1 . Do you want to celebrate your birthday in space? It would be very different from what you might do on earth. For example, your birthday cake would be flying. The candles could not be lit because astronauts cannot start a fire in the spaceship.     1     Voices are almost the only things that are not changed by being weightless, which means that everything has almost no weight in space.

Some astronauts feel sick for the first few days in space. Some feel as if they have a cold all the time. That’s because without gravity (引力), the fluids (液体) in their bodies move towards their heads. Their faces look a little fatter.     2    .

And because gravity is not pressing on the spine (脊椎). The spine relaxes and stretches (舒展).     3     But when they come back on earth, they shrink (收缩) to their regular height.

Since nothing has weight, astronauts can lift heavy objects easily.     4     However, it is harder to stay still in space than to move around, so the astronauts always hold onto something or tie themselves to something.     5    

3 . A famous person once said, “We live much happier lives when we are generous(慷慨的) in as many ways as possible.”

I love persimmons (柿子). A few years ago, ready to fly from San Francisco to Boston, I packed two persimmons, one of which I ate in the waiting room. A lady asked me from which store in the airport the fruit was bought. She looked a bit disappointed hearing that it couldn’t be bought from any store in this airport. I thought to myself, “I can give the second persimmon away.” When I offered her the fruit, at first she refused, but when I insisted (坚持), she became glad and accepted. I felt happy to make someone else happy, and I thought it was the end of the story.

Sometime during the flight, the lady met me in the aisle (过道) and thanked me again. She shared that she had grown up in Russia, where there was a persimmon tree in the yard of her childhood home. She now lived in Boston, where she hadn’t been able to find the fruit. The taste of the persimmon was valuable to her, reconnecting her with memories of her family.

Only then did the tiny act make a difference to me. As a famous saying goes, “______” The taste of the persimmon that I offered to the lady gives me more joy than all the ones I have eaten.

4 . How to deal with your homework

Write it down.     1     Always be sure to write down all the homework so you won’t forget anything.

Create a homework station. Find somewhere comfortable and quiet to do your homework.     2     It will take twice as long to get the homework done. Shut off your cell phone, log off (退出) your computer (unless you need it for your homework) and close the door.

Do homework as early as possible. Don’t leave homework to the last minute.     3     The earlier you start your homework, the sooner you will finish! Do all your homework as early as you can, so you don’t have a pile of ( 一 堆 ) homework the next day.

    4     Think about how long it will take you to complete homework for each subject. For example: English-ten minutes, science-ten minutes, math-forty minutes, history-twenty minutes.

Treat yourself. You can easily get tired by sitting through an hour or two of homework without stopping. Once you finish homework for a subject, take a small break (no more than 15 minutes). Either taking a walk or finding something to eat will do. But do not turn on the TV, or you’ll never go back to your study.     5    

5 . Every year in May, art galleries and museums prepare shows to honour Leonardo da Vinci, who died in France on May 2, 1519. He is remembered as one of the greatest artists and the most creative thinkers of all time. His most famous paintings are Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

Recently, researchers have been studying a painting-Landscupe 8P, which they think is Leonardo’s earliest-known artwork. They used special lighting to study the artwork and discovered there were two images(图像), not one. One drawing is on the back of the piece, which dates back to August 5,1473.

The drawing on the front was painted when Leonardo was 21 years old. It shows a river valley and a castle outside the city of Florence. There is little left of the drawing on the back, perhaps because it was wiped off. Only a bridge over a river can be seen. But there is writing on both sides.

The writing on the front gives the date and goes from right to left. Some people would call this “mirror writing”. It’s a way Leonardo often wrote in his notebooks. The writing on the back goes from left to right and tells an agreement, probably to produce a work of art.

Cecilia Frosinini is an art historian. She said, “By looking at his writing, including that from this drawing, we can see his right-handed handwriting is educated and well done.”

Experts compared the two handwriting samples(样本)and said they were both made by Leonardo. They show he could write well using his left hand or his right hand.

The drawing is known as Landscape 8P from its number in an art list. It is part of an exhibit at Italy’s Uffizi Gallery. The gallery-director, Eike Schmidt, said by studying the drawing researchers gave us a new way of looking at Leonardo’s drawing technique and his abilities in writing.

7 . A new product from Google may help people solve their sleep problems, but some privacy rights groups are concerned. Google showed off its newest Nest Hub home assistant device(设备)on Tuesday. In addition to recognizing your voice, showing pictures, videos, news and weather, it can also track your sleep.

The basic model costs about $100 and the sleep-tracking technology will be available for free for the rest of 2021. The sleep tracker makes Google’s product different from a similar home assistant from Amazon.

If you put the Nest Hub beside your bed, it can follow your sleep. That is because of a new computer chip called Soli, which can sense motion(运动). Some people may like the new technology because they would not have to wear another device to bed. Some companies make products people can only wear on their wrist to track their sleep.

Google says the new Nest Hub will create reports each week that show how long and how well a person sleeps. It will also show if they snore(打鼾), cough or wake up often. The company said it studies 15,000 people over the course of 110,000 nights to develop the technology.

For people who want to know more about their sleep, the device sounds like a good idea. But, people who pay attention to privacy are worried about what Google might do with the information it is gathering.

Google recently bought FitBit, a company that makes a health tracker people can wear on their wrist. Technology experts think Google may find a way for the Nest Hub to work with the FitBit. Google says the sleep tracker has a lot of privacy protections. For example, it will only work if the user turns it on. The company also said, “it will not use a person’s sleep information to try to sell advertising.”

10 . You can use mobile applications to learn speed reading. It has been proved that regularly practicing speed reading is the fastest way to master this skill. Here are a few great options to look into.

The Reader’s Edge not only focuses on helping individuals read faster and more efficiently, but it also helps users comprehend better and get the most out of a reading experience. There are two versions of the Reader’s Edge: basic and professional. The professional version has far more features than the basic one. It’ll cost you almost twice as much.

EyeQ is a software created by Infinite Mind. A neat thing about eyeQ, besides having a clever name, is that it has training courses that are specifically designed for different people. In order to access the courses from eyeQ, users will have to pay a monthly fee. And if you choose to sign a contract, it will cost you less money in the long run.

Spreeder is available on both iOS and Android. Starting off at a rather low speed, the app flashes words one by one. Gradually, as the user becomes more comfortable, the speed increases. Slowly, the user is trained to speed read without having to skip any words. This app records the reader’s reading improvements and the overall reading time and speed, which makes Spreeder unique. You can download and buy Spreeder for around $40 USD.

Iris Speed Reading focuses primarily on teaching speed reading by using video courses. While all of the programs above can be used by individuals aged 5 and older, this software is designed more for professionals, college students, and advanced readers. It is unique as it only provides courses. There are three different courses, each costing $75 USD. You can also choose to purchase all three courses for $149 USD.