A. reminding B. upsetting C. comforting D. influencing

A. injure B. bother C. attack D. destroy

C

When I was seven, my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one, I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices(装置)tell the time----which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007.

But while the wise have realized that they don’t need them, others----apparently including some distinguished men of our time----are spending total fortunes on them. Brands such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Breitling command shocking prices, up to ￡250,000 for a piece.

This is ridiculous. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions----but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?

If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world.

Watches are now classified as “investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly ￡350,000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from ￡15,000 to ￡30,000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It’s a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up----they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of the ￡350,000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.

59 The sales of watches to young people have fallen because they__________.

A. have other devices to tell the time

B. think watches too expensive

C. prefer to wear an iPod

D. have no sense of time

20世纪60年代后期，布雷顿森林体系出现危机，美国一度出动军用飞机紧急空运黄金供应伦敦黄金市场，美国的黄金储备因此遭受损失。美国这样做的目的应该是

A．维持美元价格B.赚取更多英镑C.支持浮动汇率D.制造金融混乱

下列对文中语句的解释，不符合文意的一项是

A.诸侯共尊汉王为皇帝于定陶

诸侯一起拥戴汉王在定陶即位为皇帝

B.公所事者且十主，皆面谀以得亲贵

您所侍奉过的人主将近十位了，您都是凭当面阿谀得到了信任和富贵

C.陈车骑步卒卫宫，设兵张旗帜

摆车战车骑兵步兵以拱卫皇宫，设置士兵的队列，并竖起旗帜

D.以尊卑次起上寿

按照地位高低的次序起身上前，为皇帝祝寿

What dose Gerner think of the ideas of green schools?

A. They are questionable.

B. They are out of date.

C. They are advanced.

D. They are practical.