Davey wanted to play baseball. But fifty years ago, in his small town, he couldn't find enough players for two full teams or an empty lot big enough for a field. And when he played ball in his back yard, he just broke windows and got into trouble. So Davey began playing with a plastic golf ball and a broom handle for a bat.
When his dad, David Mullaney, a former semi-pro baseball pitcher , realized his son was hurting his arm trying to throw curves with the little plastic ball, he decided to find a better solution. Mullaney got a bunch of hollow plastic _ from a local factory, sat down at his kitchen table and began cutting different size holes in the balls with a razor knife. He thought maybe the holes would alter the ball's flight and help his son throw curves and sliders without hurting his arm.
All the balls failed--except the one with the eight oblong  holes cut into one of the hemispheres. This ball curved naturally and sharply without a violent snap of the wrist. In fact, Davey was now striking out so many batters; he called his new ball a "wiffle ball". A year later, Mullaney borrowed $20,000 from family and friends and started producing Wiffle Balls in his little suburban town of Shelton, Connecticut.
"I didn't want investors." He said, "I wanted to control my own company." This was the beginning of one of the hottest fads  of the fifties and a perennial  best seller well known all around the world. Since then millions of boys and girls have enjoyed countless hours of safe, wholesome fun playing with a Wiffle ball and bat. Esquire Magazine has even called the Wiffle Ball "a national treasure". By producing a high quality product at an affordable price, three generations of Mullany's have enjoyed the satisfaction and benefits of running a successful and profitable family business.
Over the years, they've had plenty of offers to buy them out, but they're still working out of a small factory in Shelton, making a new Wiffle Ball every couple of seconds. Creativity and persistence are two of the important sources for wealth. If he gave up his attempts at trying new things, Mullany would not have invented the wiffle ball, nor would he have made such a big fortune.

Question: From the passage we can know that  _  .

Choices:
- Mullaney made the invention of Wiffle ball with the help of his son
- fifty years ago people didn't like playing baseball very much
- Mullaney's attempts to help Davey better enjoy ball-playing led to the invention of Wiffle ball
- playing balls would hurt one's arm before the Wiffle ball's appearance

Question: All the following are true EXCEPT  _  .

Choices:
- Davey was a good ballplayer after the Wiffle ball came into existence
- David Mullaney wanted to run the family business on his own
- Mullaney's family made a big fortune through the production of Wiffle balls
- Mullaney's business was nearly bought out but they worked hard to keep it

Question: The two important factors for Mullaney's successful family business are  _  .

Choices:
- time and fortune
- persistence and creativity
- quality and fame
- cooperation and efforts

Question: The passage mainly tells us something about  _  .

Choices:
- Davey, a famous baseball player
- a popular ball game in the 1950's
- the birth of Wiffle ball
- the success of a family business


The dirt road made our car jump as we traveled to the Millennium Village in Sauri, Kenya. We passed the market where women sat on the dusty ground selling bananas. Little kids were wrapped in cloth on their mothers' backs, or running around in bare feet and torn clothing. When we reached the village, we walked to the Bar Sauri Primary School to meet the people. Welcoming music and singing had almost everyone dancing. We joined the dancing and clapped along to the joyful, lively music. The year was 2004, the first time I had ever been to Sauri.
The Millennium Village project was created to help reach the Millennium Development Goals, which were set by the United Nations in 2000. The plan is to get people out of poverty, assure them of access to health care and help them stabilize the economy and quality of life in their communities. The goals are supposed to be met by 2015; some other targets are set for 2025. But our first sight of Sauri showed us there was plenty of work to do.
On that day in 2004, we followed the village leaders into Yala Sub-District Hospital. It wasn't in good shape. The rooms were packed with patients who probably wouldn't receive treatment, either because the hospital did not have it or the patients could not afford it. There was no running water or electricity in the hospital. It is hard for me to see people sick with preventable diseases who are near death when they shouldn't have to be. I just get scared and sad.
Malaria is one disease, common in Africa, which is preventable and treatable. Mosquitoes carry malaria, and infect people by biting them. Kids can die from it easily, and adults get very sick. Mosquitoes that carry malaria come at night. A mosquito net, treated with chemicals that last for five years, keeps malarial mosquitoes away from sleeping people. Each net costs $5. There are some cheap medicines to get rid of malaria too. The solutions are simple, yet 20,000 kids die from the disease each day. So sad, and so illogical. Mosquito nets could save millions of lives.
We walked over to see the farmers. Their crops started to die because they could not afford the necessary fertilizer and irrigation. Time and again, a family will plant seeds only to have an outcome of poor crops because of lack of fertilizer and water. Each year, the farmers worry: Will they harvest enough food to feed the whole family? Will their kids go hungry and become sick?
Many kids in Sauri didn't attend school because their parents couldn't afford school fees. Some kids are needed to help with housework, such as fetching water and wood. In 2004, the schools had _ supplies like books paper and pencils, but the students wanted to learn. They all worked hard with the few supplies they had. It was hard for them to concentrate, though, as there's no midday meal.
Great changes have taken place in these years. Today, Yala Sub-District Hospital has medicine, free of charge. Water is connected to the hospital, which also has a generator for electricity. There are no school fees, and the school now serves midday meals for the students. The attendance rate is way up. All this is encouraging supporters of the Millennium Villages project.
There are many solutions to the problems that keep people poor. What it will really take is for the world to work together to change poor areas forever. When my kids are my age, I want this kind of poverty to be a thing of history. It will not be an easy task. But Sauri's progress shows us all that winning the fight against poverty is achievable in our lifetime.

Question: Because there was no midday meal in school,   _  .

Choices:
- kids lacked energy to study attentively
- many kids dropped out of school
- kids made more efforts to study hard
- many kids had to go back home for lunch

Question: This story is mainly about   _  .

Choices:
- the education in an African village
- the schools and hospitals in an African village
- the poverty and the progress of an African village
- the author's car journey to an African village


While many other teen stars built up their celebrity status  by working hard on popular TV shows, Justin shot straight to the top by using social media.
A few years ago, Justin uploaded  videos of himself on YouTube, showing _ of his favorite songs at home. He just saw it as a bit of fun for friends and family, but when music manager Scooter Braun saw one of the videos, he flew to Justin's hometown of Ontario, Canada to sign him up. Justin was just 13.
Shortly after, Justin was flown to the US. He eventually started working with R&B superstar Usher. Justin's first album My world was released in 2009. But all the time, Justin continued to build his fan base on his YouTube account, where some of his original home videos can still be found, and where he continues to post music. "I wasn't sending mixtapes or anything like that to record labels," he told us when we met him on his promotional tour for his latest film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. "I was just doing regular stuff at home and I just posted videos online without purpose. I would never be here if it wasn't for the Internet and YouTube."
But it isn't just YouTube that helps Justin's popularity. He also updates his Twitter account (@Justin-Bieber) regularly and has about 8.8 million followers. In fact, he's so popular that Justin was responsible for 3% of the site's activity at one time and so popular that entire racks of servers on Twitter were devoted to him.
In light of his story, many young, aspiring artists are now taking advantage of Twitter and YouTube. Both these sites can help artists build fan bases in the hope that they'll become the next big thing. Justin added, "I think my story brings hope to people and I think that's very important. The only thing holding you back is yourself. Never say never."

Question: What is the best title for the passage?

Choices:
- A famous young man
- YouTube---A popular website
- Justin's way to success
- Social media is the most important

Question: Which one is right according to the passage?

Choices:
- Justin posted videos online in order to succeed.
- Justin becomes a celebrity partly owing to social media.
- Justin has the same way to succeed as others.
- Justin has built many websites.


A Day of Design
Sunday, June 27,2010
9 a. m. ~ 4 p. m.
Thomas College Student Center
Join us for a free day of fun! A Day of Design will encourage those interested in flowers and design to get in touch with their creative side and get some tips from the experts - Jeff and Scott. Pleas see the schedule below for details about this wonderful opportunity!
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Registration   for the day runs from 9 a.m. in the Student Center. Later guests will take a tour of the Thomas College campus before the day's events.
10:30 a. m. ~ 12:00 p. m.
Jeff and Scott will design more than a dozen arrangements in a variety of sizes and colors and auction   will be held and guests will have the opportunity to bid on the flower arrangements.
12:00 p. m. ~ 1:00 p. m.
A delightful boxed lunch will be served. During the lunch hour, Jeff and Scott will create a
for the holiday table and give tips for creating a beautiful centerpiece using things found in the home.
3:00 p. m. ~ 4:00 p. m.
A fitting way to end the day - guests are invited to enjoy a wine and cheese party. Jeff and Scott will be available to answer questions or just talk about flowers!
There is no charge for this event.
REGISTER NOW!
Space is limited to 45 guests.

Question: What are guests supposed to do from 9:00 a. m. to 10:30 a. m.?

Choices:
- To design flower arrangements.
- To enjoy a wine and cheese party.
- To learn how to create a centerpiece.
- To take a tour of the Thomas College campus.

Question: When will an auction be held?

Choices:
- 9:00 a.m. ~ 10:30 a.m.
- 10:30 a.m. ~ 12:00 p.m.
- 1:00 p.m. ~ 3:00 p. m.
- 3:00 p. m. ~ 4:00 p. m.

Question: We can learn from the passage that A Day of Design    _    .

Choices:
- lasts for eight hours
- is free of charge
- is held annually in July
- is aimed at fashion designers


Thanksgiving  Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a fun task----to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful.
Most of the class would celebrate the holiday with turkey  and other traditional goodies  of season. These, the teacher thought, would be the subjects of her students' art. And they were. But Douglas made a different kind of picture. He drew a hand. Nothing else. Just an empty hand. Douglas was a different kind of boy. Most of the time, as other children played together, Douglas was likely to stand close by her side. Everyone could guess the pain he felt from his eyes.
His picture interested other students. Whose hands could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because farmers raise turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the police protect and care for people. Still others guessed it was the hand of God, for Gold feeds us.
The teacher stopped at Douglas desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little boy looked away and said, " It's yours, teacher."
She recalled the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here and there. How often had she said, "Take my hand, Douglas, we' ll go outside." or, " Let me show you how to hold your pencil." Douglas was thankful for his teacher's hand. It means much to Douglas. He might not always say thanks, but he'll remember the hand that reaches out. She wiped her tears away and went on with her work.

Question: What did most students think of when given the task?

Choices:
- Hand
- Turkey
- God
- Farmer

Question: Douglas drew an empty hand in order to  _  .

Choices:
- show thanks to his teacher
- ask for a turkey
- attract other students' attention
- make the teacher cry

Question: How did the teacher feel when Douglas told her the answer?

Choices:
- Sad
- Happy
- Moved
- Interested.


Why texting harms your IQ
The regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana  . That is the statement of researchers who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user's IQ. This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavorably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have described the phenomenon of improved stupidity as "infomania". The research conducted by Hewlett Packard, the technology company, has concluded that it is mainly a problem for adult workers, especially men.
It is concluded that too much use of modern technology can damage a person's mind. It can cause a constant distraction of "always on" technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to technology instead of focusing on the task in hand. The report also added that, in a long term, the brain will be considerably shaped by what we do to it and by the experience of daily life. At a microcellular level, the complex networks of nerve cells that make up parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences.
Too much use of modern technology can be damaging not only to a person's mind, but to their social relationship. 1100 adults were interviewed during the research. More than 62 per cent of them admitted that they were addicted to checking their e-mails and text messages so often that they _ work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they always responded immediately to an email and will even interrupt a meeting to do so. It is concluded that infomania is increasing stress and anxiety and affecting one's characteristics. Nine out of ten thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rude.
The effects on IQ were studied by Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at University of London. "This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," he said. "We have found that infomania will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness and changing their social life. Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working."

Question: We can learn from the passage that "infomania"   _  .

Choices:
- has a positive influence on one's IQ
- results in the change of part of the brain
- lies in the problem of lack of concentration
- is caused by too much use of modern technology

Question: The research mentioned in the passage is most probably about   _  .

Choices:
- the important function of advanced technology
- the damage to one's brain done by unhealthy habits
- the relevance between IQ and use of modern technology
- the relationship between intelligence and working effectiveness


A new international study shows that some people's biological clock plays a powerful role for their life expectancy, regardless of lifestyle choices.
Published in the latest issue ofAgingon Wednesday, the study has found the most definitive evidence to explain why some people keep healthy lifestyle but die younger than others.
Geneticist Steve Horvath from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), led a team of 65 scientists around the world to record age-related changes to human DNA, analyse blood samples collected from 13, 000 people and estimate their lifespan.
A higher biological age, regardless of actual age, consistently predicts an earlier death, the study says.
"You get people who are vegan, sleep 10 hours a day, have a low-stress job, and still end up dying young," Horvath said in a statement. "We have shown some people have a faster innate aging rate."
The findings discovered that 5 percent of the population ages at a faster biological rate, which translated to a roughly 50 percent higher than average risk of death at any age.
"The great hope is that we find anti-aging interventions that would slow your innate aging rate," Horvath said, adding that "this is an important milestone to realizing this dream."

Question: Some people keep healthy lifestyle but die younger than others because   _  .

Choices:
- their biological clock is not powerful enough
- the most definitive evidence has been found
- they have a higher actual age than others
- they ages at a relatively faster biological rate

Question: How was the study conducted?

Choices:
- By collecting and analyzing data.
- By interviewing lots of people.
- By researching previous studies.
- By studying different lifestyles.

Question: According to the study, it can be inferred that   _  .

Choices:
- people who keep healthy lifestyle tend to live longer
- people's lifespan can be predicted by their age
- 5 percent of people are believed to have a faster innate aging rate
- anti-aging interventions have proved to slow the innate aging rate

Question: Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

Choices:
- We all should keep healthy lifestyle
- Geneticist finds anti-aging interventions
- Biological clock predicts life expectancy
- Horvath builds an important milestone


Once upon a time two brothers who lived on neighbouring farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious one in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed .
Then the long cooperoration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.
One morning there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days' work" he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with. Could I help you?"
"Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek  at that farm. That's my neighbor, in fact, it's my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow  between us and he took his bulldozer  to the river levee  and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I'll go him one better. I want you to build me a fence -- an 8-foot fence -- so I won't need to see his place or his face any more. Cool him down , anyhow."
The carpenter said, "I think I understand the situation. I'll be able to do a job that pleases you."
The older brother had to go to town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing, and hammering.
About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped.
There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge -- a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work -- and his younger brother, was coming across, his hand spread out ..
"You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I've said and done."
The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter lift his toolbox on his shoulder. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother.
"I'd love to stay on," the carpenter said, "but, I have many more bridges to build."

Question: What was the life for the two brothers before the conflict ?

Choices:
- They live a poor , miserable life .
- They were friendly neighbours ,helping each other .
- They never speak to each other .
- They live together as one family.

Question: Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage ?

Choices:
- The younger brother used his bulldozer to dig a creek .
- After the conflict John was angry with his younger brother.
- At first the carpenter planned to build an 8-foot fence as John asked him to.
- The two brothers made peace at last .

Question: The best title for this passage is   _  .

Choices:
- A Fine Piece of Work
- A Clever Carpenter
- A Conflict between Two Brothers
- Two Brothers


Supermarket Morrisons today announced to launch an online shopping operation within two years in a move to catch up with its web-savvy rivals. The UK's fourth biggest supermarket said Morrisons.com would offer grocery and non-food products but would take time to build from zero.
As part of its online development, Morrisons - the only one of the "Big Four" grocers to have a significant internet business - revealed it had invested PS32 million in a 10% stake of a New York-based online grocer. The announcement came as Morrisons posted a 13% increase in underlying pre-tax profits of PS869 million in the year to January 30.
Morrisons is implementing a growth strategy which is focused on expanding its e-commerce business and moving into the convenience store market. It has earmarked PS3 billion in investment over the next three years. The supermarket floated the idea of launching its own website last year and today is the first firm commitment to realising that goal.
Last month, the company took its first major step to launching an online operation with the acquisition of internet retailer Kiddicare for PS70 million. The company said this move, along with the 10% "strategic" stake in American online grocer FreshDirect announced today, would help it launch its own website in the future. FreshDirect was launched in 2002 and serves 600,000 customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The deal will see Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips join the company's board.
Morrisons also revealed it would open three convenience stores, around 3,000 sq ft in size, in July under the name M Local. The shops will be located in Morrisons' heartland in the north of England, in neighbourhoods around the M62 motorway. The company said the convenience business was the second-fastest growing part of the market. Rival models include Tesco Metro and Sainsburys Local.

Question: FreshDirect severs 600,000 customers in    _    .

Choices:
- Connecticut
- New Jersey
- New York
- certain states

Question: Which would help Morrisons launch its own wesbsite in the future?

Choices:
- Taking measures to beat its rivals as quickly as it could
- Offering enough grocery and non-food products from zero
- Building more convenience stores and market in the United States
- Launching an online operation with the acquisition of interest retailer

Question: Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

Choices:
- Morrisons Has Many Business Rvials
- Morrisons Will Launch an Online Operation
- Morrisons Switches to Run Online Shopping
- Morrisons Wants to Establish Branches


Drownings, bicycle injuries, falls, and pedestrian accidents are the most common causes of childhood injury or death. Here's what you need to know to avoid tragedy:
*      Drowning: Each year, thousands of children die from drowning, with two-thirds of accidents occurring in the summer. To protect kids, parents should install multiple layers of protective devices, with each layer offering another opportunity to avoid a tragedy. Fences, door alarms, pool covers are all somewhat effective individually, but their effectiveness is increased dramatically when used in combination with one another.
*      Falls: Falls from heights kill 140 children under the age of 15 each year in the United States, and seriously injure three million more, making falls the leading cause of non-deadly injury for this age group. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), falls are especially a problem for children living in multi-story housing during the summer months, when windows are open and children are more likely to be playing on fire escapes, roofs and balconies. To keep kids safe, AAP recommends window guards be installed on second story and higher windows. When choosing guards, install those that are operable in the event of emergencies like a house fire. Using childproof gates can prevent falls down stairways. Nevertheless, no gate can replace parental supervision
*      Bikes: Bike accidents kill over 1,500 children aged 14 and under each year. Of these deaths, more than half occurred during the summer. According to the AAP, head injuries from cycling are the most common cause of disability. A recent study in Seattle, Washington showed that helmets reduced the risk of head injury by 85 percent and brain injury by 88 percent. When purchasing a bike helmet, parents are urged to make sure it meets the bicycle helmet safety standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
*      Pedestrian: Over 6,000 kids aged 14 and under die every year as a result of an unintentional pedestrian-related injury. As a general rule, kids under 10 should not be crossing the street alone. Young children lack the ability to judge the speed and the distance of oncoming traffic. Parents need be models and teach proper pedestrian behavior. Cross at the corner and when you do cross, continue to look both ways because there are likely to be more cars turning into your path or people speeding. Obey all the traffic signals.

Question: What is the point of the article?

Choices:
- To introduce factors that cause risks for children.
- To give tips on what to do to prevent accidents about children.
- To explain why summer is a risky time for kids.
- To describe what to do to prevent accidents at home.

Question: To protect kids against falls, families living in multi-story housing should   _   according to the AAP.

Choices:
- install window guards on second story and higher windows
- never leave windows open when children are left alone at home
- tell kids not to play on balconies, roofs and fire escapes
- teach kids to use childproof gates in the event of emergencies

Question: When riding a bicycle, you should   _   according to the AAP.

Choices:
- avoid riding at night
- not take anyone in the back seat
- wear a proper helmet
- not ride on the streets under the age of 14

Question: What can be concluded from the article?

Choices:
- Bicycles cause the most non-delay injuries for children in the US each year
- Pedestrian accidents happen much more frequently than drownings in the US each year
- A combination of fences, door alarms and pool covers can greatly reduce the risks of drowning.
- Children should never be allowed to cross the street on their own.

Question: The passage is most probably taken from the column of   _   in a newspaper.

Choices:
- social science
- technology
- entertainment
- public safety


Experts say that students usually need eight to ten hours' sleep at night, but most Chinese students do not get enough sleep. Some Chinese parents are usually glad to see their children study late. They will think their children work very hard. But not all parents are happy about this. Once a mother told us that every morning her 10-year-old boy put up one finger with his eyes still closed, begging for one more minute to sleep. Like thousands of students "early birds" in China, he has to get up before six every morning.
  A report shows that without a good night's sleep, students seem to be weaker than they should be. Many students have fallen asleep during class at one time or another. Too much homework is not the only reason why students stay up late. Some watch TV or play the computer games late into the night.
  Experts have said that students should develop good study habits. So some clever students never study late, they are able to work well in class.

Question: Experts have told us students should   _  .

Choices:
- get enough sleep
- not get enough sleep
- study late
- sleep less

Question: Many students have fallen asleep in class because   _  .

Choices:
- they have too much homework to do at night
- they watch TV late
- they play the computer games late into the night
- all of the above

Question: According to the experts, students should   _  .

Choices:
- develop good study habits
- work hard
- go to school before six
- come home late


France is one of the largest countries in Europe. It is bordered by six countries -- Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the north-east, Switzerland and Italy across the Alps to the south-east and Spain across the Pyrenees to the south-west. The UK is across the English Channel. France has several large international airports, two of which are in the capital, Paris. Visitors from the UK also can take the Channel Tunnel rail link down to France. In France, the highway network and French rail service are known to be extremely efficient with the high-speed, and they become the envy  of other nations.
France is the world's most popular tourist destination . The country has an extremely beautiful scene and an equally comfortable climate to match. This makes it suitable for a huge range of exciting sporting and other outdoor activities. For example, France has a huge range of golf courses. However, France also centers on a large scale for those who prefer a  _ life. Numerous museums and art galleries in France bring you much peacefulness while they make you learn about the country's rich cultural, educational and political heritage.
The French people -- and particularly the older generations -- tend to   be extremely polite and formal, a national character that is often dismissed(......) as arrogance  by other nations. The French are also famous for taking great pride in their personal appearance and in particular, their clothes.
The French love their food. Meals are long whenever possible. Sociable family meals usually cost several hours in the middle of the day. French meals usually have three or four courses including cheese before the dessert and are accompanied by wine and freshly baked breads. However, French food varies greatly from area to area.

Question: What do people in other countries think of Frenchmen according to the passage?

Choices:
- Rich.
- Proud.
- Polite.
- Rude.


After months of fear, hate and prosecution , the music and consumer-electronics industry decided to try to make beautiful music together. Last week the Secure Digital Music Initiative, a combination of 100 music, electronics and high-tech companies announced that it agreed on a music format  known as MP3 which caused disagreement. Nowadays, more and more young people are fond of music that is played on their portable MP3 players. So this announcement attracted a lot of attention in both the producer and consumer sides.
       MP3 allows the digital music in CDs to be made smaller to a tenth its size and still sounds great. MP3 songs are small enough to be traded online; they are made by the millions to the _ of record companies, which fear that everything ever released on disc will end up online for free. Traditional records and their sale may be greatly damaged by this new format of music, and for the music's sake, it is better conveyed in this new medium.
       That's why the recording industry appealed to the court against little Diamond Multimedia when it started selling a portable MP3 player two years ago. Not only did Diamond win in court, but it also sold 100,000 Rios along the way. With half a dozen other companies racing to produce their own versions of the Rio for Christmas, what could the music industry do? They have no choice in their future, their success just depends on how they can deal with the new trend and cooperate with the electronics companies.
       It couldn't ignore MP3, which has become the format of choice among new bands trying to advertise their pre-released songs. So the industry agreed on it on one condition: within 18 months, when a standard is adopted that allows piracy-protected music (free from being illegally copied) to be sold online, the electronics companies agree to make their players in line with it. This clears the way for the new magic MP3 players, which is both convenient and capable of carrying on much more music than traditional walkmans. What's next? Digitally pirated movies. Get ready,prefix = st1 /Hollywood.

Question: The most appropriate title for the passage may be_.

Choices:
- "MP3 Clears Its Way"
- "Music And Electronics"
- "Piracy Along The Way"
- "Movie Is The Next"

Question: According to the passage, what is NOT an advantage of the MP3 format?

Choices:
- The size of music can be shortened to one tenth of its original size.
- The fans can enjoy the music before the formal release of the music.
- The new musicians can enter the industry more easily.
- The struggle against piracy will be proved difficult.


Just getting accepted to an American college or university does not guarantee that you will get a visa. And getting a visa just lets you arrive in the United States. It does not guarantee that an immigration officer will permit you to enter the country.
If you are requesting a visa for the first time, you will probably have to go to an American embassy or consulate . You will need to bring a government form sent to you by your American school that shows you have been accepted.
You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education. And be prepared to provide evidence that you will return to your home country after your studies end.
All of this is important in satisfying the requirements to get a visa. A consular official will also take your picture and your fingerprints.
Foreign students must contact their local embassy or consulate to request an interview and to get other information. This includes directions about how and where to pay the visa application charge. The cost is two hundred dollars.
You should apply for the visa as soon as you have been accepted to a school in the United States. The government needs time to perform a background investigation.
You cannot receive a visa more than one hundred twenty days before the start of your program. And if you are coming as a student for the first time, you cannot enter the country more than thirty days before classes begin.
Once you come to the United States, you can stay for the length of your period of study. Your school is required to provide the Department of Homeland Security with reports on your status as a student.

Question: When should you apply for a visa?

Choices:
- The moment you have been accepted to a school in the US.
- One hundred twenty days before you go to the US.
- Thirty days before classes begin.
- After the immigration officer permit you to enter the US.

Question: How much will you be charged for the visa application?

Choices:
- Free of charge.
- Two hundred dollars.
- One hundred twenty dollars.
- Thirty dollars.


To me, the ocean is our greatest wilderness. I love swimming in it , surfing its waves, watching it from shore and thinking about all the life living unseen under the surface.
When I take my little kids to check out tide pools, we're overjoyed when we find a sea star or some shellfish. Lately, though, I've noticed a change in my favorite pools: there are more sea grasses and fewer animals with shells.
I can't help feeling these small changes _ something more troubling about our oceans. It matches what scientists are telling us: our oceans are being troubled by carbon dioxide that threatens corals, colorful fish, salmon, sea otters, even whales. Our oceans are facing a major change.
Every hour, a million tons of carbon dioxide from cars, factories and power plants rain down on the world's oceans. Carbon pollution brings about a chemical reaction that turns sea water more acidic   and takes away things important for sea animals .
Some of us are already feeling the effects of this growing crisis . Shellfish farmers in the Pacific Northwest have reported a decrease in natural and farmed oysters . Just this week, a new studyproved the link between the huge reduction in the numbers of oysters and ocean acidification. As polar waters become more acidic, Alaskan fishermen are troubled by the future of smaller fish.
Without action, ocean acidification will have a disastrous influence on the food chain, affecting not only sea life but the people who depend on it for food and their living. Already, our oceans have become 30 percent more acidic since preindustrial times, and it gets worse every day. We can stop this frightening dream, but only if we act now.
That's why the Center for Biological Diversity has started a petition   requesting President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a plan to deal with ocean acidification. Decisive action can save sea life as we know it.
Now it isn't too late to save our oceans and sea life. With immediate action to reduce carbon dioxide release we can start taking important steps today to deal with this disastrous situation. Join me in our petition calling for a national plan to save our oceans.

Question: The author's recent visits to the tide pool brought her   _   .

Choices:
- happiness
- anger
- concern
- comfort

Question: What the author worries about most is   _   .

Choices:
- the harm of sea grasses
- carbon pollution in the sea
- that the petition may be turned down
- how fishermen can make a living in the future

Question: What is the main purpose of the text ?

Choices:
- To inform.
- To educate.
- To persuade .
- To instruct.


From Nigerian science fiction to a time-travelling serial killer, Brittle Paper selects the best works of fiction from the continent to inspire our inner desire to travel.
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts - Amos Tutuola
Who wouldn't want to get enveloped in a fog of magical delight?
The novel describes the adventures of a little boy lost in a forest. His search for the way back home seem to take him deeper and deeper into secret colonies of creatures living in reality.
Nigerians in Space - Deji Olukotun
Wale is a Nigerian lunar geologist. He is under the spell of a life-long dream to traveling out to the moon when the mysterious Mr Bello offers him the chance to man a Nigerian space-exploration mission. But like most dreams, what starts out as the magical fulfillment of desire quickly slips into the kingdom of nightmare . In novels like this, travelling through space easily becomes a journey into the self.
Our Sister Killjoy - Ama Ata Aidoo
Ama Ata Aidoo's novel is a tourist adventure set in Germany and London. It charts the journey of Sissie, a bright and self-assured African student who wins a European travel scholarship. Like any good explorer, she is very aware of her surroundings - an awareness that she conveys in a mixture of poetic and prose expressions.
The Moor's Account - Laila Lalami
In the 16th century, a group of five ships set sail from Spain for the New World. Estabanico, a survivor of the expedition, is our latest guide through the unknown lands and peoples. He lives to tell the story of their following  travels heading out to Florida and how their dream of becoming wealthy conquerors  becomes a journey in search of self-discovery and redemption .

Question: The passage is to attract readers to   _  .

Choices:
- Read more books
- Write different novels
- Explore the nature
- Travel around the world

Question: Which of the following authors writes a story about traveling by sea?

Choices:
- Laila Lalami
- Amos Tutuola
- Deji Olukotun
- Ama Ata Aidoo

Question: We can infer from the novels that  _

Choices:
- Amos Tutuola tells a story of ghosts
- Sissie wins a world travel scholarship
- Deji Olukotum made his dream of traveling to the moon come true.
- The Moor's Account indeed talks about a journey of heart


There is an English saying that goes, "he who laughs last, laughs the hardest." High School Musical star and teen heartthrob  Zac Efron is laughing a lot these days.
  As a young boy, Efron was picked on in school because he was always the smallest in his class and teased because he had a big space between his teeth. In the sixth grade, Efron's basketball team made it to the league championships. In double overtime  , with three seconds left, he rebounded the ball and passed it to the wrong team! They scored and his team lost the game.
  But history, as they say, is a thing of the past. Now at 21, Efron is one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People, graces the cover of Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood's most influential magazine, and is traveling the world promoting the third High School Musical film. Director Adam Shankman described Efron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now." Simply google "Zac Efron" and you get more than 14 million responses. Yes, it seems Efron has a lot to smile about these days.
  Efron was born and raised in California. He took school seriously. According to Efron, "he would flip out if he got a B and not an A in school, and that he was a class clown." It was his father who encouraged him to act. He took part in school performances and with a local theater group. He also took singing lessons. He graduated from high school in 2006 and was admitted to the University of Southern California to study film. But he deferred --why study movies when you can star in them.
  Now he has signed on to star in the romantic comedy Seventeen Again and to play in the remake of the hugely popular movie, Footloose. Efron is also earning more than $3 million for his role in High School Musical 3. Not bad for a 21-year-old. But Efron still remembers those bullies.
   "You always have to remember that bullies want to bring you down because you have something that they admire," Efron said. "Also, when you get made fun of, when people point out your weaknesses, it's an opportunity for you to rise above."
   Efron has risen all the way to the top of the movie business. And he can now laugh all the way to the bank.

Question: Which of the following might be the best title to the passage?

Choices:
- Don't give up
- He who laughs last laughs the hardest
- Zac Efron's life story
- Zac Effort's success in musical film

Question: What did Zac Efron do when he was laughed at?

Choices:
- He couldn't accept the fact in the beginning, so he escaped.
- He was so angry that he shouted at the person who teased him.
- He cried and told the whole matter to his father to get comfort.
- He cheered himself up and used it as motivation to move on.

Question: Which of the following is True according to the passage?

Choices:
- Zac Efron was laughed at because he was the most foolish guy in the class
- Zac Efron is promoting his fourth High School Musical film in the world.
- He once helped the other team win a match when he was playing basketball.
- In his growing process to be a famous actor, his mother played a key part.


People appear to be born to calculate. The numerical skills of children develop so early that it is easy to imagine an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walk and talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracy--one plate, one knife, one spoon, one fork for each of the five chairs. Soon they are capable of noting that they have placed five knives, spoons and forks on the table, and a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Having thus mastered addition, some people expect that if a child were on a desert island at birth and brought back seven years later, he or she could enter a second-grade mathematics class without any serious problems of intellectual adjustment.
Of course, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of psychologists has cast light on the unnoticeable forms of daily learning on which intellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowly grasped--or, as the case might be, came across--concepts that adults take for granted, as they refused, for instance, to admit that quantity is unchanged as water pours from a short thick glass into a tall thin one. Psychologists have since proved that young children, asked to count the pencils in a pile, readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be persuaded into finding the total. Such studies have suggested that the most basic parts of mathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggested that the very concept of abstract numbers--the idea of a oneness, a twoness, a threeness that applies to any class of object and is a prerequisite   for doing anything more mathematically demanding than setting a table--is itself far from natural born.

Question: What does the passage mainly discuss?

Choices:
- The development of mathematical ability in children.
- Tendency in teaching children mathematics.
- The use of calculating in child psychology.
- The basic concepts of mathematics that children must learn.

Question: From the passage we can know that children   _  .

Choices:
- have an internal clock of mathematical maturity guiding their growth.
- begin to master simple counting soon after they learn to walk and talk.
- are born with numerical skills.
- can not understand abstract numbers.

Question: In this passage the author's attitude towards "children numerical skills" is   _  .

Choices:
- critical
- approving
- questioning
- objective

Question: Which of the following statements would the author most likely be against?

Choices:
- Children learn mathematics naturally and easily.
- Children learn to add before they learn to subtract.
- Most people follow the same pattern of mathematical development.
- Mathematical development is unnoticeable and gradual.


The students in America usually begin high school at the age of 13 or 14. Some leave at the age of 16. But most finish the 4-year high school study. They do not get their first full-time work or begin college studies until they are 17 or 18 years old.
The high school day is about 7 hours long. Part of the day is made into classes of about 50 minutes long. The students have lunch in the middle of the day. American students study English, history, math, science, art and languages. Some also learn job skills. They can learn how to use a computer or how to mend a car. Other students may learn by working in an office, a hospital or other places one day a week.
Jean Wilton Anderson is 16 years old. She lives with her parents and two younger brothers in Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington D.C. Jean studies at Walt Whitman High School. There are about 1,500 students at the school. Most of them will go up to colleges.
Jean wakes up early every morning. She begins school at about 7:30. This is her third year of high school. Every day she takes classes to learn English, world history, physics and trigonometry . She also has a class about different religions .And she plays the violin in music class. School ends at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Yet, Jean stays 2 or more hours longer every day for sports. Jean arrives home at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. She eats dinner. Then she starts her homework. Students in America have their way of talking. They use the word "like" all the time. Jean and her girlfriends wear blue jeans and shirts or sweaters every day. The boys at her school also wear blue jeans. But they like to wear blue jeans that are several sizes too large for them.
Like students of her age in most parts of the country, Jean begins to drive a car. She does not have her car. She must use the family's car. Most of the students in high school have their own cars. Many of them drive their cars to school every day.

Question: Which of the following is not true to the high school?

Choices:
- The school day usually lasts for 7 hours.
- The students only have 6 subjects to learn.
- Each class will last for 50 minutes.
- The students can learn some skills out of the school.

Question: Jean Wilton Anderson   _  .

Choices:
- has a four-people family
- lives in the city of Washington
- has studied in the high school for 3 years
- drives her own car at the age of 16

Question: Which of the following is not true?

Choices:
- Students in high schools use the word "like" very often
- The boy students wear blue jeans as the girls.
- Many high school students go to school in their own cars.
- Boy students wear jeans of larger size because they grow fast


According to a famous optical  expert, Alexander, who recently visited Shanghai, the developed countries in Europe and America have made rules that children must wear resinous  glasses instead of the traditional glasses made of glass. This is because the glass glasses are more likely to do harm to children's eyesight.
Alexander pointed out: wearing the right glasses as soon as possible is still the best way to cure and put right children's eyesight problems.
In America and Japan the resinous glasses have taken up 80 percent of the glasses market. And some European countries and America have made it a law that children, teenagers and drivers must wear resinous glasses. Now, about 10 million children in China have different eyesight problems and they need timely treatment.
But still, too many parents are buying the traditional glass glasses for their children. This is mainly because many parents know little or nothing about the good points of the resinous glasses. Besides, the price for the new glasses is a little higher than the traditional ones.

Question: This news article mainly wants to tell us   _  .

Choices:
- Alexander visited China and introduced a new type of glasses
- we should wear resinous glasses instead of glass glasses
- resinous glasses are popular in Europe and America
- glasses can be made of other materials instead of glass

Question: According to Alexander, the "timely treatment" to eyesight problems is   _  .

Choices:
- to stop wearing glass glasses any more
- to buy a pair of glasses and wear them right away
- to wear suitable resinous glasses at the right time
- to buy glasses made in Europe, Japan or America if possible

Question: It can be inferred from this news text that   _  .

Choices:
- resinous glasses are not on sale in China yet
- resinous glasses are not acceptable in China
- glass glasses have disappeared on western market because there is a law against them
- glass glasses are the first choice in China not only because of their price


I have a painfully vivid memory of my first homecoming from college, in December 1983. After three whole months away, I was back home with my brand new opinions, attitudes and tastes. How could they watch such terrible television programs? I, the English Literature major with Shakespeare and Milton and James Joyce, could hardly bear to sleep under the roof of a house whose few bookshelves held thrillers and bound editions of the Reader's Digest. I'm sure my family was glad to see the back of me when, at the end of the holiday, I packed up my books and headed back up to university in the north of England.
But the next year must have been even more painful to my parents: I didn't show up at all. Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with young people spending a little time away from their families and with their friends.  It's part of growing up, something you need to do if you are to become properly independent. However, if you're not going to be home for the festival, you should at least have the decency to telephone and say you're not coming.
In English we have an expression, "wet behind the ears." A person who is wet behind the ears is so immature, that they don't know how to dry the back of their head after a bath. Just before the following year's holiday I fell ill, quite seriously so. I'm sure my own behavior contributed to my getting sick: staying out too late, not eating properly--perhaps you know someone like the person I was then. I lay in bed with a fever, feeling very sorry for myself.
I'm sure you can guess who came to my rescue. My long-suffering parents got in their car and sped up the motorway to rescue their son from the consequences of his own irresponsibility.
I hope I'm a better son now; if not, it's getting a little late in the day if I want to change. I've worked in China for nearly 10 years and so I don't get to see them as often as I like, but my parents are online all the time so we talk many times each week. And this Spring Festival I will be flying back to England for a visit.
I'm really looking forward to it.

Question: If you are a person who is wet behind the ears, you are  _  .

Choices:
- old and experienced
- young and inexperienced
- young and experienced
- mature and experienced

Question: What would be the best title for the text?

Choices:
- Pleasant memories about Christmas
- Horrible things happened in the past
- Interesting memories about Christmas
- Share with you some of my Ghosts of Christmas Past


It was 1961 and I was in the fifth grade. My marks in school were miserable and, the thing was, I didn't know enough to really care. My older bother and I lived with Mom in an ugly multi-family house in Detroit. We watched TV every night. The background noise of our lives was gunfire and horses'  hoofs  from "Wagon Train" or "Cheyenne", and laughter from"I Love Lucy", or"Mister Ed".After supper, we'd lie on Mom's bed and stare for hours at the TV screen.
But one day Mom changed our world forever. She turned off the TV. Our mother had only been able to get through third grade. But, she was much brighter and smarter than we boys know at the time. She had noticed something in the suburban houses where she cleaned books. So she came home one day, switched off the TV, sat us down and explained that her sons were going to make something of themselves. "You boys are going to read two books every week," she said. "And you're going to write a report on what you read."
We moaned(,) and complained about how unfair it was. Besides, we didn't have any books in the house other than Mom's Bible. But she explained that we would go where the books were: "I'll drive you to the library."
So pretty soon there were these two peevish boys sitting in her white 1959 Oldsmobile on their way to Detroit Public Library. I wandered reluctantly  among the children's books. I loved animals, so when I saw some books that seemed to be about animals, I started leafing through them.
The first book I read clear through wasChip the Dam Builder. It was about beavers . For the first time in my life I was lost in another world. No television program had ever taken me so far away from my surroundings as did this virtue visit to a cold stream in a forest and these animals building a home.
It didn't dawn on me at the time, but the experience was quite different from watching TV. There were images forming in my mind instead of before my eyes. And I could return to them again and again with the flip of a page.
Soon I began to look forward to visiting this quiet sanctuary form my other world. I moved from animals to plants, and then to rocks. Between the covers of all those books were whole worlds, and I was free to go anywhere in them. Along the way a funny thing happened: I started to know things. Teachers started to notice it too. I got to the point where I couldn't wait to get home to my books.
Now my older brother is an engineer and I am chief of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore. Sometimes I still can't believe my life's journey, from a failing and indifferent student in a Detroit public school to this position, which takes me all over the world to teach and perform critical surgery.
But I know when the journey began the day Mom switched off the TV set and put us in her Oldsmobile for that drive to the library.

Question: We can learn from the beginning of the passage that   _  .

Choices:
- the author and his brother had done well in school
- the author had been very concerned about his school work
- the author had spent much time watching TV after school
- the author had realized how important schooling was

Question: Which of the following is not true about the author's family?

Choices:
- He came from a middle-class family.
- He came from a single-parent family.
- His mother worked as a cleaner.
- His mother had received little education.

Question: How did the two boys feel about going to the library at first?

Choices:
- They were afraid
- They were reluctant.
- They were impatient.
- They were eager to go.

Question: The author began to love books for the following reasons EXCEPT that   _  .

Choices:
- he began to see something in his mind
- he could visualize what he read in his mind
- he could go back to read the books again
- he realized that books offered him new experience


Where can you find a nice place to relax on holiday for both you and your children? Well, I suggest you try the beautiful and green Isle of Wight (IOW). The Isle of Wight is one of the main tourist attractions. Here is some information on a few of the attractions on the IOW.
Dinosaur Isle
It is located in Sandown, a seaside town on the southeast coast. It's a large, lovely museum, both fun and educational. Here you can see a large fossil collection of all kinds of dinosaurs, as well as a gift shop. You can walk into the past and then the future, learning about the history and the development of the civilization of dinosaurs that lived 120 million years ago.
Robin Hill Country Park
The park is in the beautiful countryside, and is suitable for children's parties and games. It has five new gardens, and offers great opportunities to see and take pictures of the rare red squirrels.
The West of the Wight
Here we have the Marine Aquarium, the Archaeology Exhibition and the Model Railway. They offer another opportunity to combine fun with learning. This is a great place to see ancient boats crossing the narrow strait between the island and the mainland.
The Wight Bus Museum
This museum is run completely by unpaid volunteers. It has a bus collection stored in what was once a warehouse . Most of the buses in the museum date back to around the 1910's.
With all of these choices, what are you waiting for? IOW Tourism welcomes you!

Question: Where can you learn something as well as have a good time?

Choices:
- Dinosaur Isle and Robin Hill Country Park.
- Dinosaur Isle and the West of the Wight.
- The Wight Bus Museum and Robin Hill Country Park.
- The Wight Bus Museum and the West of the Wight.

Question: It can be learned from the passage that   _  .

Choices:
- those running the Wight Bus Museum work for free
- on Dinosaur Isle we can learn about all kinds of animals
- there are five new gardens on Dinosaur Isle
- the Wight Bus Museum can be visited free of charge

Question: The purpose of this passage is to   _  .

Choices:
- show the development of tourism on the IOW
- tell readers what is worth visiting
- attract readers to come to the IOW
- advise readers how to relax on holidays

Question: You can read this article in a   _  .

Choices:
- travel magazine
- science journal
- book review
- film advertisement


From their beginnings New England towns had a special democratic system of government. At a stated time all the citizens would assemble at a town meeting, where they would discuss local problems and express opinions freely. They also elected the town's officials at these gatherings and made decisions about the taxes they would pay and about other community matters. These meetings were usually held at the town hall, which was located in the central square.
In the eighteenth-century town meetings, only men who owned property and who were church members actually voted, although everyone present was allowed to express their opinions. Later, all citizens were allowed to vote. Thus the town meeting became truly democratic. Town meetings are still common in New England communities.
In recent years the town meeting idea has been widely imitated. There are open sessions of this kind on radio and television. Occasionally a meeting of this type is called by a government agency in order to give an opportunity for free and open discussion on current problems and policies.

Question: At a town meeting, people do the following things EXCEPT   _  .

Choices:
- express their opinions about the government
- elect officials of the towns
- make a decision about whom they should marry
- discuss some community matters

Question: In the 18th century, who had the right to vote?

Choices:
- All the citizens.
- All the men except those who were church members.
- The rich.
- The rich men and the church members.

Question: Why has the town meeting been widely imitated?

Choices:
- Because many people are interested in it.
- Because it is very democratic.
- Because many people enjoy themselves at town meetings.
- Because sometimes government agencies call them.

Question: According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

Choices:
- Citizens can elect the officials in the town meeting.
- In recent years, town meetings are often called by a government agency.
- People can say what they want to say at the town meeting.
- Nowadays this kind of meeting is also held on radio and television.

Question: This passage mainly talks about   _  .

Choices:
- the New England town meeting
- modern town meetings
- a democratic meeting
- New England towns


Recreational tree climbing is taking root in the ecotourism industry, and it's sending guys like Tim Kovar to far off reaches of the globe. Kovar, a tree-climbing instructor, recently returned to the U.S. from Brazil, where he spent time developing a tree-climbing operation thanks to the "slow travel" movement.
   Slow travel, is like the slow food movement, the practice of giving fast food in favor of homegrown cooking--the kind that takes hours to prepare and enjoy. Likewise, slow travel urges visitors to experience a place's natural surroundings and learn about the ecology in a way not afforded by extreme games.
   "Tree climbing is a slow activity," says Kovar. "It's not something you do quickly and then you're on to the next thing or event." There is no such thing as a quick climb, especially for beginners. This wasn't a race against the clock or the fellow climbers. In fact, tree climbing is unlikely to ever become a feature of the extreme games. Many climbers refuse competition. There has already been so much competition in the world.
"When you stand below the tree, it can be amazing," Rusel DeMaria says, looking affectionately up at Michael's Triumph, a 150-foot-tall tree. But reaching the treetop, he adds, is an entirely different feeling. Likewise, his wife, Viola Brumbaugh, kneels on the ground and asks Michael's Triumph for permission to climb. "It goes a lot smoother that way, "She says.
And climbing has been included into many educational programs. New Tribe offers guided climbs through its school, Tree Climbing Northwest, where "we teach enough tree biology and forest ecology to raise awareness in our students," says New Tribe present Sophis Sparks. "We know that the tree climbing experience deepens personal appreciation for trees. After climbing, people value trees more and are motivated to support preservation. This is not just to preserve their playground."
   Perhaps that is why he struggles with the term "recreational tree climbing," saying, "I prefer to call it inspirational tree climbing."

Question: What do slow travel and the slow food movement have in common?

Choices:
- They take people a long time.
- They are related to the eco-tourism industry.
- They advocate protecting nature.
- They cost people little money

Question: What do we know about tree climbing from the passage?

Choices:
- People compete to see who can climb to the top first.
- It favors the experience of enjoying nature.
- It is a kind of extreme sport and needs a lot of effort.
- People view it as a challenge to climb the tallest tree in a forest.

Question: Brumbaugh kneels on the ground before climbing trees to   _  .

Choices:
- beg for the safety of climbing
- Expect to climb faster than her husband
- Show respect for the tree
- ask for permission of her husband

Question: Sophia Sparks prefers the term "inspirational tree climbing" because it   _  .

Choices:
- provide people with more chances to play outside
- bring a lot of pleasure to life
- Deepens personal love between each other
- Makes people realize they should protect trees

Question: What's the best title for the passage?

Choices:
- Tree-climbing travelling
- Slow travel movements
- Dangers of climbing
- Respect for nature


Guide dogs are going to be available for the children who are unable to see normally in the UK for the first time, as the age limit is to be removed. The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is to begin training dogs to help blind people under the age of 16.
The association says too many youngsters with impaired eyesight are lacking in independence. They have only a limited social life because of their disability. Giving some of them guide dogs at a younger age is intended to help them to widen their range of activities and to improve their sense of self-confidence and independence. Guide dogs for these teenagers will begin to be provided from next year. There has been an experimental project to test the use of guide dogs with younger people.
Charlotte, aged 14, was among the youngest guide dog owners. She had been gradually losing her eyesight since the age of eight, and lost her eyesight completely this year. She has been assisted by a two-year-old guide dog. Charlotte used to have a long stick to help her move around, but having a guide dog allows her much more freedom and makes her feel safer.
However, the association says there is a worryingly _ supply of services for the young blind people across the UK, and it calls for national standards to be introduced. As with adult blind people, only a small number of them are likely to be considered suitable for a guide dog. Most will continue to rely on extra help and training from education and social services.

Question: We can learn from the text that owning guide dogs  _  .

Choices:
- may meet with difficulties sometimes
- is beneficial to blind children's development
- became possible in the UK recently
- is quite universal in the UK

Question: According to the text, Charlotte's example proves that  _  .

Choices:
- it is necessary to carry out the experimental project
- guide dogs can get along well with disabled people
- the association's opinion is not quite right
- youngsters need companions and friends

Question: What is the main idea of the text?

Choices:
- Blind people need guide dogs' assistance in their daily life.
- Age limit for the blind to have guide dogs is to be removed.
- More guide dogs will be trained in the UK.
- The project of using guide dogs is to begin.


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College Essays that Made a Difference
Price: US $ 13.95
Paperback 384 pages
The Princeton Review
ISBN: 0375763449
This book helps students get into the college they want by showing them what essays helped actual students achieve their dreams. The book tells you what colleges want to see using interviews with actual admissions officers. The book has sections on the basics of essay writing--grammar and punctuation (> as well as the sections looking at what topics you should write about and how you should communicate your personality in your work. It finishes by looking at the work of a great many successful applicants to America's top colleges, and some unsuccessful students to tell you what to avoid.

Question: With the three books, the Princeton Review aims at   _  .

Choices:
- offering students guides in making a difference in their jobs after university graduation
- offering guides on the writing of application essays for American universities
- showing students how to pass LSA T in the US
- showing college graduates what helped actual students achieve their dreams

Question: LSAT is most probably   _  .

Choices:
- an admission test given by a law school
- a test for admitted law students
- information on business and college
- information on GPA

Question: What's the purpose of writing the three texts?

Choices:
- To sell the books.
- To make the books easier to read.
- To show the importance of the schools.
- To introduce new authors


Some diaries from Jackie Chan's blog
January 4, 2009
Lately I've been busy in Beijing having meetings to discuss my new movie. I also attended John Wu's ceremony of his new movie,Red Cliff,which took two years to complete. I'm good friends with the director John Wu and the main actor Tony Leung.
January 5, 2009
Today I went to record a television program for Beijing TV calledVolunteers Across China. This TV program is a large-scale reality show that is based on the idea that "good people reap good rewards" and it hopes to encourage people to be more aware and help the "good people" who are in difficult situations.
January 6, 2009
I'm very pleased to _ that my Jackie Chan automobile website is set up and officially operating! I hope that through this automotive website, I can get in touch with more people who want to buy cars.
January 7, 2009
Today, I went to record a song calledZhongguo Nian. This song was written by Chang Shilei. I sing this song together with Tan Jing. Chang Shilei is a naturally talented musician. He also has an interesting habit. His piano is placed next to his bed. When he wakes up, he plays the piano until he's tired, and then he lies down on his bed to sleep.
January 9, 2009
Today I met with the producer and director ofLongwei Xiaozi ,and I also brought along my friend's daughter for a screen test. Although my friend's daughter grew up in China, her English is very good and it just happened by chance that this movie needs a young actress for a part, so I took her along to audition .

Question: What might be the best title for this passage?

Choices:
- My new movie.
- My busy life.
- My good friend.
- My favorite song.

Question: The TV programVolunteers Across Chinatries to

Choices:
- find some rich people who are able to help the poor.
- encourage people to look after the young.
- ask people to help "good people" who are in trouble.
- make China more and more famous all over the word.

Question: With whom does the author sing the songZhongguo Nian ?

Choices:
- John Wu.
- Tony Leung.
- Chang Shilei.
- Tan Jing.

Question: What can we infer from the text?

Choices:
-
It took the author two years to finish the movie
Red Cliff.
- People who are in trouble can ask Beijing TV for help.
- Chang Shilei is a famous actor who is good at playing the piano.
- Longwei Xiaozi needs a young actress for a part who can speak English well.


Engineers should embrace  the arts, Sir John O'Reilly, a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, argued in a lecture.
About 59% of engineering companies in the IET's 2014 survey feared skill shortages could threaten  business.
"There is nothing as creative as engineering," Sir John told the reporter. He says science, technology, engineering and mathematics - often known as "Stem" subjects, are vital for a modern knowledge economy. But there is a massive shortfall in the number of recruits  - with a recent study by the Royal Academy of Engineering saying the UK needs to increase by as much as 50% the number of Stem graduates it produces.
Delivering this year's Mountbatten Lecture at the Royal Institution, Sir John argued that engineers should recognise the role of the arts in their work - among other benefits; this could attract more people into the profession. The lecture, Full Steam Ahead for Growth, advocated a wider adoption  -- Steam, or science, technology, engineering, arts and maths. Engineers should embrace the arts as being key to creativity and an important component of innovation , crucial to creating new products and boosting future competitiveness, he argued. "Engineering and technology is an increasingly diverse and creative field," said Sir John.
Some university engineering departments already cooperated with art schools to develop understanding, he told the reporter. In particular he mentioned Cranfield University's Centre for Creative Competitive Design and Imperial College's work with the Royal College of Art. The two sets of people could work well together and more emphasis on the creative side of engineering could improve the success of products, he said.
"Aesthetics  is part of it," he told the reporter, adding that Apple's iPod was not the first digital media player, nor the only one that worked - but it came to dominate the market "because it was nice to have".
Sir John said he was not suggesting universities started requiring A-level art from engineering applicants - the key subjects for admission would continue to be maths and the sciences. But an emphasis on creative skills would help "broaden the pool and attract more people in".

Question: According to a recent study by the Royal Academy   _   .

Choices:
- skill shortages could threaten business
- engineering graduates are not as creative as expected
- there are not enough arts graduates produced in the UK.
- the UK needs more graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics

Question: According to the lecture Full Steam Ahead for Growth,   _   .

Choices:
- engineers should cooperate with arts majors
- Accepting the arts could attract more people into engineering
- engineers should realize arts play the most important part in their work
- engineering and technology is as diverse and creative as before

Question: By giving the example of Apple's iPod, Sir John intends to   _   .

Choices:
- stress the importance of arts
- stress the importance of marketing
- stress the importance of communication
- stress the importance of science and technology

Question: Which of the following is true according to the passage?

Choices:
- More university students should study arts instead of engineering.
- Engineering and technology is increasingly different and unrelated fields.
- The IET's skills survey raised concerns about the number of recruits to engineering.
- Students from some university engineering departments have already transferred to art schools

Question: What is the passage mainly about?

Choices:
- Lack of creativity makes it difficult for the engineering major to find a satisfactory job.
- The key subjects for engineering majors remain to be maths and the sciences rather than arts.
- University engineering departments should cooperate with art schools to improve the success of products.
- Engineering needs to emphasize its creative side to encourage more young people to choose it as a career.


For years, I thought that my mother would become a Centenarian    , but after 98 years and eight months, she recently died of old age. As it was with my father, her funeral took place in the most peaceful setting of the countryside of rural Washington County. Even after my father died, we continued to think of our parents as one. They were a team in the traditional sense. Church and family were their life- lines. They worked hard, never complaining. They expected to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow.
Once during a conversation with Tom Brokaw, who wrote the best- selling hook The Greatest Generation, I told him, "You left out my parents." They didn't go off to war, but they belonged to the Greatest Generation. They, too, were part of the foundation that made America truly great. They kept the home fires burning.
Our mother gloried in being a housewife and mother. Having been a teacher in her early adult years, when education was more important than anything else, she gave up her job to raise a family .She was an excellent cook, but she had to cook on a wood stove. There was no refrigerator, nothing electric. But nobody was ever better at making do. In addition to all the household chores and responsibilities, she went to the fields every day to help produce a crop to pay the rent and to provide for the family. She and my dad worked hard to save every penny possible.
They saved ever7 penny to buy a farm late in life. They also saved enough money to live out their respective live with home care without taking up residency in a nursing home. They were fiercely independent.  If you had suggested they accept a government transfer payment, they would have spit in your eye.

Question: Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

Choices:
- Mother played a great pan in the family.
- Mother died at the age of 98 years old.
- Mother was buried by the side of father.
- Mother survived father by many years.

Question: What do we know about Tom Brokaw?

Choices:
- He is one of the author's parents' friends.
- He likes talking with the author's parents.
- He takes up a position as a writer.
- He is good at managing a home.

Question: How does the author find his parents?

Choices:
- Brave and hardworking.
- Modest and warmhearted.
- Economical and independent.
- Respective and satisfied.


Unemployment in Europe has recently hit record highs. Although Denmark has been protected from economic problems thanks to its low public debt, qualified   professionals are still finding it tough to get a job. Danish marketing firm Reputation Copenhagen has come up with a way of helping academics get noticed -- putting them on display   in storefront windows.
Many highly-trained professionals, ranging from former CEOs to lawyers and tax experts, are currently finding it increasingly difficult to find proper employment on the Danish job market. Some of them have been trying for years, leaving their resumes   with dozens of companies, without ever hearing back from them, and are now at a point where they are willing to try anything, even putting themselves in display windows like goods, hoping to get noticed.
Alexander Peitersen, managing director of Reputation Copenhagen, came up with the idea of using his company's office as a storefront for the campaign  , as there are many businesses nearby that might be interested in the talents on display. So he set up a small desk, put up the "an available academic is sitting here" sign and asked the unemployed to just sit in the windows like goods. It seems like a pretty desperate measure, but at least it works. According to the agency's website, three of the jobseekers in their window display got a job in a day or two.
Peitersen says he came up with the idea after realizing human resource managers get hundreds of job applications every day, which look more or less the same, and that creative thinking is required in order to increase the chances of finding employment. Apart from companies interested in qualified job-seekers, the campaign has also attracted the attention of both local and international media.

Question: Which of the following words can be used to describe Peitersen?

Choices:
- Independent.
- Creative.
- Sensitive.
- Cautious.

Question: Some job-seekers are willing to put themselves in the windows to display in that   _  .

Choices:
- they think it is fashionable
- their parents ask them to
- it's increasingly difficult to get hired
- they find it's interesting

Question: It can be Inferred that   _  .

Choices:
- no companies show interest in the qualified job-seekers in the windows
- both local and international media don't agree with the campaign
- human resource managers have to reply to hundreds of applicants
- to some degree the window displays help people find jobs

Question: What is the text mainly about?

Choices:
- Job-seekers are displayed in the windows hoping to get hired.
- The rate of unemployment in Europe has recently become hitter.
- It is hard for qualified professionals to get a job.
- Denmark has avoided economic problems due to its low public debt.


Where and how you eat are just as important as what you eat. Take this test to find your eating style to make sure you're getting the nutrition   you need.
Which statements sound like you?
Group 1:
# I like to make my plate look pretty before I dig in for the first bite.
# I often help my parents make recipes.
# I could win the first prize in the "World's Slowest Eater" contest.
Group 2:
# The crumbs   in the sofa are mine -- I eat while watching TV.
# I can finish a whole box of snacks quickly while I'm doing something else.
# Sometimes I'm surprised to find my plate empty. Where did all the food go?
Group 3:
# Sometimes I eat my dinner standing up.
# I spend more time in the drive-through than at the dinner table.
# Breakfast? Who has time for breakfast?
If you answered mostly Group 1: You enjoy everything about food, from cooking it to enjoying it at the table. Eating slowly is a good thing -- it gives your brain time to know when you are full.
If you answered mostly Group 2: You can do lots of things at once. But if you eat while you're distracted  , you won't really enjoy your food and might eat more than you need. Instead of snacking while you watch TV or do homework, look for other things to do with your hands.
If you answered mostly Group 3: You're really busy. Try to make time for at least one sit-down meal a day. When you're on the go, don't eat salty, high-fat foods just because they're convenient. Pack healthy snacks in small bags that you can eat on your way out the door.

Question: The passage is mainly about   _  .

Choices:
- how to keep healthy
- whether you eat a balanced diet
- what your eating style is
- how to form a good eating habit

Question: Which of the following matches Group 1?

Choices:
- I like washing plates.
- I love buying cookers.
- I enjoy doing cooking by myself.
- I do everything slowly and carefully.

Question: If Tom answered mostly Group 2, which advice will you give him?

Choices:
- Place healthy snacks at hand while doing homework.
- Hold a ball in his hand while watching TV.
- Eat high-fat foods slowly and carefully.
- Help his parents make recipes now and then.


One of the most famous basketball-players in the New Castle's history was paralyzed  in a wheelchair one day...and was walking the next. Citizens of New Castle simply refer to it as "The Miracle".
Joel Haler woke up in his dorm room at Hope College last October totally paralyzed from the waist down. Four hospitals later, the only way he could walk was through Robotic Walking Treatment.
"This past Tuesday, I was doing the Robotic walk and lasted ten minutes," Joel said. After that, he gave up. Joel wanted to accept the inevitable  and cancelled his next Robotic Walking Treatment appointment.
Then, the night before his cancelled appointment, he woke up to a terrible pain. An hour and a half later, the serious pain left him with an unusual feeling in his legs.
"As it continued to move up my legs, it became more and more painful and it took an hour and a half to reach my hips ," Joel recalled.
"I stood up and walked into my parents' room. 'Mom and dad, look!'," he said proudly.
"He said something and I was like, 'Joel! Joel! You're walking! You're walking!' We jumped out of bed, cried and hugged," Joel's mom Karen remembered.
"I burst into tears. It's hard seeing your son not be able to walk, but he was standing there, walking," Joel's father Eric said, tearfully.
It was Thursday, January 23, when he could finally walk. That date made perfect sense to Joel. He had dreamt of a calendar that only said "J 23". He didn't know what to make of it until "a little boy at church, four years old, came up to me and said, 'you will walk on a Thursday'," Joel recalled.
So the 20-year-old college student, who could only walk with the aid of robot on Tuesday, was walking on his own.

Question: According to the passage, "The Miracle" is that_.

Choices:
- Joel Haler became the most famous basketball player
- Robotic Walking Treatment could cure paralysis
- Joel Haler could walk again after three months' paralysis
- a paralyzed boy could play basketball well

Question: Which part of Joel Haler's body didn't work?

Choices:
- His whole body.
- His legs and feet.
- His arms and hands.
- His arms and legs

Question: Before Joel Haler's walking again, his attitude to the illness was_.

Choices:
- positive
- indifferent
- optimistic
- hopeless


Catherine and I were on our way to our nephew's birthday party one rainy Saturday morning, driving along what some people call moose  alley. It was early, there were few other cars on the road and we were looking forward to a good day with the family. Suddenly, a moose rushed across our path. Fortunately, a quick swerve  to the other lane prevented a full impact, with only a small collision on the right side of our car ripping off the mirror and knocking the moose to the pavement.
By the time I stopped and looked back in my rear view mirror, the moose was getting up. It ran into the bush. Shaken but unharmed, we both looked at each other shocked by what had happened. We knew that moose accidents had claimed many lives throughout the years, and that we had been very fortunate to escape with no personal injury or worse. After a quick check of our vehicle, we drove off.
Even though the moose accident lasted just a few seconds, we still remember it to this day. Why?
We had often talked about the frailty of life, the here today and gone tomorrow potential we all face, but it had never felt so real. And it wasn't that we hadn't had friends, relatives and colleagues die before, it was that this experience was much more personal. In a matter of seconds, lives can easily change.
The effect of that one near miss with death has been positive, and made us appreciate life. Each one of us has only a limited time on this Earth; no one can predict when your time will end. We should give thanks for each day, to see the sun rise again, and to know that you can accomplish and assist others to appreciate their life if they are caught in the "poor-me" syndrome .

Question: What did the accident teach the author?

Choices:
- Being open to unexpected turns in life is important.
- Life is long if you know how to use it.
- Life is measured by thoughts and actions, not by time.
- Life is unpredictable, so we should treasure every moment.


Starting college can be a difficult experience. You have to deal with new responsibilities, growing independence, a challenging course load, and of course, the social scene. When a roommate is thrown into the mix, it may feel like you're struggling with all that stuff while living in a small box with a stranger.
But having a roommate doesn't need to be one more thing to worry about. When students go into their living situations with realistic expectations and a willingness to  _ , things can work out just fine.
When you first meet your roommate, chances are that you'll be on your best behavior. You want to get along since this is the person who's going to be sharing your living space for the next year. But try to think ahead to potential worst cases, too.
For example, imagine it's 2 am and you're working on a paper that's due in 8 hours. Your roommate comes in from a party and wants to continue the party in your room.
At times like these, you can't be feeling good. That's why talking about issues that might come up ahead of time and respecting each other's wishes when the time comes is so important.
Talk about the things that are really important to you, and make sure your roommate understands. Then encourage him or her to do the same.
For instance, does it make you angry when people take things without asking first? Let your roommate know your feelings about these types of things from the start. There are some things to talk to your roommate about so that both of you have a feel for each other's likes, dislikes and habits.

Question: When you go to college you have to   _  .

Choices:
- learn to look after yourself
- quarrel with others often
- take care of a stranger
- throw yourself into a separate room

Question: You should try to be polite to your roommate because   _  .

Choices:
- you will stay in touch with each other for a year
- you would like to get along well with each other
- something bad must take place in the future
- a stranger is very difficult to deal with actually

Question: What should you do if your roommate interrupts your preparing for the final examination?

Choices:
- Show anger to him or her.
- Blame him or her.
- Talk with him or her.
- Praise him or her.

Question: Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?

Choices:
- It is really a worrying thing to have a roommate.
- It is difficult to get along well with your roommate.
- It is your duty to help your roommate in the daily life.
- It is very important for you and your roommate to understand each other.


Teenagers are under a lot of pressure to be thin. They resort to starving, vomiting and eating only diet foods to try and be thin. Television is a big influence on them. They watch shows like Beverly Hills 90210 andMelrose Placeand feel they need to look as thin as the actresses on these shows. Society is brainwashing young people into believing that being thin is important and necessary.
Diet commercials are constantly appearing on our television screens telling us that once we lose weight, we will be happy. While you're standing at the grocery store you are surrounded by magazines claiming to have the newest and best diet. Each month another new diet appears claiming to be the diet to end all diets. If diets really worked, then why are there so many of them? The reason a new diet pops up each month, is that last's month's diets did not work. The truth of the matter is that DIETS DON'T WORK.
The diet and fashion industries are not totally to blame for society's obsession with thinness. We are the ones keeping them in business. We buy into the idea that we can attain the "ideal" body image. We allow ourselves to believe the lies being thrown at us constantly. We are throwing away our hard earned money trying to live up to the standards that society has set for us. It's unfortunate, but in today's society, people have forgotten that it's what's inside a person that counts, not what's on the outside. We need to start loving and accepting each other for who we are, not what we look like.
Once again, I would like to stress the fact that diets don't work. Eating three healthy meals a day, a few snacks and doing moderate exercise, will allow your body to go to its natural set point. Next time you decide that you are going to start another diet because you feel you are too fat, stop, sign up for a self-esteem class instead. That would be money well spent.

Question: What areBeverly Hills 90210andMeltrose Place ?

Choices:
- Fashion shows.
- Two famous place in America.
- Popular TV shows.
- Two TV channels.

Question: According to the author, which of the following statements is NOT true ?

Choices:
- Our society is flooded with diet commercials.
- The latest diet is necessarily better than all the previous ones.
- People in North America become crazy over Dieting.
- All diets are useless in fact

Question: We can infer from this passage that   _   .

Choices:
- if your diet doesn't work, the only thing you can do is to accept your body image .
- attending a self-esteem class will help you keep fit.
- we shouldn't pay attention to the size of our body.
- what's inside a person is much more important than his/her appearance.


A weather system known as a polar vortex brought dangerously cold weather to large parts of the United States this week. A polar vortex is a cold, thick low pressure system. The air turns counter-clockwise when on the move.
The polar vortex started up in Canada. After crossing the border, it moved deep into the southeastern United States. The polar vortex brought the coldest temperatures in more than 20 years to many areas. Alice Jenkins lives in Washington D.C.
"I have a coat on. I have three sweaters. I have two blouses. But I don't feel like I have anything on."
Another woman, named Amanda, lives nearby in Maryland.
"It's D.C. It's not supposed to be this cold."
The extreme weather started with a low-pressure system near the North Pole. The Arctic air was pushed as far south as Alabama on wind currents known as the jet stream. The bitter cold covered much of the central United States, forcing schools, government offices and businesses to
close.
But the polar vortex did not have the same effect everywhere.
Interestingly enough, it is warmer in Alaska and also somewhat warmer over Greenland because when you exhaust cold air in the North Pole and the Arctic region, when it's forced southward, it can't all stay there. Basically it's rushing towards us in the United States."
Camden Walker, a weather expert, says the weather system moved away quickly from places like Washington. But the cold air and high winds were staying longer in the middle of the country.
Temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius or lower were reported in Washington, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. In fact, temperatures in all or parts of the 50 states were below freezing at some point on Tuesday. Even in Hawaii, it was minus six degrees at the top of the state's highest mountain.
The effect of the polar vortex was extensive. Airline companies cancelled more than 11,000 flights over a four day period. The cold weather also interfered with train service. In the south, the Tennessee Valley Authority said it set a single day record for electricity as homeowners struggled to stay warm. But there was more to the picture.

Question: Which of the following statements about the polar vortex is NOT true?

Choices:
- It came from around the North Pole area.
- All the places it swept across became extremely cold.
- It caused Washington,
- It caused great losses in the U.S.

Question: Central U.S. was more severely affected by the cold because   _  .

Choices:
- it was the place where the polar vortex was born
- it was too low here for the polar vortex to leave
- it was close to Washington,
- it was the cold air and high winds that stayed longer here

Question: The passage is probably going to talk about   _   if it continues.

Choices:
- other damage the polar vortex caused
- how long the extreme weather will last
- what can be done to stop it happening again
- the best way to stay warm this winter


How do you get a man to do his share of the house work? If you are like most of the women, you will face the question the hard way.
   A man will enjoy a clean, orderly house, but he usually won't make the effort to clean or organize it. This doesn't mean that a woman has to do all the housework; she may have to manage many of household duties, and request his partner's participation. A woman can often say that men and women should take equal responsibility for housework.
   Very few men are raised to be fully responsible for housework, and many men look on housework as women's work. On the other hand, most men will readily work around the yard, make repairs and complete projects on weekends or evenings, and it's important that you give your man appreciation for those things too. Most man will take a little additional housework around the house if asked politely. They are even more likely to do housework if they choose what they want to do, and do it without being monitored.
   Here is the key; men want to feel that they are doing housework because they want to please their women. Men are much less likely to take on household tasks they consider uninteresting and unimportant. In other words,  _

Question: The passage is mainly about how to   _  .

Choices:
- get men to do some housework
- get men to serve their families
- praise men's housework
- make men do all the housework.

Question: According to the passage a man   _

Choices:
- is willing to do housework.
- likes to be told how to do housework
- is taught to be responsible for housework from childhood
- likes a clean house but doesn't make effort to do it.

Question: In order to get men to do some housework, women should often   _

Choices:
- order them to do their share.
- ask them to do some housework politely
- blame men's laziness
- monitor men's work

Question: According to the passage, which of the following would a husband most probably like to do?

Choices:
- clean the table
- cook breakfast
- repair the fence
- ask his wife to work on the yard.