【推荐3】It is late afternoon in Manhattan and you have a flight to catch at Kennedy International Airport. Instead of sitting in rush-hour traffic for two hours, you take a short ride to a nearby parking garage where you board an electric plane that takes off vertically from the roof and you arrive at Kennedy 20 minutes later for roughly the same cost as a fancy ride-share. You make your flight in time.

While it might sound impractical, several companies say they are on the edge of being able to offer a safe, cheap, clean electric plane that can help passengers travel distances between two and 150 miles without the need for a conventional runway. Public and private experts believe the technology could grow into a massive market that helps mitigate over-crowding and changes the way people travel in major urban areas.

While urban air travel is currently out of reach for most customers, improvements in battery technology have driven down the cost of developing electric-powered planes that are practicable as urban passenger transportation. These companies are betting they can bring electric urban and regional air travel to the masses, and have developed the new plane to compete for a slice of this emerging market within the next few years.

The new electric plane uses one-fifth the energy of conventional helicopters. Unlike traditional fixed-wing plane, they won’t require runways to take off and land. Unlike helicopters, they will be largely unhearable from the ground and have multiple rotors (旋翼) and backup systems, making them much safer.

Adam Goldstein, the co-chief executive of Archer Aviation, said his company hopes to offer fares in the range of three to four dollars per mile traveled. That would make the trip from Manhattan to Kennedy, typically 17 miles, between $50 and $80. Several experts predicted the price of regional flights would be around the same cost as the luxury car service Uber Black.

“The biggest cost is the batteries,” said Mr. Goldstein, “which are high-priced, but get cheaper every day.”

【推荐1】In middle school, math was my least favorite subject. I understood history. I loved English. However, math never made sense to me, no matter how many times I worked through a problem. I wanted to be good at math, but I didn’t think it possible.

I started taking classes offered by Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) during the summer after my eighth-grade year. I had to admit that in my first class I felt like I was completely unqualified (不合格的) to be in the class, surrounded by so many smart kids. There were times when I felt lost in a sea of materials that I could never hope to understand. But slowly and surely, a few weeks later, AoPS taught me how to love the process of learning math. I went from being a kid who hated math classes to begging my parents to let me take an extra math class on Friday nights.

The most common wrong idea I hear is that people who are skilled at math come by their skills naturally. Many of my high school friends laughed at me for being a math nerd (书呆子). People thought that math came easy to me, when, in fact, the exact opposite was true. Math was not easy for me to learn. It was something I worked hard at.

Math is often viewed as a subject you either “get” or you don’t. But most of math is not about natural talent. If people approach math thinking they can’t be good at it, then they have set themselves up to fail. Just like any other skills, success comes with practice. There are many great mathematicians in this world, but we should remember they all had to start at the beginning just like we do.

The skills we learn from problem-solving in math can be useful in our lives. So don’t give up math. Just remember that you can learn math well if you have a right attitude towards it and work hard enough.

【推荐1】Jos Bots is not your everyday old person. The man who is in his nineties is about to get down to breaking the record to become the world’s oldest solo sportsman on paraglider(滑翔伞)at an old age most people struggle(拼搏)to reach. Reaching for the near-impossible goal hasn’t been easy for the proud New South Welshman. He has already cheated death several times doing this dangerous sport. “I’ve met many accidents that have nearly killed me a few times,” he said. “Winds changed mid-flight suddenly. I nearly crashed into another paraglider and even fell into sea with paraglider lines wrapped(缠绕) around my legs and arms.”

But age is just a number for Mr Bots, who celebrated his 93rd birthday on Wednesday. He said the paragliding experience still “amazes” him although he has been doing it for over 50 years.

The Guinness World Record now for the oldest solo sportsman on paraglider is held by Polish man Janusz Orlowski who flew to heights of 332 m at the age of 91 in 2017.But Mr Bots believes the time has come for him to seize the title, even with the difficult conditions at Sydney’s unofficial home of the sport, Stanwell Park, 58 km south off the capital. “You’ve got to gain 300 m in height, which can be done at a lot of places but it’s difficult to do at Stanwell Park,” Mr Bots said. “We did a test once and I missed the 300 m elevation(海拔) level by 10 m, actually.”

Though he faces all the close calls and ageist refusers, Mr Bots is hungrier than ever to break the record, and he’ll pay close attention to Stanwell Park weather reports, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. “The Guinness Book of Records goes all over the world, and it would be very nice and something to think about,” he said.

【推荐2】Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder who became a millionaire after founding technology companies, experienced a long line of university dropouts(退学者)as we all know, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs among them. But 12 years after leaving Harvard to work on Facebook full time, he returned to pick up his degree finally.

Zuckerberg founded what was then called “The Facebook” in his college dormitory (宿舍) in 2004. At that time, the service was at first offered only to Harvard students before bringing it to other Ivy League (常春藤联盟) universities. Zuckerberg made the university’s graduation speech later on Thursday. After receiving the honor for the degree, he posted a photo of him with his parents and Mark Zuckerberg realized his parents’dream with a Harvard degree.

During his speech on Thursday, Mr Zuckerberg told graduates that everybody lived in a changeable time. With his wife, Priscilla, in the audience (听众), he pointed to the dormitory where he founded Facebook and added that meeting her there was the best thing to happen to him at the university.

Zuckerberg returned to the room where he built Facebook along with his partners, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes. Even after the company moved its head office to California, Zuckerberg continued to be a student at Harvard until he dropped out in November, 2005. “I’m not coming back,” he told the university paper “The Crimson”.

His honorary degree comes 12 years later, a little quicker than Bill Gates, another famous Harvard dropout, to get his. Gates, who left to found Microsoft in 1975, did not receive his honorary degree until 2007. Last week, Zuckerberg shared a video of him finding out he had been accepted into Harvard. At that time he was just a young man who was going to step into one of the best universities around the world and he didn’t know who he would be in the future at all.

【推荐3】Each year, the Prize for Young Heroes honors 25 outstanding young leaders aged 8 to 18 who have made a significant positive difference to people and the environment.

Anna Du （ Age:13）

Anna Du invented a Remotely Operated Vehicle that detects microplastics on the ocean floor.She has also educated others about preventing and cleaning up ocean plastic pollution."When I first started doing science fairs, I had no idea that a young girl without lots of money and just a little advanced engineering knowledge could make a difference in the world," "said Anna." I have learned that I truly love working on a problem that's so much larger than me."

Garyk Brixi （ Age:18）

Garyk Brixi has worked for five years to develop better life-saving relief food for starving children in developing countries. He has made low-cost nutritious food, using the local crops near communities in need. Garyk said, "I will continue struggling to make nutritious food more readily available to children who need it around the world."

Adom Appiah （ Age: 15）

Adom Appiah founded a non-profit organization that supports communities through sports. Adom said, "The most memorable part of our organization is the opportunity to play with and talk to other children about the importance of working hard. I encourage them to make use of their great likes and talents for good."

Addison Barrett （ Age:11）

Addison Barrett founded Gorilla(大猩猩)Heroes to raise awareness and funds to protect endangered mountain gorillas. "I have learned that there are people everywhere who are determined and kind and are willing to save gorillas," said Addison. "My hope is that at least one person who I have touched might also take action to help gorillas."