The first telephone cards, produced in 1976, were Italian. Five years later the first British card appeared, and now you can buy cards in more than a hundred countries. People usually start collecting cards because they are small and light and you do not need much space for them. It is also a cheap hobby for beginners, although for some people it becomes a serious business. In Paris, for example, there is a market where you can only buy telephone cards, and some cards cost up to ￡4,000.The first Japanese card has a value of about ￡28,000. Most people only see cards with prices like these in their collectors’ magazine.
【小题1】 When were the first Italian telephone cards produced?
【小题2】How many countries can produce telephone cards now?
【小题3】Where can we find a market to buy telephone cards?
【小题4】What is the price of the first Japanese telephone card?
【小题5】In which magazine do most people see cards with prices?

An 8-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother Andrew. All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money. Only a very expensive operation could save him.
One morning, the girl heard her father say to her mother: “Only a miracle can save Andrew now.” The girl went to her bedroom, collected all of her money and counted it carefully. She hurried to a drugstore.
“How can I help you?” asked the salesman.
“I want to buy a miracle,” the girl answered. “My brother has something bad growing inside his head. My daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?”
“We don’t sell miracles here, my dear. I’m so sorry,” the salesman said, sadly.
“What kind of a miracle does your brother need?” asked a well-dressed man standing nearby.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “He’s really sick and needs an operation in his head. So I brought all my money.”
“How much do you have?” asked the man.
“$1.11,” she answered, “ but I can try and get some more.” She said again and again.
“Well, what luck,” said the man. “$1.11 is the price of a miracle. Let’s go to see your brother.”
That man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a famous brain doctor. The operation was successful and it wasn’t long before Andrew was well again. Sometimes miracles do happen.
【小题1】What was the trouble in the little girl’s family?
A. Her brother was seriously ill.
B. They had no money.
C. Nothing could save her brother.
D. Both A and B.
【小题2】In the eye of the little girl, a miracle might be _______.

You might have noticed that the cost of food has gone up.In fact the price of wheat and rice has nearly doubled in the past few years.It’s thought that right now，850 million people—that’s more than 10 times the population of the UK—are short of food because it’s too expensive or there’s not enough of it.
The price of basic food such as wheat and corn has stayed the same for quite a long time，about 30 years.But as the world’s population is getting bigger，there’s more pressure to feed more people，plus there’s less land and water to go round.
Another reason is climate（气候）change.Droughts and floods make it hard to grow crops like rice and grain.The price of oil has gone up and that makes it more expensive for farmers to run their tractors and to transport the food they make.And lots of fields are being used to grow crops to make other things that can’t be eaten—which is bad news for hungry people.
The main losers are poor people who live in cities in poor countries，who are facing higher prices for food.Some people are doing well out of the food crisis（危机） though.Farmers in rich countries like the US，Canada and Australia are getting record prices for their harvests.
World leaders are meeting in the Italian capital Rome to talk about the problem of rising food prices.Some countries are helping out with the cost of foods and international aid agencies have called for more money for food production in poor countries.
【小题1】The price of food goes up because all of the following EXCEPT _____.