Since it was announced on Monday that84-year-old Tu had become the first Chinese citizen to win this internationalprize, her former home in the old town of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, hasattracted visi-tors, especially parents and their children-even though it isnot open to the public.

    The house, where Tu lived until she wentto university in Beijing, covers an area of 2,200 square meters and is pricedat 150 million yuan( $ 23. 6 million) . It is part of a complex of 37traditional build-ings, including several city-and-district-level culturalrelic preservation sites, that have been trans-formed into a high-end art, andcommercial zone.

    "There are continually parentstaking their children, from infants in strollers to college students, to takephotos in front of Tu's former home. Security guards have been ordered to go onpatrol around the clock,"  said Mr.Zhao, a salesperson from Ningbo Real Estate Inc Co.

    Shanghai resident Xu Lingfei, who was ona trip to Ningbo, took her 9-year-old son to walk around the complex onWednesday. "Chinese people believe in exams and awards and have a strongpreference for high performers. Taking children to visit the former dwellingplaces of celebrities(名人)  is a way to inspire them to studyharder," Xu said.

    Something similar happened. after Mo Yanwon the Nobel Prize for literature in 2012. Tourists started visiting Mo'sformer home in rural Caomi, Shandong Province, in an endless stream startingthe day after he won the prize. Some even pulled the radishes planted in frontof the house. and carried away some bricks.

    We face problems in our everyday life.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Don't worry.As long as you are breathing,you can solve problems.

Be aware of problem

    First of all,it is important to know and understand the problem clearly.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.Following questions like why,what, how,when,where and who will take you to the root cause of the problem.

Analyze the problem

    Analyzing the problem will give you time to think of a proper solution.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.They can be diagrams（图表）, flowcharts or a lists,etc.

Plan a strategy（策略）

    Planning a strategy will help you waste less energy and time in attempting all the solutions.This step includes knowing the advantages and disadvantages of applying a solution.In this way,you can abandon the strategy that you don't find worthy to apply.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Leave out the information that is not required for the solving of the problem.You need to be accurate with the details.Keeping the unrelated information can sometimes complicate the simple problems as we tend to overlook the important information.

Carry out the solution

    Putting the solution into effect in a correct way to get the result expected is important while solving a problem. You need to be creative while actualizing（实施）a solution just in case some other problem arises while applying the solution.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A.Remove unrelated information.

B.You can use various tools to study the problem.

C.Use yes or no questions to get better information.

D.Knowing the problem means solving half the problem itself.

E.They can be social problems,relationship problems,or problems at work.

F.Being ready with alternatives is also important in case a solution works only half way.

G.Spend 10% of the time analyzing the problem and 90% on the solution,not the opposite.

    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.

    I'd done it before, and so I had no reason to believe that this time would be any different. I was sure that when I returned home from my mission trip. As always, I'd bring back nothing more some mud on my boots. A hole or two in my jeans and, of course, a lot of great memories.

    The summer before my high school graduation, I went to West Virginia with others as volunteers to repair the homes of those in need. Arriving at our destination, my group was assigned the task of rebuilding sections of a home that had been damaged by fire. No sooner had we parked on the home's dirt driveway than we saw an excited little girl, no more than six years old, standing in the doorway of the family's temporary home. Shoeless and wearing dirty clothes and the biggest smile I'd ever seen, she yelled, "Ma, Ma, they really came!" I didn't know it then, but her name was Dakota, and four more days would pass before she'd say another word near me.

    Behind Dakota was a woman in a wheelchair — her grandmother, we'd soon learn. I also discovered that my job that week would be to help change a fire-damaged dining room into a bedroom for this little girl. Grabbing our tools, we went to work. Over the following days, I noticed Dakota peeking at us every now and then as we worked. A few times, I tried talking with her, but she remained shy and distant, always flying around us like a tiny butterfly but keeping to herself.

    By our fifth and final day, however, this was about to change.

    Before I went to work on her home on that last morning, I spoke for a moment or two with the grandmother. I was especially pleased when she told me how much Dakota loved her new room — so much, in fact, that she'd begged to sleep in it the previous night, even though it wasn't quite ready. As we talked, I noticed something I hadn't seen before — Dakota was hiding behind her grandmother.

    Cautiously, she stepped into view, and I could see that just like her clothes, her face was still dirty. But no amount of soil could hide those bright blue eyes and big smile. She was simply adorable. I wanted so much to hug her, but respecting her shyness, I kept my distance.

    Slowly, she began walking toward me. It wasn't until she was just inches away that I noticed the folded piece of paper in her tiny hand. Silently, she reached up and handed it to me. Once unfolded, I looked at the drawing she'd made with her broken crayons on the back of an old coloring book cover. It was of two girls — one much taller than the other — and they were holding hands. She told me it was supposed to be me and her, and on the bottom of the paper were three little words that instantly broke my heart. Now almost in tears, I couldn't control myself anymore — I bent down and hugged her. She hugged me, too. And for the longest time, neither of us could let go.

    By early afternoon, we finished Dakota's bedroom, and so I gladly used the rare free time to get to know my newest friend. Sitting under a tree away from the others, we shared a few apples while she told me about her life. As I listened to her stories about the struggles she and her family went through daily, I began to realize how boring various aspects of my own life were.

    I left for home early the next morning. I was returning with muddy boots and holes in my Jeans. But because of Dakota, I brought back something else, too-a greater appreciation for all or the blessings of my life. I'll never forget that barefoot little butterfly with the big smile and dirty face. I pray that she'll never forget me either.

Art Contest-Technology &You!

Technology is everywhere these days. Automation has pioneered innovation. Your phone is probably in your pocket or your hands at all times, and now it's easier than ever to communicate with anyone in the world. What are your thoughts on technology, social media or your phone? Do you feel excitement every time you get a notification message, or do you feel tied down by these digital "chains"?

However you feel, we want you to put that into artwork-paintings, digital art or photography. One winner and several honorable mentions will be featured in the December 2024 magazine, and the winner will receive a $25 gift card! You may even see your art work in future issues of Teen Ink magazine.

Deadline: Nov. 1, 2024

Details and requirements:

Entrants must have a Teen Ink account and be aged 13～19.

Inappropriate content will not be accepted.

Submissions must relate to the topic（technology）.

Entries must be a piece of artwork created by the entrants themselves.

Entrants can submit as many pieces of art as they wish.

How to submit:

Entries can be submitted through the Teen Ink website. All entries submitted will be reviewed and considered for the contest. See our submission guidelines for more information.

Make sure to submit your art work to the appropriate art category（technology） on Teen Ink. You can do this by using the "additional tags（标签）" field in your submission form.