只有当每个人都过上和平、富足的生活，世界才能成为大家的乐园.
About 150 years ago, China was forced to open up its door by Western canons and gunboats. It has been through the struggle and sacrifice of generations that we finally have gained the opportunity to choose for ourselves. The policy of reform and openness is the choice that has made all the difference.
Like others of my age, I'm too young to have experienced the time when the Chinese people had no right to choose. However, as the next century draws near, it is time to ask: What does choice really mean to us young people?
Is choice a game that relies on chance or luck? Is choice an empty promise that never materializes? or is choice a puzzle so difficult that we have to avoid it?
First, I would like to say: To choose means to claim opportunities.
I am a third-year English major. An important choice for me, of course, is what to do upon graduation. I can go to graduate school, at home or abroad. I can go to work as a teacher, a translator, a journalist, an editor and a diplomat. Actually, the system of mutual selection has allowed me to approach almost every career opportunity in China.
Indeed, this is not going to be an easy choice. I would love to work in such big cities as Beijing or Shanghai or Shenzhen. I would also love to return to my hometown, which is intimate, though slightly lagging in development. I would love to stay in the coastal area where life is exciting and fast-paced. I would also love to put down roots in central and western China, which is underdeveloped, but holds
great potential.
All of these sound good. But they are only possibilities. To those of us who are bewildered at the abundance of opportunities, I would like to say: To choose means to accept challenge.
To us young people, challenge often emerges in the form of competition. In the next century, competition will not only come from other college graduates, but also from people of all ages and of all origins.
With increasing international exchanges, we have to face growing competition from the whole outside world. This is calling for a higher level of our personal development.
Fifteen years ago, the knowledge of a foreign language or of computer operation was considered merely an advantage. But today, with wider educational opportunities, this same knowledge has become essential to everyone.
