What am I going to wear today? That daily question often wastes us tune and causes stress. Some people have many clothes and might still think. There '* nothing to wear "Hut. What if they have only six Items of clothing to choose from and wear for an entire month? That’s the idea behind Six Items or Less.

Six Items or Less is a social experiments, a gentle way of saying "no" to fashion consumerism (消费主义)and the high cost of clothing. Heidi Hackemer came up with the idea. She shared the idea with her friends. And all of a sudden, they had almost 100 people from around the world saying that they wanted to take part in this experiment.

It was an interesting month for them. Hackemcr was surprised at how few people notice that. She was wearing the same six items the whole month. Having fewer choices reduced stress in her life. "I learned what's really important and what's really worth stressing. I also into found that this simplicity exists in other parts of my life. I realized that physical things that we allow into our world really block our mind. And our mind can be quite a powerful and positive if we clear up a little bit."

Kristy Hogue said the experiment inspired her to reexamine her life. Within six items, at first she was really excited and everything was working out perfectly and she never got bored. Then she started to feel a little bored. Then she eventually accepted it and started to be more relaxed .

Alexander was one of the 40 men "Sixers". The most difficult part for him was having to wash clothes by hand every clay. Hut the experiments changed his perspective (观念)on what makes people happy. " We have many choices for everything . But all those choices don't necessarily lead up to any kind of satisfaction ion. We are any about novelty ( 新鲜事) In fact, slowing down little bit and considering your choices a little tightly, actually leads to more time, more happiness and more content.

48. Heidi Hackemer began the Six Items or Less experiment because she wanted to ______

A. try souring special

B. remove the blockers in her mind

C. reexamine her life and he happy

D. fight the custom of overspending on clothes

49. By having fewer clothes to choose from every day, Hackemer fell ________.

A. strange                     B. relaxed                   C. bored             D. surprised

50. What would be the belt title for this passage?

A. Many choices for everything

B. What am going to wear today?

C. Six items or less can make you feel better

D. People's craziness about fashion consumerism

It was Mother’s Day. I was so busy with my work that I couldn’t   56_ back home. When I passed by a  57   shop, an  58    came to my mind, “I’ll send Mum some roses.”

While I was  59    my flowers, a young man went inside. “How many roses can I get  60   only five dollars, Madam?” he asked. The assistant was trying to tell him roses were as  61   as forty dollars a dozen---- Maybe he would be happy with carnations （ 康乃馨）. “ No, I  62   have red roses,” he said, “my mum was   63   ill last year and I didn’t spend much time with her. Now I want to get something special, roses, as rose is her  64  .”

After hearing it, I said I would pay   65  of the money for the young man.  66  by both of us, the assistant said, “well, lovely young men, thirty dollars a dozen, only for you.” Taking the roses, the young man almost jumped into the  67  and ran out of the shop. It was  68  worth twenty-five dollars I paid to see the exciting  69  . Then I paid for my dozen of roses and told the assistant to  70  them to my mother.

As I walked out, I felt  71  . Suddenly I saw the young man crossing the street and going into a park. But soon I  72    it was not a park  73   a cemetery. Crying, the young man carefully  74   the roses, “Mum, why didn’t I tell you how much I loved you? God, please help me find my mum and tell her I love her.” Seeing this, I turned and quickly walked to the  75 . I would take the flowers home myself.

A. go                  B. come                       C. return                      D. turn

A. jewellery        B. clothing                          C. rose                        D. flower

A. fact                B. word                               C. idea                         D. picture

A. picking                  B. picking up               C. selling                     D. showing

A. with                      B. for                           C. at                                   D. on

A. much                    B. cheap                       C. expensive                 D. high

A. might                    B. have to                     C. should                     D. can

A. a bit                     B. hardly                     C. badly                       D. nearly

 A. flower             B. favorite                         C. dream                     D. gift

A. all                  B. some                        C. the rest                     D. much

A. Surprised               B. Pleased                    C. Excited                    D. Moved

A. roses                     B. assistant                   C. air                           D. street

A. very                      B. well                         C. not                                 D. only

A. moment          B. time                         C. scenery                    D. incident

A. give               B. offer                        C. present                     D. send

A. relaxed           B. amazed                    C. shameful                  D. nice

A. understood     B. realized                    C. learned                    D. was told

A. and                B. or                            C. nor                          D. but

A. laid                B. lay                           C. buried                     D. grew

A. man               B. street                       C. shop                        D. cemetery

拓展与应用：

　　When I was about 15, we had our first serious campout(野营). By “serious” I mean we actually brought food to cook-not food to open.

　　I was a pretty normal kid growing up-I loved to camp. My only problem was I watched too many Rambo movies(兰博影片), so a small gaggle of Rambonites and myself went out on the weekend to “rough it”. (Twinkies and Vienna sausages are bare essentials, I swear.) Actually we didn't usually set out to rough it; it's just that we always forgot most of our equipment, and no one wanted to go all the way back home just to retrieve(重新获得) the salad forks. We learned the hard way how to compensate(补偿) for essential items that were left in the closet. Most of the time our ideas wouldn't work, but every once in a while the stars would align just right and something actually succeeded. Here are some of those ideas that kept us young survivalists happy campers. We thought of everything; steaks, potatoes, spices, etc., enough for a couple of well-rounded meals. We forgot the pans.

　　  Clean water was the hardest part to accomplish. First we tried to filter the water using a sock filled with charcoal. Since we only brought one pair of socks each, the pair on our feet, the idea didn't go over too well. Our second ingenious idea was to carve a bowl in which we could put water to boil and somehow not catch on fire. After we broke two or three of our “survival” knives and our bowls still resembled a tree, we decided that our oak dining set wasn't going to happen. Finally someone recalled it's possible to boil water in a paper cup, and I realize now the guts it took to say that because I know I wouldn't want to be at the receiving end of the looks we gave him. We went though many pieces of paper and a myriad of designs (my buddy Bryon can make one fancy paper swan!) before we finally hit on one that worked. It turned out to look like a small casserole dish. We built it by taking the paper and folding it like we were gift-wrapping half a package. A small lip around the top of the “dish” kept the triangle flaps in place. The heat from the fire put condensation on the outside of the paper to keep it from burning.

　　 After that small victory we thought cooking the steaks would be a simple task. Our idea was to cook them like marshmallows. After sacrificing(牺牲) a couple of perfectly good steaks to the fire-gods (because the end of our sticks burned off), we realized the error of our ways. Luckily some parts of Missouri have clay for soil and we happened to be in one of those areas. So we took forked branches and made a twig latticework over the Y. All we did was pack the fork with clay, hold it over the fire for a hit, and we had ourselves custom Earthenware.

　　The potatoes were even easier after we discovered the power of clay. We packed clay around those 'taters and tossed them to the side of the fire ring. After about 30 to 45 minutes (depends on the size of the potato and the size of the fire), we cracked those puppies open and had ourselves a pretty good meat-and-potatoes meal…that we had to eat with our hands, of course.

　　Another camping mishap(灾祸) happened about two years later, and if you think we learned our lesson on being prepared, then you are sadly mistaken. On this incident we forgot an…umm, very important hygiene tissue(卫生纸). And, as much as we would have liked to be “roughing it,” we just happened to schedule our trip the same time as a big poison ivy convention. Once again notebook paper saved our behinds (no pun intended). We found that if we took a couple of pieces, folded them flat and put them between our flattened(平的) hands, we could rub(磨擦) our hands together and it broke down the stiffness of the notebook paper to an almost tissue-like substance. You just had to remember to plan ahead about 5 minutes.

　　On one small hunting excursion(远足) as a much older and wiser person, I went with my cousin to northern Missouri. We were so excited to go that we forget all fire-making equipment. (Unfortunately, unprepared ness is genetic.) So we were out in the middle of nowhere, in a cabin, in the middle of November. Our only savior is that we drove. The cigarette lighter was out of the question. My cousin had just bought a new GPS unit so we tossed that easy fire-builder. Our first thought, of course, was to use the gas from the truck. We both decided however, that we looked better with eyebrows, so we canned that idea. (plus, I think we were almost out of fuel). After a couple of minutes we came across an idea. We put jumper cables on the battery, then we quickly and lightly tapped the other ends together to produce sparks over a small pile of twigs and fuzz-sticks. It's important not to hold the two terminals together long because they will weld themselves together. And, if you don't get them apart, your battery will explode. I know this isn't the best way to treat your battery, but if you're in serious need of a fire, then you do what you must to stay warm. The damage to the battery from arcing is minimal and the battery will still work fine.

Questions:　　

1．According to the author what they should do to get clean water?　　

2．How do they cook potatoes during the camp?

September 21, 2050----At a press conference today it was announced that the first tourist heading for Mars will be the 38-year-old US businessman Patrick Clifford. He will leave the earth in the  launching window of June 2052 and set his foot on the surface of Mars in November, together with the other 6 astronauts assigned for the mission to further explore the planet.
Patrick has now two years of training ahead of him to get ready for the trip. Not only will he spend five months in getting to Mars, but another 600 days there before he can go back home.  Patrick was of course very excited, “ This has been my dream since I was four, and seeing the first man on Mars 20 years ago made me realize that it was possible.”
To be able to pay the $ 1. 3 billion for his ticket for the trip Patrick sold his majority stake (股份) in the company his father had built. “I know that my father would have been proud of me if he had still been alive today, he knew what this means to me”, says Patrick. There is no risk though that you will find Patrick begging in your street corner when he comes back, but it is said that he was paid twice as much for his part of the company.
So, how is he going to spend his 600 days on the red planet? “Well, since I don’t have a job when I get back after selling the company, I have plenty of time to come up with a new business idea”, he says and laughs. If he brings a shovel（铁锹）he can start building the first hotel there, but maybe he shouldn’t expect too many guests until someone can offer a cheaper ticket.
【小题1】How long will Patrick Clifford be away before he comes back?