Passage 3

The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled,pain-free 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 sources of true happiness.They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage,raising children,professional achievement,religious commitment,and self improvement.

Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage.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 and 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 couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child growing up or playing with a child.

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.

11.According to the author,a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because ______.

A.he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities

B.he finds more fun in dating than in marriage

C.he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single

D.he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement

12.Raising children,in the author’s opinion,is ______.

A.a moral responsibility

B.a source of inevitable and endless pain

C.a rewarding task

D.a compulsory and thankless job for couples

13.To understand what true happiness is,one must ______.

A.have as much fun as possible during his or her youth

B.be able to distinguish happiness from fun

C.put up with pain under all circumstances

D.make every effort to avoid pain

14.From the last paragraph,we can learn that envy sometimes stems from ______.

A.ignorance

B.misunderstanding

C.understanding

D.illusion

15.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 inevitable to put up with pain sometimes.

D.It is important to make commitment.

Passage 4

The idea of conspicuous consumption implies some amount of showing off.You buy stuff to demonstrate,in conspicuous fashion,just how well you’re doing.But a set of new studies show that buying high-status goods isn’t only about showing off.You might also be willing to purchase expensive goods for entirely internal reasons—specifically,to help repair harmed self-worth.

“Individuals conspicuously consume to signal their wealth.”That’s the opening line in a paper published in Journal of Experimental Social Psychological written by Niro Sivanathan,an assistant professor at the London Business School,and Nathan C.Pettit,of Cornell University.But that’s just too simple and too straightforward an explanation for why people buy luxury,or“high-status”goods.For one thing,Sivanathan and Pet tit hoped to explain why it is that poor people tend to spend a much larger amount of their income on status purchases compared to those who are well off.Through a series of studies,the psychological pain-in other words,to make you feel better when you’re feeling depressed.

“The economical explanation-that people purchase conspicuous goods because they want to signal positive things about themselves to others-felt incomplete,”says Sivanathan.We wanted to study what causes people to act out their urge to purchase conspicuous goods,and more importantly what causes that urge in the first place.Our research shows that part of what is behind these consumption decisions is the desire to change the way they feel about themselves.

16.The underlined word“conspicuous”(Para.I)means ______.

A.noticeable

B.wealthy

C.attractive

D.impressive

17.About conspicuous consumption the new studies have found that ______.

A.higher prices mean better products and services

B.people with harmed self-worth want expensive goods

C.people consume conspicuously to show off their wealth

D.high-status goods are mainly fashion products

18.The new studies help us understand people better ______.

A.who are confident about themselves

B.who have high status and wealth

C.who are depressed for some reasons

D.who dislike luxury

19.According to the passage,which of the following Statement is NOT true?

A.People might buy expensive products for internal reasons.

B.People might buy expensive products to signal positive things about themselves.

C.People buy expensive products only to attract others’attention.

D.People buy expensive products to relieve psychological pain sometimes.

20.The researchers say the economic explanation was incomplete because ______.

A.people also want good opinions from others

B.people also complete for better social status

C.people can also be influenced by their friends

D.people also need to feel good about themselves