在第26届中国日报社“21世纪杯”全国大学生英语演讲比赛中，来自清华大学的韩书缘摘得北京赛区桂冠，并在总决赛获得全国一等奖的佳绩。
如今，她不仅仅在“21世纪杯”的舞台上发光发热，也在中国日报21世纪报推出的“少年会客厅”第五期节目中，畅谈中印关系的“今”与“昔”。
对于书缘来说，语言更像是一把有力的工具，她更想借助语言的力量，做一名有温度、有情怀的表达者。
重返舞台 绽放光彩
这并不是韩书缘第一次站上“21世纪杯”演讲比赛的舞台。
2018年，当时正念高一的她，闯进了江苏省高中组决赛。不过那次比赛进展得并不顺利，过度紧绷的状态让她最后一轮的表现产生了失误。
韩书缘回忆道，在即兴问答环节，评委问她如何看待中国人的人际关系，但她站在台上实在是太紧张了。
当时，她错误地把interpersonal relationship听成了international relationship，甚至没理会评委善意的中文提醒，一个劲儿地讲述自己对中国外交的理解。
最后她止步江苏省一等奖，没能圆梦全国赛的舞台。
这段不尽如人意的比赛经历在她心中留下了遗憾，也让她明白，比赛时的紧张和焦虑反而会成为选手最大的绊脚石。
2021年4月，已经是清华大学外文系大一学生的她又重新站上了这个熟悉的舞台。
与三年前不一样的是，赛前她似乎不再像当初那样为结果不断焦虑和紧张了。
在今年北京赛区决赛中，针对Protecting the Blue Planet这一宏大的主题，书缘以化妆品为切入口，发出了“When we are thinking of beautifying ourselves, remember to make sure that we are not causing our blue planet to lose its own beauty”的呼吁。
她兼具科学特色和人文底蕴的演讲以及机智幽默的即兴回答，最终获得了评委们的一致认可，让她成功摘得北京赛区桂冠。
她说，好像当自己放下了“一定要取得某个结果”的执念后，那些遥不可及的梦反而更容易实现。
坚定自我，勇敢发声
备战全国总决赛的过程并不轻松。
在构思总决赛The Power of Ideals的演讲稿时，韩书缘希望从gender equality（性别平等）的角度出发——她想起了Jane Austen偷偷写作的场景，想起了Marie Curie对女儿们的鼓励，想起了Virginia Woolf一个人的房间，想起了Ruth Bader Ginsberg作为大法官为性别平等作出的不懈努力。
有趣的是，在今年进入总决赛的12位选手中，女生占据了七个席位，超过了男生。她因此临时在演讲稿中增添了一段对半决赛赛况的回应。
“
More than half of the national finalists are girls, and several of them won the semi-final in dark-blue suits instead of pink dresses. Lucky contestants today, no matter boys or girls, won the judges votes because of our speeches,rather than our fancy clothes.
”
韩书缘说，她很感谢“21世纪杯”的舞台，让她得到了一次为女孩们发声的机会。
与此同时，她也非常感谢吴霞教授在整个比赛过程中给她的帮助。
吴霞教授是非常有经验的教练，曾经指导过很多21世纪杯的优秀选手，她一直对学生关爱有加，所以平时学生们都亲切地喊她吴妈。
虽然吴霞教授平时在系里的工作已经非常繁忙，但她还是不厌其烦地帮助韩书缘修改已备演讲的稿子，有时甚至在凌晨提出新的修改建议。
韩书缘说：“吴老师反复叮嘱我不要紧张、放平心态。比赛当天清晨6点多收到吴老师"书缘加油，没问题的’的微信消息，真的让我非常感动。”
感谢遗憾，重塑自我
对于这次没能站上冠亚季军的领奖台，韩书缘表示还是有点遗憾，但她确实看到了其他选手更加优秀的表现。
她笑称：“我好像总是要在"21世纪杯’的舞台上留下些遗憾。但正如三年前一样，我相信这些遗憾会帮助我成为更好的自己。我会继续享受舞台、享受演讲的！”
在参加演讲比赛的过程中，韩书缘发现，往往同一个话题能激发出完全不同的视角和观点，这也是演讲最吸引她的地方。
她曾在比赛中抽到一道视频题，视频的大致内容是：立方体对球产生了好感，于是它通过不断改变自己的形状来迎合球的喜好，但始终无法得到球的认可。
这道题给书缘留下了非常深刻的印象，因为她在赛后和评委交流的过程中发现，老、中、青三代人对这道题的理解大相径庭。
她看到了爱情、友情等复杂的人际关系，一位女老师看到了职业选择与人生规划，而另一位外籍评委则看到了种族歧视等人权问题。
“表达自己的想法固然重要，但倾听他人的观点，常常更能帮助我拓宽视野，看到同一件事情的方方面面。” 韩书缘说。
韩书缘的口语课老师Andy Mok教授曾经告诉她，演讲的本质是观点的交流，因此对于一个演讲者来说，最重要的就是对演讲内容有清晰透彻的思考。
因此，她希望自己在英语演讲比赛中，锻炼的不仅仅是自己的口语表达，更是如何借助英语这门语言，输出更有深度、更有质量的观点的能力。
韩书缘说，她的梦想是一步一步走向更广阔的舞台，在未来成为一个真正有思想、有温度、有情怀的表达者。
⬇️ 韩书缘总决赛演讲稿全文：
向上滑动阅览
The Power of Ideals
On a sheet of parchment, Jane Austen scribbled down intensively: “Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way.” A statement with power and determination. But the frowning face betrayed her worries—in a time when women were not supposed to be educated, let alone to be a writer, will the novel be truly regarded as a novel one day?
Then came Marie Curie, a reagent bottle in one hand, a textbook in the other. She spoke to her two daughters: “We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” In a time when stereotypes of all kinds were placed on women, her inspiring story empowered many female talents to get rid of the limit on their choice of career path and pushed forward the progress towards gender equality.
In 1996, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was reading aloud the opinion of the Supreme Court:“This opinion does mark as presumptively invalid a law that denies to women equal opportunity to inspire, achieve, participate, and contribute to society based on what they can do.” Ginsburg’s greatness was not only revealed in her own success as a female justice in the Supreme Court, but her contributions in fighting against any exclusion of women at her time.
Looking back, I saw far more women standing up forgender equality. Mulan was cutting off her waist length hair and disguised herself as a male warrior, Virginia Woolf was fighting for a room of her own, Emma Watson was calling for the end of gender inequality in the United Nations. It was these trailblazers from East and West, from past and now, that paved the way for the rise of women’s status. In China, for example, over half of the graduate students today are women, surpassing males for the first time. At Tokyo this year, women made up 49% of Olympic competitors. By comparison, in the 1908 Games men outnumbered women 53 to 1.
However, after generations of struggle, are we seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? Single women in their 30s are leftover women, while men in their 30s are golden bachelors. Women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes.And my grandma just called me this morning to instruct me the stage etiquette of being sweet and adorable.She didn’t know that more than half of the national finalists are girls, and several of them won the semi-final in dark-blue suits instead of pink dresses. Lucky contestants today, no matter boys or girls, won the judges votes because of our speeches,rather than our fancy clothes.
The power of ideals has already enabled women more often as equal partners to men. If you would ask me whether we will achieve complete gender equality in the end, I will definitely say “yes”. I believe the whole world will treat men and women equally, in the way the judges do to the constants in this competition.
10月比赛刚结束，韩书缘就被“少年会客厅”邀请为第五期节目的演讲嘉宾，以一篇，收获了不少观众的喜爱。 还没有看过少年会客厅？ 这是由中国日报21世纪报在今年创办的全球Z世代新媒体节目，每月一期，目前刚上线五期，总传播量就超过6亿！
12月30日晚8:00 ，韩书缘将会再次作为嘉宾参加 “少年会客厅”第七期 ，畅谈中国和美国的那些事儿～
“少年会客厅”第七期届时将在中国日报及及21世纪报全媒体平台首播，欢迎新老朋友前来观看！
