I was sitting in an introduction to calligraphy workshop when a fellow student asked the teacher, “ What do I need to become a professional calligrapher? ” We were all on the edge of our seats with that one. It was as if we were about to learn the secret ingredient to Grandma’s cookies. The answer, to our surprise, was pen and paper.

“ The materials are no different than that of a beginner calligrapher, ” the instructor explained. The difference between a beginner and professional calligrapher is not in the tools they use, but rather in the professional’s commitment (奉献) to practice and the time they took to learn and do something.

The same goes for any professional at their craft.

When we look up to the expert, we think that increasing the quality of materials or having access to nicer resources is what makes them great. This assumption doesn’t take into account the time it would have taken them to learn something new and to achieve their goals.

Instead, we want to cut corners, looking for a shortcut. We want to make progress as soon as possible. But it is not a strategy that necessarily benefits us.

My current goal is to become an independent filmmaker. What would it take, what would I need to make the best movies? I too, wanted the shortcut. The direct way to achieve my goal. Is there a certain camera I need to have, light kit (工具箱), microphone or skill that would lead me right to success? After watching online videos about film-making, I realized I had all that I needed to achieve my goal. There was no shortcut to film-making. It was just going to take time.

It’s easy to get caught in wasting time looking for a solution instead of time. In the end, we lose energy and motivation looking for the right tools or answers.

We do things to go fast rather than far. We focus on the end result instead of allowing ourselves to enjoy the journey. Go for. Reach farther. Take the time to become your best self.

【推荐2】For a long time in history,numerous scholars have asked the question:what is beauty?As designers update the latest fashions and artists create their masterpieces,what is considered beautiful changes at an alarming pace.Fifty years ago,the full-figured American actress Marilyn Monroe was a symbol of the American aesthetic（美学的）value; today,many Hollywood actresses different in appearance from Marilyn’s have taken her taken per place.However, aesthetic values not only differ from generation to generation,but do so along cultural lines as well.Often,what is   considered hating one civilization is just the aesthetic appeal in another.Thus it is difficult to give an absolute definition of beauty.

As fundamental physicists,my colleagues and I like to believe that we are involved in a search for a beauty that affects definition.The beauty that we search for is not what is set up through the work of people and subject to the tastes,but rather what has been laid down by nature Physics allows its students to look past outer appearance,into a deeper beauty.As a human being,I am attracted by the visual appeal of a wave crashing on the beach.As a physicist, however I am able to see the deeper beauty of the physical laws that govern such a phenomenon.

In truth,since Albert Einstein put forward the idea that there might be one main physical theory that governs the universe,aesthetics,have become a driving force in modern physics.Einstein and other later physicists have discovered that:Nature,as its most fundamental level,is beautifully constructed.The extraordinary simplicity of the laws that govern the universes is really breathtaking.As Einstein said, it would seem more likely that we should find ourselves living in a "disorderly world,in no way apprehensible through thinking".Yet we are now closer than ever to a full understanding of the universe's beautiful clockwork.As new discoveries and technologies allow us to examine the physical world on deeper and deeper levels, we find that the beauty itself becomes much deeper.

【推荐3】The news media in the U. S. consist of radio, television and newspapers. Together they are everywhere on the lives of many Americans and influential on their daily routines. Many Americans begin their day by reading the newspaper or watching a morning news program on television while drinking their coffee.     1     Throughout the day the news is broadcast repeatedly on the radio and television.

In the evening news is a main feature on television with up to two hours of news in the early evening and more news late at night. For those who prefer reading, the evening newspaper offers the reader the possibility of reading the news others see and hear on television.

    2     It is up to the general public to choose what to read, watch or listen to. Therefore, the media must have sensitivity to the interests of the public.

News is a big business. However, it is a very competitive business, as each station or each newspaper competes for audiences and readers.     3     When an item becomes news worthy, such as an election or a war, Americans will become familiar with the details as the news media try to be as informative as possible.     4    

The news media report the same news items regarded as the most interesting and impressive.     5     However, most Americans would not criticize their news media too harshly. The truth of the news media is generally acknowledged and accepted by the American public.

【推荐1】An opinion poll was conducted in the early 1990s to find out the cultural attitudes of residents of five countries in Western Europe (Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany). One thousand people, forming a representative sample of the adult population, from each of the five participating countries were interviewed.

The poll assumed that literature, history, science, arts, law, economics and so on would be regarded as significant elements of culture by all participants, but it set out to examine the areas which they considered the most important forms of cultural expression. In addition, the poll required interviewees to indicate in a questionnaire the type of education they considered most appropriate for the modern world, the best channels of knowledge and arts they most valued.     1    

The results of the poll show interesting differences between the participating nations in terms of which components of culture they regard as most important forms of cultural expression. For the French and Italians, literature comes well at the top of the list.     2     History occupies second place for the French, the Italians and Germans but is given very low priority by the British. For the Spanish these four areas are more or less equal, with mathematics having a slight edge.

It seems that members of each country in the survey have a common definition of culture but that definition varies from country to country.     3     The French and Italians are literary peoples, the British scientific and the Germans practical and hard-working.

France has the distinction, according to the results of the poll, of being the country which provokes most interest from its British. Italian and German neighbors.     4     The French also placed Italy first. Italy occupies second place for both the British and the Germans. It would seem, then, that the “literary” nations of France and Italy are more culturally exciting than the scientific British or the practical Germans!

【推荐2】Growing up in Puerto Rico, our family was no different from so many others. My parents got married after my father came back when the war ended. Both of my parents were struggling with the hard economic realities of the time. But somehow, they found time to cherish those cultural values that shaped our everyday life.

In our daily life, we celebrated together with our friends or family members every birthday, every graduation, and all holidays with music and dancing, and typical foods. When we visited our family in the countryside—a trip that took about two hours in a car, with five children fighting as to who would get a window or the front seat —we would break into song, and somehow the trip would turn into one full of happiness and fun. We would sing not only interesting children’s songs but also beautiful love songs — songs about the love of our country though we didn’t understand the meaning of the words many times.

I came to Philadelphia for the first time in 1973 to do a residency(实习) in family medicine. I remember the many hours of work. I was facing issues of life and death and suffering the clearly social unfairness and issues of poverty and race. These were all worsened by my feeling of cultural differences.

An important turning point in my life happened one Saturday night when I attended a concert of Puerto Rico singer and composer Antonio Caban Vale. The music showed my familiar rhythms, and the words spoke to my heart. I had found a space to express, celebrate, and share my culture in Philadelphia. Therefore, I believe diversity is seen as an advantage and not as a disadvantage. As a Puerto Rican, I am a mixture of races and I believe in my strength because of this.

【推荐3】Winter solstice(冬至), an important solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar, as the name implies, means the coming of winter. It generally occurs between December 21st and 23rd. According to the traditional Chinese calendar, one year is divided into twenty-four solar terms. On this day, in the Northern Hemisphere the period of daytime is the shortest of the year and the period of night is the longest.

In Northern China there is a custom of eating dumplings during winter solstice. The tradition of eating dumplings during winter solstice has its origin in early times. It is said that dumplings were invented by Zhang Zhongjing, a well-known doctor from the Eastern-Han Dynasty.

One winter, he noticed that many people’s ears were frozen, which made him sad. In order to prevent and cure the freezing injury caused by the cold, he asked his followers to boil mutton, chilies and other ingredients with medicinal properties in a pot for fending off cold. After these were boiled, they ladled(舀取) the mutton and other ingredients out of the pot, cut them into pieces, and then wrapped them with dough skins in the shape of ears. Afterward, they put these into pots to boil again.

On the day of the winter solstice, the people whose ears were frozen were sent to eat the dumplings. People who ate it felt warm from head to toe and had their cold injury healed. Thereafter, every winter solstice people ate dumplings. Then there became a saying that if you eat dumplings during the winter solstice, then you won’t freeze your ears off.

Afterwards, Zhang Zhongjing died on the day of winter solstice. In order to honor him, every year on the day of the winter solstice every household makes dumplings.

【推荐1】The artificial-intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has shaken educators since its November release. New York City public schools have banned it from their networks and school devices. There is, perhaps surprisingly, one subject area that doesn’t seem threatened. It turns out ChatGPT is quite bad at maths.

“I’m not hearing maths instructors express concern about ChatGPT,” said Paul von Hippel, a professor at the University of Texas who studies data science and statistics. “I’m not sure it’s useful for maths at all, which feels strange because maths was the first-use case for the artificial-intelligence devices.”

ChatGPT’s struggle with maths is inherent in this type of AI, known as a large language model. It scans a large amount of text from across the web and develops a model that might be extremely effective for writing grammatically correct responses to essay requirement, but not for solving a maths problem.

In an email, I asked Debarghya Das, a search-engine engineer, why ChatGPT gets some simple questions right but others completely wrong. “Maybe the right analogy (类比) is if you ask a room of people, who have no idea what maths is but have read many hieroglyphics (象形文字), ‘What comes after 2+2,’ they might say, ‘Usually, we see a 4,’ That’s what ChatGPT is doing.” But, he adds, “Maths isn’t just a series of hieroglyphics. It’s the process of calculating.”

It isn’t great for pretending you know it through a maths class because you only recognize the mistakes if you know the maths. Another reason that maths instructors are less anxious about this innovation is that they have been here before. The field was upended for the first time decades ago with the general availability of computers and calculators.

“Maths has had the biggest revolution based on machinery of any mainstream subject,” said Conrad Wolfram, the strategic director of Wolfram Research. “In the real world, since computers came along, have maths, science and engineering gotten conceptually simpler? No, completely the opposite. We’re asking harder and harder questions, going up a level.”

Eventually, Al will probably get to the point where its maths answers are not only confident but correct. A pure large language model might not be up for the job, but the technology will improve. In general, however, AI, like computers, will likely ultimately be most useful for those who already know a field well. They know the questions to ask, how to identify the shortcomings and what to do with the answer. A tool, in other words, is for those who know the most maths, not the least.

【推荐3】A build-it-yourself solar still(蒸馏器) is one of the best ways to obtain drinking water in areas where the liquid is not readily available. Developed by two doctors in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it’s an excellent water collector. Unfortunately, you must carry the necessary equipment with you, since it’s all but impossible to find natural substitutes. The only components required, though, are a 5＇×5＇ sheet of clear or slightly milky plastic, six feet of plastic tube, and a container— perhaps just a drinking cup — to catch the water. These pieces can be folded into a neat little pack and fastened on your belt.

To construct a working still, use a sharp stick or rock to dig a hole four feet across and three feet deep. Try to make the hole in a damp area to increase the water catcher’s productivity. Place your cup in the deepest part of the hole. Then lay the tube in place so that one end rests all the way in the cup and the rest of the line runs up — and out — the side of the hole.

Next, cover the hole with the plastic sheet, securing the edges of the plastic with dirt and weighting the sheet’s center down with a rock. The plastic should now form a cone(圆锥体) with 45-degree-angled sides. The low point of the sheet must be centered directly over, and no more than three inches above, the cup.

The solar still works by creating a greenhouse under the plastic. Ground water evaporates (蒸发) and collects on the sheet until small drops of water form, run down the material and fall off into the cup. When the container is full, you can suck the refreshment out through the tube, and won’t have to break down the still every time you need a drink.