questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "In Chinese culture, people show their welcome by serving lots of food."
},
"options": [
"The \"eating up\" campaign was first promoted by 10 restaurants.",
"Eat less so there will be less food wasted in the country.",
"Studen... | While the rest of his family was happily feasting during Spring Festival, Zu Xinming, a Senior 2 student in Shaanxi province, was frowning. "Every time my s leave after dinner, almost half of the dishes are unfinished," he said, and we throw away a lot of food.
Nowadays in China, food waste is a widespread problem. Each year, Chinese people throw away the equivalent of about 50 million tons of grain, an amount which could feed 200 million people, according to Xinhua News Agency.
One reason is that people are unaware of the issue.
"Some of my friends don't care at all when they can't finish the food on their plates," said Zu, "and they even throw it away if they don't like the taste."
Gong Tao, an official from the Communist Youth League of China Committee of Central South University in Hunan province, is worried about the decreasing awareness of food waste on his campus in recent years.
"Students don't know how much hard work others go through in order to provide their food," Gao told China Education Daily.
One deeper factor is the Chinese cultural value of "face". In a Chinese banquet setting, the host feels great shame when guests' plates are empty. "Serving lots of food is the Chinese way of showing respect to guests and displaying generosity," Yu Changjiang, a sociologist at Peking University, told Xinhua.
Huge public spending on government banquets is also worsening the situation. Government banquets at the taxpayer's expense have become "a major source of waste", commented People's Daily.
The good news is that people are already beginning to take action. On Jan 16, 10 restaurants with 749 outlets in Beijing joined an "eating up" campaign promoted by Xu Xiake, deputy director of China Land and Resources News. These restaurants have begun serving half-sized meals and small dishes.
So, how can you help reduce food waste? Discuss with your family regularly about your food preferences and how much you want to eat. Eat all of the food on your plate and in your bowl. And each week, help your parents clean the fridge so that all of the food gets eaten before it goes to waste. | high23927.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "she was unluckily put to the test"
},
"options": [
"she was born completely blind",
"she received an operation in India",
"her parents didn't pay attention to her illness",
"she was unluckily put to the test"
],
... | When I was three, my parents took me to have an operation in India, which stopped my eyesight from deteriorating . Several years later we moved to Pakistan, where I received 12 operations within one year and went completely blind. Later, I realized that the doctors used me as an experiment.
I met my husband when he came over from India to study. I wanted to go to India to marry him, but it was almost impossible to emigrate. I made a crazy plan to cross the borders of several countries to get to India. I was arrested in the first country I escaped to. Back in Pakistan, I lost my job and was asked to sign a "never-to-escape" promise. Instead, when I got home, I made a cup of coffee and decided to make a formal application for emigration. _ , and people who applied to go to India found it hard to find a job in Pakistan while they were waiting. In the end, my husband managed to smooth the way for my emigration. We got married and had children. But after nine years, he died of brain cancer. I was helpless for a while, and then I learned to face reality optimistically. He taught us happiness came from inside us.
Six years ago, I brought home a dog called Moritz from the seeing-eye dog centre. He was short with long ears. No one liked him because of his pathetic appearance. We were almost always together. Moritz could not leave me for even one minute. Now when I walk down the street, not like before, people will come up and say, "What a good seeing-eye dog!", and have a little chat with me as a normal creature.
I'm now working for the Association of the Blind and I have many good friends, and a special friend in Hamburg. It is a wonderful feeling to speak freely with someone I can't see, to trust one another. | high12522.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "a worldwide phenomenon"
},
"options": [
"a nationwide problem",
"a worldwide phenomenon",
"an individual issue",
"a regional matter"
],
"question": "According to the passage,that science graduates have a brighte... | LV Tiantian, a graduate student majoring in ethics at Jiangsu University in Zhenjiang,has spent years reading Aristotle and Plato.She has debated with classmates about the meaning of "happiness" and in written papers about the role of morality in society.But as LV prepares to enter the professional world,she's finding that her background isn't getting her a lot of job interviews."Employers do not seem to value the theories and philosophy that we liberal arts majors have learned,"said LV,24."I earned far fewer interview chances than those majoring in more practical subjects in science and technology."
According to a 2009 survey conducted by Zhongqing Shijia Survey Net and China Enterprise News,science graduates enjoy higher employment rates and salaries than liberal arts students do.Things aren't much different overseas.The New York Times reports that job listings for professors in English,literature and foreign languages dropped 21 percent for the 2008-2009 academic year-the biggest decline in 34 years.As a result,some American educators are calling for universities to abandon the "old Ivory Tower view of liberal education".They want to put more emphasis on the practical and economic aspects of education.
Chinese educational experts tend to agree up to a point.But abandoning emphasis on the humanities altogether,they say,brings great risk."The liberal arts do not generate any tangible material wealth,but it does convey social values.And it passes spiritual heritage from one generation to another,"said Niu Dakui,an expert on education at Beijing Normal University."If the humanities are _ ,our youngsters will lose their way."
Anthony T.Kronman,a professor of law at Yale,goes even further.He argues that the greed,irresponsibility and fraud that put the world in the current financial mess will only get worse without a new emphasis on the humanities.In his view,this is the time to re-examine "what we care about and what we value"--something that the humanities" are extremely well-equipped to address".
How this debate plays out may very well determine the future of Chinese high school education.Some people want high school students to be able to specialize in science during their high school years.Others think they should get a more rounded education with a substantial number of hours in the arts and humanities. | high24090.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "in Spain in 1881"
},
"options": [
"in France in 1973",
"in Spain in 1973",
"in Spain in 1881",
"in Paris in 1881"
],
"question": "Pablo Picasso was born _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | Pablo Picasso was born in Spain in 1881. His father was an artist and also an art teacher. He gave little Picasso the first lesson in drawing. The boy showed great interest in it and learned it very quickly. Picasso drew so well that he won a prize - "Science and Charity" for his first important painting at the age 15. Later he studied in several cities in Spain. But no one could teach him because he had known so much.
When he was 19, he visited Paris. At that time, Paris was the center of the world for artists. Everything in the painting world was new to Picasso. When he was 23, he moved to Paris to live and spent the rest of his life in France.
In his 80s, Pablo Picasso still worked like a young man. He kept on looking for new ideas and new ways to work. He never stopped painting all his life.
Pablo Picasso died in 1973 as a great artist in the world. | high9727.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "give business training and loans to street children"
},
"options": [
"give business training and loans to street children",
"provide schools and social support for street children",
"share the lessons S.K. I. learned to help ... | Micro-Enterprise Credit for Street Youth
Introduction
Although small-scale business training and credit programs have become more common throughout the world, relatively little attention has been paid to the need to direct such opportunities to youth living on the street or in difficult circumstances. Over the past years, Street Kids International (S.K.I.) has been working with partner organizations in Africa, Latin Africa and India to support the economic lives of street children. The purpose of this paper is to share some of the lessons S.K. I. and our partner organizations have learned.
Background
Typically, children end up on the streets not due to a single cause, but a combination of factors: the lack of adequately funded schools, the demand for income at home and so on. The street may be attractive to children as a place to find adventurous play and money. However, it is also a place where some children are exposed, with little or no protection, to exploitative employment, and urban crime.
Street Business Partnerships
S.K.I. has worked with partner organizations in Latin America, Africa and India to develop innovative opportunities for street children to earn income.
* The S.K.I Bicycle Courier Service first started in the Sudan. Participants in this enterprise were supplied with bicycles, which they used to deliver parcels and messages, but they were required to pay for it gradually from their wages.
* The Youth Skills Enterprise Initiative in Zambia is a joint program with the Red Cross Society. Street Youths are supported to start their own small business through business training, life skills training and access to credit.
Lessons Learned
The following lessons have emerged from the programs that S.K.I. and partner organizations have created.
* It's important for all loans to be linked to training programs that include the development of basic business and life skills.
* Small loans are provided initially for purchasing fixed assets such as bicycles, shoe shining kits.
* All S.K.I. programs have charged interest on the loans, primarily to get the business runners used to the concept of paying interest on borrowing money. Generally the rates have been modest.
Conclusion
There is a need to recognize the importance of access to credit for poor young people seeking to fulfill economic needs. | high14153.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "remove the expression \"couch potato\" from the dictionary"
},
"options": [
"advertise their produces",
"call for a higher price for their potatoes",
"remove the expression \"couch potato\" from the dictionary",
"let pe... | British potato farmers were angry and wanted the expression "couch potato" to be taken out of the dictionary because it harmed the vegetable's image.
The British Potato Council wants the Oxford English Dictionary to replace the expression with the term "couch slouch", with protests being outside Parliament in London and the offices of Oxford University Press.
Kathryn Race, head of marketing at the Council, which represents some 4,000 planters and processors, said the group had complained in writing to the OED but had yet to receive a response.
"We are trying to get rid of the image that potatoes are bad for you," she said on Monday.
"The potato has had its knocks in the past. Of course it is not the Oxford English Dictionary's fault but we want to use another term instead of "couch potato" because potatoes are naturally healthy."
The OED says that "couch potato" began as American slang, meaning "a person who spends his or her leisure time sitting around, especially watching television or video tapes."
The Potato Council says its campaign is backed by dieticians who say the vegetable is low in fat and high in vitamin C.
Supporting the campaign, famous cook Antony Worrall Thompson said the vegetable was one of Britain's favorite foods.
"Not only are they healthy, they are also convenient and yummy . Life without potato is like a sandwich without a filling," he said.
John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said the dictionary first included the term "couch potato" in 1993 and said "dictionaries just reflect the words that society uses."
Simpson said words were never taken out of the full-length dictionary, which includes some 650,000 words in 20 volumes.
But little-used words can be removed from the smaller dictionaries to make way for newer ones.
"If society stops using words then they get taken out of the smaller dictionaries," he added.
The first known recorded use of the expression "couch potato" was in an article in Los Angeles Times, in 1979, Simpson said.
Nigel Evans, a member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, has made a motion in support of the campaign, highlighting the nutritional value of the British potato. | high6414.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "have generally the same number of class days"
},
"options": [
"perform better and have more learning gains",
"have much less time for relaxation every year",
"have generally the same number of class days",
"hold more cl... | Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap.Some call it the summer learning setback.Simply speaking,it means the longer kids are out of 'school,the more they forget.The only thing they might gain is weight.
Most American schools follow a traditional nine-month calendar with winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation.Some schools follow a year-round calendar.They hold classes for about eight weeks at a time,with a few weeks off in between.The National Association for Year-Round Education says there were fewer than 3,000 such schools at last count.They were spread among forty-six of the fifty states.
But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school.Lead researcher Paul von Hippel said,"Year-round schools don't really solve the problem of the summer learning setback.They simply spread it out across the year.
Across the country,research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summer than other students.Experts say this can be prevented.They note that many schools and local governments offer programs that can help.
But calling them "summer school" could be a problem.The director of the summer learning center at Johns Hopkins,Ron Fairchild,said research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term "summer school".In American culture,the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood.The parents welcomed other terms like "summer camp," "extra time" and "hands-on learning." | high77.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the tips of living a long and healthy life."
},
"options": [
"the importance of living a long and healthy life.",
"the tips of living a long and healthy life.",
"the reasons of living a long and healthy life.",
"the mea... | Today, due to numerous medical and scientific advances, people are living longer than ever before. But you have to be good to your body, mind, and soul. The following tips are a good start for getting you on your way to living a long and healthy life.
Eat a balanced diet -- one that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fiber and low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol. A well-balanced diet can provide your body with the essential nutrients needed to achieve and maintain optimum health.
Be physically active -- try to incorporate 30 minutes of activity into your day, every day. The options are endless; start walking on the beach in the mornings, try jogging with a friend, or go for a bike ride in the afternoons. Make sure you choose activities that you enjoy, that way you'll be more likely to make them a habit.
Get regular preventive check-ups --see your doctor regularly; remember your doctor is your partner in health care. By having regular check-ups, you may be able to catch small problems before they become big ones.
Be safe -- use common sense and be streetsmart . Don't put yourself in situations that are questionable. Always wear your seatbelt and bike helmet. Don't go for a run, walk, or jog at night by yourself. Keep your home well lit and free of things that could make you fall.
Stay in touch with family and friends -- get to know your neighbors. Take the time to be involved with your community. By creating a strong social network, you will not only have friends to celebrate with when good things happen, but also a support system in difficult times.
Keep a positive attitude -- studies have shown that people who have a positive attitude tend to live longer, and lead healthier and happier lives. Try to find the humor in life. And remember to laugh. | high23099.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "rescue disappearing languages"
},
"options": [
"promote global languages",
"set up language research organizations.",
"search for language communities",
"rescue disappearing languages"
],
"question": "Many schol... | As more and more people speak the global languages of English, Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic, other languages are rapidly disappearing. In fact, half of the 6,000--7,000 languages spoken around the world today will likely die out by the next century, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In an effort to prevent language loss, scholars from a number of organizations--UNESCO and National Geographic among them--have for many years been documenting dying languages and the cultures they reflect.
Mark Turin, a scientist at the Macmillan Centre Yale University, who specializes in the languages and oral traditions of the Himalayas, is following in _ . His recently published book, A Grammar of Thangmi with an Ethnolinguistic Introduction to the Speakers and Their Culture, grows out of his experience living, working, and raising a family in a village in Nepal.
Documenting the Thangmi language and culture is just a starting point for Turin, who seeks to include other languages and oral traditions across the Himalayan reaches of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and China. But he is not content to simply record these voices before they disappear without record.
At the University of Cambridge Turin discovered a wealth of important materials-including photographs, films, tape recordings, and field notes--which had remained unstudied and were badly in need of care and protection.
Now, through the two organizations that he has founded-the Digital Himalaya Project and the World Oral Literature Project--Turin has started a campaign to make such documents, for the world available not just to scholars but to the younger generations of communities from whom the materials were originally collected. Thanks to digital technology and the widely available Internet, Turin notes, the endangered languages can be saved and reconnected with speech communities. | high9041.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Chimelong Water Park."
},
"options": [
"Noah's Ark",
"Tropical Islands Resort.",
"Las Cascada Water Park.",
"Chimelong Water Park."
],
"question": "Which of the following water parks sounds the cleanest?",
"... | Air conditioning, watermelons, ice cream-we have all kinds of gadgets and food to get us through the summer. But what could be better during the hot months? The following are a few special and well-known water parks around the world. Take a good look, and know what the real water parks look like.
Noah's Ark
Location: Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, US
Noah's Ark offers many water slides. The most notable ride is the Black Anaconda. At more than 400 meters in length, it is the US' most thrilling water coaster and sends riders spiraling down at speeds of up to 48 kilometers per hour. Plus, with 18 indoor water parks, Wisconsin Dells offers plenty of splashes for water lovers.
Tropical Islands Resort
Location: Brandenburg, Germany
This resort offers the largest indoor water park in the world-at 65,961 square meters. And its indoor pool can hold 6,000 visitors at a time. As Europe's largest tropical holiday world, Tropical Islands is more than a water park. It's a fully functional resort, featuring a theme park, an artificial rainforest, a lagoon, a beach, steam baths, saunas and many shops and restaurants. There are also several water slides and other activities that people of all ages can enjoy.
Las Cascada Water Park
Location: Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
Las Cascada is well known for its unbelievable beauty. It is surrounded by tropical mountain forests and situated close to the ocean.
The water ride, E1 Rio Pasivo, carries riders through the whole water park. They can see the mountains and waterfalls around it.
Chimelong Water Park
Location: Guangzhou, China
It is one of the largest water parks in Asia. With its advanced technology, it also has many new aquatic facilities in the industry. One of the park's rides offers a tube conveyor that transports riders up a 19-meter-tall tower. The park has implemented a special water treatment system that ensures safe PH levels and removes harmful germs. | high14635.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "By influencing our emotion."
},
"options": [
"By telling us the nature of life.",
"By changing our way of thinking.",
"By comparing their attitude to life with ours.",
"By influencing our emotion."
],
"question"... | You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings, you say hello, and the drama starts. The person on the other end has a depressing ( )tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to. You are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!
Communicating with negative ( ) people can wash your happiness. It may not change what you think, but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.
Life brings ups and downs, but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer. They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win other's pity or respect.
When you communicate with positive people, your spirits stay happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the dagger of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all, brings you down.
Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. This could be a co-worker, or relative. In this case, say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to negative person, but all this is to lower you to that same negative level and they won't feel ashamed of themselves about that.
Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to you throughout the rest of your day, which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible. | high189.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "How a dog can know one's expressions."
},
"options": [
"How one can know his dog well.",
"How a dog can probably be well trained.",
"How a dog can tell one something.",
"How a dog can know one's expressions."
],
... | So you think you know your dog. But how well does your dog know you? She probably recognizes you when she sees you. But can a dog tell by simply looking at you whether you have a happy or an angry expression on your face? Researchers in Austria have taught pet dogs to know the difference.
Dogs are very mindful of sound. When dog owners shout or speak in a strong, unkind voice, dogs often act ashamed and quietly move away from the area.
Recently, researchers found that dogs can look at our faces, and tell the difference between a smile and a frown . The animals were able to recognize a look of praise from one of blame.
Researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna performed a series of experiments. They taught dogs to recognize facial expressions. They showed the dogs two pictures of either the upper or lower half of a person's face. On one picture, the person looked happy. The other appeared angry.
The dogs were then shown images of the eyes or mouths of people they had never seen before. They were also shown the left half of the faces used in training.
Corsin Muller led the study. "We were really speaking, do they realize that smiling eyes have the same meaning as a smiling mouth, or angry eyes have the same meaning as an angry mouth? And it turned out that they really did perform very well in these research experiments."
Once the dogs learned to recognize which image was happy or angry, they could easily find the same expressions in pictures of any face.
Corsin Muller says future studies will try to show whether dogs can learn the meaning of facial expressions--for example, whether a frown shows that someone is angry.
In the experiments, researchers found the dogs were slower to link a reward, or prize, with recognition of the angry face. This suggested that dogs had an idea people with angry faces were best avoided. | high12244.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because visits to museums can help gain knowledge."
},
"options": [
"because they like sightseeing in the museums.",
"Because people like to go there if they have nothing to do.",
"Because visits to museums can help gain know... | A visit to a museum contributes to our education. The British Museum is a great building in our London, not far from London University. Thousands of visitors go to it every year to see the rare, strange and beautiful things it contains. What interests many people more than anything else is the large library, in which there are millions of books. You can find any English book you want there, and many books in foreign languages or translated into English. The library is also a reading room, with tables and chairs for students who wish to study; but if you want to borrow books to read there you must first get a reader's ticket from the office. One can't borrow books to take away.
In other parts of the museum there are rooms and halls containing things which have been brought from countries all over the world. They help us to understand the history of foreign lands, and the people who live in them. Some of the things which have been dug up in places where old cities once stood were being worn out or used by men and women thousands of years ago. These cities now lie buried, covered with many feet of earth.
On the way out you can buy pictures of the most interesting things that are shown in the museum. | high22387.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "thrilled"
},
"options": [
"satisfied",
"puzzled",
"thrilled",
"interested"
],
"question": "At first sight of the Jonas Brothers the author was really .",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | One day when I came home at lunch time the Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe, and Nick, were at my door. I jumped out of my Range Rover and started screaming. I ran up to them and just started hugging them and crying. I had no clue what was going on. They were just smiling and laughing. I was speechless and I was just staring at them. We stood there in dead silence for a couple of minutes.
I finally picked up courage to say, "Hey, would you all like to come in?" They told me yes and that they had something to tell me. I brought them in and asked them why they came to my house. They told me, "We need you for something. We would like you to join the band; we want you to be our background dancer. You will also be a dancer for Miley Cyrus." Hearing their words, my jaw dropped in amazement.
We kept talking for a while. I skipped school for the rest of the day, because it was the Jonas Brothers! We sat and watched television for a while, and then I went to my room and got ready. Then later that day we went and got lunch and went to a movie. We had to go to private places to go to the movie and eat because of all of the fans, but we had a great time! They brought me home that night and told me that they would see me tomorrow. Once I got home and got out of the car, Nick got out too and walked me to the door! He told me goodnight and gave me a hug and went back to the car. That night I could hardly go to sleep, but I finally did.
The next morning I woke up and got ready really quickly. Then the Jonas Brothers' driver came and picked me up in their black Range Rover. I got in the back seat and by surprise Nick was there with flowers and chocolate.
I asked him, "What is this?"
He said, "It's for you! I want to surprise you! Today we are going to go to the studio and you are going to start learning everything for the tour this year. Kevin and Joe are already at the studio, I just want to come here and pick you up. After that I have something special planned for us!"
"I don't have any clothes to wear, except for the clothes that I am wearing to practice," I said.
He told me, "It's okay, we are going shopping to find outfits for our special date."
We went shopping for our clothes and I got to pick anything I wanted and Nick paid for all of it. Then that night we went and ate at a restaurant right by the beach. After dinner, we went and walked on the beach. It was amazing! That night he took me home and walked me to my door and we said goodnight. I then went in and went to bed right away.
The next few months I went to the studio with them about every day. It was a lot of hard work, but once the tour started, it paid off. I had the best time of my life. Once the tour was over, I got more into the acting and dancing business, I then became famous. Miley Cyrus and I became best friends and I also was a background dancer for her. Miley, the Jonas Brothers, and I were all best friends and we pretty much grew up together.
Now, Miley and I are still best friends, and Nick Jonas and I are married. We are still famous and have the best time of our life. | high19311.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "things to do for the weekend"
},
"options": [
"visiting teams",
"famous players",
"things to do for the weekend",
"prices to pay for the sports events"
],
"question": "The main purpose of announcing the above ev... | A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27(Sat. & Sum. ). At 5:30am, the riders will leave Tian'anmen Square and ride the first 35 kilometers as a training _ . Then the next 55 kilometres leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive part of the tour. The riders and their bikes will then be taken from Jixian to Changli.
The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to the seaside of Nandaibe, covering a distance of 20 kilometres. Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper. Sunday morning is free for play at the seaside. At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing.
Cost:200 yuan Telephone:4675027
_
The Brazilian Football Club will play Beijing Guo'an Team at the Workers Stadium on August 26. The club has four national team players . Also coming is 1994 US World Cup star Romario who has promised to play for at least 45 minutes.
Ticket prices:60,100,150 yuan
Time/Date:4:30 pm, August 26(Sat. ) Telephone:5012372
_
The Third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26-27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base. More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it. A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing. Free for spectators .
Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou.
Time/Dates:9-12 am, August 26 and 27
Telephone:7143177, 7144850, Wang Zhenghua | high4565.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "A kind girl caring for children with HIV."
},
"options": [
"A kind girl caring for children with HIV.",
"A poor area stricken by poverty and disease.",
"A nonprofit organization providing services for kids.",
"Abandoned... | As a preteen in New York, Whitney Johnson volunteered at soup kitchens and delivered clothes to the homeless. While at college, she started an English-language tutoring program for immigrant children. No one was surprised, then, when she chose to volunteer in an orphanage in Khayelitsha, one of South Africa's poorest areas, during her junior year abroad.
At the orphanage, Johnson discovered most of the children infected with HIV at birth, many abandoned by parents too sick to care for them, or neglected by surviving s. Few were receiving the care needed to stay healthy. Many died. When she left, all she wanted to do was go back and change what she had seen.
After graduation, Johnson began a fund-raising effort that eventually collected enough money to found UBA, a nonprofit organization intended to provide services for HIV-positive kids aged 4 to 18 in Khayelitsha. Now UBA is housed in a church big enough for offices and the children. The staff includes counselors , a social worker, a nurse, a cook, and a handful of volunteers, ensuring that each child has access to proper care, a free healthy meal, and emotional support. Once a week, she makes sure the children receive age-appropriate lessons about AIDS. The social worker sees to it that the kids are enrolled in school and have safe living conditions-especially those without parents.
Johnson plans to soon relocate UBA to an even larger location with more medical staff and a field"so the kids can run around and just feel like kids." She's also working with the South African Department of Health so that the new center can distribute drugs and give blood tests.
"Many people think that HIV means death, but it doesn't," Johnson says. "There's so much that can be done." In the five years since the center opened, not one of the 200 kids in the program has died. "It's so emotional to see the strong, independent people they become." One teenage girl who had received help at UBA even announced that she wanted to become a nurse. | high21856.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Milk: is it really good for the body?"
},
"options": [
"Milk: is it really necessary for children?",
"The disadvantages of drinking milk.",
"Milk causes health problems.",
"Milk: is it really good for the body?"
],
... | For all dinner tables, a glass of milk seems to be a must. At least it was when I was growing up. It is widely believed that milk is a must in building strong bones and teeth. There's no doubt that dairy products, especially milk, are high in protein and calcium, and Vitamin D and Vitamin A are added to most milk products.
While it's well known that our bones need calcium, some studies suggest that high calcium intake doesn't necessarily lower a person's risk for fractures . A Harvard study found that people who drank two or more glasses of milk had no greater protection from breaking a bone than those who drank a glass or less a week.
There is no doubt that we need calcium. Some anti-dairy supporters claim dairy products can lead to heart disease. Much of this claim is based on high-fat dairy products, like cheese and cream, which may indeed lead to some health problems. Some studies have linked high milk intakes with a risk of prostate cancer; this seems also to be caused by high-fat dairy products, but not by dairy products in general.
Although milk has always been regarded as the most important thing we need for our bones, one of the most important things in strengthening bones and reducing the risk of osteoporosis is weight-bearing exercise, such as jogging, walking, and weight lifting.
Perhaps we should think of dairy products as less like a nutrient and more like a food. If you like it, eat it. If not, find something else to eat. Some claims may not be completely true. When I eat cream, I'm not thinking about calcium, protein, or any such thing. I'm thinking it is delicious. | high2114.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the deep sea"
},
"options": [
"the moon",
"mountains",
"the sun",
"the deep sea"
],
"question": "Skin-diving can take you to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answe... | Skin-diving is a new sport today.
This sport takes you into a wonderful new world. It is like a visit to the moon!When you are under water,it is easy for you to climb big rocks, because you are no longer heavy.
Here,under water,everything is blue and green.During the day,there is enough light. When fish swim nearby,you can catch them with your hands.
When you have tanks of air on your back,you can stay in deep water for a long time.But you must be careful.
To catch the fish is one of the most interesting parts of this sport.On the other hand, you can clean the ships without taking them out of the water.You can get many things from the deep sea.
Now you can see that skin-diving is both useful and interesting. | high11995.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "many women believed that wives who used instant coffee were lazy"
},
"options": [
"women who used regular coffee were good planners",
"most of the women investigated were good at reasons",
"many women believed that wives who ... | The producers of instant coffee found their product strongly resisted in the market places despite their product's obvious advantages. Furthermore,the advertising expense for instant coffee was far greater than that for regular coffee. Efforts were made to find the cause of the users' seemingly unreasonable resistance to the product. The reason given by most people was dislike for the taste. The producers doubt that there might be deeper reasons,however. This was supported by one of motivation research's classic studies,one often cited in the trade. Mason Haire of the University of California constructed two shopping lists that were the same except for one item. There were six items common to both lists: hamburger,carrots,bread,baking powder,canned peaches,and potatoes,with the brands or amounts specified. The seventh item,in fifth place on both lists,read"lib. Maxwell House coffee"on one list and"Nescafe instant coffee"on the other. One list was given to each one in a group of fifty women,and the other list to those in another group of the same size. The women were asked to study their lists and then to describe,as far as they could,the kind of woman(personality and character)who would draw up that shopping list. Nearly half of those who had received the list including instant coffee described a housewife who was lazy and a poor planner. On the other hand,only one woman in the other group described the housewife,who had included regular coffee on,her list was lazy; only six of that group suggested that she was a poor planner. Eight women felt that the instant-coffee user was probably not a good wife!No one in the other group drew such a conclusion about the housewife who intended to buy regular coffee. | high20590.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Adventurous."
},
"options": [
"Sensitive.",
"Adventurous.",
"Strict.",
"Generous."
],
"question": "Which of the following can be used to describe the author's father?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"an... | For Canadians, backpacking Europe is a special ceremony signifying a new life stage. Unlike package tours, backpacking is a struggle, full of discovery and chance connections. It is about focusing on something different from our own lives and losing ourselves in a new world, if only for a moment.
Well, that's what backpacking Europe is supposed to do. That's what it used to do before modern communications, social media, and commercial hostelling . Older Canadians would not recognize the Europe that they backpacked in the 1960s, 1970s and even the 1980s. Far from a rough adventure into foreign cultures, the European experience has been _ in part by today's technology.
A few years ago, I took my then 60-year-old father on a backpacking trip across part of Europe and Turkey. As he is an experienced traveler and someone who possesses a strong sense of adventure, I decided that we'd travel on a budget, staying in hostel dorms. For him, backpacking through Europe in 1969 was about independence and struggle. But two things surprised him at the end of our journey. First was how technology-based backpacking had become: Young people were so directly connected to home that they were hardly away in any meaningful sense. Second, the lack of connections we made with locals. Instead of making us feel closer to a place, he found commercial hostelling actually made us more alienated .
But there was some room for hope. While technology takes our attention away from the beauty and history before us, there were also ways in which it helped us to connect with our surroundings. Websites like Airbnb have made it easier to stay with enthusiastic locals. Couch Surfing helps organize meet-ups between locals and travelers. The online marketplace Dopios offers a chance to meet locals through enjoyable experiences like a personalized city tour.
Backpacking can never be the way it was for our parents' generation. But doing a little study of history and culture before leaving, and bravely getting rid of any electronic devices while traveling, will help give young travelers a taste of the glory days. | high9069.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "That he wanted to find a better job."
},
"options": [
"That he has nothing to do.",
"That he couldn't find a job.",
"That the cost of the college is low.",
"That he wanted to find a better job."
],
"question": "... | I went to Arizona earlier this month to see what the college of the future might look like. What I found is an exciting new era of higher education that will help more students get a great, personalized education at an affordable price.
This future may not always include the lecture halls, dormitories, and other features of the traditional college experience. Instead, the colleges I visited are experimenting with ways for students to get their degrees online, allowing them to take courses any place and at any time.
These " _ ," as they are sometimes called, are at the forefront of the effort to broaden access to higher education, especially for low-income students with full-time jobs and families. During my visit, I heard encouraging stories of students who were taking advantage of these flexible learning models to pursue degrees that could put them on paths to new careers.
One of those students was Shawn Lee. He had a compelling story: After dropping out of college decades ago, he found himself in a series of low-paying, often back-breaking jobs. He recently decided to get his degree when he had his first child and wanted to start building a better life.
Tucked away in an industrial park in Tempe, Rio Salado didn't look much like a traditional institute of higher education. There were no students running to class. Just a couple of glass-faced office buildings. The college had just 22 full-time faculty serving 60,000 students, with more than half of them attending classes online.
Several students I met during my visit said they liked learning online. "I've taken college classes in a big auditorium with herds of people. There was no personal connection," one student said. "Now I can reach my teacher with the click of a mouse."
After several days' visit, I left Arizona feeling quite optimistic about what the future holds for higher education. | high13172.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He overcame the shadow of illness to win."
},
"options": [
"Difficulties influenced his career.",
"Specialists offered him medical advice.",
"Training helped him defeat his disease.",
"He overcame the shadow of illness ... | How to Be a Winner
Sir Steven Redgrave
Winner of 5 Olympic Gold Medals
"In 1997 I was found to have developed diabetes . Believing my career was over, I felt extremely low. Then one of the specialists said there was no reason why I should stop training and competing. That was it ---the encouragement I needed. I could still be a winner if I believed in myself. I am not saying that it isn't difficult sometimes. But I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't finished yet. Nothing is to stand in my way."
Karen Pickering
Swimming World Champion
"I swim 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I manage that sort of workload by putting it on top of my diary. This is the key to success----you can't follow a career in any field without being well-organized. List what you believe you can achieve. Trust yourself, write down your goals for the day, however small they are, and you'll be a step closer to achieving them."
Kirsten Best
Poet & Writer
"When things are getting hard, a voice inside my head tells me that I can't achieve something. Then, there are other _ , such as family or hobbies. The key is to concentrate. When I feel tense, it helps a lot to repeat words such as 'calm', 'peace' or 'focus', either out loud or silently in my mind. It makes me feel more in control and increases my confidence. This is a habit that can become second nature quite easily and is a powerful psychological tool" | high1435.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "show something provable in written form to the store"
},
"options": [
"complain personally to the manager",
"show something provable in written form to the store",
"threaten to take the matter to court",
"writer a firm ... | When a consumer finds that something he or she bought is faulty or in some other way does not live up to what the producer says for it, the first step is to present the warranty ,or any other records that might help, at the store of buying. In most cases, this action will produce results.
However, if it does not, there are various means the consumer may use to gain satisfaction.A simple and common method used by many consumers is to complain directly to the store manager. In general, the "higher up" the consumer takes his or her complaint, the faster he or she can expect it to be settled. In such a case, it is usually settled in the consumer's favour, taking it as true that he or she has a just right.
Consumers should complain in person whenever possible, but if they cannot get to the place of buying, it is acceptable to phone or write the complaint in a letter.
Complaining is usually most effective when it is done politely but firmly, and especially when the consumer can show clearly what is wrong with what was bought in question. If this cannot be done, the consumer will succeed best by presenting specific information as to what is wrong, rather than by making general statements. For example,"The left speaker does not work at all and the sound coming out of the right one is unclear" is better than "This stereo does not work.".
The store manager may advise the consumer to write to the producer, if so, the consumer should do this, stating the complaint as politely and as firmly as possible. But if a polite complaint does not achieve the expected result, the consumer can go a step further. He or she can threaten to take the seller to court or report the seller to a public organization responsible for protecting consumers' rights. | high19339.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "About two weeks"
},
"options": [
"The whole day.",
"The whole season.",
"About one week.",
"About two weeks"
],
"question": "How long might the blue flower bloom in spring?",
"question_type": "factiod_questi... | Each spring brings a new wildflower blooming in the fields along the highway I travel daily to work. There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eye. I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours. The afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day each year for about two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers.
This spring, I started a wildflower garden in my yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the fields would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers.
Every day I drove past the flowers, thinking, "I'll stop on my way home and dig them." "Gee, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty..." Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a tool one year for that expressed purpose.
One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had cleared up the fields and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, "Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring. "
A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a cancer. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven't been as close as we all would have liked.
I couldn't help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us.
And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, I'm sure I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden. | high3222.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The Perfect Mistake."
},
"options": [
"The Perfect Mistake.",
"An Ordinary Carpenter.",
"A Careless Old Man.",
"A Pair of Glasses."
],
"question": "What would be the best title for the text?",
"question_type... | My grandfather worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in Brazil. On his way home, he found his glasses were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what happened. The glasses had slipped out of his pocket and fallen into one of the crates. His new glasses were heading for Brazil!
The Great Depression was at its height, and Grandpa had six children. He had spent twenty dollars for those glasses that very morning.
"It's not fair," he thought as he walked home angrily. "I've been very faithful in giving my time and money to my work, and now this."
Several months later, the director of the orphanage came to the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him, so he came to my grandfather's small church in Chicago.
He began by thanking the people for their kindness in supporting the orphanage. "But most of all," he said, " I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, some people had just come to the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were very worried about this. Then your crates arrived. When I removed the covers, I found a pair of glasses lying on top."
He paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, he continued: "When I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been made just for me!" The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But they thought it was strange because there were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.
Sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, my grandfather, an ordinary carpenter realized his glasses had found a good place to go. | high11765.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "An official guide"
},
"options": [
"An official guide",
"A monthly magazine",
"A geography book",
"A morning newspaper"
],
"question": "Where is this passage likely to appear?",
"question_type": null
},
... | Sydney Airport International Terminal--Arrivals Area Specialty Retail
News link:Two separate News link stores cater to all your reading needs including newspapers.magazines and the latest best sellers.
Downtown Duty Free:Make sure you shop at Downtown Duty Free for great saving on a range of items including perfume,alcohol,skincare and cigarettes.It's your last chance before customs!
BEACH CULTURE:A must for those into the latest in beach clothing Top surf, street and fashion labels including Mambo,Stussy and Quicksilver, including children's sizes
DINING
BLUE Sky Cafe:Speedy service leaves you time to keep all eye on the arrivals gate Morning pastries.fresh juice.breakfast rolls and coffee while you wait.
McDonald's:hamburgers,fries,drinks,muffins and shakes-all your family favorites.Breakfast served until 0:30
SERVICES
ATM:ATMs are conveniently located throughout Arrival and Departures. Dollars. pounds. francs and RMB are all available.
Vodafone Rentals:This communications center offers the very latest technology for mobile phone rentals.sales and servicing. | high17314.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "1988"
},
"options": [
"1988",
"1982",
"1986",
"1990"
],
"question": "Li Na began to learn playing tennis in the year of _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_inde... | "My dream has come true.I have always wanted to be a Grand Slam champion." These are the words of the Chinese tennis player Li Na after she became the first Asian woman to win the Australian Open final on Jan.25th.2014.
"People were saying I'm getting old.So this is a great success for such an old woman." the 32-year-old girl joked.
Miss Li has a tattoo . She has dyed her hair many different color1s.And, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she told her fans to "shut up" when they got too noisy in their support.
Li Na was born in Wuhan.She started to play tennis at the age of 6.She once recalled: "As a child. I suffered a lot because every day I had to wake up early to practice.After school I had to practice more.I didn't have time to play."
Luckily, the strong girl didn't give up. thus making history for Chinese tennis time after time.Now the new champion is already thinking about winning another Grand Slam title."When you have one title, surely you will think about another," she says. not hiding her ambition.
"Chinese people are so lacking in confidence on the tennis court.If there is a person like me who can prove we Chinese can do it, the other young players in China will feel the same." she said. | high18027.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Public bookshelves spread across Germany."
},
"options": [
"Everyone has a chance to read in Germany",
"Public bookshelves spread across Germany.",
"Germany is the first country to have public bookshelves.",
"Germans li... | Fake a book, leave a book. Public bookshelves are appearing across Germany on street corners, city squares and suburban supermarkets.
In these free-for-all libraries, people can grab whatever they want to read, and leave behind anything they want for others. There's no need to register, no due date, and you can take or give as many as you want.
"This project is aimed at everyone who likes to read regardless of age or education. It is open for everybody," Michael Aubermann, one of the organizers of the free book exchange in the city of Cologne, told The Associated Press.
"We installed our other outdoor shelves last year and it's been working really well," said Aubermann, a 44-year-old who works in IT management.
The public hook shelves, which are usually financed by donations and cared for by local \ volunteer groups, have appeared independently of each other in many cities across Germany including Berlin, Hannover and Bonn, and also in suburbs and villages.
Each shelf holds around 200 books and it lakes about six weeks for a complete turnover, with all the old titles replaced by new ones, he said.
While most of the shelves have so far been put up in upscale neighborhoods,
Aubermann and the 20 volunteers who help look after the project are planning to put up future shelves in poor neighborhoods, where residents often don't have as much access to literature.
So far, the Cologne book group has had few problems .Though a used-book seller once emptied every volume on a shelf to sell at a market. Another time the shelves were filled with material from a religious group.
Even commercial book stores and online book retailers seem to support the idea of free book exchanges. | high17472.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The Most Scenic Drives in America or How To Write Your Life Story book."
},
"options": [
"The Most Scenic Drives in America or How To Write Your Life Story book.",
"How To Write Your Life Story or Complete Guitar Course book.",
... | The Most Scenic Drives in America
Price: $25.00
Description: This book includes 120 easytofollow maps, 400 breathtaking photos, fascinating facts, tips, suggested side trips and much more.
What Works What Doesn't: The Bottom Line on Everything Health
Price:$31.96
Description: Now, with What Works What Doesn't, you can stop wasting time and money on products, treatments and approaches that don't work, and start getting real results from strategies that do.
Strange Stories, Amazing Facts of America's Past Price: $34.96
Description: If you ever thought history was dull and our forefathers stodgy, here is a book to change your mind.This is America at its most fascinating--more than 600 true stories as gripping as a whodunit, as fast paced as a spy chase, as atmospheric as a historical novel--guaranteed to give many hours of reading pleasure.
How To Write Your Life Story
Price: $26.95
Description: Discover how easy it is to write your own life story! This fascinating and practical guide leads you through the process of creating your own personal memoir. Plus, find out how to use photos and other mementos to add even more meaning to your story.
Disease Free
Price: $31.96
Description:Stop Disease Before it Starts. Doctors estimate that at least 60% of chronic disease cases could be avoided entirely, and Disease Free shows you how. Detailed prevention plans for more than 90 conditions help you sidestep everything from heartburn to high blood pressure, colds to cancer.
Complete Guitar Course
Price:$30.00
Description: Learn to play in 20 easytofollow lessons! This deluxe handbook is packed with everything you need to learn from choosing the right guitar for you, to basic fingering, chords, and techniques. Handsomely designed in full color1 and jammed with practical tips, this comprehensive course will have you making beautiful music in no time at all!
Care Free Plants
Price:$34.96
Description: This book reveals the secret to great gardening: working smarter, not harder. Discover how you can spend less effort, save money, and still end up with more time to enjoy your beautiful garden. With this book in hand, the dream is within easy reach. | high18741.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "identify the students"
},
"options": [
"play some kind of game",
"decorate the classroom",
"identify the students",
"print the photos on"
],
"question": "The cardboards were used to _ .",
"question_type":... | On the first day of school I brought my camera to school. I gave the students a piece of 8 x11 cardboard , and asked them to write their names on both sides. As they finished, I asked them to get into groups of three to four students and took photographs of them holding their name cards.
After school, I developed the film and printed two sets of photos. That evening, I started to match the names with the faces. I kept one set of pictures at home for about a week so that I could review their names each night. On the second day of school, I put up the other set of photos as a bulletin board , with a title such as "Presenting Room 108, ..."
The kids loved it! After I had learned all of their names I brought the second set back to school and stuck them onto an 8 x11 sheet of paper. I placed it in the classroom for other teachers.
The cardboard name cards that were made on the first day were collected and put on a shelf. From time to time, they were given back to the students and placed on their desks so that guests or supply teachers could identify all of the students.
I've been doing this with my grade 7 students for the last nine years and they liked it. It's fun to bring the photos out again at the end of the school year to see how much they have all changed in ten months. | high3544.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "some useful tips to recall your dreams"
},
"options": [
"some useful tips to recall your dreams",
"the way to recall your dreams",
"the reason to remember dreams",
"many details in your dreams"
],
"question": "T... | Remembering your dreams will require some efforts on your part. But what your dreams can offer and tell you about yourself will be well worth _ Here are some tips to help recall your dreams:
1. Before going to bed, keep a clear mind. Tell yourself that "I will remember my dreams when I wake up". This is actually a proven and effective way to recall your dreams.
2. Have a regular bedtime and wake-up time. Make this your routine. Going to bed and waking up at a regular time every day could aid in dream recollection.
3. Avoid alcohol consumption and taking medicine before going to bed. These things may prevent you from remembering your dreams.
4. Keep a pencil and a notebook next to your bed so that they will be within reach as soon as you wake up. Having a small lamp by your bedside is also a good idea, so you wake up in the middle of the night and can record your dreams immediately.
5. Do not get out of bed immediately. Upon waking from a dream, lie still in your bed, keeping your eyes closed and moving as little as possible. Let your mind wander among the images of what you have just dreamed.
6. Write down as many details in your dreams as you can, no matter how seemingly unimportant they may be. Do not judge the content or worry if they make sense.
7. Sometimes it may help to draw pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. Even if you are not an artist, a simple drawing can help to recall details of your dreams. | high11003.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To build a forest."
},
"options": [
"To build a forest.",
"To save more lives.",
"To make a lot of money.",
"To study plants."
],
"question": "What was Dr. Gibbs' life goal?",
"question_type": "factiod_quest... | When I was young, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never shouted at us for playing in his yard. I remembered him as a neighbor who was nicer than anyone else in the neighborhood.
When Dr. Gibbs was happy, he was planting trees. And his life's goal was to make it a forest.
Dr. Gibbs had some interesting theories about planting. He talked about trees that weren't watered would grow deep roots in search of water. So he never watered his trees. He planted anoak and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with the rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
Dr. Gibbs died a couple of years. Every now and again, I walk by his house and look at the trees that he planted twenty-five years ago. They're very strong now.
I planted a couple of trees a few years later. I watered them regularly and took good care of them. Whenever a cold wind blows, they shake their leaves and branches.
The funny thing about those trees of Dr. Gibbs was that difficulty seemed to help them in ways comfort and ease never could. | high2882.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "was born different"
},
"options": [
"was born different",
"went to school at an old age",
"could not blow up a balloon",
"failed to win her teacher's love"
],
"question": "The author's classmates were always lau... | I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft lip, and when I started to go to school, my classmates were constantly laughing at me. I couldn't even blow up a balloon.
When my classmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I'd tell them that I'd fallen as a baby and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different.
Then I entered the second grade, and Mrs. Leonard's class. She was round and pretty. Everyone loves her. But no one came to love her more than I did. And for a special reason.
The time came for the yearly "hearing tests". I was nearly unable to hear anything out of one ear. So I cheated. I had learned to watch other children and raised my hand when they did during group testing. The "whisper test" required a different trick: each child would go to the door of the classroom, turn sideways and cover one ear with a finger. And the teacher would say something very quietly from her desk, which the child would repeat. Then the same thing was done for the other ear. Nobody checked to see how tightly the untested ear was being covered, so I pretended to cover mine.
My turn came. I turned my bad ear to her, covering the other ear with my finger, and then gently backed my finger out enough to be able to hear. I waited, and then heard the words that God had surely put into her mouth; seven words that changed my life forever.
Mrs. Leonard, the pretty teacher I loved, said softly, "I wish you were my little girl." | high7722.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "was understood centuries ago"
},
"options": [
"is met in many countries today",
"was understood centuries ago",
"is carried out in forests as well as in national parks",
"was described by an Indian writer about 2,300 ye... | In many countries today,laws protect wildlife.In India the need for such protection was realized centuries ago.
About 300 B.C.an Indian writer described forests that were somewhat like national parks today.The killing of game animals was carefully governed.Some animals were fully protected.Within the forest,nobody was allowed to cut trees,burn wood,or trap animals for their furs.Animals that became dangerous to human visitors were trapped or killed outside the park,so that other animals would not become uneasy.
The need for wildlife protection is greater now than ever before.About a thousand sorts of animals are in danger of extinction,and the speed at which they are being destroyed has been _ .With mammals ,for example,the speed of extinction is now about one sort every year;from A. D.1 to 1800,the speed was about one sort every fifty years.Everywhere,men are trying to solve the problem of saving wildlife while caring for the world's growing population. | high8411.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "one cannot use them at the same time"
},
"options": [
"one cannot use them at the same time",
"they cannot be regarded as equally important",
"they are in constant conflict with each other",
"no one can be both creative... | I've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinction and one practice that has helped my writing processes tremendously. The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a finished result, they cannot work in parallel no matter how much we might like to think so.
Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest barrier to writing that most of us encounter. If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is.
The practice that can help you past your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls "free writing." In free writing, the objective is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow, the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.
Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you've persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.
Instead of staring at a blank start filling it with words no matter how bad. Halfway through your available time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices. | high15265.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To experience the life here and learn Chinese."
},
"options": [
"To experience the life here and learn Chinese.",
"To learn different dialects in China.",
"To earn money by teaching English in China.",
"To taste Chinese... | China is one of the countries with the richest history, culture and the most developed civilization, economy and political system on the planet. Their language has fascinated people a very long time and still does. These are only a few reasons for which today there are still a lot of students and tourists that are attracted by this country, its culture and economical growth. Numerous students decide to study abroad China every year as they want to experience the life there and learn its fascinating language.
There are over 500 dialects in China because of the big distance between villages and towns from the capital cities such as Beijing. In spite of great popularity that the English language has around the globe, Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the entire world because of the fact that China is the most populated country on Earth, having more than 1.3 billion citizens. This is the main reason for which most students want to study Chinese in China.
On the other hand, China has the fastest growing and expanding economies in the world and this might give you the chance to take part in future projects in different areas of China. These are well--trained specialists around the world that decide to study Mandarin in China where they can become leaders in their specific field of operation. People who study Chinese in Beijing will have a lot of opportunities after mastering the Chinese alphabet and a lot of doors will open for them, giving them a lot of chances to succeed in their career.
To sum up, if you decide to study Chinese in Beijing, the best place to start your research and gather information is the Internet. Here you have various opportunities to study in China at affordable prices. | high13614.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Just So Stories."
},
"options": [
"The Wind in the Willows.",
"Just So Stories.",
"Treasure Island.",
"The Lord of the Rings."
],
"question": "In which book would you expect to find the chapter \"How the tiger g... | Have you come across much western children's literature?
Most English speaking children grow up with the same delightful set of fictional characters. The Winnie the Pooh stories involve a strange selections of animals such as a kangaroo, a pig, a donkey, a tiger, an owl and a bear, who live together in a wood, leading fairy ordinary lives. Far more exciting and dangerous events take place in The Wind in the Willows, the story of the foolish Mr. Toad and all his adventures.
Talking animals is also the main characters in The Jungle Book and the Just So Stories. In the latter we find lots of imaginative explanations as to why the world is like what it is.
Far more laughter comes from Roald Dahi's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Whillie Wonka is the perfect adult in the eyes of children with all his clever ideas and endless supply of sweets. Also much loved is Bilbo Baggins, the funny little rabbit, who ends up having adventures with wolves and dragons. Of course, the stories go on in the much more serious The Lord of the Rings, better read a few years later. A new star in the world of magic and children's fiction is Harry Potter, the schoolboy who learns spells rather than maths. Adventures books remain popular, too. Although well over a century old now, Treasure Island is still an _ story with young Jim Hawkins dealing with secret maps and pirates. Such books make childhood a time of wonder and imagination. | high7736.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Some thoughts brought by the enrollment of HK universities."
},
"options": [
"Some thoughts brought by the enrollment of HK universities.",
"Higher education in Hong Kong.",
"The competition between HK University and Beijing ... | When the six very best students from different cities in Guangdong Province all together chose universities in Hong Kong ; when the very best students of Beijing picked up HK University while giving up the nearby Peking or Tsinghua University ; when the highest enrollment rate of Hong Kong Science and Industry University reached 48:1, it's the high time to ask where the real education heaven for students in China is.
Years ago, the answer certainly would be "Peking or Tsinghua University". But now no one could give the exact answer without hesitation . The only sure thing is that HK universities have gradually showed an unusual attraction to a great many mainland students.
There's no doubt to call this HK craze , which is even out of the expectation of those HK universities themselves.
How can HK universities shake the steady foundations of Peking and Tsinghua University and attract so many mainland students?
First, Hong Kong universities offer large-amount scholarship, especially for the top students who can receive the scholarship as much as 400,000 HK dollars. Since higher education has become a kind of heavy burden of many families, it's easy to understand why the reaction to the generous offering of HK universities is great.
Second, most HK universities receive professors and students from all over the world and carry out bilingual education. This kind of excellent language atmosphere is another attraction for mainland students.
Furthermore, university students in Hong Kong have a better chance to study abroad as exchange students.
Can mainland top universities like Peking or Tsinghua University be calm as before when facing the unexpected competition from HK? Will they take relevant measures to win back the top students who once help them set the worldwide reputation? Time will explain it .
The fierce competition brought by HK universities can be a good thing for an entire improvement of education in China. After the awakening and action-taking of mainland universities , they can perform better together with HK universities.
At least, it reminded the mainland universities the tuition fees are among students' top concern when they are choosing universities . It's time to move. | high15271.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the baseball field will play a part in helping recycle water."
},
"options": [
"we cannot buy a mobile TV before the 2008 Olympic Games.",
"soccer fans will be angry when they miss the chance to see a TV program.",
"the baseb... | With another invention in use, viewers will be also able to watch TV while walking to the office, taking a bus or simply waiting in line for lunch.
A Beijing-based company named Innofidei Inc. claims to have developed the first mobile TV chip for the market, which can change hundreds of thousands of mobiles into micro-TVs.
With this chip, people can receive TV signals on their phones and watch programs without any time or space limitations."As long as the handset terminal has a colored screen and a battery, our chip can turn it into a mobile TV," said Meng Fei, director of Innofidei's business development department. The chip can be placed into a cell phone, a PDA, an MP4, a digital camera or even a laptop. He said that this, together with plans by China's state broadcaster, would ensure the 2008 Games lives up to its promise as a "People's Olympics".
"Our chips are cheap so that cell phones with them will not be much different in price from regular phones," Meng said. "CCTV will offer some free channels during the Games, so people can enjoy the Olympics for free."
SARFT is planning to build a regional test network in Beijing and hopes to start trials as soon as possible. The goal is to deploy CMMB on a national level by the first half of 2008.
Innofidei is now busy selling their chips to cell phone makers so that the new generation of phones reaches the market in early 2008.
"Our invention successfully combines the good points of the two best-selling consumer products in history--TV sets and cell phones, " said Meng. "In the near future, soccer fans won't be tearing their hair out because they are stuck in traffic and missing the chance to see their favorite team's play."
Local baseball fans, meanwhile, will be able to draw comfort from the knowledge that--both at the Olympics and afterwards--their teams will be playing on a field designed to help recycle water. | high8405.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "His physical problems."
},
"options": [
"Living in his own car.",
"His physical problems.",
"Providing wrong reasons.",
"His efforts to help others."
],
"question": "What made the author the most remarkable stud... | Today was my high school reunion. I was the most remarkable student for all the wrong reasons. I was born with some birth defects and learning disabilities. I overcame them, but it was hard. While working blue-collar jobs, I lived in my car for a few years.
On a cold winter night several years ago, I met Dr. X in the emergency room. He was a former classmate of mine, and we pretended not to know one another. He discovered I was living in my car and heard some of my stories. Then he arranged for me to be admitted to the hospital for a day so I could get warmed up and recover. When I left the hospital, I found a $100 bill in the gas tank door of my van . I'm sure it was from him.
I now have a home of my own and I'm doing OK, considering everything. When I sent my reservation and check to the reunion committee, it was returned uncashed with a $50 bill along with a note saying "Please don't come."
I guess my classmates are more closed-minded than I thought they would be. I was hoping age would change them but my wish turned out to be nothing but a joke. In addition to the reservation return, I have also seen a few forwarded emails _ my attempts to find out about the event. I hope none of those people were blessed with a child with learning or physical issues.
I guess people never change on some things. Thankfully, I have found nicer, caringpeople along my journey in life, and for that I'd like to thank all of the kind people in the world. | high13600.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "is not so old as Chinese"
},
"options": [
"is as old as Chinese",
"is older than German",
"is not so old as Chinese",
"is very difficult to learn"
],
"question": "According to the writer, English _ .",
"q... | Although English is not as 0old as Chinese it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words, and we should be able to know where most words come from.
Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham ? About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They did not speak good English. But they ate good food. When some Americans saw them eating round pieces of beef ,they asked the Germans what it was. The Germans did not understand the question and answered, "We came from Hamburg." One of these Americans owned a restaurant, and had an idea. He cooked some round pieces of beef like what the men from Hamburger ate. Then he put them between two pieces of bread and started selling them. Today "hamburgers" are sold in many countries around the world.
Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why any word has a certain meaning is interesting, too. The reason may be found in any large English dictionary. | high1347.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "congratulate on the rover's landing"
},
"options": [
"congratulate them on finding Martians",
"praise the flight director",
"congratulate on the rover's landing",
"encourage them to contact with Martians"
],
"qu... | In today's congratulatory phone call to the team behind NASA's Mars Curiosity rover , President Barack Obama made sure that if the mission discovers Martians, he'll be one of the first to know.
"If in fact you do make contact with Martians, please let me know right away," Obama said during the call, "I've got a lot of things on my plate, but I expect that that will go to the top of the list. Even if they're just microbes , it will be pretty exciting."
Obama also said he was impressed by the attention that's been paid to flight director Bobak Ferdowsi, the "Mohawk Guy" whose star-spangled haircut and warmhearted behavior during Curiosity's Aug. 5 landing won him Internet fame.
"I, in the past, thought about getting a Mohawk myself," Obama joked. "But my team keeps on discouraging me. And now that he's received marriage proposals and thousands of new Twitter followers, I think I'm going to go back to my team and see if it makes sense."
The congratulatory phone call is a tradition for the White House. But it was clear that Obama particularly enjoyed congratulating the scientists and engineers behind the amazingly successful landing of NASA's newest Mars exploration.
He also said the achievement reflected the American spirit, and he gave his personal promise to protect these critical investments in science and technology.
"This is the kind of thing that inspires kids across the country," he said. "They're telling their moms and dads they want to be part of a Mars mission, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars. And that kind of inspiration is the byproduct of work of the sort that you guys have done."
The Curiosity rover's $2.5 billion mission focuses on studying billions of years' worth of geology on Mars and determining whether the planet was ever potentially suitable for people to live in. The mission is not specifically designed to explore life, even on the range of microbes, but it could point the way for future life-exploration experiments. | high6428.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Televisions."
},
"options": [
"Cars.",
"Smart-phones.",
"Computers.",
"Televisions."
],
"question": "At the 2013 CES, which item drew the most attention?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"... | Televisions were among the most talked about items at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Some employed the most advanced technology ever.
Some of the TVs used a new technology called Organic Light Emitting Diodes, or OLED. They were thinner, lighter, offered better color1 and were brighter than traditional LEDs. Smart TVs this year were smarter. Many offered technology that let users have a more personalized experience. One such TV from the electronics company TCL uses sensors and voice recognition to determine who is watching. It then offers programming based on the specific user. Another TV from Panasonic offers a similar personalized user experience.
In addition to television technology, size also played a major part in CES 2013. Televisions varied in size from big to bigger, with at least two companies -- Samsung and HiSense -- exhibiting TVs measuring 110 inches.
The yearly Consumer Electronics Show is the biggest technology trade show in North America and one of the biggest in the world.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, the group that organizes CES. He gave one of the keynote speeches on opening day.
"Now you know that CES is more than a trade show. It's a gathering of the brightest minds and the top leaders from many industries and those seeking a glimpse into the future."
That glimpse into the future included a look at digital health and fitness devices, which were also big at CES 2013. There were devices that track your activity and others that measure blood pressure, heart rate and weight. There was even a fork that tells you when you are eating too fast.
Cars, smart-phones, tablet computers and PCs also made news. And a 27-inch table computer drew quite a bit of attention.
CEA President Gary Shapiro says there was much to see but not nearly enough time to see it all. "You cannot see the show in the four days that you have. We have over 3200 different industries showing over 20,000 new products. It's ly incredible." | high17466.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "under a road built like a bridge"
},
"options": [
"on his way to the Post Office",
"stopping off a shop",
"doing some shopping",
"under a road built like a bridge"
],
"question": "When the earthquake took place,... | I shall never forget the day when the earthquake took place. The time was about 5 o'clock in the afternoon and I was driving along the road to take my daughter from school. Our plan was to go swimming together. I had finished my work at 4 o'clock and then gone to the Post Office. Then I'd stopped off at a shop in order to get some fresh fruit. We like to have some fruit to eat after our swim.
I was driving along a high road on my way to my daughter's school. Over my road was another road which was built like a bridge for cars coming to the other way. I was hungry so I put the bag of apples in the seat beside me and started to eat one.
Suddenly I saw the cars in front of me start to move from side to side. Then my car started to shake! I didn't know what was happening. Perhaps something had gone wrong with my car. I drove a little more slowly and then I stopped the car and at the same moment the road fell onto the cars in front of me.
I found myself in the dark. I couldn't move. The bottom parts of both of my legs and my feet were hurting badly and I couldn't move them. All around me was quiet. But above me I could hear shouts and a lot of noise. Then I memorized what had happened. I had been in an earthquake.
For about two hours nobody came. Luckily I could reach the bag of apples, so at least I had plenty to eat. Then I heard people climbing towards me. A team of people had come to see if anyone was under the broken road. I called out. "I'm here!" I heard a shout. Soon a stranger climbed to the side of the road near my car. "How are you doing?" he asked.
"Not too bad," I said, "but my feet and leg feel as if they're broken." "We'll have you out of there just as soon as we can." They didn't get me out until the next morning. I had been in my car for fourteen hours. | high5121.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "630"
},
"options": [
"300",
"540",
"630",
"654"
],
"question": "If the price of dinner in a retaurant is 600 yuan normally, it will be _ yuan for the Lunar New Year's eve in 2007 at least.",
"question_ty... | Prices for the Lunar New Year's eve dinners in 2007, the most important dinner for the Chinese people, will be 5 to 9 percent higher as restaurant reservations boom for the festival, Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday.
This year, the Lunar New Year's eve festival falls on February 17.
The tradition meal, know as nianyefan, is for family reunions in prefix = st1 /Chinaand to enjoy a homecoming feast, similar to Christmas dinners in the west.
"Agricultural products are more expensive than previous years, and this directly leads to the prices increase of nianyefan," Xia Xiangqing, a senior official with the Shanghai Restaurants Association, told the newspaper, "Labour and transport also cost more."
Up till a few years ago, almost every family in the city ate at home or the home of a close , with restaurants shutting down for the evening.
However, most families in the city now prefer to head out to a restaurant on that night to save the trouble of cooking and cleaning at home.
In fact, "if you haven't reserved a table yet, you may be out of luck as most of the city's restaurants are already booked before the new year," Xia said.
"In the past, restaurants decided everything," Xia said. "They sometimes refused to return the customers deposit if they wanted to cancel their reservation."
Xia also told the newspaper yesterday that the association is working on some standards for nianyefan to avoid complaints from customers. | high18755.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the pleasing color of the package"
},
"options": [
"the pleasing color of the package",
"he special taste of the product",
"the strange shape of the package",
"the belief in the product"
],
"question": "Accordin... | There are thousands of products of all colors and shapes in a supermarket, making you believe that they are worth a try.How? Packaging is the silent but persuading salesman.
There on the shelves, each bottle, can ,box, and jar has been carefully designed and measured to speak to the inner self of the consumer, because he/she is buying not only a product but also his/her belief in life.Scientists have studied consumer behavior recently and found that the look of the package has a great effect on the "quality" of the product and on how well it sells, because "consumers generally cannot tell between a product and its package.Many products are packages and many packages are products.", as Louis Cheskin, the first social scientist studying consumers' feelings for packaging, noticed.
Colors are one of the best tools in packaging.Studies of eye movement have shown that colours draw human attention quickly.Take V8 for example.For many years, the bright red color of tomatoes and carrots on the thin bottle makes you feel that it is very good for your body.And the word "green" today can keep food prices going up.
Shapes are another attraction.Circles often suggest happiness and peacefulness, because these shapes are pleasing to both the eye and the heart.That's why the round yellow M signs of McDonald's are inviting to both young and old.
This new consumer response to the colors and shapes of packages reminds producers and sellers that people by to satisfy both body and soul. | high10309.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "If we get what we want at a good price"
},
"options": [
"if the weather is not very cold",
"if we don't have to fight for the best deals",
"if we don't have to get up early",
"If we get what we want at a good price"
... | It's a goal for millions and millions of families every year----keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales.
No one wants to get up at four o'clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it's surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes----it can be well worth. Many retailers offer _ all through the day----and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Pay close attention to advertisements.
Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online.
Some of us don't like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don't like to go out in the cold at all----thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.
The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what's left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store. | high11017.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Bored"
},
"options": [
"Angry",
"Bored",
"Excited",
"Happy"
],
"question": "How did the writer feel when hearing the woman's talking?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"an... | One afternoon, in Paris, I took a trip to an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting. I was looking forward to a quiet view of some great paintings of excellent artists.
A young couple looking at the paintings in front of me were talking non-stop. I watched them a moment and decided she was doing all the talking. In fact, I was surprised at this man for putting up with her everlasting speech. Bored by their noise, I moved on.
I met them several times as I moved through those rooms of art. Each time I heard her voice, I moved away at once.
I was standing at the museum gift shop buying some cards when the couple walked to the exit .
"He's a brave man," said the shop assistant. "Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age. But he and his wife come in whenever there's a new art show."
It explained the non-stop talk! A sudden sense of shame came to my heart for what I was thinking just now. "But what does he get out of the art?" I asked.
"His wife describes each painting so he can see it in his head."
At that moment I realized what is patience, courage and love. I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person who can't see and courage of a husband who would not allow blindness change his love towards art. And I felt the love shared by the two as I watched them walking away holding each other's hands. | high16778.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "3"
},
"options": [
"5",
"4",
"3",
"2"
],
"question": "How many ways do some experts put forward to fight against sandstorm?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index... | As most people know, in the past few years, sandstorms have swept across many cities and areas of North China, polluting the air and disturbing daily lives of human beings. People look dirty and suffer many kinds of illnesses, such as breath difficulty. The sandstorm is such a serious problem that it has not only _ the industrial and agricultural development of our country but also caused a lot of trouble to the living conditions of the Chinese people. It is expected that effective measures should be taken as soon as possible through our joint efforts to limit its occurrence.
So what should we do with the frightening sandstorms? Some experts put forward practical suggestions as follows: For one thing, more funs ought to be put into tree planting and forest protection so as to keep more water resources within the surface of the earth. For another, governments of all countries should make laws on environmental protection.For example, banning the use of throw-away chopsticks and punishing illegal tree cutting. Scientists should also study and find ways to cut down the degree of its destruction and to improve the whole environment.
How people look forward to sunny days with little breeze touching their faces now and forever! Nevertheless, I am fully confident that the golden days can come back so long as everyone tried his best to protect natural environment from today on. | high3236.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To win over the voters who have not decide which candidate to vote for."
},
"options": [
"To make sure that their supporters understand their policies.",
"To collect enough money for campaign ads.",
"To paint their rival as b... | Washington, November 1, 2012 (CNN) -- After years of planning and months of campaigning , the most expensive presidential race in history comes down to a final five-day whirlwind of speeches and television ads in the eight states still up for grabs.
President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney plan to hold virtually nonstop events between now and the Tuesday election considered too close to call.
The focus is on battleground states worth 95 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Both sides are trying to close the deal with a decreasing number of uncommitted voters, while making sure supporters actually cast ballots.
That means a game of campaign chess that started Thursday, with appearances by the candidates and their assistants as well as advertising dollars allocated to the places considered most vital to success.
Concluding a race expected to cost more than $6 billion overall, Obama and Romney and their running mates will hit all the battleground states -- Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin. The campaigns also are unloading a blast of television ads and mailings that threaten to overwhelm voters already saturated with politicking. Perhaps no one said it better than 4-year-old Abigael Evans of Fort Collins, Colorado, who -- according to NPR -- cried after listening to more election coverage on the radio and told her mother, 'I'm tired of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.' | high2128.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "mutual respect"
},
"options": [
"common interests",
"long-term contact",
"mutual respect",
"a great pleasure"
],
"question": "We can base an unusual friendship on _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Making friends in the first few weeks of school is easy. Many students can find a friend in little time. They can be amazed at how close they can get to someone whose interests are completely different, and how comfortable they feel about expressing their mutual fondness.
Unusual bonds are one of the great pleasures of school life, and can lead to enriching relationships based on mutual respect. Mostly, though, by a couple of weeks into term, they are really embarrassing. And shaking off friends can be a lot harder than making them. School is all about being busy and trying new things, so you needn't feel too bad about ditching( ......) old friends in favor of new people and experiences. So long as you do it kindly.
The pace of school life can be a great excuse for turning down another invitation for a party. You can even claim to be studying---you're at school, and you're supposed to work hard. Another kind way of getting rid of an unwanted friend is to go on inviting them out, but to events where lots of other people will demand your time. Or you could suggest activities that you think they'd enjoy, but which you won't actually be able to make yourself. Then you could say "I'm really busy at the moment. I'll give you a call when I've finished this assignment".
But wait. Hasn't someone just said that to you? How do you manage to stay such company that you're not the one being ditched?
For a start, concentrate on how interesting the other person is. Remember the things going on in their lives and text or ring to check how they got on with those things. Do sympathize if things have gone badly, and congratulate them if things have gone well. Have a weekly time and place where you meet friends, so that you can invite new friends to drop in. There, the more cheerful you appear, the more popular you are likely to be. | high17300.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Sailors took tortoises aboard the ships."
},
"options": [
"Sailors took tortoises aboard the ships.",
"Scientists decided to take measures to protect the tortoises.",
"Pigs, dogs and cats ate many baby tortoises.",
"Set... | The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of South America They are a rocky, lonely spot, but they are also one of the most unusual places in the world. One reason is that they are the home of some of the last giant tortoises left on earth.
Weighing hundreds of pounds, these tortoises go slowly around the rocks and sand of the islands. Strangely, each of these islands has its own particular kinds of tortoises. There are seven different kinds of tortoises on the eight islands, and each kind is slightly different from the other.
Hundreds of years ago, thousands of tortoises were around these islands. However, all that changed when people started landing there. When people first arrived in 1535, crews would seize as many tortoises as they could. They would roll the tortoises onto their backs when they were brought onto the ships. The tortoises were completely helpless once on their backs, so they could only lie there until used for soups and stews. Almost 100,000 tortoises were carried off in this way.
The tortoises faced other problems, too. Soon after the first ships, settlers arrived, bringing pigs, goats, donkeys, dogs and cats. A11 0f these animals ruined life for the tortoises. Donkeys and goats ate all the plants that the tortoises usually fed on, while the pigs, dogs and cats ate thousands of baby tortoises each year. Within a few years, it was hard to find any tortoise eggs-or even any baby tortoises.
Finally, in the 1950s, scientists decided that something must be done. The first part of their plan was to remove as many cats, dogs and other animals as they could from the islands. Next, they tried to make sure that more baby tortoises would be born; This slow, hard work continues today, and, thanks to it, the number of tortoises is now increasing every year. Perhaps these wonderful animals will not disappear after all | high5647.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Surgeons."
},
"options": [
"Software engineers.",
"Copywriters.",
"Surgeons.",
"Fashion designers."
],
"question": "Which of the following careers is tied to special locations?",
"question_type": null
},
... | Do successful businessmen need an office? Increasingly the answer seems to be no.
Chris Ward, author of the book Out of Office explains how President Barack Obama's first inauguration speech was written by 27-year-old Jon Favreau sitting in Starbucks ; how Richard Tait, creator of Cranium, started the board game in a coffee shop; how Michael Acton Smith invented the children's virtual world Moshi Monsters in his local cafe Nero; and how JK Rowling, the novelist behind Harry Potter, believes a cafe is the best place to write.
It is a convincing view, and for basic start-ups it makes much more sense to work from home and public spaces such as cafes than renting an expensive office. Offices are hard to find, costly to decorate and involve much tiring administration. Moreover, by staying independent you avoid the misery of a daily commute , which for many is the worst part of a job.
Thanks to mobile communications, WiFi and cloud storage, together with the increasing heavy-duty equipment such as photocopiers, fax machines and desktop PCs, the traditional office is becoming redundant for many sorts of organizations and workers. Of course, factory managers, surgeons, chefs and industrial chemists are still tied to specialist locations. But many of us---from software engineers and copywriters to architects and fashion designers---can operate almost anywhere. That freedom, and a willingness to adapt, can make one's career more enjoyable and, sometimes, more efficient. | high18033.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they're not interested in how high-tech devices work"
},
"options": [
"scientists don't make much money in Japan",
"there are too many scientists in Japan already",
"they're not interested in how high-tech devices work",
... | Japan's youth are losing interest in science and as a result, threatening the nation's industrial progress. According to Japan Science and Technology Agency, young Japanese are surrounded by high-tech devices , but are not interested in how they work.
Japanese businesses have succeeded partly because they've a great many engineers. A drop in interest could lead to a decline in _ numbers and quality. "In the past, the young had a big interest in science and technology," said Hirano, director of the agency's policy department.
There are two main reasons for the problem. The first is known as "black box syndrome" of modern technology.
Electronic devices depend on tiny silicon chips , which can only be made in big factories, whose workings can't be seen by the eyes. The devices, unlike machines of the past driven by gears and wheels, are simply boxes.
Young Japanese, brought up on video games and at home with computers, enjoy using modern technology, but this is a passive interest and different from the interest in how things work. "You need an active interest to get interested in science. This is declining in the young," said Hirano.
About two-thirds of Japanese in their 20s use PCs, twice the number of those in their 50s. But only 40% of those in their 20s say they are interested in news about science and technology, compared to 60% of the 50 to 60 year olds.
"Another reason for it is that life in modern Japan is too comfortable," he said. "A wealthy society reduces people's desire to modernize and develop their country. To a degree, you can't avoid this when the fruits of science and technology are fully developed." Similarly, science in Europe and the US has also suffered a lack of interest. | high14609.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Home life."
},
"options": [
"Age.",
"Education",
"Home life.",
"Gender"
],
"question": "Which of the following may have effect on children's paten of social development?",
"question_type": null
},
{
... | Each child has his individual pattern of social, as well as physical, development. Some of it depends on his home life and his relationships with the people who love him. Children in large families learn how to get along with others through normal brother- sister play and tussles . An only child, on the other hand , may have to learn his lessons in social living through hard experiences on the playground or in the classroom. Twins who always have one another to lean on may be slow in responding to others because they do not need anyone else.
A child who is constantly scolded and made to feel he does everything wrong may have a difficult time developing socially. He may be so afraid of displeasing the adults around him that he keeps to himself (where he can't get into trouble)or he may take the opposite route and go out of his way to create trouble. Like the deserted child, he too may return to infantile pleasures, developing habits that will satisfy him, but create barriers toward social contact. | high1421.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Some advice on height worries."
},
"options": [
"Some tips on how to grow taller.",
"Some advice on height worries.",
"Some problems kids are facing.",
"Some factors that affect height."
],
"question": "What is ... | For most kids, height isn't something they can change, so what do you do if you don't like how tall or short you are? It might be girls feeling too tall and boys feeling too short but some really tall boys might not like all that height and some shorter girls might get tired of all the jokes or of feeling like they're staying little while their friends are growing up.
If you are still worried about your height, talk to your parents and your doctor. Most kids don't have a growth problem that needs help from a doctor, but it's always OK to ask if you're concerned.
So for most kids, it seems like there's not much to do but wait to see how it all turns out. But you can do something right now: eat healthy and take care of yourself. If you get the nutrition , sleep, and exercise you need, you're likely to reach your maximum height. In other words, you'll grow as tall as you were meant to grow.
And even though you may hear people say it, taking extra vitamins or supplements that you can buy in a store won't help you get taller. Just stick to a healthy diet if you want to be the tallest you can be!
Kids who wish they weren't so tall should still eat healthy and take care of themselves, of course. Eating less won't make you end up any shorter unless you really starved yourself and made yourself sick.
As they get older, most kids learn to feel comfortable with their height, whether they turn out tall, short, or somewhere in between. | high12278.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Borrowers need not go to the library building."
},
"options": [
"Fewer staff will be required in libraries.",
"Libraries will be able to move underground.",
"Borrowers need not go to the library building.",
"Old manuscr... | All over the world, libraries have begun the Herculean task of making faithful digital copies of the books, images and recordings that preserve the intellectual effort of mankind. For armchair scholars, the work promises to bring such a wealth of information to desktop that the present Internet may not match.
Librarians see three clear benefits to going digital. First, it helps them preserve rare and fragile objects without refusing the demands of those who wish to study them. The British Library, for example, holds the only medieval manuscript of Beowulf in London. Only qualified scholars were allowed to see it until Kevin S. Kiernan of the University of Kentucky scanned the Manuscript with three different light sources and put the images up on the Internet for anyone to use.
A second benefit is convenience. Once books are changed to digital form, readers can find them in seconds rather than minutes. Several people can read the same book or view the same picture at the same time. Clerks are spared the chore of reshelving. And libraries could use the Internet to lend their collections to those who are unable to visit in person.
The third advantage of electronic copies is that they occupy millimeters of space on a magnetic disk rather than meters on a shelf. The cost of library buildings is increasingly high. The University of California at Berkeley recently spent $ 46 million on an underground addition to house 1.5 million books----an average cost of $30 per volume. The price of disk storage, on the contrary, has fallen to about $ 2 per 300-page publication and continues to drop. | high15517.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "when and how children should be taught reading"
},
"options": [
"what qualities people teaching children reading should have",
"when and how children should be taught reading",
"different age groupings of children to be taugh... | When should a child start learning to read and write? This is one of the questions I am most frequently asked. There is no hard and fast rule, for no two are alike, and it would be wrong to set a time when all should start being taught the intricacies of reading letters to form words.
If a three-year-old wants to read(or even a two-year-old for that matter), the child has the right to be given every encouragement. The fact that he or she might later be "bored" when joining a class of non-readers at child school is the teacher's affair. It is up to the teacher to see that such a child is given more advanced reading material.
Similarly, the child who still cannot read by the time he goes to junior school at the age of seven should be given every help by teachers and parents alike. They should make certain that he is not dyslexic(having difficulty in reading).
Although parents should be careful not to force youngsters aged two to five to learn to read( if badly done it could put them off reading for life ), there is no harm in preparing them for simple recognition of letters by labeling various items in their rooms. For instance, tie a nice piece of cardboard to their bed with BED written in neat, big letters.
Should the young child ask his parents to teach him to read, and if the parents are capable of doing so, such an attraction should not be ignored. But the task should never be made to look like a hard job and the child should never be forced to continue, or his interest should start to flag. | high8363.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "parents to respect their children's choices"
},
"options": [
"children to do as they are told",
"children to turn a deaf ear to their parents",
"parents to respect their children's choices",
"parents to do everything fo... | At heart, parents always wish the best for their children, and they work hard for that. Nowadays, we see parents deciding the schools for their little ones before the baby is even born. Once kids start going to school, some parents want to have a time-to-time update of their kid's activities. They want to come to the classroom every day, keep an eye on whom they talk to, know the friends they keep, start telling them how to do their job, and keep talking or giving a feedback to them about everything under the sun. Besides, they send their kids for extra hobby classes, as they want their children to do best in every field.
When it comes to the education, super mom and dad have all the plans made for their children, and I am sure that they have come up with the best. So, try to fight for the dreams that your parents have set for you. However, in some cases, it may happen that the kids have some different dreams. Parents sometimes don't even consider the choices of their kids and may force them to do what they wanted to do in life. It's good to plan the future for the children, but leave at least some decisions to them.
So what should the children do? First, hear out all the plans that your parents have made for you. If you have some different ideas, then sit down and talk to your family about it. Be patient and respect their decisions, but put your plan forth, and make them understand what you want to do and why. Many times, you are not aware of the difficulties that you may have to face while _ your dreams. Ask your parents for suggestions, which will make them feel good and involved. That way, they may support you if you are going on the right path. | high14796.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "When he is spoken ill of"
},
"options": [
"When he feels down",
"When he regretful",
"When he is spoken ill of",
"When he feels innocent."
],
"question": "In what kind situation will a person say, \"Do not bad m... | People use their mouths for many things.They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In English language ,there are many expressions using the word "mouth".Foe example, If you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say " Don't bad mouth me." Sometimes ,people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because it hurts that person's feelings.Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. The speaker might say: "I really put my foot in my mouth this time." If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words , he might fell sad for saying the wrong thing.
Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something.The other person might protest: "I did not say that .Non't put words in my mouth."
Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. Ypu might say such a person, " was born with a silver spoon in his mouth." This rich person is the opposite who lives from hand to mouth. This person is verry poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life ,like food.
Parents might sometimes withold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things.For example,if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child.The parents might even tell the child to "stop mouthing off."
But enough of all this talk.I have been "running my mouth long enough." | high22224.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "4"
},
"options": [
"4",
"3",
"2",
"5"
],
"question": "The author thinks human cloning is wrong mainly for _ reasons.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": ... | I'm sure many of you have seen Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Multiplicity, or many of the other movies that describe cloning. Most of what you see in these movies is false. What you don't know is that cloning could be dangerous, to the clone and to our society as a whole. I think human cloning is wrong mainly for four reasons.
What about identity? Humans are promised the right to their own personalities. What would happen if we ignore those rights by giving them someone else's genetic identity? True, Cloning may prevent people from possessing their identities.
Also, these is a large power struggle here. Cloning means a degree of power and controls over another person's physical identity and that ignores their rights and their only personalities. The person doing the cloning would have more power than any parent would have.
Cloning would also deal with killing embryos . You might not have known, but Dolly, the sheep that was cloned in 1996, was one of over 200 sheep embryos and hers was the only embryo that survived. The rest died or were thrown away. Imagine if the failure rate was that high when we started to clone humans. cloning means running the risk of wasting too much effort
Cloning someone, at this present time, would be extremely dangerous to the birth mother and the clone. In studies done on cows, 4 out of 12 birth mothers died. There is a very high failure rate, which is shown in the cloning of Dolly. Even if you had a few good embryos, failures have been noticeable in animal tests.
So, should we work ahead in the world of cloning? I say no. the risks are greater than the benefits. It's dangerous to the clone and to the birth mother. We would be killing human lives in the process. It would also be a violation of the clone's right to its own genetic identity and personality. | high15488.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Seven."
},
"options": [
"Four.",
"Five.",
"Six.",
"Seven."
],
"question": "How many groups of mice are there finally in all in the experiment?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | People born in winter are more likely to suffer mental health disorders, according to a recent study carried out by researchers at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
Researchers raised baby mice from birth to weaning in either "summer" light cycles of 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dark or "winter" cycles of 8 hours of light and 16 hours of dark. A third group experienced 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark a day.
Then half the winter mice stayed in a winter cycle, while half switched to a summer schedule. The summer mice were similarly _ . The mice raised in equal periods of light and dark were split into three groups, one of which stayed on the 12hour schedule, one of which joined the winter group, and one of which joined the summer group.
After 28 days, it turns out the summerborn mice behaved the same whether they stayed on the summer cycle or switched to winter. But among the winterborn mice, those stayed in winter kept their previous schedule, while those that switched to summer stayed active for an extra hour and a half, which indicates that mice born and weaned in a winter light cycle showed dramatic disruptions in their biological clocks.
The finding is the first of its kind in mammals, and it could explain why people born in winter are at higher risk for mental health disorders including bipolar depression, schizophrenia and seasonal affective disorder.
"We know that the biological clock regulates mood in humans,"said study researcher McMahon. "If the mechanism similar to the one that we found in mice operates in humans, then it could not only have an effect on a number of behavioral disorders, but also have a more general effect on personality." | high5900.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Taking about the things that are most worth appreciation."
},
"options": [
"Learning from the past and planning for the future.",
"Taking about the things that are most worth appreciation.",
"Learning from the strong points o... | I have a close friend who has a good family tradition, that is, each year after Thanksgiving dinner, all of the people sit around in the living room and each person takes a few minutes and gives thanks for what really matters and what has added value to their life over the last year. This is something I valued and followed. I have thought about a lot in the last year, and I finally came up with two things.
The first one is the healthiness of my daughter. She's as healthy as she can be, and her weight and height are in good condition and she has no illnesses or genetic diseases. I am so thankful for having this wonderful baby in my life, and thankful that she has the gift of good health.
Secondly, I am thankful for the discovery of the value of writing in my life. A year ago, my website. The simple Dollar was only a few weeks old and was far from popular, but on Thanksgiving Day Last year it had about three score readers who ordered it in advance. The process of writing was bringing me enjoyment, but I hadn't yet realized that I could be successful in it and attract many readers. This past year showed me a lot and I am deeply thankful for it.
After thinking for a while, I began to realize that it was a very powerful and wonderful positive exercise. You spend time reflecting deeply on the positive things in your life, and you often realize that even when things are bad, you do have a lot to be thankful for because there is lots of good in your life, and it can shine a bright light even in a dark spot in your life. | high16181.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "he didn't want to be bothered by it"
},
"options": [
"it didn't work properly",
"it was stolen from someone else",
"he didn't like the phone's style",
"he didn't want to be bothered by it"
],
"question": "Accord... | After a particularly busy period at work, I decided to get away from it all by going on a hike in the mountains in southern France.
Before I left, I read an interesting story in a magazine. It read, "Once, while I was riding on a crowded bus, the man sitting next to me threw his cell phone out of the window when his phone rang. I was surprised. He looked at me, shrugged and looked away. I had no idea whether it was his or stolen or whether he even knew what a cell phone was or not, but he clearly wanted to be free of it, because it clearly troubled him. "
Billions of people across the world use cell phones. Though cell phones are a wonderful way for communication, they often do the exact opposite. Using cell phones can increase stress within families and friends.
So when I recently returned home, I got rid of my cell phone. Now I go outside without taking my phone with me. I've noticed things in my neighborhood I never noticed before, such as gardens. I've met new people, started conversations with neighbors I didn't speak to before and talked with some of my friends face to face instead of chatting over the phone.
Instead of keeping me off from the world, stopping using my cell phone has helped me get even closer to my family and friends. | high11836.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because China supports her research."
},
"options": [
"Because her family remains in China.",
"Because she couldn't adapt to the life in America.",
"Because China supports her research.",
"Because she was tired of livin... | Sheng Huizhen's life story is typical of immigrants who have succeeded in
America. After getting her PhD in biochemistry, she got a job as a researcher at the National
Institutes of Health. She got a green card, bought a house in Maryland and worked her way up
all the time.
But then she moved back to China. A law in America stopped the use of public money for
research on human embryos . This prevented her from doing the kind of work she
wanted to do. The Chinese government attracts her to return with $75,000 for a new lab.
She could use the lab to do her research. " Maybe because of the culture, the public in China
are friendlier to the research," said Sheng, 55 , whose family remains in the United States.
Attracted by support and a scientific environment more open to certain types of experiments,
China's long-lost scientists are coming back. Besides, China announced that it would double its
research-and-development spending by 2012, to about $69 billion. The returning scientists are
very happy about that. In recent years, more than 275,000 have come back.
Many of these "sea turtles" , as they are known, have returned with degrees in science or
engineering. They are going to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where 81 percent of the
members are returning scientists. Fifty thousand of the returning scientists are starting their own
companies, according to China's Ministry of Education, pushing the development in science. | high20433.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because her friends treated her as a patient."
},
"options": [
"Because her friends didn't realize the fact that she got sick before.",
"Because her friends didn't want to talk with her since she had cancer.",
"Because her fr... | When I had breast cancer I had to have chemotherapy . The hardest part of that entire experience was losing my hair. It was like having a tattoo across my forehead that said "chemotherapy patient." I am a very active and athletic person, so to have people looking at me with pity as if I was an invalid was very hard to take. Of course they never said anything, but if I got in an elevator. Everyone looked away because they didn't know what to say. But I didn't blame them.
The best compliment I ever received was when I was at work one day, wearing my scarf over my bald head, and a UPS guy came in to deliver a package. He looked me right in the eye and said, "So, are you on chemotherapy?" I said, "Yes, thank you for asking. You are the first person to actually acknowledge that fact." It felt so good to be talked to like a "real" person, without any pity, just the facts. I asked him what made him decide to say something, and he told me that a woman he worked with had just gone through the same thing several months before.
I had some joke business cards that said my job title was "Supreme Commander of the Universe", so whenever this same UPS guy came to deliver a package, he would also say, "Hey, Supreme Commander, how is it going?" Then my company moved to a new location, and since that time I hadn't seen the UPS guy-Bryan- in probably two years.
I went to answer my door at home one day, and there was Bryan with a package. Small world. "Hey, Supreme Commander, long time no see!" he said. He sees so many people all day long, every day, delivering packages but he remembered me after two years. What a great compliment! Of course, I remembered him, too, because he was the only person who could see me during that time when I was "the invisible woman." | high10296.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because the couple wanted to stay away from the coming war."
},
"options": [
"Because they expected to enter the film industry.",
"Because the couple wanted to stay away from the coming war.",
"Because they intended to have h... | Anais Nin was a famous writer. Nin was born French-Cuban but lived in the United States in her later years of life till she died. Nin's works had her relationships with authors,artists,and other figures as the main subject. Some of her writings were made into films. Nin was also a visiting lecturer in several colleges and promoted Women's Movement with her strong writings.
Anais Nin was born in France in 1903. Her father was a Spanish artist and a composer living in Cuba where he met her mother, a French singer working in Cuba. As a child Nin was brought up in Spain. When her parents separated, Nin and her two brothers moved to New York with their mother. At the age of 16 Nin decided to give up studying and started to work as a dancer and model to reduce the financial burden on her mother so that her brothers could go on with their studies.
In 1923 Nin got married to her husband,Hugh Parker Guiler in Cuba. In 1924 Nin and Hugh moved to Paris where Hugh continued with his banking career and Nin started writing. Nin wrote her first book in print,D. H. Lawrence:An Unprofessional Studyin 16 days. In 1939 Nin left Paris as it was a French government's request to its residents to leave Paris because of the coming war. Nin returned to New York with Hugh and sent her written books to Frances Steloff of the Gotham Book Mart in New York for safekeeping.
In 1931 Nin wrote her bookHenry and June from the Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin. In 1936 Nin publishedHouse of Incestwhich was a 72-page fiction novel.
Nin also appeared and was a part of various films. In 1973 Anais Nin was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Philadelphia College of Art. In 1974 Nin was elected to the United States National Institute of Arts and Letters.
In 1977 Nin died in her Los Angeles home after battling with cancer for three years. | high2909.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "When it's to their advantage ."
},
"options": [
"When they are at home",
"When it's to their advantage .",
"When they would receive nothing",
"When it comes to financial benefits."
],
"question": "When do people... | How can you tell if someone's lying? The answer is, they're probably not.
Traditional economics says that people are rational beings who will lie if it's to their advantage. A recent university study has shown that, actually, we're pretty honest --especially when we're at home.
Researchers in Germany phoned people at home and asked them to toss a coin. There was a strong financial incentive to fake the result: if the coin landed tails-up, the participants would receive money or a gift ticket, while if the coin landed heads-up, they would get nothing. Because they were on the phone, they knew there was no risk of getting caught if they lied.
And yet people told the truth.Over hundreds of tosses, a coin will land tails-up roughly 50% of the time. In this study 0ver half the people asked (55.6%) said that the coin landed heads-up, which meant they would receive nothing.
Previous studies had found that people were more dishonest. In those laboratory studies, 75% of people reported a winning coin and claimed a reward. So the research team thinks it's being in our own homes which makes us play fair, although it's not yet clear why.
In fact both types of study show people are surprisingly reliable. Even in the laboratory, 25% of people turned down a reward by telling the truth. The researchers say this is because honesty is highly valued in human society.We care about our reputation and our sense of ourselves as respectable people. So lying has a psychological cost and it seems this cost is more important than the financialbenefits of lying . | high18812.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It prepares students to meet the future needs of society."
},
"options": [
"It benefits the great majority of the general population.",
"It prepares students to meet the future needs of society.",
"It encourages students to l... | As a society we might want to rethink the time and money spent on education,so that these resources can benefit a greater percentage of the population.Ideally,both high schools and colleges can prepare individuals for the ever-changing roles.
High school degrees offer far less in the way of preparation for work than they might,or than many other nations currently offer,creating a growing skills gap in our economy.We encourage students to go on to college whether they are prepared or not,or have a clear sense of purpose or interest,and now have the highest college dropout rate in the world.
We might look to other countries for models of how high schools can offer better training,as well as the development of a work ethic and the intellectual skills needed for continued learning and development.
Meanwhile,the liberal arts become more important than ever.In a knowledge economy where professional roles change rapidly and many college students are preparing for positions that may not even exist yet,the skillneeded is one that prepares them for change and continued learning.
Learning to express ideas well in both writing and speech,knowing how to find information,and knowing how to do research are all solid background skills for a wide variety of roles,and such training is more important than any particular major in a liberal arts college.We need to continue to value broad preparation in thinking skills that will serve for a lifetime.
Students also need to learn to work independently and to make responsible decisions.The lengthening path to adulthood appears exacerbated by parental involvement in the college years.Given the rising investment in college education,parental concern is not surprising,but learning where and when to intervene willhelp students take more ownership of the outcomes of these increasingly costly educations. | high11188.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "put on all forms of your writing"
},
"options": [
"publish your poems",
"tell your stories",
"easily win a lot of money",
"put on all forms of your writing"
],
"question": "FanStory. com is a website where you c... | Share your poetry on FanStory, cont and you will receive detailed feedback for everything you post. The BEST way to share your writing?
The benefits of our membership for writers:
*Beginner to Expert--All forms of writing welcomed including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, book chapters, and scripts. Learn from feedback that will be written on everything you write.
*Contests--Participate in free writing contests and you can win eash prizes. Over 50 new writing contests are opened (and always free) every month. In addition, a new writing prompt contest is announced daily.
*Rankings--If you are talented enough you can earn a top rank or even the No, I spot in the rankings. Every comment counts towards your rank.
*Pressure Free Feedback--You will receive at least three reviews for everything you post. These reviews are included with your membership, A large reviewer base means you do not have to write reviews to get reviews.
*Magazine Subscription --Your membership includes a subscription to Lua Flow--our online magazine for writers.
*Fun--Enjoy an online experience with no match. Put your writing to work for you and enjoy the friendly and competitive nature of FanStory. com.
*Great Value--Free membership will get you started. Membership for writers is as low as $ 2.80 per month. One week trial period for membership.
Pricing details:
Join right now for a full year (or two!) and enjoy all the benefits of our membership for writers. You'll be posting in a few minutes. Start Your Membership For Writers Now!
2 years for $ 67--$ 2.80 per month!
1 year for $ 48--$ 3.95 per month!
subscription--$ 6.95 per month!
For over nine years we have been helping writers improve their skills. Get started with your free membership! | high23884.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "601,700"
},
"options": [
"17,000,000",
"1,301,700",
"601,700",
"1300,000"
],
"question": "Every year the number of the students who die or are injured because of alcohol in the USA adds up to about _ .",
"... | The legal age for drinking alcohol in the Unite States is twenty-one. Underage drinking is a crime but also a common part of college social life. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we look at alcohol rules at American colleges and universities. These rules differ from school to school, but many schools have been moving to strengthen their rules.
The United States has more than 17,000,000 students in higher education. Each year, 1700 of them die from alcohol-related road crashes and other injuries. 600,000 more are injured while under the influence of alcohol. And almost 700,000 are attacked by another drunken.
One behavior that college officials are trying to prevent is too much drink. Some researchers have found that students who think binge drinking is normal often think extremely how much other students really drink. A person can die of alcohol poisoning. At Oklahoma University, a nineteen-year-old student died from drinking heavily at a party in 2005.
Now alcohol is banned from all sorority houses and university housing. Student organizations can serve alcohol at events but only on Friday and Saturday nights. Other new requirements include an alcohol education program that first-year students take online.
The rules govern behavior on campus and off. With a first violation ,students pay seventy-five dollars and their parents are told. They must also take an alcohol education class. For a second "strike", they have to pay one hundred fifty dollars. A third strike means that they have to be suspended school for at least one semester.
Since 2005,363 students have had a first strike. 30 have had a second strike-and only one hasn't allowed to go to school for one semester. The president at Oklahoma tells us the aim is not just to punish but to change the behavior and culture at the university. | high12481.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "why soap opera is so called"
},
"options": [
"some popular soap operas",
"how people spend their spare time in theUK",
"why soap opera is so called",
"how companies sell soaps"
],
"question": "The text is mainly... | Watching TV is a very popular pastime in the prefix = st1 /UKbut what kind of programmes do British people like to watch? Well, the most-watched TV programmes every week are very popular dramas that are usually on at least four times every week. They are dramas based in one neighbourhood that try to describe ordinary life in theUK--- we call these dramas 'soap operas' or 'soaps'.
In the early days of TV, there were often dramas on during the day. Back in those days, it was traditional for the husband to go out to work and for the wife to stay at home and look after the house and the children. Most of these daytime dramas were aimed at entertaining the housewives who would traditionally be at home, probably doing the washing. Companies selling washing powder would advertise their products at times when these dramas were on, and sometimes those companies would even sponsor the drama. Hence the word 'soap'.
So what about the word opera? Well, that's because these dramas are often an exaggeration of real life. They are supposed to represent ordinary life but to make them entertaining, lots of dramatic events like murders, divorces, affairs etc. all happen probably much more regularly than they would in a normal neighbourhood.
Most soap operas these days are shown in the evening. Each show will have several different storylines happening at once that continue over several shows. The same _ will appear in every show too.
There are lots of different soaps on in theUKon different channels but there are three main popular ones. 'Coronation Street' has been on since 1960. It is set in a suburb of Manchester and it's supposed to represent working class life in the north ofEngland. Then there's 'Eastenders' which started in 1985, set in the East End of London and 'Emmerdale', which is set on a farm in Yorkshire, in the north of England. | high22542.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "in rooms at 9:00 p.m."
},
"options": [
"in rooms at 9:00 p.m.",
"in the dining room from 7:30 a.m. to 9:15 p.m.",
"in the dining room at 6:00 p.m.",
"outside the room at 3:00 p.m."
],
"question": "Meals can be s... | The manager and staff are happy to welcome you and will do all they can to make your stay an enjoyable one.
MEAL TIMES
Our overnight charge includes a continental-type breakfast.
Breakfast: 7:30--9:30 a.m.
Lunch: 12:00--2:00 p.m.
Afternoon tea: 4:00--5:30 p.m.
Dinner: 7:00--9:15 p.m.
Meals can be served in rooms at a small extra charge. We regret that meals can not be served outside these times.
Light refreshments including tea, coffee, biscuits and sandwiches can be served in rooms between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. except during the meal times listed above. Cold drinks are available in the room refrigerator.
ROOM CLEANING
Please hang the sign on your door handle if you do not wish to be disturbed. It will be easier for the maids if you can leave the room temporarily at any time between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
VALUABLES
We are not responsible for the loss of money, jewels, or other valuables unless they are kept in the safe and signed for by the manager.
DEPARTURES
Please inform receptionists of your intended leaving before 9:30 a.m. of the day concerned and leave the room by noon to allow for its preparation for incoming guests. If necessary, luggage can be left in the charge of the hall porter .
A SPECIAL REQUEST
We would respectfully suggest that in consideration of the comfort of other guests, the volume of radios and televisions should be turned down after 11:00 p.m. | high13947.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "With this device, the sleeper's hands can't move freely while sleeping."
},
"options": [
"Snoring can cause the blood oxygen to increase.",
"The bear pillow will be available worldwide soon.",
"A partner's shove is more effec... | A cute invention was revealed this month at the International Robot Exhibition (IREX) in Tokyo. It's called Jukusui-Kun ("deep sleep" in Japanese) ---a robotic pillow in the shape of a polar bear.
The pillow is in fact a serious technological innovation hidden under a cute cover. It was developed by a group of scientists and engineers at Tokyo's Waseda University to help people suffering from snoring and those who live with them. This is how the robotic pillow works: a microphone detects the noise level of the snoring, and if the snoring becomes very loud, which can be the sign of sleep apnea , the bear will raise its hand and carefully touch the face of the sleeper, leading to a change in the sleeper's position without waking him or her up.
This is definitely the world's first anti-snoring machine and an important potential treatment for sleep apnea. This sleeping disorder involves pauses in breathing, and can lead to heart attacks during sleep. In Japan, around 2 million people are struggling with the problem. When a sleeper starts snoring, the sleeper's blood oxygen level drops. The new device tracks the level of oxygen in the sleeper's blood and wirelessly sends the information to the polar bear. But the only problem is that people not only have to sleep on a bear-shaped pillow with robotic hands, but also have to insert their hands into a monitor that keeps track of blood oxygen levels. If these levels fall below a certain point, it gives the bear another cue to lift its hand.
The bear is not yet on sale, and it remains to be seen whether a robotic hand reaching up to touch one's face is any more effective than one's partner giving one a good shove . | high7871.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "which is not well prepared for snow"
},
"options": [
"which has regular snow",
"which is not well prepared for snow",
"for which snow is a catastrophe",
"for which snow is a wonder"
],
"question": "According to ... | It's interesting that the arrival of snow has effect on people in different countries. For some countries it is an important happening to celebrate each year, while for others a catastrophe or even a wonder.
But there are countries between these two kinds that normally expect snow some time over the winter months, but never receive snow regularly or in the same quantities every year. Britain is one of them, for which the arrival of snow quite simply causes problems. Within hours of the first snowfalls, however light, roads are blocked, trains and buses have to stop in the middle of the way. Normal communication is affected as well: telephone calls become difficult and the post immediately takes more time than usual. And almost within hours, there are also certain shortages----bread, vegetables and other things-----not because all these things can no longer be produced or sent to shops, but mainly because people are frightened and go out and store up with food and so on...just for fear that something bad should happen.
But why does snow have this effect? After all, the Swiss, the Austrians and the Canadians don't have such problems. It is simple because there is not enough planning and preparation. We need money to buy equipment to deal with snow and ice. To keep the roads clear, for example, requires snow-ploughs and machines to spread salt. The reason why a country like Britain does not buy snow-ploughs is that they are used for a few days in any one year, and the money could be more useful in other things such as hospital, education, helping the old and so on.. | high12495.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Kensington Palace ."
},
"options": [
"Kensington Palace .",
"The Tower of London .",
"Hampton Court Palace .",
"Historic Royal Palaces ."
],
"question": "Where can visitors see the dresses worn by some royal mem... | Royal palace and fortress for over 900 years , scene of mystery , murder and home to the Crown Jewels .
KENSINGTON PALACE
Birthplace of Queen Victoria , this royal retreat is home to magnificent State Apartments and the stunning Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection , which includes dresses worn by HM Queen Elizabeth II and Diana , Princess of Wales .
HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES
Hampton Court Palace is part of Historic Royal Palaces , a registered charity (N 1068852 ) that receives no public funding . We rely on the income from admission tickets to the palaces to pay for vital protection work, necessary for the preservation of these national monuments and collections for future generations . Please ask at the ticket office for more information or visit www.hrp.org.uk .
VISITOR INFORMATION
CARRIAGE RIDES
Take a trip around Home Park in a horse-drawn carriage. Rides begin and end in Home Park at the entrance by the East Front Gardens. Available all day. 20 minute duration . PS10.00 per carriage . Subject to weather and ground conditions .
ENQUIRIES
For details of admission charges , group rates , the Friends of Hampton Court Palace and facilities for disabled visitors , call 0870 752 7777 or visit www. Hampton-court- palace.org.uk
RESTAURANTS &SHOPS
Choose from the Tiltyard Tea-rooms or the Privy Kitchen Coffee Shop. There are also a number of ice-cream kiosks open in the summer . The palace shops offer a wide range of gifts and souvenirs .
AUDIO GUIDES
Audio guides are included in the palace ticket and are available in English , French , German , Italian , Spanish and Japanese . | high22556.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "marula fruit can be made into food or drinks consumed by people"
},
"options": [
"African elephants don't like to eat marula fruit at all",
"it is not easy to find marula fruit in the wild in Africa",
"birds and monkeys in Af... | Almost anyone who has read a travel brochure about Africa has heard of a story ----- that elephants can get drunk by eating the fermented marula fruit rotting on the ground. Books have even been written to prove the truth of the phenomenon.
But a study published in the journalPhysiological and Biochemical Zoologytells a very different story.
Steve Morris, a biologist at the University of Bristol in England and an author of the study, says there is nothing in the biology of either the African elephant or the marula fruit to support the stories. Morris says, "People just want to believe in drunken elephants."
The marula tree, a member of the same family as the mango , grows widely in Africa. Its sweet, yellow fruit is used for making jam, wine and beer. "The first mistake of the drunken-elephant theory is that it's unlikely that an elephant would eat the fruit if it were rotten," Morris says. "Elephants eat the fruit right off the tree, not when it's rotten on the ground," he explains.
Other experts add that if an elephant were to eat the fruit on the ground, it wouldn't wait for the fruit to ferment. Michelle Gadd, an African wildlife specialist, says that elephants and many other animals, including birds and monkeys, are too fond of marula fruit to let it rot.
If fermented fruit on the ground is out of the question, so is the concept that the fruit could ferment in the stomach of elephants, according to the study authors. Food takes between 12 and 46 hours to pass through an elephant's digestive system, the authors point out, which is not enough for the fruit to ferment.
Supposing that _ happened, it's still highly improbable that the food would produce enough alcohol to make an elephant drunk. Through calculations of body weight, elephant digestion rates, and other factors, the authors conclude that it would take about 1.9 litres of alcohol to make an elephant drunk. | high13953.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "can make various complex facial expressions"
},
"options": [
"looks just like Albert Einstein",
"can make various complex facial expressions",
"can walk and talk to people",
"can turn its head in all directions"
],
... | Albert Einstein died long ago. However, a group of researchers have created a robot which looks like the great scientist.
The robotic Einstein is very special because the researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have taught their realistic robot to smile, frown and make other complex facial expressions.
Scientists believe that babies learn to control their bodies through movements, including learning to speak. "We use the same idea to work out the problem of how a robot could learn to make realistic facial expressions," said Javier Movellan, director of UCSD's machine Feeling Lab. ks5u
The San Diego researchers directed the Einstein robot's head to turn in all directions. The robot could see its expressions in a mirror and then use the software to provide data for machine-learning to match facial expressions to the movements of its small motors. Once the robot learned the relationship between facial expressions and the muscle movements, it learned to make facial expressions. Its head has about 30 facial feelings, and each is moved by a tiny motor connected to ht e skin by s sting.
Although we've never met Albert Einstein, we have a feeling that the new robot isn't exactly a fair representation of now of the best minds of the 20th century. The figure does not have the grace of the great man, but it can recognize human expressions and react to them in the right way. In fact, if you smile at it, it will smile right back to you.
"As far as we know, no other research group has used a robot to make realistic facial expressions," said computer scientist Tingfan Wu, a computer science PhD student who worked on a more exact facial expression robot. | high23648.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To introduce a new invention."
},
"options": [
"To introduce a new invention.",
"To equip the disabled with life skills.",
"To show the nose's special functions.",
"To instruct doctors to apply for a patent."
],
... | Severely disabled people may soon be able to use their noses to write, drive a wheelchair or surf the Internet, thanks to a device developed by doctors in Israel.
The device will be used by breathing in and out through the nose, according to a study. Healthy people who tested the device quickly learned to play computer games and write sentences by sniffing. Encouraged by the results, the researchers decided to test their device on people who are paralyzed but whose intelligence remains normal. Ten paralyzed who tested the device quickly learned to use their noses to write words, open a webpage, copy words and put them into a search engine.
With their success in helping severely disabled people to communicate * the researchers decided to make use of the new technology to design an electric wheelchair to be driven by sniffs.
Ten healthy people easily mastered sniff--driving a wheelchair through a maze , and a 30-year-old man who had been paralyzed from the neck down for six years was as good a sniff-driver as the healthy participants at his second attempt. In other words, a paralyzed person could use the sniff controller to drive an electric wheelchair.
At the moment, sniff-controlled technology is still in the stage of development, and the Weizmann Institute has already applied for a patent on the device. "Ill be very happy if it can help us to make money, but the real problem is that I hope someone will develop it, because this would help a lot of people," said Sobel, one of the lead researchers of the study. | high9690.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "An extinguisher."
},
"options": [
"Sand",
"Water",
"A blanket.",
"An extinguisher."
],
"question": "If a fire breaks out on a bus, which of the following should be ready there for you to use?",
"question_typ... | To extinguish different kinds of fires, several types of fire extinguishers have been invented. They must be ready for immediate use when fire breaks out. Most portable kinds operate for less than a minute, so they are useful only on small fires. The law requires ships, trains, buses and planes to carry extinguishers.
Since fuel, oxygen and heat must be present in order for fire to exist, one or more of these things must be removed or reduced to put out a fire. If the heat is reduced by cooling the material below a certain temperature, the fire goes out. The cooling method is the most common way to put out a fire. Water is the best cooling material because it is low in cost and easy to get.
Another method of extinguishing fire is by cutting off the oxygen. This is usually done by covering the fire with sand, steam or some other things. A blanket may be used to cover a small fire.
A third method is called separation, which includes removing the fuel, or material easy to burn from a fire, so that it can find no fuel.
The method that is used to put out a fire depends on the type of fire. Fires have been grouped in three classes. Fires in wood, paper, cloth and the like are called Class A fires. These materials usually help keep the fire on. Such fires can be stopped most readily by cooling with water. | high758.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "she was starting a job"
},
"options": [
"she had a new manager",
"she was starting a job",
"it was her first day in Glasgow",
"there were many lost items in the office."
],
"question": "Katie was nervous at firs... | This was the first day of Katie Daglish's new job as the new manager of the Glasgow Underground Lost Property Department. She was really nervous.
There were already hundreds of items in the room, including umbrellas, coats, shopping bags, toys and bears. At 9:30 a.m., a worker came in with a box full of new lost property .
Katie heard a mobile phone ring and jumped. She looked over to the box. There were over 20 phones there. She found the phone that was ringing but it stopped just when she picked it up. Ten seconds later, it rang again.
" Hello."
" Hello, who is this?" said a man. It wasn't easy to hear him.
" This is Katie Daglish. I work for the Glasgow Underground Lost Property Department."
" Do you have my bag?"
" What does it look like?"
" It has green and white stripes . It says'Celtic'on both sides."
" Let me see. Yes! Yes! I've got it." ks5u
" Great! My sister will come to your office in the afternoon to get it. Thanks."
Katie gave the address to the man. She hoped it would always be this simple.
At 2p.m., a lady came into her office. She described the green and white bag and said her cousin had lost it.
" I thought it was your brother," said Katie.
" No, it's my cousin." Katie thought that there couldn't be many bags like this and the man wasn't easy to hear. He probably said cousin. Katie gave the lady the bag. One hour later, another lady came in.
" Hello. You spoke to my brother this morning. You have his Celtic bag. He's so happy because it has PS10,000 in it. He was worried because there are hundreds of Celtic bags in Glasgow."
" Ten thousand pounds..." said Katie nervously. She quickly looked in the bag again. She found another Celtic bag with some clothes but nothing else.
Katie told the lady what had happened. She was very angry and called the police. Katie thought she would only have this job for one day.
A policeman came quickly. She told Katie, who didn't come from Glasgow, that, because Celtic is a popular football team in Glasgow, many people have green and white bags. Katie was just about to describe the first lady to the policeman when the first lady stepped in. she had looked in the bag and found the money.
The second lady thanked the first lady and gave her PS500. The policeman told Katie to be more careful and keep the names of people who took lost property.
The next day, the man came to thank Katie. He told her to find out more about Glasgow. He then gave her two tickets to the next Celtic football game. | high24127.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "love never really dies"
},
"options": [
"love me, love my dog",
"love never really dies",
"a dog is necessary to a family",
"where there's love, there's a dog"
],
"question": "According to the story, the writer ... | Years ago, I owned the very best dog in the world. I was a child when we got her. She grew up with me, and was always there when I needed her. She died during one of my college vacations. My heart broke then, and I knew that there would never be another dog like her.
However, I was wrong. My next dog came into my life when I was married. My husband traveled for a living. and I was often lonely. This dog taught me to be patient. He always stayed at my side until the children were born, and then he became their guardian , too. When he passed away, my heart broke. I was sure I would never love another dog as much as I loved him.
I was wrong again. We got the next one when the children were little. When he played with the children, he made them laugh. These days he spends more time with me since the children aren't around so much. He is, of course, the very best dog in the world.
I wonder if that's part of the lesson: To teach us that love has a spirit that returns again and again and never really dies.
It's amazing. _ And they fit into our families, our lives, and our hearts-- because they always have been and will be the best dogs in the world. | high7865.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "would die mostly in the sea water."
},
"options": [
"would be abandoned by their mothers",
"would be protected by the wardens",
"couldn't live independently",
"would die mostly in the sea water."
],
"question": ... | Every year seals would crowd ashore in Farne Island and give birth to their pups. Between early October and early December, 1,500 seal pups will be born. Almost half of them will not make it past the first three weeks of life.
"The pups have to stay out of the water for the first three weeks, when they have their white coat, which is not very waterproof," explains the warden ,who spends nine months on the Island.
"But when you're born in November on a rock in the North Sea, it's a tough start to life," he said. Storms often wash young pups into the water. And occasionally, young, inexperienced mothers abandon their pups and head out to sea.
"We lost 41% last year," said David Steel, the National Trust's head warden on the Farne Islands. "Mother Nature certainly keeps them in check."
Despite the early challenges for every newborn seal, the population is healthily and slowly and steadily growing. There are almost 4,000 seals on a set of islands, which is named a Special Area of Conservation(SAC), meaning it is protected under EU regulations. This successful human safeguarding of the seals' habitat is huge turnaround .
Just a few decades ago, the seal population was deliberately _ The animals used to be thought of as a threat to local fish stocks. During the late 1960s and 1970s, thousands of seals were shot in a cull that aimed to protect the local fishing industry. According to the National Trust, between 1962 and 1983 approximately 2,000 adult females and 3,000 pups were shot.
But, as the fishing industry collapsed, it was gradually replaced by tourism. Today, several companies use fishing boats to take groups of people to visit the islands and admire the scenery, seabirds and, of course, the seals that make their homes in this bleakly beautiful place. | high10282.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "too many depositors try to draw out their money at one time"
},
"options": [
"too many depositors try to draw out their money at one time",
"a bank is closed for one or more days *ks5*u",
"there is enough money to pay all it... | Banks are not ordinarily prepared to pay out all accounts(,); they rely on depositors not to demand payment all at the same time. If depositors should come to fear that a bank is not safe, that it cannot pay off all its depositors, then that fear might cause all the depositors to appear on the same day. If they did, the bank could not pay all accounts. However, if they did not all appear at once, then there would always be enough money to pay those who wanted their money when they wanted it. Mrs. Elsie Vaught has told us of a terrifying bank run that she experienced. One day in December of 1925 several banks failed to open in a city where Mrs. Vaught lived. The other banks expected a run the next day, and so the officers of the bank in which Mrs Vaught worked as a teller had enough money on hand to pay off their depositors. The officers simply told the tellers to pay on demand. The next morning a crowd gathered in the bank and on the sidewalk outside. The length of the line made many think that the bank could not possibly pay off everyone. People began to push and then to fight for places near the tellers' windows. The power of the panic atmosphere was such that two tellers, though they knew that the bank was quite all right and could pay all depositors, drew their own money from the bank. Mrs Vaught says that she had difficulty keeping herself from doing the same. | high20341.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Parents' concerns with kids' safety aren't actually necessary mostly."
},
"options": [
"Not all kids can play on the playground alone.",
"The review of the statistics details the danger of injury.",
"Parents should take care ... | There is an agreement that we are depriving this current generation of young kids a chance to do what they are not only equipped to do,but need to dotake some risks.And we're not talking about unimportant ones,either.Kids need to learn how to handle "dangerous" things like power tools,make fires,and have the benefits that occur from "playing with knives".
Hanna Rosin focuses on some of the misguided reasons we are raising "The Overprotected Kid" in the Atlantic.She says our concerns with kids' safety go beyond the actual risks.
I agree with this new opinion. For many kids growing up today,there are fewer and fewer opportunities to practice risk taking.Risk taking is an important skill every kid needs to learn,how to do something that they are a little seared of doing because they haven't done it before.Part of the reason for "Overprotection" is certainly the parental fear. This is certainly evident in terms of the physical environment.
I claim that much of the parental concern isn't driven by.fear of injury--it's more about concern with success.
"Play" may be in fact less dangerous than our structured sports--yet we focus more on the risk because we don't see the benefit.And this broader concern with success is not limited to the playground or sports field."Overprotection" certainly happens in the social and academic fields as well,as phrases like "helicopter parent" have become mainstream.There is plenty of social and academic risk taking that can also be prevented because of the perception of risk. | high18806.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "without gadgets, people may feel more pressure when telling white lies"
},
"options": [
"employers sometimes lie to their employees, too",
"75% of people have ever lied to someone",
"without gadgets, people may feel more pres... | More than four out of five people admit to telling little white lies at least once a day and the preferred way of " _ " is to use technology such as cellphones, text messages and e-mails, a survey said last Thursday. The research found that "techno-treachery " was widespread with nearly 75 percent of people saying gadgets made it easier to fib . Just over half of the respondents said using gadgets made them feel less guilty when telling a lie than doing it face to face. The workplace was a favorite location for fibbing with 67 percent of the 1,487 respondents admitting they had lied at work. The top lie was pretending to be ill (43 percent), followed by saying work had been completed when it hadn't (23 percent). Worryingly for bosses 18 percent said they lied to hide a big mistake. But, employers were not the only ones on the receiving end of dishonest statements. Just over 40 percent of the respondents said they had lied to their families or partners. Key topics to lie about were: buying new clothes or the cost of them (37 percent), how good someone looked in something (35 percent), how much they had eaten (35 percent) and drunk (31 percent) and how much they weighed (32 percent). | high5914.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It develops by examples"
},
"options": [
"It develops by time",
"It develops by space",
"It develops by order",
"It develops by examples"
],
"question": "In which following way does the passage develop?",
"q... | Business people must keep records of the money they take in and the money they spend. The work of keeping such records is called book keeping. The work of deciding how the records should be set up is called accounting. An accountant also finds out, from the records, whether or not a business is doing well. Suppose a man owns a small clothing store. He keeps records that show that he spent money for newspaper advertising, and for suit, coats, shoes, and neckties to sell to his customers. He had to pay a young man to help him in the store. He also paid rent and had other expenses.
At the end of the year. He must take an inventory. That is, he counts how many pieces of clothing he has on hand. Then he must find out exactly how many he sold, how much money he spent in running the business. If he took in more than he spent, he made a profit for the year. If he spent more than he took in he suffered a loss.
The owner of a small clothing store can keep accounting records without much trouble. But a giant oil company or a big bank has many difficult accounting problems. The company must know how much money is to be paid by its debtors and how much it owns other companies for supplies. It must know how much the company's buildings and machines are worth, and how much the company has lost in depreciation , or wear and tear, of its equipment. All of this information must be kept in the company's accounts. Big companies employ many accountants. | high16195.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "By singing the old songs they ask for."
},
"options": [
"By buying them a jukebox machine.",
"By building senior centers for them.",
"By singing the old songs they ask for.",
"By playing the piano to raise money for the... | I often write about the bad state of television these days, but recently my mom told me about a story she saw on 60 Minutesthat was inspiring, educational, and entertaining for the whole family. I went to the show's website to see for myself. My mom was right. At a time when even Barbara Walters says she's really bored with celebrities interviews, this one will not disappoint.
It's the story of Derek Paravicini, a 30-year-old who was born three months early, physically disabled (he can't button his own shirt), blind, and severely autistic .
Yet, through total luck and coincidence, his family discovered that Derek had a remarkable musical talent when he was three.
Derek can hear any musical composition one time and play it perfectly on the piano.
That's right. He only has to hear it once.
Even more unbelievable, his brain, like a computer, can keep many songs that he can immediately repeat when asked. But his talent isn't limited to just learning things by heart. Derek is a true musical genius and artist who plays beautifully in a wide range of styles and can make his own music.
With his talent, Derek has raised millions of dollars putting on charity concerts. He also donates his time to senior centers where he acts as a human jukebox machine, taking requests from senior citizens who haven't heard their favorite songs for decades.
As it turns out, Derek loves people and his extraordinary talent has been the key to unlocking his personality and social development.
If you want to inspire your family, pop some popcorn and sit everyone down to watch this excellent piece of journalism. If your kids are like mine, it will cause a great family discussion about the definition of "disability" and the extraordinary ability of the human brain and spirit. It may even give you the perfect answer the next time your child says he or she "can't" do something. Now that's priceless.
Who says there's nothing good on TV? | high20427.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "she tried to spend the least amount of time she could in the kitchen"
},
"options": [
"she tried to spend the least amount of time she could in the kitchen",
"her father often blamed her",
"she sipped from her father's glass"... | "We're leaving you a great gift,"Papa once told us, " _ !"We thought this was another one of Papa's jokes.But Papa and Mama knew the true value of that gift.We children didn't -until much later.What great gift did our parents leave us?
They left us the oil lamp
On winter nights,I felt my way through the dark kitchen to get a drink of water for Papa.I was so afraid of the darkness that I never took the time to light the oil lamp or even to drink before I filled his glass.I always sipped from the glass on my way back to him, "Don't drink it all before you get here Miss,"Papa would call.
They left us the milking
Today I buy milk in bottles,pure and cold.But as a girl I had to milk the cows each day.Then after the milking I had to wash the milk pails and pans.I couldn't use soap,because the water had to be fed to the pigs.The same was true of the dishwater.Soap in the water would have made the pigs sick.But even without soap,the dishes must shine,Mama said.So we had to make them shine!
Now we have the blessed telephone and the automobile.There's no barn to clean out,no hitching of horses.There is the warming magic of the furnace .There are the electric lights,with no oil lamp to clean.There are the vegetables that come in neat clear bags.If I want an apple pie,I don't have to climb a tree first.
And there is always water!It comes from shiny taps.
Now I know what Papa meant when he said, "We're leaving you a great gift.It's a great gift--the gift of going without.It makes you rich for all the days of your life!" | high22230.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "There are many people who have sleeping problems."
},
"options": [
"It's not good to fail to fall asleep at night.",
"People in a good company often have sleeping problems.",
"There are many people who have sleeping problems.... | If you are having trouble falling asleep, you are in good company. About 65% of Americans said they have sleeping problems a few nights each week, according to a recent study by the National Sleep Foundation. Sleeping too little can lead to a higher risk of becoming fat and getting depressed . But before you go to a doctor for advice, it is worth examining your sleeping habits one more time. Some of your favorite evening habits may have something to do with the sleeping problems.
Setting a Bright Alarm Clock
The light of your bright alarm clock can prevent you from falling asleep. You can make your room as dark as possible. Cover the bright numbers with a book or consider buying a small travel clock. Your cellphone alarm may also do the trick.
Counting Sheep
When you just can't fall asleep, it's useless to stay in bed to count sheep. If you've been trying to fall asleep for more than 30 minutes, the National Sleep Foundation suggests you get up to do some reading or watch TV for a while. Such activities will make you sleepy. Before you know it, you'll be going back to bed really tired.
Exercising Late at Night?
Daytime workouts will keep you full of energy for hours. That's why you don't want to exercise within three hours of _ . Fierce physical activity raise your body temperature and pumps your energy level--both are bad for a good night's sleep. | high3395.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Malawi Lake"
},
"options": [
"Malawi Lake",
"Taal Lake",
"Peyto Lake",
"Crater Lake"
],
"question": "If you want to visit the world's first freshwater national park, you should go to _ .",
"question_type"... | Malawi Lake
Home to 1,000 species of fish, Malawi Lake is Africa's third largest lake at 363 miles long and up to about 50 miles wide in some spots. Located 2,300 feet below sea level, it supports hundreds of local villages with its rich underwater stock. The lake's southern area represents the world's first freshwater national park. A star of the water here is the mbuna, a native freshwater fish known for eating directly from people's hands.
Peyto Lake
Banff National Park's Peyto Park is brilliant turquoise . For the most dramatic views of the 1.7-mile-long lake, encircled with thick forest and dangerous mountain peaks, pull into at Bow Summit, the parkway's highest point, and follow the steep hike to the overlook.
Crater Lake
Thousands of years ago, a 12,000-foot-high volcano in the Cascade Range exploded. The massive pit left behind became known as Crater Lake. Forests of towering evergreens and 2,000-foot-high cliffs surround the lake. At 1,949 feet deep, it's the deepest lake in the United States. If winter hiking and cross-country skiing aren't your thing, wait until early July to visit, when the roads have been plowed and the trails cleared.
Taal Lake
This dangerous beauty, situated just 37.28 miles south of Manila, is the deepest lake in the Philippines, with a depth of 564feet. Taal Lake is also home to one of the world's smallest but most active volcanoes, the Taal Volcano, which sits within its water on the island of Luzon. The lake itself was formed when a larger volcano crater here collapsed. Plenty of tour groups offer trips to the natural wonder ---- in spite of the fact that the volcanoes are very active. | high21711.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She showed in her facebook that she was still not dating anyone."
},
"options": [
"He had seen photos of Jamie dancing on the table.",
"She showed in her facebook that she was still not dating anyone.",
"Her boyfriend was ang... | Have you got a Facebook account? Are you thinking of getting one? Jamie Simmonds has just signed up. Let's see how she's getting along.
My Diary
MONDAY: I'm officially a Facebooker. I find a few people I used to know and I've soon got seven friends. I've never felt so popular! I wonder if my old university flatmate Steve is on here...What do you know! He is! Maybe Facebook has its uses.
TUESDAY: I've received lots of nice welcoming messages on my wall. Later, I meet up with Steve for a drink after not seeing him for five years. We get on really well! Then, he uses his Facebook app for iPhone to suggest me as a friend to some other former classmates. Some of them even come to the pub and it's just like old times - possibly a bit too much like old times. During the night, photos are uploaded to Facebook.
WEDNESDAY: Disaster! My mum's on Facebook! Has she seen the photos of me dancing on the table from last night? Has she shown them to dad? Oh. And I have a friend request - mum again!
THURSDAY: There's a message from my boyfriend, "so, it's over then, ;is it?" Evidently I haven't changed my settings to show I'm "in a relationship", and I haven't even added him as a friend. Ah, well, I wonder what my ex-boyfriend is doing... Whoops! I accidentally type his name into my status box instead of the search ' and now every one can see it on their news feed.'
FRIDAY: Time to update my status:"Work is boring. Can't wait for the weekend!" Yeah, that about sums it up. Oh, look, I've received a comment! Someone must feel the same way. Lots of my friends now"like" this status.
SATURDAY: Good news! I've got 100 friends But wait! _ I look through my "friend list" to try to work out who it was. Why did they do that? Am I really such a terrible person? I never knew Facebook could be this cruel.
SUNDAY: Wake up. Check my Facebook page. Make coffee. Check my Facebook page again. Get ready to leave. Change my mind and check my Facebook page ... again. I am becoming addicted to it! I think it's time to end it all before it takes over my life. I delete my account. Back to good, old, simple e-mails. Oh, look, I've got a message: A friend invited you to join Twitter. . .
In July 2010, Facebook had more than 500 million active users. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. Facebook is translated into more than 70 different languages. The world spends 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page says he's a Harvard graduate, even though he actually dropped out to focus on Facebook. The site is valued at between $7.9 and $11 billion. | high1582.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the country's heavy economic and environmental burden"
},
"options": [
"the country's heavy economic and environmental burden",
"the country's abundant solar and wind sources",
"the country's excellent location in the Pacific... | Officials say the islands of Tokelau in the South Pacific Ocean have become the world's first territory totally powered by the sun.The move is expected to save money and ease the environmental burden of depending on imported fossil fuels.
Tokelau's three main atolls ,or islands,now have enough solar capacity to meet all of their electricity needs.Until now.Tokelau has been 100%dependent on diesel for producing electricity.That has burdened the country with heavy economic and environmental costs.
The three atolls of Tokelau are about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and are administered by New Zealand.
Each atoll received its own solar power grid system.New Zealand officials estimated the cost of the project to build the three solar grids at around seven million dollars.The last of the grids has been completed.
It is estimated that oil imports make up to 30%of national income in some parts of the Pacific.The move to solar power could save Tokelau about one million dollars a year.Tokelau will now be able to spend more on social programs to help its citizens.
Other South Pacific islands are attempting similar projects.The island nations of Samoa and Tuvalu are aiming to get all of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.The Cook Islands plans to start moving to solar panels and wind turbines.And most houses in the South Pacific groups of islands will begin to use solar water heaters.
East Timor's government has promised that no households in the capital,Dili,would be using firewood for cooking by 2015.It also says 50%of the country's electricity will come from renewable sources by the end of the decade.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says the country will hold a Pacific energy summit in March this year.He said the meeting would build on the success of clean and affordable energy solutions for Tokelau,Tonga,and the Cook Islands. | high23106.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Marriott Detroit Airport and Radisson: LaCrosse."
},
"options": [
"Yotel New York and Marriott Detroit Airport.",
"Marriott Detroit Airport and Radisson: LaCrosse.",
"Marriott Detroit Airport. and Hyatt Regency Minneapolis.",... | For the business traveler who is all about efficiency: Check out these hotels that will get you in and out with a minimum of trouble. When you are pressed for time on a business trip, nothing can _ you more than a slow hotel check-in process. On your next trip, try these hotels that offer a speedier check-in process.
1. Yotel New York
The self-service kiosks at this high-tech New York hotel work just like the ones you'd see at an airport. There are just five-steps to register and obtain your card key. There is even a robotic luggage bellboy. You tap in the number of bags you are carrying and sizes, then wait for a robot arm to swing down and store your luggage in a locker (say, for a day trip). This also speeds up the check-in process if the first thing you need to do, like me, is head to a series of meetings.
2. Marriott Detroit Airport
Another option for business travelers in a hurry: Marriott is rolling out its mobile check-in app to 325 hotels this year, including the Marriott Detroit Airport hotel. (I've tested the app itself but not for a real visit quite yet.) Here is the basic idea: you download the iphone or Android app. The night before, you can "check-in" virtually. When you arrive, you get an alert that the room is ready and your key, which is already tied to your reservation, is waiting for you at the desk.
3. Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
I happened to stay at this hotel recently and liked how fast the kiosk check-in works. Like the Yotel, the kiosk asks you to insert your credit card, similar to an airport terminal. The whole process took about three minutes, when I left, I was equally impressed with the fast check-out. An agent meets you in the lobby with an ipad and asks for an email to use for a receipt. The big advantage: you never have to wait in line.
4. Radisson: LaCrosse
The Radisson is trying to make the kiosk process even faster, at a few select hotels like the Radisson Lacrosse in Wisconsin, you use a mobile app to register and then receive a barcode by email or text. When you get the kiosk, you scan the barcode to get your key without any other steps required. It's super fast. You can find this new check-in system at the Radisson hotels in Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Phoenix as well. | high14972.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A strong health system is important to fight against Ebola."
},
"options": [
"It has caused a panic in many countries.",
"It is the most dangerous virus in the world.",
"A strong health system is important to fight against Eb... | 2014 saw that the Ebola virus reappeared in Guinea and soon spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing over 7,800 people by the new year of 2015. It leads to viral hemorrhagic fever, which is characterized by high fever and internal bleeding etc.
Ebola is named after the Ebola River, where it was first discovered in 1976. There are five different types of the Ebola virus, each named after where they first happened: Sudan, Ivory Coast, Reston, Bundibugyo, and Zaire. The deadliest of the five, Zaire, was responsible for the 2012 out- break, and is believed to be attacking Guinea.
Ebola is naturally found in fruit bats, which pass on the virus to other animals by biting or sucking on their blood. Humans who are suffering from the Ebola infection might have touched the bodily fluids of the infected animals. Once infected, a human becomes a carrier of the deadly virus.
Unfortunately, there are no disease - specific treatments for Ebola. Health - care workers only supply the infected people with physiological saline to keep them in good condition. Ebola can kill 90% of those infected, especially in underdeveloped societies like those in Africa. Since there have been many cases of nurses catching the disease from patients, they are forced to wear strict protective clothes, and in some cases, not even allowed to get close to the infected. The fact that there is no cure for the Ebola virus is what makes the outbreak a challenging one to control.
What's worse, since we live in an interconnected world, where the situation in one country can affect us all, the influences of Ebola are huge: damaging trade relations, affecting foreign visitors, and weakening entire countries. It is feared that the disease may spread throughout west African countries. For every country, a strong health system can decrease the risk of health attack and lessen the impact of Ebola. | high9860.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "There was money she could use."
},
"options": [
"Debbie had money.",
"There was money she could use.",
"She wanted Debbie to stop being stingy.",
"She wanted to be crazy."
],
"question": "Why did Jenny spend a l... | I'll be the first to admit that I am a technophobe .Who would have guessed that a website would help repay a 20-year-old loan?
I'1l always remember my last day at school. My best friend, Jenny, had organized a party in the Sixth
Form Common Room;
Jenny asked me to go to the supermarket with her to buy all the snacks. "I'm really looking forward to this party, Stingy," she said. Everyone called me Stingy instead of Debbie because they thought I didn't like to spend money. Actually, it was true.
"There's lots of money in the kitty . Let's go crazy!" Going crazy meant buying enough snacks to feed an army. It came to PS 19.90,which was a lot of money in 1982.
Jenny gave me a guilty( ) look. "I've left-the kitty money in the common room. Can you pay and I'll give you back the money?"
"Sure," I replied, trying to look relaxed. ' Neither a lender or a borrower be' was my motto but I didn't want to look stingy . I gave PS20 to the impatient shop assistant.
Well, the Party was a great success. So great that I completely forgot about my loan until I was flying to America the next day. I was going to live with my uncle's family until I started university.
I tried to get in touch with Jenny but her family had moved. My PS20 was lost. Until...
I'd heard about a website called Friends Reunited which helped people contact old school friends. My husband helped me log on and find my school. There she was,Jenny Frost.
I'm now married with a beautiful daughter called Debbie. Does anyone know how to get in touch with Debbie 'Stingy' Jones? I still owe her PS20!
We met two months later and the PS20 was returned, plus interest of course. After all, I'm a bank manager now, so loans are my business. | high7695.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Man Vs Flu Virus"
},
"options": [
"Symptoms of Flu",
"Man Vs Flu Virus",
"WHO: The Major Organization against Flu Virus",
"Variability of Flu Virus"
],
"question": "Which of the following is the most appropriate... | Although we already know a great deal about flu, and although the World Health Organizations is constantly collecting detailed information from its chain of flu reference laboratories throughout the world, it is extremely difficult for epidemiologists, who study infectious diseases, to predict when and where the next flu epidemic will occur, and how serious it will be.
There are three kinds of flu virus, known as A, B and C. flu C virus is ly stable and causes mild infections that do not spread far through the population. The A and B types are unstable, and are responsible for the epidemics that cause frequent concern. Following any virus attack, the human body builds up antibodies which can be changed into immunity to that type of virus but a virus with the ability to change its character is able to bypass this protection. Variability is less developed in the flu B virus, which affects only human beings. As flu B virus may cause a widespread epidemic but will have little effect if introduced into the same community soon afterwards, since nearly everyone will have built up antibodies and will be immune. The flu A virus, which affects animals also, is extremely unstable and is responsible for some of the worst outbreaks of the disease, such as the world epidemic, of 1918&1919, when about half the world's population were infected and about twenty million people died, some from pneumonia caused by the virus itself and some from secondary complication caused by bacteria. Accurate prediction is difficult because of the complication of the factors. A particular virus may be related to one to which some of the population have partial involved immunity. The extent to which it will spread will depend on factors such as its own strength, or virulence , the ease with which it can be transmitted and the strength of the opposition it encounters . Scientists, however, have a reliable general picture of the world situation. | high23660.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he met some famous artists there"
},
"options": [
"he got well again after being ill",
"he began to make money there",
"he met some famous artists there",
"he found many beautiful scenes there"
],
"question": "L... | Today, the paintings by Vincent van Gogh are world-famous and worth many millions of dollars but while he was alive, Vincent van Gogh sold only one painting. He was a lonely, unhappy man who suffered from mental illness, and he died at the early age of 37.
Vincent van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853. His first connection with paintings came in 1869, when he got a job in the Goupil Gallery. He worked for this art dealer in London and Paris for four years before he became a teacher in England for a short time. He moved back to France in 1877 and soon began to paint.
Vincent van Gogh was influenced by the famous artists that he met in Paris, where he returned to live in 1886. He did not stay long in the French capital. He was attracted by the vivid color1s of the countryside and, in 1888, he moved to Aries, a small town in the south of France. There, he painted his most famous paintings, using strong brush strokes and bright color1s. Vincent van Gogh mainly painted landscapes, but he also produced portraits of local people, such as the doctor and the postman.
It was around this time that Vincent van Gogh began to show signs of mental illness. In 1889, following an argument with another artist, he cut off his own ear. For a time, he lived in a mental hospital in Saint Remy. In 1890, Vincent van Gogh moved to a town called Auvers. For two months, he painted feverishly . Then, one day, he went into the fields with a revolver and shot himself. He died from his wounds the next day. | high16803.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Venezuela"
},
"options": [
"Mexico",
"Venezuela",
"The Philippines",
"South Africa"
],
"question": "In which country do people eat pasta most?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Pasta is the world's favorite food. Asurveytaken in 17 countriesconfirmedthat pasta is what people like to eat most. Not only is pasta the number one food in its home country -Italy, but is alsoenjoyedin faraway places like the Philippines, Mexico andSouth Africa.
Pasta has become popular, for one thing, because it is cheap and easy to prepare. Just cook noodles or other forms of pasta, make a sauce to go with it and you're finished. Many different types of meals can becreatedwith pasta. It tastes good and fills your stomach. It produces energy in the form ofcarbohydrates , which is whyathleteseat pasta regularly. Pasta can also be kept for a longer time. You don't have to use it up at once.
Pasta has also become popular because it stands for the Italian way of life. People all over the world like it because it's so simple. It has two basic ingredients , wheatand water, just like bread.
Legend has itthat Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy with him but this is not true. Arabs probably brought a noodle-likedishtoSicilyin the 8th century. Farmers have been growing wheat, the mainingredientof pasta, there for ages.
The worldwide sales of pasta have risen sharply over the past decade. Italy leads the pasta-eatingcommunityof the world. The Italians are the number one consumers followed by Venezuela and Tunisia. | high5082.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Valentine's Day brings many benefits"
},
"options": [
"Valentine's Day brings many benefits",
"all countries celebrate Valentine's Day",
"somebody knows who St Valentine was",
"Valentine's cards are sent only by post"
... | It's that time of the year when couples show their love for each other by sending cards, flowers and chocolates. But Valentine's Day is not only about public displays of affection, and in recent years it has also become big business. In the UK alone, more than PS20 million is spent on flowers, while in the United States over $1 billion is forked out on chocolates.
Although Valentine's Day has become a global industry with more than 80 million roses sold worldwide, the origins of the day are unclear. Nobody knows exactly who St Valentine was. It is said that the first recorded Valentine's card was sent by the imprisoned Duke of Orleans in 1415. It is believed that he sought solace from his imprisonment by writing love poems to his wife.
Valentine's Day is now celebrated in many countries around the world. However, the traditions often differ from place to place. In Japan, for example, it is customary for the woman to send chocolates to the man, while in Korea April 14th is known as 'Black Day' when the unfortunate men who have received nothing on Valentine's Day gather to eat noodles and comfort each other.
Technological developments have also played their part in keeping Valentine's Day relevant to the 21st century. Valentine's e-cards have been all the rage in recent years.
Valentine's cards can also be used for less than romantic purposes. This year police in Liverpool sent Valentine's cards to criminals who failed to appear in court or have not paid fines. The cards contained the verse:
"Roses are red; violets are blue. You've got a warrant and we'd love to see you."
Who says romance is dead? | high16817.txt |
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