—By _______.

—Every Tuesday and Thursday.

—Nothing _______. He was in his usual shirt and jeans.

first mobile phone was made in the 1970s.

    The umbrella is a very common object. It keeps the 1 and the sun off the people. Most umbrellas can be folded up(折叠) so it is2 to carry them.

    However, the umbrella has not always been as 3as it is now. In the past, it was a symbol of importance. Some African countries still use umbrellas in this 4. Someone carries an umbrella and walks behind the king or important persons.

Umbrellas are very old. People in different parts of the world began to 5 umbrellas at different times. The Chinese had them more than 3,000 years ago. From there, umbrellas 6to India and Egypt. In Greece and Rome,7 wouldn't use them. They believed umbrellas were only for women.

    England was 8 the first country in Europe where common people used umbrellas against rain. The weather there is very 9 and umbrellas are very useful.

    Everybody uses umbrellas today. The next time you 10 one, thinking that for centuries only great men and women used them, you'll feel you are important people, too.

    Fifty-three years ago Barbie Millicent Roberts first appeared in the world of toys. Since then, Barbie doll, as everyone called her, has become the most successful toy doll in history. Her parent, the Mattel Company, said that 90% of all American girls between 3 and 10 have at least one Barbie at home.

However, Barbie is facing some trouble at present(现在). There are many similar dolls on the market in competition with her. Another doll named Bratz, for example, came to life thirteen years ago. She looks more like today's pop stars with heavy makeup(浓妆) and miniskirts. And her company offers more kinds of clothes too.

    It seems that Barbie has lost her magic among older girls. “For younger girls, playing with a Barbie is much fun. But when you get older, you want something smarter and more modern,” says Vera Shepherd, a shop assistant in a New York toy store.

    It is good news that on the international market, Barbie is still No.1. Although Mattel is selling fewer Barbies in the United States these years, sales in other countries are still going up. In January 2009, Mattel opened its first Barbie store in Shanghai, where girls can shop, eat, drink or even become fashion designers for their own Barbies.

    Mattel is planning big celebrations for Barbie's 53rd birthday. Fashion designers from all over the world have been called to make new dresses for Barbie. How long will Barbie stay popular in the world of toy dolls? It is hard to say, but 53 is surely not the age to retire(退休).

    Every morning my father buys a newspaper on his way to work. Every evening my mother looks through magazines at home. And every night, I look at the posters with photos of David Beckham and Yao Ming on my bedroom wall before I go to sleep. Can we imagine life without paper or print?

   Paper was first created about 2,000 years ago, and has been made from silk, cotton, bamboo, and, since the 19th century, from wood. People learned to write words on paper to make a book. But in those days, books could only be produced one at a time by hand. As a result, they were expensive and rare. And because there weren't many books, few people learned to read.

    Then printing was invented in China. When printing was developed greatly at the beginning of the 11th century, books could be produced more quickly and cheaply. As a result, more people learned to read. After that, knowledge and ideas spread quickly.

Today information can be received online, downloaded from the Internet rather than found in books, and information can be kept on CD-ROMs or machines such as MP3 players.

Computers are already used in classrooms, and newspapers and magazines can already be read online. So will books be replaced by computers one day? No, I don't think the Yao Ming poster on my bedroom wall will ever be replaced by a two-metre-high computer!

①他把这项传统技能很好地描述了出来。

   He made a good        of this              .

②一切都准备好了吗？

          you               everything?

③这项工作需要极大的耐心。

   This job        great patience.

④多吃蔬菜对你的健康有好处。

 Eating more vegetables                      your       .

⑤我非常喜欢那只可爱的洋娃娃。

 I like that               very much.

剪纸是中国传统的技艺之一。关于剪纸这门艺术，你了解多少呢？请根据下面的中文提示写一篇英语作文。80词左右，可适当发挥。

提示：

①剪纸取材简单，受到人们的喜爱；

②剪纸有各种形状，如人物、动物、花和吉祥的汉字等；

③剪纸通常被贴在窗户、门或者墙上；

④剪纸经常出现在节日或婚礼上，因为人们认为它能带来幸福和好运。