We’re not suggesting that you should reach a permanent state called “happiness” and remain there. But there are many ways to keep away from anxiety, anger, frustration and sadness. Here are some ideas to get you started. Choose the ones that work for you.
Practice mindfulness. Focus on the present. Instead of worrying about what you should do tomorrow while you’re having dinner with your family, focus on the here and now—the food, your families, the conversation.
Sing along. Studies fine music activates parts of the brain that produce happiness. In one study, older adults who listened to their choice of music during eye surgery had significantly lower heart rate and blood pressure than those who had silent surgery.
Go to sleep. We have become a nation of sleep-deprived citizens. Taking a daily nap or getting into bed at 8 p.m. at night with a good book and turning the light out an hour later can do more for your mood than any number of bubble baths or massages.
Make a list. There’s nothing like writing down your tasks to help you organize your thoughts and calm your anxiety. Checking off each item provides a great sense of fulfillment.
Visit a quiet place. Libraries, museums, gardens, and places of worship(礼拜场所) provide islands of peace and calm in today’s world. Find a quiet place near your house and make it your secret getaway.
Volunteer. Helping others enables you to put your own problems into perspective(客观判断力) and also provides social interaction. While happy people are more likely to help others, helping others increases your happiness. One study found that volunteer work enhanced all four aspects of well-being: happiness, life satisfaction, self-esteem and sense of control over life.
41. According to the passage, which of the following ways can keep you away from bad moods?
A. Staying with your family. B. Having a lot of money.
C. Having enough sleep. D. Travelling.
42. As stared in the text, ______can reduce the risk of operation.
A. taking a nap when having surgery B. finding a quiet place to perform surgery
C. keeping quiet when having surgery D. listening to music when having surgery
43. Making a list of your tasks and checking them off can ________ yourself.
A. encourage B. satisfy C. improve D. change
44. You’d better not go to _______if you want to keep quiet and calm.
A. libraries B. churches C. supermarkets D. gardens
45. According to the passage, why can helping others increase your happiness?
A. Because it’s a good way to relax.
B. Because happy people are more likely to help others.
C. Because it enable you to see your own problems clearly.
D. Because it can enhance your health.
The other day at lunch I was part of a whole group of colleagues and we were talking behind our boss’s back. She’s the new principal (校长)of our middle school.
We talked about how kind she is to us. She writes notes to wish us happy holidays, or to thank us for jobs well done. She checks on us when she knows we’re facing difficulties outside of school with our health or with our families.
All too often, When we talk NICE behind someone’s back, they never know about it!I sent her a quick email to report the conversation. She replied saying how much she appreciated hearing about it!
I like to do the same for my students. Of course I give them my own compliments(恭维),but I love to let them know when others adults have noticed their good behavior and attitudes. Then it’s absolutely necessary to let THEM know it too! It matters when what they notice is good.
I’ve known from the other side how much this can mean. I often lack confidence in my own abilities as a teacher, so it gave me quite a lift when a friend who works with families in the community mentioned that he has heard several times from parents how glad they are to have their kids in my class. It just feels more important somehow to have the words said by people who don’t know I’ll ever hear them.
Sure, it’s pleasant when we can say nice things about other people. Watch for your next opportunity to be the reporter! Make sure to tell them about the nice things being said behind their backs!Why did these colleagues talk behind their boss’s back?
A.They were afraid of her. |
B.She treated them badly. |
C.She was kind to them. |
D.It was their daily practice. |
Why did the author report their conversation to her principals?
A.They were good friends. |
B.The principals hated them. |
C.She guessed her principals might be glad to hear it. |
D.She wanted to be praised. |
What encouraged the author to be a good teacher?
A.Others’ nice talk behind her back. |
B.Her good knowledge in teaching. |
C.Her rich experience in teaching. |
D.Her principal’s help. |
In many European countries it is normal to have a long break in the middle of the day when all members of the family return to their houses to eat together. This is not very common in Britain because normally it is a long way from the place of work or school to the home. Consequently the British people tend to have a big breakfast before they go to work and the meal at midday is not spent with the members of the family but with workmates or schoolmates. Lunch is normally eaten between 12: 30 p.m. and 1: 30 p.m. Most people finish work at five thirty. It often takes at least an hour to get home from the school or workplace so people tend to eat their evening meal or “dinner” between 6: 30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
On Sundays people don’t have to work, so they take the opportunity to eat together with their family. Sunday lunch is usually the best meal of the week and many of the meals which are considered typically British are eaten for Sunday lunch. For example roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
This is a typical British family eating together on Sunday. After lunch the father will smoke his pipe and read the newspaper sitting on his favorite armchair while his wife washes the dishes. The children will play traditional English games such as hopscotch, skipping or doctors and nurses.
Although everyone in Britain understands that “breakfast” is the first meal of the day, there is a lot of confusion about the words for other meals such as “dinner, lunch, tea, high tea, brunch and supper” and if you ask a British person what these words mean, most of them will give you a different answer according to what part of the country they are from or what social class they are from. Another example of this is the pronunciation of the word “scones” (a type of cake eaten with Devonshire clotted cream, strawberry jam and cups of tea, known as a “cream tea”)The passage is mainly about ________.
A.the eating habits in Britain |
B.British family eating together |
C.the eating habits in Europe |
D.British people give you a different answer about meals |
During the workday, the Europeans eat lunch together with the family while the British eat ________.
A.alone | B.at home |
C.with the boss | D.with workmates or schoolmates |
The British family eats together ________.
A.from 12: 30 p.m. to 1: 30 p.m. |
B.from 6: 30 p.m. to 8: 30 p.m. |
C.on Sundays |
D.on Saturdays |
Why do the British have a lot of confusion about the words for other meals except breakfast?
A.Because of the different pronunciations. |
B.Because of the different eating times. |
C.Because of the different eating habits. |
D.Because of the different parts of country and social classes. |
Planet Earth would be a scary place for humans if dinosaurs still ruled the world.
Though there are still some traces of life from the Jurassic Period, the Age of Dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.
This mass extinction is believed to be the result of an asteriod(小行星)hitting Earth. A new report by the journal Biological Reviews called " The Extinction of Dinosaurs” concludes that this impact was, indeed, the cause of the dinosaurs’ demise. But the space blast(爆炸) wasn't the only reason these creatures aren't still around today.
Dinosaurs need food to survive. Meat-eating monsters like the Tyrannosaurus Rex(霸王龙) were at the top of the food chain, and fed off plant eaters like the horned Triceratops (三角恐龙). These herbivores (食草动物) were decreasing in population after the asteroid hit Earth, which left the meat-eating species less food to survive on. “In any ecosystem where you remove links to key species, that community has problems," Richard Butler, one of the review's authors, told National Ceographic.
While the herbivore population was going down, Earth's temperatures were rising when volcanoes erupted. Hot vapors and gases began wiping out some of the dinosaur population and weakening the survivors.
These changes made the asteroid's impact especially powerful. It caused more volcanoes to erupt, heated up Earth's atmosphere, and led to a sharp drop in the level of oxygen in the oceans.
With the dinosaurs gone, mammals(哺乳动物) began to evolve into bigger and more diverse species. Many animals we see today, like birds, sharks, and even some cats and dogs, appeared after the asteroid hit Earth. But none rule Earth quite like the dinosaurs did.. Which of the following words can replace the underlined word’’ demise" in Paragraph 2?
A.Death. | B.Evolvement. |
C.Presence. | D.Decrease. |
According to what Richard Butler said, what caused dinosaurs to die out?
A.A shortage of clean water. |
B.A break in the food chain. |
C.A small variety of animals. |
D.The constant warming climate. |
What was the negative effect of the asteroid hitting Earth?
A.Oceans became too hot for animals. |
B.There was less oxygen in the oceans. |
C.Earth's climate became violent. |
D.The majority of the plants gradually died out. |
The text is mainly about .
A.the evolvement of mammals on Earth |
B.the gradual process of climate change |
C.the importance of the balance of ecosystem |
D.the cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs |
A group of Russian criminals have stolen l.2 billion username and password combinations for more than 500 millione-mail addresses. It's the largest known theft on the Internet, according to a report of The New York Times.
Cyber security firm Hold Security discovered the security breach(漏洞 ). The firm found that the group of criminals collected personal information from 420,000 websites, including household names and small Internet sites. The criminals were based in a small city in south central Russia. They hacked websites inside Russia as well as big companies in the U.S. and other countries ,The New Times reports.
The criminals found hundreds of thousands of weak websites and attacked their coding,Hold Security said. Alex Holden is chief information security officer of Hold Security. “The hackers did not just target U.S. companies;they targeted any website they could get,” Holden said. “And most of these sites are still easy to attack”.
According to Hold Security, the criminals have been using the stolen information to send junk mail through e-mail and on social networks like Twitter. They can also use the 500 million stolen e-mail -addresses to plan other crimes. They could use information from bank e-mails to steal your identity or sell the e-mail address to other criminals to make quick cash.
The reported break-ins are the latest events to raise doubts about security at big and small companies. Last winter, hackers stole 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million addresses, phone numbers and other personal information from the retailer Target Corp. The brand is still working to regain its shoppers' trust.
John Prisco is a CEO of a security firm. He says security hacks are more common than many people and companies realize. "This issue reminds me of an iceberg, where 90% of it is actually under water," Prisco said in an e-mailed statement. So many cyber breaches today are not actually reported, because companies are losing information and they are not even aware of it. "
Security experts believe hackers will continue breaking into computer networks unless companies become more protective of personal information. What did a group of Russian criminals do according to the report?
A.They stole e-mail addresses of the Internet users. |
B.They destroyed the websites of some big companies. |
C.They attacked American companies in southern Russia. |
D.They downloaded the secret information of some banks. |
According to Alex Holden, the criminals entered some websites easily because .
A.some websites don't have their own coding |
B.most of the websites lack protective measures |
C.Russia is more developed in computer science |
D.the hackers are equipped with high technology |
What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?
A.The criminals are fond of using social networks. |
B.The criminals sell the stolen information for money. |
C.The stolen information causes great economic losses. |
D.The stolen information could bring harmful effects. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 6 imply?
A.We cannot tell how large an iceberg is just from the part on the water. |
B.Many companies are unwilling to report their information stolen. |
C.Many companies are not aware their information has been stolen. |
D.People usually can see just a small part of an iceberg. |
A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love(早恋) may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression(忧郁症). The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self". According to the study, even though boys would say "lose themselves in a romantic relationship", this "loss of self" is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won’t tell that to their parents.
Dr Marianm Kaufman, an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for signs of depression--eating or mood changes--and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age. Love will always make us feel young, but only maturity(成熟) gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.What's the main idea of the passage?
A.Puppy love may bring young people depression. |
B.Parents should forbid their children's love. |
C.Romance is a two-edged sword for adults. |
D.Romance is good for young people. |
Which of the following is more likely to have depression?
A.Young people who have a strong sense of selfishness. |
B.Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior. |
C.Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions. |
D.Careless parents whose children are deep in love. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Lacking love can lead young people to grow up more quickly. |
B.Early love makes young people keep close to their friends and parents. |
C.Parents should help their children to be aware of the signs of depression. |
D.The older a woman is, the less likely she seems to lose herself in romance. |
What's the author's attitude towards puppy love?
A.Confused. | B.Disapproving. |
C.Disinterested. | D.Scared. |