facing this audience on the stage, i have the exciting feeling of participating in the march of history, for what we are facing today is more than a mere competition or contest. it is an assembly of some of china’s most talented and motivated people, representatives of a younger generation that are preparing themselves for the coming of a new century.

　　i’m grateful that i’ve been given this opportunity, at such a historic moment, to stand here as a spokesman of my generation and to take a serious look back at the past 15 years, a crucial period for every one of us and for this nation as well.

　　though it is only within my power to tell about my personal experience, and only a tiny fragment of it at that, it still represents, i believe, the root of a spirit which has been essential to me and to all the people bred by the past 15 years.

　　in my elementary years, there was a little girl in the class who worked very hard but somehow could never do satisfactorily in her lessons.

　　the teacher asked me to help her, and it was obvious that she expected a lot from me. but as a young boy, restless, thoughtless, i always tried to evade her so as to get more time to enjoy myself.

　　one day before the final exam, she came up to me and said, could you please explain this to me? i want very much to do better this time. i started explaining, and finished in a hurry. pretending not to notice her still confused eyes, i ran off quickly. nat surprisingly, she again did very badly in the exam. and two months later, at the beginning of the new semester, word came of her death of blood cancer. no one ever knew about the little task i failed to fulfill, but i couldn’t forgive myself. i simply couldn’t forget her eyes, which seem to be asking, why didn’t you do a little more to help me, when it was so easy for you? why didn’t you understand a little better the trust placed in you, so that i would not have to leave this world in such pain and regret?