olympics of mankind,
celebration of green nature
good morning, everybody!
let's start with the very simple question: do you know the tree coverage rate of beijing? well, the recent numerical value is 49.9%. it sounds much, but is there simply one tree that was planted by you? if there is, let's say you're really great. but if not believe me you are not alone cuz it's rather difficult for us students to get involved in such activities. well, i think now we all realize that all that we've done for the green is just about claiming or declaring, painting or advertising. however what i'm fully convinced is that someday ten years ago you must have stepped onto the grassland in the early spring and i'm sure that some of you (especially girls) must have unwittingly picked up dandelions by the roadside and gently blew their parachute like seeds into the fragrant breeze. by the time our lives can be counted by decades, what have we done for our mother nature?
before you get lost in speculation, please follow me and try considering some other questions: put up your hands if you have watched the olympic games? (of course you have or else you wouldn't be sitting here) nonetheless how many of you had the experience of sitting in front of the television waiting for the games of the unable people? i think now we can draw the conclusion that we concern the olympic games mostly for entertainment.
have you found out that the linkage between the olympic games and the green environment is that we almost do nothing really helpful to either of them! what now i want to tell you is very realistic i wrote them from the core of my heart so please believe me they are my true feelings.
last summer when i had just finished the high school entrance examination, i came up with the idea of not using air conditioners in that coming summer. then i had an extraordinarily hard time controlling myself and had suffered from having more than one air conditioners in sight yet cannot make use of them. every time i caught sight of them i told myself that i was doing something quite valuable. finally autumn came and to my surprise i had made it! you know how excited i was? i really felt very proud of myself. sounds ridiculous right? however, will all of you here join me to do this next year, will you? i hope so. because i feel deeply upset every time when i see my parents waste a lot of water and i don't know why i'm extremely concerned about the protection of environment and the reservation of natural resources since i was young. my mother was against me on whether to mention her in my speech nevertheless i consider it very common among you and maybe your parents. in the past i didn't dare to ask others to turn off the faucet while not using them because i was afraid of being described as stingy, am i? stinginess is to resources what responsibility is to the society. it's about time we aroused the social awareness of environment protection. doesn't the realization of our green dream and olympic dream both start from that?
because all the beautiful words seem to be so pale and feeble compared with practical actions and i don't like to say sentences like "start right from myself" so let's change it to a more romantic one: the mission of turning the green within our heart and soul into the luxuriantly green scenery out of the window is bound to cross the boundaries between nations, continents and racial groups, from olympia to the great wall and finally fall on our shoulders by the year 2008.
my favorite description of the olympic games is the celebration of mankind. but now i want to propose a small change, which is to be: olympics of mankind, celebration of green nature.
人类奥运，绿色庆典
有谁知道现在北京的森林覆盖率是多少？最近的数字是49.9%，听起来很多，可是在千千万万的树木中有没有一株是你贡献的呢？没有的话相信我你并不孤独。因为我们为绿色做的仅限于喊喊口号， 画画板报而已。但是我确定，十年前的某一天，你一定无心地踏入过早春的草坪，天真无暇地在底片上拍下令人至今留恋的风景，我也猜想到你们中的一些人，至少是一部分，一定随手掐断过路边的蒲公英，让它梦幻般的种子飘散在幽香的风里。在我们的生命已经可以用十年来计算的时候，我们为绿色做过什么？
在大家陷入这个思考之前，请再跟着我想这个问题：看过奥运会的请举手。大家都看过否则也不会来到这里，可是有多少人曾为观看残奥会而守在电视机前？很少，因为我们关注奥运会更多的是为了娱乐。你也许会惊讶地发现绿色与奥运就这样被连接起来了，是被我们还几乎什么都没有做这种方式连接起来的。但是我要告诉大家，其实贡献自己的一点力量，真的很容易。
去年夏天，我忽然决定不开空调， 无论多热都不能开，为了看不到的南极的臭氧层和就在心里的自然梦想。于是我开始遭受满眼都是空调却不能享受清凉的煎熬。舒适明明唾手可得，但我却告诉自己，我正在做的事情是非常有价值的。当秋天终于姗姗来迟的时候，我真的感到特别的自豪哎！听起来有些荒谬有些可笑，可是还是挺不容易的吧！我本想号召大家加入我疯狂的举动可是秋天来了天气凉了，我只有这个小小的心愿希望明年大家会这样做，会吗？我希望会，因为每当我看到宿舍的同学甚至家人用水浪费的时候，我都深深感到一种莫名其妙的沮丧，那是一种发自内心的难过.我想这是很普遍变得现象。也许就发生在你和你家人的身上。我曾经不敢告诉陌生人关掉不用的水龙头，因为害怕被说成小气多管闲事，是这样吗？那天晚上我独自走在空无一人得楼道，听到滴滴答答的水声，像是自然的哭泣。于是我战战兢兢地走进黑漆漆的水房，一个个地听取寻找漏水的管道，向开密码锁一样轻轻地转动水龙头直到找到关紧的那一点。我感到发自内心的兴奋，像完成一项重要的使命。我们的绿色之梦，奥林匹克之梦不就是这样开始的吗？这种对资源的小气应该成为整个社会的"大气"。因为所有的豪言壮语在实际行动面前都显得那么软弱那么苍白。就像从我做起的号召听起来平淡而无力一样。我们还是换一个更浪漫一些的说法吧：将心中的绿色变成窗外的葱茏这样美丽的使命，注定将在不远的2008跨越国与国，洲与洲，种族与种族的界限，由奥林匹亚来到中国长城，最终落在你我的肩上。所以从今天开始，我们就要努力。
我最喜欢的一个对奥运的描述是：人类庆典，但是现在我想稍稍把它修改一下，我叫它：人类奥运，绿色庆典。
谢谢大家！
北京十二中 马知遥