2018年11月8號(hào)，上海楓葉國(guó)際學(xué)校舉辦了21世紀(jì)英語(yǔ)演講比賽，從參加初賽的225個(gè)參賽選手，到復(fù)賽的52個(gè)選手，最后到?jīng)Q賽的12位選手，我從這些比賽中脫穎而出，最后進(jìn)入了總決賽，我內(nèi)心充滿了自豪感。

這是我進(jìn)入上海楓葉以來(lái)，我參加的第一個(gè)大型的比賽，所以我特別重視。從初賽到復(fù)賽到總決賽，一路走來(lái)看似一帆風(fēng)順，但這其中飽含了我的付出。接到復(fù)試通過(guò)的通知后，我高興得一蹦三尺高，內(nèi)心里大聲的呼喊：“我成功了，我成功了！”。但是過(guò)了一段時(shí)間，我的心情逐漸從開(kāi)心轉(zhuǎn)為緊張，一直想著要是我在演講中忘詞了該怎么辦，要是我聽(tīng)不懂評(píng)委提的問(wèn)題或者不知道如何回答評(píng)委的問(wèn)題該怎么辦才好……。我想與其擔(dān)心這些事情，不如事先多做一些準(zhǔn)備。我開(kāi)始認(rèn)真地構(gòu)思稿子的框架，我想一篇好的演講稿無(wú)非就是要說(shuō)明白一些事情，就是要讓聽(tīng)者有所收獲。我足足花費(fèi)了一個(gè)半小時(shí)才完成我的稿子，在這過(guò)程中我遇到了許多問(wèn)題，有些單詞我不會(huì)拼寫(xiě)，有些句子我不知道如何用英文表達(dá)，我找老師和同學(xué)一一請(qǐng)教。當(dāng)我把最終完成的稿子給老師看時(shí)，老師看完了后給予了一次性通過(guò)，我受到了很大的鼓舞，信心大增。同時(shí)我覺(jué)得完成一篇稿子只是一個(gè)好的開(kāi)始，我又開(kāi)始思考在演講的時(shí)候語(yǔ)氣和神態(tài)要如何配合文字，并且仔細(xì)核對(duì)我的發(fā)音和熟背稿子，確保演講的過(guò)程中不出問(wèn)題。

正式比賽了，初高中的校領(lǐng)導(dǎo)都坐在前面作為評(píng)審團(tuán)，整個(gè)會(huì)場(chǎng)座無(wú)虛席，選手們一個(gè)個(gè)上臺(tái)，因?yàn)槲沂堑诙?hào)選手，所以我的心也跳動(dòng)得很厲害，我一直在給自己打氣，在心里不停地默背著稿子。終于輪到我了，我接過(guò)話筒，從容自信的走向講臺(tái)。當(dāng)我站在講臺(tái)上時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)也沒(méi)有我想象的那么困難，于是我開(kāi)始了演講，流暢而且有激情，配合著一些肢體語(yǔ)言。當(dāng)演講結(jié)束時(shí)，臺(tái)下響起了雷鳴般的掌聲?；氐脚_(tái)下，如釋重負(fù)。我開(kāi)始認(rèn)真聆聽(tīng)其他學(xué)哥學(xué)姐們的演講，我發(fā)現(xiàn)學(xué)哥學(xué)姐們的實(shí)力是非常強(qiáng)的，一點(diǎn)也不比我差。有的演講非常精彩，令人佩服，我情不自禁地為他們鼓掌。

到了頒獎(jiǎng)環(huán)節(jié)，激動(dòng)人心的時(shí)刻來(lái)了，我再次緊張起來(lái)，我想我應(yīng)該是可以拿到二等獎(jiǎng)的，當(dāng)聽(tīng)到自己得了三等獎(jiǎng)后，心里暗想，自己的表現(xiàn)還不錯(cuò)，怎么會(huì)只有三等獎(jiǎng)呢？這的確有些出乎我的意料，不免有些小小的失望。然而我還是要感謝這一次的經(jīng)歷，讓我看到了一些十分優(yōu)秀的學(xué)哥學(xué)姐們，在英語(yǔ)演講方面，我又多了一些榜樣。這次演講比賽讓我收獲了一次很好的鍛煉機(jī)會(huì)，也讓我看到了自己的不足。

就像這次演講比賽的主題一樣，“沒(méi)有付出就沒(méi)有收獲”，這次比賽讓我收獲了比獎(jiǎng)狀更多的財(cái)富！

No Pains No Gains

On Nov 8th2018 Shanghai Maple Leaf International School held the 21stCentury English speech contest. From 225 candidates who had attended the preliminary contest to 52 candidates who had entered the intermediary contest, at the end I won the qualification to attend the final contest, my heart was filled with pride as only 12 candidates had got the chance.

This is the first major competition I have participated in since I moved from Pinghu Maple Leaf to Shanghai Maple Leaf, so I pay special attention to it. Itlooked everything had gone very well from preliminary contest to the final contest, actually the whole process was full of my hard work. When I received the notification that I had passed the semifinal contest, I was so happy and yelled in my heart:” I made it, I made it!”. However, I just felt happy for a short time then I got nervous, I kept thinking what I would do if I forget the speech draft, what if I don’t understand questions raised by the judge, or what if I don’t know how to answer judge’s question……I thought It would be better to make more preparation in advance than worrying about these things. I started to think about the structure of the speech draft. I thought a good speech was to explain something clearly and let the audience understand something. It had taken threehours for me to finish the speed draft, I had encountered many problems, I didn’t know the English for some words, and didn’t know how to express for some sentences, I asked for help from teacher and classmates. When I submitted the final version to my teacher, she approved it after she read it, I was encouraged very much and got a lot of confidence. I thought a speed draft was just a good start, then I began to think about the tones and gestures that I should use to match the speech, I carefully checked my pronunciation for English words and recited the draft many times, all was just to ensure there would not be any problem for the speech.

The final contest began, judges from both high school and senior high school sat front, the whole hall was full, candidates went on to stage one by one. My heart beat fast because I was the second candidate, I encouraged myself all the time, and kept reciting the draft. Finally it was my turn, I took the microphone and walked to the stage in a calm and confident way. When I stood on the stage, I found it was not as difficult as I thought, I started to make a speech, it was fluent and full of passion, also accompanied with some body language. When my speech was over, thunderous applause broke out from the audiences. I walked down the stage, felt very relaxed. I began to listen to speech made from other candidates, I found they did very well, some speech was wonderful, I could not help clapping for them.

It was time to award prize, such an exciting moment! I felt nervous again. I thought I could get the second prize, so I was a bit disappointed when I heard that I had only got the third prize, I thought I did very well, how come I only got the third prize? It was out of my expectation. However, I was grateful to this experience, it let me see some very excellent candidates, they would become my examples. The speech contest gave me a very good opportunity to exercise myself, also let me see my shortage.

Just like the theme of the English speech contest, “no pains no gains”, the contest has let me acquire more fortune than prize!

----Tony Long