2 . Are you still doing the V for victory sign? It’s out. The latest popular hand gesture (手势) is to curl (卷曲) both of your hands and put them together to make a heart-shape.

Known as “hand heart”, many young stars in the US including Justin Bieber, Blake Lively and Taylor Swift have done the move in recent photos.

“The heart-hand gesture means something between ‘I love you’ and ‘thank you’,” said the country singer Taylor Swift, 21. “It’s a sweet, simple message which you can send without saying a word.”

Tailor Swift often puts her hands above her head in the heart shape at her concerts. And she is believed to be the first to make the gesture popular.

Last month during a charity show, Justin Bieber and his superstar friends did the hand heart and put the photos online. They did it to help out three kids whose parents were killed in a car accident. The gesture became a real hit after that.

“It used to take longer for nonverbal (不用语言的) culture to move. But now, with smart phones and the Internet, it’s much faster,” said Patti Wood, an American language expert.

In the Republic of Korea, the hand heart has been popular for a long time, in a different way. People there like making a “bigger heart” by putting their hands above their heads and making a heart shape with their arms. It means: “I love you.”

3 . Do you want to know what our life will be like in the future? Let’s have a look. You may get a surprise.

You won’t go to the kitchen when you are hungry. You will give orders to the kitchen robot. The robot will cook the food for you in a few minutes. Then it will bring it to you.

In the kitchen you will find a special food machine. The food machine will tell you what your body needs. It will help you eat healthily. The food machine will be connected with the kitchen robot. The robot can get messages from the food machine.

After having a meal, you can go to your home office. You will work at home and you don’t need to go out to work any more.

You will have a special information screen. You can get any information on the screen. When you receive a message from a friend in other places, your information screen will be turned on automatically (自动地). Your friend’s face appears on the screen. Then you can talk to your friend easily.

4 . Every thirty seconds there is an earthquake in the world. Some of these earthquakes are so weak that people can’t feel them. But some of them are very serious and many people get hurt or die in them. Do you know what cause earthquakes?

The earth’s surface (表面) has many pieces. These pieces are always moving. When two pieces move past each other, there is an earthquake. Scientists are trying to predict (预测) big earthquakes, but it’s very hard. Do you know how to protect yourself during an earthquake? Here are some ways. You should remember them.

If you are inside   

◆Quickly move under a desk or along a wall. It will protect you from falling things. Don’t run out of the door.

◆Keep away from windows.

◆Turn off lights.

◆Don’t get into a lift. If you are in a lift, get out as quickly as possible.

If you are outside   

◆Don’t stay near tall buildings and trees. Things may fall on you.

◆Be careful of fallen power lines.

◆Lie on the ground in clear areas until the shaking stops.

5 . Look at the Earth from space. Why does our planet look so blue? It’s blue because water covers almost three quarters (四分之三) of the Earth’s surface. Water is not just an important part of our planet. It is an important part of our body, too. More than half of our total (全部的) body weight is water.

Our body loses water whenever we exercise or go to the toilet. That’s why we need to drink plenty of water every day. We drink water. We use it to cook, clean, and carry waste out of our homes. Farmers use it to grow vegetables and crops (庄稼) like rice and wheat; factories use it to make products.

Since the 1950s, the amount (数量) of water people use has increased by three times. But the water supply (供应) hasn’t. Scientists worry that soon there won’t be enough water for us, as well as for the animals and plants that share our world. What can we do to help? Use water wisely.

Having enough water isn’t our only problem. We also need it clean.

Right now, ships and factories are putting wastes into seas, rivers and so on. Even chemicals (化学制品) that farmers use are running into rivers and lakes. All this pollution can make the water dangerous to drink. It can also harm fish and other water-living lives. We must do something to stop pollution. It’s the best way to protect our world’s most valuable natural resource (资源).

6 . Scientists will put some robot fish into the sea near Spain this year. These robot fish will help people find out the pollution in the water. If the robot fish are able to finish their work successfully, the team of scientists hopes the fish will be used in rivers, lakes and seas around the world. The robot fish are about 1.5 meters long. There will be a detector (探测器) in their bodies. It can find the pollution in the water, and then the robot fish will eat part of it.

Unlike other robots, they don’t need to be operated (操作) by people far away. The robots all have an eight-hour battery (电池). They can “swim” in the sea freely and send back information to people on the beach. After their batteries run down, they will go back to the beach by themselves.

There are five robot fish altogether. Each costs (花费) about 29,000 dollars. They are part of a three-year project between engineering company BMT Group and Essex University in southeastern England.

7 . Do you know what astronauts eat in space? Is it the same as what we eat every day? Is it more delicious or less delicious than what we eat every day? Is it difficult for astronauts to eat in space? To get all the answers, we need to have a better understanding on food for astronauts.

On Shenzhou XII, there are more than 120 kinds of food for the astronauts. The food is in small size which is easier for astronauts to eat. There are many different kinds of food. Scientists make a research on astronauts’ taste before they are sent into space. With the research, Chinese scientists can know astronauts’ taste and make menus for them. This makes the food for astronauts both delicious and nutritious (营养丰富的). Here is one example of their menus.

8 . Swimming is very popular. People like swimming in summer because water makes people feel cool. If you like swimming but swim in a wrong place, it may be dangerous. These years, a lot of people died when they were enjoying themselves in water, and most of them were students. Some people are not careful in swimming. They often think they swim so well that nothing will happen to them in water. Summer is here again. If you go swimming in summer, don’t get into water when you are alone. If there is a “No swimming” sign, still don’t get into water. If you remember these, swimming will be safe.

9 . The food in Britain is very different from our Chinese food. For instance, they eat a lot of potatoes. They like to eat them every day. They eat bread for breakfast and usually for one other meal. They eat their bread with butter, maybe cheese or jam, things we don’t eat much in China. Cheese and butter are made from milk. They drink a lot of milk, too. They drink the milk cold or hot, and they put it in their tea. They put sugar in their tea, as well. They are the world’s biggest tea drinkers. They like Chinese tea, but they drink mostly strong black tea from India and Sri Lanka. They don’t eat much rice. For their main meal they like meat or fish with potatoes and one or two vegetables. They serve all these together. After the main meal they always have something sweet. They call this dessert. They don’t have Jiaozi in Britain.

10 . They can be in different colours and they have different shapes. They can be both red or green, round or sharp, big or small, and more importantly, loved or hated by someone. What can they be? Right, the answer is chilies (辣椒) .

Many of us in China enjoy adding chilies to our food, but do you know that this spicy (辣的) vegetable could also be very dangerous? A 34-year-old US man lost his life in hospital after eating a Carolina Reaper, the spiciest chili. After taking just one bite, the man began to get serious headaches in the following days, reported by BBC News.

In fact, eating spicy food causes stomachache and headache. But if chilies are harmful, why do people to eat this vegetable? What makes people love chilies so much? The human body is influenced (影响) by natural chemicals (化学物质) that produce “a sense of happiness”, noted by BBC News.

And chilies do good to people in another way. Scientists found that the death rate of those who eat spicy food once or twice a week is 10 percent lower than those who eat it less than once a week. The death rate is 14 percent lower for those who eat spicy food six to seven times a week. This makes people eat more spicy food to make their health better. So don’t worry if you love spicy food. It seems that chilies are really good for us.