Competitions in My World

李欣蔚

      “In Africa, when an antelope wakes up every morning, the first thing he thinks about is: ‘I must be able to run faster than the fastest lion, or I will be killed.’ At the same time, a lion wakes from his dream. The first thing he thinks about is: ‘I must be able to catch the slowest antelope, or I will stave to death.’ So, almost at the same time, the antelope and the lion get up and start running toward the rising morning sun.”
       This is a short story I have ever read in a magazine which impressed me deeply. It enlightened me on what life is. No matter you are a weak antelope or a strong lion, you must go ahead at the sunrise, or else what you will receive is sure death. This is a doomed fact even though it seems a bit cruel. Similarly, we human’s life is full of chances and challenges. A man may be put in a position of competitions for many times in his life. Based on his attitudes toward and understandings of competitions, he may gain different results. However, it takes me quite a long time to understand the true concept of competitions.
       In the primary school, I lived a carefree life, learning new things day by day with a curious and light heart. Not until one day a word “exam” suddenly broke into my life did I felt a burden on my shoulders. At first, I didn’t know what the word exactly meant. My only idea was that exams were made up of one-after-another questions which inspected whether we did well in memorizing. With lots of exams waiting for me ahead, I became annoyed or even resentful. I had been long pondering over questions like why are there so many exams arranged for students and what on earth could people get from those exams. But what I could do was only to get through the exams and never to stop studying hard since I was one of those millions of students.
       However, the questions still kept haunting me until the results of the high school entrance examinations came out. The great disparity in scores was exposed to all examinees by the ensuing entries into different high schools, which were of different classes. At that time, I began to realize that an exam was a kind of competition.
       From then on, I became well aware of the fact that if we didn’t study hard, we would sooner or later fall behind others. Each time I saw children playing games and heard their naïve laughter, I wished I was that age again. But it was just a momentary flash crossing my mind since piles of homework soon dragged me out to the reality. Together with the homework were my teachers’ and my parents’ remindful words: “You must work very hard so that you are able to enter a first-class university and have a good future.” So I picked up my pen and went on studying hard. In my whole middle school life, with millions of students crushing toward excellent colleges, competitions in my eyes were featured with fierceness and cruelty.
       This feeling didn’t change until my college life began. Thanks to more free time for thinking, I gradually gained a better understanding of the society and the evolution of human life. Moreover, every time I stood on the stages in competitions, I saw the teachers and other students looking at me kindly and encouragingly. I found competitions were no longer as cruel as I had ever thought. It finally struck me that they were much necessary and helpful in our lives. If there was no competition, how would ordinary people work diligently to improve themselves in order to have advantages over others? If there was no competition, how could excellent talents show their competence or prove their superiority over others? If there was no elite engaging in various scientific fields, how could new technology be invented? If there was no updated new technology and inventions, how could human civilization go ahead?
       I think I have understood the true meaning of competitions, and now I am enjoying the processes and benefits of competitions, with a light heart.

[ 本帖最后由 李欣蔚 于 2008-11-14 21:59 编辑 ]

Cinderella

I think I have understood the true meaning of competitions, and now I am enjoying the processes and benefits of competitions, with a light heart.
________Congratulations!