Baduanjin, a kind of exercise
More than 1,000 videos about Baduanjin can
Originating from the Song Dynasty (420-479), Baduanjin has
It was mentioned in the guidelines for COVID-19 cases at home by Traditional Chinese Medicine to help recovery.
2 . AI Suitcase is a smart suitcase developed by a blind computer scientist to aid the blind in navigating (导航) their surroundings more efficiently without the aid of guide dogs.
65-year-old Chieko Asakawa has been completely blind since she was only 14, following a tragic accident. She is a computer scientist. As someone who has long struggled with navigating unfamiliar and crowded places, Asakawa came up with an idea to help the blind get around easier.
In 2017, she put forward the idea of a smart suitcase that could guide its user with the help of built-in sensors (传感器) and cameras. Six years later, the AI Suitcase is almost ready for its first public appearance.
After the user inputs their destination on their smartphone, the AI Suitcase, which is small enough to be brought onboard flights as carry-on luggage, can plan a best route to that point. The smart suitcase then relies on a set of sensors and an exact GPS system that can determine its position within a 10-centimeter margin of error (误差范围) to assess its surroundings and avoid bumping into other people and objects on its route.
The AI Suitcase offers information to the user both through a built-in conversational device, and through sensors in the handle. Although earlier designs were equipped with small wheels fit for indoor use, the latest version of the smart suitcase features large, strong wheels and a powerful motor that can deal with outdoor environments as well.
The device is currently available for testing by any blind person in front of the Miraikan Museum until February 6th. Asakawa and the companies that provided money for her work over the last few years want to make the AI Suitcase available for hire at airports, shopping centers, and train stations in the near future.
1. What made Asakawa come up with the idea of a smart suitcase?| A．Her own experience. | B．Her role as a scientist. |
| C．Her observation of daily life. | D．Her support for the disabled. |
| A．It first appeared in 2017. | B．It has been put on the market. |
| C．It can be taken on a plane. | D．It can navigate places without error. |
| A．It has a low margin of error. | B．It can interact with its users. |
| C．It has built-in sensors and cameras. | D．It can handle situations outdoors. |
| A．A Blind AI Suitcase Inventor. | B．AI Navigating System on Phones. |
| C．AI Companies Helping the Blind. | D．AI Suitcase Designed for the Blind. |
3 . A child sits beside a bookshelf at Beijing Book Building in the downtown, listening as his mother reads a picture book to him, one word at a time. “We go to bookstores every week or two,” says Wang Bin, the mother. “Kids love reading.”
Wang and her child are among the growing number of people in China who are attracted to physical bookstores, the appeal of which has lasted despite the growth of digital reading. For many, bookstores are a place to hang out, a venue for relaxation, entertainment and cultural enrichment.
Zhao Xianghan, a 20-year-old college student, looks through the books on display at a PageOne bookstore. He didn’t come to buy anything in particular, but to see what is on offer and seek inner peace in preparation for a new term. “Bookstores used to simply sell books, but now they have more functions,” says Zhao. “For example, when selling books, they may sell some cultural and creative products and stationery. They also increasingly have coffee shops connected to them.”
During the 2023 Spring Festival holiday, more than 160 bookstores remained open in Beijing, attracting plenty of visitors, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Press and Publication. They presented themed reading events, held lectures and exhibitions, and organized traditional cultural activities. At a bookstore in Shunyi district, children gave a concert in celebration of Spring Festival. Bookstores also ran programs featuring intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产). At Zhongguancun Book Building, masters of folk art showed young readers how to make small rabbit statues with dough (面团), to mark the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit.
1. Why did Zhao Xianghan go to the PageOne bookstore?| A．To sell some cultural products. | B．To read picture books to children. |
| C．To purchase books and stationery. | D．To find some quietness in heart. |
| A．They have gradually changed into coffee shops. |
| B．They are a combination of reading and relaxation. |
| C．They are aimed to promote intangible cultural heritage. |
| D．They attract more readers compared with digital reading. |
| A．The best-sellers in physical bookstores. | B．The development of physical bookstores. |
| C．The activities held in physical bookstores. | D．The physical bookstores remaining in Beijing. |
| A．To present various functions of physical bookstores. |
| B．To require more people to visit physical bookstores. |
| C．To spread traditional culture via physical bookstores. |
| D．To show the increasing number of readers in bookstores. |
4 . A water bearer had two large pots, hung on either end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One pot had a crack in it while the other was perfect. The perfect pot was always full of water at the end of a long walk from the stream to the house; the cracked pot only arrived half full.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of itself. The poor cracked pot was ashamed of itself and apologized to the bearer. “I have been able to take only half of my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out (漏出) all the way back to your house.” The pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the cracked pot and said, “As we return to the house, I want you to pay attention to all of the beautiful flowers along the path.”
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it up a little. But at the end of the walk, the cracked pot still felt bad because half of its load had leaked out, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day as we have walked back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my table. Without you being just the way you are, I would not have the beautiful flowers.”
1. Why did the cracked pot apologize to the bearer?| A．For its ugly appearance. | B．For its own imperfection. |
| C．For its heavy load on the neck. | D．For its failure to water flowers. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Idea. | B．Change. | C．Concern. | D．Shortcoming. |
| A．God helps those who help themselves. |
| B．Weaknesses can be turned into strengths. |
| C．A slow sparrow should make an early start. |
| D．Good company on the road is the shortest cut. |
5 . Welcome to Olympic National Park!
The park is located in the Western state of Washington. The park covers more than 400,000 hectares. It has several different ecosystems. Each area of the park offers visitors something special.
Elwha Valley
The Elwha Valley is in the central part of the park. It is the Olympic Peninsula’s largest watershed. A watershed is an area of land that separates waters that flow into different rivers or seas. The rivers in this area hold the most salmon (鲑鱼) outside of Alaska and is home to bears, eagles, and the Klallam Native Americans.
Hoh River Valley
The Hoh River is on the west side of the park. The river is formed from melted glacial ice on top of Mount Olympus. The river is 80 kilometers long. It flows into the Pacific Ocean. Because of the amount of rain, many different types of plants grow in the Hoh rainforest, from mosses and ferns to huge Sitka spruce trees. The Hoh River Valley is protected from any logging (伐术) or development.
Hurricane Ridge
Hurricane Ridge is a mountain area in the northern part of the park. It is easy to enter, and provides incredible views of the Olympic Mountains. The ridge has many hiking paths. In winter, people come here to ski. They also come here to take part in other fun winter activities, like sledding and snowboarding.
The Coast
The westernmost part of the park is Pacific coastline. Olympic National Park has many breathtaking beaches. Kalaloch Beach is known for its white sand. It also has three national wildlife reserves, which protect the area’s bird and fish species. The coastline areas offer hiking and camping. They are some of the most popular places in the park.
1. What is Elwha Valley special for?| A．White sand. | B．Plentiful salmon. |
| C．Various plants. | D．Wildlife reserves. |
| A．Both provide hiking areas. | B．Both offer winter activities. |
| C．Both have rare animals. | D．Both feature incredible beaches. |
| A．A news report. | B．A fashion magazine. |
| C．A tourism website. | D．An academic paper. |
Life is wholly unpredictable. No one can be entirely sure what will happen from one moment to the next. Sandy, a US policewoman, was on the high way in Hanover County, Virginia, traveling to the airport. She was going to take on a fight to Ohio, where she was looking to carry out a special duty.
While Sandy drove her car smoothly, something unexpected happened. The vehicle in front of Sandy, for some unexplained reason, ran out of the roadway at full speed. With the brakes never hit, the car hit a tree badly. Sandy, who witnessed the crash, stopped and approached the vehicle. She wondered whether the driver was OK in such an accident. From the broken window, Sandy saw there were three persons in the vehicle: a mother and her two young children.
“As I approached the car, I could hear a lady screaming, ‘Help! Help! My children are there!’” Sandy recalled. The car was damaged seriously and Sandy found it really hard to open the door of the vehicle. Some smoke began to appear. It seemed that the vehicle might get on fire or, even worse, explode at any moment. After she was finally able to open one of the vehicle’s doors in the back, Sandy noticed the two children totally panicked, shaking all over. And the mother who was stuck in the seat was still screaming, “Help please! Get my babies out of the car.”
Sandy sprang into action. She freed the two children from the vehicle and got them to a safe area, away from the crash scene at once. When she was sure that the two children were not injured so seriously, she let out a deep breath.
Paragraph 1
One of the children asked Sandy, “Are you going to save my mommy?”
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Paragraph 2
“Don’t panic! Calm down!” Sandy shouted.
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1. 活动时间、地点；
2. 活动流程及意义。
注意：词数80词左右，可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
提示词：朗诵recitation n.
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Siheyuan is a special type of building found in China that represents the country’s rich traditions. These buildings
Siheyuan has
The main entrance of a Siheyuan
Beyond its physical form, Siheyuan represents the Chinese
9 . Current medical guidelines in many parts of the world recommend mild exercise for older people as a way to prevent both physical and mental decline. However, if you want to help your grandma stay mentally sharp into her golden years, you could buy her an Xbox, the latest research suggests. Researchers have conducted a study that found playing interactive video games could be more effective than just exercise alone in preventing mental decline in older people.
To investigate this, the researchers compared two groups of people aged 72 years and over, one of which did standard exercise for 12 weeks, and at the same time the other instead played sports games on an Xbox, which combine regular exercise with cognitive (认知的) exercise.
The study’s senior author, Tracy Kolbe Alexander said they found a marked difference in the results between the two groups. The 45 participants took cognitive assessment test before and after the 12-week program and the gaming group showed improvements in cognitive ability. All the participants had reported mild forms of memory loss but none had any form of dementia (痴呆) diagnosed when the experiment was done. However, the participants using Xbox showed physical improvement particularly in aspects such as strength and balance, which the researchers said were very important to preventing falls.
“We are not so sure that interactive gaming is going to prevent dementia or anything like that, but our results showed a clear cognitive benefit,” Professor Kolbe Alexander said, “Keeping up physical activities via interactive gaming could also be of benefit to older people who lived in areas where there were physical barriers to exercise, such as lack of access to parks or walking tracks.”
1. How did the researchers conduct the investigation?| A．By listing examples. | B．By making explanations. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing survey data. |
| A．They gained little strength. | B．They improved memory a lot. |
| C．They suffered mental disease. | D．They performed better in balance. |
| A．Parks can be used to avoid memory loss. |
| B．Interactive gaming can be achieved flexibly. |
| C．Dementia can be prevented by Xbox gaming. |
| D．Cognition can be improved by standard exercise. |
| A．Health and Lifestyle. | B．Economy and Business. |
| C．Tools and Resources. | D．Entertainment and Sports. |
10 . In the long river of inheriting and preserving intangible cultural heritages, people have encountered numerous challenges, especially in this rapidly developing era. Fortunately, there are still many individuals who persistently make efforts to safeguard it.
Chang Yangyang is such a person. As an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, he once worked at a factory. Although he had learned the craft paper-cutting from his grandmother since childhood, in the eyes of Chang’s parents, a hobby was far less precious than a stable job. They didn’t change their minds until he won third prize in a national paper-cutting competition in 2010. This opened a new door for him in paper-cutting, which strengthened his determination to continue his career in the craft.
In addition to practicing skills diligently, Chang thought more about how to promote the Mengjin paper-cutting culture and let more people know about this intangible cultural heritage.
In his early years, Chang conducted local training and salons. Later, He tried Douyin live-streaming. At first, Chang was shy. But gradually, he became more familiar with it and learned to interact with viewers. In this way, he expanded his audience and followers from dozens of people to hundreds of thousands.
The young paper-cutting artist and instructor hopes there are more young people learning the art. It is for this reason that he currently teaches the art of paper-cutting at several local primary schools, Chang says his life dream is to establish a paper-cutting museum one day so people can learn more about the art form and grow to love it as much as he does.
With more young craftsmen like Chang injecting fresh energy, the intangible cultural heritage will be able to continue sharing the same clear wind with mountains and forests, and the same bright moon with rivers in the future years, moving towards eternity.
1. How did Chang’s parents find his paper-cutting career before 2010?| A．Supportive. | B．Opposed. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Contradictory. |
| A．He spread paper-cutting online. | B．He opened a paper-cutting school. |
| C．He took part in many competitions. | D．He practiced the skills occasionally. |
| A．Make profit from paper-cutting. | B．Learn more about other art forms. |
| C．Establish a paper-cutting museum. | D．Expand his audience and followers. |
| A．Young man with happy stories. | B．Traditions in Chang’s family. |
| C．Intangible cultural heritages in history. | D．New craftsman with old craft. |
