How to Make a Budget (预算)
Most likely, you aren"t the family breadwinner. But doing a small job or getting a weekly allowance (零花钱)
would put some money in your pocket. For kids and grown-ups alike, money is easy to spend. If you aren"t
careful, it can be gone in no time. Being responsible with your money is an important skill to learn－and the
sooner you start the better. Whether you are tracking your spending or saving for something special, creating
a budget can help you deal with your expenses and plan for the future. All you need are paper and a pencil－and
some self-control. First, take a look at our sample monthly budget. Then, use a separate sheet of paper to plan
your own. In the first two columns (栏), list your sources (来源) of income and how much you expect to earn
form them. In the third and fourth columns, list what you expect to spend your money on and the amount.
The left-hand total should
be more than or equal to the
right-hand total. If it is, you
have an effective budget.
Budgets are not complex,
but sticking to them can be
tough. When planning your
budget, be realistic about
your expenses. If you know | Sample Monthly Budget
| Monthly Income | Amount | Monthly Expenses | Amount | | Allowance | $ 20.00 | Snacks | $ 26.00 | Money earned
Selling drinks | $ 25.00 | Music downloads | $ 12.00 | Money earned
babysitting | $ 12.50 | Movies | $ 18.00 | | Money earned | $ 30.00 | Video rentals | $ 10.00 | 阅读理解。 | While parents, particularly mothers, have always been attached to their infants (婴儿). Societal conditions
frequently made this attachment difficult to maintain (保持). First of all, the high infant death rate in the
premodern times meant that such attachments often ended in hopelessness. Perhaps to prevent the sadness
that infant death caused, a number of societal practices developed which worked against early attachment of
mother and child.
One of these premodern attachment discouraging practices was to leave infants unnamed until they had
survived into the second year. Another practice that discouraged maternal (母亲的) attachment was tightly
wrapping (包裹) infants. Wrapping effectively prevented the close physical interactions like stroking (抚摸)
and kissing that are so much a part of modern mothers" and fathers" affection for their infants.
A third practice which had the same distancing effect was wet-nursing. Breast-feeding (母乳哺育) was
not popular among the well-to-do in the early modern times; infants were often fed by wet nurses hired for
the purpose. In some places, such as nineteenth-century France, city infants were sent to wet nurses in the
country. Often a wet nurse would feed her own child first, leaving little milk for the city infant－who, in
many cases, died. In Rouen, the death rate for children sent to a wet nurse was 35 percent. | | 1. Babies were unnamed until they were two so that ______. | A. an old social custom could be kept up
B. maternal attachment could be maintained
C. they could have better chances to survive
D. their parents would not be too sad if they died | | 2. Why were babies wrapped? | A. To protect them from the cold.
B. To distance their mothers from them.
C. To make them feel more comfortable.
D. To make it easy for their mothers to hold them. | | 3. Wet nurses were women who ______. | A. babysat city infants
B. fed babies of other families
C. sent their babies to the country
D. failed to look after their babies | | 4. Wet nurses were women who ______. | A. babysat city infants
B. fed babies of other families
C. sent their babies to the country
D. failed to look after their babies | | Cloze. | Adults are often surprised by how well they remember something they learned as children but have never
practised in the meantime. A man who has not had an opportunity to go swimming for years can 1 swim
as well as ever when he gets back in the water. He can get on a bicycle after several decades and still 2
away. A mother who has not 3 the words for years can teach her daughter the poem that begins "Twinkle,
twinkle, little star" or recite the story of Cinderella or Snow White.
One explanation is the law of overlearning, which can be stated as follows: 4 we have learned something,
additional learning increases the 5 of time we will remember it.
In childhood, we usually continue to practise such skills as swimming, bicycle riding long after we have
learned them. We continue to listen to and 6 ourselves of poems such as "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and
childhood tales such as Cinderella or Snow White. We not only learn but 7 .
The law of overlearning explains why cramming (突击学习) for an examination, 8 it may result in a
passing grade, is not a 9 way to learn a school course. By cramming, a student may learn the subject well
enough to get by on the examination, but he is likely soon to forget almost everything he learned. A little
overlearning; 10 , is usually a good investment toward the future. | ( )1. A. only
( )2. A. more
( )3. A. thought about
( )4. A. Before
( )5. A. accuracy
( )6. A. remind
( )7. A. recite
( )8. A. though
( )9. A. convenient
( )10. A. at most | B. hardly
B. drive
B. cared for
B. Once
B. unit
B. inform
B. overlearn
B. so
B. demanding
B. by the way | C. still
C. travel
C. showed up
C. Until
C. limit
C. warm
C. research
C. if
C. satisfactory
C. on the other hand | D. even
D. ride
D. brought up
D. Unless
D. length
D. recall
D. improve
D. after
D. swift
D. in the end | | Cloze. | The birthrate in Europe has been in a steady decrease since the 1960s. European countries, realizing crisis
is at hand, are providing great encouragement for parents to create more babies in the 21st century.
Affairs Ministry concluded last year that, 1 cash encouragement, some women just don"t want to be
2 holding the baby. "What we know is that it"s good for the 3 if men and women share the burden of
having children," says Soren Kindlund, family policy adviser at the Swedish ministry. 4 Swedish parents
can take their paid leave as they wish, men use a mere 12% of it; 60% of fathers do not take even a(n) 5
day off work.
Experts fear that the tendency for women to use most of the parental leave could make employers 6
go give young women the permanent jobs they need to qualify for paid maternity leave (产假). In January.
Sweden decided to allow new fathers two months" paid leave, with a warning: use it or 7 it.
Kindlund admits that men are under 8 to stay at work, even though parental pay comes out of the public
purse. "It"s not popular among bosses and perhaps with other men in the workplace," he says. "But it"s good
for the father and for the child if they can 9 a relationship."
In Norway, a(n) 10 policy has worked wonders. 70% of dads in Norway now take parental leave, and
the birthrate of 1.85 children per woman is one of the highest in Europe. | ( )1. A. is spite of
( )2. A. sent
( )3. A. birthrate
( )4. A. Just as
( )5. A. one
( )6. A. willing
( )7. A. reserve
( )8. A. discussion
( )9. A. make out
( )10. A. impersonal | B. at the cost of
B. left
B. income
B. Only if
B. mere
B. reluctant
B. misuse
B. attack
B. add up
B. similar | C. in addition to
C. caught
C. health
C. Even though
C. only
C. likely
C. ignore
C. control
C. build up
C. severe | D. due to
D. seen
D. spirit
D. Now that
D. single
D. unable
D. lose
D. pressure
D. set aside
D. global | | 完形填空。 | He has been called the "missing link." Half-man,half-beast. He is supposed to live in the highest mountain in
the world-Mount Everest.
He is known as the Abominable Snowman.The 1 of the Snowman has been around for 2 . Climbers
in the 1920s reported finding marks like those of human feet high up on the side of Mount Everest.The native
people said they 3 this creature and called it the "Yeti," and they said that they had 4 caught Yetis on two
occasions 5 none has ever been produced as evidence (证据).
Over the years, the story of the Yetis has 6 . In 1951, Eric Shipton took photographs of a set of tracks
in the snow of Everest.Shipton believed that they were not 7 the tracks of a monkey or bear and 8 that
the Abominable Snowman might really 9 .
Further efforts have been made to find out about Yetis. But the only things people have ever found were
10 footprints. Most believe the footprints are nothing more than 11 animal tracks, which had been made 12
as they melted (融化) and refroze in the snow. 13 , in 1964, a Russian scientist said that the Abominable
Snowman was 14 and was a remaining link with the prehistoric humans. But, 15 , no evidence has ever 16
been produced.
These days, only a few people continue to take the story of the Abominable Snowman 17 . But if they ever
18 catching one, they may face a real 19 :Would they put it in a 20 or give it a room in a hotel? | ( )1. A. event
( )2. A. centuries
( )3. A. heard from
( )4. A. even
( )5. A. as
( )6. A. developed
( )7. A. entirely
( )8. A. found
( )9. A. exist
( )10. A. clearer
( )11. A. huge
( )12. A. strange
( )13. A. In the end
( )14. A. imagined
( )15. A. so
( )16. A. rightly
( )17. A. lightly
( )18. A. succeed in
( )19. A. decision
( )20. A. zoo | B. story
B. too long
B. cared for
B. hardly
B. though
B. changed
B. naturally
B. declared
B. escape
B. more
B. recent
B. large
B. Therefore
B. real
B. besides
B. actually
B. jokingly
B. insist on
B. situation
B. mountain | C. adventure
C. some time
C. knew of
C. certainly
C. when
C. occurred
C. clearly
C. felt
C. disappear
C. possible
C. ordinary
C. deep
C. After all
C. special
C. again
C. normally
C. seriously
C. depend on
C. subject
C. museum | D. description
D. many years
D. read about
D. probably
D. until
D. continued
D. simply
D. doubted
D. return
D. rare
D. frightening
D. rough
D. However
D. familiar
D. instead
D. particularly
D. properly
D. join in
D. problem
D. laboratory |
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