演讲丨2018全球英文演讲大赛 冠军 Ramona Smith

Ramona J. Smith: Still Standing

Life will sometimes feel like a fight.

The punches, jabs and hooks will come in the form of challenges, obstacles and failures.

Yet, if you stay in the ring and learn from those past fights, at the end of each round you’ll be still standing.

Mr Contest Chair, fellow fighters, can you think of a time when life tried to knock you down?

Who was your toughest opponent?

Most often our most challenging opponents is ourselves.

Round 1 – college.

I dropped out of college – not one, not two, not three, but four times.

I told myself: “College isn’t for me”, and I would never go back.

Round 2 - marriage.

I married my soulmate. The love of my life. My best friend. And he was fine too.

We were married for eight long,beautiful, amazing...months.

You heard right – months, not years.

It was like immediately after we said “I do”, the heavy weight champion came in and delivered an electrifying knockout blow to our vows – boom! Divorced.

Round 3 Speaking!

In 2015, I competed for the first time in the international speech contest.

I won at the club level!I won at the area level!I won at the division level! Baby, district level was on the way!

I was on a roll, I was on fire, I was unstoppable! I lost.

I was crushed. After going three rounds, and taking hit after hit, I was ready to throw in the towel.

I was down for the count: six, seven, eight… When was the last time life knocked you down?

Who was that lifeline that you reached out to, to help you stand back up? Was it your family? Your friends? Or did you hold on to your faith?

Maybe you’ve never been knocked down, but you've seen one of your family members take a devastating blow?

Were you the lifeline that they were reaching out to, to help them stand back up? Were you the coach in the corner saying: “Get up! Get up! Stand up!”?

As I gathered all the strength within myself to pick myself back up, instead of looking into a mirror of defeat, it became a window of possibilities.

I got back in the ring. I went back to college.

I got my degree and I graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Yeah!After failing four times, I was still standing. After my loss at the District level, I am speaking to you from the World Championship stage!

It’s a moment! Thank you. Thank you.

Even after suffering loss, I am still standing.

As for my marriage, I’m still... in training. I have not yet found Mr Right, but this is an international convention, and there are thousands of men from hundreds of different countries, so single Toastmasters, [whispers: Call me!]

Even after my divorce, I’m still standing.My challenge to you is to stay in the ring. Whether you’re a fighter, or a coach.

If you’re on the side of the ring coaching,or if you’re in that ring throwing those jabs, and those hooks.

When the final bell rings – ding-ding-ding, the fighters and the coaches will raise their hands in victory singing:

I’m still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah!

[singing] We’re still standing!

[the audience sings back:Yeah, yeah, yeah!]

Very nice!

Stay in that ring, and even after you take a few hits,use what you learned from those previous fights, and at the end of each round you’ll remain still standing.

Mr Contest Chair.

背景链接

Toastmasters International（TI/国际演讲会）是一个非盈利的教育组织，致力于提高会员的演讲技巧、沟通技巧以及领导力。它成立于1924年，总部位于美国加州。目前，该组织在全球范围内已遍布142个国家，拥有15500余个演讲俱乐部，俱乐部会员数量超过33万余人。

公众号简介：英文视听说是一个适合各级各类学习者教师人群的，由专业英语教师编辑推送的公益性专业性账号，每日推送适合大家学习教学使用的视听说资源，不定期推送遴选珍贵资源干货，欢迎大家关注分享。所有素材均来自网络，仅做英语学习观摩使用，不代表本平台任何观点立场，如侵权请留言删除。转载请注明英文视听说，关注了，就希望可以永远在一起，爱你们💗

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