My name is Alice. I'm 13. I like sports very much. I have a basketball and a football at home. They are under my desk. I often(经常)play balls with my friends. I like vegetables. I often have tomatoes and carrots for lunch. I like ice-cream, too. My parents are doctors. They like watching soccer games on TV.

    What will happen in 100 years? What will the changes be? Can you imagine? The population is growing faster. There will be more people in the world and they will live longer than people now. Maybe some of the rich can live on the moon. Hand-held computers will be much smaller and more useful and there will be at least one in every home. The Internet speed will be much faster. People will work fewer hours than they do now and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and traveling. Traveling will be much easier and cheaper. There will also be changes in our food. No one will eat meat every day, they will eat more fruit and vegetables instead. Work in the future will be different, too. Dangerous and hard work can be done by robots. Because of this, many people will not have enough work to do. This will be a problem.

Information Card

The Art of Paper

    Chen Zijiang is a paper-cutting expert whom I interviewed for my article on Chinese Art. Paper-cutting is something that he learned to do from an early age.

    "It is a Chinese folk art with a long history," Mr Chen told me, "Paper cuts of animals have been found in tombs{#blank#}1{#/blank#}" He added that by the Southern Song Dynasty, paper-cutting had become an important part of everyday life.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They are paper cuts for decoration, for religious purposes(宗教目的) and for design patterns.

    Paper cuts for decoration are often seen on windows and gates.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} They are also used on presents. A present for parents whose child has recently been born might show a paper cut of children, for example. Paper cuts which show the Chinese character for double happiness are often used to celebrate weddings.

    Paper cuts for religious purposes are often found in temples.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The third kind of paper cuts are those used to make patterns on clothing. They are also sometimes used to decorate jewellery boxes {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. They are usually put up during holidays to bring good luck.

B. They are also used as offerings to the dead.

C. Dragons are very popular patterns for these designs.

D. They can date back to the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasty.

E. Mr Chen went on to explain that there are three types of paper cuts which people still make today.

    It was night by the time she came to a town. Just outside the town, there was a large temple(寺庙). It was very quiet. There was only one light in one of the rooms.

    "I will stay here tonight," she thought.

    The temple was quiet because only a goblin(小妖精)lived in it. But the girl did not know this.

    Once inside the temple, she came near to the only room. She knocked on the door, but no one came.

    "Is anyone here?" she called quietly.

    There was no answer, so she went into the room. Inside the room, there was only a mat(垫子)on the floor, a light near the window, and a large paper screen.

    The girl wanted to sleep, but she also wanted to draw some cats. She drew them on the paper screen. She drew cats of every kind.

    After that, she lay down and went to sleep. Then she remembered the nun's words: Don't go into large places at night. Go only into small ones.

    "This room is very large. And I am alone. I'll hide myself."

    She looked around the room and saw a large box. She opened the box and looked inside. It was empty.

    "Good," she thought. "I can hide in this box."

    In England, usually people don't talk very much. You can go on a bus, or on a train, and everyone sits looking out of the window. Often they read. They read books and newspapers, but they don't talk much. When you meet English people, they often talk about one thing—the weather. So when you meet someone in England, you can say, "Nice weather at the time of the year!"

    "But it's a little cold," someone may answer. "But it'll be warmer later!" you can say.

    The English will think, "How friendly you are!"