2017-04-18 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. Here is the news.China has seen its air quality worsen a little in the first quarter of this year, particularly in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.The national environmental authority said that in the first three months, 70 percent of days in 340 cities tracked had good air quality. The figure is 1 percent higher than the same period last year. However, the concentration of PM2.5 increased 3 percent year-on-year. PM2.5 refers to the fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns that is hazardous to human health. PM2.5 is one of the six air pollutants that are monitored continuously. While the average air quality has deteriorated slightly nationwide, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region saw a major drop in air quality in the first quarter. PM2.5 concentration soared to 95 micrograms per cubic meter, a 27 percent increase year-on-year. The national air quality standard for PM2.5 is 35 micrograms per cubic meter or less. Six of the top ten most polluted cities were in Hebei Province, where heavy industry is an economic pillar. The provincial capital topped the list in the first quarter. This is Special English.Beijing residents could be rewarded with up to 500,000 yuan, roughly 72,000 US dollars, if they can provide useful information on spies or related activities.A government policy took effect recently. Under the policy, informants are eligible to be offered rewards ranging from 10,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan, depending on how useful the information is.Informants can pass information to authorities by calling a hotline, sending letters or visiting the bureau. Informants' privacy and information about spy-related messages will not be disclosed. Information providers can ask authorities for protection if they or their family are in danger due to the act of informing. The policy stipulates that informants will face punishments if they deliberately slander others or invent and spread false information. Beijing's Public Security Bureau says China saw rapid increases in international exchanges, as well as the number of people entering or exiting the country.Overseas espionage agencies and other hostile forces have also intensified their disruptive activities in China, including political infiltration and the stealing of intelligence. The bureau says Some Chinese individuals have also betrayed the nation to benefit their private interests.You're listening to Special English. I'm Ryan Price in Beijing. China has announced it had completed controlled tests on its first hot-water drill, which is capable of drilling through 1,500 meters of ice and will be used for Antarctic research. This is the fourth test on the drill, which was conducted in Northeast China. The drill used pressurized hot water to melt and bore into the ice. The assessment panel said it is capable of drilling 1,500 meters into the ice shelf in Antarctica.The review panel said the drill will be invaluable to China's Antarctic scientific exploration.The panel agreed to further testing and said the equipment should be used during China's upcoming 34th Antarctic expedition in November. Once it passes the Antarctic test, China will be the third country in the world to have mastered hot water drilling deeper than 1,000 meters, following the United States and Australia. The drilling helps with the detection of ice shelves which are floating ice platforms between glaciers and the ocean surface. The freeze-thaw underneath ice shelves has an important effect on the continental ice sheets, and water masses and ocean currents. This is Special English.Strong downstream demand led to increasing sales of excavators in China last month.Data with China Construction Machinery Association showed that sales of excavators in March rose more than 55 percent year on year as the Chinese economy gained