Aug.8 2003

Every midday watching the fourth year’s Outlook Star English Competition on CCTV-10, I’ve been most impressed with the elementary-school team. (Perhaps because my English is only at the pupil level?) Today the adult team quarter-final kicks off. The oldest contestant is a teacher from Chongqing; his humorous speech brought the house down and gained the highest score so far. Wish him fight into the final and bring honour to my hometown!

And I’m reading English diligently in afternoons, in hope of speaking English as beautiful as them someday.

Aug.29 2004

In this summer’s English competition none of my favorite players won. The young monkey Wang Wenyuan became the runner-up of the pupil group, against my family’s expectation. As for the adult group, I admired most a taxi driver who persists in studying English by himself at leisure time, even though he couldn’t step into Top 20.

The level of Middle-school Group was lower than the pupils; most of their speech topics were common and empty. The high-school group displayed even worse than the middle-school. That’s maybe because younger students get more advanced English education. Good news for the foreign language development in China, while bad news for our generation.

Aug.21 2005

The Outlook has drawn to a close. Every competitor was cream, able to make a series of words or pictures into a funny story. I cared the judges’ comments especially, e.g., Mr. David Moser said that the speech should keep clear and stick to the point.

I felt that the students in possession of rich resources truly perform better even if the poor ones can do so with their own efforts.

Aug.27 2006

This Outlook competition differs from before. Firstly, the rounds were various, including teamwork tasks, singing and playing dramas, rather than a stiff ranking table. Secondly, English application is emphasized; the competitors had to show themselves through imagination and oral English.

In short, I love this contest and, thanks to BBC English radio, I understand most of the speeches nowadays.

Aug.24 2007

Owing to good intonation and an easy smile all the time, the fat tall boy from Shandong Province carried the garland of Pupil Group.

In the final of Middle-school Team, our old friend Wang Wenyuan (gosh, I mistook him as a little girl till now) came in second runner-up. Despite his cleverness, he desired to project himself too much.

The high-school group champion stepped up from lots of PK rounds and she spoke better and better.

The only man in the adult team—also the only man left in the whole final—got the same votes with a Shanghai university girl for several times before he was defeated.

Those results proved that your impromptu mentality is more crucial than your usual grades or your appearance.

Aug.3 2008

The Olympic year’s Outlook championship is brief and a bit hasty. And a profession contest was stuffed in.

The stage is occupied by an army of ladies! The Chongqing pupil whose initial speech was common progressed quickly in later phases so eventually beat her ambitious Shenzhen rival. The two girls in middle school both named “笛” and the prettier one won with two more votes. In the college team final, the girl fluent in British English laughed last.

Aug.16 2009

Two veterans, the extroversive Wang Wenyuan and the introversive Gao Peiyao fought into the high school final of the tenth Outlook competition. Gao reached the title step by step. Wang fell farther behind; in spite of the fact he hasn’t got a background of studying overseas as most contestants do, he shouldn’t have merely talked about Me and strayed away from the topic. What the judge Ms Liu Xin told him is right: English is knowledge more than a language; literature cultivation and overall knowledge expansion are necessary.

The Outlook Star is ten years old, and I’ve learned English for ten years. Year after year I imagined how I would perform if I were on the stage; however, I have not much more self-confidence on my English than ten years ago. Frustrating!

Above are my diaries about previous seven years' CCTV Outlook English competitions. I keep watching the regular programme even now. I remember I wrote a letter to David Moser in my years of high school and later received a red paper with all the hosts’ signatures. I was exalted and still preserve the thin paper. Silly but interesting memory! This summer’s contest has set off and I may give a view of it later. It’s so good nowadays I can share my accounts with you friends, instead of recording for me as the only reader. HA!