Anil froze when he saw the poster at school. Culinary Academies of America presents Junior Cooking Camp. He had to go! But he needed money to get there.

So, the next morning on Saturday, Anil started to make cookies. Then he put the cookies into bags. Last he wrote Anil’s Cookies on each bag.

“Now,” Anil said, “I’ll make my dream come true.” He knocked door-to-door, trying to sell the cookies. He told each neighbor, “I need money for the cooking camp. I want to be a chef.” “Just bought some cookies,” one neighbor said. “On a diet,” the next one said. “No money,” the third admitted.

After Anil came home with a lot of good luck wishes but no money, his grandma, Nana, suggested him to drive to John’s Indian Grocery Store.

“Cookies?” Mr. John waved his hand. “No sweets. Too many sweets.” He pointed toward some shelves with desserts from India.

“But those are canned,” Nana argued. “These are fresh!”

“It takes too long to make a fresh paratha (flat bread) and aloo (potato) nowadays.” Mr. John shrugged (耸肩).

Anil went back home with Nana. He didn’t want to give up his dream. He thought about how traditional paratha shapes were so boring. Circles, triangles, nothing fun. Why couldn’t he use cookie cutters on paratha dough? As he worked, Nana picked up his parathas one by one. “A car. A cat. A flower? What kind of parathas dough are these?” After some silence, she said, “I should like eating the cat.” “Maybe other people will like them, too.” Anil said.

Anil hoped the Indian store would buy some. So they cooked the parathas and brought them to John. He tore off (撕下) a piece of paratha and put into his mouth.

“These are more fun for kids.” Anil said.

“Parathas for kids?” John slowly nodded his head. “Something new. And delicious. We’ll try them.”

A few days later, John called Anil.

When Anil hung up, Nana asked, “Well? What did John want?”

Anil grinned (咧嘴笑) before hurrying to the kitchen. “Fifty parathas each week! Kids love them! Camp, here I come!”

Did you know that humans aren’t the only species (物种) that use language? Bees communicate by dancing. Whales talk to each other by singing. And some apes talk to humans by using American Sign Language.

A female gorilla, Koko, was born at the San Francisco Zoo on July 4th, 1971. Koko learned sign language from her trainer, Dr. Penny Patterson. Patterson began teaching sign language to Koko in 1972, when Koko was one year old. Koko must have been a good student, because two years later she moved onto the Stanford University campus with Dr. Patterson. Koko continued to learn on the campus until 1976. That’s when she began living full-time with Patterson’s group, the Gorilla Foundation. Patterson and Koko’s relationship has blossomed ever since.

Dr. Patterson says that Koko has mastered sign language and known over 1,000 words, and that Koko makes up new words. For example, Koko didn’t know the sign for ring, so she signed the words finger and bracelet. Dr. Patterson thinks that this shows meaningful and constructive use of language.

Not everyone agrees with Dr. Patterson. Some argue that apes like Koko do not understand the meaning of what they are doing. Some people who don’t believe that say that these apes are just performing complex tricks (戏法). For example, if Koko points to an apple and signs red or apple, Dr. Patterson will give her an apple. They argue that Koko does not really know what the sign apple means. She only knows that that if she makes the right motion, one which Dr. Patterson has shown her, then she gets an apple. The debate is unresolved, but one thing is for certain: Koko is an extraordinary ape.

It seems like Patterson and Koko have a good relationship, but not everyone agrees with it. Some people believe that Patterson is humanizing the ape. They think that apes should be left in the most natural state possible. Even Dr. Patterson struggles with these feelings. When she was asked if her findings could be duplicated by another group of scientists, she said, “We don’t think that it would be ethical (道德的) to do again.” She went on to argue that animals should not be kept in such unnatural circumstances.

As for the future, Dr. Patterson and the Gorilla Foundation would love to get Koko to an ape preserve (保护区) in Maui, but they are having trouble getting the land. So unless you have a few million dollars to spare, Koko’s going to be spending her time in Woodland, California with Dr. Patterson. Koko probably doesn’t mind that. If she moved to Hawaii, she’d have to give up her Facebook page and Twitter feed, and she’s got like 50 thousand “likes”. Some may deny (否认) that she knows sign language, but nobody says that she doesn’t know social networking.

Touch down to Earth

China welcomed three heroic astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu home on April 16. This return ended the Shenzhou XIII astronauts’ six-month space mission. It also marks a major (重大的) breakthrough for China’s efforts in space.

In order to return home safety, they did a lot of preparation before leaving the space station.

If you are coming home after a long journey, you have to pack up. For astronauts in space, besides their personal belongings, they “packed” experimental data (数据) and samples, so they would be further researched on Earth.

The astronauts had to tidy up a large number of materials, including goods on the Tianzhou 3 cargo (货物) spacecraft, according to Zhong Weiwei, a researcher at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

Since the space station had no room service, the three astronauts needed to “clear the house” themselves. They collected a great amount of waste. This included leftover foods, sanitary (卫生) waste and waste from in-orbit experiments. The waste was then put into the orbital module (轨道舱), which burnt up as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere.

They also had to put all equipment in place correctly since there would be a gap of more than one month before the astronauts of Shenzhou XIV enter the space station, according to Zhong. They needed to make sure some items, such as gym equipment, were fixed to the walls to avoid floating and slipping (滑落).

Astronauts experienced microgravity for long periods of time during their stays on the space station, which had an effect on their bodies. This included a loss of fluid (体液) muscle atrophy (萎缩) as well as bone loss.

To ensure their safe and sound return, the three astronauts had been doing physical exercises to train their muscles for the return to Earth. Based on their in-orbit physical examinations and data, experts had customized (定制) exercise plans for each of them to ensure a safe landing.

Just like a house that will be vacant (空着的) for a long time must have it’s water and power switched off, astronauts checked everything before they left. Based on experience at home and abroad, they checked and adjusted 40 to 50 items to ensure that the space station could transmit valid parameters (参数) to the ground during subsequent unmanned missions.