1 . Books are the most valuable cultural heritage. However, there are many ancient Chinese classics suffering from different degrees of damage due to various reasons.     1    

Bai Yuzhi,a post-90s restorer (修复师) at the Wuhan Library,graduated from Wuhan University in 2016 with a major in restoring ancient books. She is now the fourth generation of restorers at the Wuhan Library, Bai started practicing this technique during her after-class activities at college in 2014.     2     “I’m shy and not good at socializing, so this job suits me very well,” she said

    3     The restoration steps cannot be rushed. When restorers receive an ancient book, their first task is not to directly restore it but to observe it and record the book’s important details. After that, the restorers will open the book,remove every page, and repair it on the back side.     4     It may take one or two days to restore a single page. So it could take at least a month to complete the restoration of a whole book.

Bai has restored about 10,000 pages of ancient books in her over 10 years of work. The most difficult part of the restoration, according to her, is keeping everything under exact control over every stage.     5     If the paste (面糊) is too thin, the repaired pages may easily come off and become broken, which could affect the quality of the restoration. However, if the paste is too thick, the fixed pages will be tough, challenging to open.

With the advancement of science and digital technology, the methods for protecting ancient books have become more various.

4 . For new students at Binghamton University, the first few weeks can be an exciting time. Their focus is largely on finding a sense of community. For Antoinette “Toni” Stefanakos, now a senior majoring in (主修) marketing, her sense of belonging (归属感) started with a flyer from Off Campus College Transport (OCCT).

“One day I was leaving the classroom and there was a flyer advertising (征聘) for student drivers,” Stefanakos said. “I had no idea that the buses on campus were run by students. So I called my dad, and said, ‘I’m going to be a bus driver.’”

OCCT is Binghamton University’s student-run bus service. The blue buses are a hallmark of the campus, and they are all driven in the lane (车道) by students.

“I interviewed, and it went really well,” Stefanakos said.

Stefanakos’s interest in public transportation continued to grow after she saw a job flyer for Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS). “I knew that TAPS was advertising for a marketing student,” she said. “And I thought that was great for me as a marketing major and someone who works with buses.”

Stefanakos began working with TAPS. Because of this job, Stefanakos found a new path. Now, she deals with public relations and trains new drivers for OCCT. “I can share my knowledge and experience as someone who is a driver,” she said.

The people make the job all the more worthwhile for Stefanakos. “One day, a passenger came up to me and told me I was her driver every Tuesday morning. And she told me that every time she was on my bus, she knew it was going to be a good day. I didn’t even realize that a simple ‘good morning’ could make someone’s day like that,” she said.

Stefanakos will surely miss the blue buses when she graduates, but she’ll always have unforgettable memories (回忆) to look back on.

6 . I was driving when my phone alerted me to a new email. Filled with eager anticipation, I pulled over, turned on my hazard lights, and opened it. My emotions quickly changed as I learned, for the sixth and final time, that I had been denied a promotion to full professor. My institution didn’t seem to value what I brought to the table. But when I told my family that night, my children offered a surprisingly positive response. They were excited to see what I was going to do next, they said. They apparently knew long before I did that losing my bid for a promotion would turn out to be the best thing that could have happened for me.

This had been the final step in a long process spanning 15 months and involving so much effort. I had started by studying successful promotion bids and asking senior scholars for frank discussions about my readiness. I had carefully prepared my application packet, summarizing everything I had achieved in my career. For more than a year, I had spent hours every day trying to prove my worth to my university.

To my surprise, having a final answer brought a welcome sense of closure. As a first step toward healing, I decided to prioritize my own values and follow my own internal compass. I disconnected from people in my life who violated my values, cultivated my relationships with those who share my priorities and bring out the best in me, and spent more time with my family. I founded a nonprofit that helps first-generation and low-income students and young professionals advance in the workforce while serving their community. The initiative had long been a dream of mine, but I never pursued it because typical academic hiring and promotion don’t reward such efforts. Now, such considerations were no longer my North Star.

Five months after that email from top leadership, I found myself in the car again, experiencing another career-defining moment. I may have lost my bid for a big promotion, but in the end, it brought me to the right place.

7 . Jenn Larson was just 14 years old when she took over the bookkeeping for her family’s dairy farm near Firth, Idaho. She soon saw firsthand how challenging it was for her parents, who lacked any college education, to properly manage the unpredictable earnings of farming. This started a lifelong passion for finance, and it led her down an unexpected path to becoming a role model she never had.

Yet, such ambitions ran in obvious contrast to everything familiar to her. “I didn’t have any advisors,” Larson says. “I didn’t have anyone to look up to for a professional example. All the women I associated with were stay-at-home moms.” Despite having parents who couldn’t fully understand her ambitions, Larson went to the BYU Marriott School, where she earned a business degree and focused much of her coursework on international finance.

Larson worked for seven years as a financial representative with Northwestern Mutual, advising clients on important financial decisions. Larson returned to BYU Marriott in 2008 to earn an MBA, and accepted a position in the school as an assistant professor following her graduation. For more than a decade, Larson has taught finance classes to undergraduate and MBA students. While she teaches finance, Larson tries to help her students see how mastering finance principles can also impact their personal lives.

Constantly balancing motherhood and work, Larson makes adjustments to the way she teaches. She gave birth to her first three children in three years while teaching at BYU Marriott, wondering at times if labor might start while in front of a class full of students. During the pandemic, Larson taught online classes from her dining room table while taking care of a newborn and other young children at home.

As a female instructor in the often male-dominated finance industry, Larson works to inspire other women who seek a similar path to hers. Larson became the role model that she never had — the example that a 14-year-old girl staring at a farming expense sheet couldn’t find. Now, Labor on’s children and students will always have that example.

8 . You may feel your backbreaking and low-paid part-time summer job isn’t worth you effort.     1     Here are some you can enjoy.

When landing a job, you’ll put yourself into unfamiliar territory and learn how to survive and develop there.     2     Whether it’s learning a new skill or dealing with a tough boss, you must rely on yourself for solutions, through which you can build up your self-belief.

Hanging around all summer is a great way to relax, but it won’t contribute to your time management skill.     3     This skill helps you decide what should be accomplished in a day and learn how to handle those things to make it happen, which involves prioritizing, planning and judging how much you can realistically finish. The best way to develop this skill is through practice. With loads of free time, you’ll likely not have to flex your time-management muscles.

    4     Take it easy. Most people change their minds many times before settling on their long-term career. Getting out into the workforce as a waiter at a cafe may not help you see what it’ll be like as a doctor but you’ll figure out whether you like to work with people or whether you can work efficiently under pressure. A summer job helps zero in on your likes and dislikes to evaluate your strengths and resolve your weaknesses.

Chances are that your social circle is comprised of people in your age group. However, in a job, you’ll work with diverse groups of people, from whom you’ll learn varying viewpoints and experiences.     5    

10 . My students frequently ask me how I planned out my career to become president of Fidelity Investments. I always tell them, “There was no grand plan; I backed into my career one step at a time.” In this tough economy and ever-changing world, it is more important than ever to smartly evaluate each step in your career. To prepare for whatever surprises lie ahead, try to make choices today that will maximize your options in the future.     1    

Gaining transferable (可转移的) knowledge begins with the choices you make at school. You want your education to provide you with the necessary skills and expertise to succeed in a wide variety of jobs.     2     I favor those that involve extensive writing, rigorous analysis, or quantitative skills.

Once you have finished your formal education, search for jobs that will allow you to further expand your transferable knowledge—to help you find your next job. Let’s say you take a job putting together airplane leases. Within a few years, you could become the world’s expert on the subject.     3     By contrast, if you take a job that will expand your computer programming skills, you can greatly boost your options for later steps in your career.

Remember gaining transferable knowledge is only one piece of the puzzle.     4     As a saying goes, “Organizations don’t hire people. People hire people.” The more people you know, the more people will think of you when a job pops open—even when it is not publicly advertised.

Of course, you can build your network to some degree without changing jobs.     5     But this sort of event-driven networking pales in comparison with the deep bonds you can develop with your colleagues by working, communicating, and traveling with them.