【推荐1】A gymnastics balance beam (平衡木) is just 4 inches wide, but whether it sits an inch off the floor or the standard 4 feet, the challenge it causes for excellent gymnasts is the same.

That’s how gymnast Morgan Hurd explains it. “Beam is one of those things that are more mental than anything,” she said. “If you can do it on the floor, you can do it on the beam.” That’s the way she is taking as she trains for the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games in the living room of her Delaware home.

First State Gymnastics has been her training site since fifth grade but it is closed because of the coronavirus ( 新冠病毒) pandemic. Hurd has only one piece of gymnastics equipment: a balance beam that is quite close the ground and is roughly half the standard length of 16 feet, 5 inches. But she has no uneven bars (高低杠) in her house. “The hardest thing will be bars just because that feeling can not be replaced, no matter what you do or how strong you are,” Hurd said.

These days, Hurd’s self-directed training includes two workouts daily, three hours in the morning and another two hours in the afternoon, six days a week. She regularly talks to Slava Glazounov, who has been her coach since fifth grade. Hurd is in charge of her practising, such as the stretches and exercises that keep up her strength.

Equally important to Hurd is staying in touch with her teammates on the U.S. national team.

Sunisa Lee is a close friend, who, in April, shared a video of herself in her yard.

【推荐1】Jack London, one of America’s great writers of adventure stories, was born in California in 1876. During his life, London did many jobs. His broad life experiences would become the background for his writing.

London loved to read. As a teenager, he spent many hours educating himself at the Oakland Public Library. He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley in 1896, but he stayed for only six months. He thought Berkeley was “not lively enough” and wanted to do something more exciting.

London wrote stories about working people and the hard times they had making a living. He knew their problems at first hand. He worked as a sailor, factory worker, and gold rusher, to name but a few of his many jobs.

Like many people of the time, London caught the Klondike Gold Rush Fever. In 1897, he headed for Alaska. He didn’t find gold, but he discovered something even more valuable. He discovered that people enjoyed listening to the stories he made up. London entertained (使……快乐) the miners with story after story. Later, using his experiences during the Gold Rush, he created many more colorful stories. London decided to live a full, exciting life. Each day, he pushed himself. Once London made up his mind to be a writer, nothing could stop him. His goal was to write at least one thousand words every day. He refused to stop even when he was sick. In eighteen years, the writer published fifty-one books and hundreds of articles. He was the best-selling and highest-paid author of his day. Many people also considered him to be the best writer.

White Fang and The Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and are about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness.

Readers can enjoy Jack London’s talent for telling wonderful stories each time they open one of his novels.

【推荐2】At first, Michael Surrell didn’t see the black smoke or flames shooting from the windows of his neighbors’ home. He and his wife had just parked the car when they got a call from one of his daughters: “The house next door is on fire!” He went to investigate.

“The baby’s still in!” one of the women cried. Though the fire department had been called, Surrell, aged 64, immediately ran inside. “The baby” was 8-year-old Tiara Roberts, the woman’s granddaughter. The thick smoke burned his eyes, and made it impossible to breathe. The conditions would have been harmful to anyone, but for Surrell, who has a lung disease, they were life-threatening.

After a few minutes in the smoke-filled house, he ran outside to catch his breath. “Where is Tiara?” he asked desperately.“The second floor.” her aunt shouted back. Taking a deep breath, he went in a second time. Still unable to see, Surrell fell to his knees on the hot wood floor, feeling around for any sign of the girl.

Finally, he got Tiara who wasn’t breathing. He fought through the smoke and ran blindly into the blackness. The next thing he knew, he was at the front door, then outside. Surrell put Tiara down and started CPR. Soon Tiara opened her eyes and took a breath on her own. Their eyes met. Surrell hugged her tight and said, “Uncle’s got you.” Soon after, his throat closed off.

Surrell woke up in the hospital a couple of days later, having suffered severe burns to his windpipe and the upper portion of his lungs. As a result, he took extra medication that helped open his airways. “It’s a small price to pay,” he said. “I’d do it again in no time and won’t give it a second thought.”

【推荐1】Mounting a telescope on the balcony at home, Wang Zhipu, a 16-year-old boy from Fujian Province, observes the skies, takes photos and begins his voyage into space after class. Recently, his efforts were rewarded when he won the title of “Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021” in the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s annual astrophotography contest. His winning entry, entitled Family Photo of the Solar System, shows seven of the eight planets lined up horizontally, with the sun on the left and moon on the right, both pictured larger in size than normal.

“All families are unconventional, so I adored this fresh, gently playful concept around the solar system,” said the competition judge Sue Prichard while talking about Wang’s picture. “A meaningful technically accomplished work from a rising star of astronomical photography.”

It hasn’t been easy taking pictures of outer space. For about half a year, Wang had to calculate the best time to shoot planets when they’re opposite the sun in Earth’s sky to get the brightest images. What’s more, he still needed to wait for clear weather to see better. For example, to capture a clear picture of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, which is often cited as the most difficult of the five brightest planets to see with the naked eye, Wang tried to shoot it three times in the early morning but failed. At sunset, he shot 10, 000 frames of video and selected several thousand better frames to overlay, further refine them and form a more satisfactory picture.

Sometimes Wang would be so absorbed in his observations that he wouldn’t go downstairs to fetch a coat, even in the middle of winter. Other times, he stood for hours under the burning sun to get the perfect shot. To get an ideal shot, he often gets up at dawn, sleeps early to wake up at midnight, and even takes time off from evening classes when necessary.

【推荐3】The first time I went abroad was when I went to London. It was in the summer holidays about five or six years ago and I went with my friends.    1    , so we decided to travel by coach. We left at five in the morning and the journey to London took about sixteen hours.

We stayed in London for three days, in a youth hotel not far from the centre.    2    , the beds were not very comfortable and the bedroom was very small but it had a wonderful view overlooking the Thames.

    3    . First, we went to see all the famous sites: Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus, and Buckingham Palace. Then we went shopping in Oxford Street. On the last day my friends and I went to Camden market. You can buy all kinds of jewelry and clothes there.    4    . it was really sunny in the afternoon, so we went to watch a football game. Unfortunately, I think the ring fell out of my pocket during the game, and I had to buy another one.

    5    , although the youth hotel was not perfect. Next time, I will stay at the Ritz but I will never feel as excited as I did that first time.