【推荐1】The three astronauts on the Shenzhou XIV mission returned to Earth on Sunday evening after a six-month mission that completed the in-orbit assembly of the Tiangong space station.

A re-entry capsule carrying the crew — Senior Colonel Chen Dong, the mission commander, Senior Colonel Liu Yang and Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe — touched down on Earth at the Dongfeng Landing Site in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert at 8:09 p.m. after flying nearly nine hours in a re-entry orbit. This has become the first time that Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth at night. Ground recovery personnel soon opened the hatch (舱口) of the capsule and then conducted basic examination on the astronauts’ condition. The crew members told them that they “are feeling very good.”

After preparatory work, ground personnel carried out the astronauts one by one to place them onto chairs in front of the capsule. A lot of equipment used in the recovery operation had been added with additional cold-proof layers to resist against the chilly temperatures in the landing region, as low as minus 14 degrees Celsius. In their chairs, the astronauts shared their feelings with a group of domestic reporters, saying they are proud of the motherland and the country’s space programs. Then they were moved into special care vehicles to take health checks. Carrying Chen’s team, the Shenzhou XIV spacecraft separated from the Tiangong station at 11:01 a.m. on Sunday. On Friday evening, the Shenzhou XIV team handed over the control of the Tiangong station to the Shenzhou XV crew.

Chen’s crew is the third group of visitors to the Chinese station, one of the largest pieces of infrastructure that mankind has ever arranged in Earth’s orbit. The three astronauts were launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gobi Desert on June 5 and arrived at Tiangong later that day.

After the departure of Shenzhou XIV, the Tiangong station currently consists of the Tianhe core module, the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, the Shenzhou XV spacecraft and the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship. The station is now manned by the Shenzhou XV mission crew — Major General Fei Junlong, Senior Colonel Deng Qingming and Senior Colonel Zhang Lu, who arrived on Wednesday.

【推荐2】Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to allow restaurants to sell drinks to go with reasonable limitations was met with great enthusiasm all across New York. But New York's liquor (酒) stores have already begun a campaign of misinformation in an effort to block this.

Their basic argument is that the governor's proposal will result in an increase in underage sales, drunken driving, or any other public health problems. However, they throw these statements around without offering any support for their claims — because there is none.

While the liquor stores frequently claim that the laws have been unchanged since the abolishment (废除) of Prohibition in 1934, in just the past 20 years the rules governing liquor stores have been changed, permitting the use of online third-party delivery services and allowing stores to open on Sundays. Restaurant advocates didn't oppose these expanded privileges because they didn't have a significant impact on restaurant sales.

What hasn't changed of the law since Prohibition is the restriction on new liquor store licenses that give liquor stores a geographic territorial monopoly (垄断) to protect them from competition. Under typical circumstances, the State Liquor Authority will only issue a new liquor store license if the nearby stores report steadily increasing sales. However anti-competitive and outdated this restriction may be, it does serve as a protection against their concerns — in the very unlikely event they come to pass.

Economically, the pandemic has been a major help to the liquor store business. Before the pandemic, liquor stores sold 76% of all liquor in New York State and now they sell nearly 85%. And remember, during this period, restaurants were allowed drinks-to-go sales, showing their false claims of economic collapse are not grounded in reality or experience. The sales shift from restaurants to liquor stores over the past two years demonstrates clearly that restaurants have lost sales to liquor stores — we just want to stop the bleeding. While the restaurant industry rebounded for a part of 2021, employment still remains more than 20% below pre-pandemic levels.

【推荐3】Cui Chenxi competes in the final of the women’s street skateboarding event during the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday.

The teenager, who is the Chinese national team’s youngest athlete, won gold by scoring242.62 points. Until Wednesday, the title of China’s youngest Asian Games gold medalist be-longed to 15-year-old skateboarder Chen Ye. Nevertheless, the youngest participant at the Games is Mazel Paris Alegado, a 9-year-old Filipino skateboarder.

Asked if she was nervous before the competition, Cui shook her head and said: “My dad told me to stay relaxed, enjoy the competition and showcase my skills. As long as I give it my all, I have no regrets.”

Skateboarding, which is rooted in street culture, is a sport that emphasizes freedom and personal techniques. Cui only took up skateboarding in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow her to practice rollerblading (滚轴溜冰), which she began as a 3-year-old. Her father suggested that she try skateboarding at home instead. “I remember the day I stepped onto the board for the first time. It felt incredibly smooth. It was love at first sight,” Cui said.

Two years later, she ranked third in the women’s street event at the Shandong provincial games. She soon joined the provincial skateboarding team and underwent a more comprehensive (全面的) and structured training program.

In skateboarding, injuries are unavoidable, but when discussing the pain and the setbacks, Cui displayed a level of resilience beyond her age. “When I started skateboarding, I thought it was great fun. Later, I realized people suffer a lot of injuries while skateboarding. But that is where the spirit of skateboarding lies,” she said. Most of the time, getting injured is just part of the process, and she simply pushes through it and never gives up, she added.

Cui is “the future of Team China”, according to Zeng Wenhui, the silver medalist. “I think she is quite excellent. We will stand together in moving forward in the future,” she said.

【推荐1】Have you got any gadgets hanging around your home that you no longer want or use? Between us, we have millions of bits of tech stockpiled in drawers that could be given a new lease of life.

Part of the problem for our unloved gadgets is that many become obsolete quickly because their software doesn’t get updated. Other items are left unused because they’re broken or they’ve become replaced by a fancy new version. Many of these items are electronics, but despite them appearing to be past their sell-by date, they don’t need to end up in landfill. And here are some tips for you to make the most of our unwanted gadgets.

Materials used to make them can be extracted and reused in other things. As an example, Elisabeth Ratcliffe from the Royal Society of Chemistry told the BBC: “There are about thirty different elements just in a smartphone, and many of them are very rare. ” These can be used in touch screens and solar panels.

Probably the best approach to our throwaway culture is to repair our broken tech. This takes patience and skill, which can be learnt at repair clubs and repair cafés—free meeting places where you’ ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. In the UK, the interest in mending our stuff and giving it a new life is reflected by the popularity of a TV series called The Repair Shop, where craftspeople rescue and resurrect items their owners thought were beyond saving.

You can breathe new life into unwanted stuff by transforming it into valuable pieces or collectable retro items. These could be sold on, meaning you can make some cash from your junk and create much needed space in your home!

【推荐2】A penny saved is a penny earned. And more and more benny-wise young Chinese are abandoning consumerism by leading an increasingly frugal (节俭的) life by developing anti-consumerism concepts.

According to a survey by JD.com, nearly 50% of respondents would use all means to save money and more than 30% plan to become deal-hunters to fit in their budgets. More than 80% of Generation Z Chinese spend less than 5,000 yuan ($737) a month. When shopping, they care the most about practicability, personal preference and price, instead of brands, popularity and brand spokesmen.

And more than 600,000 users have joined a group named Frenzied Money Savers on Douban, a popular social media platform, where members share sometimes extreme ideas, tips, books and everything to save hard-earned money. For instance, some recommended uninstalling shopping apps such as Taobao, Meituan and Pinduoduo and installing it each time you really need to buy something so as to hold back the urge to spend. And milk tea, coffee and takeouts are strongly opposed by many.

Chinese have long established and valued the saving culture with the country’s household savings rate leading the world. Young Chinese who are born in a relatively prosperous and abundant society have learned to get rid of the addiction to consumerism and use money in a more sensible and wiser way, which could help create a more healthy and upbeat social vibe (社会风气), besides reducing the huge waste and damages to the environment caused by over consumption.

Just as the American writer Theodore Thornton said, the habit of saving is itself an education. Yet saving is certainly not the final goal, but spending money where it truly deserves helps realize one’s life objectives. To save and spend wisely are lessons young people all over the world have to learn.