Writers used to approach publishers to have their work read by the public. Now they can simply post them and find millions of instant audience.

    After breaking up with her boyfriend, Bao Jingjing started “making up” a love story simply to distract her attention. Her story of a girl suffering the pain like hers progressed quickly, attracting many readers.

    When Bao stopped writing as she reunited with her boyfriend, she was urged to continue, as readers wanted to know what happened next. Bao finished it soon. It became so popular that it was turned into a best-seller. To cap it all off, Bao's novel was later adapted into a successful movie.

    Bao's story is only one of many Internet novels that have landed deals for physical books, TV shows and films. Unlike traditional writers who buried themselves in their books for years, some young writers like Bao have got readers rapidly online and found overnight success.

    Bao admits her success was unexpected. She still remembers how surprised her parents were when she proudly gave them her copyright earnings. Online literature forums(论坛) are platforms for grassroots writers to succeed.

    In recent years, Zhang Wei, known as “Tangjiasanshao”, has earned 177 million yuan by his fingers though working as an author was beyond his dreams. He topped the list of wealthiest Chinese Internet novelists twice and was the only online writer to be listed on the 2014 Forbes “Chinese Celebrity List”.

    He admits that he is one of the few writers at the top of the pyramid while most online writers remain unknown. However, he urged that his success can be achieved by others, as long as “they write hard enough”.

    When I was a child, I had to go to church and obey many other rules, though these rules at times caused resentment (怨恨). Perhaps the most extreme parenting decision my parents made for my four brothers and sisters and me was to create a home environment without a television.

    We hated this decision at that time, because there was seemingly no way to keep this embarrassing fact a secret at school. Naturally, simple pleasures like cartoons, football games, and movies became huge novelties (新奇事物). I would go over to friends' or relatives' houses for that access alone.

    When I reached high school, my parents bought a television, though it had no cable. However, I did spend most of my childhood in a home without a television. In fact not having a television did contribute a great deal to my skills, and it also forced me to develop other valuable interests. We grew up in a small town, so my brothers and sisters and I spent time exploring streets, fields and woods. And of course I read and wrote and studied, which pushed me toward a career path.

    So would I give a similar situation to my own children if I had them? I doubt it, at least not in the most extreme sense. I'm too much of a football fan, not to mention the TV serials (连续剧) like The Wire. But television or almost anything for that matter is unhealthy for kids. It can prevent them from living a full life. So maybe a reasonable answer is no cable or no video-game systems or simply setting the time limit, but I haven't exactly worked out how to confine it yet. Although some people are against my idea, we do need limits after all.

    Most people agree that honesty is a good thing. But does Mother Nature agree? Animals can't talk, but can they lie in other ways? Can they lie with their bodies and behavior? Animal experts may not call it lying, but they do agree that many animals, from birds to chimpanzees, behave dishonestly to fool other animals. Why? Dishonesty often helps them survive.

    Many kinds of birds are very successful at fooling other animals. For example, a bird called the plover sometimes pretends to be hurt in order to protect its young. When a predator（猎食动物）gets close to its nest, the plover leads the predator away from the nest. How? It pretends to have a broken wing. The predator follows the “hurt” adult, leaving the baby birds safe in the nest.

  Another kind of bird, the scrub jay, buries its food so it always has something to eat. Scrub jays are also thieves. They watch where others bury their food and steal it. But clever scrub jays seem to know when a thief is watching them. So they go back later, unbury the food, and bury it again somewhere else.

    Birds called cuckoos have found a way to have babies without doing much work. How? They don't make nests. Instead, they get into other birds' nests secretly. Then they lay their eggs and fly away. When the baby birds come out, their adoptive parents feed them.

    Chimpanzees, or chimps, can also be sneaky. After a fight, the losing chimp will give its hand to the other. When the winning chimp puts out its hand, too, the chimps are friendly again. But an animal expert once saw a losing chimp take the winner's hand and start fighting again.

    Chimps are sneaky in other ways, too. When chimps find food that they love, such as bananas, it is natural for them to cry out. Then other chimps come running. But some clever chimps learn to cry very softly when they find food. That way, other chimps don't hear them, and they don't need to share their food.

    As children, many of us learn the saying “You can't fool Mother Nature.” But maybe you can't trust her, either.

    “Why do birds sing?” I asked a group of children. “To attract metes(配偶)!” answered a boy. A 4-year-old girl added shyly, “birds sing because they are happy, and they want to make us happy, too.” I think both answers are probably true in a way. If birds sing happily, it shows all is well in the forest: no predators (捕食者) are present, and the birds can feed, sing and do other bird things. The sound of a relaxed robin(知更鸟) singing is easy to understand because it makes us feel this way too—it's a sound that lifts our own hearts when we hear it.

    What happens when a predator comes into their areas? The nearby birds quickly give an alarm call, a short sound that warns, “Danger is coming!” On hearing the sound, the other birds stop singing and fly for cover, the deer lift their heads and stop moving and the rabbits run into the bushes. Suddenly, the forest becomes silent.

    When humans walk through the woods in a hurry or while talking with a friend, we don't see much wildlife. We may think that there aren't many animals living there, but more likely, they know we are coming and hide minutes before our arrival. But if we learn to avoid setting off alarms, we can see many more wild animals without frightening them. To practice, find a place in a park and sit quietly for an hour. Take note as the birds begin to relax and sing again. When I do this, I am always surprised at the wonderful thing animals will do when humans simply stay still long enough.

    For those concerned about wrinkly old skin, it might be a creative solution: an elastic(有弹性的) “second skin” that can be smoothed on to make aged tissue look more youthful.

    The wearable film, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has shown promise in a series of small experiments where it was applied to wrinkles, under-eye bags and areas of dry skin. When applied to the face or body, the thin, transparent layer sticks to the skin and supports the tissue, making it look and behave like younger skin, its producers claim.

    “What we've been able to do is create a cream that you can put on the skin, and then when it's on the skin it can actually form, essentially, an elastic second skin,” said Bob Langer, who led the research. Tests in the lab found that the polymer film (高分子膜), which is only 70 thousandths of a millimeter thick, reduced the appearance of wrinkles and under-eye bags, and helped keep moisture (水分) in areas of dry skin.

    The layer is designed to be applied in the morning, then peeled off at night, In previous studies, the second skin withstood normal daily wear, and the stresses and strains of exercise and swimming, without falling off or causing irritation. It also survived exposure to rain.

    “It's something you can wear for a whole day or longer, depending on the physical forces that get applied to the area where it is worn, "said Daniel Anderson, who helped develop the product at MIT. “You can't tell you're wearing it.”

    While normal cosmetics can mask imperfections on the skin, the new coating changes the way skin behaves by giving it the elasticity of young skin. It was developed with help from two companies.

    After the examination, the doctor told my parents my sight would get worse and that I would lose my sight finally. On the way home from hospital, no one said a word. One day, would I only imagine the scenery beyond the glass rather than see it?

    That September, I entered middle school. Most nights I had homework that included an armful of books to read. To keep up with other children, I took great trouble to finish the task. With my nose a couple of inches from the page, I was tired easily. What's worse, after I had read several pages on my own, the words slipped off the page into inky pools.

    However, then I did not have audio books and electronic devices like kids do now. Instead, Mom volunteered to read out loud. Mom worked part time, cleaned the house, cooked and spent time with Grandma. In spite of being so busy, she showed up in my room like clockwork. She put on her reading glasses. Mom always thought those glasses made her look old. To me, she looked like a teacher.

    In my room, Mom's voice compared with the ticking of the clock. Being forced to focus on listening, I found a way to keep my marks up and compete with the other kids. When the teacher asked a question, I raised my hand with confidence. Teachers praised me for having a good memory. Reading removed my fear for my failing sight, reading also made me curious about other people's challenges and how they managed. Though I could not use my eyes to fix on each passage, my mind lit up with every new book.

    True to what the doctor said, the worst came, but thanks to Mom, my sense of hearing now allows me to “see”. This was the most precious gift from a mother to her child.