A little stream flowed down from a high mountain far, far away through many villages and forests, until it reached a desert. The stream then thought, “I’ve been through countless obstacles. I should have no problem crossing this desert!” But when she decided to start her journey, she found herself gradually disappearing into the mud and sand. After numerous tries, she found it was all in vain and was very upset. “Maybe it’s my destiny(命运) ! I’m not destined to reach the vast ocean in the legend, ” she murmured sadly to herself.

At this time, a deep voice came, saying, “If a breeze can cross the desert, so can a river.”

It was the voice of the desert. Unconvinced, the little stream replied, “That’s because a breeze can fly, but I can’t.”

“That’s because you stick to what you are. If you’re willing to give it up, and let yourself evaporate （蒸发） into the breeze, it can take you across, and you can reach your destination,” said the desert in its deep voice.

The little stream had never heard of such a thing. “Give up what I am now and disappear into the breeze? No! No!” She could not accept this idea. After all, she had never experienced anything like it before. Wouldn’t it be self-destruction to give up what she was now?

“How do I know if this is true?” asked the little stream.

“The breeze can carry the vapor across the desert and release it as rain at an appropriate site. The rain will form a river again to continue its course,” answered the desert very patiently.

“Will I still be what I am now?” asked the little stream.

“Yes, and no. Whether you’re a river or invisible vapor, your inner nature never changes. You stick to the fact that you’re a river because you don’t know your inner nature,” answered the desert.

Deep down, the stream vaguely remembered that before she became a river, it was perhaps also the breeze that carried her halfway up a high mountain, where she turned into rain and fell onto the ground and became what she was now. Finally the little stream gathered her courage and rushed into the open arms of the breeze, which carried her to the next stage of her life.

Perhaps you can try asking yourself these questions: What is my inner nature? What is it that I cling （紧抓） to? And what is it that I really want?

1.When reaching the desert at first, the little stream was ________ to cross it.

A．upset  B．confident    C．pessimistic  D．hesitant

2.The desert suggests that the stream ________ in order to cross the desert.

A．change its form            B．disappear into the desert

C．stick to what it is D．turn to another stream for help

3.Finally the stream successfully crossed the desert with the help of ________.

A．the rain       B．the desert   C．the breeze  D．the mountain

4.In the text the writer compares the stream to ________.

A．the Truth     B．the courage   C．the course of life      D．the obstacles in life

I came to live here where I am now between Wounded Knee Greek and Grass Greek. Others came too, and we made these little grey houses of logs that you see, and they are square, It is a bad way to live, for there can be no power in a square.

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the respectful circle of the nation, and so long as the circle was unbroken, the people were getting rich. The flowering tree was the living center of the circle, and the circle of the four quarters nursed it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and strong wind gave strength and continuous power. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our brief. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. Birds make their nests in circle, for theirs are the same as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our places were like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s circle, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to nurse our children.

　　But the Wasichus (Indian word for “white people”) have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more. You can look at our boys and see how it is with us. Where we were living by the power of the circle in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to be bull - grown.

1. According to the passage, the Indians _______.

A. don’t have modern instruments in their homes

B. refused to move from round places

C. lived in round places, but were forced to live in square houses

D. lived in round places, but then decided to move into square houses

2. Two things being compared in the passage are _______.

A. the Indians’ past and present living conditions

B. the Indians’ past and modern beliefs

C. the Indians’ old and new power

D. people and nature

3. In the second paragraph “the four quarters” refers to _______.

A. the four rooms of the Indian’s house

B. the four kinds of natural power

C. the four seasons

D. the four directions

4. According to the author, once the Indians moved into square houses, _______.

A. they had to move to other houses   

B. boys took more time to grow into men

C. they forgot the old way of life           

D. everyone was not happy

Studies show that laughter is something that makes you feel calm or relaxed for both physical and psychological wounds though it may seem futile to laugh in the face of pain and fear.

When Dan Rather interviewed comedian Bill Cosby just one week after his son, Ennis, was killed, Cosby said, “I think it is time for me to tell people that we have to laugh. You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.”

Call it a flashlight for dark times: laughter just seems to adjust attitude better than anything else. Inspirational speaker Steve Rizzo recalls a TV interview with an injured firefighter a few days after 9.11．The man had fallen more than 30 stories in one of the towers and had broken a leg. Everyone was crying, and the reporter asked, “How is it that you’ve come out of this alive?” He looked at her and without missing a beat, said, “Look, lady, I’m from New York and I’m a firefighter; that’ all you need to know.”

“Everyone laughed and though the laughter was only a couple of seconds,” says Rizzo. “Sometimes that’s all you need to catch your second breath. Laughter gives you that couple of seconds. You’re sending a message to your brain, and the message is: If you can still laugh even a little among the pain, you are going to be OK.”

Of course, there is a difference between laughing off a serious situation and laughing off the fear that results. The firefighter was doing the latter, states Rizzo, the author of Becoming a Humorous Being, and so should we. “If there is anything we have learnt from 9.11, it’s how precious life really is,” she says. “We have to send a message that our spirit won’t die. One important thing that unites us is our ability to laugh.”　

60．The writer uses the examples of the comedian and the firefighter to show　　　　　　 .

　 A．laughter is a good way to get rid of pain and fear

　 B．laughter is the best way to cure psychological wounds

　 C．it is your attitude that decides whether you can survive the pain or not

　 D．laughing off a serious situation is different from laughing off the fear that results

61．We can infer from the passage that Steve Rizzo is　　　　　　　　　　　 .

　 A．a reporter B．a soldier　　 C．a firefighter　　 D．a doctor

62．The underlined word futile in the first paragraph means　　　　　　　 .

　 A．hopeless　　　　　　 B．useless

C．careless　　　　　　 D．worthless 　

63．From the passage, we can know that Americans are　　　　　　　　 .

　 A．really inspired after 9.11　　　　　　　　　　 B．hardly united after 9.11

C．nearly surprised by 9.11　　　　　　 D．greatly hurt by 9.11

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.

1.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

2.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

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

A. hatred　　                              

B. misunderstanding　　　　

C. prejudice　　　　                       

D. ignorance

4.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

5.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.