questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "there're about 720 Nobel Prizes in the 20th century"
},
"options": [
"there're about 720 Nobel Prizes in the 20th century",
"Jeffrey Seinfeld agrees children need pushing to succeed",
"Amy Chua's parenting style is widely acc... | Amy Chua, a professor of law in Yale, nicknamed as Tiger Mother, has started a debate over Chinese-style parenting. Amy sets "10 Rules" for her two daughters. For instance, they've to get As in all subjects and play the piano or violin and practice hours every day.
There has been wide criticism across the US. "It's kind of extreme," said Jeffrey Seinfeld, a professor at New York University. "Children need parents who can guide them, not force them..."
Lawrence Solomon, a famous journalist for Canada's Globe and Mail, has quoted statistics to show the failure of Chinese parenting. He writes that only 10 Chinese scientists outside the Chinese mainland have won the Nobel Prize in the past century. In contrast, American scientists have won more than 300 Nobel prizes, and Jews , who take up only 1% of the world's population, have got at least 180 (or almost one-fourth) of the prizes.
However, Amy's strict rules help her daughters shine in their studies. The elder sister is known for her piano presentation at the Carnegie Hall, and the younger boasts an excellent academic record.
Besides, US statistics show that Chinese-Americans take up only 5% of the US population but 20% of the students in Ivy League schools .
Likewise, Chinese-Canadians take up more than one-third of the students in Canada's two most famous universities, Toronto University and the University of British Columbia. Influenced by Confucius' teachings, students from Korea and Japan are also excelling in academic fields.
Therefore, the Nobel Prize should not be taken as the _ of a country's education. No culture or tradition, whether Eastern or Western, is better or worse. The same applies to Eastern and Western education systems. Both sides should stop using their concepts and criteria to judge the other. They should learn the good aspects of each other's systems and clear the misunderstandings. | high7095.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The happiness of the simple life."
},
"options": [
"The natural living schedule.",
"Busy and invaluable experiences.",
"The happiness of the simple life.",
"The very few material possessions."
],
"question": "Wh... | When my students ask me why I live in a tiny house, they ask it in light of all the "sacrifices "I an making. They know that I have moved from a large apartment in the city to a small custom-built home on wheels in the backyard woods. They know I _ running water, Internet connection, sewage , and reliable phone reception.
However, it was possible for me to be truly happy while living with very few material things. My body responded well, in health, fitness and mood, to a schedule more consistent with the natural day and night cycle. Observing the daily sunset, hosting friends for days at a time, reading, writing letters to my families and friends and exploring natural wonders in my spare time all were free and invaluable experiences.
What was necessary to my survival proved to be a rather short list-healthy food, clean and drinkable water, heat source, weather-protecting shelter, weather-suitable clothing, equally important friends and mental and physical stimulations .
When I returned to life in the US, I couldn't help but sense a deep and uneasy belief that life suddenly changed. I felt disconnected with many things- the earth, others, my food source, my waste disposal, the natural cycle of my body and the productive interests. These are the things I once cared for but now find myself too busy to enjoy. How was it that I was earning literally 40 times my Peace Corps salary and was less healthy, satisfied and intentional in my daily schedule? I found myuself asking-what is it to be rich anyway? Therefore, last August I let go of most of my possessions and moved into a tiny house on wheels because I wanted to see if I could live a more enjoyable lifestyle. So far so good. No inconvenience has made up for the many positive benefits that continue to come from this change in lifestyle. I believe that I have made the right decision. | high14814.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Math and spelling."
},
"options": [
"Math and reading.",
"Math and spelling.",
"Reading and writing.",
"Reading and thinking."
],
"question": "Which skills suffer the most over the summer holidays?",
"questi... | As summer comes near, many children are really happy to forget about school for a few months. However, they might be taking that goal too seriously. Studies have found that children often forget between one and three months' worth of school learning during the summer months. Spelling and math abilities drop off the most, while reading is not really influenced by the time off. The main reason for this is because most children sometimes read outside of the classroom, whether newspapers, magazines, books, or video game guides. However, their math and spelling skills only get exercised in the school setting.
The first purpose of summer holidays was to let farm children have time off to help work in the fields during the growing season, but this reason is no longer a good one since fewer kids actually work on farms today. Some cities in the United States, such as Los Angeles, have moved to a year-round school timetable, which may help reduce the loss of school skills that happens during the long summer holiday. To improve skills and to keep a good level of preparation, headmasters suggest trips to museums, summer camps, holidays with educational value, and visits to libraries to keep kids interested throughout the summer.
There are other educational systems that provide holidays while still keeping students' skills up to date. For example, in Japan, students attend class for seven weeks in a row, followed by two weeks of holiday. This continues the whole year. In Italy, students attend class six days per week, but finish at 1: 30 pm each day, so that school does not run their life the way that it does in America, where students attend high school from 7: 45 am until 3: 00 pm each weekday. In areas where there are not enough classrooms--in Afghanistan or Somalia, for example--older students attend classes in the morning while the younger kids go to school in the afternoon.
Headmasters fear that the three-month summer holiday stops the flow of learning. Just as students become used to new math problems or new ideas in reading, writing, or thinking skills, they " _ " during the summer holiday. When they go back to school after the long summer holiday, they take up to two months to return to their previous level of skill. So the debate continues: whether to continue holidays or to make changes based on the Los Angeles or the Japanese models. | high5682.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "a kind feeder"
},
"options": [
"a wise horse",
"a kind feeder",
"the master's son",
"a new plowboy"
],
"question": "According to passage, Daniel is probably _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}
] | When I was young, I lived on my mother's milk, as I could not eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot, we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees and when it was cold, we had a nice warm wooden house. As soon as I was old enough to eat grass, my mother used to go out to work during the daytime and come back in the evening.
There were six young colts in the field besides me; they were older than I; some were nearly as large as grown-up horses. I used to run with them, and had great fun; we used to gallop all together in the field. Sometimes we had rather play rough, for others would frequently bite, kick as well as gallop.
One day, when there was a good deal of kicking, my mother came to me and said, "I expect you to pay attention to what I am going to say. The colts who live here are very good colts, but they are cart horse colts, and of course they have not learned manners. You have been well-bred and well-born. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways. I hope you do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you move quickly, and never bite or kick."
I have never forgotten my mother's advice. I knew she was a wise old horse, and our master thought a great deal of her. Her name was Duchess, but he often called her Pet.
Our master gave us good food; he spoke as kindly to us as he did to his little children. We were all fond of him. When my mother saw him at the gate, she would neigh with joy. He would pat and touch her and say, "Well, Pet, how is your little Darkie?" Then he would give me a piece of bread and sometimes he brought a carrot for my mother. _
There was a plowboy, Dick, who sometimes came into our field to pick blackberries. When he had eaten all he wanted, he would throw stones and sticks at us. We did not much mind him, for we could gallop off; but sometimes a stone would hurt us.
One day he was at this game. Our master saw what was going on, so he jumped and caught Dick by the arm, giving him a box on the ear.
"Bad boy!" he said, "this shall be the last time. Get away; I shall not want you on my farm again." So we never saw Dick any more. Old Daniel, the man who looked after the horses, was just as gentle as our master, so we were well off. | high20569.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The British spend more time queuing than looking for lost things."
},
"options": [
"The British spend more time queuing than looking for lost things.",
"The Americans criticized the British for their way of queuing.",
"The Br... | In 1837, the historian Carlyle made the first recorded use of the word " queue" .He
spoke of the French and their "habit of standing in a queue".Forty years later prefix = st1 /Pariswas the best
place to wait in line.
However, queuing became popular in Britain too.The Second World War was the golden age
of queuing, and people joined any line in the hope that it was a queue for something to buy.This
was the source of many Second World War jokes:
Shopkeeper to customer: Excuse me, miss, are you pregnant ?
Customer: Well, I wasn't when I joined the queue.
Today, according to research inAmerica, we (inBritain) can spend up to 5 years of our lives
queuing - as compared to twelve months looking for things we have lost.But things may be changing.
Many people no longer have the patience to stand in a queue.The law of the jungle has begun to operate at bus stops, with people using their arms to push others out of the way.
One way to make life easier is to introduce "queue management".Customers at supermarket
cheese counters can now take a ticket with a number which appears on a screen when it is their
turn.And while they wait for their number, they can do a bit of shopping.
In some booking offices there is also a system telling customers how long they may have to wait before they are served.
One of the latest technical progress is the use of an electronic scanner which
can read all the contents of your shopping basket or trolley in just a few seconds.If these become
popular, queuing in supermarkets may become a thing of the past.
But some people just like queuing.One man queued all night for Harrods famous January sale, and then returned home for breakfast at nine o' clock the next morning without going into the shop. | high21677.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "clothes are much cheaper than before"
},
"options": [
"they get tired of themselves more quickly",
"TV shows teach them how to stay in shape",
"they feel much younger now",
"clothes are much cheaper than before"
],
... | They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessories .Yet these are not girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies.A generation which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favoring the same high street looks worn by those half their age.
Professor Julia Twiggy, a social policy expert,said,"Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more requently than they did when they were young in the 1960s.In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter.It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years--now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to.Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly." Professor Twiggy analyzed family expending data and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same--about 5 or 6 percent of spending,the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply.
The professor said,"Clothes are now 70 percent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East.In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from,but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere.Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them.''
Fashion designer Angela Barnard,who runs her own fashion business in London,said older women were much more affected by celebrity style than in previous years.She said,"When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties,they want to follow them.Older women are much more aware of celebrities.There's also the boom in TV programmers showing people how they can change their look,and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties.When I started my business a few years ago,my older customers tended to be very rich,but now they are what I would call ordinary women. My own mother is 6l and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago." | high11978.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the wife of Florentine merchant"
},
"options": [
"a woman of poor virtue",
"da Vinci's second wife",
"a woman who was pregnant",
"the wife of Florentine merchant"
],
"question": "According to the latest research... | Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said on Tuesday. The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special infrared and three-dimensional technology to study the paint layers on the work, which now sits in the Louvre museum in Paris.
Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration said that on very close examination of the painting it became clear that the Mona Lisa's dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze veil.
"This type of gauze dress was typical of the kind worn in early 16th century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth. This is something that had never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine," he told a news conference.
"We can now say that this painting by Leonardo da Vinci was painted in memory of the birth of the second son of Mona Lisa, which helps us to date it more precisely to around 1503."The young woman with the ambiguous half smile has been identified as Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco de Giocondo. She had five children.
"People always wrote that Mona Lisa had allowed her hair to hang freely over her shoulders. This greatly surprised historians because letting your hair hang freely during the Renaissance was typical of young girls and women of poor virtue ," he said.
The team had hoped to discover more details about Leonardo's painting techniques, which the artist used to create a hazy effect. But scientist John Taylor said the team had been disappointed by the lack of brush stroke detail on the painting. | high5696.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "tell the students how to study well"
},
"options": [
"prove that learning is not difficult,",
"make parents interested in study",
"tell the importance of self-teaching",
"tell the students how to study well"
],
... | Knowing the best way to study will help you to be a better student. By using your tin7eproperly, you can do your homework snore quickly. Learning to study is not difficult.
The first thing to remember is that you must be willing to learn It doesn't mean that yep must always like the subject. It does mean, however, that you must be willing to do whatever is necessary to learn Try to understand why it is important and how it will help you now arid later to do and learn other things. Knowing mathematics facts will be useful in your whole life. Knowing how to spell makes any kind of writing easier. Sometimes the subject that you think is going to be uninteresting will be exciting when you begin to work at it and understand it more clearly. Learning things can be fun if you are willing to work with them
Here's some advice for you; have a certain time each day and a quiet place with good lighting for study, so that you can concentrate on your study without interruptions; have eve- rything ready before you sit down to study, a dictionary, paper, a pen and books; be sure you understand what you should learn before you start;read carefully and pay special attention to the most important things;when memorizing, first find out the main parts and then recite the whole thing,check your homework after you finish it; never forget the importance of review and preview.
Don't try to spend a lot of time researching learning methods. There are many students who know many good learning methods but don't study well. They forget that the most useful learning method is to study hard | high4588.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Hurtful nicknames"
},
"options": [
"Powerful nicknames",
"Hurtful nicknames",
"How to make fun of others?",
"How to give others a nickname?"
],
"question": "What is the best title for the passage?",
"questio... | Sometimes people give us nicknames in order to be mean or make fun of us,which can really hurt.
Four Eyes. Metal Mouth. Dumbo. Slow Poke. Crater Face. We've all heard kids calling nasty nicknames like these. Maybe you've even used similar nicknames on other kids,or been stuck with one yourself.
A playground _ or cut usually disappears after a couple of days,but the pain and the anger coming from being called a cruel nickname can last a lot longer than that. If you've ever picked on another kid by making up or using a tease nickname,or if you've ever been on the receiving end of one,you know that names like Fatso,Smelly and Short Stuff can be very hurtful. Plus,they have a habit of sticking to us like glue !
People use negative nicknames as a way of keeping someone out of a group,of gaining power over someone,or of making themselves feel more important. You may know a kid in your class who always comes up with nicknames for the other kids. This student likes to feel cool by acting like the "official nicknamer ". This can give a student a feeling of power,but that power comes at the cost of making other kids feel bad. Kids who give others hurtful nicknames are often trying to cover up the fact that they really feel bad about themselves.
Like other kinds of insults ,a cruel nickname can be used to make a kid feel being left out or angry. Sometimes they're even nastier than most ways of being mean,because they can be so hard to shake off. | high21663.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "how to stay healthy when you travel"
},
"options": [
"how to stay healthy when you travel",
"how exciting travel is",
"relaxing when you travel",
"what you eat when you travel"
],
"question": "This passage is ab... | Travel is fun and exciting, but it's not if you get sick. You may think, "Not me, I won't get sick in my holiday." But, for many people, that is what happens.
Of course you don't want to spend your holiday sick in bed. So what can you do to stay in good health? There are three things you should remember when you travel: relax, sleep, and eat well.
A holiday must be a time for relaxing. But very often it is not. Think about what you do when you are a traveller. There are many places to visit: museums, shops, parks, churches. You may spend most days walking around these places. This can be very tiring. You may have a terrible headache after a few hours. If this is the way you feel, you should take a rest. Don't ask your body to do too much. A tired body means a weak body. And a weak body gets sick easily. So sit down for a few hours in a nice place. In good weather, look for a quiet park bench . Or you can stop at a cafe. You can learn a lot by watching people while you rest.
Sleep is also important. If you want to stay healthy, you need to get enough sleep. You may have trouble sleeping at night when you travel. There may be too many noises in your hotel or the bed may be uncomfortable. If this is true, don't be afraid to change rooms or hotels. Or you may get enough sleep for another reason. You may want to stay out late at night. In many cities, the nightlife can be very exciting. Then you should plan to sleep for an hour during the day. The extra hour can make a big difference.
Finally, if you want to stay healthy, you must eat the right kinds of foods but you need to be careful about how much you eat. Lots of food is not good for you.
So, remember this, if you want to enjoy your holiday, take care of yourself. Give your body some rest. Get enough sleep and eat good, healthy food. | high7081.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They are suitable for both long and short trips."
},
"options": [
"They are suitable for both long and short trips.",
"They have to be parked in a trailer park.",
"They are widely used by young people.",
"They are becom... | America's love of cars and being on the open road has led to the creation of the modern travel orcamping trailer . Some trailers are so well equipped that people can comfortably live in them full time.
Almost allcampers are considered as recreational vehicles (RV's). RV's include motor homes, trailers, house trailers and truck campers. The smaller trailers usually have just enough room for two people to sleep and store a few personal travel items. Some of the larger motor homes include a kitchen, a bathroom, an eating area and even a bedroom.
While tent camping is always an adventure, campers are a fun way to take a long trip, or to spend some more comfortable time in a beautiful setting, like a lakeside campground. So many camper trailers have been designed for people to live in the trailer long term. Some people choose to park their trailers in trailer parks and live in their trailers full time. In America many retired adults choose to spend their time traveling across the country on the open road and bring their trailers with them. Full time use of trailers for these travelers is considered to be arecreational activity.
Camper trailers can also be rented and used for a shorter period of time, such as a camping trip or a road trip. A camper trailer can be a comfortable _ to sleeping in a tent if you are camping. If you like traveling at your own pace, a camper trailer is a good choice. | high164.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The Jonas Brothers is a boy band loved by girls"
},
"options": [
"Camp Rock will come out on June, 20",
"The Jonas Brothers is a boy band loved by girls",
"Shane Gray in the movie has bad boy image all the time",
"Leah ... | GUESS what's making 9 millionprefix = st1 /USteenagers scream at the top of their voices this summer? It's not the Hulk or Iron man hitting someone across a room, but the catchy beat of the music in Disney's latest TV movie Camp Rock, which came out in theUSon June 20. The show attracted more than 8.9 million viewers.
So how does CampRockattract so many viewers? One reason is that it features the hugely popular boy band the Jonas Brothers, whom all the girls seem to _
But what's the story?
Connect Three is a rock group. One member, Shane Gray (Joe Jonas)needs to get rid of his bad boy rocker image, so he's sent by fellow band members Nate (Nick Jonas)and Jason (Kevin Jonas) to a music camp as a guest instructor . The idea is the camp will help him clean up his act.
There he meets Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato), a teenage girl with an extraordinary voice and a driving ambition to be a pop singer. However, she can only afford to be at the expensive camp by helping her mom work in the mess hall between classes.
When Shane overhears Mitchie singing from behind closed doors, he sets out to find the girl with the beautiful voice.
One group of teenagers was really eager to watch the movie. The kids took their positions on the floor to countdown to show time. One of them, Leah Karrels, 16, even sang the movie's theme , We Rock. She explained that she's seen the trailer so many times she knows the words by heart.
The girls cheered when the movie began, and for the next two hours the only time they got up was to run for chocolate ice cream cake from the freezer.
"I'm sure this is going to knock High School Musical off the shelves in stores. This is the next big thing," said Leah. | high23074.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "leave of many people at one time"
},
"options": [
"return of lots of people",
"leave of many people at one time",
"fight between different people",
"exchange of positions between people"
],
"question": "The word... | About 6,000doctors in theprefix = st1 /Philippinesare studying to become nurses so they can find higher-paying jobs abroad, Health Secretary Francisco Duque says.
This was up from 2,000 doctors who studied to become nurses last year, Duque said.
The exodus of doctors and nurses had created a "threatening situation for our health care system" and a task force had been established to examine the potential impact, he said.
The team was working on a bill which would require doctors to practice in thePhilippinesfor at least three to four years before they were able to work abroad.
"I think the problem really is the migration of doctors. We have so many nurses now, more than enough to fill up(vacancies). But our doctors are leaving," Duque said.
A study by the University of thePhilippineshad found that between 2000to 2003 more than 50,000 Filipino nurses went abroad to work. A doctor working in a government hospital in thePhilippinesearns only about 25,000 pesos(446 dollars) a month. A doctor could earn around 8,000dollars a month while working as a nurse overseas. Even lawyers, accountants and engineers are enrolling to brain as nurses.
Filipino nurses are in demand in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and even closer to home, such as in Singapore and Japan.
However, Health officials have warned the country faces a "medical apocalypse" if it continues to lose its health professionals to jobs abroad. | high23712.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "My dearest friend--Karen"
},
"options": [
"A horrible car accident",
"An unforgettable experience",
"My dearest friend--Karen",
"An unforgettable girl"
],
"question": "What's the best title for the passage?",
... | My friend Karen and I were always together. Karen was only a few months older than I. I always thought she was so beautiful, with long hair and blue eyes. I loved Karen so much because she liked me for being the way I was. I could be myself and share my secrets with her and I never felt like I was being judged.
We had so much fun and were really quite silly. One time I asked my mom to make us the same dresses so we could pretend we were twins.
We continued as best friends throughout grade school. One day, Karen was going to another friend's place and asked me to come along, but I couldn't go because I had a babysitting job that afternoon. We walked together to the Becker's home where I was to babysit and then she continued on her way without me. We had agreed that I would meet her at the corner when she returned and I finished my job.
At four o'clock I rushed to the corner so I wouldn't be late for meeting Karen. Just as I arrived at the corner, I saw Karen crossing the street. In a second it happened. I saw Karen's body fly up in the sky. A car had hit her!
Karen was on life support for a week before it was decided that they would allow her to go in peace. Karen's parents wanted to donate her organs to the hospital, but there was nothing left healthy enough to be used because she was hit so hard.
I have never got so close to another person since Karen died. I do miss her! Do you cherish your friends? If you don't, please do, as you may lose them one day. | high1396.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "comparison between two different objects with similar features"
},
"options": [
"description of two similar objects in a poetic way",
"literary device specially employed in poetry writing",
"contrast between two different thi... | A metaphor is a poetic device that deals with comparison. It compares similar qualities of two dissimilar objects. With a simple metaphor, one object becomes the other: Love is a rose. Although this does not sound like a particularly rich image, a metaphor can communicate so much about a particular image that poets use them more than any other type of figurative language. The reason for this is that poets compose their poetry to express what they are experiencing emotionally at that moment. Consequently, what the poet imagines love to be may or may not be our understanding of love. Therefore, the poet's job is to enable us to experience it, to feel it the same way as the poet does.
Let's analyze this remarkably simple metaphor concerning love and the rose to see what it offers. Because the poet uses a comparison with a rose, first we must examine the characteristics of that flower. A rose is impressive in its beauty, its petals are nicely soft, and its smell is pleasing. It's possible to say that a rose is actually a feast to the senses of sight, touch, and smell. The rose's appearance seems to border on perfection, each petal seemingly equal in form. Isn't this the way one's love should be?A loved one should be a delight to one's senses and seem perfect.
However, there is another dimension added to the comparison by using a rose. Roses have thorns. The poet wants to convey the idea that roses can be tricky. So can love, the metaphor tells us. When one reaches out with absolute trust to touch the object of his or her affection, ouch, a thorn can cause great harm! "Be careful," the metaphor warns, "Love is a feast to the senses, but it can overwhelm us, and it can also hurt us and cause acute suffering." This is the poet's understanding of love--an admonition . What is the point?Just this: It took almost 14 sentences to clarify what a simple metaphor communicates in only four words! That is the artistry and the joy of the simple metaphor. | high602.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because he can request a driver's license."
},
"options": [
"Because he can request a driver's license.",
"Because he became a legal immigrant of California.",
"Because he got his driving license as an illegal immigrant.",
... | People in the western state of California who are in the United States illegally can now request a driver's license. The law went into effect on January l. California is not the first American state with such a law, but it has the largest number of illegal immigrants. More than a million people began to request licenses shortly after the new state law went into effect. Among them was Christian Alvarado. Mr. Alvarado entered the United States from El Salvador eight years ago without permission from the U.S. government. Some call such people "illegal immigrants." Others call them "undocumented immigrants "
Mr. Alvarado thinks is so exciting, for be has been waiting for the license for a long time. But some are worried that their personal information will be used to find them and deport them. Armando Botello is a spokesman for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV. He says people should not be afraid, for such information will not be shared.
The new licenses are the same as licenses given to citizens except that they have the words "Federal Limits Apply". That means the license cannot be used to travel on an airplane or enter a federal building. Ana Garcia, working at the Central American Resource Center, says some illegal immigrants fear those words will be used to abuse them. Civil rights groups say the police and others
Dan Schnur , a political scientist at the University of Southern California, said that the main argument against the new law is that it rewards illegal behavior. But Professor Schnur argued that young, white Americans generally support immigration reform, including giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants
"It's simply because they grew up a much more multicultural society than their parents or their grandparents did:" Professor Schnur says he believes the changes in beliefs about illegal immigrants that have taken place in California will spread throughout the United States. | high9912.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "be considerate"
},
"options": [
"manage businesses",
"self-control",
"be considerate",
"set the fasion"
],
"question": "People with type O will do the following things except _",
"question_type": "cloze_que... | Some researchers claim that people's personalities can be classified by their blood types
If you have blood type O, you are a leader. When you see something you want , you strive to achieve your goal. You are passionate, loyal, and self-confident, and you are often a trendsetter . Your enthusiasm for projects and goals spreads to others who happily follow you. When you want something ,you may be ruthless about getting it or blind to how your actions affect others .
Aother blood type A, is a social , "people" person . You like people and work well with them . Y ou are sensitive , patient , compassionate , and affectionate .You are a good peacekeeper because you want everyone to be happy .In a team situation , you resolve conflicts and keep things on a smooth course . Sometimes type As are stubborn and find it difficult to relax. They may also find it uncomfortable to do things alone.
People with type B blood are usually individualist who like to do things on their own . You may be creative and adaptable, and you usually say exactly what you mean . Also you can adapt to situations , you may choose to do so because of your strong independent streak. You may prefer working on your own to being part of a team .
The final blood is type AB . If you have AB blood , you are a natural entertainer. You draw people to you because of your charm and easy-going nature .ABs are usually calm and controlled , tactful fair. On the downside ,though , they may take too long to make decisions. And they may procrastinate, putting off tasks until the last minute. | high2847.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because too many bicycles cause the paths to be crowded."
},
"options": [
"Because bike highways are environmentally friendly.",
"Because it's a part of the city's development program.",
"Because the inner-city commuters urge... | Considered one of Europe's two "bicycle capitals" along with Amsterdam, Copenhagen counts more bicycles than people and cycling is so popular that its numerous bike paths can become crowded. Two-wheeler traffic jams are especially regular on the main Noerrebrogade road used by around 36,000 cyclists a day. "You have to elbow your way in to go forward and some cyclists aren't always thoughtful," complains 22-year-old university student Lea Bresell.
The creation of bike highways "comes right on time", says Danish Cyclist Federation Spokesman Frits Bredal. "Copenhagen's roads are overloaded with people who want to ride their bicycles in all kinds of weather," he says. "If in the 1960s Danes viewed the car as the symbol of freedom, the bicycles have supposed that role today," Bredal says. "It's a _ of transportation used by all social classes, even politicians ride bikes," he says.
It is on crowded Noerrebrogade--the busiest bicycle street in Europe, according to the cyclist association--that city planners have decided to build the first of Copenhagen's environmentally friendly roads. The jammed bike paths will be widened up to four metres on either side of the road, which itself will be reserved for bikes only. The idea is to make Noerrebrogade "Europe's great cycling street", says Andreas Roehl, Copenhagen government's bicycle program manager who is also known as "Mr. Bike".
But Roehl is not content with making life easier for Copenhagen's inner-city cyclists: He wants to get suburbanites out of their cars and onto two wheels as well. His goal is to hike the percentage of suburban commuters cycling to and from the city from the 37 percent it is today to 50 percent by 2015. | high21105.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "By accident."
},
"options": [
"By knocking at the door several times.",
"By accident.",
"By learning from the owner of a family.",
"By imitation."
],
"question": "According to experts in Croatia, how did the bea... | Animal experts in Croatia say a bear has learned how to trick people to let him in by knocking at the door.
They believe the 220- kilogram brown bear probably learned the trick while nudging a door to get it to open.
Experts have a guess that the nudging was mistaken by the owners for knocking and that the bear, pleased by the result, repeated the trick.
The Loknar family from Gerovo in western Croatia said the bear had knocked at their door three times and they were now refusing to answer the door.
''We jumped out of the window as he came in through the door and went into the kitchen to take some food for the first time." Mum Nevenka Loknar told a reporter from a local newspaper. "I opened the door and saw him standing there and I didn't believe my eyes at first, then I ran for it as he walked in as if _ was the most normal- thing in the world."
Bears are a common thing in the woods around here, but no one has ever heard of a bear that knocks at the door.
Mum Nevenka Loknar said, "The bear is so intelligent. It's incredible. We've tried to put up lots of obstacles to stop him coming in, like a wire fence but he still gets through. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew how to use wire cutters." | high3581.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because there was no electricity due to the thunderstorm."
},
"options": [
"Because she thought of her husband's cousins.",
"Because she wanted to add some fun to her life.",
"Because she wanted to enjoy another kind of lifes... | The weather was terrible that night.The summer thunderstorm had knocked out the power.Luckily,there was enough candlelight flickering on the kitchen table.With the candlelight,I could see the card I was writing to my husband's cousins in Finland.
Dear Heli and Risto,
You are on my mind tonight because we are using the candles you gave us when you visited us two years ago.There was a horrible summer thunderstorm this evening and the power went out,and your candles were just what we needed.They have lit our dinnertime,the bedrooms and now I am sitting by one in the kitchen...
What I didn't say to Heli and Risto is that we never burned the candles before because they,well,smell like a campfire.And so they stood in iron candlesticks until we needed them.
I'm so thankful that we had candles on hand that dark night.And I'm equally as thankful that I had a beautiful card on hand,too,or I would have let the opportunity to keep in touch with faraway family escape.It would have turned into another one of those moments when the thought of sending a card crossed my mind but never actually happened.
The candle burned slowly.After I finished my card to Finland,I enjoyed looking through the rest of my "Someone Cares" greeting cards.The air was fresh and cool,and I had cards and enough light to write.I found a birthday card for my nephew's 10th birthday,a thinkingofyou card for my aunt,and a fun greeting card for an old friend and I began writing.Candles and cards--two things that make a thunderstorm into the perfect storm. | high16971.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "8:30"
},
"options": [
"6:45",
"7;30",
"8:00",
"8:30"
],
"question": "In Tom's opinion, classes should begin at _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
... | Dear Mr./Ms,
I would like to suggest that the starting time be changed at our school. Classes at Sebastian Valley Middle School simply start too early in the morning. Getting eight to nine hours of sleep each night is almost impossible when classes begin at 7:30 am. In order to shower, dress, get organized, eat a quick breakfast, and meet the school bus by 6:45, I would have to get up at 5:45.
Early in the morning, students are too sleepy to learn well. Without enough sleep, young people cannot think clearly or enjoy learning. According to a report called "Are Students getting Enough Sleep?" From Sebastian Valley Times, "Sleepiness disturbs concentration, reduces short-term memory, and causes bad feelings."
Researchers have learned that teens normally fall asleep and wake up later than adults. Teens who stay up late at night have trouble getting up early in the morning. Studies show that some schools have already adjusted school hours to better match the teen sleep cycle , as a result, students in these school are learning better on the new schedule .
Some of my classmates argue that starting school an hour later will prevent them from taking part in after-school athletic programs. A solution would be to carry out these programs before school instead of after school. The students who are involved in sports and clubs would continue to arrive at the usual time. The rest of the student body could get a little more sleep and arrive an hour later.
Teens usually have a later sleep cycle, and learn and behave better when rested. So I would like to suggest that we have a meeting to discuss the problem and listen to all the students' voice.
Thank you for considering this request ! | high18784.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "keep active"
},
"options": [
"make herself beautiful",
"keep active",
"earn more money",
"become famous"
],
"question": "According to the passage,Grandma Moses began to paint because she wanted to _ .",
"q... | Grandma Moses is among the most famous twentieth-century painters of the United States,yet she did not start painting until she was in her late seventies.As she once said to herself:" I would never sit back in a rocking chair,waiting for someone to help me." No one could have had a more productive old age.
She was born Anna Mary Robertson on a farm in New York State,one of five boys and five girls.At twelve she left home and was in domestic service until,at twenty-seven,she married Thomas Moses,the hired hand of one of her employers.They farmed most of their lives,first in Virginia and then in New York State,at Eagle Bridge.She had ten children,of whom five survived;her husband died in 1927.
Grandma Moses painted a little as a child and made embroidery pictures as a hobby,but only changed to oils in old age because her hands had become too stiff to sew and she wanted to keep busy and pass the time.Her pictures were first sold at the local drugstore and at a market and were soon noticed by a businessman who bought everything she painted.Three of the pictures exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art,and in 1940 she had her first exhibition in New York.Between the 1930's and her death,she produced some 2,000 pictures:detailed and lively _ of the country life she had known for so long,with a wonderful sense of color and form."I think really hard till I think of something really pretty,and then I paint it" she said. | high14196.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Individual characteristics and social relationship between them"
},
"options": [
"Individual characteristics and social relationship between them",
"Repeated interactions among individuals and social dynamics",
"Telepathy and... | When different species of birds flock together, their flight formations are determined by social dynamics both between and within species.
New research from the Universities of Cambridge and Exeter reveals for the first time that, contrary to current models used to explain the movement of flocks, the differences between bird species and social relationships between individuals play a critical role in determining the dynamics of mixed-species flocks.
The unified behaviour of bird flocks has puzzled scientists for hundreds of years. One naturalist from the turn of the century even suggested telepathy may be involved. There have since been more logical explanations, including mathematical models that show that repeated interactions among individuals following simple rules can _ coordinated group movements. However, these models usually rely on the assumption that individuals within groups are identical and interact independently, which may not reflect reality.
Jolle Jolles, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology and author of the paper, said:"Spectacular collective behaviour can be found in a large range of animal species, and we now know that often these complex coordinated group movements may be the result of individuals following simple rules. However, rarely are the individual characteristics and social relationships within them taken into account. Our research highlights that these striking displays of group behaviour are much more complex."
By analysing high-resolution photographs of mixed flocks of rooks and jackdaws (both from the corvid family), the researchers found that rather than individuals interacting in a consistent fashion throughout the flock, interactions depended on social dynamics between the different species as well as relationships within a species.
The researchers discovered that birds prefer to fly close to members of their own species, and that the larger and more dominant rooks take the lead by flying near the front of flocks. Additionally, the lifelong, monogamous pair bonds that are characteristic of both species seem to be reflected in flight, as birds often fly particularly close to a single, same-species partner.
Dr Alex Thornton, principal investigator of the Cambridge Jackdaw Project, now at the University of Exeter and author of the paper, said: "Together, our findings demonstrate that to understand the structure of groups -- such as bird flocks -- we need to consider the characteristics and relationships of the individuals within them." | high7917.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "513"
},
"options": [
"513",
"1,646",
"2,159",
"3,805"
],
"question": "A Japanese worker works _ more hours a year than a French one.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"a... | Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don't have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.
Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1,646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2,159 hours a year.
Why do people work so many hours? Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don't pay overtime. Their workers don't get more pay for more work. Some people think it's their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don't work more hours.
Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world. | high24055.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Group mobile games."
},
"options": [
"Group mobile games.",
"Free stickers and emoticons.",
"Free download of the app.",
"Text and group chats."
],
"question": "Compared with the other two apps, which of the fol... | Big messaging apps abroad
While WeChat is China's biggest mobile messaging app , there are many equivalent apps in other countries that offer similar features.
WhatsApp (US)
Users: more than 300 million
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry
Features: text chats, pushtotalk, file sharing, location sharing
With more than 300 million active users, WhatsApp is one of WeChat's biggest competitors. Developed by two exYahoo employees in 2009, WhatsApp originally focused on text chats, but on Aug. 6 it also started pushtotalk service. It's noted for its accessibility, ease of use and the absence of adverts. The service is free for the first year, after which D|S0.99 (6.06 yuan) is charged for a oneyear subscription.
Kakao Talk (South Korea)
Users: more than 100 million
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and Bada (an operating system developed by Samsung)
Features: text chats, group chats, pushtotalk, group calls, file sharing
With more than 100 million users in more than 230 countries, Kakao Talk is a multiplatform texting application that allows users to send and receive messages for free. With Kakao Talk, users can message each other oneonone or in group chats with unlimited numbers of friends. You can also choose from more than 250 animated emoticons and share them with friends.
Line (Japan)
Users: more than 200 million
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and PC
Features: text chats, group chats, pushtotalk, file sharing, location sharing, gaming, stickers
Line tops the list of the most downloaded free apps in 52 countries. Apart from text and voice messaging, Line provides its users with more than 250 original stickers and emoticons to buy from its own shop. In the first quarter of 2013 alone, it made D|S17 million just from stickers. The popular app also allows friends to battle each other in the Line games. | high13821.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they help him prevent droughts and floods"
},
"options": [
"they give them wood and other products",
"they give them shade",
"they help him prevent droughts and floods",
"they help him made money"
],
"question":... | Trees are useful to man in three important ways: They provide him with wood and other products; they provide him shade;. and they help to prevent droughts and floods.
Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important.In his eagerness to make money from trees, he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And besides, he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees, their roots break up soil allowing the rain to sink in and also bind the soil, thus preventing it from being washed away easily;but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away, causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When the top-soil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.
Two thousand years ago,a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire .It set up the empire, but, without its trees, its soil became poor and grew weak. When the empire fell to pieces, the home country found itself faced by floods and starvation . | high15288.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They seldom spent free time together."
},
"options": [
"They seldom spent free time together.",
"They had only met for two weeks.",
"Their wives didn't know each other.",
"They had many disagreements on work."
],
... | The story I would like to tell happened about a year ago. I accepted a position in a company. John, an acquaintance of mine, told me much about the job and took my curriculum vitae to his supervisor. I did not refer to him as a friend because at the time we did not take part in activities together outside of work, nor did our wives.
The first week was fine. Nothing was obviously strange with John at first until the second week, when our communication began to get a little strange. John began making comments like "you would have had to pay an employment agency several hundred dollars for a job like this". I soon forgot his words till the next day when he made another similar comment. Right then I started to really pay attention to what he meant. He acted as if I owed him money for helping me to get the job.
He began to get short with me and I had only been there for two weeks. He was supposed to train me in building our e-mail servers and setting up the entire standard monitor software. Instead, he went through the process so fast that even an experienced worker could hardly keep up. He would not slow down or check whether I was with him or not. If there was something wrong with a server, he would just buzz through the solution and not stop to say anything like "you might want to remember this." I began to get very frustrated.
By the third week I began to get tired of his condescension . So I began to challenge him in a way that was only one to one. He would respond to a question of mine with a question or just make me repeat it, and then interrupt me. I began to hate him. Later I tried to avoid him as much as I could, so I wouldn't run into him.
He stopped me one day and asked me what had happened. I told him he was very condescending in his tone and manner. He asked me, "What can I do so that you will not feel like this way in the future?" I simply asked him to treat me with the same respect he would like to be treated with. He did it and we got along better gradually. I believed there was hope and eventually we would become friends and now we are. | high18974.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they believed too much in TV ads"
},
"options": [
"he promised them a large profit",
"they were too eager to make money",
"they believed too much in TV ads",
"he was skillful in communicating with people"
],
"qu... | A federal judge sentenced Bruce Jones to 12 years in federal prison for fraud . Over a 10-year period, Jones had managed to cheat thousands of people throughout the state out of almost $10 million.
He advertised his fantastic ideas on TV. "For some reason," Jones said, "TV seems to break the ice. Even though you are a total stranger to the viewer, once he sees you on TV in his home, he feels like he knows you. You enter his living room and become a trusted friend."
Jones had an imagination that wouldn't quit. One time he showed viewers an "official government" earthquake report which "proved" that the western half of California would collapse into the sea within three years. For $100, he said, Jones would insure your house and property for full value. Thousands of people who saw that TV ad sent him a hundred dollars each.
In another TV ad, Jones claimed that he had come to an agreement with the federal and state government for exclusive air rights. He told viewers that, for only $100, they could own the first 10 miles above all their property. You would be able to charge any commercial plane that flew over your property $100 per crossing. You would also be able to charge government rockets, satellites, space shuttles, and space stations $100 for each and every violation of your air rights.
Another time, Jones claimed to have invented a product that gets rid of calories. He showed the viewers a spray can of "NoCal." He said that by simply spraying NoCal on your food, a chemical interaction would cause all the calories in the food to simply disappear within about 10 seconds. The NoCal was only $10 a can. As usual, Jones received thousands of checks in the mail.
The judge told Jones that he should be ashamed of himself. Jones responded that he was very ashamed of himself, and that when he got out of prison he hoped to become a TV adviser to help people avoid getting cheated. He told the judge that he was already developing an instructional CD that, for merely $100, would save people thousands of dollars in scams . The judge nodded, and then changed Jones' sentence from 10 years to 12 years. | high20233.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "describing an interesting scene"
},
"options": [
"raising an interesting question",
"telling a small jokes",
"making comparisons",
"describing an interesting scene"
],
"question": "The author introduces the topi... | You are a new manager at the American branch of your German firm in Chicago. With a few minutes to spare between meetings, you go to get a quick cup of coffee.
"Hey, David, how are you?" one of the senior partners at the firm asks you.
"Good, thank you, Dr. Greer," you reply. You've really been wanting to make a connection with the senior leadership at the firm, and this seems like a great opportunity. But as you start to think of something to say, your American colleague breaks in to steal your spotlight.
"So Arnold", your colleague says to your boss, in such a casual manner that it makes your German soul cringe , "So what's your Super bowl prediction? I mean, you're a Niners fan, right?" The conversation moves on, and you walk silently back to your desk with your coffee. You know how important small talk is in the U. S. , and you feel jealous of people who can do it well.
There's nothing small about the role that small talk plays in American professional culture. People from other countries are often surprised at how important small talk is in the U. S. and how naturally and comfortably people seem to do it--with peers,men,women,and even with superiors. You can be the most technically skilled worker in the world, but your ability to progress in your job in the United States is highly dependent on your ability to build and maintain positive relationships with people at work. And guess what skill is critical for building and maintaining these relationships? Small talk.
What can you do if you are from another culture and want to learn to use small talk in the U. S. to build relationships and establish trust? Work hard to hone your own version of American-style small talk. Watch how others do it. You don't have to mimic what they do; in fact, that would likely backfire because people would see you as inauthentic. But if you can develop your own personal version, that can go a long way toward making you feel comfortable. | high11950.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "show the sense of smell can affect the cellular ageing process"
},
"options": [
"show there is the best way to make lifespan longer",
"tell us we should eliminate our smell ability to live long",
"show the sense of smell can ... | Could smells affect your lifespan? Female fruit flies rid of the ability to smell food outlive their peers.The sense of smell may be linked to the cellular ageing process in many other organisms--even people.A link has recently been found between sensory experiences and lifespan in both worms and flies.For example, Scott Pletcher, a biologist at the University of Michigan, found that eliminating fruit flies' ability to smell enabled them to live nearly 20 percent longer than flies with an intact sense of smell.
Pletcher's team reasoned that food smells were the ones most likely to affect ageing, as nutrition and longevity are known to be linked in many organisms.To test the idea that food odors affect lifespan, Pletcher's team eliminated flies' ability to smell carbon dioxide, which is produced by some fly foods.They left the rest of the smelling system intact.
This intervention had no effect on male flies, but the females lived 30 percent longer than normal.Pletcher thinks eliminating the ability to smell CO2may deprive flies of information about food availability.This could signal to cells that food is scarce, causing processes that promote survival.Indeed, his team found that the CO2-insensitive female flies stored extra fat and that both males and females immune to CO2were more resistant to stress than normal flies.Pletcher isn't sure why the change in his fruit flies only affected the lifespan of the females, but he suggests that females may simply be more sensitive to the odor of CO2.
A smell or taste that stretches lifespan in humans could be a potential preventative for age-related disease, he adds.Although in fruit flies it appears to be the smell of CO2that affects ageing, he says that an analogue in humans might be a smell or taste linked to human food--or a lack of it.Matt Kaeberlein studies ageing at the University of Washington in Seattle.
He cautions that we don't know whether ageing and smell are linked in mammals.But " we definitely undergo physiological changes in response to smelling food--I'm getting hungry just thinking about it--so I think it's possible." | high21893.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they suffered from a culture shock"
},
"options": [
"they were strangers in America",
"they suffered from a culture shock",
"the local people disliked their family",
"different countries have different lives"
],
... | My parents moved from Mexico to South Texas in the early 90s with the hope for a brighter future for their family of nine---my parents, four boys and three girls. My parents have always wanted the best for us and they have done everything possible to encourage us to get a university degree. Never did they think that by pushing us that direction, it also meant encouraging us to move away and be distant from each other.
Initially , getting accustomed to the American culture and lifestyle was very difficult for my parents. They come from a culture where kids grow up together, go to school together and most of the time live in the same neighborhood. From our point, American family values were a bit different. Typically in the US, when you turn 18, you are expected to graduate from high school, move out, find a university, possibly find a partner, get married and start a life together. Most of these decisions take you away from home; usually you have to follow opportunity and wherever that will take you.
This is my family's current situation. I graduated from Bethel College in Indiana in 2010, and in order to fulfill my financial responsibilities of paying off student loans, I moved to Washington State for my job with Experience Mission. Ideally my parents wanted me to come home to South Texas, but that wasn't where my opportunity took me.
Currently, my sister Jennifer lives in Waco, Texas, about eight hours from my parents. My two younger brothers also decided to go to college at Bethel and are away from my parents. More than likely, when they graduate, they will probably not move back home to South Texas.
My parent never imagined that their dream for a better future would separate our family this way.
Facebook has played a crucial role in the way we communicate while living in different places. Since we all use Facebook, we have found a place to connect and feel as if we were there together with each other. | high10496.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Talk outside the exit door."
},
"options": [
"Call back after the performance.",
"Answer it near the exit door.",
"Talk outside the exit door.",
"Speak in a low voice."
],
"question": "What should you do when yo... | Do you know how to use a mobile phone without being rude to the people around you?
Talking during a performance irritates people. If you are expecting an emergency call, sit near the exit doors and set your phone to vibrate . When your mobile phone vibrates, you can leave quietly and let the others enjoy the performance.
Think twice before using mobile phones in elevators, museums, churches or other indoor public places--especially enclosed spaces. Would you want to listen to someone's conversation in these places? Worse yet, how would you feel if a mobile phone rang suddenly during a funeral! It happens more often than you think. Avoid these embarrassing situations by making sure your mobile phone is switched off.
When eating at a restaurant with friends, don't place your mobile phone on the table. This conveys the message that your phone calls are more important than those around you.
Mobile phones have sensitive microphones that allow you to speak at the volume you would on a regular phone. This enables you to speak quietly so that others won't hear the details of your conversations. If you are calling from a noisy area, use your hand to direct your voice into the microphone.
Many people believe that they can't live without their mobile phone. Owning a mobile phone definitely makes life more convenient, but limit your conversations to urgent ones and save the personal calls until you are at home. | high5866.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Salem, the City of Peace"
},
"options": [
"Salem, the Industry City",
"Salem, the Witch City",
"Salem, the City with a Big History",
"Salem, the City of Peace"
],
"question": "What would be the best title of thi... | Salem, the "City of Peace", is a small city with a big history. It is the second established city in Massachusetts and the second oldest settlement in New England. While Salem has been long known as the "Witch City" due to the notable witch trials of 1692, Salem also played an important part in Revolutionary times and was an active leader of several Massachusetts' industries, which is why you will find mansions of the country's first millionaires there.
Salem is located approximately 16 miles (30 minutes) north of Boston and is bordered by Beverly, Danvers, Lynn, Marblehead, Peabody, Swampscott and the Atlantic Ocean. Boston & Maine Railroad serves Salem with transport service, and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority maintains a rail stop and bus service. Air service is available from Beverly Airport (5 miles away) and Logan International Airport (16 miles away). Access is also available on a ferry from Boston.
Salem has various restaurants including outdoor cafes, various restaurants and fine dining establishments. For shoppers there are malls and department stores, an open market, a waterfront village, as well as a downtown shopping district.
There are many local artists and musicians who have shops along the city streets. On a nightly basis, one can stop in a local restaurant or nightspot and listen to some of the most creative music. World famous artwork is displayed at the Peabody Essex Museum and the work of local artists can be found displayed in many downtown shops including Artist Row.
The City of Salem has long had a commitment to the promotion of art and culture. The Salem Cultural Council is a local agency of Salem residents that supports public programs and educational activities in the arts, sciences and humanities. Local artists and theaters, such as CinemaSalem, the Salem Theatre Company, the Salem State College Center for the Arts, the Griffen Theater and the Rebel Shakespeare Company provide entertainment and learning opportunities to residents and visitors alike. The Salem Arts Association, Inc. is an entirely volunteer-run nonprofit arts organization. The SAA seeks to bring art, in all its forms, to the community and bring the community, in all its diversity, to the arts in Salem, Massachusetts. | high11788.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "ways in which birth order may affect how children grow up"
},
"options": [
"why the oldest children in a family usually succeed",
"why some children refuse to follow orders",
"ways in which birth order may affect how children... | Oldest , Youngest , or in the Middle ?
Were you the first or last child in your family? Or were you a middle or the only child? Some people think it matters where you were born in your family. But there are different ideas about what birth order means.
Some people say that oldest children are smart and strong-willed. They are very likely to be successful. The reason for this is simple. Parents have a lot of time for their first child. They give him or her a lot of attention. So this child is very likely to do well. An only child will succeed for the same reasons.
What happens to the other children in a family? Middle children don't get so much attention. So they don't feel that important. If a family has many children, the middle ones sometimes get lost in the crowd. The youngest child, though, often gets special treatment. He or she is the "baby". Often this child grows up to be funny and charming.
Do you believe these ideas about birth order? A recent study saw things quite differently. This study found that the first children believed in family rules. They didn't take many chances in their lives. They usually followed their own ideas . They took chances. And they often did better in life.
Which _ about birth order do you believe? Look at your own family or you friends' families. Decide which idea fits what you see. | high12281.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A lot of care and the right soil."
},
"options": [
"Frequent pruning and fertilizing.",
"A lot of care and the right soil.",
"Tomato plants grown alongside.",
"Cages placed around the roots."
],
"question": "Wha... | Soon, you' re going to have to move out!" cried my neighbor upon seeing the largest tomato plant known to mankind, or at least known in my neighborhood.
One tiny 9-inch plant, bought for $1. 25 in the spring, has already taken over much of my rose bed, covering much of other plants, and is well on its way to the front door.
Roses require a good deal of care, and if it weren't for the pleasure they give, it wouldn' t be worth the work. As it is, I have a garden full of sweet-smelling roses for most of the year. Bushes must be pruned in early spring, leaving ugly woody branches until the new growth appears a few weeks later. It was the space available in the garden that led me into planting just one little tomato plant. A big mistake.
Soil conditions made just perfect for roses turn out to be even more perfect for tomatoes. The daily watering coupled with full sun and regular fertilizing have turned the little plant into a tall bush. The cage I placed around it as the plant grew has long disappeared under the thick leaves.
Now the task I face in harvesting the fruit is twofold. First, I have to find the red ones among the leaves, which means I almost have to stand on my head, and once found I have to reach down and under, pick the tomatoes and withdraw my full fist without dropping the prize so dearly won. I found two full-blown white roses completely hidden as I picked tomatoes in June. But they were weak and the leaves already yellow for lack of light.
Here I am faced with a painful small decision: To tear up a wonderful and productive tomato plant that offers up between ten and twenty ripe sweet tomatoes each day or say goodbye to several expensive and treasured roses. Like Scarlett in Gone With the Wind, I' ll think about that tomorrow. | high14828.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "break the balance of nature"
},
"options": [
"cause great fires",
"break the balance of nature",
"destroy the dams",
"do no damage at all"
],
"question": "In Chase's opinion, too many elks in the park will _ ... | Alsten Chase has written a book about Yellowstone National Park. He is worried about the damage the fires can do to the park. He is also concerned about the park rules.
These rules say that nature should decide what happens to the park. Alsten also writes that the elk herd has grown too big. The elks walk on the riverbanks. They eat the new grass and roots of baby trees. The beavers need the trees to build dams.
The dams raise the water levels. Higher water levels put more water into the soil. Moist soil helps plants grow faster. The plants offer homes and food to other animals.
Chase thinks that the park rules would work only in a park with natural settings. He believes that Yellowstone has had an artificial setting for a long time. The native people left. The wolves were taken away and other animals were removed.The areas of land were fenced off and other animals added.He thinks the park rules that let herds grow too big and the fires burn are hurting the nature of the park.
The park manager thinks the rules are good and that the park will be fine. Chase thinks the way the people run the park should be changed. | high9084.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It has a swaying motion."
},
"options": [
"It has several stomachs",
"The nose of a camel is special.",
"The camel has a hump which can store fat.",
"It has a swaying motion."
],
"question": "Which factor contri... | There is just one four-legged animal that can walk two hundred miles without stopping once to rest. It would take a person two days and two nights to walk this far, and only one man has ever done it without stopping. What amazing animal has such endurance ? The camel! The camel is well known for something else, too. It can cross an entire desert without a single drink of water. Its body is built in a special way to help it store water and food.
A person has just one stomach, but a camel has quite a few. Within each stomach are layers and layers of cells. These cells are like tiny water balloons, storing liquids until the camel needs them. When the camel drinks, the cells grow larger and larger. For a whole week, they can keep the animal's thirst away by sending water to all parts of its body.
Have you ever wondered why the camel has a hump ? The hump is a storage place for fat. Because it has this storage area, the camel does not need to eat very often. When the animal needs energy, the layers of fat serve as fuel to keep it going on the long, hot days in the burning sun.
The camel has another gift that makes it well suited to arid regions. This gift is its amazing nose. A camel can smell a water hole from miles away!
When a camel moves, it sways from side to side like a ship on a wavy ocean. Because of this swaying motion, the camel has been called the "ship of the desert". | high22356.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To grow more trees"
},
"options": [
"To use both sides of every piece of paper",
"To use fewer paper bags when shopping",
"To use cotton handkerchiefs instead of paper ones",
"To grow more trees"
],
"question": ... | In the 13thcentury, the famous Italian traveler, Marco Polo, traveled a long way to China. During his stay in China, he saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that the Chinese used paper money. In western countries, people didn't use the paper money until 15thcentury. However, people in China began to use paper money in the 7thcentury.
A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago. He took the wood from trees and made it into paper. He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.
Now paper still comes from trees. We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. If there are no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper in our city. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day. Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now.
So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can use cotton handkerchiefs and not paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant gives us a paper bag, we can save it and reuse it later.
Everyone can help to save paper. If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late. | high12295.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They hope that the lecturers can set exams as soon as possible."
},
"options": [
"They think it's wrong that the lecturers ask for the better pay.",
"They think what the vice-presidents have done is reasonable and understandable.",... | This is a tense time for students in America,with the exam season in full swing and the stress and anxiety being felt across the country.At some universities,students are reviewing their lessons,knowing that in a few weeks the stress will be over once they put pen to paper in that exam hall.For others,however,that stress and anxiety may well last a while longer as lecturers continue to refuse to set exams.No one knows when things will get back to normal.
The reason behind this trouble is the ongoing argument in higher education between lecturers and employers over pay.The Association of University Teachers(AUT)are currently taking industrial action because of the fact that lecturers have been underpaid for years.Vice-presidents of the universities,who enjoy six-figure salaries,are not making any noises to suggest that this will change in the near future.
The National Union of Students(NUS) ly believes that our lecturers should be better paid,and that the promises made to them during the top-up fees debate about extra income must be kept.
It's shameful that 1ecturers have had to take industrial action to achieve better pay and conditions while vice-presidents'own salaries have risen 25%over the past three years.But the students who are suffering as a result of the argument must be put first.We do not agree with the attitude taken by the AUT,which is refusing to set exams.We admit that the decision to take this course of action was democratically reached.However,it is having the biggest effect on our members at this moment in time and we will continue to let the AUT know the results of this.
We call on both sides to sort this mess out.Hopefully then our members can get the horrible exam season Out of the way and start planning,and enjoying,their upcoming summer holiday. | high23048.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the cabs are almost full even at 2:30 am"
},
"options": [
"most of the cabs are often full all day long",
"the cabs are often empty",
"the cabs are almost full even at 2:30 am",
"there is no cab in the street at 2:30 am... | In front of a popular restaurant, a line of customers wait for taxis. And wait. Most of the cabs(taxis) are full. That's nothing unusual in this city of 4 million people. But it's 2:30 in the morning.
Visitors to the Olympic Games may leave disappointed if they see Athens only through the eyes of the typical tourist, who makes a beeline of the islands after the visit to the Acropolis and the unusual and attractive Plaka district. To fully appreciate and discover Athens' many charms , do as the Greeks do: walk out into the neighborhoods, find the packed nightclubs, eat at one of the innumerable restaurants, or see Hollywood stars under real stars in a romantic outdoor cinema.
The Greek capital is named for the ancient goddess Athena, whose favourite animal was the owl . It's a fitting symbol for the city's nocturnal nature, which often reaches its highest point in summer with a rush hour just before dawn.
As native Athenian Panos Demestiha said, Athens by day is unlivable , but it's magical at night. Athenians face up to heavy traffic block, decreasing green space, dusty streets... City officials are using the momentum of the August 13-29 Olympics to fix some of these problems and make city life more bearable. | high9090.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "doubted his seriousness"
},
"options": [
"laughed at his foolishness",
"wasn't sure of the answer",
"doubted his seriousness",
"wasn't interested at all"
],
"question": "On hearing the author's question, Dr. Pap... | "Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?"
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go. Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
"I will answer your question."
Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And what he said went like this:
"When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.
I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine--in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a _ for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light--truth, understanding, knowledge--is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.
I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world--into the black places in the hearts of men--and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life." | high20541.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "help us grow"
},
"options": [
"are always born with friendship",
"help build friendship",
"are never worth attention",
"help us grow"
],
"question": "The writer believes that challenges _ .",
"question_ty... | Life is filled with challenges. As we get older, we come to realize that those challenges are the very things that shape us and make us who we are. It is the same with the challenges that come with friendship. When we are faced with a challenge, we usually have two choices. We can try to beat it off, or we can decide that the thing presenting the challenge isn't worth the trouble and call it quits. Although there are certainly times when calling it quits is the right thing to do, in most cases all that is needed is commitment and communication.
When we are committed to something, it means that no matter how painful or how uncomfortable something is, we will always choose to face it through instead of running away from it. Communication is making a space for discussion and talking about how you feel as opposed to just saying what the other person did wrong. If you can say to a friend, "I got my feelings hurt", rather than "You hurt my feelings", you are going to be able to solve the problem much faster.
In dealing with many challenges that friendship will bring to you, try to see them for what they are: small hurdles you need to jump or get through on your way through life. Nothing is so big that it is impossible to get over, and hurt only serves to make us stronger. It is all part of growing up, it happens to everyone, and some day you will look back on all of this and say, "Hard as it was, it made me who I am today. And that is a good thing." | high11944.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "keep the color1ed lights in"
},
"options": [
"keep the color1ed lights in",
"sell the color1ed lights out",
"leave the Christmas tree out",
"change all the attractive lights"
],
"question": "This holiday season,... | DOYLESTOWN STATION, Pa.(CBS)--Marie Buonanno has boxes of holiday lights to decorate her house.She already has one tree up in her living room and a nativity scene.But this holiday season, she would not dare decorate outside.
" It is very disappointing that we can' t celebrate the Christmas holiday the way that we religiously choose to," says Buonanno.
Her home only has a holiday wreath on the door, since the Doylestown Station Condominium Association told her the bylaws do not allow color1ed Christmas lights.Last year, she was fined $400, $ 10 for each day her lights were up.But she says _ .
"One of my neighbors that I spoke to a few days ago, who decorates with multicolor1ed lights, says he never got a letter of warning or a fine."
Only white, non-blinking lights are allowed outside.And you can only put up a single white, blue, or orange light in your windows.Neighbors collected 62 signatures to ask the Association board to allow color1ed Christmas lights.In response, the Association sent out a survey.
Out of 38 total responses, 19 voted for white lights, 14 voted for color1ed non-blinking lights, and 5 voted for color1ed blinking.The board said the vote was 19-14 against color1ed lights, interpreting the 5 votes as a separate category.
"As long as it" s tasteful," says neighbor Marc Udell, "let the community do what the community is going to do."
No one answered the door at the Association president* s house.Some neighbors say they like the look of white lights.
"Some color1ed lights are pretty and they have their place in neighborhoods, but you never really know how far people are going to go with them," says Jeff Edwards.
It will be a holiday of white lights for Buonanno and her neighborhood.She says for now she will miss her color1ed lights and the holiday cheer they brought to her home. | high21887.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Hard."
},
"options": [
"Stable.",
"Dangerous.",
"Hard.",
"Comfortable."
],
"question": "What kind of life does George Brown lead?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer... | America has been experiencing the longest economic increase in its history. Incomes have risen, unemployment has fallen, and cities such as New York are bursting with new office buildings.
But just a short walk from Manhattan's skyscrapers, George Brown sits on the side-walk, cooking a lunch of rice and bits of fish over a can of cooking fuel.
Brown is homeless----one of the 2.3 million people in the US who end up on the street.
During the day, Brown collects aluminum cans and sells them for five cents a piece. At night, he sleeps on the street.
"I have been on the street about eight or nine years, something like that," said the 62-year-old former construction worker.
Brown admits he had problems with alcohol and has smoked cocaine. But he said he still wants a more stable housing arrangement. He could afford it just with the money he earns by collecting cans and small pieces of metal, if only truly low-income housing were available.
However, he sees no hope of finding affordable housing in New York.
With the strong economy and unemployment down, beautiful housing is being built to meet demand.
A US report shows rents in New York City rose more than 27 per cent, from $549 to $700 a month.
One of the side effects of the strong economy is that rents have been going up.
The majority of people who experience homelessness really just need some affordable housing help.
But few housing companies are building for the poor. Many small apartments in the city now rent for $1,500 a month or more.
Brown, the homeless New Yorker, said he has a daughter who lives in the city but he rarely sees her. She is angry about his drinking and won't allow it in her house.
Smiling, he said he also has seven grandchildren whom he'd like to see more often. "All I've got to do is _ ," he said. | high10482.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "on foot"
},
"options": [
"on foot",
"by bike",
"in a wheelchair",
"by bus"
],
"question": "Tom passed the shop _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
... | The day was like any other day in his life. Tom walked past the shop on the street corner. He stopped to look at the front row of shoes, and he felt happy to see that the pair of shoes he wanted very much was still there. Looking down at his old shoes, he felt sorry for himself. He really wanted to have them for his birthday.
He sadly walked away and thought how to tell his mother about it. He knew very well she had little money. He decided not to go home at once, as he looked sad and his mother would notice it. So he went to the park and sat on the grass. There he saw a boy moving a wheelchair with his hands. Tom looked at him and was surprised to see that the boy had no feet. He looked at his own feet. "It's much better to be without shoes than without feet. "he thought. There was no reason for him to feel so sorry and sad. He went away and smiled, thinking he was happier. | high21139.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Disappointed."
},
"options": [
"Excited.",
"Interested.",
"Disappointed.",
"Relaxed."
],
"question": "How did McKenna probably feel when she found out what kind of oven Hasbro produces? ks5u",
"question_type... | When McKenna Pope, 13, went shopping for a Christmas gift for her little brother, she planned to buy him an Easy-Bake Oven, a toy that allows kids to bake treats. Her brother, Gavyn Boscio, 4, loves to cook. But McKenna changed her mind when she discovered that Hasbro, the toy company that produces the popular oven, only makes the toy in purple and pink--and only features girls on the box and in commercials. So instead of buying an oven, McKenna cooked up another plan. She started a campaign to get Hasbro to make a gender-neutral oven. "I don't want them to make a boys' Easy-Bake Oven and a girls' Easy-Bake Oven," McKenna, from Garfield, New Jersey, told the Associated Press. "I want them to make an Easy-Bake Oven for kids."
The Easy-only Bake Oven was first introduced in 1963. At the time, the stereotype was that only women cooked. Today, that's changed, in part thanks to famous male chefs like, Bobby Flay, who used an Easy-Bake Oven when he was a kid. Over the years, Hasbro says the company has featured boys on the packaging and offered the product in several different color1 schemes. But this year, just the purple and pink model is available. McKenna wants that to change, and she's not alone. Her petition , posted on change.org, has received more than 45,000 signatures.
By next summer, McKenna should have her wish. On December 17, Hasbro invited the New Jersey teen and her family to their headquarters in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to meet with the Easy-Bake Oven team. They showed her a prototype, or model, of their newest Easy-Bake Oven, which is scheduled to hit stores in 2013. The new color1 scheme is black, silver and blue. The company also told McKenna they plan to feature boys in ads.
McKenna was happy with what she saw at Hasbro. "They really met most or even all of what I wanted them to, and they really amazed me," McKenna said. She added that Gavyn thought the new design was "awesome". | high16795.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "had had a battery problem"
},
"options": [
"had been short of gas",
"had had a battery problem",
"had had an engine problem",
"had been damaged by a snake"
],
"question": "Jackson Auh thought at first that the w... | A woman in Santa Fe, New Mexico, left her home early to go to work on a Thursday morning, but after twenty minutes' drive her car suddenly broke down. Fortunately, at that moment, a kind man named Jackson Auk coming, helped her pull the car over, but when he opened the hood of the car he didn't find a dead battery. Instead, he found a living snake, 9 - foot, 20 - pound, "It was looking right at me. It flicked its little tongue, and I was a little frightened "Jackson Ault said.
So Ault and the woman called the local police to get help. The first officer on the scene didn't know how to control the snake like most people and was not brave at that moment. But then the police - Lt. Louis Carlos showed up and the story suddenly became much less frightening and more delightful.
"Cool, I wanted to hold it!" Carlos told a local TV reporter about his reaction to seeing the snake. "It was easy for me to go there, pick it up, hold it and let the snake feel the warmth of my hands and my body."
After comforting the snake, Carlos called Animals Control Service, which brought the snake to the Santa Fe Animal Shelter.
One people from the center said the snake was not dangerous and it was like a pet that wanted to escape from its owner's home. It was also just a baby, only halfway toward her estimated adult length. They said it almost certainly crawled on the top of the car's engine to seek warmth and shelter.
"We had a lot of fun with it today - everyone there wanted to challenge their courage and handle the snake," people could read these words on the Santa Fe Animal Shelter's Facebook page.
In fact, not everyone thought that way. "I was hesitant to open my own hood even though that sounds ridiculous," Ault said. | high18960.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "All the male members of British royalty don't wear wedding rings."
},
"options": [
"There is going to be a royal exhibition of jewelry.",
"Wearing rings among husbands and wives is tradition at all times.",
"All the male memb... | St James's Palace has announced that while Miss Middleton will wear a wedding ring. Prince William has chosen not to.
Rings are typically exchanged by couples during their wedding to represent commitment to each other. Does it matter if husbands don't wear a wedding ring?
Prince William's father wears one, his grandfather doesn't and their decisions weren't seen as strange. But reactions to Prince William's decision show that wedding rings for husbands are now the norm. One young man, who spoke to the BBC, thinks William is setting a bad example, saying: "I think it's disgraceful . It's a tradition. You have to wear a ring really. And for someone of the royal family to do that, it's not right. "
Broadly speaking, modem husbands tend to wear their wedding rings as a symbol of loyalty and faithfulness. So not wearing one can seem unusual or even dishonest to some, although men haven't always worn them.
The wearing of wedding rings has been the done thing for centuries among wives but only became common practice among husbands during World War II. Men fighting overseas usually wore them as a reminder of wives and families back home.
Wearing rings is a safety issue for men in certain manual jobs. But how does William explain his decision? A royal officer has said he "isn't one for jewelry". | high20227.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "build a company's website cheap"
},
"options": [
"sell products on the Internet",
"attract more customers online",
"build a company's website cheap",
"collect any possible information"
],
"question": "Wix.com is... | Building a company website is one of the most important parts of creating a successful business. But designing a website can be time consuming and expensive. Web designers are difficult to work with, and even though you're paying them.There are cheaper ways to establish your company online, and Wix.com stands out among them.
Wix.com offers free HTML5 and Flash website design that you can do on your own,without having to pay for a pricey web designer. With unlimited space for as many pages as you want, customized looks, photo galleries, and blog platform capabilities, social networking buttons, Wix has everything a business of any size needs to make an impact online.You get full control over what information fills in the blanks, and you don't have to know a thing about HTML to make this work. The way your website looks says a lot about your company. Wix does that, and it does it for free. Another thing that makes Wix the most affordable option in creating a website is that you don't have to pay for a separate web host--every page created on Wix is hosted on Wix, free of charge.
The Internet is the marketplace of ideas:your company needs to share what you think. If you think just because you don't sell a product online you don't need a website, you're dead wrong.No matter what kind of business you have, if you want to reach an audience, you want to have a website that speaks to people.Wix lets you do that as quickly and easily as possible for free.
If you have a bigger budget, Wix has more options than just the free website design.You can choose to upgrade to the adless version which won't fill up your customer's screens when they visit your site.But if the most important thing to you is getting your company's name online right now, try Wix.com today. | high14182.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Be a good example to your kids."
},
"options": [
"less TV is better.",
"Make the TV hard to use.",
"Be a good example to your kids.",
"Take the TV out of their room or put it away in storage.\nE. Explain to them why you... | Even if you have been very careful, it is possible that your kids can develop some bad TV habits. It is not too late if the bad habits have already occurred. 56 .Follow the steps below to start breaking your kids'bad habits.
Limit the time of watching TV. Limit the TV to at most two hours a day for kids over two years old and no TV at all for kids under the age of two. This does not mean that you have to allow the two hours each day. 57 | high24041.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the length of the rope"
},
"options": [
"the space covered by the elephant",
"the length of the rope",
"the elephant's comfort zone",
"the wooden post planted in the ground"
],
"question": "The area where the ba... | Elephants are trained, at an early age, not to escape. One leg of a baby elephant is tied with a rope to a wooden post planted in the ground. The rope limits the baby elephant to an area determined by the length of the rope. At first the baby elephant tries to break free from the rope, but the rope is too strong. Soon the elephant learns that he cannot break the rope in any case. This space defined by the rope becomes the elephant's comfort zone.
As the elephant grows up it could easily break the rope, but it does not even try because it was conditioned as a baby to think that it still could not break free. As a result, the large elephant remains tied and stays in a small space.
This metaphor can be used to describe what happens to human beings as we become trapped in a comfort zone. Just as the elephant's space determines what it can do, our comfort zone determines what we are able to achieve. Fortunately, humans are born with the ability to make conscious choices. The elephant doesn't try to break the rope free while we can easily leave our comfort zone.
In order to expand our potential and succeed in life, we must expand our comfort zone into unfamiliar fields. You will never realize what you are truly able to achieve if you remain in your comfort zone. | high7903.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the death of his parents"
},
"options": [
"the death of his parents",
"his early education at school",
"the poetry of Edmund Spenser",
"the criticism from a magazine"
],
"question": "According to the passage, Jo... | Regarded as one of the English language's most naturally gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy. Although Keats didn't receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.
Growing up as a young kid in London in a lower, middle-class family, the young John didn't attend a private school, but went to public school in Enfield, near his home. His teachers and his family's friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who liked playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father's death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother's passing away due to illness, he began to view life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.
At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his time, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Edmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examinerin 1816, namedO Solitude! If I must with thee dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry that would be published, but criticized sharply in Blackwood's Magazine. However, the negative response didn't stop him.
John Keats' next work to be published was Endymion, which he wrote in 1817 and was published in May 1818. The story involves a boy who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy's hope to overcome the limitations of being human. FollowingEndymion, he wroteIsabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the "knowledge" associated with his poems. His next work wasHyperionthat would attempt to combine all he learned. However, a bout with tuberculosis while visiting Italy kept him from his work and eventually took his life in 1821. | high22430.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It would be faster and easier."
},
"options": [
"She needn't stop on the way.",
"It would be faster and easier.",
"Her kids would feel less confined.",
"She felt better with other drivers nearby."
],
"question":... | Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident that I discovered the deep meaning of his words.
For years we made the long drive from our home in Seattle to my parents' home in Boise in nine hours. We traveled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement and have strong opinions about everything.
Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast, stopping only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired.
But then Banner, our lamb was born. He was rejected by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me.
That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They'd get back in the car breathless and energized, smelling fresh from the cold air.
We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass. Even if we simply looked out of the car windows at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons.
We eventually arrived at my parents' doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories.
I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarreling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence.
Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough to wander around and made me realize that a detour may uncover the best part of a journey----and the best part of yourself. | high12518.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a medicine"
},
"options": [
"a toy",
"a punishment",
"a medicine",
"a puzzle"
],
"question": "For students with emotional problems, music might be _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"an... | There is no doubt that music plays a powerful role in our lives. It can calm our tired nerves after a busy day of work. Music even has the power to move us to tears when it stirs an emotional reaction. How then, does music play a role in special education?
If music has the ability to touch those hidden places we all carry inside, it proves an important tool for the special education teacher. For students with emotional problems, music can help soothe sadness. Consider the child that arrives in class depressed and upset. If music can indeed relax and calm him, he is more likely to focus and participate in class.
Dr. R. Joseph, author of Behavioral Neurology, writes, "It is well recorded that patients with left hemisphere damage, who may be unable to speak or recognize words, can sing a melody ."
For this reason, some special education teachers have found it helpful to set their lessons to music. When students cannot understand or remember certain things, singing them helps make it easier.
Nature magazine reported "Music training helps underachievers. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school first grade classes. Half of the classes became 'text-arts'groups, receiving ongoing music training. After seven months, the students were given a test. The tested group had caught up with their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the tested students widened this even further. Students were also tested on attitude and behavior. Classroom teachers also noted improvement in these areas."
It seems music does, indeed, play an important role in education. For the special education teacher, this is especially encouraging. | high15277.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The author didn't like learning Vietnamese when he was young."
},
"options": [
"The author's brother liked learning Vietnamese.",
"The author's mother taught him English at home.",
"The author's mother put her sons in a langu... | It's still there, the Vietnamese school where my brother and I used to go. Even with a new coat of paint and the high wire fence, the school I knew ten years ago remains the same.
Every day at 5 p.m., instead of flying kites with our friends, my brother and I had to go to Vietnamese school. No amount of kicking, screaming, or arguing could stop my mother, who was determined to have us learn the language of our culture. She held us by the collar and walked with us the seven long, hilly blocks from our home to school, leaving our tearful faces before the front of the school.
We all sat in little chairs in a big empty room, which had a slight smell of old clothes that had been stored for a long time. I hated that smell. There was a stage far to the right, with an American flag on one side and the flag of the Republic of Vietnam on the other side.
Although the school mainly taught language ---- speaking, reading, dictation ---- the lessons always began with an exercise in politeness. With the entrance of the teacher, the best student would tap a bell and everyone would get up, and say in Vietnamese, "How are you, teacher?"
The language always made me embarrassed. More often than not, I had tried to separate myself from the loud voice that followed me whenever I went to the American supermarket outside our area. The voice belonged to my grandmother, a small old woman who could shout louder than anyone on the street. Her Vietnamese was quick, it was loud, and it was not beautiful.
In our area, the comings and goings of hundreds of Vietnamese on their daily tasks sounded crazy. I did not want to be thought of as being mad, as talking stupid. When I spoke English, people nodded at me, smiled and encouraged me. Even Vietnamese people would laugh and say that I'd do well in life.
My brother was even stricter than I about speaking English. He was especially cruel towards my mother, scolding her for her poor English. Bits of Vietnamese were often mixed in her conversation.
After two years of struggle, I finally divorced my culture. I was permitted to stop Vietnamese school. I thought of myself as American. At last, I thought I was one of you; I wasn't one of them.
Sadly, I am only an American. | high7730.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He was the first to reach the top of Mount Everest."
},
"options": [
"He was the first to reach the top of Mount Everest.",
"He went to Antarctica many times.",
"He led the first trip to the South Pole.",
"He helped bui... | Sir Edmund Hillary is best known for being the first, along with climbing partner Tenzing Norgay, to reach the top of Mount Everest . However, he also made many visits to Antarctica . In 1957, he led the first trip over ice to the South Pole. Hillary also helped his home country, New Zealand, build a research center on Antarctica, called Scott Base. He visited it in January 2007, when he was 87 years old.
In the 1900s, many people like Hillary saw Antarctica as an exciting place. Scientists are interested in how glaciers flow and melt. They also worry that global warming is making glaciers melt faster. It has caused a 75 percent increase in ice loss in the last 10 years, according to a new study. Scientists say ice loss could cause water levels around the world to rise faster than expected. Ice is melting faster than expected because of global warming.
Researchers in Antarctica are studying many other subjects too. Some use the cold weather and clear air as a way to study things that affect other parts of the globe. Antarctica has the cleanest air in the world. That allows scientists to compare the air there to the air in polluted places. Antarctica is the darkest place on earth, so it is a great place to study the stars. Some scientists are even studying penguin droppings . They have developed a new test to learn more about penguins' diets. | high14169.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "learn something he was interested in"
},
"options": [
"learn something he was interested in",
"quit his school for the Hayden Planetarium",
"study hard by burning most of his energy",
"make up his mind to find his caree... | When I was in elementary school, my teachers would always complain about my behavior in class. There was no doubt that I had a great deal of energy, and therefore I was always talking with my classmates and not paying attention to the lessons, which my teacher _ to see. If you don't believe me, the comments on my report cards every year can tell the story.
In my third year in elementary school, my teacher wrote, " Neil should tend to have a more serious attitude towards his schoolwork." And in my fifth year in elementary school, my teacher wrote, " Neil is not a bit strict with his work, his compositions as well as his notebook and so on. He has to be encouraged and urged by his parents or teachers." After only a few months, my sixth-grade teacher wrote, " Less social involvement and more academic diligence is in order."
Later that same school year, my sixth-grade teacher noticed that all my book reports were about the universe. Knowing that I had a lot of extra energy, she recommended that I should take advanced after-school classes about the universe at the Hayden Planetarium.
From then on, my love of the universe became stronger and stronger. Instead of killing my time in class, I focused my extra energy on the subject that would be bound to become my career. Between the ages of eleven and seventeen, I took about eight courses on the universe. For each one, I received an attractive certificate of completion, signed by both the teacher and the head of the Hayden Planetarium.
We still offer these classes today. And we still give out certificates of completion, which are signed by the teacher and, of course, the head --- me. I am the head of the Hayden Planetarium. And I am also the head of a associate of the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. Both of them are in New York City. Welcome to take extra classes here. | high13606.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A paper cutting artist."
},
"options": [
"Chinese paper cutting.",
"Nanjing-style paper cutting.",
"A paper cutting family.",
"A paper cutting artist."
],
"question": "What is the passage mainly about?",
"qu... | Nanjing-style paper cutting is an important part of Chinese paper cutting. It is known for its different designs, simplistic but graceful shapes, finely cut lines and unique skills. Zhang Fanglin is a leading figure in the Nanjing-style paper cutting. Zhang was born in a paper-cutting family. He is the fourth generation to continue the family's paper-cutting skills. Taught by his father, he began to learn paper cutting in his childhood. In 1963 when he was only 14 years old, he started his artistic career in a local folk handicraft factory. Over the past decades, Zhang has created many works and developed excellent skills. In 1985, Zhang was admitted into Nanjing Municipal Fine Arts Company, creating and designing paper cuts. Throughout his artistic career, Zhang has absorbed characteristics and elements of various styles of paper cutting and created a large number of creative paper-cutting works. Thanks to his great contributions, he won many national prizes and was awarded the title of "National Master Artist in Handicraft Art".
As a leading figure, Zhang Fanglin has been invited to more than 30 countries and regions around the world, showcasing his paper-cutting skills. In the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Zhang showcased his new creations of gold foil-embedded paper cutting works. | high2648.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "seldom"
},
"options": [
"often",
"always",
"seldom",
"never"
],
"question": "British people _ invite friends to their home.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_ind... | For the British, the home is a private place in which he or she goes to hide away from the troubles of life. It is very seldom that one would be invited to a British person's home. It is rude to knock on a person's door if you are not invited. If you are invited, don't ask to see more than the downstairs that your British host invites you into. Never ask how much the house or any of the items in it cost.
To the American, most of them want their home to be a place where they can entertain and share their lives with their friends. They may be delighted to give you a full tour of their houses. They may also be pleased when you show your interest and pleasure in their houses.
Both British and American people will _ quite a bit of chat and a drink or two before the meal is served. After the first mouthful, you should say how delicious the food is and ask something about it. Remember, never eat with your mouth open and make very little noise while eating. It would be nice of you to help your host in any way. Maybe offer to pour some drinks or clear up after the meal. | high5127.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "How to Make a Good Impression at Work"
},
"options": [
"How to Use Good Etiquette",
"How to Deal with Mistakes at Work",
"How to Be a Good Worker in the Future",
"How to Make a Good Impression at Work"
],
"quest... | It is important that you make a good impression at work. If you make a good impression on your boss, he or she is more likely to give you more responsibilities which can lead to promotions and raises. Here are some ways to make a good impression at work.
Use Proper Office Etiquette
Using proper manners will help you make a good impression on your boss and also your co-workers. Office etiquette includes everything from the proper way to e-mails to knowing when, where, and how to use your cell phone at work.
Face up to Your Mistakes
When you make a mistake at work, which everyone inevitably does at some points, face up to it. Don't ignore your error or place the blame on others. Take responsibility and come up with a solution to fix your mistake. Your boss may not be too happy about it, but she will at least be impressed with your response.
Know to Call in Sick
Do you think coming to work when you are sick instead of staying at home will impress your boss? Reasonable bosses know that a sick employee not only is unproductive but also he or she can spread an illness around the office. Call in sick when you are ill.
Come Through in a Crisis
When the unexpected happens at work, who will make a better impression on the boss? Of course it's the employee who deals with the crisis quickly and effectively. | high4239.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The End of Plastic Bags"
},
"options": [
"Deadly Plastic Bags",
"The End of Plastic Bags",
"How to Reuse Plastic Bags",
"The Present Situation of Plastic Bags"
],
"question": "Which might be the best title for t... | A small town in Tasmania, an island off the south coast of mainland Australia, is making itself an environmental role model by becoming the country's first plastic bag-free town.
Since April 28, Coles Bay's population of 175 and its tourist shoppers have been using reusable paper or cloth bags to carry their shopping.
Ben Keamey, a local businessman who supports the bag ban, said it would cut the amount of waste and prevent damage to native wildlife that try to eat the plastic.
"Most businesses here come from the tourism and that's all based on the environment, so people were pretty supportive," he said.
Every year Australians use more than six billion plastic bags. More than half of these come from the supermarket. Since it takes years for the bags to biodegrade , tens of millions end up polluting the environment. They kill about 100,000 sea-birds and animals, which mistake bags for food, every year.
Only in the past few months have major Australian supermarkets begun cutting on their use of plastic bags. Environmental groups are pushing for a plastic bag fee like that in Ireland. There, since plastic bags cost 10 pence (about 1 yuan) each, their use has been cut by 90 per cent.
Pollution caused by plastic bags is a big headache for countries all over the world. As early as 1999, Beijing said that only plastic bags of certain thickness could be used. This was to encourage them to be used again and again, since an average of six million plastic bags are used there every there every single day. | high2890.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "PS142,000."
},
"options": [
"PS30,000.",
"PS142,000.",
"PS172,000.",
"PS202,000."
],
"question": "How much does a Prime Minister earn,according to the passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": ... | Across Britain,burnt toast will be served to mothers in bed this morning as older sons and daughters rush to deliver their supermarket bunches of flowers.But,according to a new study,we should be placing a higher value on motherhood all year.
Mothers have long known that their home workload was just as heavy as paid work.Now,the new study has shown that if they were paid for their parental labours,they would earn as much asPS172,000 a year.
The study looked at the range of jobs mothers do,as well as the hours they are working,to determine the figure.This would make their yearly incomePS30,000 more than the Prime Minister earns.
By analysing the numbers,it found the average mother works 119 hours a week,40 of which would usually be paid at a standard rate and 79 hours as overtime.After questioning 1,000 mothers with children under 18,it found that,on most days,mums started their routine work at 7 am and finished at around 11 pm.
To calculate just how much mothers would earn from that labour,it suggested some of the roles that mums could take on,including housekeeper,part-time lawyer,personal trainer and entertainer.Being a part-time lawyer,atPS48.98 an hour,would prove to be the most profitable of the"mum jobs",with psychologist a close second.
It also asked mothers about the challenges they face,with 80 percent making emotional demand as the hardest thing about motherhood.
Over a third of mums felt they needed more training and around half said they missed going out with friends.
The study shows mothers matter all year long and not just on Mother's Day.The emotional,physical and mental energy mothers devote to their children can be never-ending,but children are also sources of great joy and happiness.Investing in time for parenting and raising relationships is money well spent. | high11011.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The author communicates with all the 35 friends by e-mails."
},
"options": [
"The author communicates with all the 35 friends by e-mails.",
"There are 35 people in the author's list of friends right now.",
"The list of 35 fri... | Facebook means never having to say goodbye. The social media website has earned a reputation for reconnecting old friends. Last week, a guy whom I hadn't seen since my bachelor party five years ago sent me a friend request. I accepted and waited for "Easy E" to send me a greeting of some kind. He had sought me out, after all.
I learned from his profile that he was in a relationship and had a son. However, I'm pretty sure we won't ever write wall-to-wall, let alone e-mail each other. But he'll remain a friend of online until one of us makes a point of removing the other from his official list.
My pool of friends consists of family members, college buddies, co-workers from past and present, and friends of friends. There are 35 in all. If I spent some time uploading old e-mail addresses, I'm confident that I could increase my friend count actually.
A person could make a mission out of reconnecting with childhood friends, former classmates, distant cousins, and those one would like to get to know better. And some people can even handle hundreds of on-screen relationships, keeping up with the daily happenings of their small army of companions. After all, there are worse fates than having too many friends.
Thanks to e-mail, the inability to schedule face-to-face meetings no longer means a friendship must come to a close. But even with e-mail, people will lose touch if one or both parties stop writing back. That's normal. People move from school to school, job to job, city to city. You never have to feel guilty for breaking away.
Every day, the masterminds of Web 2.0 find new ways of making human communication easier. _ . Some things shouldn't be simplified. When it comes to friendship, there can be no shortcuts. | high3556.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "south-west"
},
"options": [
"south-west",
"north-west",
"south-east",
"north-east"
],
"question": "The great earthquake happened to the _ of the capital city.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | A major earthquake rocked Haiti at 4:53 pm local time on Jan.12, 2010, killing possibly thousands of people but no official figure has been released so far.
The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of the capital, Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks. In the space of a minute, numerous buildings fell down. A five-story U.N. building was also brought down by the 7.3 magnitude quake, the most powerful to hit Haiti in more than 200 years according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
As night fell, the whole city is in total darkness. You can see thousands of people sitting in the streets with nowhere to go. There are people running, crying, screaming. Describing the earthquake as a "catastrophe", Haiti's president said the cost of the damage could run into billions.
Haiti became the first independent Caribbean state in the early 19th century. Haiti's location, history and attracting climate once made it a tourist hot place. However, decades of poverty, environmental pollution and violence have left it as the poorest nation in the Americas. It has suffered a lot, including four hurricanes and storms in 2008 that killed hundreds. | high11777.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "in bed before sleep"
},
"options": [
"with some friend",
"all the night with a toy",
"during her sleep",
"in bed before sleep"
],
"question": "Crying _ made Guo Meng feel better.",
"question_type": "cloz... | Is crying good therapy? Experts say yes. Having a good weep at the weekend is becoming more popular among office workers in China.
"I need to cry to let my feeling out," said 22-year-old Guo Meng, a smart-looking young woman. "I remember one day when I got home I felt so down but I had no one to talk to, so I just curled up with my teddy bear and cried myself to sleep," Guo said. The next day, she said, she felt much better and life seemed not so bad after all.
Because crying is taken as a sign of weakness, people make a great show of being strong and not displaying emotion. Psychologists and medical practitioners agree that crying is beneficial for mental health but people still regard it as a sign of failure and bottle up their feelings. A famous Chinese author once said to cry is normal, and even brave. Those who display their emotions can deal with their troubles bravely after the tears dry, while those who soldier on let problems fester .
In the Chaoyang district of Beijing, there is a special place for people to cry their sadness out. It is called "Cry Bar". On the door of each of its "cry rooms" there is a saying encouraging people to let the tears flow freely.
"Crying is a kind of therapy, but it needs some direction," said Milulu, a psychologist.
"People should realize the point of crying is to relieve pressure, but some of the young people who come to the Cry Bar simply sit and weep. The purpose of crying is to make it easier to improve your life after the tears dry, not to get lost in bad memories."
Crying is only one way of relieving pressure, and we need to face problems squarely and solve them once the tears have dried, said Mululu. | high5899.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "some city kids couldn't afford expensive sports equipment"
},
"options": [
"people didn't like to play golf",
"some city kids couldn't afford expensive sports equipment",
"there is an Olympics for extreme sports",
"extr... | Nowadays more and more young athletes are taking part in the risky activities called "extreme sports" or "X-sports".
In the past young athletes would play baseball. Today, they want risk and excitement -- the closer to the edge, the better. They snowboard over cliff and hike deep mountains.
Extreme sports started as an alternative to more expensive sports such as golf. A city kid who couldn't afford expensive sports equipment could get a skateboard and have fun. But now it has become a whole new area of sports, with specialized equipment and high levels of skill. There is even an Olympics for extreme sports, called the winter x-game, which includes snow mountain hiking and ice climbing.
What makes extreme sports so popular? Maybe it's because people love the risk. City people want to be outdoors on the weekends and do something challenging. The new equipment is so much better that people can take more risks without getting hurt. Sure there's a risk. Once you go mountain hiking or snowboarding, it's impossible to go back to have riding or skiing. It's just too boring.
Now even the older crowd is starting to join in. Every weekend, groups of friends in their early 30s get together. On weekdays they work as computer programmers in the same office. On weekends they hike mountains together.
Extreme sports are certainly not for everyone. Most people still prefer to play basketball or watch sports on TV. But it has been a fact that extreme sports are gaining popularity. | high3230.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "AIDS awareness"
},
"options": [
"AIDS awareness",
"World AIDS Day",
"AIDS",
"AIDS prevention and treatment"
],
"question": "What does the red ribbon stand for?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{... | I am wearing a small red ribbon this morning to remind myself and others around me that today is World AIDS Day.
The red ribbon, an international symbol of AIDS awareness, is gaining increasing public recognition as more Chinese, from top leaders to movie stars, wear it today.
Gone were the days when the topic of HIV/AIDS was a public and media taboo . Over the past few years, we have watched, read and heard many stories from doctors, volunteers and public health officials at the forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Quite a few people with HIV/AIDS have come forward to share their experiences on TV or in the media.
The local and central governments have become more forthcoming (be helpful) with their new prevention and treatment programmes, and financial input. The _ rose from less than 1 million yuan (US$ 121,000) in 1986 to a pledge of 800 million yuan (US$98.8 million) in the year of 2006.
The change from silence to public and media campaigns with official promises has been remarkable, especially since China battled through the SARS crisis.
But have we got a full understanding on HIV/AIDS? What do we know about the extent of HIV/AIDS in China?
The figures, ranging from confirmed cases to estimates, remain debated. After all, no more than a year has passed since the policy of free medical tests was make public. Unknown numbers from the high-risk groups drug addicts and people working in sex- related place as well as farmers who once sold blood could still be reluctant to come forward. | high5641.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "offer something new to listeners"
},
"options": [
"bring a new life to listeners",
"help listeners find their interest",
"make listeners learn the words",
"offer something new to listeners"
],
"question": "Accor... | Long ago, poems were recited out loud instead of being written down. When the Greeks first started the Olympics, they held poetry contests as well as athletic competitions.
Now, poetry competitions have been revived .This year 120,000 high school students competed in the first Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest, performing poems from memory for $100,000 in prizes.
The first competitions were held in classrooms. The winners went on to school-wide contests, and then they competed in city and state competitions. Finally, the 50 state champions, along with the District of Columbia champion came to Washington, D.C. last week for the last show down. After the 51 champions competed against one another, 12 went on to the finals. Then the field was narrowed to five. The final five had one last chance to "perform" a poem. The overall champ, Jackson Hille, a high school senior from Ohio, won a $20,000 scholarship.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation started Poetry Out Loud because they realized that hearing a poem performed is a different experience from reading it on a page.
It's not just a matter of saying the words in the right order. It's the tone of voice, the pauses, the gestures, and the attitude of the person performing that bring the words to life. "Each time we hear somebody recite a poem, we find something fresh and interesting about it, " says National Public Radio Broadcaster Scott Simon, master of ceremonies for the finals. Hearing it in a new voice offers something new to the listener.
Not only do the people hearing poems have a new experience, memorizing and presenting poems helps the participants understand those poems in a new way. Another benefit of a competition such as Poetry Out Loud is that the participants learn public -speaking skills that can help them for life. | high18035.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "for at least one hour weekly"
},
"options": [
"for at least one hour daily",
"for at least one hour weekly",
"for at least one hour monthly",
"for at least one hour yearly"
],
"question": "In order to do good to... | Need a solid excuse to dust off your running shoes? Joggers have been found to live an average of six years longer than those who don't jog.
However, you'll have to run for at least one hour a week for benefit, according to a new study in Denmark.
Researchers found that jogging was associated with a 44 per cent reduction in the risk of death for those over 35 years compared with deaths among those who did not run.
The same benefit applied to both men and women.
The 44 per cent reduction translates to an 'age-adjusted survival benefit' of 6.2 years in men and 5.6 years in women, according to Dr. Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist from the Copenhagen City Heart study.
Furthermore, the jogger's lives are not only longer but happier too as those who ran reported an overall sense of well-being, said Schnohr.
The results of our research allow us to definitively answer the question of whether jogging is good for your health,' Schnohr said in a statement.
'We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don't actually need to do that much to reap the benefits,' he continued.
The study also found that the optimum benefit of jogging was for those who jogged at a slow-to-average pace for between an hour and two and a half hours spread over two or three weekly sessions.
Researchers then compared deaths among the joggers among the non-joggers in the main study pool of almost 20,000.
Over 35 years, 122 joggers died compared with 10,158 non-joggers.
All the participants involved with the Copenhagen City Heart Study had their cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, and BMI, measured and they were questioned about smoking, alcohol consumption, education, and income. | high17306.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "relates to the size of their ancestors"
},
"options": [
"is determined by environment",
"cannot be predicted by any factor",
"is fully explained by the new study",
"relates to the size of their ancestors"
],
"qu... | Ocean animals have been getting bigger over the last half-billion years. Not a little bigger. Not even a lot bigger. They have _ gigantically, scientists now conclude.
Their new finding lends support for something known as "Cope's rule." It holds that animals tend to evolve into species that are much larger than their distant ancestors. This hypothesis takes its name from the 19thcentury paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope. While studying fossils , he was the first to notice this trend.
Noel Heim is a paleontologist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. He also is a co-author of the new study. His team compared the body size of animals between the Cambrian Period and modern times. This was a span of 542 million years. The animals studied included species from more than 17,000 genera. They ranged from ancient trilobites, plesiosaurs (extinct reptiles with a long neck and flippers) and many less familiar creatures to today's whales and clams.
Ocean animals today are an average of 150 times larger than they were during the Cambrian, Heim's group reports. The smallest animals alive today -- tiny crustaceans called ostracods -- are only about one-tenth the size of the Cambrian's tiniest animals. But today's largest ocean animals -- whales -- are more than 100,000 times bigger than the biggest in the Cambrian.
"Classes of animals that were already big ... tended to live longer," Heim says. They also tended to change more than classes of animals that were small did.
The size gains in ocean animals are much larger than would be expected by chance, saysJonathan Payne. He's a co-author who also works at Stanford.
The scientists don't know what drives the trend. One possibility is an arms race between predators and prey. The idea here is that larger animals are less likely to become some other animals' meal. Another possibility has to do with oxygen. Land animals evolved from species that started in the ocean. Some of these land animals eventually returned to the ocean. And they kept the ability to breathe oxygen-rich air. That may have made it easier for them to outgrow animals that had to filter their oxygen out of the water. | high10469.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "almost missed reaching the airplane"
},
"options": [
"had to attend an important meeting",
"wanted to have plenty of time at home",
"almost missed reaching the airplane",
"hoped to have Friday night's party"
],
... | A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a meeting in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets, one of these salesmen happened to kick over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their boarding.
All but one stopped, took a deep breath and experienced a twinge of sorrow for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his friends to go on without him, waved goodbye, and told one of them to call his wife when they arrived and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to where the apple stand had been overturned. He was glad he did.
The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her face. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become damaged; then he set them aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take the $20 for the damage we did." He continued, "I'm sorry for what we did and hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."
She nodded with her tears. As the salesman started to walk away, the blind girl called out to him, "Mr. ...". He stopped, and turned back. She continued, "Thank you very much". | high1427.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Eating Almonds regularly can help us lose weight."
},
"options": [
"White coffee can't help us stay focused in the afternoon.",
"Eating Almonds regularly can help us lose weight.",
"Dark Chocolate can help us have a good nap ... | We've all had a bad feeling soon after a hearty lunch. You can' t stay focused, your energy level falls, and you wish you possessed a warm blanket so you could curl up under your desk for a quick nap. But you have important things to do-like completing that project or leading a team meeting in 1ess than an hour.
You don't have to suffer that fate anymore. I have four foods that will get your focus back on track so that you can finish your workday stronger than you started. Keep these products handy in your office, and you'll never suffer from that 2 p. m. mental slog ever again.
Green Tea
While coffee is an important afternoon pick-me-up, green tea should not be overlooked.
The unique combination of the amino acid thiamine and caffeine has been shown across several studies to improve creativity, ability to multitask, and reaction time. Try some amazing tea recipes to get, started.
Almonds
Almonds are a great afternoon recharger that research from Purdue University shows will also aid in your weight-loss efforts. This is because almonds provide sustained energy: a mix of fat, fiber, and protein.Those elements allow almonds to offer a convenient snack that gives you a smooth shot of energy that comes from controlling your blood sugar levels. Plus, research shows that people who regularly eat nuts have as much as a 50 percent reduced risk of having a heart attack.
Greek Yogurt
Research from the University of Missouri shows that protein helps your body into better blood sugar control by stimulating the release of the hormone glucagon . Aim for a cup that has 20 t0 23 gram.s of protein for your snack.
Dark Chocolate
Despite often being viewed as a bad dietary food, dark chocolate can help fight off that urge to take a nap in the middle of the day. While dark chocolate does contain small amounts of caffeine, its real power comes from phenyl ethylamine . Research from Middlesex University in London shows that just smelling chocolate can shift brain activity towards greater attention. | high13160.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "People."
},
"options": [
"Lucky.",
"Parents",
"Entertainment.",
"People."
],
"question": "Which of the following comes out every week?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3... | People
People is America's No.1 magazine about fascinating people. It's a guide to who and what's hot in the arts, science, business, politics, television, movies, books, music and sports. It is published weekly.
Publisher: The Time Inc. Magazine Company
Cover Price: $211.47
Our Price:$117.00
Issues :53 issues/ 12 months
Lucky
Lucky is the shopping magazine with the best buys, and the fashion tips you'll need before you hit the stores. What makes Lucky really different is that it gets you the information you need before anyone else has it.
Publisher: Conde Nast Publications Inc.
Cover Price: $35.40
Our Price:$15.00
Issues: 12 issues/ 12 months
Parents
The most trusted magazine for parents who want to raise smart, loving and self-confident children. Each issue has age-specific child-development guidance, advice on your child's health and safety, and the best ways to encourage your child's learning.
Publisher: Meredith Corporation
Cover Price: $42.00
Our Price:$9.97
Issues: 12 issues/ 12 months
Entertainment
This magazine covers movies, television, music, Broadway stage productions, books, and popular culture. Unlike _ like People, its main concentration is on entertainment media and reviews. It's intended for a more general audience.
Publisher: The Time Inc. Magazine Company
Cover Price: $199.50
Our Price:$38.95
Issues: 62 issues/ 12 months | high8365.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "party-goers usually get hungry at parties"
},
"options": [
"party invitations can be confusing",
"party-goers usually get hungry at parties",
"people should ask for food at parties",
"birthday parties for middle-aged pe... | The other day, my friend Jane was invited to a 40th birthday party. The time printed on the invitation was 7:30 pm.Jane went off with her husband, expecting a merry evening of wine, food, and song.
By 9:45, everybody was having great fun, but no food had appeared. Jane and David were restless. Other guests began whispering that they, too, were starving.But no one wanted to leave, just in case some food was about to appear. By 11:00, there was still no food, and everyone was completely _ . Jane and David left hungry and angry.
Their experience suggests that the words on the printed invitations need to be made clearer. Everyone reads and understands the invitations differently. Most of us would agree that 6:30 - 8:30 pm means drinks only, go out to dinner afterwards; 8:00 pm or 8:30 pm means possible dinner, but 9:30 pm and any time thereafter means no food, eat beforehand, arrive late.
But this is not always the case.If asked to a students' party at 6:30 pm, it is unaccepted for guests to appear on time. Being the first to arrive -- looking eager -- is social death. When my mother is asked to a party at 6:30, she likes to be there, if not on time, then no later than seven.My age group (late thirties) falls somewhere between the two, but because we still think we're young, we're probably closer to student-time than grown-up time.
The accepted custom at present is confusing, sometimes annoying, and it often means you may go home hungry, but it does lend every party that precious element of surprise. | high1433.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "about 20 years old"
},
"options": [
"about 9 years old",
"in their forties",
"teenagers",
"about 20 years old"
],
"question": "People who are into Lomo are mostly _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Lomography was first officially introduced to China when the Lomography World Congress was held in Beijing in July, 2004. The Lomography World Congress is the greatest annual event of the Lomographic Society. It has been held in Madrid, New York, Tokyo, Cologne and Vienna, etc. The 2004's _ took place in Beijing and ran a full week.
The first non-official affair of Chinese Lomographers was held in August, 2005 and it attracted much attention. A lot of energetic young people got together under the banner of "I Loma you" which was the slogan of this big party. In China Lomo is more of a symbol of fashion and youth, and most of the Lomographers are stylish young people who work with or study art. The organizer told the editor that the oldest Lomographer who came here is in his forties while the youngest one is about nine years old, but most of the people who are into Lomo are about 20 years old. In China the concept of Lomography is not only about Lomographyer taking photos with Lomo camera, but also a kind of spirit. "I think, generally, the Lomo spirit is everyone trying to love one's own life and discover the beauty of everyday life," the organizer said, "what I think more important is the idea of freedom and creativity. The 10 th Golden Rule is 'don't worry about any rules', I think it introduces to us a concept: It's you who make the rules and it's you who break the rules. So free your mind and let your creativity work, and your life will be fantastic." | high13174.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The second touring exhibit showed more artifacts than the first one."
},
"options": [
"The artifacts were shown in London first.",
"The artifacts were on show in the United States once.",
"The second touring exhibit showed mo... | In the past, if a person wanted to see the national treasures of a country, one had to go there in person. Therefore, very few people were able to enjoy some of history's most important and interesting artifacts . This has changed with an increase in the number of traveling museum exhibitions.
King Tutankhamen Artifacts
A traveling exhibition of artifacts from the tomb of King Tutankhamen, popularly known as "King Tut", toured the United States from November 1976 to April 1979. The 55 objects were shown in six cities and were seen by around eight million museum-goers. The second touring exhibit was started in 2007, this time with 130 artifacts and stops in London and three different American cities. However some objects, like the king's golden face mask, are too valuable or too delicate to be transported long distances, so "replicas" (exact copies of something) are on show.
Japanese Color Woodblock Prints
The Art Museum at University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Virginia, has an extraordinary collection of Japanese color woodblock prints . These prints document the period from about 1850 to 1900, a time when Japan was opening itself to Western influences. Before this point, Japan was a closed society that had little communication with the world outside of its borders. These works of art beautifully show the feeling of change and the trend toward modernization. The museum has put together a traveling exhibition of 60 of these prints, which can be borrowed and exhibited worldwide for periods of eight weeks or more.
Face-to-face with "Lucy"
One of the world's most famous archaeological finds in history are the 3.2 million-year-old bones of a 106-centimeter-tall female found in the Ethiopian desert in 1974. Lucy, a name given to her by the discovery team, is a "hominid", or a creature that scientists believe is the earliest ancestor of modern human beings. Rarely is an artifact this valuable allowed to travel widely, but Lucy has been taken to several museums in the U.S. while a detailed replica remains at the Ethiopian Natural History Museum. | high8371.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Many people have wrong concept towards the relation between love and money."
},
"options": [
"The material wealth and general contentment are strongly connected with each other.",
"The more one's wealth is, the happier he will be."... | There is a Web site called the "World Database of Happiness." It combines and analyzes the results of hundreds of surveys from around the world that have been conducted on life satisfaction. Most of the findings are predictable, but a few are surprising.
The database makes it clear that there is not a strong connection between material wealth and general contentment. It is a cliche to say that money can't buy happiness, but the old saying seems to be supported by research. Many people still cling to the belief that gaining riches will be the answer to all their problems, yet they are probably mistaken.
Studies have been carried out on people who acquired sudden wealth, such as lottery winners. In most cases, after the initial joy had worn off, people were not left with a sense of lasting happiness. In fact, they tended to revert to the way they felt before they became rich. Previously contented people continue to be contented, while those who were miserable before sink back into misery.
If material wealth does not bring happiness, then what does? Perhaps happiness has something to do with where you live. The authorities at the World Database on Happiness have surveyed levels of happiness in different countries. Apparently, people in America, Canada, and Singapore are very happy; people living in India and Russia, not surprisingly, are not happy.
Other surveys consistently point to the importance of relationships. Family relationships in particular seem to be the key to long-term contentment. The Web site suggests that falling in love and having children are two of the situations that bring the greatest happiness.
Nowadays people look to technology as an alternative source of satisfaction. People increasingly spend more time alone watching TV or surfing the Internet rather than spending time with family. Can technology truly make people happy? It is too difficult to tell, but one thing is sure: If the Web site's research is accurate, time spent with your family is a better investment than time spent making money. | high15505.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "is becoming more and more popular in cities"
},
"options": [
"has become the most popular way to go to work",
"has become the best way to cut living costs",
"is becoming more and more popular in cities",
"is becoming po... | Car sharing is another way to drive green that's gaining in popularity, especially in urban areas.People who may not drive every day but still want a car to run errands or drive on weekends benefit most from car sharing.Car sharing is usually run by a service like Zipcar, though there are non-profit and informal car sharing services.Members pay a monthly fee and have access to an entire fleet of cars when they need one.The cars are parked in fixed spots around the city, so members only need to make a reservation, and then go to the pickup spot.
Car sharing has major environmental benefits because it reduces the number of cars on the road.Members don't drive just because they are in a car.They plan trips, and if they don't need a car, they don't use one.Still, a car is available to them if they need to make a big trip to the grocery store, pick someone up at the airport or if they want to go to the beach for the day.Members also benefit by having access to a car without any of the headaches of ownership.They usually don't have to pay for the gas, insurance or maintenance , and the monthly membership fee is less than a typical car payment.So if you really want to go green but aren't ready to totally give up a car yet, car sharing may be the way to go.
If you still need to get around, but want to go even greener than sharing a car, share a bus! | high11763.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "By combining both Western and Chinese medicine."
},
"options": [
"By studying Western medicine.",
"By learning traditional Chinese medicine.",
"By combining both Western and Chinese medicine.",
"By doing research on bot... | We can slow down aging. That is the message Dr. Shen Ziyin wants to give the world. And the Chinese doctor claims that he has found an answer to the problems of aging. His solution is a herbal medicine to slow the process of aging.
Dr. Shen Ziyin has been trained in Western medicine. At the same time he studied traditional Chinese medicine. And, he has been working for the past forty years to put together the best of both and find a cure for aging. He has taken a hint from the ancient Chinese medicine system called "Shen".
According to Shen, it is the kidney which adjusts the functioning of the body as well as its aging process. It is responsible for the level of activity that the human bodies go through. Studies conducted by Dr. Shen show that herbal medicine based on the Shen system slows the aging process, says a report in the Telegraph newspaper. We notice that when people grow old, they have reduced strength, loss of hair, backache, weakness, wrinkles and so on. This happens because when people grow old, their bodies produce T-cells. These T-cells contain a particular substance called Fas. Fas makes the cells in the body destruct themselves.
So the only way to slow down aging is to slow the production of T-cells in the body. This can happen if people eat low calorie food. Then the body is not active enough to produce extra T-cells. But, is going hungry all the time a good price to pay for staying young? This is where Dr. Shen's herbal medicine comes in. But how effective it will be, only time can tell. | high3224.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "was just a list of difficult words with one-word definitions"
},
"options": [
"defined easy words as well as hard ones",
"was just a list of difficult words with one-word definitions",
"included a number of everyday words",
... | The first English dictionary was published in 1604. The dictionary was actually nothing more than a list of about 3, 000 difficult words, each followed by a one-word definition.
The author, Robert Cawdrey, made no attempt to include everyday words in his dictionary. No one, he reasoned, would ever have to look up a word in a dictionary if he already knew the meaning of the word. During the 1600's more dictionaries were published. Each followed Cawdrey's lead and presented a few thousand hard words. Around 1700 one dictionary maker, John Kersey, did define easy words as well as hard words. But until the 1750's all the dictionaries were rather crude and not very valuable.
A man named Dr Samuel Johnson changed all this. In 1755 Dr Johnson produced the first modern dictionary. He included in his dictionary all important words, both easy and hard, and he gave good meanings. He also gave good sentences to show how each word was actually used in speech and in writing. By the end of the 1700's most dictionary makers had followed Johnson's example. Dictionaries were getting better and better.
The 1800's saw the greatest improvement in the quality of dictionaries. In England scholars planned and prepared the Oxford English Dictionary, a twenty-volume (;;) work. One of the most interesting features of the Oxford Dictionary is its word histories. It traces (;) the history of each word from its earliest recorded use up to the time of the printing of the dictionary. | high18021.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they are poor"
},
"options": [
"wasting is prohibited there",
"they are poor",
"they are interested in fixing things",
"they live a low-carbon life"
],
"question": "In Cuba, people usually fix a broken item inst... | I once had a house guest from Cuba. During his visit, I happened to throw an old broken blender in the trash. The next day it was sitting on my counter - in working order. In his world, people simply cannot afford to replace an item which doesn't work properly. They take the time and figure out how to fix it. In Cuba, they are still driving cars from the 1960's, mainly because they do not have a choice.
In contrast, the U.S. is a "throw-away society." Statistics show that each American produces six pounds of trash per day. I believe a combination of factors has contributed to this phenomenon.
"Planned obsolescence " is not a secret. It is a manufacturing philosophy developed in the 1920's and 1930's, when mass production became popular. The goal is to make a product or part that will fail, or become less desirable over time or after a certain amount of use. This pressures the consumer to buy again.
Planned obsolescence does keep costs down. Instead of making an expensive product that will last a long time, businesses produce more affordable, disposable items. Some electronic items have become so inexpensive that it is cheaper to replace them than to repair them.[:&&Z&X&X&K]
Busy people often value their time and convenience more than money. If a car starts to have mechanical problems, replacing it with a newer, more reliable model may be more appealing than tolerating it being in the garage for a week.
In addition, advertising trains consumers to want what is new and improved. It convinces them that the more they have, the happier they will be.
Unlike people in many developing countries, we live in a world of abundance. A study by Dr. Timothy Jones of the University of Arizona also found that in the U.S., 40-50 percent of all food ready for harvest is wasted. Abundance and waste soon became closely associated in the American way of life. | high5655.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "baby"
},
"options": [
"student",
"baby",
"nurse",
"doctor"
],
"question": "Hellen got very sick and became blind and deaf when she was a _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Hellen Keller lived in the USA. She was a great woman. When Hellen was a baby, she got very sick. Several weeks later. The doctor said," She is better, but now she can not see and hear." Her mother and father were very sad.
After a few years, things got worse. There was no way for Hellen to speak to other people, She heard nothing. She did not understand anything.
Then one day a teacher came to live with Hellen and her family. The teacher helped Hellen learn about words. Hellen was a very bright child and soon she learned to spell her first word. When she was old enough, she went to college. Hellen was very famous. She helped many blind and deaf people. She travelled around the world and helped many people.
The world remember her today as a brave and wonderful woman. She was blind and deaf, but she found a way to see and hear. | high17312.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "have a strong sense of creativity"
},
"options": [
"try not to take risks",
"stay in the same business",
"have a strong sense of creativity",
"save every possible penny"
],
"question": "According to the author, ... | When I was a child I never said, "When I grow up, I want to be a CEO," but here I am. When I look back on my career, I realize the road to becoming a CEO isn't a straight, clearly clarified path. In fact, no two paths are the same. But whether you want to be a boss one day or not, there's a lot to learn from how leaders rise to the top of successful companies.
As this series of stories shows, the paths to becoming a CEO may vary, but the people in that position share the qualities of commitment , work ethic and a strong desire for building something new. And every CEO take risks along the way--putting your life savings on the line to start a software company or leaving a big business to be one of the first employees at a startup.
I grew up in Minnesota, and learned how to be an entrepreneur from my father, who has run a small business for almost 30 years. I went to Georgetown University and tried a lot of business activities in college with varying degrees of success. And I always had a dream job pattern: to walk to work, work for myself and build something for consumers.
I'm only 29, so it's been a quick ride to CEO. Out of college, I worked for AOL as a product manager, then moved to Revolution Health and ran the consumer product team. In mid-2007 I left Revolution Health and started LivingSocial with several other colleagues, where I became a CEO.
Career advice: Don't figure out where you want to work, or even what industry you'd like to work at. Figure out what makes you do so. What gives you a really big rush? Answer why you like things, not what you like doing...and then apply it to your work life. Also, just because you're graduating , don't stop learning. Read more books than you did in college. If you do, and they're not, you're really well in a position to succeed in whatever you do. | high21878.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "keep an appointment made 20 years before"
},
"options": [
"tell a policeman an extremely moving story",
"keep an appointment made 20 years before",
"help the police to catch a wanted criminal",
"show off his great succe... | The policeman moved up the avenue impressively.It was barely 10 o'clock at night,but the chilly wind with rain had kept people out of the streets.
The policeman suddenly slowed his walk.In the doorway of a darkened store a man leaned,with an unlighted cigar in his mouth.As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.
"It's all right,officer,"he said,"I'm just waiting for a friend.It's an appointment made twenty years ago.Well,about that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands--'Big Joe'Brady's restaurant."
"Until five years ago,"said the policeman."It was torn down then."
The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar.The light showed a pale,squarejawed face with keen eyes,and a little white scar near his right eyebrow.His scarf pin was a large diamond.
"Twenty years ago tonight,"said the man,"I dined here at 'Big Joe'Brady's with Jimmy Wells,my best friend,and the finest guy in the world.He and I were raised here in New York,just like two brothers,together.I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty.The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune.You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York;he thought it was the only place on earth.Well,we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time,no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come.We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our fortunes made,whatever they were going to be."
"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman."Rather a long time between meets,though,it seems to me.Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"
"Well,yes,for a time we corresponded," said the other."But after a year or two we lost track of each other.Yet I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive,for he always was the truest guy in the world.He'll never forget.I came a thousand miles to stand in this door tonight,and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."
The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two,saying:"I'll be on my way.Hope your friend comes around all right."
"I'll give him half an hour at least.If Jimmy is alive he'll be here by that time.So long,officer."
"Goodnight,sir," the policeman went away.
The man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment with the friend of his youth,smoked his cigar and waited.
About twenty minutes he waited,and then a tall man in a long overcoat,with collar turned up to his ears,hurried across from the opposite side of the street.He went directly to the waiting man.
"Is that you,Bob?" he asked,doubtfully.
"Is that you,Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.
"Bless my heart!" exclaimed the new arrival,grasping both the other's hands with his own."It's Bob,sure as fate.I was certain I'd find you here.Well,twenty years is a long time."
"You've changed lots,Jimmy.I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches."
"Oh,I grew a bit after I was twenty.Come on,Bob;we'll go around to a place I know of,and have a good long talk about old times."
The two men started up the street,arm in arm.The man from the West,his egotism enlarged by success,was beginning to outline the history of his career.The other,hidden in his overcoat,listened with interest.
At the corner stood a drugstore,brilliant with electric lights.When they came in,each of them turned to gaze upon the other's face.
The man from the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.
"You're not Jimmy Wells," he said sharply. "Twenty years is a long time,but not long enough to change a man's nose from straight to flat."
The tall man said,"You've been under arrest for ten minutes,Bob.Chicago thinks you may have dropped over our way and asks us to have a chat with you.Going quietly,are you?That's sensible.Now,before we go on to the station here's a note to you.You may read it here at the window.It's from Patrolman Wells."
The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper.His hand was steady when he began to read,but it trembled a little when he had finished.The note was rather short.
"Bob:I was at the appointed place on time.When you struck the match to light your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago.Somehow I couldn't do it myself,so I went around and got a plain clothes man to do the job.JIMMY." | high18747.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Listening is better than yelling and fighting."
},
"options": [
"Listening is better than yelling and fighting.",
"It is impolite to see your parents eye to eye.",
"Be careful when you take your parents' advice.",
"Pare... | Nowadays the problem of the generation gap is becoming more and more serious. Poor relationship between parents and their children are very common.
Whether we like it or not, our parents are responsible for us at least until we're out of high school. So rather than get upset about that fact, maybe we should focus on some ways to make our relationship better. The best way, in my opinion, is to learn to really communicate with my parents.
When I find myself arguing with my mom and dad, I try to stop. If I can manage to stop myself from talking, I usually find that I can calm down quickly. I guess I'm usually acting out of emotion rather than logic . But if I can stop arguing for a minute, it seems that my opinion changes and I start to realize that I'm a bit childish. Emotionally I may still be upset, but logically I understand that yelling and fighting surely won't make things better.
Once I've stopped arguing, I look at my parents in the eye. You'd be amazed at how much easier it is to communicate with your parents when you've actually looking at them. Looking away doesn't do much of anything except for giving them the impression that I'm not listening or that I don't care. It's much easier to see things eye to eye when you're physically seeing them eye to eye.
Finally, I listen to what they're saying (or at least I try). Communication can't happen unless both sides hear and listen to each other. There is nothing wrong with my hearing, but that doesn't mean I always listen to the sounds that people are making. When I argue with my parents, I can physically hear what they're saying without mentally listening to it.
Whether I admit it or not, my parents' experience can actually help them give me some pretty sound advice at times. I don't always agree with them, but I think it's safe to say that it has truly helped our relationship in the long run. | high5133.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Japan."
},
"options": [
"China.",
"Japan.",
"Russia.",
"The US."
],
"question": "Which of the following countries hasn't carried out agricultural research in space up to the present?",
"question_type": null
... | Have you ever dreamed about a trip to the space? Seeds of some vegetables and crops are a lot luckier than you, as they have travelled to space and back.
China is among the three countries in the world that carry out agricultural research in space. The others are Russia and the US. Since 1987, China has sent about 1,000 species of seeds into space. These include green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers , carrots, lettuce and wheat. Even on China's first manned spacecraft Shenzhou-V, there were some seeds from Taiwan.
"Conditions in outer space such as radiation and low gravity can cause big changes in the seeds," said Chinese researcher Jin Xing.
But not all seeds are better after going to space. After returning to Earth, the best seeds are selected.These seeds produce much more and also grow faster than normal seeds. As the safety of genetically modified food is still being debated, some people doubt the safety of these "space vegetables" because some of their genes are changed during the trip to space.
But Jin holds a more positive view. He said, "unlike genetically modified crops, no new genes are introduced to the space vegetables, so they are definitely safe." China has also been co-operating with NASA to grow some super size potatoes on the International Space Station. Special growth rooms use computers to control the light, temperature and humidity . Using this technology a new, virus-free potato can be produced every 40 to 50 days instead of the previous yearly crop. | high17474.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "not a natural one but made by people"
},
"options": [
"the second largest lake in the USA",
"surrounded by the town of Davidson",
"not a natural one but made by people",
"about five hundred metres long"
],
"ques... | Surrounded by the towns of Davidson, Huntersville and Cornelius, Lake Norman is a man-made lake. It is also the largest lake in the state covering a shoreline of more than 500 miles. State Park on the lake gives a chance for different water activities.
People, both tourists and locals, come to the area on weekends, where during the peak season a large crowd arrives to relax and have fun. A great activity for kids is education except fun. The tour coversaquatic life, especially that seen at Lake Norman. Since it is more of an educational one it also covers other important knowledge about water.
Those wanting to go boating are seen off into the lake on canoes and pedal boats which are rented on hourly basis. The charges are $5 per hour increased by $3 for everyadditional hour. The boats can be kept on the lake all day from 10 in the morning till 5 in the evening during the summers. Both canoes and pedal boats can seat 2 to 4 people.
The park also set up a group tent camp, where a site can hold about 25 people. People from all over the country come here to catch some fishing action, obviously hoping to catch some fish as well. The inner park lake is also great for fishing, though it offers a smaller area compared to Lake Norman. Those here for adventure like to go for biking and hiking on the trails inside the park.
Lake Norman is a great place to spend time with family and friends. People come here on vacation or simply to kick back after a week's work and relax. | high2884.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "rice"
},
"options": [
"rice",
"knife",
"cloth",
"wheat"
],
"question": "In the Philippines Islands _ was once used as money.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_in... | Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services. People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of other things we need or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.
Lots of the money today is made of paper. But people used to use all kinds of things as money. One of the first kinds of money was shells. Shells were not the only things used as money.
In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine Islands, rice was used as money for a long time. Some Africans once used elephant tusks, monkey tails, and salt as money.
The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the center. Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. Later, countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese thought of a way to improve money. They began to use paper money. The first paper money looked more like a note from one person to another than the paper money used today.
Money has had an interesting history, from the days of shell money until today. | high11005.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "express an opinion"
},
"options": [
"make a suggestion",
"express an opinion",
"give important information",
"complain about cable television"
],
"question": "The purpose of writing this passage is to _ .",
... | They say that soon, we will be able to receive more than 500 television networks on cable or by satellite. Some people think that it's useless to have that many channels. Their usual criticism goes something like this: "I already get more channels on my TV than I have time to watch. No one needs to see that much TV. There's not enough time in the day to watch all that!"They also say that most of what's on television now isn't worth watching in the first place.
I think they're missing the point. If the local library wanted to add another 5,000 books, would we say, "That's silly, we'll never have time to read all those books"? The point is that we would have more choices.
I don't believe that most people should watch more television. And if we had 500 or even 1,000 channels to choose from, we wouldn't have to spend more time watching TV. We would, however, have more programs to choose from. That means that the quality of our viewing time would be improved.
I think the more channels we have, the better. Give me more choices! If they're not worth my time, I'll just hit the "off" button. | high3542.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He himself successfully used cola to kill pests and saved his crop."
},
"options": [
"He is the first farmer to use cola to kill pests.",
"He is strongly against the use of cola to kill pests.",
"He successfully advised farme... | Cotton farmers in some Indian villages are flooding to buy Coca-Cola and Pepsi, believing that the sugar in the fizzy drinks kills pests . Farmers say scientists advised them to mix pesticides with a sugary syrup to control pests, and they found the mixture cheaper and more effective than pure chemicals---- although soft drink makers and scientists dismissed the claims.
N. Hamunayya, who has become famous in his village in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, said his crop survived an attack of pests which had resisted other solutions. "We found that all the colas had the same effect on pests. The pests became numb and fell to ground," he said.He said the drinks had all the elements they needed: they were cheaper, sticky, fizzy, and attracted ants, which swallowed the larvae( )of the pests.
But Thirupathi Reddy, assistant director of the Regional Agri Research station, Guntur, says tests had denied such claims. " We conducted some field trials on cotton crop at our research station. There were no increases of productivity or deaths of pests," he says. Statements from Pepsi and Coca-Cola said there was " no scientific basis" for this practice. But their sellers are enjoying booming sales. Mantan Wali, who sells soft drinks in 17 villages in the region, said sales increased , thanks to the farmers. " For the 10 days between August and September I had booming business. Instead of just 30 cases ( each containing a dozen one-litre bottles) of cola I started selling almost 200 cases, " he said. " We expected the sales to fall suddenly after the argument over pesticide remains in the cola drinks. Now I have to keep extra stock for the cotton farmers, " he said. | high23909.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To record the electrical activity of each baby's brain."
},
"options": [
"To record the images on the computer screen.",
"To remind babies of the changes of numbers.",
"To record the electrical activity of each baby's brain."... | It takes years of school to develop math skills, but learning about numbers starts earlier than you might think. Now according to a new study, at three months, babies have already started acquiring a concept of "how much".
Previous research had suggested that very young babies can tell when the number of objects in a group has changed. But the babies in these studies were simply reacting generally to the fact that something had changed, they suspected.
Researchers of Harvard University studied 36 babies, all three months old. During the tests, each baby wore a hat with sensors . The babies watched a series of images on a computer screen. _ showed the same object, such as a cartoon character. For a while, the number of the objects in the pictures didn't change. Then the images began to display a different object, or a different number of one of the objects the babies had previously looked at. As soon as something changed, the babies' brains responded with a specific pattern of electrical signals, which would be recorded by sensors.
By analyzing these signals, the researchers discovered that one part of the brain (near the top on the left side) responded when the object in the image changed. A different part of the brain (lower and on the right side) responded when the number of objects in the image changed. This was not the area of the brain that is involved in attention. That suggests that the babies' brains are doing more than just reacting to a change in what they're seeing - they actually seem to be able to tell number changes from other types of changes.
Numbers and amounts are important concepts in our lives. Even though babies are years away from adding, subtracting , multiplying, and dividing, their brains seem to be preparing for a time when they finally will. | high819.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "violence, sports, politics, law and agriculture"
},
"options": [
"war, law, violence, culture and agriculture",
"sports, war, violence, politics and climate",
"politics, culture, violence, climate and sports",
"violence... | *Prime Minister Tony Blair faced new allegations on Thursday that he misled Parliament and the public in making the case for the war in Iraq after he disclosed his chief legal adviser's written opinion raising questions about the legality of the war.
*US Forest Service officials are reminding people to stay off Forest Service roads that are closed. The fine for disobeying the rule of road closures is a maximum of $ 5, 000 fine and/or six months in prison. Those who enter the area and cause road damage may also be required to pay for repairs.
*In a second study presented at the meeting, scientists from the UK and Denmark showed that even a few days of high temperatures can severely reduce production of crops such as wheat, soybeans, rice and groundnuts, if it occurs when the plants are flowering.
*A bomb exploded in Thailand's mainly Muslin south on Sunday, killing two policemen and wounding three others, a day after Thailand' s queen condemned those behind a 15-month wave of violence .
*Mechanicsburg 3, West York l: Ken Stamper and Rusty Bowman had seven kills each, and Ryan Warfield had six to lead the Wildcats past the Bulldogs, 25-11, 25-15, 15-25, 25-23, in a non-league match. | high8417.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "be informed if they have not got a place"
},
"options": [
"avoid disappointment",
"be sent a bill",
"have an advantage over people applying in person",
"be informed if they have not got a place"
],
"question": "... | Students must apply for a place before attending any class. Applications whether by post or in person, are dealt with strictly in the order they are received at the Adult Education Office. You can apply:
By post----use the card supplied with the exact fee. You will be accepted on the course unless it is full, in which case we will inform you. An acknowledgement will not be made nor a receipt sent unless you supply a stamped addressed envelope. Receipts will normally be given out at the first class.
In person----call at the Adult Education Office (ground floor, C block) between _ 9:00a.m.and 3:30p.m. (2:30p.m. on Fridays) , or at the College Reception Desk (at the main entrance) at the other time (in the evenings until about 7:30p.m.----not Fridays)
Students should note that popular classes may be full well before the course is to start, so that early application is strongly advised to avoid disappointment.
For the Autumn Tem, applications will be accepted by post (better) or in person from August 1.
For the Spring Term, applications will be accepted from December 1.
For the Summer Term, applications will be accepted from April 1. | high15263.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "try to seek passion for a job"
},
"options": [
"treat his job as a great deal",
"try to seek passion for a job",
"find the meaning in his job slowly",
"learn to achieve his dream gradually"
],
"question": "Accor... | A new study supports the view that jobs aren't simply a love-at-first-sight deal. Rather, they say that achieving passion for your work is something you can develop over time.
Unlike the main way of thinking that you'Il only achieve passion for your work through finding the right fit with a line of work - what the researchers call "fit theory" , the researchers say you can learn to love your job and find meaning in it gradually("developing theory").
We probably hear and think a l.t more about "fit theory" than "developing theory" because we've become used to it. "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work," said Steve Jobs. "And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'II know when you find it. "
Chen and colleagues examined some students' career attitudes and expectations with regard to "fit theory"and "developing theory". "People can achieve similar levels of passion at work by accepting either the fit or develo-ping theory. The key difference lies in how these results are reached : fit theorists tend to self-select into lines of work that fit them from the start, while developing theorists grow into that fit over time. "
Fit theorists tend to value enjoyment at the expense of good pay, while developing theorists are willing to let enjoyment take a back seat to other goals, safe in the knowledge that they'll grow into the role and find enjoyment over time.
Everyone has moments of being bored with their work,but it's important to keep your thoughts focused on the bigger picture, your Iong-term goals , and whv you took the role in the first place. | high13612.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "People of different ages are interested in different things"
},
"options": [
"People are curious in the same way.",
"People in different countries are interested in different things.",
"Men and women are curious about differe... | As children grow up, they become curious about different kinds of things. When they are babies, they are interested in the parts of their bodies and in the smiles of their mothers. The they become interested in the physical world around them: the plants, the
animals, the sky. Later, they become interested in the things that people have made: wheels, bicycles, cars. And when they are adults, their curiosity continues. Sometimes this curiosity leads to a career (, ) in science.
Scientists spend their lives trying to find out about the world. Those who work with the earth sciences study the earth, the oceans, and the skies. Other scientists who study living things work with the biological sciences. A third group of scientists study the physical sciences, e. g. physics, chemistry .
These scientists have already discovered a lot about our world. For example, they tell us why your heart beats fast when you run. They say that when you are quiet, your heart normally beats sixty-five or seventy-five times a minute. Your heart is a pump that pumps blood to all parts of the body. The blood carries oxygen and nutrition. When you run, your muscles work very hard and use the nutrition that the blood carries to them. The muscles need oxygen, too . So your brain sends a signal to the heart. The signal means that the muscles need more nutrition and oxygen. Then the heart beats fast and sends blood quickly to the muscles. It may beat 90 to 140 times a minute.
Of course, scientists cannot answer all of our questions. If we ask, "Why does the ocean water taste salty?"
Scientists will say that the salt comes from rocks. When a rock gets very hot or very cold, it cracks. Rain falls into cracks. The rain then carries the salt into the earth and into the rivers. The rivers carry the salt into the ocean. But then we ask , "What happens to the salt in the ocean? The ocean does not get saltier every year." Scientists are not sure about the answer to this question.
We know a lot about our world, but there are still many answers that we do not have, and we are curious. | high2674.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It stores the energy from the sun."
},
"options": [
"It burns merely plant matter.",
"It keeps producing electricity.",
"It stores the energy from the sun.",
"It produces zero carbon dioxide"
],
"question": "Why... | The oldest and most common source of renewable energy known to man, biomass is one of the most important forms energy production in the United States and elsewhere. Since such a wide variety of biomass materials is everywhere --- from trees and grasses to agricultural and city --- life wastes ---biomass promises to play a continuing role in providing power and heat for millions of people around the world.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists(UCS), biomass is a kind of renewable energy source that produces no carbon dioxide , because the energy it contains comes from the sun. When plant matter is burned, it gives off the sun's energy. In this way, biomass serves as a sort of natural battery for storing the sun's energy. As long as biomass is produced continuously ---with only as much grown as is used-- the "battery" lasts forever.
According to the Energy Information Administration, biomass has been one of the leading renewable energy sources in the United States for several years running through 2007, making up between 0.5 and 0.9 percent of the nation's total electricity supply. In 2008---although the numbers aren't all in yet---wind power probably took over first place because of the rapid development of wind farms across the country.
Producing power from biomass helps reduce some 11 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. Some homeowners also try to make their own heat by using biomass materials. Such practice may save homeowner's money, but it also produces a lot of pollution. So, the best way is to encourage power plants to use it. | high10333.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "inform people of the causes of weight gain in the developed countries"
},
"options": [
"warn people of their bad eating habits in the developed countries",
"remind people of the relation between food and weight gain",
"inform... | More and more people are coming under the umbrella of fatness in modern times. Not just adults,but even children are getting overweight. Today some of the newborn babies are also born fat. It has been proved that the people living in the developed Western countries are more likely to become overweight. There are a number of causes behind this.
The people in the developed countries including the United States almost enjoy all the comforts of life. Almost all the things in the lives of the people living in these countries are at their fingertips. A very limited amount of movement and physical effort is required to do any kind of job. Because of the fact that these countries are quite developed,most of the jobs that the people take up are desk jobs. So the lifestyle of them is just around the office desk.
Most of the developed Western countries are cold ones. Nature demands that people eat the food that can somehow make them stand the coldness. Therefore,wine,fatty dairy products,bread,junk food and red meat become an important diet in these countries.
However,the blame cannot be entirely put on the unhealthy eating habits of the people. Technology allows them to import almost all the food products that they do not grow. Although some healthy food are grown in the countries nowadays,the quantity is very limited. It is not enough to meet the demand. So when they are not available and fatty foods are cheaper,then people prefer to go for the eating habit that they have always been following. | high16742.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Boys who were on the CHS basketball team."
},
"options": [
"All the students graduated from CHS.",
"Any audience who is from Bret Harte.",
"Boys who were on the CHS basketball team.",
"Boys who are studying in CHS at pr... | Announcements
Bret Harte vs. Calaveras alumni boys
The annual Bret Harte vs. CHS alumni boys basketball game will be held at 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 30, at Calaveras High. All players must have played at least one year of basketball team. Cost to play is $30. Admission for audience is $ 5 for adults and $ 2 for kids. 6-year-old kids and kids who are under 6 are admitted free. For more information, call Kraig Clifton at 743-0679 or Jeff Eltringham at 736-0162.
CHS girls basketball Skills
The Calaveras High School girls basketball program presents the Junior Redskins Winter Skills, a developmental basketball program for girls in fifth through eighth grades that will be held from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sundays. Sign-ups are still being accepted for the second of the two five-week sessions, which will be held on five consecutive Sundays beginning on Jan. 12, 2016. Cost is $25 per session. Each participant receives a T-shirt at the end of each session. For more information or to sign up, call Jeremy Malamed at 217-4563 or email sports.calent@gmail.com.
CHS swim/baseball coaching vacancies
Calaveras High School(CHS) is looking for a head boys/girls swim coach and a baseball coach for the 2016 spring season. Applications will be accepted and jobs will remain open until filled. Interview dates are to be set. Anyone interested can stop by the district office or the high school for an application. For more information, call Mike Koepp at 754-1811.
Foothills Little League sign-ups
Foothills Little League will hold sign-ups for the 2016 season from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Pizza Factory in Valley Springs. All players must provide proofs of residency and a birth certificate. For more information, call Shawn Threet at 304-7399 or leave a message at 772-1516.
Yoga in Rail Road Flat
Yoga is being offered at Rail Road Flat Elementary from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., Fridays with instructor Kristine Louise. Costs are a $5 instructor fee and $ 2 donation to The Friends of Rail Road Flat School. For more information, visit friendsofrrfschool.org. | high19471.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "she lost the power of thinking"
},
"options": [
"she felt very annoyed",
"she lost consciousness",
"she felt very much nervous",
"she lost the power of thinking"
],
"question": "When the writer saw the gun point... | My mind went blank when I saw the gun pointing against the car window as we pulled out of the garage. This can't be happening to me. Then I felt the gun, cold, against my head, and I heard my friend Jeremy saying, "What do you want? Take my wallet," but at the time I thought of nothing.
I remember being a little annoyed when the gunman pulled me from the car by the hair. I remember the walk to the house --- Jeremy, me, the two men with two guns. I remember the fear and anger in the gunmen's voices because Jeremy was being slow, and I remember wondering why he was being slow. I did not realize that Jeremy had thrown the keys into the bush. But I remember that sound of the gun hitting Jeremy's head and the feeling as the man who had hold of my hair released me. And I remember the split second when I realized he was looking at Jeremy, and I remember wondering how far I could run before he pulled the trigger. But I was already running, and upon reaching the car across the street, I didn't crouch behind it but screamed instead.
I remember thinking there was something ridiculous and illogical about screaming "Help, help!" at eight o'clock on a Tuesday evening in December and changing my plea to the more specific "Help, let me in, please let me in!" But the houses were cold, closed, unfriendly, and I ran on until I heard Jeremy's screams behind me announcing that our attackers had fled.
The neighbors who had not opened their doors to us came out with baseball bats and helped Jeremy find his glasses and keys. In a group they were very brave. We waited for the police to come until someone said to someone else that the noodles were getting cold, and I said politely, "Please go and eat. We're O.K."
I was happy to see them go. They had been talking of stricter sentences for criminals, of bringing back the death penalty and how the President is going to clean up the country. I was thinking, they could be saying all of this over my dead body, and I still feel that stiffer sentences wouldn't change a thing. In a rush all the anger I should have felt for my attackers was directed against these contented people standing in front of their warm, comfortable homes talking about all the guns they were going to buy. What good would guns have been to Jeremy and me?
People all over the neighborhood had called to report our screams, and the police turned out in force twenty minutes later. They were ill-tempered about what was, to them, much trouble about nothing. After all, Jeremy was hardly hurt, and we were hopeless when it came to describing the gunmen. "Typical," said one policeman when we couldn't even agree on how tall the men were. Both of us were able to describe the guns in horrifying detail, but the two policemen who stayed to make the report didn't think that would be much help.
The policemen were matter-of-fact about the whole thing. The thin one said, "That was a stupid thing to do, throwing away the keys. When a man has a gun against your head you do what you're told." Jeremy looked properly embarrassed.
Then the fat policeman came up and the thin one went to look around the outside of the house. "That was the best thing you could have done, throwing away the keys," he said. "If you had gone into the house with them..." His voice became weaker. "They would have hurt her" --- he twisted his head toward me - "and killed you both." Jeremy looked happier. "Look," said the fat policeman kindly, "there's no right or wrong in the situation. There's just luck."
All that sleepless night I replayed the moment those black gloves came up to the car window. How long did the whole thing last? Three minutes, five, eight? No matter how many hours of my life I may spend reliving it, I know there is no way to prepare for the next time --- no intelligent response to a gun. The fat cop was right. There's only luck. The next time I might end up dead.
And I'm sure there will be a next time. It can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone. Security is an illusion ; there is no safety in locks or in guns. Guns make some people feel safe and some people feel strong, but they're fooling themselves. | high4205.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "created by student actors"
},
"options": [
"given by the director",
"created by student actors",
"thought out by the director during the acting",
"carefully designed by professional people"
],
"question": "The l... | The film stars out as a normal day at a typical American high school. Friends chat in the dining room and boys play football. But there's big surprise when the movie ends with two students going crazy in the school-shooting and killing people.
This is Elephant. It stars real school kids. American director Gus Van Sant had no ready-made lines. The student actors made up their own dialogue, with Van Sant asking them to base their characters on their own lives.
Although it may not sound very high quality, the film won the Palme d'Or for Best Film and the award for Best Director at the Cannes film festival.
The film is based on the shootings at a high school in the US, where two boys killed 13 people and then themselves in 1999.
The title of the movie refers to the old expression about a problem that's as hard to ignore as an elephant in the house.
The film takes a close look at a few hours in the lives of the victims and the killers. It shows how high school is a different experience for everyone---fun and friendly, or hard and lonely.
In many ways, the two boys, who carry out the shooting, act like ordinary kids. They joke around with one boy's mother as she serves them cakes and play the piano.
But there're hints of the anger they feel inside. One of the boys is bullied at school. The other plays violent video games. But Van Sant isn't blaming their killings on either bullying or violent games. In fact, the film doesn't offer any reason for why school violence happens.
"I didn't want to explain anything. It's up to the audience to draw its own conclusions," said the 51-year-old director. | high12524.txt |
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