外研社辩论赛blog

This House Would Appreciate FLTRP

Jiangnan University

Ladies and Gentlemen:

FLTRP has meant a lot to me, but today I’d like to offer a new definition for it. I’d like to define the motion by the following standards:

F -- Fantasy
Fantasy of proficiency in speaking, fantasy of expressiveness in arguing, fantasy of wit in thinking, and fantasy of excellence in performing. Conceiving of all these fantasies, we lingered on motions from consciousness to sub-consciousness, we held on the training from dawn to dusk;
We trained for 12 days, 42 hours, with 3 and a half hours per day, 2,520minutes, 151,200 seconds, to be exact, much more than the time I spent with my wife, to such an extend that we were both mentally and physically exhausted at last.

L -- Longing
Longing for the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, Olympic stadium, but much more importantly, longing for Beijing Foreign Languages University, a paradise of English.
We set off the journey, on the eve of May the 8th, from the poetic, picturesque, and prosperous city of Wuxi, adjacent to the south of Yangtze River, to Daxing.

T -- Tabula rasa
Tabula rasa -- a term from Steven Johnson, appeals to me most.
The first tabula rasa is that debaters should be tabula rasa, tabula rasa in the manner, matter, and method of the debate, not affected by some former misleading examples, experience, and techniques.
The second tabula rasa is that adjudicators should be tabula rasa, tabula rasa in treating debaters, making decisions and delivering comments.
The third tabula rasa is that grievance committee should be tabula rasa, tabula rasa in treating grievance, between adjudicators and debaters, between newcomers and veterans, and between famous universities and unknown ones.

R -- Round
Let’s start the first round.
Rounds of debaters and adjudicators wait in the conference hall, eagerly, anxiously and expectantly.
Dozens of people chase the staff, round the poles for the latest information.
Floods of people go round from conference hall to the recreation center to the lecture building and the other way round.
Both the adjudicators and debaters come in the round of the venues.
Rounds of offence and defense start and rounds of applause follow.
Adjudicators round off the round with their unbiased decision, constructive comments, though sometimes they do round on the debaters.
The rounds round all day round.
Today when I turn round, every round still rounds in my mind.
(Thank you for your round eyes, round mouths and rounds of applause ~)

P -- Progress
We have achieved progress in articulation with a second language.
We have achieved progress in logical thinking.
We have achieved progress in eloquence.
We have achieved progress in interpersonal relationship.
We have achieved progress in self-observance, tolerance and perseverance.
And ~ we also have found that the adjudicators have made progress in their adjudications.
The debaters have made progress in their exhibitions.
And more importantly, the organizing committee has made progress in its organization.

Thank you, FLTRP.
Thank you, F-L-T-R-P.