Выступление Марушина Андрея (10 класс) на 1 областном открытом конкурсе устной речи знатоков английского языка Face-to-Face (победитель в номинации Дипломатический резерв страны)

Dear friends,

To begin with, I would like to say that we live in a very fragile and unsteady world.

Common people are eager to live in peace, bring up happy children, enjoy their daily concerns and business. It is easy to go through life, day after day, ignoring the fact that at any moment things can dramatically change.

Some weeks ago I heard a song on the radio that said; "we are all only one phone call away from our knees." I don't know why but these words stuck in my mind.

I remembered them at once when I heard the breaking news about a plane crash in Egypt. Such event was impossible to imagine and hard to endure. The song lines came back to my mind again while I was watching the TV news from France. A great number of innocent people were killed by terrorists. The whole world was shocked with these tragedies. People from different countries expressed their sorrow and deep sympathy for the victims' families. Earlier, there were terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York, the hostage-taking of the "Nord Ost" show viewers in Moscow and the terror act in School #1 in Beslan.

Every day people in different countries face extreme challenges - wars, poverty, unemployment, economic crises or natural disasters. But, to tell you the truth, I'm sure that the biggest threat facing the humanity is international terrorism. As you know, freedom is the right of individuals to act as they choose. Terrorists deprive people of this right. They implant fear into people's minds, paralyze their spirits and disorder their lives. The latest events have taught us that acts of violence can happen anywhere, any time, to anyone. Terrorists believe that using such psychological warfare, they can easily gain power over the world.

To oppose extremism, I believe, people around the world should unite their intentions to resist terrorism, maintain solidarity and never allow the spread of this criminal folly. It is important to remember that one must not only fight terrorism but prevent its appearance. It can be possible only through tolerance and mutual respect. In 2005, a new Memorial Day was established in Russia - the Day of Solidarity in the struggle against terrorism. Meetings and manifestations help us to say our crucial "No!" to terrorists. Deep sorrow for the lives lost makes the countries take actions. A worldwide fight against terrorism has begun giving us hope for a safer world.