When I decided to get married, my father decided to share some wisdom. "Lori, it is just as easy to love a rich man as it is to love a poor man, " he said. My boyfriend didn't have much money, but I loved him. "What?" I cried. " How can you say that? I want to marry for love, NOT for money." " But why not marry someone you love who has money?" he asked. "Rich men are materialistic . I'd rather marry a poor man who loves me," I said and he gave in. And as we went on, with my family growing, I learned why my father put such importance on money. We had to cover the rent, car, electricity, food, and medical bills. We were under lot of pressure. The worries over whether we would be asked to move out or if we had the money to wash our clothes at the Laundromat this week made me question if I did the right thing by marrying a "poor" man. I realized that I had entered the ranks of the poor. Not that I'd ever been rich. Most of my life, I considered us in the lower middle-class rank. We had a house of our own, food on the table, cars, clothes, and money for college. But now, as I listened to an apartment neighbour talk about her monthly "Mother's Day" gift, I realized she was talking about her welfare check . And another young mother tried to "help" me out by connecting me with a friend who stole baby clothes from a department store. " For a small cut," she said, " I could return my 'purchase' for cash." It made me sick. How poor was I? I had a college education but wasn't using it. I insisted on not missing a minute of our children's childhood and it came at a price. My husband was working as hard as he could and it wasn't enough. But somehow we made it. The kids grew. Today, we look back and see the great values gained by going through those hard years. My children are not materialistic. They never thought they were poor growing up because we always managed to give a little bit of food, money, or clothes to the "poor". They were satisfied with the simple things in life that come free such as a beach day or a horse... .After getting married, the writer questioned if she had done the right thing to marry her husband because  _  . A) she was often scolded by her father B) she found her husband was irresponsible C) he didn't think her husband loved her deeply D) they lived a poor life with children to support
D
------
Advertising gives useful information about which products to buy. But modern advertising does more than gives news about products and services. Today's advertisements, or ads, try to get consumers to buy certain brands. Writers of advertising are so skillful that they can, sometimes persuade a consumer to wear a certain kind of clothing, eat a special kind of cereal, or see a movie. Consumers might never even want a product if they did not see or hear advertisements for it. For example, you probab1y do not need the newest cereal in the supermarket. There are probably many cereal brands on your kitchen shelves. You may not have space on a shelf for another. But if you see ads about a new cereal that is your extra-tasty and has a free prize in the box, you may want it. Advertising must get attention. To be effective, it must be exciting, entertaining, or provide some pleasure. The secret of writing good advertising copy is to offer a good idea as well as a product. The idea is what the ad is really selling. One example is an ad that says eating a certain cereal will make a person do well in sports. That cereal brand may sell better if consumers think it offers strength and energy. What is discussed in this passage? A) The content of modern advertising. B) The skills of modern advertising. C) The results of modern advertising. D) The writing of modern advertising.
B
------
For centuries,mankind and dogs have suffered from a communication failure.We can tell dogs what we want them to do and sometimes they comply,but we've always struggled when it comes to understanding the true meaning of their barks and whimpers.There is exciting news now-a dog translator has been invented to help you communicate with your furry friend. Researchers at North Carolina State University have fashioned some kind of miracle dog translator body harness .What's special about it is that it doesn't just rely on the dog's vocalizations to interpret what Fido is banging on about. Oh no-this miracle harness reads and interprets the ordinary dogs'body language as well,giving us a full two-way dog communication experience. Researcher David Roberts says:"Dogs communicate primarily through body language,and one of our challenges was to develop sensors that tell us about their behavior by observing their posture remotely." Sensors on the harness monitor the dog's heart rate and body temperature and software builds up a vocabulary,letting the human know what the dog is feeling. What would dogs say if they could talk to us?The human can even communicate back through the harness thanks to vibration motors,supposedly by tapping into the dog's senses so that it can understand what you're trying to say to it. The dog harness is designed for dogs involved in search and rescue and other front-line work,but it's got us dreaming of a beautiful future,one where humans and dogs can co-exist as equals,with the dog able to fully express itself at all times. Why can't people communicate with dogs? A) They have difficulty understanding dogs'barks and whimpers. B) They have no idea about dogs'behavior in relation to their posture. C) They don't know how to tell dogs what they want them to do. D) They don't have a machine to translate the dogs'language.
A
------
I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with some financial expressions used in business and the stock market. Our first expression is "in the red."  It is another way of saying that a business is losing money. In the past, numbers in the financial records of a company were written in red ink to show a loss.    A business magazine recently published a report about a television company. The report said the company was still in the red, but was able to cut its loss from the year before.    A profit by a business is written in black numbers. So a company that is "in the black" is making money.      Another financial expression is "run on the bank." That is what happens when many people try to withdraw all their money from a bank. A "run on the bank" usually happens when people believe there is danger a bank may fail or close.    Newspaper reports about a banking crisis in Russia used that expression. They said the government acted because of fears that the crisis would cause a run on the banks.      "Day trading" is a system that lets investors trade directly on an electronic market system. It was the first completely computerized stock market. It sells stocks of companies not listed on any stock exchange. Many high technology companies are listed on it.    Day trading companies provide a desk and a computer system to an investor who wants to trade. Individuals must provide fifty thousand dollars or more to the trading company to pay for the stocks they buy. Thousands of other investors do day trading from computers in their homes. A day trader watches stock prices carefully. When he sees a stock rise in price, he uses the computer to buy shares of the stock. If the stock continues to rise in price in the next few minutes, the day trader sells the shares quickly to make a small profit. Then he looks for another stock to buy. If a stock goes down instead of up, he sells it and accepts the loss.    The idea is to make a small profit many times during the day. Day traders may buy and sell stocks hundreds of times each day. How many financial expressions are explained in the passage? A) 3. B) 4. C) 5. D) 6.

B
------