Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference．Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes．However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.
Money can buy a degree of happiness．But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself, each extra dollar makes less and less difference.
Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier．But the link between money and happiness is complex．In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same．Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
“Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better,” conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways—scientists or actors, for example—may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.
In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires—not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health—rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap (差距)．Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone．“The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income.” says Michalos.
Another factor that has to do with happiness is age．Old age may not be so bad．“Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied? ” asks Protessor Laura Carstensen.
In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire．She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often.
Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic abour their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve．But Carstensen thinks that with time running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don’t.
“People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever,” she says．“A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of 85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20.”
1.According to the passage, the feeling of happiness .
A．is determined partly by genes B．increases gradually with age
C．has little to do with wealth D．is measured by desires
2.Some actors would like to accept poorly-paid jobs because the jobs .
A．make them feel much better B．provide chances to make friends
C．improve their social position D．satisfy their professional interests
3.Aged people are more likely to feel happy because they are more .
A．optimistic B．successful
C．practical D．emotional
4.Professor Alex Michalos found that people feel less happy if .
A．the gap between reality and desire is bigger
B．they have a stronger desire for friendship
C．their income is below their expectation
D．the hope for good health is greater
Tell a story and tell it well, and you may open wide the eyes of a child, open up lines of communication in a business, or even open people’s mind to another culture or race.
People in many places are digging up the old folk stories and the messages in them．For example, most American storytellers get their tales from a wide variety of sources, cultures, and times．They regard storytelling not only as a useful tool in child education, but also as a meaningful activity that helps adults understand themselves as well as those whose culture may be very different from their own.
“Most local stories are based on a larger theme,” American storyteller Opalanga Pugh says, “Cinderella (灰姑娘), or the central idea of a good child protected by her goodness, appears in various forms in almost every culture of the world.”
Working with students in schools, Pugh helps them understand their own cultures and the general messages of the stories．She works with prisoners too, helping them knowing who they are by telling stories that her listeners can write, direct, and act in their own lives．If they don’t like the story they are living, they can rewrite the story．Pugh also works to help open up lines of communication between managers and workers．“For every advance in business,” she says, “there is a greater need for communication.” Storytelling can have a great effect on either side of the manager-worker relationship, she says.
Pugh spent several years in Nigeria, where she learned how closely storytelling was linked to the everyday life of the people there．The benefits of storytelling are found everywhere, she says.
“I learned how people used stories to spread their culture,” she says, “What I do is to focus on the value of the stories that people can translate into their own daily world of affairs．We are all storytellers．We all have a story to tell．We tell everybody’s story.”
1.What do we learn about American storyteller from Paragraph 2?
A．They share the same way of storytelling．
B．They prefer to tell the stories from other cultures.
C．They learn their stories from the American natives.
D．They find storytelling useful for both children and adults.
2.The underlined sentence (Paragraph 4) suggests that prisoners can _____.
A．start a new life B．settle down in another place
C．direct films D．become good actors
3.Pugh has practised storytelling with _____ groups of people.
A．2 B．3 C．4 D．5
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A．Storytelling can influence the way people think.
B．Storytelling is necessary to the growth of business.
C．Storytelling is the best way to educate children in school.
D．Storytelling helps people understand themselves and others．
When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from china.
When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans．Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now.
Still, her answer surprised me: “Green tea.”
As long as I can remember she didn’t even drink Indian tea.
I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story．My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses.
At the turn of the century, China was not really familiar to the average Indian．It was a strange country.
How things change! And how soon!
Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”．And everyone is talking about China.
The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done．A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investment (投资) and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”.
But it’s a two-way street．I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software．Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China.
No wonder that trade , which was only in the millions just ten years ago, is expected to hit about US$15 billion for last year and US$20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments.
No wonder, my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino-Indian (中印)century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino-Indian Friendship Year.
But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea.
1.Why did the mother ask for Chinese green tea?
A．She was tired of Indian tea． B．She had a son working in China.
C．She believed it had a curing effect. D．She was fond of Chinese products.
2.What does the author mean by “it’s a two-way street” in Paragraph 10?
A．The exchanges between India and China benefit both.
B．Tea trade works wonders in both India and China.
C．Chinese products are popular in both China and India.
D．China and India have different traffic rules.
3.What do we know about the Indian IT industry?
A．It will move its head office to Shenzhen.
B．It is seeking further development in China.
C．It has attracted an investment of US$15 billion.
D．It caught up with the US IT industry in 2008.
4.In the text the author expresses _____.
A．his concern for his mother’s health
B．his support for drinking Chinese green tea
C．his wonder at the growth of India’s IT industry
D．his surprise at China’s recent development
It was graduation day at the university where I work and a beautiful day quite unlike the first graduation I attended as a young professor．On that cold day years ago, as we watched the students walking into the hall, one of my colleagues turned to me and said, “Graduation will be one of the happiest and one of the saddest time of your life.” At my inquiry, he answered, “Because the students you have gotten to know have to leave.”
As years went by, my previous confusion about my colleague’s words no longer existed．When I came across naughty students, I have had to rethink why I chose to be a teacher．It obviously isn’t the money．Once a former computer science student of mine called me, asking me if I wanted to have a change．He was working at Nintendo Corporation．His salary was higher than my current one, though I have more education and have worked for over a decade．With my programming skills, he said he could get me hired．I thanked him, but declined his kind offer．
A few days before this current graduation, while working on final grades, I found a note a student had slipped in with her homework．She thanked me for being her teacher and said the things she had learned in my class — not about math, but about life — would be things she would remember long after the math skills had faded away．As I finished reading, I remembered why I had become a teacher．
Now, on this sunny graduation day, as I again observed the sea of blue hats and gowns, I did so with renewed dedication (奉献) and a deeper sense of satisfaction — I will always be grateful that I am a teacher．
1.Hearing his colleague’s description of graduation for the first time, the author ．
A．quite agreed with his colleague B．was very puzzled
C．thought it very funny D．was very sad
2.The underlined part blue hats and gowns refers to ．
A．university colleagues B．graduates’ clothes
C．life memories D．decorations in the hall
3.The author wrote this passage to ．
A．express his devotion to being a teacher
B．compare two different graduation ceremonies
C．talk about the meaning of graduation
D．give advice on how to be a good teacher
4.The reason why he earns less than the computer science student is that ．
A．he was only a young professor
B．he didn’t do well in his work
C．he taught his students more about life than math
D．salaries for different careers are different
In the depth of my memory, many things I did with my father still live．These things come to represent, in fact, what I call 1and love.
I don’t remember my father ever getting into a swimming tool．But he did 2the water．Any kind of 3ride seemed to give him pleasure． 4he loved to fish; sometimes he took me along.
But I never really liked being on the water, the way my father did．I liked being 5the water, moving through it, 6it all around me．I was not a strong 7, or one who learned to swim early, for I had my 8．But I loved being in the swimming pool close to my father’s office and 9those summer days with my father, who 10come by on a break．I needed him to see what I could do．My father would stand there in his suit, the 11person not in swimsuit.
After swimming, I would go 12his office and sit on the wooden chair in front of his big desk, where he let me 13anything I found in his top desk drawer．Sometimes, if I was left alone at his desk 14he worked in the lab, an assistant or a student might come in and tell me perhaps I shouldn’t be playing with his 15．But my father always 16and said easily, “Oh, no, it’s 17.” Sometimes he handed me coins and told me to get 18an ice cream…
A poet once said, “We look at life once, in childhood; the rest is 19.” And I think it is not only what we “look at once, in childhood” that determines our memories, but 20, in that childhood, look at us．
1.A．desire B．joy C．anger D．worry
2.A．avoid B．refuse C．praise D．love
3.A．boat B．bus C．train D．bike
4.A．But B．Then C．And D．Still
5.A．on B．off C．by D．in
6.A．having B．leaving C．making D．getting
7.A．swimmer B．rider C．walker D．runner
8.A．hopes B．faiths C．rights D．fears
9.A．spending B．saving C．wasting D．ruining
10.A．should B．would C．had to D．ought to
11.A．next B．only C．other D．last
12.A．away from B．out of C．by D．inside
13.A．put up B．break down C．play with D．work out
14.A．the moment B．the first time C．while D．before
15.A．fishing net B．office things C．wooden chair D．lab equipment
16.A．stood up B．set out C．showed up D．turned out
17.A．fine B．strange C．terrible D．funny
18.A．the student B．the assistant C．myself D．himself
19.A．memory B．wealth C．experience D．practice
20.A．which B．who C．what D．whose
Is it a wonder that little cells can store much energy?
A．so; so B．so; such C．such; such D．such; so
