People say that one man can't make a difference, but Abdul Samad Sheikh, a 60-year-old rickshaw(人力车)driver from Bangladesh, has proved that doing a small thing over a long period of time can mean very much. He has planted at least one tree every day since he was 12 years old, which means that he has so far planted a small forest of over 17,500 trees. Imagine if everyone followed his example.

    Abdul has worked as a rickshaw driver for most of his life. He makes a little money from his job, which is only enough to put food on the table for his family, but he somehow tries to also buy at least one tree everyday. He considers it his duty to the world. Mostly he plants them on government land so nobody can cut them down later. He also them, and if he sees anyone cutting a tree, he blames them.

    Abdul, this wife Jorna, and four of their children live in two old houses, on a piece of land that is owned by the Faridpur deputy commissioner's office. They have no land of their own.

    Sometimes, she commands him not to plant trees but he doesn't listen. Abdul's 30-year-old son, Kutub Uddin, has never told his father not to plant trees, because he thinks his father does a good thing for society.

    Abdul's neighbors all know about his daily habit, and praise his work. Whoever can ask of him anything, he will do his best to help. Therefore, Abdul is loved by neighbors.

    For his efforts, Abdul Samad Sheikh was recently honored by The Daily Star, and given $1, 253 to help him build a better home for his family. The Daily Star hoped everyone to follow his example, and protect the environment.

     “I can't do it alone. I need the help of you all,” Abdul said in his speech.

    I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated English military (军事的)men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant General Lord Arthur Scoresby.

    I cannot describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with medals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness. His fame had no effect on him. The hundreds of eyes watching him, the admiration of so many people, did not seem to make any difference to him.

    Next to me sat a clergyman(牧师), who was an old friend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he turned to me and said in a low voice-"privately-he is a complete fool." He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.

    This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at my friend. I could not have been more surprised if he had said the same thing about Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon. But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke the truth. And, his judgment of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.

    Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman, and he told me more.

    The best bikes for the beginners

    When it comes to purchasing your first bike, the choice is endless, making it tough to know what to go for. Here are the the best buys on the market right now.

⒈Boardman Cx Comp

    This is a cross country bike, and it's so multifunctional that you can handle any terrain(地势) on it , making it a great choice for those wanting to try various cycling subjects. If you leave on the thick tires it comes with, it can ride on various paths and can even handle some less demanding mountain bike routes. Alternatively, put on thin, smooth tires and treat it asa road bike. It has a basket and comes with Shimano Sora gears (变速器), which are outstanding for its price.

£650, Halfords

⒉Planet X RT-58 v2

    Planet X is based in Yorkshire, which means you'd probably have to buy this bike without seeing it. But it's worth it，because this is an excellent machine at a lower price, Planet X is a highly rated manufacturer and this model comes with Shimano Sora gearing.

£585, Planet X

⒊Specialized Allez E5

    Specialized is one of the biggest and most popular brands in cycling, and this is its hugely popular primary road bike. It comes with solid components from front to back and you'll look great out on the road.

£ 75, Evans Cycles

⒋Boardman Road Team Carbon

    If you can push your budget further still, this bike is worth the extra investment. The frame is made entirely from carbon, which is lighter, faster and more comfortable than the composition metal models above and gives you an all round and more enjoyable ride. It also means that if you get really serious about cycling, you don't have to upgrade as quickly as you would with a cheaper bike.

£800, Halfords

    Last fall, I happened to overhear a student telling the others he had decided not to sign up for an introductory philosophy course. The demands of his major, he said seriously, meant he needed to take "practical" courses, and "enlightenment" would simply have to wait. For now, employability was the most important.

    The students' conversation fits into a larger alarming narrative about the role of the humanities in higher education. In a time of dizzying technological achievement and of rapid scientific innovation, sceptics of the humanities may question the usefulness of studying Aristotle, the Italian Renaissance or Chinese fiction.

    Actually, I regret not interrupting that student to argue for taking that introductory philosophy course. I would have started by reminding him that, for much of America's history, college graduates were not considered truly educated unless they had mastered philosophy, literature, political theory and history. The key role of higher education was to invite students into the conversations about matters like what it means to be alive and the definition of justice. Fostering engagement with these subjects is still an essential part of the university's function in society.

    I would have also mentioned to the student that he was misinformed about the job market. It is true that many employers are looking for graduates with specialized technical skills, but they also look for other capabilities. As the world is transformed by artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation, the unique human qualities of creativity, imagination and moral reasoning will be the ultimate coin of the realm. All these skills are developed in humanities courses.

    Further, I would have argued that while a degree anchored in the sciences is an important precondition for many jobs, it is not the only route. Look no further than the founders of companies such as LinkedIn, Slack and Flickr, who are among the many tech businesspersons with degrees in the humanities, and who credit that training for their success.

    Contrary to the widely held belief that humanities majors have a hard time getting jobs, recent studies show that those with humanities degrees are successful in the workplace, experiencing low rates of unemployment and reporting high levels of job satisfaction. The ratio between average median(中位数) incomes for humanities degree holders and those with business, engineering, and health and medical sciences degrees has been shown to narrow over the course of a career.

    The case for the humanities can also be understood in less transactional terms and more as a foundational preparation for a life well lived. A humanities education plays a vital role in encouraging citizens to lead an examined life. It fosters critical thinking, self-reflection, empathy and tolerance, the usefulness of which only becomes more apparent as one navigates life's challenges.

    By all means, students should take courses they think practical and follow their interests, but if they also make a point of studying the literature of the Renaissance, or researching into modern poetry, or even taking introductory philosophy, we will all benefit.

    Electronic book publishing has many of the same risks and opportunities as electronic music publishing. By delivering text direct to the reader's computer screen, the e-book could cut down costs, and allow creators to deal directly with their audience, by passing (绕开) traditional publishers and traders. But it also raises the possibility of mass piracy (盗版). Phil Rance, founder and managing director of Online Originals, a London-based e-book publisher, sums it up, "No one wants Napster (在线音乐服务) to happen to books."

    Indeed, the most popular MP3may have put the frighteners on an industry that generally operates some way behind the "bleeding edge". The Meta Group, a leading US-based market researcher, says publishers are far too concerned about protecting their rights, "We believe all the recent legal control over Napster is like putting a finger in a river that is already overflowing. Publishers need to deal with reality and come up with new ways to develop wide electronic distribution, asking the question: How can we use the certainty of wide distribution to our advantage."

    At the moment, most publishers would like to limit the use of e-books to the person who bought them, or to the computer used to download them. If that can be done, e-books become just an extra income stream in a publishing industry that would continue to operate the way it does today, according to Terry Robinson, business manager for Adobe's e-paper group. "If you've cracked the digital rights aspect, you've cracked the market." He says.

    Robert Nichols, Books Director at BOL agrees, "Rights management is absolutely important. Publishers just say that 'until copyright is secure, we are not going to talk'."

In 1835, William Talbot finally succeeded in producing a photograph of his country house. He declared that his was the first house ever known to have drawn its own picture. The drawing was formed "by the action of light upon sensitive paper." Photography offered nature a "pencil" to paint herself through optical （光学的） and chemical means alone.

By the mid-nineteenth century, people no longer needed to hire a draftsman to draw detailed images because the process could be completed instantly with a camera. Advocates for the technology stated that not only was it more precise than the human hand-it was faster and cheaper.

The removal of human fallibility in the creating process was one of photography's biggest selling points, but this also started debates about the new medium's implications for visual culture. Could images made largely by a machine be considered art? If so, where did human creativity, fit in this process?

As the twenty-first century becomes increasingly automated （自动化的）, more and more people attempt to identify where human agency exists in the technologically driven world. Images generated with artificial intelligence by companies like OpenAI are stimulating questions like those that emerged with the coming of the photograph. By typing a sentence, users can generate "new" images composed from images collected across the internet. The result has been a flood of Al-generated images in places that are previously unique to human authors. Painting competitions, commercial graphic design and the fashion of portraiture（肖像） have all since collided with the technology in troubling ways.

The fine arts were thought to be a final hold-out of human creativity, but the surprisingly high quality of Al-generated images is producing deeper questions about the nature of originality. If the history of photography tells us anything, it's that the debate won't be settled quickly; straightforwardly or by the institutions we typically associate with cultural gate-keeping.