1 . The 2024 “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreigners across the Globe—Calligraphy and Painting Challenge has been officially announced.

This competition invites painting, calligraphy, and Chinese language enthusiasts from all around the world to take part in this exciting event.

Participants are encouraged to submit their creative themes for the contest, with the theme selection process being determined through public nominations.

If you’re interested, feel free to submit the theme that you believe fits best with the requirements of the competition.

Here are the requirements:

Who Can Apply

The call for creative themes for the Calligraphy and Painting Challenge is open to any Chinese language enthusiasts worldwide, with no limit to age or nationality.

Submission Dates

Submissions will be accepted from June 15, 2024, to 12:00 PM on June 30, 2024(Beijing Time.)

Announcement Date

The selected theme for the Calligraphy and Painting Challenge will be announced on July 1, 2024, which also marks the official start date of the submission period for works under the selected theme.

Submission Methods

Participants can send their theme and related information to chinesebridge@chineseplus.net. “Chinese Bridge” also accepts direct messages on its official account on Facebook, Instagram, WeChat, and Weibo.

Life Lies in Movement

Though the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics ended on Feb. 20, it has left a deep     1     (impress) on people across the globe. At Beijing 2022, a total of 2,877 athletes from 91 countries and regions competed     2     109 gold medals. More than 45 percent of those athletes     3     (be) women, an all-time high in the history of the Winter Olympics. “Athletes competed bravely to exceed limits,     4     (set) a number of new world records and Olympic records. This is a vivid representation of the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger Together,” said Cai Qi, president of the Beijing organizing committee. Besides the     5     (competition), the unique charm of Beijing,     6     hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, and the thoughtful services the city provided to all participants were also valued. As the first     7     (globe) multi-sport event held as scheduled during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Winter Games prioritized the health and safety of all participants. The organizers worked out and oversaw (监督) the implementation (执行) of the Beijing 2022 Playbooks     8     put in place a closed-loop (闭环) management system.

    9     (theme) “Together for a shared future”, the Beijing Games have left the city with rich legacies (遗产), including engaging 346 million people in ice and snow sports as well as hosting the Games in     10     more sustainable (可持续的) way.

7 . A 99-year old Australian swimmer appears to have broken a world record for his age group in the 50 m freestyle. The likely new world record holder, George Corones, clocked 56.12 seconds at an official event in Queensland—a new benchmark for the 100-104 age category. He faded the previous record of 1:31. 19, which was set by British swimmer John Harrison in 2014, by 35 seconds. It will now be affirmed by the sport’s governing body.

Corones, who is quailed for the record because he turns 100 in April, said he was “quite delighted” and “over the world” by the result. He said he had been overwhelmed by the “roaring” crowd on the Gold Coast on Wednesday. The event, in which he was the only entrant (新成员), had been specially staged for him to challenge the record.

Corones was a keen swimmer in his youth but only began to learn swimming again at the age of 80. He gave it up at the beginning of the World War Ⅱ, and he didn’t think he would have a swim of any description until he retired. Then he started swimming again for exercise.

Racing undeniably (不可否认的) challenged him physically, but it was manageable with preparation. On average he swims three times a week, and also fits in gym sessions. “At this age it takes a while to get going... you get exhausted much more easily, but if you do it properly, the rewards are astronomical,” he said.

Corones will challenge the 100 m freestyle record on Saturday night, believing he can beat the current mark of 03:23.10, which was also set by Harrison.

“I’m not a young man by any means, but I am rally looking forward to it and confident I can do it very well,” he said.

10 . Moments after figure skaters finish their program, fans throw gifts onto the ice. There have definitely been some strange ones over the years. As NBC Sports reports, Sasha Cohen was once given sweaters; Canada’s Elvis Stojko and Patrick Chan walked away with lingerie (内衣); Debi Thomas even got a box of Domino’s pizza after her performance at the 1987 world championships because Thomas had wondered why people “don’t throw something good, like pizza”.

The post-program offerings are mostly stuffed (填充的) animal toys. Though it’s not clear exactly how or when this custom began, people really like to use them as gifts. Flowers, once the popular item to throw at skaters, are messy. The cleaners—the kids who skate around to collect all the gifts between programs—have a much easier time to deal with stuffed toys than fighting with every leaf that fell off the flowers.

There’s no global ban (禁令) on sending flowers, but organizations have made attempts to discourage the practice in the past. In 1989 US Figure Skating banned arenas (圆形运动场) hosting national championships from selling flowers.

“Flowers have always been a problem. The flowers and leaves can appear during the course and become a risk. So flowers on the arena are going to vanish. It is just a question of when.” said Larry Kriwanek, chair of the event’s organizing committee. Instead, fans could buy already-authorized stuffed toys inside the arena and show their favorite skaters with those.

Stuffed toys also give supporters an opportunity to choose presents that suit their favorite skaters characters. “We will sometimes get stuffed toys made in custom costumes to match what we’re wearing,” American ice dancer Meryl Davis, who won gold with partner Charlie White in 2014, told NBC Sports. It turns out that skaters often do try to take especially meaningful or thoughtful gifts home with them.