王陶钧：四川外语学院选手，第17届21世纪杯全国英语演讲比赛一等奖获得者。

自我介绍：

我是来自四川外语学院的王陶钧，来自山西太原。在大学这几年让我成长了不少，学习了不少，无论心智还是做人，都有了很大的提高。在校期间，在老师和同学的帮助鼓励下，克服了自己的胆怯心理，努力让自己站在台上，参加了一些英语演讲、辩论比赛，也取得了一些成绩，包括：四川外语学院英语学院2010年综合技能大赛一等奖；四川外语学院2010年综合技能大赛二等奖；2011年第二届“中国辩论公开赛”获优胜奖；四川外语学院翻译学院2011年综合技能大赛一等奖；2011年外研社杯英语演讲比赛重庆赛区三等奖；第十七届“21世纪杯”英语演讲比赛川渝赛区亚军。

演讲稿：

The Golden Rule --- the Guiding Principle of Coexistence

Honorable judges, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Earlier this term in the International Relations history class, I learned that culture and cultural differences have been at the heart international society since the beginning of the evolution of international society. Ancient Greek international society, which was forerunner international society, was based on the polis and Hellenic culture. What’s really interesting to me, a language learner, was that what the Greek used to bond and to distinguish themselves from other societies was language. Those who spoke Greek were considered people of the same international society, and those who didn’t were considered barbarians. I also learned that today, for the first time in history, there is one inclusive international society of global extent. As Marshall McLuhan says, we are now living in a global village.

Then here comes the problem: it is a village with its villagers speaking different languages. What really worries me is that we do not have a common culture to support today’s international society. I have to ask: are cultural clashes unavoidable? And what should be done to ensure coexistence between China and the West? Having thought about it for quite some time, I came up with an idea: in order to avoid misunderstanding between different cultures and to ensure coexistence, there should evolve a new world culture based on the Golden Rule. Then what is the Golden Rule and why the golden rule?

Let me begin by telling you what the Golden Rule is. In its positive version, it means “always treat all others as you’d like to be treated yourself.” Or in its negative version, it means “don’t do to others what you would not like them to do to you.” The Golden Rule was first propounded by Confucius five centuries before Christ. He told his disciples to put it into practice all day and every day, and it would bring them to the transcendent value that he called ren, human-heartedness. This is absolutely crucial not only to Confucianism, but also to every single one of world traditions. According to the great Rabbi, Hillel, the whole of Jewish teaching is about “that which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” And Saint Augustine said that Scripture “teaches nothing but charity”. Therefore, the Golden rule is the common ground in the moral core of different cultures and lays a very good foundation for the evolution of a new world culture.

Another question you may ask is why the Golden Rule. That is because if you take up the Golden Rule, it means to look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain, and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever to inflict that pain on anybody else. It means if you don’t want to be invaded, you don’t invade other people. It means if you don’t want to be dominated, you do not seek to dominate other people. It means if you don’t want your own language replaced by some other language, you don’t seek to impose your own language or values on other people. And if we all hold on to the golden rule, I am thinking it might be possible for people in this global village to live peacefully together while speaking different languages.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the great poet John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” And I’d like to say in today’s globalized world, no nation is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continents, a part of the world. Any man’s death diminishes us, because we are involved in mankind. And therefore, let’s embrace the Golden Rule!