There are some wonderful camps for kids in Florida. Below are a few of these:

“You’re a great shooter!” Jeff said to his friend Justin.

Justin caught the basketball and threw it again. The ball flew into the basket.

“Justin, you never miss!” Jeff said admiringly.

“If I’m in a real game,” Justin complained, “I miss all the time.”

Jeff knew that Justin was right. Justin performed much better when he was having fun in the school yard than he did when he was playing for the school team in front of a large crowd.

“Maybe you just need more training,” Jeff suggested.

“But I train all the time!” Justin disagreed. He shook his head, “I just can’t play well when people are watching me.”

“You play well when I’m watching,” Jeff pointed out.

“That’s because I’ve known you since we were five years old,” Justin said with a smile. “I’m not comfortable playing when other people are around.”

Jeff nodded and understood, but he also had an idea.

The next day Jeff and Justin met in the school yard again for training. After a few minutes, Jeff excused himself.

“Train without me,” Jeff said to his friend. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Jeff hurried through the school building, gathering together some people he could find—three classmates, his math teacher and a guard. When Jeff explained why he needed them, they were happy to help.

Jeff reminded them to stay quiet when they were watching Justin playing. As Jeff had hoped, Justin was still training himself. He shot five baskets without noticing the silent people standing behind him.

“Hey, Justin!” Jeff called out finally.

Justin turned. A look of surprise came over his face.

“I just wanted to show you that you could play well with people watching you,” Jeff said.

“Now you’ll have nothing to worry about for the next game!”

In the Three-Body Problem books, Trisolarans, a type of alien (外星人), can dehydrate (脱水) their bodies. Then they can live through terrible environments and come back to life again hundreds of years later. Is it possible that humans could be like that as well?

Scientists have now made a new discovery by studying water bears. These organisms (微生物) can live without water for a long time.

When water bears find themselves somewhere without water, they go into a form. In this form, there are no signs of life. Deep freezing, volcanic fire, the dark space… these tiny water bears just sleep it off and wake up again when it’s safe.

But how do these little eight-legged water bears live without water? Scientists are looking for the answer now. As water leaves a cell (细胞), some kind of protein (蛋白质) must help the cell keep its strength to avoid breaking apart. Now scientists have found proteins are special to water bears. The proteins protect their cells against dehydration.

Scientists also put those proteins into human cells. They found these proteins can strengthen the human cell so that it won’t become smaller in size when losing water.

With experiments using human cells showing successful results, Trisolarans may come to be a reality some day.

Marie was born in Poland on November 7, 1867.

Marie’s family had many troubles. Her mother was seriously ill. When Marie was 6, her father lost his job and their home. They moved to a small flat. It was noisy and crowded. But the noise did not stop her from studying.

In 1883, Marie finished high school. She dreamed of becoming a scientist. But in Poland, girls were not allowed to go to college. And her family didn’t have enough money to send her to a university in another country.

Reaching her dream seemed impossible, but Marie held her belief all the time.

Marie and her sister Bronya decided to study in France. Marie would work to pay for Bronya’s schooling. Then once Bronya left school, she would work and pay for Marie’s schooling.

Finally, in 1891, Marie’s dream came true. She entered a university in Paris. In three years, she got advanced degrees in Physics and Maths. She also met a scientist named Pierre Curie and they married in 1895.

Marie and her husband Pierre soon worked together. In 1903, they received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. In 1911, Marie accepted the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes.

Yet the work made her sick. On July 4, 1934, Marie Curie died of a blood disease that may be caused by radiation (辐射).

Marie’s discoveries helped save millions of lives and changed the scientific world. Radiation has been used to treat cancer. Her ideas about the atom helped lead to the discovery of nuclear energy.