Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older. Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50. In fact, they say by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.

The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of 18 and 85. The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 24 and 25. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.

The study also showed that men and women have similar feeling patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their feelings. They so spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.

1.According to the survey of the Gallup Organization people are most likely to become happier      .

A．when they are between the ages of 18 and 85 B．when they come to their old age

C．when they are in their twenties             D．when they are 18 years old

2.You may have the highest level of stress when you are at the age of      .

A．20               B．25               C．35               D．40

3.According to Arthur Stone, old people may      .

A．have a positive attitude towards their life     B．know how to spend money wisely

C．dream about good things every day          D．control their behaviors better

4.Who would probably show the greatest interest in the passage?

A．Those who are worried about getting old     B．Those who are single and unemployed

C．Those who feel unhappy all the time         D．Those who suffer from mental stress

5.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Getting Older Means Getting Happier        B．The Young Are Happier Than the Old

C．Women Are Easier to Be Happy in Life        D．The Younger, the Happier

The Mayan（玛雅的）Indians lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Mayan achievements were many. They had farms, beautiful palaces, and cities with many buildings. The Mayan people knew a lot about nature and the world around them. This knowledge helped them to live a better life than most people of that time, because they could use it to make their lives more comfortable and rewarding（值得的）. Knowledge about tools and farming, for example, made their work easier and more productive.
The Maya believed in many gods, including rain gods, sun gods, and corn gods. The people built large temples to honor the Mayan gods. Skillful workers built cities around these temples. It was difficult for them to build these cities, because they had no horses to carry the heavy stone they used to build with. Workers had to carry all of the building materials themselves. Today, many of these ancient Mayan cities and temples are still standing.
Although the cities that the Maya built were beautiful, and the people worked hard to build them, very few of the people lived in them. Usually, only the priests（牧师）lived in the cities.
The other people lived in small villages in the forests. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate buildings in the cities. They lived in small huts（小屋）with no windows. The walls were made of poles covered with dried mud, and the roof was made of grass or leaves. Most Maya lived a simple life close to nature.
The Mayan priests studied the Sun, the Moon, stars, and planets. They made a calendar from what they learned. The year was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with five days left over. The Mayan calendar was far more exact than the European calendars of the time.
Around the year 800, the Maya left their villages and beautiful cities, never to return. No one knows why this happened. They may have died from some disease. They may have left because the soil could no longer grow crops. Archaeologists（考古学家）are still trying to find the lost secrets of the Maya.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “elaborate’’ mean?

    Near the North Pole(北极)there are only two seasons：winter and summer．In winter，nights are long．For more than two months you can’t see the sun，even at noon．In summer，days are long．For more than two months the sun never sets and there is no night at a11．The temperature(温度)is very low near the North Pole．Even in summer the temperature is below 0℃．So people there wear warm clothes all year round．They make their clothing from the skins of animals．From the skins they also make coats，hats and even boots．

In the cold climate，plants cannot grow．So the people have to build their houses with skins，earth，stone or snow．When they go out to hunt something，they live in tents of skins．When they move，they take their tents with them．Sometimes，they build houses of snow．Now don’t think that these houses must be cold．In fact，they are very warm and safe．

The life near the North Pole is very interesting．

1.There are no________near the North Pole．

2.Near the North Pole the winter nights can last_______．

3.The people near the North Pole wear warm clothes_________．

4.Near the North Pole you can’t see__________．

5.Sometimes people there build houses of snow．It is__________．

Among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the oldest one is the Great Pyramid of Giza. There are three large pyramids at Giza, outside the modern capital of Egypt, Cairo. The largest and most famous one is called the Great Pyramid. The workers built it as a tomb (坟墓) for the Pharaoh Khufu (法老胡夫).
It took more than twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. When it was built, the pyramid was about 146.5 metres high. Over the years it has lost about eight metres off its top.
The pyramid is made of large stone blocks (石块) — 2,300,000 of them! Each of these blocks weighs over 2,000 kilograms. The ancient Egyptians did not have any modern machines. How did they build the pyramid? The pyramid shows that the ancient people were intelligent and had great skills.
People once thought that the Egyptians made slaves (奴隶) do all the work on the Great Pyramid. But in fact, they used farmers.
【小题1】From the passage we can learn that _____.