Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less. That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less. And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach.
The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more. Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so desperately seek.
Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year.
Lindman, of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more.
If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could you concentrate on?
The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.
1．Arthur Lindman predicted twenty years ago that ______.
A. more things brought more value B. the more people had, the less they valued them
C. people didn’t like to pursue more D. massive boredom came from less variety
2．What does the article suggest to make our life happier?
A. To enjoy more things. B. To buy more things.
C. To sell things we do not need. D. To get rid of useless things.
3．The passage is probably written to ___________.
A. introduce Arthur Lindman and his book B. tell the readers what is satisfaction
C. introduce how to simplify people’s life D. persuade people to simplify their life
A mouse looked through a hole in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package； what food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Running to the farmyard，the mouse shouted，warning everyone，“There is a mouse trap in the house，there is a mouse trap in the house．”The chicken，with her head high，glared at the mouse and said，“Shut up．Little Ugly．This is a great concern to you，but it has nothing to do with me：I can’t be troubled by it．”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him．“There is a mouse trap in the house．”“I am so sorry，Mr Mouse，”said the pig sympathetically，“but there is nothing I can do about it but pray；you are always in my prayers．”
The mouse turned to the cow，who said，“A mouse trap，am I in great danger，huh?”
Now the mouse had to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone．
That very night a sound was heard through the house，like that of a mouse trap catching its prey．The farmer’wife rushed to see what was caught．In the darkness，she did not see it was a big poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught．The snake bit the farmer’s wife．The farmer rushed her to the hospital．She returned home with a fever．It is said that drinking fresh chicken soup will help treat fever，so the farmer took his sharp knife to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient．His wife’s sickness continued，so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock．To feed them，the farmer killed the pig．The farmer’s wife did not get well，in fact，she died，and so many people came for her funeral．The farmer had the cow killed to provide for all of them to eat．
So next time when someone is facing a problem，don’t say that it has nothing to do with you．We could see from the passage that the mouse was．
| A．good at cheating others | B．dishonest |
| C．kind and warm-hearted | D．foolish |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The others help the farmer kill the cow． |
| B．The mouse trap was very practical． |
| C．The pig is more friendly than the other animals． |
| D．The farmer’s family had no friends at all． |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Traps can always cause chain reactions． |
| B．It is better to be safe than to be sorry． |
| C．Sometimes when the least of us is threatened，we all might be at risk． |
| D．To keep the balance of nature is the duty of us all． |
People who eat at home most of the time have better nutrition than those who go out to eat , a recent study shows. Cornell University professors Lana Hall and Karen Bunch interviewed（面试，接见） 3900 people in the survey. “People who eat less than 30 percent of their food away from home eat the most nutritiously,” they said.
“In general, Americans don’t have nutrient, except for iron and calcium,” they reported. They have the opposite problem——over—consumption(过度消耗), especially of fat.
The food at many fast food restaurants is often low in vitamins. “People who eat more than 30 percent of total calories away from home eat foods that are generally low in nutrients per calorie,” the professors said. More calories and enough nutrient intake（吸收） are required to achieve.
One of the major health risks（风险） is eating too much fat. The professor found than fat consumption became greater as income（收入） went up. It also went up in houses where the female worked. This is probably because these people eat more highly processed （加工的）foods.According to the passage, which of the following suggestions would you most readily take?
| A．Eat out as many times as possible |
| B．Eat at home as many times as possible |
| C．Eat foods with a lot if iron, calcium and fat |
| D．Eat more highly processed foods |
What is the result if people often dine out according to the passage?
| A．They tend to have better nutrition |
| B．They tend to have less nutrition |
| C．They can save a lot of time |
| D．They will spend much money on it |
Nowadays, a major health risk that people face is_______.
| A．Eating too much fast food | B．Frequent dining out |
| C．Eating at home very often | D．Eating too much fat |
The passage is about.
| A．Eating and Health |
| B．The Life Style in Modern Society |
| C．Fast food in the USA |
| D．Dining out Lowers Nutrient Intake |
The Internet is not perfect. There are many problems with it.
The Internet is not organized. There is no one in charge of the Internet. It is sometimes difficult to find what you are looking for. It is also easy to get the wrong information on the “Net”.
Some businessmen cheat people on the Internet. Internet thieves can steal credit card numbers. Some advertisers send spam to e-mail boxes. E-mail boxes are often filled with these unwanted advertisements.
Illegal businesses can operate on the Internet. These businesses sell X-rated materials, cigarettes and alcohol to teenagers.
The Internet has websites with information about making bombs, breaking the law and terrorism.
Criminals can fool people, especially children, in chat rooms. They can spread poisonous information and attack new members.
The Internet is the greatest advance in communication since human emerged. But it can also like a dark alley in a dangerous part of town. Parents need to set parental controls on their children when they use the Internet. This will keep some of the bad material away from their children.
The Internet can be dangerous to computers, too. Some people who have evil intentions enjoy causing problems for other people they don’t even know. They create computer viruses. A computer can get virus by downloading a program that has a virus in it. Some virus come by e-mail.
A virus can destroy the data a person has saved in computer files. A virus can cause a computer to crash. A virus can also reproduce itself! It can send copies of itself to everyone on a person’s e-mail address list. Then these people’s will have the same problems and can’t work normally!Why can illegal businesses operate on the Internet?
| A．Because some people like to buy banned products on the Internet. |
| B．Because there is no one in charge of the Internet. |
| C．Because X-rated materials, cigarettes, alcohol and so on can be sold well on the Internet. |
| D．Because people who operate businesses on the Internet are criminals. |
Parental controls are needed when children use the Internet because________
| A．poisonous information may have a bad effect on children |
| B．children may damage the computers |
| C．the Internet is always unsafe for the children |
| D．children can’t use the computers well |
We can infer from the passage that the key to solving the problems with the Internet is____________
| A．to improve the computers |
| B．to find a medicine to kill computer viruses |
| C．to order people not to use the Internet |
| D．to improve people’s moral level（道德水平）. |
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Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it’s not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game.
Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn’t solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won’t help on the next test --- unless the person cheats again.
Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.
Some kids cheat because they’re busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn’t study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.
A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions(解决办法) together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.The author thinks that when kids cheat in class,________.
| A．it is unfair to other people |
| B．it does harm to their heath |
| C．teachers should punish them |
| D．teachers shouldn’t stop them at once |
Some students like cheating mainly because_________.
| A．the material in the test is very difficult |
| B．they want to do better than the others |
| C．cheating can make hard things seem very easy |
| D．they have little time to study their lessons |
The fourth paragraph mainly tells us______.
| A．cheating isn’t a good idea |
| B．why kids cheat in the test |
| C．some kids can’t pass the test without cheating |
| D．some kids don’t spend the time studying |
In the passage those cheaters are advised to_______.
| A．spend more time on school than on sports |
| B．find good solutions instead of cheating |
| C．try hard to be intelligent rather than lazy |
| D．ask their classmates for good methods of study |