3 . Takahiro Takauji’s connection to giant pandas began in 2011 when the two Chinese pandas RiRi and Shin Shin arrived in Tokyo in February. One day in August, he decided to see the pair. This casual decision changed his life.

A month later, Takauji created the website Mainichi Panda, or Panda Every Day. On the website, he showed photos of giant pandas he took at Ueno Zoo. Since then, he’s been visiting the zoo nearly every day to take photos of giant pandas, except for the time when it is closed and his daughter’s birthdays.

To get more photos of giant pandas, a typical Ueno Zoo trip for Takauji means joining the queue（队列）three or four times outside the panda house, and waiting for at least 40 minutes each time. However, in his eyes, it is worth the wait, although the visit usually lasts only two or three minutes.

Now Takauji is known as “Mr. Panda” for his great love for the animal. “Through taking photos of giant pandas, I’ve made lots of friends and become healthier. It’s also because of giant pandas that I have learned more about China,” the 44-year-old said. “I feel happy when I see giant pandas. As long as there are giant pandas at Ueno Zoo, I’ll continue to take pictures of them and share the joy with more people.”

5 . Here is the latest news from BBC.

News One

More than 90 people are now known to have been killed by destructive tornadoes that swept through the Midwest of the United States on Friday. At least 80 were killed in Kentucky and 14 across five other states.

A worker at a Kentucky candle factory told the BBC that many workers had been killed when they worked there. As Peler Bowes reports, what people should do is being discussed when they are warned that a tornado is on the way. And the owner of that factory has, in fact, been talking about this. But clearly it wasn’t of any use for the people in that building.

News Two

The number of people killed by flash floods in the US state of Tennessee has risen to more than 20 on Tuesday. Now rescue workers are continuing to look for those who are still missing.

Record rainfall of more than 40 centimeters in some areas caused widespread flooding. Buddy Frazier is the mayor（市长）of Waverly, one of the worst affected towns. “I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve been through a lot of events here, and this one really shocked me.” He said.

News Three

Haiti’s civil protection service says around 1,300 people are now known to have lost their lives in Saturday’s powerful earthquake which struck the southwest of the country.

Hospitals in the area are fighting to cut down the number of the injured, which is almost doubled to around 6,000 people. In the cities of Jeremies and Les Cayes, rescuers are trying to locate people still trapped under ruins.

6 . China has succeeded in developing the “giant (巨型的) rice”. It is twice as tall as common rice which is usually about one meter tall. People called it a “dream coming true” moment for Yuan Longping, who was the top scientist in the world and was regarded as the “father of hybrid (杂交的) rice”.

This special kind of rice was first grown in Chongqing’s Changhong village in April, 2021 and harvested (收割) four months later. Each mu of the fields produced about 750—900 kg.

This kind of rice is not only strong and tall, but also resistant (有抵抗力) to flood (洪水). It can also bring many nutrients (营养) to the plants nearby and provide a good living environment for animals in water. When the water in the rice fields is 60-80 centimeters deep, it can even be used to raise fishes. From next year, the “giant rice” will be planted in thousands of mu of fields in Chongqing.

Yuan Longping once said that he hoped to enjoy the cool under the rice taller than men one day. He developed the first high-producing hybrid rice. But sadly, he died at 91 in Changsha in May, 2021. Many people posted (发帖) online to pay tribute (致敬) to Yuan after reading the news, saying “Your dream has come true, can you see it?”

The Communist Party of China(CPC,中国共产党) opened its 20th National Congress in Beijing on Oct. 16th, 2022. How much do you know about it? Let’s take a closer look.

Why is the meeting held?

To talk about the work of the Party in the past five years.

To make decisions about the future of the Party and China.

To elect new central leadership(领导).

Who goes to the meeting?

Delegates(代表) from across the country go to the meeting.

A total of 2,296 delegates take part in it, representing 96.7 million Party members of China.

There are 619 women delegates, including Wang Yaping, Zhang Guimei and so on.

What do the delegates do?

Show the opinions and needs of Party members and the public.

Discuss and decide on the Party’s big issues.

Elect(选举) new central leadership.

9 . Five young girl students at Shanghai Theatre Academy have become famous online by singing pop songs to the tunes (曲调) of Beijing Opera.

Li Wei, a young man, likes to watch the students’ videos. He said, “Thanks to them, I have got a better understanding of my parents’ deep love for Beijing Opera.”

The students, mainly roommates from Room 416 at the academy, are known on the Internet as the “416 girls”. They have put their singing on short-video platforms (平台) since 2019.

Over the past three years, the students have gradually won a large number of fans. In one of their videos, which has been watched more than 50 million times and received 2.5 million “likes”, they sing the pop song Tan Chuang to a Beijing Opera tune.

Young people such as the “416 girls” have increased audience (观众) numbers for Beijing Opera, which has a history of more than 200 years.

Guo Jing, 27, a primary school teacher, has about 2.5 million followers on the Douyin short-video platform. In her videos, she performs ancient songs while dancing to Beijing Opera movements, or discusses interesting stories about the art form.

“I want to be one of the best art vloggers, and I see it as m y task to shorten the distance between art and life,” Guo said.

Pan Yan, a leader of the China Performance Industry Association, said, “Beijing Opera has a special charm (魅力) that people can sense without having to understand it. Audience experience the art form’s beauty by watching short videos, and they also spread news and knowledge about Beijing Opera after watching videos.”