What kind of job do you want to do in the future ? One that earns the most money or one that gives you the highest social position? What about a job that makes you feel happy? Surprisingly, these three things do not always go together in the job world .
According to a general social survey by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago in the US, the ten happiest jobs are not those with better pay or higher social position. They are ordinary jobs.
But what is it that makes a “happy” job?
Researchers found that people are happier when they feel they are doing something worthwhile. Six of the top ten happiest jobs are based heavily on helping others, such as firefighters, teachers, and physical therapists(理疗师 ).
Being able to express oneself is also important for people to feel satisfied . Take authors as an example. Their pay is “ridiculously low or non-existent”, but “the freedom of writing down the contents of your own mind leads to happiness ,”wrote business author Steve Denning on his blog on Forbes.com.
These jobs are greatly different to the top ten “hated jobs”, according a website survey earlier this year. Director of information technology, sales manager, technical specialist and others that are generally considered respectable jobs are on the list.
Todd May from The New York Times didn’t find the results strange. He argued that
“ a meaningful life must, in some sense then , make people feel worthwhile”. If a person doesn’t participate in the causes “ that are generally regarded as worthy, like feeding and clothing the poor, their life will lack meaning ,”he said . Work takes up the greater part of most people’s lives . It’s no wonder that the people with the most worthwhile jobs are the happiest of all.
However, it’s important to remember that these two surveys are broad ones and that it doesn’t matter whether your dream job is on the two lists. Now it is the time to think about the future . After all, something that satisfies your mind will always bring you happiness. According to the passage , which of the following is probably a happy job?
| A．A marketing manager | B． An engineer of IT |
| C．A teacher of art | D． A technical expert |
Steve Denning thinks that being an author is happy mainly because authors_____.
| A．are helpful to others |
| B．can be free to express themselves |
| C．earn much money |
| D．are considered respectable |
From the passage we learn that_________.
| A．the more you earn , the happier you are |
| B．respectable jobs are happy jobs |
| C．the higher your social position is , the happier you are |
| D．most happy jobs are related to helping others |
In the last paragraph the author stresses that_________.
| A．your future job should be one that makes you happy |
| B．your dream jobs should be based on the two surveys |
| C．the two surveys are of great importance |
| D．it won’t be easy to find a job in the future |
If you are invited to a party by the Austrians and the suggested dress is "informal(非正式的)" (usually marked in the lower left-hand coner of the invitation) , it may mean dark suit and a white shirt for men and cocktail dress( 短短服) for women. Or again, may mean something considerably less formal. "Formal" means a black tie and evening dress for men and a floor-length dress for women. If a man is in doubt(拿不准) about what to wear, he may come slightly overdressed and then take his coat and tie off when he sees that others are wearing sports shirts. National dress is always acceptable.If a lady receives an invitation marked with "formal", she should wear
| A．a long dress | B．a cocktail dress | C．a short dress | D．a dark suit |
Suppose you are a man invited to an informal party by an Austrian, you'd better .
| A．wear dark clothes and dark suit |
| B．dress yourself in a dark suit and a white shirt |
| C．wear a coat and so on |
| D．wear sports shirts |
The general idea of this passage is .
| A．men and women should be dressed differently |
| B．national dress is always useful |
| C．what to wear if a person is invited to an Austrian party |
| D．men and women should dress themselves beautifully |
The meaning of "overdressed" is .
| A．dressing oneself a little too formally | B．dressing oneself a floor-length dress |
| C．wearing one's tie | D．dressing a sports shirt |
Mrs Smith's husband went off on a business trip to Australia. He wanted to catch the 3:30 plane to Darwin. She was very surprised when he telephoned her at 5 o'clock and said that he was still at the airport.
"What happened?" asked Mrs Smith.
"Well," said Mr Smith, "everything was going fine. I got my ticket, checked my luggage and waited in line at the gate. I walked across the runway to the airplane and I saw my friend Jack Scott. Jack was an airplane engineer. I shouted to him and a policeman caught me."
"Why did he catch you?"
"I don't know," said Mr Smith," All I said was ‘Hi, Jack! '"
The word "hijack" means "to take control of a plane by force".Why did Mr Smith want to fly to Australia? Because____________.
| A．he was an Australian businessman |
| B．he was leaving for Australia on business |
| C．his wife wanted him to |
| D．he wanted" to see his wife |
Mrs Smith was very surprised because
| A．Mr Smith didn't arrive in Darwin | B．Mr Smith telephoned her later |
| C．Mr Smith didn't leave the airport | D．Mr Smith was in Darwin |
Mr Smith couldn't get on the plane because
| A．he met with his friend Jack |
| B．he didn't get the ticket |
| C．there was something wrong with the airplane engine |
| D．he was stopped by a policeman |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The police didn't know Mr Smith was Jack Scott's friend. |
| B．Jack Scott worked as an airplane engineer. |
| C．The policeman misunderstood Mr Smith. |
| D．Mr Smith knew why the policeman caught him. |
Why was Mr Smith caught by the policeman?
| A．Because he didn't keep silence at the airport. |
| B．Because he greeted an airport engineer named Jack. |
| C．Because the pronunciation of "Hi, Jack" has another frightful meaning. |
| D．Because the policeman didn't know English. |
Twenty-first century humanity has mapped oceans and mountains, visited the moon, and surveyed the planets. But for all the progress, people still don’t know one another very well.
That brings about Theodore Zeldin’s “feast of conversation”－events where individuals pair with persons they don’t know for three hours of guided talk designed to get the past “Where are you from?”
Mr. Zeldin, an Oxford University professor, heads Oxford Muse, a 10-year-old foundation based on the idea that what people need is not more information, but more inspiration and encouragement.
The “feast” in London looks not at politics or events, but at how people have felt about work, relations among the sexes, hopes and fears, enemies and authority, the shape of their lives. The “menu of conversation” includes topics like “How have your priorities(优先考虑的事) changed over the years?” Or, “What have you rebelled against the past?”
As participants gathered, Zeldin opened with a speech: that despite instant communications in a globalized age, issues of human heart remain. Many people are lonely, or in routines that discourage knowing the depth of one another. “We are trapped in shallow conversations and the whole point now is to think, which is sometimes painful,” he says. “But thinking interaction is what separates us from other species, except maybe dogs…who do have generations of human interactions.”
The main rules of the “feast”: Don’t pair with someone you know or ask questions you would not answer. The only awkward moment came when the multi-racial crowd of young adults to seniors, in sun hats, ties and dresses, looked to see whom they would be ‘intimate’ with for hours. But 15 minutes later, everyone was seated and talking, continuing full force until organizers interrupted them 180 minutes later.
“It’s encouraging to see the world is not just a place of oppression and distance from each other,” Zeldin summed up. “What we did is not ordinary, but it can’t be madder than the world already is.”
Some said they felt “liberated” to talk on sensitive topics. Thirty-something Peter, from East London, said that “it might take weeks or months to get to the level of interaction we suddenly opened up.”What can the “conversations” be best described as?
| A．Deep and one-on-one. | B．Sensitive and mad. |
| C．Instant and inspiring. | D．Ordinary and encouraging. |
In a “feast of conversations”, participants ______.
| A．pair freely with anyone they like |
| B．have a guided talk for a set of period of time |
| C．ask questions they themselves would not answer |
| D．wear clothes reflecting multi-racial features. |
In paragraph 6, “they would be ‘intimate’” is closest in meaning to “______”.
| A．they would have physical contact | B．they would have in-depth talk |
| C．they would be close friends | D．they would exchange basic information |
From the passage, we can conclude that what Zeldin does is ______.
| A．an attempt to promote thinking interaction |
| B．one of the maddest activities ever conducted |
| C．a try to liberate people from old-fashioned ideas |
| D．an effort to give people a chance of talking freely |
Almost two-thirds of children want their parents to spend more time reading to them before bed, and most prefer Mum’s storytelling to Dad’s, researchers said.
They carried out a study that showed younger children aged 3-4 were most hungry for more stories, with over three-quarters saying they wished their parents read to them more often.
More than half of all children aged 3-8 said story time was their favourite pastime with their parents.
"The results of our research confirm the traditional activity of storytelling continues to be a powerful learning and emotional resource in children's lives," said child psychologist Richard Woolfson.
Storytelling ranked higher than television or video games among pastimes for kids, and 82 percent said reading a story with their parents helped them sleep better, according the survey of 500 children aged 3-8 in Britain.
The best storytellers were mothers who used funny voices to illustrate different characters or made their own special sound effects to keep the story moving, researchers said.
When mum and dad are not at hand, celebrities(名人) will do: over 30 percent of children said they would like to hear a bedtime story from Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, with teen idols(偶像) Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus and Emma Watson.
"It can be very difficult for parents to find the time to read with their children, but these moments can help build strong relations and play a vital part in their child's development," said Woolfson.The underlined word “pastime” in the passage most probably means .
| A．old time | B．entertainment | C．emotion | D．character |
The author develops the passage mainly by .
| A．pointing out similarities and differences | B．following the natural time order |
| C．comparing opinions from different fields | D．providing examples and statistics |
Reading a story with their parents helped most kids aged 3-8 .
| A．grow stronger | B．become more emotional | C．sleep better | D．become more powerful |
Japanese couples, too busy for a normal social life, are increasingly turning to actors to play their friends on the most important days of their lives.
Several agencies have sprung up(涌现)offering actors to attend weddings or even funerals.The first guest-for-hire company was established about nine years ago and around 10 agencies now send out dozens of pretend friends to family events.
Agencies such as Hagemashi Tai, which means “I want to cheer you up”, charge around ￡100 for each “guest”. Other services such as giving a speech in praise of a bride or the groom cost extra.
The appearance of the small fake friends industry has been linked to social and economic changes in Japan.With lifetime employment (终身雇佣制)a thing of the past, couples feel uncomfortable about inviting work colleagues to their wedding.Increasingly busy and put upon, many Japanese surround themselves with only a very small circle of friends.
When they marry, however, they are under pressure to match the number of their new partner’s wedding guests.
Office Agents, the largest provider of pretend friends, makes sure that its employees have done their homework and know all about the bride or groom before the wedding.
Hiroshi Mizutani, the company’s founder, said the fake friends he provides must look happy, be well dressed and look like people with good jobs.Why did fake friends industry come into being in Japan?
| A．Because of social and economic changes | B．Because of lifetime employment |
| C．Because of normal social life | D．Because of work pressure |
Pretend friends will be present at the following occasions except ________.
| A．weddings | B．funerals | C．work | D．family gathering |
The agents make sure that ________.
| A．fake friends have done their housework | B．fake friends have good jobs |
| C．fake friends must look happy and be well dressed | D．fake friends feel uncomfortable |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Japanese Couples are Under Pressure to Get Married | B．Japanese Couples’ Social Life |
| C．The First Guest-for-hire Company in Japan | D．Japanese Couples Rely on Fake Friends |
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