Satellites are an important part of our ordinary lives. For example, the information for weather forecasts is sent by satellite. Some satellites have cameras which take photographs of the earth to show     1     clouds are moving. Satellites are also used to connect our international phone calls.

Computer connections of the World Wide Web and Internet also use satellites. The     2    (major) of our TV programmes come to us through satellites. Airplane pilots also sometimes use a satellite to help them find where they are exactly     3    (locate).

We use satellites to transmit television pictures from one part of the world to     4    . They are usually 35, 880 kilometres above the equator. Sometimes we can see a satellite in the sky and it seems to stay in the same place. This is     5     it is moving around the world at 11,000 kilometres an hour —    6    (exact) the same speed that the earth rotates. A satellite must orbit the Earth with its antennae (天线)    7    (face)the earth. Sometimes, it moves away from its orbit. So there are little rockets on it     8     are used to put the satellite back in the right position. This usually happens about every five     9     six days.

Space Is not empty! Every week, more and more satellites are sent into space to orbit the Earth. A satellite usually works for about 10 —12 years. Satellites which are broken are sometimes repaired by astronauts or sometimes brought back to Earth to     10    (repair). Often, very old or broken satellites are left in space to orbit the Earth for a very long time. This is very serious because some satellites use nuclear power and they can crash into each other.

Traffic jams (堵塞) are a common problem in larger cities. In some cities, traffic jams get so bad during rush hour that it is sometimes       1     (fast) to walk than to drive. Traffic accidents are also a problem. Sadly these problems are not easy to solve. However, a traffic system (系统) being tested in several cities in Northern Europe has led to some surprising     2     (result).

The system     3     (call) “shared streets”. It is a system that has very few traffic laws. As a result, shared street areas have no traffic lights or street signs. Although most people would expect this to cause the number of traffic jams and accidents     4     (go) up, until now     5     has been a great drop in both. One reason     6     (be) that the shared streets system encourages people to be more     7     (care). Without traffic rules, people slow down and pay more attention       8     each other. Normal traffic systems, on the other hand, depend on signs,     9     people often miss or don't follow, leading to accidents. Also, the shared streets system decreases (减少) traffic jams because without fixed (固定的) parking spaces, it is easier for cars to move around       10     (free) when there is a lot of traffic.

Recently researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia,    1    (invent) a soft skin stretch(拉伸) device (SSD), a haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. It is similar to     2     is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.

The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through soft, artificial “muscles”. It works like this: Imagine you are at home and your friend is in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs and your friend also wears a glove with     3     (integrate) 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up     4     object, it will     5    (physical) press against your friend’s fingers. And their glove with 3D force sensors will measure these interactions. The force signals can     6    (send) to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces,     7    (make)you experience the same sense of touch as your friend. The haptic devices could allow users to feel objects inside a virtual world or     8     a distance. This could be especially     9     (benefit) during such times like the COVID-19 pandemic when people rely on video calls to stay connected with loved ones. Or it could be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient’s organ tissues with surgical tools     10    touching them.