Zhang Kui first learned he could perfectly mimic(模仿)the sounds of animals when he was a child. The 29-year-old, who grew up in a poor family in Qiyang, Human province, today is a full-time performer of kouji.

    Zhang was 15 when his father died in 2003. He dropped out of school and joined his uncle's theater. Zhang bought CDs to study how to mimic the sounds of musical instruments and animals. He performed shortly afterward at a small theatre. “Although I wasn't that skilled, I got a lot applause(掌声). It was my first time on the stage. And then more and more audience came to watch my performances.” he said.

    He moved to Guilin in 2004, where he found work as a waiter at a karaoke bar. In 2005, Zhang went to Guangdong province and performed outside supermarkets to sell shampoo. “They paid me less, so I had to perform at bars at night.” said Zhang. He also worked as a condtruction worker. In 2007, he went to Beijing to learn from Niu Yuliang, a Beijing Kouji master. He worked as a gatekeeper to pay his way. He went to Niu on weekends and during the holidays to learn.

    Zhang's skills improved and he has since performed on more than 20 television programs. In September 2013, he was invited to Switzerland, in 2004, he performed in Africa, Europe and North America.

    Last year, he made a short film about the art and said it was the first film on the subject. The film will be on this year, and he said he hoped to draw more attention to the art. He also plans to give lectures on this traditional art at universities.

    Are you dreaming of taking a trip on your own? Here is some advice on how to make your once-in-a-lifetime journey and how to stay safe when you get there.

    Before you begin to look at places, activities and plane tickets, you must set a budget. When you search through the websites about travelling, it can be so easy to add another week here or there, or choose an extra activity. Setting a budget can avoid（避免） creating a huge bill, which starts very small.

    With so many countries on this planet, it is difficult to decide where to go. By narrowing down your search to voluntary (自愿的) work or a relaxing holiday, you can save a lot of time looking through websites.

    After deciding where to go, you need to research the country. Find out when each season is. It would be disappointing if you were taking part in an outdoor-based activity and it rained most days. Look into medical information, as you may need certain medicine for certain countries. Above all, make sure you can afford to go to this country and take part in the activities you have dreamt about. Don't raise your hopes too high before you know for certain it is within your budget.

    By carrying a credit (信用) card with you at all times,  it is possible to stop yourself getting lost. Mobile phones are very important as well. However, do not depend completely on them, since electronic machines can break without warning. Therefore, always carry a list of emergency (紧急情况) phone numbers, names and addresses. Finally, learn a little of the language. Do not expect that the people there speak your own language. After all, you are in their country.

    Every day, we are moving closer to some kind of artificial intelligence(人工智能). Progress in big data, machine learning and robotics are going to give us a world where computers are effectively intelligent in terms of how we deal with them. Should you be scared by this? Absolutely, but not in the usual “robot overlords” (机器人帝国) kind of way. Instead, the real fear should be about getting human beings wrong, not getting AI right.

    The key to the technology is the ability of computers to recognize human emotions based on the ''activation” of muscles in the face. A computer can identify the positions of facial muscles and use them to infer the emotional state of its user. Then the machine responds in ways that take that emotional state into account.

    One potential application of it is to provide “emotional robots” for the elderly. Having a machine that could speak in a kind way would comfort a lonely older person. That is a good thing, right? But that won't also relieve us from questioning how we ended up in a society that takes care of the elderly because we don't know what else to do with them? Can't we have more humane solutions than robots?

    “Emotion data” aren't the same thing as the real and vivid emotional experiences we human beings have. Our emotions are more than our faces or voices. How can they be pulled out like a thread, one by one, from the fabric(组织) of our being?

    Research programs can come with much philosophical(哲学的) concern, too. From the computers' point of view, what the computing technology captures are emotions, but at its root is a reduction of human experience whose outward expressions can be captured algorithmically (计算上). As the technology is used in the world, it can reframe the world in ways that can be hard to escape from.

    The technology will clearly have useful applications, but once it treats emotions as data, we may find that it is the only aspect of emotion we come to recognize or value. Once billions of dollars floods into this field, we will find ourselves trapped in a technology that is reducing our lives. Even worse, our “emotion data” will be used against us to make money for someone else. And that is what scares me about AI.

    People are divided into two groups in the world. Though each of them has equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.

    People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend (hurt) many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing(批评) and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation(模仿). It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.

    Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact(接触) with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.

    Nobel prize-winners, legendary (传奇的) authors, and famous scientists — you might think all these people were born to be creative. However, that's not always the case.

    While well-known figures like Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein did their most significant (重要的) work in their youth, famous American poet Robert Frost and English-born natural scientist Charles Darwin were known as "late bloomers" – people whose talents were not noticeable until later in life.

    This idea of "peaking" at different times inspired new research from the United States. "Many people believe that creativity is exclusively (独有地) associated (有联系的) with youth, but it really depends on what kind of creativity you're talking about," said Bruce Weinburg, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and co-author of the study.

    According to the study, published earlier this month in the journal De Economist, there are two types of people: conceptual (概念的) and experimental thinkers.

    To reach this conclusion, researchers took the 31 previous winners of the Nobel Prize in economics and arranged them according to when they did their most significant work, to identify (识别) their creative peaks.

    Some peaked from ages 25-29. Classified as conceptual thinkers, these people think outside of the box, coming up with new ideas before they become used to the conventional way of doing things.

    The second creative peak came with economists in their 50s. These are experimental thinkers who have been in their field for a long time. This allows them to learn from errors and experiment with different processes, before eventually finding new solutions.

    "Whether you hit your creative peak early or late in your career depends on whether you have a conceptual or experimental approach," said Weinburg. He added that their study isn't limited to economics, saying it can apply to other creative disciplines (知识领域). So if you're struggling to come up with new ideas, don't panic. Your creative peak may be yet to arrive.

The success of The Pickwick Papers made Dickens very popular. He suddenly found himself at twenty-four the most famous novelist of his day. Busy as his social life was, he worked on two novels at the same time—Oliver Twist and The Pickwick Papers. He was particularly proud of The Pickwick Papers, which was a huge success and was regarded as a comedy (喜剧) masterpiece (杰作). "If I were to live a hundred years and write novels in each, I should never be so proud of any of them as I am proud of The Pickwick Papers," he said.

It has been said of Dickens that he grasped (抓住) the imagination of his readers because his imagination grasped himself. The people in his works were so real that they could make him laugh or cry. When writing Oliver Twist he said that he could not rest until Fagin, the wrongdoer (做坏事的人), had been hanged.

Dickens' marriage to Catherine Hagarth, with whom he had ten children, ended unhappily in 1858. He started to travel about giving readings of his works. His interest in theater gave his novels the qualities that made them suitable for reading aloud on the stage. A tiring travel to the United States affected his health. On June 9, 1870, when he was working on a new novel, he died, as he had wished. He said he wanted to die working.