英语演讲材料：What Is Real Beauty？

 It is human nature that all of us should be fond of beauty. Everybody was born with a heart for beauty.

Today in China,with the rising of our living standard, people's requirement of beauty has been heightened accordingly. Some people spare no money or energy on beautiful clothes, fashionable hair styles,the decoration of their houses and even the improvement of their looks. But it seems to me,all these are more or less confined to the beauty in appearance,or rather,the outward beauty.

In my opinion,we shouldn't only pay attention to beautiful appearance and neglect the beautification of the mind and what we are after should be the perfect unity¹ of the outward beauty and the inner beauty. As we all know,so far as objects and animals are concerned,there is only beautiful appearance to be mentioned, but to us humanbeings, although the outward beauty really matters, the inner beauty is much more important. This was confirmed by a famous Russian writer in words much like this: "A person is not lovely for being beautiful but beautiful for being lovely. "

Here, I'd like to quote two typical instances and I'm sure, my dear friends,from them you'll find out what real beauty is.

Recently I learned from the radio an unpleasant incident about a well known singer. She is very charming with a sweet beautiful voice and very famous for singing the song."Devotion of Love". Not long ago,she was invited to Zhejiang Province to give performance. The moment she was to appear on the stage,she suddenly asked for more reward. Worse still,after her request was satisfied, she didn't begin to sing at once. Instead,she took her time to count all the money piece by piece. Thus she kept the audience waiting for half an hour. So when she at last showed up and started to sing "Devotion of Love",a man rose up from his seat and shouted at her,"You don't have any devotion of love. You are not qualified² to sing this song ! "Hearing this, the singer stopped singing and began to shout abuses with her finger pointed³ at the man. At this time the whole audience burst into an uproar⁴.

How disappointed her keen listeners were when they learned this! It is the singer herself who spoiled her beautiful image in the eyes of others.

Now, I'm coming to another true story. It's about a poor, ordinary looking old woman. She was a widow without any children, living barely from hand to mouth by picking odds⁵ and ends from rubbish heaps. However,she took in more than ten homeless orphans⁶ successively and managed to bring them up. Every day she labored⁷ from morning till night. In order to earn as much money as possible to raise the children and to keep them in school,she even went to a hospital regularly to sell her blood. She got so weak for the loss of blood that she sometimes fell in a faint on her way home.

When asked why she chose to burden herself with so many children,she smiled and simply answered,"Oh,I love children and I like to have their company. "

Though the old woman was poor materially, she was full of affection and rich in spirit. She was loved dearly by her children. She was also highly appreciated by the local government, and truly respected by people in her community.

Maybe you can't help wondering, "What makes that ordinary woman so extraordinary?" It is nothing else but her inner beauty, her true devotion of love without any thought of rewarding. What a sharp contrast there is between the great woman and the selfish singer]

So,to answer the question "What is real beauty?", I declare definitely,it is the beauty lying in one's heart of hearts and embodied⁸ in his actions and deeds,that is,the inner heauty!

1 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

2 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

5 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

6 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

7 labored   

adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing. 我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。 来自辞典例句
• They have labored to complete the job. 他们努力完成这一工作。 来自辞典例句

8 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》