天上的“宫”
What is China’s space station Tiangong?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
“天宫”是中国的空间站。“宫”是很大很漂亮的房子，所以“天宫”就是天上的房子。二零二二年，天宫建好了。
天宫有三个大“房间”，它们连在一起，在离地球差不多四百公里的地方飞。
谁住在里面？一般是三个航天员。他们每次在天宫住差不多六个月，然后回到地上的家，再换三个人上去。他们在天宫里吃饭、看书、锻炼身体，也和家人打电话。
在天宫上，一天很不一样。天宫差不多九十分钟就能飞地球一圈，所以航天员一天能看到十几次太阳出来。他们睡觉的时候，要睡在一个大包里，这样才不会飞来飞去。
航天员在那里做很多实验，也会给地上的学生讲课。如果你能去天宫住六个月，你想带什么东西？
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一起 | yìqǐ | together |
| 离 | lí | to leave; to part from |
| 飞 | fēi | to fly |
| 里面 | lǐmiàn | inside; interior |
| 上去 | shàngqu | to go up |
| 身体 | shēntǐ | body |
| 次 | cì | next; second (as in 次日) |
| 包 | bāo | bag; sack |
| 这样 | zhèyàng | like this; this way |
| 房子 | fángzi | house; building |
| 地方 | dìfang | place |
| 换 | huàn | to change; to replace |
English (for the teacher)
“Tiangong” is China’s space station. “Gong” means a big, beautiful building, so “Tiangong” is a house in the sky. In 2022, Tiangong was finished.
Tiangong has three big “rooms”, joined together and flying about four hundred kilometres above the Earth.
Who lives inside? Usually three astronauts. Each time they stay on Tiangong for about six months, then return to their homes on the ground, and three more people go up. On Tiangong they eat, read, exercise, and phone their families too.
On Tiangong, a day is very different. Tiangong can fly round the Earth in about ninety minutes, so the astronauts see the sun come up a dozen or more times a day. When they sleep, they have to sleep inside a big bag, so that they don’t float all over the place.
The astronauts do lots of experiments there, and they also give classes to students on the ground. If you could live on Tiangong for six months, what would you take?