【推荐1】Hazel Mayfield usually cooks the Thanksgiving meal for her extended family in Houston, Texas. She usually welcomes friends and neighbors who are eager to taste her fried turkey, green bean casserole, candied yams, homemade cornbread dressing, and dirty rice — just a few of her signature dishes (招牌菜). Known as Sugar Mama, because her grandchildren think she’s so sweet, the 91-year-old typically likes to do her own shopping for the ingredients to make her special dishes.   

“My mother is the head cook of the family,” said Panulette Mouton, Mayfield’s daughter. “Because of her reputation (名声), you know, there’re people in and out all day and every family comes through. They want to get some of Sugar Mama’s cooking, and some of them would like to learn from her how to cook the food.”     

But Mayfield hasn’t been to the grocery store since March. And there is little about Thanksgiving in 2020 that’s usual. Because of Covid-19, the deadly virus (病毒) that has killed so many people in the U.S. and spoiled life around the world, everything is different. Since limiting close face-to-face contact with others is the best way to reduce its spread, hundreds of thousands of American families have re-imagined the holiday with virtual celebrations and called off or delayed travel plans. There can only be small gatherings with people in their households in response to COVID-19.        

This year, Mayfield’s family members, without exception, are lamenting the absence of a big gathering. They’ve explained to their young children and grandchildren why this year’s Thanksgiving is different. Mayfield’s youngest daughter, Michelle Sanders, says it’s difficult to help her grandchildren understand why they can’t see some of their other family members and why they have to stay at home, celebrating Thanksgiving all by themselves.       

“It’s really hard, trying to explain to them,” Sanders said. “When you’re talking to them and they want to come over, you have to tell them no. They really don’t know how to be careful.” Sanders added, “And, they don’t understand that, being three, four, and six, you know they don’t really understand that. So, it’s...it’s really, really hard, and heartbreaking.”

【推荐2】The Wolf at the Door

Russ Fee was asleep inside his tent last summer when a series of screams shocked him awake. Throwing on his shoes, he ran out to investigate. Fee and his wife were travelling through Canada's Banff National Park to enjoy its breathtaking beauty and awesome wildlife. It was the latter he now experienced. Although it was dark, Fee could see a neighboring tent was in a mess. Backing out was a wolf, dragging something in his teeth. That thing was a man J

Moments earlier, Elisa and Matt Rispoli, from New Jersey, were asleep with their two young children when the wolf broke into their tent. "It was like something out of a horror movie，'‘ Elisa posted on Facebook. "For three minutes, Matt threw his body in front of me and the boys and fought against the wolf. At one point, Matt got the upper hand, pinning (压住) the wolf to the ground. But the wolf held its jaw onto Matt's arm tightly, set its powerful legs, and began dragging Matt outside while I was pulling on his legs trying to get him back，'‘ Elisa wrote.

It was then that Fee entered the picture. He ran at the wolf, kicking it “like I was kicking in a door,” he told ABC New York. The wolf dropped Matt and emerged from the tent. "Wolves are large，'‘ Fee told the radio show Calgary Eyeopener. " I felt like I had hit someone that was way out of my weight class."

Before the wolf could turn its anger on Fee, Matt, his arms bloodied, flew out of the tent to continue the battle. The men threw rocks at the wolf, forcing it back, then the Fees and the Rispolis escaped to the shelter of the Fees’ minivan(厢式旅行车). An ambulance was called, and Matt was taken to a local hospital suffering from open wounds. Luckily he has fully recovered. The wolf was tracked down by park officials and killed in a painless way.

As for Fee, whom Elisa called their lifesaver, he does admit to a fleeting(闪现的),if less- than-heroic, thought during the heat of battle. The moment the wolf locked eyes with him, Fee says, "I immediately regretted kicking it."

【推荐3】On March 25,2010, Kate and David Ogg heard the words every parent fears: Their newborn wasn’t going to make it. Their twins—a girl and a boy—were born two minutes apart and 14 weeks premature, weighing just over two pounds each. Doctors had tried to save the boy for 20 minutes but saw no improvement. His heartbeat was nearly gone, and he’d stopped breathing. The baby had just moments to live.

“I saw him gasp, but the doctor said it was no use,” Kate told the Daily Mail five years later. “I know it sounds stupid, but if he was still gasping, that was a sign of life. I wasn’t going to give up easily.”

Still, the Sydney couple knew this was likely goodbye. In an effort to cherish her last minutes with the tiny boy, Kate asked to hold him.

“I wanted to meet him, and for him to know us,” Kate told Today. “We’d resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to lose him, and we were just trying to make the most of those last, precious moments.”

Kate unwrapped the boy, whom the couple had already named Jamie, from his hospital blanket and ordered David to take his shirt off and join them in bed. The first-time parents wanted their son to be as warm as possible and hoped the skin-to-skin contact would improve his condition. They also talked to him.

“We were trying to persuade him to stay,” Kate told the Daily Mail. “We explained his name and that he had a twin that he had to look out for and how hard we had tried to have him.”

Then something miraculous happened. Jamie gasped again—and then he started breathing. Finally, he reached for his father’s finger.

The couple’s lost boy had made it.

“We’re the luckiest people in the world,” David told Today. Eight years later, Jamie and his sister, Emily, are happy and healthy. The Oggs only recently told the kids the story of their birth. “Emily burst into tears,” Kate said. “She was really upset, and she kept hugging Jamie. This whole experience makes you cherish them more.”

【推荐1】On February 13, 2023, Wu Yibing made history, beating John Isner in a thrilling three-set final at the Dallas Open to become the first man from China to win an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) title.

Brought to a tennis court for the first time at just five, initially encouraged by his parents as an exercise to lose weight, Wu soon had his talent discovered by his provincial junior team, kicking off a journey that would change the face of men’s tennis in China. In 2017, Wu Yibing shot to prominence after winning the US Open boys’ tournament at 18 to become the first Chinese to win a major junior title, raising high hopes for the “Wonder Boy” to change the fortune of Chinese men in a sport long dominated by women’s success on the pro stage.

In 2018, Wu won his first ATP Challenger title in Shanghai. However, the brutally competitive nature of men’s pro tennis hit the rising Wu with a tough reminder after multiple injuries—to his elbow, lower back, shoulder and wrist — forced him to be away from the ATP Tour for close to three years.

He made his return last year and won three ATP Challenger titles before qualifying for the US Open. “Looking back, I feel like I wouldn’t have been here if not for the ups and downs over the past few years. I take all the setbacks and struggles as an asset that helps me mature mentally now.” said Wu. “Of course there were a lot of doubts because I had surgery and the recovery wasn’t going well The championship today was a payoff for all the hard work and everyone who’s supported me along the way.”