Missing friends who live far away? Or just need a little family comfort after a long day? Sometimes you just need a hug(擁抱). And sometimes there’s just no one around to give you one. So what do you do? How about a virtual (虛擬的) 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(連接) 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 (視頻聊天界面) 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”

完形填空
通讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后在各題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)中選出一個(gè)最佳答案。
When I was about twelve years old. I had an enemy (敵人)，a girl who liked to tell me about my shortcomings. She always   1 me that I was very short, and I wasn’t a good student, I talked too much, and so on. I tried to stand all of these as long as I could. Finally, I became very   2 . I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me   3 , and then asked, “Are the things that she said true or not? Jane, have you ever   4 what you’re really like? Now you have that girl’s   5 . Go and make a list of everything she said and find out if that are   6 . Pay no attention to the things that are not true.”
I did   7  he told me. To my great surprise, I found that about half of the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t    8 , like being very short, but a good number of them I could. I wanted to change the bad things in me, and for the   9  time I knew something about myself in a very clear way.
I brought the list back to my father. He   10  to take it. “That’s only just for you,” he said, “You know better than   11  else the truths about yourself, but sometimes others’ opinions are also important, so you have to learn how to  12 , and not just close your ears in anger and feel hurt. When something   13 is said about you is true, you’ll find that it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think that they know you. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to all of them.
  14  hear the truth and do what you think is the right thing to do.”
I have remembered my father’s   15  at many important moments. I have never had a better piece of advice in my whole life.

用方框中所給單詞的適當(dāng)形式填空，每個(gè)單詞限用一次。

1.I haven’t seen my cat for two days. I’m very________ about her.

2.The old should be spoken to ______.

3.Don’t make so much __________. Your father is sleeping in the next room.

4.I only just ________ the bus to school when I got to the station yesterday.

5._________ of people got hurt in the Shanghai’s big fire (火).

The story behind the shopping cart

Characters

Sylvan Goldman – owner of a grocery shop

Fred Young – Sylvan’s friend, a mechanic(機(jī)械師)

One night in 1936, in an American city. Inside Fred’s workshop, Sylvan sits next to Fred, who is making adjustments(調(diào)試) to their new i? 1. – a shopping cart.

Sylvan:????????????? My customers don’t like our shopping cart.

Fred:????????????? Really? So they p? 2. shopping with those heavy baskets?

Sylvan:????????????? (nods) I’ve got a huge crowd of customers every day, b 3. none of them wants to use the cart.

Fred:????????????? I don’t understand. We invented the cart so that people don’t need to carry a basket around the shop.

Sylvan:????????????? (laughs) And so that they will buy more groceries!

Fred:????????????? So why don’t they like the shopping cart?

Sylvan:????????????? Young men think that pushing a cart around makes them look w 4. and slow, and young women think it’s unfashionable.

Fred:????????????? Of course it isn’t fashionable right now. It’s only just been invented! But I’m sure older people will appreciate it.

Sylvan:????????????? Um…

Fred:????????????? What? They don’t like the cart e? 5.? ?

Sylvan:????????????? Well, they think pushing it makes them look helpless!

Fred:????????????? Oh no. We need to do something, Fred. We can’t just g? 6. up on this invention!

Sylvan:????????????? We won’t. (He gets up and walks around the room. Suddenly, he stops.) Aha! I’ve got an idea.

Fred:????????????? What is it?

Sylvan:????????????? I’ll hire(雇傭) some good-looking guys and girls to push the carts around and pretend they’re shopping.

Fred:????????????? Oh! So the real shoppers will see these attractive people using the carts and think, “Hey, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!”

Sylvan:????????????? E 7. .

Fred:????????????? Hey! Maybe you could get one of the girls to greet your customers and encourage them to use the cart.

Sylvan:????????????? Great idea!

As the sun rose, a dewdrop (露珠) woke up. There it sat on a leaf, catching the sunlight. Proud of its simple beauty, it was very happy. Around it were other dewdrops, some on the same leaf and some on other leaves. The dewdrop was sure that it was the best, the most special dewdrop of them all.
Ah, it was good to be a dewdrop.
The wind blew and the plant began to shake, tipping (使傾斜) the leaf. The dewdrop became frightened as it started to move towards the edge of the leaf. Why was this happening? Things were comfortable. Things were safe. Why did they have to change? Why? Why?
The dewdrop reached the edge of the leaf. It was sure that this was the end. The day had only just begun and the end had come so quickly. It seemed so unfair. It seemed so meaningless. It tried hard to do whatever it could to stay on the leaf, but it was no use.
Finally, it fell. Below there was a mirror. A reflection(反射)of the dewdrop seemed to be coming up to meet it. Closer and closer they came together until finally... the little dewdrop became a part of the great pond (池塘). Now the dewdrop was no more, but it was not destroyed.
It had become one with the whole.
【小題1】According to Paragraph 1, we know that the dewdrop _____.