【推荐1】The Sun offers us light.     1     It makes things grow. All the living things on the Earth need the Sun. However, how much do you know about the Sun?

The Sun is a huge star.     2     In the sky, there are thousands of stars like the Sun. They are as large and hot as the Sun. At night, you can see many stars.     3    

Our Earth is cool enough to live on because the hot Sun is so far away.     4     If a plane flew day and night without stopping, it could take nearly 18 years to get to the Sun. If the Sun were much nearer, our Earth would be too hot to live on.     5     Aren’t we lucky to be just about the right distance away form the Sun?

【推荐3】China’s Chang’e 5 mission is the most recent successful lunar sample return mission. On Dec 17, the Chang’e 5 lunar probe（探测器）returned home along with 1.7 kg of lunar rocks and soil.

The main goal of Chang’e 5 was to bring things back. And China’s new samples stand for a fresh start for its lunar research and space exploration.

The samples were collected at Mons Rumker, also known as the Ocean of Storms. The site has never been sampled（取样）before. Samples that were taken by the US previously（以前）are all more than three billion years old, while the Chang’e 5 samples are less than two billion years old. Scientists are now able to study late-stage（后期）volcanic（火山的）activity on the moon. This activity shaped the younger parts of the rocky moon we see today, according to Long Xiao, a scientist at the China University of Geosciences.

The moon’s volcanic history is not the only mystery that Chang’e 5 is going to solve. The mission could also help scientists learn more about the history of the whole solar system（太阳系）. Scientists will check the amount of radioisotopes（同位素）in the samples to accurately（精确地）date（确定年代）them-the radioisotopes decay（衰减）over time.

Dating lunar samples will give us more accurate ages not only for the moon, but also for other planets in the solar system. These planets are often dated by comparing them to similarly aged areas of the moon.

【推荐1】Piggy banks（小猪存钱罐） have been around for a long time, but did you ever wonder why people thought to make their banks in the shape of a pig?   

Pigs have nothing to do with money. They don’t store food like a camel or a squirrel（松鼠）.So how did we end up using a pig as the style of a bank? Believe it or not, it happened by mistake.

During the fifteenth century, metal（金属） was very expensive. Dishes and pots were made of a type of inexpensive orange clay called “pygg”, which was pronounced just like “pig”. At that time, there weren’t banks like we have today, so people would store their money at home.

When people had extra coins to save, they would place them in clay jars or pots. Since the type of clay was called pygg, people called the jars “pygg banks”. Over time this developed into piggy banks.

After a few hundred years, people forgot that the word “pygg” referred to the clay the banks were made from. The English language was also changing and the word “pig” was more commonly used. So in the 19th century, When English potters（陶艺家） began to make piggy banks, they thought their customers were asking for banks in the shape of pigs, not banks made from pygg.

Today piggy banks were made from all kinds of materials, and they also come in different shapes and animals. But the term “piggy bank” is still used.

【推荐2】It seems strange to you that there is a blind spot（点） on the eyes. Here is an interesting experiment（实验） that can make something disappear, when one eye is open.

Make a card about the size of a postcard and write two English letters L and R on it, L on the left and R on the right. First, hold the card about 80 cm away and you see both the letters. Then close your right eye and look at the letter R only with your left eye. And now, as you move the card slowly towards you, you will find the letter L disappearing. But if you move the card nearer to your face, the letter will be seen again. Now do the same experiment with your left eye closed, you’ll find the letter R disappearing.

Why does the letter disappear? It is because there is a blind spot on the eyes. When the image（影像）of the letter falls on the blind spot, it won’t be seen. That is why either of the letters disappears.

【推荐3】When night falls, trunks (后备箱) of private cars are turned into mobile stalls (摊位) on the street. They sell everything from drinks to clothes at good prices. Lots of customers would like to buy something each time they pass by. This is the trunk market which has become popular in many cities.

Those who sell things at the stalls are mostly young people. Many young stall holders say they set up the stalls out of interest. They think they might be able to make some money after work. And they find the lively market brings them a feeling of satisfaction (满足). “Every time I work at my stall, I get to talk with nice passers-by. It feels great to meet new friends,” said a stallholder. “I really enjoy hearing people tell me how good my coffee is,” another stallholder said.

But young people can’t expect to make a lot of money from the business because the number would fluctuate. For example, a coffee stall may sell 60 cups of coffee on a good day, but less than 10 cups on another day. And when the weather is bad, the stallholder couldn’t even go out to the market.

While enjoying the fun of buying things at the trunk market, some people also worry about its development. As the food sold there is mostly fast food, no one knows for sure if the food is safe. And each time the market closes, ___▲___. Besides, people living nearby may find it noisy.

Thankfully, some areas are already taking action to make the market go further.

Huang Cheng Store is the cheapest store in town. Though it’s the cheapest, it isn’t the most popular. People don’t shop there very often because lots of people say the things there are the worst in town.

Hua Mei Store sells very good things. They sell the most fashionable(时尚的) clothes and the best record players(音响). And they have the best service. However, people don’t often shop there because the things are also the most expensive. And it is far from the town center.

Heart to Heart Store is the most popular store in town. The things there aren’t the cheapest, and they aren’t the most expensive. It doesn’t have the best things, and it doesn’t have the worst. So it is popular. The clothes aren’t the most fashionable, but they’re more fashionable than the clothes at many other stores. And its location(位置) is convenient(方便的), too.

【推荐3】As young students, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize. They can also be small. You may just want to become one of the ten best students in your class.

Once you find a dream, what do you do with it? Do you ever try to make your dream real?

Follow Your Heart by Australian writer Andrew Matthews tells us that making our dreams real is life’s biggest challenge (挑战). You may think you’re not very good at some school subjects, or that it is impossible for you to become a writer. These kinds of ideas stop you from realizing your dream according to the book.

In fact, everyone can make his dream come true. The first thing you must do is to remember what your dream is. Don’t let it leave your heart keep telling yourself what you want every day and your dream will come true faster because a big dream is, in fact, made up of many small dreams.

You must also never give up your dreams. There will be difficulties on the way to your dream. But the biggest difficulty comes from yourself. You need to decide what is the most important. Studying instead of watching TV will help you to get better exam results, while saving five yuan instead of buying an ice cream means you can buy a new book.

As you get closer to your dream, it may change a little. This is good as you have a chance to learn something more useful and find new hobbies.