Nature Is Our Mother
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 endlely 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 ruthle exploitation has permanently impaired our mother earth.As we tragically learned from last summer\'s floods.we cannot continue our carelene.
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 lifele 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!
自然是我们的母亲
请允许我用一个我们今天在座的大部分人，就算不是全部，都很熟悉的场景来展开我的演讲。
“妈妈，不好意思，今年的学费要三千元。”
“妈妈，明天是我朋友的生日，我要给她买份礼物。”
“妈妈，这件衣服早过时了，帮我买件新的，好吗?”
索取，索取，再索取。母亲和孩子的关系似乎永远都是这一种形式。我知道母亲总是我的靠山，给我一切需要的东西，从食物到衣服，从学费到零用钱。我觉得她所做的一切都是理所当然的，直到有一天，她说:“会不会有这么一天你对我说我已经索取够了?’’
就像孩子无止境的要求一样，我们人类，从古到今，也一直在向自然索求以满足欲望。我们享受家具的美丽与舒适，但我们从来就不愿去想一想由于采伐树林而引起的严重的土壤侵蚀问题。我们认为冬天要取暖是理所当然的事情，却未曾意识到宝贵的自然资源就这样被烧掉。我们高兴地看到现代工业发展带来了繁荣，但很少人会对由于工业废物导致的全球空气和水质污染问题稍加考虑。我们无情的剥削已经永远地伤害了地球母亲。我们从去年夏天的洪灾悲剧中已经认识到，我们不能再继续漠不关心下去了。
最后，站在21世纪的门槛上，我们不禁展望着繁荣昌盛。自然不仅是现在这一代人的母亲，更是未来一代人的母亲。如果我们留给他们的是一位贫瘩、毫无生气的母亲，那么我们会受到子孙们何等严厉的批评?如果我们留给他们的遗产是一个和谐的世界，他们会对我们作出何等的称赞?让我们从现在开始尊重、关爱
自然。让我们立刻开展一场建立人类与自然互惠互利关系的运动。我坚信，有了这个新的开始，我们的孩子、孩子的孩子必将生活在一个绿树青葱、空气清新、水碧天蓝的崭新世纪，一个前景更加灿烂的世界!
Leo Tolstoy once said, everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
He is right.We always have great plans and dreams in our minds… too ready to achieve something grand that changes the world or benefits all of mankind .For example; we hate pollution and have made up our minds to find new energy sources that keep the environment clean.Yet we still litter on the ground.We complain about traffic jams, so we plan to build more highways to solve the problem, but it never occurs to us that our failure to follow traffic regulations is the leading cause of this situation.We are so concerned that the violence in the media has a bad impact on our children, we urge the government to set laws to protect them.But, do we, as adults, set a good example for our kids? We use nasty words and even spit on the ground in front of them, I dare to say, we harm more!
In my opinion, before we decide to change the world, we had better change ourselves first.As ordinary individuals, we do not have the power to change the world.But we can change our habit of littering, spitting, cuing, we can respect the environment around us, we must act as good models for our kids.
If each of us does all of these little things, all of us, millions and millions of individuals together, together we will be strong …strong enough to change our world!
So please, the next time you do something, think how your actions influence not only you, but those around you too, especially our children …and perhaps more importantly…our planet!改变
列夫·托尔斯泰曾说过：每个人都想改变这个世界，但是没有人想到改变自己。他说的很有道理，我们每个人都心怀伟大时志向，时刻准备去干一番能造福全人类的大事业。比如，我们痛恨环境污染，所以我们下定决心去开发新的更高效更干净的能源来保护我们的环境，但是同时我们却随手乱扔垃圾；我们抱怨大城市的交通堵塞，计划造更多的高速路来解决交通问题，但是我们从来没有想过，如果我们能遵守交通规则话，那么这一问题是不是可以得到很大得缓解呢？我们担心电视电影里面得暴力会对我们得孩子产生不良的影响，于是我们敦促政府通过立法来保护未成年人，但是我们这些大人又做得怎么样呢？我们为我们的下一代做好了表率吗？我们说粗话，甚至在孩子面前抽烟。不客气地说，我们对孩子的不良影响更多！
在我看来，在我们打算改变这个世界之前，我们最好先改变一下自己。作为一个普通人，我们其实没有改变这个世界的能力，但是我可以改变我们随地扔垃圾，随地吐痰的坏习惯， 我们应该学会去保护环境，我们应该为我们的孩子起好的表率作用。
