1 . The concept of an art museum is easy enough: that is about art. There are those rare museums focused largely or entirely on the work of just one person. Those senses can be all the richer when you know the museum is the artist’s birthplace or onetime home. Here are four examples of such museums.

The name Cyrus E. Dallin (1861-1944) might not be familiar, but several of the sculptor’s works are. His “Appeal to the Great Spirit”, an example of the many sculptures Dallin made relating to Native Americans, stands in front of the Museum of Fine Arts. Born in Utah, he lived in Arlington (Texas) for the final four decades of his life.

Rockwell (1894-1978) moved to Stockbridge in 1953. By then he was already America’s best-known illustrator (插图画家). The museum, founded in 1969, moved into its present, Robert A. M. Stern-designed building in 1993. Its 998 paintings and drawings are the largest single collection of Rockwell’s art.

Kids 6 and under FREE, adults $20, students with ID: $10

Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was an artist, yes, but he was other things as well: author, playwright, set and costume designer. Gorey purchased this 18th-century house in 1979 and lived there the rest of his life. The house currently serves as a museum celebrating Gorey’s life and work. It’s also known as the Elephant House. That’s appropriate, in light of Gorey’s passion for animal welfare.

Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) is responsible for what may well be the most familiar work of any American artist. His portrait of George Washington is the basis of the first president’s image on the dollar bill. As one of the early Republic’s most distinguished artists, Stuart painted more than a thousand portraits over the course of his career.

For most of her life, Suanne Laqueur’s passion for storytelling was shown on the dance floor.

Although Laqueur began writing at a young age, dancing always took center stage. She majored in dance and theater at Alfred University and taught at her mother’s dance studio in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, for years. But when her mother was ready to retire and an opportunity opened for Laqueur to take over the studio, she realized she had no interest in taking on the business side of her art: “Owning a studio is a lot of work — financially, logistically. I love the teaching, the choreographing (编舞), the staging, but I didn’t want to own it.”

Yet Laqueur’s disinterest in running the studio changed when she became a self-published author. In the fall of 2013, she decided to pursue self-publishing as a way of sharing her first completed novel with friends and family. During the process, she realized that following her true passion-telling stories through writing — made the business of the art worthwhile, and owning that business meant she could direct her writing career however she chose.   

Starting with her second self-published novel, she began investing more time in marketing and building her audience. Her investment paid off. Since 2014, Laqueur, now 49, has self-published six novels, which collectively have hundreds of ratings and reviews on Goodreads. Gradually, readers pay more attention to her works. In particular, her 2016 novel An Exaltation of Larks stole the show and won the grand prize at the 25th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, topping more than 2, 300 entries.

“You have to write the most truthful story to you, and I think self-publishing allows that freedom,” she says, “If you work with traditional publishing, it’s more about what’s marketable. There are trade-offs, which everyone will tell you, but by self-publishing I have control of the book, I have control of the story, and I’m cool with that.”

6 . A young man returns to his hometown of Colombia. He visits the house where he lived as a child.   Here, he remembers the most important memories of his childhood. Standing in front of his old house, the young man makes an important decision. He says to himself, “I will start my life over again. I will become a writer.”

This man is world famous writer. Marquez.

Marquez was born on March 6, 1928. During his early life, Marquez’s grandmother and grandfather told him many stories. His grandmother would tell him legends as if they were real. Marquez says that his grandmother’s way of storytelling later influenced his own methods.

When Marquez was about 20 years old, he left Colombia and attended university in Bogota. He began studying law because this was what his father wanted him to study. However, Marquez was not happy.

During this time Marquez returned to Colombia. It was on this visit that he realized he must stop studying law. And he recognized that he must return to the passion of his childhood — writing. For the next few years, Marquez wrote for many different newspapers. And in 1955, he published his first book called “Leaf Storm”.

For many years, Marquez knew he wanted to write about his grandfather’s house in Colombia. To write this book, Marquez and his wife had to sell almost all of their possessions to survive. But their sacrifice (牺牲) was worth it. The book, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” was immediately successful. And this book created a path for Marquez’s future success.

In 1982, Marquez was given the Nobel Prize in Literature for his book “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” He was the first Colombian and the fourth Latin American to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

8 . Do you think cookies can tell stories? Jasmine Cho, 35, does.

A baker, artist, entrepreneur and activist, Cho tries to spread knowledge about social justice issues and diversity through the delicious medium of cookies.

It was in high school that she discovered her love of baking. At a sleepover a friend taught her how to make a dessert, “sort of demystifying baking and that whole process”.

Later, Cho realized her second passion: learning more about her Asian, American culture. An elective in college that taught Asian-American immigrant experiences brought an emotional moment for her. “So many emotions came up that I just couldn’t articulate. It was like this mix of anger, of relief, empowerment, sadness...” Cho said.

Cho realized she could combine these two passions to educate others about influential Asian American people and showcase matters that were important to her. With her online bakery, she designed cookie portraits about people she admired and posted the images on Instagram. “I don’t think I ever really knew how to communicate these stories until I found cookies,” Cho said. “Cookies are just so disarming. Who doesn’t like cookies?”

One cookie that Cho has identified with deeply is one she made of George Helm, a Hawaiian activist in the 1970s.

“It’s insane the amount of injustice that the native Hawaiian population has faced as well through the whole annexation (吞并) of the kingdom. There were so many horrific stories that I heard about nuclear testing and the fallout ( 核爆炸后的沉降物) impacting native Hawaiian populations in all of this,” Cho said, “George Helm was one of those activists who really represented the spirituality of the native Hawaiians and the connection to their land, to nature.”

Among her amazing cookie art are other political figures such as Larry Itliong, a Filipino-American labor organizer, and pop culture figures such as Keanu Reeves, a Canadian actor.

Cho hopes her cookie art continues to inspire people to be creative and think positively.

“Instead of trying to think of something new and original, just look inward and see, maybe there’s already a passion or a love that you have,” Cho said. “Use that for something that will serve the world in a better way.”

Thank you for your listening.

10 . What are scientists?They are often described as gray-haired white-coated dull scholars.

But the world has changed.Young scientists are making their voices heard and releasing their powers on the world stage.

This is also true in China.Rising stars include new materials expert Gong Yongji,university professor Liu Mingzhen,and biologist Wan Ruixue.At the age of 28 in 2018,Wan Ruixue received the 2018 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.This is a global prize to reward outstanding scientists at an early stage of their careers.

She focuses mainly on biomedicine (生物医学) and artificial intelligence.“Both are cutting-edge (前沿) technologies at an early stage of development,” she said.

“So,I think they have great potential to be developed.I think in the study of cutting-edge technologies,China and other leading countries in the world are standing on the same starting line.And in the study of structural biology,China is likely to become the leader.”

She felt it was her fate to become a biologist.“I grew interested in the natural world,when I was very young,” she said.In 2009,she entered Sun Yat-sen University.

In her third year at the university,she realized that she wanted to do something related to biomedicine.So she emailed China’s top biologist Shi Yigong,hoping to join his lab at Tsinghua University.

Shi recognised her talent and welcomed her.Years of efforts at the lab have paid off.Her research on the high-definition 3D structure of spliceosome led to a scientific breakthrough.

Unlike many of other young scientists who choose to pursue further study abroad,Wan currently has no plan to go overseas.

“The whole ecosystem for scientific research is continually improving in China,” she said,adding that the country has great science facilities.