Height is just one of the thousands of features your genes decide. In fact, because you have two parents, your genes provide you a height that usually lands somewhere between the height of each parent. If both your parents are tall, then most probably you will be tall, too, but if you have questions about how tall you're going to be, ask your doctor if he or she can help you find it out.

    But genes don't decide everything. For example, eating an unhealthy diet can keep you from growing to your full potential(潜力). Getting plenty of sleep and enough exercise will help you grow to the expected height.

    No doubt you're wondering how fast you should grow. It depends. There's no perfect or right answer. Generally speaking, kids grow about 2 inches (6 centimeters) a year between age 3 and the time when they start puberty (when your body starts changing and becoming more grown up).

    Your doctor will know how your growth has been going over the years. Two centimeters here and 2 inches there are not nearly as important as the height you're at now, how you've been growing up to this point, and what other changes your body may be going through.

    Don't be scared if you seem to have grown a lot in a very short time. Everyone has a growth spurt（高峰）during____The age for starting puberty is about 10 for girls and about 11 for boys. But it can be earlier or later —between 7 and 13 for girls and 9 and 15 for boys.

    You'll usually begin to notice that you're growing faster about a year or so after your body starts to show the first changes of puberty.

    In nature，you may see many insects and animals of different colors．Have you ever wondered why?

Locusts(蝗虫)are super delicious food for birds，but it is not always an easy job for birds to catch them．It is neither because locusts are good jumpers or runners nor because they are smarter than their enemies．The reason is that the colors of locusts change with the colors of crops(农作物)．When crops are young，locusts look green．But when autumn comes，locusts change to the yellow and brown color as crops do．

    Brown bears，tigers and other animals move quietly through forests．They can't be seen easily by their enemies．This is because they have colors similar to the trees．For the same reason．polar bears that live on a land of snow and ice are white．Butterflies and bees living among the flowers are colorful like flowers．Soil insects are mostly dark—colored and they live under the soil in a dark and wet environment．However，insects with colors different from plants can easily be found and eaten by others．So in order to survive ， they have to hide themselves in the daytime and appear only at night．

    Have you ever noticed some even stranger acts? The ink fish in the sea can send out some very black ink when it faces danger．As the ink spreads over．its enemies will not find themselves suddenly in a dark world．At the same time the ink fish immediately swims away．That is how it keeps itself save though it is not strong at all．

    China Science and Technology Museum was opened to the public in September 1988. But the second project was completed in May, 2000. Its main task is to spread knowledge of science and technology among the public.

    The activities of China Science and Technology Museum include popular science exhibitions, Astro­vision film shows, training education programmes and experiment exhibition programmes. The museum has an area of 40，000 square metres, of which 16, 000 square metres is for exhibition halls.

    The Astro­vision Theatre is one of the museum's major attractions and also one of the largest Astro­vision theatres in the world. It makes visitors feel they are in actual events rather than see a film. Many great science activities are often held at the museum, and the museum wants to be an important window to the world.

    If your pen broke at school today, what would you do? You would go to a shop and buy a new one. What if you could simply print out a real, working pen with your 3-D printer without leaving your room?

    Ten years ago people could only see 3-D printing in science fiction movies. But now 3-D printing is here and it's bringing big changes.

    Unlike normal printing that can only copy a 2-D picture with ink. 3-D printing can build almost anything made from material. The printer layers(分层) the material in different shapes to create the object you want to be copied.

    The 3-D printer has been used to make many different things. People have made cups, cars and even an airplane with it. Doctors have been using 3-D printers for several years. People's nervous systems(系统) have been printed out in 3-D form in medical research. Some body parts have been printed and used in hospital. Several months ago, doctors used a 3-D printer to rebuild the face of a person who had a bad accident. In the future, it is expected that the printer will make human organs(器官)to save more lives.

    However there are drawbacks to the printer. At the moment, printing can be quite slow and it's still rather expensive. The average(平均的) price of a household printer is around $1,700, not including the cost of the materials.

    But as the technology develops, it shouldn't be long before disadvantages are improved. Only time will tell where this new technology will take us.