Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The title of my speech today is "Crossing the Sea" . An English  poet by the name of Rudyard Kipling once wrote in this poem "We and They" :
All the people like us are We
and everyone else is They
We live over the sea
While They live over the way
We eat pork and beef with cow horn-handled knives
They who gobble their rice off a leaf
Are horrified out of their lives.
When these lines first caught my eyes, I was shocked--how could two people remain so isolated and ignorant of each other in the past? Today's society, of course, is an entirely different picture. Those people who used to eat with gobble their rice might be as well have taken to fish and chips. 
Indeed, just take China as example; Our modern life has been influenced by Western style of living  in so many ways that it's no longer surprising to see teenagers going crazy about rock-and-roll, whole families dining out at McDonald's and even rather elderly people dressed in Apple  Jeans.
However, these are only some expressions of the cultural changes taking place in our society today. What is really going on is a subtle but significant restructuring of the nation's mentality. Just look  around.
How many college graduates are ready to compete aggressively for every job opportunity, whereas  not long ago they were asked just to sit idle and wait for whatever was to be assigned to them by the  government?
How many young people are now eager to seek for an independent life whereas only two decades ago  they would rely totally on their parents to arrange for their future? Ask anyone who participates in  today's speech contest. Who has not come with a will to fight and who has not come determined to achieve self-fulfillment in winning the game? And I'm quite certain that if Confucius had lived to see today's China, he would have been horrified to see young lovers kissing each other in public places in an unreserved expression of their passion.
It is therefore evident that we as descendants of an ancient Eastern civilization are already  living under strong influence of the Western culture. But it is not only in China that we find the  incorporation of the two cultures.
Take the United States as an example: During the 1980s, in face of the overwhelming competition from  Japan, many American companies such as the Ford began to adopt a teamwork management from their rivals,  the essence of which, lay at the very core of Eastern culture.
Take the Chinese acupuncture as another example: This traditional treatment of diseases is finally  finding its way to the West and hence the underlying notion that illness is resulted from the imbalance between yin and yang within the body--an idea which would strike any Westerner as  incredible in the past!
Ladies and Gentlemen, we live in a great epoch when the global integration of economy and the  information revolution have brought cultures of the world closer than ever before. We live in a particular era when countries, East and West, find themselves in need of readjusting their traditional  values. We live, at the same time, at a critical juncture of our evolution because such problems as  ethnic conflicts and regional unrest are increasingly posing a threat to the peace and happiness of the  whole human race.To cope with such an era and to embrace an even brighter future, we need to learn to live more harmoniously in a world community which is becoming smaller and smaller. My dear fellow students, our command of the English language render sit possible for us to gain an  insight into Western culture while retaining our own cultural identity.
Therefore, it is our sacred responsibility to promote the cultural exchanges and hence the mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world.
It is my happiest dream that new generation of Chinese will not only grow up drinking Coca cola and  watching Hollywood, but also be blessed with the far-reaching benefits of multiple cultures; benefits  that our forefathers had never, ever dreamed of.
To end my speech, I would like to quote Rudyard Kipling again:
All the people like us are We
And everyone else is They
But once you cross over the sea
You will end by looking on We
As only a sort of They.
Thank you.
譯文:穿越海洋
女士們、先生們，晚上好。今天，我演講的題目是:《穿越海洋》。
英國詩人羅得雅德·吉卜林曾寫過一首詩，名叫《我們與他們》，其中寫道:
像我們的人是我們
其余的人是他們
我們生活在海這邊
他們生活在路那邊
我們用牛角柄的刀叉吃豬牛肉
吞吃粽葉包飯的他們
嚇得要死。
第一次讀到這首詩，我很震驚——過去兩個(gè)民族何以如此疏離、彼此陌生?當(dāng)然今日的社會(huì)呈現(xiàn)出完全不同的情景
:那些過去吃米飯的人們也開始喜歡吃魚和薯?xiàng)l。
的確如此，就拿中國來說，西方的生活方式已經(jīng)廣泛地影響了我們的現(xiàn)代生活，以致對(duì)于年輕人對(duì)搖滾樂著
迷，全家去吃麥當(dāng)勞，老年人穿蘋果牌牛仔褲，大家都已習(xí)以為常。
然而，這不過是我們當(dāng)今社會(huì)中所發(fā)生的文化變遷的表面現(xiàn)象而已，真正發(fā)生的卻是我們的民族心理開始了微妙
而又有重大意義的重建，大家只要看看周圍就會(huì)清楚。
不久以前，大學(xué)生還只是束手空坐，等待政府給他們分配工作;如今，又有多少大學(xué)生正在做充分準(zhǔn)備，為爭取任
何工作機(jī)會(huì)而激烈角逐?
20年前年輕人還完全依靠父母為他們安排未來，今天又有多少年輕人在急切地尋求一種獨(dú)立的生活?試問今天參加
演講比賽的諸位，誰不是帶著志在一搏的心情來到這里?誰不是鐵下心來贏得這場(chǎng)比賽以實(shí)現(xiàn)自我?如今年輕人毫無顧
忌地宣泄情感當(dāng)眾親吻，我確信，倘若孔子在世，他必被嚇壞。
很明顯，我們這些東方古老文明的后裔們?cè)缫焉钤谖鞣轿幕膹?qiáng)烈影響之下，然而出現(xiàn)這種異質(zhì)文化合流的
現(xiàn)象不止是在中國。
以美國為例，20世紀(jì)80年代，面對(duì)來自日本的強(qiáng)大競爭壓力，許多美國公司如福特公司開始采用對(duì)手的集體合作
管理方式，而這種方式正是東方文化核心之精華。
再以中華針灸為例，這種傳統(tǒng)的醫(yī)療方法以及這種療法的依據(jù)——即人體陰陽失調(diào)導(dǎo)致疾病最終得到西方社會(huì)的
承認(rèn)，而在過去，西方人還認(rèn)為這是無稽之談。
女士們，先生們，我們恰逢一個(gè)偉大的時(shí)代:全球經(jīng)濟(jì)一體化、信息革命使得世界各種文化聯(lián)系比以往更加緊密;
我們恰逢一個(gè)特殊的年代:無論是東方國家還是西方國家都意識(shí)到自身急需調(diào)整傳統(tǒng)價(jià)值。與此同時(shí)，我們正生活在發(fā)
展的關(guān)鍵時(shí)刻:種族沖突，地區(qū)動(dòng)蕩正越來越威脅著整個(gè)人類的和平與幸福。如何對(duì)待這一時(shí)代，擁抱更加燦爛的未來
，我們需要學(xué)會(huì)在越來越小的世界大家庭中更加和睦地生活。
親愛的同學(xué)們，我們掌握英語，得以了解西方文化，與此同時(shí)，又不失本民族的文化特征。
因此，促進(jìn)中國與世界的文化交流與相互理解是我們神圣的責(zé)任。
我有一個(gè)美好的夢(mèng)想，我夢(mèng)想中國的年輕一代不僅僅在喝可口可樂、看好萊塢影片中成長，而且還受益于我們的
父輩所從未夢(mèng)想過的多元文化所帶來的深遠(yuǎn)影響。
最后，再次以羅得雅德·吉卜林的詩作為我此次演講的結(jié)尾:
像我們的人是我們
其余的人是他們
然而一旦你們穿洋越海
就不會(huì)再把我們
看做僅僅是他們。
謝謝。