People have lived in cities for thousands of years. Yet even just 100 years ago, more people 【小题1】 (live) in the country than in cities. Today, with the population in the world 【小题2】 (increase) sharply, more people move to cities for various 【小题3】 (reason). For many it is for work or education. Some are 【小题4】 (simple) attracted to city life. By the year 2030, it is thought 【小题5】 more than sixty percent of the world's population will be living in cities. More and more cities will become megacities (特大城市), and they will 【小题6】 (find) in different parts of the world.

Maybe one megacity is not the same as another 【小题7】 they do have common problems, such as air 【小题8】 (pollute), housing problems, traffic jams and so on. Making these cities work well for every person living in them will be 【小题9】 great challenge in the future. However, we do believe when people work together, they can find solutions which will help make these megacities happy, healthy and 【小题10】 (excite) places to live in.

Barbara Millicent Roberts, also called Barbie, 【小题1】 (consider) the most successful toy doll in history. She first 【小题2】 (appear) in the world of toys about 60 years ago, and has become very popular among little girls.

According to the Mattel Company, 【小题3】 created Barbie, 90% of all American girls between 3 and 10 have at least one Barbie at home. However, today there are many dolls competing 【小题4】 Barbie on the market. Bratz dolls, for example, look more like today’s pop 【小题5】 (star) with lots of makeup and miniskirts. Now Bratz is 【小题6】 great challenge to Barbie, as the company offers various clothing, too.

It seems that Barbie is no longer 【小题7】 (attract) to older girls. “For younger girls, playing with a Barbie is much fun, but when they get older, they want something more fashionable and modern,” says a shop keeper of a toy store in New York. On the international scene, Barbie remains number one. Although Mattel has been selling fewer Barbies in the United States over the past years, sales in other countries have kept 【小题8】 (rise). It is hard 【小题9】 (say) how long Barbie will stay on as a celebrity in the world of toy dolls, but 【小题10】 (undoubted) 60 is not the age to retire.

Cash is king, or so they say. In one form or another, human beings have been carrying around money for hundreds of years. Metal was first coined into cash between 700 and 600 BC by the Lydians, and banknotes have been in circulation since 【小题1】(they) first use in China around 1000 AD. These days, though, habits 【小题2】 (change). Modern technology means 【小题3】 while money is still widely used, it’s more likely to be a digital transaction than a wad of notes and a handful of shrapnel. If cash is king, then it may eventually be dethroned.