挑战极限，超越自我；共享光荣，同谱辉煌。北京２００８年残奥会闭幕式１７日晚在国家体育场隆重举行。来自世界各国各地区的数千名残疾人运动员、教练员和来宾，同现场９万多名观众一起，热烈庆祝北京残奥会取得圆满成功。

　　A shower of 600,000 red leaves, a lawn dotted with 360,000 flowers, a collection of 100,000 post cards, and a mute dialogue between a girl and a flame. Together, they created the most beautiful, romantic and emotional scenes one could ever imagine.

　　And this was how China bid farewell to the 12-day Beijing 2008 Paralympics on Wednesday night, when its 40-day mission to host the world, beginning on Aug. 8 with the Beijing Olympics opening, also ended with it.

　　Basking in the glory and pride of staging two successful Games in a row, the country has set its eyes on the future, expecting a better tomorrow for itself and the world at large, as indicated by the Games theme of "One World, One Dream."

　　The word "future," shaped in both Chinese and English by fireworks, shone over the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, in north Beijing, as International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Philip Craven declared the Games closed and the Paralympic flag was lowered.

　　"These are the greatest Paralympic Games ever," said Craven in his closing speech.

　　Dubbed "A Letter to the Future," the 1.5-hour closing ceremony gave a pleasant surprise to all its participants, with nearly 1,000 postmen and postwomen inviting every athlete, spectator and journalist in the stadium to write down their blessings and wishes on a post card specially designed for the occasion.

　　The cards, over 100,000 in all, were then cast into dozens of post boxes laid on the track, waiting to be "mailed to the future." They will in fact be delivered gratis to their destinations worldwide by China Post the next day.