【推荐1】Our wedding was about to begin. My throat was tight and my cheeks got red, but I didn't care. I was ready to marry David Sanchez. We’re a "nontraditional" couple: getting married not at a church but in a bookstore that supports a charity to fight H.I.V. and homelessness.

“Kim! I could walk you down the aisle（走廊）if you like!” David's father offered gently.

"I'm OK. But I appreciate that,” I said with a smile. And I was reminded, again, of my dad's absence.

My father died of cancer six weeks ago. For the last two months, we tried to make him feel comfortable and loved as he departed from this world. He always told us that he didn't like a funeral （葬礼）and insisted our wedding go forward as planned. But how could we honor him since the wedding would be the first time the family would gather after his death and some even didn't know he was sick?

During the ceremony, my dear friend Eva delivered a reading entitled "When Things Go Missing” by Kathryn Schulz. She paused and got everyone on the same page: “When we are experiencing it, loss often feels like confusion in the usual order of things. In fact, the entire plan of the universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse（逆向的）savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything.

I felt the energy full of the room. Everyone was listening. By choosing to accept the pain, we knew what a wedding does to join two families and mark the next chapter for a couple. Loss became a compass that pointed us away from a fantasy and toward celebrating the difficult realities of life.

After rings were exchanged, fried chicken was served, our friends offered so many funny and touching toasts, and finally David sang "Married” on my father’s guitar. I felt joy filling all the holes in my soul. Celebrating my father’s life at our wedding made me grateful for all the time I had spent with him, because it all goes by so fast.

【推荐3】Born in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, to a Canadian missionary family in 1915, Crook came into the world.   While Isabel Crook's parents were engaged in setting up schools and education institutions in Southwest China, Crook herself was more interested in anthropology(人类学) and the many ethnic minority peoples in China. She was very curious about what was going on around her.

At the age of 23,Crook graduated from a Canadian college with a master's degree and began carrying out field research in Li County of Sichuan Province.   In 1947,Crook and her journalist husband were warmly welcomed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to observe and study the revolutionary land reform taking place in China. In 1948 the couple accepted an invitation from CPC leaders to teach at a newly-built foreign affairs school. The school was the forerunner of today's Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU), which has seen over 400 ambassadors(大使) and 1,000 counsellors（参赞） walk through its doors. As a teacher at BFSU she laid the foundations for foreign language education in China.

As two of the first three foreign teachers at the school, Isabel and David Crook brought new Western teaching methodologies to the classroom. Michael Crook noted that since some students were extremely poor during the 1950s and 1960s, his parents were especially sensitive to their situation and did what they could to help them while protecting their self-esteem. For example, they would bring food such as eggs and bread for picnics and share them with students who brought steamed corn bread.

According to the younger Crook, because of his parents' belief in communism, they chose to use political texts as their teaching materials, such as works once admired by Karl Marx. Understanding that the students would become diplomats representing the People's Republic of China, his parents tried to help students gain knowledge in different fields to better prepare them for communicating with foreigners in English.

On December 15th 2018, Isabel got the award of ‘The Most Influential Foreigner throughout 40 Years of China’s Development’ from the Chinese government. On September 17, 2019, Isabel was awarded “the Friendship Medals” by the Chinese government for her lifetime of devotion to China.

【推荐1】Miss England, Jessica Gagen, is not the ordinary beauty pageant (选美) winner. She just earned an impressive title, rocket scientist.

The 27-year-old girl just graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and she has set her sights on being an astronaut. But winning her title just a few months before completing her degree was no easy task. She is the first rocket scientist to be crowned Miss England.

Gagen was able to balance between her competition and her schoolwork, but the stress of doing both left her with chest pains and insomnia (失眠). However, she didn’t give up.

“The way to get to this point was a rock y five years in the making, and I faced challenges before I’d even begun,” Gagen told The Daily Mail. “I think it’s important that today’s youth know that sometimes things don’t go entirely as planned, and that’s perfectly OK.”

Before starting at the university, Gagen studied a year in physics while working at weekends because she didn’t have all the courses she needed for the program. She began studying at the university in 2019 and when the pandemic hit, all the coursework went online. She did this while working full time at night.

“I’d return home to do that day’s online lectures and homework and then stop at 8 pm to get ready for bed, before the cycle would repeat. I was constantly knackered, but I was a mature student and had bills to pay.”

During the course of her studies, Gagen saw that there were very few females in engineering and decided to make it her duty to promote careers in science for women and girls on her social media. This idea led to her being scouted (物色) for the Miss England contest. In 2022 Gagen was accepted into a Master’s program and she entered the Miss England pageant and won.

【推荐2】In times of sadness, a friend would always suggest going for a walk. “Are you overwhelmed (压垮) by your work? Take a walk around the neighborhood.” Comments like this are often said with nothing but the best of intentions, but they used to make me angry as much as being told to drink more water. I did not understand how these things were going to help.

Three years ago, I hit a low point. Once I saw a pair of empty eyes looking at me through the mirror, I knew I was at my breaking point. So, I took the advice I fought so hard to ignore. I went for a walk—with the hope that it would somehow change my life.

I embraced (拥抱) the fresh air everyone seemed to be talking about. But it did nothing. I was just as sad as I was before. I went on a walk every single day for more than a month. Some days I could hardly make it outside, but I managed to push through. I took a picture every time I went. I think I wanted to document myself trying to make an effort. One day, the unthinkable happened. I found myself smiling. I realized I had patiently waited all morning to go on this walk. What I once hated had become the best part of my day. I found myself longing to be outside. I never had a destination in mind. I just danced along the trails (小路) , stopped to look at the beautiful blue skies and listened to music.

I’m glad I took pictures because there was a noticeable difference in my face. I slowly started to look less tired and defeated. I don’t know why I refused to go on that walk for so long. I guess I didn’t want to believe that something small and seemingly meaningless could actually make an impact on my physical and mental well-being.

If you’re having a bad day, a bad month, a bad year or even a bad life, you should try going for a walk. Sometimes, all we need to do is try.

【推荐2】A junior at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, Adam Faze,16, decided in October to organize a film festival. "I want to go to a film school and work in the industry, but Loyola has nothing like that, which is strange because we're right here in LA (a part of the city is Hollywood where films are made)," he said." So instead of sitting around and feeling unhappy, I decided to do something.”

The school was unenthusiastic. "Every year, students approach me with many projects that are really difficult to carry out," said Lance Ochsner, Adam's adviser. "I thought it wouldn't happen, but I gave him the go—ahead anyway."

Adam sent letters and made cold calls, and got no response. By January, he had little more than a single participant: Jordan Roberts, the father of a friend and a writer—director. (Mr. Roberts had' agreed to serve as a festival judge.)

Then Adam looked through a catalog for Loyola's annual money—raising event and noticed that someone had donated two tickets to a Sony movie premiere (the first public performance of a movie). That person turned out to be an Oscar campaigner. By working the connection, he managed to line up a festival speaker: Michael De Luca, a three—time Oscar nominee (someone who has been officially suggested for the prize of Oscar) for producing films like “The Social Network"

“Adam's energy, enthusiasm and fearlessness are influential,” Mr. De Luca wrote in an email. “I wish I had done this at my high school!” Adam got a local newspaper 'to write an article about Mr. De Luca's involvement(参与), and that started a sponsorship and submission (费助和作品提交) wildfire.

The Loyola Film Festival is set for Saturday and advertised as “the best in student filmmaking". It will feature 72 films in four categories.

But Adam is already focused on his next plan. In an email to a reporter, he wrote, “Could you mention that I'm still looking for a summer internship(实习)?”