I volunteer with Meals on Wheels every Friday. A week ago, I had the pleasure of helping one of my customers (顾客). She is in her eighties and is very weak and I always bring her lunch on Fridays. She looked worried when she opened the door that day. She told me her phone was broken and that she couldn't receive the call from her doctor. She went to her neighbours, but they were not at home. She thought maybe the mailman could help her, but he didn't come. She was disappointed.

    Having heard her story, I decided to do something for her. I called the phone company immediately and made sure they knew that getting this phone fixed was urgent (紧急的). I took down her phone number and her name just to make sure I could call her later to make sure that the phone had been fixed.

    I called the phone company twice that day. They told me they had checked the phone line and got the phone connected. The old woman was so thankful that she was in tears (眼泪), hugging me for nay help. After that, I called her every day to make sure she was fine.

    My heart is filled with love and happiness. It does not take much time or effort to help someone like a neighbour. Sometimes, all that is needed is a smile, a hug or a phone call.

    Li Shizhen (李时珍) was one of the most famous doctors in Chinese history.  He was born in Qichun, Hubei in 1518.

    Both of Li Shizhen's father and grandfather were doctors. Li Shizhen's grandfather was a country doctor who traveled in the countryside with a bag of herbs (药草) and medications and cured (治愈) people. His father was doctor who wrote several books.

    Li Shizhen used to help his father in his medical practice when he was young. Li Shizhen's father wanted him to enter politics (从政). Li Shizhen studied for the exams and passed the country-level examination, but he was never able to pass the imperial (帝国的) examination.

    When he was 38, he cured the son of the Prince of Chu and was invited to be an official in that court (宫廷) A few years later, he became an official at the Imperial Medical Institute.

    Even though he fulfilled his father's dream, he didn't want to continue working for the court.

    One year later, he left the court and returned to be a doctor again.

    Li Shizhen. was famous for his book, Compendium of Materia Medica 《本草纲日》He spent 27 years writing the book. Unluckily, Li Shizhen died before the book was officially published. It is such a successful book. Now it is still one of the most important medical books in China.

    Chopsticks were invented in China. There are many stories about who may have invented them. One of them is about Dayu.

    Dayu was an ancient Chinese leader who helped his people fight floods. He was always busy and often ate in the wild. He used a pot to boil (煮沸)water and cook animal meat. Most of the time, he was in a hurry and didn't want to wait to eat. But the meat was too hot to pick up with his hands. In those days, people ate only with their hands.

    So Dayu picked up some twigs (树枝)to help him hold the meat. The twigs later became the chopsticks we know today.

    But of course, this is just one story. The earliest chopsticks we have found so far are more than 3,000 years old, dating back to the Shang Dynasty (朝代).The six bronze chopsticks were found in the Ruins of Yin (殷墟)in Anyang, Henan.

    At first, chopsticks were just used as cooking tools. It was only after some time that people started to use chopsticks to eat.

More than 50 years have passed since anyone set foot on the Moon. But soon, astronauts will return there with a new type of spacesuit (宇航服). Those old ones were really heavy and didn't fit every astronaut well, especially for women. So, NASA has to make some changes to them for the first time in 40 years. 

"The astronauts will find big improvements in these spacesuits" said NASA engineer Carly Meginnis. The new suit has more joints (关节), especially in the lower part of the body. This will offer astronauts more flexibility to perform tasks like kneeling and walking (not "rabbit jumping") on the moon. The gloves need to be protective and allow astronauts to do work as freely as possible. The new gloves have heaters (加热器) to keep fingers warm, since fingers become the coldest parts of body in space. Also, the spacesuit has a cooling system with water moving around to take away the unwanted heat. Another change is that the new helmet (头盔) provides a better view for astronauts. It even adds lights and an HD camera inside to take clearer videos. 

There are still some problems that need to be solved. For example, it still takes up to four hours to put on the spacesuit, even with the help from their partners (搭档). Moreover, scientist hope that spacesuits will be able to be designed to help astronauts work together with robots in the future.

Hangzhou, together with five other cities in Zhejiang, hosted the 19th Asian Games from Sept 23 to Oct 8, 2023. The Games were very "smart" with the use of many exciting technologies. Let's have a look!

The venue (会场) can change for different kind of weather.

The venue for the tennis finals (决赛) of the Hangzhou Asian Games is sometimes called the "Small Lotus (莲花)". On the top of the stadium, there are eight "petals" (花瓣). They can open and close freely. It's built this way for different kinds of weather.

Drones can help with first aid during the Asian Games.

What if there's an accident during the game and the athletes need first aid? Drones (无人机) can be used to send things over. They can fly as far as 20 kilometers and travel 16 meters in one second. Using a drone saves about 60 percent of the time, according to the drone maker Antwork.

This AI system keeps athletes' food safe.

Every dish at the Asian Games should be safe and healthy to eat. In the kitchen of the athletes' village in Hangzhou, there is a special system that can tell people's faces. If a "stranger" goes into the kitchen, an alarm will go off to let people know.

A screenshot of the Hangzhou Asian Games' metaverse (元宇宙).

Want to walk around at the stadiums but can't make it in person? You can try the Hangzhou Asian Games' metaverse! There's a mini program (程序) on Alipay. Inside, it's like an online cartoon world. You can see the stadiums both from the outside and inside. Also, you can talk with other online users in the metaverse.

A screenshot of the Hangzhou Asian Games' AR (增强现实) service.

It will be sad if you can't find your way. Augmented reality (AR, 增强现实) is here to help. There's a mini program called the Hangzhou Asian Games AR service. You simply turn on your phone's camera and it will see where you are and then show you the way.