From November 1st to December 10th in 2020, China started its seventh national population census (普查). 7 million census takers have asked each family about their name, gender (性别), age, education, job and so on. This census is different from the ones in the past. For the first time, citizens were encouraged to use smart phones to record their information.

China has a national population census every 10 years. The first one was done in 1953. At that time, there were about 600 million people in China. But China’s population has increased. It was about 1.37 billion in 2010.

For the 2020’s national population census, all residents (居民) of China were included in the census. But Chinese citizens (公民) who had settled (定居) abroad and foreign citizens who were staying in China on either business or tourist visas (签证) were not counted.

“The census is very important for every citizen, said Ning Jizhe, director of the NBS.” It will help improve infrastructure (基础建设) and public services. For example, if census results show that there are many children living in acertain area, the government will know that it should build more schools there. Scientists can also learn more about population growth from the census. In some years, the population grows faster than in others. Even in the same year, population growth is different in different places. Scientists can use the information to find out what causes growth in certain years and places.

3 . On January 27th, in order to win the new pneumonia Resistance War（抗击新型肺炎战）, the Ministry of Education issued（教育部公布）a notice on putting off the start time of school in spring 2020. It was said that school should not start before March. The exact start time of school will depend on situations and further notices.

However, many parents are very worried that putting off the start of school may affect children’s studies. If they have such a long winter vacation, children will not learn any knowledge, read books or study at all. They may forget what they have learned before. Staying at home for a long time will make them keep eating, sleeping and playing, which seriously affect their physical and mental health.

In short, the close of school influences learning and develops bad habits, so how should we avoid these problems? Local education departments have also issued（声明）a notice, that is, to organize online teaching and creat network platform（平台）, where necessary course will be shown every day, and online teaching will be given by excellent teachers of the subject, and students can learn at home through computers or mobile network.

It should be said that such a method is very good. It can not only keep students indoors and not worry about the infection（感染）of the disease, but also make them study at home, improve their learning ability and really achieve “no suspension of classes”. Both the platform itself and the recorded lesson resources are more useful, and are welcomed by parents and teachers.

Of course, except for learning at home, it is also necessary to teach children about health knowledge, especially how to keep away from touching virus（病毒）and other knowledge popularization; at the same time, it is also necessary for children to do some physical exercise or some games, which is good for physical health at home.

5 . Embroidery (刺绣) is an important art form in Chinese culture. The most famous embroidery styles are Su embroidery from Suzhou, Shu embroidery from Sichuan, Xiang embroidery from Hunan and Yue embroidery from Guangdong.

Shu embroidery is the oldest of the four. It dates back to the Han Dynasty(206 BC-220 AD). People sold it to other countries through the South Silk Road.

Embroidery takes time and patience. Since modern machines can make cheaper embroidery products today, fewer people buy handmade Shu embroidery products. They are also very few young embroiderers. So the skill is in danger of dying out. To protect the skill, Shu embroidery was added to China's intangible cultural heritage list (非物质文化遗产目录) in 2006.

Meng Dezhi has been making Shu embroidery for forty years. The 59-year-old is a national-level inheritor (传承人) of the art form. She used to work at the Chengdu Shu Embroidery Factory. But in 2006, the factory went broke and Meng lost her job.

Wanting to save the art, Meng wanted to have her own place and teach Shu embroidery to others. It's hard work. Workers need to divide each silk thread (线) into more than ten or even thirty pieces. Each piece is thinner than a single human hair. In 2016, Baidu invited Meng to make a homepage logo for Qixi Festival. It was a small logo, but it required the use of 45 types of sewing techniques (针法) and 35,000 stitches (针).

Meng is trying to save Shu embroidery by teaching in different universities and communities. She believes that Shu embroidery stands for thousands of years of Sichuan culture and should be saved.

"I feel that I have the responsibility to pass on Shu embroidery skills to young people, to let it run from generation to generation," she said.

6 . Chinese buyers used to prize foreign brands, thinking that products made by American or European companies are of higher quality (质量) than Chinese ones. Increasingly, that’s no longer the case.

Chinese people born before 1985 generally think that foreign brands are better than Chinese ones, the billionaire William Li told Business Insider during a recent interview on CCTV 9. But for those who were born after 1985, it is a different picture.

“When I first went to the United Kingdom in 1997, I thought that the difference between China and Europe was quite big,” Li said. “But for those born in the 1990s, when they visit Europe or the US, they do not think there is a big difference.”

The change in thinking among Chinese buyers is showing up in many markets in China where western companies used to control. A study by Credit Suisse published in March found that young Chinese buyers are increasingly showing a “home brand bias”.

More than 90% of young Chinese buyers would prefer to buy home appliance brands, according to the study. Meanwhile, home companies producing food, drinks, or personal care products increased their share of the market by 3. 3% over the last ten years to nearly 70%.

“Chinese buyers, especially the younger ones, don’t just believe that foreign brands are better.

Right now, Chinese buyers think China is good and‘Made in China’is not bad at all,” Charlie Chen, head of China buyer research at Credit Suisse, told South China Morning Post in March.

The Chinese smartphone market is controlled by home companies—Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Apple is the only foreign brand in the top five, but it has lost large ground to the home brands in recent years. Its market share is believed to be down to 37% from a 2015 high of 54%.

7 . Want to be a hero? Better take a trip to the Great Wall. As the saying goes: you are not a hero until you have climbed the Great Wall.

And recent research shows the Great Wall is even greater than people thought. It is known for its size and length, traditionally described as “a long wall of 10,000 li(5,000 km)”. But China’s State Administration of cultural heritage made a report saying the wall actually is 21,196.18km long.

Although you’re not a “hero” yet, you’ll have seen the Great Wall on postcards and TV documentaries. The National Geographic said that this great work “is one of the world’s great feats(壮举) of engineering and an enduring monument(不朽的丰碑) to the strength of an ancient civilization”.

Building the Great Wall in ancient times required years of hard work. Legend has it that a woman named Meng Jiangnu of the Qin Dynasty went a long way to the Great Wall in search of her husband, who was one of the workers called up to build the wall. She finally found him dead because of hard work. She started to cry, and suddenly a section of the Great Wall fell down.

And there’s another popular legend about the Great Wall—it is said to be the “only” man-made structure that can be seen from space. But, the truth is that while astronauts can spot the Great Wall, they can also see other things like the Giza pyramids in Egypt and even airport runways.

8 . You probably see a lot of things made of plastic, like bottles and bags, every day. What happens when that plastic gets thrown away? Scientists say much of it ends up in oceans and causes problems for creatures（生物）like fish and birds.

“Plastic puts ocean creatures in danger," says Allison Schutes of the Ocean Conservancy. That's a group that works to protect the world's oceans.

A recent study shows that each minute, enough plastic reaches the ocean to fill up one garbage truck! That same study predicts that by the year 2050, our oceans will have more plastic than fish.

All that plastic is bad news for ocean life. Some ocean creatures die when they get tangled（使缠结）in pieces of plastic. Others accidentally eat it and die, too.

Most scientists say taking out all the plastic that's already in the ocean would be impossible. Instead, they say the best way is to prevent more plastic from getting there.

Many groups are already taking action. They organize cleanups on beaches to pick up litter before it reaches the ocean. ▲ , volunteers from the Ocean Conservancy collected more than 16 million pounds of it last year!

Experts also encourage people to use less plastic. Many cities and towns in America have banned plastic shopping bags. Experts also suggest that people drink out of reusable bottles and try reusable shopping bags.

“These seem like small things," says Schutes, "but they can help make a big difference.”

9 . 随着祖国的日益强大，越来越多的外国朋友对我们中国的传统节日十分感兴趣，请你用英文以“My favorite Chinese festival”为题目写一篇短文，把你最喜欢的一个节日介绍给广大的外国朋友们，更好地宣传我们中国的传统文化。

My favorite Chinese festival

10 . Street dance is an energetic and exciting type of dance. It started with people dancing in the street rather than in a studio（练功房）.

Breakdancing and the Melbourne Shuffle are two examples of street dance. Many of the hip-hop dances are popular street dance styles. Even rave dancing is a type of street dance. Street dances change and improve all the time as people try different moves. It is a form of dancing that boys really enjoy.

A school in Britain has seen how street dance has helped its pupils. They intro danced it as a subject at school. Dance teachers went to the school to teach the students how to perform. The dances were rehearsed at lunch breaks and after school. Many of the students were from homes with many problems. The students also used to behave badly. When the street dance classes started，it seemed to solve many of these prob1ems.

The students felt that they could express their feelings in dancing. If they were angry，they could do some of the dance moves and throw away those feelings. If they were annoyed about something，dancing helped them to be more peaceful. Another good thing was that the students felt better about themselves.

The students focused on other subjects more. They got better grades. Taking part in the street dancing also taught the students to work better with others, discipline(纪律) to come to practice and to learn the dance steps. They entered a dance competition and won! This was very good for them. The younger students began following them. They are active role models. Today bands have formed that combine(结合) singing with street dance. Street dance is becoming a popular culture.