I used to think the whole purpose of life was pursuing happiness. Everyone said the path to happiness was success, so I searched for that ideal job, that perfect boyfriend, and that beautiful apartment. But instead of ever feeling fulfilled, I felt anxious and lost. Eventually. I decided to go to graduate school for positive psychology to learn what truly makes people happy.
And what's the difference between being happy and having meaning in life? Many psychologists describe happiness as a state of comfort and ease, feeling good in the moment. Meaning, though, is deeper. The famous psychologist Martin Seligman says meaning comes from belonging to and serving something beyond yourself and from developing the best within you. Our culture is obsessed with happiness, but I came to see that seeking meaning is the more fulfilling path.
There are four pillars of a meaningful life.
The first pillar is belonging. Belonging comes from being in relationships where you're valued for who you are and where you value others as well. For many people, belonging is the most essential source of meaning.
For others, the key to meaning is the second pillar: purpose. Finding your purpose is not the same thing as finding that job that makes you happy. A doctor told me her purpose is healing sick people. Many parents tell me, “My purpose is raising my children.” The key to purpose is using your strengths to serve others. Without something worthwhile to do, people flounder, thus losing the aim of life.
The third pillar of meaning is also about stepping beyond yourself, but in a completely different way: transcendence (超然). Transcendent experiences can change you. Transcendent states are those rare moments when you're lifted above the hustle and bustle of daily life, your sense of self fades away, and you feel connected to a higher reality. For me, I’m a writer, and it happens through writing. Sometimes I get so in the zone that I lose all sense of time and place.
The fourth pillar is storytelling, the story you tell yourself about yourself. Creating a narrative from the events of your life brings clarity. It helps you understand how you became you. But we don’t always realize that we're the authors of our stories and can change the way we’re telling them. Your life isn't just a list of events. You can edit, interpret and retell your story, even as you're constrained by the facts.
That’s the power of meaning. Happiness comes and goes. But when life is really good and when things are really bad, having meaning gives you something to hold on to.
1.What can we know from the first two paragraphs？
A.Life might be fulfilled by landing ideal jobs．
B.Life dilemma is challenging for us to get out of．
C.Meaning is highly valued in our culture．
D.Happiness is what most people try to achieve．
2.Which word is the closest to the underlined word?
A.Confused B.Distracted
C.Disappointed D.Saddened
3.Which pillar can describe an artist obsessed with her work despite repeated failures?
A.Belonging B.Purpose
C.Transcendence D.Storytelling
4.The passage aims to tell us that _______________．
A.meaning is superior to happiness
B.meaning is the way to success
C.chasing meaning can make people happy
D.meaning has deeper psychological significance
The cracked step four years ago was the start of it. That day, I awoke tired—the children were tiny and needing so much—and I had a golden afternoon of rest ahead, my mother stepping in to allow me to catch up on my sleep. I dropped them off and drove home—the sun shining and my bed signaling. As I was about to enter the house, I caught sight of a deep crack beneath my feet.
Without thinking, I turned around, walked back to the car and drove to a DIY store. Four hours later, I had all the tools, mixed my own cement, filled in the crack and repaired the foundation. Perfect. As I stood up to take a photo of my handiwork, I realized that I was trembling. I’d forgotten my shot at a nice long nap, and my children were already on their way home. That sleep... that promise to self was broken, because I had focused, instead, on the crack in the step.
Suddenly, everything started to hurt. My head, my throat, my back. I couldn’t stop shaking. What earned then is that when we break the promises we make to our bodies they will not be silenced. This is when we overwork and overthink to the point of breaking down. Ironically (讽刺地), for many of us, it is only when we have no choice— when we fall ill—that we learn to listen. For me, when that crack ended in a hospital stay which sent me to bed for two unmoving weeks when my body worked to clear two different infections, the lesson is ever present. I did it to myself—a whole twisted spin on DIY.
Sadly it took another two ridiculous DIY projects to finally get through. The cracks will never be fully filled. Focus, then, on your own inner core, the feeding of light, fire and strength.
1.What made the author so sleepy in the first place?
A.Taking care of the kids. B.Asking her mother for help.
C.Driving to her mother’s house D.Dealing with DIY projects.
2.How did the author feel as soon as she finished her repair work?
A.Regretful B.Upset
C.Proud D.Thankful
3.What can be implied from Paragraph 3?
A.Our health is ignored deliberately.
B.Our body will respond to what we do.
C.The author took her mother’s advice.
D.The author was infected before the DIY.
4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?
A.To describe an unfortunate event.
B.To show the danger of DIY.
C.To stress the importance of sleep.
D.To encourage focusing on oneself.
How cool can libraries be in an era of iPods and Kindles? More than you think. Only if you know where to go.
Central Library: Seattle, Washington, United States
The Central Library in Seattle is modern and fashionable and has tourists from around the world paying visits and taking tours. It was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and American designer Joshua Ramus. Tours began in 2006, two years after its opening. The library holds various art exhibitions, book signings and other events, while visitors can stop by the Chocolate cart for a coffee and scan through the gift shop anytime.
Trinity College Library: Dublin, Ireland
The Trinity College Library in Dublin is in Ireland, founded at the end of the 16th century by Queen Elizabeth I. It is the largest single library in the world, also known as the Long Room, which contains more than 200,000 of the library's oldest books. The Long Room houses one of the oldest harps（竖琴）in Ireland. Dating to the 15th century, the old harp is the model for the symbol foreland.
Geisel Library, University of California: San Diego, United States
At first glance, it looks like a spaceship. Architect William Pereira, who helped design actual space launch facilities at Cape Canaveral in Houston, Texas, designed the library in 1970. It has been featured in sci-fi films, short stories and novels. The library hosts “Dinner in the Library,” which invites readers for cocktails, and also special speeches from distinguished authors．
TU Delft Library: The Netherlands
The library at the Delft University of Technology was constructed in 1997 and has more than 862,000 books, 16,000 magazine subscriptions and its own museum. The building itself exists beneath the ground, so you can't really see the actual Library. What makes it interesting is the roof, which is a grassy hill. The roof covers 5,500 square meters. And it has become one of the most striking and greenest structures in the area.
1.Which of the four libraries has the longest history?
A.Central Library B.Trinity College Library
C.Geisel Library D.TU Delft Library
2.What makes Geisel Library different from the others is that _____.
A.a spaceship designer founded the library
B.it has a roof of grassy hill
C.famous writers often deliver speeches there
D.it is the largest single library in the world
3.In Central Library, you can _____.
A.drink cocktails B.buy souvenirs
C.create paintings D.book events
假设你是李华，某报社英语编辑Mr. Smith邀请你参加英语周报（English weekly）报社组织的一个活动， 请你根据下列内容，写一篇小短文：
内容要点：1. 未能参加英语角；
2. 简述未能参加的原因；
3. 对未来再次参加英语角活动的渴望。
注意：1. 词数100左右；2. 书信格式已经给出，不计入总词数；
Dear Smith,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours truly,
Lihua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（
），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I don’t exactly remember what old I was when I started to ride a bike. I only remember that I practice riding a bike in my early years. When I first successful rode a bike, which remained a vivid memory, my brother helped him by holding the back seat of the bike steadily while I was riding. “Wow, I did it!”, cried I, as soon as I noticed I was riding with his hands! After that, I was inspiring to ride a bigger bike (26 inches) to ride faster even though my feet was not touching the ground!
Soon, I started to go to the local traffic playground frequently which kids could learn traffic rules from the policeman working at there. I really enjoyed there! At 12, I finally learnt how to ride the bike, and nothing could hold me back.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
It’s surprising how we spend our lives. Reach your 78th birthday and according to some back-of-the-envelope 1. (calculate) , and you will have spent nine of those years 2. (watch) television, four years driving a car, 92 days on the toilet, and so on.
But when 3. comes to time-consuming activities, there’s one that sits head and shoulders above them all.4. (live) to 78, and you may have spent around 25 years asleep. In an effort 5. (regain) some of that time it’s reasonable to ask: how long can we stay 6. (wake) – and what are the consequences of going without sleep?
Any healthy individual 7. (plan) to find out through personal experimentation will find it tough going. If we ignore all these side effects and stay up 8. days on end, our minds become insane（精神错乱的）. We get moody, paranoid（偏执狂的）, and see things that 9. (be) really there. When a shadowy apparition(幽灵) appears on the roadway, so the advice goes, it’s time to pull the lorry over. “People start to hallucinate（幻觉） and go 10. bit crazy,” says Atul Malhotra, the Director of Sleep Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.
