The Organizing Committee for the 9th Asian Winter Games     1     (official) showed the emblem, mascots (吉祥物) and slogan on Thursday for the regional games     2     (schedule) for February 2025 in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

The mascots of the 9th Asian Winter Games—Siberian tigers “Binbin” and “Nini”—made their public debut (首次亮相) amid cheers at an unveiling ceremony in Harbin. They were created by a team from the Academy of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University, and symbolize the in-depth     3     (explore) and shape of the unique natural and cultural heritage of the Northeast—the Siberian tiger culture. “The archetypes (原型) of Binbin and Nini are two cute little Siberian tigers born in September 2023 at the Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin,” Zhang Qixiang, mayor of Harbin, said at the ceremony. “Their names mean ‘Welcome to Harbin’, and show Harbin’s eager anticipation and sincere welcome to friends from Asian countries.” Binbin represents the ice events as he shows off his winter sportswear and shares his joy of ice dancing,    4     Nini represents the snow events,    5     (wear) traditional Chinese clothes.

In traditional Chinese culture, the tiger is a symbol of good luck and is endowed (赋予) with many positive characteristics, among     6     integrity, strength and courage are highly     7     (consistency) with the Olympic spirit.

The emblem of the 9th Asian Winter Games in 2025—“Breakthrough” —was also created by the team from the Academy of Fine Arts at Tsinghua University, and expresses the beautiful pursuit of accelerating the construction of China’s sports power in the new era, making constant efforts to challenge the goal of higher, faster and stronger, and making new contributions to Asian ice and snow sports.

The slogan of the 9th Asian Winter Games—“Dream of Winter. Love among Asia” —highlights the concept of connecting Asian countries     8     ice and snow, creating new growth     9     (pole) of ice and snow economy, and promoting cultural exchanges between Asian countries, according to the committee.

It also highlights the practice of the vision of “a community with a shared future for mankind”, and the Asian Winter Games should     10     (use) as a link to promote cooperation and common development among Asian countries.

5 . This was the big game. The boys were _________ and excited. It was a clear night, and my son, Andy’s baseball team, which had _________ all year, had shocked the better teams by making it to this championship game. The atmosphere was _________: the other team’s slugger (强击手), a big kid, was like a snake, dangerous and ready to _________.

Nervously, I looked out Andy’s way. I was _________ to see Andy looking straight up at the night sky! Obviously he wasn’t _________ on the game. I was horrified that he wouldn’t even know the ball was coming.

“Come on, Andy. _________ out there,” I said to myself.

Thank goodness, a big kid in the other team made a mistake. Andy and I had been _________ and our team still led by one run.

Andy ran up to me at the _________. I was about to ____________ him when he said loudly, “Did you see that shooting star?”

Andy’s eyes were glowing (发光) with ____________. I paused.

“Yes,” I said. “Well, one inning (局) to go. Hit a home run (全垒打)!”

“Okay!” said Andy, and he ran back to his ____________.

I suddenly realized it was nice that my son would take time out to ____________ the wonder and beauty in life. You might be surprised by the beauty you can find when you least ____________ it. Andy hit a triple (三垒打) in that last inning. But I still wish I had ____________ that shooting star, too.

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。

8 . Hearing the Olympics were coming to Vancouver, I decided to go for its voluntary work. I’d forgotten what it was like to put myself out there to make friends. I was glad I didn’t have anyone I knew with me because I wouldn’t have met Callie ________. Taking the risk of sitting by her started a ________. I still keep in touch with her.

As night fell before the opening ceremonies, I was stationed outside the MMC. Accents from all over ________ my ears. The games seemed to ________ the whole world. Suddenly, I could see people running toward the harbour. I turned to Callie, “Isn’t that the way to the torch (火炬)?” We looked at each other and started to run. My heart pounded as I sprinted. The air seemed to be ________ with everyone’s excitement, like a kind of electric energy pulsing through us. I’d never felt a(n) ________ like it before. Then, fireworks ________ into the air above us. Their bright colors glittered against the dark sky. I had ________ the lighting of the torch many times on TV, but to actually see it ________ was amazing. When the last of the fireworks ________, there stood the Olympic torch unveiled (揭幕) in all its ________ with its flames licking at the night sky.

Even now, I can still remember the heat from the torch. I had been one of the ________ MMC staff to walk underneath it while it burned. A beacon (灯塔) of ________ for the future. I stood for a moment right under it, listening to the ________ voices of my new friends, and I knew I’d made one of the best ________ of my life.

9 . On Oct. 11, hundreds of runners competed in a cross-country race in Minnesota. Melanie Bailey should have _________ the course earlier than she did. Her _________ came because she was carrying a _________ across the finish line.

As reported by a local newspaper, Bailey was more than two-thirds of the way through her _________ when a runner in front of her began crying in pain. She _________ to help her fellow runner, Danielle Lenoue. Bailey took her arm to see if she could walk forward with _________. She couldn’t. Bailey then _________ to let Lenoue climb onto her back and carried her all the way to the finish line, then another 300 feet to where Lenoue could get _________ attention.

Once there, Lenoue was _________ and later taken to a hospital, where she learned that she had serious injuries in one of her knees. She would have struggled with extreme __________ to make it to that aid checkpoint without Bailey’s help.

As for Bailey, she is more __________ about why her act is considered a big __________. “She was just crying. I couldn’t __________ her,” Bailey told the reporter. “I feel like I was just doing the right thing.”

Although the two young women were strangers before the __________, they’ve since become friends. Neither won the race, but the __________ of human kindness won the day.