Astronauts are not like pilots, who fly into sky. They need some special trainings. They will fly into space. First they go to the Johnson space center in Houston Texas. They are tested there. Space doctors want to know how strong and smart they are.

      First of all, their hearts are tested. The people walk or run. Next, the space doctors see how fast their hearts are beating.

      Then it is another important test. In this test the person must curl his body up in a ball. And when he is in that position, he will be put into a round cloth bag. The doctors don't tell him how long he will have to stay in the bag. If a spaceship broke down in space, the astronauts would get into bags like these. Then they would have to wait, curled up in darkness, until they are saved. You can know that an astronaut must not be afraid of tight spaces or darkness.

      After these tests, scientists only choose the best people to start astronaut training in a training center. They will learn many other things in training. They will learn how to jump out of moving airplane, to blow up a lifeboat and get into it while they are in the ocean.

They also have to learn how to get lifted out of the ocean by a helicopter.

      When they finish training, the astronauts go on to work. They stay in good situation by running and doing exercise. They read about the special jobs. In that way they will be able to learn new facts about space travel.

      Finally, the astronaut is told to go to work on a flight into space. The members begin to know each other first. Then they can learn which jobs each will do.

    The computers changed our lives in the 1980s, the Internet changed our lives in the 1990s, and the robots will change our lives in the new century.

    Do you think there will be robots in people's homes? It's not a dream that every home will have a robot.

    Now, robots are not only able to help people do the housework, they can also help the doctors do the difficult operations, play chess with people, play the piano and so on.

    A new cooking robot is used in Beijing. It can cook all the dishes on the menu; you only need to wait two to four minutes. In the future, the robot will be a nurse, a security (安全）guard, or a partner in your life.

    Experts believe robots will be used everywhere from the industrial (工业的） robots to service robots. In the future, robots will become part of the family, and provide close service for people. We all look forward to the new robot age.

A

    Welcome to Nature Park ! You will see the world's smallest penguins （企鹅）coming from the ocean and crossing the beach（海滩） to their home in line . Remember that they are wild（野生的） . You are visitors to their home .

Things to remember :

※The Penguins Parade （企鹅列队）will last fifty minutes .

※Wear warmer clothes for you will watch the Penguins Parade on the beach .

It's better to get to the beach at least 15 minutes before the Penguins Parade begin .

Protecting the penguins :

※You can't take photos during the Parade . Put your camera in your bag before you walk down the beach . You can buy photos in the gift shops in our park.

※You can't smoke anywhere . It's not good for the environment .

Don't touch the penguins because they are wild animals .

C

    Thousands of bats(蝙蝠)in the Northeast are dying, and no one knows why. Scientists are conducting investigations(开展调查) to find out the cause and stop the spread of deaths, which have been most heavily reported in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts.

    "Most bat researchers agree that this is the most serious threat to bats they have ever seen, " says Alan Hicks, a bat expert who works in the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

    There are few clues about the cause of the deaths. Bats are easy to catch the contagious disease(传染病) because they hibernate(冬眠) together. In some caves, there are 300 bats per square foot. Environmental officials are asking people to stay out of bat caves to avoid spreading the mysterious(神秘的) sickness while they are working to find out what it is.

    Sharks(鲨鱼) are the most frightening animals in the sea. Sometimes we can see sharks swimming in the sea around Hong Kong. People put nets around some beaches to protect swimmers. When there is a "shark's flag", people must stay on the beach. It will be too late if a shark can swim sixty kilometres an hour to you.

    There are 30 kinds of sharks and 25 kinds of them are dangerous. The whale sharks are, very big. They can grow to 18 metres long, but they are not dangerous to people. The jaws(大白鲨) and the tiger sharks are the most dangerous kinds of sharks.

    Do you know all sharks must keep swimming, or they will go down?

All sharks can feel everything that happens around them. We must keep calm and don't make any noise when a shark is swimming near you.

    If a shark loses a tooth, a new one will grow out very quickly. So sharks always have many sharp teeth.

    Have you ever paid attention to the Air Quality Index (空气质量指标) or AQI reported in the newspaper? The AQI helps us understand what the air quality around us means to our health. The AQI uses colors, numbers and words to tell us about the air. Let's see what these colors and numbers mean.