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 suitable? Experts say there is not right amount.Actual amounts differ from place to place,and from family to family. To set an appropriate allowance for your child,work up a weekly budget .Allow for entertainment costs 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 _ can feel left out. It can be hard,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 . 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) lose the money and can not return home
C
(Question)
We are already familiar with computers--computers work for us at home, in offices and in factories. But it is also true that many children today are using computers at schools before they can write. What does this mean for the future? Are these children lucky or not? Many people who do not know about computers think of them as machines that children play with. They worry that children do not learn from experience but just from pressing a button and that this is not good for them. They think that children are growing not knowing about the real world. But people who understand more about computers say that computers can be very good for children. A computer can help them to learn about the real world more quickly, to learn what they want to learn and think for themselves. And for the future, don't we need people who can think clearly, who know how to get information quickly and use it well? What do you think? What can computers help children to do? A) To think clearly, to do homework and to write. B) To play games, to do math and to copy. C) To think clearly, to get information and to use it well. D) To count, to clean the house and to get information.
(Answer)
C
Ques: D It was about midday.I'd left work early in the morning to cash a check.I walked along to the bank and found there were only about ten or eleven customers in there, a pretty unusual number for those central banks. I waited until it was my turn, walked up to the desk and started talking to the bank clerk.He had a really strange expression on his face--just sort of a blank stare.I thought he was looking at me until I realized he was staring over my shoulder. I began to turn round to see what he was looking at and at the same moment, the outside bank guard, the one with the machine gun, came flying through the door and lay face down on the floor.Following him through the door were three absolutely frightening men wearing those horrible stocking masks.They were carrying guns; at least the one in front was carrying a pistol. Whether or not they said anything I can't remember to this day, or whether people just automatically put their hands up I don't know.I put my hands up but I just didn't know what to do.For a few moments there was just total silence, suddenly broken by the telephone ringing.I remember wondering who was on the other end of the line.Nobody answered the telephone, so it just kept on ringing and ringing, in this otherwise deathly quiet. Then two of the masked men went to the counter, jumped over it and got the cashiers and bank clerks to start filling their bags with cash.While the two were getting the money, the one at the door covering us with the gun obviously got a bit of an anxiety attack and started swearing at them, telling them to hurry up and get a move on. They jumped back over the counter.One of them lost his balance when he landed on the floor and fell over.The other two swore at him again.Then they left through the door, warning us, "Don't move.Stay like that with your hands up for ten minutes." Then they just disappeared and there was total silence. What was the outside bank guard's reaction to the armed robbers? A) He was frightened to death by the robbers. B) He organized the bank clerks to fight back. C) He shot at the robbers with the machine gun. D) He flew through the door to catch the robbers.
Ans: A
Expressions about water are mostly as common as water itself. The expression "to be in hot water" is one of them. It is a very old expression. Hot water was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle. That no longer happens. But we still get "in hot water". When we are in hot water, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble, serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother if he walks in the house with dirty shoes. "Being in deep water" is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position. Imagine a person who can not swim being thrown in water over his head. You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you don't have the ability to solve. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest in stocks without knowing anything about the stock market. "To keep your head above water" is a color1ful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job. "Water over the dam" is another expression about past events. It is something that is finished, and cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water has floated over a dam and cannot be brought back again. When a friend is troubled by a mistake she has made, you might tell her to forget about it. You say it is water over the dam. Another common expression "to hold water" is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. It probably comes from a way of testing the condition of a container. If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it. If your argument can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes; if it does not hold water, then, it is weak and not worth... Don't cheat in this exam! Or you'll _ if you're caught cheating by the teacher. A) be in hot water B) have to hold water C) be in deep water D) keep your head above water
A