How often one hears children wishing they were grown-ups, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.
Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return. What’s more, life is always giving new things to the child--- things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-known. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is repeatedly being told not do something or being punished for what he has wrongly done.
When a young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If, however, he worked hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the greatest happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.
小题1:What is the happiest person according to the passage?
A．A child who can do whatever he likes.
B．An old person who lives in a comfortable life.
C．A grown-up who no longer expects other to pay for him.
D．A person who never wastes his time in his whole life.小题2:What pains does a child have?
A．He has few responsibilities to make life difficult.
B．He doesn’t have to do anything in return.
C．He is not so free to do what he wishes to do.
D．He has to work if he wants to live comfortably.小题3:Which of the following is true, according to the second paragraph?
A．Life for a child is fairly easy.
B．A child is always loved whatever he does.
C．If much is given to a child, he must do something in return.
D．Only children are interested in life.小题4:What is the main idea of the passage?
A．Life is not enjoyable since each age had some pains.
B．Young men can have the greatest happiness if they work hard.
C．Childhood is the most enjoyable time in one’s life.
D．One is the happiest if he can make good use of each age in his life.小题5:What will the fourth paragraph most probably discuss following this passage?
A．Examples of successful young men.
B．How to build up one’s position in society.
C．Joys and pains of old people.
D．What to do when one has problems in life.
