good morning, honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen;

　　its a great honor to stand here. my topic is: the color of where we live.

　　i once read a poem, which greatly shocked me. let me share it with you: “chimneys have grown into forests; armored concrete blocks our view; there is no longer green within sight. where is the clear sky? where is the blue sea? where is the fresh air?”

　　i remember, when i was a child, there was a yard behind my house. i used to sit with my grandma under a big tree. in the tree, birds were chirping and dancing happily and freely. with grandma’s soft cradlesongs and birds’ singing, i would quickly fall into a sleep of sweet dreams. at that time the sky was so blue and clear. at night, twinkling stars dotted the sky. the verdant leaves and their fragrance impressed me so much that i still have a clear picture of them in my mind even today.

　　but now i can hardly hear a bird sing, the fragrance can only be found in the depths of my memory, and stars have hidden themselves behind gray buildings and even the sky is gray. i dont know when things began to change. but what i do know is that pollution and waste disposal have presented serious challenges to our society. environmental pollution is just like pandoras bo, and we are the victims.

　　we must do something to change this terrible condition. hosting the beijing olympics gives us a great opportunity to show the world it can be done. “green olympics”, one of the three basic themes of beijing olympic games, is our promise to the world that we will work towards cleaning up our environment.

　　therefore every one of us should take some practical actions. you might say, “but i am just an ordinary citizen. what can i do? i have no responsibility.” but in my opinion, we can start with small things like our daily routine, such as not to litter, avoid using disposable food containers, cups and chopsticks, save every drop of water and so on. we must always remember that it is necessary for everyone to participate in order to save our planet.

　　remember green is the color of life, green is the color of nature, and green is the color of the world. green will be a symbol of beijing in the near future! let us work together and keep green alive forever!

　　thank you.