Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering round the shops fill you with terror? For some of us，shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me．it's something I would rather avoid．Thank goodness for the Internet! It's more convenient to buy CDs，electrical items，even food，from the comfort of your sofa．But that’s not the only reason：price is an important factor．We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy．This has led to a type of shopping called “showrooming”．

Showrooming is something I've done．I will go to a shop to see，touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock—down price．I'm not alone in doing this．Research by a company called Foolproof，found 24％of people showroomed while Christmas shopping in 2013．

Amy Cashman，Head of Technology at TNS UK，says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that“people are lacking time，lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying．”She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smartphones to shop around．

But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change．They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in—store discounts or free girls．

We mustn’t forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare．It’s good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen but at least by showrooming，you get the best of both worlds!

1.The two questions in Paragraph l are raised to       

A．introduce the topic            B．give two examples

C．compare different opinions     D．get answers from readers

2.What does showrooming mean in the text?

A．Trying in shops and buying online．

B．Showing products in a room．

C．Buying something in a store．

D．Shopping on the Internet．

3.According to Amy Cashman，which is not the reason for showrooming?

A．The lack of time．         B．The comfort of the sofa．

C．The shortness of money．   D．The security of the product．

4.What can be inferred from Paragraph 4 ?

A．Online shops will disappear．

B．Free gifts will surely promote sales．

C．Shops need necessary changes．

D．Shops will be replaced by online shops．

5.The author's attitude towards showrooming is         

A．critical  B．neutral   C．supportive   D．casual

Are you still wishing your friends and partners “Happy New Year”? In the first few days of a new year, we say these three words countless times. The ___16___ is that we say them almost without thinking. The result of such a wish is that it ___17___ its meaning and power.
Last month, I ___18___ Dada J P Vaswani’s first speech after his return from the US. The ___19___ of his speech was “In 2012, all will be fine”. While sharing one of his many ___20___ ideas, he said that while “Happy New Year” is a nice greeting, there’s a more beautiful and encouraging way to ___21___ others—“Happy New You!”
Those three ___22___ words show that New Year is a time to leave behind our ___23___ and step forward. It’s the time to renew ourselves by getting rid of the negative things of the past — ___24___, pain and so on. It’s also the right time to give up thoughts of fear and failure.
For those who are ___25___ what to change, Dada has a simple suggestion: write down all the things that you don’t ___26___ about yourself… every single one. They could be small or big, easy or difficult — ___27___ write them all down. Putting them on ___28___ brings clearness of thought, which is the first step towards bringing about any change.
So this New Year, let’s wish each other “Happy New You” and then ___29___ that trend all through the year. Each time you wish others, you will be ___30___ not only them but also yourself to leave behind sadness and the past — because it’s time for being Happy and New.

Three years ago, five parrots were set free in a wild place of Arizona, thousands of miles from the Channel Islands in Jersey where they had been looked after by zookeepers. No evolutionary strategies informed them how to behave in this new landscape of mountainous pine forest unoccupied by their kind for 50 years. To the researchers’ surprise, they failed to make contact with a group of wild parrots imported from Mexico and set free at the same time. Within 24 hours the reintroducing ended in failure, and the poor birds were back in cages, on their way to the safety of the Arizona reintroduction programme.
Ever since then, the programme has enjoyed great success, mainly because the birds now being set free are Mexican birds illegally caught in the wild, confiscated （没收） on arrival north of the border, and raised by their parents in the safety of the programme. The experience shows how little we know about the behaviour and psychology （心理） of parrots, as Peter Bennett, a bird researcher, points out: “Reintroducing species of high intelligence like parrots is a lot more difficult. People like parrots, always treating them as nothing more than pets or valuable ‘collectables’.”
Now that many species of parrot are in immediate danger of dying out, biologists are working together to study the natural history and the behaviour of this family of birds. Last year was an important turning point: conservationists founded the World Parrot Trust, based at Hayle in Cornwall, to support research into both wild and caged birds.
Research on parrots is vital for two reasons. First, as the Arizona programme showed, when reintroducing parrots to the wild, we need to be aware of what the birds must know if they are to survive in their natural home. We also need to learn more about the needs of parrots kept as pets, particularly as the Trust’s campaign does not attempt to discourage the practice, but rather urges people who buy parrots as pets to choose birds raised by humans.
【小题1】What do we know about the area where the five parrots were reintroduced?

第二节完型填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。
One summer in college, I was invited to be an instructor at a high school leadership camp.
I first   16   a boy under the tree on the first day of camp. His obvious   17  and shyness made him appear weak and lonely. Nearby, 200   18   campers were playing and joking, but the boy seemed to want to be anywhere   19  where he was.
I was instructed to care more about campers who might feel   20  . So I   21   him and said, “Hi, I’m Kevin. It’s nice to meet you. How are you?”
22   a shaky voice he   23   answered, “Okay, I guess.”
I calmly asked him to join in the activities and   24   some new people. He quietly replied, “No, this is not really my thing.”
I could   25   that this whole experience was   26  to him. But I somehow knew it wouldn’t be right to   27   him, either. It was going to take more time and   28 .
The next day, I was leading camp songs for the campers. They eagerly participated. But the boy was just sitting alone,   29   out the window.
That evening at our nightly staff meeting, I made my   30  about him known. I asked them to pay special attention and spend time with him   31   they could.
The days flew by fast. When the “last dance” came, surprisingly, the boy from under the tree was now a shirtless dancing   32  . He owned the dance floor   33  meaningful time with others. I couldn’t’ believe it was him.
In that instant, I realized how easy it is to give a bit of   34  every day. You may never know how much each gesture may mean to someone else. I tell this story as   35   as I can, and I advise others to look out for their own “boy under the tree.”
16．A．learned     B．recognized       C．noticed     D．heard
17．A．anger       B．discomfort       C．excitement       D．satisfaction
18．A．ambitious B．curious     C．anxious     D．eager
19．A．other than B．just as       C．or rather   D．as well as
20．A．left out     B．put out     C．made out  D．let out
21．A．passed     B．left    C．visited      D．approached
22．A．At     B．In     C．On    D．By
23．A．unfortunately   B．unwillingly      C．unconsciously   D．uninterestingly
24．A．help  B．interview  C．find   D．meet
25．A．sense B．suggest     C．consider    D．prove
26．A．familiar    B．similar      C．strange     D．typical
27．A．push  B．pull   C．pardon      D．punish
28．A．effects      B．exercises   C．efforts      D．expenses
29．A．observing B．examining C．admiring   D．staring
30．A．trouble     B．concern    C．devotion   D．understanding
31．A．unless       B．before      C．when D．since
32．A．wonder     B．danger      C．scene D．instructor
33．A．sparing     B．saving      C．spreading  D．sharing
34．A．himself     B．yourself    C．themselves       D．itself
35．A．soon  B．far    C．often D．Long

 Banks view online banking as a powerful “value-added” tool to attract and keep new customers while helping to eliminate costly paper handling or teller（出纳员）interactions in an increasingly competitive banking environment .

Today , most large national banks , many local banks and credit unions offer some form of online banking , variously known as PC banking , home banking , electronic banking or Internet banking . Online banks are sometimes referred to as “brick-to-click” banks , both to tell them from “brick-to-mortar” banks that haven’t yet offered online banking , as well as from “virtual”（虚拟）banks that have no physical branches or tellers whatsoever .

The challenge（挑战）for the banking industry has been to design this new service channel in such a way that its customers will readily learn to use and trust it . Most of the large banks can now offer fully safe ,fully functional （功能的）online banking for free or for a small cost . As more banks succeed online and more customers use their sites , fully functional online banking will likely become as commonplace as automated teller machines (ATM).

Online banking has a lot of advantages . Unlike your corner bank , online banking sites never close; they’re at hand 24 hours a day , seven days a week , and they’re a mouse click away . If you’re out of state or even out of the country when a money problem appears , you can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business . Online bank sites generally carry out and confirm （确认）deals at or quicker than ATM processing speeds . Many online banking sites now offer fashionable tools to help you manage all of your valuable items more effectively .

1.The word “eliminate” in the first paragraph probably means “         ”.

2.What is the challenge for the banking industry according to the text ?

3.From the text we can conclude that            .

4.What would be the best title for this text ?