Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older. Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50. In fact, they say by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of 18 and 85. The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 24 and 25. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
The study also showed that men and women have similar feeling patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.
Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their feelings. They so spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.According to the survey of the Gallup Organization people are most likely to become happier .
| A．when they are between the ages of 18 and 85 | B．when they come to their old age |
| C．when they are in their twenties | D．when they are 18 years old |
You may have the highest level of stress when you are at the age of .
| A．20 | B．25 | C．35 | D．40 |
According to Arthur Stone, old people may .
| A．have a positive attitude towards their life | B．know how to spend money wisely |
| C．dream about good things every day | D．control their behaviors better |
Who would probably show the greatest interest in the passage?
| A．Those who are worried about getting old | B．Those who are single and unemployed |
| C．Those who feel unhappy all the time | D．Those who suffer from mental stress |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Getting Older Means Getting Happier | B．The Young Are Happier Than the Old |
| C．Women Are Easier to Be Happy in Life | D．The Younger, the Happier |
任务型阅读(共5小题：每小题2，满分10分）
阅读下列材料，根据1-5题中的文字信息从A到F的六个选项中选出与其对应的电影介绍。有一项为多余项。The actress isn't a professional dancer, but she dances so well in the movie.
It’s a fantastic cartoon that features characters looking like real people.
The hero risks his life to get his wife out of prison in this crime movie.
It’s about an adventure with three heroes who fight against the evil (邪恶).
The hero finally gives a talk for several minutes and wins the nation’s respect.
A
| Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows In this movie “Harry potter and the Deadly Hallows”, Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for the pieces of Voldemort’s soul that he got from his body and hid in places both far and wide. If the three of them are unable to find and destroy them all, Voldemort will never die and never stop doing wrong. Despite their long friendship, a combination of dark forces, romance, and long-held secrets will cause the task to fail. |
B
| Tangled In this holiday season, the Disney Film company produces a wonderful movie whose characters seem so real. When the kingdom’s most wanted and most charming thief named Flynn hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s been taken hostage (人质) by beauty with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. She’s looking for her ticket out of the tower where she’s been locked away for years and strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the two sets off on an exciting adventure. |
C
| The Last Three Days John and Lara are happily married and raise a family when their life falls apart suddenly. Lara has been accused of murder, and the judge sentences her into prison. Determined to save his wife, John makes every effort. However, his efforts fail. Later, John prepares to put his life on the line for Lara, and sets the plan. John knows that one false move could destroy the plan. |
D
| The King’s Speech The movie tells the story of King George VI. When his older brother gives up being a king, George VI unwillingly takes the power. People have much doubt about his leadership skills due to his awkward speech. With the help of Lionel, he is out of trouble and he can deliver a six-minute speech on his own successfully, and finally he wins people’s confidence in him. |
E
| I Love You Phillip Steve, a police officer turns into a white-collar criminal after being sent to prison and falling in love with his mate Phillip in prison. Steve is a small-town policeman. Bored with his lifestyle, he turns to crimes. Before long, his criminal actions have landed him in prison, where he meets Phillip. Steve devotes his entire life to being with Phillip regardless of the consequences – which could include a life sentence. |
F
| Black Swan New York City ballet dancer Nina enters into a fierce （猛烈的、凶猛的） battle of wills with a talented and ambitious newcomer who seems to knock her out of the competition in this movie. The movie Black Swan is full of scary-looking skinny women, their dark hair pulled back, moving their bodies and toes very quickly. It is a breathtaking story about a long tradition of backstage （幕后、后台）dramas, with more than enough sweat and tears. |
Children have their own rules in playing games. They seldom need a referee (裁判) and rarely trouble to keep scores. They don’t care much about who wins or loses, and it doesn’t seem to worry them if the game is not finished. Yet, they like games that depend a lot on luck, so that their personal abilities cannot be directly compared. They also enjoy games that move in stages, in which each stage, the choosing of leaders, the picking-up of sides, or the determining of which side shall start, is almost a game in itself.
Grown-ups can hardly find children’s games exciting, and they often feel puzzled at why their kids play such simple games again and again. However, it is found that a child plays games for very important reasons. He can be a good player without having to think whether he is a popular person, and he can find himself being a useful partner to someone of whom he is usually afraid. He becomes a leader when it comes to his turn. He can be confident, too, in particular games, that it is his place to give orders, to pretend to be dead, to throw a ball actually at someone, or to kiss someone he has caught.
It appears to us that when children play a game they imagine a situation under their control. Everyone knows the rules, and more importantly, everyone plays according to the rules. Those rules may be childish, but they make sure that every child has a chance to win.To become a leader in a game the child has to __________.
| A．be popular among his playmates | B．wait for his turn |
| C．be confident in himself | D．play well |
What is true about children when they play games?
| A．They can stop playing any time they like. |
| B．They can test their personal abilities. |
| C．They want to pick a better team |
| D．They don’t need rules. |
Why does a child like playing games?
| A．Because he likes the place where he plays a game. |
| B．Because he can become popular among friends. |
| C．Because he finds he is always lucky in games. |
| D．Because he can be someone other than himself. |
What do we know about grown-ups?
| A．They are not interested in games. |
| B．They find children’s games too easy. |
| C．They don’t understand children’s games. |
| D．They don’t need a reason to play games. |
The writer believes that __________.
| A．children should make better rules for their games |
| B．children should invite grown-ups to play with them |
| C．children’s games can do them a lot of good |
| D．children play games without reasons |
There were two McDonalds—Mac and Dick—and they were brothers. In 1948 they owned a restaurant in California. They liked working in the restaurant, but they got tired of the customers ordering so many different things to eat.
“If we gave customers a smaller menu, we could make some of the food before they came, and they wouldn’t have to wait so long for their meals,” said one of the brothers. The other brother agreed and said, “And if we made the customers come to the counter, we wouldn’t need any waiters or waitresses. We could also use plastic plates so there wouldn’t be any washing-up.”
These were such good ideas that the McDonald brothers used them, and the customers were very pleased. They got their meals very quickly—in less than a minute—and they paid only 15 cents for hamburgers and 10 cents for fries (炸薯条). The first McDonald’s restaurant had no seats for customers to sit on. This meant that people had to take their food away, and that no one had to clean up any tables after them.
Then a man called Ray Kroc came to the brothers and asked to buy their business. They agreed to sell it to him for $ 27 million. After that, people paid Ray Kroc to open their own restaurant using the McDonald’s name and menu. Before long, there were McDonald’s restaurants all over the United States, and nowadays, they are all over the world—even in China and Russia. The most successful McDonald’s business is in Hong Kong of China. The Hong Kong McDonald’s sells more hamburgers every day than any other McDonald’s in the world.
McDonald’s restaurants are so successful that children love going to them. They like the food，and they like the toys and games they can get at McDonald’s.The McDonald brothers offered customers fewer kinds of foods so that _____.
| A．customers would get their meals quickly |
| B．they could use plastic plates |
| C．customers would pay less |
| D．they didn’t need waiters or waitresses |
Customers “paid only 15 cents for hamburgers” means the hamburgers were _____.
| A．worth a lot less | B．new | C．cheap | D．expensive |
The first McDonald’s customers took their food away because _____.
| A．they wanted to eat at home |
| B．there were no seats in the restaurant |
| C．they wanted to eat it quickly |
| D．they did not want a large menu |
Nowadays, the owners of McDonald’s restaurants pay for _____.
| A．People to take the food away |
| B．the McDonald’s name and menu |
| C．customers to eat quickly |
| D．children to play games |
This story mainly tells us _____.
| A．where McDonald’s restaurants are in the world |
| B．how Ray Kroc made money for the McDonald brothers |
| C．a restaurant in California in 1948 |
| D．how the McDonald’s business started and grew |
Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads in their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong , people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving (旋转的) door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.Those who have big houses may often feel _____.
| A．lonely | B．happy | C．excited | D．free |
When you fall down in a PE class, both your teacher and your classmates will _____.
| A．play jokes on you | B．help you up |
| C．quarrel with you | D．laugh at you |
What will your friends say to you when you make great progress?
| A．Good luck | B．Oh, so do I |
| C．Congratulations | D．It’s just so-so |
Which idea is not right according to the passage?
| A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
| B．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
| C．You can get help from others when you make mistakes. |
| D．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
Which of the following is this passage about?
| A．Bad luck. | B．Life | C．Good luck | D．Happiness |
At present, too much carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) makes the earth warmer and warmer and causes terrible effect to human beings. To save our planet, to save ourselves, a new lifestyle called low-carbon life(低碳生活) becomes popular. Low carbon means low energy and no waste. It is necessary for everybody to learn to live a low-carbon life.
To live a low-carbon life, we’d better save energy as possible. Turn off the lights and TV whenever they are not needed. If possible, use cold water to wash clothes or dishes. Take a short shower and try to take a cold one when the weather gets warm. Don’t do the cooking with electricity.
To live a low-carbon life, we should eat less meat. Everybody knows eating too much meat makes people fat and easy to have heart disease, but maybe you don’t know keeping animals for food produces even more carbon dioxide than all the cars in the world, and being a vegetarian can help reduce one and a half tons of carbon dioxide a year. Maybe it is a little difficult, but it’s really necessary.
To live a low-carbon life, we are supposed to do less shopping. When we go shopping, we may drive a car or take other transportations. On the one hand, these machines pollute the air and waste energy. On the other hand, most of us always buy some useless things because of some advertisements. It is not only a waste of money but also causes trouble to the earth, because as you know, making everything will produce carbon dioxide more or less.
There are many other ways to live low-carbon life, such as recycling things, planting trees and reusing textbooks. If we can keep it a habit in our daily life, the earth will become a safer planet for us to live on.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。_____ makes the weather on the earth get warmer.
| A．Little rubbish | B．A waste of money |
| C．Too much carbon dioxide | D．A waste of water |
We can _____ to save energy in our daily life.
| A．use less electricity |
| B．go to sleep with lights on |
| C．wash clothes with hot water |
| D．drive car to work |
he underlined word “it” in the third paragraph means _____.
| A．eating less meat | B．having heart disease |
| C．keeping animals for food | D．eating less vegetables |
We should do less shopping because _____.
| A．wasting money causes trouble to people |
| B．the advertisements are sometimes misleading |
| C．the less you shop, the less carbon dioxide will be produced |
| D．some of the things you bought are useless |
If everybody lives a low-carbon life, _____.
| A．we will waste more energy |
| B．there will be less carbon dioxide |
| C．the earth will become a dangerous place to live on |
| D．there will be more carbon dioxide |