How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and the old wishing they were young again! Each age has its pleasure and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each agc gives him without wasting any time in uselcss regrets.
Children is a time when there are few duties to make life hard. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after, and loved whatever he may do. It’s impossible for him to be given so much again in his life without having to do anything in return. Besides, life is always giving new things to the child. A child finds pleasure in playing in the rain, or in the snow. His first visit to the seaside makes him wild. But a child has his pains; he is not so free to do as he wishes. He is continually being told not to do this, not to do that, or being punished for what he has done wrong. His life is therefore not perfectly happy.
When the young man starts to make his own living, he becomes free from the rules of school and parents; but at the time he is forced to accept duties. He can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the law of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison, lf, however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble, and has good health, he can have the great happiness of seeing himself make steady pro-gress in his job and of building up his own position in society.
Old age has always been thought of as the worst age to be, but it is not necessary for the old to be unhappy. With old age should come wisdom and tile ability to help others with advice wisely given. They can have the joy of seeing their Children making progress in life; they can watch their grandchildren growing up around them and, perhaps, best of all, they can, if their life has been a useful one, feel the happiness of having come through the battle of life safely and of having reached a time when they can lie back and rest, leaving others to continue the fight.
小题1:The main reason children wish they were grown up, and the old wish they were young again is that ______.
A．both aren’t satisfied with the weak points at their ages
B．both enjoy the strong points at the other age by looking back or looking forward
C．the human beings should be like this
D．they don’t think both ages are acceptable小题2:“Enjoy what 
each age gives him without wasting time in useless regrets” means ______.
A．Enjoy what is given to him by people at his age, feeling regrets
B．Enjoy himself at his own age, feeling regrets for a waste of time
C．Make full use of the time he is given at his age instead of regretting having no achievements
D．Enjoy his own age and took down on the people at other ages小题3:“Children is a time when there are few duties to make life hard” means “______”.
A．Children shouldn’t be made to live a hard life
B．All the children won’t have to work for their own living
C．Children shouldn’t answer for the hard life they are leading
D．A child bas few duties to try hard to make a living for himself or for his seniors小题4: According to the passage, what is a child’s greatest dissatisfaction?
A．He thinks he has not got the equal freedom as his seniors.
B．He thinks he knows less about things than the older do.
C．He thinks it easy for him to do something wrong.
D．He thinks the society doesn’t believe in him.
