An allowance is an important tool for teaching kids how to budget, save and make their own decisions. Children remember and learn from mistakes when their own dollars are lost or spent foolishly.
How large an allowance is appropriate? Experts say there is not right amount. Actual amounts differ from region to region, and from family to family.
To set an appropriate allowance for your child, work up a weekly budget. Allow for entertainment expenditures such as movies and snacks. Next, include everyday expenses such as lunch money, bus fare, school supplies. "If you make the child responsible for these ‘ ills’," says Josephine Swanson, a consumer specialist, " he or she will learn to budget for necessary expenditures."
Finally, add some extra money to make saving possible. If you can, keep your child’s allowance in line with that of his friends. A child whose purchasing power falls away below his peers’ can feel left out.
It can be tough, but avoid excusing your children when they make a mistake with their allowance. When Brooke Stephens was ten and growing up in Jacksonville, her mother gave her $5 a week, $1.75 of which was for bus fare and lunch." If you lose your money," Brooke’s mother told her, "you walk home."
One week the girl spent all her allowance in a candy store, then she called home for a ride. " Mom made me walk home," recalls Stephens, now a financial planner in Brooklyn. " At first I was angry. But I finally realized that she was trying to teach me an important lesson. "
Experts advise that an allowance should not be tied directly to a child’s daily chores. Kids should help around the house not because they get paid for it but because they share responsibilities as members of a family. You might, however, pay a child for doing extra jobs at home, which can develop his or her initiative.
63. Which of the following is the possible title of the passage?
A. How to develop a child’s initiative.
B. How to work up an amount of pocket money.
C. How to teach a child to save money.
D. How to teach a child about money.
64. It can be inferred from the passage that if a child is given an allowance, he or she may ________.
A. spend all the money very soon
B. be spoiled and finally ruined
C. feel responsible and careful about money
D. lost the money and can not return home
65. In Paragraph 4, the words “his peers” refer to ________.
A. his parents B. his teachers C. his financial experts D. his friends
66. The author implies in the passage that ________.
A. paying children for their housework is no good
B. a child’s initiative can be developed if he or she is paid for all the housework
C. children may feel lost and lonely if they have no pocket money
D. children may learn to put aside some money if they are given a great amount of pocket money
With the development of the Internet, it has resulted in a huge increase in credit-card fraud. Your card information could even be for sale in an illegal web site.
Web sites offering cheap goods and services should be regarded with care.
On-line shoppers who enter their credit-card information may never receive the goods they thought they bought. The thieves then go shopping with your card number — or sell the information over the Internet. Computers hackers have broken down security systems, raising questions about the safety of cardholder information. Several months ago, 25, 000 customers of CD Universe , an on-line music retailer(零售商), were not lucky. Their names, addresses and credit-card numbers were posted on a Web site after the retailer refused to pay US $157, 828 to get back the information.
Credit-card firms are now fighting against on-line fraud. MasterCard is working on plans for Web — only credit card, with a lower credit limit. The card could be used only for shopping on-line. However, there are a few simple steps you can take to keep from being cheated.
Ask about your credit-card firm’s on-line rules: Under British law, cardholders have to pay the first US $78 of any fraudulent(欺骗性的) spending.
And shop only at secure sites; Send your credit-card information only if the Web site offers advanced secure system.
If the security is in place, a letter will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. The Website address may also start https: //—the extra “s” stands for secure. If in doubt, you’re your credit-card information over the telephone.
Keep your password safe: Most on-line sites require a user name and password before placing an order. Treat your passwords with care.What is the meaning of “fraud”?
| A．Safety. | B．Sale. | C．Payment. | D．Cheating. |
What do most people worry about the Internet according to this passage?
| A．Fraud on the Internet. |
| B．Many Web sites are destroyed. |
| C．Many illegal Web sites are on the Internet. |
| D．A lot of stolen credit-cards were sold on the Internet. |
How can the thieves get the information of the credit card?
| A．The customers give them the information. |
| B．The thieves steal the information from Web sites. |
| C．The customers sell the information to them. |
| D．The thieves buy the information from credit-card firms. |
You are shopping on the site: http: // www. Shopping. com, and you want to buy a TV set, what does this article suggest you do?
| A．Order the TV set at once. |
| B．Do not buy the TV set on this site. |
| C．E-mail the site your credit-card information. |
| D．Tell the site your password and buy the TV set for you. |
How many pieces of advice does the passage give to you?
| A．six. | B．three. | C．Five. | D．four. |
Nowadays, more and more teenagers use smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices more than ever before. And the amount of time they spend on these devices is only likely to increase in the future. But are all these changes good?
We sometimes call children who are able to use mobile devices and technology easily digital natives. They can text, email, get Wi-Fi, and download. Some experts say that long periods of time spent chatting to friends online, playing video games and listening to mp3s, for example, may possibly change how their brains work.
Then there is the question of privacy. All this online activity creates a digital footprint. Every time we share a photo or a post on social media, and every time we search for something on the Internet, information about our activity is stored somewhere.
Our inability to control what happens to our children's digital footprint and their personal privacy has big possibilities. It might become normal for companies to ask their employees for their social media qualifications. We are also becoming more aware that companies and governments may be able to 'listen in' on our communications. So it is important to make our children aware of the possible results of over sharing.
Another area where the digital world may have a big effect is in education. One worry is that kids who spend a lot of time online at home are sometimes unable to socialize properly with other children when they are at school. Other experts point out that, when it comes to children and technology, the children are the experts, not the teachers. They say that we should stop seeing online as 'bad' and offline as 'good' and there is evidence of innovative work in some schools.
So, do we really need to rescue our children from the dangers of the digital world?Which of the following can summarize the main idea of the text?
| A．Do we need to rescue our kids from the digital world? |
| B．Should children learn to use digital technology? |
| C．Are there changes in children’s school life? |
| D．Should teachers accept changes in our life? |
According to the second paragraph, what is the possible effect of digital childhood?
| A．Children can grow up quickly. |
| B．Children can read texts fluently. |
| C．Children’s way of thinking may be changed. |
| D．Children may become mentally disabled. |
All the following may happen to our digital footprints EXCEPT________
| A．When surfing the Internet, our digital footprints are saved. |
| B．Some business societies may take advantage of the information. |
| C．Government may look into our communication through the Internet. |
| D．Digital pictures may be printed by our computer automatically. |
Why are many teachers doubtful about digital technology?
| A．Because some students can not do well in studies. |
| B．Because some teachers haven’t changed for years. |
| C．Because some students addicted to digital technology can not socialize well. |
| D．Because some teachers addicted to tradition technology cannot teach well. |
As we all know, millions of people worldwide cook their food over smoky fire every day. It is often difficult to find wood for the fire. People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel. However, there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun.
Solar cooker, or ovens, have been used for centuries. A Swiss scientist made the first solar oven in seventeen sixty-seven. Today, people are using solar cookers in many countries around the world. People use solar ovens to cook food and to heat drinking water to kill bacteria and other harmful organisms.
There are three kinds of solar ovens. The first is a box cooker, It is designed with a special wall that shines or reflects sunlight into the box .Heat gets trapped under a piece of glass or plastic covering the top of the cooker. A box oven is effective for slow cooking of large amounts of food.
The second kind of solar oven is a panel cooker. It includes several flat walls or panels that directly reflect the sun’s light onto the food. The food is inside a separate container of plastic or glass that traps heat energy. People can build panel cookers quickly and with very few supplies. They do not cost much. In Kenya ,for example ,panel cookers are being manufactured for just two dollars.
The third kind of solar oven is a parabolic cooker. It has rounded walls that aim sunlight directly into the bottom of the oven .Food cooks quickly in parabolic ovens .However, these cookers are hard to make. They must be re-aimed often to follow the sun .Parabolic cookers can also cause burns and eye injuries if they are not used correctly.
You can make solar ovens from boxes or heavy paper. They will not catch fire. Paper burns at two hundred thirty-two degrees Celsius. A solar cooker never gets that hot. Solar ovens cook food at low temperatures over long periods of time. This permits people to leave food to cook while they do other things.If you have much food to cook , you’d better choose________ .
| A．a box cooker | B．a panel cooker |
| C．a parabolic cooker | D．a paper cooker |
According to the passage we can conclude that ______.
| A．panel cooker is easy to make |
| B．box cooker is easy to make |
| C．box cooker is the most effective oven |
| D．panel cooker is the cheapest oven of the three |
What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage?
| A．To advertise the solar ovens. |
| B．To help readers to save cost on fuel. |
| C．To tell the readers how to make solar ovens. |
| D．To give the readers brief introduction of solar ovens. |
Myth: If you cut your hair, it will grow long faster.
Truth: That’s not true. “Your hair isn’t like a lawn or a rosebush, where cutting can stimulate fresh growth,” says Phillip Kingsley. The length of your hair is genetically determined. When it reaches a certain length, it stops growing. When you clear up the dead split ends, this make your hair look healthier, but not necessarily longer.
Myth: If you skip meals, you lose weight fast.
Truth: There’s no truth in this advice. Not only will you lose weight by starving yourself, but according to Carol Ann Rinzler, this may actually cause you to gain weight. Rinzler reasons that missing a meal causes your metabolism(新陈代谢) to slow down so that you burn food more slowly. This only makes you feel hungrier and by the time you finally do reach the table you will probably eat more food. Strange as it may seem, studies show that eating several small meals and snacks throughout the day is a more healthy way to lose pounds.
Myth: If you swallow gum，it will stay inside your stomach for seven years.
Truth: Actually, it takes just a few days for gum to make its exit---not seven years, says NeiIzenberg, M. D., editor of Kids Health Organization. But because gum is made of the same thing as rubber, it cannot be fully digested in your stomach--- so if you gum up the works on a regular basis, you might find yourself in a sticky situation.
Myth: The best way to stop a nosebleed is to lift your head back.
Truth: Now that’s bad advice. Bloody noses are caused by broken blood vessels, so while lifting your head back might stop the fluid from rushing out of your nose, it won’t stop the bleeding; you’ll just end up swallowing lots of blood. Your best bet? “Rest quietly. Don’t poke or pick, and the blood will naturally clot (凝结) within a minute or two”. Suggests Dr. Izenberg.The length of your hair is determined by ________
| A．cutting it often | B．your gene |
| C．the food you eat | D．clearing up the dead split ends |
According to Carol Ann Rinzler, skipping meals will __________.
| A．help you lose weight fast |
| B．help you lose weight slowly |
| C．cause you to become fatter |
| D．make you burning food more quickly |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Gum cannot be fully digested in the stomach |
| B．Gum can stay inside your stomach for seven years if you swallow it |
| C．Gum can leave your stomach after you swallow in a few days later |
| D．If you often swallow gum, you might find yourself in a sticky situation |
A long time before I was born, my grandma and grandpa had a young family of four little girls. During the Great Depression (大萧条时期), work was hard to find, so Grandpa did whatever jobs he could. On weekends he and Grandma dug a garden to grow some of their own food.
Everybody worked to keep the garden growing. All summer long, the family ate food and enjoyed flowers from the garden. Grandma put up strawberry jam, tomatoes, beans, peppers, pears and peaches in canning jars. They were good to eat through the long winter.
The family grew up, and grandparents grew old. It became hard to keep up the garden, so they made it a little smaller. There was still plenty to eat from the garden and lovely flowers to enjoy.
Then one summer when Grandpa was eighty-nine years old, all he could do was watch from his lawn chair as the vegetables grew and the roses bloomed. Summer slowly faded, and Grandpa died before it was time to bring in the harvest.
It was a lonely winter for Grandma. She sat near the window, looking out at the yard and wondering if she could plant a garden in the spring. When spring came, she planted only a little garden.
One sunny day in the early summer, Grandma heard a commotion (骚动) in the front yard and looked out the window to see a frightening sight. A huge swarm of bees filled the air between two tall trees. The buzzing sound was very loud.
The bees made their way into a hole up in one of the trees. Before long, every one of those bees had disappeared into its new home. During the next few days, the bees were busy minding their own business. Grandma could always see a few bees buzzing in and out around the opening high in the tree. Before long, she decided the bees weren’t bothering anyone, so she didn’t give them another thought.
That summer, Grandma’s little garden grew and grew. The neighbors would stop to admire the huge crop of vegetables and puzzle over their own gardens weren’t doing well.
One day, Grandma’s brother Frank visited from Arizona. As Grandma made Frank a delicious lunch of squash cakes and homemade applesauce, she told him the story about the swarm of bees. Frank said, “In Arizona, the farmers often hired beekeepers to set up beehives near their fields. The bees pollinated (授粉) the crops and helped them to grow.”
That was when Grandma realized that her bees had helped with her garden all summer. “So that’s why my little garden had such a big crop!” she exclaimed.
From that time on, Grandma always believed that since Grandpa couldn’t be there to help her that summer, he had sent the bees to take his place and make Grandma’s little garden grow and grow.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The garden was dug by Grandparents during the Great Depression. |
| B．The garden provided enough food and flowers for the family. |
| C．The garden was made smaller as Grandparents grew older. |
| D．The garden once lay in waste after Grandpa passed away. |
It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
| A．Grandma was too busy to hire someone to deal with the bees. |
| B．Grandma felt very lonely and helpless when Grandpa passed away. |
| C．Frank hired beekeepers to help Grandma keep the garden growing. |
| D．Grandpa turned into bees to help Grandma keep up the garden. |
The method the author uses in the underlined sentence is _______.
| A．offering analyses | B．providing explanations |
| C．making comparison | D．giving examples |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Grandpa’s Bees | B．Grandparents’ Garden |
| C．The Harvest of Summer | D．The Secret of the Garden |