Have you ever imagined traveling to a foreign country without having to worry about the headache of communicating in a different language?

    In a recent Wall Street Journal article, technology policy expert Alec Ross argued that, within a decade or so, we'll be able to communicate with one another via small earpieces with built - in microphones. That's because technological progress is extremely rapid. It's only a matter of time. Indeed, some parents firmly hold the idea that this technology is approaching and they're wondering if their kids should even learn a second language.

    It's true that an increase in the quantity and accuracy of the data loaded into computers will make them cleverer at translating “No es bueno dormir mucho” as “It's not good to sleep too much.” Replacing a word with its equivalent (同义词) in the target language is actually the “easy part” of a translator's job. But even this seems to be a discouraging task for computers.

    It's so difficult for computers because translation doesn't--or shouldn't--involve simply translating words, sentences or paragraphs. Rather, it's about translating meaning. And in order to infer meaning from a specific expression, humans have to interpret a mass of information at the same time.

    Think about all the related clues that go into understanding an expression：volume，gesture, situation, and even your culture. All are likely to convey as much meaning as the words you use.

    Therefore, we should be very skeptical of a machine that is unable to interpret the world around us. If people from different cultures can offend each other without realizing it, how can we expect a machine to do better? Unless engineers actually find a way to breathe a soul into a computer, undoubtedly when it comes to conveying and interpreting meaning using a natural language, a machine will never fully take our place.

    Throughout the country there are festivals and special events celebrating winter at its fullest, including hockey and dog sled races, skating events and whatever season-inspired activity draws in the crowds.

    Rossland Winter Carnival late January

    Rossland, British Columbia (BC)

    Recognized as canada's longest-running winter carnival (狂欢), the Rossland Winter Carnival has been a popular event for over 116 years. Popular parts of this event include snow volleyball, a parade, and a kid's carnival.

Ice On Whyte Festival early January to early February

Edmonton, Alberta (AB)

    A popular event for more than decade,the Ice on Whyte Festival in Edmonton, is one of the top 10 events and festivals in Edmonton, Alberta. The festival features a wealth of ice carvings and creations along with 10 days of festival fun-from a giant ice slide, games, and ice carving lessons to live music, fashion, food, and culturally themed days and even a marketplace.

Fete des Neiges de Montreal mid January to early February

Montreal, Quebec (QC)

    Celebrating more than 30 years as a popular winter event, it offers all sorts of fun involving everything from snow to ice on three nonstop weekends at the beginning of the year. Highlights include 15 snow slopes for breathtaking tube sliding, dog sledding, and even addictive dancing at the disco-themed La Bouletheque.

    Winterpride end January to early Februar Whistler,

    British Columbia (BC)

    The 26th Whistler Pride will be filled with celebration of annual events with adventurous winter activities including ski and snowboard touring, snowmobile trips, and snowshoe adventures, dog-sledding through the Callahan Valley,and back-country ventures, as well as featuring nightlife highlights of drag shows, as well as wine-tastings, fine dining and even comedy shows.

    This may be music to your ears.

    Researchers P Jason Rentfrow and Samuel Gosling gave 3, 500 people a personality quiz. Then they asked them to name their favourite kind of music. "We found that the musical styles people like are closely linked to their personalities," Gosling says.

    RAP/HIP－HOP

    Known for their quick speech, some rappers can say more than 700 syllables (音节)a minute! If you like rap/hip－hop, you are energetic(精力充沛的)and have a way with words. You put a fresh spin on things, whether it's new moves on the dance floor or your hip style.

    CLASSICAL

    In the 18th century, classical musicians were like rock stars. Beethoven and Mozart, for example, played to packed concert halls.  If you like classical, you are open to new ideas and like debating with friends. Creative and imaginative, you can easily spend many hours scrapbooking, writing or painting.

    COUNTRY

    Country music came from the folk songs of English, Scottish, and Irish settlers of the southeastern United States. If you like country, you express your opinions well, which makes you the ideal class president or team captain. Traditional and loyal, you enjoy spending time with your family.

    POP

    Pop music is designed to appeal to(吸引)almost everyone, and it does. Each year, the industry brings in about 30 billion dollars! If you like pop, you are attractive to your friends. You can make big things happen, like planning for a huge party or inspiring your team to victory.

    ROCK/ALTERNATIVE

    In the 1950s, rock music created a brand－new culture. Teenagers, for the first time, had an identity(身份)separate from adults and children.

    If you like rock/alternative, you are a risk－taker who never accepts no for an answer. You rise to any challenge, like doing very well in a big exam or in the school play.

    If these personality profiles don't match you, that's OK. These are just for fun.

    Tokyo is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time.

    In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be. Of course there are too many cars. The Japanese drive very fast, but in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams. Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York in that. It is different when one wants to walk.

    At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London's Oxford Street. But the streets near the Ginze in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot， and sometimes it is really difficult to walk. People are very polite; there are just too many of them.

    The worst time to be in the street is at 11:30 at night. That is when the nightclubs are closing and everybody wants to go home. There are 35,000 nightclubs in Tokyo, and you do not often see one that is empty.

    During the day，most people travel to and from work by train. Tokyo people buy six million train tickets every day. At most stations, trains arrive every two or three minutes, but at certain hours there do not seem to be enough trains. Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper. In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep, whether his journey is long or short.

    In Tokyo, I stood outside the station for five minutes. Three fire-engines raced past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day. Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now.

    When Richard had tried to jump off the cable car, his backpack had been caught in the chair, which then dragged him back down the hill. In the process, the backpack belt twisted around his neck, making him breathless. Now Richard's body was swinging four feet above the snow. The cable car operator had quickly stopped it, and the friends kicked off their skis and ran toward the scene. They made a human pyramid to try to reach Richard, but the unconscious man was too far off the ground. With the clock ticking, Wilson ran to the ladder of a nearby lift tower. Scared skiers watched as he struggled the 25 feet. After he reached the top, Wilson's first challenge was to climb onto the two­inch steel cable that held the chairs. He handled the balance and height bravely, but he knew he could not walk on the cable. Therefore, he calmed down and sat over it and then used his hands to pull himself to Richard quickly. Wilson's greatest fear wasn't that he'd fall, but that he wouldn't reach Richard. "This was life or death," he said.

    When he reached Richards chair, Wilson swung a leg over the cable and attempted to drop down onto it. But as he did that, his jacket caught on the movable footrest, which was in the up position. The footrest began to slide down, with Wilson attached. But before that could happen, he managed to free himself and reached Richard.

    Fortunately, the ski patrol (if) had gathered below and performed emergency treatment on Richard, who had been hanging for about five minutes, then skied him down to an ambulance.

    That night, Richard called from the hospital to express his thanks to Wilson, his other friends and the workers at the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area.