【推荐1】It’s 9:30 A.M. in Los Angeles. Jamiah Hargins pulls a few short, green-leafed plants out of the ground in his West Adams backyard, revealing the peanuts (花生). He opens one and gives it a taste.

Hargins started growing food at home because he wanted more nutritious options for his family. He soon found that he grew more than they could eat, so he turned to social media to start a “crop swap (交换)” with neighbors who were dealing with a similar situation. Launched in 2018, Crop Swap LA has since moved towards a more expansive yard-sharing model.

Hargins’ attempt at urban farming was also driven by bigger concerns. A 2016 Deloitte study identified a shift in the priorities shoppers said helped determine their choices, with social impact values including local sourcing and sustainability (可持续性) now ranking alongside traditional drivers like “taste” and “price”.

Crop Swap LA has branched into farmer’s markets, workshops for kids, and other community-focused offerings. It encourages homeowners to “share” their yards with the Crop Swap LA team, which will plant crops. When the crops are harvested, they’ll be sold primarily in low-income areas. Ten percent will be donated back to the neighborhood where they were grown and then an additional percentage will be sold in higher-income areas. Some funds made are given back to the landowner, which Hargins expects will amount to about $5,000 annually.

This summer, Crop Swap LA received $50,000 from the LA 2050 Grant Challenge, which was used to change their first seven gardens, One homeowner, Mychal Creer, is a Los Angeles native who said he has always wanted to grow food but never real got the ball rolling. He’s excited to watch his land transform. And he’s excited to meet more neighbors.

“I’m glad that we are creating a community using crops as the means of connection,” Creer said.

【推荐3】China announced a long-awaited plan to integrate(融合) the southern Pearl River Delta Area(PRDA) as an attempt to create a powerhouse to rival(相匹敌) the US Silicon Valley that is home to such well-known companies as Google, Facebook and Apple. The possibilities and challenges of the effort are both equally promising and challenging.

The plan is a natural result of the economic and technological development in the area. China’s opening up to the world more than four decades ago began in the south and PRDA has long been home to many of the country’s leading technological companies. includin, Huawei and Tencent.

“The plan is promising,” said Adam Xu, an analyst at OC & C Strategy Consultants. “If you really look at history in China, a lot of top-down plans always have very strong bottom-up support. And a lot of economic activities have already happened there. Now they have a big plan to officially recognize, promote and further accelerate.”

The key challenge will be execution(执行). The plan has to integrate three different legal systems among Mainland China, Hongkong and Macau. That makes PRDA unique compared to the other two major areas in China—the Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin Area and the Yangtze River Delta Area near Shanghai.

“We don’t know how effectively the top-down plan will guide the many independent growing forces at the local level,” Xu admitted. “This part will be quite an important challenge.”

China has already taken major steps to overcome some of the physical barriers such as linking Hongkong with Guangzhou and Shenzhen by high-speed railways and its recent opening of the 55-kilometer Hongkong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge. But other barriers, such as the flow of people, information and money, may prove to be a bigger challenge.

Xu said, “The biggest challenge and the biggest beauty—if they eventually succeed—will be linking all of these together.”

【推荐1】Born in China’s southernmost province of Hainan, Chen Xingrong could not utter a word until the age of two. After being diagnosed with autism, his parents were extremely worried.

“We did not understand why such a thing would happen to us,” Chen Xunhu said, adding that he began traveling to big cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou to learn more about autism. During the process, he learned how to communicate properly with autistic people. He quit his job at a computer company and devoted his full attention to the topic of autism.

In 2012, Chen Xunhu learned that swimming could help people with autism enhance their vital capacity and articulation, so he spent three months learning how to swim by watching videos and reading books.

“I did not know how to swim myself, so I watched videos and read books about swimming. I spent three months teaching my son, but the efforts all went in vain,”he recalled. “However, I did learn how to swim myself.”

To his surprise, after another three months, Chen Xunhu discovered that his son had developed the ability to control his breath under water which significantly boosted his confidence and swimming soon became an inseparable part of the family.

The father laid the groundwork for his son’s swimming lesson. On one wall of their house hangs a table for Chen Xingrong’s routine exercises.

“I used to plan all of his exercises for him, but now it is all up to him,” said senior Chen. “He decides how many exercises he wants to do, and we respect his choices. It’s a process of self-management.”

Two hand rings and a swing are suspended from the roof, all of which were installed by the father to help Chen Xingrong strengthen his muscles and learn swimming movements more precisely.

In October 2021, Chen Xunhu led his son and several other disabled athletes to participate in the 1lth National Paralympic Games and the 8th Special Olympics in Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

Chen junior managed to claim five medals, including a gold.

“It was really exciting,” Chen Xunhu said. “My son looked so happy on the podium!”

Thank You, Ma’m

by Langston Hughes

She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but hammer and nails. It had a long strap (带子), and she carried it hung across her shoulder. It was about eleven o’clock at night, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch her purse. The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy`s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast (尽全力) as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled.

After that the woman said, “Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here.” She still held him. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she said, “Now ain’t you ashamed of yourself?”

Firmly gripped by his shirt front, the boy said, “Yes’m.”

The woman said, “What did you want to do it for?”

The boy said, “I didn’t aim to.”

She said, “You a lie!”

By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching.

“If I turn you loose, will you run?” asked the woman.

“Yes’m,” said the boy.

“Then I won’t turn you loose,” said the woman. She did not release him.

“I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry,” whispered the boy.

“Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?”

“No’m,” said the boy.

“Then it will get washed this evening,” said the large woman starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.

He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild, in tennis shoes and blue jeans.

The woman said, “You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?”

“No’m,” said the being dragged boy. “I just want you to turn me loose.”

“Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?” asked the woman.

“No’m.”

“But you put yourself in contact with me,” said the woman. “If you think that that contact is not going to last a while, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.”

Sweat popped out on the boy`s face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked (猛拉) him around in front of her, put a half-nelson about his neck, and continued to drag him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large kitchenettefurnished room at the rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open, too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the middle of her room.

She said, “What is your name?”

“Roger,” answered the boy.

“Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face,” said the woman, and then she turned him loose—at last. Roger looked at the door—looked at the woman—looked at the door—and went to the sink.

Let the water run until it gets warm,” she said. “Here’s a clean towel.”

“You gonna take me to jail?” asked the boy, bending over the sink.

“Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere,” said the woman. “Here I am trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe, you ain’t been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?”

“There’s nobody home at my house,” said the boy.

“Then we’ll eat,” said the woman, “I believe you’re hungry—or been hungry—to try to snatch my pocketbook.”

“I wanted a pair of blue suede shoes,” said the boy.

“Well, you didn’t have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes,” said Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. “You could have asked me.”

“M’am? ”

The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!

The woman was sitting on the day-bed. After a while she said, “I were young once and I wanted things I could not get.”

There was another long pause. The boy’s mouth opened. Then he frowned, but not knowing he frowned.

The woman said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know. So you set down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable.”

In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.

“Do you need somebody to go to the store,” asked the boy, “maybe to get some milk or something?”

“Don’t believe I do,” said the woman, “unless you just want sweet milk yourself. I was going to make cocoa out of this canned milk I got here.”

“That will be fine,” said the boy.

She heated some lima beans and ham she had in the icebox, made the cocoa, and set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty-shop that stayed open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, redheads, and Spanish. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake.

“Eat some more, son,” she said.

When they were finished eating she got up and said, “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And next time, do not make the mistake of latching onto my pocketbook nor nobody else’s—because shoes come by devilish (邪恶的) like that will burn your feet. I got to get my rest now. But I wish you would behave yourself, son, from here on in.”

She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Good-night! Behave yourself, boy!” she said, looking out into the street. The boy wanted to say something else other than "Thank you, ma’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but he couldn’t. In fact, he barely managed to say “Thank you” before she shut the door. And he never saw her again.

【推荐1】How can positive psychology help in trying times?

“Positive psychology is not about denying difficult emotions. It’s about opening to what is happening here and now, and cultivating and enjoying the good in your life,” says Ron Siegel, assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School.

Growing evidence suggests that positive psychology techniques can indeed be valuable in times of stress, grief, or other difficulties.     1    . Here are three positive psychology practices you can try.

Be more mindful

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment and accepting it without judgement.     2    . Formal mindfulness-based stress reduction programs have been shown to help reduce physical and psychological symptoms in people facing a variety of challenges, including cancer and chronic pain.

    3    

Research suggests that people who volunteer their time tend to be happier than those who don’t.     4    . Try this exercise: When you have a free afternoon, flip a coin. Heads, do something for yourself. Tails, do something to help your community or another person. Notice how you feel at the time and in the hours and days that follow.

Practice gratitude

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what you receive, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, you acknowledge the goodness in your life.     5    .Our brains are wired to take note of when things go wrong. But keeping a gratitude journal — writing down things you’re thankful for — makes you more aware of when things go right.

【推荐2】The social media trap of comparing yourself to others can lead to feelings of confusion and jealousy. That was certainly true for Lizzie Velasquez. “I will look at everyone’s photos and feel horrible about myself,” Velasquez says. “So I have made a rule for myself. If I’m on social media, when I start feeling like I’m falling down the rabbit hole of comparison, I have to stop.”

Feeling pressure from the Internet is nothing new for Velasquez. When she was just 17, a video calling her “The World’s Ugliest Woman” became popular on YouTube. It was a difficult period for her. “I suffered from a rare disease which doesn’t allow me to gain weight and also affects my eyes, my bones and my heart,” explains Velasquez.

Growing up, Velasquez said she lived in two different worlds. At home, her family treated her just like everyone else. Her parents raised her to appreciate herself. But that got harder when she started school. “I didn’t become aware of it until I started kindergarten, because I was entering this other world where I had to face the reality,” says Velasquez.

As Velasquez got into high school, she started to gain more understanding about her condition. But then came the YouTube video, which threatened her already-shaky foundation. Though it was difficult, that moment of bullying(霸凌)inspired Velasquez to use her newfound platform for good. She wanted to stop this behavior. Then she gave a talk about her story, reaching millions with her uplifting messages about beauty. And she gave interviews on national talk shows and was featured in the documentary film A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story. “I want to remind people that no matter how different you are and no matter what people say about you, you are meant to be in this world and being different is unique,” says Velasquez.