Ways to Get Over Information Explosion
As a famous saying goes, “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention”. Nowadays we are in the Information Age. Some people keep complaining about distraction by the information explosion. Admittedly, the new information age has brought us so much convenience that we are allowed to get enough information just with a simple click sitting in front of the computers. Nevertheless, we are also confused, annoyed, distracted and upset by an incredibly large quantity of information. For example, when searching for something online, people are easily carried away by irrelevant information and forget their original plan. Besides, some information often turns out to be useless and is actually advertisement. Therefore, it can be time-consuming and troublesome to search information online. Then what we can do to avoid being distracted by irrelevant information? Here I have some useful tips: Firstly, make a list of what you really want before your searching. This will help you to refuse some appealing, yet irrelevant information. Secondly, find some trustful and professional sources or websites and then save and categorize them. In this case, you can easily leave some ads and useless information behind.
闻名于世的丝绸之路是一系列连接东西方的路线。丝绸之路延伸6000多公里，得名于古代中国的丝绸贸易。丝绸之路上的贸易在中国、南亚、欧洲和中东文明发展中发挥了重要作用。正是通过丝绸之路，中国的造纸、火药、指南针、印刷术等四大发明才被引介到世界各地。同样，中国的丝绸，茶叶和瓷器也传遍了全球。物质文化的交流是双向的，欧洲也通过丝绸之路出口各种商品和植物，满足中国市场的需求。
中国人自古以来就在中秋节庆祝丰收。这与北美地区庆祝感恩节的习俗十分相似。过中秋节的习俗于唐代早期在中国各地开始流行。中秋节在农历八月十五，是人们拜月的节日。这天夜晚皓月当空，人们合家团聚，共赏明月。2006年，中秋节被列为中国的文化遗产，2008年又被定位公假日。月饼被视为中秋节不可或缺的美食。人们将月饼作为礼物馈赠亲友或在家庭聚会上享用。传统的月饼上带有“寿”、“福”、或“和”等字样。
十二属相
中国民间有一个传统习俗，人一出生，就有一种动物做他的属相。属相，也叫“生肖”，是中国民间传统的纪年和计算年龄的方法。
中国古代的纪年法是帝王年号与“干支”并用，其中“干支纪年法”从史书上有明文记载的公元前841年（庚申年），一直沿用到现在。“干”是“天干”，有十个字组成，这十个字是：甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸。“支”是“地支”，由十二个字组成，这十二个字是：子、丑、寅、卯、辰、巳、午、未、申、酉、戌、亥。把天干的十个字和地支的十二个字按顺序配合起来，可以得到60种排列，如：甲子、乙丑、丙寅……这60种排列周而复始，循环使用，每六十年叫做“一个甲子”。如公历的2001年，是农历的辛巳年，公历的2002年，是农历的壬午年；而六十年后，2061年又是辛巳年，2062年又是壬午年。从东汉（25——220）时开始，人们又用鼠、牛、虎、兔、龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗、猪12种动物来配十二地支，组成了十二生肖，也叫十二属相。这就是子鼠、丑牛、寅虎、卯兔、辰龙、巳蛇、午马、未羊、申猴、酉鸡、戌狗、亥猪。这样，子年是鼠年，丑年是牛年，寅年是虎年……于是，每个人一出生，就有一种动物作他的属相。子年出生的属鼠，丑年出生的属牛，寅年出生的属虎，以此类推。
现在，中国人在用公历纪年和计算年龄的同时，仍然习惯用属相纪年和推算年龄。
twelve symbolic animals
it is traditional in China,when a perpon is born,one animal(shuxiang)is used to symbolize this year.Shuxiang,also called shengxiao(any ofthe 12 animals representing the Earthly Branches),is a traditional way in China to number the years and to record a person's age.
The ancient Chinese people invented the method to designate the years by the Heavenly Stems consist of the characters:jia,yi,bing,ding,wu,ji,geng,xin,ren,and gui.And the Earthly Branches are composed of 12
characters:zi,shu,yin,mao,chen,si,wu,wei,shen,you,xu,bining each of the 10 Heavenly Stems with one of the 12 Earthly Branches in sequence creates 60 chronological symbols.For example jiazi,yichou,bingyin,etc.These 60 symbols are used in circles and thus each year has a chronological symbol.For example,2001 corresponds to xinsi,2002 to renwu in the lunar calendar;after 60 years,2061,once again,corresponds to xinsi,and 2062,to ter,people used 12 animalsto correspond to the 12 Earthly Branches,forming the 12Symbolic Animals,namely Earthly Branch One Rat,Earthly Branch Two Ox,Earthly Branch Three Tiger,Earthly Branch Four Rabbit,Earthly Branch Five Dragon,Earthly Branch Six Snake,Earthly Branch Seven Horse,Earthly Branch Eight Sheep,Earthly Branch Nine Monkey,Earthly Branch Ten Rooster,Earthly Branch Eleven Dog,Earthly Branch Twelve Pig.Thus the zi year is the Year of the Rat,and the chou Year is the year of the Ox,and the yin Year is the Year of the Year of Tiger,etc.Therefore,when a person is born,he has an animal as his aymbolic animal.The year 2002 was a renwu year under lunar calendar,also the year of Horse,and so children born in this yea are all Horse babies.
Even though the Chinese people now number the years and their age under the Gregorian calendar,the still continue to use the symbolic animals.As long as people know a person'
