Passage Four

The First Rule of Finance is to live within your means by spending no more than 80%of your take home pay. If you take home $100 per week, spend no more than $80.

But ever look at what people spend their money on? I have relatives and friends deeply in debt, spending $12 for every $10 they earn instead of the $8 you know they should be spending. When I see them, they're proud of their new whatever." What do you think of my new truck? asked one from the driver's seat. "Do you like my new shoes?" asked another on high heels. "Check out my new big screen," said a third. while holding the remote in his living room. We’ve all heard people fishing for compliments on their new toys.

Every one of them was proud of what they'd financed. They seem to have bought it for the purpose of being proud, of showing off, of keeping up with the Joneses. "Look at my new..." is everybody’s favorite phrase, even when the object in question isn't theirs at all and won't be new when they've finally paid for it if they ever do.

They’re proud of being stupid . They think it's cool to drive the financed car, wear the financed shoes, and watch the financed TV, but to smart people, whose opinions are the only ones we should respect, these people look dumb as rocks.

The Joneses, nine times out of 10, are financially stupid. That's why they have all that stuff, on borrowed money. Why try to copy them? Worse, why try to impress them? Copy and impress smart people, the ones who own their stuff. If you want to impress smart people , debt is the last way to go about it. Trying to impress a money-smart person by going into debt is like trying to impress Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps by drowning in a pool. Michael Phelps is impressed by good swimming ,and a money smart person by good money management.

46. According to the author, the new truck, shoes and big screen mentioned in

Para.2 are______________ .

A. indicators of wealth B .necessities to the buyers

C. just a waste of money D. examples of showing off

47. “…the object in question isn't theirs" (Para. 2) means _____________.

A. it is bought for other people　　B. it is bought with loaned money

C. it will finally be owned by the bank　　D. it will finally be owned by the buyers

48. According to the author, buying new objects on borrowed money is ___________.

A. unwise B. shameful C. understandable D. impressive

49. "Smart people" in the last paragraph refer to _______________.

A. clever businessmen　　B. people with high IQs .

C. fashionable wealthy people　D. people good at money management

50. The purpose of this passage is to _______________.

A. show sympathy with poor consumers　　B. criticize consumption of luxuries

C. advise people to become money-smart　　D. persuade people to keep off fashions

Part IV Cloze Test ( 15 minutes, 10 points )

Directions: There are 10 blanks in the following passage. For each numbered blank there are 4choices marked A,B,C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.

There is one fairly standard reason why some thinkers regard the meaning-of-lifequestion as being itself meaningless. They argue 51 meaning is a matter of language not objects. It is a 52 of the way we talk about things not a feature of things themselves 53 shape weight or colour .A cabbage or a computer is not meaningful in itself ; it become 54 only by being caught up in our conversations. On this theory we can make life 55 by our talk about it ; but it cannot have a meaning in itself 56 than a cloud can . It would not 57 sense for example to speak of a cloud as being true or false .58, truth and falsehood are functions of our human judgments about clouds . However there are problems with this argument 59 there are with most philosophical arguments . We shall be 60 a few of them later on .

51. A that B how C if D when

52. A means B question C problem D method

53. A with B for C like D as

54. A this B that C such D so

55. A rich B important C meaningful D colourful

56. A not more B far more C much more D any more

57. A make B bring C take D give

58. A Hence B Rather C Still D Therefore

59. A when B since C as D for

60. A writing about B hunting for

C listening to D looking at

英语试卷Ⅱ

Part V Translation (30 minutes，10 points)

Directions: Translate the following passage into Chinese and put your translation on the

ANSWER SHEET

Human friends may come and go ,but a horse could be one of your most loyal. long-term friends if you treat it right .

Horses understand words better than expected , since horses can hear the human voice better than even hogs can , due to their particular range of hearing . And scientists predict that trainers could have greater success if they use more verbal commands in their horse training programs.

Horses possess excellent memories , which allow horse to not only recall their human friends after a long period of separation, but also to remember some complex human instructions for ten years or more . The bonds with humans are likely an extension of horse behavior in the wild , since horses value their own horses relatives and friends, and are also open to new , non-threatening acquaintances. Horses maintain long-term with members of their family group. but they also interact temporarily with members of other groups when forming herds.

Part VI Writing (30 minutes，15 points)

Directions: You are to write in no less than 120 words on the topic “The Country I Would Like to Visit”. Your composition should be based on the Chinese clues given below.

Outlines:

1. 如果有机会到国外度假两周，你会选择哪个国家?

2. 请至少给出三个理由!

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