Are people less happy or more happy the older they get ? A study found that people generally become happier and experience less worry after age 50. In fact, it found that by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were at 18.
The finding came from a Gallup survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States in 2008. At that time, the people were between the age of 18 an 85.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25. Stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. But the people least likely to report feeling negative emotions(消极情绪) were those in their seventies and eighties. The survey also found that men and women had similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men did.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
So why would happiness increase with age ? One theory is that, as people get older, they become more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
The original(最初的) goal of the study was to confirm the popular belief that aging is connected with increased sleep problems. The survey did find an increase during middle age, especially in women. But except for that , people reported that they felt their sleep quality improved as they got older.Old people may be happier probably because _________
| A．their children have grown up. |
| B．they don’t have to work every day. |
| C．they can do whatever they like best. |
| D．they are most likely satisfied with life. |
According to the survey, when will adults feel most stressful?
| A．In their twenties. | B．In their fifties. |
| C．In their seventies. | D．In their eighties. |
What may make Arthur Stone a bit surprised?
| A．Women usually live longer than men. |
| B．Middle-age men mostly are very rich. |
| C．Old people usually have a better sleep. |
| D．Most of old people can’t sleep well at night. |
Which of the following may be the topic of this passage ?
| A．The difference between men and women. |
| B．Old people’s feeling of happiness. |
| C．The young people and the old people. |
| D．The connection of sleep and happiness. |
The Florida Sea Base Programs
Diving Adventure
If you are a diver, this is your program. During the program you will be making as many as nine dives (weather permitting), including a night dive. We have open dates in June, July and August for the summer months and for fall we have opening in September, October, November and December. Check out the dates today. Click here!
Sea Exploring!
The name brings back the memory of pirates(海盗) sailing the high seas of the past. This adventure is for larger teams of 18 to 20 teammates. Sailing on a tall ship with your team, you will be making memories that you will share for the rest of your life with anyone who will listen. Be sure and check out the dates we have open. Click here! We can fit your timetable to meet your needs with these great dates.
Live Aboard Diving
The Florida Sea Base has the sailing and diving programs joined for one wonderful adventure! On this adventure, you will spend your days not only in diving, but also in sailing 
around the Florida Keys. There are openings this fall and winter. Check now for open dates to spend your winter holidays in the keys. Click here! Fall dates are open now. Check them out today!
Just around the corner: the Christmas season in the keys! We have an opening for the Live Aboard program on December 26. Book today---it won’t last long!
Diving Certification(证书)
The Diving Certification program is designed for teammates who want to get a certification--- all who complete the week successfully will be offered PADI certification! Come and learn how to dive in the beautiful waters of the Florida Keys.
We have the following dates open: August 5, August 12, August 19, August 22 and August 26. We also have programs we offer in the fall: September 30, O
ctober 7, October 14, October 21, and many more dates. Check out the rest of the dates. Click here!
1. The text is most probably found _________.
A. in a newspaper B. on the Internet
C. in a science magazine D. in a book about Florida Sea
2. Colin wants to join in the Diving Adventure. He is supposed to have ______.
A. 9 dives B. 10 dives
C. 19 dives D. as many dives as he likes
3. According to this text, Live-Aboard Diving is special in that ____.
A. diving goes on during the sailing
B. it is an adventure at sea
C. there are diving programs in it
D. it is held in the Christmas season
4. The purpose of the text is mainly to ________.
A. teach B. introduce C. report D. advertise
Online shopping started not so long ago. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1990. The first online bank opened in 1994. In 1995, Amazon started operating and is now one of the largest online shopping malls. Then in 1996, eBay started its online shopping site.
By sitting at home you can now buy anything from knives to cars. The worry you may have about traveling and parking can be avoided while you shop online. With online shopping, you need not worry about the weather. Online shops have no holidays, closing times or any other problems. You can shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. Some online shops also keep customers’ opinions about each product, so you can easily find out what other customers think about the product before buying it.
When you go for real-world shopping, you can actually touch and feel it, but in online shopping you can only see the pictures. Also if you are shopping online, you have to be careful with your credit cards.
The first step in online shopping is to search for what you want to buy. Once you find the required product, put it in a “shopping cart” and continue shopping. After you have got enough in your “shopping cart”, check out the product. You can add or take out the products in your shopping cart. The next step is to login(登录) using a username and a password. Enter the address where you want the product to be sent. Some sites even ask for your email, phone numbers, etc. Then wait for the confirmation(确认)of your order. You can also cancel the order if needed. Online shopping is a different experience and you can make shopping online easy when you get used to it.
1. When shopping online, you can _______.
A. buy anything wherever you go B. park your cars where you want to
C. touch anything you want to b
uy D. know what others think of the product
2. The second paragraph mainly tells us ______.
A. the things people can buy in online shops
B. people can know different opinions of customers
C. people can do online shopping at their own homes
D. t
he advantages people can have through online shopping
3. From the text we can know that ______.
A. customers needn’t have a username to buy something online
B. customers must give their emails as well as their phone numbers
C. customers should be careful with their credit cards when shopping online
D. once customers put the products in their “shopping carts”, they can’t change them
4. If you want to buy a cup online, what is the right order of the following things you can do?
a. Enter the address
b. Search for a right cup
c. Wait for the confirmation of the order
d. Put the cup into your “shopping cart”
A. b
-c-d-a B. b-d-a-c C. a-b-c-d D. c-d-a-b
IV.阅读理解：（共32分，每小题2分）
Can you imagine your doctor warning that taking a bath could be unhealthy? In the early 1800s, many doctors thought that bathtubs(浴缸) could carry diseases, so they advised against their use. The advice wasn’t based on personal experience, because few of the doctors owned bathtubs. The White House did not even have a bathtub until 1851.
In the 19th century, only one home out of six had a bathroom. A child took only one bath a week. On Saturday nights, children all lined up for their turns to wash in a wooden bathtub in the kitchen. Mothers had to boil the water on the stove and carry it over to fill the bathtub. It’s no wonder that children could not jump into a bathtub as they do today.
When the first bathtubs were introduced, even their makers weren’t sure whether the new fashion would last. They advertised their products as water containers that “could be used as bathing tu
bs”.
The bathtub became popular in America shortly after World War I. By then most middle-class families had indoor taps. At first most bathtubs 
were made of wood, but as the popularity of the product increased, so did the creativity of bathtub makers. Before porcelain(瓷) bathtubs there were rubber o
nes like the plastic swimming pools kids use today. In the past few years owners often invited guests to see them. They told their friends how wonderful baths in these bathtubs could be.
Now doctors no longer warn that bathtubs carry diseases. Instead, they tell their patients about the benefits of frequent bathing in the bathtubs. Maybe one of the best reasons why doctors 
encourage frequent trips to the bathtub is that bathed patients smell better!
1. Many doctors in the past were against using bathtubs because ______.
A. they didn’t have their own bathtubs
B. they thought bathtubs could carry diseases.
C. the children might hurt themselves in the bathtubs
D. bathtubs were too expensive for the common families
2. Why couldn’t children jump into a tub in the 19th century as they do today?
A. It was unhealthy to do so. B. The bathtubs were not enough.
C. Mothers were always busy. D. The bathtubs were made of wood.
3 .Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. Some different materials can be used to make bathtubs.
B. In the 19th century only one home out of seven had a bathroom.
C. The bathtub became popular when they were introduced to the market.
D. Children prefer the bathtubs made of plastic to those made of porcelain.
4. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ______.
A. all the doctors have bathtubs in their homes
B. the doctors have realized the advantages of bathtubs
C. the doctors will make lots of money by advertising 
bathtubs
D. the patients should take a bath before going to see a doctor
Try this little test. A man dressed completely in black is sitting at a bar in a country pub. He is drinking one whisky after another. After three hours, the man in black leaves the pub and walks drunkenly down a small country road. There are no lights, and there is no moon. A car without headlights approaches. The driver notices the man, however, and is able to brake in time to avoid an accident. How could the driver see the man in black? Think about this.
The reason we can get stuck with this – and other problems in life—is that we make assumptions. If we assume that the man in black is out for an evening drink, then the problem is a hard one to solve.
The dictionary describes an assumption as something we take for granted or suppose to be true. Assumptions are essential to logical thinking and decision-making, but what happens if they are false?
Sometimes false assumptions can lead to disaster. On 8 January 1989, a British Midland Airways Boeing took off from Heathrow for Belfast. The number-two (right) engine, which had caused trouble on the previous flight, had been cleared. Twenty minutes after take-off, the plane began to shake violently. The flight recorder later showed what had happened. The captain asked the co-pilot what the problem was. “It’s the f-ing right engine again!” he replied. The captain ordered no.2 engine to be shut down, and the lefthand (no.1) engine to be turned on for an emergency landing. The 737 crashed on the edge of the M1 motorway. The cause of the crash? The captain and copilot made a false assumption and shut down the wrong engine. Of the 118 passengers, 39 died and 74 suffered serious injury.
The more risky or the more expensive the decision, the more important it is to check assumptions. There is a nice way to remember the importance of assumption checking. Look at the letters in the word ASSUME, and note that taking things for granted can make an ASS（傻瓜） of U and ME.
1. What purpose does Paragraph 1 serve in the passage?
A. To provide background information of the topic.
B. To attract readers attention to the topic.
C. To use an example to support the topic.
D. To offer basic knowledge of the topic.
2. The main purpose of the passage is to remind the readers _________.
A. of the importance of making assumptions
B. of the danger of making assumptions
C. to make assumptions before dealing with problems
D. to check assumptions before dealing with problems
3. The best title for this passage may probably be __________.
A. Assumptions Lead To Disaster
B. Ways of Avoiding False Assumption
C. When Things Are Not as They First Seem
D. Assumptions and Decision-making
4. The most probable reason that the driver can see the man in black is that .
A. there were bright stars in the sky when the accident happened.
B. the driver had very good eyesight.
C. the accident happened where the lights were bright.
D. the accident happened during the afternoon, in daylight.
No Mobile Means You’re Not in Touch
My household now has four mobile phones: one for me; one each for my eldest children, the twin boys; and one for my 15-year-old daughter. Only my 12-year-old son does not (yet) have his own mobile. In other words, we’re now in line with national figures, which show that Australia has 19 million mobile phones for a population of just over 20 million people. Among 15-to 17-year-olds, nearly nine out of 10.
The reality is that a mobile phone is the coolest thing of all for a teenager to own. It’s even more important than a television, a DVD player or access to the internet. If you don’t have a mobile you are, quite literally, out of touch.
Of course, there are good and bad sides to mobiles. In my global media world, I’ve lived with a mobile switched on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the past ten years. At the same time, here in Perth, I started a movement on talkback radio called CAMPIR (Campaign Against Mobile Phones in Restaurants). Nothing annoys me more than people who feel that an incoming mobile call is more important than the company they are with at a restaurant or even at their dining table at home, but I believe that in the long term, we will have a revolt against the intrusion of mobiles into our personal lives.
There was a study in New Zealand last year among young teenagers that showed a quarter have used text messaging to end a relationship. Here in Australia, I’ve read of people being fired by text. That’s cold. On the other hand, lots of parents---myself included---feel their children are safer if they have their mobile with them when they are away from home.
I’ve even read that the use of mobiles among kids may mean that they smoke less. Phones are a stronger status symbol than cigarettes among children and also give them something to do with their hands.
Psychologists, though, argue that mobiles are actually a way for kids to bypass their parents. They can communicate constantly with their friends without their parents knowing anything of the conversations. No matter what the future brings, I don’t expect ever to have fewer mobiles in the house. On the contrary, the next challenge is to see if I can get through the rest of this year without having to buy a mobile phone for my youngest child.
1.According to the passage, a mobile phone is the coolest thing for a teenager to possess because _________.
A.In their opinion, the mobile phone is the most fashionable possession
B.A mobile phone is the most useful tool in the life.
C.The teenager keeps in contact with others exactly by using a mobile phone.
D.The Internet is less important than the mobile phone.
2.,Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.In New Zealand most young teenagers have used text messaging to end a relationship.
B.The writer doesn’t think his children can avoid danger if they have their mobile with them .
C.The use of mobiles among kids may contribute to their less smoking.
D.Cigarettes are the strongest status symbol among children.
3.The underlined word “bypass” in the fifth paragraph probably means __________.
A. contact B. avoid C. inform D. oppose
4. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
A. The children in the family each have a mobile phone.
B. About 60% of the children aged 15-17 have phones in Australia.
C. The writer is likely to buy a mobile phone for his youngest child this year.
D. The writer doesn’t agree that children should own a mobile phone.
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