A road is just like a bridge between two places. The Silk Road has been a bridge between East and West. But the Silk Road is not a single route! It is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes. From the time Zhang Qian opened up the world-famous Silk Road during the Han Dynasty, until the Yuan Dynasty, it enjoyed a history of about 1,600 years.

 This ancient road begins at Chang'an (now Xi'an), and it reaches Dunhuang, where it divides into three, the Southern Route, Central Route and Northern Route. And then it ends in Eastern Europe, near the Mediterranean Sea(地中海). The Silk Road is about 6,500 kilometers long. It goes across one-fourth of the planet. (3)In fact, there is another trade road which is called the “Silk Road on the Sea” in the southwest of China.

 The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and technologies were shared across the Silk Road. The Four Great Inventions of China was introduced to the West and Chinese also knew about the religions of the West. (4)In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other. Today, places along the Silk Road are great places of interest, such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu.

  先阅读短文，然后根据题目要求及所给语境完成下列任务。

   If you want to have a wonderful vacation, you can visit Kingston(金斯顿 ). It's a famous Canadian city on the bank of Lake Ontario (安大略湖). It is about three hours'  trip by bus from Kingston to Toronto(多伦多 ). There are some famous universities(大学)in Kingston. About 25,000 students study in these universities. Queen's University, founded in 1841, is more famous than any other university in Kingston. Kingston is one of the friendliest cities in the world and it welcomes tourists from all over the world. Wherever tourists go in this city, they will see a warm smile on the street or hear a happy "hello" in a public park. It's easy for them to feel at home

根据短文内容完成表格，每空一词。

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Mrs. Smith doesn't like to exercise outside, but she likes playing sports indoors.(在室内)

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Paul likes doing sports. He usually plays soccer in the park with his friends. His favorite sport is soccer.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Zhao Xiaolin wants to buy a camera. Then she can take photos and show them to her classmates.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Jim is very interested in pandas but he knows little about them. He wants to borrow some books on pandas.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Sally, an 18-year-old girl, wants to be thin. She likes to exercise outside.

Have you ever counted the number of digits (数字) in your mobile phone number? Your number has 11 digits. You may sometimes find it hard to remember your number. That's because China has the longest mobile phone numbers in the world. Why is that?

    The 11 digits can be divided into three parts. Each part has a different meaning. The first three numbers tell you which mobile phone service company it is. For example, 135 is for China Mobile Communications Corporation and 188 is for China Unicom. The fourth to the seventh digits tell you where the number is registered (注册). And the last four digits are random (随机的).

    The main reason for using 11 digits is that we have the largest population in the world. We once had 10 numbers. But as our population grew, there were not enough numbers for us to use. So we began to use 11 digits starting from 1999. Eleven digits can be used to make tens of billions of mobile phone numbers. That's enough for each person to have seven or eight phone numbers to use in China.

    And mobile phone numbers can be recycled. Usually, the service company will reuse a canceled number after three to six months. If you call a number that you haven't contacted for a long time, you may find that its owner has changed.

    Besides China, Britain and Japan also use 11-digit mobile phone numbers. But their numbers always start with 0. So they cannot create as many numbers as we can. Countries like the United States, Australia and India use phone numbers with 10 digits. Canada's mobile phone numbers are perhaps the shortest in the world: they use seven digits.

Canadian: In my country, the mobile phone numbers use seven digits. Why does this mobile phone have 11 digits—13958583739?

Salesman: We have the largest population. Besides China, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} also use 11-digit numbers.

Canadian: What do the numbers mean?

Salesman: The number {#blank#}2{#/blank#} tells you which mobile phone service company it is.

    The {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to the seventh numbers tell you the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} of its registration. The number 3739 is random.

Canadian: Can you {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the phone numbers?

Salesman: Yes, after three to six months.

From the Other Side

    Lara and Tara are twins.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, but they are very different in everything else. For example, hot food is Lara's favorite, and Tara has a sweet choice.

    However, this isn't the problem with the twin girls. They always argued that the opposite one was wrong.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, while Tara insisted that mornings were fresh and it was difficult to stay up till midnight.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. To put an end to their fights, their parents decided to create a small drama. They wanted the girls to understand that they were both correct from their own point of view. Their parents covered the girls' eyes with black ribbons, and brought them to the dining room. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Lara was asked to stand on one side of the board and Tara on the other. They couldn't see the other side of it. When the ribbons were taken away, they were surprised to see a huge board between them.

    Now, their father asked Lara, "What's the color of the board?" She replied, "It's black!" {#blank#}5{#/blank#}She replied, "It's white!" The two girls began to argue again. While Lara was confident it was black, Tara was sure it was white. Then, they were asked to exchange(交换)their places. They couldn't believe their eyes. Tara, who insisted it was a white board, saw a black one. Similarly, Lara, who argued the board was black, was shocked to see a white one. They understood that each of them was right in her own view. Most of us are like Lara and Tara. We are right most times, but insist that others are wrong!

A. They look like each other

B. For years, their arguments continued

C. Their mother asked Tara the same question

D. In the room, a big board was placed in the middle

E. Lara thought it was terrible to get up early in the morning

    These days, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" is the wrong question to ask children in the USA. The question should be: "What job are you doing now？"American companies are employing more and more young people as consultants(顾问)to evaluate(评估)products for child consumers. The 12-to-19 age group spends more than $100 billion a year in the USA. Specialist agencies help manufacturers ask kids about all the latest trends in clothes, food and other markets. One company, Teenage Research Unlimited, has groups of teenagers who give their decisions on products like jeans. Another company, Doyle Research Associated, holds two-hour meetings in a room called the "imaginarium". Children are encouraged to play games to get into a creative mood. They have to write down any ideas which come into their heads.

    Some manufacturers prefer to do their own market research. The software company Microsoft runs a weekly "Kid's Council" at its headquarter in Seattle, where a group of school children give their decision on the latest products and suggest new ones. They are called young consultants. One 11-yearold consultant, Andrew Cooledge, told them they should make more computer games which are suitable for both boys and girls. Payments for the work are increasingly attractive, Andrew Cooledge was paid$250 and given some software. However, even if their ideas are valuable, the children will never make money. They cannot have the copyright to their ideas.