questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It connects our past experiences with the present."
},
"options": [
"It helps us perceive things happening around us every day.",
"It is based on the decisions we made in the past.",
"It is rooted in our past habits and skill... | We take it for granted that with memory we can remember most of things which happened in our life. But it is difficult to imagine what life would be like without memory. The meanings of thousands of everyday perceptions , the basis for the decisions we make, and the roots of our habits and skills are to be found in our past experiences, which are brought into the present by memory.
Memory can be defined as the ability to keep information available for later use. It not only includes "remembering" things like arithmetic or historical facts, but also involves any change in the way an animal typically behaves. Memory is involved when a rat gives up eating grain because he has sniffed something suspicious in the grain pile.
Memory exists not only in humans and animals but also in some physical objects and machines. Computers, for example, contain devices for storing data for later use. It is interesting to compare the memory storage capacity of a computer with that of a human being. The instant access memory of a large computer may hold up to 100,000 "words"--strings of alphabetic or numerical characters--ready for instant use. An average U.S. teenager probably recognizes the meaning of about 1000,000 words of English. However, this is but a part of the total amount of information that the teenager has stored. Consider, for example, the number of faces and places that the teenager can recognize on sight.
The use of words is the basis of the advanced problem solving intelligence of human beings. A large part of a person's memory is in terms of words and combinations of words. But while language greatly expands the number and the kind of things a person can remember, it also requires a huge memory capacity. It may well be this capacity that distinguishes humans, setting them apart from other animals. | high10641.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "troubles always come in groups"
},
"options": [
"accidents may happen anytime",
"troubles always come in groups",
"a small matter may cause great trouble",
"anyone may have trouble any day"
],
"question": "In th... | We have all experienced days when everything goes wrong.A day may begin well enough,but suddenly everything seems to get out of control.It seems as if a single unimportant event may cause a number of things to happen.Let us suppose that you are preparing a meal and keeping an eye on the baby at the same time.The telephone rings and this means your troubles are beginning.While you are on the phone,the baby pulls the table-cloth off the table,destroying your half-prepared meal.You hang up hurriedly and attend to your baby.Meanwhile,the meal gets burnt.As if this were not enough to bring you to tears,your husband arrives,unexpectedly bringing three guests to dinner.
Things can go wrong on a number of people on the road. During the rush hour one evening two cars hit each other and both drivers began to argue.The woman driver behind the two cars happened to be a learner.She suddenly got into a panic and stopped her car.This made the driver following her stop suddenly.His wife was sitting beside him holding a large cake.As she was thrown forward,the cake went right through the window and landed on the road.Seeing a cake flying through the air,a truck-driver had to stop his truck all of a sudden.The truck was carrying empty beer bottles and hundreds of them slid off the back of the truck on the road.This led to yet another angry argument.Meanwhile,the traffic piled up behind.It took the police nearly an hour to get the traffic on the move again.In the meanwhile,the truck-driver had to sweep up hundreds of broken bottles.Only two dogs were enjoying themselves from the accident,for they were happily having what was left of the cake.It was just one of those days! | high2306.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "allowing old people to live longer"
},
"options": [
"making people think more quickly",
"improving people's memory",
"allowing old people to live longer",
"raising people's work efficiency"
],
"question": "Accor... | More and more people are aware that an afternoon nap can do a body good. But there are still doubters out there. To help spread the power of the afternoon nap, we list some common misunderstandings about napping we still hear.
Misunderstanding # 1 : Napping is only for the lazy.
Fact: Around a third of American adults nap on the average day, and for good reason: A short nap can improve everything from alertness and memory to creativity and productivity . And none of these sounds like laziness to us!
Misunderstanding # 2 : If I take a nap, I'll only wake up feeling worse.
Fact: That weak feeling after you wake up from a nap is real (it even has a name: sleep inertia), but it's not a guarantee . How you feel after your nap is a factor of how long you sleep. Experts generally agree that a nap should last no longer than 30 minutes. "If it takes longer than 30 minutes, you end up in deep sleep. You're going into a stage of sleep where you find it very difficult to wake up." said sleep expert Michael J. Breus, Ph. D. Next time you're in the mood for a nap, set your alarm for 20 to 30 minutes, tops.
Misunderstanding # 3 : You mustn't nap at work.
Fact: In fact, in the office environment, we're all for catching a few winks during the workday. Some companies have even created special rooms for afternoon naps as more and more employers come around to the idea that a well-rested workforce is a more productive workforce. If your employer doesn't offer a place to lay your head, try to find an empty conference room where you can close the door and turn off the lights. Really want. You can also take a nap during your lunch break on a park bench or in your car.
Misunderstanding # 4 : I'll be more productive if I just finish this task, rather than waste time sleeping.
Fact: Yes, you'll be away from your desk if you spend 10 to 30 minutes sleeping. But you'll likely make up for that "wasted" time afterward. "My research shows that people feel tired after a long time of work during the day," Sara Mednick told Bloomberg Businessweek. "It's difficult to keep energetic and productive all day." However, a nap can leave you feeling refreshed and more ready to deal with the task at hand. | high13348.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "45 minutes."
},
"options": [
"10 minutes.",
"20 minutes.",
"45 minutes.",
"11 hours."
],
"question": "How long was the author's travel supposed to take without weather delay?",
"question_type": null
},
{... | I was stuck in O'hare airport on an extremely long weather delay, pacing up and down the waiting hall for some exercise, when I passed a wine bar for the twentieth time or so. But this time there was a young woman behind the piano, playing what I could only describe as absolutely beautiful classical music. She had not been there ten minutes earlier when I passed.
I sat down at an empty table for four very near the piano, and began to be warmed by her music and a bit by the wine! She played so effortlessly and with such beauty in every note. Her music immediately brought a huge smile to my face!
Soon, on a break, I thanked her and she told me that after a long day traveling, and now also facing long weather delays, she "just needed to _ ." Wow! Her version of blowing off steam was a gift to get.
As I sat alone drinking my wine, absorbed in this young woman's celebration of her musical passion, two women approached my table and asked if they could join me. I invited them to sit and we immediately began sharing our love of music and celebrating the happiness the piano music was bringing us at that moment.
The two women and I began to talk about our travels, life journeys, and passions. Hearing that unbelievable piano music, and then meeting such interesting women, who generously shared with me their wisdom, perspectives, and feelings of love for each other, was truly joyous. Faced with an 11-hour travel day -- to get what normally takes 45 minutes -- could have been physically and emotionally exhausting. Rather, by accident of walking by a wine bar at the right moment, and having a couple of seats open at my table, my life was filled with joy.
I will cherish those moments for some time to come. This experience highlights the critical need in our lives to stop and listen to the music, to invite others to sit at your life table, to open yourself up to a stranger or two, sharing some of your deepest perspectives and experiences. Be open to noticing, absorbing, and also contributing to the joy around you! | high14427.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Uncertain."
},
"options": [
"Uncertain.",
"Negative.",
"Positive.",
"Confident."
],
"question": "What was Ahmad Jauhari Yahya's attitude?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | (Reuters)--A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew was presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast on Saturday, and European officials said two people on board were using false identities.
There were no reports of bad weather and no sign of why the Boeing 777-200ER would have vanished from radar screens about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.
"We are not ruling out any possibilities," Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news conference.
By the early hours of Sunday, there were no confirmed signs of the plane or any wreckage, well over 24 hours after it went missing. Operations will continue through the night, officials said.
There were no indications of sabotage nor claims of an attack. But the passenger list issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans--Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi--who, according to their foreign ministries, were not in fact on the plane.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Vienna said: "Our embassy got the information that there was an Austrian on board. That was the passenger list from Malaysia Airlines. Our system came back with a note that this is a stolen passport."
Austrian police had found the man safe at home. The passport was stolen two years ago while he was travelling in Thailand, the spokesman said.
The foreign ministry in Rome said no Italian was on the plane either, despite the inclusion of Maraldi's name on the list. His mother, Renata Lucchi, told Reuters his passport was lost, presumed stolen, in Thailand in 2013.
U.S. and European security officials said that there was no proof of any terrorist link and there could be other explanations for the use of stolen passports. | high6160.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Nobody"
},
"options": [
"Japan",
"China",
"Taiwan",
"Nobody"
],
"question": "The Diaoyu Islands are actually inhabited by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_in... | Six Chinese surveillance ships have entered waters near islands claimed by both China and Japan.
China said the ships were carrying out "law enforcement" to demonstrate its jurisdiction over the islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.
At least two of the vessels left after the Japanese coast guard issued a warning, Japanese officials say.
The move came after Japan sealed a deal to buy three of the islands from their private Japanese owner. Japan controls the uninhabited but resource-rich East China Sea islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan.
The Japanese Coast Guard said the first two Chinese boats entered Japan's territorial waters at 06:18 local time (21:18 GMT Thursday), followed by another fleet of four other ships just after 07:00. The first two ships then left the area. A third ship left later on Friday morning, one report said. No force was used, Japanese officials added. "Our patrol vessels are currently telling them to leave our country's territorial waters," the coastguard said in a statement.
The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed that its ships were there. "These law enforcement and patrol activities are aimed to demonstrate China's jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islets and ensure the country's maritime interests," a statement said.
The US has called for ''cooler heads to prevail'' as tension intensifies between China and Japan over the islands, which lie south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is due to visit both Japan and China from this weekend as part of a tour of the region that also includes New Zealand.
The dispute has seriously marred diplomatic relations between China and Japan and threatens to damage the strong trading relationship, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing. The row has also generated strong nationalist sentiment on both sides that observers say now makes it very difficult to be seen to be backing down, says our correspondent.
The Japanese government says it is buying the islands to promote their stable and peaceful management. Its move followed a bid by right-wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara to buy the islands using public donations - an action that would likely have further provoked China.
China, on the other hand, says the islands have historically been its territory and fishing grounds.
Meanwhile Japan's newly-appointed ambassador to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, remains in hospital in Tokyo after he was found unconscious near his home in Tokyo on Thursday. No details have been given on his condition. He was appointed on Tuesday to replace Uichiro Niwa, who has been criticised for his handling of one of the worse diplomatic rows between Japan and China in recent years. | high22195.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "3."
},
"options": [
"6.",
"5.",
"4.",
"3."
],
"question": "How many organizations is IELTS managed by?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_t... | IELTS: international English language testing system
Introduction: The IELTS is jointly managed by the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate , the British Council and IDP Education Australia
Why more and more people are taking the IELTS test?
The IELTS test is widely recognized by the colleges, universities and other academic institutions of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. More and more universities and colleges in the US are also accepting an IELTS result as a language requirement for application to degree courses.
IELTS is accepted by many important organizations, such as the New Zealand Immigration Bureau, the Australian Immigration and Cultural Department, the Canadian Immigration Bureau, the Australian Medical Council and the British Medical Association .
Choice of two test types
There are two test models: Academic and General Training. The candidate must select the one suitable to his/here purpose for taking the test.
Academic: for candidates who want to apply for undergraduate or postgraduate courses.
General Training: for candidates who take IELTS for immigration purpose, training programmes, or work experience.
If you have any questions about which type to take, consult the Examinations Services staff at the British Council offices.
Content
The test is composed of four papers: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The first three papers must be taken at one sitting on one day, and the speaking paper may be taken up to two days later. Usually in China, the Listening paper is taken on a Saturday morning, followed by the Reading paper, and then Writing paper. The Speaking test is usually taken on the Saturday afternoon or on the following Saturday. Candidates must complete all four papers in order to obtain an overall score. | high15739.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a shopping spree when stores offer special discounts"
},
"options": [
"a spree in a holiday like Thanksgiving",
"one of the four seasons in a year like spring",
"a shopping spree when stores offer special discounts",
"a... | On the day after Thanskgiving in the US, or Black Friday, lots of stores offer special discounts to mark the beginning of holiday shopping season. In China, a similar day falls on Nov. 11 when millions of Chinese shoppers go to Tmall.com and Taobao.com, two e-commerce websites operated by Alibaba.
The 11.11 Shopping Festival, as the event is now called, is also known in China as Singles Day. The shopping festival first started in 2009 and Alibaba said it chose the date because it was easy to remember. Last year, Tmall and Taobao together produced 19.1 billion in sales on that day, according to Alibaba. This year's shopping festival kicked off with an even stronger start--sales hit 100 million yuan 55 seconds after midnight and reached 35 billion at the end of the day.
The shopping spree drew the attention of China's leaders, as Premier Li Keqiang recently praised Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, for creating a day for consumption. China is trying to lead the country's economy to a slower, more sustainable growth model based on domestic consumption instead of investment and exports. Online shopping is no doubt a growth point that will release spending potential. China had 564 million regular Internet users by the end of last year. It has surpassed the US to become the world's largest e-commerce market, with its online sales over 1 trillion US dollars (6 trillion yuan) by 2020.
"The real-time nature of online consumption attracts millions of people to spend money and enjoy life. E-commerce opens a new channel for China to encourage domestic demand," Liu Yin, vice-president of the China International Electronic Commerce Center said. More importantly, it promotes employment and the logistics industry with its sales model of "online purchasing plus express delivery", he added. Convenience, choice and low prices have increased online shopping, but there are still some problems with the one-day shopping spree.
Some online shops, driven by the huge profits, took this opportunity to play price tricks. They raised prices to twice those of the originals in the early October and then offered discounts on Nov 11. Many consumers, driven by the advantage they could take, just went along for the ride. "They spend lots of time online to check what to buy and are happy to get what they don't really need at a lower price," wrote Jia Ge, an Internet analyst, on his Sina weibo. | high12056.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the rising and setting of the sun"
},
"options": [
"the rising and setting of the sun",
"batteryoperated quartz clocks",
"atomic clocks",
"digital clocks"
],
"question": "Humans in the old days used _ to tel... | For thousands of years,we have looked for ways to measure time. Early humans found that the regular movements of the sun,the earth,the moon,and the stars made good ways to measure time. The rising and setting of the sun were used to distinguish day from night.
But,eventually,people needed to tell time more accurately,or exactly. So,by using the sun's position in the sky,they divided the day into dawn,morning,midday and evening.
Then it was noted that the sun cast a changing shadow as it moved across the sky. Time could be told more accurately by setting up a stick and marking the positions of the sun's shadow. It was the ancient Greeks who divided each position of this "sundial " into hours.
But the sun doesn't always shine. So,for the past 6,000 years,many other ways of keeping time have been tried. Slowburning candles were divided into hours,and the hourglass was invented. When all the sand in the top of an hourglass has shifted to the bottom,an hour has passed.
Later,the pendulum ,with its regular backandforth movement of weights,was used to move the hands on a clock. Pendulums are still used in grandfather clocks.
Today,even more accurate clocks are in use,such as batteryoperated quartz clocks ,digital clocks,and clocks run by electrical tuning forks and tiny atoms. These atomic clocks are the most accurate clocks ever invented. The exact time can be kept to within 1 second a century. | high12730.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "think of getting the interests first"
},
"options": [
"are mostly businessmen",
"think of getting the interests first",
"find their happiness from hard work",
"take competition as their whole life"
],
"quest... | As a human being you may have the choice of three basic attitudes towards life. You may treat life with the philosophy of the vegetable, in which case your life will include being born, eating, drinking, sleeping, marrying, growing old and dying.
The second basic attitude is to look at life as if it were a business. A great many so-called successful men and women believe that life is a business. If you believe so, your first question of life, naturally, is " What do I get out of it? " " How much is this worth to me?" In a word, based on this attitude, happiness becomes a matter of successful competition. The great majority of human beings today look at life as if it were a business.
The third attitude toward life is the way of the artist. Here the basic philosophy is "What can I put into it?". They value cooperation and contribution. This point of view has been proved by history; for history remembers best those who have contributed most richly to the interests of their fellow-men. The more we investigate ,the more we become certain that the artistic attitude is the only one which goes with human happiness. | high7518.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Playing video games seems to be beneficial to young patients' recovery."
},
"options": [
"Playing video games too much is bad for kids'health.",
"Playing video games seems to be beneficial to young patients' recovery.",
"Doct... | A lot of grown-ups worry that spending too much time playing video games isn't good for a kid's health. Now some doctors have noticed that kids who bring their hand-held game players to the hospital seem less worried about being there. These patients also seem to experience less pain when they are concentrating on a superhero adventure or a car race. At the Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Maryland, young patients are finding hospital visits easier to deal with, thanks to a test program called the Hospital-based On-line Pediatric Environment (HOPE). Patients in HOPE have a life-threatening condition where their kidneys no longer filter wastes from their blood. To get their blood cleaned, these kids must be hooked up to dialysis machines at the hospital three times a week, for at least three hours each time. HOPE allows kids to play online sports, racing, and adventure games with each other. Eventually they will be able to connect with kids in other hospitals who are suffering from the same problem. "We want to use the power of the Internet to bring together kids who feel that they are separated by their illness, and let them know that they are not alone," said Arun Mathews, the doctor who heads the program. He loves video games himself and got the idea to connect kids all over the country. Many researchers elsewhere are testing video game programs that might help young patients. For example, nine-year-old Ben Duskin of San Francisco, who was struggling with cancer helped to design a video game where players get rid of cancer cells. That's all great news, because doctors already know that reducing pain and worry helps patients heal faster. | high9535.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She was angry with the hunch-back."
},
"options": [
"Because she no longer had enough bread.",
"Because the hunch-back came every day.",
"Because her son world come back soon.",
"She was angry with the hunch-back."
... | A woman baked bread for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passer-by. She kept the extra bread on the window-sill , for whomever would take it away.
Every day, a hunch-back came and took away the bread. Instead of expressing thanks, he said the following words as he went his way: "The evil you do remains with you. The good you do, comes back to you!"
This went on, day after day. Every day, the hunch-back came, picked up the bread and repeated the words. One day, the woman felt angry and decided to do away with him. She added poison to the bread she prepared for him !As she was about to place it on the window sill, her hands trembled. "What is this I am doing?" she thought...As usual, the hunch-back came, picked up the bread and repeated those words.
That evening, there was a knock on the door. As usual, the hunch-back came, picked up the bread and repeated those words.
That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. His clothes were torn. He was hungry, starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, "Mom ,it's a wonder I'm here. While I was but a mile away, I was so hungry that I fell down. I would have died, but just then an old hunch-back passed by. I begged of him for a small part of his food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole bread.
As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale and red. She remembered the poisoned bread that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life!
It was then that she realized the significance of the words: "The evil you do remains with you. The good you do,comes back to you!" | high14341.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It was too small."
},
"options": [
"It was broken.",
"It was too dirty.",
"Jenny didn't like it.",
"It was too small."
],
"question": "What was the problem with Jenny's old bicycle?",
"question_type": "facti... | Jenny found her old bicycle at the back of the garage.It was a lot smaller than she remembered.When she sat on it and put her feet on the pedals,her knees nearly touched her chin. She then asked her dad for a new bicycle.
"Well,I'm sorry,but I can't afford a bicycle now,"said Dad."Why don't you work and earn some money? You can save up for a bicycle yourself."
Jenny began to work.That day she earned five dollars for cutting the grass and ten dollars for mowing the lawn for her dad.
That night Jenny went on the computer.She wrote"Gardening and Housework--Ten dollars an hour.Call Jenny at 23 Roseville Lane."She decorated the page with pictures of cleaning and gardening equipment.She printed it fifty times.Then she posted the pages through all the doors on her street.
That week,Jenny was very busy! Lots of people had jobs to do,but they didn't have time to do them.So they called Jenny.Every day,Jenny rushed home from schoo1.She did her homework quickly,and then she went out to work.
At the end of the week.she had$65! She told her father.
"That's enough for a second hand bicycle."he said.
"Yes,but if I work for one more week,I might have enough money for a new bike,"said Jenny."In two more weeks,I could buy a really good bicycle! I think that's what I'll do. I want to have the best bicycle in the class,because I earn it myself!"
Jenny's dad hugged her."I think you learned something important.We appreciate things a lot more when we earn them.When we get something without earning it,we do not realize its true value." | high6606.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "On a website."
},
"options": [
"In a newspaper.",
"In a book.",
"On a website.",
"In a magazine."
],
"question": "Where can you possibly read this article?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | A three-year independent investigation into the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon has _ new eyewitness evidence which, according to the Southern California-based researchers who conducted the investigation conclusively (and unfortunately), establishes as a historical fact that the violence which took place in Arlington that day was not the result of a surprise attack by suicide hijackers, but rather a military black operation involving a carefully planned and skillfully executed deception."
A CNN Reporter at the scene states that there is no evidence that a 757 hit the Pentagon.
What hit the Pentagon? A Boeing 757 loaded with passengers and fuel right? Who was on Flight 757? According to the Flight Information there were No Arabs on it. That makes me wonder if Flight 757 actually existed at all.
From the pictures and the videos, people can find that there are several doubtful points that need to be taken into consideration, for example the marker line on the grass in the satellite and ground pictures, the different colors of the smoke, the hole which the plane impacted, and the standing pylons .
Also, from the comparison of the different pictures, people can find some other strange points. For example, the gear is not the matching one. The wreckage of the plane is not the one from the American Airlines. The glass on the pavement of the pole is another doubtful point. The last thing that need considering is about the collapse. One of the gif video shows the plane impacting the Pentagon. The only problem with this video footage is that it has been altered and can not be fully trusted.
These crash photos and videos shown here clearly have been doctored and don't even match the physics of what happened. So where is the real video? It leaves me many questions. Is this a missile? It is a real enigma. | high1169.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "to surround yourself with supportive people"
},
"options": [
"to sustain a colorful lifestyle",
"to party on weekends with positive people",
"to try a fun healthy restaurant regularly",
"to surround yourself with suppor... | Group exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve physical fitness and sustain a healthy lifestyle.Group exercise is challenging, yet fun and empowering! Of course everyone knows that exercise is good for the body.However, studies have shown that when exercise is performed in groups, it's not only great for improving physical health but for psychological health. It's an opportunity to be social, release endorphins , and improve your strength. Additionally, group exercise creates a community feel and the shared common goal motivates participants to work hard. The instrumental support of taking on a fitness journey with others proves more effective than going to the gym alone.
Another beneficial aspect of group exercise is the informational support participants receive from the instructor.Many people fear the gym because they feel lost and don't want to embarrass themselves. If you feel you can relate, then group training is an even better option for you. It's a great opportunity to learn more about fitness through the clear instruction and supervision of a fitness instructor. If you're tired of wandering around the gym wasting time and becoming bored, !you can attend an upbeat group fitness class that'll keep your workout on track. Don't let
fitness frighten you!
If you're serious about wanting to live a healthy lifestyle, it's extremely important to surround yourself with people who'll provide you with the proper emotional support. I wouldn't scold anyone for deciding to party on weekends and in turn I wouldn't expect anyone to give offence to me for focusing on my health. Surround yourself with people who uplift, encourage and understand you! Make fitness even more fun by trying something new or any group fitness class, with a friend. Plan to go for a jog together. Then try a fun healthy restaurant or fresh juice bar! Fitness can be both fun and social!
Surrounding yourself with people who'll provide you with respect support can be very beneficial while working towards reaching health and fitness goals. First, decide to do it for yourself and work towards staying positive. Then make sure the people you surround yourself with are supportive. Don't let negativity ruin your motivation. | high10127.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "protect wolves from dying out"
},
"options": [
"protect people from wolves and deer",
"protect wolves from becoming dangerous",
"protect wolves from dying out",
"keep wolves from killing large numbers of deer"
],
... | Here in Alaska, the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago, because hunters were killing hundreds of them for sport. However, laws were passed to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur. So the wolf population has greatly increased. Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply.
A wolf naturally lives on animals in the deer family. People there also hunt deer for food. Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the plant life there. When the deer can't find enough food, they die.
If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer, the deer will disappear some day. And the wolves will, too. So we must change the life cycles there. If we killed more wolves, we would save them from starving. We also save deer and some farm animals.
In another northern state, wolves attack cows and chickens for food. Farmers want the United States government to send a team of scientists to study the problem. They believe it is necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small population. | high2460.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "His childhood sufferings."
},
"options": [
"His love for his family.",
"His childhood sufferings.",
"His desire for formal education.",
"His reason to choose literary career."
],
"question": "What can probably b... | Charles Dickens was one of the most beloved storytellers in the English language. His novels made him famous in his own time, and continue as classics in ours.
Dickens began his literary career with almost no formal education. He was born in Landport, on Feb. 7, 1812, the second of eight children. When he was 12, his father was sent to debtor's prison. Dickens was forced to quit school and work in a London blacking factory. He would rework that terrible experience into his fiction for the rest of his life.
"He was a social reformer," says actor Simon Callow, author of a new biography called Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World. "He knew what poverty was. He knew what it was to be rejected, to be cast aside, to live in squalor ."
And so Dickens wrote with great sympathy for the suffering of innocent and vulnerable children - characters like David Copperfield, Little Dorrit and the orphan, Oliver Twist:
With his slice of bread in his hand, and his little brown parish cap on his head, Oliver was now led away from the wretched home, where one kind word or look never lighted the gloom of his infant days.
Yet he burst into an agony of childish grief as the cottage gate closed after him. Wretched as were the little companions in,misery he was now leaving behind him, they were the only friends he had ever had.
His first book Sketches by Boz came out in 1836. With the appearance of Oliver Twist in London periodicals in 1837, the 25-year-old Dickens became the most popular writer in England. But his first love was theater, and he considered becoming an actor.
"When he was actually writing, he became his characters," says Peter Ackroyd, author of Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion. "He would get up from his desk, go over to the mirror and mouth the words - do the expressions, grimaces , whatever, and then laugh, chuckle to himself, then go back to his desk and write it down."
Dickens created 989 named characters, which increased his popularity. Every one of his major works has been adapted for either stage or screen. A Christmas Carol inspired more than a dozen films, from Alistair Sims' Scrooge in 1951 to Jim Carrey's voicing of the same character in Disney's 2009, 3-D animated film.
The original 1843 manuscript of A Christmas Carolis on display at the Morgan Library. Dickens wrote everything by hand, in tiny script, with a quill pen. Remarkably, the manuscript is both the first and the final draft, says Kiely, the curator. You can see where Dickens has changed the name of the first chapter from "Old Marley's Ghost" to "Marley's Ghost". Further down the page, he has canceled an entire section.
"He realizes he's not writing a novel, and he only has a very short time in which to write this," Kiely explains. "He's got to keep it tight, in order for it to be published in time for Christmas."
Dickens wrote all the time. He traveled with a portable inkwell and a supply of quill pens. He was working on his last novel, Our Mutual Friend, en route from France to London when the train he was on crashed.
Dickens died five years later in 1870, after a stroke at age 58. As a comic talent and a social reformer, Dickens' achievement was extraordinary, says novelist T.C. Boyle, who eamed a doctorate in Victorian literature.
"He achieved what any great artist achieves - a body of work that has entertained and delighted and instructed people down through the ages. That's what we all hope for," says Boyle. But Dickens' greatest fiction was his own character, says Callow, the biographer: "People think of him as a cheerful man ... but he was increasingly suffering from depression and a sense of hopelessness. And that's worth knowing. I think it's always good to know that great creative individuals have their struggle, their drama." | high17648.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "he is not afraid"
},
"options": [
"he is not afraid",
"he is outgoing",
"he is angry",
"he is cool"
],
"question": "When someone is keeping his arms behind his back, he tries to tell you that .",
"questio... | Body language is the quiet, secret and most powerful language of all! It is said that our body movements communicate about 50 percent of what we really mean while words only express 7 percent. So, while your mouth is closed, your body is just saying.
Arms. How you hold your arms shows how open and receptive you are to people you meet. If you keep your arms to the sides of your body or behind your back, this suggests you are not afraid of taking on whatever comes your way. Outgoing people generally use their arms with big movements, while quieter people keep them close to their bodies. If someone upsets you, just cross your arms to show you're unhappy.
Head. When you want to appear confident, keep your head level. If you are a monitor in class, you can also take on this position when you want your words to be taken seriously. However, to be friendly in listening or speaking, you must move your head a little.
Legs. Your legs tend to move around a lot more than normal when you are nervous or telling lies. If you are at interviews, try to keep them still.
Posture .A good posture makes you feel better about yourself. If you are feeling down>> you normally don't sit straight, with your shoulders inwards. This makes breathing more difficult, which can make you feel nervous or uncomfortable.
Mouth. When you are thinking, you often purse your lips. You might also use this position to hold back an angry comment you don't wish to show. However, it will probably still be noticed, and people will know you're not pleased
Face. When you lie, you might put on a false face. But that expression would crack briefly, allowing displays of true emotions such as happiness, sadness, disgust and fear to come through. | high19665.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Think about pleasant things and forget about the hurt."
},
"options": [
"Try to figure out why you get hurt.",
"Writer a letter to person who hurt you.",
"Persuade yourself to accept what others have done to you.",
"Thi... | When someone has deeply hurt you, it can be extremely difficult to let go of your _ . But forgiveness is possible and it can be surprisingly helpful to your physical and mental health. Indeed, research has shown that people who forgive report more energy, better appetite and better sleep patterns. "People who forgive show less anger and more hopefulness," says Dr. Frederic Luskin, who wrote the book Forgive for Good. "So it can help save on the wear and tear, and allow people to feel more energetic."
So when someone has hurt you, calm yourself first. Take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature, someone you love. Don't wait for an apology. "Many times the person who hurt you may never think of apologizing," says Dr. Luskin. "They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don't see things the same way. So if you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting a very long time." Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean accepting the action of the person who upset you. Mentally going over your hurt gives power to the person who brought you pain. Instead, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Finally, try to see things from the other person' s perspective. You may realize that he or she was acting out of ignorance , fear even love. To gain perspective, you may want to write a letter to yourself from that person's point of view. | high4011.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "both of them were worried about joblessness."
},
"options": [
"they both found good jobs at last.",
"both of them were worried about joblessness.",
"her husband was to blame for the unemployment",
"they didn't love each... | We thought we had it all---a beautiful house, three healthy children and one more on the way, two cars, a couple of four-wheelers for entertainment---and we loved it. Then, the market turned and my husband's job at a construction company was gone. The company was closing down for good.We both started looking for jobs right away, but there weren't any to be found. With each passing day we were getting increasingly worried and we continued to work together in order to pull our family through. _ I felt feelings of admiration for my husband that I hadn't felt in years.
That's why it was so hard for me to watch him blame himself for our present situation. I continually asked him to stop, but he seemed to want to punish himself for not having a job.
Finally, one afternoon I pulled him aside and said, "We have four healthy children and each other. That's what's important. That makes you a rich man."
" But what if we lose the house? They'll hate me--you'll hate me," he replied.
I smiled at him and put my hands on both sides of his face to make him look me in the eye. "No matter where we live I will be happy -as long as I have you." I smiled again. In all the struggling together I had found that deep love for him that I had on the day we said "I do".
I could see his shoulders and neck relaxed. He held me close and we were able to talk and plan and dream together in a way that we hadn't for quite some time. It was a turning point for us as a couple and a family.
We are still struggling for out better life, but I consider us well-off because we have something that money can't buy and no one can take away from us. | high11239.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Nervous and uncomfortable."
},
"options": [
"Excited and hopeful.",
"Nervous and uncomfortable.",
"Surprised but comfortable.",
"Pleased but embarrassed."
],
"question": "How does Tess feel in the whole course o... | Tess still stood hesitating like a swimmer about to make his dive, hardly knowing whether to return or move forward, when a figure came out from the dark door of the tent. It was a tall young man, smoking.
He had an almost black face, though red and smooth. His moustache was black with curled points, though he could not be more than twenty three or--four. There was an unusual force in his face, and in his daring rolling eyes.
"Well, my beauty, what can I do for you?" said he, coming forward. And seeing that she was quite at a loss, "Never mind me. I am Mr. d'Urberville. Have you come to see me or my mother?"
This differed greatly from what Tess had expected. She had dreamed of an aged and dignified face. She tried to keep calm and answered-- "I came to see your mother, sir."
"I am afraid you cannot see her--she is ill in bed," replied the representative of the house; for this was Mr. Alee, the only son of the noble family. "What is the business you wish to see her about?"
"It isn't business--it is--I can hardly say what!"
"Pleasure?"
"Oh no. Why, sir, if I tell you, it will seem..."
Tess's sense of a certain ridicule was now so strong that, despite her general discomfort at being here, her rosy lips curved towards a smile, much to the attraction of the young man.
"It is so foolish", she stammered . "I fear I can't tell you!"
"Never mind; I like foolish things. Try again, my dear," said he kindly.
"Mother asked me to come," Tess continued; "and, indeed, I was in the mind to do so myself. But I did not think it would be like this. I came, sir, to tell you that we are of the same family as you."
"Ho! Poor relations?"
"Yes."
"Stokes?"
"No; d'Urbervilles."
"Ay, ay; I mean d'Urbervilles."
"Our names are worn away to Durbeyfield; but we have several proofs that we are d'Urbervilles. The local scholars hold the view that we are, and...and we have an old seal and a silver spoon marked with the same castle as yours. So mother said we ought to make ourselves known to you, as we've lost our horse by a bad accident; we can hardly make a living."
"Very kind of your mother, I'm sure." Alec looked at Tess as he spoke, in a way that made her uneasy. "And so, my pretty girl, you've come on a friendly visit to us, as relations?"
"I suppose I have," looking less confident and uncomfortable again.
"Well--there's no harm in it. Where do you live? What are you?"
---Tess of the d'Urbervilles By Thomas Hardy | high17890.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Crazy."
},
"options": [
"Crazy.",
"Disappointing.",
"Heroic.",
"Confused."
],
"question": "What did the writer think of Mr. Milton's plan to jump from the diving board?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"... | Far out in the lake was a large wooden platform on which stood an improbably high diving board -- a kind of wooden Eiffel Tower. It was, I'm sure, the county's tallest wooden structure and no one had ever been known to jump from it.
So it was quite a shock when our teacher, Mr. Milton, announced that he would dive off the high board that very afternoon.
Word of his questionable plan was already spreading through town as Mr. Milton swam out to the platform. He was just _ when he got there but even from such a distance the high board seemed almost to touch the clouds. Once at the top, he paced the enormously long board, then took some deep breaths and finally stood at edge. He was going to do it.
Several hundred people had gathered at the shore to watch. Mr. Milton stood for quite a long time, then he raised his arms, took one massive bounce and launched himself into a perfect dive. It was beautiful. He fell with perfect style for what seemed minutes. The crowd fell silent. The only sound to be heard was the faint whistle of his body tearing through the air toward the water far, far below.
But about three quarters of the way down he seemed to have second thoughts and began suddenly to panic, waving his arms and legs like someone having a bad dream. When he was perhaps thirty feet above the water, he gave up on waving and spread his arms and legs wide, apparently hoping that it would somehow slow his fall.
It didn't.
He hit the water at over six hundred miles an hour. The impact was so loud that it made birds fly out of their trees three miles away. I don't think he entered the water at all. He just bounced off it, about fifteen feet back into the air. After that, he lay still on the surface, spinning like an autumn leaf.
He was brought to shore by two passing fishermen in a rowboat and placed on an old blanket where he spent the rest of the afternoon. Occasionally he accepted small sips of water, but otherwise was too shocked to speak. From head to toe, he was covered with deep red bruises.
... It was the best day of my life. | high12718.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The Angles."
},
"options": [
"The Angles.",
"The Saxons.",
"The Jutes.",
"The Normans."
],
"question": "Who was the first invaders of Britain?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {... | The English language is the result of the invasion of the island of Britain over many hundreds of years.The first invasions were by a people called Angles about 1, 500 years ago. The Angles were a German tribe who crossed the English Channel . Later two more groups crossed to Britain. They were the Saxons and the Jutes. Through many years, the Saxons, Angles and the Jutes mixed their different languages. The result is what is called Anglo-Saxon or old English.
The next great invasion of Britain was done by Vikings about 1, 100 years ago. Many English words used today come from these ancient Vikings.
The next invasion of Britain took place more than 900 years ago, in 1066. History experts call this invasion the Norman Conquest. The Normans were a French-speaking people from Normandy in the north of France. These new rulers spoke only French for several hundred years. It was the most important language in the world at that time. It was the language of educated people. But the common people of Britain still spoke old English.
Old English took many words from the Norman French. Some of these include "damage", "prison", and "marriage". The French language used by the Norman rulers greatly changed the way English was spoken 800 years ago. English became what language experts call Middle English. Middle English sounds like Modern English. But it is difficult to understand now. The history of the English language continues as Middle English becomes Modern English, which is spoken today. | high8603.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "avoid using open lightbulbs for long close work"
},
"options": [
"stop using eco-friendly lightbulbs at home",
"avoid using open lightbulbs for long close work",
"take care not to expose their skin to direct sunlight",
... | Health officials issued a waring over common energy-saving lghtbulbs after research showed some types could potentially harm the skin and may even raise the risk of cancer.
A study by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) found that some eco-friendly lightbuulbs release levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that are above recognized safety limits. The agency urged people who work with lamps nearby to avoid spending more than one hour within a foot of the eco-friendly bulbs. The warning was directed at those using desk lamps for long periods, such as jewellery makers, and others who might have lights close to their faces, such as car mechanics.
John O'Hagan, a scientist at the HPA's centre for radiation, chemical and environmental dangers, began tests on the ligthbulbs after patient groups raised concern about them. Among the groups were patients with a skin disease called lupus, which makes people highly sensitive to light.
The tests measured UV light from the lamps and found the highest levels of UV radiation, measured 2cm from the lightbulbs, were _ to being outside in direct sunlight in the summer. The most immediate risk from the lightbulbs is a reddening of the skin similar to sunburn, but there is also a small increased risk of skin cancer associated with this, again similar to that of sunburn.
The risk of health problems from the lightbulbs was not so high that people should remove them from their homes. People are advised to avoid using open lightbulbs for long close work until the problem is sorted out. It has confirmed that the government will not be reviewing its strategy on introducing energy efficient lightbulbs. | high15077.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To seek artistic freedom."
},
"options": [
"To have an exhibition.",
"To seek artistic freedom.",
"To visit his friends.",
"To earn money."
],
"question": "Why did Chen Xiao leave China for Australia in 1986?",
... | The world, in painter Chen Xiao's eyes, is as colorful and sweet as ice cream.
At the opening of his latest exhibition, Colorful World in the Eyes of Sean Chen, at the National Museum of China recently, the artist told his story.
Chen left China for Australia in 1986 to seek artistic freedom, and like many new immigrants then, he had little money in his pocket. To make ends meet, he drew portraits of people in the street.
Every day, he saw people buy ice cream from a shop. Chen couldn't help wondering: "It must taste great, that's why so many people buy it." But he didn't buy one for himself because he had to save money to support his studies. After four months of painting there and watching people eat ice cream, Chen didn't resist the temptation --- he bought an ice cream. "The first bite took me to heaven," Chen recalls while laughing. "You know, as a poor young man in a new country, an ice cream was too expensive then." Since then, he kept the taste of the ice cream in his heart and included the happy feelings in his paintings, which turn out to be colorful and sweet.
His current exhibition is part of his nationwide tour that began at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing in 2011. He plans to take his artworks to 24 cities around China by 2016. The exhibition at the National Art Museum of China will last until April 22. After the exhibition tour, he will sell his works through an auction , and all the money will be donated to protection of the environment in China. "The natural environment of New Zealand has inspired my artwork and brought me enjoyment. I hope people in my home country can enjoy the same beautiful environment as I do," says Chen, who has made New Zealand his home for the last 26 years. | high13406.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the wife ignored the matter"
},
"options": [
"the husband was careless",
"the wife ignored the matter",
"the husband was busy",
"the wife wasn't informed of the matter"
],
"question": "The uncapped medical bottl... | A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and loved the boy very much. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for work so he asked the wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter.
The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle and, fascinated with its color, drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages . When the child fell down, the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was shocked. She was terrified how to face her husband.
When the father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just four words. The husband just said 'I am with you, Darling'. The husband's totally unexpected reaction is active behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened. No point in attaching blame. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was comfort and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.
If everyone can look at life with this kind of viewpoint, there would be much fewer problems in the world. Take off all your envies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears and you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think. Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out some warmth in human relationship. | high2448.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "They mowed it carefully."
},
"options": [
"They mowed it faster.",
"They mowed it carefully.",
"They had a quality mower.",
"They charged the same as others."
],
"question": "Why did more and more people ask the... | Dad was always full of advice, but one of the biggest lessons he taught me one summer was about having a strong work ethic . When my brother and I were growing up, we mowed yards during the summer to earn pocket change. Dad was our salesman. He told our neighbors about our service and offered a price they could not refuse. My brother and I got $ 10 per yard. I later found out that our friends were charging $ 20 or more for the same amount of work.
Every time we headed out to mow lawns , Dad was there to watch. I used to wonder why he came with us. He stood supervising our work in the heat when he could have been inside relaxing with air conditioning and an icy drink.
One day we were cutting our next-door neighbor's yard, he always waited until the grass was knee-high to call us over. To make matters worse, we had an old lawn mower. This particular afternoon, I was finishing up and was tired and sweaty.
I was just about to cut off the lawn mower when I saw Dad pointing to one piece of grass. He yelled, "You missed a piece."
I frowned, hoping he would let it slide and let me go home. He kept pointing. So, tired and disappointed, I went back to cut that piece of grass. I said to myself, "That one piece isn't hurting anyone. Why won't he just let it go?"
But when I reached adulthood, I understood his message ---When you're running a business, the work you do says a great deal about you. If you want to be seen as an entrepreneur with honesty, you must deliver a quality product. That single blade of grass meant the job was not done.
Other neighbors took notice of the good work we did and we soon got more business. We started out with one client, but by the end of the summer we had five. | high19895.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "make higher profits"
},
"options": [
"drop useless shark meat",
"let them grow new fins",
"avoid law punishment",
"make higher profits"
],
"question": "Fishermen throw the sharks back into the sea after catching... | For millions of years, sharks have been the kings of the oceans, the top of the food chain. But these days, the hunter has become the hunted, because of better methods from commercial fishermen who are looking for fins to make expensive soup sold mostly in Asia. Shark fins are far more valuable than shark meat, so fishermen cut the fins off live fish and throw the sharks overboard to maximize the catch they bring back.
Shark finning is illegal in the United States, but there're tournament sport fishermen, who target and kill the biggest ones they take from the sea. These tournaments, the prizes of which can reach $5,000 or more, attract large crowds of anglers but also draw protests from animal rights groups and environmentalists.
The competitors say they are enjoying a fun and legal sport, the impact on the overall shark population is very small, and most of the sharks caught are returned to the ocean. Dave Johnson, who is from Kennebunkport, Maine, said no one ever comes close to the limit set by the government of killing one shark per day during the three-month season.
"I enjoy watching these animals, but I also enjoy catching and releasing them, and very rarely killing them and eating them," he said. "If I thought killing one shark was endangering the species and contributing to their decline I'd stop doing it tomorrow."
That is exactly what marine biologists like Luke Tipple want to happen. "I believe that they should just stop it. In fact, we don't need to be targeting, in any way, any of these threatened populations," he said. Up to 73 million sharks are killed annually, and many species are at risk of extinction . | high17660.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "take people to the moon"
},
"options": [
"bring great honor to the moon",
". fly toward the sun",
"explore the heavens",
"take people to the moon"
],
"question": "Leonardo da Vinci said that a great machine bird... | Since the beginning of time, man has been interested in the moon. The Romans designed a special day to show admiration and respect to the moon. They called it "Moonday", or "Monday", as we know it today. Later, the great mind of Leonardo da Vinci studied the moon and designed a machine to carry a human to the moon. Leonardo said that one day a great machine bird would take a person to the moon and bring great honour to the home where it was born.
Four and a half centuries later, Leonardo's idea was realized. Apollo II took three Americans--Collins, Aldrin, and Armstrong--to the moon. The mission did fill the whole world with great surprise, as Leonardo had said it would. A lot of essays, articles, and books were written about man's first moon mission. But perhaps the most interesting story was one written before the event----over 100 years before.
In 1865, French author Jules Verne wrote a story about the first journey to the moon. His story was very similar to the 1969 Apollo II mission.
Verne's spacecraft also contained three men--two Americans and a Frenchman. The spacecraft was described as being almost the same size as Apollo II. The launch site in Verne's story was also in prefix = st1 /Florida. The spacecraft in Verne's story was named the "Columbiad". The Apollo II command ship was called "Columbia". His account of sending the spacecraft into the space could easily have been written about how Apollo II was sent into the space.
Verne's story was the same as the actual event in several other respects. The speed of Verne's spacecraft was 36,000 feet per second; Apollo's was 35,533 feet per second. Verne's spacecraft took 97 hours to reach the moon; Apollo's time was 103 hours. Like Apollo's spacemen, Verne's spacemen took pictures of the moon's surface, relaxed on their seats, cooked with gas, and experienced weightlessness. They too came down in the Pacific and were picked up by an American warship.
What were the reasons for Jules Verne's extreme accuracy in describing an event 100 years or more before it actually occurred? He based his writings on the law of physics and astronomy . Nineteenth-century science and the vivid Verne's imagination gave people an unbelievably accurate preview of one of the greatest events of the 20thcentury. | high18553.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "5"
},
"options": [
"4",
"5",
"6",
"3"
],
"question": "The writer offered _ examples to support his argument.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"... | The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is plagues that flesh receives.
The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by coming into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in isolated Arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches , cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds.
In the Second World War prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp , naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.
At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in Experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in the winter? Despite the most pains--taking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain suppressors such as aspirin, but all they do is to relieve the symptoms . | high5327.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "has trouble in giving freedom to her children"
},
"options": [
"refuses to give her children freedom",
"finds it difficult to make rules",
"doesn't have a good relationship with her children",
"has trouble in giving fre... | There is no question that teenagers need rules, which is often not a difficult thing for parents to give. What can be more challenging is giving teenagers their freedom. It can be difficult to draw the line between the two. However, some issues cannot be changed by discussion and require firm rules. For instance, rules should be established concerning driving the family car.
I will admit that I have no problem coming up with rules. To me they make life easier and they leave no room for questioning. What can be more difficult, however, is giving my teens their freedom. I guess there are really two primary reasons for this. One is that I sometimes am afraid to give them freedom. The second is that I'm not always so sure what the freedom should be.
It helps that I have a husband with whom I can discuss these problems. We talk about _ , give our thoughts and then we come up with an agreement. Sometimes one of us might be more unwilling but we know that there comes a time when we really do have to learn how to let go of the reins a bit.
If we try to make life have nothing but rules, we are more likely to see our teen's rebelling . They need to know that while we do have certain expectations, we also trust them to begin making their own choices and decisions. How else can they do that unless they are given the space and room to do it?
It's really all about balance and I will be the first to admit that it can be a challenge to carry out. However, it is a necessary part of growing up. Yes, teens definitely need rules but they also need freedom. | high3756.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Some travel tips"
},
"options": [
"Some travel tips",
"Danger of travel",
"Travel experience",
"First aid in travel"
],
"question": "What does the passage mainly talk about?",
"question_type": null
},
{
... | Whether you're taking a trip alone or with your family, it's easier to get sick when you're in a new place because your body hasn't had a chance to _ to the food, water, and air in a new environment. Read the following tips on keeping your travel experience as healthy as possible.
Safe foods and drinks
What foods are safe to eat? Foods that have been boiled are generally safe, as well as fruits and vegetables that have to be peeled before eating. Avoid eating uncooked or undercooked meat.
Stay away from foods that require a lot of handling before serving.
Drink only bottled water when traveling. If you have to use the tap water, you should boil it first.
You can take it with you
When you're packing, taking some painkiller and diarrhea medicine is a good idea. It's also a good idea to pack some allergy medicine even if you don't take it at home, because people sometimes unexpectedly develop allergic reactions in a new environment.
Write it all down
Before you leave your sweet home, create a medical history form that includes the following information:
your name, address, and home phone number as well as a parent's daytime phone number
your blood type a list of any ongoing health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, or AIDS a list of current medicines you are taking a list of allergies to medicine, food, insects, and animals the name, address, and phone number of a relative other than your parent It also helps if you have some basic emergency medical knowledge, not only for yourself but also for helping others you may be traveling with. A great way to prepare for your trip is to take a first-aid or basic life support course before you go; if you're traveling with a group, you should know where the first-aid kit is and what's in it. | high3030.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "who are going to university"
},
"options": [
"who enjoy university life",
"who live outside the campus",
"who are going to university",
"who want to keep fit at university"
],
"question": "This passage is mainly... | Wherever life takes you after A-level results day, it's likely to bring increased independence. That means it's time to take care of yourself.
Students, take note. When you arrive at university, make sure you register with a doctor near your term-time address. If there is a university doctor at your institution, they will be your best choice. If not, ask student services for a recommendation. Once registered, do everything you can to make sure you never have to pay them a visit. Don't take unnecessary health risks.
Cook meat thoroughly. Throw food away if it's out of date. Clean up after yourself. Food poisoning can be harmful, but it's easy to avoid if you pay due care and attention.
University often brings a certain lifestyle, and while that's usually a whole lot of fun, it can quickly tip into a whole lot of sorrow. Know your limits when it comes to alcohol. Habitual drinking can be dangerous, and while every student will have nights of excess, these should be the exception, not the norm. Look out for your friends, too. If you're worried about alcohol or substance abuse, visit alcoholics-anonymous.org.ukorukna.orgfor free and confidential support.
Anyone living with teenagers and young adults, especially in environments such as halls of residence, must accept that germs will be shared. Bugs and colds will spread like wildfire. Living communally brings certain health risks, and _ is probably the most serious of these. Symptoms include a rash, stiff neck and an aversion to bright lights. It's rare, but seek immediate medical attention if you're concerned (meningitis.org).
Gappers, meanwhile, may need to consider specific health risks. If you're planning a trip abroad, especially in rural areas of poor countries, make sure you get the necessary vaccinations in good time before you leave.
Research these at www.netdoctor.co.uk. You should be able to get everything you need from your doctor, although you may have to give them notice and you may have to pay, even on the NHS . If you also need to take medication while you're away, such as anti-malarials, do it faithfully.
On a general note, whoever you are, wherever you are and whatever you do with your time, never walk alone at night, especially in quiet and badly lit areas. Always carry your phone. Never get in an unlicensed cab. Be careful who you trust. Respect your new independence, and keep yourself safe. | high20972.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A new language."
},
"options": [
"Teaching her friend.",
"A new language.",
"Go shopping.",
"Making hamburgers."
],
"question": "Which is Mary's invention?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | Mary likes to invent things. She creates a new language and teaches it to her friend, Jean. Mary and Jean like to talk to each other in their own language because they think no one understands them and it is funny. When they go shopping, they say things like: "Look! He is fat." "This CD is awful." "I want to eat free hamburgers." A clerk comes but he can't understand what they say. He asked them: "May I help you?" Mary and Jean just laugh. What fun it is to create something new. | high11577.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She is the first women to work as a gripman."
},
"options": [
"She is the oldest one to work as a grpman.",
"She is the first women to work as a gripman.",
"She is the fattest women to work as a gripman.",
"She is the m... | After a lot of weightlifting and 25 exhausting days training, a 52-year-old woman recently became the first female "gripman" on San Francisco's historic cable cars.
Fannie Barnes passed her written test and completed a final run under the watchful eye of a supervisor, Municipal Railway spokesman Alan Siegel said.
Deep calluses are already forming at the base of her fingers and there is a hole in her glove. Two other women quit after a single day with injured muscles. "Now they're going to have to change the word from gripman to grip person, just because of me," Barnes said earlier, "I'm so excited."
After almost a year of serious workouts, Barns can pull more than 61 kilos, only 23 kilos less than her body weight. And she'll need the muscle, for this is no modern, push-button technology. Every time a car starts up again after making a stop, the gripman must haul back on a lever controlling a device that grips the cable, which runs continuously at 14 kilometers per hour. If the grip slips, so does the car. A second person operates the brakes.
In addition to having to throw her weight around on the job, she's got to throw out some attitude to men who were hard to convince. The city employs 76 men in the job.
"A lot of men said mean things to me and didn't want to help train me. But I would like to thank the guys who were against me because they gave me even more inspiration to do it." she said.
Not all the men were against her. Many of the male colleagues yelled out support as she did her training runs. One of her biggest tests was drizzly December morning. She first went down the Hyde Street Hill, considered the most dangerous incline on the cable car routes. "I had to have the will and I had to believe I could do it," she said. "It was scary, but as I started going down full grip and felt that I was in control, I knew I was on my way," Barnes already is a pioneer of sorts. She started working as a cable car conductor six years ago, collecting fares and assisting on the back brake. She is one of only three women to have that job. But she said she always wanted the job up front on the car. (400) | high16218.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "he wanted to bring his family a better life"
},
"options": [
"he had to support his family",
"he wanted to bring his family a better life",
"he was enthusiastic in attending classes",
"he had to so as to reduce his fami... | Father was a hardworking man who delivered bread as a living to support his wife and three children. He spent all his evenings after work attending classes, hoping to improve himself so that he could one day find a better paid job. Except for Sundays, Father hardly ate a meal together with his family. He worked and studied very hard because he wanted to provide his family with the best that money could buy.
Whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. Though he often longed to spend more time with his family, he weighed his contribution to his family above everything else.
The day came when the examination results were announced. To his joy, Father passed, and with distinctions too! Soon after, he was offered a good job as a senior supervisor which paid handsomely.
Like a dream come true, Father could now afford to provide his family with life's little luxuries like nice clothing, fine food and vacation abroad.
However, the family still did not get to see Father for most of the week. He continued to work very hard, hoping to be promoted to the position of manager. In fact, to make himself a worthily candidate for the promotion, he took another course in an open university.
Again, whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. Though he often longed to spend more time with his family, he weighed his contribution to his family above everything else.
Father's hard work paid off and he was promoted. Happily, he decided to hire a maid to relieve his wife from her domestic tasks. He also felt that their three-room flat was no longer big enough. It would be nice for his family to be able to enjoy the facilities and comfort of a condominium. Having experienced the rewards of his hard work many times before, Father resolved to further his studies and work at being promoted again. The family still did not get to see much of him. In fact, sometimes Father had to work on Sundays entertaining clients.
Over again, whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. Though he often longed to spend more time with his family, he weighed his contribution to his family above everything else.
As expected, Father's hard work paid off again and he bought a beautiful condominium overlooking the coast of Singapore. On the first Sunday evening at their new home, Father declared to his family that he decided not to take any more courses or pursue any more promotions. From then on he was going to devote more time to his family, and it was a promise.
Father did not wake up the next day. | high17106.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The scientific genius on TV show and the one alive in real life."
},
"options": [
"The director of \"The Big Bang Theory\" and the founder of it.",
"The director and the actor of \"The Big Bang Theory\".",
"The founder of the... | When two Bangs meet
Sheldon Cooper is a scientific genius on the popular American TV show, The Big Bang Theory (<<>> ). He finally met his match last year: Stephen Hawking.
This is not the first time that the scientist has appeared on TV. He has also been on Star Trek (in 1987) and The Simpsons (in 1989). Each time, he played himself.
Hawking, 71, is perhaps the world's most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He has spent his whole life studying the beginning and the end of the universe, including the Big Bang theory.
The Big Bang theory explains the early development of the universe. According to the theory, about 13.7 billion years ago everything was all squeezed together in a tiny, tight little ball, and then the ball exploded. The results of that explosion are what we call the universe.
Hawking has always tried to make science more popular with people. His book: A Brief History of Time was published in 1988. In the book he shares his understanding of the universe in simple language. The book tries to explain many subjects about the universe to common readers, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones .
Hawking's achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him from moving or talking. Now he sits on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moves two fingers to control the computer's mouse. He chooses his words from the screen, which are then spoken by a voice synthesizer .
Hawking also believes that there might be aliens in space. However, he believes they are probably very dangerous, so we should not look for them. "I imagine they might exist in very big ships ... having used up all the resources from their home planet," Hawking said in a British documentary named Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. | high5441.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Her family was poor, and new clothes were very rare."
},
"options": [
"She loved dressing up more than anything else.",
"She thought they would make her more beautiful.",
"Her family was poor, and new clothes were very rare."... | I still remember the day when my mom said, "Let's get you some new clothes." You can imagine that to any little girl that would mean the world, but to me it meant the universe, because we were not very rich. After she said that, all I could think about was what kinds of clothes I would choose. To my surprise, my mom allowed me to pick out three dresses: a pink one, a blue one and a yellow one. The yellow one was my favorite.
I had a best friend named Seema, whose family was even poorer than ours. We played and studied together, and spent the best days of our childhood laughing at the silly stories we made up. I was excited to show her my three beautiful new dresses. She loved them all and was happy for me, but tearfully explained to me that her father could only afford to buy her clothes for her birthday. I felt sorry, and then did something that surprised even myself: I asked her to pick out one of my dresses for herself. To my disappointment, she picked up my favorite--the yellow one. Please remember, I was only seven years. My heart almost popped out of my chest. But as she held it against her body, and I saw how brightly she smiled, I stopped feeling any hurt. I told her it looked lovely on her.
I'll always remember Seema's smile, and how at that moment nothing mattered more. When you value your friendships, nothing else matters! We're still best friends today. | high10669.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Parents can't make sure if some stories about food are totally true."
},
"options": [
"Adults are willing to teach their children as their parents did.",
"Most persuasive stories about food are false.",
"Stories about food sh... | Adults are happy to tell their children that crusts will give them curly hair, carrots will help them see in the dark, and spinach will make them strong. Even though adults know it's not totally true, they think it's good for their children's health, a study had found.
In a study about 31 per cent of adults said they once told their children the curly hair tale, and 36 per cent said they'd been told the same thing by their mother or father. Among the over-50s, almost half said they'd been promised curly hair if they ate their crusts. A quarter of the 2,000 adults questioned in the study told their children carrots would help them see in the dark. This could be true to some extent because of the high levels of vitamin A and beta-carotene in root vegetables.
Another favorite among parents is that milk will make one strong. A third surveyed said their parents told them this, and about 29 per cent said they told their children the same thing. But while there is plenty of evidence to suggest milk is good for people's health, there are also a lot of scientific papers saying it isn't.
Thanks to Popeye, spinach is also fed to children, along with the idea that it will make them strong. While there is also some truth in this one, scientists now believe it is not the iron, but the inorganic nitrates that improve physical power.
One in seven of the surveyed admitted telling their little ones that runner beans will make them run faster, which is nothing more than wordplay and has no basis in science. Almost one in five adults were subjected to the same tale in childhood.
Just over one in 10 parents told their children green food would turn them into a superhero, and a quarter admitted hiding vegetables in meals.
Lyndsay Jones, spokesman for Persil Washing Up Liquid, said, "It's clear that the most persuasive stories about food are passed on from generation to generation. Our research shows that the ideas continue, and we tell our kids the same things our parents told us, even if they're not always entirely true."
Crusts may not make your hair curly, but there's plenty of research that says crusts contain more of the goodness than the rest of a loaf. Hopefully, as a result of our Cook with Kids promise, more parents will be encouraged to spend time with their children in the kitchen and teach them the truth about food. | high13360.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "You have a good rest and study properly."
},
"options": [
"You go swimming in a lake",
"You are active in learning",
"You have a good rest and study properly.",
"You can sing a song"
],
"question": "If _ ,yo... | Some people think that they will get ill if they use their brains too much. It is not true. Through many researches, scientists show us that the more you use your brains, the better they will be, and the wiser you will become.
Of course, if you want to keep your mind clear and be energetic , you must take a proper rest and study properly. To the teenagers, using their brains in the morning is good for their health.
There are many ways to rest. One is a peaceful rest. Sleep is a peaceful rest. Another is an active rest. For example, take a walk outdoors, do morning exercises every day. To change the way of the brains'activities is also a good way to rest.
In everyday life, to eat some eggs, meat, fresh vegetable and fruit is also good for the brains.
Wish you a wise man and a happy life. | high1627.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Edmonds proved himself to be good at writing at high school"
},
"options": [
"Edmonds proved himself to be good at writing at high school",
"Edmonds graduated from Morgan State University in 1967.",
"Edmonds was the first ful... | When people hear a president speak, they seldom think about others helping to shape the presentation . Today, however, presidents depend on writers such as J. Terry Edmonds to help them communicate effectively. Edmonds is the first African American ever to work as a full-time speechwriter for a U. S. president; he is so the first African American to serve as director of speechwriting for White House. His is an all-American story of success.
Edmonds grew up in Baltimore, Maryland; his father drove a truck, and his mother worked as a waitress. A. great reader, Edmonds showed a gift for writing at his high
School, Baltimore City College After graduating in 1967 Edmonds went on to Morgan State University
Edmonds began his career in business, with jobs in public relations and communications. He joined the world of politics as news secretary for his congressman from Baltimore During Bill Clinton's presidency, he wrote speeches for Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and worked in a number of job in the White House and in governmental departments President Clinton then appointed him to the office of directory of speechwriting Following the 2000 elections Edmonds returned to Morgan State University as the school's special assistant to the president for 2001-2002 | high8165.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Lovely and wonderful."
},
"options": [
"Big and modem.",
"Old and outdated.",
"Little and dusty.",
"Lovely and wonderful."
],
"question": "What did the author think of Hopkins and Son?",
"question_type": nul... | The old shopkeeper led me through to the back of the shop. The room was filled with boxes and dusty photographs of people holding packages in their hands.
Mr. Hopkins said, "We have a very wide choice of items for sale. Whenever I serve a new customer, I take his picture. " Mr. Hopkins pointed to an ancient camera on a table.
I began to appreciate the lovely items on sale. I spent a very pleasant hour being shown the _ in the shop. Finally, I bought an antique jewelry box, a pair of riding boots and a sewing machine.
I was very excited that I had found such a good little shop. "I will tell all my friends about your love-ly place. " I told the shopkeeper. "Please don't do that, sir. " said Mr. Hopkins. "This is a special place for special people. You must keep this shop a secret. " Then he took my photograph and handed me the picture straight away.
" That was quick ! " I exclaimed. In the picture I looked proud and excited holding the presents I had bought there.
On Christmas Day, my friends and relatives were delighted with the presents I had bought for them.
For weeks, my brother begged me to take him to the wonderful little shop. I finally agreed.
We walked along Oxford Street, past the department store and found---nothing. In its place was an empty space being used as a car park. I checked the area again. There was the music shop, and there was the department store. In between should have been Hopkins and Son, but it wasn't there.
Just then, an old policeman came. "Are you looking for something, sir?" he asked. "I am looking for a little shop called Hopkins and Son. "
"Oh yes, there was a shop here 'once called Hopkins and Son. But it was knocked down over 30 years ago. "
I looked again at the place, then I reached into my pocket and took out the photograph that Mr. Hop-kins had taken of me holding my presents in the little shop.
" How strange ! " I screamed. | high13374.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "In the Expo City."
},
"options": [
"In the Expo City.",
"In the host country.",
"In the Expo Site.",
"In Chinese mainland"
],
"question": "If you were born in April 1993, where can you be a volunteer?",
"que... | Volunteers, as an essential part of a successful world exposition, are a major channel for the public to participate in, serve and share the world exposition and a means to showcase the image of the host country and city. The following information is about the volunteer for the World Exposition 2010 Shanghai China.
I.Basic Requirements for Volunteers
* Be willing to participate in voluntary services of Expo 2010;
* Age limit: Expo Site volunteers must be born before April 30, 1992 and Expo City Voluntary Service Station volunteers before April 30, 1994;
* Obey the laws and regulations of the PRC;
* Be able to participate in training and relevant activities before the opening of Expo 2010;
* Possess necessary knowledge and skills needed by the position;
* Be in good health to meet the requirements of corresponding voluntary positions.
II.Further Information for Volunteers
* Source
Residents of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese, and foreigners can all apply to be the volunteers.
* Signup methods
Applicants may log in onto the official websites for online signup.They may also consult or connect with the Expo Volunteer Stations.
* Time
May 1 - December 31, 2009
III.Volunteer Training
Volunteer training includes general training, special training and position training.General training is carried out through internet, while special training and position training are provided through classroom lectures and field practice.
IV.Volunteer Types
* Expo Site volunteers refer to those offering voluntary services to visitors and the Organizer in the Expo Site, mainly including information, visitor flow management, reception, translation and interpretation, assistance for the disabled, and assistance in media service, event and conference organization and.volunteer management.
* Information booth volunteers are stationed in the Expo's information booths at key transportation centers, commercial outlets, tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels and cultural event places outside the Expo Site.They offer services including information, translation, interpretation and even first aid. | high1633.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The rocks can be of help if there's danger."
},
"options": [
"He was an excellent swimmer.",
"The water of the river is shallow.",
"He was old enough to swim.",
"The rocks can be of help if there's danger."
],
"... | My 16-year-old son, Anton, had gone to the local swimming hole. Most of the kids swim there, and there are plenty of rocks for them to use as safe harbors, so I had no fears for his safety.
Still, the firefighter's first words "You need to come up here to the Stillwater River" made me catch my breath, and his follow-up words gave me relief: " Your son is OK."
When I got to the river, I immediately saw the firetruck, ambulance and Anton, wrapped with a towel about his shoulders, sitting quietly on a low platform of the fire engine.
I hurried over to him. "You OK?"I asked.
"Yeah," was all he said. But my eyes begged for an explanation, I didn't get it from my son, however, _ .
The story was this: A woman was being swept under water. Hearing the cries, Anton and his friend Tyler, without hesitation, swam out to her, and brought her safely to shore.
In an age in which the word "hero" is broadcast with abandon and seemingly applied to anyone who make it through the day, I realized the real thing in my son. The teens are stubborn and self-centred, but that didn't mean they have no desire to do good.
Still shocked by my son's daring, I drove him home. Along the way, I tried to dig out some more information from him - but he had precious little to say. The only words he said were,
"What's for supper?"
I spent some time alone that evening, thinking about the tragedy that might have been. The next morning, when Anton got up, I half expected him to tell me the story. But all he did was toast some bread, pull himself together, and head for the door to start a new day. Watching from the window,1 was reminded that still water often runs deep. | high7242.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "June 16"
},
"options": [
"June 4",
"June 16",
"June 30",
"July 7"
],
"question": "According to the passage, if you want to see a film whose leading actor is Jackie Chan, you will see the film on _ .",
"... | It's summer movie time again.And heroes are ready to try their strength and magic on the silver screen.Check out our list of four films that look most promising to young audience. | high15705.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A shrinking of the green"
},
"options": [
"Less concrete and more trees",
"Increased portion sizes",
"A green neighborhood",
"A shrinking of the green"
],
"question": "According to the passage, what might cause ... | A new study found that inner-city kids living in neighborhoods with more green space gained about 13% less weight over a two-year period than kids living among more concrete and fewer trees. Such findings tell a powerful story. The obesity epidemic began in the 1980s, and many people think it results from increased portion sizes and inactivity , but that can't be everything. Big Macs and TVs have been with us for a long time. "Most experts agree that the changes were related to something in the environment," says Thomas Glass of the Hopkins School of Public Health. That something could be a shrinking of the green.
The new research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, isn't the first to associate greenery with better health, but it does get us closer to identifying what works and why. At its most straightforward, a green neighborhood simply means more places for kids to play -- which is important since time spent outdoors is one of the strongest links to children's activity levels.
Glass warns that most studies don't necessarily prove a link between greenness and health, but they're helping _ action. In September the U.S. government approved the No Child Left Inside Act to encourage public initiatives aimed at exposing kids to the outdoors.
Finding green space is, of course, not always easy, and you may have to work a bit to get your family a little grass and trees. If you live in a suburb or a city with good parks, take advantage of what's there. Your children in particular will love it -- and their bodies will thank you. | high8171.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "to recommend a book"
},
"options": [
"to persuade people to play poker",
"to present American history",
"to teach you some poker skills",
"to recommend a book"
],
"question": "The purpose of the writing is _ ... | Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker
You may not play poker yourself but for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the fate of the free world has been determined by men who do. So this recommendation is not for those who already play the game - if you do, you needn't bother reading the rest of this review, just go off and buy the book - as to the non-player, this is seriously worth their attention.
Although it began as poque, a French game that developed in New Orleans and headed up the Mississippi steamboats, by the mid-19th century poker was the most popular American amusement; the national game, in effect. So the history of America can be viewed through the history of poker, as James McManus quietly demonstrates. In this book you watch America grow up over a card table, from the wild west games which could either leave you broke, or dead, or both to the more polite early 20th-century scenes of respectable games.
And it is possible to argue, after reading this book, that history would be different if there were no such game which combined luck, intelligence, dishonesty, courage, skill and character. (There's a very good chapter which tries to work out how much luck is involved in the game.) Few over here have read or will read Shelby Foote's 2,836-page history of the American civil war, so we can be grateful that McManus provides us with a clear and elegant outline which tells how it was "the first work of history to explore how the game's wisdom and logic fit into the whole scheme of _ ". Not only, for instance, was Ulysses S Grant a good poker player, but as a student at West Point he'd learned the betting strategies of many of his contemporaries who would go on to become rebel generals. Nixon's poker game has already been analysed by Garry Wills in his Nixon Agonistes; Oskar Morgenstern, one of Eisenhower's advisers, pointed out that chess was Russians' national game and poker was the Americans'.
This is not, though, the history of poker, but, as the subtitle tells us, the story of poker, you will find fuller details elsewhere. This is a very flowing and impressionistic account, with a huge knowledge of the game; at times, in its mixing together of anecdote and observation, it produces the feeling you might get from studying a work of art. McManus is a first-rate writer: controlled, sensitive, accurate and convincing. And if the game makes no sense to you or holds no appeal, it might be the case that you are putting yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with the rest of humankind. | high20966.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "www. Gardner museum .org"
},
"options": [
"www. pafa.org",
"www. noguchi.org",
"www. museumofglass.org",
"www. Gardner museum .org"
],
"question": "Which of the following websites offers information about the fu... | Use your American Express Card to enjoy one-day privileges at four of America's greatest museums. Note the participating museums, and their exciting special exhibitions that you will not want to miss, listed below.
Boston
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Chairs
February 11--May 8, 2005
Italian furniture expert Fausto Calderai and Indian photographer Dayanita Singh present an exhibition of chairs from the museum's collection and " chair photographs "from around the world presented in a Venetian-style hall housing world-famous masterpieces.
For more information: www. gardnermuseum.org
New York
The Noguchi Museum
Noguchi and Graham
December 1, 2004---May 1,2005
Noguchi's long-term collaboration with dancer Martha Graham is regarded by many as high point in the history of both modern dance and art. The exhibition highlights nine of the sets created through this collaboration.
For more information: www. noguchi.org
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
In Full View : American painting ( 1720---2005)
January 11--- April 10, 2005
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy has been home to America's artists for 200 years. The Academy collects and exhibits the works of famous American artists, and is well-known for training fine artists. 2005 at the Academy begins with the largest exhibition of the Academy's distinguished American collection in the institution's history.
For more information: www.pafa.org
Seattle
Seattle Museum of Glass
Murano: Glass from the Olnick Spanu Collection
Through November 7, 2004
This exhibition includes over 200 pieces of beautiful glass from Murano, the island of glassblowers near Venice, Italy. Watch live glass-blowing shows in the Hot Shop and see other modern glass exhibitions.
For more information: www. museumofglass.org | high3024.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "working hard to get a degree"
},
"options": [
"taking part in different activities",
"working hard to get a degree",
"seizing every chance to try new things",
"improving themselves by learning from the others"
],
... | Some say college is wasted on the young. So many of us look back at our own college years and realize what we could have done differently to make the most of them. While we can't go back, we certainly can offer our sons and daughters our best advice to help them make the right choices in college. Hopefully, they will have fewer regrets than we do. Following are five guidelines parents can share with their college-bound kids to put the whole experience in perspective.
EDUCATION IS YOUR FIRST PRIORITY
As soon as you arrive on campus, there will be competing interests. Feel free to check them out but always remember that you are there first and foremost for your education. Go to class prepared and on time. Be engaged during class. Make sure your professor knows you and realizes that you care.
BE RESPONSIBLE
There are many layers of responsibility. Do what you say you will do and, if you can't, own up to it early and communicate clearly. But being responsible isn't just about meeting your commitments; it is also about taking care of you, your body, and your friends. For example, more than 1800 college students die annually from alcohol-related injuries. Look out for yourself and other people. Make moderate, sensible decisions so you aren't reeling from the consequences later.
TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY
Incredible opportunities will present themselves: studying abroad, interning at a unique place, trying new things. Don't let fear prevent you from taking advantage of them. There may never be so much time or as many resources devoted to your betterment again in your life. Say yes to opportunities that will help you grow.
FIND AND BE A MENTOR
Some of the best lessons available to us can come outside of the classroom in the form of a mentor. One of the most powerful growth opportunities is being a mentor. Early on, find someone on campus who you feel can help you grow and develop a relationship with him or her. Also find someone for you to mentor. You will reinforce and enrich your own learning experience by teaching someone else.
GET THE JOB DONE
It is natural to occasionally feel you want to quit, when it makes more sense to you to go find a full-time job. Resist that urge. As Jocelyn Negron-Rios, a mother of two, who is currently completing her degree, advises, "No matter how difficult it seems, keep at it because however insurmountable it feels now multiply that by 10,000 and that is how it feels when you are in your thirties with a full-time job and a family and are trying to pursue a degree." | high5455.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A boy learned to be responsible."
},
"options": [
"A boy began to wash dishes.",
"Boys studied very hard for class.",
"Boys played games after school.",
"A boy learned to be responsible."
],
"question": "Which o... | True Manliness
"Please, mother, do sit down and let me try my hand,"said Fred Liscom, a bright active boy, twelve years old. Mrs. Liscom, looking pale and worn, was moving languidly about, trying to clear away the breakfast she had scarcely tasted.
She smiled and said, "You, Fred, you wash dishes?"
"Yes, indeed, mother," answered Fred. "I should be a poor scholar if I couldn't, when I've seen you do it so many times. Just try me."
A look of relief came over his mother's face as she seated herself in her low rocking chair. Fred washed the dishes and put them in the closet. He swept the kitchen, brought up the potatoes from the cellar for the dinner and washed them, and then set out for school.
Fred's father was away from home and as there was some cold meat in the pantry , Mrs. Liscom found it an easy task to prepare dinner. Fred hurried home from school, set the table, and again washed the dishes.
He kept on in this way for two or three days, until his mother was able to resume her usual work. He felt amply rewarded when the doctor, who happened in one day, said, "Well, madam, it's my opinion that you would have been very sick if you had not kept quiet."
The doctor did not know how the "quiet" had been secured, nor how the boy's heart bounded at his words. Fred had given up a great deal of what boys hold dear, for the purpose of helping his mother, coasting and skating being just at this time in perfection.
Besides this, his temper and his patience had been severely tried. He had been in the habit of going early to school and staying to play after it was dismissed.
The boys missed him and their curiosity was excited when he would give no other reason for not coming to school earlier, or staying after school, than that he was "Wanted at home."
"I'll tell you," said Tom Barton, "I'll find him out, boys-see if I don't!"
So, one morning on his way to school, he called on Fred. As he went around to the side door, he walked lightly and somewhat nearer the kitchen window than was ly needful. Looking in, he saw Fred standing at the table with a dishcloth in his hand.
Of course he reported this at school, and various were the greetings poor Fred received at recess ."Well, you're a brave one to stay at home washing dishes!""Girl boy!" "Pretty Bessie!""Lost your apron, haven't you, Polly!"
Fred was not wanting either in spirit or in courage, and he was strongly tempted to resent these insults and to fight some of his tormentors . But his consciousness of right and his love for his mother helped him.
While he was struggling for self-mastery, his teacher appeared at the door of the schoolhouse. Fred caught his eye, and it seemed to look, if it did not say, "Don't give up! Be really brave!" He knew the teacher had heard the insulting taunts of his thoughtless schoolmates.
The boys received notice during the day that Fred must not be taunted in any manner. They knew that the teacher meant what he said; and so the brave little boy had no further trouble. | high18221.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "No one needs to travel a long distance to get a center."
},
"options": [
"One can apply for a visa online.",
"One must have a face-to-face interview.",
"No one can get a visa without a fingerprinting.",
"No one needs to... | Travelling abroad for leisure is becoming more and more popular for Chinese. The UK is high up in the list of places that the Chinese want to visit. There is a sense of mystery about the UK; it's often the images of England's green parks, countryside and Victorian houses that people point to as an alternative to polluted, overcrowded cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou.
The capital is viewed as modern and dynamic, while being filled deep with history. When asked what other images are thought of by the UK, the reply is often "the Queen, tea and Oxbridge". So what's stopping them actually coming? Sebastian Wood ,the British ambassador in Beijing, has described the UK as a _ , and while this is perhaps an exaggeration ,Britain does have a reputation as a country that is harder to access.
The main problem for Chinese tourists is obvious. Although visa applications are now completed online, visitors are still required to visit one of 12 UK centers across the country for a face-to-face interview and fingerprinting. If you don't live near one of these enters already, you'd have to travel some distance to get there.
Another problem is also to be mentioned. If travelers from China visit the UK, they also want to cover as much ground as possible. But the UK is not included in the Schengen visa, which allows access to a host of 26 European countries such as France and Germany. So it makes the former seem a less worth it.
There is also the issue of cost: PS47 for a Schengen visa, PS82 for the UK. On top of this, the UK is viewed as stricter in its handing of visas compared with the rest of Europe, fed by urban legends of rejected applications. In the end, the decision comes down to one question: Is Britain worth a visit? | high4993.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "$25.00"
},
"options": [
"$20.00",
"$25.00",
"$30.00",
"$35.00"
],
"question": "If you are an MFA member and want to best enjoy the activity, you should pay .",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
... | Vellumsound presents Social Distinctions: Patrons and Partnerships
8:00 pm-9:30 pm
Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium (Auditorium 161), Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston
Ticket Required
MFA Members $20.00
Nonmembers $25.00
Activities
The exhibition"Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer"and the MFA collection show many purposes that artists have created works -- for the open market, wealthy patrons, religious organizations, and royal commissions. Music has been composed for these reasons as well.
Examine how artists create their magnificent works. First, from exhibition curator Ronni Baer, hear an overview of"Class Distinctions", an exhibition designed to encourage close looking at paintings to recognize clues embedded in the works that refer to social rank and status. Then listen to beautiful works for string quartet by Purcell, Mozart, and Bartok.
Tips
Entry or re-entry after the event starts is not guaranteed and will be at the discretion of the house manager.
To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975; to order in person, visit any MFA ticket desk.
For $5 more, enjoy guaranteed Premium Seating in the first three rows of the auditorium. | high19881.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "having a hobby can help us relax"
},
"options": [
"having a hobby can help us relax",
"reading a book alone is really boring",
"keeping a hobby is not easy for most of people",
"having a glass of wine with friends is no... | Nowadays, most of us live a busy life. What do you do to keep yourself relaxed? Besides spending time with family, having a glass of wine with friends or reading a book, how about a hobby?
Personally, I'm a collector. I like blue and white pieces the best---blue and white anything!Plates,jars,vases, cups, bowls---I love them all. Collecting items is like something you can't get enough of. You get one, and you want to have more.
I find collecting to be a fun and inspirational hobby. In many ways, it's like a puzzle I'm never tired of solving. I look high and low for new pieces to add to my collection. I can often be found visiting Marshell's, looking over their inexpensive offerings. In fact, I found one of my favorite pieces there.
I've mixed inexpensive pieces from Marshell's with more expensive finds. A lot of times, it's the piece I'm not looking for that falls into my lap; I find a way to make it part of my blue and white family. What I love about my collection is that when I get inspired, I can move them around the house, mix and match and make things look fresh and new.
Ever since I was a little girl, blue has been my favorite color1. I think I got it from my aunt in Mexico. Some of my earliest memories are visiting her in Mexico and sitting on a chair in her kitchen, which had blue and white tiles from the floor to the ceiling. I would spend countless hours admiring all the beautiful blue and white plates and shiny blue tiles around her kitchen. Once I had a home, I began to build my own blue and white collection. | high18547.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because they knew Tom wanted to go into that small room."
},
"options": [
"Because they knew Tom wanted to go into that small room.",
"Because Tom always got into trouble when they were at school.",
"Because Tom was very afra... | It was a very hot summer morning but inside the Pyramid it was quite cool. Tom and his classmates had just walked into the Pyramid and were very surprised to see what it was like.
They went to the Queen's Room. They saw a passage .At the end of it there was a small room. They were told that they couldn't go into that room, because it was newly found. Tom looked towards the passage. Two of his friends Jason and Peter saw him and said "Don't get into trouble, Tom!", As soon as nobody was looking, Tom went up the dark passage, opened the door and walked in. Suddenly the door closed behind him. The room was very dark, but luckily Tom had brought a torch with him. When he turned it on, he saw two white faces in front of him."Oh, no!" f he cried and ran to the door. He quickly opened it and went down the passage to the Queen's Room as fast as he could.
As soon as Tom disappeared, Jason and Peter took the pieces of white cloth off their faces and walked slowly down the passage. They couldn't stop laughing. 4iThat will teach him a lesson," said Jason. | high19659.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Twice in all."
},
"options": [
"Only once as a football star.",
"Only once as a businessman.",
"Twice in all.",
"We are not quite sure."
],
"question": "How many times was Sayers honored in his life?",
"ques... | "Football is a very short-term career. Football really prepares you for almost nothing. The only thing I got out of football was the ability to work hard." says Gales Sayers. So what do you do after your glory days on the field are over? Here's what one of the top players, Gales Sayers did after _ .
Gales Sayers: #40, Chicago Bears, Running Back.
Gales Sayers became famous in 1965. After recovering from a serious knee injury in 1968, Sayers returned to the Bears in 1969 and was awarded the George Halas Award as "the most courageous player in professional football." At the award ceremony, he owed his prize to his friend and teammate Brian Piccolo, who was dying of cancer.
Sayers couldn't get away from the injuries, though, and another blow to his knee put an end to his football career in 1971. His personal life was unfortunate as well, as he and his wife, Linda, split up that year. Shortly after that, Sayers started a new life and career as an assistant athletic director in the University of Kansas. By 1976 he was moving up the ladder at Southern Illinois University, becoming the first African-American athletic director at a major university.
Sayers started a computer supplies company in 1984 with his second wife, Ardie, whom he married in 1973. The couple was looking for a field with a future, and computers seemed to have it all. Seventeen years later, the company that bears his name is a national provider of technology solutions, with 10 locations and over 350 employees across the country. Just like in the old days the honors started rolling in. Sayers was listed into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 1999. | high11205.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "two sides of failure"
},
"options": [
"failure and success",
"two sides of failure",
"the \"spider-story\"",
"the invention of light bulb"
],
"question": "This passage deals with _ .",
"question_type": "c... | In one way of thinking, failure is part of life. In another way, failure may be a way towards success. The "spider-story" is often told. Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider making a web . The spider tried to reach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times. On the seventh time he made it and went on to make his web. Bruce is said to have been encouraged by this and to have gone on to defeat the English. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Once he was asked why he kept on trying to make a new type of battery when he had failed so often, he replied, "Failure? I have no failure. Now I know 50,000 ways it won't work."
So what? First, always think about your failure. What caused it? Were conditions right? Were you in top form yourself? What can you change so things will go right next time?
Second, is the goal you're trying to reach the right one? Try to do some thinking about what your real goals may be. Think about this question, "If I do succeed in this, where will it get me?" This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn't be doing anyway.
The third thing to keep in mind about failure is that it's a part of life. Learn to "live with yourself" even though you may have failed. | high8617.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Physical education aims for active lives"
},
"options": [
"Physical education aims for active lives",
"The future health of Americans",
"22% of all schools in the US don't require students to take any P. E.",
"Avoid com... | In the US, elementary and middle schools are advised to give students two and a half hours of physical activity a week. That is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association recommend. They say high schools should provide about four hours of physical activity each week.
Yet many schools across the country have reduced their physical education programs. Criticism of the cuts has led in some places to efforts to give students more time for exercise, not less. The future health of Americans may depend on it. A study reports that life expectancy has fallen or is no longer increasing in some parts of the United States. The situation is worst among poor people in the southern states, and especially women. Public health researchers say it is largely the result of increases in obesity,smoking and high blood pressure. They also blame differences in health services around the country.
In 2006, a study found that only 4% of elementary schools provided daily physical education all year for all grades. This was true of 8% of middle schools and 2% of high schools. The study also found that 22% of all schools did not require students to take any P. E. One problem for P. E. teachers is that schools are under pressure to put more time into academic subjects.
Also, parents may agree that children need exercise in school. Yet many parents today still have bad memories of being chosen last for teams because teachers favored the good athletes in class.
But experts say P. E. classes have changed. They say the goal has moved away from competition to personal performance, as a way to build a lifetime of activity. These days, teachers often lead activities like weight training and yoga.
Some parents like the idea of avoiding competitive sports in P. E. class. Yet others surely dislike that idea. _ . | high9509.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Healthy and clever."
},
"options": [
"Socialized and cute.",
"Clever and brave.",
"Healthy and clever.",
"Professional and strong."
],
"question": "Which of the following can be used to describe Mini Schnauzers?... | *AmericanMalinois
We have extra large,strong and healthy puppies born on May 29,2014 and raised on 2.5 acres fenced in Williston Highlands by American Malinois Foundation.
They are not caged or home-raised Malinois.They have taken swimming training and full exercise routine with their parents to make sure they know how to guard themselves and other things this breed can do.I work specifically on the ones which have service dog qualities.
My ideal buyer would be a disabled person in need of a mobile or medical alert service dog.The American Malinois is a working dog and is most content to bond with one person and only follow this person' s orders.Potential owners should be familiar or experienced with this breed.
My fee represents the cost of feeding,grooming,boarding,training,medical and registration with the CKC(Continental Kennel Club).Puppies will have health certificates from vets.
To see videos of the puppies and their parents, go to YouTube and search: American Malinois Foundation.
*MiniSchnauzers
We have 4 males and 4 females.Our puppies come with a health guarantee.They are trained and all of them have great personalities and would be a great addition to any home.These puppies are for pets only.To keep our bloodlines pure, we do not allow our puppies to be bred. We have been breeding for over 13 years and we only breed Mini Schnauzers. They are the best dogs. They are very smart. We will not ship our puppies. We have had people drive over 1500 miles to purchase our babies. | high13412.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "How to make friends."
},
"options": [
"Friendship is less important in our life.",
"How to make friends.",
"Friends do harm to our health and energy.",
"Relatives can't become friends."
],
"question": "What is ... | Friendship is always the center in our life. Friends often affect our health and energy. More and more people are turning towards their friends for support and sharing. We may have a very unclear understanding of what makes a friend but we all want to have many good friends around us. There are certain steps that can win you friends or at least help you get close to those whom you want to make friends with.
The first step to make friends with someone is to make him like you. If they don't like you in the beginning, it is impossible for them to become your friends. To let someone know that you're interested in him, a little smile and calling him by his name can help. To make the other person feel important, you need to be a good listener and encourage the other person to talk. Give your honest and real opinions but do not make fun of him or her.
The second step is to fully understand each other. You need to share his or her opinions. So, it is necessary for you to develop a habit of seeing things from the other person's point of view .
The third and final step is to show your support and encouragement towards your friend. | high22817.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Deal with inventory."
},
"options": [
"Collect carts.",
"Deal with inventory.",
"Checks out the groceries.",
"Ensures Walmart's security."
],
"question": "What does Mensah do in Walmart now?",
"question_type... | It was on the early afternoon of a mid-October day in 2012. Bismark Mensah, who came to America several months ago, was collecting carts outside a Walmart in Federal Way. It was a part-time job for him. He earned $9.05 an hour in charge of getting carts out of the parking lot.
He was used to finding stuff in carts that customers had somehow forgotten -- keys, credit cards, wallets. And he turned them into a customer service. But a particular item stood out. It was a white envelope with a clear window in the middle, and there was a lot of cash in it, around $20,000. Mensah turned them into customer services.
Because of what he did that afternoon, Mensah is now the winner of Walmart's national 2013 "Integrity in Action Award".
Bismark Mensah says that since the story ran, he has become the model the youth in Ghana (his native country).
He is now employed full-time at the Federal Way Walmart, earning $10.95 an hour, up from the $9.05 an hour he earned working part-time.
Mensah, 33, no longer collects carts and such. He is in the backroom, dealing with inventory . "I want to learn everything about operating a store like Walmart store," he says. He plans to return to Ghana to run some shops owned by his family. He also plans to go to college and earn a degree in business administration. | high14396.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a small group can save the travel cost"
},
"options": [
"a small group is free to run after the northern lights",
"a small group has less effect on nature",
"a small group can save the travel cost",
"a small group will ... | Northern Lights Tour
Located in the middle of the northern lights belt, Tromso can offer some of the highest levels of northern lights activity on earth. Perhaps Tromso is the world's best place for a Northern Lights Tour.
Join one of our Northern Lights Holidays this winter. It could become one of the greatest experiences in your life.
DESTINATION Tromso county, Norway.
PRICE $450 per person
WHEN 2th September until 31st March.
PICK-UP Each evening at 6 PM outside your hotel.
DROP-OFF Earliest at 12 AM. When we have a sighting we often stay out later, at no extra cost.
SIZE OF GROUP Maximum 8 participants is recommended and normal, but not absolute. A small group allows more freedom in terms of chasing the northern lights.
INCLUDED
- Transportation each day in a comfortable car
- A meal each day
- All necessary equipment such as snowshoes, flashlight, water-filled bottle, woolen underwear, a warm, hat, warm shoes, warm stockings, and reindeer skin to lie on, if needed.
- A guide who will do anything necessary to find the northern lights.
EXCITING CHASE
A Northern Lights Holiday means an intense and exciting chase--to the coast or deep into the wild, perhaps even to the Finnish border. Each day on a Northern Lights Tour we contact meteorologists shortly before departure to get accurate information. In order to find out where we will have best chances to see the northern lights.
WE GUARANTEE A GREAT TRIP
The northern lights are unpredictable, but we guarantee that we will do everything to find _ . Patience is a keyword on Northern Lights Tour.
ECO-TOURISM
We offer ecologically sustainable and responsible tours. Travelling in small groups is an essential part of the ecotourism concept, as small groups have lesser impact on nature and will not disturb the wildlife unnecessarily. | high8824.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "true happiness comes from spiritual riches"
},
"options": [
"true happiness lies in achieving wealth by fair means",
"big houses are people's most valued possessions",
"big houses can in a sense bring richness of life",
... | Perhaps you think you could easily add to your happiness with more money. Strange as it may seem, if you're unsatisfied, the issue is not a lack of means to meet your desires but a lack of desires--not that you cannot satisfy your tastes but that you don't have enough tastes.
Real riches consist of well-developed and hearty capacities to enjoy life. Most people are already swamped with things. They eat, wear, go and talk too much. _
Your house of life ought to be a mansion , a royal palace. Every new taste, every additional interest, every fresh enthusiasm adds a room. Here are several rooms your house of life should have.
Art should be a desire for you to develop simply because the world is full of beautiful things. If you only understood how to enjoy them and feed your spirit on them, they would make you as happy as to find plenty of ham and eggs when you're hungry.
Literature, classic literature, is a beautiful, richly furnished room where you might find many an hour of rest and refreshment. To gain that love would go toward making you a rich person, for a rich person is not someone who has a library but who likes a library.
Music like Mozart's and Bach's shouldn't be absent. Real riches are of the spirit. And when you've brought that spirit up to where classical music feeds it and makes you a little drunk, you have increased your thrills and bettered them. And life is a matter of thrills.
Sports, without which you remain poor, mean a lot in life. No matter who you are, you would be more human, and your house of life would be better supported against the had days, if you could, and did, play a bit.
Whatever rooms you might add to your house of life, the secret of enjoying life is to keep adding. | high6809.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It was a new experience for most of the women."
},
"options": [
"There was no one to lead it.",
"The women did not have any men with them.",
"It was a new experience for most of the women.",
"The women had not met one a... | In 1997, a group of twenty British women made history. Working in five teams with four women in each team, they walked to the North Pole. Apart from one experienced female guide, the other women were all ordinary people who had never done anything like this in their lives before. They managed to survive in an environment which had defeated several very experienced men during the same time period.
The women set off as soon as they were ready. Once on the ice, each woman had to ski along while dragging a sledge weighing over 50 kilos. The temperature was always below the freezing point and sometimes strong winds made walking while pulling so much weight almost impossible. It was also very difficult for them to put up their tents when they stopped each night.
In such conditions, the women were making good progress if they covered fourteen or fifteen kilometers a day. But there was another problem. Part of the journey was across a frozen sea with moving water underneath the ice and at some points the team would drift back more than five kilometers during the night. That meant that after walking in these very severe conditions for ten hours on one day, they had to spend part of the next day covering the same ground again. Furthermore, each day it took three hours from waking up to setting off and another three hours every evening to set up the camp and prepare the evening meal.
So, how did they manage to succeed? They realized that they were part of a team. If any one
of them didn't pull her sledge or get her job done, she would endanger the success of the whole expedition.
Any form of selfishness could result in the efforts of everyone else being completely wasted, so personal Feelings had to be put on one side. At the end of their journey, the women agreed that it was mental effort far more than physical fitness that got them to the North Pole. | high16581.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The way she was treated there broke her heart."
},
"options": [
"It couldn't provide her with good education.",
"She just needed a challenge in her way of life.",
"The way she was treated there broke her heart.",
"She w... | On the day of college graduation,I told my friends and family the news:I was leaving the country I had lived in since childhood.''I just need a change,"I told them,but there was more.I was running from heartbreak.My relationship with the United States is the most tough one I have ever had,as a country I loved and believed in did not love me back.
Back in the 90's,my mother brought me from our home in the Caribbean islands to the U.S.when I was 4 years old.She worked as a live-in nanny for two years,playing mommy for white kids whose parents had better things to do.She didn't believe that nanny meant maid,and did whatever was asked of her.She was thirsty to embrace her American dream,hoping that her children would be educated and she might have nannies of her own.
That was our path--get a "good education." When the neighborhoods with quality schools became too expensive for my mom to afford as a single parent,we went across the United States with GreatSchools. net as our compass:New Jersey,elementary school;Texas,middle school;Florida,high school;New York City,private university.
For a long time I survived by covering myself in all kinds of labels so that people would ignore the color1 of my skin,yet I existed on the edge of ugly,ignorant and uncuhured."Black people don't really know how to swim,"a white lady told me when I worked as a swim instructor at my neighborhood's pool."The black children don't like to read very much," I overheard one librarian discussing with another while l sat down reading a book a couple feet away.
I was never able to make America my home.When I stripped myself of the labels painfully one by one,beneath them there is a wounded color1ed woman who refuses to be faceless anymore.My face may be disgusting to some since it bears proof that race continues to be a problem.My hope is that it will force Americans to reexamine their "post--racial" beliefs. | high17847.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "her interest in boxing"
},
"options": [
"her father's great status",
"a Mike Tyson fight",
"her admiration for her father",
"her interest in boxing"
],
"question": "Laila took up boxing because of _ .",
"... | There are numerous similarities between Muhammad Ali and his 23-year-old daughter Laila. She is the only one of his nine sons and daughters to have those genes that led to the ring . Her father's great status had nothing to do with Laila's decision to pursue a boxing career. She has always been proud of his achievements, but he was never a great man to her ---- just dad.
What attracted her to take up boxing was the unusual sight of two women in the ring on the television screen when she was about to watch a Mike Tyson fight five years ago. She was very excited and said to herself, "I can do that."
Laila's father would prefer her not to take up the dangerous sport. Johnny McClain, her husband and manager (former boxer himself) feels the same way. Even though both the men in her life worry about her, they're 100 percent supportive. "They don't want me to get hurt," she says.
Long before entering the ring, Laila was a fighter. Being the daughter of an outstanding boxer made her an easy target for high school kids to see how tough she was. They, not she, failed in the test. For the public, her biggest test took place last summer in the New York State when she took on Jacqui Frazier Lyde, the daughter of Joe Frazier, her father's most famous opponent during the 1970s.
_ . News reporters poured in. Some called it "Ali/Frazier - Generation II". No match involving women had ever attracted so much attention. Laila had a narrow victory in the fight.
Like it or not, she accepts the fact that she is the face of female boxing. And she hopes that her name and fame will help get the public to take it more seriously.
The name Ali has and always will bring her attention. But she is determined to make her own mark on opponents' faces as well as in boxing history books. She says, "I want women's boxing to get its due respect." | high3971.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because the youth has the same dream as Monty Roberts."
},
"options": [
"Because they are good friends.",
"Because Monty Roberts has a poor childhood.",
"Because Monty Roberts like to help youth.",
"Because the youth ha... | I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of a horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy' s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up."
"That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200 acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4, 000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch."
"He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, 'See me after class. ' " | high20033.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "in the center of England"
},
"options": [
"a big interesting city of England",
"in the center of England",
"full of woods, green fields and quiet rivers",
"where Shakespeare used to put on his plays"
],
"questio... | Last year we visited Stratford the place where Shakespeare was born on the 23rdof April, 1564.
Stratford is a very interesting town, right in the center of England. The countryside around Stratford is pleasant, with its beautiful woods, green fields and quiet rivers.
The first place we visited was the house in the center of Stratford where Shakespeare was born. We saw the small desk that Shakespeare sat at when he went to school. One of the things we like best was the garden behind the house, because we could see there many of the flowers, trees and plants that Shakespeare wrote about in his plays.
After we visited Shakespeare's birthplace, we went to see the church where he was buried.
We had lunch in a very old hotel that was probably there in Shakespeare's time. Every room of the hotel had the name of one of Shakespeare's plays on the door--the"Hamlet"room, the "Romeo and Juliet"room and so on.
After lunch we walked across the fields to the old cottage, about a mile out of Stratford, where Shakespeare spent most of his married life. The cottage is just as it was in Shakespeare's days. We saw the chairs where Shakespeare perhaps sat and thought about ideas for new plays, and we saw the plates from which he probably ate his dinner.
When we got back to our school in the evening, we were very tired, but we had enjoyed a wonderful day. | high20755.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To introduce a natural anxiety treatment."
},
"options": [
"To tell readers how to reduce stress.",
"To introduce a natural anxiety treatment.",
"To analyze the benefits of plants.",
"To advertise for the new product."
... | People these days always complain how they suffer stress from their daily life. With drugs widely available in the market today, it is still advisable that we consume the best kind of medicine for our body, that is natural drugs.
One of the natural resources for a relaxation drug is the Valerian Root Extract. Scientifically known as Valeriana Officinalis, this plant is a flowering type with heads of pink and white flowers mostly blooming in the summer months. Native in Europe and in small parts of Asia, the plant became popular worldwide because of its sweet scent and unique health benefits.
Past research suggests that the valerian root has healing characteristics that focus on the neurotransmitter of the brain, which makes the brain cells function well. Other researches about this herb suggest that it can keep a person free of anxiety. Although there are various types of valerian root products in the market today, modern medical studies have concluded that further research has to be taken into consideration before acknowledging the so-called benefits of Valerian Root Extracts.
One sample of the so-called benefits is the treatment for anxiety disorder called "social anxiety disorder" or SAD. The benefit has _ evidence to support its claim as an alternative relief for anxiety. However, many patients said that they felt improvements on their nervous conditions, stress and overall mental ability.
Valerian Root Extract can be acquired as a tea, tablet, or liquid extract. It is recommended that you consult your physician about this herbal plant if it can really benefit your health. | high10696.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "music plays a very important role in our lives"
},
"options": [
"music can be used for medical treatments",
"music plays a very important role in our lives",
"our brains can possess music in different ways",
"music educ... | In all the world's cultures, people sing, play instruments, and celebrate with music. It plays such an important role in our lives that all fields focus on its study, including one looking at the biology of music. Experts are finding that because of the way our brains process music, learning to play an instrument or just listening to music can have a wide range of benefits.
Music education has received a lot of attention. Learning to play an instrument can help children improve math, science, and language skills. One study in Canada tracked children's IQ scores for nine months, discovering that children who studied music had the biggest test score improvements. The secret may lie in the way reading music and playing notes uses several areas of the brain, increasing our ability to learn school subjects. For example, reading notes improves spatial reasoning skills, which are helpful in solving math problems like fractions .
Music is also used for medical purposes, such as the treatment of diseases which affect memory. The secret lies in the way the brain processes music. One area near the forehead, the medial prefrontal cortex, connects music with memories stored in two other areas: the amygdale and hippocampus. That's why an old song can remind you of something that happened years ago. For patients suffering from diseases like Alzheimer's, listening to music can help unlock buried memories by strengthening musical pathways to memories.
With the evidence of music's benefits pouring in, it's no wonder some countries make music study a part of their education systems. People are recognizing that more than just a form of entertainment, music is also great for the brain. | high4978.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "student"
},
"options": [
"teacher",
"soccer player",
"student",
"driver"
],
"question": "Who is Frank? He is a _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
... | Frank is my good friend. We are in the same class. He is fourteen, one year older than me. His parents are both teachers in No 7 Middle School. Frank studies hard. His English and math are very good. He often helps other students with their English and math. Our teachers like him very much.
We go to school together by bike in the morning. We have lunch at school. After school in the afternoon, we often play sports. We play soccer and baseball. In the evening, he does his homework at home. Sometimes he watches soccer games on TV. On Sundays, he goes out with his parents in his father's car. They play in the park and do sports there. Sometimes my father takes me there, too. We play sports together. We have a good time. | high11588.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "find the owner's name"
},
"options": [
"find some money",
"find some gold",
"find the owner's name",
"find the owner's photograph"
],
"question": "The writer opened the wallet because he wanted to _ in it.",... | When I was walking down the street the other day, I happened to notice a small brown leather wallet, lying on the sidewalk. I picked it up and opened it to see if I could find out the owner's name. There was nothing inside it except some change and an old photograph---- a picture of a woman and a young girl about twelve years old, who looked like the woman' s daughter. I put the photograph back and took the wallet to the police station, where I handed it to the desk sergeant . Before I left, the sergeant took down my name and address in case the owner might want to write and thank me.
That evening I went to have dinner with my aunt and uncle. They had also invited a young woman so that there would be four people at the table. Her face was familiar. I was quite sure that we had not met before, but I could not remember where I had seen her. In the course of conversation, however, the young woman happened to mention that she had lost her wallet that afternoon. All at once I realized where I had seen her. She was the young girl in the photograph, although she was now much older. She was very surprised, of course, when I was able to describe her wallet to her. Then I explained that I had recognized her from the photograph I had found in the wallet. My uncle insisted on going to the police station immediately to claim the wallet. As the police sergeant handed it over, he said that it was an amazing coincidence that I had not only found the wallet, but also the person who had lost it. | high22142.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "urge for the final solution to the problem with the unwanted books."
},
"options": [
"urge for the final solution to the problem with the unwanted books.",
"complain about getting books he didn't want.",
"advise readers not t... | Sir,
Just over six months ago, I saw an advertisement in the Morning Mail for a set of the complete works of William Shakespeare. Your company, Cosmo books Ltd., offered this set (eight books of plays and two books of poetry) at what was claimed to be a 'remarkable' price: fifteen pounds and fifty pence, including postage and packing. I had wanted a set of Shakespeare's plays and poems for some time, and these books, in red imitation leather, looked particularly attractive; so I sent for them.
Two weeks later, the books arrived, together with a set of the complete works of Charles Dickens which I had not ordered. So I returned the Dickens books to you, with a cheque for fifteen pounds and fifty pence for the works of Shakespeare. Two more weeks passed. Then there arrived on my door step a second set of the works of Shakespeare, the same set of novels by Dickens and a six book set of the plays of Moliere, in French. Since I do not read French, these were of no use to me at all. However, I could not afford to post all these books back to you, so I wrote to you at the end of August of last year, instructing you to come and collect all the books that I did not want, and asking you not to send any other books until further notice.
You did not reply to that letter. Instead you sent me a bill for forty two pounds, and a set of the plays of Schiller, in German. Since then, a new set of books has arrived every two weeks, the works of Goethe, the poems of Milton, the plays of Strindberg; I hardly know what I have. The books are still all in their boxes, in the garage, and my car has to stand in the rain outside.
I have no room for any more books, and even if I read from now until the Last Judgment, I should not finish reading all the books that you have sent me.
Please send no more books, send no more bills, send no more angry letters demanding payment. Just send one large lorry and take all the books away, leaving me only with the one set of the complete works of Shakespeare for which I have paid.
Yours faithfully,
SIMON WALKER | high1800.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It was unacceptable."
},
"options": [
"It was strange.",
"It was unacceptable.",
"It was dangerous.",
"It was violent."
],
"question": "What did the author think of the woman's behavior?",
"question_type": n... | One day I was driving home with a woman. She rolled down the window, fifty feet away from the driveway and spit her gum out of the window. "Couldn't you just wait five seconds and put your gum where it belongs?" I asked, annoyed.
She was not the only one who was gum-lazy. Consider the following. Every time I brush chewed gum under my desk, I shake with fright. At Folsom Middle School, whenever I had to walk by the gum wall next to the girls' locker room, I felt totally disgusted. When I was young, I walked outside during my dance show in my ballet shoes, always stepping right on a big and juicy piece of bubble gum. I was extremely upset.
The worst part of all these incidents is that a trash can is located near. But some people are too lazy to walk towards it.
If you can't be a responsible gum chewer, don't chew at all. That's all I'm going to say.
Take Singapore as a good example. The chewing gum ban in Singapore was placed. It bans the import and sale of chewing gum in Singapore, whether for the purpose of trade or personal chewing. However, the ban has been partly lifted with some types of gum, such as medical gum, allowable. This comes with the warning that it is sold only by a druggist, who has to take down the names of buyers. Obviously, the Singapore government gets angry at gum stuck in keyholes of mailboxes and on elevator buttons.
Not only is it annoying, but chewing gum can actually do harm to the health. Most gum contains aspartame , a chemical sweetener that the US government is now deciding whether or not it is a deadly chemical. If it is, it may cause cancer. Other studies suggest that aspartame may cause neurological disorders. Therefore, aspartame is not allowed to use in the US.
So just say no to chewing gum. | high12081.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Its effect can differ from person to person."
},
"options": [
"It has negative effect on people.",
"Its effect can differ from person to person.",
"It disappears when people return to their homelands.",
"It can be avoid... | The term, culture shock, describes the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place.
We can describe culture shock as the physical and emotional discomfort one suffers when coming to live in another country or place. Often, the way that we lived before is not accepted as or considered as normal in the new place. Everything is different, for example, not speaking the language, not knowing how to use banking machines and so forth.
Although one can experience real pain from culture shock, it is also an opportunity for resetting one' s life objectives. It is a great opportunity for learning and acquiring new viewpoints. Culture shock can make one develop a better understanding of oneself.
Culture shock has many stages. The first stage is called the "honeymoon" stage. The new arrival may feel excited as everything is new.
In the second stage, a person may encounter some difficult times in daily life. For example, communication difficulties may occur such as not being understood. There may be feelings of discontent, anger, sadness, and feeling incompetence. This happens when a person is trying to adapt to a new culture. Transition between the old methods and those of the new country is a difficult process and takes time to complete.
The third stage is characterized by gaining some understanding of the new culture. One may start to feel a certain psychological balance. The new arrival may start to have a feeling of direction and want to belong.
In the fourth stage, the person realizes that the new culture has good and bad things to offer. The person has a more solid feeling of belonging and starts to set goals for living.
The fifth stage is called the " re-entry shock". This occurs when a return to the
country of origin is made. One may find that things are no longer the same. For example, some of the newly acquired customs are not in use in the old culture.
Many factors contribute to the length and effects of culture shock. For example, the individual's state of mental health, type of personality, previous experiences, familiarity with the language, and level of education. So the five stages are present at different times and each person has their own way of reacting. 64. What do we learn about culture shock? | high9284.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair"
},
"options": [
"was rather impolite",
"asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair",
"was warmly received",
"asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair"
],
"question": "We can ... | Some time ago I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn't think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there are a lot of antique shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't even look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth...So I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I entered the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, "Would you like to buy a chair?" He looked it over carefully and said, "Yes. How much do you want for it, sir?" "Twenty pounds,"I said, "OK,"he said. "I'll give you twenty pounds." "It's got a slightly broken leg,"I said. "Yes, I saw that, it's nothing."
Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. "What will you do with it?" I asked. "Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done." "I'11 buy it." I said. "What do you mean?" "You've just sold it to me." he said. "Yes, I know but I've changed my mind. I am sorry. I'll give you twenty-seven pounds for it.""You must be crazy. "he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. "I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair." "You're right."I said. "And what would you have done if I had walked in and said, 'Would you mend this chair for me?'" "I wouldn't have agreed to do it," he said. "We don't do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I'll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?" He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing. | high12095.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A news report."
},
"options": [
"A blog.",
"A diary.",
"A news report.",
"A school textbook."
],
"question": "What type of text is this?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | It is reported that today in China, 50% of people who write blogs do so as a personal diary and 83% use their blogs for sending messages to friends. It is also found that there is a strong East-West difference. In places like the US, blogs that offer information on news attract more readers but in China, blogs are more likely to be about sharing personal feelings.
It seems that bloggers can be divided into three types: IT bloggers, bloggers who record their ordinary feelings and media bloggers.
When blogging first started, the IT people had the technological advantage and they took the chance to put their thoughts on the web. Some of these IT people read their blogs.
The next wave of bloggers did not have any training as writes or in IT and wrote about normal daily life. Media bloggers, however, are trained writers, such as journalists and editors. When the many media bloggers showed up, the everyday blogs lost most of their readers. Media bloggers have the advantage of knowing how to communicate well through the written word.
However, the normal bloggers are still out there and increasing in number. It seems that blogging is the new way to express your feelings. People feel like the world is listening to, or rather reading, their problems, even if they are not . | high15922.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "protecting great paintings from nature"
},
"options": [
"the guard force in the National Gallery",
"protecting great paintings from nature",
"priceless paintings of past times",
"the air-conditioning and heating systems... | The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's greatest art museums. Millions of people have entered its doors to see paintings by the world's fine artists. But if these priceless masterpieces are to be preserved, the Gallery must protect them carefully. The Gallery's 135-man guard force has successfully prevented them from being stolen, but protecting the paintings from nature is a greater problem.
In past times, the owners of paintings did not protect them from damaging changes in humidity and temperature. As a result, the life of these paintings were shortened. In the National Gallery, however, humidity and temperature are carefully controlled. The building is air-conditioned in summer and heated in winter. The air-conditioning and heating system are so important to the life of the painting that the Gallery has two of each system. If one should fail, the extra one can take over.
Light is another enemy of paintings. Ultraviolet rays in light cause paintings to fade . Long ago, paintings often hung in dark churches and palaces. A coat of varnish was a protection from the weak light. But when museums took over the care of many paintings, they were often hung in brighter light than before. Soon they were in danger of fading. The damaging effects of light were increased when the museums removed the varnish coating, yellowed with age.
To protect its paintings, the National Gallery put a special kind of glass in its skylights. This glass allows visible lights to enter the building but it keeps out harmful ultraviolet rays. The Gallery has also developed new and better varnishes which help to keep paintings from fading. Thanks to these new _ , many of the world's greatest paintings are being well protected for future generations to enjoy. | high358.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "New limits on advertising foods in schools have been set."
},
"options": [
"Having a balanced diet in schools is important.",
"New limits on advertising foods in schools have been set.",
"It's Michelle's duty to make sure sch... | On Tuesday, the White House and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) set new limits on advertising food and drinks in schools.
The rules ban advertisements for unhealthy foods in schools. The ad ban includes sugary drinks that account for more than 90% of unhealthy ads. An ad for Coca-Cola, for example, will be removed from a scoreboard at a high school football game. However, ads for Diet Coke and Dasani water, owned by the same company, are allowed to display .
The new rules are part of the First Lady's "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity . Her goal is to get kids to eat healthier food. The marketing limits came after new USDA regulations that put a limit on the calorie, fat and sugar in most school food items. "The idea is simple -- our classrooms should be healthy places," the First Lady Michelle Obama said. "Because when parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn't be destroyed by unhealthy messages in schools." However, the healthier food rules are criticized by people who think the government should not control what kids eat and by some students who don't like the healthier foods.
It is reported that food companies spend $149 million a year on marketing foods to kids, and many big companies are supporting the new rules. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have started to advertise healthier products. For schools, junk food ads like the Coca-Cola scoreboard will be taken down.
"The new limits ensure that schools remain safe places where kids can learn and eat healthy food," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak said. The rules will help guide schools on ways to create standards for foods and physical activities. They will require parents and the community to be involved in the campaign. | high9290.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Noise pollution is affecting whales."
},
"options": [
"Whales are in danger because of the noise.",
"Noise pollution is affecting whales.",
"Natural noise is good for whales.",
"How to protect whales endangered."
],... | If a noisy neighbor is blasting music at all hours of the day and night, drowning out your phone conversations and interrupting your sleep, you can call the police. But what is a whale to do?
Natural noise from waves, wind, rain and even earthquakes is common in oceans. Unfortunately, man-made noise from oil and gas drilling, sonar, and ships is also present.
Low frequency noise has doubled off the California coast every decade since the nineteen sixties. The main reasons are ships' propellers . They not only generate continuous low frequency sound, some propellers cavitate , which means they create air bubbles that collapse, creating loud popping sounds.
Whales use low frequency calls to communicate across thousands of miles of ocean. They are threatened by noise pollution because it can prevent them from contacting each other and from locating their foods. Endangered humpback and right whales, which use fibrous baleen to strain food from the water, are the most at risk.
Scientists studying right whales off Canada's east coast have discovered that whales are sending louder calls through the water to make themselves heard. Because they invest more energy in making calls, they have less energy available for finding food and mating. Other scientists measuring whale calls against background noise pollution have discovered that right whales have lost about eighty percent of their normal communication area. This could seriously affect survival of this already threatened species.
Scientists don't have badges and guns, but they are trying to correct the noise pollution problem. By tracking ships and marine mammals and understanding how noise travels, they are creating sound maps. They hope to get shipping lanes moved so that the noise pollution ships create will not overlap with areas most important to the whales. | high20999.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "help hungry children and families"
},
"options": [
"distribute food in case of emergency",
"help hungry children and families",
"give basic first-aid treatment",
"train some senior volunteers"
],
"question": "Th... | When Josephine Cooper was growing up, she learned the importance of charity from her parents. Although they made a modest living for their family of 10, they insisted on sharing with those less fortunate.
Half a century later, Mrs. Cooper became a beloved volunteer at the San Diego Food Bank, where she devoted herself to helping others. She organized and ran a distribution center from a church, helping it become the organization's largest emergency food distribution center in San Diego. She was one of 25 outstanding senior volunteers in the nation selected and invited to Washington D.C. to receive the award.
"She was the main person who helped us make that program grow," said Mike Doody, former director of the Food Bank. "She had a way of getting people to work together and to work hard. She was determined and stubborn, but in a good way. She had a good heart." People knew her as "Grandma" because of her selflessness and her devotion to helping hungry children and families. "She reminded people of their Grandma." Doody said.
As a widow with a young child in 1979, Mrs. Cooper was helped through a difficult financial time when the Food Bank provided her with groceries. "She dedicated her life to giving back," said her daughter, Monica Cooper. "She loved life, and she loved people. She was very outgoing, caring and very concerned about our community."
Cooper said it wasn't unusual for a local church to call Mrs. Cooper to ask her to aid a needy family. "She would give people food out of her cupboard. Sometimes we would cook a meal for a family living out of their car," Cooper said.
Although Mrs. Cooper was honored to receive the national award for her volunteer work, she said being able to help others was her reward. Mrs. Cooper was confined to a wheelchair in recent years. She died of liver disease and kidney failure this year, aged 93. | high16595.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because he didn't expect to see so many happy dogs."
},
"options": [
"Because he didn't expect to see so many happy dogs.",
"Because he didn't know there were 1,000 mirrors in the house.",
"Because he was always in a mixed mo... | Long ago in a small town, there was a place known as the House of 1,000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit.
When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1,000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1,000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, " This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit often."
In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1,000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1,000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "This is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."
All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see on the faces of
the people you meet? | high17853.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He blamed the driver."
},
"options": [
"He beat the driver.",
"He blamed the driver.",
"He asked the driver to apologize.",
"He ran to his friend' s house for help."
],
"question": "What did the author do when a... | One night my wife and I were going to dinner at a friend ' s.As we went towards the house, I noticed a car pulling out from the sidewalk.Just ahead, another car was waiting to back into the parking space.But before he could do so a yellow car came up from behind and sneaked into the space.
While my wife went ahead into our friend' s house, I stepped into the street.
"Hey," I said, "this parking space belongs to that guy." I gestured towards the man ahead, who was looking back angrily.At that moment I was feeling pretty manly.
" Mind your own business!" the driver told me.
"No," I said."You don' t understand.That fellow was waiting to back into this space."
Things quickly heated up, until finally he jumped out of the car.My God, he was extremely large.He grabbed me and shook his rock of a fist at me.I tasted blood.I was terrified.
Almost in a panic, I ran to my friend ' s front door.As a former Marine , as a man, I felt ly embarrassed as my wife and friends asked me what had happened.All I could say was that I had had an argument about a parking space.They were sensitive and let it go at that.
Perhaps half an hour later, the doorbell rang.For some reason I was sure that the huge man had returned for me.My blood ran cold.My hostess got up to answer it, but I stopped her.I knew I had to face up to my fear.
I opened the door.There he stood."I came back to apologize," he said in a low voice."I am ashamed of myself.The Brooklyn Navy Yard where I've worked for ten years is closing.Today I got laid off.I' m not myself.I hope you' ll accept my apology."
I remembered that after I closed the door, I stood there for a few minutes alone with tears in my eyes. | high20027.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he wanted to bring his family a better lire"
},
"options": [
"he had to support his family",
"he was enthusiastic in attending classes",
"he wanted to bring his family a better lire",
"he had to so as to reduce his fami... | FFather was a hardworking man who delivered bread as a living to support his wife and three children. He spent all his evenings after work attending classes,hoping to improve himself so that he could one day find a better. paid job. Except. for Sundays, Father hardly ate a meal together with his family. He worked and studied very hard because he wanted to provide his family with the best that money could buy.
Whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. Though he often longed to spend more time with his family, he weighed his contribution to his family above everything else.
The day came when the examination results were announced. To his joy, Father passed, and with distinctions too! Soon after, he was offered a good job as a senior supervisor which paid handsomely.
Like a dream come true, Father could now afford to provide his family with life's little luxuries like nice clothing,fine food and vacation abroad.
However, the family still did not get to see Father for most of the week. He continued to work very hard, hoping to be promoted to the position of manager. In fact, to make himself a worthily candidate for the promotion, he took another course in an open university.
Again, whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. Though he often longed to spend more time with his family, he weighed his contribution to his family above everything else.
Father's hard work paid off and he was promoted. Happily, he decided to hire a maid to relieve his wife from her domestic tasks. He also felt that their three-room flat was no longer big enough. It would be nice for his family to be able to enjoy the facilities and comfort of a condominium. Having experienced the rewards of his hard work many times before, Father resolved to further his studies and work at being promoted again. The family still did not get to see much of him. In fact, sometimes Father had to work on Sundays entertaining clients.
Over again, whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he reasoned that he was doing all this for them. Though he often longed to spend more time with his family, he weighed his contribution to his family above everything else.
As expected, Father's hard work paid off again and he bought a beautiful condominium overlooking the coast of Singapore. On the first Sunday evening at their new home, Father declared to his family that he decided not to take any more courses or pursue any more promotions. From then on he was going to devote more time to
his family, and it was a promise.
Father did not wake up the next day. | high3965.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "explain how the coyote has spread to and survived in cities"
},
"options": [
"tell people how to fight against coyotes",
"tell us why the coyote is the most hunted animal",
"supply the reason why the coyote is a kind of notor... | The coyote , that clever animal of wide-open spaces, has come to the nation's capital. In fact, coyotes have spread to every corner of the United States, changing their behaviors to fit new environments and causing researchers to deal with a troublesome new kind of creature: the city coyote.
The coyote originally lived in the middle of the continent. One of its most obvious characters is its smartness, which has made the animal a notorious pest. Hunters trapped, shot and poisoned more than a million coyotes in the 1900s. It's still one of America's most hunted animals. Yet the coyote has survived. How has the coyote shown this extraordinary ability? "I guess if you wanted to use one word, it'd be ' _ '," says Eric Gese, an expert at Utah State University. Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves; hunt at night or during the day; occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles; and live on all sorts of food, from lizards and shoes, to ants and melons.
Unbelievably people helped coyotes increase when they killed most of the wolves in the United States. The spreading of coyotes into city areas, though, is recent. They travel at night, crossing sidewalks and bridges, running along roads and ducking into culverts and underpasses. No one knows why coyotes are moving into cities, but experts explain that cleverer, more human-tolerant coyotes are teaching urban survival skills to new generations.
Occasionally, coyotes might attack human beings. There have been about 160 attacks on people in recent years. Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That, plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population. | high14382.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "need encouragement to achieve their goals"
},
"options": [
"should rely on themselves for a living",
"need encouragement to achieve their goals",
"need support from the whole society all the time",
"should be encouraged... | While I lived in Ireland, part of my college course was to work with children with special needs. I was selected to work in a school with children with disabilities .
I had a lot of rooms to choose from, but I chose to work in the room that was for children with severe disabilities. They had no speech and most were in a wheelchair. The teacher of that room asked if I would work with a girl who had epilepsy and other brain disabilities. She was 15 years old. The teacher thought that it was an achievement for her to be able to put on her coat all by herself. I saw more in her. She always wanted to put string through the shaped blocks to make a necklace. For the 5 years she was in the school the teachers always tried to help her but always ended up doing all the work.
I knew this smart girl could do more and so I encouraged her. She had a thumb which she could not move but I encouraged her so much to try. She got very upset most days and sometimes I wanted to give up. Finally after a week this young girl was able to do what she had been wanting to do by herself for so many years. Her teacher cried when she saw what this girl was able to do with just some encouragement.
I wish everyone would encourage people rather than tell them they can't or do it for them. | high24241.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Their opportunities are limited and their salary is lower."
},
"options": [
"They don't like to work in companies offering low wages.",
"Their opportunities are limited and their salary is lower.",
"There are fewer females ad... | Oxford University has introduced confidence classes for female students to get them to compete for jobs in future and win chances to work in best companies.
They may be young and gifted but research at the excellent institution has found that female undergraduates are shying away from applying to jobs in banking, finance, management consultancy , engineering and resource management. Partly as a result, starting salaries for women when they graduate are on average PS2,000 to PS3,000 lower than their male counterparts.
"Women are earning less on leaving Oxford. It is ridiculous," said JonathanBlack, the careers service director at the university. "We have high quality, high achieving students of both genders. But it appears that women are selecting lower paid jobs. They accept more prejudice in certain industries and are saying I won't struggle for that really high paid job'. We are not trying to push loads of women but we are trying to say, you should feel able to apply for these sorts of jobs. Boys seem to have a more self-confidence and see the bigger picture generally, even when their self-belief is not necessarily based on any greater academic advantage."
The four-day programme at Oxford will help 45 female undergraduates improve their self-confidence and decision making, think positively and build on their strengths. Confidence training will teach them how to deal with opposition and challenging situations.
Successful female employees from RBS and BP, which are supporting the course, will talk about their lives and careers. RBS's involvement follows a promise by the bank toincrease its national percentage of female graduate applications from 35 percent to 50 per cent by 2014. | high22630.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "An app for reporting emergency."
},
"options": [
"An app for reporting emergency.",
"A moving story of Chris Russo.",
"A cell-phone instant service.",
"An app for firm management."
],
"question": "What is the pa... | Today, when a fire breaks out, you can be sure a citizen with a
cell-phone camera has posted it to Facebook or Twitter, or sent it to
the media.But up to now, that citizen has not been able to easily
send images and details of what is happening to the people who
need it most: police, firefighters and building-security people who must respond, and whose ability to help is often measured in minutes, if not seconds.
That's about to change.A one-year old company called Elerts has developed a system that's designed to mobile and social technologies to speed the flow of information between citizens and emergency workers in time of danger.The system involves free mobile applications--iPhone and iPad app is available now--that eyewitnesses can use to report incidents and get public-safety warnings.And Elerts is offering a management console for security firms and universities to receive the reports and distribute warnings and instructions, like a map with the best evacuation route .
The service is the brainchild of Chris Russo, deputy fire chief in the coastal town of Hull, Mass.As mobile communications sped up, he grew increasingly frustrated by his inability to communicate effectively with colleagues and the public, particularly with people who are at the scene and might be able to provide help.
"Remembering situations when communications failed _ ," Mr.Russo says.Last summer, he was in a search at a beach for a missing boy, who went into a bathhouse but didn't come out.First responders feared an abduction on the beach or shark attack.The child's mother, who didn't speak English well, was so sad that she couldn't remember what color1 shorts he had on.Mr.Russo had no photo of the child, and no ability to turn to beachgoers.
Two long hours later, the boy was spotted by a low-flying helicopter lost and alone on the beach crying--a lucky break."If 5 percent of beachgoers had an app to receive a message and send in sightings of a lost boy, the happy ending might have come much sooner," Mr.Russo said. | high21311.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "introduce a method of learning a foreign language"
},
"options": [
"tell us how to talk to ourselves",
"introduce a method of learning a foreign language",
"tell us why some people talk to themselves",
"explain to us ho... | Have you ever noticed someone "talking" to them-selves? What did you think? The word "crazy" probably came to your mind. Wait a minute, though. Maybe they're doing something meaningful.
Speaking practice can be effective in many different forms when people learn English or another foreign language. Imitating the speech of others is proven to be highly effective in developing a native speaker's level of fluency in a language. Actually you've already proven that to your-self.
How? That's how you learned your first language! Whether it was English, Spanish, French or some other language, you "imitated" your mother, father, other family members, friends, teachers and whoever else was around making "talking" noises at you as you formed your first communicative language skills.
So don't think those who are talking to themselves are "crazy". At least don't do so until you've tried it for your-self, in English or in your new foreign language.
As you go through your day, in English or your new foreign language, tell yourself what you're doing at the moment and what you're going to do during the day.
"Which of these shirts, ties, etc. should I wear today? Not this one, I wore it just last week. Maybe this one, but I don't like this color with the pants. Let's try another one," you might say as you are getting dressed.
If you live alone, you can talk aloud whenever you want without disturbing others. If you don't live alone, however, then first explain to your family or roommates what you'll be doing, to avoid a quiet phone call to the local psychiatrist . | high3795.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The increasing number of electronic devices."
},
"options": [
"The waste of lithium in the world.",
"The increasing number of electronic devices.",
"The development of technology.",
"The pollution caused by batteries."
... | Fed up with constantly having to recharge or replace batteries in your ever-expanding electronic devices? The solution may be just a few steps away.
"Energy harvesting" promises to power countless consumer devices, often with nothing more than your body's movement or heat. Dozens of companies around the world already offer such products, but many experts believe the market for the technology could explode due to electronic devices being developed for the Internet of Things.
"It's huge," said Graham Martin, CEO of the EnOcean Alliance, a San Ramon-based group of businesses that promotes wireless energy-harvesting technologies. With the Internet of Things expected to combine billions of devices, "if they are all battery-powered, we'll have a problem because there's not enough lithium in the world," he added. "So a lot of them will have to use energy harvesting."
Among the most basic forms of the technology is body power. When certain materials are squeezed or stretched, the movement of their atoms creates an electrical charge. Automatic watches have employed the concept for decades, for example, by winding themselves when their user moves their arm. Now, the concept is being considered for a number of other devices.
In a contest seeking visionary ideas for wearable technologies, Intel awarded $5,000 for a concept to change the temperature difference between a person's body and a special piece of clothing they'd wear into electricity for mobile devices.
Using sound to power devices is another energy-harvesting variation. Stanford University engineers are testing smart microchips that create electricity from ultrasound to power implantable devices that can analyze a person's nervous system or treat their diseases.
A textile research association in Spain is proposing to obtain electricity from radio waves that flow around everyone to power sensors sewn into clothes, which can monitor a person's heartbeat or other vital signs.
Research firm IDTechEx has estimated that annual global sales of energy-harvesting products could hit $2.6 billion by 2024, while WinterGreen Research predicts sales of $4.2 billion by 2019.
Obtaining stable energy from devices can be complex, however. For one thing, the motion that generates the electricity has to be constant to be useful. Moreover, the amount of power the devices produce depends on the person using them, according to a Columbia University study. It determined that taller people on average provide about 20 percent more power than shorter ones when walking, running or cycling.
It's also unclear how eagerly consumers might welcome energy-harvesting products. While such devices are expected to cost less than battery-powered alternatives when compared over many years, experts say, people may continue buying ones with batteries merely because those would be cheaper in the short term. | high19856.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Between Paragraphs 7 and 8."
},
"options": [
"Between Paragraphs 5 and 6.",
"Between Paragraphs 6 and 7",
"Between Paragraphs 7 and 8.",
"Between Paragraphs 8 and 9."
],
"question": "Where should the sentence \"... | He leant down to the pickpocket The heaving and gasping had stopped, but he was still making a show of his breathlessness.
"That's better," Mallon said. "Can you stand up? Try to stand up. Here." he said, and gripped the pickpocket's arm and forced him upright until he saw his face for the first time. As the pickpocket labored for breath, he gazed up at Mallon with his dark eyes. "How could you?" they asked.
Mallon might have said, "Because you tried to steal from me." But he was still conscious of the flush of joy he'd felt when his blow struck home-when he knew he'd hurt the man. Where that joy came from he couldn't say, but he knew that its roots were deeper than some clumsy failed theft.
Fat drops of rain began to patter on the awning .
"How are you?" Mallon said. "Can you walk?" The pickpocket turned away and leant against the store window with both hands, and his head sank lower as his shoulders rose and fell. A gray-haired woman inside the store rapped on the glass and made a shooing motion. When the pickpocket ignored het she rapped harder and kept rapping.
"I have to go," Mallon said. "I'm sorry." He looked up at the sky. "I'm sorry," he said again, and stepped into the rain and walked quickly up the street.
One of the Bangladeshi umbrella sellers was working the comer, and Mallon had just paid seven euros when he heard a woman shouting. He didn't want to look back but did. It was the woman from the shop. pushing and batting the pickpocket away from the window while he bent down and covered his head like a boxer trying to get through the 1ast seconds of a round. Mallon slipped his wallet back into his jacket pocket and took the umbrella that the Bangladeshi had opened for him.
The pickpocket was out on the sidewalk now, in the rain. The woman stood just under the awning with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Excuse me, madam," Mallon said, coming up to them. "This man isn't well. He needs to rest a moment. ''
"I know these people." she said. "Our Romans don't want them here."
The rain fell in sheets, ran down the pickpocket's shiny scalp and face, down his 1eather jacket.
"Here." Mallon said, and offered him the umbrella, but he only looked at Mallon with his hurt dark eyes and then lowered his head again Mallon bumped him in the shoulder with the handle of the umbrella "Go on-take it!" he said. And finally, with a beaten. unwilling look, the pickpocket did.
And that was when he saw a taxi round the corner with a 1ight glowing on its roof. Mallon ran out waving his arm and the cab turned sharply to the pavement, sending a lot of water over his shoes. He opened the door but couldn't help looking back. The pickpocket had lowered the umbrella to the ground upside down and was 1caning on the shaft, head low, neck bared to the sky.
"Wait,'' Mallon said to the driver. He went back and grabbed the pickpocket's sleeve and pulled him to the cab. "Get in," Mallon said, and took the umbrella and pushed him into the back seat. He leaned inside. "O. K., where do you live?"
''No Gypsies!" the driver said. He was twisted around, glaring at the pickpocket.
"Gypsy? Look, he's not well. I'll pay," Mallon added
The driver shook his head. "No Gypsies. Get him out. "
Mallon 1ooked at the driver's nameplate: Michele Kadare. "It's the law," he said, "If you don't take us. Signor Kadare. I'll report you and you'll lose your license. Believe me-I am quite serious.
The driver fastened those pale eyes on Mallon and turned and put his hands on the steering wheel. He raised his eyes to the rearview mirror and he and Mallon exchanged stares.
"O. K., Mr. American." he said. "You pay. " | high18590.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "not use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon."
},
"options": [
"not use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon.",
"not make friends with people in the UK",
"pretend to play jokes on their friends",
"say funny things in a serious ... | Imagine a stranger walking past you on a cold, rainy day. "Lovely weather, isn't it?" the stranger says. Do you laugh, or even smile? If not, you may not have a dry sense of humor.
British people, and particularly the English, are well-known for our dry sense of humor. We often say the opposite of what we mean in order to be funny, and tell jokes in a tone of voice that makes it sound like we are being completely serious. As US writer Julian Tan put it on the HuffPost Students blog: "It is as if it is 'Opposite Day' every day in Britain."
If the people of Britain are known for having a " _ " and not showing emotion, then our dry sense of humor shows this through jokes. Often it will take a long time or several beers, to get a British person to tell you what they actually think about something and get behind the wall of humorous sarcasm that they have in front of them.
English comedian Ricky Gervais put it like this: "We play jokes on our friends. We use sarcasm as a shield and a weapon. We avoid being serious until it's absolutely necessary."
It can be annoying and confusing if you haven't been raised with these types of jokes: "Why did he just say such a ridiculous thing? Is he making fun of me?" But it is also true that understanding this type of humor is a good way to make friends with people in the UK, even if you don't find it funny.
It's important to remember that the person telling the joke may actually be making fun of himself or herself, not you. One of the characteristics of British humor is "its strong theme of self-deprecation" (making fun of oneself), according to Tan. So don't worry - often, English people, and British people in general, just want to make fun of themselves! | high12903.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "two young men planning to commit violence"
},
"options": [
"Americans' attitudes towards Barack Obama",
"two young men planning to commit violence",
"the violence in the United States",
"the disadvantages of the Interne... | Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
The prefix = st1 /United Statesfederal government had two young men in the state ofTennesseearrested on October 22 on unknown charges.
In court documents published on Monday, it came to light that the men had discussed attacking an African - American school and killing 14 of them.
Another crime was about planning to murder Presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to their affidavits , the suspects' "final act of violence" would be when they attacked Obama while wearing white suits and top hats and driving "their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama shooting at him from the windows."
The two suspects are Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Arkansas and Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tennessee. According to the court papers, they met last month over the Internet through a friend. Schlesselman and Cowart are believed to share "very strong views" about White Power.
Schlesselman listed "being racist" as his occupation on his MySpace page. He further wrote: "I'm white. I'm proud. I get angry. I like guns."
Cowart also had a MySpace page on which photos of guns were presented under a heading of "My Guns". On his page he wrote, "Better to die quick fighting on your feet than to live forever begging on your knees."
Some have questioned the pair's ability to carry out the charged plan, but authorities have been very concerned about Obama as the first black presidential candidate from a major party.
"We honestly don't know if they had the ability or the skill to carry out the kind of plan that they talked about." said Malcolm Wiley, of the United States Secret Service in an interview with The New York Times. "But we take any threat seriously no matter how big or how small it is."
Cowart and Schlesselman are scheduled to appear before a judge on Thursday. | high23506.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "an advertisement"
},
"options": [
"the instructions",
"the use",
"an advertisement",
"good effect"
],
"question": "The article is about _ of a new kind of coffee.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}... | Could it be your after-dinner coffee that keeps you awake at night? Perhaps you are one of those people who simply can't take coffee in the evening, because the caffeine in it makes you excited. Coffee with caffeine does make some people restless when they want to go to sleep. So, before you rush to the doctor for "something to make you sleep", change over to H. A. G. - a new kind of caffeine-free coffee, the nicest coffee so far. This kind of coffee is made by modern scientific methods and has come to the perfection for the greatest pleasure that drinking good coffee gives, however, without any harmful effects. H. A. G. is the coffee that continental people, who are such great coffee drinkers, have been taking in the evenings for over 50 years. Make your choice of H. A. G. and enjoy good coffee and good sleep. Health food stores and most groceries have H. A. G. coffee. If there is any difficulty, send (with your name and address) for free sample from the A. A. SUPPLY CO. LTD. 31/32 Priory Park Road, London, N. W. 6. | high24269.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Her classmates' families were very rich."
},
"options": [
"Her mother had no time to take good care of her.",
"Her classmates' families were very rich.",
"She couldn't take part in activities with her classmates.",
"She... | Oprah Winfrey, the American media queen, is undoubtedly one of the most successful women in the world. She's the host and owner ofThe Oprah Winfrey Show, which continuingly wins high ratings, and the founder of Harpo Productions, which produces her television shows and movies.
Certainly Winfrey feels right these days. Early on, however, _ . She stayed with her grandmother after birth and moved to Wisconsin to live with her mother at 6, and hence began the most difficult period in her life. They lived in the low-income community and her mother showed her less attention. Her classmates came from families with more money and she couldn't participate with them in a lot of activities.
The young girl had held too much anger and pain inside and she rebelled. She repeatedly ran away from home and got into various troubles. During that time, she turned heavy smoker, became addicted to alcohol and drug and was sent to a juvenile detention home at the age of 13.
Fed up, Oprah's mother sent her to Tennessee to live with her father. To a large extent, this man saved Oprah's life and helped pave the way for her success. She received a full scholarship to Tennessee State University where she majored in Speech and Performing Arts. After graduation, she landed a job as a news reader at a television station, where she did not do well at first. But she did not give up; instead, she worked harder. She put in long hours and prepared carefully before going on camera.
Her hard work paid off: she moved up swiftly to news reader and reporter in Baltimore and was offered her own talk show in 1977. From then on, her career began to take off.
Some people are handed money at birth and are nurtured into success; other people create their own success, and Oprah Winfrey definitely belongs to the latter. "There is no such thing as failure in my life," she concluded, "Life is a marathon. I think the ones who survive in life do it by hammering at it one day at a time." Well, by doing so, she won the game. | high416.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "How the writer got her first ticket."
},
"options": [
"The writer's most unforgettable experience.",
"How the writer got her first ticket.",
"An accident caused by the writer.",
"Why the writer is always so careful.\n."... | I had been rather proud of myself when my friends and family got the ticket,whether it was for speeding,parking or stop sign violations .It was something that happened to others. But last Friday I joined _ .
I was asked to do a new project last week. On Friday morning on my way to work,I suddenly remembered that I had spent the past six weeks without considering that I had a week's vacation planned during that time. I was very disappointed with myself for not remembering it.
The truth is that I was not paying enough attention to my driving and I did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign in front of a school. I was so distracted that I didn't even notice I had a policeman on my tail with his lights flashing. Finally I looked in my mirror and caught on.
The policeman was rude and took my papers. Fortunately,I had everything up to date and since I had never had a ticket before,there was nothing for him to do but write me a ticket. While I was sitting there in the seat of "shame",I felt bad. If I had been that distracted and a child had run onto the road,perhaps I would have not reacted as well as I could have. It was a wake-up call.
People at work asked me if I tried to talk my way out of it. Frankly,it never occurred to me. I felt guilty. Now I no longer have a clean driving record. Please be careful out there,as a moment's distraction can lead to tragedy. | high1182.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "carry an advertisement"
},
"options": [
"leave a note",
"send an invitation",
"present a document",
"carry an advertisement"
],
"question": "The text is meant to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Do you want to get home from work knowing you have made a real difference in someone's life? If yes. don't care about sex or age! Come and join us, then _ !
Position: Volunteer Social Care Assistant
(No Pay with Free Meals)
Place: Manchester Hours: Part Time
We arc now looking for volunteers to support people with learning disabilities to live active lives! Only 4 days left. Don't miss the chance of lending your warm hands to help others!
Role:
You will provide people with learning disabilities with all aspects of their daily lives. You will help them to develop new skills. You will help them to protect their rights and their safety. But your primary concern is to let them know they are valued.
Skills and Experience Required:
You will have the right values and great listening skills. You will be honest and patient. You will have the ability to drive a car and to communicate in fluent written and spoken English since you'll have to help those people with different learning disabilities. Previous care-related experience will be a great advantage for you. | high6835.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a pet dog"
},
"options": [
"himself",
"Tippy",
"a pet dog",
"a psychology book"
],
"question": "When the writer writes\"the greatest winner of friends the world has ever known\",he refers to",
"question_type... | Do this and you'll be welcome anywhere.
Why read this book to find out how to win friends?Why not study the technique of the greatest winner of friends the wodd has ever known?Who is he?You may meet him coming down the street.When you get within ten feet of him,he will begin to wag its tail.If you stop and pat him,he'll jump out of his skin to show you how much he likes you.And you know this show of love.There is no secret motives:he doesn't want to sell you any real estate,and he doesn't want to be your husband or wife.
Did you ever stop to think that a dog is the only animal that doesn't have to work for a living?A hen has to lay eggs;a cow has to give milk;and a canary has to sing.But a dog makes a living by giving you nothing but love.
When I was five years old,my father bought a little yellow--haired young dog for fifty cents.He was the light and joy of my childhood.Every afternoon amund four thirty,he would sit in the front yard with his beautiful eyes staring at the road,and as soon as he heard my voice or saw me through the bush,he was off like a shot,racing breathlessly up the hill to greet me with leaps of joy and barks of cheer.
Tippy was my good companion for five years.Then one night--I shall never forget it--he was killed within ten feet of my head,killed by lightning.Tippy's death was the terrible event of my childhood.
You never read a book on psychology,Tippy.You didn't need to.You know that one can make more friends in months by being really interested in other people than one can in two years by trying to get other people interested in him.Let me repeat that.You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. | high22618.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "sympathy"
},
"options": [
"unconcern",
"sympathy",
"doubt",
"tolerance"
],
"question": "The garage employee's attitude toward the author was that of_.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answe... | A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high rains, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I'd had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. "You from New Orleans?" she asked. I said I was, "No charge." She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We'd began to accept that we'd have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kemmedy in California. He'd read some pieces I'd written about our sufferings for state, the online magazine and wanted to give us ("no conditions attached") a new house across the lake from New Orleans. It sounded a good to her return, but I replied, thinking him for his exceptional generosity, then we to go back. Then the University of Florida offered to let him house to me. While he want to England on his one year, paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet's offer to James Kemdedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It's almost worth losing you wordy possessions to be reminded that people really when given had a channel. | high7295.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses"
},
"options": [
"a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWare",
"a free computer program by MIT and Harvard",
"a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses",
"a free program onli... | In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)said that they have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.
Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX. "Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses," Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the plan.
MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who complete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a similar program.
The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.
MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course. She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source edX platform.
" _ ," Hockfield said.
Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online.
The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit organization based in Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30 million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and which teaching methods and tools are most successful. | high370.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Scientific groupmembers."
},
"options": [
"Younglovers.",
"Party organizers.",
"Mothers.",
"Scientific groupmembers."
],
"question": "Which of thefollowing are not possiblerenters of the puppies?",
"question... | Brigham Young University students can now receive the unconditional love of dogs without breakingrules prohibiting petsin university housing.
Jenna Miller started her company Puppies for Rent this summer in the Provo area as a wayfor studentsand otherstorent puppies by the hour.
The pups have been rented for first dates and surprise parties and by mothers rewarding their children. After signing a contract, customers can rent them for $15 an hour, $25 for two hours and $10for each additional hour.
Miller offers her seven puppies for playtime rentals, with each dog hand delivered straight tothe customers' door. Her lawyer brother helps her with legal contracts and fees. She now has four employees helpinglook after and deliverthe animal.
Carl Arky, spokesman for the Humane Society of Utah said his group is against the business. Puppies need consistency and stability in their lives, he said, and renting them to various peoplemight affect the animals' growth and development.
Miller said the animals are treated well and she has a 100 percent success rate so far findingthem a permanent home. Money paid byrenters goes toward adoption fees if they decide to own a puppy. | high23260.txt |
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