Taiwan appears in newspaper headlines more often these days. On April 26, 2005 Kuomintang leader,
Lien Chan, visited the mainland and three days later, President Hu Jintao held talks with him. This is the first
meeting in 56 years and may help to bring peace across the Taiwan Straits (海峡).
     How much do you know about this beautiful island? The island faces Fujian. The shortest distance from
Taiwan to Fujian is 130 kilometers across the Taiwan Straits. A ship can cover it in four hours.
     As the biggest island, Taiwan is still only about one-sixth the size of Hunan. Around it, there are also lots
of smaller ones, like Penghu Islands and Diaoyu Islands.
     Taiwan is rich in natural resources (资源). Half of the island is covered with forests, and it has many kinds
of agricultural products (农产品), like rice and tea.
     Taiwanese people are mostly descendants (后代) of people from Fujian and Guangdong. They still use the
language from their old hometowns. They also celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
At the Spring Festival, they even eat dumplings!
     Once, communications across the Straits were not so good. In 1979, Beijing put forward an idea that
Taiwanese people should use better ways of communicating and build better business and transportation.
There is now more business and tourism (旅游业) across the Straits. On July 4, 2008, the first direct flights
between Taiwan and five mainland cities such as Beijing, Shanghai Nanjing, Guangzhou and Xiamen started up.
     As we all know, Taiwan is always an important part of our country. We are one big family. But some top
leaders in Taiwan like Lee Tenghui and Chen Shuibian have been trying to make Taiwan an independent (独立)
country. This made people on both sides angry, because it goes against the history and the wishes of all the
Chinese.

1. What will Hu Jintao's talk with Lien Chan bring across the Taiwan Straits?

A. Resources.
B. Meetings.
C. Tourism.
D. Peace.

2. How long does it take to go to Taiwan from Fujian by ship?

A. 56 years.
B. 26 days.
C. 4 hours.
D. 130 hours.

3. Why do most Taiwanese celebrate Chinese traditional festivals?

A. Because they like eating traditional Chinese food very much.
B. Because they are Chinese in fact.
C. Because they would rather celebrate Chinese festivals than Western festivals.
D. Because Chinese traditional festivals are popular in the world now.

4. What made people on both sides angry? 

A. There were no important meetings between the leaders on both sides.
B. There was no business and tourism across the Straits for many years.
C. People on both sides couldn't visit each other by air.
D. Some top leaders in Taiwan have been trying to make Taiwan an independent country.

5. Which of the following is the best title (标题) of the passage?

A. The Beautiful Island
B. We Are One
C. The Rich Island
D. You and Me