In the 13th century, Marco Polo saw many wonderful things in China. One of the greatest things he discovered was money made of paper. People in the West did not have such kind of money until the 15th century. However, the Chinese began to use it in the 7th century.

Paper was invented by a Chinese man called Cai Lun almost 2,000 years ago. But it was not made in Europe until the year 1100. Four hundred years later, a German discovered that he could make the best paper from trees. After that, countries rich in forests, such as Canada, Sweden, America, Finland became the most important ones in paper making.

Paper can be used in many ways. The common uses include books, newspapers and magazines. But do you know that paper can be used for keeping warm? In Finland, the farmers wear paper boots to keep their feet warm in the snow. And even houses can be insulated from heat or cold with paper.

However, we have to understand that paper still comes from trees now. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth some day in the near future. Every day people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting down early 48,000 trees every day. The fact is that it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow.

So we must start saving paper right now. We can use both sides of every piece of paper. We can make useful things out of used paper. We can use china cups instead of paper ones. When shopping, we can use fewer paper bags and reuse them if we have some.

In short, we should keep a balance between using paper and protecting trees, and do it now before it is too late!

【小题1】Where can we probably read this passage?

A．In a fashion magazine.	B．In a folk story.
C．In an advertisement.	D．In a science magazine.

【小题2】When did people in the West have paper money?

A．In the 13th century.	B．In the 15th century.
C．In the 7th century.	D．In the 5th century.

【小题3】Why did America become an important country in paper making?

A．Because it had lots of forests.	B．Because it was a large country.
C．Because it had a large population.	D．Because it was a rich country.

【小题4】What is paper used for in Finland?

A．Reducing waste.	B．Making newspapers.
C．Keeping warm.	D．Making books.

【小题5】What’s the best title of this passage?

A．People should save paper	B．The use of paper
C．The history of making paper	D．The information of paper