1 . Saodat Sadikova is an English teacher in Jizzakh, Uzbekistan. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a flight attendant (空乘人员) and traveling the world, so she learned at least three languages. Although she was not able to become a flight attendant, Sadikova could speak Uzbek, Russian, English and Turkish. Sadikova has never traveled abroad but reports feeling connected to people around the world.

American Trina Bright worked in education for nearly 25 years and she traveled to many countries, including China and South Africa. Bright used stories from her travels to help her students in the U. S. understand their place in the world and see value in their own cultures. But Bright, unlike Sadikova, does not report feeling connected to people around the world.

Bright is not alone. Pew Research Center recently asked people in 24 countries a series of questions about how connected they feel to the world to see how travel experience relates to feelings of connectedness.

The study found that respondents (调查对象) who had traveled to at least one other country feel more connected to people around the world. 99 percent of respondents in the Netherlands reported having visited at least one other country and 77 percent of respondents from the Netherlands said they feel at least somewhat close to people all over the world. But international travel does not always mean a person feels a closeness to people around the world. 99 percent of Swedish respondents said they had visited at least one other country. Yet a much smaller number of Swedish respondents—47 percent—report feeling close to people all over the world.

Sadikova said she felt connected to the world because of media, which makes it quite easy to get to know events and news.

5 . China.org.cn here provides a list of some popular Chinese destinations for winter tourism in 2023 and explores how they plan to make the most of the legacy (遗产) of the Winter Games.

Shenyang started a Winter Olympics-themed travelling season from December 2021 to March 2022 and introduced 86 activities covering folk music, a traditional Chinese ice game festival, an ice sculpture exhibition (冰雕展), and ice and snow festivals.

Zhangjiakou in Hebei was the co-host city of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and hosted most of the skiing and biathlon events. The city has built nine ski facilities (设施), with over 164 kilometres of ski runs. So far, Zhangjiakou’s winter sports activities have attracted over 6 million players.

Known for its long winter season that can last up to eight months a year, Altay Prefecture in Xinjiang attracts skiers worldwide with its huge area of natural powder snow. The data shows that the ski places of Altay Prefecture received 2.45 million visits in the 2021-2022 winter season, with tourism revenue (收入) reaching 1.63 billion yuan, up 25.3% and 23.4% year on year. During the Spring Festival holiday last year, the place saw more than 6,000 skiers on a daily basis, 60% of which came from outside Xinjiang.

Snow and ice sports and winter tourism activities have been heating up in Xinjiang since Beijing 2022. The growth index (指数) of Urumqi’s winter tourism listed first in China in early 2022, according to the online tourism platform TravelGo. Xinjiang has unique ice and snow tourism resources with a snow season for nearly five months.

6 . New York Times best-selling author Susan Casey travelled globally, joining scientists and explorers on dives to the deepest places on the planet. She takes us on an interesting journey through the history of deep-sea exploration, from the legends of the ancient world to storied shipwrecks we can now reach on the bottom. Throughout this journey, she learned how important the deep is to the future of the planet, and how necessary it is that we understand and protect it. The Underworld is Susan Casey’s most beautiful and thrilling book, a wonderful show of the natural world.

Event location: The lecture and book signing (签名) will be held at the Linda Hall Library,5109 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Missouri.

Event time: Thursday, January 14th,7:00 pm-8:00 pm

Book signing: Hard copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event courtesy of Rainy Day Books. A book signing will immediately follow the lecture.

Admission package (admits one)

Click to order tickets through the Kauffman Center. Admission is $40.00 plus Kauffman ticket fee and includes one hardcover of the book and one admission ticket. Reserved seating.

Please note: Attendees (参与者) will receive their books as they arrive at this event. Your electronic ticket will be needed for event entry and to receive your hardcover of the book as you arrive.

Disclaimer (免责声明): All Rainy Day Books Author Event sales are final and non-refundable.

7 . As I walked to the market, I saw an old and dirty man sitting in front of a shop. It was ________ that he was a beggar looking for help. I made a ________ that on my way back I would give him whatever ________ I had. A few feet away was a drunk-looking man ________ on the pavement and no one who passed by ________ , including me.

When I returned to see the ________ old man was still there, I felt a sense of ________ to offer some help. I took out all the change to hand it over to him. He hardly looked into my eyes but ________ his head as though saying that he did not need it. I ________ and pushed it into his hand.

As I was ________ of my great act of charity, the man walked up to the drunk man and asked him something.________ , I couldn’t hear what he said. I only noticed him walk to the tea shop and buy some food with the ________ money I gave. Then, he went back to the man, helped him to sit and eat the food. He ________ I was still there, so he explained that man had not eaten for two days and had no ________ to sit up. And that was why he collapsed (昏倒) on the pavement.

Suddenly I felt so small and admired the ________ of the old man who had so little compared to me.

Zu Ti of the Jin Dynasty was a man who had with great ambition. When he was young, he had a good friend     1     (name) Liu Kun. They had such a deep friendship     2     they stayed together every day and got up at the same time every morning.

One day, when they were sleeping. Zu Ti heard the rooster crowing (鸡鸣) . He woke up Liu Kun and said, “How about     3     (get) up to play swords (剑) as soon as we heard the rooster crowing from now on?” Liu Kun was still     4     (sleep) . But he agreed with him     5     (joyful) . From then on, they got up and played swords once the rooster began crowing. They kept their word and never gave up no matter     6     cold in winter or hot in summer. Hard work     7     (pay) off. After a long period of hard study and training, they finally became the all-rounder. And they both did excellent jobs to their country.

The idiom “to rise with the rooster” teaches us that with ambition and hard work,     8     (succeed) is possible. When we can discover our shortcomings     9     time, it is not too late to try. But if you are not willing     10     (work) hard, you will not be able to achieve a career after all.

9 . Alonzo Carter, also known as Zo, is currently a football coach for the San Jose State Spartans in California. He’s trained countless student athletes, which often means his previous job in the hip-hop industry goes unnoticed. But not always!

Back in 1989, he and a few of his college friends auditioned (试演) for a music video. The song? MC Hammer’s still-unknown classic, Let’s Get It Started. They were hired on the spot and soon went on tours with him! As the summer came to an end, Zo assumed he’d return to college to finish his degree and reclaim his spot on the football team, but MC Hammer gained great popularity and started taking over the airwaves. Zo had a huge decision to make and ultimately joined MC Hammer as a permanent (长期的) backup dancer! But Zo couldn’t shake his passion for football. He eventually left the group to return to his high school in Oakland, California, where he began coaching track and football.

Decades later, Zo is one of the most well-known and respected college football coaches and doesn’t call much attention to his hip-hop beginnings. But at a training practice in 2017, a familiar song started playing over the PA system (广播系统). It happened that the head coach Brent Brennan had caught wind of Zo’s past and wanted him to show off his moves.

Without missing a beat, Zo dived in and started doing the Hammer Dance he had helped create all those years before. The moves came to him as easily as they had done back in the day, and his players obviously couldn’t get enough of his impressive talent.

Zo is a good reminder of how surprising career paths can be. Just think what would have happened if he hadn’t gone to that audition! The Hammer Dance wouldn’t exist as we know it, which would be a real tragedy (悲剧).