I live in the land of Disney, Hollywood and year-round sun. You may think people in such a splendid, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more lasting emotion.
Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells“happiness”. But in memoir(回忆录)after memoir, they reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism ,drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children and profound loneliness.
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage, if he’s honest, and 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 and excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Similarly, couples that choose not to have children are deciding in favor of painless fun over painful happiness. They can dine out whenever they want and sleep as late as they can. 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.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating(解放性的)realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates 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 rich and glamorous people we were so sure are happy because they are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that ________.

A.fun creates long-lasting satisfaction
B.fun provides enjoyment while pain leads to happiness
C.happiness is lasting whereas fun is short-lived
D.fun that is long-standing may lead to happiness
【小题2】To the author, the role Hollywood stars play is to ________.
A.write memoir after memoir about their happiness
B.tell the public that happiness has nothing to do with fun
C.teach people how to enjoy their lives
D.bring happiness to the public instead of going to parties
【小题3】In the author’s opinion, marriage ________ .
A.affords greater funB.leads to raising children
C.indicates duty and devotionD.usually ends up in pain
【小题4】Which of the following is the best example of“painful happiness”?
A.Winning lottery by accident
B.A bachelor resisting marriage
C.Raising children
D.Buying some fancy clothes
【小题5】If one gets the true sense of happiness, he will ________.
A.stop playing games and joking with othersB.keep himself with his family
C.give a free hand to moneyD.use his time to increase happiness

C
All parents know that one of their most important tasks is to prepare their children for an independent life, but any parent can tell you that it’s hard to let go of your children. That balance between keeping your children safe and allowing them to learn from their own mistakes can be heartbreaking. Years of experience means that parents often do know best, but on the other hand the young, being less bound by tradition, are often more creative, more able to find new solutions to old problems. Revolutions are led by the young.
Good teachers make the growth of critical thinking (批判性思维) easier in their students, only to find that this lead to a questioning of the teachers’ basic beliefs. Schools encourage parents to become involved, but are often embarrassed when parents have doubts about some of the educational methods being used. Governments encourage unimportant groups to empower themselves in order to participate fully in the development process. And they are often surprised when the new leaders of these groups turn around and attack the policies or decisions of that same government. However, the rebellious (叛逆的) young and the newly unimportant groups are important in social development. They are not necessarily representatives of those they want to represent in their demands, but their voices must be heard.
Good parents know that just forbidding (禁止) particular behaviors does not prevent their children from finding ways to engage in these forbidden activities. Indeed, sometimes the forbidden fruit is more inviting, just because it is not accepted by authority. Parents must work with their children to educate them on the facts, know as much as possible about the lives of their children, provide a good example, encourage more wholesome activities but also support their children when they don’t follow what is expected of them. But the most important point is that they also need to learn how to let go.
【小题1】By saying “Revolutions are led by the young.”, the author indicates that young people are more _______.

A.conventionalB.realisticC.creativeD.heartbreaking
【小题2】From the second Paragraph we know ________.
A.teachers’ basic beliefs should be questioned by students
B.schools encourage parents to question their education methods
C.government is satisfied with the new leaders’ attack on the policies
D.the voice of the rebellious young should be heard by the government
【小题3】In order to educate children well, parents should _______.
A.forbid particular behaviors in their daily life
B.know them well and set a good example to them
C.educate them with facts and expect much of them
D.know as much as possible about their children
【小题4】From the passage we can learn that the author prefers _______.
A.free parenting B.traditional parenting
C.critical parentingD.smart parenting
【小题5】What is the best title of the passage?
A.Letting Go – for Children’s Independent Life
B.Parents’ Task – in Children’s Development
C.Way of Growth – for the Young Groups
D.Teaching Methods – for Teachers and Schools

People hold the belief that a fun-filled, 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 things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people don’t like the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, commitment(承担的义务),self-improvement.
Ask a bachelor 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 obvious 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 true happiness is one of the most liberating realizations because true happiness has nothing to do with fun. It liberates(解放) time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates 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 actully may not be happy at all.
【小题1】According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because____

A.he is unwilling to take 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
【小题2】 The underlined word bachelor means_________
A.a married manB.a college student
C.a single manD.an academic degree
【小题3】From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes results from______
A.hatredB.misunderstandingC.prejudiceD.ignorance
【小题4】To understand what true happiness, one must________
A.have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime.
B.make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
C.put up with pain under all circumstances
D.be able to distinguish happiness from fun
【小题5】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.

I’m sure many of you have seen Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Multiplicity, or many of the other movies that describe cloning. Most of what you see in these movies is false. What you don’t know is that cloning could be dangerous, to the clone and to our society as a whole. I think human cloning is wrong mainly for four reasons.

What about identity? Humans are promised the right to their own personalities. What would happen if we ignore those rights by giving them someone else’s genetic identity? True, Cloning may prevent people from possessing their identities.

Also, these is a large power struggle here. Cloning means a degree of power and controls over another person’s physical identity and that ignores their rights and their only personalities. The person doing the cloning would have more power than any parent would have.

Cloning would also deal with killing embryos (胚胎). You might not have known, but Dolly, the sheep that was cloned in 1996, was one of over 200 sheep embryos and hers was the only embryo that survived. The rest died or were thrown away. Imagine if the failure rate was that high when we started to clone humans. cloning means running the risk of wasting too much effort

Cloning someone, at this present time, would be extremely dangerous to the birth mother and the clone. In studies done on cows, 4 out of 12 birth mothers died. There is a very high failure rate, which is shown in the cloning of Dolly. Even if you had a few good embryos, failures have been noticeable in animal tests.

So, should we work ahead in the world of cloning? I say no. the risks are greater than the benefits. It’s dangerous to the clone and to the birth mother. We would be killing human lives in the process. It would also be a violation(侵害) of the clone’s right to its own genetic identity and personality.

1.The author thinks human cloning is wrong mainly for ______ reasons.

A.4

B.3

C. 2

D.5

2.According to the article, what is the author’s opinion about identity?

A.Cloning itself gives parents great power over identity.

B.People’s identity is completely determined by their genes.

C.Government has the rights to confirm people’s identities.

D.Cloning may prevent people from possessing their identities.

3.According to Paragraph 4 ,which is right ?      ____.

A.human cloning is much more difficult than animal cloning

B.there are 200 sheep successfully cloned.

C.cloning means running the risk of wasting too much effort

D.numbers of baby animals are likely to be created by cloning

4.Why does the author mention some movies in the first paragraph?

A.To introduce the topic of the article.

B.To present his idea about the movies.

C.To state the conclusion first.

D.To make the article unusual.

5. What is the best title of the passage?

A.What Is Human Cloning

B.Human Cloning Is Wrong

C.How Does Human Cloning Happen

D.Discussion On Human Cloning

 

The way people hold to the belief that a fun - filled, 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(解放) time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates 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.

1. According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because _______ .

A. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single

C. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities

D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement

2. Raising children, in the author’s opinion is ________ .

A. a rewarding task                  B. a thankless job

C. a moral duty                     D. a source of inevitable pain

3. From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from(由…造成)________ .

A. hatred   B. ignorance      C. prejudice(偏见)   D. misunderstanding

4. To understand what true happiness is one must ________ .

A. have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime

B. be able to distinguish happiness from fun

C. put up with pain under all circumstances

D. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain

5. What is the author trying to tell us?

A. It is important to make commitments     B. One must know how to attain happiness.

C. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.   D. It is pain that leads to happiness.

 

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