高中英語演講稿：我們是自然大家庭中普通一員

Honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen. Today，we are gathering here to discuss a very hot issue. how to find harmony in a new age between man and nature? Where modern science and technology are concerned I am only a layman I have to say. However, living in this "new age" , seeing my dear ones suffering from respiratory diseases from time to time, finding the beautiful colors of green and blue are being replaced by that of gray and pale, and realizing that our mother planet is getting more and more unhealthy; I can't help trying to offer my idea and my trivial efforts to look for the answer of the question.

As the ancient Greek oracle goes: know thyself. I think in answering this above-mentioned question, this precondition is also very important.

Who are we? This is a question, which should be answered not only by those specialists, but also by every one of human beings.

Some people may proudly say: we are the masters of nature. It is true that the idea of "man can conquer nature" has dominated people's mind for years, and it is true, man has kept acting like a master and doing whatever things he wants for thousands of years. However, as the consequence of this kind of "leadership" , now the "master" seems to be confronted with problems that are far beyond his control. Facts are really very ample. The

green house effect leaves islands and cities along the coast, such as this oriental pearl-Shanghai, in danger of the disaster of being drowned; the holes of the ozone layer make the earth less suitable to live for some creatures including human beings; the phenomena of EL Nino and La Nina leave the land with serious flood and drought, and the diseases, caused by pollution, are increasing at an incredible speed... Seeing all these facts, can we still ignore the counterattack of nature? We are not the masters of nature. Facing all the disasters made by ourselves, we, mankind as a whole should realize that we are just a normal member of the big family of nature. Any mistreatment towards nature will meet only with the revenge from her.

By saying so, I do not mean we should give a sudden stop to any development. Because that will result in a threat to the existence of human society. I mean we should treat nature equally, leaving the chance of existence and development to nature as we are obtaining the same thing, and thus we will get the situation of win-win.

I am very pleased to find that now more and more people, from every corner of the planet, have come to realize that harmony with nature is the only way to universal and continuous progress and prosperity. And I think that is why we come here from all over the country to discuss this topic today.

I want to end my speech by quoting from Mr. Nixon. "Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity." The future is not ours to see of course. However, by seizing firmly the opportunities, by knowing clearly about ourselves, we, human beings, can doubtlessly achieve the real harmony with nature!

Thank you.

譯文

我們只是自然大家庭中普通的一員

尊敬的評委，女士們、先生們。今天我們聚在一起討論一個熱門的話題:如何在新時代找到人與自然的和諧?談到科學(xué)技術(shù)，我必須承認，我是個門外漢。但是，生活在這個“新時代”，看著自己親愛的人時刻遭受呼吸疾病的折磨，看著美麗的藍色和綠色被灰色和蒼白所代替，意識到我們的地球母親正越來越不健康，我忍不住要提出自己的主張，奉獻微薄的力量，去尋找這一問題的答案。

古希臘有這樣一個神諭:了解自己。我想在回答上述的問題時，這一先決條件是很重要的。

我們是誰?這是一個間題，不僅應(yīng)由專家來回答，而且應(yīng)該由每一個人來回答。

也許有人會自豪地說:我們是自然的主人。許多年來，“人定勝天”這一觀念已在許多人心中根深蒂固，這是事實。長期以來，人類以主人的姿態(tài)隨心所欲、為所欲為，這也是事實。不過，這種“主導(dǎo)”的后果是，今天所謂的“主人”面臨著自己無法控制的問題。證據(jù)是充足的。溫室效應(yīng)使島嶼和沿海城市，比如上海這顆東方明珠等，處于被海水侵吞的災(zāi)難危機之中;臭氧層的空洞使得地球不再適宜于居住，對其他動物如此，對人類也一樣;厄爾尼諾現(xiàn)象和拉尼那現(xiàn)象使地球早澇成災(zāi);污染所導(dǎo)致的疾病正以驚人的速度傳播著……看到這些現(xiàn)象，我們還能無視這自然的反擊嗎?我們不是自然的主人。面對著自己造成的災(zāi)難，我們，整個人類，應(yīng)該意識到我們只是自然大家族中普通的一員。任何對自然的虐待只能遭到來自自然的報復(fù)。

我這樣說，并不是指我們應(yīng)該馬上停止發(fā)展。因為這會導(dǎo)致對人類社會生存的威脅。我指的是我們應(yīng)該平等地對待自然，給自然以生存和發(fā)展的機會，就像我們自身所尋求的一樣。只有這樣，我們才會有一個皆大歡喜的境況。

我很高興地發(fā)現(xiàn)來自地球各個地方的越來越多的人，正逐步意識到與自然的和諧是不斷繁榮進步的出路。這就是今天我們從全國吝地匯集在此討論這一話題的原因。

我想引用尼克松先生的話來結(jié)束我的發(fā)言:“我們的命運給予的不是失望之杯，是機遇之博。”當然，未來不是我們能夠預(yù)測的。不過，緊緊抓住機遇，清楚地了解自己，我們?nèi)祟?，就一定能達成與自然的和楷，謝謝。