How should one invest a sum of money in these days 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 (股市)．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 (古董) 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 day according to the beating of their own hearts．They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour or so would shout the 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 ?

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

2.By quoting (引用) the remark (话) of a being from another planet, the author intends to ________________.

     A．suggest human beings are controlled by a clock

     B．describes why clocks can rule the planet Earth

     C．tell readers what clocks look like

     D．compare clocks to human beings

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 all the slaves busy day and night.

4.The underlined phrase stately homes in paragraph 4 means ____.

       A．state-owned houses                B．houses in very good condition

       C．grand houses open to the public     D．houses where statesmen meet regularly

5.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?

1.According to the passage, collecting antique clocks ________.

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

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

4.The purpose of the passage is ________.

How should one invest (投资) a sum of money in these days of inflation (通货膨胀)?   31   (leave) in a bank it’ll hardly keep its value, however high the interest rate. Only a brave man,  32  a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on the Stock (股票) Market. Today it seems that one of the best ways   33   (protect) your savings and even increase your wealth is to buy beautiful objects   34   the past. Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks,   35   I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques.

I sometimes wonder   36   a being from another planet report back about our way of life. “The planet Earth   37   (rule) by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound. It has a face   38   twelve black marks and two hands. Men can do nothing without its permission, and it   39   (fast) its young around people’s wrists so that everywhere men go   40   are still under control. This creature is the real master of Earth and men are its slaves.”

Most Americans get what money they have from their work; that is, they earn an income from wages or salaries. The richest Americans, however, get most of their money from what they own — their stocks, bonds, real estate, and other forms of property, or wealth. Although there are few accurate statistics to go by, wealth in American society appears to be concentrated in very few hands. More than 20 percent of everything that can be privately owned is held by less than one percent of the adult population and more than 75 percent of all wealth is owned by 20 percent of American adults. The plain fact is that most Americans have no wealth at all aside from their homes, automobiles, and a small amount of savings.

Income in the United States is not as highly concentrated as wealth. In 1917 the richest 10 percent of American families received 26.1 percent of all income, while the poorest 10 percent received 17 percent, mainly from Social Security and other government payments. The most striking aspect of income distribution is that it has not changed significantly since the end of World War II. Although economic growth has roughly doubled real disposable (可自由使用的) family income (the money left after taxes and adjusted for inflation) over the last generation, the size of the shares given to the rich and the poor is about the same. By any measure economic inequality is great in the United States.

The reality behind these statistics is that a large number of Americans are poor. In 1918, 14 percent of the population was living below the federal government’s poverty line, which at that time was an annual income of $ 9 287 for a nonfarm family of two adults and two children. In other words, about one out of seven Americans over 31 million people was officially considered unable to buy the basic necessities of food, clothes, and shelter. The suggested poverty line in 1981 would have been an income of about $11, 200 for a family of four. By this relative definition, about 20 percent of the population or more than 45 million Americans are poor.

1.What does the majority of the Americans have in terms of wealth?

A．Their income and savings.

B．Their house, cars and small amounts of savings.

C．Everything they own in their homes.

D．Actually, they have no wealth at all.

2.What is the percentage of wealth that is in the hands of most Americans?

    A．Less than 25%.                       B．More than 25%. 

    C．More than 75%.                       D．Less than 20%.

3.Why is economic inequality still great in the US in spite of the economic growth?

    A．Because the economic growth has widened the gap of the family income between the rich and the poor.

    B．Because income in the US is still concentrated in the hands of the richest 10% of American families.

    C．Because the proportion of income received by the rich and the poor remains almost the same as in 1917.

    D．Because some Americans made great fortunes during the Second World War.

4.What can we learn from comparison of the two poverty lines in the last paragraph?

    A. The poverty line of 1918 is more favorable to the poor than that of 1981.

    B. The 1981 line didn’t leave much to the poor.

    C. There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1918 line.

    D. There were more Americans who were officially poor by the 1981 line.

5.From the last two sentences we can see that 1981 government’s poverty line _______.

    A．was of no good for the poor          B．was officially approved

    C．was not helpful to the poor             D．was not put into operation then

In the USA Forbes magazine has published its annual list of the richest people in the world. Bill Gates of Microsoft is the richest man again for the eleventh successive year with a fortune of forty four billion dollars.

　　There are a record 691 dollar billionaires according to Forbes magazine. Between them they have a fortune of two point two trillion dollars. The highest concentration of the ultra-rich is in New York followed by Moscow and San Fransisco and then London and Los Angeles. But in total the very wealthy live in forty seven different countries with Iceland Kazakstan Ukraine and Poland entering the list for the first time this year.

　　Laksmi Mittal, an Indian born steel tycoon （巨头）enjoyed the biggest increase in personal fortune. His net worth has quadrupled （变成四倍）to thirteen billion dollars making him the world’s third richest man. Ingvar Kamprad founder of the Swedish furniture chain Ikea also saw a big increase in wealth taking him to the sixth place. Developing countries make more of a showing than in past years — there are for example three Russians and four Indians in the top sixty richest people, though surprisingly perhaps none from China excluding Hong Kong. Asian wealth is probably under represented as its usually spread among families whereas Forbes looks at individuals. Relatively few women feature in the list — among them is JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels ranked 620th with a fortune of 519 million dollars. New entrants to the list include the founders of the Internet search group Google Sergie Brin and Larry Page each worth more than seven billion dollars after their company’s recent stock market debut. The richest Italian is the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi ranked number 25 in the global wealth league.

1.Which of the following persons has the largest fortune according to this year’s  Forbes magazine?

A. Laksmi Mittal.       B. Ingvar Kamprad.

C. JK Rowling.         D. Silvio Berlusconi.

2.There are about _____ persons with a fortune between 100 million dollars and 519 million dollars in the world.

A. 300    B. 180    C. 70    D. 150

3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. No Chinese has entered the top sixty richest people in the world.

B. Russia is a developing country.

C. This is the first time that Sergie Brin and Larry Page has been included in the list.

D. There are more billionaires（亿万富翁） in New York than any other city in the world.

4.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. There are more billionaires in London than in Moscow.

B. Ukraine is a very rich country in the world.

C. JK Rowling’s novels have sold very well.

D. The IT industry is a profit making industry.