I truly feel that my mother led me here, to Morzaine, and to my future as a happy wife and businesswoman. When Mum1  in October 2007, I was a cook. In December that year, a pearl (珍珠) necklace Mum had left me 2 . I was distraught (忧心如焚的). Some days later, I was 3  that a guy who was working with us that day，“could probably have made a fortune 4  the necklace he found”5 ， he returned it. When he heard how I'd6  Mum for six months before her death, he said, “Winter is coming, and I think this Christmas would be  7  for you. Why not go out to the Alps(阿尔卑斯山)for a couple of weeks？”

    I came to Morzaine, a small,8 village in the Alps and immediately fell in love with it. What was 9 to be a stopgap (权宜之计) trip turned into a new life. I kept travelling between London and here and felt 10  than I had in months. In December 2008, I was11as a hotel manager and moved here full time.

    A month later, I met Paul, who was traveling here. We fell in love. In the beginning, I didn't want to discuss 12 ， because the sadness of losing Mum 13 felt great. Paul understood that and never  14 me. But, by summer, we got married. A year later, we used his savings, and the money from the sale of Mum's house, to build our own 15. We want to give our guests a  16 feel, so each room is themed(以……为主题) around memories from our lives. There are also styles to remind me of Mum—a tiny chair which 17 be in her bedroom is set in one room.

    We are having a wonderful life and Mum18 naturally part of it,19  there's no way we would be here if it wasn't for the 20 she gave me. I know she's here in spirit, keeping an eye on us.

    Paen Long has had a dream ever since he saw a plane for the first time at the age of six. His dream was to 1 a plane. Last year, the 30-year-old man started building his plain 2. “I was afraid that people would 3 me, so sometimes I worked at night,” he said. It was a long time 4 he put his dream into practice. Finally, Paen Long decided to try to build his own plane, using the money he had 5 from running his own garage. He has spent three years 6 YouTube videos in order to 7 how to make a plane.

    It took him a year to build his plane, using mostly recycled materials. The plane's first 8 came at 3pm on 8^th, March. Local villages gathered excitedly to watch the plane fly. 9, the plane only got 50m in the air before crashing (撞击) to the 10. “When all people were looking at me, I felt very 11,” he said.

    Although the first try 12, Paen Long remains 13. His next project is to build a seaplane. Paen Long thinks the plane will cost over $10,000. “I never feel 14 for spending all my money building a plane,” he said.

    His wife, Hing Muoyheng, 15 about her husband, especially as they have two young sons. However, she has no 16. “I don't know how planes work and he doesn't have any 17 to help him. He can only search for information himself,” she said. “I tried to ask him to 18 a few times because I was afraid, but he said he wouldn't 19, so I have to support his 20.”

I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13. My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to E1 Capitan, a 1rock of 3, 300 feet straight up. I touched that giant rock and knew 2 I wanted to climb it. That has been my life's passion (钟爱) ever since— 3 the rocks and mountains of Yosemite. I've long made Yosemite my 4.

    About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of 5, like toilet paper, beer cans, and empty boxes, around the area. It's 6me why visitors started respecting the place 7 and treated such a beautiful home-like place this way.

    I tried 8trash(垃圾)myself, but the job was too big. I would 9an hour or two on the job, only to find the area trashed all over again weeks later. Finally, I got so 10it that I decided something had to change.

As a rock-climbing guide, I knew 11about organizing any big event. But in 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a 12. On that day, more than 300 people 13. Over three days we collected about 6,000 pounds of trash. It was amazing how much we were able to 14. I couldn't believe the 15 we made —the park looked clean!

    Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash and 16132 miles of roadway.

    I often hear people 17about their surroundings. If you are one of them, I would say the only way to change things is by 18rather than complaining. We need to teach by 19. You can't blame others 20you start with yourself.

    When we saw a programme on TV about a Christmas trip to Lapland, we knew our four children would love it. 1 them on any holiday is costly, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime 2 for our family.

    In October, we got the children to write Christmas 3 to Santa. They thought it was a bit soon but were 4 just how many letters Santa receives, so getting in early would make sure that he would read them.

    Our departure day arrived in mid-December. There was an explosion of excitement as we parked and 5 our suitcases onto a trolley (手推车) and the children realized we were 6going on a plane. The excitement built as we 7.

    It was all worth it. The look on their faces as we 8 in Rovaniemi, Finland, was 9. Four days of total magic followed. We took sleigh rides, 10 snow mobiles (雪地摩托) and patted reindeer. On our fourth day we finally ‘found' Santa, who had a genuine, thick white 11. His home was 12 from floor to ceiling with Christmas parcels, which was every child's dream.

    If that wasn't 13, he held four hand-written letters that our children immediately 14. Santa said, "So, you must be Thomas, Lucy, Alice and Philip and you've come all the way from England just to see me!" He turned to one of the towers of wrapped presents, 15 up and carefully withdrew four parcels. Each of them received a personally addressed 16 signed 'With love from Father Christmas' and inside was 17 what they'd asked for in their letters.

    Those four days in Lapland will 18 forever the most memorable of our lives. Our four children, now aged between 32 and 38, still talk about that 19 as the most wonderful Christmas ever where childhood magic came to 20.

English businessman Richard Branson made history on July 11, 2021 as he and three other crewmates became the world's first space tourists. The flight was made by a spacecraft named VSS Unity that was built by Branson's company, Virgin Galactic. The flight lasted slightly more than an hour, and took Branson and crew to an altitude（海拔） of 53. 5 miles above the Earth, just a little above the boundary（边界） of space which lies 50 miles above the Earth.

At that height, the atmosphere turns into the black of outer space and the Earth becomes a bent ball of blue. Travelers also exhibit weightlessness as there is no gravity, the force that keeps our bodies walking on the Earth's surface. Therefore, Branson and his fellows were able to float around in VSS Unity while enjoying the views. They were able to do that for three minutes before the spacecraft began its downward journey. It landed back at Virgin Galactic's space port in New Mexico, United States, which is the same place from where it took off 90 minutes ago.

On landing back, Branson said, "I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid but honestly, nothing could prepare you for the view of the Earth from space. It was just magical. I'm just taking it all in, and it's unreal."

July 11's flight is the start of space tourism for one and all. In early 2022, customers who could afford a ticket for a quarter of a million dollars could line up for a seat on a trip to space. And guess what—they will have a choice of spacecraft. Jeff Bezos, who owns a famous company, is all set to launch himself into space on July 20 on board a spacecraft built by his new branch company Blue Origin. Blue Origin will also carry tourists to space.

As far as we know batteries are playing an important role in our life. We couldn't live without batteries. Why so? Batteries provide power for anything from small sensors to large systems. While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri (MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.

" To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density (密度)", said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU." The radioisotope(放射性同位素) battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries."

Kwo n and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/ nanoelectromechanreal systems(M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said, they are safe.

" People bear the word‘ nuclear' and think of something very dangerous," he said," However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace- makers, space satellites and underwater systems."

His new idea is not only in the battery's size, but also in its semiconductor(半导体). Kwon's battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

" The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure(晶体结构) of the solid semiconductor, Kwo n said," By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem."

Together with J. David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwo n is working to build and test the battery. In the future, they hope to increase the battery's power, shrink its size and try with various other materials. Kwo n said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair.