There is a story of a country where the rate of inflation(通货膨胀) is so high that clever people pay for a taxi ride before, instead of after the trip. The story may not be true, but inflation was almost that serious in Germany from July 1920 until December 1923. Prices went up so fast that by the end of 1923 they were 50 billion percent higher-arise of almost 2,500% a month.
There was so much paper money, and it had so little value, that people carried bags full of money around to pay for things. One woman tells the story of standing outside a shop with a basket full of 500,000 marks(马克) notes. She wanted to buy just one piece of meat, and she hoped she had enough money. But when she was looking, a thief robbed her. He didn't take her money, he threw it away and took the basket instead.
At first workers demanded to be paid every day, but as the situation became worse, they had to be paid twice a day. But they had to run out and spend the money at once, or it would lose its value. People bought anything that was for sale, but food was almost impossible to find. Farm workers refused to take money. They wanted to be paid in potatoes instead.
New policies ended the inflation in 1923, when the government introduced a new money, but about half of the German people lost everything in those three and a half years.According to the text, in Germany the prices in 1920 were ______.
| A．the lowest in history | B．the highest in history |
| C．higher than those in 1923 | D．lower than those in 1923 |
The thief stole the basket instead of the money in it because he thought ______.
| A．the basket was what he needed most |
| B．the money was of no value |
| C．the basket was more valuable than the money |
| D．he couldn't buy a piece of meat with the money |
The farm workers demanded to be paid in potatoes because they believed ______.
| A．the potato was valuable | B．the money might lose its value |
| C．the potato was too expensive | D．the money could not buy potatoes |
Grown-ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all we will feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?
To see whether babies know objects are solid. T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion (视觉影像) of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball, one they could be expected to show surprised in their faces and movements. All the 16 to 24-week-old babies tested were surprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was not there.
Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?
Experiments done by Bower suggest that babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When 16-week-old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to re-appear. If the experiment took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted (替换) a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week-old babies did not seem to notice the switch (更换). Thus, the 16-week-old babies seemed to have a sense of “something permanence,” while the 22-week-old babies had a sense of object permanence related to a particular object.The passage is mainly about .
| A．babies’ sense of sight | B．effects of experiments on babies |
| C．babies’ understanding of objects | D．different tests on babies’ feelings |
In Paragraph 3, “object permanence” means that when out of sight, an object .
| A．still exists | B．keeps its shape | C．still stays solid | D．is beyond reach |
What did Bower use in his experiments?
| A．A chair | B．A screen | C．A film | D．A box |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The babies didn’t have a sense of direction. |
| B．The older babies preferred toy trains to balls. |
| C．The younger babies liked looking for missing objects |
| D．The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its optical illusion. |
Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.
Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.
The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.
Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on mothers to work a “double shift”— to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.
It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leadin
g industrialised nations found that working mothers in Br
itain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development.
Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.
The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A fat
her who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 mi
nutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.What does the underlined phrase “yearn for” probably means ___________.
| A．hate | B．forget | C．miss | D．control |
Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．Today’s mothers have less time left for their children and themselves. |
| B．The working mothers can hardly strike the balance between work and family. |
| C．Most of the mothers can not control their husbands nowadays. |
| D．Modern fathers do not spend enough time with their children. |
From Para. 4, we can infer that ___________.
| A．Skype is a very famous expert in studying social issues |
| B．working mothers can seek help on line |
| C．working mothers’ double shift is to be a wife and a mother |
D．Kate Fox has opened a website offering help to working mothers |
What critics say means that _____________.
A．it is wise for working moth ers to put their kids in nurseries or childminders |
| B．children do not like nurseries or childminders at all |
| C．nurseries or childminders are dangerous places for children |
| D．too much time in nurseries or childminders is bad for kids’ mental and physical health |
I’m fat. I’m too skinny. I’d be happy if I were taller, shorter, had curly hair, straight hair, a
smaller nose, bigger muscles, longer legs. Do any of these statements sound familiar? Do you often put yourself down? If so, you’re not alone. As a teen, you’re going through a ton of changes in your body. And as your body changes, so does your image (形象) of yourself. Lots of people have trouble getting used to it and this can affect their confidence.
Some people think they need to change how they look or act to feel good about themselves. But actually all you need to do is change the way you see your body and how you think about yourself.
The first thing to do is recognize that your body is your own, no matter what shape, size, or color it comes in. If you’re very worried about your weight or size, go to your doctor to check that things are OK. But it’s no one’s business but your own what your body is like—finally, you have to be happy with yourself.
Nex
t, find which aspects (方面) of your appearance you can change and which you can’t change and need to accept—like their height, for example, or their shoe size.
If there are things about yourself that you want to change and can do this by making goals for yourself. For example, if you want to get fit, make a pan to exercise every day and eat nutritious foods.
When you hear negative comments coming from within yourself, tell yourself to stop. Try building your confidence by listing three things in your day that really gave you pleasure. It can be anything like the way the sun felt on your face, the sound of your favorite band, or the way someone laughed at your jokes.From the first paragraph, we can infer that .
| A．many teens can’t accept their body change easily |
| B．most teens like to have a special body image |
| C．teens prefer to change their body image quickly |
| D．teens usually change their opinions on their body image |
Which of the following does the author probably agree with?
| A．Change the way other people look at you. |
B．Go to your doc tor for advice on how to change your body. |
| C．Realize you can’t change everything about yourself. |
| D．源Learn from some celebrities on how to change your body. |
The underlined phrase “put yourself down” in the first paragraph probably means .
| A．make yourself fall down | B．say negative things about yourself |
| C．force yourself to do something | D．write down your name somewhere |
The passage is mainly about .
| A．how to adjust to the changes of your body |
| B．how to build confidence by changing your body |
| C．how to keep an attractive body image |
| D．how to find pleasure in your day |
Where will you post a notice if you need someone to look after your children?
| A．PERSONAL | B．ROOMMATES |
| C．DOMESTIC SERVICE | D．HELP WANTED |
A second-hand jacket will probably cost you __________.
| A．$60 | B．$10 | C．$20 | D．$40 |
To have your travel notes published, you may contact __________.
| A．The International Center | B．Gayle Moore |
| C．Students’ Union | D．Life Planning Workshop |
If you want to have someone wake you up in the morning, you may call __________.
| A．800-5224 | B．800-0760 | C．800-7839 | D．800-5770 |
Beware of those who use the truth to cheat. When someone tells you something that is true, but leaves out important information that should be included, he can create a false impression.
For example, someone might say,“I just won a hundred dollars on the lottery（抽奖）. It was great. I took that dollar ticket back to the store and turned it in for one hundred dollars!”
This guy’s a winner, right? Maybe, maybe not. We then discover that he bought two hundred tickets, and only one was a winner. He’s really a big loser!
He didn’t say anything that was false, but he deliberately omitted important information. That’s called a half-truth. Half-truths are not technically lies, but they are just as dishonest.
Untrustworthy candidates in political campaigns often use this tactic (策略). Let’s say that during Governor Smith’s last term, her state lost one million jobs and gained three million jobs. Then she seeks another term. One of her opponents runs an as saying, “During Government Smith’s term, the state lost one million jobs!”That’s true. However an honest statement would have been, “During Governor Smith’s term, the state had a net (净余的) gain of two million jobs.”
Advertisers will sometimes use half-truths. It’s against the law to make false claims so they try to mislead you with the truth. An ad might say, “Nine out of ten doctors recommend Yucky Pills to cure nose pimples (丘疹).” It fails to mention that they only asked ten doctors and nine of them work for the Yucky Corporation.
This kind of deception happens too often. It’s a sad fact of lif
e: Lies are lies, and sometimes the truth can lie as well. Which statement is true according to the article?
| A．Whenever people tell the truth, they are really lying. |
| B．The truth can be used in dishonest ways |
| C．All governors help their states. |
| D．You can’t trust gamblers (赌博的人) |
The author clearly wants people to .
| A．vote for female candidates |
| B．know that lies are lies |
| C．never trust anyone |
| D．think carefully about what they read and hear |
Which of the following would be the best title?
| A．Lying With the Truth | B．Everyone Lies |
| C．Yucky Corporation | D．Nose Pimples |
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