21 世纪杯冠军们的演讲稿
What would you do if you had only one day left to live?(by 金
璐 清华大学 第十四届“21 世纪· 联想杯” 全国英语演讲比赛冠军)
“What would you do if you had only one day left to live?”
I asked this question to my young students when teaching English
this winter. What were their answers?
“I would watch television! ” the first answer. “I would play
with the computer! ” the second one. “I would play with
computer TOO. ” The girl finished her sentence perfectly with
a serious smile. Indeed how cute and innocent that smile was,
but how seriously my heart was hurt. I was too frightened to
listen to more answers like that.
Ten years ago, at their age, I had a different answer: I would
spend the last day of my life gazing at the face of my dear
grandmother until I inscribed every detail of it onto my mind.
When grandmother was getting old and weak, my family bought her
a telephone so I could save time and the trouble of traveling
to her home by making phone calls instead. Later we bought her
a television so she could watch modern dramas by herself. Then
grandma must have been, we assumed, very contented and happy.
But I never really knew how grandma felt. She silently passed
away without a word one night. When I heard about her death,
a chilling pain pierced my empty heart. The pain grew even
sharper as I tried to remember in detail exactly how grandma
looked and I failed completely! How could I remember? I had not
visited her for ages—it seemed like a century! My memories of