I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention. Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a letter.” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough.

    Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter. He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart. Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild. “This isn't family,” he replied. “though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family. Old Ed and I grew up together.”

    They were always friends. But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it'd generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them. A couple of weeks ago, Ed died. “I should have kept in touch.” He repeated this, more to himself than to me. To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn't seem to find the time. “But we used to find the time,” he said. “Take a look.” He handed the letter over to me.

    The first sentence “I've been meaning to write for some time, but I've always delayed it.” reminded me of myself. It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together. When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that”, I found myself nodding in agreement.

    We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph: “So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you.” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom.”

    “I thought your friend's name was Ed,” I said.

    “I'm Tom,” he explained. “It's a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he'd died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner.” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.

    When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away. I had to write a letter and post it.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    Today marks the one-year anniversary of my father's death.Looking back at the past year,I cannot describe how hard it has been for me mentally and physically.

    For a long time I suffered in silence.I felt as if I was running in circles（圆圈）.I kept my tears to my sleep and my loneliness in my bedroom.

After my father's death,I began channeling all that pain into dance.But as a fairly new dancer,I haven't had too much stage experience.I recently performed at my school's winter concert for one of my classmates who is dealing with a rare illness.I dedicated（献上）the dance to her and my father.I only had one week.I was so anxious that I felt like I was having a heart attack.

    Luckily,my best friends came to my aid.What they said to me was one of the kindest things anyone has ever said.I will never forget what one of them said:"You are so beautiful because of your heart and beautiful mind.You have more kindness than some will ever have.I saw how much that dance meant to you,especially how it connected with your memories.It made me cry,that is how incredible you are."

Just surround yourself with people like my friend who will never think little of you.I am so proud of how much I've achieved and I know I will keep going,just as my father would have wished.

    True happiness is such a rare commodity(有价值之物)that the whole of the world is continuously seeking it and failing to find it. Why is happiness such an elusive(难捉摸的) thing? Is it that it cannot simply be achieved? Or is it that it is not where all of us have been looking for it?

    What is it that we consider happiness? This is how I see it: Happiness is what you feel when what you want to happen happens. And the then we can conclude that unhappiness is what we feel when what we want to happen does not happen.

    The main keyword in definition is "want". The whole trouble starts when we want something. Every moment of our lives we keep on wanting something or the other. Only a small percentage of all our wishes is fulfilled in spite of all our endeavors(努力). The frustration of failing to fulfill most of our wishes sets in. We start feeling weighed down. Desire is a seed which grows fruits of unhappiness. Actually the trouble is that we demand too much. The only solution to this problem is to break out of this cycle of desires and struggles.

    Actually, happiness and unhappiness are two sides of the same coin. The desire for happiness is like asking only for the light and not for darkness. But there is not much difference between light and darkness. It is matter of degree only.

    If we think deeper, we will realize that it is this pain of failure, pain of frustrated desires which is of greater significance to us. It is actually like good health. One can only define health as an absence of diseases. In order to have good health we strive to avoid diseases. You cannot purchase or achieve good health directly. You have to take steps which keep your body free of diseases. Then only the organs of body keep functioning properly and you experience good health. Similarly, when one destroys the root cause of unhappiness, the problems are over. And the root cause of all our unhappiness is DESIRE.

    It seems hard to watch someone yawn（打哈欠）and not to yawn ourselves. Even reading about yawning can make you do it. Now, a new study has found why yawning has such a powerful force.

    Yawning when others yawn, the study suggests, is a sign of pity and a form of social connection. Kids don't develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four, the study found. Kids with autism (自闭症) are less likely to catch yawns. In the most serious cases, they never do. Yawning might help doctors to see whether the children are developing rightly. The work could also lead to a better understanding of the ways that people communicate and connect.

    “Emotional infection seems to be a born thing that connects us together,” said Molly Helt, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Connecticut. “Yawning may be part of that.” Inspiration for her study came when she tried to get her own autistic son to clear his ears on an airplane. She repeatedly yawned at him, hoping he would yawn back. He never did.

    “The fact that autistic kids don't do it might mean they're really missing out on that emotional connection with people around them,” she said. “The biggest thing people try to figure out after birth is how we become humans and understand that humans have minds that are different from others',” she added. “Autistic people never seem to understand that.”

    Like infectious（有感染力的）laughter and crying, scientists have found that yawning is a shared experience that promotes social connection. Helt said it could fight stress after a period of being nervous and spread a feeling of calm through a group.

    Temples have existed for thousands of years. They are the proof of cultures and civilization that existed many years ago.

    Gobekli Tepe, Turkey

    Located on a hilltop in southwestern Turkey where it snows a lot in winter, the Gobekli Tepe is considered the world's oldest temple. It is nearly 11,000 years old. There are carvings on the rock statues, mainly of lions, foxes, snakes, cranes and wild ducks, as well as scenes of people hunting. Because heavy snow makes it hard to get to the top of the hill, visitors are not recommended to go there in winters.

    White Temple, Thailand

    Immediately upon entering White Temple, you will realize this contemporary, unconventional temple stands out, even in a country dotted with temples. The White Temple is incredibly different and unique in its architecture, art and design. In fact, it is designed in a very modern way. This temple is all white. It is very hot in summer in Thailand, so going to White Temple in other three seasons is a wise choice.

    Sagrada Familia, Spain

    This symbolic Barcelona building is famously unfinished. It is said to be finished by 2026, but no body believes it. However, visitors believe its incompleteness is part of its charm, which sets it apart from other temples in the world. You will have to wait in a long line if you visit Sagrada Familia in summer holiday. Visitors are not that many in spring and winter.

    Kinkaku-ji, Japan

    This temple is absolutely the most popular one in Japan. Whether you visit during the fall when there are red leaves against the golden wall, in winter when the gold is topped with pure white snow, in spring with cherry blossoms, or in summer allowing you to smell the earthy smell after rain – there is never a bad time to visit this beautiful temple.

    The world maps will soon be altered to reflect an eighth continent! Dubbed "Zealandia" the landmass that lies east of Australia covers 4.9 million km. Over 94 percent of it is submerged (淹没的) in the southwest Pacific Ocean, with just the islands of New Zealand and New C aledonia visible above sea level.

    To be clear, the underwater land is not a recent find. Researchers have known about its existence since 1995 when Bruce Luyendyk discovered and proposed an eighth continent that he called Zealandia. At the time, the area was dismissed as a collection of islands and land fragments (碎片), or at the most, classified as a micro continent—a landmass of continental crust that is not geologically connected to the nearest continent, in this case, Australia.

    However, after observing the areas features on an underwater topography map, New Zealand geologist Nick became convinced that Zealandia is a continent. Mortimer says that while Zealandia is much smaller than our seven continents, at over half the size of Australia, it is unfair to classify it as a microcontinent. The geologist argues, “If you could pull the plug on the world's oceans, then Zealandia would probably long ago have been recognized as a continent.”

    Geologist Christopher Scotese argues that too much of the landmass is underwater, asserting it's "almost a continent the way Pluto is almost a planet." Richard Ernst, a geologist, proposes coining a new term minicontinent—for Zealandia. He thinks this is perfect given that it is too large to be called a microcontinent and too small to be classified as a full-sized continent. Given that there is no international panel to decide the fate of Zealandia, its future as a continent is uncertain. Mortimer hopes that if supporters start using the term Zealandia, it may eventually catch on. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but for now, we will have to be satisfied with just seven continents!