Talk about happiness
We should not hesitate too much during the first half of our lives, while we should not regret at what we’ve done during the other half. We should seize every opportunity to find a way out in our lives, for it goes off swiftly. We should say something urgent slowly, something serious clearly, something small humorously and something unsure cautiously. We should never say something that did not happen, something that you cannot do, something that does harm to others, and something that is disgusting. We should tell others our happiness on specific occasions and should not tell anyone our unhappiness. Do not easily say something about others. We should follow our own heart and interest, and fulfill what we should do instead of merely paying lip service and looking forward to the future.
Everyone is longing for a happy life, but owning wealth does not necessarily mean owning happiness. To truly reach happiness, we need to know how to get on with others. So we need to understand what happiness is really about and achieve what we desire.
We need to know and understand happiness before we finally get it. A smart man must know to do something good even though it may be small, and not to do something evil even though it may be tiny in the course of socializing. As long as we keep a kind heart and do everything morally and legally, we can live a peaceful life. But if we keep an evil heart and do whatever we want, we are indeed digging a tomb for ourselves. A smart man knows to learn a lesson from his falls, for he knows that every setback is a precious experience leading to happiness in the future. He will not waste his time in criticizing others. Instead, he tends to spend more time seeking his own happiness. He knows to keep a heart of conscience and not to spread others’ mistakes. He also knows to think before he leaps so that he will not feel regretful afterwards. Moreover, he knows to tolerate others, so he can naturally lead a happy life.
Without happiness, one will feel terribly miserable, for he always insists that he has done the right thing all the time and that others often do wrong to him. He blames every mistake on others or the environment instead of reflecting on himself, which keeps him farther and farther away from happiness. A celebrity once said, “Nobody intends to make mistakes. One makes mistakes because of his ignorance.” Therefore, if someone makes mistakes, we need to care about him, forgive him and enlighten him by setting a good example to him instead of losing temper and hating him. Otherwise, we are also ignorant like him, for we also make a stupid mistake that leads us farther from happiness.
In order to possess a happy life, we need to know more about others, about the society, about our culture and history. We should be patriotic(爱国的), obey the law and realize our own responsibility, and then we will definitely have a happy life.

Margaret, married with two small children, has been working for the last seven years as a night cleaner, cleaning offices in a big building.
She trained as a nurse, but had to give it up when her elder child became seriously ill. “I would have liked to go back to it, but the shifts(工作班次) are all wrong for me, as I have to be home to get the children up and off to school.”
So she works as a cleaner instead, from 9 p．m. till 6 a．m. five nights a week for just ￡90, before tax and insurance. “It’s better than it was last year, but I still think that people who work ‘unsocial hours’ should get a bit extra.”
The hours she's chosen to work meant that she sees plenty of the children, but very little of her husband. However, she doesn't think that puts any pressure on their relationship.
Her work isn't physically very hard, but it's not exactly pleasant, either. “I do get angry with people who leave their offices like a place for raising pigs. If they realized people like me have to do it, perhaps they'd be a bit more careful.”
The fact that she's working all night doesn't worry Margaret at all. Unlike some dark buildings at night, the building where she works is fully lit, and the women work in groups of three. “Since I've got to be here, I try to enjoy myself——and I usually do, because of the other girls. We all have a good laugh, so the time never drags.”
Another challenge Margaret has to face is the reaction of other people when she tells them what she does for a living. “They think you're a cleaner because you don't know how to read and write，” said Margaret. “I used to think what_my_parents_would_say_if_they_knew_what_I'd_been_doing,_but I don't think that way any more. I don't dislike the work though I can't say I'm mad about it.”
【小题1】Margaret quit her job as a nurse because________

At the end of eight grade, our class went to Washington, D.C. For a group of 14-year-olds, this was a big deal!

The first day was so tiring; we could hardly remember where we were and what we were seeing. The next morning, we were off to see monuments (纪念碑)，starting with Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. We walked along the paths through trees. Then the Wall came into view—the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

As I moved slowly closer to the Wall, I heard a bagpipe（风笛）in the distance, which seemed to show respect to the lives lost in the jungles of Vietnam .

We continued walking and felt surprised at the number of names carved in the black stone. I was determined to find a soldier with my last name, but my hunt was stopped when a man caught my eyes. He was kneeling(跪着) at the Wall, a single rose at his feet. His head was bowed and he was rubbing his fingers over one name. I thought how sad he was, and then moved on .

After a few minutes I found one with my last name, but my eyes returned to the kneeling man. He was still rubbing his fingers over the same name. He never knew I was watching him, lost in deep sorrow. It was time for me to leave the kneeling man and the Wall. On the way home, I couldn’t help thinking of the kneeling man and his sad face. I wasn’t sure of the effects of war before, but at that moment I realized how much that man suffered from losing his loved one. Maybe he was the only one of so many families who experienced the same .

I never knew the full effects of war until I saw that man. I only know about war from history classes. The kneeling man taught me more about war and the effects it has on people than any history book .

1.Which of the following makes the author feel the suffering that war brings to human beings?

2.The man continued to rub his fingers over the name probably because_____.

3.What did the author learn from the trip?

4.According to the last paragraph, the author probably thinks that _____.

l like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh and do things with. Surely, there are times when we need to be alone. We don't always want people around. But we would feel lonely if we never had a friend.
No two people are the same. Sometimes friends don't get along well, which doesn't mean that they no longer like each other. Most of the time they will go on being friends. Sometimes friends move away, then we feel very sad. We miss them much, but we can call them and write to them. Maybe we would never see them again, and we can make new friends. It is surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them. Families sometimes name their children after a close friend. Many places are named after men and women, if they are friendly to people in a town. So are some schools. We think of these people when we go to these places.
There's more good news for people, if they have friends. These people live longer than those people if those don't have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier. Being happy helps you stay well. Or it could be just knowing that someone cares, if someone cares about you, you take better care of yourself.
【小题1】The first paragraph tells us __________.

It seems hard to watch someone yawn and not to yawn ourselves. Even reading about yawning can make you do it. Now, a new study has found why yawning has such a powerful force.
Yawning when others yawn, the study suggests, is a sign of pity and a form of social connection. Kids don’t develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four, the study found. Kids with autism (自闭症) are less likely to catch yawns. In the most serious cases, they never do. Yawning might help doctors to see whether the children are developing rightly. The work could also lead to a better understanding of the ways that people communicate and connect.
"Emotional infection seems to be a born thing that connects us together," said Molly Helt, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Connecticut. "Yawning may be part of that." Inspiration for her study came when she tried to get her own autistic son to clear his ears on an airplane. She repeatedly yawned at him, hoping he would yawn back. He never did.
"The fact that autistic kids don’t do it might mean they’re really missing out on that emotional connection with people around them," she said. "The biggest thing people try to figure out after birth is how we become humans and understand that humans have minds that are different from others’," she added. "Autistic people never seem to understand that."
Like infectious laughter and crying, scientists have found that yawning is a shared experience that promotes social connection. Helt said it could fight stress after a period of being nervous and spread a feeling of calm through a group.
【小题1】What does the new study suggest, according to the first two paragraphs?