Last semester in my final year of high school, I had a kind teacher whom I can never forget. I was not the best student when it came to writing tests. I had to work extra hard to get good marks, although I enjoyed learning. Anyway, this class that I truly enjoyed still had me struggling to do well on my tests. My teacher willingly helped me and was always willing to answer my questions, and I greatly appreciated it. He was a remarkable teacher, always reaching out to students and helping them achieve their greatest potential.

I remember the day of writing my final exam, I was the last one still writing in the exam room as always, reviewing my exam paper, while everyone else had already finished and left the room. After turning in my exam-paper, I started to leave the classroom, but decided to turn around and say what I had meant to say.

What I did right then was that I sincerely thanked my teacher for everything. What I said to him lastly meant a lot more to him than I thought it would —“I really enjoyed this class.” I did not think much about it. I was just being honest with him, but the look on his face was remarkable. He seemed really touched and appreciated my simple comment, just knowing that one of his students had truly enjoyed his class. That is what I call a simple, yet very meaningful act of kindness to brighten a teacher’s day, because they work so hard for us and truly inspire us to learn.

It is what we say and do to show concern to others that can make somebody else’s day extra special. I believe that a simple praise can mean a lot more than one can think.

“I want to mention an example,” Guo said. “How should a director choose a film project among 100 film scripts? A good story is an important criterion, under which 95 film scripts may be less than adequate. Eventually we have five good stories to enter our final considerations. In this case, an additional criterion should be considered if the story gives strong messages about our Chinese culture. If so, we may undertake it. But if not, why should we bother to make a film that filmmakers from other nations can also produce?”

Smash hit The Wandering Earth is based on works by Liu Cixin, who has tried to create an obviously Chinese style of science fiction. Also, critics owe the film’s domestic success to its unique cultural context because it tells a story Chinese people are quite familiar with. For instance, the Chinese people in the film wanted to help make the Earth move as it was coming to a stop. Some critics have pointed out that this plot point is linked with Chinese farming culture.

Regarded as a science fiction director, Guo continued to say that a style of Chinese sci-fi film hasn’t been set up yet. He believes that China is not ready to make ‘soft’ sci-fi films, which put more focus on characters, culture and sociology.

“There’s a logical order in it. We may find there are both lots of soft and hard science fiction films in Hollywood. But the hard sci-fi movie, a category characterized by focusing on scientific accuracy and logic, came first to serve as a foundation,” Guo said. “Hollywood filmmakers spent decades making hard sci-fi movies, which paved the way for the growth of soft sci-fi films afterwards. China is still young in making sci-fi films.”

There’s a whole new world in sci-fi film. Moviegoers will first have to believe in such a world before getting interested in it. “So, gaining their trust is important, otherwise they wouldn’t be interested in the characters as well as their emotions in the films,’’ Guo Fan said.

Having hundreds of friends on Facebook is no substitute for a handful of close friends in real life, a study has found. Researchers discovered that people with only a few friends were at least as happy as those with far more if many of theirs were online. The number of “peripheral others” someone connected with online — former classmates and coworkers, for example — had no bearing on how satisfied they felt.

Social media, the researchers said, has encouraged younger people to have larger but more impersonal networks of “friends”. But instead of trying to amass friends, they added, a better cure for loneliness might be spending time with those you’re closest to.

Scientists from the University of Leeds did their study using data from two online surveys conducted on 1,496 people by a non-profit research organization. People taking part in the study offered their ages, the make-up of their social networks, how often they had different types of social interactions, and their own feelings of happiness. They included details of how often and how they interacted with family or neighbors, and whether they included people who provided services to them in their networks. The number of close friends someone had appeared to be the only thing which influenced how satisfied they were with their social life.

“Loneliness has less to do with the number of friends you have, and more to do with how you feel about your friends,” said Dr Wändi Bruine de Bruin. “It’s often the younger adults who admit to having negative opinions of their friends. Loneliness occurs in people of all ages. If you feel lonely, it may be more helpful to make a positive connection with a friend than to try and seek out new people to meet.”

Dr. Sylvia Earle wants you to stop eating fish. It’s not because fish are endangered, though wild fish stocks in many oceans are very low. It’s not because they’re bad for you, though fish in many areas are exposed to poisonous substances in the water. It’s because they’re smart.

“Fish are sensitive, and they have personalities,” says the marine (海洋) biologist. For Earle, eating a fish would be like eating a dog or a cat. “Personally, I would never eat anyone I know.”

There’s a lot more about fish: they talk to each other, they like to be touched, and they engage in behavior that can seem very human. They can remember things and learn from experience. Earle and a growing number of animal rights activists see these as strong arguments against eating fish altogether.

The activists also point out that fish feel pain and fish suffer horribly on their way from the sea to the supermarket. “While it may seem obvious that fish are able to feel pain, like every other animal, some people think of fish as swimming vegetables,” says Dr. Lynne Sneddon. “Really, ifs kind of a moral question. Is the enjoyment you get from fishing or eating fish more important than the pain of the fish?”

Fishermen and fish lovers are doubtful. “I’ve never seen a smart fish,” says Marie Swaringen as she finishes off a plate of fish at a Seattle seafood restaurant. “If they were very smart, they wouldn’t get caught.”

“For years, everyone’s been telling us to eat fish because it’s so good for us,” says another diner. “Now I’ve got to feel guilty while I’m eating my fish? What are they going to think of next? Don’t eat salad because cucumbers have feelings?”