【推荐3】Wildfires were rapidly spreading through northern and southern California as powerful winds swept through the state, burning homes and forcing more than 200,000 people to leave their homes. Thousands of structures were destroyed in the massive fires. Firefighters and volunteers worked around the clock, risking their lives to save others, although thick clouds of wildfire smoke hung in the air.

But it's not just humans in danger’s path. A video of a horse running away from the rescue team to find his family of horses from CBS Los Angeles went viral. The public was touched by the horse's heroic act and shared their thoughts on the Internet.

Volunteers were rescuing several horses from the wildfire when one of the horses jumped away from the group. They were trying to help the horse, but he refused. They probably had no idea what was wrong with the horse, who just started running away from them. The horse raced back into danger to lead his family to safety, despite rescuers' best efforts to stop him. He knew he couldn't leave them behind. As the tension increased, several human strangers jumped in to help the animals — they went back to the burning barn where some of the horses remained.

You can watch the horse run back into the smoke-filled area, reconnect with the horses inside the fence, and quickly accompany them out of the fenced-off area. Though it's not clear from the video, CBS Los Angeles reported that all but one of the horses involved were saved. Disastrous as the California wildfires have been, the video and countless other rescue stories — humans and animals alike — are shining light on all acts of goodness taking place.

【推荐1】Making and keeping deep, meaningful friendships as an adult is hard, especially for men. Less than half of men report being satisfied with their friendships, and only about 1 in 5 said they had received emotional support from a friend in the last week, compared with 4 in 10 women, according to a 2021 survey from the Survey Center on American Life.

Why is it so hard? When Dr. Frank Sileo, a psychologist based in Ridgewood, New Jersey, first began conducting research on male friendships in 1995, many participants assumed his survey was about homosexuality (同性恋). Such opinions are inaccurate, but showed some of what maybe holding some men back from deep friendships, Sileo said.

Besides, boys receive messages that growing up and “manning up” mean hiding their soft side - a mindset that neuroscience, social science and developmental psychology all show is harmful to them. The drive to toughen up and never show vulnerability (脆弱) that restricts men from friendships can lead them to loneliness, violence and anger. “We consider relationships as feminine.” Sileo said. “If that’s a feminine (女性特有的) thing, it becomes a weakness or inability if men admit to needing friendships. ”

Thus, men seeking closeness might turn to those they see as better at building relationships and feel comfortable exploring their vulnerability with: the women in their lives and their romantic partners, according to Sileo’s research. It may seem like a good solution, but putting everything on a romantic partner can hurt a relationship, whether it is going to a female partner exclusively for emotional support or depending on her to cultivate friendships and get-together for holidays and weekends. It is necessary to have various people to go to for support for different perspectives. “Men need to know it’s not just a woman thing.” she said. “They need to know that men can do it, too. ”

We live in a culture that conflicts with our nature. If we raise children to go against their nature, we shouldn’t be surprised if some of those children grow up to struggle. Research has shown expression of negative emotions improved men’s emotional well-being, increased feelings of being understood and resulted in less reported loneliness. So just as many men make a great effort to eat right, exercise, succeed in their careers and raise children, men should prioritize developing friendships as well.

【推荐3】When a language dies, so does a unique way of seeing the world. Time is running out for many tongues. Experts estimate that of the 6,700 or so languages spoken around the world, 40% could disappear by the end of the century. The UN has designated 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages to draw attention to the danger. Slowly, countries are developing more resources to the issue.

Canada aims to pass an Indigenous Language Act before its elections in October 2019. The act would give more than 65 languages spoken by First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples national recognition and teaching resources. In government-funded boarding schools, which operated from the 1880s to 1996, indigenous children faced beatings or electric shocks if they were caught using their native languages. “We want to put the same amount of effort to revitalise indigenous languages as Canada put to wipe them out,” says Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Legal recognition for a language is the first step in bringing a native culture back from the brink (边缘). Maori is one of the success stories. When it became one of New Zealand’s official languages in 1987, less than 20% of the Maori population spoke it well enough to be regarded as native speakers. Today it is off the endangered list.

The second step is to teach a new generation of native speakers. Technology is a big help. Duolingo, a popular language-learning app, recently added Hawaiian and Navajo to its courses. BASAbali, a wiki documenting Balinese, uses Facebook to reach speakers in rural areas. Say it in Saami is an online dictionary that translates modern lingo into languages spoken by the Sami people in Northern Europe.

Saving rare languages needs people to champion them. Bali now asks officials to use Balinese on Thursdays. The UN year will kick-start projects that could save thousands of tongues. The challenge in 2019 will be to get others to listen and start talking.