Scientists who study meteorites do so in a (

) way. Rather than looking at objects from afar, they actually hold the products of stars and remnants of scattered planets in their hands in the form of meteorites. Locked within these rocks from space are tiny pieces of the solar system that predate even the planets.

[31-35] American culture thrives on contradictions. it ( A ) individualism yet is (a) rife with the conformity so essential to consumerism. It preaches self-reliance and personal accountability (especially for poor people) while enriching pop psychologists who provide excuses for sins of the middle class. It nurtures feminism and encourages face-lifts. So we shouldn`t be entirely surprised by the ( B ) convergence of reality TV shows with a growing concern about privacy, although the intensity of these opposing trends is particularly dramatic.

(b) Democratic and Republican pollsters attest to as "groundswell" of concern about privacy, which politicians rush to address. George W. Bush declares himself a "privacy rights person". Congress considers hundreds of privacy protection bills.

(c) Still, people cede their privacy voluntrily every day for the promise for security.

[36-40] Virtuality tends to skew our experience of the real in several ways, Fist it makes ( A ) and artificial experiences seem real-let`s call it Disneyland effect, After a brunch on Disneyland`s Royal Street, a cappuccino at a restaurant chain called Bonjour Cafe at an Anaheim shopping mall may seem real by comparison. After playing a video game in which your opponent is a computer program, the social worlds most of the parts and the play space is relatively open One Player compares the roles he was able to play on video games and on MUDs. "Nintendo has a good game where you can play four characters. But, even though they are very cool" he says, "they are written up for you." they seem artificial. In contrast, on the MUDs, he says, "There is nothing written up." He says he feels free. Muds are "for real" because ( B ). Another effect of simulation might be thought of as the (a) artificial crocodile effect. In The Future Does Not Computer: Warnings from the Internet, Stepthen L. Talbott wildlife experiences for children. The animals in the woods are unlikely to perform as dramatically as those captured on the camera. I have a clear memory of a Brownie Scout field trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens where I asked an attendant if she could make the flowers open fast, For a long while, no one understood what I was talking about. Then they figured it out: I was hoping that the attendant could make the flowers behave as they did in the time-lapse photography I had seen in Disney films.