During my elementary school years,I used to compare my mom with my best friend Tiffany's mom. Tiffany's mom always gave her lots of money to buy the most fashionable clothes and favorite food. Her morn allowed her to do anything she liked. I really admired Tiffany. My mom didn't give me much pocket money and she always told me that I should behave my self. 1 was annoyed with her. Whenever I didn't get what 1 wanted,1 would complain to my mom,Tiffany's mom would give her that!1 wish she were my mom. "Every time,my mom would calmly say "Poor Tiffany". I couldn't understand her. "She shouldn't be feeling sorry for Tiffany!"I thought. "She should be feeling sorry for me. " One day,I couldn't help saying to Morn,"Poor Tiffany?Lucky Tiffany! She gets everything she wants! Why do you feel sorry for her?"I burst into tears. My mom sat down next to me and said softly , "Yes,I do feel sorry for her. I have been teaching you a lesson that she will never be taught. " I looked up at her. "What are you talking about?" Mom said with care,"One day she will really want something. Maybe she'11 find out that she can't have it. Her mother won't always be around to give her money,and what's more,money can't buy everything. " She continued,"I have taught you valuable lessons by not giving you everything you want. You'11 know how to look for bargains and save money,but she won't. You'11 under stand that you need to work hard to get the things that you want but she won't. When Tiffany is a grown woman,she'11 wake up one day and she will be wishing that she had a mom like the one you've got. Life lessons are more important than modern clothes and delicious food. '' It took some time,but I eventually understood my mom's words. Now I am a happy and successful woman. What do we learn about the author's mother? A) She was strict and taught the author to be independent. B) She cared for other people's children more than her own. C) She thought that life lessons were as important as money. D) She was so poor that she couldn't give the author much money.
A
So you thought the hamburger was the world's most popular fast food? After all, McDonald's Golden Arches span the globe . But no, there is another truly universal fast food, the ultimate fast food. It's easy to make, easy to serve, much more varied than the hamburger, can be eaten with the hands and it's delivered to your front door or served in fancy restaurants. It's been one of America's favourite foods for over 50 years. It is, of course, the pizza. It's kind of silly to talk about the moment when pizza was "invented". It changed over the years, but one thing's for certain--it's been around for a very long time. The idea of using pieces of flat, round bread as plates came from the Greeks. They called them "plakuntos" and ate them with various simple toppings such as oil, garlic , onions and herbs. The Romans enjoyed eating something similar and called it "picea". By about 1000 AD in the city of Naples, "picea" had become "pizza" and people were experimenting with more toppings: cheese, ham, anchovies and finally the tomato, brought to Italy from Mexico and Peru in the sixteenth century. Naples became the pizza capital of the world. In 1889, King UmbertoIand Queen Margherita heard about pizza and asked to try it. They invited pizza maker, Raffele Esposito, to make it for them. He decided to make the pizza like the Italian flag, so he used red tomatoes, white mozzarella cheese and green basil leaves. The Queen loved it and the new pizza was named "Pizza Margherita" in her honour. Pizza went to America with the Italians at the end of the nineteenth century. The first pizzeria in the United States was opened in 1905 at 53 Spring Street, New York City, by Gennaro Lombardi. But the popularity of pizza really exploded when American soldiers returned from Italy after World WarII and raved about "that great Italian dish". Americans are now the greatest producers and consumers of pizza in the world. Which is the correct order of the changes of pizza? A) Plakuntos-pizza-picea B) Pizza-plakuntos-picea C) Picea-plakuntos-pizza D) Plakuntos-picea-pizza
D
Is this a car? Is it a smart phone? Is it a gaming machine? Yes to all three. The Toyota Fun-Vii is a pleasure palace on wheels. If Toyota has its way, paint jobs could become a thing of the past, because it has introduced an amazing car that can change its whole look in an instant. The Vii in Fun-Vii, which stands for "Vehicle, Interactive, Internet" It is a small three-seater car that looks like a smart phone, so it is called a smart phone on wheels.Inside and out, most aspects of the car can interact with the internet and be controlled by a smart phone.The magical car allows the owners to download pictures from their phones onto the outside, so that the look of the car could be changed instantly.The color inside could also be changed to reflect the owner's mood.Just as the company president Akio Toyoda said, "A car must appeal to our emotions.If it's not fun, it's not a car." Its outside and inside are not made of solid paint but touch screens that can display pictures and videos.A network update function downloads all the latest software to make sure the car is always up-to-date, and it can provide the latest entertainment as well as information about its surroundings to the driver.As you drive around, the thoughtful car allows you to communicate with your friends in the nearby cars.It also helps you find your way from one place to another. It's all because the car is networked with all the other cars on the road and drives itself. The smart car is a practical, family sized vehicle fuelled by hydrogen, and it is one of the futuristic concept cars under the theme of "fun to drive, again".It heralds a not-too-distant future where people, cars and society are linked. We can infer from the text that the Fun-Vii _ . A) will finally replace all the present cars B) will completely solve the problem of energy shortage C) will make car paint industry face a difficult situation D) will take the place of a smart phone
C