Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,
As I stand here speaking to you in English, I am already globalized. While shopping, I see the fair Chinese ladies carrying Prada handbags, I find they are globalized. Watching Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings with friends—yes, you can anticipate the refrain, we are all globalized!
In this era of globalization, we are one way or another all globalized. But realize this: when people’s heads turn to the fresh things that globalization literally delivers to our doors, the traditional things which we take for granted become ignored and sometimes forgotten. ConsiderLao Qiang, an ancient form of opera. It has almost vanished from the stage and only fewer than 20 people know how to sing it. So, how can we discover and explore our traditional culture? How can we rejuvenate and share them with the whole world? Well, there are three factors we need to keep in mind.
To begin with, the mass media plays a vital role in discovering traditional culture and connecting it with the widest possible audience. One evening in 20xx, for example, when my father and I were watching the final round of the popular TV showStar Road, we both became fans for a contestant named A Bao. We were attracted by his high pitched tenor voice, his traditional Shaanxi folk tunes and Shaanxi costumes. Apparently we were not his only fans. Star Road has aroused great popular interest in Shaanxi folk music. Such media can help popular audiences to discover lost arts and introduce people to them for the first time.
The mass media raise the people’s popular interest in the traditional arts, but it is the performing artists who really develop the people’s understanding of traditional culture. Yang Liping’s dance show Yunnan Image, based on primitive Yunnan dance style, has had an enormous influence in and out of China. Yang has recovered for us the primitive life in Yunnan. It is the raw and unadorned beauty of nature in her dancing that moves her audience most. We desperately need professional artists’ endeavor to discover traditional arts, to train apprentices, and to project our traditional culture on the global stage.
The third strategic factor in promoting our culture in global competition is an audience who knows what and how to appreciate our culture. But today’s youth—tomorrow’s explorers—are ill equipped to appreciate the traditional culture. Take myself as an example: I have had no painting or music classes since senior high school! No extracurricular activities like Chinese painting or calligraphy since primary school! What paltry little we learn about our traditional Chinese culture is relegated to a few lines and pictures in history books. We need our government and our school system to give us a better opportunity to embrace our traditional culture and discover its rich legacy for ourselves.
Ladies and gentlemen, the age of globalization should be a time for cultural discovery, not cultural extinction! Our traditional culture needs our concern and support to survive! With our combined efforts, we can save our valuable culture from extinction and showcase it, so it can shine brightly on the global stage, shared and enjoyed by people all around the world!
Take a look at the street, we can see people walking around in Nike and Adidas ,beyond the curb, long lines of vehicles shuttle like wind on the tar among which there’re Mercedes-Benz ,BMW, Toyota ,and some of the Volkswagen whose price is definitely not so “volks” at all. They’re all heading for the same direction: the New Oriental School, coz the Olympics is around and learning English is currently the hottest way blowing away your after-work time and money in town. Everything about this picture is so global that you can hardly tell if it’s Bei Jing or Belgium.
However, there’s one grey speck on this splendid picture of globalization I just can’t shift my eyes away from. It’s a migrant worker covered with dirt. Pushing a large cart of bricks 5 times his own weight with his skinny arms, the man was about my age. His eyes hollow holes, for there’s nothing but the hardship of survival in there. Was he married? Was he smart? Did he go to middle school? Or perhaps primary school? Where was he from? Is there anyone waiting for him at home?
As we look out to globalization with great expectation, there’s also crisis lying within. But the crisis was not brought onto us from anywhere out there. It lies within our system and was made by ourselves. Some call it regional bias, some call it household permit system, but not matter what name it bears. It’s the same thing we see in this country: born a countryman, always a countryman. And countryman here is not just a nickname suggesting where you live. It means that you can’t have a lot of the basic public benefits like free compulsory education and medical insurance like the city men have. It means you would have to be times as outstanding as students from the metropolitans in exams to be admitted into good schools. In means, very much likely, in that migrant worker’s case, that you can work and live in the city honestly for 10 years but people still despises you because they think they are somehow superior. It’s true that globalization is all over the air, but despite it’s the same air that we breathe ,I wonder how many of them feel it even exsit.
Does learning to compete in the global era involve migrant workers? I believe few would think so. Because usually what we care about are things like trade surplus, intercultural communication and Paris Hilton. But does it not involve migrant workers?
Let’s make an interesting assumption here. Today, I see a lot of young faces in this building, in 10 years, many of us will have our children. And I suppose that in 10 years, the migrant worker I saw on the street the other day and many like him will have their children. I can’t help wondering with this globalization gap keep lying between the two of us, can my child work together with his children for the country in the future competition of the global era? And will this country be able to win the competition without its rural people which takes up about 80% of its total population?
No! This situation must be changed! And the time is now! The long and weary journey to its final solution may take decades, or even centuries. But it starts with our little good will. If everyone in this room donate 10 yuan to the Hope project, we might be able to get the son of a migrant worker through junior school. By which we’re not only helping them but also helping ourselves.
If we want to learn to compete with others, we’ll first have to learn to take care of our own man , and if we want to learn to live with globalization,we’ll first learn it, from those who live without it.
I feel that this award was not made to me as a man but to my work -- a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit not for glory and least of all for profit but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before.
我感觉,这个奖不是授予我这个人,而是授予我的工作,它是对我呕心沥血、毕生从事的人类精神探索的工作的肯定。我的这项工作不为名,更不图利,而是要从人类精神的原始素材里创造出前所未有的东西。
I feel that this award was not made to me as a man but to my work -- a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit not for glory and least of all for profit but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.
我感到这份奖金不是授予我个人而是授予我的工作的授予我一生从事关于人类精神的呕心沥血工作.我从事这项工作不是为名更不是为利而是为了从人的精神原料中创造出一些从前不曾有过的东西.因此这份奖金只不过是托我保管而已.为这份奖金的钱找到与奖金原来的目的和意义相称的用途并不难但我还想为奖金的荣誉找到承受者.我愿意利用这个时刻利用这个举世瞩目的讲坛向那些听到我说话并已献身同一艰苦劳动的男女青年致敬.他们中肯定有人有一天也会站到我现在站着的地方.
Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about worth the agony and the sweat.
我们今天的悲剧是人们普遍存在一种生理上的恐惧这种恐惧存在已久以致我们能够忍受下去了.现在再没有精神上的问题了.唯一的问题是:我什么时候会被炸得粉身碎骨?正因为如此今天从事写作的男女青年已经忘记了人类内心的冲突.然而只有接触到这种内心冲突才能产生出好作品因为这是唯一值得写值得呕心沥血地去写的.
He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and teaching himself that forget it forever leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed -- love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value of victories without hope and worst of all without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.
他一定要重新认识这些问题.他必须使自己明白世间最可鄙的事情莫过于恐惧.他必须使自己永远忘却恐惧在他的工作室里除了心底古老的真理之外不允许任何别的东西有容身之地.缺了这古老的普遍真理任何小说都只能昙花一现注定要失败;这些真理就是爱情荣誉怜悯自尊同情牺牲等感情.若是他做不到这样他的力气终归白费.他不是写爱情而是写情欲他写的失败是没有人感到失去可贵东西的失败他写的胜利是没有希望甚至没有怜悯或同情的胜利.他不是为有普遍意义的死亡而悲伤所以留不下深刻的痕迹.他不是在写心灵而是在写器官.
Until he relearns these things he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice but because he has a soul a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
在他重新懂得这些之前他写作时就犹如站在人类末日中去观察末日的来临.我不接受人类末日的手法.因为人能传种接代而说人是不朽的这很容易.因为即使最后一次钟声已经消失消失在再也没有潮水冲刷映在落日的余晖里海上最后一块无用的礁石之旁时还会有一个声音那就是人类微弱的不断的说话声这样说也很容易.但是我不能接受这种说法.我相信人类不仅能传种接代而且能战胜一切.人之不朽不是因为在动物中唯独他能永远发出声音而是因为他有灵魂有同情心有牺牲和忍耐精神.
The poet’s the writer's duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man it can be one of the props the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
诗人和作家的责任就是把这些写出来.诗人和作家的特殊光荣就是去鼓舞人的斗志使人记住过去曾经有过的光荣他曾有过的勇气荣誉希望自尊同情怜悯与牺牲精神以达到不朽.诗人的声音不应只是人类的纪录而应是帮助人类永存并得到胜利的支柱和栋梁.
With the development of science and technology, change has penetrated into every aspect of our daily life. To illustrate that, I’d like to make a comparison of these two seemingly insignificant things: milkman and mailman, whose differences indicate our changing way of living with the times.
Home milk delivery has almost gone extinct in China now, also gone with it are the milkmen, who once delivered bottled fresh milk door-to-door. On the other hand, mailman’s business or the courier service has thrived as online shopping gains popularity. However, in retrospect, I find something has been lost in this transition, something Shakespeare called as “the milk of human kindness”.
When I was a kid, milk wasn’t for sale everywhere. For the families who need it, they depended on the milkmen to take it from the local dairy farms to their houses. In our neighborhood, there was such a milkman, whose arrival was much anticipated by the children and always brought us laughter and joy. He knew the name of every kid and could easily see through our tricks. If we didn’t behave, he would side with our parents and threaten to rob us of the nutritious drink. The entire neighborhood was acquainted with him; saw him as a member of the community just like the many residents or street vendors. There was a bond between all of us for it was not only the commodities that been transacted, but also a sense of caring and dependability. And that small box fixed onto our door, other than being a drop-off point for milk; it was a communication junction between the people as we took the initiative to reach out to others.
Fast forward to today, milk is ubiquitous with no dedicated delivery system. But the convenience level of our live has gone up a notch. Almost everything is for sale online, which spares us all the travelling and talking. With a few ready clicks, shopping is done. The rest is left for those speed delivery companies. Usually it’s a grumpy mailman, who reaches us through cell phone, urging everyone to pick up their parcels as soon as possible. And the minute the receipt is signed, we rush back to unpack while the courier dashes to the next destination. There is barely a conversation carried out, nor do we feel the need to talk to such a stranger, who changes from time to time frequently. It seems that people are always in a hurry now, though we have more conveniences, still we run short of time to stop and stare, to speak and share.
Call me an old-timer, but I think the personal touch represented by the milkman is what has been missing in the modern society. William Wordsworth once wrote that “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.” Modern technology may have multiplied our possessions or gave us more conveniences, but we run the risk of reducing our values if we lay waste our power of interpersonal relationships.
I remember once my high school teacher invited the whole class to share our dreams with each other. I said, “I want to become an architect in future.” My desk mate said, “I want to be a public speaker.” Interestingly, a year later, he flew abroad to go for architecture, and I went to college majoring in English. And Look who is giving a speech right now.
What I learned from this experience was that, the road we end up taking can be different from our first plans. If we all realize our initial dreams, this world will be full of supermen and princesses. As I grew up, I often hear people say, life is all about making compromise. Your dream may die. You have to come terms with your life.
Well, my mother doesn’t see it that way. She is a kindergarten teacher, but she has a gift in painting. I often said to her, “if you had applied for an art school, you would definitely have made a great painter.” She said, “Yes, I would. But you were born!” “But it’s ok,” she continued, “I love kids. I can see their cuteness and innocence every day. Besides, they love me as well. Plus, I have a son who is about to see Rui Chenggang face to face. My colleagues are going to be so jealous of me. I am happy with who I am and I love my job.”
Sometimes when we are stuck in a rut, we may stop and wonder if life could be better had we taken the other road, and we may regret having lost so much for our stupid decisions. But on the threshold of adulthood, I would rather view my life in a positive light. I believe there is no absolute losing. Even though we seem to have made a compromise with each choice, even though we seem to have wasted a lot of effort with each failure, we are gaining something every step of the way.
Had I not given up my dream to be an architect, I wouldn’t have found my love for English, and I wouldn’t have met my friends, who, in order to boost my confidence before the speech contest, gathered in my dormitory and held a pep rally. I wouldn’t have met my professors who have always been patient with me, even when I couldn’t come up with a satisfying speech for 2 weeks.
And had I not spent the last 2 weeks painfully preparing for the speech contest, I wouldn’t have had a chance to think about this world, to ponder on life and to form a better understanding of myself.
For all my blessings, I owe my life an attitude of gratitude. From time to time I would picture myself working in my own studio, designing a beautiful villa. But I will not regret it, because I’m happy with who I am, and I love what I have.
So ladies and gentlemen, don’t be so obsessed with the other road in your life. The path you chose may not be ideal, but that’s not the end of the world. Fill your heart with gratitude. Break up with your regrets, and fall in love with your dream. Through all the hardships and difficulties, you’ll find that you’ve garnered more than you’ve sacrificed.
The other day my mother called me and said, “When the contest is over, I will give you a reward for your hard work.” I said, “There is no need for another present. I already have my present. ”
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