E
A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists( 悲观者)who expected their future to be worse.
The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.
Survey respondents (受访者) were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.
The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio (比率) of disability and death for the study period.
“We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade,” wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.
“Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions (预防措施),” the authors wrote.
Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.
The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes. However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. “We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic,” the authors concluded.
1.According to the study, who made the most accurate prediction of their future life satisfaction?
A. Optimistic adults.
B. Middle-aged adults.
C. Adults in poor health.
D. Adults of lower income.
2.Pessimism may be positive in some way because it causes people ______.
A. to fully enjoy their present life
B. to estimate their contribution accurately
C. to take measures against potential risks
D. to value health more highly than wealth
3.How do people of higher income see their future?
A. They will earn less money.
B. They will become pessimistic.
C. They will suffer mental illness.
D. They will have less time to enjoy life.
4.What is the clear conclusion of the study?
A. Pessimism guarantees chances of survival.
B. Good financial condition leads to good health.
C. Medical treatment determines health outcomes.
D. Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age.
D
Do you love the holidays，but hate the pounds that follow? You are not alone. Holidays are times for feasting and celebrating. Many people are worried about their weight.With proper planning，though，it is possible to keep normal weight during the holidays.Whether it is celebrating at the office party or sitting down for the traditional family dinner，regard eating as a time for tasting a variety of the foods.The idea is to enjoy the holidays but not to eat too much. You don't have to turn away from the foods that you enjoy.
Here are some tips for preventing weight gain and maintaining physical fitness：
Don't skip meals.Before you leave home，have a small，low-fat meal or snack.This may help to avoid getting too excited before delicious foods.
Control portions.Use a small plate (about 10 inches) and put aside the large ones that may encourage you to “load up.” You should be most comfortable eating an amount of food about the size of your fist. Once you have your “tasting” serving，move away from the buffet(自助餐). Doing so will make it less tempting to be eating constantly as your appetite is inspired by the sight of food.
Begin with soup and fruit or vegetables. Fill up beforehand on water-based soup and raw fruit or vegetables. Or drink a large glass of water before you eat to help you feel full.
Stick to physical activity. Don't let exercise take a break during the holidays. A 20-minute walk after a meal can help burn off excess calories.
Avoid high-fat foods. Dishes that look oily or creamy may have a large amount of fat. Choose lean meats. Fill your plate with salad and green vegetables. Use lemon juice instead of dessert or butter.
1.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A．You had better turn your attention away from delicious foods.
B．Drinking some water or soup before eating helps you eat less.
C．Holidays are happy days with pleasure but they may bring weight problems.
D．Physical exercise can reduce the chance of putting on weight.
2.Which of the following CANNOT help lose weight according to the passage?
A．Lean meats.
B．Dessert or butter.
C．Raw fruit or vegetables.
D．Physical exercise.
3.Many people can't control their weight after the holidays mainly because they _______.
A．can't help being tempted to eat constantly
B．take part in too many parties
C．enjoy delicious foods
D．can't help turning away from the foods
4.If the passage appears in the newspaper，you think it should belong to ______ Column.
A．Holidays and Festivals
B．Health and Fitness
C．Fashion and Frontier
D．Student Times Club
C
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1.This advertisement aims at calling on people to ______.
A. attend full-time universities
B. work part time to further their education
C. improve their education at home to get better jobs
D. earn their degrees in different ways that suit them
2.What does the writer of this ad intend to say by naming General Electric, IBM, Ford, etc.?
A. To show that their training is widely used in the country.
B. To show that the training program is fully supported by famous companies in the U. S.
C. To prove the value of their training in every area.
D. To show the importance of getting recognized by the most famous companies.
3.It seems to the writer that the greatest attraction for people to take their training is_____.
A. its convenience
B. the degree’s nation-wide recognition
C. the economic benefit it will bring about
D. the hot fields the training will help people to enter
4.How many ways are mentioned in the ad for people to get in touch with the Harcourt Learning Direct?
A. One. B. Two.
C. Three. D. Four.
B
Riding a London subway, a person from China will notice one major difference: in London, people do not look at each other. In fact, eye contact is avoided at all times. That’s not rudeness—people are just too busy to bother looking.
Busy doing what, you ask? Well, they’re certainly not using the time for a moment of quiet reflection, nor are they reading a book. New technology has replaced quiet habits. Today the only acceptable form of book on the London underground is an e-book.
Apple must earn a fortune from London commuters(乘车上下班的人). Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, over 40,000—yes, that’s 40,000—“apps” (programs downloaded for the iPhone) have been designed.
Commuters love them because they are the perfect time-fillers. One “app”, called iShoot, is a game that features tanks. Another one, Tube Exits, tells passengers where to sit on the train to be closest to the exit of their destination. ISteam clouds the iPhone screen when you breathe into the microphone. You can then write in the “ steam” on your phone screen.
For those without an iPhone, another Apple product, the iPod, may be another choice. It’s not just teenagers who “plug in” to their music—iPods are a popular way to pass the time for all ages.
And if games, e-books and music aren’t enough to keep you engaged, then perhaps you would prefer a film. The development of palm DVD technology means many commuters watch their favorite TV show or film on the way to work. With all these entertainments, it’s amazing that people still remember to get off the train.
1.People in London do not make eye contact on the subway because they are busy_____.
A. playing games, reading e-books, listening to music or watching films.
B. going to work
C. reading books
D. thinking about private things
2.Those who like war games can download _____to their iPhones.
A. Tube Exits B. iShoot
C. ISteam D. iPod
3.The underlined word “engaged” in the last paragraph probably means______.
A. delighted B. busy
C. controlled D. amused
4.The article tells us that_____.
A. London commuters are unfriendly to strangers
B. Apple has earned a lot of money from selling 40,000 iPhones
C. with all the new time-fillers, London commuters often forget to get off the train.
D. technology is changing the way London commuters spend their traveling time.
A
I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.
I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.
It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published ,
I put it aside.
Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.
The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.
It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding.
1.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?
A. I was waiting for good fortune.
B. I was trying to find an admirable job.
C. I was being aimless about a suitable job.
D. I was doing several jobs for more pay at a time.
2.The author decided to write a novel ______ .
A. to finish the writing course
B. to realize her own dream
C. to satisfy readers’wish
D. to earn more money
3.How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?
A. Disturbed. B. Ashamed. C. Confident. D. Uncertain.
4.What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?
A. It pays to stick to one’s goal.
B. Hard work can lead to success.
C. She feels like being unexpectedly lucky.
D. There is no end in sight when starting to do something.
B
One effective way of destroying happiness is to look at something and focus on even the smallest fault.It's like looking at the tiled (铺瓦的) ceiling and concentrating on the space where one tile is__ __.
Once I heard a bald man said, "Whenever I enter a room, all I see is hair." Once you've __ __what your missing tile is, explore whether acquiring it will completely make you happy. Then do one of the three things: get it, replace it with a different __ __,or forget about it and _ __the tiles in your life that are not missing.
We all know people who have had a relatively __ __ life, yet are essentially unhappy while people who have suffered a great deal but generally remain happy.
The first secret is gratitude. All happy people are __ _. Ungrateful people cannot be happy.The second is __ _that happiness is a byproduct of something else. The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience.Finally,if you choose to find the __ __in every situation, you will be blessed, and if you choose to find the awful, you will be cursed. As for happiness itself, this largely depends on your decision to make.
1.A. different B. missing C. short D. broken
2.A. determined B. predicted C. assumed D. imagined
3.A. tile B. brick C. ceiling D. house
4.A. look on B. focus on C. count on D. rely on
5.A. peaceful B. difficult C. easy D. ordinary
6.A. wealthy B. grateful C. proud D. generous
7.A. admitting B. dividing C. proving D. realizing
8.A. worst B. best C. positive D. negative
