The way people hold to 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 than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.

　　As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment（承担的义务）, self - improvement.

　　Ask a bachelor（单身汉） 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 distinguishing 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 that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates 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 actually may not be happy at all.

According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because ____________ .

　　A. he is reluctant to take on 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

Raising children, in the author’s opinion is ____________ .

A. a moral duty                         

B. a thankless job

C. a rewarding task                      

D. a source of inevitable pain

From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from ____________ .

A. hatred　　                              

B. misunderstanding　　　　

C. prejudice　　　　                       

D. ignorance

To understand what true happiness is 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

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.

People say that a mother’s love knows no boundaries (边界). This is true when it comes to my mother. She has given up many things so that my sisters and I could live a better life.

My mother comes from a large family and her parents died when she was quite young. She dropped out of school when she was fifteen because no one could afford to pay her studies. At the age of 19, she married my father and when they had my sisters and I, they moved to the United States so that we could have a better life. My parents did not know English but somehow they communicated with other people. My mother stayed at home and raised us while my father was working. There were so many dangerous incidents that happened where we lived that my mother finally decided that we all moved to Texas when I was seven.

My mother has worked so hard to give us everything. She always tells us that all she wants is for us to be happy.

As the saying goes, “You don’t appreciate (意识到) something until it’s gone.” Well, I finally had a chance to experience it. My mother went to Mexico this winter because she needed to have an operation. It was the first time in my life that my mother was not there to hold and comfort me. Those two weeks when she was away made me realize how much I love her. All she has done for me is incredible (难以置信的). When I suffer she suffers with me. I have to show her how much I care about her. She means the world to me.

Which is the RIGHT order of the following events?

a. My mother married my father.

b. My mother went to Mexico to have an operation.

c. We all moved to Texas.

d. My mother dropped out of school.

e. They moved to the United States.

f. My mother’s parents died when she was young.

A. a, b, f, c, d, e           B. d, e, a, c, f, b       C. f, d, a, b, e, c           D. f, d, a, e, c, b

What does the underlined word “it” refer to in the fourth paragraph?

A. My mother’s experience.               B. My mother’s care for me.

C. The meaning of the saying.             D. My mother’s love.

The writer didn’t realize that he loves his mother very much until ______.

A. they moved to Texas    B. his mother told them all she wanted was for them to be happy

C. his mother left home for an operation        D. his mother died

According to the passage, we can infer that the writer writes the passage in a(n) ______ mood.

A. affectionate (挚爱的)            B. humorous        C. serious           D. bitter

As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through lift, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body.                              

Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it. In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health.                                                

The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the first signs of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between "fight" or "flight" and in more primitive days the choice made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress is, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease have established links with stress. Since we cannot remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it.                                                               

People are finding less and less time for relaxing themselves because_____.                                                  

A. they do not know how to enjoy themselves                                       

B. they do not believe that relaxation is important for health      C. they are travelling fast all the time                                                    

D. they are becoming busier with their work  

According to the writer, the most important character for a good manager is his ________.   

A. not fearing stress                                                  B. knowing the art of relaxation         

C. high sense of responsibility                                   D. having control over performance   

Which of the following statements is true?  

A. We can find some ways to avoid stress. 

B. Stress is always harmful to people. 

C. It is easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work.  

D. Different people can withstand different amounts of stress.  

In Paragraph 3, "such a reaction" refers back to_______. 

A. "making a choice between 'flight' or 'fight'"                                                         

B. "reaction to stress both chemically and physically"                                                      

C. "responding to crises quickly"

D. "losing heart at the signs difficulties" 

In the last sentence of the passage, "do so " refers to ______.     

A. "expose ourselves to stress"                               

B. "find ways to deal with stress" 

C. "remove stress from our lives"                   

D. "established links between diseases and stress"

F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on September 24, 1896, an American novelist, was once a student of St. Paul Academy, the Newman School and attended Princeton University for a short while. In 1917 he joined the army and was posted in Alabama, where he met his future wife Zelda Sayre. Then he had to make some money to impress her.

His life with her was full of great happiness, as he wrote in his diary, “My own happiness in the past often approached such joy that I could share it even with the person dearest to me but had to walk it away in quiet streets and take down parts of it in my diary.”

This Side of Paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920. Encouraged, he continued with the novel The Beautiful and Damned (1922), a collection of short stories Thales of the Jazz Age (1922), and a play The Vegetable (1923). But his greatest success was the novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, which quick brought him praise from the literary world. Yet it failed to give him the needed financial security. Then, in 1926, he published another collection of short stories All the Sad Young Men.

However, Fitzgerald’s problems with his wife Zelda affected his writing. During the 1920s he tried to record his life, but failed. By 1930, his wife had her first breakdown and went to a Swiss clinic. During this period he completed novels Tender Is the Night (1934) and The Love of the Last Tycoon (1940). While his wife was in hospital in the United States, he got totally addicted to alcohol. Sheila Graham, his dear friend, helped him fight his alcoholism.

How many novels written by Fitzgerald are mentioned in the passage?

   A. 5             B. 6             C. 7            D. 8

Which is the correct order about Fitzgerald’s life according to the passage?

   a. He became addicted to drinking.

   b. He studied at St. Paul Academy.

   c. He published his first novel This Side of Paradise.

   d. The Great Gatsby won high praise.

   e. He failed to record his life.

   f. He joined the army and met Zelda.

   A. f-c-e-a-b-d     B. b-e-a-f-c-d     C. f-d-e-c-b-a     D. b-f-c-d-e-a

We can infer from the passage that Fitzgerald _____.

   A. had made some money when he met Zelda in Alabama

   B. was well educated and well off before he served in the army

   C. would have completed more works if his wife hadn’t broken down

   D. helped his friend get rid of drinking while his wife was in hospital

The passage is probably followed by a concluding paragraph about ______.

   A. Zelda’s personal life

B. Zelda’s illness and treatment 

C. Fitzgerald’s friendship with Graham

D. Fitzgerald’s contributions to the literary world

When someone steps on your toe by accident, you will hurt plenty．But it hurts even more, if you think the person does the same thing on purpose．Earlier studies have found that the feeling of pain can change with how it is experienced．That is why giving people sugar pills and saying they are medicine can make them feel better．

This study examined whether self-reported pain is indeed higher when the events producing the pain are understood as intentionally caused by another person．For the study, the researchers told 40 volunteers that they were going to do a series of tasks, including color matching, number counting and discomfort assessment．This last task involved their receiving a brief electric shock to the wrist．They were told that a partner, sitting in another room, would choose which task they would do, and a computer screen helped them to know their partner’s choice．

In some cases, the volunteers were told their partner had chosen the pain tolerance test．In others, they were told the computers would select the pain tolerance test regardless of their partner’s choice．When volunteers thought that their partners were making the shocks on them on purpose, the feeling made the pain worse．As a matter of fact, they were the same．

This study provides evidence that the experience of pain changes depending upon how they think when people have been harmed．Specifically, the meaning of a harm — whether it was intended — influences the amount of pain it causes．So, although a broken toe may hurt, an intentionally broken toe should hurt more．

It can be concluded from the text that _______．

A．the feeling of pain varies from one person to another k+s-5#u 

B．long-lasting pain damages people’s health

C．pain is greater if harm seems to be intentionally done

D．people suffer more from accidental pain

What can we infer from the text?

A．People can reduce pain by relaxing．

B．Researchers study how pain is caused．

C．Everyone should know the effect of pain．

D．People should think more about pain．

What does the underlined word “they” in the third paragraph refer to?

A．Volunteers．               B．Computers．  

C．Shocks．           D．Pains．

What’s the author’s attitude to the result of the study? k+s-5#u 

A．Indifferent．                B．Sceptical．   

C．Disapproving．     D．Approving．