47. What lesson does the author learn from his experience?

A. Be confident and yowill succeed.

B. Be responsible and yocan grow up.

C. Give up something and yomay win more.

D. Think hard and yocan achieve your dream.

C

An Oil for Life

Maria Alcala of Madrid speaks for many Mediterranean people when she says that “a meal without olive oil would be a bore.” No one knows when the Mediterranean civilizations fell in love with olives. That occurred before recorded history. However, there is evidence that the cultivation (种植) of olive trees began in countries around the Mediterranean Sea in approximately 4000 B.C., and 2000 years after that people in the eastern Mediterranean area began to produce oil from olives. The Mediterranean still accounts for 99 percent of all world olive oil production.

From ancient times until today, the basic process of producing the oil is the same. First, whole olives are pressed hard into pieces. Then, the liquid is separated from the solids. After that, the valuable oil is separated from the water.

Many olive growers make their ancient traditions continue and still harvest the olives by hand. “We harvest in the traditional way,” says Don Celso, an olive farmer from Tuscany, Italy. “It would be less expensive to do it with machines, but it’s more a social thing. Twenty people come to help with the harvest, and we pay them in oil.”

Olive oil has had a variety of uses through its long history. In ancient times, olive oil was used as money and as medicine. It was even used during war—heated up and dropped down on attackers. It is still used in religious ceremonies. It is great for protecting t he freshness of fish and cheese. There are even olive oil lamp and olive oil soaps.

One important study shows that Mediterranean people have the lowest rate of heart disease among Western nations. This is partly associated with their frequent use of olive oil. Other studies show that food cooked in olive oil is healthier, and that eating olive oil twice a day reduces women’s risk of getting breast cancer. The world is beginning to understand its benefits, and olive oil is no longer an unusual sight at dinner tables outside the Mediterranean area. The olive oil producing countries now sell large amounts of olive oil to countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America.

Olive oil improves the lives of people everywhere. Its benefits, recently confirmed by science, were already understood in ancient times. Mediterranean people are happy to share their secret with the world.

48. Which step occurs first in olive oil production?

A. Drying the olives under the sun.

B. Separating the oil from the water.

C. Separating the liquid from the solids.

D. Pressing the whole olives into pieces.

49. Which use of olive oil is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Paint. B. Medicine. C. Money. D. Soap.

50. Why does the author include information about several studies of olive oil?

A. To give reasons why olive oil is similar to medicine.

B. To show how the biology of Mediterranean people is special.

C. To explain the growing interest in olive oil around the world.

D. To prove that olive oil is more important for women than for men.

51. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Discussing olive oil production outside the Mediterranean area.

B. Explaining the history, production, benefits, and use of olive oil.

C. Showing why olive oil is produced around the Mediterranean Sea.

D. Comparing Mediterranean olive oil with that produced in other places.

D

Recently some articles state that the word ‘‘selfie” has become one of the most annoying words. But I’d like to offer that maybe it is not so bad. The “selfie” is used to describe the self-taken photo, often from a smartphone. Women and men decorate their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts with these pictures, sometimes with puckered (翘起) lips or large smiles. In fact, the selfie has become so widely known that over 31 million photos on Instagram are taken with the selfie.

Let’s think about it. Someone takes about 10 selfies each time they do, and they only end up posting one or two of those. They pick the one that makes them look the best. Isn’t that beautiful? In that one picture, someone has given himself or herself confidence. Self-image is important. In society today, we are so often consumed with what society tells us is perfect. But maybe, with t hat one selfie, we feel that we fit that bill. We feel handsome, beautiful, confident, smart, happy and content. For that moment, everything bad or terrible that has ever happened to us is erased, because that smile or that pucker is what gives us the determination to love ourselves.

I saw a spoken word poem recently and the young man said: If I ask yowhat yolove, the answers will most likely roll off your tongue. Yolove to read. Yolove to write. Yolove birds, music, your mom, your brother, your sister, your daughter, your best friend, your dog. How long do yothink yocould go on and on before yosaid “I love myself”?

That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve struggled with confidence all of my life. I still do. And in no way am I saying that taking a selfie is a gateway to that confidence. However, the selfie does deserve some credit for allowing individuals to express themselves. Pamela Rutledge agrees, stating, “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models.”

52. According to the author, selfie ______.

A. is an annoying habit for people B. becomes a fashion among teenagers

C. gives a person a sense of confidence D. makes a person become self-centered

53. The author mentions a poem in the passage to stress ______.

A. the power of true love B. the endless love we get