In 1859,during the Gold Rush,a twenty- year-old immigrant from Bavaria named Levi Strauss stepped off the boat in San Francisco. He had with him a special cloth called Serge de Nimes that was later called denim in America. Levi Strauss hoped to sell the denim as material to make tents and covers for wagons to the men who were going to the goldfields to look for gold. "You should have brought trousers to sell. In the goldfields we need strong trousers that don't wear out,"one young miner advised Strauss. So Levi Strauss took some of his denim to the nearest tailor and had him make the miner a pair of trousers. The miner was so pleased that he told other miners about the wonderful newcomer,Levi,and soon Levi Strauss had to open a shop,producing enough trousers for the miners. The miners wanted trousers that were comfortable to ride in and were low cut so that they could bend over easily to pick up the gold from under their feet. Besides they wanted the trousers to have big useful pockets. One miner complained that the gold in his pockets kept tearing them. So Levi put metal corners in the pockets to make them stronger. Very soon,miners and cowboys from all over came to get fitted up with Levi's trousers. Today more than a hundred years later, Levi's trousers walk the world a Levi's blue jeans . Why did the miners need strong pockets in the trousers? A) Their pockets kept tearing the gold. B) Their pockets were not made of metal. C) The gold they found was too sharp and heavy to tear their pockets. D) The gold they collected easily tore their pockets.
D


There is an old Chinese tale about a woman whose only son died. Sadly, she went to the holy man and asked, "What magical things do you have to bring my son back to life?" Instead of sending her away or reasoning with her, he said to her, "Fetch me a mustard   seed from a home that has never known sadness. We will use it to drive the sadness out of your life." The woman happily went off at once in search of that magical mustard seed. She first came to a splendid house, knocked at the door and said, "I am looking for a home that has never known sadness. Is it such a place? It is very important to me." They told her "You've certainly come to the wrong place" and began to describe all the tragic things that had happened to them recently. The woman said to herself, "I have had misfortune of my own. Who is able to help these poor, unfortunate people?" She stayed to comfort them, and then went on in search of a home that had never known sadness. But wherever she went, she found one tale after another of sadness and misfortune. She became so involved in other people's sorrow that finally she forgot about her search for the magical mustard seed, never realizing that it had, in fact, driven the sadness out of her life. The best title for the text would be "  _  ". A) A woman's misfortune B) A nice surprise C) The holy man's faith D) Cure for sadness
D


Q: When Pat Jones finished college, she decided to travel around the world and see as many foreign places as she could while she was young. Pat wanted to visit Latin America first, so she got a job as an English teacher in a school in Bolivia. Pat spoke a little Spanish, so she was able to communicate with her students even when they didn't know much English. Once, A sentence she had read somewhere struck her mind: if you dream in a foreign language, you have really mastered it. Pat repeated this sentence to her students and hoped that some day she would dream in Spanish and they would dream in English. One day, one of her worst students came up and explained in Spanish that he had not done his homework. He had gone to bed early and had slept badly. "What does this have to do with your homework?" Pat asked. "I dreamed all night, Miss Jones. And my dream was in English." "In English?" Pat was very surprised, since he was such a bad student. She was even secretly jealous  . Her dream was still not in Spanish. But she encouraged her young student, "Well, tell me about your dream." "All the people in my dream spoke English. All the newspapers and magazines and all the TV programs were in English." "But that's wonderful," said Pat. "What did all the people say to you?" "I am sorry, Miss Jones. That's why I slept so badly. I didn't understand a word they said. It was a nightmare  ". Pat's student didn't finish his home work because  _  . A) the home work was too difficult B) the student dreamed in English C) the student didn't sleep well D) the student didn't know much English
A: C


Personal money-management website Mint.com suggests recently that responsible parents should give their kids credit cards--possibly starting as young as middle school. The website says a credit card will help children master responsible spending habits and give parents the chance to teach them some valuable lessons. It's absolutely true that kids should learn about how a credit card works and how to use it responsibly. But the idea that they need a card of their own to practise this is questionable. Yes, credit cards are a teaching tool, but it's the time you spend educating them about money management that does the teaching, not the piece of plastic. Sit down with your child--here we are referring to teens and walk them through your credit card statements. Point out important things like the due date, late fee warning, and APR  . If you have good credit, adding a child as an authorized user onto one of your credit cards also provides teachable moments. Allow kids to use the card to make specific purchases and require their participation in payment. Since the card is still in your name, you can take them off it at any point and cut off their access if they're not able to handle the responsibility. Another option is to set them up with an account at a local bank that offers free use of a debit card  . Unlike credit card, the debit card has no overdraft   function. Children can only use the card to pay for things and the money is taken directly from their bank account. If the account is empty, the worst that will happen is the card being declined at a cash register. What is the purpose of adding kids as credit card authorized users? A) To avoid extremely high overdraft fees. B) To encourage them to share household expenses. C) To teach them to be responsible credit card users. D) To help them pay close attention to their bank account.

C