Everyone {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (complain) about being stuck in traffic. It is quite possible that the future city will have no traffic at all. H.G Wells, in his book The Sleeper Awakes, tells something about the traffic. In the streets of that future London there will be no vehicles. The city {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (provide) with moving roads. One side of the road travels {#blank#}3{#/blank#} one direction; the other side moves {#blank#}4{#/blank#} opposite way. Anyone who wants to go to another part of the city steps on the moving “way” and sits on one of the seats until he arrives. He has none of the troubles {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a private car brings with it: whether there is enough petrol, whether the tyres are all right, where to park it. The moving way is always at his service, always moving {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (silent) along, always ready {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (take) him to his destination. That city of the future has no traffic jams.

    To link up the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (vary) cities, vehicles driven by atomic power will pass along highways {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (divide) into two main groups of lanes. Each group will consist of several lanes, some for slow traffic, some for fast. Crossroads will not exist on these highways, but will be replaced by bridges and junctions(交叉口). Where these highways enter {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (city), ports and other built-up areas, they will pass through underground tunnels.

    In Canada and the United States, people enjoy entertaining(请客) at home. They often invite friends over{#blank#}1{#/blank#} a meal, a party, or just for coffee and conversation.

    Here are the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (kind) of things people say when they invite someone to their home: "Would you like to come over for dinner Saturday night?” "Hey, we{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(have) a party on Friday. Can you come?"

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(reply) to an invitation, either say thank you and accept, or say you're sorry and give an excuse: "Thanks, I'd love to. What time would you like me to come?" {#blank#}5{#/blank#}"Oh, sorry. I've tickets for a movie."

    Sometimes, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, people use expressions that sound like invitations(邀请) but which are not real invitations. For example: "Please come over for a drink sometime." "Why not get together for a party sometime?" "Why don't you come over and see{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(we) sometime soon?"

    They are really just polite ways of {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(end) a conversation. They are not real invitations because they don't mention a specific(确定的) time or date. They just show that the person is trying to be{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(friend). To reply to expressions like these, people just say "Sure, that would be great!" or "OK. Yes, thanks."

    So next time when you hear what sounds like an invitation, listen {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(careful). Is it a real invitation or not?

    Qian Zhongshu was a Chinese scholar and writer, known for his wit and erudition(博学). Despite failing in mathematics, Qian {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (success) entered the Department of Foreign Languages under Tsinghua University in 1929 because of his {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (excellence) performance in Chinese and English languages. In Tsinghua, he met his wife Yang Jiang, who was to become a successful playwright and translator, and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (marry) her in 1935. In the same year, Qian received government sponsorship {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (promote) his studies abroad. Together with his wife, Qian headed for the University of Oxford in Britain. After {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (spend) two years at Exeter College, he received a bachelor of literature. He studied for one more year in the University of Paris in France, and he didn't return to China {#blank#}6{#/blank#} 1938.

    Qian lived in Shanghai from 1941 to 1945, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} was then under Japanese occupation. At that time he devoted {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (he) to writing and many of his works were written or published then. A collection of short {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (essay), Writing in the Margins of Life, was published in 1941. His most celebrated work Fortress Besieged appeared in 1947. On the Art of Poetry, written {#blank#}10{#/blank#} classical Chinese was issued in 1948.

    As an attractive city in the Netherlands, Amsterdam is one of the most bicycle-friendly{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(city)in the world, having over 800, 000 bikes in the capital. By comparison, the city has a population of only 750, 000, less than {#blank#}2{#/blank#}number of bikes. According to a survey{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(make)5 years ago, 490, 000 people used bicycles every day.

    Up to now, people in Amsterdam{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(enjoy)the convenience of cycling for decades. The city has special facilities for cyclists, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}can be used for free. Compared with other transportation in the city, bikes are{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(clean)and less expensive while also{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(offer)health benefits.

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#}reason for bicycle riding is that bicycle traffic is{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(relative)safe. Amsterdammers ride a wide variety{#blank#}10{#/blank#}bicycles. Many tourists also discover Amsterdam by bike, which is a typical Dutch way.

    One day, a father and his son were walking with their horse. An old man saw them and said, "You {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(suppose) to ride a horse, not to walk it!" The father then put his son on the horse.

    Soon they passed a group of people, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}said, "That's a lazy boy! He gets to ride the horse while his father walks." The father decided to take his son off and get on the horse himself. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}they kept going, they came upon two {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(passer-by). One said, "You are a {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(self) man! Your son has to walk while you get to ride!" The man then reached down and put his son on the horse with him.{#blank#}6{#/blank#}a while, they entered a town. Everyone started to laugh at them,{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(say), "You are too heavy for that horse!" The father and his son didn't know what {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(do).

    Finally, they decided to carry the horse. When they came to a bridge, the horse {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(fall) to the water. "If you try to please {#blank#}10{#/blank#}," the father told his son, "in the end, you will please no one." Then they went home.

    The Financial Times gave part of my job to a robot named Amy last week. For years I have been making podcast version(播客)of my column, but now I am faced with a tough competition.

    To be fair, Amy {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (do) something going for her. She has a great voice, smooth as velvet. Her{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(two) advantage is that she's practically free. She is part of a new service from Amazon that turns text {#blank#}3{#/blank#}speech, costing-nearly nothing. Even more {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (impress) is her speed. Less than two seconds after receiving my {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (write) text, which means when I just start to read, "Yesterday the Finan…", she has already finished.

    Yet once I got over my distress and listened to her work, I felt {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (good). I know it's early days for her, but at the moment Amy is no match for me. Listening to her is not like listening to {#blank#}7{#/blank#} non-English speaker read aloud, but to someone without brain, or heart, or sense of humor. Her {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (deliver) is so poor that I don't even understand. Amy never reads with understanding, never knows when {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (pause), and never does irony. She continues to get it wrong.

    Finally, I'm not afraid Amy is about to steal my job. Only people possess human touch. It is the heart-to-heart communication {#blank#}10{#/blank#} makes us special, beautiful and irreplaceable.