题目
题型：江苏省期中题难度：来源：
The right to pursue happiness is issued to us all with our birth, but no one seems quite sure what it is.
A holy man in India may think that happiness is in himself. It is in needing nothing from outside himself.
If wanting nothing, he lacks nothing. We westerners, however, are taught that the more we have from
outside ourselves, the happier we will be, and then we are made to want. We are even told it is our duty
to want. Advertising, one of our major industries, exists not to satisfy these desires but to create them---
and to create them faster than any man"s money in his pocket can satisfy them. Here, obviously someone is trying to buy the dream of happiness and spending millions upon millions every year in the attempt. Clearly the happiness-market is not running out of customers.
I doubt the holy man"s idea of happiness, and I doubt the dreams of the happiness-market, too.
Whatever happiness may be, I believe, it is neither in having nothing nor in having more, but in changing
--- in changing the world and mankind into pure states.
To change is to make efforts to deal with difficulties. As Yeats, a great Irish poet once put it, happiness we get for a lifetime depends on how high we choose our difficulties.
It is easy to understand. We even demand difficulty for the fun in our games. We demand it because
without difficulty there can be no game. And a game is a way of making something hard for the fun of it.
The rules of the game are man-made difficulties. When the player ruins the fun, he always does so by
refusing to play by the roles. It is easier to win at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to cast away all the rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules.
The same is true to happiness. The buyers and sellers at the happiness-market seem to have lost their
sense of the pleasure of difficulty. Heaven knows what they are playing, but it seems a dull game. And the Indian holy man seems dull to us, I suppose, because he seems to be refusing to play anything at all.
The western weakness may be in the dreams that happiness can be bought while eastern weakness
may be in the idea that there is such a thing as perfect happiness in man himself. Both of them forget a
basic fact: no difficulty, no happiness.
1. Who shares the same idea of happiness with the author?
A. The Indian holy man
B. The great Irish poet Yeats
C. Advertisers
D. The buyers and sellers at the happiness-market
2. What does "happiness-market" mean in the second paragraph?
A. It means a place in which people can buy things happily
B. It means a market which lacks happy customers
C. It means a pure state for the world and mankind
D. It means a market where people try to buy happiness with money.
3. According to the passage, which of the following is Right?
A. The Indian holy man is much happier than westerner.
B. The westerners understand happiness better than the Indian holy man.
C. There is no fun without playing by the rules
D. Both the eastern weakness and western weakness are the same.
答案
核心考点
试题【阅读理解 The right to pursue happiness is issued to us all with our birth, but n】；主要考察你对题材分类等知识点的理解。[详细]
举一反三
注意：每空格一个单词。
Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society. We should
return to the old traditions of family and community, and then we will have a better life. To what extent do
you agree or disagree with the above opinion?
In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize(区分优先次序) caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more
self-absorbed and self-concerned.
Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greedy and selfishness go
perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating any selfish conduct. It is just that
people are pressured to act in a certain way due to outside influences.
In spite of common practice, it is hard to conclude that modern society is built on greed and selfishness,
both of which are not newly invented vocabulary. In ancient times people also did greedy and selfish things
though such behaviors were more condemned(谴责) then. But we cannot ignore the fact that people in the
past lived a relatively more isolated life and faced less pressure compared with their modern twins.
Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer either. Some
people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I
personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the
development of a mutually beneficial relationship.
In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong
outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and
generous and to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others.
Title: Are Modern People Becoming More Selfish?
| Main comparisons | Contexts | ||||||
| (1)________ | In the past people put caring, sharing and generosity in the (2)_________ place. | ||||||
| Nowadays, people seem to be more (3)_________ about themselves. | |||||||
| (4)________ | People in the past appeared to be modest and self-effacing(谦让). | ||||||
| People may strive to achieve their own (5)_________, even at the price of their coworkers. | |||||||
| The author"s understanding | |||||||
| (6)_________ for the changes in author"s eyes | Fierce (7)_________ and great (8)_________ on modern people may be responsible for the changes. | ||||||
| The author"s (9)_________ towards topic | A relationship which can (10)_________ both sides should be established. | ||||||
| 完形填空 You may not realize it, but you are doing much more than just studying when you are at school. School is also the place __1__you socialize and learn to get along with people. But this is __2__easy. What can you do __3__you just don"t like one of your classmates? If you discover that you have problems __4__your classmates or friends, the most important thing to learn is tolerance(宽容). Tolerance is the __5__to recognize and respect the __6__in others. We cannot change the way that other people act, __7__it is important to learn to live happily with them. Practicing tolerance will allow everyone to form better __8__with each other. Getting to know someone __9__help you understand why they do things __10__from you. It is important to remember that just because something is different does not mean that it is bad. Tolerance __11__us to keep an even temper and open mind. One thing to __12__is the old saying, "Treat others how you want __13__". You would like to be treated kindly by your classmates, so it is __14__to treat them with equal kindness. If you tolerate__15__it does not mean that you have to like it. No one is asking you to __16__who you are or what you believe in. Tolerance just means that you will be __17__of the differences in others and not try to make them change. It is important to ___18__tolerance because it will make everyone"s lives easier. Learn to __19__people for their different abilities and interests. The world is a very __20__place, and practicing tolerance in your own school and city can help make a difference. | |||||||
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