.
As a parent you have the responsibility to help your children understand money. But first you will need to understand your own attitude towards money, and make sure to practise what you teach.
Ask yourself what things that cost money are the most important to you. Also ask yourself what financial goals do you have for yourself and your family this year, in five years, and so on?
Take a minute to write down a list. Below are some ideas to get you started. There’s no right or wrong here. This exercise is just to help you grasp what money means to you so that you can help your children understand your values.
◆ Home
◆ Household expenses
◆ Education
◆ Recreation, entertainment
◆ Savings
◆ Charitable contributions
You can start discussing money when your children are as young as three years old. The best time to teach a child anything is when he or she shows an interest. So he prepared to start talking about money when your child starts asking you to buy candy or toys.
Begin by showing how money is exchanged for items or services. Show your children how money works by allowing them to buy something, such as a toy or a book.
Be open and honest, and explain to your children why they can or cannot have certain items. If you must say no to a child’s request to spend money, you might say, “You have enough toy trucks now.” Or, if the request is for multiple items, “You have a choice to make, between this toy and that one.”
You can start explaining the bigger picture once your children understand the basic function of money. Show an older child how money is used to provide for the whole family.
45. Why should parents understand their own money attitudes first?
A. To help their children earn money. B. To set an exampel to their children.
C. To help them set financial goals. D. To help them tell right from wrong.
46. Which of the following is NOT one of the major categories of things that cost money listed in the article?
A. Travel and investments. B. Household expenses.
C. Education and entertainment. D. Savings and charitable contributions.
47. Which of the following is NOT a way to teach the children about money?
A. Showing how money is exchanged.
B. Allowing children to buy whatever they like.
C. Explaining the limits involved in using money.
D. Having an open discussion about money.
48. According to the passage, when should parents start teaching a child about money?
A. When the child can understand its basic function.
B. When the child can understand how money is used to provide for the whole family.
C. When the child knows how to support a family.
D. As young as three, or when they start showing an interest.
B
Scientists have devised a way to determine roughly where a person has lived using a strand (缕) of hair, a technique that could help track the movements of criminal suspects or unidentified murder victims.
The method relies on measuring how chemical variations in drinking water show up in people’s hair.
“You’re what you eat and drink, and that’s recorded in your hair,” said Thure Ceiling, a geologist at the University of Utah.
While U.S. diet is relatively identical, water supplies vary. The differences result from weather patterns. The chemical composition of rainfall changes slightly as rain clouds move.
Most hydrogen and oxygen atoms in water are stable, but traces of both elements are also present as heavier isotopes (同位素). The heaviest rain falls first. As a result, storms that form over the Pacific deliver heavier water to California than to Utah.
Similar patterns exist throughout the U.S. By measuring the proportion of heavier hydrogen and oxygen isotopes along a strand of hair, scientists can construct a geographic timeline. Each inch of hair corresponds to about two months.
Cerling’s team collected tap water samples from 600 cities and constructed a map of the regional differences. They checked the accuracy of the map by testing 200 hair samples collected from 65 barber shops.
They were able to accurately place the hair samples in broad regions roughly corresponding to the movement of rain systems.
“It’s not good for pinpointing (精确定位),” Ceding said. “It’s good for eliminating many possibilities.”
Todd Park, a local detective, said the method has helped him learn more about an unidentified woman whose skeleton was found near Great Salt Lake.
The woman was 5 feet tall. Police recovered 26 bones, a T-shirt and several strands of hair.
When Park heard about the research, he gave the hair samples to the researchers. Chemical testing showed that over the two years before her death, she moved about every two months.
She stayed in the Northwest, although the test could not be more specific than somewhere between eastern Oregon and western Wyoming.
“It’s still a substantial area,” Park said. “But it narrows it way down for me.”
61. According to the passage scientists’ new discovery is that .
A. One’s hair growth has to do with the amount of water they drink.
B. A person’s hair may reveal where they have lived.
C. Hair analysis accurately identifies criminal suspects.
D. The chemical composition of hair varies from person to person.
62. The underlined sentence “You’re what you eat and drink” (Line 1, Para. 3) means .
A. Food and drink affect one’s personality development.
B. Food and drink preferences vary with individuals.
C. Food and drink leave traces in one’s body tissues.
D. Food and drink are indispensable to one’s existence.
63. Which of the following is true of the rainfall in America’s West?
A. There is much more rainfall in California than in Utah.
B. The water it delivers becomes lighter when it moves inland.
C. Its chemical composition is less stable than in other areas.
D. It gathers more light isotopes as it moves eastward.
64. Cerling’s team produced__________in their research?
A. a map showing the regional differences of tap water
B. a collection of hair samples from various barber shops
C. a method to measure the amount of water in human hair
D. a chart illustrating the movement of the rain system
65. What is the practical value of Cerling’s research?
A. It helps analyze the quality of water in different regions.
B. It helps the police determine where a crime is committed.
C. It helps the police narrow down possibilities in detective work.
D. It helps identify the drinking habits of the person under investigation.
PART THREE: READING COMPREHENSION (30分)
Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
A
At dawn on Friday, May 19, 1780, farmers in New England stopped to wonder at the pink color of the sun. By noon the sky had darkened to midnight blackness, causing Americans, still in the painful struggle of a prolonged war of independence, to light candles and tremble at thoughts of the Last Judgment. As the birds quieted and no storm accompanied the darkness, men and women crowded into churches, where one minister commented that “The people were very attentive.” John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that “Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp . . .”
A recent study of researchers, led by Richard Guyette from the University of Missouri’s Tree Ring Laboratory, has shown that vast forest fires in the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada brought this event upon New England. The scientists have discovered “fire scars” on the rings for that year, left when the heat of a wildfire has killed a part of a tree’s cambium (形成层). Evidence collected also points to a drought that year. An easterly wind and low barometric pressure (低气压) helped force smoke into the upper atmosphere. “The record fits pretty close,” says Guyette. “We had the right fuel, the drought. The conditions were all there.”
Lacking the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, Americans in 1780 remained in the dark about the event, which had disappeared by the next day. Over the next several months, the papers carried heated debates about what brought the darkness. Some were the voices of angry prediction, such as one Massachusetts farmer who wrote, “Oh! Backsliding New-England, attend now to the things which belong to your peace before they are forever hid from your eyes.” Others gave different answers. One stated that a “flaming star” had passed between the earth and the sun. Ash, argued another commentator. The debate, carried on throughout New England, where there were no scientific journals or academies yet, reflected an unfolding culture of scientific enquiry already sweeping the Western world, a revolution nearly as influential as the war for independence from the English.
New Englanders would not soon forget that dark day; it lived on in folklore, poems, and sermons for generations.
56. New Englanders crowded into churches because they were frightened by .
A. the pink color of the sun B. the darkened sky at daytime
C. the Last Judgment on Friday D. the American War of Independence
57. What can we infer about the event in New England on May 19, 1780?
A. Prayers remained silent and attentive.
B. Night birds no longer came out to sing.
C. People’s ears became sharper than usual.
D. Midday meals were served by candlelight.
58. According to the researchers, the origin of the event was .
A. an east wind B. a severe drought
C. some burning fuel D. low barometric pressure
59. What can we know about the debates after the dark day?
A. They focused on causes of the event.
B. They swept throughout the Western world.
C. They were organized by scientific institutions.
D. They improved Americans’ ability to communicate.
60. What can be the best title for the text?
A. New England’s dark day. B. Voices of angry prediction.
C. There is no smoke without fire. D. Tree rings and scientific discovery.
D
A wallet misplaced during a romantic embrace has been returned to its forgetful owner after 55 years.
Two classic car collectors from the US state of Idaho found the wallet after it fell out of the back of a vintage(旧式的)car they were planning to restore.After an Internet search they found and contacted the owner,Glenn Goodlove.Mr.Goodlove said he probably lost the wallet in the back seat of his 1946 Hudson car when he was home on leave from the US Navy.
Jon Beck,61,and Chuck Merrill,72,bought the now-vintage vehicle in Idaho after placing an ad in a local newspaper to buy a classic car in need of restoration.Driving the car home after buying it,the collectors stopped at a restaurant and saw something from below the back seat.
“Like a couple of kids,we thought we had a goldmine,”Mr.Beck said.Instead,they found some small change--the leather wallet held a$10 bill,Mr.Goodlove’s military ID, his social security card,his driver's license and several jewellery receipts from 1952.But they were all in the name of Glenn Putnam.
After searching online,Mr.Beck discovered that Mr.Putnam had changed his name to Glenn Goodlove and moved to San Diego,California.He called Mr.Goodlove,asking to speak to a man who used to drive a’46 Hudson.
“There was a silence for about 15 seconds,”Mr.Beck told the Twin Falls Times-News.“Then he said,‘Who is that?”Mr.Goodlove,now 75,says he did not even remember losing the wallet,but the find has brought memories of his youth in Everett,Washington,flooding back.“I could see the house and the car and the town and all the good stuff from living there”’he said.“They’ve been flowing ever since he talked to me.”
67.The lost wallet contained all the following EXCEPT.
A.some money B.some jewellery
C.some receipts D.some cards
68.Which of the following happened last?
A.The vintage car was purchased.
B.An advertisement was placed.
C.Mr.Goodlove’s name was changed.
D.Some personal belongings were found.
69.What difference did the wallet make to Glenn?
A.He gained unexpected wealth. B.He got back his lost car as well.
C.He improved his poor memory a lot. D.He recalled what had long been forgotten.
70.The most proper title for the passage is.
A.A Forgetful Wallet OwnerB.Two Car Collectors and a Good Deed
C.Price Paid for Romance D.Lost Wallet Found after 55 Years
C
Zanzibar,Tanzania--Hundreds of dead dolphins were washed up on Friday along the shore of a popular tourist place on Tanzania’s northern coast.Scientists have ruled out poisoning.
It was not immediately clear what killed the 400 dolphins,whose dead bodies lied along a 4-kilometer coast of Nungwi,said Narriman Jidawi,a marine biologist at the Institute of Marine Science in Zanzibar.But the bottleneck dolphins,which live in deep offshore waters,had empty stomachs,meaning they could have got lost and had been swimming for some time to reorient themselves.They did not die of hunger and were not poisoned,Jidawi said.
In the US,experts were looking into the possibility that sonar(声呐)from the US submarine could have caused a similar incident in Marothon,Florida,where 68 deep-water dolphins stranded(搁浅)themselves in March 2005.
The deaths are a blow to the tourism industry in Zanzibar,where thousands of visitors go to watch and swim with dolphins.Villagers,fishermen and hotel residents found the dead bodies and told officials.Mussa Aboud,Zanzibar’s director of fisheries,went on state radio to warn the public against eating the dolphins’meat,saying the cause of death had not been found.
The Indo-Pacific bottlenose,commonly known as dolphins,are the most common species in Zanzibar’s coastal waters,with bottlenose and humpback dolphins often found in mixed-species groups.
63.According to the passage,the bottleneck dolphins.
A.are often attacked by submarine in deep water
B.find it hard to find enough food near the coast
C.often fall ill along the shore of a tourist place
D.1ike living in the deep waters near the coast
64.The underlined word“reorient”means.
A.lose their way B.find their way
C.look for food D.fight against enemies
65.What can we infer from the passage?
A.The dolphins died because of the sonar from US submarines.
B.The dead dolphins can not be eaten as they are poisonous.
C.The US experts are researching sonar at present.
D.The ability of locating is extremely important for dolphins.
66.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.400 dolphins died along the coast of Nungwi.
B.Dolphins are facing increased risk of death.
C.It’s necessary for us to protect dolphins.
D.Nungwi is famous for many dolphins there.
B
WASHINGTON--President Bush plans to meet next week with top Pentagon and State Department officials, and hopes to offer a revised Iraq plan within two weeks, aides (政府官员的副手)said Friday.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today Bush wants to give a major speech on Iraq before Christmas, "but that is not set in stone."
At a morning meeting with congressional leaders, Bush said, "We talked about the need for a new way forward in Iraq."
Bush will visit the State Department on Monday and meetings with military officials will follow over the next two days, according to a tentative White House schedule. All are involved in an ongoing administration review of the situation in Iraq.
"These are deliberative(慎重的) meetings and discussions," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "They will inform the president's thinking, and he will inform their thinking."
Bush said he is also reviewing the Iraq Study Group report released Wednesday. Its suggestions include withdrawing US troops by early 2008, conditions permitting, and a new diplomatic(外交的) effort including Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria.
The president said he also wanted the troops home too, but not until the new Iraq government can sustain(支撑) itself. He expressed skepticism(怀疑态度) about possible talks with Iran and Syria, saying they must stop efforts to undermine(削弱) Iraq's fledgling(年轻的) democracy.
60. The word “revised” in Paragraph One can be replaced by "_______".
A. rewriting B. changed C. important D. directed
61. The word "that" in Paragraph Two refers to ________.
A. President Bush plans to meet next week with top Pentagon and State Department officials
B. the thing that President Bush hopes to offer a revised Iraq plan within two weeks
C. what White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today
D. the thing that President Bush wants to give a major speech on Iraq before Christmas
62. The last paragraph shows us that _____.
A. President Bush wants to have a talk with Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria
B. Bush will make his troops go home unless the new Iraq government can sustain itself
C. Bush will make his troops go home if the new Iraq government can sustain itself
D. President Bush is sure to have a talk with Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria