CCTV 迎奥运“希望之星”英语风采大赛
福建赛区
经过激烈角逐，2007年首届福建省“双语之星”英语口语大赛暨中央电视台迎奥运“希望之星”英语风采大赛福建赛区总决赛上周日于厦门日报报业大厦圆满落下帷幕。
经过初赛、复赛、决赛层层选拔，来自福州、厦门、漳州、南平、泉州等五地市的12名选手在3000名报名者中脱颖而出，将于6月上旬代表福建省赴京参加中央电视台举办的全国总决赛。
The Fujian finals of the 2007 CCTV Star of Outlook English Talent Competition were held in Xiamen last Sunday. 87 contestants from all over the province took part in the competition. 12 of them were chosen to go through to the national finals to be held in Beijing on June 8.
The finals were composed of two parts. For the primary school students, the first part was a short prepared speech on the topic “If my English is good enough …”. Afterwards, each contestant had to answer a question asked by one of the judges. The three older groups —middle school students, high school students and adults—- had to hold a discussion on a given topic before giving their performances.
In their prepared speeches, the primary school students revealed a wide range of plans and dreams. Some wanted to move abroad and live in an English-speaking country; some were eager to volunteer at the 2008 Olympic Games. Some even wanted to be writers, to present Chinese culture to the world.
The group discussions of the other three groups varied considerably. They ranged from the necessity of PE and online computer games to white lies and international marriages. All the topics were debated hotly. The contestants set aside their own personal views and argued and attacked each other on the details they have given.
In the second part, most of the contestants impressed the judges enormously. They sang foreign songs just like professional singers, told jokes that had us in stitches and presented extraordinary news broadcasts and even a Shakespeare play. It would be unfair to pick out any names. All of them deserved the warmest applause and high praise.
The students' parents also showed keen interest in the advice of the judges. Some of them were rushing to consult the foreign judges during breaks between the rounds, and spoke a high level of English themselves.
After the competition, some of the judges gave their comments on the contest. Professor Ji Yuhua, a well-known English public speaking expert from Xiamen University, said he was most impressed by the high school students. The adult group might have made the most penetrating insights into the topics, but the speedy reactions and flexibility of the high-schoolers was unmatched. Mr John Fischer agreed with him sharing the same view on this point. He also suggested that the national finalists should believe in themselves and improve their confidence by visualizing themselves as national winners. We wish them all the very best luck.