questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the author hadn't taken good care of them."
},
"options": [
"they were of poor quality.",
"he didn't have the right kind of leather",
"he thought they were too worn to be repaired",
"the author hadn't taken good care of... | I met him first in 1936. I rushed into his ugly little shop to have the heels of my shoes repaired. I waited when he did it. He greeted me with a cheerful smile. "You're new in this neighborbood, aren't you?"
I said I was. I had moved into a house at the end of the street only a week before.
"This is a fine neighborhood," he said. "You'll be happy here." He looked at the leather covering the heel sadly. It was worn through because I had failed to have the repair done a month before. I grew impatient, for I was rushing to meet a friend. "Please hurry," I begged.
He looked at me over his spectacles. "Now, lady, we won't be long. I want to do a good job. You see, I have a tradition to live up to."
A tradition? In this ugly little shop that was no different from so many other shoe repair shops on the side streets of New York?
He must have felt my surprise, for he smiled as he went on. "Yes, lady, I _ a tradition. My father and my grandfather were shoemakers in Italy, and they were the best. My father always told me, 'Son, do the best job on every shoe that comes into the shop, and be proud of your fine work. Do that always, and you'll have both happiness and money enough to live on.'"
As he handed me the finished shoes, he said: "These will last a long time. I've used good leather."
I left in a hurry. But I had a warm and grateful feeling. On my way home I passed the little shop again. There he was, still working. He saw me, and to my surprise he waved and smiled. This was the beginning of our friendship. It was a friendship that came to mean more and more to me as time passed.
Every day I passed his shop, we waved to each other in friendly greeting. At first I went in only when I had repair work to be done. Then I found myself going in every few days just to talk with him.
He was the happiest man I've ever known. Often, as he stood in his shopwindow, working at a pair of shoes, he sang in a high, clear Italian voice. The Italians in our neighborhood called him la luce alla finestra--"the light in the window".
One day I was disappointed and angry because of poor jobs some painters had done for me. I went into his shop for comfort. He let me go on talking angrily about the poor work and carelessness of present-day workmen. "They had no pride in their work," I said. "They just wanted to collect their money for doing nothing."
He agreed. "There's a lot of that kind around, but maybe we should not blame them. Maybe their fathers had no pride in their work. That's hard on a boy. It keeps him from learning something important." He waited a minute and said "Every man or woman who hasn't inherited a prideful tradition must start building one."
"In this country, our freedom lets each of us make his own contribution. We must make it a good contribution. No matter what sort of work a man does, if he gives it his best each day, he's starting a tradition for his children to live up to. And he is making lots of happiness for himself."
I went to Europe for a few months. When I returned, there was no "light in the window". The door was closed. There was a little sign: "Call for shoes at shop next door." I learned the old man had suddenly got sick and died two weeks before
I went away with a heavy heart. I would miss him. But he had left me something--an important piece of wisdom I shall always remember: "If you inherited a prideful tradition, you must carry it on; if you haven't, start building one now." | high5321.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "he was eager to explore the possibilities of buying a policy"
},
"options": [
"he wanted to fill out an application",
"he had decided to buy a life insurance policy",
"he took great interest in the insurance company",
"... | Several months ago I decided it would be wise to look into the possibilities of buying a life insurance policy , because I understood it might be a good investment. I got the name of an insurance agent from a friend and called the agent to get some information. From the kinds of questions I put to him the agent could tell that I knew nothing about insurance, so he kindly offered to explore the matter with me in more detail---to help me determine the kind of policy I ought to be considering.
That evening he appeared at my door promptly at 7:30; without wasting time on pleasantness, he spread his papers out on the kitchen table and launched into a lengthy explanation. I listened attentively as he talked about the difference between various types of policies, and he explained the kind of coverage he felt I ought to have. Toward the end of the evening (after three or four hours of talking), he kindly helped me fill out an application for a $50,000 policy, and then he asked if I could go to a Dr. Luther's office on Friday for a physical examination.
I don't know why, but it was not until the mention of the doctor's appointment that I realized fully what was happening. I was about to sign a lifetime contract, yet I had not really made a decision about whether I wanted to buy the policy. However, since he had spent so much time with me, I didn't want to make him feel that he had wasted his time. So I invented an excuse about things I had to do on Friday, and I assured him I would call him in a few days. Actually, I had no intention of going to see Dr. Luther or of calling the agent again. I wanted to forget the whole thing.
It's been over three months now since our meeting, and my friendly insurance agent still calls at my office faithfully two or three times a week. My secretary knows that I don't want to talk to him, so when he calls she tells him that I'm in a meeting or that I'm out of the office or that I'm away on a business trip. I realize now that it was a mistake not to tell him that first night that I didn't want the policy. Since I still can't bring myself to tell him clearly that I'm not interested, and please not to bother me anymore, all I can do is avoid his calls and hope I don't run into him some place. | high17666.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "is very suitable for an arts center"
},
"options": [
"is very suitable for an arts center",
"was out of use in the 1950s",
"was busy and crowded",
"is an eating place"
],
"question": "According to the text, the ... | The Dupont Circle park in Washington DC is a busy, crowded place. Popular restaurants and businesses around the circle attract many city residents and visitors. But few people know about the old streetcar station below the street. Braulio Agnese is the Managing Director of an organization called Dupont Underground. The group wants to change the old station into a place for the arts."We see everything from site-specific art work, which fills the space in different ways, light and sound or appliances. Or it can be used like a traditional gallery. But also as a curved space, it offers a chance for new kinds of performance. DC has quite a few experimental theater groups that would like to work in an unusual space and do different kinds of production."
The system of tunnels was built in the late 1940s. But the streetcars only ran for a short time. They stopped running in the 1960s. Mr. Agnese says the station could become a symbol of how quickly Washington is changing."Changes in the last five or ten years have been tremendous. The restaurant scene is changing, new development, new opportunities. We think there is an opportunity to create something here that helps the city to move forward."
Dupont Underground is just one example of the trend toward giving a new purpose to unused industrial sites. In New York, builders want to make a forgotten street car garage into a park below the street. And New York already has the popular High Line Park. It was once an old railroad path. The question is -- can Dupont Underground be as successful?
Bill McLeod is Executive Director of Historic DuPont Circle Main Streets. The group helps small businesses in the DuPont Circle area. Mr. McLeod says the underground will fill a need in the area."I think there is definitely need for art space, or event space, in DuPont. And I think that will be the perfect space to activate because it's very large - it's 75 thousand square feet. Very cool, right?"
Another organization tried to open a group of eating places in the space 15 years ago. That food court project failed. Mr. McLeod says the group leading the new effort has a better understanding of the project. He says the group knows it will take a lot of time and money and is successfully seeking financial support. Braulio Agnese and his co-workers hope to open the underground station to the public in the next few months. | high19893.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "People who phone while walking."
},
"options": [
"People who type while walking.",
"People who phone while walking.",
"People who text while walking.",
"People who read text message while walking."
],
"question"... | Texting pedestrians aren' t just an annoyance to their fellow walkers, but something dangerous to themselves.
"I was checking emails while walking to work this morning," said Wolbert van den Hoorn. "But it has a serious influence on the safety of people who type or read text while walking. "
Anecdotes back him up. A tourist from Taiwan walked off a port near Melbourne last month while checking Facebook-bringing an abrupt, and icy end to a penguin-watching visit. Another shopper in the U.S. was too addicted to his mobile phone to notice the fountain ahead, walking straight into it.
And as mobile-phone use has grown-to about 77% of the world's population, the study says-so has the number of phone-related accidents. The number of U. S. emergency-room visits linked to phone use on the move doubled to as many as l,500 between 2005 and 2010, an Ohio State University study recently showed.
Authorities world-wide have taken note. Signs on Hong Kong's subway system advise passengers in three languages to keep their eyes off their phones. Police and transport authorities have also warned the danger in Singapore, where the Straits Times newspaper ranked it as "No.2 Bad Habit", due to the rising number of road deaths.
Some U.S. states, including New York and Arkansas, are even considering bans on this act.
The Australian study used 26 volunteers, a third of whom admitted having hit objects while texting. They were fitted with different equipment in different parts of their body, and asked to walk 8.5 meters three times-once without a phone, once while reading a text and once while writing a text-while eight cameras captured the action.
Volunteers using the phone walked slower and with shorter steps (and slowest of all when typing), and, more seriously, they locked their arms and elbows in-like "robots", in the researchers' words. That forced their heads to move more, throwing them off balance.
"In a pedestrian environment, inability to maintain a straight path would be likely to increase potential for hits, falls and traffic accidents," said Mr. van den Hoorn. "The best thing to do is to step aside and stop, or keep off the phone." | high10109.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "fight wars in other lands"
},
"options": [
"live at home and work for the empire",
"become loyal Roman citizens",
"go to other countries and raise families",
"fight wars in other lands"
],
"question": "The Emper... | The Roman Emperor Claudius II was fighting many wars. He wanted a strong army, but many men did not want to be soldiers. Claudius thought the men wanted to stay at home to be with their wives and children instead of leaving to fight wars.
Claudius thought of an _ solution to his problem. He decided to cancel all marriages! No one in all of Rome could get married. Claudius thought that if the men couldn't get married, the men would ignore the women and want to be soldiers.
Valentine, who was a priest , believed that people needed to get married. He thought it was wrong for people to live together without being married. So he secretly and illegally married couples anyway. He performed the weddings in secret places, so the Roman soldiers would not find out.
But they did find out. Valentine was arrested and brought before the Emperor. The Emperor thought Valentine was a well-spoken and wise young man, and encouraged him to stop being a Christian and become a loyal Roman. Valentine would not deny his beliefs, and he refused. He was sent to prison and was finally killed. While he was in prison, he sent out letters to his friends and asked to be prayed for by writing Remember your Valentine.
Valentine was killed on the 14th or the 24th of February in the year 269 or 270. We celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14th in honor of St. Valentine. | high11217.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "warn young people of the hardships that a successful writer has to experience"
},
"options": [
"warn young people of the hardships that a successful writer has to experience",
"advise young people to give up their ideas of becoming... | Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there's a big difference between "being a writer" and writing. In most cases these people are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone as a typewriter. "You've got to want to write," I say to them, "not want to be a writer."
The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose wish is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S, Coast Guard to become a freelance writer , I had no hope at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn't even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used typewriter and felt like a real writer.
After a year or so, however, I still hadn't got a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn't going to be one of those _ ? I would keep putting my dream to the test even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there. | high3750.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Different kinds of allergy tests."
},
"options": [
"Different kinds of allergy tests.",
"A new allergy test that works very well.",
"When children should be tested for allergies.",
"How allergy tests have changed over t... | Just one bite of cake that is made with eggs is enough to make John feel very sick. Susan gets a terrible rash whenever she eats anything containing seafood, and David nearly died when he first ate a cookie that included peanuts. David had trouble breathing after he ate the cookie, but his mother knew what to do and she quickly gave him medicine that helped him feel better almost right away. The body's reaction to certain foods can be quite severe, resulting in breathing problems, as in David's case, or loss of consciousness for some. There are many things we eat may cause our bodies to react badly if we have a food allergy . The most common food allergies seem to be related to milk, soy, eggs, wheat flour, peanuts, nuts, and seafood. In fact, these kinds of foods account for 90% of food allergies.
According to some studies, the number of children who have a food allergy is growing. But some people now argue that test results might not actually be accurate, so food allergies are not really as common as they may appear.
There are three typical ways that doctors test for food allergies. Probably the most accurate way is for a doctor to give a child a food challenge", For this, the doctor watches the child eat small amounts of certain foods to see if the child has an allergic reaction or not. This method is very time consuming so it is used less often than the other two methods: skin tests and blood tests. In a skin test, a doctor puts very small amounts of the parts of the foods that the child may be allergic to under the child's skin, then watches to see if the child's skin reacts to the allergens . In a blood test, doctors take some of the child's blood and add possible allergens to it and then look for chemicals in the blood that indicate a possible allergic reaction.
A problem with both the skin test and the blood test is that neither will show how severe an allergic reaction might be. If a test result is positive, the child may have a severe reaction by eating this food, but the child might just as likely only have a slight rash. The test will not show which of these might be the case.
Dr. Jennifer Chafen of Stanford University studied 10 years' worth of allergy research to check how accurate the tests are. She found a surprising fact. Skin tests or blood tests given to patients who visited their doctors for treatment of rashes or stomachaches showed that these patients were allergic to certain foods. However, later tests showed that although these patients tested positive, fewer than 50 percent of them actually had blood allergies. So were the results false and can we rely on these test results?
The problem might be food intolerance rather than a food allergy. While foodallergies are mainly related to a person's immune system, food intolerance is related to a person's digestive system and the reaction is usually less severe. One of the most common kinds of food intolerance is related to people who have trouble digesting the sugar in products like milk, cheese, and ice cream.
Doctors are not sure why the number of cases of food allergies is rising. One factor that may explain part of the problem is our cleaner environment. Most children are exposed to fewer germs these days and some researchers think that for some people, their body's immune system makes work for itself by reacting as if certain foods are harmful.
While allergy test results may show false positive results, the tests are still useful and can save lives. Some children lose their food allergies as they get older, so even though doctors do not have a cure for food allergies, sometimes the body finds its own cure. | high16578.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Subscribers to the paper's print edition will also enjoy full access to the site."
},
"options": [
"Non-paying subscribers will get no access to NYTimes.com.",
"Readers will be charged more to read articles on NYTimes.com.",
... | The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its website, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a standard and fixed fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper's print edition will receive full access to the site.
But executives of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand. Still, publishers fear that money from digital subscriptions would not make up for the resulting loss of audience and advertising income.
NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is the leader in advertising income, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge--and also gives The Times more to lose if the move produces an opposed result.
The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro-and-anti pay campaigns--a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs-- and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the possibility of absorbing barbs for moving cautiously.
"There's no prize for getting it quick," said Janet L. Robinson, the company's president and chief executive. "There's more of a prize for getting it right." | high11571.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "food has an effect on your health"
},
"options": [
"you will become your own food",
"you will know what food is good by its appearance",
"food has an effect on your health",
"you will know the effects of different types... | We have proof that you become what you eat. When you know the effects of different types of food, you can use your knowledge well and eat what you want to become.
Food has an impact on our physical and mental health. Have you ever heard any of the following advice?
Lettuce or milk can make you sleepy.
To stop feeling sleepy you should eat peanuts or dried fish.
Everyone has their own advice to give, which they have read about or have been told by older relatives. Some of these pieces of advice seem to _ each other.
Eating chocolate makes you fat and gives you spots.
Chocolate contains the essential minerals: iron and magnesium .
What we need to figure out is what type of chocolate to eat to get the benefits and how much of it to eat. We can do this by reading the list of ingredients on the chocolate bar package. Exactly how much real chocolate is in there? And how much of that do we need to eat to get the benefits of the minerals it contains?
Future restaurants might be named after the physical or mental state they hope to create. Their menus will list the benefits of each dish and drink. Some restaurants have already started this concept, and list the nutritional content of their dishes on the menus.
Let's take the restaurant "Winners" as an example. Their menu would list dishes specifically designed to help you win sports competitions. Or you could choose the Go-faster salad, which is a large bowl of mixed raw vegetables in a light salad dressing, giving you energy without making you gain weight. And what kind of dishes do you think would be on the menu at the "Clever Cafe"?
So what's going to happen to hamburgers and biscuits? Will the concept of eating food, because it's tasty, go out of fashion? Of course not! Junk food is also changing. If ice-cream is not good for children, can't we give them fat-free, sugar-free tofu ice-cream? Unhealthy food is going out of fashion, so brands are changing. We are told not to drink cola because of the sugar and caffeine content so cola companies are making sugar-free and caffeine-free drinks. We are told dried fruit is a healthier snack than biscuits so some biscuit companies are making biscuits with added vitamins. | high3036.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They have much in common."
},
"options": [
"They share the same name.",
"Jasmine looks very fascinating.",
"They have much in common.",
"Jasmine's father is very pitiful."
],
"question": "Why does the author sho... | The silent young woman in bed number six is called Jasmine. So am I, but names are only superficial things, floats on the surface of the water, and we share deeper connections than that. That is why she fascinates me--why I spend my off-duty time sitting beside her.
Today is difficult. The ward is full of patients and I am kept busy emptying bed-pans, filling out forms, changing dressings. Finally, late in the afternoon, I get a few moments to make coffee, to take it over to the orange plastic chair beside her bed. I am thankful to be off my feet, glad to be in her company once again.
"Hello, Jasmine," I say, as if greeting myself.
She does not reply. Jasmine never replies. She is down too deep.
She has been sea-damaged. I too am the daughter of a fisherman, so I choose my words like fish-hooks, cast them into her ears, imagine them sinking down through cold, dark water. Down to wherever she may be.
"I have little time today," I tell her, touching her hair.
With Jasmine, it is always difficult not to touch. She is that rare thing, a truly beautiful woman. Because of this, people invent reasons to walk by. I catch them looking, drinking her in, feeding on her. They are barracuda , all of them.
Great beauty is something Jasmine and I do not share. I am glad of it.
"Your father may be here soon," I say. "Last week he said he would come."
Jasmine says nothing. Her left eyelid flickers, perhaps.
It is two months since the incident on her father's fishing boat, since she fell overboard, sank, became entangled in the nets. It was some time before anyone noticed, then there was panic. Her father hauled her back on board and sailed for home. When he finally arrived, he carried ashore what he thought was his daughter's body.
"Jasmine," I whisper. I want her to take our baited name. I want her to swallow it.
Fortunately, there was a doctor in the village that morning, a young man visiting s. It was he who brought this drowned woman back from the brink, he who told me her story. She opened her eyes, he said, looked up at her father and spoke a single word--then sank again, this time into coma.
Barracuda. That is what Jasmine said.
When her father visits, he touches her hair, kisses her cheek, sits in the orange plastic chair at the side of her bed and holds her hand. Like my own father, he has the big, brown, life-roughened hands of a fisherman. He too smells of the sea, and pretends he is a good, simple man.
Jasmine. We share so much, we are almost one.
I remember early mornings, my hair touched to wake me, my father lifting me half-asleep from my bed, carrying me, dropping me into his boat. His voice rough in my ear, his hands rough on my skin. I never wanted to go, but I was just a child. He did as he wished.
I remember salt water, hot sun, my mother shrinking on the shore. I remember the rocking of the boat, the screams of the seagulls.
"Jasmine, you have a life inside you. Can't you hear it calling?"
Nothing.
The ward door bangs, and I see Jasmine's father walking towards us, carrying flowers. He smiles at me. Even in death, my own child had my father's smile, and Jasmine's will have this man's. I know it.
He stops by her bed and touches her hair. Something stirs deep inside me. I watch Jasmine's eyelids, waiting for her to bite. | high20974.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "is harmful to working people in developed countries."
},
"options": [
"is not so serious as people thought",
"is harmful to working people in developed countries.",
"is the first killer in Germany and Italy.",
"is creat... | That "Monday morning feeling" could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath. Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday mornings and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.
The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study helped by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2,600 Germans showed that the average person had a 20 per cent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.
Working Germans are particularly not protected against attack, with a 33 per cent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day.
A study of 11,000 Italians proved 8 am on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewer heart attacks in both countries.
The findings could lead to a better understanding of what is the immediate cause of heart attacks, according to Dr Stefan Willich of the Free University. "We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol but we don't know what actually causes heart attacks, so we can't give clear advice on how to prevent them," he said.
Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid change from sleep to activity, and from the relaxing weekend to the pressures of work.
"When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal changes in their bodies," Willich explained. "All these things can have an unfavourable effect in the blood system and increase the risk of a clot in the arteries which will cause a heart attack."
"When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes. They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activity," said Willich. | high2328.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Employees should be constantly warned about virus threats to ensure the normal functioning of the company's computer system."
},
"options": [
"Employees welcome the free software available on the Internet and they download a lot of it.",... | Do you remember the good old days? Innocent times spent sharing documents and executable files without a care in the world. Okay, every month or so you might encounter a boot sector virus -- but they were easy to deal with even if the anti-virus software didn't pick them up.
But those long lazy summers disappeared too fast. Macro viruses made Information Technology (IT) administrators grow up fast as they realized there was a type of virus which could spread very quickly throughout an organization. It wasn't unusual to find hundreds of computers within personal company infected by viruses transmitted via email attachments. The IT staff were amongst the fittest departments in your company, running from Personal Computer (PC) to the next cleaning them up.
There had to be a better way. Companies now realize that viruses aren't "urban myths", and can have a serious impact on their operations. They invest in anti-virus software on the desktops, servers and email gateways and even put in place procedures to ensure their anti-virus is up-to-date with the very latest detection routines.
It sounds like companies have put in place adequate defenses to protect against viruses. But have they? Anti-virus software detects most of the viruses your users are likely to encounter -- often without the user even knowing. However, the software must be updated regularly, preferably daily in any large company. Even then, a very new virus can infect your users. With the rapid transmission of files through networks and the Internet, a virus can spread a considerable distance before it can be identified and protected against. Fortunately, only a few viruses ever do this but the likes of Melissa and the Love Bug can inflict serious damage before their progress is stopped. While employees become suddenly aware during the ensuing media excitement, they soon forget about the virus threat as the stories disappear from the news headlines.
This is the danger. Complacency can set in when there is no perceived "action" on the virus front with no global crisis, and the importance of being vigilant about viruses recedes in your users' minds. They forget what the big deal was in the first place -- after all, anti-virus software deals with the viruses, doesn't it? And isn't it the IT department's job to look after this sort of thing?
Before you know it your users are opening unsolicited attachments once more, downloading unauthorized software, and putting your company's data and credibility at risk. All because the users think that they are working in a safe environment. Employees see anti-virus software, firewalls and IT departments as guarantees that their computers will work and be safe. Of course, there aren't any guarantees. Anti-virus software plays one, albeit important, part in the defense of your company from malicious attack but the security of your computer system is only as strong as the weakest link. And that, more often than not, is the human factor.
No employer wants to come across as a killjoy or an ogre. Most will willingly accept that the happiest employees are those who feel that they are respected and trusted by their employer. Many companies accept that employees will send and receive a certain amount of personal email and make the odd personal telephone call.
However, the worry comes when employees start risking company security in pursuit of personal amusement. Funny screensavers and games downloaded from the Internet can seem harmless enough but they could easily be harboring a dangerous virus.
Software downloaded from the net is often unlicensed and unsupported, and may cause conflicts with existing software in use at your company. Unlicensed, pirated software is an ideal vector for a computer virus. Virus writers and hackers often use such software as the ideal "kick-start" for their virus distribution. It is vitally important that employees be educated about the virus threat but this cannot be a one-off event. The potential threat should always be in the back of an employee's mind and precautionary measures should be taken as a matter of course. There is no harm in reminding people about what could happen if they let their guard down. In the end, education is the key to a virus-free environment and this is a continual process. It may not be the most exciting thing on the agenda but it works.
The lesson is simple. You can have the best software in the world protecting your company's defenses; you can even be the biggest IT company in the world; but without your users practicing safe computing they will always be the weakest link. | high18233.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "we had better go on holiday for the benefits of health"
},
"options": [
"it is best to go to foreign countries like Maldives.",
"we had better go on holiday for the benefits of health",
"we have to go on holiday as much as po... | How often do you go on holiday? Going on holiday makes you feel good while you're there-you gain the health benefits for months, new research shows.
Jetting off to exotic destinations such as the Maldives cuts your blood pressure, helps you sleep better and bounce back from stress, it found. The benefits last at least a fortnight longer than the vacation and can be felt for months in some cases where it is claimed. Experts say workers should always take their full holiday entitlement each year-as many as one in three don't-to get the benefits.
The study compared key health markers in holidaymakers visiting Thailand, Peru or the Maldives, with people who stayed at home and continued working. The average blood pressure of those on holiday dropped by 6% while the workers saw their blood pressure rise by 2% over the same period. The sleep quality of holiday-makers improved by 17% while that of the non-holidaymakers _ by 14%.
The study also found the ability of vacationers to recover from stress--known as the stress-resilience test-improved by 29%. There was a 71% fall in stress resilience scores among workers. Test showed a fall in blood glucose levels, reducing the risk of diabetes, trimmer waistlines and enhanced mood and energy levels, with the effects sustained for at least 2 weeks after returning home.
The Holiday Health Experiment was conducted by tour operator Kuoni and Nuffield Health, the UK's largest healthcare charity. | high5447.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "a space for a certain purpose"
},
"options": [
"a club that children may join",
"a space for a certain purpose",
"a program for teenage readers",
"a prize in a national competition"
],
"question": "According to ... | The Opening ofThe Book Nook
Saturday, October 4 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
You will not want to miss the opening of your new neighborhood bookstore! Located at 2289 Main Street, the Book Nook is within walking distance of schools and many homes and businesses. Come and check out the Book Nook on Saturday!
Activities will include:
* Live music by local musicians
* One Book-of-the-Month Club membership giveaway
Wide Selection
The Book Nook has three floors with books of all kinds -- any kind you could want. If we do not have the book you are looking for, we can specially order it for you. You will have it in your hands within two days!
Reading Nooks
We are proud of our children's reading area on the first floor, as well as our teenagers' nook on the second floor. Come for the activities and stay a while! Settle in one of these inviting reading areas; take a seat with a good book and a free cup of hot chocolate. You will discover the perfect way to spend a few hours.
Book Events
The Book Nook will be featuring (...) monthly book signings by different authors, giving you a chance to meet and speak with well-known writers. Do not miss the experience of hearing these authors read aloud from their own books!
The Book-of-the-Month Club
Our Book-of-the-Month Club will feature 12 books each year. As a member, you will be able to select one new book each month. The membership fee is only $10.00 per month. That is a great price for 12 books each year!
So please join us on Saturday and learn about all that the Book Nook has to offer. You can come anytime between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. -- our activities last all day long! | high14409.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "learn to paint pictures"
},
"options": [
"study abroad",
"work abroad",
"pay for the debts",
"learn to paint pictures"
],
"question": "He wanted to borrow money because he wanted to _ .",
"question_type": ... | Hobbs was an orphan . He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work changed him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.One day the lawyer said to him, "One thousand dollars, and here is the money." As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded . He didn't know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, "I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I'd like to do: painting pictures I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place of the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it's too much for one and too little for the other."
"Here is the reading of your uncle's will ," said the lawyer, "telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it."
"Yes, I see. I'll do that." said the young man. | high1621.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because the experience with the ants presents a sharp contrast to that with the cockroach later."
},
"options": [
"Because the experience with the ants presents a sharp contrast to that with the cockroach later.",
"Because the auth... | A few years ago I was on a bicycle trip when I got off my bike for a rest. I sat down on the grass. A few seconds later, I was covered in ants. They were swarming all over me so I got up and brushed them off. It was a strange experience but I soon forgot about it.
A couple of years later, I was living in Jordan. I had just moved into a modern flat and was unpacking plates when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at the kitchen drawer and there was a cockroach crawling out of it. I screamed. Then I grabbed a can of _ and sprayed it on the cockroach. He ran under the nearby bathroom door. It took me three days before I found the courage to open the bathroom door to see if he was still alive. He wasn't.
Why did I react so violently to one lone insect when a closer encounter with hundreds of ants hardly affected me? The answer is easy: because cockroaches are creepy crawlies and ants aren't. Creepy crawlies are those little bugs which cause feelings such as anxiety - they make your skin crawl.
Did you know that some people feel such a fear of bugs that it becomes a phobia ? Psychologists have offered many explanations. Some say we associate them with dirt and disease. Or that these are life forms that are so alien to us, that we find them disgusting for their dissimilarity.
Insects, however, don't follow our rules - they just do what they want and invade our space. Unfortunately, although insects and bugs have been a successful animal species up to now, many of them, like many other species nowadays, are under threat of dying out. Entomologistswarn that this could upset entire ecosystems and lead to all kinds of disastrous consequences.
So my advice to you is: the next time you feel the urge to stamp on, splatter or spray a creepy crawly, give a thought to the planet and stop. | high12078.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "were fitted with solid tyres"
},
"options": [
"were difficult to separate",
"could be split into 6 pieces",
"were fitted with solid tyres",
"were hard to carry on a train"
],
"question": "We can learn from the t... | Andrew Ritchie, inventor of the Brompton folding bicycle, once said that the perfect portable bike would be "like a magic carpet...You could fold it up and put it into your pocket or handbag". Then he paused: "But you'll always be limited by the size of the wheels. And so far no one has invented a folding wheel."
It was a rare -- indeed unique -- occasion when I was able to put Ritchie right. A 19th-century inventor, William Henry James Grout, did in fact design a folding wheel. His bike, predictably named the Grout Portable, had a frame that split into two and a larger wheel that could be separated into four pieces. All the bits fitted into Grout's Wonderful Bag, a leather case.
Grout's aim: to solve the problems of carrying a bike on a train. Now doesn't that sound familiar? Grout intended to find a way of making a bike small enough for train travel: his bike was a huge beast. And importantly, the design of early bicycles gave him an advantage: in Grout's day, tyres were solid, which made the business of splitting a wheel into four separate parts relatively simple. You couldn't do the same with a wheel fitted with a one-piece inflated tyre.
So, in a 21st-century context, is the idea of the folding wheel dead? It is not. A British design engineer, Duncan Fitzsimons, has developed a wheel that can be squashed into something like a slender ellipse . Throughout, the tyre remains inflated.
Will the young Fitzsimons's folding wheel make it into production? I haven't the foggiest idea. But his inventiveness shows two things. First, people have been saying for more than a century that bike design has reached its limit, except for gradual advances. It's as silly a concept now as it was 100 years ago: there's plenty still to go for. Second, it is in the field of folding bikes that we are seeing the most interesting inventions. You can buy a folding bike for less than PS1,000 that can be knocked down so small that it can be carried on a plane -- minus wheels, of course -- as hand baggage.
Folding wheels would make all manner of things possible. Have we yet got the magic carpet of Andrew Ritchie's imagination? No. But it's progress. | high8163.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "e-PALS"
},
"options": [
"KidFu",
"Europe Pages",
"e-PALS",
"spoton. community"
],
"question": "A teacher can visit _ to help his/her pupils to get pen-pals.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | Hello, you guys! Do you want to make e-pals via the Internet and have fun? Here's some advice for you to follow. First take a look at
. Click on international pen-pal sites to find some of our favorite international e-pal and pen-pal web sites. Don't forget: some e-pal services cost money and some are safer than others. Remember to read a web site safety warning before you join!
KidFu (
m)says it is the safest place online for kids to chat, play games and make friends. Get your parents to help you register and then you can write things about yourself or read what other kids have written. There're also chat monitors that make sure that the online chat rooms are safe and friendly. KidFu costs money, but the first month is free.
If you join e-PALS (
you can choose a pen-pal from over 65,000 kids from 191 countries. You can also find information about how teachers can get pen-pals for their pupils. Or if you want to start sending e-mails right now, go to Europe Pages(
). Lots of young people have written their names, interests, home countries and their e-mail addresses. Just click on a name and start writing!
Well, however, there are tips that you should keep in mind: never be absorbed in the line for too long, so stay there not more than 2 hours once. Never go out with your pals without your parents' permissions. Let your parents know about what you are doing. Then, have fun! | high15717.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Sat 2:00 pm"
},
"options": [
"Sat 8:30 pm",
"Sun noon",
"Sun 2:00 pm",
"Sat 2:00 pm"
],
"question": "According to the passage, the most popular time for the sporting events may be _ .",
"question_type": "... | Central Sports Centre. City Road.
All Stars vs Rockets, Saturday 8: 30 p.m. $12
Northerners vs Tigers, Sunday noon $14
BUSHWALKING :
Meet at Wanda Station, Saturday 9:00 a.m. sharp for 3-hour walk to Canary Mountains. $7, ph 341-5432 Meet at Westley Station, Sunday 9:00 a.m. sharp for a full day walk to Wombak Valley. $5, ph 341-8643. Bring your own lunch.
FOOTBALL:
St Martins Sports Centre
St Martins vs Doonsberg, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $8
Eastside Central vs Light Hill, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $8
Neill Park Recreation Centre
Neill Park vs Robinson, Saturday 2:00 p.m. $11
Essen vs Springwood, Sunday 2:00 p.m. $11
LAWN BOWLS :
Tans Town B.C
Tans Town vs White Vale, Saturday 9:00 p.m. $10
Wake Hill B.C.
Wake Hill vs Colls, Saturday 2: 00 p.m. $9 | high7250.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Losing long-term friendship."
},
"options": [
"Running away from the school.",
"Losing long-term friendship.",
"A specific person's marriage.",
"A company's closing down."
],
"question": "According to the passag... | In modern society loneliness can be seen as a social phenomenon and people can experience loneliness for many reasons. It is a very common, though normally temporary, consequence of a breakup, divorce, or loss of any important long-term relationship. In these cases, loneliness may result both from the loss of a specific person or from dropping out of social circles. The loss of a significant person in one's life will typically lead to a grief response; in this situation, one might feel lonely, even while in the company of others.
There are many different ways used to treat loneliness. The first step that most doctors recommend to patients is treatment. Short term treatment typically occurs over a period of ten to twenty weeks. During treatment, emphasis is put on understanding the cause of the problem, thoroughly changing the negative thoughts, feelings, and attitudes resulting from the problem, and exploring ways to help the patient feel connected. Some doctors also recommend group treatment a means to connect with other sufferers and establish a support system.
Another treatment is animal-assisted treatment. Studies and surveys indicate that the presence of animal companions such as dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs can ease feelings of loneliness or depression among some sufferers. Beyond the companionship the animal itself provides there may also be increased opportunities for socializing with other pet owners. Results of a study also suggest that correcting improper social cognition offers the best chance of reducing loneliness.
However, loneliness can sometimes play an important role in the creative process. In some people, temporary or prolonged loneliness can lead to remarkable artistic and creative expression, for example, as was the case with poet Emily Dickinson, and many musicians. This is not to imply that loneliness itself ensures this creativity, rather, it may have an influence on the subject matter of the artist and more likely be present in individuals engaged in creative activities. | high19105.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He wanted to earn some money from it."
},
"options": [
"He wanted to show his kindness.",
"He wanted to have a pleasant journey.",
"He wanted to earn some money from it.",
"He wanted to make friends with the woman."
... | A beautiful woman took a plane on business. She found her seat and sat down next to a young man. The man was just thinking of making a few dollars on the plane. When he saw the woman, he got an idea.
"Hey! Would you like to play a game?" he asked the woman. "No, thank you. I just want to take a nap ," the woman answered.
"It's really easy. All you have to do is to answer the questions that I ask you. If you don't know the answer, you give me five dollars. If I don't know the answer to your question, then I'll give you five dollars."
"No," the woman still refused.
"OK. If I don't know the answer to your question, I'll give you five hundred dollars. How about that?" the man said. Then the woman became interested and decided to join in the game.
"OK. How many moons does Jupiter have?" asked the young man. The woman reached into her purse and took out a five-dollar bill.
"What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes back with four?" the woman asked. Then the young man took out his computer and searched the Internet for an answer. Minutes later, the young man handed five hundred dollars to the woman.
After a few hours, the young man really wanted to know the answer to the question. So he asked the woman, "What is the answer to your question?" The woman reached into her purse and handed the young man a five-dollar bill. | high4771.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "How Barack Obama will deal with the current economic slowdown."
},
"options": [
"What Barack Obama is expected to do in dealing with the US-China relationship.",
"Why Barack Obama will maintain a good relationship with China.",
... | People in China, as in other parts of the world, are waiting to see how U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will deal with global problems such as the current economic slowdown once he takes office. As Sam Beattie reports from Beijing, there is widespread hope for closer U.S.-Chinese cooperation.
For many students in Beijing, Mr. Obama symbolizes all that is possible in the United States. He's a popular winner here, seen as a self-made man who has made it to the top.
"I think he is very charming, and a president who can create a new era," said Zhang Wei, a university student. "I like him very much and most of my friends do too." Ni Weibo, another university student, agrees. "Sino-U.S. relations still need more cooperation," she said. "I think he will help take it to a new era."
China's President Hu Jintao congratulated Mr. Obama within hours of his victory, saying he hoped bilateral ties could be made stronger.
Political analysts here say China will be looking for the incoming president to avoid contentious issues such as Taiwan's independence, human rights and Tibet.
Instead, they say Beijing would like Mr. Obama to focus on solving the global economic crisis, and to help China's slowing economy by opening up U.S. markets.
But trade relations might be _ , says Renmin University's Professor of International Studies, Shi Yinhong.
He warns, "There is a possibility that President Obama will take some protectionist measures which China will not accept, then trade disputes could develop to a degree that we have not seen ever before."
Despite making the headlines, Mr. Obama faces some tough challenges in managing the U.S. relationship with China. China is now a stronger and more confident country than the China his
predecessors dealt with. And in this time of economic uncertainty, analysts say it's a country with which Mr. Obama will want to maintain a good relationship. | high11559.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "he thought about his future"
},
"options": [
"he had to take tests at school",
"he thought about his future",
"he had lots of sleepless nights",
"he searched for words of wisdom"
],
"question": "The author felt ... | As a senior, my future is always on my mind. To be exact, thoughts of the future have kept me up countless nights and made me worry enough to do poorly on more than one test. Because of this, words of wisdom are a source of comfort. Steve Jobs gave a speech to Stanford's graduating class in 2005 and his words resound repeatedly in my mind whenever I think about my future.
It wasn't always like that, though. It started when I became a junior, when college came into view. It's the first big step to making your life your own. So when Jobs discussed his life as a student, some fears were eased. He, too, felt the need to attend college to make something of himself. He faced what many are extremely afraid of: uncertainty. His lack of understanding caused him to stop attending college and focus on what he felt was important. His story had a happy ending, of course, since he certainly turned out well.
This doesn't mean that students shouldn't attend college, but rather that they shouldn't worry so much. You'll get where you need to go, even if your path is a bit more winding than you'd like.
Jobs talked about the hardships in his work. His love of his work helped him carry on and he got where he was meant to be, which restates the point: don't panic.
One particular part of his speech stayed with me. Steve Jobs quoted the saying "Stay hungry, stay foolish" and it has become my motto. Staying foolish is realizing that you are still a fool, no matter how much you've learned or experienced. There is always more to explore. Staying hungry is wanting to find those things about which you are still uneducated.
Steve Jobs's level of success is attainable, and I aim to prove that. With the will power to go into the world living every day like it's my last and allowing the future to take care of itself, I will do great things. In the last moments of my life, I'll be proud of what I have done and hope to have all the wisdom a person could wish for. | high2300.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "millions of years ago"
},
"options": [
"for millions of years",
"millions of years ago",
"more than 100 millions years ago",
"when it was warm and wet somewhere"
],
"question": "According to the passage, dinosau... | Millions of years ago dinosaurs lived on the earth. In the days of dinosaurs the whole earth was warm and wet. There were green forests and they could find enough to eat. Later, parts of the earth became cold and dry. and the forests there died. Then dinosaurs could not find enough to cat. This must be one reason why dinosaurs died out.
We can guess another reason. New kinds of animals came on the earth. Some had big brains and were fast and strong. They could kill dinosaurs. There may be other reasons that we don't know about yet. Scientists are trying to make more discoveries about dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs were of many sizes and shapes . Some were as small as chickens, while some were about 90 feet long.
There were also terrible fights between dinosaurs. They might have happened more than 100 million years ago. Though there was no man to see any of the fights, we can be told by the animal's footprints that fight did take place. | high10647.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the museum needs changes"
},
"options": [
"the importance of scientific rules",
"people learn best when they look at something",
"visitors prefer to learn from museums",
"the museum needs changes"
],
"question":... | Museums have changed. They are no longer places that one "should" go but now they are places to enjoy.
At a science museum in Canada, you can feel your hair stand on end as harmless electricity passes through your body. At the Children's Museum in New York, you can play an African drum. There are no "Do Not Touch" signs in some other museums in the USA.
More and more museum directors have realized that people learn best when they can become part of what they are seeing. In many science museums, the visitors are encouraged to touch, listen, operate and experiment so as to discover scientific rules for themselves.
The purpose is not only to provide fun, but also help people feel at home in the world of science. If people don't understand science, they will be afraid of it; and if they are afraid of science, they will not make the best of it.
One cause of all these changes is the increase in wealth and spare time. Another cause is the growing number of young people in the population. Many of them are college students or college graduates. They see things in a new and different way. They want art that they can take part in. The same is true of science and history.
The old museums have been changing and the government is encouraging the building of new and modern museums. In the United States and Canada, there are more than 6,000 museums, almost twice as many as there were 25 years ago. | high20784.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Both regular and diet sodas can probably increase the risk for heart disease."
},
"options": [
"Only people who overdrink sodas have high risk for heart disease.",
"In the study, about one quarter of people have high blood level.",... | People around the world drink about 180 billion liters of soda a year. That translates to more than 29 liters per person. Experts say the amount of carbonated soft drinks we consume is growing. New research from the American Heart Association finds that drinking soda, even diet soda, may significantly increase your risk for heart disease. Dr. Ramachandran Vasan led the study. "Drinking just one or more sodas a day may not be as innocuous as people think."
In a large study of 9,000 people, doctors discovered that those who drank one or more sodas a day had a 30% increased risk for obesity , a 25% increase in the risk for abnormal blood sugar levels, and a 32% increase in the odds of having low levels of good cholesterol .
All of these factors increase the risk for heart disease. And there was no difference in the results for those who drank diet soda over regular soda. It's something that surprised even the researchers.
Critics of the study say diet soda may not be the cause of increased risk of heart disease. Connie Diekman is president of the American Dietetic Association. "It does not conclusively say that this will cause that."
In other words, it could be that unhealthy people like soda. Dr. Vasan found those who drink soda generally tend to have greater caloric intake. They eat more saturated fat and trans fats. They also eat less fiber and exercise less. Diet soda drinkers may also share this unhealthy lifestyle. Dr. Vasan agrees that the link he found between heart disease risk and diet soda needs additional study. | high17128.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Your Personality Depends a Lot on How You Sleep at Night"
},
"options": [
"A Good Night's Sleep Sets You Up for the Following Day",
"Your Personality Depends a Lot on How You Sleep at Night",
"How You Sleep at Night Affects W... | According to body language expert Robert Phipps,the way people sleep at night actually determines a lot about the type of personality they have.Phipps has identified four sleeping positions that affect personality.
Phipps found that worriers,those who stress the most,tend to sleep in the fetal position.He found that this is the most common bedtime position,with nearly 58 percent of people sleeping on their side with knees up and head down.The more we curl up ,the more comfort we are seeking,according to Phipps.
The second most common position is the log.Sleeping with a straight body,with arms at each side,as if they are standing guard at Buckingham Palace,indicates stubbornness,and these people(the 28 percent who sleep this way)often wake up stiffer than when they went to sleep.
"The longer you sleep like this,the more _ your thinking is and you can become inflexible,which means you make things harder for yourself,"according to Phipps.
Yearner sleepers are next on the list.About 25 percent of people sleep in this style--on their side with arms stretched out in front,looking as if they are either chasing a dream or perhaps being chased themselves.Yearners are typically their own worst critics,always expecting the best results,explained Phipps.These people often wake up refreshed and eager to face the challenges of the day ahead.
Perhaps the most peculiar of sleep styles is the freefaller position.This sleep style makes up 17 percent of the population.They sleep face down with arms stretched out.These people,according to Phipps,feel like they have little control over their life.Not only is this the strangest of sleep styles,but also the least comfortable,and people may wake up feeling tired and have no energy.
In conclusion,Phipps has only one more thing to add:"A good night's sleep sets you up for the following day and our sleeping positions can determine how we feel when we wake." | high6166.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "encourage boys to express their emotions more freely"
},
"options": [
"force boys to hide their emotions to be \"real man\"",
"help to develop masculine aggressiveness in boys",
"encourage boys to express their emotions more ... | Boy's schools are the perfect place to teach young men to express their emotions and involve them in activities such as art dance and music. Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity , the absence of girls gives boys the chance to develop without pressure to agree with a stereotype, a US study says.
Boys at single-sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their emotional expressiveness, rather than feeling they had to agree with the "boy code"of hiding their emotions to be a "real man".
The report, presented at a conference of the International Boys'Schools Coalition in London attended by the heads of private and state schools, goes against _ that boys do better when taught alongside girls. Tony little, headmaster of Eton, warned that boys were being failed by the British education system because it had become too focused on girls. He criticized teachers for failing to recognize that boys are actually more emotional than girls.
The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become discouraged when their females peers do better earlier in speaking and reading skills. But in single-sex schools teachers can tailor lessons to boy's learning style, letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom, wrote the study's author, Abigail James, of the University of Virginia. Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with "boy-focused"approaches such as themes and characters that interest them. Because boys generally have more acute(sharp)vision, learn best through touch, and are physically more active, they need to be given "hands-on"lessons where they are allowed to walk around. "Boys in mixed schools view classical music as feminine and prefer the modern type in which violence and sexism are major themes" James wrote.
Single-sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to agree with a stereotype that men should be "masterful and in charge" in relationships, "In mixed schools boys feel forced to act like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means." The study reported. | high9255.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They fear losing control of their workers."
},
"options": [
"They fear losing control of their workers.",
"They want to stick to their routine practice.",
"They have little trust in modem technology.",
"They are used to... | Digital technology -- email and smart phones especially -- have vastly improved workers' ability to be productive outside of a traditional office. Even so, most white-collar work still happens in an office. One reason is that, according to findings of a new survey of office workers conducted by Wakefield Research for the IT company Citrix, most bosses are doubtful about remote working. Half of the workers say their boss doesn't accept it and only 35 percent say it's tolerated.
Skeptical bosses will likely have their doubts reinforced by the same survey, which shows that 43 percent of workers say they've watched TV or a movie while "working" remotely, while 35 percent have done housework,and 28 percent have cooked dinner.
It is true, however,that working at home makes people much more efficient , because it allows workers to take care of annoying housework while still getting their jobs done. It's much faster, for example, to shop for groceries at a quarter to three than to stand in line during the after-work rush.
The fact that such practices remain officially unaccepted reflects how far we haven't come as a society from the days when we expected every full-time worker to be supported by a full-time homemaker.
More broadly the Wakefield survey suggests that employers may be missing a low-cost way to give workers something of value. Sixty-four percent of those survey participants who have worked remotely would rather give up some bonus in order to get even one day a week working from home. Under such circumstances, smart firms need to find ways to let their employees have enough flexibility to manage their time efficiently. | high14421.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "favorited"
},
"options": [
"emailed",
"messaged",
"favorited",
"texted"
],
"question": "A website address can be easily found if it has been _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": ... | It's not a new phenomenon, but have you noticed how many nouns are being used as verbs? We all use them, often without noticing what we're doing.
I was arranging to meet someone for dinner last week, and I said "I'll pencil it in my diary", and my friend said "You can ink it in", meaning that it was a firm arrangement not a tentative one!
Many of these new verbs are linked to new technology. An obvious example is the word fax. We all got used to sending and receiving faxes, and then soon started talking about faxing something and promising we'd fax it immediately. Then along came email, and we were soon all emailing each other madly. How did we do without it? I can hardly imagine life without my daily emails.
Email reminds me, of course, of my computer and its software, which has produced another
couple of new verbs. On my computer I can bookmark those pages from the World Wide Web that I think I'll want to look at again, thus saving all the effort of remembering their addresses and calling them up from scratch. I can do the same thing on my PC, but there I don't bookmark; I favorite--coming from "favorite pages", so the verb is derived from an adjective not a noun.
Now my children bought me a mobile phone, known simply as a mobile and I had to learn yet more new verbs. I can message someone, that is, I can leave a message for them on their phone. Or I can text them, write a few words suggesting when and where to meet, for example. How long will it be before I can mobile them, that is, phone them using my mobile? I haven't heard that verb yet, but I'm sure I will soon. Perhaps I'll start using it myself! | high1609.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The serious destruction caused by the great power of a tsunaml."
},
"options": [
"The great speed of a tsunami.",
"The number of deaths caused by a tsunami.",
"The countries which were struck by a tsunami.",
"The seriou... | The 9.2magnitude earthquake which caused the tsunami in
the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day last year occurred at 7:58 a.m.,95 miles off the west coast of Aceh, Indonesia.
Eighteen minutes later.10-metre high waves crashed the ashore along a 500----mile-long stretch of Aceh.
Two hours later the tsunami hit Thailand and Malaysia and then Burma, Bangladesh, India,the Maldives,Sri Lanka,Kenya and Somalia.The final death toll is thought to be about 280,000,with tens of thousands more listed as missing.More than l.8 million people lost their homes.
*What Is Tsunami?
A tsunami is a chain of fast moving waves caused by a sudden strong quake in the ocean.They can be caused by earthquakes,volcanic eruptions ,or even the collision of meteorites .Tsunamis are also incorrectly known as tidal waves,but unlike tidal waves they are not caused by changes in the tides.
They are also most common around the edge of the Pacific,where more than half of the world's volcanoes are found.These fast moving waves can attack coastlines,often with little or no warning.Rocks weighing as much as 20 metric tonnes have been pulled from sea walls and carried l 80m inland.
*Wave Power
Atsunami can have a wavelength in excess of 1 00km and there may be an hour between them.They travel at great speeds across an ocean with hardly any energy losses and are barely noticeable out at sea.
Over the deep Pacific Ocean,a tsunami travels at about 800kph.If an earthquake happened in Los Angeles.a tsunami could hit Tokyo quicker than you could fly between the cities by jet.
*Strange Animal Behaviors
Ten days before giant waves slammed into Sri Lanka and India coastlines,wild and domestic animals seemed to know what was about to happen and fled to safety.
Elephants screamed and ran for higher ground.
Dogs refused to go outdoors.
Zoo animals rushed into their shelters and could not be enticed to come back out. | high12050.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the story of the Taj Mahal"
},
"options": [
"a beautiful fairy tale",
"the story of the Taj Mahal",
"white and black marble tombs made for two emperors",
"the love story of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife"
],
"q... | The Taj Mahal is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn't exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl Mahan: its shortened form Taj Mahan, means "pride of the palace". In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne. He decided out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that had ever been seen.
He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was complete. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahan, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 meters square and 6-7 meters high. Towers rise from each of the four corners. The Taj itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.
The emperor planned to build an identical tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife. | high7278.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a wedding ceremony can be held on the wing"
},
"options": [
"customers can sleep in comfortable rooms",
"air hostesses can offer good service",
"a wedding ceremony can be held on the wing",
"the staff can have a \"wing ... | ARLANDA, Sweden (Reuters Life!) - Many people hate the idea of having to sleep on a plane. But Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Dios thinks they can be persuaded otherwise and he has created a new kind of hostel to prove it.
Dios says it is the world's first jumbo (unusually large) jet hostel, an actual jet-plane at Sweden's main airport outside Stockholm which has been changed into a 25- room guesthouse that sleeps as many as 72 people.
"I learned about this plane that was standing deserted at Arlanda airport and I've been trying the concept of hostels in many different houses and buildings," he told Reuters. "I thought, 'Why not a plane?'"
Jumbo Hostels opened for business on Thursday, giving customers the chance to check in and sleep in a room that can best be described as comfortable."
"The most challenging part with this project is trying to build something inside a metal hull - it's just really, really tight."
The jet, which was originally produced for Singapore Airlines, was taken out of service in 2002. It is held on a concrete foundation with the landing gear secured in steel cradles.
One feature of the hostel is its price - a room starts at 350 Swedish crowns (about $ 41), which is a lot less than hotel rooms outside of major airports.
Another feature is that customers can get married on the wing of the plane and stay in the plane's more luxurious honeymoon suite .
Instead of walking down the aisle in the church, lovebirds can take what Jumbo Hostels calls the "wing walk," where they can be joined in great happiness at the wing tip. The hostel has someone ready to perform the ceremony.
But in some respects this hostel remains a plane - most customers have to share the jet's nine bathrooms and the staff only wear air host and hostess outfits. The only room that has its own bathroom is the honeymoon suite. | high22193.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "In a section for ads in a website."
},
"options": [
"In a section for ads in a website.",
"In a book shop.",
"In a science magazine.",
"In a fiction novel."
],
"question": "Where can you see this short passage?"... | Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher:. Sams (March 29,2005)
ISBN: 0672327627
Product Dimensions: 8.4x5.5x0.6 inches
OVERVIEW
This book offers straightforward practical answers when you need fast results. By working through each 10-minute lesson, you'll learn what you need to begin to use the PHP scripting language to make your websites interactive and dynamic.
REVIEW
When I first laid eyes on this book and its title, Teach Yourself PHP in 10 minutes, my first thought was that I was going to see this! So I opened it up and figured I'd look through it for ten minutes and see what would hit me. Well, 10 minutes turned into 20, 20 into 30 and 30 into a valuable resource that sits on my desk.
Not only are the lessons within brief, but they are very easy to understand, well presented and very easy to understand for the beginner. Each lesson comes with tips to point out shortcuts, cautions to help you avoid common mistakes and notes to additional infomation. This book can be used in two ways, as a reference or as a complete tutorial on PHP basics. That alone is something that is very rare in teaching type books these days.
Some of the more valuable and informative lessons will take you into the areas of:
--Strings and variables
--Processing HTML forms
--Controlling and filtering data
--User authentication
--Cookies and sessions
--Security practices
--Configuring PHP and more!!!
The book is pretty basic for experienced PHP coders, but for new or intermediate users this book is worth more than the small $19.99 CAN suggested price. Although the cover suggests it covers PHP 5.0, the coding found within also applies to PHP 4.X
CONCLUSION
This book completely surprised me with its value and does indeed teach you in ten minutes what other books claim to do in 24 hours. Full marks to author Chris Newman for this handy guide. | high15059.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because one side of this house is made of glass."
},
"options": [
"Because its outside is very interesting.",
"Because one side of this house is made of glass.",
"Because viewers can stand on its door near the top of the hous... | Weird Homes We All Wish We Live in
Your home is one of the biggest purchases you're going to make in your entire life, but that doesn't mean you can't live somewhere you enjoy. If you're looking for the weird, the wonderful, or just odd, then these houses are the top of the list.
Upside Down
Like the previous upside down home, this is the type of concrete house that is more interesting to really see from the outside than it is to actually live there. The door is near the top. If you want to live here, you are going to have to deal with the crowds exploring daily.
Satellite Home
Having an entire side of your house made of glass is just asking for a rock to be thrown by the local children. However, it also offers the best view surrounding the scenic home. The inside appeared to be separated into multiple tiers, with each tier broken down into various rooms.
UFO House
This home is located within Taiwan at present. For those who have wondered what it would be like to be _ by aliens and forced to live within their ship for a few years, this house should offer some similar experience.
New Age Tree Fort
If you grew up a flower child, then chances are you either adapted that lifestyle into your own or would prefer to forget it. If it's the former, then the tree fort-style home would be perfect to live within. It's centered perfectly in the middle of a forested area, supported by metal beams, and built from strong wood. | high12736.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "based on his selection of facts"
},
"options": [
"far from the historical facts",
"based on the Russian history",
"based on his selection of facts",
"not related to historical details"
],
"question": "Tolstoy's ... | Napoleon, as a character in Tolstoy's War and Peace, is more than once described as having "fat little hands". Nor does he "sit well or firmly on the horse". He is said to be "undersized", with "short legs" and a "round stomach". The issue here is not the accuracy of Tolstoy's description-it seems not that far off from historical accounts but his choice of facts: other things that could be said of the man are not said. We are meant to understand the difference of a warring commander in the body of a fat little Frenchman. Tolstoy's Napoleon could be any man wandering in the streets and putting a little of powdered tobacco up his nose-and that is the point.
It is a way the novelist uses to show the moral nature of a character. And it turns out that, as Tolstoy has it, Napoleon is a crazy man. In a scene in Book Three of War and Peace, the wars having reached the critical year of 1812,Napoleon receives a representative from the Tsar ,who has come with peace terms. Napoleon is very angry: doesn't he have more army? He, not the Tsar, is the one to make the terms. He will destroy all of Europe if his army is stopped. "That is what you will have gained by engaging me in the war!" he shouts. And then, Tolstoy writes, Napoleon "walked silently several times up and down the room, his fat shoulders moving quickly".
Still later, after reviewing his army amid cheering crowds, Napoleon invites the shaken Russian to dinner. "He raised his hand to the Russian's face," Tolstoy writes, and "taking him by the ear pulled it gently. . . ". To have one's ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the greatest honor and mark of favor at the French court. "Well, well, why don't you say anything?" said he, as if it was ridiculous in his presence to respect any one but himself, Napoleon.
Tolstoy did his research, but the composition is his own. | high13428.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "show he is friendly"
},
"options": [
"ask the dog for help",
"show he is friendly",
"show his anger",
"show his respect for him"
],
"question": "We know a shy and lower--ranking dog licks the nose of a higher-ra... | What could be cuter than your puppy giving his doggy friend a kiss on the nose? Nothing, really. But is your dog actual-fly planting a kiss on his friend? Yes, but that's only one of the reasons your dog may lick another dog's nose. Here are some other reasons why your dog may lick another dog's nose.
During an introduction, a shy and lower-ranking dog will lower his head, avoid direct eye contact and gently extend his tongue to lick the nose of a more confident and high-ranking dog. The first dog licks the nose of the second dog to simply make it know that:he comes in peace.
Dogs who are already friends will also trade kisses. Two strongly bonded dog pals will lick and clean each other. They give each other "dog kisses" showing friendship.
Puppies also "kiss" their mothers, but it's not a gesture of love. When puppies stop suckling their mothers' tits for milk and start to eat semisolid food instead;they lick their mothers' mouths and noses in the hope of getting the mother to regurgitate some semi-digested food.
So how to help your _ dog make friends with other dogs? You can carefully select confident-but-friendly and good-tempered dogs to play with your shy dog, to help him develop his social skills. Also consider taking him to a special training class that focuses on socialization and positive training technique.
Do not disturb them when your two dogs play "kiss" briefly with each other. Sit back and enjoy this display of friendship. Then call them over and have them do a command such as "sit'' or "shake paws". Offer them treats as a reward for being good to each other.
If you foster a dog and have three or more resident dogs, introduce the foster dog to your brood dog one at a time and let muzzle licking between them happen naturally. Start with your least reactive or most friendly dog. Never force an in production between the dogs because this can deepen the foster dog's submissiveness or spark a fight. | high6600.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "5,000,000"
},
"options": [
"5,000,000",
"2,000,000",
"1,000,000",
"500,000"
],
"question": "New York City has a population of about _ according to the passage.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | About 1 million adult New Yorkers are obese , but nearly two-thirds of them don't think they are, according to a study released on Tuesday by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene .
Among the obese, who account for about one in five New Yorkers, only 39% described themselves as "very overweight", according to the report. 2% said they were very underweight, 1% said they were slightly underweight, 16% said they were just right and 42% said they were slightly over weight.
Some 2 million more New Yorkers are overweight, the report said, and one in five children in kindergarten is obese.
Only 44% of the city's adults are at a healthy weight, and nearly 75% say they do not participate in any regular physical activity.
New York City's adult obesity rate was 20% in 2003 compared with 23% nationwide in 2004.The national average has nearly doubled from 12% in 1993, the report said.
Overweight and obese are defined by body mass index, or BMI (=" kg/m)" , which is based on a person's weight , adjusted for height, the department said.
Being obese means having a BMI of 30 or greater, while being overweight means a BMI of more than 25 but less than 30.
A 5-foot, 10-inch (1.78-meter) man weighing 175 pounds(79kg) would have a BMI of 25.1 and be considered overweight according to the department . If he weighed 210 pounds (95kg), he would have a BMI of 30.1 and be obese.
The report came from results of the department's 2002 and 2003 yearly telephone surveys of some 10,000 adults. | high9533.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the sea"
},
"options": [
"the hospital",
"the war",
"the sea",
"the countryside"
],
"question": "When he was a small boy, Sander was influenced by books about _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},... | As a boy, Sanders was much influenced by books about the sea, but by the age of fifteen he had decided to become a doctor rather than a sailor. His father was a doctor. So he was often with the doctors and got along very well with them. When he was fourteen, he was already hanging around the hospital where he was supposed to be helping to clean the medicine bottles, but was actually trying to listen to the doctors' conversations with patients in the next room.
During the war Sanders served in the army as a surgeon . "That was the happiest time of my life. I was dealing with real sufferers and on the whole making a success of my job." In Rhodes he taught the country people simple facts about medicine. He saw himself as a life-saver. He had proved his skill to himself and had a firm belief that he could serve those who lived simply, and were dependent upon him. Thus, while in a position to tell them what to do he could feel he was serving them.
After the war, he married and set up a practice deep in the countryside, working under an old doctor who hated the sight of blood. This gave the younger man plenty of opportunities to go on working as a life-saver. | high14347.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "creative and competent"
},
"options": [
"autonomous and passionate",
"creative and passionate",
"respectable and sensitive",
"creative and competent"
],
"question": "People satisfied with their careers are _ ... | Do you want to love what you do for a living? Follow your passion. This piece of advice provides the foundation for modern thinking on career satisfaction. But this can be a problem.
I've spent the past several years researching and writing about the different strategies we use to seek happiness in our work. It became clear early in the process that the suggestion to "follow your passion" was flawed , for it lacks scientific evidence. However, it doesn't mean you should abandon the goal of feeling passionate about your work. The reality emphasizes that things are quite complicated.
Passion is earned. Different people are looking for different things in their work, but generally, people with satisfying careers enjoy some combination of the following features: autonomy,respect, competence, creativity, and a sense of impact. In other words,if you want to feel passionate about your livelihood,don't seek the perfect job,but seek to get more of these features in the job you already have.
Passion is elusive . Many people develop the rare and valuable skills leading to passion, but still end up unhappy in their work. The problem is that the features leading you to love your work are more likely to be useful to you than your organization. As you become increasingly "valuable",for example, your boss might push you toward traditional promotions that come with more pay and more responsibility, as this is what is most useful to your company. However, you might find more passion by applying your value to gain autonomy in your schedule or project selection.
Passion is dangerous. I've watched too many of my peers fall into anxiety and chronic job-hopping due to the "follow your passion" advice. The issue is expectations. _
Work is hard. Not every day is fun. If you're seeking a dream job, you'll end up frustrated, again and again. Don't set out to discover passion. Instead, set out to develop it. This path might be longer and more complicated than what most cheerful career guides might advocate, but it's a path much more likely to lead you somewhere worth going. | high5309.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He got lost."
},
"options": [
"He got lost.",
"He broke his skis.",
"He hurt his eyes",
"He caught a cold"
],
"question": "What happened to Nicholas one Sunday afternoon?",
"question_type": "factiod_question... | The Boy Made It!
One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn't have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.
Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.
He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter form the freezing wind and snow. If he didn't, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him.
Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.
By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn't lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could- he huddled in his cave and slept.
The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn't find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.
Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls' survival show. Man vs. Wild. That's where he learned the tips that saved his life, In each episode of Man vs. Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.
When Grylls heard about Nicholas' amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive. | high10121.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Harry's father"
},
"options": [
"Harry's father",
"Harry's mother",
"Harry",
"Nobody"
],
"question": "_ always does some housework in the morning.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | Harry is eighteen now. He studies in a middle school. His parents like him very much and hope he can become a famous man. So they often tell him to study hard and they do all for him. They call him at six in the morning, after breakfast his father takes him to school in a car and in the afternoon, as soon as the young man comes back, the supper is ready. Of course, he never washes his clothes or goes to buy something in the shops.
Once, Harry's father was sent to London on business. He would stay there for half a year. Leaving, he told his wife to take good care of their son. The woman had to get up earlier and did all what her husband did before. And two months later she was so tired that she was ill in bed. Now the young man got into trouble. He couldn't do any housework. He had to do as his mother told him. Even he didn't know where to get on the bus!
Yesterday Harry's mother found his shoes were worn out and told him to buy a new pair in the shop. But he didn't know how to choose. The woman had a sigh and gave him a shoe pattern and told him to buy a pair of shoes himself. It's Saturday today and Harry doesn't go to school. With a policeman's help, he found a shop. The shopkeeper was friendly to him. The man brought a lot of shoes and asked him to choose. When he was trying on a pair, suddenly he remembered something and took them off. The man was surprised and asked, "What's the matter, young man?"
"I'm sorry, I've left the shoe pattern at home!" | high3778.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "clever actions done to people by using skill to confuse them"
},
"options": [
"a clever act or plan to fool somebody",
"clever actions done to people by using skill to confuse them",
"a strange habit",
"the cards played... | When a friend calls out "Wait a second, I have a trick to show you," don't you always stop and wait? Tricks are hard to resist. No one is ever too old to enjoy them or too young either. In fact, many of the most successful tricks are really quite simple. They don't require special equipments or hours of practice. For example, you tell a friend "Pick a card", then you surprise him by telling him which card he picked. Here's how it is done. Take a pack of cards and secretly look at the bottom card. Put the cards facedown on a table, and ask your friend to pick a card. Then place the card at the bottom.
Has your friend picked the cards by taking part of the cards from the top and putting it at the bottom? Start turning the cards up one at a time. You can pretend to think hard about each card. Look for the bottom card at the beginning which you have remembered. The cards that come after it will be the one your friend picked. Also, a mind-reading trick is fun to do at a party. You leave the room, and while you are gone, a tea cup is placed upside down over a penny, nickel($0. 05), dime($0. 1)or quarter($0. 25). When you come back into the room, you can tell which coin the tea cup is hiding. To do this trick, you only need a helper, or partner. Before hand, you two work out some signals. If he looks up. it's a penny; if he looks right, a nickel. You see, they are all very easy. Why not have a try? | high17896.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "make the company run smoothly"
},
"options": [
"cut down on the cost of the treatment",
"get the support of the government",
"make the company run smoothly",
"attract more people to its hospital"
],
"question": ... | Narayana Hrudayalaya, a complex of health centers based in southern India, offers low-cost, high-quality specialty care in a largely poor country of 1.2 billion people. By thinking differently about everything from the unusually high number of patients it treats to the millions for whom it provides insurance, the hospital group is able to continually reduce costs. Narayana Hrudayalaya's operations include the world's largest and most productive cardiac hospital, where the average open-heart surgery runs less than $2,000, a third or less what it costs elsewhere in India.
Narayana Hrudayalaya's origins date back to 2001, when it built its massive cardiac center on the outskirts of Bangalore. But it has expanded since then into what founder Dr. Devi Shetty calls a "health city," a series of centers specializing in eye, trauma, and cancer care. Narayana Hrudayalaya now manages or owns hospitals in 14 other Indian cities.
Expanding access is paired with a ongoing focus on efficiency. Typically, says Shetty, private hospitals in India focus on patients who can easily afford treatment. "We did it the other way around," he says. "This hospital is for poor people, but we also treat some rich people. We don't look at people who are sgabbily dressed and have trouble paying as outsiders. " Narayana Hrudayalaya's flagship hospital has 3,000 beds and negotiates for better prices and buys directly from manufacturers, cutting out distributors.
In addition to cost-cutting, Narayana Hrudayalaya finds creative ways to make the economics work. The company started a micro-insurance program backed by the government that enables 3 million farmers to have coverage for as little as 22 cents a month in premiums . Patients who pay discounted rates are in effect compensated by those who pay full price
Doing something--doing more, actually--is the point. By 2017, Shetty, 58, plans to expand from 5,000 beds throughout India to 30,000. Before becoming one of India's best-known health-care entrepreneurs, Shetty was its best-known heart surgeon. He was interrupted in surgery one day during the 1990s by a request to make a house call. "I said, 'I don't make home visits,' " Shetty says, "and the caller said, 'If you see this patient, the experience may transform your life.' " The request was from Mother Teresa. Inspired by the her work with the poor, he then set out to create a hospital to deliver care based on need, not wealth. "One lesson she taught me," he says, quoting a saying he keeps framed in his office, "is '
.' " | high16550.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She lived an unhappy life."
},
"options": [
"She was born poor.",
"She lived an unhappy life.",
"Her grandparents treated her badly.",
"Her parents didn't love her."
],
"question": "What do we know about Elizabe... | Elizabeth Bishop, who was famous for the poetry A Prodigal, Filling Station , Sandpiper, Manuelzinho and so on, was an influential American poet of the 20th century. Her poetry often shows things that concerned her throughout her life, such as her search for a sense of home. Her troubled childhood and feelings of loneliness from this time affected her character and poetry.
Bishop's painful childhood is apparent in some of her poems. Her father died when she was eight months old and her mother was mad when she was five. Bishop was raised firstly by her mother's parents and then by her father's parents. This experience left her confused about belonging. She had no home and this was shown in her poetry. In "A Prodigal", when the character in the poem makes up his mind to go home, there is a sense of pessimism for Bishop who has no home. The lack of a sense of home has contributed to her depression all her life.
Bishop attempts to make small, everyday experiences extraordinary in her poems such as "Filling Station" .In "Filling Station ", Bishop describes the beautyof a family filling station. Although it is "dirty" there is order in it. Simple family life is celebrated in it. She recognizes the value of home and beauty in everyday life, but she is only an observer of these. Distance remains between her and the family at the filling station.
Bishop's struggle to locate herself in the world is seen no more clearly than in "sandpiper". It deals with searching for something in a confusing world. She uses the metaphor of the bird which is "looking for something". The "something" isn't specific . It seems as if the bird doesn't know what he wants; the only certain thing is that he is searching.
Bishop's poems are personal on a more subtle level, especially when her childhood, travels, etc, are taken into consideration. It is believed that Bishop is a complex poet who uses her poetry to find this feeling of belonging. | high19663.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "In 1968."
},
"options": [
"In 1972.",
"In 1950.",
"In 1968.",
"In 2020."
],
"question": "When was the plan to explore space first announced according to the passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"ans... | NASA has opened the door to the next generation of space discovery by announcing great plans for a base for humans to live on the surface of the moon forever.
The project to build a base on the moon will begin soon after 2020, with astronauts living there within four years.
The project comes after several excellent scientists and environmentalists asked humans to look beyond Earth to ensure the survival of the species .
Eventually, the moon will be a base for humans to explore the solar system and one day land on Mars.
NASA began planning for the first moon landing since 1972 when George Bush, the US president, announced his new plan for space exploration four years ago.
NASA has already talked about the design of the Orion spacecraft that will replace the old space shuttle fleet in 2010.
The plan for the moon base, however, is the first detailed explanation of how NASA intends to prepare for the first manned exploration of deep space and a possible Mars mission within 30 years.
Scientists also believe that the south pole on the moon contain rich natural gases such as the rare helium-3 that could be used as fuel for the generation of nuclear power. Besides, teams of astronauts living there for six months at a time would mine for hydrogen and oxygen to make water and possibly rocket fuel. | high4017.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "other people hold the opinion that if they become knowledgeable enough, they will feel happy"
},
"options": [
"other people think if they know enough they will find enough money and that will make them happy",
"other peolpe think i... | There is one thing that everyone wants more than anything else. Some people try to get it by making money. They think that when they have enough money to buy such things as houses, farms, and cars, they will have the one thing that everyone wants.
Other people believe that if they know enough they will find this thing. They study all their lives in search of it. Still others think that if they have power,they will find this thing. They keep telling themselves:When I am a boss,I will no longer have to search for this thing.
What is it that everyone wants more than anything else?What is it that all of us keep working and striving for each day?It is happiness.Happiness is a strange thing. It does not mean the same to all men. What _ will _ make _ one _ man _ happy _ may _ not _ make _ another _ man _ happy. Some men say that happiness comes from helping others;other men say that happiness comes from making life more pleasant for everyone. What do you mean when you say: "That makes me happy."
Read what different people have said about happiness. Perhaps you will learn something that will bring you peace of mind, comfort, money or it may be what you search for--happiness. | high18569.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "how to help traumatized children to get over"
},
"options": [
"how to help traumatized children to get over",
"the bad effects disasters bring to children",
"the psychological problems children before ten are likely to suffer... | After an earthquake or any similar disaster, parents and teachers need to help children overcome the effects of this frightening and sometimes devastating ( ) experience. Psychologists say that if children go through a disturbing event before the age of ten, they are three times as likely to suffer psychological problems as teenagers. After a disaster children may become easily upset, shy, aggressive , or afraid of wind, rain, noises, or darkness. They may have trouble letting go of their parents and resist going to school or daycare. Some children may even feel guilty thinking that they somehow caused the disaster through their bad behavior. Because of such common reactions, parents and others should begin as soon after the event as possible helping these children.
Some suggestions include talking to the children about what happened, letting the children express their own feelings, spending extra time with them doing activities together and reassuring them that you love them and won't leave them. For some children expressing themselves through drawing pictures or writing can be useful. Do everything possible to help children get back to a normal routine; however, don't be afraid to "spoil" these children for a while after the disaster. Let them have extra privileges and more attention than usual. Encourage the children to grieve after a loss. It should be OK for them to cry. Caring families and friends can do much to heal children victims of disasters. | high2472.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He illegally sent faxes to customers."
},
"options": [
"He made a serious mistake in his research.",
"He illegally sent faxes to customers.",
"He stole a computer from an office.",
"He drove his car at a high speed."
... | The crowd cheered as the young man walked across the stage to receive his award as the company's top producer. He looked over the audience and trembled, and there was a clear pause that brought a silence to the room. It took him a moment to control himself.
"The last three months hit me pretty hard," he began. "And I feel the need to share a piece of my story though I'm not sure why. A friend called me about his new marketing system, an outbound fax service that could reach thousands of potential customers at very little cost. I checked it out, got excited and accepted it. After thousands of faxes, it seemed that what I did was illegal . I was punished a dollar for every one sent out.
The crowd was surprised.
"I failed to do proper research, and didn't pay attention to the details. Now I am heavily in debt. As some of you know, I recently move up here from down south. I stored my stuff in my old office, which I closed down. When I drove back to pick it all up, I found that everything except my computer and the clothes I brought with me was gone."
He continued, "I drive a sports car. I love that car. One day while driving it, I stepped on the accelerator , lost control at 85 miles an hour, and hit the guard rail. I damaged my car very badly."
"In three months, I got charged, lost everything I owned, and damaged my car. We all face challenges," he smiled. "I guess I wanted to share mine with you. Thanks for listening. " He left to a standing ovation .
Standing in the back of the room, I realized how much respect that young man earned. He faced his fear, publicly admitted his mistakes and never gave up, in spite of the difficulties. That day, he won much more than a trophy . | high17882.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the author's hands were his only tool for the cleaning"
},
"options": [
"the author's hands were severely injured in the cleaning up",
"the author seldom did such hard work as the cleaning up",
"the author was bullied by the ... | I still remember --- my hands and my fingers still remember --- what used to lie in store for us on our return to school from the holidays. The trees in the school yard would be in full leaf again and the old leaves would be lying around like a muddy sea of leaves.
"Get that all swept up!" the headmaster would tell us. "I want the whole place cleaned up, at once!" There was enough work there, to last over a week. Especially since the only tools with which we were provided were our hands, our fingers, our nails. "Now see that it's done properly, and be quick about it," the headmaster would say to the older pupils, "or you'll have to answer for it!"
So at an order from the older boys we would all line up like peanuts about to cut and gather in crops. If the work was not going as quickly as the headmaster expected, the big boys, instead of giving us a helping hand, used to find it simpler to beat us with branches pulled from the trees. In order to avoid these blows, we used to bribe the older boys with the juicy cakes we used to bring for our midday meal. And if we happened to have any money on us, the coins changed hands at once. If we did not do this, if we were afraid of going home with an empty stomach or an empty purse, the blows were redoubled. They hit us so violently and with such evil enjoyment that even a deaf and dumb person would have realized that we were being whipped so much not to make us work harder, but rather to beat us into a state of obedience in which we would be only too glad to give up our food and money.
Occasionally one of us, worn out by such calculated cruelty, would have the courage to complain to the headmaster. He would of course be very angry, but the punishment he gave the older boys was always very small --- nothing compared to what they had done to us. And the fact is that however much we complained, our situation did not improve in the slightest. Perhaps we should have let our parents know what was going on, but somehow we never dreamed of doing so; I don't know whether it was loyalty or pride that kept us silent, but I can see now that we were foolish to keep quiet about it, for such beating were completely foreign to our nature. | high4003.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Positive"
},
"options": [
"Cautious",
"Positive",
"Doubtful",
"Worried"
],
"question": "What's Roberts's attitude towards giving teens the vaccine?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"ans... | Should every teenager be given a vaccine against the effects of nicotine, and so prevent them becoming addicted to cigarettes?
This controversial possibility seems likely to happen in the future, thanks to the development of a new vaccine for nicotine addiction. The vaccine was designed for people who want to quit smoking but who repeatedly relapse .But since most countries are failing to cut the number of children taking up smoking, many people will want to know whether the vaccine should be used far more widely if it proves to be effective.
"The vaccine will be tested first on relapsing smokers, then on those who plan to quit, then on those who are not yet completely addicted," says Frank Vocci of the National Institute of Drug Abuse. "The final step would be vaccinating young people before they even try smoking, but that's a long way down the road."
John Roberts, medical director of British drug company Xenova, is very enthusiastic. "I think prevention is a huge opportunity," he says. "If you can take away the pleasure nicotine gives, then teenagers who start smoking are more likely to stop before it becomes a habit."
80% of smokers start in their teens, with 360,000 teenagers and children in the US taking up the habit per year. But would the vaccine be given to all teenagers or only a selected few? "It's hard to decide which children are most at risk of becoming smokers," says Amanda Sandford of Action on Smoking and Health. Instead she favors education as a way of discouraging children from smoking. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is also cautious, "It is very difficult to know what is the right age to give the vaccine to children."
There are also worries about giving the vaccine to long-term adult smokers. Will addicted smokers simply try to beat the vaccine's antibodies by smoking more? Gary Norwith, Nabi's clinical director, says this would be almost impossible. "You'd have to stick an entire pack of cigarettes in your mouth and smoke for hours to beat the antibodies," he says. | high19677.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "become smaller and lighter"
},
"options": [
"become smaller and lighter",
"disappear in the Great Plains",
"play a less important part",
"adapt to different climate changes"
],
"question": "In the next fifty yea... | As temperatures go up, bison get smaller. Joseph Craine, research assistant professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University, examined how climate change during the next 50 years will affect grazing animals such as bison and cattle in the Great Plains.
"Bison are one of our most important conservation animals and hold a unique role in grasslands in North America," Craine said. "In addition to their cultural and ecological significance, they're economically important. There are about half a million bison in the world." Craine analyzed a data set of 290,000 weights, ages and sexes collected from 22 bison herds throughout the U. S. The organizations kept annual records of each animal in the herd and matched the data with the climates of the sites.
Based on differences in sizes of bison across herds, Craine found that during the next 50 years, future generations of bison will be smaller in size and weigh less. Climate is likely to reduce the nutritional quality of grasses, causing the animals to grow more slowly.
"We know that temperatures are going to go up," Craine said. "We also know that warmer grasslands have grasses with less protein , and we now know that warmer grasslands have smaller _ . It all lines up to suggest that climate change will cause grasses to have less protein and cause grazers to gain less weight in the future."
Craine said the results of climate change in coming decades can already be seen by comparing bison in cooler, wetter places with those in warmer, drier places. For example, the average 7-year-old male bison in South Dakota weighed 1, 900 pounds, while an average 7- year-old male bison in Oklahoma -- a warmer place -- weighed 1, 300 pounds.
"The difference in temperature between those two states is around 20 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about three times the projected increase in temperatures over the next 75 years," Craine said. "It is a clear indicator that long-term warming will affect bison and is something that will happen across the U.S. over the next 50-75 years." | high8639.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "secretly bought and sold"
},
"options": [
"began to buy and sell",
"stopped producing",
"completely stopped trading",
"secretly bought and sold"
],
"question": "We know from the passage that in 1919 people _ ... | The 1920s was a decade of wealth, decadence and social changes. They were known as the Roaring Twenties, and the best place to experience this exciting time was New York City. But what was it really like?
Prohibition
In 1919, a new law in the US known as Prohibition made it illegal to buy and sell alcohol. But Prohibition didn't stop people drinking; it just drove the sale of strong alcoholic drink underground. Bootleggers waited off the coast of New York after dark and brought illegal alcohol into the city.
Jazz
Jazz was the music of New York in the 1920s. In fact, the decade is called Jazz Age. The best place to listen to this new form of music was the Cotton Club in Harlem. All the great jazz musicians played at the Cotton Club, including Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington. Also, in 1942 George Gershwin composed the jazz--influenced Rhapsody in Blue. The piece has been called "a musical portrait of New York" and was used by Woody Allen in his filmManhattan.
Art Deco
Art Deco was the most popular style of the 1920s, with bright colors and geometric designs; it can be seen in the art, architecture and inside designs of the period. New York is full of Art Deco buildings, but the most famous ones are the Chrysler Building (built between 1928 and 1930) and the Empire State Building (built between 1930 and 1931).
The Great Depression
On 29th October, 1929, the Roaring Twenties came to a dramatic end. On that day (known as "Black Tuesday"), the US stock market crashed, causing the Great Depression. The economic downturn lasted ten years and affected most of the Western world. Unemployment in America reached 25% and the country didn't recover until after World War II. | high14353.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "entertainment"
},
"options": [
"clothing",
"entertainment",
"sleep",
"exercise"
],
"question": "The facts about life in space are all mentioned EXCEPT _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | Life in space will certainly take some getting used to!But the space station has been designed to keep the astronauts as comfortable as possible--the modules are roomy,bright,and kept at a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit.It's important the crew members are comfortable because they'll be busy aboard the station.In a typical workday,crew members will spend 14 hours working and exercising,1.5 hours preparing and eating meals,and 8.5 hours sleeping.Here are some other fun facts about life aboard the station:
Food
Come mealtime,astronauts will have a special dining kitchen.Space food just keeps getting better--and more like food we enjoy here on Earth.In early space missions,astronauts could eat only freezedried food that didn't require any preparation.But the space station is equipped with water,microwave ovens,and refrigerators,allowing the folks on board to eat more "normal" types of food,including fruit,vegetables,and ice cream!
Sleep
Each crew member has a private room.With no gravity,they'll need to tie themselves to their beds,or they will float away!That might sound like a strange way to sleep,but astronauts from past space missions report that sleeping in space is actually pretty great!
Exercise
You might not think it,but exercise is even more important on the station than it is on Earth.There is not much gravity in space.Astronauts don't stand up,sit down or walk in space,so their muscles and bones don't have to work much--and this muscle and bone loss can be dangerous back on Earth.To fight this,astronauts on the station will exercise on bikes,rowing machines,and other equipment about two hours every day.
Clothing
Astronauts will have to wear special space suits while traveling aboard the U.S.shuttle or Russian rockets.But once they're safe inside the space station,crew members can wear regular clothing.Of course,a specially designed,pressurized space suit is required for space walks.It has to withstand flying pieces and protect the astronauts from dramatic temperature changes.It can range from 120 degrees below Fahrenheit in the shadow of the station to 250 degrees in the hot sun.
Personal Cleanliness
Simple tasks like brushing your teeth can be challenging in a weightless environment.A little water doesn't flow in a stream--it suspends in a bubble!Astronauts will use a freshwater hose to take showers,shampoo,and wash off--then a second vacuum hose to suction off the dirty water.And how do you go to the bathroom in space?With a special "air toilet" that uses flowing air instead of water to dispose of waste. | high6172.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Your hearing pitch may be decreased."
},
"options": [
"Your eyes become weak and can't see well.",
"You may feel fresher and more energetic.",
"Your hearing pitch may be decreased.",
"Your tongue may lose the function o... | Why should ear, nose, tongue and eyes be called special senses? The basic reason is that these are the channels through which we maintain contact with the surroundings. Though apparently it may feel like these are individual sensory organs, they do show some connections. Interestingly, our hearing is less sharp after we eat a heavy food. Isn't it good for a sound nap after a stomach-full meal? That does not mean we go deaf after a heavy meal, but the hearing pitch does change after that.
We usually owe it to our tongue that we have taste, but do you know that unless saliva dissolves something, our tongue cannot recognize the taste of the food eaten. Taste is nothing but the food chemicals dissolved in the saliva being sensed by the taste buds present on the tongue. Try to dry off your tongue and mouth with a tissue paper and then taste something.
Woman are much better smellers than man. They are born with this characteristic ability and can correctly make out the exact fragrance of the sample. We all can store almost 50,000 different scents, which are strongly tied to the memories.
Pupils do not respond to light alone, but to the slightest bit of noise around too. Thus surgeons, watchmakers and those professionals who have to perform a very delicate job do prefer to have a sound-free environment. Even a small noise can enlarge their pupils, change the focus and make them see less clearly.
Each and every one of us has an individualistic or characteristic smell, which is unique to us, except for the identical twins. This smell isn't very noticeable yet can be sensed even by a newborn. It may be due to this scent that the newborn recognizes the presence of his parents around. Many of us can point out the smell of our significant friends and colleagues. This is guided, to a great degree, by genetics but it is also influenced by the environment, diet and so on. This all together creates the unique chemistry that is individualistic for each person. | high23299.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "missed some important culture of China"
},
"options": [
"missed some important culture of China",
"covered so much about traders' life",
"was full of obvious mistakes",
"seemed less detailed"
],
"question": "Fra... | As early as the mid-18th century, some people began raising doubts about Marco Polo's travels. In1995, historian Frances Wood argued in her bookDid Marco Polo Go to China? that the famous explorer from Venice never made it to pass the Black Sea. She noted that his travel journal left out the Great Wall of China,chopsticks and tea drinking among other details.Furthermore, Chinese documents from Polo's day made no mention of the explorer and his men.
Wood and other scholars have argued that Marco Polo based his tales of China on information collected from fellow trades who had actually been there. Last year, a team of Italian researchers became the latest to challenge Polo's accounts . They said that evidence didn't support his description of Kublai Khan's Japanese invasions .
Now, however, research by Hans Ulrich Vogel of Germany's Tubingen University might help prove Marco Polo was true. In a new bookMarco Polo Was in China,the professor of Chinese history tries to prove that Marco Polo spoke the truth. He suggests, for example, that Polo didn't include the Great Wall in his book because it only achieved its great importance in the Ming Dynasty several hundred years later. Vogel further explains that Chinese records from the 13th and 14th centuries avoided setting down visits from Westerners.
Historians before him have touched on these issues. But Vogel also relies on another evidence:the explorer's very detailed descriptions of currency and salt production in the Yuan Dynasty. According to Vogel, Polo documented these aspects of Mongol Chinese culture in greater detail than any other of his time. This is a hint that Polo relied on his own powers of observation.
Will we ever know whether Marco Polo traveled to China? Perhaps not, but the consequences ofhis real or fictional journey are still felt across the globe. One reader ofThe Travels of Marco Polowas Christopher Columbus, who stepped upon the New World while following his idol's footsteps. | high14435.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "first developed some 11,000 years ago"
},
"options": [
"will disappear in two centuries",
"first developed some 11,000 years ago",
"resulted in a temperature rise in recent years",
"has decreased to 80 percent over the ... | The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, famous in literature and beloved by tourists, initially formed some 11,000 years ago, but will be gone in two decades, according to researchers who say the ice fields on Africa's highest mountain shrank by 80 percent in the past century.
Lonnie G. Thompson,one professor from Ohio State University, said measurements using modern navigation satellites show that the oldest ice layers on the famous mountain were deposited during an extremely wet period starting about 11,700 years ago.The mountain appears in literature, most notably Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and some ancient beliefs in Africa hold the mountain to be a sacred place.
But a temperature rise in recent years is destroying the 150-foot-high blocks of ice that gave Kilimanjaro its unique white cap."The ice will be gone by about 2030," said Thompson. The disappearing ice already has reduced the amount of water in some Tanzanian rivers and the government fears that when Kilimanjaro is bald of snow the tourists will stop coming.
"Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign currency earner for the government of Tanzania," said Thompson. "It has its own international airport and some 20,000 tourists every year. The question is how many will come if there are no ice fields on the mountain."
Africa was not alone in the global drought. Thompson said other records show that civilizations during this period collapsed in India, the Middle East and South America.
Researchers put markers on the ice field blocks in 1962 and Thompson said measurements using satellites show the summit of the ice has been lowered by about 56 feet in 40 years. The _ of the ice also has moved back more than six feet in the past two years, much smaller than before.
"That's more than two meter's worth of ice lost from a wall 164 feet (50 meters) high," said Thompson. "That's an enormous amount of ice." | high9241.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A journey of self-discovery."
},
"options": [
"Life with foster parents.",
"Life in the world of diving.",
"A journey of self-discovery.",
"A travel around the country."
],
"question": "What is the main theme of... | A Book Review--The Snake-Stoneby Berlie Doherty
The setting: Urban England (the cities), but also rural England (the countryside) including remote English villages.
The theme: The main theme is a teenage search of self-discovery, in this case the search for a mother from whom the hero was separated at an early age. Its other concerns are love, getting on with others, being persistent and courageous and trying to deal with doubts, troubles and worries. As the book moves to a close, James' swimming coach says to him: "You are not like a kid obeying instructions any more. You are diving like a young man who knows where he is going."
The characters: James is the hero of the story. He is a championship diver, and has a comfortable life with his foster parents . Yet he also has the qualities to take him on a long journey to find his birth mother. The other characters inThe Snake-Stone, James' parents, his diving instructor, best friend, the villagers, people he meets on his journey, are pictured realistically.
The turning point: The turning point in the story comes while James' foster parents are away in London, and he wonders about the identity of his birth mother. The only clue he has is a fossil, "the snake stone" which she left behind along with a note on which she had written: "Take good care of Sammie. It was written on a torn envelope with parts of an address still there.
The journey: Instead of going to London, James decides to find his birth mother. With help from his geography teacher, James sets out for the remote country village where his mother might be found. James has painful, challenging, but also humorous and happy travels. The mother he finally meets, Anne, has a minor yet powerful voice in the novel. He comes to understand why she left him at a stranger's door fifteen years before. Although the meeting is not long, it leaves him with a feeling of completeness. As a journey of self-discoveryThe Snake-Stonealso provides its readers with a happy ending. Its hero says, on returning to his foster parents, "I was home." | high389.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Rumplestiltskin may have bad influence on children."
},
"options": [
"Rumplestiltskin is too long.",
"Rumplestiltskin is too difficult.",
"Rumplestiltskin forgives stealing.",
"Rumplestiltskin may have bad influence on ... | Traditional fairy tales are being abandoned by parents because they are too scary for their young children, a study has found.
A research has discovered one in five parents has given up old classics such as Snow Whiteandthe Seven Dwarves and Rapunzelin favour of more modern books. One third of parents say their children have been left in tears after hearing the horrible details ofLittle Red Riding Hood. And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to readRumplestiltskinto their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and killing. Similarly,Goldilocks and the Three Bearsis also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents feel it forgives stealing.
The survey of 2,000 adults was completed to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9 p.m. on Watch, and sees six drama series based on traditional fairy tales. The survey has found a quarter of parents polled will not consider reading a fairy tale to their children until they have reached the age of five, as they have to face too many awkward questions from their children.
Steve Hornsey, General Manager, Watch, said, "Bedtime stories are supposed to _ children and send them off to sleep soundly. But as we see inGRIMM, some fairy tales can be dark and dramatic tales so it' s understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children. As adults, we can see the innocence in fairy tales, but a five-year-old child would take them too seriously. Despite the dark nature of some classic fairy tales, as we see inGRIMM, good will defeat evil and there is always a moral to the story."
The study also shows two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares. However, half of parents think traditional tales are more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids' books, such as The Gruffalo, The Hungary Caterpillarand theMr. Menbooks. | high22187.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "was sent into space on June 11, 2013"
},
"options": [
"was sent into space on June 11, 2013",
"is still an experimental shuttle system",
"sent many supplies to the manned space station",
"returned to Earth safely on the... | Three astronauts returned to Earth safely on Wednesday after a successful 15-day mission , marking another step forward towards the country's goal of building a manned space station by 2020.
Zhang Youxia, commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, said the Shenzhou X mission was a "complete success".
The Shenzhou X landed safely in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at about 8:07 a.m. on June 26, 2013. All three astronauts were in good physical condition.
Nie Haisheng, commander of the Shenzhou X crew and a second-time space traveler, was the first to get out of the bowl-like module , followed by Wang Yaping, the only female astronaut of the mission, and Zhang Xiaoguang. During a brief welcoming ceremony held at the landing area, the astronauts waved happily to a crowd consisting of officers, the search and recovery team, and health personnel.
"It feels really good to be back home," said astronaut Nie Haisheng.
"We are dreamers, and we have now realized our dream," said Zhang Xiaoguang. "Our space dream knows no limit, and our hard work will never stop," he said.
Compared with its previous mission Shenzhou IX last year, the Shenzhou X is no longer experimental but considered an applicable shuttle system for sending astronauts and supplies to orbiting modules. The mission aims to further test technologies designed for docking and supporting astronauts' stay in space, as well as to use new technologies related to the construction of a space station.
In its 15-day journey in space, Shenzhou X docked with the orbiting space lab Tiangong-1 twice, once through automatic operation and the other manual .The Tiangong-1 space lab has been in orbit for more than 600 days. It's designed to work for two years. The module is considered the first step in building a permanent space station in the future. And the astronauts spent 12 days in Tiangong-1, where they conducted space medical experiments, technical tests and gave a science lesson to students on Earth on June 19 about basic physics principles. The lecture was the second video class sent from space, with US astronaut Barbara Morgan's 25-minute class being the first in 2007.
China is the third country after the United States and Russia to acquire the technologies and skills necessary for space rendezvous and docking procedures, as well as supply manpower and material for an orbiting module via different docking methods.
Previous docking procedures conducted between Shenzhou-type spacecraft and the orbiting space lab included two automated dockings by the unmanned Shenzhou-8 in 2011 and both an automated and manual docking by the manned Shenzhou-9 in 2012.
Since its first manned space space mission in 2003, China has sent ten astronauts and six spacecrafts into the space. | high4765.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Business and education."
},
"options": [
"Science and technology.",
"Movie and entertainment.",
"Business and education.",
"Culture and art."
],
"question": "In what areas is English language mostly used in Indi... | As a result of British colonial rule, English language is the second most widely spoken language in India after the Hindi. Though it appears to be a second language, there is no question about its immense growth over the years in Indian history. It is the main language accepted and spoken in the fields of business and education across all places in India. India is ranked the third largest English-speaking population in the world besides the US and the UK.
English writing has blossomed in India and has reached a peak where Indian writers like Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth and Salman Rushdie were able to distinguish themselves in the whole world. Many Indian authors bring out books on Indian culture and literature. Shobha De, a famous fashion and lifestyle columnist is one of the important writers to be mentioned who have paved the way for others to follow suit.
Quite a few newspapers like The Hindu, Times of India and Indian Express have increased the popularity and acceptance of English in India greatly. They have played an important role in spreading English in all comers of the country.
One of the major contributors in promoting English language development in India is the education system. Private schools and colleges play a major role in preparing students with spoken and written skills in English. The standard is so high that we can see young students actively taking part in group discussions and quiz competitions to show their talents all over the world.
Indian movies don't lag behind . There are so many English movies that come out of India every year. The world's movie capital is not Hollywood but Bollywood, which is the nickname for the Indian film industry located in Mumbai. Movies like Bend It Like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding have great international influence. | high19111.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "special report"
},
"options": [
"advertisement",
"official document",
"special report",
"study plan"
],
"question": "This passage is somewhat like a(n) _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | Beijing - "Ma", a Chinese character for horse, is the 13thmost common family name in China, shared by nearly 17 million people. That can cause no end of confusion when Mas get together, especially if those Mas also share the same given name, as many Chinese do.
Ma Cheng's book-loving grandfather came up with an elegant solution to this common problem. Twenty-six years ago, when his granddaughter was born, he consulted his library of Chinese dictionaries and lighted upon a character pronounced "cheng". Cheng looks just like the character for horse, except that it is condensed and written three times in a row.
The character is so rare that once people see it, Miss Ma said, they tend to remember both her and her name. That is one reason she likes it so much.
Chinese parents' desire to give their children a spark of individuality is colliding with the Chinese government's desire for order. Seeking to modernize its vast database on China's 1.3 billion citizens, the government's Public Security Bureau has been replacing the handwritten identity card that every Chinese must carry with a computer-readable one, complete with color1 photos and microchips. The new cards are harder to forge and can be scanned at places like airports where security is a priority.
The bureau's computers, however, are programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters according to a 2006 government report. The result is that Miss Ma and at least some of the 60 million other Chinese with _ characters in their names cannot get new cards -- unless they change their names to something more common.
Moreover, the situation is about to get worse or, in the government's view, better. Since at least 2003, China has been working on a standardized list of characters for people to use in everyday life, including when naming children. The list will aim to control the use of obscure names. | high20948.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a happy and united family"
},
"options": [
"a happy and united family",
"an extremely poor family",
"a family with lots of serious problems",
"a family that remained in the country"
],
"question": "We know from ... | My sisters and I have dreamt of a home in the city, but when the Alcott family found itself in a small house at the South End without a tree in sight, only a back yard to play in, and no money to buy any of the beautiful things before us, we children all opposed it and longed for the country again.
Anna soon found little pupils, and walked away each morning to her daily task, pausing at the corner to wave her hand to me in answer to my greet with the duster . My father went to his office downtown, mother to her helping the poor, the little girls to school, and I, Lousia, was left to keep house, feeling like an aged sea-gull as I washed dishes and cooked in the basement kitchen where the only thing I could hope for was someone talking with me.
Good drill, but very hard, and my only comfort was the evening reunion where all met with such various reports of the day's adventures, we could not fail to find both amusement and instruction.
Father brought interesting and attractive news from the upper world; mother, usually in low spirits because she would give away her clothes with sad tales of suffering from the darker side of life; gentle Anna gave a modest account of her success as a teacher, for even at seventeen her sweet nature won all who knew her, and her patience gained her the support of the most naughty pupil.
My reports were usually a mixture of sadness and happiness, and the children poured their small joys and troubles into the family where comfort and mercy were always to be found. | high2314.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The Country Bear Playhouse will be closed ."
},
"options": [
"The Country Bear Playhouse will be closed .",
"There will be a new attraction for our guests at Disneyland",
"The number of visitors to the Country Bear Playhouse ... | Allen : I've never been a big fan of the bears , especially the vacation show . On my last trip to Disneyland (1999) we passed it by , because we didn't want to spend the time on something we didn't really enjoy. If we'd known it would be closed by our next visit , I'm sure we would have watched it one more time . I was just making the point that it wasn't until Disney announced the closing that this feeling suddenly sprang up for the Country Bear show at Disneyland .
But I think the idea of keeping some attractions open forever regardless of the number of visitors it gets is a mistake . We all have great memories of the Bears , but clearly very few kids today (or I should say families today ) are making those same memories from this show . That may be a sad fact , but it's a fact . For whatever reason , the show doesn't pull in the numbers . Isn't it right to use the Country Bear space to bring in a more popular attraction so that more kids today can make those magic memories of an attraction THEY like ? Otherwise aren't we just telling kids today that they "have to" make great memories of the Bears , when it's obvious that the kids themselves are not enjoying the Bears like we did ?
Roger : I am very disappointed that they have decided to retire the Country Bear Playhouse . I remember going to the show as a child , and still enjoyed it as a teenager ,
and now young adult . It is true that there aren't a lot of shows left at DL and with this one closing even less . Being at DL does require a lot of walking , and it is nice to have a few attractions that are a place to sit and enjoy a good show . I understand that DL has to develop , but there has to be some history to the Disneyland that Walt Disney first designed . There should be some parts of DL that just never go away , and this is one of them . By the time I have children it looks like there won't be any attractions that I can say I went to as a child at the rate they are going .
Now the Bears are leaving . What I want to say is: stop trying to compete with everyone ! DL is the best , because of attractions like the Country Bears . If DL insists on destroying all of its magic to make way for the latest , well , then it might as well be just another theme park . | high10653.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the virtual world was a place without boundaries"
},
"options": [
"cyberspace liberated the real world",
"the virtual world was a place without boundaries",
"cyberspace can be entered by anyone for free",
"the Internet ... | In the early days of the Internet, the idea that it represented an entirely new and separate field distinct from the real world was seized upon by both supporters and critics of the new technology.Supporters liked the idea that the virtual world was a placeless datasphere, liberated from constraints and restrictions of the real world, and an opportunity for a fresh start.For instance, John Perry Barlow, an internet activist, issued the "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" in February 1996.He thundered, "Governments of the industrial world, I come from cyberspace, the new home of mind.Cyberspace does not lie within your borders.We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.
Where Mr.Barlow found the separation between the real and virtual worlds exciting, however, critics regarded it as a cause for concern.They worried that people were spending too much time online, communicating with people they had never even met in person in chat rooms, virtual game worlds and, more recently, on social - networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.A study carried out by the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society in 2000, for example, found that heavy internet users spent less time talking to friends and family, and warned that the Internet could be "the ultimate isolating( ) technology".
Both groups were wrong, of course.The Internet has not turned out to be a thing apart.Unpleasant aspects of the real world, such as taxes, crime and cheating are now characteristics of the virtual world, too.C'amers who make real money selling swords, gold and other things in virtual game worlds may now find that the tax man wants to know about it.Designers of virtual objects in Second Life, an online virtual world, are seeking to real -world lawsuits in order to protect their intellectual property.
At the same time, however, some of the most exciting uses of the Internet rely on combining it with the real world.Social networking allows people to stay in touch with their friends online, and plan social activities in the real world.The distinction between online and offline chatters does not matter any more.
All these approaches treat the Internet as an extension or an attachment to the physical world, not a separate space.Rather than seeing the real and virtual fields as distinct and conflicting, in short, it makes sense to see them as complementary and connected. | high20790.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To help students concentrate on study."
},
"options": [
"To offer a special program in high school.",
"To help students concentrate on study.",
"To strengthen sex education for teenagers.",
"To start learning college co... | Most American schools have boys and girls in the same classroom. But a public high school in the small, rural town of Boonsboro, Maryland, offers a special program called the Academy. Top students in the ninth and tenth grades can attend single-sex classes for math, science, English and social studies.
The aim is to help teenagers keep their mind on their work by keeping males and females apart. What they really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve there, so that they're prepared for college.
Students are invited to enter this program after they finish middle school, and placement in the Academy is voluntary. However, they need high marks and test scores and strong teacher recommendations. They also need to be involved in activities.
Almost 350 students have taken part in the Academy. It began as an experiment in 2010.
Michael Bair has been at Boonsboro High for twenty years and directs the Academy. His ninth-grade English class for boys centers on books that he believes boys find interesting. He says that the novels the students are reading now are very manly novels. These novels deal with the arrogance of man and the pride of man which finally leads to man's downfall.
One of those books, for example, is The Call of the Wild by Jack London. This classic story tells of a dog stolen from his home and sold to work as a sled dog in Canada's Klondike Gold Rush.
Morgan Fleet, a senior at Boonsboro High, likes being in the Academy. She says boys and girls act differently when they are together in a classroom. She believes this difference seems to prevent her from developing herself because she's more focused on thoughts like "Oh, I wish they would shut up. Oh, what do they think of me?'' instead of focusing on "What's the homework? What's going on in this class? What's the lesson?".
There is one activity that girls and boys in the Academy do together. At the end of the day, many of them stay and help tutor students who are having trouble in school. | high4956.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Previous experience in an elective office."
},
"options": [
"Minimum age of thirty-five years old.",
"Native of the United States of America.",
"Bottom residency of fourteen years in the State",
"Previous experience in ... | The candidate who is longing for election to the highest office in the United States must be native-born American citizen who is at least 35 years old and who has lived in the United States for at least 14 years. The election course is complicated, and the road to the Oval Office is long.
Potential candidates must present papers stating their intention to seek their party's recommendation; delegates then choose from among those running some months later at the national conferences. Before that, however, each state holds a primary election that determines how the state's voters want the party's delegates to vote. Methods of choosing the delegates vary from state to state. At the conferences, there are speeches and often heated discussions. It may take several rounds of voting before delegates can agree on a candidate. On the final day of the meeting, the presidential candidate announces his or her choice for vice president.
Election Day, by law, is the Tuesday that follows the first Monday in November. On this day, registered voters may cast their votes for president, vice president, and candidates for other federal state, and local offices. The popular vote, however, does not determine who will be president. The president is chosen by a vote of the Electoral College, a group of 538 citizens from the 50 states and the District of Columbia who are chosen to cast votes for the president and vice president.
The rules for choosing electors, as with the delegates, vary. Each state also decides whether its electoral votes must reflect the popular vote. The number of electors in each state is determined by the number of representatives and senators that a state sends to Congress and, therefore, may change every 10 years, depending on the results of the United States census . The winner must get at least 270 of the electoral votes when the Electoral College meets in December of the election year. The election results are not official, however, until the following January, when Congress meets in a joint conference to count the electoral votes.
At the end of the road to the Oval Office is the swearing-in ceremony, at which the new or reelected president takes the oath of office on January 20. | high5490.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "had difficulty raising her family"
},
"options": [
"liked stepping forward and backward",
"had difficulty raising her family",
"couldn't walk regular like other people",
"wanted to look for a better job"
],
"que... | Everybody knows the saying "Two steps forward and three steps back". That described my life pretty well as a single mom. I was raising two teenagers on a teacher's aide's salary. It wasn't nearly enough to cover the bills, so I moonlighted as a waitress. Every time I thought that I had found a solution to my money worries, something would fall through and I would end up feeling worse off than before.
The next evening at the restaurant I tried on my apron, wishing I could be home with my kids. I walked up to my first table. Around it was a cheerful older couple. The woman gave me a smile that warmed me. I couldn't help but notice her unusual glass ring. "What a beautiful ring," I said. We chatted for a minute then I took their order and left. When I came back with their drinks, the woman held out her ring. "I would like to give this to you," she said.
"Oh, no, I couldn't," I said, embarrassed.
She gently placed the ring in my hand and closed my fingers around it. "It's yours," she said. "Please accept it and your things are going to be okay." Right there at their table in the middle of the restaurant I broke down in tears. "Thank you for giving me hope," I said.
Long after that night, that sense of peace stayed with me. I knew the right job would come in time. Nine months later it did. I got a better position at another school and I started waitressing at a restaurant where I was allowed to spend more time with my kids.
Now in these tough times, I have money worries again, but they don't get me down. I know things will turn out okay. And when I wear that unusual glass ring, I'm reminded I'm not alone. | high10860.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Alfred's mother appeared polite and gentle"
},
"options": [
"Alfred's mother appeared polite and gentle",
"he should have called a policeman at first",
"he found Alfred was in fact not wrong",
"he thought he was partly ... | The drug store was closing for the night. Young Alfred Higgins, the shop-assistant, was ready to go home. Mr. Carr, the boss, stared at him and said: "Stop! Alfred. Maybe you'd be good enough to take the things out of your pockets and leave them here before you go." Alfred's face got red. After a little hesitation , he took out what he had stolen. Mr. Carr said, "Maybe I should call you mother and let her know I'm going to have to put you in prison."
Alfred thought his mother would come rushing in, eyes burning with anger. But, to his surprise, she arrived wearing a smile. "Hello, I'm Alfred's mother. Is he in trouble?" she said. Mr. Carr was surprised, too. He had expected Alfred's mother to come in nervously, shaking with fear, asking with wet eyes for a mercy for her son. Yet, she was most calm, quiet, and pleasant, which made Mr. Carr feel guilty . Soon Mr. Carr was shaking his head in agreement with what she was saying. "Of course", he said, "I don't want to be cruel. You are right. Sometimes, a little good advice is the best thing for a boy at certain times in his life and it often takes the youth a long time to grow up." And he warmly shook Mrs. Higgins's hand.
Back home, without even looking at Alfred, she said, "You are a burden. Your trouble came one after another, always! Why do you stand there so stupidly? Go to bed." In his bedroom, Alfred heard his mother in the kitchen. Getting to the kitchen, he saw his mother drinking a cup of tea. His mother's face was a frightened, broken one, totally different from the earlier cool, bright face. She lifted the tea cup, her hands shaking, the lips moving nervously.
He watched his mother quietly, without making a sound. The picture of his mother nearly made him cry. Realizing all the troubles he brought his mother in her shaking hands and the deep lines of worry in her grey face, he felt he shouldn't have done such a shameful theft to hurt his mother so deeply. He determined to grow up like a true man and protect his mother rather than hurt her again. | high23272.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The Global Cellular Rental is an American company."
},
"options": [
"You must place an order on its website.",
"Discount packages need to be applied in advance.",
"The Global Cellular Rental is an American company.",
"T... | Heading overseas on a business trip or just for pleasure any time soon?If so,have you thought about what you are going to do about communication?You may need to arrange cab service or get directions to an attraction,not to mention you want to stay in touch with the folks back home.
Hope you aren't _ your personal cell phone.Industry experts estimate that most American cell phones won't work overseas due to compatibility issues.And even if yours did work,the roaming charges would be too high.
So what are your choices?You could rent a phone with a local number in the country you're traveling to,but that wouldn't do you much good if you're constantly on the go.A more costeffective way would be to rent a satellite phone from a company like Global Cellular Rental.
The process is amazingly fast and simple.All you have to do is to log onto the company's website,www.globalcellularrental.com,and place an order.The site will show you the countries you will be traveling to and ask you how long you will need the phone.The company then ships a cell phone directly to you anywhere in the world.The phone arrives with complete instructions.
The traveler also learns his overseas phone number well in advance,enabling him to inform all vital contacts of the number before he ever steps on a plane.
Roaming rates are usually 80 percent less than those charged by American service providers.Calls back to the US can be discounted 40 percent or more.The rentals cost is just $5 per day,and discount packages are available for longterm rentals of two months or more.
This cell phone solution is becoming so popular that Global Cellular Rental actually has relationships with hotel chains around the world to keep phones in stock for hotel guests.And for those whose journey really takes them off the beaten track,the company can also rent satellite phones to them.These phones work anywhere in the world as long as you are outside. | high6199.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "In a place in US."
},
"options": [
"In Sonora.",
"In Mexico state.",
"In a place in US.",
"Near the US-Mexico border."
],
"question": "Where did the researchers discover the new species of butterflies?",
"qu... | Researchers who helped discover a new species of Mexican butterfly are offering to sell the naming rights to raise money to fund more research. Co-discoverer Andrew Warren is hoping to raise at least $50,000 by auctioning off the rights to name the 4-inch "owl eye" butterfly, which lives in Sonora, a Mexican state bordering Arizona.
"That would support at least two years of research for our team down in Mexico," Warren said. "Money goes a long way down here in Mexico."
According to the scientific tradition, discoverers of a new species have the say in naming it. In recent years, some discoverers have auctioned off their naming rights to raise money.
Warren said the amount being sought for the butterfly is not out of the question, noting that naming rights for a new monkey species brought in $650,000 two years ago. A group of 10 new fish species that went on the naming auction block at the same time earlier this year brought in a total of $2 million.
The butterfly discovered by Warren and researcher George Austin ranges as far north as Mexico.
The butterfly was actually in a collection, misidentified as an example of another new species, at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of National History in Gainesville, said Warren. They soon began the hard process of determining that it was indeed a "new" model of butterfly.
After checking photos and comparing it with other known species, they determined it was a separate species. | high15918.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "after about ten years' investigation in it"
},
"options": [
"after a long discussion and recommendation",
"after about ten years' investigation in it",
"because of the most powerful mobile devices",
"for the reason of h... | A federal agency on Tuesday called for a ban on all cellphone use by drivers -- the most far-reaching recommendation up to now -- saying its decision was based on a decade of investigations into distraction-related accidents, as well as growing concerns that powerful mobile devices are giving drivers even more reasons to look away from the road.
As part of its recommendation, the National Transportation Safety Board is urging states to ban drivers from using hands-free devices, including wireless headsets. No state now has made laws to ban such activity, but the Board said that drivers faced serious risks from talking on wireless headsets, just as they do by taking a hand off the wheel to hold a phone to their ears.
However, the concern was heightened by increasingly powerful phones that people can use to send e-mails, watch movies and play games.
"Every year, new devices are being on sale." she said. "People are attracted to update their Facebook page, to play music with cellphone, as if sitting at a desk. But they are driving a car."
The agency based its recommendation on evidence from its investigation of numerous crashes in which electronic distraction was a major contributing factor.
Ms. Hersman said she understood that this recommendation would be unwelcome in some circles, given the number of drivers who talk and text. But she compared distracted driving to drunken driving and even smoking, which required wholesale cultural shifts to change behavior.
"It's going to be very unpopular with some people." she said. "We're not here to win a popularity contest. We're here to do the right thing. This is a difficult recommendation, but it's the right recommendation and it is time."
The agency's recommendation is not required for states to adopt such a ban. And it won't likely be agreed upon by state lawmakers who are unwillingly to anger those who have grown accustomed to using their device behind the wheel.
The ban also deserves attention because it is the first call by a federal agency to end the practice completely, rather than the partial ban that some lawmakers have put in place by allowing hands-free talking. | high1190.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "8993 meters"
},
"options": [
"3765 meters",
"8993 meters",
"12,350 meters",
"29,500 meters"
],
"question": "The three skydivers jumped out of the plane at an altitude of about _ .",
"question_type": "cloz... | "It was amazing, just impressive," Holly Budge, a 29-year-old British woman, said after making a safe landing at a spot 12,350 feet (3,765 meters) above sea level -- the highest "drop zone" achieved by a parachutist . "We had one minute of freefall and while we were above the clouds you could see Everest and the other high mountains popping out of the top," she said.
Ms Budge and her two fellow daredevils, Wendy Smith, from New Zealand, and Neil Jones, from Canada, jumped out of an aircraft at about 29,500 feet, just higher than the peak of the world's highest mountain. They fell at speeds reaching 140mph, past the highest ridges of the snow-covering Himalayas, before each released a parachute . The jumpers wore oxygen masks to keep their lungs working as they fell. Wearing neoprene underwear was compulsory -- to prevent them from being frozen to death.
The adventure, advertised by its organizers as "a feast for those who seek to stimulate all their senses to the full", appeared to have lived up to its billing. "I had never seen so many mountains before," Ms Smith said. "To be on top of the world was simply stunning ."
The expedition also offered a way by which to celebrate her 30th birthday later this month, she said. Besides, her jump raised funds for charities in Britain and Nepal, including more than PS10,000 for the Hampshire Autistic Society.
In the next few days the feat will be repeated by about 30 others, weather permitting. Each has paid at least PS12,675 to High and Wild, the British adventure travel company behind the project. Ms Budge said: "It was worth the money. It is something that has never been done before." | high23514.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Her parents."
},
"options": [
"Her brothers.",
"Her parents.",
"Her friend.",
"Her doctor."
],
"question": "Who taught Bethany surfing when she was very young?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{... | Bethany Meilani Hamilton was born on February 8, 1990 Kauai, Hawaii, where she grew up with two older brothers. Hamilton's parents were both surfers and they started teaching Bethany how to surf at a young age, and she learned quickly with the support of her brothers. By age 8, Bethany was winning first place in surfing contests for her age group. Hamilton began competing more seriously at the age of nine, winning several more competitions in her age group.
On October 31, 2003, while surfing with friends near Tunnels Beach, a 14-foot tiger shark attacked her. Bethany said, "My arm was hanging in the water, and it just came and bit me. It kind of pulled me back and forth. But I just held onto my board and then the shark let go." The shark tore off Bethany's left arm just below her shoulder. Hamilton's friends rushed her to the hospital. Bethany made it through several surgeries without infection , and miraculously survived even though she had lost almost 60% of her blood. The doctor said that her athletic training helped her to survive the attack and blood loss.
While she was healing, Bethany thought for a while that she might not surf again. She was concerned that it would be much harder to stand up on the board using only one hand and that her balance would be completely off. But with hard work and determination she returned to surfing. She says, "It's hard for me to describe the joy I felt after I stood up and rode a wave in for the first time after the attack. I was greatly thankful and happy inside. The tiny bit of doubt that would sometimes tell me 'you'll never surf again' was gone in one wave !"
As for fear of another shark attack, Bethany says that sometimes her heart pounds when she sees a shadow under the water. But she believes that faith provides hope and a future for those who feel down and defeated in their lives.
Bethany's popularity and hope for the future led her to partner with World Vision to create "Surfing for Children in Crisis". Bethany hopes that her involvement in the campaign will help provide disabled children from around the world with care, support, and hope. | high12911.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the behaviour of building users"
},
"options": [
"zero-carbon homes",
"the behaviour of building users",
"sustainable building design",
"the reduction of carbon emissions"
],
"question": "As to energy use, the n... | The behaviour of a building's users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). The UK promises to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, part of which will be achieved by all new homes being zero-carbon by 2016. But this report shows that sustainable building design on its own -- though extremely important- is not enough to achieve such reductions: the behaviour of the people using the building has to change too.
The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency , _ instead focus on architectural and technological developments.
'Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything,'explains Katy Janda, a UKERC senior researcher,'consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design. 'In other words,old habits die hard, even in the best-designed eco-home.
Another part of the problem is information. Households and bill-payers don't have the knowledge they need to change their energy-use habits. Without specific information,it's hard to estimate the costs and benefits of making different choices. Feedback facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors,could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behaviour directly affects their energy use; some studies have shown that households can achieve up to 15 percent energy savings using smart meters.
Social science research has added a further dimension ,suggesting that individuals'behaviour in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted whether people throw open their windows rather than turn down the thermostat , for example.
Janda argues that education is the key. She calls for a focused programme to teach people about buildings and their own behaviour in them. | high6827.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Discover"
},
"options": [
"Discover",
"Self",
"Instyle",
"Wired"
],
"question": "Which of the following magazines is published monthly?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": ... | Discover
Newsmagazine of science devoted to the wonders an stories of modern science, written for the educated general reader. Published by Disney Magazine Publishing Co., Discover tells many of the same stories professionals read in Scientific American. A truly delightful family science magazine, each issue brings to light new and newsworthy topics to make dinnertime and water-cooler conversations interesting.
Cover Price: $59.88
Price: $19.95($1.66/issue)
You Save: $39.93(67%)
Issues: 12 issues/12 months
Self
Published by Conde Nast Publications Inc., Self is a handbook devoted to women's overall physical and mental health. Every issue contains usable articles such as "Style Lab", in which wearable clothes are mixed and matched on non-models and the "Eat-right Road Map", with tips on how to eat properly.
Cover Price: $35.86
Price: $15.00($2.5/issue)
You Save: $20.86(58%)
Issues: 10 issues/12 months
Instyle
Instyle is a guide to the lives and lifestyles of the world's famous people. The magazine covers the choices people make about their homes, their clothes and their free time activities. With photos and articles, it opens the door to these people's homes, families, parties and weddings, offering ideas about beauty, fitness and in general, lifestyles. Publisher: The Time Inc.Magazine Company.
Cover Price: $47.88
Price: $23.88($2.38/issue)
You Save: $24.00(50%)
Issues: 10 issues/12 months
Wired
This magazine is designed for leaders in the field of information engineering including top managers and professionals in the computer, business, design and education industries. Published by Conde Nast Publications Inc., Wired often carries articles on how technology changes people's lives.
Cover Price: $59.40
Price: $10.00($1.00/issue)
You save: $49.40(83%)
Issues: 10 issues/12months | high3787.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because she couldn't afford a rose."
},
"options": [
"Because her mother died.",
"Because she lost her money.",
"Because she lost her way home.",
"Because she couldn't afford a rose."
],
"question": "Why was the... | A gentleman stopped his car at the door of a flower shop. He planned to order flowers and asked the shopkeeper to _ them to his mother, who was far away in his hometown.
The gentleman saw a little girl crying on the road before he entered the shop. He asked her: "Why are you crying?"
"I want to buy a rose for my mother, but I haven't got enough money," said the girl.
The gentleman took the girl's hand and entered the flower shop. He first ordered the bouquet for his mother and bought a rose for the girl.
When he was walking out of the shop, the gentleman asked the girl if she would like a ride home.
"Will you really drive me home?" she asked.
"Of course," the gentleman replied.
"Then drive me to my mother. But the place where my mother lives is very far."
The gentleman drove along the mountain road and finally came to the cemetery .
The little girl put the flower onto a new grave . In order to send a rose to her mother who had died a month before, she had gone on a very long journey.
The gentleman drove the girl to her home and then returned to the flower shop. He cancelled the bouquet and bought a big bunch of fresh flowers instead. He drove directly to his mother's home, a five-hour drive from here. He would send the flowers to his mother in person. | high21303.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He could enjoy music and plays."
},
"options": [
"He liked to do part--time jobs.",
"He could learn to be an actor.",
"He could enjoy music and plays.",
"He liked to work for actors."
],
"question": "Why did Pau... | Paul was a student with a lot of problems.He hated school.He didn't like living with his family in the industrial city of Pittsburgh.Paul wanted to be surrounded by beautiful things.He loved his part--time job as an usher at the concert hall.He helped people find their seats before the concert.Then he could listen to the music and dream of exciting places.
Paul also spent a,lot of time at the local theater.He knew many of the actors who worked there. He used to do little jobs for them.And they would let him see plays for free.Paul had little time left for his studies.So he was always in trouble with his teachers.Finally,Paul's teachers complained again to his father.His father took him out of school and made him take a job in a large company.He would not let Paul go near the concert hall or the theater.
Paul did not like his job as a messenger boy.He began to plan his escape.A few weeks later,Paul's boss,Mister Denny,gave Paul a large amount of money to take to the bank.He told Paul to hurry because it was Friday afternoon.He said the bank would close soon and would not open again until Monday.At the bank,Paul took the money out of his pocket.It was five thousand dollars.Paul put the money back in his coat pocket.And he walked out of the bank.He went to the train station and bought a one--way ticket for New York City.That afternoon Paul left Pittsburgh forever. | high18582.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "are source of the fish people consume"
},
"options": [
"mirror the history of the mighty ocean",
"show climatic and environmental changes",
"are source of the fish people consume",
"are the evidence of the changes of th... | Scientists study the ocean in many different ways. Although many marine scientists focus on animals in the ocean, others seek to gain a better understanding of the ocean's chemical and physical components . Scientists are learning a great deal about the natural and human-caused processes that shape the ocean and its many life forms.
Much of the present research focuses on how human activity influences the ocean. Clean water is a limited resource, and ocean pollution does harm to plant and animal health. Some scientists are now studying ocean water to find out just how contaminated it is. Scientists are also working on new methods to estimate the presence of poisons in the ocean, which will help them develop better techniques for cleaning up the water. Others look at how sea living things get used to poisons because poisonous sea life has an effect on humans too. For example, some seafood is poisoned, which may cause a threat to humans who eat it.
Another type of marine scientist tries to learn more about the history of the ocean. Understanding the ocean's past tells scientists more about its patterns and cycles today and in the future. The ocean's past, which is recorded by deposits in the ocean floor, helps scientists understand such important matters as global climate change and other environmental differences. The more researchers learn about the history of the ocean and its relation to climatic and environmental changes, the more likely that they will one day understand what causes such changes.
Other scientists are concerned with understanding how ocean systems work. The word systems refers to all the conditions and elements that are continually changing the ocean. Understanding these systems is necessary to protect the ocean and ensure the safety of its life forms. The cycles of ocean life also have an enormous effect on human life; for example, studying coastal waters is important because they provide much of the fish that humans eat.
Marine geologists are earth scientists who work along the ocean floor. The Ocean Drilling Program, a 20-nation effort, drills the ocean floor and removes material for study. Among other achievements, this program has found evidence of a giant meteorite impact ,which supports the theory that dinosaurs died out after the earth suffered a climate change caused by a crash with a large meteor. Other marine geologists focus on more recent events, such as the destruction of shorelines. | high19844.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "it is very important for students to use good dictionaries properly"
},
"options": [
"choose a good dictionary, and you'll be successful in learning English",
"dictionaries are not necessary to the students who learn English",
... | Students who say they never or hardly ever used dictionaries may speak English well but usually write poorly, because they make many mistakes.
The students who use dictionaries most do not learn especially well either. The ones who look up every new word do not read fast. Therefore they do not have time to read much. Those who use small two-language dictionaries have the worst problems. Their dictionaries often give only one or two words as translations of English. But one English word often has many translations in a foreign language and one foreign word has many translations in English.
The most successful students are those who use large college edition dictionaries with about 100,000 words but do not use them too often. When they are reading, these students first try to get the general idea and understand new words from the context. Then they reread and use the dictionary to look up only key words that they still do not understand. They use dictionaries more for writing. If they are not sure how to spell a word, they always use a dictionary. Also, if they think a noun might have an unusual plural form, they check this in a dictionary. | high3793.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "great"
},
"options": [
"kind",
"great",
"serious",
"strong"
],
"question": "To children their fathers are usually very _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index... | Children, especially boys, tend to idealize their fathers when they are young.Every little boy wants to grow up to be just like his father, and every little girl thinks her father is the smartest man on the earth.It's not very easy to be a good father, but it's not that difficult either.Children will truly enjoy spending time with their fathers, not just when they are kids, but even when they are adults.
Not all children communicate well with their fathers.Communication is often left to mothers, while fathers dispense advice as and when necessary.Don't expect all conversations to centre around the dinner table.Go to your children's bedrooms and talk to them about school, their teachers or their friends.Remember that the conversation cannot be one-sided.When your children open up to you, you also need to open up to them.
If your children come home from school feeling upset, go up to them and ask them what is the matter.And if it is something which seems to you to be a silly reason to be upset, don't voice your opinion.It may be silly to you, but to your children it is important enough.So don't wave the topic away by telling them not to bother about such stupid things.Simply discussing their problems with them will help them feel better.
Don't shy away from having discussions about your teenage children's love lives.Generally speaking, your children are definitely not going to discuss _ details with you.Try to let them know that you are relaxed about topics on love.Tell your children how you met your wife.It is perfectly normal for children to go through feelings for the opposite sex as they grow up, and by keeping the topic closed for discussion, you are only shutting them off from discussing their feelings with you.All they will do is turn to their friends. | high21317.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A site where dead people were placed or remembered."
},
"options": [
"A village where hundreds of people once lived.",
"A place that regularly hosted large parties.",
"A church where local villagers would get married.",
... | The people who built Stonehenge in Southern England thousands of years ago had wild parties, eating barbecued pigs and breaking pottery. This is according to recent work by archaeologists--history experts who investigate how human beings lived in the past.
Archaeologists digging near Stonehenge last year discovered the remains of a large prehistoric village where they think the builders of the mysterious stone circle used to live. The village is about 4,600 years old, the same age as Stonehenge and as old as the Pyramids in Egypt. It is less than two miles from the famous ancient landmark and lies inside a massive man-made circular dirt wall, or "henge", known as the Durrington Walls.
Remains found at the site included jewellry, stone arrowheads, tools made of deer antlers, wooden spears and huge amounts of animal bones and broken pottery. "These finds suggest Stone Age people went to the village at special times of the year to feast and party", says Mike Parker-Pearson from Sheffield University in England.
He said many of the pig bones they found had been thrown away half-eaten. He also said the partygoers appeared to have shot some of the farm pigs with arrows, possibly as a kind of sport before barbecuing them.
An ancient road which led from the village to the River Avon was also found. Here, the experts think, people came after their parties to throw dead s in the water so the bodies would be washed downstream to Stonehenge.
Parker-Pearson believes Stonehenge was like a cemetery where ancient Britons buried the dead and remembered their ancestors. The theory is that Stonehenge is a kind of spirit home to the ancestors.
The recent discovery of the village within the Durrington Walls shows that Stonehenge didn't stand alone but was part of a much bigger religious site, according to Parker-Pearson.People still come to worship and celebrate at Stonehenge today. They meet there when the sun sets on the shortest day of winter and when it rises on the longest day of summer. But the days of barbecuing whole pigs there and throwing family members into the river are a thing of the past.
At present, it has been attracting a great number of visitors all around the world. Here is a comment from a visitor. "I am speaking to a friend on Facebook who is heartbroken that she went there with utter love and respect for the site and that the whole Summer Solstice event was full of drunk party goers and those that had gone in a respectful, loving way were made to sit on the outside, so as not to be disturbed by the revellers." | high18596.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "heavier than the year before"
},
"options": [
"lighter than the year before",
"planning to go on a diet",
"heavier than the year before",
"with the Weight Watchers"
],
"question": "Mr. Fitzpatrick was _ when... | Mr. Fitzpatrick has given much attention to his "Weight reduction" programs. Just last year, for example, when he was the main speaker at the company dinner, he said he put on twenty pounds instead of losing thirty he promised he would.
The year before that, he joined a health club. He exercised every day and ate less food. At the end of three months, however, he began making excuses about why he couldn't go there more often.
After the health club failed to work, he joined Weight Watchers but stopped going because he was the only man there. And he hated following any of the diet programs. Fitz's latest idea is to join a walking club to "walk off" the weight. | high20009.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "On July 2"
},
"options": [
"On July 2",
"On July 3.",
"On July 6.",
"On July8."
],
"question": "When can you watch the Chinese drum dance?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index... | Join in the holiday fun at the powerhouse this month linked to our new exhibition,evolution Revolution:Chinese dress 17000s to now.DON'T FORGET our other special event,the Club Med Circus School which is part of the Circus !150years of circus in Australia exhibition experience!
*Chinese Folk Dancing:Colorful Chinese dance and musical performances by The Chinese Folk
Dancing School of Sydney.Dances include:The Golden stick dance and the Chinese drum dance.A feature will be the Qin Dynasty Emperor's court dance.Also included is a show of face painting for Beijing Opera performances.
Sunday 29June and Wednesday 2July in the Turbine Hall,at 11:30am 1:30pm.
*Chinese Youth League:A traditional performing arts group featuring performance highlights such as
the Red scarf and Spring flower dances,and a musician playing Er Hu.
Sunday 6to Tuesday 8July in the Turbine Hall,11:30am to 1:30pm.
*Kids Activity:Make a Paper Horse:Young children make a paper horse cut-out.(The horse is a
frequent theme in Chinese painting,indicating a kind of advancement.) Suitable for ages8-12years.
Saturday 28June to Tuesday 8July in the Turbine Hall,12:00pm to 1:00pm.
*Club Med Circus School:Learn circus skills,including the trapeze,trampolining and magic.Note only
for children over 5.There are 40places available in each 1hour session and these must be booked at the front desk,level 4,on the day.
Tuesday 1to Saturday 5July at 11:30am 1:00pm.
Enjoy unlimited free visits and many other benefits by becoming a Family member of the Powerhouse.
Our family membership cover two adults and all children under the age of 16years at the one address.
Members receive Powerline,our monthly magazine,discounts in the shops and the restaurants,as well as free admission to the Museum.All this for as little as$50,000a year!Call (02)9217 0600for more details. | high19850.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "swimmers were not frightened by the basking shark"
},
"options": [
"swimmers and surfers were escaping",
"surfers were trying to frighten the basking shark",
"the basking shark was swimming far from swimmers",
"swimmers... | It looks like a scene from the thriller movieJaws,but these photos of a huge shark swimming with swimmers were in fact taken in Britain. The amazing pictures,which showed that the basking shark was swimming friendly with swimmers,were taken at Porthcurno beach,Cornwall,where the basking shark was swimming just yards off shore.
The single 14foot giant was feeding in the shallow waters off the scenic area,and quickly became curious about the swimmers and surfers sharing the water. Though it came within touching distance,the swimmers and surfers were in no danger. The large sharks are plankton feeders-unlike the man-eating Great White fromJaws.
Beach-goer Rachel Hosken,who took the pictures,said that several basking sharks had been seen in the area."It is one of the few I have ever seen around this year and it was great to see," she said excitedly."There are usually more of them by now,but for some reason there are fewer around than normal at this time of year. I think more have been spotted in deeper waters,but the particular one in the pictures seems to have taken a liking to this spot. I have seen it a few times."
Known as the gentle giant of the sea,the basking shark is the second largest fish in the sea,only weighing lighter than the whale shark. They can grow to over 36 feet (11 meters) and weigh up to seven tons (7,000 kilograms) and feed on a diet of plankton and small fish. Basking sharks normally begin to appear in May and June. | high1184.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "about half English people enjoy working in their gardens"
},
"options": [
"about half English people enjoy working in their gardens",
"8 out of 10 pastimes can be described as social activities",
"2 percent of the religious p... | The easiest way for the English to deal with their social discomfort is to avoid social interaction altogether, by choosing either leisure activities that can be performed in the privacy of one's own house, or outdoor activities that follow their interest without direct contact with anyone other than one's own family members, such as going for a walk, or to the cinema, or shopping.
In recent survey, over half of all the leisure activities were of this private _ type, and of the top ten pastimes, only two--having friends round for a meal or drink, and going to the pub--could be described as 'sociable'. The most domestic activities are the most popular: watching TV, listening to the radio, reading, DIY (Do It Yourself) and gardening. Even when the English are being sociable, the survey findings show that most of them would much rather entertain a few close friends or s in the safety of their own homes than venture out among strangers.
In the latest rational census survey , over half of the entire adult male population had been DIYing in the four weeks before the census date. Nearly a third of the female population had also been busily improving their homes, and their work with their gardens was equally obvious: 52 percent of all English males and 45 percent of females had been out there, cutting branches and weeding grass.
Even among people claiming to belong to a particular religion, only two percent attend services every week. The rest of the population can be found every Sunday at their local garden center or DIY superstore. And when they want a break from caring about their own homes and gardens, they go on trips to visit bigger and better houses and gardens, such as the stately homes and gardens opened to the public by the National Trust and the Royal Horticulture Society. Visiting grand country houses always ranks as one of the most popular national pastimes. | high23500.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "4"
},
"options": [
"2",
"3",
"4",
"5"
],
"question": "How many advantages does the aluminium battery have according to the article?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answ... | Almost all of us have been there: A sense of uneasiness strikes us when we see the battery running low on the smartphone. While today's smartphones enable us to surf the Internet, take pictures and play music, their limited, sometimes annoyingly short battery life has started to make people full of memories of early models. "My favorite phone of all time was a silver Nokia 6310i from the early 2000s. It may be primitive by today's standards, but it could run for 17 days on a single charge," wrote Daily Mail columnist David Derbyshire.
But scientists spend no time thinking about the past. They have built an aluminium battery which could be a cheap, fast-charging alternative to current designs.
You can squeeze, and practically bend it in half without breaking the packet. It is more environmentally friendly than alkaline batteries, and more safe than lithium batteries - it won't catch fire "even if you drill through it", as Hongjie Dai of Stanford University told The Telegraph. The battery is the work of a team led by Dai. And the best part is that it has a recharge time of around one minute.
However, at present, the only problem is that it produces just half the voltage of a typical lithium battery. But Dai explained they were setting about changing the voltage and energy density ". "Our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have. I see this as a new battery in its early days," he told The Telegraph. | high12905.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "using examples"
},
"options": [
"describing a process",
"using examples",
"following time order",
"making classification"
],
"question": "The author explains \"efficiency comes with a price\" by _ .",
"qu... | Everyone looks forward to progress, whether in one's personal life or in the general society. Progress indicates a person's ability to change the way he is living at the moment. Progress must lead a better way of doing things. All these, however, remains true only in so far as people want to accept technology and move forward by finding new and more efficient ways of doing things.
However, at the back of the minds of many people, especially those who missed the "good old days", _ . When communication becomes efficient, people are able to contact one another no matter where they are and at whatever time they wish to. The click of a button allows people miles apart to talk or to see each other without even leaving their homes. With the communication _ , such as mobile phones and ipads, people often do not take the effect to visit one another personally. A personal visit carries with it the additional feature of having to be in the person's presence for as long as the visit lasts. We cannot unnecessarily excuse our selves or turn the other person off.
With efficiency also comes mass production. Such is the nature of factories and the success of industrialization today. Factories have improved efficiency. Unskillful tasks are left to machines and products are better made and produced with greater accuracy than any human hand could ever have done. However, with the improvements in efficiency also comes the loss of the personal touch when making these products. For example, many handcrafts are now produced in a factory. Although this means that supply is better able to increase demand, now that the supply is quick and efficient, the demand might fall because mass production lowers the quality of the handicraft and it is difficult to find unique designs on each item.
Nevertheless, we must not commit the mistake of analyzing progress only from one point of view. In fact, progress has allowed tradition to keep up. It is only with progress and the invention of new technology that many old products can be brought back to their old state. New technology is required for old products to stay old.
It is people's attitude towards progress that causes the type of influence that technology has on society. Technology is flexible. There is no fixed way of making use of it. Everything depends on people's attitude. The worst effects of progress will fall on those who are unable to rethink their attitudes and views of society. When we accept progress and adapt it to suit our needs, a new "past" is created. | high6833.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "very helpful"
},
"options": [
"not useful",
"not helpful",
"very helpful",
"very bad"
],
"question": "It is _ if you know the language and some of the customs of the country.",
"question_type": "cloze_qu... | Before you go to another country, it is a great help if you know the language and some of the customs of the country.
When people meet each other for the first time in Britain, they say "How do you do?" and shake hands . Usually they do not shake hands when they just meet or say goodbye. But they shake hands after they haven't met for a long time or when they will be away from each other for a long time.
Last year a group of German students went to England for a holiday. Their teacher told them that the English people hardly shake hands. So when they met their English friends at the station, they kept their hands behind their backs. The English students had learned that Germans shake hands as often as possible, so they put their hands in front and got ready to shake hands with them. It made both of them laugh. | high22178.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "some space research"
},
"options": [
"some space research",
"a study on African animals",
"an ASL project",
"the program of training the Air Force"
],
"question": "As for its first task, Washoe was involved with... | Washoe, a female chimpanzee believed to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept.The chimp died on Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute in Washington, where she lived.
Washoe was born in 1965 in Africa, where she was captured by the Air Force and taken to the US for research use in the space program. In 1966, she left the program and began living with two scientists, Allen and Beatrix Gardner, who led a project to teach the chimp American Sign Language (ASL) in Washoe, Nevada, for which it was named. Washoe had been living on Central Washington University's Ellensburg Campus since 1980. She had a vocabulary of about 250 words. Also, Washoe taught sign language to three younger chimps: Tatu, 31, Loulis, 29, and Dar, 31
Primate researcher Jane Goodall, in Fouts' book Next of Kin, noted the importance of the work with Washoe. "Roger, through his ongoing conversations with Washoe and her extended family, has opened a window into a chimpanzee's mind," Goodall said.
Though previous efforts to teach chimps spoken languages had failed, the researchers believed there was a better chance using signs. But Washoe's language skills were disputed by scientists who believed that language is unique to humans. Among those who doubted that chimps could use language were linguist Noam Chomsky and Harvard scientist Steven Pinker. They believed primates simply learn to perform certain acts in order to receive rewards, and do not acquire true language. | high7293.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "a radio program"
},
"options": [
"a magazine",
"a radio program",
"a text book",
"a newspaper"
],
"question": "This passage is probably from_.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | This week in our Foreign Student Series,we discuss rules about getting a job while studying in the United States.
International students are permitted to work for the college or university they attend or for a business at the school.But the business must directly provide a service to students.You could work at the bookstore,for example,but not for a construction company that is building something on campus .Also,a foreign student cannot displace an American citizen in a job.International students can work twenty hours a week while attending classes;more during school breaks.You can work until you complete your studies.
Foreign students normally cannot take a job that has no connection to their school.But the government may give permission if students are suddenly faced with a situation that is out of their control.Examples include large medical bills. The loss of financial aid or an unexpected change in the financial condition of their source of support.Students must also meet other conditions.They must have attended their American school for at least one year.Government approval is given on a case-by-case basis.Students must re-apply after a year if they want to continue all off-campus job.
Foreign students who will be attending graduate school can apply for some jobs before they come to the United States.A good example is a university job like a teaching or research assistantship.Some schools pay their assistants.Others provide free education in return.
Many do both.Graduate assistants might teach, give tests,grade work, assist professors with research and hold office hours.Many universities now provide language training to foreign teaching assistants to help them improve their English.Some schools require foreign students to pass an English speaking test before they arc permitted to teach.
International student offices at schools have to provide information on students each term to the Department of Homeland Security.Students who violate the terms of their visa--for example,
By working off-campus without permission--could be sent home. | high23266.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "when the cleaning woman cried"
},
"options": [
"when an art student was asked",
"when the cleaning man came into the office",
"when Blackman looked at all the pictures",
"when the cleaning woman cried"
],
"quest... | A famous Renoir had been stolen from a museum. Detective Earl Blackman was to work on the case.
Everyone was in the dark before an art professor came to point out the false picture. So the museum even didn't know when the picture had been stolen. Thousands of people came to visit the museum every day. After long work, some art students were focused on.
The five students who had made copies of the Renoir during the last six months were asked to bring their copies to the museum. The fifth student said she had sold her copy, which was later proved to be the one in the museum. She, however, could only remember the buyer was a man with the little finger on his left hand missing.
Blackman went back and stayed in his office looking at all the pictures of known thieves. No success.
The next afternoon, at about closing time, Blackman went to the museum to ask if the cleaning men were in the museum after everyone else had left. The director told him they had no cleaning man but six cleaning women.
As the detective left the director's office, he saw five cleaning women. He stopped one and asked about her work. Then came the sixth cleaning woman. She was dressed just like the other women except the gloves on her hands which made her different. Blackman watched her for some time. When she came near, Blackman caught her. The woman cried out in a man's voice, "What was that?" Blackman was more sure. | high4942.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "challenges shape our character"
},
"options": [
"friendship needs challenges",
"challenges shape our character",
"small hurdles aren't worth the trouble",
"commitment promotes friendship"
],
"question": "It can ... | Life is filled with challenges. As we get older we come to realize that those challenges are the very things that shape us and make us who we are,it is the same with the challenges that come withfriendship.When we are faced with a challenge,we usually have two choices. We can try to beat it off, or we can decide that the thing presenting the challenge isn't worth the trouble and call it quits.Although there are certainly times when calling it quits is the right thing to do,in most cases all that is needed is commitment and communication.
When we are _ to something, it means that no matter how painful or howuncomfortable something is,we will always choose to face it through instead of running away from it.Communication is making a space for discussion and talking about how you feel as opposed to just saying what the other person did wrong. If you can say to a friend,"I got my feelings hurt." rather than"You hurt my feelings."you are going to be able to solve the problem much faster.
In dealing with many challenges that friendship will bring to you, try to see them for what they are:small hurdles you need to jump or get through on your way through life.Nothing is so big that it is impossible to get over, and hurt only serves to make us stronger.It is all part of growing up,it happens to everyone,and some day you will look back on all of this and say,"Hard as it was,it made me who I am today.And that is a good thing." | high10874.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Love in a paper bag"
},
"options": [
"Stories behind treasures",
"A special present",
"Father and daughter",
"Love in a paper bag"
],
"question": "Which of the following can be the best tide of this passage?",
... | Every morning Molly gave her father the lunch bag before he set off for work.
One morning,besides his usual lunch bag.Molly handed him a second paper bag.
"Why two bags?"her father asked.
"The other is something else, "Molly answered.
"What's in it?"asked her father.
"Just some stuff.Take it with you."Molly replied.
Not wanting to discuss the matter, put both bags into his briefcase, he kissed Molly and rushed off.At midday he opened Molly's bag and took out the contents:three small stones, a plastic dinosaur,a tiny seashell,a small doll,and 13 pennies...The busy lather smiled,finished eating, and swept the desk clean into the wastebasket.Molly's stuff included.
That evening,Molly ran up behind him as he was reading a newspaper.
"Where's my bag,Daddy?"asked Molly.
"What bag?"her father responded.
"The one I gave you this morning, "said Molly.
"I left it at the office.Why?"said her father.
"I forgot to put this note in it, "Molly said. "and besides,Daddy,the things in the sack are those I really like-I thought you might like to play with them.You didn't lose the bag,did you, Daddy?"
"Oh,no, "he said,lying."I just forgot to bring it home.I'll bring it tomorrow."
While Molly hugged her father' neck, unfolded the note that read, love you. s he "I Daddy. " Molly had given him her treasures--all that a 7-year-old girl held dear.
Love in a paper bag,but he missed it--not only missed it,but had thrown it in the wastebasket. So back he went to the office.Just ahead of the night guard,he picked up the paper bag. He put the treasures inside and carried it home carefully.The bag didn't look SO good,but the stuff was all there and that was of great importance.
After dinner,he asked Molly to tell him about the stuff in the sack. It took a long time to tell.Everything had a story or a memory.
"Sometimes I think of all the great times in this sweet life, "he thought.
We should all cherish the moment with the people we love.That's what really matters. It's so simple and so easily forgotten. | high21471.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Her parents were unlikely to attend the concert."
},
"options": [
"She had no chance to watch the concert.",
"She performed unsuccessfully at the concert.",
"Her parents had gone to a remote country town.",
"Her parents... | The murmur of the audience had just faded into expectant silence. This was one of the most important days in little five-year-old Patricia McKee's life: the Kernot School Concert. She stood behind the curtain with her schoolmates. Yet she was not afraid because everyone had been practicing for weeks and knew their parts by heart.
Being in a remote country town, Patricia knew that everyone would turn out for the big occasion-everyone! Yet, it was this awareness that added a sense of sadness to her excitement. There were two people who couldn't be in that audience that night-her mum and dad.
Patricia's mother and father ran the local general store, which was open for business 24 hours. So it was simply accepted that Mum and Dad could never attend community activities. It had been this way with her sister, so why should it be any different for her?
Still, Patricia couldn't help wishing that her mum and dad could be there to see her on such a special day, so she decided to bring up the subject with her mother. Sadly, she had to face the facts. At such a young age, Patricia couldn't really understand the deep pain in her mother's response: "I'll try to be there, sweetheart, but you know how hard it is for us to get away from the store."
Yet as the curtain slowly opened on the stage of the Kernot Hall, little Patricia McKee got the surprise of her life. There, sitting four rows the front was her mother with a big smile on her face!
This powerful image remains one of Patricia's most treasured memories. "Words cannot express the pure joy we both experienced at that moment. I was really _ ," said Patricia, now a parent herself. Her parents have passed away, but what a wonderful legacy they've left us: when someone really needs you, be there for them. | high12093.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "draw readers' attention to the research"
},
"options": [
"draw readers' attention to the research",
"1ink wealth with bad behavior",
"show how the saying proves the findings",
"defend rich people who do unethical things... | Money is the root of all evil and new study claims there may be some truth behind the saying.Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, US,announced on February 27 that rich people are more likely to do unethical things, such as lie or cheat, than poorer people.
The scientists did a series of eight experiments. They published their findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS,<<>> ).
They carried out the first two experiments from the sidewalk near Berkeley. They noted that drivers of newer and more expensive cars were more likely to cut in on other cars and pedestrians at crosswalks. Nearly 45 percent of people driving expensive cars ignored a pedestrian compared with only 30 percent of people driving more modest cars.
In another experiment, a group of college students was asked if they would do unethical things in various everyday situations. Examples included taking printer paper from work and not telling a salesperson when he or she gave back more change. Students from higher-class families were more likely to act dishonestly.
According to the scientists, rich people often think money can get them out of trouble. This makes them less afraid to take risks. It also means they care less about other people's feelings.
Finally,it simply makes them greedier."Higher wealth status seems to make you want even more,and that increased want leads you to bend the rules or break the rules to serve your self-interest," said Paul Piff, leading scientist of the study.
Piff pointed out that the findings don't mean that all rich people are untrustworthy or that all poor people are honest. He said the experiments were to show how people living in different social situations express their instincts and values in different ways. | high8188.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Mark's intelligence brings him negative effects at the same time"
},
"options": [
"Mark must pay for his intelligence at a high price",
"Mark's intelligence brings him negative effects at the same time",
"Mark's intelligence ... | Little Mark is only 6, but he has an IQ of 200, a genius among geniuses. _ His parents must keep him intellectually simulated while making sure he is like any other little boy.
Mark has been attracted by the way how the world works since he was a baby. When he was 3, Mark was reading fluently, mostly self-taught. His parents haven't been able to keep him away from books since.
"I tried many times to stop him reading. We worry about his crazy fond of reading because he constantly wants to read every-thing whatever it is."
A psychologist at the Centre for gifted children tested Mark and gave him an IQ of 200. The average child of Mark's age has an IQ of 100. At 200, Mark is a genius-even compared with other child geniuses.
"With children like Mark you can tell that's a bright child as soon as they walk in. They just have this sort of intensity, and maybe they're not so good at communicating with people," the psychologist said. "He will never fit perfectly into a class where he's with children of his age."But Mark's mother worries about the "socially isolated" labels. "Nobody wants their child to grow up with that image. I want him to communicate with others freely, but not to be frustrated academically, so it's really hard to find a balance," she says.
Helen Dudeney from the Talented and Gifted Children Association says Mark is one in a million with such a high IQ. She points out that geniuses are still rare and difficult for the public education system to handle. "The lack of coping comes because teachers aren't trained in teaching gifted children," says Dudeney.
Helen believes it's also extremely important for them to be recognized and supported in their talents. Mark's parents are trying to figure out how best to help Mark. At the moment, there are few options. Mark finds first year work boring and simple, but he must learn to complete the work. His mother says, "We just want to be happy. Just to have a happy childhood and want to go to school every day." | high1812.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She is too old to go to the market as before."
},
"options": [
"The new shop is very big and special.",
"She wants to get best discounts from the new shop.",
"She is too old to go to the market as before.",
"The goods i... | My mother once was a follower of traditional methods when it came to anything. She cooked traditional food, liked dressing up traditionally and thus was fond of traditional way of shopping. She loved going to the market and going from one shop to another to find out what suited her best. She could walk miles when it came to shopping along with her friends. She was familiar with all the local markets and shops and by now knows very well where she can get best discounts and material.
However, now she begins to feel her age and gets tired when she goes out in the market. So one day I decided to introduce a new shop to her, a shop that is much bigger than her usual markets and where she gets better discounts. Yes, I am talking about the online gift stores. She has basic knowledge of computers and can operate a laptop. Initially she was doubtful about shopping from these online gift shops and wasn't too sure about the quality of the products.
One fine day I decided to get some branded things for her first so that she could build trust in these shops. I ordered a Timex watch for her along with a Sisley handbag. She never bought things online but when they were delivered as a gift, she jumped for joy. She could not believe that I had ordered these gifts for her despite her being not very positive about online shops. However, after she saw both the products, she believed that these online gift shops would send the promised brand and products. She loved her new watch and the handbag.
After this incident she ordered a gift for her friend's wedding anniversary. She chose a gift basket that could be made to her requirements. They sent a beautifully decorated basket with fine wines and chocolates. The basket was so carefully decorated that it immediately became her friend's favorite gift. Since then my mother has been often shopping online. | high22150.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Nima Louise Carter"
},
"options": [
"Chris Jenkins",
"Hyun Jong",
"Nima Louise Carter",
"Sisman Platzman"
],
"question": "Whose body was found inside a fridge?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{... | Halloween is the one night of the year where being scared is supposed to be good fun. However, amid all the harmless activities like trick-or-treating, sometimes genuinely frightening and disturbing things can happen. October 31 has been the date of some horrific murders and unexplained disappearances, which are far more terrifying than any ghosts, goblins, or witches. Because they happened to take place on Halloween, the following mysteries have an extra aura of creepiness to them, and they remain unsolved to this day.
1
Hyun Jong was a 21-year-old South Korean student attending Pennsylvania State University. In 2001, after leaving the Halloween party in a club, she was dropped off at her apartment by her friends at 4:00 AM. This was the last anyone ever saw of her. A search was conducted of her apartment. There was no sign of any struggle, but many of her belongings were there, indicating that she had gone inside after being dropped off. But what happened to her afterward? Although some evidence indicated her death, her body has never been found.
2
On Halloween night in 1977, the parents of 19-month-old Nima Louise Carter placed their child inside her crib. The next morning, Nima's parents were shocked to discover that she was missing. Since the windows were locked, it's theorized that someone must have been hiding in the closet and took the child out of the house while her parents were asleep. The police took it as child abduction. A month later, a group of kids were playing in an abandoned house four blocks away. When they opened up the house's refrigerator, they received a horrifying shock when the body of an infant came tumbling out. The child was identified as Nima Louise Carter, who died of suffocation .
3
Chris Jenkins was a 21-year-old student who visited a bar on Halloween night in 2002. After leaving the bar around midnight, Chris disappeared without a trace. He remained a missing person for four months until his body was discovered in the Mississippi River. Since Chris was still wearing his Halloween costume, all indications were that he died shortly after he disappeared. Since his cause of death was determined to be drowning, authorities initially believed it was an accident or suicide. His parents refused to believe _ and appealed for a more careful investigation. Finally, in 2006, the death was reclassified as a murder case.
4
Sometime during the early morning Halloween hours of 1981, a Manhattan couple named Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman were murdered in their apartment. The couple was severely beaten before being shot in the head, execution-style, and the apartment was in a complete mess. Sisman was rumored to be involved in drugs, so authorities initially believed that to be the motive for the killings. However, the case took a turn when a prisoner claimed that one of his fellow inmates had somehow predicted the crime weeks before it actually happened. The police then questioned the inmate, yet no insightful information was brought out. | high9296.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They think it has more advantages than disadvantages."
},
"options": [
"They think it has more advantages than disadvantages.",
"They want to make themselves famous by doing that.",
"They want to have a personal website each.... | Most parents love the Internet and want their kids to use it. But a new survey in America finds almost as many also fear the online world--especially social networking sites such as My Space--and worry their kids will get in trouble with people they meet.
"The parents see the web's incredible potential , and they know their kids have to be there." says James Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media, which released results from a survey that looked into parental attitudes toward the Internet. "
is also what they are scared of most."
The study was conducted online May 5-10 by Insight Research Group. It says 80% of parents are concerned about kids meeting bad people online. That's because young people who largely have grown up with the Net think of it as a social outlet , say the researchers. To young people, the benefits of giving out some personal information to reach out to friends outweigh the risks. And the study shows they are so comfortable with the medium that 78% have a personal website or blog.
Parents also recognize the importance of the Internet. The survey shows 91% think the Net helps their children explore their passions, and 77% think the Internet is one of the most valuable education tools teens have. But 88% think it's important to know what their kids are doing online.
Findings suggest both parents and teens need more education about using online media, Steyer says.
Internet safety has become an increasing concern for parents in America. Organizations like the Non-profit Common Sense have been trying to reach and help parents pay attention to the problem. | high15924.txt |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.