Honorable judges, distinguished professors, dear schoolmates, good evening !
Our theme of public speech today is—— a word has changed the world.
At the very very beginning, I want you guys to do me a favor. Please just think for a while, What kind of stuff that has changed the world? May be phones? TikTok? Internet? environmental pollutions? Or something you have thought. Wonderful! What I am going to talk about today is something that totally changed the world.
Now here are some questions for you. Why are we all required to wear masks? Why was Wuhan locked down on January 23, 2020? Why was the 2020 College Entrance Examination (gao Kao) postponed? For what? I think all of you here have made it clear, the Coronavirus.
COVID-19 is somewhat unique in that it does not recognize any boundaries or barriers of continents, countries, religions, races or classes. It can hit anywhere and everyone with equal ferocity. And, up to now, there is no cure for it all around the world. As we all know, prevention is the best cure. Wearing masks is not just to protect our bodies from being infected, but to protect our country functioning well , protect the future of our nations, generation by generation.
However, some people still refuse to wear masks and still hold the opinion that the coronavirus is nothing but a common cold. Well, I’d like to say “God bless you. I hope your God will give you a push to the heaven when you have trouble breathing.” It’s a joke, however.
In retrospect, we definitely faced a dark time in 2020.
In that moment, some of us were stuck at home, some of us stuck far away from home; Some of us had lost their jobs, and some of us had to shut down shops; Some of us can’t go back to school, and some of us cannot even pay the rents and bills. Some of us had nothing to do but exercise, and some of us insisted on working day and night. No matter how exhausted they are and what dangers they were in.
Unfortunately, some people have become infected and they were isolated, far away from their family, their beloved ones. What’s worse, if the infected ones are their infants, children, or baby parents, they don’t even have a chance to say goodbye to each other. It seems that, all of a sudden, the whole country lost it’s vitality and prosperity.
You’re not alone. You’re not the only one who is worried, and you’re not the only one who is fighting. We are all now faced with the darkest time. It’s a war. It’s a war without guns, bombs, or smog. It’s a war with virus doubts ,fears, and discrimination.
Coronavirus are the enemies that not just the doctors, the nurses, the policemen could fight with, but we all shall and can do. We all can be the fighters. Yes we can. And we are sure we’ll defeat it. The year of 2021 has witnessed the 100th anniversary of the communist party of China . Within the history of more than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation have witnessed much darker moments, no matter they are natural disasters, discrimination, invasions, or the war, poverty and starvation. Yes. We all have survived, and we elevated our nation spirit, will and strength again and again .
Like climate change, COVID-19 has brought home the reality that globalization is the only way to move forward human beings to save ourselves in crises of the future. No one country, no one continent, no one institution alone can do this, as the "common enemy" calls for a joint effort to hand in hand. This is also what China has demonstrated before ——to build a community with a shared future.
China has been and always will be the most responsible one to match her words with deeds, hopefully and confidently. The ideology of the community with a shared future have exerted positive/ beneficial and significant influence both at home and abroad.
We are all fighters in all walks of life. We are all fighters not just for ourselves but for our shared future.
This is the mission of our generation, and this is mission that we are endowed with in the New Era. Definitely, the Coronavirus will be defeated. And by then, we will confidently tell our children and grand children that we have made another wonderful heroic story in history.
Now it’s time for us to take the relay baton, to carry out the great spirit, and to bear it in mind and keep it alive.
That’s all for my speech, thank you.
（备注：此为阿坝师范学院2022年第一届“A word has changed the world ”主题英语演讲大赛一等奖作品。）
指导：李菲菲
编辑：周俊萍
编审：孙正伟
