The summer vacation is over. It’s true that time always flies fast. During the vacation, the weather was hot and I could not do much work, but I lived happily. As the afternoon was hot, I did my work in the morning. I used to get up at 6:30 and take a walk in the garden for half an hour. After breakfast, I began reading English and Chinese and did some exercises in maths. Those took me three hours or more. I worked quite hard and made great progress. I spent the afternoon outside. I went to swim and it was funny. I would not go home until it was about five or six o’ clock. Sometimes a friend of mine would come to see me and we would spend some hours listening to music. In this way I spent my vacation happily. And I not only studied well but also became a good swimmer. Now I am in good health and high spirits(精神).

The 2023 China-Germany Automobile Conference was held in Jilin, Henan and Zhejiang recently. At the conference, people discussed plans for new energy vehicles (NEVs) and collaboration between Germany and China.

China has established a competitive edge in NEVs. In 2022, China’s market share of NEVs accounted for more than 65 percent of the global total, maintaining its position as the world’s leading NEV market for eight years, China Daily reported.

Reflecting on the journey of leading Chinese electric car manufacturer (制造商) BYD, Chairman Wang Chuanfu recalled about 2003 when BYD entered into the NEV industry amid doubts and mockery, as few people back then believed in the future of NEVs. Surprisingly, within a few years, China’s NEV exports increased greatly. In 2022, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers reported an impressive total export volume of 679,000 NEVs.

In the European market, Chinese brands, such as BYD and Hongqi, have entered the top 50 best-selling motor companies across Europe, The Times reported. Shu Youxing, general manager of BYD International Cooperation Division and the European Automobile Sales Division, said that the company’s pure electric buses have now hit the roads of more than 100 major European cities such as Amsterdam, London and Copenhagen, helping Europeans cut carbon emissions by over 200,000 tons.

NEVs made in China are also popular in Mexico. One local, Israel Aguilar, is deeply impressed. After nearly a year of trying out a Chinese NEV, Aguilar said he may never go back to driving his traditional petrol car, stating that the NEV offers better comfort.

“Technology is truly very important in these times, especially for a vehicle. And it has been truly extraordinary for me to handle these technologies that come from China,” Aguilar told Xinhua.

The thriving global expansion of Chinese NEVs is primarily thanks to the efforts of companies to improve their capability for innovation. One major example of this is China’s drive to become the global leader in making EV batteries, fueled by an advantage in the supply chain and raw materials such as lithium (锂) and cobalt (钴).

Distance learning has become the new form of education since schools closed, and teachers have adapted — with the help of some truly amazing online applications.

This popular application allows teachers to create online forums to share courses, news, or lessons as well as a platform to assign, collect, and give feedback on student work. I’ve used Google Classroom for years, and it has become the cornerstone of my classroom throughout distance learning.

This application is often used to gather information in a variety of contexts. Its test feature can be enabled to block users from opening other windows. It also offers auto-grading for multiple-choice tests. It has become a daily application in my classes during distance learning. I use it for pre-assessments, tests, and surveys.

Flipgrid is a free online application that allows students and teachers to record short online videos Teachers can easily create accounts and then within accounts create “classrooms.” From there, teachers can create posts for students to respond to via short videos.

Google Meet is an online meeting platform where teachers can share their screens with all participants to see as well as record the meeting. I’ve recorded all of my daily lessons and then posted the recordings to Google Classroom at the request of my students. This is a practice I’d like to continue even after distance learning as students really like the option to return to a recording of the day’s lesson to review it at their own pace.