questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "\"I must drink some alcohol to stop myself feeling shy. \""
},
"options": [
"\"I must drink some alcohol to stop myself feeling shy. \"",
"\" It's safe to do what many people are doing. \"",
"\"There are so many of us and not... | What is the relationship between violence and sports? Psychologists say that there are many reasons for violence at sports events. One is alcohol. Many fans drink a lot at games. When people drink, they are more likely to do abnormal things. Psychologist Dennis Brock says, "Quiet people become loud. Normally nonviolent people become destructive. "
David Sampson, a sports sociologist, says, "These are often celebratory riots-- a large number of very happy people mixed in with large amounts of alcohol. They don't often seem dangerous in the beginning, but things get violent quickly. "
Another reason for violence at sports events is the crowd. When individuals are in a large group of people, they can lose their sense of personal responsibility. Edward Hirt, a social Psychologist, says that research shows that people do things in crowds that they would never do alone. People in crowds feel anonymous -- no one knows who they are. Crowds also make people feel powerful. They stop making personal decisions. They just follow the crowd. Social psychologists call this a "mob mentality."
Dave Zarifis, head of public safety says, "Some people don't even come to celebrate. They want to drink hard and make trouble. Someone does something stupid, and it grows from there. You get a mob mentality. People think it's OK to do almost anything. They think, 'There are so many of us and not enough of them. ' "
Social psychologist Dr. Sharon Kennedy says that there are some things officials can do to prevent violence. Making sure that an area is not overcrowded is very important. Officials should also think of games as "big parties." Then they will prepare differently. Kennedy says that in Great Britain they are controlling the problem with cameras in all the stadiums. "When you know someone is watching, you are much less likely to behave badly. " | high11556.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Category 2 hurricane."
},
"options": [
"Tropical wave.",
"Tropical storm.",
"Category 1 hurricane.",
"Category 2 hurricane."
],
"question": "According to the passage, which of the following wind forms is the str... | Hurricane Sandy was a hurricane that destroyed parts of the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States during late October 2012, with minor impacts in the Southeastern and Midwestern states and Eastern Canada. Sandy, classified as the eighteenth named storm and tenth hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, was a Category 2 storm at its peak intensity. While it was a Category 1 storm off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record. Previous estimates of losses due to damage and business interruption are estimated at $65.6 billion, which would make it the second-costliest Atlantic hurricane, behind only Hurricane Katrina. At least 253 people were killed along the path of the storm in eight countries.
Sandy developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22, quickly strengthened, and was upgraded to Tropical Storm six hours later. Sandy moved slowly northward toward the Greater Antilles and gradually becoming stronger. On October 24, Sandy became a hurricane, made landfall near Kingston, Jamaica, a few hours later, entered into the Caribbean Sea again and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane. On October 25, Sandy hit Cuba, and then weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. Early on October 26, Sandy moved through the Bahamas. On October 27, Sandy briefly weakened to a tropical storm and then restrengthened to a Category 1 hurricane. Early on October 29, Sandy turned from north to northwest and then moved ashore near Atlantic City, New Jersey, as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds.
In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states, including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin, with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York. Its storm hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city. Damage in the US is estimated at over $63 billion. | high16239.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "integrating the various means of media."
},
"options": [
"diversification of the communication systems.",
".separating entertainment and communication.",
"integrating the various means of media.",
"straightforward trans... | In promising to fuse media as diverse as television, telephone communication, video games, music and data transmission, the era of digital convergence goes better than yesterday's celebrated "information superhighway." Yet achieving this single technology is far from straightforward. There are currently three major television broadcast standards, and they are all incompatible with each other. But this is nothing compared to the many technologies supporting the Internet, each with a different bandwidth and physical media. The problems faced in designing platforms and communication systems that will be accepted across the world can appear insuperable.
Even once global standards are assured, however, a further obstacle lies in wait. The Internet is plagued by long, erratic (,) response times because it is a pull-technology, driven by patterns of user demands. Push-technology, on the other hand, reverses the relationship: servers simply send information to passive users, as in television and radio. But if some form of combination between one-way television flow and interactive Internet is to be the basis of our future media, it is hard to see how it could be operated. Moreover, the problem of fusing Internet with television is also one of defining the services offered. Information, entertainment and relaxation appear at first to be quite different needs. Serious doubts remain over whether consumers will be interested in having to make the sort of mental effort associated with computing while also settling down in front of a sitcom .
Besides the issue of consumer habits, infrastructurecosts are set to be immense, and will have to be met by national states or the private sector before being passed on to users. Platforms do not necessarily have to be expensive. The mobile phone is a good example of how something that is technologically sophisticated can almost be given away, with its cost recovered through service charges. Users are then coercedthrough clever marketing to upgrade to newer phones with more features to reinforce their dependence.
Whatever the outcome, it is obvious that technology will play an increasing part in our everyday lives. Beyond technology, digital convergence embraces the services, industrial practices and social behavior that form modern society. We have in our hands the technology to construct the most sophisticated machines ever built, but if they are unusable, simply because of their operating instructions, then recent lessons have taught us they will not survive. Whatever we design must be simple, reliable and useful. Perhaps this is where artificial intelligence will come in. | high21495.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "experience earthquakes and volcanoes"
},
"options": [
"are outside the Ring of Fire",
"never experience natural disasters",
"experience earthquakes only",
"experience earthquakes and volcanoes"
],
"question": "M... | The Ring of Fire covers 4,000 km around the edge of the Pacific Ocean.It includes the countries of Japan,Indonesia and the Philippines.More earthquakes and volcanoes occur in this area than anywhere else in the world.The name Ring of Fire refers to areas below the earth's surface.These areas move suddenly and often cause earthquakes and create volcanoes.
Many areas of Asia,such as the Philippines,Japan,and Indonesia, sometime experience earthquakes and volcanoes.There are occasionally landslides ,mudslides,and tidal waves as a result.Fortunately, these natural disasters do not happen very often.
Southern China is about 600 km away from the Ring of Fire.Sometimes, people in this region feel earthquakes too.The worst earthquake felt in southern China was in 1918 in Shantou.It measured 7.3 on the Richter scale.Any earthquake of 6 or more on the Richter scale is very dangerous to people.
People in Hong Kong sometimes experience the effects of earthquakes and volcanoes.In September 1994,for example,the strongest earthquake to hit Hong Kong for 76 years shook buildings and scared thousands of residents.Frightened workers and families ran out of their offices and homes.The earthquake measured 6.5 on the Richter seal.
It is difficult to predict when an earthquake will occur In countries within the Ring of Fire, buildings must be very strong because the effects of earthquakes on buildings are terrible.
In June 1991, Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted.Many people were killed and the area surrounding the volcano was badly damaged.Hot ash and liquid rock from the volcano forced people to leave the area.They only returned many months later.The ash spread over a large area.Even people in the Guangdong region of southern China saw ash in the air. | high17127.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Workforce was in great need."
},
"options": [
"They were taken to serve the war.",
"They had their equal right at that time.",
"Workforce was in great need.",
"They had better productivities."
],
"question": "Wh... | 1During the First World War, some Americans indirectly benefited because of the war. With two million white men fighting in Europe and no new immigrants entering the country, many jobs in the United States became available to blacks and women for the first time.
2Both groups proved their ability to do any kind of job. Women became railway conductors, brick layers, and factory workers. Their presence in traditionally male workplace produced many problems. Men were annoyed by women's higher productivity and willingness to work for lower pay. Working mothers were often criticized for leaving their families. But many women welcomed the responsibilities. "It was not until our men were called overseas," said one woman bank executive, "that we make any real onslaught on the realm of finance, and became tellers, managers of departments, and junior and senior officers."
3Women who did not take jobs helped in the war effort in other ways. They made uniforms, rolled bandages, and campaigned for the sale of Liberty Bonds to help finance the war.
4American manufacturers offered jobs to large numbers of black Americans for the first time as a result of the war. Most factories were located in the North. To take advantage of these new job opportunities, many black families moved from their homes in the South to the Northern cities such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago, and Detroit.
5White Americans were of two minds about the role of black Americans in the war effort. On the one hand, black workers' ability to learn new jobs quickly and do them well strengthened the home front, and the black men's fighting ability helped the Allies win the war. However, many whites did not want to acknowledge that blacks were capable, effective workers. White soldiers returning from the war had no desire to compete for jobs with blacks on equal terms. At the same time, many blacks were not willing to a lesser role once the war had ended. | high5460.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Some people from GenevaUniversitytook part in the study"
},
"options": [
"Swissinfo is a name of a Swiss university",
"Meyer is from the London NHS Trust",
"Some people from GenevaUniversitytook part in the study",
"Pro... | People taking the stairs instead of lifts at work can expect to live longer, according to a Swiss study .
Regularly walking from floor to floor in an office building decreased death risk by 15 percent, said Dr. Philippe Meyer, the main author of the study, which was done at the University Hospital of Geneva.
Stopping the use of lifts led to better fitness, less body fat, thinner waistlines and a drop in blood pressure, the study found.
"Using the stairs improves fitness, body shape, blood pressure" Meyer said to the fitness website Swissinfo .
"The challenge remains to increase the people's awareness," he said.
For the study, 77 employees who don't enjoy sports and exercise from prefix = st1 /GenevaUniversitywere asked to take only the stairs over a three-month period, Swissinfo reported.
Results showed an increase in a _ in waist , weight, fat , blood pressure and cholesterol .
"This suggests that stair climbing can have major public health effects." Meyer said.
Professor Adam Timmis, at The London NHS Trust, said: "It's a small study but valuable because it provides a practical way for busy working people to increase their exercise. Although the amount of exercise appears small, the benefits were clear in improving physical fitness and reducing body fat and blood pressure. " | high18214.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the heavy traffic of the city"
},
"options": [
"the high speed of the traffic",
"the heavy traffic of the city",
"the polluted air in the city",
"their safety in the city"
],
"question": "The tourists in Mexico ... | Mexico City is truly one of the most amazing cities in the world with a mixture of both the old and new world. From the moment your plane starts to land in this vast city, you know that your trip will be quite an adventure.
Once in your taxi and the moment you leave the airport, you are amazed at the large amount of slow traffic. The volume of the traffic can be stressful to some.
The "Paseo de la Reforma ", running southwest across the city, is one of the major tourist and business areas in Mexico City with many high quality hotels only walking distance from great restaurants and other tourist attractions. The only problem you will have is trying to see all of these sites during your vacation time.
One of the most popular attractions in this area is the National Museum of Anthropology along the northwest part of the street. There are thousands of artifacts on display showing the history of the area and numerous items found from the many Aztec sites in the area. Walking southwest from the museum, you will soon reach the Mexico City Zoo, which is a great place to spend an afternoon.
Across the street from the museum is the Chapultepec Castle, once an important site in the Mexican-American war. It's also a good idea to take the train up the hill to where the castle is located as the hill is steep . It's important to keep in mind that Mexico City is over 7,000 feet above sea level and some feel it difficult to breathe when walking.
You can take a taxi to the Coyoacan market during the evening on a weekend. It's a great place to get some cheap souvenirs to bring back home and to enjoy some traditional Mexican cuisine. However, you must be careful where you eat and that the meat is well cooked. | high10648.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Listening to unpleasant music."
},
"options": [
"Taking exercise.",
"Listening to unpleasant music.",
"Bursting into laughter.",
"Taking drugs like statins."
],
"question": "According to the passage, which of th... | Songs that make our hearts happy can make them stronger too, US researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found that when people listened to their favorite music, their blood vessels _ in much the same way as when they are laughing, or taking blood medications.
"We have a pretty impressive effect," said Dr Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
"Blood vessel diameter improved," he said. "The vessel opened up pretty significantly. You can see the vessels opening up with other activities such as exercise." A similar effect is seen with drugs such as statins.
When blood vessels open up more, blood flows more smoothly and is less likely to form the clots that cause heart attacks and strokes. "We are not saying to stop your statins or not to exercise but rather to add this to an overall program of heart health," said Miller, who presented his findings to a meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans.
Miller's team tested 10 healthy, non-smoking men and women, who were told to bring their favorite music. They spent half an hour listening to the recordings and half an hour listening to music they said made them feel anxious while the researchers did ultrasound tests designed to show blood vessel function.
Compared to their normal baseline measurements, blood vessel diameter increased 26 percent on average when the volunteers heard their joyful music. Listening to music they disliked -- in most cases in this group heavy metal -- blood vessels narrowed by six percent, Miller said.
Miller said he came up with the idea after discovering that laughter caused blood to literally flow more smoothly. "I asked myself what other things make us feel really good, besides calories from dark chocolate of course. Music came to mind. ... It makes me feel really good," he said.
Most of the volunteers chose country music but Miller said the style is not so important rather than what pleases each individual. | high20947.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "there was no driver in it."
},
"options": [
"it didn't move at all.",
"it moved very quickly.",
"there was no driver in it.",
"someone was pushing it."
],
"question": "After he entered the car, the man found _... | A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road.The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him.Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop.The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel !
The car started to move very slowly. The man looked at the road and saw a curve coming his way. Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life. He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel. The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve.Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky car. Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town. In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky.
Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car. Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!
About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other, "Hey, there's a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!" | high3005.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Enjoyable."
},
"options": [
"Adventurous.",
"Enjoyable.",
"Stressful.",
"Exhausting."
],
"question": "Which word can best describe the first evening of their hunting trip?",
"question_type": "factiod_questio... | One day in January, my uncle, my cousin and I decided to go hunting.We left by car in the afternoon.It was a Range Rover with four-wheel drive.It took us three hours to get there.After we arrived at 5:15 p.m., we fixed the tent, then made coffee and had a short rest.After that, we went hunting, using a falcon .We spent two hours without finding anything.On our way back to the camp, my cousin saw a rabbit.I removed the falcon's bead cover and let go of the aggressive falcon.When the rabbit saw the falcon, it ran fast, but my falcon was a professional hunter.He flew up and came down to trick the rabbit.After two minutes, the rabbit was caught.We took it back to the camp to cook our dinner.We ate the delicious food, drank Arabic coffee, and sat around the fire talking until 10:30 p.m.
We left the camp the next day at 7 o'clock in the morning.We went north.However, around 10:00 a.m.our car got stuck in the sand! We spent about three hours trying to pull out the car without any progress.Finally, we decided to walk.As it was hard for an old man or a young boy to walk more than 40km in the desert, I decided to get help myself.I took a bottle of water with me and started to walk south alone.I knew the way well, but it was a long way in the sand.I walked more than four hours without stopping.When I felt so tired and thirsty, I stopped to rest.I drank all the water and slept for around two hours.
When I got up, it was dark.I continued to walk south.I was worried about my uncle and cousin.Suddenly, I met a Bedouin man who was riding his camel.He took me to his house.When I had had enough rest, I asked him to take me to the road where I found a car.It took me to the city to get help.I had one day to get back to my uncle and cousin.When I got back to them, they were so happy because I had gotten help and they were able to see me again. | high11542.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Life after retirement."
},
"options": [
"Learning to paint in later life.",
"How to paint watercolor1s.",
"An artist-turned teacher.",
"Life after retirement."
],
"question": "What is the text mainly about?",
... | Since my retirement from teaching music in 2001, I have spent a good deal of time painting as an artist, I actually began drawing again in the summer of 1995 when my father died. so perhaps I was trying to recover from the loss of my father, or maybe it was just that it brought back memories of him. In any case, I drew pen and ink animals and landscapes much influenced by Krenkel and St. John for five years.
For some strange reason, I had been waiting until my retirement to start doing watercolor1s again, but as soon as I walked out of the school door for the last time I picked up my brushes and rediscovered Andrew Wyeth, who quickly became my favorite artist, I had looked through all the art books I had on my shelves and found his watercolor1s to be the closest to how I thought good watercolor1s should look. So I painted landscapes around Minnesota for three years and tried out many other types of painting. However, watercolor1s remained my first choice, and I think I did my best work there, showing my paintings at a number of art exhibitions.
Art is now together with my piano playing and reading. There is a time for everything in my world, and it is wonderful to have some time doing what I want to do. As Confucius once said: "At seventy I can follow my heart's desire." | high21481.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "by e-mail"
},
"options": [
"by e-mail",
"by visiting websites",
"by searching the Internet",
"by using the computer"
],
"question": "The article introduces a new way of patient-doctor communication _ .",
... | Using the Internet , doctors "can answer more questions from more patients in a shorter time, " writes Dr Badal Pal, a famous doctor in Manchester, IJK.
According to Pal, nearly 40% of American patients say they have used e-mail to communicate with a doctor in the past. He notes however, that although patients have such interest, only up to 2% of doctors in the United States offer e-mail services.
Using e-mail, doctors can make sure of their advice and point patients to patients information materials and sources on the Internet. It's said that more than 10.000 health-oriented websites already exist now.
However some people worry that widespread use of medical e-mail might set up two kinds of care--one "haves" and another for the "have-nots". But Pal points out that "In the near future nearly every library will offer (Internet and e-mail)services in the United States, " allowing even low-income patients to use such means. Pal also talks about other possible barriers to acceptance of medical e-mail.
"Doctors may be unwilling to offer e-mail services for fear of increasing workload and uncertainty about the time they spent," he explained, and patients may worry that their medical information might be read by others. "But these problems can all be solved," he adds.
E-mail may well help us a lot in health care, Pal concludes. "Patients want to know more than they can get in normal clinics," he points out, "and they might find communication on the information superhighway less fearful than face-to-face dialogue with their doctors." | high17133.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "You can get your payments through AlertPay."
},
"options": [
"You'll earn $ 0.10 if you click 1 ad.",
"You'll get many green ticks if you have many websites open.",
"You can get your payments through AlertPay.",
"Your A... | Online Money Earning
Yes, you can earn money online without any investment or without any time limit. I have many useful easy methods for earning easy money while we all spend our useful time on the Internet by surfing, chatting, downloading and other work. There is no need to stop any other work. We can earn with or without our daily routine. Here I tell you the complete method for online earning.
First Method
Earn money with "Bux. to". You can earn money through "Bux. to" by clicking on ads on "Bux. to" site. First you need to poen an account at "Bux. to".
"Bux. to" is a new international and FREE English based service that allows advertisers to reach thousands of potential customers by displaying their ads on our "Surf Ads" page. An exact calculated percentage of all advertising income is paid to our members. "Bux. to" makes money through advertising.
How you make money
You view websites in 30 seconds through the "Surf Ads" page. Once the 30 seconds is up, you'll either get a green tick sign or a red "x". The green tick sign means you've earned $0.01 and the "x" means you have not earned money for the visit. You'll get redxs when you have more than one website from the "Surf Ads" page open. When this happens, you get no credit.
Earnings example
You click 10 ads per day=$ 0.10
20 referrals click 10 ads per day=$2.00
Your daily earnings=$ 2.10
Your weekly earnings=$14.70
Your monthly earnings= $63.00
How to get paid
If you have at least $10.00 accumulated, you can click on your account balance within your state's area and it will meet your request. At present, it only makes payments through "AlertPay ". It will soon be using other methods of payment.
AlertPay is the payment processing solution that we use to pay members. Your AlertPay address is the e-mail address you use to register with AlertPay. You can get a free AlertPay account at http://alertpay.com.
Method 2 will publish soon... | high18200.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "South America"
},
"options": [
"Europe",
"Asia",
"North America",
"South America"
],
"question": "According to the passage, the 2016 Olympics will be held in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | In 2016, athletes from around the world will compete for gold medals in the Summer Olympics. Even though the games are three years away, Brazil's residents already feel like winners.
The nation was named to host this important sporting event in October,2009. It will be the first Olympics held in South America.
The games will take place in Rio de Janeiro. The city beat out three other sites, Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago, to host the event. When the International Olympic Committee chose Rio de Janeiro, cheering people _ the city's streets. "This is huge for Rio and for the whole country," says resident Sueli Ferreira.
The Olympics are expected to attract tens of thousands of people. Brazilian officials have already started to prepare for the crowds. " We know what we need to do," explains Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. " The words from now on are work, work and work."
Officials want to fix up local sports centers before Rio de Janeiro steps into the spotlight. They also want to reduce the amount of crime.
They hope hosting the games will improve life in Brazil. About 30 percent of people there live in poverty, or poor conditions. Tourism during the Olympics is expected to create more than 2 million jobs.
" It's going to be good for the economy, good for the people," Ferreira says. " This gives us hope that things will be better here." | high5474.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the cost of a new car was too much"
},
"options": [
"most families chose to go car-free",
"he was hurt in a terrible car accident",
"the cost of a new car was too much",
"the traffic jam was unbearable for him"
],
... | I was desperately nervous about becoming car-free. But eight months ago our car was hit by a passing vehicle and it was destroyed. No problem, I thought: we'll buy another. But the insurance payout didn't even begin to cover the costs of buying a new car--I worked out that, with the loan we'd need plus petrol, insurance, parking permits and tax, we would make a payment as much as PS600 a month.
And that's when I had my fancy idea. Why not just give up having a car at all? I live in London. We have a railway station behind our house, a tube station 10 minutes' walk away, and a bus stop at the end of the street. A new car club had just opened in our area, and one of its shiny little red Peugeots was parked nearby. If any family in Britain could live without a car, I reasoned, then surely we were that family.
But my new car-free idea, sadly, wasn't shared by my family. My teenage daughters were horrified. What would their friends think about our family being "too poor to afford a car"? (I wasn't that bothered what they thought, and I suggested the girls should take the same approach.)
My friends, too, were astonished at our plan. What would happen if someone got seriously ill overnight and needed to go to hospital? (an ambulance) How would the children get to and from their many events? (buses and trains) People smiled as though this was another of my mad ideas, before saying they were sure I'd soon realize that a car was a necessity.
Eight months on, I wonder whether we'll ever own a car again. The idea that you "have to" own a car, especially if you live in a city, is all in the mind. I live--and many other citizens do too--in a place that has never been better served by public transport, and yet car ownership has never been higher. We worry about rising car costs, but we'd be better off asking something much more basic: do I really need a car? Certainly the answer is no, and I'm a lot richer because I dared to ask the question. | high13355.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A crowd-scene actor."
},
"options": [
"A cameraman.",
"A film director.",
"A crowd-scene actor.",
"A workman for scene setting."
],
"question": "Who is the author?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answe... | About twenty of us had been fortunate enough to receive invitations to a film-studio to take part in a crowd-scene. Although our "act" would last only for a short time, we could see quite a number of interesting things.
We all stood at the far end of the studio as workmen prepared the scene, setting up trees at the edge of a winding path. Very soon, bright lights were turned on and the big movie-camera was wheeled into position. The director shouted something to the camera operator and then went to speak to the two famous actors nearby. Since it was hot in the studio, it came as a surprise to us to see one of the actors put on a heavy overcoat and start walking along the path. A big fan began blowing tiny white feathers down on him, and soon the trees were covered in "snow". Two more fans were turned on, and a "strong wind" blew through the trees. The picture looked so real that it made us feel cold.
The next scene was a complete contrast . The way it was filmed was quite unusual. Pictures in front taken on an island in the Pacific were shown on a glass screen . An actor and actress stood of the scene so that they looked as if they were at the water's edge on an island. By a simple trick like this, palm trees, sandy beaches, and blue, clear skies had been brought into the studio!
Since it was our turn next, we were left wondering what scene would be prepared for us. For a full three minutes in our lives we would be experiencing the excitement of being film "stars"! | high386.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "China and the countries involved will benefit from the project in various ways"
},
"options": [
"China will get much-needed resources and develop its western regions",
"China and the countries involved will benefit from the project... | Imagine, one day,getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours,and then,after a full day of work,going back home to Beijing and having dinner there.
Sounds unusual,doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic,with the development of China's high-speed railway system.And that's not all.China has an even greater high-speed railway plan -- to connect the country with Southeast Asia,and eventually Eastern Europe.
China is negotiating to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years,eventually reaching London and Singapore.
China has proposed three such projects.The first would possibly connect Kunming with Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia.Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,and possibly to Germany.The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.
If China's plan for the high-speed railway goes forward,people could zip over from London to Beijing in under two days.
The new system would still follow China's high-speed railway standard.And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour.
China's bullet train ,the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou,already has the World's fastest average speed.It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours.
Of course,there are some technical challenges to overcome.There are so many issues that need to be settled,such as safety,rail gauge ,maintenance of railway tracks.So,it's important to pay attention to every detail.
But the key issue is really money.China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion.
China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital investment.Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development.
It'll be a win-win project. For other countries,the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business,tourism and so on,not to mention the better communication among those countries.
For China,such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources,but would also help develop China's far west.We foresee that in the coming decades,millions of people will migrate to the western regions,where the land is empty and resources unused.With high-speed trains,people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all.And they'll trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries. | high1612.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They make change for no more than $5."
},
"options": [
"They start selling tickets at 9:30 a. m.",
"They are connected to change machines.",
"They offer special service to the elderly.",
"They make change for no more th... | Metro Pocket Guide
Metrorail
Each passenger needs a farecard to enter and go out. Up to two children under ago five may travel free with a paying customer.
Farecard machine are in every station, Bring small bills because there are no change machines in the station and farecard machine only provide up to $ 5 in change.
Get one of unlimited Metrorail rides with a One Day Pass. Buy it from a farecard machine in Metro stations. Use it after 9:30 a. m. until closing on weekdays, and all day on weekends and holidays.
Hours of Service
Open: 5 a. m Mon-Fri 7a. m. Sat--Sun .
Close: midnight Sun--Thurs 3 a.m. Fri.---Sat. nights.
Last train times vary. To avoid missing the last train, please check the last train times posted in the station.
Metrobus
When paying with exact change, the fare is $ 1. 35 . when paying with a smarTrip card, the fare is $1. 25
Fares for the Senior /disabled customers
Senior citizens 65 and older and disabled customers may ride for half the regular fare. On Metrorail and Metrobus, use a senior/disabled farecard or SmarTrip card. For more information about buying senior/disabled farecards, farecard or SmarTrip cards and passes, please visit MetroOpenDoors. com or call 202-637-7000 and 202-637-8000.
Senior citizens and disabled customers can get free guide on how to use proper Metrobus and Metrorail services by calling 202-962-1100
Travel tips
. Avoid riding during weekday rush periods -before 9:30 a. m. and between 4 and 6 p. m.
. If you lose something on a bus or train or in a station, please call Lost & Found at 202-962-1195. | high7263.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Realize you can't change everything about yourself."
},
"options": [
"Realize you can't change everything about yourself.",
"Change the way other people look at you.",
"Go to your doctor for advice on how to change your body.... | I'm fat. I'm too skinny. I'd be happy if I were taller, shorter, had curly hair, straight hair, a smaller nose, bigger muscles, longer legs. Do any of these statements sound familiar? Do you often put yourself down? If so, you're not alone. As a teen, you're going through a ton of changes in your body. And as your body changes, so does your image of yourself. Lots of people have trouble getting used to it and this can affect their confidence.
Some people think they need to change how they look or act to feel good about themselves. But actually all you need to do is change the way you see your body and how you think about yourself.
The first thing to do is recognize that your body is your own, no matter what shape, size, or color it comes in. If you're very worried about your weight or size, go to your doctor to check that things are OK. But it's no one's business but your own what your body is like-finally, you have to be happy with yourself.Next, find which aspects of your appearance you can change and which you can't change and need to accept-like their height, for example, or their shoe size.
If there are things about yourself that you want to change and can do this by making goals for yourself. For example, if you want to get fit, make a pan to exercise every day and eat nutritious foods.
When you hear negative comments coming from within yourself, tell yourself to stop. Try building your confidence by listing three things in your day that really gave you pleasure. It can be anything like the way the sun felt on your face, the sound of your favorite band, or the way someone laughed at your jokes. | high15724.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "three"
},
"options": [
"two",
"three",
"four",
"five"
],
"question": "Lydia Angiyou and _ children experienced the adventure.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_i... | "Wolf!"
Lydia Angiyou's five-year-old nephew Paulussie whispered with alarm as he touched her arm. At first, she didn't believe him.
Angiyou, Paulussie, her other nephew Lucassie, also five, and her youngest son Jessie, seven, were walking to her mother's house -- only two doors down from her own -- one night last February. Animals were often sighted near Ivujivik -- a village on the shore of Hudson Bay in north-eastern Canada -- but rarely on its streets.
The 41-year-old teacher and mother of five turned around. Looking behind her into the darkness, at first she thought that Jessie was the wolf. But a metre behind the boy was a 350kg polar bear -- no wolf in sight -- standing on the icy road. Jessie turned and saw it, too, then ran, screaming, to his mother.
Angiyou felt a rush of blood to her brain. "Get as far away as you can!" she shouted to the boys as she ran towards the bear. She stopped just in front of it, then faced it quietly. It made a move to go around her to get to the boys, who must have seemed like the easier meal.
But Angiyou moved with the bear to maintain her position blocking the children. Finally she got the animal's attention. In response, it rose on its hind legs, stretching to its full 2.5m height. The bear charged, paws thundering down and knocking her into a seated position. The skin under her nose tore. Falling onto her back, she screamed for help and kicked at the animal in a bicycling motion. She soon passed out.
Sirqualuk Ainalik, a fellow teacher, had been at his brother's house nearby when Jessie dashed inside for help. Grabbing a rifle , the 33-year-old ran to the road, firing a warning shot into the air. He then aimed his gun at the huge bear.
At this time Angiyou came to and heard the gunshot in the distance, then watched as the animal turned its attention away from her and towards the loud sound.
With two more shots, Ainalik killed the polar bear. | high22188.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "scientists have had different views on how humans' walking on two legs vame about"
},
"options": [
"scientists have no idea on how humans' walking on two legs came about",
"scientists have had different views on why chimps walk on ... | Why did humans evolve to walk upright? Perhaps because it's just plain easier. Make that "energetically less costly", scientifically speaking.
Bipedalism--walking on two feet, is one of the defining characteristics of being humans, and scientists have debated for years how it came about. In the latest attempt to find an explanation, researchers trained five chimps to walk on a treadmill while wearing masks that allowed measurement of their oxygen consumption. The chimps were measured both while walking upright and while moving on their legs and knuckles .That measurement of the energy needed to move around was compared with similar tests on humans and the results are published in this week's online edition of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences".
It turns out that humans walking on two legs use only one-quarter of the energy that chimps use while knucklewalking on four limbs .And the chimps, on average, use as much energy using two legs as they did when they used all four limbs.
However, there were differences among chimps in how much energy they used, and this difference corresponded to their different manner of walking and anatomy .One of the chimps used less energy on two legs, one used about the same and the others used more, said David Raichlen, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.
"What we were surprised at was the variation ", he said in a telephone interview. Interview. "That was pretty exciting, because when you talk about how evolution works, variation is the bottom line, without variation there is no evolution."
Walking on two legs freed our arms, opening the door to drive the world, said Raichlen. "We think about the evolution of _ as one of first events that led hominids down the path to being humans."
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the L.S.B.Leakey Foundation. | high7505.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "expected to spend Christmas with her daughter"
},
"options": [
"had been operated in the hospital twice",
"didn't remember her daughter at that time",
"preferred to live alone especially at Christmas",
"expected to spen... | I am a manager who is in charge of taking care of the elderly and many of my clients live out of state.
This year, a very sweet old lady that I care for, Alice, had gone through a particularly rough time. She had been in hospital twice. In November I was finally able to get her back to her "home" into an "assisted living facility" .
Alice has dementia and thought her daughter was coming to visit her on Christmas day and that they were going to have the whole family together like the old days. When she finally realized that the happy moment was not going to happen, she was so _ . Knowing that her daughter was coming after Christmas was not enough to cheer her up, I hated the idea of her being alone on the holiday!
On Christmas Eve, I gave her a surprise by asking if she would like to go to a candlelight service at church that night. Instead of taking her to my church, I took her to her old neighborhood church where all her friends were. We got there early and I got each of us a seat where her friends could see her as they came in. The plan worked out very perfectly. All of her friends seemed to be there and rushed over to greet her and sit with her. The candlelight service was a beautiful, tearful affair and Alice got a lot of hugs and love from her old and new friends there.
The truth of the story is that I am the one who got the best gift:the smile on Alice's face and the feeling that I made a difference. | high8636.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because the company's sales are lower than expected."
},
"options": [
"Because many publishing houses follow this pattern.",
"Because the company's sales are lower than expected.",
"Because people don't show any interest in e... | The earth's best-known encyclopedia announced today that it would no longer publish print editions. Like so many newspapers and publishing houses, Encyclopedia Britannica is going completely digital.
Jorge Cauz is President of Encyclopedia Britannica.He says the company is now focusing on digital learning. "We're digital, we're mobile, and we're social," said Cauz. "We're a very different company from 20 or 30 years ago."
Britannica encyclopedias were first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. Americans started buying them at the turn of the 20thcentury. In the mid- 1900s, salesmen would go door-to-door to sell the books. The company's first digital reference was created in1981. CD-ROMs came out in1989 and Britannica went to the Web in 1994.
But Britannica didn't take the electronic world very seriously during the last 20 years. Because people turned to the Internet, the company's sales went down.
What hasn't changed is the way Britannica creates its material. The company has thousands of expert writers and more than 100 editors. Contributors include many scholars, Nobel _ and
world leaders, such as Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu.
Britannica's website also provides educational tools. At Britannica Online School Edition, teachers share lesson plans. Online versions of the encyclopedia serve more than 100 million people around the world. The company plans to mark the end of print edition by making the contents of its website free for one week. | high22836.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Medicine."
},
"options": [
"Physics.",
"Geography.",
"Medicine.",
"Mathematics."
],
"question": "What did Hawking's parents want him to study in the university?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
... | Stephen Hawking knew what he wanted to do by the time he was eight years old. His parents lived in London where his father was researching medicine. He did not want to follow his father as his parents hoped. Mathematics was not available at University College, so he did physics instead. Stephen was interested in studying the universe.
When he was 21, however, he was told that he had ALS --an incurable nerve disease, which affects walking, speaking, breathing, swallowing, and many other things. The doctors predicted that he had only a few years to live, but he didn't die. Instead, as his physical condition became worse, Hawking became more well-known in scientific circles. Hawking himself said that his disease was a big reason why he focused his attention on what turned out to be his real strength: theoretical research. "What the doctors said made me determine to get the most from life, and life was no longer boring for me," Hawking says today, speaking from his wheelchair through a computer. In 1988, Stephen Hawking published a book called A Brief History of Time. The book tries to explain many of Hawking's physical and mathematical ideas and calculations without using maths. The book became a best-seller. His later books are Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays and most recently in 2001, The Universe in a Nutshell. Of the three, the first one was made into a film in 1991. Hawking says, "Nowadays, muscle power is out of date. What we need is mind power --and disabled people are as good at that as anyone else." | high17655.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "What kind of face do you trust?"
},
"options": [
"What kind of face do you trust?",
"Who did the experiments?",
"Why do you trust him or her?",
"Why did they do the experiments?"
],
"question": "Which of the fol... | WHEN there are some strangers in front of us, which of them will we trust?
According to a new study in the online PloS One (<<*>> ), people make their decisions to trust others largely based on their faces. Your appearance can do a lot for you, especially if you are in the financial industry. The more trustworthy you look, the more likely people will buy what you're selling.
Researchers from Britain's University of Warwick Business School, University College London, and Dartmouth College, US, did a number of experiments.
The research team used computer software to make 40 faces, from the least to the most trustworthy-looking.
The study said that the difference between a trustworthy face and one that isn't as trustworthy comes from features that look slightly angry or slightly happy, even when the face is at rest. However, a slightly happy face is more likely to be trusted.
Researchers gave participants some money and asked them which face they trusted to invest the money for them. Then researchers gave some good and bad information about the people with these faces, and asked the participants again whom they trusted.
The results showed that even if they got different information, the participants didn't change their choices. They were still more likely to invest their money with the more trustworthy-looking faces.
Chris Olivola, one of the study's authors, said in the University of Warwick's press release: "It seems we are still willing to go with our own instincts about whether we think someone looks like we can trust them. The temptation to judge strangers by their faces is hard to resist." | high5312.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Michelle O. Donovan"
},
"options": [
"Bill Bosworth.",
"Michelle O. Donovan",
"Dr. Joseph L. Rose.",
"Gloria Coykendall.."
],
"question": "Who wrote the story about a little boy and a little mouse?",
"questi... | Joshua, Helmut, and Bethlehem
Michelle O. Donovan
ISBN 9781462058679
Life is not easy for nine-year-old Joshua during World War II. Because of his family's Jewish background, they are sent to live in the concentration camps . Scared and alone, Joshua one day makes friends with a little mouse he calls Bethlehem who becomes his closest friend.
Encourage Me!
Inspirational Poetry
Gloria Coykendall
ISBN 9781412027854
It is an easytoread collection of poems originally written to encourage in faith and to be a cure for chronic depression ... cure to strengthen identity and purpose.
Seeking the Edge
Dr.Joseph L.Rose
ISBN 9781462031795
Seeking the Edge provides the tools and techniques to find that edge in one's life-driving readers to achieve success whether in your current job, finding a new job, in education, family, or even hobbies.
More Things in Heaven
Bill Bosworth
ISBN 9780595433582
In his More Things in Heave, Bill Bosworth presents the highlights of his 83 years of life,including his trips to India and the study of the writings of several great spiritual leaders. More Things in Heaven will appeal to anyone who insists on finding the deepest meaning for their existence based on their own experiences.
Creation or Evolution
Michael Ebifegha
ISBN 9781450289023
Were humans created,or did they evolve? How old is the Earth? The debate between science and religion continues to be heated. In Creation or Evolution, Michael Ebifegha examines these two opposed world views within the structure of empirical science. | high19678.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because it brought her memories of being with her mother."
},
"options": [
"Because it was a really old and valuable clock.",
"Because it was the only thing that her mother had left her.",
"Because it brought her memories of ... | I have this old clock that belonged to my mom. My dad gave it to me years ago after mom passed away.
I have mixed feelings about having the clock. I love it because it was my mom's, but it also holds some bad memories.
You see, it chimes. It counts out the hour and rings once on the half hour. Or at least it used to. Now you never know what number it will ring.
When my mother was at home dying from cancer, she asked for the clock to be unplugged. Hearing the hours count down really angered and frightened her.
Mom passed away. I decided I wanted to get the clock fixed so I could remember the good hours we had with her.
I took it to a local clock shop the other day.
"I know this has no particular value as a clock, but it was my mom's and I need to get it fixed," I said to the shop owner.
I went on to describe the problem.
"We get a lot of these in," he told me. "Here's what I do. We remove the clock works and replace it with a battery-operated movement that chimes electronically," he told me.
"You can't fix this?"
"No, we don't have the time nor the parts."
I thanked him and went home. I called a few other places and was told the same thing.
"How incredibly sad," I told the last one disappointedly.
How incredibly sad that we have become a society that replaces craftsmanship with convenience and easy fixes. We copy the original instead of creating something new. We duplicate ; we don't originate .
Sadly, the same goes for our attitude to life itself.
Each of us is an original, one of a kind. But we find it so much easier to copy another style than to develop our own.
We are wannabes rather than hey-world-look-at-mes.
We fail to see the real value in who we are, so we spend our lives trying to be someone else. | high3763.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "describe a popular activity"
},
"options": [
"describe a popular activity",
"encourage people to exercise",
"make fun of runners in costume",
"give reasons for the popularity of footraces"
],
"question": "The ma... | Footracing is a popular activity in the United States.It is not only seen as a competitive sport,but also as a way to exercise,and to donate money _ .Though serious runners may spend months training to compete,other runners and walkers might not train at a11.Those not competing to win might run in an effort to beat their own time,or simply to enjoy the fun and exercise.People of all ages, from those less than one year old to those in their 80s, enter into this sport.The races are held on city streets,on college campuses,through parks,and in suburban areas,and commonly 5 to 1 0 kilometers in length.
The largest footrace in the world is the 1 2-kilometer Bay to Breakers race that is held in San Francisco every spring.This race begins on the east side of the city near San Francisco Bay and ends on the west side at the Pacific Ocean.In 1 993 there were 80,000 people running in this race through the streets and hills of San Francisco.In the front are the serious runners who compete to win,and who might finish in as little as 34 minutes.Behind them are the thousands who take several hours to finish.In the back of the race are those who wear costumes just for fun.In 1 993 there was a group of men all of whom dressed up like Elvis Priestly.There was a group of firefighters who were all tied in a long line and were carrying a fire--hose .One year there was a wedding party in which the bride dressed in a long white gown and the groom wore a tuxedo .They threw flowers to by-standers,and were actually married at some point along the route. | high11224.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "$54"
},
"options": [
"$ 48",
"$54",
"$ 63",
"$ 51"
],
"question": "How much will a father and his two children (one is 9, the other is 15) spend if they buy the Guided House Tour tickets ahead of time?",
"qu... | Fallingwater is a house built over a waterfall in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Frank Lloyd Wright, America's most famous architect, designed the house in 1935. It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark.
Guided House Tour
This tour features all the major rooms of the house and lasts about one hour. Photography is not permitted during this tour. The Guided House Tour allows children six-year-old and older to enjoy the house with their parents.
Adults --$$ 20. 00 with advance purchase.
--$$ 23. 00 when purchased on site
Youth (ages 6~ 12) -- $$ 14. 00 with advance purchase
-- $$ 17. 00 when purchased on site
Daily from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm,except Wednesday.
In-Depth Tour
The tour is best if you desire a greater understanding of what Wright was seeking to create with his masterwork. The number of visitors on each tour is limited and photography is permitted for personal use only. Children nine years and older may accompany adults on this tour.
$ 65. 00 per person(Available by advance ticket purchase only)
Daily from 10: 00 am to 4: 00 pm
Sunset Tour
As afternoon turns to evening, the changing light allows you to see Fallingwater from an entirely new perspective. The number of visitors is limited and photography is permitted for personal use only. Children under nine-years-old are not permitted on this tour.
$ 110. 00 per person(Available by advance ticket purchase only)
May, June, & September-Saturdays at 4:30 p. m.
July & August-Fridays and Saturdays at 4:45 p. m.
Brunch Tour
The guests join their guide for brunch before they leave. Children nine years and older may accompany adults on this tour. Please allow three hours total for this experience.
$ 115. 00 per person(Available by advance ticket purchase only)
May through September --Saturdays & Sundays at 9:00 a. m | high19693.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "those who enjoy arts have better jobs and higher salaries"
},
"options": [
"those who enjoy arts have better jobs and higher salaries",
"those who don't enjoy arts have good jobs and high salaries",
"those who likes arts are ... | A recent British study examined the salaries and jobs of people who spent time enjoying the arts when growing up. They found those who enjoyed the arts from an early age had better jobs and higher salaries than those who didn't.
What's the link ?How could visiting a museum, enjoying a symphony ,or improving painting skills lead to career success?
Other studies have found that students who study the arts exercise their reasoning ability. This skill helps with problem-solving. Creative and critical-thinking abilities are also developed through art study. When faced with a real-life challenge ,these skills can be put to good use.
The best kind of art excites our imagination and makes us think. Paintings aren't just pretty pictures. They tell stories about the experience of the painter. See Michelangelo's art, and you will taste the power of his faith in God. Look at the world from Picasso's point of view, and you see everyday life in new ways. In Shakespeare's plays you'll find lessons about character and morality .Chinese poet Li Bai brings the wonder of nature's beauty to every reader.
The arts show and explain the world beyond our own personal knowledge. When we look beyond ourselves, we can appreciate the experience of people from different walks of life. The arts help develop the ability to see things from many different points of view. These things will help us better communicate and cooperate with other people. | high17866.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "America makes it an official day"
},
"options": [
"many people celebrate the day",
"only America celebrates the day",
"America makes it an official day",
"all men are honored in America"
],
"question": "The Unit... | The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special.
However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her.
It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.
In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Roses are the Father's Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died.
When children can't visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental(, ). Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad. | high2496.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "What you should do if your identity is stolen."
},
"options": [
"What you should do if your credit card is stolen.",
"What you should do if your identity is stolen.",
"What an imposter always does to make money.",
"What... | Maybe you never opened that account, but someone else did ----someone who used your name and personal information to commit fraud . When an imposter uses your name, your credit card number, or some other piece of your personal information for their own purpose -in short, when someone takes your personal information without your knowledge -it's a crime, pure and simple.
The biggest problem is that you may not know your identity has been stolen until you notice that something's wrong: you may get bills for a credit card account you never opened, your credit report may include debts you never knew you had, a billing cycle may pass without your receiving a statement, or you may see charges on your bills that you didn't sign for, and even don't know anything about.
If someone has stolen your identity, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests that you take three actions immediately.
First, contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit offices. Tell them to flag your file with a fraud alert including a statement that creditors should get your permission before opening any new accounts in your name.
Then, ask the credit offices for copies of your credit reports. Credit offices must give you a free copy of your report if it is not correct because of fraud. Review your reports carefully to make sure no additional fraudulent accounts have been opened in your name or unauthorized changes made to your present accounts. In a few months, order new copies of your reports to check your corrections and changes, and to make sure no new fraudulent activity has occurred. | high20012.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "weighing the choice of opportunities"
},
"options": [
"making more money",
"taking more opportunities",
"reducing missed opportunities",
"weighing the choice of opportunities"
],
"question": "According to the pa... | However wealthy we may be, we can never find enough hours in the day to do everything we want. Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost, which simply refers to whether someone's time or money could be better spent on something else.
Every hour of our time has a value. For every hour we work at one job we could quite easily be doing another, or be sleeping or watching a film. Each of these options has a different opportunity cost--namely, what they cost us in missed opportunities.
Say you intend to watch a football match but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get to and from the stadium. Why not, you might reason, watch the game from home and use the _ money and _ to have dinner with friends? This--the alternative use of your cash and time--is the opportunity cost.
For economists, every decision is made by knowledge of what one must forgo--in terms of money and enjoyment--in order to take it up. By knowing precisely what you are receiving and what you are missing out on, you ought to be able to make better-informed, more reasonable decisions. Consider that most famous economic rule of all: there's no such thing as a free lunch. Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free, the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities.
Some people find the idea of opportunity cost extremely discouraging: imagine spending your entire life calculating whether your time would be better spent elsewhere doing something more profitable or enjoyable. Yet, in a sense it's human nature to do precisely that--we assess the advantages and disadvantages of decisions all the time.
In the business world, a popular phrase is "value for money." People want their cash to go as far as possible. However, another is fast obtaining an advantage: "value for time." The biggest restriction on our resources is the number of hours we can devote to something, so we look to maximize the return we get on our investment of time. By reading this passage you are giving over a bit of your time which could be spent doing other activities, such as sleeping and eating. In return, however, this passage will help you to think like an economist, closely considering the opportunity cost of each of your decisions. | high6828.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "vegetarians"
},
"options": [
"vegans",
"vegetarians",
"fruitarians",
"researchers"
],
"question": "A lot of _ choose to give up meat because they believe it is cruel to kill animals for food.",
"question... | Most Chinese people don't understand why some westerners don't eat meat. In China, to eat meat is a sign of wealth. If a westerner doesn't take a bite of their Peking duck, there is something wrong.
But many people in Europe and America choose not to eat meat or fish -- they are known as vegetarians. In the US alone there are 12 million vegetarians and 19,000 more people stop eating meat every week.
People often become vegetarians in order to lose weight or eat more healthily. A lot of research has shown that vegetarian diets are healthier than the average western diet. Fried chicken may be delicious to eat, but all that extra fat can damage your heart.
There are many other reasons for "turning veggie". It could be that you cannot afford to buy meat. Or maybe you just don't like the taste of it.
A large number of vegetarians choose to give up meat because they believe it is cruel to kill animals for food. They believe many animals are not allowed to live in comfort and, when they are killed, it is carried out in a very painful way.
While some vegetarians are happy not to eat animals, others take it one step further and refuse to eat any animal product. They are known as vegans and will not eat cheese, yoghurt and eggs, or drink milk. Neither will they wear clothes or shoes made from animal skin, such as leather. They say that if it is wrong to kill an animal for food, it is worse to kill it for clothing.
But there are some groups that go even further. Fruitarians believe it is wrong to kill any living plant or animal. Besides refusing to eat meat, they will only eat fruit and vegetables that have not been killed when harvested. This means they cannot take an apple from a tree: they must wait until the apple falls to the ground. Only then can it be considered dead. | high22605.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "accepted by many people in the world"
},
"options": [
"popular all over the world",
"accepted by many people in the world",
"valuable to businessmen",
"dangerous to common people"
],
"question": "It can be infer... | There are over one million superstitions ,and most people believe at least one or two of them. Many people are superstitious about numbers. They think that there are lucky numbers and unlucky numbers. The number 13 is often considered unlucky.
In some parts of the world, buildings have no 13th floor and streets have no houses with the number 13. In Japan,"4"is considered unlucky because in Japanese the word"four"is pronounced the same as the word"death". The Japanese never give gifts of four knives, four napkins, or four of anything.
What are the lucky numbers? Seven is a lucky number in many places, and"8"is considered a lucky number in Japan and China. In China, businesses often open on August 8,and many couples register to get married at eight past eight on August 8. Superstitions about numbers are so widespread that some people--called numerologists--make a living giving advice about numbers. In 1937,when the Toyoda family of Japan wanted to form a car company, they asked a numerologist if"Toyoda"would be a good name for the company. The numerologist said it would not be. He explained that"Toyota"would be a better name for the company. The family took his advice. As a result, millions of people drive"Toyotas"and not"Toyodas. "
There are many other kinds of superstitions. There are superstitions about eating, sleeping, sneezing and itching. There are superstitions about animals and holidays and horseshoes.
There are even superstitions about superstitions. Those superstitions tell people how to _ bad luck. When the Japanese bump heads, they immediately bump heads again. According to a Japanese superstition, the first bump means their parents will die, but the second bump "erases" the first bump. To reverse bad luck in general, people turn around three times, turn their pockets inside out, or put their hats on backwards. | high22163.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She hoped those things would bring happiness to her father."
},
"options": [
"She didn't want to keep the things in the bag.",
"She hoped those things would bring happiness to her father.",
"She wanted to remind her father of... | It was Molly's job to hand her father his brown paper lunch bag each morning before he headed off to work.
One morning, in addition to his usual lunch bag, Molly handed him a second paper bag. This one was worn and held together with staples .
"Why two bags?" her father asked. "The other is something else," Molly answered. "What's in it?" "Just some stuff. Take it with you."
Not wanting to discuss the matter, he put both bags into his briefcase, kissed Molly and rushed off. At midday he opened Molly's bag and took out the contents: two hair ribbons , three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a tiny sea shell, a small doll, and 13 pennies... The busy father smiled, finished eating, and swept the desk clean into the wastebasket, Molly's stuff included.
That evening, Molly ran up behind him as he read the paper. "Where's my bag?" "What bag?" "The one I gave you this morning." "I left it at the office. Why?" "I forgot to put this note in it," she said. "And, besides, Daddy, the things in the sack are the things I really like -- I thought you might like to play with them. You didn't lose the bag, did you, Daddy?" "Oh, no," he said, lying. "I just forgot to bring it home. I'll bring it tomorrow." While Molly hugged her father's neck, he unfolded the note that read: "I love you, Daddy." Molly had given him her treasures -- all that a 7-year-old held dear.
Love in a paper bag, and he missed it -- not only missed it, but had thrown it in the wastebasket. So back he went to the office. Just ahead of the night janitor , he picked up the wastebasket. He put the treasures inside and carried it home carefully. The bag didn't look so good, but the stuff was all there and that's what counted.
After dinner, he asked Molly to tell him about the stuff in the sack. It took a long time to tell. Everything had a story or a memory.
"Sometimes I think of all the great times in this sweet life," he thought.
We should all remember that it's not the destination that counts in life, but the journey. That journey with the people we love is all that really matters. It is such a simple truth but it is so easily forgotten. | high1821.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "sugar-sweetened soft drinks"
},
"options": [
"high-salt foods",
"sugar-sweetened soft drinks",
"high blood pressure",
"strokes and heart attacks"
],
"question": "According to the passage, obesity is directly lin... | "Children who eat less salt and drink fewer sugar-sweetened soft drinks may significantly lower their risks of obesity," researchers recently reported in the journal Hypertension.
"Sugar-sweetened soft drinks are a significant source of calorie intake in children," said Feng J. He, a researcher at St George's University of London, England. "It has been shown that sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption is related to obesity in young people." They wanted to know whether there is a link between salt intake and sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption.
Dr He and colleagues analyzed data from a 1997 national survey of more than 2,000 people between 4 and 18 in Britain. "We found that children eating a lower-salt diet drank less fluid," said He. "From our research, we estimated that 1 gram of salt cut from their daily diet would reduce fluid intake by 100 grams per day."
The researchers also found that children eating a lower-salt diet drank fewer sugar-sweetened soft drinks. From their research, they predicted that reducing salt intake by 1 gram each day would reduce sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption by 27 grams per day, after. "If children aged 4 to 18 cut their salt intake by half, there would be a decrease of about two sugar-sweetened soft drinks per week per child, so each child would decrease calorie intake by almost 250 kilocalories per week," Dr He said.
In previous studies, researchers found that a low-salt diet lowers blood pressure in children, and prevents the development of high blood pressure later in life. "Both high blood pressure and obesity increase the risk of having strokes and heart attacks," Dr He said.
Dr He recommends that parents check labels and choose low-salt food products. "Small reductions in the salt content of 10 to 20 percent cannot be detected by the human salt taste receptors and do not cause any technological or safety problems," Dr He said. | high7288.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "had often stayed in a small inn"
},
"options": [
"had often stayed in a big hotel in New Jersey",
"had traveled to many places",
"had often stayed in a small inn",
"had made a lot of money"
],
"question": "Mr an... | Mr and Mrs Smith had always spent their summer holidays in New Jersey in the past, staying in a small inn at the foot of a hill. One year, however, Mr. Smith made a lot of money in his business, so they decided to go to London and stay at a really good hotel while they went touring around that famous city.
They flew to London and arrived at their hotel late one evening. They expected that they would have to go to bed hungry, because in that small inn in New Jersey, no meals were served after seven. They were therefore surprised when the man who received them in the hall asked whether they would take dinner there that night.
"Are you still serving dinner?" asked Mr Smith.
"Yes, certainly, sir," answered the man. "We serve it until half past nine."
"What are the times of meals then?" asked Mr Smith.
"Well, sir," answered the man, "We serve breakfast from seven to half past eleven in the morning, lunch from twelve to three in the afternoon, tea from four to five, and dinner from six to half past nine."
"But that hardly leaves any time for us to see the sights of London!" said Mrs Smith. | high15917.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "ResQMe."
},
"options": [
"Swiss Tech UKCSB1.",
"Gerber 2241770 Artifact.",
"ResQMe.",
"LaCie iamaKey v2."
],
"question": "Which of the following products has the biggest size?",
"question_type": null
},
... | Gerber 2241770 Artifact Pocket Keychain Tool
Product Dimensions:2.1x0.8x0.1 inches
ASIN:B001349MD8
Item Model Number:2241770
Discount Price:$9.90(you save 33%)
Product Description:At just 3.5 inches closed,the Artifact is a little larger than a cigarette lighter,but Gerber still has eight different functions.With a flat and Phillips screwdrivers ,wire stripper and more,the Artifact Pocket Keychain Tool helps you be prepared for office use.
B
ResQMe,The Keychain Version of the Original Life Hammer (Black)
Product Dimensions:7x9x2 inches
ASIN:B000IE0EZO
Item Model Number:RQMBLA
Discount Price:$9.95(you save 50%)
Product Description:ResQMe is a handheld rescue tool that provides drivers and passengers with the same level of confidence in the event of a lifethreatening incident in your vehicle.Small,yet designed to provide the instant and easy ability to cut through seat belts and side windows when the need arises,it is the inexpensive,portable power that every car should have in the event of an emergency.
C
LaCie iamaKey v2 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 131106
Product Dimensions:2.2x0.9x0.1 inches
ASIN:B004D2AZ0Q
Item Model Number:131105
Discount Price:$24.99(you save 11%)
Product Description:With the LaCie iamaKey v2 the keyshaped design is functional and memorable ,and the protection that the LaCie iamaKey offers makes it extremely reliable.Best of all,you can fit a very large amount of data in a small flash drive.With its eyecatching design,the iamaKey certainly stands out,and it is one of the most durable and thinnest USB keys on the market.
D
Swiss Tech UKCSB1 UtiliKey 6in1 KeyChain MultiTool
Product Dimensions:6x5x1 inches
ASIN:B0001EFSTI
Item Model Number:UKCSB1
Discount Price:$7.88(you save 21%)
Product Description:The lightest and multiuse tool ever developed.This durable tool has a straight knife sharp edge and a flat screwdriver,a Phillips screwdriver,and a bottle opener.The tool makes repairs and hundreds of jobs an easy undertaking.A good choice for indoor or outdoor activities and emergency situations,this tool comes in handy on the road and at home! | high6196.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Content is better than riches."
},
"options": [
"All good things come to an end.",
"The early bird catches the worm.",
"Content is better than riches.",
"All bad luck goes away."
],
"question": "Which of the fol... | Long ago, near the village of Hedley, there lived a strange and playful trickster , known as the Hedley Kow. Sometimes it looked like an ordinary object. Sometimes it looked like a donkey or a goat.
One evening, as an old woman went along the path, she saw an old iron pot lying in the ditch. "Fancy that," she said. "Nobody seems to want this old pot. I will take it home and plant pretty flowers in it."
When she tried to lift it, she saw that it was full of gold pieces. "Well, now, if that doesn't beat all," she said. "I'm rich! I can buy a fine house and fancy clothes."
The pot was heavy, so she tied her shawl around it and began to drag it home. After a while, she stopped to rest. When she looked in the pot, she was amazed to see that it was full of silver pieces!
"Oh, my God!" she said. "Aren't I the lucky one! If it were gold, thieves would have been after me. My friends might have been jealous. But I can hide these silver pieces, take out a few at a time, and live like a queen."
On she went, pulling the pot after her. She was nearing home now. At her gate, she looked into the pot. What a surprise! The silver had changed into a lump of iron. "Iron," she said. "Well, now! No one will be jealous or want to steal this from me. I can use this iron to prop my door open and let in fresh air and sunlight. Lucky me!"
As soon as she said that, the pot began to grow and later it became a goat. Then it jumped up and ran off down the road laughing.
"Fancy that!" said the old woman. "I believe I have seen the Hedley Kow! Not many folks can say that, and that's a fact. I'll just sit up by my fire tonight thinking about how lucky I was to see it for myself. I truly must be the luckiest person in the world!" | high20774.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "natural light"
},
"options": [
"the weather",
"streetlights",
"headlights",
"natural light"
],
"question": "According to the text, the Blink/Steady Bike Light is sensitive to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_... | Bicycle lights may not exactly be a problem that needs solving, but the following can be said about most of them ---- they're easily stolen if left on an unattended bike. People riding at dusk can forget to turn them on, and those same people can forget to turn them off when they reach their destination. Well, the makers of the Blink/ Steady Bike Light have set out to address all of those shortcomings.
The waterproof Blink/ Steady is so far only available as a tail light, although a head light is on the way. It's fixed onto the bike's seat post. A built- in photosensor tells when it's become dark enough for the light to be required, and allows it to come on once you begin the riding. According to the producers, it isn't fooled by things such as headlights or streetlights. The light also contains an accelerometer, also known as a motion sensor, which can tell when the bike is in motion.
Between the two sensors, this means the light will come on only once it's dark enough, and the bike is moving. Even when stopped at red lights, the small movements of the rider will reportedly be enough to keep the light activated---- it'll go out after 30 seconds of complete inactivity. While this does mean that the two sensors are continuously powered up, they go into a very low---- power sleep pattern when the bike is sitting, unused.
Light is provided by two5- watt LEDs, seeable over a range of 180 degrees. And power comes from two AAA batteries, which provided up to 200 hours of continuous run time. The designers and engineers behind the Blink/ Steady are now raising money for its commercial production. About US $95 will get you one if they become available. | high4959.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Green Shopping Principles"
},
"options": [
"Protection of the Planet",
"Green Shopping Principles",
"Environmentally Friendly Products",
"Resource Conservation"
],
"question": "What could be the best title for t... | Shopping green can make an important contribution to protecting the planet and conserving its resources.
Today's consumer faces a wider range of choices than ever before, Add to that the steady stream of sales campaigns, and shopping smart only gets harder. To buy economically and reduce waste, safeguard health and protect the environment, you'll need to follow some basic principles and have a clear idea of what you want.
1. Do Your Homework
Before making any major purchase, take the time to research it. Plentiful resources are usually available online. Avoid buying in a hurry, and don't be persuaded by overenthusiastic salespeople. _ it if necessary--you won't regret giving yourself some extra time to think.
2. Take the Long View
Consider the running costs as well as the initial price of any item you buy. Many environmentally friendly products cost more to buy, but save you money in the long run. Choose items that are made to last. For example, pick a sofa that has a hardwood or steel frame rather than one made of softwood, which may break easily.
3. Skip the Disposable Option
Buy reusable products like washable cloth towels, handkerchiefs, serviettes and cleaning cloths rather than paper, single-use varieties. Avoid other disposable supplies like cups, glasses, and chopsticks, too.
4. Take the Local Route
Buy local products that are in season. It's usually cheaper and fresher and has less harm to the environment. Markets and roadside stands are good sources. Some supermarkets also buy from local producers. Support it if you have one.
5. Avoid Wasteful Packaging
Better not buy products that have too much packaging. It's estimated that approximately 10 percent of every shopping bill is actually paying for packaging--which you normally just throw away! Moreover, significant amounts of energy are used in the production of packaging. Purchasing refillable and renewable containers can also help cut this kind of waste. | high4781.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Skiing and skating"
},
"options": [
"Soccer and golf",
"Skiing and skating",
"Cycling and hockey",
"Mountaineering"
],
"question": "What movements are popular among people in winter in the passage?",
"questi... | Most young people enjoy some form of physical activity. It may be walking, cycling, swimming or in winter, skating or skiing. It may be a game of some forms - football, basketball, hockey, golf of tennis. It may be mountaineering.
Those who have a _ for climbing high and difficult mountains are often looked up with astonishment. Why are men and women willing to suffer cold and hardship, and to take risks in high mountains? This astonishment is caused, probably, by the difference between mountaineering and other forms of activity to which men give their leisure .
Mountaineering is a sport and not a game. There are no man - made rules, as there are for such games as golf and football. There are, of course, rules of different kind which it would be dangerous to ignore, but it is this freedom from man - made rules that makes mountaineering attractive to any people. Those who climb mountains are free to use their own methods, but the sport requires high mental and physical qualities.
A mountain climber continues to improve in skill year after year. A skier is probably past his best by the age of thirty, and most international tennis champions are in their early twenties. But it is not unusual for men of fifty or sixty to climb the highest mountains in the Alps. They may take more time than younger men, but they certainly experience equal enjoyment. | high20760.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because he refused to return the books that he had borrowed."
},
"options": [
"Because the book publisher persuaded the police to do so.",
"Because he stole 700 children's books from the five different libraries.",
"Because h... | A man accused of failing to return more than 700 children's books to five different libraries in the county was released from prison after a book publisher agreed to post his bond of $1,000.The publisher said."There's a story here.This is a man who loves books.He just can't let go of them.He hasn't stolen a single book.So what's the crime ? We think that Mr.Banish has story to tell.We plan to publish his story."
When asked why he didn't return the books, Mr.Banish said,"Well,how could I? They became family to me.I was afraid to return them,because I knew that kids or dogs would get hold of these books and chew them up,throw them around,tear the pages,spill soda on them,get jelly on them,and drown them in the toilet.
He continued,"Books are people,too! They talk to you,they take care of you,and they enrich you with wisdom,humor and love.A book is a guest in my home.How could I kick it out? I repaired tor n pages.I dusted them with a soft clean cloth.I turned their pages so they could breathe and get some fresh air."
"Every week I reorganized them on their shelves so they could meet new friends,My books were HAPPY books.You could tell just by looking at them.Now they're all back in the libraries,on the lower shelves,on the floors,at the mercy of all those runny-nosed kids I can hear them calling me.I need to rescue them.Excuse me.I have to go now." | high1835.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "aims to encourage people to read to their children"
},
"options": [
"is a daily show",
"is an adults' show",
"aims to encourage people to read to their children",
"is a popular show"
],
"question": "We can know ... | Three quarters of Britain's parents are too busy to read bedtime stories to their children,according to a study. The study was carried out by CITV to start their new children's show Bookaboo,which is designed to encourage anyone to pick up a book and read with their children at any time of the day.
Worryingly,the study showed that only three percent of fathers now find the time to read to the kids compared to 89 percent of mothers. Lucy Goodman,creator of Bookaboo,said,"It's important for young boys to be able to share a book with dads,granddads or male carers and it can be fun and rewarding,too." Of the dads who said they didn't read to their kids, 87 percent blamed work while more than a third said they were too tired. While 89 percent of mums said they did read to their children,more than half of them said cleaning distracted them and 49 percent were distracted by other household things.
Researchers also found parents are now relying heavily on other people to lend a hand with reading to their children with grandparents doing the most,followed by sisters and brothers,aunts and uncles. While 95 percent of parents read to their children at some point,only five percent read to their children during the day. More than one in ten said they read every couple of weeks or less,and five percent could not remember the last time they shared a book.
The study found parents also seem content with allowing their children to immerse themselves in TV programs or playing computer games rather than reading.
Exgoalkeeper David Seaman,who is a dad of two,has been a guest in Bookaboo. He says,"I think it's important that fathers do read to their children because it's a special time. Sometimes my two children will come to listen to the same book--it's a magical moment and I advise fathers just to try it." | high22177.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "they are very difficult to catch"
},
"options": [
"they are very difficult to catch",
"they can become larger to threaten enemies away",
"they kill their younger companions as they grow up",
"they are deadly poisonous"
... | If you are looking for an animal to take the title of "most violent fish in the sea", then the tiger puffer fish would have to be a strong contestant. Not only is it deadly poisonous --- though that doesn't stop people trying to eat it --- but it is also able to scare off enemies by inflating itself to become much larger than normal, when it is young it even chews on its own brothers and sisters.
Tiger puffer fish attach their eggs to rocks near the bottom of the sea, often at the mouths of bays. Then the larvae move to the entries of rivers and lakes once they have grown a little. Then, having put on a lot of weight, they head out to sea. There's no innocent childhood for the puffer fish, as Shin Oikawa of Kyushu University in Japan and his colleagues found out when they put the larvae of tiger puffer fish in the lab and monitored them for two months. They found that the larvae went through three steps in which their metabolic rates increased dramatically when they reached body weights of 0.002g, 0.01g, and 0.1g. When a larva went through one of these steps, its behavior also changed. For instance, once a larva had passed the first level it would have grown its first tooth and could start attacking larvae that had not yet reached that stage. Similarly, any larva that had reached the 0.01g or 0.1g levels would start attacking lighter larvae.
The researchers noted that the baby fish had a "relatively small mouth", so rather than swallowing their brothers and sisters whole, they would bite pieces out of them. Despite this limitation, the fish caused plenty of deaths --- up to 12 per cent of the deaths that happened in the lab each day.
Those fish that grew fast enough to be able to chew on their fellows had an advantage. The extra food accelerated their growth and development. Tiger puffer fish are likely to be faster and swifter, so they can deal better with enemies.
As the name suggests, puffer fish can inflate to make themselves seem much larger than they really are, thus scaring off enemies. They do this by filling their stomachs, which are extremely elastic , with water. If that's not enough of a threat, the tiger puffer fish --- like most of the other puffer fish in the family --- carries a deadly toxin . Eat one puffer fish and the poison will paralyze your muscles, including the muscles responsible for breathing, so death is usually caused by a lack of oxygen. Famously, the fish is a delicacy in Japan, where highly qualified chefs produce dishes that contain the safe level of the poison. Interestingly, the puffer fish does not go to the trouble of producing the poison itself. Instead, it hosts bacteria that produce the stuff. It obtains these bacteria from its diet, so the youngest adult fish are not poisonous. | high379.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Random House"
},
"options": [
"Ecco",
"Atria Books",
"Riverhead Books",
"Random House"
],
"question": "If the readers want to know about the life of Salinger, they should buy the book published by _ .",
"... | Mini Book Excerpts
Biography
When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it... The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.
J. D. Salinger:A Life by Kenneth Slawenski
(Random House, $27)
Mystery
"You're a smart boy. Benny's death was no accident, and you're the only who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it? "The boy was starting stubbornly at his lap again.
A thought suddenly occurred to Annika, "Did you ...You recognized the man in the car, didn't you?"
The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers, "Maybe," he said quietly.
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund
(Atria Books, $25. 99)
Short Stories
She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class. Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give, and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don't want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won't. Some mothers love so their daughters won't.
You Are Free by Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books,$15)
Humor
Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times!'s "amusement cycling" is the most fun you can have legally in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half to that within a day's drive lf most cities?
Happy And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle
(Ecco,$14. 99) | high23269.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "have a strong sense of creativity"
},
"options": [
"try not to take risks",
"stay in the same business",
"have a strong sense of creativity",
"save every possible penny"
],
"question": "According to the author, ... | When I was a child I never said, "When I grow up, I want to be a CEO," but here I am.When I look back on my career, I realize the road to becoming a CEO isn't a straight, clearly clarified path.In fact, no two paths are the same.But whether you want to be a boss one day or not, there's a lot to learn from how leaders rise to the top of successful companies.
As this series of stories shows, the paths to becoming a CEO may vary, but the people in that position share the qualities of commitment, work ethic and a strong desire for building something new.And every CEO take risks along the way--putting your life savings on the line to start a software company or leaving a big business to be one of the first employees at a startup.
I grew up in Minnesota, and learned how to be an entrepreneur from my father, who has run a small business for almost 30 years.I went to Georgetown University and tried a lot of business activities in college with varying degrees of success.And I always had a dream job pattern: to walk to work, work for myself and build something for consumers.
I'm only 29, so it's been a quick ride to CEO.Out of college, I worked for AOL as a product manager, then moved to Revolution Health and ran the consumer product team.In mid-2007 I left Revolution Health and started LivingSocial with several other colleagues, where I became a CEO.
Career advice: Don't figure out where you want to work, or even what industry you'd like to work at.Figure out what makes you do so.What gives you a really big rush? Answer why you like things, not what you like doing...and then apply it to your work life.Also, just because you're graduating, don't stop learning.Read more books than you did in college.If you do, and they're not, you're really well-positioned to succeed in whatever you do. | high24260.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "his literary road was not easy"
},
"options": [
"he received a warm welcome",
"his literary road was not easy",
"he became famous for his unusual style",
"his poetic style was copied by other poets"
],
"question... | Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in Long Island, New York. Whitman received most of his education outside of the classroom. At the age of eleven, he worked in a law office as an office boy where he became interested in reading. He was soon reading the works of famous authors like William Shakespeare and Homer, and was well on his way to becoming one of America's most well-known poets.
By the time Whitman was seventeen years old, he had already worked as a printer's learner, a worker, and a learning games to help his students with spelling and maths. In his early twenties, however, he gave up teaching to pursue a full-time career as a journalist and poet.
When Walt Whitman first appeared as a poet, his arrival onto the American literary scene was met with controversy. His first collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, was so unusual that no commercial publisher would print the work. In 1855 Whitman published, at his own expense, the first edition of his collection of twelve poems.
Whitman's poetic style was uncommon I the sense that he wrote poems in a form called parallelism , in which his goal was to copy the flow of the sea and the quickly-passing nature of human emotion. A common theme in Whitman's poetry is self-realization. In his work, Whitman moves from conventional patterns of rhyme to create a unique rhythm and a multi-layered, but truly American voice.
"Although Whitman was considered a revolutionary by many, there is little doubt he loved his country deeply." In his writing, he used slang and various images, or voices, to create a sense of national unity.
For Whitman, the "proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it." Whitman has undoubtedly become a part of the cultural history and image of America. | high19687.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Some gardening basics"
},
"options": [
"Plants you prefer",
"A garden with plants",
"Some gardening basics",
"Giant sunflowers"
],
"question": "What is the text mainly about?",
"question_type": null
},
{... | Giant sunflowers? Maybe you like potatoes, tomatoes, or carrots.Or maybe you prefer green leafy house plants, tiny plants in a container, wildflowers that you can dry to save, or a butterfly garden.
Whatever you hope to grow, knowing some gardening basics will give you a much better chance of success.
First you will need to choose a good location for your garden.A sunny location usually works best, since all plants need some sunlight and most plants like lots of it.However, there are some plants that need only indirect sunlight, and these plants will do best in shady spots.
Check soil too.The best kind of plant soil is called loam ; it is loose soil that crumbles easily.Water drains through it well, and it has lots of nutrients to feed your plants.Soil that sticks together might have too much clay in it.Very loose, dry soil might have too much sand.You can improve the soil in your garden by adding organic materials such as compost, or leaves.ks5u
Climate--Check a map of planting zones to choose plants that are right for your area.
Mulch --After you have planted your plants, add a layer of mulch on top of the soil.Mulch keeps the soil damp, keeps out pests, and adds more nutrients to the soil.
Water - Water your plants early in the day.Plants need about 1 inch of water each week on average.
Fertilizer - If you are planting a big garden, use about 1/2 pounds per 100 square feet.If you are just planting a few plants, get a little container of plant food and follow the directions on the label.Plant fertilizer contains the chemicals that make up a plant's diet. | high21318.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Teenagers"
},
"options": [
"Teenagers",
"Educators",
"Socialists",
"Parents"
],
"question": "Who do you think would most likely be the readers of the passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {... | AAAGH! The Generation 90s is coming!
Wearing earphones, using complex Net language and constantly text messaging friends, the Gen-90s following the Gen-80s begin to make their world debut .
Each generation or age group has its own symbols and lifestyle. Read on and judge for yourselves if you fit the Gen-90s group.
Earphones
These little devices seem to grow on the heads of the Gen-90s. They might lead to MP3, MP4 or MP101 players, giving these young people a plugged-in, cool and perhaps self-addicted look, of course, life is not always music to the ears.
Martian language
They have created their own code-like online language. It's a mixture of English, Japanese and Chinese that perhaps only Martians can understand. This is an imaginative generation, though they need to be careful to keep it out of their term papers.
Self-Portrait
Saying "cheese" to their own digital cameras is usual for this generation. A little bit of narcissism never hurts anyone. It helps them reflect a little on their own lives. But be aware of the risks of posting private photos online.
Text-messaging
They can type their mobile phones as fast as they can speak. This is a generation that respects efficiency . However, oral communication is important and will never go out of style. | high2482.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because it's convenient for people to put forward complaints."
},
"options": [
"Because hospitals have more and more rights.",
"Because it's convenient for people to put forward complaints.",
"Because in the hospital there ar... | With hospitals and nursing homes tending to thousands of patients every year accidents can---and do ---happen. These incidents whether they are through carelessness or otherwise, can leave patients feeling powerless. That's not the case.
"There is growing public awareness. People are feeling they have more rights and they have tools in hand to make a complaint," said Ralph Montano, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, which regulates hospitals and long term care facilities in the state.
That department received more than 6000 complaints about hospitals in 2007; in the most recent year statistics are available. The complaints can be about mixed-up lab results, medicine errors, foreign objects left in a patient during surgery or a host of other topic.
Similarly, the California Department of Aging received 43000 nursing home complaints in 2009. Some said patient abuse or neglect of patients; others reported missing items. And some commented on the quality of the food.
But finding the channels through them to put forward a complaint can be tiring and time consumption. Many consumers simply don't bother, and some become lost in the system. Whether the complaint is against a hospital or a long-term care facility, the process is similar--- and many people can help, including the facility's staff, insurance company representatives and state regulators.
If you want to make a complaint while in the hospital, Patti Harvey, vice president of quality and patient care services for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, recommends talking with the bedside nurse. If that doesn't work, you can talk with other people higher in the chain of command, up to the hospital administrator. If the problem isn't still taken care of ---say you disagree with your treatment plan or have a problem with your doctor---member service offices at each hospital can help address your concerns. | high18599.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the Clifton Suspension Bridge"
},
"options": [
"the Eiffel Tower",
"the Kawarau Bridge",
"the Golden Gate Bridge",
"the Clifton Suspension Bridge"
],
"question": "The Dangerous Sports Club first caught people's ... | Bungee jumping is not a new activity. Men on Pentecost Island in the South Pacific have been doing land jumping for hundreds of years. The men tie long vines from plants around their ankles . They spend days building tall towers out of vines and logs . Then they jump off _
According to their beliefs, the first land diver was a woman. She decided to run away from her rude husband. So she climbed up a tall tree and tied some vines around her feet. Her husband also climbed up the tree and tried to catch her, but the woman jumped and the man followed. The vines saved her life, but her husband died.
This ancient custom caught the interest of some students at Oxford University in England. In the late 1970s, they formed a group called the Dangerous Sports Club. They were some of the first people to test several of what are now called extreme sports. They are said to have invented modern bungee jumping.
In the spring of 1979, members of the group jumped off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England. They were attached to the bridge by a bungee cord, a long elastic rope that stretches. The group soon received even more attention when they organized a bungee jump off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.
A man named A. J. Hackett of New Zealand decided to make the sport into a business. He started developing bungee ropes and material with a friend. They held a major jump in 1987 off the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. They later got permission to open the first bungee jumping operation on the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, New Zealand. Many people paid 75 dollars to jump off the bridge with a bungee cord attached to their ankles. | high3944.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "left a deep impression on the author"
},
"options": [
"hurt the author's feeling deeply",
"has puzzled the author ever since",
"left a deep impression on the author",
"made the author dislike dogs"
],
"question"... | I'd like to share a little story with you about something that happened when I was four. I remember it clearly. Our loving family dog was nearing the end of his life. My father picked him up and put him in a little bed we had made for him. Our dog, my companion, whom we had cared for, bit my father when he attempted to help him. How could he? Why? I couldn't understand it. I didn't like him anymore.
I hadn't thought about that story for a long time but something that happened last week brought it back to me. I went to speak with a friend. When I knocked on the door, I met in an instant an angry look and a few harsh words. When the door was slammed in my face, I stood there shocked, and in a rush, I was reminded of my dog bit my father 20 years ago or so. What brought that story back was that same feeling of betrayal.
Both stories taught me something the next day. You see, when I got up in the morning and was told my dog had died, it became clear to me that he must have been in great pain. For him to have bitten a family member, he could not have been himself. Much the same for the other story when I learned that my friend's wife had just left him.
We are all beings of our environments, our opinions and feelings. And all of those things can cause you to say and do things that can't be understood by those who are not in the same situation with you.
If you meet someone either behaving out of character or acting in a way that doesn't seem to fit the situation, put out your hand and be patient when you think it is least possible for him to do so. You may turn around a story that has a sad ending simply by your actions. | high12922.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It can be used to test medical treatments."
},
"options": [
"It has replaced human labor completely.",
"It is mainly used to detect hair problems.",
"It can be used for develop new medicine.",
"It can be used to test me... | New software is able to analyze exactly how many hairs there are in a patch of skin and could help in testing the effectiveness of baldness treatments and depilatory creams, say Australian researchers.
Researchers from CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences in prefix = st1 /Sydneyreport their findings in the November issue of the journalSkin Research and Technology.
The software, developed with a UKcompany, will make it easier for researchers developing hair removal creams to accurately assess how well they work, says Dr Pascal Vallotton.
"Up to now they were counting the number of hairs that survived after treatment by hand. That's hard work and it's difficult because you may count a hair twice or you may miss it." he said.
The software relies on images captured by a small flatbed scanner pressed onto the skin. Using a mathematical algorithm , the software then identifies and traces each individual hair based on an understanding of a hair's unique features, such as its straightness.
The software is able to distinguish between hairs and other features on the skin such as wounds or moles .
"Our skin irregularities make it difficult to say this is a hair or this is a mole," Dr Vallotton said.
Comparison between earlier and later images can also determine if hair is growing quickly or slowly, he says.
Unfortunately, to check the accuracy of the software, the researchers still had to adopt the old-fashioned method of counting hairs, helped by volunteers from neighboring labs who put their skins on the line for science.
"We had 12 volunteers, mostly from neighboring labs, and we acquired images of hair before and after treatment," Dr Vallotton said.
To ensure an accurate count, the individual hairs had to be marked off as they were counted, but after such a laborious process, the researchers were pleased to discover the software results were comparable to the manual count.
Dr Vallotton says the software could also be useful in testing the effectiveness of balding treatments and counting or tracing substances other than hairs, that are long and thin and otherwise difficult to image. | high23527.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "reduce the chances of rejection"
},
"options": [
"make the organs healthier",
"reduce the pain of animals",
"make the organs live longer",
"reduce the chances of rejection"
],
"question": "Scientists are introdu... | British and American scientists are raising genetically modified pigs in the hope of providing organs for transplant to humans, the project leader wrote in a newspaper Sunday.
Scientists in London and California have begun conducting the genetic experiments to find a solution to record-long waiting lists for organ transplants, Robert Winston said in an opinion piece written for Britain's Sunday Times.
In Britain alone, around 8,000 patients are waiting for a transplant.
"People needing a new heart or liver are waiting for someone else to die -usually a violent death in a traffic accident," Winston wrote in the newspaper. He said his team was "trying to modify pigs so their organs might save the lives of humans."
The scientists are introducing human genes into the animals to reduce the chances of the organs being rejected by patients, as has been common in previous attempts to use animal tissues, said Winston, who heads the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology at London's Hammersmith Hospital.
Working with Dr. Carol Redhead of the California Institute of Technology, Winston's team has injected human genes directly into male piglets , adding them to the animal's sperm .
He said that pigs involved in experiments had successfully produced transgenic sperm, but acknowledged that British and European laws had prevented the team from using the pigs to mate.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported that the experiments would be moved to the United States following difficulties with funding and regulations in Britain. It said the pigs would be bred in Missouri.
"Our U.S. friends will benefit from our technology and the income we might have produced for Britain will be lost," Winston wrote.
Some scientists have previously blamed the idea of using animal organs for human transplant, saying the technique risks spreading animal viruses to humans. Winston said his research project is attempting to breed virus-free pigs. | high24248.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Slogan And Brand"
},
"options": [
"Just Do It!",
"Slogan And Brand",
"Famous Slogans",
"What is a Good Slogan."
],
"question": "What would be the best title for the text?",
"question_type": null
}
] | On hearing the words "Just do it!", you will know there is a Nike product nearby. If it's "Always Coca-Cola", you can be sure someone wants to sell you a refreshing drink.
_ The slogan helps people understand the brand better by telling them what it wants to sell to its customers. Good slogans leave a message inside people's minds. It's almost certain that every brand has a popular slogan.
Here are a few examples:
"Just do it!'--This slogan speaks out to teens. It tells them to do something, but only if they think it's worth it. And if so, why not do it wearing Nike?
"Always Coca-Cola.' Coke's slogans change every few years, but this one has enjoyed a lasting popularity because it shows the brand's spirit. It seems to say "Coke is the only drink there is; there are no other forms of drinks."
"Share moments, share life." This slogan from Kodak connects photos and beauty. It takes people to remember the happy moments in life by taking photos of _ using Kodak film of course! | high8839.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the taxi driver didn't want his mood ruined"
},
"options": [
"the black car was full of garbage",
"the taxi driver didn't want his mood ruined",
"the driver of the black car didn't cause any damage to the taxi",
"the dr... | We were driving on the right road when, all of a sudden, a black car pulled out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver stepped on his brake, skidded , and missed the black car's back end by just inches! The driver of the black car, who almost caused a major accident, turned his head angrily and started shouting bad words at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, my taxi driver was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to hospital!" And the following is what my taxi driver told me, which I now call "the law of the Garbage Truck".
"Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish him well, and move on. Believe me. You'll be happier."
So this is "The Law of the Garbage Truck". I started thinking: How often do I let "Garbage Trucks" run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets? It was then that I said, "I'm not going to do it any more."
I began to see "Garbage Trucks". I see _ they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my taxi driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, and move on.
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. What about you? The mark of a successful person is how quickly he can get back his focus on what's important. | high437.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "\"coffee to go\" springs in Europe these days"
},
"options": [
"\"coffee to go\" springs in Europe these days",
"Europe is often a few years before trends in America",
"America often follows Europe's \"coffee to go\"culture",... | The days of Europeans relaxing in the cafe with a newspaper and a seemingly endless cup of coffee appear to be numbered.A new English expression is popular in Europe these days:"coffee to go."
"Five or ten years ago it was much more normal to sit in a cafe for several hours than it is nowadays,"says Joann,who works in a central Berlin coffee bar owned by the Canadian coffee and bakery chain Tim's.
"There is a trend towards a more fast-paced life.But people still act surprised when you ask if the coffee is'to go'.You mean I can take it with me? they ask.."
"Europe is often five or eight years behind trends in America,"says Joann."In the States.'coffee to go'is part of everyday life."
Owing in part to Starbucks,it appears to be very much part of everyday life in many other countries too.
The Seattle-based group compete with a growing number of global chains in attempting to reshape coffee drinking cultures in regions including Asia and the Middle East.
The US is the model for continental Europe's new"coffee to go"culture:Each of the new cafe bars offers bagels,muffins,brownies and cookies to go with the coffee.
But then,"coffee to go''might sound a little odd to English ears used to the words "takeaway"or take one.
It does sum up the brisker pace of life since the city resumed its status as the German capital following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
As one more sign of the changing times,one of Berlin's most venerable coffee houses,cafe Einstein,has followed the trend by opening a small chain of coffee shops across the city.
Taking coffee,slowly and in decorous surroundings,has been a feature of European coffee houses,particularly in German speaking countries,for decades.
For the elderly citzens of Vienna it amounts to a ritual when they gather in coffee houses around the city for a cup of their favovrite drink and a piece of rich,creamy cake. | high15095.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "community promoting socialization"
},
"options": [
"city offering living spaces",
"community promoting socialization",
"special occasion in the market",
"downtown area with high buildings"
],
"question": "Celebr... | In the 1960s Walt Disney pictured in the mind a future utopian city with underground roads and a climate-controlled round roof. The real community of Celebration, Florida, built in 1999, applies the social and environmental goals of both Disney and the New Urbanism movement.
Disney and the New Urbanism have imagined communities that promote social and local communication. Celebration has a central Market Street district to reduce traffic and encourage social contacts. The idea is that if the downtown area is neatly and closely ranked, people will walk and meet their neighbors. Downtown events like arts festivals also bring citizens together. Narrow, tree-lined streets are "traffic calm"----with slower speed limits----to encourage bicycling and walking.
Moreover, housing in Celebration includes both single- and multi-family houses that encourages socialization. Apartment buildings are located close to downtown, and houses are built close together with small yards. They feature entrance halls to encourage citizens to socialize.
"Many aspects of that kind of design are really aimed at maximizing social communication between citizens, not just on the streets but also in community institutions that are very much a part of public life there," says Andrew Ross, a New York University professor who lived in Celebration for one year.
Utopian communities such as Celebration are also designed with environmental protection in mind. The town itself is built on 4,900 acres surrounded by a 4,700 acre protected greenbelt. The greenbelt parks, and common areas accommodate native wildlife and animals.
High-rise office and apartment buildings provide close office and living space in a small geographic area in order to reduce urban _ , the spread of today's cities onto nature areas.
Buildings also minimize environmental influence by using cooling; and electric systems with insulated (;) glass, cooling towers, and energy-saving lamps.
"The town more or less borrows very heavily from New Urbanist principles...to create environmentally friendly alternatives to sprawl and to create communities around people rather than vehicles," Ross said. | high22639.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To describe what Jesse's sailing is like."
},
"options": [
"To show how difficult it is to be a sailor.",
"To show how wonderful Jesse's sailing is.",
"To describe what Jesse's sailing is like.",
"To describe what a sai... | Imagine yourself on a boat looking out at the horizon and all you can see is the water meeting the sky with no land in sight and you are sailing straight ahead to meet the world. Jesse Martin does not have to imagine: he is living in it.
On Dec. 7, 1998, at 17 years old, Jesse set sail from Melbourne, Australia on his boat, attempting to become the youngest person to sail alone and nonstop around the world. He sailed south of New Zealand, through the South Pacific, around South America, north on the Atlantic, back south past Africa, through the Indian Ocean and back to Melbourne.
Even as a young child, Jesse had been an adventurer who traveled all over Europe and Asia with his parents. Born in Munich, Germany in 1981, he moved to Australia with his family when he was only two years old. They moved close to a rainforest in Cow Bay, about 3500kms north of Melbourne, where they built a small house with no electricity or running water. Jesse grew up at the beach enjoying the outdoors to its fullest.
At 14, he sailed for the first time with his father and brother, Beau. It was after this trip that he began to dream about sailing around the world.
Jesse's family played an important role. "I was made to believe I could do anything." he says. Although, he says, there were others that were not so encouraging or supportive, "People that I looked up to, respected and trusted told me I couldn't. Thankfully, I trusted myself. There were people that said that the boat couldn't be ready by the time I had to leave." However, through perseverance and belief in himself he was able to do what many told him was impossible.
On Oct.31, 1999, more than 10 months after he set sail, Jesse Martin went down in history as the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted. | high21330.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Andre Spicer."
},
"options": [
"Mel Robbins.",
"Kat Kinsman.",
"Andre Spicer.",
"Cicely Simpson."
],
"question": "Who considers giving waiters tips as an embarrassment?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"... | Recently, Danny Meyer, founder of the Shake Shack chain, announced that his restaurants will do away with tipping. He plans to pay his staff higher wages and pass the cost to customers by raising prices on menus. Is this a good idea?
I'm sure Meyer's latest move will be a winner. The new model could work in Meyer's restaurants because he draws a particular type of customers who are there for a high-end experience. Besides, if the restaurants charge more for meals, they'll pay higher in taxes. As restaurants move to higher wages, the benefit costs will be higher, too.
--Mel Robbins
For a European, eating in an American restaurant is like attending a high school reunion. Tipping turns the whole process into a drawn-out experience where money is at the center stage. There are so many opportunities for embarrassment. So I think Danny Meyer's proposal will change it for the better.
--Andre Spicer
Danny Meyer is doing the right thing by stopping tipping. Eating out costs what it costs and workers are hard-working humans who deserve the stability of a wage. It may take a while to catch on, but we'll get there and it'll become the norm.
--Kat Kinsman
I've found that the practice of tipping has traditionally attracted millions of employees to our industry. The current tipping model still has strong support from diners and they are more than happy to reward good service. But it is vital that restaurants continue to have the freedom to choose what works best for their business and their employees.
--Cicely Simpson | high19877.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because left-handers aren't paid enough attention to ."
},
"options": [
"Because left-handers aren't paid enough attention to .",
"Because the number of right-handers is larger than that of left-handers in the world .",
"Beca... | If you are a Lefty , then Left Handers Day is just for you !
The world is built for right handers. In school, have you ever seen a left handed desk ? They don't exist . Many left handed items cost more . The computer mouse is designed for right handers . Scissors for right handers . Only a lefty would understand this .
But do you know that right handed people operate in the left side of the brain . Left handed people use the right side . Therefore, only left handed people are in their right mind .
Left Handers certainly earned the right to have a day special for them . This special day was first declared and celebrated on Friday , August 13, 1979 by an organization called Lefthanders International . They chose to open their business on that day to address the myths and misconceptions about left-handers . They published a magazine for left-handers and they sold left-handed products for more than twenty years before going out of business a few years ago. The holiday is celebrated annually on the 13th of August .
But Left-handers Day is not merely a celebration of the creative superiority of lefties , it also aims at raising awareness of the difficulties presented by a right-handed world . This is a day for left-handers to show their pride and pay tribute to famous left-handers past and present , including some of our greatest artists , athletes and entertainers . Furthermore , this day is to praise the creativity and talents of those left-handers who are less famous but equally productive members of our society .
So take a minute to appreciate your left handed friends and loved ones . Don't forget to send them a Left Handed Day E-card to show your respect . Remember that "Leftis have rights!" | high17682.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "there would be Easter baskets for children"
},
"options": [
"he would have an Easter basket and a food basket",
"there would be Easter baskets for children",
"there would be children's toys in the food basket",
"he woul... | Directions: Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
"Excuse me",said a young man,standing shyly at the open church door. "I'm here to pick up an Easter basket for my daughter. Am I in the right place?""Well,we have baskets,but they're not Easter baskets for kids;they're food baskets,"I explained.
That morning I arrived at St.Michael's Church in Carmichael,California,to help give out the baskets to needy families for Easter. To make sure every family would receive one,we had handed out numbers to them that matched the basket they were supposed to receive. Each one contained a whole ham,potatoes,bread,vegetables,and a pie--enough food to help feed a family for a week.
"Why don't you come in?"I said to the man. He looked disappointed. He shook his head and said,"I can't...My daughter is waiting for me over there. I'm grateful for the food,but when I heard you were giving away baskets for Easter...well,I thought they would be Easter baskets for children." He continued,"I promised my daughter one,and I wanted to surprise her."
I felt bad,but there was nothing I could do. The man handed me his number,and I walked over to the baskets. A bulge in one of the baskets caught my eye. "What is that?"I wondered. Leaning over and looking more closely,I could see,unmistakably,an Easter basket--filled with candy,chocolate,and Easter eggs. One of the volunteers must have added it by mistake!I thought. Then I looked at the man's number in my hand. Well,he'll be...
"Happy Easter,"I said to the man,handing him the only food basket with an Easter basket inside--the very same basket with his number on it. "Someone knew just what you needed." | high20748.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A newspaper."
},
"options": [
"A magazine.",
"A newspaper.",
"A book.",
"An advertisement."
],
"question": "Where do you probably read this text from?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"ans... | A heartless thief is believed to have crashed a fund-raiser and made off with a bag of cash meant to help a New York City firefighter pay for life-changing surgery for his 9-year-old son. But little Aidan Sullivan -- who was born with a facial defect and no right ear -- yesterday put up a brave front, with a message for the crook(thief): "I'm going to kick your butt!"
"I want to look normal," said Aidan, whose father, Tim, is a firefighter in the Bronx. The third-grader has hemi facial micro soma, in which one half of the face doesn't develop correctly.
Last weekend, family friend Peter Drake, a Ridgefield, Conn., firefighter, hosted a fund-raiser, collecting between $8,000 and $9,000. But when the party at a Danbury, Conn., Irish cultural center was over, the money had disappeared.
"At the end of the night, all the money that was donated was put in a zippered bag," said Tim Sullivan. "A bartender gave the bag to Pete... He had it in his hands. He put it down to go do something, and when he came back, he saw that it was missing."
Sullivan said his longtime friend -- who has had fund-raisers to pay for Aidan's 10 previous surgeries -- is "devastated."
"Pete was so upset. He kept saying, 'I let Aidan down, I let Aidan down," Colleen Sullivan, 40, recalled.
"We even went Dumpster diving, in case it was thrown out."
The Sullivans plan to go ahead with the March 1 surgery led by specialists at NYU's Langone Medical Center in Manhattan. The money would have offset the $10,000 to $15,000 that insurance doesn't cover. Yesterday, Aidan said he's not a fan of hospitals and doesn't like to be away from his sister, Kaylee, 4. But he's willing to do it. "I'm excited," he said. "Finally, an ear." | high4965.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the role of spelling in general language development"
},
"options": [
"the difficulties in teaching spelling",
"the role of spelling in general language development",
"the complexities of the basic writing skills",
"the... | There is a popular belief among parents that schools are no longer interested in spelling. No school I have ever taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, different ideas about how to teach it, or how much priority it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling.
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher's interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to "play safe". He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choosing to avoid adventurous language. That's why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience: "This work is terrible! There are far too many spelling errors and your writing is terrible." It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil's technical abilities in writing, but it was also a sad reflection on the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child's deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his priorities had centered on the child's ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement. | high11595.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Australian cane toads hit the road."
},
"options": [
"Ways to kill cane toads in Australia.",
"Cane toads have evolved a lot in Australia.",
"Australian cane toads hit the road.",
"Worse environment forces toads to trav... | In jokes, the chicken only crosses the road. In Australia,cane toads use roads to travel.
A new study finds that Cane toads are using roads to spread across the continent. They take shelter overnight close to the opencorridors , and then hit the road each evening in their damaging way.
Cane toads were brought into Australia from Hawaii in 1935 to control the spread ofbeetles that were destroying Australia's sugar cane crop. _ are now moving into new places at the speed of 30 miles a year.
Toads can grow as large as dinner plates and can weigh up to 4.5 pounds. Their heads and backsides are covered with rows ofwarts . They are known to kill snakes, lizards and other animals, including pet dogs. They have no natural enemy in Australia.
According to a research, toads make slower progress through thick plants than along open spaces and they hop alongside roads and fences whenever possible. Toads use long corridors that are well-suited for them to travel long distances.
Another study recently found that toads haveevolved longer legs in recent years and that this is also helping them in their spread.
Efforts to kill toads have been largely unsuccessful, although scientists tried their best.
Another new finding suggests ways to slow down its population. For example, roadside borders can be changed to make them less attractive to toads, or allowing thick plants to grow along the sides of highways, thus forcing toads onto the road of themselves. | high10853.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a way of buying and selling goods"
},
"options": [
"a way of buying and selling goods",
"a website for them to upgrade",
"a place to exhibit their own photos",
"a chance to buy things at low prices"
],
"question... | What is Bay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can trade practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods. Including cars, movies and DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes- the list goes on and on
The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was still a child, At high school, be became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from Tuft University in 1988, He worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started Bay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of mouth. By 1996 there was so much traffic on the website that he had to upgrade and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a friend, Peter Skill. and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. . Even in the great. com crashes of the late 1990s,abay has gone from strength to strength ,. It is now one of the ten most visited online shopping websites on the Internet
eBay sells connections, not goods, putting buyer and seller into contact with each other. All you have to do is lake an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business: the world is your market place. Of course for each item sold eBay gets a percentage and that is great deal of money. Every day there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold. | high8187.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "One fourth of the time"
},
"options": [
"One third of the time",
"More than half of the time",
"One fourth of the time",
"More than 5 hours every day"
],
"question": "Most peoplespent around _ of the sleepin... | We spend a quarter of our lives asleep. Sleep is necessary for the body to rest, yet our brains continue to process information. Studies have shown that students are more successful when they sleep after studying-instead of pulling all-nighters-because the brain reviews information learned. Similarly, dreaming is an opportunity to work out emotional problems and form thoughts and memories. About 25 percent of the time spent sleeping is spent in rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. This type of sleep is known for when dreams occur, but it also helps energize the brain and body.
Researchers have found two important factors regarding humans and sleep: basicsleep need and sleep debt. Basic sleep need is the amount of sleep we need to have regularly to perform at our best. Sleep debt is the loss of sleep. A few studies say that most adults function best with a basic sleep need of seven to eight hours a night. The problem is that sleep debt also factors in, just because that you meet your basic sleep needs a few nights of the week doesn't mean it cancels out the effects of one night's sleep debt.
Of course, everyone is different and some people require more or less sleep than the standard basic sleep need. But the real problem lies in what lack of sleep does over the long period to people who either does not meet his or her body's needs or for one reason or another doesn't get enough regular sleep. It is more possible for these people to have motor vehicle accidents, weight gain and risk for heart disease or diabetes and may be at increased risk for psychological conditions such as depression or drug abuse. Sleeping too long also can be associated with depression and poor health. | high13382.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "unsafe"
},
"options": [
"right",
"happy",
"unsafe",
"reasonable"
],
"question": "According to this passage, many parents may think it _ for their children to live away from them.",
"question_type": "cloz... | Sometimes teens need to have some time away from their families. They may want to move out of the family or home for a while.
Many parents will say no to this demand. But experts say it might be a good idea to let your teens live with a friend or a relative. "It was the break I needed at the time," said Richard Lerne. He is talking about the time he spent living with his grandmother when he was 15. "It allowed me to be a more different person than I was with my parents." Lerne said. He now heads the Institute for Children, Youth and Families at Michigan State University.
Experts say teens living away from their families can test new ways of thinking and getting along with people. They may see new ways to problems. Some teens who want some time away from family attend a structured summer program. Others live for a while with a relative or with the family of a friend.
If there is conflict at home, having a teen live elsewhere can benefit other family members. It gives everyone space to develop better relationships.
Joseph Kett teaches history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He says living at home until the late ten years has become the norm only in recent times. "In the 17th century, children were often sent to live in other people's home when they were about 10 or 11", he said.
Peter Sheras teaches education at the University of Virginia. He says parents should listen when a child wants to move out. They should try to find out why the child wants some time away. | high351.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He regained his hearing."
},
"options": [
"He fell and got hurt in the head.",
"He lost his hearing.",
"He regained his hearing.",
"He didn't enjoy the Father's Day party."
],
"question": "What happened to Valde... | For Robert Valderzak of Washington D.C.,Tuesday's earthquake was a miracle .
Ever since he fell and got his skull broken on Father's Day,75-year-old Valderzak had suffered severe hearing loss. But after the 5.8 quake, he could hear everything.
Valderzak was chatting with his daughter and three sons when the quake hit D.C.'s Veterans Affairs Hospital,where he is batting cancer.
"It shook m terrible--right out of the bed," said Valderzak."But after that it stopped.And my son talked to me, and I could hear his voice."
Tests confirmed Valdezak's significant hearing improvement.But his doctors think they have a medical explanation for the "miracle".
"He.had conductive hearing loss,caused by a liquid in his middle ear, as well as loss due to nerve damage,"said Dr.Ross Fletcher,chief of staff at the VA Hospital. "A combustion of a drag he was taking and the earthquake event itself likely led to him losing the liquid and listening back his hearing."
Dr.Jennifer Smullen of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary said the shaking itself might not have been enough to clear the fluid from Valderzak's inner ear.
"But if somebody was suddenly surprised, and shouted out,sometimes that's enough to clear some fluid out from the ear drum."she Bald.
Valderzak had adjusted to his hearing loss with the help of a special microphone and some training in _ .But the situation was far from satisfactory.
"The devices helped,but by the time I got them all connected up,everyone had left and I was talking to myself,"he said,adding that lip reading meant he could only talk to one person at a time. But now he can talk to all four of his kids again. | high23241.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "can record images"
},
"options": [
"can record images",
"can imagine objects",
"provide centered images",
"work at the same height"
],
"question": "According to the passage,an eye is like a camera because both",... | Have you wondered why you have two eyes and why they are set close together on the front of your face? The reasons are simple and important to the way you see the rest of your world.
Your eyes are like two small cameras. A camera catches an image of an object and records it on film.Similarly,when you look at something,each eye takes in what it sees and sends this image to the back of the eyeball.Because your eyes are set close together,they view the world from about the same height but from slightly different angles. Working as a team, the eyes send the images to your brain, which puts them together into a single, centered image.
Seeing in stereo means seeing with two eyes working together,which is called stereoscopic sight.This allows you to view the world in three dimensions,or 3-D.Seeing depth helps you to judge the distance between you and the objects you see and to adjust to the changing angle at which you see something as you move closer to or farther away from it.If images are coming from only one eye, however,only two of these dimensions-height and width-can be perceived.A world seen with one eye is thus two-dimensional,as in a photograph.
Now consider why your two eyes are on the front of your face.Think of other animals with this same arrangement.They are all animals that hunt,like lions and wolves.Their eyes face directly in front of them.This provides a field of sight about 180 degrees wide,which is called binocular sight.On the other hand,animals that are hunted have eyes on the sides of the head,which provides nearly 360-degree field of sight.In order to stay alive,they need to see things coming from the sides and from behind.However,without stereoscopic sight,they have difficulty determining how far a danger is.
With sight both stereoscopic and binocular,humans share with animal hunters the ability to see from side to side and to accurately determine the distance.If you think it would be great to have another type of sight,perhaps with hundreds of tiny eyes like many insects do,think again! Each tiny insect eye sees only a tiny part.Besides,what if you needed glasses? Be glad for the eyesight that you have. | high9299.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a student who likes speaking with others in class"
},
"options": [
"a student who always answers questions loudly in class",
"someone who likes to talk with others in a loud voice",
"a student who likes speaking with others i... | Here are six steps to better studying.
Pay attention in class
Do you have trouble paying attention in class? Are you sitting next to a loud person? Tell your teacher or parents about any problem that is preventing you from paying attention.
Take good notes
Write down facts that your teacher mentions or writes on the board. Try to use good handwriting so you can read your notes later. It's a good idea to keep your notes organized by subject.
Plan ahead for tests and projects
Waiting until Thursday night to study for Friday's test will make it hard to do your best. One of the best ways to make sure that doesn't happen is to plan ahead. Write down your test dates. You can then plan how much to do after school each day, and how much time to spend on each topic.
Break it up
When there's a lot to study, it can help to break things into several parts. Let's say you have a spelling test on 20 words. Instead of thinking about all of the words at once, try breaking them down into five-word groups and work on one or two different groups each night.
Ask for help
You can't study effectively if you don't understand the material. Be sure to ask your teacher for help. If you're at home when the confusion occurs, your morn or dad might be able to help.
Sleep tight
So the test is tomorrow and you've followed your study plan--but suddenly you can't remember anything! Don't panic. Your brain needs time to digest all the information you've given it. Try to get a good night's sleep and you'll be surprised by what comes back to you in the morning. | high1809.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To attract more girls to take firefighting as a career."
},
"options": [
"To tell the girls how to put firefighting knowledge into practice.",
"To teach the girls what to do when caught in fire.",
"To provide the girls with a... | This is not a typical summer camp. Michelle Pawlaw and eight other teenage girls are participating in the three--day camp offered by the Arlington County Fire Department located just outside Washington. Firefighter Clare Burley is in charge of the program,who said the purpose is to try to get young women interested in considering the fire service as a career.
The free-of-charge,overnight camp is designed to let the girls experience what firefighters do to protect the community. That includes some rigorous activities such as moving a fire victim. "I dindn't think I could pull that 170 pound body with a friend, but I was actually able to do it." she said.
They take classes and learn how to climb the ladder on a fire truck, operate emergency tools and rescue an injured person. They also do their share of cleaning the firehouse and the equipment.
"Every week without fail on a Saturday,the job is to wash all the equipment. And we wanted the girls to see this is what we do. This is a typical day in a firehouse,"she said.
Firefighting is still a male-dominated service,but Burley says with 22 women on its force of 320 the Arlington County Fire Department is above the national average of 4.5 percent. She joined the department seven years ago.
"We do everything that the guys do to the same standard. We are tested to the same standard. We are expected to operate at the same standard,"she said.
Most of the girls say they had never thought about becoming a firefighter. but the camp was a great learning experience. "I think it is definitely not a job that only men can do. Women can do it just as well as men can,"said Michelle Pawlaw. | high8193.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a food"
},
"options": [
"a street",
"a restaurant",
"a food",
"a building"
],
"question": "\"Balboa Bar\" is the name of",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": ... | Visiting Balboa Island, in sunny southern California, proved an exciting experience that I will never forget. I had never been to Balboa Island, even though it is only about an hour from my home in northern San Diego.
Our first stop was for a specialty called a "Balboa Bar". It is a famous chocolate covered ice cream on a stick, created many years ago. As we drove along the streets toward the boat, I also saw some interesting buildings that stood for many years. Many of the building designs seemed like dollhouses and someone in our group said that the style was called, Victorian.
After we parked our car on one of the streets, we got on the boat sailing to Balboa Peninsula. As I looked around the boat, I saw a bird flying very close to the water and our boat. A little girl near the boat' s edge jumped out to touch it and shockingly fell into the water! Her dad, who stood nearby, jumped in after her at once and everyone on the boat ran to help. The boat's engine stopped and both father and daughter got saved with the help of people on the boat.
On Balboa Peninsula my family and I went to various shops, especially for food! We saw a restaurant at the very end. We enjoyed our lunch there, at the first Ruby's Diner ever opened in southern California. Although I have been to other restaurants of this popular chain , being at the very first is a great memory.
On our way back to Balboa island we stopped at the huge Ferris Wheel, bought some sugars and played games. It was an exciting afternoon walking around on Balboa Island. I look forward to returning soon to spend some time on the beach again or maybe even to try fishing! | high12088.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Helen was always willing to accept challenges."
},
"options": [
"Helen was always willing to accept challenges.",
"Jane won the first prize in the speech competition.",
"Jerry picked up French during his stay in Paris.",
... | There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as a result or product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a rise, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language--all these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.
By contrast, the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they meet with new experiences and unexpected obstacles . In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept.
In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to face the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may "fail" at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is extremely important to our ability to grow. Do we notice ourselves as quick and curious? If so, then we tend to take more chances and to be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we're shy and indecisive? Then our sense of fear can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and we think we're slow to adapt to change or that we're not smart enough to deal with a new challenge. Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.
These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we protect ourselves too much, then we stop growing. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making. | high345.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the value of receiving college education"
},
"options": [
"the value of receiving college education",
"the ability of college graduates",
"the quality of college education",
"the high cost of a college degree"
],
... | Is it worth it to go to college? This has been questioned a lot recently in America. According to a new survey released by the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Americans felt that colleges provided a good value for the cost. At the same time, 86 percent of college graduates still felt it was good for them.
There are a number of reasons for such dissatisfaction with college. First, there are plenty of problems with higher education -- poor quality and out-of-control costs are two of the biggest. Second, it is true that college is not for everyone. Plenty of rewarding and important careers do not require college. And due to the slow economy, there may in fact be more graduates than the current job market needs. Besides, anti-college feelings are nothing new. Today, Microsoft's Bill Gates or Apple's Steve Jobs -- both college dropouts -- is often held up as evidence of why all that time sitting in class is better spent elsewhere.
However, getting a college education is still a good idea. College graduates earn more, and are more likely to have a job in the first place. According to the statistics last year, the average weekly earnings for someone with some college education but no degrees were $712, compared to $1,038 for a college graduate. That is almost $17,000 over the course of a year and there is an even bigger divide for those with less education. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was 9.2 percent for those with only some college education and more than 10 percent for those with just a middle school degree, but it was 5.4 percent for college graduates. The economic gaps between college completers and those with less education are getting larger.
Although most Americans surveyed by Pew feel doubtful about the value of a college degree, an overwhelming majority of parents Pew surveyed still expect their children to go to college. "It can be inferred that the increased doubt has not significantly influenced decision making." Pew's Taylor says, "Despite the concern about rising costs and other problems, college remains a universal desire in this country." | high23255.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Creative"
},
"options": [
"popular",
"useful",
"scientific",
"Creative"
],
"question": "It can be inferred from the passage that the author thinks the exercises in the book were _ .",
"question_type": "su... | In a recently published book, I came across some exercises with interesting names such as fishbone diagrams, lotus flowers and clustering. As I used these exercises in my classes, I noticed that students were interested. They said more and wrote more. They enjoyed expressing their ideas and sharing them in groups. They were no longer passively _ , but actively taking part in the lesson. I find that creativity can act as a way to increase participation and improve fluency.
Creativity has become a popular word in recent years. Scholars in arts, psychology, business, education and science are all working to get a deeper understanding of it. Robert J. Stemberg is a creativity specialist and Yale professor of psychology. He defines creativity as "the ability to produce work that is both new (original) and appropriate(applicable to the situation ) ". This definition is useful, as we want our students to use language in a new way and to use it correctly and properly. Mot scholars say there are two types of creativity: big "C" creativity and small "c" creativity. Big "C" creativity refers to genius level thinking that results in artistic masterpieces and scientific breakthroughs. Small "c" creativity refers to everyday level thinking that can be used in any situation our emphasis is on the latter. While it goes without saying that any of our students could go on to be the next Picasso or Edison, our aim is to help students produce more ideas and use language in a new way. | high4971.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The capture spirals."
},
"options": [
"The center of the web.",
"The capture spirals.",
"The anchor threads.",
"The radius."
],
"question": "Which of the following is used for catching and holding insects?",
... | Spider webs are one of the most fascinating examples of animal architecture. The most beautiful and structurally ordered are the round webs. The main function of the web is to stop and hold flying insects,long enough for the spider to catch them. In order to do so,the threads of the web have to stand the forces from large and heavy insects as well as environmental forces from wind and rain for at least a day in most cases.
The round web is found to have two main characteristics. The first is its geometry,which consists of an outer frame and a central part from which threads radiate outward. Enclosed in the frame are capture spirals winding round and round from the web center out to the frame. The whole web is in tension and held in place by anchor threads,which connect the frame to the surrounding plants or objects. The second and perhaps most important characteristic is the material with which it is built. Spider silk is a kind of natural material that gives this lightweight fiber a strength comparable to that of steel, while at the same time making it very elastic . Two types of silk threads are used in the web. One is highly elastic and can stretch to almost twice its original length before breaking and, for most types of spiders, is covered in glue. This type is used in the capture spiral for catching and holding insects. The other is stiffer and stronger,and is used for the radius,frames and anchor threads,which allows the web to stand forces and to keep its structural strength through a wide range of environmental conditions. | high20984.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They help develop the town's tourism."
},
"options": [
"They may disappear.",
"They come to stay every year.",
"They help develop the town's tourism.",
"They give a name to Pacific Grove."
],
"question": "Why ar... | Monarch Butterflies
One of the last West Coast homes of the Monarch butterfly,a type of insect ,may soon disappear.Strangely,it is in a town that calls itself Butterfly U.S.A,Pacific Grove, California.
The town of Pacific Grove loves the butterflies.Every year they have a parade and hundreds of children dress up as butterflies.Monarch butterflies are the town _ .Tourism is very important,and many people come to see the butterflies.The butterflies are good for the development of the town.
In 1981 there were so many butterflies it looked like it was raining butterflies.Tens of thousands of Monarchs stayed on tree branches near Pacific Grove.Now there are not so many.
The building goes on a little bit at a time,and you don't notice it day by day.Over time,you can see that there has been a lot of development.As new buildings go up,many trees are cut down.
This reduces the natural homes for the butterflies.
Monarchs travel hundreds of miles each year,returning to the same woods,often to the same trees.The female Monarchs need milkweed to lay their eggs;the males will follow the females.
Millions of Monarchs have traveled regularly along the same path for thousands of years.They start their trip in the mountains of Mexico and travel to the middle part of America.If the woods where the butterflies live are destroyed,the whole species could be lost.There have been Monarch butterflies along the coast of California for as long as man can remember,but no one is sure how much longer they will last. | high21442.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "to react to those who bother you"
},
"options": [
"to amuse the victim",
"to hurt nobody emotionally",
"to react to those who bother you",
"to prevent one from disturbing others"
],
"question": "According to the... | Revenge is one of those things that everyone enjoys. People don't like to talk about it, though. Just the same, there is nothing more satisfying or more rewarding than revenge. The purpose is not to harm your victims but to let them know that you are upset about something that they are doing to you. Careful planning can provide you with relief from annoying coworkers, gossiping friends or talkative family members.
Coworkers who make comments about the fact that you are always fifteen minutes late for work can be taken care of very simply. All you have to do is get up extra one day. Before the sun comes up, drive to each coworker's house. Reach under the cover of your coworker's car and disconnect the center wire that leads to the distributor cap, the car will be unharmed, but it will not start, and your friends at work will all be late for work on the same day. If you're lucky, your boss might notice that you are the only one there and will give you a raise.
Gossiping friends at school are also perfect targets for a simple act of revenge. A way to trap either male or female friends is to leave false messages on their lockers . If the friend that you want to get is male, leave a message that a certain girl would like him to stop by her house later that day. With any luck,her boyfriend will be there. The girl won't know what's going on, and the victim will be so embarrassed that he probably won't leave his home for a month.
When Mom and Dad and your sisters and brothers really begin to annoy you, harmless revenge may be just the way it makes them quiet down for a while. The dinner table is a likely place. Just before the meal begins, throw a handful of raisins into the food. Wait about five minutes and, after everyone has begun to eat, cover your mouth with your hand and begin to make strange noises. When they ask you what the matter is, point to a raisin and yell. "Bugs!" They'll throw their food in the dustbin, jump into the car, and head for McDonald's. That night you'll have your first quiet, peaceful meal in a long time.
A well-planned revenge does not have it hurt anyone. The object is simply to let other people know that they are beginning to bother you. | high10847.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The intelligence of birds."
},
"options": [
"The intelligence of birds.",
"Irene Pepperberg's study on birds.",
"The difference between humans and birds.",
"Ways for experts to train birds."
],
"question": "What... | Scientists have argued for long over whether birds show real intelligence. Some scientists believe birds have abilities including communication and different kinds of memory. In some unusual cases, their abilities seem better than those of humans.
Irene Pepperberg, a birds expert, did research about a grey parrot named. Griffin. Ms. Pepperberg says Griffin can arrange objects in order of size. She says the talking bird also can combine words in the right order. For example, he will combine words when asking for a piece of food. The researcher says experts had thought that only humans and other mammals with large brains have the ability to combine objects and words. She believes that bird brains have the ability to understand that complex tasks must be done in the correct order.
Some birds have other memory skills. For example, they collect and store thousands of seeds in autumn, and find them later in winter. Alan Kamil and Alan Bond of the University of Nebraska are studying the memories of birds called jays and nutcrackers. Their experiments show that these birds use natural objects to find the seeds they have stored.
It's said some birds can learn as many as 2,000 different songs. Songs may have developed as a way for birds to communicate with other birds.
According to Verner Bingman of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, birds must have a special guidance system in their brain. He says that understanding how a bird's brain operates may help us better understand how a human brain processes information.
However, some scientists do still believe birds do many things that appear to be acts of thoughtful intelligence. In most cases, they say, their behavior is simply instinctive , no reasoning power directing it. | high16588.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "students with special learning needs"
},
"options": [
"all the students",
"all the teachers",
"students with special learning needs",
"some special-education teachers"
],
"question": "The coffee shop is mostly r... | EDGEWOOD-Every morning at Dixie Heights High school,customers pour into a special experiment:the district's first coffee shop run mostly by students with special learning needs.
Well before classes start,students and teachers order Lattes,Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolates.Then,during the first period,teachers call in orders on their room phones,and students make deliveries.By closing time at 9:20a.m.,the shop usually sells 90drinks."Whoever made the chi tea,Ms.Schatzman says it was good,"Christy McKinley,a second year student,announced recently,after hanging up with the teacher.
The shop is called the Dixie PIT,which stands for Power in Transition.Although some of the students are not disabled,many are,and the PIT helps them prepare for life after high school.They learn not only how to run a coffee shop but also how to deal with their affairs.They keep a timecard and receive paychecks,which they keep in check registers.
Special-education teachers Kim Chevalier and Sue Casey introduced the Dixie PIT from a similar program at Kennesaw Mountain High School in Georgia.Not that it was easy.Chevalier's first problem to overcome was product-related.Should schools be selling coffee?What about sugar content?Kenton County Food Service Director Ginger Gray helped.She made sure all the drinks,which use non-fat milk,fell within nutrition guidelines. | high19863.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "In an impatient way."
},
"options": [
"In a modest way.",
"In a polite way.",
"In an impatient way.",
"In a painful way."
],
"question": "How did the writer give the blind woman money?",
"question_type": "fa... | Last year, I took a sightseeing trip to Washington, DC. I heard a voice say, "Can you help me?"
When I turned around, I saw an elderly blind woman with her hand extended. Immediately, I pulled out all of my change and placed it on her hand without even looking at her. But the blind woman smiled and said, "I don't want your money. I just need help finding the post office."
In an instant, I realized what I had done. I acted with prejudice--I judged another person simply for what I assumed she had to be. I hated what I saw in myself.
The thing I had forgotten about myself is that I am an immigrant. I left Honduras and arrived in the US at the age of 15. I started my new life with two suitcases, my brother and sister. Through the years, I have been a doorkeeper, cashier and pizza delivery driver among many other humble jobs, and eventually I became a network engineer.
In my own life, I have experienced prejudice. I remember a time--at the age of 17 --when I was a busboy, I heard a father tell his little boy that if he did not do well in school, he would end up like me.
But now, living in my American middle--class lifestyle, it is too easy to forget my past, to forget who I am, where I have been, and to lose sight of where I want to be going. That blind woman on the streets cured me of my blindness. She reminded me of my belief in humility . By the way, I helped that lady to the post office. I hope to thank her for the priceless lesson. | high3978.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a speech to students"
},
"options": [
"an official report",
"a piece of news",
"a speech to students",
"a letter to friends."
],
"question": "This passage may be _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Despite the burning heat, the summer holidays are drawing to a close. After a period of pleasant relaxation, spending time with friends and family, our thoughts now turn towards the new school term. This can be an exciting time, filled with new opportunities, ambitions and challenges. Such new challenges can be frightening as we face unfamiliar situations, people and places. Many of you will be facing a new term in a higher grade. This may well mean a greater workload and more exam pressure. Maybe you are starting a new school and are worried about how to make new friends. Whichever new situation you face, there is no shame in admitting you are worried or concerned. The fact that you are older and are facing more challenges does not mean that you have to deal with your problems alone. No matter how old we are, all of us need help sometimes, and admitting to weakness can be one of our greatest strengths. How else can we get the help we need to face our problems with confidence?
Also, this can be a good way to connect with new people in a similar situation. On the first day of a new term or at a new school, everyone will be nervous and uncertain. Admitting to _ makes us seem much more human. After all, would you really want to be friends with someone who believes that they know everything and claims to never be afraid?
Whatever your new situation is at the beginning of this new term, relax, and remember that every student you come across is just as nervous as you are. Share what you believe to be your weaknesses and see just how strong you really are. | high17696.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they help students find jobs"
},
"options": [
"students are free to choose their courses",
"students do well in their important courses",
"they help students find jobs",
"they help students to be independent"
],
... | As we all know, children are our future, and it's up to us to arm them with the tools to succeed. Sadly, today's children are sometimes being armed with more dangerous tools like weapons, drugs and gangs in the USA. Once a relatively peaceful environment, many schoolyards of today are becoming unsafe for both students and teachers.
Home schools are available to give you choices. Home schooling provides top-quality education, flexibility and freedom to create your own schedule. At Sunny Home School we believe the choice should be yours.
Thanks to modern technology, home schooling information is becoming readily available across the nation. A recent study by the ITBS (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) and TAP (Tests of Achievement and Proficiency) shows us that students of home schools do particularly well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject at every grade level, students of home schooling scored obviously higher than those in public and private schools.
If you're new to home schooling, you may be asking yourself, "Will home schools really work for my children?"
Fact: A nationwide study using a random selection of 1,516 families found students of home schooling to be scoring, on average, at or above the 80thpercentile (80) in all areas, on standardized achievement test. (Note: The national average on standardized achievement test is the 50thpercentile.)
Collectively, the staff at Sunny Home School brings 65 years of experience in home schooling curriculum. We've placed students in the top 2% of the nation in math and many are successfully moving on to college.
One study found that of the home schooled students, 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons.
For more home schooling information, call us today toll free at (1800)542-8668. | high12936.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It is the use of music method to help treat diseases."
},
"options": [
"It is a type of music.",
"It is a research about music.",
"It is a kind of musical effect on diseases.",
"It is the use of music method to help tre... | Research has shown that music has an important effect on one's body and psyche . In fact, there is a growing field of health care known as music therapy, which uses music to treat diseases. Even hospitals are beginning to use music therapy. This is not surprising, as music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways.
Research has shown that quick music can make a person feel more alert, while slow music can produce a calm, deep thinking state. Also, research has found that music can change brainwave activity levels. This can help the brain to change speeds more easily on its own as needed, which means that music can bring lasting benefits to your state of mind, even after you've stopped listening.
Breathing and heart rates can also be influenced by music. This can mean slower breathing, slower heart rate. This is why music and music therapy can help reduce the damaging effects of long-term stress, greatly promoting not only relaxation, but health.
Music can also be used to bring about a more positive state of mind by helping to keep worries away. Music has also been found to bring many other benefits, such as lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of strokes. It is no surprise that so many people are considering music as an important tool to help the body become or stay healthy. | high423.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "By showing what ordinary people have collected."
},
"options": [
"By collecting more tangible things.",
"By showing what ordinary people have collected.",
"By correcting what museums normally represent.",
"By accumulati... | You are the collector in the gallery of your life. You collect. You might not mean to but you do. One out of three people collects tangible things such as cats, photos and noisy toys.
There are among some 40 collections that are being shown at "The Museum Of"--the first of several new museums which, over the next two years, will exhibit the objects accumulated by unknown collectors. In doing so, they will promote a popular culture of museums, not what museums normally represent.
Some of the collections are fairly common--records, model houses. Others are strangely beautiful--branches that have fallen from tree, for example. But they all reveal a lot of things: ask someone what they collect and their answers will tell you who they are.
Other on the way include "The museum of Collectors" and "The Museum of Me."These new ones, it is hoped, will build on the success of "The Museum Of." The thinkers behind the project want to explore why people collect, and what it means to do so. They hope that visitors who may not have considered themselves collectors will begin to see they, too, collect.
Some collectors say they started or stopped making collections at important point: the beginning or end of adolescence--"it's a growing-up thing; you stop when you grow up,"says one. Other painful times are mentioned, such as the end of a relationship. For time and life can seem so uncontrollable that a steady serial arrangement is comforting. | high6800.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the right to choose their courses"
},
"options": [
"the right to choose their university",
"the right to choose their professors",
"the right to choose their degree",
"the right to choose their courses"
],
"ques... | Not only did the students ask for changes in the list of required subjects,but they also demanded the right to choose their courses according to their own taste and future needs.No more fixed programs,no guidance from educators and professors.All they wanted was to get their degree as fast as possible and go to work.
Although the educators didn't all agree;a majority recognized that time had indeed changed and that education should perhaps adapt itself to the realities of modern society.Colleges and universities revised their programs to include a large number of specialized courses in business,nursing,engineering,and other professional fields.In the 1960s they also added courses requested by the students because they considered them"relevant "(Women Studies,Revolution,or Black History)or useful(glass blowing,infant care,slow running,or family life).The students were granted the right to choose their courses as they wished.Many traditional subjects had to be dropped,including history and foreign languages;the liberal education courses that were still useful were often neglected by the students,who didn't feel like working hard to learn something that was not required for graduation.
Whether the revised programs have helped college graduates to find employment quickly is not clear.But after fifteen or twenty years of experimentation,they have raised a lot of criticism.Some of it comes from the graduates themselves,who discover that their practical knowledge is neither deep nor flexible .As soon as they progress to higher positions,they find that they need management training and more study in their own field.Besides,they feel disabled by their lack of general knowledge,for example,by their ignorance of the language and culture of the foreigners with whom they are doing business. Most of all they suffer from their inability to use English,their own language,easily and properly. | high15081.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Six"
},
"options": [
"Five",
"Six",
"Eight",
"Nine"
],
"question": "How many Best Picture nominees are mentioned in the text?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_ind... | The 87thAcademy Award nominations were announced on Jan 15, and The Grand Budapest Hotel stood out as a favorite with nine nominations, including Best Picture. Check out some other Best Picture nominees to see if you missed any of last year's top Hollywood films.
The Imitation Game
This historical thriller is about British computer scientist, Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), the father of artificial intelligence. At the start of World War II, Turing was asked to join a select team of mathematical geniuses to decode the system the Nazis used to send military messages. Besides the actual breaking of the code, Cumberbatch's portrayal of Turing's personality, a mixture of decency and shyness, is also a highlight of the movie.
Birdman
This dark comedy film is about how Riggan Thomson, a faded star once famous for his superhero roles, struggles to regain fame. American actor Michael Keaton, 63, who has a similar experience to Thomson's, plays the leading role.
Selma
A stellar cast including talk show queen Oprah Winfrey may be one reason to see Selma. But that the film focuses on Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle for civil rights also makes it worth viewing. Based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, the film is a chronicle of King's (David Oyelowo) campaign for political rights for African-American people.
The Theory of Everything
We know English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking for his significant scientific discoveries, especially his black hole theories. This biographical film reveals the scientist's (played by Eddie Redmayne) secret romantic relationship with Jane Hawking (Felicity Jones), whom he meets and falls in love with at Cambridge and who later becomes his first wife.
Boyhood
American Director Richard Linklater did an experiment in this film, using the same cast for 12 years to record a boy's growth. In two and a half hours, we see Mason, a Texas boy from a divorced family, grow from 6-year-old boy to a freshman in college. | high10846.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He considers his books treasured possessions."
},
"options": [
"He is too busy to tidy up his bookshelves.",
"He considers his books treasured possessions.",
"He has made a lot of notes in his book.",
"He is a lover of ... | My bookshelves are full of dust--and with good reason.When iIt comes to cleaning that part of my home,I suffer from the most serious case of avoidance .
The thing is this:when I do set out to clean and re-organize my books,which seldom happens,I place myself into a really bad situation.No sooner do I take a title from the shelf, blow off the dust,and wipe down the cover thanI find myself sitting on the floor with legs crossed and my back against the wall.Pretty soon books get piled up on my legs as I am reunited with old friends.
It is as if these boobs have voices,and each wants to say its piece."Remember me?I was given to you when you went into the Navy , so that you would never lack for companionshlp,"one whispers.Another says,"I was your first book of poems,given to you before you learned to love poetry."And a third,"I was the book that made history so attrctive to you."
Perhaps thegreatest pleasuret of re-organizing my books are the surprise--or better said,reunions--that occur. During my latest book cleaning adventure,I found one that had fallen behind the shelf:"Tales of Edgar Allan Poe."Not an unusual title,but the words written on the first page made it very special"With Love from Mom and Dad,Christma 1965." What's this? A book on the physics of lasers .It is filled with mathematical statements,and I had bought it at a library sale when I was 12,not long after the laser had been invented.I couldn't understand a bit of it,bul I did learn what "laser"meant.
What I end up with when I empty my bookshelves is a cross-section of my personal history. It's like a road cut whre one sees all the layers of rock going back through time to the beginning of the simplest life forms.The books I've read--and kept--are not just old fiends.They' re my _ . | high21443.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The ant will push the newcomer to the other route, so traffic jams won't form."
},
"options": [
"The ant will change the direction of its own.",
"The ant stopped the newcomer from moving ahead and forced the newcomer to wait there ... | Researchers believe that the insect is better at managing congestion than humans. Ants are the most many type of animal on earth with brains that contain about 250,000 cells ---- the largest among insects.
Now an intelligence expert Dr. Dirk Helbing says understanding more about ants could help solve one of the headaches of modern life -- road congestion.
His team set up an "ant motorway" with two routes of different widths from the nest to some sugar syrup . Soon the narrower route soon became crowded . But when an ant returning along the crowded route to the nest met with another ant just starting out, the returning ant pushed the newcomer onto the other path. However, if the returning ant had enjoyed a trouble-free journey, it did not send the newcomer in a different direction.
The result was that just before one route became _ , the ants had turned to another route and traffic jams never formed.
The researchers also created a computer model of more complex ant networks with routes of different lengths. The team found that even though ants being sent in another direction sometimes took a longer route, they still got to the food quickly and efficiently.
Dr. Helbing, of the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, said that while you cannot allow cars to meet with traffic coming in the opposite direction as a form of traffic control, you could do the next best thing and allow them to communicate.
His plan is to force cars traveling in one direction to tell oncoming traffic what the conditions they are about to meet with-- so they can avoid that situation if necessary. | high11580.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "has a not so smooth past"
},
"options": [
".has achieved worldwide fame",
"still has a long way to go",
"has a not so smooth past",
"is optimistic all the way"
],
"question": "The English saying is used at the b... | There is an English saying that goes,"he who laughs last,laughs the hardest."High School Musical star Zac Efron is laughing a lot these days.
As a young boy,Efron was _ in school because he was always the smallest in his class and teased because he had a big space between his teeth. In sixth grade,Efron's basketball team made it to the league championships. In double overtime ,with three seconds left,he rebounded the ball and passed it--to the wrong team! They scored and his team lost the game.
But history, as they say, is a thing of the past. Now at 21,Efron is one of People magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People,appears on the cover of Entertainment Weekly,Hollywood's most influential magazine,and is traveling the world promoting the third High School Musical film. Director Adam Shankman described Efron as "arguably the biggest teen star in America right now."Simply geogle"Zac Efron"and you get more than 14 million responses. Yes,it seems Efron has a lot to smile about these days.
Efron was born and raised in California. He took school seriously. According to Efron, "he would go mad if he got a B and not an A in school, and that he was a class clown."It was his father who encouraged him to act. He took part in school performances and with a local theater group. He also took singing lessons. He graduated high school in 2006 and was accepted at the University of Southern California to study film. But he postponed it-why study movies when you can star in them.
Now he has signed on to star in the romantic comedy Seventeen Again and to play in the remake of the hugely popular movie,Footloose.Efron is also earning more than $3 million for his role in High School Musical 3.Not bad for a 21-year-old. But Efron still remembers those bullies .
"You always have to remember that bullies want to bring you down because you have something that they admire,"Efron said."Also,when you get made fun of, when people point out your weaknesses, it's an opportunity for you to rise above".
Efron has risen all the way to the top of the movie business.And he can now laugh all the way to the bank. | high20985.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "was interested in new things"
},
"options": [
"was interested in new things",
"was interested in exciting films",
"jumped high in the film",
"wasn't as enthusiastic as Julia for the film"
],
"question": "From th... | The group of people introduced themselves to me and my German classmate Julia. They were from a production company, currently in the process of filming a movie based in DuAn, a rural area a few hours north of Nanning. They tried to explain the plot of the film, but neither mine nor Julia's Chinese was good enough to fully understand what they were saying. They then asked if we would be interested in being part of the project.
I came to China to experience new things and new opportunity, and being in a movie sounded so exciting. So in less than a second, I jumped at the chance of being in the film. Julia on the other hand was not so enthusiastic. It took 30 minutes to convince her to be part of the film, and she eventually accepted the chance.
That afternoon we were taken to the production company's office to meet the director and some of the cast. We all sat together, drinking tea, talking about why I and Julia were in China and about the film. It seemed a little bit like a dream.
Ever since I was a small child, I dreamed of becoming a movie star, but I would never have guessed that my dream would come true, especially now in China.
At the end of the talk, we were given scripts and had a few photographs taken. We were given the production schedule and ensured that our scenes would only be shot at weekends so it wouldn't interfere with our studies. We left the office excited about the film, but unknowing what filming was actually like.
On our first day of filming, we were picked up in the early morning from the university and we drove deep into the countryside.
We arrived on location and waited for our scene to be shot. We watched as the other actors and crew went about their work, busy shooting and re-shooting the same scene from different angles and perspectives. I never knew how much effort and care went into filming even the most short and simple scene. It was then our turn to shoot, and I was very nervous and very excited. | high23254.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the scene showed a mother's deep love for her children"
},
"options": [
"she watched the scene with her daughter",
"the scene was very exciting and interesting",
"the scene taught her and her daughter a good lesson",
"t... | My 17-year-old daughter went off to college and having her away from home brought back memories of watchingPeter Pan when she was little. In the classic TV production, one scene in particular impressed me: when Mrs Darling puts her children into bed. As she turns off the last of the night lights, she takes one last look at the bedroom and says, "Dear night lights, protect my sleeping children." As a mother, I know how much she loves her children.
It has been several weeks since we took our daughter to college and she seems to be adjusting well after a short period of homesickness. For us, though, it's another story. Like most parents, I love checking in on my children at night. But now she's gone, and I find nighttimes the hardest. I miss her most at night.
In my neighborhood, most of the parents whose kids are off to college are dealing with similar _ . My husband is filled with anxiety. One friend talked about getting this sick feeling in her stomach as she prepared for the college drop-off. We complained that many of us were too busy to truly enjoy being with our children while we had them.
For us moms, seeingToy Story 3only made the sadness worse as we watched the character Andy, who is the same age as our kids, say goodbye to his childhood as he prepares to leave for college. And it's not just "first-time" parents like me. Two moms who have kids already well into college said the separation didn't get any easier. "You feel like something has been taken away from inside you," said one of them.
I imagine things will get easier with time, especially as I see my daughter adjust to college life. Meanwhile, as I keep my cellphone close to me in bed and text my daughter goodnight and sweet dreams every night, I like to think that messages serve as a night light that keeps her safe. | high344.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "was poor in his studies"
},
"options": [
"was not quick in learning to talk",
"studied very hard",
"was poor in his studies",
"hardly lagged behind"
],
"question": "When Einstein was a pupil of twelve, he _ ... | Einstein was born in 1879 in Germany. As a child, he was slow to learn to talk. As a pupil, he was backward. But when he was fourteen years old, he became clever. He taught himself maths from textbooks. He studied hard because he wanted to be a physicist.
In 1901, Einstein began teaching. In 1902 he continued his studies at the University of Zurich. Several years later, he formulated his famous Theory of Relativity .To most people the law of relativity is difficult to explain. But once Einstein explained it very well to a group of young students. He said, "When you sit with a good girl for two hours, you think it is only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute, you think it's two hours. That is relativity."
After Hitler came into power in Germany, Einstein went to America. In 1940 Einstein became an American citizen. In 1955, Einstein's life ended at the age of seventy-six. | high12089.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Our DNA plays a decisive role, in achieving success."
},
"options": [
"Our DNA is the only factor to decide our traits.",
"Our DNA plays a decisive role, in achieving success.",
"Education plays little part in the formation o... | Research shows that much of our predisposition towards determination, sociability and self - control and sense of purpose is in our genes.In fact, our DNA plays a bigger role in influencing these traits ( characteristics)than our upbringing and the company we keep.Taken together, these aspects of personality can make the difference between success and failure, say the Edinburgh University researchers.
They questioned more than 800 pairs of twins about their attitudes to life to tease apart the influences of nature and nurture.Comparing identical twins, who share all their DNA and their up bringing, with non-identical twins, who have a shared background but are no more genetically alike than other brothers and sisters, is a technique often used by researchers to quantify the influence of genetics.
The results, published in the Journal of Personality, showed that genes play a much bigger role than lifestyle, with self-control particularly etched into our DNA.
Our genes a222so largely determine how determined and persistent we are.This is important in terms of success, as someone who refuses to give up is more likely to achieve their dreams than someone who _
Researcher Professor Timothy Bates said, "Ever since the ancient Greeks, people Lave de hated the nature of a good life and the nature of a virtuous life.Why do some people seem to manage their lives, have good relationships and cooperate to achieve their goals while others do not? Previously, the role of family and the environment around the home often controlled people' s ideas about what affected psychological well-being.However, this work emphasizes a much more powerful influence from genetics."
However, those who haven' t been dealt a helpful hand of genes shouldn' t he too depressed.The professor says a sense of purpose is the key and advises those who are eager for success to focus their thoughts on making a difference. | high1808.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He didn't think he could win the lottery."
},
"options": [
"He expected to win the lottery.",
"He was excited to wait for the money.",
"He didn't think he could win the lottery.",
"He regretted spending money for a lott... | A few years ago,my friend Al won the lottery. It changed his life. He did not have a rich family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Instead,my friend was always hard up for cash. He did not have much money. And the money he did earn was chicken feed -- very little.
Sometimes Al even had to accept handouts,gifts from his family and friends. But do not get me wrong. My friend was not a deadbeat. He was not the kind of person who never paid the money he owed. He simply _ pennies. He was always very careful with the money he spent. In fact,he was often a cheapskate. He did not like to spend money. The worst times were when he was flat broke and had no money at all.
One day,Al scraped together a few dollars for a lottery ticket. He thought he would never strike it rich or gain lots of money unexpectedly. But his combination of numbers was chosen and he won the lottery. He hit the jackpot. He won a great deal of money.
Al was so excited. The first thing he did was buy a costly new ear. He splurged on the one thing that he normally would not buy. Then he started spending money on unnecessary things. He started to waste it. It was like he had money to burn. He had more money than he needed and it was burning a hole in his pocket so he spent it quickly.
When we got together for a meal at a restaurant,Al paid every time. He would always foot the bill,and pick up the tab. He told me the money made him feel like a million dollars. He was very happy.
But,Al spent too much money. Soon my friend was down and out again. He had no money left. He was back to being strapped for cash. He had spent his bottom dollar, his very last amount. He did not even build up a nest egg. He had not saved any of the money.
I admit I do feel sorry for my friend. He had enough money to live like a king. Instead,he is back to living on a shoestring--a very low budget. Some might say he is penny wise and pound foolish. He is wise about small things,but not about important things. | high8192.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "American children begin to learn how to manage money when very young."
},
"options": [
"Most of the rich people in America give children much pocket money.",
"American children usually have their bank accounts until they are eight.... | American parents usually think that their child should not have more pocket money than the children with whom he regularly connects, even if they are wealthier.But neither are children expected to compare with the richer if a large family, heavy responsibilities, or other conditions make it necessary to give a child less spending money than is customary in the neighborhood.
Whatever the pocket money is, its entire use is not controlled by the parents, because a child learns to use money correctly only through dealing with it himself.If a seven-year-old child gets a quarter as a week pocket money and is made to put it all in his _ to save it up, he gets no idea what the real use for the money is.He gets the shiny coins and they soon disappear.
The idea of a bank account is too early for so small a child, although he can be made to understand and enjoy saving his coins--not all of them, only a part of what he receives--to buy something he especially wants.By the time he is eight he is old enough to take part in the opening of his own savings account, parents may take him to the bank, open a savings account for him and encourage him to put a certain quantity or any checks he receives as gifts into the bank and watch his bank savings grow as entry by entry is made.
He will be saving, earning, and spending suitable quantities all along in order to learn how to manage money and to keep him in a favorable position with his friend.The boy who can't join his fellows in a sweet shop once in a while, because he has to save every cent he gets or earns for some big unknown project his parents have chosen for him, is a sorry child. | high15080.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "too many visitors"
},
"options": [
"climate change",
"too many visitors",
"disease",
"human activities"
],
"question": "The lion population is falling in Kenya for the following reasons EXCEPT _ .",
"ques... | Kenya is losing an average of 100 of its 2,000 lions each year because of growing human settlements, increasing farming, climate change and diseases, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
"Lions have a special place in Kenyans' life," said Paul Udoto, a spokesman for the organization. "Other than being the symbol of national strength, they are among the Big Five, a main attraction for visitors to Kenya."
There were 2,749 lions in Kenya in 2002 and their population dropped to 2,280 by 2004 and to about 2,000 today, according to KWS figures.
"The fall of the lion population is worrying and every effort needs to be made to make sure that Kenya either protects its population of 2,000 lions at present or increases the numbers to an ecologically acceptable level," said Mr. Udoto.
"There is no doubt that the numbers are in free fall. I'd be surprised if they even last as long as 20 years," said Laurence Frank, project director of Living With Lions, a Kenya-based animal protection organization. "When I first came here 30 years ago, I would always hear lions roaring across the land at night and see their tracks in the morning. Now that is very rare."
"The reason is simple. As the numbers of people grow and the numbers of cows increase, they take up much of the lion's space. Alongside that there are other ways, including poisoning, to kill lions."
Animal lovers are making a new strategy to save the animals. Part of the measures will include tracking lions fitted with radio collars in the Amboseli area in southern Kenya, close to the border with Tanzania.
Wildlife officials in Tanzania face similar challenges in protecting their lions, but there is far less human encroachment on the animals' homeland there than in Kenya. | high422.txt |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.