This year, the return of the Chinese debate competition brought many pleasant surprises to all the high-school freshmen. Grade-9 students witnessed the shining performances of these outstanding debaters, with their remarkable capabilities.

With the arrival of this final round on Sep. 28, the freshmen Chinese debate competition came to an end. The topic for the finals: “Youths Should Know Who They Want or Do Not Want to Become”. This topic for debate is tightly linked to the lives of students, attracting a large audience. The teams of classes 7 and 8 were the participants of this round. Class 8, the affirmative team, stated their definition of “youths” and asserted that goals would bring motivation to youths. For the opposition team of class 7, they retorted that requiring people to set goals before they decide would only constrict them, and that what they need is a long-lasting and clear bottom line to guide them.

The most attention-grabbing part of the competition were the conclusions. The affirmative participants gave examples from throughout history but were challenged by the single fighter of the negative team. The back-and-forth arguments between the two teams left the audience on the edges of their seats, as both teams tried to find faults in each other’s case.

At last, both teams used their metaphors of fire and stars as a mesmerizing ending: “If you would become the stars of the galaxy, why linger upon a torch of fire?” This entrancing metaphor was stated by the opposition team of class 7, the winner of the competition. Nevertheless, the performances of all contestants were excellent, leaving the audience clapping and pondering about the topic. The Freshmen Chinese Debate overall was very exciting and served as an opportunity for students to take on difficult questions and discussions.

(Written by 9(12) Cana Cai Pictures by 9(7)Coco Chen Supervised by Meijun Shi Reviewed by Qian Zuo)