【推荐1】In her book, Exploring the Dangerous Trades (1943), Alice Hamilton (1869-1970) described two of her most unforgettable moments. One was her meeting with a Hungarian woman. Her husband had been badly injured in a plant and was being held at a hospital. The other memorable moment happened when she met a manager of a big white-lead ( 白铅) plant. She described him as a well-mannered gentleman. But he was shaking with anger after hearing her suggestion. She suggested that he should be responsible for his workers who experienced lead poisoning.

In 1910, she accepted the position of medical researcher for the Illinois Commission on Occupational Diseases. This new post gave Hamilton nine months to draw a direct line between disease and work. With her team members, she looked into the dangers of lead poisoning. They tracked down hospital records, and met with doctors as well as labor leaders. They visited over 300 plants.

The Illinois survey recorded 578 cases of lead poisoning. Soon Illinois passed a law requiring employers to protect their workers from being harmed by lead and other heavy metals. In 1911, the government asked her to start a nationwide study. She helped set American national safety standards.

By 1919, Hamilton, then a recognized expert in the field of industrial medicine, was invited by Harvard Medical School Dean David L. Edsall. The school officials were shocked at Edsall's decision since they had never employed a woman. Hamilton agreed to the conditions of not attending graduation or football games. Nor could she enter the teachers' club, which was open to men only.

Joe Brain was chair of the Archives Committee at the Harvard School of Public Health. He viewed Hamilton as a pioneering figure in public health, saying, “She always felt it was important to get data and do good science, but then the work wasn't really finished unless something happened ... unless you could use that knowledge to improve labor   standards and other things that were necessary.”

【推荐2】Everything a girl named Bella needed for her life to change for the better was a dog. But Ceorge is unlike other dogs. He’s a service dog who fills Bella’s days with joy and laughter and helps her regain her independence back.

Bella was suffering a rare metabolic (新陈代谢的) disorder, which leads to short neck , knock knees and hip problems. In Bella’s case, her parents were told that their daughter would eventually need a wheelchair and won’t be able to move on her own.

When the family welcomed George in their lives, he helped Bella walk by providing assistance. A harness (背带) with the words “service dog” is fastened on his back so that people know he isn’t just a pet. He and Bella are now inseparable and he never leaves her side. Bella attended school for only half a day before leaving to play at the home of her friend—Hunter. Because he gets to nap on the couch while Bella plays. George loves going over there.

As a thank-you for his loyalty, Bella wanted to give George something in return. She and her parents then came up with the idea to contact BarkPost, a well-known website that hosts events referred to as “Dog’s Best Days” and give George a day to remember. Among the rest, the two friends got to share a hamburger together and got to walk on snow, something George enjoys. They did a bunch of fun things together and had a lovely day.

Thanks to George, Bella doesn’t need a wheelchair and enjoys the independence her service dog provides to her. “George is joyful and he’s always there to cheer me up. He is my best friend,” Bella says.

【推荐3】The Out of Eden Walk, following the route in which our ancestors walked from Africa to other parts of the world, is finally restarting after COVID-19 closed overland borders last year.

The host Paul Salopek is a Pulitzer-winning journalist and photographer and has been traveling overland on foot, documenting his trip across the world. Through the walk, Salopek wants to connect the ancient stories of our human ancestors with the stories of our time and tell us more about what it means to be human.

“For more than eight years, I have followed the first human beings who walked out of Africa during the Stone Age,” he says, “My storytelling journey, called the Out of Eden Walk, has been stuck in Myanmar for months, where this pandemic (流行病) became out of control. The pandemic has blocked thousands of miles of Asian land borders.”

Salopek describes thinking back to eight years ago, when he started in the rocky highlands of Ethiopia, visiting the resting sites of the earliest human ancestors. Entering the countries in the Middle East, he saw some scenes of war in Syria. Then he crossed the vast grasslands of the Central Asian Steppe and reached the steamy river valleys of Yunnan. “A hundred generations of mountaineers have carried tea and other goods on the roads of Yunnan,” says Salopek as he finishes his first travel days in 20 months.

While difficult to say, Salopek’s journey could be described as half over, as he still must cross northeastward through China and Russia, before crossing the Bering Strait in winter and continuing to walk south all the way to the tip of South America, just as our early ancestors did, with the special exception of the Pacific Islanders. Half-time is often a good period to jump into a sports match, and as Salopek prepares to continue one of humanity’s all-time great walkabouts, it’s worth tuning in to see how the match ends.

【推荐1】David Durow, 80, a retired former head teacher, needed to adapt to a new way of life after his wife’s death. Durow was hit not only by sadness, but also a sense of the part he had played in his marriage and in society. “Suddenly, I had to think about cooking, cleaning and washing,” he says.

Facing the single life made him realise that he had been “locked” in “a male-dominated society”. “So I started to turn my life upside down and inside out with basically life-changing values. I’d mostly been a common male, leaving for work at 7am and getting home at 7pm, expecting a prepared meal.” It was a shock to realise that, from Monday to Friday, he had “spent more time with co-workers than with my wife and children”.

“What’s frightening is that it’s only happening in the latter part of my life. Where have I been for the last 75 years?” Durow has been devoted to extracurricular activities, from setting up youth groups for children with disabilities to opening a residential home for the cross-generational. He was buried in works by Elizabeth Strout, Sarah Waters and Rebecca Solnit’s article Men Explain Things to Me. Sometimes, he would wake at 3am,get up and write poems with the words he had read in head, which threw light on him, “How I was sorry for thinking that women didn’t know.”

Durow met Jean by online dating. He shared his new thinking with her. “I don’t think she would have ever considered becoming my partner without it. They both cook; Durow does the cleaning. They have joined a book group, where Durow is the only man. He tries to avoid “taking over”, a habit in him after years of lecturing. Sometimes, when a rider disparages(轻视)a female driver, Durow will hear himself say, “Don’t you make the same kind of errors?”

The journey of re-considering his role in relationships has helped him have a fresh understanding of what it is to be a man.

【推荐3】In our home it was natural to fear our father. Even our mother was afraid of him. As children, my sister and I thought every family was like that.       1       We discovered we could draw pictures with chalk on our wooden front door. We could have lots of fun, so we started drawing and making lots of pretty pictures all over it. We had a great time. We decided to finish our pictures, knowing Mom would love it.

    2     We did not understand why, but we knew all about anger, and we were in big trouble. Off we ran to find a place to hide. In our yard it was not hard for two small children to find safety. Together, we hid behind a tree and did not move. Soon we heard the frightened voices of Mom and our neighbours calling out to us. We were afraid of being found.     3     Those around us became more anxious, and we became more frightened. As we stayed together in the dark, we heard another voice, one we recognized with great fear: our daddy.         4     In it we heard something we had never heard before: fear and despair (绝望). Then came his prayers (祈祷). We saw our daddy with tears running down his face, promising God that he would give his life to Him if He would safely return his girls.

Things were different after that. We had a new daddy. It was like the old one was buried that day in the forest.     5