Someday in the future we may not need to have money in our pockets. Is life easier when people don’t need to carry any money at all? Is money heavy to carry? Is it safe to carry money? Maybe in the future each of us will have only one small credit card（信用卡）. We will use it instead of money to buy all the things.

Of course we may still have some of the same problems with cards we now have with money. For example, we lose money from time to time. Maybe we will lose the cards. Maybe someone will take the cards. Someone may even make a card that looks like our cards. Since we can’t buy anything without our cards, the credit cards may be no better than money.

Is there something easier to use than credit cards? Each of us has a thumbprint（拇指指纹）. No two thumbprints are the same. Maybe someday the government will keep people’s thumbprints with a number. When you want to buy something, you will put your thumb on a machine or a computer. Each store or business will posses one. Everyone’s thumbprints will be in the computer. It will be difficult to lose our thumbprints! It will be difficult for someone to steal it or to make one like it.

Paris is   (1)  capital of France.   (2)   you will find many famous places of interest such as the Eiffel Tower. You can go to the Louvre Museum if you like art. The most famous street in Paris is the Champs-Elysees. This is the place to go if you want to   (3)   to some shops and department stores.        

France is very famous    (4)    its wine. There are many vineyards in the centre of France and farmers grow grapes to make excellent French   (5)   .

The south of France   (6)    on the coast, and it has many wonderful beaches. A French town    (7)   the sea is the perfect place for a summer holiday,   (8)    if you prefer to visit France in winter, you can try skiing on the mountains in the French Alps.

France has   (9)   for everyone, so why   (10)  visit France this year?

I am now a senior high school student. And I have a great many  46__, but there is one whom I like best. I first knew him when I began to go to school. He has been my close friend ever since.

 47  he is serious in appearance, he never fails to be interesting. Often he is clever and happy. He is the most 48  friend a person could have. He knows exactly everything of the world, all the events of history, and the words of all the great poets and philosophers (哲学家). As a kind donator (捐赠者), he is  49  by everyone who knows him.

To me, he has been a great  50__ as well as a friend. He first taught me the  _51__ of my own language and then those of others. With these  52  he showed me how to unlock all the arts and sciences of man.

My friend is  53  patient. I can turn to him  54 , and he is always ready to teach me. When I am bored, he makes me happy. When I am upset, he  55 . When I am lonely, he stays with me. He is a friend not only to me but to millions around the world. Shall tell you his name? His name is “Reading”.

The other day I heard an American say to a Chinese student in English. “You speak very good English.” But the student answered, “ No, my English is very poor.” The foreigner was quite

  41  at the answer. Thinking he had not made himself  42  or the student had not heard him clearly, he said, “Yes, indeed, you speak it very well.” But the Chinese student still kept saying  “No”.  43  the foreigner gave up and didn’t know what to say.

What’s wrong with the student’s answer? It is because he didn’t accept a compliment as the American people  44  . He should have said “Thank you” instead of “No”. He actually understood what the American had said. But he thought he should be modest. If someone says to a woman, “ You look  45  beautiful with the new clothes on.” she should be very happy and answer, “Thank you.” In our country we think   46  modest is a virtue(美德)and showing off is a bad behavior. But in the West, if you are modest and say, “ No,   47  I can’t do it well,” then the others will take it for granted (理所当然)that you  48  cannot do it. If you often say, “No”, you will certainly be looked down upon by others. When  49  for a job, if one says something like “Yes, I can certainly do it” instead of “ Let me have a try on the job”, he or she can expect to get it. So in the West, one should always be confident.  50  self-confidence, he can’t go anywhere. Confidence is of great importance to one in a country where competition is quite keen.(激烈)

 Everyone knows that Asian kids do well in math, but do you know why? Recently some researchers (研究人员）  (1)  a book. They try to tell us   (2)  Asian kids are good at math.

   The  (3)   reason is how short the spoken digits（数字） are.  (4)  the following numbers out loud: 4, 8, 5, 6.   (5)  you speak English, you’ll need more than two seconds, but in Chinese, you’ll need   (6)   than one.

   The second   (7)   is the structure of the number system. In English , we have words  (8)   fourteen, thirty-four, and fifty-seven. The number system in English is irregular（不规则的）, but it isn’t in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. These   (9)  have a logical counting system. In Chinese, eleven is ten-one. Twelve is ten-two. Twenty-four is two-tens-four, and so on.

   Above all, Asian kids learn to count faster. It makes them do math  (10)  than kids in other parts of the world.

Every year there is a Spring Festival in China. Usually it is in January or February. It is the most important festival in China. So before it comes， everyone has to prepare things. They buy pork， beef， chicken， fruits and many other things. And they often make a special kind of food—“dumplings”. It means “come together”. On the day before the festival，parents buy new clothes for their children. Children also buy presents for their parents. On the Spring Festival Eve（除夕），all the family members come back to their hometown. This is a happy moment. Some sing and dance，some play cards and others get the dinner ready. When they enjoy the meal， they give each other the best wishes for the coming year. They all have a good time.