Most of the money today is made of metal or paper. 2. One of the first kinds of money was shells. Shells were not the only things used as money. In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money for a long time. Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used as money in parts of Africa.
The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the centre. 3. Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. 4. Sweden and Russia used copper (铜) to make their money. Later some countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. 5. The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than the paper money used today.
Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.
A. The first coins in England were made of tin (锡).
B. But people used to use all kinds of things as money.
C. No one knows for certain when people began to use money.
D. People strung (串连) them together and carried them from place to place.
E. Money, as we know, is all made of paper.
F. They began to use paper money.
G. Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services.
As soon as I saw her, I understood I was in trouble. The tiny 10-year-old girl was staring at me with that specific facial expression which probably only dentists have to enjoy all day long!
Whatever question I asked, whatever activity I suggested, her reaction was pretty much the same — she was frozen with horror. She was sent to our private language school after having been the worst in English at her key school with a pretty strict ELT syllabus(教学大纲), with her peers teasing her for her mistakes in English. Moreover, her state school teacher called her name. To make things worse, she was under pressure from her family for getting bad marks in English. She was definitely expecting me to carry on the same way with her.
I have to admit that I had been staring at her with probably the same expression for a while before eventually she handed in an absolutely incredible composition which I had previously asked the class to write. It was written in perfect handwriting, was full of clever ideas and had correct paragraphing. The girl got her first excellent mark in English, and I praised her generously and from then on I started using her writing skills to support the others. Before doing an oral retelling of a story, she wrote it down. Before presenting her oral project, she was allowed to do the same thing. The day she first put up her hand to orally answer my question addressed to the class I was incredibly happy.
She taught me how to approach withdrawn students — find the skill which they can excel at, in her case writing, and help the student use it to develop other skills!
1.The writer is probably a teacher .
A. in a language training center
B. in a private language school
C. in a state school
D. in a key public school
2.The writer’s first impression of the little girl was that she was .
A. incredibly dull B. hard to cope with
C. far too lovely D. pretty confident
3.The girl came to the school because .
A. she had some special skills
B. she was good at writing poems
C. she felt very uncomfortable at her previous school
D. she is poor at her pronunciation
Charlton Heston was born in 1923 in Evanston, Illinois. Charlton Heston discovered his interest in acting while performing in plays at his high school. He later spent two years studying theater at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. But he left college to join the Army Air Forces during World War Two.
After the war, he found small roles in the theater as well as in television shows. His performance in a television version of the book Jane Eyre caught the attention of the Hollywood producer Cecil B. De Mille who later asked Heston to play the role of Moses in his movie The Ten Commandments which came out in 1956.This role made Heston famous and defined(明确) his career as a hero and leader. His face and body represented strength and heroism in many different roles. He played cowboys, soldiers and athletes.
The 1959 movie Ben Hur made Charlton Heston an even bigger star. Ben Hur won eleven Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Charlton Heston. Heston starred in many adventure movies during the 1960s. In the 1970s, Heston appeared in popular disaster movies like Earthquake, Skyjacked and Airport 1975.
Charlton Heston was also very active in the movie industry. He worked to help set up the American Film Institute. In 1977 he was honored for his service in the industry. He received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1997 he was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor. And, in 2003, President Bush gave Charlton Heston a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
In 2000, Charlton Heston issued a statement announcing that he had an Alzheimer’s disease. He died in 2008 at his home in Beverly Hills, California.
1.What kind of role did Charlton Heston often play in films?
A. Heroes. B. Cowboys. C. Soldiers. D. Athletes.
2.Which film won Best Actor for Charlton Heston?
A. Jane Eyre. B. Earthquake.
C. Ben Hur. D. The Ten Commandments.
3.What can we learn about Charlton Heston according to the passage?
A. He began to show his talent in Ben Hur.
B. He used to be a soldier.
C. He was once awarded by Kennedy.
D. He won eleven Academy Awards.
4.What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?
A. How Charlton Heston became famous.
B. How Charlton Heston began his career.
C. Who made Charlton Heston a popular star.
D. Who made Charlton Heston win so many awards.
To be sure, only children experienced some things differently from those with sisters and brothers. Many feel more pressure to succeed. In the absence of brothers and sisters, only children also tend to look more exclusively to their parents as role models.
In India, 10-year-old Saviraj Sankpal founded a support group for the tiny minority of only children. Among other things, the group does volunteer work to counter the myth that they are not responsible. “People think we’re treated too kindly and ruined,” says Sankpal, a computer engineering student. “But I’d like to remind them how lonely it can get.”
Most only children, however, say they wish for sisters or brothers only when it comes to caring for aging, unhealthy parents. Britain’s David Emerson, coauthor of the book The Only Child, says that such a person bears a terrible burden in having to make all the decisions alone. Emerson knows from experience: After his father died, he chose to move his elderly mother from their family home, where she was vulnerable(易受攻击的) to house breakers, to a new one with more security. “The move was quite hard on her, and she might feel that I pushed her into it,” he says. “After all, I am left with that responsibility.”
In the future, more and more only children will likely face similar choices. With working mothers increasingly the rule, many families are finding they simply don’t have the time, money or energy to have more than one child. As only children become common, perhaps the world will realize that the charge made against them is unjust.
1.It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s attitude towards only children is .
A. critical B. objective C. hostile D. unjust
2.It can be inferred from the passage that only children’s parents should .
A. find a support group for their only children
B. do volunteer work to help their only children
C. let their only children make all the decision alone
D. set good examples for their only children
3.Emerson decided to move his elderly mother to a new house because he .
A. is the only one who cares about her
B. doesn’t want to leave her alone
C. wants to share the responsibility with her
D. is worried about her safety
4.It is quite usual now for a working mother to .
A. spend all her time and money on her only child
B. be responsible for bringing up her only child
C. have and bring up only one child
D. devote all her energy to her job
Norah has a cottage on a cliff above a big bay. In winter it could be very nasty because of strong winds and sea spray. In fact, when a gale was blowing, Norah and her husband got used to sleeping in a small room downstairs, because their bedroom upstairs, which faced the gales, had a very big window, and they were afraid that an extra violent gust might break it and blow pieces of broken glass over them.
Also, the salt spray from the sea put an end to many of the colorful plants Norah planted in the garden. She tried putting up a fence to protect them, but the wind just hit it, went up over the top and then down the other side, so in the end she filled the garden with trees and bushes that liked salt.
But most of the summer Norah enjoyed her cottage and garden very much. At weekends she could sit out-of-doors in the sun, looking at the beautiful view, with interesting ships and boats passing by, and she could very easily cycle down to the sea for a swim.
Now, Norah and her husband had plenty of friends and relations. In the summer most of them used to come to enjoy the beautiful place, and in the end it really became quite annoying for Norah and her husband. When they were at home, they found friends and relations arriving, expecting to be given unlimited drinks and meals, and to sit in the sun for hours, talking as if Norah and her husband had nothing else to do but entertain and listen to them.
This went on for several years. Norah did not wish to appear rude by refusing to let her friends and relations in, but on the other hand, she was getting tired every summer.
Then one day Norah was complaining about this to her hairdresser while she was doing her hair. “You’re disturbed by too many uninvited guests, are you?” said the hairdresser. “Why don’t you try my way of escaping?”
“What’s that?” asked Norah.
“Well,” the hairdresser answered, “when the bell rings, I put on my coat and take my shopping bag. If it’s someone I don’t want to see, I say innocently, ‘I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go out. But…’”
1.In paragraph one the underlined word “spray” probably means .
A. wastes produced by some birds living near the sea
B. great waves caused by strong wind
C. plants floating on the surface of the sea
D. very small drops of sea water sent through the air by something
2.We can infer that .
A. a lot of friends came to visit them in winter
B. few friends came to visit them in winter.
C. Friends came to visit them only for drinks and meals
D. Norah was a good cook
3.The best title for the passage might be .
A. A Good Place of Enjoying the Sea
B. A Warm-hearted Couple
C. A Clever Way of Escaping
D. A Visit to Norah
4.What the hairdresser is likely to continue to say in the end is “ ”
A. If I am tired, I say, ‘Sorry, can you come next time?’
B. If it’s someone I like to see, I say, ‘How lucky! I’ve just come in!’
C. If it’s someone I like to see, I say, ‘How happy to see you! I was going shopping, but now I’ve changed my mind.’
D. If it is fine that day, I say, ‘I am tired, but I’ll show you around the place, anyhow.’
