As is known to all of us, Beijing Opera is one of the most important opera styles in China. It is an art on the stage which has about 200 years' history. It is not only a treasure of the Chinese nation but also a cultural symbol of China. Similar to western operas, Beijing Opera is a combination of singing, dancing, martial arts, music and literature, so it is also called the "Oriental (东方的) Opera" by western people.

    Beijing Opera uses special imagery in creating the characters. All roles are divided according to sex, personality, age and profession and social status. Hangdang is the general term for role in Beijing Opera. There are four types of roles in Beijing Opera today. They are sheng, dan, jing and chou. The sheng is the male protagonist (主角), the dan the female protagonist, the jing (painted face) a male supporting role with a different characteristics, and chou (clown) a comic or negative figure. Each kind of role has their own face-painting and dressing to indicate their identities.

    The Opera's performance requires not only the gentle voice but also the proficiency (熟练) of martial actions. A successful opera actor must suffer from the tough practicing period. In the old time, the children of poor families were sent to the opera group in order to earn a living. While now, the real opera artists are well respected by opera lovers.

    Mei Lanfang, one of the most remarkable performing artists in Beijing Opera, was born in Beijing into a poor family. His life was bitter and he had no opportunity to go to school, so he went to the troupe (戏班子) when he was 8 years old to learn Beijing Opera. Mr. Mei was on the stage when he was 11 years old to perform the plays of Beijing Opera. He has been an opera actor for more than 50 years, performing hundreds of traditional plays and over 30 modern plays. He portrayed many bright and lifelike female figures on the stage and became the model in Chinese Beijing Opera and even within the entire artistic circle.

Man has invented four kinds of satellites(人造卫星).

Do you know "Lian Lian, Cong Cong, and Chen Chen"? They are the mascots (吉祥物) for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou. They are robots. "Lian Lian" stands for the West Lake. The West Lake is a world heritage site (世界文化遗产). Her name comes from the green leaves in the West Lake. It means clean and peace. "Cong Cong" stands for the world heritage site of Liangzhucity in Hangzhou. His name comes from the JadeCong. "Chen Chen" stands for the world heritage site of the Grand Canal. His name comes from the building of Gongchen Bridge on the Grand Canal.

After 16 days of exciting games, the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou ended on October 8th. Many people think that "Lian Lian, Cong Cong, and Chen Chen" brought so much fun to China in 2023.

The design (设计) of the mascots "Cong Cong", "Lian Lian", "Chen Chen" come from a designer named Zhang Wen and his wife Yang Yihong. She is a young teacher.

Do you know how to celebrate (庆祝) a birthday in the UK? People usually have dinner at a nice restaurant. If it is your birthday, you can choose the food and drinks you want.

Going to an amusement park (游乐场) for your birthday is also popular. There are many things to ride on, such as the roller coaster(过山车)and the big wheel (摩天轮). You can invite your friends to go with you. Of course, your parents will pay all the cost.

If the weather is nice and you have enough time, you can have a garden party. People usually play interesting games in the garden. For example, you can use a black cloth to cover your eyes, so you cannot see anything. Then you should use your ears to find and catch the other people.

Meituan has started drone (无人机) delivery (运送) service, Shenzhen Evening News reported. 

At Galaxy World in Longgang District, a reporter from the newspaper watched how a drone delivered a meal on Thursday. The drone slowly landed and a door above the Meituan Intelligent Dining Cabinet (智能餐柜) opened slowly. Finally, the drone put the meal box inside the cabinet. 

"It takes about 15 minutes to place the order and receive the meal. A lot of people have tried the drone delivery service here," said a woman who just took her meal box out from the cabinet. During 2022, food and drinks such as noodles, fruits, coffee and milk tea and even flowers have been delivered through Meituan's drone delivery system, the report said. 

The company said that it completed over 100, 000 drone deliveries last year. Meituan started to explore drone delivery service in 2017 and started the try in early 2021. The service has a delivery time of about 12 minutes, which is less than traditional delivery methods, according to the company. 

There are only a few cities in the world with the advantages of drone delivery service, and Shenzhen is taking the lead in China, according to the report. However, there are still some problems with this kind of service. 

Meet Ozmo, the Window Cleaning Robot

The rise in skyscrapers worldwide is creating a high demand （需求）for window washers. Although a window cleaner earns as much as $35 an hour, the job is dangerous and accidents are not uncommon. Between 1983 and 2008, more than 70 window washers died while doing their jobs.

To take human employees out of danger, a company called Skyline Robotics has come up with a way to solve the problem. Ozmo, a window cleaning robot, will take over the dangerous job.

Ozmo was created by Avi Abadi and Yaron Schwarcz from Skyline Robotics.They were inspired （赋予灵感）when they looked up at some skyscrapers and noticed that some people were risking their lives to earn a living. Both thought that there must be a better way.

So Ozmo was born. The robot can be controlled by humans safely from the ground, as it uses machine learning and computer vision to clean windows at any height. While on duty, Ozmo will be sitting on the platforms hanging from the buildings. It cleans the dirt on windows using its arms and brushes. As it moves up and down the building，the robot can"skillfully"avoid ledges（窗台）and other obstacles（障碍物）that it will possibly meet.A 3D map of the building's surface is programmed into Ozmo's system to help the robot in such cases.

Before Skyline Robotics was founded in 2017, Avi and Yaron worked as window washers for a few weeks to get to know the job.

Aside from helping humans perform this job safely, Ozmo also helps Mother Earth. Instead of soap, it cleans the windows using only distilled water. （蒸馏水）