1 . To show empathy (共情) is to identify with another’s feelings. It is to emotionally put yourself in the place at another. The ability to empathize is directly dependent on your ability to feel your own feelings and identify them.

If you have never felt a certain feeling, it will be hard for you to understand how another person is feeling. If you have never put your hand in a flame, you will not know the pain of fire. If you have not experienced jealousy (妒嫉), you will not understand its power. Reading about a feeling and intellectually knowing about it is very different than actually experiencing it for yourself.

Among those with an equal level of emotional intelligence, the person who has actually experienced the widest range and variety of feelings—the great depths of depression and the heights of fulfillment, for example— is the one who is most able to empathize. On the other hand, when we say that someone “can’t relate to” other people, it is likely because they haven’t experienced, acknowledged or accepted many feelings of their own. Once you have felt discriminated (歧视) against, for example, it is much easier to relate with someone else who has been discriminated against. Our innate emotional intelligence gives us the ability to quickly recall those instances and form associations when we encounter discrimination again. We then can use the “reliving” of those emotions to guide our thinking and actions. This is one of the ways nature slowly evolves towards a higher level of survival.

For this process to work, the first step is that we must be able to experience our own emotions. This means we must be open to them and not distract ourselves from them or try to numb (使麻木) ourselves from our feelings through drugs, alcohol, etc.

Next, we need to become aware of what we are actually feeling—to acknowledge, identify, and accept our feelings. Only then can we empathize with others. That is one reason why it is important to work on your own emotional awareness and sensitivity—in other words, to be “in touch with” your feelings.

3 . I absolutely could have gone my entire life without ever reading Moby-Dick, but unfortunately, I have read it. Twice. I’ve had to read it twice.

I can trace it as far back as middle school — the teachers’ strong desire to push classic literature on students as much as possible. And it makes sense, in some ways. There are benefits to being well read —a larger vocabulary, mental stimulation, concentration and understanding of literary references in the world. But at the same time, being well read doesn’t necessarily mean only reading classics for the sake of reading classics.

This isn’t to say that these classic novels serve no purpose in curriculum (课程) or in the literary world — classics are, in many ways, vital to a well-rounded education in literature. But so are pieces of contemporary (当代的) literature and books from centuries ago that haven’t been recognized classics. So yes, there’s room for classic novels. But right now, there’s too much room for classic novels.

There are also many modern sayings that come from classics — like “Big brother is watching,” from George Orwell’s 1984, “Tomorrow is another day,” from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind and “Hey Boo,” which originally comes from To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s worth something to be well versed in texts that have made an impact on the construct of modern day language. But at the same time, when classic novels are put on syllabi (教学大纲) or inserted into high school curriculum, novels should be selected with care —not just selected because it’s “what everyone in the field reads” —which yes, has been said to me before.

And as far as contemporary literature goes, there seems to be an opinion that it doesn’t offer as much wisdom and has less value and, therefore, we can’t learn as much from it. I’ve found this to be most untrue. After all, we tend to learn best from things that we can connect to, and contemporary literature is often the most relatable. And though it hasn’t had the time to become a classic, the structure and syntax (句法) holds its own. It’s different from classic work, but it’s not less valuable.

So let’s take a step back from the classics. We think that they’re pushing us forward, when, really, they might be standing in our way.

6 . Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm (算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate strength calculations for the predicted earthquakes.

The research team adopted a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the AI provided its prediction by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background rumblings (隆隆声) in the Earth.

This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earthquakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to remarkably improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”

While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other locations, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. The next step is to test artificial intelligence in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet has 300 earthquake stations and over six years worth of continuous records, making it an ideal location for these purposes.

Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” concludes Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.

7 . Life is full of ups and downs, and you must understand that you will sometimes fail at things and it is okay when that happens. Almost all of our life we have been taught that failure is really bad, and when we fail we must drown (沉浸) ourselves in sorrow, this is an entirely wrong approach.

From a kid to an adult, you will fail at many things in life but that will only tell you about yourself. You will get to learn about your true capabilities, the things you are good at, and the things that you are bad at. We must learn to accept the process rather than run from it. Only then will we be able to achieve our goals in life.

Let me tell you something about myself, and how I faced failures in life. In my early years at school, I had trouble with some subjects. I used to get really bad grades. Sometimes I would get an F and that would make me really scared. I used to think: “What will I show my parents?” So what I used to do was cover those grades up. I would turn the F into a B just to please my parents. Well the short version of it is that it didn’t work out and eventually, I was caught doing that. I learned a lot after that. I knew that I had to accept that failure and learn from it, and something good actually came from it. I started doing better with my grades. That F turned into a B naturally, and that B turned into an A.

Whenever you face a failure, never think that you are never going to recover from this. You must think of ways to better yourself. Did you know that it took Thomas Edison 10,000 attempts to perfect the light bulb? Bill Gates failed many times, even his first company was a complete failure. All of this is proof that we must learn from our failures, not run from them!

9 . At the end of 2019,I learned that Here After AI, whose goal is to let the living communicate with the dead, was looking for applicants of its new AI project. Interested in what it was promising, I applied to experiment the software on my very-much-alive parents.

At first, I thought it would be just a fun project to see what was technologically possible. Then their health condition added some urgency to the experiment. I was frightened that my parents might die since my father had been diagnosed with cancer and my mother was recently developing symptoms of early Alzheimer’s disease, and that with the distance between us, I might never have the chance to say goodbye.

The first step was an interview. My parents were asked questions by a techician for hours-about everything from their earliest memories to what they believe will happen after they die. Whether through illness-generated concerns or a willingness to humor their daughter, my parents put up zero resistance. The company then took their responses and started to create the voice assistants. A few months later, my virtual parents arrived via email attachment.

When I communicated with them through the app on my phone, my hands were shaking. I hadn’t seen my actual, real parents for six months. They told me personal stories I’d never heard. They gave me life advice and told me things about their childhoods, as well as my own. It was mesmerizing.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about my experiment. I’m glad to have my virtual parents. They’ve enabled me to learn new things about my parents, and it’s comforting to think that those softwares will be there even when my parents aren’t. On the other hand, I can’t help but find it sad that it took a stranger interviewing my parents for me to properly appreciate the complex people they are. But I feel lucky to have had the chance to grasp that-and to still have the precious opportunity to spend more time with them and learn more about them, face to face, no technology involved.