LIVING LEGENDS

Help us choose some “Living Legends of Sports”. They must be athletes who are masters in their sports and also set good examples for others. Here are our first two choices.

As a player, Lang Ping brought honour and glory to her country. As a coach, she led the China women’s volleyball team to medals at world championships and the Olympics. As a person, Lang Ping is loved by fans at home and abroad. When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her determination was tested. The team that Lang Ping had built was falling apart. One of the best players had been injured, and the team captain had to leave because of heart problems. Losing two important players was a big challenge, but Lang Ping did not lose heart. She had faced difficulties before, and she knew that her young players could win if they worked together as a team. Two weeks later, they were world champions! Then in 2016, Lang Ping led her volleyball team to Olympic gold in Brazil.

When Michael Jordan’s feet left the ground, time seemed to stand still. The player who became known as “Air Jordan” changed basketball with his graceful moves and jumps. Jordan’s skills were impressive, but the mental strength that he showed made him unique. In the final seconds of a game, Jordan always seemed to find a way to win. Jordan says that the secret to his success is learning from his failures. “I can accept failure; everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” Losing games taught him to practise harder and never give up. In life, Jordan has learnt to share his success with others. The Boys and Girls Club which he started in Chicago has been helping young people since 1996.

Send your suggestions for “Living Legends of Sports” to LLS@sports.net.

TRAVEL PERU

A short flight from Cusco takes you from the Andes into the Amazon rainforest. From there, you’ll spend one day travelling by boat to your accommodation in the middle of the forest. You can then spend three days exploring the rainforest with a local guide and enjoying the plants and animals unique to the rainforest.

This four­day walking tour will take you on amazing paths through the Andes Mountains on the way to the city of Machu Picchu. After reaching your destination you will have a day to explore and be amazed by this ancient city. Especially amazing is the Incas’ dry stone method of building. Inca builders cut stones to exact sizes so that nothing was needed to hold walls together other than the perfect fit of the stones.

Spend four days enjoying the unique Spanish and local Indian culture high in the Andes at Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th century. Stay in a local hotel, visit the museums, admire the architecture, enjoy the excellent local food, and go shopping at the local markets.

Enjoy the beautiful countryside as you spend a day driving along the new highway connecting Cusco to Lake Titicaca. There, a boat will take you to stay with a local Uros family on an island for three days. Both the island and the Uros homes are made of water plants from the lake.

So come and experience what Peru has to offer: everything from the ancient Inca culture and centuries­old Spanish villages to deep rainforests, high mountains, and a beautiful coastline.

For more brochures about other package tours around Peru, contact us at   tourinfo@travelperu. org.

THE FRESHMAN CHALLENGE

Hi! My name is Adam and I’m a freshman at senior high school. Going from junior high school to senior high school is a really big challenge. The first week was a little confusing.

First, I had to think very carefully about which courses I wanted to take. The school adviser helped me choose the suitable ones;maths, English, chemistry, world history, and Chinese. I know that Chinese is a very difficult language, but I hope to be fluent when I graduate. My adviser recommended that I should sign up for advanced literature because I like English and I’m good at it.

I know I’ll have to study harder as a senior high school student and get used to being responsible for a lot more. I’m a bit worried about keeping up with the other students in my advanced course, and it’ll be quite difficult to get used to all the homework. Still, I’m happy to be here. Studying hard isn’t always fun, but I’ll be well prepared for university or whatever else comes in the future.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

So this is it — senior high school at last! I’m not outgoing so I’m a little anxious right now. I want to make a good first impression. Will I make any friends? What if no one talks to me?

I just had my first maths class at senior high school! The class was difficult, but the teacher was kind and friendly. He even told us a funny story, and everyone laughed so much! I found most of my classmates and teachers friendly and helpful.

This afternoon, we had our chemistry class in the science lab. The lab is new and the lesson was great, but the guy next to me tried to talk to me the whole time. I couldn’t concentrate on the experiment. I really wanted to tell him to please be quiet and leave me alone!

What a day! This morning, I was worried that no one would talk to me. But I was wrong. I didn’t feel awkward or frightened at all. I miss my friends from junior high school, but I believe I will make new friends here, and there’s a lot to explore at senior high. I feel much more confident than I felt this morning. I think that tomorrow will be a great day!

The Monarch’s Journey

Many animals move from one place to another at certain times of the year. This annual movement is called migration. They migrate to find food, seek a partner, or in search of warmer weather. One of the most wonderful migrations in nature is that of the North American monarch butterfly.

Every autumn, millions of these beautiful insects with fine black and orange wings begin a long and difficult journey. Somehow they manage to travel around 4,000 kilometres south and find their way to California or Mexico. However, until recently no one knew how they did this.

A team of scientists led by Professor Eli Shlizerman at the University of Washington has now found the answer. They have found out that the monarch is able to tell the time of day. It uses its eyes to measure the position of the sun. These two pieces of information — the time of day and the point where the sun is in the sky — allow the butterfly to determine the way to go. Eventually, it manages to reach the places where it will spend the winter.

The solution to the mystery of the monarch’s amazing ability comes at a time when it is in serious trouble. Its population has crashed by as much as 90 per cent in the last few years. Sadly, human activity is the main reason why the number of monarch butterflies is falling. In many of the places where the butterfly can be found, people are destroying the natural environment. They cut down trees and use chemicals that kill the plants that monarch caterpillars eat.

The research on the monarch’s behaviour has however led to a greater awareness of this creature. People have been working together to record its migration and make sure that there are enough plants for it to feed on. If this works, there may come a time when the number of monarch butterflies increases once again. The more we know about this lovely creature, the greater the chance it will survive and keep its place in the natural world for a long time to come.

CLICK FOR A FRIEND?

How would you feel if moving to a new town meant losing track of your friends? What if the only way of getting news from faraway friends was writing letters that took ages to be delivered? This was how things worked not very long ago. Thanks to advances in technology, how we make friends and communicate with them has changed significantly.

Nowadays, we can move around the world and still stay in touch with the people that we want to remain friends with. Social media tools let us see what our friends are up to and maintain friendships. All you need is a wi-fi connection.

The digital age also enables us to find people who share our interests, such as collecting model cars or playing an unusual instrument. Whatever our hobbies, the Internet can connect us with others who also enjoy doing them, even if they live on the other side of the world.

But when you “friend” people online, does this mean that they really are your friends?

It depends. 

If people always exchange true personal information online, then yes, these friendships can be real and meaningful. But we need to keep in mind that what we see on social media is often not the whole truth about a person.

On social media sites, people tend to post only positive updates that make them appear happy and friendly. But smiling photos can hide real problems. Remember the saying: on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. A young person could be old; a woman could be a man; we could even be sharing our information with criminals.

But this doesn’t mean that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although technology has changed the way we acquire friends, the meaning of friendship and our longing for friends remain the same. As Aristotle said, no one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all other goods.

10 . About thirty years ago, Switzerland-based artist Klaus Littmann came across a great drawing titled The Unending Attraction of Nature by Austrian artist and architect Max Peintner. The drawing displays a scene in which nature is so separate (分开的) from the environment that it becomes just a small area of ground, protected for amusement.

“When I first saw the pencil drawing, I was interested. I knew that one day this work would be the starting point for a major art project in public space,” says Littmann. Now, decades later, Littmann has achieved the vision with the installation (大型艺术作品) of FOR FOREST: The Unending Attraction of Nature. The installation sets a native central European forest in the middle of Worthersee Football Stadium in Klagenfurt, with almost 300 trees planted, some weighing up to six tons each.

In the face of climate crisis and deforestation, FOR FOREST comes with a more pressing urgency. As explained in a statement about the installation, “In support of today’s most pressing issues about climate change and deforestation, FOR FOREST aims to challenge our perception of nature and question its future. It reminds us that nature may someday only be found in special places, as is already the case with animals in zoos.”

Overseen by Enea Landscape Architecture, the forest is made up of a diverse range of species. This attracting panorama (全景) will pave the way for a whole new view and understanding of forests.

In a short video about the work, Littmann says his goal is never to make something that will last forever; rather, he says, “My goal is for this picture to remain in people’s head for a lifetime.”