【推荐1】Although it is often called the koala “bear“, this lovely animal is not actually a bear at all. It is a marsupia (有袋目哺乳动物), and like kangaroos, a female koala carries her baby in her pouch (育儿袋) for about six months.

Koalas live in four states only in eastern Australia, where the eucalyptus (桉树) trees they love are most plentiful. In fact, they rarely leave these trees, their sharp claws easily keeping them high up in the air. During the day they sleep for up to 18 hours. When not asleep, they feed on eucalyptus leaves, especially at night. Koalas do not drink much water and they get most of their water from these leaves. Each animal eats a large amount for its size—about two and a half pounds of leaves a day, even storing snacks of leaves in pouches.

The koala bears were widely hunted during the 1920s and 1930s and their populations decreased suddenly. Helped by reintroduction, they have reappeared over much of their former range, but their populations are smaller. Koalas need a lot of space—about a hundred trees per animal—which is a pressing problem, as Australia’s woodlands continue to get smaller because the trees they live on are being cut down to make farms. Also, forest fires, caused by heat waves, are destroying the forests the koalas live in.

It has been estimated (估算) that there are only 100,000 koalas left in the wild, with the lowest estimates being no more than 43,000. The koala can only eat eucalyptus leaves and lives nowhere else except Australia, so in order to survive, human effect on its limited environment must be controlled, or this attractive creature faces certain extinction.

【推荐3】A new form of real estate(不动产)is appearing along the beaches of South Africa and on the dry islands off its coast-tiny white beach huts. With good ventilation and a sea view, they are just big enough to fit a family of African penguins. Their unique selling point: a safe and cool place for penguins to breed.

African penguins, unlike their relatives that live in snow and ice, live well in the cold currents of the South Atlantic Ocean. But when they come to land, their thick black coat absorbs the heat, and they desperately look for cover-both for themselves and their fragile eggs.

Historically, the penguins dug burrows in layers of guano-accumulated seabird and bat feces- that lined Africa’s penguin colonies, but in the 19th century, traders started selling guano(鸟粪)as fertilizer, leaving the penguins and their eggs increasingly exposed to predators and the baking sun. This, combined with other threats such as egg poaching, overfishing and climate change, has caused African penguin populations to plummet. In 2019, they were thought to be less than 20,000 breeding pairs, down from an estimated 1.5 to 3 million birds in 1900.For more than a decade, the species has been listed as endangered by the IUCN.

To date, the African Penguin Nest Project has installed more than 1,500 nests across five of South Africa’s penguin colonies, and plans to expand into Namibia next year, the only other country with breeding populations of the species.

“This is still just a drop in the bucket,” says Graham, who anticipates they will need to deploy at least 4,500 more ceramic homes to protect penguins currently nesting in exposed areas. “The goal is that every penguin that needs a nest will get one.”

【推荐2】Jeffrey has been homeless since his childhood. He desperately wanted to find a permanent job, but he would hear the same reason from potential employers. “Unless you are able to look neat and clean on the job, you can’t work here,” one employer told him.

Without family, Jeffrey would ask the workers at a local hamburger shop for their leftovers to survive. One day, Jeffrey was looking through the dustbin to look for food outside the hamburger shop when he found a wallet. From the identity card inside it, the wallet belonged to Alan, a small business owner who lived not far from here. Along with his card, driver’s license and some cash, there was also a check for $3000 inside the wallet. “This is life-changing money. ”Jeffrey said to himself. “I could get some fresh clothes, maybe rent a small apartment and finally get a job.”

Jeffrey sat down with the wallet in his hands and decided to think about it. He remembered having asked Alan for some money but was refused. Unlike most people, Alan told Jeffrey he had been sick lately, and that he needed to save money to pay for his operation. Jeffrey knew, he couldn’t live with the guilt of knowing a man would suffer if he took the money for himself. Jeffrey walked a long way to Alan’s house. As he answered the door, Alan was surprised at the visit.

“Hey, Alan. Don’t worry. I’m not here to ask for any money. You dropped your wallet in the trash outside the hamburger shop.” Jeffrey said as he presented the wallet to Alan. Alan began weeping as he held the $3000 check in his hand

“You’re a lifesaver, Jeffrey. My operation was scheduled for tomorrow, and I thought I couldn’t pay for it.” Alan said as tears ran down his face. To Jeffrey’s surprise, Alan gave him a big hug. It was the first hug Jeffrey had received in years.

【推荐1】What does a PhD student do? I am a PhD girl student being responsible for the tear where undergraduate and master students work together. They work on different aspects of my project and other projects in the team. I offer them advice and sort out issues they have. I also assist them with computer-aided design (CAD), programming, and teach them how to use some equipment, like 3D printers. Being in charge of the research group while working or my PhD is also a learning process for me. There is so much support from my supervisors and senior students. There is usually someone to turn to for help!

I start my day at 5 am. I will read some papers and work on my project before heading to the lab in the hospital at 11:00. This summer, our team consists of 40 students, so the lab is usually occupied when I get there. I will attend some meetings, meet with students, and then program or work on CAD.

The best part of my research work is the flexibility in that it involves both software and hardware development. Whenever I get stuck on the programming part, I will move onto CAD for a break. It does not require me to be attached to my screen at all times, which can be quite refreshing.

My project about the development of a robotic system impresses me a lot. A huge milestone for me is designing and developing my first model of a robot. It is quite satisfying to make progress and be reminded of the great potential my research has for improving the current medical treatment.

I think I can progress even further if I have more confidence in myself and ask others for help when I need it most. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter who you want to ask for help, because they may know more about the topic than you do. So, expose yourself to people in the roles you wish to be in and make lots of connections!

【推荐2】I was born in a poor community on the north side of Boston, US, raised by a single mother who didn’t finish 3rd grade, lived each day on food stamps and attended what the media called “the most dysfunctional (功能失常的) public school district”. Not many people expected much of me, so I had to expect something of myself.

On my 13th birthday, I bought a poster of Harvard to hang in my room. Being at Harvard became what dreamt about. Even when my electricity was cut off and I woke up at 5:30 am to pitch blackness, I knew that my poster of Harvard was still hanging only two feet away from me.

Reminding myself of my goal each day made it easy to say no to the same choices I saw my peers making, because those paths wouldn’t have gotten me closer to my goal. Even poverty (贫穷 ) could not take away my power to decide what I choose to do with my day. The poster gave me the courage to cold email about 50 Harvard students so I could ask for feedback on my application essays; it gave me the energy to study just one more hour on my SATs when my friends were asleep; and it gave me the determination to submit just one more scholarship application when 180 others had already turned me down.

Every day I could feel myself getting closer and closer to my goal as my writing got better, my SAT score increased, and my scholarship checks started coming in. Finally, an email arrived from Harvard. The first word was “Congratulations!”. A month later, Harvard flew me up to visit the campus where for the first time I stepped onto my dreaming land.

Who you are today is the result of the decisions you made yesterday, and who you will be tomorrow will be the result of the choices you make today. Who do you want to be tomorrow?