In order to hold a simple, safe and yet splendid Winter Games, the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games     1     (be) not lengthy or marked with a large-scale (大规模的) performance. The Olympic cauldron (主火炬) at the snowflake-themed ceremony was small,    2     the flames conveyed significant messages of greener Olympic Games.

The use of     3     (advance) technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine vision, 5G and cloud broadcasting added to the novelty of the opening ceremony. The performances,    4     carried forward the theme of global peace and shared future for humankind, focused on environmental     5     (protect), human health and physical fitness.

To reduce the carbon footprint of the Winter Games, all the Olympic venues were run on clean energy. For example, about 70 percent of the materials     6     (use) in the Games were obtained through renting, including new sporting equipment, furniture in the Olympic village, technical devices. Also, the medal platforms     7     (make) of recyclable and environmentally friendly materials.

More     8     (important), thrift (节约), a traditional Chinese virtue, can hep build a healthy social environment for China to realize     9     (it) targets of peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. All this made the 2022 Winter Games an important Olympics to focus     10     achieving carbon neutrality.

4 . In January, 2021, the ice-making work on the ”Ice Ribbon“, a landmark venue for the Beijing Winter Olympics, was completed.

In the Winter Olympics, where races can be won or lost by a small time gap, tiny imperfections in the ice can make all the differences. ”It’s not just a hunk of ice like you’d normally think of, like ice cubes sitting in your freezer,“ told Kenneth Golden, a U. S. mathematician who studies the structures of ice. ”It’s a much more fascinating and complex substance than people would normally think.“

The first step for building any ice rink is to purify the water to remove dissolved solids like salts and minerals. Such impurities don’t fit in the regular hexagonal(六边形的)structure of ice that forms as water freezes. The purer the water, the more consistent the ice surface.

In addition to the need for excellence in the raw materials of ice-making, technology is also very important, As one of the most advanced technologies for winter sports venues, a carbon dioxide cooling technology has been applied on a large scale for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. CO₂ , is not new when it comes to ice-making. However, it has been gradually replaced by the man-made refrigerant, like Freon.

With increasing attention toward climate change, the old refrigerant has come into use again. As an element of the atmosphere, CO₂, doesn’t damage the ozone layer. Although CO₂ is a greenhouse gas, its greenhouse effect is much lower than that of other synthetic refrigerants. The Winter Olympics venues adopted CO₂ instead of Freon as a refrigerant in ice-making, which will reduce carbon dioxide emissions greatly.

”We believe these technological innovations will bring Beijing 2022 to spectators all over the world in a more impressive way.“ told Gao Bo from the Media Operations Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

6 . Team China’s teenage freeski superstar Gu Ailing had halfpipe gold wrapped up by her second run at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. “I’ve never taken a victory lap before in my entire life, but this time I felt like I finally deserve it,” Gu told reporters after becoming the first athlete to win Olympic medals in all three freeski events. Her big victory at the 2021 X Games in Aspen, Colorado, where she won Big Air, halfpipe and slopestyle golds, increased the expectation level for her Olympic performance in Beijing.

Born in California to a Chinese mother, Gu began competing for China when she was 15 in 2019, stating her aim to inspire millions of young people during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and promote the sport she loves. Since then, the outstanding part-time model and grade-A student has been busy gaining records, titles and firsts. All the while her superstar status has snowballed, as evidenced by her millions of followers on social media.

The 18-year-old also clearly feels she has achieved much away from the sporting arena at Beijing 2022 and she has become the inspiration for many. “After reading hundreds of messages that I get every day from young girls saying that they go sking because of me and they want to keep going or they, you know, broke their boundaries in some other way and felt inspired by something that I said, I feel all those little things are immensely rewarding.”

When asked about her future plan, she had no idea whether she would continue to compete in freestyle skiing. “I’m going to do whatever feels right, and hopefully I’ll be able to create some kind of positive change out of any position that I’m in,” said Gu.

Carrying a message of peace and friendship, the flame for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games arrived to a warm welcome in Beijing on Wednesday.

Witnessed by organizers, sports     1     (figure), performers and students, the flame housed in a red lantern     2     (draw) crowds of onlookers as it was accompanied by volunteers into a ceremony held at Beijing’s Olympic Tower. The flame arrived early on Wednesday after     3     (fly) from Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics, where it was lit two days     4     (early).

Public exhibitions of the torch and the traditional national relay (接力) in the host country have been simplified for the Beijing Games due     5     COVID-19 precautionary measures. The relay will take place in three host areas and involve about 1,200 torchbearers,     6     scheduled for Feb 2 to Feb 4, with the route     7     (connect) landmarks, historical sites and major tourism attractions in Beijing and Zhangjiakou. The shortened torch relay with reduced crowds, will help ensure the health and     8     (safe) of all participants as well as that of local communities.

“As     9     iconic (偶像) cultural element of the Olympic Games, the torch relay plays a     10     (extreme) significant role in promoting the host’s international image while spreading the message of peace and friendship,” said Zhang Jiandong, a vice-mayor of Beijing.