【推荐1】Technologies Used at Beijing Winter Olympics

Over 70 new technologies and innovative services have been used in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.     1    

Robots

    2     Robots can not only do the cleaning but also prepare and carry food to limit human-to-human contact（接触）. Smart dustbins are also used, as well as machines that can make and serve alcoholic（含酒精的）drinks and coffee.

Smart beds

At the Winter Olympic Village, the athletes sleep on smart beds. These beds are fitted with sensors（传感器）. The sensors collect information on things like breathing and heart rates.     3    

Reporters in Beijing can try out the same beds the athletes are using in special “sleep rest cabins（睡眠休息舱）”.     4     The cabins are fully cleaned after each use.

App monitoring（应用程序监测）

    5     It is called My 2022. The app allows users to send personal health information every day as a requirement to take part in the Winter Olympic Games. The system is part of China’s effort to limit the spread of the virus during the Winter Olympic Games.

【推荐2】At the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, almost all the snow was man-made. The artificial snow（人工造雪）was first used at the Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics in the United States. At Sochi 2014 in Russia, 80 percent of the snow was artificial, and the figure was 90 percent at Pyeongchang 2018 in South Korea.

Artificial snow has ensured the smooth running of the Winter Games. “If you want to wait for nature to provide you with all of the required material to ski on, you risk not being able to organize a competition,” former International Ski Federation （FIS） freestyle coordinator Joseph Fitzgerald told Xinhua.

Artificial snow has irreplaceable benefits. First, the artificial snow has a much higher density（密度）than the natural snow which meets the requirements of the FIS. Second, different from natural snow, the artificial snow can be easily changed to meet the qualities and needs of different competition venues（场地）.

There are totally nine types of snow made by snow machines, with different water content. The smaller type number is closer to powder snow. The larger number means the snow is wetter. Drier snow is used in the daytime, while No. 7 or No. 8 snow is used during the nighttime with over minus 20 degrees Celsius. The use of different types of snow is factored in what’s needed for each sport. In most cases, and No. 5 snow is commonly used for Beijing 2022.

Snow machines at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games all ran on renewable energy. Water used for snow-making only comes from rainfall and surface runoff（径流）, and it can be recycled in a reservoir for agriculture and tourism.

Lesein Mutunkei grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. When he was young, he loved football, climbing, and many other outdoor sports.     1    

Over the next years, Lesein started to learn about deforestation (滥伐森林). “If I don’t do anything about it, I won’t be able to do what I love to do,” the boy thought. At the age of twelve, Lesein thought of an idea: he could grow trees.     2     He called this Trees for Goals.

One day, the school would take a trip to Amboseli National Park.     3     The teachers thought it was a good idea. When Lesein got back home, a new idea came to him. There are 11 players on the football team and he would grow 11 trees for every goal. Later the school started Trees for Goals in their football, basketball, and some other sports teams.     4    

Lesein dreams of growing a forest (森林) of Trees for Goals in each country in Africa. He also wants football stars to start growing trees.     5     What a great boy Lesein is!

【推荐3】People throw millions of face masks across the streets and beaches around the world. It’s not only bad for the environment but also dangerous to wildlife (野生动物).

Last summer, a seagull (海鸥) was in the street in the UK. Its legs were entangled (被缠住的) in a face mask and they got hurt. Before people saved it, it had been like that for over a week. In fact, many places all over the world have reported sad things like this many times. In the hills outside Malaysia’s capital, people saw a monkey eat the face mask. It was really dangerous. Even if it didn't choke (窒息), the face mask could fill its stomach and cause it to die.

What’s more, the wasted face masks also pollute the sea and harm the sea animals’ lives. Last year, more than 1.5 billion masks made their way into the world’s sea. Larger animals, like bigger fishes and sea birds, are the first ones to face the problem. Scientists are worried that the whole food chain (食物链) will even be in danger.

“When those masks break down in the environment, they become smaller and smaller. These tiny parts will finally go into the bodies of animals, small and large,” they said.

The face mask is a useful and helpful tool for us humans to keep from COVID-19, but let’s stop it from being a killer of the animals. Animals share the same planet with us. It is our job to protect them.

【推荐3】What do you do with your rubbish? Throw it out? You don’t know what you’re missing!

The Santa Fe Show included more than 800 pieces of folk art from nearly 50 countries. The artists come from many different cultures. Still, they all share one thing. They take objects that are normally thrown away and make them into objects that are beautiful, useful, and fun. All the works are made from discarded(丢弃的) wood, cloth, and plastic. The artists may not think of what they do as recycling, but that’s exactly what it is.

Fine artists might work with expensive materials. On the other hand, in poor countries rubbish might be the only material folk artists and toy makers can afford. The show shows that a rich imagination makes up for poor materials.

The objects in the show also call attention to recycling (回收). Reducing the amount of rubbish is an important idea in the modern world.

In 2005 the United States created 243 million tons of rubbish. That’s about 4.5 pounds per person per day. Back in 1980 only 15 million tons of rubbish were recycled in the United States. Compare that with 79 million tons in 2005, thanks to the growing awareness (意识) and rules made by local government. Many products today include recycled material. So next time you throw out the rubbish, keep an eye out for treasure.

【推荐1】As the Winter Olympic Games continue in China, here are some of the different technologies being used in Beijing.

Different kinds of robots have been used to help visitors and athletes. Some machines are being used to satisfy social distancing requirements related to COVID-19. Robots are also transporting equipment, cleaning surfaces and preparing and carrying food to limit human-to-human contact.

At the Winter Olympic Village, the athletes are sleeping on “smart beds” with sensors(传感器). The devices collect information on things like breathing and heart rates. They also have controls to allow users to choose sleeping positions, including one called “zero gravity”. That setting is supposed to reduce pressure(压力) on muscles and joints(关节) and support higher quality sleep.

These high-tech beds are very different from the lower-tech versions(版本) provided for Olympic athletes at last year’s Tokyo Games. The beds used in Japan were made of cardboard material, which received wide attention for being so unusual.

China’s digital money will be in use at the Olympics in the currency’s first main test with foreigners. Visitors can use digital yuan to pay for food, transportation and other goods and services. Users can get the currency by downloading an app, getting a digital yuan card or by exchanging foreign currency into digital form through machines in Olympic areas.

All Olympic players must use an app, called MY2022, for daily monitoring for COVID-19. The app allows users to send personal health information every day as a requirement to take part in the Games. The system is part of China’s aggressive effort to limit the spread of the virus during the Games.