China now ranks first in four major areas of scientific research in terms of academic activity and influence — one     1    than last year, according to the report “Research Fronts 2020”.

The report is published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institutes of Science and Development and US-based Clarivate Analytics.

The 2020 report     2     (identify) 148 frontier research topics, including 110 prominent and 38 emerging subjects,     3     are divided into 11 broad research categories,     4    clinical medicine to social sciences.

The list is compiled by analyzing data of highly     5     (influence) and often-cited papers published from 2014 to 2019.

This year, China leads the world in four major research categories: agricultural, plant and animal sciences; chemistry and materials science; mathematics and information science.

China also ranks second in ecology and environmental sciences; physics; social sciences including     6    (economic) and psychology.

    7    , China is notably behind other scientific powerhouses in clinical medicine and astronomy and astrophysics,     8     (rank) at 12th and 8th, respectively.

In terms of overall national performance in these research fronts, the US     9     (top) the world for the fourth straight year, followed by China, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Of the top five countries, China is the only one that is making    10    (notice) progress in catching up with the leader, the report shows.

Access to electricity has always been limited for people living in Nuevo Saposoa,     1    remote village in Peru. However, things went from bad to     2    (bad)in March 2015 after a flood damaged the power station in the area. The villagers     3    (force)to turn to kerosene(煤油)lamps, which are not only expensive but give off poisonous matter.

Fortunately, the researchers and students at the UTEC in Lima, Peru heard about it and came up with a     4    (create)idea. They designed a lamp that can be powered by plants and soil, both of     5    can be found in the Amazonian rainforests where the village     6    (lie). Called Plantalamparas, the lights draws energy from a plant     7    (grow)in the rainforests and uses it to light up an LED bulb. So far, the bulbs have been a huge success.

Qiang Shuping was so busy making cloth shoes     1     she didn’t even rest during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. The woman from Baipu county, Jiangsu province,     2     (make) shoes since she was 19 years old, and this year marks her 31st year making cloth shoes. She spends the entire day in her tiny studio, which measures less than 10 square meters altogether, filled with cloth shoes in     3     (variety) stages of completion.

Nowadays, many stores make cloth shoes     4     (use) machines, but Qiang sticks to the technique of making shoes entirely     5     hand. She says the shoes     6     (produce) by machine are not of the same quality as handmade ones. The handmade cloth shoes are more durable (耐用的) and comfortable     7     (soft), and absorb sweat better.

Some people buy cloth shoes out of nostalgia (怀旧), while     8     trust their quality. Making shoes isn’t     9     profitable job, but Qiang still insists as she wants to preserve the craft and pass it down to the younger generation.

Handmade cloth shoes are also called qian ceng di (shoes with a thousand layers),     10     can date back to the ancient Zhou Dynasty (1050—221 BC). In 2009, the making technique of qian ceng di was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage.

The local government in Shandan County, Gansu Province recently built a 3D database to     1     (digital) map the Great Wall in order to ensure better protection. The database contains all the information     2     (collect) through unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and air remote sensing technology and forms millimeter-level high-precision 3D     3     (image) of several sections of the Great Wall.

The Shandan section,     4     was mostly built in the Han Dynasty or in the Ming Dynasty stretches over 200 km and     5     (consider) well-preserved. The existing sections in Xiakou Village are the main components. During the past years, the local government     6     (carry) out several projects to restore the Xiakou section and started     7     digitalization project in 2021.

The technical team used UAV photography and remote sensing mapping technologies     8     (take) photos of the Great Wall and the surroundings,     9     (cover) an area of about 25 square kilometer. The team then generated (生成) panoramic 3D models based on data analysis.

The advantage of digitalization is that it can break the limitations of time and space so that users have enough access     10     the understanding of the rich historical and cultural connotations (含义) of the resources.

This project is among the first batch (一批) of digital protection projects of the Great Wall in Gansu, providing a new approach for heritage protection and research.