演讲 | 夏鹏 - 2005年全国英语演讲总决赛冠军（附视频&演讲稿）

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夏鹏，代表中国参加世界英语最高赛事2005年国际英语演讲比赛，获得中国历史上第二个英语演讲世界冠军。同年赴英，受菲利浦亲王接见及颁奖。第十届“21世纪.外教社杯”全国大学生英语演讲比赛冠军、“最具潜力奖”。

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Thank you, ladies and gentlemen:

女士们、先生们：谢谢大家！

My topic today is “Walls and Bridges”.I’m studying in a city famous for its city walls. All visitors to my city are amazed by the imposing sight of the city walls, silhouetted by the setting sun with gold and shining lines. With old, cracked bricks patched with lichen, the walls are weather-beaten guards, standing still for centuries in protecting the city.

今天我演讲的题目是“城墙与桥梁”。我在一个以城墙闻名的城市上学。所有到这个城市观光的游客都会为落日余晖中轮廓金光闪闪的城墙那宏伟的景象而惊叹。古老的砖石裂纹遍布，青苔丛生，城墙像饱经风霜的卫士般守护着这座城市，静静的驻立了几个世纪。

Our ancestors liked to build walls. They built walls in Beijing, Xi’an, Nanjing and many other cities, and they built the Great Wall, which snakes through half of our country. They built walls to ward offenemies and evil spirits. This tradition has been maintained to this day as we still have many schools and parks walled off from the public.

我们的祖先喜欢修筑城墙。他们在北京、西安、南京和许多其它城市都修造了城墙。他们修建了万里长城，那蜿蜒的城墙延绵了大半个中国。祖先修筑城墙是为了抵御外敌和恶灵的侵犯。这个传统一直延续到今天——我们现在还有许多学校和公园修建高高的围墙不让公众进入。

I grew up at the foot of the city walls, and I have loving them since my childhood. For a long time, walls were one of the most natural things in the world.

我成长在城墙脚下，自小就热爱这些砖砖瓦瓦。有好长一段时间，围墙仿佛是世界上最普通最平常的东西之一。

My perception, however, changed after a hiking trip to the Eastern Suburbs, a scenic area of my city. My classmates and I were walking with some international students. As we walked out of the city, we found ourselves flanked by taller and taller trees, which formed a huge canopy above our heads. Suddenly an international student asked me,“where is the entrance to the Eastern Suburbs?”

不过，我这个观念在去东郊的一次远足后改变了。东郊是我们那座城市的一个风景区。我和同学和几个外国学生一起步行前往。出城后，绿荫蔽日，两排高高的树木把我们夹在中间，在我们的头顶形成了一个巨大的天篷。突然，一个外国学生问我：“东郊的入口在哪里啊？”

“We are already in the Eastern Suburbs,” so I replied.He seemed taken aback, “I thought you Chinese have walls for everything.” His remark set off a heated debate. At one point, he likened our walled cities to “jails”, while I insisted that the Eastern Suburbs was one of the many places in China that had no walls.

“我们已经在东郊了啊。”我应着。他看样子有点吃惊：“我以为中国哪里都有围墙呢。”他的这番话引发了一场激烈的讨论。他一度把我们有围墙的城市比作监狱，而我坚持说中国没有围墙的地方还有很多，东郊只是其中一个。

That debate had no winners, but I did learn a lot from this international student. For instance, he told me universities like Oxford and Cambridge were not surrounded by walls; the campuses were just a part of the cities.

辩论自然没有结果，但我确实从这位外国学生身上学到了很多。比如，他告诉我，像牛津和剑桥之类的大学并不是在围墙内的；开放式的校园不过是城市的一部分。

I have to admit that we do have many walls in China, and as we are developing our country, we must carefully examine them, whether they are physical or intangible. We will tear down some walls, and we will keep some of them.

我不得不承认，在中国我们确实有很多围墙。当进行国家建设和发展时，我们必须认真审视这些墙的存在，不管他们是有形的还是无形的。我们要推倒一些围墙，同时要保留另外一些。

Let me give you an example.

让我举个例子吧。

A year ago, when I was working on a term paper, I need a book on business law and found a copy in the law school library. However, the librarian turned down my request with a cold shoulder, saying, “You can’t borrow this book. You are not a student here.” In the end, I had to spend 200 Yuan buying a copy; meanwhile, the copy in law school was gathering dust on the shelf.

一年前，我在忙着学期论文，当时我需要一本关于商法的书，碰巧在法学院图书馆发现了一本。但是，图书管理员冷冷地拒绝了我的借书请求。他说：“你不能借这本书。因为你不是这儿的学生。”最后，我花了两百元钱买了一本。而法学院的那本，却尘封在书架上。

At the beginning of this semester, I heard that my university has started not only to unify all its libraries but also to link them up with libraries of other universities, so my experience will not be repeated. Barriers will be replaced by bridges. Through an inter-library loan system, we will have access to books from any library. With globalization, with China integrated into the world, I believe many of these intangible walls will be knocked down.

这学期刚开学，我得知我的大学要把所有院系的图书馆同意起来，并且要跟其它高校的图书馆互通有无。因此，我那次借书的经历不会重演了。最终，障碍会被桥梁代替。通过内部图书馆借阅系统，我们可以从任何图书馆中借阅图书。随着全球化的发展，随着中国和世界的紧密联系结合，我相信，许多像这样的无形的墙终将被推倒。

I know globalization is a controversial issue, and it’s hard for us to say whether it is good or bad. But one thing is for sure: it draws our attention to China’s physical and intangible walls and forces us to examine their roles in the modern world.

我清楚知道全球化是一个争议性的话题。它是好是坏我们也很难说清。但是有一点是肯定的：它让我们注意到了中国存在着有形的和无形的墙，并迫使我们审视这些墙在今天社会中所扮演的角色。

Then what about the walls in my city and other cities? Should we tear them down? Just the opposite. My city, like Beijing and other cities, is actually making a great effort to preserve the wall. These walls now attract not only historians and archeologists, but also schoolchildren trying to study our history and cultural heritage.

那么，我们应该如何处理我的城市和其他城市中的城墙呢？我们应该也把它们推倒吗？恰恰相反。我的城市，和北京以及其它城市一样，正在花大力气对这些城墙进行保护。这些城墙不仅对历史学家和考古学家有吸引力，也能让学校的孩子们学习到我们的历史和文化遗产。

The walls have turned into bridges to our past and to the rest of the world. If the ancient builders of these walls were still alive today, they would be proud to see such a great change in the roles of their walls. They are now cultural bridges that link East and West, South and North, and all the countries of the world. Our cultural heritage will survive globalization.

这些城墙已经变成了一座座桥梁，通向我们的过去，并连结到世界上的其他地区和人民。如果这些古老城墙的建造者能够活到今天，他们一定会为见到城墙所起的作用发生如此巨大的改变而感到自豪。现在，这些城墙已经变成了联结东西，维系南北，和世界各国沟通的文化桥梁。我们的文化遗产定会在全球化进程中继续存在。

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

女士们、先生们，非常感谢大家。

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