1、大学英语六级-166 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)Achieving ContentmentA. Socrates said contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. Being a minimalist isn“t easy. Living this counter-cultural lifestyle requires quite a determined personality. You have to smile and ignore friends and family who
2、keep saying “but you could be earning so much more if you took that corporate job.“ Or “why are you driving a 5-year-old car when you can afford a brand new one.“ “Why are you camping in a game reserve, and not staying in a 5-star hotel and casino.“ B. It isn“t easy to keep the constant pressure to
3、shop and own at bay, but what makes it easy is contentment. When you look happy and your life is one that others envy for its solid relationships, rewarding creative work and annoying glow of health, people“s helpful advice on lifestyle tends to sound thin. C. It“s worth learning to be content! Not
4、only does contentment provide the opportunity for minimalism, it also reduces your stress level, improves your outlook, relaxes your body, and makes your life enjoyable. There is an unmistakable freedom that follows contentment: a freedom to be who you are, enjoy who you are, and live the life you w
5、ere destined to live. D. In our consumeristic-culture discontent is promoted and encouraged. If you aren“t discontent with your car, why would you buy another one at twice the price? “They“ need to foster discontent with your body, your life, your husband or your job to soften you up for the hard se
6、ll. E. If only you bought this product, smoked this drug, drank this poison, used this service you would be happy. Selling starts by first breeding discontent. That is why celebrity shows are all over TVthey are an important foundation for the adverts between showsno matter how beautiful you are, no
7、 matter how rich, there is always that celebrity to show you that you are being positively frugal (节俭的) by only buying a Mercedes and not a Porche. F. On the one hand, your life is enhanced by your dreams and aspirations. On the other hand, these drives can pull you farther and farther from your enj
8、oyment of your life right now. By learning the lessons of gratitude and abundance, you can bring yourself closer to fulfilling the challenge of living in the present. There is no one-size-fits-all, but here are five keys that have helped us further develop contentment in our lives. 1. Be grateful G.
9、 Gratitude and contentment are inseparable. Focus on the good things in your lifethe things you havenot the things you lack. Are you questioning what you have to be grateful for? Nothing come to mind? After all you are poorer than X, and uglier than Y, not as important as the boss, and suffer more r
10、esponsibility than your staff. There you go comparing up again. When 90% of the world probably has less than you do, most people still focus on the few 0.2% of lucky souls who are models, superstars, CEOs and plain lucky. H. Come on now, get some perspective. Start making a list of all the good thin
11、gs in your lifeeven if it“s just sunny weather, a nice nose or a great cup of coffee. Don“t worry about finishingthe simple discipline of appreciating what you do have will set off a new habit. Try to add one or two items to the list every day. 2. You can“t keep shopping your way to happiness I. Adv
12、ertising has ingrained (使根深蒂固) the belief that the proper way to diffuse discontent is to buy whatever we don“t yet have. Almost no energy is spent determining the true root of the discontent. We quickly focus on the nearest product (preferably chocolate based), and avoid thinking about what really
13、makes us feel out of control, frustrated or angry. J. You have to break that habit. Understand that material possessions will never fully satisfy the desires of your heart (that“s why discontent always returns). The next time you recognize discontentment surfacing in your life, refuse to give into t
14、hat bad habit. Instead, commit to better understand yourself. Are you buying a new cell phone, or do you really want to buy “coolness and popularity, and the envy of friends?“ K. A little trickif you compulsively shop when your world is out of control, buy something really tiny such as the smallest
15、chocolate bar in the shop, a pair of plastic earrings, a cup of coffee. The action of purchasing makes people happy because for a few seconds at least, you have the sole attention of the shop assistant (aren“t you an important person!) and you demonstrate through the display of cash or credit cards
16、that you are in control of your life. For most people a 50p pack of gum gives the same pleasure as a $500 pair of shoes. Better in fact, you don“t have that dull dread of the let-down when you get them home and can“t work out where you will fit them in your cupboard. 3. Take charge of your attitude
17、L. A person who lacks contentment in their life will often engage in “when and then thinking“when I get., then I will be happy.“ Remember, your happiness is not reliant on the acquisition of any possession. The temporary joy of happiness is not contentmenthappiness is often externally driven by thin
18、gs that happen to you. That is what you remember and you keep looking for that high in external events and things. Contentment is how you respond to life and situations. Contentment is a decision. 4. Stop comparing yourself to others M. This is a hard oneit“s such a daily, hourly habit. I“m smarter
19、than him, and dumber than her. I“m fatter than them, and so much better than him. Comparing your life with someone else“s will always lead to discontentment. There will always be people who “appear“ to be better off than you and seemingly living the perfect life. But be advised, we always compare th
20、e worst of what we know about ourselves to the best assumptions that we make about others. You are unique. And it“s always better that way. Live up to your own expectations of what you can be, and stop living up to the media and friends“ expectations. 5. Get off your butt and help N. When you begin
21、helping others, sharing your talents, time and money, you will find yourself learning to be content. You will feel better about yourself. If you don“t like people much, volunteer to walk dogs. If you“re allergic to cats, help an elderly person with her garden or go shopping with her and carry grocer
22、ies. Pick up litter, plant a flowing shrub in a wasteland, get someone a cup of coffee without being asked. And while you“re at it, stop shirking. Ladies, mow the lawn or change a plug now and then. Men, pick up that laundry before you“re asked. O. Be content with what you have, never with what you
23、are. Never stop learning, growing, or discovering. Take pride in your personhood and the progress that you have made, but never become so content that you cannot find room for improvement. Contentment is not the same as complacency (自满).（分数：25.00）(1).We should stop comparing ourselves to others and
24、live up to our own expectations.（分数：2.50）(2).Being too content with our personhood and progress might hinder our improvement.（分数：2.50）(3).When we start to help others, we“ll find ourselves learning to be content.（分数：2.50）(4).Advertisements encourage people to get rid of discontent by buying whatever
25、 they don“t have.（分数：2.50）(5).Our dreams and aspirations are likely to prevent us from living in the present.（分数：2.50）(6).We should be aware of the fact that happiness does not rely on the acquisition of any possession.（分数：2.50）(7).A little trick to break the habit of compulsive shopping is to buy s
26、ome small things instead.（分数：2.50）(8).It is useful to learn to be content because contentment makes our life enjoyable.（分数：2.50）(9).Most people neglect what they have in their life, and focus their attention on what they do not have.（分数：2.50）(10).Discontent is welcome in the consumeristic-culture an
27、d it encourages you to buy more.（分数：2.50）The Cure for the Common Cold? There Is NoneA. Here are the dirty little secrets about the common cold: Nothing cures it. And most popular remedies have little or no real effect on symptoms. “In a word, there“s nothing that works,“ says physician Aaron Glatt,
28、a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “There“s a tremendous industry out there, and some people really swear by them. But there really aren“t great studies to show any benefit.“ Some remedies have been more rigorously tested than others. In a petri dish, many appear promising.
29、When tested in humans, however, cold remedies tend to be ineffective, Glatt says. B. And there“s just not enough rigorously performed research to know whether folksy remediessuch as hot tea, garlic or chicken souphave any effect, say pediatricians Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll. That“s partly beca
30、use big drug companies tend not to invest in studies of common foods or products that people can buy anywhere. Myths C. “When it comes to over-the-counter therapies, they“re pretty cheap, so people will buy them anyway,“ Carroll says. “But if they don“t work, you shouldn“t be surprised. “ Yet he add
31、s. “If tea makes you feel better, go ahead. If a warm blanket and a pillow make you feel better, do it.“ In some cases, however, even over-the-counter drugs can have serious side effects. In children, cough and cold remedies are not only ineffective, but can be harmful, Vreeman and Carroll say. That
32、“s why manufacturers no longer sell these drugs for kids under age 4. D. Since colds go away on their own in about a week, improving a little each day after symptoms peak, it“s easy to believe that favorite medicinesrather than timeshould get the credit, says James Taylor, a pediatrics professor at
33、the University of Washington whose research has been funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health. Cold sufferers are so desperate for help that even placebos (安慰剂) can make people feel better about a third of the time, says Gl
34、att. There“s no objective way to assess whether something makes someone feel less congested or sneezy, Taylor says. So researchers have to rely on imprecise measurements, such as asking people to rate their symptoms on a scale. And many studies are of such poor quality as to be unreliable, he says.
35、E. USA Today asked experts to summarize the evidence for some of the most commonly used over-the-counter and alternative remedies. Decongestants (减充血剂) F. In the lab, these over-the-counter drugs look like a winner. Decongestants shrink dilated blood vessels in the nose, which should provide relief
36、for that stuffed-up feeling, says Elizabeth Funderbunk, a spokeswoman for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. In the real world, however, their effects are modest at best. A single dose of a nasal decongestant reduces adults“ symptoms by 6%, according to a 2007 Cochrane Systematic Review.
37、Additional doses reduced symptoms by just 4%. While a 1998 study found that antihistamines (抗组胺药) slightly reduce sneezing or a runny nose, another review found they offer little to no relief for overall cold symptoms or coughs. G. To reduce the risk of side effects, it“s best to take the lowest dos
38、e possiblesuch as found in nasal sprays, says Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen“s Health Research Group. He prefers decongestant nasal sprays because they contain 25 to 50 times less medication than pills. Even then, people shouldn“t use nasal sprays for more than a few days, because overuse
39、can actually increase congestion. Wolfe also advises avoiding products that treat multiple symptoms, because they typically provide much more medication than people really need, increasing the risks without adding to their benefits. Vitamin C H. Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling popularized the idea
40、of taking high doses of vitamin C to prevent colds. A variety of recent studies have shown this is just wishful thinking, however, Vreeman and Carroll say. A review of studies with a total of 11000 people found that taking 200 milligrams or more of vitamin C a day didn“t reduce the chance of getting
41、 a cold, and it reduced the duration of a cold only by a matter of hours. The only people who got any protection against colds from vitamin C were those whose bodies were under extreme stress, such as soldiers in sub-arctic conditions, according to the NCCAM. Echinacea (紫锥菊) I. Echinacea, an herb, h
42、as been used for years as a folk remedy, Taylor says. Scientists have been intrigued by Echinacea because of laboratory studies suggesting that some constituents decrease inflammation (炎症), while others appear to boost the immune system. But improving immunity in a human being is far more complicate
43、d than in a petri dish, says Wendy Weber, a program officer at NCCAM. She notes that there are three species of Echinacea that are used medicinally, and concentrations can vary from bottle to bottle. Three studies funded by NCCAM concluded that Echinacea was no better than a placebo for treating or
44、preventing a cold. While doctors continue to research Echinacea, Weber says there isn“t yet enough evidence to prescribe it. And although Echinacea is the most commonly used herbal supplement in children, studies also show it can slightly increase kids“ risk of rash. Zinc J. Although research has pr
45、oduced mixed results on zinc, a new analysis suggests that these supplements offer some helpif people can stand them. In a research review of 15 studies published today in the Cochrane Library , taking zinc lozenges (糖片) or syrup (糖浆) within 24 hours after the beginning of symptoms cut short people“
46、s colds by about one day. Although the review suggests that these zinc products might also make cold symptoms less severe, Vreeman notes that the quality of the studies wasn“t very strongsuggesting that future research could come up with a different conclusion. K. “One of the big challenges with thi
47、s research is that they have a hard time making a placebo that people actually believe in,“ Vreeman says. “The bad taste of zinc, and the fact that it often makes people feel sick, are common, and tend to make it clear who is getting the zinc and who is getting the placebo.“ L. Vreeman notes that ma
48、ny people may decide that the treatment is worse than putting up with a cold for one more day. Some forms of zinc also pose serious risks. The Food and Drug Administration in 2009 warned consumers not to use any intranasal zinc products because of concerns that it can make people lose their sense of
49、 smell. Honey M. Generations have turned to hot tea with honey to soothe a sore throat. One study, in which children over age 2 were given up to 2 teaspoons of honey before bedtime, found that honey did help reduce coughing. But Weber notes that additional studies are needed. She says honey should never be given to children under age 1 because of the risk of botulism (肉毒杆菌中毒). And while many people like honey cough drops, Weber notes that they can be a choking hazard to babies and toddlers. Eucalyptus (桉树) oil and vapor rubs N. In a recent study in Pediatrics , children with
