Mistakes are a part of life. To err is human. Failure is also a part of life, not the end of life. Be happy facing life’s challenges. When you make the effort to be happy and to improve your life, you are actually rewarded along the way.

Life is like a game and maybe you can award points for every effort that has been a success for you. Try it. Add ten points for every achievement. And when you have reached 50 points, just yell, “Hey, I’ve won!” and give yourself a reward. If you happen to have missed your points for whatever reason, tell yourself, “Well, I tried!” which is better than not trying at all. Don’t let it be said you didn’t try.

What is it that you want to make yourself happy? Actually happiness means different things to different people. For example, an athlete will be happy winning his first race. For a new mother happiness would be seeing her baby’s first steps. Happiness for a poor person would mean having a meal just for today. So happiness for you is really something simple that you want for yourself.

It really doesn’t have to be big. As a matter of fact, you should be always realistic(现实的). Make the best out of every given situation. If you expect a certain result from a situation and it does not happen, don’t get despondent. This just means trying harder next time. We all have in us the power to succeed. Don’t let “give up” be a part of your vocabulary.

1.By saying “To err is human”, the author means that____________.

A．human beings should try to avoid making mistakes

B．no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes

C．mistakes and failures make up our life

D．human beings make mistakes easily

2.What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?

A．Try to reach 50 points.                   B．Try to get as many points as you can.

C．Award yourself for your success            D．Don’t be afraid of missing your points.

3.The author proves his idea in Paragraph 3 through____________.

A．examples         B．numbers          C．experiments       D．stories

4.The underlined word “despondent” in the last paragraph means____________.

A．frightened         B．disappointed       C．surprised          D．excited

 

Cities need to put efforts to deal with pollution and clear the air.

Chinese cities will need to put efforts to clear up the sky when a new department to improve regional air quality is set up by 2015，according to the latest plan released by the State Council.

Besides the existing pollution control program for CO₂，regional emission caps(区域排放上限) for other certain chemicals will be established in the three key air polluting areas—the Yangtze River Delta，Pearl River Delta and the Beijing­-Tianjin­- Hebei region. Coal­-consumption caps will also be tried out in some areas，according to the plan.

The plan is aimed at dealing with regional air pollution—such as acid rain and smog—which have become increasingly obvious in China in recent years and caused a severe threat to people’s health，Zhang Lijun，vice­minister of environmental protection，said in an interview on Monday.

The air quality in a city affects the areas nearby because pollutants can travel in the sky，said Chai Fahe，vice-­director of Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences.

“So efforts to reduce air pollution in a single city，targeting a certain pollutant(污染物) will not be enough，” Chai said.

Zhang said the country’s major industrial districts—the Yangtze River Delta，Pearl River Delta and the Beijing­-Tianjin-­Hebei region—have recorded more than 100 misty days annually in recent years.

These three regions，home to at least 200 million people，occupy only 6.3 percent of the country’s area but consume 40 percent of the country’s coal and produce half of its steel，according to official figures.

Studies also show that the visibility(能见度) in eastern regions of China has dropped by 7 to 15 km compared to that in the early 1960s，as a result of air pollution.

Liaoning province，the Shandong Peninsula，Wuhan in Hubei province and its surrounding area，the Changsha­-Zhuzhou­-Xiangtan region in Hunan province，the Chengdu­-Chongqing region，and the western coast of the Taiwan Straits are also listed as areas to carry out such regional air pollution control programs，according to the plan.

The new plan also requires an improved air quality system，which will measure the pollution levels. “The current system，which only measures some major pollutants，cannot reflect the_truepicture.” said Chai.

1.It will not be enough to reduce air pollution in a single city because ________.

A．air pollution has been becoming more and more serious in recent years

B．air pollution like acid rain and smog is threatening people’s health

C．air pollutants in a city can travel in the sky and affect nearby areas

D．air pollutants stay in fixed places over the cities

2.Suppose the visibility in eastern regions of China was 130 km in the early 1960s，the visibility there nowadays is ________.

A．123 to 115 km                         B．137 to 145 km

C．123 to 145 km                          D．115 to 137 km

3.The main purpose of the passage is ________.

A．to inform readers of the damage caused by air pollution

B．to introduce the new plan to control air pollution

C．to provide official figures of air pollution levels

D．to point out the regions affected by air pollution

4.What does the underlined phrase “the true picture” in the last paragraph mean?

A．The major pollutants.

B．The key polluted areas.

C．The major polluted cities.

D．The pollution levels.

 

 Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.

Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.

People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.

Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.

It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.   

1.Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?

A. They thought spinach made them strong.

B. They thought Popeye was funny.

C. Spinach had a lot of iron. 

D. People liked folic acid.

2.A research group told people that spinach______.

A. made Popeye strong 

B. was a green vegetable

C. had less iron than other green vegetables

D. had more iron than other green vegetables

3.The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.

A. iron                         B. folic acid                 C. spinach          D. exercise

4.Folic acid is ______.

A. something in food  B. a vegetable  C. dangerous         D. a certain kind of spinach

 

Why Is Exercise Cool?

Exercise strengthens Muscles

Did you ever do a push-up or swing across the monkey bars at the playground? 1.  By using your muscles to do powerful things, you can make them stronger. For older teens and adults, this kind of workout can make muscles bigger, too.

2.  

Can you touch your toes easily without yelling ouch? Most kids are pretty flexible, which means that they can bend and stretch their bodies without much trouble. Being flexible is having “full range of motion” , which means you can move your arms and legs freely without feeling tightness or pain.

Exercise Keeps the Balance

3.  Your body needs a certain amount of calories every day just to function, breathe, walk around, and do all the basic stuff. 4.  If you’re not very active, your body won’t need as many calories. Whatever your calorie need is, if you eat enough to meet that need, your body weight will stay about the same. If you eat more calories than your body needs, it may be stored as extra fat.

Exercise Makes You Feel Good

It feels good to have a strong, flexible body that can do all the activities you enjoy---like running, jumping, and playing with your friends. It’s also fun to be good at something, like scoring a basket, hitting a home run, or perfecting a dive.

But you may not know that exercising can actually put you in a better mood. 5.  It’s just another reason why exercise is cool!

A．So you want to do some aerobic(有氧的) exercise right now?

B．Food gives your body fuel in the form of calories, which are a kind of energy.

C．When you exercise, your brain releases a chemical, which may make you feel happier.

D．Those are exercises that can build strength.

E. Exercise Makes You Flexible

F. Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy

G. But if you’re active, your body needs an extra measure of calories or energy.

 

You have the ability to decide if you are happy or not. Happiness is a choice.

You can't depend on someone else to make you happy. That is a lesson I learned early on in my marriage. I realized that I couldn't rely on my husband as my source of happiness. I learned that my happiness depended on me and not my husband's actions. I learned that you have to choose to be happy.

You can choose your emotions. True happiness comes from within; it can't be forced by outside forces. So how do you choose happiness? The same way you choose to smile or choose to wear a certain outfit. You choose it because that's what you want to experience in your life.

You want to buy a new pair of shoes so you choose a pair that you like and feel good. You wouldn't buy a pair of shoes that you don't like or that don't fit well, right? So why do we keep choosing emotions and feelings that don't make us feel good?

Choosing to be happy after you realize your anger has shown up (or even choosing to be calm) can be beneficial. We choose our feelings; no one can do that for us. If we let others get to us, influence our emotions - we are giving them power over us. When others cause us anger or pain, we are giving them our power.

We need to keep our feelings in check and not react automatically to what is thrown at us. We need to think our actions out instead of just reacting to what someone says or does.

Remember that we can always choose happiness. At first it will be difficult to just switch your thoughts and feelings from anger, self-doubt, or fear to joy and happiness. But it is only a thought away. Don't dwell on what happens to you unnecessarily but realize what is causing you to feel that way. Realize that thoughts, feelings and emotions can change. Then move on and choose to be happy.

1.What’s the best title of this passage?

A．Choose to Be Happy                     B．Choose Your Emotions

C．Pretend to Be Happy                     D．Find Happiness

2.The lesson the writer learned in her marriage is ________.

A．she can depend on her husband to find happiness

B．balancing the relationship between the husband and wife is an art

C．one can’t rely on someone else to make himself or herself happy

D．happiness can be influenced by outside forces

3.Why did the writer mention buying shoes?

A．To use it as an example to show the importance of choosing to be happy.

B．To offer advice on how to choose comfortable shoes.

C．To compare choosing shoes and choosing an outfit.

D．To help to move to the next paragraph easily.

4.The writer suggests that we should ________.

A．let others control our feelings

B．respond immediately to others’ words

C．pay more attention to words than actions

D．hold back our feelings properly