An English Debate Moot:Surfing the net
I.Aims
To encourage students to ofen their mouths in class to change the traditional “Dumb English Study Method”of the students；
To change their “studying in a passive way into an active way”；
To improve their skills in English speaking,esp.to develop their rebuttal capabilities in English；
To ehlp students to build up the sense of cooperation and learn by themselves out of class.
II. Place: Class 12,Senior 2
Time:Oct.24（Fri.）.2003
Chairman:Liao Sihong （a student in charge of English study）
List of Debaters:
Debaters Affirmative Negative
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1 Huang Cheng（girl） Wu Zhengwang（boy）
2 Xiong Pujun（boy） Chen Min（girl）
3 Xiong Bin（boy） Tong Ling（girl）
4 Pan Hong（girl） Li Yuan（boy）
Judges:He Xin（G）,Xu Haishan（B）,Tang Wei（B）,Zhou Li（B）,Fu Guilan（G）
Recorded by Cheng Rongyang
III.Procedures
（The students get information needed ahead from the school library,PC or other medias；Teacher enters the room and gives a brief,introduction to the moot；
Surfing the Net,as a prologue.）
T:Hello,boys and girls.As is known to all,computers have almost entered every household with the development of modem science and technology.And it is said that one who knows little about computer mow is still considered to be “illiterate”.Nowadays,many people,esp.middle school students,are fond of net-bars,chatting on-line,playing games,etc.Some indulge in itand often forget to go to school,miss their meals or even forget the time to sleep,Does surfing the net do good or do harm to us?We’ll have a debate on it.
Now let’s welcome our Chairman,Miss Liao Sihong.）Applause）
（Chairman comes to the front.）
Chairman:Good afternoon,everyone,lt’s my great honor to host this debate.Surfing the net is a hot topic for us students.Here,I won’t make any personal comments on whether it’s good or bad.For,you see,there are two teams who are going to have a debate on it and you’ll,of course,get a reasonable and satisfactory answer.OK.I’d Iove to introduce the debaters of the two sides.Huang Cheng,the “Affirmative leader” seated on the left,will star the debate,followed by Xiong Pujun,Xiong Bin and Pan Hong.On the right sit Wu Zhengwang,Chen Min,Tong Ling and Li Yuan,who are the leader,the 2nd,3rd and 4th debater respectively of the “Negative”. The judges are:Miss He Xin,Miss Fu Guilan,Mr.Tang Wei,Mr.Xu Haishan,Mr.Zhou Li,and Mr,Cheng Rongyang will help to record the debate. （Unanimous applause）Well,I declare the debate begins .First, Huang Cheng,please states your view.
（Huang Cheng stands up and states her view.）
Huang Cheng:Good aftemoon,everyone.In our opinion,surfing the net is good for us.We know,people sent messages from one place to another on foot or by horse scores of years ago.It usually took several bays ,weeks or even months for other peofle to receive them.Today.people can send or receive news or messages around the world within just a blink of eyes through the lntemet. That is,the Intemet is playing an important part in modem society. You can almost find any information about any topic in the world on the net. There are many free resources and we all can share them.If you have any problems, you can put it on the BBS. You can find information about your favorite singer or film star ,chat with your friends by QQ or even do shopping.It is the Internet that makes the earth small and you can improve your English,too.
Moreover, we think surfing the net is also good for children. Computers can help them know about what the real world is more easily and quickly to leam what they want to leam. We do need people who can think clearly and who know how to get information quickly and make good use of it in the future,don’t we?In the 2Ist century,the young need to leam a lot of knowledge and to know more about the world outside.In this case,the Intemet is a quick and good helper.In all,the Internet is a quick,easy,covenient and useful tool and surfing the net is surely good to us.
That’s all.Thand you.（Applause）
Chairman:Ok! The “Negative” leader,Wu Zhengwang,please gives us your opinion.
（Wu stands up to give an account.）
Wu Zhengwang:With the development of mobem knowledge-based economy,the lnternet has become a part of our life.However,in our opinion, surfing the net is bad for us students.
First of all,surfing the net is a waste of time.Youth is an important time for us to study.as anybody knows.But quite a few netters often go to “Wangba”,known as “lnternet Bar”,for on-line games instead of looking up information for study. They go on-line all night long and .of course,they often fall asleep in class in the following day, some are even absent from school, which result in failure in examinations one after another.Second ,surfing the net is a waste of money.lt takes one about 2 yuan per hour to surf the net in the bar .And just think where the money is from? lt’ s from our parents’ hard work.Some even become pocket-pickers to get money.Besides,surfing the net is bad for our health. With masses of people and a lot of smoke in the bar,it’s stuffy.And going on-line is also against our school rules.
So much. Thank you all. （Applause）
Chairman:Well. Now there are two different opinions on surfing the net. It’s time for the two sides to ask each other questions freely.
Xiong Pujun （Affirmative）: Excuse me. There are two periods in the curriculum for us Senior 2 students every week, do you think it’s a waste of time?
Chen Min （Negative）:Surely not.It’s for “computer study,” mot for going on-line,or exactly,not for online games…
Xiong Bin （Affirmative）: I should remind you that our topic is “Surfing the Net”, not surfing the net for games. Do you know William Ding （Ding Lei）, the founder and CEO of the NetEase.com? Here is a passage about him: Online games,in the mould of EA.com,has also become a key revenue channel for NetEase, The business Ding is earning more than 200,000 yuan every month thanks to the game “Stone Age.”（21st Century.Oct, 23,2003 Page 5）And Bill Gates,former President of Microsoft Co. Do you think it does harm to them?And if they knew nothing about computer,would they be so rich and successful?
Tong Ling （Negative）: So,if surfing the net is as good as you say, why school doesn’t permit us to enter the bar?And do you mean William Ding and Bill Gates are successful because they were fond of going on-ling when young?
Xiong Pujun（Affirmative）: To the first question.school’s ban on entering the bar doesn’t really mean surfing the net is bad for us ,I believe,It’s just because some netters aren’t strict with themselves.They are addicted to the bars so much that they are often absent from class or feel sleepy in class, which has a bad effect on their study.And to the second,as far as I know,Ding Lei graduated from the University of Electronic Science and Technology in Chendu, Sichuan Province with a degree in Communications Technology. Would you like to choose amajir in a university which you’re not interested in at all? And Bill Gates was said to have been so much interested in computer that he failed to finish his university study…（“Time’s up.” Chairman concluded） Thanks.
Tong Ling （Negative）: As you say. The lnternet is a quick and easy tool for us .Why do you often ask your teachers when having questions instead of surfing the net? And do you think we can’t get information needed over the radio,by watching TV or from newspapers and books except from PC?
Xiong Pujun （Affirmative）: Asking teachers is one way to get knowledge,and surfing the net is another way. Of course, We can also get information needed by many other ways besides from the net .Thank you .
Chairman: Now.It’s time for both sides to conclude your opinion.
Li Yuan（Negative）: We still believe that surfing the net is bad for us .First, a study has been done on surfing the net in both China and America. The same of the result is that most students are able to surf fhe net ,even the pupils.But about 80％ of the Chinese students are to play games,chat with net-pals to kill the time ,watch on-line films,which is quite different from those American students. Second,all of us should be strict with ourselves.Don’t waste time and money on surfing the net. For it does harm to us.
Pan Hong （Affirmative）: If you feel lonely, you can chat on-line with your net-friends to relax yourself； if you don’t want to go to the library, you can just click the mouse；if you want to know more about your favorite sports star or a film star. You can surf the net； if you want to learn English, you can still use your PC.In a word ,surfing the net can makes us happy,enjoyable and learn knowledge as well.
Thanks for lending your ears!
（After a few minutes’ discussion with the judges,Chairman declares the result.）
Chairman:After a heated debate on the Moot “Surfing the Net”,the result comes out that the winner is the “Affirmative”,and Xiong Pujun is the best debater. Congratulations! （a big applause） OK! OK! Now ,Mr.King,our Eeglish teacher,please give some remarks on today’s debate as a conclusion.
T:First,let me offer the winner my congratulations upon your success.Second.I’m very glad to see that all the debaters performed very well today, I dare say.Of course, the rest students must have given them a great help in looking for information needed after class, which shows that all of you have the sense of cooperation. So you may also enjoy and share the success. However,I think both sides lack convincing arguments to support your statements. It’s only a boctrine .which we should pay more attention to next time. Thanks!
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