Foxes and farmers have never got on well. These small dog-like animals have long beenaccused of killing farm animals. They are officially classified as harmful and farmers try to keeptheirnumbers down by shooting or poisoning them.
Farmers can also call on the services of their local hunt to control the fox population. Huntingconsists of pursuing a fox across the countryside, with a group of specially traineddogs,followed by men and women riding horses. When the dogs eventually catch the fox they kill itor a hunter shoots it.
People who take part in hunting think of as a sport; they wear a special uniform of red coatsand white trousers, and follow strict codes of behavior. But owning a horse and huntingregularlyis expensive, so most hunters are wealthy.
It is estimated that up to 100,000 people watch or take part in fox hunting. But over the lastcouple of decades the number of people opposed to fox hunting, because they think it isbrutal残酷的, has risen sharply. Nowadays it is rare for a hunt to pass off without some kindof confrontation 冲突 between hunters and hunt saboteurs 阻拦者. Sometimes theseincidents lead to violence,but mostly saboteurs interfere with the hunt by misleading ridersand disturbing the trail of the fox’s smell, which the dogs follow.
Noisy confrontations between hunters and saboteurs have become so common that they arealmost as much a part of hunting as the pursuit of foxes itself. But this year supporters of foxhuntingface a much bigger threat to their sport. A Labour Party Member of the Parliament,Mike Foster, is trying to get Parliament toapprove a new law which will make the hunting of wildanimals withdogs illegal. If the law is passed, wild animals like foxes will be protected under theban in Britain.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. Rich people in Britain have been hunting foxes ________.
A. for recreation
B. in the interests of the farmers
C. to limit the fox population
D. to show off their wealth
2. What is special about fox hunting in Britain?
A. It involves the use of a deadly poison.
B. It is a costly event which rarely occurs.
C. The hunters have set rules to follow.
D. The hunters have to go through strict training.
3. Fox hunting opponents often interfere in the game ________.
A. by resorting to violence
B. by confusing the fox hunters
C. by taking legal action
D. by demonstrating on the scene
4. A new law may be passed by the British Parliament to ________.
A. prohibit farmers from hunting foxes
B. forbid hunting foxes with dogs
C. stop hunting wild animals in the countryside
D. prevent large-scale fox hunting
5. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. killing foxes with poison is illegal
B. limiting the fox population is unnecessary
C. hunting foxes with dogs is considered cruel and violent
D. fox-hunting often leads to confrontation between the poor and the rich
1.[A] 事实细节题。根据第3段第1句的前半部分People who take part in hunting think of it as a sport可知，参加捕杀的人们把猎杀狐狸当成是一种运动，A与之相符。
2.[C] 事实细节题。根据第3段首句末尾说，凡是参加的人都要遵循严格的行为准则，C “猎手已建立起需要遵循的规则”与之相符，故选C。
3.[B] 事实细节题。第4段末句提到，在大部分情况下，阻拦者利用为骑马的人引错路和进行气味干扰来干涉捕猎，B与之相符，故选B。
4.[B] 事实细节题。文章倒数第2句提及，督促议会通过一项新法案,将带狗猎杀野生动物列为非法。而狐狸是野生动物的一种，故选B。
5.[C] 推断题。.根据第4段第2句后半部分可知，反对捕猎狐狸的人数在上升是因为他们认为捕猎狐狸是残酷的，故选C。
The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equals happiness actuallyreduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equal tohappinessthen pain must be equal to unhappiness. But in fact, the opposite is true: moreoften than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. Theyfear the paininevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children,professionalachievement, religious commitment承担的义务, self improvement.
Ask a bachelor单身汉 why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and lesssatisfying.If he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. Forcommitmentis in fact quitepainful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement.Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night's sleep or three-day vacation. I don'tknow any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. But coupleswhodecide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with agrandchild.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the mostliberating realizations. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities thatcangenuinely increase ourhappiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothesthat will do nothing to increaseour happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates usfromenvy: we now understand that all those who arealways having so much fun actually may notbe happy at all.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. According to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because______
A. he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
B. he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
C. he finds more fun in dating than in marriage
D. he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
2. Raising children, in the author's opinion, is_______
A. a moral duty
B. a rewarding task
C. a thankless job
D. a source of inevitable pain
3. From the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from______
A. hatred
B. misunderstanding
C. prejudice
D. ignorance
4. To understand what true happiness is one must_______
A. have as much fun as possible during one's lifetime
B. make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
C. put up with pain under all circumstances
D. be able to distinguish happiness from fun
5. What is the author trying to tell us?
A. Happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.
B. One must know how to attain happiness.
C. It is important to make commitments.
D. It is pain that leads to happiness.
1.[A] 第3段第2句解释了单身汉为什么不愿结婚的原因，A项的reluctant to take on familyresponsibilities是对原文中afraid of making a commitment的同义替换,故选A。本题中D项的干扰性比较强，但这不是单身汉不愿结婚的直接原因，且文中也说到Marriage has such moments,所以put anend的说法也不正确，故排除。
2.[C] 原文第4段中说，虽然养孩子的过程实在不能算是“有趣”,但决定不要孩子的夫妇们永远也不能了解看着孩子长大的那种欢乐以及与孙儿一起玩耍的欢乐。换言之，在作者看来，养孩子虽辛苦，但也是值得的，故答案为C。
3.[B] 文章最后一段最后一句说它还让我们从嫉妒中解脱出来：我们现在了解到那些总有很多乐趣的人也许根本就不幸福。这说明我们嫉妒别人是误以为那些总有很多乐趣的人很幸福，这是一种误解，故选B。
4.[D] 由文章第1段和最后一段第1句可看出要理解真正的幸福就要把fun和happiness区分开，故选D。
5.[A] 本题是主旨题。主旨题的答案常位于首段或结尾段。本题的答案可以在文章第1段最后一句找到：通往幸福的路上多半会涉及到痛苦，因此本题选A。D中虽也提到pain,但对分强调pain对幸福的作用，故错误。
