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下のスクリプトは事前提出されたものですので、ビデオの音声とは一部異なる場合があります。 |
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Dividing and Competing: Do We Need It?
ZHU Qin (Kinki University Technical College)
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Before I begin my speech, I would like to thank the organisers for inviting me to speak here today. I feel very honoured as the winner of the international student section of Kinki region speech contest to be allowed to come to this fantastic event in this beautiful city.The topic of my speech is … dividing and competing: do we need it? …
When I was a child at school in China, my teachers always taught me to love my country first. But at the same time, I secretly asked myself: why did teachers blindly advocate patriotism? Shouldn’t we love all mankind as equals?
We often call for equality and peace but, at the same time, we can’t stop dividing and competing everywhere in our daily life.
So, do we need it?
Today, I will discuss dividing and competing and I hope we can get a good answer.
When you think of an example of dividing and competing, what do you think of? If someone asks me this question, I think of war. This is the biggest example of dividing and competing. But I also think that you… you… and you… like me, we all abhor it. It is the cruellest thing that mankind does. We can only get pain from war.
So do we need it?
Of course not! But why do wars still happen in some corners of the world? Because, it is human nature. Actually, not just mankind, but other creatures also fight. They fight for food, territory and … mating partners. But people fight for much more. We fight to advance. Sometimes, our ways of dividing and competing lead to improvements.
So this kind of fighting, do we need it?
If it is done fairly, then I will say yes. I’m going to discuss three positive examples.
Firstly, I would like to mention the most popular sport in the world … football. As we all know, football is an international sport. The eleven players in a club team often belong to a variety of nationalities. During the games, the players forget the divisions that may exist between their different countries. They work together to achieve the same thing: win the game. After the game, the “losers” do not lose much. Their pride is hurt and they miss out on getting a cup that they cannot even use for drinking from. But on the other hand, they can still win the respect of the spectators, they improve their fitness and they will have the chance to play and win again.
Secondly, I have enjoyed watching the competition between the different parties in Japan’s recent election campaign. It’s quite different from China, so this was my first time to experience this kind of politics. Each of the parties competed to show that they would be the best to lead the country. This type of competition should hopefully lead to fresh ideas and an improvement in the standard of living.
Thirdly, in today’s presentation contest, you were all competing. But, on the other hand, there will not be a loser. You all improved your English and you have all become better communicators, so you are all winners. As an international student, I wish I could have joined my Japanese colleagues in this competition. And I hope that one day, all technical college students, regardless of where they were born, will be allowed to compete in this presentation contest.
Dividing and competing should be considered on a wider scale. Maybe, I am childish or just a dreamer, but I hope the concept of countries will disappear one day. I want us to remove our divisions and unite as humans to improve the Earth. Unfortunately, we can’t agree on how to help the environment or whether we should even bother. I fear that the people of the world will only work together if a global enemy faces us … such as the aliens from the movie Mars Attacks. So dividing and competing: do we need it? I wish we didn’t, but I think we do.
