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

A．he is unwilling to take family responsibilities

B．he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single

C．he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

D．he fears it will put an end to all his fun, adventure and excitement

【小题2】 The underlined word bachelor means_________

A．a married man	B．a college student
C．a single man	D．an academic degree

【小题3】From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes results from______

A．hatred

B．misunderstanding

C．prejudice

D．ignorance

【小题4】To understand what true happiness, one must________

A．have as much fun as possible during one’s lifetime.

B．make every effort to liberate oneself from pain

C．put up with pain under all circumstances

D．be able to distinguish happiness from fun

【小题5】What is the author trying to tell us?

A．Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.

B．One must know how to attain happiness.

C．It is important to make commitments.

D．It is pain that leads to happiness.

Disposing of the garbage we produce every day is a major problem in cities around the world. In the United States, over 160 million tons of garbage is produced every year. Ten percent is recycled, ten percent is burned, and the rest is put in landfills. But finding land for new landfills is becoming more difficult.

A city that has solved this problem in an unusual way is Machida in Tokyo. They have developed a totally new way of dealing with garbage. The key to the operation is that people should work together. Families must divide their garbage into six groups:

1. garbage that can be easily burned, such as kitchen and garden trash 2. garbage that doesn’t burn easily, such as plastic tools and plastic toys 3. products that are poisonous or that cause pollution, such as batteries 4. bottles and glass containers that can be recycled 5. metal containers that can be recycled 6. large items, such as furniture and bicycles

    The items in Groups 1 to 5 are collected on different days. Large items are only collected upon request. Then the garbage is taken to a centre that looks like a clean new office building or hospital. Inside the centre, special equipment is used to sort and deal with garbage. Almost everything can be reused: garden or kitchen trash becomes fertilizer; garbage that can burn is burned to produce electricity; metal containers and bottles are recycled; and old furniture, clothing, and other useful items are cleaned, repaired, and resold cheaply or given away. The work provides employment for the disabled and gives them a chance to learn new skills.

Nowadays, officials from cities around the world visit Machida to see whether they can use some of these ideas and techniques to solve their own garbage problems.

1. Each year people in the U.S.A. have to find places to put in _______ million tons of garbage.

A.160           B.128               C.16                    D.32

2.George’s family has the following garbage: wooden chairs, empty tins and branches. Into which group should he put the garbage?

A. Group 6, Group 5, Group 1.           B. Group 1, Group 3, Group 2.

C. Group 6, Group 5, Group 2.           D. Group 6, Group 4, Group 1.

3. From the text we know that ________ .

A. those who are working at the garbage disposal centre are disabled persons.

B. without people’s cooperation, the garbage disposal project would be a failure.

C. the items in Group1 and Group6 are not collected on the same day.

D. the garage is taken to a clean new office building for disposal.

 

The noise was so _____ that only those with excellent hearing were aware of it.

A. dim    B. soft    C. faint    D. gentle  

Seven Health Facts about Coffee
When you’re considering your morning coffee, here are some health facts to keep in mind:
1. Coffee Reduces Your Risk of Diabetes (糖尿病)
In a 2005 review of nine studies, researchers found that for those that drank four to six cups of coffee per day, versus only two or fewer, their risk for Type 2 diabetes decreased by almost 30 percent. The number decreased by 35 percent when people drank more than six cups per day. And if you’re picturing yourself running around the office with your eyes bugging out of your head, no worries because caffeinated and decaffeinated coffees provided much the same results.
2. Coffee Fights Free Radicals (自由基)
We often forget that coffee is actually a plant and like all plant foods, the coffee bean contains more than 1,000 naturally occurring substances called phytochemicals, which may help prevent disease. Many of these phytochemicals are antioxidants which protect the cells from damage from free radicals.
3. Coffee Improves Memory and Cognition
Researchers reported that volunteers who drank caffeinated coffee in the morning performed better than nondrinkers on tests that involved learning new information. Coffee can also improve cognitive function as we age. One study found that combining coffee with a sweet treat had an even bigger impact.
4. Coffee Can Increase Osteoporosis (骨质疏松)
It’s true that coffee can cause the body to excrete calcium in urine. We don’t want the body to rid itself of calcium because this can lead to osteoporosis. According to The Diet Channel, about five milligrams of calcium is lost per every six ounces of coffee consumed. But these calcium losses can be counter balanced with two tablespoons of milk or yogurt per cup of coffee.
5. Coffee Causes Wrinkles
Even though coffee has antioxidants, if you drink too much of it, it can cause wrinkling of the skin. This is a result of dehydration (脱水) which is the worst thing for your skin. So when you’re drinking that morning cup or two, make sure that you’re pairing it with water. Even better, add one tablespoon of chia seeds to your water and let them sit for 30 minutes. The chia seeds keep you even more hydrated than regular water.
6. Coffee Can Actually Cause Weight Gain
The blood sugar changes that a caffeine high produces can contribute enormously to a strong desire for it, according to iVillage. Coffee is also socially connected to food. For example, we pair coffee with dessert or that morning powdered doughnut. Additionally, when we crash from our caffeine high that’s when we reach for all sorts of fatty snacks to keep us going.
7. Conventional Coffee Is Laden with Pesticides (杀虫剂)
The coffee plant is one of the most heavily sprayed crops. It’s coated with chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides, nothing you’d want to be swallowing. If you do drink coffee, make sure that it’s the organic variety, free from assorted chemicals that leech into our ground water and can make us sick down the road.
If you switch to decaffeinated coffee, make sure the caffeine (咖啡因) is removed in a natural way without the use of chemicals to do it. Often times, conventional decaffeinated coffee has more chemicals than regular.
【小题1】   If you want to decrease the risk of diabetes by 35%, you need to take at least _____ cups of     coffee every day.

A．seven

B．six

C．five

D．four

【小题2】If you are a heavy drinker of coffee, a far better way to avoid wrinkling of your skin is to drink water _____.

A．less than usual

B．regularly

C．with sugar

D．with chia seeds

【小题3】   Which of the following statements is wrong?

A．Adding two spoons of milk to a cup of coffee can prevent calcium losses.

B．Decaffeinated coffee has different effects from caffeinated coffee as to diabetes.

C．Many phytochemicals protect the cells from damage from free radicals.

D．The organic variety of coffee plant is free from assorted chemicals.

【小题4】   The author has a/an _____ attitude towards drinking of coffee.

A．positive

B．negative

C．objective

D．imaginative

22  The sight, hearing and other senses of wild animals are much better than_______of a human.

A  that                        B  those                      C  which                            D  what