There are many things we remember from our childhood—the games we played, the music we listened to...but what about earning pocket money? This was our first ever wage for completing tasks such as tidying our bedroom or sorting the laundry. Our reward was a handful of coins that we safely stored. 1.
There was a time when cash was the main currency for financial transactions (交易). These days, though, using credit cards, or making cashless payments, are the most convenient ways of paying. 2. Research has found that 84% of British parents currently give notes and coins to their children—usually 7 pounds a week as an allowance.
But banks predict that by 2028 only one in ten transactions will be with cash, and that is something today’s children will have to deal with. One issue is that children may not understand the value of cash because they never see it. 3. They either should find a new way to hand out pocket money, or needn’t bother to pay it at all.
Still, solutions are available. Giving children lessons at school about finance is important. 4. The trick is to go and get some coins so that children have the opportunity to interact with them. Besides, bank accounts for older children can be opened to give them cash cards to use. Whatever method a parent chooses to adopt, their children will get some idea of the value of pocket money. 5.
A. Parents face a dilemma too.
B. This, in turn, makes the buying much easier.
C. They have completely taken the place of cash.
D. So how do parents hand out pocket money at present?
E. But parents need to teach their kids that money doesn’t grow on trees!
F. But now, it seems that parents’ attitude to handing out cash is changing.
G. And parents are advised to get children started with money as young as possible.
California has been facing droughts for many years, with certain areas even having to pump freshwater hundreds of miles to their distribution system. The problem is growing as the population of the state continues to expand. New research has found deep water reserves under the state which could help solve their drought crisis. Previous drilling of wells could only reach depths of 1,000 feet, but due to new pumping practices, water deeper than this can now be extracted (抽取). The team at Stanford investigated the aquifers (地下蓄水层) below this depth and found that reserves may be three times what was previously thought.
It is profitable to drill to depths more than 1,000 feet for oil and gas, but only recently in California has it become profitable to pump water from this depth. The aquifers range from 1,000 to 3,000 feet below the ground, which means that pumping will be expensive and there are other concerns. The biggest concern is the gradual setting down of the land surface. As the water is pumped out, the vacant space left is pressed by the weight of the earth above.
Even though pumping from these depths is expensive, it is still cheaper than desalinating (脱盐) the ocean water in the largely coastal state. Some desalination plants exist where possible, but they are costly to run and can need constant repairs. Wells are much more reliable sources of freshwater, and California is hoping that these deep wells may be the answer to their severe water shortage.
One problem with these sources is that the deep water also has a higher level of salt than shallower aquifers. This means that some water may even need to be desalinated after extraction, thus increasing the cost. Research from the study of groundwater has just been published. New estimates of the water reserves now go up to 2,700 billion cubic meters of freshwater.
1.According to the text, what causes the water crisis in California?
A.Previous drilling of wells. B.The messy distribution system.
C.Constant droughts in the area. D.The adoption of new pumping practices.
2.The research teams think it ________ to extract water from deeper aquifers.
A.expensive but practical B.reliable and profitable
C.cost-free but demanding D.cheap and environment-friendly
3.What is mentioned as a consequence of extracting water from deep underground?
A.The damage to aquifers. B.The sinking of land surface.
C.The decrease in operation costs. D.The negative effects on the climate.
4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?
A.To encourage people to save water.
B.To promote the seawater desalination.
C.To introduce a new way of extracting freshwater.
D.To draw people’s attention to the droughts in California.
Recently, as the British doctor Robert Winston took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself having to listen to a loud conversation of a fellow passenger woman. Boiling with anger, Winston took her picture and sent it to his more than 40,000 followers on the Tweet. By the time the train reached the station in Manchester, some journalists were waiting for the woman. And when they showed her the doctor's messages, she used just one word to describe Winston's actions: rude.
Winston's tale is a good example of increasing rudeness, fueled by social media in our age. Studies show that rudeness spreads quickly and virally, almost like the common cold. Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely that we, in turn, will be rude later on. Once infected, we are more aggressive, less creative and worse at our jobs. The only way out is to make a conscious decision to do so. We must have the courage to call it out, face to face. We must say, "Just stop." For Winston, that would have meant approaching the woman, telling her that her conversation was frustrating other passengers and politely asking her to speak more quietly or make the call at another time.
The anger we feel at the rude behavior of a stranger can drive us to do out-of-place things. Research discovered that the acts of revenge (报复) people had taken ranged from the ridiculous to the disturbing. Winston did shine a spotlight on the woman's behavior—but in a way that shamed her.
When we see rudeness occur in public places, we must step up and say something. And we can do it with grace, by handling it without a bit of aggression and without being rude ourselves. Because once rude people can see their actions through the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end the rudeness themselves. As this wave of rudeness rises, civilization needs civility (举止文明).
1.Robert Winston’s reaction to the woman’ behavior at the train can be described as ________.
A.a way of returning good for evil B.an answer to the call of the journalists
C.a good example of stopping rudeness D.an act of answering rudeness with rudeness
2.Being infected with rudeness can possibly lead to ________.
A.wiser decisions B.more frustrated passengers
C.poorer work performance D.more face-to-face communication
3.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.What to say to a rude person. B.Civilization Calls for Civility.
C.How to Fix Rudeness Spread Online D.Rude Behavior Makes a Rude Man
Olympic National Park, with its temperate rainforests and breath-taking views, exerts a natural pull on many Pacific Northwestemers. But Seattle writer Rosette Royale found it repellent. To Royale, the park seemed like a damp, dirty and unpleasant place. “I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to carry a 50-pound pack into the wilderness and camp there for days,” he said. “It didn’t make sense.”
Then he met Bryant Carlin, a vendor (小贩) for Real Change, the Seattle weekly sold on the street by vendors who are homeless or low-wage earners. He was also a skilled outdoorsman and a nature photographer who would take weeks-long photographic journeys to the park. The two men connected in the fall of 2011 when Royale interviewed Carlin for a feature story in Real Change about Carlin’s photography.
That first time they met—and for years afterward—Carlin invited Royale to go camping with him. Each time, Royale said “Thanks, but no thanks.” Until one day, in the spring of 2015, Royale surprised himself by saying yes. “Little did I know,” said Royale, “that saying ‘yes’ would change the course of my life.”
Royale and Carlin went on five separate journeys to the Olympic wilderness. They camped in spring, summer, fall and winter. For Royale, the trips were exhausting and terrifying. But the trips were also inspiring, and helped Royale—a black, strange man—to develop a relationship with the outdoors that he had never experienced before.
For Carlin, the trips were an opportunity to throw off the label of “homeless”. In Olympic National Park, sleeping outside just means you’re a camper. But there was one aspect of Carlin’s life in the city that he couldn’t escape: alcohol abuse. While he never brought beer on their camping journeys, the effects of years of drinking weren’t so easy to leave behind.
1.What does the underlined word “repellent” in paragraph 1 mean?
A.Appealing. B.Puzzling.
C.Rewarding. D.Disgusting.
2.According to Royale, what made his life course changed?
A.His first meeting with Carlin. B.His rejection of Carlin’s invitation.
C.His camping trips with Carlin. D.His reading of Carlin’s feature story.
3.What did the trips with Royale mean to Carlin?
A.They improved his photography skills.
B.They helped him feel a sense of belonging.
C.They deepened his relationship with nature.
D.They enabled him to get rid of alcohol addiction.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
When the modern Olympic Games 1. (start) in 1896 in Athens, Greece, there was no such thing as the Winter Olympics. 2.(player) completed only in the Summer Games. However, there were the Nordic Games. There was a(n) 3.(compete) of winter sports that took place every few years starting in 1901. But the Nordic Games were only to athletes 4.Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The winter sports were popular, so in 1924 an International Winter Sports Week 5. (hold) in Chamonix, France. About 250 athletes from 16 countries competed in nine sports and there were 11 female athletes, 6. competed in figure skating.
Still, the Winter Olympics were under way, adding more sports to the games and 7. (especial) more sports for women. Women got the chance 8.(take) part in skiing, ice hockey(冰球）9. other sports. Now the Games have such 10.(interest) events as snowboarding and skeleton(俯式冰橇）.
I am a girl, but I was born to be a rebel (叛逆者). I like games that can be _____ Some of the sports I like, even boys won’t play!
Wrestling (摔跤) is _____ seen as a sport for men, but I _____ to see if I could do it.
Every Saturday morning, I got out of bed early to go and watch my brother _____.From morning to night, I would sit watching the _____ have all the fun. Since then, wrestling has been part of my _____.
For three years, I _____ all the boys and became the best player in the team. My _____ memory of wrestling is when a boy walked off _____ because he’d lost to a girl.
My last ______ was at this year’s Girls’ State Wrestling Championships.
I was so ______. I was sure I would win. My heart was beating hard when the match started. I could see ____but my competitor. When the final whistle blew, I had ______ by four points. The cameras and ______ all turned to me: I was the new wrestling champion. I felt so ______. But after a few minutes of enjoying being a champion, ______ began to run through my knee. Because I hurt my knee, my ______ of being a national champion ended. Even so, I won’t lose heart and still ______ to wrestle next year when I go to college. I have ___ that you can do anything you want if you stay positive and put your ______ into it.
1.A.interesting B.surprising C.dangerous D.famous
2.A.usually B.ever C.hardly D.never
3.A.agreed B.pretended C.decided D.happened
4.A.roll B.run C.fight D.wrestle
5.A.boys B.girls C.teammates D.friends
6.A.way B.life C.work D.study
7.A.beat B.hit C.knocked D.injured
8.A.longest B.shortest C.deepest D.worst
9.A.shouting B.smiling C.laughing D.crying
10.A.chance B.match C.try D.sport
11.A.upset B.great C.pleased D.excited
12.A.anything B.nothing C.everything D.something
13.A.won B.lost C.led D.gained
14.A.hands B.players C.lights D.photos
15.A.shy B.hopeful C.happy D.nervous
16.A.air B.blood C.steam D.pain
17.A.dream B.plan C.goal D.story
18.A.remember B.cycle C.want D.walk
19.A.said B.heard C.learned D.noticed
20.A.time B.heart C.foot D.wealth
