Bing Dwen Dwen, the mascot (吉祥物) of the Beijing Winter Olympics, is a cute panda whose
Have you ever wondered why it is called Bing Dwen Dwen? In Mandarin (普通话) bing has several meanings, though the most common is “ice”. The character also symbolizes purity (纯洁) and strength, while dwen dwen means “strong and lively”.
Do you know why the mascot wasn’t named Bing Dundun in English? To read Bing Dundun correctly, you would have to be familiar with the pinyin system, which is
There are some immediate advantages. The biggest is that the tone has been mixed into the spelling of each syllable (音节). The transliteration (音译) of Bing Dwen Dwen this time does work and is
In January, eight gorillas (大猩猩) at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, in California, became the first great apes to test positive (阳性的) for COVID-19. “There was an immediate concern,” said Nadine Lamberski, the chief
So Lamberski made a decision. In February, she gave nine other great apes an experimental COVID-19 vaccine. Those nine became the first zoo animals in the United States to get the vaccine. Since then, the vaccine has been shipped out to zoo animals in 27 states. Lamberski got the COVID-19 vaccine from Zoetis, a company that makes medications for animals. Now the company reports that its vaccine is safe for other animals, too. It’s
So far, Zoetis has donated its vaccine to nearly 70 zoos in the U.S. According to Lamberski, zoos are requesting the vaccine because their animals
No matter how exciting space exploration sounds, there’s an important point that needs to be considered: food supplies. Right now, astronauts typically
For those who
And most importantly, the duration of space flights will be greatly extended to “20 years of flight”, meaning we may be soon sending astronauts on flights to Mars, or even beyond.
Before the mid-20th century, most people felt travelling into space was an
Are we a
With the quick spread of COVID-19, more and more people around us are tested p
First, wear masks wherever you go, though it is not c
At the basic level,
Artificial intelligence aims to create intelligent machines. To achieve the aim, many approaches to
China’s space programme started later than those of Russia and the US, but it has made great
10 . Eileen Collins
Although she’s never walked on a runway with models in a fancy dress, Eileen Collins is referred to by many as “Miss Universe”. That’s because Collins (1956— ) is an a
Until quite recently, this profession was one you’d only find men in. There seemed to be little p
In 1995, she piloted the Discovery shuttle during flight t
Collins’ achievement is not something that happens o
Collins’ passion was also helped by books on the Wright brothers. Starting at age 16, Collins took on small jobs and three years later, she had s
Her parents agree. “She is very down-to-earth. N