出众英语演讲稿范文（精选33篇）
Now I seriously want to thank you for that. I had to take that picture. My mother always took photos of me at every progress point growing up. She’d show off those photos to everyone who came to our house, and she would be so proud that I am here at my old stomping ground with all of you.
So, now graduates, it’s certainly your day, but President Price already reminded us it’s Mother’s Day – but you know women never get enough love, never. So the one day we have here to offer a deserved salute to those who bore us biologically and those who stood in as surrogates for many of our needs and wants – deserve some more love. I want all the graduates to stand up and give their mothers and their surrogate mothers some love. Thank you.
Now this is my first Mother’s Day without my own mother, who I lost last August.
And while she’s not here physically, I can still hear her voice when I reach a significant milestone or face what appears to be an insurmountable obstacle.
And if she were here today, I know exactly what she would say to you.
In response to your achievement, it would, no doubt, be crisp and compelling a show of support: “You did it!” And she would offer you a huge smile and an even bigger hug.
But she would also keep it real with you like she always did with me. She would tell you that your future, like any of ours, is going to be hard work. I can hear her say: “Lisa, listen to me and hear me clearly. Adversity is like the agitator in the washing machine. It beats the heck out of the clothes, but they’re clean when they come out”.
now stand firm and tall, make a fist, get excited, and yell it out: i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed! i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed! i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed!english is a useful language all over the world. why are we began to learn english when we were little children beacause it is very important for us to learn it.in the world, if you cannot speak english you will lose half a chance to success. i began to learn english when i was 8 years old.at that moment,i do not like english.i connot remember all the words which i have learnt.i think it is very difficult for me to learn it well.so i cannot read english loudly and i never answer the questions in the english classes.
now, i like english very well and i still use the ways he tells me.i know i must learn english even hard.
Here’s what I mean:
Reggie Jackson struck out twenty-six-hundred times in his career—the most in the history of baseball.
But you don’t hear about the strikeouts. People remember the home runs.
Fall forward.
Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments. Did you know that?
I didn’t either—because1,001was the light bulb.
Fall forward.
Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.
You’ve got to take risks. And I’m sure you’ve probably heard that before.
But I want to talk about why it’s so important.
I’ve got three reasons—and then you can pick up your iPhones.
First… you will fail at some point in your life. Accept it. You will lose. You will embarrass yourself. You will suck at something. There is no doubt about it.
That’s probably not a traditional message for a graduation ceremony. But, hey, I’m telling you—embrace it.
Because it’s inevitable.
As President, my father will change the labor laws that were put into place at a time when women were not a significant portion of the workforce. And he will focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all.
As a mother myself, of three young children, I know how hard it is to work while raising a family. And I also know that I’m far more fortunate than most. American families need relief. Policies that allow women with children to thrive should not be novelties, they should be the norm. Politicians talk about wage equality, but my father has made it a practice at his company throughout his entire career.He will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this too, right along side of him.
W Ar Th World ,W Ar Th Fuur
Somon sid “w r rdin h firs vrs of h firs chpr of book, whos ps r infini”. I don’ know who wro hs words, bu I’v lwys likd hm s rmindr h h fuur cn b nyhin w wn i o b. W r ll in h posiion of h frmrs. If w pln ood sd ,w rp ood hrvs. If w pln nohin ll, w hrvs nohin ll.
W r youn. “How o spnd h youh?” I is mninful qusion. To nswr i, firs I hv o sk “wh do you undrsnd by h word youh?” Youh is no im of lif, i’s s of mind. I’s no mr of rosy chks, rd lips or suppl kns. I’s h mr of h will. I’s h frshnss of h dp sprin of lif.
A po sid “To s world in rin of snd, nd hvn in wild flowr, hold infiniy in h plm of your hnd, nd rniy in n hour. Svrl dys o, I hd chnc o lisn o lcur. I lrn lo hr. I’d lik o shr i wih ll of you. L’s show our rih plms. W cn s hr lins h show how our lov.crr nd lif is. I hv shor lin of lif. Wh bou yours? I wondrd whhr w could s our fuur in his wy. Wll, l’s mk fis. Whr is our fuur? Whr is our lov, crr, nd lif? Tll m.Yh, i is in our hnds. I is hld in ourslvs.
W ll wn h fuur o b br hn h ps. Bu h fuur cn o br islf.
About the common stuff about entrepreneurship, I'd read too much from books and talks. So, I'm going to share my own opinion. Something special, I think.
At the beginning of the talk, he told that he's really intense because it is his first time to present in front of a crowd of academics. He suggested the students should complete the academic study, and don't give up.
If I had the chance to take all the wealth and so called fame and glory that I have right now, and buy back 15 years of life, but keep the knowledge that I have now, and relive the physique I had 15 years ago and trade places with you right now, I would make that trade in a heartbeat.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you dramatically. I am not here to inspire you. I am here to tell you that we have been lied to about disability. Yeah, we've been sold the lie that disability is a Bad Thing, capital B, capital T. It's a bad thing, and to live with a disability makes you exceptional. It's not a bad thing, and it doesn't make you exceptional. And in the past few years, we've been able to propagate this lie even further via social media. You may have seen images like this one: "The only disability in life is a bad attitude." Or this one: "Your excuse is invalid." Indeed. Or this one: "Before you quit, try!" These are just a couple of examples, but there are a lot of these images out there. You know, you might have seen the one, the little girl with no hands drawing a picture with a pencil held in her mouth. You might have seen a child running on carbon fiber prosthetic legs. And these images, there are lots of them out there, they are what we call inspiration porn. (Laughter)
Dress me up in army fatigues. Throw me on top of a moving train. Ask me to play Malcolm X, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Alonzo from Training Day: I can do all that.
But a commencement speech? It’s a very serious affair. Different ballgame. There’s literally thousands and thousands of people here.
And for those who say—you’re a movie star, millions of people watch you speak all the time…
… Yes, that’s technically true. But I’m not actually there in the theater—watching them watching me.
I’m not there when they cough… or fidget… or pull out their iPhone and text their boyfriend… or scratch their behinds.
From up here: I can see every single one of you. And that makes me uncomfortable.
So please, don’t pull out your iPhone and text your boyfriend until after I’m done.
But if you need to scratch your behinds, go right ahead. I’ll understand.
Thinking about the speech, I figured the best way to keep your attention would be to talk about some really, juicy Hollywood stuff.
I thought I could start with me and Russell Crowe getting into some arguments on the set of American Gangster…
… but no. You’re a group of high-minded intellectuals. You’re not interested in that.
Or how about that “private” moment I had with Angelina Jolie half naked in her dressing room backstage at the Oscars?… Who wants to hear about that?
I don’t think so. This is an Ivy League school. Angelina Jolie in her dressing room…?
In fact… if you really want to know the truth:
I had to come… exactly because I might make a fool of myself.
What am I talking about?
Well, here it is:
I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks.
Nothing.
Nelson Mandela said:
“There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.”
I’m sure in your experiences—in school… in applying to college… in picking your major… in deciding what you want to do with life—people have told you to make sure you have something to “fall back on.”
But I’ve never understood that concept, having something to fall back on.
If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything, except my faith. I want to fall… forward.
At least I figure that way I’ll see what I’m about to hit.
Fall forward.
As I said, my grandfather was a pastor for 50 plus years, leading the civil rights movement and marches, desegregating the public transit system and helping the first African-American policemen secure steady jobs. My father was a physician, one of only 100 black doctors in Atlanta when he started his practice, and my mother was a civic leader who co-founded a coalition of neighborhoods across segregated communities.
Following in the tradition of my elders, I pursued a role in public service as President of the City Council and you heard that I served for six years. As the leader of the Legislative Branch of municipal government, I learned all the mechanics and the operations of the City. And when it was time for my next step, I threw my hat in the ring and ran for Mayor.
I entered as the front runner with the highest name recognition. I raised a ton of money, I knocked on tens of thousands of doors. That said, there were issues along the way; my parents became ill – my father with the ravages of diabetes and two amputated legs and my mother diagnosed with the early onset of dementia – and I decided I needed to withdraw from the race to look after them.
But my father, he wasn’t having it. He told me I need to step up! That I should return to the race and try to get elected and give back to the city that had given us so much. But by then, my campaign’s momentum was gone. I lost the race and I was absolutely devastated. Every question you can possibly image went through my head. Had the people of Atlanta forgotten me? Had they forgotten all the work that I had done? Did they lose faith in me? Were they disappointing [disappointed]?
That night I returned to Singapore. I didn’t think it was a big deal as my father was 73 years old at the time and old people were supposed to forgetful, until the next day when I called my mum. Over the phone she told me that on the flight to Toronto, three of them sat side byside, with my father sitting in the middle. All of a sudden, my father looked at my sister but totally couldn't recognize her, he asked my mum, "what is the name of this young lady and why is she so nice to us"? The moment when he said this, my sister burst into tears. At that time, we haven’t heard of a disease called Alzheimers, but we realized we were starting to lose our dad day by day from that turning point.
Fast forward to September 20xx, my father has been with a nursing home in Xiamen for close to 4 years. He is very skinny butstill survives, thanks to the professional care provided there. Over the years I flew back to visit him from time to time. He couldn’t tell my name but Icould tell that he probably knew I am someone important for him, as he always grabbedmy hands tightly.
I want to start out by saying, I talk about this — about keeping women in the workforce — because I really think that's the answer. In the high-income part of our workforce, in the people who end up at the top — Fortune 500 CEO jobs, or the equivalent in other industries — the problem, I am convinced, is that women are dropping out. Now people talk about this a lot, and they talk about things like flextime and mentoring and programs companies should have to train women. I want to talk about none of that today, even though that's all really important. Today I want to focus on what we can do as individuals. What are the messages we need to tell ourselves? What are the messages we tell the women that work with and for us? What are the messages we tell our daughters?Now, at the outset, I want to be very clear that this speech comes with no judgments. I don't have the right answer. I don't even have it for myself. I left San Francisco, where I live, on Monday, and I was getting on the plane for this conference. And my daughter, who's three, when I dropped her off at preschool, did that whole hugging-the-leg, crying, "Mommy, don't get on the plane" thing. This is hard. I feel guilty sometimes.
what that experience taught me wasn’t just that she was right – that adversity is a certainty – but the only person’s behavior that you can govern is your own. And just as importantly, what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
I’m still standing. Somebody say amen.
With my parents’ advice, I decided to be better...to work harder to overcome the preconceived notions and to prove I could not just perform at that school – but I could excel – at that school. And while my efforts may have been lost on my classmates, they were not lost on the Admissions Office here at Duke University.
On Monday, tomorrow, during your commencement ceremonies, I will confer on you all the “rights and responsibilities” of a Yale degree. Yours is a great responsibility. You will have to know what you are for.
What are you for?
“Surely in the light of history,” Eleanor Roosevelt said, “it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try.”
Yale has prepared you, as a scholar and a human being, to try; to face challenges with courage and determination. And I trust you are leaving Yale with a sense of your own responsibilities to one another, to the planet, and to our shared future.
By serving others and our communities with the many gifts you have been given, you will live a life that is for something, a life of meaning and purpose.
There is no time to waste; there are no words to waste: As a young Bob Dylan sang in 1965, “He not busy being born is busy dying.” We must give life to new ideas, imagine new ways of being in the world, new answers to the problems that vex us and our neighbors.
Now is the time.
Members of the Class of 20xx, please rise:
We are delighted to salute your accomplishments, and we are proud of your achievements. Remember to give thanks for all that has brought you to this day. And go forth from this place with grateful hearts, paying back the gifts you have received here by using your minds, your voices, and your hands to imagine and create the new worlds you wish to see.
What are you for?
Congratulations, Class of 20xx!
Thank you. Thank you.
My mother was right – because you will encounter difficult times in your life, requiring tough decisions and tough time-sensitive responses.
My first taste of adversity came in 1969, when I helped to integrate a private school in my home city of Atlanta. I was a handful of…I was one of a handful of African-American students – student of color8– who passed the entrance exam and was admitted to attend. Now while passing the exam was the technical requirement for admission and acceptance, it was not the path to acceptance from my peers. In fact, from 7th grade to 12th grade, I endured being called the N-word at least once a day.
It was tough to get through a single day, let alone come back and repeat the entire process all over again. I can recall that I told my mother I didn’t want to go to school there anymore; the challenges were just too much. And she would repeat the washing machine adage to me more times than I can count.
Our societies are at a critical juncture – a moment of both great challenge and opportunity.
Over the last half century, women have entered every imaginable field, reached the highest levels of management, and now are leading some of the largest companies in the world.
We have discovered life-saving medical cures, traveled to space, and created transformative technologies. The women here today represent this historic achievement – and shine the light towards an even brighter future.
Here in Japan, 4 decades ago, 45 percent of women worked outside the home. Today, 66 percent of working-age women are in the workforce – a significant improvement, and one I know will only continue to grow in great measure due to Prime Minister Abe’s vision for Japan.
At the very heart of this vision is womenomics.
Womenomics recognizes the centrality of women, who represent roughly half of our global population, in achieving true economic growth. Women who are empowered to work, to thrive, and to lead bring immense creativity, fresh perspective, and success to our economy – and to the world.
When women work, it creates a unique multiplier effect. Women are more likely than men to hire other women, to give them access to capital, mentorship and networks. Women have been shown to reinvest 90 percent of their income in their homes and communities, and tend to allocate more of their funds to food, healthcare and education-resources that benefit children and improve our societies for generations. When women work, they not only support themselves, but they create a better future for their families and their communities.
Currently, an estimated 49 percent of women across the world participate in the global workforce. If women close the gap with men in all aspects of work and society, it could add trillions of dollars to our annual global GDP over the next decade.
almost everyone knows the famous chinese saying：a young idler，an old beggar.
throughout history，we have seen many cases in which this saying has again and again
proved to be true.
it goes without saying that the youth is the best time of life，during which ones
mental and physical states are at their peaks. it takes relatively less time and pains
to learn or accept new things in a world full of changes and rapid developments. in
addition，one is less likely to be under great pressure from career，family and health
problems when young. therefore，a fresh mind plus enormous energy will ensure success
in different aspects of life. of course，we all know：no pains，no gains. if we dont make every effort to make
good use of the advantages youth brings us，it is impossible to achieve any goals.
as students，we should now try our best to learn all the subjects well so that we
can be well prepared for the challenges that we will face in the future.
Several months ago, the Trump Administration instructed the Department of Education to prioritize STEM education, especially computer science, in our schools. The guidance we offered directed that these programs be designed with gender and racial diversity in mind.
At the direction of the President, I have worked closely with leadership across government Agencies to prioritize workforce development and proven on-the-job training programs like apprenticeships so that young women – and men – have more opportunities to earn while they learn, provide for their families, and master the skills that drive progress in the 21st century.
Finally, we must empower women who live in countries that prevent them from leading.
Across the world, there are still laws that stop women from fully participating in their nation’s economy.
In some countries, women are not allowed to own property, travel freely, or work outside of the home without the consent of their husbands.
Countries like the United States and Japan cannot be complacent. We must continue to champion reforms in our own countries while also empowering women in restricted economies.
I encourage you to look up the scene on YouTube – but not right now – because it’s still a very funny piece. And it’s funny because it’s ridiculous, but also because it contains a kernel of truth. And the truth applies not only to college presidents, but to all of us.
How many times have we decided we’re against an idea before we’ve even heard it? How guilty are we of deciding “I’m against it” without even knowing what “it” is?
Many times, we know what we’re against based on who is saying it. If an idea comes from a certain public figure, politician, or media outlet, we already know how we feel. Partly this is because our public discourse has become so predictable. We’ve lost the capacity for surprise, for revelation.
Speaking of predictable, here is the moment where an ambassador of an older generation – that would be me – tells millennials – most of you – about the evils of social media! But hear me out…
Obviously, social media has transformed our lives and our relationships. It obviously has many advantages, allowing us to share news and information quickly with people around the world. But it also heightens our sense of outrage and speeds up arguments, depriving us of the time and space for careful reflection.
Bombarded with notifications, pressured to respond before the media cycle turns over, we tap out our position – our opposition – in seconds. It’s easy to be against something in fewer than 280 characters. It’s far more difficult to articulate what you are for – and to do it at warp speed.
Good morning, my name Cindy, it is really a great honor to have this opportunity for a interview, i would like to answer whatever you may raise, and i hope i can make a good performance today, eventually enroll in this prestigious university in september. now i will introduce myself briefly,I am 23 years old,born in province ,and i am curruently a senior student at beijing university.my major is.and I will receive my bachelor degree after my graduation in june.in the past 4 years,i spend most of my time on study,i have passed CET6 with a ease. and i have acquired basic knowledge of packaging and publishing both in theory and in practice. besides, i have attend
several packaging exhibition hold in Beijing, this is our advantage study here, I have taken a tour to some big factory and company. through these I have a deeply understanding of domestic packaging industry. compared to developed countries such as us, unfortunately, although we have made extraordinary progress since 1978,our packaging industry are still underdeveloped, mess, unstable, the situation of employees in this field are awkard. but I have full confidence in a bright future if only our economy can keep the growth pace still.
I guess you maybe interested in the reason itch to law, and what is my plan during graduate study life,I would like to tell you that pursue law is one of my lifelong goal,I like my major packaging and I wont give up,if I can pursue my master degree here I will combine law with my former education.
I will work hard in thesefields ,patent ,trademark, copyright, on the base of my years study in department of p&p, my character? i cannot describe it well, but i know I am optimistic and confident. sometimes i prefer to stay alone, reading, listening to music, but I am not lonely, i like to chat with my classmates, almost talk everything ,my favorite pastime is valleyball,playing cards or surf online. through college life,I learn how to balance between study and entertainment. by the way, I was a actor of our amazing drama club. i had a few glorious memory on stage. that is my pride.
“Good morning, sir. My name is…”打招呼和过场基本是必须的。
“I’m , I’m , and I’m very .”按照我们的传统思维，自我夸耀一番也是难以避免的。但是这真的好吗?
如果说自我夸耀是正常的，那么就有99%的人在面试时这么做了。然而，那么多人都用一样的措辞自夸，真的会有积极的效果?就怕非但没有积极效果，反而让人觉得你很浮夸，尽说大话很不可靠。而且，老外们对此更加在意，一听到某些单词，说不定就触碰到“雷区”，马上say “Good bye”了。
这里有10个单词，不适合在面试的时候形容自己。看看你有没有如此自夸的习惯吧。
1. generous(宽宏大量的)
肚量是看在旁人眼里的，并不是喊出来的，尤其是不适合从自己的嘴巴里喊出来。真正心胸开阔的人，从不会炫耀，也不会索取别人的称赞。他们就不认为自己的心胸气度如此广阔，因为他们觉得他们还能做得更多。
2. humble(谦恭的)
认为自己很谦虚的人其实并不谦虚，因为真正谦虚的人从不称赞自己谦虚。如果你真要让别人了解自己有多谦虚，就在言语中表现出自己的谦和吧，千万不要直接就说“其实啊，我这个人很谦虚的”。你听到别人这么说，会怎么想?
3. self-disciplined(严格自律的)
自律是好事，但是如果自律过了头，会给别人什么印象?不懂变通，缺乏弹性，死脑筋，不好相处……你身边有没有对待自己特别严格的人?你觉不觉得这样的人太硬不太好相处呢?所以别说自我要求特别严格了，职场不如军队，不需要铁一般的纪律，这样反而会让人觉得你缺乏人性化的变通，也难以沟通。
4. passionate(充满激情的)
热情从来不是喊出来的，而是在实际工作中做出来的。说得好听比做什么都容易，千万别让人觉得你只是嘴巴上特别有干劲而已。另外，热爱工作是好事，但是太过于热爱工作，会让人担心你是否会做出什么过激的举动。而且，如果让别人觉得你动不动就满怀激情地工作，这样你的同事也会很累。
5. witty(机智幽默的)
一般很机智又有幽默感的人，是不会刻意这么称赞自己的，除非他擅长说冷笑话。想想，如果一个人对你说“你知道吗?我是个很机智幽默的人”，你的反应一定是两个字——呵呵。真正机智幽默的人，在谈吐间就能让别人感受到了，用得着挑明了说吗?这反而是愚笨的自夸。
i am very glad to stand here to give thier a short my topic is that the youth are the future of motherlandso what?s my chinese dream ? finally i will announce.
we had learned a lot of knowledge and understood a lot of truth in the book. we had a basic concept to our country at that time. we know that our country is full of sunshine , and we are the future of our country, and our dreams are to be the hope of our motherland.are we sick, or is our dear motherland sick?i dont want to talk about the construction of our country politics, andalso speak impassioned speech on the diaoyu island event .i just want to appeal young people,showing the side of youth,good and must learn to organize our own thoughts, correct our own concept, and change our direction to the right side in future life. china dream actually lies in our young generation, especially of the intellectuals.i dream to construct our beauty china with millions of young people who have the same dream. we do it without exaggeration but only with persistence.that is my speech,thanks everyone.
My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is colorblind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job, period.Words and promises, no matter visionary they sound will only get you so far. In our business, you’re not a builder, unless you’ve got a building to show for it, or in my father’s case, city skylines. Most people strive their entire lives to achieve greatsuccess in a single industry.My father has succeeded in many on the highest level and on a global scale. One of the reasons he has thrived as an entrepreneur is because he listens to everyone. Billionaire executives don’t usually ask the people doing the work for their opinion of the work. My father is an exception.
how many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day? raise your hand if you do. oh, wow. outside of this room, more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day, whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five. in fact, those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children who smile as many as 400 times per day.have you ever wondered why being around children who smile so frequently makes you smile very often? a recent study at uppsala university in sweden found that its very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. you ask, why? because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles. mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically help us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.
we should learn to stick to our life no matter how difficult the life is and we should learn to love others .it is the flim tellsx me .
it is a story talks about a black girl named precious .precious isx fat and not beautiful. her bad temped mother never workx, always cheated others to relieve her ,and atex while watching tv all day.what is worse ,precious was only 16,but she had pregnant for twice .out of assumption ,her child is her farther
a poet said “to see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour. several days ago, i had a chance to listen to a lecture. i learnt a lot there. id like to share it with all of you. lets show our right palms. we can see three lines that show how our love.career and life is. i have a short line of life. what about yours i wondered whether we could see our future in this way. well, lets make a fist. where is our future where is our love, career, and life tell me.yeah, it is in our hands. it is held in ourselves.
One of my father’s greatest talents is the ability to see potential in people, before they see it in themselves. It was like that for us to growing up. He taught us that potential vanishes into nothing without effort.And like him, we each had a responsibility to work, not just for ourselves but for the betterment of the world around us.Over the years, on too many occasions to count, I saw my father tear stories out of the newspaper about people whom he had never met, who were facing some injustice or hardship.He’d write a note to his assistant, in a signature black，felt-tip pen, and request that the person be found and invited to Trump Tower to meet with him. He would talk to them and then draw upon his extensive network to find them a job or get them a break. And they would leave his office, as people so often do after having been with Donald Trump, feeling that life could be great again.
No, this is Penn. That stuff wouldn’t go over well here. Maybe at Drexel—but not here. I’m in trouble now.
I was back to square one—and feeling the pressure.
So now you’re probably thinking—if it was gonna be this difficult, why’d I even accept today’s invitation in the first place?
Well, you know my son goes here. That’s a good reason. And I always like to check to see how my money’s being spent.
And I’m sure there’s some parents out there who can relate to what I’m talking about!
And there were other good reasons for me to show up.
Sure, I got an Academy Award… but I never had something called “Magic Meatballs” after waiting in line for half an hour at a food truck.
True, I’ve talked face-to-face with President Obama… but I never met a guy named “Kweeder” who sings bad cover songs at Smokes on a Tuesday night.
Yes, I’ve played a detective battling demons… but I’ve never been to a school in my life where the squirrel population has gone bananas, breaking into the dorm rooms and taking over campus. I think I’ve even seen some carrying books on the way to class!
So I had to be here. I had to come… even though I was afraid I might make a fool of myself.
Life is short, before you realize it, you have missed the opportunity to accompany those important people in your life, and more importantly, to let them sense your love and gratitude towards them.
When I was young, like any other young people who aspire to explore the outside world, I joined a multinational company, upon graduation. I subsequently moved to Hong Kong to work and eventually settled down in Singapore and started my own family. Over the years I indeed saw many parts of the world, especially in my current job. The preparation for icebreaker speech last night allowed me to take a reflection on whether I havedone enough for these important people while I am constantly shuttling here andthere to satiate my own desire.
The problem with these stories is that they show what the data shows: women systematically underestimate their own abilities. If you test men and women, and you ask them questions on totally objective criteria like GPAs, men get it wrong slightly high, and women get it wrong slightly low. Women do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce. A study in the last two years of people entering the workforce out of college showed that 57 percent of boys entering, or men, I guess, are negotiating their first salary, and only seven percent of women. And most importantly, men attribute their success to themselves, and women attribute it to other external factors. If you ask men why they did a good job,they'll say, "I'm awesome. Obviously. Why are you even asking?" If you ask women why they did a good job, what they'll say is someone helped them, they got lucky, they worked really hard.
My Opinion on Campus Lectures
In recent years, more and more lectures are being given on campus. They are organized either by the departments or by the students unions with an aim to improve the students quality both mentally and academically. These lectures are usually in series and on different topics, such as arts, life, economy, psychology and world issues.
Generally speaking, the advantages of good lectures are various. First they broaden the students knowledge horizon and cultivate interest in different fields. Second, they make the life of the students colorful and enjoyable.
With these merits, lectures are just complementary and subordinate to our school work. If students spend too much time attending lectures, their regular study will be affected and disturbed. So, in my opinion, the students should, on the one hand, do their class work and homework well first, on the other hand, set as more time as possible to attend good lectures which are helpful to our life and study.
I joined the government informed by my experiences in the private sector, having been both an executive leading an international real estate business and an entrepreneur who built a successful brand in an entirely different industry.
As a professional with three young children, despite the help I am able to have at home, I too experience the struggles of balancing the competing demands of work and family.
I, however, am far more fortunate than most.
Because of the opportunities I’ve been afforded my whole life, I felt an obligation to seize this moment and join the Administration.
I saw a chance to fuel the number of women owned businesses and grow our economy.
I saw a chance to work on behalf of girls in rural communities and inner cities who by learning to code or studying robotics could secure good-paying jobs in our modern economy.
we all want the future to be better than the past. but the future can go better itself. dont cry because it is over, smile because it happened. from the past, weve learnt that the life is tough, but we are tougher. weve learnt that we cant choose how we feel, but we can choose what about it. failure doesnt mean you dont have it, it does mean you should do it in a different way. failure doesnt mean you should give up, it does mean you must try harder.
as what i said at the beginning, “we are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book, whose pages are infinite”. the past has gone. nothing we do will change it. but the future is in front of us. believe that what we give to the world, the world will give to us. and from today on, lets be the owners of ourselves, and speak out “we are the world, we are the future.”
I should know: In the acting business, you fail all the time.
Early in my career, I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical. A perfect role for me, I thought—except for the fact that I can’t sing.
So I’m in the wings, about to go on stage but the guy in front of me is singing like Pavarotti and I am just shrinking getting smaller and smaller...
So I come out with my little sheet music and it was “Just My Imagination” by the Temptations, that’s what I came up with.
So I hand it to the accompanist, and she looks at it and looks at me and looks at the director, so I start to sing and they’re not saying anything. I think I must be getting better, so I start getting into it.
But after the first verse, the director cuts me off: “Thank you. Thank you very much, you’ll be hearing from me.”
The next part of the audition is the acting part. I figure, I can’t sing, but I know I can act.
But the guy I was paired with to do the scene couldn’t be more overdramatic and over-the top.
Suffice to say, I didn’t get the part.
But here’s the thing: I didn’t quit. I didn’t fall back.
I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition, and the next audition, and the next one. I prayed and I prayed, but I continued to fail, and I failed, and I failed.
But it didn’t matter. Because you know what? You hang around a barbershop long enough—sooner or later you will get a haircut.
You will catch a break.
Last year I did a play called Fences on Broadway and I won a Tony Award. And I didn’t have to sing for it, by the way.
And here’s the kicker—it was at the Court Theater, the same theater where I failed that first audition 30 years prior.
The point is, every graduate here today has the training and the talent to succeed.
But do you have guts to fail?
Here’s my second point about failure:
If you don’t fail… you’re not even trying.
My wife told me this expression: “To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.”
Les Brown, a motivational speaker, made an analogy about this.
Imagine you’re on your deathbed—and standing around your bed are the ghosts representing your unfilled potential.
The ghosts of the ideas you never acted on. The ghosts of the talents you didn’t use.
And they’re standing around your bed. Angry. Disappointed. Upset.
“We came to you because you could have brought us to life,” they say. “And now we go to the grave together.”
So I ask you today: How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?
You invested a lot in your education. And people invested in you.
And let me tell you, the world needs your talents.
Man, does it ever.
I just got back from four months of filming in South Africa—beautiful country, but there are places with terrible poverty that need help.
And Africa is just the tip of the iceberg.
Ivanka Trump Delivers Speech at Japan's World Assembly for Women
Thank you very much Prime Minister Abe, for that kind introduction. And thank you for your gracious hospitality to my family.
This is my first visit to Japan, and the warmth you have shown us, the beauty of your landscape, and the vibrancy of your culture are truly incredible gifts to all who come to this country. Yesterday evening, as I arrived in Tokyo, I was struck by the magnificence of the skyline – and this morning I was awed by the ancient beauty of the Imperial Palace. The wonders of this land are a testament to the creativity and resilience of the Japanese people.
It is an honor to join you today at the World Assembly for Women. I am grateful to be with this exceptional and passionate group of leaders to discuss the economic empowerment of women, to celebrate the progress our societies have made, and to chart a bold course for the future.
The economic empowerment of women has been a focus of mine for many years – ensuring that 50% of our population can fully participate in the workforce is critical to strengthening our communities and growing our prosperity.
That is why after my father’s election, I decided to leave my businesses and work in government to advance policies and initiatives that empower women to fully participate in the economy, if they so choose. Policies that enable women to pursue their careers and care for their families, policies that focus on workforce development and skills training, and policies that fuel entrepreneurship so that Americans can turn their aspirations into their incredible legacy.