What will the house of the future look like? Could it have gardens on its walls, or a pool with fish for dinner? Architects believe that they are all possibilities. The only thing for sure is that the houses will be as green as possible.
The tree house
Many architects in the world would like to build a “tree house.” Like a leaf, the surface of the house collects sunlight during the day. The energy can be used to heat water, produce electricity, and even create fresh air for the home. The “root” (根) of the house is deep under the ground. It uses the soil (土壤) to the home’s temperature.
The Lizard house
Like a lizard (蜥蜴), changing color with the weather is the most important design of a lizard house. When it’s in the bright sun, the cover of the house will turn dark to protect it from strong heat. During dark days, it turns white and takes in as much light and heat as possible to produce energy.
Meals at home
This design is perhaps as much about the future of food production as architecture (建筑风格). It has gardens on the outside wall of the house. People can plant tomatoes, carrots and green tea on them. So every day in the morning, you just need to walk outside and collect your meals.
Learning from the past
Looking to the future isn’t the only way to be green. Sometimes, ancient techniques (古老的技术) can also help cut down energy use. For example, a chimney (烟囱) can be a useful air conditioner because it is easier of hot air to flow out at the chimney.
【小题1】What is the best title (标题) of the passage?
A. Green house of the future.
b. The greener, the better.
C. How to build green houses.
D. Changes of the houses.
【小题2】We can heat water, produce electricity or create fresh air for the home            .
A. with the root of a leaf.
b. with the energy from sunlight.
C. with the soil under the ground
D. with gardens on its walls.
【小题3】What will happen to the cover of the lizard house when it’s in the bright sun?
A. It will take in light.
b. It will produce energy.
C. It will turn dark.
D. It will turn white.
【小题4】The passage seems to tell us that meals at home in the future            .
A. will be more delicious.
b. need more cooks.
C. cost as much as possible.
D. will be greener.
【小题5】A chimney can be a useful air conditioner but it used to cause          .
A. pollution.   b. accident.     C. noise.      D. techniques.

All the wisdom of the times, all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries, are easily and cheaply available to all of us in books, but we must know how to make use of this treasure. The unluckiest people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books.
I’m very interested in people and finding out about them. Some of the most amazing people I’ve met could only  be found in a writer’s imagination, then in his book, and then, again, in my imagination. I’ve found in books new friends and new worlds.
Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the writer’s or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his, brings you to the same or different conclusions, and your ideas develop as you understand his.
Every book stands by itself, like a one-family house, but books in a library are like houses in a city. Although they are separate(分开的), in some way they are connected with each other. The same ideas, or related(相关的) ones, appear in different places; the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in books, but with different solutions(解决方法) according to different writings at different times. Books influence each other. They connect the past, the present and the future and have their own generations (age groups), like families. Wherever you start reading, you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas, and in the end, you not only find out about the world and the people in it, you find out about yourself, too.
Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be. If you concentrate on(专注于) books somebody tells you “ought” to read, you probably won’ t have fun. But if you put down a book you don’t like and try another till you find one that means something to you, and then relax with it, you will almost certainly have a good time — and if you become, as a result of reading, better, wiser, kinder, or more gentle, you won’t suffer during the process.
【小题1】Which of the following ideas may the writer of this article agree with?

A.You will never meet amazing people in your life unless you read.
B.You think actively instead of getting facts passively(被动地)when reading.
C.You will get much delight from any book that you are told to read.
D.You can relax yourself by reading because it involves little thinking.
【小题2】What can we learn from Paragraph 4?
A.We can often find something connected with ourselves in books.
B.Different writings at different times share the same characteristics.
C.The same problems will appear in different books with similar solutions.
D.Reading books which are written for your generation is more helpful to you.
【小题3】What’s the writer’s purpose of writing this article?
A.To advise us to enjoy ourselves by reading.
B.To encourage us to make full use of libraries.
C.To encourage us to find out solutions in books.
D.To advise us to discuss books with other people.

A few years ago, Dave Stirling had the idea of selling CDs over the Internet. The business he started from his home in Ohio, the USA, now sells 500,000 CDs a year and has made him into a millionaire(百万富翁)at the age of 24.
“I could see that this was the future of shopping,” says Stirling. “Why should you pay $15 for a CD and spend the time and the money getting into the store and parking your car? You can have the same CD for half of the price by clicking(敲击)on your computer. And we can find any CD you want and bring it to your door in 24 hours!”
According to Stirling, this is the only beginning, “I believe that one day we’ll do our shopping over the net: it’s easier, quicker and cheaper. Shops and supermarkets will be the past.”
【小题1】Dave Stirling started his business from _____
A. his home   B. His company   C. the office 
【小题2】How has Stirling become so rich ?
A. By making ice cream.
B. By making advertisements.
C. By selling CDs over the Internet.
【小题3】If you pay $15 for a CD in the store, how much should you pay for it over the net?
A. $15      B. $12        C. $7.5 
【小题4】By shopping over the net, you won’t _______________.
A. spend the time and the money
B. click on your computer
C. get into the store by yourself
【小题5】What can we learn from the passage?
A. More than half of the Americans prefer to shop over the net.
B. Shops and supermarkets will be the past in the future.
C. It’s easier, quicker and more expensive to do our shopping over the net.

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