【推荐1】If someone asks you, “What colour is the sky?” I think you will answer “blue”. I’m afraid that you are wrong. The sky has no colour. It looks blue because we are looking at the blue sunlight. It is shining on little bits of dust (灰尘) in the air.

Is the sky full of air? I’m sure that you have asked this question, too. We know there is air all around the world. But we couldn’t fly very high because as we go high, the air gets thinner (更稀薄的). If we go far enough (足够的) away from the earth, we find there is no air.

Maybe we can answer some questions now. What is the sky? Where is it? The sky is space. It’s all round the world. In space there is nothing, but only the Sun, the Moon, the Earth and all the stars.

Is there life on Mars? We don’t know.

We’re sure that people on the earth are not able to live on Mars. People need oxygen to breathe. There is almost no oxygen on Mars.

Living on Mars would be like living on a very high mountain. There would be little air.

The temperature might be 50 degrees above zero at noon and 140 degrees below zero at night. Many people think there may be plants on Mars. We know that on Mars there is carbon. This is a kind of material found in all plants and animals on the earth. Through a telescope, Mars looks red. In some places, it seems gray. At times the gray color turns gray-green, then brown, then gray again. The gray-green color may be a kind of plant life changing color with the seasons.

Will men go to Mars one day? If they do, they must take their own oxygen, food and clothing with them.

【推荐1】Amazing China (《厉 害了，我的 国》) is a 90-­minute documentary. It records the country’s great developments over the past five years. The film hit China’s big screen on March 2, 2018 and it soon became the country’s most popular documentary.

Amazing China introduces some of the most important developments that China has made since 2012. In the documentary, we can see the world’s largest radio telescope FAST. It took China five years, from 2011 to 2016, to build the telescope in the mountains of Guizhou Province. People called it “Tianyan”, which means “the eye of heaven” in Chinese. The documentary also shows us the world’s largest maritime drilling rig Blue Whale 2, and the development of 5G mobile technology.

Amazing China also records the stories of normal people, such as engineers who do building work, grassroots officials who help poor people become rich, and workers who try to make use of new technology in their factories.

“This documentary not only shows what China has achieved, but also tells us about the hardworking people who made these achievements,” said Li Jianwen, a moviegoer in Qingdao, Shandong Province.

【推荐2】Father’s Day has a very short history. It was started because there was a Mother’s Day, and just because some Americans thought that if we had a Mother’s Day, we should also have a Father’s Day. Father’s Day has become important in North America. And shopkeepers (店主) found it was a good way to get people to buy presents for their fathers from their shops.

By the way, very few countries have a Father’s Day, though some have Children’s Day, or a special day for boys and another for girls. More and more countries are having Mother’s Day, so maybe Father’s Day will also become popular. Now, what do people in North America do on Father’s Day? The newspapers, radios, and TV tell children what they should do-buy a Father’s Day present for your father. They even tell a wife to buy a Father’s Day present-not for her father but for her husband, even if he is not a father yet. And they tell grandchildren to buy a Father’s Day present for their grandfathers.

The most important thing to remember about Father’s Day is that American children can show their love to their fathers in a more open way.

【推荐3】You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABCs? Do you know there is such a thing as “a banana person”? How strange! ABC means American-born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside. So, when a person is a “banana”, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.

Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese. But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are overseas（海外的）Chinese. These people may be citizens（公民）of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chineseblood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.

But they are not Chinese citizens. They are people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist C. N. Yang（杨振宁）. He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. Chinese people love him. But he is an American citizen.

Reporter: How long have you been a firefighter?

Wilson: For eight years. JP Reporter: How did you get started?

Wilson: First, 1 had to take a lot of tests in two weeks. Then, I went to the firefighter school for four months. 1 learned how to put out fires and how to use equipment I also had a full-time training every day!

Reporter: How do you stay safe on the job?

Wilson: I wear special clothing. It helps keep me protected from fire. I also carry an oxygen tank (氧气瓶) and a mask (面具). They help me to breathe in a smoke-filled building. Reporter: Are there any new tools that firefighters use?

Wilson: We have a special camera that can see in the dark. It can find heat. That way, we can exactly tell the place of a fire. Reporter: Do you save pets?

Wilson: Just three days ago, I helped save some cats. They were hiding under the beds. Pets usually bide during a fire because they are afraid of danger. Reporter: Do you ever get afraid?

Wilson: No. There is no time to he afraid. I just think about what to do to put out the fire safely. Reporter: What do you like best about being a firefighter?

Wilson: Helping people!

【推荐3】All primary and secondary school students in China, in principle(原则上), are barred(禁止) from bringing mobile phones to school, the Ministry of Education(教育部) announced on January 18th, 2021. The notice aims to protect students’ eyesight, make sure they focus on their studies and prevent them from losing themselves in the internet and online games.

If students must have a mobile phone at school, a special request should be submitted(递交) to school authorities (当局). Once the request is approved(批准), students should hand in their mobile phones to school authorities when they arrive at the school. The phones will be kept together and mustn’t be allowed to take into classrooms.

Schools shouldn’t ask students to do homework via (经由) mobile phones, and they should set up public phones and teacher hotlines for communication between parents and students.

Schools should set out rules for the management of mobile phones and designate(指定) people to take care of mobile phones brought to schools.

【推荐1】Online classes in space got lots of attention among Chinese students. The “classroom” in space station is about 400 kilometres away from the earth. The space classes make the young proud of our country. As a special “teacher”, Wang Yaping is regarded as (看作) “the most beautiful astronaut (宇航员).”

Wang Yaping was born in a small village in Shandong in 1980. She studied hard all those years. She was good at all subjects, especially sports. Luckily, in 1997, she was accepted by Changchun Flight Academy.

Wang’s space dream started in 2003, when China sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space. She told herself, “China now has a male astronaut. When will there be a female one?” At that time, Wang was a pilot in the Chinese army. After having safe flights (飞行) for 1,600 hours during nine years in the training centre, Wang was a strong candidate (候选人) to become an astronaut in 2010. In 2013, Wang realized her space dream. She was sent to space by Shenzhou-10. She joined the team of Shenzhou-13 in 2021 and flew into the space for the second time.

However, it is difficult to be an astronaut. She has to experience a lot of pain that most people can’t stand and keep training all the time. Wang Yaping told Xinhua, “The space environment won’t change because you are a woman.” She pushed herself hard, getting the same training as men, including the pull-ups and barbells (杠铃). That finally made her dream come true.

“You are on the way to success as long as you stick to your dreams,” Wang Yaping said. She set a good example to the young. Millions of students are encouraged and inspired (受鼓舞) by the most beautiful astronaut.

【推荐3】Shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft (载人航天飞船) went to space successfully on October 16, 2021. Three Chinese astronauts, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu, were taken to space. They stayed in space for six months. It is the eighth time for Chinese to visit space after Yang Liwei went as the first Chinese 18 years ago. These special “visitors” can take fantastic photos in space, just like taking trips there. Can common people go to visit space like them? The answer is “yes”.

On September 15, Space X sent four common people into space. The four spent three days in space. Just two months ago, in July, 70-year-old British billionaire (亿万富翁) Richard Branson, and 57-year-old American billionaire Jeff Bezos, both flew into space. But some think these trips are for the super rich. With the sky-high prices, most common people should give up their space dreams. However, US flight engineer (航空工程师) Bobak Ferdowsi believes the price will come down. “Maybe in 10 to 15 years, it’s a decision between ‘do I buy a new car, or do I go to space?’.”

Anyway, even we can’t have a space trip now, we are able to have a science class from space. The woman astronaut Wang Yaping as a space teacher gave us such a lesson just as she did nine years ago. That is great fun. We are also able to enjoy a space movie. A Russian film team stayed on the International Space Station from Oct 5 to 16 to film (拍摄) the movie Challenge. It’s the first time a movie was filmed in space.