2017-05-08 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.Tianzhou 1, China's first cargo spacecraft, has completed the country's first in-orbit refueling test with the unmanned Tiangong II space laboratory.The China Manned Space Agency has called the mission a success. The space agency said the refueling test was a major technology breakthrough and has paved the way for China to assemble and operate a space station.The agency said China has become the third nation to complete in-orbit refueling technology, following Russia and the United States.As the first of the planned three such tests for the cargo spacecraft, the in-orbit refueling took five days. Making sure there is no leakage of fuel is crucial.The agency said that after the first test, the two spacecraft will stay connected as they orbit Earth for around two months. The second in-orbit refueling test will be conducted in June.After that, the two spacecraft will undock. The cargo vessel will make sophisticated, automated maneuvers to circle the space lab, and docking with the lab at a different site.This is Special English.China is to extend the current nine-year compulsory education to encompass high school students nationwide by 2020.A Guideline for Popularizing High School Education has been released by the Ministry of Education and another three ministries.The guideline aims to raise the gross enrolment ratio for high schools to above 90 percent on average nationwide. The rates in central and western China will be substantially improved.Last year, China's overall gross enrollment ratio was 87 percent for high schools, representing a tendency of a rise of 3 percent in the next four years.The ratio is a statistical measurement to show the number of enrolled students to those who qualify for certain grades, ranging from primary school to middle and high school periods. Over the past few decades, China required children to attend primary and middle schools, while high school was not obligatory.The new document is also to bridge the gap for regional disparity of high school education, as the central and western regions lag far behind eastern China.For example, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southwest China still has an insufficient number of high school teachers, demanding 13,000 more to reach the national average ratio of teachers to students. What's worse is that the region's high schools have debts worth 2 billion yuan, roughly 290 million US dollars.You're listening to Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing.Police have opened a new front in the war on drugs by targeting traffickers who recruit disabled people as couriers.Drug gangs target people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, as well as pregnant or lactating women, because Chinese laws contain a number of clauses allowing these "vulnerable people" to avoid prison. That, plus the offer of "easy money", is often enough for those from the poorest sections of society to run the risks associated with the trade.Last year, more than 5,300 such people were detained while transporting narcotics. Among them, 780 were foreign nationals, and a large number were from Myanmar. That's according to a report released recently by China's top anti-drug authority, the Office of National Narcotics Control Commission.In August, an 18-year-old pregnant woman from Myanmar was caught with almost 3 kilograms of methamphetamine stashed in 80 moon-cakes, a traditional Chinese delicacy.The couriers had been hired to carry the narcotics from Myanmar to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. The woman was caught as she was about to deliver the food to the buyer. In her confession, she said she was due to receive 5,000 yuan, roughly 730 US dollars, when the deal was closed.This is Special English.China's health authorities are installing vendor machines selling home HIV test ki