Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, I am very glad to make a speech here! Today I'd like to talk something about my English and my future.
When I was a child, at the first English class, I asked my teacher, why should we learn English? Is it useful someday? Then I got the answer,”Yes, it is useful, as it`s required for entrance examination.” “Oh,I know it”,I said, we learn English for grade, as we learn Maths for grade.”
So after that, I started my learning of this new language as an indispensable step to good university. To be honest, I found little personal joy and fun in the required study. So when I was entitled to choose a major in university, I chose law. Why? Because I thought a law student would not have to learn Maths and English. However, I was wrong. To be a good law student, one should learn English very well.
On the first day of my Penalty law class. The Professor let us to study a conception “the right to be silent” by ourselves. I did a Chinese research immediately, and found a famous saying”You have to right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law” only. I knew this saying at my childhood from the Hongkong TV series, but never knew where it began and story behind it. Then I had to ask a favor of my poor English. Finally, I figured it out. This silent right called for “Miranda Warning”and came from an America case Miranda v. Arizona. More than that, the Miranda Right actually reflects a law principle in America legal system, that is, no punishment in doubtful cases, which allows and promises the defendant a right to keep silent.
This experience let me understand how important English is to a law student. As we all know, one of the two basic law systems, the Common law system is based on English. All of the works, codes, and precedents are written in English. Think about it, how could we learn Common law without good English? How could a girl struggling in linguistic study find the deep implications in all those articles without fully understanding of the words? And how could a wonderful academic research produce without the comprehension of first-hand materials? That is the true usefulness of English I`ve found.
After I changed my attitude of studying English, the charming part of English reveals. When I learn English, I feel a different way of thinking which gives me more room to touch the world.When I speak English, I can feel the confident from my words.When I write English,I can see the beauty which is not the same as our Chinese.And when I travel around the world,I can feel the pleasure from direct communication with local people...
I start to love English and have chose to complete my master education in America.But Rome was not built in a day. However, I believe the constantly passionate learning in English will finally help me to succeed in my lawyer career, as well as to have a taste of colorful culture around the world. I am sure that I can.
This is my story with English, thank you.
My role in the belt and road initiative
As we all know, in 2013, our president and chairman of the Party Xi Jinping put forward a new economic policy called ”the belt and road”, referring two routes the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.Suddenly, the Belt and Road initiative became a superstar. All the newspapers, the scholars and even the workers were talking about it.
How could it be such a hit? For my point of view, the birth of the Belt and Road initiative is based on China’s trying to achieve more regional cooperation, accompanying of which will not only drive domestic development but will also benefits the regional developing countries in many areas. Moreover, it can further integrate China, allowing more parts of the country to enjoy the benefits of the reform and opening-up policy.
Actually, with the development of the Belt and Road initiative, more and more opportunities will serve us. The Initiative is intended to strengthen China’s cooperation with neighboring countries in the fields of energy, transportation and trade. And It is reported that a total of 20 domestic regions have made their development blueprints based on the belt and road initiative. For example, my hometown Kunming in Yunnan province, the start point of the Southwest Economic Corridor, has built hounds of thousands of programs to export woods, flowers and sugars, and the government plans to expand the scale of tourism in three times.
As law students, I suppose that we can make important roles in the built of the Belt and Road initiative. First of all, we could provide various legal service to the companies domestic and abroad. The more countries joins the initiative, the more needs of legal service they have. For instance, in the following decades, there is a huge foreseeable legal market for transnational investment disputes and most of them will be under the judicial process of China laws.
Besides, we, the young generation of this country, could be the windows for the world to know about China and Chinese culture. 40 years ago, when this country decided to open up, the world saw it as a weak and unenlightened agricultural country which is full of poverty. But now, we have come so far, as the second economic entity in the world. I believe that more and more foreigners will travel here. Let us be kind, hospitable, and accommodating.
Last but not the least, we have to be very clear about that the building of the Belt and Road is a long-term process and will not be finished in a few years. The prominent talents will be in a hurry need in the future. Therefore, the most important thing we should do in the initiative is to study harder and train ourselves as qualified lawyers, judges, teachers and so on, to greet new opportunities and possible challenges.
Thank you.