Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Many children first learn the value of money by receiving an allowance. The purpose is to let children learn from experience at an age when financial mistakes are not very costly. The amount of money that parents give to their children to spend as they wish differs from family to family. Timing is another consideration. Some children get a weekly allowance. Others get a monthly allowance. In any case, parents should make clear what, if anything, the child is expected to pay for with the money. At first, young children may spend all of their allowance soon after they receive it. If they do this, they will learn the hard way that spending must be done within a budget. Parents are usually advised not to offer more money until the next allowance. The object is to show young people that a budget demands choices between spending and saving. Older children may be responsible enough to save money for larger costs, like clothing or electronics. Allowances give children a chance to experience the things they can do with money. They can share it in the form of gifts or giving to a good cause. They can spend it by buying things they want. Or they can save and maybe even invest it. Saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice: you have to cut costs and plan for the future. Requiring children to save part of their allowance can also open the door to future saving and investing. Many banks offer services to help children and teenagers learn about personal finance. A savings account is an excellent way to learn about the power of compound interest . That may not seem like a lot. But over time it adds up. Question: The author intends to _ . - make parents aware of the children's allowances - show the methods of investing - give advice on how to save money - introduce the advantages of allowances
make parents aware of the children's allowances

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: On July 16th 1995, a new bookstore opened in the American city of Seattle. No one steps inside to buy anything. Yet, the store, if you could call it that, had sales last year of 7000 million dollars. Ten years ago, few people bought things over the Internet. Few thought it was safe. Amazon.com changed many people's minds. Ten years later, an estimated seven out of ten American adults have used a computer to buy something. Market researchers at ComScore Networks estimate online spending last year at 117,000 million dollars. That was for goods and travel services. The person who started Amazon, Jeff Bezos remains its leader. In the 1990s, he urged employees to help Amazon get big fast. Yet, Amazon invested in many similar businesses that failed. Amazon lost plenty of money. It did not make a profit until 2003. Its most recent profit and earnings report released last week was better than many market watchers had expected. Today people can buy not just books and music but also many other products through Amazon. It competes with eBay, which celebrates its 10th birthday in September. eBay calls itself "the world's online marketplace". It does not sell anything. Instead, it provides a way for others to sell goods and services. People who want to buy something make competing offers through online auctions. eBay has grown to include several other businesses. These include Paypal, a company that processes online payments. As online sellers grew, traditional stores saw the future. Today, stores from the smallest to the biggest sell on the Internet. These include the biggest of all, Wal-Mart. Question: We can infer from the passage that _ . - Amazon.com has been making profits for ten years - traditional bookstores are wondering at their futures - Wal-Mart is among the largest online stores - online shopping tends to be larger and easier
online shopping tends to be larger and easier

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Sunday, 31 August We've been in China for a month now. Dad, Mom, Harry and I moved to Tianjin on 25 August. We're not very far from Beijing. Two days ago, we celebrated my 16thbirthday. It was great celebrating in China; the only thing that was strange was the cake--here they're not as sweet as the ones in New York. On Monday school starts--I wonder what it will be like. Monday, 1 September On my first day I was looking around for a locker to put my books in. However, here all the students keep all of their books at their desks--we stay in the same classroom because apparently we don't have to go from class to class--teachers come to us! Today we selected teacher assistants for each subject. Their duties are to collect homework, make announcements, and do other stuff for the teacher and the students. It's kind of a big deal here! Since I am from the US, I was asked to be the English assistant. I felt so proud but quite nervous at the same time because I wasn't sure what I had to do, but I accepted the job anyway. Friday, 3 October Boy, what a week! Now we have nine classes every day, including the morning class, a combination of our American schools' "Homeroom" and "Study Hall". I think Chinese students work too much! I have to do my homework when I get back home. I don't even have time to watch TV or surf the Internet like before. I sometimes miss New York and my school because we didn't have to study so much. We had more time to hang out with our classmates and neighbors; here, besides their usual classes, students are involved in weekend classes in subjects such as English, Chinese and math. I get a lot of attention, being from another country. Everyone wants to practice English with me! A really cute girl even asked me for my phone number on my second day and sent me a text message! I'm making a lot more friends now. I just need a lot of help to improve my Chinese. Some students want to do a language exchange program with me. Nice! Question: The passage is best described by _ . - culture shock. - multi-culture. - unique culture. - culture background
culture shock.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: On a hot summer's day Jonathan and his classmates were anxiously sitting in their classroom, waiting for the final bell of the day to sound. Jonathan prayed that the bell would ring soon, because he wanted to quickly run home before the three huge, fat, smelly bullies could see him. Every day the three bullies would wait there for an innocent school kid to tease and bully. The moment the bell sounded, Jonathan rushed out with his bag. He sped off across the school field and out onto the walkway. However, all of his effort was useless because leaning on a fence were the three bullies. Jonathan thought about crossing the street next to him, but it would be too risky. So he hid behind a small bush in hope that the three would leave. But he moved too quickly and was seen by one of the bullies. They approached him then. One bully grabbed Jonathan by the collar of his shirt and grabbed the money out of Jonathan's pocket and put it into his own. "G-Give it back", Jonathan weakly said. "G-G-Give it b-back", mocked the bully. The other two bullies laughed. Beside them was a small dirty stream. "Let's throw him in there", said one of the bullies. Then they threw Jonathan into the stream and walked off down the walkway. Jonathan shakily picked himself up out of the creek and continued his walk home with his head down and tears in his eyes. He dared not cry because he knew boys didn't cry. Jonathan arrived at his house where his mother was waiting outside the front door with an angry look on her face. "Why are you so late and dirty?" she asked curiously. "I slipped", he quietly replied. Question: Jonathan didn't tell the truth to his mother because _ . - he felt ashamed after being bullied - he wanted to be considered a boy - he didn't dare to tell it to his mother - he was not allowed to play in the creek
he wanted to be considered a boy