優(yōu)秀大學(xué)英語(yǔ)勵(lì)志演講稿
in the 21st century, your generation must make it your mission to ensure that today's progress does not come at tomorrow's expense. china's remarkable growth in the last two decades has come with a toxic cost, pollutants that foul the water you drink and the air you breathe -- the cost is not only environmental, it is also serious in terms of the health consequences of your people and in terms of the drag on economic growth.
environmental problems are also increasingly global as well as national. for example, in the near future, if present energy use patterns persist, china will overtake the united states as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the gases which are the principal cause of global warming. if the nations of the world do not reduce the gases which are causing global warming, sometime in the next century there is a serious risk of dramatic changes in climate which will change the way we live and the way we work, which could literally bury some island nations under mountains of water and undermine the economic and social fabric of nations.
we must work together. we americans know from our own experience that it is possible to grow an economy while improving the environment. we must do that together for ourselves and for the world.
building on the work that our vice president, al gore, has done previously with the chinese government, president jiang and i are working together on ways to bring american clean energy technology to help improve air quality and grow the chinese economy at the same time.
but i will say this again -- this is not on my remarks -- your generation must do more about this. this is a huge challenge for you, for the american people and for the future of the world. and it must be addressed at the university level, because political leaders will never be willing to adopt environmental measures if they believe it will lead to large-scale unemployment or more poverty. the evidence is clear that does not have to happen. you will actually have more rapid economic growth and better paying jobs, leading to higher levels of education and technology if we do this in the proper way. but you and the university, communities in china, the united states and throughout the world will have to lead the way. (applause.)