The evening of September 29, 2011, China launched (发射) its first space lab module Tiangong-1 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

    President Hu Jintao praised the success of China's first space lab module Tiangong-1, and shook hands with the staff of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

    Premier Wen Jiabao and He Guoqiang also shook hands with the staff at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to congratulate on the success.

    Tiangong-1, which is plannedtoconnect with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft later this year, will get ready for building China's first space station.

    During its two-year service life, Tiangong-1 will mainly carry on four tasks, such as experiments of autonomous rendezvous(自主交会) and connection with the Shenzhou-8, -9, and -10 spacecrafts in the coming launches, which is going to set up the country's first space lab, according to Wu Ping, spokesperson for China's National Space Administration.

    According to the plan for China's manned space program, the Shenzhou-10 will be a manned spacecraft that is going to carry a female Chinese astronaut.

    Tiangong-1 is expected to become China's first space laboratory when it connects to the above mentioned spaceships.

    Recently, a designer in Hong Kong has invented a special book that can transform (变形) into a piece of furniture. The special book is called Bookniture. It can be unfolded to become a chair or a small table. People can either carry it around for a portable (轻便的) chair or can store it in their homes to use as extra furniture.

    The book was designed by Mike Mak. He came up with the idea after never having enough seats for his friends in his home in Hong Kong.

    “I love having friends at my place, but I have never had enough seats for everyone—we would always end up with just sitting on the floor. 1 really want a seat that doesn't take up any floor space when I don't need it. One day, the empty space on my bookcase drew my attention.  Then came the new idea—Bookniture, furniture hidden in a book,” said the 30-year-old designer.

    Made from fully-recyclable kraft paper (牛皮纸) , the book measures 33 cm by 18 cm. It expands (扩大) to 14 times bigger once it's opened, and can support up 10 1,000 kg of weight.  It comes in two colors, brown and black, and can be bought for between￡55 and ￡57.

    Laughter is natural for people. We start to laugh at about four months of age. We start to laugh even1 we start to speak.

    Laughter connects us with others. We laugh more when we are with other people. It's difficult to pretend to laugh. Laughter is2. When people pretend to laugh, most people know it's not real.

   When do people laugh?

    Only 10 to 20 percent of laughter is about something3. Most laughter is about being friendly with other people. Most laughter says, "I don't want to4 with you. I want to be friendly with you." This kind of laughter brings people together.

    We often laugh when we feel nervous. In movies, there is often a joke at an exciting moment when everyone feels nervous. It is usually a(n)5 joke, but we laugh a lot. Our laughter helps us6.

   Why doesn't everyone laugh at the same joke?

    Not everyone has the same sense of7. Some people think a joke is funny, but other people don't think so. People have different ideas about what is funny.

    Our idea of what is funny changes with8. For young children, the world is new. They are interested in many things, so they laugh9. Teenagers often laugh to protect themselves. Adults laugh at themselves and other people with similar problems. They laugh at things that give them stress. Our10 for laughter change gradually.

Doorbells are the bells (铃) for people to ring at a door. When someone hears it, he or she can open the door. Do you know that you can ring a doorbell for fish, too? 

Every spring, millions of fish migrate (洄游) along the river in the city to find better places to lay eggs. But in the river, there are many locks (水闸). They stop fish from swimming through. Weerd Lock is in Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands (荷兰). When fish get there, they have to wait a long time before the lock opens for boats to pass through. The lock keeper there is glad to open the lock for fish, but he cannot tell when fish want to get through. So in 2021, Mark van Heukelum, a scientist, came up with a good idea to help solve this problem—by using the fish doorbell. 

Under the water near the lock, there's a camera. People from around the world can visit a website (网站) to see fish through the camera. When you see a group of fish waiting, you can ring the doorbell on the screen. And when the lock keeper notices it, he will open the lock for the fish. 

In its first spring season in 2021, people around the world rang the fish doorbell more than 100,000 times. If you want to join them to help fish, visit the website and ring the fish doorbell next spring. 

Winter comes after autumn and before spring. It brings snow and ice. Here are different ways to know it's winter.

The days are short and the nights are cold. The winter solstice (冬至) is the start of the coldest days in winter, and it is the shortest day of the year!

The sun isn't warm in winter. There is lots of snow in winter. People and animals don't like to go outside.

In winter, when you look outside, you'll see a lot of brown things, not the green ones. There are no leaves on most of the trees.

Some animals hibernate. They sleep in winter. But others keep food in autumn to eat in winter, because it is difficult to find food. Many birds fly from the north to warm places for the winter. They will come back when spring comes.