Thousands of years ago, Chinese poet Qu Yuan (about 340-278 BC) wrote the poem Tianwen, meaning Quest for Heavenly Truth. He came up with a series of questions about the sky, stars, nature, myths and the world around us. The poem showed his doubts about traditional ideas and the spirit of finding the truth.

Inspired by the great poet, China has named its upcoming series of planetary exploration missions (行星探测任务) after the poem. The first one in the series-a Mars exploration mission-has been named Tianwen 1, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on April 24, China’s Space Day. This shows China’s desire (渴望) to explore the universe and discover its secrets.

China has been making great progress in space exploration. As early as 1970, China launched its first man-made Earth satellite (卫星), becoming the fifth country in the world to launch a man-made satellite independently. Since 2003, China has carried out six Shenzhou manned missions and launched two space labs into Earth’s orbit (轨道). China’s moon exploration missions-the Chang’e series-started in 2007. In December 2018, China became the first country to send the probe (探测器) Chang’e 4 to the moon’s far side, which always faces away from Earth.

The Tianwen series will follow the Shenzhou and Chang’e series and move further into space. The first step is to launch a Mars probe this year, which will mark the start of China’s exploration of the Red Planet. The probe is expected to orbit (绕……轨道运行), land on and explore Mars in one mission. If it succeeds, it will be the first to complete all of these tasks in one mission. The Long March 5 rocket will send the probe to Mars. It will take seven months to reach the planet and land.

After this mission, China plans to visit Mars again in 2028, aiming to collect soil from the surface of the planet and bring it to Earth. Around 2030, China will explore Jupiter and several asteroids (小行星), according to CNSA.

Look! Here comes a cute bus. It looks like a panda with black ears and big eyes. It can carry 22 people and is about 12 meters long. A Chinese company made it. People call it Smart Panda Bus.

The Smart Panda Bus uses AI technology (科技). It can do many things. The bus can drive by itself. _____ Don’t worry! It’s very safe. When you get on the bus, you can swine (刷) your hand. The bus will read your handprint and know who you are. There are also robots on the bus. You can talk to them and ask them for help. If there is a thief (小偷) on the bus, the bus will call the police. On the bus, there is a vending machine. You can buy snacks and drinks on the bus. This can save you much time.

People in some cities, such as Changzhou in Jiangsu, Jinan in Shangdong and Deyang in Sichuan, can take the bus. Do you want to take the bus? More cities in China will put the bus into use. I think soon you can take the bus in your city.

【推荐1】A very important world problem is the growing population on the earth. The population of the world today is more than 7,400,000,000. That is a great number and we know it quite well. The important thing is not how large the population of the world is now, but the rate of the growth. It is about 1.63 percent every year.

Every second, 4.2 babies are born in the world. Another baby! Another baby! Another baby! You can not speak quickly enough to keep up with the birth rate. The population is growing faster and faster. In one day, people have to find food for over 350,000 mouths. The rapid growth of population will make a big problem by the year 2025. There will be as many as 8.1 billion people on the earth! So this is one of the biggest problems that you are going to see in your life.

【推荐3】Living places

The home of the elephant is in the deep forest. It is the largest of all land animals, and is found both in Asia and Africa. One of the main places in Asia where the elephant lives is the island of Ceylon. The huge forests on the island become the home of thousands of elephants. The trees grow thick and tall. They make many parts almost dark, while bright sunlight is above and around them.

Living habits

The elephant likes the deep part and the coolest places of the forest. There he will stand swinging his ears, to drive away the flies; or he will pull down a branch (树枝) from a tree to fan himself. He likes bathing, and to be near a lake or running water. There he takes in the water with his trunk, and spreads it all over his body.

Food

The elephant enjoys the fruits in the forest, and also the leaves of the trees. There is plenty of food for him in the forests, though he is not always happy with what he finds there.

Way of movement

When a group of elephants moves about in the forest, the oldest goes first. The young elephants and their mothers are in the middle, where they are the safest. Then all move along with a great noise, the branches of the trees bending and breaking before them. Though the elephant is usually harmless, no one dares to attack (袭击) a group of them moving through the forest.

How people treat them

In Asia the elephant is trained to work. At one time the African elephant also was trained. Soldiers in ancient times often went to fight on the backs of African elephants. But now the elephant that lives in Africa is illegally (非法地) hunted mainly for its valuable ivory. In order to protect them, governments around the world have developed laws to stop this.