DISTINGUISHED guests, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen:

　　It’s my pleasure to be here to witness the success of the Thirteenth “21st Century Lenovo Cup” National English Speaking Competition. And I’m delighted to see this competition enjoying such popularity among university teachers and students, as a good example to improve Chinese English language learners’over-all abilities.

　　On behalf of the Ministry of Education, I’d like to extend warm congratulations to all the winners and participants today, who have done an excellent job, and to China Daily and Lenovo Group, who are committed to improving young learners practical ability in English.

　　The contemporary world is becoming a global village. English is the communicative language in this village. In China, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games also remind us of the increasing role of English.

　　In recent years, the Ministry of Education has made great efforts to improve students’practical ability in English. We updated the requirement for English teaching and supported more activities for practicing English. The learning and teaching of this language has undergone great changes over the past few years. Today, I’m glad to see our efforts have paid off. The contestants performed so well today. Their speeches are eloquent and insightful, and I’m proud of them with their positive attitudes and great fluency in English.

　　As the students realized in their speeches, both opportunities and challenges are numerous. It’s far away from enough if students regard textbooks and examinations as their only tasks today. They need practice in the real world. An over-all development, including that of students’knowledge, personality, sense of responsibility and communicative skills, seems more important. And I’m delighted to see that the “21st Century Lenovo Cup” National English Speaking Competition has made great contributions to such over-all ability training.

　　It is not only this competition, I believe that the 21st Century English Newspapers have made even greater efforts. Over the past fifteen years, it developed from one single newspaper targeting university students to a family of papers targeting all age of English learners. It runs training centers for English language learners, and holds big events to promote English practice. It has made great contributions to English learning and teaching in China.

　　Ladies and gentlemen, finally, I’d like to end my speech with congratulations to the winners and participants as well as the sponsors and organizer of today’s competition once again. I believe, with your great efforts, English language teaching in China will make even greater progress in the future.