Distinguished leaders, teachers, dear students,

Good morning! I’m Teacher Eva. It’s a great honor for me to stand here to give a speech. MY topic is competition.

I’d like to start with a story about two animals, an antelope and a lion. In Africa, when an antelope wakes up in the morning, the first thing it thinks about is “ I have to run faster than the fastest lion, or I will be killed and eaten.” However, when a lion wakes up from its beautiful dream, the first thing it thinks about is “ I need to run faster than the slowest antelope, or I will have nothing to eat. I’ll starve to death.” So almost at the same time, both the antelope and the lion get up and begin running towards the rising sun.

This is life: full of chances and challenges. Whether you are an antelope or a lion, you have to run fast when the sun rises, or you will be out. Well some people may say that we are not animals, we don’t need to face the problem of living or dying. Instead, they are living in so comfortable a life that they always forget the existence of competition, until one day, they realize that they are far behind others when it’s too late. So dear students, when you are living in a comfortable life , please don’t forget that you still need to work hard. Some other people know that they should work hard, they just can’t stand the great pressure brought the fierce competition. When I was a student, I used to be afraid of examinations, because I used to be a top student in my class but later I failed, which made me really sad. But gradually I got to understand the real meaning of exams, I knew that exams were just like competitions. In a competition, there are always winners and losers, so it doesn’t matter if you lose. What’s more, if everyone in a class has done his or her best, then even a loser is a winner. So after that I was not afraid of examinations any more.

But I did feared some other kinds of competitions ,like speech and debating contests, until one day, I was encouraged by my teacher to take part in an English speech contest. When I stepped on the stage, I saw the smiling faces from the judges, I suddenly realized that competitions were not as cruel as my parents and teachers had told me. From that day on, I have been kind of excited about competitions.

But after a long time of hard working, I sometimes got tired, especially after graduating and began working as a teacher. So every time I saw little children playing games and heard their laughters, I wished I was back to that age again. But soon I was back to reality and realized how many responsibilities I have on my shoulders. Then I pocked up the pen and books and began studying and working again. Until today, I have made progress step by step, and I was basically satisfied with what I did in the past.

What about you, dear students? Are you still wandering on your life road? Are you still sitting or sleeping all day long doing nothing but still worrying about yourself? Dear, you don’t have time to do that again, because every moment when you sleep, your competitors are running fast, either visible or invisible. And in this rapidly developing society, sooner or later, you’ll be far behind others, and it will be too late to regret.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I propose, that everyone be aware of competitions around us . But don’t be afraid of them. Just go ahead, move on and never give up. I believe that one day, every and each of you will achieve your dreams. You will also be able to help people in need and make great contributions to society. Finally, you will find the true meaning of life.

This is the end of my speech. Thanks for your listening. Thank you!