On March 2, at the meeting held ahead of the yearly session of the CPPCC National Committee(全国政协大会), interpreter(口译员) Yao Mengyao caught the attention of many with her “quick reaction and correct translation, ”Xinhua noted.

Yao began her studies in English in primary school where she would listen to English tapes.

Like Yao, Zhang Lu is a regular interpreter for China's top leaders, including Premier Li Keqing and former Premier Wen Jiabao. Her effortless but on-point translations of ancient poems mentioned by former Premier Wen won praise.

So how do interpreters reach their top positions?

The reason for their success is largely hard work. Other than when they go out on visits with Chinese leaders, the interpreters follow a very strict schedule. Zhang called this schedule“an unshakable plan”. They listen to foreign media such as BBC, VOA or CNN through TV or radio for their training.

It is reported that a month before the two sessions(两会), the interpreters get notice of the spokesperson they are going to interpret for. They then make full use of this month to prepare themselves. They try to predict the questions that might be asked and consider the sayings the spokesperson might use when they answer the questions.

In truth, there is no secret to their success: It’s all a matter of skill and hard work.

Family sizes are shrinking around the world. In many countries, families are having fewer than two children.

Smaller families mean many children now grow up with fewer cousins. This is hard to imagine, as I come from a large extended family with 23 first cousins on one side and 25 on the other.

Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I test my mental acuity (敏锐度) by trying to name all my relatives. Then in the morning I get up and wonder if I should make an appointment with a brain specialist.

Of course, almost all of those cousins have married and had children and now their children are having children.

With extended families growing so large and spreading so far, get-togethers have nearly become a thing of the past.

One of the last gatherings on my father’s side was at the home of a cousin who has a place in the country on top of a hill. A tent was set up with long tables creaking (吱嘎作响) under the weight of fried chicken, potato salad and chocolate cake. A fishing hole waited nearby for the kids. Vehicles poured in from every direction, parking on the drive, the grass, wherever they could find a spot. There was talking and laughing and joking and food.

While such gatherings had grown infrequent, we were all happy to be together.

Although some of us had not seen one another since so-and-so’s wedding or somebody’s father’s funeral, most people were still easy to recognize. Three sisters who sat together all had the same beautiful skin their mother had.

The cousin with bright blue eyes who raced her horse as a teenager still had bright blue eyes. An older cousin who gave me piano lessons when I was young and naughty seemed to have forgiven me.

We share a gene pool (基因库) of people who work hard and laugh often.

It was very dark when the last set of taillights (尾灯) disappeared into the night. As we gathered our things, said our goodbyes and prepared to leave, a cousin called to me saying,“Don’t forget where you come from”.

I never could. And I’d never try.

Cala didn’t like us. Any of us. We didn’t do anything to offend her and she didn’t know us but that didn’t matter, she still didn’t like us.

As new teachers in the Emirati school, we Westerners greeted her every day. She ignored us. She came into our rooms and bypassed us as she shook hands with all the non-Westerners. Whenever we saw her, she avoided eye contact with us. Eventually, we stopped trying to befriend her.

I won’t say her nationality but her friends had been fired from the school, we had been employed in their places and that was enough for her to have nothing to do with us.

Well after 16 months in the school we had a secret-friend gifting. To my surprise, I drew her name from the glass jar and that meant she was my secret pal. My role was to buy her a gift and say something about her when we publicly acknowledged who our secret pal was.

I decided to gift her a coloured bangle(手镯). I added a postcard and wrote “Love and Blessings, Rose-Marie.”

Then came the day. We all gathered in the meeting room. When you received your gift, you said a few kind words about your secret friend and passed the gift to them. What could I say?Everyone knew she didn’t like the Westerners. She taught music in the school so I said “My secret pal is someone who brings music to our ears every day.” She came forward with a huge warm smile. She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks and accepted my gift.

Since then, she smiles often. We hug and shake hands when we meet. I have seen her wear my gift several times and I am so pleased.