最優秀者の笑い--Young & Pretty

私は今晩、我がクラブで、笑い話コンテストに挑戦しました。コンクール参加者が三人しかいなかったんですが、わたしは幸いに最優秀賞をもらいました。すごく、うれしかったです。

実はですねぇ、コンテストに出る前は、なかなか自信がなかったです。スピーチの内容がおもしろいか、意味深いかと悩んでいた。もしかすると、演壇にたつと、突然に真っ白になったら、どうするのか？結局、その心配はいらなくても、いいわ。トーストマスターズのメリットといえば、やはり会員達の応援と協力をくれることです。スピーチの最初から最後まで、ずっと、全員が笑ってくれて、そして、演説者も落ち着き、いい成績がでます。

誰でも、笑い話ができると、わたしは信じています。日常生活の中に、ちょっとした心がけがあれば、必ず、面白い所がたくさんあるでしょう。ユーモアスピーチコンテストに参加して、良かったとおもいます。いつも、ユーモアのある話を考えて、上手く人と付き合って、いい社会を作るのに貢献したいと思います。

Sherry: Mirror, mirror on the desk! Am I Young and Pretty?
Mirror: Who are you? I can't see your face. You are covered by the big hat and sunglasses.
Sherry: Alright, it's me, Sherry! Am I young and pretty as always? (Sherry takes off her hat and glasses)
Mirror: Well, tell me first, do you want a lie or the truth?

Last Sunday, I asked my husband to take a walk with me along Hsin-tien River. Before we left home, I asked him.
Sherry: Honey, should I wear a hat or carry an umbrella?
Husband: Sweetheart, your face is dark enough. It won't get any worse!

Monday evening, when my husband arrived home to find the living room covered with daisy petals on the floor. Because every daisy gave me the same result, "he loves me not." So I didn't give up till I became too tired to count on daisy petals. I went to bed with a moisture mask on with a hope to look young and pretty.

Tuesday I went shopping for my clothes for our in-house speech contest. The sales lady looked at me with an admiring smile, "You really have a good figure for women like your age!"

Do you want to look young? Do you want to look pretty? I do, certainly does every woman. But aging is inevitable. My nightmare started ten years ago.

When Grand had an autumn outing to the National Museum of History, our handsome OJS Billy looked at me astonishingly and announced loudly, "Sherry, you have gray hair on your forehead." From then on, my young and beauty confidence index dropped dramatically. Friends and strangers remind me of my age regularly and irregularly.

Take Toastmasters for example, we are competent communicators, right? At our last meeting, a fellow toastmaster from China Toastmasters Club sat next to me. When he saw the photo sticker on my camera, he asked if I was with my children. When I said no, he then asked if I was with my grandchildren.

Talking about aging, I shall say it is good to be a woman. I can dye my hair. I can have a fact-lift. It is alright for women to take any action. But, for a poor old man, what can they do when they get old, gray hair, falling teeth, poor eyesight, and impotence!

Recently, I've found a way to feel young and pretty. It is the best medicine and I'd like to share with you. It is the theory of relativity. Everybody knows Albert Einstein. He once explained the theory by saying, "when I sit next to a beautiful woman, one hour is like one minute. But when I sit on a hot pot, a minute is like an hour."

I started visiting the nursing home as a volunteer three months ago. Whenever I visit the nursing home, I gain my youth back. Among the wheelchair-ridden and bed-ridden residents at an average age of 80, I find the secret to become young and pretty.

Sherry: Mirror, mirror on the desk! Am I young and pretty?
Mirror: Depending who you are with! When you are among kinder garden children, you're not, but you are young and pretty among the elderly at the nursing home. No matter what your age is, you're as young and pretty as you used to be and as you'll be. You are young and pretty in your heart, in the reflection of the mirror.
Sherry: I think I look young and pretty with my hat and sunglasses on. (Sherry puts on her hat and sunglasses)