The octopus’s（章鱼）reputation as a human-killer isn’t simply an exaggeration（夸张）—it is a total myth. The octopus can indeed be a deadly hunter, but only of its natural victims. Some shellfish（壳类动物）and an occasional sick or incautious fish have reason to be frightened of this multi-armed hunter, but a person is much too large to interest even the biggest octopus. Even the largest among octopi is much smaller than most people imagine. Far from being large enough to swallow a ship, as monster octopi in movies have been known to do, the largest octopus, found on the Pacific coast, weighs around 110 pounds and grows to no more than ten feet in width.

   The hard, parrot-like beak（喙）of an octopus is not used for attacking deep-sea divers, but for cutting open shellfish. Indeed, the octopus possesses such a tiny throat that it cannot swallow large pieces of meat. Instead, it feeds by pouring digestive juices into its victims, and then sucking up the soupy remains. A shellfish that finds itself in the grasp of an octopus has only a short time to live. But human beings are perfectly safe. Still, people rarely care to go close enough to these careful creatures to get a good look at them.

1.This passage is mainly about           .

A．the horrors of the octopus

B．the largest octopus in the world

C．octopi and their behavior

D．the octopus’s deadly hunting method

2.It is implied but not stated in the passage that           .

A．people have unreasonable fears about the octopus

B．the octopus is not interested in human beings

C．the octopus is afraid of human beings

D．the octopus is a very cruel sea animal

3.What does the underlined part “careful creatures” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．Octopi.        B．Shellfish.     C．Fish.    D．The victims.

4.The hard beak of the octopus is used for           .

A．attacking deep-sea divers   B．cutting up large pieces of meat

C．cutting open its victims        D．defending itself

5.From the passage, we can conclude that           .

A．the octopus is not dangerous to man

B．people often fear creatures that are not dangerous to them

C．the octopus only hunts its natural victims

D．things described in movies are not to be believed

Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.

Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself, each extra dollar makes less and less difference.

Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.

“Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better,” conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways－scientists or actors, for example－may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.

In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desire－not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health－rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap(差距). Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. “The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income.” Says Michalos.

Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad. “Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?” asks Professor Laura Carstensen.

In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often.

Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve. But Carstensen thinks that with times running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don’t.

“People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever,” she says. “A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of 85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20.”

1.According to the passage, the feeling of happiness __________.

2.Some actors would like to accept poorly-paid jobs because the jobs ____________.

3.Aged people are more likely to feel happy because they are more _________.

4.Professor Alex Michalos found that people feel less happy if __________.

When it comes to friends, people always know this old saying——A friend in need is a friend indeed. The best friend a man has in the world may     him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has       with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good reputation, may         our faith. A man may        the money he has. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are ready to fall on their knees to do us         when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of hatred when         settles its cloud upon our heads. The one         unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never         him, the one that never proves          or distrusted, is his dog.

A man’s dog stands by him in richness and in        , in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the cold wind blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his         side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to         ; he will lick the wounds and sores that come from encounter with the roughness of the world. He will guard the sleep of his master         he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he        . When wealth and reputation fall to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journeys through the heavens.

If fortune drives the master forth, a deserted person in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of         him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his         . And when the last         of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace, and his body is         in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends         their ways, there by the grave will the          dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.

1.A. turn to       B. submit to      C. turn against D. look up

2.A. brought up B. come up      C. grown up      D. catch up

3.A. restore      B. betray C. keep    D. strengthen

4.A. gain B. lose      C. earn     D. donate

5.A. honor        B. favor  C. credit   D. good

6.A. shadow     B. success         C. failure D. depression

7.A. accurately B. deliberately          C. equally          D. absolutely

8.A. appreciates B. envies         C. admires        D. deserts

9.A. ungrateful B. unfortunate           C. faithful          D. considerate

10.A. poverty B. progress          C. welfare         D. wealth

11.A. host’s       B. master’s        C. landlord’s    D. chief’s

12.A. serve       B. fetch    C. offer  D. order

13.A .only if   B. in case C. even if          D. as if

14.A. flees        B. remains        C. ignores         D. persists

15.A. serving B. protecting             C. spoiling        D. accompanying

16.A. enemies  B. masters       C. friends          D. acquaintances

17.A. sight        B. scenery        C. scene   D. view

18.A. buried     B. hung         C. thrown       D. laid

19.A. force       B. lose       C. pursue          D. find

20.A. mean        B. general         C. selfish D. Noble

第四部分书面表达（满分25分）
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