【正文】 what Comte de Buffon had said about the natural wonders(奇觀)of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that Comte de Buffon had spoken of natural wonders in America as if(好像)they were unimportant. This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He was also a naturalist, as well as a farmer, an inventor, a historian, a writer and a politician(政治家). He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World. In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Comte de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word—belittle. He said, “Comte de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic(大西洋).” Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in the English language dictionary in 1806, “Belittle—to make small, unimportant.” Americans had already accepted Jefferson’s word and started to use it. In 1797, the Independent Chronicle(獨立紀事報)used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “It is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.” In 1872, a famous American word expert decided that the time had e to kill this word. He said, “Belittle shouldn’t bee English. And more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it.” This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used where the English language is spoken. 53. Thomas Jefferson was NOT a ______. A. naturalist B. historian C. politician D. musician 54. We can infer(推斷)that Jefferson created the word “belittle” out of his ______. A. anger B. excitement C. kindness D. responsibility 55. What can we know about the word “belittle” from the passage? A. It has already disappeared from the English language. B. It had been used before it was put in the English language dictionary. C. It is used to describe natural wonders now. D. An American politician decided to kill this word in 1872. 56. What’s the passage mainly about? A. How the word “belittle” came into being. B. The argument about natural wonders. C. Every word has a long history behind. D. Noah Webster supported Jefferson’s idea. D You don’t need to get in a timetravelling machine to see how technology will change our lives, such as the way we shop. Several new technologies that are to change your buying habits already appear. Let’s see what’s in store for your future shopping. Try it on, virtually(虛擬地). Want to shop online for a new pair of glasses? You don’t need to guess which pair looks best on you—use the eBay Fashion iPhone app to try a pair of glasses you’re checking out on a picture of your face. But what about buying something bigger? Thanks to Microsoft Kinect’s action tracking(跟蹤)camera, you can cover clothes on your screen body. You can even choose the background of your virtual fitting room to improve your shopping experience. Get a perfect, custom fit. Everyone’s body is shaped differently. To get a perfect fit, you sometimes have to get your clothes changed. But by using 3D scanning technology, all the clothes you buy will fit your body perfectly. Some panies scan(掃描)your body using Hightech to get the real sizes, so they can make special clothes just for you. Hightech shopping carts(推車)and checkout counters(收銀臺). Hightech shopping carts could be mon in malls and supermarkets in the future. Microsoft Kinectenabled carts are under test. The cart can follow you along the aisles(通道), controlled only by your movement and your voice. In the United States, several supermarkets use a certain set called “Scan It” that gives buyers the freedom to scan products on their own while they shop. If we don’t want to wait in line before the checkout counters, we can use Toshiba’s new object Reco