【推荐1】Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me, “You should have goals like climbing the mountain.” Without the mountain­climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn't have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from mountain­ climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience(耐力)．

Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the birds' singing, but as time passed, I got a pain in both of my legs. I wanted to quit climbing. In fact, I hated it at that moment, but my father said to me，“You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can't see it before you reach the top. Only there at the top, can you see all of the nice things, just like in life.”

At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got new hope and confidence. I found myself standing at the top of the sky, which was as clear as crystal(水晶)．

【推荐2】Everyone has dreams and goals for the future. But why do you still end up with nothing? What separates successful people from the dreamers is their persistent (锲而不舍的) action. You will often find some of your lessons in school very hard. Try and keep trying, and you’ll be sure to successfully deal with any difficulty you meet with.

This is the formula (公式) for success:

Dream > Believe > Achieve

Most people have what they want (Dream) and think they can realize their dreams (Believe). But they do nothing. When they get tired waiting and lose a lot, they get bored.

I personally believe that if you really want to achieve your dreams and goals in life, you have to add one thing to your success formula:

Dream > Believe > Act > Achieve

For me, act is the most important thing for success, and that’s to Take Persistent Action (Act). “I’ll try” creates wonders. Let’s remember that there will be difficulties in our life. We must face them bravely and solve them. Most successful people made their dreams come true because of their persistent action.

Please remember: Action is the bridge that connects our dreams and goals to reality.

【推荐1】“Made in China” is having its moment now —— and it’s a fashionable one. The story of Chinese fashion began in 2011 when Feiyue and Huili, both Chinese shoe brands, suddenly had international attention. Their products were seen on models all over the world.

Shaun Rein, a manager of China Market Research Group said that they wish to go head to head with foreign brands. China’s young people are now more confident (自信的) about their own culture. Western culture doesn’t excite the young than it had before.

“Today’s young people in China are excited about Chinese cultural elements (元素),” Jin Qu, a worker from a clothing shopping website in China, said at a cultural festival in November. “They like these elements printed on their clothes, even the brand image of laoganma —— the famous chili sauce in China —— which was once seen as outside of fashion. But now young people are proud of these Chinese symbols.”

In fact, many famous people in the West now are also crazy about Chinese cultural elements in fashion. A US singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty (蕾哈娜), for example, wore a shiny and heavily embroidered (刺绣) dress to an important show. The dress was designed (设计) and made by Chinese designer Guo Pei.

“We have to move from producing to service and creativity,” Chinese-American architect(建筑师) and designer Aric Chen once said. “We want to replace the words ‘Made in China’ with ‘Designed in China’.”   

【推荐3】The mobile phone has become a problem for middle schools. Some middle schools in Australia have banned students from carrying mobile phones during school hours.

Mobile phone use among children has become a problem for schools this year. Many children have got mobile phones as Christmas gifts, and more students want them. Mary Bluest, an official, said, “Mobile phone use is a distraction（分散注意力的事）to students during school hours and it also gives teachers so much trouble in their classrooms.” Teachers were also saying that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams（考试作弊）. She said some schools had tried to ban mobile phones. Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t get in touch with（联系）their children.

Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones, but if there was a good reason, they could leave their phones at the school office. They also said there were many reasons why the students should not have mobile phones at the school. They were easy to lose and were a distraction from studies.

Many people say that they understand why parents would want their children to have phones, but they think schools should let the students know when they can use their mobile phones.

【推荐1】We teenagers like to feel that we are special. Unluckily, many of us grow up believing that we’re not special at all. We wish that we could be better at sports or more popular. We wish we had nicer clothes or more money. Like the Scarecrow or the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz(绿野仙踪), we believe we’re not good enough. In the movie, the Scarecrow wishes that he had a brain. The Tin Man wishes he had a heart. In the end, they each realize that they already have what they want.

Most parents want us to be the best we can be. They sometimes try to encourage us to do better by comparing us to others. They mean well, but the message we often get is that we’re not good enough. We begin to believe that the only way we can be special is by being better than someone else. But we are often frustrated, because there will always be someone who is better at something than us.

Like the Scarecrow or the Tin Man, we all hope what we believe will make us better people. But we don’t realize that we already have the very things we want inside us. Parents sometimes forget to tell us that we are special and that we are good enough. Maybe no one told them when they were growing up, or maybe they just forgot. Anyway, it’s up to us to tell them from time to time that each of us, in our own way, is special. And we are all good enough.

【推荐2】Breakthrough or bad science?

It’s long been a scientific dream: to give people a special vaccine (疫苗) before birth to prevent them from getting terrible illnesses. Gene editing (基因编辑) is one way in which we could do this. But this method has also created some controversy (争议).

In an online video posted on Nov. 26, He Jiankui, a researcher at the Southern University of Science and Technology, said that he had helped to make the world’s first genetically edited babies.

The babies are twin girls who were born in November. Their father had HIV. The twins’ genes were edited in order to prevent them from being infected (感染) by the HIV virus.

He said he chose to do this because HIV is widespread in China. “I feel such a strong responsibility not only to be the first to do this, but also to set an example,” He told AP. But his actions raised many questions. Although gene editing may help to prevent disease, many people are wondering if it is safe and ethical (道德的) to use it on humans.

Some believe that gene editing could benefit HIV patients. HIV is “a major and growing public health threat (威胁),” according to Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church. Using gene editing for HIV is “justifiable (无可厚非),” Church told AP. However, others think that gene editing is still in its experimental stages and could result in problems later in life, including the development of cancer, Julian Savulescu from the University of Oxford told BBC News. Besides, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has worked with other departments to investigate his project. In an open letter released on Nov. 27, 140 Chinese HIV/AIDS researchers described the research as “unethical”. They questioned the need for his project.

Others fear that some wealthy people might use gene editing technology to make “designer babies”. It would give parents the ability to choose everything from their baby’s eye color to their intelligence.“You could find wealthy parents buying the latest ‘upgrades’ for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,” Marcy Darnovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics, told BBC News.

【推荐3】It's a land where winter darkness is long and summers bring continuous sunlight. However, people are very happy in Finland, despite the country's natural challenges. Last month, the nation was named the happiest on Earth, according to the 2018 World Happiness Report released by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The Finns certainly have a high range of happiness, Eric Weiner wrote in his 2008 book The Geography of Bliss. There's a stereotype（刻板印象）that Finns are introverted（内向的）and shy, because they often stay silent. But in fact, "for Finns, it is extremely rude to interrupt someone. This leads to us making pauses or taking our time to talk", Krista Huhtala-jenks, a senior officer at Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications, explained to CNN.

Perhaps Finland's love for heavy metal music and tango reveals（显示）the country's true personality, however. Indeed, young Finns love heavy metal music, while tango remains a huge part of Finnish culture for the older generation. The passionate dance started in Argentina, but it's Finland that became the tango capital of the world. Every July, the Finnish town of Seinajoki draws thousands of people from all over the world to a four-day tango festival. During the festival, a tango king and queen are chosen.

Another trademark（特征）of Finnish culture is the sauna（桑拿）. According to CNN, the nation has about 3. 5 million saunas—roughly one for every 1. 6 people. And 99 percent of Finns take at least one sauna a week, BBC News reported. In Finns' eyes, saunas are closely related to well-being. For example, if a person gets sick, he or she will take a sauna. Many women also prefer to give birth in a sauna, because "the walls of traditional smoke saunas were lined with naturally bacteria-resistant soot（抑菌的煤烟灰）, making them the cleanest room in the house", BBC News noted.

Medical benefits aside, the sauna is also seen as a place to collect your thoughts. “Sauna is for your mind. It really helps you to calm down in a modern society where it is never quiet,” Jarmo Lehtola from the Finnish Sauna Society, told BBC News. "If somebody wants to understand what it is to be a Finn, they have to understand what a sauna is. If you do not experience sauna, you do not experience Finland."