生活物语 之 "Dark Horse"

A dark horse candidate is one who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice. Often a dark horse is selected as a compromise when other, more prominent candidates' factions cannot come to an agreement. This metaphoric expression originally alluded to an unknown horse winning a race.

This post is dedicated to my mum who's the 'dark horse' in today's debate! Read on...

The annual debate's qualifying round was held today (23 Apr 2008), the teams and topics as follows:

Round 1: <<佛教是厌世与出世的宗教吗?>>

高级班 （正）VS 初级班 （反）

Winner: 高级班

Round 2: <<佛教主张人性本善吗？>>

中级班 （正）VS 研修班 （反）

Winner: 中级班

For round 1, it is an expected outcome as the advanced class is definitely more experienced and knowledgeable than our beginner class. They are more prepared and organised than us. The advanced class's debaters are well-chosen and they 'shoot' fluently. The 3rd speaker is particularly interesting...cos he always looked so happy, expressive and 'emotionally charged'... At one point during the free debate slot, he got so worked up that he is snatching the mic and firing away non-stop. What a scene... On our side, our 3rd speaker also caught the same emotional fever...she stood up and down and the mic was mostly in her hands...but as she rattled away, she doesn't realised what she's talking about...at some point, even the judges are visibly 'stunned' by what she said. Towards the end, the advanced class ran out of time and we still have some time on hand...that's when she took the mic and happily throwing insults cos the advanced class is not allowed to respond. Anyway, that's really a good one from both sides. I was the final speaker and made the concluding remarks... Hmmm... I managed to finish my points ahead of time, but I've got nothing much to add... so I sat down gently (without a closing statement)... (heard laughters)... Humphhh!!!

For round 2, it was more interesting! My mum participated in the debate as a member from the intermediate class. Last week, I saw her working hard at home and library in preparation for the debate session. It was a pity that I missed my mum in action during the debate, since round 1 & 2 were conducted at the same time. According to the participants, she performed exceptionally well...especially during the 5-min free debating session, she acted like a machine gunner, firing non-stop when she noticed that her team mates kept silent when fired by the post-graduate class. Excellent fiery temper of hers put to good use finally. She's managed to solicit accolades from the other supporters in the session and her team emerged as the winner eventually. Congrats mum! Your efforts really paid off...that's how she should put her 'talents' to good use rather than nagging at us at home...

In the final round of debate, it will be the winning team of round 1 vs winning team of round 2. It would be interesting to see if my mum in action if she agrees to participate. For this debate session, she's actually the 'dark horse' cos she was called up last minute to join in since one of the debaters cannot make it on the day. We are looking forward to watch the final round... =) =)