一个美国华裔高一女生关于《歧视》的演讲
一个美国华裔高一女生关于《歧视》的演讲
这篇文章最初写于2014年4月8号，女儿读9年级。她四年高中参加的MUN模拟联合国组织对她在写作、思考和表达能力方面有非常明显的帮助。
女儿在模拟联合国（MUN）会议上做的4分钟演讲的演讲稿，题目是《Discrimination》- 歧视。
她用自己的观点和语言写的这篇文章，我们都被她文章中阐述的观点震撼了，文笔流畅，用词准确，观点鲜明，而且她能意识到改变歧视最根本的方法是教育，因为教育可以让人开阔视野，认识到这个世界的多样性。当你对一样事物有了更多了解了，你就会对此多一些理解、接受和宽容，从而放下歧视。
作为妈妈我真的非常自豪我14岁女儿-一个高中一年级学生可以写出这样的文章，很希望跟我国内的家人朋友们分享，所以虽然很麻烦，但我还是按照自己的理解并忠于女儿的行文方式，将它翻译成中文：
尊敬的联合国秘书长潘基文先生，尊敬的联合国大会主席耶雷米奇先生，女士们，先生们，我非常荣幸今天站在联合国成员面前，陈述关于歧视这个话题。
歧视，正如我们都知道的，有许多不同的形式，但我们最熟悉的两种主要形式是种族歧视和宗教歧视。歧视其实是一个单薄的概念，通常是从一代传承到下一代，它是一个恶性循环，遗憾的是到目前为止尚没有停止。
我相信人类，默认情况下，对于他人，我们都在不断地追求完美，我们也在不断完善争取成为卓越，无论是身体上和精神上。在许多情况下，这会导致健康的竞争，这促进了国家的成长。但在有些情况下，良性竞争开始走下坡路，这有点类似早期的美国人，他们购买和销售其他种族的人作为奴隶，因为他们认为有色人种比白人低贱。希特勒拥有了权力，杀害了几百万，因为他相信雅利安种族的优越性。卢旺达的邻居们转而对抗彼此，因为胡图相信他们比图西人更值得拥有权势。类似的情况拿纳粹德国为例，希特勒相信并鼓吹雅利安人是优越种族，所有其他群体，主要是犹太人，必须被铲除。他通过利用宣传获取支持，最终，歧视上升到这样一个高度，数百万无辜的人失去了生命，如果我们不采取持续行动，数百万人还将会失去生命。
“永不再发生”的想法一直像口头禅一样被重复数百万次，但从未促使人们采取足够的行动。如果我们不制止正在发生的国家内部本身的歧视我们怎样才能从根本上制止种族灭绝？曾经有人试图解决这一问题，但没有，据我所知，还没有建立有效的预防措施。
每个人都有自己的长处和自己的短处，这是一个事实，作为人类我们必须接受这一点，但是要判断一个人完全基于他的民族、种族或宗教信仰，这不仅是不道德的，而且是完全没有必要的，这也是可以预防的。
女士们，先生们，在我看来，教育是解决问题的关键，是最重要的因素，它将在与这场永不停止的歧视做战斗中做出卓越的贡献。我们需要利用教育来开启今天全球公民的眼睛和头脑，特别是今天的年轻人，让他们看到和欣赏到这世界存在的多样性。我们需要帮助他们认识到多样化是一件美好的礼物，她给我们这个世界带来更多的精彩。
今天教育程度越高的全球公民，他们将来实施各类歧视的可能性越小。无知，女士们，先生们，它或许是最大的牺牲者，如果我们能够战胜无知，那我们将离打赢反对歧视的斗争更近一步了。教育将有助于克服仇恨。教育将有助于克服冷漠。教育将导致更多的包容和接纳，因为如果有些事情我们了解并理解，那我们将不再觉得那对我们来说是威胁。
正如传奇少女马拉拉（巴基斯坦西北部的一名女学生，以争取妇女接受教育的权利而闻名）曾经说过： “让我们拿起我们的书和我们的笔，它们是最强大的武器。一个孩子，一位老师，一本书和一支笔可以改变世界。 ” 因此，让我们这样做吧。让我们从一支笔、一本书、一个学生、一位教师开始做起，一步一个脚印！
谢谢。
演讲稿原文：
Distinguished UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and President of the General Assembly Mr. Vuk Jeremic, ladies and gentlemen, I am both humbled and honored to be standing before the members of the United Nations today to speak regarding the issue of discrimination. Discrimination, as we all know, comes in many different forms, but the two main forms that we are most acquainted with are racial and religious discrimination. Discrimination is an unsubstantial idea that is usually passed from one generation to the next and it is a brutal cycle that has yet to be stopped.
I believe that humans, by default, are constantly striving toward perfection and we are also constantly seeking to be superior, both physically and mentally, to others. In many cases, this leads to healthy competition that in turn leads to the growth of nations. In other cases, the healthy competition begins to spiral downhill similar to the way it did when the early Americans bought and sold other human beings as slaves because they believed that people of color were of lesser than of one with fair complexion, when Hitler came to power and millions of people died because he believed in the superiority of the Aryan race, when neighbors turned against each other in Rwanda because the Hutu believed that they were more worthy of power than the Tutsi. Take the situation in Nazi Germany as an example, Hitler believed and preached that the Aryans were the superior race and that all other groups, mainly the Jews, must be eradicated. He rallied support through the use of propaganda and eventually, discrimination rose to such a pedestal that millions of innocent lives were lost, and millions more will be lost if we don’t take continued action.
The idea of ‘Never Again’ has been a mantra repeated millions of times but has never roused people to take enough action. How can we stop the genocides if we don’t put an end to the discrimination taking place inside the countries themselves? There have been preventative measures that have been created in the past that have attempted to combat this issue but none, to my knowledge, have been effective to the extent that they should be.
Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses, that is a fact that we must all accept as human beings, but to judge a person solely based on their ethnicity, race, or religion is not only immoral and completely unnecessary, it is also preventable. Ladies and gentlemen, in my opinion, education is the key, the most important factor, that will contribute to fight the never ending battle against discrimination. We need to utilize education to open the eyes and minds of today’s global citizens, especially of today’s youth, to see and appreciate diversity. We need to help them understand that diversity is a wonderful gift and brings enrichment to the world. The more educated global citizens of today are, there will be a less likelihood of horrible atrocities being committed in the future. Ignorance, ladies and gentlemen, is perhaps the greatest contributor, and if we manage to win the battle against ignorance, we will be one step closer to winning the battle against discrimination. Education will help to overcome hatred. Education will help to overcome indifference. Education will lead to more tolerance and acceptance because if we know about something and we understand it, it is no longer threatening to us.
As Malala Yousafzai once stated: “let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher,one book and pen can change the world.” So let us do just that. Let us begin with one pen, one book, with one student, one teacher, and one step at a time. Thank you.
