2 . Cheating in sport is as old as sport itself. The athletes of ancient Greece used potions to strengthen themselves before a contest, and their modern counterparts have everything from anabolic steroids (类固醇) to growth hormones with which to_________their bodies. These days, however, such stimulants are_________, and those athletes must therefore face the challenges of anti-doping (反兴奋剂) agencies.

The agencies have had remarkable success. Testing for anabolic steroids was introduced in the 1970s, and the incidence of cheating seems to have_________dramatically as a result. The tests, however, are not entirely_________. And a study just published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism by Jenny Jakobsson Schulze and her colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden suggests that an individual’s genetic make-up could_________the tests in two different ways. One genotype, may allow athletes who use anabolic steroids to escape detection altogether. Another may actually be convicting (给……定罪) the innocent.

The test employed for testosterone (睾酮素) abuse usually relies on measuring the_________of two chemicals found in the urine (尿液): TG. and EG.. Any ratio above four of the former to the latter is considered_________and leads to more tests. However, the production of TG is controlled by a gene called UGT2B17. This gene comes in two varieties, one of which has a part missing and therefore does not work properly. A person may thus have none, one or two working copies of UGT2B17, since he inherits one copy from each parent. Dr. Schulze_________that different numbers of working copies would produce different test results. She therefore gave healthy male volunteers whose genes had been examined a single 360mg shot of testosterone — the standard dose for legal medical use — and checked their urine to see whether the shot could be_________.

The result was remarkable. Nearly half of the men who carried no functional copies of UGT2B17 would have gone undetected in the standard doping test.____________, 14% of those with two functional copies of the gene were over the detection threshold (门槛) before they had even received an injection. The researchers estimate this would give a ____________rate of 9% in a random population of young men.

Dr. Schulze also says there is substantial____________variation in UGT2B17 genotypes. Two-thirds of Asians have no functional copies of the gene which means they have a naturally____________ratio of TG to EG, compared with under a tenth of Caucasians (白种人) — something the anti-doping bodies may wish to take into account.

In the meantime, Dr. Schulz’s study does seem to offer innocents a way of____________themselves. Athletes who will travel to Paris for the Olympic games may be wise to travel armed not only with courage and the “spirit of Olympianism”, but also with a copy of their____________, just in case.

4 . Golden Generation

A national team, mostly consisting of teenagers, pushed China to its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Olympics. At the same time, a series of breakthroughs at the Games _________ the country’s emergence as a much more well-rounded force on the ice and snow.

_________ the heroics of teenage sensation Gu Ailing and seasoned aerials(空中技巧滑雪)masters Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu, China _________ four gold to top the freestyle skiing medal standings for the first time after its Winter Olympic debut in 1980.

Gu Ailing also became the first athlete _________, and the youngest _________, to win three medals(golds in Big Air, halfpipe and silver in slopestyle)in three different freeski _________ at the Olympics, throwing her to international super-star reputation as the _________ of Beijing 2022.

Needless to say, another teenager star, Su Yiming, also became a _________   name by winning China’s first snowboarding gold medal in Big Air after claiming a silver in slopestyle. Su’s _________ helped the host finish a highest-ever third on the Games’ overall medal standings, ____________ nine gold, four silver and two bronze-its biggest-ever medal achievement at the Winter Games. China’s ____________ best was a tally of 11, including five gold, at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

“The ____________ of the new generation on the Olympic stage, even seeing the emergence of teenagers, ____________ a great future for winter sports in our country,” said Li Yang, manager of China’s Big Air, slopestyle and halfpipe national programs.

“With winter sports becoming popular in our country amid the fast social and ____________ development, I believe more and more young people will ____________ skis and snowboards to enjoy the sport, just as young as Su and Gu did when they were little, which will ____________ expand the talent pool for our future national programs,”Li said.

The Beijing Winter Games also ____________ the first time that China’s snow sports teams outperformed the country’s traditionally strong ice sports squads in the medal numbers, securing investment in high-performance training programs and ____________ the foundation for even better results at the next Winter Games in Italy.

“____________ we keep the tendency going, I believe we will ____________ a stronger performance in four years' time at the next Olympics in 2026,” said Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympic gold medalist, in women’s short-track speed skating at the 2002 Games.

5 . Recent research indicates that the ability to remain calm under pressure has a direct link with work performance. Talent Smart has conducted research on over a million people and found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress.     1    .

Research conducted at the University of California found that people who focused daily on feeling grateful for what they’d experienced improved moods, energy, and physical health.     2    , with them focusing the brain’s attention on something that is completely stress-free. Any positive thought will act to keep the brain's attention away from stress.

Taking regular time off to relax can help keep stress under control. Technology enables constant communication and the expectation that you should be available all the time.     3    . Turning off work emails and mobile phones provides a break from these possible sources of stress.

    4    , so an adequate amount of sleep is essential. During sleep the brain ‘recharges’, organizing the day’s memories and storing or abandoning them, so that you wake up clear-headed. Self-control, attention and memory are all reduced without enough sleep.

The easiest way to make stress off-and-off lies in something that people do every day: breathing. The practice of focusing on breathing teaches the brain to let go of stressful thoughts for a while. Close the door and just sit in a chair and breathe.     5    , which prevents the mind from wandering.

9 . The SNAG stands for stereotyped nature-inspired aerial grasper and it’s a 3D-printed bird robot with claws. It can fly, stay on various surfaces catch and carry objects, just like the mighty falcon（隼）that was used as the source of inspiration in its development.

Each leg of the SNAG has two motors, one for helping it move back and forth, and the other one for grasping. Twenty printing attempts were necessary for the robot to finally reach its current structure, but it was worth it. Now, according to researchers, the flying machine has an impressively strong and high-speed clutch（离合器），being able to land and wrap its claws around a branch in about 20 milliseconds. SNAG has ankles lock, and there’s an accelerometer （加速计）on its right foot that reports that it’s landed while triggering（触发）a balancing process to stabilize it.

Scientists have already conducted several tests with the robot in rural areas and on different surfaces. In all the situations, the SNAG was able to catch objects thrown by hand, such as bean bags, a tennis ball, and more.

As for the applications of the bird-like robot, the SNAG can get attached to drones（无人机）and be used for search and rescue missions, wildfire monitoring, to offer just a few examples. Another great application is environmental research, with the SNAG also featuring a temperature and humidity（湿度）sensor. By using a robot that can act like a bird, you can unlock new ways of studying the environment, as explained by William Roderick, mechanical engineer and one of the researchers involved in the project. Now scientists are moving on to improving the robot’s situational awareness and flight control.

This isn’t the first time that nature has inspired groundbreaking technologies. We also wrote a piece recently about the F-SAM micro drone, which was inspired by the flight of samara（翼果）seeds, also known as “twisters” which have a special way of spinning down to the ground.