I'm feeling sad．My 19-year-old∞nleft home about a week ago to  36  the Air Force, and my 23-year-old daughter left two days ago to marry in another state．I'm so  37  of my son as he had to really work hard to get into the Air Force, and my daughter moved to be with her fiance（未婚夫）．I'm just simply upset．It  38  feels like someone has ripped my heart from my chest．I’ve tried to talk to their father, friends, and family but it just feels like no one around me   39  what I'm going through．
My children were  40  to me．I put all my energy into   41  both of them and doing all types of activities with them, even sometimes at the  42 of my own best interests．I understand they grow up and need their _43 ,but for some reason I just can't seem to let go．I am go _ 44  that they're establishing their own lives,   45 I get so depressed whenever I have even a simple _46 of them．I've been crying for over a week now．I really don't know what to do to make this  47 go away．I can't even walk by either one's room without bursting into tears．I don't understand why I'm unable to _48 this sense of great loss．I'm  49  that I need to move on with my own life and find  _50 things to devote my attention to, but I _51 being a mom and spending time on my children．I've    52  adopting a child but it's _53  atthe moment for me considering my poor health．
I'm just thankful to have found this website and found there are others who are  54 similar problems．It helps to   55 I'm not crazy or overreacting．Thank you for sharing your problems and showing others like myself this isn’t so abnormal．

People hold 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 things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

As a result, many people don’t like the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, commitment(承担的义务)，self-improvement.

Ask a bachelor 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 obvious 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 true happiness is one of the most liberating realizations because true happiness has nothing to do with fun. It liberates(解放) 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 actully may not be happy at all.

1.According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because____

2. The underlined word bachelor means_________

3.From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes results from______

4.To understand what true happiness, one must________

5.What is the author trying to tell us?

It’s high time someone spoke up for today’s college students.  They’re probably the most hardworking, ambitious people in America and their problems are not properly appreciated.
People like the Secretary of Education simply don’t know what they’re talking about when they knock students.  Nor do those who complain about falling academic standards.
The vast majority of the nation’s 12 million students are struggling to pay for their educations.  They are part of the invisible workforce.  Many hold down full-time jobs.  They’re frying hamburgers, photographing weddings, working in construction, and waiting on tables.  The fact that they even show up for classes is a wonderful event.
The financial situation of most students explains a lot about what is happening in schools.  Why are the traditional courses so unpopular?  Why are students flocking to accounting and computer science and any professional programs that seem to lead to careers?
Answer: Today’s working student has been forced into a kind of premature matter-of-fact way of viewing things.  Romance is gone.  The notion of transforming one’s self through study alone has disappeared.  Today’s students seek freedom from manual labor, and the status conferred by a good job.
There are other consequences.  Today’s students don’t have much time or energy to be devoted, and carry out independent research or even do serious homework.  That’s the secret behind falling academic standards.  Students have become consumers.  They want grades and certifications.  Their professors can’t be expected to give a grade of failure to students who are clearly tired from the effort to pay their bills.
There’s a lot wrong with this situation.  It’s twisting the definition of education out of shape.  Worse, it’s creating a generation that is totally unpleasant.  The brightest students turn out to be yuppies (雅皮士).  The vast majority are, at least, good-natured semi-literates.
The time has run out for philosophical debates about fixed courses of study.  What this country needs is someone to stand up and say that being a full-time student during one’s formative years is an honorable calling worthy of support.  If families can’t or won’t give it to their children, then the government should.
【小题1】The author’s purpose in writing this article is to __________.

It’s high time someone spoke up for today’s college students.  They’re probably the most hardworking, ambitious people in America and their problems are not properly appreciated.

   People like the Secretary of Education simply don’t know what they’re talking about when they knock students.  Nor do those who complain about falling academic standards.

   The vast majority of the nation’s 12 million students are struggling to pay for their educations.  They are part of the invisible workforce.  Many hold down full-time jobs.  They’re frying hamburgers, photographing weddings, working in construction, and waiting on tables.  The fact that they even show up for classes is a wonderful event.

   The financial situation of most students explains a lot about what is happening in schools.  Why are the traditional courses so unpopular?  Why are students flocking to accounting and computer science and any professional programs that seem to lead to careers?

   Answer: Today’s working student has been forced into a kind of premature matter-of-fact way of viewing things.  Romance is gone.  The notion of transforming one’s self through study alone has disappeared.  Today’s students seek freedom from manual labor, and the status conferred by a good job.

   There are other consequences.  Today’s students don’t have much time or energy to be devoted, and carry out independent research or even do serious homework.  That’s the secret behind falling academic standards.  Students have become consumers.  They want grades and certifications.  Their professors can’t be expected to give a grade of failure to students who are clearly tired from the effort to pay their bills.

   There’s a lot wrong with this situation.  It’s twisting the definition of education out of shape.  Worse, it’s creating a generation that is totally unpleasant.  The brightest students turn out to be yuppies (雅皮士).  The vast majority are, at least, good-natured semi-literates.

   The time has run out for philosophical debates about fixed courses of study.  What this country needs is someone to stand up and say that being a full-time student during one’s formative years is an honorable calling worthy of support.  If families can’t or won’t give it to their children, then the government should.

1.The author’s purpose in writing this article is to __________.

awaken the whole society to the problems today’s college students face

warn Americans that academic standards are falling

advise college students to study hard

provide a suggestion that only full-time students be enrolled

2.The most suitable word to describe the author’s feelings about today’s college students  is _________.

   A. criticize            B. sympathize                   C. complain                D. urge

3.Which of the following cannot be learned from the passage?

Many students are often absent from classes.

Traditional courses are not popular.

Students commit crimes with computers.

Students don’t devote much time and energy to their homework.

4.By saying “Romance is gone” in paragraph 5, the author means ____________.

today’s students do not believe in love stories any more

today’s students become more practical in dealing with things

students think there is no affection any more and break up with their lovers

today’s students hold matter-of-fact opinions on love

5.Which of the following suggestions will the author not agree with?

We should encourage students to give up full-time jobs.

Families should offer their children more help financially.

We should stand up and say something for today’s college students.

D．We should make more strict regulations to force students to study hard.

I was at the grocery store one evening. I had finished shopping and was looking for a line to __1__. I chose a line that had one woman ready to __2__， and another woman behind her who didn't have very much.

As I was standing there waiting for my __3__， I noticed the woman directly in front of me. She looked __4__ she had just had some kind of medical treatment. Her __5__ looked as if she had known a lot of pain and was __6__ of everything. She had a backpack to carry her __7__ in and she had bought everything that one would need to __8__ one's self at home. She kept glancing at her groceries and kept __9__ the money in her hand. I kept thinking to myself, I wish I had __10__ to pay for her groceries. What can I do to help her out?

To my __11__， as these thoughts were going through my head, the woman ahead of her softly __12__ to the woman who didn't look well, “Put your money __13__， this one is on me.”

The woman __14__ her head a few times and the front woman kept __15__ until it happened.

As I walked outside the woman who didn't feel well was right there，__16__ her groceries in her backpack. I introduced myself, told her the __17__ I was heading in and asked if she would like a ride. She introduced herself and __18__. As she got out of my car she said to me, “God Bless you，” and I said the same. I just keep thinking, maybe I put it out (明白；清楚)there __19__ the thing I couldn't do someone else did but，__20__， I was presented with some other way to help her out—and that I could do!

1. A. get into          B.  pass by     C. wait for       D. look after

2. A. buy               B.  leave      C. pay           D. stand

3. A. bag               B.  turn       C. change        D. bill

4. A. even though                    B.  as if    

C. so that                          D. in case

5. A. feeling           B.  body       C. hand          D. face

6. A. careful           B.  proud      C. tired         D. considerate

7. A. groceries         B.  books      C. clothes       D. newspapers

8. A. devote           B.  attend     C. convince      D. ask    

9. A. holding          B.  taking     C. counting      D. folding

10. A. money          B.  chance     C. time          D. courage

11. A. disappointment            B.  joy       

C. surprise                  D. excitement

12. A. nodded            B.  waved      C. signed       D. whispered

13. A. away              B.  down       C. up          D. off

14. A. raised            B.  covered    C. shook         D. lowered

15. A. asking            B.  insisting   C. begging       D. buying

16. A. seeing            B.  putting    C. moving        D. taking

17. A. place             B.  store      C. direction      D. seat

18. A. refused           B.  stopped    C. waited        D. accepted

19. A. so                B.  or         C. and          D. but

20. A. in return                B.  in turn   

C. for example             D. or else