China has been working quietly to address air pollution. In addition to observing, I also communicated with locals and foreigners     1     (learn) about China’s efforts.

According to Cui Xiaoyi, a resident of Beijing, due to serious air pollution the local administration (行政部门) sometimes warned     2     elderly not to go out in the past . But Beijing     3     (see) a great improvement in air quality over the last few years. They no longer need such emergency measures.

Muhammad Asghar, a representative of the Associated Press of Pakistan in China     4     has been living in Beijing for the past few years, said that the green transportation and energy industries that China has developed over the years have largely replaced fuel-powered (燃料驱动的) cars,     5     that the Chinese people are willing to use electric cars and public transportation.

Asghar added that China has not only done good work to address air pollution, but has also made contributions     6     promoting greener practices. The living environment has been     7     (significant) improved with the greening coverage of urban built-up areas nationwide     8     (increase) from 39.22 percent to 42.06 percent between 2012 and 2021.

The ideas     9     (share) by China in international conferences are impressive. Chinese netizens (网民) believe that rather than just talking about it, it would be     10     (effect) if we put our efforts into planting trees.

At the beginning of the Year of the Dragon,     1     2024 Spring Festival film season, after seeming lack of blockbusters,     2    (set) some records so far beyond expectation. To begin with, the box office revenue during Spring Festival surpassed 8 billion yuan ($1. 11 billion). This year’s success story is different from     3     of previous years which were marked by grand-theme, big-budget     4     (scene) such as The Battle at Lake Changjin I in 2022 and The Wandering Earth I in 2023.     5     (surprising), the Spring Festival season saw medium-budget films with contemporary realistic themes dominating the market.

Jia Ling’s YOLO,     6     (ride) on the success of Hi, Mom during the 2021 Spring Festival season, captured audiences, especially young and middle-aged women, with its mature comedy and resonant theme of self     7     (aware) through weight loss. The film started attracting widespread attention even before     8    (release) thanks to social media discussions about it.

Five years after Pegasus, Pegasus 2     9    (star) by Shen Teng, showcased a higher level of craftsmanship and targeted the group of young and middle-aged men,     10     significantly contributed to its box office success.

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.

At the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the     1     (late) season of the travel reality show on Hunan TV    2     (attract) a newfound interest in the special bridge in Croatia among viewers.

China and Croatia are far apart,     3     they were connected by the ancient Silk Road more than 700 years ago. In 2022, the Pelješac Bridge,     4     (build) by the China Road and Bridge Corporation, was     5     (official) completed and opened to traffic. It connects the northern and southern lands of Croatia,    6     has become a symbol of friendship and cooperation between Croatia and China.

Hai Tao, the head of the company, talked about the changes it has brought to local people’s    7     (life). He mentioned that people spent three hours     8       traveling to Dubrovnik, yet now it takes only half an hour    9     (cross) the bridge. It saves residents time, promotes local tourism development and increases job opportunities.

The bridge realizes “the centuries-old dream of     10     (connect) the south with the rest of Croatia” and its completion “gave the cooperation between Croatia and China a completely new dimension,” Croatian Prime Minister told Xinhua.

“Food is the first necessity of the people,” said historian Sima Qian. Today, these words still ring true. The Chinese respect and passion for food are rooted     1     the cultural landscape.

The Central Plains is where     2     story of noodles began. The Yellow River flows through this ancient cradle (发源地) of Chinese civilization, and its floods     3     (slow) created the rich soil perfect for the growth of wheat. Noodle-making     4     (become) the cooking feature of nearby Shanxi so far. Daoxiao mian is a     5     (type) one among them.

The Mongolians established the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century     6     the Han people didn’t own knives. Later several families, with only one knife     7     (share) , found noodle-making impossible. One day, a smart cook decided     8     (use) a small piece of metal to slice the dough (生面团) directly into the pot, so daoxiao mian was made.

Wheat is the main staple in Shanxi, so people craft the dough into all sorts of fun shapes: pinching it into a cat’s ears or little fish,     9     (roll) it into tiny shells with the thumb, and making it into floral or animal shapes. They use their imagination to make their     10     (family) eat the same thing every day.

Many people say music has healing powers, not only for those who listen, but also for those who make it. Carole Rosenstein, the founder of a project     1     (name) “Music Mends Minds,” first noticed a change in her husband Irwin.

“He was not able to bring a smile to his face. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and dementia (痴呆),” Carole said. “The     2     (ill) has changed Irwin, but if you get him to a piano, you would never know     3     is happening. As he plays the piano, he     4     (sudden) has life breathed into him again.”

Carole realized no medicine was more powerful     5     music, so she decided to start a band for her husband and others like him. The band was called “The 5th Dementia.” It welcomed     6     (musician) who have diseases like dementia or Parkinson’s.

“They were having so much fun playing music and socializing. So, Music Mends Minds was born. We’re in the business of     7     (create) bands in different cities     8     we can find people with diseases like dementia or Parkinson’s who love music and are ready     9     (have) a good time,” Carole said. “We’ve reached patients that were lost and lived without music and then we introduced     10     (they) to the magic of music, and they came alive.”

    1     (decorate) with cobalt blue pigment on a white ceramic body, qinghuaci ware (瓷器) in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, is considered the best     2     quality.

With a tradition of making ceramics dating back more than 2,000 years, Jingdezhen is known as the country’s “porcelain capital”,     3     (attract) artists from home and abroad.

“Ceramics embrace change. I’m here to inherit the tradition in a     4     (create) way.” Cai Wenjuan, a 36-year-old craftswoman, says. In 2012, Cai established her own company and     5     (build) the ceramics-themed brand China Story. “The charm and story behind the blue-and-white porcelain can     6     (tell) through the way the young feel connected,” Cai says, adding that porcelain can be stylish.

As a provincial-level inheritor of the blue-and-white porcelain-painting, on a video-sharing platform Douyin, Cai has posted more than 60 clips     7     (popularize) the craft and the culture.

In 2014,     8     exhibition area of ancient kiln and folk cultures in Jingdezhen,     9     covers a total space of 83 hectares, was assigned a top-grade scenic spot. Today, antique porcelain ware from Jingdezhen is still highly valued by collectors all around the world.

Like Cai, young artists are considering a career in porcelain-related businesses in Jingdezhen, with the local government rolling out supportive     10     (measure) for a variety of startups in the field.

By December of this year, students in Jiangsu will likely have a new way     1    (pay) tuition fees: paying by the digital yuan, or e-CNY. This is     2     Jiangsu province will encourage the use of e-CNY in its education system, according to a plan recently     3    (release) by the Jiangsu Education Department. Students will     4    (probable) pay examination registration fees and receive scholarships in digital yuan. They are also encouraged to pay in digital yuan for ordinary consumption (消费) on campus. China     5    (start) creating the digital version of the renminbi in 2014. Liu Ting is a resident of Suzhou, one of the first pilot     6    (city) for e-CNY announced by the People’s Bank of China in April 2020. “If you want to use e-CNY to buy something, you just need to download the e-CNY app and open     7     account,” Liu told Teens. “Then you can use it to scan the payment code in off line shops.”

One benefit of e-CNY is that it is safer compared to Alipay and WeChat payment. E-commerce (电子商务) platforms     8     accept payments by e-CNY will not have access to users’ personal information. In addition, “the use of e-CNY can reduce trade costs for smaller businesses,” said Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank. At present, third—party payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat require certain fees when money is transferred (转账) through them. E-CNY payment,     9    , can transfer money directly from buyers to sellers, which will greatly reduce trade costs.

The     10    (develop) of e-CNY has progressed steadily. Data from the central bank shows that the value of digital yuan in circulation (流通) reached 13.61 billion yuan by the end of 2022. China is still working to expand its usage in more areas.

Around 160 experts attended the International Forum on Cave Temple Conservation in Chongqing     1     August 19 to 21 to explore opportunities for cooperation and methods to protect rock carvings in cave temples around the world.

The carvings run the risk of damage over time as a result of weathering and climate change. Li Qun, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration,     2    (say) in the opening ceremony that Chinese cave temples displayed remarkable characteristics in terms of their subject matter, and artistic style, which reflected the     3    (peace) nature of Chinese civilization.

The Chongqing forum was held to improve the preservation of cave temples and uncover their value and historical significance,     4    (contribute) to the preservation of humanity’s intellectual achievements.

Experts agreed     5    (promote) the protection of cave temples in light of global climate change, develop new materials, build early warning systems, and create a global database of historical images,     6     they hope would help future generations appreciate their beauty.

“Water and wind are the primary factors causing damage to the cave temples and stone carvings     7    (global),” said an expert, adding that climate change had led to the increasing uncertainty     8    (cause) by natural threats. He called for in-depth     9    (study) on core factors such as water-related damage and the geological environment. Moreover, efforts should be directed toward strengthening archaeological investigations     10     exploring the values of these sites, as well as managing tourism.

Zhang Ying, head of WeChat Pay, introduced that WeChat Pay is beginning to attempt the launch of “WeChat Palm(手掌) Payment”, during the 2023 Open Class PRO     1     (host) by WeChat last night.

According to the     2     (introduce), in the future, users can bind (绑定) their membership cards, transportation cards, etc. to their palms     3     (achieve) “one palm to rule them all”. They can consume, pass through and verify their identity without carrying a phone,     4     is extremely convenient. 

Now this feature     5     (attract) businesses to jointly develop the technology continuously. Although the official arrange time has not been announced, given WeChat’s speed, it is highly likely     6     we will be able to use palm payment this year. According to previous tests, users only need to register palm information on palm-scanning devices and link it to their     7    (privacy) WeChat account. They can complete payments directly by     8     (scan) their palms when consuming offline, solving the embarrassing situation of difficult-to-use face-scanning offline. 

Moreover, in terms of principle, palm pattern recognition should be     9     (easy) than facial recognition, and     10     degree of individual difference is relatively large, making it more secure.