好好

有命赚 沒命花

最后都是一缕青烟

一钵黄士

好好善待自己 

好好做 好好吃 

好好玩

好好享受当下每一天 

There is life to earn, no life to spend

 In the end it was all a wisp of smoke

 A bowl of Huang Shi

 Be kind to yourself 

 Well done and delicious 

 It's fun

 Enjoy every day now

我有眼不识泰山 I didn't recognize the great man just now.

 我有眼不识泰山

Wǒ yǒu yǎn bù shí tàishān

我有眼不识泰山

I didn't recognize the great man.

有眼不识泰山 yǒu yǎn bù shí tài shān

Literal meaning: to have eyes but fail to recognize Tai Shan, a famous carpenter in ancient China.

“有眼不识泰山”形容一个人见闻太浅，认不出地位高或本领大的人。 Chinese idiom “有眼不识泰山” is used to describe a person who is too ignorant/careless to identify a person of importance or great ability.

Chinese Idiom 有眼不识泰山

有眼不识泰山 yǒu yǎn bù shí tài shān

有眼不识泰山 yǒu yǎn bù shí tài shān

Origin

Chinese: 鲁班是中国古代著名的木匠，对徒弟要求很严格。他每隔一段时间就要从徒弟中淘汰不努力工作的人。有一年，有个叫泰山的年轻人因为技艺长进不大，而被鲁班辞掉了。

几年后，鲁班在集市上见到一批制作精巧的家具，想认识制造这些家具的高手。于是，鲁班便向当地人打听制作这些家具的人的名字，当听说他就是被自己赶走的泰山时，非常吃惊。鲁班感到非常惭愧，并且叹道：“我真是有眼不识泰山啊！”

English: In ancient times of China, there was a very famous carpenter named Lu Ban, who was very strict with his apprentices. From time to time, he would eliminate those who fooled around and didn’t work hard. One of his many apprentices, a young man Tai Shan was kicked out because of his slow improvement of arts.

Several years past, when Lu Ban saw lots of well-made furniture in the market, he wanted to know the man who made them. He asked people around him about the name of the carpenter and became so shocked when he got to know that the person who made the furniture was exactly Tai Shan, the apprentice that he kicked out years ago. Lu Ban felt so ashamed and sighed : “I was so arrogant to identify Tai Shan!”

E.g.

duì bù qǐ, wǒ yǒu yǎn bù shí tài shān, bù zhīdào nín shì xīn lái de jīnɡlǐ.

对不起，我有眼不识泰山，不知道您是新来的经理。

I'm sorry for being too ignorant to recognize you. I don't know you are the new manager.

tā yǒu yǎn bù shí tài shān, jìnɡrán bǎ shìzhǎnɡ dànɡ chénɡ le ɡōnɡrén.

他有眼不识泰山，竟然把市长当成了工人。

He is so careless that he regards the mayor as a worker.

Female Army Pilot Story

 贡献市帼力量 Gòngxiàn shì guó lìliàng • Contribute to the strength of women in the city • Contribuer à la force des femmes dans la ville 为城市女性力量贡献力量

After the college entrance examination, I was still worrying about filling in my application form. Suddenly, I received a recruitment message on my phone. After four years, the Air Force planned to recruit a new batch of female pilots. I was very excited at the time. It ignited my dream of the blue sky. As a female pilot of the Army Aviation, I am lucky to have caught up with this era. I can fly the "powerful weapon of a great country" Z-20 to protect the beautiful mountains and rivers of the motherland. I will continue to improve my core ability to win battles in actual combat training, and contribute to protecting the blue sky of the motherland.

高考结束之后 , 我还在为我填报志愿, 发愁的时候 . 手机突然收到一条招飞短信 . 时隔四年, 空军又要计划招收新的一批女飞行员. 我当时非常激动. 点燃了我心中的蓝天梦. 作为一名陆航女飞行员, 我很幸运赶上了这个时代. 能够驾驶“大国重器“直-20. 守护祖国的大好河山. 我要不断在实战化训练中. 提升能打胜仗的核心能力. 为守护祖国的蓝天. 贡献市帼力量.

Gāokǎo jiéshù zhīhòu, wǒ hái zài wèi wǒ tiánbào zhìyuàn, fāchóu de shíhòu. Shǒujī túrán shōu dào yītiáo zhāo fēi duǎnxìn. Shí gé sì nián, kōngjūn yòu yào jìhuà zhāoshōu xīn de yī pī nǚ fēixíngyuán. Wǒ dāngshí fēicháng jīdòng. Diǎnránle wǒ xīnzhōng de lántiān mèng. Zuòwéi yī míng lù háng nǚ fēixíngyuán, wǒ hěn xìngyùn gǎn shàngle zhège shídài. Nénggòu jiàshǐ “dàguó zhòng qì “zhí-20. Shǒuhù zǔguó de dàhǎo héshān. Wǒ yào bùduàn zài shízhàn huà xùnliàn zhōng. Tíshēng néng dǎ shèngzhàng de héxīn nénglì. Wéi shǒuhù zǔguó de lántiān. Gòngxiàn shì guó lìliàng.

BYD China

 BYD is China’s EV champion—but is it hiding a financial crisis beneath the surface? In this episode, we break down a powerful analysis that uses BYD’s own financial data to expose how the company buried over 125 billion yuan in hidden costs, delayed supplier payments, and manufactured the illusion of profitability. Despite claiming massive profits, BYD is operating on a zero-profit model just to crush competitors. With working capital deeply in the red, its survival hinges on relentless sales growth. This is the untold story behind BYD’s success—and why it may be far more fragile than it looks.

BYD 2024 Financial Data 

•Total revenue: ¥777.1 billion 

Revenue from car sales: ¥533.3 billion (68.2% of total revenue) 

• Cars sold in 2024: 4.27 million 

Each auto brought in ¥124,900 in revenue in 2024. 

No Wonder Warren Buffet started dumping BYD shares in 2022 just as BYD started cooking the books! He probably checked with BYD suppliers, saw the red flag and got the hell out of Dodge City. 

BYD 2024 Financial Data 

• Revenue from Auto + Parts: ¥617.4 billion 

• Revenue from Auto: ¥533.3 billion 

(86.4%) 

• Prod cost of Auto + Parts: ¥479.7 billion 

Prod cost of Auto: $414.4 billion 

(86.4%) 

• Cars sold in 2024: 4.27 million 

Production cost per auto in 2024: ¥97,000

BYD 2024 Financial Data 

·BYD paid 52.7 billion yuan in taxes 

·Assuming taxes are spread in the same weight (68.2%) 

taxes related to car sales = 

52.7 billion x 68.2% = 35.9 billion yuan 

Cars sold in 2024: 4.27 million 

Each auto paid ¥8,400 in taxes in 2024.

BYD 2024 Financial Data 

Revenue per auto : ￥124,900 

Production cost per auto: (￥97,000) 

Taxes per auto: (￥8,400) 

Profit before overhead: ￥19,500 

15.6% Profit Margin before Overhead 

EXTENDED MIND

There Is More to Us Than Just Our Brains

THE EXTENDED MIND

The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

By Annie Murphy Paul

In “My Octopus Teacher,” this year’s Oscar-winning documentary, the filmmaker and narrator Craig Foster tells us that two-thirds of his new octopus friend’s cognition is in her arms. It’s an astonishing revelation, especially as we soon see a pyjama shark swim off with one of her still-waving tentacles in its jaws. But no problem! The octopus still has her central brain, not to mention seven other arms at her disposal, and in a metaphorical sense, so do we humans.

That’s the theme of Annie Murphy Paul’s new book, “The Extended Mind,” which exhorts us to use our entire bodies, our surroundings and our relationships to “think outside the brain.”

First, though, we have to stop thinking of the three-pound lump inside our skulls as the only cognitive show in town. We are not solo actors, stranded alone in the cosmos — forced to rely only on what’s in our heads to think, remember and solve problems — even if the pandemic has made us feel that way. Rather, we’re networked organisms who move around in shifting surroundings, environments that have the power to transform our thinking, Paul writes.

We get constant messages about what’s going on inside our bodies, sensations we can either attend to or ignore. And we belong to tribes that cosset and guide us. Still, we “insist that the brain is the sole locus of thinking, a cordoned-off space where cognition happens, much as the workings of my laptop are sealed inside its aluminum case,” Paul writes. Paul’s view is that we are less like data processing machines and more like soft-bodied mollusks, picking up cues from within and without and transforming ourselves accordingly.

To be clear, the octopus metaphor is mine, not the author’s. But the way these creatures camouflage themselves in a kelp forest and distribute their intelligence among multiple limbs made me think of Paul’s main question, inspired by a 1995 essay from the philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers: “Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?”

This is not a new quandary for the author, a New Haven-based science writer. In 2011, she published “Origins,” which focused on all the ways we are shaped by the environment, before birth and minute to minute thereafter. Jerome Groopman summarized her thesis thus in his review of the book for this paper: “In the nature-nurture dynamic, nurture begins at the time of conception. The food the mother eats, the air she breathes, the water she drinks, the stress or trauma she experiences — all may affect her child for better or worse, over the decades to come.”

This could be a prescription for nonstop anxiety for the nine months of pregnancy, or it could just be a down-to-earth take on the science of epigenetics — how environmental signals become catalysts for gene expression. Either way, the parallel to this latest book is that the boundaries we commonly assume to be fixed are actually squishy. The moment of a child’s birth, her I.Q. scores or fMRI snapshots of what’s going on inside her brain — all are encroached upon and influenced by outside forces.

In the new book’s first section, “Thinking With Our Bodies,” Paul argues that an awareness of our internal signals, such as exactly when our hearts beat, or how cold and clammy our hands are, can boost our performance at the poker table or in the financial markets, and even improve our pillow talk. Wouldn’t it be handy to know the precise moment your heart starts going bumpity-bump? The awareness of that SOS from body to brain is called interoception, and apparently some of us are better interoceptors than others. “Though we typically think of the brain as telling the body what to do, just as much does the body guide the brain with an array of subtle nudges and prods. One psychologist has called this guide our ‘somatic rudder,’” Paul writes — a phrase so evocative I underlined it twice.

Though the workings of the body’s plumbing and electricity usually fly under our radar, Paul is on target when stating that techniques that help us pinpoint their signals can foster well-being and even alter certain cortical features. The “body scan” aspect of mindfulness meditation that has been deployed by the behavioral medicine pioneer Jon Kabat-Zinn may help people lower their heart rates and blood pressure, for example, while the German neuroscientist Tania Singer has shown how the neural circuitry underlying compassion is strengthened by meditation practice.

Paul writes with precision and flair. But she leaves out evidence that could add yet more nuance. One example: Lie detector tests, known as polygraphs, presuppose that we think with our bodies, that guided by our somatic rudders the truth will out. Spikes in heart rate and blood pressure are interpreted as signs of deception, which is why polygraphs pop up so often in police procedurals, the odd courtroom and even job screenings. One problem: Most psychologists think polygraphs are bunk. Paul might have explained why bodily signs are so unreliable in these contexts yet instructive — even therapeutic — in others.

Similarly, in a chapter about embodied cognition, which lays out the impact of gestures on thinking, feeling and memory, Paul writes that our thoughts “are powerfully shaped by the way we move our bodies.” Gestures help us understand spatial concepts; indeed, “without gesture as an aid, students may fail to understand spatial ideas at all,” Paul asserts. They enhance our memory, verbal fluency and the ability to grasp new ideas. Multiple studies are quoted. Yet two famous forays into embodied cognition — a study showing that a pencil clenched between the teeth contracts the muscles typically associated with smiling, thus making the subjects feel pleasure, and another on “power posing,” showing that striking a victory pose fosters self-confidence and even alters our hormone levels — do not make a cameo here. Why not? My guess is because Paul knows they largely failed to be replicated, meaning other researchers who repeated their experiments didn’t get the same results. The ensuing controversies have filled the pages of popular magazines. By sidestepping these studies, Paul leaves the reader to wonder about the solidity of the evidence she does present.

These are quibbles. The chapters on the ways natural and built spaces reflect universal preferences and enhance the thinking process felt like a respite. “More than half of Earth’s humans now live in cities, and by 2050 that figure is predicted to reach almost 70 percent,” Paul writes, noting nonetheless that looking out on grassy expanses near loose clumps of trees and a source of water helps us solve problems. “Passive attention,” she writes, is “effortless: diffuse and unfocused, it floats from object to object, topic to topic. This is the kind of attention evoked by nature, with its murmuring sounds and fluid motions; psychologists working in the tradition of James call this state of mind ‘soft fascination.’”

City dweller that I am, these passages were a pleasure to read and they rang true to me, as did Paul’s discussion of “socially distributed cognition” — how people think with the minds of others. If imitating experts and working in synchrony can offload some cognitive burden and ease my overextended mind, then I’m a convert.

Susan Pinker is a psychologist whose most recent book is “The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier and Happier.”

THE EXTENDED MIND

The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

By Annie Murphy Paul

338 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $28.

Annie Murphy PaulCredit...

She Isn't Giving Up on Love

She who has been married four times, reflects on her past relationships from her home in Sag Harbor, N.Y. “Everything I’ve been through, all the pain, the stupidity, I would do it again because I believe in love,” she said.

Grit 砂砾 Shālì

Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. 

Grit is having stamina. 

Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. 

Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Four pillars that make up grit: 

interest; practice; purpose; hope.

Courage and resolve; strength of character.

How do you develop grit?

1. Find your passion. Passion is the foundation of grit. ...

2. Practice. Talent will only get you so far. ...

3. Contribute to a greater purpose. When you feel a sense of purpose, it helps you develop more grit. ...

4. Give yourself time. ...

5. Immerse yourself in gritty culture.

Grit matters. How do we grow it?

Grit—it’s a buzz word. Who doesn’t want to have it? But what exactly is it and how do we get it? We read Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, and summarized our take-aways for you. 

What is grit and why does it matter?

Grit is “passion and perseverance for long-term and meaningful goals.” It is important because it’s a key driver of achievement and success—and it is far more important than talent and IQ!  

Studies have shown that deep down, most of us believe talent is the main reason for success. Does that mean that there isn’t a need for us “normal people” to aspire to be great? Not if you asked Nietzsche: “For if we think of genius as something magical, we are not obliged to compare ourselves and find ourselves lacking…” In fact, when it comes to how we fare in the marathon of life, it’s effort that trumps everything else. 

How can you grow your grit? 

1. Clarify your goals

The grittiest people are crystal-clear about their ultimate goal, and most of their smaller goals align with that goal. Duckworth suggests Warren Buffet’s three-step process to unify your goals: 

Write down a list of 25 career goals. (Yes, you might have that many!) 

Circle the five highest priority goals. (Soul-searching needed for this step.)

Look at the remaining 20 goals. Which are in support of your highest five goals? All the other goals: Avoid them at all costs. They distract you.

2. Discover your interests

Interest is the source of passion. In fact, people are more satisfied with their jobs when they do something that fits their personal interest. But often it takes time to discover your interests. (That oncologist who said she wanted to cure cancer when she was in third grade is an exception!) Take time for your own discovery: What do you like to think about? What do you really care about? What matters most to you? 

3. Practice deliberately

People who are gritty simply spend more time on tasks. A LOT MORE TIME on tasks. Also, they practice deliberately, which means their practice is characterized by:

A clearly defined stretch goal

Full concentration and effort

Immediate and informative feedback

Repetition with reflection and refinement 

4. Know your purpose.

You know the spark inside of you when you’re passionate about something? That is the beginning of purpose. Whatever your passion is, ask yourself how it connects to other people, how it connects to the bigger picture, and how it is an expression of your deepest values. How will it contribute to the well-being of others? Gritty people keep going because they know their purpose.  

5. Practice optimistic self-talk

Henry Ford wrote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” A lot of what you attempt depends on your mindset. Practicing a growth mindset is important so you keep going when things are tough. 

In addition, pay attention to your self-talk: People say 300 to 1000 words to themselves per minute. Olympic athletes agree that those words need to be positive! 

6. Join a gritty culture

The culture we live in and identify with powerfully shapes just about every aspect of our being. If you want to be grittier, find a gritty culture and join it. The hard way is to do it by yourself. For example, I swim on the Ann Arbor Master’s Swim team which requires getting up at 5 AM and swimming 3,000-4,000 yards per practice. Would I do it alone? Never! But when there are 40 others showing up before dawn, it seems like the most normal thing to do!  

Final tips for parents

Are you a parent? Try the Duckworth’s family Hard Thing Rule: Everyone—including the parents—has to do a hard thing that requires daily practice. What’s best for kids is a structured non-curricular activity: An adult is in charge (ideally they are supportive and demanding), and the pursuits are designed to cultivate interest, practice, purpose, and hope.

Grits 

↑ 

Synonyms 

gumption 

guts 

spunk 

bottle 

courage 

courageousness 

bravery 

pluck 

mettle 

mettlesomeness 

backbone 

spirit 

strength of character 

strength of will 

moral fiber 

steel 

nerve 

gameness 

valor 

fortitude 

toughness 

hardiness 

resolve 

determination 

resolution 

stamina 

doggedness 

tenacity 

perseverance 

endurance

人每天都很累，所以叫人类.

 人每天都很累，所以叫人类. 

Rén měitiān dū hěn lèi, suǒyǐ jiào rénlèi

(Traditional): 人每天都很累，所以叫人類.

• People are tired every day, that's why they are called human beings.

1. 人活得太累 Rén huó dé tài lèi • Life is too tiring

所以叫人类 Suǒyǐ jiào rénlèi • So it's called human

人活得太累 (類)

所以叫人类

Rén huó dé tài lèi 

suǒyǐ jiào rénlèi

• People live too hard, so they are called human beings

2. 人每天都很烦 Rén měitiān dū hěn fán • People frequently

 所以叫烦人 Suǒyǐ jiào fánrén • So it's annoying

人每天都很烦 

 所以叫烦人 

Rén měitiān dū hěn fán 

 suǒyǐ jiào fánrén 

• People are annoying every day. That’s why they are annoying.

3. 一生都要干活 Yīshēng dōu yào gàn huó • Whole life have to work

所以叫生活 Suǒyǐ jiào shēnghuó • So it's called life

一生都要干活  所以叫生活 Yīshēng dōu yào gàn huó  suǒyǐ jiào shēnghuó •  have to work all our lives, so it’s called life

4. 放个假跟欺骗一样  Fàng gè jiǎ gēn qīpiàn yīyàng • Taking a vacation is like cheating.

所以叫假期 Suǒyǐ jiào jiàqī • So it's called vacation

放个假跟欺骗一样  

所以叫假期

Fàng gè jiǎ gēn qīpiàn yīyàng  

suǒyǐ jiào jiàqī

•Taking a vacation is like cheating. That’s why it’s called a vacation.

5. 因为学过的东西 Yīn wéi xuéguò de dōngxī • Because of what I have learned

还是觉得很陌生 Háishì juédé hěn mòshēng • still feels strange

所以叫学生 Suǒyǐ jiào xuéshēng • So call students

因为学过的东西 

还是觉得很陌生 

所以叫学生

Yīn wéi xuéguò de dōngxī 

háishì juédé hěn mòshēng 

suǒyǐ jiào xuéshēng

•Because the things I have learned are still unfamiliar to me, so I call them students.

 因为学过的东西 还是觉得很陌生 所以叫学生 Yīn wéi xuéguò de dōngxī háishì juédé hěn mòshēng suǒyǐ jiào xuéshēng • Because what I have learned still feels very unfamiliar, so I was called student

6. 因为努力 Yīnwèi nǔlì

是一个奴出两份力 shì yīgè nú chū liǎng fèn lì

•Because of hard work, 

A slave does double the work

所以很累 Suǒyǐ hěn lèi • so very tired

因为努力 

是一个奴出两份力 

所以很累

Yīnwèi nǔlì 

shì yīgè nú chū liǎng fèn lì 

suǒyǐ hěn lèi

•Because of the effort, a slave doing twice the work, so very tired.

7. 因为我总是笑着说话 Yīnwèi wǒ zǒng shì xiàozhe shuōhuà • Because I always smile/laugh when I talk

所以我就是个笑话 Suǒyǐ wǒ jiùshì gè xiàohuà • So I'm a joke

因为我总是笑着说话 

所以我就是个笑话 

Yīnwèi wǒ zǒng shì xiàozhe shuōhuà 

suǒyǐ wǒ jiùshì gè xiàohuà 

•Because I always talk with a smile, so I am a joke.