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China's car rental industry is experiencing significant growth driven by the increasing popularity of self -driving tours in the thriving tourism market.
CAR Inc. a leading domestic car rental service provider, reported a surge in bookings, with more than 90 % of its vehicles being rented during the peak period of the May Day holiday at the beginning of this month.
The robust demand for car rentals mirrored the surge in travel during the holiday.
According to the Ministry of Transport, an estimated 1 .3 billion intercity trips were recorded.
Data from C .A .R. Inc.
also indicates a growing preference for exploring lesser -known destinations among travelers, as they opted for off -the -beaten -track experiences in small cities.
Lower tier cities, including the scenic city of Yuyao in east China's Zhejiang province, dominated the list of cities with the highest car rental rates in China.
Car rental services are particularly popular among young travelers, with over 60 % of the car rental company's customers being born in or after the 1990s.
Furthermore, young drivers have shown a preference for renting new energy vehicles, as the supply of these vehicles doubled during the holiday period.
The service sector has played a significant role in China's economic growth, as evidenced by the remarkable performance of leasing and business services in the first quarter of this year.
Official data shows a 10 .8 % year -on -year increase in the value added by this sector in the quarter you're listening to special English trip .com a prominent online travel agency has launched the Shanghai Express a free sightseeing tour provided for international transit passengers arriving at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
According to the agency, transportation, guides and internet services are free of charge during the tour, which lasts for four to six hours.
Travelers will have the opportunity to visit the Bund, Yu Garden, and other famous attractions in Shanghai, as well as experience the city's history, culture, and cuisine.
Since its launch last month, numerous international tourists have participated in the half -day tour, with approximately 80 % being European and the remaining 20 % from Southeast Asia.
Zhang Chengjie, overseas marketing director of Trip .com, said that such tours would help more international tourists learn about Shanghai and even plant a seed in their minds for future travel to the eastern Chinese city.
Official data shows that in the first quarter of this year, Shanghai received more than and 1 .2 million inbound tourists a year on year increase of nearly 250 percent.
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A team of Chinese scientists have developed a novel high strength aluminum alloy that remains operational, even at staggering 500 degrees Celsius.
Celsius. This advancement has extended the service temperature range of aluminum alloys from 350 to over 400 degrees Celsius, addressing a long -standing engineering challenge.
The demands of the aerospace industry have set higher standards for the thermal resistance of lightweight metal materials.
Although aluminum alloys are favored for their low density, superior strength and robust corrosion resistance, their relatively low heat resistance, posed a considerable challenge, especially within the crucial temperature range of 350 to 500 degrees Celsius, which is pivotal for aerospace applications.
Researchers at Tianjin University synthesized aluminum alloys embedded with highly dispersive nanoparticles.
The nanoparticles grew graphene -like coatings, which significantly contributed to a substantial reduction in surface energy.
Thanks to the incorporation of these nanoparticles, the alloys have exhibited exceptional creep resistance at elevated temperatures up to 500 degrees Celsius.
Also, they boast an impressive tensile strength of approximately 200 MPa at that temperature about six times higher than ordinary aluminum alloys.
The study was published in the journal Nature Materials.
He Chun -Yin, the corresponding author of the paper, said that this innovative process was characterized by its simplicity, minimal material costs and scalability, making it highly valuable for industrial applications.
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Ecologists have unearthed a new kind of dinosaur egg in the Eastern Chandon province, suggesting that the ancient creatures were even more diverse than previously assumed.
For decades, academics have debated whether dinosaurs always laid hard -shelled eggs, like modern -day birds, or whether some species laid soft -shelled eggs similar to those produced by some turtles, snakes, and lizards.
words. The fossils uncovered in Shandong, however, appear to be from a distinct third category.
The fossilized eggs were originally uncovered in 2019 by a research team from China University of Geosciences.
The team who analyzed the fossils in collaboration with researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Anhui University published their findings in the journal Cretaceous Research last month.
Laiyang city, where the dig took place, is known as the hometown of dinosaurs in China, due to the area's unusually rich fossil deposits.
Paleontologists had previously discovered eggs from 13 different dinosaur species in in Lai Yang, but the team from the China University of Geosciences were still astonished by the latest find.
According to Zhang Honghai, the researcher who led the dig, the eggs are presumed to date from the Cretaceous period, around 145 million to 66 million years ago.
Despite three of the eggs having been crushed and deformed, they had somehow remained intact.
fact. Jung said they looked like ping pong balls that have been smashed with a blunt instrument.
According to the researcher, this kind of deformation is extremely unusual.
actual. Only one previous example of a deformed dinosaur egg has been recorded worldwide, and that only had a tiny partial deformation.
This suggests that the eggs were softer and less brittle than normal hard -shelled dinosaur eggs, but they weren't soft -shelled eggs either.
Further analysis revealed that the eggs had a thin shell.
Jung and his team are still trying to work out what kind of dinosaur may have produced first this unique egg, assumedly belonging to a hadrosaur which is a family of fast agile herbivores with crested skulls that lived in the late cretaceous period.
Many hadrosaur fossils have been found in the same area.
At this stage, Jung said the team wasn't ready to speculate about what the eggs reveal about the evolutionary trajectory of the dinosaurs.
dinosaurs, but recent discoveries of soft -shelled dinosaur eggs have suggested that dinosaurs were more diverse than long -assumed.
This latest finding will only add to this sense.
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Li Xia, the start of summer, marks the seventh of the 24 solar terms on the traditional Chinese calendar, signifying the transition from spring to summer.
The term li signifies the beginning, while xia represents summer.
Li xia heralds the onset of warmer days and begins around May 5 each year.
During this time, a beloved tradition in China involves consuming eggs cooked with tea leaves.
Known as Ch 'a Ye Dan in Chinese, these are fresh eggs boiled in tea -infused water, a popular street food during the early summer season.
Additionally, in some regions, children adorn themselves with mesh bags containing boiled eggs, reminiscent of large pendants of necklaces.
releases, but how did this tradition originate?
Allow me to share the intriguing tale behind it.
In the celestial realms above there dwelled a demon of plague.
Awakening on the first day of Li Xia, after a winter slumber, the demon would embark on a sinister mission, welding his plague pouch to unleash illness upon the human world.
Those afflicted would suffer from symptoms ranging from fever and loss of appetite to debilitating weakness.
Among the most distraught were mothers, fearing for the health of their children.
Seeking solace and protection, they would gather at the temple of Nuwa, the goddess credited with creating humanity in Chinese folk tales, beseeching her aid through prayer and burning incense.
The goddess Nuwa heard the prayers of these worried mothers and decided to intervene.
The demon knew that Nuwa was very powerful and dared not to challenge her.
Thus they struck a pact that the demon cannot lay his hands on any of Nuwa's direct descendants.
As to how to identify these protected individuals, Nuwa played a trick by telling the demon that that any human being adorned with an egg pouch would be considered off -limits.
In the following year, as Li Xia approached, mothers across the land shared a vivid dream of Nuwa imparting guidance on safeguarding their offspring.
They were instructed to place boiled eggs in pouches, adorning their children with these protective charms, on the onset of summer.
True to the goddess' decree, on the first day of Li Xia, the demon descended upon the immortal realm, only to find every child adorned with a knitted pouch containing an egg.
Be it chicken, duck, or goose eggs, they all bore the mark of Nuwa's protection.
Powerless against Nuwa's descendants, the demon retreated, unable to inflict harm.
Thus, the tradition of wearing an egg pouch on the first day of Li Xia became entrenched in Chinese folklore, a timeless symbol of protection for children.
And in the spirit of celebration, Chinese children would engage in the egg game on this day.
Participants challenge each other, tapping their eggs together until one emerges victorious, with an uncracked egg while the defeated joyfully consume their cracked ones.
Perhaps when the start of summer arrives next, you too can partake in this age -old tradition with friends relishing in the joy it brings.
Here, listening to Special English That's the end of this edition of Special English.
To recap, I'm going to read one of the news items again at normal speed.
Please listen carefully.
China's car rental industry is experiencing significant growth, driven by the increasing popularity of self -driving tours in the thriving tourism market.
C .A .R, Inc., a leading domestic car rental service provider, reported a surge in bookings, with more than 90 % of its vehicles being rented during the peak period of the May Day holiday at the beginning of this month.
The robust demand for car rentals mirrored the surge in travel during the holiday, according to the Ministry of Transport, an estimated 1 .36 billion intercity trips were recorded.
Data from CAR Inc. also indicates a growing preference for exploring lesser -known destinations among travelers, as they opted for off -the -beaten track experiences in small cities.
Lower tier cities, including the scenic city of Yuyiao in East China's Zhejiang Province, dominated the list of cities with the highest car rental rates in China.
Car rental services are particularly popular among young travelers, with over 60 % of the car rental companies customers being born in or after the 1990s.
Furthermore, young drivers have shown a preference for renting new energy vehicles as the supply of these vehicles doubled during the holiday period.
The service sector has played a significant role in China's economic growth as evidenced by the remarkable performances of leasing and business services in the first quarter of this year.
Official data shows a 10 .8 % year on year increase in the value added by this sector in the quarter.
This is the end of today's program.
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