【推荐2】Gently holding a baby hummingbird, Catia Lattou f says, “Hello, cute little guy. Are you hungry?” It’s the newest patient at her apartment in Mexico City, where she has nursed hundreds of the tiny birds back to health over the past ten years. Under Catia’s gentle touch, the bird relaxes little by little, allowing her to examine it. This is often how Catia’s days have gone since she turned her apartment into a home for sick, injured or baby hummingbirds.

Catia began caring for hummingbirds a year after surviving colon cancer in 2011. It started with one hummingbird that had an eye injured by another bird. A friend encouraged her to try to help it. She named it Warrior after the brand (品牌) of the glasses case she kept it in. The bird became her inseparable companion, resting on her computer screen while she worked. “It wrote me a new life,” she said of the nine months the bird stayed with her. It helped pull Catia out of the sadness and loneliness she had experienced after her husband’s death followed by her cancer.

Later, friends began bringing her more hummingbirds, and the need for her services has jumped since last year. She began studying how to better care for the tiny birds that are native to the Americans. Someone put a video about her work on the social platform TikTok, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.

Catia says she never turns away a bird. She cares for the birds from 5 a. m. into the night. Most of the hummingbirds stay in Catia’s bedroom until they are strong enough to fly and feed themselves before they are finally freed.

The city is filled with menace to hummingbirds. There are other birds that attack them and destroy (毁掉) their home as well as modern building projects that replace flower gardens. But Catia remains positive and is certain that other bird lovers will plant more flowers to feed the birds. “Nothing is ensured,” she said. “But we do everything possible.”

【推荐3】At first, Michael Surrell didn’t see the black smoke or flames shooting from the windows of his neighbors’ home. He and his wife had just parked the car when they got a call from one of his daughters: “The house next door is on fire!” He went to investigate.

“The baby’s still in!” one of the women cried. Though the fire department had been called, Surrell, aged 64, immediately ran inside. “The baby” was 8-year-old Tiara Roberts, the woman’s granddaughter. The thick smoke burned his eyes, and made it impossible to breathe. The conditions would have been harmful to anyone, but for Surrell, who has a lung disease, they were life-threatening.

After a few minutes in the smoke-filled house, he ran outside to catch his breath. “Where is Tiara?” he asked desperately.“The second floor.” her aunt shouted back. Taking a deep breath, he went in a second time. Still unable to see, Surrell fell to his knees on the hot wood floor, feeling around for any sign of the girl.

Finally, he got Tiara who wasn’t breathing. He fought through the smoke and ran blindly into the blackness. The next thing he knew, he was at the front door, then outside. Surrell put Tiara down and started CPR. Soon Tiara opened her eyes and took a breath on her own. Their eyes met. Surrell hugged her tight and said, “Uncle’s got you.” Soon after, his throat closed off.

Surrell woke up in the hospital a couple of days later, having suffered severe burns to his windpipe and the upper portion of his lungs. As a result, he took extra medication that helped open his airways. “It’s a small price to pay,” he said. “I’d do it again in no time and won’t give it a second thought.”

【推荐1】Have you ever dreamed of meeting top scientists in person? If so, what would you want to ask them? For Tan Fanglin, a 15-year-old girl from No.2 High School of East China Normal University in Shanghai, her dream of meeting top scientists has already come true.

In October, she attended the World Laureates Forum(论坛) for a second time. Tan was by far the youngest participant among the scientists invited to be at the meeting of the world’s sharpest minds. Her discovery about the relationship between the Fibonacci sequence(斐波那契数列) and Bézout numbers has won her many prizes in youth innovation competitions. This finding has been praised by the famous Canadian mathematician, Professor Rankin. According to Guangming Daily, Rankin has been studying the same theme for five years but with no conclusions.

From a very young age, Tan has always been fascinated by mathematics. This is largely because of the influence of her father, who teaches mathematics in university. But she had not participated in any Mathematics Olympiad exams before. According to Xu Jun, Tan’s head teacher from her middle school, she doesn’t take after-school classes or too many extra exercises either. Her mastering of Further Mathematics and her good grades in school are thanks to the right study method.

Attending this forum enabled Tan to get more inspiration from top scientists. She asked Professor Miesenbock, the 2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize winner, what he considered were the best personal qualities for conducting scientific research. Miesenbock encouraged her not to lose her passion and love for what she does. He stressed that people all knew that even Thomas Edison went through hundreds of unsuccessful attempts before finally inventing the light bulb. Tan has met many barriers in her research and often feels upset. The words made Tan feel inspired. “I will keep my curiosity and interest in mathematics and overcome any obstacles(障碍) in my research,” she told Chinese Business View.

【推荐2】Laungi Bhuiyan, a pensioner from the Indian state of Bihar, has become known as “Canal Man” after it was discovered that he spent 30 years of his life digging a 3-kilometer-long water canal, all by himself, using hand tools.

The remote village of Kothilawa had always suffered water shortages, with most of the rainwater falling in the nearby hills flowing into the river, instead of towards the village. This was one of the reasons why some villagers moved away, but Laungi Bhuiyan made up his mind to take matters into his own hands, so he stayed behind. No one offered to help, so for three long decades he dug the 4-feet wide and 3-feet deep canal himself, using only whatever hand tools he had.

Kothilawa is surrounded by forests and mountains. During the rainy season, the water falling from the mountains used to flow straight into a river flowing through the area, but ever since Laungi Bhuiyan completed his 3-km-long canal, it’ s been collected in a pond near the village, allowing locals to raise animals and even irrigate crops, without worrying about water shortages.

Ever since word of his impressive achievements started spreading on social media, Bhuiyan has been nicknamed “Canal Man”. A Twitter user shared his unbelievable story and called Indian billionaire Anand Mahindra, asking him if he would support the Kothilawa hero by making a tractor available to him. “I think his canal is as impressive a monument as the Taj or the Pyramids. I’ d consider it an honor to have him use my tractor,” the billionaire replied.

While many have taken to social media to praise Laungi Bhuiyan for his perseverance (毅力), some said that had the Government done the job it was supposed to, the Kothilawa man needn’t have worked hard for decades, and locals would have benefited from the water canal much sooner. Others went as far as to suggest his work be recognized, and that he be provided with compensation.

【推荐3】Benjamin Franklin said that, you want something done, ask a busy person. “That’s how Manny Abreu practices. Throughout his four years at Kellenberg Memorial High School in the US, Abreu made community service an important part of his life.

“I don’t know where he finds the time to do everything,” said Erin Ronan, Abreu’s math teacher. “He’s truly a class act.” As an honors student, Abreu, 18,100 part in different voluntary activities after school, during weekends and summer holidays. These included helping staff at the public library, doing landscape work at Kellenberg and serving customers at a local restaurant.

But faced with a limited number of hours in a day, Abreu left his library job last summer to start working as an emergency medical technician-a role that fits his passion for making a difference in other people’s lives. “My appreciation for service has guided me into giving back,” said Abreu, who is setting his sights on becoming a doctor. “It’s such a rewarding feeling to help someone.”

During his years at high school, Abreu devoted between 40 and 50 hours of his time each year to volunteer work—more than double the school’s annual requirement of 20 hours. For all his hard work, Abreu was welcomed into a leadership club that organizes fellow students’ volunteer activities. St Martin de Porres Marianist School (Kellenberg’s sister school) also benefited from Abreu’s devotion. Through his school’s Smart Club program, he voluntarily provided homework help and played games with the junior high school students.

Abreu thanked his parents for inspiring him to do the right thing, saying they are “the most selfless people I know”. He remembered when he was about 6 years old, and his mother invited a disadvantaged neighborhood boy to have dinner. Upon observing the boy’s happiness Abreu came away with a sense of how he wanted to live his own life—“I won’t focus on my own desires. I’ll help as many people as I can,” he said.