Having won the bid for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games on July 31, 2015, Beijing is set to become the first city in the world to have hosted both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games.

With a vision of ""Joyful Rendezvous upon Pure Ice and Snow, Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will build on the legacies of the landmark Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and expects to encourage millions of people across China to embrace winter sports.

The 109 events in seven Olympic winter sports will be held in the three competition zones of central Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

Three Competition Zones

Beijing will host all the ice events (curling, ice hockey and skating) and four snow events, making full use of the legacy venues of Beijing 2008 in the spirit of Olympic Agenda 2020.

Yanqing, a suburban district of Beijing (80km to the northwest) and home to the famous Badaling and Juyongguan stretches of the Great Wall, is to host the alpine skiing and sliding events.

Zhangjiakou, further to the northwest in the neighboring Hebei province, will host all the other snow events in its Chongli district, a popular skiing destination.

Seven new events

The addition of seven new events — women's monobob, freestyle skiing big air (men's and women's) and mixed team events in short track speed skating team relay, ski jumping. Freestyle skiing aerials and snowboard cross-to Beijing 2022's sports programme will bring about the most gender-balanced Winter Olympic Games to date, with more female athletes (45.44 percent) and women's events than at any previous Games.

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)

2022 Olympic Winter Games will take place in February 2022, coinciding with the Chinese New Year, the most important holiday in China. Local residents are looking forward to welcoming athletes from around the globe to enjoy the Chinese New Year festivities, the majestic landscape and the rich cultures of central Beijing Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, as they charm the world with the beauty of winter sports.

1 ． In which competition zone can you see the alpine skiing and sliding events?

A ． Chongli district. B ． Yanqing. C ． Juyongguan. D ． Zhangjiakou.

2 ． Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A ． 2022 Olympic Winter Games will see more female athletes than male ones.

B ． The male athletes in 2022 Olympic Winter Games will account for 45.44%.

C ． 2022 Olympic Winter Games will see the most female athletes ever.

D ． Beijing has become the first city in the world to host the Olympics.

3 ． Which of the following will the local people not do during 2022 Winter Olympics?

A ． Enjoy the Spring Festival as well as the Olympic Games.

B ． Compete in the Olympic Games with athletes from around the globe.

C ． Welcome competitors throughout the world with landscape and abundant cultures.

D ． Charm the world with the beauty of the winter sports.

I know when the snow melts and the first robins ( 知更鸟 ) come to call, when the laughter of children returns to the parks and playgrounds, something wonderful is about to happen.

Spring cleaning.

I’ll admit spring cleaning is a difficult notion ( 概念 ) for modern families to grasp. Today’s busy families hardly have time to load the dishwasher, much less clean the doormat. Asking the family to spend the weekend collecting winter dog piles from the melting snow in the backyard is like announcing there will be no more Wi-Fi. It interrupts the natural order.

“Honey, what say we spend the weekend beating the rugs, sorting through the boxes in the basement and painting our bedroom a nice lemony yellow?” I say.

“Can we at least wait until the NBA matches are over?” my husband answers.

But I tell my family, spring cleaning can’t wait. The temperatures has risen just enough to melt snow but not enough for Little League practice to start. Some flowers are peeking out of the thawing ground, but there is no lawn to seed, nor garden to tend. Newly wakened from our winter’s hibernation ( 冬眠 ), yet still needing extra blankets at night, we open our windows to the first fresh air floating on the breeze and all of the natural world demanding “Awake and be clean!”.

Biologists offer a theory about this primal impulse to clean out every drawer and closet in the house at spring’s first light, which has to do with melatonin, the sleepytime hormone ( 激素 ) our bodies produce when it’s dark. When spring's light comes, the melatonin diminishes, and suddenly we are awakened to the dusty, virus-filled house we’ve been hibernating in for four months.

I tell my family about the science and psychology of a good healthy cleaning at spring’s arrival.

I speak to them about life’s greatest rewards waiting in the removal of soap scum from the bathtub, which hasn’t been properly cleaned since the first snowfall.

“I’ll do it,” says the eldest child, a 21-year-old college student who lives at home.

“You will? Wow!” I exclaim.

Maybe after all these years, he’s finally grasped the concept. Maybe he’s expressing his rightful position as eldest child and role model. Or maybe he’s going to Florida for a break in a couple of weeks and he’s being nice to me who is the financial-aid officer.

No matter. Seeing my adult son willingly cleaning that dirty bathtub gives me hope for the future of his 12-year-old brother who, instead of working, is found to be sleeping in the seat of the window he is supposed to be cleaning.

“Awake and be clean!” I say.

1 ． According to the passage, “… spring cleaning is a difficult notion for modern families to grasp” means that spring cleaning______.

A ． is no longer an easy practice to understand

B ． is no longer part of modern family life

C ． requires more family members to be involved

D ． calls for more complicated skills and knowledge

2 ． Which of the following is LEAST likely to be included in family spring cleaning?

A ． Beating the rugs. B ． Cleaning the window.

C ． Restoring Wi-Fi services. D ． Cleaning the backyard.

3 ． Which of the following interpretations of the biologists' theory about melatonin is INCORRECT?

A ． The production of melatonin in our bodies varies at different times.

B ． Melatonin is more likely to cause sleepiness in our bodies.

C ． The reduction of melatonin will cause wakefulness in our bodies.

D ． The amount of melatonin remains constant in our bodies.

4 ． Which of the following can best sum up the author’s overall reaction to her adult son’s positive response to spring cleaning?

A ． Surprised and skeptical. B ． Joyful and hesitant.

C ． Relieved and optimistic. D ． Optimistic and hesitant.

One of China's biggest smartphone makers has never sold a phone in the country. Yet thousands of miles away, it dominates markets across Africa. Unknown in the West, Transsion has left global players like Samsung and Apple trailing in its wake in a continent that's home to more than a billion people.

In cities like Lagos, Nairobi and Addis Ababa, busy streets are filled with the bright blue shops of Transsion's brand. In China, the company doesn't have a single store, and its headquarter in the southern city of Shenzhen goes largely unnoticed among the names of more famous Chinese tech firms.

The company took a different path to success from other top Chinese smartphone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi, which started out in China before eventually expanding overseas. Transsion built its business in Africa. And it has no plans to come home.

In Edna Mall in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Mesert Baru poses for her Tecno Camon i. "This phone is seriously nice for selfies," says the 35-year-old shop assistant, admiring the picture she just took.

Mesert's satisfaction is no accident. The vice president of Transsion explained, "Our cameras adjust more light for darker skin, so the photograph is more beautiful, he says. "That's one of the reasons why we've become successful."

Transsion's founder George Zhu had spent nearly a decade traveling to Africa as a head of sales for another mobile phone company when he realized that selling Africans handsets, which were made for developed countries, was the wrong approach.

In 2006, Zhu launched Tecno in Nigeria, which has the most population in Africa . From the start, the company's motto was “think global, act local”, which meant making phones that met Africans, special needs.

Transsion opened research and development centers in China, Nigeria and Kenya to work out how to better appeal to African users. Local languages such as Amharic, Hausa and Swahili were added to keyboards and phones were given a longer battery life.

In Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia, for example, the government frequently shuts off electricity to conserve power, leaving people unable to charge their phones for hours. In less developed markets, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chowdhury says, consumers might have to walk 30 kilometers to charge their phones at the local market and have to pay to do so. "For those consumers, longer battery life is a blessing," he adds.

1 ． In which country do Transsion phones sell best?

A ． China. B ． Africa. C ． Korea. D ． America.

2 ． From the whole passage, we can infer that.

A ． the headquarter of Transsion is in Africa

B ． Africans like taking pictures with their cameras

C ． Nigeria has the most population in the world

D ． Satisfying the needs of Africans made Transsion popular

3 ． Which word can replace the underlined word “handsets” ？

A ． watches. B ． keyboards. C ． cameras. D ． mobile phones.

4 ． What quality of mobile phones attracts African users most?

A ． Longer battery. B ． Lower prices.

C ． More functions. D ． Easier operation

As of 2020, the world's biggest lithium-ion ( 锂离子 ) battery is hooked up to the Southern California power grid and can provide 250 million watts of power, or enough to power about 250,000 homes. But it's actually not the biggest battery in the world: these lakes are.

Wait - how can a pair of lakes be a battery? To answer that question, it helps to define a battery: it's simply something that stores energy and releases it on demand. The lithium-ion batteries that power our phones, laptops, and cars are just one type. They store energy in lithium ions.

How do the two lakes store and release energy? First, one is 300 meters higher than the other. Electricity power pumps that move billions of liters of water from the lower lake to the higher one. This stores the energy by giving the water extra gravitational potential energy. Then, when there's high demand for electricity, valves ( 阀门 ) open, releasing the stored energy by letting water flow downhill to power 6 giant turbines that can generate 3 billion watts of power for 10 hours.

Unfortunately, neither of the giant batteries we've talked about so far is big enough to power multiple cities. The two lakes setup requires specific geography, takes up a lot of land, and has high upfront costs to build. The giant lithium-ion battery in California can power about 250,000 homes, yes, but only for an hour. Lithium-ion batteries also require certain heavy metals to make. These resources are limited, and mining them causes environmental damage. Inventors all over the world are rising to the challenge of making batteries that can meet our needs - many of them even weirder than the two lakes.

1 ． Why is the world's biggest lithium-ion battery mentioned in Paragraph 1?

A ． To make a comparison.

B ． To introduce the topic.

C ． To stress its importance.

D ． To declare a fact.

2 ． Which statement is true according to the passage?

A ． With the help of the pumps, the two lakes store energy.

B ． The water flow by itself to release the stored energy.

C ． The two lakes setup is able to power multiple cities.

D ． Lithium-ion batteries are environmentally friendly.

3 ． What will most probably be talked about in the following paragraph?

A ． Inventors' worries. B ． Inventors' efforts.

C ． Stranger batteries. D ． New challenges.

4 ． Which is the best title for the passage?

A ． Battery Inventors Face New Challenges.

B ． The World's Biggest Battery Looks Nothing Like a Battery

C ． Giant Batteries Fail to Meet Our Needs.

D ． Newly-invented Batteries.

The Art of Slow Reading

If you are reading this article in print, chances are that you will only get through half of what I have written. And if you are reading this online, you may not even finish a fifth. ____ 1 ____ They suggest that many of us no longer have the concentration to read articles through to their conclusion.

So are we getting stupider? Actually, our online habits are damaging the mental power we need to process and understand textual information. Round-the-clock news makes us read from one article to the next without necessarily engaging fully with any of the content. Our reading is frequently interrupted by the noise of the latest email and we are now absorbing short bursts of words on Twitter and Facebook more regularly than longer texts. ____ 2 ___ But we are gradually forgetting how to sit back, think carefully, and relate all the facts to each other.

____ 3 ____ A desperate bunch of academics want us to take our time while reading, and re-reading. They ask us to switch off our computers every so often and rediscover both the joy of personal engagement with printed texts, and the ability to process them fully. What's to be done then? Most slow readers realize that total rejection of the web is extremely unrealistic. They feel that getaway from technology for a while is the answer. ___ 4 ____ Personally, I'm not sure whether I could ever go offline for long. Even while writing this article, I am switching constantly between sites, skimming too often, absorbing too little. Internet reading has become too rooted in my daily life for me to change. I read essays and articles not in hard copy but as PDFs. I suspect that many readers are in a similar position. ____ 5 ____ You can download a computer application called Freedom, which allows you to read in peace by cutting off your Internet connection. Or if you want to avoid being disturbed by the Internet, you could always download offline reader Instapaper for your iPhone. If you're still reading my article, that is slow reading.A ． The Internet is probably part of the problem.

B ． Now some campaigns are advocating slow reading.

C ． These are the two findings from the recent research projects.

D ． But if you just occasionally want to read more slowly, help is at hand.

E ． Some of them have suggested turning their computers off for one day a week.

F ． Slow reading can help connect a reader to neighborhood and become popular.

G ． Because of the Internet, we have become very good at collecting information.