The Fourth "21 th Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition is to be held inShang

The Fourth "21 th Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition is to be held in

Shanghai.

Organizers: China Daily and Shanghai Broadcasting Network.

Co-ordinater: China University English Speaking Association(CUESA).

Co-sponsors (联办单位): English Speaking Union(ESU), Lotus Software(China) Co. Ltd., Times Publishing Group of Singapore, Hilton Shanghai, Pearson Education, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.

Date: March 26 (Friday), 1999.

Place: Hilton Shanghai.

Competition Format (形式): Each student will present a prepared speech on the given topic, followed by a three-minute off-hand speech and a three-minute question and answer period with the judges.

Prepared speech period: six minutes.

Q & A period: three minutes.

Speech topic: People and Nature: In search of harmony (和谐)in a new age & your personal opinion. (Topic for the off-hand speech will be given on the' day of competition).

Prizes: Besides books and certificates (证书), the top two winners will be offered scholarships (奖学金) to travel to the annual international English-speaking competition which will be held by the English Speaking Union in London in May, 1999. The third and fourth place winners will be offered a study trip to Singapore, sponsored by the Times Publishing Group. The fifth through tenth place winners will be offered cash prizes. All the competitors will receive certificates from the English Speaking Union and book prizes provided by Pearson Education and Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press. The teachers of the top winners will also receive a one-year membership to the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL).

The main purpose of this passage is______.

A．to invite you to take part in the competition

B．to tell you some information of the competition

C．to help to improve your spoken English

D．to show you how to win the competition