No one knows what would happen in the future for sure. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} we often think of the future and wonder what the world would be like {#blank#}2{#/blank#} a hundred years' time.

    Think of space. By that time perhaps {#blank#}3{#/blank#} permanent station on the moon will have been set up. Perhaps people {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(be) able to visit the moon as tourists. Cheap rockets for space travel will have been developed, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(permit) long journeys throughout the solar system. When that time comes, people will be taking holidays in space and visiting other planets, such {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the Mars Colony and the Venus Exploration outpost.

    Scientists of the future will almost certainly find other ways to make life last{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(long). They will {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(probable) find cures for most diseases. Hospitals will may have “body banks” {#blank#}9{#/blank#} can give you almost any new part you need to keep on {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (live). People in the future may live to be a lot older than 100 years.

    Sometimes your friends start to talk about a new video game or a new app they have downloaded. It sounds pretty cool, and your friends really seem to like it. You become so {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(interest) in it that you want to buy it too. Has this ever happened to you?

    In the US and in places around the world, there is a similar feeling of wanting the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(new), greatest tech gadgets (小玩意). There is a big {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(attract) to getting the latest technology even though people may not need it. But why is this?

    As to(关于) these technologies, there's {#blank#}4{#/blank#} initial （最初的） excitement that {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(get) people's attention, according to Richard Larson, a director at MIT, US. If there's a big group of people {#blank#}6{#/blank#} want these things, you want to be a part of the excitement too.

    One of the major US {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(company) that really take advantage of this is Apple. It comes out with a new iPhone with very small changes every year. But people still flock (涌入) to the stores even if they have just bought the previous phone.

    However,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} （buy）these things may not always be the best choice. You could be buying things that you don't really need and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (spend) too much money just for the right to show it off to your friends.

    Not only that, but our need to always be on your phones or playing video games takes {#blank#}10{#/blank#} a lot of time in our lives. So is this excitement over technology a good or a bad thing?

    Chengdu has dozens of new millionaires, Asia's biggest building, and new fancy hotels. But for tourists like me, pandas are its top {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (attract)．

    So it was a great honor to be invited backstage at the not for profit Panda Base, where ticket money helps pay for research. I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (allow) to get close to these cute animals at the 600­acre center. From tomorrow, I will be their UK ambassador. The title will be {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (official) given to me at a ceremony in London. But my connection with pandas goes back {#blank#}4{#/blank#} my days on a TV show in the mid­1980s, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} I was the first Western TV reporter {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (permit) to film a special unit caring for pandas rescued from starvation in the wild. My ambassadorial duties will include {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (introduce) British visitors to the 120­plus pandas at Chengdu and others at a research in the misty mountains of Bifengxia.

    On my recent visit, I held a lively three­month­old twin that had been rejected by {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (it) mother. The nursery team switches him every few{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (day) with his sister so that while one is being bottle ­ fed, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} other is with mom—she never suspects.

    My name is Billy Smith. I'm 50 years old this year. I tipped the scales at 32 stone two years ago. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(lucky), I managed to lose weight.

    I began to gain weight when my mom developed Parkinson's disease in 1992. I soon became her caregiver, and continued to provide her {#blank#}2{#/blank#} care for over 10 years. But when the pressure of taking care of my mother and {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(keep) my job got too much for me, I began to skip meals and feed on fast food. I gained weight quickly.

    My huge weight gain caused me to develop high blood pressure. I also had {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(difficult) in breathing at times. In 2014 I went to see my doctor, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} told me that I would die within two years if I didn't lose weight. I didn't want to die. I wanted to see my young son grow up, and I knew {#blank#}6{#/blank#} was time to change.

    I started to eat healthy food and work out in the gym. Finally, I {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (succeed) in losing weight. Now I weigh just 19 stone. I had never been to my son's parents' evenings because I was so ashamed and scared {#blank#}8{#/blank#} my weight would lead to him being bullied. Now, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(look) normal, I can do the things I have never been able to do, but should {#blank#}10{#/blank#}（do） as his father.

    We set {#blank#}1{#/blank#} at 5: 45 to visit the chimps in Gombe {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (nation) Park. We watched a family of chimps {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (wake) up in the morning and followed them {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wander) into the forest. Jane had been there {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (observe) and recording chimps' daily {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (活动). For forty years, she had been {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (help) the world to understand and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (尊敬) the life of these animals. Jane is indeed a woman of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (achieve) and a good example for us all. She inspires those {#blank#}10{#/blank#} want to cheer the achievements of women.

    Looking out of the window of his Ford truck, Bob Fitzgerald sees large, undesirable plants growing in the fields.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (visitor) to his neighborhood in Princess Anne, Maryland {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(main) see dying forests and empty farmland.

    Fitzgerald says the land{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(be) in his family for over 3 centuries. "I'd say in the next 20 years. You're going to lose{#blank#}4{#/blank#}very high percentage of that land."

    The land around the Chesapeake Bay has been sinking for hundreds of years. But climate change is making things{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(bad). As sea level rises, salt water is entering rivers and other waterways. As a result, the ground is becoming too salty for crops{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(grow) on.

    Maryland's Eastern Shore is home to some of the oldest farms in North America.

    Fitzgerald says he has seen big changes during his life.

    "You just can't believe{#blank#}7{#/blank#}it's been taking things over in the last 15 or 20 years. I can show you land around here that people raised tomatoes on when I was a little boy. And now it's gone."

    Around the world, scientists warn that coastal farms are under{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(threaten) from rising seas and salt water. A World Bank report estimates rice production in coastal areas of Bangladesh may fall{#blank#}9{#/blank#}15 percent by the year 2050. Another study found hundreds of millions of people will{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(force) to move inland because of rising waters.