What does space smell of?

Hello World! I smelled Space for the first time in my life!

Being in space has its wonderful sides. You can fly instead of walking. And you can play with your food! You forgot your book at the other side of the ship. No problem! You ask someone close to it to send it to you. That means they pick it up and very gently push it towards you, and here it is!

The days here start at about 4:00 am and end at about 7:30 pm. 7:30 is supposed to be lights out! But it is the time when everyone can relax a bit and just chat, make some personal calls to family members, or simply look out of the window and admire the views. As you may know, the station makes a complete orbit every 90 minutes, so when I talk about night don't think of it as night on the Earth when it is dark outside. The sun rises and sets during each orbit and you can watch 32 beautiful sunrises and sunsets a day!

Keeping good hygiene* in space is not easy! There is no shower or running water. Water does not 'flow' here, it 'floats'! We use wet towels and dry towels for cleaning ourselves. The most interesting experience — or I should call it experiment — is washing your hair. I know why people keep their hair short in space. You basically take a water bag and slowly make a huge water bubble over your head and then very gently, using a dry shampoo, you wash your hair. At the slightest sudden movement, little water bubbles start floating everywhere.

Hello World,

I'm writing my last blog from orbit. We've just finished our last supper in orbit. Misha Tyurin then gave a beautiful speech. He talked about how we, people, from different countries, backgrounds and cultures, have established a special link. He continued, "One day the space station will burn in the atmosphere but the memories of this trip and our friendship will live..." Misha's speech was so touching that I could not hold my tears anymore. I felt I was losing something special. It is true that you establish a link up here that is hard to break. I'm sure I will never forget my friends.

2. The astronaut mentions some advantages of being in space. Find this extract and read it aloud. 3. What did you learn about the daily routine at the space station? 4. Why is it difficult to keep hygiene in space?

№54

1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

SPECIAL REQUEST TO EDUCATION MINISTER

When the senior class of Gardane School heard that it might not get a new teacher for their elementary school, the pupils wrote to the Minister of Education. They live in or near a village in a mountainous district of Martonia where it is difficult to recruit doctors and teachers. Their request was published in a national paper and has become a common topic of conversation in a country where there is great concern about people leaving rural areas for the cities, This is the letter:

Dear Minister,

We are writing to ask for your help. We need a new teacher for the senior class in our school, and we are worried because our parents have been told that the Ministry cannot find one. Our school is very important to us and we like coming here to learn.

Gardane is a small village. Every visitor from the city says our valley is very beautiful and that we are lucky to live here. So why isn't there a new teacher who wants to come here? We don't mind how old the new teacher is, or whether it's a man or a woman. They should like the country and outdoor life, and be healthy. We would like someone who is patient, happy and does not shout, The teacher should be clever and know how to help us understand things. We.d like our teacher to be properly dressed and to come on time. They should be kind, make us feel happy in the school, and help us make our classroom nice. We would like someone who thinks of exciting things to do, inside and outsid school. For example, our last teacher got us to write down the history of the village which our grandparents knew — we didn't realise how much the village had changed; make a nature calendar so we learned more about farming and about the animals and plants in our valley; read all sorts of books and write a newspaper about our village.

If the Ministry does not send us a teacher, we will have to leave our families and our valley to go to school.

Please help us!

Yours sincerely

The pupils of Gardane school.

The pupils have not had a reply yet, and so far the Ministry has refused to comment on the situation.

2. The children mention some qualities that their future teacher should possess. Find this extract and read it aloud.

3. Why did children like their last teacher?

4. What will happen if the school doesn't get a new teacher?

№55

1. Read the article and say in 2—3 sentences what it is about.

Jewish

еврейский, иудейский

to sniff

обнюхивать

a wolf-cub

волчонок