阅读理解。 Do you ever wonder about the smartest way to spend your allowance (零用钱

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阅读理解。     Do you ever wonder about the smartest way to spend your allowance (零用钱)? Twelve-year-old Fabian
Fernandez-Han might have a few good ideas for you. Fabian won the NYSE Financial Future Challenge,
sponsored by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Foundation. He received a prize of $2500 and had the
honor of ringing the closing bell at the stock exchange on January 11.
     The contest aimed at getting young people to think about money management and investing. Kids ages 6 to
19 were asked to create a product idea that would teach their peers about finances and the stock market, and
inspire them to think about saving or investing money. Financial experts chose five finaltsts, including Fabian,
from thousands of entries. Voters on Bykids-forkids.com picked Fabian"s "Oink-a-Saurus" as the winner.
     Fabian"s Oink-a-Saurus is an idea for an iPhone or iPod app, a computer program that runs on Apple phones
and MP3 players. Oink-a-Saurus would gather information about people"s interests and spcnding habits by
tracking what they browsed online or bought in stores. Like an imaginary piggy bank. Oink-a-Saurus would then
show how much money a user might have earned by saving and/or investing the money, instead of spending it.
     The other finalists offered their own cool ideas for teaching kids about finance. Eight-year-old Tyra Smith
proposed "Stock Pocket", a game that would use electronic flashcards. Players would learn facts about the
stock market and win points by answering questions correctly. Twelve-year-old Kelsey Foss suggested a reality
TV show called "Stock Market Tycoon Idol". On the show, kids would compete to make or lose virtual money
by investing in the stock market. Her plan included adult experts helping the kids and teaching the audience about
money at the same time.
     Fabian and the other contestants tackled (处理) a very tough topic. Investing in the stock market is tricky
even for many adults to understand. The New York Stock Exchange is the biggest American marketplace for
buying and selling stocks, or parts of public companies. While some companies are privately owned by a person
or family, many big companies divide ownership into share or many little pieces of the company"s total value.
Together, the shares are called stock. People can invest their money in a company by buying one or more of its
shares. If the company does well, the value of the investment usually goes up. If they wish, investors can then
sell their shares at a profit. Money can be lost in the stock market as well, when the value of shares falls. Many
investors lost money during the recent economic downturn. 1. In the New York Stock Exchange Financial Future Challenge, the goal was to _____.[     ]
A. make as much money as possible in the stock market
B. create an idea for a product that would help kids learn about money management and investing
C. compete for jobs on the floor of the stock exchange
D. pass a test about money management and investing 2. Finalists in the Financial Future Challenge were chosen by _____. [     ]
A. kids aged 6 to 19
B. teachers and principals
C. computer experts
D. money experts 3. To use Oink-a-Saurus, a kid would need _____. [     ]
A. a cell phone or an MP3 player
B. a computer and a partner
C. stock in at least one company
D. a low-interest credit card 4. Which of the following is NOT the example of the great ideas of the finalists? [     ]
A. Oink-a-Saurus.
B. iPod app.
C. Stock Pocket.
D. Stock Market Tycoon Idol. 5. In the last paragraph the writer tries to explain _____. [     ]
A. what the stock market is
B. what adults should help kids with
C. how to make an investment
D. how to make a great idea

答案

1-5: BDABA

举一反三

Directions: Read the following Passage. Complete the diagram by using the in formation from the passage.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.      Detroit is convinced that small, stylish, and fuel-efficient cars are what American drivers want. But are
automakers right?
     For years, the auto industry"s critics have been calling for Detroit to roll out small cars that they say
Americans are demanding for. The question is, do we really want to drive small cars? The answer, according
to some analysts, is already clear. "Domestic auto companies feel forced to offer smaller vehicles because of
pressure from the government." says John Wolconowicz, an auto analyst for IHS Global Insight.
     Whether we want the vehicles or not, automakers are devoted to a small-car sales strategy. General Motors
is unveiling (推出) three new small cars-the Chevrolet Cruze, a small car due next year; the Spark, a minicar
due in 2011; and the Chevy Aveo, a compact. Mike DiGiovanni, executive director of the global market notes
that GM is presuming a return to high oil prices that will cause the market to shift to smaller vehicles.
     At Ford, there are no plans to abandon production of big trucks. But the company is making small cars a
priority, launching the Ford Fiesta and the C-MAX, a compact car with sliding doors and three rows of seats,
in 2011. "We can"t even think about growing our market share without having a strong pressure in the small-
vehicle market" George Pipas, Ford"s chief U.S. sales analyst says.
     Not everyone is so big on Americans going small. This seems to be evident on dealer lots (停车场). Jack
Kain, a Ford dealer in Versailles, Ky., said the F150 truck remains his bigger seller. He predicts trucks will
continue to outsell small cars, at least in his area "People won"t give up the safety and comfort of the larger
cars," he says.
     But Ford"s Pipas is confident that many will embrace the industry"s new focus. Detroit"s big hopes, he
admits, are riding on the future of small cars.                                                         Title: Big Hopes on 1.________

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Reading comprehension.     Almost a decade ago, the federal government dropped $100 million for an Earth-monitoring satellite that
never made it into space. Today it sits in a closet in Maryland. Cost to taxpayers for storing it: $1 million a
year. And that"s just what"s hiding in one closet. Who knows what"s in the rest of them?
     Because we think the government should be held to at least the same standards as a publicly traded
company, and because as taxpayers, we"re America"s shareholders, we performed an audit (财务检查) of
sorts of the federal books. We"re not economists, but we do have common sense. We tried to be apolitical
(无关政治的) and got help from Congressional staffers from both parties, as well as various watchdog
groups and agencies. In the end, we found that the federal government wastes nearly $1 trillion every year.
     That"s roughly equal to the amount collected annually by the Internal Revenue Service in personal income
taxes. Put another way, it"s also equal to about one-third of the country"s $2.9 trillion total annual budget.
And reclaiming that lost trillion (三十亿) could help wipe out the country"s annual budget deficit (赤字),
improve education, and provide health insurance for those who don"t have it.
     So how do you define "waste"? David Walker of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a federal
watchdog agency, calls it "the government"s failure to give taxpayers the most for their money." For our part,
we used the kind of household test you would use on a piece of meat sitting in your refrigerator: If it smells
rotten, it"s waste. And there is plenty to sniff out (闻出). Our government regularly pays for products and
services it never gets, wildly overpays companies to do things it could do more cheaply itself, loses money
completely due to lax (松弛的) accounting and oversight, fails to collect what it"s owed, and put forward
unnecessary programs.
     How exactly does the federal government waste your hard-earned tax dollars? We"ve identified what we
consider ten of the worst ways. 1. The underlined sentence in Paragraph l really means _____. [     ]
A. there are many other closets
B. there are some other satellites
C. there is something else in the closets
D. the waste may be quite amazing 2. Which of the following statements may be right? [     ]
A. The country"s annual budget is usually decided by the public.
B. The government failed in launching the satellite.
C. The government is only wasting money in space experiments.
D. The amount collected annually in personal income taxes is equal to the country"s budget. 3. Which of the following can best describe the feeling of the author? [     ]
A. Annoyed.
B. Calm
C. Surprised
D. Not concerned. 4. The best title for the passage would be _____. [     ]
A. Protecting Our Rights!
B. Our Country Is In Danger!
C. The Government Is Wasting Our Tax Dollars!
D. How to Prevent Government from Wasting Money! 5. What might be talked about if the passage is continued? [     ]
A. Listing how the government is wasting taxes.
B. Presenting people"s feelings against the government"s wasting taxes.
C. Giving suggestion to help the government solve the financial problem.
D. The government"s taking some steps to stop wasting taxes.

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阅读理解。     "Pay has little to do with motivation in the workplace". That"s the argument put forward by best-selling
author Daniel Pink in his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. "Pay for
performance is supposed to be a folk tale," he says.
     Daniel argues that, if employees receive a basic level of payment, three other factors matter more than
money: a sense of independence, of mastery over one"s labor, and of serving a purpose larger than oneself.
For example, in 2008 at the offices of Best Buy"s Richfield, salaried workers there were allowed to organize
their own work day, putting in only as many hours as they felt necessary to get their jobs done. Productivity
increased by 35% according to The Harvard Business Review.
     But the managers at Goldman Sachs aren"t exactly making some efforts to adjust. Like others on Wall
Street, the banking giant argues that fat bonuses (extra rewards) are essential to make its numbers. "That"s
exactly the attitude that leads to the recent financial crisis in the United States," responds Daniel, "as managers
always focus on short-term rewards that encourage cheating, shortcuts, and dishonest behavior."
     Moreover, the 45-year-old author and former Al Gore speechwriter refers to social-science experiments
and experiences at such workplaces as Google and 3M. In one 2005 experiment he describes, economists
working for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston tested the power of incentives (激励) by offering cash
rewards to those who did wellin games that included reciting a series of numbers and throwing tennis balls
at a target. The researchers" finding: Over and over, higher incentives led to worse performance-and those
given the highest incentives did the poorest job.
     From this and other cases, Daniel draws a conclusion that monetary incentives remove the element of
play and creativity, transforming "an interesting task into a dull one." It"s even possible, he adds, for oversized
rewards to have dangerous side effects, like those of a drug dependency in which an addicted requires ever
larger amounts. He refers to scientific testing that shows the promise of cash rewards increase a chemical in
the brain similar to that brought on by cocaine or nicotine.
     Daniel, however, is also aware that his company examples-no GE, no IBM, no Microsoft-hardly represent
the commanding heights of the economy. But he thinks his approach will catch on, even in the biggest
companies. "Managers tend to be realistic, and in time they will respond," he says. 1. In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink is promoting the idea that [     ]
A. it is a money-driven society
B. all workers are not driven by money
C. money plays a key role in management
D. pay has nothing to do with workplaces 2. In Daniel"s point of view, many Wall Street managers are _____. [     ]
A. dishonest
B. considerate
C. short-sighted
D. ridiculous 3. In paragraph 5, the example of drug-taking is given to show _____. [     ]
A. money is as addictive as cocaine or nicotine
B. big rewards bring about dangerous side effect
C. nicotine and money bring the same chemical
D workers do not need the incentives of money at all 4. We can learn from the last paragraph that _____.[     ]
A. Daniel"s approach will be popular in a wider field
B. realistic managers will first consider Daniel"s approach
C. Daniel"s approach meets the demand of economic crisis
D. GE, IBM and Microsoft will join in Daniel"s approach next

题型：浙江省模拟题难度：| 查看答案

阅读理解。     What is Bay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can trade
practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods. Including cars, movies and
DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes-the list goes on and on.
     The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was
still a child. At high school, he became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from
Tuft University in 1988, he worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started
Bay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of" mouth. By 1996 there was so much
traffic on the website that he had to upgrade (升级) and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a
friend, Peter Skill, and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. Even in the
great. com crashes of the late 1990s, abay has gone from strength to strength. It is now one of the ten most
visited online shopping websites on the Intemet.
     EBay sells connections, not goods, putting buyer and seller into contact with each other. All you have to
do is lake an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business:the world is your market
place. Of course for each item (商品) sold eBay gets a percentage and that is great deal of money. Every day
there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold. 1. We learn from the text that eBay provides people with _____. [     ]
A. a way of buying and selling goods
B. a website for them to upgrade
C. a place to exhibit their own photos
D. a chance to buy things at low prices 2. Why did Peter create eBay after graduating from university?[     ]
A. For fun.
B. To make money.
C. For gathering the engineers.
D. To fulfill a task of his company. 3. From "he has never looked back" in Paragraph 2, we learn that Peter _____.[     ]
A. did not feel lonely
B. was always hopeful
C. did not think about the past
D. became more and more successful 4. How does eBay make money from its website? [     ]
A. By bringing callers together.
B. By charging for each sale.
C. By listing items online.
D. By making e-photos.

题型：专项题难度：| 查看答案

阅读理解。     Although the Queen of the UK is no longer responsible for governing the country, she carries out a great
many important tasks on behalf of the nation.
     ● Head of State
    As Head of State, the queen goes on official state visits abroad. She also invites other world leaders to come
to the United Kingdom. During their visits, heads of states usually stay at Buckingham Palace, or sometimes at
Windsor Castle or Holy Rood-house in Edinburgh.
     ● Head of the Church of England
     The Queen is Head of the Church of England, a position that all British monarchs have since it was founded
by Henry Ⅷ in the 1530s.
     The Queen appoints archbishops and bishops on the advice of the Prime Minister. The spiritual leader of the
Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury.
     ● Government Duties
     Every day, "red boxes" are delivered to.the Queen"s desk, full of documents and reports from govemment
ministers and Commonwealth officials. They must all be read and, if necessary, signed by the Queen.
     ● The Representative of the Nation
     The Queen represents the nation at times of great celebration or sorrow. One example of this is the
Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph monument in Whitehall. The Queen lays a wreath there each year
to honor the members of the armed forces who have died fighting for their country.
     ● Royal Garden Parties
     At least three Royal Garden Parties are held at Buckingham Palace each year and about 8,000 guests attend
each one.
     ● Visits
     Alongside her other duties, the Queen spends a huge amount of time traveling around the country and visiting
hospitals, schools, factories and other places and organizations. 1. Which of the following is NOT the Queen"s job? [     ]
A. Paying official state visits to other countries.
B. Appointing bishops.
C. Inviting foreign leaders to visit the UK.
D. Making laws for the country. 2. When foreign leaders visit the UK, they don"t stay in ____. [     ]
A. Holy Roodhouse in Edinburgh
B. Whitehall
C. Windsor Castle
D. Buckingham Palace 3. The underlined word "monarchs" in the passage most probably refers to ____. [     ]
A. kings or queens
B. prime ministers
C. archbishops
D. the Queen"s family 4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?[     ]
A. The prime minister is the representative of the nation.
B. The Church of England was founded by Henry Ⅷ.
C. The spiritual leader of the Church of England is the Queen.
D. The Queen signs all the documents and reports from the government. 5. From the passage, we know that ____. [     ]
A. Royal Garden Parties are held at Whitehall each year
B. the Queen and the Prime Minister govern the nation together
C. the Queen takes advice of the Prime Minister on appointing archbishops
D. the Prime Minister spends much time traveling around the country

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