How do you pay for things? Do you usually use cash(现金), or do you like to pay by credit card(信用卡)? If you are like a lot of people, you probably have at least one credit card. Also, you might use it more often than you probably should.

Credit cards first became popular in the 1920s, At that time, businesses, such as hotels and companies, gave credit cards to their best customers(顾客). Unlike today's credit cards, customers could only use these cards at the Store or business that gave out the card. Customers had to pay for things in full. They couldn't pay for something a little at a time.

In 1950, a businessman named McNamara started a credit card company — Diners Club. Unlike earlier credit cards, this card could be used by customers at many restaurants. Customers liked the card because they didn't have to carry a lot of cash with them. Restaurant owners liked the card, too. Why? They found out that customers usually spent more money when they could pay by credit card.

In its first year of business, Diners Club issued 200 cards, The customers who got the cards from the Diners Club could use them at 27 different restaurants. Today, Diners Club has about 8 million customers, and they can use their cards in over 7. 6 million businesses in more than 200 countries.

1.What can we know about the earlier credit cards from the passage?

A. They could be used everywhere.

B. Customers had to pay for things in full.

C. They were very popular before the 1920s.

D. Everyone could get this kind of credit card.

2. The underlined word "issued" here probably means "       ".

A. showed   B. took   C. borrowed     D. provided

3. This passage is mainly about        .    

A. part of the development of credit cards

B. how to use cash

C. the number of people who use credit cards in the world

D. how credit cards help businessmen

For thousands of years, people have used plants to make medicines. They used different parts of the plants —the roots, the leaves, the flowers, and the bark (树皮). Today, doctors have rediscovered more medicinal (药用) values of some plants. Let’s look at some examples.
Foxglove is a common plant. People have used it to make the heart slow down. Recently scientists have developed another drug from it. This new drug helps prevent other heart problems.
In some areas, malaria has been a problem. Scientists have learned that the bark of a South American tree, the cinchona, can be made into a drug to prevent malaria. For a long time, the Chinese have known that a special plant, wormwood, can also fight malaria. Scientists have been working with it to develop new drugs against malaria.
In Germany, some scientists studied garlic (大蒜) for four years. They found that it helps prevent the build-up of plaque (血小板) because too much plaque is bad for health. This very common plant continues to be studied.
As we know, there are about 250,000 kinds of flowering plants in the world. Scientists have only studied little more than one percent of plants for their medicinal value. Maybe medicines for AIDS and cancer will be made from the other 99 percent.
【小题1】What can foxglove be used for?

A saint (圣人) found a group of family members shouting angrily at each other on a river bank. He asked his disciples(信徒), “  1  do people shout when they are angry with each other?” The disciples 2  for a while and one of them said, “Because they lose their calm.”
“But why should they shout when the other persons are just 3  them? They can tell them what they have to say in a  4  manner.” Asked the saint.
The disciples gave some other answers but  5 made the saint pleased. Finally the saint  6  , “When two people are angry with each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout in order to  7 each other. The angrier they are, the 8 they will have to shout to cover that great distance. What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, because their hearts are very close. The distance 9 them is very small or doesn’t exist(存在).”
The saint looked at his disciples and continued, “So when you argue with other people, do not say words that distance each other, or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the  10  to return.

Yesterday my grandfather told me about his early days.        he left school, he found a job in a post office. He worked hard there. Soon he had more money than his friends because of his hard work. It seemed that he would have a        future.

When he was 25 years old, however, he began to be        his job. He wanted a more exciting one, so he left the post office. Two months       , he found a new job in a big       . Workers in this company        traveled a lot. At first he really enjoyed the traveling. But after a year, he began to        it. He had to move around and he was always in a car or on a train. The        thing was that he couldn’t make any new friends. Even so, his boss was not satisfied with him. Two years later he        the company.

He was so        at that time that he sold his house. He had to accept a part-time job in a         shop. He was surprised to find that he loved it! He made new friends every day and he        reading books. Three years later, he        the shop owner's daughter. Soon they had their first child. In the next ten years, they had another three        and four more book shops! He became very rich indeed.

“Life is wonderful,” he told me. “The most        thing is that you should always try your best. Never give up!”

1.A. While                           B. When                     C. Until                                 D. If

2.A. bad                         B. bright                       C. coming                            D. interesting

3.A. tired of                         B. crazy about                      C. interested in          D. afraid of

4.A. ago                          B. before                     C. later                                 D. afterwards

5.A. factory                          B. shop                                  C. school                               D. company

6.A. hardly                          B. usually                             C. seldom                            D. never

7.A. like                           B. prefer                                C. hate                                  D. practise

8.A. worst                   B. happiest                           C. best                                   D. strangest

9.A. reached                        B. called                                C. left                                    D. started

10.A. happy                        B. energetic                       C. rich                                 D. poor

11.A. cloth                           B. fruit                                 C. book                      D. dress

12.A. enjoyed                B. finished                    C. began                               D. forgot

13.A. married                    B. knew                     C. met                                 D. visited

14.A. sisters                        B. brothers                      C. cousins                            D. children

15.A. difficult             B. important                         C. amazing                            D. Boring