1 . In her new book, Kate Leaver explores modern friendship. If the Internet is the cause of loneliness, she writes, it’s also the cure (解决方法).

Scientists have done studies that suggest a connection between social media and loneliness. But even they have to admit (承认) we do not know what came first: loneliness or social media. Does Twitter make us lonelier, or do we pick up our phones when we’re already lonely, looking for some kind of connection?

I’ve spoken to many people, both my own friends and strangers from the Internet, who would simply not have the same social life without social media. I know a woman who met all three of her bridesmaids ( 伴 娘 ) on Twitter. She says she feels her most real self when she’s online and the friends she’s made there are her closest friends. I met the woman on Twitter, did this interview online and now we’re also friends.

This is perhaps exactly the point: we can no longer quite so easily tell our online selves from what we’d call our in-real-life selves. We are becoming confident enough to put our online and offline selves together as we realise that using social media is an important way to develop friendships.

My best friends in the world live in Melbourne, New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. I am, at any time, at least 5, 000 km away from them. Catch-ups (谈论近况) over dinner are not possible for us. And so, we spend most of our friendship exchanging stories and emojis on WhatsApp and Facebook.

Our group has become home to career advice and moral support (精神支持). I am saddened by anyone who would suggest our largely online friendship is in any way less important than people who have the chance to sit in the same room. We live in a world where technology is everywhere. So embrace it and you’ll get more than you expect.

1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?

A．To explore the reasons for loneliness.

B．To introduce Kate Leaver’s new book.

C．To bring up the topic of modern friendship.

D．To discuss the negative influence of the Internet.

2. What can we learn about the woman who met her bridesmaids online?

A．She helps her online friends find their true selves.

B．She considers her social life very different.

C．She has lots of short-term online friends.

D．She speaks highly of online friendship.

3. How does the author deal with her friendships?

A．She tries hard to have face-to-face catch-ups.

B．She pays more attention to her online friends.

C．She uses the Internet to maintain friendships.

D．She writes stories to stay in touch with her friends.

4. What does the underlined word “embrace” probably mean in the last paragraph?

A．Stop.	B．Accept.
C．Change.	D．Discover.

2 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Good friends always make life seem much easier and better. In our busy lives, sometimes when we feel     1    (stick) and isolated, it is our friends who spend their time     2    us. Though it might be     3    (necessary) to know the definitions of a good friend, it is important to know the qualities of a good friend and the skills to be a good friend!

Full acceptance is     4    key element of any human relationship. To be a good friend, you must     5    (full) accept your friend with his/her faults. An important test of friendship is the reliability of a friend.

If you look horrible in that dress you     6    (buy) last week, a true friend will always tell you! Honesty is essential in any relationship. True friends,     7    often speak from their minds, are ready to give you a taste of the bitter truth. Often when you feel sad or depressed, you need not ever explain to your friend     8    you are feeling bad. A true friend knows when you are upset. Understanding without words is     9    (high) level of friendship. To be a good friend requires patience     10    (understand) your friend.

3 . You may have recently seen a video from the Beijing Wildlife Zoo becoming a hit. What exactly was so interesting about this video? It shows a dog playing with big cats four to five times its size! Many people might wonder if this dog has a death wish, but it seems that the dog and the big cats are good friends.

The dog was actually raised alongside the lion and tiger cubs, making up an odd but loving family, according to zoo officials. As opposed to the common belief, cross-species friendship has been around for centuries. People have domesticated many animals, most notably cats and dogs, and formed bonds with them as pets. Perhaps you even have a pet yourself.

There are many other instances of cross-species friendships.

At an animal sanctuary in Santiago, Chile, a jaguar named Marina and a deer named Laura formed a friendship after they both came to the park. As neither animal had a mother, sanctuary staff said they instantly bonded when they met. Laura had been rescued from a slaughterhouse while Marina had been rescued from the street.

One possible explanation for these friendships is the environment of the zoo. Animals don’t hunt for their food and don’t need to worry about marking their territory or looking for mates in the way an animal in the wild would. “All those activities take time and energy, and if these needs are removed, the animals get bored,” Gordon Burghardt, a psychologist at the University of Tenessee, US, told The Atlantic magazine. “In this particular situation, the animal’s motivation to engage socially and playfully may be higher in its need hierarchy(等级)than eating.”

Marc Bekoff, former biology professor at the University of Colorado, US, told Slate magazine, “I think the choices animals make in cross-species relationships are the same as they’d make in same-species relationships. Some dogs don’t like every other dog. Animals are very selective about the other individuals who they let into their lives.”

1. What is the common opinion about the friendship between animals?

A．It’s easier for dogs and cats to become friends.

B．Animals tend to play with peers of the same species.

C．The friendship between animals is not solid and reliable.

D．It’s common that animals of different species can become friends.

2. Why are Marina and Laura mentioned in paragraph 4?

A．To present a truth.	B．To explain a phenomenon.
C．To introduce the topic.	D．To provide a proof.

3. What’s the key factor of the animals’ friendship in the zoo according to Gordon Burghardt?

A．The existing tradition.	B．The influence by mates.
C．The animals’ inner social drive.	D．The animals’ raisers’ instruction.

4. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To appeal to people to treasure animals.

B．To inform readers of a special friendship.

C．To demonstrate the history of bringing up pets.

D．To compare friendship between cross-species and same-species.

4 . Some folks spend decades looking for their best friends. I was   ________   enough to find mine in Grade 7 at my senior school –eight   ________   girls.

As we progressed to high school, a couple of girls ________ and a couple of new ones wormed their way in. By the end of Grade 12, the group had more or less ________ into its final form, one that’s remained remarkably ________ for the past 20 years.

Among our many ________ is an annual Christmas exchange. This event first ________ when we were 12. We set it up on the long, sticky cafeteria tables at our school to swap ________ gifts bought with our babysitting money. In following years, we’d ________ a night of it, watching movies and ordering pizza in parents’ living rooms, ________ moving into our own shabby student apartments, into slightly less shabby adult apartments and then into our first   ________ .

At the beginning, we gave each other butterfly hair clips and so on. Those ________ bright mall jewellery and cheerful housewares as we began nesting in our 20s and baby clothes once we started having ________ in our 30s.

Holidays with family can be ________ , but our exchange offered something else:a chance for my friends and me to ________ our own traditions and play at being grown-ups.

1.

A．cautious

B．astonished

C．lucky

D．clever

2.

A．mature

B．teenage

C．fashionable

D．strange

3.

A．dropped out

B．dropped in

C．showed up

D．showed off

4.

A．broken

B．forced

C．separated

D．united

5.

A．secret

B．long

C．natural

D．complete

6.

A．hobbies

B．traditions

C．ceremonies

D．rules

7.

A．caught on

B．took place

C．broke out

D．fell down

8.

A．fancy

B．expensive

C．modest

D．generous

9.

A．repeat

B．add

C．search

D．make

10.

A．instantly

B．literally

C．eventually

D．consequently

11.

A．homes

B．schools

C．shelters

D．offices

12.

A．held on to

B．gave way to

C．catered to

D．adapted to

13.

A．salaries

B．jobs

C．kids

D．families

14.

A．rare

B．practical

C．inspiring

D．cosy

15.

A．create

B．reform

C．apply

D．recognize

5 . Jeffrey Hall, a teacher of Communications from the University of Kansas (KU) , has used his research to define the exact amount of time necessary to make friends with someone. He's also found how long it will take to deepen a relationship. His new study found that it takes around 50 hours of time together to go from being someone's acquaintance to casual friend. It takes about 90 hours to go from being casual friends to friends, and more than 200 hours before considering someone a close friend or best friend.

But it isn't spending just any kind of time together that deepens a friendship—hours spent working together, for example, don't count as much as hours spent getting to know someone by hanging out, joking around, playing video games, and doing more playful activities. The study explains that these kinds of activities help us to form a deeper connection with someone. “We have to put that time in，” Hall said. “You can't make friends without any effort.”

The results of the study come from analysis of 355 responses to an online survey from adults who said they had moved in the last six months and were looking for new friends in their new environment. Survey participants were asked about new relationships as well as hours spent together and activities they did. They were then asked to rate their resulting relationships according to one of four stages: acquaintance, casual friend, friend and close friend.

The main conclusion that Hall came to is that making close friends takes serious effort. So if you want to have some best friends, you have to know that spending time with someone is the most important thing.

1. How long does it take to turn an acquaintance into a friend?

A．About 50 hours.

B．About 90 hours.

C．About 140 hours.

D．About 200 hours.

2. What does the underlined part “that time” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Time spent working together.

B．Time spent finding new friends.

C．Time spent helping a new friend.

D．Time spent doing fun things together.

3. Which may help deepen a friendship according to the study?

A．Trying to understand your friend's feelings.

B．Enjoying quality time with your friend.

C．Treating a new friend like a close one.

D．Being generous to your friend.

4. What is the main purpose of the text?

A．To solve a relationship problem.

B．To introduce a teacher from KU.

C．To present the findings of a new study.

D．To discuss the importance of friendship.