很多同学找我要当时参加第十一届21世纪全国决赛的演讲稿。

前几天整理移动硬盘，看到当年的那两篇。现在看起来，发现自己当时的演讲稿写得是如此浅薄。

但是大家要求，我就拿出来献丑了。希望在某种程度上能够帮助大家。

很多朋友问及怎样准备演讲稿，我个人觉得主要在于两点：

1 用心去写。最终你是要上台演讲的。真正能让你发挥好的演讲稿应该是你发自内心想告诉观众的东西。所以，写你最想说的话是最重要的。

2 文章、演讲稿和自己的阅历有关。这也许就是为什么事隔两年半我现在看当时的演讲稿有一种说不出的惭愧。所以鼓励大家多读书，多总结。很是总要。

下面是我全国半决赛和总决赛的演讲稿：

半决赛：

                          LANGUAGE, A CARRIER OF CULTURE

We all know that language is an important component part and carrier of culture. When people are learning another language they are consciously or unconsciously acquiring that culture.  At the same time learners’ command of second language is tainted with features of their mother language and culture.  Whether we realize it or not, English is becoming a global language and 60%-70% documents in science and technology the world over are written in English.  With the increasing importance of English, more people the world over, including us English majors, are learning English.  Naturally many English learners and users tend to ask these questions: How am I going to talk like a native speaker?  Should I learn standard English?  What should I do in order to get rid of “Chinese English”?

People used to be very snobbish about language esp. about pronunciation.   “You open your mouth and you reveal your social identity.”  That was the prevailing opinion. Only Standard English or Queen’s English was considered prestigious.  That is the very social background against which Bernard Shaw wrote his famous play Pygmalion. However, the situation has changed a lot in recent decades.  People are becoming more open and permissive in language use of other people.  Diversity and differences are encouraged rather than being considered as a bad thing. This is especially true of the many varieties of the English language: Chinese English, Indian English, Singaporean English, Australian English, etc. Each variety has not only enriched English, but also more cultural flavors to the language.  Words of Chinese origin such as tofu, Kungfu have already become part of the English vocabulary.  Regarding pronunciation, idiolects and regional accents are more than just tolerated.  Once a French lady even said to me: “Don’t you think English with a Chinese accent is just as beautiful?  Anyway I like my French accent.”

This reminds me of one time last year when I was invited to “the Speak Good English Movement” in Singapore.  The slogan was simple, “speak well, be understood.” Good English is a kind of English with correct grammar, right choice of words, uttered to be understood by others.  That is, as long as it serves well the communicative purpose, that is good language.

The speeding-up process of globalization entails all the more the necessity of maintaining cultural and linguistic diversity.  The world is beautiful and vigorous because it is a unity in diversity. To make cross-cultural communication possible and easy, we need to understand, accept and respect differences of cultures and languages. Even though we use the same language, we should allow, tolerate and respect differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and even grammar. Luckily English, this international language we use today, has many accents or varieties, and none of them should be considered bad English; they are just different.

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