Other initiatives are tacking such real-world issues as the commercial andsocial

　　pressures that affect purchasing decisions.Why exactly do you want those expensive brand-name shoes so badly? "It takes confidence to take a stand and to thinkdifferently," saysJerooBillimoria ,founder of Aflatoun,a nonprofit whose curriculum, used in more than 30 countries ,aims to help kids get a leg up in their financial lives .”

　　“This goes beyond money and savings"

　　21.  The financial-literacy education is intended to________.

　　A. help Americans to overcome the financial crisis

　　B. enable Americans to manage money wisely

　　C. increase Americans' awareness of the financial crisis

　　D. renew Americans' enthusiasm about money-management

　　22. According to the author, the National Financial Capability Challenge will be_______.

　　A. well-receivedB. costly

　　C. rewardingD. ineffective

　　23.Bysaying that "the financial-literacy movement has gained steam"(Para .3) ,theauthor means that the movement______.

　　A.has gone through financial difficulties

　　B. has received much criticism

　　C. has been regarded as imaginative

　　D. has been more and more popular

　　24. Lewis Mandell suggests that we should figure out how to ________.

　　A.help students scorebetter in money-management courses

　　B. improve the social awareness of financial education

　　C. carry out financial-literacy education properly

　　D. manage money in a more efficient way

　　25. Jeroo Billimoria is most likely to agree thatcommercial and social pressures makeone's purchasing decisions________.

　　A. difficultB.feasible

　　C. unwiseD. acceptable 

　　Passage Two

　　Cheating is nothing new,But today,educators and administrators are finding that

　　instances of academic dishonesty on the part of students have become more frequent -and are less likely to be punished - than in the past . Cheating appears to have gainedacceptance among good and poor students alike .

　　Why is student cheating on the rise? No one really knows .Some blame the trend on a general loosening of moral values among today's youth. Others have attributedincreased cheating to the fact that today's youth are far more pragmatic（实用主义的）than their more idealistic predecessors.Whereas in the late sixties and early seventies，students were filled with visions about changing the world，today’s students feel greatpressure to conform and succeed. In interviews with students at high schools andcolleges around the country, both young men and women said that cheating had becomeeasy. Some suggested they did it out of spite for teachers they did not respect. Others looked at it as a game. Only if they were caught, some said, would they feel guilty."People are competitive," said a second-yearcollege student named Anna, fromChicago. There's an underlying fear. If you don't do well, your life is going to be ruined.The pressure is not only form parents and friends but from oneself .To achieve .To succeed .It’s almost as though we have to outdo other people to achieve our own goals,

　　Edward Wynne , a magazine editor ,blames the rise in academic dishonesty on the schools. He claims that administrators and teachers have been too hesitant to take action .Dwight Huber ,chairman of the English department at Amarillo .sees the matterdifferently, blaming the rise in cheating on the way students are evaluated. "I wouldcheat if I felt I was being cheated," Mr. Huber said. He feels that as long as teachers gives short-answer testsrather than essay questions and rate students by the number of facts they can memorize rather than by how well they can put information together,students will try to beat the system. "The concept of cheating is based on the false assumption that the system is legitimate and there is something wrong withthe individual who are doing it," he said. "That's too easy an answer. We've got to start looking at the system."

　　26.  Educators are finding that students who cheat_______.

　　A. are not only those academically weak

　　B. tend to be dishonest in later years

　　C.are more likely to be punished than before

　　D. have poor academic records

　　27.   According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

　　A.  Reform in the testing system will eliminate cheating.

　　B.  Punishment is an effective method to stop cheating .             .

　　C.  Students' cheating has deep social roots.

　　D.  Students do not cheat on essay tests.

　　28.   Which of the following points of view would Mr. Huberagree with ?

　　A.  Cheating would be reduced through an educational reform.

　　B.  Students who cheat should be expelled from school.

　　C.  Punishment for cheaters should be severe in this country.

　　D.  Parents must take responsibility for the rise in cheating.

　　29.   The expression "the individuals" (the last paragraph) refers to ________

　　A.  school administrators

　　B.  students who cheat

　　C. parents

　　D. teachers

　　30.  The passage mainly discusses_______

　　A:  ways to eliminate academic dishonesty

　　B:  factors leading to academic dishonesty

　　C:  the decline of moral standards of today's youth

　　D:  people's tolerance of students' cheating

　　Passage Three

　　Last week, I read a story about a 34-year-old British woman who is extremely afraid of metal forks. She's been using plastic ones for 17 years because the sound of a fork rubbing against a plate g:ives her a panic attack.

　　Strange, right? But she's not alone. While popular phobias(恐惧症) about snakes and spiders might get all of the attention, there are a wide variety of not-so-obvious horrors that make people nervous.

　　While some phobias might seem a bit silly, they can cause serious emotional distress. My co-worker Magda is terrified of pigeons, a phobia that is taking over her life. She won't walk in certain parts of the city and runs screaming from the subway when one of these "rats with wings" finds its way onto the platform. Another friend isdisgusted with cheese. Once I saw her run away from a slice of it. So where does anirrational fear of cheese come from?

　　Are phobias something we inherit from our genes or do we acquire these unusualanxieties over time?

　　Ever since I can remember I have been unreasonably frightened of elevators. Therewas no terrible childhood experience and I am fine with confined spaces, but something about elevators makes me nervous. And so, when my boyfriend and I found ourselvestrapped in an elevator last year - because these sorts of things always happen eventually- I was anticipating the worst.

　　While he gave me a suggestive eyebrow raise and proposed we "take advantage ofthe situation," I began screaming uncontrollably. I was far from turned on by the wholefacing my worst nightmare thing.

　　However, after the fear subsided(消退)I realized that, yes, this was my greatest fear come true, and yet - it wasn't all that bad. Nervous and inconvenient maybe, butterrifying? Not so much.

　　Liberating yourself from a deep-seated phobia can be a long and difficult process,but sometimes it can be as simple as confronting it head on.

　　31. The 34-year-old British woman is extremelyafraid of metal forks because

　　A.she has never used them before

　　B.she has been injured by them before

　　C.she couldn't bear their sound on plate

　　D.she is afraid that they may hurt her

　　32.  The phrase "rats with wings" (Para. 3) refers to______

　　A. strange birdsB. pigeons

　　C.devilsD. exotic rats

　　33.  The author's fear of elevators is the result of_______

　　A. her phobia for no reason

　　B. her nervousness of being alone

　　C. her dislike of being in closed spaces

　　D. her terrible experience

　　34.  After the fear subsided, the author realized that______

　　A. her boyfriend's help was important

　　B. she could have had a good time with her boyfriend

　　C. an elevator ride could be exciting

　　D. it was not as horrible as she had thought

　　35.  The purpose for the author to share her experience is to_______

　　A. illustrate conquering a fear can be difficult

　　B. encourage people to overcome their fears

　　C. introduce what strange fears people have

　　D.  explain why people have strange fears

　　Passage Four

　　The American public's obsession with dieting has led to one of the most dangeroushealth misconceptions of all times. Many television ads, movies, magazine articles, anddiet-food product labels would have consumers believe that carbohydrates  (碳水化合物) are bad for the human body and that those who eat them will quickly becomeoverweight. We are advised to avoid foods such as potatoes, rice and white bread andopt for meats and vegetables instead. Some companies promote this idea to encourageconsumers to buy their "carb-free" food products. But the truth is, the human bodyneeds carbohydrates to function properly, and a body that relies on carbohydrates but isexhausted of thisdietary element is not in good shape after all.