The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, and pain-free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably(不可避免的) brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment (义务), self - improvement.
Ask a bachelor(单身汉) 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, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three - day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates （解放）money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because _______ .
| A．he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities |
| B．he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single |
| C．he finds more fun in dating than in marriage |
| D．he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement |
From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from ________ .
| A．hatred | B．misunderstanding |
| C．prejudice | D．ignorance |
What is the author trying to tell us?
| A．Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain. |
| B．One must know how to attain happiness. |
| C．It is important to make commitments. |
| D．It is pain that leads to happiness. |
Another day begins with the call of the phone’s alarm, Where are you? Open your eyes. Turn the alarm off and you will start working out on your apps（应用软件）.
First stop, weather: Sunny day. Look outside the window. Oh, no, it isn’t. Second stop, Air Quality Index: 344, dangerous, Level 6 Severely Polluted. Mental recheck required: It really is a sunny day and the weather app isn’t lying or in need of being replaced, it’s just that you can’t see the sun through the thick fog. Note to self: Cycling to work is out, face mask is in.
Has the world stopped turning? News app merely confirms that it’s business as usual. Another government has fallen, your soccer team has lost again, and China’s economy is still increasing steadily.
Diary app informs you of all the things you failed to do the previous day and loads you up with another half-dozen tasks. Next, browse a couple of social networking apps to determine the status updates of friends.
Another sound from the phone, it’s a message from your significant friend who is already at work, saying the Taobao. com order for Italian cheese is about to arrive.
Apps have become part of our “every-moment” lives. Apps provide so much information. But the dark side to all this connectivity would be lack of privacy, being a slave to the app. The only real problem is that once you lose your smartphone, you lose your life.
Some friends and family do not have smartphones, but prefer the old-fashioned Nokia that merely makes phone calls and sends instant messages. While I respect their purity and desire to be free of the control of technology, it’s obvious they are outsiders, and their lives are loaded up with paper and old devices. They’re still buying books at stores, complaining the lack of CDs on the market, watching TV and missing out on complete news cycles. Though I would add, they have lives that aren’t spent inside small screens.
My phone is a palm-sized one-stop shop and about the only thing it doesn’t do is teleport（心灵运输）. What’s not to like?The functions of apps mentioned in the passage can be listed as follows EXCEPT that _______.
| A．the apps can show you weather forecast |
| B．the apps can tell you how to work directly |
| C．the apps can inform you the latest news |
| D．the apps can tell you what you failed to do |
According to the passage, the author thinks that _______.
| A．people’s life is governed by apps |
| B．people feel bored about the use of apps |
| C．people can’t live without apps |
| D．people hate apps with powerful functions |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph but one that _______.
| A．more and more people like Nokia more than apps |
| B．using Nokia can be free of the control of technology |
| C．all people don’t like the advanced smartphones |
| D．ordinary people don’t like shopping online |
Which comes first, happiness or money? Are richer people happier? And if so, how do people get much richer? A recent study could tell you the answer.
The study looked into thousands of teenagers and found that those who felt better about life as young adults tended to have higher incomes by the time they turned 29. Those who were happiest earned an average of $8,000 more than those who were the most depressed.
The researchers, from University College London and the University of Warwick, say that very gloomy teens, no matter how tall or smart they were, earned 10% less than their peers, while the happier ones earned up to 30% more.
Happier teenagers have an easier time getting through school, college and a job interview, chiefly because they always feel better about life. It may also be true that happier people find it easier to make friends, who are often the key to homework help or networking.
A report in June suggested that professional respect was more important than dollars in terms of workplace happiness. In August scientists announced that they had found the gene for happiness in women, Alas （the same gene doesn’t appear to have the same effect on men）. And in October researchers in the UK and in the US announced that people who eat seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day report being the happiest.
The big question is: if it really is true that happier kids end up being wealthier kids, is it necessary for parents to get their kids to do the homework? The fact is that no homework will make kids happy but surely hurt their grades. Studies do show, after all, that more education leads to better-paid jobs, which may give us a deep thought.
“These findings show that the teenagers’ happiness is important to their future success,” one of the report’s authors writes. “But what is the most important is that we should find a way to help children gain more satisfaction from doing schoolwork.”What conclusion can the researchers draw from the recent study?
| A．Happy teenagers grow up to be wealthier. |
| B．Money can make people become happier. |
| C．Wealth has nothing to do with happiness at all. |
| D．Schoolwork can help teens achieve success. |
The main reason why happier people have more chances to succeed is that ________.
| A．they are easy to communicate with others |
| B．they are good at doing their schoolwork |
| C．they are hopeful and optimistic about their life |
| D．they eat much more fruit and vegetables a day |
The underlined word “gloomy” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________”.
| A．upset | B．glorious | C．happy | D．wealthy |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．The way to educate kids. | B．The source of happiness. |
| C．How to achieve your goal. | D．The secret of being wealthier. |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska--The 2004 winner of Alaska’s famous 1,000-mile sled-dog race, the Iditarod, won again at age 53 to become the oldest champion in 2013, a year after his son became the youngest winner.
Mitch Seavey got his dogs to the finishing line first in 9 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes and 56 seconds. His son, Dallas Seavey, now 26, ended up ranking fourth, behind the older competitor, 43-year-old Aliy Zirkle, who followed four-time champion Jeff King, now 57.
Mitch Seavey, who lives in Seward, Alaska, operates a seasonal sled-dog touring business. The race was Mitch Seavey’s 20th Iditarod.
This year’s contest was marked by unusual conditions and unseasonable rain in the northern part of the trail, and conditions that Seavey said helped his team. “It seems like the tougher it is, the better we can do.”
He also thought highly of Zirkle, a New England immigrant（移民）who now lives in Two Rivers, Alaska. “She’s a great musher（赶狗拉雪橇的人）, and she’s going to win the Iditarod sometime, and probably more than once. We just had a little more energy, I think.” Zirkle, one of the most popular mushers, was greeted by shouts of “Aliy, Ally” from the fans as she drove her dog team approaching the finishing line on Nome’s Front Street. “I am pretty happy to be here,” she said. “I was going for it.”
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is one of the few major U. S. sports events in which men and women compete on an equal footing. The name “Iditarod” dates from a local Athabascan term meaning “a far, distant place”. Youthful mushers in the race may have some physical advantages--they can do some things more easily. But more importantly, winning the race needs the experience in dog race.
The year’s event started on Saturday, March 2 with a ceremonial nm in Anchorage. Of the 66 mushers who started the race, 10 had dropped out of competition as of Tuesday night. For his victory, Mitch Seavey will take home $50,400 and a new truck.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Mitch Seavey is the oldest competitor in the sled-dog race in 2013. |
| B．Mitch Seavey, who operates a touring business, is a New England immigrant. |
| C．Mitch Seavey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 2004 and 2013. |
| D．Mitch Seavey managed to help his son become the youngest winner in 2012. |
On which day did Mitch Seavey probably win the champion in the 2013 Iditarod?
| A．On Saturday, March 2. | B．On Monday, March 11. |
| C．On Saturday, March 9. | D．On Tuesday, March 13. |
Who ranked the 2nd place in the 2013 Iditarod according to the passage?
| A．Aliy Zirkle. | B．Dallas Seavey. |
| C．Mitch Seavey. | D．Jeff King. |
According to the passage, we can learn that ________.
| A．the sled-dog race is the most important sports event in the US |
| B．experience also has a major influence on the result of the race besides age |
| C．men and women can’t compete in the sled-dog race together at the same time |
| D．all the athletes in the sled-dog race are limited by age to win the sled-dog race |
Everyone has talent, but not everyone succeeds with their talent. More factors than mere talent attribute to a greater personal success. Having talent or being talented is never enough to find success in life.
Dr. John Maxwell has written a new book to explain that there is more to success than just being talented. He says that the only way to find success in life is to apply good choices to talent and rise above the crowd. He believes that talented people need more than their gifts or abilities to succeed in life. There must be something more than just talent to become successful. A talent-plus person, a person who rises above the understanding of mere talent, is much more likely to find success than those with just talent alone.
People who have talent must be willing to make the right choices to maximize their talent. Wrong choices will minimize their talent, preventing them from rising to higher levels in life. Maximizing talent requires people to make good choices, but understanding that there are specific things in life requires no talent at all. Maxwell lists many different choices that people make to become a talent-plus persons including Belief lifts talent, Relationships influence talent, Responsibility strengthens talent, Teamwork multiplies talent, etc.
Following the simple principles found in the book can not only help people raise the level of their talent but also raise their level of living. When people combine the principles with their talents they can become a talent-plus person. The choice becomes one of willingness and personal change. Talent-plus people have the ability to change their life and the world.What’s the possible name of Maxwell’s new book?
(no more than 8 words)What should one do if he wants to become a talent-plus person?
(no more than 8 words)List three specific things which can maximize one’s talent according to Paragraph 3 ?
(no more than 5 words)What does the underlined word “maximize” in Paragraph 3 mean in English?
(no more than 8 words)Do you want to be a talent-plus person? Why or why not? Please give one or two reasons.
(No more than 25 words)
Was the London Olympics a success? Many people hold different opinions. However one thing is certain, London could win a gold medal for hosting the “greenest” Games ever, BBC News reported.
Previous Olympic hosts have been criticized for the environmental damage they have caused through construction, waste. and transport. But things had to be different in London because seven years ago it bid for the Olympics through the concept of “a One Planet Olympics”.
What is most impressive is that London used the construction of the Olympic Park as an opportunity to clean up polluted areas — 2 million tons of contaminated (被污染的) soil were removed and 200 old factory buildings, were torn down, according to sustainablebusiness.com. But that’s not all —. 99 percent of the debris (废瓦砾) were reused to build the Olympic Park. For example, part of the Olympic Stadium’s roof is made from 2,500 tons of steel tubes recycled from old gas pipelines.
As well as using recycled materials, all venues were built with green building techniques. The Olympic Stadium is the lightest one ever built, which minimized the amount of steel and concrete needed. Also, the handball field has lighting pipes on the roof that reduce electricity use by 40 percent, according to sustainablebusiness.com.
The effort that London made to deal with waste also deserves praise. Water used for drinking and watering plants was from collected rainwater or recycled wastewater. In this way. about 30-40 percent less water was used in total. Waste food packages were either recycled or processed and turned into renewable energy.
As one of the best connected places in Europe, London tried to solve traffic jams by encouraging the use of public transport. For example, it had trains deliver half of the building materials, instead of cars, which greatly reduced carbon emissions.
The clean anti-doping (反兴奋剂) result also added to the greenness of the Games. The International Olympics Committee (IOC) said that the devices used this time were the most accurate and advanced. Only one athlete tested positive for a banned drug on the day of competing, which is why the IOC President, Jacques Rogge, has praised anti-doping efforts at the London Games.To make the Olympic Park green, London _______.
| A．recycled 2 million tons of contaminated soil |
| B．removed 99 percent of the debris from the city |
| C．built the Olympic Stadium mostly with recycled materials |
| D．applied green building techniques to the construction work |
The underlined word “minimized” in the fourth paragraph probably means
| A．increased as much as possible |
| B．reduced as much as possible |
| C．made good use of |
| D．took little notice |
What can we conclude from the article?
| A．The London Olympics cost less than the other Olympics ever held. |
| B．London has possessed the most advanced techniques to deal with waste. |
| C．Public transport is made good use of in London during the Olympic games. |
| D．The anti-doping result in the London Olympics turned out to be dissatisfactory. |
Which of the following best shows the structure of the text?
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．How to deal with the anti-doping |
| B．How to use recycled materials |
| C．London’s green games |
| D．London’s public transport |