B

     The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018, was held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Korea. Some opening rounds events were held on 8 February 2018, the eve of the opening ceremony.

     Pyeongchang was chosen as the host city in July 2011 in South Africa, which was the host country of last term Winter Olympics. This was the first time that South Korea had hosted the Winter Olympics and the second Olympics held in the country, and that was the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. It was also the first of three consecutive (连续的) Olympics to be held in East Asia. The other two will be the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing．      

     The Games had 102 events in fifteen sports, with the addition of “big air” snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling and so on, to the Winter Olympic programme. 2,914 athletes from 92 countries or regions competed, including Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore which were the first time to take part in the Winter Olympics. North Korea entered with South Korea during the opening ceremony as a united Korea．

     Norway won 39 medals in all, followed by Germany's 31 and Canada's 29. Germany and Norway were tied for the most gold medals won: both won fourteen golds. Host nation South Korea won seventeen medals, their highest medal at a Winter Olympics, five of which were gold.

C

    China's national anthem, March of the Volunteers, is a song that we learn at the beginning of primary school and sing at every flag-raising ceremony. And now, there's even a law to protect it.

    Last September, the government passed the National Anthem Law, which became effective(生效) from Oct.1, 2017. It states how we should sing or play the song, requiring all of us to behave towards it politely.

    Primary and middle schools must teach the anthem to their students and make them understand the song's spirit and history. Moreover, the law requires us to be serious when we are singing the song. We can't joke about it or change the song's words or music. If someone breaks the law, he or she can be detained for up to 15 days, or face further punishment in more serious situations. The national anthem is different from other songs – it is the symbol of our country.

    Many foreign countries also have laws for their national anthems. For example, American school children should put their right hand over their heart while singing their country's anthem at school. In Russia, the national anthem must be played on television and radio before the start and end of broadcasting. And in the Philippines, people are required to sing the national anthem with feelings when it's played in public.

    All through the winter, the Esquimaux（爱斯摩）live in houses made of snow. These small houses are very clean and white when they are new. They can soon turn dirty, but pieces of fresh snow make them new again.

    Sometimes the Esquimaux build their small houses with the wood that they find along the seaside. However, they aren't always so lucky. When they can't get wood, they use the snow. It is so cold that the snow becomes very hard, so the small houses are strong enough in the whole winter. The windows of these houses are not made of glass, but of ice.

When the warm weather comes, the houses become water slowly. The Esquimaux get wet as they lie in bed, and often catch a cold. They are glad to get away from the small snow houses and live in their tents during the summer.

    The British government has started a ￡ 10 million Mandarin Excellence (普通话优秀) Program. The program will have helped over 5,000 British students to be fluent (流利的) in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.

    The program is led by local schools and supported (支持) by University College London. So far, 14 schools have taken part in the program. Hundreds of secondary school students in England have taken lessons in Mandarin Chinese. Over the next three years, they will spend eight hours studying Mandarin Chinese every week.

    Ned Miller is an officer of the British government. He said a high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese would become more and more important. "Language skills are important for jobs and life. Mandarin Chinese is spoken by the largest number of people in the world. It is also one of the languages that matters the most to our country's future. If the United Kingdom wants to remain competitive in the world, we do need far more of our young people leaving school with a good command of Mandarin Chinese," Miller added. "We hope that our young people could be given the chance to study the language. We want them to be fluent in both spoken and written Mandarin. The Mandarin Excellence Program will help us do this. It will not only open the students' eyes, but also give them a great advantage when they enter the world of work."

    British kids, in fact, are not alone. In America, about 200,000 students are studying Mandarin Chinese. It is believed that 800,000 more will join them over the next couple of years.