David Jones and His Salary
Computer programmer David Jones earns ￡35,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank prepared to let him have a cheque card. Instead, he has been told to wait another two years, until he is 18.
The 16-year-old works for a small firm In Liverpool, where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David's firm releases two new games for the home computer market each month.
But David's biggest headache is what to do with his money. Despite his salary, earned buy inventing new programs, with bonus payments and profit-sharing, he cannot drive a car, buy a house, or obtain credit cards.
He lives with his parents in Liverpool. His company has to pay ￡150 a month in taxi fares to get him the five miles to work and back every day because David cannot drive.
David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school and working for a time in a computer shop. "I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs," he said.
"I suppose ￡35,000 sounds a lot but I hope it will come to more than that his year." He spends some of his money on records and clothes, and gives his mother ￡20 a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
"unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school," he said. "But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway."
David added: "I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear."
Exercise
1. Why is David different from other young people of his age?
A) Because he earns an extremely high salary.
B) Because he is not unemployed.
C) Because he does not go out much.
D) Because he lives at home with his parents.
2. David's greatest problem is
A) finding a bank that will treat him as an adult.
B) inventing computer games.
C) spending his salary.
D) learning to drive.
3. He was employed by the company because
A) he had worked in a computer shop.
B) he had written some computer programs.
C) he had worked very hard.
D) he had learned to use computers at school.
4. He left school because
A) he did not enjoy school
B) he wanted to work with computers and staying at school did not help him.
C) he was afraid of getting too old to start computing.
D) he wanted to earn a lot of money.
5. Why does David think he might retire early?
A) Because you have to be young to write computer programs.
B) Because he wants to stop working when he is a millionaire.
C) Because he thinks computer games might not always sell so well.
D) Because he thinks his firm might go bankrupt.
Keys：ACBBC
New York - The Melting Pot
Recently the Department of Planning of New York issued a report which laid bare a full scale of the city. In 1970, 18 percent of the city's population was foreign-born. By 1995, the figure had risen to 33 percent, and another 20 percent were the US-born offsprings of immigrants. So immigrants and their children now form a majority of the city's population.
Who are these New Yorkers? Why do they come here? Where are they from? (OK, time to drop the "they". I'm one of them). The last question at least is easy to answer: we come from everywhere. In the list of the top 20 source nations of those sending immigrants to New York between 1990 and 1994 are six countries in Asia, five in the Caribbean, four in Latin America, three in Europe, plus Israel and former Soviet Union. And when we immigrants get here we roll up our sleeves. "if you're not ready to work when you get to New York," says a friend of mine, "you'd better hit the road."
The mayor of New York once said, "Immigration continues to shape the unique character and drive the economic engine of New York City." He believes that immigrants are at the heart of what makes New York great. In Europe, by contrast, it is much more common to hear politicians worry about the loss of "unity" that immigration brings to their societies. In the quarter century since 1970, the United Stated admitted about 125 million legal immigrants, and has absorbed them into its social structures with an ease beyond the imagination of other nations. Since these immigrants are purposeful and hard-working, they will help America to make a fresh start in the next century.
1. The report issued by the Department of Planning of New York
A) put forward ways to control New York's population.
B) concerned itself with the growth of New York's population.
C) studied the structure of New York's population.
D) suggested ways to increase New York's population.
2. According to the second paragraph, which of the following is true of the immigrants in New York?
A) One can not find his place in New York unless he is ready to work.
B) They found life in New York harder than in their own countries.
C) Most of them have difficulty finding jobs.
D) One can live on welfare if he does not want to work.
3. The mayor of New York considers immigration to be
A) a big problem in the management of the city.
B) a push needed to develop the city.
C) a cause of disintegration of the city's social structure.
D) an obstacle to the development of the city.
4. Where are the new New Yorkers from?
A) Asia.
B) Europe.
C) All over the world.
D) Latin America.
5. What is the author's attitude towards immigration to New York?
A) Negative.
B) Worried.
C) Indifferent
D) Positive.
Keys：CABCD