本届大赛共吸引了近万名选手参加，他们分别来自中国大陆850所高校、港澳台地区以及泰国、韩国和日本。

Now in its 18th year, the competition was established in the wake of Beijing's failed bid to stage the 2000 Olympic Games.

如今是大赛开办以来的第18个年头，当年北京在申办2000年奥运会时失利， 此后"21世纪杯"全国英语演讲比赛应运而生。

"One reason Beijing failed was that there were not many English speakers at the time," says Shen Gang, deputy editor in chief of the English language newspaper 21st Century.

"北京申奥失利的原因之一便是当时说英语的人还不是很多。"《二十一世纪英文报》副总编辑申钢说。

He says the competition was created to encourage Chinese university students "to open their mouths and use English as a language for communicative purposes, not as a language only learnt in classrooms".

他表示，该项赛事旨在鼓励中国大学生"开口说英语，并把英语当成一种交际性语言来使用，而不仅仅限于课堂学习。"

China now has more people learning English as a second language than any other country, Mr Gang says, with lessons mandated from the third year of primary school.

申钢表示，比起世界上其他国家而言，中国现在有更多的人把英语当做第二语言来学习，小学三年级便要求开设英语课。

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