Dear Teresa Silva, The official of the university has reported to us that you are an English major who meets the high standards for membership in Sigma Tau Delta. As is known, Sigma Tau Delta was founded in 1924 at Dakota Wesleyan University. It is an international collegiate honor societyfor students of English. It presently has over 850 chapters in theUnited States, Europe, the Middle East, and theCaribbean. Over 9,000 new members are admitted into the organization annually. Sigma Tau Delta's purpose is to promote literature and writing and to advance the study of the written word. Members gather annually in the spring at the international meeting to present papers and share experiences and ideas within the English subject. The Society offers tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, awards, as well as publication chances in its journals The Rectangle and The Sigma Tau Delta Review. It is our pleasure if you can complete the application for Sigma Tau Delta membership. If you would like to be included in this spring's induction ceremony, please complete the application form, and include amount to cover both local and international fees. Your completed form must be received by date to be considered for the upcoming induction ceremony. We congratulate you on your outstanding academic record and hope you will join us as a Sigma Tau Delta member. If you want to get more information, please visit our website www.sigmataudelta.org, or give us a call. The phone number is 583-2864. Sincerely, Emily Lister This passage is basically a letter of _ . A) introduction B) congratulation C) thanks D) invitation
D
Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two. Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself , each extra dollar makes less and less difference. Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues. "Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better," conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways---scientists or actors, for example--may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs. In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires--not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health--rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap. Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. "The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income." Says Michalos. Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad. "Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?" asks Professor Laura Carstensen. In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often. Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they're more... Some actors would like to accept poorly-paid jobs because the jobs _ . A) make them feel much better B) provide chances to make friends C) improve their social position D) satisfy their professional interests
C
Q: Whenever we turn on the TV or radio, read the newspapers, surf the Internet, we'll be surrounded by the word "diet" everywhere. We have so easily been attracted by the promise of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically. It's obvious that diet products weaken us psychologically. They allow us to jump over the thinking stage that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fat. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word "diet" in food labels. What's more, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves that we don't have to work to get results.Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle. As a matter of fact, the danger that diet products bring not only lies in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm they cause. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie. oaly because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products, And they can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are stopping our bodies having basic nutrients. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Think twice before buying diet products. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, 3rd therefore, prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them. Diet products indirectly harm people physically because such products A) are over-consumed B) are short of basic nutrients C) lack chemicals D) provide too much energy
A: B
Q: Our children feel stressed out by an educational system that actually uses stress as an educational technique. It's a constant pressure of homework deadlines,essays and exams. And our children are told at a young age that failing a test means that they are failures in life. They'll end up nowhere if they don't pass this or that exam. Our educational system is based on a very Western idea that life is a struggle and you'd better measure up. It's survival of the fittest. While there is some truth to this,not as much as people think. Our ancestors didn't develop a constant stress environment. Back then,stress came quickly and was over quickly,it wasn't like the stress of modern education. Stress was originally just a shortterm biological response to danger;however,the constant stress of modern education rarely stops. It's long term,at least ten years and usually more. Recent research has shown that the neurological response to stress is the same response that is found in depression. So,what's the solution? A number have been proposed,including but not limited to the following. _ .Exercise consumes energy that would otherwise build up in the stress response and could cause physical and mental problems. Teach relaxation exercises. Allowing the mind and body to relax cuts off the stress response and reduces the neurological fatigue ,enabling the individual to recover at least somewhat. Pay attention to thinking. Training the stressed student to pay attention to his or her own mind to a point where he or she is sufficiently aware to shut off the stress response when necessary. Of course,there's a logical answer to the problem. Just rearrange our teaching methods to encourage,rather than prevent,the natural curiosity and joy in learning that we are all born with. This would remove the stress and probably cut learning time in half. What is the main idea of the passage? A) Getting rid of the modern education. B) Helping children live a happy life. C) Dealing with stress in modern education. D) Taking measures to learn at school.
A: C