Top Four Ways to Build a Wonderful Life
1. Live Below Your Means
There will always be temptation to give up the future for immediate pleasure. We all want to buy that new piece of technology, treat ourselves to an expensive night on the town, or take out a loan for the flashy car we can’t afford. It might feel great at the time but unwise spending hurts a lot later on. Enjoy life’s simple pleasures and save as much as you can. Expensive things don’t create lasting happiness and security. Careful spending will bring you greater leisure and enjoyment in the long run.
2. Put Your Money to Work
Saving is great, but to make the most of your money you need to put it to work. Good investments can be the difference between retiring in your 40’s or in your 60’s. A post today at The Simple Dollar really got me thinking. According to Trent’s estimates, if a person in their early 20’s invests 20% of their income in an S&P index fund, the interest they earn will equal their current salary when they reach their early 40’s. They could retire without a drop in income! Wise investing is the surest path to financial independence and it’s something everyone can work on. It’s definitely an area I’ll be devoting more attention to in my personal life.
3. Educate Yourself
To be happy we need continuous growth. The best way to grow is life-long education. This doesn’t mean you need to pursue a doctorate or spend 2 hours reading every day. Self-education can be anything that takes you out of your comfort zone. The important part is keeping an open mind and searching for fresh ideas and perspectives. Education builds over time. It might feel like the bits of wisdom you acquire don’t mean much, but over the years they add up to form a wiser, kinder, more interesting person.
4. Develop Lasting Personal Relationships
Suppose you had everything you wanted. Would you be happy without anyone to share it with? The personal relationships we develop with friends and family members are the greatest source of happiness in our lives. Don’t forget about them. Taking the time to cultivate and enjoy personal relationships is essential to long-term happiness. Without the people you care about you’ll probably be miserable, no matter how successful you become.According to the passage, in order to achieve financial independence after retirement, we’d better ________.
| A．get along well with our family and friends |
| B．bring ourselves leisure as well as enjoyment |
| C．invest our money wisely when we are young |
| D．learn some new skills and try to find a new job |
From the passage we can infer that some people try to ________.
| A．gain happiness by buying themselves expensive things |
| B．save everything they can to help those in need |
| C．devote more attention to their personal life |
| D．take out a loan to promote technology |
The author of the passage may agree that the key to self-education is________.
| A．gaining as many degrees as possible |
| B．being open to new ideas and views |
| C．only focusing on very big events |
| D．creating long-term happiness |
The above passage is written in order to ________.
| A．explain what true happiness is about |
| B．offer ways to achieve a happy and successful life |
| C．introduce different definitions about happiness |
| D．persuade readers to find out the meaning of life |
A car needs gas to run and your body also needs food to work for you. Eating the right kind of food is very important. It can help your body grow strong to take care of what you eat.
There are four main food groups altogether. The dairy group has food like milk, cheese and sour milk. The other three groups are the meat and fish group, the fruit and vegetable group, and the bread and rice group. Each meal should have at least one food from all four main groups. With all these food together, you will be given enough energy during the day.
It is easy to get into bad eating habits. You may eat your breakfast in a hurry to get to school on time. Or you may not have time for a good lunch. It may seem easy to finish your supper with fish and chips all the time. But you will find yourself tired in these days and you can not think quickly.
Watching what you eat will help keep your body healthy and strong. It is also good to take some exercise. It will help you eat more if you take a walk or play games in the open air. Having a good eating habit with some exercise is the key to your health.Which of the following diets do you think is the best one?
| A．Eggs, tomatoes and chicken. |
| B．Milk, bread, cabbages and beef. |
| C．Corn, fish, cream and pork. |
| D．Rice, bean curd（豆腐）, apples, fish and chicken. |
Which of the following is a good eating-habit?
| A．Going to school without any breakfast |
| B．Eating fish and chips for supper all the time. |
| C．Eating your lunch in a very short time. |
| D．Having at least one food from all four groups in each meal. |
The underlined word “dairy” in the second passage means _____________.
| A．the food made out of cows such as milk and butter |
| B．the shop that sells milk and butter |
| C．a farm where cows are kept |
| D．a place where milk products are made. |
In this passage the writer mainly tells us that _____________.
| A．enough energy helps people think more quickly |
| B．taking exercise can keep your body strong |
| C．every person needs food to grow well |
| D．right kind of food with exercise will keep you healthy |
One day a mime(哑剧演员) is visiting the zoo and wants to make some money as a street performer. As soon as he starts to draw a crowd, a zookeeper drags him into his office. The zookeeper explains that the zoo’s most popular attraction, a gorilla(大猩猩), has died suddenly and the keeper fears that attendance at the zoo will fall off. He offers the mime a job to dress up as the gorilla. The mime accepts.
The next morning the mime puts on the gorilla suit and enters the cage before the crowd comes. He soon discovers he can sleep all as he likes, play and make fun of the people and he draws bigger crowds than he ever did as a mime — the job he likes but loses.
However, with days going by, he begins to notice that the people are paying more attention to the lion in the cage next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience(观众), he climbs to the top of his cage, crawls across a partition(隔墙), and dangles(悬挂) from the top to the lion’s cage. The lion gets angry at this. The scene is afuel to the crowd.
At the end of the day he is given a pay raise for being such a good attraction. Well, this continues for some time. The crowds grow larger, and the mime’s pay keeps going up.
Then one day when he is dangling over the lion he slips and falls. The mime is terrified(吓坏). He starts screaming, “Help me!”, but the lion is quick. The mime soon finds himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion says, “Shut up you fool! Do you want to get us both fired?”How does the mime find the job dressing up as the gorilla?
| A．Hard and tiring. | B．Dangerous. | C．Easy and fun. | D．Boring. |
The mime’s first contact with the lion is to __________.
| A．find pleasure for himself | B．get the lion’s attention |
| C．get his pay raised | D．win back his audience |
The underlined works “a fuel” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by __________.
| A．frightening | B．common | C．exciting | D．familiar |
From the last paragraph we can know that ___________.
| A．the lion will eat the poor mime |
| B．the lion is also played by a person |
| C．the animals in the zoo are all played by people |
| D．animals played by people can attract more visitors |
Most people regard zoos as safe places for animals, where struggles such as difficulty finding food and avoiding predators（捕食性动物） don't exist. Without such problems, animals in zoos should live to a ripe old age. But that may not be true for the largest land animals on Earth. Scientists have known that elephants in zoos often develop diseases, joint problems and behavior changes. Sometimes, they even become unable to have babies.
To learn more about how captivity(监禁) affects elephants, a team of international scientists led by Mason, a biologist, compared the life spans of female elephants born in zoos with female elephants living outdoors in the wild. Zoos keep detailed records of all the animals in their care, documenting factors such as birth dates, illnesses, weight and death. These records made it possible for the researchers to analyze 40 years of data on 800 elephants in zoos.
The team found that female elephants born in zoos lived an average of 16.9 years. Their wild counterparts（同类事物） who died of natural causes lived an average of 56 years——more than three times as long.
Scientists don't yet know for sure why wild elephants seem to live so much better than their zoo-raised counterparts. Mason thinks stress and obesity(肥胖) may be to blame. Zoo elephants don't get the same kind of exercise as they do in the wild, and most are very fat. Elephant social lives are also much different in zoos than in the wild, where they live in large groups.
Another finding from the study showed that elephants born in zoos were more likely to die earlier than elephants captured in the wild and brought to zoos. Mason suggests stress in the mothers in zoos might cause them to have babies that are less likely to survive.
The study raises some questions about acquiring more elephants to keep in zoos. While some threatened and endangered species living in zoos reproduce successfully and keep healthy populations, that doesn't appear to be the case with elephants. The text tells us that zoo elephants are different from other zoo animals because they________
| A．develop health problems. |
| B．1ive to a ripe old age. |
| C．are not afraid of predators. |
| D．have difficulty eating food. |
What do the scientists find in their research?
| A．Female elephants live longer than male elephants. |
| B．Female zoo elephants die earlier than their wild counterparts. |
| C．Female zoo elephants live longer than their wild counterparts. |
| D．Both elephants in zoos and those in the wild live in large herds. |
Which of the following does the author suggest in the last paragraph?
| A．Zoo-born elephants should be attended more carefully |
| B．Elephants are no longer an endangered species. |
| C．It may not be a wise policy to keep elephants in the zoo. |
| D．Zoos should keep more animals except elephants. |
Which of the following can be the best title?
| A．Comparison between two species of elephants |
| B．Longer lives for wild elephants |
| C．Female elephants suffer from poor health. |
| D．Longer lives for zoo animals. |
The effects of air pollution on natural conditions have been a disturbing problem for many years. Some scientists hold the view that the air inside houses may be more dangerous than the air outside. It may even be one hundred times worse.
Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution, which can cause a person to feel tired, to suffer eye pain, headache and other problems. Believe it or not, some pollutants can cause breathing diseases of blood and even cancer.
What made us feel relieved is that there’s growing concern about the problem now. It is true that when builders began constructing houses and offices they did not want to waste energy. To do this they built buildings that prevented or limited the flow of air between inside and outside. For the same purpose, man-made building materials were employed to build houses, which are now known to let out some harmful gases.
Facing the serious challenge, scientists have been searching for a way to handle the problem. To everyone’s delight, they discovered a natural pollution control system for building—green plants, though they do not really know how plants control air pollution. Scientists suppose that a plant’s leaves absorb or take in the pollutants and in exchange gives out oxygen through its leaves and tiny organizations on its roots. Therefore they recommend that all buildings should have one large plant or several small plants inside for every nine square meters of space. Because studies indicate that different plants absorb different chemicals, the most effective way to clean the air is to use different kinds of plants. In conclusion, having green plants inside your house can make it a prettier and healthier place. Why not try?Which of the following statements is TRUR?
| A．Outside air pollution is more harmful than the air inside. |
| B．Scientists have discovered how plants control air pollution |
| C．Indoor air pollution may cause diseases including cancer. |
| D．Only large plants can absorb harmful gases indoors. |
According to scientists, some kind of indoor pollution can be found in ________.
| A．every old building |
| B．every modern house |
| C．all kinds of houses |
| D．all kinds of offices |
What does the underlined part “To do this” refer to in Para3?
| A．To build houses and offices |
| B．To limit the air flow inside |
| C．To use man-made materials |
| D．In order not to waste energy |
The reason why we should use different kinds of plants to clean the air is that ___.
| A．plants can drive out all kinds of pollutants indoors |
| B．plants can absorb different harmful indoor chemical |
| C．plants can take in all pollutants inside and outside |
| D．plants may give out more oxygen than people need |
American Watersports Tuesday-Saturday
Located on the beach of the Sea Gardens Beach Resort, there are fun things to
rent for the whole family. They offer rentals for kayaks, jet skis, and even parasail!
Enjoy the water up-close or from a bird’s eye view! No matter what activity you’re
enjoying, be sure to protect yourself and your family from the sun’s powerful rays and apply plenty of sun block!
15th Street Boat Company Monday-Saturday
15th Street Boat Company offers rental boats of all kinds. They’re sure to have what you are looking for, whether it’s a small boat for a quick and simple outing or an extravagant boat with comfortable seats with a stereo and high tech navigation. You can rent a boat for half a day or a couple of days, or even weeks at a time. If you want it, they’ve got it. It’s fun for everyone!
Coconut’s Watersports 9am-5pm Monday-Sunday
Coconut’s Watersports is open 7 days a week and offers tons of water fun for the whole family. Jet Ski activities last 30 minutes or 1 hour and can make stops along the way. You must be at least 14 years of age to ride alone and can be as young as 3 to ride along with an adult. Everybody is required to wear a life jacket and a license is required to operate the Jet Ski. Bathing suits and shorts are recommended.
Jet Ski Tours of Miami 10am-7pm Thursday-Sunday
Jet Ski Tours of Miami includes onsite parking, indoor restrooms, lockers, and life jackets for participants. You may choose a one or two tour and each Jet Ski can hold up to 3 people. You must be at least 18 years old in order to ride. As long as you are accompanied by an adult, there is no age limitation for any passenger. There is a restaurant nearby to eat at. The tour visits 6 different islands and passes by Bayside and Hard Rock. You may even catch sight of dolphins, turtles or a crab resting in these splendid Florida waters.You should especially protect yourself from sun burnt while visiting______.
| A．Jet Ski Tours of Miami |
| B．Coconut’s Watersports |
| C．15th Street Boat Company |
| D．American Watersports |
Which of the following can help you enjoy sailing a boat?
| A．Go to the Sea Gardens Beach Resort. |
| B．Visit 15th Street Boat Company. |
| C．Choose Jet Ski Tours of Miami. |
| D．Visit Coconut’s Watersports. |
What’s a must to ride alone in the Jet Ski activities?
| A．One must be at least 14 years old. |
| B．One must wear bathing suits and shorts. |
| C．One must apply plenty of sun block. |
| D．One must be accompanied by parents. |
What will you do to satisfy your son’s curiosity about sea animals?
| A．You would like to rent a boat to ride with him. |
| B．You need a boat with comfortable seats with a stereo. |
| C．You’d like to choose American Watersports. |
| D．You prefer the tour to Bayside and Hard Rock. |