1 . In 1959, Handler changed how toy dolls were made when she introduced “Barbie” to the world. With her mature figure, Barbie was one of the first “grown-up” dolls to hit the retail market.

Handler wanted to create a toy that was different from the baby dolls that dominated little girls’ toy boxes. She wanted a doll that girls could project their future dreams upon and allowed for limitless clothing and career choices. Inspired by paper dolls of the time, Handler, to much disagreement, made sure Barbie had the body of a grown woman.

“My own philosophy of Barbie,” Handler wrote in her autobiography, “was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman had choices.”

There’s even a Barbie for cancer patients — Brave Barbie — a partnership between Mattel and CureSearch that sends a bald (光头的) Barbie to families affected by cancer. “Gifting my daughter a Barbie who suffered from cancer was tremendous,” Michelle, a cancer survivor said, “We would play with that Barbie together and I’d heartbreakingly watch her pretend to take the doll to the hospital for chemo (化疗), or place its long wig on top of its head and tell the doll ‘It’s time to be beautiful again.’”

Bald Barbie was super brave and went on awesome adventures after chemo. Sometimes she felt sick and needed to sleep, but would feel much better after a rest. Bald Barbie always beat the cancer and went on to live a long and happy life with her family. That Barbie became so much more than a plastic doll — she was a means of communication and a coping mechanism during an extremely distressing time for little families.

2 . When you see a slim tower topping out at 14 feet 6 inches (4.4m) and made up of 208 decks of cards, you may exclaim it’s so incredible!

The tower’s architect, Bryan Berg, is an expert card builder, holding the world’s record for the tallest structure built entirely of paper cards. He’s built houses, stadiums, capitols, and castles. There’s no glue, tape or clips (别针). How can he make them stand firm? He begins by balancing four cards to form a box with arms sticking out, which forms a grid (网格). Then he repeats the grid over and over, expanding outward, to build a solid base. After that, Bryan lays cards around the edge and then across the top to make the floor for the next story of the building.

Interestingly enough, Bryan did not get the idea from any of the physical books. Instead, he discovered the unique way to build solid structures using a trick from nature. The secret is plant cells. Plant cells have hard walls and fit together tightly to form a grid that helps leaves and stems to keep their shape. Bees use the same kind of pattern to create honeycombs. Bryan borrowed this idea to invent repeating grids of card cells.

Out of curiosity, people who come to see the card buildings sometimes push and poke (戳刺) to see if they have clips inside, but find they don’t! Once, when Bryan built a card castle at Disney World, birds kept trying to land on it. A squirrel managed to take down one wall and did plenty of damage inside. But, amazingly, the castle didn’t collapse.

When it’s time to take down a card house, Bryan likes to blow them apart with a leaf blower. Is he ever sad to do it? Bryan admits it’s sometimes painful to see his structures fall. But he always knows one thing: “What goes up must come down — even card houses. They wouldn’t be so special if they were permanent. I also learn a lot from taking them apart — the destruction shows me where the weak points are. That is what my next stronger buildings really need.”

3 . China’s long history has seen many scientists making great contributions to the development of ancient China and even the world. We have selected several greatest scientists in ancient China and hope to help you learn more about Chinese science and technology.

Zhang Zhongjing (150-219) was a Chinese physician in Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). He founded medication principles and summarized the medicinal experience before his time. His famous work “ Shang Han Za Bing Lun ” had a major influence on the practice of traditional Chinese medicine. Today, this great book was still considered very important in the practice of Chinese medicine.

Li Daoyuan (AD 427 or 469-527) was a great Chinese geographer during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). He wrote the famous work “ Commentary to the River Classic ” (Shui Jing Zhu). The book is a great work on the ancient geography of China and it sums up China’s geography and its surrounding areas before Northern Wei Dynasty.

Sun Simiao was an outstanding medical scientist in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He was called “ China’s King of Medicine ” for his important contributions to Chinese traditional medicine. Sun authored two books — “Qian Jin Yao Fang” and “Qian Jin Yi Fang” that were both landmarks in Chinese medicine history.

Shen Kuo was a great Chinese scientist and politician of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). He compiled (汇编) an scientific work “Dream Pool Essays”, which involves a lot descriptions about the animals and plants in the country. Shen also first described the magnetic needle compass, which would be used for navigation (航行). His discovery of concept of true north towards the north pole was four hundred years earlier than Europe.

4 . The exact location in France where Dutch master Vincent van Gogh painted his last work of art has been discovered.

A Dutch researcher figured out that a scene described in the artist’s last work, Tee Root, was visible on a postcard showing a man standing next to a bicycle on a back street of the village Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh spent the last weeks of his life in the village. Helpfully, the card even included the name of the street.

Researchers were given a unique glimpse (体验) into the famous painter’s final hours. He was at work right up to the end.

Wouter van der Veen, scientific director of the Van Gogh Institute in France, made the discovery. While stuck at home, van de Veen used the extra time to organize the numerous files and documents on van Gogh, including images such as the old postcard from Auvers-sur-Oise. One day in late April, he saw the card on his computer screen and it suddenly struck him that he was looking at the location of Tree Roots. Next to the man and his bicycle, roots and trees are clearly visible. He took a virtual trip down the site using Google’s Street View.

“Villagers know the spot and the main tree root well, even giving it the name ‘the elephant’ because of its shapes,” van der Veen said. “It was really hiding in overt sight.”

The discovery provides tourists with an extra reason to visit Auvers-sur-Oise. “They travel a lot just for one reason — to walk in the footsteps of Vincent van Gogh. Now they can stand at the very place where he painted his last painting,” van der Veen said. “And that’s a very moving thing for a lot of people. So I’m very happy to be able to share that with all those who love van Gogh.”

When the starting signal sounded, Qian Hongyan pushed herself in the pool. She     1    (win)the silver medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke(蛙泳)final in the 11th National Games for Persons with Disabilities     2     (hold)in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

Qian, from Luliang, Yunnan Province, lost both legs.     3     caused that was a traffic accident when she was 4 years old. Since then, she has become well-known tor moving around while balanced on an orange ball,     4     (earn) herself a nickname, basketball girl.

Qian's enthusiasm for swimming     5    (date)back to 2007. At 11 years old, she     6    (invite)by the coach Zhang Honghu to join the swimming club tor people with disabilities. However, without legs, Qian found it difficult to keep balance in water."Swimming without legs is like handling a boat     7     a rudder(舵). I tended to sway(摇摆)due to a poor sense of direction," she said.

To help her overcome the difficulty, her coach made a tailor-made training plan for her. Every day, she practiced swimming for at least four     8    (hour). She made intense efforts to strengthen her arm and balance,     9     helped her successfully get used to the water.

"I like swimming. It changed my life and helped me see     10     (extreme) wonderful things," she said in an interview.

8 . From the concert halls of Europe to the tech industries of the United States, C. J. Santos has created a story across the globe.

Born in Brazil, Santos moved to Switzerland at the age of 18, and earned degrees in both music performance and business administration there. During his next 10 years of “intense” career as a professional musician, he spent most of his time on the road. “I had the honor to perform in the top concert halls in Europe,” Santos said. “It really wore me out to be constantly traveling and performing, but it allowed me to see the world and understand it in its full diversity. This was a unique experience, and I carry its benefits with me to this day”

Through these experiences, Santos was able to become fluent in six languages. With these skills under his belt, Santos worked with his wife, who is also fluent in four languages, to develop a small translation business.

“Running it with no prior business experience was a challenging but exciting learning-by-doing experience,“ Santos said. “In addition, the translation industry experienced a massive digital transformation in the last decade.”

This brought Santos to an MBA/M.S. program in business analytics and information management, where he got rich experience, knowledge and perspectives in different industries. The program provided him with something he clearly enjoys in life: variety “It helped me take the most advantage of the translation industry’s digital transformation. What I gained from the program is more than what I managed in the 15 years in Europe,” he added.

As Santos continues to grow his business, he’s also working as an advisor. “The world’s digital transformation has advanced at high speed,” he said. “To me, it’s very exciting to be a valuable resource to those who need help to jump onboard the digital express.”