During the 2023 Lanzhou International Marathon, all eyes were on the elderly couple—Hu Yingfu, 86, and his wife Wang Zhangmin, 77. Many doubted their ability to finish the race,     1     Hu completed the half marathon in two hours and twenty minutes.

Against initial struggles, Hu found a way to motivate himself by counting electric poles while running. “The distance between each electric pole is 50 meters. I run as fast as I can, passing a dozen or so poles.” said Hu.     2     (gradua), his endurance improved, along with his physical condition.

The couple’s love for running started as a way     3     (improve) their fitness, but it quickly became a passion, They participated in a national athletics event     4     the elderly in 2004,     5     (mark) their first-ever national competition. To their surprise, Wang achieved     6     impressive result—the fourth place.

Since then, the elderly couple have become regular     7     (participate) in national athletics events, consistently winning medals, and they     8     (recognize) as well-known figures in the running community.

With a     9     (combine) age of 163, the couple have participated in over 100 marathon races nationwide, whose impact has motivated     10     (count) young individuals to become part of the running community.

China plans to start building a lunar base in about four years,    1     (kick) off with bricks made of moon soil, according to scientists related to the project, the local news agency reported. Ding Lieyun,     2     leading scientist at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told local media that the first brick     3    (make) from moon soil during the Chang’e 8 mission around 2028.

China has previously said its lunar base will likely be powered by nuclear energy, and will include a lander, hopper, orbiter and rover, all of     4    would be constructed by the Chang’e 6, 7 and 8 missions. It wasn’t immediately clear in the interview     5     the entire base will be built with lunar soil.

“Eentually, building habitation     6     the Earth is essential not only for all humanity’s quest for space exploration, but also for China’s    7     (strategy) needs as a space power,” Ding said in a separate interview.

The moon is believed     8     (contain) a source of waste-free nuclear energy that could meet global energy demands for 250 years, meaning potentially hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of resources.

Yu Dengyun, from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, provided an    9     (update) timeline for the next three Chang’e missions. Chang’e 6 will launch in 2025 to collect samples from the far side of the moon, Chang’e 7 will blastoff the following year to search for water-ice,    10     Chang’e 8 should land some two years after that.

During the May Day holiday, many Chinese people went out for travel,     1    (show) the potential of the country’s holiday economy. Guangzhou and Chongqing were among the top domestic (国内的) cities in terms of consumer    2     (popular). In the meantime, Thailand, Japan and South Korea became some of the     3     (hot) overseas destinations during the five-day holiday.

Aside from traditional popular destinations, county tourism has developed into a new fashion and brought in new vitality (活力) into the tourism market. The tourism growth rate of small counties and towns is higher. Data from Alipay showed that many young     4     (generation) chose to go to attractions in small towns. Yili in Xinjiang, Yanbian in Jilin, Diqing and Pu’er in Yunnan have seen the largest year-on-year increase in cross-regional payments.

Tourists’ continuous enthusiasm for domestic travel is also proved by other factors, such as the number of short videos     5     (publish). During the holiday,     6     total number of posts on WeChat video accounts increased. Among them, scenic spots like West Lake     7     (become) popular destinations for video account users recently. Concerts, art exhibitions and other cultural activities have also played a significant role     8     improving cultural and tourism consumption. Cities such as Changzhou, Hefei, Beijing, and Yantai received high attention during this time period,     9     drove growth in local hotel, transportation, and dining services.

Furthermore, the inbound (入境的) tourism market is further heating up as visa-free policies and easy payment services provide     10     (convenient) for foreigners traveling to China.