My name is Di Chin. I'm 15 years old and I live in Ladakh. That's in the north of India in the Himalayas, 3,500 meters above sea level. Watch out for my fingers. Five. Louder.
One. We're practicing with a tennis ball on tarmac so that we learn how to handle（拿） the stick（ 木棒） properly（适当地）. I'm keen（锋利的） to play on real ice again. I can hardly（几乎不） wait for the water to freeze（冻） over. I'd love to be on an ice rink in full equipment, but unfortunately there aren't any rinks in Ladakh. Ice hockey is the most important sport for us in Ladakh.
I dream of turning professional. There hasn't been any ice yet this winter. I'm desperately（拼命地） waiting for it because I need to train hard if I'm going to make the Indian national team one day. That's my goal. The winters in Ladakh only last three months, and we're only able to train on the ice for a short time. Previously（事先）, the lakes froze（冻） over by early December at the latest（迟的）.
Now（现在） it's already the middle of December, and we're still having to play on the tarmac. The terrible environmental（环境的） pollution everywhere is resulting（结果） in global（全球的） warming, and we're feeling the effects here more and more. I started playing ice hockey two years ago, but I haven't been able to train enough yet because I don't have my own skates. Playing on smooth（ 光滑的） ice is much faster than on tarmac. It's totally（完全地） different. But because we don't have any ice yet, and your winter vacation is approaching（向…靠近）, we'll probably have to be patient（忍耐的）.
There's a selection（选择） training for the national team in Dichin's village during the holidays. Give it your best shot（发射）, Dichin. This is your big chance. During term time, I'm at boarding school because there's no secondary（第二的） school at home. For my ice hockey training, I get up at 5.30 a.m. That's really tough（坚韧的）.
Training starts at 6.30 a.m. We're back at school by 8.30. I'm often tired after training. Sometimes I manage to take a short nap（(白天)小睡） in a free period. I've been at boarding school since third grade（等级）. I'm experiencing（经验） much more here than at home in my village, and I'm always meeting new people.
I've also become much more independent and better able to organize my time. Sing nice and loudly, please. Our New Year celebration（庆典） is just around the corner, a significant（重大的） day. May your actions benefit（有益于） all the world's living beings. Think carefully about how you're going to spend your time. I've not seen my brother for several months.
He works for the Indian military（军队） and he's on leave（许可） for our Buddhist New Year. My village Chu Ma Tang（有浓味） is about four hours by car from the boarding school in the capital Lei. Look, I always train with my team on this lake. I didn't have a clue（线索） about ice hockey, but when I saw my brother training it sparked（发动） my curiosity（好奇）. He told me everything about it. The lake hasn't frozen over yet.
Here's water. It's probably frozen over in our village. Let's drive on. When I'm a professional ice hockey player, I want to travel the world. I imagine myself sitting in a plane with my team, seeing Ladakh from above for the first time. I've been away from home for a long time.
It's wonderful to be with my family. Here, your tea. It's properly frozen（冻结的）. Come quickly before it gets dark. In winter, it always got really cold in Ladakh, down to minus 20 degrees. The lakes froze over quickly.
Now that only happens in higher altitude areas. In our village, for example, it still does get cold enough. The ice has to be smooth because soon the women from the Indian National（国民） Ice Hockey Team are coming to our village to scout（侦察） for new talent（天才） at a training session. This small stream（溪流） supplies（ 供给） our village with fresh water. When the stream freezes in winter, we have to make a hole in the ice. This is the water for all the household（家庭） chores（杂务） washing clothes, washing dishes, and for drinking of course.
A little bit more. We have to protect our lakes and rivers and keep our environment clean. That's important for us humans and the animals we live with here. We believe that we'll only be reborn as human beings if we do good things in this life. Here in Ladakh, our New Year festival is called Lhosa.