2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. objected       B. choices       C. inequality       D. combination          E. paid        F. respond G. personality          H. fade       I. reduce       J. inherited       K. environmental

What makes us happy?

You probably know the type of personality in some people: they seem to be hopeful in almost everything. Are they simply born happy? Is it the product of their environment? Or does it come from their life decisions?

If you are familiar with genetics research, you will have guessed that it is a     1     of all three. A 2018 study of 1516 Norwegian twins suggests that around 30% of the differences in people’s life satisfaction is     2    . Much of this seems to be related to personality traits.

To put this in context, the heritability of IQ is thought to be around 80%, so     3     factors clearly play a role in our happiness. These include our physical health, the size and strength of our social network, job opportunities and income. It seems that the absolute value of our salary matters less than whether we feel richer than those around us, which may explain why the level of       4     predicts happiness better than GDP.

Interestingly, many important life     5     have only a little influence on our happiness. Consider marriage. A 2019 study found that, on average, life satisfaction does rise after the wedding, but the feeling of happiness tends to     6     over middle age.

Parenthood is even more complex. For decades, social scientists have found that people with children at home are significantly less happy than those without. More recent research, however, suggests that there are important regional differences.

Analyses show that these differences can be almost completely explained by variations in       7     parental leave, flexible working hours, affordable childcare and holiday leave, which together     8     the potential for work-family conflict. The effects of these policies may play out across generations. In addition to the legacy of their genes, parents’ own emotional well-being will influence the family vigour, which will, in turn, shape the     9     of their children.

Our life satisfaction, then, is shaped by our genes, health, economic prospects, relationships and the culture around us. While many of these things may be beyond your control, there is now good evidence that certain psychological strategies will help you to     10     to your circumstances in the happiest way possible.

3 . The Sahara desert has a variable temperature, ________ from being extremely hot during the day to freezing cold at night.

A．ranging

B．mixing

C．fading

D．fleeing

4 . It had been almost a year since Bruno had come home to find Maria packing his things, and his memories of life in Berlin had almost all f_________ (逐渐消失) away. (根据中英文提示单词拼写)

6 . 不论光线多么柔和，它仍然会使每个房间的地毯和窗帘褪色。(fade) （汉译英）

7 . Fill in each blank with a word from the box in its proper form.

confuse   fade   tear   deliver   fault   panic shrug   likely   dramatically   amaze

1. Children who do volunteer work are ________ to grow up to be caring adults.
2. I don’t think we have met before. You must be ________ me with someone else.
3. Faced with two alternatives, most people find themselves ________ between them.
4. He kept signalling and ________ at me, but I always looked confused.
5. Languages have also changed ________ with the development of the Internet.
6. Some people ________ from our memory when they die, but he will always be with us in mind.
7. There was a(n)________ when the building caught fire last weekend.
8. There was not a single thing about the famous actress that one could find ________ with.
9. Much to my ________, that boy was able to recite the whole text from memory.
10. The responsible mailman ________ letters and parcels every morning.

9 . He waited anxiously for hours for a signal from his partner, yet nothing turned up. His hope was _________.

A．translating

B．memorizing

C．tearing

D．fading

10 . The Web is a minefield (雷区) where you can literally be bullied to death via social media, and a loose text can ______ your reputation.

A．appoint

B．limit

C．ruin

D．fade