E
However wealthy we may be, we can never find enough hours in the day to do everything we want. Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost, which simply refers to whether someone’s time or money could be better spent on something else.
Every hour of our time has a value. For every hour we work at one job we could quite easily be doing another, or be sleeping or watching a film. Each of these options has a different opportunity cost—namely, what they cost us in missed opportunities.
Say you intend to watch a football match but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get to and from the stadium. Why not, you might reason, watch the game from home and use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends? This—the alternative use of your cash and time—is the opportunity cost.
For economists, every decision is made by knowledge of what one must forgo—in terms of money and enjoyment—in order to take it up. By knowing precisely what you are receiving and what you are missing out on, you ought to be able to make better-informed, more reasonable decisions. Consider that most famous economic rule of all: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free, the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities.
Some people find the idea of opportunity cost extremely discouraging: imagine spending your entire life calculating whether your time would be better spent elsewhere doing something more profitable or enjoyable. Yet, in a sense it’s human nature to do precisely that we assess the advantages and disadvantages of decisions all the time.
In the business world, a popular phrase is “value for money.” People want their cash to go as far as possible. However, another is fast obtaining an advantage: “value for time.” The biggest restriction on our resources is the number of hours we can devote to something, so we look to maximize the return we get on our investment of time. By reading this passage you are giving over a bit of your time which could be spent doing other activities, such as sleeping and eating. In return, however, this passage will help you to think like an economist, closely considering the opportunity cost of each of your decisions.
1.According to the passage, the concept of “opportunity cost” is applied to ________.
A. weighing the choice of opportunities
B. reducing missed opportunities
C. making more money
D. taking more opportunities
2.The “leftover ... time” in Paragraph 3 probably refers to the time ________.
A. taken to have dinner with friends
B. spared for watching the match at home
C. saved from not going to watch the match
D. spent on the way to and from the match
3.What are forgone opportunities?
A. Opportunities you make up for.
B. Opportunities you forget in decision-making.
C. Opportunities you give up for better ones.
D. Opportunities you miss accidentally.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards the concept of “opportunity cost”?
A. Indifferent B. Negative
C. Subjective D. Objective
D
Mars was the first planet that humans attempted to get to. Since the 1960’s, scientists have been working to learn more information about the Mars’ past, We now know that Mars was once a warm, wet place with great oceans and deep rivers. We also know that about 3.7 billion years ago, all that water disappeared when the planet lost its air. But why did the atmosphere on Mars change so greatly?
NASA had launched the MAVEN spacecraft in the hope of answering that very question. MAVEN will study the remains of Mars’ air and help scientists figure out what became of the rest of it．
The spacecraft was launched on Monday, November 18, 2013, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The trip to Mars takes about 10 months. and MAVEN is scheduled to go into orbit in September 2014. It is the first spacecraft created with the purpose of studying Mars’ atmosphere. Its wings measures 37.5 feet not quite the length of a school bus, and it weighs 1991 pounds about the same amount as a small car. MAVEN is equipped with eight different tools to measure and study the planet’s atmosphere. To collect information, it will fly in orbit as fast as 3278 miles per hour, and as slow as 93 miles per hour.
Once it arrived at Mars, MAVEN will have plenty of company. The spacecraft Curiosity is still walking around the planet’s rocky surface, studying the geology, chemistry and possible biology there. NASA currently has a number of spacecrafts getting unique views of Mars with powerful cameras and telescopes. These missions are all slow, steady steps forward to discover Mars secret past. While the results may not be revealed for some time, an exciting exploration is on the way.
1.We can learn from the first paragraph that________
A．all the scientists wanted to live on Mars
B．people have had a better knowledge of Mars nowadays
C．spaceships have been sent up to Mars since 1960s
D．all the water on Mars has been gone for ten billion years
2.The MAVEN spacecraft has been launched with the purpose of________
A．analyzing the change of the atmosphere on Mars
B．assisting Curiosity in studying the surface of Mars.
C. analyzing what is contained in Mars’ air
D．checking whether water still exists on Mars
3.It can be inferred from, the text that__________．
A．many different tasks will be given to MAVEN when it lands on Mars
B．many spacecrafts are working around Mars to study its water
C．more wonderful things about Mars will be found in the future
D．more spacecraft will be sent up to help Curiosity
4.What is the best title of this text?
A．A new finding on Mars
B．A new spacecraft sent to Mars
C．The rapid development of Mars
D．The great change of the Mars’ atmosphere
C
Free Fun Guides
1.What is new about this year’s Museum Day?
A. People will get free tickets online.
B. Two museums offer free admission.
C. People must buy tickets for visiting a museum.
D. People can visit museums online and get a small gift.
2.The main purpose of the passage is to___________.
A. introduce ways to save money
B. help people who are very poor
C. give guidance on how to have some fun
D. provide information about free things to do
3.How can kids get a free book?
A. By reading eighty books at any Barnes & Noble.
B. By downloading and printing out a passport before October.
C. By signing up for a summer reading program and choosing one of the books they have read.
D. By signing up for a winter reading program and make a list of the books.
4.Which of the following shows the similarity between Museum Day and Free Night of Theater?
A. They last for the same length of time
B. The same number of free tickets is given away.
C. The tickets can be used in any U.S. city
D. They take place once a year.
B
IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful businessmen. Born in Sweden in 1926, Kamprad was a natural businessman. As a child, he enjoyed selling things and made small profits from selling matches, seeds, and pencils in his community. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades. He used it to start up a business—IKEA. IKEA's name comes from Kamprad's initials (I.K.) and the place where he grew up ('E' and 'A').
IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order book in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became a pure furniture company in 1951.
In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales boosted. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having meanings of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．
Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.
1.The author states in Paragraph 4 that flat packaging___________.
A. needs large space to store furniture
B. is a business concept inspired by Kamprad
C. helps reduce transportation costs
D. makes the company self-sufficient
2.What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and succeeded.
B. IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer.
C. The advantages of IKEA’s furniture.
D. Ingvar Kamprad was a natural businessman.
3.What can you learn about IKEA form the passage?
A. The starter kept IKEA a company operated by a few people
B. The furniture was made by manufacturers in Kamprad’s home
C. The starter made a big fortune when he was a child
D. The goods sold in IKEA are limited and not welcomed
4.The passage is written mainly in terms of ___________.
A. examples that illustrate a problem
B. order of events
C. analysis of a process
D. comparison and contrast
A
Once upon a time, a man was walking on a mountain when he found an incredible cave with all kinds of treasure inside it. So he gave up his job, his home, and his friends, and spent all his time guarding the cave.
He was so dedicated to it that he hardly ate or drank, and before long he fell ill. One day, when he could hardly move at all, he decided to share the treasure.
He crawled into the cave to get a handful of jewels, but discovered, to his horror, that it was empty except for a small diamond. The man took it and gave it to the first person to come by, a woman.
Then an old man came by. “What bad luck!” the man said. “Just a moment ago I gave a woman the last of the treasure I was guarding.”
“Are you sure there is nothing left?” the old man asked.
The man took him into the cave, where they found a box with jewels and some bags of gold. The man was shocked, and the old man explained to him, “At last! At last! At last someone has broken the curse of this cave. This is the Cave of Treasure, and you’re the first to have passed its great test. Many have devoted their lives to this cave, only to end up realizing there was nothing here …”
“And why does this happen?” the man asked.
“This magic cave has only as many riches as your own heart. When someone discovers it, the cave fills with the treasure they bring with them, but later, when they have devoted themselves to guarding the treasure, their hearts become empty, as does the cave. The only way to fill it is by filling your heart with all that is good, as you did by giving the woman that last jewel.”
From that day on, the man understood that it was better to share than to keep. Thanks to the cave and the old man, he became noble and generous.
1.Why did the man give up his job, home and friends?
A. Because he possessed a variety of treasure.
B. Because he had to guard the treasure cave.
C. Because he wanted to find the treasure cave.
D. Because he devoted himself to a great test.
2.What did the man find when he showed his cave to the old man?
A. All kinds of treasure.
B. A handful of jewels.
C. A small emerald.
D. A box with jewels and gold.
3.What do we learn about the people who dedicated their lives to the cave before?
A. They all filled the cave with the treasure they had.
B. They thought it was better to share than to enjoy the treasure alone.
C. They all found the cave empty at last.
D. The old man freed them from its spell.
4.What can we learn from the text?
A. Giving makes people healthier and happier than owing.
B. Some people never learn what is really valuable.
C. Treasure only belongs to those who possess it.
D. Different people have different views.
Gandi wanted so badly to help the world that he devoted himself to removing self-interest out of his heart and mind, leaving them pure, healthy, and free to love. It took him nearly twenty years to gain such control of his process.
When in South Africa, Gandi would sometimes walk fifty miles a day and only a few hours a night. into his seventies Gandi wrote hundreds of letters every week; when his right hand became , he learns to write with his left. Once, while he was writing a letter, the lantern giving light , in which case most of us would have and gone to bed, Gandi, knowing his timely reply would be particularly to those who had written to him, went and finished writing by moonlight. If asked to live like this, we would say,“Impossible！”Gandi would , “Oh, no. It’s possible, when your mind is flooded with 46 for all.”
Late in Gandi’s a Western journalist asked, “Mr. Gandi, you’ve been fifteen hours a day for fifty years. Don’t you ever taking a few weeks off and going for a vacation?” Gandi laughed and said, “Why? I’m on vacation.” This world-famous figure, who could have been prime minister of India and one of the richest men in Asia, announced he wasn’t on becoming rich or famous. He wanted something far – to place all his talents, resources, time, and energy in a trust for the world.
“You needn’t be if you’ve made mistakes. Just continue to try your . If you fall, pick yourself up and march on. If you cannot run, walk. If you cannot walk, crawl. The alone brings a continuing wave of joy in which every personal problem and every suffering is forgotten.” said Gandi.
1.A. thinking B. drawing C. growing D. learning
2.A. read B. run C. exercise D. sleep
3.A. Also B. Even C. Indeed D. Only
4.A. tired B. lazy C. relaxed D. hopeless
5.A. sank B. failed C. flashed D. shook
6.A. screamed B. waited C. escaped D. stopped
7.A. for B. or C. and D. but
8.A. important B. difficult C. friendly D. exciting
9.A. around B. instead C. outside D. alone
10.A. object B. attack C. fight D. lie
11.A. love B. freedom C. courage D. doubt
12.A. class B. life C. past D. mind
13.A. working B. writing C. caring D. imagining
14.A. turn to B. insist on C. feel like D. put off
15.A. finally B. always C. straight D. still
16.A. interested B. keen C. successful D. experienced
17.A. wiser B. tougher C. truer D. greater
18.A. troubled B. dismissed C. defended D. bored
19.A. change B. strength C. best D. advice
20.A. choice B. voice C. effort D. comfort
