Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup(民意调查) Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.
【小题1】 What can be the best title of the text?

B
We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that  their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests’ coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big “to do” over  the younger one because she’s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions.
But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.
I said, “What are you doing, my dear?”
She turned to me with a sad expression and said, “Mommy, why don’t people like me the way they like my sister?” Is it because I’m not pretty? Is that why they don’t say nice things about me as much?
I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now, whenever I visit a friend’s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.
59. The underlined expression “make a big ‘to do’ over” (Paragraph 4) means “_____” .
A. show much concern about               B. have a special effect on
C. list jobs to be done for                    D. do good things for
60. The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her________.
A. beautiful hair                                 B. pretty clothes           
C. lovely smile                                   D. young age
61. Kristen felt sad and cried because_________.
A. the guests gave her more coats to carry
B. she didn’t look as pretty as Kelly
C. the guests praised her sister more than her
D. her mother didn’t introduce her to the guests
62. We can conclude from the passage that______.
A. parents should pay more attention to the elder children
B. the younger children are usually more easily hurt
C. people usually like the younger children more
D. adults should treat children equally

A few weeks ago, I followed a friend into an art supply store．I found him picking out tubes of water-color paint, which __36__ me because he’s not an artist.
"I   37  up for a water-color class, and it starts next week," he said．"I really don’t have  38_ for it, but it was on my list of 50 things to do before I die, so I _39__ it．Every few months I look at the list and decide what to focus on next． 40  I had the list, I complained a lot about what I was  41 _ in my life．Now I just bury myself in doing these things．Write your own list．and you’ll   42  what I mean．"
So that night．I did just that, and he was right．The list revealed （显露出） a whole lot about what was __43__ to me．It also revealed how _44___ behind I am at getting to the things I really want．
I filled up the first twenty __45__ quickly, but then began to think carefully．
Eventually I __46_ items I’ve thought about for years, and __47__ I’ve carried with me since I was young．When I  48  the list later, some entries surprised me．
First, I want to _ 49_ much more, particularly now that my children are   50_ and can go with me to see the world．I would like to take them to bike through Denmark and camp in the Canadian Rockies．
I’m also surprised to _51_ some things on the list that need to be done soon．If I’m going to learn to roller-blade （轮滑）, __52_, I’d better start before I turn 50．
Like my friend, I now have an alternative to __53__．When I’m bored with life, I take out my list．
My friend told me the _54_ was preparing the ground so that life could work in mysterious ways．"If you want your ship to come in, you must build a dock （码头）," he said．
Thanks to my _55__, I’m working on some big docks．

Ⅱ   阅读(共两节，满分50分)
第一节：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Parents have to do much less for their children today than they used to do，and home has become much less of a workshop. Clothes can be bought ready made; washing can go to the laundry; food can be bought; cooked，canned or preserved; bread is baked and delivered by the baker; milk arrives on the doorstep; meats can be had at the restaurant，the work’s canteen，and the school dining-room.
It is unusual now for father to pursue his trade or other employment at home，and his children rarely，if ever，see him at his place of work. Boys are therefore seldom trained to follow their father’s occupation，and in many towns they have a fairly wide choice of employment and so do girls. The young wage-earner often earns good money，and soon acquires a feeling of economic independence. In textile areas it has long been customary for mothers to go out to work，but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now a not unusual factor in a child’s home life，the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty-five years. With mother earning and his older children drawing substantial wages father is seldom the dominant figure that he still was at the beginning of the century. When mother works, economic advantages accrue，but children lose something of great value if mother’s employment prevents her from being home to greet them when they return from school.
26. The writer mentions home as workshop because______.
A. fathers often pursue employment at home
B. parents had to make food and necessity themselves for their daily-life
C. many families produce goods at home for sale
D. both fathers and mothers and mothers in most families are workers
27. The writer says that home has become much less of a workshop. He means______.
A. in the past, home was more like a workshop
B. home is much more of a workshop now
C. home-workshops are becoming fewer and fewer
D. home was less like a workshop in the past
28. The word“accrue”in the sentence“When mother...accrue，”is closest in meaning to
__________________.
A. change                            B. dwindle                    C. double                     D. increase
29. The chief reason that boys are seldom trained to follow their father’s occupation is ___________________.
A. that children nowadays rarely see their fathers at their place of work
B. that fathers do not like to pursue employment at home any more
C. that there is a wide choice of employment for children
D. that children also like to have jobs outside
30. What makes father no longer the only dominant person in a family?
A. With their earning，mother and children do not need to depend on father for their life.
B. There are many choice of employment for mothers and children.
C. Father does much less for his children today than he used to.
D. The number of married women in employment has increased greatly now.

D
During the twentieth century there has been a great change in the lives of women. A woman marrying at the end of the nineteenth century would probably have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old and up. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman’s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and can be expected to live another thirty-five years and is likely to take paid work until sixty.
This important change in women’s life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women economic (经济的) position. Even a few years ago most girls left school and took a full-time job. However, when they married their school-leaving age is sixteen. Many girls stay at school after that age, and though women marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to fuller part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage (婚姻), with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life.
71.We are told that in a family about 1900________.
A.few children died before they were five
B.seven or eight children lived to be more than five
C.the youngest child would be fifteen
D.four or five children died when they were five
72.One reason why the woman of today may take a job is that she______.
A.is younger when her children are old enough to look after themselves
B.does not like children herself
C.needn’t worry about food for her children
D.can be free from family duties when she reaches sixty
73.Many girls are now likely to_______.
A.give up their jobs for good after they are married
B.leave school as soon as they can
C.marry so that they can get a job
D.continue working until they are going to have a baby
74.According to the passage, it is now quite usual for women to _______.
A.stay at home after leaving school
B.marry men younger than themselves
C.start working again in life
D.marry while still at school
75.Now a husband probably_________.
A.plays a greater part in looking after children
B.helps his wife by doing much of the housework
C.feels dissatisfied with his part in the family
D.takes a part-time job so that he can help in the home