【推荐1】“Welcome to our new ‘classroom’!” said Chen Dong, one of the three astronauts of the Shenzhou XIV mission.

They were giving a science class 400 kilometers above Earth on October 12. It was the third space class from the Tiangong Space Station, but the first one from the Wentian lab module (实验舱) since its launch in July. The former two classes were held in the Tianhe core module (核心舱).

What does the new “classroom” look like? Chen, together with Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe, showed us around. “The beds in the Tianhe module are placed horizontally (横着), while our beds are kept upright,” said Liu. That means astronauts in the Wentian lab module need to sleep standing up! But as Liu explained, people don’t feel any difference because there’s no gravity (重力) in space. Astronauts can even sleep on the ceiling or upside down!

The astronauts also showed their “space farm”, where lettuce, wheat, thale cress (拟南芥) and rice are grown. “Take a picture!” “Send the picture!” Through a voice-controlled camera, Chen already sent a picture of the thale cress to scientists on Earth. Then he used scissors to cut a sample (样本). “I’ll put it into a fridge at-80℃and later give it lo scientists on Earth,” said Chen. Scientists will study how the environment of space affects the growth of plants.

“Can you see the water drops coming from the leaves? This is called ‘guttation’ (植物吐水现象).” said Liu, holding the well-grown rice. In space, the water drops are much bigger than those on Earth. So people can clearly see the guttation.

“We hope in the near future, we can harvest the food grown on our own,” said Chen. “Maybe one day, we can harvest food on the other planets like the moon or even Mars!”

A．

B．

C．

D．

【推荐2】Every year, wildfires destroy millions of square kilometres of forest land. Homes are burned. Homes and thousands of people die. Smoke jumpers help to stop this.

Smoke jumpers are a special type of firefighter. They jump from planes or are lowered by planes into areas that are difficult to reach by car or on foot, such as the middle of a mountain forest. They race to put out fires as fast as they can.

At a fire place, smoke jumpers first check the land and decide how to fight the fire. Their main goal is to stop a fire from spreading or to slow its progress until full, ground-based firefighters arrive. Using basic tools such as shovels and axes, smoke jumpers clear land of burnable material, like dry grass and dead trees. They carry water with them, too, but only a limited amount.

Although the majority of smoke jumpers are men, more women are joining now. The most important reasons are your height and weight. Smoke jumpers employed in the United States, for example, must be between 120 and 200 pounds (between 54 and 91 kilograms) so they don’t get blown away by the strong winds or get hurt when they land. Smoke jumpers must also be capable of surviving in the wilderness. In Russia, many smoke jumpers know how to find food in the forest and can even make simple furniture from trees.

The work is dangerous, and the hours are long. But for these firefighters, smoke jumping isn’t just a job. They love being able to jump out of planes, fight fires, and live in the forest. A 28-year-old Russian smoke jumper Alexi Tishin says, “This is the best job for tough guys.”

【推荐3】The best thing to start your day is a good breakfast. “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a poor person", as the old saying tells us, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It provides us with energy after a long night without food.

If people don't have breakfast in the morning, they will feel tired and get angry easily. Breakfast helps children stay more focused（专注的）in school. A study showed that children who eat breakfast regularly get higher test results in most subjects. Breakfast is also important for weight loss（减少）. If you have a balanced breakfast, you will eat less throughout the day.

A healthy and balanced（均衡的）breakfast should include some protein（蛋白质）like eggs, milk or a little meat, which makes you energetic all day. Carbohydrates（碳水化合物）like rice or bread keep you active. Vegetables and fruit have the vitamins（维他命）that humans need.

In China, breakfast is different from area to area. Porridge with pickles（腌菜）, baozi, noodles, soybean milk and youtiao are common throughout the whole country. Although western culture has influenced China a lot, most people still prefer traditional Chinese breakfast. They think that porridge and noodles are not only easily digested（消化）, but also can provide enough energy in the morning.

【推荐1】Have you ever seen a shadow puppets play (皮影戏) in China?     1    . It is also called “the business of the five”, because a shadow puppet play group is usually made up of five people. One moves the puppets, one sings and the other three play instruments.

    2    ? There’s a story behind it. It is said that more than 2,000 years ago, the wife of Emperor Wu of Han died from illness. The emperor was very sad. His minister, Li Shaoweng, one day saw children playing with dolls (玩偶) and the shadows of the dolls were dancing on the wall.     3    . He put sticks on its hands and feet to make it easy to move.

When night came, he put up a curtain (帘), lit a candle, and invited the emperor to sit before the curtain. Li moved the puppet from behind the curtain.     4    . After that the shadow puppet play became the emperor’s favorite pastime.

Over the past thousands of years, the shadow puppet play has won the hearts of many people in China.     5    .

China is the hometown of kites. Making and flying kites is one of the Chinese ancient folk skills. Kites are also an important part of the Chinese culture.

Kites were invented by the Chinese during the Spring and Autumn Period, having a history of over 2,000 years. It is said that Mozi, an ancient Chinese thinker made a wood bird after the work of three years. This might be the earliest kite in human history.     1    . Some folk custom experts told that ancestors (祖先) invented kites mainly to memorize their family members and friends.     2    . They hope that their sadness could be passed to the dead through the kites. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, kites began to be used for the purpose of sending messages. Since the Sui-Tang Period, paper has been used to make kites because of the papermaking.     3    .

According to researches, kites were spread to Korea in the tenth century and then to Japan.     4    . It was said the time when it was spread to Europe was the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

    5    . The controlling string (绳) and the pulling force are decided by the size and the shape of the kites, the environment and the wind. Right wind often blows in spring, making it the perfect season for flying kites. If we want to play for fun, flying kites should avoid cloudy days, and rainy days. Safety is also important. Flying kites should be done on an open ground and it is not wise to fly kites in dangerous places such as water side and tops of buildings.