Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less. That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less. And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach.

The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more. Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so desperately seek.

Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year.

Lindman, of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more.

If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could you concentrate on?

The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.

1．Arthur Lindman predicted twenty years ago that ______.

A. more things brought more value   B. the more people had, the less they valued them

C. people didn’t like to pursue more  D. massive boredom came from less variety

2．What does the article suggest to make our life happier?

A. To enjoy more things.            B. To buy more things.

C. To sell things we do not need.     D. To get rid of useless things.

3．The passage is probably written to ___________.

A. introduce Arthur Lindman and his book       B. tell the readers what is satisfaction

C. introduce how to simplify people’s life       D. persuade people to simplify their life

 

【答案】

 B

 D

 D

【解析】略

 

練習(xí)冊系列答案
相關(guān)習(xí)題

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, “Hey, Butterfly Man,” his face would break into a smile. The title suits him. And he loves it.

Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back — thanks to him. But years ago if you’d told him this was what he’d be doing someday, he would have laughed, “You’re crazy.” As a boy, he used to be “a little tough guy on the streets”. At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.

“I knew it had hurt my mom,” Bonner said after he got out of prison. “So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again.”

One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue.

“I saw the sign ‘Butterfly Habitat’ and asked, ‘How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?’” Bonner recalls. “Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass (放大鏡), ‘Look at the leaves.’ I could see all these caterpillars(蝴蝶的幼蟲) on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, ‘Without the plant, there are no butterflies.’”

Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly which needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he’s been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragals, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.

The butterfly’s population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around.

For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.

When he was young, Arthur Bonner _______.

A. broke the law and ended up in prison

B. was fond of shooting and hurt his mom

   C. often laughed at people on the streets

   D. often caught butterflies and took them home

Bonner came to know the Palos Verdes blue after he _______.

A. found the butterfly had died out       

B. won many prizes from his professor

C. met Dr. Mattoni, a professor of biology  

D. collected butterflies and put them into a lab

From the last sentence of the text, we learn that raising butterflies has ________.

A. made Bonner famous              B. changed Bonner’s life

C. brought Bonner wealth             D. enriched Bonner’s knowledge

What does the underlined phrase “put through” mean in the 3rd paragraph?

A. hurt                         B. recall                  C. remember                    D. experience

Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A. A Promise to Mom                B. A Man Saved by Butterflies

C. A Story of Butterflies              D. A Job Offered by Dr. Mattoni

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Mr．Glen is a millionaire．Five years ago, after returning from abroad to his motherland, he   36   up his small company．Speaking of success, Glen often tells us a story about his   37   expensive “school” fees．He always   38 a Ph．Degree, decided to return to the homeland, starting an undertaking．Before   39  , he bought a Rolex watch with the   40   made through years of work after school and the scholarships．At the airport he had to accept the routine customs check．The watch on his wrist was also demanded to be   41   down for inspection．Glen knew that carrying the specific goods out had to pay the tax．And he worried about paying   42   for his watch．So when he was checked, he told a lie that his watch was a worthless   43  ．When he was   44   of his ‘smarts’, immediately,   45   the presence of Glen, the officers hit the watch, which   46   nearly ￥100,000, into pieces at hearing Glen’s words．Glen was amazed．  47   he understood why, he was taken to the office to be   48  strictly．For many times of entry-exit   49   he knew that only those people in the “blacklist” would “enjoy” this special treatment．The officers   50   every thing carefully in the box, and warned him no matter what time of entry and exit he must accept the check and if   51   reusing and carrying fake and shoddy（偽劣）goods, he would be   52   according to law! Suddenly, his face turned red, and he had nothing in mind after boarding the plane for long.

After returning to the homeland, he often told the story to his family, and his employees, too．He said that this made a deep   53   on him, because an additional high “school” fee that he had ever paid made him realize the value of   54  , which he would   55   as the secret of his success forever.

A．set  B．came C．went  D．called

A．good      B．bad   C．extra D．few

A．owns     B．owes C．belongs     D．possesses

A．staying   B．leaving     C．living       D．coming

A．books    B．things       C．savings     D．pounds

A．put B．looked      C．taken D．lied

A．one B．it      C．them D．these

A．present   B．trade C．toy    D．fake

A．a(chǎn)fraid    B．proud       C．well  D．hard

A．in   B．on     C．before      D．a(chǎn)fter

A．paid       B．spent C．took  D．cost

A．Before   B．After C．If      D．Though

A．a(chǎn)ppreciated  B．beaten      C．spoken      D．examined

A．conditions   B．experiences      C．experiments     D．chances

A．looked out   B．looked up      C．looked over      D．looked round

A．came out       B．found out  C．sent out    D．set out

A．hit  B．blamed     C．praised     D．charged

A．expression   B．idea  C．thought     D．impression

A．honesty  B．lies    C．goods       D．things

A．remember    B．learn       C．revise       D．read

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Britain’s symbolic red phone boxes have become out of date in the age of the mobile, but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative intelligence. Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of phone boxes have been given a new life by local communities determined to preserve a typical part of British life. In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old house with a pot of flowers, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and stuck poems on the walls.

They took control of the phone box when telecoms operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that caused such dissatisfaction that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it. “I’d have done it, “ insisted Kendall Turner. “It would have been heartbreaking for the village. “ Local councilor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box’s change, said quite a few people would have joined her, adding, “ We couldn’t let it go because it’s a British symbol.”

Only three feet by three feet wide, and standing 2.51-meter tall, the phone boxes were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25th anniversary of the reign of King George V. Painted in “Post Office red” to match the post boxes, they were once a typical image of England and the backdrop(背景) to millions of tourist photographs.

Eight years ago there were about 17,000 across Britain, but today, in a country where almost everybody has a mobile phone, 58 percent are no longer profitable and ten percent are only used once a month. “On average, maintaining them costs ￡800 a year per phone box-about ￡44 million annually,” said John Lumb, general manager for BT Payphones.

Some red phone boxes in Britain have been used for ____.

a. selling flowers    b. cooking   c. reading  d. exhibiting art or poetry

A. a, b   B. c, d   C. a,b,c  D. b,c,d

Why do the villagers want to keep the red phone boxes?

A. Because millions of people visit Britain to see the red phone boxes.

B. Because the local people could earn a lot of money from the red phone boxes.

C. Because the red phone boxes have already become a symbol of Britain.

D. Because the red phone boxes may be useful for some people in emergency.

What is the color of the British post boxes according to the passage?

A. Green   B. Red     C. Black    D. Yellow

What is John Lumb’s attitude towards pulling down the red phone boxes?

A. supportive   B. Opposed   C. Neutral    D. Indifferent.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

信息匹配：（共5小題，每小題2分，共10分）

請閱讀下列應(yīng)用文及其相關(guān)信息，并按照要求匹配信息。

首先閱讀下列博客信息：

A． My name’s Marta and I’ m from Mexico City, but I moved to Los Angeles, California, five years ago, now I am living in an apartment at No．3178 SE Timmer Broadway．I am 28, single．I am a customer service representative for a large financial company．I am an outgoing person．I love to laugh and have fun! I enjoy cooking, dancing and listening to music．I don’t like watching or playing sports．You should be an outgoing, considerate lady with a good sense of humor, to share the apartment．Are you the one? Email and let’s have further talk.

B． My name’s Mark, and I’m from Hollywood, California．I’m a fitness instructor in Los Angeles．I am a friendly and easy-going person; I love playing sports-especially football and working out at the gym．I also play the guitar．My best friend David, who often has sports with me, went to Mexico last month．To avoid loneliness, I’d like very much to own a new friend who would share the fun of sports with me．I am longing.

C． My name’s Park Jun Seo, but you can call me Jun．I moved from Seoul Korea to Los Angeles two years ago．I am a graphic designer and I am looking for my younger brother, Lean Ban Seo, who might be in this city．As the story is too long, I just hope to find him and have my family reunited．He is lame at the right leg, 19 years old, 1.79 meters tall, with very big eyes and fair curly hair．With his picture of two years ago enclosed, I would be very appreciated if you have any information about that．Telephone me at 818-5789.

D． My name is Don and I am a programmer at a computer company．I have designed several pieces of software that can help students learn better, especially suitable for primary students who have some language disability to learn words and help them pronounce more correctly．If you think you need one, please fax to 857-4693．You can purchase by post.

E． My name is Mauricio, and I’m a computer programmer working in the Los Angeles area．I am kind of shy, but maybe you can help me to be more outgoing．I like cooking, playing computer games, and chatting with friends online．If you think you are the proper one to be my E-pal, let’s chat!

F． My name’s Judy and I’m from Quebec, Canada．I am a sales woman in one of the women underwear stores in Montreal．I’d like to have more visitors to my shop．And you can bargain for a reduction of 10% to 30%, if you purchase in package．Let’s be friends.

請閱讀以下網(wǎng)站回復(fù)的信息，然后匹配回復(fù)的信息和網(wǎng)站原登出的博客信息：

I am a professional sportsman and work in the same city．I am so glad that I will have a good friend who can be the opponent to improve my techniques．E-mail me at bitterflower@yahoo.com.

As a shop owner, I might drop in when I go downtown．But may I know your exact address? When is it convenient for a visit? Thank you!

God bless you! I’m a journalist and happened to read your brief story．A neighbor of mine looks exactly the same as the man in the picture you uploaded．This might be a chance in a million．Telephone me at 818-5690.

As a new comer and a freshman, I am looking for a  room as close to my university as possible．I would like to have some friends, too．I think your place might be the right choice for me．But can I know how much the rent is?

I am a salesman from Paris．My first difficulty working in this city is language．I would appreciate it if you could help me learn English through the Keyboard.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.

As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.

As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼示意). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen

All of a sudden her handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.               

That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.

What was the writer a decade ago?

A. A worker working in a university.

B. A teacher teaching in a college.

C. A clerk working in a museum.

D. A university student who had not yet taken a degree.

What does the underlined world “handicap” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A. Life difficulty.    B. Troublesome problem.

C. Failure in work.   D. Physical disability. 

How did the writer probably feel before meeting the disabled girl?

A. She felt full of hope.

B. She was filled with confidence.

C. She felt unhappy because of poverty.

D. She felt life was beautiful.

Which of the following title suits this passage best?

A. A Disabled Girl.

B. A Disabled Girl’s Smile.

C. Full of Hope.

D. Full of Confidence.

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習(xí)冊答案