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?

    Jason Queally is one of the fastest men in the world on a bicycle.

Every year, an important human-powered bicycle race is held in Nevada, the USA. The speed of the bike is measured for only 200 meters, but players take more than a kilometer to get their bikes going fast. Jason Queally's fastest speed for the 200-meterrase was 103.5 kilometers an hour.

    At this year's race, Jason failed to reach the finishing line. He was speeding along about seventy kilometers an hour when he began to lose control of his bike. When he tried to slow down, it began to smoke. Soon the inside of his bike was filled with smoke. He couldn't see, and he couldn't breathe. At seventy kilometers an hour, a crash could be very serious. Jason was frightened, but he managed to stop the bike safely. He would repair his bicycle and try again another time to be the world's fastest man on a bike. Better luck next time, Jason.

    Han Hong is a singing star. She is famous all over China. She is a little bit short and she is a little bit heavy, and she has short curly hair.

    Liu Xiang is a great Chinese runner. He is tall. He has short black hair. In 2004 Olympic Games, he made history. He is called fly man.

    Luo Jing is tall and thin. He is of medium build. His hair is short and black. He has big eyes. He is a host of CCTV News. He works very hard. But he died on 5th June, 2009 in Beijing.

    Lu Xun is a well-known writer. He has black straight hair and he has black beard. He was born(出生)in Zhejiang in 1881. He died in Shanghai on October 19th, 1936.

    Michael Jackson is a famous singer in the USA. He is of medium build. His hair is curly. He is of medium height. He is famous for his dance. It looks like walking in the space(太空).

    Every month, junior high schools in China choose one hero of the month. This person is a hero because he or she has done something to help protect animals in danger. Huang Jing decided to write a letter to the President of China.

Dear Mr President.

    I have been doing a project at school recently about animals in danger. I think the situation all over the world is really terrible. I am writing to you to suggest what China should do to help protect animals more.

    I know that there are nearly 2, 000 nature reserves in China, which is good. I live in Beijing and there are about 30 reserves outside the city. We visited one of them last month to sec for ourselves.

    I feel so sorry for the giant panda. It's one of the most popular animals in the world and a real symbol of China. We learned that pandas mainly live on bamboo, and that a panda can eat half its body weight of bamboo in 24 hours！That's a lot of bamboo. I think we should try to do more to stop cutting down forests. Pandas are already a rare animal and it would be so sad if they became extinct(灭绝)forever.

    The other animal we should try to protect more is the Chinese alligator(场子努). These creatures live in some parts of eastern China. These beautiful animals live in freshwater rivers and lakes but the water in some places isn't clean enough for them to live in. It's really dirty in fact. The government should stop factories polluting the lakes and rivers.

    If we protect these beautiful animals in China, more foreigners may wish to visit China to see them. They could be an important tourist attraction. It would be good if more people came to visit our beautiful country, especially to see the quieter areas in the country. Now most visitors just see the cities.

    I hope you will encourage more people to think about such an important subject.

Sincerely yours,

Huang Jing