1 . Many universities in China are being encouraged to start offering soccer as a new undergraduate major(本科专业)this year. The purpose of that is to improve the country’s physical education according to the Ministry of Education（教育部）.

Soccer has been set up as a new major in 30 universities in China, including Beijing Sport University and Liaoning Normal University, according to a new notice from the Ministry of Education in March, 2024.

At the same time, more universities have set up some majors related to sports, such as sports training and physical education. Some famous universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University and Beijing Institute of Technology have also been allowed to start offering majors in physical education.

Qian Junwei, a professor (教授) at Peking University, said that setting up undergraduate major in physical education is to meet the need of the national requirement of building high-level sports teams. He said that Peking University will train more excellent physical educators to build a strong sports country. Liu Bo, the director of the sports department at Tsinghua University, added that sports majors are expected to become popular among universities. The new soccer major might help more sports students get into university.

3 . “They tell me that you’d like to make a statue of me—is that correct, Miss Vinnie Ream?”

The deep, gentle voice helped calm the nervous girl. Asking a favor of the President of the United States was no casual matter, especially for a seventeen-year-old girl.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, her dark eyes meeting his. “I wouldn’t have dared to ask you, but my teacher, Mr. Mills, says I am ready. I plan to make it in an admirable manner.”

President Lincoln smiled. “Painters, sculptors—they’ve all tried to make the best of this ordinary face, but I’m afraid there’s not much hope. What did you have in mind, Miss Ream? A bust (半身像)?”

Before Vinnie could say yes, the President hurried on, a shade of apology (道歉) in his voice. “Of course—I shouldn’t have asked. A full-length pose would be much too big a project for a young woman your size.”

Vinnie’s face turned red. She realized she looked like a child, with her tiny figure. “Small does not mean weak, sir,” she defended herself. “I was born in the country of Wisconsin. I’ve driven teams of horses and carried water. Making a full-length clay (粘土) figure would not use up my strength completely—and that is what I plan to do!”

The President’s eyes, brightened at her show of spirit. “Sorry, madam, I have not realized how strong you are as I didn’t know your background.”

But his smile disappeared gradually as he rubbed his beard with bony fingers, in thought. “Miss Ream,” he sighed, “I’d like to let you do it, but as you know, we are in the middle of a war. How could I possibly take the time to pose for a sculpture now? I hardly have a minute to myself.”

Vinnie glanced around and noted the size of his office. “I work quickly,” she said. Her voice was soft but confident as she pointed to the corner near the windows. “If I were to bring my day here and work for three hours every afternoon, I could complete most of the project while you are at your desk.”

The President seemed to consider her idea seriously. He got up and shook Vinnie’s hand warmly, “I’ve heard that you are a talented young woman, and I have found you charming and intelligent as well. I cannot make my decision immediately, but you will hear from me soon.”

The very next day, Vinnie received an invitation from the President.

5 . Wang Yaping, 42, became China’s first female (女性的) spacewalker on the evening of Nov. 7th when she took part in the Shenzhou XIII mission’s first extravehicular activity (舱外活动) with Zhai Zhigang.

The extravehicular activity began at 6:51 p.m. when Zhai opened a gate. By midnight, they had climbed up the station’s robotic arm and used it to practice extravehicular activity, with Ye Guangfu remaining inside the station to control and support the spacewalk.

The spacewalk was expected to further check the robotic arm’s abilities,inspectthe safety and performance of support devices (设备) in an extravehicular task and test a new type of extravehicular clothes, because they would have one or two more spacewalks in the coming months.

As a native of Shandong Province and mother of a 6-year-old girl, Wang joined the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force in August 1997. In June 2013, she took part in the Shenzhou X mission, which lasted nearly 15 days. She is the second Chinese woman to have flown in space.

During the Shenzhou X fight, Wang gave China’s first space-based class inside theTiangong-Ito more than 60 million Chinese students across the country. Many students were encouraged after watching Wang’s class. However, ________.They have to experience a lot of pain that most people can’t stand and keep training all the time.

She is such a great woman that people call her “the most beautiful astronaut”.

7 . Education appears to protect older adults especially women, against memory loss, according to a study by researchers Georgetown University Medical Centre.

The study tested declarative memory (陈述性记忆) in 704 older adults (58-98 years of age). Declarative memory refers to our ability to remember events, facts and words, such as where you put your keys or the name of that new neighbour. The researchers found that their memory performance became worse with aging. However, more years of early-life education countered these losses, especially in women.

For example, the declarative memory abilities of an 80-year-old woman with a bachelor’s degree (学士学位) would be as good as those of a 60-year-old woman with a high school education. So, four extra years of education make up for the memory losses from 20 years of aging.

“Simply said, learning brings about learning,” says the study’s senior researcher, Michael Ullman. “Since learning new information in declarative memory is easier if it is connected with knowledge we already have, more knowledge from more education should result in better memory abilities, even years later.” adds the study’s lead author, Jana Reifegerste.

“Evidence suggests that girls often have better declarative memory than boys, so education may lead to greater knowledge gains in girls,” says Ullman. “Education may bring advantages to memory abilities in women, even years later in old age.”

“These findings may be important, especially considering the rapidly aging population,” Reifegerste says. “The results argue for further efforts to increase chances of receiving education.”

“Education has also been found to slow down the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease,” Ullman says. “We believe that our findings may explain why this happens.”

9 . In 1882, builders began work on a large church in Barcelona, Spain. Today, more than 130 years later, it’s still not finished! But that doesn’t stop two million tourists visiting it every year.

The Sagrada Familia church, with its many all towers, is the most famous work of the architect Antoni Gaudi. Born in 1852, Gaudi grew up in Catalonia in the northeast of Spain. When he was a young man, he loved to ride or take long walks in the country. When he became an architect, he used this love of nature to create some very unusual buildings. Many of them look as if they have been shaped by wind or water, like rocks in the natural world.

Many of Gaudi’s buildings are brown or grey, like the earth. But he is also famous for his bright colors. He often used broken pieces of glass or tile to create beautiful mosaics. There are many examples of these in the Park Guell, a park he designed in Barcelona. There’s a long seat in the shape of a sea snake and a large lizard fountain. Gaudi also created two houses in the park that look like cakes! Barcelona has many examples of Gaudi’s strange and wonderful buildings, and many people visit the city just to see them.

When Gaudi died in 1926, only a quarter of the building work of Sagrada Familia was complete. At that time, there was little money to continue building. Then Spain went to war. Work began again in the 1950s. But the unique and complicated design of the building has made the work slow and expensive. In 2013, it was still half-finished. Many people hope that it will be completed in 2026, a hundred years after Antoni Gaudi’s death. But there’s still a very long way to go.

Watching animations is a childhood memory for every generation (一代人), but the shows are different over time.

Some animations not only allow us to enjoy classics from different times, but also give us a taste of Chinese culture. From the story to visual effects (视觉效果), they have a real Chinese flavor.

The story The Legend of Sealed Book (《天书奇谭》) comes from Chinese legends. Yuangong, who comes from heaven (天庭), finds a book with amazing tricks and lets the boy Dansheng practice them.

“Unique (奇特的), funny and beautiful”— these are what the artists worked hard for at the time. They borrowed cultural elements from traditional opera and painting. The looks of many characters come from Peking Opera face makeup, showing their personalities. Lovely Dansheng looks like wawasheng, roles for kids in Peking Opera. A cunning (狡猾的) fox wears huadan makeup to make her more attractive. Huadan is the young female role in Peking Opera.

Customs like walking on stilts (踩高跷) and lion dancing are shown vividly (生动地). Animation artists painted in both realistic and poetic (诗意的) styles. Simple and thin lines are used to paint characters, while the ink wash painting style was used for mountains, trees and water.

Another animation, Little Tadpole Looking for Mummy (《小蝌蚪找妈妈》) was totally drawn with ink and brush. The designers learned from the great artist Qi Baishi. The black tadpoles, pink lotus flowers, yellow chickens and red goldfish … all come to life!

“Classic Chinese animations show us how colorful and rich our cultures are. I want to show respect to the artists who made them!” said actor Li Zonghan at a preview (提前放映) of Legend of Sealed Book.