Booklist

Sixteen days ago, I set a new goal to make sure the automatically recognized subtitles on YouTube match exactly what I intended to say.

To do that, I updated my English-learning approach, spending more time on Duolingo and shadowing some US and UK TV series.

After uploading a video this morning, I found the subtitles matched what I intended to say exactly.

Well, maybe it’s because I didn’t say much, or the AI recognition system has been updated.

I felt happy anyway.

As I’ve mentioned before, many types of fruit ripen in China during the summer. That’s a big attraction for people like me who love fruit.

Last Sunday, I found another nice thing about summer days.

It was hot that day, so I had to wait till the sun was going down to exercise outdoors.

When I was cycling along the Huangpu River, I noticed the sky looked like a magnificent oil painting because of the light of the sunset. And it was changing moment by moment.

I captured some of the view. You can watch the video here.

But I have to say, I didn’t capture the most beautiful part, because at that moment, I had only gotten my iPhone in hand and had to hold my bike while taking the video.

If you want to see this type of sunset in Shanghai in person, you need to come here in the summer. In other seasons, the sunsets from that point are still beautiful, but not with this kind of quality.

As I’ve mentioned before, we have a language-learning community on Teams called ‘Chatting in Chinese and English’.

We chat with each other in both English and Chinese in Teams meetings on weekends.

There have been several misunderstandings regarding timing recently, so I would like to establish some community rules for us to follow.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Before 8 p.m. on Thursday, Beijing time, post a message to confirm the meeting time. If no one posts a message to confirm the meeting, or if nobody else responds to the message within 24 hours confirming that they plan to attend the weekend meeting, then the meeting is cancelled.
2. When confirming the meeting time, feel free to mention the topics you’d like to discuss.
3.  Respect the language proficiency and cultural background of each member, and do not ridicule, discriminate against, or engage in personal attacks against others.
4. Please avoid sensitive topics such as politics or religion, and be respectful of personal privacy.

Do you have any more suggestions? Feel free to let me know.

Thanks in advance!

今早看到一篇小文，感触颇深，记录下来给往后的自己。

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

Every meaningful path in life is lined with obstacles.

If you’ve ever pursued something grand or ambitious…

• Building a business
• Raising a family
• Changing careers
• Reaching an athletic milestone
• or anything in between

…you know the path is never smooth. Roadblocks, bumps, thorns. They are the norm. But here’s a question worth asking yourself:

Are you blocked by the obstacle—or your focus on it?

You see, obstacles are inevitable, but obsession over them is optional.

If you fixate on the blocker, you lose sight of what you’re building. You become disillusioned—prone to burnout and discouragement. The obstacle has consumed your entire reality.

When you know where you’re headed—and you train your focus on it—every obstacle in your way becomes a tiny pebble of little consequence in your grand pursuit.

The things you focus on will grow. So, choose wisely.

“障碍就是，当你目光偏离目标时看到的那些可怕的东西。”

人生中每一条有意义的路都布满了障碍。

阻碍你的是那些障碍，还是你对它的关注。

障碍不可避免，但被其困扰却是可选的。

若你一直盯着堵塞物，就会忽略你正在构建的东西，变得幻想破灭——容易精疲力竭、灰心丧气。障碍已然消耗你的整个现实。

当你知道你要去的地方——并且训练你的注意力——你路上的每一个障碍在你伟大的追求中都变成了微不足道的小石子。

当下的感想：

1. 障碍不可避免。有些障碍是学习的机会，有些障碍不过是在提醒你失去对目标的专注了。
2. 感觉到障碍时，正视它，及时处理或let it go，回到对目标的专注。不要花时间沉溺其中，迷失目标。
3. 当专注于目标时，即使遇到困难，也不会轻易被吓倒；相反，一旦分心、怀疑或停止脚步，那些原本可以克服的障碍可能就会显得巨大而可怕。
4. 要有积极的信念，“长风破浪会有时，直挂云帆济沧海”。

Last night, I uploaded a new video to YouTube.

While watching it, I noticed something interesting: some of the words in the auto-generated subtitles didn’t match what I was trying to say. It made me laugh a lot, but it also made me realize that I had some issues with my pronunciation.

This morning, I decided to update my English learning approach.

From now on, I’ll dub my videos in English and then check the auto-generated subtitles afterward, instead of just writing video descriptions.

My new goal is to make sure the automatically recognized subtitles match exactly what I intended to say.

If you watch the video, feel free to laugh at my pronunciation like I did. I’d really appreciate any tips on how I can improve.