An allowance  is an important tool for teaching kids how to make plans for the use of money, save and make their own decisions. Children remember and learn from mistakes when their own dollars are lost or spent foolishly. How large an allowance is suitable? Experts say there is not right amount. Actual amounts differ from region to region, and from family to family. To set an suitable allowance for your child, work up a weekly plan. Allow for entertainment costs such as movies and snacks. Next, include everyday expenses such as lunch money, bus fare, school supplies. "If you make the child responsible for these bills'," says Josephine Swanson, a consumer specialist, " he or she will learn to plan for necessary costs." Finally, add some extra money to make saving possible. If you can keep your child's allowance in line with that of his friends. A child whose buying power falls away below his peers' can feel left out. It can be tough, but don't excuse your children when they make a mistake with their allowance. When Brooke Stephens was ten and growing up in Jacksonville, her mother gave her $5 a week, $1.75 of which was for bus fare and lunch." If you lose your money," Brooke's mother told her, "you walk home." One week the girl spent all her allowance in a candy store, then she called home for a ride. " Mom made me walk home," recalls Stephens, now a financial planner in Brooklyn. " At first I was angry. But I finally realized that she was trying to teach me an important lesson. " Experts advise that an allowance should not be tied directly to a child's daily housework at home. Kids should help around the house not because they get paid for it but because they share responsibilities as members of a family. You might, however, pay a child for doing extra jobs at home, which can develop his or her early habits. Why does the writer mention Brooke Stephens? A) To question the opinion about pocket money. B) To compare Stephens with other financial experts. C) To explain that parents should be strict when children are developing good habits about money. D) To suggest pocket money is useless in developing a child's sense of responsibility.
C
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Orcas, or killer whales, are the largest of the dolphins and one of the world's most powerful animals feeding on meat. They feast on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, and even whales, employing teeth that can be four inches (ten centimeters) long. They are known to grab seals right off the ice. They also eat fish, squid  , and seabirds. Though they often frequent cold, coastal waters, orcas can be found from the polar regions to the Equator  . Killer whales hunt in deadly groups, family groups of up to 40 individuals. There appear to be both permanent and temporary group populations of killer whales. These different groups may hunt different animals and use different techniques to catch them. Permanent groups tend to prefer fish, while temporary groups target marine mammals. All groups use effective, cooperative hunting techniques that some are similar to the behavior of wolf packs. Whales make a wide variety of communicative sounds, and each group has various noises that its members will recognize even at a distance. They use echolocation   to communicate and hunt, making sounds that travel underwater until they meet objects, then reflect back, showing their location, size, and shape. Killer whales are protective of their young, and other adolescent females often assist the mother in caring for them. Mothers give birth every three to ten years, after a 17-month pregnancy. Killer whales are immediately recognizable by their special black-and-white coloring and are the intelligent, trainable stars of many aquarium shows. Killer whales have never been widely hunted by humans. Killer Whales do not feed on   _  . A) seabirds B) seals C) fishes D) seaweeds
D
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BERLIN (AP)----A tiger escaped its enclosure at Cologne Zoo in western Germany on Saturday and killed a female keeper before being shot dead by the zoo's director, police said. The tiger slipped through a passage between the enclosure and a neighboring storage building, where it fatally attacked the 43-year-old keeper, said police spokesman Stefan Kirchner. "It appears the gate wasn't properly shut," Kirchner told The Associated Press. The zoo was evacuated and a SWAT   team was called in, police said.But before it arrived, the zoo's director managed to kill the tiger by climbing onto the storage building and shooting it through a skylight using a rifle. Kirchner said it was unlikely that members of the public had witnessed the incident. "This is the darkest day of my life," the zoo's director, Theo Pagel, was quoted as saying by Cologne newspaper Express. The paper said on its website that the Siberian tiger was a 4-year-old male called Tltai that came to Cologne Zoo from an animal park in England.In November it fathered three cubs with a 7-year-old Siberian tiger called Hanya, according to the zoo's website. Police said the zoo reopened after Saturday's incident, which occurred around noon.However, a planned late-night opening of the zoo has been canceled. Cologne Zoo is one of the oldest in Germany.It was founded in 1860 and houses some 10,000 animals consisting of more than 700 different species. How did the zoo director feel after the incident? A) Proud. B) Disappointed. C) Sad. D) Angry.
C
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The business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors   were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy  . Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is troubling you." he said. After listening to the executive, the old man said: "I believe I can help you." He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying: "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! "I can settle all my debts in a moment!" he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe, just knowing it would give him the strength to work out a way to save his business. With renewed optimism, he made better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big deals. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again. Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man. "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." And she led the old man away by the arm. What was the executive worried about? A) He couldn't produce enough for the suppliers. B) The creditors wouldn't lend him any money. C) His products didn't sell well. D) He might run into bankcruptcy.

D
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