Martin is a man of all trades and of many experiences. He never stays at one job for more than six months and never leaves the job of his own will. He is not actually lazy or unfit and his employers ( 雇主)can not be said to be unreasonable. He is only, according to one of his former employers, too eager for the work that his employer hasn’t the intention ( 打算) to let him do. One fact about Martin is that he never waits long to find a new job.

Last month, he was fired again. Mr King, the owner of a small shop hired him to paint his new house. He readily accepted the job without a word. When later Mr King went to see how things were going on there, he couldn’t find Martin. Instead he saw four workmen carefully painting the wall.

“What’s the matter?” he wondered.

“Hi, Mr King!” he heard Martin’s voice calling from behind, “They are working hard, aren’t they?”

Mr King turned back. He saw Martin smiling at him. “What’s happened，Martin? And why are these workers here?” Mr King asked.      

“I’ve hired them at 8 dollars for each man, ”Martin told him happily.

“But I will only pay 30 dollars for the whole work. ”Mr King couldn’t understand.

“I know, Mr King. But just think. I only need to pay another two dollars and then can enjoy the happy feeling of being a boss. Isn’t it worth the money?”

56. Why is Martin often fired? Because he _________

   A. is too lazy

   B. has few experiences    C. tries to be a boss

   D. often acts against his employers’ will

57. Martin seems to be a_____

   A. narrow-minded fellow                    B. light-hearted man

   C. man who is at loose ends（无所事事）      D. person full of fears

58. Mr King was _______ when he saw four workers painting his house.

   A. happy      B. angry       C. satisfied        D. surprised

59. The best title for the passage should he _________

   A. Martin and Mr King           B. painting a new house

   C. it’s worth the money           D. reasonable or not

阅读理解

　　Martin is a man of all trades and of many experiences. He never stays at one job for more than six months and never leaves the job of his own will . He is not actually lazy or unfit and his employers(雇主) can not be said to be unreasonable. He is ,according to one of his former employers, too eager for the work that his employer has the least intention to let him do. One fact about Martin is that he never waits long to find s new job. Last month ,he was fired again. Mr. King, the owner of a small shop hired him to paint his new house. He readily accepted the job without a word. When later Mr. King went to see how things were going on there, he couldn't find Martin. Instead he saw four workmen carefully painting the wall. “What's the matter?” he wondered. “Hi, Mr. King!” he heard Martin's voice calling from behind. “They're working hard, aren't they?” Mr. King turned back. He saw Martin smiling at him. “What's happened, Martin? And why are these workers here?” Mr. King asked. “I've hired them at 8 dollars for each man.” Martin told him happily. “But I will only pay 30 dollars for the whole work.” Mr. King couldn't understand. “I know, Mr. King. But just think, I only reed to pay another two dollars and then can enjoy the happy feeling of being a boss. Isn't it worth the money?”

1．Why is Martin often fired? Because he ________.

[　　]

A．is too lazy

B．tries to be a boss

C．has few experiences

D．often acts against his employers' will

2．Martin seems to be a ________.

[　　]

A．narrow-minded fellow

B．light-hearted man

C．man who is at loose ends

D．person full of fears

3．Mr. King was ________ when he saw four works painting his house.

[　　]

4．The best title for the passage can be ________.

[　　]

A．Martin and Mr. King

B．Painting a New House

C．It's Worth the Money

D．Reasonable or Not

句型转换（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

1. In my opinion, education should teach our children the skills they will need in the future.

In my opinion, education _____ ______ teach our children the skills they will need in the future.

2.In fact, I landed in Britain by chance.

In face, I landed in Britain _____ ______.

3.The Taj Mahal was built in the 1600s to memorize the emperor’s wife.

The Taj Mahal was built in the 1600s _____ ______ ______ the emperor’s wife.

4.He seems to be enjoying himself.

It looks ______ ______ he were enjoying himself.

5.My father tells me that helping others is the most pleasant thing.

My father tells me nothing is ______ _____ _______ helping others.

“The first and best of victories is for a man to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato．Self-control is at the root of all the advantages．Let a man give in to his impulses （冲动） and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom．

A single angry word has lost many a friend．When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself．If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger．Many a person has dropped dead in great anger．Fits of anger bring fits of disease．“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad．” “Keep cool”, says George Herbert, “for fierceness makes error a fault．”

To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself．“Anger,” says Pythagoras, “brings with folly（愚蠢） and ends with regret．” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him．

Self-control is man’s last greatest victory．

If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything．Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling．If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking also．

What does the reader learn from the first paragraph?

       A．The greatest victory for a man is to conquer everything except himself．

       B．One’s moral freedom is based on the control of himself．

       C．To control oneself is the most difficult in one’s life．

       D．If a person is too stubborn, he will feel most shameful．

What does the underlined sentence “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” mean ?

       A．If the gods want to kill you, they make you crazy first．

       B．If you are mad, you will be punished by the gods．

       C．If you cannot control yourself, you will become crazy．

       D．If you always lose your temper, you will soon be finished．

If a man lacks self-control, he lacks all of the following EXCEPT _______．

       A．the very backbone and nerve of character 

       B．the patience and power to control himself

       C．strong feelings        

       D．self-confidence

The author’s main purpose in writing this article is to _______．

       A．explain that self-control is the key to success

       B．teach people how to control everything in order to make a great success

       C．distinguish all kinds of self-control and suggest ways for keeping it

       D．advise people not to lose temper so as to make and keep more friends

The right to pursue happiness is issued to us all with our birth, but no one seems quite sure what it is.
A holy man in India may think that happiness is in himself. It is in needing nothing from outside himself. If wanting nothing, he lacks nothing. We westerners, however, are taught that the more we have from outside ourselves, the happier we will be, and then we are made to want. We are even told it is our duty to want. Advertising, one of our major industries, exists not to satisfy these desires but to create them---and to create them faster than any man’s money in his pocket can satisfy them. Here, obviously someone is trying to buy the dream of happiness and spending millions upon millions every year in the attempt. Clearly the happiness-market is not running out of customers.
I doubt the holy man’s idea of happiness, and I doubt the dreams of the happiness-market, too. Whatever happiness may be, I believe, it is neither in having nothing nor in having more, but in changing --- in changing the world and mankind into pure states.
To change is to make efforts to deal with difficulties. As Yeats, a great Irish poet once put it, happiness we get for a lifetime depends on how high we choose our difficulties.
It is easy to understand. We even demand difficulty for the fun in our games. We demand it because without difficulty there can be no game. And a game is a way of making something hard for the fun of it. The rules of the game are man-made difficulties. When the player ruins the fun, he always does so by refusing to play by the roles. It is easier to win at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to cast away all the rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules.
The same is true to happiness. The buyers and sellers at the happiness-market seem to have lost their sense of the pleasure of difficulty. Heaven knows what they are  playing, but it seems a dull game. And the Indian holy man seems dull to us, I suppose, because he seems to be refusing to play anything at all.
The western weakness may be in the dreams that happiness can be bought while eastern weakness may be in the idea that there is such a thing as perfect happiness in man himself. Both of them forget a basic fact: no difficulty, no happiness.
【小题1】Who shares the same idea of happiness with the author?