【 – 小学作文】
english speech(一)
Good afternoon, everyone. I am very happy to meet you here. It is my great honor to communicate with you at such a special occasion. First of all, please allow me to express my appreciation to you all for listening to me.
Now，attention please. I am going to tell you some stories. And I wonder if anyone here has heard the stories before.
The first one is about George Bernard Shaw. Do you know him? He is an Irish-born writer, considered the most significant British dramatist since Shakespeare. In addition to being a prolific playwright, he was also the most trenchant pamphleteer since the Irish-born satirist Jonathan Swift and the most readable music critic and best theater critic of his generation. He was also one of the great letter writers.
Once a beautiful and dissolute British actress wrote to propose marriage to Bernard Shaw． She said she did not mind his old age and ugliness because he was a genius． And if they could combine the beauty of the woman with the talents of the great man，that would be greatly harmonious． “With your wisdom and my appearance，our children must be perfect．” Bernard Shaw answered，in a letter，that her imagination was splendid，“But，what if the children take my appearance and your wisdom？” Another story happened during one dinner party，a capitalist eyed bony Bernard Shaw up and down regretfully， and said in all seriousness，“Look at your appearance，it really makes people believe that all the British are starving．” Bernard Shaw，examining the potbellied capitalist，said，“But，I know as soon as I saw you the reason why Britain is suffering from famine．”
The third story is about Anton Chekhov who was the master of Russian literature at the turn of the 20th century. One day he met a young writer．The moment he saw Chekhov，the writer said，in great distress，that when he began writing，he could not write well no matter how hard he tried．His style of writing often went against the expression of his ideas，and he was in deep agony for his clumsiness and his situation．On hearing it，Chekhov，instead of giving slightest comfort，said surprisingly，What are you talking about？It is good to write poorly at the beginning．” The young writer was astounded after hearing that，and was at a loss what to do．Chekhov continued，“Of course it's good．You see，if a new writer could write fluently overnight， then he was over，and he would have no great future in writing．”
My stories are finished. Have you heard clearly? I hope your answers are yes. And I am happy to tell that I have successfully attracted some of your attention. That is to say, my efforts were not in vain. Do not know if you will agree or not, but I think to complete a great speech is a very difficult thing. And I think telling stories is a good way. Don’t you agree? About speaking another effective but difficult way is how to poke fun at the speaker himself. What’s more this could be better with some rhetoric. As far as I'm concerned, this is a very profound knowledge.
For example, as a speaker, I’ve only had two complaints from audiences. One, that I talk so loud they can’t fall asleep. And the other, that I talk so long they can’t stay awake.
I used to get nervous when giving a speech but then I read that it helps to think of the entire audience as being naked. And so, at this very moment, I’m standing up
here imagining every one in this audience as being naked. And it really works. I no suffer from nervousness. Eye strain. Yes.
Personally, I have never been conceited — and I can’t tell you how much I admire myself for that.
If you’ve already heard this story, please don’t stop me because it’s the only one I know.
Making a speech is like watering a lawn. You’re satisfied if just a quarter of it sinks in.
Some people suffer from stage fright. I don’t. The stage doesn’t bother me at all. It’s the audience that scares the hell out of me!
However nothing is difficult in the world if you put your heart into it. Therefore, only you pay, will have corresponding returns. So is preparing speech. Finally I hope everyone can enjoy the speech. Thank you.
english speech(二)
Today my caption is that we can never be influenced by the Herd mentality,because we can really don’t know what’s our real aspiration when we be influenced by it.
maybe many people will scoff me ,because they think that can we even don’t know what’our real dream ?can we?when it comes to this topic.Indeed ,it seemed that nearly all of us know ourself ,but it actually that Nobody real know,at least most of us don’t know.
For instance,when asked what the life would i like ,i prefer to say the better life ,but,as a matter of fact that i am not ,even don’t know myself .At last term in this institution i felt i would like the fashionable life and i had translated my life into that way ,but ,in no circumstance i can know i dislike it totally ,and it even can be a terrible life style for me until my friends and my family and my relatives feel so strange when they saw my brown hair and fashionable life style .
So i begin to research the reason why i ever
changed my origin life style?Fortunately i find out finally that it is the Herd mentality ,which caused the change of my life style .
In fact some times we may think the reputation ,the money ,the house ,the popularity are what we really want to own,however,most of time which i mentioned can never be the real aspiration of our heart,and then what the real aspiration inside of us ?i don’t know nether ,maybe it can be the progress ,the approaches when you faced with a bad situation or look after the person who you wanna or others.But what can sure is that sometimes we can become confused about what’our real dream for .
So ,the last but not the least i prefer to say that we should never be influenced by the Herd mentality,because it can never be your real aspiration of your soul ,though it seemed so attractive and spectacular.
english speech(三)
英语公共演讲课 之一
English Public Speaking（1）
Lecture 1
What is Public Speaking?
In this lecture, there is a brief history of public speaking–of both ancient Greek and Chinese orators–and summarize their methods of persuasion and debate. And then a detailed assessment of the course objectives, content, materials and methodology.
1.1 A Historical Review
Public speaking has always had a great importance in Western culture. The ancient Greeks called speechmaking ability rhetoric, meaning the art of persuasion. With inquiring minds seeking after truth, the ancient Greeks formed a habit of raising questions which were likely to be followed by a debate. The winner of the debate was considered to be possession of the truth. Socrates was such an example. Unlike people who piously believed in Gods, Socrates, considered it to impose religious ideas on others. He argued that man should have the freedom to make decisions about his own destiny. In order to convince his neighbors of his own thinking. Socrates used to stop people in the street, raising doubts about their current beliefs by asking them questions. If the person being asked could not answer him directly, or if the answers were not correct, Socrates would debate him until he accepted Socrates' opinion. Unfortunately, this method of seeking truth made Socrates infamous. He was eventually poisoned to death because people no longer want to listen to his argument. He was guilted for "being corrupted the youth".
Apart from its political function, oratory–the art of speech–was also useful in law. When a tyrant was overthrown, ordinary people needed to regain their property. One's persuasive powers of oration increased the likelihood of winning one's case. Thus, elocution (演讲) was regard as one of the essential skills for success in public life.
Aristotle identified three criteria for a successful argument: ethos(人格）, pathos(感情), and logos(逻各斯，逻辑）. "Ethos" refers to the uprightness of the speaker or the authenticity of his argument, because only an ethical and honest man could present a truthful argument. "Pathos" stands for the appeal to emotional power. The speaker needs to have deep passion for his argument. The word "logos" relates to logic and the language the speaker uses to persuade. Only when the speaker builds his argument on solid ground can he successfully win his case. Based on these three criteria, Aristotle later invented a reasoning formula known as the "syllogism(三段论，演绎推理）.
The importance of rhetoric was later evidenced during the Middle Ages, when it was included as one of the liberal arts (大学文科，美语） that should be learned at school. Together with rhetoric were logic and grammar, which were called the trivium(中世纪大学三科）. With the development of society, the term "rhetoric" was gradually replaced by the term "public speaking". Its meaning has been changed accordingly. The previous emphasis on ornamentation of style and floweriness of words disappeared. It was replaced by practicality in real life communication. Public speaking has become one of the essential skills in communication in the West, especially in the English speaking world.
Similar to oratory in Western tradition, eloquence in ancient China was also deemed important, especially in political life. The sad truth is that this tradition was not maintained and passed down from generation to generation because of the cultural reasons. But we have had many brilliant speakers who should not be ignored. In Chinese history, the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods were two of the most politically chaotic. After the Zhou Dynasty was overthrown, the country was segmented into many smaller states. People stared to fight against one another, and society became a battlefield where the powerful oppressed the powerless. There seemed to be no justice or righteousness, because statesmen needed to illustrate their ideas in order to conquer other states.
Among the numerous orators emerged a famous philosopher Mo Di(墨翟,468–376 B.C.), who advocated universal love and invented a theory of debate. One of the functions for the word Bian(辩）, or debate, is to persuade
or give advice. The frequently adopted methods of argument are inductive reasoning and the use of analogy. If he wants to convince the king of his measures to develop the country, Mo Zi, would first give positive examples, such as successful reigns of great ancient kings like Yao or Shun. Then he would use negative examples like how the tyrants Zhou and You(周幽王）lost their countries. Finally, Mo Zi would give his own opinion as to how successful kings should govern.
Other examples of the period concern the stories of Lianheng and Hezong. In order to persuade the six smaller states, i.e. Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei to untie and fight against the stronger state Qin, Su Qin made great efforts to lobby between the kings of the smaller states and successfully won over their support. Though solidarity failed to defeat Qin, the great orator's name was passed down through history. On the other and, orator Zhang Yi did something quite the opposite to what Su Qin had done. Trying to persuade the smaller states to submit to Qin, Zhang Yi tried to alienate the smaller states from each other. In the end, Zhang was the winner because Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of Qin, successfully untied China.
In history, there were many other eloquent speakers such as Zhuge Liang in the period of the Three Kingdoms. He wrote the Chu Shi Biao and convinced the king Liu Shan to send armies to invade the state of Wei, governed by Cao Pi. Ji Xiao Lan was the most witty and versatile speaker of the Qing dynasty. After the May Fourth movement, there are famous orators like Li Da Zhao, Lu Xun, Wen Yi Duo, and Mo Ze Dong. The sad truth is that the tradition founded by Mo Zi was not given enough attention, and the art of public speaking was not considered an subject and ability that needed to be cultivated.
Now, fortunately again in the 20th century, with the enthusiasm of study English, public speaking has once more become an important subject, Mo Zi's tradition comes back.
1.2 Public Speaking as an Art
Having traced the history of rhetoric, let's turn our attention to the modern concept of public speaking. Meeting the name we might think of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, because our Chinese name of it is "演讲", which seems to indicate that a speech made in public has to take place in a grand place and grand time. The speakers are all great persons, to be experienced and eloquent, and the audience must be numerous. But that is not the sense we will going to discuss about. Our
public speaking is in a broader sense. It mainly concerns speechmaking in an academic environment, such as a seminar, a book report, oral presentation, or term paper presentation.
As college students, we have many chances to speak in public. For instance, when we return from a trip where we worked as a volunteer tutor, and we want to report our experience, our presentation belongs to the genre–public speaking. Similarly, when we finish a book we need to report to a group of classmates or our teacher, and let them share our feelings and thoughts–also called an academic or public speech. And if we want to run for an office in the student Union, we want to give a public speech to convince others that we are the right persons for the position. All these types of speech are types of public speaking.
But, why we called it an art? The word "art" here refers to something that needs concerted efforts of many components such as articulation, content and organization, delivery, etc. For instance, we have written an interesting draft with beautiful languages and a touching story. Yet when delivering the speech, we felt a little nervous and forgot one of the important points prepared beforehand. To make