devastated community. (147 words)
32.Wood Recycling
①Recycling timber is the process of turning waste timber into usable products. /②Recycling timber is a practice that was popularized in the early 1990s / as issues such as deforestation and climate change, / prompted both timber suppliers and consumers to turn to a more sustainable timber source. / ③Recycling timber has become popular /due to its image as an environmentally friendly product. / ④Consumers commonly believe that by purchasing recycled wood, / the demand for green timber will fall and ultimately benefit the environment. / ⑤Recycled timber is now used as a construction product. / ⑥It has been important in both raising industry
/ and consumer awareness towards deforestation / and promoting timber mills to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. / ⑦Wood recycling is a subject which has in recent years taken an even greater role in our lives. / ⑧The problem, however, is that although many local authorities like the idea of recycling, / they do not fully support it. ( 151 words)
33.Idioms
①An idiom is defined as a group of words / whose meaning must be known as a whole, / because it cannot be learned from the meaning of the same words used separately. /②Obviously, there is a problem / when you cannot look up individual words in a dictionary and find the meaning, / the usual strategy we all employ when we come
across a word or words that are unfamiliar. / ③With idioms, however, we must learn the group of words. / ④In everyday English, idioms are in common use. / ⑤In fact, idioms are so common that / most native speakers do not even realize that they are using idioms. / ⑥It is particularly important to recognize idioms / when you hear them or read them. / ⑦When you are able to use them comfortably in your own speech and writing, / and then you have achieved a higher level of mastery / and fluency in the language. ( 147 words)
Passage 34 The Free Hugs Campaign
The Free Hugs Campaign is a social movement/involving individuals who offer hugs to strangers in public places./The campaign in its present form was started in
2004 by an Australian man./Initially, people were suspicious of the strange man on the street/offering to hug anyone who wanted one./Soon, however, suspicion gave way to enthusiastic acceptance./When authorities tried to stop the campaign,/ over 10,000 people signed to ensure its continuance./The campaign became famous internationally in 2006 as the result of a music video uploaded into the Internet./ The response to the video was astounding. Many people joined this newly created movement, and went out offering free hugs to whoever wanted one. This event demonstrates how the Internet can be used to connect humanity above the boundaries of space and time. /The hugs are meant to be random acts of kindness,/reputedly selfless acts performed by a person for the sole reason of making others feel better.
Passage35 Effects of Cell Phones
Cell phones are an unavoidable part of daily life. /Even if you do not own one yourself, /you are exposed to them all the time /whenever you enter the public areas. /Most people think of their cell phones as something that they “just could not live without.” /Make sure you are informed about the potential health hazards associated with cell phone use /that the cell phone companies do not want you to know. /While studies are not conclusive, /scientists are beginning to suspect that cell phone use could contribute to everything from headache to brain cancer. /This is because cell phones emit electromagnetic waves and small amounts of radiation. /While research done in the 1990’s indicated /that the radiation using a cell phone could expose you to is not really enough to do any damage, /many experts are now abolishing that opinion. /They recommend that, at the