How will our continuously growing population affect our way of life, our environment, even our planet? No matter how you look at it, we will face {#blank#}1{#/blank#}extremely serious problem. By the middle of the 21^st century, we {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(use) up all the oil that drives our cars if at the rate we're going. Even if scientists develop some new {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(way)of feeding the human race, the crowded conditions on the earth will make {#blank#}4{#/blank#}necessary for us to look for open space somewhere else. But none of the planets in our solar system are able  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(support) life at present. One possible solution {#blank#}6{#/blank#}the problem, however, has recently been suggested by an American scientist, Professor Carl Sagan. His idea is {#blank#}7{#/blank#}before the earth's resources are almost exhausted, it will be  {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(total)possible to change the atmosphere of Venus（金星）and so create a new world almost as large as earth itself.

    However, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} his idea is turned into reality, humans have a long way to go. On the one hand, Venus is much {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(hot)than the earth; on the other hand, there is only a tiny amount of water there.

     Have you ever tasted or perhaps heard of sugar painting? As fewer people choose to make this kind of painting, the traditional Chinese folk craft might have become a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(distance)memory in some ways.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, a 38-year old craftsman, Li Jianzhong, is committed to{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(keep)the art of sugar painting alive.

     Li worked as a miner for more than ten years. After {#blank#}4{#/blank#}mine closed down, Li turned to housing decoration, until he {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(force) to give that up due to a finger injury. Earlier this year, he discovered sugar painting, something he really had an interest in and a strong desire to learn.

     Since there was no sugar painting craftsman in his village, he studied by {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(he) through large quantities of videos and information on the internet. Li loved painting when he was young, and he found it easy{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(learn) the skill in sugar painting. He soon mastered the skill and could make a {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(vary) of sugar paintings. A sugar painting is made with melted brown or white sugar. Craftsmen {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(normal) paint animals and flowers on a stone board with the syrup(糖浆). When the sugar cools down, {#blank#}10{#/blank#}appears is a piece of sugar art.

    Once upon a time, there was a poor fisherman who always dreamed of becoming rich. He wished to become a millionaire, and{#blank#}1{#/blank#} did his wife. He had heard from some old men before that several ships{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (load) with diamonds and gold{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (sink) in the nearby seashore. Because of this, for a long time he kept searching that whole area{#blank#}4{#/blank#}this treasure. One day, while he was sitting on the boat daydreaming, he suddenly felt that the fishing rod{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (weigh) down by a heavy object. He{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (excite) pulled hard at it, and{#blank#}7{#/blank#} he saw made him exclaim, “Wow! A big, shiny gold chain!” He pulled hard at the gold chain to get it into the boat, but{#blank#}8{#/blank#}seemed to be no end to it. His boat started to get over-loaded and the sea water filled his boat. However, he had begun dreaming of a big house, a big piece of land and buying horses and{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (ox)... He kept pulling in the chain{#blank#}10{#/blank#} the boat kept sinking. The boat was finally submerged and he struggled to stay afloat. Unfortunately his feet were entangled in the gold chain and he drowned.

    Silk was not the only product to be transported along the Silk Road, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}other goods such as tea, medicinal herbs also being exported from China. Many merchants found instant wealth through the trade in luxury items．

    Rather than traveling the entire length of the Silk Road, each merchant traded goods along one section of the route, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (buy) them in one town and then selling in another. The travelers and merchants also {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (carry) many ideas, philosophies and religions with them along the Silk Road. Of all these, Buddhism, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}came from India, had the greatest influence on Chinese culture. It{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(eventual) became China's primary faith, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(widespread) than the original Chinese religions of Confucianism and Taoism．

    Silk Road trades traveled together in long caravans of camels. This mode of travel provided{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(protect) from robbers who might attempt {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (rob) the valuable goods being transported．The Silk Road was not only one single road, but{#blank#}9{#/blank#} whole collection of routes by which goods{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (transport) between the East and the West．

The Longji Rice Terraces (龙脊梯田) were built by the local Zhuang and Yao people, to whom Guangxi is home. Starting in the Yuan Dynasty, work on the terraces took hundreds of years. The terraces are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (clever) designed, with hundreds of waterways that connect with each other. During the rainy season, it is along these waterways that rainwater {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (move) down the mountains and into the terraces. These terraces also provide a perfect environment for birds and fish, some of which feed on insects {#blank#}3{#/blank#} can harm the rice crops. Today the Longji Rice Terraces attract thousands of visitors who come to admire this great wonder created by people and nature working together.