YMCA学校举办简洁英语比赛

2011年5月23日YMCA学校举办了第二届学校内部简洁英语比赛。



中学三年级的周士胜同学获得了这场比赛的冠军。奖品是金质奖牌和IMM的代金券。他的演讲主题是“老一辈需让位给年轻人”。中四的孙伶玥同学获得了第二名，政府中学预备班的吴依凡同学获得了第三名。她们俩分别拿到了银质和铜制奖牌还有IMM的代金券。其他进入决赛的选手还有林玲，林佳琳，安强，施楚欣，Tran Minh Quan，米甄，杜梦婷。所有参赛者都获得了参与证书和IMM的代金券。



本届评审团的成员有Mr Chandran Lingam, Ms Nirmala Bhai and Ms Janet Lim。周同学将代表YMCA学校去参加全国第25届YMCA简洁英语演讲比赛，这是一个由新加坡YMCA举办的全国年度性比赛，并且得到新加坡教育部，新加坡国家图书馆和新加坡讲正确英语运动组织的支持。





YMCA School conducted its 2nd internal Plain English Speaking Awards (PESA) on 23rd May 2011 at the Pool Terrace



Zhou Shisheng from Sec 3 emerged as the PESA Champion. He received a Gold Medal and an IMM voucher. His speech was about the topic: “The Old Should Give Way to the Young”.Sun Linyue from Sec 4 Friendship was placed 2nd , while Wu Yifan from Preparatory Class came in 3rd Place. They each received a Silver Medal and Bronze Medal respectively. Both were also given an IMM voucher. The other finalists were Lin Ling, (Sec 4 Friendship) Lin Jialin (Sec 2), An Qiang (Sec 4 Respect), Shi Chuxin (Sec 4Respect), Tran Minh Quan (Prep Class), Mi Zhen (Sec 4 Friendship), and Du Menting (Sec 4 Friendship). All finalists received a Certificate of Participation and an IMM Voucher.



The Panel of Judges comprised Mr Chandran Lingam, Ms Nirmala Bhai and Ms Janet Lim. Zhou will be representing YMCA School in the 25th YMCA Plain English Speaking Awards, an annual event organised by YMCA of Singapore and supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE), National Library Board (NLB) and Speak Good English Movement (SGEM).



周同学的演讲稿

Zhou's winning speech:

"The Old ShouldGive Wayto the Young”.

First of all, I want to start my speech with an old story. The story tells about three animals, a squirrel, a young horse and its mother, an old horse. The old horse intended to cross the river with the young horse. But the young horse refused to do it because the squirrel told him the river was very deep and he would drown. At this time the old horse said, “Do not listen to the squirrel, the water is shallow and only reaches up to my hoof!” Finally the young horse crossed the river and found the water was just knee high. The story tells us that the old should encourage the young to challenge themselves when they think of giving up. Well, this is just a fairy tale. Let us look at reality. Recently I noticed an interesting phenomenon and I wonder if you have the same feeling as I do. In fact this cannot be defined "interesting" but a little bit tragic. I notice that in a company, especially those which have existed for a long time; most of the senior management is middle-aged. A large number of people in their twenties and thirties are walking on the edge of unemployment, which means nowadays the young have less opportunity.



Let us take Japan as an example. As this economic superpower rapidly fades,Japan desperately needs to increase productivity and unleash the entrepreneurial energies of younger people. But Japan seems to do just the opposite. According to reports there’s a serious problem in Japanese companies. They are now wasting the young generation in order to protect older workers. There's a feeling among the young in Japan that no matter how hard they try, they won’t get ahead. In this instance the old should not delay any more to give way to the young. Well, nowadays China’s situation is getting closer to Japan's. Before 1978 China was definitely a poor country. After reforming and opening up to the world, a group of pioneers who started their businesses first became successful entrepreneurs. Then an interesting thing happened. The older entrepreneurs didn’t seem to trust the new generations who, they thought were too immature and inexperienced. So they were unwilling to hand their business to younger people. They hire only older workers. Unlike Japan, China does not have laws to restrict the young and protect the old, but the mind of old entrepreneurs kill the chances of younger people.



As we all know, older workers are more experienced and they will stay longer in the company. Although younger workers are more inexperienced, but the experience they accumulate must be useful in the 21st century. I believe the young’s ambition and passion would bring in new energies for the company. All in all, the old should give way to the young in this new century. With younger workers, society will be more vibrant and the country’s future will be brighter.