Exam questions using the Olympics as examples, there are probably no more efficient ways to promote the movement among youngsters. That's what Chinese had tried.

These questions were found in this year's National College Entrance Exam (NCEE), which determines the university a student is allowed to enter and to some extent his career and salary earnings in the future.

But most important of all, an unprecedented number of 10 million high school students were registered for the NCEE in early June, according to statistics released by Chinese Ministry of Education.

The country's upcoming Olympics topped the list of appearing on most of the questions in the two-day exam. China's NBA star Yao Ming was in second-place and groups such as women's national soccer team and domestic soccer league were also mentioned.

Four subjects are tested in these exams, including Chinese which had the most Olympic-related questions.

The format of the exam ranged from filling the blanks to writing short paragraphs depending on the provinces the students wrote their exams. Students were even required to compose Olympic lyrics.

In southern Guangdong Province, students taking the NCEE needed to describe the pictography of four Summer Olympics sports using at least two rhetoric methods in no less than 40 words.

The paragraph could be extended to an 800-word or more essay in eastern Shandong Province.

"Memory, never weathered by time", the topic for the essay, is supposed to center on the story of veteran Jamaican sprinter Merline Otty who, at the age of 37, failed in her fifth attempt for a gold medal at the 100-meter dash in the 2004 Athens Games.

In the more-developed Jiangsu Province in East China, the exam was more imaginative. Students were told to complete unfinished script for a pair of hosts at a school's Olympic-related activity.

And Hubei Province wins the fun award for language skill tests with the Olympics sprinkled in the questions.

Like it or not, students must go on to finish a piece of lyrics with the first paragraph set like this: This is a happy world

Heart with heart

Hand in hand

Friends all gather together with one dream

The torch of friendship passes forever.

The NCEE not only tests students' skills and knowledge, but also their enthusiasm for next year's Olympics.

(China Daily via china.org.cn June 15, 2007)