Hello everyone，I have been looking forward to this speech for so long a time. Today I want to introduce myself with more information. My name is xxx, but I'd like to be called River. Someone may wonder why I name myself River. The reason is that I wish to be rich because every river has two banks. right? Haha! OK to be seriously, the truth is I love rivers, and in my hometown there was a river in front of my house going through slowly and silently. And many good things happened there. So the name is to memorize the good time and things that had past. In summer I used to go swimming or diving with my friends. And also many other interesting things like fishing, catching frog, playing snake and so on. In one word it was a perfect wild garden for me.
I have two stories related to the river which had past so many years, but I still remember clearly. The first one is about snake, in my hometown there was a kind of snake with the whole body green but red and black spots around the neck. Locally we call them "cock neck", a really vivid name I think. One day when I was wandering with my cousin on the river bed we found a "cock neck" crossing the path. "Show time" I said to my cousin with my eye, and then I began to play the snake with a stick. After a few tries I was bored with that. In order to demonstrate my stupid bravery I throw away my stick to play the snake with my hand free. Like this (gesture). Then suddenly the angry snake bite me on the hand hardly and the
blood came out instantly. It was ironic! But to be honest I was a little more calm than my cousin, you should really have a look at his face! Just turned into pale immediately. But thanks to God, "cock neck" is not poisonous, so I am able to be here today.
The second story is about yellow eel(黃鱔), Do you know that yellow eel is a kind of medicine? It has effect on face stroke. In fact one of my neighbor endured that disease and she often bought yellow eel to cure herself. Once I caught many yellow eels from the river. At the begging they were kept in a pot in my
yard until one day an idea came into my mind that I want to have a taste of eel meat. I turned to my grandfather asking how to cook the eel. "Fried or steamed, which would be more delicious" I was thinking. But my grandfather persuaded me not to risk. He feared my normal face could be deformed. Like this
(gesture). After thinking over and over again I gave up, but many years later in Shanghai I found yellow eel is a common dish. What a pity!
Thanks to the river for bringing me so many wonderful experiences. But what really make me sad is that the river had gone not long after these stories. Maybe due to too much of groundwater extraction. You know the environment condition had became more and more severe since 25 years ago. The air became smelly, water was polluted, forest was gone. It was too bad. We really need to take action right now to protect our environment to protect our selves.I hope someday my river could come back again. OK that is all I want to share,thank you all for listening.
