今年来自万源的八支代表队参加了世界学者杯上海赛区的比赛，此次比赛由上海平和双语及协和国际学校所举办。我们年轻的学者们在各项赛程中共收获69枚奖牌。两组九年级跻身辩论前二十强，三组九年级队伍在写作比赛中分列第四，十三及三十七名，十一年级队获得第五名的好成绩。恭喜所有的获奖队伍！
This year eight teams represented SUIS Wanyuan campus by attending the World Scholar’s Cup in the Shanghai round. It was hosted by the honourable Pinghe Bilingual School and Concordia. Our young scholars won a total of 69 medals after participating in the Scholar‘s Challenge, Scholar’s Bowl, Team Debate and Collaborative Writing. Two G9 teams successfully ranked in the Top 20 in debate. Three freshmen teams experienced an amazing win in the writing category ranking four, thirteen and thirty-seven. The junior team ranked No.5. A big shout out to all the stars especially the freshmen teams!
\ Top 10 Debate Team /
Katie Hong, Crystal Zhang, Emily Chen
Grade 9 九年级
刚开始组队的时候，我们组的三位成员都十分积极为比赛做准备，在网站上浏览了各种资料并且每周都有进行辩论的训练。可是在比赛准备到一半的时候，我们得知组内的其中一位成员在比赛当天有事所以无法参加。想到我们为比赛所做的准备，不禁有一些遗憾和沮丧，但我们还是决定再邀请一位成员来顶替，继续参加比赛。不幸的是，新成员刚加入不久便因为身体原因无法在比赛当天出席，所以我们又临时在离比赛三天前又一次更换队员进行愈发紧张的赛前准备。就这样，在经历完如此 “一波三折” 的赛前准备后，我们正式开始了学者杯的旅程。
When we were initially informed about WSC in the very beginning, all three members devoted our hearts for the preparation of WSC, including researching relating topics online, reviewing materials and practicing debate every week. However, not everything could work out perfectly as one of the members had to quit because of irreversible forces. We had to find another talented, dedicated member in order to continue our journey. Unluckily, this other member we have invited was seriously injured, and had no choice but stay in hospital. The two members had to find another ‘lucky one’ to join their group. Thankfully, the final person was informed about the things she needed to do just three days before the official competition. After all the unexpected turns we have been through, the journey of us has finally started.
两天的比赛在紧张和欢笑中过去，我们三个人作为一个小组一同携手经历一个个比赛项目。我们互相鼓励，互相帮助。很快，就到了周日下午的颁奖仪式。我们都非常紧张。由于赛前的准备并没有非常充分，而且经历了 “一波三折” 地更换小组人员，我们在学者碗和学者挑战这两个环节都不是特别有信心。我们都盯着屏幕希望我们的名字能出现在更加靠前的排名位置。并没有令大家失望，我们组一共获得了14块奖牌，其中包括了十多块金牌。最令人骄傲的就是我们的小组辩论是在所有高中组里排名前十。虽然世界学者杯的上海赛只有短短两天，但是我们在这两天中学到了非常多的课外知识。同时，我们训练了团队的默契。我们三个人本来就是好朋友，在比赛中，我们的关系更加近了。非常感谢 Ms. Veronica 对我们的指导和帮助。她组织我们从去年开始世界学者杯的训练和准备。而且我们也真心地感谢另外两位没办法与我们一同在学者杯并肩而战的队员对我们的鼓励和支持！
The two days of competition passed with joy and tension. Our group of three completed every event together. We always motivate each other and help each other. Soon, the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon began. Since we did not have enough practice before the competition, we did not do well in the sections of Scholars’ Bowl and Scholars’ Challenge. Therefore, we felt really nervous while names and groups who received the awards started to roll on the screen. We stared at the screen carefully, hoping we were in a higher rank. Fortunately, the results were favorable. We received 14 medals in total and over half of them are gold medals. Most surprisingly, our team almost ranked top 10 in the debate amongst over other 100 teams. We didn’t imagine how we were able to reach such high rank before because we had repeatedly changed our team members, and honestly, we were not fully prepared. Even though the competition only lasted for two days, we did a great amount of works and experienced a lot while competing with other scholars. Furthermore, our team performed well and cooperated with each other while having difficulties during the contest. Our relationship actually became much closer after attending the competition. At last, we would like to thank Ms. Veronica for assisting us before and during the completion. We also want to direct our gratitude to the two other team members that were not able to participate, who support us and help us a lot.
\ Top 4 Writing Team /
Mila Luo, Elaine Shen, Eileen Zhang
Grade 9 九年级
当我们小组第一次接触正式的辩论形式和规则时，我们能够陈述的最长时间大约为一分钟甚至更短。说实话，我们很难用第二语言顺畅地陈述我们的观点。当我们没有意识到某些证据实际上是矛盾的时候，我们强劲的对手直接指出了一些逻辑谬误，让我们感觉到压力山大。与此同时，我们也提高了在有限时间内搜索论据的技巧。作为一名新辩手的好处是我们总是能充满活力，以热情和开放的态度来接受新的观点。我们尊重彼此的论点，提供有效的论据使我们的观点更清晰，并愿意以积极的态度来面对所有的不足。尽管我们在三轮比赛中只赢得了一场辩论，但在小组写作中获得了第四名。当我们知晓需要在45分钟内写一篇议论文时，我们简单地认为这是件轻而易举的事，因为我们已经练习了数千次的写作技巧，但实际上却完全相反。遇到一个我可能不熟悉的话题并且用大量事实论证观点是很困难的。学者杯是一次展示自己的奇妙体验，让我们从最初的踌躇不安转变为开心愉悦。
As our group was first introduced and familiarized with the formal debate format and rules, the maximum time we would be able to reach was around one minute or even less. To be honest, it was kind of hard for us to state a solid point and express our opinion in second language. It was a harsh time when we failed to realize that some facts or evidence are actually contradictory. We had a few logical fallacies pointed out verbally by our aggressive opponent. Meanwhile, we also developed our researching skills within the limited time. The benefits of being a young debater are that we are energetic, enthusiastic and open-minded to new statements. We accept the perspectives from each other in order to make our opinions better by providing valid evidence, and we are willing to face all the weaknesses in a positive way. During the competition, it was quite different to debate with the strangers especially the native speakers. Although we only won one debate in all three rounds, we won Top 4 in collaborative writing eventually. We put a painstaking amount of effort in writing as much as in debate. For the first time we were told that we are going to write a persuasive essay in 45 minutes by using laptop, we thought it was a piece of cake since we have practiced writing skills literally thousands of times. However, in reality it was totally the opposite. It was difficult to write a topic which I may be not familiar with and state a right side with bunch of evidence. WSC was a fantastic experience that changed us from being nervous at first to be enjoyable at last. It is also a great opportunity to test our personal ability, and the journey we experienced together is as remarkable as the result.
\ Top 5 Writing Team /
Emma Xu, Emily Shi, Elaine Huang
Grade 11 十一年级
尽管准备时间仓促并且辩论练习不足，在为期两天的世界学者杯比赛中，我们团队依然收获了令人满意的结果。我们队的 Emily Shi 已经是第二次参加比赛了，她更有经验并最终赢得了全校最佳学者的奖项。然而对 Elaine 和我来说，这是我们第一次参赛。面对不熟悉的比赛形式、大量阅读材料和范围广泛的辩论题目，我们不由得有些紧张，但是我们队最终赢得了总共22块奖牌，包括合作写作项目的金奖以及小组答题与辩论的银奖。在参加过学者杯之后，我感觉这不仅仅是一个学术比赛，更像一个鼓励学生表达自己观点、与他人合作、了解羊驼的平台。
During the intense two-day World Scholars Cup competition, our team achieved quite satisfying results when considering the short preparation time and the lack of debate practice. One of our team members, Emily Shi, was more experienced since it’s the second time for her to attend this competition, and she ended up winning the best scholar title in our school. When facing the unfamiliar competition format, overwhelming reading materials and diverse debate motions, Elaine and I were more nervous. Despite of these pre-competition worries, our team earned overall 22 medals including a golden medal for cooperative writing and silver medals for Scholars Bowl and Debate. After being involved in WSC, I feel that this is not merely an academic competition, but more like a platform encouraging us to express our opinions, cooperate with others, and raise alpacas.
\ Top Writing Team /
Mickey Mou, William Shi, King Zhang
Grade 9 九年级
4月14日我们三人一组与其他美高的同学一起去往了浦东平和双语学校，参加世界学者杯比赛。由于这是一个学术类的比赛，我们大部分九年级学生第一次参赛，因此都认为自己没有做好充足的准备，对将要开始的比赛感到有点茫然无措，也甚至怀疑自己毕竟是第一次参加，所以获奖的成绩太渺茫。然而，尽管我们并没有足够的时间准备，去训练，去加强自己辩论的技巧。但是我们出乎意料的表现得比预期还要好，每场辩论都依靠着默契的配合，充分的交流从而准备了不少有理有据的论点赢下了比赛，甚至赢下了以母语为英语的一组。一开始，我们可能连他们说什么都听不清楚，因为连珠炮般的语速，随便一段妙语连珠的反驳都是井井有条的论点。最后可能因为 “天时地利人和” 等因素，我们幸运的以两分之差险胜。除了辩论，小组写作也令我们印象深刻。这场比赛毕竟是我们最少练习的部分，也是最没有把握的。但却意料之外的拿到了名次与三块沉甸甸的奖牌，也许有一位组员写作超常发挥为团队做了不少贡献，但也少不了每个人努力的付出，为了学校的荣誉而战！在这参加比赛的过程中遇到数不尽的难题，我们付出不少，但收获更丰！因为为了参加比赛所背诵的资料提高了不少英语能力，但更重要的是，一场比赛拉近了同学之间的关系，比以前更加团结。
On the weekend of April 14th, our group, along with other SUIS High School students went to Pinghe International School for WSC Competition. Since it is a completely academic competition and we haven’t prepared much for our first time, we didn’t expect any awards from WSC. Although we don’t know that much of the debating skills, still, our group cooperated perfectly with persuasive and reasonable statements. Furthermore, we met tough native speakers who talked so fast that was even difficult to catch the meanings, but surprisingly, we defeated them. For Collaborative Writing, we specially appreciate William’s excellent writing techniques that brought our group three medals. During the Scholar’s bowl, we faced hundreds of challenging questions, which none of our group member can understand, but we still made possible conjectures and tried hard. This competition can be a proper chance for students to improve English, and what really matters is, we actually learnt how to stick together with partners and worked with them in an effective way.
Ms. Veronica 詹老师：
二零一六年的夏天，当我陪同今年的毕业生们去学者杯亚洲赛区参赛的时候，我可能从没有想过两年后的今天我会以指导老师的身份出现在赛场上。即便参加过几次辩论环节的评审工作，也比较熟悉学者杯的赛制，但是组建新生队伍从来都不是一件容易的事，更不要说额外增加他们的功课量。有时候孩子们会叫苦不迭，常让我不由得感觉到很焦虑。但是我不得不说我真的被他们的进步及毅力所打动，所有的奖项都体现出孩子们这一学年所付出的努力。恭喜所有的获奖选手，我们亚洲赛区见！
I never ever imagined my role would be a coach when I first chaperoned the current graduates to the Global Round back in the summer of 2016. Even though I have been an adjudicator several times in the past and quite accustomed to the whole competition system，it is never easy to build up new teams and persistently train freshmen by adding additional work to their studies. Occasionally, listening to the sound of teenagers’ whining makes me feel anxious and stressed. However, later on I have to say these young scholars really amaze me with their progress and determination. All the excellent awards they have won is a reflection of how much effort they have made throughout this whole academic year. Congratulations everyone and look forward to competing in the Global Round!
