What most people don’t realize is that wealth isn’t the same as income．If you make $1 million a year and spend $1 million, you’re not getting wealthier: you’re just living high．Wealth is what you accumulate(get together), not what you spend．
How do you become wealthy?There, too, most people have it wrong．It’s rarely luck or inheritance or even intelligence that builds fortunes．Wealth is more often the necessary and natural result of a person’s hard work, determination, perseverance and most of all, self- discipline．
The most successful accumulators of wealth spend less than they can on houses, cars, vacations and entertainment．Why?Because these things offer little or no return．The wealthy would rather put their money into investments or their businesses．It’s an attitude．
The best wealth-builders pay careful attention to their money and seek professional advice．Those who spend heavily on cars, boats and houses, I’ve found, tend to skimp(spend little)on investment advice．Those who skimp on the luxuries are usually more willing to pay top dollar for good legal and financial advice．
The self-made rich develop clear goals for their money．They may wish to retire early, or they may want to leave some concrete possessions to their children．The goals are different, but two things are consistent: they have a dollar figure in minds．The amount they want to save by age 50, perhaps?And they work hard toward that goal．One thing may surprise you．If you make wealth---not just income---your goal, the luxury house you’ve been dreaming about won’t seem so attractive．You’ll have the attitude．
(1)
Which is the most important factor to be wealthy?
[ ]
A．
Good fortune．
B．
Intelligence．
C．
Hard work．
D．
Self-discipline．
(2)
Why don’t the wealthy spend much money on cars, vacations and entertainment?
[ ]
A．
Because they cannot afford these luxuries．
B．
Because they cannot gain wealth from these things．
C．
Because they are busily engaged in their business and they have no free time．
D．
Because they put their money into other investments, which leaves them no money for these things．
(3)
Which kind of the following people would be most likely to seek professional advice?
[ ]
A．
The people who intend to buy a house．
B．
The people who have financial problem．
C．
The people who invest in business．
D．
The workers who build up a skyscraper．
(4)
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
[ ]
A．
The rich people have the same goal of retiring at 50 when they have earned a certain sum of money．
B．
The wealthy people share two things---the amount of money they will make and diligence．
C．
The wealthy people usually retire at the age of 50 and then enjoy the rest of life happily．
D．
Luxurious house is a sign of people’s wealth, so wealthy people are sure to buy it．
To take the apple as a forbidden fruit is the most unlikely strory the Christians(基督教徒)ever cooked up．For them, the forbidden fruit from Eden is evil(邪恶的)．So when Colu brought the tomato back from South America, a land mistakenly considered to be eden, ever jumped to be the obvious conclusion．Wrongly taken as the apple of Eden, the tomato was shut o the door of Europeans．
What made it particularly terrifying was its similarity to the mandrake, a plant that was the to have come from Hell(地狱)．What earned the plant its awful reputation was its roots w looked like a dried-up human body occupied by evil spirits．Tough the tomato and the man were quite different except that both had bright red or yellow fruit, the general population consio them one and the same, to terrible to touch．
Cautious Europeans long ignored the tomato, and until the early 1700s most of the We people continued to drag their feet．In the 1880s, the daughter of a well-known plant expert that the most interestinig part of an afternoon tea at her father's house had been the “introduction this wonderful new fruit-or is it a vegetable?”As late as the twentieth century some writers classed tomatoes with mandrakes as an”evil fruit”．
But in the end tomatoes carried the day．The hero of the tomato was an American named R Johnson, and when he was publicly going to eat the tomato in 1820, people journeyed for hun of miles to watch him drop dead．”Wha are you afraid of?”he shouted．”I'll show you fools these things are good to eat!” Then he bit into the tomato．Some people fainted．But he sur and, according to a local story, set up a tomato-canning factory．
(1)
The tomato was shut out of the door of early Europeans mainly because ________．
[ ]
A．
it made Christive evil
B．
it was the apple of Eden
C．
it came from a forbidden land
D．
it was religiously unacceptable
(2)
What can we infer the underlined part in Paragraph 3?
[ ]
A．
The process of ignoring the tomato slowed down
B．
There was little pregress in the study of the tomato
C．
The tomato was still refused in most western countries
D．
Most western people continued to get rid of the tomato
(3)
What is the main reason for Robert Johnson to eat the tomato Publicly?
[ ]
A．
To manke imself a hero
B．
To remove people's fear of the tomaoto
C．
To speed up the popularityt of the tomato
D．
To persuade people to buy products fo\rom his factory
(4)
What is the main purpose of the passage?
[ ]
A．
To challenge people's fixed concept of the tomato
B．
To give an explanation to people's dislike of the tomato
C．
To present the change of people's attitudes to the tomato
D．
To show the process of freeing the tomato from religious influence
