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    A five-year-old dog named Kelsey has been praised as a hero for helping to save the life of her owner who slipped in the snow and broke his neck.

The man, Bob, was alone when he left his Michigan farmhouse on New Year's Eve to collect firewood. Expecting a journey of only several meters, Bob was wearing just long johns (秋裤), a shirt and slippers when he went outside, although the temperature was around -4℃.

    After the accident, he was unable to move in the snow. Fortunately, Kelsey came to his assistance.

    “I was shouting for help, but my nearest neighbor is about 400 meters away, and it was 10:30 p.m.,” Bob explained. “But my Kelsey came. By the next morning, my voice was gone and I couldn't yell for help, but Kelsey didn't stop barking.”

    Bob's companion kept him warm by lying on top of him. She licked his face and hands to keep him awake. “Kelsey kept barking but never left my side,” Bob recalled. “She kept me warm. I knew I couldn't give up and that it was my choice to stay alive.”

Bob spent 19 hours in the freezing cold. When he finally lost consciousness, his dog kept barking. Finally, hearing the barking, Bob's neighbor discovered him at 6:30 p.m. on New Year's Day and called the emergency services at once. When Bob arrived in hospital, his body temperature was below 21℃. However, doctors were surprised to find that he didn't have any frostbite (冻疮). They believed it was because of Kelsey's determination to keep him warm. Dr. Chaim Colen, the doctor who treated Bob, said, “Animals can help and his dog really saved him … he was very fortunate.”

    Bob said he was “enormously” grateful for both Dr. Colen and his Kelsey. “They saved my life. They are true heroes!”

    My grandmother often said to me, "You can count the number of your true friends on the fingers of one hand." For a long time I thought this was true. However, I've now discovered my grandmother was only half right. Maybe we do only make a few "best" friends in our lifetime, but those aren't the only people that we can call friends. There are many different types. Let me tell you about a few of them.

    One type of friends is the type I call the "football mom friends". My neighbour Sally is a good example. We both have kids who play football in a football club, and someone has to take them to practise and pick them up. Sally and I and two other mothers do this. We meet sometimes and have tea and talk about what our kids are doing, but those are the only times that we meet each other. I enjoy being with these women, but we don't do anything else together.

    Another type is called the "hobby friend". That's the person you share an interest or a hobby with. Michael and Cater, who are brothers, are a good example of this type. We're all in a bird watching club. Every few weekends the members of the club go on a trip to watch different kinds of birds. There's nothing romantic about my relationship with Michael and Cater, of course. We just share interest in birds.

    Then there's the "other half the couple" type of friends. Jim is married to Rose, a friend that I have known since college. When Rose married Jim, I realized that I would have to be Jim's friend if I want to continue to be Rose's. Jim and I don't share so many interests, but we do have a friendly relationship.

    Over the centuries the French have lost a number of famous battles with the British. However, they've always felt superior in the kitchen. France has for centuries had a reputation for cooking excellence, and Britain for some of the worst cooking in the world. But according to a recent survey, that reputation may no longer reflect reality.

    In the survey, 71% of the Britons said they cook at home every day, while only 59% of the French said they cook daily. British home cooks spend more time cooking each week and also produce a greater variety of dishes than French home cooks.

    The reaction in London was predictably enthusiastic. British food has greatly improved since the 1990s. Once upon a time, the menu for many family meals would have been roast beef, potatoes and over-cooked vegetables, but not now. Home cooks are experimenting with the huge range of ingredients now available in British supermarkets and are preparing all kinds of new dishes, using the cookbooks that sell millions of copies every year. As a result, there's much more diversity in British food now, compared to French food, which tends to be very traditional.

    Some French people say that the survey did not show the whole picture. They agree that during the week French women don't cook as much as they used to because most of them work and don't have much time. They tend to buy ready-made or frozen dishes, but many of them make up for it on the weekend. There's also a difference between Paris and the countryside. It's true that people in Paris don't cook much, but elsewhere, cooking is still at the heart of daily life.

    For many French people, opinions about British food have not changed. When Bernard Blier, the food editor at a magazine, was asked about British food, he replied: "I don't go out of my way to try it. It is not very refined. You can say that I'm not a fan at all."

Last August, the 900-year-old Wan'an Bridge in Pingnan County, a locality of Ningde City in the coastal Fujian province, was destroyed when it suddenly caught fire.

Wan'an, a national-level protected building, was a wooden arch corridor bridge (木拱廊桥),which for centuries was an ancient architectural calling card for the region. The bridge,98.2 meters long and 4.7 meters wide, was first built in the Song dynasty (960~1279), and was the longest wooden arch corridor bridge left standing in China. Few, however, had imagined that such an ancient bridge would attract public attention in such a way.

Amid the powerful voice of the local population for new wooden arch bridges, the traditional techniques behind the building work have well and truly been revived (唤醒), but the protection of the ancient buildings still has much room for improvement.

Currently, China's approach to the protection of national heritage sites puts protecting and rescuing endangered buildings before all else, but to keep these ancient buildings alive, preventive protection is key.

"Technically, restoring (修复) Wan'an isn't very difficult," said Li, Deputy County Mayor of Pingnan. "Along with the help of the local inheritors of the national intangible cultural heritage, the bridge's restoration looks hopeful. However, the historical value will definitely be affected."

Meanwhile, Zhan, the former Deputy Dean at the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage, pointed out the recent destruction of Wan'an Bridge highlights a serious shortage of warning mechanisms and preventative protection measures, which currently are supposed to be the most important part of protection. "Significant improvements have been made in the past few years in protection, but we still have a long way to go on proper planning for protection work. How to protect cultural heritage is a matter that we need to discuss as soon as possible," he added.

A 50- minute drive northwest of downtown Beijing, pops up a village, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} houses a shadow puppetry troupe(皮影戏剧团) and a theater, Beijing Long Zaitian Shadow Puppetry Theater. 

Shadow puppetry {#blank#}2{#/blank#}( see) as the prequel(前篇) to film and animation in China. In2011, the art landed a spot on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. 

Besides performances {#blank#}3{#/blank#}( create) by light and shadow, performers must master multiple skills as the plays combine painting, carving, opera {#blank#}4{#/blank#} literature. However, due to low income and a small market, few young people are willing {#blank#}5{#/blank#} ( learn) shadow puppetry. 

This particular troupe, however, stands out from the crowd: Average performer age is only 25. Moreover, of the 300 performers it has trained over the years, many are under 1. 4m in {#blank#}6{#/blank#} ( high). 

In 2006, Wang Xi, inheritor of Beijing Western- School Shadow Puppetry, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}( establish) the troup e in Beijing, and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} first four very short persons joined her two years later. After a four- month training, they picked up basic performance skills and started working in the theater. 

In 2021, the team designed Winter Olympics- themed shadow puppets. The puppets were gifted to foreign athletes during the Games. The troup e also staged {#blank#}9{#/blank#}( variety) plays introducing ice and snow sports through fairy tales. 

" We are lucky to have these people. They have been devoted {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the inheritance of shadow puppetry for over a decade, " Wang Xi said.