Droughts (干旱)are common in Kenya. Before, they came every 10 years, but now they seem to be hitting us more often and for a longer time.

    We gave the droughts names :“longoza”was the drought when many animals died ; there was the drought of the “planes” because food was dropped from the air by planes; and one particularly bad drought was called “ man who dies with his money in his fist (拳头)”，because, even if there was money, there was simply no food to buy.

    I was born in 1951 in Machakos. From what my mother tells me, when I was 7, there was a serious drought. I clearly remember the terrible weather and the hunger. I can't tell you how many times I went to bed without eating. “ I slept like that, ” is how we described it. I can't count the number of days when “ I slept like that,” or describe the feeling of going to sleep hungry, knowing I'd wake up and there would still be no food for breakfast.

    My father would leave early in the morning carrying a little basket to ask for food on credit (赊欠). Each night he would return home around 10:00p.m. My mother would try to encourage me by telling me to keep the water in our pot boiling so that when my father arrived we could quickly cook any food he brought in the already prepared water. I would keep the fire burning and the water boiling, along with the hopes that we would eat that night. But my father would arrive frustrated and empty -handed. And I would sleep like that.

    In fact, all decisions come down to choosing whether to open a door or to close it. I have learned that opening a door always makes life more interesting.

    A few years ago, I was living in a small world. I worked as a teacher in a very small high school. My life was quite simple. Then one day I had an opportunity to teach in a large school. The students there came from different countries. But the school was far away from my village. So I asked myself, "Should I go to that strange place to teach? Or should I stay at home?" In my home town I was safe and comfortable.

    Finally, I decided to go. I thought this was the best decision in my life. In that large school, I learned a lot about very different cultures. I also found that just a smile or a hug could make people understand each other. My new students made me feel welcome. We had a lot of fun. It was wonderful to live in a very different area of the country. So I was lucky that I didn't close the door to the chance, or I would miss all of those wonderful experiences.

    A jobless man wanted very much to have the position of "office boy" at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test. "You have passed the test," he said. "Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the form to fill in and the date when you may start." The man answered, "But I don't have a computer, neither an e-mail." "I'm sorry," said the HR manager. "If you don't have an e-mail, that means you are not living. And anyone who isn't living cannot have the job."

    The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only 10 dollars in his pocket. He thought and thought. Then he went to the supermarket and bought 10 kilos of tomatoes. He sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he had 20 dollars. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with 60 dollars. The man came to know that he could make money in this way, and started to go early every day, and returned home late. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles (运货车队). Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商) in the US.

    One day, one of his friends asked him for his e-mail. He said, "I haven't got one." His friend couldn't believe his ears. "Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?" The man thought for a while and answered, "Yes, I'd be an office boy at Microsoft!"

Qu Juanru is the official inheritor(官方继承人) of Jiaxing City Tongxiang flower­drum opera. She began to be on the stage when she was a teenager. "My mother died when I was 14. I've lived with my father since then. In the old days, women were not allowed to perform opera. However, my father always supported me when I tried to sing," Qu said.

Qu started performing in the local troupe(剧团) called Aimin Flower­Drum Opera. Later, the troupe was disbanded(解散), and she went back to farming.

After that, the young girl tried to set up the troupe several times but failed. She really lived a hard life at that time. But she didn't give up.

In 2001, some developers planned to rebuild Wuzhen. They thought a place which has no culture is of little significance(意义). So they wanted to bring back local customs, including the Tongxiang flower­drum opera. Qu was their only hope.

Knowing she could sing again, Qu was so excited. Whether it's cold or hot, Qu always gives her everything on stage in Wuzhen. She has six rounds(场) of performing every day and each round lasts 30 minutes. In 2017, she was badly ill, yet it didn't stop her.

"I can still sing and perform. I'd love to be here," Qu said. In her opinion, opera life is a wonderful dream that can't be missed.

Young scientist Li Yuehua works at Zhejiang Lab(之江实验室) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. There is something special about the lab— as Li enters it, she feels out of this world. It brings her to one of the earth's closest neighbors: Mars.

The lab simulates(模拟) the environment, such as the ground and light, on the red planet. In the lab, Li and her team develop and test AI technology to make future Mars rovers(火星车) smarter.

Zhurong, China's first Mars rover, got to Mars in 2021. As Zhurong moves on Mars, it sends information back to the earth. The ground team checks the information before it can move on. The process can take up to 40 minutes.

" Today's rovers are like babies. They can perceive what's around them but they're not able to understand them. Scientists on the earth must tell them how to communicate with the environment," said Li." We hope our AI technology will help Mars rovers learn about the environment and decide where to go on their own."

Li's team needed a better place to do that. Is there anywhere similar to Mars on the earth? The answer was found in the deep desert of Dunhuang, Gansu Province. The team went there in summer and soon started to work. However, it was so hot that several machines stopped working and some team members got sick. Although it was really hard, they didn't give up. Finally, the team developed a better technology.

" An important part of science is facing failure(失败)," Li said." It is like climbing. You face difficulties and try to solve them time after time."