Narcissus was a beautiful looking boy. He had long, flowing, blond hair, beautiful, bright, blue eyes and even, white teeth. Many young ladies fell in love with him including the nymph（女神）: Echo.
Nymphs were lively spirits who lived near streams and lakes and protected trees in the forest. Echo had upset the Queen of the Gods; Hera. As a punishment Hera made Echo unable to speak except to repeat the last three words of the person she was talking to.
Poor Echo fell in love with Narcissus but could never tell him how she felt. Narcissus teased her and she ran away with tears pouring down her face. Aphrodite, the goddess of love saw what happened and decided to punish Narcissus. As he came to a pool of water Narcissus saw his reflection (影子)and fell in love with the vision he saw. It was of course his own reflection.
Poor Narcissus watched his own reflection, every time he tried to touch the face of the vision he loved it broke up on the shimmering surface of the water. Narcissus stopped eating, lost his beautiful looks and desired to get his love. In the end he anguished gradually and died.
Aphrodite took pity on him and made a flower grow in his place on the bank of the lake. Narcissus flowers (水仙花) can be found to this day growing wherever you can find water and trees. Echo fell in love with Narcissus because_________.
| A．Narcissus was good-looking. |
| B．Echo was a lively spirit |
| C．Narcissus loved her, too. |
| D．Echo took pity on Narcissus |
Why did Aphrodite, the goddess of love, punish Narcissus?
| A．Aphrodite envied Echo because she loved Narcissus |
| B．She thought Narcissus didn’t respect and made Echo sad. |
| C．Narcissus fell in love with the vision, not Echo. |
| D．Echo was trapped in love and didn’t protect trees in the forest any longer. |
What does the underlined word “anguished” in the fourth paragraph mean?
| A．become increasingly thin and weak |
| B．become very hungry |
| C．become very fat |
| D．become out of mind |
What is the main purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To tell people a sad love story |
| B．To tell people how Narcissus flowers came |
| C．To tell the true meaning of beauty and ugliness |
| D．To tell people not affect others’ love |
If you're like a lot of married guys, you don't need to be reminded about men being from Mars or women from Venus. Chances are that you're all too familiar with the feeling that you and your wife are from different worlds. The way to have a successful marriage is through communication, common ground and understanding. Here are some pointers to guide you in the right direction.
Pointer 1. Realize nobody can wave a magic wand to make you and your wife completely understand each other all the time. Accept the difference.
Pointer 2. Rather than ending up in an endless back and forth, forget about the issue for a minute. Instead, think about how you feel she's acting toward you and ask her if that's how she feels about you. Switching the focus to that shared feeling can help your wife see things from your point of view.
Pointer 3. Rather than feel offended if you find out she's not as into your favorite hobby as you thought, appreciate the effort she put into making you happy. Swallow your pride and try to take part in some of her hobbies, too, even if you might be a little put off at first. While you're not going to be trying on makeup with her, you could try baking a recipe together.
Pointer 4. If either of you is always giving everything and getting nothing in return, there's going to be bitterness. The best marriages are built on compromise. You knew you were going to have to give and take for your marriage to work; now it's time to make it happen.The best subtitle of Pointer 3 is ________.
| A．Find out her hobbies |
| B．Swallow your pride (at least sometimes) |
| C．Don’t get offended |
| D．Try to make up |
According to the last paragraph, it’s important for the husband and wife to__________.
| A．give and take |
| B．get everything and return nothing |
| C．live and let live |
| D．forgive and forget |
Which of the following is NOT good for keeping a successful marriage?
| A．Try to understand each other all the way. |
| B．Don't play the blame game. |
| C．Focus on the feeling to get past the disagreement. |
| D．She won't always understand you (but that's OK). |
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
The researchers considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.What is the best title of the passage?
| A．The older a person is, the more stressed he feels. |
| B．The more lighthearted a person is, the happier he is. |
| C．The older a person is, the more clever he grows. |
| D．The older a person is, the happier he grows. |
We can learn from the research that _________.
| A．only when people get older, will they feel happier |
| B．older people usually have no worries in their life |
| C．stress levels among the youngest are the highest of all |
| D．older people are more likely to be thankful in life |
According to the researchers, what is probably the reason why people grow happier when they get older?
| A．When people get older, they can’t remember bad experiences. |
| B．When people get older, they have no young children to care about. |
| C．When people get older, they learn to adjust their feelings. |
| D．When people get older, they don’t care about their feelings. |
What do you think the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is?
| A．A Gallup organization. |
| B．A popular science magazine. |
| C．A university in New York. |
| D．A research institution |
What would the writer probably deal with in next paragraph?
| A．Advice to the young people on how to keep happy. |
| B．Advice to the old people on how to live longer. |
| C．Why women at all ages are more sad, stressed and worried. |
| D．Why people will grow happier with their ages. |
Lynn is the publisher of Indiana Living Green magazine, a local Indiana-based publication focusing on all issues related to leading a sustainable lifestyle. Her knowledge, passion and unwavering dedication to this cause are both inspiring and admirable and are the reasons I recommend her for the Heart of Green Local Hero.
Lynn's interest in sustainable living has expanded over the years from simple recycling and wildlife gardening to encouraging others to appreciate nature and do what each can to care for the environment.
Lynn has been instrumental in bringing her green consciousness to Indiana by way of Indiana Living Green magazine over the past two years. Indiana Living Green is the only local publication solely focused on green living and sustainability.
In addition to her role as publisher of Indiana Living Green magazine, Lynn is also a Habitat Steward Host for National Wildlife Federation, editor of Hoosier Organic Gardener, the newsletter of the Indiana Organic Gardeners Association, and a member of Garden Writers Association.
Lynn Jenkins deserves to be publicly recognized for all that she is and all that she has done and continues to do to educate and empower each of us to improve our individual lives, communities and our Earth. Which of the following is NOT true of Lynn Jenkins?
| A．She is the publisher of the magazine Indiana Living Green. |
| B．She won the award the Heart of Green Local Hero. |
| C．She is a member of Garden Writers Association. |
| D．She encourages people to love and protect nature. |
The underlined word in the third paragraph probably means ________.
| A．mainly | B．simply | C．earnestly | D．seriously |
What is the purpose of the writing?
| A．To recommend Lynn Jenkins for the Heart of Green Local Hero. |
| B．To call on readers to protect the environment and live green. |
| C．To introduce the readers to the Heart of Green Local Hero. |
| D．To advertise for Indiana Living Green and its publisher. |
Three Boys and a Dad
Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax, he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favourite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife. “I’ll look after the kids, and you can go visit your mom.”
Things started well, but just after eight o’clock, his three little “good kids”—Mike, Randy, and Alex—came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast, daddy.” Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.
Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom, while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants. Nobody could find clean socks, although they were before their very eyes. Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes. Brad knew the talk show had already started.
By ten o’clock, things were out of control. Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his colour pencils. Randy, thankfully, appeared to be reading quietly in the family room, but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad realized that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.
At exactly11:17, Brad called the daycare centre (日托所). “I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes? ” The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.When his wife left home, Brad expected to __________.
| A．go out for a walk in the park |
| B．watch TV talk show with his children |
| C．read the newspaper to his children |
| D．enjoy his first day off work |
Which of the following did Randy do?
| A．Drew on the wall. | B．Read in a room . | C．Fed the fish. | D．Ate apple jam. |
Who is “Not Me”(underlined in Para.3)?
| A．One of the family’s neighbor |
| B．One of the three kids |
| C．The father |
| D．The text doesn’t mention |
This text is developed _________.
| A．by space | B．by comparison | C．by time | D．by process |
I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more long-lasting emotion. Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to exciting parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”. But in memoir(回忆录) after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, and long-time loneliness.
The way people hold on to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually decreases their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very efforts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, charitable work and self-improvement.According to the passage, “fun activities” ____________.
| A．are the things we do before we find happiness |
| B．may help us relax and forget our problems sometimes |
| C．will lead us to the true happiness |
| D．could provide long-last positive effects |
In the author’s opinion, those Hollywood stars ____________.
| A．possess happiness because they are rich and famous |
| B．experience almost all kinds of happy things |
| C．tell us happiness isn’t equal to fun using their own stories |
| D．have to suffer a lot before they become successful |
It is difficult for people to find real happiness because ____________.
| A．they believe happiness is the fun life without pain |
| B．they find pain equals unhappiness |
| C．they fear to lose what they already have in life |
| D．They are afraid all their efforts were in vain |
The main purpose of the text is to ____________.
| A．describe the difference between happiness and fun |
| B．show the true meaning of happiness |
| C．encourage people to pursue fun activities |
| D．advise people to find their real life |