40. What does the passage mainly talk about?

　　 A. Some financial words and expressions.

　　 B. Newspaper reports about a bank crisis.

　　 C. Some interesting stories about making money.

　　 D. Some tips on how to buy and sell stocks.

39. The underlined word “curtail” in the last paragraph probably means 　　.

　　 A. forbid　　　　　　 B. continue　　　 C. practice　　　 D. increase

B

Our first expression is “in the red”. It is another way of saying that a business is losing money. In the past, numbers in the financial (金融的) records of a company were written in red ink to show a loss (损失).

A business magazine recently published a report about a television company. The report said the company was still in the red, but was able to cut its loss from the year before. A profit by a business is written in black numbers. So a company that is “in the black” is making money.

Another financial expression is “run on the bank”. That is what happens when many people try to get all their money back from a bank. A “run on the bank” usually happens when people believe there is a danger that a bank may fail or close down. Newspaper reports about a bank crisis (危机) in Russia used that expression. They said the government acted because of the fear that the crisis would cause a run on the bank.

“Day trading” is a new expression about a system that lets investors (投资者) trade directly in an electronic market system. The system is known as NASDAQ, short for the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation. It was the first completely computerized stock market (股票市场). Day trading companies offer a desk and a computer system to an investor who wants to trade. Investors must provide fifty thousand dollars or more for the trading company to pay for the stocks they buy. Thousands of other investors do day trading at their homes.

A day trader keeps a watchful eye on stock prices. When he sees a stock rise in price, he makes use of the computer to buy shares of the stock. If the stock continues to rise in price in the next few minutes, the day trader sells out the shares quickly to make a small profit. Then he looks for another stock to buy. If a stock goes down, he may sell his shares and accept the loss.

The idea is to make a small profit many times during the day. Many day traders may break down in a week or so. Only about thirty percent people succeed in earning enough money from their efforts to continue day trading.

38. How does the author’s eldest son feel about the lack of phone?

　　 A. Uncomfortable.　　 B. Upset.　　　　 C. Excited.　　　 D. Fine.

37. What probably surprised the author most during the vacation?

　　 A. The change in his eldest son.

　　 B. The relationship between his children.

　　 C. The power of children’s games. 　　　　　　　　　　

　　 D. The function of the iPhone.

36. Why did the author’s eldest son want a lifeproof case for his iPhone?

　　 A. To put his phone away. 　　　 B. To make his phone beautiful.

　　 C. To limit his phone use. 　　　　 D. To protect his phone underwater.

27. A. explain　　　　 B. rest　　　　　　　 C. speak　　　　　 D. answer

Section C (12 marks)　　　

Directions: Complete the following passage by filling in each blank with one word that best fits the context.

Confidence (自信心) is important to the healthy growth of children. So it’s (28)________ to teach your children to be confident. For this, you can begin with teaching kids to think (29)________ an answer using their own opinions and thoughts. You can allow them to take their time to answer your question because thinking of an answer and then putting (30)________ into words are useful to children. Next, let them know they aren’t alone. Tell stories of your childhood (31)________ not finishing things at school. This isn’t (32)________ lecture and it is just a passing story. (33)________, this story is sure to resonate (共鸣) with them, and they’ll realize that everyone faces challenges. Then, make your children know that failure is a good word (34)________ it opens up the chance to learn more and try again. Lastly, decide (35)________ your children are good at and develop them. And this also can help develop your children’s confidence.

Section D (30 marks)　

Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.

A

We were traveling to the Caribbean with our three kids aged 12, 7 and 4. Being from Chicago, we were all in need of a little sun and sand after an especially cold and long winter.

Before the trip, my eldest child asked if we could consider getting him a lifeproof case for his iPhone. He thought it would be fun to take pictures and videos of his brother and sister underwater in the pool. That made sense to us, and we agreed that it could make great memory of good time. We bought the case for him.

Down to vacation we went. Snap! On went the lifeproof case. We performed the suggested water test, and into the pool he went. Pow! That was the end of the phone. Water immediately leaked (渗入) into it and the phone was never turned on again.

Now, this could be a post about what a poorly-designed product the case is, but in fact, that is not what I’m writing about.

Actually, what truly surprised us was what happened to our 12-year-old over the course of the next seven days of our vacation. Aside from the initial (最初的) five minutes after the phone died, our son never mentioned his phone again.

Instead of his usual plugged-in state, he spent much of the vacation reading books, playing silly games with his siblings and talking to us at dinner. Normally when we’re on vacation and he and his siblings are done with eating, he’ll leave the table to text friends or check sports scores. But with no phone, there was no pull to keep in touch with his friends or to look at the latest posts. Instead, our almost-13-year-old played tag with his 4-year-old sister, chased iguanas (鬣鳞蜥) with his 7-year-old brother and entertained them with games while we finished our meals. At the end of the trip, when we asked him about the lack of phone, he admitted it was nice to have a break from the constant chatting and keeping in touch with friends.

I’m not saying I intentionally hope his phone dies again, but it does give us time to reflect as to whether or not we should make the kids leave their cell phones at home as part of the spring break contract. Or at least we should severely curtail phone usage on vacation.

26. A. shouting　　　 B. calling　　　　 C. shooting　　　 D. celebrating

25. A. worried　　　 B. amazed　　　　 C. frightened　　 D. satisfied

24. A. promised 　　 B. managed　　　 C. prepared　　　 D. pretended

23. A. seriously　　　 B. carefully　　　 C. slowly　　　　　 D. silently