1 . International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People 2024

Since 1971, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) has inspired young writers aged 9-15 to write letters on a given theme to win exciting prizes. The competition is an excellent way of making young people aware of the important role postal services play in our societies. It develops their skills in writing and their ability to express thoughts clearly. A group of international judges invited by the International Bureau judge the letters and select the winners.

The UPU has launched its 53rd International letter-writing Competition for Young People this year.

In 2024, participants will be encouraged to reflect on the future of the world under the theme: “At 150 years old, the UPU has served people around the world for more than eight generations. The world has changed enormously since then. Write a letter to future generations about the world you hope they inherit (继承).” The theme encourages young people to voice their thoughts on current global challenges and propose innovative solutions. It also allows youths to draw upon the principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, providing a framework for their visions of a better world.

• Entries must be in the form of a letter and contain the necessary parts of a letter (heading, greeting, body, complimentary close, signature line and postscript).   

• Letters must be strictly in agreement with the topic and contain no more than 800 words in the original language.

• At the national level, the competition is organized by UPU member countries. Entries must reach the UPU International Bureau no later than May 5th.

For more information, please contact us at communication@upu.int.

7 . Last Sunday, our school held an ice hockey (冰球) game. I was so proud when my team ________ the game. It made me feel like I could do ________. Only three years ago, I was________ of walking or skating on the ice. To deal with this problem, I decided to ________a skating club. I really envied (嫉妒) the other club members, who were so ________and confident on the ice. But my teacher was good at teaching and before I knew it, I was able to ________. He then advised me to try ice hockey. I ________ it and was soon practising ________ my local team almost every evening. We are now training for national games________  hope to be winners one day, but my final________is to be an ice hockey teacher and help people learn to play this game.

As leader of a square dancing team with over 200 members, Tan Jianchang keeps     1     busy schedule. Watching Tan dance,     2     is hard to believe that she is 70.     3    (actual), most of her team members are seniors, one of     4     is more than 80 and used to be sickly and lay in bed most of the time. But her health     5    (improve) a lot since she joined the dancing team.

Besides the dancing team, more than 95 percent of people in Loudi take part in sports. The government has been playing an important role     6     the popularity of sports, from organizing     7    (activity) to encourage people to take part to investing (投资) heavily in building fitness facilities to provide places for people     8    (exercise). For example, since the city invested 2 million yuan to build a litness trail and a running track around the hill of Zhushan Park, many people have been visiting the park after dinner to run, cycle and walk.

The development of a mass fitness movement in Loudi is a microcosm (缩影) of the overall picture in China, where a     9    (grow) number of people now consider physical exercise a key part of life and the habit of exercising to stay     10    (health) has taken root.