Dec.11 marked the 15th anniversary of China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). On that day in 2001, China formally became a member of the WTO. Now the country has grown into the world's second-largest economy and the largest trading country, while millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty. And 15 years on, it's evident that being a WTO member has transformed the nation's everyday lives for the better.

    Imports are now a common sight in Chinese stores and supermarkets, while they were previously rarely seen on shelves. The Chinese now have access to many imports varying from luxury goods like high-end cars and famous brand watches, to daily necessities. China's WTO membership has also made imports less expensive for the Chinese public.

    For instance, since 2005, no tariffs (关税) have been imposed (施加) on Chinese imports of digital cameras and other devices.

    Our education industry has also benefited from China's WTO membership. Many top global universities have joined forces with Chinese ones to establish cooperative education institutions, bringing foreign teaching concepts to Chinese students. For example, New York University Shanghai was jointly founded by New York University and East China Normal University. In addition, an increasing number of Chinese students are furthering their studies abroad, while many foreign students are coming to China to carry out their higher education. According to the Ministry of Education, 523,700 students studied overseas last year, and the number is expected to keep growing this year.

    China's WTO entry has brought benefit not only to the country's people, but also for the rest of the world.

    Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. He had little school education. In spite of (尽管) this, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his pen-name.

    Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother's tender care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble for his parents. He used to play jokes on all of his friends and neighbors. He didn't like to go to school, and he constantly ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi (密西西比河). He was nearly drowned (淹死) nine times.

    After his father's death in 1847, Mark twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a printer, a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner. During this period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full-time writer.

    In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him a great fortune (财富).

    Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments (投资) and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died, and then three of their children passed away.

    At the age of 70, his hair was completely white. He bought many white suits and neckties. He wore nothing but white from head to foot until his death on April 21, 1910.

    A few years ago I had an “aha!” moment regarding handwriting.

    I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task. It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting, and then I realized whose it must be. I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year, maybe two, and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point.

    It was a very important event in the computerization of life-a sign that the informal. Friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails. There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters, and we recognized one another's handwriting the way we knew voices or faces.

    As a child visiting my father's office, I was pleased to recognize, in little notes on the desks of his staff, the same handwriting I would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge—except that those notes were signed “dad” instead of “RFW”.

    All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting, a book by Florey. She shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well, but many others argue that people in a digital age can't be expected to learn to hold a pen.

    I don't buy it.

    I don't want to see anyone cut off from the expressive, personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does. For many a biographer, part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting.

    What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16^th-century Italy. That may sound impossibly grand-as if they want kids to learn to draw by copying classical paintings. However, they have worked in many school systems.

    Dutch beachcomber (海滩拾荒者) Wim Kruiswijk has accumulated a collection of 1,200 messages-in-bottles over the course of nearly 4 decades and has responded to almost all of them,

    68-year-old Kruiswijk says that his unusual hobby began in 1983 when he found three drift bottles (漂流瓶) on his local beach, each containing letters and return addresses. He wrote to all three addresses and was surprised to receive responses from each one. It was this experience that aroused his interest in hunting and collecting messages in bottles, and he hasn't stopped looking for them since.

"I find my messages in bottles on the beach of Zandvoort, where I live, and on the Dutch Islands," Kruiswijk recently told Great Big Story. "Messages in bottles is slow mail. It takes you days, or weeks, or months to find a bottle. "

In the early years, Kruiswijk would find as many as 50 bottles a year, but since 2000 that has slowed to around 20-30 finds, mainly due to beach cleaning efforts. He believes that the rise of the Internet has also played a role in the diminishing number of messages in bottles, telling Dutch newssite PZC, "I used to get a response at half the bottle messages that I answered. Now that's less; many people want 'instant satisfaction'."

    Throwing a message in a bottle out into the sea is a longstanding human tradition dating back to the time of the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, about 310 BC，who used the bottles to study water currents. Scientists still apply the method to this day, as a means to help researchers develop ocean circulation maps, and to crowdsource scientific studies of ocean currents.

    In the past bottles have also been used to send distress messages from sailors in trouble. They also have been used for memorial tributes, or to send loved ones' ashes on a final journey. One of the more common uses though is just to send invitations out to prospective pen pals, a quaint notion in these modern times, but, as Kruiswijk so clearly shows, an effective one.

    As the international demand for narrative films （纪录片）continues to increase with popular streaming services like Netflix and others, the two questions then come： Will the coming generations receive most of their entertainment through visual means rather than through the written word? Will such an increase of narrative film reduce the importance of reading?

    Growing examples of this trend include the dimishment(减少)of fiction lovers, the ever­rising culture of computer games, the wave of streaming services of wide international reach, and movies filled with special effects made for children and teenagers. Nor must we ignore the economic dangers that lie ahead for the written word. The narrative film industry is a moneymaker that surpasses the publishing industry.

    The other underlying question, of course, is "does it really matter if the written word bows to the world of narrative films?" From my point of view, any diminishment of fiction delivered by words is a loss for mankind.

    There is no greater human feature than the imagination. It lies at the very soul of the human species. It is the brain's most powerful engine. It is the essential muscle of life and like all muscles it must be exercised and strengthened.

    Writing and reading are the principal tools that inspire and create our imagination. Anything that diminishes that power is the enemy of mankind.

    It should be known that I am not opposed to new media and technological advances. Instead, I have always felt it necessary to adapt to advancing technology. In fact, a number of my novels are in various stages of development for film, TV and live stage productions. My hope is that the written word will only stand to be complemented(补充) by technology, not pushed to the edge of extinction.

    Of course, there are those who will present arguments for the superiority of the moving image over the written word. Each has its place. My argument is for finding the right balance between it and the moving image.

    Researchers have been investigating for years the ways in which screens affect the quality of a person's reading. The magazine Scientific American reported that at least 100 studies have been published on the issue since the 1980s.

    Virginia Clinton carried out a research examination. She is a professor of Education, Health and Behavior at the University of North Dakota. She found what she called a "small but significant" difference in reading text from screen versus paper.

    Clinton looked at 33 past studies that examined paper versus screen reading. All of the studies were done between 2008 and 2018. The studies collectively had 2,799 study subjects, including both children and adults. Clinton's examination found that reading from paper generally led to better understanding and improved a person's performance on tests connected to the reading material. And, she found no major differences in reading speed between the two.

    Clinton and other researchers have found screen readers often believe they understand a text better than they really do. And, they are more likely than paper readers to overestimate how well they would do on a test of the materials they have read.

    Yet, this overestimated sense of understanding is especially common among screen readers. Clinton said, "There are many possible reasons for such findings. Overconfidence of reen readers, for example, could be the result of a distracted, less focused mind. Readers' preferences are also important. Research shows the majority of people of all ages prefer reading from paper. If you are enjoying the reading process, you're going to be more involved. You're going to be paying better attention. Preferences are a key issue here."

    Several studies have found that people often think of paper materials as something more important and serious. "If you are reading from paper, your mind thinks this is something important. I need to pay attention to it," Clinton said.