In 1863 the first underground passenger railway in the world opened in London. It ran for just under seven kilometers and allowed people to avoid terrible {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (crowd) on the roads above as they travelled to and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} work. It took three years to complete and was built using an interesting method. This included digging up the road, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lay) the track and then building a strong roof over{#blank#}4{#/blank#} top. When all those had been done, the road surface was replaced.

    Steam engines {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(use) to pull the carriages and it must have been{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(fair) unpleasant for the passsengers, with all the smoke and noise. However, the railway quickly proved to be a great success and within six months, more than 25,000 people were using{#blank#}7{#/blank#}every day.

    Later, engineers {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(manage) to construct railways in a system of deep tunnels (隧道）, which became known as the Tube. This development was only possible with the {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(introduce) of electric-powered engines and lifts. The central London Railway was one of the most {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(success) of these new lines, and was opened in 1900. It had white-painted tunnels and bright red carriages, and proved extremely popular with the public.

English Around the World

    There are more than 3,000 languages {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（speak）in the world. Of all these languages, English is the most {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(wide) used. Recent {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(survey) show that more than 500 million people speak English as their mother tongue.

    From its roots in England, the language was spread around the world {#blank#}4{#/blank#}English traders and English governments in new lands. One of these new lands {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(become) the United States of America. The population of the United States is 309 million,{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (make) it the country with the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}large) number of native English speakers.

    About 300 million people speak English as their second language. There are even more people, like some in Europe as well as in China and Japan,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} study English as a foreign language.

    English has become the base language for international business, for the world's airlines and even for the Internet. Whatever language people speak, they need  {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(know) some English if they work in these fields.{#blank#}10{#/blank#} is clear that the English language is becoming more important.

    Stephen Hawking, who is one of the famous physicists, was born in Britain on January 8th, 1942. As a child, he was enthusiastic about {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (design) complicated toys but {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (fortune), in his twenties, he suffered{#blank#}3{#/blank#} a disease that was impossible to be cured,{#blank#}4{#/blank#}was a great challenge for him. However, he was not only positive about the misfortunes, and eventually he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (defeat) all the obstacles but also he was absorbed {#blank#}6{#/blank#}  his research in the universe. In 1988, his best-seller A Brief History of Time {#blank#}7{#/blank#}  (publish), in which he put forward the idea {#blank#}8{#/blank#} time itself has a beginning, and that it will have {#blank#}9{#/blank#}end. In {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (conclude), he has made outstanding contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity.

    Mr. Robinson had to travel somewhere on business. As he was{#blank#}1{#/blank#}a hurry, he decided to go by air. He liked sitting beside a window when he was flying, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}when he got onto the plane, he looked for a window seat. He found all of them already {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(take) except one. There was a soldier sitting in the seat beside {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Wondering why this one had not been taken, Mr. Robinson at once went towards it.

    When he reached it, however, Mr. Robinson saw that there was a notice stuck on the seat. It said, “This seat{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(keep) for proper load balance, thank you.” Because he had never seen such a kind of{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(usual) notice in a plane before, Mr. Robinson was a little surprised. But he thought that the plane must be carrying something {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(particular) heavy in it, so he walked on and found{#blank#}8{#/blank#}empty seat, not beside a window, to sit in.

    Two or three people tried to sit in the window seat beside the soldier, but they too read the notice and went on. When the plane was nearly full, a very pretty girl hurried into the plane. The soldier,{#blank#}9{#/blank#}was watching the passengers coming in, quickly took the notice off the seat beside his and in this way succeeded in having the company of a{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(beautiful) during the whole trip.

    Chinese might be heard when you take a ride on the street. Turning to the right, you see a Sichuan-style restaurant. After {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (walk) into a store, you see that Huawei smartphones are on sale. But you're not in China — you're in Manchester in Britain. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} fact, you might see similar things in many other cities. Chinese products have been going global.

    Western countries {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (enjoy) Chinese food for a long time. Chinese restaurants have made some changes to the dishes {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (meet) local people's tastes.

    Some Chinese{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (brand) are also becoming more popular. In many cities in Europe, stores sell TCL televisions, Haier fridges {#blank#}6{#/blank#} Lenovo computers, reported Reuters. They're not simply made in China, but {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (design) in the country.

    In the past, most Western people thought Chinese products were cheap but not {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (rely). Things have changed greatly, though. For example, Huawei. {#blank#}9{#/blank#} is one of China's major smartphone makers, overtook Apple in worldwide smartphone sales for the first time in June and July, behind only Samsung. "They are{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (beauty) and offer some unique features American phones don't have, " CNN once said about Chinese smartphones.

    It was a very foggy day in London. The fog was so thick that it was impossible to see more than{#blank#}1{#/blank#}foot or so. Standing by the side of the road{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(be) buses, cars and taxies and were not able to run. People tried to find{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(they) way on foot but got lost in the fog.

    Mr. Smith had a very important meeting at the House of Commons but he was not familiar with the area and no one could take him there in such heavy fog. He tried to walk there only to find he was lost. Suddenly he ran{#blank#}4{#/blank#}a stranger,{#blank#}5{#/blank#}asked if he needed some help. Mr. Smith said he wanted to get to the House of Commons{#blank#}6{#/blank#}he couldn't find the way. The stranger told him he could take him there.

    Mr. Smith thanked him and they started to walk there. The fog was getting{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(thick) but the stranger had no difficulty{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(find) the way. They went along one street, turned down another, and crossed a square.At last, after about half an hour's walk, they arrived at the House of Commons. Mr. Smith couldn't understand{#blank#}9{#/blank#}the stranger found his way in the thickfog. Soheasked the stranger. "It is no trouble at all to me," said the stranger. "I am{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(total) blind."