2014届高考英语二轮复习阅读理解与阅读填空专项训练15.doc

2014届高考英语二轮复习阅读理解与阅读填空专项训练15 Ⅰ.阅读理解 A Mom was right！If you say thank you，for even the smallest gift or slightest show of kindness，you’ll feel happy. Gratitude(感谢)，says Robert A．Emmons，a professor of psychology at the University of California，is an important element of happiness.In his recent book，Thanks！，Emmons uses the first major study on gratitude to prove mom’s point.In acknowledging and developing this much-ignored expression of thankfulness，he explains how people have benefited—even improved their health. As one of the leading scholars of the positive psychology movement，he admits gratitude may be difficult to express.He advises you to begin by admitting that life is good and full of events and elements that make daily existence a wonder.Second，recognize that the source of life’s goodness is more than just you.That source may be your mom，a friend，partner，child，colleague at work or play，or any combination of these. Gratitude is always other-directed，notes Emmons.You can be pleased or angry with yourself and feel guilty about doing something wrong，but you can never be grateful to or for yourself. Expressing gratitude shouldn’t be a reaction；it should be a state of mind.To feel grateful when life is a breeze and you have more than you need is easy.To feel grateful in time of crisis—anger，hatred and bitterness—is easier.Also，too many people are aware of life’s blessings only after these are lost.The voices expressing gratitude from his studies of individuals are many. It’s crisis and chaos—danger，disease，disability and death—that bring many individuals to realize just how dependent they are on others.Yet it’s the way each of us begins life and ends it.It’s too bad that so many people waste those decades in between labouring under the illusion(幻觉) they are self-sufficient，says Emmons. To enable and embrace gratitude，Emmons encourages the readers of Thanks! to keep a gratitude diary.He even provides easy-to-follow directions on how to practise and develop gratitude.