小枫心语丨没有付出就没有收获

2018年11月8号，上海枫叶国际学校举办了21世纪英语演讲比赛，从参加初赛的225个参赛选手，到复赛的52个选手，最后到决赛的12位选手，我从这些比赛中脱颖而出，最后进入了总决赛，我内心充满了自豪感。

这是我进入上海枫叶以来，我参加的第一个大型的比赛，所以我特别重视。从初赛到复赛到总决赛，一路走来看似一帆风顺，但这其中饱含了我的付出。接到复试通过的通知后，我高兴得一蹦三尺高，内心里大声的呼喊：“我成功了，我成功了！”。但是过了一段时间，我的心情逐渐从开心转为紧张，一直想着要是我在演讲中忘词了该怎么办，要是我听不懂评委提的问题或者不知道如何回答评委的问题该怎么办才好……。我想与其担心这些事情，不如事先多做一些准备。我开始认真地构思稿子的框架，我想一篇好的演讲稿无非就是要说明白一些事情，就是要让听者有所收获。我足足花费了一个半小时才完成我的稿子，在这过程中我遇到了许多问题，有些单词我不会拼写，有些句子我不知道如何用英文表达，我找老师和同学一一请教。当我把最终完成的稿子给老师看时，老师看完了后给予了一次性通过，我受到了很大的鼓舞，信心大增。同时我觉得完成一篇稿子只是一个好的开始，我又开始思考在演讲的时候语气和神态要如何配合文字，并且仔细核对我的发音和熟背稿子，确保演讲的过程中不出问题。

正式比赛了，初高中的校领导都坐在前面作为评审团，整个会场座无虚席，选手们一个个上台，因为我是第二号选手，所以我的心也跳动得很厉害，我一直在给自己打气，在心里不停地默背着稿子。终于轮到我了，我接过话筒，从容自信的走向讲台。当我站在讲台上时，发现也没有我想象的那么困难，于是我开始了演讲，流畅而且有激情，配合着一些肢体语言。当演讲结束时，台下响起了雷鸣般的掌声。回到台下，如释重负。我开始认真聆听其他学哥学姐们的演讲，我发现学哥学姐们的实力是非常强的，一点也不比我差。有的演讲非常精彩，令人佩服，我情不自禁地为他们鼓掌。

到了颁奖环节，激动人心的时刻来了，我再次紧张起来，我想我应该是可以拿到二等奖的，当听到自己得了三等奖后，心里暗想，自己的表现还不错，怎么会只有三等奖呢？这的确有些出乎我的意料，不免有些小小的失望。然而我还是要感谢这一次的经历，让我看到了一些十分优秀的学哥学姐们，在英语演讲方面，我又多了一些榜样。这次演讲比赛让我收获了一次很好的锻炼机会，也让我看到了自己的不足。

就像这次演讲比赛的主题一样，“没有付出就没有收获”，这次比赛让我收获了比奖状更多的财富！

No Pains No Gains

On Nov 8th2018 Shanghai Maple Leaf International School held the 21stCentury English speech contest. From 225 candidates who had attended the preliminary contest to 52 candidates who had entered the intermediary contest, at the end I won the qualification to attend the final contest, my heart was filled with pride as only 12 candidates had got the chance.

This is the first major competition I have participated in since I moved from Pinghu Maple Leaf to Shanghai Maple Leaf, so I pay special attention to it. Itlooked everything had gone very well from preliminary contest to the final contest, actually the whole process was full of my hard work. When I received the notification that I had passed the semifinal contest, I was so happy and yelled in my heart:” I made it, I made it!”. However, I just felt happy for a short time then I got nervous, I kept thinking what I would do if I forget the speech draft, what if I don’t understand questions raised by the judge, or what if I don’t know how to answer judge’s question……I thought It would be better to make more preparation in advance than worrying about these things. I started to think about the structure of the speech draft. I thought a good speech was to explain something clearly and let the audience understand something. It had taken threehours for me to finish the speed draft, I had encountered many problems, I didn’t know the English for some words, and didn’t know how to express for some sentences, I asked for help from teacher and classmates. When I submitted the final version to my teacher, she approved it after she read it, I was encouraged very much and got a lot of confidence. I thought a speed draft was just a good start, then I began to think about the tones and gestures that I should use to match the speech, I carefully checked my pronunciation for English words and recited the draft many times, all was just to ensure there would not be any problem for the speech.

The final contest began, judges from both high school and senior high school sat front, the whole hall was full, candidates went on to stage one by one. My heart beat fast because I was the second candidate, I encouraged myself all the time, and kept reciting the draft. Finally it was my turn, I took the microphone and walked to the stage in a calm and confident way. When I stood on the stage, I found it was not as difficult as I thought, I started to make a speech, it was fluent and full of passion, also accompanied with some body language. When my speech was over, thunderous applause broke out from the audiences. I walked down the stage, felt very relaxed. I began to listen to speech made from other candidates, I found they did very well, some speech was wonderful, I could not help clapping for them.

It was time to award prize, such an exciting moment! I felt nervous again. I thought I could get the second prize, so I was a bit disappointed when I heard that I had only got the third prize, I thought I did very well, how come I only got the third prize? It was out of my expectation. However, I was grateful to this experience, it let me see some very excellent candidates, they would become my examples. The speech contest gave me a very good opportunity to exercise myself, also let me see my shortage.

Just like the theme of the English speech contest, “no pains no gains”, the contest has let me acquire more fortune than prize!

----Tony Long