【推荐1】Many people know that rubbish is a big problem on planet Earth. What many people don't know is that junk has become a problem in outer space too.

According to BBC News, there are more than 22, 000 pieces of space junk floating around the earth. And these are just the things that we can see from the surface of the earth by telescopes (望远镜). There are also millions of smaller pieces of junk that we can't see.

Objects, like bits of old space rockets or satellites, move around the planet at very high speeds, so fast that even a very small piece can break important satellites or become dangerous to astronauts. If the tiniest piece of junk crashed into a spaceship, it could damage the vehicle (交通工具).

To make things worse, when two objects in space crash, they break into many smaller pieces. For example, when a U. S. satellite hit an old Russian rocket in 2009, it broke into more than 2,000 pieces, increasing the amount of space junk.

To reduce additional space junk, countries have agreed that all new space tools can only stay in space for 25 years at most. Each tool must be built to fall safely into the earth's atmosphere after that time. In the upper parts of the atmosphere, it will burn up.

 Many scientists are also suggesting different ways to clean up space junk. In England scientists are testing a metal net that can be fired into space junk. The net catches the junk and then pulls it into the earth's atmosphere to burn up. The Germans are building robots that can collect pieces of space junk and bring them back to Earth to be safely destroyed.

 "The problem is becoming more challenging because we're sending more objects into space to help people use their mobile phones and computers," says Marco Castronuovo, an Italian space researcher.

 "The time to act is now. The longer we leave the problem, the bigger it will become," he says.

Say hello to Changesite-（Y）— the sixth new lunar mineral（月球矿物）!

Chinese scientists found it in moon samples（样品）brought back by the Chang’e 5 lunar probe in December 2020. It has become the first lunar mineral found by Chinese scientists, making China the third nation in the world, after the United States and Russia, to have achieved such a success, reported China Daily.

Changesite-（Y）looks crystal（晶莹的）clear like a diamond. But its chemical content is different from any other known mineral.（A）It has a high level of rare earth（稀土）, reported China Science Daily. Li Ziying, chief scientist of the lunar sample research, said that the finding of this new mineral will help researchers study the history and physical traits（特征）of the moon. The value of the rare earth in（B）it will also be studied.

（C）Besides the new mineral, scientists also measured the content（含量）of helium-3（氦-3）from the Chang’e 5 samples. Helium-3 is a valuable fuel（燃料）that can provide safer nuclear energy（核能）. It is not radioactive（放射性的）and would not produce dangerous waste. On Earth, we have only 15 to 20 tons of helium-3 that can be used. But after studying the moon’s soil, scientists said there could be at least 1 million tons of helium-3 on the moon. That’s enough for all people on Earth to have clean energy for 10,000 years!

Venus (金星) is close to the earth. It is the second planet from the sun. The earth is the third planet from the sun. Venus is similar (相似的) to the earth in size and mass (质量). It is often described as the earth’s “sister”.

Scientists have been learning about Venus for a long time. First they looked at Venus through telescopes (望远镜). But Venus is covered with thick clouds. Scientists could not see Venus well through the clouds. So they made guesses about it.

For a long time, scientists thought that Venus had water and plants. They thought Venus might have animals too. But they didn’t know for sure.

Then scientists found a way to learn more about Venus. In the 1960s, they began sending probes (航天探测器) to Venus. The probes flew through the thick clouds. They took pictures of Venus up close. They found out many things too. The probes sent the pictures and things they found out back to the scientists.

The scientists learned a lot from the probes. First they learned that most of their guesses were not right. And they learned that Venus is very hot.

After that, scientists knew they could not send people to Venus. But they still wanted to know more about it. So they sent new probes. These new probes took great pictures of the planet. The pictures showed that Venus has plains (平原) and mountains! And in some ways, Venus looks like the earth.

【推荐1】Maybe there is no better time for us to think about the steps our family can take to protect the environment. In fact, in our daily life, there are many kinds of easy ways we can think of to save money and protect the environment.

Make our houses more airtight(密封的). If so, it will stop temperature loss and keep the houses warm in winter.

Buy newer fridges and air conditioners, especially when the old ones are more than five years old. New ones can save twice as much energy as old ones.

Change bulbs. LED light bulbs can give brighter light with less energy and can be used for a longer time.

Clothes can be washed clean in cold water with today’s detergents. Using hot water takes five times the energy and produces five times the carbon(碳).

If we all take action to save energy and reduce consumption in our daily life, it will not only save money but also help protect the environment.

【推荐2】Trees are important in our life. However, the Philippines, China’s neighbor, is facing a serious problem—the loss of forest cover. In fact, the Philippines is one of the world’s most deforested (滥伐的) countries with total forest cover dropping from 70% to just 20% during the 20th century. Luckily, a new law may help the country to solve the problem because it requires students to plant at least 10 trees each before they graduate.

Congressman (国会议员) Gary Alejano introduced the bill (议案) first and later the Philippine Congress passed it. The bill states that this requirement applies to (适用于) all students in order to graduate from primary school, high school and college. If the students want to graduate, each of them must plant no fewer than 10 trees. Every year, there are over 12 million students graduating from primary school, nearly 5 million students graduating from high school and almost 500, 000 students graduating from college in this country. If the law is carried out properly and completely, at least 175 million new trees will be planted each year. “Even if only 10% of all the planted trees are able to stay alive, it will still result in 525 million trees in the course of one generation (一代人).”

Mr. Alejano points out this law will do more than help make our earth a greener place. His main goal is to help bring environmental understanding to future generations.

If you are in Shanghai and want to throw a cup of milk tea, be careful. You need to follow these steps: first, pour out any leftover( 残留物) into a wet waste bin; second, put the paper wrapper into a recyclable waste bin; finally, throw the single-use cup and straw(吸管) into a dry waste bin.

Sound complex( 复 杂 的 ) ？ You’ll have to get used to it. From July 1st,2019 on, people in Shanghai are required to sort(将…..分类) their garbage（垃圾） according to strict rules. Garbage is divided into wet garbage, toxic( 有 毒 的 )garbage and recyclable garbage. Many other cities in China are planning to create similar sorting rules.

Why should we sort our garbage? The answer lies in the increasing amount of waste we are producing. Chinese cities produce over 200 million tons of waste each year, according to China Economic Net. Most of this waste is buried in landfills, which may pollute water and soil. Moreover, we are running out of space for new landfills.

In fact, more than half of our waste can be recycled. Recyclable garbage can be made into new materials, while wet garbage can be used to make gas, heat and fertilizer(肥料). But in order to recycle efficiently(有效地), we need to sort our garbage.

Can't garbage-processing companies do the sorting job for us? They can. But that requires a lot of work and costs lots of money. Things will become much easier if each of us can sort our own garbage. Besides, the troublesome task of sorting might encourage people to produce less waste. Do you still want to buy that milk tea?

【推荐1】Dear Kate,

My birthday is coming this Sunday.I want to have a party at home in the morning.It starts at eight.Many friends are coming.Can you come to my party？Please tell me.

Yours,

Mary

Dear Mary,

Thanks for inviting me to your party.I'd love to go to your party.But I may be late for it.I have to meet my uncle at eight in the morning.I can get there at nine.

Yours,

Kate

根据信件内容，回答问题。

How are you? I’m Linda. My English teacher told me about you. I asked her for your e-mail address (地址). I hope we can become good friends.

We really have a lot (A) _____ common. For a start, we were born on the same day—October 17th! Isn’t that amazing (令人惊叹的)? Also, just like you I have two sisters! They’re both great. One is studying medicine in a university and the (B) ______ is studying in a high school. (C) We love each other but sometimes we fight with each other. What about you?

My mom and dad are cool. My mom is a college teacher. She’s very strict. My dad is an engineer. He’s always very busy. What do your parents do?

The things that I like doing most are gymnastics (体操) and listening to music. I do gymnastics five times a week and I practice really hard. (D) I hope I can win a prize in our school gymnastics competition this year.

Well, that’s all for now.

Yours,

Linda