With chance he found the very book he was always looking for()
There were red faces at one of Britain's biggest banks recently. They had accepted a telephone order to buy £ 100,000 worth of shares from a fifteen-year-old schoolboy (they thought he was twenty-one. The shares fell in value and the schoolboy was unable to pay up. The bank lost £ 20,000 on the deal which it cannot get back because, for one thing, this young speculator does not have the money and, for another, being under eighteen, he is not legally liable for his debts. If the shares had risen in value by the same amount that they fell, he would have pocketed £ 20,000 profit. Not bad for a fifteen-year-old. It certainly is better than delivering the morning newspaper. In another recent case, a boy of fourteen found, in his grandmother's house, a suitcase full of foreign banknotes. The clean, crisp, banknotes looked very convincing but they were now not used in their country of origin or anywhere else. This young boy headed straight to the nearest bank with his pockets filled with notes. The cashiers did not realise that the country in question had reduced the value of its currency by 90%. They exchanged the notes at their face value at the current exchange rate. In three days, before he was found out, he took £ 200,000 from nine different banks. Amazingly, he had already spent more than half of this on taxi- rides, restaurant meals, concert tickets and presents for his many new girlfriends (at least he was generous!) before the police caught up with him. Because he is also under eighteen the banks have kissed goodbye to a lot of money, and several cashiers have lost their jobs.Should we admire these youngsters for being enterprising and showing initiative or condemn them for their dishonesty? Maybe they had managed for years with tiny amounts of pocket money that they got from tight-listed parents. Maybe they had done Saturday jobs for peanuts. It is hardly surprising, given the expensive things that young people want to buy, such as fashionable running shoes and computer games, if they sometimes think up more imaginative ways of making money than delivering newspapers and baby-sitting. These lads saw the chance to make a lot of money and took it.Another recent story which should give us food for thought is the case of the man who paid his six-year-old daughter £ 300 a week pocket money. He then charged her for the food she ate and for her share of the rent and household bills. After paying for all this, she was left with a few coins for her piggy bank.. "She will soon learn the value of money," he said. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has to be paid for and the sooner she learns that the better." At the other extreme there are fond parents who provide free bed and board for their grown-up children. While even the most hard-hearted parents might hesitate to throw their children out on the streets, we all know of people in their late twenties who still shamelessly live off their parents. Surely there comes a time when every- one has to leave the parental nest, look after themselves and pay their own way in life. But when is it?
1.One of Britain's biggest banks recently ____
A、received a telephone order to buy shares for a twenty-one year old
B、lost a lot of money because the shares they bought fell in value
C、bought quite a lot of shares for a customer and caused him to lose money
D、lost money as its young customer did not have the money to pay his debts
2.According to the passage, the young customer would have ____
A、earned £ 20,000, if the shares had gone up in value by the same amount they fell
B、paid his debts, if he had had the money to do so
C、continued to cheat banks, if he had not been found out
D、to go to prison, if he did not pay the money back
3.The writer's attitude to the example of the two boys who cheated the banks is ____
A、positive
B、questioning
C、neutral
D、negative
4.The reason why the man paid his daughter £300 a week pocket money and then required her to pay for her living expenses was that he wanted her to learn ____
A、to bear the hardships of life
B、how to live comfortably on her own pocket money
C、the value of money
D、how to save money
5.It can be concluded from the article that the writer believes that ____
A、parents should give more pocket money to their children
B、children should leave the parental nest as soon as possible
C、grown-up children should support themselves
D、children should learn to be economical
The lawyer advised him to drop the ______, since he stands little chance to win.
A) event B) incident C) case D) affair
We must get there ______ before he has a chance to break the news to her.
A.by no means
B.by all means
C.at no means
D.in all means
A month later, Mrs. Lester found out what had happened. Mr. Lester told a friend of his that he had taken wrong turning on purpose. This friend told his wife , and the wife immediately went around to tell Mrs. Lester. The two women began to plan a revenge. One day, when Mr. Lester was not in, they broke into his stud y, which he always locked. His hobby was collecting old coins. Mrs. Lester had already worked out how much his collection was worth $850! They were taking some coins out of the case when they heard a car pull up outside the house. Mrs. Lester quickly switched the light off, and they waited, holding their breath. The front door opened and Mr. Lester came in. They heard him take his coat off. He walked towards the study door and opened it. There was no chance for the women to get away without being seen. Mr. Lester switched the light on and was astounded to see his wife standing there with a handful of valuable coins. It took both husband and wife a long time to get over this.
106.Which of the following is correct_____
A.Mr. Lester likes to watch ballet.
B.Mrs. Lester likes to watch ballet.
C.Both of them like to watch ballet
D.Neither of them likes to watch ballet.
107.It was quite_____ when they drove to the theatre.
A.rainy
B.stormy
C.cloudy
D.foggy
108.The theater is_____ from Mr. and Mrs. Lester's.
A.an hour-driving
B.in the other side of the city
C.very near
D.half an hour of bicycle riding
109.The wife of Mr. Lester's friend is a _____.
A.social worker
B.house cleaner
C.baby sitter
D.gossip
110.How many persons are mentioned in this story_____
A.Three
B.Four
C.Five
D.Six
A.Until ... did the chairman find
B.Until ... the chairman found
C.Not until ... did the chairman find
D.Not until ... the chairman found
It is said that he was the man who () America.
A.found
B.discovered
C.found out
D.looked for
A.has been seeking
B.is seeking for
C.sought
D.sought for