Didyouknowthemeaningofawordmaychangeovertime?ManyEnglishwordsweknownowhaddifferentmeaningsalongtimeago.Oneexampleistheword“nice”.Aroundtheyear1300“nice”wasfirst

　　Didyouknowthemeaningofawordmaychangeovertime?ManyEnglishwordsweknownowhaddifferentmeaningsalongtimeago.Oneexampleistheword“nice”.

　　Aroundtheyear1300“nice”wasfirstusedinEnglishtomean“stupid”.Twohundredyearslater“nice”begantocarrya“better”meaning.Ifpeoplesaidabookwaswritten“nicely”theymeantthebookwaswritten“clearly”or“carefully”，not“stupidly”.After1800“nice”begantotakeitsmeaninglike“kind”or“friendly”.Sincethen，peoplehavethoughtof“nice”asawordwithgoodmeanings.

　　Agoodchangeofaword’smeaninglikethisexampleof“nice”iscalledAMELIORATION.Thoughwedon’tusenicetomean“stupid”anymoreitisfuntoknowhowmuchaword’smeaningcanchangefromitsstart!

　　FormoreexamplesofAMELIORATION，seenextpage.

　　39.1300yearsagoa“niceperson”wasbelievedtobe______.

　　A.careful B.friendly C.stupid D.clever

　　40.Whatisthesecondparagraphmainlyabout?

　　A.Whatniceusedtomean. B.Whythemeaningofnicechanged.

　　C.Howlongnicehasbeenused. D.Howthemeaningofnicechangedovertime.

　　41.AMELIORATIONmeansaword’smeaning_______.

　　A.canchangefromitsstart B.changesfrombadtogood

　　C.changesfromgoodtobad D.remainsthesameoveralongtime

　　42.Whichofthefollowingismostlikelytoappearonthenextpage?

　　A.Theword“terrific”usedtomean“terrible”butnowitmeans“excellent”.

　　B.Theword“silly”usedtomean“happy”butnowitmeans“stupid”.

　　C.Youmaywonderwhyaword’smeaningchangesovertime.

　　D.BesidesAMELl0RATIONaword’smeaningmaychangeinotherways.