HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.
　　Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
　　“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.
　　High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.
　　Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”
　　“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
　　The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.
　　Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.
　　“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.
　　Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.
【小题1】What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?

Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found on Thursday.

    Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others—even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.

   “We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual (yearly) income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, girls for others and donations to charity.

   “Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.

   Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

　　They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.

   “These findings suggest that very minor alterations (changes) in spending allocations (shares)—as little as $5—may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day，”Dunn said.

1. What is the general idea of the passage?

A. The more you earn, the greater happiness you will get.

B. Spending more money on yourself will make you happier.

C. Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.

D. You can spend only 5$ a day to get happiness.

2.The underlined word “boost” in the first paragraph probably means_______.

A. help to find     B. help to bring    C. help to increase     D. help to get

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Those who spend more money on others can get much more bonus.

B. People usually think spending money on themselves will make them happier.

C. Very small changes in spending your money may be enough to gain happiness.

D. Researchers think that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn.

4.It can be inferred from the 6th paragraph that ______.

A. the volunteers not given 5$ or 20$ spent their own money on themselves.

B. those who spent the money on someone or something else felt happier about it.

C. the volunteers were given 5$ or 20$ as a reward for the experiment.

D. half of the volunteers could spend the money as they liked.

Down-to-earth means someone or something that is honest, practical and easy to deal with. It is 1 to find someone who is down-to-earth. A person who is down-to-earth is easy to talk to and 2 other people as equals. A down-to-earth person is just the 3 of someone who acts important and prouD．

　 Down-to-earth persons 4 be important members of society. 5 they don’t let their importance “go to their heads”. They do not 6 themselves to be better persons than others of less importance. Someone who is filled with his own importance and pride, often without cause, is 7 to have “his nose in the air”. There is 8 way a person with his nose in the air can be down-to-earth.

　　Americans 9 another expression that means almost the same as down-to-earth. The expression is “both-feet-on-the-ground”. Someone with both-feet-on-the-ground is a person with a good 10 of reality. He 11 what is called “common sense”. He may have 12 , but he does not allow them to 13 his knowledge of what is real. The opposite kind of 14 is one who has hid “head-in-the-clouds”. A man with his head-in-the-clouds is a dreamer whose 15 is not in the real world．

　　16 , such a dreamer can be brought back to reality. 17 words from a teacher can usually get a day-dreaming student to put both feet back on the grounD．Usually, the person who is down-to-earth is very 18 to have both feet on the ground．19 we have both our feet firmly on the ground, we are down-to-earth, and we act honestly and openly 20 others. Our lives are like the ground below us, said and strong.

1．A．pleasant     B．sad             C．common D．surprising

2．A．meets       B．welcomes        C．receives   D．accepts

3．A．case       B．kind            C．opposite   D．example

4．A．must        B．may            C．should     D．will

5．A．But        B．So            C．For       D．And

6．A．wish         B．expect          C．desire      D．consider

7．A．said         B．told            C．asked       D．made

8．A．some        B．a              C．no         D．every

9．A．discover    B．find            C．make       D．use

10．A．understanding B．wish        C．reason      D．expectation

11．A．demands B．lacks            C．has       D．likes

12．A．fortunes   B．dreams         C．achievements   D．disadvantages

13．A．block       B．protect         C．Own      D．gain

14．A．idea       B．people         C．attitude    D．person

15．A．mind       B．life            C．body        D．head

16．A．Always    B．Therefore        C．However D．Sometimes

17．A．Sharp      B．All           C．No       D．Bad

18．A．possible   B．probable       C．likely       D．able

19．A．Though    B．Since           C．When      D．Unless

20．A．towards   B．for            C．over      D．Onto

Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found on Thursday.
Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others—even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.
“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual (yearly) income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, girls for others and donations to charity.
“Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
　　They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
“These findings suggest that very minor alterations (changes) in spending allocations (shares)—as little as $5—may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day，”Dunn said.
60. What is the general idea of the passage?
A. The more you earn, the greater happiness you will get.
B. Spending more money on yourself will make you happier.
C. Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.
D. You can spend only 5$ a day to get happiness.
61. The underlined word “boost” in the first paragraph probably means_______.
A. help to find     B. help to bring    C. help to increase     D. help to get
62. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Those who spend more money on others can get much more bonus.
B. People usually think spending money on themselves will make them happier.
C. Very small changes in spending your money may be enough to gain happiness.
D. Researchers think that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn.
63. It can be inferred from the 6th paragraph that ______.
A. the volunteers not given 5$ or 20$ spent their own money on themselves.
B. those who spent the money on someone or something else felt happier about it.
C. the volunteers were given 5$ or 20$ as a reward for the experiment.
D. half of the volunteers could spend the money as they liked.

HOUSTON (Reuters) — Houston tops a U.S. magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities in the top 25.

　　Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national average number — are partly to blame for the dishonor, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.

　　“Americans work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when they’re faced with the worst food choices, they indulge (沉溺于) in those,” he said.

　　High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute (每天去上班的路程) times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2003 heavy weight champion, the magazine said.

　　Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major food company to develop healthy food products and the city’s public schools to improve lunch menus, called the report “mostly ungrounded and nonsense.”

　　“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to deal with,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.

　　The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.

　　Philadelphia, Detroit, Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago followed Houston on the seventh edition of the fat list. Texas cities Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and El Paso were in the top 14, which Boulton said was no surprise.

　　“It’s pure big indulgence, just living big, and that’s part of the culture,” said Boulton.

　　Seattle ranked as the fittest city. Austin and Arlington, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb, were the only Texas cities on the fit list. Austin was 19th and Arlington 22nd out of 25.

1.What decides the magazine’s annual fattest list?

2.Which city topped 2003 fattest cities list?

3.By saying “living big” (in Paragraph 9), Boulton means people _________.

4.Which of the following is best supported by the text?