Many of us mistakenly believe that it’s wrong to think we have any good qualities. We may spend a lot of time blaming ourselves for our negative qualities, thinking that self criticism is the key to improving our performance. However, a constant focus on our supposed shortcomings can stop our efforts to make friends with other people. How can we believe that others could like us if we believe our inner being is flawed?
If someone seems to dislike you, the reason for that dislike might have little or nothing to do with you. The person who doesn’t like you might be fearful, or shallow or busy or shy. Perhaps you and that person are simply a mismatch for each other at this particular time.
Don’t take yourself out of the game by deciding that your flaws are bigger than your good qualities. In fact, some of the very qualities you consider to be flaws may be irresistible to someone else. Although some factors that might cause one person to reject you, there are at least many factors that will work in your favor.
You might be thirty pounds over your ideal weight, but you may have a wonderful laugh and a real enthusiasm for life. There are many people who don’t mind your extra pounds. You may drive a shabby car, but you might be a great dancer and a loyal friend. There are people out there looking for loyalty, or fun, or sweetness, or wisdom, and the package it comes in is not important. If you are worried that you are not beautiful enough to attract friends, keep in mind that not everyone is looking for physical beauty in their friends. You can decide to feel inferior because you don’t have much money and you don’t drive a nice car. You can believe that this is the reason
that you don’t have many friends in your life. On the other hand, if you are very wealthy you may be suspicious that everyone is after your money and that nobody really likes you as a person.
The point is that you can focus on just about anything and believe it’s the reason you do not have friends and cannot make any.
| A．admitting your shortcomings | B．self criticism |
| C．modesty | D．confidence |
| A．you should find the reason in yourself |
| B．you’d better talk with the person face to face |
| C．you may not be the one to be blamed |
| D．you and that person misunderstand each other |
| A．your good qualities may make you earn more money |
| B．your weakness may also be your strengths in some way |
| C．your negative qualities may cause you to lose friends |
| D．you’ll have few friends if you don’t share the same interest |
| A．It is important to lose weight. |
| B．It is easier for a wealthy person to make friends. |
| C．Inner qualities are more important than physical appearance. |
| D．If you are not beautiful enough, try to improve your physical beauty. |
| A．How to find your good qualities. | B．How to make friends. |
| C．How to make self criticism. | D．How to keep fit. |
Recently,CCTV journalists have approached pedestrians with their cameras，held a microphone to their mouth and asked a simple question :“Are you happy?”
The question has caught many interviewees off guard．Even Mo Yan who recently won a Nobel Prize，responded by saying：“I don’t know”．
While the question has become a buzz phrase and the Internet plays host to heated discussions，we ask：What exactly is happiness ?And how do you measure it?
In the 1776 US Declaration of Independence，Thomas Jefferson set in writing the people’s unalienable right to“Life，Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”．Last year，235 years on，China’s Premier Wen Jiabao told the nation：“Everything we do is aimed at letting people live more happily．”At last year’s National People’s Congress，officials agreed that increasing happiness would be a top target for the 12th five-year plan．
US psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness：Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth describes happiness as “a combination of life satisfaction and having more positive than negative emotions”，according to US broadcasting network PBS．This may sound straight forward enough，but it still doesn’t explain what determines people’s happiness．
Many argue that happiness is elusive and that there is no single source．It also means different things to different people．For some，happiness can be as simple as having enough cash.
Researchers believe happiness can be separated into two types：daily experiences of hedonic(享乐的)well-being；and evaluative well-being, the way people think about their lives as a whole．The former refers to the quality of living，whereas the latter is about overall happiness，including life gods and achievement．Happiness can cross both dimensions.
Li Jun，a psychologist and mental therapy practitioner at a Beijing clinic，says：“Happiness can mean both the most basic human satisfaction or the highest level of spiritual pursuit. It’ s a simple yet profound topic .”
Chen Shangyuan，21，a junior English major at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics，said his idea of happiness always evolves．“At present it relates to how productive I am in a day,”he said．“It might be linked to job security or leisure time after I graduate．”
Then there is the question of measuring happiness．Does it depend on how many friends we have，or whether we own the latest smart phone? Is it even quantifiable?
Economists are trying to measure happiness in people’s lives．Since 1972，Bhutan’s GDP measurement has been,replaced by a Gross National Happiness index．It is calculated according to the peoples’sense of being well-governed，their relationship with the environment，their satisfaction with economic development,and their sense of national belonging．
In 2009，US economist Joseph Stiglitz proposed “to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s well-being”.But is well-being more easily measured?From what Thomas Jefferson and Wen Jiabao mentioned in the passage，we know_______．
| A．people’s happiness is determined by great people |
| B．people’s happiness is an important target for the development of a country |
| C．people in all countries have the right to ask the government for a happy life |
| D．People both in China and America are living a happy life |
According to the passage，the writer may most likely agree that_____．
| A．CCTV journalists are concerned about people’s happiness out of sympathy． |
| B．the question has led to heated discussions about who are the happiest people in China， |
| C．Bhutan’s new index shows that people there are the happiest in the world |
| D．it is not easy for us to decide what determines people’s happiness |
What does the underlined word“elusive”in the sixth paragraph mean?
| A．Available． | B．Easy to get． |
| C．Hard to understand． | D．Accessible． |
The best title of the passage is____
| A．Are You Happy? | B．The Measurement of Happiness |
| C．GDP and Happiness | D．The Secret of Happiness |
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| A．A mother | B．A kind woman |
| C．A heartbroken girl | D．A parent |
If you want to send your kids to the babysitter's home，you can find one in_____．
| A．Ad 1 | B．Ad 2 | C．Ad 3 | D．Ad 2 or Ad 3 |
What do we know about Tina?
| A．She can speak two languages． |
| B．She lives alone now． |
| C．She takes care of children over 3． |
| D．She used to be a teacher’s assistant． |
My 16-year-old son，Anton，had gone to the local swimming hole．Most of the kids swim there，and there are plenty of rocks for them to use as safe harbors．so I had no fears for his safety．
Still，the firefighter's first words“You need to come up here to the Stillwater River”made me catch my breath，and his follow-up words gave me relief：“Your son is OK．”
When I got to the river,I immediately saw the firetruck，ambulance and Anton，wrapped with a towel about his shoulders，sitting quietly on a low platform of the fire engine.
I hurried over to him．“You OK?”I asked．”
“Yeah，”was all he said．But my eyes begged for an explanation，I didn’t get it from myson，however,who tends to play his cards close to his vest．
The story was this：A woman was being swept under water．Hearing the cries，Anton and his friend Tyler, without hesitation，swam out to her, and brought her safely to shore．
In an age in which the word“hero” is broadcast with abandon and seemingly applied to anyone who make it through the day,I realized the real thing in my son．The teens are stubborn and self-centred，but that didn’t mean they have no desire to do good．
Still shocked by my son’s daring，I drove him home．Along the way, I tried to dig out some more information from him-but he had precious little to say．The only words he said were，“What’s for supper?”
I spent some time alone that evening，thinking about the tragedy that might have been．The next morning，when Anton got up，I half expected him to tell me the story．But all he did was toast some bread，pull himself together, and head for the door to start a new day．Watching from the window, I was reminded that still water often runs deep．Why did the mother allow her son to swim there?
| A．He was an excellent swimmer． |
| B．The water of the river is shallow． |
| C． He was old enough to swim． |
| D．The rocks can be of help if there’s danger． |
The underlined part“who tends to play his cards close to his vest”probably means .
| A． Anton is a boy fond of swimming with other kids |
| B．Anton is unwilling to tell others what he thinks |
| C．Anton always has a desire to help others |
| D．Anton seldom changes his mind |
In the mother's eyes，what her son did was
| A．dangerous but interesting |
| B．unexpected and courageous |
| C．meaningful but difficult |
| D．awful and absurd |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．My Son， My Hero | B．Anton，A Silent Boy |
| C．A Good Deed | D．A Proud Mother |
If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker (贴画) for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously disliked foods, a UK study said.
Though it might seem obvious that a reward could encourage young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That’s because some studies have shown that rewards can backfire and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study. Verbal praise, such as “Brilliant! You’re a great vegetable taster”, did not work as well.
The study found that when parents gave their small children a sticker each time they took a “tiny taste” of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed their attitudes. The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables — either carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas — in laboratory taste tests, the study said.
Researchers randomly assigned (分派) 173 families to one of these groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their children each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable. A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third group, where Parents used no special vegetable-promoting methods, served as a “control”.
Parents in the reward groups offered their children a taste of the “target” vegetable every day for 12 days. Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables—and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience. The turnaround(转机) also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-disliked vegetable three months later.
Why didn’t the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents’ words may have seemed “insincere” to their children.The purpose of writing the passage is .
| A．to show the procedure of an experiment on children’s diet |
| B．to introduce a practical method of making children eat vegetables |
| C．to explain why children hate to eat vegetables |
| D．to present a proper way of verbal praise to parents |
The underlined word “backfire” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.
| A．shoot from behind the back |
| B．make a fire in the backyard |
| C．produce an unexpected result |
| D．achieve what was planned |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Most children are born to dislike carrots or celery. |
| B．Children in the sticker group will never lose interest in eating vegetables. |
| C．Oral praise works quite well in encouraging children to eat vegetables. |
| D．It remains a question whether rewarding is a good way to get children to eat vegetables. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Children like rewards, not verbal praise. |
| B．Parents should give up verbal praise. |
| C．Children are difficult to inspire. |
| D．Parents should praise their children in a sincere tone. |
Italy is one country where beauty is prized more than any other virtue. That is, except in the small town of Piobbico, the self-declared World Capital of Ugly People. The road sign at the edge of the town even warns visitors that they are entering the ugly zone. People who consider themselves ugly have been gathering in Piobbico since the 1960s. That’s when Ugly Club president Telesforo Lacobelli established a dating agency for women who believed they were too ugly to attract husbands. Lacobelli believes that he is ugly himself because he has a short nose in a country where long or large noses have always been considered beautiful.
People from around the world travel to Piobbico to tell their sad stories of ugliness. During the annual Festival of the Ugly, which occurs on the first Sunday of every September, hundreds of people gather in Piobbico’s town square to elect the president of the Ugly Club. Lacobelli wins the election every year. The Ugly Club has over 20, 000 members. They carry ID cards that grade their ugliness from bearable to extreme. A prize is awarded to Ugly Club members who qualify as extremely ugly.
The Ugly Club president insists that ugliness is a virtue. Since beautiful people get a lot of attention for their beauty alone, they have to work hard to prove their other virtues. Ugly people, on the other hand, are genuine and do not have to prove anything to anybody, according to Lacobelli.
Lacobelli is a spokesperson for ugly people everywhere. He believes that the uglier one is, the better life can be. Though the club enjoys making fun of beauty, especially beauty contests, Lacobelli has a serious side as well. He believes that too many people suffer from financial and emotional pressures because they don’t meet society’s standards of beauty. The fact that beautiful people are more successful in the workforce is a problem that Lacobelli has attempted to bring forward to the Italian public and government.Piobbico is rather special in that .
| A．it is a very small town |
| B．it is home to ugly people |
| C．it receives no visitors |
| D．it is the capital of Italy |
Why is Lacobelli elected the president of the Ugly Club every year?
| A．Because he is the ugliest person in the whole world. |
| B．Because his ugliness is always graded as bearable. |
| C．Because he is a spokesperson for ugly people everywhere. |
| D．Because he has won the members’ trust and admiration. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Ugly people are most respected in Italy. |
| B．The Festival of the Ugly is held every two years. |
| C．Ugly people are unfairly treated in society. |
| D．The uglier one is, the better life he or she lives. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Ugly Capital of the World |
| B．The Ugliest Person of the World |
| C．Festival of the Ugly |
| D．Beauty Contests Should be Banned |