questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the win was unexpected"
},
"options": [
"the audience didn't like Cowboy",
"people envied the writer",
"the win was unexpected",
"the writer bad run out of time"
],
"question": "When the final race finished, nob... | Thirteen, for me, was a challenging year. My parents divorced and I moved to a new town with my father, far from my old family and friends. I was terribly lonely and would cry myself to sleep each night. To ease my sadness, my father purchased an old horse for me at a local auction. I named him Cowboy.
Cowboy was without a doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn't care. I loved him beyond all reason. I joined a riding club and suffered rude comments and mean snickers about Cowboy's looks. I never let on about how I felt, but deep inside, my heart was breaking. The other members rode beautiful, registered horses.
When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse is judged on appearance, we were quickly _ . No amount of preparation and love would turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the speed events. I chose the jumping race.
One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons. Needless to say, she didn't feel threatened when I competed against her at the next show. She didn't need to. I came in next to last.
The stinging memory of Becky's smirks made me determined to beat her. For the whole next month I woke up early every day and rode Cowboy five miles to the arena . We practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home totally exhausted. All of our hard work didn't make me feel confident by the time the show came. I sat at the gate and sweated it out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the course and finish in first place.
My turn finally came. I put on my hat, rubbed Cowboy's neck and entered the arena. At the signal, we dashed toward the first fence, jumped it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him toward the finish line. As we crossed the line the crowd was shocked into silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds!
I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the odds, I'd always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it. | high8820.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Everything in the hotel is made of salt."
},
"options": [
"It is located on a prehistoric lake.",
"It should be protected against the rain.",
"Everything in the hotel is made of salt.",
"You have to cross a rope bridge ... | Below is a selection about interesting hotels.
Tayka Hotel de Sal
Where: Tahua, Bolivia
How much: About $95 a night
Why it's cool: You've stayed at hotels made of brick or wood, but salt? That's something few can claim. Tayka Hotel de Sal is made totally of salt-including the beds (though you'll sleep on regular mattresses and blankets). The hotel sits on the Salar de Uyuni, a prehistoric dried-up lake which is the world's biggest salt flat. Builders use the salt from the 4,633-square-mile flat to make the bricks, and glue them together with a paste of wet salt that hardens when it dries. When rain starts to dissolve the hotel, the owners just mix up more salt paste to strengthen the bricks.
Green Magic Nature Resort
Where: Vythiri, India
How much: About $240 a night
Why it's cool: Taking a pulley -operated lift 86 feet to your treetop room is just that start of your adventure. As you look out of your open window, there is no glass! You watch monkeys and birds in the rain forest canopy . Later you might test your fear of heights by crossing the handmade rope bridge to the main part of the hotel, or just sit on your bamboo bed and read. You don't even have to come down for breakfast-the hotel will send it up on the pully-drawn "elevator".
Dog Bark Park Inn B&B
Where: Cottonwood, Idaho
How much: $92 a night
Why it's cool: This doghouse isn't just for the family pet. Sweet Willy is a 30-foot-dog with guest rooms in his belly. Climb the wooden stairs beside his hind leg to enter the door in his side.You can relax in the main bedroom, go up a few steps of the loft in Willy's head, or hang out inside his nose. Although you have a full private bathroom in your quarters, there is also a toilet in the 12-foot-tall fire hydrant outside.
Gamirasu Cave Hotel
Where:Ayvali, Turkey
How much :Between $130 and $450 a night
Why it's cool: Experience what it was like 5,000 years ago, when people lived in these mountain caves formed by volcanic ash. But your stay will be much more modern. Bathrooms and electricity provide what you expect from a modern hotel, and the white volcanic ash, called tufa, keeps the rooms cool in summer. (Don't worry- there is heat in winter.) | high19846.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "A great many rabbits eat too much trees."
},
"options": [
"A great many rabbits eat too much trees.",
"Rabbits make too much caves.",
"The surface is destroyed a lot by rabbits.",
"The birth rate of the rabbits is high.... | Australia's worst pests are the rabbits, introduced by a settler who released 24 into the wild for sport hunting. In less than 100 years, the rabbits grow into the millions of ones, leaving large areas of land looking like the surface of the moon due to thousands of rabbit caves. The spread of the rabbits in Australia was the fastest of all animals in the world. The spread of the rabbits' disease in 1950 cut the number, but it was not until 1997 when the spread of another disease targeted the pests that the number was finally brought under control. Farm losses due to rabbits today still remain a surprising total A $200 million (US$112 million) a year.
The European red foxes, also released for sport hunting, are growing and eating sheep flocks, costing farmers A$40 million (US $22.4 million) a year. The State of Victoria offers a A$10 (US$5.6) prize for each fox tail and has gathered 25,000 in a few months.
Foxes are one of the biggest threats to wildlife in Australia. Foxes kill thousands of lambs , birds and native wildlife. Australia lost its long battle against wild pests. | high18580.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "We understand how the faults happen."
},
"options": [
"We understand how the faults happen.",
"Everyone else will accept our faults.",
"We are good at finding other's faults.",
"Others don't know our faults."
],
... | It is curious that our own faults should seem so much less heinous than the faults of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the conditions that have caused them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we can't excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own mistakes, and when we are forced by unexpected events to consider them, find it easy to accept them. For all I know we are right to do this; They are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed ourselves .To take a little instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie ; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
There is not much to choose between men .They are all a mix-up of greatness and littleness, of kindness and unkindness, of goodness and badness. Some have more strength of character ,or more opportunity ,and so in one direction or another give their instincts( ) freer play ,but potentially they are the same. For my part, I don't think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster. The knowledge that these thoughts are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. If they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most great and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously, it is well. | high21301.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Shopping in a supermarket"
},
"options": [
"The Dow Jones Index.",
"Increases in interest rates",
"Skyrocketing share prices",
"Shopping in a supermarket"
],
"question": "According to the author, which one belon... | I want to talk about the economy.Not "the economy" we hear about endlessly in the news each day and in politicians' speeches.I want to talk about the real economy, the one we live in day by day.
Most people aren't particularly interested in "the economy"."Share prices are flying high; interest rates are soaring; the Dow Jones Index closed sixty-three points down on 8472.35." We hear this and subconsciously switch off.
Notice that "the economy" is not the same as the economy, "The economy" is what men in suits play with to make vast personal wealth.The economy is where the rest of us live on a daily basis, earning our living, paying our taxes, and purchasing the necessities of life.
We are supposed to be benefiting from all the advantages of a well-off society.So why do we feel tired and stressed? We have no time for anything other than work, which is ridiculous given the number of labor-saving devices in our lives.Our towns become more and more crowded.We poison our air and seas, and our food is full of chemicals.There's something wrong here.If times were truly good, then you may think we'd all feel optimistic about the future.Yet the majority of us are deeply worried.More than 90 percent of us think we are too concerned about ourselves and not concerned enough about future generations.
The term "economic expansion" suggests something desirable, but expansion simply means spending more money.More spending doesn't mean that life is getting better.We all know it often means the opposite - greed, crime, poverty, pollution.More spending merely feeds our whole economic system, which is based on production and consumption.Unless money keeps circulating, the economy breaks down.If we don't keep consuming, the whole system goes into stalemate .
How do we break the cycle and make some changes? We need to become far more aware of the results of our actions.We buy clothes that are made in sweat shops by virtual slaves in poor parts of the world.We create mountains of waste.We demand cheap food, mindless of the fact that it totally lacks taste and is produced using chemicals that poison the land.
The consumption culture makes us unaware of the effect of our own behavior.Our main problem is not that we don't know what to do about it.It is gathering the desire to do it. | high3785.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "to promote the development of young writers"
},
"options": [
"to train comedy and TV writers",
"to explore the fantastic gallery space",
"to introduce a contemporary art museum",
"to promote the development of young wri... | Want to improve your writing skills? New Writing South is directing the way!
*Towner Writer Squad for kids aged 13-17
Led by comedy and TV writer, Marian Kilpatrick, Towner Writer Squad will meet once a month at the contemporary art museum for 11 months, starting 12 October, 2014.
The FREE squad sessions will include introductions to a wide range of writing styles, from poetry to play writing and lyrics to flash fiction, to support the development of young writers.
Application & Selection
If you would like to apply to be part of the Towner Writer Squad, please send a sample piece of your writing (about 500 words), responding to the title'LUNCH,'with your name, age, address and e-mail address to: debo@newwritingsouth.com.
Once all applications are in, you will be invited to an open selection event on 17 September,4-5pm, at the gallery of Towner. This will be an informal opportunity to meet the Squad Leader, Squad Associate and other young people.
You will also have a chance to get to know the fantastic gallery space and get a taste of what's to come.
Deadline for applications: 8 September, 2014
For further information go to: facebook.com/towner or towner.org.uk or newwritingsouth.com
Any questions feel free to send your e-mail to Towner Writer Squad Associate: whame@towner.gov.uk
* * * * * * * * *
*Beginner Writing Project for kids aged 10-13
Due to popular demand, a writing project will be started for eager beginners.
Start time: 6 September, 2014
Meet every other Saturday,2-4pm, at the Towner Study Centre.
Study and write at your own pace you do not have to rush as you have a year to go through the project. Practise under the guidance of some experienced writers and teachers who can help you with basic writing skills. Most importantly, build confidence and have fun while writing!
No previous experience or special background is required. Many others have been successful this way. If they can do it, why can't you?
Fee: PS179
For more information go to: newtowner.org.uk or generate.org.uk | high6825.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She kept track of her receipts and recorded it in a little notebook."
},
"options": [
"She asked her parents to give her a large amount.",
"She controlled her own money without using it.",
"She kept track of her receipts and ... | My parents have always raised me to be very money-conscious, so I guess, in that sense, they are rather untraditional. Since I was a little girl, if I ever wanted to purchase anything, my parents would sternly remind me of the value of every cent, prompting me to spend my pocket money only when necessary. My mom actually came up with a system that we strictly abide by in regards to money-spending. She gives me a certain amount of allowance every month, and whenever I buy anything with my accumulated money, I keep track of my receipts and record it in a little notebook, essentially a tiny version of my mom's own accounting booklet.
Being in control of my own money has really taught me to be careful in how I spend my money, giving me a sense of responsibility and ownership over it.
As for earning money, aside from my allowance, my parents never really encouraged me to go out and find a job at typical American occupation locales , such as restaurants or clothing stores. Instead, they would prefer that I spend my time focusing on my schoolwork, which I guess is where my parents become more traditional. Yet I still earn money here and there in little jobs, such as teaching students at my school, and of course, writing for the paper.
Though I have several friends already working, I am pretty happy with my current situation. I am able to focus on my studies, all the while earning quite a bit of money, and also learning monetary skills that are _ to survival in the real world, and for that I am grateful. | high23516.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Parents are being pressured to let their kids stick with one sport."
},
"options": [
"Having kids do more than one sport is an advantage to their future career.",
"A child should limit himself to a single activity under the age of ... | At the U.S. Open championships in Flushing Meadows, New York last week, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) held an unusual youth press conference . I say "unusual" because the main idea wasn't to promote the sport for young children. Yes, there was a youth tennis exhibition in which a group of fresh-faced kids from the area showed off their well developed skills. They used junior racquets and larger, low-pressure balls on a half-size tennis court-a way the organization supports as a means to help children have early success and stick with the game.
But the event's real purpose was to help parents realize the importance of introducing kids to all kinds of athletic programs rather than focusing specially on one. _ may sound like something easy to do, but it's not. In today's achievement-oriented ( ) environment, children are being pushed to specialize in a single sport-whether it's tennis, hockey, soccer, or gymnastics - at ever-younger ages. Tom Farrey, executive director of the nonprofit Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program, says year-round sports programs are now offered down to age 5, too early an age for a child to limit himself or herself to a single activity. While parents naturally want the best for their child, they are being pressured by coaches to let him or her stick with one thing.
The result: More kids under age 12 are suffering injuries or, worse, burnout. According to the Aspen Institute's report, Project Play, fewer kids today are staying involved with sports than five years ago, partly because of forced specialization. Today's children are already on track to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents because of obesity and related diseases, and this trend is only worsening matters.
Multi-sport participation, however, leads to better performance (because kids get a chance to develop different sets of skills ) and greater enjoyment of the game, says Farrey. The headlining athletes at the event repeated the idea that having kids do more than one sport is a plus (good for them). | high12913.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because there is no one in charge of the Internet."
},
"options": [
"Because some people like to buy banned products on the Internet.",
"Because there is no one in charge of the Internet.",
"Because X-rated materials, cigaret... | The Internet is not perfect. There are many problems with it.
The Internet is not organized. There is no one in charge of the Internet. It is sometimes difficult to find what you are looking for. It is also easy to get the wrong information on the "Net".
Some businessmen cheat people on the Internet. Internet thieves can steal credit card numbers. Some advertisers send spam to e-mail boxes. E-mail boxes are often filled with these unwanted advertisements.
Illegal businesses can operate on the Internet. These businesses sell X-rated materials, cigarettes and alcohol to teenagers.
The Internet has websites with information about making bombs, breaking the law and terrorism.
Criminals can fool people, especially children, in chat rooms. They can spread poisonous information and attack new members.
The Internet is the greatest advance in communication since human emerged. But it can also like a dark alley in a dangerous part of town. Parents need to set parental controls on their children when they use the Internet. This will keep some of the bad material away from their children.
The Internet can be dangerous to computers, too. Some people who have evil intentions enjoy causing problems for other people they don't even know. They create computer viruses. A computer can get virus by downloading a program that has a virus in it. Some virus come by e-mail.
A virus can destroy the data a person has saved in computer files. A virus can cause a computer to crash. A virus can also reproduce itself! It can send copies of itself to everyone on a person's e-mail address list. Then these people's will have the same problems and can't work normally! | high406.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Milk, bread, cabbages and beef."
},
"options": [
"Eggs, tomatoes and chicken.",
"Milk, bread, cabbages and beef.",
"Corn, fish, cream and pork.",
"Rice, bean curd , apples, fish and chicken."
],
"question": "Whi... | A car needs gas to run and your body also needs food to work for you. Eating the right kind of food is very important. It can help your body grow strong to take care of what you eat.
There are four main food groups altogether. The _ group has food like milk, cheese and sour milk. The other three groups are the meat and fish group, the fruit and vegetable group, and the bread and rice group. Each meal should have at least one food from all four main groups. With all these food together, you will be given enough energy during the day.
It is easy to get into bad eating habits. You may eat your breakfast in a hurry to get to school on time. Or you may not have time for a good lunch. It may seem easy to finish your supper with fish and chips all the time. But you will find yourself tired in these days and you can not think quickly.
Watching what you eat will help keep your body healthy and strong. It is also good to take some exercise. It will help you eat more if you take a walk or play games in the open air. Having a good eating habit with some exercise is the key to your health. | high1192.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the inventor of the teddy bear"
},
"options": [
"a candy store owner",
"a toy store owner",
"the inventor of the teddy bear",
"Teddy Roosevelt' friend"
],
"question": "People will remember Morris Michtom because... | According to one story the idea for making the first teddy bear came from a newspaper cartoon drawn in 1904. This cartoon showed President Teddy Roosevelt on a hunting trip refusing to shoot a young bear. The young bear became a symbol for Teddy Roosevelt.
Morris Michtom owned a small candy and toy store in New York City. He and his wife made many of the toys they sold. When he saw the cartoon,he had a wonderful idea. He decided to make a toy bear with eyes and legs and arms that moved. The bear was put in the store window next to a copy of the cartoon. Mr . Michtom called it "Teddy's Bear".
Many of these bears were sold. The bears became so popular that Mr . Michtom thought he might need President Roosevelt' permission to use his name. He wrote to the president and sent him a "Teddy Bear". The president answered,saying that Mr. Michtom could use his name.
Mr . Michtom borrowed money so that he could make thousands of toy bears. His company became the Ideal Toy Corporation. Today this is one of the biggest toy companies in the United States. | high8808.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "how to balance friendship and work"
},
"options": [
"how to balance friendship and work",
"how to spend our spare time",
"whether we should keep friendship",
"whether we should invite friends to dinner"
],
"ques... | If you feel at present that you don't have enough friends in your life, one reason may be that you have let yourself become too busy to make time for the relationships you already have. Starting and keeping friendship require effort and commitment(,,).
Many of us let our lives become so busy with work and other commitments that we don't get around to scheduling time for pleasure and renewal with the friends, relatives and acquaintances we already have.
Making the effort to call your friends more regularly and to accept more of the invitations you receive from others can improve your social life in a hurry!
Are there any people you could call right now and be assured of a pleasant welcome? Are there people that you could depend on to help you in time of difficulty? Can you have close talks with them? Do you have fun when you are together? Are you happy to have them in your life?
If you haven't seen much of them lately, is it because you have become too busy? Have you grown apart? Was there an argument?
If the main reason you haven't been getting together with the people you already know is that you have gotten too busy, take a good look at how you spend your time. Compare it with your real values and priorities in life. Is your busy lifestyle really bringing you the quality of life that you want?
If you have become too busy for friends, why has this happened? Are you seeking material joys in your life at the expense of relationships with other human beings? Have you allowed your time to be over-committed because you never say ''No" to anyone? Do you insist on doing things yourself that could be _ o others? If so, why? Do you believe that everything depends on you?
Examine whether the way you are now spending your time exactly reflects your deepest values and priorities. Make sure that you schedule enough time for the things that are truly most important to you.
If you really want to keep friends in your life, make a space in your schedule, and a space in your heart for them. | high360.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Clarence spent too much time in working"
},
"options": [
"Sadie moved to New York City",
"the family couldn't support itself",
"Clarence spent too much time in working",
"Clarence was a strange person"
],
"quest... | Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz singers in America. Her life was just a mixture of success and tragedy . Her singing expressed her experiences and feelings.
Billie Holiday's parents Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday were young when their daughter was born. Their marriage failed because Clarence Holiday was often out. He traveled as a musician with some of the earliest jazz bands and inspired his daughter. Sadie cleaned people's houses to make a living. Later she moved to New York City where the pay was higher, for which she had to send her daughter to one of her s.
The young girl changed her name to Billie, because she liked a movie star, Billie Dove. The talented Billie Holiday loved singing. She sang and listened to music whenever she could. In one place near her home there was a machine that played records. The building was a theater where many famous singers also performed their newly-made songs for free. Billie cleaned floors and did other jobs for the theater so that she could listen to the records. It was there that young Billie first heard the records of some famous black American blues artists of the 1920s. She heard Bessie Smith sing the blues. And she heard Louis Armstrong play the horn. Both musicians had a great influence on her.
Billie Holiday once said, "I do not think I'm just singing. I feel like I am singing the song from my heart. What comes out is what I feel." | high23270.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "to get more people together"
},
"options": [
"to be popular with people",
"to display his true love for sports development",
"to drive away his loneliness in the running",
"to get more people together"
],
"quest... | Buckminster Fuller once said, "The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it's a different kind of life." If you want to live abundantly, decide what you really want and figure out a way to do it. Be clear and live with intent .
You may have heard of Fred Lebow. He complained to his doctor that he lacked energy. His doctor advised him to take up running. He fell in love with it! He was 39 years old when he entered his first race.
Fred joined the New York Road Runners Club and organized New York City's first marathon race. But what Fred truly wanted to do was to bring people together. He believes that anybody should be able to run -- people of all ages and of any country.
Not everyone in New York was excited about people running through their neighborhood. A youth gang warned him that nobody had better run through their turf. "That's great," Fred said. "I need someone to protect the runners in your area, and you look like just the fellows to do it."
He gave them each a hat, shirt and jacket and that year, when the marathon went through their neighborhood, these young men proudly guarded the runners along their way.
Fred decided what was truly important to him and he found a way to do it. He lived with intent. That single decision made his life remarkably different.
As one sports writer said, "Fate handed him a short race. With his goal, with his love of life, Fred turned it into a marathon." Fred would say that it's not about how long you live, but how you run the race of life. | high7285.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "English Channel"
},
"options": [
"the North Sea",
"Suez Canal",
"English Channel",
"Thames"
],
"question": "Great Britain is separated from France by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"... | Great British is an island that lies off the northwest coast of Europe. The nearest country is France which is 20 miles away. Great British is separated from France by the English Channel. The island is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west, and the North Sea, to the east. It includes the main lands of England, Wales and Scotland. Scotland is in the north while Wales is in the west. Ireland, which is also an island, lies off the west coast of Great Britain. It is made up of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Great Britain together with Northern Ireland forms the United Kingdom (U.K.). So the U.K. is made up of four countries. The largest of these is England which is divided into 43 countries. The capital city is London which is on the river Thames. | high10862.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He got his nickname because of his job."
},
"options": [
"He is a crocodile hunter living in Los Angeles.",
"He is based on a real person in Australia.",
"He got his nickname because of his job.",
"He wrote a film serie... | Michael J. "Crocodile Dundee" (also called Mick), played by Paul Hogan, is the main character in the fictional Crocodile Dundee film series consisting of Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The character is a crocodile hunter, hence the nickname.
In the first film, Crocodile Dundee, Mick is visited by a New York reporter, Sue Charlton, who travels to Australia to investigate a report she heard of a crocodile hunter, who had his leg bitten off by a crocodile in the outback. The hunter supposedly walked more than a hundred miles back to civilization and miraculously survived his injuries. However, by the time she meets him, the story turns out to be a somewhat exaggerated legend where the "bitten-off leg" turns out to be just being some bad scarring on his leg; a "love bite" as Mick calls it. Still _ by the idea of "Crocodile Dundee", Sue continues with the story. They travel together out to where the incident occurred, and follow his route through the bush to the nearest hospital. Despite his old-fashioned views, the pair eventually become close, especially after Mick saves Sue from a crocodile attack.
Feeling there is still more to the story, Sue invites Mick back to New York with her, as his first trip to a city (or "first trip anywhere," as Dundee says). The rest of the film depicts Dundee as a "fish out of water," showing how, despite his expert knowledge of living outdoors, he knows little of city life. Mick meets Sue's boyfriend, Richard, but they do not get along. By the end of the film, Mick is on his way home, lovesick, when Sue realizes she loves Mick, too, and not Richard. She runs to the subway station to stop Mick from leaving and, by passing on messages through the packed-to-the-gills crowd, she tells him she won't marry Richard, and she loves him instead. With the help of the other people in the subway, Mick and Sue have a loving reunion as the film ends. | high5492.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Poor science education harms US economy"
},
"options": [
"Poor science education harms US economy",
"America's future will become worse",
"Experts' worries about US science education",
"The connection between education ... | Stagnant scientific education endangers U.S. economic leadership, says a report by leading business and science figures.
Released at a congressional meeting attended by senators and Congress members of both parties, the report updates a 2005 science education report that led to moves to double federal research funding.
Nevertheless, the Rising Above the Gathering Stormreview finds little improvement in U.S. elementary and secondary technical education since then.
"Our nation's future has worsened," concludes the report panel headed by former Lockheed chief Martin Norman Augustine. The report "paints a discouraging future for America if it were to continue on the _ path it has been following'':
* U.S. K-12 education in mathematics and science ranks 48thworldwide.
* 49%of U.S. adults don't know how long it takes for the Earth to circle the sun.
Although US school achievement scores have stagnated, harming the economy as employers look elsewhere for competent workers, the report says that other nations have made gains.
If the USA's students matched Finland's, for example, analysis suggests the US economy would grow 9%-16%. "The real point is that we have to have a well-educated workforce to create opportunities for young people," says Charles Vest,head of the National Academy of Engineering, a report sponsor. "Otherwise, we don't have a chance."
"The current economic crisis makes the link between education and employment very clear,'' says Steven Newton of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland.
In 2007, however, an analysis led by B. Lindsay Lowell of Georgetown University found that worries about US science education were overblown . It saw three times more science and engineering college graduates than job openings each year. Other reports have found top science and engineering students migrating to better-paying jobs in finance, law and medicine since the 1900s. | high20779.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because she didn't want to think of losing her baby."
},
"options": [
"Because the trip to Louisiana would take a long time.",
"Because she didn't want to think of losing her baby.",
"Because she had nothing else to do except... | While I was in my 4th month of pregnancy with my second child, we were preparing for a trip to Louisiana, where Marshall's family live, to celebrate Jane's 2nd birthday. Two days before we were to leave, we got the shocking news that I was going to lose the baby. Not knowing when this would happen, we decided to continue with our trip.
Since Marshall's family lives on a 600-acre cattle farm, you often find that you have a lot of time to yourself to think when you are there. That is precisely what I did not want to do at this time. I told Marshall that I needed to get a good book to get lost in while I was there. I told him I heard the Harry Potter books were good, so he went out and got the first one for me.
During that trip, I totally got lost in the book, which was of great help during a time when I needed a distraction to forget about the sadness. In the book, I noticed the name "Seamus". I vaguely remembered it was pronounced "Shamus" and I liked the sound of that. I mentioned it to Marshall and he liked it too. Toward the end of the trip, I had just 5 chapters left and I knew I was about to finish the first book, which I was pretty excited about.
Soon after we put Jane down to bed, I had started labor , so I was unable to read. The labor lasted 5 and 1/2 hours, but Marshall stayed there with me, sitting beside me and reading aloud the last 5 chapters of Harry Potter. I can never fully explain how much that helped me through the experience. And ever since then, Marshall and I both have been fans of the Harry Potter books. We remember how they helped us get through that time of our lives.
We were sad to have lost the baby, but the name Seamus started our journey toward adoption. And we gave this name to our adopted son. Though our Seamus doesn't have a drop of Irish blood in him, the name fits him perfectly. | high4954.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "practise as much as possible"
},
"options": [
"practise as much as possible",
"find as many listening resources as possible",
"use the Internet like a radio station",
"speak naturally and read as much as possible"
]... | Does this situation seem familiar to you? Your English is progressing well, the grammar is now familiar, the reading comprehension is no problem, you are communicating quite fluently, but: Listening is STILL a problem! First of all, remember that you are not alone. Listening comprehension is probably the most difficult job for almost all learners of English as a foreign language. The most important thing is to listen as often as possible. The first step is to find listening resources. The Internet is really a useful tool for English students. You can download The RealPlayer from RealMedia.com. The RealPlayer allows you to use the Internet like a radio station.
Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated by limited understanding. What should you do?
Here is some of the advice I give my students:
*Accept the fact that you are not going to understand everything.
*Stay relaxed when you do not understand -- even if you continue not to understand for a long time.
*Do not translate what you hear into your native language.
*Listen for the general idea of the conversation. Don't concentrate on detail until you have understood the main ideas.
I remember the problems I had in understanding spoken German when I first went to Germany. In the beginning, when I didn't understand a word, I insisted on translating it in my mind. This method usually resulted in confusion. Then, after the first six months, I discovered two very important facts. Firstly, translating creates a _ l between the listener and the speaker. Secondly, most people repeat themselves constantly. By remaining calm, I noticed that -- even if I didn't pay much attention, I could usually understand what the speaker had said. | high10876.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "There are fewer children in a British family."
},
"options": [
"Their parents earn more money.",
"There are fewer children in a British family.",
"They spend more money on books.",
"Most of them live in single-parent fa... | Have you heard of the term "tweenager" ? It's a new word being used in the UK to describe children at about 10-12 years old.Why are the media suddenly referring to kids in this way?
Well , more and more companies are beginning to create products and services for tweenagers.The Disney company sells the Hannah Montana television show,music,films and products to tweenagers and their parents.You can get everything from branded lunchboxes and cellphones,to fan magazines and clothing.The High School Musical series of films is also intended for a tweenage audience.So,it's all about sales,which tells us tweenagers must have more money,freedom and influence upon their parents than _ have ever had before.
Most children in the UK today get more pocket money than kids did a decade ago.In spite of the credit trouble, parents have more money to give than previously, since parents are having fewer children on average than in the past. addition, divorce rate in the UK is continually rising and In the parents spend less time with their children than they used to.So,many parents are under constant pressure from commercial marketers and the requests of their children.
You may wonder how tweenagers have more freedom than previous generations.Well,UK children today are very good at using media and computers.A lot of them have a television,if not a computer,in their bedrooms.They have access to much more information about life and the world.They may have experienced a lot in life as well,since 25% of UK children live in single -parent families.People now say that"kids are getting older younger" .With such sophistication at such a young age,it's no wonder that tweenagers are able to influence their parents.
UK tweenagers never used to be worried about spending money on fashionable clothes. That's changed.Now,they are concerned about the fashions and their images.In a world of television programs that promise overnight success and fame at a young age,some people think it' s very important to look fashionable. Such ideas are also promoted by both Hannah Montana story, in which a tweenage girl suddenly becomes a world-famous pop star,and the High School Musical story,in which tweenagers go through various auditions for musicals and talent shows. | high21473.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Its advantages are more important than its disadvantages"
},
"options": [
"Frankenstein's technology is advanced",
"Its advantages are more important than its disadvantages",
"Diseases like Alzheimer's are a serious problem i... | According to an English newspaper, scientists could begin cloning human embryos in Britain in 2001. It is understood that the government has already agreed to use Frankenstein's technology, believing the benefits are more important than ethical concerns .Researchers think it will be possible to grow brain tissue to cure the diseases that are likely to get worse as time passes like Alzheimer's , and produce "spare part" organs like hearts and kidneys for transplant .
Ministers are aware that the change in the law will be as controversial as the law which legalized abortion more than 30 years ago. Some politicians reacted angrily , arguing that the government had already made up its mind without discussion. Church leaders and anti-abortion campaigners have long expressed their horror at the plans, arguing that even the earliest embryos are forms of human life.They believe that getting an embryo from cells is morally unacceptable . And it will also cause arguments about how far scientists should interfere with nature and lead to accusations that _ are "playing God".
The cloning of human embryos to provide spare parts is regarded by most experts to be the most important step forward in the 21stcentury medicine. Scientists say treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's will be the first application of cloning. The ability to clone embryos was first achieved by scientists in Scotland in the late 1990s and now the ability to grow stem cells into tissues and organs is being developed by American researchers. Combining the two technologies will mean an end to long waits for organs from donors and problems caused by rejection of transplanted tissues by the body.
Ian Wilmut, the man who cloned Dolly the sheep, has warned that British experts will go to America, where such work is legal, if the government does not permit it. | high5486.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "why people spread rumors"
},
"options": [
"what rumors mean",
"how hurtful a rumor is",
"how people spread rumors",
"why people spread rumors"
],
"question": "The passage is mainly about _ .",
"question_t... | You hear a rumor from a friend,who heard it from another friend,who read it on a note passed in math class,which was written by somebody who probably just made it up.Chances are rumors are always spreading around your school.Sometimes it can be very hurtful.But why do people still do so?
When people are feeling bad about themselves,they sometimes think they'll feel better if there were someone worse off than they are.It's okey being near the bottom,as long as they're not actually on the bottom.The easiest way for them to make sure someone else is on the bottom is to make up a rumor that puts him or her there.
If everybody else is spreading rumors,you might feel you have to do the same thing in order to fit in.Unfortunately,the person who the gossip or rumor is about is usually let out of the group for the same reason that you're let into it.
When you know a secret that nobody knows,or are the first person in your group to hear a rumor,it can make you the center of attention.A rumor or piece of gossip is sometimes like money;telling it to people is like buying their attention. _ You probably know at least one person who wishes to be the leader,and make all the decisions.One way they do this is by reducing the status of another person.Spreading rumors and gossip is one way people reduce another person's status.
Sometimes a period when everyone is happy and getting along just seems kind of dull.Spreading rumors might get two people to start a fight,and that would make life a little more exciting.All those newspapers and TV shows full of gossip about famous people are proving that rumors are a popular form of entertainment. | high4940.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "became good friends after a fight"
},
"options": [
"met for the first time in prison",
"regret stealing things from neighbors",
"refuse to talk about anything when they meet",
"became good friends after a fight"
],
... | Peter Woolf and Will Riley, both 55, greet each other with a large hug whenever they meet. They're now really good friends, but they weren't ten years ago.
Before the men ever had a proper conversation, they had a serious physical fight. Peter hit Will over the head with a heavy pot, and then they both rolled down the stairs of Will's North London home before Peter hit him again with a pot. Will was knocked out and bleeding from the back of the head, but he refused to give in to Peter-a desperate heroin addict with a 30-year habit who had broken into Will's home to steal whatever valuables he could then sell to buy drugs.
It was 5 p.m. on March 2002, when Peter forced the front door of Will's five-storey Georgian home in Islington. And when Will walked into his bedroom to get something, he was shocked to find an unpleasant-smelling man in front of him.
"I asked him what he was doing in my house, and he said he was a neighbor who had heard a noise and was worried," says Will. "I was sure he was a thief, so as he went past me, I grabbed him and pushed him to the floor.
"I managed to get him downstairs and out into the street after pulling his jacket down to trap his arms. I was shouting, 'Thief! Thief!' Someone had heard me shouting and called the police, who arrived within minutes."
The police put Peter into the back of their police car. He soon began a three-year sentence in London's Pentonville Prison on a charge of breaking and entering.
Despite having spent 18 years of his life in prison, Peter somehow remained hopeful that he could clean himself up, stop taking drugs and go on to do something useful on his eventual release.
A few weeks later, Will received a telephone call from police officer Kim Smith, who explained that a trial in restorative justice was about to take place and he wondered if Will would like to meet Peter, who was waiting for sentencing.
Will met Peter again. He says, "I thought I might be able to help him change _ ."
Will saved Peter's life. "We're great friends, we get on extremely well, and when we meet, we talk about everything," says Will. "Peter's a fine man." | high23264.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "encourage young people to serve others"
},
"options": [
"educate young people on responsibility",
"invite young people to meet each other",
"encourage young people to serve others",
"celebrate the growth of young people... | One event that helps educate young people about things they can do for others is National Youth Service Day (NYSD). Every year on this day, organizations all over the country celebrate young volunteers, educate young people about how they can help their country, and invite them to participate in service projects. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "National Youth Service Day honors young volunteers and is an invitation to others to join hands and do our part as Americans."
Founded in 1988, NYSD originally took place on a Tuesday. Now the event lasts from Friday until Sunday so that more people can participate in it. More than 200 organizations work together to create thousands of projects each year. Millions of young people across the United States take part in these service projects.
Long before the event, people, community groups, schools, and nonprofit organizations think of ways to meet their communities' needs. Then, they plan projects for young volunteers. Projects include bringing food to hungry people, tutoring younger children and helping senior citizens. During the event, young people from the community do things like planting neighborhood gardens and cleaning up local parks.
The organizations that contribute to NYSD believe that volunteering and community service are important activities for people of all ages, but especially for young people. Young people who volunteer are more likely to do well in school, vote, and contribute to charities. More important, they help other people and make the world a better place for everyone. | high7291.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "caused by young people"
},
"options": [
"caused by young people",
"need to be solve d by young people",
"young people meet",
"created by the old for the young"
],
"question": "By \"problem of youth\" people mean... | People always think about "the problem of youth". If there is one -which I take leave to doubt- it is older people who create it, not young themselves. Let us get down to fundamental s and then the young are after all human beings -people just like their elders. There is only one difference between and old man and young one: the young man has a beautiful future before him while the old man a splendid future behind him and maybe that id where the rub is.
When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and unknown -that I was a new boy in a hug w school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the thing s the young are busily engaged in seeking.
I find young people exciting .they have and air of freedom, and they have not a dull promise to mean ambitious or love of comfort .they are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to important things .all this seems to me to ling then with life, and the origin of things .it's as if they were some sense of cosmic beings in violent and lovely contract with us suburban creatures. all that is in my mind when I need a young person .he may be too proud, ill-mannered or self-satisfied, but I do not turn for protection to boring cliches about respect for elders as if age were a reason for respect .I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with them, as an equal, if I think he is wrong. | high23502.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Black children have lower proficiency in reading than white children."
},
"options": [
"The reading scores among older children have improved.",
"The reading scores among young children haven't changed.",
"The gap between bla... | Although American children still spend part of their days reading, they are spending less time doing it for pleasure than years ago, with large gaps in proficiency ,according to a recent report.
"It raises an alarm," said Vicky Rideout, the lead author of the report. "We're witnessing a really large drop in reading among teenagers and the speed of that drop is getting faster and faster."
The report found that the percentage of nine-year-old children reading for pleasure once or more per week had dropped from 81 percent in 1984 to 76 percent in 2013, based on government studies. About a third of 13-year-olds and almost half of 17-year-olds reported in one study that they read for pleasure less than twice a year.
Of those who read or are read to, children often spend on average between 30 minutes and an hour daily with that activity, the report found. Older children and teenagers tend to read for pleasure for an equally long time each day.
Rideout warned that there may be differences in how people come across texts and the included studies may not take into account stories read on line or on social media.
The report also found that many young children are struggling with literacy . Only about one-third of fourth grade students are "proficient" in reading and another one-third scored below "basic" in reading skills.
Despite the large percentage of children with below-basic reading skills, reading scores among young children have improved since the 1970s, according to one test that measures reading ability.
The reading scores among 17-year-olds, however, reminded relatively unchanged since the 1790s.
About 46 percent of white children are considered "proficient" in reading, compared with 18 percent of black children and 20 percent of Hispanic kids.
Those gap remained relatively unchanged over the past 20 years, according to the report.
"To go 20 years with no progress in that area is shameful", Rideout said.
The report stresses some behaviors that have been tied to children being more frequent readers. Those behaviors include parents setting aside time to read with their children and parents reading themselves to model good behavior. | high12907.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the view rate of it is falling"
},
"options": [
"the view rate of it is falling",
"the nominees don't like to attend",
"people in Hollywood are against it",
"the 80th Oscars was best organized"
],
"question": "O... | Oscars organizers promised a new progress to this month's Academy Awards to greet this year's nominees .
After years of falling view that ended in last year's 80th Oscars recording low view rate,the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has to make a fresh start for Hollywood's yearly show.
The coproducers of the February 22 show,Bill Condon and Laurence Mark,have so far kept full details of their planned changes to the Oscars' triedandtested method secret.
Oscars organizers have already made sure of one change by announcing Australian actor Hugh Jackman as the host of the show.
Among the changes reported to be considered are the decision to leave out the ceremony's opening monologue .
The names of the invited on the awards night have also been kept secret while in earlier years the Academy made presenters to the ceremony public before weeks.
TheNewYorkTimesreported on Monday that the producers are trying to improve the show by asking studios to provide scenes from films.
At the same time Ganis also advised nominees to give some thought to make their acceptance speeches memorable-and short.
"As for the acceptance speeches-you know what's required," Ganis said."Be brief,be personal and be heartfelt. _ "
This year's Oscars are expected to be a great event. Many films will touch you,"Slumdog Millionaire"has 10 nominations,and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with 13.In the past the film with the most Oscar nominations is the one that has succeeded in box office. | high1186.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "when he showed his talents in sports"
},
"options": [
"when he was doing well in math",
"when he was in second grade",
"when he was made mayor of his building",
"when he showed his talents in sports"
],
"questio... | Most people watching Jeremy Lin these past two months saw Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks star; but I, watching him, saw someone else. That was my elder brother, Bob, who is athletic and energetic. He could never sit still when he was in second grade; he had to get up every now and then and run around the room. And sure enough, he grew up to be a starting player for an N.C.A.A. championship lacrosse team. He was a Nike-endorsed marathoner, too, and reached the top of Mt. Everest, unguided, in his 50s.
And yet my family never watched his lacrosse games. We did watch some of his marathons, but that wasn't until he was in his 20s. When Bob was in his glory days, our Shanghainese-born parents were bent on getting him into medical school. There was a loving aspect to it: I can remember my father working through math books with him, lesson by lesson, at the big blackboard in the attic. Bob never did become a doctor, though; and neither did I. It wasn't until my younger sister came along that someone in the family finally wore a white coat.
Bob today could be the fittest 58-year-old on the planet. His doctor estimates his biological age at 35; he's still climbing big mountains in the Himalayas. And, like Jeremy Lin, he's charming. No one sees Bob without leaving with a laugh. He sometimes jokes he could be mayor of his building, and it's true. To know him is to cheer for him.
And yet my parents did not cheer for him. What if my mother had sat on the sidelines with her statistics, like Jeremy Lin's mother? What if my father had played videos of athletes for my brother to watch and imitate? It's hard not to wonder.
And how did Jeremy Lin's parents manage to do these remarkable things? Amy Chua, the tiger mother, recalls her immigrant father beating the kids whenever they mispronounced a Chinese word. How is it that Jeremy Lin's immigrant father in particular, Gie-Ming Lin, encouraged his son to follow such an untraditional path? | high412.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Tu won the Nobel Prize"
},
"options": [
"Tu won the Nobel Prize",
"it has some cultural relics",
"it covers a large area",
"it is a great art and commercial zone"
],
"question": "Tu Youyou's former house is now ... | China's admiration of outstanding scholars has turned the well-preserved childhood home of TuYouyou,the Chinese pharmacologist who won this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or Medicine,into a popular tourist destination.
Since it was announced on Monday that 84-year-old Tu had become the first Chinese citizen to win this international prize,her former home in the old town of Ningbo,Zhejiang province,has attracted visitors,especially parents and their children----even though it is not open to the public.
The house,where Tu lived until she went to university in Beijing,covers an area of 2,200square meters and is priced at 150million yuan($23.6million).It is part of a complex of 37traditional buildings,including several city-and-district-level cultural relic preservation sites,that have been transformed into a high-end art,and commercial zone.
"There are continually parents taking their children,from infants in strollers to college students,to take photos in front of Tu's former home.Security guards have been ordered to go on patrol around the clock,"said Mr.Zhao,a salesperson from Ningbo Real Estate Inc Co.
Shanghai resident Xu Lingfei,who was on a trip to Ningbo,took her 9-year-old son to walk around the complex on Wednesday."Chinese people believe in exams and awards and have a strong preference for high performers.Taking children to visit the former dwelling places of celebrities is a way to inspire them to study harder,"Xu said.
Something similar happened after Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2012.Tourists started visiting Mo's former home in rural Caomi,Shandong Province,in an endless stream starting the day after he won the prize.Some even pulled the radishes planted in front of the house.and carried away some bricks. | high19852.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He couldn't eat the sandwich he had bought"
},
"options": [
"His sandwich went bad as expected",
"He couldn't eat the sandwich he had bought",
"His sandwich caused trouble to some equipment",
"He filled his pocket with ... | What do astronauts eat in space, and why? How did astronaut food come into being? How do astronauts preserve food for long periods of time in space? NASA(the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has been researching food for space travel since the 1960's to find the best way of keeping astronauts from going hungry.
The research could date from an accident that took place on the first manned Gemini mission in 1965. astronaut John Young managed to sneak a corned beef sandwich onto the Geminni III capsule to eat during its orbit around Earth. To Young's surprise, the sandwich plan did not go as expected; instead the sandwich began to break apart and scatter through the Geminni IIIcapsule. This could have resulted in disaster, since a small piece of food could have stuck in the air vents and other equipment. The sandwich was stuffed into a pocket to avoid the further mess inside the small space capsule This incident caused NASA to enforce strict rules on what types of food can be taken into space.
Space food has come a long way since then. During the Gemini period, the astronauts mostly ate cubed, compressed foods high in calories and lightweight.
NASA expects a long shelf life for space food. The majority of food taken into space has been dried out or heat-treated. These process and use of sodium , make the food taken into space last longer. Research is ongoing into space food to seek out healthier ways to preserve it. Too much sodium is unhealthy, and can badly change the taste of some foods. | high18594.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "wouldn't do much harm to the sea"
},
"options": [
"wouldn't harm the fish in the sea",
"would change the balance of the food chain",
"would be broken down in the sea",
"wouldn't do much harm to the sea"
],
"ques... | About 97% of the world's water is salty and is found in our oceans and seas. But, as we can't drink seawater, how can it be important?
Every part of our seas and oceans contains an amazing number of animals and fish that live at different ocean depths. Most of the different species of animals and fish depend on simple plants for their food. These simple plants called algae drift near the surface of the ocean and use sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into food and oxygen. In fact, algae produce over half of the oxygen people breathe. How important seawater is!
Each plant or animal in our seas and oceans is an important link in a food chain. The algae are eaten in large amounts by microscopic animals, which are in turn consumed by larger animals. These food chains are delicately balanced.
The bad news about the food chains in the oceans is that they are under threat because of man. People once thought that the oceans were so big that it didn't matter if we dumped rubbish into them or caught huge quantities of fish and whales for food. But we now know this is not true and fish stocks in the oceans have started to drop.
Thankfully, the world is taking steps to protect the future of our oceans by introducing international agreements to protect marine habitats. Most countries have introduced fishing restrictions to protect fish stocks in the oceans and new techniques are being pioneered to cope with pollution. Finally, the importance of protecting oceans is being made known to more people. This is just the beginning of a long process to protect the oceans for our future. We depend on the oceans for fish which are an important part of the human diet. How important seawater is! | high3949.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "cannot eat or drink for several hours"
},
"options": [
"are gathered and take a training",
"cannot eat or drink for several hours",
"must wash their hands carefully",
"will be interviewed by Dr Finkelstein"
],
"... | The possibility that pleasant smells might reduce pain has recently been suggested by new research. In a scientific study, doctors asked 20 men and 20 women to keep their hands in very hot water for as long as possible while breathing in different smells.
As people believe that strong smells can affect the senses, volunteers were asked not to eat or drink for eight hours before the experiment began. During the experiment, volunteers were asked to take in pleasant smells such as vanilla , and unpleasant smells such as durians . The volunteers kept their hands in the water until it became too hot for them. When they could not bear the pain any more, they took their hands out of the water.
Scientists are interested in whether the senses or smell is related to pain and whether men and women have the same senses. Now, the study has proved that for women, pleasant smells reduce pain. For men, there is no change.
Dr Finkelstein has been studying smells since 1999. He says that scientists already have data from 40 volunteers. He adds that this year, scientists will test another 60 volunteers and will be in a better position to explain the results.
One explanation is that women's sense of smell developed long ago, and is linked to recognizing the smell of babies. Scientists used to believe that mothers recognized their children by sight only. Now, they have started to believe that the sense of smell also helps, but why pleasant smells do not reduce pain in men is a question still to be answered by scientists. | high3791.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because he wanted to make them happy."
},
"options": [
"Because he wanted to make them happy.",
"Because he wanted to show off his toys.",
"Because he wanted to share his toys with them.",
"Because he wanted to make fri... | On a summer day, John was sitting on a beach in Hawaii with his parents. The six-year-old child suddenly said he was so lucky because he had so many toys to play with at home.
His surprised parents replied that he was lucky, since a lot of kids didn't have any toys at all. "How can that be?" John said, confused, but then he said that he would like to get toys for those children. His parents naturally thought their son was just kidding. But as soon as they returned home, John began using his pocket money to buy toys for other kids and asking his friends to do the same. His parents responded by organizing pizza suppers for other families interested in helping other children that can't afford to buy toys. John thought that he just wanted to cheer those kids up.
John's parents started to find a place that would allow children as young as six and seven to volunteer. They finally find a day care center for disabled children to let John and his friends visit. They went and played with these kids, playing around the room as if they belonged there.
John and his friends named their work Kids Cheering Kids. John and his friends visited kids at some childcare centers, helping out with a party they organized. They also prepared a performance for children with disabilities. Their activities have drawn public concern.
The spirit of helping is as fresh as it was that day in Hawaii. "The whole purpose,"
John says, "is to make the kids feel better." | high16552.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Americans, Spanish, Italians, Brazilians, French"
},
"options": [
"Spanish, Americans, French, Mexicans, British",
"Americans, Spanish, Italians, Brazilians, French",
"British, Mexicans, Brazilians, Spanish, Americans",
... | The Americans have been voted the world's "funniest nationality" ---the one "best at making people laugh" ---in a global poll , which also names the Germans the "least funny" nationality and the British "not as funny as they think".
30,000 people across 15 countries were asked to name both the "funniest" and "least funny" nationality in a poll conducted by Badoo.com, the world's largest social network for meeting new people, with 119 million users worldwide.
The Americans were voted the funniest nationality, ahead of the Spanish --- the funniest Europeans --- in second, Italians in third and British in seventh.
The voting for the "least funny" nationality confirmed the view of America's Mark Twain that "a German joke is no laughing matter". The Germans won, ahead of the Russians and Turks. The stereotype of German humourlessness is believed to _ from their reputation for efficiency, punctuality and rationality . Examples of German jokes include: "Yesterday, I met my friend Horst at the hospital. He'd swallowed a sponge. He says it doesn't hurt but he's always thirsty."
"When we meet someone new, one of the first things we notice is whether they make us laugh", says Lloyd Price, Badoo's Marketing Director. "America is a worthy poll winner", says Price. "It's the world's only comedy superpower."
The British pride themselves on their humour but learn from the poll that they're not as funny as they think. They placed just seventh of 15 --- behind the Brazilians, French and Mexicans. | high4015.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "choices of water activities"
},
"options": [
"the funniest botanic gardens",
"choices of water activities",
"a brief history of Egypt",
"the mix of culture and art"
],
"question": "Visitors flood to Hurghada mai... | When you're looking forward to taking a holiday in Egypt, you're certainly not short of choices. The country has so many to see that you'll probably not want to limit yourself to just one city.
Hurghada---A Water Sports Paradise
With 250 hotels ranking from comfortable 3-star hotels up to 5-star accommodation, the main attraction of staying here is the activities in and on the warm waters. It has become an international centre for water sports, allowing visitors to take part in surfing, sailing and deep sea fishing. The waters are also home to a huge variety of coral and fish, making it a dream spot for diving. If all that isn't enough, Hurghada is home to some of the world's finest underwater gardens.
Luxor--An Open Air Museum of Ancient History
For those with an interest in Egyptian history, Luxor is an excellent place to stay and is built upon the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. If you make this the base for your Egypt holiday, you're basically staying in an open museum! The modern city of Luxor has the ruins of Karnak. Across the Nile lie many more monuments, temples and tombs including the Valley of the kings and the Queens. The Nile sailing is necessary for those with an interest in the country's ancient history.
Cairo----The Capital City
Finally, of course, there's Cairo. It-s definitely a starting point for most of Egypt holiday makers. Cairo offers an excellent mix of culture, art, cooking and sightseeing chances. With the famous pyramids, various temples and some fascinating museums, Cairo is fantastic choice if you can come to the city. | high19661.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the parents' over-protection of their college children"
},
"options": [
"the development of technology",
"the changes of adult children's behavior",
"the parents' over-protection of their college children",
"the means a... | Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes are brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be "very" or "somewhat" overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today's parents are trying to manage their children's lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their "adult" children.
In the context of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents' involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn't present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents - today's grandparents - would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.
Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyondthe role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings. | high10123.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He was to meet his girlfriend."
},
"options": [
"He was to meet his girlfriend.",
"He had to go back to school soon.",
"He was delayed by an elderly lady.",
"He had to pick up some groceries."
],
"question": "Wh... | I was in a rush as always, but this time it was for an important date I just couldn' t be late for! I found myself at a checkout counter behind an elderly woman seemingly in no hurry as she paid for her groceries. A PhD student with not a lot of money, I had hurried into the store to pick up some flowers. I was in a huge rush, thinking of my upcoming evening. I did not want to be late for this date.
We were in Boston, a place not always known for small conversation between strangers. The woman stopped unloading her basket and looked up at me. She smiled. It was a nice smile --warm and reassuring -- and I returned her _ by smiling back.
"Must be a special lady, whoever it is that will be getting those beautiful flowers," she said.
"Yes, she' s special," I said, and then to my embarrassment, the words kept coming out. "It' s only our second date,but somehow I am just having the feeling she's 'the one' ,"Jokingly, I added, "The only problem is that I can' t figure out why she' d want to date a guy like me."
"Well, I think she's very lucky to have a boyfriend who brings her such lovely flowers and who is obviously in love with her," the woman said. "My husband used to bring me flowers every week -- even when times were tough and we didn' t have much money. Those were incredible days; he was very romantic and -- of course -- I miss him since he' s passed away."
I paid for my flowers as she was gathering up her groceries. There was no doubt in my mind as I walked up to her. I touched her on the shoulder and said, "You were right, you know. These flowers are indeed for a very special lady." I handed her the flowers and thanked her for such a nice conversation.
It took her a moment to realize that I was giving her the flowers I had just purchased."You have a wonderful evening," I said. I left her with a big smile and my heart warmed as I saw her smelling the beautiful flowers.
I remember being slightly late for my date that night and telling my girlfriend the above story. A couple of years later,when I finally worked up the courage to ask her to marry me,she told me that this story had helped to _ it for her -- that was the night that I won her heart. | high6602.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It came to nothing."
},
"options": [
"It came to nothing.",
"It was a dream come true.",
"It had to wait a few years before it was carried out.",
"It was supported by the advertising standards agencies."
],
"que... | A few years ago, a company called Space Marketing came up with a plan to send a mile-long advertisement into space. To advertising agencies , it would have been "a dream come true". However, advertising standards agencies finally decided not to allow Space Marketing to go ahead with their plans and they were forced to give them up.
Space may indeed be the final place for advertisers, because on Earth we are already surrounded by advertising wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Apart from the obvious adverts that we see every day on TV, and in newspapers and magazines, there is a whole ' _ ' of advertising messages for our attention. There are ads that we see on the side of the bus we catch to work, for example. And what about the logos we see on the clothing of the people we walk past in the streets?
Most of the time, we are probably not even aware of these less obvious advertising methods, but that doesn't mean that they don't work. Take 'product placement', for example. You are in a cinema, watching the latest Hollywood movie. Look carefully at the make of car your favorite actor is driving. And what about his watch? Can you see what brand it is? Chances are, you can, and the company that owns the brand is likely to have paid thousands for it to appear in the film.
So, whether Space Marketing finally succeeds in sending ads into space or not is perhaps less important than it might seem. This would not change a thing. Our everyday lives are already strongly influenced by advertising whether we realize it or not. | high14345.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "not all the soldiers went home for Christmas during the war"
},
"options": [
"all the soldiers had the three-day holiday",
"the writer could not go home for Christmas",
"the writer spent his first Christmas during the war",
... | When my first wartime Christmas came, I was in basic training in New Jersey and not sure if I would make it home for the holidays. Only on the afternoon of December 23 was the list of men who would have the three-day holiday posted. I was one of the lucky soldiers. It was Christmas Eve when I arrived home, and a little snow had fallen. Mother opened the front door. I could see beyond her, into the corner of the living room where the tree had always stood. There were lights, all colors, and ornaments shining against the green of a pine.
"Where did it come from?" I asked.
"I asked the Gates boy to cut it," my mother said. "I wouldn't have had one just for myself, but when in great need... such a rush! He just brought it in this afternoon."
The pine reached to the proper height, almost to the ceiling, and the Tree Top Crystal Star was in its place. A few green branches reached out a little awkwardly at the side, I thought, and there was a bit of bare trunk showing in the middle. But the tree filled the room with warm light and the whole house with the pleasant smell of Christmas.
"It's not like the one you used to find," my mother went on. "Yours were always in good shape. I suppose the Gates boy didn't know where to look for a better one. But I couldn't be fussy ."
"Don't worry," I told her. "It's perfect."
It wasn't, of course, but at the moment I realized something for the first time: All Christmas trees are perfect. | high9531.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "cared much about her children"
},
"options": [
"was sick of staying upstairs",
"cared much about her children",
"could not stand living a wooden house",
"did not deal well with her family affairs during the flood"
]... | July 21st, 2007 was a typical English summer's day -- it rained for 24 hours! As usual, I rushed home from work at midday to check on the house. Nothing was amiss. By the time I lift work at 5 pm, however, the road into our village was flooded. Our house bad never been flooded but, as I opened the front door, a wave of water greeted me. Thank God the kids weren't with me, because the house was 5 feet deep in water. We lost everything downstairs. And the plaster had to be torn off the walls, ceilings pulled down.
At first we tried to push on through. We didn't want to move the children out of home, so we camped upstairs. we put a sheet of plastic across the floor to protect us from the damp. But after three months, we felt very sick, so we moved to a wooden house in a park. The house was small, but at first we were all just delighted to be in a new place. Unfortunately, things took longer than expected and we were there for 10 months. The life there was inconvenient. What surprised me most was how much I missed being part of a community .We had lived in a friendly village with good neighbours, and I'd never thought how much I'd miss that.
Although-our situation was very bad, it's difficult to feel too sorry for yourself when you look at what's happening elsewhere. I watched a news report about floods in Northern India and thought , "We didn't have a straw hut that was swept away , and our house is still sanding . We're lucky ."
We moved back home in August. With December coming, there's reconstruction work to be done, so it's difficult to prepare for Christmas. But I can't wait -- I'm going to throw a party for our friends in the village to say thanks for their support. This year , I won't need any gifts -- living away from home for months has made me realize how little we actually need or miss all our possessions . Although we are replacing things, there's really no rush -- we have our home back, and that's the main thing. | high8149.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because they don't think their parents can understand them well."
},
"options": [
"Because their parents are too busy to listen.",
"Because their parents don't want to get involved in their lives.",
"Because they don't think ... | The best way to help your children do well in school is to show them that you care about their education and lives. Here's some helpful advice.
You are your children's first and most important teacher.
You know your children better than anyone else, and you probably care about them more than anything. Get involved in their education at every step -- from homework help to parent-teacher conferences.
A close relationship with your children can keep them from having problems in school.
Children need help to make decisions about school, relationships, work, and so on. This can be easier if your children can talk to you about their problems.
Be a good listener.
Young children want to talk about their school days, so take time to talk and listen every day. As children get older, especially during high school, they might not want to talk to their parents. They usually think their friends may understand them better. At this time, parents should be patient and think of ways to get involved in your children's lives. You need to be a cheerleader for your children. _ .
Offer your personal support.
Help your children practice multiplication tables or have them read you one of their essays. If your children are having trouble in school, offer to help them get through it.
In a word, having an honest and positive relationship with your children will help them succeed in school. Even if you don't have the best experience in school, you can still help your children be successful. Besides, parents should know some effective ways of creating a great homework space. | high22191.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "An English student will have difficulty understanding Li Bai's poems."
},
"options": [
"An English student will have difficulty understanding Li Bai's poems.",
"an English student will have some difficulty understanding Walt Whitma... | It is of great importance for students to be able to get a feel for the rhythm and sounds of a poem---more so than for most pieces of prose . This isn't always easy in a second language, and so listening to their teacher read the poem, or to a professional recording, perhaps by the poet or by an actor, is, I feel, necessary.
As with any listening activity, students will need some kind of preparation and task so that they can be actively engaged. They might be asked to check predictions that arose from a warm-up discussion, to compare their suggested rhyming couplets with the poet's, or to identify stressed words and syllables.
You might also want to get your students to listen to recorded or live discussions about poems. This can, for example, take the form of a couple of teachers or a group of students giving their views on a poem, or even an interview with the poet.
I'm a big fan of jigsaw listening because of the natural information gap. If your school has the facilities, you might like to:
divide your students into two, or even three groups
give each group a different cassette or CD and tasks to work on
then they come back together to share what they have learned.
Remember that your own enthusiasm is a key factor in any activity relating to literature in the classroom.
Finally, don't forget to encourage art for art's sake. Listening for pleasure, to poetry (or to anything else, for that matter), is to be fostered at every opportunity, because of the obvious benefits which include motivation, vocabulary acquisition and learner independence. Many good song lyrics could be termed poetry and treated accordingly in the classroom, copyright rules permitting. | high12052.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "seldom have fresh vegetables and fruits"
},
"options": [
"prefer meat to any other kind of food",
"seldom have fresh vegetables and fruits",
"can buy anything in the shop",
"might row a boat to catch fish"
],
"q... | With the average temperature for January standing at -50 degC,it is no wonder the Russian village of Oymyakon is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement in the world.Known as the"Pole of Cold",the coldest ever temperature recorded in Oymyakon is -71.2 degC.This is the lowest recorded temperature for any permanently inhabited location on Earth and the lowest temperature recorded in the northern hemisphere .
Ironically,Oymyakon actually means"nonfreezing water"due to a nearby hot spring.Most homes in Oymyakon still burn coal and wood for heat and enjoy few modern conveniences.
Nothing grows there so people eat reindeer meat and horsemeat.A single shop provides the town's bare necessities and the locals work as reindeerbreeders,hunters and icefishermen.
There are few modern conveniences in the village--with many buildings still having outdoor toilets--and most people still burn coal and wood for heat.When coal deliveries are irregular,the power station starts burning wood.If the power ceases,the town shuts down in about five hours,and the pipes freeze and crack.
Daily problems that come with living in Oymyakon include pen ink freezing,glasses freezing to people's faces and batteries losing power.Locals are said to leave their cars running all day for fear of not being able to restart them.Even if there was coverage for mobile phone reception,the phones themselves would not work in such conditions.
Another problem caused by the frozen temperatures is burying dead bodies,which can take anything up to three days.The earth must first have thawed sufficiently in order to dig it,so a bonfire is lit for a couple of hours.Hot coals are then pushed to the side and a hole couple of inches deep is dug.The process is repeated for several days until the hole is deep enough to bury the coffin.
Travel companies offer tourists the opportunity to visit the village and sample life in the freezing conditions. | high6164.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "got continuous orders with her friend"
},
"options": [
"got continuous orders with her friend",
"cooperated with one of her neighbors",
"advertised her products in the neighborhood",
"designed unique gift baskets for th... | In the early 1980s, one of our neighbors asked my mom if she would make a few gift baskets for her [:]to give as gifts for the holidays. My mom agreed and news of the unique gift baskets my mum was making spread like wildfire throughout the neighborhood. My mum was busy throughout the holiday season, so she asked a friend to help her. When the orders continued after the holiday season for baby gifts, birthday gifts and more, it occurred to them that maybe this job could be turned into a business and they did it.
My mum went into her business because she had a creative idea. She got orders and filled orders. But there was no purpose and no real strategy . In 1991, my mum' s partner got into financial trouble and there was not enough money to support either my mum or her partner.
So if you are led by your creativity or enthusiasm, make sure you ask yourself what you want out of your business. If you don't set goals, how will you know what direction to go in? Do you want to create jobs and growth in the economy? Are you looking for a hobby? You can't keep scores if you don' t know what game you are playing.
After my mom's partner gave up, she had to abandon her business to support herself. She swore she would run a business again and do it differently the next time. However, there wasn't a "next time" for her. She passed away just after her 51st birthday. She never had someone tell her how important having a goal was. She never had an opportunity to be everything that she could be.
There are no right or wrong goals, only the ones that matter to you. Set them so that you can make progress and achieve success, whatever that may mean to you. | high14423.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "she had an operation but didn't rest enough"
},
"options": [
"she worked too hard in an IT company",
"she had an operation but didn't rest enough",
"she hurt herself in the workplace carelessly",
"she had a long trip fr... | Liz had been bleeding for a long time! She was my closest professional colleague and good friend at the time when we worked in an IT company. It was her first day back at work after an operation and I thought she should have taken a few more days to recover.
Realizing that we couldn't stop the bleeding, we headed to the emergency room and spent hours there waiting to be seen. After the treatment, I drove her to my apartment. I had to leave her in my apartment while I dashed off to take a final exam for a very important course I was taking. Upon my return, we decided Liz was in a good enough condition to sustain a trip back from my Northern Virginia apartment to her home in Maryland.
Although it was nearly midnight and we were both exhausted, we still decided to set off. Unfortunately, in a not particularly safe part of town, we heard my car make a strange noise, and then ti was shaking violently as we drove along. Quickly, I stopped the car in the road and found a tire had blown out. Not knowing how to change a tire and feeling scared, I was trying out to figure out what to do next. Liz, weak from losing all that blood all day and weighing only about eighty pounds to begin with, came out and tried to help me. I had to scream at her to get back in the car and relax.
Within seconds, a taxi pulled up behind us. A huge man appeared and began walking toward us. I felt that the blood drained out of my face and I nearly fainted in fear.
"Got a flat tire, girls?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered in a trembling voice.
In no time at all, the man changed the tire for us and rushed off back to his taxi. He refused any payment and did not even tell me his name. He would never know how badly we needed his services that particular evening. And I, with a grateful heart, will never forget his kindness. | high9257.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Each person should pay his or her own bill"
},
"options": [
"The guests should leave first.",
"Each person should pay his or her own bill",
"The food should be better next time.",
"People should go to another restaurant... | "Let's go Dutch, shall we?" Jim said after a dinner to his friends in a restaurant. What does Jim mean?
Long ago, there was a kind of dinner called Dutch treat . At a Dutch treat, the invited guests were expected to pay for their own share of the food and drink. Now, Dutch treat means when friends go out to have fun, each person pays his or her own share.
There are many other expressions related with "Dutch" in American English. However, most of them were first used in England in the 17th century. At that time, the British and the Dutch were war enemies. So when British people talked about something wrong or bad, they would like to use the word "Dutch".
A common expression heard a few years ago was in Dutch. A friend may tell you, "You are in Dutch. The teacher is angry with you. Be careful!" When a soldier took Dutch leave, he left the army without permission. Dutch courage was the false courage produced by the effects of drinking wine.
There is one expression that did come from the Dutch. That is to talk like a Dutch uncle. The Dutch were known for the strict and serious way they educated their children. | high20786.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "2"
},
"options": [
"1",
"2",
"3",
"4"
],
"question": "The sentence 'Larks or 'morning people', however, often acquired better exam results, possibly because lessons are held at the wrong time of day for night ow... | They are most likely to be healthy, wealthy and wise, according to the old saying.
But those who are early to bed and early to rise do not always have the upper hand, researchers say. They have revealed that night owls are generally brighter and wealthier than those able to get up early in the morning.
1 Experts from the University of Madrid carried out tests on around 1,000 teenagers and found that those who preferred to stay up late demonstrated the kind of intelligence associated with honored jobs and higher incomes. 2 The researchers examined the habits and body clocks of the youngsters to determine whether they liked to stay up late and sleep in later in the morning, or preferred to go to bed early and were at their peak in the morning. 3 School performance and inductive intelligence, or problem solving, were measured and academic grades in the major subjects were also taken into account. The results showed that evening types scored higher than morning types on inductive reasoning, which has been shown to be a good estimate of general intelligence and a strong indicator of academic performance. 4 They also had a greater capacity to think conceptually as well as analytically. Such abilities have been linked to innovative thinking, more admired occupations and better incomes.
Famous night owls include President Obama, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Keith Richards and Elvis Presley. George W Bush, who is regularly in bed by 10pm, Thomas Edison, Napoleon, Condoleezza Rice, who wakes at 4.30am, and Ernest Hemingway are among those known as larks . Jim Horne, professor of psychophysiology at Loughborough University, said: 'Evening types tend to be the more active and creative types, the poets, artists and inventors, while the morning types are the deducers , as often seen with civil servants and accountants.' A previous study of US Air Force recruits found evening types were much better at thinking laterally to solve problems than larks. | high18219.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The rapid progress in cell phone technology."
},
"options": [
"The broadband connection's getting faster.",
"More and more Internet users.",
"more and more Internet connections.",
"The rapid progress in cell phone techn... | In the computer age, most of us take a broadband Internet connection for granted. Whether cable or mobile broadband, today's connections are many times faster than those in the early days. Videos play smoothly, complex websites load quickly, and files download much faster than ten years ago. And the files are much bigger too.
There's _ , of course: You have to live near enough to a major city to get broadband Internet. If you don't, it's slow dial-up access for you. And for those living really far out, there may be no Internet access at all.
Technology experts often talk about the "last mile" problem, which refers to the difficulty of bringing Internet access to remote locations. In cities and suburbs, it's relatively easy to provide access for everyone. It is much more difficult to deliver access to those living far from cities, especially in developing countries. Internet service providers, for their part, have been reluctant to provide access to sparsely populated areas. The handful of Internet users they would reach wouldn't cover the expense.
But every year, technological advancements allow of more and more Internet users. Most broadband connections today run over existing cable TV and telephone lines although these technologies aren't available everywhere.
Some companies have delivered the Internet over standard power lines. Advancements in cheaper, more efficient fiber optics cables promise to bring extremely fast Internet connections to more users.
Still, the "last mile" problem remains hard to deal with. There will always be somewhere that doesn't have an affordable broadband connection. But someday that might not matter. If the rapid progress in cell phone technology is any indication , it may not be too long before an Internet connection simply follows you wherever you go. | high2302.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "needn't have experience in tree planting"
},
"options": [
"should bring your own shovel",
"must wear a special type of shoes",
"needn't have experience in tree planting",
"will be able to enjoy music while planting tree... | Tree-planting is an important part of the ongoing Richmond renaissance that has been changing the city for the last few years. And you are invited to be a part of this transformation on Saturday, November 2, 2013, from 9 am to 1 pm. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are invited to participate.
Residents of the City of Richmond will be joined by community volunteers from Richmond Trees, Groundwork Richmond and The Watershed Project to celebrate the fall's Harvest Festival and Tree Planting event.
9:00 am Harvest festivities begin with a volunteer orientation about planting trees.
9:30 am Volunteers will divide into seven planting teams, each captained by an experienced Tree Steward, to plant 30 new street trees along Roosevelt, and on the 500 and 600 blocks of 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 35th & 36th streets in the surrounding neighborhood. Richmond Trees and the City of Richmond will provide shovels and vests. Those who would like to participate in planting trees are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes.
11 am La Rondalla del Sagrado Corazon, a local musical ensemble, will play traditional Mexican serenade music.
12 pm Speakers including Chris Magnus, Richmond's Chief of Police and Chris Chamberlain, Superintendent of Parks & Landscaping will speak about the many benefits of growing the urban forest.
Healthy harvest refreshments, water and coffee will be available for a small donation that will support the work Richmond Trees is doing in the community to grow the urban forest. There will be art activities and games for children.
For more information about the Harvest Festival and Tree Planting event, or planting trees in your own Richmond neighborhood, contact gro.seertdnomhcir@ofni, 510.843.8844. | high10645.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It has the largest population."
},
"options": [
"It has the largest population.",
"It has the largest land area.",
"It is suitable to be toured on foot.",
"Its cars travel in a very low speed."
],
"question": "A... | With its private hidden coves and pink beaches.Bermuda is a perfect place for relaxation and romance.Though this tiny string of Atlantic islands covers only 21 square miles. there's much to see and do.Spend tile days boating,golfing,shopping or swimming with dolphins.Explore secret caves,visit historical museums and churches.Bermuda's nightlife offers everything from fine dining to fast food,jazz clubs to Irish pubs.
Even though a large number of people live 011 this small island , you should never feel crowded.There are no ad boards or signs,and ly few cars to spoil the beauty of the countryside.Most houses seem to fit quite naturally into the scenery.
Bermuda consists of nine parishes .Pembroke,which surrounds the capital city of Hamilton.is the largest parish in population;St.George has the largest land area.
Because of its small size.it's easy to get to know tile island.There's much to see.Whether you travel by bike. ferry,bus,or taxi.You'll need plenty of time.though,because the pace is slow.Cars and other motorized vehicles must observe tile top speed of 15 mph in Hamilton and St.George,20 mph in the countryside.The speed limits are strictly enforced.and there are severe punishments for breaking the rules.
Once you've done all the must-sees, you'll want to walk around and make discoveries on your own . The best parishes for walking are Somerset , St. George , and Hamilton.
But don't fill your days with too much structured sightseeing . You'll want time to lie on the beach and play in the water ,and to enjoy moments like sitting by the harbor in the late afternoon, enjoying the views as the sailing boats pass by . Absorbing Bermuda's beauty at your own pace, and stopping to chat with the occasional islander , is really the point. | high21498.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The discovery of the sleep \"homeostat\""
},
"options": [
"A new way to treat sleep disorders.",
"The discovery of the sleep \"homeostat\"",
"Advice on what to do when you fail to fall asleep.",
"A comparison of the two... | Everyone has those nights-you lie in your bed for hours, tossing and turning, totally unable to fall asleep. You wish you could just turn your brain off as if it were a light. That would make things much easier, wouldn't it?
Now it looks like you are one step closer to this wild dream of yours-scientists from Oxford University, UK have just discovered the "switch" that tells the brain to go to sleep, reported Forbes.
To understand the study, you first need to know that there are two mechanisms that regulate sleep. There's one that we're already familiar with --our body clock, which works in a 24-hour cycle based on the light changes throughout the day.
The other one is what scientists call the sleep "homeostat ". This mechanism has nothing to do with daylight. Instead, it keeps track of the brain's waking hours and urges it to rest if it has been awake for a long time. "It is similar to the thermostat in your home. A thermostat measures temperature and switches on the heating if it's too cold," Professor Gero Miesenbock, who led the study, told The Telegraph.
Our bodies use both of the mechanisms to regulate sleep. "The body clock says it's the right time, and the sleep thermostat has built up pressure during a long waking day," explained Miesenbock.
There is no way that scientists can trick the body clock. But with the sleep homeostat, there might be something they can do.
The researchers found that the sleep homeostat works by activating a specific group of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. They tested their theory on fruit flies by removing the neurons from the insects' brains. And as expected, they found that the flies without the homeostat neurons did not keep a regular sleep pattern anymore.
Now that scientists have pinpointed the exact place in the brain-- or, the "switch"--that regulates sleep, they can begin investigating how to activate these cells at any given time so that people can be sent to sleep instantly.
More importantly, figuring out how sleep mechanisms work may also help us to one day
one of the oldest mysteries of all: why do we need to sleep in the first place? | high16234.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "air pollution"
},
"options": [
"heavy traffic",
"air pollution",
"rapid development",
"large population"
],
"question": "The writer listed Mexico City, Shanghai and Cairo as examples of cities of _ .",
"q... | More than half of the world's population live in cities. Traffic and pollution are becoming big problems in big cities all over the world. In cities like Mexico City, Shanghai or Cairo the quality of air is getting worse every day. In the United States, people spend more time sitting in traffic jams.
Some of the world's cities have already found the answer to the problem. In Bogota, the capital of Columbia, the government has taken measures to improve the quality of life for the city's 8 million people. They created over a thousand new parks, a new public transport system, and built hundreds of cycling and walking paths. People who live in the city also joined in making their city one of the most livable places in South America.
Today city planners around the world are looking for ways to provide more room for living and less room for cars. In America, public transport has increased over 2 % since the mid 1990s -- not much but a start. More and more people leave their cars at home and get on buses, trains or even ride a bike to work. Some cities are far better at planning than others. In Amsterdam, for example, only 40 % of the population use their cars to get to work, 35 % ride bikes while 25% use public transport. In Paris, about half of the city's workers drive their cars to work.
For cities in developing countries, the problems have just started. Traffic is getting worse as more and more people can afford to buy a car. | high4773.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "see his daughter off"
},
"options": [
"see his daughter off",
"welcome his daughter home",
"meet his daughter and the author",
"share the touching poem with the author"
],
"question": "The father at the airport ... | Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. The airline had announced her departure and standing near the security gate,they hugged and he said,"I love you. I wish you enough"
She in turn said,"Dad,our life together has been more than enough. Your love is a11 I ever needed. I wish you enough,too,Dad. "They kissed and she left
He walked over toward the window where I was seated Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to disturb his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking,"Did you ever say good--bye to someone knowing it would be forever?''
"Yes,I have. "I replied"Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?""I'm old and she lives much too far away I have challenges ahead,and the reality is,the next trip back will be for my funeral. "He said.
"When you were saying good-bye 1 heard you say,'1 wish you enough. 'm ay I ask what that means?"
He began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down for many generations within my family. My parents used to say it to everyone. "
He paused for a moment,looking up as if trying to remember it in detail,and then he smiled even more"When we said'I wish you enough',we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain(...)them. ,,He continued and then turning toward me be shared the following:
"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate a11 that you possess
I wish you enough 'Hellos' to get you enough the final 'Good--byes'"
Then he walked away.
I WISH YOU ENOUGH ! | high19107.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She put on weight suddenly."
},
"options": [
"She had sleep problems.",
"She put on weight suddenly.",
"She always studied late.",
"She went on diet so as to keep in good shape."
],
"question": "What happened to... | Celia was shocked. She had always been in good shape during high school, but now, in her first year of college, she was suddenly ten pounds heavier. "My friends and I often had pizza or ice cream when we studied late at night," she said, "and I was always drinking Coke to stay awake."
Celia's experience is common. Many students enter college and find it so different that they cannot deal with changes properly. They're away from their parents and in a new stressful environment. Pressures together with freedom to sleep and eat however they please cause many students to experience the "Freshman 15": gaining weight suddenly in their freshman year of college.
Most students do not realize that the "Freshman 15" can cause some serious health problems. Of course, college-age adults are still developing bone mass, so gaining some weight is normal. Sudden weight gain, however, puts too much strain on the heart and lungs, resulting in little energy and some difficulty thinking and remembering. In later life, it can lead to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and possibly cancer.
The solution to the "Freshman 15" is simple--pay attention to developing good habits! In general:
* Eat normal-sized meals at regular times. Eat slowly and enjoy it, so you don't need to go back for more.
* Keep only healthy snacks in your room--and don't snack too often!
* Control drinking and smoking. Alcohol has a lot of calories, and smoking too much makes exercise difficult.
* Exercise regularly! Even just 30 minutes a day--such as walking quickly to class from your dorm--will make a big difference! | high20792.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She had had a love for painting since her childhood."
},
"options": [
"She had no other ways to kill time.",
"Her friend and family suggested it.",
"She had had a love for painting since her childhood.",
"She needed to ... | The artist Grandma Moses became famous for her simple, bright, cheerful paintings of American farm life.Her full name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses.But she was known to everyone as Grandma Moses because she did not begin to paint seriously until in her seventies.
Born on a farm in New York, Anna had little schooling.Her days were filled with farm chores.But she often found time to make pictures.Soon, however, she became too busy to draw or paint.At the age of 12, she went to work as a servant for a family nearby.She worked for other people for many years.Then, when she was 27, she married Thomas Moses, a farmer.And they began raising a family of their own.
Anna Moses could no longer do heavy farm work with age.Then, in her seventies, she began to paint in oils.Her pictures showed things she recalled from childhood-farm scenes, ice-skating, bringing home the Christmas tree.Later, she began to display her art at county fairs.Her pictures recorded a way of life that was quickly passing away.People everywhere loved these happy scenes, and soon her paintings were shown in art galleries.Grandma Moses became famous partially on account of her age, but mainly because her approach to art was modest and simple compared to many other painters of her time.Without formal training or even knowledge of Modernism, she relied on her own simple techniques to create her landscapes and scenes.She continued to paint almost until her death, on December 13, 1961 , at the age of 101.
The themes in her paintings provided the comfort of a rural life that many busy Americans treasured from their past.The threat of nuclear arms that appeared on television screens and in magazines had Americans starving for something more.Grandma Moses' art appealed to those who had lost hope for the future.Her classic paintings still appear on TV commercials, greeting cards, and magazine and book covers. | high5479.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "she wanted to show care to the writer"
},
"options": [
"she was tired of cafeteria food",
"she hated getting in line with kids",
"she didn't eat red meat on Friday",
"she wanted to show care to the writer"
],
"q... | Mrs. Amatuli was my teacher in the fourth grade. One day at lunch time,I was getting ready to eat my same old tuna fish sandwich and suddenly Mrs. Amatuli asked me if she could buy my sandwich from me. She explained that I could use the money to buy a hot lunch from the cafeteria.
I was thrilled. I never bought my lunch at the cafeteria. It was too expensive for my family,and I always carried my lunch and brought the bag back home to use again the next day. My sandwiches were either bologna or tuna fish. It rarely varied beyond that.
You can understand my delight when I had the opportunity to buy a hot lunch.
When we finished lunch that day. Mrs. Amatuli took me aside and said she wanted to explain why she had bought my sandwich. I really didn't care why, but it gave me a few minutes of her precious attention so I was very quiet as she explained. You see,she was Catholic and she told me that Catholics didn't eat red meat on Fridays--they ate fish on Fridays.
Oh,I couldn't wait to get home and tell my mama that from now on 1 wanted tuna fish on Fridays. After my mama understood why,she gladly fixed tuna fish for me on Fridays. She even fixed it on brown bread because she knew Mrs. Amatuli liked brown bread. From then on. every Friday I could get in line with the rest of the kids for a hot lunch. I didn't care how many of the kids complained about cafeteria food--it tasted _ to me!
I realize now that Mrs. Amatuli could have fixed herself a tuna sandwich of Friday. But she bought my sandwich because she saw a 1ittle girl who was thrilled over the simple act of having a hot lunch.
I will never forget her for her compassion and generosity and what I should do is to follow her example. | high2316.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "be 60 miles from side to side"
},
"options": [
"stand 60 miles in height",
"be 60 miles from side to side",
"cover 60 miles of the earth",
"be 60 miles above the earth"
],
"question": "The huge mirror would _ ... | Scientists would like to place a huge mirror in space above the earth. It might be sixty miles wide. It would be used to catch the rays of the sun. It would direct the sun's rays upon the earth as a child might do to make sunlight dance on the wall with a hand mirror.
Why do they want to do this? The sun's rays could be helpful in many ways. They could light up cities by night. The warm rays could stop frosts which might come at night and hurt fruit crops. They could melt dangerous icebergs in the ocean. Perhaps they could change cloud movements and bring rain where it is needed. | high3008.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Teachers work harder and get underpaid."
},
"options": [
"Teachers work harder and get underpaid.",
"Teachers have no opportunities to work in other fields.",
"Teaching can attract best students to work as a teacher.",
... | At present, in many American cities especially, many teachers in the public schools say they are underpaid. They point to jobs such as secretary or truck driver, which often pay more to start than
of a teacher. In many other fields, such as law, medicine, computer science, a beginning worker may make more than a teacher who has taught for several years.
Teaching has never been a profession that attracted people interested in high salaries. It is by history a profession that has provided rewards in addition to money--the satisfaction of sharing knowledge, of influencing others, of guiding young people. But in the past several years, there are more difficulties in teaching, for many, than there are rewards.
Unruly students, especially in big cities, large classes and a lack of support from the public in terms of money and understanding have led many public school teachers to leave the profession.
As a result, many of the best students, who would have chosen teaching as their life career in the past, are going into other fields.
Another reason for this change in teacher candidates is the changing status of women in the United States. Until the late 1960s and 1970s, one of the most popular choices for women was teaching. But as other professions, such as law and medicine opened up to women, women stopped pouring into teacher training programs. Thus, a major pool of excellent candidates for the teaching profession dwindled.
Bit by bit government officials and others realized that the status of the teacher had suffered. They talked about change. But the change in a vast society like the United States is not easy. People's attitudes have formed over many years, and sometimes change takes many years. | high16220.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "has light of its own"
},
"options": [
"moves round our sun",
"has light of its own",
"can also be called a world",
"both B and C"
],
"question": "A star is a large body in the universe.it _ .",
"question_t... | Our sun is a star, and nine worlds move round it. Worlds like these are planets .
But there are other stars, other suns. Not only thousands of them, but millions of them. Do different stars have planets? We can see the planets round our own sun. But we haven't seen any more. The stars are too far away from us. Stars give out light, but the planets don't have any light of their own. So we can't see them. They're too far, and too dark.
Still, we can tell that some stars have planets. While a big planet goes round, it pulls its star to one side. And sometimes we can see this, Then we know that the star has a planet.
For example, Barnard's Star is a small red star. And it is the quickest star in the universe. But sometimes it moves slower, and then quicker again. We have know Barnard's Star for many years, and now we are sure it has a planet. | high10889.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "We should use our cell phones wisely."
},
"options": [
"We should use our cell phones wisely.",
"We should use hand-free cell phones rather than hand-held ones.",
"We should turn our cell phones off while driving.",
"We... | A cell phone in a vehicle can be a life-saving communication tool in case of emergency. However, actually using a cell phone while driving can be life-threatening.
Studies have shown that new drivers are especially prone to have an accident when they use a cell phone while driving. The reason for this is that new drivers have less experience in concentrating on driving during distractions . Also, several studies done on teen drivers found that many teens often send text messages while driving. Since text messaging involves both the hands and the eyes, this is thought to be more distracting and dangerous than when drivers use a cell phone only for speaking and listening while driving.
All drivers who use a cell phone while driving are reported to be at least four times more likely to have an accident than drivers who don't use a cell phone while driving. Such studies have inspired many countries, including the United States, to have at least some bans on hand-held cell phone use while driving. However, many people feel that these restrictions are far from enough.
Hand-free cell phones were still found in many studies to distract the drivers' attention even though the drivers had both hands on the wheel . In some studies, drivers themselves admitted that they sometimes become distracted when they use any type of the cell phones while driving.
Some studies have shown that using a cell phone while driving is actually just as dangerous as driving drunk! Both cases can impair the drivers' concentration as well as their reaction time to other vehicles or problems on the road. If a cell phone is used in crawling traffic such as a traffic jam, it is not as likely to cause danger as when a driver uses a cell phone at even moderate speeds on twisting and turning roads. | high19113.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Free radicals."
},
"options": [
"Cell change.",
"Blood sugar.",
"Free radicals.",
"Antioxidants."
],
"question": "Which of the following can cause DNA change and even cell death?",
"question_type": null
},... | Drinking green tea is known to be good for you. Some people suggest drinking 2-3 cups of it a day, and I would say at least one is highly advisable.
As many people have already known, tea is filled with powerful antioxidants that will help stop free radicals . Free radicals are harmful to our systems in that they can lead to cell and DNA change, even cell death, and can lead to cancer.
Green tea has been drunk throughout Thailand, China, India and Japan for centuries. It is known in these places that green tea can help improve digestion and mental clearness and lower one's blood sugar. It can also help control bleeding, so that injuries can be cured more quickly.
Some studies even suggest that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help a person lose weight. Green tea can help a person feel fuller throughout the day with its pleasant smell and taste, and just taking the time to smell it can help ease one's hunger.
In short, both studies of green tea and its history show that it is a great thing to drink for your health. | high22185.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Dr Syed was the wrong blood group."
},
"options": [
"No one can treat his mother well.",
"Dr Syed was the wrong blood group.",
"They didn't have money to be in hospital.",
"Mrs. Syed was unwilling to receive the operati... | Dr Asim Syed, 32, has performed more than 100 operations at London's Hammersmith Hospital in the country's busiest transplant unit, but never imagined that he would one day become a donor himself.
He stepped forward when was told his 64-year-old mother might be dead within months unless she got a new kidney . The worried surgeon brought her to London to be cared for at his hospital. However, it was not all plain sailing. Tests showed Dr Syed was the wrong blood group, so the only way was to go through a special blood-washing process. He consulted colleagues about that, but they didn't agree, because the risk of rejection is still too high. Dr Syed and his mother were then advised to consider a new way of donating and receiving, called an organ-paired. That is, Dr Syed donated his kidney to an unknown person and another donor in the chain was a successful match for his mother. The chain of three transplants took place at the same time on July 31 with Dr Syed's kidney going to a recipient in the Midlands and Mrs. Syed receiving her kidney from a person in the south of England.
Just hours after donating his own kidney, Dr Syed found himself recovering in bed next to his mother. Mrs Syed said, "When I came round from my operation Asim was in the next bed and the first thing he said was, 'Mum now all your worries are over.' Tears fell down."
Now mother and son are recovering well with Dr Syed already back at work. Mrs. Syed is staying with him for several months while the hospital monitors her progress.
He said, "I did what anyone would do when they see a relative suffering disease. Although I wasn't able to help mum directly, by agreeing to be part of a chain, I was also very happy." | high15729.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "generosity"
},
"options": [
"determination",
"efforts",
"judgment",
"generosity"
],
"question": "Richard Branson's success lies in his _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Richard Branson, an English business magnate, has had great, global success. He is best known as the founder of Virgin Group, which consists of more than 400 companies.
So what, I asked, is his most important secret to success? His answer was simple: look for the best in other people.
Throughout his life he's never thought ill of other people. He looks for the best and praises them. Branson at times seems almost not human. He's too good at what he does. No, great. Nearly perfect. When he starts something, he is very likely to succeed. He has fallen out with others though, like anyone else. He is human. He told me:"Life is short and the world is much smaller than one realizes. You are going to come across people time and time again in the most surprising places ... As a leader it's even more important to be out there praising and encouraging people. If you do fall out with somebody in life, even if you think it was their mistake, give them a call. Befriend them. Go out to lunch with them."
The greatest leaders in the world have taught forgiveness. Perhaps the most extreme example is Nelson Mandela who invited his former prison guard to his inauguration and even had lunch with a man who in the past wanted him to be sentenced to death.
Life is too short. We are humans and sometimes we make mistakes and anger people. What defines us is not those who are able to avoid confrontation , but those who are able to deal with it. The human body is able to self-heal when we are cut. In that same manner, we must heal our past relationships.
Branson wins respect from those around him. A natural-born leader, he is always deep in thought and hungry for more; always one step ahead. And it was Richard Branson who taught me about forgiveness. | high13358.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It is something people have always done."
},
"options": [
"It is something people have always done.",
"It can show the object has a range of functions.",
"It always improves the appearance of an object.",
"It is usually... | Art is everywhere in our lives.Every manmade object is linked with art--a house,a motor car,a bridge,a chair,a teapot,or a piece of cloth.Throughout history,humans have made articles for a wide variety of purposes;generally for everyday practical requirements.The style of practical objects reflects the outlook and the spirit of the times in which they are made and in consequence style is constantly changing.
It seems that humans possess a natural urge to improve constructed objects with decoration:sometimes for beautification,sometimes for religious reasons,sometimes to show off their wealth and power,and sometimes to tell a story.Decoration is not art in itself.Unnecessary decoration can ruin the form and perhaps the function of an object,but when decoration is used with care,it can beautify,produce variety,and add interest.
The first essential in every creation is that it should properly _ its purpose;for instance,a teapot should pour perfectly,an easy chair should provide comfortable relaxation,a block of flats should be a pleasant place in which to live,and a factory or commercial building should be a suitable building in which to work.
The second essential is that an object should please the eye with its form,line,proportion ,colour and texture ,and it should be capable of inspiring the emotions.For example,contemporary furniture designers must think of form,function and structure,and have taken their lead from the outstanding Scandinavian designs of Denmark,Finland and Sweden,whose preference was for simple functional furniture to suit the architectural environment of the day.Heavy furniture is no longer desirable,and by contrast,modern furniture is often characterised by its good proportion,pleasing lines,simple fittings and attractive structures.
Motor vehicles are a perfect example of how design has changed to suit function.Early car design was greatly influenced by the horsedrawn carriage,but today we find functional design satisfying every requirement of practical use and good appearance.Designs in the 1980s and 1990s included streamlining to reduce wind resistance in fastmoving vehicles,and,at the same time,satisfy an important art principle--rhythm.But the cars of today,often half size of their predecessors ,have taken the concept of industrial design way beyond simple strength,comfort and beauty.They now include safety and ecological characteristics,reflecting the need to be environmentally friendly through,for example,reduced fuel consumption,while at the same time satisfying the need to be stylish,and appealing to the eye.For many people,the 21stcentury car represents the greatest work of art. | high6170.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "presenting us with different opinions about having an only child"
},
"options": [
"illustrating the strength and weakness of having an only child",
"analyzing the reasons why having an only child becomes popular",
"presenting... | According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the U.K. has about 7.7 million families with dependent children, of which 3.7 million have just one child, compared to 3 million with two and 1.1 million with three children or more. The number of families today with just one dependent child is now 47 percent and will likely rise to more than 50 percent in a decade. As the ONS confirms, "It appears that families are getting smaller."
One obvious reason for this could be that women are putting off having children until they have established careers when they are bound to be less fertile. But it could just as well be a matter of choice. Parents must consider the rising cost of living, combined with economic uncertainty and an increasingly difficult job market. And this trend may continue growing as having an only child becomes more normal, which seems to be the mood on the mothers' online forum Mumsnet, where one member announced that she "just wanted to start a positive thread about how fab it is to have an only child".
She had received 231 replies, overwhelmingly in the same upbeat spirit. Parents of only children insist there are plenty of benefits. Nicola Kelly, a writer and lecturer who grew up as an only child and is now a married mother of one, says her 15-year-old son seems more grown-up in many ways than his contemporaries.
_ In a moving recent account journalist Janice Turner wrote about her own keenness to "squeeze out two sons just 22 months apart" as a reaction to her only-child upbringing.
She was placed on a pedestal by her doting parents, whom she punished with a "brattish, wilful" rejection of everything they stood for. Desperate for a close friend she was repeatedly shattered by rejection and refers to her childhood as being "misery".
Writer and clinician Dr. Dorothy Rowe, a member of the British Psychological Society, says that we all interpret events in our own individual way and there are some children who no matter what their circumstances feel slighted, while other children see the advantages of their situation.
However, the one part of life that is unlikely to get any easier for only children is when they grow up and find themselves looking after their own parents as they become older. | high9243.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "causes unpleasant experiences"
},
"options": [
"breaks up relationships",
"embarrasses the listener",
"spreads information around",
"causes unpleasant experiences"
],
"question": "An important negative effect of... | "Did you hear what happened to Adam last Friday?" Lindsey whispers to Tori.
With her eyes shining, Tori brags, "You bet I did. Sean told me two days ago."
What are Lindsey and Tori talking about? It just happens to be yours truly, Adam Freedman. I can tell you that what they are saying is (a) not nice and (b) not even true. Still, Lindsey and Tori aren't very different from most students here at Linton High School, including me. Many of our conversations are gossip . I have noticed three effects of gossip: it can hurt people, it can give gossipers a strange kind of satisfaction, and it can cause social pressures in a group.
An important negative effect of gossip is that it can hurt the person being talked about. Usually, gossip spreads information about a topic--breakups, troubles at home, even dropping out--that a person would rather keep secret. The more embarrassing or shameful the secret is, the juicer the gossip it makes. Probably the worst type of gossip is the absolute lie. People often think of gossipers as harmless, bur cruel lies can cause pain.
If we know that gossip can be harmful, then why do so many of us do it? The answer lies in another effect of gossip: the satisfaction it gives us. Sharing the latest rumor can make a person feel important because he or she knows something that others don't. Similarly, hearing the latest rumor can make a person feel like part of the "in group". In other words, gossip is satisfying because it gives people a sense of belonging or even superiority .
Gossip can also have a third effect: it strengthens unwritten, unspoken rules about how people should act. Professor David Wilson explains that gossip is important in policing behaviors in a group. Translated into high school terms, this means that if everybody you hang around with is laughing at what John wore or what Jane said, then you can bet that wearing or saying something similar will get you the same kind of negative attention. The do's and don'ts conveyed through gossip will never show up in any student handbook.
The effects of gossip vary depending on the situation. The next time you feel the urge to spread the latest news, think about why you want to gossip and what effects your "juicy story" might have. | high14437.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To develop Australia's tourism."
},
"options": [
"To spread Australia's culture.",
"To develop Australia's tourism.",
"To introduce The Oprah Winfrey Show to the country.",
"To improve the relations between the two coun... | US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey surprised 300 members of her audience by saying she would send them on a trip to Australia in December.Winfrey will also film an episode of her show at the Sydney "Oprah" House.
The Australian government said it was spending AUS$ 3 million to help bring The Oprah Winfrey Show to the country.
Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson insisted it was money well spent as it would put Australia in the spotlight,with the popular TV show watched by 40 million Americans and screened in 145 countries."Oprah is a famous name and she has the power to improve Australia's image as an important tourist country," he said in a statement.
Winfrey made the announcement on Monday.After telling the audience that she might take them on a trip to New York,Philadelphia or Los Angeles,she said her last season would provide something "bigger".
"I started to think about where I would most want to go.Maybe I should take all of you with me to the other side of the world.We're going to Australia!"she said.
Several episodes will be filmed during the trip,which had been planned for almost a year and will take in beaches,Sydney Harbour and so on.It marks the first time that the show will be filmed with its US audience outside North America.The Australian trip follows a similar act in 2004 when Winfrey gave a car to each member of her audience.
Winfrey is to start her own television channel ,the Oprah Winfrey Network,in 2011,at the age of her 57. | high1179.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "fall."
},
"options": [
"summer",
"spring",
"winter",
"fall."
],
"question": "From this passage we know it is _ when they had their bike trip.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Although it was autumn, the snow was already beginning to fall in Tibet. Our legs were so heavy and cold that they felt like blocks of ice. Have you ever seen snowmen ride bicycles? That's what we looked like! Along the way children dressed in long wool coats stopped to look at us. In the late afternoon we found it was so cold that our water bottles froze. However, the lakes shone like glass in the setting sun and looked wonderful. Wang Wei rode in front of me as usual. She is very reliable and I knew I didn't need to encourage her. To climb the mountains was hard work but as we looked around us, we were surprised by the view. We seemed to be able to see for miles. At one point we were so high that we found ourselves cycling through clouds. Then we began going down the hills. It was great fun especially as it gradually became much warmer. In the valleys colorful butterflies flew around us and we saw many yaks and sheep eating green grass. At this point we had to change our caps, coats, gloves and trousers for T-shirts and shorts. | high12720.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Isla Chiloe"
},
"options": [
"Concepcion",
"Isla Chiloe",
"Valdivia",
"Valparaiso"
],
"question": "Where did the largest tsunami damage occurred?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer":... | The largest earthquake ( magnitude 9.5) of the 20th century happened on May 22, 1960 off the coast of South Central Chile.
It generated one of the most destructive Pacific-wide tsunamis . Near the generating area, both the earthquake and the tsunami were very much destructive, particularly in the coastal area from Concepcion to the south end of Isla Chiloe. The largest tsunami damage occurred at Isla Chiloe---the coastal area closest to the epicenter . Huge tsunami waves measuring as high as 25 meters arrived within 10 to 15 minutes after the earthquake, killing at least two hundred people, sinking all the boats, and flooding half a kilometer inland.
There was large damage and loss of life at Concepcion, Chile's top industrial city. Near the city of Valdivia, the earthquake and following aftershocks generated landslides which killed 18 people. At the port city of Valparaiso, a city of 200,000, many buildings collapsed. A total of 130,000 houses were destroyed --- one in every three in the earthquake zone and nearly 2,000,000 people were left homeless.
Total damage losses, including to agriculture and to industry, were estimated to be over a half billion dollars . The total number of death related with both the tsunami and the earthquake was never found accurately for the region. Estimates of deaths reached between 490 to 5,7002 with no distinction as to how many deaths were caused by the earthquake and how many were caused by the tsunami. However, it is believed that most of the deaths in Chile were caused by the tsunami. | high7508.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Sceptical."
},
"options": [
"Neutral.",
"Sceptical.",
"Objective.",
"Supportive."
],
"question": "What is Abigail Allwood's attitude towards the newly found fossil?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answ... | Old Fossils
Scientists have found what they think is probably the oldest fossil on Earth, a remnant of life from 3.7 billion years ago when Earth's skies were orange and its oceans green.
In a newly melted part of Greenland, Australian scientists found the leftover structure from a community of microbes that lived on an ancient seafloor. Based on their analysis of the fossils, the researchers determined that they are 220 million years older than those discovered in Western Australia, which were 3.48 billion years old.
The discovery shows life may have formed quicker and more easily than once thought, about half a billion years after Earth formed. And that may also give hope for life forming elsewhere, such as Mars, said study co-author Martin VanKranendonk of the University of New South Wales and director of the Australian Center for Astrobiology. "It gives us an idea how our planet evolved and how life gained a foothold," VanKranendonk said.
Scientists had thought it would take at least half a billion years for life to form after the molten Earth started to cool a bit, but this shows it could have happened quicker, he said. That's because the newly found fossil is far too complex to have developed soon after the planet's first life forms, he said.
In an outcrop of rocks that used to be covered with ice and snow which melted after an exceptionally warm spring, the Australian team found stromatolites , which are layered structures that are often produced by a community of microbes. The stromatolites were about 1 to 4 centimeters high.
"It is like the house left behind made by the microbes," VanKranendonk said. "Scientists used the layers of ash from volcanoes and tiny zircon with uranium and estimated that they date back to 3.7 billion years ago."
The dating seems about right, said Abigail Allwood, a NASA astrobiologist who found the previous oldest fossil, from 3.48 billion years ago, in Australia. But Allwood said she is not completely convinced that what VanKranendonk's team found once was alive. She said the evidence wasn't conclusive enough that it was life and not a geologic quirk .
"It would be nice to have more evidence, but in these rocks that's a lot to ask," Allwood said in an email. | high19675.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A person often overestimates his ability"
},
"options": [
"A person likes to tell others his achievements",
"A person goes fishing every day instead of going to work",
"A person often overestimates his ability",
"A pers... | Psychological noise refers to forces within a communicator that interfere with the ability to express or understand a message exactly. For instance, an outdoor person might overstate the size and number of the fish he caught in order to convince himself and others of his talents. In the same way, a student might become so upset upon learning that she failed a test that she would be unable ( Perhaps " unwilling" is a better word) to understand clearly where she went wrong. Indeed, psychological noise is a very important communication problem.
But the linear model, despite its advantages, suggests that communication flows in one direction, from sender to receiver. Although some types of messages ( printed and broadcast messages, for example) do flow in a one-way, linear manner, most types of communication, especially the interpersonal variety are two-way exchanges. To put it differently, the linear view ignores the fact that receivers react to massages by sending other messages of their own.
Consider, for example, the meaning of a friend's yawn as you describe your romantic problems. Or imagine the hot face you may see as you tell one of your dirty jokes to a new friend. Nonverbal behaviors like these show that most face-to-face communication is a two-way affair. The discernible response of a receiver to sender's massage is called feedback. Not all feedback is nonverbal, of course. Sometimes it is oral, as when you ask an instructor questions about an upcoming test or volunteer your opinion of a friend's new haircut. In other cases it is written, as when you answer the questions on a midterm exam or respond to a letter from a faraway friend. | high17880.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "optimistic"
},
"options": [
"bored",
"optimistic",
"pessimistic",
"crazy"
],
"question": "In the author's opinion, the woman in this passage is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answe... | A young woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live. So as she was getting her things "in order", she asked her pastor to come to her house to discuss her final wishes. With everything in order, the pastor was ready to leave when the young woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
"What's that?" asked the pastor.
"I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."
The pastor stood looking at the young woman, not knowing what to say.
"That surprises you, doesn't it?" the young woman asked.
"Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the pastor.
The young woman explained, "In all my years of going to church meetings and dinners, I remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would always lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming, like chocolate cake or apple pie,some dessert like that. Something wonderful! I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork so that when they ask you why I have a fork, you can tell them: 'Keep your fork--the best is yet to come.'"
The pastor hugged the young woman good-bye. He knew that the young woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She had a better grasp of what heaven would be like than many people twice her age, with twice as much experience and knowledge.
At the funeral people were walking by the young woman's casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the pastor heard the question "Why does she have a fork?" And over and over again he smiled.
So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it reminded you of this young woman gently. Send the message to everyone you consider a friend even if it means sending it back to the person who sent it to you.
And, keep your fork!! | high11229.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "after he returned from Vietnam War"
},
"options": [
"when they settled down in Miami.",
"before they left their home country",
"after he returned from Vietnam War",
"as soon as she finished high school"
],
"ques... | Singing had always been an important part of Gloria Estefan's life. "Since I was three years old, I sang. I sang everything," Gloria said. "Cubans," she added, "are a musical people".
Gloria was born in Cuba in 1957. Her family left the country just before Fidel Castro came to power. In Miami, where the family settled, many people did not accept Cuban immigrants. In first grade, she spoke little English, but she worked hard to learn the language. Six months after she entered school, she won an award for reading in English!
When Gloria was ten, her father returned from the Vietnam War. Soon, the family realized he wasn't well. They soon found out that he was badly ill. Her mother went back to teaching at school to support the family. Gloria cared for her father and her younger sister.
She still made the honor roll, and she still had her music, but Gloria was lonely. However, when the band leader Emilio Estefan came to speak at her high school, Gloria sang for him. He asked her to join his band. It was the beginning of the Miami Sound Machine.
Within a few months, the Miami Sound Machine was the top band in Miami. In 1978 Gloria and Emilio married.
At first, the Miami Sound Machine was known only in Miami. Then the band signed with CBS Records. Estefan and his band became stars.
Since then, the Miami Sound Machine has sold millions of records. Gloria has done more than just singing when Hurricane Andrew hit central Florida in 1992. She used only two weeks to organize an all-star concert that raised $2 million for the people who suffered in the hurricane. "We needed a party after that _ ," she said.
Gloria said, "You have to stay true to the music you really love to do. There will always be people who will tell you, 'that won't work.' You've got to be firm in spite of difficulties. Stick to it--that's the main thing." | high2470.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Climate and resources."
},
"options": [
"Resources and oceans.",
"Climate and rivers.",
"Climate and resources.",
"Warm conditions and rainfall."
],
"question": "What are the main factors that influence the dist... | You may have noticed that the world's population is not evenly distributed around our planet. There are some countries where people seem to be living nearly _ each other because conditions are overcrowded. Then there are others where it seems that hardly anybody lives. What influences this unequal distribution of people? There are specific advantages and disadvantages of *diving in a certain area.
The two main factors that influence people`s choice of location are climate and resources. Climate is the usual weather conditions in a region. Areas that have bad weather are generally less deal as places to live in. The north and south poles at the top and bottom of the world may be beautiful in their rugged, natural way, but the disadvantage of the bitterly cold and windy conditions usually keeps people away. When it comes to climate, warm conditions and a normal amount of rainfall are advantages that attract people.
Natural resources are things that we get from nature that help us survive. Each region offers different resources, and therefore attracts different groups of people. People who enjoy the beach can make their living by catching and selling the ocean's many fish and other sea creatures. Those who prefer farming can take advantage of rich soil in valleys near rivers. Some people are willing to accept the disadvantages of the terrible conditions of deserts or mountains in order to take advantage of the resources like oil or woods. | high10137.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Bronte Beach--Bondi Beach--Palm Beach--Sydney Beach"
},
"options": [
"Palm Beach--Sydney Beach--Bronte Beach--Bondi Beach",
"Bronte Beach--Bondi Beach--Palm Beach--Sydney Beach",
"Sydney Beach--Palm Beach--Bondi Beach--Bronte... | Whether you're up for a Crocodile Dundee's adventure or you'd just like a taste of the Australian sun, the beaches in and around Sydney can offer you all that and more.
Sydney Beach
Sydney Beach is located at Sydney's northernmost tip on an extension of land ending at Palm Beach. Before checking out the golden sand, take a quick tour of the houses of millionaires from the art and film industries.
Palm Beach
Only about an hour from downtown Sydney, Palm Beach offers a long stretch of clean sand and water. With parking near the center of the beach, that leaves the rest of it as a peaceful location with a _ population, from which you can go surfing but take care -- without the huge crowds of other Sydney's beaches, Palm Beach doesn't afford quite the safety level to be found elsewhere. Volunteer lifesavers are on duty only on weekends and holidays.
Bondi Beach
For the famous beach, Bondi Beach has to be your choice. Parking is difficult to find even on slow days, so consider taking public transport to this world--known beach in the eastern Sydney suburbs. Easily reachable by taxi, bus, and rail, Bondi Beach offers sun bathing, swimming, snorkeling, and all sorts of water sports fun. If you're in the mood for a bit of exercise, two scenic coastal walks will afford you great views and sights along the shore. Take in views from Mackenzie's Point. It starts at Bondi and heads south to Bronte Beach. But don't try to swim in Mackenzie's Bay -- it holds dangers such as hidden rocks.
Bronte Beach
Your second choice for a scenic coastal walk covers a few miles and takes you from Bronte Beach to Waverly Cemetery, where many famous Australians are buried, including the poet Henry Lawson. | high14379.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Britain's rich history."
},
"options": [
"Britain's city views.",
"Britain's rich history.",
"Britain's film and music stars.",
"Britain's advanced technology."
],
"question": "What did the opening ceremonies ma... | After seven years of preparation, England _ the 2012Summer Olympic Games on Friday. NBC estimates that 4 billion viewers tuned in from around the world to watch teh opening ceremonies in London England.
Oscar-winning flimmaker Danny Boyle directed the opening ceremonies. The show cost $42 million and required 15,000 volunteers.
An Exciting Opening
Boyle's ceremonies took audiences through a history of England. The performmance began in the English countryside, continued with the building of factories and cities and ended up in the modern age, with performers texting and using cellphones.
Next, the athletes, coaches and officials from the 205 nations competing made their way into the stadium during the Parade of Nations. The ceremonies ended with the lighting of the Olympic flame and Paul McCartney, former member of the famous rock band The Bealtes, singing the song "Hey Jude".
Super Surprises
The opening weekend of competition took some unexpected turns. American swimmer Ryan Lochte surprised the world when he beat teammate Michael Phelps to win a gold medal in teh 400-meter individual medley . It was the first time Phelps did not win a medal in an Olympic race since 2000, when Phelps was 15. " I had a chance to put myself in a good spot, and I didn't do it," Phelps said after the race. "It's pretty upsetting, but the biggest thing now is to try to get back and move forward."
Even more surprising was China's 16-year-old Ye Shiwen"s unbelievable performance in the women's 400-metre individual medley. Ye set the first swimming world record this year, even swimming faster than men's gold medalist. Lochte, during the final 50meters of the race!
Though many expected to see American gymnast Jordyn Wieber take home gold in the women's all gymnastics final, Wieber did not qualify for the event. Only two gymnasts from each country can qualify, and Wieber was beaten by teammates Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman.
With the Games just getting under way, there are likely many more surprises. What else will surprise fans around the world? You'll have to watch to find out! | high22813.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "People who regularly eat fish never suffer from heart disease."
},
"options": [
"The Dutch research has proved that eating fish can help to prevent heart disease.",
"People who regularly eat fish never suffer from heart disease.",
... | A small piece of fish each day may keep the heart doctor away. That's the finding of a study of Dutch men in which deaths from heart disease were more than 50 percent lower among those who consumed at least an ounce of salt water fish per day compared to those who never ate fish.
The Dutch research is one of three human studies that give strong scientific support to the long held belief that eating fish can provide health benefits, particularly to the heart.
Heart disease is the number-one killer in the United States, with more than 550,000deaths occurring from heart attacks each year. But previous research has shown that the level of heart disease is lower in cultures that consume more fish than Americans do. There are fewer heart disease deaths, for example, among the Eskimos of Greenland, who consume about 14 ounces of fish a day, and among the Japanese, whose daily fish consumption averages more than 3 ounces.
For 20 years, the Dutch study followed 852 middle-aged men, 20 percent of whom ate no fish.
At the start of the study, average fish consumption was about two-thirds of an ounce each day, with more men eating lean fish than fatty fish.
During the next two decades, 78of the men died from heart disease , The fewest deaths were among the group who regularly ate fish, even at levels far lower than those of the Japanese of Eskimos, This _ was true regardless of other factors such as age, high blood pressure, or blood cholesterol levels. | high1151.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the popularity of tea is growing constantly in the US"
},
"options": [
"coffee is of much higher production than tea",
"tea and coffee are from harvested leaves of plants",
"the popularity of tea is growing constantly in the ... | Tea vs Coffee
Tea and coffee are two of the most widely consumed drinks in the United States. With popularity and interest in tea continuing to grow in recent years, many consumers have recently considered
making the switch from coffee to tea, if they have not done so already. All the buzz surrounding tea
and coffee may have you wondering, what are the differences? As it turns out, the differences are
many and varied.
In the US, interest in tea ranges from coast to coast with the highest in Hawaii and California
but stretching to the eastern states of Vermont and New York. On the other hand, the highest interest
in coffee tends to be concentrated more in the north and western regions , with the highest
search volumes appearing in the states of Hawaii, Washington and Minnesota.
Differences between tea and coffee also vary in origin and production. All tea comes from the
harvested leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, while there are about 60 different species of coffee
plants. Production of tea is quicker and more efficient: Camellia sinensis plants only need to grow
for three years before they are ready to process; coffee plants take up to five years.
Perhaps the most concerning issue consumers have when considering making the switch to tea
is the question of caffeine. The good news is, when it comes to tea and caffeine, there is something
for everyone. Unlike coffee, which typically only comes in decaffeinated and regular, there are
several varieties of tea available, based on caffeine preference.
From herbal teas that are naturally free of caffeine, to high quality green and black teas that
offer less than half the caffeine of coffee, to high caffeine teas such as our specially formulated
HiCAF(r) blends that contain slightly more caffeine than a cup of coffee, there is a variety sure to
suit your needs. As an added bonus, the lower acidity levels in tea tend to be gentler on the stomach
for a more comforting pick-me-up.
So what is the answer, coffee or tea? If you are looking for the most healthful benefit possible,
tea is probably the winner. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If, like many Americans,
the rising popularity in tea has your interest piqued, the images below will help to clearly spell out
the differences between tea and coffee. | high13416.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "UK; Roman"
},
"options": [
"England; Norman",
"UK; Frenchman",
"Scotland; English",
"UK; Roman"
],
"question": "London is the capital of _ , which began as a _ settlement.",
"question_type": "cloze_qu... | London is the capital of the United Kingdom. It has about seven million people. The river Thames runs through London.
People from all over the world visit London to see Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. There are many museums, theatres and parks in London, as well as offices and factories. London began as a Roman settlement called Londinium. The plague came to London in the 1600s, followed by the Great Fire of 1666. The city was badly bombed in World War II.
London is very slowly sinking into its foundations and the level of the river Thames is slowly rising. As a result, extra-high tides could flood a large part of London. To prevent this happening, a great barrier has been built across the Thames at Woolwich. If very high tides happen, the barrier can be raised and London will be safe. | high15067.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Caves on Mars may be full of hot air or a sign of life."
},
"options": [
"How the caves were formed on Mars.",
"How scientists found these caves on Mars.",
"Caves on Mars may be full of hot air or a sign of life.",
"Sci... | Scientists have found what look like caves on Mars , and say they could be protecting life from the planet's terrible environment.
The first caves discovered beyond the Earth appear as seven mysterious black dots on the pictures sent back by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Each as large as a football field, they may be openings into natural caves below the Martian surface.
"If there is life on Mars, there is a good chance you'd find it in caves," said Jut Wynne, one of the researchers who noticed the features while working on a US Geological Survey Mars Cave Detection Program.
Jonathan Clarke, a geologist with the Mars Society of Australia, yesterday described the discovery as exciting.
One photo taken at night by an infrared imager showed one hole to be unusually warm, suggesting hot air trapped during the day is flowing out.
"I said: 'Wow, that's a cave'" Dr. Clarke said excitedly. "People have been looking for these for a long time; now we have found them."
He agreed such caves would be perfect places to hunt for life escaping from the bitterly cold, radiation-soaked , dry surface.
"Tiny drops of water could collect inside," he said. "If there are gases coming out, they could provide energy for a whole range of bacteria. A cave is also a protection from radiation; the surface of Mars is exposed to high levels of space radiation."
The caves probably formed when tube-shaped lave flows spread across the planet long ago. The outside of the tubes cooled, forming solid walls, while something hotter inside allowed the remaining have to flow out, forming caves. | high7520.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Hong Kong Disneyland can't meet the need of the large population."
},
"options": [
"Hong Kong Disneyland can't meet the need of the large population.",
"Hong Kong Disneyland is too small and very crowded.",
"Hong Kong Disney ... | HONG KONG -- Hong Kong Disneyland is too crowded, a senior Chinese tourism official said today, hinting that another Disney Park is necessary to accommodate demand from China's huge population.
The comments by Shao Qiwei, director of China's State Administration of Tourism, came a day after Shanghai's mayor Han Zheng said the city was preparing to build China's second Disney theme park.
"China has a very large population. We now have 1.3 billion people. The market is very large. As far as I know, Hong Kong Disneyland is now very crowded," said Shao, whose comments were broadcast on Hong Kong's Cable TV.
The Hong Kong theme park, which opened in September, was widely criticized in January when it turned away hundreds of Lunar New Year holiday makers from mainland China because the park was full. Chaos erupted when angry crowds tried to force their way into the park.
The embarrassing incident prompted a public apology from Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Bill Ernest and a dressing down from Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang. Authorities are carefully studying the issue of overcrowding in preparation for the possible building of the Disney park in Shanghai, Shao said.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday that no agreement has been reached on the park in Shanghai, quoting senior vice president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Leslie Goodman. Hong Kong Disneyland is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Co. and the local government, which shouldered the bulk of the park's construction fees. | high4029.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "get men to take on some housework"
},
"options": [
"get men to take on some housework",
"get men to serve their families",
"praise men' housework",
"make men do all the housework"
],
"question": "The passage is ... | How do you get a man to do his share of the housework? If you are like most women, you've faced this question the hard way.
A man will enjoy a clean, orderly house, but he usually won't make the effort to clean or organise it. This doesn't mean that a woman has to do all the housework:; she may have to manage many of the household duties, and request her partner's participation . A woman can often say that men and women should take equal responsibility for housework.
Very few men are raised to be fully responsible for housework, and many men look on housework as women's work. On the other hand, most men will readily work around the yard, make repairs and complete projects on weekends or evenings, and it's important that you give your man appreciation for those things, too. Most men will take on a little additional housework around the house if asked politely. They are even more likely to do housework if they can choose what they want to do, and do it without being monitored.
Here's the key: men want to feel that they are doing housework either because they want to do a task, or because they simply want to please their women. Men are much less likely to take on household tasks they consider uninteresting and unimportant. In other words, men are likely to do a household task just for the good of the house. | high11201.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "how the Queen keeps her diet during her tours"
},
"options": [
"the Queen's favorite food",
"the Queen's tours abroad",
"how the Queen keeps her diet during her tours",
"the Queen's trouble with a foreign leader"
],... | Several times each year the Queen gives afternoon tea parties at which guests are served tiny cakes filled with cream from her own cows. Cakes and sandwiches are brought in by footmen, yet you never see the Queen touch a thing. She simply sits beside a big silver plate, pouring cups of tea for everyone and carefully avoiding the cakes.
At cocktail parties the Queen moves from group to group, chatting informally, and manages to make one glass of diet drink to last an entire evening.
Tours abroad are difficult because hosts seem to believe the warmth of their welcome must be shown with wonderful state banquets . But the Queen has perfected the art of appearing to enjoy her meal without actually eating much.
During one visit to the Pacific islands ofprefix = st1 /Tonga, a specially-prepared dinner was arranged in a hut made of wood and bamboo leaves. Deep holes were dug in the ground, filled with hot stones and baby pigs, and the pigs were slowly baked over several days. The Queen looked uneasily at her plate when she discovered a whole roast pig was her serving.
Then she became uneasy when a turkey, some meat, bananas and an apple were also carried in for each guest. So she depended on her old favorite trick of talking with her host., King Tupou IV, carrying on a warm conversation. At the same time she pushed her food around her plate and only ate a piece of turkey and some fruit.
Reporters traveling with her have noted that the Queen will sometimes seem so carried away by a foreign leader's political chat that she simply never has time to finish a meal before it is time to get up and make her speech. She will lift her fork to swallow a mouthful, then put it down again to make another point, leaving almost all of her meal untouched. | high19885.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "sign a treaty"
},
"options": [
"sign a treaty",
"have a talk with Britain",
"seek support from France",
"experiment with hot-air balloons"
],
"question": "Ben Franklin went to Paris in November of 1783 to----.",... | In the 1700s, a scientist was someone who thought about the way things work and tried to find out ways to make things work better. Today. that definition is still true. Every time Ben Franklin saw a question and tried to answer it. he was a scientist. Ben is most famous for his questions about electricity, hut he also experimented with many other ideas in nature.
In 1743. Ben observed that northeast storms begin in the southwest. He thought it was strange that storms travel in an opposite direction to their winds. He predicted that a storm's course could be charted . Ben rode a horse through a storm and chased a whirlwind three-quarters of a mile in order to learn more about storms. So, in a way, Ben was a weatherman too!
Since Ben spent so much time sailing go Europe across the Atlantic Ocean, he became very interested in both ocean currents and shipbuilding .Ben was actually one of the first people to chart the Gulf Stream.
In November of 1783. Ben happened to be in Paris, France, working on a peace tre"0' to end the American war against England. From his hotel window. he was able to watch the world's first known hot-air balloon flight. The balloon lifted the Montgolfier brothers off the ground as the first human beings ever known to fly. Ben ,vas very interested in the idea of flight, predicting that one day balloons would be used for milita0 ( ) spy flights and dropping bombs during battle. Soon. balloons were actually being used for entertainment. military, and scientific purposes. Even though they could not yet be steered, many people volunteered to take a ride just for fun! Sadly, Ben Franklin died three years before the first American hot-air balloon voyage. In 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard lifted off from the Walnut Street Prison Yard in Philadelphia, beginning the hot-air balloon craze in America. | high18543.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "By giving a comparison."
},
"options": [
"By giving an example.",
"By listing the facts.",
"By telling a story.",
"By giving a comparison."
],
"question": "How did the writer introduce the topic of the passage?"... | Imagine a mass of floating waste is two times the size of the state of Texas. Texas has a land area of more than 678 000 square kilometers. So it might be difficult to imagine anything twice as big. All together, this mass of waste flowing in the North Pacific Ocean is known as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It weighs about 3 500 000 tons. The waste includes bags,bottles and containers--plastic products of all kinds.www.zxxk.com
The eastern part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch is about l 600 kilometers west of California. The western part is west of the Hawaiian Islands and east of Japan. The area has been described as a kind of oceanic desert,with light winds and slow moving water currents. The water moves so slowly that garbage from all over the world collects there.
In recent years,there have been growing concerns about the floating garbage and its effect on sea creatures and human health. Scientists say thousands of animals get trapped in the floating waste,resulting in death or injury. Even more die from a lack of food or water after swallowing pieces of plastic. The trash can also make animals feel full,lessening their desire to eat or drink.
The floating garbage also can have harmful effects on people. There is an increased threat of infection of disease from polluted waste,and from eating fish that swallowed waste. Divers can also get trapped in the plastic.www.zxxk.com
Its existence first gained public attention in l997. That was when racing boat captain and oceanographer Charles Moore and his crew sailed into the garbage while returning from a racing event. Five years earlier,another oceanographer learned of the trash after a shipment of rubber duckies got lost at sea. Many of those toys are now part of the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.
In August,2009,a team from the University of California,San Diego became the latest group to travel to it. They were shocked by the amount of waste they saw. They gathered hundreds of sea creatures and water samples to measure the garbage patch's effect on ocean environment. | high5337.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Cairowas the 122nd last year"
},
"options": [
"Athens is the lowest scoring city in the world",
"Cairowas the 122nd last year",
"In Asia, Tokyois the best place to live",
"Due to modern infrastructure, Hong Kong has pus... | Zurich of Switzerland is the city with the highest quality of life in 2006, while Baghdad, for the third year running, has the lowest, a survey published by human resource company Mercer on Monday shows.
Zurich, Geneva and Vancouver made the top three in the list while Bangui in the Central African Republic and Brazzaville, the capital of Congo Republic, joined Baghdad in the bottom three.
The top three cities in the list are all unchanged from last year.
Almost half the top 30 scoring cities are in Western Europe. In this region, Vienna follows Zurich and prefix = st1 /Genevain 4th position. Other highly-rated cities include Dusseldorf, Frankfurt andMunichin positions 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Athens remains the lowest scoring city in Western Europe, standing at position 79.
Chicago is one of the biggest climbers in the rankings since 2005, rising to 41st from 52nd due to reduced crime rates, while Cairois one of the biggest fallers, sliding nine places to 131st out of 215 cities.
"This was due to political conflicts and terrorist attacks in the city and surrounding area," Mercer said.
Asia-Pacific Auckland and Wellington have both moved up the rankings from 8th to 5th and 14th to 12th places respectively, while Sydneyremains at position 9.
In Asia, Singaporeranks 34th followed byTokyo,Japan's highest scoring city, at position 35. Hong Kong's modern and efficient infrastructure, including its airport which is considered one of best in the world, has pushed it up from 70th to 68th position.
The top-ranking city in China's mainland isShanghaiin 103rd place.
"Beijing and Shanghaiare on the rise and should experience rapid improvements in quality of living in the coming years. This is mainly due to greater international investment driven by the availability and lower cost of labor and manufacturing skills," explained Mr. Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer.
Mercer bases its annual survey on 39 quality-of-life factors, from political stability to schools, bars, restaurants and the environment.
The top ten cities in the list:
Zurich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland
Vancouver, Canada
Vienna, Austria
Auckland, New Zealand
Dusseldorf, Germany
Munich, Germany
Sydney, Australia
Berne, Switzerland | high17670.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Becoming a Young Adult"
},
"options": [
"The Choices in Life",
"The Key to Success",
"Say Goodbye to the Past",
"Becoming a Young Adult"
],
"question": "The best title for this passage would be _ .",
"q... | As you grow rapidly through your teenage years,you will experience a lot of changes.The changes may seem difficult and they may seem to happen quickly.Don't panic!You will deal successfully with them!You are a young adult now!
With more responsibility,you will find more freedom to make your own choices.This is a time to be well informed about your choices so that you can make healthy balanced decisions that will help shape your future.You may already know your career path or you may have no idea at all what you want to do.Both situations are fine!Work hard and the right opportunity will present itself to you.
Young adulthood means greater freedom and more choices.You will probably want to be independent.But try not to shut your family out of your life.You should learn to think of others even though you are old enough to look after yourself.Your family have been with you since you came into this world.
It is also perfectly natural in this time for you to spend more time with your friends than your family.Choose your friends wisely.A true friend will stand by you no matter what happens.
This period is part of the life cycle.There are _ who will be with you throughout life's journey and there will be some people with whom you part and go separate ways.Leaving school can be hard.The reality is that you may not ever see all of your classmates again.
You are a young adult.It is your life.No one can live it for you.The choices that you make from now on will be your choices.So making the right choices will be important to you.Life is for living.Enjoy your life wisely! | high5451.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "People can watch the 1200-mile race on the net this year."
},
"options": [
"People can watch the 1200-mile race on the net this year.",
"Over 50 boats will take part in the 300-mile race this year.",
"The racers cannot take a... | Each year on the first Saturday in March, a group of middle-aged men and a few women gather at sunrise on a beach near prefix = st1 /St. Petersburg,Fla.Above the high-water line are more than 50 small boats.
At exactly 7 a.m., Steve Isaac stands at the water's edge with his arm raised and yells: "Go!"
Most of the boats are part of the Everglades Challenge. They head for a finish line many days and 300 miles to the south, at Key Largo. But this Saturday, for the first time, 10 of the brave mariners--including a journalist, whose progress will be available online--will compete in the world's toughest small boat race, called the Ultimate Florida Challenge.
Instead of finishing at Key Largo, the 10 boaters will continue around the state, heading north past Miami, the Kennedy Space Center, and Jacksonville, then down the Suwannee River, eventually passing most of Florida before arriving back at the beach near St. Petersburg.
It will be 1,200 miles of head winds and burning sun. But it will also take the challengers through some of the most impressive scenery in North America.
The rules are no-nonsense: First one back to the beach wins. The voyage must be completed within a month. Human power or sails, only. No motors. No rides in cars or tows from power boats. No help from family or friends. And at least once a day, participants are required to acknowledge by cell phone or radio that they are still alive.
The race will be a replay of the tale of the tortoise and the rabbit. The trick, if there is one, is to be a tortoise and just keep moving forward. But the one-month deadline means that being too much of a tortoise may result in failure. So challengers have to be a little bit of a rabbit, as well. | high17116.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He was unwilling to communicate with others"
},
"options": [
"He didn't dare to look at the author in the eyes",
"He couldn't speak English as well as other students",
"He failed to understand what the author taught",
"... | It was the beginning of the school year a few years ago and I had a little boy in my class who came from a non - English speaking home, He was very quiet and shy, I wasn't sure how much he understood during the school day and I was especially concerned that he just stood by himself at break time and did not play, If I tried to talk to him , he would turn away and tightly shut his eyes to hide from me.
After a day or two of this, I decided to seek the help from one of my outgoing and friendly little girls, I called her over and she ran to me , ready to help.
I immediately began a long speech about what I needed from her, I asked her if she would try to get him to play, and I started talking quickly about all these suggestions on how she could start communication with him , I explained she could do that , she could try this idea, she could try that idea, "Don't worry, I speak kid" And she ran off.
I stood there all alone, silently watching her, It took less than a minute for the two new friends to urn off, hand in hand , happily joining a game of tag taking place all over the gym.
I often think of that small moment, about what I learned and how important it is for all teachers to speak kid --- big kid, little kid and middle kid , I know my focus must be on teaching students how to think , how to approach problems ,and how to figure out solutions and teaching them never to let _ away , We must be ready to learn from our students because those "teachable moments "during the school days are for us , the teachers, as well as our kids. | high4997.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The history of the world's oldest university."
},
"options": [
"The history of the world's oldest university.",
"The importance of attending a university.",
"The relationship between university and future job.",
"The in... | Attending a university is an important part of a person's life. Today, many people go to a university to study and train for a future job in subjects like law, medicine, or education. But the university is not a modern invention. It has a history that is over a thousand years old.
The world's oldest university, Al-Azhar, is in Cairo, Egypt. It was first built as a mosque in A.D. 972. A few years later, learners and teachers began meeting in the mosque in "tutoring circles". They read and talked about the subject of law. Around 988, leaders in the city of Cairo decided to create a school for higher learning and the University of Al-Azhar was founded.
At Al-Azhar, there were many university 'firsts.' _ were created. The earliest ones taught at Al-Azhar were in law and religion. In a course, students read and studied with the teacher, but there was also free discussion. Often, students and teachers talked about a topic, and there was no 'right' answer. Finally, scholars from around the world came to Al-Azhar to teach and do research. At the university, people studied the past, but it was also a place for sharing new ideas.
Over a thousand years later, Al-Azhar is still an important university in the world. Its library contains more than 250,000 of the world's oldest and most valuable books. Today, many of the world's most important universities such as Oxford and Harvard still follow the traditions started at Al-Azhar. | high10679.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "might help find crimes"
},
"options": [
"do more harm than good",
"are easy to get rid of",
"are almost the same",
"might help find crimes"
],
"question": "According to the passage, microbes on people's hands ... | Look closely at ,your hands-are they clean? It doesn't matter how many times you was your hands. They're still crowded with microbes, which are also called "germs" or "bacteria". Microbes are everywhere. But don't worry-most microbes don't harm you. and many actually help you stay alive.
Now, scientists say the microbes that live on our hands could be used in a surprising way: fighting crime.
When police visit the scene of a crime, they often look for fingerprints to try to identifythe criminal. But according to a recent study, investigators could even use microbes to help break a criminal case.
Every person has his or her own set of microbes that live on their hands, according to scientists at,the University of:Colorado. That means the mix of different kinds of microbes on everybody's hand is unique-much like one's fingerprint.
The scientists wanted to know whether this microbe mix could be used as a new kind of fingerprint-especially in a crime scene where fingerprints might be hard to find. And policemen use forensics such as studying fingerprints to identify the criminal.
"Microbe fingerprints are harder to hide," said Noah Fierer, one of the scientists.
"You can't sterilize(......) a surface just by wiping it off. "
His team compared the bacteria on the hands of 273 people with the bacteria found on each person's computer keyboard. For the study, the keyboards had been used only by the people who were being tested. The study showed that the mix of microbes from each per- son's hands matched the mix of microbes on that person's keyboard. The scientists were easily able to tell the 273 people apart-just by looking at their keyboards.
But there are a lot more than 273 criminals. Other scientists wonder whetherthe microbe fingerprint can really be that useful.
Fierer agrees that scientists have a lot more work to do before the microbe fingerprint will be a useful tool. | high3020.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "she had cancer and was absent in mind"
},
"options": [
"she had just left the doctor's office",
"she didn't know how to drive",
"she had cancer and was absent in mind",
"she had tears in her eyes"
],
"question":... | You probably remember me from the other day. I was the one who reacted very slowly to the green traffic light. When you honked your horn ,I realized I was holding up traffic, so please accept my apology. However, I do want you to know why I seemed in a confused state. You see, I was just at the doctor's office getting the results of the examination I had two weeks ago, and I was wondering how I would tell my husband and children that I had cancer. There were still tears in my eyes, so,quite simply I didn't even see the lights change. Perhaps I should not have been driving, but I didn't want to miss my appointment.
I was in the express lane at the supermarket without thinking and moving. Please accept my apology. My mind was on my youngest daughter who ran away from home, and she?'just sixteen. I was so worried then. You see, she somehow got in with the wrong crowd and started using drugs and drinking. I was remembering what a pretty little girl she had been most of her life. I know you were unhappy along with others in line. Please, accept my apology.
I remember you from the store last week. I was so mean to you, when you were doing your job to the best of your ability. I acted so childishly. Please accept my apology. You see, I arrived home from work just yesterday and discovered that my wife had left me, but I should never have taken it out on you. Please, accept my apology.
The above are imagined incidents, and yet they expressed a very real truth. The old saying about judging others before you "have walked a mile in their shoes" is a much needed reminder. Perhaps we all could try to learn the fact that there are problems and situation in the lives of others which we are totally unaware of. So, maybe before we get angry in similar situations, we should think a moment and understand that things may be going on in other's lives which have caused them to be slower, absent-minded or angry. Patience, as they say, is a virtue. | high20962.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "what our lives will be like in the future"
},
"options": [
"how smart machines will replace humans",
"what our lives will be like in the future",
"how to go shopping on the Internet",
"why IBM wants to invent these smar... | Imagine shopping for clothes online and being able to run your hand across the screen of your computer or smartphone to feel the materials. That kind of simulation technology could be available within the next five years.
"We're talking about reinventing how computers interact with humans," said Bernie Meyerson, IBM Vice President. Extending our sense of touch is one of the innovations IBM believes will change the world in the next five years, according to the company's annual "Five in Five" list.
Smart machines will also be able to listen to the environment and highlight (;)the sounds we care about most. For instance, an advanced speech recognition system will tell new parents why their baby is crying. This kind of thing is not possible today, but with an advanced enough system, it's actually possible.
In the near future, personal computers will be able to do more than recognize images and visual data. Their built-in cameras will be able to analyze features such as colors, and understand the meaning of visual media, such as knowing how to sort family photos.
Smart machines will also be able to smell. If you sneeze on your computer or cellphone, tiny sensors in the machine will be able to analyze thousands of molecules in your breath. "It can give you an alarm and says, 'Hey, you are probably sick, go to see your doctor immediately,'" Meyerson says.
Mark Maloo is a computer science professor from Georgetown University. He hopes the advances will encourage more students to study science, technology, engineering and math, preparing them to play a role in future innovations. He believes there's little doubt that advances in computer technology over the next five years will make what now seems like science fiction a part of our everyday lives. | high8175.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They wanted to find out if the rumors about Mrs. Tailor were true"
},
"options": [
"They wanted to watch Mrs. Tailor do her housework closely.",
"They were playing a hide-and-seek game",
"They wanted to find out if the rumors... | Outside her shabby cottage, old Mrs. Tailor was hanging out laundry on a wire line, unaware that some children lay hidden in the leaves of a nearby tree watching her every move. They were determined to find out if she really was a witch.
They watched as she took a broomstick to clean the dirt from her stone steps. But, much to their disappointment, she did not mount the broomstick and take flight. Suddenly, the old lady's work was interrupted by the cackling of her hen--a signal that an egg had been laid in the warm nest on top of the haystack.
The old broomstick was put aside as she hobbled off towards the haystack followed by Sooty, a black cat she had rescued from a fox trap some time back. With only three legs, it was hard for Sooty to keep up with the old lady. The cat provided proof--the children were sure that only a witch could own a black cat with three legs.
There, standing on a wooden box, was Mrs. Tailor, stretching out to gather her precious egg. Taking the egg in one of her hands, she began to climb down when, without warning, the box broke and the old lady fell.
"We have to got and help her," whispered Amy.
"What if it is a trick?" replied Ben.
"Don't be silly, Ben. If she were a witch, she would have turned us into frogs already," reasoned Meg. "Come on Amy, let's go." The girls climbed down the tree and ran all the way to the haystack.
Approaching carefully, they could see a wound on the old lady's face. She had knocked her head on a stone and her ankle was definitely broken. "Go and get Dad," Amy yelled to her brother. "Tell him about the accident."
The boys did not need another excuse to leave. They ran as fast as they could for help, hoping that Mrs. Tailor would not wake and turn the girls into frogs. | high7246.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the UK"
},
"options": [
"the USA",
"France",
"the UK",
"Germany"
],
"question": "People from _ visited Scotland most.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2... | Scotland is a well-developed tourist destination, with tourism generally being responsible for sustaining 200, 000 jobs mainly in the service sector, with tourist spending averaging at PS4 bn per year. Tourists from the United Kingdom make up the bulk of visitors to Scotland. In 2002, for example, UK visitors made 18.5 million visits to Scotland, staying 64.5 million nights and spending PS3.7 bn. In contrast, overseas residents made 1.58 million visits to Scotland, staying 15 million nights and spending PS806 m. In terms of overseas visitors, those from the United States made up 24% of visits to Scotland, with the United States being the largest source of overseas visitors, and Germany (9%), France (8%), Canada (7%) and Australia (6%), following behind.
Scotland is generally seen as clean, unspoilt destination with beautiful scenery which has a long and complex history, combined with thousands of historic sites and attractions. These include prehistoric stone circles, standing stones and burial chambers, and various Bronze Age, Iron Age and Stone Age remains. There are also many historic castles, houses, and battlegrounds, ruins and museums. Many people are drawn by the culture of Scotland.
The cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are increasingly being seen as a cosmopolitan alternative to Scotland's countryside, with visitors year round, but the main tourist season is generally from April to October inclusive. In addition to these factors, the national tourist agency, VisitScotland, have deployed a strategy of niche marketing, aimed at exploiting, amongst other things, Scotland's strengths in golf, fishing and food and drink tourism. Another significant, and increasingly popular reason for tourism to Scotland -- especially by those from North America-- is genealogy, with many visitors coming to Scotland to explore their family and ancestral roots. | high1637.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the writer thinks that those who want to be doctors are crazy"
},
"options": [
"a medical student should have a very good memory",
"a doctor must be mentally strong so that he can meet any difficult situation",
"the writer th... | "How lucky you are to be a doctor..." Anyone who's a doctor is right out of luck, I thought. _
You may think I want to change my job. Well, at the moment I do. As one of my friends says-even doctors have a few friends-it's all experience. Experience! I don't need such experience. I need a warm, comfortable, undisturbed bed of my own. I need it badly. I need all telephones to be thrown down the nearest well, that's what I need.
All these thoughts fly round my head as I drive my Mini through the foggy streets of East London at 3:45 a.m. on a December morning. I am a ministering angel in a Mini with a heavy coat and a bag of medicines. As I speed down Lea Bridge in the dark at this horrible morning hour, the heater first blowing hot then cold, my back aching from the car-seat, I do not feel like a ministering angel. I wish I were on the beach in southern France. Call me a bad doctor if you like. Call me what you will. But don't call me at half past three on a December morning for an ear-ache that you have had for two weeks.
Of course, being a doctor isn't really all bad. _ . Once in a while people are ill, once in a while you can help, once in a while you get given a cup of tea and rock-hard cake at two o'clock in the morning-then you worry if you have done everything. But all too often 'everything' is a repetitious rule: look, listen, feel, tap, pills, injection, phone, ambulance, away to the next.
And then there is always the cool, warm voice of the girl on the switchboard of the emergency bed service who will get your patient into hospital for you-the pleasant voice that comes to you as you stand in the cold, dark, smelly, dirty telephone box somewhere in a dangerous section of town. Oh, it has its moments, this life does. | high6158.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A picture of McKay."
},
"options": [
"A uniform of McKay.",
"A footnote about McKay.",
"A book on McKay.",
"A picture of McKay."
],
"question": "What made Professor Broad continue his search for more information... | Eddie McKay, a once-forgotten pilot, is a subject of great interest to a group of history students in Canada.
It all started when Graham Broad, a professor at the University of Western Ontario, found McKay's name in a footnote in a book about university history. McKay was included in a list of university alumni who had served during the First World War, but his name was unfamiliar to Broad, a specialist in military history. Out of curiosity, Broad spent hours at the local archives in a fruitless search for information on McKay. Tired and discouraged, he finally gave up. On his way out, Broad's glance happened to fall on an exhibiting case showing some old newspapers. His eye was drawn to an old picture of a young man in a rugby uniform. As he read the words beside the picture, he experienced a thrilling realization. "After looking for him all day, there he was, staring up at me out of the exhibiting case," said Broad. Excited by the find, Broad asked his students to continue his search. They combed old newspapers and other materials for clues. Gradually, a picture came into view.
Captain Alfred Edwin McKay joined the British Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He downed ten enemy planes, outlived his entire squadron as a WWI flyer, spent some time as a flying instructor in England, then returned to the front, where he was eventually shot down over Belgium and killed in December 1917. But there's more to his story. "For a brief time in 1916 he was probably the most famous pilot in the world," says Broad. "He was credited with downing Oswald Boelcke, the most famous German pilot at the time." Yet, in a letter home, McKay refused to take credit, saying that Boelcke had actually crashed into another German plane.
McKay's war records were destroyed during a World War II air bombing on London -- an explanation for why he was all but forgotten.
But now, thanks to the efforts of Broad and his students, a marker in McKay's memory was placed on the university grounds in November 2007. "I found my eyes filling with tears as I read the word 'deceased' next to his name," said Corey Everrett, a student who found a picture of Mckay in his uniform. "This was such a simple example of the fact that he had been a student just like us, but instead of finishing his time at Western, he chose to fight and die for his country." | high8161.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "because he wanted to do something there for his writing"
},
"options": [
"to see one of his friends",
"because he wanted to do something there for his writing",
"because he was told there were a lot of mosquitoes there",
... | Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humour. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.
One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes in the town and told him that he'd better not go there. Mark Twain waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don't think they will come to visit me."
After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town." One of them said to him.
Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, "The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn't come into the wrong room." What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.
But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night. | high1623.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "he could be protected from some dangers"
},
"options": [
"he could be protected from some dangers",
"he could learn singing from his talented father",
"his mother would be able to focus on her career",
"his father could... | Enrique Iglesias is a most successful singer! Born in 1975 in Madrid, Spain, Enrique is the child of the famous singer Julio Iglesias. Enrique's mother is a journalist. His parents divorced in 1978. Although Enrique lived with his mother, she sent him to live with his father because of concerns about her son's safety. Enrique wanted to be a singer secretly, he didn't wish his father to know that and didn't want to live under his shelter. He sought his dream on his own.
Enrique released his first album "Enrique Iglesias" in 1995. This album had a collection of rock ballads and five singles from it went straight to the top spots in Latin music. This album was followed by another "Vivir" in 1997. Three singles from this album occupied the top spots on the Latin charts yet again! Enrique also found himself nominated for the "Favorite Latin Artist" at the American Music Awards. By 1998, he had released his 3rdalbum, "Cosas Del Amor". This year Enrique won the "Favorite Latin Artist". "Bailamos" got him great fame. One of the songs in this album was also used in a movie. With the success of "Bailamos", Enrique now already had many loyal fans. The album, "Enrique", was released in 1999.
The year 2001 brought more success for him. His album, "Escape" had a few singles that reached the top spots. Enrique became a household name. This album is his biggest successful album so far. "Hero" and "Don't Turn Off the Lights" soon turned Enrique into a super star. His next release in 2002 was a Spanish album "Quizas". This album brought Enrique a "Latin Grammy Award" for the Best Pop Vocal Album. In 2007, he released another album "Insomniac" and the song "Do You Know" became an instantly popular song. | high13364.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "was designed to send experiments to the ISS"
},
"options": [
"was carried out by 18 students.",
"was to test royal jelly in space",
"was designed to send experiments to the ISS",
"allowed the first students to connect w... | Kids at the Interlake School Division were the first Canadian students to take part in a program to send experiments to the International Space Station.(ISS).
Jordan Schott and three other sixth grade students came up with the idea to test royal jelly in space . Their experiment came very close to be tested on the space station. "We were seeing if we could send it to space, and if it would lose its nutritional value" faster and or slower, "said Schott. Schott is one of the 18 students in the Space Knights Club at Woodlands Elementary School, part of the Interlake School Division. Over 450 students from the Division took part in the program.
"I thought we were just students and we couldn't do much in the way of that. It's a way to communicate with people up there ," said Braeden Clark, a seventh grade student who is also in the club.
The astronauts shared what they learned with their school with a full day of activities all about science and space.
Teacher Maria Nickel is the organizer of the club. She said the day was great for students to learn what they could do. "Space is one of those great things that get kids excited, but it also gives them the chance to do so much. They can be an astronaut; they can be an engineer, "She said.
The day was held in honour of Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut now in the Internal Space Station. "It gives kids someone more to look up to. Here's a real hero to look up to who's doing it all, doing it through education," said Nickel.
Jordan Schott thinks it's really cool. "To me it seems so cool how people can go up to space, and science is something I've always liked," She said. Schott says she wants to follow in the footsteps of Hadfield and be an astronaut when she gets older.
One of the winning experiments in the competition was produced by students from Argyle, Manitoba. It will travel to the space station in the fall of 2013. | high5445.txt |
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