“How are you?” is a nice question. It’s a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other. B
ut “How are you?” is also a very unusual question. It’s a question that often doesn’t have an answer. The person who asks “How are you?” hopes to hear the answer “Fine.”, even if the person’s friend isn’t fine. The reason is that “How are you?” isn’t really a question and “Fine.” isn’t really an answer. They are simply other ways of saying “Hello!” or “Hi!”.
Sometimes, people also don’t say exactly what they mean. For example, when someone asks, “Do you agree?”, the other person might be thinking, “No, I disagree. I think you’re wrong …” But it isn’t very polite to disagree strongly, so the other person might say “I’m not sure …”. It’s a nice way to say that you don’t agree with someone.
People also don’t say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people. For example, many talks over the phone finish when one person says “I’ve to go now.” Often, the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse, “Someone is at the door.” “Something is burning on the stove.” The excuses might be real, or it might not. Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn’t want to talk any more, but it isn’t polite to say that. The excuse is more polite, and it doesn’t hurt the other person.
When they are greeting each other, talking about an idea, or finishing a talk, people often don’t say exactly what they are thinking. It’s an important way that people try to be nice to each other, and it’s also a part of the game of language.
60. When a person in the United States asks “How are you?”, he or she wants to hear “___________”
A. How are you? B. Hello! C. I don’t know. D. Fine.
61. When a person wants to disagree with someone, it is polite to say “___________”
A. You’re wrong. I disagree. B. I’m not sure.
C. I’m sure I disagree. D. No, I disagree.
62. When a person says “I’ve to go now. Someone is at the door.”, he or she may be __________.
A. giving an excuse B. hurting someone’s feeling
C. talking to a person at the door D. going to another place
63. One of the rules of the game of language is probably “_________”
A. Always say what you mean. B. Don’t disagree with people.
C. Never say exactly what you’re thinking. D. Be polite.
You have the ability to decide whether you are happy or not. Happiness is a choice.
You can’t depend on someone else to make you happy. That is a lesson I learned early in my marriage. I realized that I couldn’t rely on my husband as my source of happiness. I learned that my happiness depended on myself and not my husband’s actions. I learned that you have to choose to be happy.
You can choose your emotions. True happiness comes from within, and it can’t be forced by outside force. So how do you choose happiness? The same way, you choose to smile or choose to wear a certain outfit（一套衣服）. You choose it because that’s what you want to experience in you life.
You want to buy a new pair of shoes so you choose a pair that you like and feels good. You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes that you don’t like or that doesn’t fit well, right? So why do we keep choosing emotions and feelings that don’t make us feel good?
Choosing to be happy after you realize your anger has shown up (or even choosing to be calm) can be beneficial. We choose our feelings; no one else can do that for us. If we let others get to us, influence our 
emotions — we are giving them power over us. When others cause us anger or pain, we are giving them our power.
We need to keep our feelings in check and not to react（反应） automatically to what is thrown at us. We need to think our actions out instead of just reacting to what someone says or does.
Remember that we can always choose happiness. At first it will be difficult to just switch（使转变）your thoughts and feelings from anger, self-doubt, or fear to joy and happiness. But it is only a thought away. Don’t dwell on（细想） what happens to you unnecessarily but realize what is causing you to feel that way. Realize that thoughts, feelings and emotions can change. Then move on and choose to be happy. What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．Pretend to Be Happy |
| B．Choose Your Emotions |
| C．Choose to Be Happy |
D．Find Happ iness |
The lesson the writer learned in her marriage is .
| A．one can’t depend on someone else to make himself or herself happy |
| B．balancing the relationship between husband and wife is an art |
| C．she can depend on her husband to find happiness |
| D．happiness can be influenced by outside force |
Why did the writer mention buying shoes?
| A．To offer advice on how to choose comfortable shoes. |
| B．To use it as an example to illustrate（阐述）her point of view. |
| C．To compare choosing shoes and choosing an outfit. |
| D．To help move to the next paragraph easily. |
The writer suggests that we should .
| A．let others control our feelings |
| B．respond immediately to others’ words |
| C．hold back our feelings properly |
| D．pay more attention to words than actions |
Maupassant（居·莫泊桑）was born in 1850 in northern France. His early life was not happy. His parents separated when he was 11. Most of his education came informally from Gustave Flaubert—his mother’s friend and his godfather, a journalist and novelist. Often Flaubert would let him take a walk and then ask him to write 100 lines about what he saw. This type of training developed in Maupassant a sense of observation, which he later put to use in his writing. Flaubert also allowed Maupassant to attend his Sunday gatherings with others in his literary circle
For a few years, Maupassant was connected with the Ministry of Public Instruction. It is interesting to note that Monsieur Loisel, a poor man character in The Necklace, worked there. He also served in the French army during the Franco-Prussian War. His favorite writing subjects were peasants, servants, in the city, and the Francd-Prussian War.
At an early age, Maupassant started writing short stories. In 1880, some of his works were published and he received a wide reputation for Boule de Suif (Ball of Tallow). With this success, he began to work full-time on writing. During the next ten years, he wrote over 300 stories, including six novels, three travel books, and a book of verse. Through them, he earn a lot of money.
His writing was classical and simple, avoiding social comments and dirty details. His works often showed a real world and an accurate knowledge of the subject. Although Maupassant wrote in many forms, he received widest recognition for his short stories. By 1890, Maupassant was suffering from the latter staged of syphilis（梅毒）. He died in 1893 in Paris. Which of the following is TRUE about Gustave Flaubert?
| A．He often went out for a walk with Maupassant. |
| B．He was a journalist and novelist working for church. |
| C．He had a great influence on Maupassant’s writing.. |
| D．He often helped Maupassant with his writing homework. |
From text we know Monsieur Loisel is _______.
| A．a man selling necklaces |
| B．a character in one of Maupassant’s works. |
C．a short story  written by Maupassant |
| D．a friend of Maupassant the Ministry of Public Instruction |
What are the characteristics of Maupassant’s stories?
| A．They have few social comments. |
| B．They are simple and humorous. |
| C．They only focus on the lives of peasants. |
| D．They are full of imagination. |
What can we learn about Maupassant from the text?
| A．Only in his 30s did he begin to write stories. |
| B．He did not received any formal education. |
| C．He spent his last years happily. |
| D．Boule de Suif was his first success. |
Life is too short to waste a moment, so while you still have time, let your hair down, remove that “boring” tag in your so-called life and start making it worthwhile. Below are some tips that will help you live a wonderful life.
1. Keep a Positive Attitude. Enjoy what you have and work on getting the things you desire. Psychologists believe that optimism (乐观主义) is a good defense against unhappiness, so it is better to keep your optimism alive. Feeling sad about your life will only make you sadder, so be happy.
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks. Life is all about taking risks, and that’s the exciting part of it. Challenges and failure are part of life. Once you learn how to take risks, you’ll soon realize how good it feels not to let moments pass you by.
3. ... You only have one life, so make it worthwhile. Being unwilling to let the past go just keeps you away from the things you should be enjoying at the present.
4. List the Things You Want to Do. Stop lazing around and give yourself something to be busy with. Write down a list of all the things you want to do and make a timeline, not to stress you out, but to remind you of your goals. So don’t put limits to yourself because you’ll never know what may happen.]
5. Try Out Something New. Getting into something or trying something unfamiliar to you may seem scary, but nothing can make you feel happier than being able to overcome your fear. Who knows? You might enjoy it! The world is a big place and there are still lots of things waiting to be explored by you. Go to a foreign place where you know no one. From Tip One we know that we should .
| A．never be afraid to take risks |
| B．try something new every day |
| C．focus on the good things in life |
| D．get rid of all our former habits |
What’s the best title for the third tip?
| A．Enjoy Today and Let Go of the Past. |
| B．Never Think of Tomorrow. |
| C．Remember You Are the Best. |
| D．Never Change Your Mind. |
The writer may NOT agree that .
| A．feeling sad about your life does you no good |
B．it’s good to keep yourself busy doing something |
| C．you shouldn’t go to a new place where you have no friends |
| D．you should enjoy the present instead of always thinking of the past |
What is the writer’s attitude toward life?
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Indifferent. |
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the USA or Australia. They also want their children to take extra courses or activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. So parents will spend unreasonable amount of money on education.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children’s skills vary. Some children are skilled in some areas while poor in others.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but not teaching them the most important skills: they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need 
later in life. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. The result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. he will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. And that is more important.
| A．The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. |
| B．These activities are teaching a child not only to read a book, but also to think , to use his mind. |
| C．What most parents fail to realize ，though ,is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence. |
| D．Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter. |
E. The more cost in education, the better the result will be.
F. Cooking demands patience and time.
A Narrow Escape
Shortly after the war, my brother and I were invited to spend a few days’ holiday with an uncle who had just returned from abroad. He had rented （租） a cottage in the country, although he hardly spent much time there. We understood the reason for this after our arrival: the cottage had no comfortable furniture in it. Many of the windows were broken and the roof leaked （漏水）, making the whole house wet.
On our first evening, we sat around the fire after supper listening to the stories our uncle told of his many adventures in distant countries. I was so tired after the long train journey that I would have preferred to go to bed; but I could not bear to miss any of my uncle’s exciting stories, He was just in the middle of describing a rather terrifying experience he had once had when there was a loud crash（倒塌声） from the bedroo
m above, the one where my brother and I were going to sleep.
When we got to the top of the stairs and opened the bedroom door, a strange sight met our eyes. A large part of the ceiling had fallen right on to the pillow（枕头）of my bed. The uncle disliked the rented cottage for the reason that _____.
| A．there were no beds in it |
| B．the windows were broken and the roof leaked |
| C．it was too old for him to live in |
| D．it was very rainy in the area |
On the first evening, the writer was very sleepy, _____.
| A．but he did his best not to miss any stories |
| B．so he had to go to bed early |
| C．because he was tired of his uncle’s stories |
D．and he was g radually falling asleep while listening |
A narrow escape means ___.
| A．A person runs away from a danger through a narrow door. |
| B．A person escapes a danger by luck. |
| C．A person escapes a danger easily. |
| D．A person runs away from a danger easily. |
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