It is the season for long lines and frayed(紧张的) nerves. Here are some ways to survive a holiday flight.

Lighten up

Do yourself a favor and ship your presents. Nearly every US airline charges a fee to check a bag, so shipping gifts is now cheaper and more convenient than carrying them in your luggage.

Weigh your options

Not knowing what you’re going to pay for your luggage is annoying. So calculate your overweight-luggage fees at home. You can find the fees out in advance by visiting new site Luggage Limits, which provides the latest information on more than 90 airlines.

Leave amateurs in the dust

Trust us and get to the airport an extra half-hour early. The check-in and security lines are filled with inexperienced files, and it’s a hard walking. Plus, if you decide to cut it close you may not get onto the flight at all. To reduce costs, airlines have reduced on flights and routes. The remaining flights are more likely to be oversold, especially on busy travel days. Fliers who check in early are the least likely to get bumped from oversold flights.

Take it public

The rates for renting a car at the airport have more than doubled over the past year because rental lot inventories have decreased dramatically(现住地). True, renting at the airport is convenient, but it’s just not worth it anymore. Unless you really need a car, take public transportation, hop a cab, or beg a friend to pick you up at the airport instead.

Say no to bumper cars

Tell the people picking you up to avoid parking their car. They can hang out in their car for free while waiting to get a call from you when you land. Many airports, including JFK and LAX now feature this sensible choice.

How does the author think of shipping gifts?

A. Unnecessary.    B. Expensive.      C. Inconvenient.    D. Wonderful.

Airlines have reduced flights to _________.

A. deal with crisis    B. reduce the time for leave

C. lower the cost     D. provide more job chances

It can be learned from the passage that ______.

A. renting a car at the airport is expensive  B. taxis stay at the airport free of charge

C. cars can park at the airport for free      D. JFK encourages people to take a taxi

What’s the best title for the passage?

  A. Five ways to survive a holiday flight.    B. Good seasons for flight.

  C. Cars at the airport.                   D. How to board a flight

（共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分）

根据短文内容，从下框的A---F选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余选项。

A. Focus on your relationaships.

B. Think about what to do next step.

C. Take good care of your body.

D. Try to avoid overthinking.

E. Set up a proper goal for yourself.

F. Practice acts of kindness.

Five Happiness Secrets For Tough Times

Sonja Lyubomirsky, an author, has researched the science of happiness for years.

Here are her tips to help you cope with a bad economy, and increase your bursts

of happiness throughout the day.

61. ________

“You could spend a lot of time thinking deeply,” says Lyubomirsky. “But that

just makes you feel even more pessimistic, more out of control, and effects your self

esteem. Your relationships will suffer and your job performance will suffer.”

Get rid of pessimism. One of the most effective ways to cope when things are

difficult is to adopt a positive thinking strategy. “What can I learn from this? Times

are tough, I’ve been furloughed at work, but I can spend more time with the kids,

adopt a new hobby, or learn a new set of skills.”

62. ________

Now more than ever we need each other to survive. Lyubomirsky found that doing

good things for friends, family, or strangers can make you happier. Think of practical,

everyday gestures that can make someone’s life a little bit easier. For example,

Lyubomirsky says, “Maybe now many of us can’t afford to take a cab to the airport, so

offer to give a friend a ride.”

63. ________

You don’t need an expert to tell you that relationships are critical to happiness.

Not being the bread-winner anymore or not being able to fulfill your kid’s needs can

weighh down hard on your family life. But the trick is to stop feeling guilty and focus

on caring for your loved ones.

“I was at a psychology conference where an expert was talking about the effects

of this economy on families and how parents can’t afford to buy their kids luxuries

like toys anymore,” says Lyubomirsky. “But what they don’t realize is that kids don’t

care about toys — what they care about is parents being grumpy and taking it out on

them.”

64. ________

“If you find a happy person you will find a project,” says Lyubomirsky. “Happy

people all have goals they care about.”

Commit yourself to a project – whether it is a business you want to start or a dance

you want to learn. But it’s also important to remember to be flexible in these times.

Don’t get frustrated if circumstances are stopping you from meeting your goals. Adopt

and change!

“If your spouse has lost their job you might have to change your goal,” says

Lyubomirsky. “Or you might have to learn a whole new skill for a new job.”

65. ________

When times are tough, it’s easy to get skip your regular workouts in favor of moping

in front of the TV and eating a bag of chips. Your thinking is “I have more important

things to worry about right now than looking good.”

But carve out a small part of your day to give your body some TLC. It will go a

long way in boosting your happiness. “Even if you can’t afford to go to the gym,”

Lyubomirsky says, “take time out to exercise at home.”

You don't need an expert to tell your that relationships are critical to happiness. Not

being the bread-winner anymore or not being able to fulfill your kid's needs can weigh

down hard on your family life. But the trick is to stop feeling guilty and focus on

bringing up your loved ones.

 

In a cab, a woman seemed in such a hurry. She constantly rushed the cab driver to drive quickly. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts of getting to the airport as soon as possible that she was not aware they were going by a different route.

All of a sudden, a young man got inside the cab. He took her handbag in which she had put her visa, passport, and all the money for the trip.

The cab driver, who was in collusion with the robber, left her in the exactly middle of a dark street. She thought that she was rather unfortunate in the very situation.

During the very night, she was told a piece of shocking news. Tears came down her cheek. Flight 360, the plane that she should have got on board, had crashed. Had she not lost her important belongings, she could surely have lost the thing far more precious——her life.

Sometimes bad things really happen. There are times when nothing seems to go our way. So what should we do about it? We must get rid of all these frustrations and start all over again in the faith that we will get what we deserve. 

Don’t waste your time and energy on things that can’t be changed. Continuous worrying will only affect your health and you’ll be doing much more damage than what was previously done.

What if it was the other way round? What if we never ran out of good luck?

There was a man who won the lottery. He became greedy and wasted all his money on everything he could get his hands on.

But when he one day made it to the front page of the newspaper again, it was a different story. He had been killed because of his riches. If you attain good luck, you can never be too secure about it. Life is so unpredictable. You never know what will happen next.

Live one day at a time. We sometimes subject ourselves to unnecessary emotional trouble. But please don’t forget: sometimes misfortune can be the source of happiness. Live for the moment. Do what must be done for the present and the future will turn out just fine. Believe me. And believe in yourself. As Captain Planet always says, “The power is yours！”

1. The underlined phrase “in collusion with” in Paragraph 3 probably means “________.”

A. was forced by                              B. was fighting bravely against 

C. was doing one’s best to beg             D. had cooperated with

2. From the passage, we learn that ________.

A. robbers are sure to get what they want        

B. somebody never runs out of good luck

C. the woman was lucky to miss her flight 

D. if one feels oneself lucky, he or she will continue to be so

3. The writer presents the second example in order to ________.

A. warn people of the danger of winning the lottery

B. tell people life is unpredictable

C. encourage people to buy lottery  

D. persuade people not to be greedy

4. According to the author, which of the following choices is the correct attitude to adopt to life?

A. Never waste any time or energy because time is so limited.

B. One needn’t be worried or feel frustrated. Believe in yourself.

C. Even while everything appears to be going smoothly, we should keep fully alert.

D. Worrying about what you don’t have

5. The passage above is intended to tell us ________.

A. misfortune sometimes is a blessing

B. we should save up for a rainy day

C. fortune just goes with those prepared minds

D. both losses and gains go hand in hand

 

根据短文内容，从下框的A-F选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余项。

A．Focus on your relationships． B．Think about what to do next step． C．Take good care of your body． D．Try to avoid over thinking． E．Set up a proper goal for yourself． F．Practice acts of kindness．

Five Happiness Secrets For Tough Times

Sonja Lyubomirsky, an author, has researched the science of happiness for years．

Here are her tips to help you cope with a bad economy, and increase your bursts of happiness throughout the day．

1.________

“You could spend a lot of time thinking deeply,” says Lyubomirsky．“But that just makes you feel even more pessimistic, more out of control, and affects your self esteem．Your relationships will suffer and your job performance will suffer．”

Get rid of pessimism．One of the most effective ways to cope when things are difficult is to adopt a positive thinking strategy．“What can I learn from this? Times are tough, I’ve been furloughed at work, but I can spend more time with the kids, adopt a new hobby, or learn a new set of skills．”

2.________

Now more than ever we need each other to survive．Lyubomirsky found that doing good things for friends, family, or strangers can make you happier．Think of practical, everyday gestures that can make someone’s life a little bit easier．For example, Lyubomirsky says, “Maybe now many of us can’t afford to take a cab to the airport, so offer to give a friend a ride．”

3.________

You don’t need an expert to tell you that relationships are critical to happiness．

Not being the bread-winner anymore or not being able to fulfill your kid’s needs can weigh down hard on your family life．But the trick is to stop feeling guilty and focus on caring for your loved ones．

“I was at a psychology conference where an expert was talking about the effects of this economy on families and how parents can’t afford to buy their kids luxuries like toys anymore,” says Lyubomirsky．“But what they don’t realize is that kids don’t care about toys — what they care about is parents being grumpy and taking it out on them．”

4.________

“If you find a happy person you will find a project,” says Lyubomirsky．“Happy people all have goals they care about．”

Commit yourself to a project – whether it is a business you want to start or a dance you want to learn．But it’s also important to remember to be flexible in these times．

Don’t get frustrated if circumstances are stopping you from meeting your goals．Adopt and change!

“If your spouse has lost their job you might have to change your goal,” says Lyubomirsky．“Or you might have to learn a whole new skill for a new job．”

5.________

When times are tough, it’s easy to get skip your regular workouts in favor of moping in front of the TV and eating a bag of chips．Your thinking is “I have more important things to worry about right now than looking good．”

But carve out a small part of your day to give your body some TLC．It will go a long way in boosting your happiness．“Even if you can’t afford to go to the gym,”

Lyubomirsky says, “take time out to exercise at home．”

 

Bobby Moresco grew up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, a poor working-class neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side. But Hell’s Kitchen lies right next door to Broadway, and the bright lights attracted Bobby from the time he was a teen. Being stage-struck was hardly what a street kid could admit to his partners. Fearing their making fun of him, he told no one, not even his girlfriend, when he started taking acting lessons at age 17. If you were a kid from the neighborhood, you became a cop, construction worker, longshoreman or criminal. Not an actor.

   Moresco struggled to make that long walk a few blocks east. He studied acting, turned out for all the cattle calls (试戏通告)-- and during the decade of the 1970s made a total of $2,000. “I wasn’t a good actor, but I had a driving need to do something different with my life,” he says.

He moved to Hollywood, where he drove a cab and worked as a waiter. “ My father said, 'Stop this craziness and get a job; you have a wife and daughter.' ”But Moresco kept working at his chosen career.

   Then in 1983 his younger brother Thomas was murdered in a killing. Moresco moved back to his old neighborhood and started writing as a way to explore the pain of Hell’s Kitchen. Half-Deserted Streets, based on his brother’s killing, opened at a small Off-Broadway theater in 1988. A Hollywood producer saw it and asked him to work on a screenplay.

    His reputation grew, and he got enough assignments to move back to Hollywood. By 2003, he was again out of work and out of cash when he got a call from Paul Haggis, a director who had befriended him. Haggis wanted help writing a film about the country after September 11. The two worked on the writing Crash, but every studio in town turned it down. They kept trying. Studio executives, however, thought no one wanted to see hard lives in modern America.

Crash slipped into the theaters in May 2005, and quietly became both a hit and a critical success. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won three -- Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Paul Haggis and the kid from Hell’s Kitchen.

   At age 54, Bobby Moresco became an overnight success. “If you have something you want to do in life, don’t think about the problems,” he says, “think about other ways to get it done.” 

1.Why Bobby Moresco did not tell anyone that he started taking lessons at age 17?

A. He wanted to give his girlfriend a surprise.

B. His girlfriend did not allow him to do this.

C. He was afraid of being laughed at.

D. He had no talent for acting.

2.Which of the following sentences is NOT true?

A. His father did not support his work as a bartender.

B. Before he became an overnight success, his life experienced ups and downs.

C. His brother’s death inspired his writing Half-Deserted Streets.

D. Moresco grew up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen which is a few blocks east of Broadway.

3.The Studio executives turned the script Crash down because ______________.

A. they thought the script would not be popular.

B. the script was not well written.

C. they had no money to make the film based on the script.      

D. they thought Moresco was not famous.

4.Which of the following can best describe Bobby Moresco?

A. ambitious and persistent                                                             B. shy but hardworking  

C. caring and brave                                                                                     D. considerate and modest