Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     Thinner isn’t always better. A number of studies have  that normal-weight people are in fact at higher risk of some diseases compared to those who are overweight. And there are health conditions for which being overweight is actually . For example, heavier women are less likely to develop calcium deficiency than thin women. , among the elderly, being somewhat overweight is often an  of good health. 　　

     Of even greater  is the fact that obesity turns out to be very difficult to define. It is often defined  body mass index, or BMI. BMI  body mass divided by the square of height. An adult with a BMI of 18 to 25 is often considered to be normal weight. Between 25 and 30 is overweight. And over 30 is considered obese. Obesity, , can be divided into moderately obese, severely obese, and very severely obese.
     While such numerical standards seem , they are not. Obesity is probably less a matter of weight than body fat. Some people with a high BMI are in fact extremely fit,  others with a low BMI may be in poor. For example, many collegiate and professional football players  as obese, though their percentage body fat is low. Conversely, someone with a small frame may have high body fat but a  BMI. 

     Today we have a(an)  to label obesity as a disgrace. The overweight are sometimes  in the media with their faces covered. Stereotypes  with obesity include laziness, lack of will power, and lower prospects for success. Teachers, employers, and health professionals have been shown to harbor biases against the obese.  very young children tend to look down on the overweight, and teasing about body build has long been a problem in schools.
     Negative attitudes toward obesity,  in health concerns, have stimulated a number of anti-obesity . My own hospital system has banned sugary drinks from its facilities. Many employers have instituted weight loss and fitness initiatives. Michelle Obama launched a high-visibility campaign  childhood obesity, even claiming that it represents our greatest national security threat.

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     Given the advantages of electronic money, you might think that we would move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically. , a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been  for two decades but have not yet come to fruition. For example, Business Week predicted in 1975 that electronic means of payment would soon "revolutionize the veryof money itself," only to  itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so  in coming? 

     Although electronic means of payment may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work  the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very  to set up the computer, card reader, and telecommunications networks necessary to make electronic money the  form of payment. Second, paper checks have the advantage that they  receipts, something that many consumers are unwilling to . Third, the use of paper checks gives consumers several days of "float" — it takes several days  a check is cashed and funds are  from the issuer's account, which means that the writer of the check can earn interest on the funds in the meantime.  electronic payments are immediate, they eliminate the float for the consumer. 

     Fourth, electronic means of payment may  security and privacy concerns. We often hear media reports that an unauthorized hacker has been able to access a computer database and to alter information  there. The fact that this is not an  occurrence means that dishonest persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and  from someone else's accounts. The  of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a new field of computer science is developing to  security issues. A further concern is that the use of electronic means of payment leaves an electronic  that contains a large amount of personal data. There are concerns that government, employers, and marketers might be able to access these data, thereby violating our privacy.

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. 

     The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11, 2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic  by the World Health Organization in 41 years.
     The heightened alert  an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that assembled after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising  in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.
     But the epidemic is "  " in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general,  the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the  of any medical treatment.
     The outbreak came to global  in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths  healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to  in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.
     In the United States, new cases seemed to fade  warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was  flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the  tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S., it has  more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.
     Federal health officials  Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began  orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is  ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those  doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not  for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other  . But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people  infants and healthy young people. 

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. 

     The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11, 2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic  by the World Health Organization in 41 years.
     The heightened alert  an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that assembled after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising  in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.
     But the epidemic is "  " in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general,  the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the  of any medical treatment.
     The outbreak came to global  in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths  healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to  in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.
     In the United States, new cases seemed to fade  warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was  flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the  tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S., it has  more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.
     Federal health officials  Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began  orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is  ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those  doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not  for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other  . But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people  infants and healthy young people. 

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. 

     The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11, 2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic  by the World Health Organization in 41 years.
     The heightened alert  an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that assembled after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising  in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.
     But the epidemic is "  " in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general,  the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the  of any medical treatment.
     The outbreak came to global  in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths  healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to  in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.
     In the United States, new cases seemed to fade  warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was  flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the  tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S., it has  more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.
     Federal health officials  Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began  orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is  ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those  doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not  for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other  . But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people  infants and healthy young people. 

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.　 

     Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence  firm’s work, too.
     Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper. , firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking  for making investments for the future.
     The researchers wanted to know if the  and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would  the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness  by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.
      enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were . But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities  why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various  that might make firms more likely to invest — like size, industry, and sales — and for indicators that a place was  to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally  even after accounting for these things.
     The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors  to “less codified decision making process” and the possible presence of “younger and less  managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was  stronger in places where happiness was spread more . Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.
      this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least  at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help  how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and  R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D

     Why do people read negative Internet comments and do other things that will obviously be painful? Because humans have an inherent need to  uncertainty, according to a recent study in Psychological Science. The new research reveals that the need to know is so strong that people will  to satisfy their curiosity even when it is clear the answer will  .
     In a series of four experiments, behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago and the Wisconsin School of Business tested students' willingness to  themselves to unpleasant stimuli in an effort to satisfy curiosity. For one  each participant was shown a pile of pens that the researcher claimed were from a previous experiment. The twist? Half of the pens would  an electric shock when clicked.
     Twenty-seven students were told which pens were electrified; another twenty-seven were told only that some were electrified  left alone in the room, the students who did not know which ones would shock them clicked more pens and incurred more shocks than the students who knew what would  . Subsequent experiments reproduced this effect with other stimuli,  the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard and photographs of disgusting insects.
     The drive to  is deeply rooted in humans, much the same as the basic drives for  or shelter, says Christopher Hsee of the University of Chicago. Curiosity is often considered a good instinct-it can  new scientific advances, for instance-but sometimes such  can backfire. The insight that curiosity can drive you to do  things is a profound one. Unhealthy curiosity is possible to  , however. In a final experiment, participants who were encouraged to  how they would feel after viewing an unpleasant picture were less likely to  to see such an image. These results suggest that imagining the  of following through on one's curiosity ahead of time can help determine  it is worth the endeavor. Thinking about long-term  is key to reducing the possible negative effects of curiosity." Hsee says. In other words, don't read online comments.​

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. 

     People have speculated for centuries about a future without work. Today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again  that technology be replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by : A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland. 

     A different and not mutually exclusive  holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one  by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives, people will simply become lazy and depressed. , today’s unemployed don’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for  Americans. Also, some research suggests that the  for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addicting  poorly-educated middle-aged people is shortage of well-paid jobs. Perhaps this is why many  the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.
     But it doesn’t  follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with unease. Such visions are based on the  of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the  of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could  strikingly different circumstanced for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the  of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a waste of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway.
     These days, because leisure time is relatively  for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional  of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel ,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”—perhaps different enough to throw himself a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for  matters. 

Directions:

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A], [B], [C] or [D].

     Millions of Americans and foreigners see G. I. Joe as a mindless war toy, the symbol of American military adventurism, but that’s not how it used to be. To the men and women who  in World War Ⅱ and the people they liberated, the G. I. was the  man grown into hero, the poor farm kid torn away from his home, the guy who  all the burdens of battle, who slept in cold foxholes, who went without the  of food and shelter, who stuck it out and drove back the Nazi reign of murder. This was not a volunteer soldier, not someone well paid,  an average guy up  the best trained, best equipped, fiercest, most brutal enemies seen in centuries.
     His name isn't much. G. I. is just a military abbreviation  Government Issue, and it was on all of the articles  to soldiers. And Joe? A common name for a guy who never  it to the top. Joe Blow, Joe Palooka. Joe Magrac… a working class name. The United States has  had a president or vice-president or secretary of state Joe. 

     G. I. Joe had acareer fighting German, Japanese, and Korean troops. He appears as a character, or a  of American personalities, in the 1945 movie The Story of G. I. Joe, based on the last days of war correspondent Emie Pyle. Some of the soldiers Pyle  portrayed themselves in the film. Pyle was famous for covering the  side of the war, writing about the dirt-snow-and-mud soldiers not how many miles were  or what towns were captured or liberated. His reports  the “Willie” cartoons of famed Stars and Stripes artist Bill Maulden. Both men  the dirt and exhaustion of war, the  of civilization that the soldiers shared with each other and the civilians: coffee, tobacco, whiskey, shelter, sleep.  Egypt, France, and a dozen more countries, G. I. Joe was any American soldier,  the most important person in their lives.

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with — or even looking at — a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones, even without a  underground.
     It's a sad reality — our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings — because there's  to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn't know it,  into your phone. This universal armor sends the  : "Please don't approach me."
     What is it that makes us feel we need to hide  our screens?
     One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach. We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be  as "creepy". We fear we'll be  . We fear we'll be disruptive. Strangers are inherently  to us, so we are more likely to feel  when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this anxiety, we  to our phones. "Phones become our security blanket," Wortmann says. "They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more  .”
     But once we rip off the bandaid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn't  so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a  . They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow . "When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to  how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their would be more pleasant if they sat on their own," the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didn't expect a positive experience, after they  with the experiment, "not a single person reported having been embarrassed."
     , these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense,  human beings thrive off of social connections. It's that  : Talking to strangers can make you feel connected. 

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     Given the advantages of electronic money, you might think that we would move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically. , a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been  for two decades but have not yet come to fruition. For example, Business Week predicted in 1975 that electronic means of payment would soon "revolutionize the veryof money itself," only to  itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so  in coming? 

     Although electronic means of payment may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work  the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very  to set up the computer, card reader, and telecommunications networks necessary to make electronic money the  form of payment. Second, paper checks have the advantage that they  receipts, something that many consumers are unwilling to . Third, the use of paper checks gives consumers several days of "float" — it takes several days  a check is cashed and funds are  from the issuer's account, which means that the writer of the check can earn interest on the funds in the meantime.  electronic payments are immediate, they eliminate the float for the consumer. 

     Fourth, electronic means of payment may  security and privacy concerns. We often hear media reports that an unauthorized hacker has been able to access a computer database and to alter information  there. The fact that this is not an  occurrence means that dishonest persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and  from someone else's accounts. The  of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a new field of computer science is developing to  security issues. A further concern is that the use of electronic means of payment leaves an electronic  that contains a large amount of personal data. There are concerns that government, employers, and marketers might be able to access these data, thereby violating our privacy.

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

    It's not difficult to set targets for staff. It is much harder, , to understand their negative consequences. Most work-related behaviors have multiple components.  one and the others become distorted.
    Travel on a London bus and you'll  see how this works with drivers. Watch people get on and show their tickets. Are they carefully inspected? Never. Do people get on without paying? Of course! Are there inspectors to  that people have paid? Possibly, but very few. And people who run for the bus? They are . How about jumping lights? Buses do so almost as frequently as cyclists.
    Why? Because the target is . People complained that buses were late and infrequent.  the number of buses and bus lanes were increased, and drivers were  or punished according to the time they took. And drivers hit these targets. But they  hit cyclists. If the target was changed to , you would have more inspectors and more sensitive pricing. If the criterion changed to safety, you would get more  drivers who obeyed traffic laws. But both these criteria would be at the expense of time.
    There is another : people became immensely inventive in hitting targets. Have you  that you can leave on a flight an hour late but still arrive on time? Tailwinds? Of course not! Airlines have simply changed the time a  is meant to take. A one-hour flight is now billed as a two-hour flight.
    The  of the story is simple. Most jobs are multidimensional, with multiple criteria. Choose one criterion and you may well  others. Everything can be done faster and made cheaper, but there is a . Setting targets can and does have unforeseen negative consequences.
    This is not an argument against target-setting. But it is an argument for exploring consequences first. All good targets should have multiple criteria  critical factors such as time, money, quality and customer feedback. The trick is not only to  just one or even two dimensions of the objective, but also to understand how to help people better  the objective.

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.
    Being a good parent is, of course, what every parent would like to be. But defining what it means to be a good parent is undoubtedly very , particularly since children respond differently to the same style of parenting. A calm, rule-following child might respond better to a different sort of parenting than, , a younger sibling.

    , there's another sort of parent that's a bit easier to : a patient parent. Children of every age benefit from patient parenting. Still,  every parent would like to be patient, this is no easy . sometimes, parents get exhausted and are unable to maintain a  and composed style with their kids. I understand this.

    You're only human, and sometimes your kids can  you just a little too far. And then the  happens: You lose your patience and either scream at your kids or say something that was a bit too  and does nobody any good. You wish that you could  the clock and start over. We've all been there.

    , even though it's common, it's important to keep in mind that in a single moment of fatigue, you can say something to your child that you may  for a long time. This may not only do damage to your relationship with your child but also  your child's self-esteem.

    If you consistently lose your  with your kids, then you are inadvertently modeling a lack of emotional control for your kids. We are all becoming increasingly aware of the  of modeling tolerance and patience for the younger generation. This is a skill that will help them all throughout life. In fact, the ability to emotionally regulate or maintain emotional control when  by stress is one of the most important of all life's skills.

    Certainly it's  to maintain patience at all times with your children. A more practical goal is to try, to the best of your ability, to be as tolerant and composed as you can when faced with  situations involving your children. I can promise you this: As a result of working toward this goal, you and your children will benefit and  from stressful moments feeling better physically and emotionally.

Directions：

Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     The Internet affords anonymity to its users, a blessing to privacy and freedom of speech. But that very anonymity is also behind the explosion of cyber-crime that has  across the Web.
     Can privacy be preserved  bringing safety and security to a world that seems increasingly ?
     Last month, Howard Schmidt, the nation’s cyber-czar, offered the federal government a  to make the Web a safer place-a “voluntary trusted identity” system that would be the high-tech  of a physical key, a fingerprint and a photo ID card, all rolled  one. The system might use a smart identity card, or a digital credential  to a specific computer, and would authenticate users at a range of online services.
     The idea is to  a federation of private online identity systems. User could  which system to join, and only registered users whose identities have been authenticated could navigate those systems. The approach contrasts with one that would require an Internet driver’s license  by the government.

     Google and Microsoft are among companies that already have these “single sign-on” systems that make it possible for users to  just once but use many different services.
     , the approach would create a “walled garden” in cyberspace, with safe “neighborhoods” and bright “streetlights” to establish a sense of a  community.
     Mr. Schmidt described it as a “voluntary ecosystem” in which “individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with , trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure  which the transaction runs”.
     Still, the administration’s plan has  privacy rights activists. Some applaud the approach; others are concerned. It seems clear that such a scheme is an initiative push toward what would  be a compulsory Internet “driver’s license” mentality.
     The plan has also been greeted with  by some computer security experts, who worry that the “voluntary ecosystem” envisioned by Mr. Schmidt would still leave much of the Internet . They argue that all Internet users should be  to register and identify themselves, in the same way that drivers must be licensed to drive on public roads.  

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     Weighing yourself regularly is a wonderful way to stay aware of any significant weight fluctuations. , when done too often, this habit can sometimes hurt more than it .
     As for me, weighing myself every day caused me to shift my focus from being generally healthy and physically active, to focusing  on the scale. That was bad to my overall fitness goats. I had gained weight in the form of muscle mass, but thinking only of  the number on the scale, I altered my training program. That conflicted with how I needed to train to  my goals.
     I also found that weighing myself daily did not provide an accurate  of the hard work and progress I was making in the gym. It takes about three weeks to a month to notice any significant changes in your weight  altering your training program. The most  changes will be observed in skill level, strength and inches lost. 

     For these , I stopped weighing myself every day and switched to a bimonthly weighing schedule . Since weight loss is not my goal, it is less important for me to  my weight each week. Weighing every other week allows me to observe and  any significant weight changes. That tells me whether I need to  my training program.
     I use my bimonthly weigh-in  to get information about my nutrition as well. If my training intensity remains the same, but I’m constantly  and dropping weight, this is a  that I need to increase my daily caloric intake.
     The  to stop weighing myself every day has done wonders for my overall health, fitness and well-being. I’m experiencing increased zeal for working out since I no longer carry the burden of a  morning weigh-in. I’ve also experienced greater success in achieving my specific fitness goals,  I’m training according to those goals, not the numbers on a scale.
     Rather than  over the scale, turn your focus to how you look, feel how your clothes fit and your overall energy level. 

Directions：
Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.
    Being a good parent is, of course, what every parent would like to be. But defining what it means to be a good parent is undoubtedly very , particularly since children respond differently to the same style of parenting. A calm, rule-following child might respond better to a different sort of parenting than, , a younger sibling.

    , there's another sort of parent that's a bit easier to : a patient parent. Children of every age benefit from patient parenting. Still,  every parent would like to be patient, this is no easy . sometimes, parents get exhausted and are unable to maintain a  and composed style with their kids. I understand this.

    You're only human, and sometimes your kids can  you just a little too far. And then the  happens: You lose your patience and either scream at your kids or say something that was a bit too  and does nobody any good. You wish that you could  the clock and start over. We've all been there.

    , even though it's common, it's important to keep in mind that in a single moment of fatigue, you can say something to your child that you may  for a long time. This may not only do damage to your relationship with your child but also  your child's self-esteem.

    If you consistently lose your  with your kids, then you are inadvertently modeling a lack of emotional control for your kids. We are all becoming increasingly aware of the  of modeling tolerance and patience for the younger generation. This is a skill that will help them all throughout life. In fact, the ability to emotionally regulate or maintain emotional control when  by stress is one of the most important of all life's skills.

    Certainly it's  to maintain patience at all times with your children. A more practical goal is to try, to the best of your ability, to be as tolerant and composed as you can when faced with  situations involving your children. I can promise you this: As a result of working toward this goal, you and your children will benefit and  from stressful moments feeling better physically and emotionally.

Directions:

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A], [B], [C] or [D].

     Millions of Americans and foreigners see G. I. Joe as a mindless war toy, the symbol of American military adventurism, but that’s not how it used to be. To the men and women who  in World War Ⅱ and the people they liberated, the G. I. was the  man grown into hero, the poor farm kid torn away from his home, the guy who  all the burdens of battle, who slept in cold foxholes, who went without the  of food and shelter, who stuck it out and drove back the Nazi reign of murder. This was not a volunteer soldier, not someone well paid,  an average guy up  the best trained, best equipped, fiercest, most brutal enemies seen in centuries.
     His name isn't much. G. I. is just a military abbreviation  Government Issue, and it was on all of the articles  to soldiers. And Joe? A common name for a guy who never  it to the top. Joe Blow, Joe Palooka. Joe Magrac… a working class name. The United States has  had a president or vice-president or secretary of state Joe. 

     G. I. Joe had acareer fighting German, Japanese, and Korean troops. He appears as a character, or a  of American personalities, in the 1945 movie The Story of G. I. Joe, based on the last days of war correspondent Emie Pyle. Some of the soldiers Pyle  portrayed themselves in the film. Pyle was famous for covering the  side of the war, writing about the dirt-snow-and-mud soldiers not how many miles were  or what towns were captured or liberated. His reports  the “Willie” cartoons of famed Stars and Stripes artist Bill Maulden. Both men  the dirt and exhaustion of war, the  of civilization that the soldiers shared with each other and the civilians: coffee, tobacco, whiskey, shelter, sleep.  Egypt, France, and a dozen more countries, G. I. Joe was any American soldier,  the most important person in their lives.

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with — or even looking at — a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones, even without a  underground.
     It's a sad reality — our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings — because there's  to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn't know it,  into your phone. This universal armor sends the  : "Please don't approach me."
     What is it that makes us feel we need to hide  our screens?
     One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach. We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be  as "creepy". We fear we'll be  . We fear we'll be disruptive. Strangers are inherently  to us, so we are more likely to feel  when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this anxiety, we  to our phones. "Phones become our security blanket," Wortmann says. "They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more  .”
     But once we rip off the bandaid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn't  so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a  . They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow . "When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to  how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their would be more pleasant if they sat on their own," the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didn't expect a positive experience, after they  with the experiment, "not a single person reported having been embarrassed."
     , these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense,  human beings thrive off of social connections. It's that  : Talking to strangers can make you feel connected. 

Directions：

Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.

     The Internet affords anonymity to its users, a blessing to privacy and freedom of speech. But that very anonymity is also behind the explosion of cyber-crime that has  across the Web.
     Can privacy be preserved  bringing safety and security to a world that seems increasingly ?
     Last month, Howard Schmidt, the nation’s cyber-czar, offered the federal government a  to make the Web a safer place-a “voluntary trusted identity” system that would be the high-tech  of a physical key, a fingerprint and a photo ID card, all rolled  one. The system might use a smart identity card, or a digital credential  to a specific computer, and would authenticate users at a range of online services.
     The idea is to  a federation of private online identity systems. User could  which system to join, and only registered users whose identities have been authenticated could navigate those systems. The approach contrasts with one that would require an Internet driver’s license  by the government.

     Google and Microsoft are among companies that already have these “single sign-on” systems that make it possible for users to  just once but use many different services.
     , the approach would create a “walled garden” in cyberspace, with safe “neighborhoods” and bright “streetlights” to establish a sense of a  community.
     Mr. Schmidt described it as a “voluntary ecosystem” in which “individuals and organizations can complete online transactions with , trusting the identities of each other and the identities of the infrastructure  which the transaction runs”.
     Still, the administration’s plan has  privacy rights activists. Some applaud the approach; others are concerned. It seems clear that such a scheme is an initiative push toward what would  be a compulsory Internet “driver’s license” mentality.
     The plan has also been greeted with  by some computer security experts, who worry that the “voluntary ecosystem” envisioned by Mr. Schmidt would still leave much of the Internet . They argue that all Internet users should be  to register and identify themselves, in the same way that drivers must be licensed to drive on public roads.  

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.　 

     Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence  firm’s work, too.
     Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper. , firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking  for making investments for the future.
     The researchers wanted to know if the  and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would  the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness  by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.
      enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were . But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities  why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various  that might make firms more likely to invest — like size, industry, and sales — and for indicators that a place was  to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally  even after accounting for these things.
     The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors  to “less codified decision making process” and the possible presence of “younger and less  managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was  stronger in places where happiness was spread more . Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.
      this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least  at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help  how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and  R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.