Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older. Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50. In fact, they say by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.

The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of 18 and 85. The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 24 and 25. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.

The study also showed that men and women have similar feeling patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their feelings. They so spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.

1.According to the survey of the Gallup Organization people are most likely to become happier      .

A．when they are between the ages of 18 and 85 B．when they come to their old age

C．when they are in their twenties             D．when they are 18 years old

2.You may have the highest level of stress when you are at the age of      .

A．20               B．25               C．35               D．40

3.According to Arthur Stone, old people may      .

A．have a positive attitude towards their life     B．know how to spend money wisely

C．dream about good things every day          D．control their behaviors better

4.Who would probably show the greatest interest in the passage?

A．Those who are worried about getting old     B．Those who are single and unemployed

C．Those who feel unhappy all the time         D．Those who suffer from mental stress

5.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Getting Older Means Getting Happier        B．The Young Are Happier Than the Old

C．Women Are Easier to Be Happy in Life        D．The Younger, the Happier

We asked thirty children between 14 and 1 8．A11 the children had computers at home．The usual time spent on computer in a week was about 1 2 hours, with the highest

user about 3 2 hours．a(chǎn)nd the lowest user only 5 hours．

A11 the children said they usually used computers to play games．Fourteen children told us thev did some word processing(文字處理)at times．Only two of them said computers helped them with their lessons．a(chǎn)nd eight children told us they kept addresses and phone numbers on their computers or used them as diaries．Only three children said they were learning to make computer programs and nobody looked up databases(數(shù)據(jù)厙)．The diagram gives all the results one by one．The results show that computer use is quite high among 14 to 18-year—old children．They also show quite clearly that computers are looked on by most young people as little more than game machines．It means that，though computers are common in the homes of young people，they have not yet become popular in everyday 1ife．

（　 ）1．In the diagram，what does the letter ‘‘d’’ show?

A．It shows three people between 14 and 18．

B．It shows only two of the thirty children．

C．It shows that only two of them use computers to help them with their lessons．

D．It shows that only three of them use computers to help them make computer programs．

（　 ）2.Most of the 3 0 children spent about　　 hours on computers in a week．

A．5　　　 B．1 2　　　 C．20　　　 D．32

(　 ) 3.There iS one mistake in the diagram．What is it?

A．The number of “e" should be lower．

B．The number of ‘‘d’’ should be higher．

C．The．number of “a” is too high．

D．There should be no number about “f’’．

(　 )4.In the last paragraph “l(fā)ittle more than” means　 ．

A．a(chǎn)lmost the same as　 B．far more than C．different from D．much more than

(　 )5.The writer thinks　　　 ．

A．children must learn to play a11 kinds of games

B．more other uses of computers should be learned

C．young people should spend more time on computers

D．computers will become much cheaper