【推荐1】John is a hard-working student at a US university. He spends a lot of time sitting in class and working on his computer. However, he doesn’t like sitting. He likes being up and moving. He is a breakdancer (跳霹雳舞者).

It is not easy to breakdance. He said, “First, you need to learn some important moves and understand the main ideas. And then, you add something to it. Breakdancers all have their own moves. You have to find your own style (风格).” He also added that dancers do not always have the same ideas about what is real breakdancing, but most breakdancers show respect for each other.

John started breakdancing when he was thirteen years old. He said, “I saw some people breakdancing, and I really liked it.” He went home and looked for breakdance videos online. He wanted to learn to do it, but he was afraid to try. “I thought I couldn’t dance well because I’m hearing-impaired (听力受损的).”

John learned a lot from studying videos of breakdancers. “I had no one to teach me, so I had to teach myself,” he said. “That was hard.” John was shy, so at first, he always danced alone. Later, in high school, some of his friends got interested in breakdancing. Then they practised together.

Today John likes practising with other dancers at school. He is part of a breakdance group at his university. Sometimes he breakdances at parties too. He is not shy any more. He likes to show what he can do.

【推荐3】Tan Dun, a world-famous composer showed an interest in music when he was young. He loves the sounds of the rushing water and the blowing wind because, to him, the best music comes from nature. Since he had no musical instruments then, he made music with common objects like stones and paper. In 1978, Tan entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Eight years later, he went on to study in the USA. There he got to know great musicians from around the world. As he likes the sounds of nature, Tan uses them a lot in his music. His amazing piece of music Water does not use any musical instruments. Instead, Tan makes over 50 sounds from water by controlling the speed of water flow.

Tan has helped build a bridge between the East and the West. He has successfully brought Chinese and Western music together. The music for the Beijing Olympics uses traditional Chinese music and the sounds of an ancient Chinese bell, though it is in a Western style.

“My music is to dream without boundaries（边界）, ” Tan once said. In his works, the past and the present, common objects and musical instruments, traditional Chinese music and modern Western music all mix together to make a new type-music without boundaries.