Recently, an Internet game has become a new fashion among young office workers and students. People can “farm” on a piece of “land” and “grow”, “sell” or even “steal” “vegetables”, “flowers” and “fruits” on the Net. They earn some e-money and buy more “seeds”, “pets” and even “houses”.
Joyce interviewed some young people. Here are their opinions.
Harold: I don’t quite understand why they are so mad about the childish game. Maybe they are just not confident enough to face the real world.
Allan: I enjoy putting some “bugs” (小虫子) in my friends’’ gardens and we’ve become closer because of the game. Having fun together is the most exciting thing about it.
Laura: You know, people in the city are longing for the life in the countryside. It reduces my work pressure in the office; besides, it gives me the exciting feeling of being a “thief”.
Ivy: Well, it’s just a waste of time. Teenagers playing the game spend so many hours on it that they cannot pay more attention to their study.By playing the game, people can ______.
| A．make a lot of money | B．make many friends |
| C．have great fun | D．better their life |
The people “steal” someone else’s “vegetables” to ______.
| A．live a more comfortable life |
| B．show their confidence in the reality |
| C．earn e-money to develop their own "farm" |
| D．enjoy the feelings of being children |
Among the people interviewed, ______ doesn’t like the game at all.
| A．Laura | B．Harold | C．Joyce | D．Allan |
What can you learn about Laura from the passage?
| A．She is a college student. | B．She lives in a village. |
| C．She is an office worker. | D．She wants to be a thief. |
Rather than talk about how he feels, often a man would express his love by buying the woman cosmetics (化妆品), or bringing home a flower, or giving up the control of the remote (遥控器).
And when men do talk, they’d prefer to talk about actions rather than emotions. For example, a lot of men would choose to express their long-range faith in a relationship by talking about next summer’s vacation plans, not by starting a conversation about undying love.
Men just prefer to say their plans with plane tickets, rather than poetry. It’s one of the reasons why men are more comfortable talking at work (the practical world) than they are at home (the castle that emotion built). But you can bring out his great communicator by making him feel more like he’s operating in the work mode, even when the topic at hand is your love life.
When men talk less and women want more, the conflict can escalate. Like when a policeman is questioning an unwilling witness, more silence equals more questions. A full 65 percent of men we surveyed recently told us that they don’t want their partners to ask them more questions about themselves.
It’s clear that some men are just tired of feeling like they’re on the witness stand. They’re not necessarily hiding anything; many men simply prefer not to have to tell confusing feelings that they may not even understand themselves.
An age-old method can make things better: back off a little, give him room to operate in a conversation, and he’s more likely to open up.According to the author, men feel more comfortable when talking .
| A．actions | B．feelings |
| C．long-term friendship | D．conversations |
How can women communicate more successfully with men?
| A．They may give men a surprise by buying plane tickets. |
| B．They can ask men if they have a great time during working. |
| C．They might create a warm home environment first of all. |
| D．They can give men the feeling that they are talking at work. |
The underlined word “escalate” has the similar meaning to.
| A．decrease | B．disappear | C．change | D．increase |
From the text it can be inferred that.
| A．women are better at writing poems about emotions than men |
| B．it is natural for women to be fond of finding the faults of men |
| C．men are more interested in learning more about their partners |
| D．men prefer to pour out their hearts in a forgiving environment |
Italian Lakes and Greek Islands (12 Days)
Your tour begins in Milan, Italy(意大利), and moves on to the pretty Italian Lake District and the attractive resort(胜地)of Stresa, your home for two nights. Collette Vacations has carefully chosen the Costa Victoria as your home for your 7—night journey along the waterways of the Mediterranean. The cruise ship is filled with the warmth and culture of Italy and is richly designed with entertainment(娱乐)areas and very good living conditions. It will take you to the places of your dreams.
You’ll spend 4 days touring Greek cities you’ve always heard about. In Katakolon, you will have an exciting tour to nearby Olympia without a guide. Then with a local guide you will visit the Greek islands of Santorini, which is often related to the story of the lost city of Atlantis, and Mykonos, a wonderful island with beautiful beaches.
Your journey ends in Verona, home of the love story Romeo and Juliet, with a fun—filled Goodbye dinner—a perfect ending to a pleasant journey.
12 Days, 25Meals: 10 Breakfasts, 6 Lunches, 9 Dinners
Day 1 Overnight flight to Italy
Days2—3 Regina Palace, Stresa, Italy
Days4—10 Costa Victoria ( Costa cruises)
Day 11 Hotel Leopardi, Verona, Italy
Day12 Leave for home
Please Note:
| Leaving date |
Price for one person |
| April 7 |
$2,099 |
| June 2 |
$2,199 |
| October 6 |
$2,099 |
| November 3 |
$1,999 |
How is the journey planned?
| A．It starts and ends in Italy. |
| B．It starts and ends in Greece. |
| C．It starts in Italy and ends in Greece. |
| D．It starts in Greece and ends in Italy. |
What can be inferred from the travel plan?
| A．The price may get lower than those in the plan. |
| B．The prices include three meals a day. |
| C．The price is the highest in summer. |
| D．The prices include entertainment service. |
What does the underlined part “ the Costa Victoria” most probably refer to?
| A．A famous hotel. | B．A beautiful resort. |
| C．A comfortable ship. | D．A long—distance bus. |
Tourists will travel on their own in .
| A．Stresa | B．Olympia | C．Mykonos | D．Verona |
As prices and building costs keep rising, the“do-it-yourself”(DIY)trend(趋势)in the U.S. continues to grow.
“We needed furniture(家具)for our living room,” says John Ross,“and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.” John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a 2-week course for $280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full time job at home as well as in a shoe making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420.“I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course, I should be able to fix the car by myself.”
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you
want to become a “do-it-yourselfer”, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.We can learn from the text that many married people_________.
| A．find it hard to pay for what they need |
| B．have to learn to make their own furniture |
| C．take DIY courses run by the government |
| D．seldom go to a department store to buy things |
When the writer says that Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim_________.
| A．makes shoes in his home |
| B．does extra work at night |
| C．does his own car and home repairs |
| D．keeps house and looks after his children |
Jim Hatfield decided to become a do-it-yourself when__________.
| A．his car repairs cost too much |
| B．the car repair class was not helpful |
| C．he could not possibly do two jobs |
| D．he had to raise the children all by himself |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．The Joy of DIY | B．You Can Do It Too! |
| C．Welcome to Our DIY Course | D．Ross and Hatfield Believers in DIY |
Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.
Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself , each extra dollar makes less and less difference.
Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
“Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better,” conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways---scientists or actors, for example—may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.
In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires—not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health—rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap. Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. “The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income.” Says Michalos.
Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad. “Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?” asks Professor Laura Carstensen.
In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often.
Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve. But Carstensen thinks that with time running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don’t. “People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever,” she says. “A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of 85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20.According to the passage, the feeling of happiness ________.
| A．is determined partly by genes | B．increases gradually with age |
| C．has little to do with wealth | D．is measured by desires |
Some actors would like to accept poorly-paid jobs because the jobs_____.
| A．make them feel much better | B．provide chances to make friends |
| C．improve their social position | D．satisfy their professional interests |
Aged people are more likely to feel happy because they are more______.
| A．optimistic | B．successful | C．practical | D．emotional |
Professor Alex Michalos found that people feel less happy if _______.
| A．the gap between reality and desire is bigger |
| B．they have a stronger desire for friendship |
| C．their income is below their expectation |
| D．the hope for good health is greater |
The south and east of the Great Lakes is famous for the huge amounts of snow it receives. When the snow starts to fall every year, people start discussing the phrase “lake-effect snow”.
Lake-effect snow which is influenced by the movement of cold air over the relatively warm water of the Great Lakes often comes in late autumn and early winter. Because of the at least 20 degrees’ difference between the lake water and the overrunning air, it’s easy to form huge amounts of snow.
As the cool air crosses the water of Great Lakes, the lowest levels of the atmosphere begin to warm and pick up moisture. This newly warmed atmosphere is lighter than the cold air above it, so it starts rising. As the changed air continues to climb higher and higher, it finally meets much colder atmosphere which changes the moisture into water drops and ice, forming clouds. After this course repeats a number of times, the clouds become heavier and heavier, and then they are changed into snow and fall down.
The most important point that decides the amount of snowfall is the direction of the wind. If the wind runs perpendicularly（垂直地）across the lake, there won’t be plenty of time for clouds to develop. However, if the wind runs in the opposite direction, clouds will form easily. The longer the cold air travels over the lake, the more moisture it is able to produce, which leads to a greater amount of snow.
The largest amount of the lake-effect snow was found across the U.P. of Michigan, the northwestern Pennsylvania and the far southwestern and northwestern New York, which are all along the south or east of the Great Lakes. It has been over 100 inches of snowfall in a winter season.The level of the snowfall depends on ________.
| A．the size of the lake |
| B．the direction of the wind |
| C．the temperature of the lake |
| D．the strength of the wind |
From the passage, we can learn that ________.
| A．clouds are easy to produce with the help of the perpendicular wind |
| B．cold air always falls down and picks up moisture to form clouds |
| C．the temperature of the lake water is the same as the overrunning air’s above it |
| D．the longer journey of the cold atmosphere can make a grater amount of snow |
The passage is mainly about ________.
| A．the influences of the lake-effect snow for local people |
| B．the weight between moisture and atmosphere |
| C．how the phrase “lake-effect snow” comes in New York |
| D．how the lake-effect snow forms around the Great Lakes |