Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those people who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who has cars may want to walk on the country road at their free time.

In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into __it__. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you. When you take lessons, your parents are always taking care of your life and health. When you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you. When you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them , you can see that happiness is always around you.

Happiness is not the same as money. It’s a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, “ Life is like a revolving door, when it closes, it also opens.” If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.

1.According to the passage, which of the following is happiness?

A．You have lots of money, but you have no friends.

B．When you’re in trouble, your classmates often help you.

C．You have a big house, but you always feel lonely.

D．When you meet difficulties, you give up at once.

2.What does the underlined word “ it ”refer to?

A．Happiness.         B．Trouble           C．Health            D．Difficulty

3.The third paragraph(段) tells us that ________.

A．Poor people are always happy.             B．Difficulties means happiness.

C．Happiness is a feeling of heart.             D．Life is the revolving door.

4.What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Money and cars.                        B．Happiness is everywhere.

C．Happiness is money.                     D．Luck in life.

 

Nathan Sawaya's childhood was a lot of fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, and played with plastic toy bricks (積木). His grandparents bought his first set of toy bricks when he was five years old and he's been building with toy bricks ever since. He even took his building bricks to college with him! Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village made of bricks on his desk.

Nathan started as a lawyer but gave up His highly-paid (高薪的) job to become an artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty(自由女神像) to Superman! He has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his working room in New York which he uses to make pieces of art. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait (自畫像). It took him two days just to build the eyes.

Nathan's work has appeared in museums around the world. Children love his art because it is made out of the same toys that they play with at home and adults love his work because it is fascinating. Since it began in2007, Nathan's exhibition "The Art of the Brick" has been very popular with museum visitors everywhere.

"I'm proud that I took a dream I had as a child, to become an artist, and I have actually made a job out of it," says Nathan. "To do what you love in life is the most important thing."

1.What did Nathan put on his desk at college?

A．The Statue of Liberty.                    B．Superman.

C．His serf-portrait.                        D．A Greenwich Village modal.

2.Why did Nathan give up his job as a lawyer?

A．Because he made little money out of a lawyer.

B．Because he wanted to make toys for the children.

C．Because he decided to become an artist of toy bricks.

D．Because he was going to work in the museum instead.

3.What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Nathan's work.                         B．Nathan's exhibition.

C．Nathan's art.                           D．Nathan's self-portrait

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Brick Artist                         B．The Brick Exhibition

C．Toy Bricks for Adults                     D．The Artist's Childhood

 

                                 

  Computers can injure you. Most other injuries happen suddenly. For example, if you fall off a bike and break your arms, it happens very quickly. But computer injuries slowly.

　You probably know how to ride a bike safely. Now learn to use a computer safely.

Your eyes

　Too much light can injure your eyes, so never sit too close to a computer screen. Your eyes should be at least 50 centimeters from the screen. Remember to look away from it sometimes. This gives your eyes a rest.

　When you use a computer, the window should be on your left or your right. If it is behind you, the light will reflect on (反射) the screen. If the window is in front of you, the sun and the screen will both shine into your eyes.

Your hands and wrists (手腕)

　　Hand and wrist injuries can happen because the hands and wrists are moved in the same way hundreds of times. If you use a keyboard for a long time, follow these three rules: 1) Rest your wrists on something. 2) Keep your elbows (肘部） at the same height as the keyboard. 3) Stop something and exercise your hands, wrists and fingers in a different way.

Your back

　　Some people sit for many hours in front of a computer. If you sit in the wrong way, you can injure your back or your neck. So you should sit with your back straight. The top part of the screen should all be in front of your eyes. Your forearms（前臂）, wrists, hands and the upper（上部） part of your legs should all be parallel (平行) to the floor. If you are sitting for a long time, get up every 30 minutes and exercise your arms, legs and necks.

　Enjoy your computer, but use it safely.

1.A computer screen may injure your eyes if __________.

　　A. you sit 60 centimeters away  　 B. you remember to look away

　　C. your eyes are too close to it　　  D. the window is on your left or your right　

2. Hand and wrist injuries are caused when you _________.

　　A. get plenty of exercise　　       B. move in the same way again and again

　　C. rest your wrists on something　  D. keep your elbows as high as the keyboard

3.Your eyes and hands will be safe if __________.

　　A. you work near a window　　       B. you often take a rest from working

　　C. you use a keyboard for a long time　　D. the window is behind you

4.It is good for your back and neck if you sit __________.

　　A. in the right way                           B. for many hours

　　C. with the screen below your eyes       D. with your back leaning forward

5. What would be the best title for the passage?

　　A. How to protect your eyes            B. How to protect your hands and wrists

　　C. How to use a computer safely       D. How to protect your back

 

One of sweetest memories as a child is of going down to the river and sitting comfortably on the bank. There I would enjoy the peace and quiet, watch the water rush downstream and listen to songs of birds. I would also watch the bamboo trees bend under the pressure from the wind and watch them return gracefully to their original state after the wind had died down.

When I think about the bamboo tree’s ability to bend and move back, the word “resilience” comes to my mind. When it is used for a person, this word means the ability to readily recover(恢復(fù)) from shock, sadness or any other suffering. Have you ever felt like you were going to snap? Have you ever felt like you were at your breaking point? Thankfully, you have survived to talk about it.

Life is a mixture(混合) of good times and bad times, happy moments and unhappy moments. The next time you are experiencing one of those bad times or unhappy moments that take you close to your breaking point, bend, but don’t break. Try your best not to let the situation get the best of you.

An amount of hope will take you through the unpleasant suffering. With hope for a better tomorrow or a better situation, things may not be as bad as they seem. The unpleasant suffering may be easier to deal with if the end result is worth having.

If things get tough and you are at your breaking point, show resilience. Like the bamboo trees, bend, but don’t break!

1.What does the word “snap” in the second paragraph most probably mean?

A. break                                B. change

C. win                                  D. Complain

2.What can help people get through sufferings according to the writer?

A. Holding peace and quiet in mind.          B. Waiting until sufferings disappear.

C. Experiencing more bad times.             D. Hoping for a better tomorrow.

3.What would be the best title of this passage?

A. Memories of Bamboo                    B. Be Like Bamboo

C. Enjoying Bamboo                       D. Characteristics of Bamboo

 

Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe is born 10 feet high and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over its legs under its body. Then the mother giraffe rudely introduces its children to the reality of life.
In his book, A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond describes how a new-born giraffe learns its first lesson.
The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she puts herself directly over her child. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She throws her long leg and kicks her baby, so that it’s sent sprawling(四腳朝天).
When it doesn’t get up, the process is repeated again and again. The struggle to rise is important. As the baby giraffe grows tired, the mother kicks it again. Finally, it stands for the first time on its shaky legs. Then the mother giraffe kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, a baby giraffe must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with its group, where there’s safety.
Another writer named Irving Stone understood this. He spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing stories about such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin.
Stone was once asked if he had found something that runs through the lives of all these great people. He said, “I write about people who sometime in their life have a dream of something. They’re beaten over the head, knocked down and for years they get nowhere. But every time they stand up again. And at the end of their lives they’ve realized some small parts of what they set out to do .”
【小題1】What does the underlined part “a tall order” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．A happy thing.	B．A difficult task.
C．A big dream.	D．A beautiful scene.

【小題2】Which of the following statements is True according to the passage?

A．This passage is a description of giraffes’ living habits.

B．Baby giraffes can’t stand up until three months old.

C．Irving Stone spent a lifetime studying and writing stories about great people.

D．The great people can’t stand up after they’re knocked down for years.

【小題3】What would be the best title for the passage?

A．How to keep a baby giraffe.

B．Learning to Get Back Up.

C．Stories about the great people.

D．A mother giraffe and its baby giraffe.