1 . In China, tea has become an important part of everyday life for thousands of years. As the tea-processing methods and tea culture have evolved over the years, tea sets have also changed to meet the practical and cultural needs.

During the Tang Dynasty(618~907AD), tea leaves were traded across the country and Asia. For the convenience of transportation and storage, tea leaves were pressed into bricks. To prepare tea, drinkers had to cut them into small pieces and boil them in heat-resistant teapots.

By the Song Dynasty(960-1279), drinkers started to turn the hard bricks into powders (粉末) that could be whipped (搅打) in a cup with boiled water. This whipped tea is most commonly associated with Japanese tea ceremonies today.

By the 1500s, tea bricks gave way to the form of rolled leaves. This innovation led to the invention and use of teapots as we know them today. These teapots originally came from the Yi Xing region of China and were soon copied throughout the world. Then Japanese teapot-makers moved the handle from the side to the top of the teapots.

Tea finally reached Europe in the 1600s, along with the necessary tea sets made in Japan and China. As English teapot-makers began to adapt the tea sets to their country men’s tastes, they eventually added a handle to the tea bowl because of the English habit of drinking hot black tea, which was consumed at higher temperatures. The size of teacups also grew to accommodate milk and sugar in their tea.

By the early 1900s, innovations in tea drinking became an American affair. The most revolutionary one was the tea bag, which was accidentally commercialized by Thomas Sullivan. He had been sending customers tea wrapped in silk bags. Rather than take the leaves out of the bags, as Sullivan intended, the customers put the bags into their teapots instead. Not only did the tea bags push the teapot back to the sidelines of tea service, they were also too large for teacups and led to the modern practice of drinking tea from mugs.

China’s newest online sensation is a pink fox called LinaBell from Shanghai Disneyland. After     1     (make) her debut (初次登台) on September 29, the life-size figure has taken the Chinese social media. Unlike other Disney     2     (character), LinaBell has never been on the big or small screen. All we know is that she met Duffy, Mickey Mouse’s teddy bear gifted to him by his sweetheart Minnie, in the forest and     3     (help) him find his way home, according to Disney’s introduction video of the character. Since her first debut, the fluffy (毛茸茸的) character     4     (win) the hearts of many visitors that were attracted by her unique personality and     5     (adore) appearance.

Footage of meet-and-greets with the pink fox are all over the Internet and LinaBell can be seen communicating     6     every visitor through expressive body language. She corrects those visitors     7     mispronounce her name, shows love for those queuing up for hours to meet her and hands out free candy.

Visitors to Shanghai Disneyland were the first people     8     (meet) LinaBell as she made her global debut from the Chinese city. As a “     9     (local) born” character, LinaBell can understand different Chinese dialects beyond that of Shanghai, and can interact with visitors from different parts of China.

Disney’s localization efforts, including the company’s IP products have resulted in its popularity in China. Shanghai Disneyland has been     10     considerable financial success compared to Paris and Hong Kong.

4 . The loss of housing due to floods is an undeniable issue. But now, Japanese housing developer Ichijo Komuten recently unveiled a “flood-resistant house” that can not only remain waterproof during floods, but also float off the ground.

Their new “flood-resistant house” was recently featured on a popular Japanese TV show and it has been getting a lot of attention online ever since. Japan’s TBS TV station recently visited one of Ichijo’s test sites where the company’s new flood-resistant house was being put through a simulated flood. Although it looked just like an ordinary house when the test began, by the time that water started rising around it, viewers could see the structure leave the ground and eventually float a few inches above it.

We’ve all seen floating houses being swept away in severe floods, but Ichijo’s newest invention features a system that prevents just that. The house is connected to a number of thick iron rod(杆)sticking out of the ground with thick cables(缆绳)that ensure it stays in place as the water floods past. When the water recedes, the floating house comes back down in its original position. The “flood-resistant house” also features special vents(通风口))hat close up in the event of flooding, and the plumbing also has special valves that prevent water from getting into the home. Electrical equipment like air conditioning is positioned on the upper half of the building to ensure that water doesn’t reach it.

According to engineers at Ichijo Komuten, most homes flood when water reaches the window level, but because their flood-resistant house can float up to five meters above ground, water is unlikely to reach the windows and everything else is sealed shut.

7 . Pianist Jean-Francois Maljean has released a piano piece to commemorate (纪念) the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which kicked off with a grand opening ceremony held at the National Stadium on Feb 4. Titled For Beijing Olympics, the piano piece, which is about 3 minutes, was asked by the Chinese embassy in Belgium, with the aim of celebrating Chinese New Year and welcoming the Winter Olympics. He also wrote a song to support Wuhan in its fight against COVID-19 in 2020 and another song for Xi’an in December.

Born in Verviers, Belgium, Maljean started to learn the piano at age 6. At about 12, the classically trained pianist became interested in a diverse range of musical genres (类型), especially pop music like that of The Beatles.

He had planned to compose a song and English author Robert Murray, the pianist’s friend, even started to write the lyrics (歌词) about the Olympic Games. However, due to the short time, Maljean ended up just composing a piano piece, which was later released in the form of a music video featuring images of winter sports. “I think the piano piece works even better than a song. Since winter sports mainly give an impression of speed, I composed a mostly very fast piece, though there are some slower moments. And it works very well,” says Maljean, 68, who recorded the piece at his own studio in Belgium. Maljean recalls that he visited the capital and spent some time in China, where he was featured in a documentary for Belgian television. He traveled to many places in China, including Changchun in Jilin province, Guizhou province and Shanghai, and landed in Beijing to visit Olympic sites.

8 . Golden Generation

A national team, mostly consisting of teenagers, pushed China to its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Olympics. At the same time, a series of breakthroughs at the Games _________ the country’s emergence as a much more well-rounded force on the ice and snow.

_________ the heroics of teenage sensation Gu Ailing and seasoned aerials(空中技巧滑雪)masters Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu, China _________ four gold to top the freestyle skiing medal standings for the first time after its Winter Olympic debut in 1980.

Gu Ailing also became the first athlete _________, and the youngest _________, to win three medals(golds in Big Air, halfpipe and silver in slopestyle)in three different freeski _________ at the Olympics, throwing her to international super-star reputation as the _________ of Beijing 2022.

Needless to say, another teenager star, Su Yiming, also became a _________   name by winning China’s first snowboarding gold medal in Big Air after claiming a silver in slopestyle. Su’s _________ helped the host finish a highest-ever third on the Games’ overall medal standings, ____________ nine gold, four silver and two bronze-its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Games. China’s ____________ best was a tally of 11, including five gold, at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

“The ____________ of the new generation on the Olympic stage, even seeing the emergence of teenagers, ____________ a great future for winter sports in our country,” said Li Yang, manager of China’s Big Air, slopestyle and halfpipe national programs.

“With winter sports becoming popular in our country amid the fast social and ____________ development, I believe more and more young people will ____________ skis and snowboards to enjoy the sport, just as young as Su and Gu did when they were little, which will ____________ expand the talent pool for our future national programs,”Li said.

The Beijing Winter Games also ____________ the first time that China’s snow sports teams outperformed the country’s traditionally strong ice sports squads in the medal numbers, securing investment in high-performance training programs and ____________ the foundation for even better results at the next Winter Games in Italy.

“____________ we keep the tendency going, I believe we will ____________ a stronger performance in four years' time at the next Olympics in 2026,” said Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist, in women’s short-track speed skating at the 2002 Games.