Baozi is one of the common Chinese food for breakfast. But this simple meal became an important character in a film, and even won an Oscar.

On February 24, 2019, the short film Bao won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. In the film, a small baozi becomes the “son” of a lonely Chinese woman in Canada.

Domee Shi got the idea from her own experience. When Shi grew up, she wasn’t free and spent little time with her mother.

Bao shows the life of an empty-nest (空巢的) Chinese-Canadian mother. It also tells us that the Chinese woman loves her “son”. She makes delicious food and cleans up the house for her son. These things really show the strong love of Chinese parents for their children.

“Traditionally, Chinese parents don’t say ‘I love you’ to their kids. I didn’t use conversation in the film because I wanted it to be a story that spoke to everyone around the world,” said Shi at an interview.

Moreover, this film can also help parents and children better understand each other and learn how to express (表达) love.

2 . Are you one of Earth’s next generation of astronauts?     1     What do astronauts do to prepare for their work in space?

Alyssa Carson’s dream is to be the first person on Mars. As a child, Alyssa read as much as possible about Mars. This included going to a space-themed camp for the first time at the age of seven.     2     At these camps, future astronauts get the chance to experience the work of astronauts.

    3     If you’re interested, here are some suggestions for you.

Astronauts must be in excellent physical condition.     4     It needs a healthy diet, regular (规律的) exercise and enough sleep. And astronauts need to overcome a lot of physical difficulties.

Astronauts also need to meet a lot of emotional (情绪的) challenges. Take every chance to practise team building, leadership, and problem-solving skills. More importantly, astronauts need to have wide knowledge in math and science.     5    

Don’t forget languages! In addition to English, you’ll need to learn other languages such as Russian and French to communicate successfully.

3 . Open an app, place your order, and wait for your food to be delivered. This is how many young people eat in China these days. According to the latest data, about 421 million Chinese people use online food delivery services (快递服务).That’s just half of the total number of Internet users in China.

Which group of people is ordering food online the most? It’s mainly young people. A recent report by Meituan showed that 86.3% of the service’s users are between 20 and 34 years old. They are the main force driving the development of the food delivery industry.

Small families depend largely on food delivery services. Chinese families have changed in size over the past ten years. In 2002, only 7.7% of families have only one person. But this number increased to 15.6% in 2017. Two-person families rose from 18.4% in 2002 to 27.2% in 2017. For small families, cooking always takes lots of time and energy, so ordering food online has become more popular.

The improvement of China’s food delivery services has made more customers interested. According to Meituan’s report, the average (平均的) time it takes to make a food delivery dropped from 38 minutes in 2016 to 29 minutes in 2020. Many delivery apps are offering more services, delivering products such as fruit, vegetables, medicine and even flowers. As their services continue to improve, the food delivery industry will keep growing in the future.

4 . Einstein said, “The biggest challenge between people is how they spend their spare time. Control your spare time, and you control your life!” In order to learn about how students spend their spare time after school, Sunshine Middle School did a survey among 1,500 students and here is the result.

After getting the result, the school teacher and some parents get much more worries about the teenagers’ study, for lots of students waste their spare time on computer games. Also, there are only about 165 students choosing to kill their time by reading. That really shocks the school headmaster. He is always thinking about helping the students develop reading habits, so he wants to put “reading” into their daily schedule (安排). As for playing sports, about 20% students prefer to exercise outside rather than stay at home or go to after-school classes. According to the survey, the ones who go to after-school classes actually don’t top the list. Instead, those who enjoy reading and doing sports normally get much better grades. The percentage (百分比) of helping with housework reminds the school to call on the parents not to do much for their kids. Being responsible (有责任心的) for the family is a great way to shape their character.

5 . “When side by side two rabbits go, who can tell the buck (雄兔) from the doe (雌兔)?” China’s Yang Jingru and Li Jinzi “played the buck and the doe” in the women’s 1,500m short track speed skating (短道速滑) event of the Winter Youth Olympic Games on Jan 20th, 2024.

They used the classic “rabbit strategy ( 策略) ”. The key of the “rabbit strategy” is teamwork of two skaters. One skater nuns very fast from the start, while the other stays behind. This is different from the usual 1,500m speed skating strategy of keeping the same speed and then speeding up in the last few turns.

Using the “rabbit strategy”, after the first turn, Yang suddenly skated at full speed. She ran one turn faster than the other skaters and stayed at the back of the group all the time, but nobody noticed it.

Working with Yang, Li changed between the front and the back in the first half of the race. This made the other skaters wonder who was the “leading rabbit”. In fact, when the bell rang and showed that there was only one turn to go, everyone had tvo turns left except Yang. As a result, Yang and Li rushed the finish line successfully while others were getting into a mess.

The two Chinese short track speed players cleverly use the “rabbit strategy”. They won both gold and silver medals, making it a victory at the Winter Youth Olympics.

6 . Many people today like exercise. Some like to run, and some like to walk. Others dance or play balls. They do different kinds of exercise. Why do people like exercising? It’s good for their health. And exercise helps make them tired, so they sleep better at night.

You may like to run. If you do, take care of your feet. Make sure you have the right shoes. Some people like to run on roads, but they must watch out for cars.

Walking is a good exercise. You may take a long walk in the park. It’s more fun if you don’t go alone. Go with a friend. The two of you may have a great time.

Some people like to swim. But others don’t like to go into the water. If you like this kind of exercise, make sure that someone is watching you. You must always take care when you are in the water. Jumping a rope (跳绳) or riding a bike is also good exercise. There are many other exercises. Find out what you like. You may need help at first. Some people often do exercise, and they can help you. Do exercise every day, and you will know what it makes you feel.

7 . Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn are four planets in the solar system. But do you know how they got their English names? If not, just look ahead.

8 . You may think you cannot live through summer without the air conditioner. But in ancient China, hand fans (扇子) were almost the only help for people to drive the heat away.

Chinese hand fans have a long history. The fans came in different shapes and materials. Palm leaf fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans showed the owner’s high status. Sandal wood fans could send out a sweet smell.

Later, hand fans became even more popular because they were seen as artworks. At that time, tuanshan (round fans) and zheshan (folded fans) were the most common.

In the shape of a full moon, tuanshan was usually made of silk. They had beautiful birds and flowers on them. Women, especially those in the palace, liked to use them. Poets often compared a woman’s abandoned fate (被抛弃的命运) to tuanshan. Nalan Xingde wrote during the Qing Dynasty, “If only life was as beautiful as when we first met, why should the autumn wind bother to pity deserted (被舍弃的) painted fans?”

However, men, especially the literati (文人), used zheshan, or folded fans. The literati liked them because zheshan were usually made of paper and they could paint and write poems on them. It was a way for them to show their talents in literature, painting and calligraphy. Almost anything can be painted on zheshan, but the most popular ones are usually landscapes.

Today, Chinese people still use these fans. They have already become a symbol of Chinese culture and also a part of our everyday life.

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