The plaque nowhangsin my living room. I walk past many times each day and frequently pause to ask myself “So, am I dancing in the rain?”

 I think I am, I know I try to. I’m  (19)  taking time to pause and recognize and be grateful for the blessings that are all around me.

One step  (20)  , I am learning to dance in the rain.  

With celebrations marking the Chinese New Year spreading from the Chinese mainland to nearly all parts of the world in recent years, we have decided to add our own festivities to the event by holding the global online contest Chinese New Year — Just Share it! Chinaculture.org invites you to share your stories, pictures, and videos about Chinese New Year.

Who

Anyone who is interested in Chinese culture and has stories to share about Chinese New Year.

What

Articles, photographs and videos are all welcome, with the theme Chinese New Year in My Eyes. The work must be original (原创的).

·Articles: 800-word limit

·Photographs: Photographs must be in digital format (格式). Images should be no larger than 5MB. Images should be either JPEG or JPG files. The words must be complete, accurate (精确的) and should provide enough details. Watermarks are not acceptable.

·Videos: All videos must be no more than 3 minutes in length and be no larger than 500MB. All videos must be submitted (提交) in MP4 format. There is no restriction on the style of the video.

When

·Submission deadline (截止时间): Jan 27-Mar 5

·Judging period: Mar 6-26

·Award announcement: late March

How

·Please submit your work, or a YouTube link to your video to: contest@ chinadaily. com. cn

·You can also submit your work directly to http: // bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/thread-1329752-1-1.html

Where

Your stories will be posted on China’s most influential English-language Web, Chinadaily.com. cn. Millions of readers will read your stories on the China Daily website and its English BBS.

About the appraisal (评定)

Winners will be selected by a group of experts consisting of cultural scholars, members of the China Photographers Association and foreign experts at China Daily (40%), as well as online votes cast (60%).

Awards and Prizes

3 First Prizes: 3,000 RMB; Certificate of honor

6 Second Prizes: 2,000 RMB; Certificate of honor

18 Third Prizes: 1,000 RMB; Certificate of honor

100 Honorable Mentions: 150 RMB

My 11-year-old son and I ride bikes to and from his school every day. I accompany him on the 20-minute ride through Manhattan, drop him off and return at the end of day to pick him up. We always ride together；sometimes he leads; sometimes I do. And as we ride, we communicate the ways to minimize (使减少）the dangers: Don’t go too fast, and watch out for doors suddenly swinging out from parked cars and jaywalking pedestrians, etc. Some friends worry about the risk of riding in traffic, but is there a better way to let my son know how to deal with traffic dangers?

But recently he requested me to start hanging back a half block or so. This way he could enjoy the feeling of riding on his own, with the security of knowing that I was nearby in case he needed me. This is healthy, of course, as my son needs space to develop independence in preparation for his inevitable (不可避免) departure from home. However, that means soon he will want to ride to school on his own, and I will no longer have this wonderful routine. “Let your children go if you want to keep them.” I understand this and am trying to let my son go in age-appropriate phases, but I still suffer. It’s one of the most troubling experiences of parenthood一recognizing that your presence is becoming less welcome.

My dilemma as a husband mirrors the concern I feel as a parent. My wife has just left on a six-month mission to cover the situation in Libya. In the days leading up to her departure, we spoke openly about the possibility, however unlikely, that she might be killed. But while I influence her decisions, I do not control them. Finally, it was her decision. I know that letting go is the wisest path in this case too.

As we travel through life’s phases, we must let go of so much. And I don’t think it gets easier with practice. But maybe just accepting that eventually we will have to let go is the secret to living a full life.

 Greg Kloehn, an artist in Oakland, California is using his skills to help the homeless. He builds very small shelters that make life on the streets a little more comfortable. The structures offer the homeless some safety and protection from bad weather. Each little house also has wheels on the bottom so it can go wherever its owner goes.

  Greg Kloehn has given away at least 20 tiny houses. Several are on the roadside near an active railroad. On a recent day, Mr. Kloehn stops at one to visit Oscar Young. The two men hug. Inside his little shelter Mr. Young gets relief from cold nights on the streets. Mr. Kloehn also visits Sweet-Pea, another friend who also lives in one of the little homes the artist built. She says it keeps her safe and protects her possessions.

  In the mornings, Mr. Kloehn searches the streets for building materials. He gathers what he can and takes it to his studio. There, he puts the houses together. Empty coffee bags become roof material. A washing machine door and refrigerator part become windows. Nails, screws and the sticky glue hold all the pieces together. The artist also attaches a small electrical device to the house. The device is powered by the sun.

  Some of the people living on the streets once had normal houses of their own. But some of the people say they have learned to live with less and they are thankful to that man.

  Mr. Kloehn says his work is not a social project. He says he is just someone using his skills to help his homeless neighbors.

  (Some young people are reading an article and talking about it.)

Caroline: It’s really interesting, this article.

Joanne: What’s it about?

         Caroline: The pet food factory in Mansfield Road, you know, the one that smells really bad when you walk past it. Well, it says here in the newspaper that the factory has been polluting the river, too.

 Ash: It’s terrible. Someone should do something about it. Maybe we should do something about it.

Matt: Us? Come on! There is nothing we can do!

Joanne: If everyone thinks so, then soon there will be nothing of our Earth left to enjoy.Of course there’s something we can do.

Matt: Ok.I see.I never realized you were so environmentally-minded.

Ash: Stop! Since when am I like that?

Caroline: Well, let’s not start quarrelling among ourselves. The point is, what are we going to do about this factory?

Joanne: Right.It’s really making the atmosphere dirty.

Ash: So, let’s start to do somehing riht now. Maybe we could put up some banners(横幅)around the factory.

Matt: I like the idea. We could get some cool banners-you know, “Youth Against the Factory!”and things like that.

Ash: If the factory is polluting our air, it needs to be closed.

      Joanne: Well, in fact, I’m not so sure.Read the end of the article. It say, “The owner of the factory has agreed to repair any damage and to stop the pollution.”

Great Britain is an island that lies off the northwest coast of Europe. The nearest country is France which is 20 miles away. Great Britain is separated from France by the English Channel. The island is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west, and the North Sea, to the east. It includes the main lands of England, Wales and Scotland. Scotland is in the north while Wales is in the west. Ireland, which is also an island, lies off the west coast of Great Britain. It is made up of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Great Britain together with Northern Ireland forms the United Kingdom ( U.K.). So the U.K. is made up of four countries. The largest of these is England which is divided into 43 countries. The capital city is London which is on the river Thames.

A

Wikipedia is a free-access, free content Internet encyclopedia(百科全书), supported and hosted by the non-profit Wikipedia Foundation. Wikipedia is ranked among the ten most popular websites and is considered the Internet’s largest and most popular general reference book. Now, Wikipedia is becoming Wookiepedia as scientists hope the informative website will help us reach out to intelligent life forms. So aliens can learn about the human race.

Astronomers would like to beam (播送) the entire contents of Wikipedia into space in the hope of contacting aliens. They want to send messages to hundreds of star systems and planets 20 light years away using radio telescopes. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, in California, wants to use powerful radio telescopes to try to reach Chewbacca and his mates in a galaxy（银河系）far away.

   The plans will be discussed by astronomers at the weekend as some scientists fear the reply from ET might not turn out to be friendly. Institute scientist David Black said, “One question is if there are dangerous creatures we might be drawing their attention to ourselves. Another is if we go ahead, what message should be sent? There could be many civilizations out there，but if they are all listening and no one is broadcasting or responding, then nothing will happen.”

Professor Stephen Hawking, who has warned that intelligent aliens probably exist and we should keep a safe distance from them, is among those. “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans,” he said.

Signals from Earth’s radio and TV broadcasts have been heading out in space for some 60 years reaching around 5,000 stars.

B

            David Beckham thinks he would be more useful as a player than a coach at the 2012 London Olympic Games when Britain fields (使参加比赛) its first Olympic football team since 1960.

            The former England captain will be 37 when the Olympics come to London, but he says that fitness will not be an issue.

            “There are several months to go and there are a lot of decisions to be made but I would love to be part of it,” Beckham told the BBC on Monday. “I’m sure I’d be better as a player than a coach so I’ll have to wait and see. I still feel as if I’m 21 when I’m playing. I still love the game like I did when I was 21. I still feel as fit.

            “Everyone knows I have looked after myself eating-wise, fitness-wise. So I’m not in bad shape and I’ll continue to work hard and hopefully I can be part of it.”

            Stuart Pearce, the manager of England under-21, the feeder team for the England national football team, is going to take charge of the team, with The Football Association administering the team and set to provide all the players.

            The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish associations won’t be part of the team because of fears it would affect their independence and voting rights within FIFA.

            Beckham was at the World Cup last year as a member of England coach Fabio Capello’s support staff (辅助人员) after being ruled out because of a serious injury.

While Beckham made the last of his 115 appearances for England in October 2009, he is still playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

            But Beckham might not be with the Galaxy by the time the Olympics start in July 2012, with his five-year Major League Soccer contract coming to an end at the end of this year.

This is an excerpt from Emma Watson’s speech at the United Nations headquarters.

Today we are launching a campaign（called "He For She"）. I am reaching out to you because we need your help. We want to end gender inequality, and to do this, we need everyone involved. This is the first campaign of this kind in the UN. We want to try to involve as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change.

    I started questioning gender-based assumption a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused being called bossy because I wanted to direct a play that we put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When I was 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. At 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of a lot of sports teams because they didn’t want to appear masculine男子气的. At 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

    I decided that I was a feminist. This seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism女权主义者has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I’m from Britain and I think it is right that I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

    But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality. These rights, I considered to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones.

    My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume that I would end up nowhere because I might give birth to a child one day. These influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. We need more of those.

Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend you a formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too. Because to date, I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it will make them less of a man, or less of men. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality, either. Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive, both men and women should be free to be strong. This is what "He For She" is about. It’s about freedom.   

You might be thinking: who is this Harry Potter girl? What is she doing at the UN? I’ve been asking myself at the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem and I want to make it better. And having seen what I’ve seen and given the chance, I feel my responsibility to say something. Statesman Edmund Burke said all that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.

    In my nervousness for this speech and in my moment of doubt, I told myself firmly: If not me, who? If not now, when? If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope those words would be helpful. Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take 75 years, or for me it will be nearly 100 before women can be expected to be paid as same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the 16 years as children. At current rate, it will be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have secondary education. We are struggling for a uniting world, but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called “He For She”. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself: if not me, who? If not now, when?

Thank you.