天上的北斗
What is BeiDou, China’s GPS?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 抬头 | táitóu | to raise one's head |
| 亮 | liàng | bright; shiny; to shine; to light up |
| 星星 | xīngxing | star (in the sky) |
| 叫作 | jiàozuò | to be called; to be known as |
| 地球 | dìqiú | the earth; globe |
| 用来 | yònglái | to be used for |
| 准 | zhǔn | accurate; exact |
| 全 | quán | whole; all; entire; complete; completely; entirely |
| 全部 | quánbù | all; whole; entire; completely |
| 同时 | tóngshí | at the same time; simultaneously |
| 信号 | xìnhào | signal |
| 颗 | kē | classifier for small round things (grains, pearls, teeth, hearts, stars) |
English (for the teacher)
Long ago, people walking in the wild at night would look up for seven very bright stars that join up like a ladle. That is the Big Dipper, the “Beidou seven stars”. Follow them, and you can find north.
Today, China calls its own satellite navigation system “BeiDou” too. It does the same job as America’s GPS: it tells you where on Earth you are right now.
Why did China build its own? Because navigation isn’t only for finding your way in a car. Planes, ships, banks and power grids all need very precise positions and times. If you rely entirely on another country’s system, any problem has a big impact.
BeiDou wasn’t built in a year. In 2000, China launched its first BeiDou satellites, which could only be used around China then. Twenty years later, in 2020, the whole BeiDou system was finished, and the entire world could use it.
Now BeiDou is all around many people. Many phones can receive BeiDou and American GPS signals at the same time; delivery riders rely on it to find your building; farmers use it to make tractors drive straight lines by themselves; fishing boats at sea use it to report where they are.
Can your phone use BeiDou? You can look for it in your phone’s settings.