Hello, everyone! I'd like to tell you something about a famous scientist named Qian Xuesen. He was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province on December 11, 1911. After he graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1934, he got a chance to study in USA. After he graduated, he became a teacher as well as a researcher who studied rockets and missile theories.

    When he was 44, he returned to his motherland and the country's space research was almost a blank. In 1956, he set up the first research institute of rockets and missiles. He made such important contributions to the missile and space programs that he was honored as "The Father of China's Missiles". The Chinese people are proud of him.

    He passed away on October 31, 2009 at the age of 98, but all the Chinese will remember him forever. His devotion to his country was expressed in his saying, "My career is in China, my success is in China and my destination is in China!" When someone said he could make much more money if he stayed in the United States, he laughed and said," My family name is Qian, but I don't like qian." His spirit encourages us to love our country and devote ourselves to science.

    I have always had a love for traveling abroad. Last year, I took a trip to London alone. Those nights，I stayed in a youth hostel（青年旅社）. For me，hostels are places where I can meet and talk to different people. It is great fun for me. During the stay in the hostel, I met two girls, one from Brazil and the other from Slovakia. We three had very happy talks together. We shared our personal travel stories and the interesting people we met with one another. The girl from Brazil was actually a lawyer（律师）. 她帮助人们解决他们的家庭问题。 She was taking a trip to Europe all by herself. The girl from Slovakia had much interest in photography（摄影）. Because I was also a photography fan, we ended up talking all night and sharing experience in using a camera.

    The best part is that they both became close friends of mine. Even now, sometimes we still talk with each other online. Last month, I got some photos from the Brazilian girl. To my surprise, she had a baby daughter and they were laughing happily in the photos. I was so happy for her. And it's such a great thing to know that there are people remembering you from far away. Though you may just meet each other for a few hours, you have someone caring about you in the other side of the world. And I think that is the most amazing part of traveling. So if you have free time, maybe you can try to travel abroad to relax yourself as I do.

In China, students go to school in many ways. Some students go by bus, some go by bike and some walk to school. Do you know how Japanese students usually go to school?

In the city, students usually go to school near their homes, so many students walk to school. It usually takes them 10 to 20 minutes to get to school. But in the village, schools are usually far from students' homes. It usually takes them 40 minutes to an hour to walk to school. Many students in the village go to school by train, because the train goes quickly and doesn't need much time.

Many Japanese schools are small but nice. And students seldom(很少) take the school bus. Parents also seldom drive their children to and from school. Sometimes children walk to school with their friends living near them. To make sure of their security, some kind people will help children cross the road when there are lots of cars on the road.

A US high school with only 200 students is producing some of the world's best technology. 

Students at this school made cars with improved fuel efficiency(燃油效率) and other inventions, too. And now, the students are designing a washing machine for outer space. They hope it will be accepted by NASA or us. 

NASA asked for ideas through ifs HUNCH program, which is short for "High School United with NASA to Create Hardware". Braham Area High School is one of the 100 schools in the program. 

The challenge is to come up with a good way to wash clothes on long-time space tasks, where air and water don't mix and soap can't be used. On shorter space tasks, astronauts simply throw away their dirty clothes. For longer tasks, a different solution is needed. 

The team has already built a system using a series of pumps(泵) and vacuum chambers(真空室)，but NASA were afraid that it might not be durable(耐用的). 

The washing machine isn't the only NASA project Brahma students are working on. They're also designing and building a track system to hold equipment. NASA said it plans to use their system. 

They're also designing an automated(自动化的) feeding system for space mice. NASA regularly takes mice into space as test subjects. 

"To get a kid to do something that they never thought they could do, that's really great! " said Luke Becker, the school's technology teacher. "There are kids who never planned to do anything in technology until they had these chances. "

Do you know something about the holiday camps in Hong Kong? The students in Hong Kong often took part in an English holiday camp in their holidays. And their parents weren't with them. Though they were very young.

Now they still enjoy taking part in many kinds of holiday camps without their parents. Many parents let their children take part in some kinds of holiday camps in order to (为了) learn some practical knowledge in their life. And also learn some knowledge about living skills, science, reading and writing. The most important for the children is to learn to look after themselves.

Holiday camps in Hong Kong are not so expensive because the government (政府) never charges for them. Most of families can afford to send their children there for further study, for making their bodies strong...

It is said that students in Hong Kong have much knowledge about many things. Perhaps it has something with the kinds of holiday camps.

Do you have hobbies? Do you know what hobbies can help you? Here are some benefits of them.

They help you learn. When you have a hobby, you learn new things. You read books to get more information about your hobby. More reading makes you a better reader and a better learner.

They help you be relaxed. Having a hobby makes you feel good. Scientists say, "When you do things you like, the‘feel-good' part of your brain(大脑) makes you feel happy." When we feel happy, we will have no stress(压力). Too much stress can make people ill.

They help you make friends. You like playing basketball so you often play it in the playground. Then you will meet new friends from different classes. You like playing the erhu so you join the music club. You will stay with friends and enjoy the hobby together.

They help you learn skills. People with hobbies learn how to make plans and solve (解决) problems. Learning these skills when you are young can help you when you grow up.

So try to find a hobby, and stick to(坚持) it. It will help you a lot.