【推荐1】

The C919, China’s first domestically developed large passenger jet, departed Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport for Beijing Capital International Airport at 10:32 am on Sunday, embarking on(开启) its first commercial flight. The aircraft, developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, painted with a logo in the shape of a seal with Chinese characters “quanqiu shou jia”, meaning first C919 in the world. The fight, MU 9191, is run by China Eastern Airlines. About 130 passengers are on board. The flight duration is about two hours and 25 minutes. China Eastern Airlines received the first C919 on December 9 and launched test flights later that month. According to a report published by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, 32 clients had placed a total of 1, 035 orders for the plane as of the end of 2022.

The C919 project was launched in 2007. Developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd (COMAC), the first C919 aircraft rolled off the production line in Shanghai in November 2015. The plane conducted a successful maiden flight in 2017. In the following years, the C919 conducted several test flights in different locations to test its capabilities. The C919 has gone through tests in various types of extreme natural environments including high temperature, high humidity, severe cold, gusts(狂风) and freeze. Its safety, reliability and environmental protection performance have been comprehensively assessed. It obtained the type certificate in September 2022, which indicates that the jetliner’s design meets airworthiness standards and environmental requirements.

The plane received its production certificate on November 29, 2022, meaning the model can enter mass production. On Dec 9, 2022, the first C919 aircraft was delivered to its first customer, China Eastern Airlines. After the delivery, the C919 jetliner completed its 100-hour aircraft validation flight process, comprehensively verifying its reliability with commercial operation in mind. The C919 had gained 1, 035 orders from 32 customers by the end of 2022, according to the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai. The successful development of the C919 indicates that China has the ability to independently develop large passenger aircraft.

【推荐1】It’s Earth’s birthday! The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old! In honour of our planet, former U. S. Senator Gaylord Nelson decided we needed a special day to celebrate and learn how to care for our environment. He wrote letters to many schools about the day he planned because he knew kids like you would help.

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was held. Many environmental laws were passed, and people all over the country made promises to protect the environment.

Since then, Earth Day has spread around the world and people are working together to create cleaner air and energy to take care of Mother Nature. Learn how you, your family and friends can start making a difference too!

Earth Day is now celebrated by hundreds of millions of people in more than 180 countries. Here are some ways that you can help re-energize the Earth and celebrate too!

·Visit a nature conservancy(保护协会). Nature conservancies teach us how to preserve our natural history.

·Have an Earth Day block party! Invite neighbourhood kids to plant gardens or trees or pick up trash. Then celebrate your achievements with some Earth Day’ treats and nature music.

·Challenge your family to “go green”. Walk, bicycle, carpool or take the bus to reduce greenhouse gases and get outdoors!

·Wear green, a nature or Earth Day T-shirt to help spread the word about caring for our environment.

·Make a “planet promise” to reduce your energy use and recycle.

We hope you’ll use some of these ideas during the week of April 22 to celebrate and give back to the Earth that gives so much to us.

【推荐2】What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse or the same as now?What do you hope about the future?

Futurologists (未来学家) predict that life will probably be very different in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a “menu”and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.

In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. Demand for water will increase ten times between now and 2050 and there could be serious shortages. Some futurologists predict that water could be the cause of war if we don't act now.

In transport, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car and there won't be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination.

In the area of technology, robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots- they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere- in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.

Last but not least, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today scientists have discovered how to control genes. They have already produced clones of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they?

【推荐3】New research has found that grey seals can simulate(模仿）human speech and songs. The study carried out by Dr Amanda Stansbury and Professor Vincent Janik,at the University of St Andrews,found that grey seals use the same sound production system as humans due to having similar vocal tracts(声道）。

Three young grey seals-Zola,Gandalf and Janice-were monitored from birth by Stansbury and Janik to determine their natural talents.Once this process was complete, the researchers began teaching the seals to simulate common seal sounds or noises a seal might normally hear from a herd mate in the wild.Fish was used to encourage the seals to come out of the water and sing a series of notes.Stansbury would record the seals'own sounds and play them back.The seals quickly learnt that if they sang back the same notes, they would be rewarded with fish.

Once the seals were familiar with this process and could easily copy these basic sounds,Stansbury and Janik used higher and longer tones and unfamiliar vowels from human speech.The seals were then rewarded for matching these new sounds.Stansbury even used some combinations to simulate songs that no seal would be expected to produce under natural circumstances.Zola had a gift for copying up to ten notes of songs such as Twinkle,Twinkle,Little Star and the theme song of Star Wars.Gandalf and Janice were better at accurately reproducing combinations of human vowel sounds.

Stansbury said,"I was amazed how well the seals copied the model sounds we played to them.Copies were not perfect,but given that these are not typical seal sounds,it is pretty impressive.Our study really shows how flexible seal voices are."

After one year of working with the researchers,the seal pups were released back into the wild."This study gives us a better understanding of the development of vocal learning,a skill that is important for human language development."Janik believes this knowledge can help to develop new methods to study speech problems.