If we were asked exactly what we were doing a year ago，we should probably have to say that we could not remember. But if we had kept a book and had written in it an account of what we did each day, we should be able to give an answer to the question．

    It 1s the same in history．Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them. Sometimes men did keep a record of the most important happenings in their country, but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war．Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to write．For example，we know a good deal about the people who lived in China 4,000 years ago，because they could write and leave written records for those who lived after them．But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in Central Africa，because they had not learned to write．

    Sometimes，of coures，even if the people cannot write，they may know something of the past．They have heard about it from older people，and often songs, dances and stories have been made about the most important happenings, and these have been sung，acted and told for many generations，for most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past．This we may call”remembered history”．Some of it had been written down. It is not so exact or so valuable to us as written history is，because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing．But where there are no written records，such spoken stories are often very helpful．

    Asking a patient to hum(哼唱)piano tunes and play fin instrument while undergoing brain surgery(手术)may sound like a strange request from a doctor．However，that is exactly what a team of brain specialists，led by Pilcher，requested Dan Fabbio to do．

    In 2015，the then 25-year-old musician was diagnosed with a brain tumor(肿瘤)，which was located in the part of the brain known to be active when people listen to and make music．“Removing a tumor from the brain can have significant consequences depending on its location，”Pilcher says．“Both the tumor and the operation can damage tissue and affect communication between different parts of the brain．”

    Fabbio，therefore，feared the surgery would cause him to lose his musical ability．To prevent that from happening，Pilcher and his colleague designed many tests，including asking Fabbio to listen to piano tunes and hum back during MRI scans．This enabled the physicians to locate the area that is vital for music and language processing and create a 3-D map of Fabbio's brain．

    Despite the great starting point，it was not a perfect way to prevent possible damage to the．The only way was to keep the patient awake and ask him to hum piano tunes during the surgery so that the surgeons could identify the areas to avoid．While the surgery went smoothly，the real test came when Fabbio was asked to play a song on his saxophone．The tunehad been simplified to ensure that it would not require too much strength and cause harm to the stitches(缝线)in the brain．He played it faultlessly，and when he finished，the entire operating room erupted in applause．

    The researchers say that a year after the groundbreaking surgery，the young musician can once again hear tunes in everything—even his electric toothbrush．

    Do you have trouble trying to create the next big idea? Sometimes the answer isn't to just force an idea out of your mind. Instead, you might want to try sitting back, relaxing and letting your mind wander. Yes, you heard that correctly. If you are in need of a new idea, try daydreaming.

    Researchers from the university of California, Santa Barbara, found an association between daydreaming and creative problem-solving. Their study includes having participants first do an "unusual-use task". They had to try to come up with as many different ways to use an object as they could.

    Then, the participants chose to do one of the following four things before doing the "unusual-use task" again: complete a difficult task; complete an easy task; take a 12-minute break; or skip the 12-minute break and move right on to the task exercise again.

    Surprisingly, the group that performed best was the one that completed the easy task. Many participants reported that they were daydreaming while performing the easy task. So the researchers believed that this daydreaming might have helped unlock their creativity.

    But how could daydreaming help the brain come up with creative ways? The answer is something known as "unconscious thought". Even when you are not actively working to solve a problem, it is still in the back of your mind. Your brain is still thinking about the problem, but in a much more subtle (不易察觉的) way.

    When you daydream, your mind is allowed to think in ways it normally would not. Because it is free of control, it can create completely new and out-of-the-box ideas.

    Great ideas never come easily, but that does not mean you always have to work hard to get them. Feel free to do what you want and let your mind wander.

    A friend is better than fortune. A friend is worse than poison in some cases.

    The two sentences above have opposite meanings and seem to be unreasonable  but they can be explained as follows: the first refers to all good friends who drive us towards good while the second all bad ones who lead us into bad ways.

    My ideal friend is of course a good friend whose goodness is shown below — he has no bad habits  such as smoking and drinking. He lives in frugality (节俭). He studies hard so as not to waste his golden time. At home he honors his parents and loves his brothers; at school he respects his teachers and shares the feelings of his classmates. He treats those truly who are true to him. In a word, he has all the good characteristics that I don't have. I can follow him as a model. With his help I can be free from all difficulties.

    Indeed, if I have such a person as my friend, I shall never fear difficulty and I shall never know the existence of the word "failure".

HK, mainland university to open in Guangzhou

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), will start its very first semester in the Guangdong provincial capital in September, undertaking its mission {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (train) new talent for the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Ma Shu, deputy director-general of the city government, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (say) HKUST(Guangzhou) is the first cooperative university in Guangzhou and the first university in the city's Nansha district, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} has become a new engine for economic growth.

"HKUST (Guangzhou) {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (expect) to become a role model for higher education collaboration between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, as well as a world-class university to train the right kind of talent for the development of the GBA and the entire country," Ma said at a news conference in Guangzhou {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Monday.

It will serve as a research university for scientific and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (technology) innovation, industrial upgrading and the high-quality development of the GBA, he said.

The university {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (aim) to integrate the high-quality education resources of the mainland and Hong Kong, Ma said, adding that by exploring cutting-edge and crossover {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(discipline) it can build a new internal management system and mechanism to help cultivate innovative talent with {#blank#}9{#/blank#} international perspective.

The deputy director-general said the city government would continue to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (financial) support the construction of the second phase of the university in the coming months.

In 2019, after retiring from her career as a social worker, Ane Freed-Kernis decided to build a home workshop and devote all of her free time to stone carving. "I might be covered head to toe in dust but I'm happy—it was something I needed more of in my life when I hit 60," she says.

This appeal has its origins in Freed-Kernis' childhood. Growing up on her father's farm in Denmark, she used to wander through the fields with her eyes fixed on the ground, looking for stones to add to her collection. "I've always been drawn to the shapes and textures（质地）of stones," she says.

After moving to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed-Kernis soon became occupied with her busy career and the demands of raising her son. Stones were the last thing on her mind, until her father died in 2005. "He took a stone carving course in his retirement, and I always thought stone seemed so fun but never had the time to look into it myself," she says. "After he died, I became determined to learn in his honour."

Signing up for a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Freed-Kernis began to learn how to turn a block of rock into well-designed shapes. "It was really scary at the start because you would spend hours just hammering（锤打）."

Now 65, Freed-Kernis has a thriving small business built largely through word of mouth. She creates 12 to 15 pieces a year that can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks to complete, while her prices range from £200 to £3, 000. "I'm making smaller ones," she says. "I don't have to depend on the money much, so I want to keep prices in the range that people can afford, mainly just covering costs and labour（劳动力）."