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    Many scientists think that life may be very different by 2050.

    First of all, TV might not be used by 2050. People will choose music, films, programs and newspapers on the computer. And they can smell(闻) and touch things on the Internet. That sounds really interesting.

    Water pollution(污染) will become the most serious problem by 2050. Human beings will need more water than today. There will be less fresh water on the earth.

    Cars will not only run on the land but also fly in the air by 2050. That can help to alleviate the heavy traffic. There won't be any accidents, because computers will control the traffic. What's more, the speed of the plane will be much faster. It'll take only 2 hours for people to fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo.

    Robots will become very popular by 2050, because they don't ask for money and can work 24 hours a day. We'll see robots everywhere — factories, schools, hospitals, shops and homes.

    By 2050, medicine will be improved a lot. Cancer and AIDs won't be serious diseases.

    From the time each of my children started school, I packed their lunches. And in each lunch I packed, I included a note. Often written on a piece of small paper, it might be a thank-you for an unusual moment, a reminder of something we were happily expecting, or a bit of encouragement for the coming test or sporting event.

    In early grade school they loved their notes. But as children grow older they become self-conscious（有自我意识的）, and by the time he reached high school, my older son, Marc, informed me he no longer enjoyed my daily notes. Telling him that he no longer needed to read them but I still needed to write them, I continued until the day he graduated.

    Six years after high school graduation, Marc called and asked if he could move home for a couple of months. He had spent those years well, graduation from college, completing two internship（实习）in Washington, D.C., and finally, becoming a technical assistant in Sacramento. However, he had lived away from home except for short holiday visits. With his younger sister leaving for college, I was especially happy to have Marc back. Since I was still making lunch for his younger brother, I packed one of Marc, too. Imagine my surprise when I got a call from my 24-year-old son, asking about his lunch.

    “Did I do something wrong? Don't you love me any longer, Mom?” he asked.

    “Of course I love you, dear!” I laughingly said. “What's wrong?”

    “My note, Mom,” he answered. “Where's my note?”

    Larry is going to be a pilot. He wants to fly an airplane. But Larry is not a rich man. He doesn't have an airplane. He has only a chair. Larry ties 45 big balloons to his chair and then sits in the chair. The chair goes up.

    For a few minutes, everything is fine. The view from the chair is beautiful. Larry can see houses and trees below him. He is happy. He is flying!

    The chair goes up very high. Larry is afraid. “I don't want to go very high,” Larry thinks. “I want to go down a little.” With a small gun, Larry shoots 10 balloons. Then something terrible happens. Larry drops the gun, and it falls to the ground. Larry can't shoot more balloons. The chair goes up and up.

    Larry is three miles above the ground. Airplanes are flying over him. Larry has a small radio. “Help! Help!” he says into the radio. “I'm flying in a chair, and I want to come down!” People hear Larry, but they can't help him.

    Larry flies in the chair for 45 minutes. Then the balloons begin to lose air, slowly the chair comes down, and Larry is back on the ground. He is not hurt.

    John, a farmer, was riding his cart(运货马车)along the country road. He had to arrive at the market early so that he could sell his vegetables. It rained heavily the day before, so it was very difficult for the horse to move on in the mud(泥). {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    It was more difficult for the horse to move the cart. John climbed down from his seat and stood beside his cart.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} He felt really sad. But he didn't try to pull the wheels up by himself. Instead, he looked up at the sky and started shouting, "I am unlucky! {#blank#}3{#/blank#}"

    After some time, an old man walked by. "Do you think you can move the cart by simply looking at it and shouting?" he asked. "Did you try to get the wheels out of the mud by yourself? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Come on, put your shoulder(肩) to the wheels, and you will soon find the way out."

John did as the old man said.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} John learned his lesson. He thanked the man and went happily on his way.

Have you ever entered a tropical rainforest(热带雨林)？ Rain forests make up only a small part of the Earth's surface, about six percent, but there are more kinds of trees than any other area in the whole world.

Tropical rainforests are in Africa, Asia, central and south America , Australia and on the Pacific Islands. The largest tropical rainforest is the Amazon Rain Forest in South America , which covers almost seven million square kilometers. The second largest rainforest is in Western Africa.

Rainforests provide us with many things. In fact , the Amazon Rain Forest is "the lungs of our planet" because it produces 20% of the world's oxygen(氧气). One fifth of the world's fresh water is also found in the Amazon Rain Forest. 80% of the food we eat first grew in the rainforest. 25% of the drugs (药) we take when we are sick are made of plants that grow only in the rainforest. Some of these drugs are even used to fight illnesses.

There are four different levels of trees in a rainforest. The forest floor is the lowest layer(层) full of animal life and receives the least amount of light. The under layer is the dark , cool environment under the leaves but over the ground. The canopy(树冠) layer is the upper parts of most of the trees. The emergent(突出的) layer contains a small number of very tall trees.

These different parts of a rainforest are together to create an ecosystem for many animals, plants and human beings.

Chinese calligraphy is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. Calligraphy started in China and spread to other parts of Asia with Chinese culture. It has a history of 4,000 to 5,000 years. Calligraphy is the art of writing Chinese characters (汉字) and rules of writing with a brush. When you practice calligraphy, it is important to pay attention to the changes of the strokes (笔画) and the spaces between characters. 

There are many famous calligraphers in history, such as Wang Xizhi and Yan Zhenqing. Different calligraphy works can show different calligraphers' feelings and personalities. Today, they can be seen on the walls of offices, shops, hotels and many other places. 

"If I live in China, I will become a calligrapher rather than a painter for sure," the world-famous master of art, Picasso said. He fell in love with Chinese calligraphy as soon as he saw Zhang Daqian's works. 

The tool for practicing calligraphy is calligraphy brushes. They are usually made from the hair of different animals. Practicing calligraphy takes a lot of time and many people take lessons to learn it. During the lessons, they can learn how to write different strokes of Chinese characters. If you're interested in it, you may start practicing with a teacher right away. 

Calligraphy, an amazing traditional art form, shows the love that all Chinese people have for culture and beauty. Chinese people of all ages practice calligraphy often, not to be a calligrapher, but to enjoy the peaceful mind.