2. After taking an inventory, if the owner found that he had got more money than he had spent, he made _______.

A. a profit     B. a loss             C. an income     D. an interest

1. According to the passage, a clothing store owner needs to keep records of the money he spends for ______.

A. clothing only                      B. newspaper advertising  

C. all necessary expenses             D. housing

4. D。推断题。根据文章最后一段倒数第 2 句 It’s hard to get statistics(情况, 材料) on latchkey children, the Longs learned 可推知此题答案为 D。

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A businessman must keep records of the money he takes in and the money he spends. The work of keeping such records is called bookkeeping. The work of deciding how the records should be set up is called accounting. An accountant also finds out, by studying the records, whether or not a business is doing well. The accountant must know many things about the business.

Suppose a man owns a small clothing store, he keeps records that show that he spent money for newspaper advertising and for suits, shirts, shoes, and neckties to sell to his customers. He had to pay a young man to help him in the store. He also paid rent and had other expenses.

At the end of the year, he must take an inventory. That is, he counts how many pieces of clothing he has on hand. Then he must find out exactly how many he sold, how much money he took in, and how much money he spent in running the business. If he took in more than he spent, he made a profit for the year. If he spent more than he took in, he suffered a loss. He depends on his store accounting records to get all this information.

The owner of a small clothing store can keep records without much trouble. But a big oil company or a big bank has many difficult accounting problems. The company must know how much money is to be paid by its debtors and how much it owes other companies for supplies. It must know how much it has lost in depreciation, or wear and tear of its equipment. All of this information must be kept in the company’s accounts. Big companies employ many accountants.

After a company’s accountants finish their yearly count, their work must be officially examined. Experts from outside company double-check the records to be sure the accounts are correct.

3. D。细节题。根据文章第 3 段第 3 句 Fear is the biggest problem faced by children at home alone 可推知此题答案为 D。

2. D。推断题。因为全文讲述的都是一些有关“钥匙儿童”的情况，再根据文章第 2 段最后一句 Slowly, she learned they were house keys 可推知此题答案为 D。

1. D。主旨题。根据文章第 1 段第 5 句 They spend part of each day alone 及全文内容可推知此题答案为 D。

4. We may draw a conclusion that _______. 

A. latchkey children enjoy having such a large amount of time alone

B. latchkey children try to hide their feeling

C. latchkey children often watch TV with their parents

D. it’s difficult to find out how many latchkey children there are

(1―4 DDDD)

【答案与解析】本文介绍了美国一些“钥匙儿童”的生活情况这一社会问题。

3. The main feeling these children have when they are at home by themselves is _______. 

A. tiredness       B. freedom      C. loneliness       D. fear

2. Which sentence in the second paragraph is the topic sentence?

A. We had a school rule against wearing jewelry.

B. A lot of kids had chains around their necks.

C. I was constantly telling them to put inside their shirts.

D. They were house keys.

1. The main idea about “latchkey children” is that they _______. 

A. are growing in numbers              

B. are also found in middle-class neighborhoods

C. watch too much television during the day 

D. suffer problems from being left alone