The English Channel crossing, one of the most famous global swimming challenges,     1     (refer) to as the peak of endurance swimming.

A relay team of winter swimming     2     (enthusiasm) from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, swam the English Channel in less than 12 hours on Friday. They     3     (choose) to swim the shortest route across the channel, the 33.8 kilometers from Dover in the UK to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near Calais in France.

In fact, the team took exactly 11 hours and 54 minutes to make the crossing,     4     (swim) more than 50 km to avoid obstacles and strong currents. During the team’s crossing, each team member swam     5     at least an hour before alternating until they reached France.

Xie Derong, a member of the team, said that although the relay went     6     (smooth) for the most part, the final 6 km proved to be an enormous test of     7     (they) endurance. “We encountered counter currents that caused us     8     (slow) down.”

    9     idea of crossing the English Channel first came to them in 2019. Training started several weeks before Friday’s swim in the Sanqi Reservoir in Wencheng county,     10     the water temperature was similar to the English Channel.

Millions of people in China now share a common routine: a session with personal trainer Liu Genghong. The 49-year-old singer and composer has     1     (surprising) become     2     online hit for livestreaming fitness routines from his home. Liu’s workout sessions are so popular that they     3     (break) Douyin’s livestreaming record for 2022 so far.

In Liu’s livestreams, Liu and his wife appear     4     (energy), friendly, happy and super fit. They are usually seen exercising     5     the fast-paced tune (曲子) of pop singer Jay Chou’s Herbalist Manual (本草纲目) and others.     6     Liu’s dance moves look simple, they are often too intense for his audience     7     (follow).

Wei Fang, a student at Shandong Normal University, is one of Liu’s     8     (fan). “My major requires me to sit for a long time, sometimes for the whole day, ” she said. “So how can I refuse a star singer as a personal trainer? Besides, when     9     (watch) the live-stream, I feel like I’m working out with friends,     10     encourages me to keep going until the last minute,” added Wei.

The virus “Ebola” is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That’s     1     the virus was discovered in 1976. A person can only get Ebola through direct contact with an infected person’s body fluids, for example, sweat or spit. Additionally, the virus can get into your body     2     your eyes and mouth. That’s why health care workers are supposed to keep themselves completely     3     (cover) while treating patients.

The deadliest Ebola outbreak is spreading fast in Western Africa, taking over 900     4     (life) so far. The health systems in this area are severely lacking in resources, and health care workers may not have enough protective clothing     5     working in rural clinics. For now, all doctors can do     6     (be) to treat the symptoms and provide some care.

There are several promising drugs and vaccines (疫苗) in     7     (develop), but since Ebola is less common — and research about it is not     8     (good) carried out — there is no drug or vaccine that     9     (approve) for use in humans. Many of the other drugs and vaccines have not yet been tested in humans. The WHO (World Health Organization) is meeting next week     10     (discuss) whether experimental treatments should be used during this outbreak.

Many young people wants     1     (become) great athletes. They exercise and lift weights in the gym. But the fact is that they don’t become stronger,     2     makes them unhappy.

Therefore, some of them are considering     3     (take) pills, which they think will help them become     4     (strong) than before. However, the truth is that these pills usually have some unintended side     5     (effect). Some of them may even affect     6     (they) liver or heart.     7     fact, some great athletes such as Griffith Joyner, died very young because they     8     (take) some pills.

For the above reasons, I suggest that young people be     9     (care) not to take pills.     10     best way to become stronger is going to a gym to work out.

In modern urban China, people often go to cinemas or theaters for entertainment. But in the countryside, people have many ways of amusing    1    (them). Come to Majie Falk Fair (马街书会) and enjoy a traditional delight.

It is said that Majie Folk Fair may have first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, with artists passing it on from generation    2    generation. With a history of over hundreds of years, the fair features a    3    (various) of performances, including storytelling, ballad singing, crosstalk and other folk arts.

The fair    4    (hold) every l3th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar and has also been included on the list of national intangible cultural heritage since May 2006.    5    (annual), it is a grand event for the folk artists from different parts across the country. Despite the fact that the fair remains a calling for folk artists, it gives the audience an opportunity    6    (establish) contact with their favorite artists.

Henan Zhuizi may have the largest number of art performers in the fair. Early in the morning,    7    (experience) players and new artists compete with each other while audience members,    8    can sing and tell stories, are welcome to interact and even join the artists onstage. A folk artist once said that the fair was a platform to exchange and improve his skills,    9    (provide) a chance for him to make    10    living as well.

The Qiang New Year Festival is the most important traditional festival for the Qiang ethnic group     1     (appreciate) nature, celebrate prosperity and show respect for their ancestors. It falls     2     the first day of the tenth lunar month on the Chinese calendar.And several celebrations are held by the Qiang people     3     (live) in Sichuan Province.

The celebration lasts from three to five days. During the festival, Qiang people wear beautiful traditional costumes to celebrate this grand occasion through a range of folk activities such as dragon dance performances, bonfire (篝火) parties, music and shows, ritual sacrifice     4     (ceremony) and other events. In the evening, Qiang women dress up in elegant clothes and accessories to attend a grand occasion around a central bonfire,     5     forms the heart of the celebrations.    6     (inspire) by the passions of the flames and music, dancers circle and sway to the rhythms to create     7     joyous atmosphere.

It is also an occasion for the Qiang ethnic group to celebrate the harvest of the year. A series of rituals are held to show their     8     (harmony) and respectful relationship with nature as well as strengthen the solid bonds within their community.

The festival was listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009 due to its     9    (high) valuable cultural significance. From generation to generation, Qiang people     10     (devote) their time to inheriting their own culture and keeping it alive after promising development in recent years.

Peking duck is an icon of Beijing cuisine and enjoying the treat is a must-do in the capital. Among the fast-changing trends of international cuisine, the dish is a rare, enduring classic,     1    (win) worldwide fame for its crispy skin and tender meat.

The stories about the origins of Peking duck vary, one of     2     dates back to the Ming Dynasty. In the 1420s, Emperor Zhu Di, also known as the Yongle Emperor,     3    (move) the country’s capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Chefs working for the royal family also migrated to Beijing, where they came up     4     new methods to cook duck.

If diners order roast duck in a restaurant, a chef will come to the table to provide     5    (serve). The chef skillfully cuts off     6    (taste) parts of skin first, with the meat then cut into juicy slices. Usually, the slices are     7    (delicate) served with a sweet bean paste (酱), rested on a bed of shredded (切碎的) cucumber, spring onions or radishes (萝卜) and wrapped in a bite-sized, thin pancake.     8    (roll) into little envelopes, these pancakes are a taste and tactile experience.

Taste is only one of the     9    (reason) for Peking duck’s unique status, though. In China,     10     is generally believed that duck is moderate and even slightly cold in nature, and therefore brings no excessive heat to the body.

It has been over 500 years     1     the first journey around the earth in 1521. Long before the invention of trains and planes, many thought it was impossible. It nearly was. The journey     2     (start) by a Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, but he never saw it finished.

Magellan was following in the footsteps of explorers like Christopher Columbus. He’d traveled from Spain to America in 1492 and encouraged others     3     (take) to the seas. But Magellan’s journey was even more daring. It was a journey around the whole world that would     4     (complete) show the still-questioned idea that the world was not flat, but round.

In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain,     5     he got support from the Spanish King, Charles V. But Spanish sailors didn’t feel like     6     (lead) by a Portuguese man.

After fighting storms, losing ships and many of his men turning against him and returning home, Magellan was killed in the Philippines by local people.

After Magellan’s     7     (die), his group continued in the only ship that was left. Along the way, they traveled across a new ocean and     8     (map) new paths for European trade. For better or     9     (bad), they had made the way for modern world trade and proved that the earth was round.

The passage Magellan’s team went through, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, was named after him: the Strait of Magellan, which is 570 kilometers long. His influence on the world did not end there. In 1989, NASA named     10     spacecraft after the explorer and sent it to Venus (金星).

In 2023, the first mascot (吉祥物) “auspicious (幸运的) rabbit” for the “Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations     1     (travel) to various countries, which made it popular with people in the world. At present it has become     2     international star.

    3     (welcome) the new year in 2024, the ministry has launched the 2024“HappyChinese New Year” mascot named “JiXiang Long”, literally lucky dragon, for the Year of the Dragon global celebrations. The mascot features a gesture of welcome and a smiley face     4     flame (火焰) shaped eyebrows, auspicious cloud     5     (ear), and a gold ingot (元宝) shaped nose. Its body     6     (cover) by flame patterns in yellow and red.

In the     7     (eager) to make people know more about the mascot, Gao Zheng     8     works on culture exchanges introduced it together with Tan Dun, a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Aside from being     9     (wide) feature d in the 2024“Happy Chinese New Year” celebrations at home and abroad, “JiXiang Long” will be developed into a host of     10     (culture) creativity products, ranging from stationery (文具) to souvenir sculptures.

Intangible cultural inheritors and folk     1     (artist) from nine provinces and regions along the Yellow River gathered in Dongying, East China’s Shandong province, at a festival    2     (display) the rich cultures cultivated along the river basin.

Bi Wenjing’s booth (摊位) presenting Huanghekou Huamo was     3     popular attraction. The craftswoman created a flower-shaped steamed bun. She     4     (place) a huge sample of her handiwork, weighing 30 kilograms, in the booth, attracting tourists to take photos. Bi said she started work     5     9 am and visitors were still coming to view it as darkness fell.

In addition, more than 100     6     (agriculture) products were on sale, while delicious food was also available, including barbecued delights from Zibo, Shandong province,     7     was recently popular on social media.

Sun Zhaohai, a resident of Dongying, said people could taste mouthwatering food while learning about folk customs at the festival, making it perfect for children. The Yellow River, the second     8     (long) river in China, originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and flows through nine provinces and regions from west to east,     9     (eventual) reaching the Bohai Sea. It     10     (call) the cradle (摇篮) of Chinese civilization, too.