How should one invest a sum of money in these clays of inflation (通货膨胀)? Left in a bank it will hardly keep its value, however high the interest rate. Only a brave man, or a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on the Stock Market. Today it seems that one of the best ways to protect your savings, and even increase your wealth is to buy beautiful objects from the past. Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks, which I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques.

   I sometimes wonder what a being from another planet might report back about our way of life. "The planet Earth is ruled by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound. It has a face with twelve black marks and two hands. Men can do nothing without its permission, and it fastens its young round people's wrists so that everywhere men go they are still under its control. This creature is the real master of Earth and men are its slaves."

     Whether or not we are slaves of time today depends on our culture and personality, but it is believed that many years ago kings kept special slaves to tell the time. Certain men were very clever at measuring the time of clay according to the beating of their own hearts. They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour or so would shout tire time. So it seems that the first clocks were human beings.

     However, men quickly found more convenient and reliable ways of telling the time. They learned to use the shadows cast by the sun. They marked the hours on candles, used sand in hour- glasses, and invented water-clocks. Indeed, any serious student of antique should spend as much time as possible visiting palaces, stately homes and museums to see some of the finest examples of clocks from the past.

    Antique clocks could be very expensive, but one of the joys of collecting clocks is that it is still possible to find quite cheap ones for your own home. After all, if you are going to be ruled by time, why not invest in air antique clock and perhaps make a future profit?

According to the passage, collecting antique clocks____.

can hardly keep the value of your savings

will cost much of your savings

may increase your wealth

needs your bravery

By quoting (引用) the remark of a being from another planet, the author intends to____.

A. suggest human beings are controlled by a clock

B. describe why clocks can rule the planet Earth

C. tell readers what clocks look like

D. compare chicks to human beings

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to measure the time?

A. Counting the beating of one's own heart.

B. Making use of candles, sand and water.

C. Observing shadows cast by the sun.

D. Keeping slaves busy day and night.

The underlined phrase stately homes in paragraph 4 means

state-owned houses

houses in very good condition

grand houses open to the public

houses where statesmen meet regularly

The purpose of the passage is

A. to introduce the culture of antique clocks

B. to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks

C. to compare different ways to make a future profit

D. to explain convenient and reliable ways of telling time

How should one invest a sum of money in inflation (通货膨胀)? Left in a bank it will hardly keep its value, however high the interest rate. Only a brave man, or a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on the Stock Market. Today it seems that one of the best ways to protect your savings, and even increase your wealth is to buy beautiful objects from the past. Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks, which I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques.
I sometimes wonder what a being from another planet might report back about our way of life. "The planet Earth is ruled by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound. It has a face with twelve black marks and two hands. Men can do nothing without its permission, and it fastens its young round people's wrists so that everywhere men go they are still under its control. This creature is the real master of Earth and men are its slaves."
Whether or not we are slaves of time today depends on our culture and personality, but it is believed that many years ago kings kept special slaves to tell the time. Certain men were very clever at measuring the time according to the beating of their own hearts. They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour or so would shout time. So it seems that the first clocks were human beings.
However, men quickly found more convenient and reliable ways of telling the time. They learned to use the shadows cast by the sun. They marked the hours on candles, used sand in hour- glasses, and invented water-clocks. Indeed, any serious student of antique should spend as much time as possible visiting palaces, stately homes and museums to see some of the finest examples of clocks from the past.
Antique clocks could be very expensive, but one of the joys of collecting clocks is that it is still possible to find quite cheap ones for your own home. After all, if you are going to be ruled by time, why not invest in an antique clock and perhaps make a future profit?
【小题1】According to the passage, collecting antique clocks ________.

A.can hardly keep the value of your savings
B.will cost much of your savings
C.may increase your wealth
D.needs your bravery
【小题2】By quoting (引用) the remark of a being from another planet, the author intends to ________.
A.suggest human beings are controlled by a clock
B.describe why clocks can rule the planet Earth
C.tell readers what clocks look like
D.compare clocks to human beings
【小题3】Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to measure the time?
A.Counting the beating of one's own heart.
B.Making use of candles, sand and water.
C.Observing shadows cast by the sun.
D.Keeping slaves busy day and night.
【小题4】The purpose of the passage is ________.
A.to introduce the culture of antique clocks
B.to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks
C.to compare different ways to make a future profit
D.to explain convenient and reliable ways of telling time

In modern society, receiving systematic college education seems a necessary way for success as a graduate from first-class university may always get more opportunities than others. However, if it is gold, it will shine one day. In this article, we will get to know three most successful people in U.S. who never finished their college education. Following experiences of these successful dropouts may give you some inspiration.

1. Bill Gates

Harvard’s campus paper “Harvard Crimson” called Bill Gates “Harvard’s most successful dropout,” while the rest of the world preferred to name him “the world’s richest man” for more than a decade. Now, even not on the top, he is still among the list of the world’s wealthiest people. Gates entered Harvard in the fall of 1973. Two years later, he dropped out to found Microsoft with friend Paul Allen. And in 2007, he finally received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.

2. Steve Jobs

The iPad, even Buzz Lightyear probably wouldn’t have existed if Steve Jobs stayed in school. Because his family couldn’t afford his college education, Jobs had to drop out of Reed College just after entering for 6 months. Then he found Apple, NeXT Computer and Pixar, which had made great influences on development of modern technique and culture. However, this wizard thought that his brief college education was not worthless.

3. Frank Lloyd Wright

As the America’s most celebrated architect, Wright spent more time on designing colleges rather than attending classes in them. Once spent one year in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then he left for Chicago and started to learn from Louis Sullivan, the “father of modernism." Wright’ s splendid resume included more than 500 works, most famous of which are Fallingwater and New York City's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

1. What does“dropouts”in Paragraph One mean?

   A. Hardworking students.                       B. Very successful students.

   C. Students failing to finish their school education.   D. Students from poor families.

2.Which of the following is right according to Paragraph One?

   A. People graduating from famous universities are more likely to get jobs.

   B. Many successful people had the experience of giving up their school education.

   C. If one has a lot of gold, he will become very rich one day.

   D. We should stop our college education to follow in those successful people’s steps.

3.According to the writer, Bill Gates _________.

   A. is richer than any other man in the world

B. is well-known in Harvard University 

C. finally finished his study at Harvard and got a doctorate degree

   D. is the only founder of Microsoft

4.Which of the following statements can’t be learned from the last two paragraphs?

A. The reason for Jobs’ dropping his college education is that his parents couldn’t pay for it.

B. Jobs thought his six-month college education gave him no help.

C. Wright’s teacher was a very famous artist.

D. Wright is the designer of New York City’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

5. What does the author want to tell us in this passage?

A. Successful people often have unordinary life experience.

B. College education is not so important to one’s success.

C. People from poor families are more likely to give up their college education.

D. Even without college education, one can still achieve success with one’s hard work.

 

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