【推荐2】Mount Annapurna is 8,091 meters high and is the tenth highest peak (山峰) in the world. The base camp for climbers is more or less halfway up the mountain and it has some of the most striking scenery in the world. Every year about 70,000 visitors take on the challenge to reach the base camp. A friend and I set off, optimistic (乐观) that we would manage to get to it without too many problems.

The first thing that struck me on our eight-day journey was how much we went downhill only to have to go uphill again. This was far from my first mountaineering challenge, but I was naive to think that this one would be all uphill.

The second problem was altitude sickness (高原反应). What I didn’t know was that I wouldn’t actually be hungry. This was coming from a person who never skipped a meal. Gradually, food became more and more unattractive, and I didn’t know why. We were walking for about eight hours a day, and all I was managing to eat was a bowl of soup. In about a week, I lost around 7kg.

The most serious issue was the ever-present danger. You are a delicate creature in this huge mountain range, especially as you get higher. A few times, we heard the crack of an avalanche (雪崩), but thankfully they were never close enough to cause a danger to our safety. They were often the result of snow accumulating (聚积) above us and then melting (融化) under the midday sun. Obviously, our guides ensured that we set off early in the morning to reduce the risk, and didn’t burden us with any scary stories on the way.

I must admit that it was a weight off our shoulders when we succeeded in reaching our destination. Days and even months later, I felt greatly empowered as a result of our achievement. When you’re surrounded by views of 8,000-metre peaks, you feel like you are on top of the world. Well, you actually almost are!

【推荐2】At the first exhibition of Henri Rousseau’s paintings in 1886, the public laughed out loud, and critics made fun of his original, unschooled style, one writing "Monsieur Rousseau paints with his feet, and his eyes covered.”

Despite heavy criticism throughout his life, Rousseau kept painting, confident in his gift. He never received formal training in the arts because his family was too poor. For more than twenty years, he worked at the Paris customs office. It wasn’t until the age of 40 that he took up the brush, teaching himself to paint by copying works at the Louvre and studying nature. “Nothing makes me so happy as to observe nature and to paint what I see.” he said.

Though his best-known paintings are of jungle scenes with monkeys, lions, and small woods, Rousseau never left France or saw a jungle. To paint foreign plants and animals, he relied on books, botanical gardens(植物园) in Paris,and his imagination. "When I go into the glasshouse and I see the strange plants of faraway lands,” he once said, "it seems to me that I enter into a dream.”

Rousseau claimed to have invented a new style of painting called the landscape-portrait, in which he paints a background view and then adds a person in the foreground later, as he did in Myself: Portrait-Landscape (1890).

Called a naive (天真) artist due to his childlike, untrained style, Rousseau painted colors one at a time, starting from the top and working his way down. While critics described his works as flat and inexact descriptions of nature, he earned the respect of artists like Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky, who thought Rousseau was onto something new.

Though his work was never accepted by the art world in his time, Rousseau’s paintings hang in museums around the world today. And Rousseau’s original approach to art has inspired countless artists to follow their own unique views.

【推荐3】Former Disney child star Jennifer McGill recently shared how, after her mother passed away, she went through an extremely dark period in her life.

Jennifer was born ready for the stage. She grew up in a loving home in Texas. And by age 7, she begged her mom to let her enter contests. Jennifer’s mom was uncertain. But seeing her daughter’s high energy and unshakable love of the stage, she finally supported her daughter’s wish.

Jennifer won many contests, and soon her parents were advised to have her audition (试演) for The New Mickey Mouse Club, a Disney show. Jennifer tried out and landed her dream job.

Many of Jennifer’s co­stars on the show went on to run after their careers. But after many years as a Disney child star, Jennifer didn’t feel ready for Hollywood just yet.

“I just needed to grow up and grow wiser in order to be the artist I thought I was meant to be,” she said. Instead, Jennifer chose to go on to college — a decision her mother fully supported.

Jennifer’s parents were supportive throughout her career and schooling. But her mom was her champion — a constant source of support. Unfortunately, when Jennifer was 24 years old, her mom passed away.

“The biggest light and fan was gone, the person who’d reminded me that I was unique and valuable. I was kind of lost,” she said. The next several years grew very dark. She began feeling herself lonely. She felt lifeless and purposeless.

Much as Jennifer still missed her mother, she realized she should get her life back to normal. She’s now pursuing a new career in music. She also spends her time coaching young artists. She encourages them to put fame at the bottom of their list.