单天雨：东北师范大学选手，第17届21世纪杯全国英语演讲比赛二等奖获得者。

自我介绍：我是热情开朗的东北女孩，有“天”马行空的想象力，和未“雨”绸缪的细心。我热爱大学生活，它给我提供了一个宽广闪亮的舞台：在莎剧的舞台上展现当代大学生的风采，在三尺讲台上领悟为人师表的真谛。我喜欢我的专业，愿意做一名教育家，让更多的学生喜欢英语。

演讲稿：

A Road to Coexistence

This semester, I’ve been helping some foreign students with their Chinese. Once while having dinner together, they told me they could not understand Chinese people eating preserved eggs. They are cooked in a special way and can be preserved for a long time. Most foreigners don’t like the flavor or the way the eggs are preserved, but Chinese people do. I think this misunderstanding about food is a microcosm of cultural differences. With further interactions between East and West inevitably, I believe we need a new worldwide Renaissance. This time a sense of wholeness should be valued. When two cultures encounter each other, clashes bring about conflicts and confusion. Yet in today’s modern world China and the west can achieve cultural coexistence without clashes. The key to this coexistence is cultural awareness and mutual respect. If we can be aware of the differences and accept them with open minds, we’ll achieve cultural coexistence in a harmonious way.

Kung Fu Panda is a good example of cultural integration. It combines Chinese elements with Hollywood know-how. Traditional Chinese cultural elements, such as Kung Fu and firecrackers successfully impress the audience. Without English as the tool of communication, Kung Fu Panda could not have had such a worldwide influence. Also, Hollywood’s advanced film-making techniques are a vehicle conveying traditional Chinese elements to a global audience. Indeed, Kung Fu Panda is Chinese culture packaged with western art.

To find a starting point in appreciating the value of cultural differences is not easy, but it is important and necessary in today’s global village. First we have to know ourselves so that we can know who we are and avoid losing ourselves when confronted with appealing exotic influences. Second, we must be able to critically judge other cultures. To fully understand a different culture and avoid potential clashes we need to know a culture’s characteristics, its origin, and the process by which it was formed. Every culture has unique features, so we often come across unexpected situations and interact in new ways. Every culture not only has advantages and strengths, but also shortcomings and weaknesses. Understanding the differences will help us to continue making progress in cross-cultural communication, and further interactions between cultures will enable our relationships to flourish.

We can have McDonalds but we can also have Kung Pao Chicken.

We can have festive parties at Christmas and still celebrate Spring Festival with family and friends.

We can put the popular British song someone like you on our Mp3s and also appreciate the beauty of the traditional Chinese tune Butterfly lovers.

As long as we are aware of the differences and can critically evaluate them, absorb their essence and reject things that do not fit so well, we can bring out the best of each other and attain a peaceful coexistence between East and West.