题目内容
With time going by, we have come to realize that creativity is _______it takes to keep a nation highly competitive.
A. what B. how C. why D. that
A
Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.
Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself, each extra dollar makes less and less difference.
Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
“Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better,” conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways-scientists or actors, for example-may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.
In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires-not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health-rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap (差距). Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. “The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income,” says Michalos.
Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad. “Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?” asks Professor Laura Carstensen.
In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often. Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve. But Carstensen thinks that with time running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make hem happy and let go of those that don’t.
“People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever,” she says. “A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20.”
【小题1】According to the passage, the feeling of happiness
| A．is determined partly by genes | B．increases gradually with age |
| C．has little to do with wealth | D．is measured by desires |
| A．make them feel much better | B．provide chances to make friends |
| C．improve their social position | D．satisfy their professional interests |
| A．optimistic | B．successful | C．practical | D．emotional |
| A．the gap between reality and desire is bigger |
| B．they have a stronger desire for friendship |
| C．their income is below their expectation |
| D．the hope for good health is greater |
How many times have you got upset because someone wasn't doing his job，because your child isn't behaving？How many times have you been irritated (恼怒的) when you've planned something carefully and things didn't go as you'd hoped?
This kind of anger and irritation happens to all of us—it’s part of the human experiences.
One thing that irritates me is when people talk during a movie，or cut me off in traffic. Actually, I have a lot of these little annoyances—don't we all？And it isn’t always easy to find peace when you’ve become upset or irritated.
Let me tell you a little secret to finding peace of mind: see the glass as already broken .
See, the cause of our stress, anger and irritation is that things don't go the way we like, the way we expect them to. Think of how many times this has been true for you. And so the solution is simple：expect things to go wrong, expect things to be different than we hoped or planned，expect the unexpected to happen. And accept it.
One quick example: on our recent trip to Japan, I told my kids to expect things to go wrong—they always do on a trip. I told them, “See it as part of the adventure.”
And this worked like a charm. When we inevitably(不可避免地) took the wrong train on a foreignlanguage subway system, or when it rained on the day we went to Disney Sea, or when we took three trains and walked 10 blocks only to find the National Children's Castle closed on Mondays...they said, “It's part of the adventure！” And it was all OK—we didn't get too bothered.
So when the nice glass you bought inevitably falls and breaks some day, you might get upset. But things will be different, if you see the glass as already broken, from the day you get it. You know it'll break some day, so from the beginning, see it as already broken. Be a timetraveler, or someone with timetraveling vision, and see the future of this glass, from this moment until it inevitably breaks. And when it breaks, you won't be upset or sad—because it was already broken, from the day you got it. And you’ll realize that every moment you have with it is precious.
【小题1】The author would probably agree that________.
| A．we should control our anger and irritation |
| B．we must get well prepared for the future |
| C．optimism can help us overcome our anger and irritation |
| D．anger and irritation is a natural part of our life |
| A．tell us his own experience in life |
| B．advise us how to find peace of mind |
| C．tell us a happy trip he took with his children |
| D．ask us to see things from both sides |
| A．get ready for the worst result of things |
| B．enjoy the process of things |
| C．expect little from life |
| D．find the relationship between cause and effect |
| A．everything went smoothly |
| B．they had a lot of adventures |
| C．they had expected things to go wrong |
| D．they could soon get used to the customs there |
| A．often gets angry in his life |
| B．can adjust his state of mind accordingly |
| C．always expects others to act in his way |
| D．always suffers from his anger and irritation |
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness (礼貌) to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite (相反) of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily activities. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
【小题1】Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| A．treated hospitably at his home |
| B．offered a ride to his home |
| C．warmly welcomed at the airport |
| D．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
| A．strict with time | B．serious with time |
| C．willing to spend time | D．careful with time |
| A．Friendships between Chinese |
| B．Friendships between Americans |
| C．Americans’ hospitality |
| D．Americans’ and Chinese’s opinions of friendships |
The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its Web site, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors
to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before
being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers（订阅者） to the newspaper’s print edition will
receive full access to the site.
But executives(执行主管) of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand.
Still, publishers fear that income from digital subscriptions would not compensate for the resulting loss of audience and advertising revenue.
NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is easily the leader in advertising revenue, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge — and also gives The Times more to lose if the move backfires.
The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro- and anti-pay camps — a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs — and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the prospect of absorbing barbs（冷嘲热讽） for moving cautiously.
“There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said Janet L. Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive. “There’s more of a prize for getting it right.”
1.The first paragraph serves as a __________.
A. conclusion B. comment C. lead-in D. background
2. We may know from the passage that __________.
A. non-paying readers will get no access to NYTimes.com
B. readers will be charged more to read more articles on NYTimes.com
C. visitors to NYTimes.com frequently will get more free online articles
D. subscribers to the print edition will enjoy free access to the site as well
3. Which of the following best describes The Times Company's attitude towards its announcement?
A. rude B. serious C. hurried D. doubtful
4. The passage is mainly about_________.
A. the Times to offer free access to its web site
B. the Times to increase audience to its web site
C. the Times to attract advertisement to its web site
D. the Times to charge for frequent access to its web site