Friends play a very important part in everyone’s life. Friendship usually develops during childhood. New friends are made when you progress through school. Those friends that you make as a student can usually last long. Friends influence your development, maturity (成熟) and sense of responsibility. A familiar expression is “you can tell a lot about a person by knowing who his friends are.” Friendship is based on common interests. If you like sports, most of your friends are likely to be athletic. If you enjoy reading and shopping, most of your friends do the same.

Some people call you their friends for the wrong reason. These people are not really friends. They are only “friends” on the outside, not the inside where it counts. They only want to be your friends if it is to their advantage. True friends are there whether you are rich or poor. It is easy to have many so-called “friends” if you are rich. By this time you should be able to separate your friends into the real or the “false”.

True friends are most special. They are also difficult to find. You can consider yourself very lucky if you have one true friend. This friend is eager to help you whenever necessary. He or she knows you would do the same for them. A true friend is someone you can talk to about any subject or problem. You and your true friend have good understanding of each other. True friends support you, take your side, and build up your confidence.

1. “So-called” friends refer to        .

A. fair-weather friends

B. those who want to benefit from you

C. the friends who are on the surface only

D. all of the above

2.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. You should tell true friends from false ones.

B. True friendship is too difficult to find.

C. You can share your joys and sorrows with a true friend.

D. A true friend will stand by you whatever happens.

3.The proper title for this article may be “        ”.

A. Friendliness                                                B. What friends like

C. True Friends                                                D. So-called Friends

When I was an official of a school in Palo Alto, California, Polly Tyner, the president of our board, wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times. Polly’s son, Jim, had great difficulty in school. He was classified as the educationally handicapped and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers. But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room. His parents knew his difficulties, but they always tried to help him see his strengths so that he could walk with pride. Shortly after Jim finished high school, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. After his death, his mother submitted this letter to the newspaper.
“Today we buried our 20-year-old son. He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday night. How I wish I had known that the last time I had talked to him would be the last time. If I had only known that, I would have said to him, ‘Jim, I love you and I’m always so proud of you.’ I would have taken the time to count the many blessings he had brought to the lives of the people who loved him. I would have taken the time to appreciate his beautiful smile, his laughter, and his genuine love to other people.
“When I put all the good things on the scale and try to balance them with all the irritating (恼人的) things such as the radio that was always too loud, the haircut that wasn’t to our liking, the dirty socks under the bed, etc., I find that the irritations really don’t amount to much.
“I won’t get another chance to tell my son all that I would have wanted him to hear, but, other parents, do have a chance. Tell your young people what you would want them to hear as if it may be your last conversation. The last time I talked to Jim was the morning of the day when he died. He called me to say, ‘Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you. You have to go to work now. Bye.’ That day, he gave me something to treasure forever. ”
If there is any purpose at all for Jim’s death, maybe it is to make others appreciate life more and to tell people, especially family members, that they should take the time to let each other know just how much they care. You may never have another chance. Do it today!
【小题1】What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase “the educationally handicapped”?

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

    The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

    It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life—style of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories, He called it ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because ‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.’ Keeping up with the Joneses’ came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

    People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are ‘Joneses’ in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

1.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.

A. want to be as rich as their neighbors

B. want others to know or to think that they are rich

C don’t want others to know they are rich

D. want to be happy

2.It can be inferred (推断) from the story that rich people like to ________.

A. live outside New York City

B. live in New York city

C. live in apartments

D. have many neighbors

3.Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ________.

A. an important name 

B. a popular name in the United States

C. his neighbor’s name 

D. not a good name

4.If a person who keeps up with the Joneses, he would _________. 

A. do as the poor persons around him do

B. do everything he likes to do

C. do as his neighbors do

D. do as the rich people around him do

5. According to the writer, it is ___________ to keep up with the Jonese.

A. Good         B. correct         C. interesting            D. impossible

I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.

　　Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more abiding emotion.

　　Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.

I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”.

But in memoir（回忆录） after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children and profound loneliness.

       The way people stick to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually reduces their chances of ever obtaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

       As a result, many people avoid the very endeavors that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, civic or charitable work, and self-improvement.

What does the author want to tell us? He wants to tell us              .

       A．he lives in Hollywood, so he feels not happy

       B．the true meaning of happiness

       C．in fact, famous people are not very happy

       D．happiness is not equal to fun

What is many intelligent people’s viewpoint about happiness?

       A．Happiness just means having fun.   B．Happiness is not equal to fun.

       C．Happiness means doing what you like.   D．Happiness means being rich.

What does the underlined word “equate” in the second paragraph mean? It means     .

       A．compare          B．think

       C．similar or connected D．match

According to the passage, the author may agree         .

       A．amusement park can bring us happiness

       B．fun will bring some happiness to us

       C．pain will bring us happiness

       D．efforts can bring us happiness

In the new book The Education of Millionaires，Michael Ellsberg suggests that although“there are many wonderful things you can learn in college，”few of them are applied to real life ．So Ellsberg has written the book to tell“the capabilities and attitudes that will get you improved outside the classroom．”

??? I welcome the kind of debate about the value of higher education.It is necessary to remember， however，that Ellsberg also tells how important it is to make money．He mentions a number of college dropouts一such as Bill Gates and Michael Dell一to show how successful they have become without the benefit of a college degree．While Ellsberg stresses the achievements of dropouts，he includes degree holders who have become wealthy and famous．For example，of the current Fortune 500 CEOs，some 99％have a college degree．Similarly，of the Forbes 400 richest people in America，81％hold postseconda.ry（高等）degrees.

??? But in the discussion，what is forgotten about the value is that the purpose of education is not simply to enable one to earn a living but to prepare one for living over the course of life ．What is also left out of the debate about higher education is that its purpose is not just to provide a pathway covered with gold for the nation’s elites（精英）．If we have the discussion that way，we may look down upon the people who devote themselves to other ordinary jobs that form the basic structures（结构）of our society，Though these individuals may not be reaching for the kind of stars that Michael Ellsberg and others would have them grasp，most are doing something even more important：they are involved in the useful tasks of good citizens and contributing to the common welfare，including providing for their families．

1.In the book The Education of Millionaires，Michael Ellsberg＿＿＿．

A．approves of the value of education

B．explains the reasons for dropping out

C．tells the way of getting out of college

D. discusses the practical value of college degrees

2.The second paragraph suggests a fact that＿＿＿＿

A．the value of higher education is never challenged

B．higher education ensures people making more money

C．most of the richest people received college education

D．success of dropouts proves the value of higher education

3.From the last paragraph we can learn that the author＿＿＿

A．is keen on society charity work? B．calls for the equality of all man

C．speaks highly of the nation’s elites D．shows respect to common people

4.The passage is written mainly to．＿＿＿

A．persuade people to go to university

B. make a comment on a new book

C．complain about the college education

D．praise Michael Ellsberg for his hard work