good morning ladies and gentlemen:
the title of my speech today is “the doors that are open to us ”。
the other day my aunt paid me a visit. she was overjoyed. “i got thehighest mark in the mid-term examination!” she said. don't be surprised! my auntis indeed a student; to be exact, a college student at the age of 45.
last year, she put aside her private business and signed up for a one-year,full-time management course in a college. “this was the wisest decision i haveever made,” she said proudly like a teenage girl. to her, college is always aright place to pick up new ideas, and new ideas always make her feel young.
“compared with the late 70s,” she says, “now college students have manydoors.” my aunt cannot help but recall her first college experience in 1978 whencollege doors began to be re-opened after the cultural revolution. she wasassigned to study engineering despite her desire to study chinese literature,and a few years later, the government sent her to work in a tv factory.
i was shocked when she first told me how she (had) had no choice in hermajor and job. look at us today! so many doors are open to us! i believe therehave never been such abundant opportunities for self-development as we havetoday. and my aunt told me that we should reach our goals by grasping all theseopportunities.
the first door i see is the opportunity to study different kinds ofsubjects that interest us. my aunt said she was happy to study management, butshe was also happy that she could attend lectures on ancient chinese poetry andon shakespearean drama. as for myself, i am an english major, but i may also goto lectures on history. to me, if college education in the past emphasizedspecialization, now, it emphasizes free and well-rounded development of eachindividual. so all the fine achievements of human civilization are open tous.
the second door is the door to the outside world. learning goes beyondclassrooms and national boundaries. my aunt remembers her previous college daysas monotonous and even calls her generation “frogs in a well.” but today, as theworld becomes a global village, it is important that our neighbors and we beopen-minded to learn with and from each other. i have many fellow internationalclassmates, and i am applying to an exchange program with a university abroad.as for my aunt, she is planning to get an mba degree in the united kingdom whereher daughter, my cousin, is now doing her master's degree in biochemistry. weare now taking the opportunity to study overseas, and when we come back, we'llput to use what we have learnt abroad.
the third door is the door to lifelong learning. as new ideas appear allthe time, we always need to acquire new knowledge, regardless of our age.naturally, my aunt herself is the best example. many of my aunt's contemporariessay that she is amazingly up-to-date for a middle-aged woman. she simplyresponds, “age doesn't matter. what matters is your attitude. you may think it'sstrange that i am still going to college, but i don't think i'm too old tolearn.” yes, she is right. since the government removed the age limit forcollege admissions in _, there are already some untraditional students, sittingwith us in the same classrooms. like these people, my aunt is old but she isvery young in spirit. with her incredible energy and determination, she embodiesboth tradition and modernity.
the doors open to us also pose challenges. for instance, we are faced withthe challenge of a balanced learning, the challenge of preserving our finetradition while learning from the west, and the challenge of learningcontinuously while carrying heavy responsibilities to our work and family. so,each door is a test of our courage, ability and judgment, but with the supportof my teachers, parents, friends and my aunt, i believe i can meet the challengehead on. when i reach my aunt's age, i can be proud to say that i have walkedthrough dozens of doors and will, in the remainder of my life, walk through manymore. possibly i will go back to college, too.
thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
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