【推荐1】Mercury 水星

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It is a planet slightly larger than the Earth’s moon. It is covered in craters . Some craters have ice in them, even though the planet is hot. Sunlight never touches some parts because of the planet’s special position.

Without air, there are great temperature differences between the coldest and hottest parts. Mercury days are so long that there are big differences between temperatures on the daylight side and the night side.

Mercury was created billions of years ago, when big rocks ran into each other.

After these accidents, the planet was frequently visited by meteorites for several hundred million years. There were also many volcanic eruptions(火山喷发). As the planet cooled, the thin, rocky outside shell reduced in diameter by about 3 kilometers.

The Caloris Basin is one of the largest craters on Mercury. This big crater is 1,300 kilometers wide and was formed when a large rock, about 100 kilometers across, knocked into the surface. Beethoven, another large crater, is 643 kilometers across.

The cliff (悬崖) on Mercury are up to 2 kilometers high and hundreds of kilometers long. The cliffs were formed when the thin surface fell apart, as volcanic activity slowed down and Mercury became cooler.

One Mercury day lasts about 59 Earth days. Mercury takes about 88 Earth days to have a complete year, instead of the 365 days that we have on the Earth. Mercury speeds around the sun so that there are three Mercury days every two Mercury years. Mercury has a strange relationship with the Earth. Every 117 days, when Mercury is closest to the Earth, it always has the same side facing us.

Mariner 10 is the only spacecraft to visit Mercury. It made three visits to Mercury in the 1970s, taking photos of many cliffs and craters. Although the first three visits answered many questions, they have raised others.

【推荐2】According to Ken Croswell, the Sun and the Moon are different. We often think that the Sun rules the day and the Moon rules the night. That’s kind of right, but not totally.

The Sun shines all the time. It shines during the day when we see it, and even at night when we don’t.

As the Earth turns, sometimes we face the Sun. That’s when we get day. When the Earth’s spin (自转) turns us away from the Sun and we are in the Earth’s shadow, we get night. When people on the opposite side of the Earth face the Sun, those people have day while we have night.

The Moon is a different story. Unlike the Sun, it doesn’t make its own light. Moonlight is actually the Sun’s light reflecting(反射) the Moon back to us.

The Sun lights up only the side of the Moon that faces the Sun. At Full Moon, the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. Then the side of the Moon facing the Earth is all lit up. During Full Moon, the Moon rises around sunset, shines all night, and sets around sunrise. Since he moonlight is so bright, you can sometimes see it during the day, too. A few days before Full Moon, if you look east in the afternoon, you may see the Moon in the sky. After Full Moon, you may find it if you look west in the morning.

The Moon is most difficult to see at New Moon, when its orbit(轨道) puts it between the Earth and the Sun. Then, the side of the Moon facing the Earth is dark and we can’t see the Moon at all.

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【推荐2】    1     It is the first time this has happened. The doctors are from the University of Maryland Medical Center. They say David Bennett, 57, is doing well after his operation(手术).     2     The doctors said giving him the pig’s heart was the only chance of keeping him alive. Bennett spoke to doctors the day before the operation. He said, “It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice.” The pig’s heart came from a genetically-modified(转基因的)pig.     3    

The transplant operation took seven hours. Doctors received special permission(允许) from U.S. authorities(官方) for the experimental surgery(外科手术). Without it, Mr. Bennett would have died.     4     They believe Mr. Bennett’s transplant means more transplants could take place in the future. They said this could bring the world, “one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis(器官短缺危机)”. Surgeon(外科医生) Dr Bartley Griffith said, “We are also optimistic(乐观的) that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new choice for patients in the future.” Mr. Bennett hopes his transplant will allow him to live longer. “    5    ” He said.

Travelling to Tokyo

In 2020, Japan’s capital city Tokyo will hold the Summer Olympics. If you plan to travel there, you may want to know how much money you need. Let’s take a look!

The currency (货币) of Japan is the Japanese yen. Its symbol (标志) is ¥, the same as Chinese currency. 

1 Chinese yuan ≈15.4 Japanese yen

Tokyo’s hotels are expensive. Usually it costs 6,000 yen for a single (单个的) person for one night. If you want to save money, a capsule hotel (胶囊旅馆) could be a good choice. You will have a small bed-sized room. It costs about 4,000 yen for one person. 

It takes three or four hours to fly from Beijing to Tokyo. How much is the plane ticket? A round-trip ticket (往返机票) costs about 2,600 yuan. 

Traffic in Tokyo is not cheap. If you take a taxi, the basic fare (费用) is 477.5 yen. Then it will cost 415 yen every 1 km. 

The Tokyo Metro is very well designed. It is very clean and travelers never wait long. A ticket costs 170 to 310 yen depending on (取决于) how far you traveled.

It is cheaper if you take a bus. The fare is 210 yen, and you need to pay when you get on the bus.

One of the Tokyo’s tourist sites (旅游景点) is the Tokyo Tower. At 332.9 metres, it is the second-tallest building in Japan. You can go up and see the whole city of Tokyo. How much is a ticket? It costs 700 yen for a student and 1200 yen for an adult (成年人). 

In Tokyo, you can enjoy all kinds of Japanese food. You can try sushi, ramen noodles (拉面), or yakitori (日式烧鸡). A meal for two people usually costs about 5,000 yen.