Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Haishuo’s 7 minutes to Basic Wine Tasting.
No matter what you are tasting, all the tasting skills are the same. There is an easy way to remember. Take a look at your face, from up to down, there are eyes, nose, and mouth. That’s the sequence you should employ in tasting, no matter you are tasting cheese, chocolate, or of course, wine. So how do you do that when it comes to wine-tasting?
First, you have to choose the right goblet. Different species of wine go with different kinds of goblets. The goblet is wide in the top to grant enough room for the fragrance and the aroma of wine to roam. Next, how to hold the bottle? There is a hole in the bottom, please insert your thumb and always show the wine label to the one that you are serving. Turn the bottle when you finish pouring out your wine.
Tasting begins. First, with your eyes. Tilt your goblet at 45 degree and see your wine against the light. It will be better if the background is white. I understand that there might not be whiteboards everywhere, but papers and tissues are easy to get. This is to make it easier for you to appreciate the color. There are few things there you are looking at in this phase. 1. The rim of the wine: the old and thin will be wide, and the new and thick will be narrow. 2. Wine legs: Shake your wines a bit and see the legs on the wall of the goblet, the thicker the wine is, the longer the legs will be. The material of the goblet will make a big difference, so make sure you use the same kind of goblet if you are comparing among different bottles.
Second, with your nose. Tilt your goblet and smell the wine from different parts of the goblet. Smell might change. There are professional categories for smell. The acronym is PSANDFF: plants (grass or mushroom), spices (rosemary and cinnamon), animal (leather and musk), nuts (almonds and hazelnuts), dried fruit (when it’s really sweet), flowers, and fruit (berries and citrus). However, please bear this in mind: you can always use any familiar smell that you have in your mind. There is no rule in this. The only skill you have to know is to recall the familiar smell that you have in your mind.
Last, with you mouth, the most important part of tasting. Don’t hurry to swallow your wine. Some wine-tasters may even gargle to allow the wine fully wander in their mouths. There are three phases. The first phase is called Attack Phase. There are four things that you have to pay attention to. In this level, you taste what the wine brings you up ahead. The acronym is SATA. They are Sugar level, Acidity, Tannin (Mouth-puckering), and Alcohol. The second phase is called evolution phase. The phase indicates the taste that the wine brings you on your palate. The most interesting part in this phase is that you may start to note some interesting smell that you are not unable to notice when you smell it with your nose. Some smells will come out and say hi. The last phase is called the finish. The phase starts when you swallow your wine. This is the best part of the wine tasting. Let all the taste on your tongue, palate and everywhere else come together for the orchestrated play, and you may close your eyes, shut down one sense to sharpen others, and allow it to wake your taste buds.
Ladies and gentlemen, drinking too much is definitely bad for your health, but a goblet a day is beneficial. Allow me to explain why Helen and Ben have their shares for today’s meeting. Helen’s birthday is 3 days later, July 24th. And Ben’s wedding anniversary is today. I would love to propose a toast and wish you Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary. Cheers! Toastmaster.
2009年8月9日 星期日
2009年6月16日 星期二
C6 delivered on 090616
Evaluation by Brian:
1. Pause before deliver the speech, to get the ensure that your audience is concentrated on you. At the same time avoid rushing.
2. Maybe change the opening and offer more curiosity.
3. Try to conceal your smile. They are killers when you want to show sadness.
Language:
You don't say "offer companion"; you say "offer companionship."
----Script----
Today I want to tell a story about Paul, one of my best friends, who taught me the importance of offering companion to those that really matter to you in the last week of August, 2006.
August, 2006, in another long, hot summer afternoon, I heard my favorite ring tone ”Por Una Cabeza” (music). I took it, and there came my friend Austin’s voice. “Hey, Paul is dead. You know that?” “Stop kidding. This is not fun at all.” “No, I am serious. He is dead. He passed away this morning. He went to bed then never woke up. Just call his sister to make sure.” Ok, You wanna play. Let’s see. As his sister was my landlady one year ago, sure I had her number. In no time, I started calling. The first. There was no answer. The second, still no. The third, it went through. As I heard her voice on the other end, I knew it was real. She wasn’t crying. Her voice was not sad. It was…desperate. “Hi”; “So it’s real, huh.”; ”I see, when is the funeral?”; “September 1st, morning,
People say that the five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. To me the first stage was that afternoon. I called all the friends we both knew, hoping someone would wake me up from this nightmare. Maybe it’s a practical joke. Maybe by the day I arrived his funeral venue, he would simply jumped out from the coffin and shouted “surprise” with his mischievous smile. I meant that’s exact what he would do: setting up a party with all the details just for a birthday surprise. However, I did not get what I want from others. No. Either they have their days ruined by receiving the news from me, or confirmed the terrible news.
What happened next was even more dramatic 2 days before the funeral, I learned from the weather forecast that the strong typhoon, Bilis, was about to hit
That night, something happened. To tell the truth, I thought that wasn’t a dream, and I honestly hoped it wasn’t. I woke up and heard the wind and rain storming outside of my window. Paul was sitting on the edge of my bed. I was so happy to see him and shouted “Hey, so after all, you are still alive.” He smiled with profound sorrow, then shook his head. “So it’s real?” I was almost crying as he nodded. “Then will you be happy if I invite more friends to see you off?” He smiled, happily, then vanished. That’s the time that I was finally starting to believe all this. After all, you know, he told me in person.
On the day we met in the physical world again, he did not jump out from the coffin, shouting “surprise”. He was there, calm as always. Starting from that moment, I missed no important occasion of my great friends, as at least as I thought, he told me in person: he would be happy when we friends went and bid him farewell, wished him Godspeed. After all, maybe that’s what we really need in our life: companion from people that really matter to you. Yes, companion from people that really matter to you.
According to the Japanese Manga “One Piece”, the moment that people really pass away is when the world forgets them. In that definition, Paul still lives with me, every single day. Now the speech comes to the end, and I know my audience is going to clap their hands. This round of applause goes to you. Paul. May this round go to you.
2009年5月22日 星期五
C5 delivered on 090519 script
Finally I can be here without talking about being Monk. I am going to share a real supernatural experience today. So if you want to take an early tea break. Please do.
September 2001, I was in a club which specialized in mountain-climbing and summer-camp organizing. My active and sometime hyper character made me president for event-organizing. At that time the whole club was trying to organize an event to welcome freshmen of the year. I had an inspiration. I took out a map and marked all the locations where people had ghost-spotting experience in these two universities, TsingHua and ChiaoTung. As I speculated, it could form a loop. The activity went like this. We put candles and a story on every stop that we would make. As we arrived, we lit up the candle, read the story, and let the audience feel the atmosphere for one to two minutes, blew out the candle, then left. We decided to hold this activity for two days in a row, so that more people may join.
The first day was quite a success. More than 30 people joined. We even had to split the group into two teams for better effect. Things were different on the second day. The sky was cloudy. The moon could only be seen from time to time. As we arrived the rally point for departure, we found there were only 8 freshmen students waiting for us. 8, that’s a small team. We decided to lead them with only 3 club members, Jack, John, and Roy. I took the lead, John by their side, and Jack took care of the back to ensure no one got lost.
Before I continue; another piece of information. According to the 8-character Chinese fortune-telling technique, every person has different weight of spirit. The scale goes from
We set forth from
Darkness fell around us, John led the team ahead. In no time I sensed something staring at me from behind. I tried to turn my head and found out, but I just couldn’t. The team was getting further, and I could only try to catch up. Suddenly, I felt something cold crawling up from my left leg, all the way up through my thigh, my back, to my shoulder. As it reached my shoulder, it became heavier and heavier, made each step of mine more and more difficult. I tried to turn my head, but again I couldn’t. I could only see a dark shadow lingering by my left shoulder with the corner of my eye. Until we approached the end of the path, suddenly, the weight was lifted. I turned my head, only seeing Jack’s blank look. He looked at me and said: “It’s gone, right?”
We finished the activity as soon as we can and rushed to the temple in front of ChiaoTung university. We could only exchange our experience after some cans of beer. However, we were even more scared after we shared our experience. For I felt it all the way up from my left side, and Jack was the opposite, the right. We concluded we might have run into something pretty tired and decided to crawl all the way up and rest between us for a while.
2009年2月3日 星期二
C3: Get to the point.
Received suggestions:
Special thanks to Mandy for her great suggestions. :)
Mandy:
Here are two of my humble suggestions for your reference. First of all, I think it's better to say "Toastmaster." instead of "Thank you." in the end of the speech because it's you that are to be thanked by the audience for you give them such a wonderful speech. Secondly, I suggest you explain it more detailedly how to put this simple but powerful life philosophy into practice in the daily life because you can't expect everyone exactly get your point. They might not fully understand what the true meaning of this saying is. You'd better get them an example and make it even clearer.
Chang:
Cause deeds speak louder than words, we need more results to convince the audience the power of the philosophy, except for passing entrance exams and delivering speeches.
Ben:
Need to improve speech writing.
Try to paraphrase the sentences and try to shorten the article.
Need to hone writing skills and make the article more consice and punchy.
----Script----
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Today I would love to talk about the most important philosophy of life I learned from my father that has brought me all the way to where I am today. From a suburb farming-county boy to national college researcher is certainly no way short. What is that? “Focus on solution; not problem.” Looking back, I would say that’s the most vital life-supporting concept I learned from my father.
When I was in junior high, things were very different from what I am now. People say that adolescence brings wildness and rebellion. That’s certainly true to me. My mother was a teacher in my junior high school, and as the place where I lived was a pretty small town, it’s natural that she knew almost all the teachers in my elementary school, too. All those rules, disciplines, regulations, and supervision all escalated to a tide, pushed me all the way to the border of extreme insanity. I stole things in stores and almost got sent to the police station, rode with my friends on burning wheels through those nights of summer sweats and winter chills, and cheated in almost all the exams and slept through most classes.
Those days were like dreams in the night. Dreams, however, being good ones or nightmares, would vanish as daybreak shines the earth again. To me, the daybreak came at the last moment, not too soon, not too late, exactly in the last semester in my junior high.
It was another ordinary day of boring school, but as I got home, there was something strange. I saw my mother sitting on the sofa crying. Seeing tears on my mother’s face was a common scene back then, but that day was different. Even when I was on the third floor, it seemed to me that I could sense her tears dripping down her cheeks on the first floor. Her sobbing sounded so sad and desperate that I found it impossible to ignore. Not knowing what to do and say, I kept waiting until my father came back from work. After a while, I heard footsteps coming up through the stairs. I was so eager to know what happened to my mom even it might be the severest punishment or scolding that awaited me. Things turned out to be that she overheard some teachers discussing their sons and daughters after school. They mocked me for they think I could never make it in senior high entrance exam. All the pressure and worries for my mom in those years erupted on that day, breaking her down, and surely I was to blame.
Strange enough, my father did not scold me again. He just sat down on another desk and started writing something. I was so afraid that I could only wait there, holding the textbook in my hand without being able to read anything in. Few minutes later, he put something on my desk and walked down the stairs. It was a beautifully calligraphed letter. It said: “My son. Those who succeed find solutions; those who fail find excuses. The key to success is not luck, nor talent, but ambitions. Those who want to succeed would collect all accessible resources, use all possible means, and show undefeatable determination. Set up your goals and follow it closely, you’ll be on your way to success. By your father.”
That surely wasn’t a long letter, but that was the first time I was convinced that small and simple things could also have great power. Just like the plot you may have watched or read on TV or in novel, I changed on the very evening. One thing was different from those soap operas’ storylines: things didn’t go too smooth for me at once. Wasted time left a giant gap of knowledge for me to fill in, and I have to work really hard to make it up. Not having confidence in myself at all, I kept asking my father everyday what I should do should I fail. After having done so for a few times, I was invited me to sit with him. He said: “It’s very natural to be nervous and anxious especially when the future seems so uncertain. However, instead of using your time on thinking about what you should do after you fail, I would suggest you use you time to study more and get more scores. Focus on solutions; not problem. We will discuss when you get your final result. Okay?”
It may sound small and simple, but as I said before, small and simple things could also have great power. From that moment, whenever I face challenges, like any big exams or standing up on the stage and deliver speeches, I stopped all my worries and anxiety, and only focused on what I want to happen. I believe in this era of turbulence, we are all facing different challenges in various aspects, at many times. It’s my sincere wish that we can all try to focus on solutions, not problems. Give it a try! It helped me turn a whole new leaf a decade ago, and now, I know it could help us to pave another grand new path. Ladies and gentlemen, when facing unknown challenges and uncertain future, let’s focus on solutions, not problem. Thank you!
Special thanks to Mandy for her great suggestions. :)
Mandy:
Here are two of my humble suggestions for your reference. First of all, I think it's better to say "Toastmaster." instead of "Thank you." in the end of the speech because it's you that are to be thanked by the audience for you give them such a wonderful speech. Secondly, I suggest you explain it more detailedly how to put this simple but powerful life philosophy into practice in the daily life because you can't expect everyone exactly get your point. They might not fully understand what the true meaning of this saying is. You'd better get them an example and make it even clearer.
Chang:
Cause deeds speak louder than words, we need more results to convince the audience the power of the philosophy, except for passing entrance exams and delivering speeches.
Ben:
Need to improve speech writing.
Try to paraphrase the sentences and try to shorten the article.
Need to hone writing skills and make the article more consice and punchy.
----Script----
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
Today I would love to talk about the most important philosophy of life I learned from my father that has brought me all the way to where I am today. From a suburb farming-county boy to national college researcher is certainly no way short. What is that? “Focus on solution; not problem.” Looking back, I would say that’s the most vital life-supporting concept I learned from my father.
When I was in junior high, things were very different from what I am now. People say that adolescence brings wildness and rebellion. That’s certainly true to me. My mother was a teacher in my junior high school, and as the place where I lived was a pretty small town, it’s natural that she knew almost all the teachers in my elementary school, too. All those rules, disciplines, regulations, and supervision all escalated to a tide, pushed me all the way to the border of extreme insanity. I stole things in stores and almost got sent to the police station, rode with my friends on burning wheels through those nights of summer sweats and winter chills, and cheated in almost all the exams and slept through most classes.
Those days were like dreams in the night. Dreams, however, being good ones or nightmares, would vanish as daybreak shines the earth again. To me, the daybreak came at the last moment, not too soon, not too late, exactly in the last semester in my junior high.
It was another ordinary day of boring school, but as I got home, there was something strange. I saw my mother sitting on the sofa crying. Seeing tears on my mother’s face was a common scene back then, but that day was different. Even when I was on the third floor, it seemed to me that I could sense her tears dripping down her cheeks on the first floor. Her sobbing sounded so sad and desperate that I found it impossible to ignore. Not knowing what to do and say, I kept waiting until my father came back from work. After a while, I heard footsteps coming up through the stairs. I was so eager to know what happened to my mom even it might be the severest punishment or scolding that awaited me. Things turned out to be that she overheard some teachers discussing their sons and daughters after school. They mocked me for they think I could never make it in senior high entrance exam. All the pressure and worries for my mom in those years erupted on that day, breaking her down, and surely I was to blame.
Strange enough, my father did not scold me again. He just sat down on another desk and started writing something. I was so afraid that I could only wait there, holding the textbook in my hand without being able to read anything in. Few minutes later, he put something on my desk and walked down the stairs. It was a beautifully calligraphed letter. It said: “My son. Those who succeed find solutions; those who fail find excuses. The key to success is not luck, nor talent, but ambitions. Those who want to succeed would collect all accessible resources, use all possible means, and show undefeatable determination. Set up your goals and follow it closely, you’ll be on your way to success. By your father.”
That surely wasn’t a long letter, but that was the first time I was convinced that small and simple things could also have great power. Just like the plot you may have watched or read on TV or in novel, I changed on the very evening. One thing was different from those soap operas’ storylines: things didn’t go too smooth for me at once. Wasted time left a giant gap of knowledge for me to fill in, and I have to work really hard to make it up. Not having confidence in myself at all, I kept asking my father everyday what I should do should I fail. After having done so for a few times, I was invited me to sit with him. He said: “It’s very natural to be nervous and anxious especially when the future seems so uncertain. However, instead of using your time on thinking about what you should do after you fail, I would suggest you use you time to study more and get more scores. Focus on solutions; not problem. We will discuss when you get your final result. Okay?”
It may sound small and simple, but as I said before, small and simple things could also have great power. From that moment, whenever I face challenges, like any big exams or standing up on the stage and deliver speeches, I stopped all my worries and anxiety, and only focused on what I want to happen. I believe in this era of turbulence, we are all facing different challenges in various aspects, at many times. It’s my sincere wish that we can all try to focus on solutions, not problems. Give it a try! It helped me turn a whole new leaf a decade ago, and now, I know it could help us to pave another grand new path. Ladies and gentlemen, when facing unknown challenges and uncertain future, let’s focus on solutions, not problem. Thank you!
2009年1月6日 星期二
C2 Speech: Organize your speech
Content:
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Happy year 2009.
I am not quite sure what may come up to you mind when it comes to New Year. For Chinese New year, I think most people would relate to the joy of receiving red envelops or the pain of giving too much of them. For New Year, I mean the one on January 1st, I would think of New Year’s resolution, and that’s exactly what I would love to talk about today.
I would love to start with the importance of New Year’s resolution. Why do people need New Year’s resolution? In the latest biography of Warren Buffet “Snowball”, there is a quote that really fascinates me: “Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill.” We all know that success need time to escalate, and that pretty much explains the “long hill” part, but what if along the road we choose, there is no more wet snow? Do we change automatically? No.
In spring, flowers’ blooms make the world fragrant as you walk in the garden. In summer, crickets orchestra play their best symphony as you relax in the night. In autumn, fallen leaves paint the ground splendid as you relax in the forest. In early winter, geese form amazing pattern as you look up to the sky. Animals, plants, and insects, they all know when and how to change by their very own nature and instincts. Not us, we only change when we need to, are forced to, or when we determine to. That’s why we need New Year’s resolution, a best time to examine your life’s status quo and decide if there is still wet snow lies ahead, and if the hill is still long enough.
When it comes to New Year’s resolution, it’s all about goal setting. In goal setting, there is an easy criterion called SMART. SMART, S, M, A, R, T, each stands for a word. They are: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.
S, stands for specific. Your goal should be straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen. It’s the what, why, and how of the strategy. For example, instead of saying: I want to look better. I may try saying something like I want to lose 20 kilograms.
M, stands for measurable. As I just said a few seconds ago, I want to lose 20 kilograms is a perfectly measurable goal. The only thing I need might be a scale for me to stand on. Making goals measurable is very important, for we can only manage our goal when we can measure it. Also, in the process of change, those measurable differences could be strong motivators to help us carry on.
A, stands for attainable. Set goals have to be attainable when given accessible resources. I must be crazy if I tell you I want to look like Tom Cruise or have a built like Arnold Achwarzenegger, I believe most of you would think I am setting up unattainable goals. When I practiced my speech in front of my friend, he suggested monthly trip to Korea might help. My answer to his reply is that I may pretty soon show them the limit of modern medical surgical technology.
R, stands for realistic. People may get confuse between attainable and realistic goals, so what’s the difference? Attainable goals mean possible goals. Realistic goals mean proper goals. Having a flying carpet is unattainable to me, and losing 10 kilograms by tomorrow is unrealistic to me. However, this is not to encourage people to make up easy goals. Good goals should allow us to stretch some, but still allow the likelihood of success.
Last, T, stands for time-bound. Setting a time-frame for goals can help us work toward it. My experience taught me that my task will take only longer than the time I allow it to take, not shorter. I may delay a little bit, but seldom finish them earlier. For those goals that I haven’t set deadlines upon, to be honest, I never get them done. So please, do yourself a favor. Set a realistic deadline and stick to it. Things will be very different.
According to the survey done by Richard Wiseman in Quirkology, in 2007, among 3000 people who made their New Year resolutions, in the beginning there were 52% of participants that were confident of their success. But in the very end, only 12% succeeded. There was a really interesting finding suggested by the survey. That was New Year’s Resolution did have gender difference. For gentlemen, they were more likely to succeed when they focused on the rewards they would get after achieving their goals. For ladies, they were more likely to succeed when they have social support from friends or families. So, gentlemen, when setting up your goals, remember, carrots, not sticks. Ladies, please do get your goals go public.
May you all set great goals, have them achieved, and enjoy a SMART and fabulous year 2009.
Toastmaster.
-----
Suggestions
1. Pay attention to the pronunciation of Warren Buffet. Buffet has 2 different pronunciations.
2. Explain more about Buffet, as some audience may not know him.
3. Opening should be more enthusiastic.
4. Give examples of high achievers as Obama, and how they set up their goals.
5. Give more personal examples.
6. Speak slower.
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Happy year 2009.
I am not quite sure what may come up to you mind when it comes to New Year. For Chinese New year, I think most people would relate to the joy of receiving red envelops or the pain of giving too much of them. For New Year, I mean the one on January 1st, I would think of New Year’s resolution, and that’s exactly what I would love to talk about today.
I would love to start with the importance of New Year’s resolution. Why do people need New Year’s resolution? In the latest biography of Warren Buffet “Snowball”, there is a quote that really fascinates me: “Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill.” We all know that success need time to escalate, and that pretty much explains the “long hill” part, but what if along the road we choose, there is no more wet snow? Do we change automatically? No.
In spring, flowers’ blooms make the world fragrant as you walk in the garden. In summer, crickets orchestra play their best symphony as you relax in the night. In autumn, fallen leaves paint the ground splendid as you relax in the forest. In early winter, geese form amazing pattern as you look up to the sky. Animals, plants, and insects, they all know when and how to change by their very own nature and instincts. Not us, we only change when we need to, are forced to, or when we determine to. That’s why we need New Year’s resolution, a best time to examine your life’s status quo and decide if there is still wet snow lies ahead, and if the hill is still long enough.
When it comes to New Year’s resolution, it’s all about goal setting. In goal setting, there is an easy criterion called SMART. SMART, S, M, A, R, T, each stands for a word. They are: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.
S, stands for specific. Your goal should be straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen. It’s the what, why, and how of the strategy. For example, instead of saying: I want to look better. I may try saying something like I want to lose 20 kilograms.
M, stands for measurable. As I just said a few seconds ago, I want to lose 20 kilograms is a perfectly measurable goal. The only thing I need might be a scale for me to stand on. Making goals measurable is very important, for we can only manage our goal when we can measure it. Also, in the process of change, those measurable differences could be strong motivators to help us carry on.
A, stands for attainable. Set goals have to be attainable when given accessible resources. I must be crazy if I tell you I want to look like Tom Cruise or have a built like Arnold Achwarzenegger, I believe most of you would think I am setting up unattainable goals. When I practiced my speech in front of my friend, he suggested monthly trip to Korea might help. My answer to his reply is that I may pretty soon show them the limit of modern medical surgical technology.
R, stands for realistic. People may get confuse between attainable and realistic goals, so what’s the difference? Attainable goals mean possible goals. Realistic goals mean proper goals. Having a flying carpet is unattainable to me, and losing 10 kilograms by tomorrow is unrealistic to me. However, this is not to encourage people to make up easy goals. Good goals should allow us to stretch some, but still allow the likelihood of success.
Last, T, stands for time-bound. Setting a time-frame for goals can help us work toward it. My experience taught me that my task will take only longer than the time I allow it to take, not shorter. I may delay a little bit, but seldom finish them earlier. For those goals that I haven’t set deadlines upon, to be honest, I never get them done. So please, do yourself a favor. Set a realistic deadline and stick to it. Things will be very different.
According to the survey done by Richard Wiseman in Quirkology, in 2007, among 3000 people who made their New Year resolutions, in the beginning there were 52% of participants that were confident of their success. But in the very end, only 12% succeeded. There was a really interesting finding suggested by the survey. That was New Year’s Resolution did have gender difference. For gentlemen, they were more likely to succeed when they focused on the rewards they would get after achieving their goals. For ladies, they were more likely to succeed when they have social support from friends or families. So, gentlemen, when setting up your goals, remember, carrots, not sticks. Ladies, please do get your goals go public.
May you all set great goals, have them achieved, and enjoy a SMART and fabulous year 2009.
Toastmaster.
-----
Suggestions
1. Pay attention to the pronunciation of Warren Buffet. Buffet has 2 different pronunciations.
2. Explain more about Buffet, as some audience may not know him.
3. Opening should be more enthusiastic.
4. Give examples of high achievers as Obama, and how they set up their goals.
5. Give more personal examples.
6. Speak slower.
2008年12月2日 星期二
C1 speech: Ice Breaker
Content
As Aristotle put it, know thyself is the source of wisdom. To start with that, I am not so sure if talking about myself should be really that easy as stated in the Toastmaster manual.
Toastmaster, dear toastmaster fellows and honorable guests, I believe it would not be too interesting if I just simply take out my resume, read it, and explain item after item. Therefore, I would love to introduce myself through a story. The story is very special even to me, for I had no memory of it, not until I heard it from my uncle and my parents. Why? Because it happened to me when I was only 2 weeks old.
2 weeks after I met this world, my parents brought me back from the hospital. My grandparents were very happy to meet their second grandson, and everything seemed just perfect at that time. Perfect…until two days later.
2 days later, my mother found something strange about me. I started to vomit whatever they fed me. My eyes turned yellow, and what terrified them most was that I started to urine blood. They were so scared that they couldn’t wait any longer and rushed to the hospital.
The first doctor couldn’t identify the reason why I got into that situation, but my parents chose not to give up. They asked if any other doctor would love to help and did some checkups. Few hours later, the only American doctor came and identified that I may have G6PD deficiency.
So what’s G6PD deficiency? In Chinese it’s called 蠶豆症. People with this genetic disease have different red blood cells. They cannot have horse beans, smell mothballs, and have to avoid a quite long list of medicine use. If they fail to follow the rules, their red blood cells will start to break and melt, causing great burden to the liver, that’s why patients’ eyes would turn yellow, and the melted red blood cell would urine out of the body through the major metabolism system kidney.
I was born and grew up in Yunlin, which is the biggest farming county in Taiwan. To prevent from unwanted insects from coming into the household, mothballs were placed all over. To a small infant, the dose is certainly too high for that small body. Oh, believe me. 26 years ago I was a small infant, too.
The correct diagnosis did not mean the termination of the problem. It just meant the source of problem was finally identified. When all the doctors there knew that the only solution to the problem was to change all the blood in my body, there was a second problem to be solved: no doctor was willing to operate for me because the mortality rate is 50%.
My mother burst into tears and lost control for she thought she would lose me. My father knelt down and begged for help. To operate or not to operate, was not the question for us since we had no other option but to give it a try. Finally, the foreign doctor who identified my disease nodded and decided to help with my parent’s signed agreement on not suing him even the operation failed.
They signed with great gratitude, and the operation was carried out. Blood donated by my father and my uncle came in from my navel, and went out from my ankle. I recovered, thanks to the courageous doctor to take the responsibility and followed the Hippocratic Oath he took and my parents and uncle’s love and support.
So, what influence has it on me? I learned from the doctor that if I am the only person who can get the job done, even I have to do it with facing great danger and risk, still I will go. Not to mention if there is barely risk, then definitely I would do anything that I can help. From the love the support I received from my parents and the doctor, I know it so well that I am destined to come to the world to help others, just as they helped me when I was weak.
That’s why I joined the Emergency Medical Technician volunteer when I was in college. In those years, I soaked my hands in the blood and helped people come out from the car wreckage. I pressed the chest and did CPR for those who were in diabetes coma. I bandaged bleeding heads and send them to the hospital. That’s why I became high school teachers few years ago, for I believe knowledge is what can truly empower people to head toward higher dimension. That’s why I am doing my master in the Institute of Education right now, because I am working on an educational application that can truly make some difference to the society.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Roy Lee, who has a face willing to smile, ears open to listen, and hands ready to help. I would also love to dedicate this speech to my parents, my uncle, and to all those who have been so brave and stand out to take the responsibility to help others. This is for you. Toastmaster.
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Improvement suggestions from evaluators
1. Time Control.
2. Talk more stories in Ci Ice breaking instead of only one.
3. Shorten the conclusion, end with "hands to help".
4. Slow down a little bit.
5. Tell us more about yourself.
6. It should be operate "on" somebody, not operate "for"
7. More vocal variety and eye contact on the whole area instead of only one.
----
Won the prize: most improved speech.
As Aristotle put it, know thyself is the source of wisdom. To start with that, I am not so sure if talking about myself should be really that easy as stated in the Toastmaster manual.
Toastmaster, dear toastmaster fellows and honorable guests, I believe it would not be too interesting if I just simply take out my resume, read it, and explain item after item. Therefore, I would love to introduce myself through a story. The story is very special even to me, for I had no memory of it, not until I heard it from my uncle and my parents. Why? Because it happened to me when I was only 2 weeks old.
2 weeks after I met this world, my parents brought me back from the hospital. My grandparents were very happy to meet their second grandson, and everything seemed just perfect at that time. Perfect…until two days later.
2 days later, my mother found something strange about me. I started to vomit whatever they fed me. My eyes turned yellow, and what terrified them most was that I started to urine blood. They were so scared that they couldn’t wait any longer and rushed to the hospital.
The first doctor couldn’t identify the reason why I got into that situation, but my parents chose not to give up. They asked if any other doctor would love to help and did some checkups. Few hours later, the only American doctor came and identified that I may have G6PD deficiency.
So what’s G6PD deficiency? In Chinese it’s called 蠶豆症. People with this genetic disease have different red blood cells. They cannot have horse beans, smell mothballs, and have to avoid a quite long list of medicine use. If they fail to follow the rules, their red blood cells will start to break and melt, causing great burden to the liver, that’s why patients’ eyes would turn yellow, and the melted red blood cell would urine out of the body through the major metabolism system kidney.
I was born and grew up in Yunlin, which is the biggest farming county in Taiwan. To prevent from unwanted insects from coming into the household, mothballs were placed all over. To a small infant, the dose is certainly too high for that small body. Oh, believe me. 26 years ago I was a small infant, too.
The correct diagnosis did not mean the termination of the problem. It just meant the source of problem was finally identified. When all the doctors there knew that the only solution to the problem was to change all the blood in my body, there was a second problem to be solved: no doctor was willing to operate for me because the mortality rate is 50%.
My mother burst into tears and lost control for she thought she would lose me. My father knelt down and begged for help. To operate or not to operate, was not the question for us since we had no other option but to give it a try. Finally, the foreign doctor who identified my disease nodded and decided to help with my parent’s signed agreement on not suing him even the operation failed.
They signed with great gratitude, and the operation was carried out. Blood donated by my father and my uncle came in from my navel, and went out from my ankle. I recovered, thanks to the courageous doctor to take the responsibility and followed the Hippocratic Oath he took and my parents and uncle’s love and support.
So, what influence has it on me? I learned from the doctor that if I am the only person who can get the job done, even I have to do it with facing great danger and risk, still I will go. Not to mention if there is barely risk, then definitely I would do anything that I can help. From the love the support I received from my parents and the doctor, I know it so well that I am destined to come to the world to help others, just as they helped me when I was weak.
That’s why I joined the Emergency Medical Technician volunteer when I was in college. In those years, I soaked my hands in the blood and helped people come out from the car wreckage. I pressed the chest and did CPR for those who were in diabetes coma. I bandaged bleeding heads and send them to the hospital. That’s why I became high school teachers few years ago, for I believe knowledge is what can truly empower people to head toward higher dimension. That’s why I am doing my master in the Institute of Education right now, because I am working on an educational application that can truly make some difference to the society.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Roy Lee, who has a face willing to smile, ears open to listen, and hands ready to help. I would also love to dedicate this speech to my parents, my uncle, and to all those who have been so brave and stand out to take the responsibility to help others. This is for you. Toastmaster.
----
Improvement suggestions from evaluators
1. Time Control.
2. Talk more stories in Ci Ice breaking instead of only one.
3. Shorten the conclusion, end with "hands to help".
4. Slow down a little bit.
5. Tell us more about yourself.
6. It should be operate "on" somebody, not operate "for"
7. More vocal variety and eye contact on the whole area instead of only one.
----
Won the prize: most improved speech.
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