【推荐1】Perhaps you have heard a lot about the Internet, but what is it, do you know? The Internet is a network. It uses the telephone to join millions of computer together around the world.

Maybe that doesn’t sound very interesting. But when you are joined to the internet, there are lots and lots of things you can do. You can send e-mail to your friends, and they can get them in a few seconds. You can also do with all kinds of information on the World Wide Web (WWW).                                                                             

There are many different kinds of computers now. They all can be joined to the internet. Most of them are small machines sitting on people’s desks at home, but there are still many others in schools, offices, or large companies. These computers are owned by people and companies, but no one really owns the internet itself.

There are lots of places for you to go into the internet. For example, your school may have the internet. You use it during lessons or free time. Libraries often have computers joined to the internet. You are welcome to use it at any time.

Thanks to the internet, the world is becoming small. It is possible for you to work at home with a computer in front, getting and sending the information you need. You can buy or sell what ever you want by the internet. But do you know 98% of the information on the internet is in English? So what will English be like tomorrow?

At 00:23 on Oct. 16, the Shenzhou XIII spacecraft rose into the sky. Three Chinese astronauts — Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu — set off for the Tiangong space station.

During their six-month stay, they will set up robotic arms and do medical experiments, among other tasks.     1    

It’s not an easy job to do all things. Chinese astronauts get difficult training before going to space. As People’s Daily reported, all the Chinese astronauts are excellent pilots with hundreds or even thousands of hours of flight time.     2    

One of the hardest parts is the high-G training. It simulates(模拟) the environment when the spacecraft takes off.     3     They cry tears as they spin. Blood can’t flow to their brains properly, causing a lack of oxygen(氧气) and even blindness.     4     Another tiring exercise, as Wang Yaping told People’s Daily, is the underwater training which lasts seven hours each time.     5     She had to wear a 200-kilogram suit and do tasks in 10-meter-deep water without eating or going to toilet. After each training, Wang lost up to 2 kg of body weight. “We may have to repeat(重复) such training every single day for years or decades,” said Wang. “But there is no ‘give up’ in our dictionary.”

【推荐1】In Lopburi, Thailand, there is an interesting festival—the Monkey Buffet Festival (猴子自助餐节). It is on the last Sunday of November and it is a great day for monkeys. People there think monkeys can bring good luck to them, so they have this special (特别的) festival to thank monkeys. Now, the monkey is one of Lopburi’s symbols.

Every year on that day, people prepare (准备) more than 300 kg of fruit, vegetables, cakes and even drinks for the monkeys. About 20,000 monkeys enjoy their delicious food during the festival. People from different places come to see the monkeys on that day.

During the festival, there are a lot of interesting activities (活动) about monkeys. People always dress up as (打扮成) monkeys and they sing, dance and play music on the street. People take photos of the monkeys and play with them. Everyone has a great time there.

Monkeys are smart animals. They always live in groups. When they are in danger, they fight with their enemies (敌人). Most of them live in the trees. They are good at climbing trees. Monkeys can do some easy work for people. They can even work out some easy maths problems.

We all know that animals are better at some things and we can usually explain (解释) why animals can do them better than us. One of the skills which many animals have is homing instinct (本能). These animals such as pigeons, bees, salmons, frogs and cats can find their way home, sometimes making trips of hundreds of kilometers back home. In our daily life, we can make use of an animal’s homing instinct. Pigeons, for examples have been used to carry messages or letters in times of war. Nowadays some people join in the Pigeon Association (协会) with the pigeons they have trained because they look on pigeon racing as a hobby.

There are many interesting stories of the homing instinct at work. In the USA a cat travelled (旅行) 1, 360 kilometers back to its old home after the owners moved, taking nearly a year over the trip. When we lose our kitten, we usually find her again near the house where she was born. We have a pond (水塘) in the garden where the frogs come back every year. I even heard a dog which was injured (受伤) by a car managed (设法) to take itself to the vet (兽医)! There are other wonderful stories about the homing instinct. But how do these animals find their way home? They don’t have satellite navigation (导航) with them, they can’t read maps and, as far as we know, they can’t ask each other for directions. It seems (似乎) that some animals, such as salmons, use their sense of smell to take them back to the place where they were born. Other animals such as birds and bees may use the sun, the stars and the moon to help them find their way. There is a theory (理论) that some animals have magnetic cells (磁细胞) in their brains (大脑) which help them to find their way. As far as cats are concerned, nobody really knows how their homing instinct works and I am sure cats are never going to give away their secrets (秘密).