Do you want to love what you do for a living? Follow your passion. This piece of advice provides the foundation for modern thinking on career satisfaction. But this can be a problem.
I've spent the past several years researching and writing about the different strategies we use to seek happiness in our work. It became clear early in the process that the suggestion to “follow your passion” was flawed (有缺陷), for it lacks scientific evidence. However, it doesn't mean you should abandon the goal of feeling passionate about your work. The reality emphasizes that things are quite complicated.
Passion is earned. Different people are looking for different things in their work, but generally, people with satisfying careers enjoy some combination of the following features: autonomy，respect, competence, creativity, and a sense of impact. In other words，if you want to feel passionate about your livelihood，don't seek the perfect job，but seek to get more of these features in the job you already have.
Passion is elusive (难捉摸的). Many people develop the rare and valuable skills leading to passion, but still end up unhappy in their work. The problem is that the features leading you to love your work are more likely to be useful to you than your organization. As you become increasingly “valuable”，for example, your boss might push you toward traditional promotions that come with more pay and more responsibility, as this is what is most useful to your company. However, you might find more passion by applying your value to gain autonomy in your schedule or project selection.
Passion is dangerous. I've watched too many of my peers fall into anxiety and chronic(慢性的) job-hopping (跳槽) due to the “follow your passion” advice. The issue is expectations. If you believe we all have a pre-existing passion, and that matching it to a job will lead to instant workplace happiness, reality will always pale in comparison.
Work is hard. Not every day is fun. If you're seeking a dream job, you'll end up frustrated, again and again. Don't set out to discover passion. Instead, set out to develop it. This path might be longer and more complicated than what most cheerful career guides might advocate, but it's a path much more likely to lead you somewhere worth going.
【小题1】People satisfied with their careers are _______.

A．autonomous and passionate	B．creative and passionate
C．respectable and sensitive	D．creative and competent

【小题2】What is the author's advice on achieving career satisfaction?

A．Figuring out early what one will do in the future.

B．Matching the pre-existing passion to one's work.

C．Developing passion for what one is doing.

D．Discovering skills that lead to interesting careers.

【小题3】 The underlined sentence in Para. 5 probably means that _______.

A．it is not easy to match our passion with our jobs

B．we shouldn't think everyone has a pre-existing passion

C．workplace happiness does not require a pre-existing passion

D．high expectations of passion in jobs bring disappointment

【小题4】What's the author's attitude towards the advice of “following your passion”?

A．Disapproving.

B．Supportive.

C．Cautious.

D．Unclear.

In countries around the world, food has been used to celebrate at our holidays, our rituals and our family gatherings. The food eaten at holiday time has made the deepest impact on our culture and memories. Different holidays bring different types of food. Much of the food we eat during the holidays comes from old traditions handed down for hundreds of years.
New Year's Eve always brings parties and get-togethers, but where you live in the world may determine what food graces your table. In the southern US, partiers eat black eyed peas, which are thought to bring good luck and prosperity(繁荣). The Japanese also eat food for good luck on New Year's, but their choice is red snapper, the color red being considered good luck in Japan. The Jewish celebrate New Year by eating apples dipped in honey and in Madrid, Spain the last minutes of the New Year are counted down with the popping of grapes into the mouth. A pet is a cake prepared by the Greek with a coin baked into it. The person who gets the slice of cake with the coin in it should have good luck in the upcoming year.  
In the United States, a typical Christmas feast can contain a variety of foods ranging from turkey to chicken, from ham to goose, but other countries celebrate this holiday differently. Perhaps these choices have been taken from the traditions of our heritage(遗产). In Denmark, a traditional Christmas meal is roast goose, Greece, leg of lamb. Traditionally, Italians keep their Christmas Eve meal meatless. The traditional Christmas dinner in New Zealand is a picnic eaten on the beach.  
Though holidays around the world are celebrated in different ways, it is food, feast and family that bring us together.
【小题1】According to the passage, in different holidays people usually ______.

A．have different kinds of food to eat

B．recall the interesting life when they were young

C．have a wide variety of parties.

D．get together to play games.

【小题2】All the following can bring people good luck except_____.

A．a cake with a coin

B．red snapper

C．black eyed peas

D．apples dipped in honey.

【小题3】We can know from the third paragraph that ______.

A．roast goose is American’s favorite food during Christmas

B．people in Denmark and Greece share the same food during Christmas

C．Italians don’t have meat during Christmas

D．people in New Zealand like playing games on the beach

【小题4】Which of the following can be the main idea of the passage?

A．Holiday foods vary from culture to culture.

B．Different countries have different cultures.

C．People have a good appetite during holiday.

D．Different foods are served during Christmas.

Many Chinese kids, known as "left-behind" children, hardly ever see their parents, because their parents are migrant workers.
Li Ling, 11, is a left-behind child. Her parents have been working in Zhejiang for 10 years, while she lives with her grandparents in Guangdong. She was reunited with her parents last Spring Festival. As the number of migrant workers in China increases, the number of left-behind children is rising fast. Li is one of the 61. 02 million left-behind children under 17. They account for 37. 7 percent of rural children and 21. 88 percent of all Chinese children
The large number of left-behind children has already become a social issue. If left unsolved, it will cause serious problems, Wang Zhenyao, director of the China Philanthropy Research Institute, told China Daily. The education level of adults supervising（监管） these children is generally not that high. They can only take care of the children's personal safety and daily living, being unable to care for their educational and spiritual needs. Meanwhile, the absence of parental support will make some left-behind children lack self-confidence. They may be slower in physical and emotional growth than their peers. Others may even become "problem youths".
To solve this problem, the government is taking action. For instance, 30 provinces and cities have allowed certain children to attend school and take the college entrance exam in the city where their parents are. However, Wang suggested that the country do more, such as making policies encouraging migrant workers to work in their hometowns. He also said that a well-balanced child welfare system is needed. "These children are the future of the nation, so they deserve our loving care and protection," Wang said.
【小题1】Left-behind kids hardly see their parents because _______.

A．they are poor and in rural areas

B．they are brought up by their grandparents

C．their parents are making a living in other cities

D．their parents don't go back home on Spring Festival

【小题2】Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Li Ling hasn't seen her parents for about 10 years.

B．Left-behind children have become problem youths.

C．There are 61. 02 million left-behind children in China.

D．Much remains to be done to settle the left-behind kids issue.

【小题3】The purpose of the passage is _______.

A．to criticize the migrant workers who leave their children at home

B．to focus on the present situation of the left-behind children

C．to worry about the present situation of left-behind children

D．to call on the government to educate the migrant workers

【小题4】In which column of a newspaper can we most probably find this passage?

A．Education.

B．Society.

C．Entertainment.

D．Employment.

There is no question that fewer teenagers are on the roads in the US.
In 1978, 50% of 16-year-olds had got their first driving licence. In 2008, according to the US Transportation Department, it was just 30%. The number of those aged 19 and under with driving licences has also been declining since 1978, when 11, 989, 000 had licence. In 2010, it was 9, 932, 441, or 4.1% of American drivers.
In the UK, 683, 273 teenagers have driving licences- just 1.85% of total licence holders, according to Department of Transport figures from September 2010.
But the decline in the US may have more to do with tougher tests and the introduction of the new rule in many states, which force drivers aged under 16 to be with licensed drivers of 21 years and older when driving.
In recent years, the annual number of journeys being made by American drivers of all ages has declined clearly for the first time ever. Car use began falling in 2007, when average petrol prices almost doubled to $4.12 a gallon, and the economy became worse.
But there are signs that it is getting back to normal and American remains a country on wheels. It has a higher number of cars per head of population than any other country in the world.
“Cars will always be a popular means of transportation in America. You have to take into consideration some places don’t have access to public transportation. Cars are the only way some people can get around,” says Kristin Nevels. This makes driving necessary in some rural states, where about twice as many teenagers are on the road than in big cities.
【小题1】The underlined word “declining” in the second paragraph most probably means “__________”.

A．rising

B．dropping

C．improving

D．holding

【小题2】In recent years cars are used less than before mainly because of __________.

A．traffic jams

B．harder tests

C．expensive petrol

D．worst economy

【小题3】We can learn from the last paragraph that Kristin Nevels __________.

A．doubts the popularity of the car use in the future.

B．thinks American people can not live without cars.

C．holds confident attitude to the cars’ future in America.

D．believes America should build up its public transportation.

【小题4】What can be inferred from the text?

A．The UK has more teenager drivers than the US.

B．A 15-year-old boy cannot drive alone in the US.

C．The US has very developed bus transportation system.

D．Big cities have more teenager drivers than rural areas in the US.

We are already familiar with computers—computers work for us at home, in offices and in factories. But it is also true that many children today are using computers at schools before they can write. What does this mean for the future? Are these children lucky or not?
Many people who do not know about computers think of them as machines that children play with. They worry that children do not learn from experience but just from pressing a button and that this is not good for them. They think that children are growing not knowing about the real world.
But people who understand more about computers say that computers can be very good for children. A computer can help them to learn about the real world more quickly, to learn what they want to learn and think for themselves. And for the future, don’t we need people who can think clearly, who know how to get information quickly and use it well? What do you think?
【小题1】“To be familiar with” means to ______.

A．know nothing

B．know about

C．dislike

D．like

【小题2】Does everyone think computers are good for children?

A．Yes, they do.	B．No, not everyone thinks so.
C．They don’t know.	D．They are not sure.

【小题3】What can computers help children to do?

A．To think clearly, to do homework and to write.

B．To play games, to do math and to copy.

C．To think clearly, to get information and to use it well.

D．To count, to clean the house and to get information.

Cities with high levels of homeownership—in the range of 75%, like Detroit and St. Louis—had on average considerably lower levels of economic activity and much lower wages and incomes. Far too many people in financial problems are trapped in homes they can’t sell, unable to move on to new centers of opportunity.
The cities and regions with the lowest levels of homeownership—in the range of 55% to 60% like Los Angeles and New York—had healthier economies and higher incomes. They also had higher levels of happiness and well-being.
I was shocked to read these interesting points that Richard Florida made in his recent article. Let me try to understand. The people in Detroit and St. Louis are less happy than the people in New York, and Los Angeles. And, the reason is because of homeownership rates?
First, to compare them to New York City (the economic capital of the world), Los Angeles (the entertainment capital of the world) seems unfair. Most people in almost any other city in the world might be less happy!
Next, let’s try a different way of determining whether renters are happier than homeowners. Why don’t we ask them? Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey 2010 reported:
75% of current renters believe owning a home makes more sense.
67% plan to buy a home at some point in the future.
When they asked current renters for the major reason to buy a house, these were their answers (they could pick several answers):
78% said it was a good place to raise children.
75% said because they would feel safe.
70% said because you have control of your own space.
If you believe renters are happier, you would also have to believe the majority enjoy living in a less safe environment, which wouldn’t be a good place to raise children and would be a place where they have less control of their space.
【小题1】Which of the following is a fact?

A．People in Los Angeles earn high incomes because of its low homeownership rate.

B．New York’s low homeownership rate increases people’s happiness levels.

C．Detroit’s high level of homeownership causes its economic problems.

D．St. Louis has a higher level of homeownership than Los Angeles.

【小题2】In his article, Richard Florida tried to express that _________.

A．people in Los Angeles are happier than those in St. Louis

B．renting a house is better than owning a house

C．Detroit’s economy is healthier than New York’s economy

D．New York and Los Angeles are happiest cities

【小题3】The writer believes that New York City and Los Angeles _________.

A．pay employees highest wages in America

B．benefit from low levels of homeownership

C．are leading cities across the globe

D．are best American cities to live in

【小题4】From Fannie Mae’s survey report, we can know that _________.

A．paying rent makes more sense

B．most homeowners plan to sell their houses

C．most renters prefer to become homeowners

D．parents need to buy a house for their children

Tears came into this mother’s eyes when she talked about waking up her son. Every morning, her ten-year-old boy puts up one finger with his eyes still closed, begging for one more minute to sleep.
Why is he so sleepy? Because, like thousands of student “early birds” in China, he has to get up before 6 a.m. every morning.
School students usually need eight to ten hours’ sleep a night. But in Shanghai, it’s reported that 90% of the students do not get enough sleep. And studies show that without a good night’s sleep, students seem to be weaker than they should be. Many become near-sighted as a result.
Li Ming, a student at Qinghua High School, said that he usually goes to bed after 11 p.m. But when he has exams coming up, he can stay up as late as midnight. This “night bird” lifestyle has made many students nod off in class. Li Ming said that it is during afternoon classes that he feel most sleepy. “My parents are usually happy to see me studying so late,” he said. “They think I work very hard and they make me cups of coffee.”
However, not all parents are happy about this. “My daughter gets up so early. She looks tired and it really hurts me.” said one of the parents. Why don’t so many students get enough sleep? Now many members of society began to think about it.
【小题1】Why did the ten-year-old boy’s mother talk about waking up her son with tears in her eyes?

A．Because her son’s lack of sleep hurt her but she had to wake him up.

B．Because her son wasn’t good at lessons.

C．Because she thought her son was too lazy.

D．Because her son was badly ill.

【小题2】Which is NOT the result of lack of sleep?

A．The body’s weakness.	B．Nodding off in class.
C．Near-sighted eyes.	D．Poor academic developments.

【小题3】How does Li Ming’s mother feel to see him studying late?

A．Sorry.

B．Worried.

C．Not unhappy.

D．Angry.

【小题4】Which one is True according to the passage?

A．All the parents hope their children stay up.

B．No students complain about their lack of sleep.

C．Most students watch TV or play computer games deep into night.

D．Some parents are worried about the fact that most of the students don’t have enough sleep.

Should students do the grading?
The Supreme Court says the practice doesn’t violate(侵犯) a student’s right to privacy, but is it right for students to grade one another?
Walter Potenza, California
The Supreme Court was absolutely correct to say it’s OK for students to grade one another’s homework, quizzes, and tests: in fact, it’s a great idea.
By grading one another’s papers and seeing the problems their classmates have, students double their exposure(暴露) to the troubles that they may meet on future exams and tests. Grading one another’s papers may be one of the best ways for students to reinforce within themselves the ways to master the most difficult parts of what they are learning.
Teachers are underappreciated and underpaid for the number of hours they have to work to be able to teach really well. Grading all their students’ papers can take hours. Some of that time and energy can be saved by spending a few minutes in class, while providing an extremely valuable learning experience.
I understand that some individuals are sensitive to their classmates seeing their work or grades. Any good teacher would be considerate of students who don’t want their classmates to grade their assignments.
Winston Smith, North Carolina
A girl moves back as her classmate announces her failing test grade and hands her the paper. The quiet classroom heats up.
With the increase in student grading over the past few years, scenes like this have become a bitter reality in schools across the nation. Teachers and schools should not advocate student grading and public announcement of grades because it provides a violation of privacy for students and causes unfair judgments and treatment by their classmates.
Since 1974, a law known as the Buckley Amendment has forbidden the release of education records in order to protect the privacy of students and their families. I strongly disagree with the Court’s ruling that this law does not include student grading.
I can think of no greater violation of privacy than the exposure of one’s personal information to a group of peers(同龄人). This can be very embarrassing. Releasing this sort of personal information should be avoided, especially by institutions that seek to provide a supportive environment during essential years of human development.
【小题1】The underlined word “reinforce” has the same meaning as “_________”.

A．change

B．imagine

C．strengthen

D．create

【小题2】Walter Potenza suggests that ______________.

A．teachers should set aside some time to grade students’ papers

B．the Supreme Court should do more research on students grading

C．teachers should guide students on how to grade homework

D．teachers should be careful not to hurt those sensitive students

【小题3】By mentioning the example of a girl, Winston Smith wants to ____________.

A．show her weak points

B．criticize the student grader

C．tell us she is not a good student

D．present the negative effect of student grading

【小题4】What does Winston Smith seem to agree?

A．Student grading is not related to families’ privacy.

B．The Supreme Court should change its decision.

C．The Buckley Amendment doesn’t apply to student grading.

D．Student grading is OK, but not public announcement of grades.

Recently the busiest person on the Internet is absolutely Yuanfang, a fictional figure from the Chinese TV series “Detective Di Renjie”. In the TV series, Li was often asked by Di, “How do you see it, Yuanfang?” Then, the dialogues between them help advance the plot. Now, the casual pet phrase is used as many as 2.5 million times by netizens in a single day, according to statistics.
In fact, it is not the first popular sentence pattern on the Internet. Many other types of popular network words include those evolved from “the slogans of Vancl(凡客网)” and actor’s lines of “The Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan”.
The explosive spread of the sentence “How do you see it, Yuanfang?” again proved the vast power of the network spread. The appearance of a buzzword(流行词) on the Internet may be coincidental, but the spread of numerous buzzwords has started a social and cultural phenomenon. It is more noticeable that the spread is not a deliberate choice but by chance. Usually, everyone has known about it, except the one concerned.
The appearance of buzzwords is resulting from the agreement of netizens. If something is new and interesting enough, it will cause public attention.
The rise of these buzzwords also benefits from their strong “adhesive(粘着的) force”. After analyzing these buzzwords, we find that they have a common character, namely “novel in structure but empty in content”. Therefore, any concrete contents can be added in these buzzwords, creating fantastic results.
Taking the “Yuanfang-style” as an example, its popularity displayed a social mentality of questioning. Although it seems a little funny to ask “Yuanfang”, a fictional character, and some people even find it boring. This way of asking a question reveals a valuable quality-listening. The Internet provides a space for everyone to express their views, but it also causes controversies. What’s your opinion, Yuanfang?
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that Yuanfang        .

A．is the busiest person in modern industrial societies

B．plays an important role in a Chinese TV series

C．is a fictional figure currently popular with netizens

D．starts a social and cultural phenomenon by himself

【小题2】What does the underlined words “a deliberate choice” in Paragraph3 mean?

A．a choice made on purpose	B．a choice made by accident
C．a choice done in person	D．a choice done at ease

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The dialogues between Di Renjie and Yuanfang help understand the network buzzwords.

B．The “Yuanfang-style” suggests once again that the power of the network spread is quite vast.

C．The spread of numerous buzzwords has started a social development of structure and content.

D．The result of the netizens’ agreement directly leads to the rise of some socially strong problems.

【小题4】What can we infer from the last passage?

A．People benefited from the Internet on which they can learn a lot about real society.

B．People learned about some controversies from the Internet and decided to deal with them.

C．People provided a space through which they can display their own criminal mentality.

D．People found out a place where they can question and express their different views.

A new study suggests that sad music might actually arouse positive emotions. The finding helps to explain why people enjoy listening to sad music, say Ai Kawakami and her colleagues from Tokyo University of the Arts and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan. Ai Kawakami and her colleagues asked 44 volunteers, including both musicians and nonspecialists, to listen to two pieces of sad music and one piece of happy music. Each participant was required to use a set of keywords to rate both their perception(观念) of the music and their own emotional state.
The sad pieces of music included Glinka’s La Separation in F minor and Blumenfeld’s Etude Sur Mer in G minor. The happy music piece was Granados’s Allegro de Concierto in G major. To control the “happy” effect of major key, they also played the minor key(小调) pieces in major key, and vise versa.
The researchers explained that sad music aroused contradictory emotions because the participants of the study tended to feel sad to be more tragic and less romantic than they felt themselves while listening to it.
“ In general, sad music causes sadness in listeners, and sadness is regarded as an unpleasant emotion. If sad music actually arouses only unpleasant emotion, we would not listen to it,” the researchers wrote in the study.
“Music that is believed as sad actually causes romantic emotion as well as sad emotion.And people, regardless of their musical training, experience this ambivalent(矛盾的) emotion to listen to the sad music,” added the researchers.
Also, unlike sadness in daily life, sadness experienced through art actually feels pleasant, possibly because the latter does not cause an actual threat to our safety. This could help people to deal with their negative emotions in daily life, concluded the authors.
“Emotion experienced by music has no direct danger or harm unlike the emotion experienced in everyday life. Therefore, we can even enjoy unpleasant emotion such as sadness. If we suffer from unpleasant emotion aroused through daily life, sad music might be helpful to alleviate negative emotion,” they added.
【小题1】 People enjoy listening to sad music because _______.

A．sad music may help arouse positive emotions

B．sad music can make people relax

C．Sad music has a positive effect on people’s health

D．many experts recommend people to listen to sad music

【小题2】We can learn from the passage that _______.

A．sad music only causes sadness in listeners

B．Only musicians were invited to take part in the survey

C．The volunteers were asked to listen to three pieces of music in all

D．Granados’s Allegro de Concierto in G major can cause positive emotions

【小题3】The underlined word “alleviate” in the last paragraph means “         ”.

A．add

B．strengthen

C．cause

D．reduce

【小题4】What is the main idea of this passage?

A．People should listen to sad music.

B．Happy music can make people sad.

C．Sad music may actually cause positive emotions.

D．Sad music is really bad to people.