How time flies! The 20th century will become history soon. If you look at the calendar everyday, you can feel the 21st century marching towards us.

What will it be like? It will be an overwhelming¹ world limited only by imagination.

Now, let's look back to the Second World War. How cruel and terrifying that war was! It cost the lives of millions of people, and separated even more families. It brought nothing but pain and sorrow to our beloved² world. In the next century, we need more people like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. We can work together for the liberty³ of the whole world. The 21st centu-ry will have peace ?and we won't let it to be disturbed by fights or battles any more. And in this peaceful world, man and woman, black and white will have equal rights, and all nations will be treated in the same way. And in this world of freedom, the words "slave" and "negro⁴" will be found only in history books. I believe this day will come soon, and the whole world will be in harmony.

Our knowledge grows quickly as technology develops. In the 21st century, many problems will be solved and many human dreams will come true.

We will invent medicines that can ease⁵ all pains and kill all diseases⁶. Maybe cancer, Aids, and rabies can be cured with a few pills. Most infectious⁷ diseases will disappear from the earth, and human won't suffer from illness any more.

Computer is an important part of our life today. They can help us in many ways. In the 21st century, computer will be more popular. With its help, most people can work at home instead of working in their offices. They can see a doctor, do their shopping, or make oversea telephone calls over Internet. It offers conve-nience and efficiency⁸ to our life.

Transportation is a major problem in the 20th century. In the 21st century, more freeways will be built, so that people won't be stuck in traffic during rush hours. Most families can have a he-licopter. Instead of wasting their time in long lines of cars on the road, people can go anywhere they like in the shortest time.

Pollution problem isn't completely solved in the present cen-tury. In the next century, we will go on working on this subject. Water and air that have already been polluted will be purified⁹. We will make full use of solar power. Electricity can be used for heat-ing instead of burning coal and gas. In the 21st century, there won't be heavy smoke coming out of chimneys¹⁰, or dirty water pouring into lakes and rivers. The earth will be cleaner, the air will be fresher, and the water will be purer and we can live in a much better environment.

When people are free, they can get on their own high-speed plane and reach the carefully protected wilderness¹¹ area hundreds of miles away. If they are interested in sea world, they can take a submarine¹² and explore the bottom of the ocean. They can even fly to the moon in a spaceship for their holiday. If they prefer staying at home, they can let a robot do all the housework and fetch their morning newspapers.

What exactly will the 21st century be like? It's still a mys-tery. Here, I can only imagine. But I know one thing: the 21st century belongs to us, the future is in our hands. We'll try our best to work for it, develop it and pass on a beautiful, peaceful, and cheerful world to the next generation.

指导教师：徐敏