The ninth week of SEAL(Sea, Air, Land) training is referred to as Hell Week. It is six days of no sleep, physical and mental suffering and one special day at the Mud Flats (泥沼）where you will sink into the mud.

    It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that we came down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing-cold mud, the cold wind and the strong pressure from the instructors to give up.

    As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having broken some of the rules, was ordered into the mud. We sank into the mud until only our heads could be seen. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would give up—just five men and we could get out of the cold.

    Looking around the mud flat, it was clear that some of us were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up--eight more hours of coldness. Our cries were so loud that it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to fly through the night--one voice raised in song.

    The song sounded terrible, but it was sung with great power. One voice became two, and two became three, and before long everyone in the class was singing.

    We knew that if one man could rise above the suffering then others could as well. The instructors warned us of more time in the mud if we kept up the singing—but the singing went on and on. And somehow, the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little weaker and the morning not so far away.

    If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power can change the world by giving people hope.

    So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you're up to your neck in mud.

    MCDONALD'S drew ridicule（嘲笑）in China when it changed its registered name to Jingongmen, or “Golden Arches” in October, after it was sold to a Chinese company. Some on Weibo, a microblogging site, thought it sounded old-fashioned and awkward, others thought that it had hidden meanings of furniture. The fast-food chain was quick to reassure customer that its restaurants would continue to go by Maidanglao, a rough transliteration（音译）that has, over the years, become a recognizable brand name. But for most companies now entering Chinese markets, transliterations are a thing of the past, says Amanda Liu, vice-president of Labbrand, a consultant firm based in Shanghai that advises firms on brand names.

    Companies are instead choosing Chinese names with meanings that capture people's imagination. That often involves going beyond a direct translation. New entrants are taking inspiration from BMW, which is Baoma, or “treasure horse” in China, and from Coca-Cola, which is Kekoukele, or “delicious happiness”.

    The naming process is forcing companies to think harder about the image they want to project in China, says Ms Liu. LinkedIn, a professional networking site owned by Microsoft, chose the name Lingyin, or “leading elite（精英）” in 2014, meaning more uniqueness than its Western name. Her other corporate customers have included Airbnb, Marvel Comics and Haribo. Labbrand tests proposals with focus groups, ensuring that the name has no negative associations in any of the major Chinese dialects.

    A vital part of the process is checking that candidate names have not already been snapped up. The Chinese are energetic trademarkers: in 2015 there were 2.8 million trademarkapplications in China, more than three times those in America and the EU combined. Companiesconsidering entering the Chinese market might often find that their products have already beengiven local names, thanks, for example, to coverage in the press.

    Some even find that their Chinese name has already been trademarked, says Dresden of Harris Bricken, a law firm, either by their own distributors, competitors seeking to block its entry, or counterfeiters（伪造者）taking advantage of soundalikes, etc.

    Perhaps thanks to these mishaps, foreign firms are getting wiser to the importance of naming in China. More Chinese firms are also seeking advice on foreign names, says Ms Liu, as they seek to conquer Western markets. Both know that if they make a mistake, the social-media critics will be waiting.

    Not so long ago, most people didn't know who Shelly Ann Francis Pryce was going to become. She was just an average high school athlete. There was every indication that she was just another Jamaican teenager without much of a future. However, one person wants to change this. Stephen Francis observed then eighteen-year-old Shelly Ann as a track meet and was convinced that he had seen the beginning of true greatness. Her time were not exactly impressive, but even so, he seemed there was something trying to get out, something the other coaches had overlooked when they had assessed her and found her lacking. He decided to offer Shelly Ann a place in his very strict training seasons. Their cooperation quickly produced results, and a few year later at Jamaica's Olympic games in early 2008, Shelly Ann, who at that time only ranked number 70 in the world, beat Jamaica's unchallenged queen of the sprint(短跑).

    “Where did she come from?” asked an astonished sprinting world, before concluding that she must be one of those one-hit wonders that spring up from time to time, only to disappear again without signs. But Shelly Ann was to prove that she was anything but a one-hit wonder. At the Beijing Olympic she swept away any doubts about her ability to perform consistently by becoming the first Jamaican woman ever to win the 100 meters Olympic gold. She did it again one year on at the World Championship in Briton, becoming world champion with a time of 10.73—the fourth record ever.

    Shelly-Ann is a little woman with a big smile. She has a mental toughness that did not come about by chance. Her journey to becoming the fastest woman on earth has been anything but smooth and effortless. She grew up in one of Jamaica's toughest inner-city communities known as Waterhouse, where she lived in a one-room apartment, sleeping four in a bed with her mother and two brothers. Waterhouse, one of the poorest communities in Jamaica, is a really violent and overpopulated place. Several of Shelly-Ann's friends and family were caught up in the killings; one of her cousins was shot dead only a few streets away from where she lived. Sometimes her family didn't have enough to eat. She ran at the school championships barefooted because she couldn't afford shoes. Her mother Maxime, one of a family of fourteen, had been an athlete herself as a young girl but, like so many other girls in Waterhouse, had to stop after she had her first baby. Maxime's early entry into the adult world with its responsibilities gave her the determination to ensure that her kids would not end up in Waterhouse's roundabout of poverty. One of the first things Maxime used to do with Shelly-Ann was taking her to the track, and she was ready to sacrifice everything.

    It didn't take long for Shelly-Ann to realize that sports could be her way out of Waterhouse. On a summer evening in Beijing in 2008, all those long, hard hours of work and commitment finally bore fruit. The barefoot kid who just a few years previously had been living in poverty, surrounded by criminals and violence, had written a new chapter in the history of sports.

    But Shelly-Ann's victory was far greater than that. The night she won Olympic gold in Beijing, the routine murders in Waterhouse and the drug wars in the neighboring streets stopped. The dark cloud above one of the world's toughest criminal neighborhoods simply disappeared for a few days. “I have so much fire burning for my country,” Shelly said. She plans to start a foundation for homeless children and wants to build a community centre in Waterhouse. She hopes to inspire the Jamaicans to lay down their weapons. She intends to fight to make it a woman's as well as a man's world.

    As Muhammad Ali puts it, “Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision.” One of the things Shelly-Ann can be proud of is her understanding of this truth.

Time Travel

    If you could travel in time, where would you go? Perhaps you would watch an original performance of a Shakespeare's play in Elizabethan England? What about hanging out with Laozi in the Spring and Autumn Period? Or maybe you'd voyage far ahead of the present day to see what the future holds.

    The possibility of time travel is indeed appealing. Stories exploring the subject have been around for hundreds of years. Perhaps the best known example is science fiction novel. The Time Machine, which was written by H.G. Wells and published in 1895 for the first time. It was adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows an operator to travel purposefully and selectively. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now universally used to refer to a vehicle transporting people into the far future.

    But could time travel actually be possible? Some scientists say yes, in theory. They propose using cracks in time and space called “wormholes”, which could be used as shortcuts to other periods. Einstein's theory of relativity allows time travel in extreme circumstances. And British physicist Stephen Hawking says you could travel into the future with a really fast spaceship going at nearly the speed of light. Though building such a spaceship would of course be no simple task.

    Even if you could travel into the past, there is something called the “grandfather paradox”. It asks what would happen if a time traveler were to go back in time and have his own grandfather killed for some reason, and therefore prevent himself from being born. If the time traveler wasn't born, how would he travel back in time?

    And would you really like to visit the future? In H.G. Wells' book, the main character travels into distant time where he arrives at a beach and is attacked by giant crabs. He then voyages 30 million years into the future where the only living thing is a black object with tentacles(触角).

    If that's what's in store, maybe we are better just living in the present day after all.

WELCOME AND ARRIVAL INFORMATION

    Welcome to Harvard University Housing and thank you for choosing to live with us. To help you make a smooth transition, please read the information below on planning your arrival.

    Pets

    Dogs living with you in your pet-friendly apartment must be vaccinated for rabies and licensed with the City of Cambridge every year.

    International Students

    Consider unlocking your phone prior to leaving your home country. This will enable you to use a SIM card from a company such as campus SIMS or US Mobile in your phone after you arrive. Those sim cards may be available at the Property Management Office.

    Driving

    If you plan on bringing a moving van or truck it will not fit under the overpasses on Soldiers Field Road and Memorial Drive. Plan your route in advance to avoid a risky and costly problem.

    Parking arrangements for trucks and vans must be made in advance as well. Visit your property page for information about parking your car.

    Furniture and Lighting

    Most HUH units have no furniture—the unit is empty except for a stove and a refrigerator. You need to bring, buy, or rent a bed, other furniture, and household items. In many HUH units, rooms do not have overhead lights, so you also may need table or floor lamps.

    If you want to stock up on groceries and some household items as soon as you arrive, please find information about "Grocery Shopping" by selecting it from the drop-down menu.

    I have a special place in my heart for libraries. I have for as long as I can remember. I was always an enthusiastic reader, sometimes reading up to three books a day as a child. Stories were like air to me and while other kids played ball or went to parties, I lived out adventures through the books I checked out from the library.

    My first job was working at the Ukiah Library when I was 16 years old .It was a dream job and I did everything from shelving books to reading to the children for story time.

    As I grew older and became a mother, the library took on a new place and an added meaning in my life. I had several children and books were our main source(来源) of entertainment. It was a big deal for us to load up and go to the local library, where my kids could pick out books to read or books they wanted me to read to them.

    I always read ,using different voices ,as though I were acting out the stories with my voice and they loved it !It was a special time to bond with my children and it filled them with the wonderment of books .

    Now, I see my children taking their children to the library and I love that the excitement of going to the library lives on form generation to generation.

    As a novelist, I've found a new relationship with libraries. I encourage readers to go to their local library when they can't afford to purchase a book. I see libraries as a safe haven(避风港) for readers and writers, a bridge that helps put together a reader with a book. Libraries, in their own way, help fight book piracy(盗版行为) and 1 think all writers should support libraries in a significant way when they can. Encourage readers to use the library. Share library announcements on your social media. Frequent them and talk about them when you can.