The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

　　As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment（承担的义务）, self - improvement.

　　Ask a bachelor（单身汉） why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.

　　Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three - day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.

　　Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.

According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because ____________ .

　　A. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities

　　B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single

　　C. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

　　D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement

Raising children, in the author’s opinion is ____________ .

A. a moral duty                         

B. a thankless job

C. a rewarding task                      

D. a source of inevitable pain

From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from ____________ .

A. hatred　　                              

B. misunderstanding　　　　

C. prejudice　　　　                       

D. ignorance

To understand what true happiness is one must ____________ .

　　A. have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime

　　B. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain

　　C. put up with pain under all circumstances

　　D. be able to distinguish happiness from fun

What is the author trying to tell us?

A. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain．

B. One must know how to attain happiness.

C. It is important to make commitments.    　　

D. It is pain that leads to happiness.

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 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.

My husband is an engineer. Since we met，he has always been the rock in my life.I knew he had his feet　 __36__　 planted on the ground，and it seemed that no matter what else went　 __37__，he would be the constant one.

Three years of romance and two years of marriage later, I began to feel　 __38__　 of him because he never brought me flowers，he never　 __39__ me，and nothing had changed in our marriage.

After　 __40__， I finally told him I wanted to be　 __41__. He just sat there, speechless and didn't even know __42__　 to say to make me stay. Finally，he spoke, “What can I do to change your __43__？”

“I'll stay if you have a good answer　 __44__　 this question，”I replied coldly. “If I asked for a　 __45__ growing on a cliff, and getting it for me　 __46__　 certain death，would you still do so？”

His face grew troubled. “Can I give you the answer tomorrow morning？” With that, my heart　 __47__. He couldn't even give me an answer　 __48__　 away.

The next morning，I found he was　 __49__. However，I found a note under a warm glass of milk. My eyes　　 __50__　 misty(湿润)as I was reading it.

“Dear，I'll give you my　 __51__.

After you do typing for a long time, I need my　　 __52__　 to do it for you.

Every time you leave the house，you forget your keys. I need my legs to run　 __53__　 and open the door for you.... that's why I cannot pick the flower for you...”

With tears　 __54__　 from my eyes, I opened the door. And there he was, with an extremely worried look on his face, waving the packet he had in his hand in front of me.

Just because someone doesn't love you　 __55__　 you want him to, it doesn't mean that he doesn't love you heart and soul.

36．A.deeply　　 B．firmly　　C．slightly　　　　 D．totally

37．A.different B．crazy C．exciting D．excited

38．A.liked　 　　 B．tried C．fond 　　 D．tired

39．A.frightened 　　　 B．loved 　C．surprised 　　 D．lost

40．A.some time 　　　 B．sometime C．sometimes 　 D．some times

41．A.in　 　 B．up 　C．down 　 D．out

42．A.what　 　　 B．which C．how　 　 D．when

43．A.saying 　　 B．comment C．opinion D．mind

44．A.to 　　 B．of C．for D．about

45．A.tree B．moon 　C．flower 　 D．butterfly

46．A.meant　 　 B．resulted C．caused D．led

47．A.sank B．settled C．rose 　　 D．worried

48．A.soon　 　　 B．straight C．slight 　 D．quickly

49．A.missed 　　 B．missing 　C．losing 　 D．lost

50．A.fell 　 B．changed 　C．grew 　　 D．got

51．A.descriptions 　 B．causes 　C．lists 　　 D．reasons

52．A.heart 　　　 B．fingers C．mind 　　 D．arms

53．A.home　 　　 B．at home C．out D．in

54．A.steaming B．stretching C．streaming 　　 D．spreading

55．A.like it 　　　 B．way C．how　 　 D．the way