英语演讲稿经典（通用17篇）
i love english,it gives me a colorful dream.i hope i can travel around the world one day. with my good english, i can make friends with many people from different contries.i can see many places of great interests.i dream that i can go to london,because it is the birth place of english.
i also want to use my good english to introduce our great places to the english spoken people,i hope that they can love our country like us.
i know, rome was not built in a day. i believe that after continuous hard study, one day i can speak english very well.
if you want to be loved, you should learn to love and be lovable. so i believe as i love english everyday , it will love me too.
i am sure that i will realize my dream one day!
Opening Statement: Sexual Harrassment Hearings Concerning Judge Clarence ThomasMr.Chairman, Senator Thurmond, members of the committee, my name is Anita F.
Hill, and I am a professor of law at the University of Oklahoma.
I was born on a farm in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, in 1956.
I am the youngest of 13 children.
I had my early education in Okmulgee County.
My father, Albert Hill, is a farmer in that area.
My mothers name is Irma Hill.
She is also a farmer and a housewife.
My childhood was one of a lot of hard work and not much money, but it was one of solid family affection, as represented by my parents.
I was reared in a religious atmosphere in the Baptist faith, and I have been a member of the Antioch Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, since 1983.
It is a very warm part of my life at the present time.
For my undergraduate work, I went to Oklahoma State University and graduated from there in 1977.
I am attaching to this statement a copy of my resume for further details of my education.
I graduated from the university with academic honors and proceeded to the Yale Law School, where I received my JD degree in 1980.
Upon graduation from law school, I became a practicing lawyer with the Washington, DC, firm of Ward, Hardraker, and Ross.
In 1981, I was introduced to now Judge Thomas by a mutual friend.
Judge Thomas told me that he was anticipating a political appointment, and he asked if I would be interested in working with him.
He was, in fact, appointed as Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights.
After he had taken that post, he asked if I would become his assistant, and I accepted that position.
In my early period there, I had two major projects.
The first was an article I wrote for Judge Thomas signature on the education of minority students.
The second was the organization of a seminar on high-risk students which was abandoned because Judge Thomas transferred to the EEOC where he became the chairman of that office.
During this period at the Department of Education, my working relationship with Judge Thomas was positive.
I had a good deal of responsibility and independence.
I thought he respected my work and that he trusted my judgment.
After approximately three months of working there, he asked me to go out socially with him.
What happened next and telling the world about it are the two most difficult things -- experiences of my life.
It is only after a great deal of agonizing consideration and sleepless number -- a great number of sleepless nights that I am able to talk of these unpleasant matters to anyone but my close friends.
I declined the invitation to go out socially with him and explained to him that I thought it would jeopardize what at the time I considered to be a very good working relationship.
I had a normal social life with other men outside of the office.
I believed then, as now, that having a social relationship with a person who was supervising my work would be ill-advised.
I was very uncomfortable with the idea and told him so.
I thought that by saying no and explaining my reasons my employer would abandon his social suggestions.
However, to my regret, in the following few weeks, he continued to ask me out on several occasions.
He pressed me to justify my reasons for saying no to him.
These incidents took place in his office or mine.
They were in the form of private conversations which would not have been overheard by anyone else.
My working relationship became even more strained when Judge Thomas began to use work situations to discuss sex.
On these occasions, he would call me into his office for reports on education issues and projects, or he might suggest that, because of the time pressures of his schedule, we go to lunch to a government cafeteria.
After a brief discussion of work, he would turn the conversation to a discussion of sexual matters.
His conversations were very vivid.
He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes.
He talked about pornographic materials depicting individuals with large penises or large breasts involved in various sex acts.
On several occasions, Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess.
Because I was extremely uncomfortable talking about sex with him at all and particularly in such a graphic way, I told him that I did not want to talk about these subjects.
I would also try to change the subject to education matters or to nonsexual personal matters such as his background or his beliefs.
My efforts to change the subject were rarely successful.
Throughout the period of these conversations, he also from time to time asked me for social engagements.
My reaction to these conversations was to avoid them by eliminating opportunities for us to engage in extended conversations.
This was difficult because at the time I was his only assistant at the Office of Education -- or Office for Civil Rights.
During the latter part of my time at the Department of Education, the social pressures and any conversation of his offensive behavior ended.
I began both to believe and hope that our working relationship could be a proper, cordial, and professional one.
When Judge Thomas was made chair of the EEOC, I needed to face the question of whether to go with him.
I was asked to do so, and I did.
The work itself was interesting, and at that time it appeared that the sexual overtures which had so troubled me had ended.
I also faced the realistic fact that I had no alternative job.
While I might have gone back to private practice, perhaps in my old firm or at another, I was dedicated to civil rights work, and my first choice was to be in that field.
Moreover, the Department of Education itself was a dubious venture.
President Reagan was seeking to abolish the entire department.
For my first months at the EEOC, where I continued to be an assistant to Judge Thomas, there were no sexual conversations or overtures.
However, during the fall and winter of 1982, these began again.
The comments were random and ranged from pressing me about why I didnt go out with him to remarks about my personal appearance.
I remember his saying that some day I would have to tell him the real reason that I wouldnt go out with him.
He began to show displeasure in his tone and voice and his demeanor and his continued pressure for an explanation.
He commented on what I was wearing in terms of whether it made me more or less sexually attractive.
The incidents occurred in his inner office at the EEOC.
One of the oddest episodes I remember was an occasion in which Thomas was drinking a Coke in his office.
He got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can and asked, Who has pubic hair on my Coke? On other occasions, he referred to the size of his own penis as being larger than normal, and he also spoke on some occasions of the pleasures he had given to women with oral sex.
At this point, late 1982, I began to feel severe stress on the job.
I began to be concerned that Clarence Thomas might take out his anger with me by degrading me or not giving me important assignments.
I also thought that he might find an excuse for dismissing me.
In January of 1983, I began looking for another job.
I was handicapped because I feared that, if he found out, he might make it difficult for me to find other employment and I might be dismissed from the job I had.
Another factor that made my search more difficult was that there was a period -- this was during a period of a hiring freeze in the government.
In February of 1983, I was hospitalized for five days on an emergency basis for acute stomach pain which I attributed to stress on the job.
Once out of the hospital, I became more committed to find other employment and sought further to minimize my contact with Thomas.
This became easier when Allison Duncan (sp) became office director, because most of my work was then funneled through her and I had contact with Clarence Thomas mostly in staff meetings.
In the spring of 1983, an opportunity to teach at Oral Roberts University opened up.
I participated in a seminar -- taught an afternoon session and seminar at Oral Roberts University.
The dean of the university saw me teaching and inquired as to whether I would be interested in furthering -- pursuing a career in teaching, beginning at Oral Roberts University.
I agreed to take the job in large part because of my desire to escape the pressures I felt at the EEOC due to Judge Thomas.
When I informed him that I was leaving in July, I recall that his response was that now I would no longer have an excuse for not going out with him.
I told him that I still preferred not to do so.
At some time after that meeting, he asked if he could take me to dinner at the end of the term.
When I declined, he assured me that the dinner was a professional courtesy only and not a social invitation.
I reluctantly agreed to accept that invitation, but only if it was at the every end of a working day.
On, as I recall, the last day of my employment at the EEOC in the summer of 1983, I did have dinner with Clarence Thomas.
We went directly from work to a restaurant near the office.
We talked about the work I had done, both at education and at the EEOC.
He told me that he was pleased with all of it except for an article and speech that I had done for him while we were at the Office for Civil Rights.
Finally, he made a comment that I will vividly remember.
He said that if I ever told anyone of his behavior that it would ruin his career.
This was not an apology, nor was it an explanation.
That was his last remark about the possibility of our going out or reference to his behavior.
In July of 1983, I left Washington, DC area and have had minimal contact with Judge Clarence Thomas since.
I am of course aware from the press that some questions have been raised about conversations I had with Judge Clarence Thomas after I left the EEOC.
From 1983 until today, I have seen Judge Thomas only twice.
On one occasion, I needed to get a reference from him, and on another he made a public appearance in Tulsa.
On one occasion he called me at home and we had an inconsequential conversation.
On one occasion he called me without reaching me, and I returned the call without reaching him, and nothing came of it.
I have on at least three occasions, been asked to act as a conduit to him for others.
I knew his secretary, Diane Holt.
We had worked together at both EEOC and education.
There were occasions on which I spoke to her, and on some of these occasions undoubtedly I passed on some casual comment to then Chairman Thomas.
There were a series of calls in the first three months of 1985, occasioned by a group in Tulsa, which wished to have a civil rights conference.
They wanted Judge Thomas to be the speaker and enlisted my assistance for this purpose.
I did call in January and February to no effect, and finally suggested to the person directly involved, Susan Cahal (ph) that she put the matter into her own hands and call directly.
She did so in March of 1985.
In connection with that March invitation, Ms.
Cahal (ph) wanted conference materials for the seminar and some research was needed.
I was asked to try to get the information and did attempted to do so.
There was another call about another possible conference in July of 1985.
In August of 1987, I was in Washington, DC and I did call Diane Holt.
In the course of this conversation, she asked me how long I was going to be in town and I told her.
It is recorded in the message as August 15.
It was, in fact, August 20th.
She told me about Judge Thomass marriage and I did say congratulate him.
It is only after a great deal of agonizing consideration that I am able to talk of these unpleasant matters to anyone except my closest friends.
As Ive said before these last few days have been very trying and very hard for me and it hasnt just been the last few days this week.
It has actually been over a month now that I have been under the strain of this issue.
Telling the world is the most difficult experience of my life, but it is very close to having to live through the experience that occasion this meeting.
I may have used poor judgment early on in my relationship with this issue.
I was aware, however, that telling at any point in my career could adversely affect my future career.
And I did not want early on to burn all the bridges to the EEOC.
As I said, I may have used poor judgment.
Perhaps I should have taken angry or even militant steps, both when I was in the agency, or after I left it.
But I must confess to the world that the course that I took seemed the better as well as the easier approach.
I declined any comment to newspapers, but later when Senate staff asked me about these matters I felt I had a duty to report.
I have no personal vendetta against Clarence Thomas.
I seek only to provide the committee with information which it may regard as relevant.
It would have been more comfortable to remain silent.
I took no initiative to inform anyone.
But when I was asked by a representative of this committee to report my experience, I felt that I had to tell the truth.
I could not keep silent. Good morning: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 Love and Take care of Nature.Mother Nature is an exquisite and complex life-system.
Its charm appears in the trees, stream, soil, insects, moss and fungus, all the things on the earth in different shapes, which are interdependent.
When you get close to nature, please remember, each tree, stone and species of animals here has lived harmoniously for hundreds, thousands or even millions of years.
When we pass away, they will continue to live.
They are the real masters, while we are just the passer-by.
However, the conduct we unconsciously do, such as picking, lumbering, tramping and abusing can probably destroy the balance of their life.
Therefore, we must reduce our bad influence as much as possible.
While you are enjoying the nature, do not forget please, the beauty of the lives also needs to be concerned with and to be protected.Each life on the earth has a long and touching evolutionary story.
From the origin, the lives of the human being are equal to those of others; they both are the composing parts of Mother Nature.
Nevertheless, for some inexplicable reasons, the human becomes the spirits of all creatures.
Of course, it is the result of the evolution, but still we should be grateful to all our companions in nature for the opportunity they offer.In spite of this, humans cannot live without earth.
They live on the earth, drink the sweet water, and enjoy the sunshine, the air, the sky, the fruit; the grains utilize the energy and so on.
In a word, the human being cannot live without nature, and Mother Nature makes us grow stronger.I do not like the word Pet, but preferring the word Animal instead.
I have been loving animal since I was just a little boy.
When thinking of the Pet Fashion, I always feel much annoyed.
For the animals will be given a shackle and lose their liberty if they become someones pets.
Their natural attribution can be deprived, too.Up to now, relying on their scientific power, the human have opened up too much and over developed nature, in order to fill up their growing appetites of wealth.
They destroy the balance of nature, however, they dont realize, their own development and existence will be threatened.
Therefore, our sights should be focused on nature and we should try to develop the concept of keeping human and nature in unity.We should lay emphasis on our education with consider cultural and natural emotion. Greetings,everybody.Its really great to be here.Id like to talk about my favorite TV channels.
I enjoy watching TV.Im not embarrassed to admit it.Not all programs are a big waste of time.
Some programs are educational and worthwhile.Some channels are relaxing and entertaining.Let me introduce my four favorites to you.
First,I love action movies.I thrive on the excitement.They make me feel so alive.
I pretend Im the hero.I always defeat the bad guys.I usually end up having a beautiful girlfriend.
Action movies are a blast.Action movie a nice escape.I recommend the action movies on HBO.
Second,I really like comedy.I like humorous entertainment.It always cheers me up.
Laughter is so healthy.Its like food for the soul.Its like sunshine on a rainy day.
My comedy must have quality.It must be wholesome and good-natured.It can never be sexist or humiliating.
Third,I love adventure programs.Im nuts about traveling.The Travel Channel is a favorite.
I also love to explore.Im into science and innovation.The Discovery Channel always fascinates me.
Besides,Im crazy about animals.I respect the animal kingdom.I think Animal Planet is really cool.
Finally,I love watching the news.Im a news freak.Im a politics junky.
I cant get enough of politics.I analyze and compare many news shows.I seldom believe much of what I hear.
I know politics turns a lot of people off.It turns me on.Its my duty as a citizen to stay informed.
In conclusion,I enjoy the tube.Its really not so bad.Its not all useless junk.
Enjoy and beware.Enjoy quality programs.Beware of becoming a couch potato.
Thank you for listening.Thanks for your attention.I hope you always watch excellent TV programs.
20年来，魏国强(音译)的目光一直没有离开过中国足球，但值得庆祝的理由却是少之又少。
"Its like the Chinese saying; you always think your children are the most beautiful no matter how ugly they are," the 30-year-old education specialist told CNN in Beijing.
“中国有句俗话：‘母不嫌子丑，狗不嫌家贫，’ 我对中国足球也是这样的心情。” 这位30岁的教育专家在北京接受CNN采访时说。
Dogged by poor performances on the pitch and corruption scandals off it, the Chinese game has been far from beautiful.
绿茵场上球员的欠佳表现和一些贪腐丑闻，中国足球一直不被看好。
But die-hard soccer fans like Wei finally have something to cheer about.
但是像魏先生这样的死忠球迷终于等到了这样一个欢呼雀跃的时刻。
Guangzhou Evergrande, a soccer team based in the southern city of Guangzhou, became Asian champions on Saturday, beating South Koreas FC Seoul to claim Chinas first continental title in 23 years in a stadium packed to capacity with fans wearing the teams blood-red colors.
11月9日星期六，来自南方城市广州的俱乐部球队广州恒大，在坐无虚席、尽是恒大鲜红球迷的主场击败韩国首尔FC，荣获亚冠联赛冠军，这也是中国足球在23年以来夺得第一个亚洲冠军。
"They are persistent and never surrender," said Wei, who watched the match on television at home.
“他们坚持不懈，从不言弃，” 魏先生说，他在家中的电视机前观看了比赛直播。
Evergrande will now play in the FIFA Club World Cup in December, pitting the team against the likes of German giants and reigning European champions Bayern Munich. Previous winners of the tournament include Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona.
今年12月恒大还将出征国际足联世界俱乐部杯，有机会与欧冠强队、德国劲旅拜仁慕尼黑场上较量。世俱杯之前的冠军得主有切尔西、曼联和巴塞罗那等。
China last tasted international success at club level in 1990 when Liaoning lifted the trophy of the now expired Asian Club Championship. Its national team has also punched below the countrys weight.
中国最近一次品尝国际俱乐部级的成功是在1990年，辽宁队举起了亚洲足球俱乐部冠军联赛(现已停办)的奖杯。国家队一直没有令人瞩目的表现。
Despite being one of the countrys most popular sports -- President Xi Jinping is said to be a big fan -- China failed to qualify for the 20__ World Cup and did not enter the running for the 20__ tournament.
尽管足球是中国最受欢迎的体育项目之一——据说国家主席 也是足球迷——但中国没有打入20__世界杯，也没有入围20__年世界杯承办权的角逐。
Evergrandes rise to the top of Asian football has been fast and furious and some say it could be Asias first "superclub."
恒大以迅雷不及掩耳之势跃居亚洲足球之冠，有人说，它可能成为亚洲第一家“超级俱乐部”。
In early 20__, the team was bought by Xu Jiayin, the boss of property developer Evergrande Real Estate Group and Chinas 13th richest man, according to Forbes.
20__年初，福布斯中国富人榜名列13的恒大地产集团老板许家印出手买下这支球队。
He paid 100 million yuan ($16.4 million) for the club, shocking many as the team had recently been relegated to the second division of Chinas league. In 20__, they won the Chinese Super League and claimed the league title for the third time this year.
他为俱乐部投入1亿人民币(合1千4百万美元)，这样的大手笔让许多人吃惊不小，因为这支球队当时刚被降级中甲。20__年，他们重返中超夺冠，并在今年第三次蝉联冠军。
Dong Jianzheng, an editor at the Chinese-language World Soccer Magazine, credits Xus deep pockets as the main reason for the teams success.
《足球世界》杂志中文版编辑董建峥将该球队的成功归功于许家印的经济实力。
The club has spent at least 1.5 billion yuan ($250 million) in the past three years, according to The China Daily, recruiting domestic stars and foreign players like Brazilian striker Muriqui. The team is led by Marcello Lippi, who coached the Italian team that won the 20__ World Cup.
根据《中国日报》的报道，恒大在过去的3年里至少花掉15亿元人民币(合2亿5千万美元)，招募国内球星和巴西中锋穆里奇等外援。该队的主教练马尔切洛·里皮曾率意大利队问鼎20__年世界杯。
"The Evergrande model is similar to Chelsea and Manchester, where they win simply because they invest," Dong told CNN.
“恒大模式类似于切尔西和曼联，他们赢，只因为舍得下本钱投资，” 董先生接受CNN采访时说。
"They have a strong team and a large number of foreign players. They are good because they dare to throw in their money." But he said Evergrandes success doesnt represent the big picture.
“他们有实力强大的球队，有很多外援加盟。他们之所以出色，因为敢于砸钱投资。但是，他说恒大的成功并不代表大环境。
A bribery investigation that led to several players, referees and managers serving jail terms has left many fans disillusioned with the Chinese game.
中国足球贪污受贿案将一些球员、裁判和经理人送进监狱，导致许多粉丝不再对中国足球抱有幻想。
Rowan Simons, the author of "Bamboo Goalposts: One mans quest to teach the Peoples Republic of China to love football", says corruption reaches down to the sports grassroots, which suffer from a lack of investment.
《足球无疆》的作者罗文·西蒙斯说，足球投资匮乏，腐败侵蚀到了足球运动的根基。
"Parents will bribe the coach to get (their child) into the team, teams will bribe the referee to win the game," said Simons, who has lived and played football in China for more than 20 years.
“父母向教练行贿，这样他们的孩子才能进球队，球队行贿裁判赢球，” 住在中国与中国足球打了20多年交道的西蒙斯说。
Hopes are high that Evergrandes arrival on the international soccer stage will give a much-needed boost to the countrys football system.
恒大登上国际足球舞台将给予中国足球体制亟待的推动，人们对此寄予厚望。
The president of the Asian Football Confederation, which runs the regions premier tournament, said that Evergrandes win would infuse new life into Chinese football and spread the game to a wider audience.
亚洲足联主席表示，恒大的成功将为中国足球注入新活力，吸引更多的观众。亚足联主要负责举办地区性的重要足球赛事。
"I am confident that this will benefit not only the Chinese Super League but also the national team in a big way," said Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim.
“我相信，这一成功不仅对中超而且对国家队都极为有利，” 亚足联主席谢赫萨尔曼·本·易卜拉欣说。
But they will have a hard time convincing fans like Cui, an engineer, who spends his spare time glued to the English Premier League, Europes UEFA Champions League and Spains La Liga.
但是他们想拥有像崔工程师一样的球迷还有很长一段路要走，崔先生把业余时间都花在看英超联赛、欧冠比赛和西甲联赛上。
He says he wont make the effort to watch Evergrandes FIFA Club World Cup match against Egyptian side Al Ahly in December. "The time difference is a challenge, but I still choose foreign matches because they are much more professional," he told CNN.
他说，他对12月的俱乐部世界杯恒大对埃及阿赫利的比赛兴趣不大，。“尽管时差是一大挑战，但是我仍然选择外国的球赛，因为他们专业得多，”他告诉CNN。
在我心中，有许许多多的、多姿多彩的中国梦。这些梦，曾经让我心潮澎湃，曾经让我热血沸腾，曾经让我心驰神往。无时无刻，我都在为国家美好的未来憧憬着。但是，我清楚地认识到，让国家强盛的重要角色，就是我们---那好似喷薄的朝阳的莘莘学子---正是我们的强弱，决定着祖国的未来。正所谓梁启超说的“少年强则国强”，确实不错。殊不知，在广大学子背后，还有一位重要角色，那，就是像蜡烛一样，燃烧自己，照亮别人，默默奉献的老师们。在一定程度上，好老师决定好学生。所以，师资力量和教育质量也同样重要。作为一名学生，我多么希望有一个好老师啊！那么，我心目中的好老师是什么样子的呢？
首先，一名好老师应该拥有渊博的知识,更重要的是将课讲活﹑讲精、讲好。一名语文老师，应该诗词历史，写作阅读，无所不通，无所不知。一名数学老师，应该将奥数几何，各种运算，运用自如。一名英语老师，应该说一口纯正英语，与外国人轻松交谈。现在的许多老师讲课都有些枯燥古板，甚至学生会因为老师的严厉呆板而失去了一个孩子应有的活泼与想象力，也变得呆板起来，或失去学习的兴趣。那么，一个好老师就应该和学生之间拉近距离，平易近人，成为学生的良师益友：在课堂上激情澎湃、充满感情﹑身临其境地
给学生讲课：激动时手舞足蹈,感动时泪流满面；好笑时忍俊不禁,感慨时长篇大论；和学生一起在课文的浪起浪落中随波遨游,品味课文的苦辣酸甜,感受文章的真谛与乐趣将课讲活﹑讲精、讲好；尽量和学生互动学习，让学生带有感情地上课，身临其境地去学习，在学中玩，玩中学；当学生对上课产生兴趣时，往往能产生事半功倍的效果。而这，就是一个好老师应该做到的第一点。
一个好老师不仅要拥有渊博的知识,将课讲活﹑讲精、讲好，还要有高尚的师德。的确，一个老师的师德将会影响一个学生的思想。一位好老师，就应该抓住生活课文中的一点一滴的小事，借机把好的思想传输给学生，将会使学生终生受益。当看见受伤的小动物时，就应该教育学生：要爱护动物；当看到有人破坏花草树木时,就应该教育学生:要爱户花草树木；当看到有人乱扔垃圾时,应当教育学生；要保护我们赖以生存的地球的环境。在学课文的时候,譬如讲到《自己的花是让别人看的》一课时,应不失时机地教育学子：要学会“人人为我,我为人人”的品质；讲到《金钱的魔力》一文,老师又应及时地告诫学生:千万不要像托德与老板那样有着见钱眼开的丑态,不要为金钱所动……当然,不仅要教育学生,老师自己也要做出榜样。例如:当大家在班级大扫除中都干得有气无力时，老师带头大干起来，挥如汗雨---用自己的实际行动来打动我们、鼓励我们；再如：当大家在街上看
见残疾人乞讨而冷冰冰不予理睬时，老师上前去，用同情与怜悯的目光看他一眼，用手递上一张大钞---用自己的行动去感化学生心灵中的角落，教育他们成为一个真善美的`好少年……
现在，不少教师经常体罚或破口大骂一些犯错误及成绩不太好的同学。看到身边发生的一个个典型事例，我十分痛心，并坚决反对这种做法。我认为，真正的教育不是对学生体罚或破口大骂，这是一种能深深刺痛孩童们的心的做法。遭受了这样“待遇”的同学们，不仅会心情愈来愈低落，对学习的兴趣也会越来越低……这种状况发展到最后，就会对这些莘莘学子们---甚至是祖国的未来---产生不良的影响。所以，我认为，一个好老师在学生成绩不好或犯错的时候，应该亲切地去鼓励他，指出他的错误在哪，接着，以足够的耐心，帮助他改正错误---而不是以体罚或破口大骂的方式。长此以来，学生不仅提高了自信心，还提高了成绩---真是一举两得啊！
…… 现在，是充满生气的20xx年。在这一年里，主席曾发表了这一段令人深思的教导：“实现中国梦必须走中国道路，这就是中国特色社会主义道路。这条道路来之不易。它是在改革开放30多年的伟大实践中走出来的，是在中华人民共和国成立60多年的持续探索中走出来的，是在对近代以
来170多年中华民族发展历程的深刻总结中走出来的，是在对中华民族5000多年悠久文明的传承中走出来的，具有深厚的历史渊源和广泛的现实基础。中华民族是具有非凡创造力的民族，我们创造了伟大的中华文明，我们也能够继续拓展和走好适合中国国情的发展道路。全国各族人民一定要增强对中国特色社会主义的理论自信、道路自信、制度自信，坚定不移沿着正确的中国道路奋勇前进。 “实现中国梦必须弘扬中国精神。这就是以爱国主义为核心的民族精神，以改革创新为核心的时代精神。这种精神是凝心聚力的兴国之魂、强国之魂。爱国主义始终是把中华民族坚强团结在一起的精神力量，改革创新始终是鞭策我们在改革开放中与时俱进的精神力量。全国各族人民一定要弘扬伟大的民族精神和时代精神，不断增强团结一心的精神纽带、自强不息的精神动力，永远朝气蓬勃迈向未来。 “实现中国梦必须凝聚中国力量，这就是中国各族人民大团结的力量。中国梦是民族的梦。也是每个中国人的梦。只要我们紧密团结，万众一心，为实现共同梦想而奋斗，实现梦想的力量就无比强大，我们每个人为实现自己梦想的努力就拥有广阔的空间。生活在我们伟大祖国和伟大时代的中国人民，共同享有人生出彩的机会，共同享有梦想成真的机会，共同享有同祖国和时代一起成长与进步的机会。有梦想，有机会，有奋斗，一切美好的东西都能够创造出来的。全国
各族人民一定要牢记使命，心往一处想，劲往一处使，用14亿人的智慧和力量，汇集起不可战胜的磅礴力量！”主席的教导，给我留下了深刻的印象。让我们听从党的号召，好好学习，天天向上，为祖国的未来努力着---还有，那令人尊敬的老师们，请你们协助我们，奔向美好的、祖国的未来！
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the story of Lei Feng, a beloved figure in Chinese history.
Lei Feng was a young soldier in the Peoples Liberation Army. He was born into a poor family, but he always had a warm heart and a strong sense of helping others. In his daily life, Lei Feng was always ready to offer a hand. He would help his comrades with their training, carry luggage for passengers at the train station, and donate money to those in need.
One day, on his way to a new assignment, Lei Feng saw an old woman struggling to carry heavy bags on a rainy day. Without thinking twice, he carried the bags for the old woman and walked her home, even though it was out of his way. His deeds were not grand, but they were full of kindness and selflessness.
Sadly, Lei Feng passed away at a young age. However, his spirit has lived on. The Chinese people have been inspired by his selfless dedication and helping - others spirit. "Learning from Lei Feng" has become a long - lasting campaign in China, encouraging people to do good deeds and contribute to society. Lei Feng represents the kind - hearted and helpful nature of the Chinese people, and his story will always be remembered and told. Thank you!
i have the answer to a question that we've all asked. the question is, why is it that the letter x represents the unknown? now i know we learned that in math class, but now it's everywhere in the culture -- the x prize, the x-files, project x, tedx. where'd that come from?
about six years ago i decided that i would learn arabic, which turns out to be a supremely logical language. to write a word or a phrase or a sentence in arabic is like crafting an equation, because every part is extremely precise and carries a lot of information. that's one of the reasons so much of what we've come to think of as western science and mathematics and engineering was really worked out in the first few centuries of the common era by the persians and the arabs and the turks.
this includes the little system in arabic called al-jebra. and al-jebr roughly translates to “the system for reconciling disparate parts.“ al-jebr finally came into english as algebra. one example among many.
the arabic texts containing this mathematical wisdom finally made their way to europe -- which is to say spain -- in the 11th and 12th centuries. and when they arrived there was tremendous interest in translating this wisdom into a european language.
but there were problems. one problem is there are some sounds in arabic that just don't make it through a european voice box without lots of practice. trust me on that one. also, those very sounds tend not to be represented by the characters that are available in european languages.
here's one of the culprits. this is the letter sheen, and it makes the sound we think of as sh -- “sh.“ it's also the very first letter of the word shalan, which means “something“ just like the the english word “something“ -- some undefined, unknown thing.
now in arabic, we can make this definite by adding the definite article “al.“ so this is al-shalan -- the unknown thing. and this is a word that appears throughout early mathematics, such as this 10th century derivation of proofs.
the problem for the medieval spanish scholars who were tasked with translating this material is that the letter sheen and the word shalan can't be rendered into spanish because spanish doesn't have that sh, that “sh“ sound. so by convention, they created a rule in which they borrowed the ck sound, “ck“ sound, from the classical greek in the form of the letter kai.
later when this material was translated into a common european language, which is to say latin, they simply replaced the greek kai with the latin x. and once that happened, once this material was in latin, it formed the basis for mathematics textbooks for almost 600 years.
but now we have the answer to our question. why is it that x is the unknown? x is the unknown because you can't say “sh“ in spanish. (laughter) and i thought that was worth sharing.
Psychologist tell us that stress is a state of worry caused by the problem of living , such as too much work or study , heavy responsibilities , and quickened pace of life .
Statistics show that stress comes from every detail in our life . Financial problems , poor health , being laid off may be the stress that most adults now suffering . As students in the university , we are also under our special stress . While study , having to take various tests and submit a project against a deadline may put a great pressure on us . And the things make us felt stressed may be our parents's greater expectations on us than we could reach . Later , when we are likely to graduate , some other problems will also annoy us . I think we will worry a lot about our ability to compete in the job market and how we can best use what we've learned at college in our future job .
The chief problem we should face to is our atitude towards stress .People usually say they can not live in the sun except they escape from stress . It's unwelcome ! Yes , however , very necessary . Just image a world where stress does not exist and people lead their life in a very comfortable way . But is this kind of living condition as perfect as we hope ? Without stress , they may feel very satisfied with the current life but lack of power to discover new things . Too much satisfaction result in nothing except a countermarch of the society . No stress , no development . So a certain amount of stress is good . It can stimulate us and increase our level of alertness .
And our answer to stress is another vital problem . How to do with ourselves when stress suddenly break into our life ? To wave the white flag and admit our unability , to give up to our ideality , or worstly , just to suicide as to put an end to everything. Of cause not . The principle is to tackle with stress gentlely and harmoniously. We should try our best to release ourselves . Such as to do some exercise , to linsen to traditional Chinese music or classical music to ease our minds and to learn to view these changes of life as challenges .It's no use crying over spilt milk . Only to accept what has happened can solve the problem .
Ok , I think I was under large stress 3 minutes before , but now I am here and have finished my speech . Here is the last thing I want to add to my topic ,face to it and overcome it ,stress is also a piece of cake .
That is all . Thank you very much.
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word, it is victory. Victory at all costs—victory in spite of all terrors—victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival. Let that be realized, no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that British Empire has stood for , no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall more forward toward his goal. I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”
我能奉献的唯有热血、辛劳、泪水和汗水。我们所面临的将是一场极为残酷的考验，我们面临的将是旷日持久的斗争和苦难。你若问我们的目标是什么?我可以用一个词来概括，那就是胜利。不惜一切代价去夺取胜利，不畏惧一切恐怖去夺取胜利，不论前路再长再苦也要多去胜利，因为没有胜利纠无法生存!我们必须意识到，没有胜利就没有大英帝国，没有胜利就没有大英帝国所象征的一切，没有胜利就没有多少世纪以来强烈的要求和冲动：人类应当向自己的目标迈进。此刻，我的精神振奋，满怀信心地承当起自己的人物。我确信，只要我们大家联合，我们的事业就不会挫败。此时此刻千钧一发之际，我觉得我有权要求各方面的支持。我要呼吁：“来吧，让我们群策努力，并肩迈进!”
Ladies and gentlemen:
There is a kind of love that encourages us when we are in trouble. There isa kind of love that helps us when we go through all kinds of storms. When we arein danger, she always feels... She is the great mother love!
I once asked my mother, "what do you like best?" The mother immediatelyanswer: "you bai!" I was shocked. Mother didn't say what gold diamond, but sayme! My mother told me that she could not lose me. I am the best partner of herlife!
As anyone who has seen the love of love knows, our mothers will always turnthe dangers we encounter into our own peril. Maternal love is selfless. Ourmothers raise and take care of us. They never ask for compensation. They justwant us to grow healthy.
Mother is ordinary, and also great. From the moment we were born, it meantthat our mother was going to be working hard: she taught us how to use soup ladsto help us learn... It's all mother's job. They are still happy because they arehappy.
On mother's day, mother, I want to say to you sincerely, happy mother'sday!
I have many dreams, such as I am rich in the future. Therefore, I can buy all what I want. But my greatest dream is that I want to be an astronaut. Our country develops fast and our space make great progress in the last several decades. It has great achievements. All of our country are proud of it. Therefore, I want to be one of this amazing area.
In order to make my dream come true, I must work hard now. So that I can go to a good university to learn more knowledge. I hope my dream can come true one day.
我有很多梦想，比如我希望将来变得富有，这样我就可以买我想买的一切。但是我最大的梦想是成为一名宇航员。我们国家发展得很快，而且在过去几十年中太空取得了巨大进步，有很多大成就，所有人都为之骄傲。因此，我想成为这一神奇领域中的一员。为了使我的梦想成真，我必须从现在开始努力。这样我就能够去一所好的大学学习更多的知识了。我希望有一天能够梦想成真。
Hello everyone!
Everyone has a dream, it is everybody yearning. But the man without a dream of the life will be empty. But dreams are always with the thought of advance and change. Begin to remember, I have a dream. I hope I have money, people always ask: "boy, this is a great dream, have money, what are you going to do?" " I'm going to buy chocolate. if you have a lot of money?" " I will buy a lot of chocolate."
if you have money to burn?" " I'll buy chocolate factory." Indeed when we, innocent, with a kind heart, happineand joy is a constant movement. When I was young, I have a dream. I hope you can become a kite, floating in the sky, and then slowly fell down. Then in the green meadow like playing with companion, often chasing the white clouds in the sky, let the flap with laughter, do the multicolored multicoloured dream. Read, I have a dream. I hope to have a basketball; when I had time for basketball, but also want a football; when I play football, volleyball became my pursuit. Another has a dream into a reality when, in fact I believe that the dream is not far away from me, as long as childish play, will be the realization of a dream. Slowly into the primary school, middle school, high school .... Will feel more pressure there, so will not be a dream, only know that reading to die, there is no note of those happy. Remember, I have a dream. I hope that day will not have a lot of homework to do.
A bit of time to play deprived, and our day in 40% were imprsoned in the classroom, a lot of time on their study. But in the face of learning, or a vague awareness. As the saying goes," woolly-headed", understanding, also from feudalism to capitalism, the more feel it right. Start up high all the time, I have a dream, I hope I can become a top student, got many awards; home to be family praise; in school teachers have been affirmed; among the students to stand head and shoulders above others performance; in the eyes can be recognized as a good child. But, gradually, I found that to achieve this dream and cannot rely on to childish play. Later, I learned how to fight. Bustling about home from school one day, it is leisure, listen to music, eat dinner, back to school. This day very dull, perhaps sometimes put a lot of friends; sometimes miss, or a pair of sleepy driving school. Love fashion school clothing, really want to go for a walk, take a look at. Sunday's time is very short, baby I really want to make, s
lowly know life hard and dream is really too difficult, but I will work hard, to see everyone to live up early to catch up later, hold oneself no longer loose.
Today, I have a dream, I hope I can enter a favorite university, the best in Beijing. My dreams, in the high school that dark water jar for food, every day for enrich myself struggling for the future of the food, light and hard. Dream is like a seed, in the" heart" of the soil, although it is very small, but can be rooted blossom, if there is no dream, just like living in the desert of Gobi, desolate, no vitality. Have dream, have pursuit, has the goal, has a dream, there will be a driving force. It will urge people forward, maybe in the dreams of the road, will meet many setbacks, but never mind, fell himself up, for his dream and forward, after all, the future is our own creation.
Thank you!
recently,the news that u.s attack on china's internet is always exposed.and the question of how to stay online safely raises a lot of discussion in our country.as a result,in the era of rapid development of network,we must take measures to protect our security of privacy and property effectively.
from my perspective,in the first place,we should call attention to our personal information.not only do we not offer them at random in some strange websites,but we need to distinguish right from wrong among the numerous websites.furthermore,it is inevitable that some secure anti-virus soft wares can be installed.and it will make it possible for that network can run more steadily.in addition to doing some work by ourselves,the government needs to draw up some policies to preserve national cyber security.it involves probing for deeply rooted reasons,devising creative solutions,developing high-tech talents and strengthening the supervision.
although scientists still cannot overcome the problem completely,they are studying a great deal about how to protect our national cyber security.however,consciousness of cyber security should not decline.only in this way,we just enjoy the convenience brought by the network.
i received a devastating bloplement my height and psychological maneuvers and tricks to hide my lack of confidence. but no matter hoeone panying a snow white than be a snow white among nothing but snow whites. i would rather be myself. i would contribute my individual and unique colors to create a more diverse universe. please, be yourself.
let me begin my speech with a replay of scenes familiar to most, if not all, of those present here today.
"mum, i'm sorry, but i need 3,000 yuan for my tuition this year."
"mum, it is my friend's birthday tomorrow, i must buy her a present."
"mum, this jacket was out of fashion long ago, would you do me a favor? "
take. take. take. the relationship between a mother and a child always seems to follow such a pattern. i know my mother is always there for me, providing me with everything i need; from food to clothing, from tuition to pocket money. i never thought twice about all she did until one day she said, "will there be a time that you'll say you have taken enough from me? "
like a child endlessly asking, we humans, throughout history, have been continually demanding what we desire from nature. we enjoy the comfort and beauty of our furniture, yet we never bother to think about the serious soil erosion caused by deforestation. we take it for granted that we must warm ourselves in winter times, yet we seldom realize the burning away of precious natural resources. we appreciate all the prosperity from the development of modern industry, yet few would give the slightest consideration to the global air and water pollution caused by industrial wastes. our ruthless exploitation has permanently impaired our mother earth. as we tragically learned from last summer's floods. we cannot continue our carelessness.
finally, standing here at the threshold of the 21st century, we cannot help thinking of our posterity. nature is not only the mother of the present generation, but also the mother of the generations to come. how severely our descendents will criticize us if we leave them a barren and lifeless mother? how much more they will appreciate us if we give them a world of harmony to inherit? let us start respecting and caring for nature from now on. let us start the campaign of creating a mutually beneficial relationship between people and nature right from this moment. with this new start, i firmly believe, that our children, and our children's children will live in a brand new age of green trees, clean air, crystal water, blue sky and an even more promising world!
hi, my name is . as a secretary in the fda, i would like to tell yousomething about food safety in the united states in both federal-level andstate-level.
food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation,and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. this includes anumber of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe healthhazards. food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as agrowth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. debates on geneticfood safety include such issues as impact of genetically modified food on healthof further generations and genetic pollution of environment, which can destroynatural biological diversity. in developed countries there are intricatestandards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries the mainissue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually acritical item.
federal-level regulation
the food and drug administration publishes the food code, a model set ofguidelines and procedures that assists food control jurisdictions by providing ascientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating the retail andfood service industries, including restaurants, grocery stores and institutionalfoodservice providers such as nursing homes. regulatory agencies at all levelsof government in the united states use the fda food code to develop or updatefood safety rules in their jurisdictions that are consistent with national foodregulatory policy. according to the fda, 48 of 56 states and territories,representing 79% of the u.s. population, have adopted food codes patterned afterone of the five versions of the food code, beginning with the 1993 edition.
Good es and gentlemen, it's my honor to be here today to give you this speech. My name is Coco. I'd like to talk about job satisfaction. I have divided my talk into three parts:firstly,the importance of job satisfaction; secondly,the factors of job satisfaction;finally,how to achieve job satisfaction.
Now, let's start with the first part: the importance of job satisfaction.
A job provides an individual with the necessary means to remain satisfied in almost every aspect of life such as leisure,health and social ral key factors are thought to be critical for an employee to achieve job satisfaction.
Friendship is a kind of treasure in our is actually like a bottle of wine,the longer it is kept,the sweeter it will is also like a cup of we are thirsty,it will be our best choice,but when we have enough time to enjoy ourselves,it is also the most fragrant drink.
What I'd like to do today is talk about one of my favorite subjects, and that is the neuroscience of sleep.
Now, there is a sound -- (Alarm clock) -- aah, it worked -- a sound that is desperately, desperately familiar to most of us, and of course it's the sound of the alarm clock. And what that truly ghastly, awful sound does is stop the single most important behavioral experience that we have, and that's sleep. If you're an average sort of person, 36 percent of your life will be spent asleep, which means that if you live to 90, then 32 years will have been spent entirely asleep.
Now what that 32 years is telling us is that sleep at some level is important. And yet, for most of us, we don't give sleep a second thought. We throw it away. We really just don't think about sleep. And so what I'd like to do today is change your views, change your ideas and your thoughts about sleep. And the journey that I want to take you on, we need to start by going back in time.
"Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber." Any ideas who said that? Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Yes, let me give you a few more quotes. "O sleep, O gentle sleep, nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee?" Shakespeare again, from -- I won't say it -- the Scottish play. [Correction: Henry IV, Part 2] (Laughter) From the same time: "Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together." Extremely prophetic, by Thomas Dekker, another Elizabethan dramatist.
But if we jump forward 400 years, the tone about sleep changes somewhat. This is from Thomas Edison, from the beginning of the 20th century. "Sleep is a criminal waste of time and a heritage from our cave days." Bang. (Laughter) And if we also jump into the 1980s, some of you may remember that Margaret Thatcher was reported to have said, "Sleep is for wimps." And of course the infamous -- what was his name? -- the infamous Gordon Gekko from "Wall Street" said, "Money never sleeps."
What do we do in the 20th century about sleep? Well, of course, we use Thomas Edison's light bulb to invade the night, and we occupied the dark, and in the process of this occupation, we've treated sleep as an illness, almost. We've treated it as an enemy. At most now, I suppose, we tolerate the need for sleep, and at worst perhaps many of us think of sleep as an illness that needs some sort of a cure. And our ignorance about sleep is really quite profound.
Why is it? Why do we abandon sleep in our thoughts? Well, it's because you don't do anything much while you're asleep, it seems. You don't eat. You don't drink. And you don't have sex. Well, most of us anyway. And so therefore it's -- Sorry. It's a complete waste of time, right? Wrong. Actually, sleep is an incredibly important part of our biology, and neuroscientists are beginning to explain why it's so very important. So let's move to the brain.
Now, here we have a brain. This is donated by a social scientist, and they said they didn't know what it was, or indeed how to use it, so -- (Laughter) Sorry. So I borrowed it. I don't think they noticed. Okay. (Laughter)
The point I'm trying to make is that when you're asleep, this thing doesn't shut down. In fact, some areas of the brain are actually more active during the sleep state than during the wake state. The other thing that's really important about sleep is that it doesn't arise from a single structure within the brain, but is to some extent a network property, and if we flip the brain on its back -- I love this little bit of spinal cord here -- this bit here is the hypothalamus, and right under there is a whole raft of interesting structures, not least the biological clock. The biological clock tells us when it's good to be up, when it's good to be asleep, and what that structure does is interact with a whole raft of other areas within the hypothalamus, the lateral hypothalamus, the ventrolateral preoptic nuclei. All of those combine, and they send projections down to the brain stem here. The brain stem then projects forward and bathes the cortex, this wonderfully wrinkly bit over here, with neurotransmitters that keep us awake and essentially provide us with our consciousness. So sleep arises from a whole raft of different interactions within the brain, and essentially, sleep is turned on and off as a result of a range of
Okay. So where have we got to? We've said that sleep is complicated and it takes 32 years of our life. But what I haven't explained is what sleep is about. So why do we sleep? And it won't surprise any of you that, of course, the scientists, we don't have a consensus. There are dozens of different ideas about why we sleep, and I'm going to outline three of those.
The first is sort of the restoration idea, and it's somewhat intuitive. Essentially, all the stuff we've burned up during the day, we restore, we replace, we rebuild during the night. And indeed, as an explanation, it goes back to Aristotle, so that's, what, 2,300 years ago. It's gone in and out of fashion. It's fashionable at the moment because what's been shown is that within the brain, a whole raft of genes have been shown to be turned on only during sleep, and those genes are associated with restoration and metabolic pathways. So there's good evidence for the whole restoration hypothesis.
What about energy conservation? Again, perhaps intuitive. You essentially sleep to save calories. Now, when you do the sums, though, it doesn't really pan out. If you compare an individual who has slept at night, or stayed awake and hasn't moved very much, the energy saving of sleeping is about 110 calories a night. Now, that's the equivalent of a hot dog bun. Now, I would say that a hot dog bun is kind of a meager return for such a complicated and demanding behavior as sleep. So I'm less convinced by the energy conservation idea.
But the third idea I'm quite attracted to, which is brain processing and memory consolidation. What we know is that, if after you've tried to learn a task, and you sleep-deprive individuals, the ability to learn that task is smashed. It's really hugely attenuated. So sleep and memory consolidation is also very important. However, it's not just the laying down of memory and recalling it. What's turned out to be really exciting is that our ability to come up with novel solutions to complex problems is hugely enhanced by a night of sleep. In fact, it's been estimated to give us a threefold advantage. Sleeping at night enhances our creativity. And what seems to be going on is that, in the brain, those neural connections that are important, those synaptic connections that are important, are linked and strengthened, while those that are less important tend to fade away and be less important.
Okay. So we've had three explanations for why we might sleep, and I think the important thing to realize is that the details will vary, and it's probable we sleep for multiple different reasons. But sleep is not an indulgence. It's not some sort of thing that we can take on board rather casually. I think that sleep was once likened to an upgrade from economy to business class, you know, the equiavlent of. It's not even an upgrade from economy to first class. The critical thing to realize is that if you don't sleep, you don't fly. Essentially, you never get there, and what's extraordinary about much of our society these days is that we are desperately sleep-deprived.
So let's now look at sleep deprivation. Huge sectors of society are sleep-deprived, and let's look at our sleep-o-meter. So in the 1950s, good data suggests that most of us were getting around about eight hours of sleep a night. Nowadays, we sleep one and a half to two hours less every night, so we're in the six-and-a-half-hours-every-night league. For teenagers, it's worse, much worse. They need nine hours for full brain performance, and many of them, on a school night, are only getting five hours of sleep. It's simply not enough. If we think about other sectors of society, the aged, if you are aged, then your ability to sleep in a single block is somewhat disrupted, and many sleep, again, less than five hours a night. Shift work. Shift work is extraordinary, perhaps 20 percent of the working population, and the body clock does not shift to the demands of working at night. It's locked onto the same light-dark cycle as the rest of us. So when the poor old shift worker is going home to try and sleep during the day, desperately tired, the body clock is saying, "Wake up. This is the time to be awake." So the quality of sleep that you get as a night shift worker is usually very poor, again in that sort of five-hour region. And then, of course, tens of millions of people suffer from jet lag. So who here has jet lag? Well, my goodness gracious. Well, thank you very much indeed for not falling asleep, because that's what your brain is craving.
One of the things that the brain does is indulge in micro-sleeps, this involuntary falling asleep, and you have essentially no control over it. Now, micro-sleeps can be sort of somewhat embarrassing, but they can also be deadly. It's been estimated that 31 percent of drivers will fall asleep at the wheel at least once in their life, and in the U.S., the statistics are pretty good: 100,000 accidents on the freeway have been associated with tiredness, loss of vigilance, and falling asleep. A hundred thousand a year. It's extraordinary. At another level of terror, we dip into the tragic accidents at Chernobyl and indeed the space shuttle Challenger, which was so tragically lost. And in the investigations that followed those disasters, poor judgment as a result of extended shift work and loss of vigilance and tiredness was attributed to a big chunk of those disasters.
So when you're tired, and you lack sleep, you have poor memory, you have poor creativity, you have increased impulsiveness, and you have overall poor judgment. But my friends, it's so much worse than that.
(Laughter)
If you are a tired brain, the brain is craving things to wake it up. So drugs, stimulants. Caffeine represents the stimulant of choice across much of the Western world. Much of the day is fueled by caffeine, and if you're a really naughty tired brain, nicotine. And of course, you're fueling the waking state with these stimulants, and then of course it gets to 11 o'clock at night, and the brain says to itself, "Ah, well actually, I need to be asleep fairly shortly. What do we do about that when I'm feeling completely wired?" Well, of course, you then resort to alcohol. Now alcohol, short-term, you know, once or twice, to use to mildly sedate you, can be very useful. It can actually ease the sleep transition. But what you must be so aware of is that alcohol doesn't provide sleep, a biological mimic for sleep. It sedates you. So it actually harms some of the neural proccessing that's going on during memory consolidation and memory recall. So it's a short-term acute measure, but for goodness sake, don't become addicted to alcohol as a way of getting to sleep every night.
Another connection between loss of sleep is weight gain. If you sleep around about five hours or less every night, then you have a 50 percent likelihood of being obese. What's the connection here? Well, sleep loss seems to give rise to the release of the hormone ghrelin, the hunger hormone. Ghrelin is released. It gets to the brain. The brain says, "I need carbohydrates," and what it does is seek out carbohydrates and particularly sugars. So there's a link between tiredness and the metabolic predisposition for weight gain.
Stress. Tired people are massively stressed. And one of the things of stress, of course, is loss of memory, which is what I sort of just then had a little lapse of. But stress is so much more. So if you're acutely stressed, not a great problem, but it's sustained stress associated with sleep loss that's the problem. So sustained stress leads to suppressed immunity, and so tired people tend to have higher rates of overall infection, and there's some very good studies showing that shift workers, for example, have higher rates of cancer. Increased levels of stress throw glucose into the circulation. Glucose becomes a dominant part of the vasculature and essentially you become glucose intolerant. Therefore, diabetes 2. Stress increases cardiovascular disease as a result of raising blood pressure. So there's a whole raft of things associated with sleep loss that are more than just a mildly impaired brain, which is where I think most people think that sleep loss resides.
So at this point in the talk, this is a nice time to think, well, do you think on the whole I'm getting enough sleep? So a quick show of hands. Who feels that they're getting enough sleep here? Oh. Well, that's pretty impressive. Good. We'll talk more about that later, about what are your tips.
So most of us, of course, ask the question, "Well, how do I know whether I'm getting enough sleep?" Well, it's not rocket science. If you need an alarm clock to get you out of bed in the morning, if you are taking a long time to get up, if you need lots of stimulants, if you're grumpy, if you're irritable, if you're told by your work colleagues that you're looking tired and irritable, chances are you are sleep-deprived. Listen to them. Listen to yourself.
What do you do? Well -- and this is slightly offensive -- sleep for dummies: Make your bedroom a haven for sleep. The first critical thing is make it as dark as you possibly can, and also make it slightly cool. Very important. Actually, reduce your amount of light exposure at least half an hour before you go to bed. Light increases levels of alertness and will delay sleep. What's the last thing that most of us do before we go to bed? We stand in a massively lit bathroom looking into the mirror cleaning our teeth. It's the worst thing we can possibly do before we went to sleep. Turn off those mobile phones. Turn off those computers. Turn off all of those things that are also going to excite the brain. Try not to drink caffeine too late in the day, ideally not after lunch. Now, we've set about reducing light exposure before you go to bed, but light exposure in the morning is very good at setting the biological clock to the light-dark cycle. So seek out morning light. Basically, listen to yourself. Wind down. Do those sorts of things that you know are going to ease you off into the honey-heavy dew of slumber.
Okay. That's some facts. What about some myths?
Teenagers are lazy. No. Poor things. They have a biological predisposition to go to bed late and get up late, so give them a break.
We need eight hours of sleep a night. That's an average. Some people need more. Some people need less. And what you need to do is listen to your body. Do you need that much or do you need more? Simple as that.
Old people need less sleep. Not true. The sleep demands of the aged do not go down. Essentially, sleep fragments and becomes less robust, but sleep requirements do not go down.
And the fourth myth is, early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Well that's wrong at so many different levels. (Laughter) There is no, no evidence that getting up early and going to bed early gives you more wealth at all. There's no difference in socioeconomic status. In my experience, the only difference between morning people and evening people is that those people that get up in the morning early are just horribly smug.
(Laughter) (Applause)
Okay. So for the last part, the last few minutes, what I want to do is change gears and talk about some really new, breaking areas of neuroscience, which is the association between mental health, mental illness and sleep disruption. We've known for 130 years that in severe mental illness, there is always, always sleep disruption, but it's been largely ignored. In the 1970s, when people started to think about this again, they said, "Yes, well, of course you have sleep disruption in schizophrenia because they're on anti-psychotics. It's the anti-psychotics causing the sleep problems," ignoring the fact that for a hundred years previously, sleep disruption had been reported before anti-psychotics.
So what's going on? Lots of groups, several groups are studying conditions like depression, schizophrenia and bipolar, and what's going on in terms of sleep disruption. We have a big study which we published last year on schizophrenia, and the data were quite extraordinary. In those individuals with schizophrenia, much of the time, they were awake during the night phase and then they were asleep during the day. Other groups showed no 24-hour patterns whatsoever. Their sleep was absolutely smashed. And some had no ability to regulate their sleep by the light-dark cycle. They were getting up later and later and later and later each night. It was smashed.
So what's going on? And the really exciting news is that mental illness and sleep are not simply associated but they are physically linked within the brain. The neural networks that predispose you to normal sleep, give you normal sleep, and those that give you normal mental health are overlapping. And what's the evidence for that? Well, genes that have been shown to be very important in the generation of normal sleep, when mutated, when changed, also predispose individuals to mental health problems. And last year, we published a study which showed that a gene that's been linked to schizophrenia, which, when mutated, also smashes the sleep. So we have evidence of a genuine mechanistic overlap between these two important systems.
Other work flowed from these studies. The first was that sleep disruption actually precedes certain types of mental illness, and we've shown that in those young individuals who are at high risk of developing bipolar disorder, they already have a sleep abnormality prior to any clinical diagnosis of bipolar. The other bit of data was that sleep disruption may actually exacerbate, make worse the mental illness state. My colleague Dan Freeman has used a range of agents which have stabilized sleep and reduced levels of paranoia in those individuals by 50 percent.
So what have we got? We've got, in these connections, some really exciting things. In terms of the neuroscience, by understanding the neuroscience of these two systems, we're really beginning to understand how both sleep and mental illness are generated and regulated within the brain. The second area is that if we can use sleep and sleep disruption as an early warning signal, then we have the chance of going in. If we know that these individuals are vulnerable, early intervention then becomes possible. And the third, which I think is the most exciting, is that we can think of the sleep centers within the brain as a new therapeutic target. Stabilize sleep in those individuals who are vulnerable, we can certainly make them healthier, but also alleviate some of the appalling symptoms of mental illness.
So let me just finish. What I started by saying is take sleep seriously. Our attitudes toward sleep are so very different from a pre-industrial age, when we were almost wrapped in a duvet. We used to understand intuitively the importance of sleep. And this isn't some sort of crystal-waving nonsense. This is a pragmatic response to good health. If you have good sleep, it increases your concentration, attention, decision-making, creativity, social skills, health. If you get sleep, it reduces your mood changes, your stress, your levels of anger, your impulsivity, and your tendency to drink and take drugs. And we finished by saying that an understanding of the neuroscience of sleep is really informing the way we think about some of the causes of mental illness, and indeed is providing us new ways to treat these incredibly debilitating conditions.
Jim Butcher, the fantasy writer, said, "Sleep is God. Go worship." And I can only recommend that you do the same.
Thank you for your attention.
(Applause)