Books that Changed My Life
Frank Cottrell-Boyce is a multi-award-winning author and screenwriter who won the CILIP Carnegie Medal for his debut children's book, Millions. His new book The Wonder Brothers, a fun mystery-adventure about the biggest vanishing trick of all time, is out now. |
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I could talk about this book forever! It's a memoir by a brilliant magician, Nate Staniforth, who has a belief in being able to do magic out of ordinary things. He has become a little jaded and disillusioned, so he takes himself to India to renew himself by taking his magic on the road. I'm very privileged to have been a writer all my life, but it's very difficult to stop it just being a job. You can lose touch with the joy of it. This book is about rediscovering the joy in your own talents and finding magic in the ordinary. | |
I won a copy of this book in a competition at school. It's kind of the opposite of finding the magic in the ordinary—it's about extravagance and amazing ness, bragging and lying. But I love it! It's really about how storytelling can save your life. The narrator is a woman facing a death sentence who is tell ng stories with these cli hangers (悬念) so she won't be killed. It's a book of wonders about how you can enchant (使入迷) someone with a story. As children's writer, you spend a lot of time in schools, telling stories to children who don't necessarily want to be there, gathering them up in a moment of laughter, excitement or nervousness. One Thousand and One Nights celebrates that you can confront someone who wants to kill you and, because of a cliffhanger they go, "I'll kill you tomorrow instead". It's the greatest celebration of the power of storytelling I can think of. |
This is just the funniest book. And it's kind of about nothing. It's just three blokes in a boat going down the Thames and not being very good at it. That's all. It's just paying attention to the lovely details of ordinary life. It's so kind, so tender, and it's funnier than anything else. There are pages and pages of failing to get through a lock gate or getting lost in amaze. You don't need all these big twists and dramatic events to be funny, you can just be really overconfident that you can find your way out of amaze! |
It was in a brightly-lit room in Mexico City, Mexico, that on June 18, 2014 it was announced that India-born Dr Sanjaya Rajaram had been named the winner of the World Food Prize.
Dr Rajaram won this award for successfully crossbreeding (杂交) the winter and spring wheat (小麦) varieties, which have been two distinct and isolated gene pools (分离的基因库) since the beginning of farming. And because of this breakthrough, the scientist has been able to breed over 480 wheat varieties.
Born in Varanasi in 1943, Dr Rajaram lived with his family off a plot of land growing wheat, rice and maize. "After my education here in India, I went off to Australia for my PhD and soon I joined CIMMYT (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre) in Mexico, where my career as a plant breeder started, " said Dr Rajaram.
"Every country is unique — there are climate systems, culture, the financial situation and each of the nations I visited needed a different set of solutions, " said Dr Rajaram. His solutions became part of what is widely described as the world's first "wheat network", a global exchange of "genetic information and innovations among researchers". His varieties of wheat were strong in nutrition, delayed (延迟) the attack of some plant diseases and were able to survive the severest of conditions.
After nearly half a century in the field, Dr Rajaram said his work was still not finished. "In science, you never stop learning. I have been doing this all my life and I've never really had time for anything else. As far as hobbies go, well, there's a bit of music I like to listen to and that's pretty much it. I have been on a long journey of pushing the boundaries (边界) of what's possible and today, there's still work left. Learning must never stop and the world must not go hungry. "
The prodigious ability of our species to rapidly assimilate vocabulary, expanding from a mere 300 lexemes by the tender age of two to an impressive repertoire exceeding 1, 000 by the age of four, remains a subject of profound enigma. Certain scholars in the realms of cognitive science and linguistics have posited that the human mind enters the world equipped with innate cognitive predispositions and logical parameters that facilitate this linguistic feat. However, recent advancements in the sphere of machine learning have unveiled the potential for swift acquisition of semantic understanding from sparse data, eschewing the need for preconceived, hardwired assumptions.
An ensemble of researchers has triumphantly honed a rudimentary artificial intelligence construct to correlate visual representations with their corresponding lexical entities, utilizing a mere 61 hours of ambient visual recordings and auditory data — previously amassed from an individual known as Sam during the years 2013 and 2014. Though this represents but a minuscule fraction of a child's developmental chronicle, it transpires that this was sufficiently informative to prompt the AI in discerning the significance of select vocables.
These revelations intimate that the process of linguistic acquisition may be more straightforward than hitherto presumed. It is conceivable that the juvenile mind does not necessitate a tailor-made, sophisticated linguistic apparatus to adeptly apprehend the essence of words, posits Jessica Sullivan, an adjunct professor of psychology at Skidmore College. "This is an exceptionally elegant inquiry, " she articulates, as it presents corroborative evidence that rudimentary data extracted from a child's perspective is sufficiently abundant to initiate the processes of pattern recognition and lexical assimilation.
The recent scholarly endeavor also illustrates the plausibility of machines emulating the learning modalities inherent to human cognition. Vast linguistic models are typically nurtured on colossal datasets encompassing billions, if not trillions, of lexical permutations. In stark contrast, human beings manage with a significantly reduced informational intake, as articulated by the principal scribe of the study, Wai Keen Vong. With the appropriate genre of data, the chasm separating machine and human learning could be substantially bridged.
Nevertheless, further investigation is warranted in select dimensions of this pioneering research. The savants concede that their findings do not conclusively elucidate the mechanisms by which children amass vocabulary. Additionally, the study's purview was confined to the identification of nouns pertaining to tangible entities.
Despite these limitations, this represents a stride toward a more profound comprehension of our own cognitive faculties, which may ultimately contribute to the enhancement of human pedagogical practices, according to Eva Portelance, a scholar in computational linguistics. She remarks that AI research has the potential to shed light on enigmatic queries about our essence that have persisted over time. "We can harness these paradigms in a salutary manner, to the advantage of scientific discovery and societal progress, " Portelance further elaborates.
"Assume you are wrong. " The advice came from Brian Nosek, a psychology professor, who was offering a strategy for pursuing better science.
To understand the context for Nosek's advice, we need to take a step back to the nature of science itself. You see despite what many of us learned in elementary school, there is no single scientific method. Just as scientific theories become elaborated and change, so do scientific methods.
But methodological reform hasn't come without some fretting and friction. Nasty things have been said by and about methodological reformers. Few people like having the value of their life's work called into question. On the other side, few people are good at voicing criticisms in kind and constructive ways. So, part of the challenge is figuring out how to bake critical self-reflection into the culture of science itself, so it unfolds as a welcome and integrated part of the process, and not an embarrassing sideshow.
What Nosek recommended was a strategy for changing the way we offer and respond to critique. Assuming you are right might be a motivating force, sustaining the enormous effort that conducting scientific work requires. But it also makes it easy to interpret criticisms as personal attacks. Beginning, instead, from the assumption you are wrong, a criticism is easier to interpret as a constructive suggestion for how to be less wrong — a goal that your critic presumably shares.
One worry about this approach is that it could be demoralizing for scientists. Striving to be less wrong might be a less effective motivation than the promise of being right. Another concern is that a strategy that works well within science could backfire when it comes to communicating science with the public. Without an appreciation for how science works, it's easy to take uncertainty or disagreements as marks against science, when in fact they reflect some of the very features of science that make it our best approach to reaching reliable conclusions about the world. Science is reliable because it responds to evidence: as the quantity and quality of our evidence improves, our theories can and should change, too.
Despite these worries, I like Nosek's suggestion because it builds in cognitive humility along with a sense that we can do better. It also builds in a sense of community — we're all in the same boat when it comes to falling short of getting things right.
Unfortunately, this still leaves us with an untested hypothesis (假说): that assuming one is wrong can change community norms for the better, and ultimately support better science and even, perhaps, better decisions in life. I don't know if that's true. In fact, I should probably assume that it's wrong. But with the benefit of the scientific community and our best methodological tools, I hope we can get it less wrong, together.
The Surprising Strength of"Weak" Social Ties
It's long been known that a community of supportive relationships improves our quality of life and can even help us recover from illness. . Regularly interacting with a wide variety of social ties, both "weak" and "strong", enhances our satisfaction. A rich diversity of ties provides more significant benefits to well-being, and "weak" social ties can prove just as important to life satisfaction as core, or "strong" ties. . There you can find the people who cheer, serve, support, comfort, educate, motivate, and entertain you.
Claire gets cheered up by going to the library and chatting with her favorite librarian every week. Sherry gets great joy from her Sunday breakfasts at a local diner because the manager and her favorite waitress are nice to her. . I remember discussing Anna Karenina on an airplane with a wise economics professor, and finding meaningful moments of joy with street musicians and performers.
. When you show kindness to a stranger, your seemingly small act might stay in their memory as a source of support and positivity. Everyone needs to feel significant in the eyes of another. You could be that person for someone in your extended circle. That's why it's so important to reach out to people around you, especially when they're going through hard times.
When we feel blue or lonely, we tend to turn down social engagements, either to avoid the imagined embarrassment of being the only sad person in a group or because socializing with people we don't know well can be awkward at first. . Being open to both our strong and weak ties allows us to benefit from the comfort, connection, and community they provide.
A. All of those connections matter — and so do you B. Harvard researcher Hanne Collins discovered something new C. Even those we meet only once can leave a lasting impression D. Our shared kindness and familiarity offer me a sense of community E. Interacting with the weak ties encourages us to behave more professionally F. But saying yes, despite the hesitation, offers an opportunity to feel less lonely G. So notice, pay attention to, and be grateful for your big, wide world of loose social ties |
Every afternoon for the past 11 years, AI Merritt, 83 years old, has been a reliable and cheery presence in his southeast Carlsbad neighbourhood, California.
His doctor suggested he get more 1 after he had some heart trouble about 12 years ago. AI started to 2 around the local road and hills. At first, his rides were about five miles long, then 10 to 12 miles, and 3 the length of his outings grew.
Since 2010, Merritt has been on a personal 4 to cycle the circumference (周长) of the earth — 24, 901 miles without even leaving his own neighbourhood. 5 , over the years, he got to know many of his neighbours and send them 6 of love and kindness.
"Every day I see him 7 on his bike. He is totally cheerful and takes time with everybody, " Keene said. "He gives us 8 and shows us how you can be in your 80s and still have a good time. "
It was not until October 24 that the old man finally realized his 9 bicycle trips were as important to them as they were to him. At 3 p. m. that Sunday afternoon, nearly 200 people 10 near his home to surprise and congratulate him on the completion of his "round-the-world" adventure.
As he rode down the hill towards his house, an 11 erupted from the crowd, who were 12 international flags and earth-shaped balloons. The outpouring of love 13 Merritt.
Although Merritt has now 14 his cycling goal, he has no plans to change the 15 that has become the highlight of his life.
After about one hour and a half on Tuesday night, the 2021 Nobel literature laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah (sell) around 100, 000 copies of his novels. The book sale was at Chinese livestream show on the short video platform Douyin, (generate) a profit of over 4 million yuan ($570, 000). The number grew to 110, 000 copies later that night.
During his talk with English teacher-turned livestreamer Dong Yuhui, the Tanzanian-born British author, 76, shared Chinese netizens his hometown life immigrant experiences, his writing as an outside r and teaching as a literature professor. He added: "I have been (continuous) absorbing nourishment(营养) for creating from nostalgia (怀旧), pain and (silent). "
Dong managed (connect) Gurnah's life and writing with the numerous Chinese readers living and working far from home—Dong being one of them —who find difficult to fit in the new environment, mostly in big cities, but also difficult to go back home and stay.
The show was the last public event of Gurnah's first China trip that began on March 5, during he visited Shanghai, Ningbo of zhejiang province, and Beijing, giving lectures and holding dialogues with Chinese writers including Ge Fei, Sun Ganlu and Nobel laureate Mo Yan.
注意： 1. 词数100左右;
2. 可增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Jim Barr stared in awe (敬畏) at the platform in the crowded school hall. The headmaster marched onto the stage, followed by the captains of the school soccer team and rugby side. Jim watched with envy as each was presented with an honor s jacket for their contribution to the school's sporting success over the previous year. When the next presentation of honors jacket would come around, Jim knew there was little hope that he would be the receiver of one of these treasured items of clothing.
"I wish you all a happy summer holiday, " the headmaster announced. "Although most of you will be going away to sunnier parts, there are others who will be staying near their home. The local council has asked the school to undertake a project over the next six weeks to help clear up rubbish around the area and separate it for recycling. If anyone is interested, come to my office and you will be supplied with a rubbish picker, bags and heavy-duty gloves. "
Jim knew he would be at a loose end over the holiday, so he went to the office along with five classmates to pick up the equipment needed to gather up the rubbish which littered the streets around the school. When he arrived home, his mother looked at him curiously as he placed the equipment on the kitchen table.
"What is this all about?" she asked with a smile on her face. "Mum, I'm an average pupil and I'm not very good at sports, " he replied. "This waste recycling is one way I can contribute to the good name of the school. "
"Just as long as you don't get fed up and stop half way through, " said Mum.
"I won't give up. I have made up my mind to do it well, " Jim said confidently.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150个左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Over the next few weeks, his classmates dropped out of the project.
Hearing his name called by the headmaster, Jim nervously made his way to the platform.
HERE Is Real Magic, Nate Staniforth
One Thousand and One Nights
Three Men in a Boat, Jerome K Jerome