A 70-year-old Chinese woman has been called “Super Grannie” after it was reported that she is crazy about _________ and has completed over 100 marathons (马拉松) so far.

Most old people choose to take it easy _________ they retire (退休), but Wang Guilan, from Liaoning, is certainly not _________ of them. She only started running at the age of 50, as a rule to keep in _________, but soon realized it was her passion (酷爱). She ran her first marathon in 2004 and hasn’t _________ since. From 2005 to 2021, she completed the Beijing Marathon thirteen _________, and this year she set a new record, becoming the oldest person to ever complete the 168-kilometer Liaoning marathon.

“This lady is as _________ as my grandmother, how can she run so fast? That’s surprising,” a runner _________ his twenties said after seeing Wang compete in the Liaoning marathon in April. Last year, she ran for the 110 km version of the marathon with her _________. It was reported that she waited for her friend to catch up for about 5—6 hours __________ they could cross the finishing line together, but this year she took part in the marathon by herself, and chose the __________ distance.

So why __________ a 70-year-old stay in good condition to complete a marathon, while most people half her __________ couldn’t finish? One reason, according to Sina, is that Wang Guilan runs __________ 20 kilometers every day. And she loves running on mountain roads in her native Liaoning, but in winter she runs on asphalt (沥青) roads.

Wang Guilan strongly believes that age is just a number, and plans to __________ running and enjoying the sunset of her life for as long as her health allows it.

One morning, Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis went out to get wild cherries. When they arrived at the railway tunnel, they looked up at the trees above it.

“What’s happening?” Peter said, “Look at the trees. They’re moving.”

He was right. The trees were sliding down the hill.

“It’s a landslide(滑坡),” Roberta said, “There has been a lot of rain. The earth is soft. It is moving and bringing the trees with it.”

“They are going to fall on the railway line,” Phyllis said, “There’ll be an accident if the train hits them. We must stop the next train.”

“How do we do that?” Peter said eagerly, “The next train is due at 11:29. That’s in five minutes. And the train is only about fifteen kilometers away.”

“We can run towards the train and wave to the driver,” Phyllis said.

“He won’t think there is anything wrong,” Roberta said, “We always wave to him.” “We need something red to wave,” Peter said, “Red is for danger.”

“My petticoat is red,” Phyllis said, “I’ll tear pieces off.” She then tore stripes from the bottom of her petticoat.

“We need sticks to tie the stripes to,” Peter said.

The children ran to a nearby tree. With his knife, Peter cut off three thin branches. He ties each of the stripes of red petticoat to one of the branches.

“Now we have red flags,” he said, “When we wave these, the engine driver will know something is wrong. He will stop the train and ask us what the matter is.”

The children ran through the tunnel and waited at the other side for the train to come. Finally, the train arrived. The children waved their flags. Roberta was so excited that she fainted and lay on the ground.

The engine driver saw the red flags and the children. He knew something was wrong. He stopped the train. A bad accident was prevented.

—Adapted from The Railway Children

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides a year into 24 solar terms(节气). In the ancient days, they were important instructions for the farming production as well as people’s daily lives. Here are four solar terms and some details about them.

	Spring Equinox It starts around March 21st. During this time, swallows fly back to the north. It is also a good time for people to fly kites and eat spring vegetables.
	Summer Solstice It begins around June 21st. To celebrate Summer Solstice, people often give colored fans to each other because fans can help them cool down.
	Autumn Equinox It starts around September 23rd. From Autumn Equinox, most of the areas in China will enter the cool autumn. It is a season for people to eat crabs and enjoy chrysanthemums(菊花).
	Winter Solstice It begins around December 22nd. It marks the arrival of the coldest season in a year. People usually make and eat dumplings with their family members.

The word “zhiyin” which means close friends, comes from the story of Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi in the Warring States Period.

Boya was good at playing guqin. One day, he was playing music on his way home on the boat. To Boya’s surprise, Ziqi, a woodcutter who happened to pass by, could understand exactly what he wanted to express through his music. After a long talk, they became good friends. Since Boya had to return to his state, they agreed to meet again in the following year.

Unluckily, when getting back to visit Ziqi, Boya heard that his friend had died from a disease. Boya was so sad and in front of Ziqi’s tomb (墓), he played again the music he had played when they first met. The feeling of the music was so strong that it was as if the rivers and the mountains were crying. When finishing playing, Boya broke guqin into pieces. From then on, Boya never played again.

People in the Song Dynasty built the Guqin Tai in Hanyang to the memory of the deep friendship between Boya and Ziqi. It became an important part of the local culture.

Zhiyin culture has new development in the new period. The famous ancient Chinese classical music piece Gaoshan Liushui was performed during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in 2016. The musical performance ________ showed the beauty of traditional Chinese culture, ________ expressed China’s willingness to develop its friendship with people from around the world.

Don’t throw away your old phones. You are actually throwing away real gold! Smartphones has many useful things such as gold, silver and copper(铜). People can recycle them to make new electronics(电子器件).

But many people may not know this. In Australia alone there are more than 25 million unused mobile phones lying around, Sydney Morning Herald reported. The gold in these phones can add up to more than $80 million (542 million yuan). There are about 2 billion smartphone users who change their phone once every 11 months. So the number of the old phones is amazing around the world. Especially in China, people produce 80 million old phones every year, according to New Express Daily.

However, it’s not easy to get the useful things out of the phones. Smartphones have not only useful things, but also harmful materials(有害物质). Guiyu, a small town in Shantou, Guangdong, is one of the world’s biggest dumping grounds(垃圾倾倒场) for electronic waste, Reuters reported. Many recycling centers in Guiyu simply break the old electronics by hand and don’t think about the pollution it causes. According to a local government report, 81 percent of the children in Guiyu are harmed by lead poisoning(铅中毒).

In the world, China is the second-largest cotton producer(生产地). Most of the cotton grows in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region(新疆维吾尔自治区).

Cotton needs lots of heat and sunshine to grow. Xinjiang is a good place to grow it. It has lots of sunshine—about 3,000 hours every year.

Xinjiang produces over 80 percent of China’s cotton. The most famous cotton in Xinjiang is long-stapled cotton(长绒棉). Its fibers(纤维) are longer, softer, and whiter than those of other cotton. It’s warm and comfortable. It’s good for making cloth and quilts(被子). It’s one of the best kinds of cotton in the world.

Every year from August to October, Xinjiang harvests about 5 million tons of cotton. That’s a lot! But now harvesting the cotton is not a hard job for cotton farmers. Technology is here to help.

Farmers first fly a drone(无人机) to spray(喷洒) a kind of special water. It makes the cotton leaves fall. Now it’s time to drive the machine. This big machine has a huge “mouth” and sharp “teeth”. It “eats” while walking. Wow, it “eats up” all the cotton in the field! The big guy “lays eggs” next. Look, it has left some round and tall cotton “eggs”! Then, farmers can pick up the cotton.

Every year, after the harvest season, the fresh cotton is sent to the factories nearby. There, the cotton is made into cloth and quilts.

Visiting Lake Tahoe(塔霍湖) during winter is great fun. Here are the tips for you.

The first thing you should do is to bring more than three layers(层) of clothing. If you don’t, you’ll feel cold. You should also go skiing or snowboarding for the whole day. If you don’t, your trip to Tahoe will be a waste.

Otherwise, there is just baby stuff(东西) like sledding(滑雪橇), snowball fights, or tubing(滑雪圈). Would you want to do these for your stay at Tahoe?

Moreover, you should visit Tahoe for at least three days. If you don’t, what’s the point? You may have to drive three hours and all you get is a day of skiing and a day of playing in the snow. It would be a waste of time and money. But if you stay for at least three days(two nights), then at least you will enjoy two days of skiing and a day of playing in the snow.

However, here are some things you shouldn’t do at Lake Tahoe.

First, don’t drive on the highway(公路) when it’s snowing. The highway has much traffic and it will be boring to drive.

My second advice would be not to buy ski resort(度假村) food. Last time I tried a ski resort’s fish and chips, they tasted like cement(水泥). You can buy some snacks at Costco or some other supermarket near your hotel.

My last tip is to be careful when you ski by yourself. Though you know how to ski, you still may fall down, get hurt, or even die. Millions of people get hurt every year when skiing or snowboarding.