Three Chinese astronauts from the Shenzhou-13 manned spaceship returned to the Earth after completing their six-month mission. One of their major goals was to prepare the station for future groups of taikonauts（中国航天员）who will complete theassemblyof the space station.

Thanks to a new quick return procedure carried out for the first time, Shenzhou-13’s return trip lasted about nine hours rather than the 24-hour trip for Shenzhou-12, with the return capsule only circling the Earth five times before entering its final return orbit instead of 11 times as in past missions.

The Shenzhou-13 crew was responsible for taking out some of the science instruments to be used for experiments on the station. They also performed two spacewalks, conducted more than 20 different science experiments in addition to delivering two live educational lectures.

Taikonaut Wang Yaping, who gave the first public class from the Tiangong-1 space station, gave two such classes on this trip to Tiangong-2, which were viewed by millions of school children in China.

In addition, the taikonauts were sent questions from 20 schools in 13 U.S. states by American school children. The pre-recorded questions and responses were shared with students, parents and teachers at a “My Questions to Taikonauts” event on April 9 sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.

This was the first six-month mission, which will give those on the ground the opportunity to study the effects of the longer duration mission on the taikonauts, especially on the ageing process. The six-month stay will be common for astronauts in the future.

Visiting the Wenchang Space Launch Center on April 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the facility serves China’s new-generation, heavy-lift carrier（运载）rockets and plays a significant role in the country’s deep-space exploration. The Chinese President called for efforts to achieve “world-leading standards” for China’s spacecraft launch facilities.

Success is often considered to be the opposite of failure. To teenagers, it is the achievement of a goal or completion of something they really need, such as good grades and the ability to get along well with their classmates. Some schools used to agree with most parents who measured (判定) the success of their children according to grades, but now they pay special attention to moral (道德的) education and character-building to make sure teenagers achieve success in building human relationships.

Schools give chances to students to discover their hidden ability so that they can enjoy some form of success. For example, those good at speaking skills are advised to take part in speech competitions while those interested in arts are expected to perform in front of their classmates. Teenagers also get the pleasure of success when they join their favorite clubs.

Teenagers are often told that success is not easy to achieve and that success lies in hard work. Great efforts have to be put into project work. Doing things much later than planned should be avoided as this will lead to a mountain of work which finally makes them nervous. Another good quality (品质) is a sense of responsibility which makes them remember that a task has to be completed.

Sticking to moral values is the key to success too. Honest teenagers will win the trust of friends leading to good relationships. Self-motivation (自我激励) is another quality to be developed, for self-motivated teenagers will have the strong will and drive to perform a task and finally get to enjoy a sense of achievement.

When we visit museums, we see cultural artifacts(古器物). However, debate surrounds(围绕)these artifacts and whether or not countries should return these if they were stolen.

By the 18th and19th centuries, European countries such as Britain, France, and the Nether-lands had ruled many African and Asian countries. During their rule, they brought artifacts to their own countries, showing in museums.

Over the years, European museums have been asked to give back the artifacts. In 2009, Egypt demanded that France return five pieces of a wall painting. In 2012, Nigeria asked for the return of thirty-two cultural items. In 2017, the Government of Benin tried to reach an argument with the British Museum to return their Benin Bronzes.

The debate took a turn in 2018 when under President Macron: all objects brought to French museums would be returned! With the official report, museums all across Europe began reconsidering their previous policies(政策).

In France, twenty-seven artifacts had been identified for return, but only one has been returned. Then, on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, France’s National Assembly officially passed a bill(法案) promising the return of these artifacts, but didn’t set a certain date.

Those who suggest returning these objects to their homes argue that with technology enabling online museum tours, returning these artifacts to their homeland does not take away the opportunity to learn about them.

Those against the return hold the view that culture is a shared treasure and the artifacts are in fact “cultural ambassadors(外交)” that promote(增进) understanding. They believe that while stealing them was wrong, history is full of “good” and “bad” actors. Moreover, they feel that keeping the cultural objects in the current museums has kept millions of artifacts safe from damage.

Rocky neighbours

Avebury is near the far more famous Stonehenge (巨石阵). What is interesting about it is that a village has grown up around a collection of stones, unlike Stonehenge, which stands alone. Avebury and Stonehenge are just two of about 1,300 stone circles all over the UK. Many of them are in fantastic locations.

Stone circles through history

Some of them are UNESCO World Heritage (遗产) sites, and several have local stories connected to them. For example, the Merry Maidens in West Cornwall is a group of 19 stones. According to the story, they were young women maidens who became stones for dancing on a Sunday. This story shows some of the effects of Christianity (基督教) in the fourth and fifth centuries AD.

When and why?

Early historians thought that the stone circles were temples (寺庙) for the Druids, the priests (牧师) of people who arrived in the UK in about 500 BC. Later research has shown that they are far older than that-at least 4, 000 years old. Stonehenge could have been built 5,000 years ago. Some experts believe they acted like calendars and have shown that some stones line up with sunrise or sunset on the longest and shortest days of the year. Others believe they were places for the dead bodies of the local rich and powerful.

Can I see one?

We may never know their original purpose, but each one leaves the visitor with a strong sense of the shortness of our existence in the sea of history. There are groups of stone circles and other prehistoric monuments (历史遗迹) throughout the British Isles, so wherever you are staying, you must make at least one to be part of your tour.

Title: Stone Circles in the UK

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.