【推荐1】Of all the people to pick from as heroes in a survey, most people cite their mother as their number one hero.

    1     They are masters at helping their children meet the full range of human needs. A good mother feeds you, protects you, helps you connect with others and encourages you to become your best self. Here’s how moms do it.

Mothers defend and protect

It is common to see headlines about mothers saving and protecting their children in the most harrowing circumstances. Fischer, a student researcher, found that mothers are “biologically driven to protect and care for their children.”    2    No wonder our mothers will risk it all to protect us when we are so small and fragile.

Mothers provide intelligence and wisdom

Scientists are beginning to uncover evidence suggesting that intelligence is inherited more from mothers than from fathers. Beyond this genetic inheritance, mothers tend to be committed to passing on wisdom to their children. Famed musician Stevie Wonder has reportedly called his mother his “greatest teacher.”    3    

Mothers enhance and inspire

The respondents (调查对象) to the hero surveys never fail to mention how their mothers made them better people. The typical response includes, “My mother inspired me to become my best self”.     4    She encourages her kids to maximize their fullest potential.

Mothers come out on top in the poll of heroes because of their free offering of love that they provide.    5    They comfort you when you cry. They kiss you on your cheeks before school and at bedtime at night.

【推荐3】The career of food editor Liu Dahua has been built on good taste and described as a recipe for success. The 83 -year- old has visited thousands of restaurants and catering (餐饮) companies, talking to hundreds of chefs. Since 1998, as well as writing food articles, he has also been taking food photos.

In October, Liu published a book, a selection of articles about food companies and chefs in China. Five months later, on March 21, his second book, illustrating food through the lens, was released.

“If the first book is based on my eating experience, the new one is based on my photo shoots,” Liu says. The book collects 136 dishes from more than 50 chefs. What is striking is that it not only collects dishes from master chefs, but also selects the cooking offerings of the profession’s rising young stars.

The dishes are divided into three types: time-honored and classic, new and creative, and the exotic (异域的). Unlike most food books, which usually provide the recipe of each dish, in Liu’s book, he simply records when and where he took the photo, who the chef was, and his comments on the dish.

The photos are selected from tens of thousands that Liu has taken over the years, but ones taken before 2000 were all captured on film and were not saved in any electronic form. The earliest photo selected for the book is a “duck pyramid (金字塔)” taken in 2003 in Beijing. The dish was created by Li Fengxin, who had, at the time, just been named chef at a Beijing branch of Quanjude, one of China’s best-known roast duck chain restaurants.

【推荐1】The view from the top was breathtaking. It was 2023 and I had just climbed the Hvannadals Peak in Iceland, almost seven years after becoming paralyzed from the chest down after a climbing fall. My two teammates and I were on our way to becoming the first all-disabled team to cross Europe’s largest ice cap, the mighty Vatnajökull glacier, unsupported and unassisted.

A year before, when Niall McCann first suggested making the 100–mile trip, I was excited by the prospect of returning to this lost world of crevasses (冰裂缝), mountains and ice, but upset and anxious about whether I’d struggle. Back then, I still would have given anything for my legs to work and to be able to walk again. But I was eager for adventure and signed on to do the trip with McCann, who had broken his back when paragliding, and EdJackson, a former professional rugby player who had broken his neck in 2017.

This was going to be the toughest challenge of my life. And yet, with each drive of my poles into the snow, I pushed myself further from civilization — and closer to the man I’d once been.

My mind drifted to the last time I was on a mountain before my accident, climbing Monte Rosa in the Italian Alps and feeling the addictive mixture of excitement and trepidation. Those same emotions returned as we battled through powerful storms and hidden crevasses before we reached the ice cap’s highest point.

I was at the top when I was hit by an unexpected wave of emotion. I realized that, despite all that I had been through — all the challenges and setbacks I had faced — if someone asked me if I wanted my legs back, I would have said no. That moment affected every aspect of my life and the way I perceived my disability. No longer did I consider myself disabled or injured, because, if I could reach the summit of a remote ice cap, I could overcome the frustrations and setbacks of day-to-day life with resilience and persistence. Yes, I do still have a life-changing injury — but, for me, it’s been for the better.

【推荐2】I love sports of being high in the air. On Mother’s Day, a few months after I turned 61, my husband planned a special treat for me. He drove me to a wide field in Jamul in Southern California where I soon learned I would be skydiving (跳伞). He knew it was what I had always dreamed of and I just needed some courage.     1    

When reaching the place, I joined other people in a room where we were shown a video explaining ways of skydiving. Before I knew it, we were boarding a small plane.     2     Others, like me, would jump together with a coach.

As the plane flew for a while, the young men jumped through the door first. Then my coach stayed close to me.     3     The wind blew strongly as I stood in the doorway. The coach encouraged me to let go and step out into nothingness.

Without a moment to rethink what I was doing, we were out of the plane and falling through the air. As we fell fast for sixty seconds, I felt the water from the clouds going up my nose. And I felt I couldn’t breathe.     4     I relaxed and began to enjoy myself. I was flying freely as a bird through the sky. I looked around and enjoyed the view below me.

    5     Firstly, my dream of flying in the sky through a parachute (降落伞) finally came true. And after the skydiving, I was more confident; and I knew I was never too old to learn something new. Besides, I added more wonderful memories to my life.

【推荐3】I’m an Indonesian student and finished my Master’s degree in Sweden.     1     Here are my top four things that I’ve learned from my experience.

I understand my home country better. Being a local in my home country for almost a lifetime got me thinking that the grass was always greener in other countries.     2     And my country has different positive angles that I’ve learned to see and be proud of.

I get much deeper understanding of other cultures’ perspectives. Studying abroad has changed my perspective and made me shift my beliefs. I’ve learned the issue of privacy. I used to see that the internet is the place where we should talk about our activities and share many parts of ourselves to the world. I used to take everyone’s pictures and share them online.     3    

I see travelling in a new way. What is travelling all about? Why do we need travelling?     4     I learned that by being a tourist, understanding local perspectives and needs is important. And most importantly, I found that you can find a whole new way of life when you really take time to understand the country you’ re in.

    5     When you study abroad, the first thing you might notice are the many differences between people. But you also see that all of these differences are also universal — people in many ways are the same everywhere. Studying abroad gives you the opportunity to really understand people from different culture backgrounds. And when you make friends, you learn to accept their perfections alongside their shortcomings.