39. Which of the following statements is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence above?

　　A. Kindness and violence can change the world.

　　B. Kindness and violence can affect one's behavior.

　　C. Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves.

　　D. Kindness and violence can shape one's character.

　　40. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

　　A. People should practise random kindness to those in need.

　　B. People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others.

　　C. People should practise random kindness to strangers they meet.

　　D. People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver.

B

　　Everyone looks forward to progress, whether in one's personal life or in the general society. Progress indicates a person's ability to change the way he is living at the moment. Progress must lead to a better life and a better way of doing things. All these, however, remain true only in so far as people want to accept technology and move forwards by finding new and more efficient ways of doing things.

　　However, at the back of the minds of many people, especially those who miss the "good old days"， efficiency_comes_with_a_price. When communication becomes more efficient, people are able to contact one another no matter where they are and at whatever time they wish to. The click of a button allows people miles apart to talk or to see each other without even leaving their homes. With the communication gadgets,_such as mobile phones and iPads, people often do not take the effort to visit one another personally.A personal visit carries with it the additional feature of having to be in the person's presence for as long as the visit lasts. We cannot unnecessarily excuse ourselves or turn the other person off.

With efficiency also comes mass production.Such is the nature of factories and the success of industrialization today.Factories and have improved efficiency. Unskillful tasks are left to machines and products are better made and produced with greater accuracy than any human hand could ever have done. However, with the