Happiness through Honorable Actions
Do you want to live with a strong sense of peacefulness, happiness, goodness, and self-respect? The collection of happiness actions broadly categorized as “honor” help you create this life of good feelings.
Here is an example to show how honorable actions create happiness.
Say a store clerk fails to charge us for an item. If we keep silent, and profit from the clerk’s mistake, we would drive home with a sense of mean excitement. Later we might tell our family or friends about our good fortune. On the other hand, if we tell the clerk about the uncharged item, the clerk would be grateful and thank us for our honesty. We would leave the store with a quiet sense of honor that we might never share with another soul.
Then, what is it to do with our sense of happiness?
In the first case, where we don’t tell the clerk, a couple of things would happen. Deep down inside we would know ourselves as a type of thief. In the process, we would lose some peace of mind and self-respect. We would also demonstrate(证明) that we cannot be trusted, since we advertise our dishonor by telling our family and friends. We damage our own reputations(名誉) by telling others. On the contrary, bringing the error to the clerk’s attention causes different things to happen. Immediately the clerk knows us to be honorable. Upon leaving the store, we feel honorable and our self-respect is increased. Whenever we take honorable action we gain the deep internal rewards of goodness and a sense of nobility.
There is a beautiful positive cycle that is created by living a life of honorable actions. Honorable thoughts lead to honorable actions. Honorable actions lead us to a happier existence. And it’s easy to think and act honorably again when we’re happy. While the positive cycle can be difficult to start, once it’s started, it’s easy to continue. Keeping on doing good deeds brings us peace of mind, which is important for our happiness.
1.According to the passage, the honorable action in the example brings us our ______.
A. self-respect B. Financial(经济的) rewards
C. advertising ability D. friendly relationship
2.The author thinks that keeping silent about the uncharged item is equal to ______.
A. lying B. stealing C. cheating D. advertising
3.The underlined phrase “bringing the error to the clerk’s attention” means ______.
A. offering advice to the clerk B. telling the truth to the clerk
C. asking the clerk to be more attentive D. reminding the clerk of the charged item
4.How does the positive cycle work according to the author?
Societies all over the world name places in similar ways. Quite often there is no official naming ceremony(仪式) but places tend to be called names as points of reference by people. Then an organized body steps in and gives the place a name. Frequently it happens that a place has two names: one is named by the people and the other by the government. As in many areas, old habits die hard, and the place continues to be called by its unofficial name long after the meaning is lost.
Many roads and places in Singapore (新加坡) are named in order that the pioneers will be remembered by future generations. Thus we have names such as Stamford Road(斯坦福路) and Raffles Place. This is in keeping with traditions in many countries--in both the West and the East.
Another way of naming places is naming them after other places. Perhaps they were named to promote friendships between the two places or it could be that the people who used to live there were originally from the places that the roads were named after. The mystery is clearer when we see some of the roads named in former British bases. If you step into Selector Airbase you will see Piccadilly Circus--obviously named by some homesick Royal Air Force personnel.
Some places were named after the activities that used to go on at those places. Bras Basah Road is an interesting example. “Bras Basah” means “wet rice” in Malay (马来语). Now why would anyone want to name a road “Wet Rice Road”? The reason is simple. During the pioneering days, wet rice was laid out to dry along this road.
A few roads in Singapore are named by their shapes. There is “Circular Road” for one. Other roads may have part of their names to describe their shapes, like “Paya Lebar Crescent”. This road is called a crescent (月牙) because it begins on the main road, makes a crescent and comes back to join the main road again.
1.We learn from Paragraph 1 that ________.
A. the government is usually the first to name a place
B. a ceremony will be held when a place is named
C. many places tend to have more than one name
D. people prefer the place names given by the government
2.What does the underlined phrase “die hard” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
A. Change suddenly.
B. Change significantly.
C. Disappear very slowly.
D. Disappear mysteriously.
3.Which of the following places is named after a person?
A. Selector Airbase.
B. Raffles Place.
C. Piccadilly Circus.
D. Paya Lebar Crescent.
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Young Singaporeans have forgotten the pioneers.
B. Some places in Singapore are named for military(军事) purposes.
C. The way Singaporeans name their places is unique.
D. Some place names in Singapore are the same as in Britain.
Why is pink or purple a color for girls and blue or brown for boys?
The answer depends largely on cultural values as well as personal experiences. To the Egyptians, green was a color that represented the hope and joy of spring. While for Muslims, it means heaven. Red is a symbol of good luck in many cultures. In China, children are given money in a red envelope to bring good fortune in the New Year. For many nations, blue is a symbol of protection and religious beliefs. Greek people often wear a blue necklace hoping to protect themselves against evils(灾祸).
People’s choice of colors is also influenced by their bodies’ reactions(反应) toward them. Green is said to be the most restful color. It has the ability to reduce pain and relax people both mentally and physically. People who work in green environment have been found to have fewer stomach aches.
Red can cause a person’s blood pressure to rise and increase people’s appetites(食欲). Many decorators will include different shades of red in the restaurant. Similarly, many commercial websites will have a red “Buy Now” button because red is a color that easily catches a person’s eye.
Blue is another calming color. Unlike red, blue can cause people to lose appetite. So if you want to eat less, some suggest that eating from blue plates can help.
The next time you are deciding on what to wear or what color to decorate your room, think about the color carefully.
1.Muslims regard green as a symbol of heaven mainly because of their _______.
A. cultural values
B. commercial purposes
C. personal experiences
D. physical reactions to the color
2.Why will many commercial websites have a red “Buy Now” button?
A. To relax people physically.
B. To increase people’s appetites.
C. To encourage people to make a purchase(购买).
D. To cause a person’s blood pressure to rise.
3.What color might help lose weight according to the text?
A. Red B. Green. C. Blue. D. Purple.
4.Which of the following would be the most proper title for the text?
A. Colors and Human Beings
B. The Cultural Meaning of Color
C. Colors and Personal Experiences
D. The Meaning and Function of Color
One day last summer, watching the boys and girls trying to catch butterflies I remembered something happened when I was young. When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.
We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. No musician can sing more beautiful than the birds. I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.
I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, the bird flew about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.
I had left the cage out, and on the second day my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I about how to feed her baby.
The following morning when I went to see how my bird was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken good care of my little bird.
Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time. Hearing me crying over the death of my bird, he explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poisonous (有毒的) berries (干果). She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in cage.”
Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.
1.Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?
A. He had just got a new cage.
B. He liked its beautiful feather.
C. He wanted a pet for a companion.
D. He wanted it to sing for him.
2.The mockingbird died because it ______.
A. drank the poisonous water by mistake
B. was frightened to death
C. ate the poisonous food its mother gave it
D. refused to eat anything
3.What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?
A. Freedom is very valuable to all living things.
B. All birds put in a cage won’t live long.
C. You should keep the birds from their mother.
D. Be careful about food you give to baby birds.
现在，越来越多的学生开始意识到学习英语的重要性，但是一些学生发现在日常生活中很少有说英语的机会。假设你校学生会决定举办一次英语口语竞赛,请根据以下提示，写一则100词左右的英语海报。
目的：提高同学们的英语口语能力
时间：12月8日下午2:00-5:00
地点：校会议室
评委：3名外教和7名外语老师
奖品：一台笔记本电脑（获得第一名的学生）
参赛对象：全校学生
（海报发布时间：10月8日）
参考词汇：英语口语 oral English
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：在错的词下划一横线，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。
This autumn, my class went to the seaside to go camp.We arrived at a sandy beach with a well view of the sea and mountains. We set up our tents on the sandy beach, when night fell we started a fire to give us light and kept us warm.All my classmates sat around them, talking, singing and laughing. Several hours later ，Robert and I went back to the tent to have the chat. We stayed up all night. We found that we two had a lot of in common. For example, we all like the same singers and have a great enthusiasm for physics. The fire and stars see our happiness. What I wished time would stop at the moment!
