【推荐1】Yu Zeling, an award-winning master of paper cutting, fills her studio with cutouts of animals, people, and scenes that are so vivid that they seem to leap from the walls. Her art covers village life in Ansai, a rural district in Shaanxi Province.

Ms. Yu came to paper cutting in the late 1970s as naturally as she breathed the earthy air.“We were very poor, and when it was time to celebrate the New Year, we all put paper-cuts on the windows to decorate our houses,” she says, recalling the holiday at her childhood home. Ms. Yu and others are working to keep the folk art alive, even as it evolves away from its roots as adornment for farmhouses.

The art originated in China in the centuries after paper was invented in A.D.105. Full of auspicious (吉利的) symbols from daily life, the decorations represented good weather, many offspring, long life, wealth, and happiness.

Using newspaper, Ms. Yu first practiced cutting the image of a Chinese national flag that she saw in a school textbook. She cut it 100 times before she was satisfied. Then her aunt took over, introducing her to increasingly complicated traditional themes.

Ms. Yu was later invited to train in the Ansai's Cultural Center. After years of training,Ms.Yu became a master in her own right, winning one award after another. Her works are on display in museums. But she's humble about her achievements. “I was, and still am, a farmer,” she says with a smile.

Hoping to carry on and grow the folk art, Ms. Yu volunteers to teach at free community training sessions. Paper cutting is also taught in Ansai’s public schools. Ms. Yu is aware of the need to go beyond protecting traditions and embrace new paper-cut experiments.

【推荐2】A Native American village in the U. S. state, Alaska, has voted to relocate its entire population of some 600 people due to the threat of rising seas.

Shishmaref, located on a tiny island north of the Bering Strait that separates the United States and Russia, is losing up to three meters of shoreline each year. It is one of dozens of old villages in Alaska that face growing threats of flooding and erosion due to global warming.

Its residents, who are members of the Inupiat tribe, voted 89 to 78 to relocate, said Donna Barr. This is not the first time its residents have made such a decision. They voted in 2002 to relocate but that effort failed.

“It’s not going to be the last time that the United States has to deal with communities severely threatened by climate change and impacts and whether or not they can stay there,” she said.

In Shishmaref, Tommy Richter, pastor of the Lutheran Church, the island’s only church, said the community was torn over leaving its heritage behind. “There are people here who have been here for generations and don’t want to leave at all,” he said.

The cost of relocation has been estimated at some $180 million, and authorities are seeking state and federal funding, according to local media. Where to relocate remains to be decided, the clerk said. Two sites on the mainland are being considered. Relocation could take more than ten years. The island, which is 18 square kilometers, lies five miles off the mainland. Its economy is based largely on fishing and hunting.

Scientists attribute coastal erosion in Shishmaref to global warming that has thawed sea ice that once shielded the island from storm surges. Its layer of permanently frozen soil on which it is built, is melting as well.

The village already has moved several homes and a National Guard Armory away from its coastline and built sea walls that have had limited success.

Since 2014, more than 140 tribes and tribal organizations have gotten government funding to help address the impacts of global warming, it said.

【推荐1】Born in Pennsylvania in 1894, Martha Graham was one of the most famous dancers in the world. She brought modern dance to a new level of popularity in American culture.

Earlier in her life, however, she did not know that she would become a dancer. Her family was very religious and were members of the upper class. She saw a dance performance accidentally when she was 16, and then decided to become a dancer. Martha’s parents, however, did not approve of her desire to dance. At that time, people saw American dance as a lower art form. Yet Graham chose to follow her dream in her early twenties, even though she was considered too old to begin dancing.

In school, Graham worked very hard to improve her ability to dance. She performed for several years before moving to New York City where she wanted to make greater experiments with dance. She cooperated with music composer L.H. until 1964.Later, Graham created “Chronicle,” one of her most significant dances. It was influenced by current events including the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War. At that time, displaying strong emotions in dance was very rare. Graham also created dances based on ancient Greek tragic stories and famous heroines.

At first, people did not react well to Graham’s style of dancing for it was quite: distinct from European ballet, which was more commonly accepted. Graham’s dances were powerful, with strong and sharp movements. In 1951,Graham established the dance program at the Juilliard School in New York City. Many of her students became famous dancers. She also taught movement to many famous people, including singers, actresses and film directors.

Martha Graham received many awards during her lifetime. She was the first dancer to receive the country’s highest civilian honor. In 1998, Time magazine listed her as The “Dancer of the Century”. Her dances are still performed in New York and around the world.

【推荐2】Since Kelsea Ballerini appeared on the Nashville scene in 2015, she’s been known for her cheerful songs and energetic personality. “I’ve always presented myself as a very happy-go-lucky person,” she says, “but there’s more.” Indeed, in her new poetry book Feel Your Way Through, the “Half of My Hometown” singer, 28, shows how she found strength after a difficult youth.

In her teen years Ballerini struggled with bulimia. “My Parents had just gotten divorced, and I think for me, it was a source of control,”she says of her eating disorder. After passing out several times, she finally sought help at 18. “It’s a journey, and it’s never-ending.” Life in the spotlight (聚光灯) can sometimes worsen her body-image issues, but she’s learned how to deal with them. Today she’s in a much healthier spot, and she is much more gentle with how she talks to herself.

Ballerini faced perhaps her biggest emotional challenge during her second year in high school, when she watched a friend die in a school shooting in her native Knoxville, Tenn.“There’s a moment in everyone’s life when something happens, and you go,’Life is short’, and that was mine,” Ballerini says, adding that she still suffers PTSD from the terrible event. “Fortunately, everyone close to me knows about it, and they help me.”

One of Ballerini’s biggest supporters is her husband, fellow singer Morgan Evans, 36. Because of her parents’ divorce, she says,“I made up my mind that I was never going to get married.” But with Evans, she adds,“I have a healthier idea of marriage. I don’t see it as a fairy tale. It’s work, but it’s worth it.”

【推荐3】Lin-Manuel Miranda began writing what would become In the Heights as a university student. The musical play would make him a playwright and performer. Now, 20 years later, it has been made into a movie, which is in theaters for its first weekend.

Miranda said like other artists, he was driven by dream but also by something else. “It was a lot of fear, honestly,” Miranda said in a recent interview. “I was 18, 19 and starting to study the theater. The fear was: I’m going into a domain that has no space for me, that has no roles for me. It was sort of that thing: No one’s going to write your dream show.”

In the Heights opened on June 10. It celebrates many things: the Latino immigrant experience, neighborhood communities in New York City and life itself.

The movie was supposed to be shown last June, but was stopped by COVID-19. The film’s director, however，thinks the delay (推迟) was not necessarily a bad thing. Moviegoers might be ready for some energetic music, singing and dancing after a year of limited life.

Many performers acting in the first In the Heights Broadway show appear in the movie’s final song and dance Students from a nearby high school also can be seen in the film. The students Had produced their own In the Heights show which the filmmakers watched and found moving.

Others starring in the movie include Leslie Grace as Nina Rosano, a college student home for the summer; Corey Hawkins as Benny, a taxi driver; and Melissa Barrera as Vanessa, a beauty salon worker trying to get her own home. Thirty-year-old Barrera said the part she plays as a young woman searching for a better future away from home—is basically herself.

【推荐2】The comfort zone is a safe space where we don’t risk, but neither do we grow.     1     Change and growth occur. We can not become what we want to be, remaining in what we are today. There are many good reasons to be encouraged to leave the comfort zone.

Prepare yourself for difficult times. Safe as we feel in our comfort zone, that space will not protect us from the problems, which usually appear in life in an unexpected way producing great changes.     2     These problems can produce psychological disorders. But learning to live outside the comfort zone, dealing with novelty and uncertainty will make us people emotionally stronger.

    3     The comfort zone represents everything we know. Outside is another world to discover. In the comfort zone there are no great ideas or new discoveries. It’s necessary to leave the known to find the inspiration to creativity. In fact, a study conducted at the University of Florida found that students who spent just one term outside their country scored better on creativity tests than those who had been studying at the same university.

Feel more alive. Leaving the comfort zone, we meet new people and live new experiences. Some of these experiences will not be positive but others will become a driving force that gives us new energy. Thus we’re learning to enjoy more life.     4    

Exercises to get out of your comfort zone will allow you to expand your growth zone without experiencing too much anxiety.     5     That’s in the growth zone, and you can reach the best of ourselves, learn new things.