4 . For more than fifty years, athletes competing in the Olympic games have often been cheered on by either a furry or feathered friend. The Olympic mascot—a cartoonish representation of the host city’s culture and history is so important, and designs are often selected and finalized years before the Games take place. According to the International Olympic Committee(IOC) the role of these things is to help spread a “festive atmosphere” and embody the spirit of the event.

Over the decades, the world has welcomed snowmen, sasquatches, cowboy-hat-wearing bears and aliens to the Olympic stage. The first mascot was created in 1968 by designer Aline Lafargue for the Grenoble Winter Games in France. Affectionately named “Shuss”, the character consists of a two-toned head and lightning-bolt shaped leg attached to skis. Despiteholding the title of first ever mascot. Lafargue created and submitted her design for Shuss in just one night.

To find a worthy representative, each host country will typically organize a submission contest. In 2014 a competition held by Russia in anticipation for the Sochi Winter Games received more than 24.000 drawings. The winners a trio of arctic mammals were selected by a public vote with the results broadcast on Russian TV. But this hasn’t always been the case: For the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic, one of the first Olympic events to be heavily influenced by corporate financing, Disney won the private bid for mascot design.

Since these creatures are also important to official merchandise (指定商品), cuteness and cuddliness have long been key standards for any mascot’s success. Merchandise of Beijing’s round panda mascot Bing Dwen Dwen for the 2022 Winter Games is already “selling like hotcakes”.

Character design becomes especially important when the Games coincide with a unique moment in history. For example, Sydney, Australia, the host country of the first Olympics of the millennium (千禧年), adopted three mascots for the first time in the Games’ history. The three anime-style cartoons, Syd, Olly and Millie, were named in reference to Sydney, Olympics and Millennium and T-shirts from this landmark Games are still circulating second-hand resale sites now.

6 . The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Young Leaders programme empowers talents to make a positive difference in their communities through sport. Twenty-five young leaders are being selected every two years for a four year period. They promote the Olympic values, spreading the message of sport for good.

To be an IOC young leader, you need to first complete the 4-Week Learning Sprint (冲刺).

4-Week Learning Sprint

The 4-Weck Learning Sprint, which will take place during November 2023, is a virtual learning programme. The sessions can be attended live or watched back after they are made available on the IOC channel. Each week, participants will be asked to complete a topic-specific reflection task.

The 4-Week Learning Sprint is open to anyone, with the target audience aged between 20 and 28.

After successfully completing the 4-Week Learning Sprint you will need to submit a plan for a sport-based project which you will work on if selected as an IOC young leader.

Requirements for the Applicants

·You have successfully completed the 4-Week Learning Sprint.

·You have completed your high school studies.

·You have at least one year of work experience.

·You have strong public speaking skills.

·You are self-motivated and committed.

·You are passionate about creating positive change in your community.

·You are open to being coached and advised by experts and peers (同伴).

·You are able to work with people from different backgrounds.

As is known to all, the Olympic Games are the most important events in the world. They were first held in ancient Greece in 776 BC. And the events were named after Olympia,     1     city in Ancient Greek. Slaves and women could not     2     (allow) to take part in the ancient Olympics, and the     3     (athlete) were all from the same country.

In 1896, the first modern Olympics opened in Athens, the capital city of Greece. From then on, the event     4     (take) place every four years.

Athletes from the whole world can take part in the     5     (importance) events, whether they are men       6     women. The five rings on the Olympic Flag stand for five continents and the union of the whole world.

China didn’t become a member of the modern Olympics     7     the 1950s. And in 1984, Xu Haifeng became the first Chinese     8     won an Olympic gold medal in shooting. With the development of China, Beijing finally succeeded in     9     (hold) the 2008 Olympics, during which the five Fuwa mascots ( 吉 祥 物 )       10     (deep) impressed the whole world.

10 . Older women who walk a little over three kilometers each day might live longer than less active women of the same age, a new study suggests.

Many Americans hoping to stay healthy set a daily goal of 10,000 steps, or about eight kilometers. They often have this goal because they are wearing electronic devices which set that target, note researchers in the United States. Their findings appeared recently in the publication JAMA Internal Medicine.

But it is not clear how much intensity (强度) or speed matter when counting the health benefits of every step, the researchers write. They add that 10,000 steps per day might not be the right goal for everyone.

For the study, researchers observed 17,000 women, all in their early 70s. They asked the women to wear accelerometers for at least four days. Accelerometers are small devices that measure the number of steps and the intensity of movement. The researchers followed up with the women much later, around 4 years later. Since the beginning of the study, 504 women had died. Compared to women who took no more than 2,718 steps daily, the women who took at least 4,363 steps per day were 41 percent less likely to die.

“Even a modest amount of steps is associated with lower death rates.” said I-Min Lee, the lead writer of a report on the study. “The rate of stepping did not matter in these older women: it was the number of steps that mattered.”

The study had a few limitations. For example, the researchers only measured women’s movements once, at the start of the study period. It is possible that the women’s behaviors changed over time. Still, the results are “good news for older adults who may have difficulty walking at faster paces.” said Keith Diaz, a researcher at Columbia University. He was not involved in the study.

“Any walking is better than nothing,” Diaz said by email. “With even small amounts of walking, your risk of death will be sharply reduced.” For those who have difficulty walking, other research shows that any form of aerobic activity provides health benefits, he added. “Swimming, bicycling or any form of activity that is continuous in nature will provide health benefits.”