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Special English. You're listening to Special English.
Here's the news. Beijing has been confirmed as the host city for the 2026 World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships. following a decision by the World Aquatics Bureau.
More than 1,000 elite swimmers from over 200 countries and regions are expected to compete in the Chinese capital over six days in late 2026.
World Aquatics said that Beijing known for its extensive experience in hosting major international sporting events, was selected after a competitive bidding process.
President Hussein Al-Musallam said that Beijing has demonstrated time and again its capacity to deliver world-class events across all aquatic disciplines, and they are confident that this tradition of excellence will continue in 2026.
Beijing has previously hosted 38 World Aquatics events and is also set to stage the full-scale World Aquatics Championships in 2029, which will include open-water swimming and high diving in addition to the five core disciplines.
This will be the third time China has has hosted the World Aquatics Swimming Championships, 25 meters, following Shanghai in 2006 and Hangzhou in 2018.
According to the Federation, with the successful bid, China further strengthens its role as a major contributor Aquatics Community, having hosted more than a hundred World Aquatics events to date.
This is Special English. The renowned Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in central China One of the prototypes for the scene in the movie Avatar will host the 2025 Slackline King Championship from August 18th to the 20th.
Over 20 elite Slackline athletes from China, France, Brazil, Argentina and other countries and regions will compete in the event.
Set against the breathtaking Huangshi Zhai scenic spot, the largest natural viewing deck of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, competitors will walk a 1,000-meter slide at an altitude of 1,092 meters, with a limited number of falls allowed.
The athlete who completes the course in the shortest time will win the gold medal. the gold medalist will receive a cash prize of 100,000 yuan, nearly 14,000 US dollars.
In addition to the main competition, the event will feature a high-altitude challenge for the public and a low altitude balance experience to engage spectators.
Since its inception in 2018, the Zhangjiajie high altitude slackline competition has become an annual activity. drawing slackline enthusiasts from around the world to test their skills at dizzying heights.
You're listening to Special English. East China's Shanghai Pudong New Area has released a plan to upgrade its biomedical industrial parks as part of efforts to boost innovation and enhance the region's role in the global health sector.
For the first time, Pudong has set out a vision to become a global launchpad for innovative drugs and medical devices, a preferred destination for scientist-led startups, and a pioneer in institutional The plan projects that the area's biomedical industry will surpass 500 billion yuan by 2027.
In recent years, Pudong has accelerated its development of a world-class biomedical industrial cluster.
The sector's output in the area surged from 240.8 billion yuan in 2020 to 410 billion yuan in 2024, a compound annual growth rate of 14%.
Pudong's pipeline of innovative drugs accounts for about one-fifth of the national total and around 6% of the global total.
To position itself as a hub for first launch biomedical innovations, Pudong will roll out a special initiative aimed at creating innovation clusters.
The plan includes attracting top-tier research institutions, multinational research and development centers, corporate innovation centers, and high-quality incubators.
The district aims to support the formation of more than 100 new biotech startups each year.
To boost the industry's capacity further, Pudong also plans to build an additional 1 million square meters of standardized factory space and renovate another 1 million square meters of existing facilities over the next three years.
This is Special English. Chinese carrier Air China has launched its first direct flight route between Beijing and Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
Li Guangping Air China's representative in Tashkent said that the new route will promote exchanges and cooperation between China and Uzbekistan in the fields of economy, trade, culture and tourism.
Lee noted that the air route will also provide a more convenient and efficient air corridor for people-to-people exchanges and the flow of resources between the two countries.
Umid Kamrev, first deputy director said that the new air corridor will help further strengthen the friendly ties between the two countries and contribute to the development of tourism and economic and trade relations.
Operated by a Boeing 737 aircraft, The newly launched Beijing-Kashkent flight runs every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
You're listening to Special English. A Chinese research team has developed a lunar brick-making machine that can produce bricks from moon soil, bringing the sci-fi vision of building houses on the moon with local materials closer to reality.
The in-situ lunar soil 3D printing system developed by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory based in East China's Hefei uses concentrated solar energy to melt and mold lunar soil.
According to Yang Honglun, a senior engineer at the laboratory.
The lunar brick-making machine uses a parabolic reflector to concentrate solar energy, which is then transmitted through a fiber optic bundle.
At the end of this bundle, the solar concentration ratio can exceed 3,000 times the normal intensity.
A high-precision optical system then focuses this concentrated sunlight onto a small point, heating it beyond 1%. degrees Celsius to melt lunar soil.
The bricks produced by the machine are made entirely from in situ lunar soil resources without any additives.
Moreover, these lunar soil bricks exhibit high strength and density. making them suitable not only for constructing buildings, but also for infrastructure needs such as equipment platforms and road surfaces.
Yang said that although the lunar brick-making machine had achieved breakthroughs, constructing habitable structures on the Moon still requires overcoming other technological barriers.
He explained that under the Moon's extreme conditions, such as high vacuum and low gravity, lunar soil bricks alone cannot support habitat construction.
The bricks will primarily serve as protective surface layers for habitats.
They must be integrated with rigid structural modules and inflatable soft-shell modules to complete the construction of a lunar base.
The habitat modules are designed to withstand the air pressure necessary for human occupancy and are also equipped to integrate with the lunar brick making machine and surface construction robots, creating a complete building system. china initiated the international lunar research station a scientific experimental facility consisting of sections on the lunar surface and in lunar orbits It is projected to be built in two phases.
Firstly, a basic model is to be built by 2035 in the Lunar South Pole region.
The second phase will see the expansion of the station set for completion by 2045.
As of April this year, a total of 17 countries and international organizations and more than 50 international research institutions have joined the initiative.
This is Special English. China's homegrown MA-60 civil search and rescue aircraft has successfully completed its inaugural flight, marking the formal start of its comprehensive flight test and verification phase.
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China country's leading planemaker, announced that the aircraft successfully completed its designated daytime validation tasks after a flight lasting one hour and 20 minutes, landing at an airport in Xi'an in northwest China's Shanxi province.
This new aircraft belongs to the homegrown MA-60 modern arc multi-purpose aircraft family.
Challenges such as slow response times and limited search coverage capacity have long constrained China's ability to conduct maritime search and rescue operations over vast distances and in complex environments the new aircraft designed to provide search and rescue on-site assessment and personnel transportation capabilities is engineered to offer application scenarios.
It is capable of executing missions over oceans in high altitude regions and at disaster sites such as earthquakes and floods.
The developer said that this specialized aircraft is expected to significantly enhance China's maritime search and rescue capabilities, greatly improving response speed and operational coverage.
It represents a significant leap forward in terms of the nation's airborne search and rescue equipment and will further bolster the China's maritime emergency response system.
The development program for this aircraft was formally launched in December 2021.
Its major component production and delivery were completed last December And this was followed by its final assembly and delivery in May this year.
You're listening to Special English. That's the end of this edition of Special English.
To recap, I'm going to read two of the news items again at normal speed.
Please listen carefully. Beijing has been confirmed as the host city for the 2026 World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships following a decision by the World Aquatics Bureau.
More than 1,000 elite swimmers from over 200 countries and regions are expected to compete in the Chinese capital over six days in late 2026.
World Aquatics said that Beijing, known for its extensive experience in hosting major international sporting events, was selected after a competitive bidding process.
President Hussein al-Mussalam, said that Beijing has demonstrated time and again its capacity to deliver world-class events across all aquatic disciplines, and they are confident that this tradition of excellence will continue in 2026.
Beijing has previously hosted 38 World Aquatics events and is also set to stage the full-scale World Aquatics Championships in 2029, which will include open-water swimming and high diving, in addition to the five core disciplines.
This will be the third time China has hosted the World Aquatic Swimming Championships, 25 meters, following Shanghai in 2006 and Hangzhou in 2018.
According to the Federation, with the successful bid, China further strengthens its role as a major contributor to the global aquatics community, having hosted more than 100 World Aquatics events to date.
This is Special English. A Chinese research team has developed a lunar brick-making machine that can produce bricks from moon soil, bringing the sci-fi vision of building houses on the moon with local materials closer to reality.
The in-situ lunar soil 3D printing system, developed by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory based in East China's Hefei, uses concentrated solar energy to melt and mold lunar soil.
According to Yang Honglun, a senior engineer at the laboratory, The lunar brick-making machine uses a parabolic reflector to concentrate solar energy, which is then transmitted through a fiber optic bundle.
At the end of this bundle, the solar concentration ratio can exceed 3,000 times the normal intensity.
A high-precision optical system then focuses this concentrated sunlight onto a small point, heating it beyond 1,300 degrees Celsius to melt lunar soil.
The bricks produced by the machine are made entirely from in-situ lunar soil resources without any additives.
Moreover, these lunar soil bricks exhibit high strength and density, making them suitable not only for constructing buildings, but also for infrastructure needs such as equipment platforms and road surfaces.
Young said that although the lunar brickmaking machine had achieved breakthroughs, constructing habitable structures on the Moon still requires overcoming other technological barriers.
He explained that under the Moon's extreme conditions, such as high vacuum and low gravity, lunar soil bricks alone cannot support habitat construction.
The bricks will primarily serve as protective surface layers for habitats.
They must be integrated with rigid structural modules and inflatable soft-shell modules to complete the construction of a lunar base.
The habitat modules are designed to withstand air pressure necessary for human occupancy and are also equipped to integrate with the lunar brickmaking machine and surface construction robots, creating a complete building system.
China initiated the International Lunar Research Station, a scientific experimental facility consisting of sections on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit.
It is projected to be built in two phases.
Firstly, a basic model is to be built by 2035 in the lunar South Pole region.
The second phase will see the expansion of the station set for completion by 2045.
As of April this year, a total of 17 countries and international organizations and more than 50 international research institutions have joined the initiative.
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And what has drawn others back? Could the fading fishing community revive in a time of digital transformation?
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