Toying  with an idea of companionship

手边的毛绒“陪伴”

Young  adults turn to fake furry friends to bolster their spirits

年轻人向“毛绒朋友”寻求陪伴和慰藉

Internet  operation officer Gao Qingmeng, 24, from an internet enterprise in Shanghai, was in a reflective mood while working overtime from home one weekend. To tackle her ennui, she scrolled through social media platforms, and suddenly came across a post from Jellycat, a UK-headquartered soft-toy company, and was instantly smitten by it.

24岁的上海互联网运营职员高庆萌（音译）在一个周末居家加班时心思沉重。为打发无聊，她刷起了社交媒体，偶然看到一家英国毛绒玩具公司Jellycat的帖子，被其产品深深吸引。

She  immediately felt an urge to buy one. Without hesitation, she left home and took an hourlong subway ride to purchase one — a Bartholomew Bear, a popular product from the company. This was just the beginning. One toy led to another, and one by one, her legion expanded into a large collection.

她立刻产生了购买的冲动。她毫不犹豫地搭乘一个多小时的地铁，去线下门店购买了一只Jellycat的热门产品“巴塞洛缪熊”（Bartholomew Bear）。从此她踏上了“不归路”，收藏的毛绒玩具数量越来越多，毛绒“军团”越来越壮大。

On  various social media platforms, many young people are showing off their plush toy collections. There has been an increasing demand for plush toys in the Chinese market, not merely from their targeted customers — children — but also including young adults. Consumers of the post-2000 generation account for 43 percent of the market, followed by 36 percent by those of the post-1990 generation.

各大社交媒体平台上，许多年轻人在展示自己的毛绒玩具藏品。毛绒玩具在中国市场的需求呈现上升趋势，不仅包括目标群体儿童，也包括成年消费者，据统计，00后消费者占市场份额的43%，90后紧随其后，占36%。

This  trend is attracting attention and some experts, such as psychologists or psychotherapists like Zhang Chun, who works for Pencil Psychology, a company based in Xiamen, Fujian province, have begun to use such toys for the comfort of clients who come to their offices for counseling.

这一现象引起了广泛关注，一些心理学家和心理治疗师也开始尝试将毛绒玩具引入心理咨询环节，帮助缓解客户的压力，其中就包括来自福建厦门“铅笔心理”的心理治疗师张春。

Zhang  describes them as "hyperlinks" to evoke imagination. Touching these toys, according to psychological hypothesis based on studies, such as the US psychologist Harry Harlow's monkey experiment during the 1930s, is "like clicking a hyperlink". "Generally, they can connect people instantly to their favorite works or characters," says the psychotherapist.

张春把毛绒玩具描述为一种“超级链接”来激发想象力。根据心理学研究假说（如美国心理学家哈里·哈洛于20世纪30年代进行的猴子实验），触摸毛绒玩具“就像点击一个超链接”。“这能迅速唤起人们与自己喜欢的作品或角色的情感联结，”张春表示。

Qiu  Jiangyi, 30, a Hangzhou-based human resources worker from the jewelry industry, also loves collecting plush toys. In order to obtain her favorite toys, once she finds there are stocks of them online, she would often click quickly to snap them up, or even pay more money, say several times the original price, to secure her purchase. Qiu dresses her toys, takes them on outings and even seeks out craft enthusiasts on social media to customize toys' faces — a process referred to as "face reshaping", which involves tailoring techniques to make the plush toys look cuter.

30岁的杭州珠宝行业人力资源从业者邱江怡（音译）同样喜欢收集毛绒玩具。每当她发现自己喜欢的玩具有库存时，都会迅速下单，甚至愿意花几倍于原价的价格购买。邱江怡还为自己的毛绒玩具“打扮”、带它们出游，甚至通过社交媒体找到手工爱好者为其定制玩具的脸部表情——这一过程被称为“换脸”，通过定制工艺让玩具显得更加可爱。

While  these activities resemble parenting, to Qiu, her actions don't carry any deeper meaning. "They're just toys to me — visually appealing and providing aesthetic satisfaction, but I don't attach deeper emotions to them," she says, "My relationship with them is more of friendship, and I'd feel better when these toys of mine accompany me during many moments."

虽然这些行为看似有“养娃”的意味，但在邱江怡看来，这些行为没有其他深刻的含义。“对我来说，它们只是玩具，满足了我的视觉和审美需求，我并未赋予它们更深的情感意义，”她说道，“它们更像是我的朋友，在很多时刻陪伴着我，让我感到安心。”

Growth  of 'academic bars' quenches thirst for knowledge

“学术酒吧”兴起，满足人们对知识的渴求

Lectures  at pubs attract audiences eager to relax, expand understanding

酒吧讲座吸引观众来放松心情、拓宽视野

Dubbed  "academic bars", drinking holes that quench an intellectual thirst for enlightening lectures and lively exchanges are mushrooming across China's big cities. On lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, topics related to academic bars have garnered millions of views, with their popularity in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, accelerating over the summer. Typically lasting one hour, the lectures are generally free of charge or can be listened to for the price of a drink.

近年来，所谓的“学术酒吧”在中国大城市如雨后春笋般涌现，成为人们在轻松氛围中聆听知识讲座和参与互动的新去处。随着“学术酒吧”在上海、北京和广州等地的热度在今夏不断攀升，该现象已经成为社交平台小红书上的热门话题，相关内容浏览量已经突破数百万。大多数讲座时长约为一小时，参与者通常只需购买一杯饮品，也可以免费聆听。

"Bars  or pubs, which provide an informal setting, naturally bridge the psychological distance between the general public and serious academic content," said Bai Anke, a 27-year-old manager of Bunker, a popular academic pub in Shanghai. "We've noticed that there is a large group of young people in Shanghai who have received higher or overseas education and still pursue serious knowledge after leaving campus.

上海一家热门学术酒吧“街垒”的27岁主理人白安可表示：“酒吧提供了非正式环境，这种氛围自然能够缩短大众与严肃学术内容之间的心理距离。我们发现，上海有一大批年轻人曾接受过高等教育或海外教育，尽管已经离开校园，他们仍然渴望拓宽自己的知识视野。”

Academic  bars have gained in popularity through word-of-mouth and the algorithms of social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin. Working with a venue in Jing'an district, Xiaohongshu launched a pop-up academic bar in Shanghai on Sept 7 and 8, featuring more than 10 lectures on topics including philosophy, reading, critical thinking, life experiences, anti-aging technology, and language learning. The free drinks offered at the partner bar were tailored to echo the lecture themes. Light alcohol was offered to help audiences relax and feel freer to interact.

学术酒吧的流行，得益于口口相传与小红书、抖音等社交媒体平台算法的助推。9月7日至8日，小红书与上海静安区的一家酒吧场地合作，推出了一场学术酒吧快闪活动，期间举办了超过10场讲座，内容涵盖哲学、阅读、批判性思维、生活经验、抗衰老技术、语言学习等多个主题。酒吧还提供了与讲座主题相呼应的特制免费饮品，轻度酒精饮品帮助观众放松心情，鼓励他们更自在地参与互动。

The  booming trend is also injecting new vitality into the hospitality industry. Many people have a negative impression of bars and pubs, but the academic lectures are changing the stereotype. More patrons, especially those who don't drink, are stepping into bars for the very first time.

这一蓬勃趋势还为酒店业注入了新的活力。虽然人们对酒吧一直以来有负面印象，但学术酒吧的出现正在改变这一刻板印象。越来越多的顾客，特别是那些不喝酒的人，开始第一次走进酒吧。 

However , debate on the worth of academic bars has also accompanied the boom. Some critics have questioned the value of such lectures and the seeming contradiction of "serious" academic issues being discussed in a commercial bar. Many wonder whether audiences can really learn something in one hour, or just regard it as a way of showing off as being part of an "elite".

然而，随着学术酒吧的兴起，对其价值的争议也随之而来。有评论认为，在商业酒吧中讨论“严肃”学术问题存在一定矛盾，是否有价值也待商榷。很多人怀疑观众是否能在短短一小时内真正学到东西，还是把它当作炫耀自己“精英”身份的一种方式。

Organizers , lecturers, audiences and bar staff were unperturbed by the controversy, and view it as a way to publicize the trend. Sun Qiyao, head of the Xiaohongshu project, said it is normal for a new trend to gradually find the right direction to head in. Liu Qingge, a frequenter of the lectures, said academic bars are part of new business forms that represent change, development and fresh opportunities in society. Instead of being overly criticized, they should be encouraged, even though they may be viewed as a marketing gimmick, she said.

尽管如此，学术酒吧组织者、讲座人、观众以及酒吧工作人员对这些争议不以为意，反而认为这些争议有助于推动这一趋势的发展。 （音译）表示，任何新兴趋势的出现，都会经历一定的磨合过程，最终找到适合的发展方向。经常参加学术酒吧活动的刘青戈（音译）表示，学术酒吧作为新型商业形态，代表了社会变革、发展和新机会，尽管有时可能被视为一种营销手段，应当得到鼓励而不是过度批评。

Back  in the autumn of 2002, Liang, an expert on the team preparing the area's application for inclusion on the list, received two experts from UNESCO who were sent to investigate the region.

2002年秋，三江并流申遗专家组成员梁永宁接待了两位前来考察的联合国教科文组织专家。

Two  decades ago, the area was one of the most impoverished in China. It was blocked by unscalable mountains and rushing rivers. Roads were carved into escarpments and some bridges were merely cables which people used to get across roaring torrents together with their animals. "We thought it would take one month to complete the expedition because we needed to cross the three rivers, as well as the divides and watersheds in between, to see all of them. At that time there was no highway connecting the rivers," he says.

二十年前，这个区域曾是中国最贫困的地区之一。高耸的大山和汹涌的河水将它与世隔绝。人们在悬崖峭壁上凿开道路。桥梁有时仅是一条钢索，人们和动物一起滑索过河，身下河水激流咆哮。“我们当时想，这次考察得一个月才能完成，要跨越三条大河以及它们之间的分水岭，才能看全整个区域。那个时候三江之间也没通高速，”他说。

However , no matter how big the sites are, UNESCO allows, at most, two-week investigations. With the help of local people, they planned an east-west route that started from the Jinsha River and ended west of the Gaoligong Mountains located on the west bank of the Nujiang River. "We tried everything. If there was a highway, we took off-road vehicles. If there was no highway, we rode horses, and if even horses couldn't go on, we went on foot," he says.

然而，无论遗产地面积多大，联合国教科文组织允许的考察时间最多为两周。在当地人的帮助下，他们规划了一条东西向的路线，从金沙江出发，最终抵达怒江西岸的高黎贡山西部。“我们尽可能利用一切方式。有公路时使用越野车，没有公路时骑马，而连马都无法通行时，我们就徒步前进，”梁教授说。

It  was a hard expedition. In the area, a world of sierras, stand 118 glaciated peaks of more than 5,000 meters above sea level. The highest is Kawagebo Peak (6,740 meters) in Dechen county of Dechen Tibet autonomous prefecture, in the Lancang River Grand Canyon. This protected area is inhabited by the endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys.

考察艰苦异常。三江并流境内，巨齿状的山脉连绵不绝，共有118座海拔超5000米的雪山。最高峰卡瓦格博峰，高达6740米，位于德钦藏族自治州的德钦县内，地处澜沧江大峡谷。澜沧江大峡谷是濒危物种滇金丝猴的栖息地。

Liang  remembers how the weather kept changing when they climbed over the Biluo Snow Mountains located in the Lancang-Nujiang divide. Biluo's snowcapped range extends 142 km with 15 glaciated peaks measuring over 4,000 meters above sea level. The 4,500-meter-high Laowo Mountain stands out as the most beautiful. Elevation drops 3,200 meters before reaching the Lancang River. "At some points, we very cautiously rode horses along narrow roads on the cliffs. Actually, when we prepared for the expedition, several people were injured while trying the dangerous roads," he says.

梁永宁记得，当他们翻越澜沧江与怒江之间的碧罗雪山时，天气变化无常。碧罗雪山的雪峰绵延142公里，海拔超过4000米的冰川峰多达15座。其中最壮美的一座是老窝雪山，高4500米。碧罗雪山与澜沧江之间的高度落差达3200米。　“在一些段落，我们骑着马，就在悬崖边走，很小心。实际上，我们准备考察路线的时候，这条路太险，有好几个人都受了伤，”他说。

The  expedition lasted 12 days. When the experts departed, one of them, Canadian Jim Thorsell, gifted Liang a book. It was a copy of an excerpt from The Mystery Rivers of Tibet by British botanist and explorer Francis Kingdon-Ward, who traveled across the three parallel rivers and the watersheds in 1913 to collect plant species for British horticulture businesses and scientific research.

专家组共考察了12日。在回程之际，加拿大专家吉姆·桑瑟尔送给梁教授一本书做礼物。书是英国植物学家、探险家弗朗西斯·金敦--沃德所作《神秘的滇藏河流》的一部分。1913年，沃德穿越并流的三江及其分水岭，为英国的园艺市场和科研采集植物。

Liang  found their route overlapped in many respects with the one Ward traveled nearly 90 years prior. "Thorsell read the book and told me the natural conditions of the area had not changed much over the years," Liang says. Ward devoted the whole fifth chapter to the sacred mountain of Kawagebo. It was also a waypoint on the UNESCO expedition.

梁教授发现他们的考察路线在很多地方都与90年前沃德的路线重合。“桑瑟尔读了这本书，告诉我这么多年过去了，这里的自然环境没有太多变化，”梁教授说。《神秘的滇藏河流》第五章全部用来讲述神山卡瓦博格峰。这也是此次联合国教科文组织的一个考察点。

On timeless rivers, life finds a peak

三江并流：不朽的长河，生命的巅峰

Three mighty waterways provide the lifeblood for a natural wonder

三条大江孕育了自然的奇迹

It  is a story transcending time, a witness of sea changes, a land with "mystery rivers", an ark of life, a symphony of natural wonders, a museum sheltering the eternal and the transitional, a piece of evidence showing that life can be both tough and frail, and a history that records people's changing perceptions of nature. It is the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas in the northwest part of Yunnan province, which is located in Southwest China.

这是一段超越时光的故事，是沧海桑田的见证，是一片拥有“神秘江河”的土地，是生命的方舟，是自然奇观的交响乐，是庇护永恒与瞬息的博物馆，是生命坚韧与脆弱的双重体现，更是一部记录人类对自然认知演变的历史。这片奇迹正是位于中国西南云南省西北部的“三江并流”保护区。 

The  story began about 40 million years ago, when the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate, raising the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and creating the rumpled peaks of the Hengduan Mountains. The roof of the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, cradles the sources of the longest rivers in Asia. In between the precipitous north-south ranges of the rippling Hengduan Mountains runs a mighty trio of waterways－the Nujiang in the west, the Lancang in the middle and the Jinsha in the east. 

故事开始于约4000万年前，那时印度板块与欧亚板块相撞，抬升了青藏高原，造就了褶皱般的横断山脉。“世界屋脊”青藏高原孕育了亚洲最长河流。在连绵起伏、纵贯南北繁的横断山脉之间，三条壮丽的大江并行流淌——西为怒江，中为澜沧江，东为金沙江。

Respectively  they are the upper streams of the Salween River, which runs through Myanmar, the vast Mekong River and the Yangtze River, the world's third-longest watercourse. One singular thing about the three rivers is that they run abreast for 170 kilometers through Yunnan, before the Jinsha River turns drastically northeastward and finally meets the East China Sea. Another is that they run unusually close to each other. The shortest distance between Lancang and Jinsha measures 66 km, and between Lancang and Nujiang, the distance is less than 19 km.

这三条河流分别是流经缅甸的萨尔温江、壮阔的湄公河，以及世界第三长河长江的上游。三江在云南境内并行170公里，随后金沙江急转向东北，最终汇入东海，是一大奇观。此外，三江之间的距离也异常接近：澜沧江与金沙江最近处仅相隔66公里，而澜沧江与怒江之间的最短距离更是不足19公里。

That  was how, in 1985, this geographical wonder, highlighted on a satellite map, drew the attention of an expert from UNESCO, which marked the commencement of a long journey to apply for inclusion on the World Heritage List. UNESCO selects world heritage sites according to four criteria: aesthetic importance, outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth's history, exceptional examples of significant ongoing ecological and biological processes, and the most significant natural habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity. Meeting one of them is usually adequate.

正因为此，1985年这一地理奇观在卫星地图上引起了一位联合国教科文组织专家的注意，从而开启了漫长的申遗之旅。联合国教科文组织依据四项标准评选世界遗产地：重要的审美价值、表现地球演化主要阶段的突出例证、包含重要生态和生物演化过程的例证、为生物多样性就地保护最重要的自然栖息地。一般满足一个标准即可进入世界遗产名录。 

The  Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas went on the list in 2003. Liang Yongning, a professor of geology from Kunming University of Science and Technology in Yunnan, says it is the only world heritage site in China that meets all four criteria. Covering 1.7 million hectares, the site consists of 15 different protected areas that have been divided into eight clusters, each providing a representative sample of the full range of the biological and geological diversity of the Hengduan Mountains, Shangri-La included.

云南“三江并流”保护区于2003年成功列入世界遗产名录。云南昆明科技大学地质学教授梁永宁表示，这是中国唯一一个同时满足上述四项标准的世界遗产地。保护区面积达170万公顷，由15个保护区组成，分为8个保护群聚落，每个保护群聚落内都包含横断山脉所有生物和地理多样性的代表样本，其中包括香格里拉地区。

Shoppers  must guard against fake customer reviews online

买家需警惕网购虚假好评

China  has become a global leader in e-commerce because Chinese consumers have taken to online shopping like fish takes to water. What has made this miracle possible is the high internet penetration rate (77.5 percent by 2023) in China.

中国之所以成为全球电子商务的领导者，是因为中国消费者对网购如鱼得水。而促成这一奇迹的重要原因之一，是中国高达77.5%的互联网普及率（截至2023年）。

In  the first three quarters of this year, online retail sales in China reached 10.89 trillion yuan ($1.51 trillion), up 8.6 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The continuous rise in online sales revenue can be attributed to online shopping becoming increasingly mainstream in China, especially during the "Double Eleven" (Nov 11) shopping festival.

据国家统计局数据显示，今年前三季度，中国网络零售额达到10.89万亿元人民币（约合1.51万亿美元），同比增长8.6%。网购逐渐成为主流消费方式，特别是在“双十一”购物节期间，网络销售额持续攀升。

As  China's biggest annual online shopping event, the festival, which this year actually started at the end of October, has been playing a vital role in further stimulating the appetite of consumers for years despite online buyers having become more rational.

作为中国最大的一年一度购物盛宴，今年双十一从十月底就拉开帷幕，近年来持续激发消费者的购买热情，然而消费者在决策上也变得更加理性。

Online  merchants now find it difficult to sell their products to consumers who know exactly what they want. This has prompted some online merchants to choose wrong and even illegal tactics to attract consumers. One such illegal tactic is to post fake customer reviews online.

面对需求更加明确的消费者，网络商家要吸引顾客消费变得愈发困难。部分商家因此选择不当甚至违法手段来吸引消费者，其中一种便是刷虚假好评。

For  example, some businesses promise buyers a small amount of refund on their purchase if they write a positive review, preferably with photographs, or offer other benefits to lure consumers into writing "five-star" reviews despite the poor quality of their products. Worse, some online shops even hire ghostwriters to post a large number of manipulated reviews and photographs online to promote their products or services. Incidentally, photographs can cause more trouble than fake consumer reviews because most probably they are stolen from some other e-shops or platforms.

比如，一些商家承诺，消费者只要给出带图片的好评，就能获得小额返现，也有商家用其他奖励诱导消费者为低质商品留下“五星好评”。更有甚者，一些网店甚至雇佣“水军”，通过大批量虚假评论和盗用图片来夸大产品或服务的质量。这些盗用图片的行为，可能比普通的虚假评价更具危害性，因为它们很可能是从其他网点或者电商平台盗用的。

Customers  losing trust in the products and services will harm the development of the e-commerce sector, and deal a blow to online enterprises that do business in good faith. To address this problem, the authorities should take action to deter online enterprises from indulging in such acts. Online shoppers, too, have a role to play in curbing such harmful behavior by resisting the lure of a small amount of money and sounding the alarm against those e-shops that offer them "bribes" to write fake reviews. As for online enterprises, they should abide by the law.

如果顾客对产品和服务失去信任，将严重影响电商行业的健康发展，也会殃及诚信经营的网络商家。为解决该问题，有关部门需要采取更严格的措施，制止商家从事这些违法行为。同时，消费者也应制止这种行为，主动抵制小额返现的诱惑，警惕提供“好评奖励”的商家。网络商家则更应自觉遵守法律，诚信经营。

Fortunately , people are becoming more aware of the developments on online platforms and are prepared to do their bit to ensure the culprits receive due punishment according to law. Also, the State Administration for Market Regulation introduced fair competition regulation, especially for the internet industry, in May, to deal with infringements of consumer rights on online platforms including fake orders and manipulated reviews.

幸运的是，越来越多的消费者已经意识到这种现象的危害，并愿意参与进来，使不良商家受到法律的制裁。此外，为了维护消费者权益，国家市场监督管理总局于今年5月出台了《网络反不正当竞争暂行规定》，重点打击网购平台上虚假订单和操控评价等侵犯消费者权利的行为。

Better reading services await elderly

老年阅读服务将更完善

China  will ramp up efforts to enrich reading experiences for seniors by creating accessible reading environments and providing them with scientific guidance and products, with the aim of securing their right to read and attaining spiritual fulfillment in their twilight years.

中国将加大力度为丰富老年人阅读体验，为老年人创造便捷的阅读环境，并为他们提供科学的阅读指导和相关产品，以保障他们的阅读权利，让他们在晚年获得精神上的满足。

Fourteen  central departments, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Education and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, have recently released a guideline urging local authorities to offer more accessible and higher-quality reading services to the elderly.

近日，包括民政部、教育部和中华全国总工会在内的14个中央部门联合发布指导意见，促使地方政府为老年人提供更加便捷和高质量的阅读服务。

The  guideline clarifies that it's of great importance to offer seniors more convenient ways to read, which can boost their self-improvement and facilitate better engagement in family and social activities. The nation will integrate its resources to make sure older adults in rural and urban areas can access reading materials. 

指导意见明确指出，为老年人提供更加便利的阅读方式具有重要意义，这不仅能促进其自我提升，还能帮助他们更好地参与家庭和社会活动。国家将整合资源，确保城乡老年人都能获取阅读材料。

Under  the guideline, some State-level reading promotion campaigns targeting seniors will be launched and carried out via smart tools such as digital and information technologies, which will allow them to experience audiovisual reading. Local authorities are encouraged to organize reading activities, including recitation, book-sharing parties and sitcom performances, to make the experiences more interesting and attractive for the elderly.

根据该指导意见，将推出、开展一些面向老年群体的国家级阅读推广活动，通过数字化和信息化技术等智能工具，帮助老年人体验视听阅读。指导意见也鼓励地方政府组织朗诵、书友会和情景剧表演等阅读活动，以增加老年人的阅读兴趣和体验。

Figures  from the civil affairs ministry showed that the number of people in China aged 60 and above was almost 297 million by the end of last year, accounting for more than 21 percent of the nation's total population. Among these people, about 37 million have completed senior high school and are literate, but their reading demands are not fully met due to a lack of accessible reading materials and related services.

民政部数据显示，截至去年底，中国60岁及以上人口接近2.97亿，占全国总人口的21%以上。其中约3700万人完成了高中学业并具备阅读能力，但由于缺乏便捷的阅读材料和相关服务，他们的阅读需求尚未完全得到满足。

The  guideline encourages publishing houses and printing presses to publish books, magazines or newspapers appealing to seniors and make the copyrighted materials more accessible to them by adding audio services and printing with larger characters. Also, local public services departments are required to optimize the reading environment for older adults by installing barrier-free facilities or offering voluntary services such as delivering books to their homes. Local authorities can use some AI tools to offer scientific, systematic and personalized reading guidance to the elderly based on their ages, education backgrounds and health conditions, and publish regular reports listing their favorite books.

指导意见鼓励出版机构和印刷厂出版老年人感兴趣的书籍、杂志和报纸，并通过添加音频服务和大字印刷等方式让老年人更容易获取版权作品。同时，指导意见要求地方公共服务部门优化老年人的阅读环境，例如安装无障碍设施，或提供上门送书的志愿服务。地方政府还可以利用人工智能工具，根据老年人的年龄、教育背景和健康状况，为其提供科学、系统和个性化的阅读指导，并定期发布他们喜爱书籍的榜单。

Some  provinces and cities have taken steps to better meet the older residents' reading demands. The city-level Wenzhou Library in Zhejiang province offers regular book interpretation services to the elderly, with volunteers speaking in the local dialect to help them better understand some classic Chinese novels. Jiang Xianjing, who works at the Wenzhou Library, told China Central Television that the library workers will help local residents aged 70 and above select the books they want and have them mailed to their homes. All they have to do is call the library.

一些省市已经采取措施，以更好地满足老年居民的阅读需求。浙江省温州市图书馆为老年人提供定期的图书解说服务，由志愿者用当地方言帮助他们更好地理解一些经典的中国小说。温州市图书馆的蒋显菁（音译）向中央电视台介绍，图书馆工作人员会帮助70岁及以上的当地居民挑选他们想要的书籍，并将书邮寄到家中，老年人只需打个电话即可。

The  Great Wall helped rulers of the Central China Plains secure a relatively peaceful environment for development of an agricultural civilization. However strong it is, the Great Wall, made of stones, lime, bricks, wood or rose willow, still faced wind erosion and people's influence over centuries so that in many sections, only obscure ruins remain. "This is why we need to capture images for posterity," says 72-year-old Hohhot photographer Lei Qinghui.

长城帮助中原统治者为农业文明的发展营造了相对和平的环境。无论有多么坚固，由石头、石灰、砖块、木头或柳木建成的长城几百年来仍然饱受风雨侵蚀和人类活动影响，目前许多段落的长城仅存断壁残垣。“所以，我们需要为子孙后代留下长城的影像，”72岁来自呼和浩特的摄影师雷青辉表示。

Since  he retired 10 years ago, Lei has visited 95 percent of the 924-km-long Ming Great Wall in Inner Mongolia and snapped 80,000 pictures. What fascinates Lei the most are the beacon towers, some of which are 22 meters tall, a feature "rarely seen" elsewhere.

自从十年前退休以来，雷青辉走访了内蒙古自治区内长达924千米的明长城的95%的部分，拍下了八万张照片。让雷青辉最着迷的是烽火台，有些高达22米，这在其他长城段落十分“罕见”。

The  Ming Great Wall is in relatively better shape than the sections built by other dynasties. Some portions are still magnificent, like the Badaling section in Beijing, which has hosted many world dignitaries, including former US president Richard Nixon and the late Queen Elizabeth II. "Apart from some beacon towers, some sections of the Great Wall, despite the vicissitudes, still appear tough and glorious after so many years, which is really touching to see," he says.

明长城相较其他朝代长城保存完好，一些部分仍然很壮观，比如北京八达岭长城，美国前总统理查德·尼克松（Richard Nixon）和已逝的伊丽莎白女王二世等世界名人就曾造访过这里。“除了烽火台外，长城的一些段落在历经多年风霜后仍然雄伟坚毅，的确令人动容，”他说。

In  Alshaa League, Lei used drone cameras to capture the breathtaking beauty of the three lines of the Ming Great Wall. Alshaa League is also famous for the section built under the Han Dynasty, especially in Juyan, a military stronghold 17 km southeast of Ejine Banner. Running through a bleak desert, the fortifications, including beacon towers and castles for stationing troops, are well-preserved.

在阿拉善盟，雷青辉使用无人机摄像头捕捉到了明长城三道防线的壮丽景观。阿拉善盟还以汉代修建的长城段闻名，特别是在距额济纳旗东南17公里的军事重镇居延。长城穿越荒凉的沙漠，沿途的防御工事，包括烽火台和驻军堡垒，至今保存完好。

During  an excursion in 1930, Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman unearthed in Juyan more than 10,000 bamboo slips dating back to the Han Dynasty — most of them are military archives, while the rest are books, private letters and calendars. These bamboo slips piece together the defense system of the Great Wall, as well as social lives of local people, says Jing Xueyi, director of the Alshaa League cultural heritage bureau.

1930年，在一次考察中，瑞典考古学家福尔克·贝格曼在居延挖掘了1万多枚汉代竹简——其中大多数是军事档案，其余则是书籍、私人信件和历书。阿拉善盟文化遗产局局长景学义表示，这些竹简拼凑出长城的防御系统以及当地人的社会生活。 

Another  major portion of the Great Wall in the league was built under the Western Xia regime (1038-1227). Facing threats from the Liao in the north, the Jin in the northeast and the Song (960-1279) in the east, the Western Xia rulers erected the bulwark against rivals.

阿拉善盟的另一部分长城是在西夏王朝（1038-1227年）期间修建的。面对北方的辽国、东北的金国以及东方的宋朝（960-1279年）的威胁，西夏统治者修筑了这道屏障以抵御敌对势力。

Since  the Han Dynasty, Alshaa League has been an area of overlapping agricultural and nomadic cultures, especially with the involvement of the central government of many dynasties, whose troops and farmers came and stayed there, Jing says. Despite its pronounced military role, the Great Wall in Alshaa League symbolized order instead of chaos in peacetime, which covers a greater part of history, Jing adds.

景学义表示，自汉代以来，阿拉善盟一直是农耕文化与游牧文化交汇的地区，特别是历代中央政权的介入使得朝廷的军队和农民来到这里并定居。尽管阿拉善盟的长城在军事上有着重要作用，但它在和平时期象征的是秩序而非混乱，而和平时期占据了更长的历史时段。

An epic bulwark

长城，人类壮举

One  of the largest construction projects in the history of mankind, the Great Wall is the epitome of ancient Chinese wisdom and perseverance. It was an awe-inspiring defense strategy that spanned dynasties and remains an eloquent testimony to the edifice of Chinese civilization.

作为人类历史上最大的建筑工程之一，长城代表了古代中国人的智慧和勤劳。这一防御战略令人叹为观止，历经数个朝代，仍是中国文化文明宝藏的明鉴。

The  earliest sections of the Great Wall were built by the ancient Chinese people to keep invaders at bay. After the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), the first emperor of China, Qinshihuang, wiped out six states and established the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). He ordered consolidation and extension of the Great Wall to protect his territory from his archenemy, the Xiongnu in the north. In the 2,000 years that followed, and until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), this effective military master plan was applied by rulers of different ethnicities. 

中国古人最早修筑长城是为了抵御外敌。在战国时期（公元前475年-221年）后，中国第一位皇帝秦始皇灭六国建立秦朝（公元前221年-206年），他下令加固并延伸长城，以抵御大敌——北方匈奴的入侵。在此后的两千年间，一直到明朝（1368年-1644年），这一行之有效的军事总规划被不同民族的中国统治者所运用。

From  Northeast China's Liaoning province to swathes of arid land in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, from Central China's Henan province to the border between China and Mongolia in the north, the incredible fortifications ran through rugged mountains, vast grasslands and remote deserts. In 1987, the Great Wall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More recently, a nationwide survey of different sections of the Great Wall found that its total length of 21,196.18 kilometers surpassed the distance between the Earth's two poles.

从东北辽宁省到西北新疆维吾尔自治区广袤的旱地，从中原地区河南省到北部中国与蒙古交接的边陲地带，长城这一防御工事途径崎岖的高山、广阔的草地和偏远的荒漠。1987年，长城被联合国教科文组织列入《世界遗产名录》，此后，一项全国范围对于长城各个段落的普查发现其总长度为21196.18千米，超过了地球南北极之间的距离。

Among  the 15 provincial-level administrative regions through which the Great Wall runs, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region boasts the most extensive fortifications, adding up to 7,570 kilometers across 80 banners and counties. Construction of the bulwark in Inner Mongolia spanned more than 2,000 years, beginning during the Warring States Period, continuing through the Qin, Han (206 BC-AD 220), Liao (916-1125) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties, and ending with the Ming Dynasty.

长城跨越15个省市自治区，其中内蒙古是我国古代长城遗址保存最多、里程最长的地区，共7570千米，遍布80个旗和县。内蒙古自治区有2000多年修建长城的历史，始于战国时期，历经秦、汉（公元前206年-公元220年）、辽（916年-1125年）、金（1115年-1234年），终于明代。

Based  on the lengthy time frame, the Great Wall in the autonomous region is divided into 12 types. The most well-known section was built during the Ming Dynasty. It enters Inner Mongolia's Xinghe county from Hebei province and winds its way westward for over 860 km, across cities of Ulaanqab, Hohhot, Ordos and Wuhai, and Alshaa League.

基于其各朝代的修建历史，内蒙古自治区的长城分为12类，其中明长城最为著名，从河北省进入内蒙古兴和县，向西蜿蜒860余公里，途径乌兰察布市、呼和浩特市、鄂尔多斯市、乌海市以及阿拉善盟。

The  earliest section of the Great Wall in the region was built in the 4th century BC by the king of the state of Zhao. "The Great Wall of Zhao was a military installation to defend the agricultural state from nomadic powers in the north," says Zhang Wenping, deputy director of Inner Mongolia Museum. Such coexistence of agrarian dynasties and nomadic powers lasted for more than 2,000 years, Zhang says. 

内蒙古自治区长城最早由赵国国王建于公元前4世纪。“赵长城是为抵御北方游牧势力入侵农业国家所修建的军事设施，”内蒙古博物院副院长张文平表示。“这种农耕王朝与游牧势力共存的局面持续了2000多年，”张文平表示。

Elegance  in the air: red-crowned crane

空中精灵：丹顶鹤

The  Zhalong National Nature Reserve in Heilongjiang province has released over 380 red-crowned cranes into the wild, making it the world's largest and most populous breeding and habitat site for wild red-crowned cranes, as well as a base for artificial breeding and rewilding.

黑龙江省扎龙国家级自然保护区已将380多只丹顶鹤放归自然，使这里成为全球最大的丹顶鹤野生繁殖和栖息地，同时也是丹顶鹤人工繁育和野化放归的重要基地。

Established  in 1979, the reserve was upgraded to a national-level reserve by the State Council in 1987 and is now known as the hometown of red-crowned cranes. It was inscribed on the List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1992 and was honored as one of China's Top Ten Charming Wetlands in 2013.

该保护区建立于1979年，并于1987年由国务院升级为国家级自然保护区，如今被誉为“丹顶鹤之乡”。1992年，扎龙自然保护区被列入《国际重要湿地名录》，并于2013年入选“中国十大魅力湿地”。

Reflecting  on these hard-won achievements, Wang Wenfeng, a conservationist who has worked at the reserve for 21 years, has many emotions. When he began his work at Zhalong, Wang initiated the establishment of a red-crowned crane captive breeding work group and set up a red-crowned crane captive breeding base. The work aimed to reduce interference in the breeding of free-range red-crowned cranes and facilitate the successful rewilding of their offspring.

回顾这些来之不易的成就，在保护区工作了21年的保护工作者王文锋百感交集。刚到扎龙工作时，王文锋牵头组建了丹顶鹤圈养繁育工作组，并成立了丹顶鹤圈养繁育基地，旨在减少对散养丹顶鹤繁殖的干扰，助力后代成功回归自然。

" The breeding season for red-crowned cranes is from March to June, with each pair laying one to two eggs at a time," said Wang. "Initially, we retrieved the eggs of free-range cranes for artificial incubation, but we gradually found that red-crowned cranes are often affected by environmental factors and predators, making it difficult to ensure the survival rate. "Especially after May and June, flying insects and biting pests abound, constantly disturbing the incubation process, significantly reducing the success rate of hatching," he added.

“丹顶鹤的繁殖季节在每年的三月至六月，每对丹顶鹤一次会产下一到两个蛋，”王文锋说，“起初我们收集野外丹顶鹤的蛋进行人工孵化，但逐渐发现丹顶鹤常受环境因素和捕食者影响，导致成活率难以保障。尤其是每年五六月份飞虫和叮咬类害虫数量增多，频繁干扰孵化过程，显著降低了孵化成功率。”他补充道。

The  red-crowned crane is a vigilant bird that often chooses to nest and breed hidden in the reed beds in relatively shallow waters. "The water surface cannot be too deep," said Wang. "It needs to be easy for them to wade in for feeding and the height of the reeds cannot be too low to avoid detection by predators. "In 2017, we found a sharp decline in the wild red-crowned crane population in the core area of the Lindian Reed Breeding Field," he said. "It was mainly due to excessive reed harvesting, leaving the cranes with no place to nest and breed." 

丹顶鹤是一种高度警觉的鸟类，通常选择在浅水区的芦苇丛中隐蔽筑巢繁殖。王文锋解释说：“水面不能太深，这样方便它们涉水觅食；而芦苇的高度也不能太低，以避免被捕食者发现。”他还提到，“2017年，我们发现林甸育苇场核心区的野生丹顶鹤数量急剧减少，主要原因是过度砍伐芦苇使丹顶鹤失去了筑巢繁殖的场所。”

After  contacting the local forestry department, they adopted a reed leasing approach and continued implementing wetland restoration projects to reserve reed belts. They provided compensation to farmers to preserve reed and create suitable habitats for red-crowned cranes and other rare waterfowl. So far, the compensation area for reed ponds in the core area managed by the Zhalong administration has reached 1,300 hectares, with an annual compensation amount of 2 million yuan.

与当地林业部门联系后，他们采取了芦苇租赁的方式，并持续实施湿地修复项目以保留芦苇带。同时，他们向农民提供补偿，以保护芦苇，为丹顶鹤及其他珍稀水禽提供适宜的栖息地。目前，扎龙保护区管理的核心区域芦苇池的补偿面积已达到1300公顷，每年补偿金额达200万元。

Study  casts new light on origins of dairy fermentation

研究新发现揭示奶制品发酵起源

A  groundbreaking study conducted by Chinese scientists has shed new light on the origins of dairy fermentation practices dating back thousands of years. The study, published in the journal Cell, offers a glimpse into the lives of Bronze Age people and their innovative food production techniques. The samples of kefir cheese, found in a cemetery in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, are around 3,500 years old and could be the most ancient variety of cheese known to humans.

中国科学家的开创性研究揭示了数千年前奶制品发酵实践的起源。该研究发表于《细胞》，让读者得以一窥青铜时代人类生活及其创新食品生产技术。开菲尔奶酪样本出土于新疆维吾尔自治区墓地，距今约3500年，可能是人类已知最古老的奶酪品种。

The  research team, led by Fu Qiaomei, director of the Molecular Paleontology Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, extracted high-quality genomes of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, a bacterial species used for fermentation, from the cheese samples found inside mummies at the Xiaohe cemetery, located in Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongol autonomous prefecture. "This indicates that residents of Xiaohe were already using kefir grains to make kefir yogurt or cheese, demonstrating ancient wisdom and craftsmanship in using fermentation microbes to ferment dairy products," Fu said.

该团队由中国科学院分子古生物学实验室主任付巧妹带领，从新疆巴音郭楞蒙古自治州小河墓地的木乃伊体内发现奶酪样本，从中提取出高质量马乳酒样乳杆菌基因组，该菌种用于发酵。付巧妹表示，“这表明小河居民早已使用开菲尔粒制作开菲尔酸奶或奶酪，展现了其利用发酵微生物发酵乳制品的古老智慧和工艺。”

The  study challenges the long-held belief that kefir spread from the Northern Caucasus to Europe and other regions, as it found an additional spreading route of kefir from Xinjiang to inland East Asia. The spread of dairy fermentation techniques largely accompanied human migration and interaction, which in turn drove the evolution of lactic acid bacteria.

长期以来人们认为开菲尔从北高加索传播到欧洲和其他地区，该研究发现了开菲尔从新疆传播到东亚内陆的另一条传播路线，从而挑战了现有观点。乳制品发酵技术的传播在很大程度上伴随着人类的迁徙和互动，进而推动了乳酸菌的演化。

The  research team reconstructed the ancient L. kefiranofaciens genomes and found two important strains, one originating in Europe and the other in East Asia. The European strain originated in Russia's Caucasus region, while the East Asian one originated in the Xizang autonomous region of China, according to the study.

研究团队重建了古老的马乳酒样乳杆菌基因组，发现了两种重要菌株：一种起源于欧洲，另一种起源于东亚。研究表明，欧洲菌株起源于俄罗斯高加索地区，而东亚菌株起源于中国西藏自治区。

The  Russian strain is currently widely used globally, including in Europe, the United States and Japan, for making yogurt and cheese. "The strain used by the residents of Xiaohe for fermentation is closely related to a less common group of L. kefiranofaciens that originated in Xizang. Xinjiang and Xizang are at the source of this East Asian transmission route," Fu said. She added that before this study, no DNA research had been conducted on fermented products anywhere in the world.

俄罗斯菌株目前在全球范围内广泛用于制作酸奶和奶酪，包括欧洲、美国和日本。付巧妹表示，“小河居民发酵时使用的菌株与一种不太常见的马乳酒样乳杆菌群密切相关，这种菌群起源于西藏。新疆和西藏是这种东亚传播途径的源头。”她补充说，此研究之前，全球学界未对发酵产品进行过DNA研究。

William  Taylor, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, described the study as groundbreaking, highlighting how cheese and dairy products were foundational to ancient ways of life. Yang Yimin, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that organic residues provide valuable insights into human behavior and culture that have been lost in time. "It is exciting to see how much information can be retrieved from these cheese samples," he added.

科罗拉多大学博尔德分校人类学家威廉·泰勒称该研究具有开创性，强调了奶酪和乳制品是古代生活方式的基础。中国科学院大学教授杨益民表示，有机残留物为了解已经消失的人类行为和文化提供了宝贵线索。他补充道，“看到从奶酪样本中可以提取出如此多的信息，真是令人兴奋。”