【推荐1】For most of her school years, Tamika Catchings kept a secret from her classmates and teachers. She was born with hearing loss in both ears. If someone spoke too quietly or with their back to her, she was unable to know what they were saying. She taught herself to read lips. To keep up with her schoolwork, she depended on textbooks for instruction.

Though Catchings had hearing aids, she refused to wearing them. One day, she took them off and threw them away in a field. Then she began her new life. She worked hard in the classroom and at sports. Soon, even without her hearing aids, she did better than most of her schoolmates and her teammates.

While attending high school in Illinois, Catchings led her basketball team to the state championship in 1995. That same year she and her mother moved to Duncanville, Texas. There, many college basketball coaches noticed her talent. She chose to attend the University of Tennessee, partly because she admired the coach Pat Summitt.

Apart from helping her team at the university, Catchings made a big change in her life. Coach Summitt convinced (使相信) Catchings that wearing hearing aids would not only help her be a better player but also help others who were hearing-impaired (听力受损的), allowing her to serve as a role model. So Catchings started wearing her hearing aids and finally began to speak openly about her hearing loss. Catchings has even written a book to tell others her story. In 2004 Catchings founded the Catch the Stars Foundation, an organization that encourages children to set goals and dream big.

But those achievements were just a stepping stone to another important goal for Catchings. The little girl who once tried to hide her disability (残疾) now encourages others with a disability to appreciate how special they are. She wants all children, whether they have a disability or not, to believe that they can “catch their dreams one star at a time”.

【推荐3】I started working with my hands at a young age. The youngest of five brothers, I took on   the role as a “maintenance ( 维 修 ) man” at an early age for our family’s small grocery store. Often my dad wouldn’t give me a clear idea of how something should be done, so I just had to figure it out by researching or through trial and error.

Fast forward to 2016 and those problem-solving skills would become the focus of Tippecanoe High School’s Homebuilding class. I knew I wanted to teach the students skills that went beyond just being able to hammer nails or cut pieces of two-by-fours. The problem was   that we didn’t have the resources at the time to do much else. The idea of attracting some type of funding seemed very important. Designing, building and selling a tiny house on wheels seemed like the perfect project to accomplish the task. I reached out to a number of local businesses and most of them responded with the greatest support for what x k w we were doing.

This year we added a new element to the program. Through one of our partners, we were able to connect with the nonprofit Veteran’s Ananda Incorporated. Students in the Homebuilding class are leading the design and production of micro houses to be donated to this organization. The new partnership gives the students another focus to consider when designing and building the houses.

There has been no shortage of students since our first year. Three years ago we had 41 students, the next 191, and this year it was limited to just over 160 students so we could have a safe and manageable classroom environment. The number of girls taking the class has risen steadily over the last few years as well. This class offers something for everyone and the skills are universal.

【推荐1】On Friday of my first week, I had headshots taken at a photography studio in New York City. NPR was going to use these photos for its website and for promotional materials. I was worried. I feel comfortable in front of a mic, but not so much in front of a camera. What should I do with my hands?    1    

I knew nothing about how to take good photos, but I did know someone who does: my friend Liesel Robinson.     2    And she offered several helpful tips:

Consider color.

When it comes to clothing, wear colors that look best on you and complement the color of the environment, she says.

    3    

“If you pick something that makes you feel fabulous — something that always works — its probably going to work for your photo too,” says Robinson. For her, its her denim jumpsuit.

Don’t fake a smile.

    4    Before my shoot began, Robinson suggested I spend a minute visualizing something that makes me happy. Her husband Casey suggested I bring a chocolate chip cookie to the shoot and take a big bite of it before I get photographed, because my face lights up when I eat chocolate.

    5    But after 20 minutes or so, I started to relax a little bit. I like how the headshots turned out — but if I had to do this again, I’d try to pose with a neutral expression, rather than a smile, in more of the photos.

【推荐1】Writer Lu Xun is a cultural giant of the 20th century in China. His influence goes far beyond literature to the world of ideas, art and even politics.

Zhou Shuren (1881-1936), more commonly known by his pen name Lu Xun, is often called “the father of modern Chinese literature”. He believed in the idea of “literature as a vehicle for a moral message”. As a critic of the social problems of the early 20th century, he wanted to inspire his fellow people.

His famous works include A Madman’s Diary, a critical attack on traditional values, and The True Story of Ah Q, about a day laborer who wishes to participate in the revolution of 1911 without any understanding. The former was also the first work to be written entirely in the everyday language spoken by ordinary people. His stories wrote about the ugly side of human nature and transformed people’s minds as a result.

His writing did not come easily, which might be different from what many believe about writers. His friends finally persuaded him to write in 1918, when the words, as he later put it, “I did not pour out of me but had to be squeezed (挤) out”. Therefore, he considered 1918 as the year he set out as a writer, according to How the True Story of Ah Q Was Written in the Selected Works of Lu Xun.

Lu Xun’s writing had a large influence throughout China. For years, his works have been included in Chinese textbooks. The Lu Xun Literature Prize, a major literature prize in China, is named after him. He is a master of irony, which makes his works very difficult to translate. But there have been a few translators who have successfully done so. Therefore, his work have also received attention internationally. He is respected “not only as a nation-builder but also, and perhaps most importantly, as the voice of the nation’s conscience (良知).”

【推荐2】Born in Ayrshire, in 1759 to William Burness, a poor farmer, Robert Burns was the eldest of seven children. He spent his youth working on his father's farm, but in spite of poverty he also read a lot—at the insistence of his father, who employed a teacher for Robert and his younger brother Gilbert. At 15 Robert was the principal worker on the farm and this encouraged him to start writing. It was at this age that Robert wrote his first poem Handsome Nell.

When his father died in 1784, Robert and his brother became partners on the farm. However, Robert was more interested in the romantic nature of poetry than the hard work of farming.

However, at the point of giving up farming, his first collection Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was published and received much praise from critics. This, together with pride of being a parent, made him stay in Scotland. He moved around the county, finally arriving in Edinburgh, where he joined the circles of the artists and writers who were called the “Ploughman Poet”.

In a matter of weeks he was changed from a local hero to a national celebrity (名人). The fame did not bring a fortune and he took up a job to make additions to the low income. While collecting taxes he continued to write, contributing songs to the likes of James Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum and George Thomson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. In all, more than 400 of Robert's songs are still in existence.

The last years of Robert's life were devoted to writing great poetic masterpieces such as The Lea Rig, Tam o'Shanter and A Red , Red Rose. At the age of 37, he died of heart disease caused by the hard physical work he did when he was young.

On the day of his burial (葬礼) tens of thousands of people came to watch and pay their respect. However, his popularity then was nothing compared to the heights it has reached since. On the anniversary of his birth, Scots both at home and abroad celebrate Robert Burns with a supper — a celebration which would undoubtedly make him proud.