Once there was a parrot on sale in a pet store. It was a beautiful red and blue bird. It sat on a perch in the middle of the store, so that everyone could see it when they came in. The owner was very proud（自豪的） of it and asked a high price for it.

    One day a man went into the store. “That's a beautiful bird,” he said to the pet store owner, “But why is it so expensive? Is it unusual（不同寻常的） bird?” “No, it's not very unusual. It's expensive because it can talk,” the pet store owner said.

    “I see. How can I make it talk?” the man asked.

    The pet store owner asked him, “Do you see those string tied to each of the bird's legs?”

    “Yes,” the man answered.

    “Well, you pull（拉） those strings（绳子）,” the pet store owner told him. “That will make the parrot talk.”

    The man asked, “Do you mind（介意） if I try?”

    “Not at all,” the pet store owner said.

    The man walked up to the parrot and pulled the string on its left leg. The parrot said, “Good morning.” The man pulled the string on the parrot's right leg. This time the parrot said, “How are you today?”

    “That's not very interesting,” said the man. “Any parrot could do that.” Then he laughed, “But what would happen if I pulled both strings at the same time?”

    “I'll fall off my perch, you fool!” the parrot said.

    Mr. Green made a robot. He could say only one sentence—“There is no doubt (疑问) about it.” The robot always repeated the same words when you spoke to him.

    One day, Mr. Green needed lots of money and he took the robot to the market to sell him. “Who will buy my robot? He is very smart,” he shouted, “Twenty thousand dollars for my robot!”

    A man was surprised that he was asking for so much money. Instead of asking Mr. Green why he wanted so much money, he decided to speak to the robot. “Are you worth (值) twenty thousand dollars?” he asked the robot. “There is no double about it,” answered the robot.

    The man liked the robot's answer so much that he bought him and carried him home. But very soon he found that the robot could say nothing else. He was sorry he bought the robot. He stood in front of the robot and said, “How foolish I was to throw so much money away！”

    “There is no doubt about it,” said the robot.

    Sally Ride was born in California in 1951. She was the first American woman to travel into space. She loved to play tennis and wanted to be a tennis player when she was young. But after three months' professional（专业的）training, she changed her mind. She went to Stanford University and started to study science. She studied stars and planets. She did researches at the university and got her PhD in astrophysics（天体物理学博士学位）after several years' hard work.

    In 1977, she took a test to become an astronaut. And then she was picked up from over 8, 000 people. In order to realize her dream of going into space, she had to get different kinds of special and difficult training. She learned how to fly a plane, how to jump out of a plane as well as how to operate（操作）special machines.

    Sally and four other astronauts flew a spaceship called Challenger on Jun. 18, 1983. She became the first American woman to travel into space. Later, she taught at the University of California. Then she wrote seven books on space for children, encouraging children to study science. Unfortunately, she died in 2012.

Today is December 12th, 2023. It's a good day for1 in China. I'm glad to go to Wanda Plaza (广场)2 my family. First, we go to the3 . My brother needs a shirt. "4 do you want?" the saleswoman asks. "White," "We have really nice white5 . How about this one?" My brother thinks it's too6 , "Look at this one. It is big." says the saleswoman, "you can7 ". My brother8 it and he buys it. My father buys a9 of sports shoes in the next store. After that, we go to Walmart Supermarket. My mother buys some vegetables.10 ¥16.00. I buy a notebook11 my good friend, Tom. It's only (仅仅) ¥ 3.00. And we like eating apples, so we buy two boxes of apples. Finally (最后), we go back home happily and we have a12 day!

BEIJING, May 28, 2024 (Xinhua News)—The Shenzhou-18 crew (全体工作人员) completed the first spacewalk of their mission (任务) at 6:58 p.m. (Beijing Time) on Tuesday, according to the CMSA (中国载人航天局).

The two members of the Shenzhou-18, Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu, started their spacewalk. They worked outside the Tiangong space station for nearly 8.5 hours. With the help of space equipment (设备) and a team on Earth, they successfully completed many tasks during their spacewalk, including some difficult fixing tasks. Now they have returned to the Wentian lab module (实验舱). The third crew member, Li Cong, stayed inside Tiangong to provide support.

The Shenzhou-18 crew has set a new record for the longest single spacewalk by Chinese astronauts.

This marked Ye's second time to have a spacewalk, and his first spacewalk was in the Shenzhou-13 mission, but this is the first time for Li Guangsu to start a spacewalk.

The mission will include many tasks. First of all, the three members will do a series of space science experiments (实验) and many necessary tests. And then, they will carry out more activities and do some fixing work outside the space station. The three astronauts will work on board Tiangong until late October, according to the CMSA.

So far, Chinese astronauts have successfully carried out 15 spacewalks in all. On September 27, 2008, astronaut Zhai Zhigang in Shenzhou-7 mission made history as China's first person to take a spacewalk, which lasted about 19 minutes.

The Shenzhou-15 crew has achieved a milestone (里程碑) by having 4 spacewalks, marking the highest number of spacewalks by a single Chinese astronaut crew.

The Shenzhou-17 members completed, for the first time, the repair work to keep the equipment in good condition during their second spacewalk, which lasted about 8 hours.

Spain is famous for its tomato festival, called La Tomatina. It happens in the town of Bunol in the Valencia region in Spain on the last Wednesday of August every year. During the festival there are all kinds of activities, but the most exciting part is the tomato fight. It takes place(发生) at the end of long celebration. You're encouraged to throw tomatoes in the fight. There're many stories about how the festival began. One of the stories goes that during the 1940s, some friends started a tomato fight, while another story is about a local band. Anyway, everyone in Bunol seems to have a different story. 

Before the tomato fight, there are parades(游行), musical bands, street parties and so on. On the day of the fight, shopkeepers cover their windows and doors in order to keep away from the tomato fight. At the same time, thousands of tourists and local people come to the town square together. Then large trucks(卡车) full of tomatoes arrive. From the back of the large trucks, a great town band start to throw tomatoes at others. Then the crowds fight back. throwing the tomatoes at anything and anyone. Soon the streets are in the sea of red tomato juice. 

Everyone is supposed to obey a small number of rules. You must squash(压烂) the tomato before throwing it and you are allowed to throw nothing but tomatoes. 

It is usually over in less than half an hour. Everyone then sets off to the river to clean up. Sounds like fun!