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[
"Father's Story",
"Honesty",
"Family Matters",
"Supervising"
] |
Honesty
|
Dad was always full of advice, but one of the biggest lessons he taught me one summer was about having a strong work ethic . When my brother and I were growing up, we mowed yards during the summer to earn pocket change. Dad was our salesman. He told our neighbors about our service and offered a price they could not refuse. My brother and I got $ 10 per yard. I later found out that our friends were charging $ 20 or more for the same amount of work.
Every time we headed out to mow lawns , Dad was there to watch. I used to wonder why he came with us. He stood supervising our work in the heat when he could have been inside relaxing with air conditioning and an icy drink.
One day we were cutting our next-door neighbor's yard, he always waited until the grass was knee-high to call us over. To make matters worse, we had an old lawn mower. This particular afternoon, I was finishing up and was tired and sweaty.
I was just about to cut off the lawn mower when I saw Dad pointing to one piece of grass. He yelled, "You missed a piece."
I frowned, hoping he would let it slide and let me go home. He kept pointing. So, tired and disappointed, I went back to cut that piece of grass. I said to myself, "That one piece isn't hurting anyone. Why won't he just let it go?"
But when I reached adulthood, I understood his message ---When you're running a business, the work you do says a great deal about you. If you want to be seen as an entrepreneur with honesty, you must deliver a quality product. That single blade of grass meant the job was not done.
Other neighbors took notice of the good work we did and we soon got more business. We started out with one client, but by the end of the summer we had five.
|
What would be the best title for the passage?
|
[
"Eloquence and logic thinking.",
"Confidence and dreams.",
"Endurance and experience.",
"Talent and teamwork."
] |
Eloquence and logic thinking.
|
Speak confidently and think logically. Year 13 schoolboy Arunabh Prakash can't agree more. Anmabh is one of the five students that will represent New Zealand at the 26th World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) to be held in Thailand from August 5 to l5 this year.
"You've got to be persuasive, regardless of the fact that you believe in a topic or not," says the 17-year-old.
"There are a lot of speakers who are eloquent but find it difficult to think logically and then there are those who have a good argument but can't deliver."
Endurance is another quality he says one must have in the heated arena of expressing opinions and ideas.
"There are times when you have to debate for five hours at a go and are completely exhausted. It's quite intense. You must have the energy to debate for long hours," says Arunabh, who began debating in year 10.
The WSDC is a debating competition in the world for high school students from different countries. It involves four prepared debates and four impromptu debates -- debates without specific preparations.
To gain selection for the national team for the global final, Arunabh had to compete with regional teams. Despite the mounting pressure, he says he was confident of winning.
"We didn't loose a debate in the first two days. And we had a very strong team. We were confident of our ability to win," he says.
|
According to Arunabh, what are important in debating?
|
[
"gym",
"hiking",
"swimming",
"basketball"
] |
basketball
|
A week ago, Columbus Middle School asked the parents of their school to choose a sport for their child to play. Here's some information about the sports.
Sports 1: Basketball
We expect that this will be the most popular of the four sports. So students should sign up as soon as possible. Students will take a private bus to and from Kwun Tong Sports Park. Each student will have to pay $ 10 each time for the cost of the bus. There will be four basketball courts available for our use with one teacher watching over each game.
Sports 2: Gym
We will use St. Peter's Park. There are two reasons for choosing this park. First, it is not very busy and crowded before 6:00 p.m. Second, it has lots of trees with plenty of shade. Students must bring along two bottles of water to prevent from being thirsty. All the activities here are free. And there will be a teacher on duty for each activity.
Sports 3: Hiking
Hiking will be at Kowloon Peak. The activity will start at 2:30 p.m. and finish 90 minutes later. There will be 15 students in each group. And three teachers will be with the students. This sport will cost $ 75 per hour. Students should take plenty of water and sunglasses.
Sports 4: Swimming
The Kowloon City Swimming Centre is a 10-minute walk from our school. Four teachers will go to the pool and watch the students from the poolside. We will only be able to use the pool for one hour (2: 45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.). Only students skillful at swimming can take up this activity. The pool will have two lifeguards on watch. Girls must wear swimming suits. The cost is $ 15 per visit.
|
According to this passage, _ will probably have the most students.
|
[
"they have too many options",
"they are lacking in parents'advice",
"they are doubtful about parents'love",
"they care too much about parents'reaction"
] |
they care too much about parents'reaction
|
There are two great trends on parents bringing up children today.First,children are now praised to an unbelievable degree.As Dorothy Parker once joked,American children aren't raised;they are motivated.Children are constantly told how special they are.The second is that children are honed to an unimaginable degree.Parents spend much more time than in past generations on their children's development.
These two great trends--greater praise and greater honing--combine in close ways. Parents shower their kids with affection ,but it is intermingled with the desire to help their children achieve success.Parents are happy when their child studies hard,practices hard,wins first place,gets into a famous college.
The wolf of conditional 1ove is hidden in these homes.The parents feel they love their children in all circumstances.But the children often think differently.They feel that childhood is a performance--on the athletic field,in school and beyond.The shadowy presence of conditional love produces a fear,the fear that there is no completely safe love.
Meanwhile,children who are uncertain of their parents'love develop a great hunger for it. This conditional love is1ike an acid that affects children's criteria to make their own decisions about their own colleges,majors and careers.At key decision-points,they unconsciously imagine how their parents will react.
These children tell their parents those things that will bring praise and hide the parts of their lives that won't. Studies suggest that children who receive conditional love often do better in the short run.They can be model students.But they suffer in the long run.They come to hate their parents.They are so influenced by fear that they become afraid of risk.
Parents today are less likely to demand obedience with explicit rules and lectures.But they are more likely to use love as a tool to exercise contro1.But parental love is supposed to ignore achievement. It's meant to be an unconditional support -a gift that can not be bought and cannot be earned.
|
Some children can't make their own decisions probably because _ .
|
[
"Mike's curry smells and tastes very delicious .",
"Mike's parents call him when he is cooking.",
"Mike love both the curry and hamburger very much.",
"Mike cooks badly this time because he is so careless."
] |
Mike cooks badly this time because he is so careless.
|
Hi Suzie,
I have a big problem again! You know that I love to cook. Everyone says that I am the next "celebrity chef". I never miss favourite cookery shows on TV. I always like to try new recipes. Curry is one of my favourite meals. I love all the spices and that is the problem!
I am in the kitchen when the telephone rings. I answer the phone and chat for five minutes to my friend Kate. I go back to my curry, but I don't remember that the spices are already in and I add more. My curry smells delicious, but when we eat it everyone looks at me. The curry tastes very bad. My mum says, "Why is it so hot?"
Then I remember about the spices.
I'm off for a hamburger.
Love,
Mike
|
Which of the following is TRUE according to the letter?
|
[
"She thought he wanted to impress her.",
"She thought he pretended to be rich.",
"She thought he was very generous.",
"She thought he was the owner of the restaurant."
] |
She thought he was very generous.
|
The food in White Rose Restaurant was cheap and good, but nobody seemed to want to eat there. There were very few people going to eat there. The owner was very worried about it.
Then he thought of a good idea. A few weeks later, his restaurant was always full of men and their girlfriends. Whenever a gentleman came with a lady, a kind waiter would give each of them a beautiful menu. The menus looked exactly the same on the outside, but there was an important difference inside. The menu that the waiter handed to the man gave the correct price for each dish and each bottle of wine, while the menu that he handed to the lady gave a much higher price! So when the man calmly ordered dish after dish and wine after wine, the lady thought he was much more generous than he really was! The man could make a good impression on the lady.
|
What might the lady think of her boyfriend after having a meal together at this restaurant?
|
[
"Making a plan of the annual expense of the department beforehand.",
"Analyzing the needs of the market and developing its IT systems.",
"Offering assistance if people have any computer problems.",
"Managing and controlling the money of the department."
] |
Analyzing the needs of the market and developing its IT systems.
|
Beijing City International School
Position: IT manager
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
Prepares and carries out the annual budget of the department.
Builds and develops the whole school IT system
Provides excellent IT services with IT team for teaching and business. Requirements/Qualifications:
Bachelor or above, majoring in Information Technology or Finance.
Good command of both Chinese and English
Minimum 5 years working experience, 3 years in a managerial level
Able to work in a collaborative style
KAI CABLE INC.
Position: Sales Internship
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
Builds and develops good relationship with new customers
Maintains strong relationship with the existing customers
Explores potential customers further
Conducts market ~ competitors analysis to improve customer satisfaction.
Requirements/Qualifications:
Graduates with Bachelor degree.
Major in Finance, Economics, International Trade.
Fluent English (in both written ~ spoken) and Mandarin .
Familiar with MS office, especially Excel and PowerPoint and Internet application
Willingness to accept challenges and work under pressure.
Strong sense of responsibility.
Preoare for business trios.
|
According to the 1st ad, which of the following is NOT included in the daily duties of an IT manager?
|
[
"The stories of some hypertension patients.",
"Medical treatments of blood pressure.",
"Storytelling may help lower blood pressure.",
"Suggestions about how to lower blood pressure."
] |
Medical treatments of blood pressure.
|
A new study has been carried to test the role of story telling in lowering blood pressure. Dr. Thomas Houston, a professor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, led a group of scientists that investigated how pre-recorded videos of hypertension patients' talking about their medical histories helped another group of patients with high blood pressure to control their condition over several months.
Houston was surprised by their studies that suggested that communication can be a powerful tool in medicine. They showed that those who had had similar experiences, when talking to someone with a similar background, could help change their behavior to become healthier. Hypertension is difficult to control, since it is dependent on diet, exercise and mental state. Medical treatments with drugs, and lifestyle therapies have been ly ineffective because people find it hard to follow those medical requirements.
In the test, his team carefully chose their story-tellers from 230 members of a patients' community with whom they could most easily relate. Next, they divided their study population into two groups. One received three interactive DVDs containing the tellers' stories of their experiences in living with and treating their hypertension. The other were given educational discs on an unrelated health topic. The study volunteers reported that they had listened to the DVDs, and after three months, those who heard the stories of the hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure.
While the study did not _ how the story-telling influenced the patients' behavior, Houston suspects that watching patients of similar backgrounds who had a similar medical experience helped to motivate them to seek medical help to their hypertension. They found that after six months the difference in blood pressure between those who watched the story-tellers and those who observed the unrelated videos remained, suggesting that the story-telling continued to have an effect.
|
Which of the following could be the best title of the text?
|
[
"The climate of the world will be warmer.",
"The glaciers in other areas will be bigger.",
"It will be easy for explorers to visit the island.",
"Some coastal cities may be under the sea."
] |
Some coastal cities may be under the sea.
|
A new study shows one of the largest glaciers in Greenland is becoming smaller and speeding to the sea faster than scientists expected. If it continues, Greenland itself could become much smaller during this century and global seas could rise as much as 3 feet.
The rates of change that we're noticing are much higher than expected. If these rates continue, it is not likely that Greenland could shrink by several tens of percent this century. However, it's not known how quickly this coastal response of the Greenland ice sheet melting will have an effect on the vast inland ice.
Greenland is the world's largest island, covering area more than three times the size of Texas. Some 81 percent of it is covered by ice, and there are many glaciers. Glaciers are like slow-moving rivers of ice. Where a glacier meets the sea, its weight keeps it firmly resting on the bottom. A glacier's front is the point where the water is deep enough that the glacier floats.
Since the 1970s, the front of Helheim stayed in the same place. Then it began melting rapidly, moving back 4.5 miles from 2001 through this past summer. It has also grown thinner, from top to bottom, by more than 130 feet since 2001. And over these past years, its trip to the sea has sped up from about 70 feet per day to nearly 110.
The melting is driven by a warmer climate. Temperatures in Greenland have risen more than five degrees Fahrenheit in the last ten years. Since most of Greenland's ice is on land, seas will rise as the ice melts. If all Greenland's ice sheet melted, oceans would be 15-20 feet higher. Nobody expects that to happen any time soon.
|
Which of the following may be the result of the disappearing of Greenland glaciers?
|
[
"They move about 20 times a minute.",
"Generally each person has two lungs.",
"They pump the air you breathe into blood cells.",
"They can float on water."
] |
They pump the air you breathe into blood cells.
|
You do something about twenty times a minute without even thinking about it--you breathe! In fact, every day you take about twenty-thousand breaths. The organs of your body that allow you to breathe are called your lungs. You have two of them that work together, located in your chest inside the rib cage.
The main purpose of your lungs is to breathe in good air and breathe out bad air. The good air contains oxygen, which your body needs. The bad air is a gas called carbon dioxide, which your body cannot use. When you breathe in through your nose or mouth, air travels down the back of your throat. It passes through your voice box and into your trachea, or windpipe. Your trachea is divided into two air passage tubes. One leads to your left lung. The other leads to your right lung. Inside your lungs, oxygen is removed from the air you breathe and pumped into blood cells. Your lungs also get rid of harmful carbon dioxide from these cells. This process takes place inside hundreds of millions of tiny air sacs.
Each adult lung is about the size of a football. When they are healthy, your lungs feel a little like a sponge and are pinkish-gray. When lungs are damaged by smoking, they can appear gray or have black spots on them.One disease that is very common in children involves the lungs. It's asthma. Asthma narrows the breathing tubes, making it harder to breathe.
You probably already know that your lungs are important when you swim. But you may not know this--your lungs are the only part of your body that can float on water!
|
Which of the following about your lungs is WRONG?
|
[
"contact Cape Disappointment State Park",
"call 1-800-451-2542",
"contact Skipper's Equestrian Center",
"get in touch with an RV park"
] |
contact Skipper's Equestrian Center
|
Long Beach lies in south-western Washington, and it is generally called Long Beach Peninsula. Communities there take you back to the old days of a simple and slow-paced lifestyle. There, visitors can relax and have fun through various activities.
Bird watching
There are many kinds of birds that can be found in Long Beach. It is the best if you observe from a distance. If you walk close to them, they may be spooked and fly away. Don't forget to take a camera and take pictures of the various birds there.
Horses
A popular activity in Long Beach is horseback riding. Two businesses in the city of Long Beach offer guided horseback tours along the beach: Black Country Wilderness Outfitters and Skipper's Equestrian Center. You may also bring your own horse. Among the adventures offered with horses is a wagon ride along the beach, a carriage ride through Long Beach, or a sunset ride on horseback on the beach.
Camping
RV camping and tent camping aren't allowed on the beach, but there are RV parks and private camp-grounds in the area, as well as Cape Disappointment State Park. Camp fires are allowed within 100 feet of the beach, but must be away from the beach dry grass.
Swimming and other activities
Swimming is allowed, but visitors should be careful. The waters are very cold and dangerous. Surfing is allowed only for experienced surfers. Beach driving is allowed at certain spots on the beach. The speed limit is 25 mph. Building sand castles, digging sand to find something, bicycle riding, and flying kites are also popular activities in the area.
You can find right hotels easily in the area. The Southwest Loop Trail Map can be got through the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau Office by calling 1-800-451-2542. Enjoy your trip to Long Beach, Washington.
|
If you are interested in a guided horseback tour, you can _ .
|
[
"You did a good job!",
"What an adorable boy!",
"You're a real gentleman!",
"We are so proud of you!"
] |
You did a good job!
|
Encouragement and praise can come in many forms, and some ways are better for child development than others. Researchers at the University of Chicago who studied mother-child interactions found that the type of praise children receive affects their attitudes towards challenges later in life.
Specifically, praise that focused on their behavior and the choices that kids made helped them deal with difficult experiences better five years later, compared with praise that focused more on the child himself, like "You're a good boy." The study, which appears in the journal Child Development, is the first major study of praise and child development done outside of a lab setting.
"It's exciting to see _ play out in the real world," said Elizabeth Gunderson who led the study. "Praising the efforts, actions and work of kids is going to be more beneficial in their long-term persistence and desire to be challenged and work hard in the future."
Such "process praise" includes comments such as "You worked really hard", which emphasize a child's actions. "Person praise" includes comments like "You're so smart", which focus on a child's personal qualities. These distinctions aren't new in the field of psychology, but exactly how they affect children's development over the years hasn't always been clear.
As part of the study, the researchers visited the homes of more than 50 kids between the ages of 1 and 3, and filmed their daily interactions with their parents during 90-minute sessions. Five years later, the researchers followed up with the families, measuring the children's attitudes towards challenges and problem solving. The children who grew up with more process praise were more open to challenges. Though person praise didn't seem to have any negative effect on the children, the study suggests that process praise teaches children that their talents and abilities can be developed and improved, while person praise sends the message that their abilities are fixed and therefore not easily changed.
|
Which of the following belongs to "progress praise"?
|
[
"changing others' points of view",
"exercising power over other people",
"getting other people to consider your point of view",
"getting people to agree with you and do what you want"
] |
getting other people to consider your point of view
|
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate's need to study for an exam may take priority over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our points of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always _ -- other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merit of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable -- to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our minds or get our vulnerability . Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution .
|
According to the passage, persuasion means _ .
|
[
"basketball",
"soccer",
"baseball",
"volleyball"
] |
soccer
|
I am a tall boy. I can play basketball and soccer very well. Today is Sunday. I don't go to school. I watch a soccer match on TV. It's a good match. Beckham is my idol .He plays well in the match. In the afternoon, I play soccer with my good friends Jim,Ben, Peter, Gary and Kevin. Sarah is in the park, too. She is my good friend. She watches us play. We are hungry at 4:00, but we are happy.
|
I play _ in the afternoon.
|
[
"a stranger and his strange knife",
"Lincoln's favorite story",
"meeting stranger in a train",
"Lincoln's favorite penknife"
] |
Lincoln's favorite story
|
It has been said that Lincoln was always ready to join in a laugh at himself. There is one particular story that he always told with great delight.
In his early days as a lawyer, Lincoln went from town to town to hear and judge legal cases. During one of these trips, he was sitting in a train when a strange man came up to him. The stranger looked at the tall clumsy lawyer and said that he had something he believed belonging to Lincoln. Lincoln was a bit puzzled. He had never seen the man before. He didn't see how a total stranger could have something of his. Lincoln asked how this could be. The stranger pulled out a penknife and began to explain. Many years before, he had been given the pocketknife. He had been told to keep it until he was able to find a man uglier than himself.
Lincoln's eyes always _ when he reached this part of the story. The story always brought smiles to the faces of those who heard it. The tale itself was funny. But even more delightful was the fact that a man as great as Lincoln could still laugh at himself.
|
This passage is about _
|
[
"Lohan has played three films produced by Disney.",
"Lohan played the part Bill Cosby in a TV show.",
"Lohan has released two albums since 2005.",
"Lohan was greatly influenced by Emilio Estefan Jr."
] |
Lohan has released two albums since 2005.
|
Lindsay Morgan Lohan was born on July 2, 1986. She was such a natural beauty that she began modeling at the age of 3, and because of her natural talent, she played parts in over 60 TV commercials for companies such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Wendy's, the Gap, Pizza Hut, Calvin Klein, and Jell-O, in which she shared the screen with Bill Cosby.
When she was 7, Lohan was required to dress up as garbage for a Halloween short play on the Late Show with David Letterman called "Things You Find on the Bottom of the Subway." It was her first real acting job. In 1996, Lohan got her second big _ when she was given a role on the long-running NBC soap opera "Another World." For only one season, she became the third actress to act the part Alexandra Alli Fowler.
Shortly after, she hit the highway to fame when Disney sought to remake the hugely successful family comedy "The Parent Trap" (1998). In addition, she also got a three-picture deal with Disney thanks to this movie. Her next move was to appear in the Wonderful World of Disney production of "Life-Size" (2000), a comedy also featuring supermodel Tyra Banks.
In 2003, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan performed in Freaky Friday and played one of the early roles that made Jodie Foster a household name.
In September 2002, Lohan also got a contract with music heavyweight Emilio Estefan Jr who is of great influence in music. She signed a five-album deal with Estefan Enterprises. In 2005, she released her first album, "Speak," followed by "A Little More Personal" the next year.
|
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
|
[
"like to enjoy music with simple and easy style.",
"have difficulty in understanding the viral movie music.",
"are working hard for the advancement of classic music.",
"are tired of many music videos which are popularized through Internet too quickly."
] |
like to enjoy music with simple and easy style.
|
Move over Psy. There's a new viral music video on the Internet that's getting millions of people dancing and laughing. Psy is a singer who created Gagnam Style, a music video which featured a catchy tune and interesting dance.
The new music video called The Fox (What does the fox say?) has recently gone viral. At 123 000 000 views, it may even catch up to Gagnam Style. The video asks the question, "What does the fox say?" It's a good question. And it seems, at least according to the music video, there is no good answer.
Actors in the video dress up like the animals they're singing about. One of the brothers dresses up like a fox. There is a surprising and silly dance in the video that takes the viewer a bit _ . The video's appeal is the song's simple rhythm and catchy chorus .
The makers of the video never expected the video to do well or even to be taken seriously. In fact, it started out as a joke. The song was written by two brothers from Norway, Vegard and Bard Ylvis ker. The brothers have their own late-night talk show in Norway. They thought the video would be so bad that it would give them something to talk about on their show.
On their website, they say the video was "supposed to entertain a few Norwegians for three minutes -- and that's all." But people started loving it. Some people say that once you listen to the delightfully silly song, you want to listen to it again and again.
The brothers have been guests on some major North American talk shows. They say they're happy about the success of their video, but they know that tomorrow something else could come along and be even bigger.
|
It can be inferred from the passage that nowadays most people _ .
|
[
"was happy to watch them",
"was away to visit his friends",
"pretended that he didn't see them",
"was angry but didn't drive them off"
] |
was away to visit his friends
|
Once upon a time, there was a garden in the village. Its owner was an old man. He had been away for several years to visit his friends. It was a large lovely garden with soft green grass and beautiful flowers. While the old man was away, some children came to play in the garden every afternoon. The birds in the garden sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games to listen to them. For them, the time they spent there was the happiest they had ever had.
One day the old man came back. When he saw the children playing in his garden, he was very angry. "What are you doing here?" he shouted. "Nobody except myself is allowed to play in my garden." The children were terrified and ran away. Then spring came, but it was still winter in the old man's garden. There were blossoms and birds all over the village, except in the garden. The birds didn't like singing in his garden, since there were no children." Why is spring arriving so late this year?" the old man thought. "How pretty it would be if it were spring now!" One morning, the old man was woken up by some sounds. He heard birds singing and children laughing. When he opened the window, he saw the birds sitting in the trees and the children running about happily. "I'm sure spring has come. What I'm seeing is the most _ scene I have ever seen, and the sounds which I'm hearing are the most beautiful in the world," said the old man.
|
When the children were enjoying themselves in the garden, the old man _ .
|
[
"in the classroom",
"in the street",
"in the lab",
"at home"
] |
in the street
|
One day when the famous American scientist Edison was on his way home, a young man stopped him and required to have a word with him. Edison accepted his request.
The young man asked, "How can you invent so many things and achieve your fame?"
The scientist said, "It seems that you have been thinking of becoming famous every day." The young man nodded, "Yes. I have been dreaming of being a person as notable as you. Every minute I am thinking of how to become reputable. I don't know when I can achieve my fame (,)."
Edison told him, "Don't worry, young man. If you want to be a famous man this way, you will have to wait until you die!"
"Why should I?" the young man was puzzled.
Edison said, "What you dream is actually a high building. You never think of how to build it with bricks . Thus the building will never come into reality . However, your story can serve as a mirror. People will remember you because of your illness and laziness. They will often speak of your name while they give warnings to their children. Aren't you a notorious person by then?"
|
The man and Mr. Edison had a talk _ .
|
[
"the less the body produces epinephrine, the better",
"the longer a visit lasts, the happier the patient should be",
"the patients enjoyed the dogs' company more than the human visitors'",
"it's impossible for heart patients to recover without dogs' visits"
] |
the patients enjoyed the dogs' company more than the human visitors'
|
A new study finds that the animal known as man's best friend can also be a good friend to the heart. Researchers in California say they have found that even just a short visit with a dog helped ease the worries of heart patients.
The study divided the patients into three groups. In Group A, a dog and a person visited each patient for twelve minutes. Patients in Group B received just a human visitor for twelve minutes. And members of Group C received no visitor, human or canine .
The dogs would lie on the hospital bed so the heart patients could touch them. The researchers say some patients immediately smiled and talked to the dog and the human visitor. Dogs, in her words, "make people happier, calmer and feel more loved."
The researchers examined the patients before, during and after the visits. They measured stress levels based on blood flow and heart activity. They say they found a twenty-four percent decrease in the group visited by both a dog and a person. They reported a ten percent decrease in the group visited by a person only. There was no change in the patients without any visit. These patients, however, did have an increase in their production of the hormone epinephrine (epinephrine). The body produces epinephrine during times of stress.
The increase was an average of seven percent. But the study found that patients who spent time with a dog had a seventeen percent drop in their levels of epinephrine. Patients visited by a human but not a dog also had a decrease, but only two percent.
|
From the research findings we may conclude that _ .
|
[
"Yes, she does.",
"No, she doesn't .",
"Yes, she is.",
"We don't know."
] |
Yes, she does.
|
There is a big supermarket near Mrs. Green's home. She usually goes there to buy food. The shop assistants are polite and helpful. The things are cheap, too.
One day, Mrs. Green goes to the supermarket. She buys some noodles. Biscuits are also their children's favorite food. And she buys some milk. Her children always have milk for breakfast. Mimi likes fish and Tim likes hot dogs. She buys some fish and sausages for them, too. Mrs. Green doesn't have any rice at home. So she buys a bag of rice, but she can't take it. It is very heavy. Her husband, Mr. Green is coming to the supermarket and carry the rice.
|
. Does Mrs. Green buy a bag of rice?
|
[
"The citizens' consciences.",
"The town's moral histories.",
"The lower cost of electricity",
"The award for sustainable development"
] |
The lower cost of electricity
|
It doesn't look like the heart of a green revolution. The huge chimneys stick up above the line of pine trees and don't make for the most scenic view as you wander around the clear blue waters of the nearby lake.
But it is this power plant that has helped the small Swedish city of Vaxjo become arguably the greenest place in Europe. On closer observation, the only thing emerging from the chimneys is the faintest mists of steam. And inside it smells more like a sauna than a furnace . That's because it is not oil fuelling the plant, but woodchip and other wood waste from the area's sawmills. And as well as generating electricity, it also supplies 90 per cent of this southern Swedish town with heating and hot water.[:Zxxk.Com]
The gases produced as the wood burns are changed into liquid form, and are purified before they reach the chimney. And instead of wasting this liquid, the power plant pumps it around town. Some runs out of the town's public taps; the rest is directed through pipes that run through individual heaters, warming homes and offices.
The pile of wood chippings in the yard towers above head height and takes almost five minutes to walk around. That's enough to keep Vaxjo warm on the snowiest day in winter, or supply it with hot water for a fortnight in summer, and it's good way of using the paper industry's waste. As well as the centuries-- old Swedish policy of planting a new tree for every one felled, the ashes swept out of the furnace each day find their way back to the forest as fertilizer .
It was this green plant that netted Vaxjo the European Union's award for sustainable development, making it the greenest city on the continent.
However, it is not just the citizen's consciences and moral histories to which the town's current day authorities are appealing. They know how to talk to their wallets too. Oil-generated electricity costs about 16,000 kronor a year(PS1,170) per person, while the new power plant's electricity comes in at two thirds of the price.
They've been planning for over ten years to become a "Fossil Fuel Free City". But according to Anders Franzen, the head of planning and development department at the city council: "The battle in the energy sector has been won, yes, but the next battleground is transport."
|
What impresses the town's current-- day authorities most?
|
[
"[substeps] You will have to walk and talk to the bank if you plan to transfer funds by person. If you intend to transfer your funds through your home, this method will also work.",
"The bank does not charge for the transfer. However, it might be better to send one to a third person than have them exchange the transfer with someone else.",
"Most wire transfers require an identification or credit card (such as a visa or mastercard) or cash (such as an atm atm card). If you have a credit card or cash, use it to transfer funds into another account instead of an individual one.",
"To send a wire transfer, the sender provides information on the receiving party's financial institution to their own bank. Once the transfer is complete, the sender's bank provides a confirmation number documenting the transfer."
] |
To send a wire transfer, the sender provides information on the receiving party's financial institution to their own bank. Once the transfer is complete, the sender's bank provides a confirmation number documenting the transfer.
|
[header] How to wire transfer money [title] Learn about wire transfers. [step] A wire transfer is an electronic method of transferring funds from one person or company to another. One common method of sending a transfer is from one bank to another.
|
What happens next?
|
[
"look into the matter",
"bring Milly back to life",
"free him from a scandal",
"keep the whole thing a secret"
] |
bring Milly back to life
|
I had just gone to bed after a very hard day when the phone rang. It was an eccentric farmer. I had never met him before although I had often heard people talk about him. He sounded quite nervous and he had been talking for a minute or so before I understood anything. Even then I could _ that someone called Milly had had a very bad accident. I hadn't the slightest idea who she was but I obviously had to go.
It had been snowing so heavily that I didn't know the way. I had been driving for at least an hour when I finally found his place. He was standing there, waiting for me. It seemed Milly had died. "She meant more to me than anyone... even my own wife!" he said. I could see that he had been crying. I thought something terrible had taken place, a possible scandal . I was even more shocked when he told me he had put her in the barn. "I wouldn't leave her out in the cold!" he said.
Milly had clearly been a secret lover of his. I was about to tell him he could not expect me to cover anything up when he opened the barn door. He lifted his candle and I saw a dark figure on the ground. "She was such a good cow! I wouldn't let anyone but a doctor touch her !" he said, and burst into tears again.
|
The farmer wished that the writer might _ .
|
[
"People who wear practical and functional shoes may be hard to deal with.",
"People with high incomes probably wear expensive shoes.",
"Ankle boots are closely aligned with \"aggressive\" personalities.",
"People wearing \"uncomfortable looking\" shoes tend to be calm."
] |
People who wear practical and functional shoes may be hard to deal with.
|
Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger's personality simply by looking at the person's shoes.
"Shoes convey a thin but useful slice of information about their wearers," the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality."Shoes serve a practical purpose, and also serve as nonverbal cues with symbolic messages.People tend to pay attention to the shoes they and others wear."
Medical Daily notes that the number of detailed personality traits detected in the study include a person's general age, their gender, income, political affiliation, and other personality traits, including someone's emotional stability.
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style, cost, color and condition of someone's shoes.In the study, 63 University of Kansas students looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study's participants.Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes, and then filled out a personality questionnaire.
So, what do your shoes say about your personality?
Some of the results were expected: People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes, and flashier footwear was typically worn by extroverts .
However, some of the more specific results are intriguing.For example, "practical and functional" shoes were generally worn by more "agreeable" people, while ankle boots were more closely aligned with "aggressive" personalities.
The strangest of all may be that those who wore "uncomfortable looking" shoes tend to have "calm" personalities.
And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take exceptional care of them, you may suffer from "attachment _ " spending an inordinate amount of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance.
There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal types wearing "shabbier and less expensive" shoes.
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personality traits, but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were revealing deep insights into their personalities.
|
Which of the following is not true according to the text?
|
[
"To attract public donations.",
"To promote early education.",
"To tell the benefits of childcare.",
"To introduce a child development center."
] |
To introduce a child development center.
|
The Future Stars
General introduction
The Future Stars was set up in 1988 as a non-profit service center for child development devoted to providing quality childcare in a loving and educational environment for children 6 weeks to 6 years of age. Our funds mainly come from public donations.
A healthy curiosity about learning is the most important quality for early childhood development. We aim at offering high quality developmentally age-appropriate activities for early childhood, the most Important time of child development, so that they can do better after they start formal schooling.
Hours of operation
Childcare will be provided for the child from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday except for holidays. Children may not arrive before 7:00 am or remain after 6:00 pm. Should an emergency arise, the parent should immediately make us know in consideration of our work arrangements. A late charge of $ 1.00 per minute will be assessed if the child is not picked up by 6:05 pm. Charges for these services are to be paid directly to the staff person that has been looking after your child until your arrival, not to the center. Failure to pay late charges may affect continued services with the center.
Tuition
When it has been confirmed that a position is available for your child, you must pay a registration fee of $200 per child.
The weekly tuition fee is $ 98.00. You can make payments either by credit card or in cash on Monday every week. If your payment is not made by Tuesday at 9:00 am, you will be charged a $ 25.00 late fee.
For more information, please call 434-293-6110 or visit www.childdevelopmentcenter.com.
|
What is the purpose of the passage?
|
[
"Children",
"Toddlers",
"Kids",
"Grown-ups"
] |
Toddlers
|
Children are children after all, and most of them speak their mind. When they are just toddlers , they are all lovely and lively. And it's so interesting to watch them speak like a grown-up. But as they grow, these same kids seem annoying and ill-mannered if they try to be a grown-up.
Conflicts go between parents and children. It's hard to tell who are right and who are wrong. A child of 7-8 always finds some reasons to have a conflict with it's parents. Whether it is about some toy, studies, a party or a company, there is always a difference between them. And it becomes worse when they answer you back. Scientists tell us that children should be treated with care. Yes, sure they should respect their elders.
We are partly responsible for this. At an early age we encourage children to behave like adults, just because we find it funny. The kids on the other hand consider this same behavior as normal and get used to it. And when it is not funny for us any more, we expect them to stop it, but by then it is already too late. Only when they reach a certain maturity will the children realize that answering back and being rude are not acceptable . Until then, most of the time their behavior is difficult to change, unless by force . And use of force is against the every good idea, as it weakens the child's confidence.
So it is one thing to bring a child into this world but quite another to make them into well mannered citizens. The best way is to be a good example ourselves, as our children are the mirrors of us adults.
|
_ are all lovely and lively.
|
[
"Humans and dogs.",
"My favorite animal.",
"How do dogs say hello?",
"Cute dogs."
] |
How do dogs say hello?
|
People have different ways of greeting each other. They might shake hands , kiss or hug . But do you ever wonder how dogs say hello?
If you are a dog lover, you already know the answer to this question. When you arrive home, your dog jumps up into your lap . It wags its tail, and sometimes gives you wet kisses.
Like humans, dogs have five senses : smell, touch, sight, hearing and taste. Humans use sight as the main sense for recognizing one another. But dogs have poor eyesight. They use smell to recognize others. A dog's sense of smell is much better than a human's. It is through its sense of smell that tells the differences between different people.
Dogs use smell to recognize other dogs, too. They tell the differences by the smell of pee and pooh . When two dogs meet, they smell each other's noses. Then they go side to side, and smell each other's butts . By smelling its friend's behind, a dog knows who it is with.
That is also why dogs smell everything they can on the road. By smelling grass, trees and signposts , dogs know which other neighborhood dogs have been around.
|
What is the best title of the passage?
|
[
"our cousins",
"our brothers and sisters",
"anyone",
"nobody"
] |
nobody
|
Most of us are the only child in the family! We have no little brother or big sister . Our family consists of our mom , our dad and us . We are growing up in a world greatly different from our parents' . Yet we will be the future leader of China. We will someday have to work together and carry China into the beautiful future . So , we must learn to love each other like brothers and sisters !
It' s hard to think about how different life would be if we had a brother or a sister . We never have to share anything at home ! of course , we might have cousins, but we don' t have to live with them ! Our parents try to give us the best , and the best doesn't need sharing between two or three children . Do we ever ask ourselves if we are spoiled ?
Someone thinks that we are spoiled because we don't know the value of money, because we don' t know how hard our parents work but mainly because we many children don' t know how to love ! We don' t want others to regard us as spoiled , do we ? Well, why not start now to help our parents at home or share a game with one of our friends? In a word, We must learn to love each other !
|
As the only child in the family , we share the best things with _ .
|
[
"there are many desks",
"there are many telephones",
"there are many cold viruses",
"there are many computer mice"
] |
there are many cold viruses
|
Do you know that it is your own immune system working against the virus that makes you uncomfortable when getting a cold, but not the virus itself? So when you have got a strong immune system and the virus is strong enough too, you will possibly get terrible cold symptoms( ) ?
Vitamin C won't stop a cold
It is claimed that Vitamin C helps by increasing white blood cells. However, many tests have shown that it does not prevent colds. At best, it only slightly reduces the rime of symptoms.
Staying indoors won't protect you
One of the most likely sources of cold viruses is your computer mouse or desk. A study of the cold virus in offices found that 47% of desktops, 46% of computer mice and 45% of telephones had cold viruses on them.
Wrapping up warm won't protect you
Colds are more common in autumn and winter. That's because the cool, wet and cold weather drives people indoors, where viruses may more easily jump from one person to another. And the distinct peak in colds is in September and early January, which is likely due to the return of students to schools and colleges after the summer and winter vacation.
Old granny's chicken soup is right
Granny's chicken soup is an old cure for colds since a long time ago. Scientists say it is true. Chicken soup does help cure a cold. Many canned soups are just efficient as homemade ones.
|
"Staying indoors won't protect you" tells us that _ indoors.
|
[
"a very large park",
"a busy London street",
"a famous movie company",
"an old Hollywood movie"
] |
a famous movie company
|
Where in the world can you take an hour's train ride, and pass a forest, a London street, a scene from the Wild West, and a burning building that never burns down? There's only one place, and that's Hollywood, in California. The scenes you see from the tourist train are film sets in the Universal Studios, one of the oldest and largest movie companies in the USA.
A visit to Universal Studios brings back memories of great days of Hollywood, the films and the stars. But they are only memories. Hollywood isn't quite the same as it used to be. Costs have gone up and confidence has gone down. Movie-makers are afraid to spend their money on expensive new ideas. Instead, they repeat old ones.
The film industry is changing fast. Teenagers still go out to the movies. The theatre is a good place to meet friends away from home. But older people mostly stay home to watch series, like Dynasty have become as important to Hollywood as expensive movies. These "soap opera", as they are called, show rich, powerful families living in beautiful homes and wearing beautiful clothes. But the actors and actresses are nearly all middle-aged, like many of the people who watch them.
Though it is soap operas that are keeping the film-makers of Hollywood in Business, big films are still being made in America. But more and more of them are made outside Hollywood. New York is the most important new center, but there are many others as well. Movie-makers have realized that they don't need Hollywood any more. Modern cameras and real houses instead of expensively made copies in a studio. Other states, especially Florida and Texas, are working hard to take the film business away from California. They are offering better working conditions and lower cost.
But Hollywood is fighting back. The state of California is trying hard to keep its best-known industry.
|
From the passage, we know Universal Studios is _ .
|
[
"is open six days a week",
"offers services free of charge",
"trains students in medical care",
"gives advice on mental health"
] |
gives advice on mental health
|
A Guide to the University
Food
The TWU Cafeteria is open 7a.m. to 8p.m.. It serves snacks, drinks, ice cream bars and meals. You can pay with cash or your ID cards. You can add meal money to your ID cards at the Front Desk. Even if you do not buy your food in the cafeteria, you can use the tables to eat your lunch, to have meetings and to study.
If you are on campus in the evening or late at night, you can buy snacks, fast food, and drinks in the Lower Cafe located in the bottom level of the Douglas Centre. This area is often used for entertainment such as concerts, games or TV watching.
Relaxation
The Globe, located in the bottom level of McMillan Hall, is available for relaxing, studying, cooking, and eating. Monthly activities are held here for all international students. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., closed on Sundays.
Health
Located on the top floor of Douglas Hall, the Wellness Centre is committed to physical, emotional and social health. A doctor and nurse is available if you have health questions or need immediate medical help or personal advice. The cost of this is included in your medical insurance. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m..
Academic Support
All students have access to the Writing Centre on the upper floor of Douglas Hall. Here, qualified volunteers will work with you on written work, grammar, vocabulary, and other academic skills. You can sign up for an appointment on the sign-up sheet outside the door: two 30 -minute appointments per week maximum. This service is free.
|
The Guide tells us that the Wellness Centre _ .
|
[
"Spain.",
"Italy",
"Ireland",
"France"
] |
Italy
|
The International Voluntary Service runs a number of Youth Exchanges throughout the year.Youth Exchanges give small groups of 4-5 young people the opportunity to take part in volunteering trips abroad for an average of two weeks.These young people are joined by 4-5 young people from 3-4 other nationalities and are a wonderful intercultural experience in a safe environment.
Example Youth Exchanges:
Youth Exchange 1
Location:Ireland
Other nationalities:Ireland,Spain,Italy,Hungary
Theme:Focuses on the topic of community reconstruction and community activities--exploring how local issues facing our communities are connected to global issues.The group will also learn about the eco-village as an example of a community and take part in team-building activities.
Youth Exchange 2
Location:France
Other nationalities:Bulgaria,Italy,France
Theme:Organic gardening & continual living.This project will take place in a natural park,where the group will take part in gardening activities and games/workshops about continuous development.
Youth Exchange 3
Location:Macedonia
Other nationalities:Serbia,Turkey,Ireland
Theme:Foster social inclusion and motivate personal development of young people through sports and outdoor activities.Promote outdoor activities as a tool to help inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.
Youth Exchange 4
Location:Italy
Other nationalities:Italy,Bulgaria,Greece
Theme:A sociaI-environmental project that intends to promote social inclusion and continuable development,regarded as a process of civil rights and active citizenship.Over 10 days, the group will participate in activities to raise awareness about the effect of our behavior on the environment.
|
Which nationality are Youth Exchanges most popular with?
|
[
"Bus.",
"Train.",
"Ferry.",
"Plane."
] |
Ferry.
|
TransLink is urging customers to avoid non-essential travel today and to stay home where possible in the difficult weather conditions.
TransLink chief executive officer Peter Strachan said bus and train services were continuing to run where possible, however all CityCat and CityFerry services had been cancelled until further notice.
"These are extremely difficult conditions for South East Queensland---we are running essential services where possible but safety remains to be the most important," Mr Strachan said.
"Severe weather and associated flooding has impacted on all modes of public transport, with bus, ferry and train services all impacted to varying degrees.
"If you are planning to use public transport at anytime over the next few days, then I would recommend you check that your intended service is still running."
Service disruptions for today include:
l City network trains running hourly on all lines.
l Bus diversions, delays and cancellations in some regions, particularly across Brisbane, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast.
l CityCat and CityFerry services cancelled.
Queensland Rail Chief Executive Officer Paul Scurrah said rising waterways had closed some train lines, and road closures and damage to property throughout the South-East had contributed to a shortage of available rail employees.
"We intend to run trains hourly on all lines, similar to the timetable we operate on Christmas Day. We will also be looking to run other additional services to meet demand as required. At this stage we will run services stopping at all stations which will depart at the same time on the hour, however, this is all subject to the weather conditions and the availability of traincrew."
Mr Scurrah encouraged all customers to visit the Translink website for specific departure times for their station, and asked for patience in the event of delays.
"Queensland Rail appreciates that reduced services may cause disruptions but it is simply unavoidable. We have a dedicated and experienced team monitoring the situation around the clock and will be working to reopen the network as soon as practicably possible," Mr Scurrah said.
The latest service disruption information is available on the TransLink website www.translink.com.au.
|
Which means of transport is NOT available during the special period?
|
[
"It's in New York City.",
"It's one of the most-visited places in the world.",
"It's the largest train station in the world.",
"It has been changed much over the years."
] |
It has been changed much over the years.
|
A famous building in New York City is turning 100 years old. A year-long celebration is planned for Grand Central Terminal, which is usually called Grand Central station, the sixth most-visited place in the world.
The huge building has not changed much since it opened in February, 1913. About 750,000 people pass through Grand Central every day. Some just come to look at it, others to visit the stores. But most are there to catch the trains that enter and leave from the station. It is the largest train station in the world. There are 67 train tracks, all of them underground.
The main part of the building has large, arched windows, a jeweled four-sided clock and ticket windows. Grand Central has been seen in many movies through the years. Dan Brucker is with the New York Transit Authority, which operates the station. Dan Brucker has worked for the transit authority at Grand Central for 30 years. In all those years, he has not lost his interest in the building.
Justin Ferate, a historian, has been giving tours of Grand Central Station for 30 years. He says the station was designed to make travel a pleasure.
"Why people don't run into each other in Grand Central is simple: each block of stone in Grand Central is the length of your leg. Each block of stone in Grand Central is the length of your arm. Each block of stone is a different color, so it's a checkerboard, based on you."
A ten-year-long fight against plans to build a huge office building over Grand Central in 1968 helped create the modern preservation movement. Now, no one would think of changing the beauty of the station.
|
Which of the following statements about the station is WRONG?
|
[
"a family honor",
"a family secret",
"a family story",
"a family treasure"
] |
a family secret
|
"Mum,what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton in the closet ?"Jessica asked. "A skeleton in the closet?"her mother paused thoughtfully. "Well, it' s something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example,if in the past,someone in Dad' s family had been arrested for stealing a horse,it would be 'a skeleton in his family' s closet'.He really wouldn' t want any neighbor to know about it."
"Why pick on my family?" Jessica' s father said with anger. "Your family history isn' t so good,you know. Wasn' t your great-great-grandfather a prisoner who was transported to Australia for his crimes?" "Yes,but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners." "Gosh,sorry I asked. I think I understand now," Jessica cut in before things grew worse.
After dinner,the house was very quiet. Jessica' s parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and every now and then she glared at her husband,who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica' s closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt,a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica' s mother sank into a faint ,waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.
"What happened?Where am I?" she asked. "You just destroyed the school' s skeleton,Mum," explained Jessica. "I brought it home to help me with my health project. I meant to tell you,but it seemed that as soon as I mentioned skeletons and closets,it caused a problem between you and Dad." Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. "They' re both crazy," she thought.
|
According to Jessica' s mother ," a skeleton in the closet" means _ .
|
[
"It is wrong to give more pay to the passengers.",
"Don't believe them if they are paying you more.",
"Don't follow others to overcharge the passengers.",
"It is difficult to work hard and live as an honest boy."
] |
It is wrong to give more pay to the passengers.
|
Pulling heavy suitcases all day in the summer is hard work, especially when you're a thin 14-year-old.That was me in 1940-the youngest and smallest baggage boy at New York City's Pennsyl-vania Railway Station.
After just a few days on the job, I began noticing that the other fellows were overcharging passengers. I'd like to join them, thinking, "Everyone else is doing it."
When I got home that night, I told my dad what I wanted to do." You give an honest day's work," he said, looking at me straight in the eye." They're paying you. If they want to do that, you let them do that."
I followed my dad's advice for the rest of that summer and have lived by his words ever since.
Of all the jobs I've had, it was my experience at Pennsylvania Railway Station that has stuck with me. Now I teach my players to have respect for other people and their possessions. Being a member of a team is a totally shared experience. If one person steals, it destroys trust and hurts everyone. I can put up with many things, but not with people who steal. If one of my players were caught stealing, he'd be gone.
Whether you're on a sports team, in an office or a member of a family, if you can't trust one another, there's going to be trouble.
|
What does the father's advice imply?
|
[
"Hopeful.",
"Thankful.",
"Dissatisfied.",
"Uninterested."
] |
Dissatisfied.
|
This is an interview between the reporter and Sarah, a girl who created a website for her school.
Reporter: Why did you start this new website for Alcott Middle School?
Sarah: Three months ago, my mom was complaining about how she never hears about the days our school ends early until after the fact. She works late and sometimes she has to ask our neighbor at the last minute to pick me up after school. It happened several times, and she was frustrated that there wasn't better notification from the school.
Reporter: Didn't your school already have a website with that information?
Sarah: We had a website. But there wasn't much information on it, and nobody was _ keeping it up-to-date . I asked my teacher if our class could update the school calendar. That seemed pretty easy.
Reporter: Was it?
Sarah: Yeah, and it was kind of fun. So then we asked the principal if we could redo the whole site. He said okay, so we went to work. We discovered websites that taught us how to make our site look better and added more hot links that people could click to get more information about a subject. We posted photos from basketball games. Our class even started a blog about what's going on at school. Then we persuaded the teachers to create their own pages.
Reporter: So what's next?
Sarah: A few friends and I started a small Web design business. We're asking other schools if they'll employ us to set up a site like the one we created.
Reporter: Wow! That's pretty enterprising for a 13-year-old.
Sarah: I guess so. But it doesn't seem like work when you're doing something you enjoy.
|
How did Sarah's mom feel about her school three months ago?
|
[
"In theory, scientists are unlikely to clone humans.",
"Richard Seed has fallen behind other scientists in cloning humans.",
"Cloning human beings is good for men.",
"People have different ideas about cloning humans."
] |
People have different ideas about cloning humans.
|
A private group of scientists has announced plans to make an exact copy of a human being. An American member of the team says he and the others will soon begin a serious effort to clone humans. Panos Zavos says the team hopes to manufacture the world's first cloned baby within the next two years.
In recent years, scientists have produced exact genetic copies of sheep and a few other animals. They created these clones from a single cell of an adult animal.
Three years ago, another American doctor, Richard Seed, announced plans to clone a human being. However, there is no evidence that he has been successful.
Doctor Zavos says the new international group plans to offer human cloning only to women who are currently not able to become pregnant or produce children. He says the aim is to assist people who want to have their own biological child.
The technology would be similar to that used to clone animals. It would involve cleaning genetic material from a woman's egg. Doctors then would place genetic material from the woman's husband into the egg before putting it into the woman's uterus .
Doctor Zavos says his group plans to do the work in a country near the Mediterranean Sea. He did not name the country. He says an Italian reproductive expert, Sevorino Antinori, is leading the team. Doctor Antinori has led the efforts to help many older women become pregnant. He is known for establishing pregnancies in women as old as sixty.
Many medical experts and other groups are opposed to the idea of cloning humans. Several countries ban or restrict work on human cloning. Several doctors criticize the announcement by Doctor Zavos. They say doctors do not know if cloning humans is possible or safe. They say it would be irresponsible to attempt to clone a human being. That is because the chances of success are too small and the risks are too great.
|
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
|
[
"worried",
"sad",
"afraid",
"happy"
] |
happy
|
Joe Black, coach of a football team, and his family go to a small town for their holiday. One rainy afternoon, they can't go out to have fun, so the families go to the family. Joe, his wife and their three daughters walk down to the town's only cinema, buy tickets and go into the cinema. The lights are still on , and there are just six other people there. As Joe walks in, some of them see him and start clapping .
Joe gives them a smile and turns to his wife, "Aha, I can't believe that they know me and they are giving me a warm welcome here," he says , " I guess they see my games on TV."
They sit down and then a young man comes up to Joe and gives out his hand, "Thanks a lot," says Joe, " I just can't believe that you know me." The young man says, " I only know that they will not show the film until at least ten people buy tickets.
|
Joe is _ when some people warmly greet him.
|
[
"the 60 patients all have physical and psychological problems",
"21%of the patients recovered quickly with the help of music",
"all the patients listened to music daily",
"music can cure people of muscle pain slowly"
] |
the 60 patients all have physical and psychological problems
|
Many studies have been carried out to discover the benefits of listening to and playing music. The growing field of "music treatment" is presenting increasing amounts of proof that point to the great powers of music.
Emotional benefits
The right song can put anybody in a better state. Most people turn to certain songs to make them feel better. The main reason behind this is that music can express our feelings better than any other medium. In addition, we have favorite songs for particular situations because we turn to the music which has the best effect on us.
Music and exercise
Have you ever noticed how out of breath you get when listening to an exciting song while doing exercises at the gym? It has been suggested that exciting music can actually increase muscle tension , while light music does the opposite.
It has also been proved that music can improve motor skills. An experiment done on a group of pupils proved that children learning basic motor skills such as throwing ,catching and jumping while listening to music did better than those with no music.
Chronic pain relief
Music also has the ability to reduce chronic pain. In fact, according to a paper published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, music can reduce chronic pain by 21%. The paper reports that 60 patients in an experiment were divided into two groups--one group listened to music, and the other did not. The results showed that people who listened to music for an hour each day for a week improved physically and psychologically while those who did not listen to music did not.
|
It can be inferred from the passage that
|
[
"Providing lots of money.",
"Ending Civil war.",
"Supplying enough food.",
"Handling Somalia's political problems."
] |
Handling Somalia's political problems.
|
Kenya wants to organize a major international conference to discuss how to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. The conference may also deal with ways to rescue Somalia from seventeen years of civil war. More than forty percent of its people depend on food aid.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula says the world cannot end piracy and civil war without dealing with Somalia's political problems.
Somali pirates operate in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf of Aden connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean by way of the Suez Canal. The pirates have fast boats, modern weapons and equipment like satellite phones and global positioning systems.
Pirates hijacked the Sirius Star off the coast of Kenya and moved it to waters off Somalia.
The tanker Sirius Star, at three hundred thirty meters long, is the biggest ship ever known to have been captured by pirates. It also happened farther south than most attacks, and farther out at sea ---- more than eight hundred kilometers from land.
The ship was headed for the United States with two million karrels of oil, worth an estimated one hundred million dollars. A Saudi Arabian company owns the tanker. The pirates have reportedly demanded twenty-five million dollars in negotiations to release the ship and its crew of twenty-five.
Somali pirates generally do not steal goods or kill hostages. They are believed to be holding seventeen ships with about three hundred crew members. Among the ships is a Ukrainian vessel hijacked in September with a load of military weapons including tanks.
The increase in piracy is raising the cost of insuring ships. Also, oil from the Middle East and exports from East Asia could take longer to arrive.
Some of the world's heaviest shipping traffic passes the Somali coast. But major shipping companies have begun to consider new routes. One of the world's biggest shippers, A.P, Moeller Maersk, says it will avoid the Gulf of Aden. A move away from the Suez Canal could hurt Egypt's economy.
American and other foreign navy ships are now watching for pirates. This week the Indian Navy destroyed a heavily armed "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden. But the area to protect covers more than one hundred sixty million square kilometers.
|
According to the passage, which of the following is the key to solving the piracy in Somalia?
|
[
"In a theater in Shanghai.",
"In the Water Cube.",
"In a Children's Palace.",
"In Nanjing."
] |
In the Water Cube.
|
Celebrity TV presenter Ju Ping has been a host on China Central Television for 30 years, but her recent experience fronting a charity event was one of the most special moments in her career.
On April 2, World Autism Day, Ju partnered with Xia Junqi, a 17-year-old autistic teenager, to host a charity gala at the Beijing National Aquatics Center, otherwise known as the Water Cube.
The event was organized by One Foundation, which aims to increase public awareness of autistic people and their needs.
Autism is a neural disorder that _ sufferers' communication skills and social interactions. Sufferers have restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. It affects about 1.6 million people in China, with medical studies suggesting autism may affect one in every 166 children.
Autism has no cure. For many years it went largely undiagnosed in China but early intervention and continuous education may help to teach the autistic self-help skills and lessen their disruptive behavior.
The gala featured autistic children singing, dancing and performing, and was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Cai Chunzhu, a celebrity playwright, recalled feeling heartbroken when his son was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2. He says his family struggled to accept the reality but finally made peace with the diagnoses in the past four years. He says the boy lives in his own world and is trained in an intervention facility. Sun Zhongkai, executive director of the Beijing Stars and Rain Institute for Autism, one of the earliest intervention facilities for autistic children in China, shared with audience his deep sorrow for parents who often collapsed with desperation when he told them there was no cure for their autistic children.
Over the years, Chinese society has become more supportive of autistic people and their families, but there are still challenges in terms of getting autistic people employed and looking after them when their parents pass away.
Actor Zhou Xun also called on society to show greater understanding and support toward autistic children and their families.
|
Where did the gala take place?
|
[
"The bus was too fast for the car to catch up with in no time.",
"The writer had tried to phone the dispatcher but failed.",
"The writer couldn't get in touch with the driver by the phone.",
"Both the writer and the bus driver could use the car phone."
] |
The writer had tried to phone the dispatcher but failed.
|
Our daughter Kerrin, a student at Boston University, had been home for a week-end visit, and I dropped her off at the bus station just in time for her back to college. After Kerrin's bus had gone and I was driving away, I noticed that she had left her purse on the passenger seat. Worried that she would arrive in Boston without money or keys to her room, I called my wife, Bette Jean, on the car phone, explaining why I would be late. As I was following the bus, Bette Jean phoned me back to say she had phoned the bus dispatcher on the other line and he, in return, had phoned the bus driver on yet another phone. The driver asked me to wave out of my window to show where I was. Then he pulled over at a rest stop, and I did the same. Kerrin jumped off the bus, and I handed her the purse and went on my way.
|
Which of the following is not true?
|
[
"How to detect deception in our daily life.",
"The disadvantages of high emotional intelligence.",
"The relationship between one's El and recognition.",
"Emotionally intelligent people are less good at spotting liars."
] |
Emotionally intelligent people are less good at spotting liars.
|
Science Daily (May 1S, 2012) - People who rate themselves as having high emotional intelligence (El) tend to overestimate their ability to detect deception in others. This is the finding of a paper published in the journal Legal and Criminological Psychology on 18 May 2012.
Professor Stephen Porter. director of the Centre for the Advancement of Psychological Science and Law at University of British Columbia Canada along with colleagues Dr. Leanne Brinke and Alysha Baker used a standard questionnaire to measure the EI of 116 participants.
These participants were then asked to view 20 videos from around the world of people pleading for the safe return of a missing family member. In half the videos the person making the plea was responsible for the missing person's disappearance or murder.
The participants were asked to judge whether the pleas were honest or deceptive say how much confidence they had in their judgments, report the clues they had used to make those judgments and rate their emotional response to each plea.
Professor Porter found that higher EI was associated with overconfidence in assessing the sincerity of the pleas and sympathetic feelings towards people in the videos who turned out to be responsible for the disappearance.
Although EI, in general, was not associated with being better or worse at telling the difference between truths and lies. people with a higher ability to notice and express emotion (a component of EI) were not so good at spotting when people were telling lies.
Professor Porter says: "Taken together, these findings suggest findings features of emotional intelligence and the decision-making processes _ lead to may nave the paradoxical effect of weakening people's ability to detect deception."
"These findings are important because El is a well-accepted concept and is used in a variety of fields, including the workplace"
|
What is the best title for the passage?
|
[
"In the space station.",
"In the spaceship.",
"Using a camera system.",
"Teaming up with astronauts."
] |
Using a camera system.
|
While only about 200 astronauts have had the excitement of looking down at Earth and commanding systems on the International Space Station, actually thousands of everyday middleschool students have experienced by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM, a camera system.
EarthKAM is an educational activity and outreach investigation that also results in remote Earth sensing and observation. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera fixed aboard the space station, enabling them to photograph the Earth's coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique advantage point of space.
While EarthKAM offers a powerful way for students to investigate Earth from the unique perspective of space, it is also inspiring the next generation of flight controllers for space programs--involving university students to control and operate the camera system and related activities from the ground.
In the interview, Brion Au, one of the investigation developers at NASA's Johnson Space Centre, said,"EarthKAM is a payload by students, for students. They are in charge. This system provides a viewpoint that the astronauts have...it's just aweinspiring!"So far, students have captured more than 40,000 photos of the Earth from the space station as it orbited the Earth once every 90 minutes, traveling at 17,500 miles an hour. The team at EarthKAM posts these photographs online for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view.
Au explains that this education investigation is inspiring students to explore the world by examining Earth, while promoting social studies, art, geography, science, technology, and math, among other important lessons involving research and teamwork. EarthKAM was started by Dr. Sally Ride, originally flying on the shuttles. The camera is located in the window Observational Research Facility, also known as the WORF, one of many the station's research facilities.
|
How have thousands of students experienced similar excitement as astronauts?
|
[
"Traveling is fun, and walking dogs is also fun.",
"Walking dogs will make you feel warm.",
"Helping others is also a kind of enjoyment.",
"Walking dogs is also a kind of exercise."
] |
Helping others is also a kind of enjoyment.
|
I learned how our attitudes made a big difference in our everyday lives from my friend Mary.
She doesn't have any pets. I happened to see her outside on a -30 degree morning walking a dog. I felt sorry for Mary, out there walking a dog that's not hers in such cold weather. I thought maybe she was saying to herself, "Yeah, this is why I don't have any pets! I hate walking dogs."
Later that day I saw Mary and said, "I saw you out there walking a dog this morning. Are you unhappy because you had to walk it on such a cold day?" To my surprise, she said that she enjoyed getting out there and walking the dog and that she got good exercise because of the dog. She also said she had talked to her brother, the dog's owner, who was on holiday in Orlando, Florida with his family. He said his children were enjoying Disney World and the resorts . His four-year-old son had breakfast with Mickey Mouse and said it was the best day in his life. Mary said, "If I can help my brother and his family have a wonderful time relaxing for a week, knowing that their pet is being loved and cared for, what more could I ask for?" She added, "It's worth it for me to make the sacrifice so that they can go and have fun."
I learned a lesson from Mary.
|
What lesson did the author learn from Mary?
|
[
"present a report on a new research",
"show the importance of a good life style",
"give information about a chemical element",
"encourage elderly women to take potassium"
] |
present a report on a new research
|
Elderly women who eat foods higher in potassium are less likely to have strokes and die than women who eat less potassium-rich foods, according to new research in the American Heart Association. "Previous studies have shown that potassium consumption may lower blood pressure. But whether potassium intake could prevent stroke or death wasn't clear," said Smoller, professor of the department of population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
Researchers studied 90,137 women, aged from 50 to 79 for an average 11 years. They looked at how much potassium the women consumed, as well as if they had strokes, including ischemic strokes , or died during the study period. Women in the study were stroke-free at the start and their average dietary potassium intake was 2,611 mg/day. Results of this study are based on potassium from food, not supplements.
The researchers found: Women who ate the most potassium were 12 percent less likely to suffer stroke in general and 16 percent less likely to suffer an ischemic stroke than women who ate the least. Women who ate the most potassium were 10 percent less likely to die than those who ate the least. Among women who did not have high blood pressure, those who ate the most potassium had a 27 percent lower ischemic stroke risk and 21 perc ent reduced risk for all stroke types, compared to women who ate the least potassium in their daily diets. Among women with high blood pressure, those who ate the most potassium had a lower risk of death, but potassium intake did not lower their stroke risk.
"Our findings suggest that women need to eat more p otassium-rich foods. You won't find high potassium in junk food. Some foods rich in potassium include white and sweet potatoes, bananas and white beans."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that women eat at least 4,700 mg of potassium daily. "Only 2.8 percent of women in our study met or went beyond this level. The World Health Organization's daily potassium recommendation for women is lower, at 3,510 mg or more. Still, only 16.6 percent of women we studied met or went beyond that," said Smoller.
While increasing potassium intake is probably a good idea for most elderly women, there are some people who have too much potassium in their blood, which can be dangerous to the heart. "People should check with their doctor about how much potassium they should eat," she said.
The study was observational and included only elderly women. Researchers also did not take sodium intake into consideration, so the potential importance of a balance between sodium and potassium is not among the findings. Researchers said more studies are needed to determine whether potassium has the same effects on men and younger people.
|
The author's purpose for writing this passage is to _ .
|
[
"Because the big tree was tired.",
"Because the little plant knew less than the big tree.",
"Because the strong wind came.",
"Because the big tree"
] |
Because the big tree
|
A big, mighty tree stood in a forest. Its branches spread out and its roots went deep in the earth. A lot of people came here to have a rest under it. And a lot of birds stood on its branches to sing and dance. The big tree was very proud all the time.
At the foot of the tree, there was a little plant. The plant was thin, and seemed to be blown down by any of a little wind.
One day, the two neighbors were having a little chat.
"Well, little one," said the tree to the plant, "why not put your feet deeply in the earth, and raise your head high in the air as I do?"
"I see there is no need to do so," said the plant with a smile. "In fact, I think I may be safer in this way."
"Safer?" said the tree. "Are you safer than I am? Do you know how deep my roots are in the earth and how strong my branches are? Who can possibly pull me out by the roots or bow my head to the ground?" And the tree didn't want to say anything to the weak plant.
But the tree was to regret its words very soon. One evening, a great hurricane came. It blew the trees off their roots and almost destroyed the forest completely. It uprooted(......)the mighty tree and blew it away with great force.
When the storm had gone, the villagers living nearby came to check the damage. The mighty tree lay on the ground, but the little plant still stood there.
|
Why didn't the big tree want to say anything to the little plant?
|
[
"How To Be a Better Mon?",
"The Day I Became a Mom",
"A Thing Happened 17 Years Ago",
"Survive an Abusive Marriage"
] |
The Day I Became a Mom
|
The day I became a mom was not the day my daughter was born, but seven years later. Up until that day, I had been too busy trying to survive my abusive marriage. I had spent all my energy trying to run a "perfect" home that would pass inspection each evening, and I didn't see that my baby girl had become a toddler. I'd tried endlessly to please someone who could never be pleased and suddenly realized that the years had slipped by and could never return.
Oh, I had done the normal "motherly" things, like making sure my daughter got to ballet and gym lessons. I went to all of her recitals and school concerts, parent-teacher conferences and open houses alone. We suffered from my husband's rages when something was spilled at the dinner table, telling her, "It will be okay, Honey. Daddy's not really mad at you." I did all I could to protect her from hearing the awful shouting and complaints after he returned from a night of drinking. Finally I did the best thing I could do for my daughter and myself: I removed us from the home that wasn't really a home at all.
That day I became a mom was the day when my daughter and I were sitting in our new home having a calm, quiet dinner just as I had always wanted for her. We were talking about what she had done in school and suddenly her little hand knocked over the full glass of chocolate milk by her plate. As I watched the white tablecloth and freshly painted white wall become dark brown, I looked at her small face. It was filled with fear, knowing what the consequence of the event would have meant only a week before in her father's presence. When I saw that look on her face and looked at the chocolate milk running down the wall, I simply started laughing. I am sure she thought I was crazy, but then she must have realized that I was thinking, "It's a good thing your father isn't here!" She started laughing with me, and we laughed until we cried. They were tears of joy and peace and were the first of many tears that we cried together. That was the day we knew that we were going to be okay.
Whenever either of us spills something, even now, seventeen years later, she says, "Remember the day I spilled the chocolate milk? I knew you had done _ for us." That was the day I really became a mom. I discovered that being a mom isn't only going to ballet or gym, recitals, and attending every school concert and open house. It isn't keeping a tidy house and preparing perfect meals. It certainly isn't pretending things are normal when they are not. For me, being a mom started when I could laugh over spilled milk.
|
What is the best title for this article?
|
[
"the writer is very rich now",
"the writer's father was not hard-working",
"the writer's father didn't love him at all",
"the writer loved his father dearly"
] |
the writer loved his father dearly
|
Frank looked at us and said, ''My Dad was a fisherman. He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. No matter how much my Mother washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish.''
His voice dropped a bit. ''When the weather was bad he would drive me to school. He had an old truck which was older than he was. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he drove toward the school, I would shrink down into the seat hoping to disappear. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old, and my Dad would lean over and kiss me goodbye!''
He paused and then went on, ''I remember the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, 'No, Dad. I'm too old for a goodbye kiss. I'm too old for any kind of kiss.''
''My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. I had never seen him cry. He turned and looked out the windshield . 'You're right,' he said. 'You are a big boy....a man. I won't kiss you anymore.''
Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he spoke. ''It wasn't long after that when my Dad went to sea and never came back. It was a day when most of the fleet stayed in, but not Dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a gale and was trying to save the nets and the floats.''
|
From the passage we learn that _ .
|
[
"Perhaps the father is getting older and older.",
"Perhaps the son has already grown up.",
"Perhaps they never agree with each other.",
"Perhaps the father has got used to doing that."
] |
Perhaps the father has got used to doing that.
|
"BANG!" the door caused a reverberation .It was just standing there, with Father standing on one side, and I on the other side.
We were both in great anger."Never set foot in this house again!" stormed Father.With tears welling up in my eyes, I rushed out of the flat and ran along the street.
The street lights were shining rather desolately .I wandered aimlessly.
A young father who held a child in his arms walked past me.I felt as if I saw my childhood from another space: happy and harmonious.
But now... I don't know whether it is because I have grown up or because dad is getting old.We differ in our ways of thinking.He always imposes his opinions and codes of behavior on me.Whenever I do something wrong, he never admits it.We are just like two people coming from two different worlds.It feels like there is an iron door between us that can never be opened.
I wandered the streets, without a destination in mind.My heart was frozen on this hot summer night.As I walked on there were fewer and fewer people on the streets, until I had only the street lights to keep me company.When I finally reached the high-rise apartment block in which I lived, I saw that the light was still on.
In fact, it was nothing.Perhaps, dad was throwing away some of his old stamps.Perhaps he thought they were useless.I never had the courage to tell him that I liked collecting stamps.I can't stand his outrageous words: " I can throw you away, let alone these old papers."
All the lights were off except father's.
Dad was always like this.Maybe he didn't know how to express himself.After shouting at me, he never showed any mercy or any moments of regret.After an argument he has the habit of creeping up in my sleep and then tucking me underneath the covers.
This was how he always was.He has been a leader for so long that telling everyone else what to do has become his second nature.
The light was still on."Am I wrong?" I whispered, maybe... With the key in hand, I was as nervous as I had ever been.At last, I decided to open the door.As soon as I opened the door, tears ran down my cheeks.I suddenly realized that the iron door that I had imagined between us did not exist at all.Love - is second to none.
|
Why do you think the father often shouts at his son?
|
[
"It's the name of a club.",
"It's a home for children who have no brothers.",
"It's the name of a film.",
"It's an organization for boys who no longer have fathers."
] |
It's an organization for boys who no longer have fathers.
|
Each nation has many good people who help to take care of others. For example, some high school and college students in the United States often spend many hours as volunteers in hospitals, orphanages or homes for the old. They read books to the people in these places, or they just visit them and play games with them or listen to their problems.
Other volunteers go and work in the homes of people who are sick or old. They paint, clean up, or repair their houses, do their shopping or mow their lawns . For boys who no longer have fathers there is an organization called Big Brothers. College students and other men take these boys to baseball games or on fishing trips and help them to get to know things that boys usually learn from their fathers.
Each city has a number of clubs where boys and girls can go to play games or learn crafts . Some of these clubs show movies or organize short trips to the mountains, beaches, museums or other places of interest. Most of these clubs use a lot of high school and college students as volunteers because they are young enough to remember the problems of younger boys and girls.
Volunteers believe that some of the happiest people in the world are those who help to bring happiness to others.
,
|
What is Big Brothers?
|
[
"A company.",
"A TV station.",
"A scientist.",
"An American."
] |
A company.
|
We use passwords to keep our personal information secret and safe, but some passwords we use may not be as reliable as we think.
Splash Data, a computer security company, recently released a list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011.This list is based on the research of _ files containing stolen passwords. According to the list, "password" is the worst and most common password. Many others on the list are numbers in order either forward (for example,1234) or backward. Letters on the keyboard in order, such as "qwerty" are also common, as well as some first names and animals. "Hackers can easily break into many accounts just by trying common passwords again and again, " said Morgan Slain, CEO of Splash Data.
How can you make a strong password? It should be eight characters or more, with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols. One way to create a long and easy-to-remember password is to separate short words with spaces or numbers. Having safe passwords is necessary for surfing the Internet safely. But it's not the only thing you must do to keep safety online. Here are some other web safety tips:
*Never give out information that will allow someone to find you offline. That includes your full name, address and phone number.
*Don't include your real name as part of your online screen name.
*Never meet people you met on the Internet in person. If you insist on breaking this rule, meet in a very public place and consider taking an adult with you.
Top 10 worst passwords: 1.password 2. 123456 3. 12345678 4. qwerty 5. abc123
6. monkey 7. 1234567 8. letmein 9.trustno1 10. dragon
|
What is "Splash Data"?
|
[
"it was embroidered by a relative.",
"she wished she could sew herself.",
"it called to mind the values of good old days.",
"she had no photographs of Mary Saunders."
] |
it called to mind the values of good old days.
|
I am beginning to wonder whether my grandmother isn't right when she complains, as she frequently does, that children nowadays aren't as well-behaved as they used to be. Whenever she gets the opportunity, she recounts in detail how she used to be told to respect the elders and betters. She was taught to speak only when she was spoken to, and when she went out on her own, she was reminded to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Children in her day, she continues, were expected to be seen and not heard, but these days you are lucky if you ever hear parents telling their children to mind their p's and q's.
If you give her the chance, she then takes out of her drawer the old photograph album which she keeps there, and which she never tires of displaying. Of course when you look at pictures of her parents, you feel sure that, with a father as stern-looking as that, you too would have been "seen and not heard". He had a lot of neatly cut hair, long side-whiskers and a big moustache. In the photographs, he is always clutching his coat with one hand, while in the other he holds a thin walking stick. Beside him sits his wife, with their children around her: Granny and her elder brothers. It always occurs to me that perhaps those long, stiff, black clothes were so clumsy to a little girl, that she hadn't enough breath left to be talkative, let alone mischievous . It must have been a dull and lonely life too, for she stayed mainly at home during her childhood, while her brothers were sent away to school from an early age. Despite their long black shorts and their serious expressions in the photographs, I always suspect that their lives were considerably more enjoyable than hers. One can imagine them telling each other to shut up or mind their own business, as soon as their parents were out of sight.
Going to see Granny on Sundays used to be a terrible experience. We would always be warned in advance to be on our best behavior, since my mother made a great effort to show how well brought up we were, in spite of our old, comfortable clothes, our incomprehensible (to Granny) slang, and our noisy games in the garden. We had to change into what Granny described as our "Sundays best" for lunch, when we would sit uncomfortably, kicking each other under the table. We were continually being ordered to sit up straight, to take our elbows off the table, to wait till everybody had been served, not to wolf down our food, nor to talk with our mouths full. At length we would be told to ask to be excused from the table and ordered to find quiet occupations for the rest of the day. We were always very bad-tempered by the evening, and would complain angrily all the way home.
Yet though we hated the Sunday visit, we never questioned the rules of good manners themselves. I remember being greatly shocked as a child to hear one of my friends telling her father to shut up. I knew I could never have spoken like that to my father and it would never have occurred to me to do so.
However, my childhood was much freer than Granny's. I went to school with my brother and I played football with him and his friends. We all spoke a common language, and we got up to the same mischief. I would have died if I had had to stay indoors, wear a tight dress, and sew.
But I do sometimes look wistfully at an old sampler which hangs in the hall, which was embroidered by an even more distant relative--my great-great-aunt, of whom, regrettably, no photograph remains. It was done as an example of her progress in learning. The alphabet is carefully sewn in large colored childish letters from A to Z, and below it a small verse reads:
Mary Saunders is my name,
And with my needle I worked the same,
That by it you may plainly see
What care my parents have for me.
It must have taken that little five-year-old months and months of laborious sewing, but, in a circle in a bottom corner of the sampler, there is a line: "Be Ever Happy".
|
The writer looked wistfully at the sampler, because _ .
|
[
"The teacher taught not only at UNLV but also at the community college.",
"That was the teacher's lucky day because the teacher liked walking.",
"The teacher always hoped that the car would break down often.",
"The young man was sad because his car broke down."
] |
The teacher taught not only at UNLV but also at the community college.
|
At the beginning of my 8:00 a.m. class one Monday at UNLV , I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been very good. The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.
His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: "Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," I said to the young man. "I choose to be cheerful."
"Let me give you an example," I continued. "In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson. One day a few weeks ago I drove to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't _ . So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college."
"As soon as I got there, the secretary in the Provost's office asked me what had happened. 'This is my lucky day', I replied, smiling."
"Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?" She was puzzled, "What do you mean?"
"I live seventeen miles from here. I replied. My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn't. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient fashion."
|
Which one of the following is TRUE?
|
[
"crop failures",
"storms",
"more deaths from overheat",
"air pollution"
] |
air pollution
|
Health and climate scientists have mapped how climate change affects different parts of the world in different ways. The scientists point to the fact that changes in the past thirty years may, have been affecting human health. Possible effects include more deaths from extreme heat or cold, more storms and more crop failures in dry periods.
The health and climate scientists recently estimated that climate changes caused by human activity lead to more than one hundred and fifty thousand deaths each year. Cases of sickness are estimated at five million. And the W.H.O. says the numbers could rise quickly by the year of 2003.
Jonathan Patz of an environmental institute led the study. Professor Patz points out that climate scientists connected global warming with the heat that killed thousands in Europe in August, 2003. But he says poor countries least responsible(......) for the warming are most in danger from the health effects of higher temperatures.
Professor Patz says areas in greatest danger include southern and eastern Africa and coastlines along the Pacific and Indian oceans. Also, large cities experience what scientists call a "heat island"effect that can make conditions worse.
Representatives from about two hundred countries hold a meeting in Canada, to discuss climate change. The ten-day meeting ends on December 9th. It is the first such United Nations meeting since the Kyoto Protocol took effect earlier this year. The agreement aims to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases sent off into the air.
|
Possible effects from the climate changes include the following EXCEPT _ .
|
[
"The confidence from a contest's success.",
"The suggestions of station managers.",
"The guidance of Vernon Winfrey.",
"The influence of Barbara Walters."
] |
The influence of Barbara Walters.
|
Oprah Winfrey has come a long way from her poor childhood home in a small Mississippi town. She was an unwanted child whose parents never married. She was brought up on her grandmother's farm. The possibility that she would become rich and famous was slim.
Oprah's mother left her child in her mother's care, so she could go to work in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was a strict and difficult life for Oprah. But it also led the way for her future.
She was a highly intelligent child. By the age of three, she had learned to read and write. She also made her first public appearance at that age. Oprah's intelligence was resented by other children of her age. They called her unkind names and pushed her away. Oprah felt very isolated and unwanted. It made her feel worse that she didn't live with her mother and father. She felt that no one loved her. This made her angry and rebellious . These feelings brought her much trouble as she was growing up. She often behaved badly, causing her grandmother to punish her. By the age of seven, she was too much for her grandmother to discipline.
Then Oprah went to live with her mother, Vernita, who worked very hard as a housekeeper in Milwaukee. It was hard for her to work and take care of her bright, troublesome child. They lived in poverty in a small apartment. Oprah took out all her angry feelings on her mother. When Oprah was eight, Vernita sent her to live with her father and stepmother in Nashville, Tennessee.
But she moved again a few months later when Vernita married a man with two children. Vernita wanted Oprah to be with her and her new family. Unfortunately, she felt she didn't belong with them. She believed she wasn't loved by anyone. Her angry and frustration grew stronger. She struck back by misbehaving and running away from home. Her parents found her impossible to discipline. When she was 14, they tried to send her to a special center for troubled girls.
But there was no room for her. So Vernita sent Oprah back to live with her father. Vernon Winfrey was by then a successful businessman and family man. He took one look at his daughter and knew she needed love, guidance and discipline. He gave her all three. It was a turning point in Oprah's life. He was strict about his daughter's education.
He gave her homework in addition to her schoolwork. She was allowed to watch only one hour of television a day. She became an A student and a popular girl in her class. Oprah watched Barbara Walters, a famous journalist, and decided that was what she wanted to be.
When she was still in high school, she got a part-time job reading news on the radio. In her senior year she won a beauty contest and a four-year scholarship to Tennessee State University.
While still in college she was offered a job as a news broadcaster at a local television station. She was the first female and the first African-American newscaster in Nashville. She was promoted to anchor, the most important position on the news team, while still a senior.
After Oprah graduated she got a job with a Baltimore news station. But she soon realized that broadcasting news wasn't enough for her. She had to let her personality shine through. She wanted to show emotion when she told a story, not just report it. Meanwhile the station managers were thinking the same way. They removed her from the anchor spot and wondered what to do with her. Finally they put her on an early morning talk show called People Are Talking. No one knew what to expect. The show was a great success. In a very short time, the managers and Oprah all knew what she was born to do. She was everything a talk show host should be.
She was so successful that she got a show with a bigger station in Chicago. In 1985 the show was changed to The Oprah Winfrey Show. It was broadcast nationally and soon became the most popular talk show on television. By the age of 35, Oprah Winfrey was one of the most famous celebrities in America.
|
What probably led to Oprah's desire to be a journalist?
|
[
"stressed, inactive people",
"office worker",
"youth offenders",
"women and children"
] |
stressed, inactive people
|
Just five minutes of exercise a day outdoors can improve mental health, according to a study.
Researchers from the University of Essex, UK have found that as little as five minutes of a "green activity" such as walking, gardening, cycling or farming could help to improve mood and increase self-esteem .
Many studies have shown that outdoor exercise can reduce the risk of mental illness and improve a sense of well-being, but the new study, led by Jules Pretty and Jo Barton, was the first to determine how much time needed to be spent on green exercise for the benefits to show.
Barton and Pretty looked at data from 1,252 people of different ages, genders and mental health status taken from 10 studies in Britain.
They analyzed their different outdoor activities including walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming in locations such as a park, garden or nature trail .
They found that the mental health changes were seen after just five minutes. With longer periods of time exercising in a green environment, the positive effects were more apparent.
Looking at men and women of different ages, the researchers found the health changes were particularly strong in the young and the mentally ill.
Green and blue
A bigger effect was seen with exercise in an area that also contained water - such as a lake or river.
"This is because historically we are drawn to water to survive and it is in our genetic make-up to be at one with nature," the researchers wrote in their report.
Pretty said those who were generally inactive, or stressed, or with mental illness would probably benefit the most from "green exercise".
"Employers, for example, could encourage staff in stressful workplaces to take a short walk at lunchtime in the nearest park to improve mental health."
He also said exercise programs outdoors could benefit youth offenders.
|
According to Pretty, _ would probably benefit the most from "green exercise".
|
[
"didn't love his son",
"always disagreed with his son",
"disliked the huge fish",
"was firm and stubborn"
] |
was firm and stubborn
|
Once there was an 11-year-old boy who went fishing with his father in the middle of a New Hampshire lake. On the day before bass season opened, they were fishing early in the evening, catching other fish with worms. Then the boy tied on a small silver lure and put it into the lake. Suddenly he felt that something very big pulling on the lure. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully brought the fish beside the bank. Finally he lifted the tired fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.
The boy and his father looked at the big fish. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 p.m.--two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. "You'll have to put it back, son," he said.
"Dad!" cried the boy. "There will be other fish," said his father. "Not as big as this one," cried the boy. He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were in sight in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.
Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he had caught the fish, the boy could tell from his father's voice that the decision couldn't be changed. He threw the huge bass into the black water. The big fish disappeared. The boy thought that he would never again see such a big fish.
That was 34 years ago. Today the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He often takes his own son and daughters to fish at the same place.
And he was right. He has never again caught such a large fish as the one he got that night long ago. But he does see that same fish ... again and again ... every time he has an ethical decision to make. For, as his father had taught him, ethics are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.
|
From the text we know that the father _ .
|
[
"chocolate is truly deadly to dogs",
"it's OK to give chocolate to a big dog",
"pets are usually ignored around confection-centered holidays",
"a healthy dog probably could survive a chocolate poisoning"
] |
a healthy dog probably could survive a chocolate poisoning
|
A small dog should be _ after eating a handful M&M's, at least according to conventional wisdom. But watching "Moose", a friend's five-pound Chihuahua, race around a living room after his sweet snack makes one wonder: Is chocolate truly poisonous to dogs?
Dogs and humans have similar tastes. But unlike humans, our companions experience dangerous effects from eating chocolate --it can poison them and in some cases is fatal. Chocolate's danger to dogs depends on its quality.
Chocolate is processed from the bitter seeds of the cocoa tree, which contain a family of compounds known as methylxanthines . This class of substances includes caffeine and the related chemical theobromine . Chocolate contains a significant amount of theobromine and smaller amounts of caffeine. These chemicals can cause a dog's heart to race up to twice its normal rate, and some dogs may run around as if "they drank a gallon of espresso ," according to Hackett.
Dogs are capable of handling some chocolate, but it depends on the animal's weight and the type of chocolate it eats. Unsweetened baking chocolate contains more than six times as much theobromine as milk chocolate, although amounts vary between cocoa beans as well as different brands of chocolate. Less than four ounces of milk chocolate is potentially fatal for Moose and other small dogs.
Around every confection-centered holiday -- Valentine's Day, Easter and Christmas -- at least three or four dogs are hospitalized overnight in the animal medical center at Colorado State. But in 16 years, Hackett has seen just one dog die from chocolate poisoning, and he suspects it may have had an underlying disease that made it more exposed to chocolate's heart -racing effect.
|
It can be inferred from the passage that Hackett believes that _ .
|
[
"We understand how the faults happen.",
"Everyone else will accept our faults.",
"We are good at finding other's faults.",
"Others don't know our faults."
] |
We understand how the faults happen.
|
It is curious that our own faults should seem so much less heinous than the faults of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the conditions that have caused them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we can't excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own mistakes, and when we are forced by unexpected events to consider them, find it easy to accept them. For all I know we are right to do this; They are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed ourselves .To take a little instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie ; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
There is not much to choose between men .They are all a mix-up of greatness and littleness, of kindness and unkindness, of goodness and badness. Some have more strength of character ,or more opportunity ,and so in one direction or another give their instincts( ) freer play ,but potentially they are the same. For my part, I don't think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster. The knowledge that these thoughts are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. If they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most great and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously, it is well.
|
What is the reason that we always forgive our own faults?
|
[
"To improve the environment.",
"To make the land use plan.",
"To make new discoveries.",
"To count the crops in a field."
] |
To make the land use plan.
|
Geography is the study of Earth and its climates. Scientists use it to study global warming and track the weather. Governments use it to learn where people live and work and to plan what to do with the land. It is now easier than ever to use geography because of a science called space technology.
The United States launched its first satellite in 1958. Some space missions that followed were geographical studies. In fact, earth science is a big part of the work of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Astronauts looked out of the space shuttle. They decided to take photographs of Earth from their vantage point. Over the years, picture quality improved. Shuttle photography now shows land features, such as rivers. It can even show the streets of large cities. Photos of the same places at different times show how the land is changing.
NASA does not use just photographs, though. In 1958 it launched TIROS (the Television Infrared Observation Satellite). This first use of a satellite to study Earth was effective in giving weather forecasts. It led to the creation of new space tools to use in geography.
The Landsat Program began in 1972. This satellite sent detailed views of Earth from space. The pictures were so precise that scientists could count the number and kinds of crops in a field. Landsat showed where Earth's surface had faults along which earthquakes might happen. This information helped in the planning of new cities and factories. Landsat also made discoveries. In Antarctica it located ranges of unknown mountains. It pinpointed small lakes in Virginia that were no ton maps. Landsat, now more advanced, still flies today.
Another space tool is Earth Observing-1 (EO-1). This spacecraft flies right behind Landsat. It takes pictures of the same sites. The two sets of pictures, viewed together, show how cities grow and how other places, such as rain forests, become smaller over time. This helps scientists learn how people affect geography.
One of the newest space tools is the Geographical Information Systems (GIS). GIS is computer software that helps scientists to study Earth. GIS is different from earlier space tools. Businesses, schools, and even average people -- not just the government --can use it to show them how changes in the planet might affect them.
|
Why do governments study geography according to the passage?
|
[
"a cinema ticket",
"a birthday cake",
"a CD",
"a concert ticket"
] |
a birthday cake
|
Sam: Hey, Maria and John. This Thursday is Bill's birthday. Let's think about the presents.
Maria: Sure, Sam. I want to give him a computer game.
Sam: No, Bill never plays computer games.
John: I want to buy a CD of his favourite songs.
Sam: Good idea. Bill likes listening to music.
Maria: How about buying a birthday cake for him?
Sam: Oh, you don't have to do it. His mother usually buys a birthday cake for him.
Maria: How about buying him a cinema ticket? I remember Bill likes watching films.
Sam: That sounds a good idea.
Maria &John: What about you? What would you like to buy for Bill, Sam?
Sam: It's a secret.
|
Bill's mother usually buys _ for Bill on his birthday.
|
[
"used",
"mastered",
"developed",
"researched"
] |
developed
|
Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30. it used to be thought that this couldn't be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster . "Your brain is a learning machine," says prefix = st1 /UniversityofCaliforniascientist Dr. Micha3el Merzenich. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger. All that's required is the practice designed just for the purpose: a few exercises for the mind.
Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process in which the brain deals with information (positence. com). Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy .
Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish sounds (between "dog" and "dog", for example) at an increasingly faster speed. It's a bit like tennis instructor, says Merzenich, hitting balls at you faster and faster to keep you challenged . You may start out slow, but before long you're pretty quick.
The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that _ If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may even speed up while in the process.
To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language...."When it comes to preventing ageing, you really do 'use it or lose it", says Barbara Sahakian, professor at CambridgeUniversity.
|
By saying "the brain at any age is highly plastic", the wrter probably means the brain can be _ .
|
[
"Red and green.",
"Orange and black.",
"Black and white",
"Orange and brown."
] |
Orange and black.
|
Halloween is a festival on October 31. The name of the holiday means "hallowed" because it happens the day before All Saints Day.
Before the festival, people paint homes, shops and classrooms in the traditional Halloween colours, orange and black. Some people make costumes and masks at home. Some people buy them in shops. People also make decorations for the festival. These decorations look like witches, black cats, ghosts, skeletons and jack-o-lanterns. Jack-o-lanterns are pumpkins that are cut to look like faces.
People think that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve. They dress up in special costumes and masks. They eat too much, and go to bed too late celebrating. They go from one door to another saying "trick or treat". People give them candies, cookies, fruit or money.
Adults and older children also celebrate Halloween with parades , festivals and costumes parties. One kind of the parties welcomed by children is dunking for apples. Apples are put in tubs full of water. People try to get the apples using only their months; they cannot use their hands.
|
What are the traditional Halloween colours?
|
[
"looking towards those with fewer possessions",
"looking towards people having more wealth",
"imagining how rich you will be in the future",
"imagining that you have a five-storey building"
] |
looking towards those with fewer possessions
|
We all think that we know what happiness is. We all seem to be making great efforts towards this goal of happiness but what is it really? It is an agreed fact that all the creatures want happiness and are afraid of pain and sadness. The question, however, is "what is real happiness?" What really is called happiness? The desire for happiness has no meaning without understanding the real nature of happiness.
Some thinkers say, "Happiness does not lie in objects of enjoyment; happiness or unhappiness lies in imagination."
To prove their belief, they give examples like the following one: A man has a two-storey house; on the right is a five-storey building and on the left a cottage. When he sees right, he feels unhappy and when he sees left he feels happy. As such happiness does not lie in possession of sensory objects, but in imagination. They advise people to look towards those who have fewer possessions and be happy. If you look towards people having more wealth and possessions, you will always be unhappy.
It is unreasonable to hold this point of view. It is unkind to regard one happy by imagining that one is better than the poor and the unhappy. "If you want to be happy, look towards the poor". We know that those poor people cannot satisfy even their basic needs. This attitude satisfies the sense of pride of possessions, but this can never be called happiness.
Unless we really find where happiness lies, we cannot really be happy.
Some ask people to do this and do that and say, "This way your desires would be satisfied. You would get the desired objects and become happy." People holding these views regard happiness as satisfaction of desires. But it is not possible to satisfy one's desires because there are countless desires of countless people and the material things are limited. Then new desires arise as soon as the previous ones are satisfied. Therefore, desires, which are changing all the time, can never be satisfied.
Happiness is a characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: these belong to our nature. Happiness is also a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated , and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives and come to being happy. Happiness lies in the distribution of easiness among others. Happiness stands for forgiveness and justice. Happiness is the name of struggle and courage. Happiness may be founded in seeking of true knowledge and rule of wisdom. Happiness may be shared in service and duty. This life is combination of joys and sorrows, and honest efforts should be done to make this life journey full of happiness, love, peace and harmony.
|
According to the passage, people who think happiness lies in imagination will try to achieve happiness by _
|
[
"there was a traffic accident",
"the circus man broke it",
"it rushed into a shop",
"the elephant sat on it"
] |
the elephant sat on it
|
A man was travelling abroad in a small red car. One day he left the car and went shopping. When he came back, its roof was badly damaged.
Some boys told him that an elephant had damaged it. The man did not believe them, but they took him to a circus which was near there. The owner of the elephant said, "I am very sorry! My elephant has a big, round, red chair. He thought that your car was his chair, and he sat on it!"
Then he gave the man a letter, in which he said that he was sorry and that he would pay for all the damage.
When the man got back to his own country, the customs officers wouldn't believe his story. They said, "You sold your new car while you were abroad and bought this old one!" After the man showed them the letter from the circus man , then they believed him.
|
The car was damaged because _ .
|
[
"parents",
"friends",
"family members",
"brothers and sisters"
] |
friends
|
Who do you think are the most important people in your life, your parents, your sisters or your brothers, or your friends? I think your answer must be "my friends". Some teenagers often say their parents don't understand them. In large families, brothers and sisters often argue with each other. So most of us think friends are the most important people in our lives.
It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends. As for the reason, it may be because we can discuss some private things with friends. Of course we won't tell these thi ngs to our family members.
However, parents often try to choose friends for us. They may even stop us from meeting some of our best friends. In fact, they do it just because they care for us too much. But they often neglect our real feeling. How can you solve this problem? I think the best way is to find a right time to talk with parents about our real feelings.
|
Many teenagers think _ are the most important people in their lives.
|
[
"every year",
"for years",
"all the year round",
"every other year"
] |
every year
|
Americans like to travel on their yearly holiday. Today, more and more travelers in the United States are spending nights at small houses or inns instead of hotels. They get a room for the night and the breakfast the next morning.
Rooms for the night in private homes with breakfast have been popular with travelers in Europe for many years. In the past five to ten years, these bedandbreakfast places have become popular in the United States. Many of these America's bedandbreakfast inns are old historic buildings. Some bedandbreakfast inns have only a few rooms. Others are much larger. Some inns do not provide telephones or televisions in the rooms, others do.
Staying at a bedandbreakfast inn is much different from staying at a hotel. Usually the cost is much less. Staying at an inn is almost like visiting someone's home. The owners are glad to tell about the areas and the interesting places to visit. Many vacationists say they enjoy the chance to meet local families.
|
Americans take a holiday trip _ .
|
[
"more strong-minded",
"easier to give up",
"poorer in health",
"less interested in rock climbing"
] |
more strong-minded
|
Alexis was _ and tired. With rage in her voice she shouted, "Pull me up!I give up, I hate this. This is stupid!" It was at that moment when Jason, the adviser on the trip, looked at me and said, "Ed, I'm going to go down and talk with her." I then shouted down to Alexis, "Hold on! You can do this. We know you can!"
Jason grasped another rope, put his climbing harness on and began to repel down the cliff. Within moments Jason was beside Alexis. She had her cheek directly against the face of the rock with her feet barely resting on a small piece of the cliff that jetted outward. Jason said to Alexis, "I know that you have been on this cliff now for what seems like a long time. Your feet and fingers are cramping up and your forearms feel as though they are on fire. But , Alexis, you are strong, look how far up you are already. You have taken one of the more difficult paths up the cliff. Look Alexis, look at the path you have taken."
At that moment, Alexis moved her cheek away from the rock face and looked down. The bright white chalk she used on her hands to give her a better hold, showed the path where her tired hands had moved her upward on the cliff. Jason was right. Alexis had taken the hardest way up the cliff. Jason then looked straight into Alexis' eyes and in a calm voice he said, "You are not alone out here, there are people who care about you, who want to help you and see you succeed. We are going to do this together. Are you ready?" Slowly she shook her head yes and took a deep breath.
|
Alexis would probably become _ .
|
[
"he showed a growing interest in jazz music",
"he worked for Columbia Broadcast System radio network as a singer",
"he formed a small band when he was twenty three",
"he thought that racial separation should be the rule of the society"
] |
he showed a growing interest in jazz music
|
Artie Shaw was born in New York City in 1910. His name was Arthur Arshawsky. His parents were poor immigrants who had come to the United States from Eastern Europe. His family later moved to New Haven, Connecticut.
At the age of fourteen, he began to play the saxophone and then the clarinet. From a very young age, Artie Shaw wanted to play his clarinet better than anyone. He wanted his sound and music to be perfect. He worked at this task much of his life.
He began working as a professional musician when he was fifteen. He left home and began playing in bands across the United States.
In 1928, young Artie Shaw traveled to Chicago, Illinois to hear the great trumpet player, Louis Armstrong. He immediately understood that Armstrong's great jazz sound was the beginning of something new and exciting. Artie left Chicago with a growing interest in jazz music. Soon after, he moved to New York City.
He got work playing the clarinet for the Columbia Broadcast System radio network. In 1936, he was given a chance to form a small group and play at New York's famous Imperial Theater on Broadway. His group was not the top band in the show. But the crowd loved his music. This proved to be a major step in his career.
Artie Shaw was always trying something new, something different. He heard a young black woman sing and hired her for his band. This was the first time that a black woman sang with white musicians. Racial separation was the rule in many states. Artie Shaw did not care.
Artie Shaw wrote several books in his later years. He wrote stories for magazines. He spoke about music at colleges and universities. But he had very little to do with the world of recording or music. During those years however, he received many awards and honors for his music. These included a Hall of Fame award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
|
When Artie Shaw became an adult, _ .
|
[
"He got into another taxi.",
"He tried to stop the taxi.",
"He almost gave up following him.",
"He made his way alongOrchard Road."
] |
He got into another taxi.
|
I was walking along prefix = st1 /Orchard Roadwhen I realized a tall young man wearing a jacket and tie was following me. I noticed him because not many people wear a jacket and tie in the middle of a hot summer day, and I had already seen this man four times that afternoon.
To make sure he was following me, I walked on quickly, turned right into a shopping center and then stopped to look in a shop window. Soon the man appeared and stopped at another shop window. I walked on and stopped several times. When I stopped , he stopped too.
I began to be rather worried and decided to try to lose this strange man. When I saw a taxi coming, I jumped into it. As I was telling the taxi driver where to go, I found the man get into another taxi, which then followed mine. As the two taxies slowly made their way alongOrchard Road, I looked back at the taxi behind, and saw that the stranger was looking out at me. At MRT station, I told the taxi driver to stop and I got out. As I was paying my fare, I saw the man was getting out of his taxi.
By now I got angry, so I turned and walked straight to him. I asked him why he was following me. At first he said he was not following me at all, but when I threatened to call the police, he admitted he was. He then told me that he was a journalist(news reporter) and that he was writing an article on how elderly people inSingaporespend their time. He said he was observing me to gather materials for his article.
|
What did the stranger do when the writer jumped into a taxi?
|
[
"4 cookies.",
"5 cookies.",
"2 brownies",
"One slice of cake."
] |
5 cookies.
|
Ad.1
West High School Bake Sale
Come and support our band and buy some delicious baked goods!
Friday, September 20th, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
In the hall by the office after school
Cookies: 25 cents each or 5 for $1
Brownies: 50 cents each or 3 for $1.25
Cake by the slice: $1
Whole cakes: $8
Proceeds go toward sending our band to Nationals.
Ad.2
SHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES
Ups or U.S. Parcel Post are the standard methods for continental U.S. shipments.
ORDER TOTAL GROUND EXPEDITED GROUND
9-12 working days 4-5 working days
$0.00 to $30.00 $4.50 $5.50
$30.01 to $60.00 $7.25 $8.25
$60.01 to $100.00 $9.50 $10.50
$100.01 to $200.00 $11.50 $12.50
Add $7.00 to Ground Rates for 3 Days.
|
Which of the following gives you the most for your money if you buy the baked goods?
|
[
"it's easy to know people and customs if you spend your travel time at a hotel",
"everyone likes to travel to another culture through couchsurfing",
"you should not exchange any information before your first meeting",
"all people do not accept couch surfing with delight"
] |
all people do not accept couch surfing with delight
|
While traveling satisfies different needs of various types of people, most serious adventurers hope to make some connections while they're experiencing another culture. Discovering another way of life is fascinating, and leads to a deeper understanding of one's own culture as well. However, it can be difficult to get to know people and customs if one's trip is spent at a hotel. A better choice for gaining insight into the culture of a country is couchsurfing.
Couchsurfing is free, and guarantees a close encounter of some sort, as it allows you to stay on a local's couch or in a guest room. Travelers can look up couchsurfing opportunities on Couchsurfing.com, where hosts and surfers can connect, create and view profiles, and exchange information. "Meeting their friends, seeing how they function and seeing how people were actually living are so personal. I really like the opportunity to gain a pure knowledge of someone's life," says Meghan Sinnott, who recently couchsurfed in Denmark, Holland, and Sweden.
The formal Couchsurfing Project has been around for a while. It was started in 1999 by Casey Fenton, who was on a cheap trip to Iceland from Boston. Finding himself without a place to stay, he e-mailed more than a thousand students at the University of Iceland and got more than 50 responses offering him a free couch. When he returned to his hometown Boston, he decided to turn the experience into a website-based network, which was created in 2004.
While some travelers might be afraid of the idea of sleeping on a previously unseen couch or getting a cup of coffee with a complete stranger halfway across the country, others jump at the chance to walk into the unknown.
And that tells us exactly what couchsurfing is all about--learning about the world and a stranger at a time.
|
We can infer from the passage that _ .
|
[
"A Sad Girl",
"A Real Surprise",
"A Special Foreigner",
"A Boy Called Jim"
] |
A Real Surprise
|
Joe, an outgoing girl, is from a rich family. Therefore she can afford almost everything. But Joe's parents are too busy to spend enough time with her, which makes Joe more than lonely. So, she always goes to WeChat. On WeChat, she can do a lot of things like buying things, reading articles, and making friends with those she either knows or not.
She uses the name Linda on WeChat and has made a lot of friends there. Last year Joe made a foreign friend on WeChat. Her name was Catherine and she lived in Sydney. Catherine once sent a picture of "herself": a tall, good-looking young woman with big eyes. Catherine and Joe were both interested in rock music and modern dance. So, they liked each other very much.
When Joe's father told her that he was meeting a client in Sydney this summer, she went with him to give Catherine a surprise for her birthday. When Joe came to Catherine's house in Sydney, she found that her foreign "girlfriend" was a ten-year-old boy named Jim! What a surprise!
|
What's the best title of the passage?
|
[
"there's no need for athletes to speak so well",
"a successful person must speak advanced English well",
"advanced English shouldn't be spoken in sports",
"a successful person must speak simple English to others"
] |
there's no need for athletes to speak so well
|
It is an issue I have realized ever since I heard about an Austrian banker who said,"I always find it easier to do business with partners from Greece or Russia or Denmark. But when the lrish call, it gets complex and difficult." ks5u
As I wrote recently, those speaking English as a second language frequently say they find it easier to talk to each other than to someone from the US, the UK ,Canada ,Ireland or Australia.
Anyone wanting to get to the top of international business, medicine or academia(but possibly not sport)needs to be able to speak English to a pretty high level .Equally, any native English speaker wanting to deal with these new high achievers needs to know how to talk without confusing them.
Because so many English-speakers today are monoglots ,they have little idea how difficult it is to master another language. Many think the best way to make foreigners understand is to be chatty and informal. This may seem friendly but,as it probably involves using informal expressions, it makes comprehension harder.
Speaking slowly helps, but avoiding figurative or idiomatic expressions is more important. Phrasal verbs are another trouble for non-native English speakers; imagine trying to understand the difference between" I couldn't put up with him"and " I agreed to put him up".It's better to say "I couldn't tolerate him"and " I agreed to let him stay for night ". The words may be longer but the meaning is easier to understand.
The greatest friend to anyone trying to understand another language is repetition; not saying the same thing over and over again,but saying it in different ways.
|
As to speaking English , the author implies that _ .
|
[
"He slept in a cupboard.",
"He let the other dogs out.",
"He took biscuits and toys back to the other dogs.",
"He showed the other dogs how to unlock their doors."
] |
He let the other dogs out.
|
I've always known that dogs are clever, but even I was surprised when I heard about a dog called Red, at the Battersea Dog's Home in London.
The home has been caring for lost and unwanted animals for over 140 years. Recently, the staff there got a shock when they came to work in the morning. They found that some of the dogs had got out of their kennels during the night, opened cupboards and taken out food and toys. And it happened again and again. The manager described how as many as nine dogs were escaping every night. " When we came in, dogs were running around having fun and causing a lot of mess. "
Someone or something was unlocking the kennels during the night. The manager decided to put in cameras to record how the dogs were getting out.
When she and her staff played back the recording, they saw Red, a three-year-old dog, put his nose through the bars of his kennel and use his teeth to press the button that opened his door. That was clever enough, but Red did more: he unlocked the kennels next to his and let the dogs out too. The group broke into cupboards and stole dog biscuits and toys to play with.
The manager said, " It's surprising that Red _ how to open his own kennel and let all his friends out." I suppose, Red didn't like to party alone.
The story has a happy ending: after Red was shown on TV, several people came and offered to give him a new home as a family pet.
|
What did Red do after he got out of his kennel at night?
|
[
"all their names",
"a couple of names first",
"just their last names",
"as many names as possible"
] |
a couple of names first
|
Remembering names is an important social skill. Here are some ways to master it.
Recite and repeat in conversation.
When you hear a person's name, repeat it. Immediately say it to yourself several times without moving your lips. You could also repeat the name in a way that does not sound forced or artificial.
Ask the other person to recite and repeat.
You can let other people help you remember their names. After you've been introduced to someone, ask that person to spell the name mad pronounce it correctly for you. Most people will be pleased by the effort you're making to learn their names.
Admit you don't know.
Admitting that you can't remember someone's name can actually make people relaxed. Most of them will feel sympathy if you say. "I'm working to remember names better. Yours is right on the tip of my tongue. What is it again?"
Use connections.
Link each person yon meet with one thing you find interesting or unusual. For example, you could make a mental note: "Vicki Cheng -- tall, black hair." To reinforce your associations, write them on a small card as soon as possible.
Limit the number of new names you learn at one time.
When meeting a group of people, concentrate on remembering just two or three names. Free yourself from remembering every one. Few of the people in mass introductions expect you to remember their names. Another way is to limit yourself to learning just first names. Last names can come later.
Go early.
Consider going early to conferences, parties and classes. Sometimes just a few people show up on time. There're fewer names for you to remember. And as more people arrive, you can hear them being introduced to others --- an automatic review for you.
|
When you meet a group of people, it is better to remember _
|
[
"Because he has learned there for about two years.",
"Because he ran a business of his own.",
"Because he has many opportunities to look for any possible challenges initiatively.",
"Because he was promoted to be deputy director and financial director of the company."
] |
Because he has many opportunities to look for any possible challenges initiatively.
|
I always wanted to run a business of some sort,and finally I got such a good chance to do so at the beginning of the summer term.The business project is called Young Enterprise,where we set up a small company called "Limitless" and sold the products to the school and public.I was appointed deputy director and financial director of the company,in which my role was to manage the financial activities.
I have learnt so much from this experience,for I could put what I have learnt into practice in real life and learn to work with different people,which improved my skills in management and communication.
In this school we students can organise our own activities if we want to,and the school is usually highly supportive:so this term I have organised an Engineering Society in school,which arranges regular visits to local industries.So far,the society which has only 10 members has proved to be really "popular".Well,it is always the quality,not the quantity,that matters,isn't it?
I have had many opportunities to challenge myself since I got to the school,and I do think it is all of these challenges that make me more and more mature.Perhaps one of the most important lessons I have learned in this school is to have the initiative to look for any possible challenges.
|
Why does the writer like this boarding school so much?
|
[
"the ways eagles train their babies",
"how eagles feed their babies",
"how baby eagles fell from the cliffs",
"the place where eagles live"
] |
the ways eagles train their babies
|
A Chinese couple forced their 4- year- old son to run naked during a snowstorm with the temperature dipping to -13degC in New York, where they were enjoying a holiday.
The boy's father calls himself "Eagle Dad". He says he follows the parenting style of eagles, which are known to push their babies off cliffs so that they learn to fly by themselves.
Different people have different ideas about it. Some people think it is proper to do like "Eagle Dad". The 4- year- old boy, Duoduo, was weak since he was born, so his father tried to help him train to keep strong. But others disagree, they think we should concentrate more on the best ways to teach children in these fast changing times.
Different families use different methods to teach children, but all of them should be allowed by the law. Parents should pay full attention to children's physical and metal conditions, and make sure the ways can help their children think and act positively.
As long as parents know this, they can use different methods to educate children. Every child has different character. Some children grow up to be success under the guidance of (......)"eagle dads" or "tiger moms". Others are also successful growing up under more considerate elders.
|
Duoduo's father was inspired by .
|
[
"Stevie was not that reliable.",
"Stevie was mentally disabled",
"Stevie was too short and fat.",
"Stevie was bad-tempered"
] |
Stevie was mentally disabled
|
I try not to be biased but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee. He was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-togued speech of Down's Syndrome . I thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.
I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my regular trucker customers had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. Money was tight, and _ .
That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a heart surgery. His social worker said that people with Downs Syndrome often had heart problems at an early age and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing fine. Frannie, my head waitress, did a little dance when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker customers, stared at her and asked, "Okay, Frannie, what was that all about?"
"We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?"
Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery, then sighed: "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK," she said. "But I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I cleared off that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and I found this. This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup."
She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed "Something For Stevie".
That was three months ago. Today is New Year's day , the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he had been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. I took him and his mother by their arms. "To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me."
I led them toward a large corner booth. I could feel and hear truck customers and the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups and dinner plates, all sitting slightly on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I said.
Stevie looked at me, and then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it.
I turned to his mother. "There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving!"
While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
|
Why did the author have doubts about hiring Stevie?
|
[
"he's late for school",
"he goes to school by bus",
"he can't wake up himself in the morning",
"he has to go to school without breakfast"
] |
he can't wake up himself in the morning
|
Little Tom likes cartoons very much .When the cartoons begin on TV, he does nothing until they' re over. Sometimes he'd rather wait for a long time and go to bed late. In the morning his mother has to wake him up, or he will be late for school.
Yesterday Tom heard there would be an interesting cartoon today. This morning, as soon as he got up, he turned the television, but didn't receive the programme. He had to have breakfast and then went to school. After school he ran home while his mother was cooking supper in the kitchen . He hurried to the sitting room and turned on the television again, but he couldn't find the cartoon. He rushed into the kitchen and asked his mother to help.
"It's only five now," said the woman. "Your programme will be after supper."
"Well, let's have supper right now!"
|
Tom goes to bed late sometimes, so _ .
|
[
"things about Scotsmen's traditional kilts",
"how to wear kilts",
"when to wear kilts",
"Scotsmen's important tradition"
] |
things about Scotsmen's traditional kilts
|
It's not just women who wear skirts. Men can wear them, too. In Scotland, men wear a kind of skirt called a kilt. The kilt is their national dress and an important part of their tradition .
A kilt is a colored skirt reaching down to the knees . It has checks on it with different colors, like red or blue. Each family in Scotland has its own colors.
How did the Scots start to wear kilts? There are many stories about it. One story is that the kilt was invented in the 1720s by an English factory owner, Thomas Rawlinson. Rawlinson had a lot of Scottish workers in his factory and he thought their clothing _ their work. So he cut their long clothes into a shorter skirt.
Today, most Scotsmen see kilts as formal dresses. They usually only wear them at weddings or big dinners. There are only a few men who still wear a kilt every day. Scots also wear kilts in parades when they play their traditional musical instrument : bagpipes . The army still has kilts as the dress uniform , but they no longer wear them to fight .
|
The story mainly tells us _ .
|
[
"worker",
"teacher",
"dancer",
"singer"
] |
singer
|
Han Hong is one of the most famous singers in China . She was born in Qambo,Tibet . Her mother , a Tibetan singer, is famous for her popular song On the Golden Hill in Beijing.
Han Hong gets her good voice from her mother and shows a strong love of music .Han Hong came to Beijing at the age of nine to study singing .In 1985, 14-year-old Han Hong won her first prize.And then , the song Road to Heaven made Han Hong become popular in China.
Han Hong has not only a nice voice ,but also a big kind heart .She spends a lot of time doing charity. She got hurt in an accident on her charity tour last year , but she didn't stop her charity work .Give our best wishes to this kind lady.
,,. (2,10)
|
Han Hong's mother is a famouse _
|
[
"serving children in every corner of the world is the Web designer's duty",
"volunteers going to Cameroon should be able to speak French",
"more dentists are needed than doctors in Nepal",
"the time you work in one of these places can be changed"
] |
volunteers going to Cameroon should be able to speak French
|
Weekend Miracles
Weekend Miracles give children aged 9 and older in the Children's Center the opportunity to visit a host family who partners the child to find the child a permanent family. The host family arranges activities that the child will enjoy and introduces the child to their circle of friends--in order to develop a lasting connection with someone.
Organization: Kidsave International
Location: the United States
Duration: 2 days to 6 weeks
Web Designer Needed
We need the skills of a Web designer to help us redesign our website. The project will be fun and fulfilling, and give much needed visibility to our grass-roots projects that are serving children and mothers in every corner of the world.
Organization: Children's Fund
Location: the United States
Duration: 3 weeks to 2 months
Living Miracles
Doctors and dentists are needed as volunteers at Shechen Medical Clinic in Nepal for two months or longer. In Tibet, we need doctors for only 1-2 months. Dentists can come for one month or longer. Please understand that modern conveniences are not available here.
Organization: Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship
Location: Nepal
Duration: 21 days to 6 years
Teaching English to Children in India
The Salus Foundation, Inc. needs help from volunteers, teachers, college students or recent college graduates trained in ESL, or who are willing to be trained in ESL to teach English to the students at the Sulaxim School.
Organization: The Salus Foundation, Inc.
Location: India
Duration: 6 weeks to 9 months
Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Cameroon
In Defense of Animals in Africa needs help from highly motivated, mature volunteers who care about the conservation of great apes and are willing to live in an isolated, challenging, French-speaking environment for six months to benefit our future generation.
Organization: In Defense of Animals in Africa
Location: Cameroon
Duration: 6 months
|
We can infer from the passage that _ .
|
[
"They have few social comments.",
"They are simple and humorous.",
"They only focus on the lives of peasants.",
"They are full of imagination."
] |
They have few social comments.
|
Maupassant(*)was born in 1850 in northern France. His early life was not happy. His parents separated when he was 11. Most of his education came informally from Gustave Flaubert--his mother's friend and his godfather, a journalist and novelist. Often Flaubert would let him take a walk and then ask him to write 100 lines about what he saw. This type of training developed in Maupassant a sense of observation, which he later put to use in his writing. Flaubert also allowed Maupassant to attend his Sunday gatherings with others in his literary circle
For a few years, Maupassant was connected with the Ministry of Public Instruction. It is interesting to note that Monsieur Loisel, a poor man character in The Necklace, worked there. He also served in the French army during the Franco-Prussian War. His favorite writing subjects were peasants, servants, in the city, and the Francd-Prussian War.
At an early age, Maupassant started writing short stories. In 1880, some of his works were published and he received a wide reputation for Boule de Suif (Ball of Tallow). With this success, he began to work full-time on writing. During the next ten years, he wrote over 300 stories, including six novels, three travel books, and a book of verse. Through them, he earn a lot of money.
His writing was classical and simple, avoiding social comments and dirty details. His works often showed a real world and an accurate knowledge of the subject. Although Maupassant wrote in many forms, he received widest recognition for his short stories. By 1890, Maupassant was suffering from the latter staged of syphilis . He died in 1893 in Paris.
|
What are the characteristics of Maupassant's stories?
|
[
"Animals enjoy living in a clean environment.",
"Animals fight against parasites in different ways.",
"Unlike people, animals hate staying in water.",
"For animals, cleanliness is a survival skill."
] |
For animals, cleanliness is a survival skill.
|
How would you like to brush a crocodile's teeth? Or give a shark a bath? Cats are well-known for the way they keep themselves clean by licking , but other animals have their own ways to stay clean as well. And tidiness can be important for their survival. Even cockroaches have to keep their feelers clean to help them into food.
Many animals in the wild, such as deer, wolves and bears, have an automatic cleaning system. Insects like to attach themselves to animals to feed on the skin or blood. These parasites can be unhealthy. But their "host" animals are constantly dropping skin and fur by a natural process. They also like to rub up against trees or rocks to comfort themselves, and this removes additional skin and fur. Along with old fur goes the dirt and parasites living in the fur. While these animals may sometimes take a bath when they enter or cross a river or lake, they don't need the water to stay clean. They don't get sweaty, because they don't have sweat glands all over their bodies the way people do. Growing new skin and fur is enough to keep them clean.
Some animals and birds use dust to get clean. Chinchillas, a kind of small animal that lives in the mountains of South America, have a very fine fur. (They are raised for their fur, in fact.) If they took water baths, they might get too cold. So, instead, they roll around in fine dust, raising quite a cloud as they "bathe". The dust helps to keep their fur and skin dry. This protects them from bacteria and parasites that enjoy warm and wet places. And the fine dust doesn't stick in their fur for long. It falls off or blows away.
As for lions and tigers, their rough tongues act like combs and can remove dirt and loose fur. Why is it important for them to stay clean and smooth? It helps them stay cool in very hot summer or feel warm in cold winter.
|
What's the main idea of this passage?
|
[
"A schoolgirl who turns misfortune into an advantage",
"Bendy-jointed teen becomes Britain's strongest schoolgirl",
"An inspiring girl who has made great achievements",
"A British girl with great spirit and determination"
] |
Bendy-jointed teen becomes Britain's strongest schoolgirl
|
Laresce was born with a condition called hypermobility which meant her joints were"bend".The condition can use severe joint pain and lead to dislocations .
But rather than feel sorry for herself, she used her misfortune to inspire her to become Britain's strongest schoolgirl.
Just two years ago,the condition left Laresce in so much pain that she couldn't even take part in sports.But now she has six British and World Champion power lifting records.It's an incredible achievement.
Laresce's trainer Tania George said her condition is the secret to her success."She has more flexibility in her back than most people,which gives her the technique of bending her back strongly and safely.Most power lifters would kill to try to bend their backs like Laresce.She has perfected the technique to lift incredibly heavy weights,"Tania said.
"I used to suffer a lot of pain from my hypermobility.I remember coming home from school with pains in my knees,joints and hips.It would stop me doing normal things at schoo1.The pain would be so much that some nights I couldn't sleep at all and I just couldn't face going to school like that.And after each dislocation,I had to do six months of physiotherapy to recover,"said Laresce.
However, since taking up the sport of power lifting 18 months ago she is now effectively cured."really enjoyed the feeling of power I got and the excitement of people encouraging me to do my very best,"she said.
"I've made lots of friends a It's an incredible feeling when everyone's cheering me on.It's the support of other people that makes the difference to winning.Becoming a champion was a big surprise--I just started off for fun and wasn't expecting anything.So to win six titles over just a few months was amazing."
|
What could be the best title for this passage ?
|
[
"make a daily schedule",
"get good study habits",
"make a form",
"live happily"
] |
make a daily schedule
|
Do you feel you have enough time to do all the things you have to do or want to do? How do you think you could plan your day better? A daily schedule will help you plan every part of it. If you learn to manage your time, you will probably feel less worried. Here is how to do it. 1. Take out a piece of paper and a ruler. Draw a form of your waking hours, using one square for each half an hour. If you're awake for 16 hours each day, you will need 32 squares: 8 across, 4 down.2. Sit down and examine your day. Make a list of all the things you need to do. Think about when you should do them. 3. Fill out your schedule. 4. Remember to give yourself breaks. If doing all of your homework at one time is too much, schedule a little bit of free time in the middle of it. 5. If you have an important thing to do but it's not on your schedule, _ other activities around it. 6. Think about using different colored pens for your different activities. In this way, you'll clearly know how your day is planned out.
|
The passage is mainly about how to _ .
|
[
"to his wife",
"to his children",
"for helping the poor people in Sweden",
"for setting five prizes"
] |
for setting five prizes
|
A Nobel Prize is considered by most people one of the highest international honours a person can receive. As you know, the prizes were started by a Swede called Alfred Nobel. He was born in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Alfred Nobel was a great scientist. He made two important inventions, and so he became very rich. Although he was rich, Nobel was not a happy man. He never married or had children. Also, he was a sick man during his large part of life. When he died at the age of 63, he left a fund of $9,000,000. The money was to be used in giving prizes to those who made great achievements in physics, chemistry , medicine and literature , and for world peace.
The first Nobel Prizes were given on December 10, 1901, five years after Nobel's death. Since then many famous people from all over the world have been given Nobel Prizes for their achievements.
Each prize has three parts. The first part is a gold medal. Second, a winner of a Nobel Prize is given a certificate saying that he has been given the prize. The third part of the prize is a large amount of money-about $40,000.
Often a prize is given to just one person, but not always. Sometimes a prize is shared. It may be given to two or more people who have worked together. It is also sometimes true that a prize is not given at all if there is no great achievement. In 1972, for example, no Nobel Peace Prize was given.
|
When he died, Nobel left a large amount of money _ .
|
[
"in a newspaper",
"on the Internet",
"in a book",
"in an advertisement"
] |
in an advertisement
|
American black bears appear in a variety of colors despite their name. In the eastern part, most of these bears have shiny black fur, but in the west they grow brown, red, or even yellow coats. To the north, the black bear is actually gray or white in color. Even in the same litter , both brown and black furred bears may be born.
Black bears are the smallest of all American bears, ranging in length from five to six feet, weighing from three hundred to five hundred pounds. Their eyes and ears are small and their eyesight and hearing are not as good as their sense of smell. Like all bears, the black bear is timid and rarely dangerous, but if attacked, most can climb trees or cover ground at great speed. When angry or frightened, they are formidable _ .
Black bears feed on leaves, roots, fruit, insects, fish, and even larger animals. One of the most interesting characteristics of bears, including the black bear, is their winter sleep. Unlike squirrels and many other woodland animals, bears do not actually sleep through the winter months. Although the bear does not eat during the winter months, sustaining itself from body fat, its temperature remains almost normal, and it breathes regularly four or five times per minute.
Most black bears live alone, except during the mating season. They prefer to live in caves. Baby black bears are born in January or February after a gestation period of six to nine months, and they stay with their mother until they are fully grown or about one and a half years old. Black bears can live as long as thirty years in the wild, and even longer in some nature reserves.
|
We cannot read the passage _ .
|
[
"Because it is spelled differently from \" dinner\"",
"Because the first diner was not what it is now",
"Because diner was a new word",
"Because it is a special kind of restaurant"
] |
Because the first diner was not what it is now
|
Do you like to eat out? Do you like to eat quickly? Do you like inexpensive food? Some people go to fast-food restaurants for these reasons. In the past, people usually went to diners for these reasons. In fact, many people in the States still go to diners today for the same reasons.
A man named Walter Scott had the first "diner" in 1872. It wasn't a real diner. It was only a food cart. People on the street walked up to the cart to buy food. These carts served late-night workers who wanted a cup of coffee and a late-night meal. The meal was a sandwich or boiled eggs. In 1887, Samuel Jones built the first diner big enough to allow the customers to come inside. However, they did not sit down. Later, people built diners with counters and stools, and people sat down while they ate.
Before long, many diners stayed open around the clock. In other words, people were able to eat in diner at any time. Diners changed in other ways, too. The original menu of sandwiches and coffee became bigger. It included soup, favorite dishes, and a breakfast menu. In addition, diners soon became permanent buildings. They were no longer carts on wheels.
Diners today look similar to the diners of the early 1900s. They are usually buildings with large windows. Inside, the diners have shining counters with stools, booths, and tables and chairs. People can eat all three meals in a modern diner.
Today, many people eat in fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King. However, the diner remains an American tradition, and thousands of people still enjoy eating there. It was popular a century ago, and it is still popular today.
|
A man named Walter Scott had the first "diner" in 1872. Why is the word "diner" in quotation marks ?
|
[
"remember her grandfather",
"overcome all difficulties by wearing it",
"get encouraged by her grandfather",
"follow her grandfather' s work"
] |
get encouraged by her grandfather
|
My father never wanted his children to know what he did for a living.Dad worked in Plant C.Lying beside lake Erie, it saw him in at sunrise and out at nightfall.Sometimes my mother would take my siblings and me to the public beach in our hometown of Ashtabula.she'd gather us round.and point to the smokestacks, coughing clouds into the sky.
"Wave to daddy!" she'd shout. Four little hands would shoot into the air. I never knew what Dad did in Plant C, but during 34 years of hard work, he had surgery on his shoulder and hand. At 48, he had his first heart attack. He retired in 1993, right after the last kid graduated from college.But the damage was done.A few years later, the next heart attack killed him.
I saw my dad in Plant C only once, when l took dinner to him. That night, I looked at my father, covered in sweat and coal, and for the first time I knew why he was so often angry for no reason
Recently my father' s friend, Toby Workman, walked me there.I knew my father never wanted me to see it.At every station, he described the job and the danger.It was like listening to a foreign language.I walked past many DANGER signs.Toby put his hand on my shoulder. "Look," he said, "you need to understand something.Your dad was a maintenance mechanic.He worked the most dangerous job.If something broke, he fixed it. "
A few days later, my daughter graduated from college.I gave her the hard hat Toby handed to me as I left, and this note: " Whenever you feel something difficult, put this on, Look in the mirror, and remember your roots. "
|
The author gave her daughter the hat to hope that her daughter cold _ .
|
[
"2008",
"2009",
"2010",
"2011"
] |
2008
|
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy movie made by DreamWorks. It was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. It tells the story about a big fat panda named Po who is a kung fu fan. The movie came out in 2008 and stars Jack Black as Po. It received critical acclaim and became a box office success. A successful sequel , Kung Fu Panda 2 was released in 2011.
A big, fat panda named Po the panda dreams of becoming a kung fu master, but he doesn't know kung fu. One day, kung fu teacher Master Shifu holds a competition to see who will become the Dragon Warrior , the most powerful kung fu master in the land. Everyone thinks one of Shifu's students, the Furious Five will become the Dragon Warrior, but Po is chosen instead and begins learning kung fu. Shifu and the Furious Five don't like Po the panda and try to make him quit, but he becomes friends with them. When Master Shifu learns that the evil Tai Lung the snow leopard is coming to the land, he quickly teaches Po kung fu so he can be given the Dragon Scroll that will help him beat Tai Lung. Nothing is written on the scroll, but Po finds out that he doesn't need the scroll to be the Dragon Warrior and beats Tai Lung without it. Po becomes a kung fu master and Dragon Warrior loved by everyone and peace returns to the land.
|
When did the movie Kung Fu Panda first published?
|
[
"comedy",
"speeches",
"notices",
"translation"
] |
notices
|
Tuesday, 1stSeptember
I had mixed feelings today, nervous, worried, happy, excited... My heart went down when Miss Chan, our head teacher, said that Matthew and Beth, two students from England, would spend three months with us! I was worried that I had to speak English so much! But at the end of the school day, I was happier than I thought: the morning with them today was more enjoyable than I expected.
Today is the most unforgettable first day I have had! Matthew is fantastic! His English is clearer and easier to listen to than I thought. The other English student, Beth, is the most helpful girl I've ever met. There were lots of things to do on the first day. Beth offered to help Miss Chan put up all the notices. Of course, some of the credit should also go to ME because I translated some of the notices for her. Miss Chan praised us!
We finished all the preparations 10 minutes earlier than expected, then Beth and I talked for a while, Matthew sang several English songs and did some stand-up comedy at the party. We all praised him. When the bell rang to end the first school day, none of us wanted to leave.
When I went back home, I had a little headache. I have probably spoken more English today than the whole of last year.
It was really a happy day! I hope our friendship can continue, even after they gone back to England!
|
Beth helped Miss Chan with the _ .
|
[
"Fathers Influence Their Children's Growing-up",
"Zeng Guofan and His Children",
"How to Raise a Child",
"Dad, Where Are We Going?"
] |
Fathers Influence Their Children's Growing-up
|
Hunan TV's new program, Dad,Where Are We Going? has become very popular since last year. The show tells us that fathers should take part in their children's growing-up. In fact, this topic was always mentioned by Zeng Guofan (1811-1872). a famous official during the late Daoguang Period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912).
Although Zeng spent most of his time away from his family, his letters back home to his children and younger brothers have become famous. In these letters, there are many helpful suggestions on proper behavior . Many of his ways on child education are popular among today's Chinese parents, including reading classical books and so on. His child-raising methods are useful for today's busy fathers. Like Zeng, they also spend most of their time away from home.
According to Zeng, the purpose of education was to learn wisdom from books, rather than getting an official position. Children should know that the most important purpose of studies is to get more knowledge about nature and life.
"But now ,parents just want their children to be rich and powerful. " Mr. Tang, a writer in China, said.
Some teachers say that parents need to build a good relationship with their children. Parents shouldn't force their children to realize their wishes.
In Zeng's letters, he asked his young children to do housework as part of their daily life, even though his children had many helpers. He believed that doing housework would make his children more confident and independent .
|
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
|
[
"The good road system made it possible for more private car owners to rush to help.",
"The local people in the quake zone were short of food and drinks.",
"More money was collected from overseas than within China for the earthquake.",
"People across China were taking active part in the rescue work."
] |
More money was collected from overseas than within China for the earthquake.
|
When computer salesman Li Guang and his girlfriend Huang Minxia saw on TV the destruction caused by the unexpected earthquake,they quickly filled their car with bottled water and instant noodles and drove more than 160 miles to lend a hand.
"It's a small car,but we just wanted to help," said Li,from Chongqing,a city next to the hardest-hit Sichuan province.
Donations are flooding in,more money than charities in China collected all of last year,and so are volunteers.
In the week since the quake,donations have totaled $1.3 billion--85 percent raised within China.
Many,like Li,are taking advantage of growing private car ownership and a new,expanding highway system to join the line of government and army assistance toward the epicenter.
Across the disaster region,thousands of cars decorated with large handwritten signs--"Hardship comes from one direction,help comes from everywhere" and "For the people,for the Beijing Olympics"--were coming from as far as the capital,Beijing,more than 900 miles away.
Private cars crowded so thickly on roads that the police set up donation drop-off points outside cities and towns to clear the way for army and government assistance.People living in tents along the roads posted handwritten signs asking for urgently needed items--water,rice,vegetables.Cars paused to hand out a box or two and then drove on.
Instead of waiting for government-organized charity drives,people quickly acted on their own.Bank account numbers for making earthquake donations flashed on Web logs and mobile phones.Blood donation centers were overwhelmed by offers and began asking citizens to register in advance.
"People are really united this time,and they're acting on their own without waiting to be asked.It sounds _ ,but we're taught in schools and from our parents about helping others," said Ge Jian,the company's general manager.
|
According to the passage,all the following statements are true EXCEPT _ .
|
[
"They are free to decide when to celebrate their own birthdays.",
"They are free to look after themselves well.",
"They are free to make their own decisions.",
"They are free to make time move faster."
] |
They are free to make their own decisions.
|
Some children cannot wait to grow up. Because once you become an adult, you are free to make your own decisions. More importantly, you can do all those things that you cannot do now because you are too young. So, the question is, 'At what age do you really become an adult?' Well, people become adults at different ages in different places.
In Australia, the 18th birthday is a very important event for young Australians because it means they can do almost anything they want. They can vote, learn to drive a car, get married, join the army and even buy their own houses. However, even if they can do all these things, most Australians have to wait until their 21st birthday to really celebrate becoming an adult. This is the traditional adult age not only in Australia, but also in the USA and the UK. It is their first year of true independence .Traditionally, people were given a key to their houses by their parents when they turned 21, meaning they could come and go as they like.
Even though 21 is the traditional adult age in many English-speaking countries, the law nowadays is different in each country. In the UK, you can join the army at 16 and even get married at 16 if your parents allow. Young people in the UK can learn to drive a car at 17 as in Australia, although they have to wait until they are 18 to vote.
In China, there is a different age for each of the stages of becoming an adult. You can vote and learn to drive a car when you are 18, but if you want to get married, women have to wait until they are 20 and men until they are 22. Chinese people celebrate important birthdays every 10 years--so when young people turn 20, they can expect a big party!
No matter what age you are, becoming an adult is really about learning how to be independent and responsible . Once you are finally able to take care of yourself and make your own decisions, then you can say that you are truly all grown-ups.
|
What are adults free to do according to the passage?
|
[
"is a sign of his contributions",
"shows he is healthy person",
"has been the only one for patients so far",
"is a great honor to have it in his village"
] |
shows he is healthy person
|
"Can I hug you?" community nurse Joyce Jebambula asks with a smile as she welcomes me back to her village. "Of course," I say as I put my arms around her. It's an unbelievable moment. Just at the height of the outbreak more than a year ago, there was an "avoid body contact" rule here. It's now been removed.
One of the most challenging parts of reporting this outbreak over the past 18 months is that I haven't been able to touch anyone in the worst-affected countries. When Ebola survivors described in tears describing losing their families, I had to almost sit on my hands to avoid reaching out to comfort them.
The outbreak was declared over in Sierra Leone on 7 November. I returned for the celebrations. But despite reaching this long-awaited milestone, all is not well.
Ibrahim Koroma, 21, clings to his survivor's certificate outside the home. All 17 of his family are now dead. The certificate is one of his most prized possessions. "He does not pose any risk to the community" it reads.
Ibrahim tells me how his landlord has allowed him to stay in one of the rooms of his former family home until the end of the year. He says he doesn't know what he'll do after that. He does some part-time work, relying heavily on help from neighbours. His two little sisters and little brother died in the very room where he now sleeps. He says he often lies awake thinking about them, feeling very bad.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the worst on record. In past outbreaks there had only been a few hundred deaths and a few hundred survivors. It was thought Ebola could live for only three months. But research has now shown it can linger for at least nine months. Scientists are still trying to find how long it could be infectious.
|
Ibrahim Koroma values his certificate because it _ .
|
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