PASSAGE FOUR Here's an example of how a typical conversation about money goes in my house my seven- year-old son, Joseph, was recently given $ 20 by a relative for his birthday. "Wow, I could buy a lot of jelly beans! "he said excitedly. My reaction: "It's his birthday money. He can do what he wants with it." My husband, Joe, disagreed "He just had a party and got lots of presents. That money needs to go in the bank." I don't know the first thing about saving money. I see nothing wrong with impulse purchases, and I rely on Joe to keep us out of debt when it comes to organizing mortgage (抵押借款)and bill payments. And while he can keep a spreadsheet (账目分析表) and has some savvy (知识, 技能) investing skills, he hates parting with money, even for necessities. We don't want to confuse our kids with our quarrels, and we want them to have more balanced attitudes than we do, so we turned to the Globe and Mail's personal finance columnist, Rob Carrick, to help us improve our approach. Carrick tells me that an allowance is indeed a part of financial education, and we should start sooner rather than later. Carrick suggests kids should be allowed a certain percentage for spending, and great care should be taken with the money that's being saved. Recently, Joseph informed us that he was going to start saving up for the Lego Death Star. It's the ultimate set. It's also $ 500. "No way," my husband said automatically. "You are never going to be allowed to spend that much money on Lego." I disagreed. If he managed to save up all that money, who were we to control what he spent it on? We were of different opinions again. "You have to let kids learn some stuff on their own," says Carrick. "You can set guidelines and give examples, which may rewire their brains somewhat." Still, there's a problem allowing Joseph to spend all he saves doesn't teach him other important lessons about money, such as donating to charity, and it's certainly not a balanced approach. We decided to sit down with him and explain that even if he saved all his allowances and asked for money or gift cards for Christmas and on birthdays, it would take about two years to make his Death Star dream come true. He thought about it and decided he wasn't that interested, and now he's freely spending half of his allowance and saving half in a bank account. Every month, we take turns choosing a charity to support, and the kids each take some money out of the bank to contribute. Ultimately, we need to model the right behavior to teach our children good financial habits, says Carrick. For example, involving your kids in trips to the bank will help them understand that you're saving for their university education. "You need to show that you're comfortable and competent with money, and that it's not a forbidden topic or source of shame," Carrick says. What this means for Joe and me is first setting aside time to face our own issues -- my lack of planning and his anti-spending attitude -- head on. When we're able to have rational discussions with each other, then we'll start including our kids in the conversations, too. 9. The word "rewire "in Paragraph Two probably means________. A. clarify B. restrain C. brighten D. change 10. What should the couple do before they talk with their children about financial issues? A. Open an account for their children's education. B. Set up a good relationship with the bank. C. Improve their own competence with money. D. Allow children to make family financial decisions.