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　　Many years ago, when I was a man in my twenties, I worked as a salesman for a piano company.

　　We 1 our pianos all over the state by advertising in small town 2 .Every time we advertised, we would receive a reply on a postcard which said,“Please 3 me a new piano for my little granddaughter. It 4 be red mahogany（紅木）. I can pay $10 a month with my egg money.”O(jiān)f course, we could not sell a(n) 5 piano for $10 a month. 6 her cards kept on coming.

　　A couple of years later, I 7 my own piano company, and when I 8 in that area, the postcards started coming to me. For months, I ignored（不理睬） 9 --what else could I do?

　　But then, one day I 10 to be in the area. I had a red mahogany piano on my little truck. Despite knowing that I was about to 11 a terrible business decision, I managed to find the old woman and took the new piano in her house and placed it 12 I thought the roof would be least likely to rain on it. I told her and a little barefoot girl to try to 13 the chickens off it, and I left sure I had just 14 a new piano.

　　But the 15 came in, all 52 of them as agreed, sometimes with coins. It was unbelievable!

　　Then one day I was in Memphis on 16 business. As I was sitting at the bar having a drink, I heard the most beautiful piano music behind me. I looked 17 ,and there was a lovely young woman 18 a very nice ground piano.

　　She smiled at me, asked for requests, and when she took a 19 she sat down at my table.

　　“Aren't you the man who sold my grandma a piano a long time ago?”

　　I suddenly remembered. My Lord, it was her! It was the little barefoot girl!

　　I did have to go to my room because men don't like to be 20 crying public.

My grandmother had________ over  50, 000 when she was sixty- five years old.

You should　　　 your stupid ideas, otherwise you’ll regret in the future.

A. put down B. put away　　　 C. put aside　 D. put out

The meal over, the managers went back to the meeting room to ____ their discussion.

A. put away　 B. take down　　 C. look over　　 D. carry on

Many families in the United States have a large income now than ever before, but people are finding it difficult to make ends meet anyway. Almost everyone is wondering, “What happens to all my money? I never seem to have anything left to put away. ”

　 Why isn’t a dollar worth as much as it used to be? One dollar is always worth the same amount, that is, 100 cents. But the value of a dollar is how much it can buy. The value of money depends on the cost of living. Economists say that the cost of living is the money that a family must pay for the necessities of life such as food, housing or rent, clothes, and medical expenses. For many years now, the cost of living has increased greatly, so the value of the dollar has decreased. When a dollar has a low value, you cannot buy as many things with it.

　 No one fully understands why the cost of living keeps increasing, but economists believe that workers and producers can make process go up. As workers earn more money, they have more money to spend, so they demand more goods. If there a a great demand for certain goods, the prices of these goods go up. At the same time, if there’s a shortage of goods, the prices also go up. For example, if everyone wants to buy more and more gas, the price of gas goes up. When companies which hold gas from buyers, they can also make the price of gas go up.

　 Families need to know what happens to their money. They need to make their income meet the cost of living, so many people plan a family budget. A budget is a list of monthly expenses. If your expenses add up to more than your income, you must find ways to save money. Maybe you’re spending too much on entertainment. Or if you’re spending too much on clothes; you may want to sew your own clothes. budgeting helps you spend your money wisely as the cost of living increases.

1. What has troubled many families in the United States?

　 A. A not-large-enough income.

　 B. Nothing is left over to put away.

　 C. The increasing cost of living.

　 D. A shortage of certain goods.

2. ____ determines the value of the dollar.

　 A. The government

　 B. The cost of living

　 C. The economist

　 D. The bank

3. While the cost of living increases, the value of the dollar ____.

　 A. increases too

　 B. decreases

　 C. neither increases nor decreases

　 D. seldom decreases

4. When ____, the prices go up.

　 A. demand exceeds(超過) supply

　 B. supply exceeds demand

　 C. demand doesn’t exceed supply

　 D. supply equals demand

5. Budgeting helps ____.

　 A. one to make his income meet the cost of living

　 B. the government to battle the rising cost of living

　 C. merchants(商人)to produce more goods

　 D. the workers to earn more money