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.

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

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.

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

Aria Ricardo was a beautiful, slim young woman with dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin．She used to work as a model and earn as much as $ 2 000 in one day in front of the camera．She modeled for top magazines in Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and throughout the United States．
Aria’s father, now retired because of a disability, was a police officer who really loved his work．Aria would rather follow in her father’s footsteps than pursue her modeling career．She remembered listening to her father tell stories when he came home after a day on the beat．The excitement, tensions and risks of police work appealed to her．
Aria got started in the modeling business quite by accident．She accompanied a friend to an interview at a modeling agency．Her friend wanted the job, while Aria didn’t．The people at the agency were impressed with Aria’s appearance and poise．They knew she’d be brilliant in front of the camera．So they sent her on her first modeling job—for Seventeen Magazine—right away．
Despite her success as a model, Aria never gave up her dream of being a police officer．She passed the written exam for the New York Police Department．She planned to enter the Police Academy as quickly as possible．Her family and friends thought she was out of her mind even to consider such a thing．Police work was dangerous and the pay couldn’t compare to a top model’s income．But Aria knew what she wanted, and she went for it．She had never really intended to be a model anyway．Finally she hooked her fish．
56．Aria’s success as a model resulted from ________．
A．her desire to succeed in it                                               B．her looks and shape
C．the help of her father                                             D．the competition with her friend
57．Aria went into modeling because ________．
A．she wanted to earn more money                         B．she wanted to accompany her friend
C．she was given an unexpected opportunity        D．she was very beautiful
58．Aria’s family would like her to ________．
A．remain a model                                                         B．do whatever she liked
C．find something challenging                                    D．follow her father’s footsteps
59．Aria Ricardo probably is a ________ now．
A．photographer working for a magazine               B．student of the Police Academy
C．top model of a world company                             D．woman police officer

My sister and I grew up in a little village in England. Our father was a struggling  36  , but I always knew he was  37   . He never criticized us, but used  38    to bring out our best. He’d say, “If you pour water on flowers, they flourish. If you don’t give them water, they die. ” I  39   as a child I said something   40   about somebody, and my father said, “   41   time you say something unpleasant about somebody else, it’s a reflection of you. ” He explained that if I looked for the best  42   people, I would get the best  43  . From then on I’ve always tried to  44    the principle in my life and later in running my company.

Dad’s also always been very  45  . At 15, I started a magazine. It was  46  a great deal of my time, and the headmaster of my school gave me a  47 : stay in school or leave to work on my magazine.

I decided to leave, and Dad tried to prevent me from my decision,  48   any good father would. When he realized I had made up my mind, he said, “Richard, when I was 23, my dad  49  me to go into law. And I’ve  50   regretted it. I wanted to be a biologist,   51  I didn’t pursue my  52  . You know what you want. Go fulfill it. ”

As  53   turned out, my little publication went on to become Student, a national  54   for young people in the U. K. .My wife and I have two children, and I’d like to think we are bringing them up in the same way Dad  55  me.

I stood outside New York's Madison Square Garden and just stared, almost speechless. I was a farm boy from County Kilkenny, a child who some thought would never walk, let alone go as far as I had in the world.
From the day I was born, there was a problem. The doctors at the Dublin hospital told my parents I had phocomelia, a deformity that affected both legs below the knee, which were outward and shorter than normal and each foot had just three toes.
Life was tough. I couldn't stand, much less walk. I rarely, left the farmhouse---and then only in someone's arms. Mam bundled me up whenever she took me to town, no matter the season.
“The world will see him when he can walk,” she told Dad. “And he will walk.”
Mam devoted herself to helping me. She tried everything to get me on my feet. When I was three, she and Dad took me to a clinic in Dublin.
A few weeks later we returned to Dublin with my artificial limbs (肢). Back home I practiced walking with my new limbs.
“There's nothing anyone can do but you can't,” Mam said. “You and I are going to walk through town.”
The next day Mam dressed me in my finest clothes. She wore a summer dress and fixed her hair and makeup. Dad drove us to the church. We stepped out of the car. Mam took my hand. “Hold your head up high, now, Ronan,” she said.
We walked 300 meters to the post office. It was the farthest I'd walked, and I was sweating from the effort. Then we left the post office and continued down the street, Mam's eyes shining with a mother's pride.
That night, back on our farm, I lay exhausted on my bed. It meant nothing, though, compared to what I'd done on my walk.
Then I began to pursue my dream of singing. And at every step Mam's words came back to me—Ronan, you can do anything anyone else can do—and the faith she had in God, who would help me do it.
I've sung from the grandest stages in Europe, to music played by the world's finest musicians. That night, I stood at the Madison Square Garden, with Mam's words chiming in my ears. Then I began singing. I couldn't feel the pulse of the music in my feet, but I felt it deep in my heart, the same place where Mam's promise lived.
【小题1】What was the problem with the author as a baby?

According to a report by the China News Weekly, Chinese white collars are becoming fully occupied in the office．They pursue many of their activities in the office building, eating, doing exercise, resting, playing games or even dating．

In large cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing, where economy is developing at a fast speed, office workers face an increasing work pressure day by day and many of them have begun to make office their home．

As the young generation in society, most of them are aged between 25 and 45．In the eyes of outsiders, they enjoy a comfortable life: they lead the fashion trend in the city and earn a high salary; they enjoy a flexible working schedule and a very good working environment; having a good education background, they don’t have to worry that one day they will lose their jobs．

However, only the white collars themselves know what others see as a good life is in fact a boring life．They often work for extra hours, suffer from loss of creative ability and have little time to make friends．When they go off from work late at night, sometimes they might think of asking for a leave the next day and having a holiday somewhere．However, when a new day begins, they find everything back to normal and themselves pushed by new tasks．

In fact, even if they don’t work for extra hours in the office, they have no place to go．Many of the young people are fresh from college, or have come to work in large cities from their hometowns．As newcomers, they haven’t established（建立）a social network．They have few friends to go dating．Meanwhile, many of them face a great pressure for earning money to buy a house or a car．If they cannot afford to buy these, they still have to work to pay for high apartment rents and communication fares．

The underlined sentence（in paragraph 1）probably means _____．

       A．Chinese white collars are not allowed to get out of the office．

       B．The office is crowded with Chinese white collars．

       C．Chinese white collars make the office filled with odds and ends．

       D．Chinese white collars spend most of their time in the office．

The following are all reasons why white collars want to have a rest Except that_____．

       A．they have to continue to stay at office after work

       B．they feel more and more difficult to think up a good idea

       C．they have no interest in anything

       D．they have little time to make friends

The main idea of the third paragraph is that _____．

       A．white collars are admired by other people

       B．white collars needn’t worry about losing jobs

       C．white collars can earn high salary and work freely

       D．white collars are in the lead in the way of behaving

From the passage, we can infer that _____．

       A．white collars are all workaholics who regard the office as home

       B．white collars suffer from material and mental pressure in life

       C．white collars are the models of young people in society

       D．people have a good understanding of what white collars’ life is