I live in the land of Disney, Hollywood and year - round sun．You may think People ,n 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 think fun equals happiness．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 deep, long-lasting emotion．
Going to an amusement park or a ball game, watching a movie or television are fun activities that help us relax, temporally 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．They have constant access to exciting parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells "happiness" But in memoir（回忆录） after memoir, they expose Ac unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages and loneliness．
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying．If he is honest, he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment．For commitment is in fact quite painful．The single life is filled with fun, adventure and excitement．Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features．
Similarly, couples that choose not to have children are deciding in favor of painless fun over painful happiness．They can dine out whenever they want and sleep as late as they want．Couples with babies are lucky to get a whole night' s sleep．I don't know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children．
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations we can ever come to．It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can truly increase our happiness．It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless．And it frees us from envy: we now understand that all those rich and famous people we were so sure are happy because they are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all．What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Fun and happiness． |
| B．Success and satisfaction． |
| C．Marriage and commitment． |
| D．Entertainment and responsibility． |
The author probably agrees that ____．
| A．fun creates long - lasting satisfaction |
| B．long - standing fun may lead to happiness |
| C．fun is short-lived while happiness is long-lasting |
| D．fun provides enjoyment while pain leads to happiness |
What does the author think of marriage?
A．It ends in pain．
B．It means commitment．
C．It affords greater fun．
D．It leads to raising children．
【小题14If one gets the real meaning of happiness, he ____．
A．will start a business
B．won' t place too much value on money
C．will seek for freedom
D．won't devote himself to his family
When Frida Kahlo's paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “ a ribbon （丝带）around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.
Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City , Kahlo suffered from polio（小儿麻痹症）at the age of seven. Her spine （脊柱）become bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but nothing was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.
In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influences on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.
Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953.For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last. What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in paragraph 1 most nearly mean?
| A．a far better artist |
| B．a far more gifted artist |
| C．a much stronger person |
| D．a much more famous person |
The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by .
| A．polio | B．back injuries |
| C．the operations she had | D．her bent spine |
Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the .
| A．1950s | B． 1930s | C．1940s | D．1970s |
What is author’s attitude toward Kahlo?
| A．Devotion | B．Sympathy | C．Worry | D．Encouragement |
Sometimes people cheat in daily life. 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．teachers should punish them |
| B．it does harm to their heath |
| C．it is unfair to other people |
| 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．some kids don’t spend the time studying |
| C．some kids can’t pass the test without cheating |
| D．why kids cheat in the test |
We can learn from the passage______.
| A．cheaters are often thought highly of |
| B．people show no respect for those who cheat |
| C．parents whose kids cheat are often in trouble |
| D．kids cheat in the test because of swim practice |
Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission(录取) to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.
In 1849, after graduation from medical school. she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon(外科医师) , but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.
Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.What main obstacle(障碍) almost destroyed Elizabeth’s chances for becoming for a doctor?
| A．She wrote too many letters. |
| B．She was a woman. |
| C．She couldn’t graduate from medical school. |
| D．She couldn’t set up her hospital. |
Why couldn’t Elizabeth Blackwell realize her dream of becoming a surgeon?
| A．She couldn’t get admitted to medical school |
| B．She decided to further her education in Paris |
| C．A serious eye problem stopped her |
| D．It was difficult for her to start a practice in the United States |
How many years passed between her graduation from medical school and the opening of her hospital?
| A．Nineteen years | B．Ten years | C．Eight years | D．Thirty-six years |
Eilzabeth Blackwell spent most of her lift in _______.
| A．the United States | B．Paris | C．England | D．New York City |
One day last summer, watching the boys and girls trying to catch butterflies I remembered something happened when I was young．When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.
We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. No musician can sing more beautiful than the birds. I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.
I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird flied about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.
I had left the cage out, and on the second day my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.
The following morning when I went to see how my bird was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken good care of my little bird.
Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in cage.”
Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?
| A．He had just got a new cage. |
| B．He liked its beautiful feather. |
| C．He wanted a pet for a companion. |
| D．He wanted it to sing for him. |
The mockingbird died because it ______.
| A．drank the poisonous water by mistake |
| B．was frightened to death |
| C．refused to eat anything |
| D．ate the poisonous food its mother gave it |
An ornithologist probably means ______.
| A．a religious person | B．a kind person |
| C．an expert in birds | D．a schoolmaster |
What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?
| A．Freedom is very valuable to all living things. |
| B．All birds put in a cage won’t live long. |
| C．You should keep the birds from their mother. |
| D．Be careful about food you give to baby birds. |
Long long ago, there was a man who was good at shooting arrows．He asked the king to declare him as the greatest archer（射手） of the country．The king was about to do so when an old servant of the king said，“Wait，sir．I know an old man who lives in the forest．He is a much greater archer．Let this young man go to him and learn from him for at least three years．”
The man could not believe what the servant said，but he went and found the old man and he was! For three years he learned from him．Then one day，when he thought he had learned everything，the thought arose in him：“If I kill this old man，then I will be the greatest archer．”
The old man had gone to cut wood and he was coming back carrying wood on his shoulder．The young man hid behind a tree，waiting to kill him．He shot an arrow．The old man took a small piece of wood and threw it．It struck the arrow and the arrow turned back and wounded the young man very deeply．The old man came，took out the arrow and said。“I knew that some day or other you were going to do this．That’s why I have not taught you this secret．There is no need to kill me．My Master is still alive，and I’m nothing before him．You must be with him for at least thirty years．And he is very old，so go fast! Find the old man!”The young archer wanted to kill the old man because_______.
| A．he could then become the greatest archer |
| B．he had nothing more to learn from him |
| C．the old man refused to teach him everything |
| D．the king’s old servant ordered him to do SO |
What do you think would most probably happen next?
| A．The young archer died from the wound soon after． |
| B．The king declared the young man the greatest archer． |
| C．The young archer found the old man’s master and killed him． |
| D．The young archer set off to look for the old man’s master． |
What lesson can you learn from the story?
| A．Always use a piece of wood to protect yourself from an arrow． |
| B．You must never try to become better than your teacher． |
| C．The older a man is，the better archer he usually becomes． |
| D．There’s always someone better than you in this world． |