IS THERE LIFE ON EARTH?

There was great excitement on the planet of Venus(金星) this week. For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs ever since.?

The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan (named after the great Venusian astronomer Prof. Manhattan, who first discovered it with his telescope 20 000 light years ago).Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information as to feasibility(可行性) of a manned flying saucer(飞碟) landing on Earth.A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology.?

“We have come to the conclusion,based on last week's satellite landing,” Pro. Zog said,“that there is no life on the Earth.”?

“How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening Star asked. ?

“For one thing, Earth's surface in the area of Manhattan is composed of solid concrete(混凝土)and nothing can grow there. For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide(一氧化碳) and other deadly gases and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive.”?

“What does this mean as far as our flying saucer program is concerned?”?

“We shall have to take our own oxygen with us, which means a much heavier flying saucer than we originally planned. ”

“Are there any other hazards that you discovered in your studies?”?

“Take a look at this photo. You see this dark cloud floating over the surface of Earth? We call this the Consolidated Edison Belt. We don't know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there.”?

“If what you say is true, won't this set back the flying saucer program several years?”?

“Yes, but we shall proceed as soon as the Grubstart gives us the added funds.”?

“Prof. Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?”?

“Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in an Earth atmosphere, then we can live anywhere.”

During the week of great excitement the Venusian scientists succeeded in getting important information on whether they can_______.

A. land a satellite with Venus astronauts on Earth

B. make a first?rate flying saucer?

C. get a Earth Being to Venus

D. direct a flying saucer into Manhattan?

According to Prof.Zog,the Venusians will have to take their own oxygen with them when they carry out their flying saucer program because_______.?

A. they need it on their way to the planet of Earth?

B. the Earth's atmosphere is filled with deadly gases?

C. oxygen is far from enough in the area of Manhattan where the saucer is to land?

D. there is no air on the planet of Earth?

The “dark black cloud” on the photograph refers to_______.?

A. the polluted air floating over the surface of Earth?

B. the mass of tiny drops of water floating above Earth?

C. the things that are unknown to everybody?

D. the dark clouds gathering before a storm breaks?

The author wishes to call our attention to the fact_______.?

A. that modern man has polluted his environment to such an extent that he might destroy himself if he went on like this?

B. that there is no point in spending billions and billions of zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth?

C. that pollution has become so serious a problem on Earth that even Venusians find life there unbearable?

D. that it is difficult, if not altogether impossible, to land a manned flying saucer on Earth

 More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving(旺盛的). As Skolnich notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline(衰退)in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce(离婚)rate needs to be taken in this pro- marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.

  What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty- five years ago, the typical American family consisted of the husband, the wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children, and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses (配偶).

  Thus, one can find every type of tamely arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriages; marriages with “full - time” children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with“full- time”children from the present marriage and“ part- time”children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half- brothers and half - sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

 By calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.

  A. Americans are more traditional than Europeans

  B. Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

  C. there are more married couples in the USA than in Europe

  D. more of Americans, as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age

Divorced Americans ________ .

  A. prefer the way they live

  B. will most likely remarry

  C. have lost interest in marriage

  D. are the majority of people in the society

Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families?

  A. Which types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable.

  B. A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife.

  C. Americans prefer to have more kids than before.

  D. There are no nuclear families any more.

 More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving(旺盛的). As Skolnich notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline(衰退)in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce(离婚)rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.

  What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty-five years ago, the typical American family consisted of the husband, the wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children, and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses(配偶).

  Thus, one can find every type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriages; marriages with“full-time”children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with“full-time”children from the present marriage and“part-time”children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half-brothers and half-sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

By calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.

  A. Americans are more traditional than Europeans

  B. Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans

  C. there are more married couples in the USA than in Europe

  D. more of Americans, as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age

Divorced Americans ________ .

  A. prefer the way they live                   B. will most likely remarry

  C. have lost interest in marriage               D. are the majority of people in the society

Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families?

  A. Different types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable.

  B. A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife.

  C. Americans prefer to have more kids than before.

  D. There are no nuclear families any more.

Though great changes have taken place in the structure of American families, ________ .

  A. the majority of Americans still have faith in marriage

  B. the functions of marriage remain unchanged

  C. most Americans prefer a second marriage

D. most Americans prefer to be single

How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and the old wishing they were young again! Each age has its pleasure and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each agc gives him without wasting any time in uselcss regrets.
Children is a time when there are few duties to make life hard. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after, and loved whatever he may do. It’s impossible for him to be given so much again in his life without having to do anything in return. Besides, life is always giving new things to the child. A child finds pleasure in playing in the rain, or in the snow. His first visit to the seaside makes him wild. But a child has his pains; he is not so free to do as he wishes. He is continually being told not to do this, not to do that, or being punished for what he has done wrong. His life is therefore not perfectly happy.
When the young man starts to make his own living, he becomes free from the rules of school and parents; but at the time he is forced to accept duties. He can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the law of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison, lf, however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble, and has good health, he can have the great happiness of seeing himself make steady pro-gress in his job and of building up his own position in society.
Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but it is not necessary for the old to be unhappy. With old age should come wisdom and tile ability to help others with advice wisely given. They can have the joy of seeing their Children making progress in life; they can watch their grandchildren growing up around them and, perhaps, best of all, they can, if their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving others to continue the fight.
【小题1】The main reason children wish they were grown up, and the old wish they were young again is that ______.

A.both aren’t satisfied with the weak points at their ages
B.both enjoy the strong points at the other age by looking back or looking forward
C.the human beings should be like this
D.they don’t think both ages are acceptable
【小题2】“Enjoy what each age gives him without wasting time in useless regrets” means ______. 
A.Enjoy what is given to him by people at his age, feeling regrets
B.Enjoy himself at his own age, feeling regrets for a waste of time
C.Make full use of the time he is given at his age instead of regretting having no achievements
D.Enjoy his own age and took down on the people at other ages
【小题3】“Children is a time when there are few duties to make life hard” means “______”. 
A.Children shouldn’t be made to live a hard life
B.All the children won’t have to work for their own living
C.Children shouldn’t answer for the hard life they are leading
D.A child bas few duties to try hard to make a living for himself or for his seniors
【小题4】 According to the passage, what is a child’s greatest dissatisfaction? 
A.He thinks he has not got the equal freedom as his seniors.
B.He thinks he knows less about things than the older do.
C.He thinks it easy for him to do something wrong.
D.He thinks the society doesn’t believe in him.

According to researchers.money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.

Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly bring you happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found.

Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably(适度地) happier when they spent money on others--even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.

"We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn," said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia.

They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.

"Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not," Dunn said in a statement.

Dunn's team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus(奖金) of between $3,000 and $8,000.

"Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself," they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it.Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.

"These findings suggest that very minor alterations(改动) in spending allocations(分配) - as little as $5 - may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day," Dunn said.

1.According to the passage,_____________.

    A.the more money you spend on others, the happier you are

    B.spending money on others can bring you happiness

    C.Elizabeth Dunn is a psychologist from Harvest Business School

    D.six hundred volunteers took part in the experiment

2.The 16 employees mentioned in the passage _________.

    A.were given clear instructions on how to spend the bonus

    B.had more happiness than the size of the bonus itself

    C.experienced greater happiness after receiving their bonus

    D.felt happier after they contributed much of the bonus of charities

3.Dunn’s statement suggested that ______________.

    A.those who spent money on others felt happier no matter how much they earned

    B.those who spent more money on themselves felt happier

    C.people thought spending money could make themselves happier

    D.the money spent was as important as the money earned

4.The best title of this passage is ___________.

    A.Experiment on Money Spending

    B.Spending Money on Others Makes One Happier

    C.Devoting Your Money to Charities

    D.Bonus and Pro-social Spending

 

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