【推荐1】“Listen!” Mr. Lee said seriously at the beginning of his first class, “I will put a lie into each of my classes. Your job is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.”

That was really a clever way to fix our attention on the dry and boring subject- geography. Then in the following weeks, we didn’t let off every single word of what he was saying in class and challenged (质疑) his lectures. When his class ended with nobody seeing through the lie, Mr. Lee would say, “Ah ha! Each of you has a lie in your notes. Discuss among yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you at the end of this term.”

Mr. Lee’s special style of teaching worked. All of us reviewed and discussed about our notes actively.

One Monday at the end of the term, Mr. Lee listened carefully to what we were questioning for almost ten minutes. Then he finally said, “Do you still remember the first lesson how I said that every lecture has a lie?”

Confused (疑惑), we said yes.

“Well, that was a real big lie. In fact, all the lectures I’ve given before are completely true. But I am glad you worked so hard. Move on.”

Hearing this, all eyes in the classroom went wide.

While my knowledge of geography has been forgotten over time, the lessons have stayed with me. “Experts” can be wrong and say things that sound right, so build a habit of evaluating (评估) new information and check it against things you already accept as a fact.

【推荐2】When I first heard about bungee jumping, I thought it was just another crazy fashion that people did for excitement. I said that I would do it if given a chance, a chance I would never get. But then I heard about a jump arranged on November 18 and I had to try it.

The site was the Blue River Dam platform, more than 200 feet above the ground. The setup was simple: two harnesses (背带)and several bungee ropes.

There are two methods to jump — the swan dive and the backward fall. The swan dive involves a jump forward and away from the platform. Then you count to two and hold the shoulder straps (皮带) to protect your face. The backward fall requires your hands to be across your chest on the shoulder straps, and you jump away from the platform backwards. It’s the safest way. And it is emotionally easier if you don’t like looking down from a great height; for this reason I chose the backward fall.

But, I was still not convinced about ropes. A man handed me a piece of the stuff. My friend and I tried to break it but we failed. The rope could not break. And if one did, there were three more there just like it. I knew that to do this I had to find the strength inside, because no one else was able to help me. After a few seconds of struggle I jumped. The experience was beyond words. And there was a misunderstanding that the end of the fall produced a painful bounce (反弹) effect. Truly, there was a bounce, but it was not painful, at least not until the next day.

【推荐3】I just got back from an extraordinary trip to the Arctic North of Norway, and I felt excited and alarmed at the same time. I knew before I went there that the Arctic was the centre of global warming, but seeing the changes first-hand is haunting.

There is one scene I will never forget. It came just a few days into the trip. I was on board the ship National Geographic Endeavor, and was halfway between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole. I had never been so far north or in a more remote place on Earth. But I was in good company. The Aspen Institute had invited 100 politicians, scientists, businessmen, religious and labor leaders to see the impacts of global warming with their own eyes.

One day, we had the electrifying experience of watching polar bears play on the ice. We tend to think of the Arctic as an expanse of white, but it isn’t. The sea is dark. The pack ice comes in deep, beguiling blues. Polar bears are yellowish. And all of these colors pop against a steely grey sky.

On one ice sheet, we saw two polar bears, their furs covered with red from a just completed dinner. One was moving in and out of the water; the other was busy eating the seal. Off to the side, a smaller bear peaked over the ice with its black snout(鼻子), waiting for the big ones to get off the kill so it could go over to the remains. All three bears seemed powerful and vibrant.

But later, we sailed passing an island where a polar bear sat on the shore, stranded because the sea ice had receded so far from shore. This bear will not eat until next winter—it simply cannot hunt without the ice. Polar bears can survive for long stretches without eating, but seeing that lone bear brought home just how dependent these iconic creatures are on sea ice. Scandinavians, after all, call them the Ice Bear.

I have read enough climate reports to know that with summer sea ice disappearing at alarming rates, the bear I saw stranded that day is one of many. Now I have a permanent memory of what a hungry, stranded bear looks like.

【推荐2】Thanks to the field of linguistics we know much about the development of the 5,000 plus languages in existence today. We can describe their grammar and pronunciation and see how their spoken and written forms have changed over time. For example,we understand the origins of the Indo-European group of languages, which includes Norwegian, Hindi and English,and can trace them back to tribes in eastern Europe in about 300 BC.

So, we have mapped out a great deal of the history of language, but there are still areas we know little about. Experts are beginning to look to the field of evolutionary biology to find out how the human species developed to be able to use language. So far, there are far more questions and half-theories than answers.

We know that human language is far more complex than that of even our nearest and most intelligent relatives like chimpanzees. We can express complex thoughts, convey subtle emotions and communicate about abstract concepts such as past and future.And we do this following a set of structural rules,known as grammar.Do only humans use an innate system of rules to govern the order of words? Perhaps not, as some research may suggest that dolphins share this capability because they are able to recognize when these rules are broken.

Human brains allowed language to evolve ina way. At some point, our brains became able to make our mouths produce vowel and consonant sounds, and we developed the capacity to invent words to name things around us.

More questions lie in looking at the influence of genetics on brain and language development. It seems to have a connection with speaking and how our brains control our mouths and face. Monkeys have a similar gene, but it did not undergo this change. It’s too early to say how much influence genes have on language, but one day the answers might be found in our DNA.

【推荐3】Emotions, thoughts and ideas. We use language to transform abstract ideas into concrete ( 具体的) communication tools. How could we go ahead as a culture unless we shared a common understanding for popular words in the English language, such as book, friend or laugh, or uncommon words like biblioklept or hirquiticke?

But that doesn’t mean words don’t fall out of fashion. In 2021, nine words were decided as “historical” and removed from dictionaries. Aerodrome, for example, was determined to be deleted from the Merriam-Webster dictionary because nowadays we usually call airplane landing fields “airports.”

So who, exactly, makes the decision to remove a word from a dictionary?

The removal of dictionary words is left to lexicographers (词典编撰者), who not only decide which words to remove but also add new words and update changing definitions. Lexicographers also are responsible for adding new words. In 2022, for example, “demisexual” and “vaxxed” were added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Truth is, it’s actually quite difficult for a word to lose its place in a dictionary. Lexicographers don’t take word-removal lightly. When a word comes into question, dictionary editors will first do series of online surveys among dictionary users. Editors then will examine its meaning, usage and popularity across many large language databases that cover a variety of frequently-used examples. Based on the survey results and collected information, lexicographers will hold rounds of formal discussions and vote for the final decision. Often, words that are removed from printed dictionaries are allowed to remain part of online dictionaries.

Despite the careful word addition and removal process, dictionaries aren’t immune to mistakes. For a time, “redripening” appeared in most dictionaries as one word, when it actually should have been “red-ripening.”