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

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

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(忽视) 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 lunchbox and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I 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 most.

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.

1.As people grow older, they  _____   .

A. care less about their happiness

B. feel it harder to experience happiness

C. will take fewer risks in pursuing happiness

D. tend to believe responsibility means happiness

2.What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 5 and 6?

A. She cares little about her own health

B. She enjoys the freedom of traveling

C. She prefers getting pleasure from housework

D. She is easily pleased by things in daily life

3.People who equal happiness with wealth and success_____

A. stress their right to happiness too much

B. consider pressure something blocking their way

C. are at a loss to make correct choices

D. are more likely to be happy

4.What can be concluded from the passage?

A. Happiness lies in wealth B. Each man is the servant of his own fate

C. Happy is he who is content D. Success leads to happiness

Some of the best things in life don’t happen until you grow old enough to recognize them. I can say that about tea.

I didn’t start to drink tea until I was 35. What happened before that? The first time I felt a genuine urge to drink tea was in 2003, when I stayed briefly in the United Kingdom. After a time of consuming local food, I started to really like strong black tea. Although it was too strong to my tongue, I felt it was a necessity because it was comforting to my body.

I took packs of green teas with me as gifts but was disappointed to find my British friends preferred much stronger black teas from Sri Lanka. Later I learned that although people know China for its teas, it ranks only third among the world’s black tea exporters, after Sri Lanka and Kenya.

After I came back to China and started to cover food stories, I met friends in the tea-drinking circle and learned more. Although the majority of the rest of the world drinks black tea, which the Chinese call“red tea”, China produces and drinks mostly green teas.

I feel lucky to be Chinese because of the great variety of teas available in the country. It is estimated that there are more than 2,000 teas in China if you divide them geographically, including more than 600 locally famous brews. A more simple way to categorize (分类) is by color and extent of fermentation (发酵). That comes down to six main categories—green, white, yellow, dark-greenish (oolong), red and black teas.

Tasting teas can be compared to our lives. They can be plain and predictable but sometimes they are full of pleasant surprises. Occasionally they can even seem too good to be true. The best thing is, you know there’s always more to explore.

1.Which country ranks first among the world’s black tea exporters?

A. Sri Lanka B. China

C. Kenya D. United States

2.The writer of this passage works as a ________.

A. manager B. journalist

C. scientist D. tea grower

3.All of the following statements about tea in China are true EXCEPT ________.

A. varieties of tea is planted and produced each year in China

B. all tea in China can be divided into six categories with no exceptions

C. tea in China can be categorized by color and extend of fermentation

D. tea in China can be divided into more than 2000 categories geographically

4.What column does this passage belong to in a newspaper?

A. World B. Business

C. Travel D. Lifestyle

Cloning has the potential to change society. For some,it’s a welcome development designed to make our lives easier. For others,it represents a threat to the health and balance of society,especially from a moral perspective(角度). Looking at these cloning pros and cons,it’s important to consider the scientific,financial,and social aspects of cloning processes.

From a scientific perspective,cloning can be considered major progress. Scientists aren’t limited by population. It’s also possible to clone pieces of living things.

However,cloning changes the natural order of life and death. Why should scientists have to treat an animal well in the lab if they can just make more? As a result,scientists may become lazy or careless with the living things they work on.

Cloning is a major business. Medical research groups have invested millions of dollars in making cloning possible. As a result,they can make big profits from selling cloning services to hospitals and the public. However,the wealth they achieve doesn’t mean that cloning itself is a profitable trial. For example,while a company may clone an organ,its price may be too high to afford. As a result,only rich people and governments could use cloning products.

As a whole,cloning for society can be debated for hours. On one hand,you have religious groups,who say that cloning is wrong. On the other hand,you have many people who are looking forward to making clones of themselves so that the clone can serve as a worker and leave the original person to enjoy a life of relaxation and wealth.

1.We can conclude from the first paragraph that ________.

A. opinions about cloning vary from person to person

B. more people think little of the benefits of cloning

C. cloning has the potential to change society for better

D. people should think of cloning in a more scientific way

2.Why do some people think cloning has a bad effect on scientific experiments?

A. More money may be spent on cloning other living things.

B. Scientists will become careless with their experiments.

C. Cloning may disturb the balance of nature and wildlife.

D. Scientists may ignore the living things they work on.

3.What is the disadvantage of cloning products put into the market?

A. More fake cloning products will crowd into the market soon.

B. Only a limited group would have access to cloning products.

C. Patients have to buy cloning products from hospitals or governments.

D. Scientists may pay attention to quantity of cloning products rather than quality.

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