Curly the robot beats athletes at curling

A robot has beaten top-class humans at the sport of curling (冰壶运动). Klaus-Robert Muller at the Berlin Institute of Technology in Germany and his workmates built the robot,    1    (call) Curly, to master the sport.

In curling, players slide heavy stones down an icy path towards a target (宫垒). Players compete in two teams of four, with most players    2    (take) turns to “throw” a stone or to use brooms (冰壶刷)    3    (sweep) the ice in front of a moving stone. Points are given for stones closest    4     the centre of the target and a team wins by having the highest score.

Curly won three out of four     5    (match) against top-class South Korean women’ s curling teams. The robot throws stones, but doesn’t sweep.

Placed on wheels, the robot has     6     long neck with a video camera to check     7     stones are. Curly’s     8    (power) learning program takes into consideration the position (位置) of other stones and the state of the ice when deciding the next moves. Once the game     9    (begin), Curly continuously learned how to improve on    10    (it) earlier moves, based on the errors it had made.

Somewhere between the bookstore and the car, I left my favorite winter hat. I like to think someone in need will find it, maybe along with those    1    (glove ) which were gone a week or so ago.

Since 2015, I    2    (lose) a lot of things. Some have reappeared later, some have not, and that’s all right I am thankful that I have enjoyed them for    3    while and also thankful that they were shared through the wisdom of the Universe later.

Now and then, I “lose” something    4    purpose, lake the $20 bill to a little boy,    5    was buying holiday gifts in the store for his family. And the boy, judging from the way he was calculating the cost, was    6    (obvious) short of cash.

“I think you might have dropped this?” I asked him,    7    (hand) him the money, but I    8    (refuse) politely. He said that he didn’t think so. With a big smile, I told him that I really thought it was    9    (he). He unwillingly accepted it and looked thankful.

Haven’t you ever received something just when you needed it? In our daily life, sometimes we    10    (be) the receiver, and sometimes the giver. Nothing is ever truly missing anyway. It’s just all sort of going to whoever needs it.

Tianwen-1, China’s first independent interplanetary mission (星际任务),    1    (reach) Mars within days of two other major missions: the United Arab Emirates’ Hope satellite and NASA’s Perseverance rover (探测器), after it had travelled 292 million miles from Earth. All three took advantage of a    2    (particular) suitable launch window when objects launched from Earth would have a    3    (short) and more efficient path to Mars. But all three missions will have plenty to do on the Red Planet.

Various space missions, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express and several of NASA’ s Mars lovers    4    (include), have found possible evidence of water on or under the    5    (planet) surface. But bothTianwen-1    6    the as-yet-unnamed rover will use radar devices to search for even better evidence of pockets of water on Mars.

That’s important, scientists say, because plenty of evidence points to Mars having an    7    (able) to support life at some point in its history: In some areas, it is likely to host liquid water. Tianwen-1’s intended landing site at the Utopia Planitia crater may still host an underground deposit (沉积层),    8    contains as much water as Lake Superior. On a broad scale, researchers around the globe hope    9    (use) information from any of the new Mars missions to look into how a planet with liquid water, organic maternal and an energy source can transform itself    10    a dry, dusty desert place.

Few things could be more impressive than China^ high-speed rail system, especially the speed at     1     it developed - and is still developing. Such speed is known as “China speed”.

“China speed”    2    (mean) a lot to the country. The past 30 years have seen China’s rapid development in     3     (variety) areas, like the economy, technology and trade. We’ve seen lots of tall     4     (building) spring up almost overnight, with roads and highways connecting every comer. And mobile payment and online shopping are playing increasingly important roles in everyone’s life. China’s speed has changed our country and impressed the world.   

    5    , as we enjoy the benefits of “China speed”, the problems it brings us can’t be ignored, such as the air pollution and traffic problems. As a high price is     6     (pay) now, maybe we should think about what “China speed” will bring us in the next 30 years.

We need to know our future depends on the choices we make today, so it is our duty     7    (give) China a new definition. If you pay close attention to the word “speed”, you may notice that each letter stands for something    8    (interest).

Society, Progress, Economy, Environment and Development. Our society’s progress depends     9     (large) on the balance among them. That is what we need to keep     10     mind as China continues to speed ahead.

Free Comic(漫画)Book Day

August 14 , 2021 was Free Comic Book Day (FCBD). Comic book    1     (lover) cheered up. They could walk into one of the more than 2,300 bookstores and get a copy, or two, of the 50 comic books    2     (special) published (出版)for the event for free! The yearly celebration usually takes place on     3     first Saturday in May. However, this year it     4     (put) off to August because of the COVIO-19 pandemic. "This year’s line-up of titles has something for every kind of comic fan,” said FCRD spokesperson Ashton Greenwood.

Having just celebrated     5     (it) 20th year, the worldwide event was made by Joe Field, a comic book seller     6     came up with the idea in 2002 after noticing the popularity of Ben & Jerry’ s Free Cone(甜筒)Day. Field thought giving away comic books would introduce both young     7     old readers to a new world-the     8     (wonder) world of comic books. He suggested the idea to sellers and publishers, and FCBD came into being.    9     (make) the event even more meaningful, publishers began using special titles for the event. A visit    10     a comic bookstore may be well worth the lime, even if the free titles do not interest you. Most stores will discount(打折)all comic books on the fun day. If you have missed this year, don’ t forget to mark your calendars and get some free and discounted comics next year.

Trains are cleaner, greener, more spacious and     1     (general) less troublesome than planes. Once     2    (view) as travel’s past, rail is now starting to look a lot like the future. In the USA, a huge expansion of the train network is drawing     3     (people) attention. And in Europe, some very cool plans have been made for a whole new generation of sleeper trains.

Sleeper services,     4     operate overnight between major destinations, get rid of the main disadvantage of train travel: the lengthy journey time. Like a red-eye flight on rail, you can board the train in the centre of one city and wake up in     5    , ready to drink a cup of coffee and explore.

Once numerous, Europe’s night trains have been cut back gradually over recent decades. But that trend is reversing (逆转).We’re very excited to hear about the     6     (announce) of five new European night train routes, launching over the next four years. A total of eight European countries     7     (link) by the new routes.

    8     short, your European travels over the     9     (come) years are going to involve hanging around not at airports     10     through railway stations. Needless to say, we’re into it. All aboard!

The Lantern Festival     1    (fall) on the 15th day of the lst lunar month. This     2    (day) important activity is watching lanterns. Till today, the Lantern Festival is still held each year around the country. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes     3     (hang) in the streets, attracting countless visitors. Children will hold self-made or     4     (buy) lanterns to play with on the streets,     5     (extreme) excited. "Guessing lantern riddles" is an important part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions     6     the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check     7     they are right.

On this day people will eat Yuanxiao, which also has     8     name, Tangyuan. It is small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with sesame, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filing. It tastes sweet and delicious. What's more, Tangyuan in Chinese has a similar     9     (pronounce) with "tuanyuan",     10     (mean) reunion. So people eat them to express union, harmony and happiness for the family.

Shanghai Disneyland, Zhejiang's Hello Kitty Park and Dalian Discoveryland Theme Park are on the list,     1     grows quickly. Theme parks are becoming big business in China. China Wanda Group has built     2     (it) 11th “Cultural Tourism City" in Guilin, Guangxi. Carnival Group is planning     3     (build) ten more theme parks in China. And Dalian Haichang Group also wants to open four theme parks in the     4     (follow) five years.

China now has 300 theme parks or so nationwide. However, modern entertainment     5     (center) for family visits are still in short supply in many cities, so     6     number of large theme parks in China will still be     7     the increase. US-based company AECOM believes China will replace America to become the largest theme park market, having 221 million visits every year, twice as many as those in 2015.

But the industry is not     8     (universal) good. 70 percent of theme parks in China     9     (suffer) economic losses at the moment and 20 percent of them have nearly gone broke, according to a survey     10     (make) by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute,

Liu Wenhui has beautiful memories of visiting hutongs with friends when he was a boy.     1     is not only the playing and laughing under trees that he remembers fondly, but also some of the courtyards,     2     were over 100 years old. He said he was most impressed     3     a family's wooden courtyard. He often wondered about the structure under the big roof and how it     4     (support). Eight years later, he came across a model of an ancient building     5     (make) of wood in a private museum. Later, he decided     6     (devote) himself to making wooden models of ancient buildings that can be taken apart and reassembled (组装). His family and friends did not think he would do the business     7     (successful). But he didn't listen to them, because he felt a special     8     (connect) from his childhood calling him, After some short courses in architecture, Liu started making dougong, a system of nailless wooden bracket (支架) sets. Since then, Liu     9    (launch) nearly 40 products, gaining success with consumers. These toy blocks with Chinese cultural heritage are also     10     way for the public to develop an interest in traditional architecture.

Every pet owner has a bit of worry when loading an animal on a plane. The dog     1     (disappear) like luggage and there is no way to be sure that she is     2     (proper) loaded. Every year, more than 30 dogs die on US airlines, mostly due to some carelessness or mistake     3     the airline. But what I saw in China during the COVID-19 epidemic (疫情) was quite different.

In Kunming, while getting     4     (seat) on the plane, I received a We Chat message from Lu Chunli, a woman     5     (work) in the baggage department. She told me she had loaded my dog Feifei on the plane. She gave me her phone number and asked me to call if there were any problems. This was so reassuring the best customer     6     (serve) I’ve ever seen.

After I arrived in Beijing, I was waiting at the oversized luggage arrival desk for Feifei     7     (arrive). A young man,     8     name I unfortunately did not get, was very welcoming and brought out a chair so I could sit while waiting.

These acts of kindness may seem simple,     9     they made my trip much less troublesome. Kind people like Lu and     10     young man in Beijing make the world a better place.