Open the book is beneficial, and the book is far-reaching. The encounter between man and book takes place in different corners of the globe at every moment. Nowadays, in the information age, the means of reading and learning are becoming more and more diverse, and the treasure house of knowledge is open to the public in an unprecedented way, and continuous knowledge and lifelong learning are becoming fashionable.
Today is the 29th World Book Day. Let us appreciate the moving scenery of the scholarly society in the stories of readers from different fields and industries, and feel the upsurge of the times of learning to enrich intelligence, self-cultivation and talent through learning.
-- The editor
Draw strength from reading
Shi Yigong
I believe that many people have such an experience: sometimes when they encounter a hurdle that they can't get over, they will be relieved when they read a book, because books are the wisdom and experience left by their predecessors to future generations after they have thought about it wholeheartedly. Reading makes people smart, and this kind of intelligence does not refer to the improvement of IQ, but to learn from others' strengths through reading, coupled with one's own thinking, to turn the wisdom and experience of one's predecessors into one's own thinking and judgment, and then become a part of one's own world view and values.
It is no different for those who are engaged in scientific research. Reading keeps one's mind active and stimulates valuable imagination. The energy and fuel of science comes from imagination, and science would not have been born without human beings imagining nature.
In recent years, I have been busy with school affairs and teaching and research, and I don't actually have much time to study. Whenever I have a little time, I prefer to write. Some important things will be forgotten if they are not recorded in time, some scientific inspiration and brainstorming will be fleeting if they are not grasped, and some clueless ideas can be clearer through the recording of the tip of the pen...... Therefore, for me, writing is not only a reflection and precipitation of the past years, but also a pleasant and comfortable pastime.
Last year I published the book "Self Breakout". Writing word by word, I recalled my childhood and hometown life, and recorded my thoughts and experiences on science and technology and education over the years, as well as my mental journey from teaching at Tsinghua University to founding Westlake University. This book can be said to be a microcosm of my past life, and it is also the embodiment of my monologue and values of seeing the world, whether it is opinions or words, not to be perfect, but to be true.
As the book begins with the preface: "I was an idealist by birth. "In my opinion, ideals are the most beautiful, precious, and shining existence in the universe, and the source of life's value, comfort, and infinite strength. Only by unremittingly pursuing one's own ideals can we feel the wonder of life to the extreme. There is a saying called "the common path of life", I want more young people to read this book, encourage them to pursue their dreams bravely with what I see and think, and tell them that every generation has the happiness and troubles of each generation, but no matter how the times change, the ideal is worth our full effort.
I have also recommended the book "The Autobiography of Rong Hong" to students at Westlake University many times. Rong Hong was the first person to study abroad in modern Chinese history, and after graduation, he resolutely returned to his motherland to practice the ideal of serving the country. Yung Hong's thoughts on the significance of technology and education to the country, as well as some life insights in his autobiography, have had a profound impact on me. At Westlake University, our goal is to cultivate "top-notch innovative talents with a sense of social responsibility", and hope that students will establish the ambition of "seeking knowledge and exploring", have the spirit of "virtue and responsibility", know why they should study hard in life, how to give full play to what they have learned, and be able to stand up at critical moments, take on heavy responsibilities for the country, the nation, and the society, and do their part.
Compared with Rong Hong, we are very fortunate today, because we are in an era of China's great economic and social development. However, there will be many challenges on the way forward, when encountering difficulties, when the "small self" and the "big self" conflict, I hope that everyone can draw strength from reading, persevere forward, be a brave pathfinder, and live a life worthy of the heart.
(The author is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Westlake University)
Gain wisdom from philosophy
Ko Li
As a conceptual form, culture is often embodied in books, and its essence is concentrated in classic works. Therefore, in order to improve cultural literacy, it is especially necessary to read classic works. The same is true for philosophical reading, which should also focus on reading the classics and the original works.
My profession, profession, and career are all philosophies. I've been on this path for 40 years. For 40 years, although my identity is constantly changing, I have not given up on philosophy, and I have been reading and studying philosophy. Philosophy has made me understand that we are all "social individuals" and therefore try to seek personal self-development in the process of promoting social development; philosophy has made me understand that "if a person wants to learn to walk, he must also learn to wrestle, and only after wrestling can he learn to walk", so "I regard the shaking of fate as a reward and am still on the road"; philosophy has made me understand that human life and death itself belong to the laws of nature, but the meaning of life and death belongs to the laws of history, so we must find the value and meaning of life in "living towards death...... Philosophy has been integrated into my life, so to speak.
For ordinary readers who are not interested in philosophy, reading and learning philosophy is also very beneficial. Philosophy is about the wisdom of life, it teaches people how to live, how to live worthwhile and meaningful. Philosophy is concerned with the "mystery of life", which itself is a high degree of unity between the worldview and the outlook on life. No matter how high the magnification of the telescope is, it cannot see through the "mystery of life", and no matter how advanced the computer is, it cannot be counted as the "mystery of life", and philosophy is precisely from the dual perspective of the relationship between man and nature and the relationship between man and society, so as to give wisdom and courage to people's survival and development.
Reading philosophy and studying philosophy can enable us to expand our theoretical horizons, impact theoretical thinking, improve our theoretical realm, strengthen our dialectical thinking, reflect on issues that were previously regarded as self-evident and self-evident as "problems", conduct self-evident analysis and premise criticism, and discover the essence in the appearance and the true knowledge in the familiar. Therefore, readers in different professional fields should not only "learn", that is, learn professional knowledge, but also "be Tao", that is, read and learn philosophy.
Reading and learning philosophy cannot go from concept to concept, nor can it be satisfied with the "dialogue" between the reader and the object being read, let alone become the reader's personal "muttering". For reading, it is more important to "dialogue" with reality. The unprecedented and magnificent practice of Chinese-style modernization will inevitably raise a series of major philosophical issues and open up a broad social space for philosophical thinking. Therefore, we should read and study philosophy in light of the major social reality of Chinese-style modernization and the background of the times, and read books instead of books.
Philosophy pursues truthful thoughts, and truthful ideas are not old or new, and will not fade with the passage of time. As long as they contribute to the history of ideas, and as long as their ideas have a basis for social existence and needs, those ideological works will transcend a specific time and space, enlighten people of different eras, and show eternal charm. This is precisely the reason why we need to read the classics repeatedly, and we need to "read the old books a hundred times, and read them carefully and think deeply to know ourselves".
(The author is a member of the Social Science Committee of the Ministry of Education and a professor at Beijing Normal University)
Beyond the limits of nine days of learning
Chen Dong
I am often asked how difficult it is to be an astronaut.
The difficulty lies in accepting rigorous selection and extraordinary training, and standing out in all aspects of knowledge, skills, physique, and psychology.
Ordinary people will feel uncomfortable when they ride a roller coaster and bear twice the weight of the human body, but the astronauts' overweight endurance adaptation training has to bear more than the weight of the body's own weight, and less than one minute of training will make people feel exhausted of their whole body strength; in the psychological adaptation training in a narrow environment, astronauts will also have to endure 72 hours of sleep deprivation, complete various tests in a small room of 7 square meters, and accept the challenges of isolation, heavy tasks, drowsiness and fatigue. This is a tempering and testing of the body.
To become a qualified astronaut, you must also have the ability to learn well and the determination to study hard. In the two years since I joined the team, I have passed all the exams in 58 professional courses in 8 categories. In the era of space stations, mission systems are larger, equipment is more advanced, and experiments are more complex, requiring continuous learning. A system of environmental control and health protection is composed of hundreds of parts, and each branch must be clarified. The extravehicular suit is a small aircraft, and the complexity can be imagined, so one component at a time...... Knowledge ensures safety, and learning brings confidence.
To be an astronaut, you must have super resilience and perseverance. In the years since joining the astronaut corps, many astronauts have left the space city only a handful of times, and most of the time they have been repeating their monotonous lives and undergoing heavy training. However, this does not mean that every astronaut has the opportunity to realize the dream of flying, and in the training tests year after year, in the preparation for the expedition again and again, some astronauts have reached the maximum service life, and passed by the space dream by a small margin......
No matter how strong an astronaut is, he is still a human being, and if he is a human being, there is always a limit, what supports them to surpass the limit and learn for nine days?
It's a flying dream. In 2016, I flew my first manned space mission. When Shenzhou 11 threw down the fairing and the gentle blue of the earth shone into my eyes, how many times did the picture that appeared in my dream really unfold in front of me. Commander Jing Haipeng asked me next to me: "Are you cool?" I came back to my senses from the shocking beauty of the universe and unconsciously raised my voice: "Cool!" At the age of 38, I finally no longer need to look up at the sky, nor do I need to weave the universe through imagination. At this moment, I feel that all the efforts on the road to chasing my dream are worth it.
It is a spiritual inheritance. Before the "Shen 11" flew into the sky, our astronaut crew came to the Dongfeng Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, where more than 700 aerospace heroes are buried. In 1958, 100,000 engineering troops and some volunteers who had just returned from the Korean battlefield came to the depths of the Gobi Desert to build the mainland's first missile weapons test range. Subsequently, a large number of scientific and technological personnel gave up the superior conditions abroad and resolutely returned to China, sprinkling sweat and blood on the vast Gobi Desert, and created the great miracle of "two bombs and one satellite" in only about 10 years. "Love the motherland, selfless dedication, self-reliance, hard work, vigorous coordination, and courage to climb", here, I witness the blood inheritance of generations of astronauts, and I feel extremely glorious and proud in my heart.
"The starry sky is vast, and the exploration never ends". Chinese astronauts will always be ready to accept the selection of the motherland, carry out more arduous tasks, and continue to set sail to the space station, to the moon, and to the higher, deeper and farther places in the universe in order to realize the dream of flying in the new era of the Chinese nation!
(The author is the captain of the astronaut brigade of the Chinese People's Liberation Army)
How can there be no poetry in the fields?
Pei Aimin
I am a farmer, but I have always loved reading and writing since I was a child.
In the eyes of the people in the village, what can the farmer do when he reads, can he eat or drink? I just can't put down the books in my hand. Because of reading, sometimes the water is poured away, and sometimes the pot is boiled dry, which makes the people in the village laugh. I didn't have money to buy books, so I flipped through the dolls' textbooks several times. My neighbor's doll is in high school, and I go to read books when I have time. Until one day, I suddenly found the village committee's rural bookstore, and there were so many books in it. I asked the director of the village committee, can I read those books? He smiled and said that the books in the farmer's bookstore are for the peasants to read, and as long as you like to read them, you can borrow them at any time. Oh, that's great! I immediately picked up several copies and was overjoyed.
I've read a lot of books, my horizons have widened, and I have ideas in my heart, and there are a lot of interesting things and interesting people in our village, so why can't I write them down. And so, with a pile of paper and a pen in my pocket, I sat in the shade of the trees, watching the water gurgle and listening to the birds chirping, and all this was so beautiful, I wrote it all down. I will be addicted to reading, and I will be addicted to writing, every time I water, I will bring a pen and paper, and when the water is stable, I will take it out and write, write about the wheat field under the clear sky, the birds flying by, write about the old man mowing the grass on the ground, carry his red willow basket, write about the women chirping in the ground and pinch alfalfa flowers.
One day while I was watering the farm, I was writing when I was seen by the college students who came to plant the experimental plot on the farm, and they were very surprised. A student said, sister-in-law, you love to write, I'll register a Weibo on your mobile phone, you write some text every day, just like keeping a diary, post a Weibo, and share these interesting things with everyone. Great, it's so convenient! I can also take out my phone and write a couple of sentences when I have time to work and rest. In the first few years of writing, few people paid attention to it, and I kept writing it for three or four years, and slowly I got thousands of fans, and I insisted on writing it for 10 years.
In the spring of 2020, I received a special message. A girl named Huahua said, "Auntie, I am the editor of the Central China Normal University Press, and the article you have written is so good, it truly shows the life style of the rural areas in the northwest, do you want to publish it?" After a few days, Huahua really came from far away Wuhan to discuss the publication of the book with me. After harvesting the crops in the autumn and having some free time, I began to organize the text. After I sent the text in order, I still drew a lot of pictures in the middle of it. The publishing house looked at it, and the paintings were more simple and vivid than the photos. In this way, after several rounds of revisions and reviews by the publisher's editors, the book "The Diary of Aunt Vole" was finally published.
This diary of a peasant writing his own life has attracted the attention of readers in society and has caused a great shock in the village where I live. Many people in the village said that they didn't expect the stupid daughter-in-law of the old Chen family to be a showman behind the door!
I was able to write a book on my own, thanks to the books I have read over the years. It was books that allowed me to see a broader world, from a timid and cowardly rural daughter-in-law to an independent, dignified, and pursuing rural woman in the new era. "Aunt Vole" is the name I gave to my Weibo, I like voles because it lives on the land, just like my life. Although they are busy planting crops and harvesting grain every day, who can say that there is no poetry growing in this land of buds, wheat and potatoes?
(The author is a farmer)
Read the big book of excellent traditional culture
Chen Lijun
I'm ashamed to say that in the past 19 years, I have devoted almost all my energy to practicing and learning drama, and I don't have much time left for books. Despite this, the opera industry has a strong cultural atmosphere, including the tear-jerking stories and elegant lyrics in the play, and the half-life experience and earnest teachings of the senior teachers outside the play, all of which are enough for me to immerse myself in it and absorb nutrients hard.
I was born in Shengzhou, Zhejiang, the birthplace of Yue Opera. For as long as I can remember, I have been listening to the elders singing "I have a little ninth sister in my family" in the fragrance of tea in the mountains. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, Xu Xian and Bai Suzhen, the legendary and moving stories in the drama are accompanied by a tactful and long tone, which gradually arouses my love for this art.
It has been more than 100 years since the development of women's Yue opera. And the special opera industry of "Female Students" still exudes enduring charm. Yue Opera is good at expressing the story of talented and beautiful people, which is a unique romance of the Chinese, and I also experienced it carefully in the performance: when playing Jia Baoyu, it is the love of "looking for a confidant in a dream, and the love is like spring water"; when playing Liang Shanbo, it is the long-term love of "holding the hand of the son and growing old with the son"; when playing Jiao Zhongqing, it is the deep affection of "Pu Wei is as tough as silk, and the rock has no transfer"; when playing Xu Xian, it is the infatuation of being brave because of love and ignoring the world's views.
I studied the art of the Yin (Guifang) school. What Yin Pai Xiaosheng is best at creating is the image of a gentleman who is as gentle as jade. In the process of rehearsing "He Wenxiu", I realized the image of a gentleman who is upright and awe-inspiring, endures humiliation and burden, and is gentle and elegant, and affectionate. To some extent, I think this may be the projection of the traditional Chinese ideal personality in the art of opera. Among the roles I have played, Zou Shilong's simple and warm intestines, Liu Chengyou's naïve straightness, Chen Kui's Zhi'en Tubao, and Lu You's feelings of family and country all carry the simple values of the Chinese. Even Jia Ting, who is both righteous and evil, has righteousness and responsibility. These lives on the stage have deeply influenced me and forged me.
In the impression of many people, opera actors seem to live on the stage and in ancient times, and there is a distance from current life. In fact, the growth of opera actors is inseparable from the soil of the times. In the 40 years since its establishment, the Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe, where I belong, has never stopped innovating and exploring. Today, the troupe has not only broken through the traditional narrative of talented and beautiful women, and put modern works such as Kong Yiji on the stage of Yue Opera, but also innovated and adapted foreign works, integrating Brecht's drama into Chinese opera. These attempts have opened my eyes as a young actor, and I have also been subtly nourished by different art forms, and I have more grips when performing Yue Opera.
For me, growing up is almost the result of the sweat in the practice room and the scars on my body, but I never regret it. Through Yue Opera, I got to know the world little by little, and I got to know myself little by little. The plays I have sung, the stories I have performed, and the people and things I have encountered are all books of growth that nourish my artistic life.
I also know that in the future, I need to study further. Through reading, we can better understand our excellent traditional culture, have a deeper understanding of the inheritance of opera, and then broaden our horizons, improve our realm, and constantly improve our cultivation as an actor in the fragrance of books and ink.