“I spent my whole life doing one thing, “Gu Fangzhou once said. Known as “the father of sugar pills (糖丸)”, Gu passed away on January 2, 2019. Eight months later, he received a national honorary-title (荣誉称号) “the People’s Scientist” for his polio (脊髓灰质炎) research. But many children     1     (not hear) his story before.

Gu Fangzhou, a famous medical scientist, was born in June,1926. Gu’s family faced a difficult time with the sudden death of his father. He studied hard and finally entered Peking University as a medical student in 1944. After graduation, Gu made the decision to work to help     2     (improve) public health.

In 1955, polio broke out in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. It paralyzed (使瘫痪) 1680 people, mostly children aged below seven. It     3     (spread) to neighboring areas and resulted in 466 deaths. Gu     4     (ask) to lead polio research in 1957. “At that time the only way to prevent polio was to invent a vaccine (疫苗),” said Gu.

In 1959 Gu succeeded in     5     (develop) the first polio live vaccine. Later, he developed the “sugar-coated pill” vaccine in the early 1960s. It not only tasted better but was more affordable and easier to keep. To test the vaccine, Gu tried the vaccine in person and later his one-month-old son was vaccinated. This inspired his team to vaccinate their kids. They became the first group of people in China to try a polio vaccine. “If we don’t believe in what we produce, how can others believe in it?” said Gu.

Gradually, the sugar-coated polio vaccine was made available in China. It saved millions of people, especially kids, from being disabled. In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that China was already a polio-free country. “We feel satisfied. I     6     (tell) people that I tried my best, and your kids     7     (not get) polio any longer,” said Gu. “That’s all we hoped for.”

Weifang in Shandong Province is known as the birthplace of kites. Kites are     1     (make) from bamboo. There are     2     (tradition) Chinese paintings on them. In 2006, Weifang kite-makıng was included in the national-level intangible cultural heritage list (国家级非物质文化遗产名录). The International Kite Festival     3     (hold) in Weifang each year.

Master’s story

Yang Hongwei, 56, was born into a kite-making family in Weifang. She learned to make kites from her grandfather at the age of 16. After     4     (practise) the skill for 10 years, she started her own shop in 1992.

“Many places around the world have a tradition of flying kites,” Yang said. “but I think the cultural idea behind our kites is special.”

On Yang’s kites, people can see not only patterns like butterflies and birds, but also some prints telling Chinese     5     (story). For example, she once made a kite showing a phoenix (凤凰). On each side of the phoenix, there     6     (be) pictures of 50 famous women from Chinese history.

Each woman’s picture is a little     7     (difference) from the others. Yang spent lots of time     8     (read) history books. In     9     (she) free time, she also travels to different countries     10     (tell) people stories of Chinese kites. “It is an important job of mine, to spread our heritage around the world and on to the next generation,” she said.

Zu Chongzhi was one of the greatest mathematicians (数学家) in ancient China. He was born during the Northern and Southern     1     (dynasty). From a young age, Zu was taught natural science, astronomy (天文学), math and so on. The little boy was interested in all of these subjects,     2     (especial) in math.

Zu was best     3     (know) for his calculation (计算) of pi (π). According to the record, he did all the work using nothing but wooden sticks.     4     took him lots of time to work out the value——    5     3.1415926 and 3.1415927. No one at that time was able to do better than Zu. And now the achievement is still praised by people around the world. In order to remember Zu, some mathematicians suggest     6     (call) pi “Zu Lv”.

Zu was     7     (success) not only in math, but also in astronomy. He worked out that a year should be 365.24281481 days long and created the Daming Calendar. However, government officials at that time did not agree with him. The great mathematician never saw his calendar put into use. Almost ten years after his     8     (die), the new calendar was finally accepted.       

Zu was an     9     (invent), too. He once made a vehicle     10     carried a pointer (指针). No matter how the vehicle turned, the pointer always pointed to the south.