"How should I give my children pocket money?" is one of the most common questions asked by parents. "Should kids receive pocket money when they get high marks at school, or lose pocket money if they don’t help with the housework?" are also common questions.

     Giving pocket money is an excellent way to develop children’s independence. Children should receive pocket money as their small share of the family wealth, and they should share in doing the housework as well.

     Here are some ideas to help you use pocket money to develop your children’s independence.

     Give pocket money regularly. Like adults, children should have a payday every week or two.

     Link pocket money with ages and needs. Provide spending guidelines; don’t be afraid to let them know what you expect them to buy, and what not to. A child in preschool and lower primary school is sure to spend money on candies and other such things. But older children can be expected to buy their own lunches or bus tickets.

     Teach kids to set their goals. Encouraging children to save money for big things like bikes can help them learn about planning ahead.

     When given wisely, pocket money is an excellent way to develop children’s independence. But at some time, perhaps when a child turns fifteen, it needs to be reduced or eliminated in order to encourage the child to get a part-time job and begin to earn his own pocket money.

1.What is the author’s attitude towards giving children pocket money?

2.According to the author, giving pocket money to children ______.

3.When giving pocket money to children, parents should ______.

4.What do we learn from the passage?

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand French. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice and easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstandings began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Daisy a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes, "I said, "I want to give my friend a ring. "
"Well, that's nice, "he said. "Are you getting married? But aren't you a bit young?"
"Who is talking about marriage?" I replied. "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there's a phone box?"
"Oh! "he said. "There's a phone downstairs. "
When at last we met, Daisy explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry, "she said to me. "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from the British. You' ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other!"
56. The writer thought ______ in America.
A. he wouldn't have any language difficulties
B. he would not understand the Americans
C. the Americans might not understand him
D. he would have difficulty at the airport
57. The writer wanted to _____.
A. buy a ring for his friend
B. make a call to his friend
C. go to the telephone company
D. see his friend off
58. From the passage we can see that "give somebody a ring" ______.
A .means the same in America as in England
B. means "call somebody" to the old man
C. has two different meanings
D. means "be going to get married" in England
59. In the last paragraph the underlined word "they" refers to ______.
A. the old man and the boy      B. the Americans
C. the British                  D. the French

When I was sixteen years old, I made my first visit to the United States. It wasn’t the first time I had been abroad. Like most English children, I learned French at school. I had often been to France, so I was used to speaking a foreign language to people who didn’t understand French. But when I went to America, I was really looking forward to having a nice and easy holiday without any language problems.
How wrong I was! The misunderstandings began at the airport. I was looking for a public telephone to give my American friend Daisy a call and tell her that I had arrived. A friendly old man saw me looking lost and asked if he could help me.
"Yes, "I said, "I want to give my friend a ring. "
"Well, that's nice, "he said. "Are you getting married? But aren't you a bit young?"
"Who is talking about marriage?" I replied. "I only want to give my friend a ring to tell her I've arrived. Can you tell me where there's a phone box?"
"Oh! "he said. "There's a phone downstairs. "
When at last we met, Daisy explained the misunderstanding to me.
"Don't worry, "she said to me. "I had so many difficulties at first. There are lots of words which the Americans use differently in meaning from the British. You' ll soon get used to all the funny things they say. Most of the time, British and American people understand each other!"
56. The writer thought ______ in America.
A. he wouldn't have any language difficulties
B. he would not understand the Americans
C. the Americans might not understand him
D. he would have difficulty at the airport
57. The writer wanted to _____.
A. buy a ring for his friend
B. make a call to his friend
C. go to the telephone company
D. see his friend off
58. From the passage we can see that "give somebody a ring" ______.
A .means the same in America as in England
B. means "call somebody" to the old man
C. has two different meanings
D. means "be going to get married" in England
59. In the last paragraph the underlined word "they" refers to ______.
A. the old man and the boy     B. the Americans
C. the British                  D. the French

It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible．Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel．It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver’s seat is another matter altogether.

Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too．It takes the most cool-headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving．On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting．A friendly nod or a wave of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and calm so necessary in modern traffic condition．But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough．Many drivers nowadays don’t even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous．Typical examples are the driver who waves a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may be not able to stop in time．The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to．It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies.

An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings．Unfortunately, modern drivers can’t even learn to drive．Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users．It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.

According to the passage, troubles on the road are often caused by        .

       A．road conditions www..com

       B．the speed of modern life

       C．the behavior of the drivers

       D．the large number of cars

In the writer’s opinion,        .

       A．drivers should avoid traffic jams

       B．strict traffic rules are badly needed

       C．unskillful drivers should be punished

       D．drivers should show road politeness properly

The underlined word “give-and-take” in the passage means        .

       A．politeness and impoliteness

       B．good manners and bad manners

       C．offering help to others as much as possible   

       D．willingness to give in to each other’s wishes

What is the best title of the passage?

       A．Road Politeness

       B．Traffic Problems

       C．Bad Manners on the Road

       D．Good Drivers and Bad Drivers www..com

Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children．Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia．They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will learn a musical instrument or ballet or other classes which will give them a head start in life．The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is．So the parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education．Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter．

       However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap．

       Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others．What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack （缺乏） self-respect and self-confidence．

       The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents aren’t teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and clever．

Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing housework．

       Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life．Cooking demands patience and time．It’s an enjoyable but difficult experiment．A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually to finish his job successfully．His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence．

       Some old machines , such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him curious （好奇） and arouse his interest He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up．These activities aren’t merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind．And that is more important．

Parents in China, according to this passage, _________．

       A．are too strict with their children        

       B．are too rich to educate their children

       C．have some problems in educating their children correctly

       D．are too poor to educate their children

Generally speaking, children’s skills_______．

       A．come from their parents     

       B．have nothing to do with their education

       C．may be different             

       D．have something to do with their marks in the exams

The writer of this passage doesn’t seem to be satisfied with_______．

       A．the parents’ idea of educating their children 

       B．the education system

       C．children’s skills 

       D．children’s hobbies

Doing some cooking at home helps children_________．

       A．learn how to serve their parents        

       B．learn how to become strong and fat

       C．benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future 

       D．make their parents believe that they are clever

According to the last paragraph, we can conclude that_________．

       A．broken radios and television sets are useful  

       B．one’s curiosity may be useful for his later life

       C．an engineer must fix many broken radios

       D．a good student should spend much time repairing radios