Thepennyisgettingachange．TheUn-优题课

I live in the land of Disney, Hollywood and year - round sun．You may think People , 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．Man-iage 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．

If 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

Thanks a Million, Dad
I was born disabled．A difficult birth, feet first, my head stuck．By my first birthday, I couldn't stand or walk．
When I was three, the doctor told dad I had cerebral palsy （脑瘫）．A loss of oxygen to my brain had destroyed brain signals to the right side of my body．
But no son of my dad' s was going to be disabled．Every morning before breakfast and every evening before bed, my dad placed me on the bedroom floor to exercise my right leg．The muscles were shrunk and twisted together．Back and forth up and down, my dad pushed and pulled the muscles into shape．
But my dad' s exercise of passion didn't stop there．For my 13th birthday, he threw me a special party．When everybody was gone, he brought me to open a large box, it was a-set of boxing gloves．We put them on．My dad kept on beating me mercilessly．Each time I tried to get up, leather kissed my nose, eyes and jaw．I "begged him to stop．He said he beat me to get me ready for the tough world．
That same year, I was the only kid in my neighbourhood that wasn't picked for Little League．Two weeks later．Dad started the Shedd Park Minor League, and every kid played．Dad coached us and made me a pitcher （棒球投手）．
The power of my dad' s love guaranteed I walked and more．In high school, I became a football star．
In 1997, a brain surgeon in San Jose told me I didn’t t have cerebral palsy after all．He explained how and where the doctor' s forceps （镊子） at birth had damaged my brain．
My dad never knew the whole truth since he passed away years ago．But all that counts is the bottom line．After all his madness, on this Father' s Day, like every Father' s Day, I' m no longer disabled．
What caused the author' s disability?

A．A failed operation．	B．The doctor's forceps．
C．An accident in a game．	D．Shrunken and twisted muscles．

What do we learn from the passage?

A．The author has a talent for boxing．

B．The author achieved a lot thanks to his father' s love．

C．The author became a baseball star with the help of his father．

D．The author doesn't think his father should be so strict with him．

Paragraph 3 suggests that the author' s father____．

A．wouldn't give up hope easily

B．believed his son was a normal child

C．blamed the doctors for his son' s disability

D．couldn't accept the truth that his son was disabled

The author wrote the passage to ____．

A．remember his father

B．encourage disabled children

C．show the difficulty the disabled face

D．give advice to the parents of disabled children

Obama Still Smokes in Secret
US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers．He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry．The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products．
At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday．
Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn’t completely kicked the habit．Every now and then he still smokes in secret．
“As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time．Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes．Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No．” Obama said at a news conference．
“I don' t do it in front of my lads．I don 't do it in front of my family．I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said．
"Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important．The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up．What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said．
Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases．
The new law makes life difficult for．

A．Obama	B．tobacco industry
C．White House	D．US Food and Drug Administration

What do we know about Obama?

A．He no longer smokes．

B．He still smokes as usual．

C．He began to smoke at eighteen．

D．He is trying hard to give up smoking．

According to the passage, Obama is most concerned about ．

A．children

B．officials

C．his family

D．businessmen

Just as the world’s most respected scientific bodies have confirmed that the world is getting hotter, they have also stated that there is strong evidence that humans are driving the warming． Countless recent reports from the world’s leading scientific bodies have said the same thing． For example, a 2010 summary of climate science by the Royal Society stated that: “There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the last half-century has been caused largely by human activity．”
The idea that humans could change the planet’s climate may be counter-intuitive（与直觉不符的）, but the basic science is well understood． Each year, human activity causes billions of tons of greenhouse gases to be released（释放）into the atmosphere． As scientists have known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket．
Of course, the planet’s climate has always been changing thanks to “natural” factors（因素） such as changes in solar or volcanic（火山的）activity, or cycles relating the Earth’s going around the sun． According to the scientific literature, however, the warming recorded to date matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes．
Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming observed so far, that would beg a difficult question． As Robert Henson puts it in The Rough Guide to Climate Change: “If some newly discovered factor can account for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”
The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths –one with human influence and one without． That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty．
In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by ．

A．solar activity	B．volcanic activity
C．the Earth’s going around the sun	D．human activity

The text is developed by ．

A．giving typical examples	B．following the order of space
C．analysing a theory and arguing it	D．comparing and finding differences

The underline word “identical” means ．

A．totally different	B．exactly the same
C．extremely important	D．relatively independent

Finding the right school for your child is a process． You will want to read about the school, talk to any friends who are involved in the school and, most important of all, visit the school．
The first step in finding out about Indian Creek is to request an information packet． We will be happy to send you a packet containing a brochure（小册子）, the fee structure and an application． The packet should answer most of your general questions about the school．
In order to get a true sense of Indian Creek School, you should come for an Admission Tour, which includes a personal meeting focusing on your child, a tour of the building and the classrooms, and a discussion of the curriculum（课程）．
This visit is no less important if the child for whom you are seeking admission is a teenager than if he or she is a three-year-old one． Every school has a different “school climate．” If you visit two or three schools, you will notice that each “feels” different． You know your child best and you will quickly develop a sense of whether a school is the right match or not．
●The initial point of entry for Indian Creek Students is at the pre-kindergarten level for three year olds．
●Children must be three years old by August 31st．
●We also have major points of entry from grade six to grade nine． At each of these levels, we open new sections and accept students in addition to those moving up from our own lower grades．
●There are scattered（零散的） openings available throughout the program due to attrition（学生流失）． Once an opening occurs, students spend a day at ICS, part of which includes admission testing．
You can NOT get to know about ICS by ．

A．getting an information packet	B．taking an admission tour
C．asking friends involved in ICS	D．taking an admission test

During the Admission Tour, you can ．

A．having a meeting with the children

B．decide on the design of the classrooms

C．talk with the school about the courses

D．choose the weather suitable for study．

Which of the following is NOT accepted for ICS when there is no attrition?

A．A boy who will be 3 years old by July．

B．A fifth grader originally studying in ICS．

C．An eighth grader from another school．

D．A fourth grader from another school．

The text is intended for ．

A．teachers	B．parents
C．kindergarteners	D．school kids