questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "She takes pride in her community"
},
"options": [
"She takes pride in her community",
"She once stepped on a dog's waste",
"She is quite in favor of raising a dog",
"She finds it embarrassing to walk on the grass"
]... | While nature lovers across the world wish all humans to realize the significance of their natural surroundings , many Australians are turning caring for the environment into a way of life.
Julie Astonis , an Australian housewife in Brisbane is one such example. Even though autumn is approaching Australia's Brisbane in April, one can still watch colorful blooming flowers in Julie's little garden. As she tells that in her community, "Each of us has a beautiful yard, The whole community, from children to elderly people, takes care of the environment as if they are taking care of their own garden."
"Gardening is the most popular club in our community," she says, "A lot of retired people don't just regularly organize gardening lectures, but also personally visit families in the community to provide gardening training , So you can see that flowers continue to bloom in our gardens throughout the year."
Talking about her people's sense of care for the environment, Julie says when people in the community take along their dog, they always carry a garbage bag to deal with the dog's waste . "In our community ,you will never experience the embarrassment of stepping on the dirty waste while you are walking on the grass," says Julie with a smile. "Taking care of the dog's waste can also help to develop children's sense of responsibility!"
As to protecting water resources , the Australian government has made strict rules for families. Julie says, "We certainly would not use tap water to water the flowers!"She says almost every family in her community has a huge tank used to store rainwater, which is later used as the resource of all outdoor water use . They also connect the water tank with their toilets. | high5310.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Our health."
},
"options": [
"Our taste.",
"Our health.",
"The variety of foods.",
"The source of foods."
],
"question": "What do we consider most important when choosing our foods?",
"question_type": "facti... | The dark chocolate is one of the favourite food choices by many. The taste is simply irresistible , the smell is inviting and the feel of every bite is surely what you are longing for.
Apart from the taste, you simply cannot resist it because it has a lot of benefits when it comes to your health. Our health is our priority when it comes to the choice of our foods. If you worry that the chocolate is bad for your health, then here is a list of the effects of dark chocolate to health especially when taken with the right amount every day.
First of all , it contains a component called falconoid which acts as an antioxidant . The antioxidants fight the common signs of aging. The antioxidants are also good for the heart. Studies have shown that people who ate foods rich in antioxidants have low risk of heart diseases.
In addition to the anti-aging and healthy heart benefits, the dark chocolate can also lower blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol to as high as 10%. Lowering of blood pressure in patients of high blood level is good because it will lower the risks of stroke and certain health crisis. Low levels of blood cholesterol are also good for the heart and take away the risk of blood vessels which may harden for too much cholesterol in them.
Lastly, do you know the feeling of being overjoyed after jogging? This feeling is like extreme happiness. Dark chocolates will give you the feeling of pleasure and happiness. If you are feeling that the world has turned against you, then a chocolate can be a mood lifter. It can help fight depression. Usually when we feel so bad, we would crave to eat more food. If you are looking for something to eat during your bad moments, try to take a bite from a dark chocolate and feel good somehow after it.
These are commonly the effects of chocolates to health. It can benefit you especially if taken in moderate amounts. Approximately, 100 grams of chocolate or less a day is already enough according to studies. If you have taken too much, try to lessen on your other meals for the day. It is all about nutrition and taking the right amount of food in order to get the health benefits that it can provide for you. | high18564.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The passage doesn't say."
},
"options": [
"The passage doesn't say.",
"Spain.",
"France.",
"The United States."
],
"question": "Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?",
"question_type": "factiod_q... | Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes -- like tuxedos and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year's promise, called a resolution. New Year's resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.
Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.
Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year's Day. The more grapes a person eats , the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas for good luck -- but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them! | high10138.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Brownie married Winnie Bamber."
},
"options": [
"Tony is the son of Winnie Bamber.",
"Billy Charnley's daughter was married to Don Roccoforte.",
"Brownie married Winnie Bamber.",
"Mrs. Roccoforte is Winnie Bamber's niec... | The old camera Brownie picked up in a charity shop was a splendid find. But the undeveloped film still inside turned out to be even more of a treasure.
New owner Don Roccoforte had it developed and saw in it an attractive dark haired woman in her thirties with two young boys. He immediately determined to try to find out who they were.
A few weeks later the California-based camera collector received the news that left him _ . The woman was his wife Jaqueline's aunt in a picture taken around 50 years ago, and one of the boys, her cousin.
The couple have now unraveled the astonishing coincidence, which leads back to Mrs. Roccoforte's native Lancashire, where many of her family still live. The camera was bought from a shop in Preston, England by Brownie, a friend of Mr. Roccoforte, who knew of his interest in photography and thought it would be an unusual gift.
Back in California, the contents of his new possession inspired Mr. Roccoforte's curiosity. Recognizing the water in the background of the photo as a lake in Lancashire, he sent a copy to the local paper in Preston to see if any readers could help.
Another relative recognized the group as Winnie Bamber, still living in the area at the age of 81, her son Tony, Mrs. Roccoforte's cousin, and Tony's childhood friend, Mick Murphy.
Yesterday Mrs. Bamber was still gasping at the turn of events which has reunited two strands of her family. She said she remembered taking the boys to the lake and losing the camera. The two boys, both now 58, still live near Preston.
Mrs. Roccoforte's father is Winnie Bamber's brother, Billy Charnley. He and his wife moved to America in the 1960s. Their daughter met Mr. Roccoforte there and they married and moved to Preston for two years before returning to America. | high13431.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Heroes:close call in a hotel fire"
},
"options": [
"College students have a terrible holiday",
"College students survived a big fire",
"Heroes:close call in a hotel fire",
"A big fire broke out in a hotel"
],
"q... | It was almost four o'clock in the morning when the fire broke out."We watch one window blow out,and then another,and heard people shouting,"says Stanley,21,a junior from Westfield State College in Massachusetts.Students were throwing ropes made from bed sheets out their windows,and a couple of them were trying to climb down.
Almost all the hotel's 502 rooms were filled with college students from across the United States who were spending their holiday here in Acpulco,Mexico.As the smoke thickened,Moreno ran upstairs to where other Westfield students were rooming."Some people had no idea what was going on,"he says."I was shouting at the top of my voice.I made sure I hit every door."At the same time,Stanley was downstairs helping people get through the smokefilled hall.There he joined forces with Nalewanski who had just come back from his own night out.
"Let's go."Nalewanski says.He and Stanley wet their shirts in the bathroom and wrapped them around their mouths and noses so they could breathe.Then they ran up the stairs.
Nalewanski and Stanley found Moreno on the fourth floor.They all ran upstairs and down the corridors on every floor,hitting every door hard.
In the end,no one was seriously injured.Even more unbelievable,all the Westfield students made it back to Massachusetts later that same day.
Westfield president Evan Dobelle says,"I have a great deal of pride in these young men and they were able to react in such an emergency." | high1176.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To improve present smoke alarms."
},
"options": [
"To predict low-level fire risks.",
"To experiment with a new battery.",
"To improve present smoke alarms.",
"To avoid the low-battery chirp."
],
"question": "Fo... | The PS109 Nest Protect Smoke Alarm promises Internet alerts and an end to the low battery chirp . Besides, it uses a voice to tell you where the fire is.
The alarm is the first UK product from Nest, which is run by iPod-inventor Tony Fadell. The company claims the device's batteries will last for up to seven years. The device will offer a spoken warning before it sounds a major alarm. Also it will use text messages and apps on your phones to alert users to low-level risks.
The present smoke alarms constantly alert users to non-existent threats, which will make many users annoyed and finally remove their batteries altogether. "We've all experienced the smoke alarm going off while we're cooking. Sometimes, we need to search for the source of that non-stop low-battery chirp at midnight," said Fadell. "Therefore, every time a smoke alarm cries wolf, we trust it a little less, and then -- in a moment of frustration -- we take the batteries out to stop the beep . And that leaves us and our families at risk."
If the Protect smoke alarms are used, they can be set up in up to ten zones, so that the clear warnings tell users where the risk has been detected.
"Safety shouldn't be annoying," said Matt Rogers, Nest founder and vice president of engineering. "It was unacceptable to us that one in eight houses in the UK has a non-functioning smoke alarm. These products are required by law and are supposed to keep us safe, yet people hate them. We wanted to change that." | high6619.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The children who sleep longer are weak in their study."
},
"options": [
"There are some daily struggles between parents and children because of having nothing in common with extra rest time.",
"The children who sleep longer are wea... | In real life, the daily struggles between parents and children are around these narrow problems of an extra hour, extra TV show, and so on" said Avi Sadeh, psychology professor at Tel Aviv University. "Too little sleep and more accidents," he said.
Sadeh and his colleagues found an extra hour of sleep can make a big difference. The children who slept longer, although they woke up more frequently during the night, scored higher on tests, Sadeh reported in the March/April issue of journal Child Development.
"When the children slept longer, their sleep quality was somewhat weak, but in spite of this their performance for study improved because the extra sleep was more significant than the reduction in sleep quality. " Sadeh said. "Some studies suggested that lack of sleep as a child affects development into adulthood and it's more likely to develop their attention disorder when they grow older. "
In earlier studies, Sadeh's team found that fourth graders slept an average of 8. 2 hours and sixth graders slept an average of 7. 7 hours.
"Previous research has shown children in elementary school need at least nine hours of sleep a night on a regular basis, said Carl Hunt, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, and high-school-age children need somewhat less, he said, adding the results of insufficient sleep could be serious.
"A tired child is an accident waiting to happen," Hunt said. "And as kids get older, toys get bigger and the risks higher. "Hunt also said too little sleep could result in learning and memory problems and long-term effects on school performance.
"This is an important extension of what we already know, " Hunt said of Sadeh's research, adding sleep is as important as nutrition and exercise to good health.
"To put it into reality," Hunt said, "parents should make sure they know when their children actually are going to sleep and their rooms are conducive to sleeping instead of playing. " | high7507.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Registered companies donating food,"
},
"options": [
"Hungry people living in Copia,",
"Registered companies donating food,",
"Charity organizations serving the poor.",
"Food recovery companice removing food."
],... | Ahmad is the founder of Copia, which she describers as "match com meets Uber for food recovery." Conipanies use the Copia app to report when they have leftover food,what kind, and how much . When recipients such as shelters, soup kitchens , and agencies first register with Cupia, they indicate how many people they need to feed,on what days , and what kind of food they'll take. Cupia makes a profit from the fees that companies pay to remove leftever food; the companies receive a tax write-off for their food donations.
How did Ahmad create Copia? Aa a senior at UC Berkeley, the found nearly 50 million Americans are at risk of going hungry every day, white more than 133 billion pounds ofeatable foud are deserted each year.
Ahma d started a student group that recovered food from the campus and distributed it Lo local nonprofits.
As rewarding as this was,the inefficiencies bothered her. One day , she got a call from the dining hall manager, who had 500 sandwiches left over from m event. She rented a car,loaded it with the food, and called nonprofits, She found takers for only 25 sandwiches and ended up giving out the rest eU a nearby park.
"I remember thinking how cool it would be if people who had food could say, 'Hey, we have stuff, ' and people who needed it could speak up, and then we could connect the two. "
After she graduated , Ahmad launched Copia carlier this year, it operates in 40 cities in Northem California and has served over 700,000 people. Its biggest success--and challenge-- 10 date was this past Super Bowl: Copia recovered muro than 14 tons of food, which fed more than 23,000 people.
Despite her busy schedule, Ahmad tries to do me food pickup a week."When you get to theshelter,"she says ," If you wouldn't have eaten." And that's when I'm like, ' This is why I do what I do.' | high15040.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Chips."
},
"options": [
"Chips.",
"Crisps.",
"Shoofly.",
"Mississippi Mud Pie."
],
"question": "What do British people call French Fries?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index"... | Recently,I came across an interesting article on the differences between British English and American English. I had a lot of fun reading it and thinking of as many differences as I could as an American.
Their cars have "bonnets ", while ourselves have "hoods". They park their cars in a "car park" while we leave ours in a "parking lot". Our "cookies" are their "biscuits", while their "rubbers" are our "erasers".
Then there are the food words. Would you want to eat something called "Toad in the Hole" or "Bangers and Mash" or "Spotted Dick"? I'm here to report they are all very tasty. There are American equivalents ,of course. We've got "Shoofly Pie", "Chicken Fried Steak" and "Mississippi Mud Pie". What they call "crisps" is what we call "potato chips" and when we ask for "chips" in England we will get what we know at home in America as "French fries".
They find it _ that we call the "toilet" the "bathroom" and they really double over with laughter when we ask for the "restroom". American ladies in England who ask for the "little girl's room" or the "powder room" will be met with blank stares. A "fag" is a "cigarette" in the UK, which can lead to endless confusion for British visitors looking for a cigarette in America. Americans on the other hand are endlessly confused by English signs put up over doorways saying "Way Out". We Americans walk on the sidewalk not the pavement. "Pavement" in America is the actual cement the sidewalk is made of. | high8634.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "At first making films were not popular."
},
"options": [
"People liked the color film as soon as it was made.",
"At first making films were not popular.",
"Color films were at first silence.",
"Talking films were all co... | At first all films were in black and white, but in 1932 the first color film was made. It proved as unpopular as making films had done in the late 1920's. It was not until 1938 that a full length color film was made, and the success of this film made producers everywhere change from black and white to color. This first full-length color film was translated into ten different languages and made Hollywood the main center( )of film industry
In the early days of the cinema, other countries had also film industries. Very good films were made in Sweden, Britain, Russia and France. However, because Holleywood had so much money to spend, it kept its position as the world's most important film center. Film actors went to America because they knew they could get a lot of money for every film they made. In 1918 Charlie Chaplin (*)received $5 each day.
However, life was not always easy for the film actors. Newspapermen followed them everywhere, and after Charlie Chapine married for the fourth time he became so unpopular with the American public that he had to leave the country and live in Europe. | high12049.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It draws great public attention across the country."
},
"options": [
"It's open to people of all ages and all walks.",
"It's the most-viewed TV programs in China.",
"It aims to spread Chinese culture to the world.",
"It... | Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee . In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.
Perhaps the show's popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It's possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.
But there's still hope for the paint brush. China's Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.
In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher's examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. "If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?" we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin. "The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture," she reasons. "Students must learn now so they don't forget when they grow up." says the teacher. | high7261.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "collect donations for the homeless people"
},
"options": [
"keep yourself from the cold",
"bring a blanket to go on a trip",
"buy a home for homeless people",
"collect donations for the homeless people"
],
"ques... | Countless people long to make a difference this holiday season, yet they don't realize that opportunities to make a difference are everywhere .Here are some ideas to get you started.
Organize a blank drive
It is cold outside, but imagine how thousands of homeless people may feel without a home of their own, or even a blanket to keep them from the cold. Organize a blank drive for your local homeless, and ask around for donations!
Practice random acts of kindness
I'll never forget the time when I went to pay for my Dr. Pepper, but the sever resisted, saying my bill was paid by an anonymous guest. It's this random act of kindness that restores my faith in humanity. Bless someone by paying for their drink at Starbucks, or praising them! If you live somewhere where it snows, shovel your neighbour's snow out of their driveway for them! Whether it is as simple as praise or as complex as paying the bill, you'll never know how far your impact will reach.
Say thank you
Just a simple thank-you can _ , especially if they feel like their work is never noticed. Cultivate a smile on their face by being sincere and grateful for all that they do.
Use your talents to help the community
The best way to show your appreciation for people is by using the talents and skills you have to bless others. For me, I love to coordinate events and write , and so my way of reaching out to the community is through writing articles and creating awareness about problems we face today. If you can bake, make some delicious cookies for people to enjoy! If you can knit, put your talents to use by making clothes for children in foster care. Any talent can be used to help the community in meaningful ways.
Wish you a happy, healthy and helpful holiday season. | high8152.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It's easier than we think to get what we want."
},
"options": [
"It's easier than we think to get what we want.",
"It's important to learn to accept sufferings in life.",
"It's impractical to change our way of thinking.",
... | Life can be so wonderful, full of adventure and joy. It can also be full of challenges, setbacks and heartbreaks. Whatever our circumstances, we generally still have dreams, hopes and desires--that little something more we want for ourselves and our loved ones. Yet knowing we can have more can also create a problem, because when we go to change the way we do things, up come the old patterns and pitfalls that stopped us from seeking what we wanted in the first place.
This tension between what we feel we can have and what we are seemingly able to have is niggling suffering, the anxiety we feel. This is where we usually think it is easier to just give up. But we are never meant to let go of the part of us that knows we can have more. The intelligence behind that knowing is us--the real us. It's the part that believes in life and its possibilities. If you drop that, you begin to feel a little "dead" inside because you are dropping "you".
So, if we have this capability but somehow life seems to keep us stuck, how do we break these patterns?
Decide on a new course and make one decision at a time. This is good advice for a new adventure or just getting through today's challenges.
While, deep down, we know we can do it, our mind--or the minds of those close to us--usually say we can't. That isn't a reason to stop, it's just the mind, that little man or woman on your shoulder, trying to talk you out of something again. It has done it many times before. It's all about starting simple and doing it now.
Decide and act before overthinking. When you do this you may feel a little, or large, _ and you will be on your way. | high14438.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Our authors never know what our children need."
},
"options": [
"they have little sense of interest and entertainment",
"many of our books are of the same",
"the authors didn't pay much attention to the children's tastes.",
... | The publication of "Harry Potterandthe Half-Blood Prince" gladdens booksellers across China. The British and American editions were No. 1 and No. 3 respectively on the sales chart of the Beijing Xidan Book Building last week. The book's poster is highlighted and news about the book can often be heard on the radio.
Why is the book so attractive to children? With curious mood, the author got a copy of "Harry Potter". Originally, I wanted to glance over it and made some criticisms. But, out of expectation, the author has been deeply attracted by the magic world. On the other hand, one cannot help asking: _ Harry Potter"?
The Chinese nation has a history of 5, 000 years, which cannot be regarded as short and its culture as not profound. With a vast market of youngsters, China did publish many books popular among children. However, why are the present works not as good as those imported?
There come two major reasons: Firstly, quite a number of children's books are of strong sense of teaching, and lack interest and entertainment. Children often have a feeling of being "educated". No wonder they don't like them. Secondly, children's reading materials involving "idiom stories" and "Chinese talents' stories", though always in different covers, are usually much the same or plagiarized . One knows the ending as early as in the beginning. In final analysis, the authors of the books seldom take children's requirements into consideration.
As a matter of fact, each child has his own wonderful imagination. They long to understand the world and nature. Similarly they have their own choices. They dislike similar stories, even if the stories are excellent. First-class reading for children should be very interesting, which contains knowledge and the essence of national culture, which are presented in children's language.
Market is a touchstone for products. The theory also holds true for cultural products. It is hoped that the authors of children's books can learn something from the good market of "Harry Potter" and write out more and better books loved by children. | high23294.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Lego City Deep Sea Exploration"
},
"options": [
"Lego City Forest Pursuit",
"the Lego construction play area",
"the Lego Studios 4D Cinema",
"Lego City Deep Sea Exploration"
],
"question": "When you have a sleep... | A sleepover at Legoland Discovery Centre, at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, may sound like the perfect place to host your child's next birthday party -- but it will set parents back more than PS1,000.
All rides -- Kingdom Quest Laser Ride, Merlin's Apprentice and Lego City Forest Pursuit -- are open during the evening and supervision on these rides is provided at all times. The Lego Studios 4D Cinema is also open and guests have _ use of the Lego construction play area until 10:00 pm, which means you will have a good time and don't need to share any facilities with other groups.
But at PS35 a head, with a minimum guest list of 30, it's unlikely to be something the average parent could afford, reports Manchester Evening News.
A Legoland spokesman said: "The sleepover package is aimed at groups such as boys between eight and ten, girls between six and eight and youth groups, however it is open to everyone within the terms of the offer. " There is a birthday room to use, and in regard to food, snack boxes can be purchased for the additional cost of PS4.50. Guests are also welcome to bring along their own food and drinks, and there are storage facilities where they can be kept.
"Also we do have daytime party packages available, which are PS15 per child midweek and PS18 per child at the weekend. But these packages have a policy of a minimum of nine and a maximum of 21 people, due to room capacity. "
The spokesman continued, "Included in the price for these parties is the birthday cake, and children's meal of sandwiches, crisps, fruit juice, fruit and Haribo sweets. All attending adults also get a free hot drink and the birthday child gets a free group photograph."
Legoland says that the pricing for the sleepover package is based on overall operating costs of opening the centre exclusively for the group. | high13357.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the result of the study about sitting too long is shocking"
},
"options": [
"the result of the study about sitting too long is shocking",
"we need to remove many rocks",
"we need to smooth away many difficulties",
"sitt... | Mark Ramirez, a senior executive at AOL, could work in the comfortable leather chair, if he wanted. No, thanks. He prefers to stand most of the day at a desk raised above stomach level.
"I've got my knees bent. I feel totally alive," he said. "It feels more natural to stand."
In the past few years, standing has become the new sitting for 10 percent of AOL employees at the firm's Virginia branch. Part of a standing popularity is among accountants, programmers, telemarketers and other office workers across the nation.
GeekDesk, a California firm that sells desks raised by electric motors, says sales will triple this year.
Standers give various reasons for taking to their feet: It makes them feel more focused, prevents drowsiness , and makes them feel like a general even if they just push paper. (Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfels works standing up. So does novelist Philip Roth.)
But unknown to them, a debate is spreading among ergonomics experts and public-health researchers about whether all office workers should be encouraged to stand--to save lives.
Doctors point to surprising new research showing higher rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even mortality among people who sit for long stretches. A study earlier this year in theAmerican Journal of Epidemiologyshowed that among 123,000 adults followed over 14 years, those who sat more than six hours a day were at least 18 percent more likely to die during the time period studied than those who sat less than three hours a day.
"Every rock we turn over when it comes to sitting is astonishing," said Marc Hamilton, a leading researcher on inactivity physiology at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana. "Sitting is harmful. It's dangerous. We are on the cusp of a major revolution." He calls sitting "the new smoking".
Not so fast, other experts say. Standing too much at work will cause more long-term back injuries. Incidences of varicose veins among women will increase. The heart will have to pump more.
Hedge, the Cornell professor, isn't a fan of all this standing. "Making people stand all day is dumb," he said.
The sensible and most cost-effective strategy , he said, is to sit in a neutral posture , slightly reclined , with the keyboard on a tray above the lap. This position promotes positive blood flow. Workers should occasionally walk around, stretch and avoid prolonged periods at the desk. The key, he said, is movement, not standing. | high1610.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "studying"
},
"options": [
"living",
"visiting",
"studying",
"amusing"
],
"question": "The city of Amsterdam is the best place for _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}
] | Studying in Amsterdam means having one of the most beautiful and cultural cities as your campus. People living there are easy-going and friendly; English is the second language in the nation. It has a television cable network with access to over 20 television stations from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United States, and the number of books and magazines in the library is one of the largest in the world.
The colourful and lively city has a lot to offer. With 735,000 inhabitants , it has all the advantages of a major metropolitan center, but with a "small village atmosphere".
Amsterdam has beautiful architecture, giving the city its famous shape and atmosphere. In addition, it has many famous museums, theatres, concert halls, and many lovely parks, serving as the inhabitants' gardens in summer.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, one of Europe's smaller countries. The river Amstel flows through the heart of Amsterdam and gave the city its name in 1275 when its first inhabitants dammed the river. A lively trade made Amsterdam expand rapidly from the early 13th century onwards, and by 1500 it was the largest city in the Netherlands. At that time, Amsterdam attracted scholars and writers who did not have the same amount of freedom in their own countries. | high17131.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The Web and the Culture of \" Free\""
},
"options": [
"The Nature of the Web",
"The Web and the Culture of \" Free\"",
"Stealing and File Sharing",
"What Does the Word \" Free\" Mean?"
],
"question": "What is th... | When the recent research was analyzed , it was found that a lot of people wanted free pictures or free music from the Web. If it couldn't be free, then they wanted it "new" or at least at a low price. It seems that 70 percent of people aged 16 to 24 download music online but only 1 in 40 tracks are bought legally.
Thus, some companies are planning to give all of their music away for free. The music will be totally free except that you will have to pay with your time by watching advertisements. This will be perfect for those who have lots of time but little money.
The Web has encouraged a belief that things can be free, or at least very cheap. It seems that everyone is looking for a good deal on the Web. The desire for free objects is part of the nature of the Web because the Web is about self-service and self-service is all about being free, cheap, fast and convenient. It's interesting how words change their meaning. Stealing has now become file sharing, but it's not really stealing, is it?
Free is a funny word. We all know that very little is really for free. If we go searching on the Web for free music, we know--or should know--that there are risks involved. However, it doesn't matter. We still want free things, or at least the sense that we're getting a real bargain and that at a minimum we're saving time.
What can be the worst experience on the Web? A site that charges us high prices and wastes our time. | high5476.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "How gestures can vary in different cultures?"
},
"options": [
"How gestures can vary in different cultures?",
"What gestures can be acceptable in western countries?",
"What can we do when traveling?",
"How to be friendl... | While all cultures share the same basic emotions, the body language used throughout different cultures of the world vary enormously. What can mean one thing in one country can often mean something completely different in another.
For example, in North America and Europe people tend to prefer direct eye contact. But in some Asian countries longer eye contact is considered rude. So when communicating with people, always be aware of different cultural customs that may exist.
A V sign in the US could mean victory, but in England, it stands for a rude challenge, which has the same meaning as showing the middle finger in the US.
The OK gesture in America and England is given to mean everything is good or well. But in Latin America is looked on as a rude sign.
The thumbs up sign in America and most of Europe means that something is good or well done, but it is considered rude in many Asian countries.
Putting your feet on the table is generally not thought to be rude in America and England. However, in Thailand it is really rude.
Telling someone to come to you by curling your index finger is acceptable in America and England, but this gesture signifies death in Singapore.
Raising your hand up means stop in America and England. In some Asian countries this gesture is used when asking for permission to speak.
In most westernized countries it is considered normal for two men to shake hands. In some Asian countries it is quite normal for men to kiss each other, while in most westernized countries men kissing in public would be viewed as homosexual behavior.
If you would like more information on different cultural gestures all over the world, visit our website often. And we do have lots of information that interests you. | high18202.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "David Salinger's early life"
},
"options": [
"David Salinger's major novels",
"David Salinger's early life",
"David Salinger's education background",
"David Salinger's experience in the army"
],
"question": "The... | Jerome David Salinger was born in Manhattan on New Year s Day,1919.His father was a Jew.His mother was of Irish descent.
Never much of a student attended the progressive McBurney School.But he left school after two years and in 1934was packed off to Valley Forge Military Academy.In 1937,after a couple of unenthusiastic weeks at New York University,he traveled with his father to Austraia and Poland,where father s plan for him was to learn the ham business.Deciding that wasn t for him.he returned to America and driturned to America and drifted through a term or so at Ursinus College.His most sustained exposure to higher education was an evening class he took at Columbia in 1939,and under Mr.Burnett s directions he managed to sell a stpry"The Young Folks"to Story magazine.He afterwards sold stories to Esquire,Colliers and The Saturday Evening Post.In 1941,after several rejections,Mr.Salinger finally cracked The New Yorker,with s story"Slight Rebellion Off Madison,"that was an earlu sketch of what became a scene in"The Catcher in the Rye<<>> . "But the magazine then had second thoughts,apparently worried about seeming to encourage young people to run away from school and held the story for five years--a long time even for The New Yorker--before finally pubishing it in 1946,buried in the back of an issus.
Meanwhile Mr.Salinger had been drafted and was stationef for a while in Tiverton,Devon,the setting of "For Esme--with Love and Squalor,"probably the most deeply felt of the "Nint Stories".On June,6,1944,he landed at Utah Beach,and he later saw action during the Battle of the Bulge.In 1945 he was hospitalized for"battle breakdown"and after recovering he stayed on in Europe past the end of the war.He married a German woan doctor,very briefly. | high21483.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Two."
},
"options": [
"Two.",
"Three.",
"Four.",
"It depends."
],
"question": "How many sources of power do most hybrid cars use?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer... | Today's drivers may feel shocked by the high price of petrol when they drive to the gas station. However, the car industry has the technology to solve _ . It's the hybrid car .
What is a hybrid car? Any car that uses two or more sources of power is a hybrid car. Most hybrid cars on the road right now are petrol-electric hybrids. The petrol-electric hybrid car is just what it sounds like -- a cross between a petrol-powered car and an electric car.
A gas-powered car has a fuel tank , which supplies petrol to the engine. An electric car, on the other hand, has a set of batteries that provides electricity for the car.
To be useful to you or me, a car should be able to run at least 300 miles (483 km) before refueling, be capable of being refueled quickly and easily and fast enough to keep up with the other traffic on the road.
A petrol car meets these requirements but produces a large amount of pollution. An electric car, however, produces almost no pollution, but can only go 50 to 100 miles (80 to 161 km) between recharging . And the problem has been that the electric car is very slow and inconvenient to recharge.
A petrol-electric car combines the advantages of the two power sources into one system that uses both gas power and electric power. Some experts believe that the hybrid car is "the next generation of smart cars". A hybrid car can go up to 50% further than a traditional car can on the same amount of gas! It saves driver's money on gas and cuts air pollution! | high10886.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "By his lying position in death."
},
"options": [
"By the food he ate.",
"By doing further experiments.",
"By observing other polar bears.",
"By his lying position in death."
],
"question": "How did Stirling know... | A victim of climate change
A polar bear's dead body found on the Arctic island of Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway, has shocked experts who say climate change may be to blame for the death. The starved polar bear in Norway was said to be in good bones by the time a group of explorers came across its body in July.
The bear is thought to have been heading north in a desperate search for sea ice that would allow it to hunt for seals."From his lying position in death, the bear appears to simply have starved to health in April when the Norwegian Polar Institute examined and labeled it. However, the animal was reduced to skin and bones and died where he dropped," polar bear expert Dr. Ian Stirling, a professor at the University of Alberta said, "He had external suggestion of any remaining fat, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone."
Stirling believes the bear starved to death as a result of a lack of sea ice which the animals use as a platform for hunting seals. That may also explain why the 16-year-old male bear was found about 155 miles north of where it was seen in April.
Arctic sea ice reached a record low in 2012, according to a report released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that pointed to continued signs of climate change.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently classifies polar bears as _ e on its Red List of Threatened Species. | high4768.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He thought the sailor was just an unimportant man."
},
"options": [
"He thought the sailor was just an unimportant man.",
"He didn't like him at that time.",
"He was very busy then.",
"He didn't know him well then."
... | Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet fighter pilot in Viet Nam. After 75 missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb parachuted down into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison.
One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant when a man from another table came up and said "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Viet Nam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied. "I guess it worked". Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning. How are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was 'just a sailor'".
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes. | high11540.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It will begin on July16 and last for five days."
},
"options": [
"It will begin on July16 and last for five days.",
"Students in any grade can take part in the camp.",
"Parents are allowed to accompany their children.",
... | Time: July 16-20, 2016
Location: Norman Park Conference Center
Price: 500
Students who have completed the 5th, 6thor 7thgrade and meet the specified requirements can take part in this exciting mission opportunity. Children will spend 5 days in the Center joining in various activities.
Our theme for this camp is "Teamwork". The title speaks to our goal: We want this trip to help our students improve their _ awareness.
WHAT TO DO:
STEP ONE: FORM WORK
*Click on the link to print out the necessary forms: Propel Missions Camp Forms
*Complete the forms, printing neatly and clearly.
*Turn in your forms along with a copy of your insurance card to the office during business hours.
PARTICIPANT FORM
* This form must be signed and notarized .
* Your form may be notarized at the office during normal office hours, at the Children's reception desk before and after service times, or by a Notary Public of your choosing.
SPECIAL NEEDS FORM(If needed)
Special Needs form should be filled out only if there is a particular need (as described in the form) of which we and the camp should know.
ROOMMATE FORM
This form will help us place your child in a room with the peers of his or her preference. We will provide a list of students attending at your request to help your child make his or her choices.
STEP TWO: READ
Click on the link and read carefully the Parent Information Packet provided by the camp: Propel Missions Camp Forms 2016
Contact Information
If interested, contact Pastor Scott atscott. Morrison@fbcvidalia.orgor call the office at (912)537-4169. | high12061.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "trade along the Silk Road began earlier than once thought"
},
"options": [
"Egyptians had probably travelled to China to buy silk",
"trade along the Silk Road began earlier than once thought",
"historical research often achie... | New archaeological discovers suggest that trade between Europe and Asia along the Silk
Road probably began in some form many countries earlier than once thought. The findings, _ with a widening range of scientific and historical research, could add a fascinating new
page to the epic of the Silk Road.
The latest and most surprising discovery is pieces of silk found in the hair of an Egyptian mummy from about 1000 BC, long before regular traffic on the Silk Road and at least one thousand years before silk was previously thought to be used in Egypt. Other research may extend human activity along this route back even further, perhaps a million years to the migration of human ancestors into eastern Asia.
The official origin of East-West commerce along the road is usually placed in the late 2nd century BC when an agent of the Chinese Emperor Wu-di returned from a dangerous secret mission across the desert into the remote high country of Central Asia. The agent, Zhang Qian, travelled as far as Afghanistan and brought back knowledge of even more distant lands such as Persia, Syria and a place known as Lijien, perhaps Rome. Historians have called this one of the most important journeys in ancient times. His journey opened the way for what have been thought to be the first indirect contacts between the ancient world's two superpowers, China and Rome. Chinese silk, first traded to central Asian tribes for war horses and to the Parthians of old Persia in exchange for acrobats and ostrich eggs, was soon finding its way through a network of merchants to the luxury markets of Rome.
But the new discoveries show that Chinese silk was apparently present in the West long before the Han emperor started organized trade over the Silk Road. The research could change thinking about the early history of world trade and provide insights into the mystery of just how and when Europe and the Mediterranean lands first became aware of the glorious culture at the other end of Eurasia. | high7249.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "USB vacuum"
},
"options": [
"Fruit powered digital clock",
"USB vacuum",
"SIM card reader",
"Naf Naf Hyp MP3"
],
"question": "If you have 115 yuan, which product can you buy according to the passage?",
"ques... | Fruit powered digital clock
Fruit's not only good to eat, but it can also power this Fruit digital Clock. This clock uses the scientific principles on which modern electrical storage batteries are based. The acid from the fruit helps transmit an electrical flow between two metal poles. The clock is priced at US $ 15. Connecting any fresh fruit or vegetable to the clock will make it work. The fruit is a clean, renewable source of electrical power.
USB vacuum
Do you know the dirtiest parts of your desk are probably your keyboard and mouse? Get a USB Mini Vacuum with retractable cable and suck away all that _ . The US- made product is priced at US $14.
SIM card reader
Making useful USB 2.0 multi-card readers even handier, this card can also read and write data to phone SIM cards. It comes with SIM editing software. Download your phonebook to your computer. If you lose your cell phone, you can store missing phone numbers in your new one. The US-made IMOMO SIM card + Multi Card Reader is priced at US $ 19 (152yuan).
Beer in your ear
The beer barrel -shaped Naf Naf Hyp MP3 is a musical box that's capable of playing radio, CDs and cassettes. It's got all the standard features of the typical clock-radio, but with the relaxing look of a big beer barrel. The Danish product is priced at about US $ 130 (1,040yuan) | high6157.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The terrorists all surrendered to the police and soldiers."
},
"options": [
"Dozens of people were seized by the terrorist as hostages.",
"The Indonesian consulate was located in Amsterdam.",
"The terrorists were Indonesians... | Early last Tuesday, six men carrying machine guns, a pistol and a hunting rifle got on a four--car electric " milk train" at the Dutch town of Assen. Shortly after it left Beilen, ten miles away, the terrorists stopped the train and seized the passenger as hostages. As police and Dutch soldiers ringed the train, another group of terrorists stuck in Amsterdam, forcing their way into the Indonesian consulate and taking 41 more hostages, including 16 children. By week's end the terrorists had murdered three people aboard the train, and four more had been wounded in the raid on the consulate.
The kidnapping, and the subsequent cold--blooded murders, virtually rocked the Netherlands. While the Cabinet met in emergency sessions, television and radio station paused normal programming in favor of solemn music and news bulletins.
The terrorists were Indonesians from the South Moluccan Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and they were demanding that the Dutch help them gain independence from the Jakarta regime.
The twin acts of violence were not the first signs of South Molucca anger. Just before a 1970 visit to the Netherlands by Indonesia's President Suharto, they attacked the Indonesian embassy in the Hague, killing a Dutch policeman. Last week's kidnappings are two days before the Dutch Appeals Court was to trial 16 South Moluccan's who were implicated in a plot last April to kidnap Queen Juliana and other members of the Royal family. They planned to storm the palace at Soestdijk after attacking the gates with an armoured car .
The Moluccan headache is a heritage of the old days of empire. A chain of islands at the eastern of the Indonesian archipelago, the Moluccas were once known as the Spice Islands. When the Netherlands gave up its East Indies colonies in 1949, the Moluccans wanted to set up a South Moluccan Republic, some 12,000 islanders were allowed to settle to the Netherlands. Their number swollen by Dutch--born children now reached 35,000. the young Moluccans here are demanding that the Dutch help them gain independence from the Jakarta regime. | high1638.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "how a web site is set up"
},
"options": [
"how a web site is set up",
"how sad the love stories are",
"How much a website can make",
"How many people like the web site"
],
"question": "The passage is mainly abou... | Diamonds may be forever. But what's a girl to do when she gets dumped or divorced and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional sense?
Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal .
"You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don't. It just sits there, " said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother Marie Perry runswww.exboyfriendjewelry.com.
Three months after its start with the slogan "You Don't Want It. He Can't Have It Back," the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale--all with a personal tale attached.
As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:
"Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn't."
The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends' jewelry with memories that make them too painful to wear.
The local pawn shop proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a _ in it. | high10676.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "could be extremely thin"
},
"options": [
"uses a solid semiconductor",
"will soon replace the present ones.",
"could be extremely thin",
"has passed the final test."
],
"question": "According to Jae Kwon, his nu... | Batteries can power anything from small sensors to large systems.While scientists are finding ways to make them smaller but even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves.University of Missouri(MU) researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient.
"To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density ",said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU."The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is much higher than chemical batteries."
Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, presently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro / nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS).Although nuclear batteries can cause concerns, Kwon said they are safe.
"People hear the word 'nuclear' and think of something very dangerous," he said, "However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems."
His new idea is not only in the battery's size, but also in its semiconductor .Kwon's battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.
"The key part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor," Kwon said, "By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem."
Together with J.David Robertson, chemistry professor and associate director of the MU Research Reactor, Kwon is working to build and test the battery.In the future, they hope to increase the battery's power, shrink its size and try with various other materials.Kwon said that battery could be thinner than the thickness of human hair. | high2331.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "inside the rib cage of your chest."
},
"options": [
"In the organs of your body.",
"inside the rib cage of your chest.",
"between your nose and mouth .",
"at the back of your throat."
],
"question": "Where are y... | You do something about twenty times a minute without even thinking about it--you breathe! In fact, every day you take about twenty-thousand breaths. The organs of your body that allow you to breathe are called your lungs. You have two of them that work together, located in your chest inside the rib cage.
The main purpose of your lungs is to breathe in good air and breathe out bad air. The good air contains oxygen, which your body needs. The bad air is a gas called carbon dioxide, which your body cannot use. When you breathe in through your nose or mouth, air travels down the back of your throat. It passes through your voice box and into your trachea, or windpipe. Your trachea is divided into two air passage tubes. One leads to your left lung. The other leads to your right lung. Inside your lungs, oxygen is removed from the air you breathe and pumped into blood cells. Your lungs also get rid of harmful carbon dioxide from these cells. This process takes place inside hundreds of millions of tiny air sacs.
Each adult lung is about the size of a football. When they are healthy, your lungs feel a little like a sponge and are pinkish-gray. When lungs are damaged by smoking, they can appear gray or have black spots on them.One disease that is very common in children involves the lungs. It's asthma. Asthma narrows the breathing tubes, making it harder to breathe.
You probably already know that your lungs are important when you swim. But you may not know this--your lungs are the only part of your body that can float on water! | high17119.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "they offer their help"
},
"options": [
"they offer their help",
"they receive others' help",
"they feel others' kindness",
"they show their weakness"
],
"question": "The author has discovered that people will fe... | In the animal kingdom, weakness can bring about aggression in other animal. This sometimes happens with humans also. But I have found that my weakness brings out the kindness in people. I see it every day when people hold doors for me, pour cream into my coffee, or help me to put on my coat. And I have discovered that it makes them happy.
From my wheelchair experience, I see the best in people, bur sometimes I feel sad because those who appear independent miss the kindness I see daily. They don't get to see this soft side of others often. We try every way possible to avoid showing our weakness, which includes a lot of pretending. But only when we stop pretending we're brave or strong do we allow people to show the kindness that's in them.
Last month, when I was driving home on a busy highway, I began to feel unwell and drove more slowly than usual. People behind me began to get impatient and angry, with some speeding up alongside me, horning or even shouting at me. At the moment I decided to do something I had never done in twenty four years of driving. I put on the car flashlights and drove on at a really low speed.
No more angry shouts and no more horns!
When I put on my flashlights, I was saying to other drivers, "I have a problem here. I am weak and doing the best I can." And everyone understood. Several times, I saw drivers who wanted to pass. They couldn't get around me because of the stream of passing traffic. But instead of getting impatient and angry, they waited, knowing the driver in front of them was in some way weak.
Sometimes situations call for us to act strong and brave even when we don't feel that way. But those are few and far between. More often, it would be better if we don't pretend we feel strong when we feel weak or pretend that we are brave when we are scared. | high4740.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "he enjoyed seeing new places"
},
"options": [
"he preferred to stay home",
"he enjoyed seeing new places",
"he couldn't do well at school",
"he didn't get along well with his parents"
],
"question": "Johnny freq... | Johnny the Explorer
Johnny was three when he ran away from home for the first time. Somebody left the garden gate open. Johnny wandered out, crossed some fields, and two hours later, and arrived in the next village. He was just able to give his name and address.
By the time he was seven, Johnny used to vanish from home two to three times a year. Sometimes he covered quite long distances on foot. On other occasions he got on a bus or even a train, and simply sat there until someone asked for his ticket. Generally the police brought him home. "Why do you do it?" they used to ask. "You aren't unhappy at home, are you? .... ""Of course not," Johnny replied." Then why?" "I just like seeing places," Johnny told them.
Johnny continued to "see places" although everyone tried to stop him. His parents used to watch him closely, and so did his teachers; but sooner or later Johnny managed to slip away. As he grew older, his favorite trick was to hide on a long distance truck. Sometimes he used to travel hundreds of miles before anyone discovered him.
It is hardly surprising that eventually Johnny managed to get on board a plane. He was twelve at the time. It was a cargo plane and, a few hours later, Johnny found himself in Cairo. How did he get on board? No one knows! According to Johnny himself, it was easy: he just went into the airport, walked along some corridors and got on board the nearest plane.
In spite of all this, Johnny did well at school. He enjoyed maths and languages and, perhaps not surprisingly, he was especially good at geography. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" his teachers asked him. Johnny did not take long to answer that question. "An explorer!" he answered. "But it's difficult to become an explorer in this modern age." they tried to tell him, But it was no use: Johnny knew what he wanted!
Just before he left school, Johnny saw a notice in one of the daily papers. An expedition was about to go to Brazil to travel up the Amazon River. There were vacancies(,) for three young people "willing to work hard and with a sense of adventure". Johnny applied, and, one month later, he was on his way to Brazil. | high19134.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he couldn't get out of mental pressure"
},
"options": [
"he couldn't earn enough money to support his family",
"he was suffering from sleeplessness disease",
"he couldn't get out of mental pressure",
"he felt tired of a... | I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my calsses. (I have not used his real name for personal reasons. As he requested.) But here is his real story as he told it before one of our adult - education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-old daughter, a child he adored. He and his wife thought they couldn't bear that first loss; but, as he said:"Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days."
This double
was almost too much to bear. "I couldn't take it," this father told us. "I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, I couldn't rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone." At last he went to doctors; one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip. He tried both, but neither helped. He said:"My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice , and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter." The tension of grief ----if you have ever been paralyzed by sorrow, you know what he meant.
But thank God, I had one child left ----a four --year-- old son. He gave me the solution to my problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked; 'Daddy, will you build a boat for me?' I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent little fellow! I had to give in.
Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.
The following night, I went from room to room in the house, making a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired: bookcase, stair steps, storm windows, window-shades, locks, leaky taps. Amazing as it seems, in the course of two weeks I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention.
"During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am busy now that I have no time for worry."
No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said :"I am too busy. I have no time for worry." | high16207.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "designed to test people's ability of understanding"
},
"options": [
"created through a speech synthesizer",
"hard to understand",
"available at the beginning",
"designed to test people's ability of understanding"
],... | Even facts "forgotten" by people during a busy day may be retrieved if this is followed by a good night's sleep.
Researchers from the University of Chicago asked volunteers to remember simple words.Many found their memories letting them down towards the end of the day, but the following morning, those who had slept well could recall much more.
Researchers, writing in the journal Nature, said the brain could "rescue" lost memories during the night.
When the brain is first asked to remember something that memory is laid down in an "unstable" state, meaning that it is possible that it could be lost.At some point, the brain consolidates those it deems important into a "stable", more permanent state.However, the Chicago researchers suggested that it was possible for a "stable" memory to be made "unstable" again.This would mean that memories could be modified then filed away again in the face of new experiences.
The 12 volunteers tested in the experiment were played words created through a speech synthesizer which were purposely difficult to understand.Initially, the written version of the word from the audio version only.Tests revealed that the ability to recall the right word tended to tail off as the day ended.
However, when the volunteers were retested after a good night's sleep, they were able to recall some words that they had " forgotten" the previous evening.
Dr Daniel, one of the study authors, said: "Sleep consolidates memories, protecting them against subsequent interference or decay.Sleep also appears to "recover" or restore memories." He said: "If performance is reduced by decay, sleep might actively recover what has been lost."
Dr Karim Nader, from the Department of Psychology in McGill University in Montreal, said: "Memory research is undergoing a transformation---no longer is memory thought to be a hard-writing of the brain, instead it seems to be a process of storage and restorage."
Sleep helps some memories "mature" and also prunes out unimportant memories. | high11568.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "travel around the world on business"
},
"options": [
"have been to the four comers of the earth",
"travel around the world on business",
"want to explore the eight airlines",
"need support all along the way"
],
... | The eight airlines of the Oneworld alliance have joined forces to give world travelers a simple way to plan and book a round-the-world journey. It's called the Oneworld Explorer program.
Oneworld Explorer is the perfect solution for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday or an extended business trip. It's a great way for you to explore the four corners of the earth in the safe hands of the eight Oneworld airlines.
You can have hundreds of destinations to choose from, because the Oneworld network covers the globe, And as you travel around the world, you'll have the support of 260,000 people from all our airlines, who are devoted to the success of our journey, helping you make smooth transfers and offering support all along the way.
The Oneworld goal is to make global travel easier and more rewarding for every one of our travelers, We try our best to make you feel at home, no matter how far from home your journey may take you.
We can offer travelers benefits on a scale beyond the reach of our individual networks. You'll find more people and more information to guide you at every stage of your trip, making transfers smoother and global travel less of a challenge. | high3749.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The nurse seldom communicated with her."
},
"options": [
"The nurse treated her abruptly.",
"The nurse didn't offer medications on time.",
"The nurse seldom communicated with her.",
"The nurse was irresponsible."
],... | We've all heard the quote, 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.'
My husband and son died within two years of each other. From my personal experience, I believe that if we aren't careful, grief can become a rather self-involved process in which we can become so focused on our own suffering that we miss the opportunity to connect with, and possibly bring comfort to, someone else who may be going through a similar experience.
Six months after my husband died, I was sinking in the quicksand of grief. I could not pull myself out of the misery. In that moment, I actually believed that my life was more difficult than anyone else around me. Life handed me a perfectly wrapped lesson that opened my eyes to the fact that through my suffering I had allowed myself to become blinded by my self-pity.
The lesson presented itself in a health crisis. I had complications from a surgical procedure and ended up being hospitalized for four days. I was in an extreme amount of pain during this time. Between the physical pain and the emotional pain of grief, I was an mess.
I should also tell you that I am a Registered Nurse. As a nurse, it is hard to be on the receiving end of medicine as the patient. The first three nights that I was in the hospital, the same nurse took care of me. She was young, maybe in her mid to late 20s, and she hardly interacted with me at all the first two nights, other than to give my medications as scheduled. She obviously had no idea how much emotional pain I was in. How hard is it to ask your patient how she's feeling? I wrote her off as a bad nurse who had little sympathy, and remained absorbed in my own emotional and physical pain. The third night the young nurse was a little more talkative. She asked me how I was feeling (finally!). I told her that I was struggling with depression and grief because my husband had died in an airplane accident. She looked at me and told me that her husband had died too, just two months earlier. I was stunned. Speechless. Shocked.
Never, in any of the possibilities that my mind entertained of why this nurse was so unfriendly to me, did I even consider that she might be in the same pain I was. Not only was she grieving as I was, but she was having to take care of me, instead of caring for herself and her family.
We went on to talk and share our stories about our late husbands and children. I like to think that we helped each other a bit that night. We had much more in common than I would have believed. We were both widowed single moms with young children, and nurses. But, that was where the similarities ended. Her husband had no insurance policy. She had very little family support. She was working paycheck to paycheck to support her boys. I was humbled. I realized how much I had to be grateful for. And, frankly, I never saw life the same way after this experience.
This experience was a life-changing event for me. I had always prided myself on being a sympathetic person, but I realize now that I had not really understood what being sympathetic meant. To truly be sympathetic, you must be able to see beyond your own pain to be witness to the pain. I never looked at another person in the same way after this experience. I thank death for very few things. The gift of sympathy for my fellow man, and understanding that we all suffer in ways that aren't always visible, are presents from death that I will always be grateful for.
Always take the time to be kind even when you're suffering with your own pain. And don't assume that someone else has it easier than you. You never know the battles someone else is fighting. | high19652.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Europe"
},
"options": [
"Europe",
"Europe",
"West African coast",
"West African coast"
],
"question": "Which of the following shows the route of slave trade correctly?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"a... | During the early years of American settlement, a new form of English was beginning to develop in the islands of the West Indies and the southern part of the mainland, spoken by the black population. The beginning of the seventeenth century saw the happening of the slave trade. Ships from Europe travelled to the West African coast, where they exchanged cheap goods for black slaves. The slaves were shipped in terrible conditions to the Caribbean islands and the American coast, where they were in turn exchanged for such products as sugar and molasses . The ships then returned to England, completing an "Atlantic triangle"of journeys, and the process began again. Britain and the United States had outlawed the slave trade by 1865, but by that time, nearly 200 years of trading had taken place. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there were over four million black slaves in America.
The policy of the slave-traders was to bring people of different language backgrounds together in the ships, to make it difficult for groups to plan rebellion. The result was the growth of several pidgin forms of communication, and in particular a pidgin between the slaves and the sailors many of whom spoken English. Once arriving in the Caribbean, this pidgin English continued to act as a major means of communication between teh black population and the new landowners, and among the blacks themselves. Then, when children came to be born, the pidgin became their mother tongue, thus producing the first black Creole speech in the region. This Creole English rapidly came to be used throughout the cotton plantations , and in the coastal towns and islands. | high16561.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It was considered a symbol of a civilized behavior."
},
"options": [
"It was considered a symbol of a civilized behavior.",
"It was a long time tradition as old as the Queen.",
"It was a product of the slow pace of life.",
... | Bright red post boxes, the Queen and queuing--what do they all have in common? They are all important parts of British life. At least I thought so.
However, the ability to queue for long periods of time, once believed to be a traditional characteristic of the British, is no longer tolerated by people in the UK, according to a survey done for British bank Barclays.
Once upon a time, queuing was seen as normal. During World WarII, everyone had to queue up to receive their daily supply of foods. In fact, if you didn't stand up and wait in line with all the others, it was seen as uncivilized.
The famous English double-decker buses, with only one entrance, might also help explain why queuing was seen as a part of British life. Almost always, there is queue to get on. www.zxxk.com
But perhaps the British are tired of being pushed past by the Spanish, the Italians or the French as they queue up to get a table at a restaurant. The people of these other European countries have more than one entrance to their buses, which explains their more relaxed attitude to the queue.
Two minutes is now the longest time most British people are prepared to stand and wait. But could it be that the Internet, which allows us to carry out tasks quickly, is the main reason why British people are no longer prepared to queue?
"Used to buying without delay, customers are even giving up purchases rather than wait their turn," says Stuart Neal of Barclaycard. "Shoppers are also less likely to queue for long if the item they are buying is of low value."
Perhaps I will have to replace "queuing" with "impatience" in my list of things I relate to the British. | high5338.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Room 1."
},
"options": [
"Room 1.",
"Room 2.",
"Room 3.",
"The Footwear Library."
],
"question": "Where would you find a famous singer's shoes?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {... | Welcome to one of the largest collections of footwear in the world that will make you green with envy. Here at the Footwear Museum you can see exhibits from all over the world. You can find out about shoes worn by everyone from the Ancient Egyptians to pop stars.
Room 1
The celebrity footwear section is probably the most popular in the entire museum. Started in the 1950s there is a wide variety of shoes and boots belonging to everyone from queens and presidents to pop stars and actors! Most visitors find the celebrities' choice of footwear extremely interesting.
Room 2
Most of our visitors are amazed--and shocked--by the collection of "special purpose" shoes on exhibition here at the Museum of Footwear. For example, there are Chinese shoes made of silk that were worn by women to tie their feet firmly to prevent them from growing too much!
Room 3
As well as shoes and boots, the museum also exhibits shoeshaped objects. The variety is unbelievable. For example, there is a metal lamp that resembles a pair of shoes, and Greek wine bottles that look like legs!
The Footwear Library
People come from all over the world to study in our excellent footwear library. Designers and researchers come here to look up information on anything and everything related to the subject of footwear. | high3991.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "can be free to read there"
},
"options": [
"can't keep books very long",
"need to have a library card",
"can be free to read there",
"must help increase the collection"
],
"question": "According to the passage, ... | If you put all the books you own on the street outside your house, you might expect them to disappear immediately. But one man, Hernando Guanlao in Manila, tried it and found that his collections grew.
He's a lovely man in his early 60s, with one ever-lasting love--books. They're his pride and joy, because, whether he likes it or not, they seem to be taking over his house. Guanlao has set up a "library" outside his home in central Manila. Readers can take as many books as they want, for as long as they want. As Guanlao says, "The only rule is that there are no rules."
You might consider it would end very quickly. But in fact, in the 12 years he's been running his library. He's found that his collection has grown rather than become smaller, as more and more people help the activity. "It seems to me that the books are speaking to me," he says with a smile, "The books are telling me they want to be read."
Guanlao started his library in 2000, shortly after the death of his parents. He was looking for something to honor their memory, and that was when he hit upon the idea of promoting the reading habit passed on to him from his parents. So he put the books outside the door of his house to see if anyone wanted to borrow them. They did, and they brought the books back with others to add to the collection. The library was born. The library is not advertised, but somehow, every day, a steady stream of people find their way there.
To help the poorest communities in Manila, Guanlao doesn't wait for them to find him on his "book bike". He wants to set up a "book boat", traveling around the islands of Sulu and Basilan. As we sat outside Hernando Guanlao's house in the midday sun, watching people look through his collection, he thought it was worth spending all his time. | high13419.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The Agreement's minimum goal would not be reached."
},
"options": [
"The human population would increase by one third.",
"Little over 50% of all species would still exist.",
"Nations would not need to tighten their emissions ... | Is there link between humans and climate change or not? This question was first studied in the early 1900s. Since then, many scientists have thought that our actions do make a difference. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol explained our role in the Earth's changing atmosphere and set international limits for gas emissions from 2008 to 2012. Some countries have decided to continue these reductions until 2020. More recently, the Paris Agreement, stuck by nearly 200 countries, also aims to limit global warming. But just now how much warmer it will get depends on how deeply countries cut carbon emissions.
3.5degC
This is how much temperatures would rise by 2100 even if nations live up to the initial Paris promises to reduce carbon emissions; this rise could still put coastal cities under water and drive over half of all species to extinction.
2degC
To meet this minimum goal, the Agreement requires countries to tighten emissions targets every five years. Even this increase could sink some islands, worse drought and drive a decline of up to a third in the number of species.
1.5degC
This is the most ambitious goal for temperature rise set by the Paris Agreement, after a push by low-lying island nations like Kiribati, which say limiting temperature rise to 1.5degC could save them from sinking.
0.8degC
This is how much temperatures have risen since the industrial age began, putting us 40% of the way to the 2degC point.
0degC
The baseline here is average global temperature before the start of the industrial age. | high14376.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Christ Church College"
},
"options": [
"Merton College",
"Bodleian Library",
"Magdalen College",
"Christ Church College"
],
"question": "If a Harry Potter fan travels to Oxford, he'll probably visit _ .",
... | If you want to walk in the footsteps of some of the world's greatest figures, then go to Oxford. Many of Oxford's 38 colleges are open to the public year-round. Here are a few of the colleges worth visiting and some famous people who have studied there.
Christ Church College
Long before it became known as a location for the Harry Potter films, Christ Church was the college where Albert Einstein, author Charles Dodgson who wrote Alice in Wonderland, and 13 British prime ministers studied. In this large and popular college, you can see the paintings in the 16th-century Great Hall.
Magdalen College
Many consider Magdalen to be one of the most beautiful Oxford's colleges. This is where author Oscar Wilde read his classics course. You can enjoy the medieval church with its 15th-century tower. Opposite the college is the beautiful Botanic Garden founded in 1621.
Merton College
Founded in 1264, Merton has the oldest medieval library in use. J. R. R. Tolkien is said to have spent many hours here writing The Lord of the Rings. One of the college's treasures is an astrolabe ,thought to have belonged to Chaucer. The college has the most amazing collection of medieval colored glass in Oxford.
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is the largest university library in the UK. It is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. It holds more than 9 million printed items on 189 km of shelving and seats up to 2,500 readers. The users of the library here include five kings, 40 Nobel Prize winners, 25 British prime minister and countless famous writers. | high9502.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Turkestanian salamander."
},
"options": [
"Rio Pescado stubfoot toad.",
"Gastric brooding frog.",
"Turkestanian salamander.",
"Scarlet frog."
],
"question": "Which of the following animals hasn't been seen for o... | Have you seen a yellow-and-black salamander ? How about a scarlet frog? Scientists haven't spotted either species in more than 20 years. What happened to them? Are the creatures still out there, or are they extinct?
Those are questions that scientists hope to answer. They recently set out around the world in search of those and other long-missing amphibians. An amphibian is an animal that spends part of its life in water and part on land. Frog, toads , and salamanders are amphibians.
The experts are looking for about 100 species. They are searching at least 14 countries on five continents. They will look for the salamander in North America. They hope to find the scarlet frog in South America. They're also looking for species in Africa, Asia and Australia.
Scientists are hopeful that they'll find the amphibians--and soon! If the creatures are out there, they may need help. Many amphibians are endangered. The animals face many dangers including pollution and diseases. People cut down the forests where they live.
"If researchers can find the missing creatures, they might be able to figure out how to save them," explains expert Robin Moore. He began searching for the amphibians earlier this month.
"This search will tell us a lot about how amphibians are doing," Moore told WR News. "I don't know what we will find, but that makes the search even more exciting."
Lost in the Wild
Scientists' hunt for missing amphibians is under way. Read about some of the species they hope to find.
Turkestanian salamander
This salamander is a mystery to scientists. Experts found a few of them more than 100 years ago, but none have been seen ever since.
Gastric brooding frog
Experts first discovered this frog in 1914 in eastern Australia. It may be extinct because of disease and habitat loss.
Rio Pescado stubfoot toad
Last sighting: 1995, in South America
Scientists hope to find this spotted toad in rivers and rainforests in Ecuador. The animal faces threats including pollution and disease. | high6631.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "show how people can be geniuses."
},
"options": [
"show how people can be geniuses.",
"show becoming a genius is easy.",
"show geniuses are common.",
"show people know how to explain geniuses."
],
"question": "T... | Geniuses amaze us,impress us and make us all a little jealous. How do they differ from the average person?Scientists are working hard to figure out that answer. Tune in to the National Geographic Channel to find out about the discoveries they're making in the series My Brilliant Brain.
When Marc Yu was only two years old,he began to play the piano. After a year, he started learning pieces by Beethoven. Now he's a world-famous concert pianist at age eight. He learns newer and more difficult pieces with ease and can identify any note he hears. He seems to be specially designed for music. In Born Genius, National Geographic looks at the science behind child prodigies to explain why some children seem to be born without limits.
_ His came only after he nearly died from bleeding in his brain. After recovering, McHugh's head was filled with new thoughts and picture. So, he began to express them in the form of poetry and art. Now, he's a seemingly unstoppable creative machine. Suffers of brain injury have shown that great mental ability can sometimes come from damage or disease. Accidental Genius explores this puzzling relationship.
Can normal people be trained to be geniuses? Susan Polger has shown no sign of extraordinary intelligence. Yet, during her childhood, she studied thousands of chess patterns and learned to recognize them immediately. As a result, she was able to beat skilled adult players by age 10 and can now play up to five games at the same time without even seeing the boards. Make Me a Genius examines what is takes to turn an ordinary brain into that of a genius.
If becoming a genius were easy, we'd all be done. Yet, there is much more to super intelligence than simply being born lucky. Learn more about amazing brains this month on National Geographic's My Brilliant Brain. | high15068.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It is likely that taking a\"gap year\"is becoming popular in America."
},
"options": [
"It is likely that taking a\"gap year\"is becoming popular in America.",
"More and more American students are choosing to take a year off.",
... | In Britain and other countries,young people sometimes take a"gap year",a year off between high school and college.This idea never gained a big following in America.Recent news reports have suggested that interest may be growing,though there are no official numbers.
Charles Deacon,.Dean of Admissions at Georgetown University in Washington,D.C.,estimates that in the current first-year class of 1,600 students,only about 25 decided to take a year off.He says this number hasn't changed much over the years.
Mr.Deacon says the most common reason for taking a"gap year"is to have a chance to travel,but he says international students may take a"gap year"to meet requirements at home for military duty.
Some high school graduates see a year off as a chance to recover after twelve years of required education,but it can also give students a chance to explore their interests.Students hoping to be doctors,for example,could learn about the profession by volunteering in a hospital.
Many colleges and universities support gap-year projects by permitting students to delay their admission.Expels say students can grow emotionally and intellectually as they work at something they enjoy.
The Harvard admissions office has an essay on its Web site called"Time Out or Bum Out for the Next Generation.''It praises the idea of taking time off to step back,think and enjoy gaining life experiences outside the pressure of studies.It also notes that students are sometimes admitted to Harvard or other colleges partly because they did something unusual with that time.
Of course,a gap year is not for everyone.Students might miss their friends who go on directly to college,and parents might worry that their children will decide not to go to college once they take time off.Another concern is money.A year off,away from home,can be costly.
Holly Bull's job is to specialize in helping students plan their gap year.She notes that several books have been written about this subject.She says these books along with media attention and the availability of information on the Internet have increased interest in the idea of a year off, and she points out that many gap-year programs cost far less than a year of college. | high12707.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they live in one place, district or country, considered as a whole"
},
"options": [
"they live all over the world",
"they are different from other animals",
"they live in one place, district or country, considered as a whole"... | Humans are social animals. They live in groups all over the world. As these groups of people live apart from other groups, over the years and centuries they develop their own habits and ideas, which form different cultures. One important particular side of every culture is how its people deal with time.
Time is not very important in nonindustrial societies. The Nuer people of East Africa, for example, do not even have a word TIME that is in agreement with the abstract thing we call time. The daily lives of the people of such nonindustrial societies are likely to be patterned around their physical needs and natural events rather than around a time schedule based on the clock. They cook and eat when they are hungry and sleep when the sun goes down. They plant crops during the growing seasons and harvest them when the crops are ripe. They measure time not by a clock or calendar ,but by saying that an event takes place before or after some other event . Frequently such a society measures day in terms of"sleeps"of longer periods in terms of"moons".Some cultures, such as the Eakinos of Greenland measure seasons according to the migration of certain animals.
Some cultures which do not have a written language or keep written records have developed interesting ways of"telling time".For example, when several Australian aborigines want to plan an event for a future time, one of them places a stone on a cliff or in a tree. Each day the angle of the sun changes slightly. In a few days, the rays of the sun strike the stone in a certain way. When this happens, the people see that the agreed-upon time has arrived and the event can take place.
In contrast ,exactly correct measurement of time is very important in modern, industrialized societies. This is because industrialized societies require the helpful efforts of many people in order to work. For a factory to work efficiently(well, quickly and without waste),for example, all of the workers must work at the same time. YCTherefore, they must know what time to start work in the morning and what time they may go home in the afternoon. Passengers must know the exact time that an airplane will arrive or depart. Students and teachers need to know when a class starts and ends. Stores must open on time in order to serve their customers. Complicated . societies need clocks and calendars. Thus, we can see that if each person worked according to his or her own schedule, a complicated society could hardly work at all. | high22808.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the strait it crosses"
},
"options": [
"the local climate",
"the color of a paint",
"the strait it crosses",
"its natural surroundings"
],
"question": "The Golden Gate Bridge was named after _ .",
"questi... | The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California is one of the world's most beautiful bridges. It is also one of the most visited places in the world. Vehicles cross the bridge an average of 41 million times each year. More than 1,800 hundred million vehicles have used the bridge since it opened more than 70 years ago.
The bridge was painted "International Orange" because that color went well with the natural surroundings. The color also is easier to see in the heavy fog that often covers the area. But the Golden Gate Bridge was not named for its orange color. It was named for the body of water that it crosses, the Golden Gate Strait.
The Golden Gate Strait is the entrance to the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate Bridge links the city of San Francisco with Marin County,California.
Planning for the bridge began in the 1920s when the area around San Francisco was growing. People living in the area needed another way to get to the city besides small ferries .
Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer for the project. Work began in 1934. Mr.Strauss demanded the strongest safety protections in the history of bridge building. These included the first use of "hard hats" to protect the workers' heads and special glasses to protect their eyes.
A special safety net was suspended under the bridge. This net saved the lives of 19 men during the construction. However, 11 other workers were killed when they fell from the bridge through the net. Still, this was a new safety record for the time.
The Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937. It extends 1,280 meters across the water. The total length is 2,737 meters. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world until 1964. That is when the Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened in New York City. Today, the Golden Gate Bridge is the ninth longest suspension bridge in the world. | high14362.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "light-hearted"
},
"options": [
"nervous",
"comfortable",
"light-hearted",
"upset"
],
"question": "On her way to Jinghai Bar, the writer felt _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": ... | At the time, I would go out in the evening with my parents. But this time I had borrowed a bicycle from a friend of mine. I didn't know why, but once I was on my own bicycle, a kind of free feeling flooded through me. The faster I rode, the faster I wanted to go! Far ahead, I rode as if my life depended on it, head down, hands grasping the handbars. I meant to get to Jinghai Bar as fast as I could. . .
Oh! My hands! Don't come any closer. . . Don't touch me! That poor doctor just couldn't get my gloves off. Each time he took a step towards me, I broke into painful shouting. Much later, I discovered that I had crashed heavily with another bicycle, and I hadn't spoken one word of sense for at least three hours! After some time, my mother arrived at the hospital, her face as white as a sheet, and gave me a hug , only then did the doctor begin to stitch my head wound, not only did he merrily cut off a long lock of my hair, but used no anaesthetic either! Later, I seemed to hear faraway voices saying that my right hand was broken. I almost burst into tears. How would I ever play the piano again? | high6625.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Is a time when country music lovers get together"
},
"options": [
"has a history of more than 50 years.",
"lasts almost half a month every year.",
"Is a time when country music lovers get together",
"is the most importa... | Over 40 years ago, a country music DJ convention was held every year in Nashville, Tennessee. Many country performers used to attend the convention to give their performances. Fans would go to Nashville hoping to see their favorite performers. In the end, so many fans began showing up in Nashville that a festival named Fan Fair was born.
The first Fan Fair was held in April 1972, in Nashville for four days. Some of the country music's biggest stars attented. There were about fifty thousand fans. The first Fan Fair was so successful that planning began almost immediately for 1973. The date was changed to June, when the weather would be better. Over one hundred thousand fans attended the second Fan Fair.
Every year brought so many performers and fans to Fan Fair that, in 1982, it was moved to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. Fan Fair stayed at the fairgrounds for another nineteen years.
There was always the unexpected during the festival. In 1974, former Beatle Paul McCartney attended. In 1992, more than six hundred reporters cover the appearance of a popular star, Billy ray Cyrus, who had introduced a new country line dance. In 1996, Garth Brooks, who made a surprise appearance, signed autographs for 23 hours.
In 2001, Fan Fair returned to downtown Nashville as the world's biggest country music festival. Now, over one hundred and twenty-five thousand country music fans go to Nashville every June. As you can imagine, those who want to attend Fan Fair must plan ahead. For example, they need to buy a ticket several months ahead of time. Of course, there's much more to prepare. | high12713.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "face a more dangerous living habitat"
},
"options": [
"find more places to lay their eggs",
"feed on more sediment rich in nutrients",
"face a more dangerous living habitat",
"find it easier to deal with the rise of wat... | Two-thirds of the world's major rivers have now been disrupted with more than 50,000 dams in an attempt to stole water and provide power. In the US,there are more than 85,000 dams,disrupting large and small rives, and in most cases transforming natural flow.The most famous of these,the Hoover Dam, constructed in the l930's,is mainly responsible for the fact that the Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean.
Dams, besides all their attractive benefits, also have negative impacts. Creating a reservoir means a large area must be flooded. Communities may lose their land, houses and culturally impotent sites.
Environmentally, the new reservoir can be a paradise for wildlife, especially birds. However, it can cause greenhouse gas emissions and poison the water for fish. Also, the dramatic rise and fall of water levels during dam releases is too extreme for plains and animals to cope with, resulting in dead zones around the shores of reservoirs. Fish that lay their eggs in the shallows, for example, may find a few hours later that those sites are high and dry.
Dams don't just block water flow. They also prevent fish migrations, and are a barrier to sediment flows. Instead of rushing downriver, sediments get backed up against the dam wall, which cause the reservoir level to increase over time.However, sediments which are rich in nutrients have become a problem. The fertility of the entire system can be influenced, with soils lost during seasonal rains not being replaced.
Perhaps the biggest problem can be seen in deltas , often host to large cities,which are sinking into the oceans. Groundwater is being extracted to feed the city, causing the urban weight to sink and sediments washed away by the ocean are no longer being replaced. The result is that sea level rise in cities from Shanghai to Alexandria. | high19646.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To build up a unified profile of its users"
},
"options": [
"To serve its users better.",
"To make it easier for their work",
"To personalize each user's experience",
"To build up a unified profile of its users"
],
... | Google is preparing for changes in its privacy policy beginning March 1st. The company says it plans to replace more than 60 separate policies for different products with one main policy.
Privacy activists criticized last month's announcement. They are concerned that the new policy will make it easier to track the activities of users across Google's many products -- from Gmail to YouTube.
Marc Rotenberg heads the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. He says Google's aim is to create a single unified profile of its users. "We believe that not only is that a threat to privacy, we actually believe it is illegal, because last year Google entered into an agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission in which they said they would not engage in that kind of data sharing without the permission of their users."
Google says its new policy will make it simpler for users to share information across services like Google Search, Gmail and Google Calendar. And it says the new policy will help personalize each user's experience. Over time, it says, users can expect to see better search results, fewer unwanted advertisements and more content targeted to their interests.
But Marc Rotenberg says in return, people who choose to use Google will lose control over the information they share. "The type of information you might provide for an e-mail service, for example, such as your address book, which contains private information, is different from the type of information that you might provide for a social network service where people purposely make information publicly available to their friends." Mr. Rotenberg says these two kinds of services should be kept separate. "By trying to combine these two services, in our view, Google is actually undermining a very well established expectation of privacy, especially for popular Internet services like electronic mail."
Critics also see a bigger problem with Google's new policy. The plan would not give users a choice to drop out of the data sharing.
"In our view, if people want to make their potential information available, they certainly should have the right to do that. What we are objecting to is the effort by the company to take
away from the users that choice that they should have. That just seems unfair."
Google says it will not be collecting any more data than it does now. And it says users will still be able to control many privacy settings. For example, they can disable their search history and set Gmail chat to "off the record."
European Union officials have asked the company to delay the new policy to make sure it would not violate any EU data protection laws. Marc Rotenberg thinks the Federal Trade Commission in Washington might also try to block the new policy. | high16575.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "send postcards as the gifts to the class."
},
"options": [
"send postcards as the gifts to the class.",
"give each classmate a picture as a gift.",
"buy gifts for some of the classmates.",
"make phone calls to all the c... | Dear Highlights
Ask a question!
E-mail it to letters @ Highlights, com.
Gift Giving
I'm going to China, and everyone in my chss is asking me to buy them something. What should I do?
Reply from the Highlights Editors
Your classmates arc probably just excited about your trip. Most likely they don't expect you to buy gifts for everyone. Sending a /cw postcards to the entire class during your trip would be a wonderful way to share your experiences. The pictures on the cards and your words of description will be thi' best gift of all.
Dog Bagging
My dog always begs for food at the dinner table. I really want to feed him, but my mom says I can't. I'm afraid he won't like me anymore. What should I do?
Reply from the Highlights Editors
Your dog loves you for many more reasons than just for what you feed him. You can show him that you care about him by playing with him, by petting him and speaking kindly to him. and by making sure he has fresh water. It might be best if your dog is not near the din!ner table while you are eating. You could teach him to stay in another room.
Being BiHngua(>
My aunt insists that we speak our language (Tagalog) at home and English outside the house. Do you think she is right?
Reply from the Highlights Editors
It is a great gift to have someone in your family who is willing to take the time to teach you another language. It's a good way to keep family traditions alive, and it helps to develop your language skills. Your ability to use both English and Tagalog will help you learn a third and fourth language later in life So it sounds like a great idea! | high18558.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "commuting time in New York is too long"
},
"options": [
"Cleveland has been entitled a lovely nickname",
"the economic downturn hit cities in the mid-east section",
"Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in all nine categorie... | Cleveland has won the distinction of being the worst city in the United States, according to a new survey. The city has high unemployment, terrible weather, heavy taxes, and ordinary sports teams, all of which have pushed it to the No. 1 position in the Forbes.com list.
"Cleveland was the only city that fell in the bottom half of rankings in all nine categories. And it has been entitled with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the lake," Forbes said on its website,
The economic downturn hit cities across the United States last year particularly in the mid-west section of the country. Crime and unemployment secured the No. 2 spot for Stockton, which held the top position in last year's ranking. Memphis got third place thanks to its violent crime rate and the number of officials who are guilty, while the poor auto industry drove the Michigan cities of Detroit and Flint into the top five.
"A lot of the cities that showed up on our list are going through hard times fight now, dealing with high unemployment, with declining producing bases. Many have experienced strong movement out of the city over the last 20 and 30 years."
Despite its fine weather, Miami scored in the bottom 10 percent in commuting time, and violent crime which sent it into sixth place.
"One of the biggest surprises is Miami. The good weather and no state income taxes _ some of the severe problems that Miami has related to crime as well as long commutes," Badenhausen added.
Florida was followed in the poor ranking by St Louis, Buffalo, Canton, Ohio and Chicago, which has the country's highest sales tax at 10.25 percent. New York, the nation's biggest city, is rich in culture but its lengthy commuting time and high income taxes pushed it into 16th place. | high3985.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "he was looking forward to receiving letters"
},
"options": [
"he took great interest in mail delivery",
"he was looking forward to receiving letters",
"he tried to keep mail delivery from approaching",
"he wanted to tha... | I no longer run for the mail the way I used to. I remember, prior to the e-mail age, the sense of heightened expectation as the hour of mail delivery approached, wondering what slender , handwritten treasures would appear in my box. I once received a letter from a long-lost friend and swelled with such joy that I ran the mail carrier down and shook his hand, as if he had done a heroic deed in conveying the missive to me.
I first learned to love the mail as a young boy. The first thing I ever received that was personally addressed to me was from my friend Duane. We had been the closest of 9-year-old boys. Then he moved away, to Massachusetts. The parting was difficult, but boys didn't cry.
Within the week, however, there was a letter in my mailbox. It was from Duane, and it read, "I'm OK, but I miss you." That first conveyance to me of a written word from a great distance had all the significance of the first Morse code message: "What hath God wrought." It was at that moment that I became a letter writer, quickly discovering that the more letters I wrote, the more I received.
I wrote letters through elementary school, high school, college, and beyond. It got to the point where I could comfortably expect to receive a letter a day. _ - something toward which my thoughts began to move upon waking. What quickened my blood, of course, was the element of surprise: From whom would the letter be today? And what would the news be?
And then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the earth shifted. E-mail had arrived. Despite being fascinated by the new technology, I promised myself that I would never stop writing letters by hand. However, I had no control over the habits of others, and slowly, inexorably , and then with quickened pace, the letters disappeared from my mailbox, having been replaced with electronic "messages" , a totally different beast --in contrast to letters, all e-mails look alike. | high10104.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He had heart trouble and was dying."
},
"options": [
"He was tired and had to have a rest.",
"He had heart trouble and was dying.",
"He was thirsty and wanted to drink some water.",
"He was injured slightly and was blee... | On the day of a big event, many people came to Big Bend Mountain to watch. John Henry and the salesman stood side by side. Even early in the day, the sun was burning hot.
The competition began. John Henry kissed his hammer and started working. At first, the steam-powered drill worked two times faster than he did. Then, he started working with a hammer in each hand. He worked faster and faster. In the mountain, the heat and dust were so thick that most men would have had trouble breathing. The crowd shouted as clouds of dust came from inside the mountain.
The salesman was afraid when he heard what sounded like the mountain breaking. However, it was only the sound of John Henry at work. Polly Ann and her son cheered when the machine was pulled from the _ of the mountain. It had broken down. Polly Ann urged John Henry to come out. But he kept working, faster and faster. He dug deep into the darkness, hitting the steel so hard that his body began to fail him. He became weak, and his heart burst.
John Henry fell to the ground. There was a terrible silence. Polly Ann did not move because she knew what had happened. John Henry's blood spilled over the ground. But he still held one of the hammers. "I beat them," he said. His wife cried out, "Don't go, John Henry.""Bring me a cool drink of water,"he said. Then he took his last breath.
His friends carried his body from the mountain. They buried him near the house where he was born. Crowds went there after they heard about John Henry's death.
Soon, the steam drill and other machines replaced the steel-drivers. Many laborers left their families to look for work. They took the only jobs they could find. As they worked, some sang about John Henry. | high10662.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "eating in them is more comfortable"
},
"options": [
"eating in them is more comfortable",
"the restaurants can save a lot of money",
"they can attract more youngsters to the restaurants",
"customers can see the pictures... | Restaurants in Europe, the United States and Japan are testing technology to let diners order their food direct from a screen at their table instead of depending on a fellow human being to note their choice.
Besides cutting costs, companies that sell the "e-menus" argue the bytes-for-bites way has a new value that can attract younger customers, and various photographs of steaks and gooey desserts attract diners to order more. It also could extend the TV dinner. How about a computer game dinner?
"It's about _ ," said Adi Chitayat, Conceptic's CEO. "If a person starts looking at pictures of chocolate cake, the chances are he'll order it." Frame, a restaurant in Tel Aviv with the system, is said to have its sales on tables with the e-menu increased by about 11% . Customers often call ahead to reserve spots equipped with screens, manager Natalie Edry told Reporters.
At one of the e-menu tables, IT worker Gil Uriel and his young family were enthusiastic as they checked out pictures of the dishes on offer and squabbled overdesserts. "It's more visual," says Uriel, as his children clicked away furiously on a games function between courses. "We can still choose, we can still argue --but it's much easier when we can all see it." | high2325.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The outline of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn."
},
"options": [
"The outline of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn.",
"The childhood of Huckleberry.",
"The reason why Mark Twain wrote the story.",
"The effect of s... | Mark twain tells a boy's story in The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn. Huck is a poor child, without a mother or home. His father drinks too much alcohol and always beats him.
Huck's situation has freed him from the restriction of society. He explores in the woods and goes fishing. He stays out all night and does not go to school. He smokes.
Huck runs away from home. He meets Jim, a black man who has escaped from slavery . They travel together on a raft made of wood down the Mississippi River.
Mark twain started writing "Huckleberry Finn" as a children's story. But it soon became serious. The story tells about the social evil of slavery, seen through the eyes of an innocent child. Huck's ideas about people were formed by the white society in which he lived. So, at first, he does not question slavery. Huck knows that important people believe slavery is natural, the law of God. So, he thinks it is his duty to tell Jim's owners where to find him.
Later, Huck comes to understand that Jim is a good man. He finds he cannot carry out his plan to inform Jim's owners of his whereabouts . Instead, he decides to help Jim escape. He decides to do this, even if God punished him. | high19120.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He had no friends."
},
"options": [
"He had no friends.",
"He was ugly.",
"He had two heads.",
"He had three tails."
],
"question": "Why was the monster unhappy?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
... | Once upon a time there was a monster . He was very ugly and had no friends. No one wanted to talk to him. Even other monsters thought he was ugly.
He lived alone and was very unhappy because he was so lonely.
"I wish I had a friend." He said to himself every day, "One friend would be enough. Someone to talk to."
He wrote a letter to a magazine. The magazine gave people advice.
"Dear Editor," he wrote, "I am a ugly monster. How can I find a friend?"
"Dear monster," the Editor replied, "Advertise for a friend in this magazine." The monster wrote an advertisement.
"Monster wants a friend, male or female. I have two heads, four arms, six legs and three tails. I have one blue eye, one green eye and one brown eye. Smoke comes out of my nose. But I am really a kind monster and will be a good friend to someone. If you would like to meet me, please stand outside Blake's Store at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 7th. Write to Mr. A, Box 45, everybody's Magazine."
A few days later he went to the magazine.
"Do you have any letters for Box 45?" he asked.
The clerk looked in Box 45.
"Yes, there is one." She said, and gave it to him.
The monster opened the letter, and read, "Dear Monster, I think a person's character is more important than his appearance. I will wait outside Blake's Store on Friday. Please carry a flower so that I will recognize you. Yours sincerely, Miss Alice Thwaite." | high4754.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "how to keep the good employees from leaving"
},
"options": [
"how to ensure his employees' high pay",
"how to attract more customers",
"how to look carefully after the employees",
"how to keep the good employees from le... | A lot of management training each year for Circle K Corporation, a national chain of convenience stores. Among the topics we address in our course is the retention of quality employees-a real challenge to managers when you consider the pay scale in the service industry. During these discussions, I ask the participants , "What has caused you to stay long enough to become a manager?" Some time back a new manager took the question and slowly, with her voice almost breaking, said, "It was a $19 baseball glove."
Cynthia told the group that she originally took a Circle K clerk job as an interim position while she looked for something better. On her second or third day behind the counter, she received a phone call from her nine-year-old son, Jessie. He needed a baseball glove for Little League. She explained that as a single mother, money was very tight, and her first check would have to go for paying bills. Perhaps she could buy his baseball glove with her second or third check. When Cynthia arrived for work the next morning, Patricia, the store manager, asked her to come to the small room in the back of the store that served as an office. Cynthia wondered if she had done something wrong or left some part of her job incomplete from the day before. She was concerned and confused.
Patricia handed her a box. "I overheard you talking to your son yesterday," she said, "and I know that it is hard to explain things to kids. This is a baseball glove for Jessie because he may not understand how important he is, even though you have to pay bills before you can buy gloves. You know we can't pay good people like you as much as we would like to; but we do care, and I want you to know you are important to us."
The thoughtfulness, empathy and love of this convenience store manager demonstrates vividly that people remember more how much an employer cares than how much the employer pays. An important lesson for the price of a Little League baseball glove. | high16213.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "collect proposals for the Forum of IUCN Congress"
},
"options": [
"appeal to the public to protect the environment",
"invite more people to participate in workshops",
"collect proposals for the Forum of IUCN Congress",
... | IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature
IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESS
6-15 September 2012, Jeju, Korea
*Forum
Addressing the world's most pressing sustainable development challenges, the Forum offers a unique platform for debates, workshops, dialogues, roundtable discussions, training courses, music and exhibitions.
Events are organized by the IUCN Secretariat, IUCN Members, Commissions and partners and the host country. The Call for Contributions invites you to propose events to be considered for the Forum, part of Congress which is open to all (from 7 to 11 September 2012).
*Simple stepson how to submit a proposal for the Forum
1) Click here: _ : propose an event for the Forum.
2) Go below "Sign in" and create your account.
3) Edit your proposal: Check again all the information you provide and make changes if you want to. Click on Save draft.
4) Invite co-organizers: Get people to join you in organizing the event by inviting them via e-mail.
5) Click on Submit Proposal.
Basically, you have the opportunity to teach, host a discussion, give training or just show your work.
Workshops (TEACH)
*120 minutes session, number of people to be confirmed.
*The idea is to promote understanding on a specific issue while engaging participants to share their knowledge and know-how.
Knowledge Cafe (DISCUSS)
*120 minutes session, suitable for 12 people at the most.
*These aim to share collective knowledge (explore areas of common interest) and gain a deeper understanding of a subject and the issues involved.
Conservation Campus (TRAIN)
*Half day or full day modules , for up to 30 people.
*It's an interactive training session where participants develop new skills and knowledge transfer on relevant conservation topics.
*This type of event provides more in-depth exploration of topics aimed at building the capacity of participants.
Posters (SHOW)
*Your posters are meant to "display conservation work and achievements in an easy and direct way.
*Owners will have time to present their poster during lunch breaks (approximately 10 minutes). | high20979.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the local British pub"
},
"options": [
"the British pub losing popularity",
"the author's love of pubs",
"how the British socialize",
"the local British pub"
],
"question": ". The article is mainly about _ ."... | Whether I'm looking for a good chat with some old Mends or a quiet place to meet a colleague, the pub will be the place I always choose.
I could, of course, go to a bar. But a pub, I always find, is far more comfortable and has a more relaxed atmosphere.
Many people in the UK also have a favorite pub at the end of the road where they live or nearby to where they work. I can almost always guarantee that I'll bump into someone I know at my "local", as we British call our nearest pub.
In fact, many people from the UK say that the pub is a cornerstone of British life. Coming together over a drink, usually of beer, is generally considered the best way to catch up with friends. For those who are a little reserved , as the British sometimes are, it's the best way to open up and get chatting.
However, this habit is slowly changing among some British people. According to a survey completed in August by UK trade magazine The Publican, eating, rather than drinking, has become the main source of income for our 52,000 pubs.
The gastropub , with its greater emphasis on food, is primarily responsible. All over the country, this more expensive type of pub has been springing up, providing a place for more formal meetings with business partners. Wine is often drunk instead of the traditional beer.
But not everyone's happy. Many people hate the fact that some local pubs are closing because new gastropubs are proving more profitable. "Beer sales are sinking and many pubs are struggling to survive," Rob Haward, of the British Beer and Pub Association, told UK newspaper The Daily Mail.
For my part, I'm going to do all I can to keep the local British pub alive. It will be the first place I visit when I go back home. | high12075.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "when they come to their old age"
},
"options": [
"when they are between ages of 18 and 85",
"when they come to their old age",
"when they are in their twenties",
"when they are eighteen years old"
],
"question":... | Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people worried about getting older. Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five. The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
The study also showed that men and women have similar feeling patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.
Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their feelings. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age. | high14404.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "uncomfortable"
},
"options": [
"interesting",
"exciting",
"uncomfortable",
"boring"
],
"question": "According to the passage, moving to an unfamiliar school is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},... | Being in an unfamiliar school can be frightening. If you start a new school, you'll have to worry about making friends. Here are some simple tips which help you make new friends more easily.
*Try speaking to the students you're sitting next to in class. As they're close by, it is easy to chat to them first.
*Try to speak to everyone in your class. You will study here for three years, so it helps if you get along well with them.
*If you don't have many friends in your class, try and make new friends in your neighbor classes. You can also chat to them at lunchtimes and after school.
*Join a lunchtime or afterschool club. You'll get to meet kids of all years that way.
*Ask your teacher to pair you With another student.
*Use your "celebrity status" ! Since you're the new person, you'll have got celebrity status, which you can use for a couple of weeks.
*Talk to classmates, remember to smile, and be open and friendly. Don't break in while your classmates are speaking. When your classmates talk to you, you should listen carefully and look at them in the eye to make them feel important.
*As you grow older, it's natural to make new friends and sometimes that means you begin to grow apart from your old friends. So try and make time for all your friends. But what if a friendship group is pushing you out? If this is happening to you, ask someone you're friendly with what has happened .If the friendship is hopeless, try to find new friends. | high6143.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a lost diary"
},
"options": [
"a lost diary",
"Deborah Logan",
"Cory Luxmoore",
"the Library Company"
],
"question": "This article mainly tells about the story of _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Tom Brennan was working in a Philadelphia office building when he noticed a black bag. The bag contained a book.
This chance discovery ended a 12-day search by the Library Company of Philadelphia for a historical treasure - a 120-page diary kept 190 years ago by Deborah Logan, "a woman who knew everybody in her day," James Green, the librarian told the magazine American Libraries.
Most of the diary is a record of big events in Philadelphia. It also includes a description of British soldiers burning Washington, D.C. in the war of 1812. She describes President James Madison on horseback as "perfectly shaking with fear" during the troubled days. George Washington, she writes, mistook her for the wife of a French man, and praised her excellent English.
The adventure of the lost book began September 4 when Cory Luxmoore arrived from England to deliver the diary of his ancestor to the Library Company, which he and his wife considered to be the best home for the diary.
Green told American Libraries he had the diary in his possession "about five minutes" when Luxmoore took it back because he had promised to show it to one other person. On returning to his hotel after showing the precious book to Green, Luxmoore was shocked to realize that he had left it in the taxi.
Without any delay, Green began calling every taxi company in the city, with no luck. "I've felt sick since then," Luxmoore told reporters.
According to Green, no one has yet learned how the diary came to the office building. Tom Brennan received a reward of $ 1,000, Philadelphia gained another treasure for its history, and Luxmoore told reporters, "It's wonderful news. I'm on high." | high23727.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Why Lincoln Grew Whiskers"
},
"options": [
"Why Lincoln Grew Whiskers",
"A Little Girl's Letter to Lincoln",
"How Lincoln Becamse President of the U. S.",
"Lincoln's Great Kindness to Children"
],
"question": "W... | Though he wore his whiskers only four years, today we can hardly think of Abraham Lincoln without them. He often talked about the little girl in Westfield, New York, who suggested in a letter that he grow the famous whiskers. And he would add, "Sometimes a small thing can change our lives!"
Grace Bedell sat in her room looking at a picture of Lincoln. Her little lamp threw shadows on the picture. A frame of small shadows lay around the thin face and covered the hollow cheeks . "Whiskers!" she thought.
"How nice!" she said to herself. "There will be more people to elect him President if he lets his whiskers grow. Somebody ought to tell him." She reached for a pen and began to write the letter.
On February 16 of the following year a special train carried the newly elected President Lincoln to the White House. The train stopped briefly at a station near Grace's town. At the station Lincoln was speaking to a large crowd, among whom were the Bedell family.
Lincoln continued his speech, "I have a little friend in this place," he said. "That little lady told me how to improve my appearance, and I want to thank her. If she is present, I would like to speak to her. Her name is Grace Bedell."
Grace's father led her forward to Lincoln. She looked and laughed happily, for up there on his face were the whiskers.
If you visit Springfield, Illinois, today you will see the house in which Abraham Lincoln used to live. On the wall of a room hangs a piece of paper covered with a child's handwriting: "Dear sir..." | high637.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "In Cairo."
},
"options": [
"In China.",
"In Cairo.",
"In Europe.",
"In Western Africa."
],
"question": "Where do the students get poor mark if they use American spellings?",
"question_type": "factiod_questio... | Long after its introduction into the New World, American English was still considered non-standard English. According to some people of the 1780s American English was a peasant's language that a "gentleman" will not speak. Considered in a bilingual point of view, British English was the dominant language linked to prestige and language purism . The belief in the authority or say in the superior of British English, has remained to the twentieth century, especially in the former British Empire or in the fields of British influence.
Thus, it is reported that in prefix = st1 /China, teachers and school textbooks refer to and recommend Received Pronunciation as the model, as well as standard British sentence structures, spelling and words. British English is also encouraged and accepted as the criteria of some major official examinations, for example, College English Test and Test for English Majors which are conducted by government. Similar situations could be found in countries, for example, in Africa, the West African Examination Council and Joint Admission accepts the British English as the standard English. Report can also be found that inCairosome university students received lower grades if they used American spellings instead of British English. In Europe, we find teachers, British people as well as natives of the country in which they work, who follow the British English standard, and laugh at the American English.
However, the above attitudes are nothing but the last influence of a long-gone period of British supermacy . The beginning of a clear lead of American English can be traced to the decades after World War II. This coincides with the simultaneous rise of the US as a military and technological power and the decline of the British Empire, which drove many to American English. And from then on, American English has continuously sent its influence to every corner of the planet. | high24048.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "an alligator"
},
"options": [
"his mother",
"an alligator",
"a farmer",
"a reporter"
],
"question": "The boy's legs were scarred by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"... | A couple of years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out of the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shoe. His mother in the house was looking out of the window and saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In great fear, she ran toward the water, shouting to her son as loudly as she could.
Hearing her voice, the little boy became worried and made a return to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.
From the bank. the mother caught her little boy by the arms just as the alligator _ his legs. That began a tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too determined to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.
After weeks and weeks in hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the attack of the animal and on his arms were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.
The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the injury, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pants legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter. "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn't let go. | high9927.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "modern technology"
},
"options": [
"transportation",
"modern technology",
"latest news",
"a new idea"
],
"question": "According to this passage, _ is very important to people in a disaster area.",
"quest... | Telephone, television, radio, telegraph and the Internet all help people communicate with each other. As a result, ideas and news of events spread quickly all over the world. For example, within seconds, people can know the results of an election in another country. An international football match comes into the homes of everyone with a television set. News of a disaster such as an earthquake or a flood can bring help from distant countries within hours. Help is on the way. Because of modern technology like the satellites that travel around the world, information travels fast.
How has this speed of communication changed the world? To many people, the world has become smaller. Of course this does not mean that the world is actually physically smaller. It means that the world seems smaller. Two hundred years ago, communication between the continents took a long time. All news was carried on ships that took weeks or even months to cross the ocean. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it took six weeks for news from Europe to reach America. This time difference influenced people's actions. For example, one battle, or fight, in the War of 1812 between England and the United States could have been avoided. A peace agreement had already been signed. Peace was made in England, but the news of peace took six weeks to reach America. During these six weeks, the large and serious Battle of New Orleans was fought. Many people lost their lives after a peace treaty had been signed. They would not have died if news had come in time. In the past, communication took much more time than it does now.
There was a good reason why the world seemed so much larger than it does today. | high15295.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A Modern Tale of Two Cities"
},
"options": [
"Londoner and Parisians",
"A Modern Tale of Two Cities",
"The Similarity of Two Cities",
"Fancy London and Fashionable Paris"
],
"question": "The best title for this ... | London--A morning's train ride away, across the Channel, English kids talk about Liverpool's soccer team in a Paris puB.Some Parisians have even started to go to work in London.In the 19thcentury, Charles Dickens compared the two great rival cities, London and Paris, in " A Tale of Two Cities".These days, it might be A Tale of One City.
Parisians are these days likely to smile in sympathy at a visitor's broken French and respond in polite English.As jobs grew lack at home over recent years, perhaps 250,000 Frenchmen moved across the Channel.With an undersea tunnel, they could travel between cities in three hours.The European Union freed them from immigration and customs.
Paris, rich in beauty, is more attractive.But London feels more full of life, and more fun until the pubs shut down.
"For me, the difference is that London is real, alive," said Trevor Wheeler, a banker.
Chantal Jaouen, a professional designer, agrees."I am French, but I'll stay in London," she saiD.
There is, of course, the other view.Julie Lenoux is a student who moved to London two years ago."I think people laugh more in Paris," she saiD.
In fact, London and Paris, with their obvious new similarities, are beyond the old descriptions.As the European Union gradually loosened controls, Londoners _ into Paris to shop, eat and buy property .
"Both cities have changed beyond recognition." Said Larry Collins, a writer and sometimes a Londoner.Like most people who know both well, he finds the two now fit together comfortably.
"I first fell in love with Paris in the 1950s and it is still a wonderful place," Collins saiD."But if I had to choose, it would be London.Things are so much more ordered, and life is better."
But certainly not cheaper.In fancy parts of London, rents can be twice those on Avenue Foch in Paris.Deciding between London and Paris requires a lifestyle choice.
Like Daphne Benoit, a French journalism student with perfect English, many young people are happy to be close enough so they don't have to choose.
"I love Paris, my little neighborhood, the way I can walk around a centre, but life is so structured," she saiD."In London, you can be who you want.No one cares." | high22439.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "About 12 issues."
},
"options": [
"Less than 10 issues.",
"Less than 11 issues.",
"Less than 12 issues.",
"About 12 issues."
],
"question": "How many issues dose the National Geographic Magazine have per year?",... | The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to National Geographic, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded. It has become one of the world's best-known magazines and is immediately identifiable by the characteristic yellow border running around the edge of its cover.
There are 12 monthly issues of National Geographic per year, plus additional map supplements. On rare occasions, special editions are also issued. It contains articles about geography, popular science, history, culture, current events, and photography. The current Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Magazine is the well-known photographer, Chris Johns, who has photographed extensively in Africa. The foreword to Johns' own illustrated book on Africa was written by Nelson Mandela.
Society Executive Vice President John Q. Griffin, and President of the Magazine Group, has overall responsibility for the English language magazines at National Geographic. Terry B. Adamson, Society Executive Vice President who also is the Society's chief legal officer and heads governmental relations, has overall responsibility for the Society's international publications.
With a worldwide circulation in all languages of nearly nine million, more than fifty million people read the magazine every month. In May, 2007, National Geographic magazine won the American Society of Magazine Editors' prestigious General Excellence Award in the over two million circulation category and the best photography award for three issues of the magazine in 2006. | high18969.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "wished that her mom were as good as Tiffany's"
},
"options": [
"wished that her mom were as good as Tiffany's",
"went to school with Tiffany every day",
"usually compared her lesson with Tiffany's",
"sometimes gave lots... | During my elementary school years,I used to compare my mom with my best friend Tiffany's mom.
Tiffany's mom always gave her lots of money to buy the most fashionable clothes and favorite food. Her morn allowed her to do anything she liked. I really admired Tiffany. My mom didn't give me much pocket money and she always told me that I should behave my self. 1 was annoyed with her.
Whenever I didn't get what 1 wanted,1 would complain to my mom,Tiffany's mom would give her that!1 wish she were my mom. "Every time,my mom would calmly say "Poor Tiffany".
I couldn't understand her. "She shouldn't be feeling sorry for Tiffany!"I thought. "She should be feeling sorry for me. "
One day,I couldn't help saying to Morn,"Poor Tiffany?Lucky Tiffany! She gets everything she wants! Why do you feel sorry for her?"I burst into tears.
My mom sat down next to me and said softly , "Yes,I do feel sorry for her. I have been teaching you a lesson that she will never be taught. "
I looked up at her. "What are you talking about?"
Mom said with care,"One day she will really want something. Maybe she'11 find out that she can't have it. Her mother won't always be around to give her money,and what's more,money can't buy everything. "
She continued,"I have taught you valuable lessons by not giving you everything you want. You'11 know how to look for bargains and save money,but she won't. You'11 under stand that you need to work hard to get the things that you want but she won't. When Tiffany is a grown woman,she'11 wake up one day and she will be wishing that she had a mom like the one you've got. Life lessons are more important than modern clothes and delicious food. ''
It took some time,but I eventually understood my mom's words. Now I am a happy and successful woman. | high16944.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "serious results have been caused"
},
"options": [
"somebody has died",
"a serious traffic accident has happened",
"serious results have been caused",
"people have trouble in travelling"
],
"question": "Communica... | The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is quickly made by all
who travel, study, govern or sell. Whether the activity is tourism, research, government, policing or business, the lack of a common language can severely delay progress or can stop it altogether.
Although communication problems of this kind must happen thousands of times each day, very few become public knowledge. Publicity comes only when a failure to communicate has major results, such as strikes, lost orders, legal problems or deadly accidents--even, at times, war. One reported example of communication failure took place in 1970, when several Americans ate a species of poisonous mushroom. No remedy was known, and two of the people died within days. A radio report of the case was heard by a chemist who knew of a treatment that had been successfully used in 1959 and published in 1963. Why had the American doctors not heard of it seven years later? Possibly because the report of the treatment had been published only in journals written in European languages other than English.
Several comparable cases have been reported. But isolated examples do not give an impression of the size of the problem--something that can come only from studies of the use or avoidance of foreign-language materials and contacts in different communicative situations. In the English-speaking scientific world, for example, surveys of books and documents consulted in libraries and other information agencies have shown that very little foreign-language material is ever consulted. Library requests in the field of science and technology showed that only 13 percent were for foreign language journals.
The language barrier presents itself entirely to firms who wish to market their products in other countries. British industry, in particular, has in recent decades often been criticized for its assumption that foreign buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and that awareness of other languages is not therefore a matter to be considered first. In the 1960s, over two-thirds of British firms dealing with non-English-speaking customers were using English for outgoing letters; many had their sales language only in English; and as many as 40 percent employed no one who was able to communicate in the customer's languages. A similar problem was identified in other English-speaking countries, especially the USA, Australia and New Zealand. And non-English speaking countries were by no means free from the same problem--although the widespread use of English as an alternative language made them a bit more able to communicate with other countries.
The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly improved the situation. Industrial training projects have promoted an increase in language and cultural awareness. Many firms now have their own translation services. Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved; some produce their own technical glossaries , to ensure consistency when material is being translated. It is now much more readily accepted that marketing efforts can be delayed, damaged or ruined by a failure to take the language needs of the customer into consideration. | high17482.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "40 million dollars."
},
"options": [
"130 million dollars.",
"220 million dollars",
"40 million dollars.",
"90 million dollars."
],
"question": "How much has the USDA spent on farm emissions research so far?",
... | Experts say that agriculture provides fourteen percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions each year. The gases released include carbon dioxide, a major cause of global warming.
Twenty-one nations around the world recently joined forces to better understand and prevent greenhouse gas emissions from farms. The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases was launched at the United Nations conference on climate change. The meeting took place in Copenhagen,Denmark last month.
Agricultural experts blame a number of farm activities for producing greenhouse gases. For example, animal waste and cattle digestive systems release methane(,) gas. Fertilized soil and the burning of crop waste also release harmful gases into the air. Experts say some methods of farming---turning the soil to prepare for planting---also release harmful carbon dioxide.
An official of the European Commission's Directorate Genera1 for Research says agricultural greenhouse gas emissions can be cut. Maive Rute suggests feeding animals a diet designed to reduce emissions.
The new agricultural research group says protecting against global warming is only part of its purpose. It says the world also needs to develop better farming methods to feed growing populations in poor countries.
United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said no one single nation can fight agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and increase food production at the same time. This is why the _ e is important for combining resources and finding new ones.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will increases spending on farm emissions research by ninety million dollars over the next four years. The total will reach one hundred thirty million dollars. The USDA will share the research with other countries in the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases and support researchers from developing countries that belong to the alliance. Money from the Borlaug Fellowship program will let the researchers study agricultural climate change with American scientists.
Mister Vilsack said that just as climate change has no borders , there should be no borders for research. | high20548.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "this is his father' birthday and he's 40 years old"
},
"options": [
"his father is very busy",
"this is the boy' birthday",
"the boy wants to play with his father",
"this is his father' birthday and he's 40 years old"
... | A father sat at his desk poring over his monthly bills when his young son rushed in and announced, "Dad, because this is your birthday and you're 40 years old, I'm going to give you 40 kisses, one for each year!" When the boy started making good on his word, the father cried out suddenly, "Oh, Andrew, don't do it now; I'm too busy!"
The youngster immediately fell silent as tears welled up in his big blue eyes.Apologicaliy the father said, "You can finish later."
The boy said nothing but quietly walked away, disappointment written over his face.That evening the father said, "Come and finish the kisses now, Andrew!" But the boy didn't respond.
Unfortunately, a few days later after this incident, the boy had an accident and was drowned.His heartbroken father wrote...
"If only I could tell him how much I regret my thoughtless words, and could be sure that he knows how much my heart is aching."
Love is not only giving.Any loving act must be warmly accepted or it will be taken as rejection and can leave a scar.If we are too busy to give and receive love, we are too busy! Nothing is more important than responding with love to the cry for love from those who are near and precious to us, because there may be no chance at all as in the case of the little boy. | high11795.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "had no doubt they would save themselves"
},
"options": [
"was confident that God would help",
"doubted how they could get out of trouble",
"was sure they'd end their lives there",
"had no doubt they would save themselve... | I was gazing out the window of the plane, when I felt a powerful jolt as if a truck had hit us from behind.Following Les and Randy I jumped into the lake.
Twenty minutes later, in the icy cold water, I felt _ , I couldn't last much longer.But I thought of the difficult situations I'd gone through.I wasn't going to die.I swam for more than an hour till I reached shore.There were Randy and Les, alive but in bad shape.
"We're going to have to pull through the night." I told them."Do you think we're gonna make it?" Les asked.I hesitated, because I had never felt worse."Yes," I replied encouragingly.We built a shelter with rocks I gathered nearby and made a fire to keep warm.Over and over I told myself, "We're going to make it.God will help us."
Next morning, we scanned the water, trying to spot a fisherman.A couple of hours later a boat came into view.We waved and shouted.The boat moved across the water till we could no longer see it.We spotted a second one.Same deal.Then another boat.Randy ran about a mile after the boat along the shore.Finally they spotted him.
"It's a miracle," one fisherman said after listening to our story."We're here for a fishing tournament.This spot never has fish this time of year.But for some reason I thought it necessary to check it out.You should have been senseless after 30 minutes in that water.No way you should have made it."
That's my most recent brush with death.Fight to survive.That's what it takes to be a true survivor. | high21656.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "answer some readers' questions"
},
"options": [
"introduce his new books.",
"introduce two funny stories",
"explain why he enjoys writing",
"answer some readers' questions"
],
"question": "The writer wrote this ... | I receive many letters from children and can't answer them all--there wouldn't be enough time in a day. I'll try to answer some of the questions that are mostly asked. Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte's Web? Well, many years ago, I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.
As for Charlotte's Web, I like animals and my farm is a very pleasant place to be--at all hours. One day, when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was going to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save his life. Three years after I started writing it; it was published . ( I am not a fast writer, as you can see.)
Sometimes I'm asked when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early -as soon as I could spell. Children often find pleasure through trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was not good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing could be a way of making a living.
Well, here is the answer to the last question. No, they are imaginary stories. In real life, a family doesn't have a child who looks like a mouse and a spider doesn't write words in her web. Although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too--truth about the way people and animals feel, think and act. | high8387.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Environmentalists."
},
"options": [
"Environmentalists.",
"The government.",
"Business leaders.",
"Scientists."
],
"question": "Which group supports to cut carbon emissions by at least 25%?",
"question_type"... | Australia has promised to introduce the most comprehensive carbon trading program outside Europe in 2010. The government in Canberra plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least five percent by 2020, but it could make bigger reductions if other countries agree to tougher targets.
The Australian government warns that without tough environmental measures the country could lose key industries and jobs. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says the economy is under threat and decisive action is needed.
Central to the government's climate change plan is a carbon emissions trading program that will be introduced within two years. It would involve one thousand of the nation's biggest companies and would cover about three-quarters of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions.
Many scientists believe that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, contribute to global warming. Many of them are released by burning fuels such as coal and oil.
Companies will be required to buy permits for each ton of carbon they emit, although big polluting exporters will receive up to 90 percent of their carbon licenses free.
Many business leaders want the government to delay the plan because of the current global financial crisis, which is slowing the Australian economy. Peter Anderson from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it is irresponsible to bring in a carbon trading plan now.
Environmentalists, on the other hand, say Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has not properly addressed the threat of climate change. Activists had sought a minimum emissions cut of 25 percent.
Instead, the Rudd government aims to cuts carbon emissions by at least five percent of 2000 levels by 2020. That amount could rise to 15 percent, if future global agreements set such a target.
Ray Nias of the environmental group WWF says Australia will pay the price for low targets. "This is a deeply, deeply disappointing target," Nias said. "It commits Australia to long-term climate change. It will make Australia's ability to negotiate global agreements very, very difficult. It is much lower than even we had imagined."
Australia has one of the highest per-person greenhouse emissions rates in the world because of its reliance on coal for electricity.
_ | high14835.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They disturbed the writer's living greatly ."
},
"options": [
"They loved football too much",
"They often held parties .",
"They disturbed the writer's living greatly .",
"They went to bed too late and got up too early ... | Finding a suitable place to live is not easy for a student who first arrived in a strange place . I was lucky because I had booked a dormitory with the school before I arrived .. I t was a flat with seven independent rooms and a shared bathroom and kitchen . all of my flatmates are all students form Britain . I thought I was lucky to be part of this flat with these energetic young men . However , I found myself unhappy with them only a few days after I stayed there . These young people seemed never to be quiet . Usually they would not come back until late into the night .They even played football in the room whenever they like , whether _ was early morning or late night . Worse still , they always had parties . Those loud music and laughter made me sleepless the whole night . Finally , I had no choice but to ask the authority to move me to another flat where most of the students were international students pursuing their master degrees . They were older in age and hold heavier study burden . So they were quieter .
My advice for those who want to study in the UK is to get in touch with the international student accommodation service of your school first and tell them to arrange for you to share a flat with graduates before you come here. | high151.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "In the 1980s."
},
"options": [
"In the 1970s.",
"In the 1980s.",
"In the 1990s.",
"In the 2000s"
],
"question": "When was the baby deaths rate for both boys and girls equal?",
"question_type": "factiod_quest... | China has announced it's abolishing its one-child policy. What difference has it made, statistically speaking?
400 million births prevented
The one-child policy, officially in place since 1979, has prevented 400 million births. Parents have faced fines and other punishments for having more children.
The majority of the decrease in China's fertility rate happened in the 1970s. It dropped from 5.8 children per woman in 1970 to 2.7 in 1978. Despite the one-child policy the rate had only fallen to 1.7 by 2013.
21:28-baby deaths rate
Since the one-child policy was introduced, baby girls have become more likely to die than boys.
In the 1970s, according to the United Nations, 60 males per 1, 000 live births died under the age of one. For girls the figure was 53. In the 1980s, after the one-child policy became official, the rate for both was 36. By the 1990s, 26 males per 1,000 live births died before the age of one - and 33 girls. The 2000s saw 21 boys per 1,000 live births dying and 28 girls.
1.16 boys born for every girl
Sexually selective abortions have been considered as a major cause of China's unusual imbalance.
Gietel-Basten, associate professor in social policy at Oxford University, says the births of many girls are not registered if parents have broken the rule by having two children, adding officials often turn a blind eye. It's estimated there are now 33 million more men than women in China.
4: 2: 1 families
With the ageing of China's population and the continuation of the one-child policy, a "4: 2 :1" home is the description given to households in which there are four grandparent, cared for by two working age parents, who themselves have one child.
By 2050, it's predicted that a quarter of China's population will be 65 or older. The predicted decline in the number of people of working age is thought to have persuaded the government to drop the one-child policy. | high13182.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Where the Wild Things Are"
},
"options": [
"You and Me, Baby",
"Where the Wild Things Are",
"Goodnight Moon",
"Ruffi Ruff! Where's Scruff?"
],
"question": "If you want a book for an eight-year-old, which one wil... | #Ruffi Ruff! Where's Scruff?
Reading level: Baby--reschool
Hardcover: 16 pages
Language: English
Availability: In Stock.Sold by Amazon-com.Gift--wrap available.
Book Description: It's bath time for Scruff.But does anyone know where he's hiding? Have the cows seen him? Moo--no! How about the pigs? Oink--no! But not for toddlers.If they look carefully, they'll find Scruffhiding on every pop--up page!
#You and Me, Baby
Reading level: Baby--Grade 1
Hardcover: 40 pages
Language: English
Availability: In Stock.Ships from and sold byAmazon.com.Gift--wrap available.
Only 4 left in stock--rder soon.
#The Giving Tree
Reading level: Ages 4~8
Hardcover: 64 pages
Language: English
Availability: Sold all the year round and choose One--Day Shipping at checkout.
Book Description: Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy.Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk...and the tree was happy.
#Where the Wild Things Are
Reading level: Ages 6~10
Hardcover Comic: 62 pages
Language: English
Availability: In Stock.Ships from and Sold by Amazon-com.Gift--wrap available.Order it at once, and choose One--Day Shipping at checkout.
#Goodnight Moon(Board book)
Reading level: Baby--Preschool
Board book: 30 pages
Language: English
Availability: In Stock.Ships from and sold by Amazon-com.
Book description: Perhaps the perfect children's bedtime book.Goodnight Moon is a short poem of goodnight wishes from a young rabbit.He says goodnight to every object in sight and within earshot, including the "quiet old lady whispering hush." | high9099.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "have attracted wide attention"
},
"options": [
"made her parents divorce",
"have attracted wide attention",
"made her father unhappy",
"were a difficult decision to make"
],
"question": "Laura Dekker's plans to ... | The mother of the 13-year-old Dutch girl Laura Dekker, whose plans to make a solo sailing trip around the world have recently made world headlines, has spoken out against the trip. "It breaks my heart to think that because of this I could lose contact with my daughter," she said in an interview. "I have never before made such a difficult decision. But I must accept the consequences. I would rather have a live daughter who I will never see again than a dead daughter."
It is the first time that Laura's mother, Babs Muller, has spoken out against the trip. Laura's parents are divorced and the girl has lived with her father since she was six. Her father Dick Dekker supports Laura's plans. However, the Dutch Child Protection Board has decided to place the girl under supervision for two months to ascertain whether she is mentally and physically capable of undertaking the journey.
Ms Muller says she is confident that Laura is technically capable of making the journey. "She can sail like the devil. That's not the problem." However, she is afraid of the problems a 13-year-old girl can encounter in the harbors of Third-World countries and of the psychological pressure of being alone for such a long period on the ocean. "The most important thing, in my eyes, is that she is not yet an adult."
Ms Muller says she told Laura once before that she was opposed to the idea. Her daughter replied, "If you forbid me, you will have ruined my entire life. Then I'll never want to see you again." However, Laura's mother says that reports that a camera team is planning to follow her around the world could change her opinion about the trip. | high8393.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "didn't choose to ignore the normal sounds on purpose"
},
"options": [
"experienced deafness due to their inattention",
"were deaf to the normal sounds intentionally",
"can hear the normal-volume sounds when performing the dem... | Teenagers around the world can be glad with the news that their brain deserves the blame when parents' orders go ignored while they tap on their smartphones.
A new scientific study from the University College London has found that humans may suffer temporarily deaf when they're simultaneously focusing on something visual. Research found that the 13 volunteers experienced inattentional deafness to the normal-volume sounds playing in the background as their visual tasks became increasingly difficult. 'We found that when volunteers were performing the demanding visual task, they were unable to hear sounds that they would normally hear,' study co-author Maria Chait said in a statement. 'The brain scans showed that people were not only ignoring or filtering out the sounds, they were not actually hearing them in the first place.'
The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that the visual and auditory processing centers that make sense of the sights and sounds that surround us share limited resources.
Inattentional deafness is a common everyday experience and the study explains why, according to UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Professor Nilli Lavie, a co-author of the study. 'This could also explain why you might not hear your bus or train stop being announced if you're concentrating on your phone, book, or newspaper. ''If you try to talk to someone focusing on a book, game, or television program and don't receive a response, they are not necessarily ignoring you, they simply might not hear you! ' she said.
Loud sounds--like ambulance sirens--will still be able to break through, but some situations could become potentially dangerous when the quieter ones go unheard, according to Medical Daily. 'This has more serious implications in situations such as the operating theater, when a surgeon concentrating on their work might not hear the equipment beeping,' Lavie said. 'It also applies to drivers concentrating on complex directions as well as cyclists and motorists who are focusing intently on something such as an advertisement or even simply an interesting-looking passerby. | high14821.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Tea break plays an important role in people's life in Britain."
},
"options": [
"Tea Breaks cannot make people more active at work.",
"British people drink more tea than people in other countries.",
"Tea break plays an import... | China has been drinking tea since the time of Shennong, 5,000 years ago. Britain's relationship with tea is much shorter, but tea enjoys the pride as the UK's national drink. According to the UK Tea Council, British people drink an average of three cups a day or a national total of 165 million cups every day.
With figures like these, it is no surprise that time spent taking tea affects the working day in Britain. A recent survey found that 24 minutes a day are lost to making, buying and drinking tea and coffee. That is, PS400 a year is lost in working hours per employee, or 190 days over a lifetime. So, should employers be worried about this lost working time, or does the tea break make up in other ways?
One argument is that caffeine improves mental state: a drink of tea or coffee can make you active and focus on work.
Professor Rogers of the University of Bristol disagrees. After years of studying caffeine he sees nothing can prove that. "Workers would perform equally well if not drinking it at all," he says. "But if they're often drinking it and then go without, they'll feel tired and won't work well."
Psychologist Cooper instead emphasizes the role tea breaks play in office life, and in building social relationships. "We need to make people more active and see other people. The tea break is one way of doing this," says Cooper.
And Professor Rogers also points out the comfort effect of a hot drink: "We warm our hands on them on a cold day; they're comforting and play a big role in our everyday life. Whatever the caffeine's doing, I'd say these 24 minutes aren't wasted." | high12288.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "dreams can help improve skills"
},
"options": [
"games are useful for memory",
"tasks can only be settled through dreams",
"players stop learning in dreams",
"dreams can help improve skills"
],
"question": "Robe... | When you tidy your messy bedroom, it gets a lot easier to find things. Dreams may work the same way for a messy brain, helping you learn by organizing memories and ideas.
To test how much dreams can help learning, Robert Stickgold had some students play a shape-fitting game called Tetris for a few hours and then go to sleep. Soon they were dreaming of falling Tetris shapes. Interestingly, the worst Tetris players had the most Tetris dreams and improved their game the most. Similar tests have shown the same results for all kinds of skills.
As we dream, many important tasks are getting done. The brain decides what to keep and what to forget. It is connecting new experiences to older learning. In fact, the brain is learning all night long.
Another important task of dreams may be to help us deal with emotions . At night, emotions are in the driver's seat. People who have had an upsetting experience often dream about it afterward. Often the dream event changes somehow--another way the brain tries to make the memory less upset. So if your best friend moves away, you might dream that you're the one who's moving. In fact, dreams have a proven power to improve mood, and people who dream about what's bothering them usually feel better sooner than those who don't.
Everybody dreams for a couple of hours every night--in the course of your life, you'll spend about 25 years asleep and 6 years dreaming. There's probably no single answer to the question why we dream, but there doesn't have to be. One dream might help you remember your math facts, while another might lead to a new invention, or give you a fun, crazy story to tell your friends. It's all in a night's work for our busy, mysterious brains. | high13196.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To advocate digital education."
},
"options": [
"To advocate digital education.",
"To inform people of Digital Learning Day.",
"To present the achievement of digital revolution.",
"To introduce the development of digita... | February 1 , 2012 marked the first ever Digital Learning Day, a day devoted to exploring, promoting and celebrating revolutionary teaching and instruction practices that involve students in the digital world around them.This daylong celebration was organized in recognition of the fast-changing landscape of the social and work environment students find themselves a part of.But as a whole, education has dropped behind the digital revolution.
Digital Learning Day sought to bring awareness to the great influence of digital learning on the classroom and the amazing potential digital technologies have to involve students in new ways and motivate them to create and cooperate.
The day started with a National Town Hall meeting, accessed online, of course.Schools around the country used Skype to join the conversation and interact with the speakers.Participants, including 39 states, 15,000 teachers and more than 2 million students, were all involved in some form of digital learning activities and revolution.The activities across the nation showed some of the best in digital education.
Many schools celebrated by using iPads.Miller Junior High School in Aberdeen, Wash.distributed an iPad to every 7th and 8th grade student.Other schools used the notebooks for science projects, health projects and photography.
Kindergarteners in Topeka, Kansas used Skype to communicate with other classrooms and learn about how other students learn.
The daylong celebration also _ in the digital world with bloggers commenting on digital education trends, teachers using Twitter and social media to share information and online articles.
What' s clear from the events of the day is that education needs to catch up with the digital revolution.Students shouldn ' t first hear about the " cloud" or interact with a wiki after graduation.Schools should include digital and technology revolutions in daily instruction.Plus, digital technologies can grow and improve the cooperative, creative and critical thinking skills students need to succeed later in life.
Digital technology is here to stay.If schools truly want to prepare students for the 21st Century, they will need to welcome the ideas from the first ever Digital Teaming Day and get ready to show their best. | high23055.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "There is no deadline for submissions."
},
"options": [
"Poems must be submitted in September.",
"It is for students from different grades.",
"There is no deadline for submissions.",
"Winners are chosen within each grade... | A good way to practice your writing and be recognized by professionals and scholars is to enter writing contests. There are a variety of different writing contests open to teens who enjoy writing essays, fictional stories, poems and other written pieces.
Creative communication Essay Contest
The Creative Communication Essay Contest is sponsored by Creative Communication, an organization which promotes and encourages creative writing in students. The contest is open to students in grades four to 12. To enter, submit an original , non-fiction essay of 100 to 300 words on a topic of your choice. The contest is held three times a year with a fall deadline in October, a spring deadline in February and a summer deadline in July. Winners are chosen each time, one in each of the three divisions--grades 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12.
American Library of Student Poetry Contest
The American Library of Student Poetry Contest is open to students in grades three to 12. To enter, submit an original poem of 20 lines or less. Poems are judged on originality, creativity and artistic quality, and submissions are accepted throughout the year, with the winners being announced in September. First-,second- and third-place winners are chosen within each of the four grade categories, grades 3-5,6-7, 8-9, 10-12.
YCteen Essay Contest
The YCteen Essay Contest is hosted by YCteen, a life style magazine for teens. The contest is open to American teens , ages 14to19, and is held twice a year with the first deadline being in October and the second in December. To enter, submit an original, non-fiction essay of about 800 words answering a given essay question. Past questions have focused on issues such as climate change and activism. All winning entries will be published on the YCteen website and in the print version of the magazine.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is an art and creative writing contest hosted and sponsored by a group of more than 100 literary art organizations across the United States. The contest is open to teens in grades seven to 12 going to school in the United States and American schools abroad . Pieces can be submitted to any of 28 available categories, including humor, poetry, critical essays, journalism and more. Submissions are accepted starting in September, and the deadline ranges from December to January depending on your region. | high11959.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "help you to develop a good personality"
},
"options": [
"help you to get along well with others",
"give you advice on how to be happy",
"help you to get rid of our bad behaviors",
"help you to develop a good personality... | Miguel's co-workers don't quite understand him. One day he is smiling and friendly, a real team player. The next day, he is cross, getting angry over minor things, especially when asked to improve one of his designs.
Identifying your personality characteristics is the first step in developing a good attitude. Are you a positive, confident person or are you shy and reserved? Do you face problems, looking for solutions, or do you feel someone to blame? Characteristics define you. They help you succeed, or they hold you back.
Self-awareness, or understanding the factors that make up your personality, is an important step towards happiness, and happiness is the key characteristic of a good attitude. To become self-aware is to be aware of both your good and bad characteristics.
What are the characteristics that people compliment on you? Are you dependable", "responsible" or "solid"? Pay attention to the compliment because they are a confirmation of your strongest characteristics. You can use these characteristics to create an even better image.
People form opinions about you. Whether they are right or wrong doesn't enter the question. You, however, can change their opinions by demonstrating the personality characteristics and attitudes that match the way you want to be viewed. In becoming self-aware, understanding how others see you is an important step. This can be painful; but if you are brave enough to try it, it can be an excellent growth experience.
Change is not easy, especially when it has to do with your behaviors. You should break the behavior change into small steps because small steps are easier to achieve and more likely to last. The change will be permanent if you want to change for yourself. | high21642.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The new capital of Brasilia of Brazil"
},
"options": [
"Manhattan in New York",
"The new capital of Brasilia of Brazil",
"Los Angles",
"London"
],
"question": "The example that shows the influence of political d... | Cities do not appear on the earth randomly, nor do they grow in a random fashion. They develop as the result of a complex interplay of environmental and social factors.
Several factors in the natural environment determine the location of cities. Large cities, for example, are generally not found in inhospitable zones. Most major cities developed from villages and towns that grew up along shorelines, rivers, or railroads. The growth pattern of an urban settlement is also influenced by factors in the natural environment. For example, mountains must be skirted, lakes must be avoided, and housing and industry must be placed conveniently near water and raw materials.
Social factors also influence the appearance and development of cities. For instance, a city may be established as a result of a political decision : prefix = st1 /Brazilcreated the new capital ofBrasiliain the midst of the jungle in order to stimulate the economic development there. Ideas about architecture and town planning also influence urban growth patterns. For instance, the pattern ofManhattanis the product of a planning decision made in 1811. Besides, the actual use to which land is put often depends on economic factors, because owners tend to devote their land to the use that gives them the greatest gain.
The location of particular social group is also influenced by ecological factors. Certain kinds of land use , such as parking lots , may quickly generate a disliked area and result in a mass departure of the original inhabitants. The location of the neighborhoods of different groups is thus related to such factors as their income and to their feelings of group unity or prejudice against outsiders.
Social inventions such as the automobile and mass transit systems also influence urban patterns. If workers have to walk to their factories every day, their homes must be near the workplace, but if they can drive to work , they can easily live fifteen miles away. If large numbers of the urban labor force move away from the city centre , services and facilities will tend to follow them , perhaps leaving the city centre greatly changed. | high16788.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "find the new world"
},
"options": [
"find the new world",
"build an entirely new country",
"go and visit the American Indians",
"get more information about America and find a way to Asia"
],
"question": "In the ... | To find how the name Canada came about we must go back to the 16th century. At that time, the French dreamed of disclosing and controlling more land, of expanding trade beyond their borders and of spreading their faith across the world .In 1535, Francois I ,King of France, ordered a navigator named Jacques Cartier to explore the New World and search for a passage to India.
Cartier first arrived at the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, which he wanted to explore. He did not know what to expect but he hoped that this Gulf was just an arm of the ocean between two islands. If it was, he would soon be on his way to the Far East. So he sailed upstream along the St. Lawrence River. However, instead or reaching Asia he arrived at Quebec or Stadacona, as the Indians called it. It was at this point that the term " Canada" entered the country's history. Apparently the word "Canada" came from an Indian work "Kanata", which means community or village. Cartier first used it when he referred to Stadacona or Quebec. What a huge " village" Canada is! | high2866.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "hunger and poverty"
},
"options": [
"hunger and poverty",
"challenges in life",
"a hopeful future",
"poor people"
],
"question": "The passage is mainly about _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | The Worldwatch Institute said in 2011 far too many people were living with less than they
needed. It says, for example, nearly one billion people were hungry arid just as many were
illiterate .
Worldwatch Institute's Danielle Nierenberg said while a billion people went to bed hungry
each night, it wasn't because of a lack of available food.
"We produce more than enough food in the world to feed not only the 7 billion people who
are on earth today, but 9 to 11 billion people. By 2050, we expect the population to be about 9
and a half billion people and we now produce enough food to feed all of those people. But the
question is really one of how do we get food to the people who need it the most. Poverty really
delays the progress of allowing people to eat well. Not just getting enough basic crops, but being
able to buy fruits and vegetables and the things that will really nourish them," she said.
The director of the Nourishing the Planet Project said besides poverty and a lack of access
to food, much food is simply lost. Worldwatch estimates 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each
year.
"20 to 50 percent of the global food harvest is wasted before it can ever reach people's
stomachs. And this is really a moral problem when you consider all of the people who are
hungry in the world. The good news about that 20 to 50 percent of global food waste number is
that it's easy to prevent food waste.We can do it in our homes. Consumers can do a lot to
prevent food waste by planning meals better, by not buying too much food. In the developing
world there are storage systems that are beginning to be put in place that help farmers protect
their food from crop diseases or molds ,"she said.
Nierenberg said prevention measures can be put in place all along the food chain.
While it may not seem obvious, the Worldwatch Institute project director said malnutrition
and illiteracy are closely linked.
"When people, especially farmers, don't have the education that they need to live
productive lives, they can't learn new skills. And in sub-Saharan Africa, women farmers,
especially, don't have access to education. This prevents them from not only learning new
cropping techniques and learning new technologies; it also prevents them from being able to get
financial and banking services. They can't have bank accounts. They can't buy land. They can't
buy the inputs that they need to make their crops more productive," she said.
Nierenberg said despite the many challenges, Worldwatch is hopeful for the future. She
says there are a growing number of new projects to address hunger and poverty, while at the
same time protecting the environment. | high21124.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "deg @ waikato. ac. nz"
},
"options": [
"sports @ waikato. ac. nz",
"heal @ waikato. ac. nz",
"deg @ waikato. ac. nz",
"inf @ waikato. ac. nz"
],
"question": "If you want to get more information about arts,you ca... | If you want to be a Success,study at the University of Waikato is right for you. The university is internationally recognized for its excellence and achievements. It will help you develop advanced research skills. As a university student you can get first-class research facilities with trained teachers to help,support and advise you in your study. We pride ourselves on our high standards,our research success and our international recognition. For further information:inf @ waikato. ac. nz.
Degree
We offer a wide choice of bachelor's degrees for international students,which includes:Arts,Communication Studies,Social Sciences,etc. Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education are only for prefix = st1 /New Zealandcitizens. For further information:deg @ waikato. ac. nz.
Tuition Fees
Tuition fees are different from department to department,generally from $ 5,000 to $ 6,000 a year. For further information:tui @ waikato. ac. nz.
Accommodation
You can have a room in a 4-bedroom flat,which will cost about $ 100 a month with other regular living costs of about $ 150 a month for one person. For further information:acc @ waikato. ac. nz.
Health
The Student Health Service provides excellent medical services for students. The Medical Centre is open five days a week,including student holidays with four doctors and nurses to meet your medical needs. For further information:heal @ waikato. ac. nz.
Sports
The Centre is a great place to have sports activities. Trained exercise teachers can help you work out a training plan and keep you active. The sports hall has volleyball,basketball and indoor football courts and a swimming pool as well. There are also a large number of sports clubs at Waikato. For further information:sports @ waikato. ac. nz. | high16950.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They want their children to love them more."
},
"options": [
"They want their children to get rid of bad habits.",
"They want the new names to bring good luck to their children.",
"They want their children to love them more."... | A new semester has just started and a number of parents are registering to change their children's names, in the hope that it will change their temper or help their children drop bad habits, like addiction to the Internet.
One mother surnamed Shi renamed her son, a primary school student, Hengfu, which means eternal happiness in Chinese. She decided to change the boy's name because he always did poorly in study. She has had him tutored after school, but he always earns low marks in school. So Shi turned to a name-giving master. "I hope the special recipe could bring him good luck," the mother said. Teachers in the city say a few students in every school, most nearing graduation, change their names at the start of every new semester.
A naming agency said it has found names for nearly 1,000 students since setting up the shop in 1998. The store said its professionals analyzed the defects of a person's original name, and suggested a new one based on the person's birthday and other fortune-telling skills.
Buying a new name costs between 800 yuan and 10,000 yuan. Parents also have to register the name at the local police department for a small fee. This will legally change their child's name on all documents, including ID cards and passports.
Hu Jie, a university student who changed her name in her final year of high school, said the new name confused her. "I always had no idea who my classmates were calling when they used my new name," Hu said, adding that she wished she had kept her old name.
But parents may be ignoring one thing: name changes might encourage kids to believe that fate is more important than their own efforts. | high17496.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "men usually earn more if they get married earlier"
},
"options": [
"it's a bad thing for a woman to get married later",
"men usually earn more if they get married earlier",
"for a woman,the suitable age of marriage is 27",
... | In nowadays,people tend to get married late.Does it have advantage or disadvantage?Different people have different opinions.Now let's have a look at a telated study about Americans.
A study has found that marrying later in life is generally financially benfeicial for women,but not for men.
The University of Virginia has published a report that college-educated women who get married in their thirties earn an average of 56 percent more than those who wed a decade earlier.
In contrast,men who settle down in their twenties have higher intomes than those who wait until after 30,whatever their education.
The Natioal Marriage Project's study,with the title:The Benefits and Costs of Delayed Marriage in America,examines the consequences of marrying later,a growing trend in the US.
It notes that the average age of marriage is ag an all-time high of 27 for women and 29 for men,compared to 1990 when the averages were 23 for women and 26for men.
But while wome have actually benefited financially from delayed marriages,men who getmarried earlier in life tend to be more successful later on.
The study says that childbirth plays a role in these results.
Around tow-thirds of lifetime income growth takes place during the first ten years of a career,according to clinical psychologist Meg Jay.
Since college-educated women who marry in their twenties also tend to have their first baby earlier,forcing them to take a break from their careers.
But getting hiched at a younger age tends to be a good career move for men,perhaps because married men are more sure of themselves and they have more responsibility for their family compared to single men ,leadng to more productivity,suggests Business Insider.
The study also found that while college-deucated women profit from delayed marriage,those without a degree do not.
In fact,among women who drop out of high school, 83 percent of first births are to unmarried mothers,according to the study.
A woman without a college education therefore has less time to advance her career during ist vital first decade.
The study also shows that men who never marry earn significantly less than those who do ,while the opposite is true for women. | high23733.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Providing a new kind of entertainment."
},
"options": [
"Maintaining a manned lunar base.",
"Providing a new kind of entertainment.",
"Offering some community-based facilities.",
"Finding facts about the first explorati... | Have you ever had that fantasy to visit the moon, grab a rock and throw it into space so it would float forever? Soon, if you have got the cash, you can!
Enter the Artemis Project. This new and exciting project is a private one that will "establish a permanent, self-supporting manned lunar base," which translates into a community on the moon for people to live in. "It's not a question of whether it'll work, but rather how long it will take." according to Gregory Bennett, the founder of the Artemis Project
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. That moment became a great achievement in both the space community and for humanity itself. Despite the significance of occasion, almost certainly when viewers saw images of his weightless, bouncing figure they thought, "That looks like fun!"
So the Artemis team is taking realistic approach to a human fantasy: they are marketing the project of a lunar base as pure entertainment.
Veronis, Suhler & Associates are investment bankers for the communications and media industry. Their research found that Americans spent over 40 billion dollars to be entertained in the movies, through home videos and television in 1999.
California investor, Dennis Tito, recently took a trip to the International Space Station, after donating $20 million dollars to the Russian Space program. Wealthy celebrities like Canadian director James Cameron and the brothers of rock band Oasis have also voiced their interest to visit the big ball in the sky. In the same report by Veronis, Suhler & Associates, consumers spent close to 4 billion dollars on video-game software alone. So, for $1.42 billion dollars the Artemis Project is a drop in the entertainment bucket.
University student, Al Dharsee says, "I would certainly go to the moon, if given the opportunity, so that I could look at the earth and laugh. But with the way we treat our own planet, I don't think we deserve to set foot on any planets or moons for that matter.
However, if you're one of those ready to book a flight, don't pack your bags quite yet, your flight is not scheduled to depart for at least a couple of decades. | high9933.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "weakening"
},
"options": [
"getting stronger",
"weakening",
"going to affect China soon",
"moving more than 120 miles per hour"
],
"question": "We can know from the passage that the Typhoon Hagupit is _ .",
... | At least 3 people are dead in the Philippines now that Typhoon Hagupit has landed.
The typhoon, which hit the eastern Philippines over the weekend, has blown down trees and sent more than 650thousand people into shelters before weakening.
"There were very strong winds last night. The roof was beginning to move, and rain was getting inside the rooms," said a villager.
The storm hit with gusts of over 100 miles per hour. And while the storm has slowed considerably from the super typhoon level it had last week, Hagupit still remains strong enough to create more damage.
Christopher Perez is a local weather forecaster. He says, "We are continuing to expect bad weather and rough ocean waves. Threats of possible flash floods and landslides as well as possible storm waves are occurring in coastal areas."
Hagupit is expected to roll into the South China Sea tomorrow.
It's currently going westward toward the southern tip of Vietnam, meaning it's unlikely to affect China.
Hagupit's strength in the Philippines is much less severe than Typhoon Haiyan, which rolled through the country in 2013.
Haiyan's tsunamilike storm waves and killer winds left thousands of people dead and _ .
The central Philippines is still trying to recover from last year's massive storm waves. | high13828.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "be a cheerful companion"
},
"options": [
"be a cheerful companion",
"try to cheat a customer",
"earn a great deal of money",
"trust his assistant much"
],
"question": "It seems unlikely that the newspaper seller... | The newspaper seller was a clean, neat man, of about forty with a rather serious, unsmiling face. He didn't speak much to the customers or to his helpers, but when he did he spoke slowly and quietly, as if to himself. He believed in efficiency, not conversation. And this was how the office workers, rushing to catch their trains, preferred it.
It had been a good day. Lunch-time had been warm and sunny, and many people had bought magazines to read outside with their sandwiches. Now it was cold and rainy, and people wanted an evening paper for a cheerless journey ahead and a dull evening indoors.
At 6:30, with the main rush over, he started to collect the money together and count it. Then he left the stand and went home. It was the assistant's turn this evening to look after it till eight o'clock, when it would be packed away for the night. His large white Mercedes was in the private car park of a large prefix = st1 /GovernmentBuilding. He'd parked there for six months, pretending to be part of a heating firm working in the building. They would find out about him soon, and he'd have to park in a garage again, which was annoying. Their charges were far too high. A couple of junior clerks, regular customers, happened to see him getting into his car. "Must be a lot of money in papers, eh?" one of them shouted. He just smiled coldly in reply, and got into the car, placing the bags of money on the floor.
He thought about the clerks on the way home. Like the majority of his customers, despite their white shirts and dark suits, they probably made in a week as much as he could make in a good day. | high19493.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "either bullying or maltreatment has negative effects on chilciren's health"
},
"options": [
"researchers should pay less attention to maltreatment",
"more bullied kids have mental problems in the USA",
"a similar number of ch... | Bullied kids face a high risk of mental health problems as teens and as young adults. Indeed, kids troubled by bullying may be worse off than those who had suffered physical abuse or neglect, as the study found.
Until recently, most studies of child victims focused not on bullying but on maltreatment , Dieter Wolke says. Maltreatment includes physical or emotional abuse, neglect or other behaviors that can harm a child.
Wolke's team wanted to better understand bullying's long-term effects compared to those due to maltreatment. They focused on 4,026 children in the United Kingdom and 1,420 more in the United States. Information about bullying and maltreatment was collected for American children to age 13. They collected the same information for British youth up to age 16. The researchers also gathered data on each individiial's mental health as a young adult.
Among the Americans, 36 percent of bullied kids had mental problems later. Those problems included anxiety, which is a state of excessive worry. They also included depression. That is a feeling of hopelessness that can last a long time. Among kids who had been maltreated by adults, 17 percent later suffered mental health problems. That was less than half the rate seen in people who had been bullied as school kids.
In the U.K. group, the difference was less dramatic. Roughly 25 percent of the bullied kids reported mental health problems later, compared with about 17 percent who had been maltreated. But however you look at it, the findings are disturbing. And that's why Wolke says schools,health services and other agencies must work together to end bullying.
Studies like this are important, says C.orinna Jenkins Tucker. They bring attention to the lasting impacts of bullying. Tucker does, however, question the value of comparing bullying to other types of abuse. Such an approach can make it seem like one type of bad experience is worse than the other, she says. In fact, both types have short-term and long-term effects on health. She'd like to see researchers study the big picture. They should try to understand how all ofthese negative experiences together shape children--and sometimes harm them. | high18955.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To save lives of people."
},
"options": [
"To detect sea mines and swimmers.",
"To save lives of people.",
"To recover inert torpedoes.",
"To help the U.S. Naval test equipment."
],
"question": "Which is NOT the... | In a little-known part of the counter-terrorism world, one of the most effective detection systems is a 600-pound animal that works for about 20 pounds of fish a day.
Since the 1960s, the United States and a handful of other countries have trained dolphins and sea lions to detect sea mines and swimmers, to recover inert torpedoes and to test objects used in Naval exercises.
Program officials estimate that the sea lions in the Marine Mammal Program have recovered millions of dollars of U.S. Naval torpedoes and instrumentation dropped on the sea floor.
The U.S. Navy kept its Marine Mammal Program a secret until the 1990s, and this spring CNN became one of only a handful of media outlets to see firsthand how the program works.
The program has trained about 75 Pacific bottlenose dolphins, with natural biosonar that tracks better than any manmade device; and 35 California sea lions, with superb underwater eyesight.
Not only do these trained marine mammals track and _ millions of dollars in U. S. military equipment, they are also helping to save lives.
The Navy won't disclose whether the dolphins and sea lions have effectively intercepted terrorists attempting to do harm to any U.S. facilities.
"Either way, it serves as a deterrent effect." says Christian Harris, operations supervisor for the program. The mammals can be deployed via C-130 cargo aircraft to perform their missions anywhere in the world within 72 hours. They have been used in exercises from Alaska to Hawaii, operating in great temperature and environmental ranges. They also have the capability to operate off vessels.
Dolphins most recently were deployed in the Iraq war, performing mine detection and clearance operations in the Persian Gulf to ensure safe passage for humanitarian ships delivering aid. Some of these Iraq war "veterans" are now back home, tasked with a new mission: guarding nuclear submarines in their homeports of Bremerton, Washington, and Groton, Connecticut. | high2696.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Chillicothe, Ohio"
},
"options": [
"Anchor Point",
"Chillicothe, Ohio",
"Mill Creek",
"Brentwood"
],
"question": "Young Jason Pryor lives at _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer":... | An 18-year-old high school student who had just learned to swim in the last summer vacation saved the life of a drowning Ohio boy on Friday afternoon.
Tom Erickson was credited with (......)saving the life of Jason Pryor,10, in Mill Creek Park. Young Jason Pryor, from Chillicothe, was visiting s from Anchor Point when he fell into the Mill Creek.
The Pryor boy had no business playing nea k*s5&u r the edge of the river, but he had no idea of the danger.
The Creek, with much more water than usual for the recent spring rains, flowed fast and carried the boy around a bend and out of sight from his parents, who took Jason out there and said they had not even witnessed the incident.
Luckily for Jason, one of the most unselfish students from Brentwood's Central High School was taking a walk alone through the park.
As soon as he found the boy struggling in the water, Erickson jumped into the Creek and managed to pull the drowning boy out of the water. And it was reported that Erickson had never received any life-saving instruction before.
"I wasn't sure I could do it," Erickson said. "I didn't know if I could swim through the river by myself, not to mention getting another person out with me."
This incident should be a lesson to young children who do not know how to swim. Stay away from dangerous bodies of water. | high16978.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "it makes her feel like she is not so strange as people think"
},
"options": [
"she only wants to make friends with the people like her",
"many people think she is strange and don't like to be with her",
"she knows there are m... | Rachael lives in Wisconsin and has lived there all her life. She is just an average girl; at first when you are around her, she seems to be very shy. If you get to know her, she'll start to open up but always keep things to herself.
Sports are something that keeps her going, a way to release stress. Usually, you will see Rachael out with friends or just sitting down reading a good book. She takes pride in the fact that she can read a whole book in one day, and that she still doesn't consider herself a bookworm.
Some people call Rachael strange because of things she does. She's learned to _ what other people think because she just doesn't care any more. She likes to surround herself with people like her so it makes he feel like she is the less strange one in most situations.
Rachael wants to be two completely different people in her life. A communication journalist for one, she has always wanted to be that person. The second possible career would be lawyer. It's a huge goal, and one day you'll see her doing something she loves.
Influenced by her parents, Rachael enjoys listening to all kinds of music. Rarely, if ever, do you see her without some sort of music. Every morning you can see Rachael in her bathroom getting ready for school with her player at maximum volume .Her parents always get mad at her about that, but she can't hear them anyway over the music. They don't know that she uses their surround sound stereo when they aren't at home! | high20212.txt |
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