When 7-year-old Warren Buffett said,“I will be the richest man one day,” his friends made fun of his “daydreaming”. But ever since then the little boy has set about learning how to make money by selling drinks, delivering newspaper and buying stocks. The American had already earned $9,000 (equal to $90,000 today) by the time he graduated from high school.

 And this month the 78-year-old man, who earned his fortune by making a lot of sound investment in the stock market, took the place of Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, as the world’s richest man. Gates’ worth declined $1.5 billion to $55.5 billion in 33 days after the recent financial storm, according to Forbes Magazine.

 Buffett, the only son of a stockbroker, was ready to think outside the box to develop his business from a very early age. At 8, he went to golf courses collecting and selling the used balls. At 11 when he sold soda pop door-to-door with a friend, the pair collected lids on streets to judge which flavor was the most popular.

 As a paper boy during high school, Buffett delivered two competitor papers, so that even when customers canceled one of the subscriptions, he could still make a profit from the other. With his paper delivery savings, Buffett bought 162,000 square meters of farmland and collected rent. Young Buffett stepped into the stock market at 11 but earned only $5. The experience taught him one of the virtues in investing, patience.

After graduating from university, Buffett started his venture with stocks with his childhood earnings and money from friends. He researched the stocks and just bought those of solid companies that were undervalued and inexpensive at the time. By sticking to companies such as American Express and Coca-Cola, Buffett has become rich.

“Learning is important to Buffett’s success. He is a learning machine who can spend his entire day reading. He keeps learning from books, street smarts and investigation, from both success and failure. In this way, he over-achieved his aptitude (能力).” said Charlie Munger, his longtime business partner.

The passage is mainly about ___________.

A. why Buffett took the place of Bill Gates as the world’s richest man

B. what effect Buffett’s childhood experiences had on his success

C. how Buffett earned his fortune and achieved his aptitude

D. what Buffett dreamt about when he was a child

Which of the following is true about Buffett?

A. His worth is more than $ 55.5 billion now.

B. He is next to Bill Gates in wealth at the present time.

C. He achieved great success on stepping into the stock market.

D. He bought 162,000 square meters of farmland by selling soda pop.

How did Buffett behave at the stock market?

A. He often prefers some inexpensive stocks.

B. He will buy the stock whose price is lower than its value.

C. He always borrows money from his friends to buy stocks.

D. He will sell the stock if its price doesn’t go up.

Which is the main factor that determines Buffett’s success?

A.  His education.                      B. His family background.

C.  His desire to learn.                D. His cooperation with his partner.

What can we infer from the passage?

A. Buffett is an immediate success in the stock market.

B．Buffett and Gates are business partners.

C．His father helped him a lot in his business.

D．Buffett has a good sense of business.

Mr Clarke works in a middle school. He likes reading and often  1 some books from the library. He keeps  2 to the radio every morning and reading  3 after supper. So he knows much and teaches well. His  4 worship（崇拜）him very much. Mike, Mr Clarke’s little son，is only nine. He  5 likes reading books. And he often asks his father some questions. Mr Clarke always thinks he’s too  6 to understand him and chooses_ 7 ones to answer. Of course the boy is not satisfied with（对…满意）it．

One day Mike read  8 about the electric lights（电灯）and was  9 　 it．When his father told him to do some housework，he went on thinking of it．He asked him  10 questions，and his father answered all．Then his father said proudly，“Fathers always know  11 than sons!”The boy thought for a while and said，“  12 !”

　　“Oh? Why?”

　　Mike didn’t answer and asked，  13 ，“Who invented the electric lights?”

　　“  14 .”answered Mr Clarke．

　　“Why didn’t his father invent them，then?”

Looking at his son，Mr Clarke didn’t know  15  to answer !

1.                A．finds           B．sells           C．buys     D．borrows

2.                A．watching        B．listening        C．going D．touching

3.                A．newspapers     B．letters          C．stories   D．messages

4.                A．teachers        B．parents         C．students D．classmates

5.                A．also           B．never          C．even     D．only

6.                A．old            B．young          C．clever    D．able

7.                A．more ifficult     B．the most difficult  C．easy D．the easiest

8.                A．everything      B．nothing         C．something D．anything

9.                A．worried about   B．interested in     C．afraid of  D．angry with

10.               A．few           B．little           C．a few D．a little

11.               A．more          B．most           C．less   D．least

12.               A．So do I         B．Neither am I     C．I agree    D．I don’t think so

13.               A．instead         B．carefully        C．quickly    D．brightly

14.               A．Thomas Brown   B．Allan Smith      C．Thomas Edison  D．Ron Jenkins

15.               A．when          B．what           C．where D．which

A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the proper time and is never late in keeping an appointment.

The unpunctual man, on one hand, never does what he has to do at the proper time. He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. A lost thing may be found again, but lost time can never be regained. Time is more valuable than material things. In fact, time is life itself. The unpunctual man is for ever wasting and mismanaging his most valuable asset (财产) as well as other’s. The unpunctual person is always complaining that he finds no time to answer letters, or return calls or keep appointments promptly. But the man who really has a great deal to do is very careful of his time and seldom complains of want of it. He knows that he can not get through his huge amount of work unless he faithfully keeps every piece of work when it has to be attended to.

Failure to be punctual in keeping one’s appointments is the sign of disrespect towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the appointed time, he keeps all the other guests waiting for him. Usually this will be regarded as a great disrespect to the host and all other guests present.

Unpunctuality, moreover, is very harmful when it comes to do one’s duty, whether public or private. Imagine how it would be if those who are put in charge of important tasks failed to be at their proper place at the appointed time. A man who is known to be habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or fellow men.

1. What does the author think is the main difference between a punctual person and an unpunctual person?

A. A punctual person does everything ahead of time while an unpunctual person does everything behind schedule.

B. A punctual person does everything at the right time while an unpunctual person seldom does anything at the correct time.

C. A punctual person has a lot of appointments while an unpunctual person has few appointments.

D. A punctual person has much time to do everything while an unpunctual person has little time to do anything.

2. According to the passage, the main reason that a person is always unpunctual is that _______.

A. he has more work to do than other people

B. he is always in a hurry when he works

C. he doesn’t care much about time

D. he always mismanages and wastes his time

3. According to the third paragraph, when you are invited to dinner, you should arrive there _______.

A. after other guests have arrived

B. before all other guests

C. at the appointed time

D. after the host has got things ready

4. Which of the following statements best describes the harm of unpunctuality?

A. If you are an unpunctual person, you cannot be in charge of any important task.

B. If your friends know that you are unpunctual, they may not see you again.

C. Unpunctuality may bring about heavy losses for both public and private affairs.

D. Unpunctuality may make you miss a lot of appointments and lose friends.

At home, he keeps some pets，to which he ______ all his spare time.

A．spends        B．offers         C．devotes            D．provides

Molly信箱是一个报刊栏目，主持人Molly回答读者提出的各种问题。第61至65题是五位读者的来信。请从A、B、C、D、E和F中为每封来信选出最合适的回复，并在答题纸上将该选项桔号涂黑。选项中一项是多余选项。

Dear Molly,

      I have a problem. My parents are always talking to me about studying. They want me to study harder so I can go to a good school. I know studying is very important, but my parents put too much pressure on me. How can I explain to my parents that I need some free time?

                                                             ------ Overworked

Dear Molly,

       My best friend Tony is a nice young man, but he has a bad habit. He is always late. No matter where he is going to what he is doing, he is never on time. Once he turned up thirty minutes late for a meeting! What can I do to break him of this bad habit?

                                                         ------ Worried

Dear Molly,

       I have a new roommate named Louis. He is a good friend of mine, but he is driving me crazy because he is very untidy. He leaves his dirty clothes everywhere, and he never makes his bed. I am extremely neat. What can I do?

                                                                  ----Unhappy

Dear Molly,

      My cousin plays computer games a lot and he keeps on talking to me about various games. I don’t have any interest at all, but I find it difficult to stop him without hurting his feelings. Would you kindly give me some advice?

                                                                 --- Shy

Dear Molly,

      I’m feeling upset these days because the result of my last English exam was not as good as I had expected. My teacher comforted me, saying “Don’t worry. You can do better next time.” But I’m still feeling bad. I need your help.  

                                                         ----Disappointed

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