2013年“外研社杯”英語演讲比赛优秀稿.docVIP

Unity and Diversity, the Two Pillars of the New Era 四川大学 解峥 Honorable judges, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon! Unity and diversity are often seen as mutually exclusive. Unity expresses the value of homogeneity while diversity celebrates uniqueness. As a matter of fact, in the modern age, the core values of humanity are commonly shared by most people, while the ways of expressing those values vary from one place to another. In the Model United Nations Conference held a few months ago, we participants from Asia and the Pacific shared the joyful celebration of national diversity in our own diverse manners. We Chinese presented our tea ceremony representing our traditional culture; Indian dancing exerted its sensual charm; Russian singing infused our souls as if it came from heaven… Guided by our core values, connected by revolutionary science and technology, motivated by faith for a better world, the global village is embarked upon a long and winding journey towards the wonders of the new era. It no longer only seeks a balance between great powers; it seeks to nurture harmony within the international community and between human and nature. This explains why thousands upon thousands of blankets and tents were sent to Pakistan for the reconstruction after the earthquake in 2005; this also explains why US dollars, Euros, RMB… money from all over the world was donated to help the numerous victims of the Tsunami in Southern Asia. As famous scholar Michael Novak put it, unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the noblest possibilities of the human race. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now living in a world filled with a wondrous diversity of experience, opinion, and physical appearance. One of the challenges of this age is not only to live in harmony with people different from us, but to celebrate human diversity and learn from it. We are also living in a world led by a unified vision of human fulfillme