桑蘭
Sang Lan
Athletic career and injurySang achieved excellence in gymnastics at a young age,winning the all-around and every single event final at the 1991 Zhejiang Province Championships.By 1995 she was competing nationally.Sang was one of China's strongest vaulters,placing second on the event at the 1995 Chinese Nationals.While she never represented China at the Olympics or World Gymnastics Championships,she did compete at the 1996 and 1997 American Cup meets and was selected for the 1998 Goodwill Games team.
In New York at the Goodwill Games,during warmups for the vault event final,Sang fell while she was performing a timer (a simple vault,used by the athlete to familiarize herself with the apparatus and warm up).She could not raise herself from the mat and was taken to the hospital.Tests indicated that she had fractured and dislocated her C6 and C7 vertebrae and injured her spinal cord.The result of the injury was paralysis from the mid-chest down.Sang remained in New York City for almost a year,receiving rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Hospital.Many celebrities,including Leonardo DiCaprio,Celine Dion and Christopher Reeve visited and offered their support; she was also invited to participate in the New Year's Eve festivities in Times Square as an honored guest.[edit] AdvocacySince returning to China,Sang has become a celebrity and an advocate for the disabled.A television miniseries about her life was produced in the late 1990s; she was portrayed by her former gymnastics teammate Mo Huilan.Sang also hosts her own show,Sang Lan Olympics 2008.on STAR TV,a Mandarin-language television channel.She was an ambassador for Beijing's successful 2008 Olympics bid and has been selected as an Olympic relay torchbearer.Sang is currently a student at Peking University.She has continued a rigorous physical therapy regimen and has regained some use of her arms and hands.She has also expressed an interest in returning to competitive sports and wishes to represent China as a table tennis player at the 2008 Paralympic Games
幸福
“The days that make us happy make us wise.”----John Masefield
when I first read this line by England’s Poet Laureate,it startled me.What did Masefield mean?Without thinking about it much,I had always assumed that the opposite was true.But his sober assurance was arresting.I could not forget it.
Finally,I seemed to grasp his meaning and realized that here was a profound observation.The wisdom that happiness makes possible lies in clear perception,not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom,and without the blind spots caused by fear.
Active happiness---not mere satisfaction or contentment ---often comes suddenly,like an April shower or the unfolding of a bud.Then you discover what kind of wisdom has accompanied it.The grass is greener; bird songs are sweeter; the shortcomings of your friends are more understandable and more forgivable.Happiness is like a pair of eyeglasses correcting your spiritual vision.
Nor are the insights of happiness limited to what is near around you.Unhappy,with your thoughts turned in upon your emotional woes,your vision is cut short as though by a wall.Happy,the wall crumbles.
The long vista is there for the seeing.The ground at your feet,the world about you----people,thoughts,emotions,pressures---are now fitted into the larger scene.Everything assumes a fairer proportion.And here is the beginning of wisdom.
So be happy!