A sad end to a

magnificent journey

Zinédine Zidane's extraordinary red card had little bearing on the result, but it is undoubtedly how the World Cup final will be remembered.   A global audience tuned in to see the great man's apotheosis, his elevation to god-like status. Instead we saw a crushing reminder of his mortality. 是人mortality还是神apotheosis In a sport where we have learned to blow the slightest incident out of all proportion, Zidane's shuddering headbutt to the chest of Marco Materazzi sent a high-voltage shock through the system of anyone watching. It was so visceral, so immediately and obviously stupid that it was painful to believe Zidane could have done it. When Materazzi went down, the English TV pundit David Pleat insisted: 'It must be Trezeguet, it must be Trezeguet.' It wasn't the only time Pleat identified a player wrongly, but this time it was understandable. Across the world, and especially in France, fans felt a sense of denial: 'No, it can't be Zizou!' But it was. And Horacio Elizondo sent off the supreme football icon of the last 15 years, forcing him to trudge past the World Cup on his way to the dressing room in disgrace. [写得真是怆然而涕下啊!] Wayne Rooney can feel a bit better today. Next to Zidane's crime the young England man's frustrated stamp to the unmentionables【真TMD委婉啊，这叫euphemism...】 of Ricardo Carvalho looks like an act of admirable restraint. [这一段很贱...不知看出来没] The archetypal football genius comes with a fair amount of psychological baggage. Players like Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Paul Gascoigne and Hristo Stoichkov all played on a knife edge. When they took to the field, fans knew to expect the unexpected, both the good and the bad. Zidane seemed different. So calm, so thoughtful, he seemed to bring precision and intelligence to every part of his life. In some ways his headbutt was even more shocking than Cantona's kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan in 1995. Cantona always seemed capable of such jaw-dropping folly. Nobody could possibly have imagined that Zidane would stain his legacy with such madness. He was the ultimate French role model. Over the last few days the papers have been rammed with full-page pictures of the 34-year-old endorsing sundry products, from sports gear to yoghurts. Today's adverts for a mobile phone network ('To our beloved number 10, thank you!') and a bank ('I've already signed for a new team!') suddenly don't look like such inspired marketing. [regardez!人的形象又多重要啊!] It was actually the France skipper's second controversial butt of the week, following the pictures of him smoking a cigarette on Wednesday. At least that storm in an ashtray[双关。。。] will be forgotten. Zizou's final match will inevitably affect the way we judge his career. After all, he headbutted someone in the World Cup final. This was no tame press of the head, exaggerated by the Italian. It was a genuine act of aggression, a bull charging at a matador.【这个记者，添油加醋。。。】 It was the 14th red card of the former Real Madrid and Juventus player's career and his second in the World Cup, having been sent off for a Rooney-like stamp against Saudi Arabia in 1998. Of course he will not go down as a violent player, but his image is no longer flawless. Had he stayed on the pitch and France had won, he would have surpassed everyone but Pelé and Maradona as the best player in football history. Now he will stay on the second level, alongside Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Franz Beckenbauer. Not a bad place to be, admittedly, but one on which he would look down had it not been for one crazy moment. MichaelSteele/GettyImages Materazzi hits the deck after 'the head-butt' Mind you, if he can still win the Golden Ball award for the tournament's outstanding player, anything can happen. It is the third time on the trot that the award has gone to a man who slipped up in the final, following Ronaldo in 1998 and Oliver Kahn in 2002. France coach Raymond Domenech was quick to point the finger at Materazzi. 'I don't know what he said to Zidane, all I do know is that he was the man of the match, not Pirlo [FIFA's choice]. He scored and he got Zidane sent off,' he said. 'Materazzi did a lot of 'cinema', a gust of wind would have knocked him over.' 【多梅内克的讽刺也很...】 Of course Materazzi provoked him, with what looked like a pinch of the nipple followed up with a volley of abuse. But such gamesmanship is hardly uncommon, and the Italy defender cannot have expected to hit the jackpot by eliciting such an astonishing reaction. 【经典言论】 Domenech also suggested that the fourth official notified the linesman of the offence after seeing a video replay, a claim that has been denied by FIFA. They say the fourth official saw the incident 'with his own eyes' and notified the refereeing team through their headsets. Whether an off-field arbiter should be allowed to affect decision-making in such a way is a debate for another day. He certainly ensured the correct outcome; it would have been a travesty had Zidane stayed on the pitch. The dismissal left France without their four most effective attackers (Zidane, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Franck Ribéry) yet they dominated the remainder of extra time. Italy had been so positive and vibrant in the extra 30 minutes of their semi-final against Germany, but this time they seemed paralysed by fear, and sat back even when they had a man advantage. But as quickly as the Azzurri lost their nerve, they found it again to dispatch all five penalties in an impressive display of marksmanship. Two years after France's elder statesmen bowed out for the first time, it really is the end of an era now. Zidane, Thuram, Makelele and Barthez have gone, and Vieira will surely take over the captaincy for a second time. The attacking burden falls on Thierry Henry, who had a curious final. He made several sparkling solo runs but did not seem to trust his younger team-mates. On one occasion he burst through the right channel and saw his low cross blocked. Henry then furiously castigated his intended target, Florent Malouda, for not attacking the six-yard box. Minutes later Eric Abidal and Ribéry worked wonders to steal possession in the left corner and Ribéry hooked the ball into the danger area. Not only was Henry not attacking the six-yard area, he was not even attacking the final third of the pitch, preferring to remain an impassive spectator 35 metres from goal. Henry is a magnificent player but only on his terms. He must learn to accept and believe in his colleagues if he is to have the same impact for his country that he does for Arsenal. But for now the future of Les Bleus can wait. Zidane will be forgiven, even if his crime will never be forgotten. He has given so much to the French cause since his debut in 1994, and so much to the football world. It would be a tragedy to let the end of Zidane's career obscure over a decade of brilliance. The journey is more important than the destination.

Indeed, it could be argued that the most significant lesson from the trial had nothing to do with whether the defendants, both former Enron chief executives, committed the crimes charged in their indictments. Instead, the testimony and the documents admitted during the case painted a broad and disturbing portrait of a corporate culture poisoned by hubris, leading ultimately to a recklessness that placed the business's survival at risk.

'Enron is one of the great frauds in American business history,' said James Post, a professor of management at Boston University. 'But it is also a symbol of a particular era of management practice. The excesses of Enron point pretty clearly to what was going on in mainstream companies across the business landscape in the 1990's.'

That may go a long way toward explaining how corporate America became infused in the late 1990's by what appeared to be a near endless amount of greed and criminality, leading to scandal at an array of corporate giants, from Enron to WorldCom, from Adelphia to HealthSouth.

It was not simply that the ethics of the corporate world changed overnight; the ever-rising bubble of market prices created a sense of invincibility among corporate executives, who read market delusions as proof of their own genius. Arrogance gave way to recklessness, which in turn opened the door to criminality.

That message was repeated throughout the trial of Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay. Paula Rieker, an executive with the company's investor relations group, testified to her fear of correcting Mr. Skilling when he made what she considered to be false statements to investors. Vince Kaminski, a top risk analyst, spoke of how Mr. Skilling became increasingly difficult to contradict as Enron won plaudits from the marketplace. And Ben F. Glisan Jr., the treasurer, portrayed an 'Emperor's New Clothes' culture, where no one was willing to challenge the rule-bending and recklessness as the company's executives charged into one ill-considered business line after another.

'I would think that most observers of this trial would be shocked and surprised that Enron was such a poorly run company for so long,' said Stephen Meagher, a former federal prosecutor who now represents corporate whistle-blowers. 'But as long as the checks kept coming in and the stock price kept going up, it was easy to look the other way and ignore the obvious clues that there were deep problems there.'

Attention to the mundane details of business — debt maturity schedules, available cash, companywide risk — appeared to be almost second thoughts among the senior ranks of the company, if thought about at all. Instead, the focus was centered on marketing the image, not only of the company, but of its senior executives. It was an approach that met widespread success and was emulated throughout corporate America.

'This was the era of the story, the shtick, the celebrity,' said Mr. Post of Boston University. 'Lay and Skilling delighted in that, they loved becoming business and civic celebrities. They created the model for that kind of superexecutive C.E.O. in the 1990's. Meanwhile, they left all the details to people who were being driven by a troubled culture.'

In the end, although many in the public seem to believe this was a case about the collapse of Enron, that had little to do with the criminal charges. In the closing arguments, the government made sure to separate allegations of criminality from responsibility for Enron's collapse.

The testimony suggested that the bankruptcy was much more about a company gone out of control, with executives pushing to the financial edge on deals that received little attention and supervision once the transactions closed. But as that recklessness rotted the company from the inside, the jury found, Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay falsely portrayed a corporate ship where everything remained steady.

Prepared Speech

题目: “Men have more pressure than women in the society.”

Kris的稿子

       During the happy May-day Holiday stay in my hometown of Wuhan, a casual conversation with a local taxi-driver reinforced my conviction that man is an extremely miserable creature on earth.

Immediately after I jumped into a taxi, the driver broke the ice and began telling the dreadful façade of his wretched life. In his frightful tone, he told me that he has to work 24 hours a day 7 days a week to earn the mere sustenence for his family, only to be facing his brutally inconsiderate wife, accusing him of being unable to make money and lacking the romantic element of life. With almost tears in his eyes, he went on to describe how difficult it is to retain a smile in front of his fellow taxi-drivers, wealthy friends and rich relatives while saving what little there is to make himself look just a little bit more dignified that who he really is. It was not until the conversation reached the top of its sadness did I eventually escaped from the men’s sissiness and vulnerability under his happy-go-lucky, manly disguise.

       Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder: aren’t we, the men, to some extent, all like the above-mentioned taxi-driver in this society?

       We have a family to feed, a basic amount of dignity to keep, together with an array of unjustified accusations and misunderstandings of our fear of commitment and responsibility to face up to. Yet, men have endured so many sufferings and slanders in their deep-rooted belief of “Lady first” and “Defend your country, love your woman.” Nevertheless, it is the men who guarantee the solidarity and stability of the building blocks of a healthy society whatsoever.

       Today, women have not only won the battle for universal equality, but also got an upper hand in the war of total dominance of men.

       O, Lord, alas, mercy on the men. Or, at least, give them the greenlight to cry whenever he has an occasion, allow them to show their weaknesses when called for and be friendly if a man stands on the stage making a speech in front of so many girls with the topic “Men has more pressure than women in the society.”    

 Impromptu Speech

题目: “Nowadays many Chinese students go abroad for advanced study, but when they return to China, not each of them can find their ideal jobs. What do you think are the reasons for this phenomenon?”

Kris的稿子

The moment you set foot on an alien territory, life will never be the same. To paraphrase the famous Chinese scholar Qian Zhongshu’s clairvoyant observation, “Foreign educaton is like a fortress, those who are outside want in, the same is true for the trapped few.”

       First and foremost, let us examine briefly, exactly what kind of people are on the going-abroad-to-learn bandwagon.

We have witnessed, not once, not twice, but millions of times, scads of yellow-skinned childeren who have been brought up permissively, who indulge in the laid-back life of Californian Sunshines, who believe their own pedigree of a Chinese nationality is nothing but a shame, coming back from abroad goofing off their days in parental heritages. They are not going abroad for advanced studies, they are just escaping from the furiously competitive Chinese society where he or she truly belongs. I would not be surprised at all that they will come back and end up unemployed, I would rather these yellow trash stay abroad forever.

Then let us check the definiton of an “ideal” job of the people studying abroad.

       People who swarmed abroad craving for an education have deep down inside their heart a get-rich-quick mentality. They suppose they will return to their motherland and make enough money to pile up like the World Trade Center. However, their dreams would always collapse likewise the World Trade Center because they set a aim far too high. They will not give a thought to a decent job offering 5,000 a month because they are given to believe they are so, so special. However, how many 5,000-a-month jobs are there available in China?

       With due respect to the foreign-enhanced students, I still have to say go back to reality and face the music. Play the game fair and square with us China-born-China-bred talents, and may the best win forever.

Situation Speech

题目: “Suppose you were an NPC representative and you were to put forward a proposal for the legal marriage of gay people, how would you convince other representatives to vote for it.”

Kris的稿子

       Distinguished Your Excellencies Presidents of Parliament,

Distinguised representatives,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

       Today, in Beijing, a girl will be born. Her mother will hold her and feed her and care for her --- just as any mother would anywhere in China. She will be playing with her peers in kindergarten and receive high-quality primary education in this country. She promises to be a diligent and optimistic student and is determined to be of contribution to the beautiful land that has bestowed upon her the deserved privileges. She loves her country and will put herself wholeheartedly to the 4 modernizaions of a socialist country with Chinese characteristics.

       Then all of a sudden, everything vanishs from her sight in a blink of an eye, for the simple reason that she is a lesbian.

       Your excellencies, distinguised representatives, I shall hereby, presents to you my proposal for the legal marriage of gay people as a gesture of our positive attitude for non-discrimination. There are so many qualities that make up a human being, what they do with their privage parts is their private affairs and has nothing to do with if they are decent citizens or not. When we say that we are commited to building a harmounious society, do we mean a society that is harmounious only for a specific group of people and left other comrades sidelined? Shouldn’t we build a nation where people will not be judged by their sex-orientation but by the content of their character? We should not impede their progress by pretending that being gay is a crime or a disease or 'a rebellious act'. It isn't. It's just like being born with black hair or dimples. They are what they are. We will be proud for each and everyone of them someday sooner than later.

So let us hold high the banner of Deng Xiaoping’s theory, carry out the important thoughts of “Three Represents” and include the gay people in our ongoing drive for a harmonious society.