“Are you happy？”I asked my brother，Ian，one day.

“Yes. No. It depends on what you mean，”he said.

“Then tell me，”I said，“when was the last time you think you were happy？”

“April，1967，”he said.

It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian’s answer reminded me that when we think about happiness，we usually think of something extraordinary，a pinnacle（顶点）of delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer as we get older.

For a child，happiness is simple，such as playing with friends. In the teenage years，the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement，love and popularity. For adults，happiness is complicated—love，marriage，responsibility and the risk of loss.

My dictionary defines happiness as“luck”or“fortune”，but I think a better definition of happiness is“the capacity（能力）for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have，the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved，the company of friends，the freedom to live where we please，and even good health.

I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I had my breakfast and enjoyed myself in the house. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing，which I love. When the kids came home，I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what makes them happy，some mentioned seemingly unimportant moments.“I hate shopping，”one friend said.“But there’s a shop assistant who always chats and really cheers me up.”Another friend loves the telephone.“Every time it rings，I know someone is thinking about me.”We all experience moments like these. Too few of us think of them as happiness.

Happiness isn’t about what happens to us；it’s about how we think of what happens to us. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have， but enjoying what we do have.

【小题1】It is widely thought that as one grows older，getting happiness seems to be________.

A．out of the question

B．quite easy

C．a romantic dream

D．more and more difficult

【小题2】The writer feels it is a pity that we sometimes________.

A．don’t have our own houses to live in

B．ignore the happiness that we have

C．don’t know how to get happiness

D．don’t notice others can cheer us up

【小题3】The writer thinks the key to happiness lies in________.

A．getting something extraordinary

B．being able to enjoy what we have

C．living a simple life

D．pursuing things we don’t have

【小题4】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．My Happiness	B．Are You Happy?
C．What Is Happiness?	D．Do What You Like

假如你是李华，下周日是你18岁生日。请你根据以下要点给你的外籍英语老师Mary写信，邀请她参加你的生日聚会。
1.感谢Mary在学习上对你的帮助；2.介绍生日聚会的基本情况。
注意：1.词数100左右；2.开头和结尾已经给出，但不计入总词数。
Dear Miss Mary，

How are you？I am Li Hua.__________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Best wishes!

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua

While I will explain a bit about the science of stress and relaxation a little later simple way to think about it is that our body 's stress response works like a car alarm. Keep us safe by warning us of the presence of danger in our immediate environment.
But instead of warning us with a loud and annoying sound，our body alarm system lets us know that something is wrong by creating changes in our neurochemistry (神经化学）.If you've ever expe­rienced pain in your stomach，periods of extreme anger, inability to focus or even insomnia (失眠），chances are your body was paying the price in those moments for the brain chemistry of stress.
So if it's so uncomfortable，why not just get rid of stress altogether?
This is not only impractical，it would be dangerous. Let's go back to the metaphor (比喻说法）of the car alarm. If the alarm is turned off altogether，the car is exposed to continual danger without there being any way of your knowing about it until it is too late. It would be like walking through the jungle without any fear signal in the presence of a poisonous snake or other dangerous animals — while it might feel “nice” to be so relaxed，your body actually needs the stress response not only to remind you of danger but also to offer extra adrenaline (肾上腺素) for your heart and extra blood  and oxygen for your arms and legs.
However，if the car alarm goes off at any time，someone just looks at the car with a bit of an attitude，and it becomes equally useless. Not only do we stop paying attention to it，but it begins to drive us and everyone around us becomes a little bit crazy. In the case of our bodies，walking around in a constant state of alarm also has some pretty alarming health consequences，which we will explore in greater depth in the next chapter.
【小题1】Our body's stress response is compared to a car alarm in that   .

A．they work all the time	B．they both give a signal
C．they work in the same way	D．they both produce a sound

【小题2】When our body alarm system works，    .

A．we feel calm

B．we feel excited

C．some changes happen in our brain

D．some changes happen in our heart

【小题3】What would happen if stress were got rid of completely?

A．We'11 be free of worries.

B．We'11 achieve a sense of safety.

C．We'11 reach a perfect state of mind.

D．We'11 fail to realize the possible danger.

【小题4】What's the purpose of giving the example of walking through the Jungle in Paragraph 4?

A．To show the harm of stress.

B．To show the effect of stress.

C．To explain the function of stress response.

D．To explain the necessity of stress response.

So many of us hold on to little complaints that may have come from an argument ，a misunderstanding，the way we were raised，or some other painful events. Stubbornly，we wait for someone else to reach out to us — believing this is the only way we can forgive orrekindlea friendship or family relationship.
A friend of mine，recently told me that she hadn't spoken to her son in almost three years. She said that she and her son had had a disagreement about his wife and that she wouldn't speak to him again unless he called first. When I suggested that she be the one to reach out，she said，“ I can't do that. He’s the one who should apologize. ” After a little gentle encouragement，however，she did de­cide to be the first one to reach out. To her amazement，her son was grateful for her willingness to call and offered an apology of his own. As is usually the case，when someone takes the chance and rea­ches out，everyone wins.
Whenever we hold on to our anger, we turn“ small stuff”问题）”into  really“ big stuff” in our minds. We start to believe that our positions are more important than our happiness. They are not. If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy. The way to be happy is to let go，and reach out. Let other people be right. This doesn't mean that you're wrong. Everything will be fine. You'll experience the peace of letting go，as well as the joy of letting others be right.
You'11 also notice that，as you reach out and let others be “right”，they will become less defen­sive and more loving toward you. They might even reach back. But，if for some reason they don't， that's okay too. You '11 have the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your part to create a more loving world，and certainly you'11 be more peaceful yourself.
【小题1】The underlined word “ rekindle” in Paragraph 1 probably means “    ”.

A．recover	B．develop
C．accept	D．replace

【小题2】In the author's opinion, we hold on to our anger often because we think  .

A．we can turn small issues into big ones

B．our positions are higher than others

C．our own opinions matter most

D．others will be less defensive

【小题3】The best thing to do after a quarrel is to .

A．let go of our own rights

B．realize that you are wrong.

C．expect others to give in

D．apologize to others first.

【小题4】What is the main idea of the passage?

A．People should keep peaceful when facing small stuff.

B．Reaching out and apologizing wins one peace and happiness.

C．We should tell apart small and big stuff in our daily life.

D．It's necessary to enjoy our friendship and family relationship.

   I have been teaching the tenth-grade English for four years. Needless to say，I love my subject and promise to one day pass my love of literature on to my future students. Well，I must admit，I have made more than a difference. I have changed the way students perceive（感知）literature and have even inspired some to become English teachers.

One student in particular is named John. I met him last year when he was a student in my English class. He sat in the back often，saying very little. However，I sensed that he was taking in all that I taught. John was never absent nor was he late. He seemed very mature for his age.

As the year progressed，we read lots of poetry and various stories about different cultures and real-life experiences. I have always wanted literature to speak to my students so that they could find related connections which would finally give them that motivation（动力）to read，write and interpret. While reading and writing poetry，John wrote some beautiful poetry that spoke of his experiences in America.

On the last day of school，students were asked to write a brief autobiographical essay and to dedicate（献给）it to someone he or she thought was significant in his or her life. John dedicated his essay to me and used clip art that decorated the dedication with roses.

He stated in the essay that "Some people you meet in life are flowers，but then there are those who are roses. Ms. Hopkins，I just want you to know that you are a rose in my life and I have enjoyed every minute of being in your class. You have shown me that I have a purpose in life and that I am a poet. I will never forget you." Tears streamed down my eyes. I had had a particularly hard personal life that year but somehow that letter made it worth the struggle.

Making a significant contribution to someone's life is something money could never buy. Teaching allows teachers to make a positive difference in the life of students.

【小题1】What's the author's purpose to take John for example?

A．To show that her students were all excellent readers.

B．To develop her own idea about English literature.

C．To prove she kept what she promised.

D．To persuade her readers to read English poetry.

【小题2】How did the author keep her students motivated?

A．By making connections with them.

B．By reading them literature.

C．By writing poetry and stories.

D．By sharing real-life experiences.

【小题3】Why did John choose to dedicate his autobiographical essay to Ms. Hopkins?

A．He thought she was significant in his life.

B．He wanted to say to her that she was a rose.

C．He expected her to know he had enjoyed her class.

D．He remembered she had promised to let him be a poet.

【小题4】Which of the following can be the best title for this text？

A．The difference a good teacher can make

B．The friendship Ms. Hopkins and John developed

C．An experience in an English class

D．The significant contribution everyone can make