Single people, especially women, are stigmatized（指责） in our society: We’re all familiar with the image of a sad, lonely woman eating ice cream with her cats in her pajamas on Saturday night. But about 45 percent of US adults aren't married and around one in seven lives alone. This might be you. Research shows that young people's expectations about their marital status (e.g. the desire to be married by 30 and have kids by 32) have little or no relationship to what actually happens to people. So, go with the flow. And, if you're single, you're in good company. Single people spend more time with friends, volunteer more, and are more involved in their communities than married people. Never-married and divorced women are happier, on average, than married women. So, don't buy into the myth of the miserable singleton.
If you do get married, keep going with the flow. Relationship satisfaction, financial security, and happy kids are more strongly related to flexibility in the face of life's challenges than any particular way of organizing families. The most functional families are ones that can bend. So partnering with someone who thinks that one partner should support their families and the other should take responsibility for the house and children is a recipe for disaster. So is being equally rigid about non-traditional divisions of labor. It's okay to have ideas about how to organize your family but your best bet for happiness is to be flexible.
Buying a home is often taken for granted as a stage on the path to adulthood. But the ideal of universal home ownership was born in the 1950s. It's a rather new idea.With such a short history, it's funny that people often insist that buying a house is a fool-proof investment and the best way to secure retirement. In fact, buying a house may not be the best choice for you. The mortgage(按揭) may be less than rent, but there are also taxes, insurance, and the increasingly common Home Owners Association (HOA) fees. You may someday sell the house for more than you bought it but, if you paid interest on a mortgage, you also paid far more than the sale price. You have freedom from a landlord, but may discover your HOA is just as controlling, or worse. And then there's the headache: renting relieves you from the stress of being responsible for repairs. It also offers a freedom of movement that you might cherish.
So be wise and consider all your options.It can be inferred from the passage that_________.
| A．many Americans get married by 30 and have kids by 32 |
| B．married women have a happier life than those never-married |
| C．divorced women lives a miserable life |
| D．the society tends to have a wrong image about single women |
According to the passage, what can be a happy family？
| A．The happy family is flexible in the face of life’s challenges. |
| B．The happy family has particular way of organizing families. |
| C．The happy family believes the traditional divisions of labor. |
| D．The happy family has relationship satisfaction, financial security and happy kids. |
The purpose of paragraph 3 is to _______.
| A．tell people to rent a house rather than buy a house |
| B．ask people to think hard about whether to buy a house |
| C．show people buying a house is foolish |
| D．tell people buying a house may cost a lot of money |
The passage mainly tells us _______.
| A．how to have a happy family |
| B．what’s the life of American youth |
| C．what American youth should know for living a happy life |
| D．why American youth should be wise when making decisions |
"I’ve changed my mind. I wanted to have a telescope, but now I want my dad back." Lucien Lawence’s letter to Father Christmas written after his father had been knifed to death outside his school gate, must have touched every heart. Lucien went on to say that without his father he couldn’t see the stars in the sky. When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stars for a while.
But Lucien, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone, you will see them again. And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart. I find that my parents, long dead now, still figure in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than I ever did when they were alive. I still live to please them and I’m still surprised by their reactions. I remember that when I became a professor, I was so proud, or rather so pleased with myself, that I couldn’t wait to cable my parents. The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all mother said was, "I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children.” I haven’t forgotten. The values of my parents still live on.
It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care. Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors (挑衅者),and to lay down my life for those in my care? How many people would want me back for Christmas? It’s a serious thought, one to give me pause.
I pray silently, sometimes, in the dead of night, that ancient cry of a poet "Deliver my soul from the sword, and my darling from the power of the dog." Yet I know the death comes to us all, and sometimes comes suddenly. We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die tomorrow. We live on, in the lives of those we loved, and therefore we ought to have a care for what they will remember and what they will treasure. If more parents knew this in their hearts to be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today. according to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph ________.
| A．puts forward the subject of the text |
| B．shows the author’s pity on the kid |
| C．acts as an introduction to the discussion |
| D．makes a clear statement of the author’s views |
In the second paragraph the author mainly wants to explain to us ________.
| A．how much he misses his parents now |
| B．why his parents often appear in his dreams |
| C．when Lucien will get over all his sadness |
| D．how proud he was when he succeeded in life |
What feeling did the author’s mother express in her reply?
| A．Proud. | B．Happy. | C．Disappointed. | D．Worried. |
In the author’s opinion, the value of a person’s life is ________.
| A．to leave behind a precious memory to the people related |
| B．to have a high sense of duty to the whole society |
| C．to care what others will remember and treasure |
| D．to share happiness and sadness with his family |
What does the writer mean by the sentence taken from an old poem?
| A．Call on criminals and murderers to lay down their guns. |
| B．Advise parents stay with their children safely at home. |
| C．Spend every day meaningfully in memory of the death. |
| D．Try to keep violence and murder far away from society. |
We often use the words “growth” and “development” as if they meant basically the same thing. But this may not always be the case. One can easily imagine instances in which a country has achieved higher levels of income (growth) with little or no benefit coming to most of its citizens (development).
In the past, most development policies were aimed at increasing the growth rate of income per capita (人均所得). Many are still based on the theory that benefit of economic growth will come to all members of society. If this theory is correct, growth should encourage development.
By the early 1970s, however, the relationship between growth and development was being questioned. A major study by the World Bank in 1974 concluded that it is now clear that more than decades of rapid growth in developing countries has been of little benefit to & third of their population.
The World Bank study showed that increase in GNP per capita did not promise important improvements in such development indicators as nutrition (营养), health, and education. Although GNP per capita did indeed rise, its benefit came down to only a small part of the population. This realization gives rise to a call for new development policies. These new policies favor agriculture over industry, call for national redistribution (资源分配) of income and wealth, and encourage programs to satisfy such basic needs as food and shelter.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s the international macroeconomic crises (大规模的经济危机) of high oil prices, worldwide recession (衰退) and the third world debt, forced attention away from programs designed to get rid of poverty. however, the lesson remains: economic growth does not promise economic development. Efforts may be required to change growing output capacity (能力) into economic benefit that reach most of a nation’s people. What do we learn from the first paragraph about the relationship between growth and development?
| A．Growth and development refer to the same thing. |
| B．Growth always brings about development. |
| C．Development is not a necessary result of growth. |
| D．Development is a reliable measure of growth. |
Before the 1970s, most development policies were based on theory that economic growth would benefit ________.
| A．most people in society | B．some people in society |
| C．few people in society | D．everyone in society |
according to the study by the World Bank in 1974, economic growth in some backward countries brought ________.
A. benefit to a third of their population
B. benefit to two thirds of their population
C little benefit to their people
D. no benefit at all to their peopleIf the passage continues, what would the author most likely discuss in the next paragraph?
| A．How to turn growth into development. |
| B．How to remove poverty from society. |
| C．How to decrease the third world debt. |
| D．How to cope with economic crises. |
Having one of those days or weeks — when everything seems to annoy you? Even if you do nothing about it, your bad mood will probably go away after some time. But with a little effort, you can forget it much faster — often within a day or two.
Walk it off
Exercise is the most popular bad-mood buster. A person who’s in a bad mood has low energy and high tension. Taking a fast ten-minute walk, or doing some quick exercises can do wonders towards changing that bad mood.
Tune it out
Listening to your favorite music for a while can also make tension go away quickly, because music starts associations with past positive experiences we’ve had.
Give yourself a pep talk
Stop and listen to what’s on your mind. Bad moods are often started by too many negative thoughts. Write them all down on paper; the pessimistic (悲观的) messages you’ve been giving yourself and then give optimistic answers. ("I still don’t have a job. "vs" I have two interviews next week.")
Reduce your stress
Relaxation techniques are wonderful mood-lifters. These include deep breathing, stretching and visualizing (想象), all of which sound complicated but aren’t. One easy way to visualize: close your eyes and picture a favorite place, such as the beach. Another simple way to against distress is to make a to-do list. One reason for being in a bad mood is feeling you have no options(选择权) By taking control over certain areas, you realize you’re not helpless. You can make changes in your mood and life.
Avoid things that won’t improve your mood
TV may not help much: You need to increase your energy level and stimulate your mind something — that the TV show "Neighbors" won’t do. And before you reach for that piece of cake and coffee, think about how mood and food are linked. Sugar and caffeine contribute to depressed moods. The better choice? Research shows that carbohydrates, such as potatoes and pasta, produce a calming effect in people who have a desire for them. We learn from the text that it might help rid us of a bad mood ________.
| A．to do nothing about it |
| B．to take a long walk on the beach |
| C．to do some exercises with light music |
| D．to talk it to neighbours |
Why is it suggested that you close your eyes and picture the beach?
| A．It is not complicated to do so. |
| B．It is an area to be easily controlled. |
| C．It helps beat a bad mood. |
| D．It brings us a new technique. |
TV may not improve your mood because ________.
| A．it sometimes shows what happens around you |
| B．it keeps you stay unmoved |
| C．it reminds you of eating and drinking |
| D．it produces a calming effect |
This text most probably appears in ________.
| A．a book on physical exercises | B．a doctor’s handbook |
| C．a notice | D．a magazine |
In ancient times the most important examinations were spoken, not written. In the schools of ancient Greece and Rome, testing usually was made up of saying poetry aloud and giving speeches.
In the European universities of the Middle Ages, students who were working for advanced degrees had to discuss questions in their field of study with people who had made a special study of the subject. This custom exists today as part of the process of testing candidates (应试者) for the doctor’s degree.
Generally, however, modem examinations are written. The written examination, where all students are tested on the same questions, was probably not known until the nineteenth century. Perhaps it came into existence with the great increase in population and the development of modem industry. A room full of candidates for a state examination timed exactly by electric clocks and carefully watched over by managers, looks like a group of workers at an automobile factory. Certainly, during examinations teachers and students are expected to act like machines.
One type of test is sometimes called an “objective” test. It is intended to deal with facts, not personal opinions. To make up an objective test, the teacher writes a series (一系列)of questions, each of which has only one correct answer. Along with each question the teacher writes the correct answer and also three statements that look like answers to students who have not learned the material properly.
4. The main idea of Paragraph Three is that ________.
A. workers now take examinations B. the population has grown
C. there are only written exams today D. examinations are now written and timed
5. The kind of exams where students must select answers are
A. objective B. personal
C. spoken D. written
6. Modem industry must have developed ________.
A. around the 19th century B. before the Middle Ages
C. in Greece or Rome D. machines to take tests
7. It may be concluded that testing ________.
A. should test only opinions B. should always be written
C. is given only in factories D. has changed since the Middle Ages
When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness, who possess wings of their own and who will fly with me. I seek friends whose qualities illuminate（照亮）me and train me up for love. It is for these people that I reserve the glowing hours, too good not to share.
When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say:“Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changing into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.
When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend, He was in despair(失望)and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.
For almost four years I have had remarkable friend whose imagination illuminates mine. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think:“Yes, I must tell….”We have never met.
It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist（心理学家），who will only fill up the healing（愈合的）silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was to ______.
| A．become serious about her study | B．go to her friend’s house regularly |
| C．learn from her classmates at school | D．share poems and stories with her friend |
In Paragraph 3, “We gave London to each other” probably means ______.
| A．our exploration of London was a memorable gift to both of us |
| B．we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from London |
| C．our unpleasant feeling about London disappeared |
| D．we parted with each other in London |
According to Paragraph 4, the author and her friend _______.
| A．call each other regularly | B．have similar personalities |
| C．enjoy writing to each other | D．dream of meeting each other |
In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to ______.
| A．seek professional help | B．be left alone |
| C．stay with her best friend | D．break the silence |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Unforgettable Experience | B．Remarkable Imagination |
| C．Lifelong Friendship | D．Noble Companions |