A 90-year-old has been awarded “Woman Of The Year” for     1    (be) Britain’s oldest full-time employee—still working 40 hours a week. Now Irene Astbury works from 9am to 5pm daily at the pet shop in Macclesfield,     2     she opened with her late husband Les. Her years of hard work have     3    (final) been acknowledged after a customer nominated(提名) her to be Cheshire’s Woman Of The Year.

Picking up her “Lifetime Achievement” award, proud Irene     4    (declare) she had no plans     5    (retire) from her 36-year-old business. Irene said, “I don’t see any reason to give up work. I love coming here and seeing my family and all the friends I     6    (make) over the years. I work not because I have to,     7     because I want to.”

Granddaughter Gayle Parks, 31—who works alongside her in the family business—said it remained unknown as to who nominated Irene for the award. She said, “We don’t have any idea who put grandma forward. When we got a call     8    (say) she was short-listed, we thought it was     9     joke. But then we got an official letter and we were blown away. We are so proud of her. It’s     10    (wonder).”

I have a special place in my heart     1     libraries. I have for as long as I can remember. I was always an enthusiastic reader, sometimes     2       (read) up to three books a day as a child. Stories were like air to me and     3     other kids played ball or went to parties, I lived out adventures through the books I checked out from the library.

My first job was working at the Ukiah Library when I was 16 years old. It was a dream job and I did everything from shelving books to reading to the children for story time.

As I grew older and became a mother, the library took on a new place and an added meaning in my life. I had several children and books were our main source of entertainment. It was a big deal for us to load up and go to the local library,     4     my kids could pick out books to read or books they wanted me to read to them.

I always read, using different voices,as     5       I were acting out the stories with my voice and they loved it! It was a special time     6     (bond)with my children and it filled them with the     7    (wonder) of books.

Now, I see my children taking their children to the library and I love that the excitement of going to the library lives on from generation to generation.

As     8     novelist, I've found a new relationship with libraries. I encourage readers to go to their local library when they can't afford to purchase a book. I see libraries as a safe haven (避风港) for readers and writers, a bridge that helps put together a reader with a book. Libraries, in their own way,     9     (think) to help fight book piracy (盗版行为) and I think all writers should support libraries in a     10     (significance)way when they can. Encourage readers to use the library. Share library announcements on your social media. Frequent them and talk about them when you can.

Person of the Year in the Category of Cultural Influence

Picture a young Chinese woman,     1     (dress) in traditional clothing, picking flowers in a field to create make-up for her cheeks, making a sofa from bamboo and cooking up all sorts of delicious Chinese food by herself. It may sound unreal,     2     such a person does exist in real life.

Li Ziqi, 30, has become one of China’s most popular     3     (celebrity) with 9 million followers on YouTube, 34 million on Douyin and 22 million on Weibo.

Li Ziqi’s videos     4     (feature) her cooking and creating DIY products greatly attract people living in big cities. To our     5     (amaze), she does it all without using any modern technology or electricity.

    6     dominate her videos are scenes of picking seasonal ingredients (原料) from her own garden and sometimes in the mountains and turning them into tasty dishes on her wood-fired pot. Li stresses the seasons in her cooking,     7     China’s traditional 24 Solar Terms (节气) also do, and makes food suitable for the particular climate.

There came an intense debate about the image of China and its culture she presented. She     8     (accuse) of presenting     9     outdated   image of the country by some critics. Nevertheless, state broadcaster CCTV and People's Daily praised her for her initiative (首创) to help rural youth become rich.

Li ziqi, by telling an     10     (inspire) China story, is promoting traditional Chinese culture to an international audience.

Famous for carrying his tennis rackets in a bamboo basket, Wang Fa, a 14-year-old dark horse,     1     won the U14 boys’ singles title in the Guangzhou stop of the 2022 ASICS Tennis Junior Tour, has become     2     Internet sensation.

Wang, a Chinese Wa ethnic (佤族) boy, started to learn tennis after he was selected by Zhang Xiaohong, head coach of a tennis club in southwest China’s Yunnan Province in 2016. Over the past few years, Wang and his peers     3     (put) tremendous efforts into advancing their skills and acquiring knowledge. “When     4     (work) in the field, we always carry the bamboo basket. We all regard     5     as a symbolic farming tool of the Wa ethnic group, ” Wang said. “If it were not for tennis, I would still be helping out my family with farm work back at home. I carry my rackets in the basket    6     (primary) to honor my hometown,” he added.

Wang’s hometown is a mountainous area named Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County.     7     (locate) in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, the county is comprised     8     sixty seven villages with a population of more than 40,000. It was lifted out of     9     (poor) in 2019. For Wang,     10     (win) this title is just the beginning of a promising future. The rising star said he would head to the top spots in the professional arena.