When asked about happiness, we usually think of someth.ng extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.

For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫无掩饰的).

In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

In adulthood the things that bring deep joy—love, marriage, birth—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated(复杂的).

My definition of happiness is "the capacity for enjoyment". The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which 1 love. When the kids and my husband came home, 1 enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don't think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her.

We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we've got to have. We're so self-conscious about our "right" to it that it's making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.

Happiness isn't about what happens to us―it's about how we see what happens to us. It's the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It's not wishing for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.

51. As people grow older, they ______.

A. feel it harder to experience happiness

B. associate their happiness less with others

C. will take fewer risks in pursuing happiness

D. tend to believe responsibility means happiness

53. What can we learn about the author from Paragraphs 5 and 6?

A. She cans little about ha own health

B. She enjoys the freedom of trawling

C. She is easily pleased by things in daily life.

D. She prefers getting pleasure from housework

53. What can be inferred from Paragraph 7?

A. Psychologists think satisfying work is key to happiness

B. Psychologists* opinion is well proved by Grandma's case.

C. Grandma often found time for social gatherings

D. Grandma's happiness came from modest expectations of life,
54. People who equal happiness with wealth and success

A. consider pressure something blocking their way

B. stress their right to happiness too much

C. arc at a loss to make correct choices

D. arc more likely to be happy

55. What can be concluded from the passage?

A. Happiness lies between the positive and the negative.

B. Each nun is the master of his own fate

C. Success leads to happiness.

D. Hippy is he who is content.

Do you want to live a happier, less stressful (有压力的) life?
Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world – and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr Kataria. “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing – it’s the universal language. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects (效果) of laughter on our health. According to a 5 – year study in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest – I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real – and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!
【小题1】In which country was the first Laughter Club started?

A.Britain.B.America.C.Australia.D.India.
【小题2】How did the writer feel at the beginning of the class?
A.Surprised.B.Pleased.C.Nervous.D.Stressful.
【小题3】When did the people in the club begin to laugh for real?
A.After a few minutes.B.After a few hours.
C.After a few seconds.D.After a few days.
【小题4】Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Fake laughter and real laughter are both good for health.
B.40% of the people in Laughter Clubs are good friends.
C.Adults laugh more often than children in a day.
D.Laughing is the best way to prevent illness.

 

第二节 完形填空(共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分)

请认真阅读下面短文,从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

What is it about maths, anyway? Why is it that a ___36___ who would rather die than ___37___ they found reading difficult at school will happily say he is brain-dead when it ___38___ to numbers?

“I was ___39___ at maths at school,” they say. “still am. Can’t ___40___ up to save my life. My little girl takes after____41___. Thinks take-aways are something to do with fish and chips. Ha-ha!” Oh, how we all laugh.

But how many of us remember it being ___42___ at the time? How many of us remember the blind panic of the Monday morning maths test when the ___43___ we could hope for was a miracle(奇迹) to make the numbers we ___44___ without thinking as answers somehow ___45___ the questions?

On the face of it, today’s children can ___46___ be considered happier and more satisfied. They have a daily numeracy lesson ___47___ to improving their maths skills. But if that sounds like hell to you, you may ___48__ find that your child surprises you by actually quite ___49__ it.

One of the __50___ is that over the last ten years or so, there has been a ___51___ in the way maths is taught. And many of those who teach it feel it’s been a ___52__ for the better. There’s generally much more emphasis now on __53___ arithmetic, getting children used to doing calculations without forever having a pen in one hand and a calculator in the other. Often the first question a teacher will ask is: can you do this in your___54___? And if they can, they do.

The whole approach is more___55___, the goal to get children understanding numbers, not just putting them through the uninteresting process of learning something by repeating it until they remember it.

36     A.     teacher    B.     parent      C.     pupil          D.     teenager

37     A.     understand      B.     admit        C.     observe    D.     pretend

38     A.     add  B.     relate       C.     comes      D.     reject

39     A.     good         B.     expert      C.     special      D.     rubbish

40     A.     add  B.     make        C.     look  D.     pick

41     A.     stranger  B.     me   C.     herself      D.     somebody

42     A.     funny        B.     easy C.     attractive         D.     remote

43     A.     worst        B.     prize         C.     best D.     surprising

44     A.     missed     B.     lost  C.     found        D.     chose

45     A.     get   B.     foresee    C.     fit     D.     evaluate

46     A.     however  B.     frequently         C.     mostly      D.     hardly

47     A.     suggested        B.     devoted   C.     intended  D.     adapted

48     A.     well  B.     sometimes       C.     seldom     D.     extremely

49     A.     enjoying   B.     hating       C.     objecting D.     mastering

50     A.     consequences B.     reasons    C.     findings    D.     incidents

51     A.     mistake    B.     program  C.     policy        D.     revolution

52     A.     preparation      B.     reputation        C.     requirement    D.     change

53     A.     difficult     B.     general    C.     mental     D.     basic

54     A.     class         B.     head         C.     textbook  D.     own

55     A.     logical       B.     unbelievable    C.     direct        D.     conservative

 

It was a beautiful day at the beach—blue sky, gentle wind, calm sea.I knew these things because a man sitting five feet from me was shouting them into his mobile phone, like a play-by-play announcer (实况解说员).

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” he shouted.“THE SKY IS BLUE, AND THERE’S A GENTLE WIND, AND THE WATER IS CALM, AND…”

Behind me, a woman, her mobile phone pressed to her ear was walking back and forth.

“She DIDN’T,” she was saying.“No.She DIDN’T.She DID? Really? Are you SERIOUS? She did NOT.She DID? No she…”

And so on.This woman had two children, who were playing in the sea.I found myself watching them, because the woman surely was not.A huge squid could have caught and snatched the children, and this woman would not have noticed.Or, if she had noticed, she’d have said, “Listen.I have to go, because a huge squid just……No! She didn’t ! She DID? No! She……”

And next to me, the play-by-play man would have said: “…AND A HUGE SQUID JUST ATE TWO CHILDREN, AND I’M GETTING A LITTLE SUNBURNED, AND …”

It used to be that the major trouble at the beach was the fellow who brought a boom box (便携式录音机) and turned it up so loud that the bass notes caused seagulls to explode.But at least you knew where these fellows were; you never know which beachgoers have mobile phones.You’ll settle next to what appears to be a sleeping sunbather, or even (you hope) a corpse , and you’ll lie happily on your towel, and you’ll get all the way to the second sentence of your 467-page book before you fall asleep to the hypnotic surge of the surf (催人入梦的潮声), and …

BREEP! BREEP! The corpse sits up, feels urgently for its mobile phone, and shouts “Hello! I’m at the beach! Yes! It’s nice! Very peaceful! What? She did? No, she didn’t! She DID? No, she…”

Loud mobile-phoners never seem to get urgent calls.Just once, I’d like to hear one of them say, “Hello? Yes, this is Dr.Johnson.Oh, Dr.Smith.You’ve opened the abdominal cavity (腹腔)? Good! Now the appendix should be right under the … What? No, that’s the liver.Don’t take THAT out, ha ha! Oh, you did? My God! OK, now listen carefully…”

1.From the passage we can know that the writer of the passage _____.

A.had a wonderful holiday at the beach

B.must have suffered a lot because of the terrible weather

C.is only interested in talks by doctors about operation

D.experienced an unhappy holiday at the beach

2.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A.The writer often spends his holidays at the beach.

B.A huge squid ate two children while their mother was not watching.

C.Some people used to play boom box while spending their holidays at the beach.

D.Some people often make loud mobile phone calls without caring for others.

3.The underlined word“ corpse”in this passage has the closest meaning to________.

A.a dead body

B.a loud mobile phone

C.a sound sleeper

D.a sleep lover

4.In the past the fellow who brought a boom box_________.

A.turned it up to make the seagulls happy

B.turned it up to cause the seagulls to explode

C.might cause less trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

D.might cause more trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

5.We can infer from the passage that _______.

A.the writer is interested in mobile phone.

B.the writer hates people using mobile phone

C.the writer hates to be disturbed while enjoying holidays on the beach.

D.the writer seldom finishes reading a book before going to sleep.

 

Do you want to live a happier, less stressful (有压力的) life?
Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world – and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr Kataria. “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing – it’s the universal language. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects (效果) of laughter on our health. According to a 5 – year study in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest – I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real – and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!

  1. 1.

    In which country was the first Laughter Club started?

    1. A.
      Britain.
    2. B.
      America.
    3. C.
      Australia.
    4. D.
      India.
  2. 2.

    How did the writer feel at the beginning of the class?

    1. A.
      Surprised.
    2. B.
      Pleased.
    3. C.
      Nervous.
    4. D.
      Stressful.
  3. 3.

    When did the people in the club begin to laugh for real?

    1. A.
      After a few minutes.
    2. B.
      After a few hours.
    3. C.
      After a few seconds.
    4. D.
      After a few days.
  4. 4.

    Which of the following is true according to the passage?

    1. A.
      Fake laughter and real laughter are both good for health.
    2. B.
      40% of the people in Laughter Clubs are good friends.
    3. C.
      Adults laugh more often than children in a day.
    4. D.
      Laughing is the best way to prevent illness.

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