Rock stars and their money
Around the world young people are spending unbelievable sums of money listening to rock music. Forbes reports that at least fifty rock stars have incomes between two million and six million dollars per year.
"It doesn't make sense," says Johnny Mathis, one of the older music millionaires, who made a million dollars a year when he was popular in 1950s. "Performers aren't worth this kind of money. In fact, nobody is."
But the rock stars' admirers seem to disagree. Those who love rock music spend about two billion dollars a year for records. They pay 150 million to see rock stars in person.
Luck is a key word for explaining the success of many. In 1972 one of the luckiest was Kon Mclean, who wrote and sang "American Pie". Mclean writes his own music, so he earns an additional two cents on every single record of the song.
Neil Young who performs in torn blue jeans, sometimes sings to an audience of 10,000, each of whom has paid five dollars for a ticket. After paying expenses, Young leaves with about $ 18,000 in his blue jeans at the end of an evening.
How do the rock stars use their money? What do they do when the money starts pouring in like water? Most of the young stars simply show the money around. England's Elton John gave someone a $ 38,000 Rolls car and bought himself 5,000 pairs of eyeglasses, then lighted up and spelt ：E-L-T-O-N. He also bought himself two cars, "one for each foot".
Many rock stars live like Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane. Those performers return from a tour, pay their bills, and buy new toys. Then when they need money again, they do another tour. They save no money and live from hand to mouth.www.zxxk.com
In the end the rock stars' life is unrewarding. After two or three years riches and fame are gone. Left with his memories and his tax problems, the lonely star spends his remaining years trying to attract strangers. New stars have arrived to take his place.
1. This passage is mainly about .
A. the success of a rock star B. the way rock stars live
C. rich rock stars D. the admirers of rock stars
2. How much expense does Neil Young pay for a performance?
A. $10,000 B.$33,000 C. $32,000 D.$38,000
3.According to passage, the underlined phrase "from hand to mouth" means .
A. they have to earn money by hand
B. They know how to spend money in a reasonable way
C. they earn money only for their immediate enjoyment
D. they steal to feed their mouth when they need money
Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job’s pay. There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job. Here are a few of those main areas;
1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people?
There are isolating jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.
2) How do you handle change?
Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don’t happen so often. Other people would be bored of the same daily routine.
3) Do you enjoy working with computers？
I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic. There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.
4) What type of work environment do you enjoy？
This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won’t know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly.
5) How do you like to get paid?
Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this.
Anyway, these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.
1.What is unnecessary in your job hunting?
A．Assessing your skills
B．Taking your personality into consideration
C．Matching your skills with a position
D．Going to different areas
2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Isolating usually drive people mad.
B. Interactive jobs make people shy easily.
C. Extreme people tend to work with others.
D. Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs.
3.The underlined word “stability” in the passage most probably means?
A.no anger. B. no movement. C. gentleness. D. enthusiasm.
4. What could be the best title for this passage?
A. Lifestyles and Job Pay B. Personalities and Jobs
C. Job Skills and Abilities D. Jobs and Environment
Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket--- anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year he met John Ridgway and was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of adventure in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, then decided that this would be his future.
In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition(探险) towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite（冻疮）, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his supply-loaded sled（雪橇） up and over rocky ice. www.zxxk.com
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
Next October, Saunders, 27, heads south from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, a 2900-kilometer journey that has never been completed on skis.
1.What change happened to Saunders after he was 15 years old?
A. He became good at most sports. B. He made friends with a runner.
C. He joined a sports team. D. He began to build up his body.
2.The underlined word “exploits” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to ______.
A. journeys B. adventures C.researches D. operations
3.Which of the following is the correct order of the events that happened to Saunders?
a. He ran his first marathon. b. He skied alone in the North Pole.
c. He rode his bike in a forest. d. He planned an adventure to the South Pole.
A. a c d b B. c d a b C. c a b d D.a c b d
4. What does the story mainly tell us abut Saunders?
A. He is a success in sports. B. He is the best British skier.
C. He is Ridgway’s best student. ` D. He is a good instructor at school.
Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.
The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country’s bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated (交配)it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.www.zxxk.com
Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.
But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮) , began to attack its neighbors -- cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.
This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them.
1. The results of the South American experiment .
A. are not yet certain B. have proved to be wrong
C. have caused a serious trouble D. are not important
2. The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to .
A. make African bees less active
B. make Brazilian bees more easy-going
C. increase the number of bees in Brazil
D. increase the amount of honey in Brazil
3. Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?
A. Their production of honey. B. Their living environment.
C. Their hard work. D. Their bad temper.
4. The last paragraph implies that .
A. the bees have been driven to Central and North America
B. the bees must be stopped from moving north
C.the bees may bring about trouble in more countries
D. the bees prefer to live in Brazil
The survey about childhood in the Third World shows that the struggle for survival is long and hard. But in the rich world, children can from a different kind of poverty — of the spirit. , one Western country alone now sees 14, 000 attempted suicides ( 自杀 ) every year by children under 15, and one child five needs psychiatric (心理上的) advice.
There are many good things about in the Third World. Take the close and constant relation between children and their parents, relatives and neighbors for example. In the West, the very nature of work puts distance between and children. But in most Third World villages mother and father do not go miles away each day to work in offices. , the child sees mother and father, relations and neighbors working and often shares in that work..
A child in this way learns his or her role through joining in the community's ：helping to dig or build, look after animals or babies -- rather than playing with water and sand in kindergarten, keeping pets playing with dolls.
These children may grow up with a less oppressive sense of space and time than the children. Their sense of days and time has a lot to do with the change of seasons and positions of the sun or the moon in the sky. Children in the rich world, , are provided with a watch as one of the signs of growing up, so that they can along with their parents about being late for school times, meal times, bed times, the times of TV shows …
Third World children do not usually to stay indoors, still less in high-rise apartments. Instead of dangerous roads, "keep off the grass" signs and "don't speak to strangers", there is often a sense of to study and play. Parents can see their children outside rather than observe them from ten floors up.
, twelve million children under five still die every year through hunger and disease. But childhood in the Third World is not all
1.A. come B. survive C. suffer D. learn
2.A. As usual B. In fact C.For instance D. In other words
3.A. in B.by C. to D. under
4.A. childhood B. poverty C. spirit D. survival
5.A. neighbors B. fathers C. adults D. relatives
6.A. Anyhow B. Instead C.However D. Still
7.A. away B. alone C. nearby D.along
8.A. working B. living through C.playing D. growing up
9.A. fun B. life C. study D. work
10.A. by B. through C.from D. with
11.A. or B. but C. and D. so
12.A. Western B. good C. poor D. Eastern
13.A. at any moment B. at the same time C. on the other hand D. on the whole
14.A. easiest B. quickest C. happiest D. earliest
15.A. care B. worry C. hurry D.fear
16.A. dare B. expect C. have D. require
17.A. freedom B. danger C. disappointment D.control
18.A. eagerly B. anxiously C. impatiently D. proudly
19.A. Above all B. In the end C. Of course D. What's more
20.A. poor B. good C. rich D. bad
—Dad, dad! My head hurts so much. I think I’m dying.
—________, darling! The doctor says you will feel better soon.
A. That will do B. There, there C. Hi, there D. So long
