【推荐3】DATE: March 11

TO: Sabrina Weissma

FROM: Grace Montgarden

CC: Marcus Stroud

SUBJECT: Letter of Concern

This memo serves as an official notice of concern as a result of your use of leave, and your unpunctuality (不守时) to work. Our records indicate that you have used an unusually large number of sick days over the past three months, using up your sick leave for the service year. You are now being docked pay for any sick leave reported. A breakdown of your leave usage during the past three months was as follows:

* Sick or unscheduled leave days: 10

* Scheduled leave days: 5

In addition, during the past five months there were 8 days when you were more than 10 minutes late for work. As an accountant for the Reykjavik Public Works Department, you are responsible for financial activities that are critical to effective operation of the office. I must be able to rely on your regular attendance in order to make decisions regarding distribution of work assignments. You should pay attention to the following requirements:

* Doctor’s note required for absences of 3 or more days.

* Obtain reliable child care in preparation for upcoming student vacation days.

* Required call to supervisor when expecting to be more than 10 minutes late to work.

You will be expected to stick to the above requirements. The above stated conditions and requirements will be in effect for all future absences. Failure to obey the requirements will make you subject to disciplinary action (纪律处分).

Respectfully,

Grace Montgarden

Personnel Officer

Reykjavik Public Works Department

【推荐1】By drawing patterns on the surface of a cup of tea, chabaixi, an ancient Chinese tea trick displayed in a recent TV drama, has gone popular for its apparent similarity with modern latte art. However, ten years ago, this distinctive technique was close to disappearing completely.

Chabaixi can create endless patterns such as bamboos and mountains or even calligraphy. There are over a dozen steps: grind tea for fine powder (粉末), pour boiled water,stir the mixture,and draw the patterns. It is different from making latte because people use clear water as the object to put into the cup instead of milk. But when the water touches the surface of whipped tea, it turns into a white color and disappears in 20 minutes.

“Chabaixi is one of the countless forms of tea-making techniques in China. The importance of chabaixi is not only that this technique is unique in the world, but also it gives us a window into people’s lifestyle in the Song Dynasty, a period of time when leisure activities in some ways resemble what we have now,” Zhang, a practitioner of chabaixi, said.

Before chabaixi was discovered by TV audiences, the technique was listed as part of China's Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017, after it was recovered by Zhang Zhifeng. He started researching the origins of chabaixi in the 1980s and brought the technique back in 2009 after decades of trials and practice. Zhang spent nearly 30 years studying and researching the origins and making of tea, but for him it was all worthwhile.

“This technique is key to the tea culture of the Song Dynasty, and it would be a shame to let it fade. This technique must be passed on to the next generations so they can understand its history,” Zhang said.

【推荐2】Wherever we go, we are surrounded by history. Across the globe, cultural heritage is passed down through generations. It is in the buildings and structures around us. It is in the arts and artifacts (手工艺品 ) we treasure. It lives in the languages we speak and the stories we tell. But today, it is under attack as never before. Not only is the damage of time intimidating our cultural heritage, but wars, climate change, globalization and tourism are all exacting a heavy price. Technology is now the most important weapon in the battle. Here’s how technology is preserving our cultural heritage.

As you can imagine, creating the replicas (复制品 ) via crowdsourced 2D images is extremely time-consuming. Increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to do all the required sourcing, allowing millions of images to be stored in a matter of hours. AI will also make restoration-and-preservation of existing cultural heritage far easier and much better than former methods.

Virtual reality (VR) technology will play a leading role in preserving our cultural heritage in the coming years. Many of the most important sites and architecture are easily damaged. Human interaction with these locations is doing a great deal of harm. Wastes left could be seen everywhere, causing many problems. As more cultural heritage sites and objects are digitally mapped and recorded, VR technology will increasingly become the way that people experience them. We’ll all eventually be able to walk through places, look at and touch artifacts and works of art without ever seeing them with our own eyes.

Finally, our cultural heritage will be preserved via technology. Efforts in research, innovation (创新), data sharing and project work will help promote and preserve the cultural heritage of countries all across the world.

【推荐3】The Discovery of Liangzhu Culture

Three archaeological diggings were carried out in the suburbs of Hangzhou from December 1936 to March 1937, where loads of black ceramics (陶瓷) and stoneware were brought to light. Inspired by these relics, an archaeology lover named Shi Xingeng, who came from West Lake Museum in Hangzhou, wrote several detailed reports on the digging. However, he had to put his work aside when China started to fall into Japan’s military aggression. Shi joined the resistance movement against Japanese invasion and died of disease in 1939. What passed away along with him during the war were many of Liangzhu’s precious relics.

Fortunately, Shi’s reports were finally published in Shanghai in 1938, which caught considerable attention of archaeological circles. In 1959, the name Liangzhu Culture was given to the independent regional culture by archaeologist Xia Nai. It represented an earlier civilization that had remained unknown to historians. The culture, as the radiocarbon dating applied to the relics proved, existed between 3,300 and 2,200 B.C.

It is commonly believed that the earliest known Chinese written language dates back to more than 3,000 year ago, when oracle bone script appeared in Shang Dynasty. But Liangzhu Culture might provide evidence of a written language that appeared in China at least 1,000 years eelier.

In 2007, Liangzhu Ancient City was reported to be discovered in Hangzhou, where archaeological diggings revealed a large and early walled city in Chinese history. There were man-made hills and streams in the city area, which were very likely part of the early designed urban landscape. To protect the urban space which was formed by waterways and entrances both inside and outside the city, a flood control system was connected to the river networks and 11 dams. In the fields outside the wall, archaeologists discovered rains of the residences, tombs, workshops, and docks with wooden boats.