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 endlessly 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 ruthless exploitation has permanently impaired our mother earth. as we tragically learned from last summer's floods. we cannot continue our carelessness.
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 lifeless 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!
