Using LanguageⅡ第二课时教案

My Version of a Chinese Dream July 15, 2016. New York State. 8 p.m. I was sitting on the stairs of a stargazing tower, writing a letter to my parents across the ocean. I was there in the woods, attending an international summer camp. Away from the hustle and bustles of big city, it was just me and sixty girls of my age, coming from 30 different countries, 30 different cultures and 30 different communities. Finishing the first few lines of my letter, I took a pause and looked up. Martyna from Poland was pointing at my paper: “Is this your language? It’s so different! What does this mean?” She was pointing at the character

“mei”. I told her that it means beauty in Chinese. She persisted, “how is it structured? I was stuck. I glanced at the word again. This time, it appeared strange to me. How is it structured? I looked up the word on the internet. The character comes in two parts— lamb and big. The succulent taste of lambs in the agricultural days of ancient China meant not only a tasteful meal, but also a gift of beauty from nature. I was amazed and confused – How could I not know? The richness and the profundity behind the characters—the very characters that make up my Chinese language, the very characters that embody five thousand years of my

civilization and the very characters that witness the quintessence and brilliance of my culture, the culture of China. The realization hit me right in the heart. For all this time, I haven’t turned away to Hollywood and Super Bowls, which, brilliant as they are, cannot

help me define who I am. And I realized: It is our language, our philosophies and our culture that shape who we are. My generation has been exposed to western cultures at a very young age that we’ve neglected, ignored what is ours. We need to rediscover the very nature of our Chinese culture and exert（发挥) its impact upon the world. This is my Chinese Dream. I envision(想象） my generation truly exploring the essence of our culture, exploring masterpieces created by our ancestors. That is why back in my school, along with my friends, we sat around and had inspiring discussions about the works of Confucius and Mencius. I envision my generation building a bridge of understanding among diverse civilizations, and together constructing a world where understanding and conversation between cultures would be the norm（标准）. That is why me and my 60 summer camp friends founded a global network for dialogues and debates. We’re together. We can talk about what is happening in our aspect of lives. Now I know that a harmonious future will unveil before me, as I stride toward my Chinese dream. Thank you.