学进去

My name is Robinson Crusoe. I decided to return to England. But I found myself uncomfortable when setting foot again on a ship. I approached (接洽) three different ships, but I pulled back from each before sailing. I had no idea why I didn’t like traveling by ship.

Then two of the ships that I had considered boarding experienced something terrible — one fell to pirates (海盗) and the other was wrecked (使……失事) with only three survivors (幸存者).

So I planned to make a journey by land. Friday and I picked up one young Englishman, two English businessmen, and two young Portuguese gentlemen by the time of our leaving. And five servants were added to our group. So we had quite a big group for the road.

We traveled comfortably until ten days out from Old Castile. The weather turned from hot to bitter cold.

Friday was afraid when he saw the snow-covered mountains, because he had never known the snow or the cold. After years in the tropics (热带地区), I also found it difficult to stand the cold weather.

We arrived in Pampeluna in a snowstorm. It was so dangerous that we probably would be covered alive by the thick snow here. We stayed for twenty days in Pampeluna until four French gentlemen arrived safely with a guide.

We invited the guide to lead us and he agreed. “You need to be well prepared,” he warned, “In winter, you may see wolves driven by hunger.”

“We have no fear of those,” I said, “though I have heard of two-legged wolves that sometimes attack travelers on the French side of the mountains.”

Middle school is like a battleground, and everyone seems to be going through embarrassing (使人尴尬的) changes. For me, height was my ________ as I stood a head above the other girls. “Stand straight, stand tall,” my grandfather would say, as I didn’t want to look so _______ in front of my friends. And each time, I would embarrassingly do as he said. I understand that his ________ was about more than just height.

My grandfather grew up in Europe during World War Ⅱ. When the war suddenly broke out, he ________ to join the army to fight for his country’s freedom. “Stand straight, stand tall” meant something else back then. ________ the war, he went to America. All alone in a new country, he was ready to face his future.

There, he walked on the busy streets of New York. Soon, he met other ________ immigrants (移民), and each of them was trying to find his or her own way to success. If they could do it, ________ couldn’t he? “Stand straight, stand tall,” he would always ________ himself.

With the help of a warm-hearted friend, my grandfather got a clothing shop on the street. At first, he was nervous. He was trying to learn this new ________. Amazingly, with his efforts, my grandfather sold all the clothes, shoes, and gloves in no more than one month as if he had been doing it his whole life.

Listening to my grandfather’s great experiences has changed the way I see my own life. His advice to me has become much more than a ________ to improve my posture (体态). It tells me to be proud of who I am.

Vacation start-ups

After toiling all semester on campus, the summer vacation has finally arrived.

Unlike upperclassmen facing the pressures of job hunting or applying to graduate schools, freshmen and sophomores can usually cut themselves some slack. But in order to gain the upper hand in future competition, more students are choosing to gain business experience and skip having a conventional summer of leisure.

Xia Cheng began doing holiday internships in his first semester as a freshman. He wants to have a company of his own sometime in the future. The 21-year-old English major at a Suzhou-based university partly made his dream come true this summer.

He has launched an express service with two other friends aimed at graduating students who need to send things home from their dorms. “We don’t count on our company making money, but we want to gain experience for the future,” said Xia.

The trio have service phone numbers registered to Xia’s dorm and printed order pads and receipts with their company logo and names. “The more we prepare now the more likely we can survive in business after graduation,” said Xia. “I just don’t want to work for a salary.”

For Geng Li’an, his summer start-up came with a *brainwave which provided extra cash. The business major at Beijing University of Technology is an early bird. His project this summer is to run a fruit and vegetable delivery service. The 21-year-old noticed that many white collar workers are either too busy or too tired to pick up fresh products at morning markets.

So he came up with the idea of a Taobao store for fruit and vegetables. Every morning, Geng shops in accordance with orders taken the previous night and delivers produce to clients’ doors. After a trial run for a week, Geng earned 400 yuan, which he reckons is a good start. “The best part is there is no investment,” said Geng. “I just have to get up early as I always do.”

For someone like Li Siqi, at Southwest University of Nationalities, her summer project is the result of financial pressure. Li’s New Year resolution is to try to make a living on her own to relieve the burden on her family.

With friends she opened an English class in her hometown for junior high school students. For needy pupils, it’s free. “We can not only make money but also help some students to have a better future by learning English well,” said the 20-year-old.

Lin Qian, of the student affairs office of Shenzhen University, praises students’ choice of giving up a holiday to work hard for their future. “Starting up a business on the eve of graduation is often haunted by lack of experience,” said Lin. “Some early business experiments on campus increase your chance of success later.”

But Geng Li’an says that it is not necessary for summer start-ups to evolve into companies. “I just think running a business on my own is helpful for cultivating key skills,” said Geng. “Money is not everything this summer.”

Exploring cities in the saddle

More than transportation, cycling is a fun way to rediscover the city

骑行不仅让你抵达目的地，更让你重新认识一座城

Wang Yiou grew up in Beijing. She had long thought cycling was just a means of transportation (交通工具). Her mother used to take her to kindergarten by bike. But a bike tour two years ago let her find that cycling is a cozy (惬意的) way to see the city. Neither too slow nor too fast, “you can touch, smell, feel and use all your senses during a bike ride,” she said.

In recent years, more and more people are cycling in cities in China. According to a report by Mafengwo, a Chinese travel service platform (平台), the number of clicks (点击量) on content (内容) related to cycling has gone up by 108 percent since 2020.

Allen Li, a cycling fan, started to cycle simply because she wanted to try a moderate (适度的) exercise that was not so boring. “The best perfume (香水) we can use to flavor (调味) our lives is the scent (气味) of nature,” Li said, explaining how she fell in love with urban (城市的) cycling.

“During the pandemic (疫情), people were looking for healthier lifestyles and that has helped reignite (重燃) the public’s passion (热情) for cycling,” Luo Yuan said. She is the CEO of RE, a company (公司) that sells bikes and cycling gear (装备). Now the company has a network (网络) of more than 20,000 cyclists in Beijing.

More infrastructure (基础设施) has been built for cycling in cities, which helps to promote (推广) urban cycling. For example, Beijing’s first route (路线) for cyclists only was built in 2019. It is about 6.5 kilometers long from Huilongguan to Shangdi. By the end of 2022, there were about 12 cycling routes near the city’s rivers. Chengdu has also set up 11 cycling routes called “Tianfu Greenway”.

Build your character

The benefits of a university education are well known.

Whether it’s allowing us to get the job of our dreams or giving us the chance to learn exciting new things, getting a degree is one of the smartest life choices a person can make.

But if a recent study from Australia is to be believed, university education offers more than just a pathway to knowledge.

According to the research, which was published in the journal Oxford Economic Papers this month, people who have studied at university tend to have a more outgoing personality than those who haven’t.

Indeed, it’s believed that higher education allows students to not only build their knowledge of a certain subject, but also strengthen their so-called non-cognitive abilities, which include interpersonal and communication skills.

The researchers studied 575 young Australians over eight years, measuring certain non-cognitive abilities at different stages of their education, such as how confident each person was and their willingness to help others.

It was found that as each year of their time at university went by, most students’ non-cognitive skills improved greatly.

“We see quite clearly that students’ personalities change when they go to university,” said Sonja Kassenboehmer, lead author of the study.

And in a 2016 analysis by UK education charity the Sutton Trust, it was found that those with good non-cognitive abilities were up to 25 percent more likely to be working in a well-paying job than those with poor or average ones.

So does this mean that in order to become a success, one must get a university degree? Of course not.

In fact, the researchers found that the developments in character were a result of the students’ surroundings, rather than the content of their courses.

As most university students are seeing the world on their own for the first time, they must learn how to interact with others and become liked if they’re to get ahead in life.

This could mean that those without a university education can still be as outgoing as those who have one, as long as they make the effort to expose themselves to character-building situations.

As US human rights activist Martin Luther King once said, “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

Celebrate beauty of Lantern Festival

庆祝元宵节

Many traditional Chinese festivals remind us of the aromas of special foods. As zongzi are to Dragon Boat Festival and mooncakes are to Mid-Autumn Festival, yuanxiao—sweet dumplings made of sticky rice flour—are special to Lantern Festival.

Lantern Festival falls on the 15th of the first lunar month, marking the end of the Spring Festival celebrations. This year, it falls on March 2.

Apart from the round-shaped yuanxiao, another beloved part of the celebration is the lanterns, which come in almost every possible size and shape. In old times, riddles were pasted onto them so that people could try to solve them while looking at the beauty of the lanterns. However, both tradition and handicraft have become less popular among young people.

Lantern Festival was at its height in the Tang and Song dynasties. It was a day of great fun back then. In the evening, people went into the streets with all kinds of lanterns, watching lion or dragon dances, eating yuanxiao and setting off firecrackers.

The festival also provided a chance for unmarried young girls to go out freely in search of their true love, since they weren’t normally allowed to do so. The famous Song Dynasty poet Ouyang Xiu recorded this romantic tradition with the well-known line: “Atop the willow tree hangs the moon; my date comes in the evening soon.”

Never too old to learn

活到老学到老

Very few of us become smooth in another language by studying it in high school.

I went to university and then moved across the country, had a hard job, married and raised children. I made an effort to keep the little bit of French that I learned in school, but finally realized that this was pointless. I fully realized that new languages are best learned when young, and that our abilities in that regard go down with age.

However, just before my 50th birthday, I signed up for French classes. After I was tested to see which group I belonged in, I was placed at almost the starting level. When I looked around at my first Saturday morning class, I was struck by how many of the students were learning French as a third, fourth, or even fifth language. I used to think it was impossible to learn a new language, but some people can learn them easily. I discovered that some language skills weaken as we get older.

While I’d always thought of myself as a quick learner, that was no longer the case. I learned new words very slowly. What I learned one week seemed to slip away as soon as I learned the next skill. I looked up the same words and language structures over and over again.

Now, a couple of years in, I can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first try, read a novel if the language is not too difficult, and hold up my end of a conversation if it doesn’t go too fast.

I can still achieve many things, who knows what?

I’ve learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I’ve met people from around the world and all walks of life who have the courage to make fools of themselves in order to learn something new. I’ve been taught by patient teachers from many corners of the world, including France, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.

Listening to the news as it is presented to the people of France, I have a new understanding of how something can look completely different from another view. I’ve learned that a language is not just a set of words, but a way of thinking.

But most of all, I’ve learned that it really is never too late to learn something new.

Appreciating where you live

欣赏你住的地方

I’ve always thought my house is in the worst possible place. I live on the edge of town. My little community of twenty-something houses is about 800 meters away from any other community.

Every night, my parents drive home along a rather lonely, forest-lined road to get home. It’s hard for me to carpool with classmates and their parents. But yesterday, I found it is fantastic to live where I do.

Yesterday, the whole state of New Jersey, where I live, experienced a snowstorm. When I woke up in the morning, my backyard was a blanket of snow. Everything seemed so clean, as if nature had decided to cover everything and started anew. As I stood by the glass door to have a look, a family of deer galloped past my yard. It was like a scene taken out of Bambi!

But that was just the beginning. My family keeps a package of bird feed next to the porch. Every now and then, my mom leaves some feed on the porch for birds to eat. Later that day, while I was eating lunch, I noticed a flash of red in front of the window. Two of the most brilliant cardinals sat on two wooden posts outside my window, pecking away at grains of feed. Their bright red coats stood in contrast to the whiteness outside. The scene took my breath away.

When my parents came home that night, I reported to them my findings from the day.

“You know,” my mom said, “If we lived anywhere else, you wouldn’t be able to see any of this.”

She was right.

I always dreamed of living and working in a large city when I grow up. But now, I also cherish the quiet beauty that a suburban backyard offers.

“They tell me that you’d like to make a statue of me—is that correct, Miss Vinnie Ream?”

The deep, gentle voice helped calm the nervous girl. Asking a favor of the President of the United States was no casual matter, especially for a seventeen-year-old girl.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, her dark eyes meeting his. “I wouldn’t have dared to ask you, but my teacher, Mr. Mills, says I am ready. I plan to make it in an admirable manner.”

President Lincoln smiled. “Painters, sculptors—they’ve all tried to make the best of this ordinary face, but I’m afraid there’s not much hope. What did you have in mind, Miss Ream? A bust (半身像)?”

Before Vinnie could say yes, the President hurried on, a shade of apology (道歉) in his voice. “Of course—I shouldn’t have asked. A full-length pose would be much too big a project for a young woman your size.”

Vinnie’s face turned red. She realized she looked like a child, with her tiny figure. “Small does not mean weak, sir,” she defended herself. “I was born in the country of Wisconsin. I’ve driven teams of horses and carried water. Making a full-length clay (粘土) figure would not use up my strength completely—and that is what I plan to do!”

The President’s eyes, brightened at her show of spirit. “Sorry, madam, I have not realized how strong you are as I didn’t know your background.”

But his smile disappeared gradually as he rubbed his beard with bony fingers, in thought. “Miss Ream,” he sighed, “I’d like to let you do it, but as you know, we are in the middle of a war. How could I possibly take the time to pose for a sculpture now? I hardly have a minute to myself.”

Vinnie glanced around and noted the size of his office. “I work quickly,” she said. Her voice was soft but confident as she pointed to the corner near the windows. “If I were to bring my day here and work for three hours every afternoon, I could complete most of the project while you are at your desk.”

The President seemed to consider her idea seriously. He got up and shook Vinnie’s hand warmly, “I’ve heard that you are a talented young woman, and I have found you charming and intelligent as well. I cannot make my decision immediately, but you will hear from me soon.”

The very next day, Vinnie received an invitation from the President.

Peter has just posted a journal on his blog.

Dad gets it right! （finally）

Day five of the adventure in Italy and we’re in Naples. We arrived here early yesterday morning, but as usual we were only at the hotel for about five minutes before Dad wanted to take us somewhere. This time it was to the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples. I didn’t really want to go. I wanted to go shopping for shoes.

We travelled there by train. The journey didn’t take long—but long enough for Dad to tell us a bit about the history. Many years ago, Pompeii was a large Italian city near a volcano[1]called Mount Vesuvius—then on 24 August 79—the volcano broke out and completely covered the city in ash[2]. It killed about 20, 000 people. But the ash didn’t destroy the buildings and now, 2, 000 years later, you can walk around the city and see how people lived all those years ago.

(1) 000-year-old houses：thanks, Dad—really boring, I thought, but I was wrong! The houses were very interesting. Most of them were really big with lots of rooms（so lots of space to get away from troublesome brothers and sisters! ）There were paintings and mosaics[3]all over the walls. I’d love a Roman mosaic of One Direction on my bedroom wall. Also, I was amazed at the bathrooms. I’d love a big bathroom in our house—ours is so small!   

I got really interested in Pompeii. I wasn’t bored at all. In fact, I’ve got lots of ideas for our house when we get home!