what happened to this valley in australia should also happen to our yellow river and, in fact, it is happening. i have seen farmers planting trees on mountains along the yellow river. i have seen them climb the mountain tops with seedlings on their shoulders because they had no machinery. i have seen them pour on trees the water they had carried up in buckets from miles down the valley. these farmers are quietly nourishing our yellow river, just as the river has nourished them.
and these farmers, men and women i don't know, gave me the confidence that we and our yellow river will grow together, and someday in the future, we will be able to drink the clean water from our yellow river again, because she is our dearest mother.
thank you.
我們和我們的黃河：一起興旺
女士們，先生們，下午好。黃河問題已成為中國人民政治協商會議的最大關注。事實上，我的童年與這條河有著密切的聯繫。我的父親是一個工程地質學家，他過去常帶我一起去河邊的水電站。我喜歡旅行，尤其是龍羊峽水庫之旅。雖然十年過去了，但我仍然能回憶起那一景，我還記得我在水庫看到的水。這是純淨，乾淨，藍，而不是像水，我看到在河中游，這已經變成了棕色和泥濘經過黃土高原。
在我們呆在電站的一次，我們被困在一場雷雨中。當雨停了，我看到涓涓細流由山坡流入水庫。它攜帶了小泥土或沙子，因為在那時，樹木和草地仍然生長在水庫周圍。他們保護了土壤。在龍羊峽我被大自然的美景迷住了，作為一個孩子我想呆在那裡，與我們的黃河長大。
李杜，唐代詩人，對黃河流水說。他看見它從天上降下來，並在她到海的路上，培育著人們。然而，在1997，足有330天，沒有一滴水從黃河到海。乾旱並不是自然的唯一懲罰。我父親的一位朋友，一位大學教授，正在研究黃河。根據這個教授，黃河將很快改變它的課程，如果我們允許這種情況繼續下去。因為沒有足夠的水來沖走河下游的泥沙和淤泥，河床上升，每年都會增加。
我們從自然中得到了太多的回報，但由於太少的回報。這是不平衡增長的代價。如果我們在黃河上游和中游的植被，我們仍然會體驗到李杜所描述的河流。
雖然已開發國家在自然資源的消耗上比世界上的自然資源要大得多，但他們也採取了一些保護自然的措施。作為一個開發中國家，中國可以在這方面向他們學習。
去年，當我和一組在英語技能考試中獲得過大獎的中國學生一起去澳大利亞時，我們的澳大利亞東道主邀請我們參加了一個騎馬的馬。在騎馬上了2個小時後，我們到達了一個山谷，那裡有一片最美麗的草地，在所有的顏色上點綴著一條巨大的綠色毯子。當我開始讚美大自然的美麗時，我的朋友們告訴我，在這個山谷里，曾經有一個大礦山，礦山的廢水變成了棕色的東西。當我的被遺棄，人們作出了巨大的努力，恢復綠色植被。他們還使用了最新的生物技術，選擇適合當地土壤的最佳草種子。美麗的草地是一個承諾，努力工作和新技術的結果。
澳大利亞的這條河在我們的黃河中也發生了什麼事，事實上，它正發生著呢。我看到黃河的農民在山上植樹。我看到他們爬上山頂，在他們的肩膀上，因為他們沒有機械。我看到他們倒在樹上，他們在幾英里外的山谷里進行的水上。這些農民們正在靜靜地滋養我們的黃河，正如河水已經滋養了他們。
我不知道，這些農民，我不知道，給了我信心，我們和我們的黃河將一起成長，並在將來的一天，我們將能夠喝乾淨的水，從我們的黃河，因為她是我們最親愛的母親。
謝謝。
英語決賽演講稿篇3
If There Were No After Life
Whether there’s afterlife, the answer has never been the same. The atheists deny after life, believing that our life is no more than from the cradle to the grave. They may care about their illustrious names after death; they may feel attached to the affection of their offspring, but they never lay their hopes on their afterlife. They may also say that good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil, but they don’t really believe any retribution in their after life.
However, in the religious world or among the superstitious people, the belief in afterlife is very popular. They do not only believe in afterlife, but thousands of reincarnations as well. In the mysterious world, there are the paradise and the hell, the celestial beings and the gods, the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas.
Maybe they really believed it, or maybe they just wanted to make use of people’s veneration, the ancient emperors always declared that they were the real dragons, the sons of God, while the royal ministers claimed to be the reincarnations of various constellations. But can the stars reincarnate?
Many people burn incense and kowtow, do good deeds and strive for virtues, not just for the present, but mainly to let God see their sincerity so as to be reborn into a better afterlife, or to achieve the highest enlightenment after several lives of practice. They do believe in afterlife. But I can’t help asking: Suppose there were no afterlife, would you still do good deeds and strive for virtues? And If God does not see what you are doing, would you still be so upright and selfless? If you work, not for serving the public and liberating the others, but just for a better afterlife of your own, isn’t it a little too selfish? Comparing with this kind of believers, those who don’t believe in afterlife, but still keep doing good deeds, are the most sincere and honest philanthropists, because they do them not for themselves but for other.
You may wonder if I believe in afterlife. My answer is: I know nothing about my previous life, so I dare not make improper comments on afterlife. But I do hope there’s afterlife! Because our present life is so short that so many things slip away before our proper understanding. I have so many dreams, so many wishes, so many ambitions, as well as so many regrets and concerns. If there were no afterlife, all of them will remain unrealized!
I’m not contented with the present commonplace life, I’m very much attached to the affections that should have been mine but have been washed away by the hurrying time, and I yearn for the perfection and maturity if I could start all over again. So believe it or not, I’d rather there were afterlife.
Translated by Zhang Baodan (Diana)
假如沒有來世
有沒有來世，眾說紛紜。無神論者，不相信來世。他們認為從生到死，僅此而已。他們可能在意身後的英名，他們可能留戀後代的親情，但他們不寄希望於來世。他們也會說善有善報，惡有惡報，但並不相信下輩子報應什麼。
在宗教領域、或在一些迷信的人群，來世之說比較盛行。不僅是來世，甚至會認為有千百次的輪迴。在那未知而飄渺的世界，有天堂，有地獄，有神族，有仙界，有菩薩、有佛祖。
也許真的相信、也許是為了利用人們的敬畏心裡，古代的帝王們總是宣稱自己是真龍天子，大臣們則標榜為天上的什麼文曲星、武曲星或太白金星轉世。星星能轉世嗎?
許多人燒香、磕頭，行善、修德，並不都是為了眼前，而是為了讓上天看見自己的真誠，以便下輩子有個好的托生，或者幾世之後能修成正果。這些人自然是相信來世的。但我不禁要問：如果沒有來世，你們會不會一樣行善、修德呢?如果神靈看不見，你們是否也會公正無私呢?如果不是為了解脫他人和服務大眾才去修行，如果僅僅是為了自己將來托生好才去行善，是否有些自私呢?比較起來，那些不相信來世而又堅持行善的人，則應該是最真、最誠的大善。因為他們不是為自身，而是為公理。
也許有人會問作者，你相信來世嗎?我的回答是：我不知道前生，因而也不敢妄談後世。但我真的希望能有來世!因為這輩子時間太短，許多事情都是在還沒弄明白的時候，就已經匆匆過去了。我有那么多的理想，我有那么多的心愿，我有那么多的奢望，我有那么多的遺憾，我有那么多的牽掛，我有那么多的雄心壯志，如果沒有來世，那就一切皆空了。
我不甘心眼前的碌碌無為，我留戀被歲月沖走的本應屬於我的親情，更嚮往從頭再來的完美和成熟。為此，信也好，不信也好，我寧願有來世。