasions. It does not have to be like now, facing more than 200 students and a panel of teachers. It could be done in group discussions, the pre-class presentations, or debate competitions on campus. By making speeches, we could play a significant role in sharing thoughts and spreading ideas, which will make a difference to our routine study. We are proud of it!

Public images, sparks of wisdom and great will, all made the word “speaker” glorious. Now, imagine how this feels, ladies and gentlemen, when you’re right into the spotlight like I am now, sparing no effort to deliver your own ideas while the audience and the judges are listening attentively? Nervous? A little excited? Or so cheerful that the words flow out of your mouth? Admit it, above all, there’s something that you yourself might not notice. That is the pride.

 Thank you!

初三2 单煜清

Proud to be an imperfect person

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

At the beginning of my speech, I want to ask you a question. Have you ever heard about the word ‘atelophobia’?It comes from Greek, and means ‘the fear for imperfection’, which is something a number of people might have. Imperfection, literally, means having weaknesses or faults, and it doesn’t sound like a positive word. This is something no one will probably desire. However, I’m not troubled by this; I would proudly say that I am imperfect instead.

Considering what the ongoing presence of my imperfection means carefully, I gradually find its beauty.To start with, my imperfection gives me motivation to strive for excellence. The world, as we know, is not perfect. And as long as it’s inhabited by imperfect humans, it will continue to be.This realization spursme on to help make myself a better personand make this imperfect world a better place. Without imperfection, there’s no desire for me to strive for improvement or excellence.

However, no matter how much efforts I put into, it is not practical to change all the shortcomings. At this moment, my imperfection helps meknowmy flaws and drawbacks that I cannot change, and generally guide me to accept them. I can learn more about my authentic self from my defects, and this makes me aware of whoI really am. Embracingour imperfections instead of constantly criticizing them will place us on the path towards acceptance for it. And the moment we accept them is the moment we put ourselves in position to begin learning from them.

What’s more, imperfection makes me empathizeothers in our weaknesses. I’m not perfect, and none of us is.It realizes me that it is in our defects that we find our greatest commonality and community. But also, it gives every of us the uniqueness that belongs to our own—if all the people were absolutely perfect, then everything would be absolutely the same. Ira Levin’s book This Perfect Day portrays a world where everyone is perfect like an ideal model, but this world is dull and lifeless. It is imperfection that makes us different, complex, flexible and human.

We are not perfect. We never were and we never will be.But it can be great news.As John Ruskin once said, ‘Imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know in life.’ Being imperfect means we can stop pursuing the so-called illusory, perfect life. It means we can find freedom to live within our imperfections.That’s why I’m proud to be imperfect, and for all the coming years ahead, I will continue to be.

Thank you.

 初三4 李沐芷

Proud to be an introvert

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Are you shy to communicate with strangers? Are you unwilling to talk with others when there is a brainstorm? Are you in your self-centered world? Well, as an introvert, I have all those features, but I’m proud to be an introvert.

In nowadays China, where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. Sometimes I feel desperate that in most circumstances, extroverts are more successful than introverts. For example, during the Model United Nations Conference, my introverted personality determined that I seldom participated in the free discussion with other delegates, and I was also not as active as them in the moderated caucus, which made my first attempt a failure. Indeed, the relationship between people is based on communication, but does that mean I should change my personalities and make myself outgoing? The answer is absolutely no.

Introverts do have some abilities that extroverts are lack of, which makes introverts an indispensable part in our society. By this, I don’t mean that face-to-face communication is not important, and that extroverted people are incapable, I just want to indicate that, introverts don’t need to be ashamed or feel inferior, in fact, we have some incredible capacity that extroverts usually don’t have.

So, what extraordinary abilities do we have? Well, first, introverts are more likely to have creative minds. As Albert Einstein said, “The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” While extroverts live in the stimulation from the outside, introverts prefer to stay in their inner world of amazing imagination and fantasy. And due to this, introverts are good at thinking out of the box and coming up with fantastic ideas.

Second, while introverts may be the quiet ones in a group, one of the greatest strengths we possess is a keen power of observation. When there is a collective discussion, we always observe the process closely, we don’t like to share our opinions from time to time, but we can always give the other members an astonishing conclusion according to their progress.

So it comes as no surprise that in the last three sessions of MUN, I gradually realized my advantages as an introvert and made my participation worthy.

The introverts are just more focused on the inner world of ideas, brilliant minds like Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are good proof of it. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” Please be proud of what kind of person you are, and then yourlimitless potential can be fulfilled.

Thank you!

初三4 朱佳仪

Proud to Be an HFLSER

Good afternoon everyone, I’m Jason.

Three years ago I was enrolled by HFLS, frankly, I don’t take it as something I should be proud of. But when my relatives and neighbors got I was enrolled by the HFLS, they were like ’HFLS??! That’s a top school! You must be really splendid!’ From their sayings, I feel HFLS was like a sacred place of learning, and also a little mysterious to me. It was not until when I first stepped into this school that I began to reveal its mysterious mask.

In the first Chinese class, my Chinese teacher taught us how to write a good casual essay, I was not told to write in a model given by the teacher but think it as a stage where I could express my thoughts, interesting things happened in my daily life. For a start, I wrote an article about spraying water to each other in the dorm. It was just ‘fun’, nothing more. But I still got the encouragement from my teacher. My teacher told me by her actions that everyone’s perspective matters, even if your point of view isn’t well-considered.

Once I was asked to tell what HFLS has the most, I thought for a while and said ’opportunities’. The opportunity of discovering your potential abilities. Sometimes in a club, or when participating in an activity, you’ll be surprised to find that ‘Oh! I am good at doing these!’ These opportunities not only made me know about my value, but also other people’s preciousness, in a team, everyone is relevant.

In the end of the first year, I watched a movie called Things You'll be accused of being an HFLSER, in the film, a graduator from HFLS went to the interview of a company with an ordinary résumé, the interviewer doubted his ordinariness because she thought HFLSERS were all talented. The graduator hesitated for a while, recalling his memories in HFLS, and told the interviewer that HFLS is not a label but the last place for him to be ‘himself’. Since then, I began to reevaluate the meaning of HFLS to me. It is of course not a label. It is like the natural soil without any extra additives. We can grow freely, but with borders and rules.

Why I’m proud to be an HFLSer? There is a line in the film ‘Forever Young’ ‘When we treasure other people’s preciousness, we sometimes forget about our preciousness.’ In the movie, some young adults faced choices that could change their whole lives, and they chose to be true, true themselves. HFLS is a place that always reminds us of our preciousness. And when you focus on your preciousness too much, it reminds you of other people’s preciousness. You are precious because you are unique. That’s the meaning of HFLS.

Thank you!

初三2 俞懿轩

Honorable judges and my dear fellows：

Good afternoon.

Almost a week ago, I was asked to record a brief-introduction video for the alumni cup. It only lasted for one minute, but I racked my brains about the so-called personal characteristics which are what the audiences actually care. I said very frankly in the video that as an individual, I was just an ordinary person who would impress others with nothing; But I also said that as a member of a team, I felt very proud and fortunate and here I am, with the topic: proud to be a member of a team.

Looking back, I am staggered to uncover my past three years were all closely related to the words: team and teamwork. From making each other’s acquaintance to participating in a series of activities, I dare say with absolute certainty that everybody down here had anticipated or experienced such school life. However, have you ever indicated it is teamwork, make all these days become remarkable.

Do you still remember we acquired a sense of actualization when we finally produced wonderful performances in the foreground? Do you still remember we reached a higher level in the system of evaluation when we exchanged our ideas in order to start a social project? Do you still remember we obtained virtues like persistence, patience, modesty during the process of improving our works? Do you still remember all these?

 Undoubtedly, the trivial accomplishments mentioned above are grand enough to make me feel proud.

But it goes without saying that I do not take pride in particular things, in the contrast, I want us to see something more inspiring and influential. Outside school walls, a brand new world is always there, waiting for us drawing nearer. With uncertainty, our nation’s leaders do not just manifest inflexibly in relating to the world, on the contrary, they choose to unite people inland and people abroad in order to set up a community of human being which is aimed at controlling human’s collective destiny.

Isn’t it cooperation that makes us feel proud in front of the whole world?

So ladies and gentlemen, please don’t be ashamed that you are stuck in teams which may hide your talent in some way. Instead, as the famous poem goes: No man is an island; every man is a piece of the continent, we’ll have the courage to voice the slogan one day: Proud to be a member of the world.

Thank you.

初三2 朱晏

Proud to be a man with pride

Good afternoon, judges, teachers and all my friends, I am Roderick Qiu. I'm proud to be a man that is proud of himself. And it is my honor to stand here to deliver my speech.

Many people may consider pride as something generally harmful, but in my mind, being proud of myself means being pleased about those things that I did in the past, like getting the qualification to give a speech here, making my own programs and games and being able to help others. It means believing in myself that: more or less, I can always work something out. And this belief has helped me overcome so much problems, like fixing bugs in my programs or achieving the standard of volleyball test. It also means being optimistic toward future, no matter what occurs.

Every person has his or her shining moments and moments that one messes things up. It's joyful to remember all those highlights; and when it comes to a circumstance when you mess things up, what you need to do is to reflect and go on to try your best.In my own view, being proud appropriately doesn’t mean being supercilious and ignoring all your faults.A typical example here is about Wang An. After he established his own computer empire, he became arrogant, and this eventually led his company to bankruptcy.

Being proud and being optimistic in an appropriate way can always help you gain more power. For instance, Steve Jobs was once expelled from Apple because of problems with cooperation. But it was his pride that made him adhere to his very first dream and made Apple a legend. In a sense, this word can just bring you the magic power of its source word prud, which comes from Old French and means being brave and confident.

Every person is not yet perfect, but what everyone can do is to pursue excellence, is to become a man who you will be proud of. Go on pursuing a goal that you can take pride in, and nothing will ever matter. Then, when you look back one day, you’ll just find that you have accomplished so much, and you are just going to achieve many, many more amazing accomplishments.

At the end of my speech, I want to say that “No one is you, and that is your power”. Everyone is unique, everyone has contributions, and this is what makes the world iridescent. I am proud to be here, I am proud to say that I’m proud of myself, and I hope the strength of pride can also help you create your own miracle.

That’s all, thank you.

初三4 邱天润

Proud to be a creator of nothing

Imagine one day the president of the US, let’s say, Mr Trump has an idea. He says in a speech:”knowledge is the most valuable thing, so our government should not pay citizens salary as rewards of working, we should teach them knowledge instead. ”  Well, if this kind of situation really happens, I’m sure that China will have a large chance to win the trade war. But that is not my point. What I am going to say is that knowledge is in some ways much more important than money.  Maybe it sounds weird.  But well, I have to mind you that we’re talking about the whole human society, not individuals. If we take a comprehensive look on human society, we’ll find that the most valuable things we have are all abstract.   And the most amazing thing is, these concepts are actually created by ourselves. The social systems such as capitalism and communism are good examples.   Well, by this I do not mean that we have to focus more on develop new technology and ignore the importance of material wealth. The process of spreading and developing knowledge will be automatically done. It’s just that technology today has already been advanced and knowledge has shown an explosive growth trend, so it is our top priority to preserve them and carry them forward.   This is a daunting task that needs to be done by the entire human society.  Human is the only creature on earth that can use abstract concepts to organize the society. That is also the reason why we have become the most successful predator on earth. So, we should be proud to be the creator of a virtual world, that is, creator of a brave new world.

初三1 孙晨舒

Proud to be a persistent clarinet player

Honorable judges and dear fellow students: Good afternoon.

It is great honor for me to be on the stage of “alumni cup” to talk about what I am proud to be.

There are plenty of things we can take pride in while we are living in this colorful world. It might be a great achievement you have made, a goal you have reached, or just a full mark on your math paper.  But to me, being a persistent clarinet player has got something more than the things above.

I can still remember the first time I met the black wooden pipe with lots of silver keys on it, and how hard for me to make the first sound from it. It is not like piano, which you simply press and it will have sound. Every time I finished practicing, I was totally out of breath. Both my lips were bitten through and my fingers were hurt by the keys. I suffered great pains on my neck by the hanging string. For so many times I came up with the idea of giving up.. . But finally I held it on and never stopped playing almost every day, as I knew escaping helps nothing.

After seven whole years, I began to enjoy playing clarinet and loving music by my heart. I am not an brilliant clarinetist. But it doesn’t matter. That won’t destroy my passion and confidence on enjoying the music by the all the masters such as Mozart, Brahms, Haydn and so on. I’ve been playing in Zhejiang Youth Orchestra as the 2nd leader clarinet player. We went to Spain for concerts and study tour last summer vacation. I’ve got the chance to work with my mates to finish fantastic pieces of music with the instruments. What’s more, I enjoyed the beautiful Spanish scenery and culture. What I‘ve learned was much more than music itself.

 When you take up a new job, all you need to do is stick to it. You will fall in love with it at last and benefit from it for your life.

Now I am so happy to be here. This is the most important English competition in our school. At this moment, I feel so much glory, the glory of every day we have passed together, the glory of all our success and failure, smile and tears, the glory of HFLS history and traditions, and the glory as a HFLSer! I love English, I love clarinet. And I hope one day, I could be the first real great clarinetist from HFLS! At this moment, I feel so much pride！   

Thank you!

 初三5 朱一宸

附：冠军参赛感言

当我坐在准备席上的时候，手里拿着在周末涂涂改改翻版五次之后的演讲稿，却又一阵恍惚，回想起一年前观摩校友杯比赛的自己。那时，自认为英语演讲还算是比较有优势的我，心里跃跃欲试，对那个站上舞台的机会十分向往。这种期盼甚至延续到了在晚上睡不着的时候胡思乱想着它的演讲主题然后自己抑扬顿挫地阐述一番。而如果说当时在不断期待着这个外文节的到来，当我正式面对年级展板上的“校友杯参赛者名单公示”并且数了数距离笔试的日期时，整个人都仿佛乱了阵脚。先不说这个学期在英语习题上的松懈，光是撞上了外文节另外许多活动的情况便让我忐忑不安。在此不妨总结“赛前”如下：这是我最怀有热情的英语比赛，也是我最没有把握的英语比赛。

若是回顾比赛的日程，直白点说，笔试之后的心情糟糕透顶。我强烈地意识到了自己词汇量的匮乏，技巧方面的薄弱之处等等。于是在笔试之后的“校友杯赛程空白时期”，既不知道笔试排名又不知道演讲主题，只能加大“临时抱抱佛脚”的强度，翻阅各种句型和搭配，听听国外的演讲集。外文节正式开幕之前的那个周五，我拿到了那张写着“Proud to be a/an”的小条子，先跟同学调侃了好一会儿这个主题，而后这张小纸条便让我的大脑开始发热。很幸运的，发呆一整个下课换来了上课铃响前的灵光一现。我迅速定下了有关“Speaker”的中心，开始不断发散着写下自己的想法，周六晚上接连不断地写到了十一点，彻底忘记了限时的“三分钟”。于是周日便不断作删减。终于，当我连续三次刚好掐在三分钟倒计时结束的时候说“thank you”，才彻底满意了。

感谢那些给我热烈掌声的观众们，那些给我支持与鼓励的朋友们，以及最最重要的，不断帮助与鞭策我的父母和老师。      

最后，我一直以来，都为可以作一名“Speaker”而骄傲。

初三2 单煜清

比赛结束，我在空间里发了一些荒诞不经的文字，所谓依靠了“蒙神”，似乎也是虚无缥缈之事。比赛开始之前，我站在讲台上，说了一些诸如我是“garbage”之类的话，这也许才是真实的。作为一个对凤尾无好感，对鸡头却颇有追求的人，这或许算是最后的自我安慰。

作为一个高难度比赛，完成这一套组合动作的难度似乎也是颇大的，于是完成时的心态似乎也与以前参加演讲比赛时有所不同。即使完成了所有任务，等待着最后的裁决到来的时刻，我还思索着自己的“丢人”表现，最后越想越可怕，倒不如两眼一闭，当只鸵鸟。没想到最后获得了“Winner”的称号，我便颇沾沾自喜地以为自己总算是挺进了“凤中部”，可谓是既以物喜，又以己悲，范仲淹先生的思想，我怕是与之无缘了。

Drama Night那天，陆老师告诉我要彻底“放空”，专心把戏演好，我以为这是极为困难的，然而真正上了台，却发现这场演讲在当时似乎可以退居幕后。演讲上台前，我还担心自己会不会被初二的学弟学妹们鄙视，可是上台的那一刻，什么鸡头凤尾之类的情怀统统被抛到了一边，当然，另一位Winner对此似乎更有发言权，毕竟她的演讲主题是‘Proud to be a speaker’，或许她的演讲字字珠玑，我也不敢以Speaker自居，还是Mind expresser更符合我的身份吧。

初三2 俞懿轩