Our duty      the old.

    Dr Irene Pepperberg, a (science)at a university, has worked with Alex for many years.(teach)Alex to speak and understand wasn't easy at first. He had to learn one word at a time. Irene and an assistant(助手)would teach Alex by (show)him the meaning of a word. Irene would hold up an object, saying, "What's this? "Her assistant would give the word "candy". It took Alex many weeks (learn)his first word. After that, each new became easier and easier for him. Why did Irene spend so much time (get)a parrot to talk? Scientists like Irene are interested discovering how intelligent animals are and how their brains work. But studying animal intelligence has always been difficult, partly because animals haven't been able to communicate (clear)with humans. Teaching Alex to speak words that he understands has let Irene (talk)to him directly. She can ask him questions, and he can answer them in English. In this way, Irene is finding things Alex can do. She has found out that parrots are much smarter than scientists used to think.

I will have a     a visit to Beijing this summer holiday.

    "Jenny" Lang Ping, was born in 1960, Tianjin. She is a former Chinese volleyball player and the former head coach of the US Women's National Volleyball Team. Her nickname is the "Tron Hammer".

    In 1987, Lang Ping moved to Los Angeles to study and serve as an assistant volleyball coach at the University of New Mexico. She keeps Chinese nationality although she has lived in the USA for more than 15 years.

    Because of her central role in the success of the Chinese Women's Volleyball Team in the 1980s, Lang was seen as a cultural icon and is one of the most respected people in modern Chinese sports history. The Chinese Women's Volleyball Team with Lang was the first team to win the World Championship several times, including the1984 Olympics. She will always be remembered as one of the very first world champions for China. In 1989, she took over Modena, one of the top teams in the Italian League, and enjoyed great success there.

    In 1995, Lang became the head coach of the Chinese National Team and eventually guided the team to the silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and the second place at the 1998 World Volleyball Championships in Japan.

    She became the coach of the US National Team in2005. Lang guided the team to the 2008 Olympics, where the US team faced off with China in her home country. The US team won the victory against China 3:2. The US team went on to win the silver medal, losing to Brazil in the final 1:3.

    She was the head coach of the Chinese Women's National Volleyball Team in the World Volleyball Championships in Japan in 1998. In 2014, she was the only female head coach among the 24 teams' coaches in the World Volleyball Championships. On August 21, 2016, Lang Ping guided the Chinese Women's National Team to the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. With the victory, Lang Ping became the first person in volleyball history, male or female, to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games as a player in 1984(Los Angeles) and as a head coach in 2016(Rio).