Want to be a happy married couple? Consider having kids.

A new study found that having children boosts happiness.And the more, literally, the merrier.

But unmarried couples shouldn’t expect to find greater happiness through child-raising.The study, published in the Oct.14 online edition of the Journal of Happiness Studies, suggests that having children has little or no effect on boosting happiness among couples who aren’t hitched(和谐).

The findings contradict previous research that suggested that having more offspring doesn't lead to greater happiness and might even make people less satisfied with their lives.One theory behind the conclusion is that parents don’t receive many rewards in return for the hard work of raising children.

The new study, however, notes that parents say children are one of the most important things in their lives, if not the most important.

The study found that life satisfaction for married people -- women especially -- goes up the more kids they have.Single, separated and co-habiting people, by contrast, report negative experiences.

“One is tempted to advance that children make people rich under the ‘right conditions’ -- a time in life when people feel that they are ready, or at least willing, to enter parenthood,” Dr.Luis Angeles, of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher.“This time can come at very different moments for different individuals, but a likely signal of its approach may well be the act of marriage.”

1.The underlined word “offspring” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by _____.

     A.generation              B.children        

       C.mothers          D.marriage

2.The best title of this passage should be _______.

     A.Children Are the Source of Happiness

     B.Are You Happy Married Couple?

     C.Married with Children Paves Way to Happiness

     D.The Right Conditions of Having Children

3.Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

     A.The more children women have, the happier they are.

     B.The more children the married women have, the more unsatisfied they become.

     C.Raising kids can give any person happiness.

     D.Without marriage, one woman had better not raise kids.

4.In the passage, the underlined part ‘right conditions’ refers to _______.

     A.a time when the couple are ready and willing to become parents

     B.the situation where the family is rich enough to raise a child

     C.the situation where the couple are very happy

     D.a time when the couple thinks raising children can boost happiness

Do you know that men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
  The largest study of the effects of ageing(变老) on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
  “We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
  “Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the aging process.”
  What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
  “This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
  The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.
【小题1】 The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.

A.healthB.long lifeC.ageingD.effect
【小题2】 The text mainly talks about ________.
A.men’s heart cellsB.women’s ageing process、
C.the gender differenceD.hearts and long life
【小题3】According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.
A.women have more cells than men when they are born
B.women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat
C.the female heart loses few of the cells with age
D.women never lose their pumping power with age
【小题4】If you want to live longer, you should ________.
A.enable your heart to beat much faster
B.find out the reason for ageing
C.exercise regularly to keep your heart healthy
D.prevent your cells from being lost
【小题5】We can know from the passage that ________.
A.the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out
B.scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells
C.the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss
D.women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20

Divorces in Japan have more than doubled, according to health ministry statistics. One in three Japanese marriages now ends in divorce.

Atsuko Okano was in one of those failed marriages. Three years ago, she found herself alone in her 30s, with children to raise and a future full of question marks and social shame. But she also saw an opening, and became an advisor helping people like herself.

“My husband was cheating on me,” she recalled. ‘I did everything to bring him back to me but it didn’t work, so I dumped him.” Such frankness is a major characteristic of Japan’s recently divorced.

Divorced people – particularly woman – have long been looked down upon in Japan, where self-sacrifice and family stability are regarded as ideals. In the past, bored housewives remained bored. The security of the family unit was the most important thing. Now, young Japanese are increasingly choosing satisfaction in life over the demands of tradition, and more woman are financially independent. As a result, Japanese divorce rates are flying. Experts attribute this to the erosion of a long-standing double standard that granted divorced men respectability, but branded(gave somebody a bad name) divorced women as damaged goods.

Over the past decade, growing numbers of highly educated and successful professional women have challenged that assumption(something taken for granted) by turning their backs on unhappy marriages and paying no attention to the taboo(禁忌)of divorce. The majority of divorce behavior now is started by women.

1.This passage mainly talks about the fact that nowadays Japanese women _________.

A.are granted respectability after they get divorced

B.are becoming brave enough to challenge the taboo of divorce

C.still consider the security of the family unit to be very important

D.are becoming more financially independent

2.It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that Atsuko Okano __________.

A.had some children to raise

B.was very confident with her future

C.was not greatly respected by Japanese society

D.might have found a job to help divorced people

3.The underlined word “dumped” in paragraph 3 probably means _________.

A.looked down upon

B.had a quarrel with

C.hated

D.divorced

4.Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the reason for rising rate of Japanese divorces?

A.Self-sacrifice and family stability are not much appreciated in Japan as before.

B.More women can support themselves financially.

C.Divorced men and women can quickly find their new partners

D.Young Japanese care more about satisfaction in life than their elders did.

 

Commencement (毕业典礼) is a time for idealism.

But economic reality is cruel everywhere; especially for new graduate. They have been told repeatedly that a college degree is an open sesame(芝麻) to the global economy. But that’s not necessarily so, according to new research by two economists at he Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Frank Levy and Peter Temin.

It is true that people with college degrees make more money than people without degrees. The gap has narrowed somewhat in recent years, which is disturbing. But the earning power of college graduates still far outpaces that of less-educated workers.

The bad news, though, is that a college degree does not ensure a bigger share of the economics pie for many graduates. In recent decades Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show, only college-educated women have seen their income grow in line with economy wide gains in productivity. The earnings of male college graduates have failed to keep pace with productivity gains.

Instead, a huge share of productivity growth, which expands the nation’s income, is going to Americans on the top of the income scale. In 2005, the latest year with available data, the top of 1 percent of Americans---whose average annual income was $ 1.1 million--- took in 21.8 percent of the nation’s income, their largest share since 1929.

Administration officials, and other politicians and economists, often, believe that income inequality, reflects an education gap. But Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin show that in the case of men, the average bachelor’s degree is not enough to catch the rising tide of the global economy.

They argue that the real reason that inequality is worsening is the lack of strong policies that broadly distribute economic gains. In the past, for example, a more progressive income tax and unions promote equality. Positive measures have been eroding and new ones have not yet emerged, making the income gap even greater.

Mr. Levy and Mr. Temin conclude that only a new government policy can restore general prosperity. That’s a challenge to the nation’s leader and today’s graduates. America needs them to contribute to the development of the nation in global economy.

1.The passage is mainly about that _______.

A.there is a big income gap between female and male college graduates in America.

B.college graduates find it hard to find an ideal job after graduation in America.

C.research shows that American government should take measures to ensure income equality for college graduates

D.college degrees are losing value in America.

2.What is the main idea of paragraph 5?

A.The whole nation has enjoyed a big income growth with the growth of productivity.

B.Much of the total income in America has been gained by a few very rich people.

C.A small part of people in America have income increase.

D.Upper class Americans contribute most to productivity growth.

3.The underlined word “eroding” in paragraph 7 probably means _______.

A.being gradually destroyed by wind or rain

B.gradually reducing power

C.gradually disappearing

D.gradually not suitable

4.We can infer from the passage that _______.

A.female college graduates have higher income than male ones.

B.female college graduates have benefited from some governmental measures to ensure their income growth.

C.income tax can grantee income equality.

D.new measures and policies have been taken to promote income equality.

5.From the passage, some economists believe that the worsening income inequality is caused by ______.

A.lower college degree of college graduates

B.lack of proper governmental policies

C.gender discrimination

D.underdevelopment of economy and productivity.

 

“Before you fall in love, you'd better get a job”

As told by Lee Joon-ho, 20, a senior in law at Seoul National University

    Korean TV dramas have shown a lot of rebellious(反叛的) youth, but in fact most students still live a traditional life.

Confucianism has a great influence on us. For instance, Confucius said that we should be dutiful to our parents and value the family. Thus we prefer a school that's close to home so we can go back every day.

Also as a result of Confucianism, teachers enjoy a high status in Korea. The other day, my professor was flying to Vienna on a business trip. Instead of waiting for hours in the queue, he was told to check in first and didn't have any problem with overweight luggage.

When it comes to important decision-making, such as choosing a university, a job, and a wife, we listen to our parents' suggestions. Most parents seem liberal in study decisions, but they take a firmer attitude towards their children's love and marriage choices. Often, a man has to have his own business or a solid career before he's allowed to pursue romance.

Male chauvinism is popular among our parents' generation, since they had to support the whole family through hard work. We need to shoulder the same responsibility, but we've also learned to respect women, as they're doing outstanding work in lots of areas. But to be honest, my friends and I still prefer a traditional woman as a girlfriend and future wife. We want her to be elegant and thoughtful in taking care of a family.

Our sense of tradition is also reflected in our buying habits. In my house, you see only Korean appliances. Although European cell phones are available in ROK, we favor LG and Samsung, which are suited more to our tastes and widely promoted in TV dramas and films.

1.The professor was told to check in first because _________.   

A. His luggage was overweight.

B. He had waited for hours.

C. People respect teachers in Korea.

D. He was on a business trip.

2.Which of the statements is true according to the passage?       

A. Generally speaking, men need to support the whole family in Korea.

B. Korean women have no freedom in choosing husbands.

C. Male chauvinism is popular among young people now.

D. Young people are out of control of their parents.

3.From the last paragraph we can learn that _________.           

A. You can not find European cell phones in Korea.

B. You can see advertisements for LG and Samsung in Korean TV dramas and films.

C. Korean cell phones are traditional.

D. The Korean people have a sense of tradition.

4.What is the passage mainly about?              

A. Korean youth are rebellious.

B. Korean youth will not love anyone until they find a job.

C. Most Korea students live a traditional life.

D. Confucius has a great influence on the Korean people.

 

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