【推荐1】I’ve always described myself as a perfectionist. I wore it like a badge(徽章) of honor. I credited my perfectionism with good grades at school, turning in essays that were rewritten until they felt perfect. I’d always thought of myself as someone who tried his best, but the truth is that I was a quitter, not a trier. I gave up anything that I wasn’t immediately good at. I was so afraid of failing and I wasn’t even trying anymore. It tuned out that perfectionism actually means the fear of failure. And there was so much I wanted to try. There were so many things I felt sure I’d enjoy but never had a go at. What if I failed? What if I was rubbish? The idea was so unbearable that it was easier to leave it as the unknown. If I didn’t try, I couldn’t fail.

And then one day I accidentally stepped into an art supply store. Before I could stop myself, I bought a tiny set of paints, some paper, and brushes. I headed home full of anticipation, opened them up, and started painting. And the results were…really bad. Frustrated, I pushed everything into a drawer and decided to forget the idea. But then a weird thing happened—I kept thinking about being a quitter, so I got the paints back out and started again. I was still terrible at painting, but my motivation this time never lessened. I decided to share my paintings on social media, showing my progress and the efforts behind the scenes instead of the so-called perfection.

Now, three years later, I paint almost every day and have set up my own art business. I regularly fail and make a mess, but I never quit. And even better, I’m constantly trying new things that just a few years ago I couldn’t even have imagined. I enjoyed the moments in the painting workshops and attended drawing classes. I’ve made friends with fellow creatives from around the world. Most importantly, I’ve failed a bunch of times and just kept going. Because I’m no longer aiming for perfection or even excellence, I’m simply enjoying the process. And I’m so much happier. So pick something you’ve always wanted to try and get stuck in. You won’t regret it.

【推荐3】Jerral Hancock was badly injured in Irag. He was paralyzed (瘫痪的) from the chest down and lost his left arm. When he returned home from war, Jerral struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (创伤后应激障碍), a brain injury, and limited use of his right arm. His mother and stepfather lived across the street from him and stepped up to help. His wife had left him and their two small children.

“Life has to go on,” Jerral said.

Jamie and her students heard about his situation. The kids had a great idea: They would raise money to build a disabled-friendly house. With their teacher’s help, the students launched Operation All the Way Home, or OAWH the next month. To raise money, they ran fund raisers, hosted bake sales, and conducted yard sales. As word spread about OAWH, donations poured in from other military veterans (老兵) and the public.

Later, OAWH got a surprise call from actor Gary Sinise, who is well known for his generosity, offering to donate $60,000.

Jerral’s new home has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and automatic (自动的) doors, lights that he can control with an iPad. It was large enough for Jerral and his family.

The students opened the finished house in a 300-person ceremony on May 29, Jerral’s 29th birthday. Jerral wheeled pasta long line of OAWH student members welcoming him to his new house.

“I was so happy that we met our goal,” said Kimberly Castano, 19, a former OAWH member, “but more excited that Jerral could move in.”

On the eighth anniversary of his injuries, Jerral was finally home. “I am honored that so many people came together to make it possible,” he said.

【推荐1】At the end of January, a man surnamed Chen had a fever and coughed for a few days after traveling from Wuhan to Shanghai. He hesitated for a few days before going to Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, according to Xinmin Evening News. He wanted to talk with the doctor alone because he worried that others would fear him.

Since the outbreak of the new virus, there has been a sense of fear of people from Hubei province. On January 23, Chen Xue, an editor working in Beijing, went to Chongli in Hebei for a ski trip. Though her temperature was fine and she hasn't been back to her hometown- Hubei province- since October last year, the hotel she was in told her that it wouldn't receive Hubei guests from the next day.

“What we should isolate (隔离) is the virus instead of people from Hubei province,” People’s Daily commented on January 27. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recently gave a speech in which he repeated this idea. “Even though the virus started in Wuhan, it doesn’t respect (顾及) nationality. Anybody can be infected,” he said.

Others have also called for greater understanding. “People from Wuhan or Hubei have made even more sacrifices,” TV host Hai Xia said on CCTV News.

Wuhan has been sealed off and many people are unable to return to their hometown. If we discriminate (歧视) against them, it will make things worse. If patients don't go to hospitals for fear of discrimination, the virus could spread to more people. Protecting them is just as important as protecting ourselves.

【推荐2】Under Singapore’s Vaccinated Travel Framework, all travellers including Singapore citizens and permanent residents arriving from all countries/regions can enter Singapore without quarantine (隔离), testing or entry approvals if they meet the following requirements:

*Be a child born on or after 1 Jan. 2010 — children who meet this criteria can enter regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status (疫苗接种状态).

*Be fully vaccinated with WHO EUL vaccines if born on or before 31 Dec. 2009 (i. e. age 13 and above by year of birth) Mixed doses using these WHO EUL vaccines, and vaccination with recovery are also acceptable.

*Be vaccinated against Yellow Fever if you have visited Yellow Fever high risk countries/regions in Africa and Latin America — a valid Yellow Fever vaccination certificate is required.

Travellers born on or before 31 Dec. 2009 who do not meet the vaccination requirements above are considered non-fully vaccinated travellers. They will be subject to entry approvals, tests and quarantine. This includes travellers who:

*Are medically exempted (免除) from COVID-19 vaccination.

*Took non-WHO EUL vaccines only, and did not take the minimum dosage of WHO EUL COVID-19 vaccines.

*Recovered from COVID-19 but did not complete the minimum dosage of WHO EUL COVID-19 vaccines.

Generally, non-fully vaccinated long term pass holders and short-term visitors are not allowed to enter Singapore unless in exceptional circumstances.

Click the orange button below for a detailed checklist of travel requirements.

【推荐3】Pandemic (流行病) lock-downs (封锁) might be common, but not all our movements are limited. This has led to a rise in dance, as people search for connection. Live classes online have increased rapidly, headed by the likes of dance legend Debbie Allen. Living rooms are becoming party scenes thanks to live-streaming (视频直播) dance parties by celebrity dancers Diplo and D-Nice.

Because of the recent increase in virtual events, geographically separated groups of strangers are moving in the same direction to the same rhythm without speaking a word. Recent research has shown that even our earliest ancestors (祖先) recognized the social benefits of dance.

According to a recent study published in the Public Library of Science’s Genetics Journal, creative dancers share two similar genes with good social communicators. These researchers believe our prehistoric ancestors who were good dancers used those skills for a close relationship and social interaction. We dance to celebrate harvests, ask for much-needed rain and bring healing.

In the Guadeloupe Islands, dance was once one of the only means of communication for an entire population. West Africans were brought over to the French Caribbean as slave (奴隶) labor. Members from various places speaking different languages began to find common ground in rhythms and dances. This art form became Gwoka. Each Gwoka rhythm shows a specific human experience, such as love, sadness and the celebration of Carnival (狂欢节).

I learned to speak a bit of this language at a Guadeloupean folk dance school. Gwoka shared similarities to the Bomba dance that I had tried in Puerto Rico. Bomba, in turn, had reminded me of the tambu in Aruba. As I continue to dance with more people, I build more links in a global chain of movement and rhythm.

So, in this new times of COVID -19, I’m not surprised how dance has been the solution for hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

【推荐2】The wind blows across the Northwest plains (平原) as if it is searching for someone or something to carry away. The Omaha tribe (部落) has lived on these plains for generations, and now, it seems that the winds have brought back one of their own. Susan La Flesche has returned to the village where she was born. Not as a visitor, but as the region’s only doctor.

When Susan was 8 years old, she waited at the bedside of an old woman crying in pain. A doctor was called for. They waited. A messenger was sent. The doctor still didn’t come. Susan provided what comfort she could through the night, but by early next morning, the old woman had died.

The experience both troubled and inspired Susan. She decided to become a doctor. She threw herself into her studies and earned her way to Hampton University in Virginia— a historically black college with a program for native American students.

Susan would never forget the childhood she enjoyed, full of hunts and the people she loved. But there was further to go. She was admitted to the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. In her graduation speech, she told the East Coast audience, “Give us a chance.” Three years later, she was a doctor.

Instead of staying in big cities, she returned immediately after graduation to her home town to serve the people there, which was a difficult task. She opened an office in a government school and began seeing patients. Susan worked long hours at her office but also braved the wind and snow, walking miles to make house calls. Her work was more than as a doctor. She often acted as lawyer, teacher and counselor (顾问) as she helped the Omahas explore the new world.

The wind that swept the plains was the wind of change. And Dr Susan La Flesche made up her mind to spend her whole life helping the people in her home town get through the storms.

【推荐3】Bob Geldof was the lead singer and songwriter of an Irish music band named The Boomtown Rats. It was 23 October 1984, and they were not doing very well; they had not had a hit song for a while. Bob was worrying about this when he switched on the BBC news. It was a report on a famine（饥荒） in Ethiopia. Images of hungry children and crying mothers filled the screen. The reporter described the crisis as “the closest thing to hell on earth".

“There I saw something that placed my worries in ghastly new perspective,” Geldof later said in an interview. Deeply upset and saddened by the report, Geldof decided to do something about it using the language of pop music. In just over four weeks after seeing the news report, Geldof had written, with the help of his friend, another band leader Midge Ure, a song that would be a huge bestseller. In addition, he managed to convince about 40 of the most famous performers at that time in Britain and Irish pop music to come to a London xkw music studio to record the song. Bob named this super group Band Aid.

The song was "Do They Know It's Christmas?” By the last day of 1984,3 million copies had 2 been sold in Britain. It went on to sell nearly 12 million worldwide. Some people bought extra copies, and gave them away or donated them back to resell.

Geldof's next step was to organize charity super-concerts called Live Aid in London and Philadelphia, and streamed them live on television, raising an additional US$48 million. He was made a knight by Queen Elizabeth II, recognizing him for his activism and anti-poverty work for Africa.