Since the 2022 Winter Olympic Games were successfully held in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the Olympic spirit has been widely spread all around China.

Yours,

Li Jin

2 . It was the final part of the 2016 World Triathlon Series in Mexico. With jus700 meters to go, Alistair Brownlee was in third place and his younger brother Jonny, was in the lead. Alistair pushed himself towards the finish line in the burning heat, but as he came round the corner, he saw his brother about to fall onto the track Alistair had to choose -brotherly love, or a chance to win the race?

For Alistair, the choice was clear. His brother was in trouble. He had to help. Alistair ran towards Jonny, caught him and started pulling him towards the finish line. Alistair then pushed his brother over the line. The move put Jonny in second place and Alistair himself in third. It was an unexpected end to the race, but Alistair did not want to discuss it with the media. He just wanted to see his younger brother who had been rushed to the medical area.

The Brownlee brothers have been doing triathlons since they were children “Obviously, when your older brother is doing it, you think it’s a cool thing to do,’says Jonny. Alistair says that they encourage each other as much as they can where they train. Despite argument s over “stupid things” now and then, Alistair agrees than having a brother is an advantage. “Throughout my entire life, I’ve had my brother trying to beat me at everything I do. It has been a fantastic driving force.”

Watched by millions, the ending to the race has varied opinions: should the brothers have been disqualified or highly praised for their actions? But for Alistair his decision was easy to explain: “Mum wouldn’t have been happy if I’d left Jonny behind.” At that moment, he was no longer an athlete aiming for a me dal - he was just a brother.

How are you?

Yours,

Lin Jin

6 . Improving memory is important to success in studying. But is there anything that we can do about it? One solution might be walking backwards.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Cognition, walking backwards, whether doing it really or just imagining it can improve the brainpower in the short term. In the study, 114 volunteers were asked to watch a video in which a woman had her bag stolen. Then they answered 20 questions about the information shown in the video. Ten minutes after watching the video, the volunteers were divided into three groups. The first two groups were told to move forwards or backwards 10 meters while the third group was asked to stay still on the same point. The researchers found that the backwards walking group got two more correct answers on average than the other two groups. This suggests that a relationship between the concepts of time and space is important to the way our minds form memories,

When we walk backwards, everything we learn becomes strange to us. “This forces the brain to think in a different way,” US scientist Christine Weber told Forbes. It almost always means that our brain needs to be more active in the limited time. Naturally, our short-term memory will be improved greatly.

Besides improving our memory, walking backwards also plays an important role in physical health, especially fitness. Another study found that walking backwards puts less strain (压力) and requires a smaller range of movements from the knee joints (膝关节). Thus, there’s less pressure and pain in the knees.

In addition, walking backwards, compared to walking forwards, is more challenging. It requires you to use muscles and movements that you probably seldom use, making it a prefect way to change your exercise routine for greater fitness gains. Meanwhile, by making people put in extra effort, it naturally bums more fat and calories.

It was the final part of the 2016 World Triathlon Series in Mexico. W    1     just 700 metres to go, Alistair Brownlee was in the third place and his younger brother, Johnny, was in the l    2     . Alistair pushed himself towards the finish line in the burning heat, but as he came round the corner, he saw his brother a    3     to fall onto the t    4    . Alistair had to choose—brotherly love, or a chance to win the race?

For Alistair, the choice was clear. His brother was in trouble. He had to help. Alistair ran towards Johnny, caught him and started pulling him towards the finish line. Alistair then p    5     his brother over the line. The move put Johnny in second place and Alistair himself in third. It was an u    6     end to the race, but Alistair did not want to discuss it with the m    7     . He just wanted to see his younger brother, who had been rushed to the m    8     area.

The Brownlee brothers have been doing triathlons since they were children. “O    9     , when your older brother is doing it, you think it's a cool thing to do," says Johnny. Alistair says that they encourage each other as much as they can when they train. D    10     arguments over “stupid things" now and then, Alistair agrees that having a brother is an a    11    . “Throughout my e    12     life, I've had my brother trying to beat me at everything I do. It has been an e    13    . positive force."

Watched by millions, the ending to the race has d    14     opinions: should the brothers have been disqualified or highly praised for their actions? But for Alistair, this decision was easy to explain: “Mum wouldn't have been happy if I'd left Johnny behind.” At that moment, he was no longer an athlete a    15     for a medal—he was just a brother.

I’m glad to have received your email asking about our PE classes and sports activities.

Yours,

Li Jin

10 . A cancer survivor has become the first woman to complete an exhausting “Sea to Summit” triathlon（三项全能运动） which saw her swim, cycle, and run over 330 miles in just five days. Andrea Mason was overjoyed when she crossed the finish line early Wednesday morning.

The race was set in the French Alps. Setting off at 6:15am on Friday, 39-year-old Mason battled through severe pain, and hallucinations(幻觉)，but she pushed on --managing to complete the race in an impressive four days, 23 hours, and 41 minutes. Andrea had been diagnosed with cancer and needed life-saving surgery. Following a successful operation, she is now hoping to raise awareness of women’s health. In the past year，Andrea set up her own charity, Lady Talk Matters, in order to improve surrounding female’s health.

Andrea, from Blackpool in Lancashire, England, said，“I am so happy all went according to plan as there were so many things that could have gone wrong. I wanted to do it in five days， and I did，but it was very tough. I had some low moments, particularly when I couldn’t sleep in my limited rest periods, and when I couldn’t keep any food down as I was running. For sure I had some doubts along the way as I was exploring the unknown with such a huge run, particularly as large parts of it were in the dark. It was bigger than I imagined, the impact on my body was huge. But every time I felt like giving up，I thought about all the women out there in pain or who still hadn’t been diagnosed. That is why I put myself through this.”

Andrea had to swim 23 miles around Lake Annecy, cycle 205 miles with 30,000 feet of vertical climbing around Mont Blanc, and run 105 miles with 4,000 feet of vertical climbing around The Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc. You could say Andrea’s actually spent a lifetime training for an event like this. She completed her first three-mile race “powered by chocolate bars＂ when she was just four.