questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "2005"
},
"options": [
"2005",
"2006",
"2007",
"2008"
],
"question": "In which did she start writing the book Walking onto the Edge of Life ?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Chinese writer and translator Yang Jiang died early on May 25, 2016 in Beijing at age 104. The longest-living Chinese woman writer, she was known for her modest, subtle and witty writing style.
Yang became a household name in China for her novels, essays, plays and translated works. Her most popular novel, Baptism, describing a group of intellectuals adjusting to a new society in the early 1950s, has been translated into French and English.
Yang began learning Spanish in 1959 at age 48, and started to translate Don Quixote in 1962. She was the first to translate Don Quixote into Chinese. The work was stopped twice due to the "cultural revolution". She completed it in 1976, and the Chinese edition was published in 1978 and has sold more than 1 million copies. In that year, the Spanish king and queen visited China, and then-leader Deng Xiao-ping gave the royal couple Yang's translation as a gift. Yang was received by Deng at the Great Hall of the People. While shaking hands, Deng asked her when she had completed the translation. "It's just published," she replied, having no time to tell the full story.
She was married to Qian Zhongshu, a well-known scholar and author of the best-selling novel Fortress Besieged. Yang's _ about her family, The Three of Us, written after her husband and daughter died, in 1998 and 1997 respectively, was translated into German.
Yang never stopped writing. At 94, she started writing the book Walking onto the Edge of Life to reflect on her life. It won China's top book award in 2007. At 100, she was still writing articles for newspapers. | high14733.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They can understand your strange behavior perfectly."
},
"options": [
"They grow old with you.",
"They are on the same diet with you.",
"They can understand your strange behavior perfectly.",
"They stand by you when oth... | I am one of seven children. My three sisters and I grew up in a small bedroom with two sets of beds. We shared a closet, a dresser, and just about everything else.
I had friends who were only children. I looked longingly at their perfect dolls and toys placed carefully on their perfect shelves in their perfect little girl bedrooms. They had bathrooms to themselves. _ .
Our bedroom always had stuff hanging about. There just wasn't room to store the paraphernalia of four girls who had definite ideas about how they wanted their space to be. All of us girls shared a bathroom with our three brothers. From a very young age, I really thought I was hard up.
Looking back, I had to admit my "only children" friends had nice things. They had designer beds and beautiful bedrooms, but I always had someone to play with and talk to. Even if everyone else hated me, one of my sisters would not and that was all I needed.
My sisters and I made up games and went around the neighborhood begging for old dresses so we could put on plays in our garage. Our house was the centre of activity for the whole neighborhood. We had dance shows and baseball games in the street. In short, we had everything we ever needed because we had each other. I have come to realize that there are so many reasons that sisters make a difference to your life and I can give you a few here:
They get you. Your sisters have grown up with you so they know the entire back story of your situation and everything leading to it. They may not agree with you all the time but they never wonder why you do what you do or say what you say.
They have suffered with you through awful times. I know that when one of my sisters is unhappy, I am unhappy too. When some non-family member tries to hurt you, the claws of them will come out!
They have cheered you on. Sisters do get jealous at times but, even so, they are happy that you are doing well. They _ at your new bonus as long as you take them out for drinks and fattening appetizers!
They are on the same diet as you. We are women in a world where thinness is equated with beauty. No matter how unjust this is, we are always on a diet. There is nothing like a sister calling and complaining about how she wants an ice cream and can't ever have one again.
They are aging at the same rate as you. As we get older, we change, and however miserable this can be, it is heartening to know that someone shares your misery. They know what you are going through because they are going through it too.
The last and best thing about sisters is that they stick with you. We can have our upsets and misunderstandings but we always come back to each other.
I know many people reading this may have had upsets with their sisters. All I can say is that communication fixes everything. If you miss your sister, tell her so. If you have a BFF(Best Friend Forever) that has stuck with you through thick and thin , adopt her as your sister and keep her close to you. | high9147.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the atmosphere of the interviews was very serious"
},
"options": [
"the atmosphere of the interviews was very serious",
"the author always did his best in doing everything",
"the author and Admiral Rickover were good friends"... | I had applied for the nuclear submarine program, and Admiral Rickover was interviewing me for the job. It was the first time I met Admiral Rickover, and we sat in a large room by ourselves for more than two hours, and he let me choose any subjects I wished to discuss. Very carefully, I chose those about which I knew most at the time - recent events, seamanship, music, literature, naval tactics , electronics, gunnery - and he began to ask me a lot of questions that were more difficult. Every time after my answers, he soon showed that I knew rather little about the subjects I had chosen.
He always looked right into my eyes, and he never smiled. I was _ with cold sweat.
Finally, he asked me a question and I thought it was my turn to show myself off. He said, "How did you stand in your class at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a first year student?" I had done very well, and I threw my chest with pride and answered, "Sir, I stood thirty-ninth in a class of 820!" I sat back to wait for the congratulations - which never came. Instead, the question: "Did you do your best?" I started to say, "Yes, sir," but I remembered who this was, and thought of several of my times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies , our enemies, weapons strategy and so on, so I finally said, "No, Sir, I didn't always do my best."
He looked at me for a long time, and then turned his chair around to end the interview. He asked one final question, which I have never been able to forget - or to answer. He said, "Why not?" I sat there for a while, shaken, and then slowly left the room. | high2012.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Nowadays everyone thinks it's all right to make noise."
},
"options": [
"Nowadays everyone thinks it's all right to make noise.",
"British law protects people from their neighbors' music at night.",
"The level of noise produc... | We show an amazing tolerance for a form of pollution that is a growing problem: noise. Airplane traffic is increasing by five percent a year. Urban noise is doubling every ten years. By air, land and sea, we are facing an onslaught of noise that is threatening our ability to live in this world. We have granted ourselves the right to make noise. But what about our responsibilities? Have we developed a sense of acoustic responsibility?
The evidence suggests that we have not. Many people seem to believe they have an unlimited right to make noise with cars and motorbikes, and with loud music at home and in the street. In some countries measures have been taken to force people to make less noise. In Britain, for example, a law has been passed preventing people from disturbing their neighbors with music at night.
It is widely accepted that we should deal with our rubbish in a responsible way. Noise is in reality a particularly insidious form of rubbish. It destroys community life, pursues us into our homes, keeps us from sleeping and is the cause of many stress-related illnesses, as well as hearing loss. Our acoustic environment belongs to all of us. Everyone has the right to use it, but no one has the right to abuse it. Let's start using it responsibly. | high21950.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "fear"
},
"options": [
"joy and happiness",
"amusement",
"embarrassment",
"fear"
],
"question": "We can use smile to express all of the following feelings except _ ,",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | People smile at times. However, the meaning of a smile in different cultures may be different. Depending on different cultures, smiling can express joy and amusement, but it can also show embarrassment .
People in the United States smile a lot. Every one smiles at each other in order to show they are open and friendly. However, in China, smiling is not only an expression of happiness, but also a way to avoid being embarrassed. Chinese people like smiling when they are embarrassed in order to avoid embarrassment. Smiling is a kind of good will but not sneer . For example: When a child falls down from a bike, the adults in China may smile, which is a kind of gentle encouragement and not a kind of impolite laugh.
When a person from the United States might blush with embarrassment or become offensive , a Chinese might blush with smile. To avoid serious misunderstanding, people who engage in intercultural communication should be able to understand the meaning of smiling properly. | high10555.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Book review."
},
"options": [
"Research paper.",
"Book review.",
"Biography.",
"Short story."
],
"question": "What type of literature does this passage belong to?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer... | "Benjamin Franklin," Walter Isaacson tells us at the beginning of his long (but never boring) new biography, "is the founding father who winks at us." By that, Isaacson explains, he means Franklin is the most human--and most modern--of the men who shaped the American republic. We admire Washington, Jefferson and Adams, but they remain creatures of the 18th century. The man we encounter in "Benjamin Franklin"--funny, pragmatic and selfaware -- seems like one of us, or at least someone we'd like to be.
Unlike Washington's cherry tree, Franklin's kite was real. His experiments with electricity made him one of the great scientists of his day. He was a middleclass businessman whose success as a printer and a journalist allowed him to retire at 42--and he devoted the rest of his life to his country. He was diplomat who persuaded the French to back the American Revolution and the author of the first great American autobiography. He was an excellent swimmer. There was almost nothing he couldn't do well, except write poetry. But what truly distinguished Franklin was his talent of being great and human at the same time. He owned slaves as a younger man, but in his last years became an abolitionist .When he fathered an illegitimate son, he acknowledged his fatherhood and took the responsibility of raising the boy.
He seems strange today in the joy he took in compiling and creating all those self- improvement _ he published in Poor Richard's Almanac -- "early to bed, early to rise" and so on. Generations of lazy boys could have been happier without that. But he was no hypocrite . Isaacson tells us Franklin practiced what he preached, and often laughed at _ while he did so.
By a happy accident, this is the second excellent biography of Franklin to appear in two years, after Edmund S.Morgan's inspiring "Benjamin Franklin." | high20496.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The author hates being late from the bottom of heart."
},
"options": [
"The author is always late for work or any activities.",
"The author dislikes making friends with unpunctual persons.",
"The author hates being late from ... | My transportation was unexpectedly smooth and I arrived at the meeting half an hour earlier. I kept my eyes on the restaurant door. Several customers entered, but not my friend. At 6:00 pm, she sent me a text message: "Urgent work to finish. Will be 20 minutes late."
I had left my book in the office, so I spent the time thinking of my experiences of being late in China. On my first visit in 1985, punctuality was deeply rooted in the Chinese hearts. There were no traffic jams then.
As a teacher in Canada, I always insisted on punctuality. I would open the classroom door to a late student for the first time and the second, but not the third. During the six years I worked for CCTV, I had a Chinese friend whom I often saw at lunch time, or after work. We used to meet at the subway station nearby. He was always late by 10-20 minutes. To my question, "You were busy?" he would surprisingly answer, " No." Once I asked him to check the clock in his office, he smiled.
In March 2015, I got permanent residence in China. The ceremony was scheduled for 9:00 am at the Public Security Bureau on the Second Ring Road. I told my driver I had to get there by 8:40 am. "No problem," he replied. But he thought he had time to drop someone off at the airport before picking me up. I desperately waited for him. Then, to rub salt into my wound, he had to stop at the exit of a gas station. Finally, I entered the room at 9:07 am -- the last guest to arrive! | high11893.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "isn't very special from other children"
},
"options": [
"is famous but a little proud",
"isn't very special from other children",
"isn't worth praising at all",
"is hard to get along with"
],
"question": "In Kie... | Kieron Williamson, a seven-year-old British boy, is being recognized as an art genius after selling 16 paintings for 18,000 pounds in just 14 minutes. This boy has artistic skills that would be the envy of any serious painter and drawn comparisons to Pablo Picasso, a child prodigy who became one of the most recognized artists of the 20th century.
It all began on a family holiday to Cornwall on the southwest English coast when Kieron was five. Inspired by the view, he asked his parents for his first sketch-pad .From that moment on, he became deeply interested. While supportive, Kieron's parents are careful not to push their son. He only paints when and what he wants.
He has a waiting list of hundreds and requests for his work have been flooding in. His father said a sale of Kieron's works held in November even drew a buyer from Japan. "We had people driving down that night, there were people on the door waiting to come in the morning who had been standing outside, the phones were going mad as soon as the door opened at nine o'clock and within 14 minutes all the 16 pictures had gone," he said.
All this talent, money and high praise could so easily go to a young boy's head, but Kieron said his friends keep him grounded. "Some of them want to be as good as me and some of them think... Umn, 'you are not too special'," he said.
Kieron's favorite painter is British artist Edward Seago and he has spent some of his earnings buying a work by his hero. The rest is being invested by his parents until he reaches 25. Kieron's parents and his younger sister Billi-Jo don't see him as anything other than a normal seven-year-old who likes to tear around the house and who's mad about football. But for now, with so much still to learn, there's only one thing he wants to be when he grows up. He said, "I think I'll definitely be an artist." | high18109.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "King Momo takes over the key of the city."
},
"options": [
"the mayor announces officially",
"King Momo appears",
"King Momo takes over the key of the city.",
"the mayor comes with the King Momo."
],
"question":... | Carnival is an explosion of joy. It is a festival that mixes creativity, color1s, sounds, costumes and so on.
The carnival in Rio starts on Saturday, and ends on Tuesday.
Little need to be said about the carnival in Rio. Every year, Rio hosts the world's largest carnival. The samba school parades are world-famous.
The festival begins officially when the city's mayor hands over a giant silver and gold key to the Fat King (King Momo) . Then people dance, sing, party and have tons of fun. There are many parties that take lace before, during and after the carnival all night and all day.
Samba schools are not teaching institutions as their names suggests and do not offer samba classes.There are over 70 samba schools in Rio de Janeiro and they all parade during the 4-day celebration.They are organized into six competitive leagues.They are the Special Group A,B,C,Dand E.The first three groups parade in the Sambodromo.The other groups parade on the streets and are free to watch and join in.The biggest and most popular 12 leading schools are from the Special Group.They create a pageant with 3,000 to 5,000 people competing in the Samba Parade in the Sambodromo on Carnival Sunday and Monday.
Balls takes place every night throughout the week, together with a variety of costume contests.
One of the most frequent questions we hear is " What is the date of the carnival this year?" Well, believe it or not , it is not an easy question to answer. You have to be part astrologer , part mathematician, and part priest. | high21788.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "At a gathering"
},
"options": [
"At home",
"At a grocery",
"At a gathering",
"In a restaurant"
],
"question": "Where was Douglas talking about Lincoln's low position in life?",
"question_type": "factiod_ques... | One day, President Lincoln went to a party. At the gathering, a man called Douglas was repeatedly talking about Lincoln's low position in life and saying that he first met Lincoln when he was a shop assistant at a village shop. Finally he said, "And Mr. Lincoln was a very good waiter too."
People burst into laughter, but they quieted down when Mr. Lincoln said quietly.
"Gentlemen, what Mr. Douglas has said is true. I did keep a grocery , and I did sell cotton, candles and cigars, and sometimes whiskey . But I remember that in those days Mr. Douglas was one of my best customers. I often stood on one side of the counter and sold whiskey to Mr. Douglas on the other side, but the difference between us now is: I have left my side of the counter, but Mr. Douglas still sticks to his as firmly as ever." | high4463.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Molten rock flowing into the continental gap."
},
"options": [
"A series of earthquakes.",
"Molten rock flowing into the continental gap.",
"The cracking of the crust.",
"The pressure under the ground."
],
"ques... | The Red Sea is parting again, but this time no one can help. Satellite pictures show that the Arabian plate and the African plate are moving away from each other, stretching the Earth's crust and widening the southern end of the Red Sea.
Last September, series of earthquakes started splitting the planet's surface in Ethiopia. Over a period of three weeks, the sides on the rift separated by 26 feet.
"We think that the crust is melted slowly at depths greater than 10 kilometers, where it is hotter, forming molten rock," said Tim J Wright. "This molten rock rises through the crust because it is less dense than the surrounding rock."
The molten rock collects at depths of 3 to 5 kilometers. Wright explained, "Slowly, the pressure has been building up until last September when it finally cracked, breaking the crust."
The entry of molten rock into the gap between continents, rather than the cracking of the crust, is responsible for separation of continent drifts. For the past 30 million years Africa and Arabia have been going through the continental rifting process, the same one that made the Red Sea part again.
"The ground is continually moving---much more rapidly now than before," Wright said. "On average, the two sides move apart at about 2 centimeters per year."
This latest split, added to the long-term rifting process could eventually create a huge new sea. Although such processes could take millions of years to occur, this event has given scientists an opportunity to examine the break in real time. | high19217.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "always discover the unpleasant side of certain things"
},
"options": [
"always consider things differently from others",
"usually are affected by the results of certain things",
"usually misunderstand what others think or say... | There are two types of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other forts of life, one bees happy and the other bees unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.
People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, offend (hurt) many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation . It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people offend many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most mon politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one bees mixed up in their quarrels. | high16642.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "express ideas based on what one has read"
},
"options": [
"gain knowledge and expand one's view",
"understand the meaning between the lines",
"express ideas based on what one has read",
"get information and keep it aliv... | This brief book is aimed at high school students, but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.
Its formal, serious style closely matches its content, a school-masterly book on schooling.The author, W.H.Armstrong, starts with the basics: reading and writing.In his opinion, reading doesn't just mean recognizing each word on the page; it means taking in the information, digesting it and incorporating it into oneself just as one digests a sandwich and makes it a part of himself.The goal is to bring the information back to life, not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees.Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other; in fact, the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text.I've seen it again and again:some-one who can't express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn't read it at all.
Only a third of the book remains after that discussion, which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages, math, science and history.He generally handles these topics thoroughly and equally, except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion regarding history to his students, that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across.To my disappointment, in this part of the book he ignores the arts.As a matter of fact, they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do, though the study differs slightly in kind.Although it's commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired, actually, learning the arts is no more natural than learning French or mathematics.
My other comment is that the text aged.The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s--none of the references seem newer than the late 1950s.As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age.
These are small points, though, and don't affect the main discussion.I recommend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student. | high4305.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To introduce the topic of the passage."
},
"options": [
"To show his success in architecture.",
"To introduce the topic of the passage.",
"To show his talent for communication skills.",
"To tell readers how to deal with... | Once architect Frank Lloyd Wright built a house for businessman Hibbard Johnson. One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining guests for dinner when the roof began to leak. The water leaked through directly above Johnson, dropping steadily onto his bald head. Angry, he called Wright."Frank,"he said,"you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But ... the roof leaks, and right now I'm with some distinguished guests and it's leaking right on top of my head."There was a pause on the line, and Frank replied,"Well, why don't you move your chair?"
Just when we'd like to have everything perfect in our lives, the roof springs a leak into even the best constructed and waterproof lives. Leaks happen. We have a choice, we can sit under the leak and complain, or we can regain our joy by moving our chair -- changing our perspective.
Now, some will point out that the reason they have no joy in their lives is that they don't have a reason to be joyful. They have a lot of leaks in their roof. Life seems like it's fallen apart. They aren't satisfied with their job, if they even have one. Their family has problems. Their health isn't good. Their car is under repair. They just can't see a"reason"for being joyful. It's hard to be joyful when life is going against you. It's hard to be joyful when you're struggling with troubles, or defeated by pain, or unsure of your future.
But there's a problem with that approach to life. If we wait till everything turns out the way we want them to in our lives or we're not going to be joyful until all the leaks are repaired in the roof of our lives...THEN we're never going to experience joy.
There's an alternative. You don't have to wait until you're happy with your life. Deep spiritual joy in your life will always bring you happiness. But the pursuit of happiness won't always bring you joy. People have a hard time understanding the difference. Worldly happiness almost always relies on some situation or event to make us feel good. If something good happens, we'll feel good, but if something bad happens, we won't.
By contrast, spiritual joy doesn't depend on present situation. In fact, spiritual joy can often exist despite our circumstances. Don't let other people steal your joy. If the roof is leaking and you can't get someone to fix it right away, move your chair. Change your perspective. Lay hold of joy and take control of your circumstances, rather than swinging with your emotions and continuing to look for happiness. | high19571.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A flight should meet any passenger's need despite others' benefit"
},
"options": [
"Any religious passenger has the right to ask the pilot to take off",
"The airline has the right to cancel the flight without any reason",
"A ... | My husband and son took a New York-to-Milwaukee flight that was supposed to leave Friday at 11:29 am. The flight boarded after 4 pm and didn't leave the gate until 4:40, and half an hour later the pilot announced it would be another hour until takeoff. At that point a Jewish family, worried about violating the Sabbath , asked to get off. Going back to the gate cost the plane its place in line for takeoff, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Was the airline right to grant that request?
M. W, Norwalk, CONN.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Situations like that can bring out the worst in people. But despite the increasing resentment of a plane full of people, the pilot tried to do the right thing. He went out of his way to satisfy one family's urgent need. He should not have done so.
Passengers bought tickets in the belief that the airline's primary goal was to get them to their destination as close to the schedule as possible. Once they got on the plane and the doors are locked, it's not correct to announce that the rules have changed and that a personal (as opposed to medical) emergency --no matter how urgent -- might take precedence .
_ , since on a plane, even a slight delay can spread outward, from the people in the cabin to those meeting them to the passengers waiting to board the plane for the next leg of its journey and so on. It would also be true if the personal emergency were not religious -- if someone suddenly realized she'd made a professional mistake that might cost her millions, and she had to race back to the office to fix it.
If a religious practice does nothing to harm others, then airlines should make a reasonable effort to accommodate it. Though that family has every right to observe the Sabbath, it has no right to enlist an airplane full of captive bystanders to help them do so. By boarding a flight on a Friday afternoon, the family knowingly risked running into trouble. The risk was theirs alone to bear. | high2774.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "China is a country with a long history in sports."
},
"options": [
"China is the original country of football.",
"China is a country with a long history in sports.",
"People in China used to play football well.",
"Women... | (part of Yanglan's speech in Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic games)
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen. Good afternoon!
Before I introduce our cultural programs, I want to tell you one thing first about 2008. You're going to have a great time in Beijing.
Many people are fascinated by China's sport legends in history. For example, back to Song Dynasty, about the 11th century, people started to play a game called Cuju, which is regarded as the origin of ancient football. The game was very popular and women were also participating. Now, you will understand why our women football team is so good today.
With a concept inspired by the famed Silk Road, our Torch Relay will break new ground, traveling from Olympia through some of the oldest civilizations known to man-Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Byzantine, Mesopotamian, Persian, Arabian, Indian and Chinese. Carrying the message "Share the Peace, Share the Olympics," the eternal flame will reach new heights as it crosses the Himalayas over the world's highest summit - Mount Qomolangma, which is known to many of you as Mt. Everest. In China, the flame will pass through Tibet, cross the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, travel the Great Wall and visit Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the 56 ethnic communities who make up our society. On its journey, the flame will be seen by and inspire more human beings than any previous relay.
I am afraid I can not present the whole picture of our cultural programs within such a short period of time. Before I end, let me share with you one story. Seven hundred years ago, amazed by his incredible editions of a far away land of great beauty, people asked Marco Polo whether his stories about China were true. He answered: What I have told you was not even half of what I saw. Actually, what we have shown you here today is only a fraction of Beijing that awaits you.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that Beijing will prove to be a land of wonders to athletes, spectators and the worldwide television audience alike. Come and join us.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you all. | high10233.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He didn't mean to pay the gratuity at all."
},
"options": [
"He was bargaining with the waiter.",
"He didn't mean to pay the gratuity at all.",
"God gave him the privilege not to pay a gratuity.",
"The gratuity had alre... | A man claiming to be a pastor apparently tried to stiff a waiter on a tip, explaining that his work for God allowed him not to leave one.
A photo of the receipt, posted to Reddit.com, shows a bill for $34.93 with an automatic 18 percent gratuity (or $6.29) added above a blank space for an additional tip.
"I give God 10%," the diner wrote on the receipt, scratching out the automatic tip. "Why do you get 18?" He then wrote "Pastor" above his signature, and an emphatic "0" where the additional tip would be. (The automatic gratuity, however, had already been added to the total.)
The Reddit user who submitted the image explained in the comments section that the receipt was part of a total bill for a party of 20, which is why the gratuity was automatically added.
"Parties up to eight ... may tip whatever they'd like, but larger parties receive an automatic gratuity," the server wrote. "It's in the computer; it's not something I do."
The server added: "They had no problem with my service, and told me I was great. They just didn't want to pay when the time came."
Scribbling notes on receipts has become something of a trend. Earlier this month, the manager of a North Carolina Red Robin surprised an overdue pregnant woman by comping her meal.
"Once seated, a manager came up to us and started talking," the woman's husband told Consumerist. "He was extremely friendly and jokingly asked my wife if this was her last meal before heading to the hospital."
When the check came, a note from the manager next to her portion of the bill read: "MOM 2 BEE GOOD LUC."
"It was a pleasant surprise and made my tired-of-being-pregnant wife a little more cheery," the man said. | high24196.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "early Chinese sailors"
},
"options": [
"restaurant workers",
"early Chinese sailors",
"Hong Kong farmers",
"visitors to London"
],
"question": "From the passage, we can learn that the first members of \"China to... | London's Chinese community dates back to the 18th century, when a small number of Chinese sailors moved to the city to work in Lime house, east London. As time went on, other Chinese people came to this area and Lime house began to be known as "Chinatown". At the start of the 20th century, there were just 545 Chinese people in Britain. However, this situation changed greatly after the Second World War. At this time, many farmers in Hong Kong lost their jobs, and decided to move to London.
In the 1950s, a small Chinese restaurant opened in central London. Many British people visited it and said that Chinese food was wonderful. Suddenly, Chinese restaurants started opening in every part of the city. Instead of too little work, the new Chinese immigrants now found that they had too much. Most of the new immigrants enjoyed their life and the chances they were offered. Many asked their friends and relatives to join them from their hometowns, and a lot of families were reunited again at this time.
As time went by, London's Chinese community became more and more successful. The sons and daughters of the first restaurant workers, encouraged by their parents, studied very hard at school and university. And most of them could get highly-paid jobs. As a result, increasing numbers of Chinese families left Chinatown and moved to the more expensive places. Chinatown, however, is still as lively as ever, and a must see place for every visitor to London. | high14055.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A love poem which has been kept secret from others."
},
"options": [
"A war poem published in a book.",
"A great poem which has won many prizes.",
"A fine poem downloaded from the Internet.",
"A love poem which has been... | Calling all poets! TIME For Kids(TFK) has a challenge for you.
WHO: The contest is open to students who are 8 to 13 years old.
WHAT: Write a funny, rhyming poem and enter it in the TFK Poetry Contest. By entering, the entrant should promise that the poem is an original one that does not copy another poet's work, has not been published in an y medium and has not won an award.
HOW: Send your poem by e-mail to contest@poetry4kids.com. The subject line of your e-mail message should read "TFK POETRY CONTEST". Be sure to include your first name only, your e-mail address and your parents' e-mail address. Limit one entry per person or e-mail account. The sponsor is not responsible for lost, late or incomplete entries, or those not received for any reason.
WHEN: This contest begins 12:01 a.m. on January 13,2013, and ends 11:59 p.m. on March 1,2013.
JUDGING: All entries will be judged by poet Kenn Nesbitt, based on the following standards: creativity and o riginality (50%),use of language and rhyme (25%) and relatedness to contest theme(25%).Winner will be informed by e-mail and must respond within five days.
WINNER'S LIST: For names of the winner and finalists, visit timeforkids.com (after April 1,2013, you can get for a period of 10 days).
PRIZE: Our judge will select four semifinalists from which one grand-prize winner and three finalists will be chosen. The one grand-prize winner will receive an online class visit from poet Kenn Nesbitt and a signed copy of one of his books of poetry. The poem of the grand-prize winner will be published on timeforkids.com. The finalists will receive signed copies of one of Nesbitt's books of poetry. The poems of finalists will be published on timeforkids.com. | high9621.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "wants to be a businessman like his father."
},
"options": [
"got the disease at the age of 12.",
"was proud of his exam results.",
"has no interest in any sports.",
"wants to be a businessman like his father."
],
... | Afraid that her son would be too tired, Ms. Wendy would sometimes tell the boy to skip school, but each time, Fabian would insist on going to school.
"I don't like _ because when I return to school, I don't know what's going on," the 12-year-old boy explained. He suffers for SMA-a neuromuscular disease that leads to weakness in muscles-and gets around in a wheelchair.
Fabian's determination to excel in his studies was evident when he was disappointed that he got a total score of 236 yesterday in his Primary School Leaving Examination. He was hoping for a score of at least 240, but his mother was full of pride. "I am happy with his results. He's very motivated," said Ms. Wendy.
When Fabian was two months old, he was diagnosed with SMA. Ms. Wendy, who used to go to other homes to teach piano lessons, started teaching lessons at home so she could take care of her son. Fabian proved to be a fighter. Ms. Wendy said, " He would study every day on his own even though he was weak and his spine was already starting to curve quite badly."
Fabian is also active in the Singapore Disability Sports Council, where he plays boccia , a ball sport for those who require a wheelchair due to physical disability.
At just 133cm tall and weighing 14kg, he knows that he will have to rely on others all his life. "I'm afraid that when my parents grow older, they will not be able to carry me and that there will be nobody to carry me," said Fabian. "But for now, I feel lucky that I get to go out and do a lot of things that I thought I couldn't."
His dreams aren't lofty either-all he want to be able to do is work and provide for his parents. "I just want to study hard so that I can be a businessman, like my dad." He is planning to apply to study at Victoria School. | high931.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the father was advised to get rid of grasshoppers with insecticide"
},
"options": [
"the tomatoes in the garden were badly damaged by grasshoppers",
"the father was advised to get rid of grasshoppers with insecticide",
"the f... | They were just grasshoppers . But there were millions of them, which was why dad was so anxious to get rid of them.
"They're totally destroying our beans," he told Mom over lunchtime one Saturday. "I've been trying to keep them out of the tomatoes, but I don't know if I can make it."
"Isn't there something you can do about them?"Mom asked. She was mostly concerned about the tomatoes. "I think there's a spray or something," Dad said. "I'm going down to the garden center after lunch and see if they have any suggestions."
I'm pretty sure that's what he said. But what I heard was, "While I'm gone, why don't you and George come up with your own plan for getting fid of the grasshoppers?"
And so that's what we did. It was the summer between fifth and sixth grade, so we were feeling pretty clever and mature. Certainly we knew how to get rid of these grasshoppers. That seemed simple enough. Finally Ron and Don joined us but then, things got a little crazy. Before we knew it we were doing terrible experiments. I won't describe our experiments. Let's just call it "The Adventures of the Marquis de Orkin". Da came home and saw these different deaths. We were laughing, but the laughter quickly turned to silence when we saw the look on my dad's face.
"What are you boys doing?" he asked .
"We're just sort of helping to get rid of the grasshoppers," I said.
"This isn't 'getting rid of grasshoppers,'" Dad said. "This is killing."
I was confused. I looked at the insecticide he was carrying. "But aren't you going to kill grasshoppers with that?" I asked.
"Yes, because it's something we need to do for the protection of our garden," he said seriously. "But I'm not going to enjoy it." | high23821.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they couldn't go on enjoying their walk"
},
"options": [
"they had to do the heavy housework again",
"they had no way to earn their living",
"they couldn't go on enjoying their walk",
"they had experienced too many diff... | A husband-and-wife team from California reached the Pacific Ocean after a 4,900-mile cross-country walk, becoming the first to backpack the American Discovery Trail in one continuous walk.
Marcia and Ken Powers,of Pleasanton,started the travel across 13 states,through 14 national parks and 16 national forests on Feb.27 from Cape Henlopen in Delaware.Nearly eight months later,the excited couple walked through water into the Pacific Ocean at Point Reyes,a day ahead of time.
"We are a little sad that a great adventure is over.It was a fantastic adventure.And now we go home and just de housework.It's really sad."Marcia,who said she's in her 50s,and her 60-year-old husband _ cities,deserts,mountains and farmland before reaching the Pacific alone with arms around each other's backpacks.
They overcame deep snow in the East,a quicksand in Utah,close lightning strikes in the Midwest and strong desert sandstorms in the West while averaging 22 miles a day and taking only four days off.But they enjoyed the French history of St Louis,the beauty of the Colorado Rockies and the kindness of strangers they met along the way.
They particularly remember two brothers--a doctor and dentist--who put them up in their homes around Chester,Ill.,after terrible days,and a motorcyclist who gave them water after they failed to find any on Utah's lonely Wah Wah Desert.
"Americans are truly warm-hearted and wonderful people."Marcia Powers said."We got to meet people that we would never meet in our daily living at home.We got to touch it with our feet and hands and smell all its scents and hear its wildlife.It's an amazing country,"she added. | high24182.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The BBC has to cut down its cost."
},
"options": [
"The BBC wants to earn more money.",
"The BBC would like to support British football sport.",
"The BBC is planning to save money for new programs.",
"The BBC has to cut... | Mark Thompson, the BBC's director general, is expected to announce on Thursday that the BBC will quit its entire west London home -- possibly selling the land to Chelsea football club -- as part of main plans that will see more staff moved out of the capital to Salford and elsewhere.
The move is at the heart of the BBC's long-awaiting cost-cutting strategy which will see nearly 2,000 more jobs going at the public broadcaster, and some original programming,such as daytime shows on BBC2, _ to save money.
Several thousand people are employed at the west London sites,including Thompson himself and the bosses of all the BBC's television channels.The employees are expected to be relocated to Broadcasting House in central London, Salford, or elsewhere.
The BBC has been broadcasting at various locations in the Shepherd's Bush area since moving into Lime Grove in 1949.It then switched to the Television Centre in 1960,and more modern offices at nearby White City.But it is now open to selling the site, and the broadcaster has had talks about attracting Premier League clubs Chelsea or Queen's Park Rangers as buyers.Both clubs are looking for new homes.
Earlier leaks suggest that the BBC will seek to cut spending on sports where the corporation has already decided to share coverage of Formula 1 with Sky TV -- and imports,such as Mad Men and The Killing.BBC4 is expected to focus on "arts and archive ", but Thompson has long ruled out closing any channels or radio stations.BBC1 and Radio 4 will be protected,but there are expected to be some cuts to local radio programs, which will see stations share shows outside breakfast and drive-time hours.
The corporation is already committed to remove TV Centre by 2015, but because parts of the building are listed, the football clubs have expressed an interest in the BBC's White City offices instead,which could be knocked down. The White City building is where Thompson and the broadcaster's commercial division, BBC Worldwide, are based.
BBC sources say the 2,500 job losses being proposed include the 650 cuts to the World Service already announced, with up to l,000 coming from BBC News.It is understood that some staff who have only just made the move to Salford could see their jobs at risk. Salford is now home to Radio5 Live, children's programs such as Blue Peter, and sports output including Match of the Day. | high6506.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Combining art with science is really vital in making Apple's products noticeable"
},
"options": [
"Steve Jobs is the first one who founded the Silicon Valley",
"Steve Jobs is only memorized for the popular device iPhone",
"Co... | The man behind the Apple empire died at 56 last year. He was one of the people who made Silicon Valley the capital of technological invention. Author and business consultant Jim Collins once called Jobs the "Beethoven of business". When asked what Steve Jobs will be best remembered for, many of us would name a particular product:the iPod, the iPhone or the iPad, for example. But in the eyes of Eric Jackson, a reporter with Forbes magazine, Jobs brought the world much more than these popular devices . Here are some of the lessons he taught us:
1. The most lasting inventions mix art and science. Jobs pointed out that the team members working with Apple were trained in anthropology , art, history, and poetry. He believed this was important in making Apple's products stand out.
2. Never fear failure. Jobs was fired by the successor he himself chose. It was one of the most public embarrassments of the last 30 years in business. However, Jobs didn't hide away or try to get a new job. He _ and got back to work.
3. You can't look forward to connecting the dots--you can only look backward. This means that, however much we try to plan things ahead of time, life is always full of unexpected things. What seems like bitter pain and defeat could turn out to sow the seeds of unimaginable success in years to come. You can't connect the dots looking forward. But you have to trust that all the dots will be connected in the future.
4. Listen to that voice in tile back of your head that tells you if you're on the right track or not. Most of us simply decide that we're going to work in finance or become a doctor because it's what our parents tell us to do. Whatever your voice is telling you, it is smart to listen to it--like Jobs did.
Just as Caroline and Amy from his empire put it, "Steve was one of the most inspiring yet toughest boss ever--but who else could have built Apple? What Steve left is sure to inspire generations of creative thinkers to think differently. His influence will be felt throughout the world." | high9635.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Smokers Have Much Worse Everyday Memory"
},
"options": [
"The Effects That Smoking Has on Health",
"New Research on Third-Hand Smoking",
"Smokers Have Much Worse Everyday Memory",
"Anti-Smoking Campaigns Are Active Arou... | People who smoke could lose around one third of their everyday memory, researchers say.
A study by a team at the University of Northumbria has shown that smokers lose more of their memory when compared to non-smokers. And the research also found that those who _ saw their ability to recollect information restored to almost the same level as non-smokers.
The study involved more than seventy 18-to 25-year-old volunteers and included a tour of the university's campus. Those who took part were asked to recall(;)small details, such as music acts listed to play at the students' union and tasks completed at various points---known as a real-world memory test.
Smokers performed badly, remembering just 59 percent of tasks. But those who had given up smoking remembered 74 percent and those who had never smoked recalled 81 percent of tasks.
Dr. Tom Heffernan, who leads Northumbria University's Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research Group, said the findings would be useful in anti-smoking campaigns. He said, "Given that there are up to 10 million smokers in the UK and as many as 45 million in America, it's important to understand the effects that smoking has on everyday cognitive function."
This is the first time that a study has set out to examine whether giving up smoking has an effect on memory. We already know that giving up smoking has huge health benefits to the body, but this study also shows how stopping smoking can bring a series of benefits to cognitive function. The research will now investigate the effects of second-hand smoking on memory, while Dr. Heffernan will look into third-hand smoking, such as toxins left on curtains and furniture. | high14041.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To discuss how much the media affects the role models UK's young people choose."
},
"options": [
"To analyze what influences UK's youth culture.",
"To criticize the media's influence on UK's youth culture.",
"To figure out wh... | EVERY so often, a sensational story hits the media about the kind of role models influencing UK teenagers. Youth culture celebrates too many bad examples, the reports say, and the finger of blame is often pointed at celebrities who drink or take drugs, or who are seen as sexually casual. Yet according to parents and educationalists the media itself is partly to blame. They argue that television, newspapers and magazines are obsessed with celebrity lives and over-promote a "celebrity culture" in which reality show stars are respected purely because they are on television.
Meanwhile child psychologists warn of the negative effects of unsuitable role models, claiming that young people are being brainwashed into wanting to become famous overnight. They are taught to value physical appearance over personal achievement and set themselves impossible goals. According to a 2010 Home Office study, too many girls think that they have to look "sexy" and "hot" like their idols , and when they can't achieve this, they lose self-esteem or suffer from depression and eating disorders.
But perhaps young people today are not as easily influenced as we think. The Girls' Attitudes Survey by Girlguiding UK (2011), for example, showed that young girls aged 11 to 21 questioned the media's description of women. Over half of the respondents disagreed with the statement that "girls and young women are portrayed fairly in the media".
A Scout Association survey, of over a thousand 13- to 18-year-olds, showed that teenagers see their parents and siblings as far more positive role models than celebrities, and while many youngsters list celebrities like Kate Moss and Katie Price as role models, others list high achievers like David Beckham, Paralympian swimmer Eleanor Simmons, and grandparents who fought in the Second World War. | high7618.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Both good habits and bad habits"
},
"options": [
"Good habits",
"Bad habits",
"Both good habits and bad habits",
"Either good habits or bad habits"
],
"question": "_ are formed litde by little.",
"question... | Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed. When a person does a certain thing again, he is driven by some unseen force to do the same thing repeatedly, then a habit is formed. Once a habit is formed, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of. It is therefore very important that we should pay great attention to the formation of habits. Children often form bad habits, some of which remain with them as long as they live. Older persons also form bad habits lasting as long as they live, and sometimes become ruined by _ .
There are other habits which, when formed in early life, are of great help. Many successful men say that much of their success has something to do with certain habits in early life, such as early rising, honesty and so on.
Among the habits which children should not form are laziness, lying, stealing and so on. These are all easily formed habits. Unluckily older persons often form habits which could have been avoided.
We should keep away from all these bad habits, and try to form such habits as will be good for ourselves and others. | high925.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Mt. Everest."
},
"options": [
"Mt. Vinson.",
"Mt. Everest.",
"Mt. Kilimajaro.",
"Mt. Elbrus."
],
"question": "Which mountain stands in Asia?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | A 15-year-old American has become the youngest person to climb the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, completing the feat by summiting Antarctica's Mount Vinson over the weekend.
Jordan Romero, who last year at age 13 became the youngest person to climb the world's tallest peak Mt Everest, was descending to base camp on Sunday after reaching the summit of Vinson Massif with a team that included his father and stepmother, according to his team's website. "We're at the roof of Antarctica," a member of Team Jordan said in a webcast from near the 4897-metre peak on a frigid but "legendary day".
Romero beat the record previously held by Britain's George Atkinson, who in May completed the seven ascents at the age of 16. The junior mountaineer from Big Bear Lake, California has been hooked on climbing from an early age. When he was just 10, he became the youngest person to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak at 5895 meters.
Before his 11th birthday, he had another world record under his belt, summiting Europe's Mt Elbrus, in Russia's Caucasus mountains, in July 2007. Five months later, it was the 6962-metre Mt Aconcagua in Argentina, followed by Alaska's Mt McKinley at 6194 meters. In September 2009 at age 13, he climbed Indonesia's Carstensz Pyramid, at 6194 meters the tallest island peak in the world, breaking another record. Eight months later in May 2010, he climbed Everest, and ever since he and his team had been preparing for his Antarctic expedition.
"Looking forward to tomorrow, and we'll make you guys proud and promise we'll come back home safe and sound," Romero said in a webcast on Saturday, hours before he began the final ascent to Mt Vinson's summit.
The team had intended to reach the top on Christmas Day, but ideal weather and good progress allowed them to summit a day ahead of schedule. | high23835.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "probably lived a poor life"
},
"options": [
"probably lived a poor life",
"tried to steal money from the writer",
"always followed close behind the writer",
"often went to the store to buy a few things."
],
"que... | My father and I started our morning by moving quickly into the local store. I waited in the line a the Starbucks counter while he shopped around to pick up a few things.
As I was starting there I become aware of an elderly women, with untidy hair,wearing layers upon layers of old clothing, hunchbacked behind me in line. She had a few things for washing and seemed to want the Starbucks cashier to ring up since that queue was shorter than the queues in the store.
At some point I became aware of her edging closer behind me -- closer than I was comfortable with! I instinctively placed a hand over my purse and drew it close to me. My fear and imagination raced creating wild stories about this homeless woman who might try to steal from me.
Then it was my turn to order. As the cashier rang Ypsilanti my total, I discovered I was 67 cents short. I called my father but he was hard of hearing. He asked me to repeat what I said but he still couldn't make me out. At that point, a long, grey arm, with holes in its sleeves, reached over from behind me. She laid 67 cents out on the counter, saying, "Here, we all need some help sometimes. "
I was _ Here was a woman who clearly had very little to give and was i n great need herself. I had judged her wrongly and she had offered to reach out to help me!
What an amazing gift and lesson this woman gave me about judging others! Thank you, God! | high11139.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She became famous for she was much like Teng in terms of music and image."
},
"options": [
"She could perform at the gala thanks to her school's strong recommendation.",
"She became famous for she was much like Teng in terms of mus... | Vanatsaya Viseskul, a sweet-voiced, round-faced 16-year-old Thai singer, whose name, at the moment, is inextricably linked with the late Teresa Teng, a singer from Taiwan whose love songs gained her wide fame across Asia, sat on a chair in a dressing room of a theater in Beijing.
Viseskul was preparing for her performance at a gala by China Oriental Performing Arts Group, one of the country's most prestigious performing arts groups, which has official support. It was beyond doubt that she was expecting that her debut for this great group would be a success for her career.
Titled Oriental Love, the gala, which was staged from Dec. 14 to 17 at Mei Lanfang Grand Theater, showcased music and dances from more than 10 countries. Viseskul, representing Thailand, performedTheMoonRepresentsMyHeart, one of Teng's most famous ballads, which is also one of the favorite songs of the young Thai singer. The romance conveyed by this famous song has been attracting millions of people who have ever heard it and it will by no means be forgotten by them.
It is Viseskul's first public performance after participating in the popular reality TV show, the fourth season ofTheVoiceofChina, which was aired by Zhejiang Satellite TV from July to October. In this program Viseskul began to be known by the Chinese audience and they were amazed at the similarity of her appearance to that of Teng.
During the show, sheperformed Teng's popular hits. Thanks to her voice, singing style as well as her image, which resembles the legendary Teng, Viseskul gained overnight fame, though she didn't win the competition at last.
However, it seemed that her life did become different after the reality show. With nearly 100,000 followers on her Sina Weibo account, Viseskul was recognized by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand for her contribution to promoting a positive image of Thailand in China at the competition.
Viseskul talks slowly and softly in fluent Chinese. It's easy to forget that she is just 16 because of her smile and calmness on and off the stage.
Born in a small village of Kamphaeng Phet, Viseskul was fond of singing from the time she was 3. At 7, she listened to Teng's songs for the first time after her parents traveled back from Hong Kong, bringing home the CDs of the singer. You can hardly imagine her enthusiasm about them when spotting and listening to them.
"The moment I listened to her songs, I felt so familiar. Though I couldn't speak any Chinese, I learned the songs fast. Since then, I hoped to visit China and become a singer,"she says, adding that she likes Chinese songs, especially those from the 1970s and 1980s. Many of her friends and s showed great puzzlement and they just couldn't make out why she was so crazy about Chinese music.
In 2014, Viseskul was admitted into the affiliated high school of the China Conservatory of Music. Now, she is studying at an international school in Beijing, focusing on learning Chinese. She also has other plans, such as furthering her studies in Japan or South Korea. However challenging it may be for her to become a superstar, she is determined to carry on regardless of any obstacles she may encounter in the future. | high19565.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "praying for a heart would be a cruel thing"
},
"options": [
"she was in despair after finding out about her son's heart disease.",
"she was angry at God's unfairness to her son",
"she was afraid that nobody would donate a hea... | Eight years ago, my 13-year-old son, Dustin, became very ill with a heart enlarged. For several months, he lived on life support as we were forced to stand by and watch him wither away. ks5u
While his friends were out playing baseball, and sleeping in their own beds, my son was in a hospital bed, attached to a machine that kept his heart beating. As a mother, my first reaction after crying was anger, and then I played the bargaining game: "Take my life for his, Lord. I've lived my life but he still has so much to do." People all around me were praying for a heart to become available, but it made me so angry and confused because I knew for that to happen, someone else's child would have to die. How could anyone pray for that?
I still remember so clearly the morning we got the call that there was a heart. As we stood in Dustin's hospital room watching them prepare him for surgery, we experienced the true definition of bittersweet. His dad and I realized that at the precise moment we were standing there with so much hope and so much love, another family somewhere was saying goodbye. We knelt down together and cried, and we prayed for them and we thanked them for giving such a selfless gift. To our amazement, just 10 days later, Dustin got to come home for the first time in many months. He had received a second chance at life. Over the next two years, he got to go to high school, learn to drive and put his brand new heart to good use volunteering at the homeless shelter and helping the elderly.
Dustin's new heart failed him when he was 16. A tragedy, yes, but we have to see it as the miracle it was. We received two precious years with him that we would never have had without organ donation. We have more pictures, more memories and a great satisfaction in knowing that he was able to experience some of the most exciting times and milestones in a teenager's life. When he died, difficult as it was for us, we knew that it would be Dustin's wish to give back. His eyes went to someone who wanted to see. Someone who, perhaps, had never seen the faces of the family he loved so dearly. I believe that one day I will look into the face of someone else's son or daughter, and I will see those sky blue eyes looking back at me -- the evidence of selfless giving. | high17548.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "are short of the spirit of exploration"
},
"options": [
"are likely to like adventures",
"are short of the spirit of exploration",
"are not full of potentials",
"always fall behind others"
],
"question": "When y... | Are you unsure of the future? Do you feel as if you have put in a lot of effort, yet you still haven't gotten anywhere? Are your relationships getting sour? If the answer to all these questions is yes, then you're in for some serious reflection.ks5u
A negative perspective on life will definitely not do you any good.It will only stop you from achieving your goals, and will make you feel more and more unhappy.When you lack self-confidence, you tend to play safe and do just what is needed instead of exploring your full potentials .Your fears and self doubt are in fact the main _ that stop you from achieving success and keep you from living the life that you truly want.Understand this: the barrier to your happiness is your own insecurity and cowardly manner.
How do you escape your self-bondage ? With the help of individuals who have gone through life's tragedies without being affected, such as Rebecca Richmond, a widely admired life coach, you can take hold of your life and transform yourself from being afraid into a person with a positive outlook who is ready to get hold of the bright future that awaits you.The most important thing that you need to realize is that you have the power to change your life.You can reach unimaginable heights if you only believe in your ability to do so.See the unlimited opportunities that are set before you.Take challenges as lessons that make you strong and mature.
Do not let your painful past dictate the person that you would become.Open your eyes and see the beautiful person that you are.You deserve to live a better life -- one that is full of love, peace of mind, and prosperity. | high21944.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Have a good breakfast."
},
"options": [
"Eat less and take more exercise.",
"Have less for lunch.",
"Have more for supper.",
"Have a good breakfast."
],
"question": "What should adults do in order to keep good h... | One of the most important meals of the day is breakfast. In order for children to build strong bodies and for adults to keep well, they should always eat a good breakfast. Eating the right food is necessary for good health. You should eat different kinds of food in order to keep a good health.
It is understood that a good breakfast may contain eggs, bread, milk, and so on. By eating breakfast every morning, you can feel alive and active in the morning's work. After a good breakfast you can step out into the morning air and feel wonderful. Anybody can feel better by eating a good breakfast.
Many fathers and mothers are unable to get their children to eat breakfast. There are many reasons for children not to eat breakfast. One reason could be that they do not have a good example. It could be that the father and mother do not eat breakfast. What ever the reasons are for children not to eat breakfast, it can be bad for their health.
Without breakfast children may not grow as fast as they should and may not study and play as well in school in the morning as they could. They can have more illnesses, and, when they are ill, it may take them longer to be in good health again than it takes children with good health habits.
Good eating habits mean eating breakfast. Unless you eat breakfast, you do not eat a full meal from dinner the night before until lunch the next day. This is quite a long time for the body to go without food.
Food is the source of power for the body. Unless the body gets food, it cannot keep operating at top speed. Without food the body will slow down. Nobody will live without food. It is necessary to start the day full of power. So you must eat breakfast so that you can keep in good health and do your best each morning. | high2006.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "From dissolved limestone and the ground settling."
},
"options": [
"By the Seminole Indians.",
"By the Florida Park Service.",
"From dissolved limestone and the ground settling.",
"From lots of flooding and wet prairie ... | Have you ever heard of Paynes Prairie? It is one of the most important natural and historical areas in Florida. Paynes Prairie is located near Gainesville. It is large, 21,000 acres. This protected land is called a preserve. The Florida Park Service manages the preserve.
The Paynes Prairie basin was formed when limestone dissolved and the ground settled. It is covered by marsh and wet prairie vegetation. There are areas of open water. During brief periods it has flooded enough to be considered a lake. Except for that, the basin has changed little through time.
Man has lived on Paynes Prairie a very long time. He lived there as far back as 10,000 B. C. At one time, the Seminoles lived there. The prairie is thought to have been named after King Payne, a Seminole chief. During the late 1600s, the largest cattle ranch in Florida was on Paynes Prairie. Today, Paynes Prairie is preserved land. It is occupied by visitors and Florida Park Service employees.
Willam Bartram visited Paynes Praire. Bartram was the first person who portrayed (described) nature through personal experience as well as scientific observation. He lived 200 years ago. He visited Paynes Prairie in 1774. At that time he described it. He called Paynes Prairie the "great Alachua Savannah."
Most of the animal life, which Bartram described, is still here. A large number of sandhill cranes, hawks and waterfowl are here in winter. The animal _ is increased by the presence of pine flatwoods, hammock, swamps and ponds.
The Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park is open year round. The Florida Park Service works hard so that the park will appear as it did in the past. It offers many opportunities for recreation. At the park you can camp and picnic. You can hike and bike. You can boat and fish. You can ride on horse trails. And you can see lots of nature and wildlife. You can see Florida as it was in the early days.
Paynes Prairie is a part of our Florida history. It is an example of our Florida natural resources. It is a place for recreation. Paynes Prairie is an important experience of the Real Florida. | high10541.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Social science books."
},
"options": [
"Medicine dictionaries.",
"Social science books.",
"Kids' comic books.",
"Science text books."
],
"question": "Where can you find this passage?",
"question_type": null
... | We all know what it is like to be unable to turn your head because of a cold in the muscles of your neck, or because an unexpected twist has made your neck ache and stiff. Your whole body feels tight. The slightest move makes you jump with pain.Nothing could be worse than a pain in the neck. That is why we use the phrase to describe some people who give you the same feeling. We have all met such people.
One is the man who always seems to be clapping his hands--often at the wrong time--during a performance in the theater. He keeps you from hearing the actors.
Even worse are those who can never arrive before the curtain goes up and the play begins. They come hurrying down to your row of seats. You are comfortably settled down, with your hat and heavy coat in your lap. You must stand up to let them pass. You are proud of your self-control after they have settled into their seats... Well, what now... Good God, one of them is up again.He forgot to go to the men's room, and once more you have to stand up, hanging on to your hat and coat to let him pass. Now, that is "a pain in the neck".
Another, well-known to us all, is the person sitting behind you in the movies. His mouth is full of popcorn; he is chewing loudly, or talking between bites to friends next to him. None of them remain still. Up and down, back and forth, they go for another bag of popcorn, or something to drink.
Then, there is the man sitting next to you at a lunch counter smoking a smelly cigar.He wants you to enjoy it too, and blows smoke across your food into your mouth.
We must not forget the man who comes into a bus or subway car and sits down next to you, just as closes you will let him. You are reading the newspaper and he leans over and stretches his neck so that he can read the paper with you. He may even turn the paper to the next page before you are ready for it.
We also call such a person a "rubber-neck", always stretching his neck to where it does not belong, like neighbors who watch all your visitors. They enjoy invading your privacy. People have a strong dislike for rubber-necks. They hate being spied upon. | high20482.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They are acutually ordinary people."
},
"options": [
"They always treat others rudely.",
"They always talk about something dull.",
"They are acutually ordinary people.",
"They are usually honest and polite,"
],
... | People think what I do is so wonderful because I interview stars. And I have to admit that when I first started working at Sassy in 1987 I was excited about that part of my job for the first couple of months,anyway. Then I noticed how stars would fool me around for months. I could never get enough time with a star to find out anything interesting, and some acted just simply rudely. I started hating the way I was treated, and I was really disappointed to see that these people I had worshipped before were pretty ordinary. So I decided I would just tell the truth instead of keeping up their myths .If the star was a bad guy, I would say so. If I thought anyone was stupid, I did not hold back that information.
I thought readers would appreciate that kind of honesty. Surprisingly, many of them hated me for it. I have gotten so many attacks on my character. In their eyes,being famous is everything, even more desirable than being truly creative and talented
Why do we need stars? In fact, the media created stars to satisfy our basic need for gossip .Over time, talking about people we have never met and we are never likely to meet has become what we are crazy about. Thus, some people are more interested in the personal lives of the stars than in the lives of their own family and their own friends. That is why it is so ridiculous when a star wants to discuss only his or her work in an interview -as we care. We want the dirt on their personal lives.
There is another reason we worship stars. As a whole, our society is not as religious as it once was. It seems that people need something to fulfill them the way religion once did. Star worship exists as an unfulfilling desire for true heroes.
We make them stars, but then their reputation makes us feel unimportant, and we truly feel better about ourselves when they die. I am part of this whole process. No wonder I feel soiled at the end of workday. | high5769.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Missing children."
},
"options": [
"Criminals.",
"The drivers who have caused accidents.",
"News reports.",
"Missing children."
],
"question": "Who do they look for?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
... | The first ting we do is to put an APB and this goes to all the police stations in the country.
Next we telephone the hospitals. Often the person we are looking for has been in an accident.
Then we might try parents, friends or relatives they might be with. We try to follow their movements and to find the last person they saw in local or national papers--especially papers they might read. There are other things we can do: put posters in places where they might be, go on television.
Here in America there is a magazine in which there are photographs of missing children. This is often the last hope. Of course, with nearly two million missing children every year, we can't do all these things for everyone. We haven't got the time, or the money , or the people who work for it. | high11887.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She hated it because it couldn't be straightened."
},
"options": [
"Her parents considered it was bird's nest.",
"Teens at school laughed at it as Medusa hair.",
"She hated it because it couldn't be straightened.",
"Nor... | For years I fought with the bird's nest that sat on top of my head-my Medusa hair.No matter what I did and how hard I tried, in no way could I make my unruly hair to my satisfaction.
Growing up in a Russian-Jewish home with parents who thought North American styling products were something illegal such as drugs, I was never allowed to put them in my hair. "Why buy hair gel? Your hair is so beautiful naturally." my mother would say.The teens at school did not agree.From boys' not wanting to kiss me when we played spin the bottle in Grade 7 to being called the mop, I suffered from my hair.
When I got to university, I believed my hair was a wall that stood between me and everything---finding a part-time job, getting a boyfriend, etc.
If only I could find a way to manage the curls and put it behind bars, I told myself, I would feel secure and sexy.I tried everything: rollers, hairspray, gels and, at one point, an iron.Then, in my second year, a miracle happened.I was asked to be a hair model for Japanese hair straightening, a process by which the molecules of my curls would be broken and reset in a bone-straight position.I was the perfect candidate, the hairdresser told me.Although they said how hair relaxing could damage the scalp , for the next five years I didn't find them to be true. All of the hairdresser's promises were fulfilled: With my hair straight and smooth, I was no longer the " mop".
However, there was extreme damage done to my wallet. To keep up the straightening cost $ 700 every six months, and that was considered cheap. While some people thought I was crazy, I was willing to do anything to never again feel like that anxious, curly-headed girl in Grade 7.But when I moved out of my parents' house at age 26 and rented an apartment, the upkeep of my new image became too costly.
I couldn't hide from my inner Medusa any longer.It was time to hug her and let her fly.Seeking a choice, I turned to the Internet, Google.After hours of searching, I hit upon a "curly haired" salon, a place designed for girls like me. I doubted these so-called "Curl Ambassadors" could do anything without using machine of some sort, and though I bought the service called the "Curly-Doo", I suspected I'd have the same unruly mop at the end of the appointment.
I dragged my feet so hard getting there that I arrived 45 minutes late.I secretly hoped they would turn me away.Instead, my stylist simply said: "You are very late.Let me see your hair". At that moment, my world and beliefs about myself were turned upside down along with my hair. As my head was in a basin full of freezing-cold water, then covered with a jelly-like jam, I wondered what I had got myself into.
"Do you really think this will work?" I asked the stylist, Jones." My curls are a disaster." "No curly hair is hopeless," she replied."They just haven't found a way to work with it, that's all."
After the hour was over, Jones had completed her work.She had styled my hair using only her hands, water and a mixture of organic jam.I couldn't believe what I was seeing in the mirror: a naturally curly, Medusa-free me.You could argue that hair is just hair. Yet, it is just such physical features that have such a large influence on how we view ourselves.
According to Jones,75 percent of the population have a wave or curl in their hair and don't know what to do with it.Men cut theirs short.Women flat-iron theirs to death.When I read through a beauty magazine or take the subway to work, it makes me sad to see so many people repressing their natural beauty.
Since then, my world has changed.I have always been outgoing, but these days I seem to be more outspoken and confident than ever.On top of that, friends and co-workers tell me I am looking better than ever, but they don't know the source of the change.
I don't need to tell them. My Medusa hair speaks for herself. | high19203.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because he wants to improve sanitation for many people."
},
"options": [
"Because he wants to test people's sense of creativity.",
"Because he thinks the traditional ones are out of fashion",
"Because he wants to improve sani... | One of the world's richest men has taken a close interest in one of man's most basic functions: visiting the toilet.Bill Gates's charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for inventors to design the loo of the future, which, they hope, would improve sanitation for millions of people around the world.
So, what's wrong with the traditional flush toilet? Firstly, it wastes a huge amount, of potential drinking water.Secondly, they are more likely to cause pollution.This is a real problem in many areas of the developing world, where, according to United Nations estimates, unsafe sanitation causes half of all hospitalizations.Younger people are particularly at risk.Illnesses which cause diarrhea are responsible for the deaths of about 1.5 million children a year.Finally, standard lavatories simply aren't practical in remote areas.
The challenge set by Bill Gates was to come up with a _ which works without running water, electricity or aseptic tank.It also needed to operate for less than 5 cents.28 designs were displayed at the recent Reinvent the Toilet Fair.in Seattle, USA.Among them was one which turned human waste into electricity using microwaves, another which converted human waste into charcoal, and yet another which used urine for flushing.
But the winner was a solar-powered design which generated hydrogen gas and electricity.The team from the California Institute of Technology(CIT)picked up a prize of $ 100,000.
But clearly Bill Gates doesn't feel he's _ .After the Seattle event he said, "We, couldn't be happier with the response we've gotten," Gates has even pledged $370 million more to the future toilet project.They hope to field test more, prototypes over the next three years. | high4477.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "getting better exam results"
},
"options": [
"escaping from reality",
"getting better exam results",
"curing their narcolepsy",
"leading an active life"
],
"question": "According to the author, his mates took Mo... | Ever tried taking smart drugs to perform better in exams? They certainly work. Before last summer's exam, a few of my mates, merely out of curiosity, took a considerable amount of Modafinil, a drug normally used for narcolepsy . Guess what? While I was feeling sleepy, bored by revision, my mates were more focused.
Modafinil is a smart drug that gives a user a feeling of staying awake for hours. It also sharpens the mind, improves memory and helps problem-solving.
But it does more than just keeping you awake. It disturbs your mental system, making you desperate to do what you are doing. You just don't want to do anything else but revise all the time non-stop.
A recent study discovers that healthy people use smart drugs, like Modafinil, to get down to and complete tasks they have been putting off, because these tasks seem more enjoyable when taking these drugs. This might sound like what a stressed student desires. However, the pills have a range of side-effects.
"At present no evidence shows that these drugs are safe in healthy people," as a medical expert puts it, "Ordering online, though easy, is a dangerous way to obtain drugs. You never know what you're actually purchasing. "
In my experience, Modafinil changes people's behaviour too. Over those weeks my friends became different people--in turn aggressive, cold. Even eating became "a waste of time" and so did conversation.
A BBC survey found that of those who had tried smart drugs before, 92% would do so again. My friends say they'd happily do so without considering the practice a form of cheating.
I admit I was curious--but not enough to try it. Seeing the strange behaviour of other users, I feel a little bit upset and scary. Modafinil may promise to change your grades, but it might also change the way you act. Don't say you haven't been warned! | high3318.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Reading."
},
"options": [
"Reading.",
"Helping others.",
"Resting.",
"Sleeping."
],
"question": "What had the author planned to do during the flight?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"a... | I was going on vacation to meet up with family for a week of fun in Denver. I got to the airport, ready to leave my work behind for a few days.
I was comfortably awaiting my flight with a good book to read, when an elderly lady was wheeled to our waiting area. I couldn't help but notice the trouble she was having trying to open a packet of nuts with her shaking hands. I sighed. No one else was willing to meet her gaze so I offered to help.
She was very grateful. It turned out that these nuts were her entire breakfast. We sat and chatted. When the time came to board the plane the attendants were nowhere to be seen. The lady could walk but needed some help, so I volunteered to help her on the plane and carry her bag.
As I helped her get settled I noticed her "seat mate," a businessman, looked a bit horrified at having to make the fight with her. He offered to change seats with me -- and I agreed.
We landed and I needed to change planes, but I helped her disembark first. The wheelchair she ordered was nowhere to be seen so we slowly walked to gate where her daughter was waiting.
We only exchanged first names, and she was so grateful to have my help. I had to run to catch my connection but, as I thought about the experience, I saw her as my airport angel: a chance for me to hope that in the future when I'm in my 80's and traveling, someone will take the time to connect with me. Pay it forward. | high22295.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "By reading their eye movements."
},
"options": [
"By speaking to them directly.",
"By reading their eye movements.",
"By following their facial expressions.",
"By asking the dog trainer questions."
],
"question"... | Dogs may not know exactly what you are doing especially when you're trying to figure out a square root or diagram a sentence. But according to a new study, dogs can understand what we're thinking and feeling by reading our facial expressions and body language and following our eyes.
Researchers studied 29 dogs. The dogs were shown a movie where a woman looked directly at them and said "Hi dog!" Then, the woman looked at a flowerpot sitting next to her. The researchers found that when the woman looked at and spoke directly to a dog, the dog usually followed her eyes to the flowerpot. It proved that the dogs knew that the woman was thinking about the flowerpot.
"By following the eye movements of dogs, we were able to get a first-hand look at how their minds are actually working," said Jozsef, the senior researcher.
Later in the movie, the woman said "Hi dogs" in a low voice and didn't look at the dog before looking at the flowerpot. In that situation, the dogs didn't seem to understand what the woman was thinking. There was no eye contact, and the woman didn't appear to speak to the dogs directly.
That comes as no surprise to dog trainer Jones. "Dogs normally speak through nonverbal signals. It's more natural to them," she said. "If you've ever watched dogs at a dog park, you've seen it. Within 30 seconds they enter the park, much information has passed between the new dog and the ones already in the park. They're exchanging looks, observing eyes and body posture. On the other hand, when you speak to a dog, they are learning a foreign language."
Picking up your nonverbal signals seems more natural. So, if you were hoping that all this means your dog could help you solve your math problems, you're probably out of luck. But he or she might
a lot more
what you're thinking than you previously thought. | high15439.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "wait for online retailers' discounts"
},
"options": [
"feel tired because of Thanksgiving",
"prepare for the coming Black Friday",
"spend their holidays in the stores",
"wait for online retailers' discounts"
],
... | Some good news for online holiday shoppers: bargain-hunting binges will drive prices down as web-based retailers compete to offer bigger discounts, marketing researchers predict.
A recent survey by Shopzilla found that nearly 84 percent of online retailers would offer Cyber Monday discounts, up 12 percent from last year. Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is the online response to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores are traditionally flooded with customers, some of whom camp at the entrances overnight to take advantage of discounts.
However, in the current economic climate, online retailers have felt pressure to offer sales and discounts even before Black Friday. But how online retailers decide to offer those big savings isn't a simple matter of trying to attract the consumers who are watching their wallets, Bohlmann of Sabanci University in Istanbul says. Online stores will also pay attention to the deals their competitors are offering, potentially leading to price wars between certain retailers to attract all those potential bargain-hunting customers.
Online shoppers can be divided into two types, Bohlmann said, --switchers and --loyals. Switchers compare prices between retailers and go for the cheapest one, while loyals stick to one brand or store. It almost doesn't matter what price you charge.
Online retailers will look at the percentage of switchers and loyals they have in order to decide whether to offer discounts. The more switchers they have, the more likely they will offer discounts. But retailers don't just look at the percentage of their own customers; they also look at the competition.
If one online store has a higher percentage of loyals than the competitor, it can afford to keep prices higher. On the contrary, if it has a higher percentage of switchers than the competitor, it might want to lower prices. | high9153.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Ford aimed to build cars for the general public."
},
"options": [
"Henry Ford was born in the city of Detroit.",
"Doctor Pfenning developed the first car.",
"The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1905.",
"Ford aimed to ... | Henry Ford was born on a farm on July 30th, 1863. The farm was near the city of Detroit.
Henry was always interested in machines. He enjoyed fixing clocks.And he helped repair farm equipment. When Henry was sixteen years old, he left the family farm and went to Detroit to learn more about machines. Henry used what he learned from work to develop engines. In 1903, he was ready to start building cars for the public. On July 15th, 1903, a man named Doctor Pfenning bought the first car from the Ford Motor Company.
The sale to Doctor Pfenning was the beginning of a huge number of requests for Ford cars.By the end of March, 1904, almost 600 Ford cars had been sold. At the start of 1905, the Ford Motor Company was producing 25 cars each day.
Henry Ford was sure the future of the automobile industry was in a low-priced car for the general public. He said then, and many times after,"I want to make a car that anybody can buy."
In 1907, Henry Ford said: "I will build a motor car for the great mass of people. 1t will be large enough for the family, but small enough for one person to operate and care for. It will be built of the best materials. It will be built by the best men to be employed. And it will be built with the simplest plans that modern engineering can produce. _ | high12801.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "he wanted to turn his sister's Christmas wish into reality"
},
"options": [
"he had always been eager for such a doll",
"Santa Claus didn't give him any Christmas gift",
"he would give it to his mother as a birthday surprise"... | The Doll and the White Rose
I was walking around in a mall, when I saw a cashier hand this little boy some money back.The cashier said, "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll."The little boy seemed very disappointed.
I walked toward him and asked him who he wished to give this doll to."It's the doll that my sister wanted so much for Christmas.She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her: But Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now.I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there."His eyes were so sad."My sister has gone to be with God.Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister."
My heart nearly stopped.The little boy looked up at me and continued, "I told Daddy to tell Mommy not to go yet.I need her to wait until I come back from the mall."
I quickly reached for my wallet and said," Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll."
"OK, I hope I do have enough," he said.I put some of my money with his without him seeing and we started to count it.There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.
Surprisingly, the little boy cried, "Thank you God for giving me enough money!" Then he looked at me and added, "I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that Mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much.But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose ! "
Then I remembered two days before a local newspaper reported an accident in which a woman and a little girl were badly injured.The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state.Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after I met the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the woman had passed away.I couldn't stop myself from going to the funeral.Teary-eyed, I felt that my life had been changed forever. | high23404.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Don't Hope. Decide"
},
"options": [
"Long Loving Hugs",
"My Future",
"Don't Hope. Decide",
"Love Is Everywhere"
],
"question": "The best title of the passage may be _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions... | While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon, I had an experience which occurred merely two feet away from me.
Trying to locate my friend among the passengers coming through the jet way, I noticed a man walking toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First he kissed his three children one by one and said, "It's nice to see you. I missed you so much!" Then he hugged his wife, "I've saved the best for last!" giving her the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. They stared at each other's eyes, smiling at one another, while holding both hands. For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds , but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn't possibly be.
Full of admiration, I asked, "Wow! How long have you two been married?" "Being together for fourteen years total, married twelve of those." He replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife's face. "Well, then, how long have you been away?" I asked. "Two whole days!" "Two days?" I was astonished. By the intensity of the greeting, I had assumed he'd been gone for at least several weeks --- if not months. I knew _ so I turned away my eyes and said quietly, "I hope my marriage is still that passionate after so long!"
The man suddenly stopped smiling and looked me straight in the eye. With forcefulness he told me something that left me a different person. "Don't hope, friend...decide!" Then he smiled again, shook my hand and said, "God bless!"
With that, he and his family turned and walked away together.
I was still watching that man and his special family walk just out of sight when my friend came up to me and asked, "What are you looking at?" Without hesitation, and with a curious sense of certainty, I replied, "My future!" | high514.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a travel agency"
},
"options": [
"a travel agency",
"a cigarette company",
"an e-shopping store",
"a vacation school"
],
"question": "The author was then probably working for _ .",
"question_type": "cloze... | My first full-time job after high school was selling vacation packages via the telephone for a well-known company. One day, I was put through to a man who sounded a bit out of breath. I started with my normal pitch , expecting to hear the normal reply --"I don't want any."
Instead, he spoke in a faint, weak voice and told me how he wished to take a vacation I was offering, but he couldn't because he was dying of illness. He explained how he was lacking in oxygen then, and it took almost all his energy to answer the call. He asked if I smoked, which I did, and begged me to stop. He told me smoking was what was killing him. He told me to spend every day with my loved ones, and tell them how much I love them. At this point, I couldn't control myself. We ended the call, but I held on my phone to prevent another call coming in so I could _
I wrote down his name and address, and sent him a card appreciating his advice and praying for him and his family. Shortly after, I received a letter from Frank, along with a picture of him and his wife. We continued to write back and forth over the next few months, and became very fond of each other. He was old enough to be my grandfather, and in many ways, I felt as if he was.
About a year later I received a letter from his wife. When I started to read, tears came to my eyes. She told me how Frank's battle with the disease had finally come to an end, and he passed away shortly before the Christmas. She wanted to thank me for the letters to Frank, and explained how Frank touched many lives over the years. At his funeral, to show just that, they read the 1st letter I had written to Frank to show how he affected a 19-year-old he'd never met. | high6937.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "having breaks from sitting is good for your health"
},
"options": [
"having breaks from sitting is good for your health",
"walking is the best physical activity after sitting too long",
"sitting too long is the main reason fo... | Sitting too much is now listed with smoking and junk food as a bad habit that increases your risk of heart disease.
New Australian research shows that half-an-hour in the gym will not make up for the waist-expanding damage caused by spending the rest of the day sitting.
But the good news is that doing chores in the house or gently walking around the office while on the phone might be enough to keep you fit.
The study joins the growing body of evidence suggesting too much sitting might undo the benefits of exercise.
The study measured the intensity of physical activities in 168 subjects over seven days. It found that, regardless of how much exercise they did or their total sitting time, those who took more breaks from sitting had lower risk of thick waists and lower levels of blood lipids .
"Higher levels of blood lipids have been linked to a heightened risk of heart disease," principal researcher Genevieve Healy of the University of Queensland said. "What the study shows is that there are benefits in just getting up regularly and interrupting your sitting time."
Researchers behind the Stand Up Australia project have written to the Rudd Government requesting $3.5 million for a two-year study into the impact how long sitting offects health and productivity of workers. The study would also develop and test strategies for reducing sitting time on the job.
The latest study builds on work that is shifting the health promotion focus from purposeful exercise, such as running, to lower intensity activities throughout the day.
The Australian research has been backed up by US studies.
"To hold a body that weighs 77 kilograms upright takes a fair amount of energy from muscles," said Professor Marc Hamilton from the University of Missouri. "There is a large amount of energy associated with standing every day that cannot easily be replaced by 30 to 60 minutes in the gym." | high21213.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "dogs could help get rid of old people's loneliness"
},
"options": [
"robots were effective at reducing people's loneliness",
"robots could build close connection with humans",
"dogs could help get rid of old people's loneline... | A study by St.. Louis University has found that a lovable dog named Sparky and a robotic dog, AIBO, were about equally effective at reducing the loneliness of nursing home residents. The study confirmed previous findings that dogs have a good effect on nursing home residents.
Dr. Andrew Smith led the Stanford University team that built a home-assistance robot. "If humans can feel an emotional tie with robots, some day they could be not just our assistants, but also our companions," he said.
To test whether residents responded better to Sparky, a trained dog, or the Sony-made robotic dog, researchers divided 38 nursing home residents into three groups at three long-term care centers in St. Louis.
One group had weekly 30-minute one-on-one visits with Sparky; another group had similar visits with AIBO; a control group had no contact with either dog. The groups' respective levels of loneliness were tested by having them answer a number of questions at the beginning and near the end of the visits.
After two months, both groups that had contact with the dogs were less lonely and more attached. Most of the elderly regarded Sparky, a 9-year-old dog, as an audience for their life stories, said investigator Marian Banks.
"He listened attentively, wagged his tail, and allowed them to pet him," said Banks, who adopted and trained Sparky after finding him in a street behind her home seven years ago.
Those who were together with AIBO took a little longer to warm to the robotic creature. Over time, however, they grew comfortable with him, and petted and talked to him. He would respond by wagging his tail, vocalizing, and blinking his lights..
"AIBO is charming once you start to interact with him," said the study's author, Dr. William Banks, "He's an attractive sort of guy. He gives a feeling of being personal, not just a robot." | high3697.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Advertisements on the billboards."
},
"options": [
"Buses on the road.",
"Films on television.",
"Advertisements on the billboards.",
"Gas stations."
],
"question": "According to the passage, what do the passeng... | Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." "Drink Good Wet Root Beer." "Fill up with Pacific Gas. "Only when you have fallen asleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, can you get separated from the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!"
As for the ride itself, the beginning of it is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before. Usually some things are keeping changing out of the windows -- various houses, crop fields, attractive bridges, ... and sometimes even a small accident. Your bus driver may have a unique style of driving and it's fun trying experience it the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can be as thrilling as an adventurous story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know the riding will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement with that. The seat, of course, has become harder for the hours having passed. By now you may sit with your legs crossed, or with your hands in your lap, or with your hands on the arms, or even with your hands crossed behind your head. That is to say that the end comes just at no more ways to sit. | high2589.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "$20."
},
"options": [
"$20.",
"$12.",
"$16.",
"$10."
],
"question": "How much can you earn at least in two hours as a retailer?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_i... | Finding a winter job is often a proof that you're growing up, and it's also a method for earning money to pay for what you dream of. It's never too early to start considering the future. Now, here are some good choices for you!
Retail Sales
Retail offers plenty of opportunity for teens who are looking for a job. This type of work can pay from $10 to $15 an hour depending upon the duty you are expected to take on. It can also be great for teens who are friendly and enjoy talking to other people. For more information, call us at 4005075.
Food Service
A job in the food service industry is a natural fit for sociable teens who enjoy communicating with the public. It allows employees to work as part of a team while learning about following instructions. It also comes with the opportunity to earn between $8 and $10 per hour. Just call 4005077 for more information.
Babysitter
This job requires someone who is highly responsible. Though it pays generally between $6 and $8 hourly, it also requires a lot of patience. This is a great choice for teens who wish to make a career in teaching, child care, social work or any other field that makes use of social skills or requires interaction with kids. Got a question? Just call 4005076.
Housekeeping
This type of work can bring in about $5 an hour and it will allow teens to learn the tourism industry, so hotels are often looking for more housekeeping staff, and parks often need more people to assist with keeping public areas clean and organized as well. Telephone:4005079 | high19954.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "save the Sun from dying"
},
"options": [
"help the crew on IcarusII",
"save the Sun from dying",
"experience possible dangers of space travel",
"take people on a voyage into space"
],
"question": "The purpose of... | Sunshine is a great film, which takes us on a voyage into space when mankind is in danger.
In 2057, our Sun is dying and mankind faces extinction. A spaceship named IcarusII, carries an enormous bomb to return life to the dying star.
As the movie begins, the spacecraft is approaching the Sun. Suddenly, the operating system is out of control;then the crew receive a frightening signal from the original IcarusI which was sent to carry out the same task seven years ago. Should the crew continue flying to the Sun in the endangered ship? The question is not so much about whether any crew member can survive--the chances of that hardly exist--but should they try to grab the other bomb in IcarusI and take it to the Sun? Two shots at saving mankind are obviously better than one.
After the decision is made, a crew member makes a mistake that places the mission in extreme danger. More accidents occur, and the crew face a difficult situation:there isn't enough oxygen for them on the ship. www.ks5u.com
Among the most exciting scenes is a space walk by Capa and Kaneda when the ship's shield is damaged and must be inspected and repaired.
Then when docked with IcarusI, the crew find it will be difficult for them to achieve the goal of the voyage. The film reaches its climax when the computer in IcarusI detects the presence of an unknown crew member.
Indeed, the major task of the flight is to take back the world by restarting the failing Sun. However, Sunshine also makes clear the psychological and physical danger of space travel. | high18492.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "personal connection"
},
"options": [
"teachers' good instruction",
"advanced technology",
"teachers' encouragement",
"personal connection"
],
"question": "According to the text, the most important element in edu... | Today, in many high schools, teaching is now a technical miracle of computer labs, digital cameras, DVD players and laptops. Teachers can e-mail parents, post messages for students on online bulletin(,) boards, and take attendance with a quick movement of a mouse.
Even though we are now living in the digital age, the basic and most important element of education has not changed. Most students still need that one-on-one, teacher-student relationship to learn and to succeed. Teenagers need instruction in English, math or history, but they also want personal advice and encouragement. Kids talk with me about their families, their weekend plans, their favorite TV shows and their relationship problems. In my English and journalism classes, we talk about Shakespeare and persuasive essays, but we also discuss college basketball, the war in Iraq and career choices. Students show me pictures of their rebuilt cars, their family vacations, and their newborn baby brothers. This personal connection is the necessary link between teachers and students that no amount of technology can improve upon or replace.
A few years ago I had a student in sophomore English who was struggling with my class and with school in general. Although he was a humorous young man who liked to joke around, I knew his family life was far from ideal. Whenever I approached him about missing homework or low test grades, he always had the same reply, "It doesn't matter because I'm quitting school anyway." Even though he always said this in a half-teasing way, I knew he needed to hear my different opinion and my "value of a high school education" lecture. He needed to hear this speech from me. After he left my class, he struggled through the next two years of school. But, he did finally graduate because we kept telling him to hang in there. We'd cared about him finishing school.
Recently, I saw this former student working at a local Italian restaurant. I told him again how proud I was of him. He said that he was hoping to go back to school to become a certified electrician. I encouraged him to get that training.
Students rely on _ teachers to guide, to tutor, to listen, to laugh and to cry with them. Teachers provide the most important link in the educational process--the human one. | high5580.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A person who shows his embarrassment."
},
"options": [
"A person who feels shame.",
"A person who hides his embarrassment.",
"A person who shows his embarrassment.",
"A person who gives away more raffle tickets."
],... | The next time your face turns red after tripping over your own feet in public, don't try to hide it--a new study finds that showing your embarrassment actually makes other people view you as more reliable.
Researchers at the University of California have carried out the study and found that embarrassment is a good signature of a person to whom you can entrust valuable resources.
Not only are the findings useful for people seeking cooperative and reliable team members and business partners, but they also make for helpful dating advice."Moderate levels of embarrassment are signs of virtue. Our data suggests embarrassment is a good thing, not something you should fight."said Matthew Feinberg, who led the study.
While the most typical gesture of embarrassment is a downward gaze to one side while partly covering the face, a person who feels shame, as distinguished from embarrassment, will typically cover the whole face, Feinberg said.
The results were got from a series of experiments. In the first experiment, 60 college students were videotaped describing embarrassing moments, such as making incorrect assumptions based on appearances. The college students also participated in the "Dictator Game" which is used in economics research to measure altruism . For example, each was given 10 raffle tickets and asked to keep a share of the tickets and give the reminder to a partner.
The findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, showed that those who showed greater levels of embarrassment tended to give away more of their raffle tickets, indicating(=showing) greater generosity. | high4846.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "providing the elderly with emergency aid"
},
"options": [
"a telecommunications service provider",
"designed especially for the elderly in Yunnan",
"providing the elderly with emergency aid",
"a local telecommunications... | A global positioning system(GPS)service is aiding the elderly in the Panlong district of Kunming,capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.
The telecommunications service provider,with the support o,f the local govemment,started the GPS tracking service in January to help the elderly,especially those with Alzheimer's disease,a condition that slowly destroys memory.
Huang Haiying,an employee with a local telecommunications company,told China Daily that with the GPS devices ,the people who look after the elderly can quickly find their positions either online or by ca l l ing the service center in case ot emergencles.
The system is also connected to the police,hospitals,fire services and community service centers to ensure that the elderly get quick and proper help,Huang said.
Experts said that this service could improve the quality of life for thousands of elderly people with Alzheimer's,their families and those who look after them.
Hundreds of people have already been helped by the service this year,Huang said.
Huang said that the system has about 1 0,000 subscribers and she expects that number to grow 1 0 times over the next three years.A user pays 25 yuan($4)each month for the service.A family with an income below the local poverty line can get a 10 yuan subsidy evcry month from the government.
The local government has spent more than 2 million yuan to subsidize the service to date.
Rao Yuehui,director of the Panlong civil affairs department,said that about 90,000 people,or 15.4 percent of the district'S population,are more than.60 years old.
He Xiangqun,an official with the Yunnan provincial civil affairs department,said that this means that the population meets international standards classifying it, as an aging society as defined by the United Nations. | high21575.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "reading a lot"
},
"options": [
"wearing eyeglasses too long",
"going to the cinemas",
"reading a lot",
"not visiting your eye doctor"
],
"question": "One cause of eyestrain mentioned in the passage is _ . ... | There are many commonly held beliefs about eyeglasses and eyesight that are not proved facts. For example, some people believe that wearing glasses too soon weaken the eyes. But there is nothing to show that the structure of eyes is changed by wearing galsses at a young age. Wearing the wrong galsses, however, can prove harmful. Studies show that only children can develop loss of sihgt if they have the wrong glasses. We have all heard some of the common myths about how eyesight get bad. Too little light makes the eyes work harder, so they do get tired and strained . Eyestrain also resulsts from reading a lot, reading in bed, and watching too much television. But, although eyestrain may cause some pain or headaches, it does not harm eyesight all the time. Another myth about eyes is that they can be replaced from one person to another . It is quite difficult to connect aneyeball to a new brain.And it is impossible to replace a whole eyeball to a new person. Only certain parts of the eye can be replaced now. But if we keep clearing up the myths and learning more about the eyes, some day it may be possible to replace a full eyeball. | high15808.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "film review"
},
"options": [
"commercial advertisement",
"film review",
"movie poster",
"literary essay"
],
"question": "This piece of writing is a _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"a... | Here's a movie--a sharp, sugar-rush of fun that's guaranteed to entertain the entire family.
With some terrific computer-generated effects, a great cast and a fun-packed storyline, Robots is the best animated film since The Incredibles. Yep, it really is that good.
Set in a world populated by robots, Ewan McGregor plays Rodney Copperbottom, a young robot who leaves his small-town home to pursue his dream of becoming an inventor.
But after arriving in Robot City, his hopes of getting a job at Bigweld Industries are destroyed when he learns the firm has been taken over by the evil Ratchet (Greg Kinnear).
Egged on by his controlling mum, Madame Gasket (Jim Broadbent), Ratchet plans to reduce half of Robot City's citizens to scrap metal by refusing to sell the spare parts they need to survive.
Instead, he wants to make a fortune selling expensive upgrades that few can afford. As he says, "Why be you when you can be new?"
Aided by a few misfit robots known as the Rustles--including Robin Williams as the cowardly' Fender ("I'm made of a metal called Afraidium")--Rodney must track down the firm's founder, Bigweld (Mel Brooks), and convince him to save the city from Ratchet's plans.
The first thing that'll strike you about the movie is the thought that's gone into creating Robot City. It's a wondrous world full of mechanical marvels including wind-up cars and walking streetlamps.
Also terrific are the special effects. This might be an animated movie but at times you'll catch yourself thinking it's really a live-action film.
Of course, there have been plenty of animated movies that looked the part but were let down by a weak storyline (see Shark Tale, for example).
But Robots grips right from the start thanks to a heart-warming and thoroughly engaging plot that never bores.
My only complaints are with Williams who, as usual,has a one-in-10 success rate with his jokes. Also a letdown is a romantic subplot between Rodney and a shapely robot called Cappy (Halle Berry) that doesn't go anywhere.
Complains aside, this is a mechanical marvel that'll have you bolted firmly to your seat.
BEST QUOTE : Fender: "Even though you had a discouraging day, just remember there's another one coming tomorrow."
BEST BIT: Check out those amazing images.
WORST BIT: Robin Williams, character does an unfunny Britney Spears dance routine.
IF YOU LIKED...Ice Age, The Incredibles, Toy Story... YOU'LL LIKE THIS. | high6089.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "teachers can enable students to develop their own way of reading"
},
"options": [
"teachers can make their teaching activities observable",
"teachers can teach their students how to read",
"teachers can improve conditions at ... | So long as teachers fail to distinguish (differ) between teaching and learning, they will continue to undertake to do for children that which only children can do for themselves. Teaching children to read is not passing reading on to them. It is certainly not endless hours spent in activities about reading. Douglas insists that "reading cannot be taught directly and schools should stop trying to do the impossible".
Teaching and learning are two entirely different processes. They differ in kind and function. The function of teaching is to create the conditions and the climate that will make it possible for children to plan cleverly the most efficient system for teaching themselves to read. Teaching is also a public activity: It can be seen and observed.
Learning to read involves all that each individual does to understand the world of printed language. Almost all of it is private, for learning is an occupation of the mind, and that process is not open to public _
If teacher and learner roles are not interchangeable, what then can be done through teaching that will aid the child in the long search for knowledge? Smith has one principle rule for all teaching instructions. "Make learning to read easy, which means making reading a meaningful, enjoyable and frequent experience for children."
When the roles of teacher and learner are seen for what they are, and when both teacher and learner fulfill them properly, then much of the pressure and feeling of failure for both is got rid of. Learning to read is made easier when teachers create an environment where children are given the chance to solve the problem of learning to read by learning. | high7383.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It could be compared to child work."
},
"options": [
"It could be produced by children.",
"It could be compared to child work.",
"It was a certain kind of primitive art.",
"It was academic from the very beginning."
... | Mark Rothko, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in Daugavpils, Latvia in 1903. His family immigrated to the United States in 1913, after a 12-day voyage.
Mark moved to New York in the autumn of 1923 and found employment in the garment trade and settled down on the Upper West Side. It was while he was visiting someone at the Art Students League that he saw students painting a model. According to him, this was the start of his life as an artist. He was twenty years old and had taken some art lessons at school, so his initial experience was far from an immediate calling.
In 1936, Mark Rothko began writing a book, which he never completed, about the similarities in the children's art and the work of modern painters. The work of modernists, which was influenced by primitive art, could, according to him, be compared to that of children in that "Child art transforms itself into primitivism, which is only the child producing a copy of himself." In this same work, he said that "The fact that one usually begins with drawing is already academic. We start with colour."
It was not long before his multiform developed into the style he is remembered for. In 1949 Rothko exhibited these new works at the Betty Parsons Gallery. For reviewer Harold Rosenberg, the paintings were unique and primitive. Rothko had, after painting his first multiform, separated himself from the world in East Hampton on Long Island, only inviting a very few people, including Rosenberg, to view the new paintings. The discovery of his works' specialty came at a period of great sorrow: his mother Kate died in October 1948. As part of this new uniformity of artistic vision, his paintings no longer had individual titles. From this point on they were simply untitled, numbered or dated. However, to assist in distinguishing one work from another, traders would sometimes add the primary colours to the name. Additionally, for the next few years, Rothko painted in oil only on large vertical tents. This was done to surround the viewer, or, in his words, to make the viewer feel enveloped within the picture. | high22068.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She suffers from Alzheimer's disease."
},
"options": [
"She has been living with her father.",
"She was sad about the death of her father.",
"She can't search for her father without being watched.",
"She suffers from Al... | The gray-haired lady can't wait to leave the building to search for her dad. Unless watched, she will walk in the streets in an effort to find her father, who died 30 years ago.
Not all cases of Alzheimer's disease look like this, but Alzheimer's is a serious disease that is said to be the fourth or fifth leading cause of death for people over age 75. It is said that about three percent of the U.S. population over age 65 have Alzheimer's. In the early stages, people may exhibit short-term memory loss. Some may experience changes in personality, easy to be angry. As the disease progresses, patients might lose the ability to move and may be unable to speak or move at all. This progressive disease generally lasts 8 to 10 years before death occurs.
While no one is certain what causes these changes in the brain's nerve fibers , their effect is certain. Alzheimer's destroys not only the patients, but also spouses , friends and families.
What should you do if you notice progressive memory loss in yourself or a loved one? Have the person examined by a doctor who is a specialist in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease? Though many reasons other than Alzheimer's disease may cause memory loss, its early diagnosis and treatment may delay some of the most serious effects.
What feeling will you likely experience if a loved one suffers from Alzheimer's disease? A person will often go through the various stages of sadness, shock, anger, and so on. If the spouse develops the disease, you may experience hurt and disappointment when he or she doesn't remember you are married.
Life for the Alzheimer's patients and their loved ones will never be the same as the disease progresses, bringing a deep sorrow, loss and even anger towards God. No matter what feelings are present, facing them honestly will serve one better than burying them. | high266.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "excitement"
},
"options": [
"fun",
"amazement",
"excitement",
"surprise"
],
"question": "When the students have success in a school play, they may have a feeling of _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions... | At school many things happen to us. We may feel excited when we have success in a school play. We may feel sorry if we lose an important game. We want to keep the memory for the rest of our lives.
How to keep the memory? Our English teacher, Miss Wang, has taught us a good way of remembering things to make our own yearbook. What is a yearbook? A yearbook is a kind of book which is used to keep the memory of exciting moments. It's usually made at the end of the year.
Last December, we began to make our yearbook. First we chose the persons who had done something special, then some students interviewed them, some wrote down their stories, others took photos of them. Everyone in our class had something to do. Finally our teacher helped us to put the things together. We had our first yearbook.
All of us put a lot of love into making the yearbook. It is so wonderful that not only the students but also our parents and teachers will remember the special time for ever. | high23376.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "By trying to draw the buck's attention away from Sue."
},
"options": [
"By trying to bring the buck's life to an end.",
"By frightening the buck to run away down the slope.",
"By trying to draw the buck's attention away from ... | Alexi s Vaughan,17,sat tiredly in the passenger seat of her dad's car.The early Saturday morning run with her father,Michael,was part of the punishment.She stared sadly out of the window at the cornfields.
An experienced hunter,Alexis let her eyes lazily search for wildlife.She was shocked when a deer came into view about 200 yards in front of them.Mule deer never appeared in plain sight ten days before hunting season.It was a buck--a male deer with sharp,three-pronged antlers .
Suddenly Alexis heard a scream and saw an arm fly up near the deer's head.She realized the buck was attacking a woman.Sue Panter had been Out for her morning run.The deer had appeared from the tall corn and begun following her.Having lived in the countryside of Idaho for years,Sue knew that most deer got frightened by humans.But this deer moved closer,even when she threw a handful of small stones at it.
"I knew I was in trouble,"she says.
The buck rushed forward,lifted her up with its antlers and threw her into the air. Sue could feel the antlers made small holes in her leg and blood ran down her leg.
When the Vaughans pulled up,the buck was throwing Sue like a rag doll. Before her father had stopped the car,Alexis rushed out of the car and down the slope toward the buck."1 was kicking and hitting it hard with my fists to get its attention so that It will leave the woman,"she says.However,the animal was not frightened at all.Then Michael pushed the buck away from the woman by the antlers.
Alexis helped Sue up the slope and into the Vaughans'car.Then she tied a tourniquet to Sue's right leg.Her neck was cut.Then she heard her father shout loudly. Michael had been knocked to the ground,his right leg seriously cut by the buck. Alexis took a hammer from the car and ran to where Michael lay on his back in the dirt.She beat the buck's head and neck,but the blows didn't frighten it away."I was losing faith,"she says.
"A couple more strikes,Alexis,"said Michael."You can do it."Alexis closed her eyes and hit with all her strength at the deer's neck with the hammer. When she opened her eyes, the deer was running away.
A1exis got in the driver's seat and sped toward the hospital in Franklin,hearing her dad's breathing grow difficuIt and unsmooth as the blood from his wounded leg had flowed through the T--shirt he'd wrapped around it.In the backseat,Sue looked unconscious.
After doctors treated Sue and Michael,Sue tearfully thanked her rescuers." _ | high5594.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "always liked to find out how things worked"
},
"options": [
"liked to fly a kite by himself",
"always asked easy questions",
"always liked to play with water",
"always liked to find out how things worked"
],
"qu... | When Ben Franklin was only a boy, he always wanted to know about things. He was always asking his father and brothers 'What?' and 'How?' and 'Why?'
They couldn't always tell him what he wanted to know.
When they couldn't tell him, Ben tried to find out for himself.
Many times Ben did find out things that no one knew before. The other boys would say, 'That is Ben Franklin! He's always finding out something new!'
Ben lived close to the water. He liked to go there to see the boats. He saw how the wind blew them across the water.
One day Ben said to himself: 'Why can't the wind help me float across the water? And I'm going to try.' Ben got his big kite.He took hold of the kite string and ran with it. The wind took the kite up into the air.Then Ben jumped into the water.
The wind blew the kite high into the air.Ben began to float across the water.Soon he was on the other side, and he had not worked at all.
One boy shouted, 'Look at Ben floating across the water! His kite takes him to the other side without any work!'
'Yes,' said another. 'He's always finding new ways to do things.' | high4852.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "man"
},
"options": [
"the changing of the climate",
"man",
"the natural changes",
"the wind"
],
"question": "The reason for the land that turns into deserts is mostly because of _",
"question_type": "cloze... | The size and location of the world's deserts are always changing. Over millions of years, as climates change and mountains rise, new dry and wet areas appear. But within the last hundred years deserts have been increasing after frightful speed. This is partly because of natural changes, but most responsible for creating deserts are men.
Man can make deserts, but they can also prevent them from getting bigger. Algeria is planning a green belt of trees along the edge of the Sahara Desert to stop the sand. In China, too, _ are being built in the northwest to keep the desert from growing.
But desert still threaten the world. Experts believe that land that is on the way to becoming deserts equals the size of Australia, Russia and US put together. Can we stop the spread of the world's deserts and save the land that is so essential to mankind? Yes, we can, and we must. | high21207.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "120."
},
"options": [
"121.",
"120.",
"114.",
"12315."
],
"question": "Which telephone number do Chinese dial in the case like that where Pamela in the passage dialed \"911\"?",
"question_type": null
},
... | On an August afternoon last year, Pamela Rivers, 40, and her friend Rita Graham, 38, were stopped at a red light on Cobb's Creek Parkway in South Philadelphia when a white SUV traveling in the opposite direction turned across traffic in front of them. It then jumped the curb and rushed through a grassy expanse before plunging down an embankment toward Cobb's Creek. Pamela quickly pulled over, jumped out of her car, and dialed 911.
Kenny Gibson, 23, and his friend Taron Green, 25, were driving home from a job when Rita flagged them down. Kenny stopped, and the men got out of the car and looked over the cliff. The SUV had landed upside down in five feet of water. A woman's leg could be seen swinging out the driver's side window.
"I have a fear of water," Kenny said now. "I almost drowned when I was nine." Even so, he and Taron hurried down the 50-foot embankment into the muddy water. "I couldn't just leave her," he adds.
The men waded out to the car and saw that the woman, Cheryl Allison, 61, was partially in water. Kenny tried unsuccessfully to open the door. Then he broke the window. But when he reached in to pull out Cheryl, he found she was trapped by the seat belt.
"Run back to the truck and grab a box cutter ," Kenny yelled to Taron. Meanwhile, Kenny tried in vain to push the car onto its side to create an air pocket for Cheryl.
That's when mechanic Marcell Porter approached the site. "I flipped into rescue mode," he said. When Taron returned, Kenny cut through the seat belt with the box cutter. He and Marcell tried to pull Cheryl out, but she wouldn't come out.
Marcell broke the rear window with a rock, hoping to rescue her from the back. Then he saw that she was still strapped in by her shoulder belt. Marcell reached for the box cutter and cut the remaining strap in two. Kenny leaned in, grabbed Cheryl by the waist, and pulled her out feet first. Marcell grasped Cheryl's legs, and they managed to drag her lifeless body onto a rock.
"Give her CPR!" Pamela yelled down to them. But the two men had no idea what to do. "Put your mouth on her mouth and breathe," she shouted to Marcell. And to Kenny, "Pump her chest!"
"We tried three times," said Marcell. Finally, Cheryl brought up water and started moving her fingers. The men rolled her over onto her stomach to let out more water.
Soon an ambulance arrived and transported Cheryl to the hospital, where doctors treated her. They never discovered what caused her to pass out, but she assumes it had something to do with the burning summer heat.
Over the next few days, they took turns visiting Cheryl in the hospital, where they shared hugs and tears. "We couldn't believe she was all right," said Pamela.
"It's just amazing that these people came together," said Cheryl. She stays in touch with her "angels" via frequent phone calls. "They are really beautiful people," she said. | high19940.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "to recommend a website to veterans and people concerned"
},
"options": [
"to introduce some methods to cure PTSD",
"to instruct PTSD patients to return to civilian life",
"to recommend a website to veterans and people concern... | After successfully serving their term for 4 years, military service men and women are given the choice to stay in the military of return to civilian life.
For some, having to readjust to civilian life is one of the mist challenging assignments our returning soldiers and marines will ever to undertake. While people may think readjusting should be simple, they must take into consideration of all physical and mental stress our servicemen went through.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder ,or PTSD, is a mental disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat .
Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. In the military, the marines are given a two-week course on how to return to civilian life.
Unfortunately, some will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individual may develop PTSD.
People who suffer from PTSD have difficulty sleeping because they are often reliving the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, and feel deserted or often stand off, and these symptoms can be severe enough an dlast long enough to significantly damage the person's daily life.
Fullerton College, like most colleges, has its own Veteran's Office. Ray Bustos has been running the office for 3 years. Bustos acts as a liaison for the school and the veteran students. He makes sure the veterans returning to school get the right benefits. There are various types of financial aid for soldiers and marines. He strongly encourages the use of the Veteran Affairs website.
The website is very informative and extremely helpful for veterans as well as for friends and s of veterans who want to learn more. | high20119.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "12."
},
"options": [
"30.",
"22.",
"12.",
"13."
],
"question": "How many letters will Ashley Whisenhunt receive from her husband?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer... | Even after his death, Mitchell Whisenhunt has found a way to surprise and bring comfort to his wife and young daughter, with some letters he designated to be opened on certain dates.
Mitchell lost his battle with Marfan syndrome at 26. The rare genetic disorder affects the body's connective tissue, which is used to hold together organs, cells and tissue.
Ashley Whisenhunt, 22, cared for her husband until his death but said she was astonished when she discovered the 30 letters he left for her, their 18-month-old daughter Brynleigh and the community.
The little girl will grow up with a letter every year from her second to 18th birthday from a man she didn't get to spend much time with but who left no doubt that he loved her unconditionally. "Through his testimony,there is so much she is going to learn," Ashley told ABC News.
One letter was also addressed to their Longview, Texas, community, thanking them for their support.
"It just blows my mind," Ashley said of her husband's secret gesture. "He thought about everybody else instead of himself."
Ashley said she would respect her husband's wishes and open each letter as he planned, however there was one special surprise left for her that she said hit her the hardest.
In a spiral notebook that Ashley used before she dropped out of college to care for her husband, he wrote a letter to her asking that she publish a book of poetry he had written.
Mitchell Whisenhunt even planned his own funeral, and the funeral director said he couldn't tell Ashley because it was Mitchell's plan and secret. Ashley said she couldn't help but wonder what other surprises her husband had in store. "There are ones we still don't know about it," she said. | high12815.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "photophone"
},
"options": [
"photophone",
"optical fiber",
"telephone",
"laser"
],
"question": "According to Bell's own opinion, _ is his greatest invention.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | Most people know Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. But not many know about another talking device (equipment) he invented just four years later, in 1880. He called the device the photophone.
"Photophone" comes form the Greek words for "light" and "sound". The photophone did not use electricity to carry sound over wires between two people. _ . Instead, the photophone used a beam of sunlight traveling through the air. With his invention, Bell could actually transmit human speech on a beam of light. To do so, he spoke close to a thin mirror that was reflecting sunlight. The vibrations of his voice caused the mirror to vibrate, and the vibrating mirror caused the light to vibrate. The vibrating light hit a light-sensitive cell in a receiver placed some distance away. The cell changed the light patterns into electrical signals. Earphones changed the signals back into sounds.
Bell believed that his idea of talking on a beam of light would prove to be important. He often called the photophone his greatest invention. Even though the photophone depended on a source of energy that was not constant--the sun--Bell wasn't a bit discouraged. He felt sure that people would one day talk using beams of light.
Two much more recent developments made Bell's dream come true. In 1960, a scientist built the laser. A laser produces a highly concentrated beam of light. Shortly afterward, other scientists developed a new kind of optical fiber. The optical fiber is a glass thread. The new fiber could carry light beams long distances--as far as several miles. | high23410.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he wanted it to sing for him"
},
"options": [
"he wanted a pet for a companion",
"he liked its beautiful feather",
"he wanted it to sing for him",
"he had just got a cage"
],
"question": "The boy caught a mockin... | Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhood. When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.
We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the tree and sing. There isn't a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.
I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and that way have my own private musician.
I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home, I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.
I had left the cage out on our back porch , and on the second day of the bird's captivity my new pet's mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth . The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.
The following morning when I went to see how my captive was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened? I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.
Arthur Wayne, the famous _ , happened to be visiting my father at the time and, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred: "A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity."
Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free. | high1094.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the use of the Internet"
},
"options": [
"the change of people's idea",
"the business people do",
"the use of the Internet",
"the change of people's life"
],
"question": "The cause of the differences between the... | People are talking about the "new economy." It's very different from the "old economy".
In the old economy, people travel to walk. They buy things in stores. They use the post office, the fax and the telephone to send information. They see people face-to-face at their jobs or in stores. People get information from newspapers, radio, television, books and libraries.
In the new economy, people do business through the "net," which is a connection of millions of computers everywhere in the world. In the new economy, workers often work at home. They can get information online. They can communicate with employers and co-workers by e-mail. Businesses have "virtual stores". They are websites on which customers can see the products. Businesses can sell to customers anywhere in the world.
In the new economy, people live a fast paced, convenient and colorful life. The whole world develops more quickly than before. But the new economy is a double-edge sword. Its disadvantage is also obvious. For example, the Internet has led to a huge increase in credit card cheating. Some illegal websites offer some cheap or banned goods or services. Online shoppers who enter their credit card information may never receive the goods they want to buy and their card information could even be for sale in an illegal website. So people in the new economy should be smarter and knowledgeable. | high500.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "costs no more money than current roads"
},
"options": [
"is too expensive to build at present",
"costs no more money than current roads",
"can provide as many data as present computers",
"will bring them a large sum of ... | About five years ago, an American electrical engineer named Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie came up with the idea of putting solar panels on the ground rather than the roof. Then they began to develop the Solar Roadway. The Solar Roadway is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy using power from the sun while providing safer driving conditions, along with power and data delivery. They predict that the Solar Roadway will pay for itself through the generation of electricity along with other forms of income and that the same money that is being used to build and resurface current roads can be used to build the Solar Roadways.
Each Solar Road Panel measures roughly 4 meters by 4 meters and contains a microprocessor that monitors and controls the panel, while communicating with neighboring panels and the vehicles traveling overhead. The inventors suggest that this provides a communications device every 4 meters on every road which could be used for example to warn drivers of cars which are moving across a centre line and various other speed control problems. The top of the Solar Road panels is made of super-strong glass that would offer vehicles the tractions _ need.
According to the inventors, the Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity and therefore electric vehicles can be recharged at any conveniently located rest stop, or at any business that has paved Solar Road Panels in their parking lots.
The inventors say their Solar Roadway has many functions and advantages from main roads to driveways, parking lots, bike paths, sidewalks and runways. The Federal Highway Administration has given Brusaw $100,000 to develop the invention and Brusaw hopes to build a smart-road parking lot in the coming spring . | high6923.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "lights and heaters will be on and off automatically"
},
"options": [
"we will live without lights and heaters",
"we will use much more lights and heaters",
"there will be no switches of lights and heaters",
"lights and ... | Do you forget to turn off the lights and heaters when you go out of a room? In 2040 it will not matter. They will turn themselves off--and on again when you return. You will choose the temperature for each room, the lighting and the humidity. A sensor will find the presence of a human (and, with luck, ignore the dog!) and turn the systems on, and when the humans leave it will turn them off again.
The sensors will work through the central home computer, and they will do much more than just turn the fires and lights on and off for you. They will find faulty electrical appliances, plugs or switches, separate them so that they cannot harm anyone, and then warn you that they need repair. They will detect fire and if you are out of the house, the computer will call the fire brigade. It will not be too difficult because the locks on the outside doors will be electronic. You will open them using your personal card--the one you use for shopping--maybe using a number known only to you.
It will be impossible to lose the key, and a housebreaker will have to tamper with the lock or with a window. It is not very difficult to make such tampering send a signal to the computer.
The computer will be more than a fireman-policeman-servant. It will be an entertainer, and most of your entertainment will come right into your home. It does now, of course, but by 2040 "entertainment" will mean much more. For one thing, you will be able to take part actively, rather than just watching. | high17945.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Phantom Ranch"
},
"options": [
"Diamond Creek",
"Lees Ferry",
"Phantom Ranch",
"Pierce Ferry"
],
"question": "If you don't want to take an all distance trip,you can start at .",
"question_type": "factiod_qu... | Rafting the GRAND CANYON Welcomes You!
For an exciting,fun and challenging white water tours,Rafting the GRAND CANYON is here to help you plan the right tour for you.Whether you want to travel for two days or ten,hike in or not,go on an oar raft or motorized trip,we will help you find the trip that meets your needs.
For those who will be vacationing on the offseason a trip on the Native American Red River rafting is available year around or a one day trip is available on the Colorado River from Diamond Creek to Pierce Ferry (about three hours from Las Vegas).
Most of the trips depart from Lees Ferry,Arizona (approximately 21/2hours from the south rim of the Grand Canyon).We offer partial trips which allow you to get on or off at Phantom Ranch located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon National Park South Rim.Requiring a hike in or out,with proper planning the horse ride up or down is also an option.Most trips occur between April and October.
Since all rafting on the Colorado requires a permit,planning and reserving your trip requires reservations well in advance.Please let us know when you would like to go and we will contact all the river concessionaires to help you find the best trip for you.
For planning your trip,questions,concerns or to make your reservations,please email or call the toll free number below.Since these trips are limited we highly recommend you make your reservations months in advance.
To talk to a live person call us toll free:18002226966or 7026556060
If you have any questions regarding a trip,please CLICK _ HERE to fill out our form.This will speed up the process of getting you accurate information regarding your trip.
If you would like to send us an email other than about an upcoming trip you can contact us at info@raftingthegrandcanyon.com.
We look forward to helping you plan your trip!(Please NO Travel Agents) | high19968.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It is a holy place for Buddhists."
},
"options": [
"It has a history of over 1,300 years.",
"It is a typical ancient Chinese building.",
"It is a holy place for Buddhists.",
"It won the title of an AAAA Tourist Attracti... | Terra-cotta Warriors
As the greatest archaeological findings of the 20th century, Terra-cotta Warriors has a really long history.In 246 BC, Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to prepare for his mausoleum which took 11 years to finish to defend him in the afterlife.There are over 7,000 pottery soldiers, horses, bronze chariots, and even weapons found in it now.Terra-cotta Warriors was listed by UNESCO in 1987 as one of the world cultural heritages and it has made Xi'an a famous city for tourists.
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has a history of over 1,300 years and is a typical ancient Chinese building.It is located in the south of Xi'an City.Because Master Xuanzang stored his classics brought from India in the pagoda, it is also a holy place for Buddhists.As a National Key Cultural Relic Preserve, it won the title of an AAAA Tourist Attraction as well.
Xi'an Ancient City Wall
As one of the landmarks of Xi'an, Ancient City Wall still stretches round the old city today, dividing the city into the inner part and the outer part.Ancient City Wall was originally built during the old Tang Dynasty (618 -- 907) and then enlarged by Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, thus forming the modern Xi'an City Wall.After the extension, the wall now stands 12 meters tall, 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 meters thick at the bottom. | high3873.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She's afraid to get bad news about her parents."
},
"options": [
"She's too busy to read those emails.",
"She dislikes her parents' nonstop talking.",
"They often bring unpleasant news.",
"She's afraid to get bad news a... | I am always nervous when I get an email from my parents with "FYI(For Your Information)". My parents are in their late 70s, and while they are quite healthy for their ages, I worry about what messages they are going to give me.
I got such an email in September from my father. He sent an email from my cousin who told that her father, my uncle Reese, had passed away. The news made my mind go blank though I have met him less than a dozen times in my life, because Reese was the first of my parent's siblings to die, and I was simply not ready for that.
The memorial service was set in Florida, and I quickly decided I needed to go. I needed to be there for my father, and I needed to go for myself. Reese is about nine years older than my father, and I started to do the math in my head. I know that doesn't make sense, but I will do anything to reason that I still have a lot of time before I am in my cousin's shoes.
Reese's memorial service was small with only family and perhaps a dozen of his friends. The funeral was attended by an even smaller number, and then, the family gathered at a nearby bar to look at old photographs found among Reese' possessions.
As we drove back to the Orlando International Airport, I thought about how I am not sure what my parents want, not only in their memorial services, but also how they want to be remembered and where they want to be laid to rest. These are going to be difficult conversations, but I know I need to have them. Maybe not right now, but we do need to open the discussion at some point. It may feel too early, but I trust my parents will know that when adult children raise these questions, we do it out of love to honor their lives and their wishes. | high14294.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Fifteen."
},
"options": [
"Thirty-five",
"Eighteen.",
"Fifteen.",
"Twenty-one."
],
"question": "How old was the storyteller when Harold came back for the last time?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
}... | On the wall in my mother's bedroom there was a photo, which showed a soldier with a gun. Below the photo was the word "Speaking".
"Who's that soldier called Speaking?" I asked one day.
"He was Harold." She said. "He was my only brother. When the Second World War began, Harold was eighteen. I was twelve then, and my sisters were ten and nine".
"Harold liked to play with us, and we often quarreled. When we quarreled, we said:We're not speaking to you. But before long we were all happy again, and then we said: I'm speaking now. Are you speaking to me?"
"When the war broke out, Harold joined the army. A month later, he came to see us. He brought the gun to show us. Then he went miles away to the war. We didn't see him for three years, three long, empty years. We didn't often hear from him. But one day in May there was a loud bang on the front door..."
"I ran to open it. It was Harold! He was an old Harold, a thinner Harold. He looked at me with his two green eyes and smiled. That smile was just the same as before, then he said one word: 'speaking'".
"I didn't...I couldn't...answer. I just fell into his arms and he dropped his gun. He stayed with us for a month. We played all our old games again. Then he went back to the war, and never came back again. So I wrote the word on the photo." | high8926.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "3"
},
"options": [
"1",
"2",
"3",
"4"
],
"question": "How many exchanges happen in the passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because Mr.Vine... | A long time ago, there lived a poor man whose real name has been forgotten. He was little and old and his face was wrinkled, and that was why his friends called him Mr. Vinegar. His wife was also little and old, and they lived in a little old cottage at the back of a little old field.
"John," said Mrs. Vinegar, "you must go to town and buy a cow. I will milk her and churn butter and we shall never want for anything."
"That is a good plan," said Mr. Vinegar, so he started off to town while his wife waited by the roadside.
Mr. Vinegar walked up and down the street of the town looking for a cow. After a time, a farmer came that way, leading one that was very pretty and fat.
"Oh, if I only had that cow," said Mr. Vinegar, "I would be the happiest man in the world!"
"She's a very good cow," said the farmer.
"Well," said Mr. Vinegar, "I'll give you these 50 gold pieces for her."
The farmer smiled and held out his hand for the money, "You may have her," he said, "I always like to oblige , my friends!"
Mr. Vinegar took hold of the cow's halter and led her up and down the street. "I am the luckiest man in the world," he said, "for only see how all the people are looking at me and my cow!"
But at one end of the street, he met a man playing bagpipes . He stopped and listened -- Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dee.
"Oh, that is the sweetest music I ever heard," he said, "and just see how all the children crowd around the man and give him pennies! If I only had those bagpipes, I would be the happiest man in the world!!"
"I'll sell them to you," said the piper.
"Will you? Well then, since I have no money, I will give you this cow for them."
"You may have them," answered the piper, "I always like to oblige a friend."
Mr. Vinegar took the bagpipes and the piper led the cow away.
"Now we will have some music," said Mr. Vinegar, but try as hard as he might, he could not play a tune. He could get nothing out of the bagpipes but "squeak, squeak". The children instead of giving him pennies laughed at him.
The day was chilly and in trying to play the pipes, his fingers grew very cold. He wished he had kept the cow.
He just started for home when he met a man who had warm gloves on his hands. "Oh, if I only had those pretty gloves," he said, "I would be the happiest man in the world."
"How much will you give for them?" asked the man.
"Oh, I have no money, but I will give you these bagpipes," answered Mr. Vinegar.
"Well," said the man, "you may have them for I always like to oblige a friend."
Mr. Vinegar gave him the bagpipes and drew the gloves on over his half frozen fingers. "How lucky I am," he said as he trudged homeward. His hands were soon quite warm, but the road was rough and the walking hard. He was very tired when he came to the foot of the steep hill. "How shall I ever get to the top?" he said. Just then he met a man who was walking the other way. He had a stick in his hand which he used as a cane to help him along.
"My friend," said Mr. Vinegar, "if only I had that stick of yours to help me up this hill, I would be the happiest man in the world!"
"How much will you give me for it?" asked the man.
"Well, I have no money, but I will give you this pair of warm gloves," said Mr. Vinegar.
"Well," said the man, "you may have it for I always like to oblige a friend."
Mr. Vinegar's hands were now quite warm, so he gave the gloves to the man and took the stout stick to help him along. "How lucky I am!'' he said as he toiled upward.
At the top of the hill he stopped to rest. But as he was thinking of all his good luck that day, he heard someone calling his name. He looked up and saw only a green parrot sitting in a tree.
"Mr. Vinegar, Mr. Vinegar," it cried.
"What now?" said Mr. Vinegar.
"You're a dunce , you're a dunce!'' answered the bird, "you went to seek your _ and you found it, then you gave it for a cow, and the cow for some bagpipes, and the bagpipes for some gloves, and the gloves for a stick which you might of cut by the roadside. He He He, you're a dunce! You're a dunce!''
This made Mr. Vinegar very angry. He threw the stick at the bird with all his might. But the bird only answered, "You're a dunce! You're a dunce!" And the stick lodged in the tree where he could not get it again.
Mr. Vinegar went on slowly for he had many things to think about. His wife was standing by the roadside and as soon as she saw him, she cried out, "Where's the cow? Where's the cow?" "Well, I just don't know where the cow is," said Mr. Vinegar. And then he told her the whole story. | high528.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "them to help him think of ways to raise money for the people in Barrie"
},
"options": [
"them to help him decide whether they should raise money for the people in Barrie",
"them to help him think of ways to raise money for the peop... | I was doing a weekend seminar at the Deerhurst Lodge, north of Toronto. On Friday night a tornado swept through a town north of us called Barrie, killing dozens of people and doing millions of dollars worth of damage. Sunday night, as I was coming home, I stopped the car when I got to Barrie. I got out on the side of the highway and looked around. It was a mess. Everywhere I looked there were smashed houses and cars turned upside down.
That same night Bob Templeton was driving down the same highway. He stopped to look at the disaster just as I had; only his thoughts were different than my own. Bob was the vice-president of Telemedia Communications, which owns a string of radio stations in Ontario and Quebec. He thought there must be something we could do for these people with the radio stations they had.
The following night I was doing another seminar in Toronto. Bob Templeton and Bob Johnson, another vice-president from Telemedia, came in and stood in the back of the room. They shared their conviction that there had to be something they could do for the people in Barrie.
After the seminar we went back to Bob's office. He was now committed to the idea of helping the people who had been caught in the tornado.
The following Friday he called all the executives at Telemedia into his office. At the top of a flip chart he wrote three 3s. He said to his executives, "How would you like to raise 3 million dollars 3 days from now in just 3 hours and give the money to the people in Barrie?" There was nothing but silence in the room.
Finally someone said, "Templeton, you're crazy. There is no way we could do that."
Bob said, "Wait a minute. I didn't ask you if we could or even if we should. I just asked you if you'd like to."
They all said, "Sure we'd like to." He then drew a large 'T' underneath the 333. On one side he wrote, "Why we can't." On the other side he wrote, "How we can."
"I'm going to put a big X on the 'Why we can't' side. We're not going to spend any time on the ideas of why we can't. That's of no value. On the other side we're going to write down every idea that we can come up with on how we can. We're not going to leave the room until we figure it out." There was silence again.
Finally, someone said, "We could do a radio show across Canada."
Bob said, "That's a great idea," and wrote it down. Before he had it written, someone said, "You can't do a radio show across Canada. We don't have radio stations across Canada." That was a pretty valid objection. They only had stations in Ontario and Quebec.
Templeton replied, " _ ." But this was a real strong objection because radio stations are not very compatible . They usually don't work together. They are very cutthroat. They fight each other. To get them to work together would be virtually impossible according to the standard way of thinking.
All of a sudden someone said, "We could get Harvey Kirk and Lloyd Robertson, the biggest names in Canadian broadcasting, to anchor the show." (That would be like getting Tom Brokaw and Sam Donaldson to anchor the show. They are anchors on national TV. They are not going to go on radio.) At that point, it was absolutely amazing how fast and furious the creative ideas began to flow.
That was on a Friday. The following Tuesday they had a radiothon . They had fifty radio stations all across the country that agreed to broadcast it. It didn't matter who got the credit as long as the people in Barrie got the money. Harvey Kirk and Lloyd Robertson anchored the show and they succeeded in raising three million dollars in three hours within three business days!
You see, you can do anything if you put your focus on how to do it rather than on why you can't. | high8098.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "15 minutes"
},
"options": [
"15 minutes",
"30 minutes",
"1.5 hours",
"3 hours."
],
"question": "How long does it take the battery to charge up an iPhone?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"... | RichardSolo 1800 Rechargeable Battery
In just minutes a day, plug in and charge your iPhone quickly!
Just plug RichardSolo 1800 into your iPhone once or twice a day, for fifteen minutes, and keep your iPhone charged up. At your desk, or at dinner, plug RichardSolo into iPhone to instantly transfer change. No more battery worries. RichardSolo will charge iPhone to full 1.5 time, and it is good for 3-5 years of recharges.
Use the iPhone while charging it. Even charge the RichardSolo 1800 and iPhone together at the same time. Take only one charger when traveling and wake up in the morning with the RichardSolo and the iPhone charged.
RichardSolo 1800 is largest in its class and holds its charge for months. Works with almost all iPhone cases.
Your satisfaction is guaranteed, with our 30-day return privilege. If you're not satisfied for any reason, we'll email you a pre-paid return label.
Actual customer comments:
To have your company exhibit such good service is unbelievably refreshing. ---P.S.
This is what I call great customer support. I wish more companies would figure this out these days. Thank you so much.---D.C.
You have provided me one of the best services I have ever seen on any online/telephone shopping.--T.K.
You must have the fastest processing and shipping in the industry!!--M.C.
This is the best customer service experience I have had in a long time.---L.L.
I've read online about your amazing customer service, and I must say I'm now a true believer.---B.L. | high22040.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the mirage made the watcher not find icebergs and a nearby ship delay rescuing"
},
"options": [
"the freezing weather made the watcher not be able to watch clear",
"the mirage made the watcher not find icebergs and a nearby ship de... | The Iceberg Was Only Part of _
What doomed the Titanic is well known, at least in outline. On a moonless night of April 15, 1912, the ship hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic ,with 1,500 lives lost.
A century later many people presented new theories to explain the real reason for the disaster. Now two new studies argue that rare states of nature played major roles in the disaster.
The first says Earth's nearness to the Moon and the Sun -- a proximity not matched in more than 1,000 years -- resulted in record tides that help explain why the Titanic met with so much ice, including the fatal iceberg.
Recently, a team of researchers found an apparent explanation in the heavens. They discovered that Earth had come unusually close to the Sun and Moon that winter, enhancing their gravitational pulls on the ocean and producing record tides. The rare orbits took place between December 1911 and February 1912 -- about two months before the disaster came about. The researchers suggest that the high tides refloated masses of icebergs traditionally stuck along the coastlines of Labrador and Newfoundland and sent them adrift into the North Atlantic shipping lanes.
And a second, put forward by a Titanic historian from Britain, contends that the icy waters created ideal conditions for an unusual type of mirage that hid icebergs from lookouts whose duty was to watch carefully for danger ahead and confused a nearby ship as to the liner's identity, delaying rescue efforts for hours.
Most people know mirages as natural phenomena caused when hot air near the Earth's surface bends light rays upward. In a desert, the effect prompts lost travelers to mistake patches of blue sky for pools of water. But another kind of mirage occurs when cold air bends light rays downward. In that case, observers can see objects and settings far over the horizon. The images often undergo quick distortions -- not unlike the wavy reflections in a funhouse mirror.
Now, scholars of the Titanic are debating these new theories. Some have different opinions on it. Over all, though, many experts are applauding the fresh perspectives. | high1902.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "a program used to share photos"
},
"options": [
"a restaurant free of charge",
"a campaign of \"Food for Life\"",
"a new marketing project",
"a program used to share photos"
],
"question": "Instagram probably is... | Instagram is containing so many photos of food--now a pop-up diner in London is taking advantage of this new trend by letting people settle the bill for their meals simply by uploading photos of their dishes to social networks.
I always thought people's taking pictures of their food was kind of silly, but at this new pop-up restaurant in the UK, I'd probably do it too. 'The Picture House' is the world's first pay-by-photo restaurant--you order, click a photo of the food, share on Instagram and eat for free!
The restaurant belongs to frozen food giant Birds Eye, who came up with the idea to cash in on people's addiction with photographing food and sharing the pictures online. They conducted a survey and found out that more than half of the British population regularly took pictures of their meals. So they realized it was a better way to advertise their new dining range.
The pop-up diner was open in Soho, London for three days in May, and is now moving to other major UK cities. They serve two-course meals that customers don't have to pay for, if they photo and Instagram it.
The restaurant is a part of Birds Eye's 'Food for Life' campaign, a new marketing project that aims at changing the way people look at frozen food. "Taking photos of food enables people to show off and to share their mealtime moments--from the everyday to the special," said marketing director Margaret Jobling.
The reaction to The Picture House has been great so far. And the pay-by-picture concept has proven to be an effective way. Alternative payment methods are actually gaining popularity among a lot of businesses. Last year, in a cafe in Germany customers pay by how much time they spend there, not by what they eat. | high9386.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "by burning salt in fire"
},
"options": [
"by taking out salt",
"by burning salt in fire",
"in a superstitious way",
"depending on his wisdom"
],
"question": "The senior villager predicted the changes of the weat... | A story tells that a senior villager led some other villagers carrying salt day and night to a town in order to trade rice as food the winter.One night they camped in a wilderness with a starry sky above.The senior villager,obeying the tradition passed down from forefathers,took out three blocks of salt and threw them into the campfire,probably to predict the changes of weather in the mountains.
All eagerly waited for the old man's"weather report":if the salt in the fire produced crackling sound,they would have good weather in store;if no sound was produced,it then meant the good weather would soon end and a storm would come at any moment.
The senior villager looked serious.The salt in the campfire made no sound at all.Convinced by this bad sign,he urged the whole team to set out immediately after daybreak.A young man in the group,however,insisted that they should not start in such a hurry,considering it superstitious to"forecast weather by using salt.
It was not until the next afternoon that the young man caught up on the wisdom of the old man when the weather suddenly changed,with cold winds blowing and a snowstorm raging.In fact,the method used by the clan head could be well explained by modem science:whether or not salt produces sound in campfire depends on air humidity .That is to say,when a storm approaches,due to high humidity,the dampened salt blocks will not produce any sound in fire. | high20657.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "correct some wrong ideas about looking for jobs"
},
"options": [
"tell people how to get a good job",
"teach people how to behave in a job interview",
"correct some wrong ideas about looking for jobs",
"introduce right ... | Are you stuck in a job you don't like? Many people hold ideas about jobs and careers that are holding them back.Let's see the truth behind some career myths.
A CV is the only way to get a job.
To tell the truth, many employers don't like or actually read CVs.Some employers would prefer to judge a person after a face-to-face meeting, or give them some part-time work first to see what they are truly like in the workplace.
Having an up-to-date CV is important when applying for jobs advertised in the paper, from larger organizations, or when you want to leave some information about yourself for the employers.
I have to make my decision now and stick to it.
There is a great saying: "Life is a journey not a destination." Journeys are full of options.You make and change your decisions all the time based on new experiences and information.
Yes, you do have to make decisions, but you do not have to be limited by those career decisions by sticking to them.What's more important is having a go and exploring new things.
I can't get into the work I like because there are too few opportunities.
I have no doubt getting into work that you really want to do can be challenging.But I do also believe opportunities exist in most career areas because employment needs change all the time.One strategy I'd suggest if you can't get your dream job is to go after what you want and grab any opportunity that moves you toward your dream job.
It's the school's responsibility to talk about careers and work.
Schools do have a part to play in providing career advice for students, but others also have a responsibility.I would suggest that a student-parent-school partnership approach is a far better way of looking at this.A lot of information is available on the internet, in the newspapers, through relatives and friends. | high10794.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "All the glory and misfortune will pass in the end."
},
"options": [
"Everyone should struggle for their future.",
"Don't wait for tomorrow before all the things pass.",
"All the glory and misfortune will pass in the end.",
... | One day King Solomon decided to _ Benaiah Ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it."
"If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?"
"It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy."
Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of modesty. Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's goods on a shabby carpet.
"Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah.
He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and carve something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile. That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity.
"Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled. To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!"
As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile disappeared from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: "gimel, zayin, yod", which began the words "Gam zeh ya'avor" -- _ At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and wealth and great power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust. | high21549.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a tenant"
},
"options": [
"a deaf man",
"the owner of the house",
"a tenant",
"an old neighbor"
],
"question": "The man living below where Edward lived was _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{... | The pounding was driving Edward crazy. A new neighbor had just moved into the apartment below him. The newcomer was deaf, or seemed to be, because he played his stereo loud enough for the whole building to hear.
On the first day he heard the stereo rocking over, Edward marched downstairs and politely told the newcomer that his stereo was too loud. He asked the new tenant to turn the volume down and keep it down as long as he lived in the building. The tenant appeared surprised and embarrassed, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was that loud."
So, Edward returned upstairs, feeling good, because he had taken a stand and politely let the newcomer know that loud music was not going to be tolerated. The next day all was quiet, and Edward continued to be pleased with himself. The following day, Edward thought it must be Fourth of July, because a marching band was playing on his street. In fact, it was the new neighbor who was playing his music loud again.
Edward was not one to repeat himself, feeling that each time you repeated yourself, you diminished the value of your words. So, he did what he always did with rude neighbors-grin and bear it. Eventually, they would move away. What else are you going to do?
In Los Angeles a year ago, a woman had complained to her upstairs neighbor that he was playing his drums too loud and too often. The drummer repeatedly ignored her. One day the woman walked upstairs and shot the drummer in the head and his girlfriend in the chest. The woman was sentenced to prison for 20 years.
The dead drummer won't bother anyone with his drums, but the woman might be wishing now that she had learned to grin and bear it. If she were still living in her apartment, she could always move. When you're in prison, you don't have that option. | high10780.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "got up at different times"
},
"options": [
"tried to change each other's sleeping habits",
"often argued about small things",
"could not understand each other",
"got up at different times"
],
"question": "Jeri S... | Jeri Solomon is a morning person but Jim, her husband of 11 years, is not. Early in their life, it caused a problem. "When we were planning our wedding, I wanted to have these big discussions at 8 a. m.,when I had been up for two hours and was fresh, but Jim would just be getting out of bed," says the 46-year-old designer from Melrose, Mass. "We ended up getting into many arguments because I thought he had no interest, when really he was just still half-asleep."
The couple learned to work around their differences over the years, but their situation isn't uncommon, says Katherine Sharkey, professor at BrownUniversity. "More women tend to be larks, while men are like night owls ," she says.
The question is:Why? The answer lies in each person's body clock. "The body clock is about 24 hours, thanks to Earth's 24-hour light-dark cycle," Sharkey says. "But some people have a longer natural cycle, and some are shorter." If yours is on the long side, you're more likely to be a night owl. If it runs short, you're probably an early riser. But your body clock can change over your lifetime. There's a developmental piece-school-age children are generally early birds, while teenagers tend to be night owls, and then as they age, adults gradually turn back into morning people," Sharkey says.
Besides the clear problems with being a night owl if you have fl day job, "night owls tend to be more low-spirited, and have a higher dependence on coffee," Sharkey says. But the news isn't all bad. A recent study in Belgium found that night owls can stay more focused as the day goes on, compared with early risers.
Morning people, however, also have advantages. "Larks generally sleep better, have more regular sleep, and have more flexible characters," Sharkey says. They also tend to be happier and feel healthier than night owls, according to a recent study from the University of Toronto. | high10958.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "challenges we come across are beneficial"
},
"options": [
"challenges we come across are beneficial",
"obstacles will surely lead to someone's success",
"the more obstacles we have, the more discouraged we feel",
"it's ... | One of the keys to being successful is persistence .Once you have determined exactly what you want to achieve, you must take active action in order to succeed.
One of the things you'll notice on your journey towards your goal are roadblocks. That is, you will come across obstacles to discourage your progress. Actually, they are a part of life. Everyone would have every success they ever wanted if there were no obstacles. Your job is to be persistent and work through those obstacles. If you find little or no obstacles along the way, chances are that you are not really challenging yourself. And when you do reach your goal, you won't experience the feeling of "sweet success". Make your goal a challenging one!
If you take the time to study any successful person, you will learn that the vast majority of them have had more "failures" than they have had "successes". This is because successful people are persistent; the more they stumble and fall, the more they get right back up and get going again. On the other hand, people that don't get back up and try again, never reach success. For example, Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream of creating the "Happiest Place on Earth". Today, due to his persistence, millions of people have shared "the joy of Disney".
Having known these facts, keep in mind that you must constantly reevaluate your circumstances and the approach you are using to reach your goal. There is no sense in being persistent at something that you are doing incorrectly! Sometimes you have to modify your approach along the way. Every time you do something you learn from it, and
therefore find a better way to do it the next time.
Today is the day to begin your journey, using consistency and persistency, towards tomorrow's successes! | high1916.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a nice season"
},
"options": [
"a little girl",
"a long-lost family member",
"a nice season",
"a cute animal"
],
"question": "In the poem, the poetess was speaking to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questio... | Dear March - Come in -
How glad I am -
I hoped for you before ...
Who knocks? That April -
Lock the Door -
I will not be pursued -
He stayed away a year to call -
When I am occupied -
But trifles look so trivial -
As soon as you have come ...
This lovely poem was written by Emily Dickinson, who is considered a major American poet, though she was not accorded this honor until well after her death.
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. She attended school for only one year. Throughout her life, she seldom left her home and visitors were few. She lived in almost complete isolation from the outside world.
She admired the poetry of Robert and Elizabeth Barren Browning, as well as John Keats. Though she was dissuaded from reading the poetry of her contemporary Walt Whitman by rumors of its disgracefulness, the two poets are now connected by the distinguished place they hold as the founders of a uniquely American poetic voice.
While Dickinson was extremely prolific as a poet, she was not publicly recognized during her lifetime. Upon her death, Dickinson's family discovered forty hand-bound volumes of nearly 1,800 poems. Her younger sister began to share the enormous body of work that Emily left behind.
Emily's odd punctuation, capitalization , and formatting did not meet with standard publishing "approval" for earlier editions. There is a whimsical nature to many other poems, as the subject of death was the most frequent theme. | high12197.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "survive bear encounters"
},
"options": [
"avoid bear encounters",
"survive bear encounters",
"get along well with bears",
"drive hungry bears away"
],
"question": "The city issued the guidelines to help the loca... | Officials in a remote Russian city have drawn up a list of practical tips for locals on how to survive encounters with bears, after growing numbers have wandered into the streets in search of food.
Officials in the city of Syktyvkar drew up the guidelines to guide the local people, after several bears were caught sight of in the city, going hungry after a heat wave
their usual diet of nuts and berries.
The guide warns that city people there should stay calm and stand still if they meet with a bear. "Speak to the bear in a firm voice" and "Don't turn your back on it," it adds. In the worst case, if the bear attacks, the person should also be ready to attack, the guide says. "Shout angrily at it and look it straight in the eye," the guide advises. "Bears have started coming into the areas where people live more and more often," the city officials said in a statement. "Any encounter with a bear is unsafe for humans, so our task is to do all we can to prevent such accidents."
In September, a bear attacked a 25-year-old man in a central street of the city, wounding him in the neck before he managed to run away, police said. "Three or four people who met with brown bears have been recorded recently," the head of the hunting department in the regional agriculture organization, Alexander said.
Officials have asked police to patrol streets close to wooded areas in the evenings.
Syktyvkar is the regional capital of the remote Komi region in northwest Russia. Its population is just over 230,000. | high15820.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "$192.00"
},
"options": [
"$208.50",
"$210.00",
"$192.00",
"$190.50"
],
"question": "How much would it cost to buy 3 Eye View Cameras and a Nike + IPod Sports Kit?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
... | 5 Holiday Gifts
By Liz Kennedy and Janice Lieberman
Your family's life story in print? Priceless. An appetizer plate that holds a wine glass?Genius. Read on to see our picks for the best holiday gifts on the Web--all available at bargain prices.
For Your Family
Share your life story with your kids and grandkids. Record your answers to 500 questions, from"What was your engagement proposal like?" to "What is a typical family meal?" This hardcover book is a great way to store your life stories and pass them on for generations to come.
Story of a Lifetime: $70 ( 15%discount for 2 ) at www.redenvelope.com
For the Entertainer
Hold a party with ease with wooden appetizer plates that can be attached to your wine glass. No longer will you have your hands full holding a plate in one and a glass in the other. Instead, be a one-handed wonder at your next party!
Wooden Appetizer Plates: $40 ( 5%discount for 4 ) at www.homewetbar.com
For the Pet Lover
Ever wonder what your pet does when you're out of the room? See the world through your dog's eyes with Uncle Milton's Pet Eye View Camera. This mini video camera clips onto your dog's or cat's collar to give you a glimpse into your pet's secret life.
Eye View Camera: $60 ( 10%discount for 3) at www. babyage. com
For the Athlete
Find a new level of motivation with the Nike+iPod Sports Kit. Listen to your favorite music while Nike records how far you've run, how many calories you've burned, and your personal best times. Upload your data to the Nike website, and see the progress you're making.
Nike+iPod Sports kit: $30 (5 %discount for 2) at www. store. nike. com
For the Nature Lover
A symbol of long life and memory, a Ginkgo Bilobatree is the perfect gift for your earth-conscious friends. The kit includes everything you need to grow a tree. After 10 to 12 years, your tree will stand about 20 feet tall.
Ginkgo Tree-to-Be with Personalized Tag: $50 (10 %discount for 3) at www. gifttree. com | high13289.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the fourteenth century"
},
"options": [
"the twelfth century",
"the fifteenth century",
"the sixteenth century",
"the fourteenth century"
],
"question": "English farmers began to hire children to get away birds ... | Ever since farmers began to grow grain, they have had to protect their crops from birds. In the 1300's, English farmers hired children to protect their crops. They were called "bird scares". The children chased birds and threw stones at them.
Bird scares were replaced in the 1800's by scarecrows. A scarecrow is anything that is set in a field to scare birds away. Often it is a pole dressed like a person. Some farms with small fields still use scarecrows today.
Farming became big business in the twentieth century. Scarecrows could no longer protect the huge fields of grain, so farmers used poisonous chemicals on the fields. The poison made the grain bitter. The birds usually would not eat the bitter grain.
Although they can prevent crops from being destroyed by insects and birds, some chemicals can be harmful to humans. Therefore, farmers are using fewer chemicals now than they did twenty years ago. Perhaps scarecrows may be seen more often in the fields in the future. | high9392.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Make written communication."
},
"options": [
"Make written communication.",
"Make a dialogue with each other.",
"Learn skills from them.",
"Read a catalogue together."
],
"question": "How does the author advise ... | Finding time to read is an important part of developing reading and writing skills for all kids. And there are many easy and convenient ways to make reading a part of each day -- even when it's tough to find time to sit down with a book.
Car trips, waits in checkout lines and the doctor's office are all opportunities for reading. Keep books or magazines in your car, or backpack to pull out whenever you're going to be in one place for a while. Even if you can't finish a book, read a few pages or discuss some of the pictures.
Encourage kids to bring favorite books and magazines along wherever you go. While it's attractive to provide electronic games and readers, be sure to alternate electronic media with plenty of opportunities to read traditional print books.
Reading opportunities are everywhere you go. While riding in the car, for example, encourage kids to spot words and letters (on billboards, store signs, etc.), turning it into a game ("Who'll be the first to find a letter B?").
Even daily tasks like cooking can provide reading moments. Kids can assist you as you cook by telling you how much flour to measure. Give your child a catalogue to read while you sort through the mail. Ask relatives to send your child letters, e-mail, or text messages, and read them together. Help your child create letters or messages to send back to the relatives. These types of activities help kids see the purpose of reading and of print.
Even when you're trying to get things done, you can encourage reading. While cleaning, for instance, you might ask your child to read a favorite book to you while you work.
Make sure kids get some time to spend quietly with books, even if it means cutting back on other activities, like watching TV or playing video games.
Most important, be a reader yourself. Kids who see their parents reading are likely to imitate them and become readers, too! | high14280.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The rising temperature."
},
"options": [
"The rising temperature.",
"The shrinking of northern tundra.",
"The fierce and cold wind.",
"The abundant resources in the north."
],
"question": "What is the main cause... | Even if trees cannot walk, they are still on the move.
In parts of the Arctic, entire forests are moving northward. Across the Arctic, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else in the world. As that happens, the tree line that marks where forests stop and the treeless tundra starts has been shifting northward. Trees growing along the tree line must protect themselves from the cold wind. To do _ , plants tend to grow horizontal branches low to the ground. The energy it takes for trees to grow this way means they don't have enough energy to make seeds.
But as Earth's climate has been warming, trees no longer have to just grow horizontally. Many can instead grow up toward the sky. This takes less energy. And with all the leftover energy. these trees have started producing more seeds. This happens especially in places where the white spruce grows.
White spruce, which is a North American tree, is quite able to produce a lot of seeds, which can move long distances in the wind. When wind-blown seeds end up on the tundra beyond the tree line, they eventually can sprout new trees. This explains how a forest can move. Of course, the process would work only if the tundra were warm enough. But in recent years, the whole planet has been warming.
New trees will provide shelters for some snow, keeping the sun's rays from making the white surface disappear. Instead, the trees absorb the sun's heat. This warms the surrounding air. The extra warmth encourages even more trees to produce seeds. That further boosts a forest's ability to expand. In addition, more trees will trap more snow, preventing much of it from being blown away. Snow can trap heat in the soil below,which encourages trees to grow. The recent rise of temperature has helped more trees grow. The recent rise of temperatures has helped more trees grow past the tree line. People worry about impacts on the animals that depend on frozen conditions for food and shelter. | high12829.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "broke the law and ended up in prison"
},
"options": [
"broke the law and ended up in prison",
"was fond of shooting and hurt his mom",
"often laughed at people on the streets",
"often caught butterflies and took them ho... | If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, "Hey, Butterfly Man," his face would break into a smile. The title suits him.,and he loves it.
Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back -- thanks to him. But years ago if you'd told him this was what he'd be doing someday, he would have laughed, "You're crazy." As a boy, he used to be "a little tough guy on the streets". At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.
"I knew it had worried my mom," Bonner said after he got out of prison. "So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again."
One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue.
"I saw the sign 'Butterfly Habitat' and asked, 'How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?'" Bonner recalls. "Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass , 'Look at the leaves.' I could see all these caterpillars on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, 'Without the plant, there are no butterflies.'"
Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly that needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he's been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragalus, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.
The butterfly's population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around.
For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he's bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too. | high8932.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "roses were more expensive than carnations"
},
"options": [
"carnations were nicer than roses",
"roses were saved for John",
"roses were more expensive than carnations",
"carnations were special flowers for Mother's Day"... | It was Mother's Day. John was so busy with his work that he couldn't go back home. When he passed by a flower shop in the evening, an idea came to his mind. "I'll send Mum some roses . "
While John was picking his flowers, a young man went inside. "How many roses can I get for only five dollars, Madam?" he asked. The assistant was trying to tell him roses were as expensive as forty dollars a dozen . Maybe he would be happy with carnations .
"No, I have to have red roses. " He said, "My mum was badly ill last year and I didn't get to spend much time with her. Now I want to get something special, it has to be roses as rose is her favourite. "
After hearing it, John said he would pay the rest of the money for the young man. Moved by both of them, the assistant said, "Well, lovely young men, thirty dollars a dozen, only for you. "Taking the roses, the young man almost jumped into the air and ran out of the shop. It was well worth twenty-five dollars John paid to see the exciting moment. Then John paid for his dozen of roses and told the assistant to send them to his mother.
As he walked out, he felt nice. Suddenly he saw the young man crossing the street and going into a park. But soon he realized it was not a park but a cemetery . Crying, the young man carefully laid the roses," Mum, oh, Mum, why didn't I tell you how much I loved you ? God, please help me find my mum and tell her I love her. "
Seeing this, John turned and quickly walked to the shop. He would take the flowers home himself. | high22732.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Clever"
},
"options": [
"Generous",
"Clever",
"Brave",
"Funny"
],
"question": "What does the author think of the students at Shanti Bhavan?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_inde... | I have always loved kids. However, the children here at Shanti Bhavan are unlike any that I have ever met. They have a strong drive and determination and are thankful for the wonderful opportunity they have been given. While at Shanti Bhavan, I taught 3
graders writing, language, and literature, 8
, 9
, and 10
graders public speaking, 9
and 10
graders basketball, and piano lessons. I found teaching the children was the most rewarding experience of my life. They are really fast learners and really have an interest in knowledge. It was easy to get on with such polite, well-mannered, and hard-working students. They dream big and I only hope that I can continue to be a part of helping them achieve their goals.
As far as my day-to-day living went, I was perfectly comfortable here and came to consider it as a second home. My room was clean and comfortable and the staff could not have been nicer.
In addition, I really appreciated the support of all the teachers. They were so welcoming and kind that it truly cleared away my fears and culture shock. They often gave me advice and befriended me and I owe much to them for their warmth.
I honestly feel that Shanti Bhavan is the most beautiful place on earth. It has love and learning, and I am very sad to be leaving. I am looking forward to my return to this newly found family as soon as possible. Thank you so much Miss Beena and Mrs. Law for all of your love and support. The experience that I worked with them will always come into my mind. This has been the greatest experience of my life. | high16497.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He had mixed feelings."
},
"options": [
"He didn't believe it.",
"He was very unhappy.",
"He was delighted.",
"He had mixed feelings."
],
"question": "How did the author react to the idea of going to Eton?",
... | My father had returned from his business visit to London when I came in, rather late, to supper. I could tell at once that he and my mother had been discussing something. In that half- playful, half-serious way I knew so well, he said, "How would you like to go to Eton?"
" You bet, " I cried quickly catching the joke. Everyone knew it was the most expensive, the most famous of schools. You had to be entered at birth, if not before. Besides, even at 12 or 13, I. understood my father. He disliked any form of showing off. He always knew his proper station in life, which was in the middle of the middle class; our house was medium-sized; he had avoided joining Royal Liverpool Golf Club and went to a smaller one instead; though once he had got a second-hand Rolls-Royce at a remarkably low price, he felt embarrassed driving it, and quickly changed it for an Austin 1100.
This could only be his delightful way of telling me that the whole boarding school idea was to be dropped. Alas ! I should also have remembered that he had a liking for being different from everyone else, if it did not conflict with his fear of drawing attention to himself.
It seemed that he had happened to be talking to Graham Brown of the London office, a very nice fellow, and Craham had a friend who had just entered his boy at the school, and while he was in that part of the world he thought he might just as well phone them. I remember my eyes stinging and my hands shaking with the puzzlement of my feelings. There was excitement, at the heart of great sadness.
"Oh, he doesn't want to go away , " said my mother, " You shouldn't go on like this. " "It's up to him, " said my father. "He can make up his own mind. " | high17951.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "what caused the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend"
},
"options": [
"what caused the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend",
"who were the paparazzi",
"how much British taxpayers paid for the case",
"whether the driver was d... | Was Princess Diana murdered? The verdict is no. according to an inquiry held into the cause of her death over the last six months.
The big question was whether the deaths of Diana and her boyfriend Dodi A1 Fayed in a deadly car crash in 1997 had been accidental, or whether there was some kind of conspiracy to have them killed.
Dodi's father Mohamed A1 Fayed, owner of London's world-famous department store Harrods, has insisted for the last decade that the pair were murdered by spies of the British state who did not want them to marry. But _ The courtfound that Princess Diana and her boyfriend were not murdered but killed due to the "gross, carelessness" of her driver and the paparazzi . Her driver was drunk at the time of the crash and the paparazzi had been running after their car.
So is this the end of the Diana story? British taxpayers may hope so. The inquiry has cost them about PS10m (140m RMB). "Thank God it's over", was the headline in The Guardian newspaper. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was time to "draw a line" under the death of the Princess. But Mohamed AI Fayed has refused to accept the judgment. He says the result will come as a "blow" to millions of his supporters around the world, and has not ruled out starting another investigation.
Whatever happens, next, the special place Princess Diana has in the hearts of people around the world is not likely to be forgotten. | high20125.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "learn to play it himself"
},
"options": [
"teach his students instrumental music",
"better equip the village school",
"learn to play it himself",
"let students appreciate elegant art of music"
],
"question": "Th... | The teacher was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry. The miller lent him the small cart and horse to carry his goods to Christminster, the city of his destination. Such a vehicle proved of quite enough size of the teacher's belongings, for his only article, in addition to the packing-case of books, was a piano that he had bought when he thought of learning instrumental music. But the eagerness having faded, he had never acquired the skill of playing, and the purchased article had been a permanent trouble to him.
The headmaster had gone away for the day, being a man who disliked the sight of changes. He didn't mean to return till the evening, when the new teacher would have arrived, and everything would be smooth again.
The blacksmith, the carpenter and the teacher were standing in confused attitudes in the sitting room before the instrument. The teacher had remarked that even if he got it into the cart he should not know what to do with it on his arrival at Christminster, since he was only going into a temporary place just at first.
A little boy of eleven, who had been assisting in the packing, joined the group of men, and said, "Aunt has got a fuel-house, and it could be put there, perhaps, till you've found a place to settle in, sir."
"Good idea," said the blacksmith. The smith and the carpenter started to see about possibility of the suggested shelter, and the boy and the teacher were left standing alone.
"Sorry I am going, Jude?" asked the latter kindly.
Tears rose into the boy's eyes. He admitted that he was sorry.
"So am I," said the teacher. He continued, "Well---don't speak of this everywhere. You know what a university is, and a university degree? It is the necessary hallmark of a man who want to do anything in teaching. My plan, or dream, is to be a university graduate. By going to Christminster, I shall be at headquarters , so to speak, and if my plan is practical at all, I consider that being on the spot will afford me a better chance."
The smith and his companion returned. Old Miss Fawly's fuel-house was big enough, and she seemed willing to give the instrument standing-room there. So it was left in the school till the evening, when more hands would be available for removing it; and the teacher gave a final glance round. | high3867.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "make calls and text messages"
},
"options": [
"play online games",
"do calculating work",
"check social network sites",
"make calls and text messages"
],
"question": "The writer uses his Nokia 1616 mainly to _... | By today's standards, my mobile phone is pretty rubbish. It's a Nokia 1616. If that doesn't mean much to you ( it's not the kind of phone you see advertised on television) ,all you need to know is that it's a small, not very heavy device with which you can send and receive telephone calls and text messages. It also has a very handy torch on the top for when you can't find your keys, or when you drop something on the floor in the cinema. Apart from that, my phone doesn't do much. Well, it has an alarm, and it probably has a calculator and things like that, but it's nothing compared to a smartphone. Why would I want one of those?
I have often been told that the big advantage of having a smartphone is that " you can do everything with them!" But when was the last time you saw someone doing "everything" with a smartphone? Okay, so they may have an endless list of functions, but generally they are used for checking social networking sites, playing games, and receiving and replying to emails. I'm happy just doing all of those things at home on my laptop.
As far as I can tell, the best thing about having a smartphone is that you can be connected to the internet all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love the internet, but I just don't see the point of constantly being online. I can't remember the last time I received a Facebook update which was so urgent that I had to read it as soon as it appeared, and I can't imagine ever having a job which was so important that I would need to read work-related emails immediately. I would think that if someone needed me urgently, they would just ring me rather than send an email. And my trusty Nokia can manage that.
One of the most peculiar effects of the smartphone is, in my opinion, the newly-found addiction to maps and navigation systems. Is there anything more boring than knowing exactly where you are all of the time? How do you get to know an area if you don't get lost there a few times? And if you are dependent on online maps, what happens to those great places you find just by chance? You can't exactly find out from google maps the journey from "here" to "that hidden cafe with the tasty-looking cakes", or to "that pond next to the church which looks really pretty in the evening sun. " It is, of course, true that we all occasionally need to be pointed in the right direction, but I find that there are often real life humans you can ask.
There are many benefits of having a very basic mobile phone, like the face that it cost me about twenty pounds, and that I don't have to worry too much about it being stolen. But the main benefit has to be the fact that it provides me with the world's greatest excuse for my bad habits. Whether it's turning up late to events, or getting lost on a trip, or missing buses or trains, or forgetting about an appointment at work. I'm pretty sure I'm covered with the following explanation "I'm really sorry, but I don't have a smartphone." | high17789.txt |
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