2017-07-31

【Aiden in English】

        The debate has begun. The arguments, competitive spirits, and stressing situations of the debate meetings have begun. And the fun has begun.

        I just want to say that my debate experience was quite lacking in the past. However, that did not relate to my public speaking. Granted, every Chinese speaking contest was quite a disappointment for me. But I’m quick on my feet and mind during English presentations, thanks to the many classes I’ve taken. Luckily, I really enjoyed certain speaking classes, so my fear of public speaking was not completely off the scale.

        Regardless, I am still quite nervous when it comes to public action, whether it’s the performing arts or speaking. In my eyes, I see that musical performances and sport pressures are much greater than speaking. However, the debate is commonly referred to as a competitive sport. The nature itself of the debate is to win an argument, liking the topic or not.

        Day one featured the “get to know you” stage. Day Two had much of the same idea, just that we began to explain our overall debate resolution. I was somewhat excited to see our end game goal; but more importantly, it was the impromptu debates.

        Impromptu- Done without planning. Essentially, we were given a topic to debate, using a brief session to record evidence, and then a quick rapid-fire of both sides. What the activity was called was a two-two-two, a quick debate set-up format. Each side has a pro/con side of a simple topic. They are given two minutes to gather evidence, condensing the evidence into two reasons or contentions, and finally having two minutes to explain the side of the argument. I, personally, do enjoy doing these little public speaking activities, but the group was very larger, therefore the wait was overly long. I still had a blast, rushing through site after site. My given topic, although not applying directly to me, was that the driving age limit should be raised to eighteen. I received the “con” side of the argument. Through much searching, I eventually found the CDC government site, which provided lots and lots of valuable, but more importantly, reliable information. I was on a roll through collecting evidence… and then I realized that I researched the wrong side of the argument.

        Luckily, I recovered, manipulating a few pieces of evidence and adding personal experience to create an argument. Disaster, yes, but I made the most of what I researched, pulling together a decent speech with minor pauses here and there. From start to finish, I kept an overall composure. Never stuttering, buying time with calculated pauses and repetition, I felt really good about my argument. Yet I still believed there was more to improve, which is why we probably were going to do this tomorrow.

【红霞译文】

        辩论拉开序幕，辩论场上针锋相对、竞争气势与紧张程度随之显露出来，乐趣也由此开始。

        我承认过去本人十分缺乏辩论经验，不过这与演讲水平毫无关系。诚然，每次中文演讲比赛我表现得不尽人意，但在英语演讲中，凭借以前所学很多课程的基本功训练，足以让自己尽快恢复状态。幸亏我喜欢有些演讲课，这样在公众场合讲话时恐惧心理才不会达到难以控制的地步。

        其实无论是登台献艺还是发表讲话，公开场合下我依然焦虑紧张。在我个人看来，音乐表演和体育比赛要比演讲压力更大，而辩论又常被视作竞技运动，不管你喜不喜欢争执的话题，到头来就是要赢得辩论胜利。

        夏令营的第一天处于“相互了解”阶段，第二天出发点基本相同，只是大家开始畅叙辩论总体计划，我太想看到我们的终极目标，但没有比即兴辩论更加重要。

        即兴──事先没有准备。本质上我们按命题展开辩论，先简单陈述事实，然后再从两个方面迅速发动攻辩，这种套路被称作2—2—2，一种快捷的辩论形式。辩论对立两个队各做正方/反方，开篇陈词两分钟，将证据概况成两点，攻辩小结两分钟。以个人之见，我挺喜欢这种小型演讲活动，但分组很大，等待时间相应加长，还要飞速从一个赛场赶往另一个赛场。我拿到的题目“开车年龄限制应提高至十八岁”，与我没有直接关系。我以“反方”身份攻辩，通过深入调查，终于在美国疾病控制与预防中心官方网站找到了大量切实可靠的信息，顺顺利利地收集证据……接下来便意识到我站错了路线。

        侥幸的是我及时调整，组织好手头若干事例，并将个人经验整合进来，创造出攻辩论据。灾难，有那么一点，但我充分利用查到的资料，说得有板有眼，只是间或打点磕巴而已。自始至终我一直保持镇定，从没口吃，也不靠计时暂停重复提问来赢得时间，自我感觉不错。我相信还有很多地方需要改进，这正是明天大家可能要重新来过的原因。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2015: 76ers Overnight Camp─Memory(七六人队篮球寄宿营─体会)

2014: YMCA Camp─Renaissance Fair(基督教青年会营─文艺复兴节)

2013: 从俄国浪漫到革命(From Russian Romance to Revolution)

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