The Dream Came True I wanna welcome everybody here in this cheer team. Thank you for coming here this morning to stand on my side cheering me on. It’s my dream to have the opportunity to challenge all the foreign athletes to the championship at this great occasion: 20__ Olympic Games. Now, the dream came true. As an athlete of China, I’m here to win the gold medal of orienteering for our motherland. I’m so proud of being one of the best players in the world. But could you believe I had been a lazy girl when I was in Junior High. I’m not kidding! At that time, running was my last favorite. I really don’t know how to describe the first time I was on the track. It was horrible. When I started to run, I was simply out of breath. And while I touched the finishing line, I really didn’t know if I was still alive. It’s so funny, huh? But it’s true, I did. Well, something happened and changed the situation.
We won the right of holding the Olympic Games in 20__. After that, sports became a kind of game in campus. And there are many sports clubs in school. One day someone asked me:“are you gonna try one of those?”First I felt so wired. “Try to get into sports clubs? Are you kidding?” I said. And she goes: “Why not?? It’s not hard at all, and so fascinating!” So I did tried one and I was so lucky to become one of those who did orienteering. That is a fantastic sport! You need to run and find where to go just by using a map and a compass.
It’s wasn’t popular in China at first. But when we heard it might become a new event in 20__, we did practiced hard, and aimed to win the first Champion of orienteering in the world. When we practiced, there were a lot of troubles. You know, sometimes you need to go with your feet, but sometimes you need to go with your heart. In some situations, we faced the difficulties and problems. And we need to solve that through teamwork and strong willpower. So we can run faster, go higher and be stronger. That is what we say—Olympic spirit. Now the dream came true. I’m standing here with all my body and my heart put in sports. So do the people from all over the world to HERE at the Olympic Games. It’s the Olympic Games that make us together. We are here for a big day of sport; we are here for a dream of sports. We are here for a spirit of sport that encourages us to face the difficulties of today and tomorrow.
when i was nine years old i went off to summer camp for the first time. and my mother packed me a suitcase full of books, which to me seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. because in my family, reading was the primary group activity. and this might sound antisocial to you, but for us it was really just a different way of being social. you have the animal warmth of your family sitting right next to you, but you are also free to go roaming around the adventureland inside your own mind. and i had this idea that camp was going to be just like this, but better. (laughter) i had a vision of 10 girls sitting in a cabin cozily reading books in their matching nightgowns.
(laughter)
camp was more like a keg party without any alcohol. and on the very first day our counselor gathered us all together and she taught us a cheer that she said we would be doing every day for the rest of the summer to instill camp spirit. and it went like this: “r-o-w-d-i-e, that's the way we spell rowdie. rowdie, rowdie, let's get rowdie.“ yeah. so i couldn't figure out for the life of me why we were supposed to be so rowdy, or why we had to spell this word incorrectly. (laughter) but i recited a cheer. i recited a cheer along with everybody else. i did my best. and i just waited for the time that i could go off and read my books.
but the first time that i took my book out of my suitcase, the coolest girl in the bunk came up to me and she asked me, “why are you being so mellow?“ -- mellow, of course, being the exact opposite of r-o-w-d-i-e. and then the second time i tried it, the counselor came up to me with a concerned expression on her face and she repeated the point about camp spirit and said we should all work very hard to be outgoing.
and so i put my books away, back in their suitcase, and i put them under my bed, and there they stayed for the rest of the summer. and i felt kind of guilty about this. i felt as if the books needed me somehow, and they were calling out to me and i was forsaking them. but i did forsake them and i didn't open that suitcase again until i was back home with my family at the end of the summer.
now, i tell you this story about summer camp. i could have told you 50 others just like it -- all the times that i got the message that somehow my quiet and introverted style of being was not necessarily the right way to go, that i should be trying to pass as more of an extrovert. and i always sensed deep down that this was wrong and that introverts were pretty excellent just as they were. but for years i denied this intuition, and so i became a wall street lawyer, of all things, instead of the writer that i had always longed to be -- partly because i needed to prove to myself that i could be bold and assertive too. and i was always going off to crowded bars when i really would have preferred to just have a nice dinner with friends. and i made these self-negating choices so reflexively, that i wasn't even aware that i was making them.
now this is what many introverts do, and it's our loss for sure, but it is also our colleagues' loss and our communities' loss. and at the risk of sounding grandiose, it is the world's loss. because when it comes to creativity and to leadership, we need introverts doing what they do best. a third to a half of the population are introverts -- a third to a half. so that's one out of every two or three people you know. so even if you're an extrovert yourself, i'm talking about your coworkers and your spouses and your children and the person sitting next to you right now -- all of them subject to this bias that is pretty deep and real in our society. we all internalize it from a very early age without even having a language for what we're doing.
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before the speech, I would like to share a famous experiment with you. Two big mice were put into one vessel which was filled with water. They began to struggle when they were aware of danger. But finally their lives just lasted 8 minutes. After that, another two joined the same experiment but this time a springboard was given to help them get out of water. Five days later, the two experienced big mice were put into the same experiment. A miracle came into being. Can you guess it? Without the spring board, they survived 24 minutes, three times as many as the first time.
Have you found the difference between the two groups? Just one thing is that the latter has owned a kind of spiritual strength ---hope.
People can lose many things except hope. One animal with hope is more respectable than one person with hopelessness. Therefore, everyone should be to hope in the life. We should have our goals, dreams, and beliefs together with the endless hope. Hope is light; hope is dawn; hope is the rising sun. Hope endows us with courage, confidence and power. Please think about the Red Army men and the last group of people rescued during earthquakes. Why can they adhere to the end? Because they believed in hope. It is hope that nurtures persistence; it is hope that creates miracles one by one.
Now, please look at this. What's this? I know all of you can give me a correct answer. Yes, it is a leaf. Have you ever thought more about it? Do you believe it can save a life? I am afraid most of you do not believe it. However, it really saved one young lady. The story happened in one of O.Henry's works. One patient was told that her disease was becoming more and more serious. So she lost heart to live. And she just lived commonly and hopelessly to await death together with a withered tree outside her window. Because she thought when the last leaf fell, her life would go to the end. But after a very long time, she found the last leaf was still green and fresh in the tree and she was also alive. Afterwards, she was told that the last leaf was just painted by a skilled painter on the window which was a gloss. At that time, she exceedingly regreted her foregone view.
So ladies and gentlemen, please give a leaf to yourselves. With a piece of leaf at hand, you will find life glows with glory; With a gleam of hope in mind, you will find everything goes with smoothness. To hope, to smooth away all the difficulties, to take every obstacle in stride. You are a shinning star. Thank you very much!
I grew up with all kinds of dreams. Today I want to share two of them. They both have to do with playing musical instruments.
When I was four, Mom bought me an electric piano. The black instrument standing in the middle of the house scared me. Day after day, I had to practice with my piano teacher. I never liked her, and all I could remember about her was her impatient words, “Wrong,” “Wrong” and “Wrong” again. And Mom was always on her side, saying I was not smart enough or I did not practice hard enough.
I did this for a year, but I never developed any interest. I practiced everyday simply because I had to. Many times in my dreams, I saw the long faces of Mom and the teacher and heard their stern words. Really, the dream should be more appropriately called a nightmare. Then one day, I saw Mom talk with the piano teacher softly, and afterwards, that teacher never showed up again, and the piano disappeared, too. Mom was unhappy, but I was glad because now I could watch cartoon shows on TV after dinner, never again any piano.
In a few years’ time, the dream of another instrument started, and it started during an urheen or erhu concert given by a distinguished musician. The melodious tune carried me away, and I felt I was lying on the grassland, indulging myself with mild sunshine and sweet flowers. As the music stopped, I realized this had been a beautiful dream, and I would like to continue this dream. That musician later on became my urheen teacher. For two years, he made me practice one hour every day, and the objective was to have me play urheen with him on the same stage. Whenever I made a mistake, he would also be quite harsh and made me practice even more. The pressure was indeed unbearable, but at the same time, the dream that started during that concert continued. When I was practicing, the dream seemed to carry me away, and moreover, my parents seemed to be in the dream too. They sat and listened quietly, as if they were also lying on the grassland, enjoying the sunshine and flowers. Anyhow, pressure was mingled with passion, and they worked together in pushing me forward. Each step of progress came from hard work but also brought immense pleasure.
I admit that in the world of urheen, I was lucky in finding a balance between pressure and passion. In real life, however, there is often too much pressure, but too little passion, just like my piano nightmare. From primary school on, we have been forced to study day and night, to take tests every day, to copy vocabulary items five times and to recite every lesson in front of the teacher. All the dreams pupils have are the long faces of their teachers and parents, but not dreams with sunshine and flowers.
I hope all teachers will realize that learning cannot go on without passion. I still remember my first urheen performance with my teacher. I was under much stress and didn’t sleep much the night before because I knew if I screwed up, it would also affect his reputation. When I walked onto the stage, I was so nervous that I almost held the urheen upside down. When the lights went on, to my great surprise, I saw my parents, fellow students and other teachers sitting on the first few rows, with big smile on their faces. It was just like the time when I was practicing. Passion suddenly overwhelmed me, and I played so well that night that even my urheen teacher didn’t know why. Of course I knew it, and I know my dream of playing urheen will continue.
i’m studying in a city that’s famous for its walls. people who visit my city are amazed at the imposing sight of its walls, especially when silhouetted against the setting sun with gold, shining streaks. the old, cracked bricks are covered with lichens and the walls are weather-beaten guards standing still for centuries.
our ancestors liked to build walls. they built walls in beijing, xi’an, nanjing and many other cities, and they built the great wall, which snakes across half our country. they built walls to protect against enemies and evil spirits. this tradition has survived to this day: we still have many parks and schools walled off from the public.
for a long time, walls were one of the most natural things in the world to me.
my perceptions, however, changed after i made a hiking trip to the eastern suburbs of my city. my classmates and i were walking with some foreign students. as we walked out of the city, we found ourselves flanked by tall trees, which formed a wide canopy above our heads. suddenly one foreign student asked me, “where is the entrance to the eastern suburbs?”
“we’re already in the eastern suburbs,” i replied. he seemed taken aback, “i thought you chinese had walls for everything.” his remark set off a heated debate. at one point, he likened our walled cities to “jails”, while i insisted that the eastern suburbs were one of the many places in china that had no walls.
that debate had no winners, but i did learn a lot from this student. for instance, he told me that some major universities like oxford and cambridge were not surrounded by walls. i have to admit that we do have many walls in china, and as we develop our country, we must look carefully at them and decide whether they are physical or intangible. we will keep some walls but tear down those that impede our development.
let me give another example.
a year ago, when i was working on a term paper, i needed a book on business law and found a copy in the law school library. however, the librarian coldly rejected my request to borrow it, saying, “you can’t borrow this book, you’re not a student here.” in the end, i had to spend 200 yuan to buy a copy. meanwhile, the copy in the law school gathered dust on the shelf.
at the beginning of this semester, i heard that my university had started to think of unifying its libraries and linking them to libraries at other universities, so my experience wouldn’t be repeated. barriers would be replaced by bridges. an inter-library loan system would give us access to books from any library. with globalization and china integrated into the world, i believe many of these intangible walls will be knocked down.
i know that globalization is a controversial issue, and it is hard to say whether it is good or bad. but one thing is for sure: it draws our attention to china’s tangible and intangible walls and forces us to exa
mine their role in the modern world.
and how about the ancient walls of mine and other cities? should we tear them down? definitely not. my city, like beijing and other cities, is actually making a great effort to preserve the walls. these walls attract historians, archaeologists, and many schoolchildren who are trying to study our history and cultural heritage. walls have become bridges to our past and to the rest of the world. if the ancient builders of these walls were still alive today, they would be proud to see such great changes in the role of their walls. they are now bridges that link east and west, south and north, and all countries of the world. our cultural heritage will survive globalization.