Recently I started discovering one thing which amazes me so much: how perfect everything is in the world we are living in! Just look, all day long we are busy working and just when we get tired, the night comes in, so we may sleep and relax. One day we may enjoy the bright sun and another day, when we get tired of the sun, the rain pours down.
A few months ago I was so happy with my life. Later, I got tired from the happiness. I wished I would have some trial to strengthen my character and learn something new about life. I got what I wanted. Shortly after I got severe angina (心绞痛), so I had to stay home for several weeks. During this period I had time to rethink my life and discover myself. The lessons were terrific, but I felt grateful for this time.
Another example: I have a friend, who primarily thinks about having fun. Once I thought why we get along well with each other and what in me attracts her. A couple of days ago I found the answer. I like calmness and silence. She likes noise and agitation (热闹). We attract each other just to balance ourselves, in other words, to give some drive to me and some calmness to her!
So remember that the universe is so wise that it will try to balance you. As for me, this is perfect because extremes create suffering: too much food – too little food, too cold – too hot, too much fun – too little fun.
1.We can learn from the first paragraph that the author___.
A. always feels down on rainy days
B. always tries his best to do everything
C. feels happy with everything in life
D. is amazed at the changes in life
2.The example given in the third paragraph is to show that___.
A. it’s necessary to get along with different people
B. there exists a kind of balance in life
C. a person shouldn’t just think of fun in life
D. one should put others’ interests above his own
3.The author would probably agree that___.
A. we shouldn’t go to extremes in life
B. we should be nice to others and ourselves
C. we should adapt ourselves to changes in life
D. life can be annoying sometimes
Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment. “We didn’t know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.
But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many， many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports, emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9. Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with, the world is a safer and healthier place. A kind of “Green thinking” has become part of practices.
Great improvement has been achieved. In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs; today in 1995 there are about 6,600. Advanced lights, motors, and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution.
Twenty –five years ago, there were hardly any education programs for environment. Today, it’s hard to find a public school, university, or law school that does not have such a kind of program. “Until we do that, nothing else will change!” say Bruce Anderson.
1.According to Anderson, before 1970, Americans had little idea about ___
A. the social movement B. recycling techniques
C. environmental problems D. the importance of Earth Day
2.Where does the support for environmental protection mainly come from?
A. The grass –roots level B. The business circle
C. Government officials D. University professors
3.What have Americans achieved in environmental protection?
A. They have cut car emissions to the lowest
B. They have settled their environmental problems
C. They have lowered their CO levels in forty cities.
D. They have reduced pollution through effective measures.
4.What is especially important for environmental protection according to the last paragraph?
A. Education B. Planning
C. Green living D. CO reduction
Arriving in Sydney on his own from India, my husband, Rashid, stayed in a hotel for a short time while looking for a house for me and our children.
During the first week of his stay, he went out one day to do some shopping. He came back in the late afternoon to discover that his suitcase was gone. He was extremely worried as the suitcase had all his important papers, including his passport.
He reported the case to the police and then sat there，lost and lonely in strange city, thinking of the terrible troubles of getting all the paperwork organized again from a distant country while trying to settle down in a new one.
Late in the evening, the phone rang. It was a stranger. He was trying to pronounce my husband’s name and was asking him a lot of questions. Then he said they had found a pile of papers in their trash can（垃圾桶）that had been left out on the footpath.
My husband rushed to their home to find a kind family holding all his papers and documents. Their young daughter had gone to the trash can and found a pile of unfamiliar papers. Her parents had carefully sorted them out, although they had found mainly foreign addresses on most of the documents. At last they had seen a half-written letter in the pile in which my husband had given his new telephone number to a friend.
That family not only restored the important documents to us that day but also restored our faith and trust in people. We still remember their kindness and often send a warm wish their way.
1.What did Rashid plan to do after his arrival in Sydney?
A. Go shopping B. Find a house
C. Join his family D. Take his family
2.The girl’s parents got Rashid’s phone number from_______.
A. a friend of his family B. a Sydney policeman
C. a letter in his papers D. a stranger in Sydney
3.What does the underlined word “restored” in the last paragraph mean?[
A. Showed B. Sent out
C. Delivered D. Gave back
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. From India to Australia. B. Living in a New Country.
C. Turning Trash to Treasure. D. In Search of New Friends.
Love Tunnel sees lots of love and trash
Bearing a resemblance to the forest－surrounded “Love Tunnel” in Ukraine, the twokilometer tunnel in Jiangning district Nanjing saw a recent rise in popularity as more than 2,000 tourists paid a visit every day this summer.The high number of visitors caused traffic safety concerns and increased the workload of sanitation workers.The Nanjing government had intended to cut the trees by the end of 2014.After the Nanjing government was forced to draft plans to cut the trees due to public pressure, visitors poured into a railway section that runs through thick forest for sightseeing and to take photos this weekend, leaving the railway with overwhelming piles of trash.
However, in response to the government's plan, complaints and outcries were made by the citizens that the love tunnel should be reserved.They claim that walking along the leafy green tunnel is like entering a fairy tale, and a possible decision to tear down the trees could bring the story to a pitiful end.
注释：sanitation 卫生
【写作内容】
1．以大约30个词左右概括短文的内容要点；
2．以大约120个词谈谈你对“爱情隧道”该不该保留的看法，并说出你的理由。
【写作要求】
1．作文中可以使用亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不能直接引用原文中的句子；
2．作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
【评分标准】
概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。
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Shared habits of happy people
Happy people all share happy habits.It's as simple as that.The happiest people I know share these obvious habits.If you're looking to expand your general happiness, you may consider adopting these in your own life.
People may take an active role in their local city council, join a social club supporting causes they believe in, or find passion in their careers.In each case, the physiological outcome is the same.They engage in something they strongly believe in.This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.
A happy life is a life shared with friends and family.The stronger the personal relationships are and the higher the frequency of interaction is, the happier a person will be.
Quite often people concentrate too much on negative outcomes and leave no time to reflect positively on their successes.It's natural for a person to want to correct undesirable circumstances and focus closely on doing so, but it is important to reflect mindfully on the good while striving diligently to correct the bad.A continuous general awareness of your daily successes can have a noticeably positive effect on your overall emotional happiness.
The power of endings is quite remarkable.The end of any experience has a great impact on a person's overall perception(看法) of the experience as a whole.Think about reading a wellwritten novel.Now imagine the ending is really poor.Even if the story was appealing until the ending, would you still be happy recommending the novel to a friend? People always remember the ending.If the ending is happy, the experience creates happiness.Always tie loose ends, leave things on a good note, and create happy endings in your life whenever possible.
Everyone possesses unique personal strengths.We all have different talents and skill sets.Emotional happiness comes naturally to those who use their strengths to get things done.The state of completion always creates a sense of achievement.If the achievement is based on your own personal ability to get the job done, the physiological rewards are priceless.
The best things in life are free.They come in the form of simple pleasures and they appear right in front of you at previous locations and arbitrary times.They are governed by Mother Nature and situational circumstances and captured by mindful awareness.It's all about taking a moment to notice the orange and pink sunset reflecting off the pond water as you hold hands with someone you love.Noticing these moments and taking part in them regularly will bring unplanned bursts of happiness into your life.
Shared habits | Explanations |
Be a part of something you believe in | If people are engaged in what they strongly believe in, it brings happiness and 1. into their lives. |
2. time with friends and family | If the personal relationships are stronger and the interaction is more 3.， a person will be happier. |
4. on the good | If people often concentrate their attention on 5. outcomes, it will result in their overall emotional happiness. |
Create happy endings whenever 6. | If the ending is happy, the 7. will bring happiness to you. |
Use personal strengths to get things done | It is 8. that emotional happiness comes to those who use their personal strengths to get things done. |
Enjoy the natural joy of simple pleasures | If you are able to 9. the simple natural pleasures and enjoy them, it will bring unplanned bursts of happiness into your 10.. |
A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.
Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding—undoubtedly firstrate photojournalism—if they had been made last week.In fact，they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous shipwreck(海难), by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival.Many of the images were stored in an ice chest, under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.
The ship was the Endurance, a small, tight, Norwegianbuilt threemaster that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all，to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sea.From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled (雪橇) across the continent.The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done.Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.
As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and wellresearched story The Endurance, adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort.Scott's last journey，completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds.Shackleton, a onetime British merchantnavy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908, started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography.Frank Hurley, a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic，was hired to make the images, most of which have never before been published.
1.What do we know about the photos taken by Hurley?
A. They were made last week.
B. They showed undersea sceneries.
C. They were found by a cameraman.
D. They recorded a disastrous adventure.
2.Who reached the South Pole first according to the text?
A. Frank Hurley.
B. Ernest Shackleton.
C. Robert Falcon Scott.
D. Caroline Alexander.
3.What does Alexander think was the purpose of the 1914 voyage?
A. Artistic creation. B. Scientific research.
C. Money making. D. Treasure hunting.
