(于春迟，December 8, 2010)

　　Professor Wang Shouren, honorable judges, ladies and gentlemen,

　　Thank you all for taking part in the FLTRP Cup National English Speaking Contest. I’m greatly honored to have this grand occasion to congratulate all the 89 contestants on your entry into the National Finals。

　　For eight years since 2002, FLTRP has held this national event in cooperation with CCTV. Starting from the current session, we shall be hosting the FLTRP Cup together with two national education agencies: the National Foreign Languages Teaching Advisory Committee on Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education and the National Advisory Committee on Teaching English to Majors in Higher Education. Both are directly under the Ministry of Education。

　　Besides approval of the Ministry of Education, the competition has always enjoyed the support of local education authorities. This year, for example, deputy education director-general Wang Lijin (王李金) of Shanxi and deputy director-general Wang Kang (王康) of Sichuan observed the respective provincial finals on the site. Mr. Wang Lijin applauded the FLTRP Cup as “a classic competition for higher education institutes in Shanxi。” He highly commented on its role in helping college students improve their overall qualifications and social competitive strength。

　　At the university level, both teachers and students have shown unfailing enthusiasm for the competition over the years. Many university presidents attend campus preliminaries to encourage their students. More importantly, the competition has led to a stronger interest in English public speaking among a growing number of universities。

　　For college students, the FLTRP Cup serves as a unique platform to demonstrate their talents through English. It also provides a unique opportunity for students to distinguish themselves for advanced studies or ideal jobs. Zou Yun (邹韵)， national second runner-up, and Liu Xiaoyu (刘霄宇)， national finalist in 2009 were recruited by CCTV upon graduation. Shan Liyan (单理杨)， national Champaign from the Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2009, is now an exchange student at the University of Edinburgh. Chen Dong (陈东)， national Champaign in 2006, is now a doctoral candidate in bio-medicine at Yale University. The organizers hope that more students will follow their examples and all the participants will benefit from the experience in one way or another。

　　For nearly a decade now, this national English speaking contest has drawn the participation of over 10 million college students. The organizers have worked hard to ensure that we provide high-quality academic as well as practical values to the participants. For example, we have been constantly improving the procedures to emphasize critical thinking and comprehensive cultural knowledge, in addition to language skills. To ensure the best evaluation, we always invite top English education specialists from home and abroad to serve as advisors and/or judges. For this year’s competition, we have invited Professor Wang Shouren to head the Expert Advisory Committee of the FLTRP Cup. Professor Wang is director of the National Foreign Languages Teaching Advisory Board under the Ministry of Education. He will also be chairing the panel of judges for the National Finals in the coming week. The organizers also owe the success of the FLTRP Cup to the expertise and hard work of many other prominent experts like Professor Wang. May I suggest that we give them a warm round of applause to show our appreciation for their indispensable contributions!

　　Ladies and gentlemen, in the coming week, the 89 national finalists will engage in one to four phases of final competitions. While only six speakers will enter the fourth phase to contend for the top three prizes, I believe all of you have already distinguished yourselves by representing your respective provinces and municipalities at the National Finals。

　　As with all the previous sessions, FLTRP has carefully planned overseas study tours for the top prize winners. The Champaign and the runners-up will take part in public speaking training at the George Mason University in the United States. The second runners-up will take part in training and competition at the Asian Debate Institute in Seoul. The winners of the First Prize of Excellence will pay a cultural visit to Singapore and Malaysia. The tutors of the Champaign and the runners-up will respectively attend an ESU Cultural Seminar and an ESU International Relations Conference at Oxford. The tutors of the second runners-up will attend the Asia TEFL International Conference in Seoul. The tutors of the First Prize of Excellence winners will travel to Singapore and Malaysia for cultural studies. The Organizing Committee hopes that these activities will help the teachers and students to enrich their academic experience and to broaden their global vision。

　　Ladies and gentlemen, it is your participation that has made the FLTRP Cup an exciting event. Thank you all once again and I wish all the participants the best of luck!