What might the future be like? Here are some predictions: things to come, things to go.
     The Spring Festival, the most important Chinese holiday when everyone returns home, has caused headaches
for millions of Chinese. More than 2 billion people travel at the same time, making getting travel tickets and the
journey difficult. But in 28 years, Spring Festival travel may not be a problem at all. China plans to build more
than 120,000 kilometers of railway and a fast transportation network that will serve 90% of the population by
2020. And because most of China will be cities, people will not have to go to other places to find a job, so it will
no longer be a problem. 
     Newspaper will come to an end in 2043. In the future, digital (數(shù)字的) newspapers will be sent to personal
web tools through Internet. Readers can discuss topics with journalists and editors. Information will move
faster.
     Oil is running out faster than expected. But scientists have found something else for oil as fuel (燃料). Coal,
natural gas, solar power, nuclear power and even water can take the place of oil as sources of energy (能源).
     Schools will go electronic (電子化). Computers will be important and popular among the students.
Everything will be in the computer and students will not need to bring books to school. They will find
information on the Internet. A computer will be the students' library, schoolbag and connection to the outside
world. There will be robot teachers, they will check homework on computers and communicate with the
students' parents through e-mail. And school buses will be like spaceships, comfortable and safe.

1. More than 2 billion people have a hard time returning home during              .

A. Christmas Day
B. National Day
C. the Spring Festival
D. the Mid-autumn Festival

2. The newspapers will disappear              .

A. in 28 years
B. by 2020
C. by 2053
D. in 33 years

3.              is not mentioned in the passage as sources of energy.

A. Coal
B. Wind
C. Nuclear power
D. Water

4. From the passage we can know              in the future.

A. the Spring Festival travel may still be a problem
B. 90% of the population will live in the city
C. robot teachers will check homework
D. readers can discuss topics with each other through Internet

5. What's the main idea of the last paragraph?

A. Schools will go electronic
B. Computers will be important
C. There will be robot teachers
D. School buses will be like spaceships

     Is human blood all the same? "Yes." You may say. "It's all red." 
     Well, it's not as simple as you might think.
     Blood is made up of different parts, such as red blood cells (紅血球), white blood cells and platelets
(血小板).
     Two chemical molecules (分子) on the red blood cells make people's blood different. Scientists mark one
molecule "A" and the other molecule "B". According to which and how many molecules are on the red cell,
scientists divide blood into four types: A, B, AB and O.
     Your blood type will stay the same all your life.
     Scientists have been wondering if there are some links (聯(lián)系) between people's blood types and their
personalities, but they are not certain.
     But some say that people with the same blood type may have things in common.
     What's your blood type? Do you have family members or friends who are of the same type as you? Read
the following.
     People with Type A: They look peaceful from the outside. But they ask too much of themselves that they
may be very nervous inside. They get happy or sad easily. Sometimes they are shy but always very careful.
They can easily win people's trust.
     People with Type B: They have strong minds. Once they start a task, they don't give up easily. They'll try
their best to finish it and do it well. Type B people always try to make themselves different from others. They
want to do things in their own way.
     People with Type AB: They are maybe the strangest among all blood types. They can be both open and shy,
noisy and quiet at the same time! They are responsible and always ready to help others.
     People with Type O: They are open and good at making friends. They always start tasks but don't always
finish them. They have lots of new ideas and love to be the centre of attention. They always strongly believe in
themselves.

1. The blood types are decided by _______.

A. the kind and amount (數(shù)量) of molecules on the white cell
B. the kind and amount of molecules on the red cell
C. the kind and the amount of platelets
D. the amount of white blood cells

2. Scientists are _______ about the relations between blood and personalities.

A. sure
B. not sure
C. worried
D. excited

3. If you are with Type B, you might _______.

A. have strong minds
B. be always ready to help others
C. look peaceful outside
D. always start a task and don't finish it

4. If a person is both open and shy, noisy and quiet at the same time, he or she might be with _______ blood.

A. Type O
B. Type A
C. Type B
D. Type AB

5. The best title of the passage is _______.

A. Blood Type
B. Red Cells and White Cells
C. Personality
D. Blood Type and Personalities

    A plant makes its own food in its leaves. Water comes to the leaves through the roots (     ). Air gets into
the leaves through very small holes. The green coloring (     ) in the leaves uses the water and air to make the
food for the plant. It also needs sunshine because a plant can make food only when the sun is shining. Animals
and people could not live without green plants. They both eat plants. People and some animals also eat the meat
of some animals and these animals eat plants.

1. A plant gets food from           .

A. the sun
B. the air
C. its roots
D. its leaves

2. What things can make the food for a plant?

A. Sunshine, water, air and the roots.
B. Water, air, meat and green coloring.
C. Air, sunshine, water and green coloring.
D. Water, sunshine, animals and green coloring.

3. A. plant has very small holes in its leaves           .

A. for water to come in
B. for air to come in
C. for sunshine to come in
D. for green coloring to come in

4. A plant can make its food when it is            .

A. sunny
B. rainy
C. cloudy
D. windy

5. From the text we know            .

A. people can't get food without animals.
B. people can't get plants without animals.
C. people can't get animals with out meat.
D. people can't get food without plants.

     Why do plants grow in some places and not in others? Why does some land have so much growing on it,
while other land has almost no plants growing on it at all.
     To grow, plants need several things. One is warmth. In very cold places almost nothing grows. Plants also
need water. In very dry parts of the Earth only a few unusual plants can grow. That's why dry deserts
everywhere are almost not covered by trees or grass.
     Plants must also have a place in which to put down their roots and grow. They find it difficult to grow on
hard land. The town is built on hard land. The plants here can only grow in the soil between the cracks (縫隙)
of the stones.
     Another thing plants must have before they can grow is food.
     What will happen if we try to make things grow on the sandy beach? A few plants, such as beach grass,
will grow in sand, but most plants won't. Even if the weather is warm enough and we water the plants each
day, many of them will die because the sand on this beach has almost no food for plants.

1. Plants can grow ______.

A. nowhere
B. somewhere
C. anywhere
D. everywhere

2. The passage tells us that plants need            things to grow.

A. two
B. three
C. four
D. five

3. Plants like to grow in            soil.

A. dry
B. hard
C. soft
D. hot

4. From the passage, we can know most of the plants aren't able to grow on the sandy beach
    because ______.

A. the soil is too poor
B. there is too much water
C. sunshine is not enough
D. sunlight is too strong

5. Maybe the passage can be found in a _____ book.

A. travel
B. history
C. physics
D. science

     Now people think that 1            is very important to communicate with others, so radio, telephone
and television are widely used all over the world. When you turn on the radio, you can listen. But when
you use telephone, not only can you listen to others but also you can chat 2             them. 3            ,
you can't see the other one at all. Television is even 4            (good) than both of them. People can
watch TV and listen to it, but you 5             (can) take part in what you see. Perhaps in the near future,
another new kind of phone will come into wider uses in our daily life.