There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.
People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend (hurt) many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation. It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact(接触) with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.
1.People who are unhappy _______.
A. always consider things differently from others
B. usually misunderstand what others think or say
C. always discover the unpleasant side of certain things
D. usually are affected by the results of certain things
2.The phrase “sour the pleasure of society” in the first paragraph most nearly means “_______”.
A. make others unhappy
B. tend to scold others openly
C. have a good taste with social life
D. enjoy the pleasure of life
3.We can conclude from the passage that _______.
A. we should pity all such unhappy people
B. people can get rid of the habit of unhappiness
C. such unhappy people are dangerous to social life
D. unhappy people can not understand happy persons
4.In this passage, the writer mainly _______.
A. describes two types of people
B. laughs at the unhappy people
C. tells people how to be happy in life
D. suggests the unhappy people should get rid of the habits of unhappiness
When most of us hear the word chocolate, the verb that comes to mind is probably “eat”, not “drink”, and the most proper adjective would seem to be “sweet”. But for about 90 percent of chocolate’s long history, it was strictly a beverage (饮料), and sugar didn’t have anything to do with it.
The Origin of Chocolate
Many modern historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for about 2000 years, but recent research suggests that it may be even older.
In the book The True History of Chocolate, authors Sophie and Michael Coe prove that the earliest linguistic (语言学的) evidence of chocolate consumption dates back three or even four thousand years.
Valuable and Fashionable Chocolate Beverage
It’s hard to discover exactly when chocolate was born, but it’s clear that it was cherished from the start. For several centuries in pre-modern Latin America, cacao beans were considered valuable enough to use as currency. 100 beans could purchase a good turkey hen, according to a 16th-century Aztec document.
Sweetened chocolate didn’t appear until Europeans discovered the Americas and sampled (品尝) the native cuisine. Chocolate didn’t suit the foreigners’ taste at first — one described it in his writings as “a bitter drink for pigs” — but once mixed with honey or cane sugar, it quickly became popular throughout Spain. By the 17th century, chocolate was a fashionable drink throughout Europe, believed to have nutritious, medicinal functions. But it remained largely a privilege of the rich until the invention of the steam engine made mass production possible in the late 1700s.
The Birth of Solid Chocolate
In 1828, a Dutch chemist found a way to make powdered chocolate. His product became known as “Dutch cocoa”, and it soon led to the creation of solid chocolate. In 1847, Joseph Fry created the first modern chocolate bar. By 1868, a little company called Cadbury was marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England. Milk chocolate hit the market a few years later.
Prosperous Chocolate Industry
In America, chocolate was so valued during the Revolutionary War that it was used instead of wages. Even now, statistics show that the humble cacao bean is still a powerful economic force. Chocolate manufacturing is a more than 4-billion-dollar industry in the United States, and the average American eats at least half a pound of the stuff per month.
1.The earliest chocolate was most probably _________.
A. a dish B. a drink C. a bar D. a candy
2. It can be inferred from the passage that ________________.
A. the history of chocolate is at most 4,000 years.
B. people around the world could buy things with chocolate.
C. chocolate was well paid attention to since it was born.
D. an American at least eats a pound of chocolate per month.
3.Why did chocolate suit the Spanish’s taste so quickly? _________
A. Because chocolate was so tasty and bitter.
B. Because chocolate was believed to be a source of nutrition.
C. Because chocolate was sweetened with honey or cane sugar.
D. Because chocolate became a fashionable beverage.
4.Which one shows the correct order according to the time of their appearing? _________
A. chocolate beverage----chocolate bar----chocolate candies----milk chocolate
B. chocolate bar----chocolate beverage----chocolate candies----milk chocolate
C. chocolate bar ----chocolate candies ----milk chocolate ---- chocolate beverage
D. chocolate beverage ----chocolate candies----chocolate bar---- milk chocolate
People often say that money talks. They mean that a person with a lot of money can say how he or she wants things done. But it is not easy to earn enough money to gain this kind of power. Ask anyone in a business, they will tell you that it is a jungle out there. The expression probably began because the jungle is filled with wild animals and unknown dangers that threaten people. Sometimes people in business feel competing businesses are as dangerous as wild animals. And they feel that unknown dangers in the business world frighten the survival of their business.
People in business have to be careful, if they are to survive the jungle out there. They must not be led into making bogus investments. Bogus means something that it is not real. Nobody is sure how the word got started. But it began to appear in a American newspapers in 1800s. A newspaper in Boston Massachusetts said the word came from a criminal whose name was Bogazy. The newspaper said Bogazy wrote checks to people, although he did not have enough money in the bank. After he wrote the checks, he would flee from town. So people who were paid with his checks received nothing. The newspaper said Americans shortened and changed to the criminal's name Bogazy to bogus.
People try to earn money also must be aware of being ripped off. A person who is ripped off has had something stolen or at least has been treated very unfairly. A writer for the magazine American Speech said he first saw the expression used in 1971. It was on a sign that a student carried during a protest demonstration at a university. The message on the sign was that the student felt ripped off or cheated. Perhaps the best way to prevent getting ripped off in business is to not try to get rich quickly.
To be successful, a person in business works hard and tries to get down to brass tacks. This expression means to get to the bottom or most important part of something. For example, a salesman may talk and talk about his product without saying the price. You get down to brass tacks when you say it sounds good but how much does it cost？
Word expert Charles Funk thinks the expression comes from sailors on ships. They clean the bottom of a boat. When they have removed all the dirt, they are down to the brass tacks, the copper pieces that hold the boat together. So if we get down to brass tacks, we can prevent rip-offs and bogus ways of earning money in that jungle out there. And some good luck will help too.
1.This passage is mainly written to________.
A. explain several expressions related to money
B. tell us some skills of learning English words
C. tell us the secret of how to do business
D. tell us the power of money
2.People compare doing business to being in a jungle because________.
A. doing business is as exciting as living in a jungle
B. businessmen are as dangerous as animals in a jungle
C. doing business is as difficult as living in a jungle
D. businessmen are as careful as people living in a jungle
3.If we say something is bogus, we probably mean it is not________.
A. real B．beautiful C．good D．new
4.According to Paragraph 2,where did the word "bogus" come from? _________
A. The name of a very successful businessman.
B. The name of a criminal who cheated others.
C. The name of a famous newspaper in Boston.
D. The name of a check written by a criminal.
I was blind, but I was ashamed of it if it was known. I refused to use a white stick and hated asking for help. After all, I was a teenager girl, and I couldn't bear people to look at me and think I was not like them. I must have been a terrible danger on the roads, coming across me wandering through the traffic; motorists probably would have to step rapidly on their brakes. Apart from that, there were all sorts of disasters that used to occur on the way to and from work.
One evening, I got off the bus about halfway home where I had to change buses, and as usual I ran into something. "I'm awfully sorry," I said and stepped forward only to run into it again. When it happened a third time, I realized I had been apologizing to a lamppost. This was just one of the stupid things that constantly happened to me. So I carried on and found the bus stop, which was a request stop, where the bus wouldn't stop unless passengers wanted to get on or off. No one else was there and I had to try to guess if the bus had arrived.
Generally in this situation, because I hated showing I was blind by asking for help, I tried to guess at the sound. Sometimes I would stop a big lorry and stand there feeling stupid as it drew away. In the end, I usually managed to swallow my pride and ask someone at the stop for help.
But on this particular evening no one joined me at the stop; it seemed that everyone had suddenly decided not to travel by bus. Of course I heard plenty of buses pass, or I thought I did. But because I had given up stopping them for fear of making a fool of myself, I let them all go by. I stood there alone for half an hour without stopping one. Then I gave up. I decided to walk on to the next stop.
1.The girl refused to ask for help because she thought_________
A. she might be recognized
B. asking for help looked silly
C. she was normal and independent
D. being found blind was embarrassing
2.After the girl got off the bus that evening, she_________.
A. began to run
B. hit a person as usual
C. hit a lamppost by accident
D. was caught by something
3.At the request stop that evening, the girl___________.
A. stopped a big lorry
B. stopped the wrong bus
C. made no attempt to stop the bus
D. was not noticed by other people
4.What was the problem with guessing at the sound to stop a bus? _________
A. Other vehicles also stopped there.
B. It was unreliable for making judgments.
C. More lorries than buses responded to the girl.
D. It took too much time for the girl to catch the bus
I learned all about taking responsibility from my mother’s tough love. My mom had a wonderful way of helping you up and realize that your life is going to be what you make it.
She had this circular way of you took responsibility for your decisions and the person you would . She would say,“ It' s your .” “What you want and what you get are sometimes two different things.” And then, “No one ever said life was fair.” And she would these comments together in such a way that you could never an argument, and yet, the was that you realized your life is going to be what you make it.
So I might go to my mom and say, “I’d like to football”. And she would say, “Well, it's your life. If you want to go out there and get and hurt and break your knees and limp around the rest of your life, that' s fine.” That is I would say, “Well, you know, that won’t . I' m really fast.” And she would reply, “Well, we don’t really have the money.” And then I would , “Yes but that' s not fair.” And she would reply, “ Well, life isn’t .” Then I would say, “But I’ve been itching to." And she would reply, “Yes, but what you want and what you get are usually two entirely different things.”
It was the combination of these that allowed my mother to lead me down the right path under her but let me feel as if I was making the decisions my own. The sum total of that was, in the end, you’re for the life you lead. That' s the best advice I’ve ever gotten.
1.A. light B. open C. grow D. keep
2.A. promising B. ensuring C. ignoring D. noticing
3.A. protect B. envy C. refuse D. become
4.A. fault B. life C. progress D. turn
5.A. Then B. But C. Now D. However
6.A. increasingly B. approximately C. completely D. occasionally
7.A. combine B. remind C. answer D. publish
8.A. lose B. doubt C. win D. raise
9.A. belief B. reason C. mistake D. result
10.A. quit B. play C. buy D. watch
11.A. beaten up B. dressed up C. divided D. closed up
12.A. what B. how C. when D. which
13.A. fail B. work C. last D. happen
14.A. take B. go C. make D. catch
15.A. fair B. cosy C. hard D. special
16.A. comments B. descriptions C. techniques D. messages
17.A. temper B. influence C. activity D. success
18.A. for B. on C. over D. beyond
19.A. mind B. account C. deal D. advice
20.A. famous B. responsible C. sorry D. thankful
---Dad, I am too tired and feel too much pressure on my mind
---Come on! That’s the life of Senior Three, but if you are admitted to a key University, you ____get an Iphone 5s as a gift.
A. must B. shall C. will D. might
