One dark stormy night, an elderly couple hurried into a hotel and asked whether they could be put up for the night. “I’ m very   31   ,” the clerk(职员) on night shift（值晚班） said politely, “we are all    32 tonight. But you could stay in my room if you don’t    33 . As I’m on duty, I’ll be staying up in the office anyway,” The young man gave the    34 _ advice.

The elderly couple    35  his offer with gratitude(感激). They    36  for the inconvenience(不便) they had caused him. The next day, the rain stopped and it cleared up. When the old gentleman went to pay his   37 , the clerk behind the counter was that same helpful young man. “The room you and your wife stayed in is not a proper guest room in this hotel,  38  you don’t need to pay,” said the clerk, with the same friendly smile.

The old gentleman nodded in    39 , “You are an employee that every boss in the hotel business would    40 . Perhaps   41  I’ll build a hotel for you. ” The clerk was surprised but, deciding that the guest must have been joking, he gave the words no more    42 .

Two years later, the young man received a registered letter(挂号信) from the old gentleman, in which he   43 the experience of that dark stormy night. The letter also enclosed（附上） a formal    44  and a round-trip air ticket to New York, asking the young man to pay a visit.

At a street comer in Manhattan, the young man met his   45  guest. The old gentleman, pointing to a beautiful new    46  towering over(耸立) the crossroads, said, “Look, that is the hotel I    47 to build for you. I hope you will manage it for me. Remember what I said then? Well, I was serious about it.”

“But…will there be any conditions, sir? Why do you choose me? And who are you?”

“My name is William Aster. There’s not any condition.   48  I told you before, you are the best employee…!”

This building was    49 the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Starting business in 1931, this hotel has been a symbol of honor in the city of New York. The young man who became its first    50  was George Boldt, the man who turned Waldorf into one of the best hotels in the world.

After blogging regularly for two months, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who don’t blog. Blogging can help you feel less isolated, more connected to a community and more satisfied with your friendships, both online and face-to-face, new Australian research has found.

Researchers James Baker and Professor Susan Moore from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne have written two papers investigating the psychological benefits of blogging, regularly updating personal web pages with information that invites others to comment.

The first, published in the latest issue of the journal Cyber Psychology & Behavior, compares the mental health of people intending to blog with that of people not planning to blog. Moore says the researchers messaged 600 My Space users personally and directed them to an online survey. A total of 134 completed the questionnaire; 84 intended to blog and 50 didn’t.

“We found potential bloggers were less satisfied with their friendships and they felt less socially integrated, and they didn’t feel as much part of a community as the people who weren’t interested in blogging…” Moore says. “It was as if they were saying ‘I’m going to do this blogging and it’s going to help me.’”

And it seemed to do the trick, as the researchers’ second study shows. This study, which is yet to be published, was conducted two months later. The researchers sent out questionnaires to the same group of My Space users; this time 59 responded. Bloggers reported a greater sense of belonging to a group of like-minded people and feeling more confident for they could rely on others for help. All respondents, whether or not they blogged, reported feeling less anxious, depressed and stressed after two months of online social networking.

“So going onto My Space had lifted the mood of all participants in some way,” Moore says. “Maybe they’d just made more social connections.” Moore acknowledges this early research and hopes to follow a larger group of people for a longer period time to test some of the research findings.

46. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The mental health of bloggers                                 B. Blogging improves one’s social life.

C. What kind of people are likely to blog                     D. Blogging has become more popular.

47. It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that ______.

A. those who were not interested in blogging didn’t have good mental health.

B. people were likely to become bloggers if they felt socially isolated

C. potential bloggers were those who had mental health problems

D. potential bloggers usually held a wrong view about blogging

48. The purpose of the second study is to find out ______.

A. what people do on My Space

B. how many people became bloggers

C. how people felt after blogging for two months

D. how many people kept blogging after two months

49. The second study shows that ______.

A. online social networking can do people good

B. only bloggers benefit from online social networking

C. not many potential bloggers became real bloggers

D. not all bloggers found the help they needed

50. The main purpose of people going on My Space is probably to ______.

A. exchange goods                                                                 B. entertain themselves

C. seek help                                                                              D. exchange views

My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork.
My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president.” I usually carry on a bit about there being twenty-four hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.
Once in graduate school, I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant (无关的). What’s important is the quality of your work.” Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge (诀窍), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.
If you analyze the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that’s important.
That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” There is a lot of sense in that idea.
If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.
Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.
【小题1】
From the passage, we know that the author is probably ______ .

“I usually put my mobile phone in my bag, and I often feel like it is ringing when there actually is no phone call. Now I always want to keep it in my hand, being afraid that I might miss important calls or messages,” Miss Liu tells her doctor.

Miss Gu, a news worker, has to take her mobile phone with her all the time so as not to miss any calls from her office or readers. Gradually, she started to experience a great “panic” about her mobile phone. “Every night when I’m about to fall asleep, I often wake up with a start, feeling that my phone is ringing. Although I’m sure that I have turned it off, I still feel that it is ringing, clearly.”

The above phenomenon is what we call “mobile-phone acouasm (幻听)”. The mobile phone has now become a “new organ” in a white collar’s daily life, and “mobile-phone acouasm” has become a common phenomenon among office workers.

According to a report of China Youth Daily, “mobile-phone acouasm ” most likely results from people’s dependency on hi-tech products. It is associated with certain professions, such as salesmen, consultants and journalists. They use mobile phones almost continuously.

Constantly being in the “stand-by” mode, the strong psychological tension gives them acouasm. Meanwhile, a large number of this year’s graduates are joining the family of acouasm suffers due to the hard job-hunting experience.

“You know that the rings are not from your phone, but you always take it out and have a look. This is subconscious (潜意识) from your body sending you a signal, telling you that you must take a break to reduce your pressure,” Professor Sun Li from Huadong Normal University explains.

There are many ways to solve the problem. The professor says that the key is to deal with pressure from work. “This is just a kind of self-protection”; the most important thing is to find out the source of your pressure. And then take part in some activities that are not related to your work. You can do anything that can relax your body and mind.

1. According to the passage the phrase “mobile-phone acouasm” refers to           .

A. people’s being addicted to mobile phones

B. people’s feeling the unreal phone rings

C. mobile phones’ going wrong frequently

D. mobile phones’ disturbing people constantly

2.How does “mobile-phone acouasm ” come about ? 

A. Some mobile phones are in poor quality.

B. Some people develop the dependency on mobile phones.

C. Some people listen to the music on mobile phones too much.

D. Something is wrong with some people’s hearing.

3.What kind of people are more likely to suffer from “mobile-phone acouasm” ?

A. Those who use mobile phones too often.

B. Those who like mobile phones very much.

C. Those who lead a busy life.

D. Those who lead a free life.

4.What is the most important measure to deal with “mobile-phone acouasm ” ? 

A. To buy a mobile phone of good quality.

B. To turn off your mobile phone.

C. To get rid of pressure from work.

D. To have your ears examined regularly.

Psychiatrists(精神病专家)，who work with older parents say that maturity can be an asset(资产) in child raising----older parents are more thoughtful, use less physical discipline and spend more time with children. But raising kids takes money and energy, many older parents find themselves balancing their limited financial resources, declining energy and failing health against the growing demands of an active child. Dying and leaving young children is probably the older parents’ biggest and often unspoken fear. Having late-life children, says an economics professor, often means parents, particularly fathers, “end up retiring much later.” For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream.
Henry Metcalf, a 54-year-old journalist, knows it takes money to raise kids. But he’s  also worried that his energy will give out first. Sure, he can still ride bikes with his athletic fifth grader, but he’s learned that, young at heart doesn’t mean young. Lately he’s been taking afternoon naps to keep up his energy.” My body is aging,” says Metcalf, “You can’t get away from that.”
Often, older parents hear the ticking of another kind of biological clock. Therapists who work with middle-aged and older parents say fears about aging are nothing to laugh at. “They worry they’ll be mistaken for grandparents, or that they’ll need help getting up out of those little chairs in nursery school.” Says Joann Galst, a New York psychologist .But at the core of those little fears there is often a much bigger one. “that they will not be alive long enough to support and protect their child, ” she says .
Many late-life parents, though, say their children came at just the right time. After marrying late and undergoing years of fertility(受孕) treatment, Marilyn Nolen and her husband, Randy, had twins. “We both wanted children,” says Marilyn, who was 55 when she gave birth. The twins have given the couple what they desired for years, “a sense of family.”
Kids of older dads are often smarter, happier and more sociable because their fathers are more involved in their lives. “The dads are older, more mature,” says Dr. Silber, “and more ready to focus on parenting.”
【小题1】Why do psychiatrists regard maturity as an asset in child raising?
A Older parents can better balance their resources against children’s demands.
B Older parents are usually more experienced in bringing up their children.
C Older parents are often better prepared financially.
D Older parents can take better care of their children.
【小题2】What does the author mean by saying “For many, retirement becomes an unobtainable dream”
A They have to go on working beyond their retirement age.
B They can’t get full pension unless they work some extra years.
C They can’t obtain the retirement benefits they have dreamed of.
D They are unwilling to retire when they reach their retirement age
【小题3】The author gives the examples of Henry Metcalf to show that______.
A many people are young in spirit despite their advanced age
B taking afternoon naps is a good way to maintain energy
C older parents tend to be concerned about their aging bodies
D older parents should exercise more to keep up with their athletic children
【小题4】What’s the biggest fear of older parents according to New York psychologist Joann Galst?
A Being laughed at by other people           B Slowing down of their pace of life
C Being mistaken for grandparents           D Approaching of death
【小题5】What do we learn about Marilyn and Randy Nolen?
A They thought they were an example of successful fertility treatment
B Not until they had the twins did they feel had formed a family
C They believe that children born of older parents would be smarter.
D Not until they reached middle age did they think of having children.