1 . Imagine the perfect baguette — a kind of French bread, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Sri Lankan-origin baker Tharshan Selvarajah made one just like that. He was given the title of “king” of the baguette in Paris, winning the city’s oldest baguette competition in France in May, reported CNN.

At this year’s 30th edition of the contest, 176 bakers came from across the city to enter their tasty baguettes. They faced an 18-person group of judges, which consists of former winners, baking industry officials, food bloggers, and six local citizens.

The loaves must be “traditionally made”, not industrially made. They are judged on their appearance, smell, baking technique and flavor. However, 40 of them were eliminated early. Their baguettes were either too long, short, heavy, light or used the wrong flour, said CNN.

For Tharshan Selvarajah, winning the top prize was extra special. “I cried because we are foreigners and we came here to learn how to make traditional French bread,” Selvarajah told AFP. “I didn’t have the slightest idea that I could win the prize.”

That was not all that contributed to Selvarajah’s emotions. As the winner, he got 4,000 Euros (about 30,380 yuan) in prize money and the right to make baguette for the official home of the Frenchpresident for one year.

Selvarajah who owns a simple bakery in eastern Paris said his bakery’s secret is baking a certain amount every 20 minutes so it’s always hot and fresh, reported CNN.

The baguette is a cultural symbol in France. In November 2022, UNESCO recognized baguette as world heritage, reported AP. French bread can be found in every neighborhood in Paris. Oliver Polski, the mayoral deputy for commerce and artisanship, told CNN. “Industrial baking has pretty much disappeared in Paris.”

8 . Knowing how many kilometers or miles per hour you’ll likely cover while hiking is of great importance.     1     It’s also important to build in time for breaks and extra time in case of bad weather or harder situations than expected.

If you’re not sure what your average hiking speed is, don’t worry.     2     Naismith’s rule is considered useful and was invented by the Scottish mountaineer William W. Naismith. It’s a great way to work out how long it will take you to complete your chosen path and it takes into consideration both distance and elevation (海拔高度).

It can be worked out as follows. One hour for every 3 miles plus an additional hour for every 600m of ascent (升高). So let’s say you wanted to know how long it would take to hike 6 miles with an elevation gain of 1,200m. That’s 2 hours for the distance and another 2 hours for the ascent, for a total of 4 hours.     3     It doesn’t include breaks.

    4     You can choose exercises that you enjoy, whether that’s running, cycling, dance classes or something else. As long as it helps you build muscle (肌肉) strength, it will help you get your average hiking speed where you want it to be. Interestingly, specific weight training also helps increase your average walking speed on the path. It’s common knowledge that hikers should focus mainly on leg strength.     5    

Gordon had a remarkable talent for basketball but he wasn't good at     1     (与队友合作).     2     (正如所料), his team was defeated in the intense semi­final. Instead of losing his self­belief, Gordon     3     (继续练习，抓住一切机会加强与队友的合作).Their efforts finally paid off. Their team     4     (在篮球比赛中一举成名), which was     5     (超出了大家的预料).