Being young is great. Most of the parts of your body still work great, you have a full head of hair, you’re energetic, and you have a world of opportunity in front of you. However, there’s going to come a time when you start to get older. And as you get older, you’ll have new responsibilities, complete independence, and perhaps most importantly, less time to recover from mistakes.
You see, we all make mistakes in life. Maybe you spent more money than you should have on a car, you passed up on a great job opportunity, or you didn’t try as hard as you could have in school. It’s a part of life and we learn from it. But there are certain mistakes that are much better made while you’re still young and have plenty of time to recover.
I’m definitely not telling you that you should purposely go out and make these mistakes (because they’re a pain to recover from). But these are all mistakes that are much better made when you’re younger so that you can learn from them and not have them ruin your entire life.
Starting the wrong career
Wouldn’t you hate to be 45 years old and discover that you absolutely hate what you do for a living? It’s a reality that a lot of people face and it can be difficult to fix. You see, when you’re 23 and find out you don’t like the career path you’ve chosen, you can easily explore new career options.
We no longer live in an age when people are expected to stay with one company until they retire. You can bounce around a little bit and find out what you want to do. When you get older, just switching careers whenever you want isn’t as simple.
You have to consider your family, retirement, the difficulties you might run into with starting from the bottom in a new industry, and plenty of other issues that someone in their early 20’s just doesn’t have to deal with.
Dating the wrong person
The divorce rate in the U.S is extremely high. Other parts of the world aren’t doing too much better either. While everyone gets divorced for their own reasons, I think we can all agree that it’s better to find out that the person you’re with is wrong for you sooner rather than later.
Hopefully you find out whether or not the person you’re with is right for you before you tie the knot, because around 50% of first marriages end in divorce.
Messing up your credit
Ruining your credit is never a good idea. Even if you ruin it while you’re young, it could affect you in the future. The upside of having bad credit while you’re young instead of older is that you have time to build it back up.
It can take 7-10 years to rebuild your credit if you have a history of late payments, loan defaults, foreclosures, or bankruptcy. During those 7-10 years, you’ll have a hard time financing anything unless you have a cosigner or put down a substantial down payment.
Most people tend to make most of the bigger purchases in life when they get older such as a house or their dream car. If you have bad credit, you can kiss all of that goodbye.
Making bad investments
If you’re investing money for your retirement, making bad decisions can mean you’ll be working your entire life. Whether you choose to pay someone to do the investing for you or handle it all yourself, it’s a lot better to take risks when you’re younger.
If you invest in stock or even real estate while you’re young and the market takes a hit, you’re not ruined. Investing is a long-term venture, so the younger you start, the more fluctuation you can withstand and still come out with a positive return.
Blowing your money
What would you do if you went broke at 60 years old? You would be working your behind off when you really should be relaxing and getting ready to retire soon.
But if you’re 25 and broke, you still have plenty of time to earn more money. Also, nobody will judge you because it’s not unusual for people in their 20’s to not have money these days. You might have blown your money on a nice car or have an obsession with all the newest gadgets.
When you get older, you’ll be able to look back and realize how dumb you were for spending $20,000 on a brand new car when you were only 20 years old. But when you’re older and waste your money, you’ll REALLY have nothing to show for it.The following are all the advantages of being young EXCEPT ___________.
| A．you have more time to recover from mistakes |
| B．most of the parts of your body still work great |
| C．you have many responsibilities and complete independence |
| D．you have a world of opportunity in front of you |
You can bounce around a little bit and find out what you want to do. “Bounce” in this sentence is most similar in meaning to __________.
| A．My father would burst into the kitchen bouncing a football. |
| B．The wind was bouncing the branches of the big oak trees. |
| C．I was an army brat, I always bounced a lot when I was young |
| D．The ex-boxer's job is to bounce people who want to enter this private club. |
What does the author really mean by saying “it’s a lot better to take risks when you’re younger”?
| A．You should purposely go out and make these mistakes so that you can learn from them and not have them ruin your entire life. |
| B．There are certain mistakes that are much better made while you’re still young and have plenty of time to recover. |
| C．When you get older, you’ll have rich experiences to share with your friends and families however dumb you were |
| D．The younger you start, the fewer risks you can withstand and still come out with a positive return. |
We can infer from the passage that ___________.
| A．about 50% of first marriages end in divorce in the U.S, much higher than other parts of the world |
| B．never tie the knot before you make sure he or she will not divorce you |
| C．it usually takes 7-10 years to rebuild one’s credit if it is broken for any reason |
| D．it’s unusual for people in their 20’s to have money these days |
The author wrote this article mainly to tell the young ____________.
| A．if you are to take risks, the earlier, the better |
| B．it’s better for the young to take any risk than the older |
| C．that they should make big purchases such as a house when they get older |
| D．if you don’t take risks when young, your youth will be dumb |
Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling． Recycling in the home is very important of course． However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need． We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place．
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005． It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK． In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard．
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment． The UK, for example, is running out of areas for burying this unnecessary waste． If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect． Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy． The solution is not to produce such items in the first place． Food waste is a serious problem, too． Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need． However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example．
But this is not just about supermarkets． It is about all of us． We have learned to associate packaging with quality． We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality． This is especially true of food． But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary．
There are signs of hope． As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize just how much unnecessary material we are collecting． We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb．What does the underlined phrase “that over-consumption” refer to？
| A．Using too much packaging． |
| B．Recycling too many wastes． |
| C．Making more products than necessary． |
| D．Having more material than is needed． |
The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _____．
| A．the tendency of cutting household waste |
| B．the increase of packaging recycling |
| C．the rapid growth of supermarkets |
| D．the fact of packaging overuse |
According to the text, recycling ______．
| A．helps control the greenhouse effect |
| B．means burning packaging for energy |
| C．is the solution to gas shortage |
| D．leads to a waste of land |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality． |
| B．Supermarkets care more about packaging． |
| C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging． |
| D．Other products are better packaged than food． |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Fighting wastefulness is difficult． |
| B．Needless material is mostly recycled． |
| C．People like collecting recyclable wastes． |
| D．The author is proud of their consumer culture． |
The legal age for drinking alcohol in the Unite States is twenty-one. Underage drinking is a crime but also a common part of college social life. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we look at alcohol rules at American colleges and universities. These rules differ from school to school, but many schools have been moving to strengthen their rules.
The United States has more than 17,000,000 students in higher education. Each year, 1700 of them die from alcohol-related road crashes and other injuries. 600,000 more are injured while under the influence of alcohol. And almost 700,000 are attacked by another drunken.
One behavior that college officials are trying to prevent is too much drink. Some researchers have found that students who think binge drinking(狂饮) is normal often think extremely how much other students really drink. A person can die of alcohol poisoning. At Oklahoma University, a nineteen-year-old student died from drinking heavily at a party in 2005.
Now alcohol is banned from all sorority houses(联谊会会馆) and university housing. Student organizations can serve alcohol at events but only on Friday and Saturday nights. Other new requirements include an alcohol education program that first-year students take online.
The rules govern behavior on campus(大学校园)and off. With a first violation(违犯)，students pay seventy-five dollars and their parents are told. They must also take an alcohol education class. For a second “strike”, they have to pay one hundred fifty dollars. A third strike means that they have to be suspended school for at least one semester.
Since 2005,363 students have had a first strike. 30 have had a second strike-and only one hasn’t allowed to go to school for one semester. The president at Oklahoma tells us the aim is not just to punish but to change the behavior and culture at the university.The first paragraph mainly tells us that.
| A．the legal age at the lowest for drinking alcohol is 21 |
| B．many colleges consider drinking alcohol to be a crime |
| C．drinking alcohol is a necessary and popular campus culture |
| D．American colleges and universities have their own alcohol rules |
Every year the number of the students who die or are injured because of alcohol in the USA adds up to about.
| A．17,000,000 | B．1,301,700 | C．601,700 | D．1300,000 |
If a student has a third strike, he or she should.
| A．have to stop going to school for a time. |
| B．be removed to another school |
| C．be locked at home for a period. |
| D．be forced to leave school forever. |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．College students are not allowed to drink alcohol at any time. |
| B．If students take an alcohol program online, they can drink alcohol. |
| C．Students having a first strike only receive punishment of fine. |
| D．Students with a second strike pay twice as much as students with a first strike. |
From the last paragraph we can infer that.
| A．alcohol rules have no effect on college students |
| B．drinking alcohol remains a serious problem |
| C．alcohol rules aim to change the behavior and culture at the university |
| D．the number of students drinking alcohol is dropping in one way |
I'll be a photographer. I'm going to bring bits of Australia back home with me. I told myself this before, yet I feel so doubtful on this plane that's flying me thousands of miles away. I was so confident yesterday .But today I don't belong to this plane where men sit with briefcases reading newspapers. They're all adults.
I've never been out of the US. And now ,I'm traveling into Australia alone, a world I know nothing about. A part of me recognizes it as home.
I remember little about my mother, but I remember she had an Australian accent and golden hair. She wan fun and she would often take us to New Jersey beaches, where we would spend the whole day taking walks along the shore. My mom told me that in Australia, Christmas was always spent on the beach with friends and family, and everyone wore Santa hat with their bathing suits. It never got cold and bitter there. My mom was different and I was proud of her.
I don't know how she met my father. but after they met several years, they got married and moved into an apartment in New Jersey. Then I was born and we were a perfect family of three who went out to dinner and watched movies in the dark and loved each other.
I know things have been hard on my father since my Mom died years ago. It's hard for me, too, and I have to experience the wonderful place my mom grew up in and loved. My mom talked about Australia so much and now I have to see this place.
This is an adventure.How did the author feel when he was on the plane?
| A．Confident | B．Foolish |
| C．Doubtful | D．Childish |
The author traveled to Australia alone mainly because he wanted to__.
| A．search his fortune there | B．find more about his mother |
| C．look for his grandparents there | D．find more about this wonderful place |
The third paragraph is mainly concerned with__.
| A．the author's first impression of Australia |
| B．the author's brief impression of his mother |
| C．the reason why the author loved his mother |
| D．the difference between his mother and father |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The author writes this passage to honor his mother. |
| B．The author decides to learn taking photos in Australia. |
| C．The author had a good time when his mother was still alive. |
| D．The author didn't like to live with his father after his mother died. |
Where did the author most probably write this passage?
| A．In America. | B．In Australia. | C．At home | D．On the Plane |
The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.
Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true.
Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.
Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.
Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO2is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.
The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land , water and air clean .And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time., our world is becoming much smaller.
| A．Became of the rise in pollution |
| B．Became of the scientific development |
| C．Because the earth is being polluted day and night |
| D．Because the earth is blown away by the wind every year |
Hundreds of years ago, life wasit is today.
| A．much easier than | B．as easy as |
| C．much harder than | D．as hard as |
Pollution comes in many ways. We can even hear it. Here “it” refers to.
| A．rubbish | B．noise pollution |
| C．air pollution | D．water pollution |
Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution because.
| A．it makes much noise |
| B．it makes us angry more easily |
| C．it makes our rivers and lakes dirty |
| D．it’s bad for all living things in the world |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. |
| B．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does. |
| C．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth. |
| D．If people could go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike, it would be helpful in fighting against the problem of SO2 |
Last July, my 12-year-old car died on California's Santa Na Freeway. It was an hour before sunset, and I was 25 miles form home. I couldn't reach anyone to pick me up, so I decided to take a bus. Not knowing the routes, I figured I'd just head east.
A bus pulled up, and I asked the driver how far she was going. "Four more lights," she said. There was another bus I could take form there. This clearly was going to be a long night.
She dropped me off at the end of her route and told me which bus to look for. After waiting 30 minutes, I began to think about a very expensive taxi ride home. Then a bus pulled up. There was no lighted number above its wind-shield. It was out of service. But the door opened, and I was surprised to find that it was the same driver.
"I just can't leave you here, "she said. "This isn't the nicest place. I'll give you a ride home."
“You’ll drive me home in the bus?” I asked, perplexed(迷惑的).
“No, I’ll take you in my car,” she said.
“It’s a long way,” I protested(抗议).
“Come on,”she said. “I have nothing else to do.”
As we drove from the station in her car, she began telling me a story. A few days earlier, her brother had run out of gas. A good Samaritan picked him up, took him to a service station and then back to his car. “I’m just passing the favor along.”she said.
When I offered her money as a thank-you, she wouldn’t hear of it. “That would not make it a favor,” she said. “Just do something nice for somebody. Pass it along.”The writer thought that he would have a long night because
| A．it world be long before he could take another bus |
| B．no driver would give him a ride |
| C．he didn’t know the routes |
| D．he perhaps would have to take a taxi |
Judging from its context, the place where the writer waited for the second bus was.
| A．very quiet and peaceful | B．dark without street lights |
| C．neither clean nor beautiful | D．a little unsafe |
The writer wanted to take a taxi home at the end of the route because.
| A．no bus would come |
| B．a taxi ride would be more comfortable |
| C．he became impatient and a bit worried |
| D．he knew the driver would never return |
The bus driver drove the writer home later because.
| A．she happened to go in the same direction |
| B．she wanted to do something good for other people |
| C．her brother told her to do so |
| D．she wanted to earn more money |
The bus driver hoped that the writer.
| A．world do as she did | B．would keep her in memory |
| C．would give the money to others | D．would do her a favor |