questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "tourists"
},
"options": [
"students",
"businessmen",
"tourists",
"immigrants"
],
"question": "The passage is intended to be read by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Nickname: Hawaii's Island of Adventure
Size: 4,028 square miles
Population: 148,677.The most heavily populated areas are Hilo on the east side and Kailua-Kona on the west.
Temperature: Averages between 71degF and 77degF year around .
Beaches: 47 ; Golf Courses: 20 ; Highest Peak: Mauna Kea, 13,796 feet.
Agriculture: The bulk of Hawaii's farming products are grown and processed on the Big Island, including coffee, macadamia nuts and papaya.
Hotels: 9,655 rooms total; Nightly rates range from $ 35--$ 5,000.
Airports: Hilo International Airport on the east side and Kona International Airport on the west side.
Rental Cars: All of the nationally known rental car companies have locations at Hilo International and Kona International Airports as well as many resorts.In addition, Hilo, Kona and the major resort areas are serviced by taxi.
Resources: Call (800) 648--2441 to order a video, poster, brochures and maps from the Big Island Visitors Bureau.See www.bigisland.org for updated information.
Shopping: The large shopping centers are in Hilo, Kona, Waimea and the Kohala Coast. | high788.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because coloring Sudan I may have been contained in those items."
},
"options": [
"Because the company was afraid to handle customers'complaints.",
"Because coloring Sudan I may have been contained in those items.",
"Because ... | How did it make you feel when you learned that KFC'S Beijing restaurants pulled three more items from their menus last week? There were fears that the items may have contained the cancer-causing coloring Sudan I.Do you have any desire to take the food provider to court because it feeds you something dangerous?
After all,the law supposedly gives people the right to fight for their rights.But some experts have said it might not be so wise to take the company directly to court.
Qiu Baochang,a lawyer in Beijing,suggested that consumers not take the company directly to court."In addition to the high costs,consumers'complaints are unlikely to win unless they can prove they have had the banned dye at KFC,"--Qiu explained.
One problem for those wanting to take action against the fast food chain is that few customers ask for or keep receipts .And,this must be the first step.
If they can prove that their health has been damaged by KFC,they can cue the company.But that would be almost impossible to do so because the Sudan I damage is a long-term effect and is not immediately apparent.
A KFC spokesperson said on Monday that the company was confdent of being able to handle customers'complaints,"We will obey legal procedure if We raceive any complaints." | high12451.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "might let out sensitive business information on Facebook"
},
"options": [
"make use of social media to start their own business",
"use different social media accounts for different purposes",
"might let out sensitive business... | Social media is causing problems at work and it's not with the boss.In fact, it's other employees who are annoyed by their fellow workers' personal social media use, and it's starting to hurt productivity ( ) .According to a new survey by work force solutions provider Kelly Services, more than half of workers say social media is affecting workplace productivity in a bad way, with 57 percent believing that mixing personal and professional connections through social media is likely to cause problems.
The research showed a growing number of employees feel there is nothing wrong with in some personal Facebook time during the day.Despite the drop in productivity, just employees have been told to stop using social media at work.
The study also shows a number of employees are using their personal social med talk about company business.Nearly 15 percent of the employees surveyed think it opinions about work with friends and colleagues on social media.
"The reality is that the spread of social media in the workplace is happen rules desr'- manage i'.said Steve Armstrong, senior vice president and genetai, manager for K-eliy S 'e m v employees are quick to see the benefits, employers and managers are still fighting against a large number of complex issues related to privacy, monitoring, and access to sensitive business information.'"
The findings are part of the latest survey results from the Kelly Global Workforce Index.Nearly 170,000 people in 30 countries participated in the survey, including almost 23 000 in the US. | high22592.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "it is believed to be boring and repetitive"
},
"options": [
"it benefits the cardiovascular system",
"it is too difficult for people to learn to jump",
"it is believed to be boring and repetitive",
"it requires little e... | What kind of sports impressed you most during your childhood? Maybe racing around the playground or skipping rope for hours would bring you pleasure. At that time you weren't thinking of fitness, you were just thinking of entertainment. But in this age of high-tech home equipment and underused gym memberships, the simple joy of jumping rope has been forgotten. I think rediscovering it probably will give you a total-body exercise.
Although considered an excellent form of exercise, jumping rope has never received widespread acceptance because of two reasons. First,most people recognize jumping rope as an excellent form of cardiovascular exercise, but they also believe that it is simply too difficult. In other words, they don't think they'll be able to continue jumping for the near 20 minutes in order to achieve a beneficial physical effect. Second, many regard it as somewhat boring and overly repetitive --not as something fun or enjoyable.
_ . Instead of doing the usual two-foot bounce over and over again, players good at rope-jumping often change their pattern every 10 or 20 jumps. A single bounce, a double -bounce , a skip, a knee-up, side swings , as well as a variety of other easy-to-learn free-style rope-jumping .
Nowadays researchers are discovering that jumping rope also prepares the brain for learning . It is an exercise allowing both brain hemispheres to perform equallyto each other . In short, jumping rope can be a life-long activity requiring little equipment, time and space , yet leading to a much healthier life. | high944.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "more votes than"
},
"options": [
"the same votes as",
"more votes than",
"less votes than",
"no more than"
],
"question": "Yao Ming's got _ Kobe Bryant in fan balloting for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursda... | Yao Ming edged Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fanballoting1for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursday, and Shaquille O'Neal became the fifth player in league history to earn 13consecutive2selections for the midseason showcase.
Yao and Tracy McGrady give the host Houston Rockets two starters in the Feb.19 game. They were joined on the Western Conference squad by Bryant, San Antonio's Tim Duncan and reigning MVP Steve Nash of Phoenix -- who will be a first-time All-Star starter.
Yao edged Bryant by 71,107 votes for the top overall spot in the balloting, despite missing 21 games following surgery to clean out aninfection3in his left big toe. It's the fourth All-Star trip for the 7-foot-6 center from China and the eighth for Bryant, who leads the NBA in scoring and had an 81-point effort -- the second-biggest night in NBA history -- last month in the Los Angeles Lakers' win over Toronto.
Yao finished with 2,342,738 votes; Bryant had 2,271,631 in the closest finish among the top two players in All-Star balloting since Vince Carter, then of Toronto, edged Miami's Alonzo Mourning by 33,385 votes in 2000.
Notes:
1 ballot vi.
2 consecutive adj.
3 infection n. , | high7679.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "both of you enjoy some of the same interests"
},
"options": [
"both of you are exactly like each other",
"both of you enjoy some of the same interests",
"you have talked to him or her at lunch or rest about your hobbies",
... | How to make friends
Choosing friends
Before you make friends,you have to decide who you want to be your friends.Most people like to have friends who like to do the same kind of things as they do.That doesn't mean you have to be exactly like each other,just that you enjoy some of the same things.Think about your favorite things to do and try to talk to your classmates at lunch or rest about your hobbies.You are sure to find at least one person who's excited about the same things that excite and interest you,too.
Making friends
*The quickest way to make a friend is to smile.When you smile,people think you are friendly and easy to talk to.It may not be easy at first to smile.But you can practice smiling in front of a mirror.When you look at yourself in the mirror,think if you'd rather talk to your smiling face or your usual scared or angry face.
*One easy way to start a conversation with someone is to say something nice about them.Think about how great you feel when someone says something nice to you.Doesn't it make you want to talk to him?
*Ask your new friends questions about themselves.It's the only way to get to know what they're like and it's the only way they'll know that you are interested in them.
*Make sure you have something to add to the conversation,too.When someone asks you a question,do have an answer for them.There is nothing that will stop a conversation quicker than a shrug for an answer.
Activities
After you've made a friend who shares the same interests with you,it's always fun to plan activities together that you'll both enjoy.Inviting a friend to your house after school is a great way to make your friendship closer.
If you know a game your friend likes to play,you can plan to do that together.When you play a computer game,one person is always left sitting with nothing to do but watch.Not fun. | high13997.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The online shopping is prosperous and the Singles Day shopping makes great contribution."
},
"options": [
"it is the country's largest fund management fund.",
"it was the first fund in China to cooperate with Yu'ebao.",
"cons... | Fund Tianhong Zenglibao has become the first fund in China to hit 100 billion yuan ($16.30 billion) of sales thanks to its cooperation with Yu'ebao, Alibaba's wealth management product.
Alipay , attached to the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, announced in June it would offer its users the option to directly invest with the private Tianhong Fund using spare cash from Alipay accounts. The business is called Yu'ebao.
The past five months have seen this fund blossom, owing to the prosperous Interet e-commerce platform, and the Singles Day shopping spree on November 11 had helped Yu'ebao. In the process of a deal on Taobao, once the buyer pays for the order, his or her money is first accepted by Alipay, then after he or she receives the goods, a final confirmation is made and Alipay then gives the money to the seller. If a buyer forgets to confirm payment, the money is transferred into the seller's account after 10 days by the system.
The Singles Day had a total volume of 35 billion yuan($5.75 billion) and thus a large amount of money passed through Alipay's account. Analysts estimated that Alipay may have also bought the fund using the extra income, which powerfully enlarged the scale of Yu'ebao. Profit purchasing investors tend to choose safe financial management tools. The relatively stable yields of Yu'ebao is favored by most customers, the report said.
Chinese e-commerence giant Alibaba allows consumers to invest their spare cash in the money market funds through its Alipay online payment service. The product, called Yu'ebao, or "Leftovers Treasure," has netted 130 billion yuan so far, making the fund's management firm, Tianhong Fund, the country's largest fund management company.
Meanwhile, due to the cooperation with Alipay, the management scale of Tianhong monetary fund has doubled from 55.653 billion yuan at the end of September to over 100 billion yuan. During the Singles Day, the frequency of payment of Alipay and Yu'ebao exceeded 188 million and 16.79 million with total transaction volume at 35 billion yuan and 6 billion yuan. | high9654.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "have much interest in reading"
},
"options": [
"go to libraries on weekends",
"buy expensive books in the bookstore",
"keep many books in their studies",
"have much interest in reading"
],
"question": "The peopl... | Having a great collection of books at home doesn't really mean that you are a person who has a passion for literature and reading. It can be a family inheritance or it can be just to impress people around you about the fact that you are a person of culture. On the other hand, there are many persons who cannot afford to buy books, because some of them are quite expensive, but they usually go to libraries and spend hours reading something that interests them a lot, or just borrow books to read at home. From my point of view, literature is very important in our lives from several points of view. For e xample, reading is a means of gaining culture and enriching our knowledge in different areas of activities. It can help us have a great imagination and it makes things easier when it comes to making compositions on different themes. It gives you the possibility to speak about science, even if you don't work in this field, or you can express your opinion about a political aspect, just because you have read something conne cted to that.
Secondly, literature offers us the possibility to enter the world of imagination, and to leave apart the real one for a couple of hours. We come to meet kings and queens many years ago, dream in the world of the rich or imagine how life will be in the future. Sometimes, we identify ourselves with the characters in the stories we read and they can give us some clues to solve our problems and how to react in certain circumstances. To conclude, I would like to say that literature is the perfect means to enrich our culture, to express correctly and have a rich vocabulary, to be able to interfere in conversations in different fields of interest and to really be considered an erudite person. | high14020.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Technology of Future Travel"
},
"options": [
"The Development of Autopilot",
"Technology of Future Travel",
"A New Driving System",
"Computerized Cars"
],
"question": "What is the best title for the passage?",
... | Did you know that there are actually people who have paid for a flight to the moon? In the future, there will be a lot more opportunities to travel to faraway places than now... perhaps even as far as the moon. As people adventure further and further away and as planes, trains, cars, and rocket ships become faster, is it safer to have these vehicles controlled by humans or by computers?
While many flights by plane are controlled automatically by machines, most people today wouldn't let their car drive itself. That's because currently the autopilot function on your car can only keep it on the same course you are travelling on. It won't turn the car right or left. It won't stop if an animal jumps in the way. However, cars today can sense when something is too close and warn the driver with flashing lights and alarms. Many cars also have GPS(global positioning systems) that tell drivers which road to take and when to turn. These systems, unlike human drivers, never get lost. In the future, it is easy to believe that your car will be better able to drive itself with the aid of computers that can determine the position of your car and the speed it should travel at.
In addition to computers being 'smarter' than people regarding the best way to go or knowing how close another vehicle is, computers don't get sick, tired, or angry. This means they won't make the same mistakes that people make when they are not having a good day. While responding with emotion is a good thing when choosing the best way to deal with a friend's personal problem, it may not be such a good thing when deciding what to do at the wheel of a fast-moving vehicle.
So what are the disadvantages of autopilot systems? Maybe one disadvantage is that a small computer problem could cause a serious accident. It could also be argued that in unexpected situations, computers might not be able to respond appropriately; some decisions require human emotions. Another problem might be that if everything were controlled by computers or robots, people wouldn't have any jobs. | high6567.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the meanings of white in English culture"
},
"options": [
"the meanings of white in English culture",
"the history of some English idioms",
"some interesting customs in English culture",
"some useful English words and e... | In many cultures white is often associated with something positive. A white-collar job, for instance, is the kind of job many people look for, working with your brain and not your hands.
White has a clean and pure image. That is why doctors, dentists, and nurses usually wear white uniforms. Babies are dressed in white at baptisms and brides wear white wedding gowns at weddings. White in these cases is the symbol of innocence or purity.
Sometimes white is used in expressions that are not good. "Whitewash" is one such expression. At first, "whitewash" meant to paint over something with white paint to make it look better. However, it means something different today: to hide or to cover up mistakes or failures.
A "white elephant" is another example of white used in a negative way. In ancient Thailand, a white elephant was regarded as a sacred animal, but it was very expensive to keep. The kings of those days presented a white elephant to the people they wanted to ruin. Once they received this holy, royal animal as a gift, they were not allowed to sell or kill it. Today, a "white elephant" means something that is big, useless, and unwanted. In America, when people want to get rid of their furniture or clothes, they often have a "white elephant sale". | high1208.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Chicago's streets were extremely muddy"
},
"options": [
"horses were fairly useful in Chicago",
"Chicago's streets were extremely muddy",
"Chicago was very dangerous in the spring",
"the Chicago people were particularly... | In its early history, Chicago had floods frequently, especially in the spring, making the streets so muddy that people, horses, and carts got stuck. An old joke that was popular at the time went something like this: A man is stuck up to his waist in a muddy Chicago street. Asked if he needs help, he replies, "No, thanks. I've got a good horse under me."
The city planner decided to build an underground drainage system, but there simply wasn't enough difference between the height of the ground level and the water level. The only two options were to lower the Chicago River or raise the city.
An engineer named Ellis Chesbrough convinced me the city that it had no choice but to build the pipes above ground and then cover them with dirt. This raised the level of the city's streets by as much as 12 feet.
This of course created a new problem: dirt practically buried the first floors of every building in Chicago. Building owners were faced with a choice: either change the first floors of their buildings into basements, and the second stories into main floors, or _ the entire buildings to meet the new street level. Small wood-frame buildings could be lifted fairly easily. But what about large, heavy structures like Tremont Hotel, which was a six-story brick building?
That's where George Pullman came in. He had developed some house-moving skills successfully. To lift a big structure like the Tremont Hotel, Pullman would place thousands of jackscrews beneath the building's foundation. One man was assigned to operate each section of roughly 10 jackscrews. At Pullman's signal each man turned his jackscrew the same amount at the same time, thereby raising the building slowly and evenly. Astonishingly, the Tremont Hotel stay open during the entire operation, and many of its guests didn't even notice anything was happening. Some people like to say that every problem has a solution. But in Chicago's early history, every engineering solution seemed to create a new problem. Now that Chicago's waste water was draining efficiently into the Chicago River, the city's next step was to clean the polluted river. | high10246.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The large number of tourists."
},
"options": [
"The big local population.",
"Too many waste boats.",
"The large number of tourists.",
"Open fires on the islands."
],
"question": "What is the main cause of the wa... | Three--quarters of a million tourists flock to the white beaches every year,but this booming industry has come at a price.Poisonous smoke rising from open fires,rubbish made up of plastic bottles,packets...it'S a _ from the white sands,clear waters and palm trees that we associate with the Maldives ,the paradise island holiday destination set in the Indian Ocean.
of its 200 inhabited islands,which are spread across an area of"35,000 square miles,99 are good resorts .So many tourists come every year,more than double the local population.Of these,over l 00,000 travel from the U K.The capital,Mal6,is four times more densely populated than London.Given these facts,it'S hardly surprising that the Maldives has a waste disposal problem.
Y ears a90,when the tourists left,the government had to deal with a stream of rubbish.Their solution was to turn one of the islands into a dumping ground.Four miles west of Mal6 is the country's dumping ground,Thilafushi.What you are seeing here is a view of the Maldives on which no honeymooners will ever clap eyes.Each visitor produces 3.5 kg of waste per day.The country dumps more than 330 tons of rubbish on the island every day.
Now,since many waste boats,fed up with waiting seven hours or more,directly offload their goods into the sea,the government of the Maldives has banned the dumping of waste on the island.S0,the waste boats ship the rubbish to India instead. | high2701.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "All of the above"
},
"options": [
"Scurvy",
"Pellagra",
"Rickets",
"All of the above"
],
"question": "Which disease is caused because of the steady absence of one vitamin in the diet?",
"question_type": "fac... | Vitamins are complex chemical substances found in many foods. The human body needs them for health and growth. The body makes some vitamins, but usually in amounts too small to meet its needs. Other vitamins are not made in the body. These must be supplied. No one knows exactly how all vitamins work. Doctors do know that vitamins have very special uses. One vitamin therefore cannot take the place of another. The steady absence of one vitamin in an otherwise complete diet causes a deficiency disease. Rickets, scurvy, and pellagra are examples of deficiency diseases.
It is best to obtain vitamins by eating the foods in which they occur. There are also pills that contain a single vitamin or a combination of vitamins people should consult their doctors before they take any vitamin pills.
Scientists have discovered about 25 vitamins and their different forms that are very important to human beings and other forms of life. Experts believe that there are many more vitamins to be discovered.
There are two basic groups of vitamins. One group of vitamins dissolves in fat and is therefore called the "fat-soluble" group. Vitamins A, D, E and K are in this group. The other group is known as "water-soluble" vitamins. These vitamins, understandably, dissolve in water. Among this group are Vitamin C and the B group of vitamins.
Vitamin A aids the building and growth of body cells. This vitamin is therefore vital for the growth of children and for good development of babies before birth. Vitamin A is also important for good vision at night. Vitamin B1 is also called thiamine. This vitamin prevents and cures disease. Vitamin B2, called riboflavin, is needed for growth, healthy skin, and for the eyes. Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, prevents and cures scurvy.
Vitamin D is a group of 10 vitamins that prevents rickets. Scientist believe that Vitamin D3 forms in the skin when the body is exposed to sunlight. Because of this, it is called the "sunshine vitamin". A lack of Vitamin D may lead to bone damage; too much may cause kidney disease.
All of the functions of Vitamin E, also called tocopherol, are not known. It is necessary for reproduction in animals. Vitamin K is necessary for making the blood clot.
The more that is learned about vitamins, the more it is realized how these chemical substances play a part in all aspects of human activity. | high20385.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Little Brown"
},
"options": [
"The London-based publisher",
"Bloomsbury",
"Little Brown",
"We don't know"
],
"question": "What is the publisher of Rowling's new book for adult?",
"question_type": "factiod_qu... | Item 1: JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has signed a publishing deal with Little Brown, to release her first ever novel for adults. The deal means that Rowling's long-standing relationship with Bloomsbury, the London-based publisher that launched the Harry Potter books, has come to an end, at least in terms of new works by the author. Rowling, who is worth an estimated PS530 million, said that the new novel will be nothing like the Harry Potter series, which sold over 30 million copies in the UK alone. She said that with the move from children's to adult fiction, a move to a new publisher seemed like a logical step.
Item 2: China's hurdler Liu Xiang was disqualified Thursday at the Stockholm indoor athletics tournament due to false start, giving his rival Dayron Robles of Cuba an easy win of 7.66 seconds. Liu was not willing to explain the reason of his false start, but he told Xinhua that it was not related to his foot injury. Another Cuban Orlando Ortega followed in 7.68 seconds and Balazs Baji of Hungary stood third in 7.70 seconds. Last Saturday, Liu won the men's 60m hurdle final in 7.41 seconds at the Birmingham indoor tournament, setting a new Asian record. He said Wednesday that he hoped to have an even better performance than he did in Birmingham at the Stockholm indoor tournament. Item 3: Former NBA star and current Bobcats owner Michael Jordan filed suit in a Chinese court against Qiaodan Sports Company Limited, a sportswear and footwear manufacturer, for the use of his name without permission. Jordan says "This complaint is not about money, it's about principle and protecting my name." The Chinese company has registered and uses the name "Qiaodan". Jordan has been known in China since he gained widespread popularity in the mid-1980s.
Item 4: A commuter train crashed at a busy central station in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, killing 49 passengers and injuring more than 600 people, the deadliest in a series of train accidents in Argentina over the past years. The train crashed at about 8:30 a.m. at its final stop at the Once Station, not far from downtown Buenos Aires. The train was carrying more than 800 passengers and traveling at an estimated 16 miles per hour when it entered the station, slamming into the barrier of the platform, destroying the engine. | high17529.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the market is not promising and they get paid poorly"
},
"options": [
"Chinese operas are booming",
"they do not enjoy their work any more",
"the market is not promising and they get paid poorly",
"they are not consider... | The Beijing Youth Daily on Thursday called attention to the struggles of traditional operas in China.
The newspaper said the number of unique traditional Chinese opera styles had decreased to 286 from 368 in 1959, with three disappearing every two years on average. Altogether, 74 opera styles had only one troupe left, and most were at the risk of fading away.
Xie Boliang, a professor at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, said, "It is well known that people should be held accountable for soil erosion, but why do we feel at ease when traditional operas fade away?"
Overwhelmed by modern culture and entertainment such as movies, TV programs and pop music, traditional Chinese operas have been severely marginalized. Despite being included on the state-level Intangible Cultural Heritage list, some operas still have no place to perform.
Because of the market slump and low salaries, more traditional Chinese opera practitioners are finding other work, as are many directors and playwrights. Sun Jiazheng, chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, said traditional operas are important carriers of Chinese culture, and should be preserved.
The State Council issued a circular in July calling for the promotion and protection of traditional Chinese operas, saying that it would allocate financial support and extend preferential policies to opera troupes and schools. | high19504.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "making you want to eat more food"
},
"options": [
"burning more of your energy",
"making you want to eat more food",
"keeping you from doing exercise",
"helping you feel great without food"
],
"question": "Not e... | There are new findings that not enough sleep may cause people to gain weight. Researchers say a lack of sleep can produce hormonal changes that increase feelings of hunger.
In one study, researchers in the United States examined information on more than 1000 people. The people had taken part in a long-term study of sleep disorders.
Some people slept less than five hours a night. They had 15 percent higher blood levels of a hormone called ghrelin than people who slept eight hours. And they had 15 percent less of the hormone leptin. Experts say ghrelin helps make people feel hungry; leptin makes you feel full.
The scientists say these hormonal changes may be a cause of obesity in Western societies. They note the combination that sleep limitation is common and food is widely available.
The results were not affected by how much people exercised. People who are awake longer have more time to burn energy. But the researchers say loss of sleep may increase hunger especially for high-calorie foods, so people gain weight. It seems that, for survival, the body may be designed to store more fat during times with less sleep.
Researchers from Stanford University in California and the University of Wisconsin did the study. They found that the best amount of sleep for weight control is 7.7 hours a night.The Public Library of Science published the findings in its journal Medicine . Internet users can read the full study, free of charge, at plos. org. | high4370.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Rain."
},
"options": [
"Poor service.",
"Poor public transport.",
"Rain.",
"Overpriced hotels."
],
"question": "What do tourists complain most?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_... | Britain is a popular tourist place. But tours of the country have pros and cons.
Good news
Free museums. No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities.
Pop music. Britain is the only country to match the US on this score.
Black cabs. London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night.
Choice of food. Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.
Bad news
Poor service. "It's part of the image of the place. People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced," says Professor Tony Seaton, of London University's International Tourism Research Center.
Poor public transport: Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest
tourists, although the over-crowded London tube is inexplicably popular
Lack of languages. Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visitors very far, even in the tourist traps .
Rain. Still in the number one complaint .
No air-conditioning. So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours.
Overpriced hotels. The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark. | high16637.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The United States"
},
"options": [
"The United States",
"Canada",
"The U.S. and Canada",
"Europe"
],
"question": "The Pew study was conducted in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answ... | Thanks to the Web, We're Alone Together and Loving it
There's a professor, Barry Wellman, at the University of Toronto in Canada who has come up with a term to describe the way a lot of us North Americans interact these days. And now a big research study confirms it.
Barry Wellman's term is "networked individualism." It's not the easiest concept to grasp. In fact, the words seem to contradict each other. How can we be individualistic and networked at the same time? You need other people for networks.
Here's what he means. Until the Internet and e-mail came along, our social networks involved flesh-and-blood relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues at work. Some of the interaction was by phone, but it was still voice to voice, person to person, in real time.
But the latest study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project confirms that for a lot of people, electronic interaction through the computer has replaced a great deal of social interchange. A lot of folks Pew talked with say that's a good thing, because of concerns that the Internet was turning us into hermits who shut out other people in favor of a make-believe world on flickering computer screens.
To the contrary, the Pew study discovered the Internet has put us in touch with more real people than we'd have ever imagined. Helpful people, too. We're turning to an ever-growing list of cyber friends for advice on careers, medical crises, child-rearing, and choosing a school or college. About 60 million Americans told the Pew that the Internet plays an important or crucial role in helping them deal with major life decisions.
So we networked individuals are pretty tricky: We're keeping more to ourselves, while at the same time reaching out to more people, all with just the click of a computer mouse! | high11158.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They don't want the users to pay attention to it."
},
"options": [
"They think people will not care about it.",
"There is not enough space for the warning.",
"They don't want the users to pay attention to it.",
"The war... | Holding a cell phone against your ear or storing it in your pocket may be dangerous to your health. This explains a warning that cell phone manufacturers include in the small print that is often ignored when a new phone is purchased. Apple, for example, doesn't want iPhones to come closer to you than 1.5 centimeters; Research In Motion, BlackBerry's manufacturer, recommends 2.5 centimeters.
If health issues arise from cell phone use, the possible effects are huge. Voice calls - Americans chat on cell phones 2.26 trillion minutes annually - earn $109 billion for the wireless carriers.
Devra Davis, an expert who has worked for the University of Pittsburgh, has published a book about cell phone radiation, "Disconnect." The book surveys scientific research and concludes the question is not settled.
Brain cancer is a concern that Ms. Davis examines. Over all, there has not been an increase in its incidence since cell phones arrived. But the average masks an increase in brain cancer in the 20-to-29 age group and a drop for the older population.
"Most cancers have multiple causes," she says, but she points to laboratory research that suggests low-energy radiation could damage cells that could possibly lead to cancer.
Children are more _ to radiation than adults, Ms. Davis and other scientists point out. Radiation that penetrates only five centimeters into the brain of an adult will reach much deeper into the brains of children because their skulls are thinner and their brains contain more absorptive fluid . No studies have yet been completed on cell phone radiation and children, she says.
Henry Lai, a research professor in the bioengineering department at the University of Washington, began laboratory radiation studies in 1980 and found that rats exposed to radiation had damaged DNA in their brains.
Ms. Davis recommends using wired headsets or the phone's speaker. Children should text rather than call, she said, and pregnant women should keep phones away from the abdomen . | high3379.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a health and fitness magazine"
},
"options": [
"a sports report",
"a fashion journal",
"a health and fitness magazine",
"an advertisement post"
],
"question": "The text above is probably taken from _ .",
... | Working women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, and 51 percent of professional workers, like doctors, lawyers, nurses and accountants, are female. While climbing the career ladder can be rewarding, it often comes with one big downside: weight gain!
New research published this week in the International Journal of Obesity shows that working women are more likely to be overweight, and the more you work, the more pounds you're likely to pile on. Like many women, I work... a lot! As a self-employed nutrition communications specialist, I sit at my desk, in front of a computer, for hours on end. Sitting alone is one of the worst things you can do for your health, and it's directly linked to being overweight and increased fatness, so the fact that women in the workforce gain weight isn't that surprising. If you work, you have less time to move around. Obesity researchers are revealing many other ways that employment is harmful to your diet and waistline.
In the International Journal of Obesity study, some 9,276 Australian women aged 45-50 had their body weight and employment status monitored for two years. Results? Those who worked more than 35 hours were likely to gain weight compared to those who worked fewer hours or were out of the workforce. What's more, the more hours a woman worked in a week, the more weight she gained.
The authors of the Australian study attribute weight gain among working women to inactivity, lack of time for food preparation, more use of prepared foods, high levels of stress, lack of sleep and consuming more alcohol. I'll also add in travel, meals eaten out and working at night as other factors that I can find to make balancing work with a healthy diet a challenge. | high19262.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It offers Internet service to make extra profits."
},
"options": [
"It offers member a good way in which they can get what they need much easily.",
"A magazine is published every two months to help you know about the world's hobby.... | The Universal Autograph Collectors Club(UACC) has been serving the collector for over 25 years. Founded in 1965, the UACC began as a small group of Long Island. New York autograph collectors and has grown to be the largest collector's organization of its kind.
The UACC by its purpose is primarily an educational fellowship where knowledge and resources are shared with not only the membership, but also the public at large. By joining the UACC, you will be introduced to the fastest growing hobby in the world today.
Autographs have been called "frozen moment in time" by some people. Probably the most personal thing that one person can give is his or her signature.
In 1843, former President James Madison sent an autograph for a collection which the Princess Victoria was making. The future British Queen was only 15 years old at the time. Financier J.P. Morgan, Sr. began collecting when he was 16, and his son continued adding to the father's collection. As the daughter of the Mayor of Boston, Rose Fitzgerald collected autographs, as did her son, John F. Kennedy. Franklin Roosevelt, Malcolm Forbes and Glenn Ford are a few more well-known autograph collectors. By collecting autographs, you become a curator of history.
Here are some of the best reasons to join the UACC.
The UACC publishes The Pen and Quill, the highly regarded 64-page bimonthly journal with articles and news in all fields of autograph collecting. UACC members may place free ads in The Pen and Quill to express their wants or just _ with other members.
Writing for autographs to famous living people can also be interesting. The more interesting the letter, the better chance for an interesting reply.
The UACC also offers its members the opportunity to buy uncommon autographic materials at low prices. Meanwhile, it publishes low-cost reference works for its members.
Once you join the UACC, you will be added to our mailing list and will receive catalogs of autographs for sale by dealer members. The UACC has nearly 200 of the world's most professional dealers as members. Each member provides contact information on our website, including mailing address, telephone numbers, e-mail-addresses, website address, etc. We always try to promote our dealer program and encourage collectors to always buy from these dealers. | high4416.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "470"
},
"options": [
"120",
"470",
"450",
"240"
],
"question": "The number of the rooms in the best hotels in Boswell is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_... | WHERE TO STAY IN BOSWELL
YOUR GUIDE TO OUR BEST HOTEL | high16151.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "gardening and tennis"
},
"options": [
"hunting and physical labour",
"gardening and tennis",
"washing his clothes",
"gardening techniques and types of fertilizers"
],
"question": "Mandela's hobbies on Robben Isl... | My Garden
-----by Nelson Mandela
In early 1977, the authorities announced the physical labour and arranged some kind of work for us to do in the courtyard. The free time also allowed me to hunt what became two of my favorite hobbies in Robben Island---gardening and tennis.
To survive in prison, one must develop ways to take satisfaction in one's daily life. One can feel fulfilled by washing one's clothes so that they are particularly clean. Just as one takes pride in important tasks outside of prison, one can find the same pride in doing small things inside prison. Almost from the beginning of my sentence on Robben Island, I asked the authorities for permission to start a garden in the courtyard. For years, they refused without offering a reason. But finally they gave in, and we were able to cut out a small garden in the prison.
The soil in the courtyard was dry and rocky. In order to start my garden, I had to remove a great many rocks to allow the plant room to grow.
The authorities supplied me with seeds. At first, I planned tomatoes and onions, because these plants did not require rich earth or constant care. The early harvests were poor, but they soon improved.
I began to order books on gardening. I studied different gardening techniques and types of fertilizers . For a time, I tried to grow peanuts, and used different soils and fertilizers, but finally I gave up. It was one of my few failures.
A garden was one of the few things in prison that one could control. The processes of planting a seed, watching it grow, taking care of it and then harvesting it offered a simple but long-lasting satisfaction. The sense of being the owner of the small patch of earth offered a small taste of freedom. | high5708.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "climb itself up toward the sunlight"
},
"options": [
"form a straight stem",
"grow strong roots",
"develop g-fiber cells on the stems",
"climb itself up toward the sunlight"
],
"question": "According to the arti... | Sweet peas, cucumbers, grapes ---- what do you think they have in common?
None of these vegetables grow on trees. They all don't have strong roots, big trunks or long branches, which makes it harder for them to get sunlight. But don't worry. They have developed their own unique way of growing taller climbing!
Take sweet peas as an example. The plant grows as a straight stem until it finds something to hold onto, either a nearby tree or a stick. That is when the stem makes small coil that helps the plant hold the stick tightly.
How these plants are able to do this has been a mystery to scientists for years. Even Charles Darwin was interested in this question. But it is not until now that a Harvard research team has finally found the answer. The study was published in the Journal Science earlier this month.
The key, as it turns out, is inside a kind of thread-like cell called "g-fiber cell", which has the ability to shrink or stretch. Each stem of the pea plant is made of several layers of g-fibers. Once the plant finds something to hold onto, cells on side of the stem start to shrink, forcing the whole thing to bend and coil, which is a bit like how our muscles get our bodies to move.
What's more, a pea's coil is not exactly like that of a spring. If you look closely, you may find that a spring coils all in the same direction, but a plant's coil is in two opposite directions, like a telephone line. This means that the stem can stay soft when pulled gently but become strong enough when pulled harder.
"You want the plant to have a little bit of flexibility so that if the wind blows or an animal disturb it, it doesn't break," explained Sharon Gerbode, author of the study. "This structure allows the plant to easily accommodate small movement, but then if something really serious happens it can become strong and protect itself." | high10520.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "give people more chances to be close to nature"
},
"options": [
"give people more chances to be close to nature",
"ask health professionals to offer useful advice",
"protect the country's wildlife and environment",
"enc... | Getting in touch with nature can help keep people fit, reducing the burden of sickness on the health service, conservation experts say.
Natural England is starting a campaign to get people to spend more time outside among the country's wildlife and natural environment. The aim of the campaign is to get people to have more contact with nature by promoting green spaces and encouraging health professionals to incorporate (......) the thought into the advice and care plans that they give to patients.
Being close to nature can cut stress and increase physical activity. Dr. William Bird from Natural England said: "Increasing evidence suggests that both physical and mental health are improved through contact with nature. Yet people are having less contact with nature than at any time in the past. This has to change. Children with attention disorders have been shown to improve when they have contact with nature. People recovering from operations have been shown to need fewer painkillers if they look out at green fields." He also said people were more likely to keep up with their regular exercise in natural settings, rather than in a gym or leisure centre.
Natural England is working with the BBC and more than 300 partners to promote its campaign, which will be the first of four campaigns to get people more involved in nature.
Liz Cleaver, from the BBC, said: "These campaigns now provide the public with the opportunity to get outside and to get actively involved in nature close to where they live. That's great for wildlife --but it's also fantastic for everyone's health and well-being."
The campaign has also received support from the government. Dr. Fiona Adshead, England's deputy chief medical officer, said: "I welcome Natural England's commitment to encourage and enable people to make use of the country's outdoor space for physical activity." | high21925.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Many factors lead to people laughing."
},
"options": [
"Only good jokes make people laugh",
"Many factors lead to people laughing.",
"Funny things can make people laugh",
"Laughter can make people healthy."
],
"... | D Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred.While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke.When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually be more than one reason that makes him laugh--and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.
I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out.The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost all of them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly.The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians.That is, people were laughing both because of the funny joke and because of the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.
The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it.For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh at it louder than if you weren't jealous of him.
In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke.I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh.All I want to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot. | high13029.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They have not yet been set up."
},
"options": [
"They have not yet been set up.",
"They are in Hatfield,Australia.",
"They belong to University College London.",
"They are new workplaces for Australian researchers only.... | Alex London Research Laboratory (ALRL) is part of Alex Co. , Ltd., a major Australian medicine-making company. Opened in 1992, ALRL specializes in the development of new medicines for the treatment of heart diseases.
A position is now open for a Research Operations Manager(ROM) to support our growing research team at the new laboratories in Hatfield,due to open in the autumn of 2010.
Reporting to the Director,you will help set up and run the technical and scientific support services of our new laboratories now under construction.You will be expected to provide expert knowledge about and be in charge of all areas of ALRL'S Health and Safety,and to communicate with support employees at ALRL'S laboratories based at University College London.Working closely with scientists and other operations and technical employees,you will manage a small number of research support employees providing services to help with the research activities to be carried out at the new laboratories.
Candidates will have experience of both management and research support/technical services.Knowledge of research operations and excellent communication skills are necessary. Education to degree level is also desirable.
If you are interested in this position,please send your CV to Alex London Research
Laboratory,University College London,Hatfield,London,W1E 6B7 or by email to ALRL@alex. co. uk.
For more Information.please visit www. alex. co. uk. | high9132.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "was held to enjoy reading in summer"
},
"options": [
"was mainly held by Learn to Read",
"targeted functionally literate parents",
"was attended by about 30 volunteers",
"was held to enjoy reading in summer"
],
... | Several parents and children escaped the summer heat and enjoyed a refreshing "Leap Into a Good Book".About 30 children and parents gathered as volunteers for both agencies.
After the readings,refreshments were offered and children and parents were given books,a gift bag and a bookmark with information on adult literacy programs.
Learn to Read of Northwest Florida Inc.and Even Start coordinated the event with hopes that combining their programs will help target functionally illiterate adults and their families.A functionally illiterate adult is one who has reading skills below a seventhgrade level.That often means they have difficulty filling out job applications,understanding a lease,reading medication labels or to their children.
Merelin Hernandez,9,a fourthgrader at Warrington Elementary School,understands the importance of reading.She also says it makes her happy when she is bored."Reading helps me go to another grade,"she says."I feel proud when I get a B because then I know I am reading well."Monae Walker,7,a student at Oakcrest Elementary School,says reading teaches her and makes her happy.
Learn to Read of Northwest Florida Inc.provides oneonone tutoring for basic reading and writing skills to adults 16 and older who are not in school.Tutors go through a 12hour workshop and tutor their students 3 hours per week.The program currently has 150 active tutors.
Even Start is a family education program at McMillan Learning Center,which offers adult education classes and infant,toddler and prekindergarten services at no cost to families.Linda Harris,a teacher in charge of the Escambia Even Start program,says the program equips parents so they can help their children. | high6201.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "we are blue mainly because of short days in winter"
},
"options": [
"the cold in winter makes us suffer from SAD",
"hats and scarves protect us from SAD",
"every one of us meets SAD in winter",
"we are blue mainly becau... | How to Fight Winter Blue
Winter's short days are more than cold. For many people, winter depression, the most common type of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), is as much a part of the season as hats and scarves.
Winter serious SAD sufferers may need medical treatment. Those feeling a little blue can help themselves by sticking to a healthy lifestyle.
Here are some tips:
Pace yourself. Don't expect to do everything you normally can. Set a realistic schedule. Don't listen to negative thinking, like blaming yourself or expecting to fail.
Get involved in activities that make you feel good or feel like you've achieved something. For example, play table tennis or badminton.
If you are feeling depressed, you may feel like staying away from friends. Yet this is a time when friends' support can be helpful. Call them regularly. Remember, the more we put off calling or visiting a friend, the harder it is to rebuild a friendship.
Think clearly about what's wrong or right. Instead of giving in to vague feelings of sadness, look at your problems objectively. Break down problems into specific issues that you can work on.
Regular exercise helps to prevent and
.
Eat well. Studies show that a healthy diet can help to maintain (keep) a healthy body and mind. The vitamins, minerals and micro--nutrients found in balanced diet may help our bodies to produce feel-good hormones . Foods containing chemicals to help produce feel-good hormones include bananas, turkey, nuts and seeds. Eat at least five pieces of fruit and vegetables every day.
P.S. Symptoms of SAD:
No interest or pleasure in things you used to enjoy.
Increased need for sleep.
A change in eating habits, especially an appetite for sweet or starchy foods.
Weight gain
A heavy feeling in the arms or legs
A drop in energy level
Difficulty in concentrating
Overly emotional
Avoidance of friends and social situations
Frequent feelings of guilt
Long-term feelings of hopelessness, and physical problems, such as headaches | high15458.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "unused spacecraft hit each other"
},
"options": [
"unused spacecraft hit each other",
"people in space throw away rubbish",
"a new spaceship is sent up",
"an old spaceship creates friction with the air"
],
"ques... | It just may be the world's most costly vacuum cleaner ( ). The price of CleanSpace One is eleven million dollars. But yet, it has a big job to do. Recently, researchers in Switzerland said they planned to build this new cleaning machine.
CleanSpace One will not be for use in homes or businesses. It will be shot into space to help remove thousands of pieces of space junk floating around up there.
Last year, we reported on the problem of space junk. Over time, many unused spacecraft have hit each other far above the Earth. Big pieces break into thousands of small pieces. Sometimes they fall back into the atmosphere and burn up. But when they do not, it creates big problems.
Scientists fear that if something is not done to remove these objects, it may soon become too dangerous to send people and machines into space. There is a large chance that they might hit some of this junk. So that is why the Swiss researchers are developing the new machine.
CleanSpace One is not really a vacuum cleaner. It will not be used to take away space junk. But scientists plan to move it close to an old satellite that is no longer being used. Then a claw-like instrument will catch the satellite, and force it back through the atmosphere. There, the satellite will be destroyed by the heat of friction with the air.
Researchers say that all they need to do is slow down the speed of some of these unwanted objects. Once they begin to move more slowly, they will fall back to the Earth. There is little chance that they will fall through the atmosphere and harm the people or things below. | high12337.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they didn't have to move out of their house"
},
"options": [
"their mother was expecting to have another baby",
"they didn't have to move out of their house",
"they hated their mother remarried",
"they had a closer rela... | A few years ago, when I was still in high school, I met a wonderful and warm teacher. At that time in my life, there were many changes to adjust to, apart from the usual teenage troubles. My parents had divorced, so my elder brother and I had chosen to stay with my dad. Due to the fact that he was keeping the house, we didn't have to move.
During this time, my teacher took a special interest in me. Being my English teacher, she encouraged my mind to travel to creativity I had long given up. She brought me out of the shell I built.
She became my mother, my older sister, my friend and my teacher. The one thing she couldn't do though was to make me more girly as growing up with only my dad and brother made me a real tomboy.
Sometimes, I would be really immature , especially if she was scoring me less than others on purpose. She knew I could do better than what I was handing in and so pushed me to extend further than limits.
When I finished school and then after college I was about to leave my hometowns she gifted me a watch that every second, with my pulse, should remind me of the one person who will forever wait and love me without reservation.
Time has passed and our friendship is distant, but in my heart, soul and mind, she is the closest I ever got. | high11616.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "apply for a mailbox"
},
"options": [
"apply for a mailbox",
"buy a computer",
"go to the post office",
"fill in a form"
],
"question": "If you want to send or receive an e-mail, you should first _ .",
... | How to apply for a free mailbox ? First you have to connect to the Internet and go to the homepage of the ICP providing free mailboxes. Then you will find an icon , an agreement about the rules for using the free mailbox will appear. If you want to go, click the icon "I agree". Then you have to fill in a form about your basic personal data, and the name and PIN of the mailbox. The PIN is the key to the mailbox. After finishing these, you will get a mailbox like this:your name @ mail server (for example:tvguide@mail.cctv.com.cn. "tvguide" is the name of the mailbox, and "mail.cctv.com.cn" is the name of the mail server.). The mailbox is separated into two parts by a separator "@", which is read as "at". The former part is the name of the mailbox. The latter is the domain name of the mail server. All mails to you will be received by the server and put into your mailbox. You can read these mails on any computer on the Internet in the world, if you have the name and PIN of the mailbox. | high16179.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they don't meet the safety standards"
},
"options": [
"they have blast",
"they produced less coal",
"they are very small",
"they don't meet the safety standards"
],
"question": "Thousands of mines have been shut... | prefix = st1 /China
Coal mines claim more lives. A COAl mine blast in Jixi, Heilongjiang, left more than 100 miners dead on Thursday. Ten mines in Jixiwere ordered to stop production. The government has tried to shut down thousands of small, illegal mines in the country that do not meet safety standards.
MIDDLE EAST
Bombers continue to kill. PALESTINISANS killed 32 Israeli in three major attacks between Tuesday and Thursday. There were two suicide bombings and a militant attack on a Jewish settlement. They yielded one of the highest Israeli death tolls in such a short period over the last two years.
CHINA
Young people stand tall. THE average height of Chinese young people has risen by 6 centimeters compared to that of 20 years ago. This far exceeds the word's average growth speed. A survey on health conducted by a panel of Chinese students found the results. According to the world average level, youths get taller by 1 cm every 10 years.
CANADA
Talking about world issues. The Group if Eight(G8)--the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Russia - will hold a summit on June 26 and 27 in Kananaskis, Canada. The G8 are the richest and most powerful countries in the world. G8 leaders and some African presidents will discuss strengthening global economic growth and helping Africa. United Nations Secretary - General, will also attend. | high17267.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The family wanted their children to learn about Europe."
},
"options": [
"The family planned to make a living there.",
"The family wanted to visit some European artists.",
"The family took their children to study art.",
... | Mary Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania in 1844. When she was seven, her family moved to Europe. They wanted their children to understand European ways and the people who lived there. They travelled a lot and she had visited many countries by the time she was 10 years old. After four years they returned to America.
In those days, women didn't have professions, and there were very few women artists. Her family did not approve when she decided that she would become an artist. She studied first in Philadelphia. She happened to be in Chicago in 1871 when the huge fire broke out there. She lost many of her paintings in that fire.
She went to Paris to study painting. She met Camille Pissarro there. He taught her Impressionism, a method of painting where the artists used small strokes of unmixed color1s to create an image. She once said of Pissarro that " _ " because he was such a good teacher. She spent a lot of time at the Louvre Museum copying paintings of the famous artists.
In 1874, her sister, Lydia, came to live with her in Paris. Lydia was her best friend and posed for many of Mary's paintings. Three years later, her parents came to Paris, also to live with them. Lydia became very ill and died from a disease. Mary missed her very much. Her parents became elderly and she cared for them, but she still found time to paint.
One of the more interesting works of Mary Cassatt is her painting, Portrait of Mrs. Curry, Sketch of Mr. Cassatt. Though she never had children of her own, she loved children and painted portraits of the children of her friends and family. She became known as the painter of mothers and children.
She lost her sight due to cataracts in her eyes in 1914 and was not able to paint during the later years of her life. | high18154.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "nine"
},
"options": [
"six",
"seven",
"eight",
"nine"
],
"question": "According to text, Susan Butcher entered the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race at least _ times.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | It was the last time Susan Butcher ran the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1992. An hour into the race, Susan and her sled dog team sped down a hill and crashed into a fallen tree. Although hurt, Susan continued the difficult race.
The Iditarod Race started in 1925 when a doctor in Nome, Alaska was desperately in need of medicine to stop the spread of a deadly disease. Only a hospital had what he needed, but it was 700 mile-away! In January, it was too dangerous to send a boat and too stormy for his tiny airplane. The only hope was to use several sled dog teams following a trail, called the Iditarod Trail. They passed the medicine from one sled team to another. Wind and snow did not stop the men and their dogs. The medicine was delivered in record time. The race follows the route of the famous medicine run. Over 1,000 miles long, it is considered the toughest race in the world.
Susan Butcher was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In her teens Susan was given a Siberian husky dog and became very interested in huskies as sled dogs. After reading about the Iditarod Race, Susan moved to Alaska. She got several jobs to earn money to buy herself a sled and a team of huskies. After years of hard work and training, Susan achieved her dream of racing on the Iditarod Trail.
In 1978, at the age of 24, Susan entered the race for the first time and became the first woman to finish in the top 20. In 1982 she came in second. In 1984 she was leading her team across a frozen waterway when they fell into the water. Her lead dog managed to pull Susan and the other dogs out of danger. Remarkably, she came in second.
In her fourth race, in 1985,a starving moose attacked her dogs, killing two and injuring eleven. Susan had to leave the race. In 1986 Susan joined the race again. This time, she won. She won again in 1987. In 1988 she became the first person ever to win three Iditarod races in a row. Unbelievably, Susan won for the fourth time in 1990. | high10508.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "female consumers"
},
"options": [
"toy retailers",
"shoe designers",
"female consumers",
"make-up producers"
],
"question": "Products connected to the film \"Cinderella\" are generally aimed at _ .",
"que... | Years ago, the American writer Kurt Vonnegut often said there was one story that would always make a million dollars: Cinderella.
In Hollywood and in today's economy, it is more like $70 million and that is just a start. "Cinderella" made that amount in ticket sales when it opened last weekend. But the merchandising deals linked to the movie are also hugely valuable.
So the artistic success of the film is open to debate. What is clear, however, is the movie's business success. It is a hit in the theaters but it is also a hit in retail . And Disney widened its usual market for "Cinderella" products.
There are products connected to the Disney film targeted not only at little girls, but women, too. For example, the famous shoe designer Jimmy Choo partnered with Disney to create a version of Cinderella's "glass slippers" or shoes. You can buy them for about $5,000. At that price, you would not want to lose one at the ball, even if that is the way you get your prince. Several other shoemakers also accepted Disney deals to design versions of the famous footwear.
The makeup company MAC quickly sold all its products with official links to "Cinderella." But lucky buyers were soon selling the products on the online marketplace eBay for many times the original price.
HSN is a popular television and online retailer of jewelry, clothing and objects for the home. The marketer is now an exclusive seller of "Cinderella" products.
So, is there anything left for the children, those people we think of as the traditional audience for the age-old fairy tale? Yes, you can find toys and other children's products at the American retailer JC Penney. Of course, you can also visit a Disney store.
Disney also produced an animated version of "Cinderella." It came out in 1950 and is considered a classic. Which do you think the Disney company does better: live action or animated films? Post your thoughts in the comments section. | high13001.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "We should get rid of the bad habits and try to be healthier."
},
"options": [
"Our parents think highly of the eating habits mentioned in the text.",
"We should get rid of the bad habits and try to be healthier.",
"Japanese r... | As a nation we are becoming more aware of the food we and our children are eating.The recent campaign to improve school dinners by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has helped raise awareness of our fast food lifestyles.While we may be trying to eat more healthily,it seems we still have some bad habits.
*Healthy eaters or just trendy?
Are there certain things that you do and don't eat and why?With so many food programmes and books telling you what you should and shouldn't eat to be healthy,it's hard to make choices.
Some people are vegetarians for moral reasons,some don't like the taste of meat and there are one or two people who do it because it's trendy.Likewise,it can be trendy to follow the latest celebrity's diet because it's what the famous are doing.
*Eating out
People are eating out more often now,not just on special occasions as in the past.The choice of restaurants has also _ .Italian,Chinese and Indian restaurants have been around for years but have now been joined by Mongolian,Japanese,Mexican and so on.Bars and pubs are still popular for food and often promote English cuisine made with local produce.
"We enjoy eating out a couple of times every month whether with friends or just as a couple.We like trying new things so we go to different restaurants." said Craig,25,County Durham.
*Eating on the go
From chocolate bars to sandwiches more people are eating on the go--on the street,in cars or on buses and trains.While our parents and grandparents may frown at this behaviour,considering it to be bad manners,people eat on the go because they are rushing from one place to another.And in the home the number of people sitting down at a dining table for their evening meal is on the decrease as meal times become more informal.
"If I'm running late for work I don't think twice about eating toast in the car or on the bus but I know my mum wouldn't approve," said Stacey,24. | high6229.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It wasn't bass season yet."
},
"options": [
"He wanted to teach him to love animals.",
"He didn't want to fish bass at all.",
"It wasn't bass season yet.",
"It was the custom to free a fish after catching it."
],
... | WHEN he was 11 years old, he loved fishing in the lake near his family's house in New Hampshire.
On the day before bass season began, he and his father went fishing in the evening. He tied a small silver lure on his fishing rod and practiced casting. The lure struck the water and caused ripples in the black water.
When his rod bent over, he knew something huge was on the other end. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully pulled the fish in. Finally, he lifted it from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass.
The boy and his father looked at the handsome fish. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10pm --two hours before bass season began. The father looked at the fish, then at the boy.
"You'll have to put it back, son." he said.
"Dad!" cried the boy.
"There will be other fish," said his father.
"Not as big as this one," cried the boy.
He looked around the lake. No other fishermen or boats were anywhere around. He looked again at his father's stern face. Even though no one had seen them, the boy knew that the decision was not negotiable .He slowly lowered the fish back into the water.
The creature swam away. The boy thought that he would never again see such a great fish.
That was 34 years ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City. His father's house is still there by the lake. He takes his own son and daughters fishing there.
He has never again caught such a large fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see that same fish again and again---every time he faces a question of right and wrong. His father taught him it is the practice of doing right that is difficult.
Do we do right when no one is looking? | high8204.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "eggs"
},
"options": [
"eggs",
"KTV's",
"houses",
"cigarettes"
],
"question": "We can infer from the text that the price of _ has been rising faster than the other three.",
"question_type": "summarization... | In November, 2010, the CPI ( consumer price index) went up by 5.1 percent year-on-year . The price grew by 4.9 percent in cities and 5.6 percent in rural areas. The food price went up by 11.7 percent while the non-food price increased by 1.9 percent.
Grouped by commodity categories, in November, of the eight categories of commodities, six of them experienced prices rise and two witnessed prices decline. Of which, prices for food went up by 11.7 percent; prices for tobacco, liquor and articles rose by 1.6 percent; price for clothing went down by 0.7 percent; prices for household facilities, articles and maintenance services went up by 0.7 percent; health care and personal articles rose by 4.0 percent; transportation and communication went down by 0.7 percent; recreation, education, culture articles and services grew by 0.6 percent, and housing went up by 5.8 percent.
In November this year, the month-on-month change of consumer price was up by 1.1 percent. Of which, price in cities went up by 1.0 percent and that in rural areas went up by 1.3 percent.
The food price rose by 2.0 percent and the non-food price increased by 0.6 percent. The price of consumer goods grew by 1.5 percent, and the price of services went down by 0.2 percent.
Grouped by commodity categories, in November, prices for food rose by 2.0 percent month-on-month, of which the price for fresh vegetables decreased by 1.9 percent; prices for tobacco, liquor and articles increased by 0.2 percent, price for clothing went up by 1.6 percent, prices for household facilities, articles and maintenance services increased by 0.4 percent, health care and personal articles grew by 0.7 percent; transportation and communication maintained the same level, recreation, education, culture articles and services dropped by 1.0 percent, and housing went up by 1.8 percent. | high12479.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "going to Forbidden Palace without leaving the hotel."
},
"options": [
"doing some swimming in the pool.",
"doing physical exercise at the fitness centre.",
"going to Forbidden Palace without leaving the hotel.",
"buying... | Situated along Wangfujing Avenue, the Wangfujing Grand Hotel enjoys a prime location with easy access to many tourist attractions such as the Forbidden City, Tian'anmen Square and Beihai Park.
Each luxurious room at the Wangfujing Grand is elegantly furnished and comes equipped with modern _ including satellite TV, internet access and attached bathroom. Most rooms overlook the Forbidden City or Wangfujing Avenue, providing stunning views.
Hotel guests can swim in the indoor pool or workout at the fitness centre while a sauna and spa lets visitor relax and unwind. Other hotel facilities include a beauty salon, gift shop and travel and tickets service.
The Regent Beijing
Surrounded by the modern business district and the ancient streets of old Beijing, Regent Hotel is truly the place to enjoy a world of luxury at a good value.
Situated within walking distance of the main commercial district, Regent Beijing is very close to shops, entertainment outlets, eateries and nightlife. Major attractions like Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square are just a 5-minute drive away.
The world-class Regent Beijing not only offers excellent facilities for leisure and business, it also provides personalized and thoughtful service.
Pamper yourself with a treatment in one of the spa's private rooms or relax in the elegant indoor pool. Energize in the large fitness centre or enjoy some retail shopping at the luxury boutiques.
Raffles Beijing Hotel
Raffles Beijing Hotel is in the heart of the prestigious business and commercial districts and a few minutes from the mystical Forbidden from the mystical Forbidden City, historical Tian'anmen Square, the Silk Market and other famous sights. It is also a short 15 minutes walk from Beijing railway station and less than 5 minutes from Wangfujing subway station, and approximately 40 minutes by car from Beijing Capital International Airport.
Raffles Beijing Hotel was built in the 1900s, now already as an icon of Beijing's historical heritage. It is ideally situated at the crossroads of famous Chang An Avenue and the district of Wangfujing. | high7651.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Northern."
},
"options": [
"Simmons.",
"ST. Mary's.",
"Paul Smith's",
"Northern."
],
"question": "If a man wishes to study business and in a non-state-run university, which of the following is her favorite?",
... | (1)Paul Smith's College
The College of Nature
Experience a different kind of classroom: 14,200 acres of forests, lakes and streams, a hotel and a restaurant, 99% placement upon graduation. Two-and-four-year degree programs.
PO. Box 265
Paul Smiths, NY12970
1-800-421-2605
www.paulsmiths.edu
(2) SIMMONS
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AND MODERN STUDIES
Simmons educates women to achieve their work and life goals. More than 40 majors.
Lie in the heart of Boston. U.S .News & World Report ranks Simmons among the top state universities in the North and among the best values.
617-521-2051
www.simmons.edu
(3) ST.MARYS UNTVERSITY
Personal Attention Powerful Programs
Experience the technology of today at our co-educational university
One Camino Santa Maria
Utah 78228-8503[:++Z+X+X+K]
800-FOR-SIMU
www.stmarytx.edu
(4) Northern University
A famous private university
with 3,200 students in Colleges of Arts & Sciences
*Business and Engineering
*Medicine and Law
Among the top ten by U.S. News and World Report
Old Union 232
CA 94305-3005
650-723-2091 | high8562.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "is of disadvantage to health"
},
"options": [
"saves time from cooking",
"maintains good relations with friends",
"contributes to healthy bodies",
"is of disadvantage to health"
],
"question": "From the passage,... | When it comes to eating out, we can't help thinking of big meals in the restaurants, which usually contain much more fat and less fibers. Whether it is a business meeting over lunch or a fast food meal with the kids, eating out is a part of our lives. We eat out to save a lot of time, like grabbing a bite at fast food restaurants, or we take dining out as a favorite way to relax and socialize with friends.
Eating out can be fun but many people still like eating at home more because it is healthier. When my dear wife does not prepare foods for me, I would rather cook some instant noodles and eat at home! However, we go out to eat once in a while for holidays or on special occasions.
More and more people want to make healthy food choices nowadays. Some are watching calories, while others want to keep their cholesterol under control or eat less fat. Plan ahead and choose wisely, you will find foods that fit into your meal plan and make eating out both healthy and enjoyable.
Here are some pointers to remember that can help you make wise choices when eating out: go for balance, watch portion sizes and drink water or low-fat milk.Keep the ground rules of good nutrition in mind.Eat a variety of foods in moderate amounts, limit the amount of fat you eat, and watch the amount of salt in food.If you develop the skills to make healthy choices now, your body will thank you later.
Eating out can be one of life's great pleasures.Make the right choices, ask for what you need, and balance your meals out with healthy meals at home.You can enjoy yourself and take good care of yourself at the same time. | high15316.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She didn't like the flavor of her food."
},
"options": [
"She wanted to make us laugh.",
"She thought her dish was attractive.",
"She wanted another piece of dessert.",
"She didn't like the flavor of her food."
],
... | I believe children have a very pure sense of humor. Well, I would like to share my experiences with you.
The other day when I was out with a friend and her daughter Jane at a restaurant, Jane ordered an apple dessert, which was the most attractive dish in that restaurant. However, when she had a bite of the pie, she shouted loudly, "Mom, why does it look good but tastes like rubber?" My friend was uneasy. Then the waiter gave us another dish.
A child can say funny things. I was at a friend's home for tea and her son, Mark, wanted her to get up. His mom replied, "I can't, because my foot has fallen asleep now." Little Mark then sang a song and asked, "Mom, will it wake up now?" We laughed together.
The other day we were having an interesting conversation over lunch and my friend, an animal activist , was arguing with another group member. Her son Tommy suddenly stood up, "Mom, people should never be allowed to shoot extinct animals!" That was funny and the child did manage to turn the argument into a pleasant conversation.
Well, children sometimes really surprise us. I think we can have a lot to learn from them. They can help us understand the simple world through their eyes. | high14008.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "buying stocks"
},
"options": [
"playing Teddy Bear Lady",
"working as a secretary",
"helping in the hospital",
"buying stocks"
],
"question": "According to the text ,Miss Holm built up her fortune by _ .",
... | Chicago's children's Hospital is the lucky receiver of a surprise $18million gift from Gladys Holm.She once was a secretary who never earned more than $15000 a year and never married.She lived alone in a small flat in Chicago,and was a volunteer at the Children's Hospital.She was called the "Teddy Bear lady" because she brought toy animals to sick children on her regular visits.But Miss Holm,who died in 1996 at the age of 86 ,was also a long-time buyer of stocks .Over the years,she saved money that rose up to $18 million ,which she left to the Children's Hospital .It was the largest single donation in the hospital's 115-year history.The hospital president,Jan Jennings,was shocked when she heard the news "when Miss Holm's lawyer called to tell me how much that money was,I asked him to repeat it ,since I was certain I had misheard."
Why did Gladys Holm fell so strongly about the Children's Hospital? Jennings said the hospital first touched Miss Holm's heart nearly 50 years ago,when doctors there saved the life of her friend's daughter.She never forgot the happiness she felt all those years ago.
Holm's gift will be devoted to heart disease research.People at the hospital said they regretted that they couldn't thank Miss Holm for the surprising gift. | high13767.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "$20"
},
"options": [
"$10",
"$12",
"$16",
"$20"
],
"question": "How much can you earn at least in two hours as a retailer?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"ans... | The first summer job is often a signal that you are on your way to adulthood, and it is also a method for earning money to pay for what you dream of. It is never too early to start considering the future. Now, here are some good choices for you!
Retail Sales
Retail offers plenty of opportunity for teens who are looking for a job. This type of work can pay from $10 to $15 an hour depending on the duty you are expected to take on. It can also be great for teens who are friendly and enjoy talking to other people. For more information, call us at 111-222-3333.
Food Service
A job in the food service industry is a natural fit for sociable teens who enjoy communicating with public. It allows employees to work as part of a team while learning about following instructions. It also comes with the opportunity to earn between $8 and $10 per hour. Just call 111-222-3533 for more information.
Babysitter
This job requires someone who is highly responsible. Though it pays generally between $6 and $8 hourly, it also requires a lot of patience. This is a great choice for teens who wish to make a career in teaching, child care, social work or any other field that makes use of social skills or requires interaction with kids. Got a question? Just call 111-222-3336.
Housekeeping
This type of work can bring in about $5 an hour and it will allow teens to learn responsibility and develop their organizational skills. The summer sees _ in the tourism industry, so hotels are often looking for more housekeeping staff, and parks often need more people to assist with keeping public areas clean and organized as well. Telephone: 111-222-3330. | high7889.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "her family wanted to give her a happy birthday"
},
"options": [
"her family wanted to make her well-known",
"the old lady wanted to receive a birthday card",
"the son of the old lady wanted to meet the author",
"her fam... | Last year, around Labor Day, I read a "Happy Ad" in our local newspaper. There was a lady in a local nursing home, who was celebrating her 90th birthday and her family wanted everyone to know about it. It said that if you wanted to drop her a line, here was her address. So I did. I found a birthday card and dropped her a short note, wishing her a happy birthday.
A week or so later, someone knocked at my front door. I opened the door and found a middle-aged man standing on my doorstep. He introduced himself as the son of this woman to whom I had sent the card. He explained that he just wanted to drop by in person and thank me for sending such a nice card to his mom. Apparently, like many older folks, she did not receive much mail and was quite excited to receive mine. I just didn't know what to say. I told him it was my pleasure and that I hoped his mom had enjoyed her birthday.
That year, I did not send out any Christmas cards, except to this lovely old lady in the nursing home. I just told her that I was thinking about her and hoped that she had a nice holiday. I sent her a Valentine and also a couple of notes in between. I just thought she might like to have someone write to her, to get some mail.
She passed away a couple of months ago. I never met this lady, but I did keep her and her family in my thoughts. I dropped them a line of sympathy. I hope that my few little notes were enough to brighten a couple of her days here on earth. | high1220.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "New Year luck money goes online."
},
"options": [
"The competition for the online business is increasing.",
"New Year luck money goes online.",
"Electronic commerce has changed the way of trade.",
"The tradition of givi... | A growing number of Chinese are keeping their cash in their wallets this Lunar New Year as the traditional exchange of red packets of money is moving from the physical world into the digital space.
The tradition of giving cash gifts of "lucky money" ("hong bao" in Chinese) goes back centuries and can be particularly profitable for the young and the unmarried. As the country increasingly adopts online business and e-commerce models, tradition is taking a back seat to convenience as more and more lucky money receivers prefer to receive their money via electronic means. A recent study conducted by Shanghai-based Avanti Rhesearch Partner showed that 58% of respondents preferred their hong bao directly deposited into their accounts.
The country is becoming increasingly connected --- over 90% of 18 to 30 year olds in China own an Internet-connected smart phone, according to a Global Times survey published last year.
Of course, China's Internet giants have not been slow to capitalize on this trend, with Shenzhen-based Tencent last week launching their "New Year Red Envelope" app , an add-on to its popular WeChat messaging service. The company's over 600 million WeChat users can send each other lucky money, provided both the sender and receiver have signed up to the company's in-app payment service.
"I am really happy that I can use a new and fashionable way to send my holiday greetings to my family and friends, especially for people who have kids but live far away from us." said Mr. Cheng, a user of the service.
The service reportedly banked 18 million RMB ($2.9 million) worth of transfers in its first 24 hours, according to a report in the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper.
While Tencent's rival Alibaba also has a similar service, called Hong Bao, which launched last year, WeChat's app allows users to randomly distribute up to 200 yuan ($33) within a group of friends, adding a fun element of unpredictability to the process.
Some analysts believe that linking the payments to WeChat's in-app payment service could be a game-changer, as it simplifies the process of paying for micro dealings, potentially making users more likely to make in-app purchases in the future.
"The tradition of giving red packets is a symbolic gesture," said Steve Wang, Chief Economist, Reorient Group. "It's a new way to get people more comfortable dealing with money online, to expand their user base. It combines the old and the new, and is a great example of the kind of creative idea that we're seeing come out of China these days." | high17501.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "reducing heart attacks"
},
"options": [
"preventing strokes",
"reducing heart attacks",
"cutting down death risks",
"lowering blood pressure"
],
"question": "The benefits of potassium intake to elderly women do ... | Elderly women who eat foods higher in potassium are less likely to have strokes and die than women who eat less potassium-rich foods, according to new research in the American Heart Association. "Previous studies have shown that potassium consumption may lower blood pressure. But whether potassium intake could prevent stroke or death wasn't clear," said Smoller, professor of the department of population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
Researchers studied 90,137 women, aged from 50 to 79 for an average 11 years. They looked at how much potassium the women consumed, as well as if they had strokes, including ischemic strokes , or died during the study period. Women in the study were stroke-free at the start and their average dietary potassium intake was 2,611 mg/day. Results of this study are based on potassium from food, not supplements.
The researchers found: Women who ate the most potassium were 12 percent less likely to suffer stroke in general and 16 percent less likely to suffer an ischemic stroke than women who ate the least. Women who ate the most potassium were 10 percent less likely to die than those who ate the least. Among women who did not have high blood pressure, those who ate the most potassium had a 27 percent lower ischemic stroke risk and 21 perc ent reduced risk for all stroke types, compared to women who ate the least potassium in their daily diets. Among women with high blood pressure, those who ate the most potassium had a lower risk of death, but potassium intake did not lower their stroke risk.
"Our findings suggest that women need to eat more p otassium-rich foods. You won't find high potassium in junk food. Some foods rich in potassium include white and sweet potatoes, bananas and white beans."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that women eat at least 4,700 mg of potassium daily. "Only 2.8 percent of women in our study met or went beyond this level. The World Health Organization's daily potassium recommendation for women is lower, at 3,510 mg or more. Still, only 16.6 percent of women we studied met or went beyond that," said Smoller.
While increasing potassium intake is probably a good idea for most elderly women, there are some people who have too much potassium in their blood, which can be dangerous to the heart. "People should check with their doctor about how much potassium they should eat," she said.
The study was observational and included only elderly women. Researchers also did not take sodium intake into consideration, so the potential importance of a balance between sodium and potassium is not among the findings. Researchers said more studies are needed to determine whether potassium has the same effects on men and younger people. | high18632.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because much emphasis has been laid on economic growth regardless of the cost."
},
"options": [
"Because enterprises are encouraged to develop economy at the cost of the environment.",
"Because much emphasis has been laid on econom... | This winter, the air quality over the north China plain was so bad that it was actually off the standard scale. The air pollution reached levels that the World Health Organization describes as dangerous. On Thursday, heavy smog blanketed most of northern and eastern China again.
It is reasonable to ask why the air pollution is so bad this winter. Weather conditions and topographic factors have been given as reasons, but, although contributing factors, these are not to blame. The worsening air pollution is linked to an energy mix that relies heavily on coal and to motor vehicle emissions . But despite the astonishing growth of motor vehicles in our cities, it is the burning of coal that is the biggest cause of air pollution. More than half of the country's power plants are located in the eastern region and China's coal consumption has more than doubled in the past decade, reaching 3.8 billion tons last year, accounting for almost half the world's total coal consumption. And with coal occupying nearly 70 percent of the country's primary energy consumption, it has become critical to reduce the use of coal if we are to solve the nation's overall air pollution problem.
In the face of the poisonous air recently, one citizen said, "we have nothing but hot air to purify the skies". In fact, the government plans to have 350 billion yuan ($55.67 billion) investment in improving coal-fired facilities and limiting the use of yellow-label cars that do not meet the Euro I emissions standard and so on.
However, it would be far more effective to reduce emissions at the source, which means that the biggest challenge currently facing government departments is saying "no" to the country's air polluting offenders. According to the Joint Prevention and Control Plan on Air Pollution in Key Regions released recently by the State Council, the amount of coal the nation consumes is set to rise by 30 percent during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan. This is not going to let anyone breathe easier.
This highlights a key problem when it comes to environmental issues in this country - economic development comes first. The fundamental cause of the worsening air pollution is the idea of economic growth at any cost, which has resulted in ever-worsening pollution. And the priority given to economic growth presents another problem, namely the failure of existing environmental protection policies and regulations to control pollution. For instance, the current weak regulations covering emissions would suggest there has been a significant reduction in emissions when clearly this is not the case. Also those enterprises found breaking the regulations are still far lower than the cost of treating the pollution they produce. This means even if many large-scale enterprises with lagging production capacity fail to meet the requirements for environmental protection, the environmental protection department is incapable of shutting these enterprises down or forcing their relocation. [: _ Z _ X _ X _ K]
Dealing with air pollution requires taking action at the local level to reduce vehicle emissions and at the regional level to reduce industrial emissions. But it also requires giving more priority to environmental issues in policymaking. Our hope is that the environmental protection department will be truly capable of saying "no" to pollution, and it will raise standards and effectively enforce them, and that governments at all levels will prioritize quality of life not just economic growth. | high5046.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Understand and accept them."
},
"options": [
"Ask the native people for help.",
"Understand and accept them.",
"Do things in our own way.",
"Do in-depth research."
],
"question": "According to the author, what s... | The way we do things round here
Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" saddened me. I thought he was saying "we're kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else." Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", while in British English it means "fairly".
So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures .
Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate ,while getting on with business.
Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality .If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country. | high4358.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a survivor from another wrecked ship"
},
"options": [
"a swimmer who got to the island by accident",
"an angel sent by God to keep him company",
"a survivor from another wrecked ship",
"a native person on the desert-lik... | A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two survivors agreed that they had no alternativethan to pray to God.
However, to find out whose prayers were more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.
The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the island, and he was able to eat its fruit. But the other man's parcel of land remained _ .
After a week, the first man became lonely and decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the island. But on the other side of the island, there was nothing.
Soon thereafter the first man prayed for a house, clothes and more food. The next day, like magic, all of these things were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.
Finally, the first man prayed for a ship so that he and his wife could leave the island, and in the morning he found a ship docked at his side of the island.
The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island, considering the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings since none of his prayers had been answered.
As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"
"My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he doesn't deserve anything."
"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."
"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"
"He prayed that all your prayers would be answered."
For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us. So what you do for others is more important than what you do for yourself. | high3437.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "have more people visit the parks"
},
"options": [
"tell more people the improvements in Ontario Parks",
"attract more people to explore the parks on line",
"praise the beauty of nature in Ontario Parks",
"have more peop... | Welcome to Ontario Parks, a new body set up to manage Ontario's most treasured special places, the parks in our area.
We are entering a very exciting year for Ontario Parks. Last season we asked some 15,000 visitors in 45 parks how we could improve our programs and services. We also looked at the thousands of comment cards we received. As a result, new comfort stations have been added, the number of campsites has been increased, and we've made other facility improvements. In addition, we'll be providing more educational programs. This year, for example, more than 40 parks will offer special day and evening activities to excite your curiosity about nature and history.
Through the Internet, you'll be happy to know that you can now explore all 270 parks on line. Let your family plan your park vacation, study a map of canoe routes, listen to the call of a loon or find up-to-date information about programs, services and facilities.
So come and discover what Ontario Parks has to offer. Our parks are places to go with families and friends, for relaxation and fun, or simply to get away from it all. They are places where we can enrich our souls and "recharge our internal batteries". They provide chances to explore nature, see wildlife, swim, canoe, camp, hike, picnic, ride a bike... You'll enjoy some of the best outdoor experiences available anywhere in the world.
We urge you to make 2013 the year that you come out and have an Ontario Parks experience! | high17515.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "How the author deals with her/his homesickness."
},
"options": [
"The author's school life in America.",
"How the author deals with her/his homesickness.",
"How to make friends with Americans.",
"The author's life in an... | My third year of high school has just started.But despite the fact that my school is beautiful,I still wish that I were back in China.
You would think that by my third year of boarding school,I would be completely comfortable with going to school in America.I am delighted to see my American friends of course,and Hotchkiss is a warm place,but boarding school will never be home,the place that I love with all my heart.
If you are thinking about leaving home to study abroad,please don't be worried!I get worse homesickness than other people.Most of my friends handle it much better than me.
However,I miss my family terribly and Hong Kong.The 12hour time difference between Hong Kong and Connecticut makes it difficult for me to talk to my family or friends.And even if I could reach them,I have always found it hard to explain how I feel.
But I do have a few friends who left Hong Kong as well and talking to them always lifts my mood .They know what it is like to leave everything they know behind.Between us we share many memories of the times we had in Hong Kong.By talking to friends who have also gone abroad,I can get _ by.It's a break from talking to the friends at boarding school that I spend all my time with. | high18626.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "in the early 19th century"
},
"options": [
"around the 1850s",
"in the 13th century",
"about 4,000 years ago",
"in the early 19th century"
],
"question": "In Africa, hippos became extinct _ .",
"question_... | Hippos have always attracted people's interest. Modern hippos in Walt Disney movies can dance lightly. A stone hippo in a 13th-century church in France has wings. And in ancient Egyptian fairy tales, the hippo was a goddess that guided the dead to the afterworld.
Despite their popular appeal, hippos, as well as other animals, have difficulty when their needs conflict with those of humans. The early Egyptians liked to hunt hippos for their teeth and because they were dangerous animals. Amulets to protect babies from demons were made from hippo bones.
About 4,000 years ago, there were so many hippos in Egypt that they caused serious crop damage. Egyptian farmers killed them routinely, and by the beginning of the 19th century, all the hippos in Africa had been killed.
People used to see hippos fight in the arenas of ancient Rome. After the fall of the Roman Empire, hippos weren't seen in Europe again until a few zoos began to exhibit them in the mid 1800s.
All the various uses and abuses of hippos through the centuries have made their population fall greatly. Where they do occur, mostly in national parks, they live in such high density that they make the grasslands bare. This causes other grass-eating animals to go farther for food, and hippos, which can't live far from water, destroy their own feeding grounds. | high19538.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the student would practice more carefully on the best paper"
},
"options": [
"the student would practice more carefully on the best paper",
"it was comfortable to write on the best paper",
"the student had enough money to buy... | When I was learning calligraphy , my teacher told me a story.
A calligrapher taught handwriting. One of his students who often practiced handwriting with old sheets of newspaper complained that he made very little progress though he had learned it with the calligrapher for a long time. His teacher said to him, "Try to use the best paper. Maybe you'll write better."
The student did as he was told. It really worked. He made headway not long afterwards and felt curious. He asked his teacher about the reason. The calligrapher answered,"When you used old newspaper to practice handwriting, you would think you were writing a draft. It didn't matter if you wrote badly as old newspaper was plenty in supply. In that case you wouldn't pay much attention to it. Now you use the best paper and you'll treasure it. Each time you write you feel strongly about the rarity of chances and you'll devote to it with all your heart and soul; you'll do the handwriting much more attentively than practicing. Of course you've made rapid progress."
Indeed, we spend our ordinary days just as they are worthless "old newspaper".We don't care if we scrawl and waste it, thinking that it will come endlessly--the "old newspaper" is inexhaustible. In such a mood we may each day pass by opportunities but fail to catch any of them.
Life is not a military exercise but an actual war in which real weapons are used. In everyday life there's no chance for us to draft. That's because what we call "draft" actually is the answer sheet we write that cannot be changed.
Every day of our life is something new. Let us take every day as a sheet of the best paper. | high3423.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "many literary greats like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Burns were born there"
},
"options": [
"the first award ceremony of literature was held there",
"many literary greats like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Burns were bor... | What do literary greats Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Burns have in common? They both lived and wrote in Edinburgh, along with many other big names in the field of literature.This fact helped UNESCO award the city the title of world's first City of Literature on October 14.
Edinburgh left a lasting impression on Arthur Conan Doyle(1859-1930).Although he was born there he went to school in England but returned home for medical school.After graduating he moved to London and began writing his Sherlock Holmes stories.His inspiration for the character came from one of his professors at university.Holmes' methods were so clever that they actually furthered the advance of the study of criminology .
Robert Burns(1759-1796)is still regarded as Scotland's national poet,more than 200 years after his death.He is celebrated all over the world through translations of his work and the annual Burns Night supper on his birthday.One of his songs,"My Love is Like a Red Red Rose" ranks among the finest love songs ever written and "Auld Lang Syne" is sung all around the world.
As one of the first literate societies in Europe,the Scottish Parliament passed the world's first compulsory education law in 1496.By the 1790s,almost all Scots could read.Visitors to Scotland often observed that even the lowest members of society had copies of Burns' poems and other books. | high23868.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to encourage creativity in children"
},
"options": [
"why IQ tests are not accurate",
"to encourage creativity in children",
"no to squelch creativity in children",
"the difference between intelligence and talents"
... | Children are often far more gifted than what their parents or teachers can realize.IQ tests do not measure creative talents.By depending on them to measure intelligence,therefore,we miss out on the talents of many of our most gifted youngsters.Most children start life with valuable creative potential.Unfortunately,many of them have it knocked out of them,so to speak,by the time they reach the 4th grade.It is not that parents and teachers deliberately squelch creativity;or rather,they fail to recognize it.By simply observing the child at work or at play,you may detect creativity,if you look for the following key signs:
*Curiosity.The child's questioning is persistent and purposeful.He is not content with given explanations,and he would rather dig under the surface.
*Flexibility.If one approach doesn't work,the child quickly thinks of another.
*Sensitivity to Problem.He is quick to see gaps in information.He is sensitive to contradictions between prior rules and what he hears or reads.
*Selffeeling.He has a feeling of being somebody in particular.He is selfmotivated,selfdirected,and can work alone for long periods provided it's on his own project.
*Originality.He has surprising,uncommon,interesting ideas.His drawings and stories have a style that marks them as his own.
*Insight.He has easy access to realms of the mind that noncreative people visit only in their dreams.He toys with ideas that easily come to him.
Qualities like these count very little in IQ tests,which measure memory,vocabulary,mathematical ability and general reasoning.These abilities are valuable,and the creative child does usually have them.However,the child with a socalled genius IQ of 180 is in reality no more likely to be a genius than the child with a slightly aboveaverage IQ of 120.In fact,evidence suggests that some children with high IQs may develop memory and logical reasoning powers at the expense of insight,imagination,and adventurous qualities that are essential to geniuses. | high7645.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "other parks were opened"
},
"options": [
"other parks were opened",
"homeowners lost their houses",
"Carl Laemmle decided to produce films",
"more environmental regulations have been made"
],
"question": "As a r... | Universal Studios Hollywood, a park for fun, entertainment, and even learning, is taking its first steps in a 25-year plan to expand itself. The plan is to expand the amusement facilities and develop a residential neighborhood in the area. "I'm really excited about what's happening here," one visitor said.
Originally known as Universal City, Universal Studios Hollywood was founded in 1915 by Carl Laemmle. It was the first studio offering tours during which people could watch films in production. Since then, Universal Studios Hollywood has grown to include theme parks, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, and etc. This park proved to be so popular that Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990.
With such past success and growth, it's no wonder that Universal Studios Hollywood is excited about its latest plans for expansion. The original plans had to be changed because of environmental regulations , but now they are ready to move ahead at full speed.
While many new attractions are in the works for the new expansion, Universal Studios Hollywood will keep some of its old attractions, such as the Bates Mansion from the film Psychoand the Shark from Jaws. These attractions offer a look at the historical development of the film industry, and show the advances in film-production techniques over the years. But while preserving the past, plenty of new high-tech sound stages, rides, and theaters are in the works. In May, Citywalk, a shopping, dining, and entertainment facility, began undergoing renovations , and spring also saw the opening of Sky Venture Hollywood, an attraction where visitors can float 40 feet into the air on 125 mph winds. | high978.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Taiwan's Taipei 101"
},
"options": [
"Dubai land",
"Orlando",
"Taiwan's Taipei 101",
"The Twin Towers"
],
"question": "Which building was the tallest in the world before the Dubai Tower began to be built?",
... | Dubai boasts that it has just built a "new global landmark"---the Dubai Tower, which stands 512.1 meters high now and has just become the tallest building in the world.
The Dubai Tower now _ Taiwan's Taipei 101, which is 508 meters tall, and has 141 storeys, more than any other building in the world.
The Dubai Tower, being built by South Korea's Samsung Corporation and scheduled for completion next year, is one of a series of great projects taking shape in Dubai. The final projected height of the tower has remained a secret since the project was launched in January 2004; however, it is rumored that the tower will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 storeys.
The Dubai Tower has become the tallest building in the world in just 1,276 days, leaving behind other tall buildings.
The Dubai Tower will house 30,000 apartments in addition to the world's largest shopping mall. It is the centerpiece of the 20-billion-dollar venture. Another venture gradually emerging across the desert sands is Dubailand, a series of multi-billion-dollar projects claimed to be the Middle East's very own Orlando. Dubai also paid 100 million dollars to buy the Queen Elizabeth II, one of the world's superb cruise liners , which it plans to turn into a luxury floating hotel.
Faced with decreasing oil wealth, the Western-oriented emirate has raced to turn itself into a business and leisure hub and it aims to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015. | high15302.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to introduce a recycling system for high rises"
},
"options": [
"to encourage people to recycle their rubbish",
"to introduce a recycling system for high rises",
"to describe the use of computer technology in recycling",
... | Excused from recycling because you live in a high rise with a rubbish chute ? You won't be for long. Miami's Mark Shantzis has made it simple for those living in tall buildings to use the chute and recycle too .
In Shantzis' Hi-Rise Recycling System, a chute leads to a pie-shaped container with six boxes that can turn around when operated. The system , which fits in the same space as the chute and container now in use, enables glass , plastic , paper , metal , and other rubbish to go into separate boxes .
The system is controlled from a board next to the chute door. The board has a button for each class of recycling materials (as well as for unrecyclables). At the press of a button, a microcomputer locks all other floors' chute door and sets the recycling container turning until the right box comes under the chute. The computer also counts the loads and gives a signal by phone when the box is full. And a particular piece of equipment breaks up the nonrecyclables
Sorting recyclables before they are collected saves the use of expensive materials recovery equipment which otherwise has to do the sorting . Such equipment often makes recycled materials very expensive, so expensive that tons of recyclables remain wasted . Shantzis believes his system could help recycled materials become more cost-effective. | high9668.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "people go out and drink a lot"
},
"options": [
"people stay up too late",
"people go out and drink a lot",
"firework explodes in the sky",
"people go shoping madly"
],
"question": "The last Friday before Christm... | In Britain,it's bottoms up from the week before Christmas till the last firework explodes in the sky announcing the new year,.The last Friday before Christmas popularly known as'Mad Friday'--is one of the busiest periods for the country's pubs and clubs.
But it's not just the bars that get busy.Ambulances and A&E departments around Britain get packed out too.Head injuries,,cuts,falls...it's easy to end up hurting yourself or others when self-control disappear and your head is spinning due to alcoho1.Revelers have been warned by the health authorities about the dangers of deadly drinking but drinking crazily seems to be part of the festivities for some.
The charity Alcohol Concern is running a campaign of restriction by encouraging people to have a dry January.
Jackie Ballard,the charity's Chief Executive,believes the campaign has been successful in recent years.She says:"More than two-thirds of people even six months later are drinking at reduced levels having had a month off drink.But also a study has shown the impact it has on people's health reducing their blood pressure and blood sugar levels."
The study by the University of Sussex followed up nearly 900 participants in Alcohol Concern's Dry January campaign and found out that 72%of them had kept harmful drinking sessions down and 4%were still not drinking.
Moderation seems to be the key to everything.The official recommendation for women is not to regularly drink more than 2 to 3 units of alcohol a day.The limit for men is 3 to 4 units of alcohol--no more than a pint of 5.2%ABV lager,beer or cider. | high13773.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He was weak when he was young"
},
"options": [
"He was an unknown American writer",
"He had 7 sisters and brothers altogether",
"He was weak when he was young",
"He lived a rich life in his childhood."
],
"quest... | When talking about humor, people often refer to famous humorists such as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen-name Mark Twain.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, America's famous writer, journalist and humorist, was born in Florida on November 30, 1835.He was the sixth of the seven children in the family.As a child, Samuel was often kept indoors because of his poor health.
When Samuel was 12, his father died of a deadly disease and at the age of 13, Samuel had to leave school to make a living.He became a printer's apprentice .A year later, he became skilled at printing by working and studying hard.Samuel was then employed as a printer with pay.After two years, he became an editorial assistant.It was then that young Samuel became aware of his fondness for writing.
When he was 17 years old, Samuel left Hannibal for a printer's job in St.Louis.While staying in St.Louis, Samuel became a river pilot in 1858.His pen-name, Mark Twain, came from his days as a river pilot.It is a river term meaning "safe to sail".
Because the river trade was brought to a stop by the Civil War in 1861, Samuel began working as a newspaper reporter for several newspapers all over the United States.Samuel's career took off and he became famous when his story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country appeared in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865.Samuel's first book, The Innocents Abroad was published in 1896.The two novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (in 1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (in 1885) brought him worldwide popularity.He wrote 28 books and numerous humor stories, letters and plays.
Mark Twain passed away on April 21, 1910.To remember him, his childhood home was open to the public as a museum in Hannibal. | high13015.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "bring art into hospitals"
},
"options": [
"set up new hospitals",
"make the corners of the hospital collect paintings",
"bring art into hospitals",
"help patients recover from serious illnesses"
],
"question": "... | Bringing Art into Hospitals
The medical world is gradually realizing that the quality of the environment in hospitals may play an important role in helping patients to get better.
As part of nationwide effort in Britain to bring art out of the museums and into public places, some of the country's best artists have been called in to change older hospitals and to soften the hard edges of modern buildings. Of the 2500 national health service hospitals in Britain, almost 100 now have very valuable collections of present art in passages, waiting areas and treatment rooms.
These recent movements first started by one artist, Peter Senior, who set up his studio at a Manchester hospital in northeastern England during the early 1970s.He felt the artist had lost his place in modern society, and that art should be enjoyed by a wider audience .
A common hospital waiting room might have as many as 5 000 visitors each week. What a better place to hold regular exhibitions of art! Senior held the first exhibition of his own paintings in the out--patient's waiting area of the Manchester Royal Hospital in 1975.Believed to be Britain's first hospital artist. Senior was so much in demand that he was soon joined by a team of six young art school graduates.
The effect is striking. Now in the passages and waiting rooms the visitor experiences a full view of fresh colours, playful images and restful courtyards.
The quality of the environment may reduce the need for expensive drugs when a patient is recovering from an illness. A study has shown that patients who had a view onto gardens needed half the number of strong pain killers compared with patients who had no view at all or only a brick wall to look at. | high1552.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Maya Angelou: a life of hard work and success"
},
"options": [
"Maya Angelou: a life of hard work and success",
"Maya Angelou: a life of bad luck and sadness",
"The hard and terrible life of Maya Angelou",
"Some Unknown... | Born on April 4, 1928, Maya Angelou had a hard childhood. Her parents got divorced when she was very young. She was a single mother and being a single mother was very hard on her.
It was finally in 1949 that she started to find her place in the world when she changed her name to show her Calypso dance performances at the night club where she worked. It was there that she won a scholarship and trained in African dance and modern dance. She formed a group and they traveled all over Europe with an opera production. As she traveled, she studied different languages and became excellent in several of them. During this time, she made her first album, Miss Calypso, and it was a success.
In the 1950s, she moved to New York and started to work more on her writing. She heard Dr Martin Luther King speak in 1960 and began organizing different benefits for Civil Rights . In 1961, she began to play a large role in the Civil Rights Movement and is remembered for her work around the country.
She later moved to Ghana with her son and worked in the University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama. It was there that she became close friends with Malcolm X. She returned to the US in 1964 to help Malcolm X with a new Civil Rights movement. Shortly after she returned to the US, Malcolm X and Dr King were both assassinated . To deal with the deaths of her friends, she wrote her first book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which finally made her famous around the world. The 1970s were some of her most productive years as a writer, poet, as well as a singer. | high7123.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "technological development is too fast"
},
"options": [
"there is too much information for us to choose from",
"technological development is too fast",
"people live in different countries",
"no one is intelligent enough ... | My Uncle Dave posed an interesting question to my wife and me when he came to visit us the other day. He asked: "What do you think the world will be like in 50 or 100 years, in terms of technology and society and so on?"
He says he asks many of the people he meets this question to see what their thoughts are. His point is that no one really knows. I mean, in 1945, could people have even imagined surfing the net or sending e-mails as we do? No way. And the pace of technological innovation is incredible . We're on a more different curve than we used to be.
One thing I'm looking forward to is real software agents. There is so much information out there, but I want something that can help me find what I really want. For instance, in about ten years, I think, there will be no longer recorded music, and there will be some big databases from which you can download music onto your hard drive or whatever. At that point, there will be so much music to choose from and you'll be able to sample things before you buy them. But the question will be how I find what I'm looking for and how I do find the music that might interest me. Or more generally, how do I find information that I want without spending all the time myself surfing the net? How do I find people who are like-minded , with whom I might really want to communicate? I want to find those people but it's hard to do. In the future I think that one will be able to build a community of like-minded people who live all over the globe. It's going to be very interesting, I think. | high15464.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "pleased"
},
"options": [
"pleased",
"nervous",
"confident",
"worried"
],
"question": "When the author performed on the stage, he felt _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Last December, I performed 30 shows in 11 days. I knew it would be a tiring tour before I set off, but I just wanted to be there to support our men and women.
From the minute I walked onstage the afternoon I arrived at the army, the soldiers were cheering, singing along at the top of their voices. I had done hundreds of concerts, but it was my first time to perform for _ . Looking at the smiling faces of these soldiers --- some of them only teenagers --- I felt great joy moving through me. They were the loveliest fans I had ever met. Then, from out of nowhere, words came into my head. "I want to play you something new ... a song just came in my head minutes ago. It's calledHere with Me," I told them. Cheers rang out. As I sang, I could see the tears in some of soldiers' eyes. I finished to thunderous applause.
At theautograph part afterward, one of the soldiers took out a picture of a high school student. "This is my girl. You know, I miss her so much," he said. "That new song you sang ... it meant so much to me. Those were the words I've always wanted to tell her.
I realized that the song wasn't about me and that it was, in fact, a gift for these men and women. I played it in every concert after that, always with the same unbelievable reaction.
On the long plane ride home I kept thinking about the soldiers I'd met. They risked their lives every day to defend our country, yet they were grateful for a simple concert. I decided to record the new song to thank our men and women inuniform . | high3345.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She fell on the floor and hit her head."
},
"options": [
"She was knocked down by her brother.",
"She fell on the floor and hit her head.",
"She was hit by a toy on the head and felt upset.",
"She was hit by her brother... | A mum saved her daughter's life with her newly learned first aid skills. Sonya Hall, 33, of Denny Avenue, Lancaster, had only just attended one first aid class the day before when she found herself needing to use the skills on her three years old daughter Tilly.
Sonya, who also has son Emmen, six, attended the first aid course at Lune Park Children's Centre in Lancaster. Then she was faced with every parent's worst nightmare when Tilly went blue in the face and stopped breathing. But thanks to her newly acquired skills, Sonya saved Tilly's life.
Sonya said: "Tilly was playing with her brother and they were fighting over a toy. Emmen won the fight. Tilly fell backwards and her head was hit. She was face down and shaking and at first I thought she was upset. But then I saw she was blue in the face and had stopped breathing. I reacted without thinking and immediately started using the first aid skills I had learned the day before which were so fresh in my mind. I began doing mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions . It probably took about a minute before Tilly started breathing again, but to me it felt like a lifetime."
After getting Tilly breathing again, Sonya called an ambulance and the doctors came. Since then, Tilly has been diagnosed with Reflex Anoxic Seizure . Sonya said: "The seizure can happen when there's any unexpected pain, fear or fright. It is just so lucky that the day before it happened, I had been practising first aid."
The Empowering Parents First Aid course is run by Lancashire Adult Learning. Sonya said: "I am just so glad I did the course and learnt the first aid skills. I always feared I would not know what to do in a crisis situation, but luckily I had the knowledge and skills to deal with it." | high17273.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "deals with the same problem aroused by the population problem"
},
"options": [
"is quite unlike the population problem and thus doesn't need our concern",
"focuses on tracking down the reason of rapid population growth",
"dea... | We can begin our discussion of "population as a global issue" with what most person mean when they discuss " the population problem": too many people on earth and a too rapid increase in the number added each year. The facts are not in dispute. It was quite right to employ a similar matter that linked demographic growth to " a long, thin power fuse that burns steadily from time to time until it finally reaches the limit, and explodes".
To understand the current situation, which is characterized by rapid increases in population, it is necessary to understand the history of population trends. Rapid growth is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Looking back at the 8,000 years of demographic history. We find that population have been really stable or growing very slightly for most of human history. For most of our ancestors, life was hard, often nasty, and very short. For most of human history, it was seldom the case that one in ten persons would live past forty, where infancy and childhood were especially risky periods. Often, societies were in clear danger of extinction because death rates could exceed their birth rates. Thus, the population problem throughout most of history was how to prevent extinction of the human race.
This pattern is important to know. Not only does it put the current problems of demographic growth into a historical perspective, but it suggests that the cause of rapid increase in population in recent years is not a sudden enthusiasm for more children, but an improvement in the conditions that traditionally have caused high rate of death.
Demographic history can be divided into two major periods: a time of long, slow growth which extended from about 8000B.C. till approximately 1650 A.D. And a period of rapid growth since 1650. In the first period of some 9,600 years, the population increased form some 8 million to 500 million in 1650. Between 1650 and the present, the population has increased from 500 million to more than 4 billion. And it is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be 8 billion people throughout the world. One way to appreciate this dramatic difference in such abstract numbers is to reduce the time frame to something that is more manageable. Between 8000B.C. and 1650, an average of only 50,000 persons was being added annually to the world's population each year. At present, this number is added very six hours. The increase is about 80,000,000 persons annually. | high5734.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it's convenient and free of charge"
},
"options": [
"CDs are too expensive",
"it's convenient and free of charge",
"music on line is always pleasant to hear",
"it is a good way to promote pop singers"
],
"questi... | Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music for relaxation. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs' copyright appears on the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay the recording company Shanghai Push compensation for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the websites. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.
"Baidu's defeat in the lawsuit shows it is hot fight to get copyrighted songs without paying." Downloads may face lawsuits or fines," said an official.
Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in prefix = st1 /GuangdongProvince, doesn't think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favorite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about getting others' work without paying.
However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a senior 2 girl from Jinan, ShangdongProvincepointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. " If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD," she said. "So what the recording companies really concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuing file-shares." | high18140.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Impressive."
},
"options": [
"Creative.",
"Impressive.",
"Persuasive.",
"Imaginative."
],
"question": "What did Russell Lyons think of his first volunteering?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {... | When Russell Lyons volunteered for the first time, he read "Goodnight Moon" to a class of San Diego preschoolers. And it wasn't reading--he'd memorized the book and was reciting it out loud. He was 4. Still, he said it felt good up there, in front of the other kids, lending a hand. He wanted more of that feeling.
Thirteen years later, he's getting a lot of it. He's on a five-month road trip across America--not sightseeing, but volunteering.
The University City resident has spent time at an animal reserve in Utah, a women's shelter in St. Louis, a soup kitchen in New York, a retirement home in Tucson. This week he's in Los Angeles, at a program that supports disabled youth.
"I just like helping people and feeling that something I do is making a difference," he said. He resists the idea that his "Do Good Adventure" is all that unusual. It bothers him that the media often describe young people as lazy, self-centered and materialistic. So he sees his trip as a chance to make a statement, too. "About 55 percent of teens do volunteer work, higher than the rate for adults," he said, according to a 2002 study. "Not everybody knows that."
Of course, some teens do volunteer work because it looks impressive on their college applications. Lyons said he mentioned his trip on his submissions. But charity work is a habit with him. Even before the crosscountry trip, he was volunteering about 200 hours a year at various places. He's made sandwiches for homeless families in Washington D.C. He's taught math to fifth-graders in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
He gets some of that drive from his mother, Leslye Lyons, who has been involved in nonprofits for much of her life. She was there when her son "read" to the preschoolers--a memory of hers "that will never go away." | high21919.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A \"circle\" activity will be held once a month."
},
"options": [
"You and your children will make up a \"circle\".",
"A \"circle\" activity will be held once a month.",
"You have the right of choosing your \"circle\" leader.... | The Adventure Guides Program
New Member Information for the Adventure Guides Program ( for children aged 4--12)
What Is the Adventure Guides Program All about?
The objectives of the program are:
* Fostering companionship and setting foundation for positive, lifelong relationships between parent and child
* Increased understanding of one another
* Expanded awareness of spirit, mind and body
* Great memories
* Fun!!!
Parent and Child Will Be Joining...
The nationwide affilicated program sponsored by local YMCA's and part of the National Council of YMCA's
A smaller group of families called a "circle"
What Is the Time Commitment?
* Program runs from October to May (ending with the Memorial Day Parade)
* One "circle" activity per month ( one circle decides on fees and dates)
Additional all participant activities (scheduled by Wilton Family Y) --additional fees and registration required.
Outing Dates: To Be Announced
What Do I Do Now?
* Registration is on-going. Registration forms are available online under "Registration".
* You will be notified by the Wilton Family Y of which "circle" you and your child are in and who your "circle" leader is.
* You will be notified by your "circle" leader as to when your first parent/child "circle" meeting will take place.
Fees:
Participant: Full Child or Family member $110.00 / Program member $200.00
Sibling: Full child or Family member $75.00 / Program member $150.00
Adult: Family member FREE / Program member $125.00
Wilton Family Y Contact Information:
Geoff Malyszka Teen Director 762-8384 ext.224
E-mail: gmalyszka@wiltonymca. org
Kim Murphy Early Childhood Ed. Director762-8384 ext.214
E-mail: kmurphy@wiltonymca. org | high11831.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Singing."
},
"options": [
"Singing.",
"Sending cards.",
"Writing letters.",
"Drawing pictures."
],
"question": "What was the tradition of Valentine's Day before the 15th century?",
"question_type": "factiod_... | Believing that birds began to mate on February 14, people in the Middle Ages started the card tradition by sending love letters on that day.
In the 15th century, singing and spoken valentines were slowly replaced by written letters in Europe. The first written valentine is credited to Charles, the Duke of Orleans, who wrote love poems to his wife while he was in prison in 1415. By the beginning of the 16th century, valentines were almost always written. Early valentines were hand-made on color1ed paper. Often they were tinted with water color1s and inks.
The 1800s saw valentines made by factory workers. Black and white pictures were painted by the workers in the early part of the century. By the end of the 1800s, the cards were made by machines. These cards were elaborately decorated with gold leaf, satin, lace and flowers. In 1840, the first mass-produced valentine's cards were made in America. Esther Howland, who sold $5,000 worth of the cards in her first year, created them. | high20434.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It's quite dangerous for the tourist to watch the turtles at night by the seashore."
},
"options": [
"turtle can usually lay 100 eggs at a time.",
"It's quite dangerous for the tourist to watch the turtles at night by the seashore.... | It's not all kangaroos down there
People just naturally associate kangaroo, koala and fine beaches withprefix = st1 /Australia. Yes, you can find many fine sand beaches, white or brown, to enjoy the sunshine and seaside breeze. However, in Queensland, the eastern state ofAustralia, a night beach tour at this time of the year may bring you a more exciting sight of the miracle of life: You can watch hatching baby turtles making their first steps in a natural environment.
On Mon Repos beach, about 14 kilometres east of city of Bundaberg in Queensland,Australia, liesMonReposConservationPark.
By day, Mon Repos beach is a sweeping bay of brown sand, a quiet spot for people to sunbathe, surf and fish.
By night, it's home to the largest concentration of endangered marine turtles on the eastern Australian mainland. And the miracle of egg laying and hatching happens from around mid-October to the end of April every year.
In order not to disturb the turtles, tourists have to follow the instruction of the guides.
But this may make the tour more like an adventure: Tourist are usually told to huddle close together, hold hands and walk close to the shoreline in the dark.
At the start of the season (October and November), tourists can view turtle laying their eggs. Turtles first use all four flippers to dig a body pit in the sand and then lay eggs in it. It's not uncommon for a turtle to lay more than 100 eggs at a time. And her mission isn't done until she uses her flippers to flick sand and cover the nest.
If you go there at the end of the season (March to April), you can see groups of _ walk down to the water. It is an astonishing sight as the small creatures,barely two minutes old, race instinctively to the sea,
If they survive, the same hatchings will return in 50 years' time to lay eggs on the very beach where they first emerged . | high17298.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Three."
},
"options": [
"One.",
"Two.",
"Three.",
"Four."
],
"question": "How many suggestions of making dreams come true are mentioned in this passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | "The Chinese Dream" is a hot topic of this year. Many Chinese young people are inspired by the Chinese Dream. Everyone has their own dreams. They give us courage and confidence to keep us going through difficulties. Here are some advice on how to realize our beautiful dreams.
Never giving up is the key to make our dreams come true. We may fail from time to time, but we can learn from failure, correct our mistakes and try again until we achieve our goals. Our life is like a long journey which is not all roses. _ sometimes has wind and rain. We believe rainbows will appear after storms.
Cooperation is also necessary. Everyone likes a person who is good at cooperating with others. Besides, in our society most problems can't be solved by one person alone. Cooperation is becoming one of the most important ways for people living in the developing society.
At the same time, we should learn to examine our abilities because it helps us know our advantages and disadvantages as well as get a full control of ourselves. Then we may be confident enough to face challenges.
Follow the suggestions above, and our dreams are sure to come true. | high5907.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "$77"
},
"options": [
"$58",
"$38",
"$48",
"$77"
],
"question": "A couple with their 4-year-old son will go whale-watching. They have to pay _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | Spring is just around the corner and it's a time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Here is a selection of festivals around the country that are a great excuse to travel and get back in the spring sunshine.
Dana Point Festival of the Whales
Dana Point, California
March 7 to 8 and 14 to 15, 2010
Each year, over two sunny weekends in March the town of Dana Point, California celebrates the return of migratory California gray whales to this part of the Pacific Ocean. Festivities include whale-watching, an arts festival and educational hands-on activities for the entire family. Prices start at $29 per adult and $19 for children. For more information, visit:
www.dpfestivalofwhales.com
Chandler Ostrich Festival
Chandler, Arizona
March 13 to 15, 2010
Chandler is the center of ostrich ranching in the USA. You can see
ride these feathered beasts around the ostrich track at Tumbleweed Park. General admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for children aged 5 to 12 and kids 4 and under are free. For more information, visit:
www.ostrichfestival.com
Festival of Houses and Gardens
Charleston, South Carolina
March 19 to April 18, 2010
The Historic Charleston Foundation gives curious travelers the opportunity to explore gardens of some of the finest private residences in America. Each 3-hour tour (afternoons from 2 to 5 pm and evenings from 6 to 9 pm) lets you visit 8 to 10 properties dating from the American colonial period. Prices range from $25 to $45. For more information, visit:
www.historiccharleston.org
Tulip Time Festival
Holland, Michigan
May 1 to 9, 2010
You don't need to travel to the Netherlands this spring to see and smell some of the world's finest tulips . The annual Tulip Time Festival, one of the largest flower festivals in the country, will kick off with fireworks on May 1. Admission fee ranges from $6 for the children's area to $38 for theatre tickets. Tickets and more information are available at:
www.tuliptime.com | high16186.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "telling us that offering cigarettes is a bad habit"
},
"options": [
"telling us a custom about the Chinese Spring Festival",
"introducing a way to make friends with Chinese",
"stopping smoking during the Beijing Olympic",
... | Eat,drink and be merry. That's what Spring Festival is all about. But there are millions of people,too,who love to let happiness go up in smoke.
Offering cigarettes to guests is a traditional Chinese way of showing respect for them. A cup of tea and cigarettes are perhaps the most common way of welcoming a guest in China,especially during festive occasions.
No wonder,40 percent of the people surveyed recently said they would smoke at least twice the usual number of cigarettes during the Spring Festival because of all those gatherings and parties. Only 20 percent of the respondents said they would refuse a cigarette when offered one. Why can't the others do the same?Because they could be seen as being rude,said more than half of the respondents. Fifteen percent feared they could be taken as "someone who cannot get along well with others".
The Think tank Research Center for Health Development and sohu.com survey shows 61 percent Chinese think offering a cigarette is useful for socializing,and 52 percent have offered cigarettes to others. The study surveyed 3,800 people,64 percent of them men.
One third of those surveyed were smokers,out of which 57 percent said they couldn't give up smoking because of the offering and accepting culture. "People have accepted offering cigarettes as an effective way of making friends," research center director Wu Yiqun says.
China has more than 350 million smokers,catering to the tobacco market that is worth 500 billion yuan. "The survey shows we still have a lot of work to do," Wu says. "Since Beijing is trying to make the Olympic Games smoke free,it is time to let people know that offering a cigarette is a bad habit and it should be given up immediately." | high14791.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Beauty"
},
"options": [
"New View",
"World Weekly",
"Beauty",
"The Week"
],
"question": "will probably provide you with articles about music and paintings.",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | Beauty: For lovers and fans of the arts. Beauty is a necessary magazine in your spare time. It brings you academic articles written by internationally famous scholars , yet with easy-to-understand examples, as well as information on exhibitions and sales all over the world.
World Weekly: It gives you a global view with articles from four of the world's most famous newspapers. Read the news from different views and draw your own conclusions on the stories influencing our world. Try it for six months for just $30. Besides, you can get a free copy of World Weekly 2012.
New View: Full of excellent writing and photography, it covers one key subjects each month, from human rights to poverty to environment. Reports from around the world provide you with an all-sided world view. Besides, you can be told lots of fresh reports and the latest stories on world events and activities.
The Week: It is the only summary giving you the best of British and foreign newspapers in just 35pages. Designed to be read in just 1 hour. Try it now with 13 copies for just $25. If you decide it's not for you , just tell us within 3 weeks and you can get your money back within 10 work days. | high24134.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "women's duty is mainly to do housework at home"
},
"options": [
"women can't do what men can",
"men have to work much harder than women",
"men can make money more easily than women",
"women's duty is mainly to do housew... | Sociologists , working in western countries, have found that a large number of women wished they had been born men. The number is said to be as high as 60% in Germany.
"Women often wish they had the same chances as men have, and think it is still men's world. " said Dr. James Helen, one of the sociologists who did the study.
Many men say that they have more duties than women. A man has to make money to support his family and to make the important decision, so it is right for men to be paid more. Some are even against their wives working at all. When wives go out to work, they say, the home and children cannot be taken good care of. If women take full-time jobs, they won't be able to do what they are best at doing: making a nice home and bringing up the children.
Some women disagree. They say they want to get out of their homes and to have freedom to choose between work and home life. Women have the right of equal pay and equal chances.
Anne Harper has a very good job. She also believes in "Women's Liberation", "I don't wish I were a man," she says, "and I don't think many women do. But I do wish people would stop treating us like second-class people. At work, for example, we usually do the work that men do but get paid less. There are still a lot of jobs only to men--usually they are the best ones. If you are a man, you have a much better chance of living a wonderful life. How many women scientists are there...or engineers?" | high7876.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Helping injured sailors."
},
"options": [
"Training officers.",
"Helping injured sailors.",
"Displaying artistic works.",
"Holding interesting activities."
],
"question": "What were the buildings and grounds of ... | Welcome to the Old Royal Naval College (ORNC), one of London's most famous landmarks. It is open daily and is a wonderful place to visit -- whether you have an hour or a day.
The buildings and grounds of the ORNC were originally designed as a refuge for old and injured sailors in the 1690s. Later the site became a training college for officers in the Royal Navy. Today they are free to visit and host an exciting range of events all year round.
Painted Hall
View the impressive Painted Hall, known as the greatest piece of decorative painting in England. Sir James Thornhill spent 19 years painting it celebrating the royal family and maritime power. Discover more interesting history through our daily talks and family activities.
Chapel
Redecorated by James"Athenian"Stuart after a fire in 1779, the Chapel reflects Stuart's Greek influences, and is still an active place to show respect and love for God. Besides, it is a perfect place for concerts and recitals .
Discover Greenwich
Explore over 500 years of history and architecture at the Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre. There is an impressive central model of Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
Opening times
Painted Hall, Chapel and Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre open from 10:00 to 17:00, Mon to Sun. (Chapel opens at 12:00 on Sun following service).
Grounds open daily 08:00-18:00. | high13798.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "meet his friends"
},
"options": [
"fish",
"meet his friends",
"prepare for his fishing",
"develop a project"
],
"question": "Dave went go Big Bear twice a year mainly to_.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions... | Dave needed to prepare for Saturday's fishing trip. He went into his hall closet, where he had more than 20 rods and reels. Nowadays he went fishing twice a year at Big Bear, a huge lake in southern prefix = st1 /Californiaabout 7,000 feet up in the mountains.
California tries to improve the fishing industry by sponsoring a Free Fishing Day twice a ear, once in June and once in September. That's enough for Dave. He went mostly because it was a social event with a few friends, not so much to catch fish. Even driving up a twisty two-lane road was worth the trip. Let alone the big, beautiful houses and trees that lined the shore of the lake.
Preparing was a project in itself. Dace had even created a computer file named Fishing Trip. It was a checklist of 45 things to take to Big Bear. He took two rods, because on Free Fishing Day you were allowed to fish with two rods instead of the usual one rod. He took a sweatshirt, jeans, two pairs of socks, a heavy hooded jacket, winter gloves, and a scarf. He also took flip-flops, shorts, a T-shirt, sunglasses, a big hat, and lightweight raincoat. If you go to Big Bear in June, you'd better be prepared for hot or cold, rain or shine.
He prepared a couple of magazines to read just in case the fish weren't biting. He and his friends joked that the fish were always biting- in the spot you just left or the spot you were headed for.
After about an hour and a half; Dave had gathered all the items on his list into a neat pile next to his door. He went to bed knowing that tomorrow's weather and fishing were unpredictable, but the good time with his friends was a given. | high23883.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "is facing the same threat as many other parts of the world"
},
"options": [
"is facing the same threat as many other parts of the world",
"sets a good example in protecting animals",
"is a place where giant pandas and their h... | With the development of society and economy, animals and their habitats are getting pushed aside as households decrease in size and increase in number.
Small numbers of people per household on average use more energy and goods per person. Greater numbers of households require more natural resources for construction. The possible result of this problem may be _ natural resources to meet consumer demand without endangering habitats important to biodiversity.
Personal freedom and social choice may come at huge environmental cost. Direct costs include visible damage to animal habitats and plant life. Indirect costs include the release of more greenhouse gases.
The effects of such "personal freedom and social choice" have already surfaced in south-west China's Wolong Nature Reserve. In Wolong, they found that a reduced average household size was directly tied to an increase in homes, and thus an increase in the amount of firewood consumed for cooking and heating. The rise in wood fuel use has contributed to disappearance of forests and to the loss of habitats for giant pandas.
Curious about whether other parts of the world were experiencing similar phenomena, they got the support of a team of researchers including Stanford's Paul Ehrlich, well-known for his population studies, to find out the household dynamics in 141 countries between 1985 and 2000. Their study proved that the difficult choice of Wolong is part of a global trend.
In the 76 countries considered biodiversity "hotspots", such as the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Kenya, the number of households grew by 3.1% every year, while the population increased just 1.8%. Meanwhile, the number of people per home dropped from 4.7 to 4.0. The decline in household size has resulted in 155 million additional households in hotspot countries, almost always limiting biodiversity.
In the 10 non-hotspot countries -- those without high-density areas of animal and plant species -- similar results were found, though on a lesser scale. Even in countries experiencing population decline, such as New Zealand, the number of households still increased because of a reduction in household size. | high12486.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The importance of mental activities in the efficiency of the brain."
},
"options": [
"Special mental training for old people.",
"Biochemical changes in the human brain.",
"The influence of intellectual activities on brain-cel... | Researchers have established that when people are mentally engaged, biochemical changes occur in the brain that allow it to act more effectively in cognitive areas such as attention and memory. This is true regardless of age.
People will be alert and receptive if they are faced with information that gets them to think about things they are interested in. And someone with a history of doing more rather than less will go into old age more cognitively sound than someone who has not had an active mind.
Many experts are so convinced of the benefits of challenging in the brain that they are putting the theory to work in their own lives. "The idea is not necessarily to learn to memorize large amounts of information," says James Fozard, associate director of the National Institute of Ageing. "Most of us don't need that kind of skill. Such specific training is of less interest than being able to maintain mental alertness." Fozard and others say they challenge their brains with different mental skills, both because they enjoy them and because they are sure that their range of activities will help the way their brains work.
Gene Cohen, acting director of the same institute, suggests that people in their old age should engage in mental and physical activities individually as well as in groups. Cohen says that we are frequently advised to keep physically active as we age, but older people need to keep mentally active as well. Those who do are more likely to maintain their intellectual abilities and to be generally happier and better adjusted. "The point is, you need to do both," Cohen says. Intellectual activity actually influences brain-cell health and size. | high22545.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "DNA is a substance that makes up genes."
},
"options": [
"DNA is a kind of gene.",
"DNA is a substance that makes up genes.",
"DNA is the basic unit of heredity.",
"DNA is a measure to protect crime."
],
"questi... | Have you ever heard a news reporter talk about DNA?Reporters talk about DNA found at the scene of a crime.They talk about police finding DNA "fingerprints".Police sometimes use DNA as a clue to find out who committed the crime.
DNA is a substance that makes up genes.Everything alive has genes.Plants have genes.Animals have genes.You have genes.
Genes are the basic units of heredity .Heredity means all the characteristics you inherit from your parents.You get your genes from your parents.You inherit half of your genes from your mother.You inherit half of your genes from your father.
Genes are a kind of code.A tree's genes tell what shape its leaves will be.A cat's genes tell what color its fur will be.Your genes tell what color your eyes will be.Your genes tell what color your hair will be.Everything about you comes from the code in your genes.
Genes line up on strands called chromosomes in cells.Everything alive is made up of cells.Chromosomes are in the center,or nucleus of cells.
Different parts of you are made of different kinds of cells.Your muscles are made of muscle cells.Your skin is made of skin cells.The code in your genes tells your body to make different kinds of cells.The genes in each cell tell the cell how to work.They tell the cell when to make new copies of itself.
An Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel first saw inherited patterns in pea plants.He experimented with pea plants in the 1860s.One of the things,or traits Mendel studied was what makes some pea plants tall and some short.He said that the traits must come from units of heredity passed from the parent plants.These units were later called genes.
In the mid-1900s,scientists discovered that genes are made of DNA.In the 1970s,scientists learned how to change DNA with genetic engineering.Scientists also learned that problems with certain genes cause diseases.Muscular dystrophy,cystic fibrosis,and hemophilia are some genetic diseases--diseases caused by problems in genes.Today,scientists are looking for ways to cure genetic diseases by changing genes through a process called gene therapy. | high13940.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "that agrees with the personality of the receiver"
},
"options": [
"fashionable and expensive",
"made at home by himself",
"that agrees with the personality of the receiver",
"that matches the character of the giver"
... | What you give your s and friends can help you know yourself better. Also, what they give you can tell you something about their personality. Most gift--giving (and getting) shows nothing more than the spirit of love and friendship. But it is possible to form some connections between the kinds of things brought and the people who buy them. Here is a guide to who gives what and why.
The clothes you wear tell something about your personality. They tell the world not only how you want to be seen but how you see yourself as well. When someone gives you something to wear that agrees with your self-image, they're saying, "I agree with you. I like you the way you are. " Such a gift should be taken as a form of compliment . On the other hand, a gift of clothing that doesn't match your personality could be an insult to your character.
Making something by hand has become the exception in many countries today. If you receive a homemade gift, you're lucky. It may not be made perfectly, but it will show a certain quality of love. They've given time and emotion, two important characteristics of being creative.
A person who thinks of food when thinking of gifts is a good example of what human warmth means. Whether you give a box of chocolate, a bag of oranges, or a ball of cheese, all carry the same message of comfort and support.
People who give books as gifts either like reading or would like everyone to think they do. If you happen to receive a large heavy book, its giver may be much more interested in the way things appear than in the way they actually are. Of course, reading is a way of new things. Giving a book can be a way of sharing a feeling or newly learned meaning. The giver is probably trying to say to you what the book said to him. | high18815.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Songbirds have the same vocal learning brain circuits as human."
},
"options": [
"The songbirds, parrots and hummingbirdsimitate humans.",
"FOXP2 is active in one of the brain regions of the songbird brain.",
"Songbirds have ... | It's not just great minds that think alike. Dozens of the genes involved in the vocal learning that _ human speech are also active in some songbirds . And knowing this suggests that birds could become a standard model for investigating the genetics of speech production and speech disorders.
Complex language is a uniquely human trait, but vocal learning -- the ability to pick up new sounds by imitating others -- is not. Some mammals, including whales, dolphins and elephants, share our ability to learn new vocalizations . So do three groups of birds: the songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds.
The similarities between vocal learning in humans and birds are not just superficial. We know, for instance, that songbirds have specialised vocal learning brain circuits that are similar to those that mediate human speech.
What's more, a decade ago we learned that FOXP2, a gene known to be involved in human language, is also active in "area X" of the songbird brain -- one of the brain regions involved in those specialised vocal learning circuits.
Andreas Pfenning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues have now built on these discoveries. They compared maps of genetic activity in brain tissue taken from the zebra finch, budgerigar and Anna's hummingbird, representing the three groups of vocal-learning birds.
They then compared these genetic maps with others taken from birds and primates that can't learn new vocalisations, and with maps taken from the brains of six people who donated tissue to the Allen Brain Institute in Seattle.
Their results showed that FOXP2 is just one of 55 genes that show a similar pattern of activity in the brains of humans and the vocal-learning birds. Those same genes show different patterns of activity in the brains of animals incapable of vocal learning.
"The similarities are beyond one or a handful of genes," says Pfenning. "There are just systematic molecular similarities between song-learning birds and humans."
"There's potential for songbirds to be used to study neurodegeneration -- especially conditions like Huntington's," says Pfenning. Huntington's disease affects the ability to produce complex motor behaviour, such as singing and talking, so experiments with birds might implicate particular genes in the disease.
Constance Scharff at the Free University of Berlin in Germany, who helped identify the importance of FOXP2 for vocal learning in birds agrees that songbirds can make great models for human speech and its pathologies . "My lab's research during the past 10 years has shown that FOXP2 is as relevant for birds' song learning as it is for human speech learning," she says. | high10291.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The doctor believed that medicine would lose half of its power on the patient who did not want to survive."
},
"options": [
"Johnsy had a bad temper and couldn't control her emotions very well.",
"Johnsy made up her mind to die bec... | At the top of a three-story brick building, Sue and Johnsy had their studio. One of the girls was from Maine; the other from California. They had met in an Eighth Street restaurant, and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so much in tune that the joint studio resulted. That was in May.
In November, a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called "pneumonia", stalked about the district, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Johnsy was among his victims.
One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a bushy, gray eyebrow.
"She has one chance in ten," he said. "And that chance is for her to want to live. Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?"
"She wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day," said Sue.
"Paint? Bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking about twice? A man, for instance?"
"No, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."
"Well," said the doctor. "I will do all that science can accomplish. But whenever my patient begins to count the carriage in her funeral procession , I subtract 50 per cent from the power of medicines." After the doctor had gone, Sue cried.
Johnsy lay, scarcely making a movement under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window. She was looking out and counting--counting backward.
"Twelve," she said, and a little later "eleven," and then "ten," and "nine," and then "eight,' and "seven," almost together.
Sue looked out of the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare, depressing yard to be seen, and an old, old ivy vine climbed half way up the brick wall of the brick house. The cold breath of autumn had blown away its leaves, leaving it almost bare.
"Six," said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."
"Five what, dear?"
"Leaves, on the ivy vine . When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"
"Oh, I've never heard of such nonsense. Don't be so silly. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well soon were ten to one! Try to take some soup now, and let Sue go and buy pork chops for her sick child." | high16838.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Healthy food."
},
"options": [
"Healthy food.",
"Bread processing",
"Processed food.",
"Poisonous food."
],
"question": "What is the passage mainly about?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | Healthy food is a general term applied to all kinds of food that is considered healthier than the types of food sold in supermarkets. For example, whole grains, dried beans, and corn oil are health food. A narrower classification of healthy food is natural food. This term is used to distinguish between types of the same food. Raw honey is a natural sweetener, while refined sugar is not. Fresh fruit is a natural food, but canned fruit, with sugars and other additives is not. The most exact term of all and the narrowest classification within health food that has been grown on a particular kind of farm. Fruits and vegetable that are grown in gardens, that are treated only with organic fertilizers, that are not sprayed with poisonous insecticides , and that are not refined after harvest, are organic food. Meat, fish, dairy and poultry products from animals that are fed only on organically-grown food and that are not injected with hormones are organic food.
In choosing the type of food you eat, then, you have basically two choices: inorganic, processed food, or organic, unprocessed food. A wise decision should include study of the reason why processed food contains chemicals, some of which are proved to be poisonous and that vitamin content is greatly reduced in processed food. Bread is typically used by healthy food supporters as an example of a processed food. First, the seeds from which the grain is grown are treated with a chemical that is extremely harmful. Later, the grain is sprayed with a number of very deadly insecticides. After the grain has been made into flour, it is made white with another chemical that is also poisonous. Next, a dough conditioner is added along with a softener. The conditioner and softener are poisonous, and in fact, the softener has sickened and killed experimental animals.
A very poisonous antifungal compound, is added to keep the bread from getting moldy .
Other food from the supermarket would show a similar pattern of processing and preserving . You see, we buy our food on the basis of smell, color1 and texture, instead of vitamin content, and manufacturers give us what we want, even if it is poisonous. The alternative? Eat health foods, preferably the organic variety. | high20352.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "if all the dead leaves are cleared away"
},
"options": [
"if all the dead leaves are cleared away",
"if the humus is increased after the harvest",
"if dead leaves decay in the soil by themselves",
"if waste plant materi... | When nature is left alone, a balance is reached among the animals and plants living in one area. But when man starts his work in nature, the balance is likely to be destroyed. He grows a crop and takes it away to eat; then there are no dead leaves to fall on the ground, holding water while it sinks into the surface, or decaying and adding humus to the soil. Unless a farmer acts with knowledge and skill, he is therefore most likely to make the land poorer. To take the place of the useful matter in the crops that he removes, he uses some kind of fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers are of great help, but the waste products of animals and decaying remains of plants should also be put on the land. In some places, it is a habit to burn waste material lying about, but such burning destroys the useful matter in the dead plants. Although the ashes that are left are valuable when put on the land, a better practice is to bury the waste so that it decays and increases the humus in the soil.
In the past, when the world population was much lower than it is now, a man had little difficulty in ordinary times in growing the food that was needed. When a field had been used some years and had become tired, the farmer could move to another place. The tired land then slowly recovered. Gradually grasses and other plants would appear on it and its productive power would slowly return to normal through their decay. But nature, left alone, would take a long time to bring back the land to its former state; the length of time required would depend on local conditions, but it might well be ten years.
It is a bad practice to grow the same crop in a field year after year. If the crop is changed, the land will suffer less because it is treated and used in a different way. Different plants have different effects on the soil. Therefore, a change of crop will do less harm than the growing of the same crop year after year and a regular change to grass will do good to the soil. Much will therefore be gained if different crops are grown one after another, a method known as the rotation of crops. | high21058.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the Internet"
},
"options": [
"the job opportunities available",
"his own talents",
"the Internet",
"the lack of writers around the world"
],
"question": "A freelance writer can easily get a job from any country... | The world has indeed become smaller due to the Internet. A freelance writer can easily get a job from the United States, the United Kingdom or even from Japan. He can travel the world in an hour just by surfing the various places in the world for his work using the Internet.
Looking at the job offers on the various freelance job boards can be tiring especially if you are a first timer. To do this, you have to use your search engine and type in the terms "freelance work-at-home jobs" or something like that. You will get several sites that offer freelance work-at-home job boards and you should choose the sites that are credible enough.
You will know when the site is credible because first of all, they do not ask you to pay them suddenly even before you have found a freelance work-at-home job through their services. Most sites will offer free registration for freelance writers and you can register as long as you have an email address where they can send the confirmation link .
Once you have registered successfully then you can start looking for the present freelance work-at-home opportunities and bid on them. But not all freelance work-at-home job boards require bidding. Some job boards will ask you to send your resume and they will contact you if you make the grade.
The Internet is a world that is open to a lot of opportunities especially for people who want to work at home. However, the Internet is open to all people who have access to the Internet so you should also be careful in dealing with possible employers who may dupe you into doing something for them without paying you in the end. | high18801.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "cooked some dishes in memory of her mother"
},
"options": [
"cooked some dishes in memory of her mother",
"felt more painful at the thought of the turkey noodle soup",
"was so excited as to see her mother home",
"didn't... | When the one-year anniversary of my mother's passing came around, I found myself in the kitchen preparing some of her favorite dishes.
As I poured myself into cooking, some of the deep sadness I was experiencing at this one-year mark moved through me. I loved my mom's turkey soup. I remembered the time she made some especially for me. It was summer then and I had a terrible head cold. She arrived unexpectedly one afternoon at my work place with a huge jar of her turkey noodle soup. At the thought, I began to feel a little more relieved in the pain of losing her.
It was then that I realized I was reconnecting with my mother through food. I laughed a bit at myself when I reflected on all the dishes I had cooked that week. Without knowing it, I had created a beautiful ceremony to honor my mother and to comfort myself at this vulnerable time. I suddenly felt my mother at hand and was filled with her presence. I was so uplifted and excited that I began talking to her, imagining she was there.
"What else should we make?" I asked of us both, wanting to keep the ceremony from ending.
"Irish Potato Pancakes," was the reply.
I hesitated. The thought of these brought up another loss. The last time I made potato pancakes was two and a half years ago. I had taken off my engagement ring and never found it again. Since then, I resisted using that recipe even though I really liked those pancakes as if it were partly to blame.
My mom should know better than to suggest these, I thought. She knew how upset I was about losing my ring. But despite these hesitations, I found myself caught up in the joy and celebration of the moment, and I reached for the cookbook without another thought of the ring. My mom did love Irish things. I opened the cookbook and turned to the pancake recipe. At once, something at the bottom of the page caught my eye... It was shining! Amazingly, there, pressed into the pages of this book, was my diamond ring!
That day, I made potato pancakes in the shape of hearts. | high10285.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because he thought the police officer wanted to stop him."
},
"options": [
"Because he was racing with another driver on the road.",
"Because he realized he had to hurry to the accident scene.",
"Because he wanted to overtake... | It seems that some people go out of their way to get into trouble. That's more or less what happened the night that Nashville Police Officer Floyd Hyde was on duty.
"I was on the way to a personal-injury accident in West Nashville. As I got onto Highway 40, blue lights and sirens going, I fell in behind a gold Pontiac Firebird that suddenly seemed to take off quickly down the highway. The driver somehow panicked at the sight of me. He was going more than a hundred miles an hour and began passing cars on the shoulder. "
But Hyde couldn't go after him. Taking care of injured people is always more important than worrying about speeders, so the officer had to stay on his way to the accident. But he did try to keep the Firebird in sight as he drove, hoping another nearby unit would be able to step in and stop the speeding car. As it turned out, keeping the Firebird in sight was not that difficult. Every turn the Pontiac made was the very turn the officer needed to get to the accident scene.
Hyde followed the Pontiac all the way to his destination. At that point he found another unit had already arrived at the accident scene. His help wasn't needed. Now he was free to try to stop the driver of the Firebird, who by this time had developed something new to panic about.
"Just about that time," Hyde says, "I saw fire coming out from under that car, with blue smoke and oil going everywhere. He'd blown his engine. Now he had to stop. "
"After I arrested him, I asked him why he was running. He told me he didn't have a driver's license."
That accident cost the driver of the Firebird plenty -- a thousand dollars for the new engine -- not to mention the charges for driving without a license, attempting to run away, and dangerous driving. | high20346.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "want to experience something special"
},
"options": [
"live in the nearby villages",
"are fond of rich decorations",
"are interested in wooden structures",
"want to experience something special"
],
"question": "... | The Kinema, Lincolnshire
It's a wooden building on the outside and a two-screen cinema on the inside, all nesting among pine trees in a tiny village. The Kinema showed its first film in 1922 and the first six rows were deckchair . Today, it's more richly decorated.
"People come here because it's a fantastic experience," says manager Philip Jones. "Many rooms in the Kinema are simple and not attractive, but we try to remain everything that makes it special."
The Cube, Bristol
It's not really a cinema. It is a not-for-profit cooperative run by volunteers, which has been operating for the last 15 years.
They are "unique for what we do, which is to operate seven nights a week and with no funding." They make many things themselves, such as cola and yogurt.
The Broadway, Nottingham
A cinema has been here since the 1960s, when local fashion designer Paul Smith would come to see arty foreign films, which heavily influenced his career choice. Later, he designed the stripy sofas.
The Broadway was previously used as a church, but locals love it for its independent, art house, and DIY spirit. The Broadway also has a right-on restaurant, with locally sourced vegetables and salads, and even serves its own beer.
The Rex, Hertfordshire
It opened to the public in 1938 and has been named the most beautiful cinema in the UK. There's a varied program with different films every night. Hot dogs and popcorn are banned. And a real person answers the phone when you call.
People speak very highly of the Rex. So do go, if only once, to see just how a cinema should be run. | high9697.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it's important for our body to empty the waste in time every day"
},
"options": [
"it's safe and harmless for our body to keep some waste",
"it's important for our body to empty the waste in time every day",
"our body will no... | Imagine your body is like the house you live in. Every day, your family creates rubbish. The rubbish builds up until it is put out for the weekly garbage collection.
Now, say you put three bags of garbage out, but because one of the collectors was away sick, only two bags are collected. You take the leftover bag inside to be put out again next week. The following week you put on another three bags, plus the leftover bag from last week. But again, only two bags are collected. Imagine this cycle is repeated over the following weeks.
This is a simple description of what happens to your body when your kidneys don't work efficiently. Your body is not thoroughly emptied of waste products. Other areas of the body such as blood pressure and red blood cell production are affected and the _ process that may lead to kidney failure begins.
It's not uncommon for people to lose up to 90% of their kidney function before developing any symptoms. There may be no warning signs. This makes early detection difficult.
Kidney's main job is to remove toxins and unwanted water from our blood. Every day our kidneys clean an average of 200 litres of blood. Kidney failure may be a gradual and silent process, going unnoticed because there is no apparent pain.
Research shows that more than 25% of the patients requiring dialysis do not see a kidney specialist before they have to do so. Some risk factors for kidney disease such as age and genetic make up are out of our control; however, some changes in lifestyle may help prevent kidney damage.Two major risk factors for kidney disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, have been on the rise over the last few decades.Both conditions are chiefly affected by being overweight and not getting enough exercises, which are the potential risk factors for the kidney disease. | high7862.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Keeping warm and covering bodies."
},
"options": [
"Looking attractive to others.",
"Following the fashion.",
"Appearing successful to others.",
"Keeping warm and covering bodies."
],
"question": "What do people... | If you ask someone why he or she wears clothes, the answer will probably be "to keep warm and to cover my body". These are the basic reasons why clothes are worn, but people also want to look attractive and appear successful to others.
If people only wore clothes for warmth and to cover their bodies, most clothes would be simple and cheap. In most Western countries, however, clothes are sometimes very expensive. The main reason for this is not the cost of the cloth or the cost of making the clothes. The clothes are expensive because of fashion .
Successful businessmen, for example, often wear very expensive suits, shirts and ties. Sometimes they pay thousands of dollars for a suit and hundreds of dollars for a tie. It's just a suit and a tie but they pay these prices because of the famous name of the designer. A suit costing much less would be just as warm and would cover the wearer's body just as well.
Fashion is always changing, which means those who want to be fashionable have to buy new clothes every few months, even if last month's clothes have only been worn once or twice. Some people have wardrobes full of clothes that have hardly been worn but are no longer in fashion. Being fashionable, therefore, can be a very expensive pastime ! | high24120.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Chinese people displayed courage and wisdom to the world."
},
"options": [
"China went through many sad and happy moments.",
"Chinese people displayed courage and wisdom to the world.",
"The ceremony broke its tradition.",
... | People's Daily Online: On the night of February 5, 2009, CCTV - 1 broadcasted the "Moving China in 2008" award ceremony. The ceremonybroke its tradition, presenting the special award this year to the whole Chinese people.
In the award presentation speech, the committee noted that, "In 2008,prefix = st1 /Chinawent through many sad and happy moments. In resisting the snowstorm, earthquake relief, the Olympic Games and the space walk by one of the Shenzhou VII taikonauts, Chinese people displayed courage and wisdom, demonstrating to the world their amazing national strength."
Compared with the ceremony before, the biggest change in the award presentation was that this year's award presentation ceremony was divided into four parts, according to the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The awards were presented to the ten winners according to the time order. | high23897.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To encourage children to reach for their goal."
},
"options": [
"To encourage children to reach for their goal.",
"To learn to overcome various hardships.",
"To do experiments all over the world.",
"To honour the memory... | With only fish and birds for company, Eric Erden has been rowing across the Pacific Ocean to Australia in his 23-foot-long boat since he left California on July 10, 2009.
This is the first part of Eric's trip around the world using only his own energy. He will row, bike, and walk without help from any motors at all. His plan includes climbing the tallest mountain on each of the six continents he visits, to honour the memory of a fellow climber.
He says he is doing this to show kids that they can achieve any goal, but he also hopes to have some great adventures along the way.
Storms and huge waves regularly force him in the wrong direction and even threaten to overturn his boat. "Sometimes I really feel scared," says a somewhat embarrassed Eric. "But that's part of the journey. I knew this wouldn't be easy when I started."
Protein bars give him energy, and he boils water to heat freeze-dried meals on a one-burner stove. A sun-powered machine removes salt from ocean water so he can drink it, but when that fails he sometimes tries to collect rainwater in a bucket.
He's not bothered by any of the hardships. Eric sees the world as a laboratory where there is much to learn. And when his trip around the world takes him across land, he enjoys meeting people -- especially children. He has already visited several schools and shared his story. | high12492.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "give some of the treasure to other people"
},
"options": [
"tell others about his story",
"take all the treasure home",
"give some of the treasure to other people",
"return the treasure to the woman and the old man"
... | A man was walking on a mountain when he found an amazing cave. Stored inside were all kinds of treasure and precious stones. When he saw it, he _ the cave entrance and stayed there, guarding it.
From that day on, the man hid all his valuables in the cave, and to avoid anyone suspecting he was rich, he gave up his job, his home, and his friends. He constantly watched the approaches to his cave, wanting no one to find out about it. Fearing thieves, he guarded the cave all night long.
He was so devoted to the cave that he hardly ate or drank. Before long, he fell ill. Many days passed, and he got thinner and sicker, losing all his strength. One day, when he could hardly move at all, he realized that it was his greed that had brought him to this extreme end. He understood that guarding his treasure had been of no use and no good. He decided to share it with others.
He crawled into the cave to fetch some jewels, but discovered that the cave was almost empty. All he could find was a small emerald . He took it and left the cave, intending to give it to the first person passing by. Soon a woman approached and accepted the emerald with great joy. The man said to her, "I could have given you many more riches, but I don't know where they went. This is all I have now."
"Are you sure there's nothing else?" replied the woman. The man shook his head and pointed to the cave. He found that some riches were still there; he saw some gold coins. He said, "Take them with you." The woman took both the emerald and the coins, and went away happily.
In a while, an old man passed by and asked the man what he was doing there. The man replied, "What bad luck! Just a moment ago I gave a woman the few riches left over from the treasure I was guarding."
"Are you sure there's nothing else?" The old man asked him.
The man showed him the cave, and they found a box filled with jewels and gold. The man was shocked. The old man explained to him, "At last! At last someone has freed himself from the spell of this cave. You see, this is a magic cave, and you're the first to pass its great test. Many people have devoted their lives to this cave, only to end up realizing there's nothing here ..."
"And why does this happen?" said the man. "Why does the treasure appear and disappear?"
"My son, this magic cave has as many riches as does your own heart. When someone discovers it, the cave fills with the treasure they bring with them, but later, when they all devote themselves to guarding the treasure, their hearts begin emptying, and so does the cave. The only way to fill it is to fill your heart with all that is good, as you did by giving that last jewel to the woman. That's the reason why the cave was filling up again ..."
And so, the man understood it was better to share than to keep things to himself. And, from that day, thanks to the cave and the old man, the man became ever more noble and generous. | high8589.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It helped to organize his life."
},
"options": [
"It was quite expensive.",
"It was made especially for Eric.",
"It was a prize for his good behavior.",
"It helped to organize his life."
],
"question": "What do ... | Time never had any importance to me until I received a watch from my father that organized my life and made me more responsible.
I received this gift on a gray-sky day. I had to go to the airport at 9:00 a.m. to pick up my uncle Ali and take him to my father's house. However, I was late because I was hanging out with my friends. Later that day, around 11:00 a.m., I remembered my uncle, but I was very late. He had already left the airport and taken a taxi to my father's house.
I got to my father's house at 2:00 p.m. on the same day and looked at my angry father's face. I felt ashamed. After I said hi to my angry father and tired uncle, my father asked me to sit next to him and handed me this watch as a gift. Then he asked, "Eric, did you have fun with your friends today?" I answered, "Yes, father, and I am sorry about not picking up my uncle." He said, "What you did was not very nice and you should be sorry for your actions." I was ashamed. "Father, I'll never do it again. I promise." Then he replied, "I hope today you learned something important, and this watch will be a reminder for you." He told me to take this watch and use it as an organizer of my life.
I learned a very important lesson from my father that day: to respect time and never be late to meet someone. This watch is important to me, not because of its price, but because of the lesson that I learned from it. | high13954.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "totally hand made"
},
"options": [
"totally hand made",
"mainly made of cloth",
"usually small kids",
"often designed by the author's father"
],
"question": "The dolls called \"Wee Mountain Folk\" were _ .",
... | About 12 years ago, I began making a series of dolls called "Wee Mountain Folk." At first, I made them from cloth but then began using a kind of polymer clay called cernit. The cloth dolls were beautiful, but it was impossible to get the level of detail I can get with clay.
First, I use wire to build the shape of the doll. Then I cover the head, hands, and feet around the wire using the cernit. Then I make the doll's clothes myself, using lots of different materials. The completed dolls are fixed onto hardwood bases made by my father, Jim Logan.
Generally, the dolls I make show older people taking part in traditional activities. I've always had a great respect for the older generation.
Inspiration for the dolls often comes from people I know. Once I was caught looking too closely at the wrinkles on the face of one of my mom's friends. But I explained that her laugh lines made her more attractive.
Now I work as a teacher's assistant, and while I was raising my two daughters, Keri and Sheryl, I could work on the dolls only late in the day. The girls loved to come downstairs the next morning to see who'd arrived in the night.
It's the detail that I enjoy working on the most. I once made a fisherman doll for a lady to give her father, including a tiny creel -- a basket used by fishermen for carrying fish. When the man got the doll, he immediately opened the creel to see what was inside. Luckily, I'd made a small fish out of cernit and placed it in the basket.
Hopefully my story will inspire others to try their hand at doll making -- I find it very relaxing and interesting. | high14785.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Fredy took him as a beggar"
},
"options": [
"Fredy took him as a beggar",
"Pearman was told to do it later",
"Fredy gladly agreed to let him do it",
"Pearman knew Fredy was a kind man"
],
"question": "When Pearm... | Robert Fredy was general manager of a large hotel in Ashbury park. New Jersey. One cold day two years ago when he stopped his car at a traffic light, Stephen Pear man, an out-of-work taxi and truck driver, walked up to Fredy's car hoping to earn some change by washing his windshield.Like many motorists who try to keep the beggars off, Fredy turned on the wipers to show he wasn't interested.
Pearman put his head close to the window."Come on, mister.Give me a chance.I need a job," he said.Something in Stephen Pearman's voice moved Robert Fredy.In the seconds before traffic started moving again, Fredy handed a business card and told him to call if he was serious.
"My friends told me he was just pulling my leg, "said Pearman."But I said, " No, he's a
businessman.I need to give it a shot."
Two days later,29-year-old Pearman appeared in the manager's office of the big hotel.Fredy gave him a job and housing and lent him pocket money while training him.
Today, Pearman works full time setting up the hotel's dining halls for business meetings.In the past two years, he has found a flat, married and repaid Fredy's loans.
"Mr.Fredy gave me a second chance, "says Pearman, " And I took advantage of it.I could have just come here a while, eaten up and left.But there is no future in washing windshields."
Ordinarily, Fredy keeps away from the street people."But Pearman seemed so honest and open, asking for a chance rather than just money," Fredy says, "I don't hand my business card to just anybody.But I'm glad I did in this case." | high11825.txt |
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