thirty college students across the country attended the tenth 21st centurycup national english speaking contest in beijing on april 10. eventually, xiapeng, from nanjing university was named the champion. the second and thirdplaces went to zhang jing, a sophomore from china foreign affairs university,and zhang a xu, from hong kong polytechnic university, respectively. more than1000 college students in beijing are lucky birds to listen to the speeches onthe spot in friendship hotel.
just make to it the finals, they had to get past 60 others speaking on “theimpact of globalization on traditional chinese values”. that was at thesemi-final on april 8-9. what will chinese college students think about theimpact? each contestant had his own take on the subject. xia summed upglobalization by saying: “it’s just controversial and hard to say whether it isgood or bad.” xia took the old wall of his city, nanjing, as a metaphor. hespoke about the conflict over whether to protect the old walls or tear them downto represent the conflict of ideas. he suggested that people protect the wall asa valuable relic while tearing down the “intangible walls” of their minds thatprevent communication. while some other students are more focusing on the impactof globalization on family relations, attitudes towards love, andjob-hunting.
over the past 10 years, the national english speaking competition has givencontestants a chance to speak on a variety of topics closely related to theirlives. chinese students become more open-minded and receive various ideas andthinking over the decade. diversity becomes more obvious on campus, studentshave more opportunities to express and show themselves. it’s not an easy taskfor the contestants to win through the fierce competition. owning to theirpassion, hard work and persistence, they finally succeeded in the contest.
liu xin, the first champion of the national contest, is now an anchorpersonof cctv-9. recalling the passion of study on campus, she said: “when you want toexpress your idea by a foreign language without finding a right way, you’rereally upset. then you have to encourage yourself, and after a long term ofbitterness, suddenly you find you get the right way with joy.” with the championtitle in 21st century cup, liu attended the international public speakingcompetition in london in may 1996 afterward and got the first prizehistorically.
dear all,
experience makes you succeedi still remembered the first time when i becamea technical secondary school teacher of english literature. it seemed that ithappened yesterday.
at that day, i got quite ready and i had the confidence to be a goodteacher. i arrived at the classroom, eager to share my knowledge and experiencewith all the students of my class. having prepared for two days, i had no doubtto hold their attention and to impress on them my admiration for theliterature.
“stand up!” the monitor spoke loudly. the entire class stood up as ientered the classroom. i was a little puzzled, but quickly that awkwardness wasover, i regained my calmness and began my well-prepared lecture, sure to gaintheir respect--- or even their admiration. ‘i’m your english, miss jiang. todaywe are going to learn . . . ’ i was very pleased with work . as the bell rang, iwent back to my office full of a sense of achievement. the following day when iread my students’ diaries, the rosy glow was gradually replaced by a strongsense of sadness. the first diary said, “our literature teacher didn’t teach usanything today. perhaps her next lecture would be better.” greatly surprised, iread diary after diary, each expressed a similar theme. “didn’t i teach themanything? i described the entire framework and laid the background for thepassage we would study in class,” i puzzled. “how should they say i taught themnothing?”
it was a long term, and it gradually became clear that my ideas abouteducation weren’t the same as those of my students. i thought a teacher’s jobwas to raise interesting questions and provide enough background so thatstudents could draw their own conclusions. my students thought a teacher’s jobwas to provide exact information as directly and clearly as possible. what adifference! i tell myself i can handle it.’ compared to what others have beenthrough , i’m fortunate. thinking of these sentences i felt something importantstruck me. i believe my life would not be that bad and it was proved to be true.later during my life and work i always told myself ‘i can handle it.’ when myown goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed too overwhelming. and everytime i said it, i always came back to my senses.
now the experience with my students has made me learn a lot, and made me bea better english teacher.
the following year, it was september 10th. i went to class as well. when istepped into the class, i felt surprised. there was a post card on the table,but i didn’t show it on my face. i began teaching lessons. after the class, iwalked out of the class with a card in my hand. i opened the card in the office,it was a music card with words on it. it said ‘many thanks to you, miss jiang.we all love you we like your teaching.’ i was impressed by the words. how honestand simple the words were. hot tears couldn’t help dropping. at that time, i wasso proud of being an english teacher.
so here, coming to us are words that can give us strength. whatever you’regoing through, tell yourself you can handle it. tell this to yourself over andover, and it will help you get through the rough spots with little morefortitude.
we have also come to this hallowed spot to remind america of the fierce urgency of now. this is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. now is the time to make justice a reality for all of god's children.
it would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. this sweltering summer of the negro's legitimate discontent will not pauntil there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. and those who hope that the negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to busineas usual. and there will be neither rest nor tranquility in america until the negro is granted his citizenship rights. the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
but there is something that i must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: in the proceof gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterneand hatred. we must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
the marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
hello,everybody ,i'm happy to make a speech here.my name's sheng aifeng.i'm from kun tong primary school.today my topic is a story of a small village. next i will tell you a sad story about ourselves.long long ago,there was a beautiful village,it was my hometown.how nice it was! look,there was a beautiful forest near river,the trees were tall and straight,the sky was blue, the air was flesh, it looked like a green sea.
my great pleasure to share my dream with you today.i have kept the dream in my mind for so long that whoever in the sun is able to live a happy life for ever.
i think this dream is deeply rooted in the future. as we can see, we are now not far away from violence, poverty, diseases, environmental pollution and even wars. most of people are in need of what they have never enjoyed. however, i still can stick to my innermost dream, as i still can see the bright lights in our future. i believe, there will be a day when those from the rich counties are really willing to share what they have with those from the poor countries; there will be a day when we are surprised to find that the word poverty has long been out of our memories; there will be a day when we are together to share our dreams and we will all contribute to making our common dreams come true.
i will not just wait but to take action to live in my dream.
people lived there happily.but with the development of the society,more and more buildings stood in our village,many new cupboardstables、chairs and others came out. so woods became fewer and fewer,even some floods ofen happened, people lived there sadly.after we hear the story,should we do something for it? we're young pioneers,proecting trees is our duty,let's do by ourselves.i hope everyone makes a contribution to protecting our environment, our hometown anji will become more and more beautiful.
I myself, a rather shy person by nature who easily suffer from stage fright, had to pluck up great courage to take part in a speech contest like this. I could have stayed away and had an easy time of it by not entering the university level contest.But I chose to accept the challenge and to face the difficulties. Now here I am. If I come out first, it will be a great success for me. If I come out last-I hope this will not be the case-but if I come out last, I will not call my attempt a failure, but will also celebrate it as a true success, because part of my goal is my own character training-to do more assertive, to be brave in face of difficulties. For me, it is a meaningful step forward, small as it is, in the long journey toward the final success in my life, because I have truly gained by participating.
different people have different ideas about success; cause people's hopes and ideas vary from one another. but i am sure every success is dear to everybody, cause it is not easy to come by, cause in the process of our striving for success, we got both our body and soul tempted, meanwhile we are enlightened by the most valuable qualities of human beings: love, patient, courage and sense of responsibility. these are the best treasures. so now i am very proud that i have this opportunity to stand here speaking to all of you. it is my success, cause i raise up to challenge my hope.
what is success? everyone has his own interpretation as i do. but i am sure every success leads to an ever-brighter future. so ladies and gentlemen, believe in our hopes, believe in ourselves, we, every one of us, can make a successful life!
wish you all good success!
What is friendship? It is to relate with somebody without need for money or objective. It is to need emotion and over wealth is friendship , no matter what their background , age , sex or personality.
Friendship can be pure. We hear , nowdays, however, how one can be cheated by friends. Many people get along with someone because they have a lot of money. It is doubtful that is real friendship.
Having friends, one can be find happiness. If you are in trouble your friends will help you through or at least comfort you. When you are happy , they share it with you. They are also there for you to chat with at any time.
It is a wonderful feeling, as the proverb says" to love each other is easy but to make friends is hard", So, it is vital that we should get along with our friends. In my opinion ,it is a shame to deceive your friends . The world would be more beautiful if it was full of filled with friendship
友谊是什么?友谊是一种不需要钱或者物质来维持的人与人之间的关系。无论人们的背景 年龄 性别或者个性怎样，友谊的维系需要感情多过财富。
友谊应该是纯洁的。然而，现今我们常常听到的是一个人怎样被他的朋友所欺骗。许多人与人走近是因为他们拥有很多的金钱。而这是否是真正的友谊令人怀疑。
通过交朋友，一个人会感到快乐。如果你有麻烦，你的朋友会帮助你，至少会支持鼓励你。当你开心时，他们会与你分享。他们会在任何时候倍你聊天。
正如谚语说的：爱别人是容易的，但与人交朋友是困难的，这是一种奇妙的感觉。所以，与我们的朋友走近是相当重要的。我认为欺骗朋友是可耻的。如果这个世界充满友谊，那么这个世界将会更加美丽。
a window is opened up at the crack of dawn, beside which one man is overlooking the the mess of buildings outside, breathing the fresh air cosily. but just after a little while, he steps to his seat, staring at the computer screen till the night. this man is very likely a programmer.
there is a man who concentrates on his computer, but doesn’t care about however he dresses, or even whether he washes his face.
there is a man who has a good knowledge of computer language, but has a low eq and makes a bad relationship with others.
there is a man who stays at home and does his own work by himself day and night, but just has few friends.
these images shown above probably are what people think of programmers as, in fact, programmers indeed give us a bad impression sometimes. however, people just have a partial understanding of programmers’ life, not to mention that they can know the fun of programming. there is no doubt that programs affect all aspects of our lives in an obvious or potential way, especially they are reflected in electronic products that we use nowadays.
when you are so proud of possessing an iphone, you’d better remember that it is the program that makes you get confidence to show off the advanced mobile phones thoroughly.
when you take advantage of computers to cope with problems in life, you’d better remember that it is the program that makes you seek the convenience of computer.
my definition of success
today i am very glad to be here to share with you my ideas of success. what is success? it is what everyone is longing for.sometimes success would be rather simple. winning a game is success; getting a high grade in the exam is success; making a new friend is success; even now i am
standing here giving my speech is somehow also success.
however, as a person’s whole life is concerned, success becomes very
complicated. is fortune success? is fame success? is high social status success? no, i don’t think so. i believe success is the realization of people’
s hopes and ideals.nowadays, in the modern society there are many people
who are regarded as the successful. and the most obvious characteristics of hem are money, high position and luxurious life. so most people believe that s success and all that they do is for this purpose. but the problem is wether it is real success. we all know there are always more money, higher position and better condition in front of us. if we keep chasing them, where is the end? what will satisfy us at last? therefore, we can see, to get the real success we must need something inside, which is the realization of
people’ hopes and ideals.
different people have different ideas about success; cause people’s hopes and ideas vary from one another. but i am sure every success is dear to everybody, cause it is not easy to come by, cause in the process of our striving for success, we got both our body and soul tempted, meanwhile we are enlightened by the most valuable qualities of human beings: love, patient, courage and sense of responsibility. these are the best treasures. so now i am very proud that i have this opportunity to stand here speaking to all of you. it is my success, cause i raise up to challenge my hope.
good morning, everyone. my name is . i'm from cheng zhuang primany school. i'm a puiple.today i will tell you a story, the topic is the greedy mouse.
you know the cats eat the mice, and they are enimies. but there is a little mouse that don't know it, her name is jerry.
one day, that was jerry's birthday. that morning, jerry's father and mother got up earilier and said to her, "jerry, get up, get up" the little jerry was sleeping and said, "what's wrong?" "today is your birthday, we are going to buy some presents for you." "thank you, dady momy." then they went out.
but at that time, a cat was looking for food. his name is tom. he found jerry's father and mother went out, left their daughter only at home. he was very happy, said to yourself, "oh, now i have food."
then he called 7654321. jerry catched the telephone quickly, "hello" she said, "this is jerry, who's that?" "this is a tom. i'm a cat."
"a cat? what are you doing?" the cat said, "i hear today is your birthday, happy birthday to you. i have a present for you." jerry was happy, and said, "thank you. you may come here. see you later." "see you later."
then tom went to jerry's home with some flowers.
"who are you?" jerry said, "i'm a tom." "oh, welcome, welcome" the door was open. "jerry, happy birthday to you, here you are." "oh, how nice. thank you, thank you very much. come in, please. then the cat came into jerry's home.
jerry was very happy, she thought tom was friendly to her. she gave some bananas to tom, and said. "tom, please eat bananas." "no, thank you." tom said. "tom, please drink some tea." "no, thank you. jerry, where are your families?" "they are out." "really?" "yes." jerry was worried. then said, "tom, what are you doing?" "now i'm very hungry." "please please……" "no no……" "and what do you want?" "i want want want to eat you." "eat me?" "yes!" "no, help help"
then tom ate jerry. the little mouse was died. this is the mouse's fate.
the story is over. this story tell us no greed.
thank you.
The tempo of modern civilization has been much quickened in the last twenty years. While witnessing the dramatic changes in the better-off society, people begin to reconsider the question of "survival". "Survival" in the old sense does not bother us anymore. Instead, we are more concerned about how to "survive" in the human world full of competition.
Competition always carries abreast challenges and opportunities to everyone involved. It might appear in an entrance exam, in a regular class, or in a small public speech. Those who fail to detect its real nature-whether an opportunity or a challenge a competition really is- will lose something more or less conducive to our growth. Of course, if we take the competition as an opportunity, we will favor it intentionally because they can help us outstand from the average; they will make us become the focus of public attention; they will grant us more chances and rights to succeed. As a matter of fact, opportunities are supposed to be more perceptible and welcoming than challenges. The truth is, however, we will lose more opportunities when we choose to take the "opportunity" fork at the crossroads. The other fork, ignored by us and defined as "fearful challenges", offers much more chances for the walker in competition.
We have such an inclination in life to overestimate ourselves and hold a thoughtless attitude towards the negative outlook of things.
We believe in the old saying, "Opportunity knocks but just once," so we always welcome it and devote all our spirit and efforts to it. The most devout believer of this saying are the graduates. Why? There are quite a number of them who pay full attention to positions in big cities and are willing to flood into developed areas under any circumstances, even though there will be too much uncertainty for their choices. Innumerable cases go straight to the same miserable end: God seems to refuse to help too many of His worshipers.
In conclusion, to define the quality of competition seems to be far from valuable sense, for no matter what a competition is, an opportunity or a challenge, it will create nutritious elements for our growth.
So take a positive look at everything around. Keep our face to the sunshine, and we will not see the shadows.
In front of challenge there are 5 players.
The first player creates opportunity.
The second one attempts opportunity.
The third waits for an opportunity coming, sitting there and crossing his fingers.:)
How about the next one, the fourth player? He just simply misses the opportunity.
Worse ever, the last contender ignores an opportunity under his eyes.
If we don't have guts to be the first player, at least, we can push out well-prepared to grasp any possible opportunity as does the second player.
good afternoon:
honorable judges,dear teachers and close friends.i’m very glad to stand here to share my speech with you.today i’m going to talk about dreams.
everyone has a dream.
martin luther king had a dream-and we can all recall his civil rights speech.phil knight had a dream-and now the whole world knows his nike slogan“just do it”!
i also have a dream,but not only a simple one.
when i was in primary school,my dream was that i would be a doctor when i grew up.i’ll be the first person who produces a new medicine.this kind of medicine can make teachers relax when they are busy correcting their students’ exercises and preparing their lessons.because one day when i woke up at midnight,i found my father,a senior chinese teacher,was still busy with his work.i was deeply moved.i wish my father could be healthy and relaxed every minute.
now i’m a senior grade two student,all my classmates and i are working hard,we all know the college entrance examination which will come in the year of is a big problem for us.we must study harder and harder in order to go to a good university,then when we finish our school,we can find a good job in society.my dream is also that.though now i’m not good at study,i’ll try my best.
i know fantasy is hard to come true,bue dream can.
i’ll work hard for my dreams,i’ll never give up.
thank you!
展望未来,放飞梦想
Greeting everybody!It's my honor to share my topic here with you. Today I'd like to talk about my dream.
When I was a little girl,I often thought about my future.Will I be rich or will I be successful?In fact,I never considered what job will I get.A writer?A
reporter?Or like now,a speecher? I don’t know.Well,I think I’m an ordinary person.So I just want to have a house of my own when I grow up.In my imagination,it may not be very big,but it must be comfortable and warm
enough.If the weather is good,I will sit on my sofa and read books or listen to music on the balcony in the sun.If it is rainy,I’ll sit there and watch the
beautiful world in the rain through the window.Sometimes I will walk by the riverside and enjoy the scenery.Sometimes I won’t do anything but just lie on my bed.
I think all of these things are tiny and beautiful moments in life because they can give me a heart break.It seems that I live a very simple life.However,it’s the life that I really want to live.
No scenery in the world remains unchanged. As long as you keep your heart basking in the sun,then every dawn will present a fine prospect for you to unfold and the world will always be about new hopes. Yes,maybe I won’t be very rich or successful,but I believe that I will live a happy and healthy life.And,that is my dream,my own dream.
That’all.Thanks for listening!
general tso's chicken -- which, by the way, in the us naval academy is called admiral tso's chicken. i love this dish. the original name in my book was actually called the long march of general tso, and he has marched very far indeed, because he is sweet, he is fried, and he is chicken -- all things that americans love.
左宗棠鸡，在美国海军军校被称为左司令鸡。我很喜欢这道菜。在我的书里，这道菜实际上叫左将军的长征，它确实在美国很受欢迎 ，因为它是甜的，油炸的，是鸡肉做的——全部都是美国人的最爱。
so, you know, i realized when i was there, general tso is kind of a lot like colonel sanders in america, in that he's known for chicken and not war. but in china, this guy's actually known for war and not chicken.
我意识到左宗棠将军有点像美国的桑德斯上校(肯德基创始人)，因为他是因鸡肉而出名的而不是战争。而在中国，左宗棠确实是因为战争而不是鸡肉闻名的。
so it's kind of part of the phenomenon i called spontaneous self-organization, right, where, like in ant colonies, where little decisions made by -- on the micro-level actually have a big impact on the macro-level.
这就有点像我所说的自发组织现象。就像在蚂蚁群中，在微观层面上做的小小决定会在宏观层面上产生巨大的影响。
and the great innovation of chicken mcnuggets was not nuggetfying them, because that's kind of an easy concept, but the trick behind chicken mcnuggets was, they were able to remove the chicken from the bone in a cost-effective manner, which is why it took so long for other people to copy them.
麦乐鸡块的发明并没有给他们带来切实收益，因为这个想法很简单，但麦乐鸡背后的技巧是如何用一种划算的方式来把鸡肉从骨头上剔出来。这就是为什么过了这么久才有人模仿他们。
we can think of chinese restaurants perhaps as linux: sort of an open source thing, right, where ideas from one person can be copied and propagated across the entire system, that there can be specialized versions of chinese food, you know, depending on the region.
我们可以把中餐馆比作linux：一种开源系统。一个人的想法可以在整个系统中被复制，被普及。在不同的地区，就有特别版本的中国菜。
tips for happinein daily life
daily life can be made happier. it is a matter of choice. it is our attitude that makes us feel happy or unhappy. it is true, we meet all kinds of situations during the day, and some of them may not be conductive to happiness. we can choose to keep thinking about the unhappy events, and we can choose to refuse to think about them, and instead, relish the happy moments. all of us constantly go through various situations and circumstances, but we do not have to let them influence our reactions and feelings.
if we let outer events influence our moods, we become their slaves. we lose our freedom. we let our happinebe determined by outer forces. on the other hand, we can free ourselves from outer influences. we can choose to be happy, and we can do a lot to add happineto our lives.
what is happiness? it is a feeling of inner peace and satisfaction. it is usually experienced when there are no worries, fears or obsessing thoughts, and this usually happens, when we do something we love to do or when we get, win, gain or achieve something that we value. it seems to be the outcome of positive events, but it actually comes from the inside, triggered by outer events.
for most people happineseems fleeting, because they let changing outer circumstances affect it. one of the best ways to keep it, is by gaining inner peace through daily meditation. as the mind becomes more peaceful, it becomes easier to choose the happinehabit.
here are a few tips for increasing happinein daily life:
1) endeavor to change the way you look at things. always look at the bright side. the mind may drag you to think about negativity and difficulties. don't let it. look at the good and positive side of every situation.
2) think of solutions, not problems.
3) listen to relaxing, uplifting music.
4) watch funny comedies that make you laugh.
5) each day, devote some time to reading a few pages of an inspiring book or article.
6) watch your thoughts. whenever you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, start thinking of pleasant things.
7) always look at what you have done and not at what you haven't.
sometimes you may begin the day with the desire to accomplish several objectives. at the end of the day you might feel frustrated and unhappy, because you haven't been able to do all of those things.
look at what you have done, not at what you have not been able to do. you may have accomplished a lot during the day, and yet you let yourself become frustrated, because of some small things that you did not accomplish. you have spent all day successfully carrying out many plans, and instead of feeling happy and satisfied, you look at what was not accomplished and feel unhappy. it is unfair toward yourself.
8) each day do something good for yourself. it can be something small, such buying a book, eating something you love, watching you favorite program on tv, going to a movie, or just having a stroll on the beach.
9) each day do at least one act to make others happy. this can be a kind word, helping your colleagues, stopping your car at the crossroad to let people cross, giving your seat in a bus to someone else, or giving a small present to someone you love. the possibilities are infinite. when you make someone happy, you become happy, and then people try to make you happy.
10) always expect happiness.
11) do not envy people who are happy. on the contrary, be happy for their happiness.
12) associate with happy people, and try to learn from them to be happy. remember, happineis contagious.
13) do your best to stay detached, when things do not proceed as intended and desired. detachment will help you stay calm and control your moods and reactions. detachment is
The most famous snack in my hometown is yuntun. Whenever I taste thisdelicious food, I feel relaxed and happy.
Be patient when eating yuntun. If you are in a hurry and want to eat one ata time, yuntun will burn your mouth full of bubbles. Eating yuntun is also veryexquisite. You can not only separate the skin from the sink, but also pierce theskin and eat for a long time. Guests who like spicy food can put some pepperbefore eating.
On the National Day holiday, my mother took me to master Huangs wonton shopto taste the delicious wonton. They began to eat wonton. I saw that yuntun wasthick in skin and meat, attractive in color, with long drums, which made peoplereally want to eat one at a time. At this time. First, I picked up the pepperbottle and sprinkled pepper in the wonton soup. Then I picked the biggest oneand carefully pricked the skin with chopsticks. Suddenly, a fragrance curledinto my nostril. I couldnt help but drool. I took a bite of the skin first. Itsvery chewy. Then a mass of red meat ran out of yuntuns skin mischievously. Itseems to be looking at me mischievously. At this time, I can no longer resistthe temptation of the meat pit and cant wait to take a bite. The feeling oftenderness and smoothness comes naturally, which makes me not bear to swallowthe delicious and juicy yuntun. I just want to let yuntun taste in my mouth fora long time. I ate seven in a row, which made my belly swell. My mother said Iwas a glutton when she saw how delicious I was. Ah, who makes yuntun sodelicious! I would rather be a glutton, but also to taste this world food. Backhome, the fragrance of yuntun still overflows in the mouth!
How about listening to my introduction, everyone must be drooling! Letshave a taste of this memorable food - yuntun bar!
during his presidency, bill clinton seized important opportunities on issues from welfare to free trade. he was a tireless champion of peace in the middle east. he used american power in the balkans to confront aggression and halt ethnic cleansing. and in all his actions and decisions, the american people sensed a deep empathy for the poor and the powerless. shortly before leaving office, president clinton said, "christ admonished us that our lives will be judged by how we do unto the least of our neighbors." throughout his career, bill clinton has done his best to live up to that standard. and americans respect him for it. at every stage of his remarkable life, president clinton has made and kept countless friends, who share in the joy of this day. and three people in particular have the largest part in this remarkable story. one day more than 30 years ago, inside the yale law library, a fellow student walked over to bill clinton and said, "if you're going to keep staring at me, and i'm going to keep staring back, we ought to at least know each other's name. mine's hillary rodham. what is yours?"that was a good day for both of them, and the beginning of a partnership unique in american history. so today, we honor the former first lady of arkansas, the former first lady of america, the united states senator from new york, senator hillary rodham clinton.
perhaps the clintons' greatest achievement is their daughter, who moved into the white house as a young girl, and left as an accomplished young lady. it's not easy to be a teenager in the white house, but it's a lot easier when you have a loving mother and a loving father that chelsea clinton had.
this magnificent presidential library, and the american life it celebrates, would not have been possible without the love and sacrifice of a special lady. among his heroes, president clinton always includes his mother, virginia kelley, "a working woman and a widow." virginia was there when her son took the oath of office, and we know that she would be incredibly proud of this day.
the story that began in a little house on hervey street in hope, arkansas is the kind of story that inspires people from every background, all over america. in this great nation, it is always possible for a child to go as far as their talent and vision can take them. visitors to this place will be reminded of the great promise of our country, and the dreams that came true in the life of our 42nd president. the william j. clinton presidential library is a gift to the future by a man who always believed in the future. and today, we thank him for loving and serving america.