In the early 1990s the word "Internet" was strange to most people. But today, Internet has become a useful tool for people all over the world. Maybe Internet has been the greatest invention in the field of communication in the history of mankind. Communicating with others on the Internet is much faster. We can chat with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. We can e-mail our friends and they can read the e-mails within a minute.
   Giving all kinds of information is probably the biggest advantage of the Internet. We can use search engines to find the information we need. Just type in a keyword or keywords and the search engine will give us a list of suitable websites to look at.

   We can enjoy a lot on the Internet by downloading games, visiting chat rooms or surfing(浏览)websites. There are some games for free. We can meet new and interesting people in the chat now. We can also listen to music and see films.
   Now, there is a lot of service on the Internet such as online banking, job finding and ticket buying. We can also do shopping and find nearly all kinds of goods. Sometimes we can find something that is quite good but very cheap.

　　　When you're not at home, many worries may start to crowd your mind. Did I turn the coffee maker off? Did I lock the door? Are the kids doing their homework or watching television? With a smart home, you can quiet all of these worries.

　　　A smart home is a home with a communication network. This network connects devices(装置),such as lights and TV sets, and allows them to be controlled from far away through electrical wiring, mobile phone communication or WiFi over the internet.

　　　More and more people may start to consider owning a smart home, because it makes life much more convenient. It can help keep your room at a certain temperature. It can record what happens inside the home and send the video to your phone. When you are on vacation abroad, you can use a smart home controller to switch on or off the electricity when necessary. Some smart homes can receive a visitor, allowing him to come in and offering him a drink. They can even feed the cat and water the plants.

　　　Besides, smart homes are easy to fix. Most smart home technology and devices are wireless and can be set up with a minimum of tools, using only the guiding information. When a problem appears, you can deal with it yourself without paying a professional.

　　　However, for home-users, the smart home technology is far from perfect. It can be rather expensive to own the technology and the devices. Also, because the smart home system(系统)allow its owner to get home information from anywhere, it leaves the home easy to be attacked by hackers(黑客),who may secretly use or change the information in the system.

　　　Now, many scientists are excited at the future of smart home technology. Imagine being able to get fashion advice from your mirror, or receive food shopping suggestions from your refrigerator. While there are others who worry that those smart devices will make people lazier and lonelier. Whatever it is, one thing is for sure—smart home technology will change the way we live and work.

阅读下面短文, 从每小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

    Wikipedia is an online free encyclopedia. There are more than 38 million articles about society, history, culture, music, science, technology, geography and so on. On this website, people can find articles about almost everything in the world. Wikipedia has also developed 292 language versions for people to read in their own languages.

    Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger started this encyclopedia project on 9th March, 2000. It was called Nupedia at first. And all the articles were written and checked by experts. Wales thought that the website should be a place where its users could not only find information but also share what they knew. So they tried to use a wiki system（wiki is a Hawaiian word "wee kee wee kee" which firstly meant "quick"）. On 10th January, 2001, they began a new project to improve Nupedia. On 15th January, 2001, the new online encyclopedia named Wikipedia was set up. Wikipedia achieved a great success.

According to the Alexa Traffic Rank report on 22nd May, 2016, Wikipedia is the seventh most popular website in the world. Every single user helps to make this popular free encyclopedia.

    According to a new scientific research, we are rapidly going close to major climate change and the effects on the environment could be quite serious. Geographers predict that climate zones could completely disappear within the next eighty years. Where will crops be grown if this happens? When the climate changes a lot, polar regions will get colder and tropical regions will get even hotter. As a result, where will animals be forced to move on the earth?

    Climate changes like these could lead to the spread of diseases. Tropical storms and hurricanes(飓风) will not only increase but may also become stronger. If the changes come too quickly, animals and plants may not be able to adapt(适应) right away and could disappear from the earth.

    According to Science Daily, a new study predicts that, by the year 2100, many of today's familiar climates will be taken place by climate unknown in today's world. It is urgent that we reduce the risks of far-reaching results for the whole world. The planet itself has been showing signs of change. In 2004, a huge tsunami created by a major earthquake killed thousands in Sumatra and in 2008, thousands more died in China in another big earthquake. Egypt was hit in 2009 with a major earthquake and Haiti was destroyed seriously and became ruins in 2010 by another big earthquake.

    Not long ago, scientists discovered ice melting(融化) in west Antarctica(南极洲). This is very worrying because temperatures in this area have remained rather constant(不断的) and actually even lower at time. Melting occurs when temperatures increase and since temperatures have remained, the ice should not be melting. However, satellite data(数据) shows melting around west Antarctica.

    Within just the last few months, new reports from around the world have been coming in and most agree that our climate situation is much worse than previously expected. At this point, it doesn't matter what is causing it, but rather, what can be done about it. On the other hand, our world is getting more and more unstable(不稳定) every year. Natural disasters(灾难) are becoming more frequent(频繁的) and serious.

    However, other planets are experiencing global warming as well as our own and some scientists believe there may be some connections between these. No one knows anything for sure at this point because there is simply not enough data.

    Have you seen advertisements about hair care products? The models(模特) have shining hair like jewels(宝石). But now making hair shine is no longer the task of hair care products, because hair can be made into real jewels. Believe it or not, a company called LifeGem in the US makes it possible.

    The company is in the business of taking hair from dead people and making them into diamonds(钻石). Now the company plans to make three diamonds using Beethoven's hair to show their latest technology. The work will take about 7 months. In the end, Beethoven's long hair will become three shining diamonds.

    Since the great musician died in 1827, you may wonder where they got Beethoven's hair. A man called John Reznikoff gave the hair to the company. He holds the Guinness World Record for the latest and most valuable collection of celebrity(名人) hair. His collection also includes hair of Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. In total, the collection is worth over five million dollars.

    Though it sounds unbelievable, diamonds made with hair are for the families to remember the dead.

    Heritage (遗产) is traditional customs, history and beliefs. We use the word "heritage" in many different ways. People talk about their family heritage, city heritage and national heritage.

    Today, heritage is changing. The Internet connects people around the world. In many ways this is a good thing, because we can learn about the heritage of other countries, and we can show our own heritage to the world. However, some people worry that traditional heritage is disappearing. In many ways, countries are becoming more and more alike(相似的). In most countries around the world, you can find KFC. Nike shoes, Starbucks coffee. American movies and so on. Some people think this is a good change, and others don't like it. You can decide whether or not it's a good thing.

    However, everyone wants to protect traditional heritage, and sometimes this is hard. For example, when a new KFC opens in your city, a traditional restaurant might have to close.

    That is why heritage protection is so important. Heritage protection is a simple thought. It means keeping your country's or your city's heritage alive. People do this in many ways. The biggest part of heritage protection is probably preserving (保护) old buildings. Some suggestions of heritage protection are making sure your kids speak your traditional language, and teaching knowledge about heritage to them.

    The world is changing. No matter how it changes, never forget the heritage of our parents and grandparents.