2014年自考英语(二)资料(_unit_6)

Unit 6 The Value of MoneyA Famous Quote:Never spend your money before you have it.–Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third President of the United States andprimary author of the Declaration of Independence.Text A Teaching Children to Spend Pocket Money WiselyPre-reading Questions:1.Recall and describe how your parents allocated pocket money to you andhow you spent it.2.What influence does that way of giving pocket money have on kids finance management?School-going children need pocket money for food, stationary and bus fare.Parents give pocket money to their children in different ways. Some givea lump of sum at the beginning of a month or a week. Others prefer to give pocketmoney on a daily bias. The way in which pocket money is given affects how moneyis spent or saved. On the other hand, the children ’spending habits may affect howpocket money is given.Pocket money given on a daily bias is sometimes termed as“ food money” . Children usually use the pocket money to buy food during recess and also atlunch hour if they have school activities in the afternoon. They learn how tomanage small sums of money. As the money is limited, they have to controltheir spending. Some parents choose this method of allocating pocket moneyin order to prevent their children from overspending, hoping that in time theycan be trusted with larger sums of money. Parents who earn daily wagesmay also opt for this due to financial constraints.Giving pocket money on a daily bias places responsibilities of budgeting onthe parents, instead of child. The child may spend every single cent of the dailypocket money by overindulging in junk food, as they know they will get anothersum of money the next day. This results in children being short-sightedin their spending. The thought of saving money never crossed their minds. Theymay develop the mentality that money is meant to be spent. Others spend morethan they are given. They borrow from their siblings or their classmates when theyfeel like indulging themselves. Then they may ask formoney to pay off their debts. This habit of borrowing causes then to dependon others to solve their problems. In such instances, the purpose of rationingis defeated.Children need to learn how to budget their money. Some parents go bythe “ learning by doing ”principle and give their children lump sums at the beginningof the month, and by the third week of the month their account is already dry.On the other hand, some learn to budget their pocket money very well andeven have savings at the end of the month. They do not borrow moneynecessarily. In other words, they learn to spend within their means. Buy thenecessary first, and indulge ourselves only if there is money left. This habit,when inculcated since young, stands them in good stead when they startworking and earning their own money. It enables them to resist the temptationof “ buy now and pay later ” schemes.Formation of any habit starts at a tender age. There is no better way to teachchildren to manage money than to start with their pocket money. They need to learnthe importance of budgeting right from kindergarden days. It is a good idea to startwith daily pocket money and move on to monthly pocket money. When childrenlearn to spend within their means, they are able to manage their finances well laterin their lives.Text B The Importance of Money in LifePre-reading Questions:1. What do you think of the old saying,“ money is the root of evil”?2.Do you believe how people think about money determines whether theirmoney flow is constant?What were you taught about money as you were growing up? Somethinglike“ money doesn’ t grow on trees” , or“ money is the root of all evil” , or ma “ all rich people are greedy’?Well, how do you expect to become a success financially if you believethese things? You attract into you life what you are thinking about and whatyou believe. If you think there is not enough money in this world for everyoneyou will never have enough money. That is called the Law of Attraction.First o f all, believing that “ money doesn ’ t grow on trees ” is an example of what ’ s calledlack or scarcity programming. Our parents taught us that therewas never enough money to go around, and that it was not readily available orabundant. But in truth, the universe is very abundant, and there is lots of money asyour heart desires. What wonderful thing you could do with it: travelto the countries you have always dreamt of, buy a house you are evenscared to think about, attend meditation classes so you could spiritually grow,donate money to your favorite charity, spend more quality time with yourfamily, and the list goes on.The key is to start thinking that you deserve the money and that there islots of it available for your, and then you can start attracting in into your life.That ’ s abundance thinking, which is the opposite of lack or scarcity thinking.When you start thinking about abundance the Law of Attraction will do the rest.You do not need to know how it is going to happen. Just make the first step,first thought. Starting is already winning.And what about thinking that “ money is the root of all evil expect to” ? Can you really become a success if you believe that money is the root of all evil? Unlessyou have a desire to be an evil person, your subconscious will not let youhave money if you believe deep down that it is the root of evil.By the way, the quote is taken out of context in the first place. It wasoriginally stated as“ the love of money is the root of all evil” . So it has nothing do with the money itself.Now that you understand that, you can start to think that money is in factgood. You can help people with money. You can stimulate the economy with’ t need money. Even the most kind- hearted spiritual person, who says they donmoney, can do more to make the world a better place with money thanwithout it.And what about thinking that “ allrich people are greedy ’ ?Well, thatcreates us versus them, whereby you have labeled all of“ them” greedy in your mind. You, on the other hand, are very giving in your mind. That ’ swhy youdon’ t have money, because you’ re not greedy.Sure, there must be some rich people in the world who are greedy. Butthere are also poor people who are greedy. There are both rich and poor peoplewho are very giving as well. The amount of money you have has nothing to do withthese character traits.In fact, a lot of rich people got there by not being greedy. Having a givingattitude opens up a flow of money that often brings them more. You will findthe same thing: giving away money joyfully to a friend, and notice that it comesback to you in some other form. The world needs to be a balance of give andtake, and being joyful both as you give and receive will ensure that you alwaysgo with the flow.And changing your mindset from what you were taught as a child to a(完整版)自考英语二(新版)原文Unit6TheValueofMoneyhealthier view of money will allow you to become the financial success you deserve to be, to become the real you.。

Unit 7T ext AFamilies“Family”_ the word has different meanings f or different people, and even the di ctionary gives us sev eral definitions: “a group of people related by blood or marriage,’’“two adults and their children,’’“ all those people descended f rom a common ancestor,’’“ a household,’’ and so on. Some people think of a family as a mother, a father, and their children; others include grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. For some of us, family means the group of relatives living far away from home. For others, having a family simply means having children. Some f amilies have long histories, while others know very little about their ancestors. No matter if it is young or old, large or small, traditional or modern, every f amily has a sense of what a f amily is. It is that f eeling of belonging, of love and security that comes f rom living together, helping and sharing.There are basically two types of families: nuclear families and extended f amilies. The nuclear family usually consists of two parents (mother and f ather) and thei r children. The mother and f ather f orm the nucleus, or cent er, of the nuclear family. The children stay in the nuclear f amily until they grow up and marry. Then they f orm new nuclear families.The extended f amily is very large. There are of t en many nuclear families in one extended f amily. An extended f amily includes children, parents, grand-parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The members of an extended f amily are related by blood (grandparents, parents, children, brothers, sisters, etc.) or by marriage (husbands, wives, mothers-in-law, etc.). They are all related, so the members of an extended f amily are called relatives.Traditionally, all the members of an extended family lived in the same area. However, with the change from an agricultural to an industrial society, many nuclear families moved away from the f amily home in order to f ind work. In industrial societies today, the members of most nuclear families live together, but most extended f amilies do not live together. Theref ore we can say that the nuclear family becomes more important than the extended f amily as the society industrializ es: In post-industrial societies like the United States, even the nuclear f amily is changing. The nuclear family is becoming smaller as parents want f ewer children, and the number of childless families is increasing. Traditionally, the f ather of a nucl ear family earned money f or the family while the mother cared for house and the children. Today, more than 50% of the nuclear f amilies in the United States are two-earner families_ both the f ather and the mother earn money f or the f amily_ and in a f ew families the mother earns the money while the f ather takes care of the house and the children. Many nuclear f amilies are also “splitting up’’ _ more and more parents are getting divorced.What will be the result of this “ splitting”of the nuclear f amily? Social scientists now talk of two new f amily f orms: the single parent f amily and the remarried f amil y. Almost 20% of all American f amilies are single parent f amilies, and in 85% of these f amilies the single parent is the mother.Most single parents f ind it very dif f i cult to take care of a f amily alone, so they soon marry again and f orm remarried f amilies. As social scientists study these two new f amily f orms, they will be able to tell us more about the f uture of the nuclear family in the post-industrial age. (565 words) (3) (23)T ext BThe Changing American FamilyThe f amily is important to people all over the world although the structure of the family is quite different from one count ry to another. In the United States, as in many countries in the world, the f amily is changing. A generation or two ago, the traditional f amily, in which the f ather was boss, was customary. Now the modern f amily, in which both the f ather and the mother are equal partners, is more common. Although there are several similarities between the traditional and the modern f amily, there are also some very important diff erences.The traditional f amily of yesterday and the modern f amily of today have several similarities. The traditional f amily was a nuclear f amily, and the modern f amily is, too. The role of the father in the traditional f amily was to provide f or his f amily. Similarly, the f ather in the modern family is expected to do so, also. The mother in the traditional family took care of the children’s physical and emotional needs just as the modern mother does.On the other hand, there are some great diff erences between the traditional f amily and the modern f amily. The f irst important dif ference is in the man’s role. The traditional husband was the head of the household, because he was the only one who worked outside the home. If the wi f e worked f or pay, then the husband was not considered to be a good provider. In many f amilies today, both husband and wif e work f or pay. Theref ore, they share the role of head of household. In addition, the traditional husband usually made the big decisions about spending money. However, the modern husband shares these decisions with his working wi fe. Also, the traditional husband did not help his wif e with the housework or m eal preparation. Dinner was ready when he cam e home. In contrast, the modern husband helps his working wife at home. He may do some of the household jobs, and it is not unusual f or him to cook.The second diff erence is in the woman’s role. In the traditional f amily, the woman may have worked f or pay during her f irst years of marriage. However, af ter she becam e pregnant, she would usually give up her job. Her primary role was to take care of her family and home. In contrast, in many f amilies today, the modern woman works outside the home even af ter she has children. She’s doing two jobs instead of one, so she is busier than the traditional mother was. The traditional wif e learned to live within her husband’s income. On the other hand, the modern wif e does not have to because the f amily has two incomes.The f inal difference is in the role of the children. In the traditional f amily, the children were taken care of by the mother because she did not work outside the home. However, today preschool children may go to a child care center or to a baby-sitter regularly because the mother works. The school-age children of a traditional f amily were more dependent. Their mother was there to help them to get ready f or school and to make their breakfast. In contrast, modern children are more independent. They have to get up early in the morning and get ready f or school. Their mother is busy getting ready f or work, so they may even have to make their own breakfast.In conclusion, the American family of today is diff erent f rom the f amily of f i f ty years ago. In the modern f amily, the roles of the f ather, mother, and children have changed as more and more women work outside the home. The next century may bring more important changes to the American f amily structure. In should be interesting to see.(614 words) (6)(17)。