"How should I give my children pocket money?" is one of the most common questions asked by parents. "Should kids receive pocket money when they get high marks at school, or lose pocket money if they don’t help with the housework?" are also common questions.
Giving pocket money is an excellent way to develop children’s independence. Children should receive pocket money as their small share of the family wealth, and they should share in doing the housework as well.
Here are some ideas to help you use pocket money to develop your children’s independence.
Give pocket money regularly. Like adults, children should have a payday every week or two.
Link pocket money with ages and needs. Provide spending guidelines; don’t be afraid to let them know what you expect them to buy, and what not to. A child in preschool and lower primary school is sure to spend money on candies and other such things. But older children can be expected to buy their own lunches or bus tickets.
Teach kids to set their goals. Encouraging children to save money for big things like bikes can help them learn about planning ahead.
When given wisely, pocket money is an excellent way to develop children’s independence. But at some time, perhaps when a child turns fifteen, it needs to be reduced or eliminated in order to encourage the child to get a part-time job and begin to earn his own pocket money.
What is the author’s attitude towards giving children pocket money?
| A．Positive. | B．Indifferent(中立的). |
C．Negative. | D．Worried. |
According to the author, giving pocket money to children ______.
| A．is an excellent way to encourage them to study hard |
B．makes them learn to be more independent |
C．makes their parents worry less about them |
D．is a good way to make them do a lot of housework |
When giving pocket money to children, parents should ______.
| A．give them lots of money so that they can share the family wealth |
B．give it to them at regular times |
C．give every child the same amount |
D．let them spend it as they please |
What do we learn from the passage?
| A．Only children who help do the housework should get pocket money. |
B．Parents usually give more money to younger children. |
C．Parents should let children spend money on their own when they have money |
D．Children should find part-time jobs when they get old enough. |
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers（铜钱）.The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip（条）of vellum（牛皮纸）on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”!
The touchstone was a small pebble（小园石）that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was thi
s: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold-throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. 
The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant（警惕的）, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.The book was special to the man because ______.
| A．it was made of vellum |
| B．it was the only book that survived the great fire |
C．it was a story about how to tell th e touchstone from ordinary stones |
| D．it included the secret of the touchstone |
He threw pebbles into the sea ______.
| A．to test how far he could throw |
| B．to practice throwing pebbles |
| C．to avoid picking up the same pebble once again |
| D．to express his disappointment at failing to find the touchstone |
What message does the story want to convey?
| A．Careful habits can lead to success. |
| B．Habits can benefit you but also hold you back. |
| C．Never judge a person or a thing by appearances. |
D．Opportunity only visits the re ady and watchful mind |
A Train Floating On Air
A train that floats on air? It's not magic—it's magnets (磁).And it's close to reality.
In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus.In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power.And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport.
These trains use magnetic levitation (悬浮) technology, “maglev” for short. They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school: opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other.
How does it work?
Powerful magnets on the bottom of the train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way. With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past.
When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves. Turn the current backwards and the train slows down.
Maglev doesn't rely on the friction (摩擦力) of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train. And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop.
60. This passage is about __________.
A. maglev B. magnetsC. levitationD. electricity
61. Which of the following is a repelling action?
A. B. C. D.
62. What can we learn from the text?
A. A magnet-filled guiding way is formed inside a maglev train.
B. Instead of electricity, magnets are used as the power of a maglev.
C. Maglev trains can climb hills with the help of magnetwheels.
D. Electric currents decide
the movements of a maglev train.
63. What is the difference between a maglev train and an ordinary train?
A. A maglev train can climb mountains without power while an ordinary one can’t.
B. A maglev train can travel in college campus while an ordinary train is not allowed.
C. Travelling without a track, a maglev train is safer and smoother than an ordinary one.
D. Floating on a track, a maglev train is faster, quieter than an ordinary railway train.
It’s a goal for millions and millions of families every year——keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales.
No one wants to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it’s surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes——it can be well worth. Many retailers(零售商) offer specials all through the day——and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Pay close attention to advertisements.
Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online.
Some of us don’t like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don’t like to go out in the cold at all——thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.
The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what’s left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store.The first paragraph implies that ______.
| A．nowadays not many people can afford expensive gifts |
| B．recently many people don’t want to spend money on gifts |
| C．Christmas is a time to make our loved ones enjoy their gifts |
D．Christmas is a time to  make us feel free to buy our loved ones gifts |
In the writer’s opinion, it is rewarding on Black Friday _____.
| A．if the weather is not very cold | B．if we don’t have to fight for the best deals |
| C．if we don’t have to get up early | D．If we get what we want at a good price |
The underlined word “specials” means_______.
| A．some experts in shopping |
| B．certain things for especially low price |
| C．some kind of help for a certain customer |
| D．things that can only be found on Friday |
We can have more choices _____.
| A．on Black Friday | B．in a particular store |
| C．on the Internet | D．from retailers |
Children are our future, and it’s up to us to arm them with the tools to succeed. Sadly, today’s children are being armed with more dangerous tools like weapons （武器）, drugs and gangs. Once a relatively peaceful environment, many schoolyards of today are becoming unsafe for both students and teachers.
Home schools are available to give you choices. Home schooling provides top-quality education, flexibility, and freedom to create your own schedule. At Heritage Home School we believe the choice should be yours. Thanks in part to modern technology, home schooling information is becoming readily available across our nation. A recent study by the ITBS （Iowa Tests of Basic Skills） and TAP （Tests of Achievement and Proficiency） shows us that students of home schools do particularly well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject at every grade level, students of home schooling scored obviously higher than those in public and private schools.
If you’re new to home schooling, you may be asking yourself, “Will home schools really work for my children?”
Fact: A nationwide study using a random（任意）selection of 1,516 families found students of home schooling to be scoring, on average, at or above the 80th percentile in all areas on standardized achievement test.
Note: The national average on standardized achievement tests is the 50th percentile. Collectively, the staff at Heritage Home School brings 65 years of experience in home schooling curriculum. We’ve placed students in the top 2 % of the nation in math and many are successfully moving on to college.
One study found that of the home schooled adults, 0% were unemployed, 0% were on welfare and 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons. For more home schooling information, call us today toll free at（877）532-7665.We can learn from the first paragraph that ________.
| A．many schools armed their students with weapons |
| B．violence and crime exist in many schoolyards |
| C．students use weapons to defend their schoolyards |
| D．weapons are more dangerous than drugs |
All of the following are true of home schools EXCEPT that ________.
| A．students are free to choose their courses |
| B．students do well in important national tests |
| C．they help students find jobs |
| D．they help students to be independent |
What is the purpose of the text?
| A．To give information about different schools. |
| B．To compare home schools with other schools. |
| C．To suggest a new method of school education. |
| D．To persuade people to choose home schools. |
The advertisement is mainly aimed at ________.
| A．students | B．parents | C．teachers | D．adults |
There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external (外在的) result or a product that can easily be identified and measured．The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language—all these examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts．
By contrast (对照) , the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way．The process is not the road itself, but the attitudes, feelings people have , and their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected difficulties．In this process, the journey never really ends；there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept．
In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first．How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is necessary for our ability to grow．Do we see ourselves as quick and curious? If so, we tend to take more chances and be more open to unfamiliar experiences．Do we think we’re shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we are slow to adapt change or that we’re not smart enough to deal with a new challenge．Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all．
These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are
both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow．If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing．We become trapped inside a shell of our own making．In the author’s eye, one who views personal growth as a process would ______．
| A．succeed in climbing up the social ladder |
| B．grow up from his own achievements |
| C．face difficulties and take up challenges |
| D．aim high and reach his goal each time |
Which of the following can be viewed as the process of personal growing?
| A．Our manager was always willing to accept new challenges． |
| B．Jane won the first prize in the speech competition． |
| C．Jerry picked up French during his stay in Paris． |
| D．Father’s salary rose from 5, 000 to 7,000． |
For personal growth, the author is in favor of all the following EXCEPT _______．
| A．being curious about more changes |
| B．being quick in self-adaptation |
| C．having an open mind to new experiences |
| D．staying away from failures and challenges |
The best title for this passage should be ______．
A．Facing New Challenges B Growth—Product or Process
C．Two Basi
c Ways of Growth D Overcoming Internal Fear