Question

When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer as we get older.

For kids, happiness has a magical quality: Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫不掩饰的).

In the teenage years, the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

In adulthood the things that bring deep joy－love, marriage, birth－also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated (复杂的).

My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook(忽视) the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunchbox and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don’t think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children，had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her most.

We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we’ve got to have. We’re so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it’s making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.

Happiness isn’t about what happens to us－it’s about how we see what happens to us. It’s the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have, but enjoying what we do possess.

1.As people grow older, they  _____   .

A. care less about their happiness

B. feel it harder to experience happiness

C. will take fewer risks in pursuing happiness

D. tend to believe responsibility means happiness

2.What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 5 and 6?

A. She cares little about her own health

B. She enjoys the freedom of traveling

C. She prefers getting pleasure from housework

D. She is easily pleased by things in daily life

3.People who equal happiness with wealth and success_____

A. stress their right to happiness too much

B. consider pressure something blocking their way

C. are at a loss to make correct choices

D. are more likely to be happy

4.What can be concluded from the passage?

A. Happiness lies in wealth    B. Each man is the servant of his own fate

C. Happy is he who is content    D. Success leads to happiness

Answer

1.B

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】本文是议论文。作者通过自己的经历告诉我们什么是真正的幸福，我们应该如何获得自己想要的幸福。

1.细节理解题。由文章第一段中的．..which seems to get rarer the older we get.可知，人们越老越觉得很难获得幸福。故选B。

2.推理判断题。在第五段作者讲述了自己的幸福观；在第六段作者讲述了自己因能够不受打扰地写作而感到幸福，安静过后一家人在一起喧闹也感到幸福。由此可知作者对日常生活是容易满足的。故选D。

3.细节理解题。由文章倒数第二段最后一句“So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.”可知，我们追逐幸福并以财富和成功来衡量它，却没注意到那些拥有财富和成功的人们并不一定更幸福。由此可知，以财富和成功来衡量幸福的人其实是对幸福施加了太多的压力。故选A。

4.主旨大意题。从作者对于幸福的论述我们可以看出，幸福就是对于自己已经拥有的感到满足，而过分追求财富和成功只能给自己更大的压力，故选C。