Happy birthday! Do birthday really make people happy? Of course they do．Birthday celebrate the day when we were born．Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggest another year of growth and maturity（成熟）—or so we hope．We all like to imagine that we are getting wiser and not just older．Most of us enjoy seeing the wonder of growth in others, as well．For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud．For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process．But growing old? That is a different story．

Growing old is not exactly for people in youth-oriented（以年轻人为中心）American culture．Most Americans like to look young, act young and feel young．As the old saying goes, “You’re young as you feel．” Older people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years old．People in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and wisdom．But Americans seem to favor those that are young, or at least “young at heart”．

Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but golden．Economically, “senior citizens” often struggle just to get by．Retirement at the age of 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal income．Social security benefits usually cannot make up the difference．Older people may suffer from poor nutrition, medical care, and housing．Some even experience age discrimination（歧视）．American sociologist Pat Moore once dressed up like an older person and wandered city streets．She was often treated rudely--even cheated and robbed．However, dressed as a young person, she received much more respect．

Unfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fast．Why? People are living longer．Fewer babies are being born．And middle-aged “baby boomers” are rapidly entering the group of the elderly．America may soon be a place where wrinkles（皱纹）are “in”．Marketing experts are ready noticing this growing group of consumer．

Title: Different Opinions About 1._____________Old.

Items / Aspects	Descriptions / Details
General idea	Growing older, being mature and 3.__________
Positive attitude	4. About ________	A wonderful process: children 5.__________   and learning new things, enjoying another birthday party
About the old	Being respected by the young
6. Being _______ as a source of experience and wisdom
Living happily in the “golden years”
2.________	Never being young again
Feeling lonely in a youth-oriented culture
7.___________ problem: personal income 8.___________ sharply
Health problem: suffering from poor nutrition and other diseases
Housing problems: poor and simple
9._________ problems: being ill-treated --- experiencing age discrimination, cheating and robbery
Solution	Improving 10._________________ benefits
The young caring for and respecting the old

 

Robert Frost was at heart a mean-spirited human being, not the kind of man one would expect to write poetry. He was born in San Francisco. Frost entered Dartmouth University in 1893, but dropped out, and switched to Harvard, which he attended for two years. He started a brief teaching career, where he was inspired to become a poet by some of his students’ work. Frost stopped teaching and became a farmer. During this time he wrote numerous poems, and a couple of short stories. While he was a farmer he started to think seriously about becoming a famous poet.

In almost all of his poems, Frost wrote in the first person. The first widely-read poem that he published was called My Butterfly. At first his audience was very small, but with his Collected Poems he became famous. Robert Frost received almost all the awards that there were for poetry. His poetry describes the forces of nature, and the violence and deep emotional(情感的) needs of human beings, which reflect the experiences of his childhood.

Robert Frost will always be known as one of the best poets in history. His way of putting emotion and violence into words is remarkable(非同寻常的). His talent for poetry is natural-born and he had discovered this when he started to farm. Even though he treated his wife and children terribly, he still became one of the best-known poets of his and our day.

1.We can learn from the passage that ________.

A．Robert Frost had been a famous writer before he started teaching

B．Robert Frost wrote his poems mostly in the first person

C．Robert Frost was very famous at the beginning of his writing career

D．Robert Frost began to write poems when he was a teacher

2. According to the passage, Robert Frost was famous for ________.

A．his teaching career	B．his life experiences
C．showing strong feeling in his poems	D．his interest in poems

3.The last paragraph of the passage mainly tells us ________.

A．why Robert Frost stopped farming

B．why Robert Frost was so famous

C．about his masterpieces(杰作)

D．about the way he treated his wife and children

4.From the passage we know that ________.

A．Robert Frost’s most famous poem is My Butterfly

B．Robert Frost began to write when he was in college

C．Robert Frost gave up studying at Dartmouth University

D．his poetry showed the violence of war and his childhood

 

—How do you feel about our manager—Mr. Yang?

  —He is very easy­going. I feel ____ when I stay with him.

  A. at a distance          B. at ease        C. at a loss    D. at heart

 

Which do you think is the best way to keep healthy?
With the development of the society, people no longer worry about where their next meal comes from as they did in the old days. They become more and more concerned about their health problem. Different people come up with different views: eating green food, doing outdoor exercises or going to hospital for medical treatment frequently. As far as I am concerned, the best way to keep healthy is to develop a good quality of psychology(心理).
According to some surveys, nowadays, most patients are not physically sick but mentally(精神上) ill. They feel the burden on their shoulders is much heavier than others, so they can’t step out of the shadow of depression and sadness. They need to release their spirit to the nature.
Besides, if you have developed a good quality of psychology, you’ll become more sociable and thus more willing to play your part in the society. Joining in some keep-fit clubs or attending some travel agency, which by themselves are various versions of physical exercise, will benefit you a lot.
As a poem says, youth is not a period of time; it’s a state of mind. Everybody wants to keep young at heart because youth is a symbol for endless energy and passion for living.
Keep a good quality of mind, or keep a sense of humour, even if you are 80, and you’ll never be old.
【小题1】According to the passage, in the old days, what people cared most might be _____.

A．food

B．exercising

C．clothing

D．health

【小题2】According to the writer, the best way to keep healthy is to _____.

A．have meals regularly	B．do outdoor exercises
C．go to hospital frequently	D．keep psychological health

【小题3】The most probable reason for patients who are mentally ill might be ____.

A．burden

B．depression

C．sadness

D．spirit

【小题4】The best way to develop a good quality of psychology might be ____.

A．taking social responsibility	B．exercising in a keep-fit club
C．going on journeys	D．taking physical exercise

【小题5】The key point to keep young is to _____.

A．keep exercising	B．keep a young heart
C．keep humourous	D．keep a proper diet

Happy birthday! Do birthday really make people happy? Of course they do．Birthday celebrate the day when we were born．Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggest another year of growth and maturity（成熟）—or so we hope．We all like to imagine that we are getting wiser and not just older．Most of us enjoy seeing the wonder of growth in others, as well．For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud．For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process．But growing old? That is a different story．

Growing old is not exactly for people in youth-oriented（以年轻人为中心）American culture．Most Americans like to look young, act young and feel young．As the old saying goes, “You’re young as you feel．” Older people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years old．People in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and wisdom．But Americans seem to favor those that are young, or at least “young at heart”．

Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but golden．Economically, “senior citizens” often struggle just to get by．Retirement at the age of 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal income．Social security benefits usually cannot make up the difference．Older people may suffer from poor nutrition, medical care, and housing．Some even experience age discrimination（歧视）．American sociologist Pat Moore once dressed up like an older person and wandered city streets．She was often treated rudely--even cheated and robbed．However, dressed as a young person, she received much more respect．

Unfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fast．Why? People are living longer．Fewer babies are being born．And middle-aged “baby boomers” are rapidly entering the group of the elderly．America may soon be a place where wrinkles（皱纹）are “in”．Marketing experts are ready noticing this growing group of consumer．

Title: Different Opinions About 1._____________Old.

Items / Aspects	Descriptions / Details
General idea	Growing older, being mature and 3.__________
Positive attitude	4. About ________	A wonderful process: children 5.__________   and learning new things, enjoying another birthday party
	About the old	Being respected by the young
		6. Being _______ as a source of experience and wisdom
		Living happily in the “golden years”
2.________	Never being young again
	Feeling lonely in a youth-oriented culture
	7.___________ problem: personal income 8.___________ sharply
	Health problem: suffering from poor nutrition and other diseases
	Housing problems: poor and simple
	9._________ problems: being ill-treated --- experiencing age discrimination, cheating and robbery
Solution	Improving 10._________________ benefits
	The young caring for and respecting the old