For many years, the Future City Competition has brought together young people to create visionary(幻想的) designs,     1     (require) skill and imagination. This year’s theme, “The Age-Friendly City,” invited students to design small cities,     2     would enable older people to live     3     (independent).

The competition, which     4     (encourage) students to hone (磨炼) their engineering skills while working to create a better world, is open to kids in    5     (grade) six through eight. After more than 44, 000 students participated in regional competitions, finalists    6     (choose) for the top competition.

The grand prize went to “Halona,” a city of the future    7     (create) by students from Edlin School in Reston, Virginia. The team researched and developed their model city     8     the help of teacher Vasantha Ayala and volunteer mentor ( 导师) Nandhini Kuntipuram. For their grand prize,     9     Edlin students won $7, 500 for their school’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) program.

Tom Chmielenski, a computer software engineer, served as a judge. “It’s very nice as an engineer to see young people have these futuristic ideas,” he said. “We can’t wait     10     (see) what the future holds.”

Life Skills Show

5 . “You’re wrong about everything, Mom. I hate you. And I don’t like your hair either!” screamed my five-year-old child Amy while trying her best to hit me in the leg. Her screaming, which lasted an hour, was sparked when I asked her to put on her shoes so we could leave for the store. Luckily, this time, no one was hurt.

We call these behaviors (screaming, kicking, throwing things) hurricanes. She’ll grab me, trying to beat me and I’ll attempt to prevent her from hurting either of us. While she’s usually better-behaved in public, I’ve left the grocery store dragging my screaming daughter more times than I’d like to admit. At any given moment, my sweet child can change into something unrecognizable.

Like other parents of defiant (叛逆的) children, I was at a complete loss. It can be hard to know what’s causing our kids to act out, what steps are needed to stop the disruptive behavior and when to seek help. Nothing prepared me for parenting a defiant child, but, as I found out, the news isn’t all bad: There are solutions for families who have defiant children.

My daughter had been a pleasant, easy baby. Suddenly all that changed when she turned three. She destroyed books and wrote on walls (sometimes right in front of me), and when I tried to stop her, it would bring on another hurricane. I could use rewards, threaten consequences and take away prized toys and she still would refuse to do what I was asking. Occasionally, she’d comply (顺从) — it was so unpredictable.

Defiance is a spectrum. There are strong-willed kids who were just born that way, others who may be reacting to a short-term traumatic (创伤的) event, and kids who might be formally diagnosed as having a more extreme condition called ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder). According to a report, between one and 16 percent of children and adolescents have ODD. Boys with ODD are more likely to argue with adults and lose their tempers, while girls tend to lie and be uncooperative.

It was a soccer match     1     no red carpet, no stars and no professional players, but at least 50,000 spectators watched it on-site and millions of others online.

At the Village Super League finals in Rongjiang county, Guizhou province, Saturday night, very few people were concerned about the final score. It was the passion and sportsmanship of these amateur players and the cheerful, warm and relaxing atmosphere on the field       2     inspired the crowd.

“The match itself is more important than its result,” said Dong Yongheng,     3     team is named after his village, Zhongcheng, the Chinese word for     4     (loyal). “By running, fighting and giving my all on the field, I am reminded that I still have a deep passion for life and soccer.”

Dong runs a snack bar in the village but has loved soccer since he     5     (be) very young. In this Village Super League season, which began on May 13, he scored multiple goals,     6    (make) him popular among the spectators who     7       (close) followed the matches.

All the players in the Village Super League come from different     8     (walk) of life. Some are students, while others are butchers, construction workers, drivers or businesspeople. Among the referees are schoolteachers, government workers and villagers. But all are united in their passion for soccer.

For spectators who have traveled from across the country     9    (witness) one of China’s most popular sports events this year, the Village Super League is more than a midsummer soccer fest. It is also     10       successful campaign (运动) presenting everything unique about Rongjiang county, including its culture, landscape, folklore and food.

7 .

(Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant Photo: Screenshot from the WeChat account of China National Nuclear Corporation)

The Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant in Rongcheng, East China’s Shandong Province, which uses a high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor (HTGR), entered commercial service on Wednesday following a 168-hour trial, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

It is the world’s first fourth-generation (4G) nuclear power plant and uses China’s fully independent intellectual property rights, reflecting the nation’s global leading position in 4G nuclear power technology, said the NEA.

The HTGR will be safe even in the absence of all cooling capabilities and without taking any intervention measures, and accidents such as reactor core meltdowns or radioactive material releases won’t happen, said Zhang Zuoyi, chief designer of the project.

Compared with other clean power sources such as solar, wind and hydro, nuclear power is more stable and cost-effective, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times. It will largely facilitate China to achieve its carbon emission reduction goal as the safety concern is addressed, Lin noted.

Construction of the plant, with a capacity of 200,000 kilowatts, started in December 2012 by China Huaneng Group Co, Tsinghua University and China National Nuclear Corp. It was first linked to the power grid in December 2021.

The power plant was the collaborative effort of more than 500 companies across the industry chain including design, research and development, construction, component manufacturing and operations management, with the localization rate of equipment exceeding 90 percent.

Based on the construction of the plant, China Huaneng Group Co and Tsinghua University together developed six core technologies, fostered a group of experienced talent and formed a reproducible operation mechanism with independent intellectual property rights, said the Xinhua News Agency’s report.

Amid China’s effort in achieving carbon emission reduction goals, the installed capacity of the renewable energy power generation nationwide reached a new high, exceeding 1.4 billion kilowatts by the end of October, reaching 1.404 billion kilowatts, an increase of 20.8 percent year-on-year, accounting for about 49.9 percent of the country’s total installed capacity of power generation.

THE AMAZING ANIMALS OF AUSTRALIA

Our topic today is “Creatures Unique to Australia”, with questions answered by wildlife expert, Dr Jim Smith.

Australia has lots of unique animals, but which animal is a symbol of the country?

It has to be the kangaroo, as it has a wide distribution throughout the country. It’s a tough animal that has to survive in a difficult environment. Also, it cannot walk backwards, so it is always moving forwards. This expresses the strength and resolve of the Australians as individuals and as a nation. Baby kangaroos weigh only two grammes at birth. They then find their way into their mother’s pouch—a kind of pocket—to stay safe and warm. They sleep and drink milk in that temporary, protected environment until they are about seven or eight months old. After this phase,   they go out to try their legs. After they learn to jump, they gradually spend less time with their mother and learn to be independent. Kangaroos may look cute, but encounters with them don’t always end so well. Kangaroos can hit and kick very hard, so please folks, if you see some kangaroos, remember they’re not for petting!

Koalas are cute, and we see so many pictures of people holding them. But in many places in Australia, it is against the law to even touch them. Can you clarify that?

They are really quite cute, but the truth is, koalas are very sensitive creatures who can easily panic because of even small changes in their environment. They spend quite a lot of time eating, sleeping, and hanging onto tree trunks, so interaction with humans can cause them a lot of stress.   

Because of this, the government began to make laws against touching koalas, in the interest of animal protection, as well as public safety. So, if you see one in the wild, you shouldn’t approach it to pick it up or even touch it. If you want to hold a koala, you have to go to certain licensed zoos where animal experts make sure that the koalas selected for each session are in a good state for human contact and that they are handled for only a limited time and on a limited frequency of occasions.

So, we’ve talked about some cute animals. What about animals which aren’t so cute?

My favourite is a little creature called the Tasmanian devil. If you are out camping in Tasmania and come across one, the experience might scare you! Tasmanian devils hunt at night, so you won’t usually see them, but you may hear their loud cries when they are fighting or eating. The noise they make could wake the dead. Frightening! They are about the size of small dogs and look like rather large black rats. They also have a terrible smell! Their diet is mostly dead animals. Fortunately, despite their name, they are generally not violent towards people.

Australia also has some animals that many people have never heard of, for example, the duck­billed platypus. Is that some kind of bird?

Not at all. While it may lay eggs in a nest like a bird, it’s really a primitive mammal, with a unique biology. Its eggs hatch after about ten days, and then the baby platypus nurses from its mother like all other mammals. Its nose looks like a duck’s bill, and it has feet like a duck’s so it can dive under the water, but it’s covered in hair. Do you know what’s really strange about a platypus? The platypus doesn’t use its senses of sight or smell to find food. It has a capacity to find food in the water by using electrical sensors in its bill. There are only a small handful of animals in the world that can do that!