Street Markets Around the World

    There are many ways of shopping. You can shop by telephone, by post or through your home computer, but for many people, the most exciting way to shop is also the most traditional—at a street market. You can find markets anywhere in the world. Here are four of them:

    There are many "floating markets" in Asia; perhaps the most unusual(非同寻常) is in Thailand(泰国), at a place called Damned Saduak. It's open from six in the morning to the noon every day. People sell fresh fruit from their boats.

    Many Belgians(比利时人) say that the Grand Place is the most beautiful square in the world. It's the home of a colorful flower market. It's open every day except(除了) Monday. On Monday, instead of(替代) flowers, there's a wonderful bird market.

    One of the world's famous markets is in Mexico City(墨西哥城)—the Sonora Market. You can buy toys, birds, herbs(草本) and medicine. There're all kinds of things. It's open every day from early in the morning till late at night.

    In England, on Saturday and Sunday thousands of young people from all over London travel to the Camden Market—it's the place to go for street fashion, CDs and tapes. Many people also go there for fun.

    Read the passage carefully and complete the table with only one word for each blank.

    Back in the twentieth century, robots seemed to have a big future, at least in the movies. Like the robots servants in the Star War movies. It looked as if one day robots would do all the boring or dangerous jobs while the humans sat around doing something more interesting. But people were also frightened that robots might become the bosses, not the servants.

    Has it happened? You're still unlikely to see a robot walking around your town but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Robots are used in car making, and in areas which are dangerous for humans, in bomb producing and deep-sea discovering, for example. We employ robots instead of doing the job ourselves. According to the report, there are 750,000 working robots in the world today.

    These working robots definitely look like machines but many scientists are now trying to make robots look more similar to humans. So what will robots be able to do by the year 2030? There are already plans to use robots in hospitals and old people's homes. Robot nurses will remind patients to take their medicine or tell a doctor if the patient needs attention. But many people are worried about the idea of robots looking after the old, the sick and the very young, separating them from important human contact. It may also create unemployment. It is really possible that robots will be used for many jobs in areas.

    But can we be sure that the next generation robots will always follow human orders? Or even destroy them? Or will we be able to create robots with emotions? Only the future will tell.

    It's June 6. It's Jenny's birthday. She comes home and sees a card on the table. It says, "There is a present for you, Jenny. Go and look for it in your bedroom (卧室)." Jenny runs to her bedroom. She sees a red box on her bed. She opens it. There is another (又一) card in it. Jenny takes it out and reads, "Dear Jenny, I'm your present. My first letter is in 'some', but not in 'come'. My second letter is in 'have', but not in 'save'. My third letter is in 'live', but not in 'love'. My fourth letter is in 'for', but not in 'of '. My fifth letter is in 'take', but not in 'cake'. What am I?"

    Jenny thinks and then she says, "Aha, I know! But where is it?" Jenny finds (找到) it behind the door.

    About one hundred years ago many educated people learned and spoke French when they met people from other countries. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It has become the new international language. There are more people who speak English as a second language than people who speak English as a first language. Why is this?

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} One of them is that English has become the language of business. Another important reason is that popular American culture (like movies, music, and McDonald's) has quickly spread all over the world. It has brought its language with it.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} I don't know. It's important to have a language that the people of the earth have in common. Our world has become very global(全球性的) and we need to communicate with one another. On the other hand, English is quite a difficult language to learn and it brings its culture with it. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Scientists have already tried to create an artificial(人造的) language that isn't too difficult and doesn't include any one group's culture. It is called Esperanto. But it hasn't become popular. But maybe the popularity of English won't last that long either. Who knows? There are more people in the world who speak Chinese than any other language. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Do we really need that?

B. So it is important for people to learn French.

C. There are many reasons why English has become so popular.

D. Today most people speak English when they meet foreigners.

E. Maybe someday Chinese will be the new international language.

F. More than six thousand languages are spoken in the world today.

G. Is it good that English has spread to all parts of the world so quickly?