NANJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) — Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou will shake hands in their historic meeting scheduled in Singapore on Saturday, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Wednesday.

    The two-part meeting includes one session open to the media and another behind closed doors, said Zhang Zhijun, who is also head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, when interviewed at the Zijinshan Summit for Entrepreneurs across the Taiwan Strait.

    According to Zhang, Xi and Ma, as "leaders of the two sides" of the Taiwan Strait, will exchange views during the closed-door meeting.

    After the meeting, press conferences will be held by both sides. Later, the two leaders are expected to attend a dinner, said Zhang.

    Zhang said the meeting will lift cross-Strait communication to a new high.

    The landmark meeting is a breakthrough in face-to-face exchange and communication between the leaders across the Taiwan Strait after the relationship became strained following the events of 1949.

    Zhang said the meeting will improve mutual trust and allow for an exchange of opinions on handling the cross-Strait ties.

    In addition, the meeting will help strengthen the 1992 Consensus(共识), which was reached in talks between the two sides in 1992 and recognizes the one-China principle, and safeguards the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties, according to Zhang.

    Zhang added that the scheduled meeting will also benefit regional peace and stability.

    Also at Wednesday's summit, Chiang Pin-kung, former chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, hailed the upcoming meeting between the two leaders as a milestone for cross-Strait ties.

    Chiang told the media that he believed the meeting will give a boost to the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties.

    An interesting study posted on Facebook recently shows how men and women develop new interests as they mature(成熟).

    While women tend to take exercise seriously from the age of 34, men will wait until their 45th birthdays before working hard to get in shape.

    The average woman spends more time talking about sports, politics, career and money as she gets older.

    Women's interest in books reaches its peak(顶峰) at the age of 22, while that of men does so when they are in their 50s.

    Men start to change their focus from the workplace to other things after age 30, while women do not do so until eight years later. Both, however, care most about fashion at age 16.

    The research used anonymous(匿名的) data donated by thousands of Facebook users, recording the statuses, 'likes' and 'interests' they had posted on their profiles.

    It found the average woman talks about television most at 44, while men peak much younger, at age 31.

    Men are also most likely to see a film in a cinema at age 31, while women go out to see films most when they are only 19.

Men are most interested in travel at 29, women at 27, while women talk most about food and drink at 35, and men at 38.

    And if you are middle aged, a safe topic for anyone is the weather, which is a key interest for many as they reach 60.

    Stephen Wolfram, the British scientist who carried out the research, says, “It's almost shocking how much this tells us about the changes of people's typical interests.

    “People talk less about video games as they get older, and more about politics.”

    Alvin Irby, a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher, was at a barbershop when he saw one of his former students sitting in the shop with a bored look on his face. That's when Irby realized that by pairing barbershops and books, he might be able to inspire young black boys to read.

    Four years ago, he launched Barbershop Books as a way to not just get books into the hands of young black boys, but to also create community reading spaces in a place where kids go frequently. Since its inception in 2013, the program has created kid-friendly reading spaces in 50 barbershops in 12 states throughout the United States.

    Irby isn't the first person to see the connection between barbers and books and boys. Hair stylist Courtney Holmes, launched a program a few years ago offering free haircuts to kids as long as they read to him while he cuts their hair.

    That's the kind of environment that Irby wants to promote with his program. The reading spaces created by Barbershop Books help to spark an interest in books by showing kids that reading is about more than just spelling and vocabulary skills, it's about making reading a low-stress activity that can help them relax, laugh and have fun.

    “Our belief is that if we can create positive reading experiences early and often for young black boys, then they will choose to read for fun because they will identify as a reader,” Irby noted, adding, “This is really what Barbershop Books is about, getting young black boys to say three words: I'm a reader.”

Irby's idea is catching on, and it will continue to spread thanks in part to the National Book Foundation. Barbershop Books recently won the organization's 2017 Innovations in Reading prize, which is given to Programs that use reading to make a social impact.

The Coolest Inventions

    An Oceans Vacuum(吸尘器)

    There's a collection of plastic trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It's bigger than Texas and growing. The way to clean it up now is to catch it with nets. That is both costly and slow. Instead, the Ocean Cleanup Project proposes a 62-mile-long floating barrier that would use natural currents to trap trash. If next year's trials succeed, a full cleanup operation would aim to start in 2020. It could reduce the trash by 42 % over 10 years.

    Easy-On Shoes

    In 2012, Matthew Walzer, a high school student with a disability, sent a note to Nike. "My dream is to go to college," he wrote, "without having to worry about someone coming to tie my shoes every day." Nike assigned a design team to the challenge. This year, they came out with their solution: the FlyEase. The basketball shoe can be fastened with one hand. A pair of Nike FlyEase shoes sells for $ 130.

    An Airport for Drones (无人机)

    As Amazon, Google, and others get ready for drone delivery service, there is one big question: What kinds of home bases will their drones have? Rwanda, in Africa, may have the answer. There, workers will soon start work on three "drone ports". The goal is to make it easier to transport food, medical supplies, electronics, and other goods through the hilly countryside. Construction is set to be completed in 2020.

Small words may help you beat stress and improve your relationships. Use these tips to teach yourself a helpful and useful vocabulary.

I get to

"Many of us begin our day with the phrase 'I have to'," says Catherine Grace O'Connell, a self-development expert. "Changing this to 'I get to' has the possibility to change the way our day goes. "Even if you may not be happy about going to work or cooking dinner, saying that you "get to" do those things changes your attention to the positive aspects of those things.

Thank you

A lot of research has been done on why people — especially women — often don't accept compliments smoothly. Language in Society found that women only accepted compliments 40 percent of the time, and Harvard Business Review found that almost 70 percent of people connected receiving compliments with a little shame or embarrassment. Does this sound familiar? She says, "I love that dress." You say, "Oh this? I've had it for years." Or," You think? I'm not crazy about the color." We often demean (贬低) ourselves while doing this. A better way to respond: Look the person in the eye and simply say, "Thank you."

Not yet

Adding "yet" to the end of your words, especially when talking about abilities and goals. is a small but good way to change your attitude to life. "Add the word 'yet' to limiting comments," suggests Kyndall Bennett, another self-development expert. "When we do this, we allow ourselves to accept the limiting thoughts as truths," Bennett says. "Examples of this would be like, 'I can't speak a second language... yet' and 'I don't know how to run my own business... yet.'" This works for everything from weight loss to relationships; it's a way to add a certain optimism to your words.

I'm a standup comic. One day, a woman from The Daily News called and said she wanted to do an article on me. When she had finished interviewing me for the article, she asked, "What are you planning to do next?" Well, at the time, there was absolutely nothing I was planning on doing next, so I asked her what she meant, pausing for a moment. She told me she was interested in me! So I thought I'd better tell her something. What came out was, "I'm thinking about breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for Fastest-Talking Female."

The newspaper article came out the next day, and the writer had included my parting remarks about trying to break the world's Fastest-Talking Female record. At about 5: 00 p.m. that afternoon I got a call from Larry King Live, which I had never heard of, asking me to go on the show. They wanted me to try to break the record, and they told me they would pick me up at 8: 00—because they wanted me to do it that night!

Then I sat down to figure out what on earth I was going to do on the show. I called Guinness to find out how to break a fast-talking record. They told me I would have to recite something either Shakespeare or the Bible. Shakespeare and I had never really gotten along, so 1 figured the Bible was my only hope. I began practicing and practicing, over and over again. I was both nervous and excited at the same time.

Then I decided just to give it my best shot, and I did. I broke the record, becoming the World's Fastest-talking Female by speaking 585 words in one minute in front of a national television audience. I broke it again two years later, with 603 words in a minute. My career took off.

People often ask me how I did that. I tell them I live my life by this simple philosophy: I always say yes first; then I ask, "Now, what do I have to do to accomplish that?" Then I ask myself, "What is the worst thing that can happen if I don't succeed? The answer is, I simply don't succeed! And what's the best thing that can happen? I succeed!

What more can life ask of you? Be yourself, and have a good time!