单选题 Many people invest in the stock market hoping to find the next Microsoft and Dell. However, I know (1) personal experience how difficult this really is. For more than a year, I waw (2) hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars a day investing in the market. It seemed so easy, I dreamed of (3) my job at the end of the year, of buying a small apartment in Paris, of traveling around the world. But these dreams (4) to a sudden and dramatic end when a stock I (5) , Texas cellular pone wholesaler, fell by more than 75 percent (6) a one year period. On the (7) day, it plunged by more than $ 15 a share. There was a rumor the company was (8) sales figures. That was when I leamed how quickly Wall street (9) companies that misrepresent the (10) .
In a (11) , I sold all my stock in the company, paying (12) margin debt with cash advances from my (13) card. Because I owned so many shares, I (14) a small fortune, half of it from money I borrowed from the brokerage company. One month, I am a (15) , the next, a loser. This one big loss was my first lesson in the market.
My father was a stockbroker, as way my grandfather (16) him. (In fact, he founded one of Chicago's earliest brokerage firms. ) But like so many things in life, we don't learn anything until we (17) it for ourselves. The only way to really understand the inner (18) of the stock market is to invest your own hard-earned money. When all your stocks are doing (19) and you feel like a winner, you learn very little. It's when all your stocks are losing and everyone is questioning your stock-picking (20) that you find out if you have what it takes to invest in the market.

【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】know from/through从……中明白。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】每天花数百有时甚至上千美元投资于证券市场。spend money(in)doing something“花钱做某事”。用make的话，构成make dollars“赚钱”，表达的意思就成了“靠投资于证券市场每天赚数百甚至上千美元”，意思也可以。但结构不对，后面应是by investing in the market，in不能去掉。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】quit one's job辞职，由后面的of buying a small apartment in Paris，of traveling around the world也可看出作者是想主动辞职而非被动失去工作、退休或者找工作。lose one's job失去工作(被动)；retire退休；get one's job找工作。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】come to an end结束，终止，常用词组。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】由上下文可以看出，作者拥有的Texas cellular pone wholesaler股票大贬值。own拥有；owe欠(债务等)；rent租借；sell出售。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】over a one-year period在短短一年之间。注意还有另外一种表达方式：over a period of a one year，表达的含义相同。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】股票日跌幅高达15美金，对于作者来说自然是最坏的一天。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】夸大销售额，这是上市公司作假的一种常用手段。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】华尔街怎样惩罚那些作虚假陈述的公司。所以应选punish(惩罚)。defeat击败，战胜；tell告诉；show显示；意思都不对。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】句意：这时我才知道华尔街在惩罚那些提供虚假信息的公司方面有多快。注意misrepresent是“不如实地说明”的意思。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】in a panic惊恐万分；despair可表示惊恐；但短语足in despair，in和despair中间没有冠词a；in a moment立刻，一会儿，此处意思不对。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】pay off还清(债务等)；pay up全部付清。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】credit card信用卡。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】句意：因为我拥有这么多的股票(而股票又贬值了)，因此我赔了一笔钱。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】作者一开始赚了一点钱，但很快就连本都赔了。
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】我祖父在我父亲之前也是个股票经纪人。因此用before。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】句意：直到我们亲身经历此事。
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】the inner workings of the stock market证券市场的内部运行情况
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】句意：如果你全部的股票长势都很好，你自己也觉得是赢家，那你学到的其实很少。much为副词，可用来修饰动词do。great是形容词，只作定语。more和up意思上不符合。
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】句意：只有当你在证券市场上赔了钱、人们都在怀疑你选择股票的能力时，你才会发现你在证券投资过程中到底学到了些什么。