D
One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept. For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week’s leave — during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach — was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm
between action and rest. Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: “I am so busy.”
We say this to one another as if our tireless
efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to
successfully deal with stress. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax — this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week — for followers of some religions — for rest and praying. It is a day when we are not
supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful. It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep. It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest. The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work. In fact, “Remember the Sabbath” is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow.
63. The “alarm” in the first paragraph refers to
“______”.
A. a signal of stress
B. a warning of danger
C. a sign of age
D. a spread of disease
64. According to Paragraph 4, a successful
person is one who is believed to ______.
A. be able to work without stress
B. be more talented than other people
C. be more important than anyone else
D. be busy working without time to rest
65. The author believes that some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they ______.
A. think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions
B. fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life
C. fail to realize that religions force them to rest
D. think that taking a rest means being lazy
66. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. We should balance work with rest.
B. The Sabbath gives us permission to rest.
C. It is silly for anyone to say “I am so busy.”
D. We should be available to our family and friends.
E
Downing the last drop of an expensive famous brand H2O as well as remembering to throw the empty bottle in the recycling bin, makes you feel pretty good about yourself, right? It shouldn’t. Even when the bottles are recycled, there are all kinds of other consequences of swallowing bottled water, says Melissa Peffers, the air-quality program manager for Environmental Defense.
The containers are often filled in faraway lands, then shipped from abroad, and stored in refrigerators at your local store. Compare that with the influence on environment of turning on your tap, filling a glass, and drinking up!
Anyone who is choosing bottled water for health reasons is misguided, says Peffers, “Most bottled
water is just tap water.” And what comes out of your tap is carefully monitored to follow the strict rules. Consider another fact that bottled water is surprisingly expensive, especially when compared with the
alternative, which is almost free, and it is astonishing that America’s desire for bottled water seems impossible to satisfy, reaching nearly 30 billion bottles a year.
“My parents’ generation never had bottled
water,” says Isabelle Silverman, an Environmental Defense legal adviser. She has made a commitment to going bottle free. “You don’t need to fetch it home from the store, and it’s cheaper,” she adds.
Bottled water’s role as a status symbol needs to change, Peffers points out. So when a waiter at an expensive restaurant offers “And what’s your drink?” that’s no reason to forget your conviction (信念). “Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I’ll have tap.’ Say it loud enough that the other tables nearby can hear you,” Peffers says. “And then spend that money on a
dessert.”
67. In the first paragraph, the underlined
sentence “It shouldn’t.” suggests that people ______.
A. shouldn’t feel pleased with finishing the
water in the bottle
B. shouldn’t feel good about drinking an expensive brand H2O
C. shouldn’t be content with just recycling
empty bottles
D. shouldn’t be satisfied with drinking only
bottled water
68. According to the author, tap water is ______.
A. as safe as bottled water
B. more likely to be polluted
C. healthier than bottled water
D. less convenient than bottled water
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