Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in two thousand eight. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
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 twenty-two and twenty-five.
The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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 emotions. They also 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.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.What is the best title of the passage?
| A．The older a person is, the happier he grows. |
| B．The more lighthearted a person is, the happier he is. |
| C．The older a person is, the more clever he grows. |
| D．The older a person is, the more stressed he feels. |
We can learn from the research that _________.
| A．only when people get older, will they feel happier |
| B．older people usually have no worries in their life |
| C．older people are more likely to be thankful in life |
| D．stress levels among the youngest are the highest of all |
According to the researchers, what is probably the reason why people grow happier when they get older?
| A．When people get older, they can’t remember bad experiences. |
| B．When people get older, they have no young children to care about. |
| C．When people get older, they don’t care about their feelings. |
| D．When people get older, they learn to adjust their feelings. |
What would the writer probably deal with in next paragraph?
| A．Advice to the young people on how to keep happy. |
| B．Why women at all ages are more sad, stressed and worried. |
| C．Advice to the old people on how to live longer. |
| D．Why people will grow happier with their ages. |
What do you think the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is?
| A．A Gallup organization. | B．A university in New York. |
| C．A popular science magazine. | D．A research institution |
Eddie’s father used to say he’d spent so many years by the ocean, breathing seawater .Now, away from that ocean ,in the hospital bed ,his body began to look like a beached fish. His condition went from fair to stable and from stable to serious .Friends went from saying , “He’ll be home in a day,” to “He’ll be home in a week .” In his father’s absence ,Eddie helped out at the pier(码头), working evenings after his taxi job.
When Eddie was a teenager ,if he ever complained or seemed bored with the pier ,his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later ,when he’d suggested Eddie take a job there after high school ,Eddie almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you ?” And before Eddie went to war , when he’d talked of marrying Marguerite and becoming an engineer ,his father said , “What? This isn’t good enough for you ?”
And now ,regardless of all that ,here he was ,at the pier ,doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children ,so children let go of them .They move on. They move away .It is not until much later, as the heart weakens ,that children understand ;their stories, and all their accomplishments ,sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers ,stones upon stones , beneath the waters of their lives.
Finally ,one night ,at his mother’s urging ,Eddie visited the hospital .He entered the room slowly .His father ,who for years had refused to speak to Eddie ,now lacked the strength to even try.
“Don’t sweat it ,kid,” the other workers told him. “Your old man will pull through .He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died ,Eddie felt the emptiest kind of anger ,the kind that circles in its cage.
In the weeks that followed, Eddie’s mother lived in a confused state . She spoke to her husband as if he were still there .She yelled at him to turn down the radio . She cooked enough food for two .One night ,when Eddie offered to help with the dishes ,she said. “Your father will put them away.” Eddie put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said ,softly , “Dad’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
59．In Paragraph 4, the writer indicates that_____ .
A．Children like moving away from them parents
B．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents
C．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support
D．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them
60．The underlined sentence probably means “______ ”.
A．Don’t give it up B．Don’t worry about it
C．Don’t let him down D．Don’t touch it
61．Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a．Eddie’s father died.
b．Eddie worked as a taxi driver.
c．Eddie married Marguerite.
d．Eddie was bored with his father’s job.
A．baed B．deab C．beda D．deba
62．From the last part of the passage ,we learn that______.
A．Eddie’s mother liked to listen to the radio
B．Eddie often helped his mother wash the dishes
C．Eddie and his wife lived in his mother’s apartment
D．Eddie’s mother missed her husband so much that she was at a loss
第三部分：阅读理解（共两节，40分）
第一节：（共15小题；每小题2分，共30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
STUDY CENTER COURSES
| From Paragraph to essay Of particular relevance to students who wish to improve their organizational skills and who feel that their final product is never clear enough. Thursday 10:00—12:00 Kiran Singh |
| Source Material How do you gather information for a project or paper? A practical course which looks at sources of information and how to use cataloguing systems. Monday 10:00—11:00 Kiran Singh |
| Express Yourself An advanced course suitable for students who are about to step into organizations where they may have to voice their opinions often. Monday 12:00—2:00 Dave Parrin |
| Media Use Open to all students ,this course focuses on the many ways we can benefit from the radio and television. Group projects form part of course. Tuesday 9:00—11:00 Steve Ansell |
| The Short Story A research into the world of popular writers. One story is selected for adaptation into a short play and group performance. Pre-arranged groups welcome. Thursday 11:00—1:30 Mrs Owen |
| Caught for Speeding Open to all students .Simple eye exercises to help you with speed reading. How to be selective on the page . Using headings, topic sentences and paragraphs for easy access. Wednesday 11:00—1:00 Mrs Owen |
| Tense about Tenses For those who worry about their use of words—a look at tenses and other aspects of the language through poetry and song. Good voice helps but not a must. Saturday 10:00—12:00 Steve Ansell |
56．If a student takes the course The Short Story, he can’t take______.
A．From Paragraph to Essay B．Tense about Tenses
C．Source Material D．Media Use
57．Which of the courses can develop the students’ team work?
A．From Paragraph to Essay B．The Short Story
C．Caught for Speeding D．Express Yourself
58．From where can a student read this?
A．On the radio. B．On television.
C．In a local newspaper. D．On a school notice board.
Some years ago, a Miami woman walking through an office building noticed two men standing together．Several minutes after her leaving, the men murdered a person working in the building．The police determined that the woman was the only witness and could possibly describe them．However, her memory of the men proved disappointingly unclear．Several days later, psychologist Ronald Fisher was brought in to obtain a more complete account from the woman．His interview produced a breakthrough—the woman reported a clear picture of one of the suspects．The important information enabled the police lo arrest the suspect and close the case．
The police asked Fisher for help because of his rich knowledge in cognitive interview, a kind of memory - rebuilding process．Memory researchers have found that people trying to remember a past event often only recall part of the relevant information．Human memory is selective and it is often distorted by stress．But a person's accurate recall of an event or understanding of a question can be improved using specific interviewing techniques．The "cognitive interview" was developed in the late 1990s．It encourages the witness to take an active role in recalling information rather than giving answers only to someone else's questions．The witness first describes what happened in his or her own words, with no interviewer interruptions．The interviewer then goes further with specific techniques, such as having the witness tell the details of what happened from different perspectives （角度）．
The cognitive interview focuses on guiding witnesses through four general recalling techniques: thinking about physical surroundings and personal feelings that existed at the time of past events; reporting everything that conies to mind about those events, no matter how broken it is retelling events in a variety of time orders, such as from beginning to end, end to beginning, forward or backward; and adopting different perspectives while recalling events．
Experiments with police detectives trained in this demanding interview method find that they obtain nearly 50% more information from witnesses than before training, while error rates remain about the same．It is proved that cognitive interviews are quite important tools in improving the accuracy and completeness of witness testimony （证词）．
67．The purpose of the passage is to _____．
A．give an account of a murder case
B．introduce an idea of cognitive interview
C．prove Fisher was an expert in cognitive interview
D．help a witness to recall information in a cognitive interview
68．What is required to recall in a cognitive interview for a witness?
A．The exact time at which a murder took place．
B．The information about the event in the time order．
C．The important things that come to his or her mind．
D．The surroundings and feelings at the time of the event．
69．The key point in a cognitive interview is that______
A．the witness is encouraged to take part in recalling information
B．the interviewer should interrupt the witness from time to time
C．the interview should take place outside the police station
D．the witness should recall details at the scene of the event
70．The underlined word "distorted" in the passage probably means " ____
A．arranged B．balanced C．, changed D．examined
Blind photography sounds strange．But a striking exhibition of photographs in California argues that it develops as a result of the contemporary art．The show "Sight Unseen", at the California Museum of Photography until Aug．29, includes everything: underwater scenes, landscapes, abstracts and everything else you might expect from a "sighted" photographer．
How do the blind take their photographs? Some rely on assistants to set up and then describe the shots （镜头） , and others just point and shoot in the right place．"Just like any good artists," says McCulloh．"They have their unique ways of operating．" One participating photographer is Pete Eckert, an artist with multiple degrees in design and sculpture who only turned to photography after losing his vision in the mid-1990s．He opens the shutter （快门） on his camera and then uses flashlights, lights, and candies to paint his scene on film．A former fashion photographer in Chicago, Weston, lost his vision due to AIDS in 1996 and focuses on images of destruction and disability．His photos are also a star of the show．
What do gallery-goers say? "I was very impressed by it．The technique and experience was amazingly different," says John Hesketh, a printmaker in Anaheim．"You never have a sense of feeling sorry for these people because they've worked very hard to prove their value．"
Beyond the praise, however, the exhibition also makes a great example for disabled people everywhere．That point was explained in early May during a discussion on the TV show．At the very end of the talk, one attendee expressed his opinion．"This exhibition is extraordinary and revolutionary for many reasons．I think that by being an artist with a disability, you are continuing the work of those people who fought for basic civil rights to gain access and to have a voice．In that way, it's so wonderful that your photographs say it all．"
63．From the passage we know that some blind people take photos by______
A．describing the things to their assistants
B．holding the camera and shooting randomly
C．opening the shutter with the help of others
D．using special equipment designed for them
64．We can learn from the passage that blind photographers ______
A．were not born blind B．do jobs related to art
C．focus on different subjects D．like photos of destruction
65．What is people's reaction to the blind photography show?
A．They admire the blind photographers' hard work．
B．They feel really sorry for those blind photographers．
C．They think some have good techniques while others not．
D．They can understand the real meaning of each photograph．
66．The significance of the exhibition lies in the fact that ______．
A．the California Museum of Photography receives praises for holding the show
B．the public have a chance to know what the blind people are concerned about
C．the blind photographers have a good place to show their works
D．the exhibition can be very inspiring to the blind in the world
People living in the UK take quite a few holidays abroad and in this country each year．Choices made about where to go, how to get there and what to do while there can either benefit or harm the environment．
While on holiday
Many of the things you can do to he greener on holiday will be the same things you can do at home—but there arc also sonic extra things too, like avoiding gifts made from endangered plants and animals．Here arc some suggestions:
●Making the most of locally produced food and drink, and local activities and attractions will support people in the area you are visiting and reduce the need for further environmental influence from transport;
●Switching off any air conditioning, heating and lights will help reduce climate change effect;
●Save water—some countries suffer from water shortages and saving water can help avoid damage to our natural habitats （栖息地）.
Endangered species （物种）
Some gifts and foods available in some countries can be made from endangered plants or animals．Check before you buy, but if hi doubt, avoid animal and plant gifts．More details of the types of products to avoid and illegal trade hotspots can be found on the Souvenir Alert webpage．
Making a positive contribution to the place you are visiting
There are ways in which your holiday can help support local people and the environment;
●There are many opportunities to volunteer and help with projects that conserve and improve natural habitats;
●When you are away, or if you an- looking for somewhere to visit, you can support projects or attractions which protect wildlife, such as nature reserves and conservation projects．
59．According to the passage, we can______to help reduce climate change effect
A．make good use of water B．buy local food and drink
C．save electricity D．go around on foot
60．We should check the gifts and foods before buying because ______．
A．sometimes they are of poor quality
B．they may not be typical local products
C．some of them will do harm to our health
D．they may be made from endangered animals or plants
61．We can infer from the passage that ____．
A．it is not easy for people to travel abroad
B．not everyone ran tell an illegal souvenir
C．green holidays have been accepted by people
D．volunteer work is a must for protecting natural habitats
62．The passage is mainly about______
A．travel dos and don'ts B．the harm done to the environment
C．greener choices for holidayD．tips on protecting endangered species