How should one invest a sum of money in these clays of inflation ? Left in a bank it will hardly keep its value, however high the interest rate. Only a brave man, or a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on the Stock Market. Today it seems that one of the best ways to protect your savings, and even increase your wealth is to buy beautiful objects from the past. Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks, which I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques. I sometimes wonder what a being from another planet might report back about our way of life. "The planet Earth is ruled by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound. It has a face with twelve black marks and two hands. Men can do nothing without its permission, and it fastens its young round people's wrists so that everywhere men go they are still under its control. This creature is the real master of Earth and men are its slaves ." Whether or not we are slaves of time today depends on our culture and personality, but it is believed that many years ago kings kept special slaves to tell the time. Certain men were very clever at measuring the time of clay according to the beating of their own hearts. They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour or so would shout tire time. So it seems that the first clocks were human beings. However, men quickly found more convenient and reliable ways of telling the time. They learned to use the shadows cast by the sun. They marked the hours on candles, used sand in hour- glasses, and invented water-clocks. Indeed, any serious student of antique should spend as much time as possible visiting palaces, stately homes and museums to see some of the finest examples of clocks from the past. Antique clocks could be very expensive, but one of the joys of collecting clocks is that it is still possible to find quite cheap ones for your own home. After all, if you are going to be ruled by time, why not invest in air antique clock and... According to the passage, collecting antique clocks _ . A) can hardly keep the value of your savings B) will cost much of your savings C) may increase your wealth D) needs your bravery
C

Not long ago, the only time you could see a robot was when you were reading a novel or watching a movie such asStar Wars . Today, however, a lot of things in science stories have been science facts. Robots are starting to appear in our everyday lives. These robots have different sizes, shapes, and colors. But they all have the same type of man-made "brain". Leading the robot revolution are industrial robots that work in factories. Industrial robots can do different kinds of jobs that are often boring and sometimes dangerous. Robots are also coming to American homes, though not as quickly as they are entering factories. These robots aren't as friendly and bright as those you saw in Star Wars.But, their makers say, today's home robots "walk", sense objects in their way (and sometimes knock into them), and even carry objects (which they sometimes drop). Well, nobody is perfect. We may laugh at home robot today, but some day they may see and hear better than humans do. We humans can only see certain wavelengths of light, and hear certain sounds. That's because the abilities of our eyes and ears are limited. Robots, however, need not have the same limits as we have. Robot may also be equipped with devices that pick up information humans can't. To understand what their sensing devices pick up is a hard job. Remember, man--made brains handle information, including all kinds of data, as zeroes and ones. Imagine the difficulty in trying to explain to a robot what a football looks like--using only zeroes and ones. Robots may deal with information that humans can't. Which of the following is not one of the reasons? A) They do not have so many limits as humans do. B) They have man-made brains. C) They may be equipped with a special kind of sensing device. D) They handle information by using zeroes and ones.
D

Paper was not made in southern Europe until the year of 1100.Thouth Scandinavia now makes a great deal of the world's paper, it had not begun to make it until 1500. It was a German named Schaeffer who found out that one could make paper from wood. After that, forest countries, such as Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the United States, became important in paper making. Today in Finland, for example, no industry is bigger than the forest industry. And the paper industry is the most important part of it. Modern paper-making machines are very big, and they make paper very fast. The biggest machines can make a piece of paper 750 meters long and six meters wide in one minute. When we think of paper, we think of newspapers, books, letters, envelopes , and writing paper. But there are many other uses. Each year, more and more things are made of paper. We have had paper cups, plates, and dishes for a long time. But now we hear that chairs, a tables and even beds can be made of paper. The newest thing made of paper in the world may be a paper house. It is not a small house for children to play in, but a real, big house for people to live in. it is not expensive. You can put up a paper house yourself in a few hours, and you can use it for about 5 years. ,. _ found out that paper can be made from wood. A) A Canadian B) An American C) A German D) A Chinese
C

In north America people are always in a hurry.Children have special lessons or sports activities after school.Parents often work late and don't get home until 7 or 8 o'clock at night.More than 50% of women work at full-time jobs,and many people do part-time work.Most North American families don't have time to eat many meals together. When a family takes the time to eat a meal together,often there isn't enough time to prepare the food That is why "fast food "is so popular in North America.People spend about 40% of their dollars on fast food. Fast food is food such as pizza, sandwiches or fried chicken.People usually buy the food from a restaurant chain such as Pizza Hut,McDonald's,or Kentucky Fried Chicken.Fast food saves time,but it is not very nutritious . Fast food is popular in many countries.American fast-food companies now have restaurants all over the world.But not everyone is happy about the spread( of North American fast food.A group of people in Italy want to fight against it.They do not want any more fast-food chains to open restaurants in their country.They also want to fight against the spread of fast food everywhere in the world. Children in North America _ . A) don't go home until 7 or 8 o'clock at night B) often have sports activities after school C) often do part-time work after school D) have meals with their parents every evening
B