I was blind, but I was ashamed of it if it was known. I refused to use a white stick and hated asking for help. After all, I was a teenage girl, and I couldn't bear people to look at me and think I was not like them. I must have been a terrible danger on the roads. Coming across me wandering through the traffic, motorists probably would have to stop rapidly on their brakes. Apart from that, there were all sorts of disasters that used to occur on the way to and from work.

One evening, I got off the bus about halfway home where I had to change buses, and as usual I ran into something. "I'm awfully sorry," I said and stepped forward only to run into it again. When it happened a third time, I realized I had been apologizing to a lamppost. This was just one of the stupid things that constantly happened to me. So I carried on and found the bus stop, which was a request stop, where the bus wouldn't stop unless passengers wanted to get on or off. No one else was there and I had to guess if the bus had arrived.

    Generally in this situation, because I hated showing I was blind by asking for help, I tried to guess at the sound. Sometimes I would stop a big lorry and stand there feeling stupid as it drew away. In the end, I usually managed to swallow my pride and ask someone at the stop for help.

    But at this particular evening no one joined me at the stop; it seemed that everyone had suddenly decided not to travel by bus. Of course I heard plenty of buses pass, or I thought I did. But because I had given up stopping them for fear of making a fool of myself, I let them all go by. I stood there alone for half an hour without stopping one. Then I gave up. I decided to walk on to the next stop.

    China's largest search engine Baidu has said it will make its latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology accessible to developers and businesses as part of the company's latest move into AI, big data and cloud computing.

    AI solution "Tianzhi" was launched at a cloud-computing summit held in Beijing Wednesday. It includes services in three fields: sensing technology, such as image and voice processing, machine learning, and deep learning, an advanced form of machine learning, said Zhang Yaqin, CEO of the Nasdaq-listed company, at the summit.

    Developers can access facial or voice recognition, algorithms(演算法) for data analysis and projections, and deep learning applications, Zhang said, adding that the technology could help users innovate in their sectors.

    "With more devices connected to the cloud, enterprises will use cloud computing and AI more frequently," said Wu Hequan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, "Open AI technology can play a bigger role."

    The company also revealed a plan to invest 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) in cloud computing in the next five years and establish an innovation center, which will serve 10 million enterprises.

    One talented father created the tag “Dadfact” in an effort to persuade his child into eating their sandwiches using information that might not be completely reliable.

Flying is fine if you want to save time, but nothing beats the railway for a relaxing and down-to-earth journey. The Zhengzhou—Xuzhou and Xi'an—Fuzhou high-speed railways put into operation in September mark a connection of high-speed railways in China's eastern and middle-western regions, and they have brought out some of the country's best landscapes and cuisines.

    Here are four signature dishes(招牌菜) that you shouldn't miss as you travel along the railways.

Yangrou Paomo, Xi'an

    If one dish could represent Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, locals would tell you without doubt that it's Yangrou Paomo. It is a bowl of lamb soup served with hard flour “bread”, which is broken up and added to the soup. The soup is topped with slices of mutton, scallion(葱) and coriander(香菜). Then it is usually eaten with picked sweet garlic.

Soup Dumpling, Kaifeng

    A popular snack in Kaifeng, Henan, the dish is made up of three things: skin, meat and soup. The skin is made from flour, while the filling is usually pork. And just as its name suggests, the soup dumplings are filled with tasty soup. But how does the steaming hot soup get into the dumplings? It's actually been cooled and cut into cubes, which fit easily into the dough(面团). Along with the pork, the cubes become liquid soup once they're steamed.

Smelly Mandarin Fish, Huangshan

    Despite its name, Smelly Mandarin Fish(臭鳜鱼) is known for its good taste. A lot of travelers who visit Huangshan in Anhui want to taste it because they have heard of its reputation. Once the skin has been removed, the fresh is preserved in salty water for six to seven days, then fried and cooked in soy sauce. Although salting gives the fish its special smell, the original tender flesh is preserved well and given a delicious and unique taste.

Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Fuzhou

    The dish has enjoyed an over 100-year-long worldwide reputation since it was invented in Fuzhou, Fujian in the late Qing Dynasty(1644-1911). Fotiaoqiang, or Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, got its interesting name from a poem a customer wrote. The poem said the dish was so delicious that upon smelling it, monks in the neighboring temple would jump over the wall to come and get some. Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is made up of many ingredients, including sea cucumber(海参), chicken, pork and mushroom. Because of these ingredients, it tastes extremely delicious while being highly nutritious at the same time.

    An Indian movie about two sisters has become a huge hit in China. The Hindi language film, called Dangal, has earned almost $ 170 million in China since its release there on May 5.

    Much has been written about why Dangal has enjoyed such big success in China. Some people say one reason is that the film's star and producer, Aamir Khan. He is famous in India's Bollywood film industry. Two of his earlier films were also big hits in China.

    Khan's popularity was clear after he got more than 600,000 followers on the Chinese social media service Sina Weibo within two months of joining. But he is not the only reason that the film strongly connects with audience across China. Media has pointed out how it shows similarities between parental systems in China and India.

    Dangal is based on the true story of a man who enjoyed the sport of wrestling (摔跤). He competed as a wrestler, but never could achieve his lifelong dream: winning a gold medal. As a father, he wanted his son to win the medal. But his wife only gives birth to daughters. So he finally decides to train them to be world-class wrestlers.

    The movie is more serious than most Bollywood productions, which tell happy love stories and include colorful music and dance performances.

    Edward Chan is a professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He says the strict way of parenting in the film is something people in China can easily relate to. “I think the father role described by the movie in India is quite similar to the culture, especially the traditional culture in China.”

    The Chinese government-supported Global Times newspaper pointed that movie critics (评论家) in China did not like Dangal. Most of them agree with the fact that the father in the film was forceful in pushing his daughters to become wrestlers. But the film Dangal is really aimed to educate children to work for their dreams.

    When it comes to the most famous 20^th century painters of the United States, Grandma Moses should be mentioned, although she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies. As she once said to herself:" I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me." No one could have had a more active old age.

    She was born on a farm in New York State, one of five boys and five girls. At 12 she left home and was in domestic service until at 27 she married Thomas Moses, the hired hand of one of her employers. They farmed most of their lives, first in Virginia and then in New York State, at Eagle Bridge. She had ten children, of whom five survived; her husband died in 1927.

    Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery(刺绣) pictures as a hobby, but only changed to oils in old age because her hands became too stiff(僵硬的) to sew and she still wanted to keep busy and pass the time. Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought all that she painted. Three of the pictures were exhibited(展览) in the Museum of Modern Art, and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York. Between the 1930's and her death, she produced some 2,000 pictures: careful and lively portrayals of the country life she had known for so long, with a wonderful sense of color and form. "I think really hard till I think of something really pretty, and then I paint it" she said.

No one can believe that the over 6, 300-kilometre Great Wall might disappear some day. Believe it or not, the Great Wall is being destroyed by people. Less than 20 percent of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty is still perfect, and about 80 percent is in danger. 

The Great Wall can be called "great" mostly because of its amazing length. If we do nothing to save the Great Wall, it will become wasteland rather than a historic site. The Great Wall is actually a series of walls built and rebuilt by different dynasties over the past 2, 000 years. It began in the Qin Dynasty, and lasted into the Ming Dynasty. The parts built before the Ming Dynasty have nearly disappeared. People are familiar with sections such as Badaling in Beijing and Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu, because they have been open to tourists for many years. But those sections far away from the public eyes have been almost forgotten. 

Few local people knew the 3-metre-high walls made of earth and stones beside them are part of the Great Wall. The lack of knowledge is considered as one of the main reasons behind humans. 

The bricks on the Great Wall are carried off by countryside people to build their houses. Rubbish is spread over the battlements. Those who destroyed and are destroying the Great Wall know its name, but don't know its cultural meaning. The local farmers not only carried off the body of the Great Wall but dug out the entire base. 

It is necessary to protect the Great Wall. First of all, the officials should be aware of the importance of the Great Wall. Young Chinese should know more about the nation's great civilisation and learn to love it.