经典英语演讲稿优秀范文
通过对演讲稿语言的推究可以提高语言的表现力，增强语言的感染力。在社会一步步向前发展的今天，演讲稿在演讲中起到的作用越来越大，相信许多人会觉得演讲稿很难写吧，以下是小编为大家收集的经典英语演讲稿优秀范文，仅供参考，欢迎大家阅读。
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文1
Independence Day 20xx Speech
Good morning India!
Today on 15th August 20xx India is celebrating its 67th Independence Day, and we Indians are proud to say we have owned our freedom 67 years old back. As we gather here today I take the opportunity to congratulate every student and teacher of this School/college a Happy Independence Day! I also take the opportunity of welcoming you our chief guest for today!
We have assembled here to celebrate our 67th Independence Day. As a citizen of India, I am so proud to talk to you about my mother India. On the night of August 14, 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru rose to make a maiden speech in New Delhi, “When the world sleeps, India will wake to life and freedom.” Yes, India became free from the bondage of British rule. Now, India is the largest democratic country in the world. The country’s strength is to find, “Unity in diversity”. But, there are stray incidents that test her secularism but the people of India are ready to sacrifice anything for the cause of unity. Today we remember the great leaders who gave their lives for the nation’s freedom and prosperity. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar gave the longest written constitution to us. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru worked for an industrialized India. Gandhi Ji taught us Ahimsa and Non-violence. Subash Chandra Bose inducted courage in us. Swami Vivekanand gave us spiritual power. Yes, with these contributions; India will be the super power in the coming years. Our former President Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam called the children of India to dream to build a strong Nation with aim and perseverance. Indeed! This is not a word of a single man. It is word of one billionsouls.
Jai Hind!
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文2
Good morning,ladies and gentlemen,today i am so happy to stand here to give you a speech.Or rather, a real story of mine.
Though with time going by,i can still remember what you once told me.You should be a brave girl.Smiling,you looked into my eyes.Year in,year out,nearly most of my memories are fading little by little.But only this simple sentence remained,without being forgotten in my life.
Again and again,i can not stop myself from thinking about it.So ordinary,but so impressive,so moving,just like the brightest sunshine,it helps me go through the darkest night.I am such a sensitive girl in your heart.You said,my sorroful facial expression made feel so distersssed.However,there is one thing i never tell you,that is ,i am becoming a big girl gradually with your words and smiles.I never tell you about it,for i believe oneday,you can see the great changes of mine for yourself.That is what i want to do in return.As i know,that will be the best gift for you.
I suddenly think of a song named MY HEART WILL GO ON.There is a beautiful sentence going like this.You are safe in my heart.More than once,i was moved to tears by it.I know ,i am also safe in your heart.i have already forgotten when i told you i was going to leave for Australia this summer holiday.You just smiled as usual,gently speaking.Whatever you decide to do,i will be in favor of it,but, just onething,remember,when you fell lonely abroad,do not forget we are here ,praying for you.We are all around you,far across the distance and space between us.i closed my eyes,the flashback started.The memories we had together,once we played games on the palyground,we played jokes on each other,you always wrote a lot of sentences on my articles to encourage me.And the most unforgetable thing,you told me,you believed m i could be a big girl.Sooner or later.
At that specific moment,i suddenly understood the meaning of this sentence totally.So on that day,i smiled as you used to,looking at you.The last words i said were,keep walking in sunshine.
Yes,keep walking in sunshine.I said to you ,also to myself.I know i am not alone wiht your company,and we can keep walking in sunshine till the last minute of our days.
I promise,i will be a big girl.
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文3
well, welcome to the white house,everybody. and that was one of the best introductions i’ve ever had. (applause.) so we’re so proud of kiara for the introduction and for sharing yourstory, and you’re just so poised. and iknow geoff canada is just out there all excited -- (laughter) -- and proud, andi know your mom is proud. i know she is. she should be.
kiara and the rest of these youngpeople grew up in a 97-square-block section of harlem. it’s a place where the odds used to bestacked against them every single day, even just graduating from high schoolwas a challenge. but with the help ofsome very dedicated adults and a program called the harlem children’s zone,they’re right on track to go to college. together, students, teachers, administrators, parents, community, they’rechanging the odds in this neighborhood. and that’s what we’re here to talk about today -– changing the odds forevery american child so that no matter who they are, no matter where they areborn, they have a chance to succeed in today’s economy.
now, the good news is that,thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the american people all across thecountry over the last five years, our economy has grown stronger. our businesses have now created more than 8million new jobs since the depths of the recession. our manufacturing, our housing sectors arerebounding. our energy and technologyand auto industries are booming. we’vegot to keep our economy growing. we’vegot to make sure that everybody is sharing in that growth. we’ve got to keep creating jobs, and then we’vegot to make sure that wages and benefits are such that families can rebuild alittle bit of security. we’ve got tomake sure this recovery, which is real, leaves nobody behind. and that’s going to be my focus throughoutthe year.
this is going to be a year ofaction. that’s what the american peopleexpect, and they’re ready and willing to pitch in and help. this is not just a job for government; thisis a job for everybody.
working people are looking forthe kind of stable, secure jobs that too often went overseas in the past coupleof decades. so next week, i’ll join companies and colleges and take action toboost high-tech manufacturing -- the kind that attracts good new jobs and helpsgrow a middle class. business owners areready to play their part to hire more workers. so this month, i’m going to host ceos here at the white house not once,but twice: first to lay out specificsteps we can take to help more workers earn the skills that they need for today’snew jobs; second, they’re going to announce commitments that we’re making toput more of the long-term unemployed back to work.
and on january 28th, in my stateof the union address -- which i want all the legislators here to know i’m goingto try to keep a little shorter than usual -- (laughter) -- they’re cheeringsilently -- (laughter) -- i will mobilize the country around the nationalmission of making sure our economy offers every american who works hard a fairshot at success. anybody in this countrywho works hard should have a fair shot at success, period. it doesn’t matter where they come from, whatregion of the country, what they look like, what their last name is -- theyshould be able to succeed.
and obviously we’re coming off ofa rancorous political year, but i genuinely believe that this is not a partisanissue. because when you talk to the american people, you know that there arepeople working in soup kitchens, and people who are mentoring, and people whoare starting small businesses and hiring their neighbors, and very rarely arethey checking are they democrat or republican. there’s a sense of neighborliness that’s inherent in the american people-- we just have to tap into that.
and i’ve been very happy to seethat there are republicans like rand paul, who’s here today, who are ready toengage in this debate. that’s a goodthing. we’ve got democratic andrepublican elected officials across the country who are ready to roll up theirsleeves and get to work. and this shouldbe a challenge that unites us all.
i don’t care whether the ideasare democrat or republican. i do carethat they work. i do care that they aresubject to evaluation, and we can see if we are using tax dollars in a certainway, if we’re starting a certain program, i want to make sure that young peoplelike kiara are actually benefiting from them.
now, it’s one thing to say weshould help more americans get ahead, but talk is cheap. we’ve got to actually make sure that we doit. and i will work with anybody who’swilling to lay out some concrete ideas to create jobs, help more middle-classfamilies find security in today’s economy, and offer new ladders of opportunityfor folks to climb into the middle class.
and, personally, i hope we startby listening to the majority of the american people and restoring theunemployment insurance for americans who need a little help supporting theirfamilies while they look for a new job. and i’m glad the republicans and democrats in the senate are workingtogether to extend that lifeline. i hopetheir colleagues in the house will join them to set this right.
today i want to talk aboutsomething very particular, a specific example of how we can make adifference. we are here with leaders whoare determined to change the odds in their communities the way these kids andtheir parents and dedicated citizens have changed the odds in harlem. it’s now been 50 years since presidentjohnson declared an unconditional war on poverty in america. and that groundbreaking effort created newavenues of opportunity for generations of americans. it strengthened our safety net for workingfamilies and seniors, americans with disabilities and the poor, so that when wefall -- and you never know what life brings you -- we can bounce backfaster. it made us a better country anda stronger country.
in a speech 50 years ago,president johnson talked about communities “on the outskirts ofhope where opportunitywas hard to come by.” well, today’seconomic challenges are differentbut they’ve still resulted in communitieswhere in recent decades wrenching economic changehas made opportunity harderand harder to come by. there arecommunities where for toomany young people it feels like their future onlyextends to the next street corner or theoutskirts of town, too manycommunities where no matter how hard you work, your destinyfeels like it’salready been determined for you before you took that first step.
i’m not just talking aboutpockets of poverty in our inner cities. that’s the stereotype.i’mtalking about suburban neighborhoods that have been hammered by the housingcrisis. i’mtalking about manufacturingtowns that still haven’t recovered after the local plant shut downand jobsdried up. there are islands of ruralamerica where jobs are scarce -- they were scarceeven before the recession hit-- so that young people feel like if they want to actually succeed,they’ve gotto leave town, they’ve got to leave their communities.
and i’ve seen this personallyeven before i got into politics. infact, this is what drove meinto politics. i was just two years out of college when i first moved to the south sideof chicago.i was hired by a group ofchurches to help organize a community that had been devastatedwhen the localsteel plants closed their doors. and i’dwalk through neighborhoods filled up withboarded-up houses and crumblingschools, and single parents and dads who had nothing to dowith their kids, andkids who were hanging out on the street corners without any hope orprospectsfor the future.
but these churches cametogether. and then they started workingwith other non-profits andlocal businesses. and the government -- local, state and federal -- participated. and we startedgetting some things done thatgave people hope. and that experiencetaught me thatgovernment does not have all the answers -- no amount of moneycan take the place of a lovingparent in a child’s life. but i did learn that when communities andgovernments and businessesand not-for-profits work together, we can make adifference. kiara is proof -- all theseyoungpeople are proof we can make a difference.
for the last 17 years, the harlemchildren’s zone -- the brainchild of geoffrey canada, who’shere today -- hasproven we can make a difference. and itoperated on a basic premise that eachchild will do better if all the childrenaround them are doing better. so in harlem,staff membersgo door to door and they recruit soon-to-be parents for “babycollege,” preparing them forthose crucial first few months of life; makingsure that they understand how to talk to theirchild and read to their child,and sometimes working with parents to teach them how to read sothey can readto their child and give them the healthy start that they need.
and then, early childhoodeducation to get kids learning at four years old. and then acharter school that help studentssucceed all the way through high school. and medical careand healthy foods that are available close tohome. and exercise. i was very pleased to hearthat -- michellewas very pleased to hear that -- (laughter) -- that they’ve got a strong physedprogram. and then students gettinghelp finding internships and applying to college, and anoutstanding, dedicatedstaff that tries to make sure that nobody slips through the cracks orfallsbehind.
and this is an incredibleachievement, and the results have been tremendous. today,preschool students in the harlemchildren’s zone are better prepared for kindergarten. lastyear, a study found that students whowin a spot in one of the charter schools score higher onstandardized teststhan those who don’t. in a neighborhood where higher education was oncejustsomething that other people did, you’ve got hundreds of kids who’ve now gone tocollege.
and harlem is not the onlycommunity that’s found success taking on these challengestogether. in cincinnati, a focus on education hashelped to make sure more kids are ready forkindergarten. in nashville, they’ve redesigned high schoolsand boosted graduation rates byalmost 20 percent over the past 12 years. in milwaukee, they’ve cut teen pregnancy inhalf.
every community is different,with different needs and different approaches. butcommunities that are making the most progress on these issues havesome things in common.they don’t lookfor a single silver bullet; instead they bring together local governmentandnonprofits and businesses and teachers and parents around a shared goal. that’s whatgeoffrey did when he started theharlem children’s zone. government wasinvolved -- so don’tbe confused here, it has an important role to play. and already there are governmentresourcesgoing into these communities. but it’simportant that our faith institutions and ourbusinesses and the parents andthe communities themselves are involved in designing andthinking through howdo we move forward.
and the second thing is they’reholding themselves accountable by delivering measurableresults. we don’t fund things, we don’t start projectsjust for the sake of starting them.they’vegot to work. if they don’t work weshould try something else. and sometimesthose of uswho care deeply about advancing opportunity aren’t willing tosubject some of theseprograms to that test: do they work?
in my state of the union addresslast year, i announced our commitment to identifymore communities like these-- urban, rural, tribal -- where dedicated citizens aredetermined to make adifference and turn things around. andwe challenged them. we said ifyou candemonstrate the ability and the will to launch an all-encompassing,all-hands-on-deckapproach to reducing poverty and expanding opportunity, we’llhelp you get the resourcesto do it. we’lltake resources from some of the programs that we’re already doingandconcentrate them. we’ll make sure thatour agencies are working together more effectively.we’ll put in talent to help you plan. but we’re also going to hold you accountableand measureyour progress.
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文4
Today we organize an English speech contestto Celebrate One hundred years anniversary of the China Communist Party establishment. Long live the great Communist Party of China. And to encourage you to learn English , to speak English and to be interested in English.
As for learning English. Different students have different ideas. Some students may ask that we are Chinese, why should we learn a foreign language? Some students may say that English is useless, it is only a waste of time, few people will use it in the future. Some may say that I will never learn English well and I am not good at learning English and so on. In order to help you learn English well I have some suggestions.
First of all, we should know the importance of English. English is one of the most important languages in the world. It is the most widely used in the world. It has become the most common language on internet and for international trade. Germans have to learn English, Japanese have to learn English. Koreans have to learn English. Chinese have to learn English too. This is an open world , a developing world. English is one of the windows to the world. It is one of the bridges to connect the world, which makes us see the world more clearly. Also English could help us to letthe worldknowChina . If we learn English well, we will have more chances to do more things, Or we will be eliminated out in today's society . We should have an active attitude in learning English. This is the first step to learn English Well.
Secondly, practice makes perfect. It is the best habit to practice English every day. Practice English anytime and anywhere. It’s a good way to improve your pronunciation by listening. Practice speaking English every day. You should catch every opportunity to speak English in class. For example, read in class, answering the teacher’s questions in class, making conversations with your classmates in class , Try your best to make good use of your class time. It's very easy to speak English well. Just open your mouth and blurt out. It’s the only good way to improve oral English. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, Don't be afraid of losing face . Don’t worry about others’ laugh . It's a secret to expand your words by reading and writing. Practice reading English over and over again. You'd better read and recite some good sentences or passages. Write English diaries, write down some good sentences, write down some good passages. There is no shortcut, but to practice. What is a talent, it's a person who repeats and practice the most. Practice makes perfect.
Thirdly, Never give up, force ourselves to be successful in some cases. Perhaps it is too hard to keep learning for some students. They may give up easily sometimes when they meet some difficulties. As long as you overcome every difficulty, you will surely grow up. Everyone has laziness , flinch, some bad habits. It takes a lot of courage and determination to break laziness, flinch, bad habits. We should conquer them no matter how hard they are. We should challenge ourselves , force ourselves to be successful in some cases . There is a story. One day a litter girl had a serious illness . She must be operated on quickly . Because of fear, she cried, shouted and refused. The doctor and the father had no choice but to control her , force her for saving her life. For example , if we have a cold , we have to take some medicine no matter how bitter it is. Or we have to take an injection no matter how painful it is . It’s said that there will be a rainbow after astorm. Never give up. Perseverance means victory. force ourselves to be successful.
Nothing is difficult to the man who will try. where there is a will, there is a way. It’s a piece of cake to learn English. Everyone is born with the ability to learn . But Whether or not you can do it well deps on your learning habits, attitudes, Research shows that successful learners have active attitudes and some good habits in common. I believe that everyone will conquer English and any difficulties by using good habits, active attitudes, courage and strong determinations.
Hope everyone will be successful .
That’s all, Thank you !
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文5
Good morning/afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My topic is: faith does make a difference to our life.
The recent earthquake in Japan has triggered a series of unexpected crises and even faith crisis among us. Are the increasing natural disasters echoing the 20xx prediction by Maya? Is our future really so vulnerable and tentative? I am trying to probe the answer.
Last November, as a volunteer of the Global Sustainable Leaders Forum, I first came across the concept of social entrepreneurship. In the inspiring speeches, I saw the determination and faith of converting ideal into practice. I couldn’t help asking myself: what should I live for?
The great thinker Russell once put in his essay: Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.
By launching donation campaigns and bearing social responsibility, Bill Gates reshaped the stereotyped faith of businessmen.
Then, how can I make a difference? A talk with my father gave me some inspiration.
My father is a superfan of traditional Chinese calligraphy. When I was a kid, I had the faintest idea why I should practise routinely this form of art. It was terribly boring. But Dad said seriously: As a Chinese, we need to pass down and promote our rich culture. It is our responsibility.
Yang Lan, a well-known TV host once said: As a media worker, I want to track down the passage of time and history by conducting interviews. For me, the responsibility outweighs the occupation itself.
Far back to Confucius, who was once obscure and humble, undertook the seemingly hopeless task of building a harmonious society. But with his strong faith, hemade a change by spreading the seeds of wisdom.
The story about three craftsmen further illustrates the power of faith. When asked about their work, one said: I'm piling up the bricks. Another replied: I'm building the wall. The third responded: I'm designing a home for people. These three replies mirrored distinct insights toward work: Task, job, and undertaking.
In my university, students majoring in National Defence choose to devote their golden years to safeguarding our mother land. They have interpreted faith with their own dynamic youth.
My friends, musicians can not simply provide us with lyrical notes, but create melody to sooth our soul; Scientists can not merely invent machines, but utilize their wisdom to reshape our lifestyle; teachers can not just impart knowledge, but usher us to become a worthy person!
So, my dear friends, life without faith is just like music without melody, and world without color. We are who we choose to be. It is faith that’ll remove our fear about future and stretch the radius of our life. Let faith light up all our young dreams.
Thank you!
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文6
Hello, my name is Hao Hao. I am a small member of class 3 in grade six. Today, my topic is my ideal.
Edison, a British scientist, will not be surprised. He is a world-famous invention King. He invented more than one thousand kinds of life. My ideal is to become a great inventor like Edison.
Remember in the third grade textbook, we see Edison to invent almost blind eyes, his train was deaf in one ear, also burned a dress by sulfuric acid. However, his determination to pursue science has not wavered. It is this stubborn spirit, persistent efforts and attitude towards learning that made Edison a great inventor.
I think, if I really want to be an inventor like Edison, I want to carry forward his spirit of not afraid of difficulties and perseverance. For this reason, I want to do four words: diligence, perseverance, courage and thinking. "Diligence" is diligence. All the people who have a good job are the result of hard work. "Constant" is perseverance, there is perseverance can be expected to achieve. "Bravery" is the determination to overcome difficulties when learning difficulties. "Thinking" is equally important. Learning is always combined with thinking. Todays "thinking" is also dared to fantasize. Only by opening the wings of fantasy can invention become reality.
A plow, a harvest, in order to achieve the ideal, I will pay hard!
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文7
Good morning,ladies and gentlemen,today i am so happy to stand here to give you a rather, a real story of mine.
Though with time going by,i can still remember what you once told should be a brave ing,you looked into my in,year out,nearly most of my memories are fading little by only this simple sentence remained,without being forgotten in my life.
Again and again,i can not stop myself from thinking about ordinary,but so impressive,so moving,just like the brightest sunshine,it helps me go through the darkest night.I am such a sensitive girl in your said,my sorroful facial expression made feel so ver,there is one thing i never tell you,that is ,i am becoming a big girl gradually with your words and smiles.I never tell you about it,for i believe oneday,you can see the great changes of mine for is what i want to do in i know,that will be the best gift for you.
I suddenly think of a song named MY HEART WILL GO e is a beautiful sentence going like are safe in my than once,i was moved to tears by it.I know ,i am also safe in your heart.i have already forgotten when i told you i was going to leave for Australia this summer just smiled as usual,gently ever you decide to do,i will be in favor of it,but, just onething,remember,when you fell lonely abroad,do not forget we are here ,praying for are all around you,far across the distance and space between us.i closed my eyes,the flashback memories we had together,once we played games on the palyground,we played jokes on each other,you always wrote a lot of sentences on my articles to encourage the most unforgetable thing,you told me,you believed m i could be a big er or later.
At that specific moment,i suddenly understood the meaning of this sentence on that day,i smiled as you used to,looking at last words i said were,keep walking in sunshine.
Yes,keep walking in sunshine.I said to you ,also to myself.I know i am not alone wiht your company,and we can keep walking in sunshine till the last minute of our days.
I promise,i will be a big girl.
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文8
President pitzer Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.
I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.
We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.
No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half-century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.
This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.
So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this state of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.
William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.
If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.
Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.
Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.
In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.
Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the United States of America and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.
The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines.
Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.
We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.
To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.
The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your city of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this center in this city.
To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us. But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.
I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.
However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the Sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.
And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.
Thank you.
经典英语演讲稿优秀范文9
Harry S. Truman: "The Truman Doctrine"
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United States:
The gravity of the situation which confronts the world today necessitates my appearance before a joint session of the Congress. The foreign policy and the national security of this country are involved. One aspect of the present situation, which I present to you at this time for your consideration and decision, concerns Greece and Turkey. The United States has received from the Greek Government an urgent appeal for financial and economic assistance. Preliminary reports from the American Economic Mission now in Greece and reports from the American Ambassador in Greece corroborate the statement of the Greek Government that assistance is imperative if Greece is to survive as a free nation.
I do not believe that the American people and the Congress wish to turn a deaf ear to the appeal of the Greek Government. Greece is not a rich country. Lack of sufficient natural resources has always forced the Greek people to work hard to make both ends meet. Since 1940, this industrious, peace loving country has suffered invasion, four years of cruel enemy occupation, and bitter internal strife.
When forces of liberation entered Greece they found that the retreating Germans had destroyed virtually all the railways, roads, port facilities, communications, and merchant marine. More than a thousand villages had been burned. Eighty-five per cent of the children were tubercular. Livestock, poultry, and draft animals had almost disappeared. Inflation had wiped out practically all savings. As a result of these tragic conditions, a militant minority, exploiting human want and misery, was able to create political chaos which, until now, has made economic recovery impossible.
Greece is today without funds to finance the importation of those goods which are essential to bare subsistence. Under these circumstances, the people of Greece cannot make progress in solving their problems of reconstruction. Greece is in desperate need of financial and economic assistance to enable it to resume purchases of food, clothing, fuel, and seeds. These are indispensable for the subsistence of its people and are obtainable only from abroad. Greece must have help to import the goods necessary to restore internal order and security, so essential for economic and political recovery. The Greek Government has also asked for the assistance of experienced American administrators, economists, and technicians to insure that the financial and other aid given to Greece shall be used effectively in creating a stable and self-sustaining economy and in improving its public administration.
The very existence of the Greek state is today threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by Communists, who defy the government's authority at a number of points, particularly along the northern boundaries. A Commission appointed by the United Nations security Council is at present investigating disturbed conditions in northern Greece and alleged border violations along the frontiers between Greece on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia on the other.
Meanwhile, the Greek Government is unable to cope with the situation. The Greek army is small and poorly equipped. It needs supplies and equipment if it is to restore authority of the government throughout Greek territory. Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy. The United States must supply this assistance. We have already extended to Greece certain types of relief and economic aid. But these are inadequate. There is no other country to which democratic Greece can turn. No other nation is willing and able to provide the necessary support for a democratic Greek government.
The British Government, which has been helping Greece, can give no further financial or economic aid after March 31st. Great Britain finds itself under the necessity of reducing or liquidating its commitments in several parts of the world, including Greece.
We have considered how the United Nations might assist in this crisis. But the situation is an urgent one, requiring immediate action, and the United Nations and its related organizations are not in a position to extend help of the kind that is required.
It is important to note that the Greek Government has asked for our aid in utilizing effectively the financial and other assistance we may give to Greece, and in improving its public administration. It is of the utmost importance that we supervise the use of any funds made available to Greece in such a manner that each dollar spent will count toward making Greece self-supporting, and will help to build an economy in which a healthy democracy can flourish.
No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected. The Government of Greece is not perfect. Nevertheless it represents eighty-five per cent of the members of the Greek Parliament who were chosen in an election last year. Foreign observers, including 692 Americans, considered this election to be a fair expression of the views of the Greek people.
The Greek Government has been operating in an atmosphere of chaos and extremism. It has made mistakes. The extension of aid by this country does not mean that the United States condones everything that the Greek Government has done or will do. We have condemned in the past, and we condemn now, extremist measures of the right or the left. We have in the past advised tolerance, and we advise tolerance now.
Greek's neighbor, Turkey, also deserves our attention. The future of Turkey, as an independent and economically sound state, is clearly no less important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future of Greece. The circumstances in which Turkey finds itself today are considerably different from those of Greece. Turkey has been spared the disasters that have beset Greece. And during the war, the United States and Great Britain furnished Turkey with material aid.
Nevertheless, Turkey now needs our support. Since the war, Turkey has sought financial assistance from Great Britain and the United States for the purpose of effecting that modernization necessary for the maintenance of its national integrity. That integrity is essential to the preservation of order in the Middle East. The British government has informed us that, owing to its own difficulties, it can no longer extend financial or economic aid to Turkey. As in the case of Greece, if Turkey is to have the assistance it needs, the United States must supply it. We are the only country able to provide that help.
I am fully aware of the broad implications involved if the United States extends assistance to Greece and Turkey, and I shall discuss these implications with you at this time. One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was a fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over countries which sought to impose their will, and their way of life, upon other nations.
To ensure the peaceful development of nations, free from coercion, the United States has taken a leading part in establishing the United Nations. The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members. We shall not realize our objectives, however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes. This is no more than a frank recognition that totalitarian regimes imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace, and hence the security of the United States.
The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had totalitarian regimes forced upon them against their will. The Government of the United States has made frequent protests against coercion and intimidation in violation of the Yalta agreement in Poland, Rumania, and Bulgaria. I must also state that in a number of other countries there have been similar developments.
At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes.
The world is not static, and the status quo is not sacred. But we cannot allow changes in the status quo in violation of the Charter of the United Nations by such methods as coercion, or by such subterfuges as political infiltration. In helping free and independent nations to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
It is necessary only to glance at a map to realize that the survival and integrity of the Greek nation are of grave importance in a much wider situation. If Greece should fall under the control of an armed minority, the effect upon its neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion and disorder might well spread throughout the entire Middle East. Moreover, the disappearance of Greece as an independent state would have a profound effect upon those countries in Europe whose peoples are struggling against great difficulties to maintain their freedoms and their independence while they repair the damages of war.
It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries, which have struggled so long against overwhelming odds, should lose that victory for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world. Discouragement and possibly failure would quickly be the lot of neighboring peoples striving to maintain their freedom and independence.
Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East.
We must take immediate and resolute action. I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400,000,000 for the period ending June 30, 1948. In requesting these funds, I have taken into consideration the maximum amount of relief assistance which would be furnished to Greece out of the $350,000,000 which I recently requested that the Congress authorize for the prevention of starvation and suffering in countries devastated by the war.
In addition to funds, I ask the Congress to authorize the detail of American civilian and military personnel to Greece and Turkey, at the request of those countries, to assist in the tasks of reconstruction, and for the purpose of supervising the use of such financial and material assistance as may be furnished. I recommend that authority also be provided for the instruction and training of selected Greek and Turkish personnel. Finally, I ask that the Congress provide authority which will permit the speediest and most effective use, in terms of needed commodities, supplies, and equipment, of such funds as may be authorized. If further funds, or further authority, should be needed for purposes indicated in this message, I shall not hesitate to bring the situation before the Congress. On this subject the Executive and Legislative branches of the Government must work together.
This is a serious course upon which we embark. I would not recommend it except that the alternative is much more serious. The United States contributed $341,000,000,000 toward winning World War II. This is an investment in world freedom and world peace. The assistance that I am recommending for Greece and Turkey amounts to little more than 1 tenth of 1 per cent of this investment. It is only common sense that we should safeguard this investment and make sure that it was not in vain. The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died.
We must keep that hope alive.
The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world. And we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation.
Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of events.
I am confident that the Congress will face these responsibilities squarely.