The work on an assembly line is boring.

Many Australians are often absent from work chiefly because______.

A．their work is boring

B．their pay is low

C．they can afford to enjoy life on fine days

D．the climate is wonderful

You might think that the topic of “taking the bus” is a weird one to choose for this blog. And you might be right but taking the bus in Latin America is always a fascinating experience. In the UK, bus journeys are just boring and, more often than not, a necessity. Public transport is often convenient when you live or work in the city centre, as you can avoid traffic jams by whizzing down the bus lanes, and do not have to pay to park the car. At the end of the day, though, taking the bus is just a necessary and tedious part of life: you board the bus, pay the driver and sit down (or find a place to stand). Very boring. In Latin America, however, bus trips can be very lively. For a start, intercity buses put on films so that you have entertainment for at least some of the journey. Naturally local transport does not show films but drivers usually switch on the radio and that can be a great way to hear new songs and new styles of music. (Disappointingly there is not much salsa music back home). Even better than films or music are the sights and sounds on the buses. Local buses always go to parts of town that you would not otherwise visit. There you see shops that you never knew existed. Visitors travelling on buses can see new aspects of a culture from the window seat of the bus. Passengers’ “luggage” is also interesting. It is not uncommon for a cheerful dog’s head to be poking out of somebody’s bag and for someone else to carry a chicken under their arm. Once on a bus in Peru, a farmer tied what looked like a dead sheep to the roof. I was quite shocked and even more so when the farmer got off the bus and, on taking the sheep off the roof, it trotted off very happily. On top of the same bus, another passenger had put his chainsaw. The sheep and power tool combination had me very nervous. There are really many things for visitors to do in Latin America. Taking the bus doesn’t sound like fun but it is much more exciting and unpredictable than any UK bus journey.

(1)In the UK, taking the bus is fascinating.

(2)In Latin America, when taking the bus, you can listen to music and see new aspects of a culture.

(3)Public transport in the UK is convenient because a variety of means of public transportation are available.

(4)As for bus trips in Latin America, passengers’ luggage can be interesting.

(5)Bus journeys are unpredictable in Latin America.

Effort is the essence of happiness: there is no happiness

except as we take on challenges. Short of the

impossible, the satisfactions we get from a lifetime depend

on how high we place our difficulties. The mortal flaw in

the advertised version of happiness is in fact that it claims 【S1】______

to be effortless.

We demand difficulty ever in our diversions (娱乐). 【S2】______

We demand it because without difficulty there can be no

game; a game is a way of making something easy for the 【S3】______

fun of it. The rules of the game are an arbitrary addition of

difficulty. It is easier to win a chess if you are flee to change 【S4】______

the rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules. If we

could mint (铸造) our own money, even building a fortune

will become boring. No difficulty, no fun. 【S5】______

Happiness is never more than partial. Whoever else 【S6】______

happiness may be, it is neither in having nor being, but in 【S7】______

becoming. What the writers of the Constitution declared

for us as an inherent right was not happiness but pursuit 【S8】______

of happiness. What the early patriots may have underlined, 【S9】______

could they have foreseen the happiness-market, is the

cardinal fact that happiness is in the pursuit itself, 【S10】______

in the pursuit what is engaging and life-changing, which is to say,

in the idea of becoming. A nation is not measured by what it

possesses or wants to possess, but by what it wants to

become.

【S1】

For many women choosing whether to work or not to work outside their home is a luxury: they must work to survive. Others face a hard decision.

Perhaps the easiest choice has to do with economists. One husband said, "Marge and I decided after careful consideration that for her to go back to work at this moment was an extravagance(奢侈) we couldn't afford," With two preschool children, it soon became clear in their figuring that with babysitters(临时照看小孩的人), transportation, and increased taxes, rather than having more money, they might actually end up with less.

Economic factors are usually the first to be considered, but they are not the most important. The most important aspects of the decision have to do with the emotional needs of each member of the family. It is in this area that husbands and wives find themselves having to face many confusing and conflicting feelings.

There are many women who find that homemaking is boring or who feel imprisoned(被禁) if they have to stay home with a young child or several children. On the other hand, there are women who think that homemaking gives them the deepest satisfaction.

From my own experiences, I would like to suggest that sometimes the decision to go hack is made in too much haste. There are few decisions that I now regret more. I wasn't mature enough to see how much I could have gained at home. I regret my impatience to get on with my career. I wish I had allowed myself the luxury of watching the world through my little girl's eyes.

Which word in the first two paragraphs best explains why many women have to work?

Between labor and play __56__ work. A man is a worker if he is __57__ interested in the job which society pays him to do; what from the point of view of society is necessary labor is ___58__ his own point of view voluntary play. Whether a job is to be classified as labor or work depends, not on the job itself, __59__ on the tastes of the __60__ who undertakes it. The difference does not, for example, __61__ the difference between a manual and a mental job; a gardener or a cobbler may be a worker, a bank clerk a laborer. __62__ a man is can be seen from his attitude __63__ leisure. To a worker, leisure means simply the hours he needs to relax and rest in order to work efficiently. He is therefore more __64__ to take too little leisure than too much; workers die of heart attacks and forget their wives' birthdays. To the laborer, on the other hand, leisure means freedom from __65__, so that it is natural for him to imagine that the fewer hours he has to spend laboring, and the more hours he is free to play, the better.

56.A. lie    B.is located     C. stands      D.stand

57.A. particularly   B.personally   C.especially    D.special

58.A.from    B.on        C.in         D.to

59.A.and       B.however      C.but          D.or

60.A.personal    B. separate    C.special    D.individual

61.A.Consistent with   B.Similar with   C.coincide with   D.the same with

62.A.Which      B.What        C.How        D.Who

63.A.to        B.into        C.toward          D.towards

64.A.likely      B.appropriately        C.probably         D.possibly

65.A.force         B.coercivity       C.influence        D.compulsion

听力原文： There are a lot of students who dislike studying history. The problem is not necessarily that the subject is boring, it is just hard to get excited about something when it is presented in a boring manner. I had a different experience though. My American history professor. Dr. Anais Ninn, was unforgettable. When Dr. Ninn described events they seemed to leap from the pages. It was partly because she made it sound like a live radio news report.

Dr. Ninn imitated John Adams, a well-known silversmith of the revolutionary period. John Adams helped to organize the colonists who were angry about the way the British seemed to control their lives through unfair taxes. Dr. Ninn imitated the way' John Adams had given his speeches and helped to plan the revolutionary activities. I can see her now with her hand raised above her head and shouting at the class. She told how Adams had come up with a plan in 1775 to use two lanterns as signals if the British were going to attack by sea. If the scout saw the lamps, he was supposed to jump on a horse and warn the rest of the Americans of the attack,

Professor Ninn described the battles to us in detail. The weapons they used at those times were primitive, but the effects were terrible. If a man was wounded then, he would probably die from the infection. As Professor Ninn described these battles, I felt as though history had come alive.

Why does the speaker think some students don't like history?

A．History teachers don't care.

B．Students are too lazy.

C．The professors don't make it interesting.

D．Students think history is not important.

听力原文： There are a lot of students who dislike studying history. The problem is not necessarily that the subject is boring, it is just hard to get excited about something when it is presented in a boring manner. ! had a different experience though. My American history professor, Dr. Anais Ninn, was unforgettable. When Dr. Ninn described events they seemed to leap from the pages. It was partly because she made it sound like a live radio news report.

Dr. Ninn imitated John Adams, a well-known silversmith of the revolutionary period. John Adams helped to organize the colonists who were angry about the way the British seemed to control their lives through unfair taxes. Dr. Ninn imitated the way John Adams had given his speeches and helped to plan the revolutionary activities. ! can see her now with her hand raised above her head and shouting at the class. She told how Adams had come up with a plan in 1775 to use two lanterns as signals if the British were going to attack by sea. If the scout saw the lamps, he was supposed to jump on a horse and warn the rest o the Americans of the attack.

Professor Ninn described the battles to us in detail. The weapons they used at those times were primitive, but the effects were terrible. If a man was wounded then, he would probably die from the infection. As Professor Ninn described these battles, I felt as though history had come alive.

Why does the speaker think some students don' t like history?

A．History teachers don't care.

B．Students are too lazy.

C．The professors don' t make it interesting.

D．Students think history is not important.