【推荐1】It was 6 a.m. as I got on the train, ending my work one cold morning and I was lucky to get a seat. At that time of the morning, my eyes were not fully focused and at times I was half asleep. During that time the train was usually filled with construction workers heading out to start their work. On that particular morning I found myself drawn on the shoes of men sitting about 10 seats across from me.

I sat examining the shoes of men. Men from different walks of life, holding different jobs, thinking different thoughts, living different lives and despite what they did and how they looked, they all had something in common. They were all of the working class trying to achieve their dreams.

One day each of those men has to visit a shoe store to buy a new pair of shoes, a type that fits their working needs. For a short time those shoes look so good. Then one day they lose their shine; they no longer look as good, but guess what? The shoes feel right. Feet have found their own home within the comfort of those shoes.

If those shoes could talk, what kind of a tale do you think they would tell? If your shoes could talk, what do you think they would say about you? Would the story be about a journey filled with joy and fun? Or would the story be one filled with disappointment and regret?

We choose the shoes. Where we take them and when and how we wear them are up to us.

【推荐2】Now I live in Paris. Actually, I don’t mind the food or the people, but I do care about the land that is extraordinarily lack of characteristics of hiking. I enjoy being outdoors and hiking, but Paris’s natural resources don’t hold much potential for my bent. So when my dad asked if I wanted to go hiking with him, I was overjoyed.    1    . It turned out that I was too optimistic.

We started our main hike up Flattop Mountain. As we hiked it was much more challenging than I expected.    2    . The path is winding and we saw mountains towering over the green valleys and cliffs that seemed endless. What amazed me most was that thick clouds enveloped the mountainsides.    3    .

I stared up at the top to see how much farther we had to go and I began to worry that I wouldn’t finish it.     4    . It made me doubtful about my persistence (坚持). But when we looked back at the path that faded in the distance, I was filled with fulfillment with seeing how much we had done.

As I was hiking, I started to reflect on how hiking was similar to other aspects of my life.    5    . It reminded me of my struggles in my classes and the difficulties I had to overcome. I spotted that the process of learning isn’t always the most fun, but the fulfillment after seeing how much I had finished just increases the thirst for knowledge, causing me to long for more learning. Looking down at the mountain I was content but never fully satisfied. Having considered a lot, I was determined to pursue the summit (山顶).

【推荐1】Quick Talk

In the exciting thriller Baby Driver, the actor and DJ, Ansel Elgort, 23, plays a music-obsessed (对音乐着迷的) getaway driver trying to escape from a life of crime.

Your character gets turned on to new music from iPods he finds in stolen cars. Who has influenced your taste?

Eve Beglarian, a composer (作曲家) and friend of my mother’s, made me my first iPod (playlist). One of the songs was Easy by the Commodores. The auditions (试演) for Baby Driver weren’t going well, and director Edgar Wright said, “Do you know any songs that you know every word to?” I remembered Easy. He said, “When you’re ready, I want you to sing it.” He told me that that was what got me the role. I guess I have to thank Eve.

At times the movie plays like a very complex music video.

They filmed very rhythmically. If I wasn’t wearing earphones, I was wearing an earwig — like a radio, but it’s tiny and you can hear things in your ear. Whatever the audience hears, we heard while filming.

How much did you get to drive?

They only let me drive when no one else was in the car, so that wasn’t often. They didn’t want me to kill Jamie Foxx.

You’re known for your brave and confident fashion choices. When did you start caring about style?

I must have been in the sixth grade. I wore the same red Adidas sweatpants every day, a white T-shirt and blue shoes. I was like a cartoon character.

After young-adult films like The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent, were you eager to be in a more adult film?

I don’t look at The Fault in Our Stars as a teenage movie. I looked at it like, this is a great script (剧本) and a good character, and I was excited to do it. But of course I was looking forward to being part of a “real” movie. If it meant working with Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm, sign me up.

【推荐3】An event celebrating the 80th anniversary of Yueju Opera’s reform and the 100th birthday of Yueju master Yuan Xuefen (1922 — 2011) was held in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, on Monday.

Yueju Opera, a national intangible cultural heritage, originated in Shaoxing before it became popular in Shanghai. It is a respected and widely praised art form that combines Chinese folk stories, music and drama.

Yuan is credited with leading the reform of Yueju, including the extensive use of lighting and scenery. She is best known for playing the title role in Sister Xianglin by Lu Xun, one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century.

The event was part of the Fifth Chinese Yueju Opera Festival, which opened in Shaoxing on Sunday. At the festival’s opening ceremony, many Yueju masters signed an agreement to inherit and further develop the art. Sheng Yuechun, Party secretary of Shaoxing, said the city will help build county- and city-level Yueju Opera groups by supplying 10 million yuan ($1.48 million) every year to the creation of new Yueju plays.

This year, during the Fifth Yueju Opera Festival, 45 plays, including 20 traditional ones and 15 new ones, were performed to show the achievements and developments of Yueju Opera since 2018. The Chinese Yueju Opera Festival is a national art festival held in Zhejiang every four years, started in 2006. It aims to preserve the culture of Yueju Opera and promote the development and prosperity of Yueju Opera.

Yueju Opera is not only a representative of Zhejiang opera, but is also one of the five major opera genres in China. It was included on the first national intangible cultural heritage list.

【推荐2】A few weeks ago I paid a visit to the UK. The moment I reached Heathrow airport, I was attracted by all the language differences between American and British English. Instead of reading “exit”, the signs read “way out”. The announcer said “alight” instead of “get off” the plane.

My first stop in the UK was the British museum and I was particularly interested in Room 41. In that room, I saw the oldest sentence ever found written in Old English. Archeologists (考古学家) believe it is from between 450 and 480 AD.

The next stop was Westminster Abbey. At the Poets’ Corner I saw graves of famous writers, such as Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Samuel Johnson. The list can go on and on. Another thing on the Abbey grounds that you should not miss is a colorful glass window in St. Margaret’s Church, as you walk up to the Abbey. The window, about halfway up the left side of the church, honors William Caxton. He was the first person to bring the printing press to England and set up his printing business near the Abbey, probably because he was likely to get work from the government offices in the area. Caxton may not be as well-known as the writers in Poets’ Corner, but he played a very important part in standardizing English.

My final stop was the Tower of London, which was the symbol of power of the people who changed English. This castle was built by William the Conqueror after he defeated King Harold II in the Battle of Hastings during the Norman Invasion in 1066. After the Normans took over England, the official language became French for hundreds of years, and this was the time when many French words entered the English language especially words related to upper-class life such as words about government and cooking.

So that was my trip.