How often one hears children wishing they were grown-ups, and, old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.

Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities(责任) to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. What’s more, life is always giving new things to the child——things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well known. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is repeatedly being told not to do something, or being punished for what he has wrongly done.

When a young man starts to earn his own living, 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 laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If, however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.

1.According to Paragraph 2, the writer thinks that          .

A．life for a child is fairly easy

B．a child is always loved whatever he does

C．if much is given to a child, he must do something in return

D．only children are interested in life

2.The main idea of the passage is that            .

A．life is not enjoyable since each age has some pains

B．young men can have the greatest happiness if they work hard

C．childhood is the most enjoyable time in one’s life

D．one is the happiest if he can make good use of each age in his life

3.The paragraph following this passage will most probably discuss           .

A．examples of successful young men

B．how to build up one’s position in society

C．joys and pains of old people

D．what to do when one has problems in life

One of the most difficult questions to answer is how much a job is worth. We naturally expect that a doctor’s salary will be higher than a bus conductor’s wages. But the question becomes much more difficult to answer when we compare a miner with an engineer, or an unskilled man working on an oil-rig（钻探平台）with a teacher in a secondary school. What the doctor, the engineer and the teacher have in common is that they have devoted several years to studying in order to obtain the necessary qualifications for their professions. We feel instinctively that these skills and these years should be rewarded. At the same time we recognize that the work of the miner and the oil-rig laborer is both hard and dangerous, and that they must be highly paid for the risks they take.
　　Another aspect we must take into consideration is how socially useful a man’s work is. Most people would agree that looking after the sick or teaching children is more important than, say, selling second-hand cars. Yet it is almost certain that the used-car salesman earns more than the nurse and the schoolteacher.
　　Indeed, this whole question of just rewards can be turned on its head. You can argue that a man who does a job which brings him personal satisfaction is already receiving part of his reward in the form of a so-called “psychic（精神的）wage”, and that it is the man with the boring, repetitive job who needs more money to make up for the soul-destroying repetitiveness of his work. It is significant that the jobs like nursing and teaching continue to be poorly paid, while others, such as those in the world of sport or entertainment, carry financial rewards out of all proportion to their social worth.
Although the amount of money that people earn is largely determined by market forces, this should not prevent us from seeking some way to decide what is the right pay for the job. A starting point would be to try to decide the ratio（比率）which ought to exist between the highest and the lowest paid. The picture is made more complicated by two factors: firstly by the welfare benefits which every citizen receives, and secondly by the taxation system which is often used as an instrument of social justice by taxing high incomes at a very high rate indeed. Most countries now regard a ratio of 7:1 as socially acceptable. If it is less, the highly-qualified people carrying heavy responsibilities will become disappointed, and might even end up by leaving for another country. If it is more, the difference between rich and poor will be so great that it will lead to social unrest.
【小题1】Why do people naturally expect that doctors should be well-paid?

Claude and Louris are “giraffes”. So are police officers Hankins and Pearson. These men and women don’t look like giraffes; they look like you and me. Then, why do people call them “giraffes”?

A giraffe, they say, is an animal that sticks its neck out, can see places far away and has a large heart. It lives a quiet life and moves about in an easy and beautiful way. In the same way, a “giraffe” can be a person who likes to “stick his or her neck out” for other people, always watches for future happenings, has a warm heart for people around, and at the same time lives a quiet and beautiful life himself or herself.

“The Giraffe Project” is a 10-year-old group which finds and honors “giraffes” in the US and in the world. The group wants to teach people to do something to build a better world. The group members believe that a person shouldn’t draw his or her head back; instead, they tell people to “stick their neck out” and help others. Claude and Louris, Hankins and Pearson are only a few of the nearly 1,000 “giraffes” that the group found and honored.

Claude and Louris were getting old and they left their work with some money that they saved for future use. One day, however, they saw a homeless man looking for a place to keep warm and they decided that they should “stick their neck out” and give him some help. Today, they lived in Friends’ House, where they invite twelve homeless people to stay every night.

Police officers Hankins and Pearson work in a large city. They see crimes every day and their work is sometimes dangerous. They work hard for their money. However, these two men put their savings together and even borrowed money to start an educational center to teach young people in a poor part of the city. Hankins and Pearson are certainly “giraffes”.

56. Which of the following is true?

A. Some of the people around us look like giraffes.

B. Giraffes are the most beautiful animal in the world.

C. “Giraffes” is a beautiful name for those who are ready to help other people.

D. A “giraffe” is someone who can stick his neck out and see the future.

57. “The Giraffe Project” is a group _____.

A. of police officers        B. which appeared ten years ago

C. of ten-year-old children   D. which takes care of children

58. People call Claude and Hankins “giraffes” because they _____.

A. do what is needed for a good world       B. are not afraid of dangerous work

C. found a home for some homeless people   D. made money only for other people

59. The passage mainly tries to tell us _____.

A. what giraffes are like

B. what the Giraffe Project is

C. why Claude, Louris, Hankins and Pearson are called “giraffes” 

D. what we should do for a better world

Have you ever wondered: What drives successful people? Take a look around and talk to your friends and seniors who are very successful, you will see all of them have adopted certain values which have proved vital for their success.

It is evident that successful people take initiative (主动性). When they find something needs to be done, they just do it instead of waiting. They believe that responsibility is taken, not given. They weigh immediately what has to be done and then do it with pleasure, thus strengthening their reputation.

Successful people are enthusiastic about the things they do, especially when they believe in what they are doing. They are motivated by their own satisfaction and the joy they get from doing their work. They work hard even when no one is watching and they throw themselves into their work.

They do not fear failure. Failures and disappointments in life are unavoidable. It is failure that teaches us much more than success. Successful people pick themselves up after a fall and try again with more determination and commitment and learn from each failure. They associate with those they can learn from and enjoy the company of those who appreciate their achievement.

    Having good IQ often gets a person what he wants but it’s really the EQ that keeps him there and helps him enjoy a high reputation. Successful people are polite to everyone and treat others with respect. By giving respect to others, they command respect for themselves.

Another important quality of successful persons is that they never complain. It’s better to praise others and win favor with them. So instead of complaining about a situation, successful people always try to solve it.

To put it shortly, take initiative and be enthusiastic about them. Do not be afraid to fail, but get up and start again. When you do so, success will be just around the corner.

Title: What Makes People Successful?

__46  People use money to buy food, furniture，books，bicycles and hundreds of other things they need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money．
Most of the money today is made of metal or paper． 47  One of the first kinds of money was shells．
Shells were not the only things used as money．In China，cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money for a long time. Elephant tusks，monkey tails and salt were used as money in parts of Africa．
The first metal coins were made in China, They were round and had a square hole in the centre．  48  
Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money．  49  Sweden and Russia used copper(铜) to make their money. Later some countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money．__ 50  The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than the paper money used today.
Money has an interesting history from the days of shell money until today．