We all think that we know what happiness is. We all seem to be making great efforts towards this goal of happiness but what is it really? It is an agreed fact that all the creatures want happiness and are afraid of pain and sadness. The question, however, is “what is real happiness?” What really is called happiness? The desire for happiness has no meaning without understanding the real nature of happiness.
Some thinkers say, “Happiness does not lie in objects of enjoyment; happiness or unhappiness lies in imagination.”
To prove their belief, they give examples like the following one: A man has a two-storey house; on the right is a five-storey building and on the left a cottage. When he sees right, he feels unhappy and when he sees left he feels happy. As such happiness does not lie in possession of sensory objects, but in imagination. They advise people to look towards those who have fewer possessions and be happy. If you look towards people having more wealth and possessions, you will always be unhappy.
It is unreasonable to hold this point of view. It is unkind to regard one happy by imagining that one is better than the poor and the unhappy. “If you want to be happy, look towards the poor”. We know that those poor people cannot satisfy even their basic needs. This attitude satisfies the sense of pride of possessions, but this can never be called happiness.
Unless we really find where happiness lies, we cannot really be happy.
Some ask people to do this and do that and say, “This way your desires would be satisfied. You would get the desired objects and become happy.” People holding these views regard happiness as satisfaction of desires. But it is not possible to satisfy one’s desires because there are countless desires of countless people and the material things are limited. Then new desires arise as soon as the previous ones are satisfied. Therefore, desires, which are changing all the time, can never be satisfied.
Happiness is a characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills (履行) human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: these belong to our nature. Happiness is also a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated (培养), and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives and come to being happy. Happiness lies in the distribution of easiness among others. Happiness stands for forgiveness and justice. Happiness is the name of struggle and courage. Happiness may be founded in seeking of true knowledge and rule of wisdom. Happiness may be shared in service and duty. This life is combination of joys and sorrows, and honest efforts should be done to make this life journey full of happiness, love, peace and harmony. What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To show how to achieve happiness. |
| B．To encourage people to achieve happiness. |
| C．To explain the features of happiness. |
| D．To argue how to understand happiness. |
According to the passage, people who think happiness lies in imagination will try to achieve happiness by .
| A．looking towards those with fewer possessions |
| B．looking towards people having more wealth |
| C．imagining how rich you will be in the future |
| D．imagining that you have a five-storey building |
The writer doesn’t think that happiness lies in the satisfaction of desires because .
| A．no desires of a person can be satisfied at all |
| B．ever-changing desires can never be satisfied |
| C．there isn’t enough money to meet people’s needs |
| D．the desires of a person are limited |
In the writer’s opinion, happiness .
| A．can be achieved easily by earning money |
| B．must belong to those with rich knowledge |
| C．can be gained by setting small goals |
| D．can be gained by controlling inner experience |
According to the last paragraph, who can have real happiness?
| A．Jack who often struggles with others. |
| B．Tom who has life of a high quality. |
| C．Mike who always forgives others’ mistakes. |
| D．Tim whose requirements are always met. |
第三部分：阅读理解(共两节，满分40分)
第一节阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, sh
e said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I
started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “ I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”
56. 
From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.
A. with his familyB. with Evelyn C. alone D. with his children
57. During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.
A. he was determined to be a good husband
B. he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm
C. she looked lovely in her new clothes
D. the doctor said his wife was seriously ill
58. The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?
A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.
B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.
C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.
D. He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.
59. By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ______.
A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life
B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband
C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change
D. he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before
HOLIDAY HOMES IN MALLORCA
Holiday houses in Mallorca sailing and fishing port - quiet even in summer season. Beautifully situated houses with sights of sea and mountains, yet near to shops and restaurants. Cars and bicycles for hire. Sailing and sports clubs nearby.
ITALY IN COMFORT
Luxury coach trips of Italy, out of normal holiday season. 21 days to visit five Italian cities starting from London 1st May, 1st September. The trips are guided by Professor Martin Davis, Head of Italian Studies, London University. See the arts and culture of historic Italy.
KIBBUTZ HOLIDAYS IN ISRAEL
Working holidays on a kibbutz (co-operative farm) in Israel. All nationalities welcome for one to three months, if prepared to work morning with kibbutz members. Accommodation, food and trips to historic sights all provided free - you pay only for the special low-cost return flight.
TWO WEEKS ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND
Two-week holidays in the Hotel Splendid, on a lovely beach with golden sands and deep-blue sea. Tennis, golf, sailing and all water sports, trips around the island arranged. Near to town of Castries with lively evening entertainment - dancing.
1st November - 31st March =￡720 per person
1st April - 30th October =￡850 per person
Jack and his wife Mary, who
have recently retired, want to see places of cultural and historic interest abroad, but Mary hates flying.
Peter and Maria, university students, want to travel as far as possible on little money, and would like to get to know a country by working there for three months with other young people.
Michael, a young computer programmer, has been working hard and needs a holiday to relax in winter. He would like to go somewhere warmer and sunny, where he can swim in the sea, and he enjoys sports and dancing.
Henry and Kate, both teachers, and their two sons, have to take their holiday during the school summer holidays. There must be plenty for the boys to do, although Harry and Kate just want to have beautiful scenery, good food and wine- and peace.
57. Michael would most probably go to _______ for his holiday.
A. Italy B. Israel C. Mallorca D. a Caribbean island
58. The best holiday for Jack and Mary would be _______.
A. the 21 - day coach trip of Italy
B. the 2 -week stay in the Hotel Splendid
C. 
the 14 -day trip around a Caribbean island
D. the working holidays for 1 -3 months on a kibbutz in Israel
59. Harry and Kate and their sons would like _______.
A. a holiday working on a kibbutz in Israel
B. a holiday visiting cities by coach in Italy
C. a holiday house in the fishing port in Mallorca
D. a holiday hotel on a lovely beach on a Carribean Island
60. You can find this passage most probably in _______.
A. a school library B. a tourist agency C. the post office D. the museum
In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and started austerity (紧缩) programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.
In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference (干预) with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers.
President Hoover's successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was later passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate shortage of farm p
roducts was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional (违背宪法的) by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nation’s soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid (杂交) grain, and fertilizers.
53.What caused the problem in the demand for American farm products?
A. The effect of the Great Depression.
B. The shrinking of overseas markets.
C. The destruction caused by the First World War.
D. The increased exports of European countries.
54. The word “successor” refers to ______.
A. President Hoover B. US Secretary of State
C. President Franklin D. Roosevelt D. US Secretary of Agriculture
55. The Agricultural Adjustment
Act encouraged American farmers to ______.
A. reduce their scale of production
B. make full use of their land
C. adjust the prices of their farm products
D. be self-sufficient in agricultural production
56.The Supreme Court rejected the Agricultural Adjustment Act because it believed that the Act ______.
A. might cause greater shortage of farm products
B. didn't give the Secretary of Agriculture enough power
C. would benefit neither the government nor the farmers
D. benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others
The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, the US space agency insisted Monday in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumors fueled by the Internet and a new Hollywood movie.
The latest big screen offering from Sony Picture, 2012, arrives in theaters on Friday, with a 200-million-dollar production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar. It is claimed that the end of time will come as a Planet X---or Nibiru---heads toward or collides with the Earth.
Some websites accuse NASA of hiding the truth on the planet’s existence, but the US space agency condemned such stories as an “Internet hoax”. “There is no factual basis for these claims,” NASA said in a question-and-anwser posting on this website. “If such a cllision were real, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” it insisted. “After all, our planet has been getting along just well for more than four billion years,” added NASA.
There is another planet, Eris, floating in space. But the small planet similar to Pluto will remain safely fixed in the outer solar system and it can come no closer than four billion miles to the Earth, according to NASA.
Earlier theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter in 2012 to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.
NASA insisted the Mayan calendar in fact does not end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward.
And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be “negligible(unimportant)”, NASA said
“And while comets and asteroids (小行星) have always hit the Earth, big hits are very rare,” NASA noted. The last major impact was believed to be 65 million years ago, resulting in the end of dinosaurs.
“We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs,” the space agency said.
49. ______ played a key role in the spread of the rumors.
A. A new book B. The Internet and a new Hollywood movie
C. NASAD. An Indian calendar
50. We can infer that ______.
A. people didn’t take the rumor seriously
B. Planet X --- or Nibiru does exist
C. astronomers have been tracking Planet X for over ten years
D. the rumor caused a panic among some people
51. NASA thinks that Eris ______.
A. might have a threat to the Earth
B. dosen’t have any threat to the Earth
C. is too fa
r away to be visible
D. is similar to our planet, where life might exist
52. Which of the following is the best title?
A. New Hollywood movie 2012
B. December 21, 2012, Not the end of the world
C. End of the ancient Mayan calendar
D. How rumors came into being
第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分 40分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
Fun-loving Paul Johnson earned the title of the Scarborough Evening News Teacher of the Year 2008. Mr Johnson, of Hinderwell School, was presented with the award after four of his pupils nominated(recommended) him for the prestigious title
Evening News editor Ed Asquith presented Mr Johnson with his certificate — and a cheque for £100. His class is also set to enjoy a free trip to the Sea Life Centre which includes being picked up by a complimentary Shorel
ine Suncruisers open-top bus.
The 30-year-old, who lives in Hunmanby, said: “I am just so shocked. I have been nominated for this award for a few years and I never thought I would win it. It is fantastic. It is completely out of the blue.”
Mr Johnson has worked as a Year 5 teacher at the school for seven years. He also works as an advanced teacher, which involves visiting other schools in the county once a week to offer cross-curricular teaching.
He was chosen as the winner because of his dynamic but educationally engaging approach to teaching, and based on the real way he has demonstrated that every child matters. Each term he picks a theme for his class and the c
urriculum is based around it. This term they are studying medieval times — and his classroom has a castle in one corner. He also treated his class to a three-day trip to London earlier this year.
His nominators were Lucy and Emily Desborough, Rachel Laverick and Rebecca Miller. Classmate Callum Macdonald, 10, said: “He is the best teacher in the world and he deserves this. He is brilliant with us and he is just so funny. He tells lots of jokes which always make us laugh.” Beth Lawty, nine, added: “Our classroom is the best ever. We have really enjoyed being in his class and I will miss him next year.”
46. Paul Johnson visits other schools in the county to ______.
A. show his teaching experience B. learn from other teachers
C. improve his teaching skills D. offer a different course
47. Why is there a castle in one corner of Paul Johnson’s classroom?
A. It is used to train the students’ imagination.
B
. It is a prize from the Scarborough Evening News
C. The students can play in it after class.
D. It is probably a symbol of medieval times.
48. The underlined part “out of the blue” probably means ______.
A. of surprise B. frustrating C. of great fame D. within easy reach