With Captain Cash’s help, we’ve put together the BIGGEST and BEST money-saving guide EVER - so what are you waiting for? Start saving NOW! The first step is to sign up to Captain Cash’s fantastic new website.
▲ Captain’s saving tip on car insurance
MAKE sure you give an accurate figure for your annual mileage when you get a quote - if you overestimate, your premium（保费）will rise.
▲ Captain’s saving tip on home insurance
Don’t overinsure your home - by sticking to the rebuild cost (the amount that really matters), you're covered if there’s a disaster. When in doubt seek independent advice.
Plus, pay your insurance policy in one hit, if you can. Many insurance companies charge higher interest rates when you pay in monthly installments.
▲ Captain’s saving tip on entertainment
BUY the latest CDs online from HMV via Captain Cash for great price deals. For instance, The Friends 15th Anniversary Complete Collection: 40 DVD box set is just £69.99 with free UK delivery - saving £30 on the RRP (Recommended Retail Price).
▲ Captain’s saving tip on utility bills
DON’T be loyal to expensive suppliers - always check out the best deals. Getting gas and electricity from the same company and paying by direct debit instead of cash or cheque also lowers the annual cost of your bills. You can also shave money from bills by turning appliances off, rather than leaving them on standby, and by turning the heating down by a degree or two.
【小题1】 What is Captain Cash?

—Are you coming to Jeff’s party?

—I’m not sure. I__________ go to the concert instead.  

A.  must           B. would          C. should           D. might

Has anyone noticed how, with the passage of time, one’s relationship with one’s grown-up daughters and sons becomes changed? I’ve been aware of this for some time but I’m not quite sure how to deal with it.
Take the kitchen sink for example.
Following a family get-together at my place, I walked into the kitchen to find Kate, my daughter carefully cleaning the sink.
“Don’t do that; what are you doing that for?” I said, unhappy about the hidden criticism.
“Mum,” she said, “you really ought to put your glasses on when you clean the sink. Behind the tap here was black!”
But it’s not just things like kitchen sinks. Another time Kate arrived to pick me up to lunch. She looked at me and then asked, “Mum, why do you use brown eyebrow pencil when your hair is grey?”
A sudden memory of her, aged 14, going to her first mixed party flooded back. She had come in to say goodbye. For a moment I thought she’d been an accident. Both eyes were black. I remember suggesting that perhaps a little less eye make-up might be more effective.
Now I told her, “My hair used to be brown.”
“It looks absurd.”
“Mrs. Menzies had dark eyebrows with grey hair.”
“Yes, but you’re not Mrs. Menzies, are you?” she said triumphantly, as if that proved her point.
But a recent event made me realize that something really must be done.
She had returned some for a few weeks before getting married. One evening I went out on a dinner date. By the time my companion left me at the front door, it was about 2am. As I stepped in, an angry figure in a white nightgown stopped me.
“Well, what time of night is this to be coming home?” she shouted. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!”
Shades of the past come back to disturb me. But what should I do about all this? Nothing, probably. Maybe, after all, it’s only a stage young people are going through.
【小题1】The daughter thought her mother didn’t clean the kitchen sink well because of her        .

A few years ago, I moved into a new house in Los Angeles. Soon after, a family moved in next door. It wasn’t the best of times for me. I had just divorced(离婚) from my second wife, and I wasn’t working. I’d come home each day and sit by myself in the backyard. One night, I heard someone from the yard next door, “Tom ! How are you, Tom? ” 
I couldn’t see anybody through the trees, but I answered, “I’ m good.”
“Good!” said the voice.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Eric.” Then I heard someone say, “Eric, don’t bother him.”
“Okay!” Eric said. “Talk to you tomorrow!”                                                                           
Months later, on Halloween, we finally met face to face. Eric came to the door dressed like a rap star. We became friends. We’d hang out in our yards, and Eric, who was almost 17 at the time and look liked a 13-year-old, would tell me his ideas and dreams. Eric’s dad, Alec Gores, is a billionaire(亿万富翁), the head of Gores Technology Group.
One day, Alec called me and said, “I know you are an actor. My son’s an actor, too. And he’s very good. I want you to write a movie for him. He wants to do something like True lies.” That’s the movie I made in 1994. His father has given Eric the great gif of confidence. He believes he can do anything he wants. He also offered to fund the movie. And that’s how The Kid & I, which opens in November, began.
Well, I really have to say that opportunity(机会)lies anywhere.
【小题1】What do we learn about the writer when he had just moved into his new house in Los Angele?