Does being rich make you happy? Many studies on happiness give negative answers. Here are some points in being happy.
Basic Human Needs Must Be Met
People whose basic needs for shelter, clothing and food are not met will find it very difficult to feel happy. Of course，there are exceptions，but for most of us，we can only be happy once our basic needs are met.
The Joneses Cannot Be Escaped
People's happiness is not determined by how much they have, but by how much people around them have. So, we tend to feel happy once our basic needs are met and we have more than the people surrounding us.
This means that while keeping up with the Joneses could be destructive if we let it go too far, it is also part of human nature to want to feel at least on the same level，financially，as those surrounding us.
You Should Escape The Rat Race
We should know the importance of staying out of the rat race. So yes, you need to work hard，get the education you need to land a good job and work long enough and hard enough to get to a place where you can easily meet your basic needs. What are basic needs? For most middle or upper middle class Americans, basic needs are not very basic anymore.
For most of us，once our basic needs have been met, happiness is achieved when we engage in activities we like，spend time with friends and family and stay active. Making money for the sake of making money does not make people happy.
Ideally, these questions should be answered when you're still young and just starting out. Don't wait until your midlife crisis to realize that half your life has passed you by and you're still unhappy.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．The research on what determines happiness |
| B．Being rich makes people happy |
| C．What makes people feel unhappy |
| D．Key points on being rich and being happy |
What does "the Joneses" in Paragraph 4 probably stand for？
| A．Expensive things | B．Neighbors |
| C．Money | D．Richer people |
From the passage，what people probably do in "the rat race"？
| A．To enjoy their life with family. |
| B．To get high education for better jobs. |
| C．To work too hard for money only. |
| D．To work hard for basic needs. |
What's the attitude of the author towards the passage?
| A．Money is happiness. |
| B．The love of money is the root of all evil. |
| C．Money doesn't grow on trees. |
| D．Money is a big problem, but money isn't everything. |
The Silver City Council recognizes that citizens have certain needs. To better meet your needs, we have made several changes to community facilities in 2014. The followings show how we have tried to make your life better.
Transport
☆Three stations for the suburbs have been added to the western train service.
☆20 new buses for the southern line were purchased in January.
☆50 per cent of city busstops have been upgraded.
Communication
☆Broadband cable is now available to all parts of the city.
☆All of the new Government buildings are smartwired for better computer service!
Medical Facilities
☆The new stateoftheart Nightingale Hospital was opened in June.
☆To overcome a shortage of trained medical staff at Dover Hospital, 10 doctors have been employed from overseas.
☆Some facilities at Station Street Hospital have been upgraded.
Education
☆Textbooks will be free to all primary students in 2014!
☆Rental for private schools has been reduced.
Protection and Security
☆Extra police now patrol（巡逻）the tourist areas.
☆50 new police officers graduated in July and have taken up duties in the city area.
Entertainment / Recreation
☆The new Central Community Building opened in May.
☆5,000 new fiction books were bought for the Silver City Library.What is the purpose of the changes in Silver City?
| A．To satisfy all the needs of the citizens. |
| B．To make public service improved. |
| C．To better the citizens’life. |
| D．To meet the needs of the Silver City Council. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Travel books are provided in the new library. |
| B．More bus lines and stops are bought in Silver City. |
| C．Free medical treatment is available at Station Street Hospital. |
| D．There are more police officers on duty now. |
The public notice is from _______.
| A．the community | B．the local government |
| C．the Silver City Library | D．a travel agency |
Shake Shack is a new kind of restaurant becoming more popular in the U.S. The restaurants are not“fast food” . They are known as“fast casual” .
Observers say Americans want more choices and fresh food when choosing where and what to eat. This trend is one reason why the fast food restaurant McDonald’ s has struggled financially. In the last quarter of 2014, McDonald’ s net income dropped by about $300 million. The January earnings report brought more bad news. Worldwide sales dropped for the eighth month in a row and even more than expected. While McDonald’ s is struggling to get their customers back, Shake
Shack, is doing well in making money. The New York-based burger chain had a very successful IPO, or initial public offering, of shares at the end of January. On its first day of trading, Shake Shack went from $21 a share to just under $46 a share. Being part of the “fast casual ”trend has helped Shake Shack. Other fast casual restaurants in the U.S. include Chipotle and Panera.
Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant expert with NPD has studied Americans’ restaurant habits for almost 30 years. She says one reason why Americans like fast casual food is that it’ s new. It’ s creative, it’ s something different and people like to try new things. Her study shows Americans made 61 billion visits to restaurants last year. Three out of four visits were to fast food restaurants, like McDonald’ s. Fast casual is still a small percentage of restaurant visits, but it has developed fast. Just as Ms. Riggs says,“It’ s growing by leaps and bounds, because they meet consumers’ needs. They know it’ s being prepared while they wait, it’ s fresh, quality food, good tasting food at what they say are reasonable and affordable prices.”
Many Americans still like their fast food. They just are not going as often. They are finding other ways to have a meal.What’ s the trouble with McDonald’ s?
| A．Its share goes down to $21. |
| B．Shake Shack has taken its place. |
| C．It’ s not popular with Americans. |
| D．Its sales and income have dropped. |
We can learn from Bonnie Riggs that Americans ________.
| A．don’ t like fast food any more |
| B．care only about the quality |
| C．like to try something new |
| D．pay more restaurant visits to fast casual |
What does the underlined phrase“by leaps and bounds”in Para. 3 mean?
| A．Steadily. | B．Rapidly. |
| C．Slowly. | D．Normally. |
Which of the following best describes fast casual?
| A．Fresh-made and tasty. |
| B．High-quality and expensive. |
| C．Farm-to-table and traditional. |
| D．Time-consuming and special. |
We don’ t always get a second chance to achieve our dreams. But some people are lucky, like Matthew McConaughey. Once almost unknown, the actor has recently found himself back on the list of the best actors in Hollywood. His new movie Interstellar is just another sign that his career reinvention has been an incredible success. “The film relies on McConaughey’ s performance to hold together the emotional story of a father and his daughter against the background of space travel and the end of the world,”Forbes commented.
But only years ago, the Texas native was often the butt of jokes（笑柄）about being too handsome. In 1993, after meeting with director Richard Linklater, McConaughey starred in Dazed and Confused. And a Hollywood career was born, mostly in romantic comedies. For a long time, the whole world believed McConaughey was just a handsome guy with comic talent.
But McConaughey stopped starring in that type of movie, and began to use his looks differently. Slowly he built up his reputation as a serious actor. In 2013, McConaughey was offered to play an AIDS activist in Dallas Buyers Club. The role saw the normally muscular actor losing 50 pounds in order to appear sick. His performance won him an Oscar for Best Actor.
The actor gave thanks to someone he has always looked up to as a hero during his Oscar acceptance speech. When he was 15, the actor said, he decided that his hero would be himself in 10 years. But 10 years later, he pushed the deadline ahead another decade. Then 10 years later, another decade.“My hero’ s always 10 years away,” he said. “I’ m never going to attain that. That keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.”Or perhaps constantly chasing the chance to be his own hero has given him a second chance to follow his dreams.Why was McConaughey often the butt of jokes in his early career?
| A．He was limited to handsome roles. |
| B．He was unknown to the audience. |
| C．He played in romantic comedies. |
| D．He was handsome and emotional. |
What role won Mc Conaughey an Oscar for Best Actor?
| A．A caring father. | B．An AIDS activist. |
| C．A serious buyer. | D．A strong hero. |
What can we learn about McConaughey？
| A．He was born in Hollywood. |
| B．He has become a hero of his own. |
| C．He wasn’ t famous until recently. |
| D．He isn’ t content with his achievements. |
Which of the following can be the best title?
| A．McConaughey, a Romantic Comedian |
| B．McConaughey, a Man Making a Hit |
| C．McConaughey, a Man Daring to change |
| D．McConaughey, Handsome and Talented |
Parents might tell older children to “Act your age”. But some researchers say that is what persons from thirteen to nineteen years old are doing. While teenagers can look all grown up, studies have shown that their brains are still developing. How much this explains their behavior, though, is a subject of debate.
Jay Giedd of America’s National Institutes of Health is a leader in this area of research. Doctor Giedd has been studying a group of young people since 1991. They visit him every two years for imaging tests of their brains. He says considerable development continues in young people from the teenage years into the twenties.
A part of the brain called the dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex appears especially undeveloped in teenagers. Researchers believe that this area controls judgment and consideration of risk. So, its underdevelopment may explain why young people seem more willing to take risks like driving too fast.
Laurence Steinberg is a psychology professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. He says stronger laws and stronger parental control are needed to protect teens from themselves. That includes raising the age for driving. He says research shows that teenage brains are not fully equipped to control behavior.
Other researchers, however, say there is not enough evidence to make a strong case for such findings. Psychologist Robert Epstein is a visiting scholar at the University of California in San Diego. Mr. Epstein notes that teen behavior differs from culture to culture. He says behavior depends for the most part on socialization. He believes that teenagers will demonstrate(表明) better, safer behavior if they spend more time with adults, and are treated more like them.
But is that always true? Mike Males works at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco. He suggests that all of this talk lately about brainless teens could be an attempt to take away attention from the reality. Writing in the New York Times, he says it is middle-aged adults whose behavior has worsened. In his words, if grown-ups really have superior brains, why don’t we act as if we do?If your parents ask you to act your age, they really mean to advise that you __________.
| A．behave yourself |
| B．take care of yourself |
| C．make yourself at home |
| D．do everything on your own |
Why do young people seem more willing to take adventures?
| A．Because they can all look grown up in that way. |
| B．Because their dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex appears undeveloped. |
| C．Because some researchers have been studying and encouraging them. |
| D．Because stronger laws and stronger parental control protect them |
Which of the following is TRUE about teenagers?
| A．Their brains have almost stopped developing. |
| B．Their cultures have influenced their behavior more or less. |
| C．The behavior of brainless teens has drawn a lot more attention. |
| D．Staying more often with adults makes things even worse. |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that Mike Males _______.
| A．agrees with what Robert Epstein says |
| B．keeps silent about the subject of debate |
| C．is a leader in this area of research |
| D．has the opinion of his own |
The passage is written mainly to tell people that __________.
| A．development continues in young people from the teens into the twenties |
| B．teenagers’ behavior differs from culture to culture |
| C．there is still a debate between researchers about people’s behaviors |
| D．the talk about brainless teens could take away attention from governments |
Three boys and three girls boarded a bus to Lauderdale, Florida, dreaming of golden beaches. When the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo, who sat in front of them, dressed in a plain, ill-fitting suit.
Deep into the night, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson Restaurant, and everybody got off except Vingo. He sat rooted in his seat, and the young people began to wonder: perhaps he was a sea captain, a runaway from his wife, an old soldier going home.
Shortly after a snack, they went back to the bus and one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.
After a while, slowly and painfully, he told his story. He had been in prison in New York for the past four years. Last week he was released from imprisonment and now going home.
“When in prison I wrote to my wife,” he said. “I told her that I was going to be away a long time, and that if she couldn’t stand it, she could just forget me; I’d understand. We used to live in Brunswick, and there’s a big oak tree just as you come into town. Last week, I wrote her again. I told her that if she’d take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, and I’d get off and come home. If she didn’t want me, forget it and I’d go on through.”
She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up out of their seats, screaming and crying, doing small dances of joy. The oak tree was covered with yellow handkerchiefs, 20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds, a tree that stood like small flags of welcome flying in the wind. As the young people shouted, Vingo rose and made his way to the front of the bus to go home.What attracted the six young people when their bus passed through New Jersey?
| A．The Howard Johnson Restaurant. |
| B．A silent man. |
| C．Golden beaches. |
| D．A well-dressed man |
The young people on the bus try to imagine Vingo may be a person EXCEPT_________.
| A．a sea captain |
| B．an old soldier going home |
| C．an old soldier going home |
| D．a prisoner escaping from prison |
Vingo wrote a letter to his wife again last week to ________.
| A．ask for her forgiveness |
| B．beg her to allow him back home |
| C．tie a yellow handkerchief to the oak tree |
| D．make sure if she was still in love with him |
Why did all the young people shout with joy when they arrived in Brunswick?
| A．They were approaching their destination. |
| B．They were surprised to see so many welcoming people. |
| C．They were sure that Vingo’s wife was expecting him home. |
| D．The oak tree was still standing there welcoming Vingo back home. |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Going home |
| B．Vingo and his wife |
| C．Yellow handkerchiefs |
| D．The relationship between Vingo and the young people |
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