The Happiest Cities On Earth

If you’re looking for a cheery destination for your next vacation, consider these four spots and get ready to take notes on how to really live the good life.

Singapore

    With one of the highest population densities（密度）in the world and residents known for being workaholics, it’s hard to imagine the city-state of Singapore having one of the happiest populations on earth. And yet in a recent survey, 95% of them said they were either very happy or quite happy.

They give their city high marks for cleanliness and safety—subways are pristine (洁净的) and unfailingly arrive on time, and police are seen as helpful and good at their jobs. What’s more, they feel they can count on their neighbours—all 5.1 million of them.

Arhus, Denmark

The residents of Arhus cheerfully part with 68% of their income in taxes, knowing that in return they will be guaranteed free healthcare, free daycare, and a top-notch (第一流的) education for their children.

An energetic city of 300,000 with a lively cultural scene and a diverse number of religions represented, the sense of equality (the range in incomes is narrow), as well as easy access to the nearby sea and surrounding countryside, make Arhus seem more like a small town.

San Luis Obispo, CA

According to a 2008 Gallup-Healthways study, people who live in San Luis Obispo are more likely than residents of other U.S. cities to smile and experience joy and are less likely to experience pain or depression. About 64,000 of the 260,000 people in the greater metropolitan area (都市区), located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, volunteer at over 11,000 non-profit organizations.

Few journeys to work are longer than 10 minutes (one reason its members rank in the upper third for job satisfaction), so “it’s easy to be involved,” resident Pierre Rademaker said. Business signs are unobtrusive (不显眼的) by law, fewer than 11% of residents smoke—the lower rate in the U.S.—there are lots of bike lanes, and the city’s plaza draws crowds of people for free concerts on summer Fridays. What’s not to love?

Monterrey, Mexico

The people of Monterrey don’t enjoy high household incomes or access to good healthcare. Instead, there’s a profound sense of gratitude for the new political freedom enjoyed since the oppressive Institutional Revolutionary Party lost power in 2000—the first time in nearly a century—as well as an emphasis on social life over work.

Another reason Monterrey residents may be so happy is their faith in God and family, and their ability to tough it out through bad times.

“We laugh at sickness, poverty and even death,” says Basanez, a political scientist who lives in Monterrey. “We even have a holiday to celebrate death. November 2, the Day of the Dead, is one of the biggest holidays of the year.”

1.According to the passage, what do the residents in the four cities have in common?

A. All the residents can make great fortunes by working hard.

B. The residents there are mostly educators. 

C. All the residents enjoy enough material wealth.

D. The majority of the residents are satisfied with their current life.

2.According to the passage, we can infer that _______.

A. the people of Singapore expect their neighbours to come to their help when necessary

B. the people of Monterrey even observe one’s death on a special day of a year

C. the residents of Arhus happily pay 68% of their income for their children’s education fee

D. the people who live in San Luis Obispo have job satisfaction because they can enjoy good working conditions

3.According to the passage which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. The people of Monterrey didn’t enjoy political freedom until 2000.

B. The residents in Singapore feel happy because of its low population density.

C. The people of San Luis Obispo can enjoy free concerts in summer.

D. Arhus is handy to the seaside and countryside.

4.What can we learn from the underlined part “the sense of equality”?

A. The residents of Arhus have no racial discrimination.

B. Arhus is considered as a family sharing everything with each other.

C. There is no wide gap between the rich and the poor in Arhus.

D. The residents of Arhus can depend on their neighbours to help.

C
A new age is coming. Call it what you will: the service economy, the information age, the knowledge society. It all translates to a fundamental change in the way we work. Already we’re partly there, the percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen dramatically in the Western World. Today the majority of jobs in America, Europe and Japan are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise. More women are in the work force than ever before. There are more part-time jobs. More people are self-employed. But the range of the economic transformation can’t be measured by numbers alone, because it also is giving rise to important new way of thinking about the nature of work itself. Long-held ideas about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between individuals and employers — all these are being challenged.
We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead. No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have foreseen the ways in which a single invention, the chip, would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots. Tomorrow’s achievements in biotechnology, artificial intelligence or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of dramatic changes. But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more valid, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth. Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write. The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of performing routine tasks will be valued above all else. If you cast your mind ahead 10 years, information service will be superior. It will be the way you do your job.
66. A characteristic of the new age mentioned in the passage is that        .
A. the service industry mainly relies on females
B. manufacturing industries are steadily increasing
C. more people are in the service industry than before
D. the work in the service industry is more comfortable than that in manufacturing industry
67. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. People’s traditional concepts about jobs need changing.
B. The relation between employees and employers is becoming tense.
C. More women than men are in the work force.
D. Part-time jobs are more welcome than full-time jobs.
68. By mentioning the invention of “the chip”, the author means to say that       .
A. we haven’t paid enough attention to the importance of high technology
B. the chip is the most important invention today
C. the power of science and technology is beyond our imagination
D. it’s a great challenge to apply new inventions to our life
69. We may draw a conclusion from the passage that        .
A. information will play a greater role in people’s work and daily life in the future
B. we can foresee the future if technology develops fast enough
C. the ability of performing routine tasks gives you an advantage in work
D. robots will replace people to do all the work both in manufacturing and service industries
70. The author’s attitude to the coming age is        .
A. doubtful         B. enthusiastic           C. satisfied        D. Uncertain

第二节 信息匹配（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

New friends. Fresh lifestyle. Better career opportunities... Those are attractions of overseas study for young people in China. "Start early, finish strong,” some of them say.

More than 300 universities from 27 countries and regions were represented at last weekend's international education exposition (展览).

请阅读以下学位申请者的信息，然后匹配申请者和他/她拟要申请留学的国家：

Zhang Yuan has passed the IELTS and hopes to go to a foreign country for further study with easier access to visas and international environment, regardles of the tuition fee.

Li Hong can afford a tuition of about 200,000 yuan. She wishes to study in a foreign country with good climate and wishes to go on staying in the country after he finishes studying there.

Zhang Hua has passed the TOFEL and GRE. He wants to have more chances of getting scholarship to study in a foreign country.

Wang Ying doen’t have so much money and wishes to study art at a university in a foreign country as an international student.

Li Ming would like to take campus part-time jobs while studying in a foreign country and wishes to go on staying in the country after he finishes studying there

申请者                                          申请留学的国家

56. Zhang Yuan                           A.

57. Wang Ying              B.

58. Li Ming                          C.

59. Li Hong                               D.

60. Zhang Hua                   E.

                         F.

Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge in March 1952, educated at Brentwood School, Essex and St John's College, Cambridge where, in 1974 he gained a BA (and later an MA) in English literature.

He was the creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy(《银河系漫游指南》), which started life as a BBC Radio 4 series in March 1978. Since then it has been transformed into a series of best-selling novels, a TV series, a record album, a computer game and several stage adaptations.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's success sent the book straight to Number One in the UK Bestseller List and in 1984 Douglas Adams became the youngest author to be awarded a Golden Pan. He won a further two (a rare feat), and was nominated—though not selected - for the first Best of Young British Novelists awards.

He followed this success with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980); Life, The Universe and Everything (1982); So Long and Thanks for all the Fish (1984); and Mostly Harmless (1992). The first two books in the Hitchhiker series were adapted into a 6-part television series, which was an immediate success when first showed in 1982. Other publications include Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul (1988). In 1984 Douglas teamed up with John Lloyd and wrote The Meaning of Life and their second huge success, The Deeper Meaning of Life followed in 1990. One of Douglas’s personal favorites was written in 1990 when he teamed up with zoologist Mark Carwardine and wrote Last Chance to See an account of a world-wide search for rare and endangered species of animals.

Douglas sold over 15 million books in the UK, the US and Australia. He was also a best seller in German, Swedish and many other languages.

Douglas Adams died on Friday, May 11, 2001, in Santa Barbara, CA. He will be greatly missed by fans worldwide.

1.The main idea of this passage is           .

A．Douglas Adams, always loved by fans

B．Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

C．Douglas Adams and his works

D．Douglas Adams’s personal lives

2.The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was first shown to the public as           .

A．a radio series       B．a movie           C．a TV series         D．a computer game

3.Which two books were adapted into a six-part TV series?

A．Life, The Universe and Everything and Mostly Harmless

B．The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Life, The Universe and Everything

C．The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and So Long and Thanks for all the Fish

D．So Long and Thanks for all the Fish and Mostly Harmless

4. Last Chance to See is a book about          .

A．Some stories happening in a Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

B．the author’s personal favorites

C．a zoologist and his worldwide experiences

D．searching for rare and endangered species of animals

5.Which of the following statement is not true?

A．Douglas Adams died at the age of 49 and he was memorized by his fans.

B．Douglas Adams was the youngest author to be selected as one of the first Best of Young British Novelists.

C．John Lloyd was one of the authors of the two books, The Meaning of Lifeand The Deeper Meaning of Life.

D．Douglas graduated from Essex and St John's College and gained a Master’s Degree.

Douglas Adams was born in Cambridge in March 1952, educated at Brentwood School, Essex and St John's College, Cambridge where, in 1974 he gained a BA (and later an MA) in English literature.
He was the creator of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy(《银河系漫游指南》), which started life as a BBC Radio 4 series in March 1978. Since then it has been transformed into a series of best-selling novels, a TV series, a record album, a computer game and several stage adaptations.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's success sent the book straight to Number One in the UK Bestseller List and in 1984 Douglas Adams became the youngest author to be awarded a Golden Pan. He won a further two (a rare feat), and was nominated—though not selected - for the first Best of Young British Novelists awards.
He followed this success with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980); Life, The Universe and Everything (1982); So Long and Thanks for all the Fish (1984); and Mostly Harmless (1992). The first two books in the Hitchhiker series were adapted into a 6-part television series, which was an immediate success when first showed in 1982. Other publications include Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul (1988). In 1984 Douglas teamed up with John Lloyd and wrote The Meaning of Life and their second huge success, The Deeper Meaning of Life followed in 1990. One of Douglas’s personal favorites was written in 1990 when he teamed up with zoologist Mark Carwardine and wrote Last Chance to See an account of a world-wide search for rare and endangered species of animals.
Douglas sold over 15 million books in the UK, the US and Australia. He was also a best seller in German, Swedish and many other languages.
Douglas Adams died on Friday, May 11, 2001, in Santa Barbara, CA. He will be greatly missed by fans worldwide.
【小题1】The main idea of this passage is           .