【推荐1】It was the first time for my husband Paul and me to look after the puppy (小狗)Louie to spend the night while our teenage daughter Rochelle was on vacation for two weeks. Louie searched the entire house for his “mommy”. Then, that disappointed but determined puppy developed a plan.

While Paul and I were watching TV, we heard loud noises. Something heavy was being dragged down the stairs. I looked around and saw this six-month-old puppy painfully dragging his large, hard-sided carrier (行李袋) down the stairs. The next moment he dragged his blanket, bowl, bone, ball and sweater one by one downstairs. The project took most of the evening hut Louie showed no sign of tiredness at all.

After packing all the items into the carrier, he attempted to jump inside. Once inside, he got the zipper (拉链）between his teeth and, with all his strength, he pulled the zipper closed. Then he lay down and went to sleep in it throughout the night. The message was very clear. He wanted to go to see his “mommy”. He had seen her pack her suitcase and go away for her vacation. He must do the same so he could find her. When I unzipped his carrier in the morning. Louie was excited, but his “mommy” was nowhere to be seen.

The puppy surprised us with new actions every day. His favorite activity was going for a car ride. The possibility of stopping at McDonald's was his consideration. But one day, my husband didn't Stop at MacDonald's. He left Louie in the car with the window slightly open while he went to buy medicine. Louie managed to jump out of the window. He walked two blocks and found Paul, walking around him as if saying, “Can we go to have fried chicken now?”

Louie is an old gray-haired clog now, but he is still up to his old. and new tricks.

【推荐1】I waited until my Ph. D. committee had left the room to break down. I had just failed my dissertation proposal defense (学位论文答辩)－a poor start to my fourth year of grad school (研究生院). My committee members had told me that my experiments were too small-scale, my ideas not deep enough. I realize now that they were pushing me because they believed in me. But at that moment, all I could hear was the voice in my head telling me that I’d failed.

For the next 4 months, I lacked focus at work. I no longer double-checked my experiments, and I had trouble finding the energy to even think about re-writing my proposal.

Actually, the outcome of my proposal defense wasn’t the only cause of my slump. After some thought, it dawned on me that I had been putting undue pressure on myself throughout grad school. To believe I was making good progress, I needed external validation-an award, positive results, or praise from professors I respected. When I didn’t get those things at every opportunity, I felt I was not on the right track. When I didn’t pass the defense, the failure confirmed my self-doubts. Eventually, as my loss of confidence became a bigger problem, I knew that I had to do something about it.

I decided that I needed to set healthier standards for myself. I did not have control over how much praise I received. The only thing I had control over, I realized, was the effort I put forth.

I went into my second proposal defense with a much more positive mindset (思维模式) along with grander experiments in my proposal and passed. I’m pleased to report that my new approach has helped me regain confidence in myself — and my work — and I’m more productive as a result. I hope that I can help other students realize that external validation is not always guaranteed, and if they are doing their best, that is good enough.

【推荐3】If you live in New York, you can always come across a special sight-a public trash cans contain various colorful flowers.     1     They have been all over the city and putting a smile on people’s faces.

They are the work of Lewis Miller, a designer who uses leftover flowers and plants from weddings and other events.     2     At that time he and his tear, brought 2,000 flowers to a party to create some colorful scenes. The positive energy they got from people encouraged him to continue the project. Now he creates what he calls “Flower Flashes.”

    3     Their work all starts with lots and lots of pictures of empty garbage cans, located in busy areas of the New York. Choosing the right one to beautify can be difficult, but Lewis usually keeps an eye out for nearby interesting buildings.       Then .early in       the morning, Lewis and   his team will travel to the chosen trash can and decorate it with flowers and plants.

"They’re our flowers to New York,” said Irini Greenbaum, a designer. “That’s really the message- to gift flowers to New Yorkers for no other reason than to make them smile. If they're really early risers and they come while we’re making them, they ask us what it’s for, and we say, “It’s for you,     4    "

After finishing the job, they leave a sign near each of their colorful vases, so that curious people can search online and find more information about it.     5     However, he says that seeing the smile on people’s faces when they see the flower trash cans is all the reward he needs.

【推荐3】When I was 8 years old, I decided to run away from home after a quarrel with my mother. With my suitcase packed and some sandwiches in a bag, I started for the front door.

My mom asked where I was going. “I’m leaving home,” I said. “What’s that you’re carrying?” she asked.

“Some clothes and food,” I replied.

“If you want to run away, that’s all right,” she said. “But you came into this home without anything and you can leave the same way.”

I threw my suitcase and sandwiches on the floor and started for the door again.

“Wait a minute,” Mom said. “You didn’t have any clothes on when you arrived, and I want them back.”

This infuriated me. I tore my clothes off — shoes, socks, underwear and all — and shouted, “Can I go now?”

“Yes,” my mom answered, “but once you close that door, don’t expect to come back.”

I was so angry that I shut the door forcefully and stepped out of my home. Then I noticed down the street two neighbor girls walking toward our house. I was so shy that I saw the big spruce (云杉) tree in our yard and jumped under the low-hang ng branches (树枝). A pile of dried-up brown needles (针状物) were beneath the tree, and you can’t imagine the pain those sharp needles caused to my body.

After I was sure the girls had passed by, I ran to the front door and knocked at it loudly.

“It’s Billy! Let me in!”

The voice behind the door answered, “Billy doesn’t live here anymore. He ran away from home.”

Looking behind me to see if anyone else was coming down the street I said, “Mom! I’m sorry. I’m still your son. Let me in!”

The door opened and Mom’s smiling face appeared. “Did you change your mind about running away?” she asked.

“What’s for supper?” I smiled back.

【推荐1】Since 2016 , the Chinese government has taken measures to boost the country's animation (动画) industry which has seen a rapid increase in productions and consumer demand. The introduction of the development plan for China's animation industry in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) lifted the industry to the central strategic level from 2012. It has since seen about 30 percent annual growth and is worth 100 billion yuan ($14.05 billion) today. A series of animations have been created during this period with some excellent examples being the Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Boonie Bears, Kuiba and The Legend of Qin.

However, the application of Hollywood and Japanese techniques and values to Chinese animation features has not only failed to increase box office returns but also compromised the Chinese characteristics. Luckily, China⁷s animation industry has learned a lesson from its failures and is trying to change its approach. Ne Zha, for example, has become the top-grossing film next only to Wolf Warrior 2.

The reason why Ne Zha has been welcomed by Chinese audiences is that it has applied a range of traditional aesthetic elements, from Taoist, Peking Opera and Lunar New Year paintings to Chinese animation techniques. Actually, China’s animation movies are finding the right rhythm, achieving box office returns of about 60 billion yuan in the country.

But despite Ne Zha breaking several box office records, China's animation industry still faces many challenges. Ne Zha achieved almost unprecedented success because of the cooperation of more than 70 enterprises, indicating how decentralized (分散) China’s animation industry is. It also shows why the producers of The Monkey King: A Heroes Return and Big Fish& Begonia have not been able to make sequels (续集) of new animation films despite the relatively easy access to capital, and have sought foreign enterprises' help to make new animation movies.

There is still room for the Chinese animation industry to improve its filmmaking techniques and boost the country's cultural industry including the animation industry and bring them to international level.

【推荐2】Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats are disappearing.

The scientists studied the migration, or flight, paths, of almost 1,500 species and decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas. The major danger for migratory birds is development. Building and paving have covered over nature where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another.

For example, a bird called the bar-tailed godwit migrates from its breeding grounds in the Arctic. It flies all the way to Australia and New Zealand. The problem, according to investigators, is that many of these small birds die along their migration because they don't have a safe place to eat and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. "They simply perish along the way," says one of the scientists.

Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time conserving land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds.

"Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species,’’ one of the scientists says.

The researchers say countries need to work together and come up with safe stopover areas for birds that pass through their boundaries.

For example, one country might have preserved safe zones for migrating birds. But a neighbor country might not. A bird might die.

One scientist who is not involved in the report tells the Los Angeles Times that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds. He says small changes—like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of areas birds would be likely to use—could make a big difference.

【推荐3】Following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), also named COVID-19 by WHO, there is a general fear of the unknown virus as its full effects remain to be seen. Fever, coughing, sore throat, difficulty breathing —the NCP’s symptoms are similar to the common cold or the flu, but it’s potentially more dangerous.

Viruses could be deadly, like HIV and Ebola. But what are viruses? How can they cause so much trouble?

Viruses are non-living organisms (有机体) approximately one-millionth of an inch long. Unlike human cells or bacteria, they can’t reproduce on their own. Instead, they invade the cells of living organisms to reproduce, spread and take over.

Viruses can infect every living thing – from plants and animals down to the smallest bacteria. For this reason, they always have the potential to be dangerous to human life. Sometimes a virus can cause a disease so serious that it is fatal. Other viral infections trigger no noticeable reaction.

Viruses lie around our environment all of the time, waiting for a host cell to come along. They can enter our bodies by the nose, mouth, eyes or breaks in the skin. Once inside, they try to find a host cell to infect. For example, HIV, which causes AIDS, attacks the T-cells of the immune system.

But the basic question is, where did viruses first come from? Until now, no clear explanation for their origin exists. “Tracing the origins of viruses is difficult”, Ed Rybicki, a virologist (病毒学家) at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, told Scientific American, “because viruses don’t leave fossils and because of the tricks they use to make copies of themselves within the cells they’ve invaded”.

However, there are three main hypotheses (假说) to explain the origin of viruses. First, viruses started as independent organisms, then became parasites (寄生者). Second, viruses evolved from pieces of DNA or RNA that “escaped” from larger organisms. Third, viruses co-evolved with their host cells, which means they existed alongside these cells.

For the time being, these are only theories. The technology and evidence we have today cannot be used to test these theories and identify the most plausible explanation. Continuing studies may provide us with clearer answers. Or future studies may reveal that the answer is even murkier (含糊不清的) than it now appears.