The Happiest Cities On Earth
If you’re looking for a cheery destination for your next vacation, consider these four spots and get ready to take notes on how to really live the good life.
Singapore
With one of the highest population densities（密度）in the world and residents known for being workaholics, it’s hard to imagine the city-state of Singapore having one of the happiest populations on earth. And yet in a recent survey, 95% of them said they were either very happy or quite happy.
They give their city high marks for cleanliness and safety—subways are pristine (洁净的) and unfailingly arrive on time, and police are seen as helpful and good at their jobs. What’s more, they feel they can count on their neighbours—all 5.1 million of them.
Arhus, Denmark
The residents of Arhus cheerfully part with 68% of their income in taxes, knowing that in return they will be guaranteed free healthcare, free daycare, and a top-notch (第一流的) education for their children.
An energetic city of 300,000 with a lively cultural scene and a diverse number of religions represented, the sense of equality (the range in incomes is narrow), as well as easy access to the nearby sea and surrounding countryside, make Arhus seem more like a small town.
San Luis Obispo, CA
According to a 2008 Gallup-Healthways study, people who live in San Luis Obispo are more likely than residents of other U.S. cities to smile and experience joy and are less likely to experience pain or depression. About 64,000 of the 260,000 people in the greater metropolitan area (都市区), located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, volunteer at over 11,000 non-profit organizations.
Few journeys to work are longer than 10 minutes (one reason its members rank in the upper third for job satisfaction), so “it’s easy to be involved,” resident Pierre Rademaker said. Business signs are unobtrusive (不显眼的) by law, fewer than 11% of residents smoke—the lower rate in the U.S.—there are lots of bike lanes, and the city’s plaza draws crowds of people for free concerts on summer Fridays. What’s not to love?
Monterrey, Mexico
The people of Monterrey don’t enjoy high household incomes or access to good healthcare. Instead, there’s a profound sense of gratitude for the new political freedom enjoyed since the oppressive Institutional Revolutionary Party lost power in 2000—the first time in nearly a century—as well as an emphasis on social life over work.
Another reason Monterrey residents may be so happy is their faith in God and family, and their ability to tough it out through bad times.
“We laugh at sickness, poverty and even death,” says Basanez, a political scientist who lives in Monterrey. “We even have a holiday to celebrate death. November 2, the Day of the Dead, is one of the biggest holidays of the year.”According to the passage, what do the residents in the four cities have in common?
| A．All the residents can make great fortunes by working hard. |
| B．The residents there are mostly educators. |
| C．All the residents enjoy enough material wealth. |
| D．The majority of the residents are satisfied with their current life. |
According to the passage, we can infer that _______.
| A．the people of Singapore expect their neighbours to come to their help when necessary |
| B．the people of Monterrey even observe one’s death on a special day of a year |
| C．the residents of Arhus happily pay 68% of their income for their children’s education fee |
| D．the people who live in San Luis Obispo have job satisfaction because they can enjoy good working conditions |
According to the passage which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
| A．The people of Monterrey didn’t enjoy political freedom until 2000. |
| B．The residents in Singapore feel happy because of its low population density. |
| C．The people of San Luis Obispo can enjoy free concerts in summer. |
| D．Arhus is handy to the seaside and countryside. |
What can we learn from the underlined part “the sense of equality”?
| A．The residents of Arhus have no racial discrimination. |
| B．Arhus is considered as a family sharing everything with each other. |
| C．There is no wide gap between the rich and the poor in Arhus. |
| D．The residents of Arhus can depend on their neighbours to help. |
【改编】Robots industry is developing so rapidly that there is no denying that we may one day find ourselves surrounded by robots.
The humanoid (human like) robots with two legs such as Honda Motor Co. Ltd’s ASIMO would likely have an easier time climbing up stairs inside homes than a robot that moves on wheels, developers say.
But it will be some time before such devices make their way into people’s homes.
“They may look smart, but they are still quite stupid,” Shimoyama said. “I don’t think they will ever be as smart as humans.”
While safety is an obvious concern, robots also need to be sensitive to people’s needs.
Researchers at Fujitsu Frontech Ltd and Fujitsu Laboratories responsible for developing “Enon”, a guide and patrol (巡逻) robot designed for use in shopping malls and corporate facilities (公共场所), are working on this.
Enon, which has a humanoid upper body but no legs, is equipped with a touch screen on its chest and space in its stomach to carry loads weighting up to 10 kg.
In guide mode, it will check a newcomer and approach the person with a nod and a greeting: “Are you a visitor? Hello.”
Visitors requiring directions can point to icons (图标) displayed on Enon’s chest screen. If the restroom icon is pressed, the screen will display a map that shows the way.
The robot will then face and point in the direction of the restroom, although it won’t actually walk the visitor there.
Enon is now in use at four locations in Japan, including a shopping mall near Tokyo. The main goal is to make it more helpful for the elderly.
“People who work in the transportation sector often ask whether we can build a robot that will find elderly people who look lost in train stations, and ask them if they are all right,” said Toshihido Marita, director of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd’s autonomous system laboratory. “Actually that is hard to do, very hard,” he said.From the passage we can know____.
| A．robots will replace human one day |
| B．robots are difficult to control |
| C．robots can do whatever humans do |
| D．robots will be widely used in our life. |
According to Shimoyama, robots are ____?
| A．safe. | B．friendly. |
| C．stupid. | D．kind-hearted. |
What can “Enon” do?
| A．Show you to the toilet. |
| B．Show you around the market. |
| C．Tell newcomers or tourists direction. |
| D．Help shop assistants. |
What is the people’s concern about robots?
| A．Safety. | B．Appearance. |
| C．Weight. | D．Disadvantages |
What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．The disadvantages of robots. |
| B．The development and use of robots. |
| C．The benefits that robots brings. |
| D．The history of robots. |
My mother loves flowers. As soon as warm weather comes around, you will find her planting, watering and weeding over everything .For many years we lived next door to each other, and she spent as much time in my garden as she did her own. After the flowers became plentiful each summer, she would cut colorful bouquets(花束)to enjoy inside the house—both hers and mine . I would often come home from work and find a beautiful arrangement(布置)of fresh flowers on my coffee table.
Shortly before Christmas one year, a local flower shop offered a bouquet-a-month special. It seemed to be a great way to thank her for all of the flowers she had given me through the years.
After the holidays, in early January, I drove her to the flower shop to pick up her first month’s bouquet. the small fresh colorful bouquet would hardly fill a small vase(花瓶).
I was so embarrassed(尴尬的).However, after we returned home, she began to arrange the flowers she had received.“Mom, I’m sorry, ”I told her.“I can’t believe how skimpy that bouquet is.”She looked at me and smiled.“It’s okay,”she said“It allows me to better enjoy the beauty of each one.”
Mom’s words helped me to realize something bigger and more important—when we have too many good things, we often fail to enjoy the beauty of each one.
Thanks, Mom ,for helping me understand that less is sometimes more.According to paragraph 1 ,which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The author’s mother put fresh flowers on the author’s coffee table. |
| B．The author used to buy some fresh flowers on her way home. |
| C．The author’s mother usually bought flowers for her daughter. |
| D．The author and her mother shared a beautiful garden. |
The author bought her mother flowers to_______.
| A．celebrate the coming Christmas |
| B．express thanks for all her mother’s done |
| C．bring more flowers to her mother’s garden |
| D．arrange her mother’s new house |
The underlined word“skimpy”in Paragraph 4 means_______.
| A．beautiful | B．colorful | C．cheap | D．small |
What did the author learn from her mother?
| A．How to grow flowers. |
| B．How to arrange flowers |
| C．Enjoying life if possible |
| D．Considering things in other ways. |
Thousands of taxi drivers in Shenyang, Liaoning province, reportedly blocked streets with their vehicles on Sunday in protest against unlicensed vehicles using taxi-hiring apps(打车软件) and apps-based car rental companies providing passenger services, including high-end cars. Although the drivers also complained about the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy by the government, their main complaint was the loss of business because of the rising number of Internet-based car services companies.
On Wednesday, news reports came that Beijing transport authorities will take measures to stop the illegal “taxi business” of private cars through the newly rising Internet apps, following the footsteps of Shenyang and Nanjing.
It is not yet clear how the Shenyang city government will handle the issue and whether it will declare the services offered by market leaders such as Didi Dache, a taxi-hiring app provider backed by Tencent Holdings, and Kuaidi Dache illegal. But Shanghai transport regulators have set a rule, by banning Didi Zhuanche, or car services offered by Didi Dache in December.
Such regulations will cause a setback to the car-hiring companies and investors that are waiting to cash in on the potentially booming business. Just last month, Didi Dache got $700 million in funding from global investors, including Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings, Russian investment company DST Global and Tencent. Besides, the market is uncertain that Kuaidi Dache is about to finalize its latest round of funding after getting $800 million from global investors.
Regulatory uncertainties, however, could cast a shadow on the future of the Internet-based car-hiring services, which have become popular in most of China’s big cities. To be fair, these companies’ business model is anything but bad. For example, Didi Zhuanche works side by side with established car rental companies to provide high-end car service mainly for businesspeople through the Internet and mobile phone apps.
Every link in this business model chain has legal companies and services. Hence, it is hard to define it as illegal and ban it.Why did taxi drivers in Shenyang block the streets with their vehicles?
| A．Because they wanted the government to increase their driving allowances. |
| B．Because they wanted to be educated how to use the taxi-hiring apps. |
| C．Because they wanted to make their main complaints known to the government. |
| D．Because they wanted to call on passengers not to hire the private cars. |
The author’s attitude to banning internet car-hiring service is______.
| A．positive | B．negative | C．neutral | D．unclear |
Which of the following statements is false according to the passage?
| A．The problem referred to in the passage exists in all cities |
| B．App-based car rental is helpful to some degree |
| C．The government should regulate the app-based car rental market |
| D．Didi Dache is a China-foreign joint company |
From the passage we learn ___________.
| A．Shenyang banned apps-based car rental companies |
| B．Shanghai is the second city banning Didi Zhuanche |
| C．some international investment companies have faith in the future of apps-based car rental companies |
| D．it is easy to describe the apps-based car rental companies illegal |
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was one of the most private women in the world, yet when she went to work as an editor in the last two decades of her life, she revealed（展现）herself as she did nowhere else.
After the death of her second husband, Greek shipping magnate（巨头）Aristotle Onassis, Jacqueline’s close friend and former White House social secretary Letitia Baldrige made a suggestion that she consider a career in publishing. After consideration, Jacqueline accepted it. Perhaps she hoped to find there some idea about how to live her own life. She became not less but more interested in reading. For the last 20 years of her life, Jacqueline worked as a publisher’s editor, first at Viking, then at Doubleday, pursuing（追求）a late-life career longer than her two marriages combined. During her time in publishing, she was responsible for managing and editing more than 100 successfully marketed books. Among the first books were In the Russian Style and Inventive Paris Clothes. She also succeeded in persuading TV hosts Bill Moyer’s and Jose Campbell to transform their popular television conversations into a book, The Power of Myth. The book went on to become an international best-seller. She dealt, too, with Michael Jackson as he prepared his autobiography（自传）, Moonwalk.
Jacqueline may have been hired for name and for her social relations, but she soon proved her worth. Her choices, suggestions and widespread social relations were of benefit both to the publishing firms and to Jacqueline herself. In the books she selected for publication, she built on a lifetime of spending time by herself as a reader and left a record of the growth of her mind. Her books are the autobiography she never wrote. Her role as First Lady, in the end, was overshadowed by her performance as an editor. However, few knew that she had achieved so much.We can learn from the passage that Jacqueline _________
| A．became fond of reading after working as an editor |
| B．was in charge of publishing 100 books |
| C．promoted her books through social relations |
| D．gained a lot from her career as an editor |
The underlined sentence in the last paragraph probably means that_________
| A．Jacqueline was more successful as an editor than as First Lady |
| B．Jacqueline’s life as First Lady was more colorful than as an editor |
| C．Jacqueline ended up as an editor rather as First Lady |
| D．Jacqueline’s role as First Lady was more brilliant than as an editor |
【改编】It can be inferred from the passage that______
| A．Jacqueline’s two marriages lasted more than 20 years |
| B．Jacqueline’s opinions and faiths were reflected in the books she edited |
| C．Jacqueline’s own publishing firm was set up eventually |
| D．Jacqueline’s achievements were widely known. |
【改编】The passage talks about ______________
| A．a brief introduction of Jacqueline’s career as an editor in her last 20 years |
| B．a brief description of Jacqueline’s lifelong experiences |
| C．an description of Jacqueline’s life both as First Lady and as an editor |
| D．an analysis of Jacqueline’s social relations in publishing |
Alice’s mother died when Alice was five years old. Alice, who grew up to be my mother, told me that after her mother’s death her family was too poor to even afford to give her a doll.
In December 2012, I had a job at a local bank. One afternoon, we were decorating the tree in the bank lobby(大厅). One of my customers approached me with her beautiful handmade dolls. I decided to get one for my daughter, Katie, who was almost five years old. Then I had an idea. I asked my customer if she could make me a special doll for my mother—one with gray hair and spectacles(眼镜): a grandmother doll. And she gladly agreed.
A friend had told me that his dad who played Santa Claus would be willing to make a visit on Christmas morning to our home to deliver my Katie her presents, so I made some special arrangements.
Christmas Day arrived and at the planned time; so did Santa Claus. Katie was surprised that Santa had come to see her at her own house. As Santa turned to leave, he looked once more into his bag and found one more gift. As he asked who Alice was, my mother, surprised at her name being called, indicated that she in fact was Alice. Santa handed her the gift, with a message card that read:
For Alice:
I was cleaning out my sleigh(雪橇) before my trip this year and came across this package that was supposed to be delivered on December 25,1953. The present inside has aged, but I felt that you might still wish to have it. Many apologies for the lateness of the gift.
Love,
Santa Claus
My mother’s reaction was one of the most deeply emotional scenes I have ever seen. She couldn’t speak but only held the doll she had waited fifty-nine years to receive as tears of joy ran down her cheeks. That doll, given by “Santa”, made my mother the happiest “child” that Christmas.【改编】Why couldn’t the writer’s mother have a doll when young ?_________.
| A．Santa Clause forgot to send the doll to her |
| B．her daughter couldn’t make a doll by herself |
| C．her parents left the doll in the Santa Clause’s sleigh |
| D．her family was badly off when she was a child |
【改编】What can be inferred from the passage ?__________.
| A．the writer’s father played the Father Christmas |
| B．the writer’s mother was already in her sixties when she received the doll |
| C．the writer urged one of her friends to make the doll for her mother |
| D．the Santa Clause was too careless to deliver the doll on time |
The best title for this passage could be __________.
| A．A Doll from Santa |
| B．An unforgettable Christmas |
| C．A considerate daughter |
| D．A help from Santa Claus |