new journal

China is no doubt one the most remarkable places in the world today, particularly in terms of its architectural marvels. Its buildings, many of them epic in size and design, range from the ancient to the high-tech and modern. National Geographic Channel''s China Special Month is about the stories of the modern-day architectural projects in China that are producing amazing new buildings for the world to enjoy.　　Beijing Water Cube is one of the programs in this series, and it is very much about the modern as opposed to the ancient. The Beijing Water Cube is a building for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The building, which will be the National Aquatics Center, is indeed in the shape of a cube, but its appearance is far from run-of-the-mill. It is made of a steel honeycomb-like frame covered in a unique skin that is modeled after soap bubbles. Simply put, the effect is that the Water Cube looks like an enormous cube-shaped bundle of bubbles.　　The bubbles are made of a plastic called ETFE, which is also used to protect spaceships from cosmic radiation. One of the advantages of ETFE is that it traps solar energy in the winter and reflects it in the summer, helping to control the building''s temperature. 3,500 bubbles had to be cut individually and sized in order to create the honeycomb-like structure. The bubbles are not identical or symmetrical, but seem to be organized randomly, with different shapes and sizes nestled together. Despite its random appearance, however, the soap-bubble structure used in the design has a geometry that''s perfect for a high-tech building. Soap bubbles actually always cling together in regular patterns, and the fragile-looking skin of the building''s bubbles—the plastic covering is only 1/5 of a millimeter thick!—is entirely safe.　　Tune in to Beijing Water Cube to get the full story on this incredible new structure.

1. it’s a short article I found in IVY website. It’s an article that writes about the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. And in the program in this series, China has built a water cube. It’s very moderate. There are already many old and full of china’s cultures in Beijing. So they built a moderate water cute in Beijing city. And this article introduces this water cube.
2. new words:1.marvels( the things or people that make people surprise) 2.steel(iron) 3. random(easy going)
useful word:1.particularly 2.center 3. in the shape of 4.advantage 5. identical 6. organize

3. I am very looking forward to the Beijing Olympics. But due to the earthquake in Szechwan. China has face a very hard situation. I feel really sorry for the people in Szechwan, especially the innocent children that bury alive. Before the earthquake, I think 2008 is a very special and great year for china. Olympics is such a exciting thing to expect. But now I just hope for the best that China can get over 2008 peacefully and cnoothly.