Getting to know your money personality can help you rein in your spending habits and take back control of your personal finances. Here, finance saving money expert Pete Ridley at CarFinanceSaver reveals the UKs core money personalities, along with actions to adopt that reduce the negative consequences of each personality type.

The Spontaneous Spender

A spontaneous spender refers to a person that exhibits a “spend now, think later” attitude. They can find it tricky to differentiate between “need to haves” and “nice to haves”, and often feel “spender’s guilt”.

“Before you make a purchase, take time to decide whether the item is a ‘need to have’ or a ‘nice to have’. This will aid in avoiding splurges (挥霍) that provide short term satisfaction and post-spenders’ guilt.” says Ridley.

The Determined Saver

An underlying sense of worry and fear can be at the root of a persistent saver, and their determination to save disguises an overwhelming fear of money.

“Saving is great,” says Ridley, “but it’s important to regard money as a friend and not an enemy. Always be sure to make non-essential purchases. These items don’t have to be a major expense, but just enough that you acknowledge that money can be there to be enjoyed and not just put away.”

The Money=Status

This personality type can live beyond their means by making purchases that they don’t need, striving to keep up with others and saying yes to friendship plans that they cannot afford, to keep up the appearance of financial wellbeing.

“It’s here that you can adopt the 50/20/30 rule: 50 percent essential living expenses, 30 percent disposable income and 20 percent saving and paying debts,” suggests Ridley.

This will maintain financial wellbeing while helping to acknowledge that money doesn’t necessarily equal status or even impress those around you.

1. Which type of money personality is not mentioned in the text?

A．Cathy struggles to check her bank balance.

B．Eden tends to spend on impulse with little pre-planning.

C．Gill demonstrates a determined saver approach to her finances.

D．Joyce buys an unaffordable luxury to boast about her financial wellbeing.

2. What does Ridley suggest people do if they are always making purchases to impress others?

A．Manage your money wisely.	B．Spend some money on non-essentials for joy.
C．Check your finances regularly.	D．Take time to assess how much you love the items.

3. In which section of a magazine can the text be found?

A．Health.

B．Business.

C．Finance.

D．Culture.

During my first year in college, I was silent. I was too afraid of saying something wrong.

I declared a religion major as a sophomore and took a class from Barbara, a young theologian. My mind was split open by a range of new thinkers and writers and by the quality of Barbara’s questions, I finally had something to say and the energy to say it. I was a frequent visitor during Barbara’s office hours, a rocket of words. She listened and calmly responded, a perfect contrast to my feverish ramblings. I loved what she saw in me, which was a range of abilities I had never seen in myself. In the following years, our relationship gradually deepened, but I was always conscious of a teacher-student dynamic.

This changed fundamentally when I became a parent. I had my son in March 2010, and Barbara was one of the first to congratulate me. When, nine months later, my child was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease, a rare and always terminal illness with no treatment and no cure, she sent me a letter-handwritten on a white legal pad. For the next two and a half years, Barbara wrote me regular, sometimes weekly, letters, remarkable letters that are revealing, loving, and kind.

The letter written right before my son died, when he was three, was the most personal and perhaps the most profound. “I think he’s made you better by opening up the great fire of your love,” she wrote, “with his small but magnificent existence.” I have never in my life read a more deeply comforting sentence, one that spoke to my grandest hopes, my deepest fears, and the only faith that remains to me, which is a belief in chaos. Our love had bloomed and deepened from a guarded mutual respect to a richer, deeper friendship.

Mentors are meant to lead those in their charge into fresh understanding, help them sort and filter new experiences, assist in the project of making sense out of the chaos that is human life. Mentors observe and accompany the darkest despair, the wildest sorrow, and the most unexpected joy.

4. What can we learn from paragraph 2?

A．The author took the class because she excelled1 in theology.

B．Their relationship changed significantly beyond a teacher-student mode.

C．The author was a frequent visitor to Barbara’s home after working hours.

D．Barbara’s peaceful exterior was a contrast to the author’s overexcited talk.

5. What does the underlined word “This” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．The way Barbara treated her students.	B．The fact that the author kept silent in class.
C．The role of the author as a college student.	D．The relationship between Barbara and the author.

6. What transformed the relationship between Barbara and the author from a mutual respect to a deeper friendship?

A．Barbara’s efforts to solve the problem.

B．Barbara’s sympathy shown in the letter.

C．The author’s in-depth understanding of Barbara.

D．Barbara’s congratulations on the birth of the author’s son.

7. What does the author think of Barbara?

A．Demanding and dedicated.	B．Responsible and reasonable.
C．Insightful and inspiring.	D．Aggressive and ambitious.

Do you crave chips, pizza, donuts, or cake? These kinds of foods are high in sugar and fats, which make them delicious but not nutritious. A recent analysis suggests that certain ingredients in these types of processed foods can be addictive.

According to the research published in the journal Addiction, certain foods can trigger the same feelings as drugs. It all comes down to what’s happening in the brain. When we feel happy, it’s due to a flood of the feel-good chemical dopamine(多巴胺) in the striatum. This region is part of the brain’s reward circuit. The striatum gets a dopamine rush when something good happens. Drugs and alcohol can cause a similar high. So, it turns out, can some popular snack foods.

“We’re designed to find carbohydrates(碳水化合物) and fats,” says Ashley Gearhardt, a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Evolving such tastes helped our ancestors “overcome famine and make sure we survive,” she explains. That critical role shaped the brain’s reward system, making us hard-wired to enjoy carbohydrates and fatty foods.

The problem isn’t with all foods containing carbohydrates and fats. Fruit is full of sugar. Oats and other whole grains have lots of carbohydrates. Nuts and meat have fat. But such unprocessed foods—eaten in a form that’s similar to how they grew—also contain other nutrients, such as fiber, that slow digestion. That limits how quickly our bodies can absorb the nutrients.

Cookies, candy, soda, fries and other highly processed foods lack those additional nutrients. Such foods contain ingredients that have been highly changed from their natural state. They’re chock full of easy-to-absorb carbohydrates and added fats. What’s more, they often contain ingredients that don’t naturally occur together. When we eat these foods, we get a quick “hit” of carbs and fats that give the brain a boost. That makes us want to eat them again and again.

8. According to the article, which types of food can be addictive?

A．Fruits and grains.	B．Cookies and cake.
C．Nuts and meat.	D．Oats and fiber.

9. Why are humans hard-wired to enjoy carbs and fatty foods, according to the article?

A．They provide quick energy.	B．They helped our ancestors survive.
C．They are full of fiber.	D．They contain natural sugars.

10. How does the brain react when we eat certain highly processed foods?

A．It gets a boost of carbs and fats that make us feel full.

B．It slows down the digestion process.

C．It triggers the same feelings as drugs.

D．It releases feel-good chemicals that prevent addiction.

11. What is the main idea of the article?

A．Certain processed foods can create addictive responses.

B．Unprocessed foods are better for you than processed foods.

C．Our brains are born to enjoy carbohydrates and fats.

D．The lack of additional nutrients in processed foods makes them unhealthy.

Whether we are sitting down or standing up, still or moving, body posture influences our mood. Several studies have shown this link between physical posture and mood. Others have shown a relationship between our mood and our cognitive (认知的) performance, including memory, reasoning, learning, and the speed of reaction and processing of information.

So a logical question arises. Can body posture influence our cognitive performance?

Previously, a New Zealand team (University of Auckland) carried out an experiment on posture when we walk, especially in the street. The team had found a very clear influence of our posture on our mood and confidence. It appears that walking with a hunched back, bowed head and motionless arms have a negative influence on our mental state.

Indeed, the researchers found that the simple act of straightening up, standing up straight, with your head held high, and gazing forward gives us a serious boost of confidence. Not only does our spontaneous posture have a psychological effect, but by correcting it, it is possible to bring about improvement in the long term.

In this other study, this time carried out by an Austrian team (Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg), researchers observed the same phenomenon, this time in a sitting position. Young adults were invited to participate in tests presented as intended to assess their ability to concentrate. In fact, the researchers had them sit in different postures — from upright to very slumped (消沉) — in order to note their influences on mood and cognition.

A first observation indicates that “sitting upright” is associated with a better overall mood. It is also found to have a positive influence on the speed of processing information and completing tasks, although the test pass rate does not vary significantly with posture.

Finally, and surprisingly enough, blood pressure is a little more favorable in an upright position. To further complete the list of benefits of sitting upright, we will add that it is widely recommended for protecting the back in case of work that requires sitting for a long time.

12. Why does the writer mention the studies at the beginning?

A．To introduce what cognitive performance is.

B．To emphasize the importance of body posture.

C．To prove the results of those studies are wrong.

D．To raise a new question to be studied and solved.

13. What does the underlined word “hunched” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．Straightened.

B．Bent.

C．Loose.

D．Solid.

14. What does the first study indicate?

A．Posture influences our mental state.	B．Straightening up has a negative effect.
C．Gazing upward builds up confidence.	D．Walking posture is especially important.

15. What can we learn about sitting upright?

A．It has mental and physical benefits.	B．It helps improve the test pass rate.
C．It requires sitting for a long time.	D．It increases the blood pressure.

How to accept change in life and embrace it positively

Change is the only constant in life.     16     Because whether we want it or not, change is inevitable. It is “change” that makes our life move forward. It’s “change” that makes life exciting and worth living. Let’s see how to stay strong when we face changes in life.

Accept the situation

Changes happen expectedly and unexpectedly.     17     But there can be changes that happen so suddenly that you might have to experience painful days and have a tough time coping with them. Give yourself sometime to come to terms with it. You may have to go through a mourning period where you have to experience all kinds of emotions. Let the emotions come out and make space for them. It’s normal to feel sad and a sense of loss when you think about your old life. Seek support and if possible, take a few days off to find your strength. It’s important to learn to deal with the transition phase before you fully start living the new reality.

Embrace the unknown

Most of us are afraid of the unknown and therefore are resistant to change.     18     Even if it is for good, we hesitate to accept change because human beings love structure and routine. But I have often experienced in my life that the “unknown” I feared so much was not that scary at all, once I went through it. And that my worries were something that my mind made up. Truth be told, most of the things I worried about didn’t happen anyway. If we are not willing to embrace the unknown, we may miss out on lots of good things that life has kept in store for us.

    19    

One of the reasons change is difficult to accept is because of the range of emotions we feel when we confront change.     20     Acknowledge your fears, but stop yourself from being tunnel-visioned. Our mind has away of bringing up possible scenarios and fear them. But I have learned over the years that most of the things we fear don’t happen and usually, something good comes from change. I recently learned how to embrace emotions from one of my spiritual teachers. She would say, “When you feel emotions, give them a name and acknowledge that they have come to ‘visit’.”

A．Acknowledge your fears.

B．Look at how far you have come.

C．The sooner we learn to make peace with this fact, the better.

D．We fear the unknown because anything can happen to us there.

E．Expected or planned changes can buy us sometime for preparation.

F．It’s important to embrace your feelings and accept that they are there.

G．People who have experienced the loss of loved ones often talk about how that experience changed them.

I was busy and often dealt with customer emails at lunch. Even fifteen minutes in the employee lunchroom seemed a _________. My company, like many companies, cut costs by not _________ people as they left. The survivors had to take up more _________.

For me, this _________ no lunch hour, plus taking work home. I wanted to _________, but I couldn’t until I had another job in hand. _________ in theory, but given how annoyed the extra hours made me feel, it was difficult to convince _________ employers to hire me. I felt trapped. Then a chance _________ with a little girl changed my perspective. The girl was _________ happy, standing in line with her mom at the grocery.

“Good day at school?” I asked.

A nod.

“What’s your favorite subject?”

I smiled at the answer. I __________ when that had been my answer. At that time, no teachers told you what to do at lunch. We just played happily.

That brief __________ left me wondering: What had happened to lunch?

I knew that by law I was __________ to a lunch break. So I decided to start __________ it. I began to had a walk during the lunch break, which made me refreshed.

Now I’m still __________ a new position but with less stressed-out urgency than before. You can’t always change your __________, but you can always change your perspective.

21.

A．luxury

B．solution

C．concern

D．procedure

22.

A．protecting

B．reminding

C．supporting

D．replacing

23.

A．guidance

B．work

C．time

D．reference

24.

A．represented

B．proved

C．meant

D．designed

25.

A．accept

B．exchange

C．quit

D．agree

26.

A．Independent

B．Legal

C．Creative

D．Nice

27.

A．potential

B．previous

C．optimistic

D．influential

28.

A．travel

B．discovery

C．cooperation

D．conversation

29.

A．equally

B．merely

C．extremely

D．usually

30.

A．shared

B．remembered

C．recorded

D．checked

31.

A．encounter

B．trip

C．stop

D．summary

32.

A．entitled

B．exposed

C．related

D．suggested

33.

A．evaluating

B．extending

C．taking

D．escaping

34.

A．adapting to

B．looking for

C．taking over

D．adding to

35.

A．circles

B．identity

C．appearance

D．circumstances

阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Tea is commonly considered native to Southern China. However, in a garden in Geling village in Metog county in the Tibet autonomous region, the morning air is filled with the sweet aroma of     36     (fresh) picked tea.

Tsering Yangdron, a 25-year-old Monba, one of the ethnic groups     37     live in this region, skillfully makes her way through the garden, carefully picking tender tea leaves and tossing them into a bamboo basket tied to her waist. Tea picking     38     (become) a habit for her over the past five years. After she is done, Tsering Yangdron goes back home, where she also runs a homestay. “We have come up with       39     dish of fresh tea buds fried with eggs,” she said. A kilogram of fresh tea buds       40     (sell) for 300 yuan. Once     41     (dry) and processed to make green tea, their value increases significantly.

Geling was once inaccessible as a result of the dense forests,     42     the opening of the Metog highway in 2013 significantly improved connectivity and created opportunities for economic growth. Prior to Huang Jiabin’s appointment     43     the village’s Party secretary, the tea plantation in Geling was a neglected piece of land.

“    44     (realize) the valley was suitable for growing tea, since 2018, we have improved the management of the tea plantation, introduced advanced planting techniques and provided training for     45     (village),” Huang said.

47. 阅读下面的材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

“SAI BABA! Sai Baba! Sai Baba! Hahahaha!”

“Today is Shimla’s big day! We have a celebrity visiting our city! Hahahaha!” Rani’s cheekcs burned with embarrassment and tears stung her eyes as she elbowed her way to the exit through the crowd of teasing boys in the packed school bus. It wasn’t the first time she’d been called Sai Baba, after the famous Hindu holy man (印度圣人) she’d seen on TV with his trademark afro (爆炸式卷发) towering over his head.

But this time had to be the worst. Rani jumped off the school bus, angry thoughts hovering inside Rani’s head as she marched home in the drizzling rain. Why did her hair have to curl like a giant cotton candy balloon just when she wanted it to behave? Why, why. why, fumed Rani as she turned the back door key.

“Rani, is that you?” Mama called from the family room. Suddenly Rani’s cousins, Amit and Sumit, came charging toward her. “How many eggs does Rani have in that nest on her head?” screamed Amit. “Let me get that wig (假发) off Rani’s head!” shouted Sumit. Before she could think, Rani had fled out the door and went back up the road she’d walked down minutes before. Halfway up, she slid unseen behind a green curtain of bamboo. Tearing through the wild growth, she made her way down a narrow mud path into a clearing (空地). She threw her schoolbag on the ground and breathed hard.

“I hate my hair!” she cried. Collapsing on her schoolbag, she bitterly remembered the time she’d spent trying to smooth her hair in vain. Before long, she fell into a fitful sleep.

“RANI! RAA-AANI!”

Rani woke up to Mama’s calls. She sounded anxious. “I’ll never go home,” she promised herself darkly. Mama let Amit and Sumit make fun of me. Papa would never have done that. He would listen to me and stand by my side. The minutes wore on. Alone in her secret hideout, Rani watched the shadow of Mamna get longer and begin to disappear as dusk fell.

注意：1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:

Suddenly, leaves rustling, someone or something was making its way into the clearing.

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Paragraph 2:

The next moment Papa was sitting beside her.

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