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 occupied little girls’ toy boxes. She wanted a doll that girls could show their future dreams upon and allowed for limitless outfit (全套服装) 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 idea 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 wonderful,” 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 (假发) on top of its head and tell the doll that 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 (应对机制) during an extremely unhappy time for little families.

2 . A16-year-old girl from Changsha, Hunan province, successfully reached the top of Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, on Monday morning, becoming the youngest Chinese female to conquer the world’s highest top from the southern slope (坡).

Xu Zhuoyuan is a first year high school student from Hunan province. On April 15, she left Changsha for Nepal. On April 21, she began her long walk from Lukla. 7 days later, she arrived at the base camp and started her altitude adaptation training at once. At 10 pm Beijing time on May 14, Xu Started walking from Camp 4 at an altitude of 7,950 meters on the southern slope of Qomolangma. After a punishing 10-hour climb, she successfully reached the summit.

Xu Zhuoyuan’s father, Xu Jianglei, was the first person from Hunan province to reach the top of Qomolangma. Xu Zhuoyuan has been exploring remote areas with him since she was very young. Despite her young age, Xu Zhuoyuan has already climbed five mountains over 5,000 meters in China. When she was 12 years old, she made a statement on Hunan TV saying, “I will climb Qomolangma.”

Four years later, she achieved her promise. Although Xu Zhuoyuan has rich climbing experience, she has been experiencing high-intensity professional training non-stop to conquer Qomolangma. Last year, she climbed Mount Muztagata, which stands 7,546 meters. “Human beings are small in the face of nature. We should respect nature and get closer to Qomolangma,” said Xu Zhuoyuan.

She brought the gloves her father used when he reached the top with her as a form of inheritance and to bear witness to her own dream coming true. After finishing her university studies, she hopes to continue climbing and achieve the “7+2” (7 tops plus the North and South Poles).

7 . You can hear a pin drop. It’s almost a dilemma among several long-time rivals (对手). Can Babe pull it off? She ________ the eighteenth hole, extends her arms for the downswing and—it’s a hole in one! Babe, queen of the fairway (球道), has succeeded, and the crowd goes ________. Her fans rush forward, and there’s ________ and damage on the greens.

There’s is a pity to this win, ________ Babe, a co-founder of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association), was diagnosed with cancer at the height of her ________. Doctors said she’d never ________ again, but they should have known not to bet against this ________ woman. After thinking it over for about a split second, she ________ she wasn’t going to let a little thing like a serious illness ________ her athletic career. She had other fish to fry. She reached a (n) ________ with her husband and manager after undergoing surgery. She swore she’d keep the door open to ________. Friends begged her to slow down. What did she have to prove? But Babe wasn’t ________ it. She won the Serbia Women’s Open Tournament: “The Babe’s here, who’s coming in second?”

When it comes to athletics, there is nothing she isn’t ________. She excels in baseball, swimming, diving, tennis, and bowling. Her ________ are legendary and practically countless. Most agree she’s the best woman athlete. Once she was ________ the greatest female athlete of the half-century by the Associated Press, and she’s won a large number of other awards and lifetime achievement honors. No one ________ this lady with the incredible gifts and ________ heart of a champion.

Babe is no ________ woman. We’d be careless if we didn’t mention that her biography has been published. The girl has done plenty to ________ the cause of women’s sports and won the ________ of millions.

8 . Visionary architects design buildings which speak for themselves. From towering concrete pillars to sculptural modernist domes (穹顶), the work of Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi defined Indian architecture for the latter half of the 20th century. Known as B. V. Doshi, he was a versatile modernist architect — he designed everything from accessible housing projects to the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore. Sadly, the great architect died on January 24, 2023, at the age of 95, leaving behind a fascinating legacy.

Born on August 26, 1927, in Pune, southeast of Mumbai, Doshi grew up with his father and grandfather, a furniture maker. As a child he came to appreciate how their house grew and changed. In 1947, shortly before Indian independence, he began architecture school. However, he never finished, a fact which he’d later point to in life as an advantage. He married his wife Kamala Parikh in 1955. When she passed away, Doshi lived in a house he designed and named for his beloved wife.

Doshi was influenced by the famous Swiss-French architect known as Le Corbusier. Doshi studied with him in Paris and then returned to India to supervise the architect’s work in Ahmedabad. In 1956, Doshi founded his own firm called Vastushilpa. He traveled the world lecturing at universities, worked with other famous architects, and even founded the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (now CEPT University) focusing on understanding, designing, planning, constructing and managing human habitats.

“We did not want to imitate someone else’s approach,” he told the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in 2018. “We wanted to find our own identity.” He drew from his pride in Indian culture to create a style distinct from Western designs. “I think of my buildings as my friends, my family,” he said. “I have a conversation with them, and that’s how I create niches and staircases and openings and gardens…my buildings are not only pure and clear but designed to anticipate changes.”

Aside from his modern works, Doshi was devoted to creating works to benefit the poor. He designed the Aranya Low Cost Housing Project in Indore. The photographer Iwan Baan, who photographed some of Doshi’s works, described the artist as “the most approachable architect I know. Even very poor people in his public housing projects knew him, which is exceptional.”

10 . Jim Thorpe is one of the greatest athletes of all time. He had amazing athletic abilities and was well-known during his lifetime, yet that did not make Thorpe a stranger to adversity.

Thorpe was an American Indian from Oklahoma who developed his extraordinary athletic skills in his youth through hard labor. It was also in his youth that he learned to endure hardship brought upon by racial prejudice. Many would say his childhood was not easy. He grew up poor and at age 9 his twin brother passed away and a few years later he lost both of his parents.

But that did not stop him from doing what he loved and pursuing his dreams. Nothing seemed to stop him, not even stolen shoes. Just hours before Thorpe was going to compete in the 1912 Olympics, somebody stole his shoes. Thorpe improvised (临时拼凑) by getting shoes out of the garbage. The shoes were two different sizes. He wore an extra pair of socks on one foot to even them out.

He still went on to win two gold medals—winning each event he competed in except for one, the javelin (标枪). The javelin was the only event he didn’t win, probably because he had never competed in that event before. It is interesting to note that Thorpe had tried to throw the javelin once before in the Olympic trials. At the time, he didn’t know that he could throw it with a running start. He threw it standing still and was placed second.

At the Olympics，he also took part in the decathlon (十项全能运动). He finished first in two events, third in four events, and fourth in two more. Thorpe ended up finishing third in the world. He was undoubtedly a dominating force that couldn’t be stopped and just kept on going.

I think Paul Dughi said it best, “It’s hard to imagine now that pro athletes get paid millions of dollars just to wear a particular brand of shoes. For Jim Thorpe, it didn’t matter what kind he wore.”