Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older.
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in two thousand eight. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
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 twenty-two and twenty-five.
The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
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.
小題1: What is the report about?

A．The relationship between happiness and age.

B．The influence between happiness and unemployment.

C．The tendency between family and health.

D．The expectation between age and children.

小題2:Suppose John is 90 years old and Mike is 24, which of the following is True about them according to the research?

A．John is happier and more energetic than Mike.

B．Mike is happier but weaker than John.

C．John is more sad and worried than Mike.

D．Mike is more worried and depressed than John.

小題3: One of the possible reasons why the older one gets, the happier one becomes is that _______.

A．they have had enough bad experiences

B．they become more grateful about the things they own

C．they have found it easy to forget their pains and pressures

D．they have lost their ability to control themselves

小題4: Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．Having young children affects the levels of happiness of the old.

B．Emotional patterns can change the physical structures of human’s brains.

C．It’s reported that women at all ages are happier than men.

D．Why happiness increases as people get older is still an unsolved mystery.

With the rapid progress of technology, the English language is changing fast. All the people have to face a choice: either ignore the development of the language and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive, or keep pace with the Internet age, welcoming the new English which someone has once called Weblish. “you can’t avoid it for the simple reason that wherever a new language comes along, it surely impacts (影響) the language as a whole,” says Dr David Crystal, a famous language professor at the University of Wales.
However, there is great trouble with keeping up with the new English because there are so many new words and the old ones no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past if someone said they didn’t have “Windows”, you would have to suppose they lived in a cave without windows. But now, it is probably because they use a Mac, which is a computer. Spam, which once meant a not-so-good-kind of canned meat, now stands for unwanted “junk (垃圾)” email.
Spelling is changing too. Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs ( for example, “Please bookmark this site”), and verbs become nouns (“Send me the download”).Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives(for example, dial-up, logon, print-out, pull-down, upload), while others are created from a simple pairing of nouns: cyberspace, ethernet, Internet, hyperlink, metatag and netspeak.
小題1: We can infer from the first paragraph that _____ .

A．English has completely become Weblish

B．some people wish Shakespeare were still alive

C．people may have different attitudes towards Weblish

D．people who know English have to learn a new language

小題2: What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

A．Now English has many new words.

B．English words have changed a lot.

C．Old English words are no longer used at all.

D．People have difficulty in understanding some new words related to computers and the Internet.

小題3: The best title for this passage would be “_____”.

A．Technology and English

B．Keep Up with the Latest Weblish

C．Don’t Forget English

D．The Advantage and Disadvantages of Weblish

There is no doubt that watching television and movies can influence the way that people behave. Moreover, it seems that people are spending more and more time watching some sort of visual entertainment, whether it is television, a video tape or a DVD. Therefore, the effects of the visual media cannot be ignored.
One obvious effect of these media is that watching them induces(誘導(dǎo))people to buy certain products. Television advertising is widespread and, nowadays, even movie theaters permit advertisements. Another way TV and the movies affect people is that they give people either a broader view of the world or a distorted(扭曲的)one, depending on what type of program they watch. Those who watch news and educational programs can learn many new things while those who watch primarily entertainment shows may come to believe that most people in the world have great wealth and good looks. It may make them become dissatisfied with their own lives. Finally perhaps the most susceptible(易受影響的)viewers are children, who may be unable to tell fact from fiction and may try to copy acts that they see on TV or in the movies.
With the ever-increasing popularity of video entertainment, society must pay attention to these effects. Television and movies, while entertaining and informative, cannot take the place of real experiences.
小題1:From the passage, we know that watching television and movies can             .

A．make people live better	B．make people feel pleased
C．make people change their way of life	D．make people live worse

小題2:The writer holds the view that            .

A．people may take no notice of the effects of the visual media

B．people must pay attention to the effects of the visual media

C．the effects of the visual media make the world changed greatly

D．the visual media only affect young people

小題3:Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Those who watch news and educational programs can earn a lot of money and become very pretty.

B．The reason why most people possess great wealth and good looks is that they often watch television advertising.

C．People buy products only when they are induced by television advertising.

D．People who watch primarily entertainment shows may come to believe that most people in the world are rich and beautiful.

小題4:What would be the best title for this text?

A．The Influence of Television and Movies

B．The Reason Why People Watch Television and Movies

C．Television and Movies Induce People

D．The Importance of Television and Movies

"Regardless of social class, race and age, men say they hate to shop." says Zukin, City University of New York sociology professor. "Yet when you ask them deeper questions, it turns out that they like to shop. Men generally like to shop for books, music and hardware. But if you ask them about the shopping they do for books or music, they'll say, "Well, that's not shopping. That's research. "
In other words, what men and women call "buying things" and how they approach that task are different.
Women will wander through several 1,000-aquare-meter stores in search of the perfect party dress. Men will wander through 100 Internet sites in search of the perfect digital camcorder. Women see shopping as a social event. Men see it as a special task or a game to be won.
"Men are frequently shopping to win," says Ann, a marketing professor at Loyola University of Chicago. "They want to get the best deal. They want to get the best one, the latest one and if they do that it makes them happy. "When women shop, "They're doing it in a way that they want everybody to be very happy." says Ann. "They're kind of shopping for love."
"Teenage girls learn to shop from their moms and older sisters, but they also learn to shop by examining articles in magazines like Seventeen, "City University Zukin says." And although men's magazines such as GQ and Esquire have long had shopping articles, it's TV that has the eye of young male shoppers, "say Ann and Zukin.
"Television shows are used by young men in the same way Seventeen magazine or Lucky is used by girls," says Zukin, "to help make clothing and toiletry choices."
"Of course, there are men who love to shop and are proud of it." Loyola's Ann says. And that is important no matter whether you buy a car or a frying pan. All men love to buy but don't want to get cheated. Ann adds, "There actually are men who are interested, for example, in cooking or shopping or chinaware or things around the home-----they become kind of girl magnets. Women like it."
小題1:From the first paragraph we can find that _____.

A．men are all dishonest

B．men are all book-lovers

C．men hate to shop actually

D．men like to shop in fact

小題2:Compared to women, men usually treat shopping _____.

A．honestly

B．seriously

C．frequently

D．foolishly

小題3:As is shown in this passage, teenage girls go shopping _____.

A．only with their moms

B．only with their sisters

C．often following magazines

D．often following TV shows

小題4:The underlined word "magnets" in the last paragraph means _____.

A．magazines that attract young women

B．persons that have a powerful attraction

C．tools that can help housewives much

D．vegetables that make women beautiful

If you want to know how crazy people can be about their pets, you might remember that Helmsley left $12 million to her little Maltese dog when she died last year.
The dog's name is Trouble. And apparendy Trouble is still alive. Of course, I would hang on,too, if someone left me $12 million. Look! Top-shelf dog food, soft pillows everywhere, drivers walking me in nice leafy parks. I would live to be 110 in dog years.
The dog's story is still fresh in my mind the other night when I leave a steak house after a superb meal. Then I notice a woman carrying a small bag out of the door behind me.
Once outside, she walks over to where a man is holding a tiny dog hke it's a baby. The dog looks like a Maltese, too, barking and annoying, with a cute haircut,
And now I am treated to an absolute astonishing sight. Because now the woman reaches into the bag and begins pulling out little pieces of meat, which she puts on a plastic spoon and feeds to the dog.
This is no cheap steak house. It's actually, way out of my league --I'm there only because it's a special occasion. I can tell you this: if I walked out of the place with any leftover steak, it sure wouldn't go to a dog. Not at those prices.
So now the woman is Spoon-feeding the dog and the man is just standing there, holding this dog and looking as if this is the most normal thing in the world. And the dog is calmly chewing these pieces of steak as if he's a little king. And this dog is in no hurry. He's having a great time.
A few minutes go by, and now the dog finishes all of his steak. At this point, I hear the woman say to the man "Think he's still hungry?" And she glances behind her at the restaurant, as if she might go back in there to get more steak for the dog.
Watching all this, I'm afraid I'm going to shout, "Are you out of your mind? Feeding all that pricey steak to that little dog? Did you see what our American life is like today? We're all going to be eating dog food if this keeps up!"        
小題1:Why would the author live to be 110 in dog years?

A．Because he is always in poor health and falls ill.

B．Because a Maltese dog lives longer than a human being.

C．Because his grandparents left him a large sum of money.

D．Because he thinks the dog is treated extremely well.

小題2:What is the story mainly about?

A．An American family's happy life.

B．A Maltese dog getting $12 million from its owner.

C．A New Yorker spending $ 8 billion for a few banks.

D．A pet dog being fed with expensive food.

小題3:The underlined sentence "It's actually way out of my league. " (in Para. 6) means __

A．the restaurant is too expensive for the author

B．the author hates the dog being taken there

C．the superb restaurant is about to be out of service

D．the dog doesn't belong to the author's group

小題4:Seeing the dog.is being treated to expensive steak, the author becomes extremely ____

A．indifferent

B．a(chǎn)nnoyed

C．concerned

D．envious

On the River Thames there are a number of boat races every year and these have become very popular with the public. Perhaps the best–known of these races is the University Boat Race. This takes place just before Easter every year and is a competition between teams from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. They row from Putney to Mertlake, a distance of about four and a quarter miles. This race has been taking place almost every year since 1829.
小題1: The best – known of these races is __________.

A．the Boat Race of the University of Oxford.

B．the Boat Race of the University of Cambridge

C．the Boat Race of the Olympic Games

D．the University Boat Race

小題2: Generally, the Boat Race takes place _________.

A．once a year	B．twice a year
C．every three years	D．every other year

小題3: The words “Putney” and “Mertlake” are _________.

A．names of places	B．names of teams
C．names of boat races	D．names of universities

Over three million people will do their Christmas shopping entirely online this year without once visiting an actual shop, a poll (民意調(diào)查) has found. Overcrowding and long queues in shops are forcing people away from the high street as the hassle (煩擾) of Christmas shopping becomes too much.
The number of people turning their backs on the high street is almost one million higher than it was last year, according to the poll by YouGov. Last Christmas 2.4 million shoppers did not do any of their shopping in actual shops. The figure this year is predicted to be around 3.4 million, equal to around 7 percent of the adult population.
Over a third of people said that the main turn-off about shopping on the high street is 0ver-crow-ding. Meanwhile almost a quarter said that long queues at the cheek-out are the worst thing about it.
Of the 2.065 people pored, even those who are stir taking to the shops plan to spend less time in them this Christmas. Around 31 percent of shoppers who plan to spend at least some time on the high street will spend less than half of their shopping time in actual shops, using the rest of the time to shop remotely via the internet. This compares to 28 percent of people last year. Meanwhile the proportion of people spending over half of their shopping time in high street shops has dropped from 41 percent last year to 39 percent this year. Just 2 percent of people said that they are looking forward to dealing wi.th store staff this festival season.
Guy Boxall, senior product marketing manager at Casio Business Solutions Division, which commissioned the research from YouGov, said that despite the fall in people visiting the high street,humans are "social creatures" who actually like spending time together.
"Although the high street is facing a big challenge Christmas, retailers (零售商) should see this research as a challenge to improve the in-store shopping experience, rather than the nail in the coffin. We are social creatures, and the desire to spend time with each other, particularly at Christmas, is never going to go away," said Mr. Boxall.
小題1:According to the poll, in this year's Christmas       

A．a(chǎn)bout 7 % of the population will do both online and actual shopping

B．a(chǎn)bout 31% of shoppers will do half of their shopping in actual shops

C．a(chǎn)bout 39% of shoppers will do more than half of their shopping in actual shops

D．over three million shoppers will quit actual shopping just because of the long queues

小題2:What's the meaning of "turn-off" in Para.5?

A．Something that makes people lose heart

B．Something that makes people lose face

C．Something that makes people lose interest

D．Something that makes people lose courage

小題3:It can be inferred from Mr. Boxall's words that                                                                                                   

A．retailers should reduce their in-store goods.

B．retailers wiR be pessimistic about the result of this research.

C．retailers should focus on the advantage of in-store shopping.

D．retailers will make more profits this Christmas than last Christmas

小題4:Wheat's the writer's attitude towards Christmas online shopping?

A．Concerned.

B．Doubtful.

C．Approving.

D．Objective.

Women love shoes! They will sometimes go to look for the perfect pair of shoes to wear only once with the perfect outfit or the fashion of the day. Once worn, these fashionable designer shoes may spend weeks, months, or years in the closet without being worn again until another special occasion comes up. With that said, are expensive designer shoes really worth their cost?
Historically, shoes were invented to free feet from sharp rocks, hot sands, and blisters. Shoes were made to be simple and functional, with tough leather soles and straps. As society became more sophisticated (復(fù)雜的), the role of shoes changed; shoes were made to add status to the wearer.
Shoe designers began to work on the production of fashion shoes for the wealthy; shoes meant more for show than for practical use or simplicity. Good shoemakers became well known and printed symbols on their shoes, so people could recognize the maker of that particular design. Designer shoes were thus born.
Many women develop serious problems with their feet after wearing these designer shoes during the workday and the medical costs for dealing with these problems can get very high. Some popular makers of designer shoes have been working towards combining comfort and practical use into their shoes, but it has been noted that women still go for style, beauty and uniqueness above everything else.
So to answer the question as to whether or not designer shoes are worth the cost, the answer is certainly yes, but be smart and invest in a pair of comfortable, not so stylish shoes for the days when you stay outdoors for hours! They can also be very expensive, but I can surely say that they are worth the cost.
小題1:When shoes were first made, their main use was to _________.

A．increase the wearer’s image

B．protect the wearer from discomfort

C．make the wearer more noticeable

D．show the simplicity of life

小題2:From the passage, we can learn that __________.

A．women like to wear designer shoes only during the workday

B．designer shoes are more practical and beautiful than common shoes

C．shoemakers won fame for their shoes’ prices

D．shoemakers printed symbols on their shoes for being recognized

小題3:Designer shoes will remain on the market because they ________. 

A．make a lot of money for shoemakers

B．meet women’s demand for being special

C．will become increasingly comfortable

D．offer the wearer a chance to show off their wealth

小題4:In this passage, the author wants to            .

A．explain why expensive designer shoes are worth the money

B．talk about the necessity of owning comfortable shoes

C．warn women of the danger of wearing designer shoes

D．talk about the history and development of shoes

Young people and older people do not always agree. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one special program in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.
　　Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works several hours each day. They do so not just to keep busy but to find meaning and fun in work. Some teenagers work in the forests or on the farms near the village. Some learn to make things like tables and chairs and to build houses. The adults teach them these skills.
　　There are several free hours each day. Weekends are free, too. During the free hours some of the teenagers learn photo-taking or drawing. Others sit around and talk or sing. Each teenager chooses his own way to pass his free time.
　　When people live together, they should have rules. In this program the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, “Why did it happen? What should we do about it?”
　　One of the teenagers has said something about it, “You have to stop thinking only about yourself. You learn how to think about the group.”
小題1:In one special program in New York State, young and older people_______.

A．don’t work well together

B．a(chǎn)re friendly to each other

C．teach each other new ways of building houses

D．spend eight weeks together, working as farmers

小題2:All the members work some time every day mainly to________.

A．lead a busy life

B．learn new skills of farming

C．get used to the life on the farms

D．find useful things and pleasure in work

小題3:Living together, ________.

A．the teenagers don’t have to obey the rules

B．the members have to obey the rules the adults make

C．the members have no free time but on weekends

D．the members should not break the rules they make together

小題4:The best title for the passage is________.

A．The Rules of Living Together

B．Life in New York State

C．Teenagers and Adults Together

D．Free Hours in the Special Work Group

Is it wrong to use someone else’s wireless (Wi-Fi) connection? Just recently, a man was arrested for doing just that. At that time, he was sitting in the street with a laptop(便攜式電腦) and using an unsecured(無安全保護(hù)措施) wireless connection to surf the Net. What do you think about this topic? Listen to the following different views on it.
For a start, if someone is using your Internet service or downloading, this will affect your speed of access or download limit. Also, it’s bad for Internet service providers. They will suffer in the long run because fewer people will pay for an Internet service if they know they can get it for free. And finally, just imagine this: what if the person who is stealing your Internet connection is involved in an illegal activity? I think the police are totally right to arrest these criminals.
— by Sandra Wilkins
Basically, if the person who paid for the service still has everything they paid for, what’s the problem? It’s just like using the light from streetlamps to read your book, or watching someone else’s firework display. It’s not stealing.
Also, if you leave your wireless connection unsecured, then it is your own fault(過錯(cuò)) if someone else uses it. Just as you wouldn’t leave your front door unlocked, or your car door open, neither should you leave your wireless connection open. By leaving your wireless connection open, you are inviting people to use it. Securing your wireless connection is as easy as clicking a few settings on your router(路由器). And finally, haven’t the police got more important crimes to solve? They’re always saying how they haven’t got the manpower to solve real issues. But this is just ridiculous(荒謬的).
— by James Hoarley
小題1: Why was the man mentioned in the first paragraph arrested?

A．For stealing someone’s laptop.

B．For surfing the Net in the street.

C．For destroying others’ wireless connection.

D．For using an Internet service without permission.

小題2: What does Sandra Wilkins think of people using others’ Internet service?

A．He thinks it is unacceptable.

B．He thinks it is necessary sometimes.

C．He thinks it requires good computer skills.

D．He thinks it is good for Internet service providers.

小題3: In James Hoarley’s opinion, ______.

A．Internet service should be improved.

B．it is hard to secure one’s wireless connection.

C．using others’ Internet service is not stealing at all.

D．people should leave their wireless connection open.

小題4: What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Wireless connection	B．Wireless worries
C．Internet service	D．Internet users