We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy
Here’s a familiar version of the boy-meets-girl situation. A young man has at last plucked up courage to invite a dazzling young lady out to dinner. She has accepted his invitation and he is overjoyed. He is determined to take her to the best restaurant in town, even if it means that he will have to live on memories and hopes during the month to come. When they get to the restaurant, he discovers that this ethereal creature is on a diet. She mustn’t eat this and she mustn’t that. Oh, but of course, she doesn’t want to spoil his enjoyment. Let him by all means eat as much fattening food as he wants: it’s the surest way to an early grave. They spend a truly memorable evening together and never see each other again.
What a miserable lot dieters are! You can always recognize them from the sour expression on their faces. They spend most of their time turning their noses up at food. They are forever consulting calorie charts; gazing at themselves in mirrors; and leaping on to weighing-machines in the bathroom. They spend a lifetime fighting a losing battle against spreading hips, protruding tummies and double chins. Some wage all-out war on FAT. Mere dieting is not enough. They exhaust themselves doing exercises, sweating in sauna baths, being pummeled and massaged by weird machines. The really wealthy diet-mongers pay vast sums for ‘health cures’. For two weeks they can enter a nature clinic and be starved to death for a hundred guineas a week. Don’t think it’s only the middle-aged who go in for these fads either. Many of these bright young things you see are suffering from chronic malnutrition: they are living on nothing but air, water and the goodwill of God.
Dieters undertake to starve themselves of their own free will; so why are they so miserable? Well, for one thing, they’re always hungry. You can’t be hungry and happy at the same time. All the horrible concoctions they eat instead of food leave them permanently dissatisfied. Wonderfood(奇妙的事物) is a complete food, the advertisement says. ‘Just dissolve a teaspoonful in water…’. A complete food it may be, but not quite as complete as a juicy steak. And, of course, they’re always miserable because they feel so guilty. Hunger just proves too much for them and in the end they lash out and devour five huge guilt-inducing cream cakes at a sitting. And who can blame them? At least three times a day they are exposed to temptation. What utter torture it is always watching others tucking into piles of mouth-watering food while you munch a water biscuit and sip unsweetened lemon juice!
What’s all this self-inflicted torture for? Saintly people deprive themselves of food to attain a state of grace. Unsaintly（saintly<圣洁的>的反义词） people do so to attain a state of misery. It will be a great day when all the dieters in the world abandon their slimming courses; when they hold out their plates and demand second helpings!The best title for this passage is
A On Fat.
B We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy.
C Many Diseases Are Connected with Fat.
D Diet Deprives People of Normal Life. Why do they never see each other again?
A Because it is a memorable evening.
B Because she lets him eat as much fattening food as he wants.
C Because she does not eat this and drink that.
D Because eating fattening food is the surest way to an early grave.Which of the following ways is NOT mentioned for diet?
A Doing exercises. B Not eating sugar. C Not eating fat. D Taking sauna baths.What is the author’s attitude toward diet?
A Persuasive. B Critical. C Indifferent. D Adversative.
.
Teenagers at one German school are learning how to achieve happiness alongside other traditional subjects such as math and languages.
The class sit in a circle with their eyes shut and they count from one to ten: someone starts, the next voice comes from the far right, a third from the other side.
The aim of the game is to listen for an opportunity to shout out the number without clashing (冲突) with another voice or leaving a pause. On the first try, most of the young Germans try to be first, while a few are too shy to join in, but by the fifth time round, they develop a rhythm. The message: give other people space but also confidently claim your own. This is a requirement for social well-being.
The Willy Hellpach School in Heidelberg is the first in the nation to develop a happiness course. It is intended for students preparing for university entrance exams.
“The course isn’t there to make you happy,” Ernst Fritz-Schubert, the school principal, warned pupils, “but rather to help you discover the ways to become happy.”
Cooking a meal together is one of the class exercises. Improving body language under the guidance of two professional actresses is another.
The course is taught for three periods a week. Despite the happy subject, the pupils themselves insist it is no laughing matter.
“In the first period, we had to each say something positive about another member of the class and about ourselves. No laughing at people,” said Fanny, 17.
Research by the school shows it is not the first to start happiness classes: they also exist at some US universities, mainly based on positive thinking, using findings from studies of depression.
68. This passage is written to .
A. introduce the happiness course in a German school
B. describe all the traditional courses in a German school
C. arouse the readers’ interest in happiness
D. help students struggle against being sad
69. According to the passage, the happiness course is__________.
A. created by the Willy Hellpach School
B. to make all the students happy all the time
C. required to be taken by the first year students
D. to help students discover the way to happiness
70. It can be inferred from the passage that__________.
A. the students’ self-respect can also improve happiness
B. the students just took the course as a laughing matter
C. the students can certainly become happy after the course
D. the students waste time learning something without value
.
If there is something that appears most frequently on Chinese dining tables, it is beancurd（豆腐）. Beancurd looks like soft cakes and it’s made from dried soybeans. Beancurd used to be considered a favourite of the poor because of its low cost. Beans have high yields (产量) every year with their short growing period and suitability for various (各种各样) soil both dry and wet.
Historical records show beancurd was invented by Liu An, Prince of Huainan and uncle of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty（206BC—220AD）. He had a dream of finding the pill for longevity (长寿). He traveled all over the country and found soybeans, which looked much the same as gold in terms of colour. He collected soybeans, put them in the water and crushed them into pulp (浆). It got solidified and became known as doufu. Although it’s not able to keep longevity, it’s really good for one’s health with high protein and low fat.
With a long history, beancurd is rooted deep in Chinese culture. People eat more meat and fish than beancurd. But they are encouraged to have beancurd every once in a while for it’s really good for health. Most Chinese people still keep beancurd as one of their favourite dishes.
64. Why was beancurd considered to be liked by the poor?
A. It’s easy to make. B. It’s easy to cook. C. It’s cheap. D. It’s good for health.
65. Where can beans grow well?
A. Only in wet soil. B. In dry soil. C. In soft soil. D. In any soil.
66. Why did Liu An travel all over the country?
A. He had a dream.
B. He wanted to find something that could make people live longer.
C. He wanted to invent beancurd.
D. He wanted to find gold.
67. How long has beancurd been invented?
A. It’s about 1 700 years.
B. It’s less than 2 000 years.
C. It’s 500 years.
D. It’s more than 2 000 years.
.
The Internet has become part of teenager life.
A new report on 3,375 students aged from 10 to 18 in seven Chinese cities found that 38 percent of them believe they use the Internet often.
While most of them get useful information and use the Internet to help in their studies, some are not using it in a good way.
In order to help young people use the Internet in a good way, a textbook on good Internet behavior(行为) has started to be used in some Shanghai middle schools this term. The book uses real examples to teach students all about good ways of using the Internet. The book gives useful advice such as it is good to read news or find helpful information to study.
Some students also make online friends. But if you are meeting a friend offline, make sure your parents know. Teachers and parents all think the book is of great help. A teacher said the book would be a guide for teens using the Internet. She believes it will keep students away from bad sites. “Many students are using the Internet without guidance from their parents,” she said. “The book will teach students how to be a good person in the online world.”
60. The textbook mainly tells us ____.
A. why we should use the Internet B. how to study using the Internet
C. how to use Internet correctly D. how to get help from others
61. What’s the attitude(态度) of teachers and parents towards the textbook?
A. They are against it. B. They are for（支持） it.
C. The passage doesn’t mention. D. They don’t care about it.
62. According to the passage, teenagers are NOT encouraged to ____.
A. read online news
B. go online
C. find helpful information online
D. meet a friend offline without letting their parents know
63. From this passage we know that ____.
A. more and more students have given up visiting bad Web sites
B. schools and teachers begin to pay attention to students’ use of the Internet.
C. no more homework will be given in Shanghai middle schools
D. less and less information can be found on line
.
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每小题2分；满分40分）
Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October as a day to make someone happy. It is an occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, the aged, and children who have lost their parents, but also friends, workmates, relatives and neighbors whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed.
Over 60 years ago, when a Cleveland man noticed that some people, such as children who lost their parents and patients who lay in bed, too often felt forgotten and neglected, he developed in his mind the idea of showing them that they were remembered. He did this by giving them small gifts. With the help of his friends and neighbors, he gave those people small gifts on a Saturday in October. During the years that followed, other Clevelanders began to take part in the celebration, which came to be called “Sweetest Day”. Over time, the Sweetest Day idea of spreading cheer to the poor, the sick and children who had lost their parents was broadened to include everyone, and became an occasion for remembering others with a kind act or a small gift. Soon the idea spread to other cities all over the USA.
Sweetest Day is not based on any single group’s religious beliefs or on a family relationship. It is a reminder that a thoughtful word or deed enriches life and gives it meaning. Because for many people remembering takes the form of gift giving, Sweetest Day offers us the opportunity to show others that we care, in a positive （积极的） way.
56. What can we learn from the first paragraph?
A. Sweetest Day is a day to make others happy.
B. Sweetest Day is just an occasion to care about disabled people.
C. Sweetest Day is an occasion for lovers to express love.
D. Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in October.
57. Which of the following has little relationship to Sweetest Day?
A. Visiting sick people of the hospital.
B. Visiting children who have lost the
ir parents.
C. Giving friends small gifts.
D. Giving flowers to sweethearts.
58. What do most people usually do to show their care to others according to the passage?
A. They give money. B. They give gifts.
C. They send regards. D. They offer help.
59. The underlined word “neglected” in the second paragraph means “______”.
A. remembered B. hated
C. paid little or no attention toD. disappointed
.
A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television, the more likely they are to develop depression.
The researchers used a national long-term survey of teenagers’ health to investigate the relationship between media use and depression. They based their findings on more than four thousand teenagers who were not depressed when the survey began in nineteen ninety-five.
As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily. They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio.
Media use totaled an average of five and one-half hours a day. More than two hours of that was spent watching TV.
Seven years later, in two thousand two, more than seven percent of the young people had signs of depression. The average age at that time was twenty-one.
Brian Primack at the University of Pittsburgh medical school was the lead author of the new study. He says every extra hour of television meant an eight percent increase in the chances of developing signs of depression.
The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio. But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression.
The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry this Monday. In December, the magazine Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives. They found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people. The study found that happy people are more likely to be socially active.
72. How many years has the mentioned survey lasted till 2009?
A. 7 B. 21 C. 14D. 19
73. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Young women were less likely than young men to develop depression.
B. Happy people spend more time in watching TV.
C. Playing computers has nothing to do with the depression.
D. Teenagers spend about five and a half hours a day on media use.
74. The topic the author wanted to express through the passage is____.
A. Teens, television and depression B. Teens, media and depression
C. adults, television and happiness D. women , media and happiness
75. It can be inferred from the passage that________.
A. teenagers should be prevented from using media
B. depression is increasing at a speed of 8% a year
C. watching TV is part of teenagers’daily life
D. TV has ill effect on social life