(77)What do we mean by a satisfactory standard of living Obviously, it must include the basic necessities of life such as food clothing and shelter. To get these necessities on regular basis, a person must have a reliable income. But we have other needs which would probably also be included as basic, such as health and education facilities.
We may think of all of these as our needs. Yet most of us would be far from satisfied if we had nothing more than these which are supplied for us. (78) We all enjoy extra income to spend on things like books, sports or hobbies. Sometimes we save some of this extra income to pay for future expense of this type on holidays. So we must add our wants to our basic needs. Our standard of living is the degree, to which these needs and wants are satisfied.
But as time goes on, what we think of as our basic needs changes. Twenty years ago a television would have been a luxury, and still is in many countries now. Even now we cannot say it is a need in the same sense as food, clothing and shelter. Yet if most of the people of a country have one, it comes to be accepted as a need. It is possible therefore to have food, clothing and shelter and still be poor by the standards of our own society.
If most of the people of a country have a television, we ______.

A:can say the television is a need in the same sense as food and clothing and shelter B:can say the television must be in the basic necessities C:cannot say the television is in the basic necessities D:can say every family must have one

Today, these so-called bank credit cards have become very popular. They can be used in stores, hotels, and restaurants all over the world. And, they can be used to pay for all kinds of unusual goods and services, including car repairs, hospital care and accident or life insurance.
Credit cards offer two major services. First, they are easier and safer to carry than large amounts of money. Second, they permit people to borrow-to buy things they want even when they do not have enough money to pay the full price. Credit cards make it possible to spread out payments over weeks or months.
To receive credit cards, people must prove that they earn enough to pay for whai they buy. And they usually must prove that they have paid back any money they borrowed in the past. Then, after they receive the card, credit cmnpanies limit how much they can buy with it. Visa and Mastercard, for example, do not permit most of their users to owe more than $ 1,500. Yet even with these restrictions(限制), credit cards often make it too easy for people to spend the money they cannot pay back.
With credit cards, people pay for goods or services at the end of each month, instead of when they buy them. And when the time does come to pay, most credit cards offer people a choice. They can pay all of what they owe for the month. Or they can pay just part usually between five and ten percent of what they owe.
Studies of credit card use have found tha! each month, about half of all card users pay the full amount they owe. The others pay only part of the amount. It is this group that pro- vides credit, card companies with most of their earnings. That is because the people pay a service charge—"interest"—for the right to postpone full payment. Most pay an interest rate of about 19 percent a year of what they owe. In the last few years, there has been increasing criticism of high interest rates on credit cards. The use of credit cards continues to increase. Some people say that in the near future credit cards will replace money completely, but others believe that event is unlikely. However, they think Americans will be using credit cards more and more. A major reason for this is the increasing fear of crime. Credit cards—unlike real money—can be replaced if they are lost or stolen.
With a credit card one can buy things______.

A:one can never afford B:without using cash C:at lower prices D:which cannot be bought with cash

Directions: There are five reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by five questions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose one best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.
Passage One

What are some of the advantages in using credit cards People ______.

A:can get what they want and need when they have no money B:can get things at a store they cannot afford at one time C:don’t need to carry a lot of money D:B and C

Passage 2

If most of the people of a country have a television, we ______.

A:can say the television is a need in the same sense as food and clothing and shelter B:can say the television must be in the basic necessities C:cannot say the television is in the basic necessities D:can say every family must have one

B

With a credit card one can buy things______.

A:one can never afford B:without using cash C:at lower prices D:which cannot be bought with cash

Americans spend a lot of money in their daily lives. Working people spend money on transportation to and from work and on various expenses throughout the day. Americans en- joy shopping and buy many things that they need and want. They spend a lot of money on entertainment. They buy sports equipment, to do sporting events and do many things that cost money. However, many Americans don’t pay cash or write checks for these things. More and more, they pay for things with credit cards(信用卡).
Credit cards are small, rectangular plastic cards. Banks give these cards to their customers. When the customer buys something at a store, he shows his card at the store. This authorizes(委托) the store to charge(记入) the bank account for the customer’s purchase. The bank collects all the charges for each customer. Then once a month the bank requires the customer to pay all the charges for that month. The bank does not force the customer to pay the full amount. It asks the customer to pay for the charges in several payments over a period of time. However, the bank requires the customer to pay interest on the unpaid of the charges.
In this way the bank allows customers to buy things they cannot afford at one time. People can use the card to buy what they want and pay for it over a period of time. They also do not need to carry a lot of money.

What are some of the advantages in using credit cards People（）

A:can get what they want and need when they have no money B:can get things at a store they cannot afford at one time C:don’t need to carry a lot of money D:B and C

One-room schools are part of the heritage of the United States, and the mention of them makes people feel a vague long for the way things were. One-room schools are an endangered species. However, for more than a hundred years, one-room schools have been systematically shut down and their students sent away to centralized schools. As recently as 1930, there were 149,000 one-room schools in the United States. By 1970 there were 1,800. Today, of nearly 800 remaining one-room schools more than 350 are in Nebraska. The rest are scattered through a few other states that have on their road maps wide-open spaces between towns.
Now that there are hardly any left, educators are beginning to think that maybe there is something yet to be learned from one-room schools, something that served the pioneers that might serve as well today. Progressive educators have come up with progressive-sounding names like "peer-group teaching" and "multi-age grouping" for educational procedures that occur naturally in the one-room schools. In a one-room school the children teach each other because the teacher is busy part of the time teaching someone else. A fourth grader can work at a fifth-grade level in math and a third-grade level in English without the stigma associated with being left back or the pressures of being skipped ahead. A youngster with a learning disability can find his or her own level without being separated from the other pupils. In larger urban and suburban schools today this is called mainstreaming. A few hours in a small school that has only one classroom and it becomes clear why so many parents feel that one of the advantages of living in Nebraska is that their children have to go to a one-room school.
One-room schools are in danger of disappearing because ______.

A:there has been a trend towards centralization B:they cannot get top students C:they exist only in one state D:children have to teach themselves

{{B}}第二篇{{/B}}

One-room schools are in danger of disappearing because

A:there has been a trend towards centralization． B:they cannot get top students． C:they exist only in one state． D:children have to teach themselves．