【推荐1】We all live on Earth and enjoy our life every day. Do you know all the interesting facts about the Earth?

The Earth is not round.

Do you think the Earth is round? Will the Earth is not completely round.

The Earth is really old.

Grandmas and grandpas are old, but the Earth is much older. Scientists think that the earth is about 4.5 to 5 billion (十亿) years old.

Much of the Earth is water.

About 70% of Earth is water, and only about 30% of Earth is land.

Earthquakes happen all the time.

Earthquakes (地震) take place all the time. But most of the time, they are very small and human beings cannot even feel them.

________.

There are many mountains on Earth. Mount Everest is the most famous one because its peak is five and one-half miles above sea level. It is the highest. There are more interesting facts about the Earth. Can you tell us some?

【推荐2】People in many parts of North and South America will be able to see a total lunar eclipse (月食) on Sunday night and early Monday morning. The eclipse is special, and it is called a super blood wolf moon by some people.

The moon will be a little closer than it normally is to the Earth. For this reason, it will appear brighter than usual. Such a moon is called a super moon. When the moon is completely eclipsed, it looks darker and appears to have an orange or even a red color. The sunset on the Earth looks orange for a similar reason. Because of its reddish color, an eclipsed moon is sometimes called a blood moon.

In North America, there are traditional names given to each of the 12 full moons that happen throughout the year. January’s full moon is known as the wolf moon or the great spirit moon.

Is there anything I should get ready when I look up the lunar eclipse?

“There are no precautions (预防措施) you need to take when looking at a lunar eclipse, since the moon is never bright enough to hurt your eyes like the sun,” according to Walter Freeman, a physicist at Syracuse University.

It’s just a wonderful thing for the whole family to see because it’s fairly rare to have all these kinds of things together at the same time.

【推荐3】Have you ever seen the day begin? The dark sky starts to look brighter. Then suddenly the sky is all pink and red and gold even a little green. The earth has turned bright until the sun is shining on the place where you are. This is what makes it day.

The sun is always shining, but it can only shine on one side of the earth at a time. It can’t light the side that is away from it. When the sun is shining on the other side of the world, it is night where you are. At night, you can see the stars.

All day the stars are in the sky, but the light from the sun is so bright that you can’t see them. When the sun is gone, the stars are bright enough to see. Stars look as tiny as pinheads (针头), but some are even bigger than the sun. Big things look little when they are far away. In the sky, planes look like toys, but on the ground you can see that they are big. Stars are millions of times bigger than planes. They look very small because they are so far away. The sun is closer than the other stars. So it looks bigger.

【推荐1】How Do People Pass on Messages (信息)?

When you write a letter or make a telephone call, your words carry a message. People communicate (交流) with words. Do you think you can communicate without words? Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad.     1     When you put up your hand in class, the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions. You shake (摇动) your head, and people know you are saying no.     2     Other things can also give some information (信息). For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library.     3     There are a lot of signs around you and you receive (接收) messages from them all the time.

People can communicate in many other ways. An artist can use his pictures to tell about beautiful mountains, the blue sea and many other things.     4     They also tell about people and their ideas. Books, magazines, TV, radio and movies all help us to communicate with other people. They all help us to know what is going on in the world.

【推荐2】The world we live in is full of amazing things. Do you know the following things?

★Chocolate tastes nice but it may make the little dog die.

★We may sleep for eight hours at a time but a snail may sleep for three years.

★Our ears and nose become bigger when we grow up but eyes keep the same after a person is born.

★You may think a bear walks slowly. In fact, it can run as fast as a horse.

★Cats won't die if they fall off very high places because they can turn themselves up the right way.

★The largest animal on the earth is the blue whale. It weigh about 80 tons—more than 24 elephants.

★Most animals will die soon if they lose the head, But a cockroach(蟑螂)can live for nine or ten days when they have no head.

★Not all birds can fly. About forty kinds of birds can't fly, like the penguin and the ostrich(鸵鸟).

【推荐3】Can you make animals work for us? Some scientists think that one day we can teach animals to do a lot of things for people.

In a film shown on TV, you may see elephants, monkeys, tigers or some other animals are always given a little food to eat after they have done something. Scientists say that people can teach many different animals to do some of the easy work if they know they will get something to eat. We all know elephants can carry large logs (圆木), and dogs can look after houses. And we even teach animals to work in factories. In America, for example, people have used apes (猿猴) to help make cars and scientists think that those large monkeys may drive trains one day.

Now people are trying to get them to do the same thing that man does.

【推荐1】Imagine you walk into a store. Strangely enough, you see no staff(店员) inside. You pick up things and prepare to wait in line and pay. But even more oddly, there is no cashier at all. So what has happened to this store?

Well, you may have entered Tao Cafe, a cashless store created by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. In July, the public got to see the store for the first time at Alibaba’s Taobao Marker Festival in Hangzhou.

The 200-square-meter store sells drinks, fast food and snacks. It can hold up to 50 shoppers at a time. To enter and shop, people only need a smartphone with a Taobao app and the Alipay account(账户).

By scanning their Taobao QR code(二维码), shoppers are followed with cameras for facial recognition. The store has also digitalized(数字化) all goods and their placement on the shelves. So when shoppers pick up goods, the system will be able to “watch” and remember” their choices.

When shoppers are ready to leave, they don’t wait in line to pay. Instead, they go through two checkout doors. Then the bills will be paid with a Taobao account connected to Alipay.

According to Alibaba, the checkout machines can recognize goods even when shoppers put them in pockets or bags. So it is almost impossible to steal things from the store.

Tao Cafe is not the only cashless store in China. A 24-hours convenience store with no staff called BingoBox opened in Shanghai in June. To enter the store, shoppers scan a QR code on WeChat or Alipay. But unlike the Tao Cafe, they have to scan another QR code to leave the BingoBox.

【推荐2】Now, there is a new-kind school in New York, which has no everyday lessons, no class teachers and even no school buildings. It is called “City-as-School”. The name just means the city itself is the place where students learn their lessons. They are from the age of 15 to 18. The students choose areas of work as they like. Then they help to do that work. For example, one girl named Julia spent a week in a Mayor’s (市长的) office helping the people with problems like housing. Then she went to help in a theatre for a day and she spent a week for first-year lessons at college.

Well, students have to pass Maths and Science exams before they enter the school. After they leave the school, teachers watch the progress (进步) of the students. 80% of the students go to college.

The students like the duty of their work. They know a lot about different kinds of work in the city. One of the students, Liz Martin, said, “Leaving my high school and then going to City-as-School was my best decision (决定). It’s more wonderful to learn about different areas in it than sitting in a classroom. It will change my life forever.”

【推荐3】Many of us want to keep thin and healthy. But do you really know how? Here are some new studies that may help you lose weight (体重) more easily. They show that sleeping may help lose weight, but eating less may not!

Less sleep, fatter legs and arms

People without enough sleep are fatter, according to a new study from Nutrients. Scientists divided (分类) sleep time into three types: short sleep (less than 7 hours a day), normal sleep (7 to 9 hours), and long sleep (more than 9 hours). Then they studied 9,412 people from the US. Results show that, compared with (相比于) normal sleepers, short sleepers have more fat on their legs and arms!

Dinner is important

Many people don’t eat dinner to lose weight. But scientists at Osaka University, Japan, said this might not be the answer. They did a study with 20,000 university students. Then they found that if people don’t eat dinner, it’s easier for them to put on weight. One reason, scientists said, might be that people without dinner are hungrier, so they eat more during the day.

Keep away from mukbang (吃播)

If you want to lose weight, stop watching mukbang! In a new study, scientists asked people to watch a cooking or nature television show. They found that those who watched the cooking program ate more chocolate, compared to the nature program. Scientists said that by looking at delicious food, people will get more ghrelin (胃饥饿素) in their blood (血液) . This gives people a stronger appetite (胃口) and they will then eat more.