【推荐2】Science fiction lovers in China have reasons to feel inspired by Chinese writer Hai Ya, whose book The Space-Time Painter won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette on Oct. 21, 2023.

Hai created the story inspired by a painting masterpiece Qianli Jiangshan Tu by Wang Ximeng from the Song Dynasty, who painted the work at the age of 18. Hai created a painter named Zhao Ximeng, who painted for the emperor more than 1,000 years ago. After much misery and suffering, Zhao abandoned his physical body and entered a space where a modern policeman that was investigating a case concerning an ancient painting got into his memory. Pitying on Wang who was so talented but had such a short life, Hai extended his life through sci-fi.

Hai has impressed the world most with his work ethics. Rather than being a full-time novelist, Hai treats writing as a part-time activity to be taken up whenever he is not doing his bread-winning job, something that should inspire more young writers. There was a time when not everyone could be a “write” but now more and more people are pursuing their dreams to become writers.

In fact, Liu Cixin, who won the Hugo Award for The Three-body Problem in 2015, is also a part-time writer, holding an engineering job. He encourages young people to keep their jobs and write if they have dreams.

Their stories go to show that holding a job should not discourage people from pursuing their dreams of writing. If there is a story and the will to write it, one can get up early or sleep late to devote around three hours to writing intensively every day. And having a job will actually equip one with enough material to write about, while the salary can guarantee a life, because not every writer makes enough money from writing. The key lies in balancing the eight hours in office every day with three hours of writing in the early morning or late at night.

【推荐3】Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers are encouraging people living in Japan to help make the medals for the games by donating(捐赠)their useless smart phones for recycling.It will avoid waste and benefit the environment.

The organizing committee says that it has cooperated with NTT Docomo,a telecommunications giant in Japan,and hopes to collect up to 8 tons of metal from useless electronic devices(设备).

“Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals will be made in order to avoid waste,”said three-time Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Kohei Uchimura.“I think thereis an important message in this for future generations.”

Collection boxes will be put in more than 2,400 NTT Docomo stores throughout Japan.The organizing committee says that millions of smart phones will be needed to hit the 8-ton target－enough to make 5,000 medals.Collection will stop when the target has been reached.

“The weight of a medal around your neck is always a good weight,”says American former athlete Ashton Eaton,a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder.“And when an athlete at Tokyo wins a medal,the weight of it will not be from the gold,silver or bronze;it will be the weight of a nation.The great project makes me want to come out of retirement and compete for one.”

Previous(先前的)Olympic Games have used recycled metal to make medals,but Tokyo 2020 will be the first to choose materials from useless electronic devices.Organizers claim that all gold medals will be made 100 percent from recycled materials.

“We are asking people to recycle voluntarily,”says Hidemasa Nakamura,the chief financial officer of the 2020 Games.“The idea is recycling and sustainability(可持续),which shows the ideas of the Olympic Movement,it is also about participation.”

【推荐1】Confucius (孔子), a famous teacher, was a politician and philosopher (哲 学 家 ) who lived in “Spring and Autumn Period”. During his lifetime, he planted the seeds for China’s complete change by teaching thousands of people. Today, he is thought to be one of the   world’s greatest teachers.

Confucius grew up in a poor family. As he grew up, Confucius worked to help his mother earn money. When he wasn’t working, he would read. His favorite thing to do was to learn. His mother saw this and did her best to help him learn. One day, rich families noticed how smart he was and offered him jobs counting their money and keeping track of their crops.

Confucius did this until he was 30 years old, but he always wanted to do more.

He didn’t like the way rulers treated their people. He wanted to find a way to help people who were less fortunate than he was. Later, he founded the philosophy “Confucianism”. Confucianism states that by educating yourself, loving your family, and respecting tradition you could become a better person. Confucius believed a person could achieve these things by practicing self-discipline (自 律). For the rest of his life, Confucius traveled and taught the people of China about self-discipline and the importance of education. He even opened China’s first school that taught both the poor and the wealthy as equals. Although he became very famous among China’s lower classes, the rulers of China never accepted his teachings. Eventually, his philosophy of self-discipline helped China unite under one ruler and finally find peace. Today, Confucius is celebrated all over the world for his philosophy of education, equality, and peace over war, money, and injustice.

【推荐2】Aretha Franklin, the world famous "Queen of Soul" who sang with special style on such classics as "Think" "I Say a Little Prayer" and her signature song, "Respect" and stood as a cultural icon(偶像)around the globe, has died at age 76 from cancer.

Ms. Franklin, who had battled health problems in recent years, had in 2017 announced her retirement(退休)from touring.

A professional singer and pianist by her late teens, a superstar by her mid20s, Ms. Franklin had long ago settled any arguments over who was the greatest popular singer of her time.

She recorded hundreds of tracks and had dozens of hits over a half-century, including 20 that reached No. 1 in R&B charts. But her fame was defined(确定)by an extraordinary run of top 10 hits in the late 1960s, from the song "A Natural Woman" to the well-known "Chain of Fools" to her unstoppable call for "Respect".

Her records sold millions of copies and the music industry couldn't honor her enough. Ms. Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards. In 1987, she became the first woman member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Fellow singers bowed to her achievements and political leaders treated her as a friend. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a longtime friend, and she sang at the dedication(献礼)of King's memorial, in 2011. She performed at the inaugurations(就职典礼)of Presidents Bill Clinton. Clinton gave Franklin the National Medal of Arts. President George W. Bush honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.