Question

One of Britain's leading fee-paying schools, Wellington College, is to offer classes on happiness to fight against the negative influences in society caused by materialism (功利主义) and celebrity obsession (名誉崇拜), its headteacher announced.

Wellington school was founded in 1853 and currently has 750 boys aged 13 to 18 and 50 girls aged 16 plus. Fees range from 6,132 pounds per term for day pupils to 7,665 pounds per term for boarders.

"We are introducing classes on happiness," said Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College. "We have been focusing too much on academics (学术) and missing something far more important."

A psychologist will oversee a pilot project teaching "happiness lessons" from the start of the next academic year. Pupils aged 14 to 16 will be given one lesson a week, learning skills such as how to manage relationships, physical and mental health, negative emotions and how to achieve one's ambitions.

The college's religious education staff will teach the course as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, usual religious education classes, said Seldon, who is also a political critic and author.

"To me, the most important job of any school is to turn out young men and women who are happy and secure (可靠的)." explained Seldon. "Celebrity, money and possessions are too often the touchstones for teenagers and yet these are not where happiness lies. Our children need to know that as societies become richer, they don't become happier -- a fact regularly shown by social science research."

5．Wellington school is to offer students classes on happiness because _____.

    A．students want to learn more about materialism and celebrity obsession

    B．students have poor knowledge about materialism and celebrity obsession

    C．students are often unhappy about the courses taught at school

    D．the school wants to smooth away the bad effects caused by materialism and celebrity obsession

6．Which statement is true according to the text?

    A．Wellington College has been focusing much attention on happiness lessons.

    B．Science research shows that the richer people are, the happier they will become.

    C．British teenagers often judge things by celebrity, money and possessions.

    D．Happiness lessons will take the place of religious education classes in college.

7．In happiness lessons, students learn the following except _____.

    A．how to get along with others

    B．how to become wealthy and famous

    C．how to get rid of negative emotion

    D．how to keep healthy both in physical and mental ways

8．The passage mainly talks about _____.

    A．new classes on happiness for British students

    B．something about Willington College 

    C．the British education system

    D．British teenagers’ attitude to life

Answer 1

5．D。6．C。7．B。8．A。

解析:

   这是一篇教育类阅读材料。心理健康教育一直是教育工作者所关注的问题，为培养出快乐的、可靠的年轻一代，在英国校园将推出“快乐学”新课程。

5．D。细节题。根据第一段惠灵顿学院校长的介绍，推出此课程的目的是为了抵制由功利主义和对名誉的崇拜造成的不良社会影响。

6．C。事实判断题。第三段提到：惠灵顿学院的男教师安东尼·塞尔顿说：“我们准备推出快乐学课程，之前，学校对于学术方面关注过多而忽视了一些更为重要的东西”，由此可排除A项；短文最后一句提到：我们的孩子们需要明白：虽然社会越来越富裕，他们并不是越来越快乐，这也是社会科学研究常发现的一个事实，由此可排除B项；短文第五段提到：“快乐学”课程并非要替代传统的宗教类课程，而是要作为此类课程的补充，由学校的宗教教育职员讲授，由此可排除D项；短文最后一段第二句提到：名誉、金钱和财产常常成为青少年们衡量事物的标准，但这些东西都不是快乐的真谛。由此可得答案。

7．B。细节题。根据第四段内容“14岁至16岁的学生每周上一节快乐学课，他们将学到诸如如何处理人际关系、保持生理和心理健康、消除消极情绪以及如何实现人生理想等技巧”，B项内容不在其中。

8．A。主旨题。根据短文首句“英国主要私立学校之一的惠灵顿学院将推出“快乐学”课程”及下文的阐述可得答案。