questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They want to improve their scores."
},
"options": [
"They want to enjoy carefree moments.",
"They want to gossip about their schoolmates.",
"They want to work through piles of practice test papers.",
"They want to impro... | What does the word"youth" mean to you? Many define it as a precious time in their life when they are young ,when fun ,passion,and imagination seem limitless.But for most high school students,youth is a time of determination and willpower for achieving their goals.
This is vividly shown in Mark of Youth,a movie that opened on Feb 5.Mark of Uouth tells the story of four Senior 3 students in a top high school in the days leading up to the national cooege entrance examination.
Each character represents a differet type of student,ranging from the most mischievous to the most motvated .Like most teenagers ,they enjoy carefree moments and like to talk about their schoolmates.But the rension of the approaching exam,probably their first life-changing event,is common-they must memorize seemingly endless English words and Chinese poems,work through piles of aractice test papers,and improve their scores despite the increasing pressure.
But life exists beyond campus.That the college entrance examination is coming up doesn't mean they can escape family changes,such as when one character's parents get divorced or another's father is arrested.Can these four young people handle their problems and eventually make it to their ideal universities despite their on -and -off campus stress?
The story is set in Hubei Huanggang Middle School,known for its students'outstanding performances on the big exam.The four students are played by the actors who played in the reality shows Happy Boys and Happy Girls.HongKong actor Alex Fong plays their teacher.
Students may look more fashionable in Mark of Youth than in real life,but it is the story about the final year of high school that many viewers relate to.
"The film is very inspiring,"said Senior 2 student Yao Lingqian,16,from Leshan Foreign Language School in Sichuan proveince."A total commitment to hard work ,though it ca be lonely and no fun at all,will leave precious marks on my youth."
And for Senior 3 student Gao Jing ,the film has given her optiomism."The characters taught me that what you score is not the only important thing.The way you approach the exam matters the most,"said the 17-year-old from Zhenping County No 1 High School in Nanyang,Henan province.
"The film really reflects senior 3students'life."Zhang Ping ,a teacher from a senior high school in Qingdao,commented. | high23734.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to the west of the Lombok Island"
},
"options": [
"on the east of the Lombok Island",
"to the west of the Lombok Island",
"off the north of Bali Sea",
"surrounded by the Indian Ocean"
],
"question": "From the pa... | Bali Beach Resort has plenty of attractions. It is a holiday paradise . The self-styled 'Ultimate Island' certainly has plenty for everyone.
Where in the world ?
Bali is located just off the eastern edge of the main Indonesian island of Java. To the east is the neighboring island of Lombok. To the south of Bali lies the expanse of the Indian Ocean, while to the north is the Bali Sea. The most popular resort with holidaymakers is Ubud north of Sanur.
When to go?
Bali has a tropical climate year round with an average daily temperature of 31degC(87degCF). The wet season is between October and April. The dry season is between May and September, and is the busiest time to visit the island as travelers take advantage of the long hot days and little rain.
Beach
Bali has a string of beaches, mainly in the south of the island. Head away from Bali's beaches and a totally different world awaits you. Ubud is an easily accessible jungle resort town with a good range of hotels, shops and restaurants. The active volcano of Mount Batur is a highlight and so are the mountain lakes.
Family fun
All of the resorts have plenty of facilities for families. In Ubud there is a monkey park, where young ones can see monkeys that are not kept in tiny cages and an elephant park where holidaymakers can ride an elephant.
Eating out
All of Bali's holiday resorts offer international cooking to suit every tourist's taste, with most of the better hotels having excellent restaurants. Indonesian Bintang beer is very popular.
Getting around
There are a limited number of local buses. The other public transport is to take the local "bemo" minibuses. These colourful little minibuses speed around the winding roads with fares negotiated on board, so it helps to speak a little of the local language. There are also taxis and both electric bikes and cars can be hired. | high624.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "introduce a new product"
},
"options": [
"advertise a new product",
"explain how a new product works",
"introduce a new product",
"comepare different ways to use solar energy"
],
"question": "The passage is writ... | Have you ever felt annoyed when left talking to yourself after your mobile phone battery runs out in the middle of a call? If yes, then here comes some good news. Scientists are now perfecting a way to recharge electrical equipment while on the move.
Researchers from theprefix = st1 /Netherlands,FranceandPortugalannounced last week that they have developed very thin solar panels that can be put on clothes. They can also be added to furniture and rooftops. They change light from the sun into electricity.
In about three years, you'll be able to wear a jacket that will recharge your phone as you walk. For camping fans, the development could lead to a tent which charges batteries all day so you can have light or music at night.
The basic technology of wearable solar panels is the same as that used for traditional solar panels. Pairs of sheets of semi-conducting silicon are linked together to form the panel.
But scientists made them much thinner by using different silicon. At one micrometre, they are of the same thickness as photographic film.
"This technology will make it easier for people to use clean energy sources," said a physicist in theNetherlandswho led the team of scientists. But the thin panels are not as efficient as the thicker ones. While some solar panels now operate at an efficiency of about 20 per cent, the new flexible panels are only 7 per cent efficient. But the thinner panel is cheaper. An A4 sized panel put onto the back of a jacket cost less than US$13. It could charge a cellphone during a summer walk in the countryside. As long as you stay within range of the transmitting masts that relay a call to the networks, phones will never again run out of power. | high16957.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "They have a father and daughter date night"
},
"options": [
"They visit poor people",
"They have a father and daughter date night",
"They help those who are in trouble",
"They have a dinner out"
],
"question": "... | At least once a month one of my little kind kids and I try to have a father and daughter date night. Last night we were out for diner together after doing some fun things. We talked about some of her kind activities she did at school for their 100 Acts of Kindness challenge her class had. It was great to listen to the little things she and her classmates did to spread kindness.
Many times on our date night we try to do an act of our own, as she is often my sidekick on our kindness adventures.
My later smile card is one about anonymously buying a stranger's meal so I asked Rachel if we should find someone in the restaurant and buy their dinner. She loved the idea so we chose an older couple sitting behind us. I had a few Smile Cards on me (as always!) so we separately told our server our plan. He was new and wasn't sure how to do it but said he would go and find out.
When he dropped off the checks, she smiled at us and told us he would give them the Smile Cards and that the world needed more people like us. Rachel got the biggest smile on her face when he said that to her and I love that he helped remind her that kindness matters. My daughter normally likes to stay and watch the reactions of our kindness "victims" but we had to get going.
When we got home she was so excited to tell her Mom about what we did. My wife told Rachel how nice that was and how it would spread many smiles with the server, his manager, the couple and anyone else they told about the experience. We love any ripple of kindness we can send out into the world and I'm sure we made the couple smile with that one last night! | high17491.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the Confederate Government"
},
"options": [
"his friend",
"the President",
"the Union supporter",
"the Confederate Government"
],
"question": "In the second story, Lincoln compared the hotel keeper to _",
"... | Many presidents have exhibited senses of humor throughout our nation's history. None,
however, is any better known for his humour than Lincoln. No matter the situation, it always
reminded him of a story, and more often than not, the story was amusing.
It seemed that his passion for humor appeared early in life and his humor never seemed to
fade, even under the most difficult situations. Following are some favorite Lincoln stories. All
are fun to read.
Abe Needs His Hair Combed
President Lincoln had the ability to laugh at himself and he greatly enjoyed telling stories in
which he was the object of the joke. He especially liked this one: when I was nominated at
Chicago, I had never before sat for a photograph. One fellow thought that many people might
like to see what I looked like, so he immediately bought the camera and began selling
photographs of me all over the country. I happened to be in Springfield when I heard a boy
selling them on the streets. "Here's your likeness of "Abe" Lincoln!",he shouted to Lincoln.
"Only two shillifigs!He'll look a lot better once he gets his hair combed!"
Nobody Ever Died in Here!
A man was complaining to the President that a friend of his had been driven away from
New Orleans because he was a Union supporter. When the man asked to see the paper by which
he was driven away, he was simply told that the Confederate Government would do nothing
illegal, and so they had issued no papers. They were simply hoping to make him go on his own
free will. Naturally, that reminded Lincoln of a story, and he remarked that he had known of a
hotel keeper in St. Louis who boasted that nobody ever died in his hotel. "Of course,"
Lincoln said with a twinkle in his eye, "anytime a guest appeared to be in danger of dying he
was carried out to die outside."
Let the Elephant Run
Assistant Secretary of War Charles A. Dana had learned that a man named Jacob Thompson,
who had been causing the government many problems, was about to escape to Liverpool. Dana
approached Lincoln with the news. Lincoln asked Dana what Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
thought about it. Dana answered, "He thinks we should arrest him."
Lincoln replied, "I disagree. If you have an elephant on your hands that wants to run away,
you'd better let him run." | high21123.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "What made babies remember objects' existence."
},
"options": [
"Whether babies know objects are gone.",
"What made babies remember objects' existence.",
"Whether babies can remember what was hidden first.",
"Why babies ... | Six-month-old babies are strictly limited in what they can remember about the objects they see in the world. If you hide several objects from babies, they will only remember one of those objects. But a new study, which was published in an issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that when babies "forget" about an object, not all is lost. Researchers used to think that babies less than two years old did not understand that an object continues to exist when it is not in the baby's view. But in mid-1980s, new ways of doing experiments with babies found that they do, in fact, know that objects don't disappear when they do not look at them -- a concept known as object permanence. But it was still unknown what babies needed to remember about objects in order to remember their existence.
Now Melissa Kibbe, of John Hopkins University, and Alan Leslie, of Rutgers University, are working to figure out exactly what it is that babies remember about objects. For the new study, they showed six-month-old babies two objects, a disk and a triangle. Then they hid the objects behind small screens, first one shape, then the other. Earlier research has shown that young babies can remember what was hidden most recently, but have more trouble remembering the first object that was hidden. Once the shapes were hidden, they lifted the screen in front of the first object. Sometimes they showed babies the shape that was hidden there originally , but sometimes it was the other shape, and sometimes the object had _ completely.
Psychologists measure how long babies look at something to see how surprised they are. In Kibbe and Leslie's study, babies weren't particularly surprised to see that screen had changed, for example, from a triangle to a disk. But if the object was gone altogether, the babies looked significantly longer, indicating surprise at an unexpected outcome: "This shows that even though babies don't remember the shape of the object, they know that it should continue to exist," Kibbe says. "They remember the object without remembering the features that identify that object."
This helps explain how the young brain processes information about objects, Leslie say. He thinks the brain has a structure that acts like a kind of pointer, a mental finger that points at an object. | high13807.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It means setting short and long term goals."
},
"options": [
"It means inviting students to meetings.",
"It means setting short and long term goals.",
"It means helping students in their spare time.",
"It means providin... | Recently, I took part in the first strategic planning meeting at school. I didn't know what strategic planning meant when I was invited. So I set about trying to find out what it was. Later, I learnt it meant setting short and long term goals .
The meeting took place in Ms Gallup's room on Tuesday after school. I really didn't know what to expect. I was very nervous ,but I felt very lucky to have been included. I really wanted to do the best I could.
The desks in the room were laid out into two circles so that the upper school and lower school could be divided. There were fifteen students in the room. We were directed to discuss how to _ the school, what we'd like to be taught, and what we thought could be improved upon. I felt this was a very important responsibility as I was representing the fourth grade. So I tried to do the best I could.
There were a lot of suggestions on how to improve our school. One student felt that the uniform sweater policy was really important and another student felt that building a paintable field would help improve the school greatly. I suggested that we should have Chinese classes because China is the most highly populated place on Earth with a growing industrial power. We should learn how to communicate with the Chinese .
We discussed a lot and sometimes the discussion became heated, but they were interesting. I think it is amazing that the teacher asked the students about their opinions and gave us a voice. It is exciting if they adopt any of our suggestions. | high22402.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Vegan-Organic Trust"
},
"options": [
"Hippo",
"Plants for a Future",
"Vega Research",
"Vegan-Organic Trust"
],
"question": "Which of the following campaigns against animal products?",
"question_type": null
... | These are tough times for the charities, many of which will be experiencing lower levels of donations -- so if you can support them please do.
HIPPO
HIPPO is dedicated to relieving poverty and overcoming hunger and malnutrition in poor countries through the provision and production of vegan food. They help vegan orphanages and some of the poorest families in the community, and encourage and assist the development of sustainable agriculture and gardening.
Plants for a Future
Plants for a Future(a project based in Cornwall)researches perennial , eatable and useful plants for sustainable agriculture / living. Their achievements include the creation of an online database of 7,000 plants.
Respect for Animals
Respect for Animals campaigns against the fur trade. They run the annual Design Against Fur competition and were responsible for the anti-fur advertising campaign of the 80's.
Vegan-Organic Trust
The Vegan-Organic Trust is a charity "devoted to education about animal-free food growing". They produce a regular magazine and provide information for both large- and small-scale growers.
Vega Research
Vega Research campaigns on farming and human health issues. Sponsors research into vegan nutrition and the links between diet and health. | high24073.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "six"
},
"options": [
"four",
"five",
"six",
"seven"
],
"question": "How many days did it take the author to reach Moscow?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answ... | Last summer, after finishing our work in China, I took a trip of a lifetime on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Leaving Beijing early on a Wednesday morning in July, my wife and I traveled through some gorgeous countryside before we arrived in Moscow the following Monday evening.
The first part of the journey took us past the Great Wall and through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. At the Mongolian Republic border, we had a delay while the wheels were changed because the railway is different.
On our way to the capital, Ulan Bator, we saw herdsmen on horseback looking after their cattle. There was a terrible thunderstorm as we crossed a vast open plain. Later we had a quick tour of Ulan Bator.
Next, the train took us into Siberia. After a stop at Irkutsk, a popular holiday resort , where a tour group left the train, we passed the great Lake Baikal. Later, we saw some lovely wooden houses in pretty, sunny countryside. This surprised us, as we had imagined Siberia as being covered in thick snow.
Over the next few days, we passed through Novosibirsk, Omsk and other cities in the heartlands of the Russian Federation. By now, our body clocks were losing their sense of time. We wanted to sleep and eat at the wrong time!
At last we reached Moscow. We were too tired and slept for 16 hours that night. The next day we went sightseeing. We saw the Kremlin and some other great buildings in the Russian capital. Then, all too soon, it was time for us to return to our home in London. | high7931.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Junk Food and Depression"
},
"options": [
"Junk Food and Depression",
"Depression Prevention",
"Types of Fats and Depression",
"Depression Research"
],
"question": "What's the best title of the text?",
"ques... | Eating foods high in trans-fats(fats present in artificial form in industrially-produced cakes and fast food...) and saturated fats increases the risk of depression, according to a Spanish study, confirming previous studies that linked "junk food" with the disease. Researchers also showed that some products, such as olive oil, can fight against the risk of mental illness.
Authors of the wide-reaching study, from the universities of Navarra and Las Palmas, followed and analyzed the diet and lifestyle of over l2,000 volunteers over six years. When the study began, none of the participants had been diagnosed with depression; by the end, 657 of them were new sufferers.
"Participants with an increased consumption of trans-fats presented up to a 48 percent increase in the risk of depression when they were compared to participants who did not consume these fats," the head study author said. "The more trans-fats were consumed, the greater harmful effect they produced in the volunteers."
The research team found, at the same time, that after assessing the effect of polyunsaturated fats made up of larger amounts of fish and vegetable oils and olive oil, these products are associated with a lower risk of suffering depression.
The report, published in the online journal PLOS ONE, noted the research was performed on a European population that enjoys a relatively low intake of trans-fats--making up only 0.4 percent of the total energy taken in by the volunteers. "Despite this, we observed an increase in the risk of suffering depression of nearly 50 percent," said researcher Miguel Martinez. "On this basis we think it of great importance to take this effect into account in countries like the United States, where the percentage of energy _ from these fats is around 2.5 percent."
The report pointed out that the current number of depression sufferers in the world is around l50 million people, and has increased in recent years. This rise is attributable, according to the authors, "to great changes in the sources of fats consumed in Western diets, where we have replaced certain types of beneficial fats in nuts, vegetable oils and fish with the saturated and trans-fats found in meats, butter and other products such as mass-produced cakes and fast food." | high2691.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "From January 1,2007, Hong Kong bans smoking in most public places."
},
"options": [
"Hong Kong is not the first Asian city to have a smoking ban.",
"When you stay with a smoking person, you will feel light-hearted.",
"From Ja... | Hong Kong Bans Smoking
Do you plan to go to Hong Kong Disneyland with your family? If your dad smokes, you must ask him to be careful. 71. _ The new law went into effect on Monday, and heavy fines will be imposed on anyone who breaks it. The places include restaurants, workplaces, schools and karaoke rooms. 72. _
Public response has been mixed. Smoking is now banned in public spaces in Hong Kong.
Many Hong Kong residents are in favor of the new regulation, however. Hong Kong hopes the ban can prevent passive smoking. 73. _ And it'll be better if more people in Hong Kong give up smoking because of the ban.
Hong Kong has 7 million people. 74. _
Amy Choi, 27, a student, agrees to the smoking ban. ' I don't like people smoking next to me. It's so smoky and smelly," she said.
Warning signs are now clearly visible in most public places such as beaches, stadiums, parks, and playgrounds. Some owners of bars and restaurants say that although the new ban may have negative effect on their business, they will still stop their customers from lighting up. If someone breaks the ban, he will have to pay up to HK$5,000. | high20215.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "buy some medicine for his wife"
},
"options": [
"buy some food for his family",
"buy some medicine for his wife",
"go to see a doctor",
"go to the cinema"
],
"question": "The farmer decided to sell the vegetable... | A farmer grew some vegetables in his garden. One day his wife was ill and he had no money. He had to sell some cabbages and carrots in the market. The next morning he took two baskets of vegetables to town. But it was raining hard that afternoon and there were few people in the street. When his vegetables were sold out, it was dark. He bought some medicine and hurried to his village.
On his way home he saw a person lying on the snow. He placed his baskets on the ground and was going to help the person to get up. At that time he found it was a dead man and there was much blood on his body. He was so afraid that he ran away quickly, without taking the baskets with him.
The next afternoon the farmer was sent to the police station. Having shown the baskets, an officer asked: "Are these yours?" "Yes, sir." the farmer answered timidly . "Have you killed the man?" "No, no, sir." the farmer said in a hurry." When did you see the dead man?" "About seven last evening." "Did you see who killed the man?" "No, Sir." The officer brought out a knife and asked, "Have you seen it yet?" "No, Sir.' The officer became angry and told the policemen to beat him up and send him into prison.
That evening the officer went on trying .Pointing to the knife, he asked again," Have you seen it yet?" "Yes, Sir." The officer was happy and asked," When and where?" "I saw it here this afternoon, sir." | high2849.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "People who live or travel in London."
},
"options": [
"Foreign travelers to London.",
"Drivers in London.",
"Parents in London.",
"People who live or travel in London."
],
"question": "Who will be interested in ... | Out and about
Use personal stereos and mobile telephones with care.
If possible, walk in the direction of oncoming traffic, in the middle of the pavement.
Look after your valuables; keep your house and car keys separate from your bag.
Taxi and mini cabs
Whenever possible pre-book a taxi.
Use a reputable company; transport forprefix = st1 /Londonmaintains a list.
When traveling alone sit in the back seat.
In your car
Have your keys ready so that you can get straight into your parked car.
Consider locking your doors when traveling and when you leave your car to pay for your fuel.
You may wish to take a mobile telephone but you must have a hands-free system to use it while driving.
Children
Don't dress children in clothing with their name on it.
Teach them not to speak to people they do not know.
Teach them an emergency contact number.
Public transport
Plan your journey; know the timetable.
If possible, try not to travel alone.
Avoid sitting upstairs on a double-decker bus.
Be _ with your conversation; you never know who is listening.
Home security
Whenever you go out, always lock the doors and close the windows.
Use European Standard locks on the front and back doors and on windows. Ensure you draw the curtains after dark.
Avoid displaying identification. Do not put your name on the letterbox or bell.
Confirm the identity of callers. | high19494.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The skills needed to be a good talker."
},
"options": [
"The skills needed to be a good talker.",
"What to do when making friends.",
"How to be a good listener.",
"How to start a conversation with a stranger."
],
... | Some people make you feel comfortable. You can easily spend an hour with them and feel as if you have known them your whole life. These people, who can make others feel relaxed, have great people skills and if we observe them we can learn a lot.
How do they do it? Here are several ways to put others at ease so you can make friends quickly.
First of all, good talkers ask lots of questions. Almost anyone, no matter how shy he or she is, will answer a question put to him or her. One well-known businesswoman says: "At business lunches, I always ask people what they did that morning. It's a common question, but it will get things going." From there you can move on to other matters - sometimes even to really personal questions. How he or she answers will let you know how far you can go.
Second, once good talkers have asked questions, they listen to the answers. This point seems obvious, but it is important to remember that your questions should have a point and help you understand what sort of person you are talking to. In order to find this out, you really have to listen carefully.
Real listening means not changing the subject of conversation. If someone sticks to one topic, you can take it as a fact that he or she is really interested in it. Real listening also means not just listening to the words, but also to how the person is speaking. What is their tone of voice? If they sound bored then it might be time for you to change the subject.
Finally, good talkers know how to end a conversation. If you're saying goodbye to someone, shake his or her hand and say: "I've really enjoyed meeting you." And if you want to see that person again, don't keep it a secret. Let them know, and they will walk away feeling as if they've known you their whole life. | high18952.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "On 24 June; in Belo Horizonte"
},
"options": [
"On 24 June; in Manaus",
"On 24 June; in Belo Horizonte",
"On 19 June; in Manaus",
"On 19 June; in Sao Paulo"
],
"question": "When and where will England play its t... | England will play Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in a tough Group D at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Roy Hodgson's men open their campaign against Italy in the Amazonian city of Manaus on 15 June in the only World Cup game which kicks off at 02:00 BST. England take on Uruguay on 19 June and play Costa Rica five days later.
Hosts Brazil are in Group A with Cameroon, Mexico and Croatia while the World Cup holders Spain open with a repeat of the 2010 final against Netherlands.
England will have to travel 1,777 miles from their chosen base in Rio for their first match in the tropical heat of Manaus.
Earlier this week Hodgson described Manaus as "the place to avoid" because of the climate--temperatures reach 30C and humidity is about 80%--although after the draw the England boss took comfort from the fact his team face a fellow European side.
"The conditions in the north will be tough, so we will both be in same boat," he said. "If we'd had three games up in the north, it would have been difficult."
Following Hodgson's initial comments, the mayor of Manaus, Arthur Virgilio, said England would not be welcome in the city.
England takes on two-time champions Uruguay in Sao Paulo and they play Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte--both cities are within 225 miles of their base.
England have never previously beaten Italy or Uruguay at a major tournament , while they have never faced Costa Rica.
Uruguay, who reached the semi-finals in 2010, and Italy, who knocked Hodgson's men out of Euro 2012, are ranked sixth and seventh respectively in the Fifa rankings while Costa Rica are 31st in the world - 18 places below England. | high5840.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the writer thinks that China government should be responsible for the pollution."
},
"options": [
"the sandstorms were purposely made by China.",
"the writer thinks that China government should be responsible for the pollution.",
... | BEIJING (AP) -- Sandstorms whipping across China shrouded cities in an unhealthy cloud of sand Monday, with winds carrying the pollution outside the mainland as far as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
It was the latest sign of the effects of desertification: Overgrazing, deforestation, urban sprawl and drought have expanded deserts in the country's north and west. The shifting sands have gradually moved onto populated areas and worsened sandstorms that strike cities, particularly in the spring.
Winds blowing from the northwest have been sweeping sand across the country since Saturday, affecting Xinjiang in the far west all the way to Beijing in the country's east. The sand and dust were carried to parts of southern China and even to cities in Taiwan, 1600 miles (2600 kilometers) away from Inner Mongolia where much of the pollution originated.
The sandstorm in Taiwan, an island 100 miles (160 kilometers) away from the mainland, forced people to cover their faces to avoid breathing in the grit that can cause chest discomfort and _ problems even in healthy people. Drivers complained their cars were covered in a layer of black soot in just 10 minutes.
In Hong Kong, environmental protection officials said pollution levels were climbing as the sandstorm moved south. Twenty elderly people sought medical assistance for shortness of breath, Hong Kong's radio RTHK reported.
The latest sandstorm was expected to hit South Korea on Tuesday, said Kim Seung-bum of the Korea Meteorological Administration. The sandstorm that raked across China over the weekend caused the worst "yellow dust" haze in South Korea since 2005, and authorities issued a rare nationwide dust advisory.
Grit from Chinese sandstorms has been found to travel as far as the western United States.
China's Central Meteorological Station urged people to close doors and windows, and cover their faces with masks or scarves when going outside. Sensitive electronic and mechanical equipment should be sealed off, the station said in a warning posted Monday on its Web site.
State television's noon newscast showed the tourist city of Hangzhou on the eastern coast, where graceful bridges and waterside pagodas were hidden in a mix of sand and other pollution. In Beijing, residents and tourists with faces covered scurried along sidewalks to minimize exposure to the pollution.
A massive sandstorm hit Beijing in 2006, when winds dumped about 300,000 tons of sand on the capital. | high4586.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "like everyone else"
},
"options": [
"like everyone else",
"unlike others",
"for once",
"being old"
],
"question": "Mr and Mrs Davies, _ , had to buy presents before Christmas.",
"question_type": "cloze_qu... | Mr and Mrs Davies had left their Christmas shopping very late. There were only a few days more before Christmas, and of course the shops and streets were terribly crowded, but they had to get presents for their family and friends, so they started out early one morning for the big city, and spent several tiring hours buying the things they wanted in the big shops.
By lunch-time, Mr Davies was carrying parcels of all shaps and sizes. He could hardly see where he was going as he and his wife left the last shop on their way to the railway station and home. Outside the shop they had to cross a busy street, made even busier than usual by the thousands of people who had come by car to do their last-minute Christmas shopping.
Mr and Mrs Davies had to wait for the traffic lights to turn green, but as Mr Davies could not see very well in front of him, he gradually moved forward into the road without realizing it. Mrs Davies saw this and became worried. Several times she told her husband to come back off the road, but without success. He could not hear her because of the noise of the traffic.
Finally she shouted in a voice that could be heard clearly above all the noise, "Henry! If you want to stand in that dangerous position a moment longer, give me the parcels!" | high20573.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "admirable"
},
"options": [
"disgusting",
"admirable",
"ambitious",
"dynamic"
],
"question": "In the author's eyes,Elvis Presley was _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"... | At the age of ten I could not figure out what this Elvis Presley guy had that the rest of us boys did not have.I mean,he had a head,two arms and two legs,just like the rest of us.About nine o'clock on Saturday morning I decided to ask Eugene Correthers,one of the older boys,what it was that made this Elvis guy so special.He told me that it was Elvis'wavy hair and the way he moved his body.
About half an hour later all the boys in the orphanage were called to the main dining-room and told we were all going to downtown Jacksonville,Florida to get a new pair of Buster Brown shoes and a haircut. _ . If the Elvis hair cut was the big secret,then that's what I was going to get.
A11 the way to town I told everybody, including the matron from the orphanage who was taking us to town,that I was going to look just like Elvis Presley and that I would learn to move around just like he did and that I would be rich and famous one day, just like him.
When I got my new Buster Brown shoes, I could hardly wait for my new hair cut and now that I had my new Busier Brown shoes I would be very happy to go back to the orphanage and practice being like Elvis.
We finally arrived at the big barber shop,where they cut our hair for free because we were orphans .I looked at the barber and said,"I want an Elvis hair cut. Can you make my hair like Elvis?"I asked him,with a big smile on my face."Let's just see what we can do for you,little man,"he said.I was so happy when he started to cut my hair.Just as he started to cut my hair, the matron signed for him to come over to where she was standing.She whispered something into his ear and then he shook his head,like he was telling her"No".Then he told me they were not allowed to give us Elvis hair cuts.Then I saw my hair falling onto the floor. | high11976.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the loss of her former identity"
},
"options": [
"a restriction to be overcome",
"an opportunity for self-redefinition",
"the loss of her former identity",
"an unavoidable result of movement to a new place"
],
"... | This place was darker than I expected, and, in spite of the rain, dirtier. Used to the life of rural Puerto Rico , I had to adjust to the similarly arranged, aggressive two-dimensionality of New York. Everywhere I looked, my eyes met gray and brown straight-edged buildings with sharp corners and deep shadows. Every few blocks there was a cement playground surrounded by chain-link fence.
A girl came out of the building next door, a jump rope in her hand, and she hopped over. "Are you Hispanic?" she asked. "No, I'm Puerto Rican." "Same thing. Puerto Rican, Hispanic. That's what we are here." She skipped a tight circle, stopped abruptly, and shoved the rope in my direction. "Want a turn?"
"Sure." I hopped on one leg, then the other. "So, if you're Puerto Rican, they call you Hispanic?"
"Yeah. Anybody who speaks Spanish."
I jumped a circle, as she had done, but faster. "You mean, if you speak Spanish, you're Hispanic?"
"Well, yeah. No . . . I mean your parents have to be Puerto Rican or Cuban or something."
"Okay, your parents are Cuban, let's say, and you're born here, but you don't speak Spanish. Are you Hispanic?"
"I guess so," she finally said. "It has to do with being from a Spanish country. I mean, you or your parents, like, even if you don't speak Spanish, you're Hispanic, you know?" She looked at me uncertainly. But I didn't know. I'd always been Puerto Rican, and it hadn't occurred to me that in New York I'd be someone else.
Later, I asked. "Are we Hispanics, Mami?" "Yes, because we speak Spanish." "But a girl said you don't have to speak the language to be Hispanic." "What girl? Where did you meet a girl?" "Outside. She lives in the next building." "Who said you could go out to the sidewalk? This isn't Puerto Rico. Something could happen to you."
I listened to Mami's lecture with depressed eyes and the necessary respect. But inside, I quaked. Two days in New York, and I'd already become someone else. It wasn't hard to imagine that greater dangers lay ahead. | high6391.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because they have to spend lots of time dealing with different problems in their life."
},
"options": [
"Because they feel little time left and value time.",
"Because they are busy making friends, and surfing the Internet.",
... | If you're in your 30s, it is possible to defend your skin and body against the visible signs of growing older. 30s-this is when your youthful looks will start to slowly _ Time is the biggest issue for most men and women at this age because they struggle to balance work, relationships and young families.
Unfortunately, juggling these parts of your life will start to show through fine lines and dull, tired skin. "This is the time to learn relaxation techniques like thinking and deep breathing to help reduce stress", says Helga Hefner, global educator of Aveda. Sleep is your best weapon during these years. A full eight hours of sleep is necessary for skin to look and perform its best and uninterrupted is the best type..
"Always make sure the head is raised above the body," says Dr Daniel Maes, senior vice-president of Estee Lauder Global Research and Development. This helps to avoid an accumulation of blood to the face and you will wake less puffy. If you sleep in an awkward position, you will wake with puffy eyes and lines on your face because of the constriction blood flow to the skin. Try and train yourself to sleep on your back, too, or you may notice lines forming on one side of your face. A lack of sleep is also linked to weight gain-the longer you are awake the more fuel your body will think it needs, so you may find yourself with an increased appetite. If you are struggling with sleep, try adding aromatherapy oils such as lavender or ylang ylang to your pillows or a bath before bed. | high22364.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Sea turtles suffering from plastic pollution."
},
"options": [
"How to prevent the sea turtle from plastic.",
"Why plastic is dangerous to the sea turtle.",
"Protecting the sea turtle from being polluted.",
"Sea turtles... | At first sight, you would think the collection of hundreds of colored shards could be a work of abstract art. But the objects are the contents of the stomach of a sea turtle that lost its battle with plastic pollution.
Environmentalists examined the stomach of the turtle found off the coast of Argentina. What they found is the symptom of the increasing threat to sea turtles from a human addiction to plastic.
Sea turtles often mistake plastic items for jellyfish or other food. Ingesting ocean pollution can cause a digestive blockage and internal cuts. The result can be dangerous, followed by death.
Humans produce 260 million tons of plastic a year. When those products are pulled into the sea's currents, the plastics are just broken into smaller pieces which are consumed by marine life at the bottom of the food chain. An examination of a green turtle found off Florida discovered that, over the course of a month, the animal's faeces had contained 74 foreign objects, including "four types of balloons, different types of hard plastic, a piece of carpet--like material and two 2--4 mm tar balls."
"The oceans have become a giant refuse bin for all manner of plastics. All sea turtle species may be seriously harmed, "according to the biologists Colette Wabnitz, from the University of British Columbia. "The symptom of this growing crisis can be seen inside and on sea turtles as well as their oceanic and terrestrial habitats. It is urgently necessary to directly confront the source of plastic pollution, redesign packaging and rethink the very idea of 'throwaway culture'."
Almost all marine species, from plankton to whales, have ingested plastic. But, even in small quantities, plastic can kill sea turtles, the biologists said.
Fifty out of 92 turtles found dead, stranded on the shorelines of Rio Grande do Sul state in Brazil, had ingested a "considerable amount of man-made _ ". | high6385.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a pairs of good shoes"
},
"options": [
"a new map",
"a set of outdoor tools",
"a pairs of good shoes",
"only safe water"
],
"question": "The author feel that the most basic things on a hike is _ .",
"ques... | Hiking is not only one of the best forms of physical exercise, but it is also one of the best forms of mental relaxation. It is good for all ages and especially good as a family and group activity.
Since there are so many different kinds of hiking, it is not possible to give any general rules to follow. Short and frequent hikes, needing no planning or special equipment, are enjoyed by most people.
*Keep in shape by walking at a fast pace for at least 15 minutes every day. Climbing stairs instead of using a lift and running not too far are also good ways of keeping in shape.
*On any hike nothing is more important than good, comfortable shoes.
*The things you take might include matches in a waterproof box, a knife, compass, map first aid items and flashlight.
*Cameras may be taken, but don't load with too much.
*On longer hikes keep a comfortable, steady pace and take rest stops often.
*Drink only safe water. If in doubt, boil the water.
*Don't go along the busy roads. When you have to use a road, keep as far over on the left as possible.
*Leave word at home or some other place as to where you are going and when you plan to return.
*On almost any hike, a map is a good idea. If going into a strange place, a detailed map is most useful.
*Take along a field guide on flowers, birds, rocks, or other subjects depending upon your interests. This can add greatly to the enjoyment and educational value of your hike. | high22370.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Teens' sleep is linked to their relationship with people around them."
},
"options": [
"Teens' sleep is linked to their relationship with people around them.",
"Lack of adequate sleep puts teens at risk of many bad consequences.",
... | A recent study suggests that teens' relationship with parents, friends and teachers may have a lot to do with why they don't get a good night's sleep.
David Maume, a sociologist and sleep researcher, analyzed federal health data, which interviewed 974 teenagers when they were 12, and then again at 15. He found that family dynamics have much to do with how well kids sleep. Teens, who had warm relations with their parents and felt like they could talk to them or their parents were supportive of them, tended to sleep better. However, families that were going through a divorce or a remarriage tended to affect teens' sleep.
And problems at school also affected teens' sleep. Feeling safe at school and having good relations with teachers tended to promote better sleep. As did good relationships with friends. Kids who took part in sports or other positive social activities or shared similar academic goals with their friends were also more likely to get a good night's sleep.
These add up to what makes lots of sense: a general feeling of well-being helps teens sleep. If we're happy and contented, we're much more likely to sleep better than if we're sad and anxious.
Now, of course, teens can hardly resist being drawn to their computers and social networking. Maume also found that when parents were strict not only about bedtime, but also about limiting technology, kids slept better. It's a finding that seems obvious, but parents really do matter when it comes to health habits of their teenagers.
Clearly, teenagers aren't getting 9 to 10 hours a night, which puts them at risk for all the consequences of lack of sleep, including poor academic performance, colds and stress. | high5854.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "nobody"
},
"options": [
"nobody",
"some people",
"smokers",
"young people"
],
"question": "In the writer's opinion, smoking does good to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Smoking, which may be a pleasure for some people, is a series of discomfort for their fellows. Medical scientists have expressed their concern about effect of smoking on the health not only of those who smoke but also those who do not smoke. In fact, non-smokers who take in the air polluted by tobacco smoke suffer more than the smokers themselves. A great number of students are trying to persuade the university to forbid smoking in classrooms. Believe they are completely right in their aim. However, I think it more important to achieve this by calling on the smokers to use good judgment and to show concern for others. Smoking is not allowed in theaters, cinemas and in other public places. Therefore, smoking must be forbidden in our classroom. Although many people have _ for having smoked a lot and we call on people to give up smoking, yet many more that are following will turn down what we say every day, above all, the young people smoke a lot more. | high21679.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "we might be controlled by other people's ideas"
},
"options": [
"it will be hard for us to think naturally and fast",
"we will follow the ideas of others naturally",
"we might be controlled by other people's ideas",
"we... | Thinking is something you choose to do as a fish chooses to live in water. To be human is to think. But thinking may come naturally without your knowing how you do it. Thinking about thinking is the key to critical thinking. When you think critically, you take control of your thinking processes . Otherwise, you might be controlled by the ideas of others. Indeed, critical thinking is at the heart of education.
The word "critical" here has a special meaning. It does not mean taking one view against another view, as when someone criticizes another person for doing something wrong. The nature of critical thinking is thinking beyond the easily seen--beyond the pictures on TV, the untrue reports in the newspapers, and the faulty reasoning .
Critical thinking is an attitude as much as an activity. If you are curious about life and desire to dig deeper into it, you are a critical thinker; if you find pleasure in deep thinking about different ideas, characters, and facts, you are a critical thinker.
Activities of the mind and higher-order reasoning are processes of deep and careful consideration. They take time, and do not go hand in hand with the fast speed in today's world, fast foods, instant coffee, and self-developing film. If you are among the people who believe that speed is a measure of intelligence, you may learn _ from a story about Albert Einstein. The first time Banish Hoffman, a scientist, was to discuss his work with Albert Einstein, Hoffman was too nervous to speak. But Einstein immediately put Hoffman at ease by saying, "Please go slowly, I don't understand things quickly." | high4592.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He was caught in a traffic jam."
},
"options": [
"He was ill.",
"He was caught in a traffic jam.",
"He was busy applying for a new job.",
"He got up late."
],
"question": "Why was Sam late for his job?",
"qu... | A lot of us lose life's tough battles by starting a frontal attack -- when a touch of humor might well enable us to win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, who was trapped in a traffic jam on his way to work shortly after receiving a warning about being late for the job. Although there was a good reason for Sam's a being late --serious illness at home -- he decided that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn't work any longer. His boss was probably already pacing up and down preparing a dismissal speech.
Yes, the boss was. Sam entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room ; everyone was hard at work. Sam's boss came up to him. Suddenly, Sam smiled and stretched out his hand. "How do you do!" he said. "I'm Sam Maynard. I'm applying for a job, which, I understand, became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?"
The room exploded in laughter. However, the boss _ a smile and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard had saved his job-- with the only tool that could win, a laugh.
Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected , means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying "no", criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it's the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people in any other field. | high20567.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "how I changed my attitude towards iPhone"
},
"options": [
"how I changed my attitude towards iPhone",
"why I was content with my iPhone",
"how my simple cellphone changed my lifestyle",
"why I preferred to use iPhone ev... | My name is Amy. I'm a 25-year-old graduate student who likes yoga, home-decorating shows and eating spoonfuls of peanut butter straight from the jar. Oh yeah, and I'm an iPhone addict.
I wasn't always an addict. In fact, for many years I told myself I didn't want a fancy cellphone. They seemed like too much work, always ringing and demanding attention. I was perfectly content with my simple cellphone, and I didn't feel like changing my mind any time.
However, about a year ago, I found myself envious of all those proud iPhone owners, holding their shiny new phones and showing them off to all their friends. I started to _ conversations about "iPhone apps", feeling like a tourist listening to a language I couldn't speak.
Eventually I couldn't ignore my iPhone instinct any longer, and I welcomed my new iPhone into my life. I instantly fell in love with the little bundle of joy, and could no longer imagine a life without it.
To my surprise, I suddenly found myself with a whole new circle of friends--other iPhone owners I could go to for advice and support as I learned the various functions of my new device. They responded to my iPhone-related queries when my other friends couldn't, and didn't roll their eyes when I bragged about all the things little Eloise (yes, I named her) could do.
For a couple months I built my new life with Eloise. However, I realized I had a problem when one day I found myself Google-mapping my way to my mailbox, which happens to be right outside my front door.
When I reflected upon the past few months, I couldn't believe I didn't see this coming. All the warning signs were there. Eloise slept right beside me and was the first thing I reached for in the morning. I checked my e-mail about 20 times a day. I also experienced attachment anxiety when I left poor Eloise in the changing room at the gym. What if she rang and needed my response? Or, even worse, what if a careless gym-goer knocked her out of my bag and caused her screen to crack?
Once I admitted I had a problem, things started to change. What used to feel like friendly messages now felt like constant complaining to respond. I hated that I could no longer leave the house without Eloise in my hand. Eventually, I felt angry with Eloise so much that I wanted to throw her at the wall.
I decided something had to be done. But, as I quickly realized, iPhones are like cigarettes and not easy to quit.
Then, while taking the bus to work one day, I was unexpectedly forced to quit--at least temporarily. When I reached into my purse to grab Eloise, I found her overcome by fever. My head swam with panic as I attempted to solve the problem, but without result. I couldn't call anyone for advice. I couldn't Google whether this had happened to any fellow iPhone owners. The Apple Store was closed by the time I finished work, so I headed home with fear into an Eloise-less night. But, after a couple hours without any text alerts, push notifications, or even good old-fashioned phone calls, I felt ... calmer. Without my electronic bed partner, I drifted off into the deepest sleep I'd had in months. The next morning, I read the news from the simplicity of the newspaper, instead of from my iPhone. I even noticed the cherry blossoms blooming.
My goodness, what had I been missing? | high11962.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "you should make a conscious effort of practice and exercise"
},
"options": [
"you should force yourself to remember things",
"you should make a conscious effort of practice and exercise",
"you should never stop learning",
... | Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really made a conscious effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.
Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.
Memory "trick" work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.
We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people's forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never got tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when "trick" of our memory can cause us great trouble. | high2685.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The Indians"
},
"options": [
"The British",
"The Spanish",
"The Indians",
"The Australians"
],
"question": "_ invented the popular sport -- Lacrosse.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answ... | Lacrosse is a popular sport in Canada. It is one of the oldest organized sports in America. The Indians in northern New York State and southern Ontario, Canada, invented it. They used it to train for war. They invented this game before Columbus arrived in the New World.
People play lacrosse outdoors. The lacrosse field is seven metres long. At each end of the field there is a net. There are ten players on each team. Each player has a stick called "crosse". The players hit a ball that is 21 centimetres around and weighs 140 grams. They try to hit the ball into the net as many times as possible. Lacrosse is a very fast game because the players can catch and pass the ball at a high speed with their sticks.
At one time lacrosse was the national summer sport in Canada. It is also popular in Britain and Australia. | high20201.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "About 1500 years ago."
},
"options": [
"About the year 1150.",
"Before the year 1500.",
"Between the 12th century and the 16th century.",
"About 1500 years ago."
],
"question": "When did Modern English start?",
... | The English language started about 1500 years ago in England.Three groups of people came to the country.They were the Angles,the Saxons,and the Jutes.These three groups brought their languages with them to England.After some time,the three languages became one new languageEnglish.The name "English" comes from the Angles.They lived in most of England."England" means "Angle Land" or "Country of the Angles".
The language that we speak todayModern Englishis not the same as the English that people used 1500 years ago,including Old English(before 1150)and Middle English(up till 1500).That languageOld Englishsounds different,and it has some different rules of grammar. There were only a few thousand words in Old English.But Modern English does come from Old English,and it is still like it in many important ways. | high19480.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "when it was carrying out a task in Afghanistan"
},
"options": [
"when it was investigating military operation",
"when it was carrying out a task in Afghanistan",
"when it was flying to Tampa, Florida packed with US soldiers",... | BAGRAM, Afghanistan: A transport helicopter packed with US soldiers crashed near a military base just north of the capital, killing at least five of them and wounding seven others, the US military said yesterday.
The cause of Sunday's crash, about 11 kilometers east of Bagram Air Base, was not immediately known. The US military said it was investigating, and it refused to take journalists from the base to the crash site.
But after a long search, reporters found the wreckage in a remote area yesterday afternoon. It was broken into three pieces, some of which had fallen into a mostly dry riverbed. About 15 US soldiers were guarding the site.
A statement sent by email from Central Command, in Tampa, Florida,on Sunday said,"Early reports indicate seven service members were killed," when the US military helicopter went down.
At Bagram Air Base yesterday morning, US military spokesman Major Richard Sater said the plane was an MH-53 transport helicopter and confirmed that it was involved in all ongoing military operation, dubbed Mountain Resolve, taking place in the east of the country. He referred all other questions, including the numbers of casualties and the cause of the crash, to Central Command officials.
Bagram Air Base, just north of the capital, is home to most of the peacekeepers patrol Kabul.
In another development, three US soldiers were killed on Sunday in Iraq. Gunmen in Mosul shot two American soldiers driving through the city center, sending their vehicle crashing into a wall. About a dozen swarming teenagers dragged the men out of the wreckage and beat them with concrete blocks, witnesses said.
In recent weeks, attacks against US troops and their Iraqi allies--such as policemen and politicians working for tile interim Iraqi administration--have increased in the region surrounding Mosul.
In Baqouba, just north of Baghdad, insurgents detonated a roadside bomb as a 4th Infantry Divison convoy passed, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the military said on Sunday. | high18946.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he pushed his math teacher down the stairs"
},
"options": [
"he could learn how to survive in the wild",
"his teacher insisted on giving him a lesson",
"he pushed his math teacher down the stairs",
"his mother feared th... | Wild
I was 16 when my father finally decided he would send me to wilderness camp for several months. He had threatened to do it many times before, but my mother had always managed to prevent him from doing so. This time he insisted on doing it.
The latest incident was the last straw. Impulsively , I hade pushed Mr. Ford, my math teacher, down a flight of steps at school. He broke his arm in two places. Anyway, he had agreed not to accuse me as a favour to my dad, who was in the middle of a tight race for sheriff in our town. But my _ behaviour had my dad's closest advisor talking.
"John, he's your son and he's a kid, but he is dragging you down," I heard Jake Hutch tell my dad through his closed office door the night after I pushed Mr. Ford. "If you can't make your son obey the rules, how can you make the law obeyed in this town?"
So, off to Pisgah National Forest I went. I imagined hours of untold abuse at the hands of some strong sergeants . I was determined no to be broken. I was who I was.
Nearly every day for six months, a small group of other troubled teens and I carried our 30-pound backpacks on a difficult journey covering about 10 miles. We hiked in a rough wilderness that seemed untouched by civilization.
Our sergeants were firm but kind, not frightening as I had imagined. We learned how to make a fire without matches and create a shelter with branches and grass. We learned which plants were safe to eat out in the wild. I felt myself change. I was calm and often reflective. My old, impulsive self was gone.
One morning, six months later, my dad came to pick me up. I ran to hug him and saw relief and love in his eyes.
"So what's it like being sheriff?" I asked on the ride home.
"I lost the race, Danny," he said.
"I'm sorry, Dad." I knew my behaviour probably had a lot to do with hid defeat.
Dad squeezed my shoulder and brought me close. "As long as I don't ever lose you, I'm okay." | high9908.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "They celebrate it on the first Monday of May."
},
"options": [
"They visit friends and family members.",
"They celebrate it on the first Monday of May.",
"They spend a lot of time shopping around.",
"They show great lov... | The first day of the month of May is known as May Day. It is the time of year when warmer weather begins. People celebrate the coming of summer with customs that are expressions of joy and hope after a long winter. Today, May Day activities have been moved to the May Day holiday on the first Monday of the month. It is a public holiday when families take advantage of the time off to visit some of the UK's many attractions, including parks, zoos, historic buildings, ancient towns and villages and beautiful countryside.
May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora, the goddess of fruit and flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. People would decorate their houses and villages with leaves and flowers they picked at daybreak in the belief that the vegetation spirits would bring good luck. In the very early morning, young girls went into the fields and washed their faces with dew . They believed _ made them very beautiful for the following year.
May Day was an important day in the Middle Ages and was a favorite holiday of many English villages. People of the time used to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground in the village to mark the arrival of summer. This is the origin of the maypole . People danced around them in celebration of the end of winter. Maypoles were once common all over England and were kept from one year to the next. The tallest maypole is said to have been put up in London on the Strand in 1661. It stood more than 143 feet high and was cut down in 1717, when it was used by Newton to support a new reflecting telescope invented by Dutch scientist Huygens. | high13813.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "knew the condition of the mentally ill"
},
"options": [
"worked at a local five-star hotel",
"helped an old man under a bridge",
"won an award in a chef competition",
"knew the condition of the mentally ill"
],
... | Narayanan Krishnan was a bright, young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading for Europe changed everything. He saw a very old man under a bridge eating his own human waste for food while visiting a friend in the south Indian city of Madurai in 502. Shocked by this, Krishnan gave up his job within the week and returned home for good, convinced of his new cause.
"That inspiration is a driving force still inside me as a flame--to serve all the mentally ill and the people who cannot take care of themselves," Krishnan said. He founded the organization Akshaya Trust in 503. In Hindu mythology , Goddess Annapoorani's "Akshaya bowl" fed the hungry endlessly, never using up its resources. Now 14, he has served more than 1.2 million meals--breakfast, lunch and dinner to India's homeless and the poor.
Krishnan's day begins at 4 a.m. He and his team cover nearly 110 miles, routinely working in temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot meals he delivers are simple, tasty vegetarian food he personally prepares, packs and often hand-feeds to nearly 400 people each day.
Krishnan carries the barber's tools and is trained in eight haircut styles that, along with a fresh shave, provide extra dignity to those he serves.
He says many of the homeless seldom know their names or birthplaces, and none has the ability to beg, ask for help or offer thanks. They may be unfriendly or ill-willed because of their conditions, but Krishnan says this only makes him offer help more willingly. | high22416.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "kept issuing tickets against the car"
},
"options": [
"wanted to break a record",
"tried its best to find its owner",
"kept issuing tickets against the car",
"decided to play a joke on its owner"
],
"question": ... | An abandoned car in Chicago worth about $600 has been issued more than $100,000 in parking tickets over the past three years. Now Jennifer Fitzgerald, 31, is stuck with the bill but says the 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo actually belongs to an ex-boyfriend who registered the car in her name without informing her.
The Expired Meter reports that from May 23, 2009 to April 30, 2012, the Chicago Department of Finance (DOF) issued 678 tickets against the car, totaling $105,761.80. It set a Chicago record both for the total number and amount of parking fines issued. In fact, it blew past the previous record holder, which was $65,000 from about 400 tickets.
But Fitzgerald says she doesn't owe the city a dime and has filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against the city of Chicago, United Airlines and the ex-boyfriend. Fitzgerald has two main arguments in her case. First, she says her ex-boyfriend, Brandon Preveau, is the actual owner of the car, having purchased it from her uncle for $600 in 2008. In fact, Preveau paid for the car's title, registration and insurance, but it was registered in Fitzgerald's name. "Brandon used his income tax refund to pay Patrick $600 for the automobile," reads Fitzgerald's complaint. "For some reasons not recalled by Patrick, however, Patrick signed the title to the car over to Jennifer."
Second, Fitzgerald's lawyer is arguing that the city should have simply towed the vehicle after 30 days from O'Hare Airport, where it was parked and where Preveau worked at the time. According to Fitzgerald's complaint, on or before November 17, 2009, Brandon drove the car into the parking lot and never drove it out again. And as the Expired Meter reports, Chicago law does specify that an abandoned vehicle is to be towed 30 days after being illegally parked. | high23708.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The word \"MOOCs\" is an acronym for \"Massive open online campuses.\""
},
"options": [
"The word \"MOOCs\" is an acronym for \"Massive open online campuses.\"",
"Anyone who has a computer and an Internet connection can take MOOCs.... | MOOCs, an acronym for "massive open online courses," mark an important, possibly revolutionary, development in education. These courses are online, free of charge, and open to anyone in the world who has a laptop and an Internet connection. Moreover, they are mainly offered by elite universities like Standford, Berkeley, Harvard and Columbia.
The courses, like normal college courses, are sequenced by difficulty, enabling students to progress from beginners to the advanced. The courses cover not only a broad range of technical subjects such as math and computer science, but also courses in the social sciences and the humanities .
Though MOOCs are not offered for credit and degree, many students enroll in the courses for real skills or knowledge which they can put to some practical use. Some students even form online study groups, or in-person groups with students who live nearby.
The format seems superior to the traditional school class. The average quality of the lecturer is much higher, because students do not have to stick with a mediocre lecturer.
Besides, students can scroll back or forward--in short, they can go at their own learning speed, which they cannot do in a live lecture. And, of great importance, they do not have to travel anywhere to attend an online lecture. One can obtain a first-class American college education wherever he or she lives and however little money he or she has.
There is a problem of asking questions of the lecturer in a class of ten thousand students, but some MOOCs have solved it by allowing students to post questions online for a vote, and only the most popular questions are put to the lecturer.
In a knowledge era, lifelong learning is not confined to a traditional classroom. Of course, students enrolling in MOOCs cannot be compared with those who are in traditional universities, but we need to rethink what a "students" is.
Students in MOOCs are very clever, have work experience, and in many cases, have already developed a set of core competences. Moreover, they also offer unique international _ that would be the envy of any school classroom. | high7925.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "difficult"
},
"options": [
"easy.",
"time-saving",
"difficult",
"impossible"
],
"question": "According to the passage, to find a perfect match bone marrow for Alissa is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questi... | Greg Lyons waited nine years for the opportunity to donate bone marrow . The man had to wait an additional year to finally meet the little girl whose life his donation helped save. That meeting finally too place earlier this fall in the prefix = st1 /Charlotte,Mich, home of Alissa Christie.
Lyons first volunteered to donate bone marrow while giving blood for a boy in need. But nine years passed and Lyonsadmittedly forgot that he was on the donor list--until he got a call in May 2005.
Lyons was informed that he was a perfect one-in-seven-million match for a 7-year-old girl. For the next seven weeks, Lyonswent through a series of tests- including several blood tests as well as a lung x-ray to determine whether he was fit to donate.
On July 7, 2005, Lyons was checked in to WestPennHospital, where the bone marrow was taken. One half liter of bone marrow was taken during the two-hour operation. The bone marrow was then immediately given to the girl.
In August, Lyonsreceived a telephone call from the mother of the girl, Monica Christie, who gave him permission to meet the girl
"Her mother cried on the telephone," Lyonssaid.
Late last month, Lyons made the 7-hour drive to Michiganto meet Alissa, who is now 8 years old and said he planned to stay in touch with the family.
"One chapter ended and another chapter began," said Lyons. | high24067.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "is adaptable to any environment"
},
"options": [
"can be used for corn production",
"is much like greenhouse farming",
"is adaptable to any environment",
"uses more water than outdoor farming"
],
"question": "Ac... | Farming is moving indoors, where the sun never shines, where rainfall is irrelevant and where the climate is always right. The perfect crop field could be inside a windowless building with controlled light, temperature,humidity,air quality and nutrition. It could be in a New York high- rise or a complex in the Saudi desert. It may be an answer to the world's food problems.
The world already is having trouble feeding itself. Half the people on Earth live in cities, and nearly half of those - about 3 billion - are hungry or ill-fed. Food prices, currently increasing, are badly affected by dryness, floods and the cost of energy required to plant, harvest and transport it. And prices will only get more unstable. Climate change makes long-term crop planning uncertain. Farmers in many parts of the world already are using water available to the last drop. And the world is getting more crowded: by mid-century, the global population will grow from 6.8 billion to 9 billion.
To feed so many people may require expanding farmland at the expense of forests and wilderness, or finding ways to greatly increase crop output.
Gertjan Meeuws and three other Dutch bioengineers grow vegetables and house plants in closed and regulated environments. In their research station, water flows into the pans when needed, and the temperature is kept constant. Lights go on and off, creating "day" and "night", but according to the rhythm of the plant.
Meeuws says a building of 100 square meters and layers of plants could provide a daily diet of 200 grams of fresh fruit and vegetables for the entire population of Ken Bosch, about 140,000 people. Their idea isn't to grow foods that require much space, like corn or potatoes.
Sunlight is not only unnecessary but can be harmful. Plants need only specific wavelengths of light to grow. Their growth rate is three times faster than under greenhouse conditions. They use about 90 percent less water than outdoor agriculture. And city farming means producing food near the consumer, so there's on need to transport it long distances. | high618.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "An artificial intelligence software."
},
"options": [
"A digital e-book reader.",
"A music-sharing software.",
"A voice-controlled website.",
"An artificial intelligence software."
],
"question": "What is Siri?"... | Siri is an artificial intelligence (AI) that you can carry around in the pocket, where it waits patiently to be told what to do. In the week we spent together, my AI assistant has performed admirably in finding me restaurants, or the location of the nearest coffee shop.
A typical command might be: "Reserve a table for two at a good French restaurant in San Francisco." Siri responds by presenting a list of top-rated restaurants that can be booked on OpenTable.com. If you say which time you want, it can book you a table without your lifting a finger. In some ways Siri is just a fancy front-end to the 35 sites it can connect to, from taxi booking sites to movie review databases. But what's new is the way it can analyze the intentions of its master or mistress and use those sites to put them into action.
Siri attaches probabilities to the explanation of each word and cross-references with your location and other data, some of which you must provide yourself. To send email reminders, Siri obviously needs to know your email address. To "find me the flower shop closest to work", it needs to know where you work. To pay bills or buy airline tickets, it would need access to your credit card.
That raises the question of how far we are willing to trust a piece of software that can go and do things for us based on what it "thinks" we mean, a topic that occupies some engineers working on artificial intelligence. The more data, and power, you give your virtual assistant, the more damage it could do. Siri may be simple, and always shows its explanation of a command before carrying it out. But it gives users a preview of a new balance between privacy, trust and convenience that the expansion of AI into everyday life is likely to develop. | high13344.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to make it known"
},
"options": [
"to tell stories",
"to make it known",
"to understand how news media works",
"to plan and deliver campaigns"
],
"question": "Havering is in need of high-level personnel _ .",... | Tell our story, make your mark
Havering is one of London's largest towns. It is a place of _ , from the shopping and nightlife of Romford to the cultural quarter of Hornchurch; from the industrial Thames riverside in Rainham to the ambitious regeneration project in Harold Hill. The London Borough of Havering has a great story to tell, and we're looking for the right people to tell it.
Campaigns and Marketing Manager
A creative strategist is needed to plan and deliver campaigns that change behaviour across the town and form Havering's reputation beyond its borders.
Media Manager
An experienced professional is required, who fully understands how the news media works and works well under pressure. You will manage a team of three, as well as our media message.
Communications Business Manager
As a senior member of the communications team, you will be part salesperson and part business strategist, with wide-ranging power to increase our commercial potential as much as possible and save taxpayers' money.
Senior Media Officers
Two experienced persons are needed to turn the stories that we talk about into the stories that everyone is talking about.
Community Newspaper Journalist (12month contract at the beginning)
Our community newspaper, Living, is being expanded as an energetic publication once every two weeks. We need an editor and a journalist or writer who produces brilliant copy, even against the tightest deadlines.
Pay & grading award are yet to be decided for all posts.
Full details are available on our website. For an informal conversation about these positions, please contact Mark Leech, Head of Communications, by calling 01708 434373.
Any disabled applicants, meeting the necessary standards set out in the profile for a job, will be guaranteed an interview.
Please apply online via the Council's website at www.havering.gov.uk or contact the Recruitment Team at 01708 433039.
Closing date for completed applications is Friday, 18th April 2008.
Interviews will be scheduled for the week beginning 28th April 2008. | high1603.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Men and women in Near Eastern societies."
},
"options": [
"The English during regular meals.",
"Americans on their first date.",
"Men and women in Near Eastern societies.",
"Newly-married people on the island of New Ire... | Cultural rules determine every aspect of food consumption. Who eats together defines social units. For example, in some societies, the nuclear family is the unit that regularly eats together. The anthropologist Mary Douglas has pointed out that, for the English, the kind of meal and the kind of food that is served relate to the kinds of social links between people who are eating together. She distinguishes between regular meals, Sunday meals when relatives may come, and cocktail parties for relatives and friends. The food served symbolizes the occasion and reflects who is present. For example, only snacks are served at a cocktail party. It would be inappropriate to serve a steak or hamburgers. The distinctions among cocktails, regular meals, and special dinners mark the social boundaries between those guests who are invited for drinks, those who are invited to dinner, and those who come to a family meal. In this example, the type of food symbolizes the category of guest and with whom it is eaten.
In some New Guinea societies, the nuclear family is not the unit that eats together. The men take their meals in a men's house, separately from their wives and children. Women prepare and eat their food in their own houses and take the husband's portion to the men's house. The women eat with their children in their own houses. This pattern is also widespread among Near Eastern societies.
Eating is a metaphor that is sometimes used to signify marriage. In many New Guinea societies, like that of the Lese on the island of New Ireland in the Pacific and that of the Trobriand Islanders, marriage is symbolized by the couple's eating together for the first time. Eating symbolizes their new status as a married couple. In U.S. society, it is just the reverse. A couple may go out to dinner on a first date.
Other cultural rules have to do with taboos against eating certain things. In some societies, members of a family group, arc not allowed to eat the animal or bird that is their ancestor. Since they believe themselves to be children of that ancestor, it would be like eating that ancestor or eating themselves.
There is also an association between food prohibitions and rank, which is found in its most extreme form in the caste (social class) system of India. A caste system consists of ranked groups, each with a different economic specialization. In India, there is an association between caste and the idea of pollution. Members of highly ranked groups can be polluted by coming into contact with the bodily secretions, particularly saliva ,of individuals of lower-ranked castes. Because of the fear of pollution, Brahmans and other high-ranked individuals will not share food with, not eat from the same plate as, not even accept food from an individual or from a low-ranking class. | high15735.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Sympathetic."
},
"options": [
"Joyful.",
"Lucky.",
"Sympathetic.",
"Shameful."
],
"question": "How did the girl feel when she thought of other homeless kids?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | A little homeless girl stood crying near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was too crowded. " I can't go to Sunday school." She cried to the priest as he walked by. The priest took her inside. The child was very happy because they found a room for her. She went to bed that night thinking of the children who had no place to sleep or pray in.
Two years later, the girl died there. As her little body was being moved, a worn and red purse was found, which she had found in the rubbish. Inside the purse was 57cents and a note, written in childish handwriting, which read: "This is to help make the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday school."
After the priest tearfully read that note, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion to others. Soon, a newspaper reported on it. It was read by a wealthy man who offered the church a piece of land worth many thousands of dollars. When told that the church could not pay much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents. Soon, the church collected a large amount of money. Within five years, the girl's gift had increased to $250,000. When you are in the city of Philadelphia, visit Temple Baptist Church, Temple University, and the Sunday school building. No child here is left outside on Sunday school days again. One of the rooms of the Sunday school building is hanged with the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents made such a remarkable and real history. | high8141.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Nowadays Coke is comparatively less popular"
},
"options": [
"Coke mainly depends on new products recently",
"Nowadays Coke is comparatively less popular",
"PepsiCo has taken the place of Coke",
"Coke has few new brands... | "We don't necessarily believe that new advertising, which might make consumers feel better about the Coke brand or better about the ads themselves , will actually result in consumers consuming more of the product," Morgan Stanley's Bill Pecoriello wrote in a research note the days after the investor meeting . But Coke is optimistic it can regain its old magic, and is banking on a new slogan: "Welcome to the Coke side of life."
BREAK THROUGH HIT?
With PepsiCo about to surpass Coke as the beverage king on Wall Street--Pepsi's market capitalization has _ in recent years to $97.9 billion, putting it less than a billion dollars behind its rival--the heat is on Coke . It's set to launch a new marketing campaign in March, 2006. And having taken a quick look at Coke's investor presentation on Dec. 7 in New York, my sense is that Coke may be moving in the right direction .
Given the continued shift by consumers away from soda--Coke's stronghold --and into alternative beverages like juice, tea, and water, Coke badly needs a breakthrough hit. And given that shift away from soda, some analyists wonder whether even the catchiest new ads will be enough to put the fizz back into Coke.
SAME OLD, UPDATED?
The new flavors of PowerAde sports drink will probably enable Coke to continue stealing market share from PepsiCo's Gatorade brand. And Coke is getting a little more creative with packaging, including new, aluminum bottles of Coke that will be sold in nightclubs, and an 8.4-ounce "100 calorie" version of its flagship Coke that will appeal to women who want fewer calories and will like the fact that the small can will fit in their purse. I doubt whether other new products will be successful, including a new coffee-flavored soda called Coke-Cola Black that I tried. Think carbonated coffee. But I'm not sure if the product, which Coke is pitching as an afternoon pick-me-up for the 35-and-over set, is going to pull people away from their afternoon Frappucino fix. And my opinion is that Vault, an orange-flavored energy drink, will have just as much trouble unseating Mountain Dew among teens as did Coke's last attempt, a product called Surge.
If there is one concern I have about the fresh offerings Coke plans to launch this year, it appears that many of them are simply new brands, not new products. | high22199.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "thirteen-year-olds have special problems"
},
"options": [
"young children are a nuisance",
"being thirteen involves too many responsibilities",
"a thirteen-year-old boy is the sun of the family",
"thirteen-year-olds h... | Being thirteen has certain problems that only another thirteen-year-old would understand. The biggest, I think, is learning to get along well with adults. I have found that when dealing with grown-ups, it is wise to remember two things:
Always use your head.
Never use your head.
For instance, one day just before supper, my mother sent me to the store for a loaf of whole-wheat bread. They didn't have any. When I told my mother, she said, "Well, what kind did you get?" I told her I didn't get any. She looked as if I had just announced that I was leaving home for good. "For goodness' sake!" Said, "if they didn't have whole-wheat, you should have got something else! Why don't you use your head?"
Not long after that, she sent me to the store for red oilcloth. They didn't have any, so I bought seven yards of purple. I thought it was pretty. Mother didn't. She said, "who ever heard of purple oilcloth in a red kitchen?" I told her I was only trying to use my head. She said, "Well, don't! And in the future, if you can't get what I send you for, don't get anything."
See what I mean?
There are other things that seem a little strange, too. If my father goes out for the evening, he tells me to "look after" my mother and sister. But if the family goes out, and I want to stay home, my father won't let me. He doesn't feel comfortable if I am home alone. That means I am old enough to "look after" my mother and sister but not old enough to "look after" myself.
Another problem is what to do when you trip over the cat and land with your head in the refrigerator, causing a large lump to appear just over the right eyebrow. In that case, your father could feel free to say with a few choice words. Your sister could shed enough tears to dampen the whole room. Your mother could, and probably would, do both. But you? You are thirteen and can't do anything! You are too young to curse , and "big boys" don't cry. So you just stand there looking more stupid than usual. But in spite of all this, I still think thirteen is a wonderful age! | high21490.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Many small things went wrong."
},
"options": [
"The writer argued with his parents.",
"The writer heard some terrible news.",
"Many small things went wrong.",
"Part of the writer's house was on fire."
],
"questi... | It was not a good day today. Everything went wrong. First, I slept late and Mom shouted at me to wake up. When I went to the kitchen for breakfast, there was no cereal. I decided to have some toast instead, but I burned it. I had to eat it anyway because there was no more bread. There was no juice, either. I just had a glass of water.
When I was almost at the bus stop, I realized that I had forgotten my wallet, so I had to go back home and get it. Of course, I missed the bus and had to wait for the next bus.
I was late for school and the teacher told me to stay in the classroom at lunchtime to catch up on the schoolwork I had missed.
After lunch, it was the time to give the teacher our homework. I reached into my bag to get it but it wasn't there. I had left it at home. I was in trouble again.
When I got home, I went straight to my room to catch up on my homework. Mom cooked fish for dinner. She knows I don't like fish, but she thinks it is good for her son. It was a horrible day. I hope tomorrow will be better. | high10895.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "to communicate without outside help"
},
"options": [
"to be more open with their customers",
"to have a better idea of their own culture",
"to express their thoughts indirectly",
"to communicate without outside help"
... | Successful people in international business understand the cultures of other countries and learn to change their practices in different cultures. They understand the importance of avoiding business decisions based on misconceptions--mistaken ideas.
One cause of misconceptions is ethnocentrism, the belief that one's own culture's way of doing things is better than the way of other cultures. It's ethnocentrism that leads to failure in international business. To avoid ethnocentrism, it's necessary to study the different elements of culture: language, values and attitudes, and customs and manners.
Language
A. knowledge of the local language can help international business people in four ways. First, people can communicate directly. Second, people are usually more open in their communication with someone who speaks their language. Third, an understanding of the language allows people to infer meanings that are not said directly. Finally, knowing the language helps people to understand the culture better.
Values are people's basic beliefs about the difference between right and wrong, good and bad . An attitude is a way of thinking or acting. Values and attitudes influence international business. For example, many people in the United States believe that chocolate from Switzerland is better than chocolate from other countries, and they buy a lot of it.
Customs and manners
Customs are common social practices. Manners are ways of acting that the society believes are polite. For example, in the United States, it is the custom to have salad before the main course at dinner, not after. It's not acceptable to talk with food in mouth at table. Failure to understand the customs and manners of other countries will bring difficulty selling their products. Orange juice as a breakfast drink of an American company in France doesn't sell well because the French don't usually drink juice with breakfast. | high3014.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "so many undergraduates relied on digital learning aids"
},
"options": [
"so many undergraduates relied on digital learning aids",
"so many undergraduates have off-campus jobs.",
"his lectures were boring",
"the exam was... | Skipping classes, particularly big lectures where an absence is likely to go undetected, is a tradition among college undergraduates. These days, however, some professors say they're seeing more _ , as students make the most of new technologies as learning aids.
Americ Azevedo taught an "Introduction to Computers" at the University of California, Berkeley, US last semester. By visiting the course's website, the 200 enrolled students could download audio recordings or watch digital videos of the lectures, as well as read the instructor's detailed lecture notes.
But there was one big problem: So many of the undergraduates relied on the technology that at times only 20 or so actually showed up for class.
Doug Suda, 19, a student in Azevedo's class last semester, said he skipped about three-quarter of the lectures. It's largely because he was busy with an off-campus job and was taking the course to fulfill a business major requirement. At the end of the term, Suda prepared hurriedly for the final exam by watching videos of about 15 lectures over three days. "If I hadn't that... I would probably fail the class," said Suda, who instead received a B-plus.
Despite the concerns about absenteeism, schools are increasingly experimenting with ways to let students watch or listen to lectures on their computers or digital music players, like iPods. Last month, Harvard Medical School began "Podcasting" lectures. Students can download them into digital musical players, and study while they, say, go for a walk.
As many academics accept the electronic innovation, others are pushing back. To encourage attendance, they are applying low-tech tactics, like giving more surprising quizzes or cutting back their online offerings.
Lee Chanian, a UCLA economics professor, says "too much technology leads to passive learning environment and encourage more absenteeism". He now puts fewer lecture materials online, and provides extensive notes only for the most complicated topics. | high20956.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The persistent efforts of all Americans."
},
"options": [
"The blessings of God.",
"The persistent efforts of all Americans.",
"The contributions of people from different origin.",
"The bonus of World War II."
],
... | On behalf of the Obama family,I want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.
Like many of you. we'll spend the day with family and friends,catching up,eating some good food and watching a little football.Before we lift a fork,we lend a hand by going out in the community to serve some of our neighbors in need.And we give thanks for each other, and for all of God's blessings.We all share this day,united by the gratitude for the bounty of this nation.
And we welcome the contributions of all people-no matter their origin or color or beliefs-who call America home, and who enrich the life of our nation. It is a belief as old as our founding:"Epluribus unum" -- _ . We are reminded that this creed, and America itself was never an inevitability, but the result of ordinary people in every generation doing their part to uphold our founding ideals-by taking the blessings of freedom, and multiplying them for those who would follow.
As President Kennedy once wrote, even as we give thanks for all that we've inherited from those who came before us-"the decency(,) of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed." we must also remember that "the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them."
Today,we are grateful to all Americans who do their part to live by those ideals, including our brave men and women in uniform overseas and their families, who sacrifice so much to keep America safe.We are grateful to the countless Americans who serve their communities in soup kitchens and shelters,looking out for those who are less fortunate,and lifting up those who have fallen on hard times.
This generosity, this compassion, this belief that we are each other's keepers, is essential to who we are, not just on this day,but every day.It's easy to focus on what separates us.But as we gather with loved ones on this Thanksgiving, let's remember and be grateful for what ties us together.
Our love of country.Our commitment to justice and equality.Our belief that America's best days are ahead,and that her destiny is ours to shape-and that our inherited ideals must be the birthright of all of our children.
That's what today is all about: _ Thank you, God bless you. | high11553.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "All the accidents cannot be prevented."
},
"options": [
"All the accidents can be prevented.",
"All the accidents cannot be prevented.",
"Lives can be saved so long as there is proper equipment.",
"Lives cannot be saved... | Few people would question the value of taking part in sports for young people. With proper training, supervision, protective equipment and techniques, and a proper emphasis on winning, sports can develop a healthy body and spirit and a life-long interest in being active and fit. Without such measures, childhood sports can lead to injuries and even paralysis or death.
Even in the best conditions, no activity can be risk-free. But most serious dangers are preventable. Cyclists and football players can reduce their risks by wearing helmets, hockey players by wearing masks; basketball and tennis players by wearing eye guards; baseball players by wearing batting helmets. Besides, risks to individual players can often be found, and thus prevented, through a properly performed medical exam before a child plays. For accidents that may not be preventable, having an emergency plan and first-aid equipment, and someone trained to use the equipment, can be lifesaving.
Still, each year, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, more than 775, 000 children under 14 are treated in emergency rooms for sports injuries, nearly half of them preventable. An estimated 300,000 athletes experience exercise-related head illnesses each year, and almost all of them should have been avoided.
Further, from half to three-fourths of sports-related concussions are never even diagnosed; the injured are often sent back to play too soon and put at risk of another more serious brain-damaging concussion. To help reduce these risks, the National Center for Sports Safety, with the National Athletic Trainers' Association, offers a three-hour online safety course for coaches for $28 at www. SportsSafety. Org. | high17122.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She can't use a litter box properly."
},
"options": [
"She is physically sharp.",
"She is at least sixteen years old.",
"She can't use a litter box properly.",
"She stays outside all the while recently."
],
"que... | My cat Toto is aging,and as she ages,her body is failing her.Mentally,she seems sharp,but after nearly sixteen years,Toto's hips are causing her obvious trouble.In fact,they make it so that she can't use a litter box effectively.She tries to squat ,but mostly she just pisses out the back end of the box.
I spent the summer working with my vet to find things to help Toto,but nothing works.Since we can't stand the smell of cat urine in the house,two weeks ago I took drastic measures.I _ Toto outside.(She gets to come in while I work,but I put her out for 80%of the day and night.)
Because Toto now lives outside,she eats and drinks outside.I' ve set up a heating pad on the porch.and given her own food and water area nearby.She seems perfectly content with this arrangement except when she's out of food,or she wants to be petted.
Strangely enough,she's been out of food a lot lately."I think another cat is eating Toto's food."I told Kris when I first noticed how quickly she was going through her bowl.
"Actually,"I said a couple of days later,"maybe it's a dog.Whoever is eating Toto's food keeps knocking the bowl over."
But a few days after that,I realized that the food thief probably wasn't even a dog.Whatever the critter was,it was messy. Every morning,Toto's water dish was filled with mud.The food bowl was tipped over and the porch scattered with mud and debris ."I' ll bet it's a coon ,"I told Kris.Though we live in a residential neighborhood not far from Portland,we' ve seen plenty of raccoons in the six years since we moved in.
Today I got to see the cat-food thievery first-hand.Turns out it's not one raccoon-it's a family of four.I was lucky enough to have my camera handy as they performed their daring raid:My favorite part of this video is how Toto simply sits on her heating pad and watches the raccoons eat her food.She isn't bothered at all. | high5465.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Ocean warming may threaten king penguins"
},
"options": [
"Ocean warming may threaten king penguins",
"The Crozet Archipelago is the world of king penguins",
"Scientists support the protection of king penguins",
"King p... | Raising a baby takes a lot of work, especially when that baby is a king penguin. Now, it looks like climate change will make life even harder for these birds. A new study suggests that warmer waters could make their numbers _
Most king penguins live on the Crozet Archipelago, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, about 1,000 miles north of Antarctica. After the penguin chicks are born in November (which is summer in the Southern Hemisphere), both parents spend 4 months collecting fish to feed their children. When the fish move to deeper waters in March, the adults leave their chicks alone for months. They swim hundreds of miles south. There, near the Antarctic ice, they spend the winter eating seafood, such as squid, to add their own energy stores. In October, nearly a year after their chicks are born, the parents return to feed and finish raising them.
Scientists from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in prefix = st1 /Strasbourg,France, have been studying king penguins on the Crozet Archipelago for a decade. Starting in 1998, Yvon Le Maho and other researchers implanted electronic ID tags under the skin of hundreds of penguins. The tags have allowed Le Maho's team to know the details about them, such as how long they live, whether they return from their winter trips, and if their chicks manage to survive the winter.
Ocean surface temperatures vary from year to year. And former research had shown that fewer squid, fish and other creatures grow when the water is warmer. Le Maho suspected that this drop in the food supply would make it harder for adult penguins to survive the tough times ahead. King penguins can live for up to 30 years. And for now, the population still appears healthy. But a warming trend could cause big trouble for a bird that depends on cold and ice. | high18211.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "too much job stress"
},
"options": [
"too much job stress",
"working too hard",
"feeling valued",
"being satisfied"
],
"question": "Healthy people may die from heart disease of _ .",
"question_type": "clo... | Healthy people with stressful jobs who work long hours but get little satisfaction from what they do have twice the risk of dying from heart disease as satisfied employees, according to a study. Job stress has been known to cause heart problems in people who already have cardiovascular disease . Finnish scientists have now shown that even in healthy people the pressures of work can take their toll. High blood pressure, lack of exercise, smoking and being overweight contribute to heart disease--a leading killer in many industrialized countries.
But Mika Kivimaki, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, and his colleagues, who studied the medical histories of 812 healthy Finnish men and women in a metal industry company over 25 years, said job stress also plays an important role.
Workers who had the highest job-related stress levels at the start of the study were more than twice as likely to die of heart disease, according to the study published in The British Medical Journal. Work stress involves too much work as well as a lack of satisfaction and feeling undervalued and unappreciated. Many people work long hours but if the effort is rewarding the stress is _
The British Heart Foundation said the results support earlier research showing that people in jobs with low control, such as manual workers, could be as great risk of heart disease than other employees. " It is advisable for people to try to minimize levels of stress at work and for employees to allow people to have more control at work and to be rewarded for their successes," the foundation said in a statement. | high5303.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The LP is produced and sold by Toshiba Music Company."
},
"options": [
"About 55% of the crying babies fell asleep after 41 seconds hearing the LP.",
"The LP sounds were first recorded by Professor Hajime Minooka.",
"The LP i... | Four hundred and three babies are crying loudly. Do you know how to make them quiet in 41 seconds? There is an amazing new product on sale in prefix = st1 /Japanwhich does exactly this. It is an LP (a long-playing record) of sounds from inside a mother's body, which a hospital doctor recorded. In tests with the record she played the LP to 403 crying babies. After 41 seconds not one baby was crying and 161 of them were sleeping.
The record began as an experiment by Professor Hajime Minooka of the Nippon Medical University near Tokyo. He was looking for something natural that helped new-born babies go to sleep. The sound of the mothers' heart-beat and other body sounds are the things the babies heard inside their mothers. They feel safe and happy when they hear these sounds again. And they go to sleep.
Hospitals in Osaka and Tokyoare using the LP. 10, 000 young couples are using it too. Toshiba Music Company who makes and sells the records is very happy. One and a half million couples marry every year inJapan. Many will have babies, so the LP will definitely be a hit! | high18577.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "to tell readers how to raise rabbits"
},
"options": [
"to explain why rabbits are clean and quiet",
"to let people know more about rabbits",
"to tell readers how to raise rabbits",
"to introduce a small friendly animal ... | Rabbits are easy to raise. They are clean and quiet. They don't need a lot of room. And it costs a small amount of money to feed them, but you can get a big return.
One male and two females will produce as many as fifty more rabbits in a year. That is enough to provide enough meat for a family. Rabbit meat is high in protein and low in fat.
You don't have to be a farmer to raise rabbits. You can raise them in the city.
Rabbit houses are easy to make with wood and wire. They don't have to be very big. But each rabbit must have its own little room in the house. This is very important. Each room should be about 75 centimeters wide, 60 centimeters high and one meter deep.
Fencing is used for the sides and floor of the rabbit house. The holes in the wire fencing should be about one centimeter square. Waste from the animals will drop through the holes. This keeps the rabbit house clean and dry.
Rabbits need a lot of fresh air and sunlight. Cover the sides of the rabbit house only to protect it from rain.
Rabbits eat mostly grass and leaves. Hang feeding containers on the outside of the house to let the rabbits eat whenever they want. They simply pull the grass and leaves through the holes in the fence.
Each room should have fresh water. The water containers should be heavy so the rabbit cannot turn them over. Or you can tie the containers to the fence.
One month after mating , female rabbits give birth to about eight babies. In two months, a baby rabbit should weigh about two kilograms. This is big enough to make a meal for a small family.
Rabbits are also valuable for their fur. It takes time, skill and money to prepare the fur and skin for use. If you have only a few rabbits, it probably would be best to let a tanner prepare the fur for you. Skill is also needed to remove the fur from the rabbit.
_ . Many people enjoy keeping rabbits as friendly pets. And rabbit waste makes an excellent fertilizer . It can be mixed directly into the soil to improve the growth of vegetables, trees, and flowering plants. | high11235.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Ridiculous"
},
"options": [
"Positive.",
"Ridiculous",
"Boring.",
"Puzzling."
],
"question": "What did the author's classmates think about his report?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"... | Proudly reading my words, I glanced around the room, only to find my classmates bearing big smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. Confused, I glanced toward my stonefaced teacher. Having no choice, I slowly raised the report I had read carefully, hoping to hide myself. "What could be causing everyone to act this way?"
Quickly, I flashed back to the day Miss Lancelot gave me the task. This was the first real task I received in my new school. It seemed simple: go on the Internet and find information about a man named George Washington. Since my idea of history came from an ancient teacher in my home country, I had never heard of that name before. As I searched the name of this fellow, it became evident that there were two people bearing the same name who looked completely different! One invented hundreds of uses for peanuts, while the other led some sort of army across America. I stared at the screen, wondering which one my teacher meant. I called my grandfather for a golden piece of advice: flip a coin. Heads--the commander, and tails--the peanuts guy. Ah! Tails,my report would be about the great man who invented peanut butter, George Washington Carver.
Weeks later, standing before this unfriendly class, I was totally lost. Oh well, I lowered the paper and sat down at my desk, burning to find out what I had done wrong. As a classmate began his report, it all became clear,"My report is on George Washington, the man who started the American Revolution." The whole world became quiet! How could I know that she meant that George Washington?
Obviously, my grade was awful. Heartbroken but fearless, I decided to turn this around. I talked to Miss Lancelot, but she insisted: No redos; no new grade. I felt that the punishment was not fair, and I believed I deserved a second chance. Consequently, I threw myself heartily into my work for the rest of the school year. Ten months later, that chance unfolded as I found myself sitting in the headmaster's office with my grandfather, now having an entirely different conversation. I smiled and flashed back to the embarrassing moment at the beginning of the year as the headmaster informed me of my opinion to skip the sixth grade. Justice is sweet! | high19669.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "encouraging positive thinking may do more harm than good"
},
"options": [
"encouraging positive thinking may do more harm than good",
"there can be no simple cure for psychological problems",
"unhappy people cannot think posi... | Can we turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right" into positive ones like "I can succeed"? Is there power in positive thinking?
Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply emphasize how unhappy they are.
The study's authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by referring to older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better.If you tell your friend that he may be an Einstein, _ In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write passages opposing funding for the disabled.When they were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written.
In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students' self-esteem .The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes.Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell.When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, "I am lovable."
Those with low self-esteem didn't feel better after the experiment.In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren't urged to think positive thoughts.
The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them.In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse.Meditation techniques, on the contrary, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a large, more realistic perspective .Call it the power of negative thinking. | high15053.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To make better use of daylight in certain seasons."
},
"options": [
"To have more artificial light.",
"To have one more hour to work.",
"To make better use of daylight in certain seasons.",
"To have one more hour to res... | Let's say a person gets up at 7:00 in the morning and goes to bed at 11:00 at night. He comes home from work about 6:30, and by the time he has finished with dinner it is after 8:00. He steps outside in the summer to relax -- but it's already getting dark! Not much time to enjoy the summer day.
Now suppose you set the clock ahead one hour. This person still does everything at the same time -- but this time, when he steps out at 8:00 there's still plenty of light to enjoy. An hour of daylight has been "saved" for him!
Daylight saving time doesn't, of course, add any hours to a day. This is impossible. All it does is to increase the number of useful hours of daylight during the seasons when the sun rises early.
Daylight saving is most popular in cities. It allows the closing of offices, shops, and factories at the end of the working day while the sun is still high. Farmers, who do their work by sun time, usually do not observe daylight saving time. They cannot work in the field before the morning dew has dried or after it appears in the evening.
Did you know who first thought of daylight saving time? It was Benjamin Franklin! When he was living in France in the 18th century, he suggested the idea to the people in Paris. But it was not adopted then.
Daylight saving laws were first passed during World WarI, when materials for making electricity was hard to find, and when it was necessary to save on _ light. With daylight saving, the bedtime of many people comes soon after it gets dark, while without it, if people stay up until the same hour they may have to use artificial light.
Germany was the first country to adopt daylight saving time in 1915. Then England used it in 1916, and the United States adopted it in 1918. | high8627.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because he didn't have any baptism gift for his child."
},
"options": [
"Because he wanted to play a trick on him.",
"Because he didn't have any baptism gift for his child.",
"Because he wanted to give him something as a rewa... | The city of Vienna has always been popular for its famous physicians. Around the year 1482 one such well-known physician was Dr. Paul Urssenbeck. His fame came from his ability to predict with certainty whether a patient would recover his or her health or would die. He thus became known as the doctor of death.
In his earlier years, he followed the trade of a poor but honest weaver in the town of Deckendorf near Straudigen in Bavaria. It was a time of famine , and he, his wife, and their eleven children were in great need. Then a twelfth child was born, and they could find no one to serve as its godparent. As a last chance, the poor weaver walked to a nearby village and asked an old friend to serve as godfather, but met only rejection. Disappointed and frustrated, the poor man made his way back to his family. While walking sorrowfully through the dense forest toward his home, he said, "If only I could die." Suddenly a tall figure dressed in a dark cloak appeared before him, saying, "You called me. I am Death. What can I do for you?" As much as the man had previously wanted to die, he now wanted to live. "I am seeking a godfather for my youngest child. But I cannot find anyone who will serve as his godparent," answered the weaver sadly. "I will accept this responsibility," said Death. And thus it happened.
Following the baptism , the mysterious godfather took the father aside and said, "Since I own neither gold nor silver to give to your child as a baptism present, I will make you into the most famous doctor of all times. Whenever you are called to a sick person, I--invisible to others--will seat myself either to the head or to the feet of the patient. If I am seated at the head, then this will show you that hope for recovery exists. If I am seated at the feet, then the patient will die." Through this gift, the weaver was able to cure many illnesses, for he knew whether the patient who had sought his treatment would be helped by medications, or whether he would die. Soon the previously poor weaver became a wealthy and respected physician. However, his increased wealth made him ever-more greedy.
One day, a very wealthy man fell seriously ill, but when Dr. Urssenbeck was called in, and he saw that Death was already seated at the patient's feet. Upon hearing the diagnosis, the relatives could not be comforted, and they offered the physician a fortune if he could heal the man. Then Urssenbeck _ trickery. He quickly had the patient's bed turned around, so that Death was now seated at his head. Thus the man was rescued from Death, and he regained his health. On the physician's way home, Death suddenly appeared before him. "You unfortunate one, why have you deceived me? In return for the life that you have given back to the rich man, you yourself must now die." Death spoke with a threatening voice, and disappeared.
Dr. Urssenbeck suddenly found himself in a large room where thousands of candles were burning. Death said to him, "Each of these candles represents someone's life. This tiny stump that is about to go out is yours." Terrified, Dr. Urssenbeck reached for a taller candle, wanting to take some wax from it to fill his stump, but in doing so he touched his own candle, and it went out, and he fell to the floor dead. That evening his body was found in a valley. He was buried in the graveyard of Saint Stephen's Cathedral. | high13422.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They envy you the success."
},
"options": [
"They care more about you.",
"You always work too hard.",
"You are lazy but proud.",
"They envy you the success."
],
"question": "Why will the \"haters\" always find a... | If you're someone who is eager to do something beyond the ordinary, you must have figured out by now that there will always be those who are jealous or resentful of your success.
It doesn't matter that you've worked long and hard to get where you are, nor that you've made great sacrifices in achieving your goals. The "haters" will always find a reason to speak ill of you and even condemn you.
They're spiteful people who envy you the pride you have in yourself and the recognition you're receiving from others. They can't stand it that you're happy, fulfilled and achieving your goals.
These hateful individuals are unwilling to do the work that you've done. They hate your success but are too lazy to invest real time or energy in achieving their own goals.
The thing you need to know about these haters is that the only reason they behave this way is that you have something they want, but they aren't willing to work for it.
The haters are convinced that you've been lucky or that you've had some unfair advantage, but the truth is that your success is born of your untiring efforts, and it's these efforts that have brought about your "luck."
The best way to deal with haters is what I call the "one-two punch." First, don't let them hurt you. Be happy about your success and proud of your accomplishments. Company with those who approve you, recognize you and support you, and never doubt that you deserve all the success. The haters are angry, jealous people. What they think or say is meaningless.
Next, the more the haters annoy you, the more you should be motivated to succeed. They want to ruin you, but your response should be to work that much harder in order to increase your level of success.
When your reaction to their bad behavior has inspired you to achieve further success, you've transformed the haters' negativity into fuel for your creative fires. Not only can they not hurt you but they've inspired you onto even greater heights by chance. | high22827.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "322 years"
},
"options": [
"22 years",
"300 years",
"322 years",
"328 years"
],
"question": "Brazil was ruled by Portuguese about _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"a... | Brazil is a federation that consists of twenty-six states and one federal district. The biggest majority of Brazil's population belongs to the Christian religion and almost all of them are Catholics. This is something Brazil inherited being Portugal's colony .
Historically, the country was a colony claimed by people from Portugal and this made Portuguese the official language. The Portuguese reached Brazil in 1500 and until that moment it was inhabited by semi-nomadic people. The Portuguese changed Brazil into a country of slaves until 1800, when Maria I of Portugal came to live in Brazil. The Queen did not stay long in Brazil, but during the 20 years of royal presence a lot of changes occurred: commercial ports to United Kingdom were opened; Brazil stopped being isolated from other countries. So at the moment of getting the independence on the 7th of September, 1822, Brazil already had the potential to develop. The Brazilian Empire, Pedro I, abolished slavery in 1888 in the face of Princess Isabel. A lot of European people started coming to Brazil and the industry of the country started working. In the 19th and the 20th century as it has been said above foreign people immigrated to Brazil and basically 5 million European and Japanese people became the residents of Brazil. The beginning of the 20th century was especially marked by the immigration of a lot of Asian people: Japanese, Korean and Chinese immigrants. As a matter of fact Japanese people do not immigrate a lot, and the fact that the Brazilian-Japanese people are the largest Japanese minority in the world does astonish greatly.
The majority of the cultural inherits of Brazil are actually Portuguese, due to the fact that Brazil was Portugal's colony for a very long time. The southern states mainly consist of European population and the north and the northeast consist of a mixed population including Africans, Amerindians and Europeans. Most of this population is Roman Catholic. No other country in the world has the same amount of Catholics. The modern tendency of Brazil is the growing number of people calling themselves Protestants. Around 7.4% of the population don't believe any god. Some Brazilians, especially in the northern states are mixed Africans who prefer following the traditional African religions. Only 1.8% of the population chose Buddhism, Islam or Judaism.
Though Brazil always tried to maintain democracy, it was failed several times by the dictatorship of Getulo Vargas. This fact could not affect the political situation in the country. | high1165.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "warn people to clean the keyboards often."
},
"options": [
"tell us something about the keyboards.",
"warn people to clean the keyboards often.",
"tell us how to clean the keyboard",
"tell us the germs on keyboards"
... | CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - Think twice before eating those dropped crumbs off your computer keyboard -- you might as well be eating off a toilet seat, according to a new study on the amount of germs on keyboards.
A study by British "Which? Computing" asked a microbiologist to examine for bugs on 33 keyboards in a typical London office, a toilet seat and a toilet door handle.
Four keyboards were judged potential health hazards and the microbiologist recommended the removal of one keyboard as it had 150 times the pass limit of bacteria -- five times filthier than the swabbed toilet seat.
"Most people don't give much thought to the grime that builds up on their PC, but if you don't clean your computer, you might as well eat your lunch off the toilet," said Sarah Kidner, the consumer magazine editor of "Which? Computing" in a statement.
The study found that eating lunch at desks is the main cause of a bug-infested keyboard. Dropped crumbs and food encourages the growth of millions of bacteria.
Poor personal hygiene, such as not washing hands after going to the toilet, may also add to the dirtiness of keyboards.
But despite the health hazard of a dirty keyboard, a survey of 4,000 people by the magazine found one in 10 people ever cleaned their keyboard while another two in 10 never cleaned their mouse.
Almost half -- or 46 per cent -- cleaned their keyboard less than once a month.
To clear out bugs, the magazine recommends users unplug keyboards, turn them upside down and shake them. | high7500.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "turn down the lights and light some candles"
},
"options": [
"stay under brighter lighting",
"turn down the lights and light some candles",
"do the cleaning in the daytime",
"relax our eyes by using electric lights"
... | Here are some tips on how to relax after a long day's work.
This will not only make sure you don't notice the cleaning you should do, but also make you more relaxed. When the light is weak, you will be more likely to relax your eyes. Use candles instead of electric lights! They can help you feel comfortable and relaxed.
When it comes to relaxing, it is important for you to enjoy a good meal. Cook some food yourself. Enjoy _ when you are cooking as the process can help you relax. Make the food as delicious as you can! If you're too tired, you should think about ordering food just for this night, but don't make it a habit!
Nothing can take your mind off work as a good friend can! Make sure you don't talk about work all night but do something fun together! After work, your friend is probably tired too, so don't plan on doing everything at once and save the exciting and fun activities for future. Have a cup of tea, play a game or watch your favorite TV series. It's good for you to be social after a long day of work.
It is important to get a good night's sleep if you are planning to work better the next day and have the energy to do something nice after work. If you are working hard for a long period of time, enough sleep is necessary for keeping you going. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Make your body relax and let go. | high8633.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Once you arrive in London."
},
"options": [
"After you become a regular visitor.",
"Only when you end your journey.",
"Once you arrive in London.",
"Before you leave home."
],
"question": "When can you use your ... | Visitor Oyster cards are electronic smartcards that come fully charged with credit. Whether you're making a one-off trip to London or you're a regular visitor, using an Oyster travel smartcard is the easiest way to travel around the city's public transport network. Simply touch the card on the yellow card reader at the doors when you start and end your journey.
Advantages of a Visitor Oyster Card
A Visitor Oyster card is one of the cheapest ways to pay for single journeys on the bus, Tube, DLR, tram, London Over-ground and most National Rail services in London:
* Save time----your card is ready to use as soon as you arrive in London.
* It's more than 50% cheaper than buying a paper travel card or single tickets with cash.
* There is a daily price cap----once you have reached this limit, you won't pay any more.
* Enjoy special offers and promotions at leading London restaurants, shops and entertainment venues----plus discounts on the Emirates Air Line cable car and Thames Clippers river buses.
Buy a Visitor Oyster card
Buy a Visitor Oyster card before you visit London and get it delivered to your home address. A card costs PS3 (non-refundable) plus postage. Order online and arrive with your Oyster in hand! You can also buy a Visitor Oyster card from Gatwick Express ticket offices at Gatwick Airport Station and on board Eurostar trains travelling to London.
Add Credit to Your Visitor Oyster Card
You can choose how much credit to add to your card. If you are visiting London for two days, you can start with PS20 credit. If you run out of credit, add credit at the following locations:
* Touch screen ticket machines in Tube, DLR, London Over-ground and some National Rail stations.
* Around 4,000 Oyster Ticket Stops found in newsagents and small shops across London.
* TFL Visitor and Travel Information Centers.
* Tube and London Over-ground station ticket offices.
* Emirates Air Line terminals. | high12728.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "People with a good sense of humor get sick less often."
},
"options": [
"People with a good sense of humor get sick less often.",
"Humor can reduce the frequency of colds / flu.",
"Any form of humor can prevent people from ge... | We have seen that humor and laughter positively influence our body in many ways, but little research has been done on whether a better sense of humor actually helps keep you from getting sick. However, since people with a better sense of humor have higher IgA levels, and since research has shown that those with higher levels of salivary IgA are less likely to get colds or be infected with Streptococcus, humor should reduce the frequency of colds.
The only study to directly examine this question found that the impact of one's sense of humor upon colds depends on the kind of sense of humor you have. It was only individuals whose sense of humor took the form of seeking out and appreciating humor who had fewer and less severe colds/flu than their low humor counterparts. Surprisingly, those whose sense of humor took the form of initiating humor more often did not have fewer or less severe colds/flu. The researchers argued that being a person who likes to tell jokes or otherwise initiate humor takes them into more frequent contact with other people, which serves to expose them to infectious agents more often, robbing them of the advantage that a more active sense of humor otherwise offers. Obviously, more research is required to clear up this confusing picture.
The importance of active use of one's sense of humor in producing humor's health benefits was confirmed in another study in an unusual way. It found that among a group of mothers with newborn infants, those who actively used humor to cope with the stress in their lives had fewer upper respiratory infections and their infants also had fewer infections. This seemed to be because these mothers had higher levels of immunoglobulin A (A) in their breast milk.
Among adults, if we look at bodily symptoms alone, independent of any diagnosed illness, there is some evidence that individuals who have more negative reactions to humor report more bodily symptoms and complaints. Students complaining of cardiovascular symptoms and gastroenterological symptoms also have been shown to have this more negative reaction to humor. | high13436.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they did not pay great attention to preventing fires"
},
"options": [
"they took no interest in new technology",
"they did not pay great attention to preventing fires",
"they showed indifference to fighting fires",
"the... | In some ways, the United States has made some progress. Fires no longer destroy 18,000 buildings as they did in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or kill half a town of 2,400 people, as they did the same night in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Other than the Beverly Hill Supper Club fire in Kentucky in 1977, it has been four decades since more than 100 Americans died in a fire.
But even with such successes, the United States still has one of the worst fire death rates in the world. Safety experts say the problem is neither money nor technology, but the indifference of a country that just will not take fires seriously enough.
American fire departments are some of the world's fastest and best-equipped. They have to be. The United States has twice Japan's population, and 40 times as many fires. It spends far less on preventing fires than on fighting them. And American fire-safety lessons are aimed almost entirely at children, who die in large numbers in fires but who, against popular beliefs, start very few of them.
Experts say the error is an opinion that fires are not really anyone's fault. That is not so in other countries, where both public education and the law treat fires as either a personal failing or a crime. Japan has many wood houses; of the 48 fires in world history that burned more than 10,000 buildings, Japan has had 27. Punishment for causing a big fire can be as severe as life imprisonment.
In the United States, most education dollars are spent in elementary schools. But, the lessons are aimed at too limited a number of people; just 9 percent of all fire deaths are caused by children playing with matches.
The United States continues to depend more on technology than laws or social pressure. There are smoke detectors in 85 percent of all homes. Some local building laws now require home sprinklers . New heaters and irons shut themselves off if they are tipped. | high14359.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because they have been together for many years"
},
"options": [
"Because they walked in hand in hand",
"Because they come to McDonald's together",
"Because they have been together for many years",
"Because they come in ... | A little old couple walked slowly into McDonald's one cold winter evening. They were so old that they looked out of place amid the young families and young couples eating there that night.
Some of the customers looked admiringly at them. You could tell what the admirers were thinking. "Look, there is a couple who has been through a lot together, probably for 60 years or more!"
The little old man walked right up to the cash register, placed his order with no hesitation and then paid for their meal. The couple took a table near the back wall and started taking food off the tray. There was one hamburger, one order of French fries and one drink. The little old man unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. Then he carefully counted out the French fries, divided them in two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife. He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them.
As the man began to eat his few bites of hamburger the crowd began to get restless. Again you could tell what they were thinking, "That poor old couple. All they can afford is one meal for the two of them."
As the man began to eat his French fries one young man stood and came over to the old couple's table. He politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple to eat. The old man replied that they were just fine. They were used to sharing everything.
Then the crowd noticed that the little old lady hadn't eaten a bite. She just sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.
Again the young man came over and begged them to let him buy them something to eat. This time the lady explained that, no, they were used to sharing everything together.
As the little old man finished eating and was wiping his face neatly with a napkin the young man could stand it no longer. Again he came over to their table and offered to buy some food.
After being politely refused again, he finally asked a question of the little old lady. "Ma'am, why aren't you eating? You said that you share everything. What is it that you are waiting for?"
She answered, " The teeth". | high17650.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It might come from the tradition of making offerings to gods hundreds of years ago."
},
"options": [
"It was hoped that it would bring them good future and make the trees more beautiful.",
"Nobody knew why there was such a strange ... | They say money doesn't grow on trees. But it certainly appears to do so on the mysterious coin-studded trunks dotted around the UK's woodland. The strange phenomenon of old trees with coins fixed firmly all over their bark has been spotted on trails from the Peak District to the Scottish Highlands. The coins are usually knocked into felled tree trunks using stones by passers-by, who hope it will bring them good fortune.
These fascinating spectacles often have coins from centuries ago buried deep in their bark and warped by the passage of time. The tradition of making offerings to gods at wishing trees dates back hundreds of years, but _ . It used to be believed that god's spirits lived in trees, and they were often decorated with sweets and gifts -- as is still done today at Christmas. The act is like tossing money into ponds for good luck, or the trend for couples to attach "love padlocks" to bridges and fences to symbolize lasting romance. Some pubs, such as the Punch Bowl in Askham, Cumbria, have old timbers with splits in them into which coins are forced for luck. There are seven felled tree trunks with coins pushed into them in the picturesque village of Portmeirion, in Wales.
Meurig Jones, an estate manager at the tourist destination, told the BBC, "We had no idea why it was being done when we first noticed the tree trunk was being filled with coins. I did some detective work and discovered that trees were sometimes used as 'wishing trees'. In Britain it dates back to the 1700s -- there is one tree somewhere in Scotland which apparently has an old coin stuck into it. " He said that a sick person could press a coin into a tree and their illness would go away. If someone then takes the coin out though, it's said they then become ill. We haven't made it known at all, it's just happened," he added. "It's quite amazing really." In Scotland, there is also a legend about a kissing tree. If a young man could drive a nail into a tree with one blow, he earned a kiss from his sweetheart. | high2478.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Driving into the Grown-Up World"
},
"options": [
"Cars Helping You to Grow-Up",
"Driving into the Grown-Up World",
"Teenagers' Driving in America",
"Recognized Point of Becoming an Adult"
],
"question": "Which m... | Every culture has a recognized point when a child becomes an adult, when rules must be followed and tests passed.
In China, although teenagers can get their ID cards at 16, many only see themselves as an adult when they are 18. In the US, where everyone drives, the main step to the freedom of adult life is learning to drive. At 16, American teens take their driving test. When they have their license, they drive into the grown-up world.
"Nobody wants to ride the cheese bus to school," said Eleanor Fulham, 17. She brought the pressure back to memory, especially from kids from wealthier families. "It's like you're not cool if you don't have a car," she said.
According to recent research, 41% of 16 to 19-year-olds in the US own cars, up from 23% in 1985. Although, most of these cars are bought by parents, some teens get part-time jobs to help pay.
Not all families can afford cars for their children. In cities with subways and limited parking, some teenagers don't want them. But in rich suburban areas without subways, and where bicycles are more for fun than transportation, it is strange for a teenager not to have a car.
But police say 16-year-olds have almost three times more accidents than 18 and 19-year-olds. This has made many parents pause before letting their kids drive.
Julie Sussman, of Virginia, decided that her son Chad, 15, will wait until he is 17 to apply for his learner's permit.
Chad said he has accepted his parents' decision, although it has caused some teasing from his friends. "They say that I am unlucky," he said, "But I'd rather be alive than driving, and I don't really trust my friends on the road, either."
In China, as more families get cars, more 18-year-olds learn to drive. Will this become a big step to becoming an adult? | high3766.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "be admitted to a top university"
},
"options": [
"be admitted to a top university",
"perform better in a speech contest",
"help the needy people in the world",
"improve your performance at work"
],
"question": "... | FreeRice.com--For Each Vocabulary Word You Get Right, We Donate Free Rice through the United Nations World Food Program to Help End World Hunger
1 word = 20 grains; 5 words = 100 grains
Play and feed hungry people .
How to play
Click on the answer that best defines the word.
If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.
For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance... (more)
Frequently Asked Questions
How does playing the vocabulary game at FreeRice help me?
Learning new vocabulary has tremendous benefits. It can help you:
Present your ideas better
Write better papers, emails and business letters
Speak more accurately and influentially
Read faster because you understand better
Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
Perform better at job interviews and conferences
Be more effective and successful at your job...
After you have done FreeRice for a couple of days, you may notice an odd phenomenon. Words that you have never consciously used before will begin to pop into your head while you are speaking or writing. You will feel yourself using and knowing more words.
How does the FreeRice vocabulary program work?
FreeRice has a custom database containing thousands of words at varying degrees of difficulty. There are words proper for people just learning English and words that will challenge the most learned professors. In between are thousands of words for students, business people, doctors, truck drivers... everyone!
FreeRice adjusts to your level of vocabulary. It starts by giving you words at different levels of difficulty and then, based on how you do, designs a proper starting level for you. When you get a word wrong, you go to an easier level. When you get three words in a row right, you go to a harder level.
There are 60 levels in all, but it is rare for people to get above level 50. | high17888.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "he was too poor to go on studying"
},
"options": [
"he was too poor to go on studying",
"he had to help his parents",
"he was weak in his lessons",
"he didn't like studying at all"
],
"question": "Mr. Young was ... | Jenny lived in a town.Her father,Mr.Young,had a shop there and sold clothes in it.The shopkeeper was born in a poor family and was in school no more than a year.He was always sorry for it though he had much money now.He hoped his daughter could become a scientist.But the girl didn't 1ike anything else except singing.She often went to the concerts,bought a lot of records the famous pop stars made and insisted on listening to the music when she was free.Of course she wanted to be a pop star,too.Her parents wanted to prevent her,but she didn't listen to
them and they had to agree to her choice.They engaged an old man who was good at music as a private teacher.
Five years passed.Mr.Young bought all kinds of musical instruments for Jenny and they visited some places where the famous singers were born.Of course he spent a lot of money on it.But he found the girl didn't make any progress.At last the teacher didn't think the girl could become a singer at all and had to tell Mr.Young about it.The man became angry and said,"Why didn't you tell me about it earlier? My daughter learned nothing but I paid you month after month!"
"I think you should thank me for it,"said the teacher."Another teacher, who teaches
badly,is paid more than I was.And I saved much money for you!" | high11221.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He doesn't want to know his chance of getting a disease."
},
"options": [
"He doesn't want to know his chance of getting a disease.",
"He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.",
"He believes genetic mapping can h... | How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that's more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer' .
"If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up." Said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
"Every ache and pain," Smith suggested, "could be understood as the beginning of the end." "That 's right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer's disease, then every time you can't find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started."
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer's. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, _ . But Green and his team found that there was "no significant difference" between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green. | high4009.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "No one responds to her friend."
},
"options": [
"She can't reach out to anyone.",
"No one responds to her friend.",
"None of her friends contacts her.",
"She has no time to visit her friends."
],
"question": "Wh... | The other day, I noticed a message on a friend's page. It made me very sad. She says she is the one
who reaches out to people, but rarely do they reach out to her. So, after communicating with her for a while, I began to challenge my friends. "Contact someone right now. Send messages or call someone who you haven't spoken to for a while, or who you only talk to when they message or call you. Let someone who may feel alone in the world right this moment know that they are not alone. That is my challenge to you. Please do it , and let me know once you have. Either by calling me back, or by sending me a message. Be the change that you want to see in the world. "
The response was great. 28people liked my post, another 10 posted that they did, and I got about a dozen messages telling me that they did. And there was one very special message:
"I just want you to know what has happened. That day, I sent a message to a friend who I hadn't heard from for a while. She and I talked for a whole day back and forth on messages and then on the phone. She said she was so incredibly sad. Nobody has spoken with her in two weeks. By the tone of her voice, and by the conversations we were having, I think she was about to take her own life . After our conversation, she has agreed to talk to someone. Your message of kindness has saved her. I can't wait to tell you how thankful I am for people like you in the world, who care when nobody else will. I am proud to call myself your friend. Thank you! "
I didn't quite know what to say after reading the message. I was wondering how best to use it for greater good. I decided that sharing what we have done is the most powerful way. I know that I am a cheerleader when it comes to making the world a better place with kindness, because if I help someone, it makes me feel better. I do it because I need to feel better. | high10881.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because it can help scientists to understand the origin of life."
},
"options": [
"Because it appears on Hyperion which forms building blocks.",
"Because it combines the chemical elements hydrogen and carbon.",
"Because it is... | Have you ever seen a 250-mile-wide bath sponge? Well, take a look at Hyperion, one of Saturn's moons. Recent photos of the hamburger-shaped moon reveal a strange world covered with large and small craters . The photos were taken by high-tech cameras aboard the spacecraft Cassini, which has been exploring Saturn and its moons since 2004.
Scientists studying the photos have recently identified something surprising: dark and reddish material on Hyperion's surface. They believe that the substance may be organic material, including combinations of the chemical elements hydrogen and carbon. That's important because all life, including human life, is built from organic building blocks. "Organic material is the key to understanding life in the solar system. When we try to understand how life formed on Earth and whether life could form on other planets, this is one of the things we look at," says Dr. Amanda Hendrix. She is a planetary scientist who works on the Cassini project. So how did such material get on a lifeless moon circling Saturn? Scientists suspect it was deposited by meteors . "Craters on Hyperion are the result of meteoroid impact," said Dr. Hendrix. "A meteoroid is the leftover material from the formation of planets."
The largest crater on Hyperion is 75 miles across and 6 miles deep! But even though Hyperion looks like a sponge, it most likely doesn't feel like one. Cassini has found that the moon is made mainly of ice.
Cassini may give scientists many more surprises. It is scheduled to orbit Saturn until next year, but NASA scientists also hope to extend the spacecraft's mission until 2010. Unlike Earth, which has only one moon, Saturn has 48 moons. The extra two years will give scientists an opportunity to learn more about Saturn's many moons. "This mission not only has given us a lot of answers but also has posed a lot of new questions," says Hendrix. | high20942.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "its appearance"
},
"options": [
"its name",
"its appearance",
"its diet",
"its living place"
],
"question": "You can tell that the Red Panda is a member of the raccoon family from _ .",
"question_type": "... | The Red Panda isn't much bigger than an average size house cat. At first you may think it's a bear because of its name. They're actually a member of the raccoon family which you can tell if you look at their appearance. The Red Panda has a long bushy tail that is useful in two ways. It helps them stay balanced when they are high up in the trees and it keeps them warm in cold weather. Their fur is thick and reddish brown, which may be why they're known as the fire fox.
The Red Panda can be found in forested mountains. They're originally from the forested mountain in the Himalayas in India, Nepal and Southern China. Bamboo is the most important part of their diet. They only eat the young leaves and shoots of a bamboo plant. Red Pandas have a very low metabolic rate in order to deal with their low energy diet and cool environmental temperatures.
They're very shy and gentle and don't hang around the wild too much during the day. If they feel endangered, they'll stand on their back legs and make a hissing sound. Red Pandas are good climbers and spend most of their time living mainly in trees. Their claws are very strong and help them hold onto the branches. They sleep in an unusual way by curling up tightly and wrapping their tails around their heads while sitting on a branch. Sometimes they'll sleep with their head beneath their chest and behind their back feet. This is the same position as an American raccoon sleeps. | high10659.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Water skiing has more negative effects on the environment than Kayaking."
},
"options": [
"Young people's enjoyment of kayaking exceeds that of other people.",
"Water skiing has more negative effects on the environment than Kayakin... | Kayaking is an activity enjoyed by many people of all ages. It requires little or no experience and nearly anyone of any skill level can participate. It's most popular as a summertime sport, but it is also a great activity during the winter. Kayaking also seems ly friendly to the environment; more so than speed boating or water skiing. Because a kayak doesn't create large or frequent waves, require fuel, or scatter hazards into the air, it is indeed a fairly safe activity for humans and wildlife alike.
Kayaking on freshwater lakes and streams creates little turbulence and therefore does not disturb fish or other aquatic life. Actually, the gentle paddling and movement of the kayak helps to bring seaweed to the surface, making for convenient snacking to the fish. However, there is a drawback to the all-you-can-buffet for your fishy friends. In addition to bringing food to the surface, kayaking also stirs up litter that's been hiding beneath the waters. Some aquatic animals will mistake it for food. This could cause the animals to choke on the indigestible litter, leading to death. As hazardous as this sounds, it isn't very likely for such an event to take place. Most litter in lakes and streams is found along the shoreline and settles in the sand and dirt, and isn't likely to drift away to the main body of water.
^ . And because kayaks do not have a motor, fish have no risk of getting caught underneath the boat.
One potential hazard that results from kayaking is human waste. This depends solely on where you plan to kayak, and if there are resources available (such as campsites) along the shoreline. When there are no facilities in sight, you're paddling in the middle of a lake, and nature calls, then often you are given no choice but to expel your waste in the middle of the water. While human waste is considered biodegradable, it can be harmful when swallowed by fish. The only preventative measure is to avoid using the water as a restroom. Some public lakes and streams have taken steps to preserve the quality of the water by requiring permits for kayaking. This won't eliminate a human waste problem, but does help regulate entry into the lake and prevent it from becoming overcrowded.
As an important factor to remember when kayaking is that you are a guest in someone else's home. You may not be greeted by anyone or be able to kick up your feet and watch TV, but the water is home to many aquatic animals and wildlife. Just as you would not throw trash on the floor or destroy the home of another, you shouldn't do it outdoors either. Keep all trash with you in your kayak and properly dispose of it after you return to shore. By doing your part, you will help doing your part, you will help keep kayaking a safe and enjoyable activity for yourself and the environment. | high18205.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "show nothing related with the words themselves"
},
"options": [
"want to show their different educational backgrounds",
"show nothing related with the words themselves",
"want to know other people's privacy",
"express s... | "Hi,howareya." some people say when they see a familiar face.The words run together into a mass,all sense and meaning lost. All the same,people do care how you are.After they greet you,it's likely you will greet them back,with an equally meaningless phrase like,"Can't complain,can't complain."You could probably complain,at length,or share a brilliant thought you were just beginning when a greeting interrupted you.You don't though,you say,"Great,you?"
You are not giving each other information about your health and wellbeing.All the same,you are sharing information.You're acknowledging each other's positions as acknowledged friends,or at least as accepted acquaintances.And you are reestablishing the ties that may have lapsed since yesterday,when you last met at the elevator or the entrance to the train station.
It's what anthropologist Bronislaw Malinoski called a phatic communication.Its message is not in the words you use,but in the fact that you speak ritually accepted words.In Asia,for example,people may ask one another if they have eaten,or if they are busy.They're not really asking for their lunch menu or their agenda,they are saying hello.A phatic signal merely says, "I see you there." It says hi.
There's embarrassment of being near people without acknowledging them.That uncomfortable feeling is one reason why lonely passengers in the subway may behave as if they cannot see anyone around them or may escape their uncomfortable situation with a book.Some people read all the way home,and never turn a page.
Your friend isn't asking how you are,and you aren't telling him.However,he is recognizing your existence,and when you answer,you are recognizing his.In addition,the set speech you have shared opens the door to closer communications if both agree.Someday,you may come to real close friendship,and really tell one another how you are.
Meanwhile,people who greet one another this way do care.They care enough to recognize someone's essential humanity .They send a signal across the space between,to share,very briefly and lightly,in awareness of one another.
Your greetings prove that neither of you has become a social outcast.How are you?You are still a member of society in good status.You are still the one who knows the rituals and secret passwords necessary to get to work each day. | high6178.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "11 years old"
},
"options": [
"16 years old",
"11 years old",
"21 years old",
"5 years old"
],
"question": "How old was the Dainzin Tanam when he began to go to the Lhasa Special Education School?",
"questio... | To explain why he liked his art teacher the best, 16-year-old Dainzin Tanam could not write more words than a simple sentence "Because he teaches me painting."
In the eyes of his teachers at the Lhasa Special Education School, the deaf boy was a little painter. Five years ago, however, all Tanam could do was to stay in bed until noon, and then stare at the sky through the window, waiting for his parents' return.
His mother Yangzom said she had no other choice but to lock him in the house every day as she and her husband had to work and they did not want to allow the boy to roam the streets.
"Every day when I came back home and saw my lonely poor son, I felt my heart hurt. But now I can finally feel a bit relieved," the mother said. She said it was the school that changed his son. "Without the school, I dared not imagine how my son would be now."
With a governmental fund of 4.5 million yuan, the special education school was founded in 2000. The only government-run school for handicapped children in Tibet, it now has 28 teachers and 120 school children in nine classes of 5 grades. Eight classes in the school are for deaf kids and the other one is for blind kids.
Students can enjoy free food, boarding, clothing and medical services in the school, which is open to deaf and blind children from all over the autonomous region.
Tibetan sign language and Tibetan Braille are basic courses here. Children also have Tibetan, Chinese, mathematics, science, painting, dancing and sports lessons.
A "black and white" textbook seemed appealing among the color1ful books in Tanam's schoolbag. The text was handwritten.
It was the Tibetan language textbook compiled and written by teachers themselves.
"As textbooks for students in ordinary schools sometimes are too abstract and hard for our kids to understand, two other Tibetan language teachers and I compiled the textbook to make things easier for them," said teacher Dawa.
Those books with the love of all the teachers, though not spoke out, will surely help children enjoy their life by supporting themselves after leaving the school. | high23293.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "At First Avenue."
},
"options": [
"At 31st Street.",
"At First Avenue.",
"At Ogden Avenue.",
"At the Hollywood Station."
],
"question": "Where is the entrance to the Brookfield Zoo?",
"question_type": "facti... | Opening in 1934, the Brookfield Zoo quickly received a worldwide reputation for its special displays and unique exhibits.
Address: 1stAvenue between Ogden Avenue and 31stStreet, Brookfield, Illinois
Phone: 708-688-8000
Getting to the Brookfield Zoo by Public Transportation:
The Metra Rail Burlington Northern line runs from Union Station downtown to the "Zoo Stop"(Hollywood Station) and from there it's only a 2-block northeast walk to the zoo.
Driving from Downtown:
Drive along the Eisenhower Expressway west to First Avenue exit. Head south about 2.5 miles and follow the signs to the zoo entrance.
Parking at the Brookfield Zoo:
Parking fees are $9 for cars and $12 for buses.
The Brookfield Zoo Hours:
The Brookfield Zoo is open 365 days per year.
Monday-Saturday: 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The Brookfield Zoo Tickets:
Adults(ages 12-64), $13.50;
Seniors(ages 65+), $9.50;
Children(ages 3-11), $9.50;
Children(ages 2 and under), free
The Brookfield Zoo Featured Exhibits:
Tropic World; WolfWoods; Living Coast; Seven Seas; Fragile Kingdom; Australia House; Havitat Africa.
About the Brookfield Zoo:
The Brookfield Zoo is located just 14 miles west of downtown Chicago. It's home to a variety of animal species, and its use of natural barriers and moats is so much more relaxing and enjoyable than watching a lion pace back and forth in a cage. The absence of bars also makes for great wildlife photo opportunities. The Brookfield Zoo also focuses on education, with detailed displays about the animals being viewed and the interactive program that lets kids get some hands-on experience to learn what it takes to run a zoo as well as face painting and crafts.
For more information about the Brookfield Zoo, visit www. brookfieldzoo.org. | high13350.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The machine is unrelated to their life."
},
"options": [
"The machine will be a big success.",
"their wives like doing the laundry.",
"The machine is unrelated to their life.",
"This kind of technology is familiar to th... | For those who are tired doing the laundry, Samsung has found an answer: a washing machine that can tell you when your laundry is done via a smartphone app(application).
Strange though it may seem -- "my wife already does that" was a common response among attendees viewing the device when it was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week -- Samsung is just one of many appliance makers racing to install a large number of internet-connected features in machines in an effort to make them "smart".
Last year, it was a refrigerator that tweeted. This year, it's Wi-Fi-enabled laundry machines and fridges that can tell you when your groceries are going bad.
The washers and dryers, available starting in the spring, connect to any smartphone through a downloadable application. The phone can then be used as a remote control, so the machines can be turned on and off while their owners is at work or on the bus.
Samsung says it's not just something new -- the app connection actually has some practical uses.
"If you started to dry clothes in the morning and forgot to take them out, you can go to your phone and restart your dryer for the time when come home, so your clothes are refreshed and ready to go," said spokesperson Amy Schmidt.
The company also says that with electricity rate varying depending on the time of day, more control over when the machines are used can help save money.
Perhaps, but what they will probably really accomplish is what all good technologies do --enable laziness. Rather than getting up to check on whether the laundry is done, users will instead monitor it on their phones while watching TV. | high383.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "take a space blanket with you"
},
"options": [
"take a space blanket with you",
"do more physical labor",
"try to find a car immediately",
"walk as far as possible"
],
"question": "When lost in the mountains, yo... | If you are lost in the mountains, stay calm in the face of darkness, loneliness, and the unknown. It will greatly increase your chances of survival. Many people think that preparing necessary equipment and knowing how to use it are very important, but in fact eighty percent of mountain survival is your reaction to fear.
Finding a hiding place
Unnecessary labor will make you sweat and make you cold. Find a hiding place around you before trying to start your own construction. If you are in a snow-covered area, you may be able to dig a cave in deep snow for protection from the wind. You should try to hide yourself in the middle of the mountain if possible. Stay out of the valleys--- cold air falls, and the valley floor can be the coldest area on the mountain.
Signal rescuers for help
The best time to signal rescuers is during the day. Signal for help from the highest point possible--- it will be easier for rescuers to see you, and any sound you make will travel farther. If you take a box of matches and a space blanket ( a special blanket for traveling ), build three smoky fires and put your blanket ---gold side facing out --- on the ground.
Do not walk away
It will make finding you more difficult , as search teams will be trying to follow your path and may miss you if you have gone off in a different direction. Searchers often end up finding a car with no one in it. If you get frostbitten , do not rewarm the affected area until you are out of danger.
You can walk on frostbitten feet, but once you warm the area and can feel the pain, you will not want to walk anywhere. Try to protect the frostbitten area and keep it dry until you are rescued. | high1617.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Control of crime"
},
"options": [
"Capital punishment",
"Prison system",
"Young criminals",
"Control of crime"
],
"question": "What is the passage mainly about?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer":... | Almost everyone accepts the fact that crime can never be wiped out entirely. Thus control of crime becomes the focus of police and government around the world. The question lawmakers must answer is, "Which system of criminal punishment works best for society?" Each country has developed its own ideas for solution to this question, and these solutions then determine how criminals are punished under different systems. However, none of the current system in use has proved 100 percent effective.
There are many ideas about punishment of criminals. Some systems look only to get retribution against criminals. These systems work to frighten criminals away from repeating a crime in the future. These systems also try to deter others in society by using the criminal as an example of what can happen to a person if he or she is caught committing crimes. Rehabilitation is another philosophy by which many systems of punishment operate. The goal of these systems is to return a former criminal to society after a required period of treatment and training, usually in prisons. The idea is to help change the person's behavior so that he or she becomes a law-abiding citizen.
Capital punishment is another form of punishment which systems use in extreme criminal cases, sometimes involving such crimes as a murder, rape, and violent theft. In these cases, the person is put to death. Today, capital punishment is used in relatively few countries. Many countries have done away with it. In other words, capital punishment remains only in officially law books but is rarely used. However, capital punishment remains in use in some countries including the United States.
When looking at the number of crimes committed, the effectiveness of any of these forms of punishment comes into question. In the United States, for example, 80 percent of the people arrested each year are male, and the majority of these are young men or boys. One-third of all auto thefts, robberies, and burglaries are committed by young men under the age of 18. Generally, young people have less responsibility in society, so they risk losing little if they are caught in a criminal activity. However, it can also be argued that today's youthful criminals do not fear the punishment they receive if caught by police. Current methods of criminal punishment do not serve the purpose of deterring young criminals in the United States.
A major problem with the current system of rehabilitation in the United Stated is that most criminals return to crime after they have supposedly been rehabilitated. Two-thirds of those caught by police each year are repeat criminals. As a result of this fact, many people feel that rehabilitation of criminals is a lost cause. Since the late 1970s, many see retribution as a preferred punishment in criminal cases in the United States. | high7266.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "eight"
},
"options": [
"seven",
"eight",
"ten",
"six"
],
"question": "According to Project Mars One, humans could send four people to Mars within the next _ years.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}... | Humans may not have landed on Mars just yet, but that isn't stopping a European company from devising a plan to send four people to the Red Planet within the next few years. This project, called Mars One, aims to send a small group of people to Mars in 2022 and eventually establish a permanent colony on the planet.
"Everything we need to go to Mars exists," said Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp in March 2014. "We have the rockets to send people to Mars, the equipment to land on Mars, the robots to prepare the settlement for humans. For a one-way mission, all the technology exists." Yet the four astronauts chosen for the trip will be stuck on Mars--forever. And despite Mars One's thorough planning, there are a number of challenges that may prevent the mission from ever taking place. The biggest road block could be the mission's huge cost ($6 billion). However, Lansdorp is confident that Mars One will be able to fund the project by selling the broadcast rights for the mission and subsequent experiences living on the planet.
Those broadcast rights will also play a part in helping to select the people who will be sent to Mars. Lansdorp said the company will hold a selection process similar to a reality show. Lansdorp is expecting at least 1 million applications from people around the world. In addition to the cost, several other potential problems could inhibit the mission to Mars.
"It's even more challenging to send people there with life support, with food, with air, with all the other things like books, entertainment, means of communication and of providing for their own resources for a long stay on Mars," said Adam Baker, senior lecturer in space engineering at Kingston University in London. "The size of the rockets you'd need to do this would be absolutely _ " | high8155.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "What to broadcast on TV is decided by yourself."
},
"options": [
"The programme made by yourself may be sent to TV.",
"A computer may choose TV programmes for you.",
"You may choose the channels from the menu in a computer.",... | What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse of the same as now? What do you hope about the future?
Futurologists predict that life will probably be very different in 2050 in all the fields of activity, from entertainment to technology. First of all, it seems that TV channels will have disappeared by 2050. Instead, people will choose a programme from a menu and a computer will send the programme directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programmes, newspapers and books will come to us by computer.
In what concerns the environment, water will have become one of our most serious problems. In many places, agriculture is changing and they are growing fruit and vegetables to export. This uses a lot of water. Demand for water will increase ten times between now and 2050 and there could be serious shortages. Some futurologists predict that water could be the cause of war if we don't act now.
In transport, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed of the car and there won't be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell the drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. On the other hand, space planes will take people half way around the world in two hours. Nowadays, the United States Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angels to Tokyo in just two hours.
In the field of technology, robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big companies prefer robots -- they do not ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere -- in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
In particular, medicine technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are electronic devices that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again and scientists will be able to produce clones of people and decide how they look, how they behave and how much intelligence they have. Scientists will be able to do these things -- but should they? | high15721.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "can give teenagers mental health problems"
},
"options": [
"can make teenagers self-centered",
"is the result of putting others before oneself",
"has nothing to do with how a person was raised",
"can give teenagers ment... | In ancient Greek mythology we learn about a young man named Narcissus. He was so beautiful that he fell in love with his own reflection . He became obsessed , but soon realized that what he loved was not real. As a result, he became sad and died. In the place where he had stood appeared a soft yellow flower -a narcissus.
This is where the word "narcissism" came from. Unfortunately, narcissism is often used to show disapproval because it is usually used to mean being self-centered and not caring about others.
However, part of the reason that narcissism carries these negative meanings is that many people admire themselves in an unhealthy way. But the truth is that good self-love is necessary for our mental health, scientists say.
A study published 10 years ago shows that low self-esteem is responsible for many social problems, and it can affect teenagers seriously. When they feel less confident and not as good as their classmates, teenagers are more likely to suffer from depression, commit suicide, get pregnant and bully others, according to the BBC.
The other reason that narcissism is considered an ugly thing is because we are taught that we should care more about others than ourselves and that it's better to give than to receive.
Thinking about others is the right thing to do, without question. But psychologists say that the love of others is actually based on self-love. If you see yourself as an unpleasant stranger, how can you be capable of making friends with anyone else? After all, you are closer to yourself than anyone else.
After years of study, scientists also found that parents play a big part in building a child's self-belief. Only if the parents approve and accept their children, do they feel loved and learn to love themselves.
The next time you look in the mirror, try to tell yourself that you are one of a kind. Pick out your best qualities and be proud of yourself. | high19133.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "funny that the buyers will tap the watermelons when buying them"
},
"options": [
"necessary for the buyer to tap the watermelon",
"foolish of the buyers to buy watermelon without tapping it",
"funny that the buyers will tap t... | I had once helped a friend of mine run a watermelon stall. I noticed something interesting. Almost every buyer would lift the melon up to their ear,smartly tap it, apparently trying to listen to something. I wondered what they expected to hear.
Finally I could no longer hold back my curiosity and made bold to ask a customer--an elderly gentleman--about this. Hearing my question,he roared with laughter. Then he replied in a selfmocking tone."Young lady,I have been doing this for more than fifty years. All I know is that everybody would stare at you as if you were a fool if you just pick up the melon and leave!"
Not long after that,my watermelon stall friend unexpectedly sent me an invitation for her wedding,which really surprised me. I asked her, "How come you are seized by a sudden desire to get married? I don't remember ever hearing you mention that yon've got a boyfriend." She answered while counting money,"Everyone has to get married anyway,so it is better to get married sooner than later."
I could think of no word to refute her. It seems that everybody is living for everybody else and has forgotten the need of their own heart. It may be safe and save a lot of worries by following others' suit in doing things. The use of We or Us will give one a steady and sure sense of pride. But using the pronoun "I" would often give one a guilty conscience.
I find all these things somewhat funny. We have got used to taking cue from others and follow their suit. In turn,we also take it for granted that we should judge the right and wrong of others by our own standard. As a matter of fact,this massive practice is still wrong though we all follow others' suit like this, but we feel at ease and, _ simply because this is the way of us, and so we can have an easy conscience because this has been practiced by so many people. | high4747.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The ideas expressed in foreign words sound new."
},
"options": [
"The ideas expressed in foreign words sound new.",
"Foreign words are best suited for announcements.",
"Foreign words make new subjects easier to understand.",
... | There is one foreign product the Japanese are buying faster than others and its popularity has caused an uneasy feeling among many Japanese.
That product is foreign words.
that come from outside - have been part of the Japanese language for centuries. Mostly borrowed from English and Chinese, these terms are often changed into forms no longer understood by native speakers.
But in the last few years the trickle of foreign words has become a flood, and people fear the increasing use of foreign words is making it hard for the Japanese to understand each other and could lead to many people forgetting the good qualities of traditional Japanese.
"The popularity of foreign words is part of the Japanese interest in anything new,"says University Lecturer and Writer Takashi Saito."By using a foreign word you can make a subject seem new, which makes it easier for the media to pick up."
"Experts often study abroad and use English terms when they speak with people in their own fields. Those terms are then included in government white papers," said Muturo Kai, president of the National Language Research Institute."Foreign words find their way easily into announcements made to the general public, when they should really be explained in Japanese."
Against the flow of new words, many Japanese are turning back to the study of their own language. Saito's
is one of many language books that are now flying off booksellers' shelves.
"We were expecting to sell the books to young people," said the writer, "but it turns out they are more popular with the older generation, who seem uneasy about the future of Japanese." | high16200.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The writer scolds herself too much."
},
"options": [
"The writer is a good athlete.",
"The writer scolds herself too much.",
"She is encouraging the writer",
"A gold medal is not a big deal."
],
"question": "Wha... | "Linda, if beating yourself up were an Olympic sport, you'd win a gold medal!"
Annabel, my close friend, stunned(...)me with that frank observation after I told her how I had mishandled a situation with a student in a third-grade class where I was substituting . "I should never have let him go to the boy's room without a pass! It was my fault he got into trouble with the hall monitor! I'm so stupid!"
My friend burst out laughing, and then made her "Olympic" comment. After a brief period of reflection I had to admit that she was right. I did put myself down an awful lot. Why, just during the previous day I had called myself "a slob" for having some papers spread out on my desk, "ugly" when I left the house without makeup and "an idiot" when I left the house for an emergency substitute job without my emergency lesson plan.
In a more reflective tone, Annabel said, "I once took a workshop at church where the woman in charge had us list all the mean things we say about ourselves."
"How many did you have on your list?" I asked.
"Fifteen," she confessed. "But then the teacher said, 'Now turn to the person next to you and say all the items on your list as if you were speaking to that person!' "
My jaw dropped,"What did you do?"
"Nothing. Nobody did. We all just sat there, until I said, 'I could never say these things to anyone else!' "
"And our teacher replied, 'Well, if you can't say them to anyone else, then don't ever say them to yourself!' "
My friend had a point. I would never insult a child of God---and I'm God's child, too!
God, today let me be as kind to myself as I would be to another of Your children. | high3028.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Optimistic People Likely to Keep Diseases Away."
},
"options": [
"Stay Away from Being Negative",
"Positive or Negative?It's Up to You.",
"Emotional Style and Flu.",
"Optimistic People Likely to Keep Diseases Away."
... | Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defense against getting ill, new study findings suggest.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a "positive emotional style" can help to protect us from suffering the common cold and other illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective -- as in happiness improving immune function -- and subjective -- as in happy people being less troubled by a sore throat or runny nose. "People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus," explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe."
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional style itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality characteristics, self-felt health and emotional style. Those who had a tendency to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and aggressive had a negative style.
The researchers gave them nasal drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus. Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains or sneezing they had, while the researchers collected objective data. Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal troubles, happy people were less likely to develop a cold. | high10671.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A popular kind of exercise"
},
"options": [
"A successful life of Horvath",
"A popular kind of exercise",
"Some advice on health care",
"Some uses of a special machine"
],
"question": "This passage mainly focuse... | An exercise method (Gyrotonics) designed to stretch muscles and improve strength and balance is becoming popular in the United States. Here's more about Gyrotonics and the man who invented this special form of exercise.
Gyrotonics is a kind of exercise that combines the movements of dancing and swimming with the mental and physical practice called yoga. It helps lengthen muscles, improve balance, and exercise the joints, the parts of the body where bones are joined.
A Hungarian dancer named Juliu Horvath developed this special form of exercise. After he was injured in dancing, Mr. Horvath studied yoga intensely. In the 1980s, he developed a new exercise method as a special kind of yoga to strengthen dancers.
According to Mr. Horvath, his method was based on the octopus ,monkey and cat. He says these animals have no restrictions. They can move in any direction the Gyrotonic movements to help the human body move more freely.
A special machine made of wood and weights helps guide the body through the Gyrotonics exercises. You sit or lie on a flat board. You put your legs or hands through special cloth handles attached to a line with weights. With the tension created by the weights, you must try to move through the exercises.
Seven kinds of backbone movements form the base of Gyrotonics. For example, you can stretch your back to the left and right or forward and backward. While moving your back, you can also work on arm or leg motions. These movements must be done in a smooth way. Often the motions are circular .
When Juliu Horvath first developed Gyrotonics, he was the only teacher. Since then, he has taught almost 70 trainers. Now, there are more then 800 official schools in the world where you can learn Gyrotonics. | high2336.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because they are lacking in practice and tips."
},
"options": [
"Because they don't have any special skills",
"Because they are lacking in practice and tips.",
"Because they are not so familiar with rules",
"Because man... | It's such a shame to lose a free throw. Playing in the court has pressure from the opponent, time, your teammates, the audience, and yourself. You have to shoot the ball despite all the pressures around. But with a free throw, you have the ball, no one will try to get it from you, and you have all the time to shoot the ball. But why is it that many players, even good shooters, miss most of their free throws? Maybe they need more practice or maybe they need to apply more ways to improve their free throw.
Improve your player or your free throwing skills by following the tips below:
Make it personal. The truth is, there is no rule on how one should handle and throw the ball in a free throw. What matters is that the player should shoot the ball from the free throw line no matter how he does it. So when trying to improve your free throw shooting, better stick to what works the best for you. Do not copy other people's techniques. Make it your own and leave those techniques as theirs.
Formulate a repetitive way of shooting the ball. A free throw should be personalized. But it should also be repetitive. You should be able to repeat your free throw techniques whether you are in your court or in another court, whether you are energized or tired. You can't say you have a personal free throw technique if you can't repeat it over and over again.
Shoot at the same position and distance for every free throw. Basketball courts may be located in different places or maybe marked with different paint colors. But all of these courts maintain the same distance from the _ to the free throw line. Familiarize your perfect position when making your free throws. That should help you do your perfect throw. | high5459.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "it can help decrease the production of melatonin"
},
"options": [
"it is the same as daylight which keeps people awake",
"it makes the brain more active",
"it is brighter than light that is more orange or red",
"it can ... | More and more people are taking their iPads to bed with them to surf the web, check facebook or send e-mails before switching off the light. But researchers are warning that the blue light their screens give off can stop users getting a good night's sleep. That is because this type of light is similar to daylight, convincing the brain that it is still daytime. Blue light prevents the production of a brain chemical called melatonin, which helps us fall asleep. By contrast, light which is more orange or red does not prevent melatonin production, perhaps because our brains recognize it as a cue that the day ends.
Scientists have known for years that staring at screens late in the evening can affect sleep ---- they are television screens, computer screens or mobile phone screens. However, because mobiles and iPads are by nature portable ---- not to say addictive ---- more people are taking them into the bedroom. Users also tend to hold them much closer to their eyes than a computer or television screen.
Researchers are warning that looking at iPad displays for more than two hours leads to lower natural melatonin levels as the devices give off blue light. They say, "Turning off the devices at night is the final solution. But if you have to use these devices at night, dim the display to cut down irritation of the eyes and limit the time you spend on them before bed."
They wrote in the journal Applied Ergonomics that iPad makers should adjust the spectral power distribution of the devices so that they affect the sleep patterns of users less.
It is not just a good night's sleep that could be harmed by too much late night screen time. Researchers know that long-term harm to sleep patterns can lead to an increased risk of obesity and even cancers. | high9263.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "guest room"
},
"options": [
"cafe bar",
"front-desk",
"fitness center",
"guest room"
],
"question": "We can find this passage in a _ in a hotel.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | Making your stay a complete success is our goal. Just let our manager on duty of front-desk staff know if any part of your stay isn't satisfactory. We promise to make it right or you won't pay for that part of your stay.
FORGET SOMETHING?
If you forget to pack any standard toiletry item(tooth brush, toothpaste, shaving cream, razor or comb), just call the front-desk and we'll get you a free replacement right away.
PLEASE REUSE THE TOWELS
We invite you to join us to save water by using your towels more than once.
In addition to decreasing water and energy waste, you can help us reduce the amount of waste water that must be recycled within our community.
Please hang the towels up if you wish to join in the program--if not, simply leave them on the floor.
We appreciate your help!
PLEASE CHANGE THE SHEETS TODAY
The Project Planet Program is in an effort of this hotel to protect the environment by saving water and decreasing waste water. If you are staying with us more than one night, as part of the Project Planet Program, we will wash your sheets every three days.
If you would prefer not to join in this program, simply hang this card on the outside of your door and sheets will be changed right away. As always sheets are automatically changed after every guest checks out.
We appreciate your help! | high14417.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Jones."
},
"options": [
"Most Australians.",
"Alison Lane.",
"Smith.",
"Jones."
],
"question": "Who support(s) the idea of closing marine parks?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": ... | Whether we should allow marine parks to stay open has been widely debated in our community recently. A variety of different arguments have been put forward about it.
Smith, a sociologist, argued that dolphin parks provide the only opportunity for much of the public to see marine mammals. As this argument goes, most Australians live in cities and never get to see these animals. Marine parks allow the average Australian to appreciate our marine wildlife. However, in fact, there are many places where they can be seen in the wild. Moreover, these places do not charge an overpriced entry fee -- they are free.
Dr. Alison Lane, the director of the Cairns Marine Science Institute, insists that we need marine parks for scientific research. She argues that much of our knowledge of marine mammals comes from studies which were undertaken at marine parks. The knowledge which is obtained at marine parks can be useful for planning for the preservation of marine mammal species. However, Jones, a zoologist, explains that park research is only useful for understanding captive animals and is not useful for learning about animals in the wild. Their diets are different, they have significantly lower life lengths and they are more likely to have a disease. In addition, marine mammals in dolphin parks are trained and this means that their patterns of social behaviour are changed.
The Marine Park Owners Association holds that marine parks attract a lot of foreign tourists. This position goes on to state that these tourists spend a lot of money, increasing our foreign exchange earnings and assisting our national balance of payments. However, foreign tourists would still come to Australia if the parks were closed down. Indeed, surveys of overseas tourists show that they come here for a variety of other reasons and not to visit places like Seaworld. Tourists come here to see our native wildlife in its natural environment and not to see it in cages and concrete pools. They can see animals in those conditions in their own countries.
In a word, perhaps an agreement cannot be reached now. However, a question does deserve our consideration: If we continue with our past crimes against these creatures, how will our future generations view us? | high6150.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "introduce the subject of the text"
},
"options": [
"express the author's sadness",
"introduce the subject of the text",
"show some common diseases in 1885",
"warn children to stay away from dogs"
],
"question": ... | In the summer of 1885, nine-year-old Joseph Meister was very ill. He had been wounded by a sick dog that had rabies , a very dangerous disease. His parents were told that there was probably only one man who could save Joseph's life----Louis Pasteur.
When Pasteur was a young boy in France, he spent many hours every day with the chemist who lived in his small town. At that time, the chemist had to make all the medicines himself. Young Louis enjoyed watching the chemist as he worked and helped those people who came to him each day.
As a school boy, Pasteur worked slowly and carefully. At first, his teachers thought that young Louis might be a slow learner. Through elementary school, high school, and college, Pasteur worked in the same thoughtful way. Then he became a college professor and a scientist , and he continued to work very carefully.
Pasteur was studying about the germs that cause rabies when Joseph Meister became ill.In fact, Pasteur believed he had a medical treatment for rabies, but he had never given it to a person before. At first, Pasteur was afraid to treat Joseph, but the poor child was dying. Pasteur gave Joseph an inoculation every day for ten days. Slowly, the child became better.
During his lifetime, Pasteur studied germs and learned how they cause diseases in animals and people. He developed vaccinations that prevent many of these diseases. On September 28,1895, Louis Pasteur passed away, at the age of 72. The work of this great man has been of great help to modern medicine. | high13378.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he must have it known and well understood by others"
},
"options": [
"he needn't tell others about that",
"other members just follow his orders",
"he must have it known and well understood by others",
"others may have t... | If you're making the film with other people, organize your cast and crew effectively. Make sure everybody knows their roles and what day and times they're needed.
Give people specific jobs so they can become experts in their field. For example, a soundrecordist listens to the sound through headphones as it's being recorded, and holds an extra microphone if needed.
A camera operator frames the picture , sets focus, checks the light and records the action. The editor "cuts" the picture together after it's shot.
A producer is the contact point for the film. He or she makes sure crew and cast are there on time, talks to the press and organizes the budget.
A director has to make sure their vision is communicated. To do this everyone needs to be clear about what the director expects from each scene and each shot.
You may also need a make-up-artist, a choreographer, a driver, etc. However, you can quite easily make your first film on your own. Make a schedule that says which shots are to be taken where and when (this is called a shooting schedule) and when you've completed a take, cross it off the list. Remember that you may want to shoot "out of sequence", e.g. shoot the last scene first, and the first last. Similarly if the film begins and ends by a tree in the park, it may make sense to film both scenes while you're there.
If you're making animation , have a space that you can control. You may need extra lights and you may need to leave work in progress. Make sure people living with you are aware what's happening. Animation needs a lot of undisturbed concentration and patience. Keep at it and it'll pay off. Aardman and Disney both started off at home experimenting with clay , pens and a camera. | high12066.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "$400"
},
"options": [
"$100",
"$300",
"$400",
"$700"
],
"question": "If a student gets a grade of 85% in a course, he will get _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"an... | A new study done by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) shows that it doesn't make much of a difference that parents reward their children with cash for their better marks.
Many parents have offered cash to their children in the hope that it would improve marks and possibly raise their children's interest in achieving higher marks.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto (UT) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to learn more about the potential for financial encouragement as motivation for improved marks, involved first and second year students receiving financial aid in 2008-2009 at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
The top students participating in the study who said they were "very concerned" about having enough money to complete their degrees were to receive $100 for getting a grade of 70 per cent for each one-semester course, plus $20 for every percentage point beyond that.It was imaginable that a student could earn as much as $700 for achieving 100 percent in a course.
Harvey Weingarten, president and CEO of HEQCO said, "In its efforts to help disadvantaged students by exploring the idea of paying them to attend school, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is asking the same question many other districts are asking about how to improve student participation and performance.Our study and others to date indicate that
has little effect if any in those situations where it has been tested."
The authors of the study suggest that ineffective study habits may be a barrier to academic achievement and that the real problem may be more a lack of academic preparation than a lack of effort or motivation.They note that the availability of peer advising does not appear to have helped greatly.They conclude that other potential avenues to improving performance, or other approaches of teaching, are needed at the high school and postsecondary levels. | high15709.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "emotions are connected with states of internal responses"
},
"options": [
"emotions are as visible as facial expressions",
"we yawn more frequently when we have a cold",
"emotions are connected with states of internal respons... | You're sitting on the train home and the person opposite you yawns . Suddenly, you're yawning with him, though you're not tired.
This phenomenon confused scientists for years until a recent study found that people tend to sympathize with fellow humans. Supporting this claim was the discovery that those children who were unable to form normal emotional ties with others did not experience contagious yawning, which showed that humans communicate regularly with out words.
Hugo Critchley, a neuroscientist, has conducted an experiment recently, which will prove that happiness and sadness can spread like the common cold. According to Critechley, our mind and body are in constant exchange about how we're feeling. "Emotions are closely linked with states of internal responses," he explained. " There are also more visible changes in our gestures and facial expression. When we're in a group, these signals can spread to another person. For example, there's the obvious tendency to smile when smiled at and there are less obvious changes that reflect emotions of surprise, anger or sadness such as a change in our heart rate and blood pressure.
Hugo Critchley further explained, "Our bodies synchronies and when we like the other person, we ever copy his behavior. Next time you chat with a friend, take note of how you're sitting-- it's pretty likely that you will be the same. Scientists believe it's our way of telling each other that we're partners. Through body language, humans give each other very subtle but clear signals that show emotions."
So, what lessons can we learn from this? " Spend time with happy people-- otherwise your health could suffer," said Critchley." When we're sad, our body goes into fight or flight mode. But when we're happy, our body works normally and we feel relaxed and positive. So we look bright, our skin glows, we feel healthy and it affects everyone around us." | high7528.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Those who suffer from depression feel dissatisfied with themselves."
},
"options": [
"Depression is a kind of illness that can't be cured like some cancer.",
"Depression can all be cured successfully by patients themselves.",
... | There is one type of illness in the world that affects more people than anything else and is very deadly. If untreated this illness could affect everything you do. What is this illness? Depression. Serious depression requires professional treatment. Self-induced depression is something each of us can change.
Everyone's circumstances are different, but the causes of self-induced depression are common: low self-esteem, hurtful thinking and a bad attitude.
So how can we change the way we think, feel, and cultivate a cheerful attitude?
First we must look at ourselves, truly and honestly examining our motives for what we wish to achieve. If you are dissatisfied because you feel you haven't or can't do anything, then one step is needed - to set goals.
Always start your goals relatively small and easy to attain. Think of them as sand; one grain may be insignificant but as a group they form the beach. Once you have set and attained small goals for yourself, move on to slightly larger, more challenging goals.
It takes more than just setting goals to be happy. It takes positive thinking. How can we attain this?
There are a number of factors that can make us think negatively and one of those is diet.
In my opinion, a person who eats a lot of take out and fast food is feeding their body junk. Start by eating better foods which give the body much NEEDED minerals. If your physical body is happy, it's much easier for your mental body or "thinking ability" to be happy.
Next, exercise. A half-hour a day is recommended for positive well being. Then think about good memories you had, or generally think of things that make you smile. Remember, everything you wear costs money but to wear a smile is free. A smile can be the difference between an average day and a great day.
If you follow these steps, positive change is inevitable. | high1159.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "\"Selfie\" has been chosen as the Word of the Year of 2013."
},
"options": [
"The definition of the word \"Selfie\".",
"The widespread usage of the word \"Selfie\" in 2012.",
"\"Selfie\" has been chosen as the Word of the Yea... | Every year, a handful of new words enter the world's collective vocabulary, but only one has the honor of being named Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year. And this year's top honor goes to "selfie".
The frequency of the word selfie used in the English language has increased by 17,000 per cent since this time last year. This figure is calculated by Oxford Dictionaries using a research program which collects around 150 million English words currently in use from around the web every month. To qualify, a word need not have been invented within the past 12 months but it does need to stand out or become notable at that time.
Selfie is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as: "A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website." Oxford Dictionaries said the earliest known usage is an Australian online forum post in 2002. A man posted a picture of injuries to his face when he tripped over some steps. He apologized for the fact that the picture was out of focus, saying that it was not because he was drunk but because it was a selfie.
Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, said: "Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research program, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of selfie in 2013, and this helped to win its selection as Word of the Year." She also added: "Social media sites helped to popularize the term, with selfie appearing on the photo-sharing website Flicker as early as 2004, but usage wasn't widespread until around 2012, when selfie was being used commonly in mainstream media sources."
Selfies have taken the world by storm. Everyone from the first family to ordinary people has taken the time to pose for a selfie. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jennifer Aniston have all showed their new haircuts with selfies this year. Selfie was added to the Oxford Dictionaries online in August, but not yet in the Oxford English. | high9505.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They looked down upon her."
},
"options": [
"They were afraid of her.",
"They showed pity to her.",
"They were friendly to her.",
"They looked down upon her."
],
"question": "What did other children do when Ammi... | Ammie Reddick from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, was only 18 months old when she had the accident that had scarred her for life. The child reached up to get a hot bottle in the family kitchen and poured boiling water over her body.
Her mother Ruby turned round and, seeing Ammie badly burnt, rushed her daughter to a nearby hospital. Twenty percent of Ammie's body had been burned and all of her burns were third-degree. There, doctors performed an operation that took about six hours to control her injuries. Over the next 16 years, Ammie received 12 more operations to repair her body.
When she started school at Maxwelton Primary at age 4, other pupils said cruel words or simply wouldn't play with her. "I was the only burned child in the street, the class and the school," she said, "some children refused to become friends because of that."
Today, aged 17, Ammie can only ever remember being a burned person with scars; pain is a _ part of her body. She still has to have two further operations. Yet she is a confident, outgoing teenager who offers hope to other young burns victims .
She is a member of the Scottish Burned Children's Club. This month, Ammie will be joining the younger children at the Graffham Water Center in Cambridge for the first summer camp. "I'll show them how to get rid of unkind looking from others," she says. Ammie loves wearing fashionable clothes, and she plans to show the youngsters at the summer camp that they can too. "I do not hide my burns scars," she says, "I gave up wondering how other people would say years ago." | high14371.txt |
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