The label（标签）, Made in China, is one that is becoming increasing common in shopping centers all over the world.
In the United States, shoppers at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer（零售商）, have a wide selection of products mostly produced in China. The large amount of Chinese imports have created a large selection of goods in other countries as people begin to buy more and more products made in China. These goods are even widely available in other Asian nations, where Chinese-made goods are quite popular. Chinese brand names are also becoming more well-known outside China.
When Chinese Americans visit family and friends in their homeland, gifts from the U.S. are a must. But TVs and fashionable clothes aren't rare any more, and anything 'Made in China' shouldn’t be considered in any case.
"When I decide to visit my family members in China, I will have a big headache. What should I buy for them? They may not all speak English, but everyone in China knows those three words," a Chinese American said. "When they see the label 'Made in China,' they will think, 'Why do you send me this?' "
The development of China has surprised the world with its growth. As a result, the other countries are beginning to try to reduce Chinese goods with the use of taxes（税）and import restrictions. However, the development on the Chinese economy still affects the world in many ways.
【小题1】Around the world, the products made in China are ________ in the shopping malls.

The French spend more time sleeping and eating than anyone else among the world's rich people, according to a survey.
The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, more than an hour longer than the average Japanese and Korean, who sleep the least in a survey.
And while more and more French people have meals at fast food restaurants, they still spend more than two hours a day eating.
That means their meals are twice as long as those of the average Mexican, who spends just over an hour a day on food.
The Japanese spend close to two hours a day eating and drinking, placing them third behind New Zealanders. The Japanese like to spend their free time watching television or listening to the radio. This takes up 47 percent of free time in Japan.
Turks, on the other hand, spend more than a third of their free time staying with their friends.The survey showed that the difference between work and free time within certain countries is clear.
As for Italians, men have nearly 80 minutes a day of free time more than women. Much of the additional work time of Italian women is clearly cleaning the house.
【小题1】Japanese and Korean people usually sleep about _______ a night.

Computers are useful machines. They can help people a lot in their daily life. For example, they can help people to save much time to do more work, and they can help people to work out many problems they can't do easily. Our country asks everyone to learn to use computers before the twenty-first century, except the old people.
Today more and more families own computers. Parents buy computers for their children. They hope computers can help them improve their studies in school. However, many of their children use computers to play games, to watch videos or to sing. The teachers and parents complain that computers can not help children to study but make them fall behind. So computers are locked in boxes by parents.
In some other countries, even some scientists also hate computers. They say computers let millions of people lose their jobs or bring them a lot of trouble. Will computers really bring trouble to people or can they bring people happiness?
It will be decided by today's students themselves!
【小题1】Why do we say the computer is a useful machine? Because ______. 

American boys and girls like watching TV. Some children spend six hours a day at school and four to six hours a day in front of the TV sets. Some children even watch TV for eight hours or more on Saturday.
Television（电视）is like books and films . A child can learn good things and bad things from it. Some TV programs help children to understand the news, the people and places from other countries. With TV, children do not have to go out to see films, they can hear interesting music or watch a game at home. But some programs are bad for children, so parents sometimes help them to find other interesting and useful things to do.
【小题1】In America, some children spend eight hours or more _____ on Saturday .

China Youth says that more and more girl students have entered colleges to study in recent few years. As we know, once the number of boys was larger than that of girls, and the boys did much better than girls in our country for a long time. Now things have changed a lot.
In recent years, the proportion of girl students is growing fast. In 1998, about 39.7% of college students were girls. In 2000, it was 41.07% and in 2001, the number was 42.14%.
There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, there is little difference between boys and girls in their intelligence(智力). That’s to say, girls are as clever as boys. And boys have more interests than girls, so they may not do well in their study.
Secondly, girls are more careful and more sensible than boys. They work harder at school and they do better in all exams.
Another reason is that with the development of society, people pay more and more attention to girls’ education.
【小题1】China Youth says that more and more ______

Like schools in China, American schools begin in September after a long summer vacation. The first term is from September to January and the second is from February to June. Usually American children begin to go to school when they are five years old. Most students are seventeen or eighteen years old when they finish high school.
But unlike middle school students in China, high school students in America take only four or five subjects each term. They usually go to the same classes every day and have homework for every class. After class they do all kinds of interesting things.
After high school, many students go to college. They may go to a small or a large one. They usually have to pay a lot for their higher education. So lots of students work after school to make money for their studies.
【小题1】In America, summer vacation lasts（持续）___________________.

Americans usually eat three meals a day. Breakfast usually comes before eight o’clock in the morning. They usually have eggs, some meat, bread, fruit juice and coffee. Lunch is between twelve and one o’clock. It is like a light meal and working people must take lunch with them or get it near workplace.
Children in school take sandwiches, fruit, and cookies with them or eat in school. Supper, the main meal, is between six and eight in the evening. People cook it carefully. They may have meat or chicken, turkey and duck. They may all have potatoes or rice, vegetables or salad. The drink is coffee, tea or milk. Then comes the dessert.
【小题1】Americans have breakfast ________.

When you are in England, you must be very careful in the streets because the traffic drives on the left.
Before you cross the street, you must look to the right first and then the left.
If the traffic lights are green, the traffic can go. People on foot mustn’t cross.
In the morning and in the evening when people go to or come from work, the streets are very busy. The traffic is most dangerous then.
When you go by bus in England, you have to be careful, too. Always remember the traffic moves on the left. So you must be careful. Have a look first or you will go the wrong way.
In many English cities, there are big buses with two floors. You can sit on the second floor. From there you can see the city very well. It’s very interesting.
【小题1】The traffic in England __________ that in China.

Mobile phone has become a problem for middle schools. Some middle schools in Australia have banned（禁止）students from carrying mobile phones during school hours.
Mobile phone use among (在….之间)children has become a problem for the school this year. Several children have got mobile phones as Christmas gifts， and more students will want them.
Mary Bluett，an official，said mobile phone use is a distraction（分心） to students during school hours and it also gives teachers so much trouble in their classrooms. Teachers were also saying that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.
She said some schools had tried to ban mobile phones. Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t get in touch with their children.
Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school， but if there was a good reason， they could leave their phones at school office. They also said there were many reasons why the students should not have mobile phones at school：they were easy to lose and were a distraction from studies.
Many people say that they understand why parents would want their children to have phones， but they think schools should let the students know when they can use their mobile phones.
【小题1】Some middle schools in Australia have banned students from carrying mobile phones______。
A. because they are students
B. when they are free
C. when they are at school
【小题2】We know from the passage that some children get mobile phones from_______。
A. the makers and sellers
B. the passers-by（路人） and strangers
C. their parents and friends
【小题3】 What does the underlined word cheat mean in the passage？
A．聊天            B．作弊           C．查询
【小题4】Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn’t_______ during school hours.
A. use their mobile phones
B. leave their mobile phones at school office
C. get in touch with their children
【小题5】The passage tells us that _______。
A. students shouldn’t have mobile phones at school except for some special reasons
B. it is impossible to ban students from using mobile phone at school
C. some parents felt unhappy because they couldn‘t use their phones at school

Life in the future will be different from life today. Between then and now many changes (改变)will happen. But what will the changes be?
The population (人口) is growing fast. There will be many people in the world and most of them will live longer than people live now.
Computers will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least (至少) one in every room. And computer studies will be one of the important subjects in schools then. People will work fewer hours than they do now and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travel. Traveling will be much cheaper and easier. And many more people will go to other countries for holidays.
There will be changes in our food, too. More land will be used for building new towns and houses for all the people. Then there will be less room for cows and sheep, so meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it every day. Instead they will eat more fruit and vegetables. Maybe people will be healthier. Work in the future will be different, too. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. Because of this, many people will not have enough work to do. This will be a problem.
【小题1】In the future there will be _______.
A. much more fruit   B. more people     C. less vegetables
【小题2】Every family will have at least a _____________ in the future.
A. robot            B. cow           C. computer
【小题3】In the future people don’t have to __________________
A. work long hours   B. work fast      C. walk on foot
【小题4】People may not eat _________ as much as they do today.
A. fruit             B. fish           C. meat
【小题5】One big problem in the future is that ___________.
A. many people will not be able to find work
B. people have to work fast
C. all the work will be done by robots