1 . Handwritten Chinese characters (文字) can be beautiful. I still remember looking at Chinese and not understanding anything it said and yet feeling a strong attraction. In fact, some students start learning Chinese because of the characters. After having studied Chinese for a while, I realized that handwriting in Chinese takes a very long time to learn.

Living as we do in a digital era (数字时代) with smartphones and computers, most students sooner or later ask themselves this question: Is it really necessary to learn how to write by hand in Chinese? When using smartphones or computers, we can use phonetic input (语音输入) systems, which choose the characters we want for us as long as we can remember how they are pronounced. Since we enter different characters, we seldom need to be able to recognize the difference between characters in detail; the computer makes the right choices for us. Do we really need to write Chinese by hand at all?

I think most people agree that you should learn to write at least some characters at some point as a student of Chinese, although not necessarily straight away and not necessarily all the characters that you can say. But unless you don’t care about written language at all, you should learn the basics of handwriting. Without it, it will be very hard to understand characters. You don’t need to be a calligraphy master (书法大师), but you do need basic handwriting skills to do this. Simply looking at things is, as usual, a bad way of learning.

I think learning the most common 500 characters or so is a good idea for all students. If you actually want to write by hand, increase that to 1, 000. Then learn to handwrite characters outside of the 1, 000 most common on a need-to-know basis.

I am an out-going boy. I am write to apply to be a volunteer for the nucleic test campaign(核酸大检测) where will be held in Ruili. I think I am qualified for the job, so I have learned Burmese(缅甸语) since in childhood. Equally importantly, I was fluent in both Chinese and Burmese, so I have no difficulty in communicate with the Burmese. If I am lucky enough to be chosen as volunteer, I can help the Burmese for their tests and answer their question. I would be gratefully if you could offer him the opportunity. I’m looking forward to your early reply.

As of June, China had about 285 million Internet users living in rural areas,     1     (account) for over 30 percent of the country’s total, according to a recent report on China’s Internet development. The number of rural Internet users in China     2     (grow) by over 30 million in the last few months.

The report said the Internet is playing a     3     (great) role than ever in the country’s poverty reduction efforts, with the public’s participation     4     recognition of relevant campaigns on the rise. It said as of June, online promotions of     5     (agriculture) products from remote areas had reached more than half of the Chinese Internet users, and that more than one third     6     netizens had bought such products via online platforms.

Meanwhile, the report shows that e-commerce livestreaming (直播) grew increasingly active in the first half of the year. China saw over 10 million livestreaming marketing     7     (activity) during this period. The report said the Internet can contribute     8     (significant) to China’s anti-poverty goal by providing jobs, social security and medical service information for     9     poor and allowing children in poverty-stricken areas     10     (access) better education.

5 . Four years ago, I felt great joy after freeing myself from one of those 2-mile gym fitness runs. I once _________ running with a passion; it was just something that never came_________to me. At that time, I never _________ that I would one day run a marathon.

Things began to _________ when I met my new neighbor Mrs.Gray. She was fifty years old, going through cancer, and still _________ to run 30 miles a week. I _________ myself that if Mrs.Gray could run 6 miles at a time, I could run at least one or two. In February, I started to walk a 2-mile _________ and would try hard to run for a few minutes. Two months later, I finished the whole route, _________, for the first time. I felt _________, but I felt great.

Over the next several years, I continued to push each run for a few extra minutes. Those last few minutes would often be __________, my mind fighting against my body, saying it was time to __________. The fight between my mind and body never stopped, __________I loved every minute of these runs.

A(n) __________ was born; my heart was in it completely. I didn’t need to compete against other runners. For me, the most important competitor was myself.

Slowly, I started entering some local road races. After continuing to __________ myself and finishing two half marathons, I __________ I would train for the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon. My summer was filled with many long 6 AM runs to __________ the summer heat. I loved my __________. I knew I was finally on the road to success.

Race day finally came, and I was filled with __________. It was hard, but the experience ended up being __________. As I crossed the finish line, I experienced the strongest sense of __________ I’d ever had in my life.

8 . With fingers and wrists wrapped in medicated tape, Zhang Guimei, founder and principal of the first free high school for girls in China, was presented with the July 1 Medal on Tuesday.

Zhang met her husband in Dali and worked as a teacher in a local school. Unfortunately, her husband died of cancer not long after their marriage. Sadly, Zhang decided to leave this familiar place. Therefore, she volunteered to teach at a middle school in Huaping, a poverty-stricken county located in the mountains.

Over time, Zhang witnessed the gender gap in education in relatively poor rural areas. Urban and rural students already faced unequal access to quality education, and the traditional belief of male superiority worsened rural girls’ situation. She discovered many girls were pulled out of class for many reasons just before the college entrance exam.

In 2002, Zhang came up with an idea to found a free high school for girls. In 2008, with help from the Party and the local government and personal donations, she founded the Huaping All-Girls High School. With the goal of never letting a girl fall behind in schooling, she often works overtime despite of illnesses. She has walked to almost every household deep in the mountains, talking to the parents about the importance of education for girls.

The efforts paid off. Over the past 13 years, her school has sent 1,800 girls to university. “A cultured, responsible mother won’t let her daughter drop out of school,” Zhang said.

9 . The coming week will be very wonderful with so many events for you to refresh your hearts.

Dark drama

An interactive, experimental drama will be staged. The show uses topical events from 2020 such as the breakout of COVID-19 and the return of Chang’e V.

7:30 pm, Jan 2-Jan 6, at Eastern Avant-garde Theatre of China. Tel: 6527-6911.

Rising stars

Young musicians who are actually students at Beijing No.101 High School will feature in a concert. The talented youngsters will play works by Beethoven and other famous composers.

7:30 pm, Dec 30 at Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie. Tel: 6605-7006.

New Years Eve Concert

The China Philharmonic Youth Chorus will present a New Year’s Eve Concert, conducted by Wu Lingfen. Piano will be played by Peter Seivewright and trumpet by Ying Cai. Some excellent programmes will be displayed.

7:30 pm, Dec 31 at Forbidden City Concert Hall. Tel: 6559-8285.

Movie Anniversary Spectacular

Chinese movie stars will display their talents to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chinese cinema. They will sing theme songs and share their personal thoughts with the public.

7:30 pm, Jan 1, at the Great Hall of the People, west of Tian’anmen. Tel: 8589 -5049.

Yours,

Li Hua