1.  语法填空

Jia, once known her infectious laughter and emotive performances, took to social media to share her post-transformation look, complete with her trademark dimpled smile. Fans (astonish) by her newfound jawline, with many remarking on her radiant appearance.

 , not everyone agrees on Jia's weight loss program. (finish) the filming of the movie, Jia had to increase her weight by 20 kilograms before starting to lose weight in a mere six months. 

 "Not everyone can manage to shoulder the burden of losing 50 kilograms in just six months," Jiang Chong, a Chongqing-based fitness expert, told the Global Times. "It is not only a physical challenge but also a mental one."

In interviews leading up to the release, Jia stressed the (important) of setting realistic goals when (speak) about her weight-loss journey. Jiang echoed the sentiment, saying (have) reachable goals is vital to keeping a healthy lifestyle.

"To lose weight in a healthy way, it takes a long-term goal consists of several reachable short-term goals. It would be better to work out schedule and stick to it, rather than (blind) trying extreme workload to lose weight."

1.  语法填空

Actress Jia Ling topped the social media topics on the second consecutive day of the Chinese Lunar New Year as her great weight (lose)of 50 kilograms during the shooting of her movie Yolo triggered heated discussions over healthy lifestyle and allowed some viewers (draw) aspirations from her arduous weight-loss journey. 

The (high) anticipated comedy Yolo hit theaters across China on Saturday, the first day of the Lunar New Year. It is now leading the domestic movie box office. According to Douban, "YOLO" (adapt) from the 2014 Japanese movie "100 Yen Love".This movie is comedian-actress-director Jia Ling's sophomore feature, three years after her 2021 directorial debut box-office blockbuster "Hi, Mom" for which she holds the record as the world's highest grossing female movie director. 

Topics related  Jia's stunning weight loss were dominating Weibo such as "full record of Jia's losing weight journey" and "Jia Ling totally shocked me," as netizens discuss it is time to develop a more balanced habit starting from the Spring Festival. 

"Her achievement is quite ( inspire) and deserves a movie ticket," moviegoer Li Qiaoya,  regularly visits the gym to lose weight, told the Global Times on Sunday. "I feel (guilt)for eating too much during the Spring Festival already."

1.  语法填空

On Jan 10, YOLO (You Only Live Once) officially announced itself with a poster. YOLO is directed by Jia Ling, and will premiere on the first day of the lunar new year,  this year falls on Feb 10. According to Douban, in YOLO, Jia Ling is a girl who's withdrawn from society and closed up her social circle. This changes when she meets a boxing coach (played by Lei Jiayin), and she gets her life back  track.

The big story behind this movie is that Jia Ling stepped away from the public eye while  (film) it, and recently, a screenshot started making the rounds on Weibo, along with rumors that the 41-year-old actress had lost 110 pounds.

On Jan 10, Jia Ling shared a personal message on Weibo which (speak) to that. "My dear friends," she began. "Haven't seen you in more than a year. Miss you guys much. In the year I've disappeared, I've made a movie （call） YOLO. I shot this movie for an entire year, covering all four seasons. I also  (success) lost 110 pounds, and trained to look like a boxer. The night we wrapped filming, I sat alone my bed and ate five packs of chocolate wafers. Looking back, I felt like a tired warrior holding her trophy!"

She explains that she didn't want people to think that YOLO was just a movie about weight loss. It is movie about how kind people find themselves,  learn to love themselves. There is a past me and a new me in the movie. I hope you like them both. Lastly, I've been really (hunger) and tired this past year, it's felt like a lifetime."

1.  阅读理解

Quietly sitting there reading, I found myself suddenly listening to the train guard's announcements. Train travelers will surely agree that when the guard makes an announcement, whether it's the recorded message or the guard's message, few people listen to it, because it's often quite dull or hard to understand. This one was different. I noticed that other passengers appeared to be listening, too. Not only that, everyone was smiling!

Why was so much attention being paid to this message? As best I can recall the guard said something along these lines, "Good Morning Ladies, Gentlemen and Children, this is the 7: 35 a.m. from Penrith to Central and you'll be pleased to know that we are right on time. And what a lovely morning it is in Sydney today. The sun is shining, birds are singing, and all's right with the world. I trust you have a great day wherever you're going. Thanks for catching my train this morning and I hope to see you again soon."

Quite a few people (obviously previous strangers) started talking to one another about the guards excellent message and how good it had made everyone feel. I started thinking about this, and then I found the young guard and said "Were you the guard on the 7: 35 a.m. from Penrith?" The guard seemed a bit stunned at first, replying, "Yes, yes." "Well, I really appreciate your announcement. Thank you for your extremely good message, which gave me and the other passengers such a good start to the day. Please keep doing it." I said.

There are two messages for me in what happened that day. Firstly, when people are happy in their work it shows in what they do and say. Secondly, the story attaches much importance to the benefits that accumulate from thanking people for something they've done, particularly when it's not expected. Can you imagine the conversation that guard would have when he got home?

1.  阅读理解

Scores of French love letters from the mid-18th century have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written. The letters – sent to French sailors by wives, siblings and parents – never made it to their intended recipients, but they offer rare insight into the lives of families affected by war.

Sent between 1757-58 during the Seven Years War, the letters were mostly addressed to the crew of the Galatée warship, and the French postal administration forwarded them from port to port in hopes of reaching the sailors. But when the British Navy captured the Galatée in April 1758, French authorities forwarded the batch of letters to England.

The 104 letters are written on heavy, expensive paper, and some have red wax seals. Renaud Morieux, the historian of the University of Cambridge, discovered them in the digital remainders of Britain's National Archives. Morieux spent months decoding(解码) the letters, and published his findings Monday in the French history journal Annales. 

In one letter, Marguerite Lemoyne, a 61-year-old mother, scolds her son Nicolas Quesnel for not writing:"On the first day of the year... you have written to your fiancée... I think more about you than you about me...In any case I wish you a happy new year filled with blessings of the Lord. I think I am for the tomb, I have been ill for three weeks. Give my compliments to Varin, it is only his wife who gives me your news." 

"The son who's at sea is only writing to his fiance, and the mother gets really annoyed about that," Morieux said. The letters also demonstrate the difficulty of long-distance communication in the 1750s. Many of the senders, like Lemoyne, were likely illiterate and dictated their messages to a copyist. Moreover, sending a letter to a ship constantly on the move during wartime was difficult and unreliable, and families often sent multiple copies of letters to different ports.

In an effort to maximize the chances of successfully communicating with a loved one, each letter had multiple messages crammed onto the paper, often from different families and addressed to multiple crewmates. To Morieux, the letters show how communities stay resilient(有韧性的) in times of crisis.

1.  阅读理解

Soaring to 29, 035 feet, the famous Mount Everest had long been considered unclimbable due to the freezing weather, the obvious potential fall from cliffs and the effects of the extreme high altitude, often called "mountain sickness." But that was to be changed by Edmund Hillary.

When he was invited to join the British Everest expedition in 1953, Edmund Hillary was a highly capable climber. The glacier-covered peaks in his hometown in New Zealand proved a perfect training ground for the Himalaya. It was his fourth Himalayan expedition in just over two years and he was at the peak of fitness.

On May 28, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, an experienced Sherpa (夏尔巴人) set out and reached the South Summit by 9 a. m. next day. But after that, the ridge (山脊) slightly fell before rising suddenly in a rocky spur (尖坡) about 17 meters high just before the true summit. The formation is difficult to climb due to its extreme pitch because a mistake would be deadly. Scratching at the snow with his ax, Hillary managed to overcome this enormous obstacle, later to be known as the Hillary Step.

At 11:30 a. m, the two men found themselves standing at the top of the world. "Not until we were about 50 feet of the top was I ever completely convinced that we were actually going to reach the summit." Hillary later recounted, "Of course I was very, very pleased to be on the summit, but my first thought was a little bit of surprise. After all, this is the ambition of all mountaineers."

Emerging as the first to summit Mount Everest, Hillary Hillary continued by helping explore Antarctica, and establishing the Himalayan Trust (信托基金), through which he provided a number of beneficial services to the Himalayan peoples. He also a sizeable legacy that mountain climbers have chased ever since. As a young climber said, "It was not just Hillary and Tenzing that reached the summit of Mount Everest. It was all of humanity. Suddenly, all of us could go."

1.  阅读理解

Lufinha has crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat powered only by the sun and wind. He used kites to move the boat and solar power to use lights and equipment on the boat. He expects his trip will earn him a Guinness World Record for Fastest Solo Atlantic Crossing by Kite Boat. He also hopes to help people understand the need to protect the oceans.

The kite-powered boat reached top speeds of over 30 kilometers per hour. Lufinha traveled 6,400 kilometers in 25 days. The 38-year-old set out from Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal on November 3, 2022, and arrived in Martinique on December 20, Lufinha was not at sea for all that time, however. He made a planned stop at the Canary Islands on November 8. But he had to stay longer than planned because of the powerful storm and he remained there until November 30.

Lufinha made the crossing completely alone in a 7.2-meter-long and 5.6-meter-wide trimaran, a boat which has three long, thin parts, with a small room for sleeping and shelter. Lufinha used a hand pump (抽水机) to produce water for drinking and cooking. He said, "I have two such water makers, which I can pump and every hour I can make around four liters of water." The water pump has a special filter (过滤器) to remove salt from the sea water. Lufinha used the water to add to dried food he carried with him on the boat.

He called his trip "a big learning experience". It was a big test of his adaptability. He learned most of all to look at his problems relatively. He had so many problems all of the time, such as kites getting torn and kites exploding (爆炸). And the only way not to suffer was to think, "It could be worse." He said his way of thinking during the difficult crossing helped him get through it hour by hour, day by day, week by week until he finished this Atlantic crossing.

1.  阅读理解

Shenzhou-17 crewed spaceflight mission successfully launched

（文章来源：Global Times）

On the momentous occasion of the 20th anniversary of China's first manned spaceflight the Shenzhou-5, the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft soared into the sky from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China on Thursday morning at 11:14 am. 

Sitting atop the Long March-2F Y17 carrier rocket, the spacecraft, carrying taikonauts Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin, embarked on the journey toward the China Space Station. Following a smooth flight of around 10 minutes , the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft entered its planned orbit, marking a successful launch, according to the official release by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA.)

The average age of the crew of taikonauts of Shenzhou-17 mission is a markedly young at 39, setting a record for China's manned space history. 

The Shenzhou-17 spacecraft is now on its way to the China Space Station, and according to the mission plan, it will carry out a fast rendezvous and docking with the Tianhe space station core module at the front port around 6.5 hours after liftoff. 

The Tiangong space station is hours away from staging another a great feat of an in-orbit reunion of six taikonauts, continuing the new norm for the China Space Station with permanent occupation of taikonauts, mission insiders hailed. 

The collaboration between the two crew groups will mark a significant step in China's ongoing space exploration endeavors, reinforcing its capability and commitment to long-term space habitation and research, they noted.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's first manned spaceflight mission the Shenzhou-5. In the past 20 years, China has carried out 12 such crewed missions including the latest Shenzhou-17 mission, with a perfect success rate.

Since its inaugural flight in 1999, the Long March 2F rocket, the country's first and only manned carrier rocket, has maintained a flawless record. 

Through continuous efforts to address weak links and optimize technical conditions, the reliability assessment of Long March 2F rocket has now increased to 0.9896, with a safety assessment value reaching 0.99996. This showcases the rigorous enhancements and technical advancements that have been implemented to ensure the rocket's reliability and safety over the years, the rocket developer the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Currently, the "one-launch-one-standby" launch process of the Long March 2F rocket has been compressed from 49 days during the initial construction phase of the space station to 35 days. Now, efforts are underway to further optimize and improve the process aiming for a 30-day target, to better meet the demands of the space station's application and development phase, developers said. 

According to them, in the coming years, the Long March 2F rocket is set to continue its high-frequency launch schedule with two launches per year. It will play a crucial role in the operation of China's space station, demonstrating its pivotal role in supporting the country's ambitious space exploration and operation endeavors.

The Shenzhou-17 crewed flight mission, the 30th flight mission since the establishment of China's manned space program in 1992, has some crucial objectives. 

The mission's primary goal includes completing the in-orbit crew rotation with the Shenzhou-16 trio, before they carry on to conduct an approximate six-month stay in space until April 2024.

During this period, the crew will engage in on-orbit trials of space science and application payloads, conduct extravehicular activities, commonly known as spacewalks, and perform payload extravehicular operations, which according to the CMSA, will also involve the installation of extravehicular payloads and maintenance tasks on the space station.

Moreover, the mission will continually evaluate the functional performance of the space station assembly, accumulating precious data and experience regarding space station operations. This initiative aims to assess the coordination and compatibility of the ground support center in managing space station operational tasks, thereby enriching the operational efficiency and troubleshooting capabilities of the space station, the CMSA said. 

A significant highlight of the Shenzhou-17 mission is the pioneering experimental extravehicular repair operations to be undertaken on the space station, which will be a historic first. 

Also, the Shenzhou-17 mission will carry a significant "Space Protein Molecular Assembly and Application Research" project, the Global Times learned from the space application system personnel on Thursday. 

Aiming to advance humanity's health, the project encompasses 29 samples across five categories: proteins, polypeptides, nucleic acids, biological materials, and pharmaceutical materials. Samples include insulin, cancer treatment protein complexes, nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen polypeptide, and lysozyme, which were transferred to the launch tower about eight hours before launch, and placed inside the Shenzhou spacecraft to be launched into space, Cang Huaixing, a research fellow with the Center for Space Application Engineering and Technology, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times.

1.  阅读理解

In 1880, fourteen-year-old Matthew Henson loved to hear sailors tell tales of their exciting lives at sea. The travel, the adventure, the danger, and the steady pay were all attractive to young Henson. One day he made up his mind. Baltimore was the nearest large seaport. The next morning he set out on the forty-mile journey to seek work on a sailing ship.

In Baltimore, Henson found a job as a cabin boy on a beautiful ship called the Katie Hinds. For the next five years, Henson sailed around the world. By the time he left the Katie Hinds in 1885, Henson was well educated and had become an excellent seaman.

Unable to find work anywhere else, Henson took a job in a hat shop in Washington, D．C． One day in 1887, a man came in to buy a hat. The man, Lieutenant Robert Peary, asked the owner if he knew anyone with experience at sea. Peary would soon travel to South America for the U.S. government. He needed experienced men to accompany him.

The shop owner knew about his young employee's skills and experience on ocean voyages, so he introduced Peary to Henson. Henson and Peary soon found they had a great deal in common, including their love of the sea.

Using his map-reading and sailing skills, Henson proved himself to be a worthy and intelligent seaman. One day Peary told Henson about his real dream: to be the first man to stand on "the top of the world" at the North Pole. He asked Henson to help him make his dream come true.

Over the next five years, the two explorers made two trips together to the Arctic. However, they were not able to reach the pole either time.

In 1908, Peary and Henson were ready to make their final attempt at reaching the North Pole. Both men were over forty years old. The years of hardship and suffering in the arctic cold had taken their toll on both men. This would be their last chance.

In April 1909, Henson's instruments showed they were standing at the North Pole. Together Henson and Peary planted the American flag in the snow.

In later years, Robert Peary and Henson were greatly honored for their achievement. Today, the two friends and fellow explorers lie in heroes' graves not far apart in the Arlington National Cemetery.

1. We are doing our best with the (limit) resources available.