If Confucius(孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.

While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

    In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks(缺点) of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.

So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.

    Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.

    As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

    What Theresa Loe is doing proves that a large farm isn't a prerequisite for a modern grow-your-own lifestyle. On a mere 1/10 of an acre in Los Angeles, Loe and her family grow, can(装罐)and preserve much of the food they consume.

    Loe is a master food preserver, gardener and canning expert. She also operates a website, where she shares her tips and recipes, with the goal of demonstrating that everyone has the ability to control what's on their plate.

Loe initially went to school to become an engineer, but she quickly learned that her enthusiasm was mainly about growing and preparing her own food. “I got into cooking my own food and started growing my own herbs (香草) and foods for that fresh flavor,” she said. Engineer by day, Loe learned cooking at night school. She ultimately purchased a small piece of land with her husband and began growing their own foods.

     “I teach people how to live farm-fresh without a farm,” Loe said. Through her website Loe emphasizes that “anybody can do this anywhere.” Got an apartment with a balcony （阳台）? Plant some herbs. A window? Perfect spot for growing. Start with herbs, she recommends, because “they're very forgiving.” Just a little of the herbs “can take your regular cooking to a whole new level,” she added. “I think it's a great place to start.” “Then? Try growing something from a seed, she said, like a tomato or some tea.”

    Canning is a natural extension of the planting she does. With every planted food. Loe noted, there's a moment when it's bursting with its absolute peak flavor. “I try and keep it in a time capsule in a canning jar,” Loe said. “Canning for me is about knowing what's in your food, knowing where it comes from.”

    In addition to being more in touch with the food she's eating, another joy comes from passing this knowledge and this desire for good food to her children: “Influencing them and telling them your opinion on not only being careful what we eat but understanding the bigger picture,” she said, “that if we don't take care of the earth, no one will.”

    Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni. The film was a critical and financial success, winning Benigni the Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

    In 1939 in the Kingdom of Italy, a bookstore keeper Guido, who is a Jew, falls in love with a local school teacher, Dora, who is to be engaged to a rich civil servant. Guido steals her from her engagement party on a horse. Soon they are married and have a son, Giosue.

    In 1945, Guido and his son are forced onto a train and taken to a concentration camp. Despite being a non-Jew, Dora demands to be on the same train to join her family. In the camp, Guido hides their true situation from his son, telling him that the camp is a complicated game in which Giosue must perform the tasks Guido gives him, earning him points；the first team to reach 1,000 points will win a tank.

    Guido uses this game to explain features of the concentration camp that would otherwise be scary for a young child. Despite being surrounded by the misery, sickness and death at the camp, Giosue does not question this fiction because of his father's convincing performance and his own innocence. Guido keeps the story right until the end when, in the chaos（混乱）of shutting down the camp as the Americans approach, he tells his son to stay in a small box until everybody has left, this being the final competition before the tank is his. Guido tries to find Dora, but is caught and killed by a Nazi soldier. As he is taken away to be shot, he maintains the fictions of the game by marching in a goose-step on purpose…

    When she moved the covering cloth to look upon his tiny face, she was shocked. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.

    Time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. When he rushed home from school one day and threw himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be full of heart- breaks for his imperfect appearance.

    He grew up, handsome for his misfortune and popular with his fellow students. He might have been class monitor, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music.

    Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You're going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret." The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person turned up. His talents blossomed into genius, and his school and college became a series of success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic service.

    One day ,he urged his father, "Who gave so much for me？I must know! I could never do enough for him." "I do not believe you could, " said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know... not yet."

The years kept their secret, but the day did come— one of the darkest days that a son must endure. He stood with his father over his mother's casket (棺材). Slowly, tenderly, the father reached out a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair to show that the mother had no outer ears.

    "Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut, " he whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought Mother less beautiful, did they？"

    Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance, but in the heart. Real treasure lies not in what can be seen, but in what cannot be seen. Real love lies not in what is done and known, but in what is done and not known.

    Researchers are looking into new ways to generate efficient photovoltaic energy (光伏能源) and for this they have been inspired by the v-shaped posture of the Cabbage White butterfly(菜粉蝶).

    Photovoltaic energy is the science behind solar power, where light is turned into electricity. It is a two-set process. Step one is a photoelectric effect, caused by sunlight. The second step is an electrochemical process, which generates an electric current.

    To improve the collection of sunlight, a research group has been inspired by the resting posture of the Cabbage White butterfly. The species has a natural range across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. To many farmers, the butterflies are regarded as a pest; to others, they are pretty to look at. To one research group the butterflies are an inspiration.

    The butterfly adopts a v-shape in order to heat up its flight muscles before taking off. By creating solar panels(太阳能电池板)in this formation，scientists think that the quantity of power that a solar panel can produce can be increased by around 50 percent.

    The Cabbage White butterfly is different to many other butterflies in using the v-formation. On cloudy days butterflies need to wait to receive enough sunlight in order to fly. However  by using the v-posture, the Cabbage White butterfly is able to take in more energy more quickly than other butterflies. In addition, the butterfly can reflect sunlight from its wings, which allows its flight muscles to be warmed to an ideal temperature.

    The new research was conducted at the University of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) and the Centre for Ecology and Conservation. Discussing the findings with Laboratory Manager magazine, lead researcher Professor Tapas Mallick stated :"Biomimicry(仿生学)in engineering is not new. However, this research shows pathways to develop low cost solar power that have not been done before. "

The Alexander technique

    Until earlier this year, I didn't know anything about the Alexander technique—and saw no reason to think I should. One day, the backache I regularly suffered was more painful. I was brought up to think that the preferred way of dealing with aches is to do nothing and hope they'll go away, but I eventually went to the doctor. After examining me, he said, "You actually have bad posture (姿势). Go off and learn the Alexander technique." Three months later I could walk straighter and sit better.

    The Alexander technique is a way of learning how you can get rid of harmful tension in your body. The teaching focuses on the neck, head and back. It trains you to use your body less severely and carry out the movements that we do all the time with less effort. There is little effort in the lessons themselves, which sets apart the Alexander technique from yoga or pilates, which are exercise-based. A typical lesson involves standing in front of a chair and learning to sit and stand with minimum effort. You spend some time lying on a bench with your knees bent to straighten the spine (脊椎) and relax your body while the teacher moves your arms and legs to train you to move them correctly.

    The technique helps to break the bad habits accumulated over years. Try folding your arms the opposite way to normal. This is an example of a habit the body has formed which can be hard to break. Many of us carry our heads too far back. The head weighs four to six kilos, so any inappropriate posture can cause problems for the body. The technique teaches you to let go of the muscles holding the head back, allowing it to go back to its natural place on the top of our spines.

    So who was Alexander and how did he come up with the technique? Frederick Alexander, an Australian actor born in 1869, found in his youth that he had vocal (声音的) problems during performances. He analyzed himself and realized his posture was bad. He worked on improving it, with excellent results. He brought his technique to London and opened a teacher-training school, which is still successful today.

    So if you're walking along the road one day with shoulders bent forward, feeling weighed down by your troubles, give a thought to the Alexander technique. It will help you walk tall again.