49. A.Previous to B.Thanks to C.In addition to D.Because of

50. A.Besides B.Therefore C.Thus D.However

51. A.try B.rule C.view D.wish

52. A.Unless B.If C.But D.Whether

53. A.Failure B.Experience C.Adventure D.Confidence

54. A.which B.where C.what D.who

55. A.interrupt B.forgive C.understand D.challenge

第三部分 读写能力测试

第一节 阅读理解(共15小题，每题2分，满分30分)

阅读下面两篇短文，从A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项，并在机读卡相应番号后将该选项涂黑。

A

Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people who worried about getting older.

Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50.In fact，they said，by the age of 85，people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.

The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the US.The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008.At that time，the people were between the ages of 18 and 85.

The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness，sadness and worry.They also asked about mental or emotional stress.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25.

The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.

The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However，women at all ages reported more sadness，stress and worry than men.

The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers said they didn’t know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that，as people grow older，they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

Professor Stone said the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world，or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children，being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well­being related to age.

56.How many people were involved in this survey?

A.More than 340 adults. B.Less than 314,000 adults.

C.More than 340,000 adults. D.More than 3,000,000 adults.