2 . China's Yungang Grottoes (石窟) will complete the scanning of all the caves in five years, paving the way for the creation of digital versions that can withstand weathering and other real-world damage.

So far, the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Shanxi Province has completed three-dimensional scans of one-third of its Buddhist grottoes, according to the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute. “We're racing against time,” said Ning Bo, director of the institute's digitalization office, “Weathering is like cancer to grottoes, eating away at the sculptures year by year. Few technologies can prevent such progressive damage.”

Using three-dimensional laser (激光) scanning and multiplanar (多平面) reconstruction, the institute is working to capture the shapes, colors and other fine details of the grottoes and create millimeter-level digital archives for future study and preservation. “We hope to preserve the grottoes in digital form as much as possible, so people in the future will still have access to the information even if the grottoes fade away.” Ning said, adding that the digitalization will also allow the public to “visit” the grottoes more easily on their computer screens.

The digitalization project, which began in 2003 at the grottoes, still faces challenges posed by the caves' enormous sizes, complicated structures and exquisite sculptures, according to the institute. “The Yungang Grottoes were built into a mountain, and so our team is actually scanning structures as huge as a mountain. Besides, the inner structures vary wildly from exotic domes to traditional Chinese architecture.” said the director.

The Yungang Grottoes, located in the city of Datong, has 45 major caves and more than 59,000 stone statues. With a grotto complex stretching about 1 km from east to west, it is one of the largest ancient grottoes in the country.

3 . Taskmaster

Can you beat the four members of the public who answer general knowledge and specialist questions in the final of this year's competition? Tonight's specialist subjects include the history of winter sports, Latin American dances, detective novels and French history. There will be information about how to enter next year's competition.

Below Stairs

A new comedy series about Ray and Jen, who work in the IT section of a big company. Their office is in the basement while their bosses work in luxury upstairs. Reviews so far have been mixed. There are plenty of laughs, though some people may find the situations rather silly.

Whiteout

It includes men's and women's downhill racing, jumping and ice dance. Figure skater Jayne Wilton comments on the dance performances.

Top Team

A return of the jokey quiz show, in which teams of famous sports personalities and comedians have to give amusing answers to questions on a range of popular sports, not just football and tennis but winter sports too. Light-hearted entertainment for everyone!

Quicksteps

Each week, well-known faces from the world of television team up with a professional partner to perform a range of classical and modern dances. Each week's winners will take part in the grand final later in the year.

Inspector Blake

A famous football player has a beautiful wife, a big house and a bright future. When he's found dead in his car near a local park, Blake discovers that he was less popular than it seemed. Set in the 1970s, this nail-biting drama will keep you guessing right until the end.

4 . The phrase “Keeping up with the Joneses" has been an American saying for decades, likely coming from a picture book, which describes a family in a constant straggle to achieve the social status of their neighbors, the Joneses. While the picture book is long gone, the saying remains and the phenomenon still exists.

The Joneses are everywhere, living a successful and wealthy life. Their skin is beautiful, their body is perfect, and they have much money. They have the good house, pets, smart children and they seem never to struggle. For people, the Joneses take the form of a particular family and they regard the Joneses as a description of perfection.

We tell ourselves constantly if we could become someone just like our neighbors, we would be happy. However, as we compare ourselves with others, we notice the deep pain that these comparisons bring about. Well then, what do we do about the Joneses? We should remind ourselves nobody is perfect and perfection is an illusion. So we should train our brains to question or change the distorted (歪曲的) ways of thinking, and see the big picture.

While the methods above do help us see others more clearly, the methods alone won't solve the problem. Moving away from comparison means turning inward to address our insecurities and inviting more mercy. From there, we can honestly begin to notice what we want for ourselves and work to reach those goals. That, finally, is the road to a peaceful mind.

As we move away from the comparative model of judging worth and stop seeing others, success as a treat, we can even feel glad that the Joneses have meaningful careers. We can hope their marriage is happy, their bank account is full, and that their children are successful. We can hope good things happen to the Joneses.

6 . Where to Shop in London

James Smith & Sons

Have you ever seen a nobleman with a fine walking stick or a fashionable woman with an umbrella that's definitely not one of those five-dollar bargains from New York City street? Well； you could be that person too. But you have to go to Jame Smith & Sons. They specialize in all kinds of high-quality walking sticks and umbrellas.

Harvie & Hudson

UK and Italy are two leading countries when it comes to clothing for men. And you know that it’ll cost you your wages of several months to buy a suit of clothes there. But Harvie & Hudson is fairly accessible, especially for the kind of quality you get. A worthy alternative! You can’t go wrong with two sport jackets for around £200. That's a good deal.

Hatchards

Hatchards in Piccadilly, which opened in 1797, can claim to be the oldest bookstore in the UK with around 100,000 books, and has a special section for signed first editions, and children's books. Beyond that, it offers personalized book subscription services for a very reasonable sum — you'll just need to pay additional postage for shipment to America.

The Whisky Exchange

For those who love whisky and brandy, this is the best choice, since ifs one of the city's important liquor stores. It’s possible to order bottles to be shipped to America. You're bound to find something you'll never see at home. Ifs like the Willy Wonka factory for Scotch drinkers and collectors.

7 . China's historic 23-day Chang'e 5 mission has not only obtained precious rock and soil samples from the moon, but has also brought back a group of seeds that traveled the furthest in the nation's agricultural and forestry histories. More than 30 kinds of seeds, including that of rice, oats etc., were placed inside the multi-module Chang'e 5 spacecraft and orbited around the moon for about 15 days.

Scientists wished to check what would happen to the seeds after being exposed to extraterrestrial (地外的) forces in lunar orbit and also hoped that they could develop beneficial mutations (突变). This mission offered good opportunities to scientists, which enabled them to deepen their studies on the effect of cosmic rays on the growth and evolution of life on Earth.

Space-based mutation breeding refers to the process of exposing seeds to forces such as microgravity, vacuums and cosmic radiation during a spaceflight and then sending them back to Earth for further observation and planting. Researchers observe and examine several generations of plants grown from space-bred seeds and investigate their mutations-some are positive and desirable while others are negative. Those with positive mutations will be kept and analyzed, and will be introduced to farmers after their certification and approval.

Space breeding can generate mutations faster and more conveniently than ground-based experiments and can bring about some desirable traits that are otherwise hard to introduce. Compared with natural or conventionally bred types of plants, space-developed versions with positive mutations usually feature higher nutritional content, greater annual yields, shorter growth periods and better resistance to diseases and insect pests.

China conducted its first space breeding experiment in 1987, using a satellite to carry seeds into space. Since then, hundreds of kinds of seeds and seedlings have traveled with dozens of Chinese spaceships. Space breeding has helped to produce more than 200 new types of mutated plants in China that have been approved for large-scale cultivation, ranging from grains to vegetables and fruits. The Chang'e 5 robotic mission returned 1,731 grams of lunar rock and soil to Earth, marking a historic accomplishment 44 years after the last lunar substances were taken back.

9 . STUDYTRIP:

EXPLORATION OF FRENCH SOCIETY

Bonjour!

Program Structure:

Dates: June 4 4 – –   July 4 4,   9 2019 (Subject to change)

Partnering Institute: Alliance Francaise Bordeaux

Pre-trip preparations（Mar. —— Jun.）: Attend all briefings & Group presentation on a given topic

Post-trip assignment: Individual reflective & Photo album

Target Students:

●have knowledge in French

●show interest in French culture

●have GPA 2.5 or above

●be self-motivated in cultural exploration

●be a good team member

●be in year 3 or above (If admitted in 2017/2018 and onwards)

Cost (subsidy: HK $10,000 — HK $12,000)

HK $28, 000 (Full fee) (including tuition, round-trip air ticket, accommodation and local transportation expenses, but excluding meals and expenses during free time)

Plus Deposit: HK $3,000 (refund upon full attendance of all scheduled briefings & activities and submission of quality post-trip assignments)

(Remarks: Students who meet the requirements may apply for extra financial support from the College Scholarships Awards and Financial-aid Committee or the HKSAR Reaching Out Award)

Important Dates:

Feb 2          Deadline for applications

Feb 9-13     Selection interviews

Feb 27        Announcement of application results

March — June Pre-trip briefing sessions

Remarks:

●Past participants are NOT allowed to apply

●NO early departure or staying behind is allowed

Enquiry: 39436994/tammy chow @ cuhk. edu. HK

10 . If you stop a random person on the street in China, there’s a pretty good chance that their surname would be either Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu or Chen.That’s because those are the five most common surnamesin China — shared by 30% of the population. And the vast majority of the population share just 100 of those surnames. In comparison, the United States reported 6.3 million surnames in its 2010 census.

There are a few reasons for this: China is less racially diverse than countries such as the US, where a wealth of minority groups increase surname diversity (多样性). It also has to do with language; you can’t just add a random stroke (音节) to a Chinese character and create a new surname.

But there’s also another factor at play: technology. With China roaring into the digital age, nearly everything has moved online — from making appointments to buying train tickets.

The main problem is that not all Chinese characters have been coded into computer systems. That meant a world of trouble if you happened to have a rare character in your name. As of 2017, up to 60 million Chinese citizens faced this problem, according to Xinhua.

People with rare characters in their names, which aren’t compatible(兼容的) with existing computer systems, can get left behind— pushing many to change their names for the sake of convenience, even if it means abandoning centuries of heritage and languages.

To try to address this, experts have increased the database from 32,000 characters to 70,000 characters, according to the government. They’re still working to expand it to include more than 90,000 characters, said Chen Jiawei, an associate professor at Beijing Normal University.