Build Bridges Of Friendship

When we refer to cultural differences， neg-ative ideas like "conflicts" or "divides" maycome to our minds. Yet the Bei.jing WinterOlympics showed us that cultural diversity canbring a collective strength that can benefit all ofhumanity.

As the most active force in the world， theyoung generation is taking the lead in bridgingthe gap to promote global communication.

Trying a different country' s cuisines is achallenge for some people. But many interna-tional athletes in the Games chose to embracethe differences.

Malta' s snowboarder Jenise Spiteri is anexample. The 29-year- old ate a lot of Chinesesnacks in the Olympic village and said the dou-bao （red bean bun） was her favorite. Spiteripacked a few in her .jacket pocket before thewomen' s halfpipe competition. As she waitedfor her score， Spiteri took a big bite with a hugesmile on her face. After this， Chinese internetusers affectionately called her "Doubao Sister".

Meanwhile， she also shared the food onher social media accounts.

John Aquilina， Malta' s ambassador toChina， said that Chinese doubao is "great stuff"after viewing the video of Spiteri eating thebuns， and more Maltese people have come toknow the Chinese snack because of her.

The Games also saw young people helpand appreciate others， whatever their culturalbackground is.

Alexandra Pozhidaeva from Russia was aperformer in the opening ceremony. The 23-year- old said what impressed her most is thefriendliness from the Chinese people. She re-called that when she and her teammates feltcold during the rehearsal， some Chinese stu-dents from other programs gave their gloves tothem even though they didn ' t know each other.

"At that moment， I was touched and under-stood the togetherness of the Olympic spirit，"said Pozhidaeva.

The feeling was also echoed by 22-year-old student Zeng Kailai. When he worked as avolunteer for the Games， he received many em-blems as gifts from athletes to share their appre-ciation for his work.

"The differences between civilizations， re-ligions， cultures and societies should not be rea-sons for conflicts but sources for countries andpeoples to learn from each other for the com-mon good of humanity， " noted China Daily.

提到文化差異，我們可能會產生“沖突”或“分歧”等負面想法。然而，北京冬奧會向我們展示了文化多樣性可以產生集體的力量，造福全人類。

作為世界上最活躍的力量，年輕一代正在帶頭彌合距離，促進全球交流。

對于一些人來說，品嘗不同國家的菜肴是一項挑戰(zhàn)。但許多參加北京冬奧會的外國運動員選擇接受異國美食。

馬耳他的單板滑雪運動員珍妮斯·斯皮泰里就是一個例子。29歲的斯皮泰里在冬奧村吃了很多中國小吃，她說豆包是她的最愛。在女子U型場地技巧比賽前，斯皮泰里在上衣口袋里裝了幾個豆包。等分數時，斯皮泰里臉上掛著燦爛的笑容，咬了一大口豆包。此后，中國網民親切地稱她為“豆包姐”。

同時，斯皮泰里還在自己的社交媒體賬號上分享這些食物。

馬耳他駐華大使約翰·阿奎利納在觀看斯皮泰里吃豆包的視頻后表示，中國的豆包“很好吃”，越來越多的馬耳他人因為斯皮泰里了解了中國小吃。

北京冬奧會上，還有年輕人不論文化背景地幫助、感謝他人。

來自俄羅斯的愛麗克斯是開幕式上的一名表演者。23歲的她說，她印象最深的是中國人民的友好。她回憶說，她和隊友在排練時感覺很冷，一些參加其他節(jié)目表演的中國學生就給了他們手套，盡管他們彼此并不認識。

愛麗克斯說：“那一刻，我很感動，明白了奧林匹克精神里的團結精神?！?/p>

22歲的學生曾愷來也表達了同樣的感受.，他作為一名志愿者在冬奧會工作時，收到了許多運動員的徽章禮物，用以表達運動員們對他志愿者工作的感謝。

《中國日報》報道指出：“文明、宗教、文化和社會之間的差異不應成為沖突的原因，而應成為國家和人民相互學習、共同造福人類的源泉?！?/p>

選自《21世紀學生英文報》