2 . How would you feel if moving to a new town meant losing touch of your friends? What if the only way of getting news from faraway friends was writing letters that took a long time to arrive? This was how things worked not very long ago. Thanks to advances in technology, how we make friends and communicate with them has changed greatly.

Nowadays, we can move around the world and still stay in touch with the people that we want to remain friends with. Social media tools let us see what our friends are up to and maintain friendships. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection.

The digital age also enables us to find people who share our interests, such as collecting model cars. Whatever our hobbies, the Internet can connect us with others who also enjoy doing them, even if they live on the other side of the world.

But when you “friend” people online, does this mean that they really are your friends?

It depends.

If people always exchange true personal information online, then yes, these friendships can be real and meaningful. ① But we need to keep in mind that what we see on social media is often not the whole truth about a person. ② On social media sites, people tend to post only positive updates that make them appear happy and friendly.③ Remember the saying: On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. ④ A young person could be old; a woman could be a man; we could even be sharing our information with criminals.

But this doesn’t mean that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although technology has changed the way we make friends, the meaning of friendship and our longing for friends remain the same. As Aristotle said, no one would choose to live without friends, even if he or she had all other goods.

Lucy Black recently became the youngest person     1     (travel) to every country in the world. By the age of 22, she     2     (visit) all the countries in an effort to challenge     3     (she). She wanted to see what could     4     (achieve) by a female traveler.

At first, Lucy used planes, boats and trains to get around. It was not all easy sailing and there were many difficulties she met, including     5     (arrange) visas to enter some countries. But the challenges were outweighed by the memorable experiences on her way. “There’re so many incredible experiences     6     can come out of traveling alone because you are more open to the connections with the     7     (local) than you would be in a big group,” she said.

Lucy enjoyed meeting a variety of people and exploring varied cultures. But the most     8     (value) experience of all was discovering     9     sense of independence, she said.

For Lucy, nothing compared to the joy of traveling. She described it     10     her favorite part of living.

4 . The 1975 film Jaw s tells the story of a great white shark that attacks and kills swimmers. Jaws was a great success. It strengthened people’s long-held idea of the great white shark as a dangerous animal.

People have always been scared of sharks, but Jaws made things worse. It made people frightened of sharks. Many people started to believe that sharks were bad animals that ate humans. Some people stopped swimming in the sea. Other people started fishing for sharks, killing as many as they could. At that time, nobody cared if sharks were killed, or how many were killed. People just wanted them killed.

After 1975, the number of large sharks around America fell quickly, and soon fell around the world. This was not only due to fear of sharks, but also finning. Finning is a type of fishing where sharks are caught and their fins are cut off. The sharks are thrown back into the sea where they die slowly and painfully. Finning kills millions of sharks a year.

Finning would have an unexpected effect upon Peter Benchley, the man who wrote the book that the film Jaws was based on. In 1980, Benchley was diving when he came across an awful sight. It was an area where fishermen were finning, and the sea floor was covered with dead sharks. Benchley saw sharks being killed and this caused a deep change in him. He came to see people as a danger to sharks, rather than the other way round. From that day on, he fought to protect sharks. He admitted that his book was wrong about sharks’ behaviour. “Sharks don’t target humans,” he said. Experts have proved that sharks do not see people as food, and they attack us by mistake.

Fortunately, not everyone who watched the film Jaws became afraid of sharks—some became interested in understanding them. Today, as we learn more about sharks, more people than ever want to protect them from extinction.

10 . I used to be the most determined resolution-maker. Every January 1st, I would dutifully sit down and write out my resolutions for the upcoming year. I always ________ big goals, like: In the new year, I will lose 50 pounds! And run a marathon! Oh, and be the best parent ever who never ________ my children!

The problem? I never accomplished those resolutions. I’d start out strong, but by February or March, I’d be out of willpower and I’d ________ quietly back into my old habits. Every winter, I’d feel ________ and ashamed, looking back at all of the amazing things…I didn’t do.

Two years ago, I started experiencing severe stomach pain. The doctors ________ a surgery to go in and ________ it out. But ________ I could have the surgery, I found a lump (肿块) and was diagnosed with breast cancer. I started treatment for the breast cancer only to ________ that the stomach pain was from appendix (阑尾) cancer. That’s ________: two different cancers, with two different treatment plans, at the same time, in the same body. It was a lot to ________, and I won’t lie — the next year was unbelievably difficult.

The experience completely changed my perspective on my life — especially about what I consider “success” and “failure.” Before, I always felt like I was ________ somewhere, but now ________ being alive and with my family felt like a huge success.

I understand the ________ of having a new beginning, but I learned that you can take the opportunity to start over at any time. January 1st is just a day, and it’s not ________. You can make the day you decide to be a better person a special day, regardless of what the ________ says.