W: If you’re in your 20s, you own your first car, your career is more or less launched, and you’re starting to look forward to owning a home. But you’re worried, too. Perhaps you’ve got some debt. You probably don’t have much in the way of savings. And with all your expenses, it doesn’t look you’ll be able to improve that situation soon.If you wonder how to cut corners, there’s an obvious place to look--at your spending habits.Do you buy a soda each weekend Waste $1 a day for 40 years and, when you’re set to retire, you’ll find your account is short by $190,000. Grab a calculator and you’ll discover that, over 40 years going out to dinner twice a month at $ 40 each time amounts to half a million. Even a pack--a day cigarette habit will lighten your retirement account by $ 330,000. And the same with cable TV and those cool earrings. They will probably amount to as much as one million.So, the first clue to accumulating wealth is this: focus on your spending habits. Here are a couple of tricks to help you save even if you swear you can’t afford to. Stop buying things that fall rather than rise in value. Pay yourself first: Before you pay the monthly bills, send $ 25 to a mutual fund. Stop spending coins. From now on, spend only paper currency, and keep the change every day. Get your family involved, and you’ll double your savings. Use discount tickets at the supermarket--but use them correctly. How If you really want to make these tickets worthwhile, you actually must invest into your mutual fund the amount you save by using the tickets. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time--and your money. How much can a person save by retirement if he gives up his pack-a-day habit().
A. $190,000
B. $330,000
C. $500,000
D. $1,000,000
查看答案
M: Next time you bring your kids in for a checkup, don’t be surprised if the doctor asks about their tastes in entertainment. The American Academy of Medicine suggested last week that doctors work with parents to evaluate how much TV kids watch and what they see, what video and computer games they play, which websites they visit on the Internet, whether they view R-rated videos without the company of their parents, what music they like and what books they read. Doctors are worried that kids who spend too much time in front of the tube don’t get enough exercise and can become overweight. The academy is also concerned that the messages kids get from entertainment media Can make them more violent and sexually active.The academy recommends that children under age two not watch any TV. "Children need activities to stimulate the brain during the first two years of life," says Dr. Miriam Baron, who chairs the academy’s committee on public education. "They need feedback and socialization. " Older children, she says, should watch TV in a common area. Their bedrooms should be "electronic media-free" zones where they can have a quiet place to read, study, play or just relax. The academy suggests that children under age two ().
A. get enough entertainment
B. have more activities
C. receive early education
D. have regular checkups
W: If you’re in your 20s, you own your first car, your career is more or less launched, and you’re starting to look forward to owning a home. But you’re worried, too. Perhaps you’ve got some debt. You probably don’t have much in the way of savings. And with all your expenses, it doesn’t look you’ll be able to improve that situation soon.If you wonder how to cut corners, there’s an obvious place to look--at your spending habits.Do you buy a soda each weekend Waste $1 a day for 40 years and, when you’re set to retire, you’ll find your account is short by $190,000. Grab a calculator and you’ll discover that, over 40 years going out to dinner twice a month at $ 40 each time amounts to half a million. Even a pack--a day cigarette habit will lighten your retirement account by $ 330,000. And the same with cable TV and those cool earrings. They will probably amount to as much as one million.So, the first clue to accumulating wealth is this: focus on your spending habits. Here are a couple of tricks to help you save even if you swear you can’t afford to. Stop buying things that fall rather than rise in value. Pay yourself first: Before you pay the monthly bills, send $ 25 to a mutual fund. Stop spending coins. From now on, spend only paper currency, and keep the change every day. Get your family involved, and you’ll double your savings. Use discount tickets at the supermarket--but use them correctly. How If you really want to make these tickets worthwhile, you actually must invest into your mutual fund the amount you save by using the tickets. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time--and your money. According to the speaker, what should one pay special attention to if he wants to save up().
A. Family debts
Bank savings
C. Monthly bills
D. Spending habits
阅读下面这篇短文,短文后有2项测试任务:(1)第23~26题要求从所给的6个选项中为第2~5段每段选择1个正确的小标题;(2)第27~30题要求从所给的6个选项中选择4个正确选项,分别完成每个句子。 Estee Lauder Died1 The child of Central European immigrants who created an international cosmetics (化妆品) empire and became one of the most influential women in US, has died on Saturday. Estee Lauder died at her home in Manhattan, New York City, a company spokeswoman said. She was 97.2 Born in Queens, New York in 1908, Lauder was the daughter of a Hungarian mother and a Czech father.3 Lauder began her business career by selling skincare products developed by her uncle John Schotz, a chemist; to beauty salons (美容院) and hotels. In 1930, she married Joseph Lauder who became her* partner. The company, which became known as Estee Lauder, took off after World War II.4 In 1953, the company introduced its first perfume (香水), Youth Dew, the first of a range of fragrances that has now grown to more than 70. They include: Aramis, a line of products for men, launched in 1964; and Clinique, a range of odourless (无嗅的) cosmetics, which followed in 1968.5 By the time she retired in 1995, Lauder was presiding over a multibillion-dollar enterprise, which now ranks number 349 in the Fortune 500 list of largest US companies. In 1998, she was the only woman to feature in Time magazine’s selection of the 20 most important business geniuses of the last century. There were two secrets to her success: her gift for selling things and her tireless energy and determination never to accept second best.6 Even after her retirement at the age of 89, Lauder remained closely involved. Beauty, Lauder believed, was the most important thing in life.7 She wrote in her 1985 autobiography, "Estee, a Success Story": "In a perfect world, we’d all be judged on the sweetness of our souls. But in our less than perfect world, the woman who-looks pretty has a distinct advantage and, usually, the last word." Paragraph 5______
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $ 26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil price calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this timeThe oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimated in its latest Economic Outlook that, if oil prices averaged $ 22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25--0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies--to which heavy industry has shifted--have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed.One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist’s commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%. The estimates in Economic Outlook show that in rich countries ().
A. heavy industry becomes more energy-intensive
B. income loss mainly results from fluctuating crude oil prices
C. manufacturing industry has been seriously squeezed
D. oil price changes have no significant impact on GDP