The way people hold to the belief that a fun filled， painfree life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact， the opposite is true： more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result， many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage， raising children， professional achievement， religious commitment (承担的业务) ， self improvement.
Ask a bachelor (单身汉) why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun， adventure， excitement. Marriage has such moments， but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night's sleep or a three day vacation. I don't know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But couple who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. It liberates time： now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money： buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy： we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
1. According to the author， a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because .
A. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
C. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage
D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
2. Raising children， in the author's opinion， is .
A. a moral duty
B. a thankless job
C. a rewarding task
D. a source of inevitable pain
3. From the last paragraph， we learn that envy sometimes stems from .
A. hatred
B. misunderstanding
C. prejudice
D. ignorance
4. To understand what true happiness is one must .
A. have as much run as possible during one's lifetime
B. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
C. put up with pain under all circumstances
D. be able to distinguish happiness from fun
5. What is the author trying to tell us?
A. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.
B. One must know how to attain happiness.
C. It is important to make commitments.
D. It is pain that leads to happiness.
参考答案：A C B D A
One silly question I simply cannot tolerate is "How do you feel?" Usually the question is asked of a man in action—a man walking along the street， or busily working at his desk. So what do you expect him to say? He'll probably say， "Fine， I 'm all right." But you have put a bug a his ear-maybe now he is not sure. If you are his good friend， you may have seen something on his face， or in his walk， that he overlooked that morning. It makes him worrying a little. He looks in a mirror to see if everything is all right， while you go merrily on your way asking someone else， "How do you feel?"
Every question has its time and place. It's perfectly acceptable， for instance， to ask "How do you feel?" if you are visiting a close friend in the hospital. But if the fellow is walking on both legs， hurrying to take a train or sitting at his desk working， it's no time to ask him that silly question.
When George Bernard Shaw， the famous British writer of plays was in his eighties， someone asked him， "How do you feel?" Shaw put him in his place. "When you reach my age，" he said， "either you feel all right or you are dead."
1. According to the writer， greetings， such as "How do you feel?" .
A. show one's consideration for others
B. are a good way to make friends
C. are proper to ask a man in action
D. generally make one feel uneasy
2. The question "How do you feel?" seems to be correct and suitable when asked of .
A. a friend who is ill
B. a person who has lost a close friend
C. a stranger who looks somewhat worried
D. a man who is working at his desk
3. George Bernard Shaw's reply in this passage shows his .
A. silliness
B. cleverness
C. carelessness
D. politeness
4. "You have put a bug in his ear" means that you have .
A. made him laugh
B. shown concern for him
C. made fun of him
D. given him some kind of warning
5. This passage can be entitled .
A. A Silly Question
B. Don't Trouble a Busy Man
C. What Are Good Greetings
D. George Bernard Shaw's Reply
参考答案：D A B D A
It is said that in England death is pressing， in Canada inevitable and in California optional Small wonder. Americans' life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips can be replaced， clinical depression controlled， cataracts removed in a 30-minuts surgical procedure. Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system can cure death—and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.
Death is normal; we are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish， even under ideal conditions. We all understand that at some level， yet as medical consumers we treat death as a problem to be solved. Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care， we demand everything that can possibly be done for us， even if it's useless. The most obvious example is late-stage cancer care. Physicians—frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing loss of hope in the patient—too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is scientifically justified.
In 1950， the U.S. spent 7 billion on health care. In 2002， the cost will be one hundred billion. Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable. Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. Some scholars conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical care that sustains life beyond a certain age—say 83 or so. Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm has been quoted as saying that the old and infirm "have a duty to die and get out of the way"， so that younger， healthier people can realize their potential.
I would not go that far. Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and beyond， and remain dazzlingly productive. At 78， Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to be 53. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is in her 70s， and former surgeon general C.Everett Koop chairs an Internet start-up in his 80s. These leaders are living proof that prevention works and that we can manage the health problems that come naturally with age. As a mere 68-year-old， I wish to age as productively as they have.
Yet there are limits to what a society can spend in this pursuit. Ask a physician， I know the most costly and dramatic measures may be ineffective and painful. I also know that people in Japan and Sweden， countries that spend far less on medical care， have achieved longer， healthier lives than we have. As a nation， we may be overfunding the quest for unlikely cures while underfunding research on humbler therapies that could improve people's lives.
1. What is implied in the first sentence?
A. Americans are better prepared for death than other people.
B. Americans enjoy a higher life quality than ever before.
C. Americans are over-confident of their medical technology.
D. Americans take a vain pride in their long life expectancy.
2. The author uses the example of caner patients to show that .
A. medical resources are often wasted
B. doctors are helpless against fatal diseases
C. some treatments are too aggressive
D. medical costs are becoming unaffordable
3. The author's attitude toward Richard Lamm's remark is one of .
A. strong disapproval
B. reserved consent
C. slight contempt
D. enthusiastic support
4. In contrast to the U.S.， Japan and Sweden are funding their medical care .
A. more flexibly
B. more extravagantly
C. more cautiously
D. more reasonably
5. The text intends to express the idea that .
A. medicine will further prolong people's lives
B. life beyond a certain limit is not worth living
C. death should be accepted as a fact of life
D. excessive demands increase the cost of health care
参考答案：CABDC
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