姓名：边寰

比赛成绩：第六届全国总决赛初中组优胜奖

出生年月：1990年11月20日

血型：AB型

星座：天蝎座

学校：西安交通大学附属中学

电子信箱：overmindalanbian@tom.com

我的个性宣言：不要怕过于沉默，只要努力就会被人所知。

我眼中的英语：一种国际交流语言

我是什么时候开始学英语的：小学二年级

我最喜欢的一句话：No fate but what we made.

我最喜欢的英语读物：《英语文摘》，Harry Potter

我最喜欢的一本书：《福尔摩斯探案全集》

 

 

 

说起学英语，我小时候就接触过它，因为父亲是医生，很重视我的英语学习，经常买些少儿英语学习磁带来为我制造语言环境，但那时的我觉得这是一种听不懂的语言，所以没有足够的兴趣，学起来并不认真。刚上小学时，父亲在上海攻读博士，只有母亲照顾我，为了抓好主课学习，我没有重视英语学习。二年级时，爸爸博士毕业回来后要求我一定要学好英语，这时我才正式开始学英语。起初，我只是学剑桥等级英语，非常简单，没有什么特别的。上三年级时，我父亲去美国读博士后，母亲也要求我好好学英语。虽然还学剑桥等级英语，但这次认真多了，难度也加大了。不过，这仍是我对英语的一个初步认识。

       一年后，我随母亲到了美国，因为要在美国住一段时间，所以我必须在那里上学。刚开始我很害怕，到一个完全陌生的地方和不同的人群中去，加上自己的英语基础不好，上学变成了负担。后来，母亲要求我每天早上练习口语，晚上听录音带，英语的确有一些提高。不过我认为更珍贵的是我在那里拥有的语言环境，每天生活在一个浓浓的英语环境中，对我的英语水平的提高有很大帮助。我原本是一个比较内向的人，但在美国的学校中，不仅为了提高英语水平还为了了解他们的文化主动与同学讲话。我还交到了要好的朋友，我们在一起经常讨论许多问题，在不知不觉中我的英语水平提高了。在那里，每个星期有一次机会借书，到我在那儿的第二年，我开始一点一点地读书。家长会时，老师说我比其他同学借的书要多一倍。也在那时，我开始读Harry Potter，现在我还在期待阅读今年夏天即将出版发行的第六部。而且，在上完学后，电视上总有一些语言比较简单的电视节目，我可以收看。刚开始，我只看那些画面，因为说的话我根本听不懂。后来，父亲买了许多空录像带，把电视上的这些节目都录下来，然后一遍又一遍地看。通过画面和父母的翻译，我慢慢懂得许多以前不知道的单词。然后我再慢慢看一些稍难的动画片，如Arthur、Caillou、Clifford、Dragon Tales这些语言比较简单的动画片；后又看了Pokemon、Diglmon这些稍微有难度的动画片。我还记得，当时父亲告诉我，学习语法也很重要，但没有马上让我学。不过我在中午发现了一个叫Between the lions的节目，在看动画片时，我学到一些基本语法知识。

       回国后，我在老师的辅导下学完了“新概念英语”第二册，这对我的语法知识和应试能力的提高很有帮助。在国内也跟在国外一样，只要在外国人面前敢于交流，英语口语能力就能得到提高，而语感增强以后，学习英语就成了一件比较轻松和有趣的事情了。因此，我认为只要再学英语时做到多听、多练、多说、不嫌烦、不偷懒、不害羞，就应该能把英语学好。

 

   

 

Ladies and gentlemen, my topic is “How to Solve Personal Problems.”

 

Sometimes, when we find ourselves unable to solve a problem that occurs in our everyday life, we may react by just giving up. But it’s not right for us to escape from our problems by giving up or making excuses for not confronting the problems. Because problems are still there—they do not disappear automatically. So if we are unhappy about something, what we should do is to face the problem, develop our skills and abilities to solve it. Try to state the problem in a few words, so that we’ll know exactly what we are up against. Then see if we can “put our finger” on the cause of our problems. In many cases, we only “think” that there is no way out. But often we can overcome the problem by making a direct attack.

For example, a freshman wanted to be a debater. He made great efforts in order to be on the school’s debating team, but the coach thought him lack the potential to be a great debater: he was shy, he had a high-pitched voice, and his posture was poor. Although he was given little hope of success, he didn’t lose heart. Instead, he took each and every opportunity to practice debating skills. He spent many hours each day studying and memorizing all the facts, examples and statistics included in the topics for debate. He also worked hard at how to develop good posture and how to speak clearly. At last, after a year’s efforts, he became a member of his school’s debating team. In his senior year he was on the winning team in his state. This young man achieved his goal because he has made a direct attack upon his problem.

So, although direct attack is often the best way to meet problems, we have to be realistic in judging the situations. Sometimes it’s necessary to change our goals. It’s important to study the situations and make a wise decision about what to do to solve our own problems.

Thank you!