A study involving 8,500 teenagers from all social backgrounds found that most of them are ignorant when it comes to money. The findings, the first in a series of reports from NatWesl that has started a five-year research project into teenagers and money, are particularly worrying as this generation of young people is likely to be burdened with greater debts than any before.

University tuition fees (學費) are currently capped at ??3,000 annually, but this will be reviewed next year and the Government is under enormous pressure to raise the ceiling.

In the research, the teenagers were presented with die terms of four different loans but 76 per cent failed to identify the cheapest. The young people also predicted that they would be earning on average ?? 31.000 by the age of 25, although the average salary for those aged 22 to 29 is just ?? 17,815. The teenagers expected to be in debt when they finished university or training, although half said that they assumed the debts would be less than ?? 10.000. Average debts for graduates are ?? 12，363.

Stephen Moir, head of community investment at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group which owns NatWest, said. "The more exposed young people are to financial issues, and the younger they become aware of them, the more likely they are to become responsible, forward-planning adults who manage their finances confidently and effectively."

Ministers are deeply concerned about the financial pressures on teenagers and young people because of student loans and rising housing costs. They have just introduced new lessons in how to manage debts. Nikki Fairweather aged 15 from St Helens, said that she had benefited from lessons on personal finance, but admitted that she still had a lot to learn about money.

Which of the following can be found from the five-year research project?

A. Students understand personal finances differently. 

B. University tuition fees in England have been rising.

C. Teenagers tend to overestimate their future earnings.

D. The students' payback ability has become a major issue.

The phrase "to raise the ceiling" in paragraph 2 probably means "______".

A. to raise the student loans                       B. to improve the school facilities

C. to increase the upper limit of the tuition     D. to lift the school building roofs

According to Stephen Moir, students_______.

A. are too young to be exposed to financial issues

B. should learn to manage their finances well

C. should maintain a positive attitude when facing loans

D. benefit a lot from lessons on personal finance

What can we learn from the passage?

A. Many British teenagers do not know money matters well

B. Teenagers in Britain are heavily burdened with debts.

C. Financial planning is a required course at college.

D. Young people should become responsible adults.

A good idea __________ to me, and I quickly picked up the phone to tell Jack about it.

   A. struck                 B. appeared            C. happened                  D. occurred

根據(jù)對話內(nèi)容，從對話后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。（共5小題，每小題1分，滿分5分。）并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。選項中有兩項為多余選項。

A：—Good morning．I’m ringing from the Circulation department of the Daily Mirror to say…

B：—____．

A：—A newspaper, dear lady．A famous newspaper．

B：—____．

A：—Well, mainly perhaps to have the fullest possible picture of what is going on in the world．

B：—___．

A：—But TV isn’t really enough, is it? A newspaper is able to give so many more details than the TV news can．

B：—____

A：—With respect, I think everybody ought to be interested in details these days．But anyway, beside the side of the matter, our newspaper offers many other things to interest its readers．Articles, stories, cinema programmers-- to name just a few．

B：—___．

A：—Nor do I, to tell you the truth： The films these days aren’t as good as they used to be, but …．Hello? Are you still there? Hello? Good heavens, she’s hung up! What a very unpleasant woman!

       A．What’s that?

       B．Who are you？

       C．I’m not interested in more details．

       D．Anyway, why should I want your news paper?

       E．I get that perfectly from TV．

       F．I don’t go to the cinema．

       G．I like watching TV．

He apologised to me for his ________ my letter．

       A．delaying answering      B．delay to answer

       C．delaying to answering     D．delaying to answer

He spent at least as much time reading as you        online yesterday.

       A．had to chat             B．did chatting   

       C．do chatting             D．had chatted

Digging down into the earth is like reading _______of a book.

A. a page after a page          B. a page after page   

C. page after page             D. the page after the page

Our English teacher is ill, and we are all ______ her health.

A. careful of       B. concerned about   C. interested in     D. calm about

Everyday, 340 million people speak it. One billion people are learning it and it is said that by 2050, half of the world’s population will be using it. What are we talking about? That global language—English.

The English language started in Britain in the 5th century. It is a mixed language. It was built up when German. Scandinavian and French invaders settled in England and created a common language for communication.

Today it is the official language of the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland as well as many islands in the Caribbean . Many other countries and regions use it for politics and business, for example, India. Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines. English is also one of the official languages of Hong Kong.

But global advertising and pop music mean that in most countries, you will see or hear some English. Thanks to McDonalds, we all know about "burgers". "fries" and "milkshakes". Songs by Madonna, Britney Spears and Celine Dion are in English. We can sing along, even if we do not understand what we are singing!

English is a messy (雜亂的) language. Every year, dictionaries include new words that talk about popular culture, for example, computer-related words such as "blogging", "download" and "chatroom". Also included are words that teenagers use. Who does not know "cool", "OK" and “hello” ?

Other languages also influence English. Many English words come from French. Words like "cafe" and expressions like "c'est la vie" (that is life) are all part of the English language. On the other hand, the French language includes English words like "le weekend" and "le camping". German words are also part of English. Words like "kindergarten" come from the German language.

Recently, British people have become interested in "yoga". But the word comes from an ancient Hindu language in India.

The English language has a history of  ______.

A. over 2000 years B. over 500 years   C. over 1500 years      D. over 1000 years

The underlined expression “thanks to ” can be replaced by ______.

A. because of         B. thankful to    C. not until             D. as if.

Which of the following statements is true about the language of English ?

A. It has been changing all the time.

B. It has borrowed words from all the other languages.

C. French words are used by the English because dictionaries have French words.

D. Singers and film stars have the greatest influence on language.

Many countries and regions use it for politics and business except______.

A. the USA    B. Nigeria      C. the Philippines     D. Norway

In my opinion, you’d better eat and sleep more _________ lose any more weight.

A. so as to   B. in order not to   C. to not   D. so that not to

A man is being questioned in relation to the ______ murder last night.

   A. advised               B. attended           C. attempted          D. admitted