Does being rich make you happy? Many studies on happiness give negative answers. Here are some points in being happy.

Basic Human Needs Must Be Met

People whose basic needs for shelter, clothing and food are not met will find it very difficult to feel happy. Of course, there are exceptions, but for most of us, we can only be happy once our basic needs are met.

The Joneses Cannot Be Escaped

People’s happiness is not determined by how much they have, but by how much people around them have. So, we tend to feel happy once our basic needs are met and we have more than the people surrounding us.

This means that while keeping up with the Joneses could be destructive if we let it go too far. It is also part of humana nature to want to feel at least on the same level, financially, as those surrounding us.

You Should Escape The Rat Race

We should know the importance of staying out of the rat race. So yes, you need to work hard, get the education you need to land a good job and work long enough and hard enough to get to a place where you can easily meet your basic needs. What are basic needs? For most middle or upper middle class Americans, basic needs are not very basic anymore.

For most of us, once our basic needs have been met, happiness is achieved when we engage in activities we like, spend time with friends and family and stay active. Making money for the sake of making money does not make people happy.

Ideally, these questions should be answered when you’re still young and just starting out. Don’t wait until your midlife crisis to realize that half your life has passed you by and you’re still unhappy.

1.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．The research on happiness.               B．Key points on being happy.

C．What makes people feel unhappy.           D．Being rich makes people happy.

2.In the view of the author, we know that ______.

A．people need to have a place to live first of all

B．human basic needs are not necessary for being happy

C．human basic needs are fundamental for being happy

D．one will be happy if he has enough money

3.What does the underlined phrase”the Joneses” in Paragraph 4 probably stand for?

A．Expensive things.                       B．Neighbors.

C．Money.                               D．Richer people.

4.From the passage, what is the purpose of people probably to do in “the rat race”?

A．To enjoy their life with family.

B．To get high education for better jobs.

C．To work too hard for money only.

D．To work hard for basic needs.

5.What’s the attitude of the author towards the passage?

A．Money is a big problem, but money isn’t everything.

B．The love of money is the root of all evil.

C．Money doesn’t grow on trees.

D．Money is happiness.

 

For years I wanted a flower garden．But then we had Matthew．And Marvin．And the twins, Alisa and Alan．And then Helen．Five children．I was too busy raising them to grow a garden．

Money was tight, as well as time．Often when my children were little, one of them would want something that cost too much, and I' d have to say, “Do you see a money tree outside? Money doesn't grow on trees, you now．”

Finally, all five got through high school and college and were off on their own．

One spring morning, on Mother's Day, I was working in my kitchen．Suddenly, I realized that cars were tooting their horns as they drove by．I looked out the window and there was a new tree, planted right in my yard．I thought it must be a weeping willow, because I saw things blowing around on all its branches．Then I put my glasses on－and I couldn't believe what I saw．

There was a money tree in my yard!

I went outside to look．It was true! There were dollar bills, one hundred of them, taped all over that tree．Think of' all the garden flowers I could buy with one hundred dollars! There was also a note attached: ‘‘IOU eight hours of digging time．Love, Marvin．"

Marvin kept his promise, too．He dug up a nice ten－by－fifteen foot bed for me And my other children bought me tools, ornaments , a trellis（格架）, a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books．

That was three years ago．My garden's now very pretty, just like I wanted．When I go out and tend my flowers, I don't seem to miss my children as much as I once did．I feel like they're right there with me．

I'm still not sure that money grows on trees．But I know love does!

1.Why did the mother say "Money doesn't grow on trees"?       .

A．She wanted them not to spend extra money

B．She was too sad to say anything else

C．She told them a truth on money

D．she just played a joke with them

2.What do we know about the mother according to the text?       ．

A．She is a bad-tempered woman

B．She believes money can grow on a tree now

C．She is a writer

D．She is hard-working in housekeeping

3.What can be inferred from the text?      ．

A．The author raised five children

B．The money tree was a Mother Day's gift

C．It cost Marvin eight hours to dug up the bed

D．Children planted a weeping willow in the yard

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?  ___    ．

A．My Money Tree                        B．The Garden of My Children

C．Mother's Love                          D．Marvin's Promise

 

       Millions of people visit Yosemite National Park every year to see the tall waterfalls and mountains. These mountains are a splendid sight when viewed form the valley floor. Lots of stores, hotels, and restaurants are needed to handle the crowds. Also, water, roads, and other service systems are part of the infrastructure (基础设施) that must be maintained.

       Unfortunately, these systems are starting to break down. It’s not just in Yosemite but in national parks around the nation.

       Yosemite is thirty years old according to Dennis Galvin, a National Park Service worker. The Park is not only old but worn out. Two or three times as many visitors come every year. That is too many visitors for the park to deal with.

       Four years ago a storm washed out a water pipeline in the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service had to send water trucks to provide water for the visitors. Last month pipes almost broke again and roads had to be closed for a while.

       Why hasn’t the National Park Service kept up the park repairs? There is a lack of money. The United States has 378 monuments, parks, and wilderness areas. Between three and four billion dollars are needed for repairs.

       Yosemite is one national park that does have money for repairs. It has two hundred million dollars but cannot spend it any way it chooses. When the park workers started widening the road, they were forced to stop by the Sierra Club. The club claimed that the road work was damaging the Merced River that runs through the park.

       A sierra Club lawyer, Julia Olson, feels that the infrastructure needs to be moved out of Yosemite. That way less pressure will be put on the already crowded park.

65. According to the text, the mountains in Yosemite look most splendid when they are appreciated from ______.

A. the bottom of the valleys                               B. the top of the mountains

C. the side of the mountains                              D. the edge of the valleys

66.National parks like Yosemite in the U.S. find it increasingly difficult to meet the need of

visitors because ______.

A. their transport management needs improving

B. they spend too much on their service systems

C. their service systems frequently go out of order

D. they need help from environmental organizations

67.The main problem of Yosemite National Park is its ______.

A. rundown water pipes                                    B. overcrowdedness

C. lack of money                                              D. narrow roads

68.   According to the text, the Sierra Club is most likely to be ______.

A. an environmental group                                 B. an information center

C. a travel service                                               D. a law firm

Some say every day miracles are predestined (注定的)---- All that’s necessary is readiness, the right circumstance for the appointed meeting. And it can happen anywhere.  

In 1999, 11-year-old Kevin Stephan was a bat boy for his younger brother's Little League team in Lancaster, New York. It was an early evening in late July. Kevin was standing on the grass away from the plate, where another youngster was warming up for the next game. Swinging his bat back and forth, and giving it all the power an elementary school kid could give, the boy brought the bat back hard and hit Kevin in the chest. His heart stopped.  

When Kevin fell to the ground, the mother of one of the players rushed out of the stands to his aid. Penny Brown hadn't planned to be there that day, but at the last minute,she had changed  her shift (轮班) at the hospital, and she was given the night off. Penny bent over the senseless boy, his face already starting to turn blue, and giving CPR, breathing into his mouth and giving chest compressions (按压). And he came to life.

After his recovery, he became a volunteer junior firefighter, learning some of the emergency first-aid techniques that had saved his life. He studied hard in school and was saving money for college by working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in his spare time.

Kevin, now 17, was working in the kitchen when he heard people screaming, customers in confusion, employees rushing toward a table. He hurried into the main room and saw a woman there, her face turning blue, her hands at her throat. She was choking .

Quickly Kevin stepped behind her, wrapped his arms around her and clasped his hands. Then, using skills he'd first learned in Scouts, the food that was trapped in the woman's throat was freed. The color began to return to her face.

“The food was stuck. I couldn't breathe,” she said. She thought she was dying. “I was very frightened.”

Who was the woman?

Penny Brown.

1.Kevin Stephan fell to the ground and fainted probably because ________.

A．he stood close to the boy who was swinging his bat

B．he suffered from heart attack all of a sudden

C．he was too excited when watching the game

D．he swung the bat too hard to keep his balance

2.Which of the following statements is True of Kevin Stephan?

A．He was hit on the face by a boy and almost lost his life.

B．He was a volunteer junior firefighter, teaching the players first-aid skills.

C．He worked part-time in a local restaurant to save money for college.

D．He saved Penny Brown though he didn’t really know how to deal with food choke

3.Why did Penny Brown change her shift and was given the night off that night?

A．She was there to give her son directions.

B．She volunteered to give medical services.

C．She was a little worried about her son’s safety.

D．She came to watch her son’s game and cheered him .

 

One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man's most basic functions: visiting the toilet．Bill Gates’ charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world．

So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount of potential drinking water．Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution．This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations’ estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations．Younger people are particularly at risk．Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1．5 million children a year．Finally, standard lavatories simply aren't practical in remote areas．

The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a latrine which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank．It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents．28 designs were displayed at the recent event of the Toilet Fair in Seattle, USA．Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing．

But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity．The team from the California Institute of Technology（CIT）picked up a prize of $ 100,000.

But clearly Bill Gates doesn't feel he's flushing money down the toilet．After the Seattle event he said, "We couldn't be happier with the response we've gotten," Gates has even promised $370 million more to the future toilet project．They hope to field test more prototypes over the next three years．

1.Why is Bill Gates paying people to invent new toilets?

A．Because he wants to test people's sense of creativity．

B．Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people．

C．Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion．

D．Because he can't design this kind of things himself．

2.Which of the following is NOT a problem with the traditional flush toilet?

A．They waste too much water．              B．They might cause diseases．

C．They are not always practical．             D．They are too complicated to use.

3.The underlined word "latrine" in the third paragraph might have similar meanings to the word "__   " in the text．

A．loo              B．sanitation          C．diarrhea          D．prototype

4.The team from CIT won the prize because their design        .

A．can change human waste into electricity

B．can turn human waste into charcoal

C．can produce power with solar energy

D．can use urine for flushing

5.If people "flush money down the toilet", they are       .

A．showing off their wealth                  B．angry with their working conditions

C．wasting money for nothing                D．expressing their great determination