1 . The best TED Talks on gratitude (感激)

David Steindl-Rast: Want to be happy? Be grateful

This 15-minute talk, from “monk and interfaith scholar” David Steindl-Rast, discusses gratitude and specifically its relationship to happiness. In the talk, Steindl-Rast argues that: “it is not happiness that makes us grateful” but “gratefulness that makes us happy”.

Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

This 10-minute talk comes from photographer Louie Schwartzberg, with the aid from the above-mentioned Steindl-Rast. In the talk, Schwartzberg presents some of his photographs of nature and explains how they can lead to feelings of gratitude with a story about life from a child’s perspective (视角) as well as life from an elderly man’s perspective.

Brian Doyle: 365 Days of Thank You

This 8-minute talk comes from Brian Doyle, who discusses how a near-death experience led him to start thinking about the role of gratitude in his life. Specifically, Doyle made a commitment to sincerely thank one person in his life every single day for a full year. This short talk is not just an inspiring story but might cause the viewers to consider how they can be grateful in their daily lives.

Hailey Bartholomew: 365 Grateful Project

This 12-minute talk from Hailey Bartholomew is, like Doyle’s, centered on a daily, year-long project. Unlike Doyle’s, however, Bartholomew’s focuses on photography and using photography to find gratitude in her life every day. Photographers who enjoyed Schwartzberg’s TED Talk should give this one a watch, as should anyone who wants to go through a similar project to find the gratitude in their own lives.

1. What makes people happy according to David Steindl-Rast?

A．Beauty.

B．Gratitude.

C．Nature.

D．Faith.

2. What can we know about Brian Doyle’s talk?

A．It shows many pictures.	B．It’s based on a year-long project.
C．It’s the shortest of all the talks.	D．It tells about a child’s experience.

3. In which column of a website can you read the passage?

A．Education.

B．Opinion.

C．History.

D．Lifestyle.

2 . Could J. K. Rowling please leave Harry Potter in peace? 2010 was a good time to move on. We all know that Harry Potter’s last adventures hit the bookstore in 2007, and three years later the Warner Bros adaptations ran their course in cinema, too. For many fans, the young wizard had worked his magic through most of their childhood. But in 2018, a new Harry Potter extended universe film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crime of Grindelwald, was out.

I love Harry Potter series and I always will. It’s all there in my memory: I remember the first delight at reading “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal”. The wizarding treasure hunt, thrown by my parents for my ninth birthday with my dad dressed as Hagrid in the garden, was so clear in my mind. I remember deciphering (破译) my copy of the Deathly Hallows, the first book I read in English, and having to check the French for “wand”. The 2001 trip to the cinema to see Philosopher’s Stone, and all the ones that followed are kept clearly.

However, someone needs to call a halt to the endless afterlife of Potter’s fictional universe. It was enough in the seven books and eight films. We didn’t and don’t need a community website, a theatre play, the printed script of said movie, and even more movies.

Rowling has created 21^st-century modern literary classic. I always look up to her as the textbook classy writer: respectfully drawing attention from readers, successful but wise enough to withdraw. She also cares much about the causes she holds dear. In 2011 alone, she donated 16% of her net worth to charities. Of all contemporary authors who hit gold, Rowling remains one of the very most inspirational.

The saddest thing is that Rowling helped with the writing of the Cursed Child. She regularly “revealed” new details about Potter’s magical world on Twitter. Today, I decided to give up: I don’t follow Rowling on Twitter. I don’t want to see the new film. Thank you, Joanne Kathleen Rowling. I have enough valued stories—I don’t need new ones any more.

1. The last book of Harry Potter series was published in ______ .

A．2007

B．2010

C．2011

D．2017

2. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that the author ______ .

A．felt rather easy to understand Harry Potter series

B．was quiet fond of Harry Potter series and its films

C．read Harry Potter series with the help of his parents

D．missed the time of watching Harry Potter movies with his parents

3. What does the underlined phrase “call a halt to” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Share.

B．Appreciate.

C．Stop.

D．Change.

4. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The talent J. K. Rowling has.

B．The author’s praise for J. K. Rowling.

C．The influence of J. K. Rowling’s works.

D．The author’s expectations of J. K. Rowling.