You may love to see tigers at the zoo. But what if you had to stay with one on a boat on the open sea for over 200 days? Life of Pi《少年派的奇幻漂流》, the movie from American Chinese director(导演), Li An, tells an amazing story.

    Pi is a boy. He lives happily with his family in a beautiful Indian town. His father has a zoo, so Pi knows a lot about animals.

    But one day, his father decides to move to Canada. He will sell all his animals there. The family begin to sail on the Pacific with all the zoo animals. But a big storm(暴风雨) hits their ship at night. Finally, Pi finds the only Survivors(幸存者) are himself and a large tiger called Parker on an 8-meter boat.

    To keep himself alive, Pi has to keep feeding the tiger so that he does not get eaten. He tries to get on well with the tiger during a 227-day sail on the sea.

    The movie is from a Canadian writer Yann Martel's book of the same name. The book has sold 7 million copies world-wide. It discusses not only hope but also relationship(关系) between humans and nature.

    It took Li An four years to make the movie. He also used 3D for his first time. He hopes the movie will “make the people think”. Life of Pi opened in Chinese theaters on November 22, 2012.

    Yu Minhong, president of New Oriental Education, shared his ideas with the young after the English speech competition of the 14th China Daily. Here is some of his advice to young people:

    “One suggestion I'd like to give you is that it's important to do what you like without fear of failure. And the process（过程）of working toward your dreams matters more than the results. Young people should take chances to show off talents. Take competitions like this one as an example: If you are afraid to fail, you'll never get the chance to stand on the stage and make a speech. Above all, it's most important to take part.

    Another suggestion I want to give you is to read books. It is not easy to keep reading every day. For me, it is much more difficult and challenging to keep reading and taking notes every day than it is to walk 10,000 steps.”

    In his speech, Yu also shared his view on life. He chose a different life rather than a more successful one. He uses the famous lines of American poet Robert Frost (1874–1963) to make his point:“Two roads diverged (分叉) in a wood, and I … took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”Yu pointed out, “Your happiness should not be what others think you should run after, but instead you should decide what it is. It is you who should make choices for your own life.”

    Yu Minhong's speech to young people

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    Develop an "ear" for that language. This means that you should always listen to what others are saying and then repeat it.

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    For everything that you have in your house, label（贴标签）its name in this language. You can place these labels in your living room, kitchen, and even the bathroom. You would be surprised by how quickly you've picked up so many new words by using this method.

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    Find some books to read. You will find it easier to read if you choose the ones that you're interested in. You should remember the useful phrases and beautiful sentences while reading.

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    One of the best ways to learn a new language is to find a partner. So try to make more friends and find a partner to help you. You will find you can talk with others in that language more and more fluently（流利地）.

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    If all these methods can't help you, take some training classes. It may cost you a little bit of money, but they can really take your language learning to a new level.

    Do you like surprises? There are bad surprises and nice surprises.

    Have you ever had a surprise party? Didn't it feel great to be surprised by all your friends and family? Especially when you thought they'd forgotten your birthday.

    A surprise like a party or a gift or a phone call that is unexpected somehow feels better than you were expecting. ⑴Those are the surprises that I like the most.

    I try to surprise my family sometimes. I bring my wife flowers or give something to my children. You should see the looks on their faces. ⑵They make me happy, too.

    You should surprise people. You'll probably make their day, and it might make your day.

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