中国选手熊子卿获得2018国际公共演讲比赛全球7强！

I went to George Mason University in Virginia last year for a summer program. On the way home, my friend and I took a little detour and visited New York. I got what I wanted outta that trip, I saw a lot of old places with rich traditions: the coffee carts, the hot dog stands, pastrami trucks. My friend, on the other hand, is a lot more sophisticated than I am. We saw time square, Empire State Building, and also, the Metropolitan Museum. 

I don’t know the first thing about art, but some of those sculptures and paintings, when you look into them, it’s like staring into your soul. I took a picture of one of the paintings and sent it to my dad. Instead of the mind-blowing feedback I was expecting, he replied and I quote: “What is this? This is foreigner stuff, I don’t like it. ” So later that night I did some digging, turns out the metropolitan museum held a Chinese art exhibition by international artists in 2015 called “China, through the looking glass”, of which I told him, hoping that he’d give this kinda stuff a go. He said: ”Come on, how can a bunch of foreigners understand the essence of Chinese art?”

After I got this topic, I’ve been wracking my brain to answer one question: So what? So what if great artists have no countries? The artists aren’t the problem here. We treat this statement as a rationale for artists to try to push through the boundaries, the differences. We use it to tell our kids that great artists are somehow above having a country. Yes, maybe the next time you see a Chinese artist, you won’t just think about him doing Kongfu. But what if something else comes along? What if people see me having a Asian face and they just assume that all I can do in public speeches are academic stuff like math or science?  What then? Are we gonna put out another slogan? “Great artists have no face!”

 No country? Fine. Do they have age? Gender? Ethnicity? People still judge each other based on nothing but presumptions, look down upon others because they are somehow different. My dad, and I believe many others will still reject fine artwork for some other unfair reasons. This is no more different that my failed attempt to try to get my dad to drop his prejudice against foreign artists. “So what if they held a Chinese art exhibition?” This idea of yours, the efforts you’re putting in, I’m not buying. You say artists transcend nationality, I say, fine! Artists can transcend whatever they want, I just don’t like them.

 It’s time for us to take a good look into the mirror. Because whatever the “real artists” doesn't have, they’re all words we say about those being judged by us. We are the ones who judge people without knowing them first. We are the ones who have created this problem. We are the ones who should open the lid and stand in the sun.

One thing is for sure: great artists always exercise their power in the interest of humanity. Instead of shackling them with our expectations, we should set them free, trust them in bring us together, let them show you the painting that can touch the inner you, the mirror in front of which we should stand, the sunshine we need in our lives. 

And then who knows, maybe after listening to a speech about Asian students, instead of assuming that all they can do is maths and science, we can sit down together and get to know each other before you put labels on them. Maybe after watching a comprehensive movie about China, instead of assuming that somehow all Chinese eat dogs, we can all enjoy a meal without harming any of those loyal friends of human being. Maybe after reading a fantastic novel, instead of focusing on the differences between us, we can come closer together with the common hope of living our lives the way we want. 

Country, gender, ethnicity, let’s give them all back to those “great artists” and try to be the changee you want to see, like what Sam Cook used to sing: A change is gonna come. Like in the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games. When Paul McCartney stood up from that piano and asked the audience to join him, in front of the TV, my friends and I sang along with the rest of the world at around 8am our time, the song we all know so well. Harmony, a concept exemplified in Mr. McCartney’s performance, rooted in traditional Chinese culture, can be shared with all of us.

My name is Zang Yingjie, I’m from the People’s Republic of China. I’m a college student studying physics who is also a little bit overweight. I like the traditional Chinese food and no I don’t eat puppies, and if you guys have any question, you are more than welcome to ask me. I’m not a great artist, but let’s all stand in the sun together.

It took me merely about10 hours to reach London from the other side of the Eurasian continent. But is traveling always easy?

Seven hundred years ago, it took the greatest traveler of the time, Marco Polo, 4 years to cover the exact same distance. Seventy years ago, 10 hours couldn’t even cover the distance between Shanghai and Beijing. Seventeen years ago, even when we are in the age of jet planes and speedboats. My mother’s generation didn’t fully enjoy the convenience brought by speed, because she had to fill in tons of application forms. And she had to change for an intermediate currency before she can get the British pounds. 

What’s wrong with it?  The word “art” is originated in the Latin language, which originally means “to put things together”. Traveling at that time was so difficult that it had to be put a lot of things together in order to be an art. 

The British writer Alain DeBotton’s book, “The Art of Travel” became a long-time bestseller, the Lonely Planet series alone occupies a whole wall inside a bookstore; and the traveling documents of my mom’s alone is that thick, which makes it heavy. 

When I was a child and I went abroad. Whenever my mom had that kind of traveling document into my hands, I always looking to her with admiration, as if she were the greatest artist in my mind. 

Between the borders there lay a virtual wall. But unlike the Lego wall of whoop, it does something good. Because for over the centuries, it had made Britain British. It has made China Chinese. It has maintained a character over particular country over culture. 

However, things have changed since the old days. Although the bricks and mortar of the strong law is providing protection. It seems that it can no longer withstand that power of culture interchange and globalization. 

However, as an individual from the land of changes, I’m very happy to see that there have been changes. The invention of the high speed railway, just as the Eurostar and TGV in Europe, China also has high speed railway system recently. 

The walls are withdrawing between the borders of cities. From Shanghai to Beijing, it used to be a day, now it is reduced to only four hours, covering 800 miles. Yesterday, I was still a Shanghainese, he was still a Cantonese, and she was still a Pekinese; However, today we stand here as Chinese speaking our own voices on this world stage. Probably a hundred years later, at the second centennial of the ESU, we would consider ourselves as individuals of a global village. And at that time the speech topic would be like “Great artist must have country” in order to seem controversial and debating. 

Although some walls are being erected in some fields, we cannot deny that the tide of globalization especially in the field of traveling as frequent traveler is making ourselves more of the world rather than a country. 

Then comes the point. If every individual has no country, so isn’t it the case for the great artists? Thank you very much. 

At the IPSC, the adjudication panels for both of the heats are made up of public speaking and debating coaches, university students who have competed in public speaking and debating competitions at school and university level, and IPSC alumni (i.e. those who have competed in the IPSC in previous years). 

半决赛的评委团由演讲和辩论导师、曾经参加过国际赛的大学生组成。

The adjudication panel for the grand final of the IPSC is made up of accomplished public speakers and communications experts, many of whom use their oratorical and persuasive skills as part of their professional lives (e.g. TV and radio presenters, lawyers etc.).

总决赛的评委团由公众演说家、沟通专家组成，包括职业需要交流技能的如电视台、电台主持人和律师等。

Appearance – Does the speaker have a confident and commanding presence on the platform or at the podium? A good public speaker will utilise body language, facial

expression, eye contact and gestures effectively to engage the audience and the adjudicators. 

演讲者应该自信、在演讲台上有掌控力。好的演讲者应该灵活有效运用肢体语言、面部表情、眼神交流以及手势和观众评委互动。

Audibility – Can the speaker be heard? A good public speaker will speak slowly, clearly and will utilise a range of verbal skills such as varying their pace, pitch and tone of voice to maintain the attention of the audience and the adjudicators. 

演讲的意义在于让观众听见、听清，明白演讲者的观点，所以演讲者应该语速适当、吐词清晰并掌握表达技巧如节奏缓急结合，变换语音语调等，从而让观众和评委始终保持注意力。

Argument – Has the speaker delivered a speech, which is persuasive, informative, inspiring and/or entertaining? A good speech will be well structured, the arguments will be presented in a coherent and logical manner, and the content of each argument will be supported by some form of evidence or analysis.

演讲内容应该有说服力、有信息量，能够鼓舞人或者有娱乐性。一个好的演讲应该有好的结构，论点清晰明确，论据能够给强有力地支撑论点。

Audience – Has the speaker effectively engaged with and built a rapport with the audience? A good public speaker will utilise a range of verbal, non-verbal and linguistic skills, as well as the structure and content of their speech, to maintain the attention and interest of the audience.

好的演讲者应该能够调动观众的参与，运用演讲技巧让观众保持对演讲的关注和兴趣。

Adaptability – Has the speaker demonstrated an ability to think on their feet? A good public speaker will not sound over-rehearsed, and will demonstrate adaptability by (for example) pausing their speech to allow for an unanticipated interruption (e.g. applause or laughter from the audience), making a spontaneous or unscripted comment or argument where appropriate and/or responding to questions confidently and without recourse to the text of the original speech. 

好的演讲者应该反应灵敏，有临场应变能力，如恰当应对演讲过程中观众的掌声或笑声。在回答问题时能够迅速恰当地答到点子上，不过分引用自己演讲中的原文。

think on one's feet意为“快速反应、抉择或回答”，想想都能用脚思考的人是不是聪颖过人？例：When you’re called on in class, you have to be able to think on your feet.