Dec.11 marked the 15th anniversary of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). On that day in 2001, China formally became a member of the WTO. Now the country has grown into the world's second-largest economy and the largest trading country, while millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty. And 15 years on, it's evident that being a WTO member has transformed the nation's everyday lives for the better.

    Imports are now a common sight in Chinese stores and supermarkets, while they were previously rarely seen on shelves. The Chinese now have access to many imports varying from luxury goods like high-end cars and famous brand watches, to daily necessities. China's WTO membership has also made imports less expensive for the Chinese public.

    For instance, since 2005, no tariffs (关税) have been imposed (施加) on Chinese imports of digital cameras and other devices.

    Our education industry has also benefited from China's WTO membership. Many top global universities have joined forces with Chinese ones to establish cooperative education institutions, bringing foreign teaching concepts to Chinese students. For example, New York University Shanghai was jointly founded by New York University and East China Normal University. In addition, an increasing number of Chinese students are furthering their studies abroad, while many foreign students are coming to China to carry out their higher education. According to the Ministry of Education, 523,700 students studied overseas last year, and the number is expected to keep growing this year.

    China's WTO entry has brought benefit not only to the country's people, but also for the rest of the world.

    The Indian government may use 3D paintings as virtual (虚拟的) speed-breakers on major highways and roads, in an attempt to check speeding and careless driving, and eventually make its deadly roads a little safer. “We are trying out 3D paintings used as virtual speed breakers to avoid unnecessary requirements of speed breakers (减速带),” India's transport minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted.

    The visual illusions (幻象) are supposed to encourage drivers to slow down automatically. Earlier this month, India bad ordered the removal of all speed breakers from highways, which are considered to be a danger to safety for high-speed vehicles.

    India has the highest number of road accident deaths in the world According to the World Health Organization, over 200,00 people are killed by road accidents due to poor application of road safety laws. This is considerably higher than its official figures of 141,526 for 2014.

    The use of visual illusions as speed breakers was first pioneered in the American city of Philadelphia in 2008, as part of a campaign against speeding motorist. The technique has also been tried out in China to create floating 3D crossings.

    India, cities such as Ahmadabad and Chennai have already experimented with 3D zebra crossings in the last one year. In Ahmadabad for instance, two artists, mother and daughter have painted 3D crosswalks in the first few months of this year. The artists say their motto is “to increase the attention of drivers”, and that the concept has been successfully tested in zones where accidents easily occur on a highway.

    However, critics argue that once divers know that these speed briers are visual illusions, they may ignore them. Others also point out that India's decision does not consider the safety of a large walkers. In the end, the new policy may be just one step towards improving road safety.

    Generations of children grew up reading comic(漫画) books secretly, hiding out from parents and teachers who saw them as a waste of time and a risk to young minds. Comics are now gaining a new respectability at school. That is thanks to an increasingly popular and creative programme, often aimed at struggling readers, that encourages children to plot, write and draw comic books, in many cases using themes from their own lives.

    The Comic Book Project was started in 2001 by Michael Bitz at an elementary school in Queens. Since its creation, the programme, which is mainly conducted after school, has spread to more than 850 schools across the country. It has gotten a big push from the craze(狂热) among adolescents for comic book clubs and for Manga, a widly popular variety of comic originating in Japan.

    The point is not to drop a comic book on a child's desk and say “read this”. Rather, the workshops give groups of students the opportunity to collaborate(合著) on often complex stories and charac-ters that they then revise, publish and share with others in their communities.

    Teachers are finding it easier to teach writing, grammar and punctuation with material that students are fully invested in(投入). And it turns out that comic books have other built-in advantages. The pairing of visual and written plotlines that they rely on appear to be especially helpful to struggling readers. No one is suggesting that comic books should substitute for traditional books or for standard reading and composition lessons. Teachers who would once have dismissed comics out of hand are learning to exploit(利用) a style that clearly has a powerful hold on young minds. They are using what works.

    His Excellency

    Kim Jong Un

    Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Dear Mr. Chairman,

    We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit (峰会) long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

    We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant (不重要的). I was very much looking forward to being there with you.

    Sadly, based on the unacceptable and unfriendly statement, I feel it is not proper, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

    Therefore, please let this letter to serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.

    You talk about your nuclear capabilities (能力), but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

    I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you.

    In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages (人质) who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.

    If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

Sincerely yours,

Donald J. Trump

    President of the United States of America

    Did you know that Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four years old, and could not read until he was seven? His parents and teachers worried about his mental ability.

    Beethoven's music teacher said about him, "As a composer (作曲家) he is hopeless." What if this young boy had believed it?

    When Thomas Edison was a young boy, his teachers said he was so stupid that he could never learn anything. He once said, "I remember I used to never be able to get along at school. I was always at the foot of my class ... My father thought I was stupid, and I almost decided that I was a stupid person." What if young Thomas had believed what they said about him?

    When the sculptor (雕刻家) Auguste Rodin was young, he had difficulty learning to read and write. Today, we may say he had a learning disability. His father said of him, "I have an idiot (白痴) for a son." His uncle agreed. "He's uneducable," he said. What if Rodin had doubted his ability?

    Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he was thought to have no "good ideas". Enrico Caruso was told by one music teacher, "You can't sing. You have no voice at all." And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she was unable to write anything that would have popular appeal.

    What if these people had listened and become discouraged? Where would our world be without the music of Beethoven, the art of Rodin or the ideas of Albert Einstein and Walt Disney? As Oscar Levant once said, "It's not what you are but what you don't become that hurts."

    You have great potential. When you believe in all you can be, rather than all you cannot become, you will find your place on earth.

    Dutch officials toasted on Tuesday the opening of what is being called the world's first 3D-printed concrete bridge, which is meant to be used by cyclists. There was applause as officials wearing hard hats and workmen's jackets rode over the bridge on their bikes at the opening ceremony in the southeastern town of Gemert.

    "The bridge is not very big, but it was rolled out by a printer which makes it unique," Theo Salet, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. Work on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of pre-stressed concrete, according to the university. "One of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould (泥浆) is filled," it said on its website, adding "a printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed."

    The eight-metre (26-foot) bridge crosses a water-filled channel to connect two roads, and it was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two metric tons in cooperation with the BAM Infra Construction company. Although designed for bikes, it could take up to 40 trucks, the designers said "We are looking to the future," said the head of BAM, Marinus Schimmel. "3D printing meant fewer rare resources were needed and there was significantly less waste," he added.

    The Netherlands is among countries, with the United States and China, taking a lead in the cutting-edge technology of 3D printing, using computers and robotics to construct objects and structures from scratch without using much traditional manpower. Last year a Dutch architect unveiled (提示) a unique 3D printer with which he hopes to construct an "endless loop" building. And a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless-steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in the future.