The ability to forgive others is a great thing that can certainly help to make life happier for everyone. However, some people think that it is very     1     to do, and they don’t know how to forgive others, especially their family and friends. This is all because they don’t understand the meaning of “forgiveness”.

In the dictionary, “to forgive” means “to     2     feeling angry with somebody that has done something bad to you.” I’m happy that many people have     3     in doing this. I have succeeded, too, and I know how hard it is.

I lived with a friend for two years. During that time, he did cause me many     4    . I easily got angry when communicating with him. However, we     5     had a talk about our problems. When he pointed out (指出) that I wasn’t treating him like a friend, I was     6    . I never knew that I also needed to be forgiven for doing something wrong. I thought however     7     I might get, I did love my friend deep in my heart. Then I understood the saying, “To love is to forgive.” And when we     8     each other, we feel great. After that long talk, we both     9     those bad moments. Our friendship became fresh again. 

Now I understand the     10     of forgiveness better.

1.A. useless            B. difficult        C. strange          D. late

2.A. stop               B. suffer           C. keep             D. consider

3.A. spent              B. continued        C. succeeded        D. enjoyed

4.A. dangers            B. mistakes         C. questions        D. problems

5.A. firstly            B. finally          C. suddenly         D. always

6.A. surprised          B. excited          C. satisfied        D. bored

7.A. worried            B. frightened       C. angry            D. nervous

8.A. control            B. help             C. protect          D. forgive

9.A. learn              B. forget           C. imagine          D. consider

10.A. meaning           B. purpose          C. process          D. reason

Missing friends who live far away? Or just need a little family comfort after a long day? Sometimes you just need a hug(拥抱). And sometimes there’s just no one around to give you one. So what do you do? How about a virtual (虚拟的) hug?Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have invented a social media vest (社交背心) that allows people to give hugs to their friends, family and loved ones on Facebook.

The vest is called Like-A-Hug, which is connected(连接) with your Facebook page. Whenever Facebook friends “Like” a photo, video or anything you post on the network, a fan will blow air into the vest to give you a hug. Hugs can also be sent back to the sender by pressing the vest to lose air, according to the website of designer Melissa Chow.

She worked with Andy Payne and Phil Seaton at the MIT Media Lab to build the black vest, making the wearer “feel the warmth, encouragement, support, or love that we feel when we receive hugs.” Melissa Chow said, “We came up with the idea over a free talk about long-distance relationships and the disadvantages of video chat interfaces (视频聊天界面) like Skype.”

Chow and her workmates actually finished work on the vest last year, but it’s only just recently drawn the attention of the public.

Chow provided no pricing or ordering information for the Like-A-Hug vest, so don’t expect to see people blowing up all over town just yet.

Although researchers believe that Like-A-Hug will cause a worldwide storm, a lot of people think it can’t take the place of the feeling of a real hug. Body temperature or the taste of hair and so on is far from what a social vest can match.

1.What is the main purpose of the text?

A. To show how to design a magic vest.????????????? ?????????????

B. To suggest a newly-built website.

C. To introduce a virtual social media vest. ?????????????

D. To explain the weak points of Skype.

2.The vest “Like-A-Hug” would probably be most helpful to ________.

A. those who play computer games????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

B. those who need comfort or support

C. those who design chat interfaces????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

D. those who like to give others hugs

3.What can we learn about Melissa Chow?

A. She built the vest all by herself.????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

B. She expects to sell the vest at a high price.

C. She made the vest public last year.????????????? ?????????????

D. She got the idea for a vest while chatting.

4.We can learn from the text that the Like-A-Hug vest ________.

A. can be ordered on Facebook????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

B. can take the place of a real hug

C. can not only be used by Facebook users

D. produces a hug when you get a Facebook “Like”

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost mention recycling, which is the process (过程) of treating used things, such as paper or steel so that they can be used again. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more things than we need. We are now dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the possible greenest way, but it would be far better if we did not bring so many things home in the first place.

Here is an example. In the UK, the total of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a household’s waste. In many supermarkets, foods are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging causes serious environmental problems. The UK is running out of different kinds of ways for dealing with this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect (效果). Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The best way of avoiding this problem is to stop producing such unnecessary things in the first place. Food waste is another serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers (消费者) to buy more than they need. They seldom encourage customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to connect packaging with quality (质量). We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. Is it true for all the products? In fact, more and more companies realized the importance of protecting the environment. They try to package what really should be packaged, including products in good quality.

As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize how many unnecessary things are being collected. We need to face the waste of our daily life. Although many people have taken action to recycle, we have a high mountain to climb.

1.What does the underlined word “over-consumption” mean?

2.What is the main purpose of the second paragraph?

3.What can be inferred from the fourth paragraph?

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

Look carefully at the back of a California state quarter. A man with a walking stick is pictured there. A bird called a California condor(大秃鹫)is flying overhead. Who is this man, and why is he so important that he is featured(处于显著地位)on the back of a coin?
The man on this quarter is John Muir. Even as a child, Muir loved watching nature. As a young man, he spent much of his life exploring the beauty of the wilderness. He walked more than a thousand miles across the country, through fields and woods. John Muir liked writing about the places he visited, describing their beauty.
Muir also wrote about problems. In order to create more farmland for sheep and cattle, many trees were being cut down. This made Muir unhappy and worried, because he knew that trees were important to forests and to the animals that lived in them．Muir believed that nature should be conserved(保护)instead of being changed by human beings. He wrote articles in magazines and newspapers to spread the word about conserving forests. Soon, others began to listen.
Muir wrote letters to important people, such as President Theodore Roosevelt. The president admired Muir’s love for nature. When Roosevelt came to visit Muir in California. Muir convinced(说服)the president to go camping with him for three nights under the trees so they could talk about conservation. Later, President Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of land for national forests and established(建立)five national parks. National parks are large areas of land that are protected from development. This means that people cannot build homes or businesses there. One of these parks is Yosemite National Park, the area that is featured on the back of the California quarter.
Though it has been almost one hundred years since John Muir died, people continue his work today. His work as a conservationist helped us to see the beauty of our natural world. John Muir made us understand the importance of protecting our earth and our resources---then, now, and for the future.
【小题1】Why did President Theodore Roosevelt visit John Muir?

When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, at the same time they usually talk about a lot of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen---they can’t do both---and they don’t understand that women can. Besides(此外), women think that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships--not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring (盯着) at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot(the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.) and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the small body language signals that show how the characters are feeling emotionally(情绪上). Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully because they want to keep relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to connect to the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a way of keeping relationship. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing(令人信服的)evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents reply to the brain differences of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we talk to them more. As a result, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short complaints in reply.
【小题1】While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they ___________.