Wealth starts with a goal saving a dollar at a time. Call it the piggy bank strategy ( 策 略 ). There are lessons in that time-honored coin-saving container.
Any huge task seems easier when reduced to baby steps. If you wished to climb a 12,000-foot mountain, and could do it a day at a time, you would only have to climb 33 feet daily to reach the top in a year. If you want to take a really nice trip in 10 years for a special occasion, to collect the $15,000 cost, you have to save $3.93 a day. If you drop that into a piggy bank and then once a year put $1,434 in a savings account at 1% interest rate after-tax,you will have your trip money.
When I was a child, my parents gave me a piggy bank to teach me that, if I wanted something, I should save money to buy it. We associate piggy banks with children, but in many countries, the little containers are also popular with adults. Europeans see a piggy bank as a sign of good fortune and wealth. Around the world, many believe a gift of a piggy bank on New Year’s Day brings good luck and financial success. Ah, but you have to put something in it.
Why is a pig used as a symbol of saving? Why not an elephant bank, which is bigger and holds more coins? In the Middle Ages, before modern banking and credit instruments, people saved money at home, a few coins at a time dropped into a jar or dish. Potters ( 制 陶 工 ) made these inexpensive containers from an orange-colored clay (黏土) called “pygg,” and folks saved coins in pygg jars. The Middle English word for pig was “pigge”. While the Saxons pronounced pygg, referring to the clay, as “pug”, eventually the two words changed into the same pronunciation, sounding the “i” as in pig or piggy. As the word became less associated with the orange clay and more with the animal, a clever potter fashioned a pygg jar in the shape of a pig, delighting children and adults. The piggy bank was born.
Originally you had to break the bank to get to the money, bringing in a sense of seriousness into savings. While piggy banks teach children the wisdom of saving, adults often need to relearn childhood lessons. Think about the things in life that require large amounts of money --- college education, weddings, cars, medical care, starting a business, buying a home, and fun stuff like great trips. So when you have money, take off the top 10%, put it aside, save and invest wisely.
1.What is the piggy bank strategy?
A.Paying 1% income tax at a time.
B.Setting a goal before making a travel plan.
C.Aiming high even when doing small things.
D.Putting aside a little money regularly for future use.
2.Why did the writer’s parents give him a piggy bank as a gift?
A.To delight him with the latest fashion.
B.To encourage him to climb mountains.
C.To help him form the habit of saving.
D.To teach him English pronunciation.
3.What does then underlined word “something” (Paragraph 3) most probably refer to?
A.Money B.Gifts
C.Financial success D.Good luck
4.The piggy ban originally was _____.
A.a potter’s instrument B.a cheap clay container
C.an animal-shaped dish D.a pig-like toy for children
Something that happens in our daily life often impresses us deeply and makes us think a lot. About six years ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in New York city _____ a woman and a young boy sat down at the next table. I couldn’t help _____ parts of their conversations. At one point the woman asked, “So, _____ have you been?” And the boy, who could not have been more than seven or eight years, replied, “Frankly, I’ve been feeling a little _____ lately.”
This incident stuck in my mind because it confirmed my growing _____ that children are _____. As far as I can remember, my friends and I didn’t find out we were “depressed”, that is, in low spirits, _____ we were in high school.
The evidence of a change in children has _____ steadily in recent years. Children don’t seem _____ anymore. Children speak more like adults, dress more like adults and _____ more like adults than they used to. Whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, but it certainly is _____. Children as it once was _____ exists. Why?
Human development has depended not only on born _____ states, but also on patterns of gaining _____ knowledge. Movement from one social role to another usually _____ learning the secrets of the new social positions. Children have always been taught adult secrets, but slowly and in stages; traditionally, we tell sixth graders things we keep hidden from _____ graders.
In the last 30 years, however, a secret-revelation (揭示) machine has been equipped in 98 percent of American homes. It is called television. Television passes information to all _____ alike, whether they are children or adults. Unable to resist the temptation ( 诱 惑 ), many children turn their attention from _____ texts to the less challenging, more attractive moving pictures.
Communication through print, _____, allows for a great deal of control over the social information which children will gain. Children must read simple books before they can read _____ materials.
1.A.before B.while C.when D.since
2.A.learning B.watching C.overcoming D.overhearing
3.A.where B.how C.what D.who
4.A.depressed B.impressed C.tired D.upset
5.A.mind B.belief C.proof D.idea
6.A.changing B.missing C.disappointing D.promising
7.A.as B.after C.since D.until
8.A.decreased B.increased C.disappeared D.improved
9.A.grow-up B.honest C.lovely D.childlike
10.A.think B.smile C.behave D.walk
11.A.similar B.enjoyable C.different D.probable
12.A.always B.still C.no longer D.again
13.A.logical B.physical C.mental D.biological
14.A.social B.scientific C.natural D.common
15.A.needs B.seeks C.includes D.engages
16.A.fifth B.fourth C.seventh D.third
17.A.customers B.listeners C.viewers D.fans
18.A.divided B.spoken C.collected D.printed
19.A.for example B.as a matter of fact C.even worse D.what’s more
20.A.basic B.complex C.instructive D.important
--- I just can’t stop worrying about the result of my medical examination as I’ve been feeling out of shape for several months.
--- _____. There is nothing you can do now but wait.
A.Sit back and relax B.Watch out for it
C.Wait a moment D.Take your time
In lesson 3, “An unknown goddess”, the interesting discovery made by the archaeologists was _____
A.that the city had once been prosperous
B.that the temple had been used as a place of worship
C.that they were not the first to have found the head of the goddess
D.that they found the fifteen statues had been painted
During China’s Golden Week, the first week of October, 650 million domestic tips were made in the country. The number of visitors to domestic travel destination was _____ of last year.
A.twice as big as B.twice as big as that
C.as big as twice D.twice the size
that they may eventually reduce the amount of labor needed on construction sites by 90 per-cent.
A.Such construction robots are clever
B.So clever the construction robots are
C.So clever are the construction robots
D.Such clever construction robots are
