questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "lived a very long life"
},
"options": [
"lived a very long life",
"refused to eat meat at 20",
"helped kill a pig on a farm",
"enjoyed good food very much"
],
"question": "We know from the text that Watson _ ... | Donald Watson was a man who thought very much about the food he ate. He was born in yorkshire, England , in September 1910. And he died in November 2005, at the age of 95. That is a very great age. Watson explained that it was because he never ate any food from animals.
When he was a boy , Watson stayed on a farm. .He loved to see the animals. He said that they gave so much to people. And all the animals were so friendly. Then , one day , he saw a man killing a pig . He was very sad. . From then on, Watson decided that he would never again eat meat . Twenty years later he decided that he wouldn't eat anything from animals, such as milk, cheese or eggs. He became vegan .
Watson formed a group called "The Vegan Society". In its newspaper, The Vegan Society thought it was terrible and wrong to eat food from animals. At first, there were not many people who agreed with him . They thought it was crazy to do _ .Most people thought it was too difficult and unhealthy. However, over time , more and more people began to agree with Watson and The Vegan Society.
People become vegans for many reasons. Watson and his friend stopped eating because they loved animals. They believed that it was wrong to hurt another living thing .
Now, people also become vegans for environmental reasons. Keeping animals takes a lot of resources , including water and food. Also, in some places, people are cutting down trees to create more land for cows. By avoiding food from animals, vegans hope to protect these forest areas.
Finally, just like Watson, some people believe that being a vegan is healthier. They believe that food from animals causes heart problems, a high body weight and many other health problems. | high8596.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "found out that colors affect sales"
},
"options": [
"tried colors on blind people",
"found out that colors affect sales",
"developed a special subject of color psychology",
"discovered the relationship between color and... | The fact that blind people can see things using parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us to understand our feelings about color.If they can sense color differences, then perhaps we, too, are affected by color without knowing it.Salesmen have discovered by experience over a long period of time that sugar sells badly in green wrappings, that blue foods are considered not agreeable to the taste, and that cosmetics should never be packed in brown.These discoveries have grown into a whole subject of color psychology.
Some of our preferences are clearly psychological.Dark blue is the color of the night sky and therefore connected with calm, while yellow is a day color connected with energy and encouragement.Experiments have shown that colors, partly because they are connected with psychology, also have a direct effect on people's mind.People in bright red surroundings show an increase in breathing speed, heartbeat and blood pressure.Red is exciting.Pure blue has exactly the opposite effect; it is a calming color.Being exciting, red was chosen as the signal for danger, but a closer study shows that a bright yellow can produce a more basic state of alarm, so fire engines in some advanced areas are now rushing around in bright yellow colors that stop buses, trucks and cars. | high998.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "less important person kissed more important person's hand"
},
"options": [
"people kissed each other whenever they met",
"men kissed the women whenever they met",
"less important person kissed more important person's hand",
... | Today it seems perfectly natural for us to shake hands when we greet someone or say goodbye. But like so many things that we do without thinking such actions at one time probably represented something.
For example, in primitive life the hand was used to fight enemies, kill animals, and make spears and tools. So when the hand was extended to someone, it showed that the person was not armed or ready for fight.
We know that the hand was an important symbol in early religion, probably as a mark of power. The Greeks prayed to their gods with raised hands. Presenting the hands palm to palm was at one time the way an inferior person paid respect to a superior one.
Among the Arabs, it was customary at one time to kiss the hand of a superior. Later on, polite Arabs began to resist the efforts of people to kiss their hands, and sometimes they would end up shaking hands as each tried to prevent the other from showing this mark of "inferiority ."
The early Greeks held out the right hand when they wished to show friendship to a stranger. So we can see that the hand, and what was done with it, was full of meaning to people down through the ages. And while we shake hands without thinking, we are really carrying on a custom that has been _ to us from ancient times. | high23888.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "from a letter found in the old man's pocket"
},
"options": [
"by calling the Red Cross office in Brooklyn",
"because the old man repeatedly called for his son",
"from a letter found in the old man's pocket",
"from someo... | The story began on a downtown Brooklyn street corner. An elderly man had fallen down while crossing the street , and an ambulance rushed him to the nearest hospital. There, when he came to now and again, the old man repeatedly called for his son.
From a worn letter located in his pocket, an emergency-room nurse learned that his son was a sailor stationed in North Carolina Camp. Obviously there were no other relatives.
Someone at the hospital called the Red Cross office in Brooklyn, and a request for the son to rush to Brooklyn was sent. Because time was short--the patient was dying, so they found the young man and rushed him to the airport in time to catch the only plane that night enable him to reach his dying father.
It was dusk when the nurse took the tired, anxious sailor to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened. The medicine he had been given because of the pain from his heart attack made his eyes weak and only saw the young man in uniform( ) standing outside the oxygen tent. He extended his hand. The sailor wrapped his strong fingers around the old man's, releasing a message of love and encouragement. The nurse brought him a chair, so the sailor could sit by the bed.
Nights are long in hospitals, but all through the night the young sailor sat there, holding the old man's hand and offering words of hope and strength. It was nearly dawn when the patient died. The sailor placed his lifeless hand he had been holding on the bed, and went to inform the nurse.
"Who was the man?" the sailor asked.
"He was your father." the nurse answered surprisingly.
"No, he wasn't," the sailor replied." I never saw him before in my life."
"Why didn't you say something when I took you to him?" she asked.
"I knew immediately there'd been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, I guessed he really needed me. So I stayed."
Two days later a message came in that there had been two sailors with the same name and similar number in the Camp. Someone in the personnel office had pulled out the wrong record.
But _ And he proved, in a very human way, that there are people who care what happens to their fellow men. | high9850.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Why listening to English songs helps improve our English."
},
"options": [
"What people can do to improve their English.",
"Why English learners like listening to English songs.",
"What songs people can listen to so as to imp... | Do you like listening to English songs to learn the language ? Some students don't believe doing so can help them learn English. I have to say they think wrongly. Listening to English songs can help you learn the language better. You may ask how. Just read on.
Lyrics are not easily forgotten. You listen to them over and over again throughout your life. Once you learn them, they are going to stay with you, and you are going to review them repeatedly because you enjoy them. If you learn just one song per week for a year, those are 52 songs full of new vocabulary and phrases that you will never forget.
Songs give you perfect pronunciation models. As you learn to sing them, you are practicing your pronunciation, you are imitating native speakers, and you are learning how to speak better. The rhythm naturally leads to better pronunciation, better intonation , and more fluency.
When you start paying attention to the lyrics, your listening skills naturally improve. Once you learn a few songs, you'll start gathering a lot of songs and vocabulary. A larger vocabulary usually means better listening comprehension. Just the fact that you start caring about the lyrics will activate your listening skills and listening to music in English will become an enjoyable learning exercise.
Another huge _ is that you get to practice your grammar. Some of the most intelligent grammar questions my students bring to me come from songs. You can probably even map the entire language into pop songs and greatly improve your grammar by learning the lyrics to your favorite songs.
Now we can conclude that listening to English songs can really help you learn the language well. So listen to more English songs in your free time. You can put the lyrics on your ipod or iphone and read them as you listen. Believe me, and you'll benefit a lot. | high13793.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It was flying at high altitude before going missing."
},
"options": [
"It exploded 11 km northeast of its last known position.",
"It was seen crashed over the Atlantic Ocean.",
"Something was wrong with its tail fin so that i... | It was a sunny holiday Monday. Olivier Ferrante was cooking sausages on the barbecue and entertaining friends in his garden north of Paris when the phone rang. The call came from the BEA, France's air accidents investigation bureau , where the 38-year-old former football player and driver was an investigator. The news was grim. "An Airbus is missing over the Atlantic: we need you."
As a safety investigator,Ferrante and his teams had participated, directly and indirectly,in the recovery of crashed planes from the Red Sea, the Black Sea,and every ocean. But this investigation would be his toughest ever: the plane had disappeared without a witness, or a trace on radar .
At least eight ships and a dozen military aircraft gathered on the plane's last known position, about halfway between Brazil and Western Africa. After six days the aircraft's tail fin and 50 bodies were spotted on the surface and the first burning questions were answered.
The plane wreckage and passenger injuries indicated the doomed Airbus was unbroken when it hit the water. It was not exploded apart by a bomb or lightning, now broken up by violent weather. Strangely, no mayday message had been sent by its pilots.
Ferrante worked energetically with his team:collecting offers of help from around the world, consulting navy ministries and research organizations in France and elsewhere, and contracting suitable ships and high-tech equipment. He would not return home for another 29 days.
His team used the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle(AUV) operated around the clock, searching about 400 square kilometers a day. But the race against time was lost and no signals were heard and no more wreckage was found.
Day after day, the screen remained bare except for objects that turned out to be stones or garbage from ships.
Stressed by media attention and painful meetings with victims' s,Ferrante went jogging one day to clear his head. Then he had an idea.
He decided to look at what had happened to nine other planes that crashed after something abruptly went wrong while flying at high altitude. He found that none had traveled more than 30 km before hitting the sea; most covered less than half that distance.
AUV operations continued but now they focused on a 30 km circle around the plane's last known position.
On the ninth day of the new-strategy searching, after searching for 22 months, their hard work paid off finally. The first thing they saw was a woman's handbag. Next,they saw bits of twisted aircraft parts and a panel with "AF" painted on it. Without a doubt,this was the missing Aribus,lying 11 km northeast of its last known position, but nobody felt much like cheering the discovery. "The screen also exposed well-preserved human bodies,and for some of us they were hard to look at," says Ferrante. | high23650.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he believed in his ability to deal with the trip"
},
"options": [
"he lived near the city center",
"the network covered most of the stops",
"he believed in his ability to deal with the trip",
"he had a good impression o... | After I made it to the city center, I started to feel it might be easy for a foreigner to deal with the great size of Beijing. With growing confidence, I decided to take the subway to the hotel, not realizing that the network didn't go that far. Impressed with the cleanliness of the station, I bought a ticket and boarded the first train that came along.
After a few minutes I asked in English of course a young man seated next to me where I should get off closest to the Friendship Hotel. Wearing a smart business suit and tie, he would surely speak English, wouldn't he? Unfortunately, he couldn't understand me but seemed very friendly. I showed him the room card with all the information of the Friendship Hotel in Chinese characters. He looked at it, and then his eyes moved quickly to the carriage subway map. Next, he raised three fingers of his right hand.
In Australia, raising fingers at someone is not usually nice, but this man wasn't smiling. At the next station he showed me two fingers. Now in Australia, that's really rude, but I got the message. When we stopped at the third station, he didn't just point to the door, but got up, took me out of the train, and led me to the top of the stairs, and out onto the street. Then he stopped a taxi and told the driver where to take me.
All this came from a man who couldn't speak my language, and I couldn't speak his. I was now speechless, especially when he refused my offer of money. I felt a little embarrassed having even thought he would accept a tip.
This experience made it clear I had to learn some Chinese quickly or my adventures might start turning into bad luck. | high9688.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "It can detect metallic and nonmetallic objects underneath."
},
"options": [
"It can detect metallic and nonmetallic objects underneath.",
"It can see through clothing or walls by sending out T-rays.",
"It was first used to ob... | New security camera can "see" through clothes
New technology that can " see " through clothing and detect what ' s underneath can now be used to scan crowds, making it a potentially effective tool to prevent terrorist attacks in public places.
The Thru Vision T5000 camera picks up Terahertz rays, or T-rays, which are naturally sent out by all objects and can pass through clothes or even walls. The camera can then detect metallic and nonmetallic objects hidden under clothing on still or moving objects without showing any body detail.
While similar technology is seen at airports around the world, the T5000 is designed to be used in large, open areas. With a range of 25 meters, the T5000 can screen people in public places, thus avoiding bottle-necks at border crossing or security checkpoints. It also means people can be screened without knowing it.
The technology develops from British astronomers' work in studying dying stars. Astronomers use T-ray cameras to see through dust and clouds in space. The company sees uses for its camera at other sites where political or business activities take place.
For privacy concerns,Thru Vision Chief Executive Clive Beattie said the image produced by the camera did not show detailed parts of the body. " It's almost a shining light bulb ." Beattie said. "You don' t see the detail that people might be concerned about. " In London' s busy Piccadilly Circus--which is already filled with closed -circuit surveillance cameras-- reaction to the new technology was mixed. Some said the camera was going too far and violating privacy,but others said they are willing to put safety before privacy concerns. " There ' s surveillance everywhere anyway." said one commuter. "I don' t think it' s much of a difference. I don' t care that they can see through me because they can see me anyway."
Some experts said the privacy violation of the camera was not worth the benefit. " What we should consider is how much we want to lose our privacy in order to obtain a sort of national security," said David Murakami Wood,director of the Surveillance Studies network,which deals with surveillance and privacy problems. " In most cases this isn' t real security--it ' s a sense of safety that has very little real effect. " | high20359.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": ". The cost ."
},
"options": [
". Their knowledge.",
". The climate .",
". The cost .",
"A visa"
],
"question": "Besides the body requirements, which of the following is most likely to stop someone from going ... | Space tourism might be the dream of many people on the planet, but a journey to space is not is not as easy as simply buying some tickets at a travel search engine;it is only reserved for the privileged few that can afford the cost.. One of the options that impressed me most is the one offered by a company called Space Adventures.
What they have in place is a space tourism program that slows you to travel with the Soyuz to the International Space Station (ISS).The trip starts a few months in advance with intensive training dealing mainly with gravity operations, fight control and survival activities.
When all tins training is over, your space trip begins. The trip can be planned exactly according to your needs, whether you're going for scientific research , or simply for an adventure. I doubt whether you will find any other kind of trip that has such a thorough preparation period beforehand.
One of the great things to do, even if it makes your space trip a bit more expensive, is that you could go on a space walk during your trip. _ would definitely be a good opportunity to dance outside with your loved one to a slow waltz...Sorry, I forget there's no sound in space!
Whatever option you choose, the only obstacle you might face is the cost. All the other requirements seem to be less than those for getting a visa to a foreign country. Generally your height should be between 160 and 185 cm, your weight between 50and 95 kg and be in good health.
Finally ,in answer to the question you've been wondering about .Granted, space tourism is expensive, but exactly how expensive would a normal scheduled flight to the ISS cost? Would you believe it costs between $30 and $40 million? A Russian language course is included! | high16833.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He was concerned about the writer's sufferings."
},
"options": [
"He was a friend of the writer.",
"He offered the writer a house in California.",
"He worked for an online magazine.",
"He was concerned about the writer'... | A month after Hurricane Katrina,I returned home in New Orleans.There lay my house,reduced to waist-high rains,smelly and dirty.Before the trip,I'd had my car fixed.When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill.she noticed my Louisiana license plate."You from New Orleans?"she asked.I said l was,
"No charge."She said,and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet.The next day I went for a haircut,and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florid,we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage on our ruined house.We looked at many places,but none was satisfactory.We'd begun to accept that we'd have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while,when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California.He'd read some pieces I'd written about our sufferings forState,an online
magazine and wanted to give us("noconditions attached")a new house across the lake from New Orleans.It sounded too good to be true,but I replied,thanking him for his exceptional generosity,that we had no plans to go back.Then a poet of the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave.The rent was rather reasonable.Imentioned the poet's offer to James Kennedy,and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience,the kindness of strangers backs my faith in humanity.It's almostworthlosing you worldly possessions to be reminded that people really want to be kind when given a channel. | high11184.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "about 23% of Chinese workers once died from pneumoconiosis during about 55 years."
},
"options": [
"200 million workers suffer from workplace diseases and injuries",
"about 23% of Chinese workers once died from pneumoconiosis durin... | Chinese officials yesterday urged employers to take more measures to protect workers against workplace diseases and injuries.
Experts estimate that about 200 million workers face a potential danger of occupational diseases and work-related injuries.
The majority of them are farmers-turned-workers who are working in small or medium-sized firms.
One of the most serious workplace diseases on the Chinese mainland is pneumoconiosis, a lung disease that is caused by breathing in too much dust of coal, silicon, and cerement. It causes serious breathing difficulties and can be fatal .
The disease killed 966 people in the country last year, according to an official report released by the Ministry of Health yesterday.
From the early 1950s until the end of last year, 607,570 people were diagnosed with pneumoconiosis.
Among the number, 137,481 people died from the disease.
Chen Xiaohong, vice minister of health, said the general level of prevention and control of workplace diseases is still quite low in China.
"Health authorities at various levels will do more education work in the future to raise employers` awareness that they are the first person responsible for any workplace diseases or accidents," Chen said.
He made the remark at a ceremony held by his ministry and other relevant departments under the State Council to award prizes to 56 companies which have done well in protecting workers` health.
On the Chinese mainland, more than 16 million companies are engaged in potentially dangerous sectors, such as coal mining, construction, and those that use chemicals, according to the Ministry of Health.
Although many companies, especially large foreign-invested and State-owned ones, have done well in protecting workers` health, many employees are still working in dangerous places with poor protection and without any insurance support.
At least 90 per cent of Chinese companies are small or medium-sized organizations.
Many of these companies, especially private ones based in towns and villages, do not want to spend their money strengthening workplace protection against various diseases and injuries, or buying insurance policies for their employees.
According to statistics from Chinese labour and social welfare authorities, there are about 120 million farmers-turned-workers working in Chinese cities. Less than 10 per cent of them have medical or injury insurance and many have no contracts with employers.
According to Chinese law on preventing occupational diseases, employers should establish qualified working conditions before opening factories, buy insurance policies for their workers, and provide regular health examinations for labourers.
However, according to a survey last year of 74,946 companies that use chemicals or are based in "dangerous sectors," only about 50 per cent offered health tests for workers. | high21047.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "3."
},
"options": [
"3.",
"5.",
"6.",
"10"
],
"question": "How many famous companies are mentioned in this passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_tex... | If you want to get rich, leave New York City, Washington D.C. or Los Angeles and head to Plano, Texas;Aurora, Colorado or Omaha, Nebraska, where wages are high and life is good, a new survey showed.
A poll that ranked 69 US cities with populations of more than 250,000 people showed the best places to build personal wealth and raise a family were in cities where some of the nation's largest companies are headquartered.
The No.1 city, Plano, is the ninth largest city in Texas and home to company's headquarters including soft drink company Dr Pepper Snapple Group, PepsiCo's snack foods company FritoLay and movie theater company Cinemark. "The city has a reputation as one of the best places in the country for employers to do business and for families to live and work. Plano has a nationally acclaimed public education system and well-educated, diverse residents."
Aurora, the third most popular city in Colorado, came in second, according to the survey which said its economy is booming and it is a business leader in key growth industries such as biotechnology, aerospace and high technology.
Nebraska's largest city Omaha, home to famous US investor Warren Buffett, nabbed third place. Buffett, who is the richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine, is often called the "Sage of Omaha" for his successful investments .
New York City came in last, behind Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
"These cities do have some of the highest average wages in the country, but when it comes to increasing your dollar for the future, it is difficult to do in these cities," salary.com said. | high22566.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they worry about the quality of the food"
},
"options": [
"they want to quickly finish their meals",
"they trust their feelings more than ever",
"they focus more on fun than the calories",
"they worry about the quality ... | Turning the lights out or wearing a blindfold while eating could be a quick way to lose weight, according to scientists. The simple trick works because it stops diners eating for pleasure rather than for calories. It also triggers a part of the brain that is worried that unseen food may go bad.
An experiment by the University of Konstanz, in Germany, found that people who were blindfolded consumed nine percent fewer calories before they felt full, compared to those who could see. They also vastly overestimated how much they had eaten because they could not see how much was left on the plate. Blindfolded volunteers estimated they had eaten 88 percent more than they actually had.
Scientists believe that not seeing food on the table also allows the body to know when it is full in real time rather than remembering past experiences where it might have taken a full plate to feel full.
In the experiment, 50 people were blindfolded and 40 were allowed to see their food. All were told not to eat within two hours of the experiment. They were then given three 95g bowls of chocolate ice cream and invited to eat for 15 minutes. Their bowls were taken away and the remaining ice-cream weighed, while the participants were quizzed on how much they thought they had eaten.
On average the group who could see ate 116g while the blindfolded groups ate 105g. However, the blindfolded group believed they had eaten 197g while compared with 159g for the non-blind volunteers. They were also asked how pleasant the ice-cream tasted and the blindfolded group rated lower than those who could see.
"The experienced pleasure of eating was significantly lower in the blindfolded group. Not seeing the food might have decreased the appetite. Sight plays an important role in the eating experience and in the overall dining experience."
Previous studies have shown that the visual influence of food plays a large part in the taste. While restaurants that allow diners to eat in the dark state that it triggers other senses, in fact eating in darkness is likely to taste far milder than usual. | high13963.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "warn us of the importance of our personal credit report"
},
"options": [
"warn us of the importance of our personal credit report",
"tell us the story of a Chongqing student",
"encourage us to use credits widely",
"info... | If your parents take out a loan, remind themselves to make the payments on time. Otherwise it will become a negative record in their personal credit reports, which are playing an increasingly big role in people's daily lives. A story carried by Chongqing Morning Post in June, underlines this trend.
According to the report, a Chongqing student borrowed money from the bank to finance his university studies. After he graduated in 2005, he went to work in Shenzhen. Later, he wanted to buy a house using loans. But several banks turned down his loan applications. The reason was that he had not paid back 1,500 yuan he borrowed from a bank when he was at university.
A personal credit rating is becoming an essential "pass" in everyday life, as China establishes a nationwide credit database. Personal credit systems go back 150 years. In developed countries, enterprises and banks use them to decide whether or not to loan money or do other business with a person.
A credit report estimates the credit worthiness of an individual, a company, or even a country. It is an evaluation made by credit bureaus of a borrower's overall credit history and his or her ability to repay debt. A poor credit rating means a high risk of defaulting on a loan, and thus leads to the refusal of a loan by the lender.
Today in China, credit history in banks is the major content of a credit report. But in the future, reports will include information about the payment of telephone bills, water use fees, electricity and natural gas bills, and taxes, according to officials of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.
Personal information such as appearance, genetic data, fingerprints, blood type, disease history, ethnic identity, family and religious beliefs are not to be included in credit reports, according to a draft regulation on credit rating issued last year by the Sate Council. The authors of the draft have just finished soliciting public opinions.
The Credit Reference Center run by the People's Bank of China is in charge of developing a nationwide credit database. Credit reports for all people with bank transactions began in 2006.
A personal credit rating is important to the social and economic activities of a person. According to the draft, if you have a personal negative credit record, it will be kept for five years. | high9878.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She began working when she was very young."
},
"options": [
"She was a member of the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.",
"Her first invention was made when she was twenty.",
"Her invention was designed to produce envelopes.",... | Did you ever wonder who invented products like Liquid Paper, Kevlar or paper bags? Most would think a man invented these items. Guess what? Women invented each of these. What? You don't believe me? Well, read this:
Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and originally called Mistake Out. Being a typist, Bette was increasingly _ with being unable to erase her typing mistakes. The messy business left her hands black and the paper dirty. Bette was good at painting and remembered that an artist paints over mistakes. She applied that same principle to typing mistakes and Liquid Paper was born, making Bette into a self-made millionaire.
Kevlar, yes, the Kevlar of the bullet proof vest --what police officers and soldiers wear, was invented by Stephanie Kwolek. Stephanie worked for the DuPont Company as a research chemist. She was asked to find a high-performance fiber. Originally, this fiber was intended to be used for car tires . However, the fiber she developed in 1964 was amazing and is still used in products such as sailboats, skis, shoes, and yes, bullet proof vests. In 1995 Stephanie was named to the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.
Margaret Knight invented a machine that revolutionized the making of paper bags. Paper bags had been made like envelopes but Margaret developed a machine that would fold and paste a flat-bottom paper bag, the very same type we still use today. Margaret's family was poor and she started working at the age of nine. Her first invention at the age of twelve was a safety tool for a loom . Later she worked for the Columbia Paper Bag Company. It was there that she worked on improving the making of paper bags. She was issued her patent in 1870.
So next time you use a new product or an old one, will you wonder who made it? Do some research on the web and answer a few questions like: Who invented it? How was it invented? You may be surprised at some of the stories you uncover. | high768.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "show the importance of surrounding goals."
},
"options": [
"explain the difference between the two goals.",
"show the importance of surrounding goals.",
"tell us how to set and achieve one's goals.",
"tell us setting go... | Why can't some people even get an inch of what they dream of becoming? Blame it on pure dreaming and lack of surrounding goals for achieving their dreams.
Setting goals is very significant part of accomplishing and positive actions. It is like scaling a 200 feet construction and marking in the early hours on what feet you would like to reach at this specific period.
People who set goals literally generate a map of their goal settings in life, marking where they should start, where to pause, where to study a bit, and where and when to end. Once this map comes into being, it allows the map drawer to check where he is in the scheme of things and whether or not he is making some planning that will take him closer to his goals.
By surrounding goals, people will know how they are doing and what they should be doing to get their goals or dreams in life. They will know if they can relax or if they have to double their efforts when they are falling short of what is expected of them.
Goal surroundings means a person is prepared in dealing with challenges that may affect his plans. Being proactive means one is able to outline possible difficulties that may occur as well as the solutions to these difficulties. By doing this, a person is not easily scared or defeated when challenges occur because he has already prepared for them. He knows they can happen and he has prepared a solution or strategy when that time comes.
Setting goals will enable people to track their progress in whatever hard work they set out to do. It will help people become more confident in themselves and more motivated to get their plans. | high7855.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "get more help from the world"
},
"options": [
"steal the hearts of thousands of people",
"be an AIDS fighter",
"get more help from the world",
"fight against the government"
],
"question": "The AIDS child gave t... | He was just 12 years old when he died. But he brought courage and hope to people around the world.
Nkosi Johnson, who died last June, is remembered today as an AIDS fighter. This young boy challenged his government's AIDS policies and millions of South Africans in the fight against the disease.
Johnson was the longest survivor born HIV positive .He survived with this deadly disease for 12 years before it _ .
At first, Johnson was expected to live for nine months when his foster mother , Gail Johnson took him in at the age of two. She now runs Nkosi's Haven across town from her house in Melville. The Haven is home to 20 children living with HIV or AIDS, and 11 of their mothers.
Johnson attracted the world's attention and stole the hearts of thousands of people across the world at the 13thInternational AIDS Conference inprefix = st1 /Durbanin July 2000. He stood in front of a large audience including South African President Thabo Mbeki. He told them that he wanted AZT, a drug used to treat AIDS patients, to be given to HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent the disease being passed on to their unborn babies. He received a loud cheer at the end of his speech.
Johnson's speech was broadcast live across the world. With views beyond his age and even a sense of humor, Johnson soon became an international sign of the fight against AIDS and HIV. | high24117.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "to see the president"
},
"options": [
"to kick against the law",
"to fight against the Secret Service officers",
"to see the president",
"to have a look around the White House"
],
"question": "Entering the White... | Washington----A screaming intruder made it onto the front lawn of the White House Sunday while President Obama was at home before being caught by Secret Service officers.
Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren recognized the man as 40-year-old Brian Lee Patterson, whose last known address was in Albuquerque, N.M. Patterson has been caught trying to get onto the White House grounds at least three times before Zahren said.
The bearded man, wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt that read "God Bless America" jumped the fence outside the White House and ran across the north lawn while repeatedly crying, "I am a victim of terrorism!"
Members of the Secret Service emergency response team, including one holding a barking dog, ran after Patterson with their guns and surrounded him near the row of cameras set up for television stand-ups.
"I have intelligence information for the president," he said, waving his arms in the air. "I'm not afraid of you." Patterson screamed at the officers who were ordering him to lie ground with guns drawn.
Patterson finally kneeled on the ground and was taken into custody shortly before 4 p.m. He cut his hand jumping the fence and was taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and was to appear in court Monday, Zahren said.
Zahren said Patterson was charged with unlawful entry for the last time he jumped the fence, in February. He faces the same charge for Sunday's incident and also a contempt of court charge for disobeying the judge's orders to stay away from the White House. | high23678.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "has great muscle memory"
},
"options": [
"was born a blind child",
"could have been a golf master",
"has great muscle memory",
"is trying to find the cure for his disease"
],
"question": "We can learn from the a... | When us teenager Jake Olson isn't playing football or golf for his high school, he's often offering inspiration through his new book about his own life.
These activities might be too much for the average 16-year-old to deal with, but Jake is blind. When people ask him how he can possibly play golf without being able to see the ball, he says he is thankful for his father's guidance.
It seems apparent that his early experience playing sports as a person with sight and muscle memory-- repeating behaviors over and over until they become second nature -- have also enabled Jake to hit the ball quite well.
Jake was born with a rare kind of eye cancer that took away the vision from his left eye when he was an infant and eventually his right eye, in 2009, when he was 12 years old. Rather than letting the disease hold him back, Jake used his loss of sight and his faith as sources of motivation .
"If I was going to sit on the couch all day feeling sorry for myself, I wasn't going to do anything. I decided right then and there that I wasn't going to let it stop me and that I was going to go out and persevere ," he said.
It was with that mind-set that the student from Orange Lutheran High School in California was able to write his first book, Open Your Eyes: 10 Uncommon Lessons to Discover a Happier Life. "It's about opening the readers' eyes to their true potential in life and making sure that they use all the abilities that they have," Jake said.
Jake's father, Brian Olson, said the family is impressed with what he has done with his life, including showing people that they can get through hardships. "Your darkest hour can soon become your brightest, and with every setback, there's a setup," Jake said. "In every one of us, there's more potential than we can ever imagine, and it really is a choice." | high6593.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Unique Problems in International Trade"
},
"options": [
"How to Succeed in International Trade",
"Monetary Conversion",
"Trade Barriers",
"Unique Problems in International Trade"
],
"question": "The best title f... | When companies do business overseas, they come in contact with people from different cultures.These individuals often speak a different language and have their own particular custom and manners.These differences can create problems.
For example, in France, business meetings begin promptly at the designated time and everyone is expected to be there.Foreign business people who are late are often left outside to cool their heels as a means of letting them know the importance of promptness.Unless one is aware of such expected behaviors, he may end up insulting the people with whom he hopes to establish trade relations.
A second traditional problem is that of monetary conversions .For example, if a business deal is conducted with Russia, payment may be made in rubles.Of course, this currency is of little value to the American firm.It is, therefore, necessary to convert the foreign currency to American dollars.How much are these Russian rubles worth in terms of dollars? This conversion rate is determined by every market, where the currencies of countries are bought and sold.Thus there is an established rate.although it will often change from day to day.For example, the ruble may be worth 0.75 on Monday and 0.72 on Tuesday because of an announced wheat shortage in Russia.In addition, there is the dilemma associated with converting at 0.72.Some financial institutions may be unwilling to pay this price, feeling that the ruble will sink much lower over the next week.As a result, conversion may finally come at 0.69.These "losses" must be accepted by the company as one of the costs of doing business overseas.
A third unique problem is trade barriers.For one reason or another, all countries impose trade barriers on certain goods crossing their borders.Some trade barriers are directly related to exports.For example, the United States permits strategic military material to be shipped abroad only after government permission has been obtained.Most trade barriers, however, are designed to restrict import.Two of the most common import barriers are quotas and tariffs . | high20371.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "saw his father sometimes"
},
"options": [
"did not worry about his father",
"never saw his father",
"often annoyed his father",
"saw his father sometimes"
],
"question": "Until the age of five, the writer _ .... | Father was in the army all through the First World War, so up to the age of five, I never saw much of him, and what I saw did not worry me. Sometimes I woke and there was a big figure looking down at me. Sometimes in the early morning I heard the closing of the front door and the sound of shoes walking down. These were father's entrances and exits.
Each time he went away, he left me lots of presents--model tanks, knives and all sorts of military equipment which he put in a long box. When he was not there, mother let me get a chair and search through his treasures. She did not seem to think so highly of them as he did.
The war was the most peaceful period of my life. Every morning I awoke as soon as it was light and felt myself to be like the sun. Life never seemed so simple and clear and full of possibilities as then. I got up, went into mother's room and climbed into the big bed. She woke and I began to tell her of my plans. I talked but then fell asleep and woke again only when I heard her below in the kitchen, making the breakfast.
I often wondered what mother and I should do all day and what present I would get for Christmas. There was that little problem of the baby, for example. Mother and I could never agree about that. Ours was the only house in the street without a new baby, and mother said we could not buy one until father came back from the war as they were very expensive. That showed how simple she was. The Geneys who lived nearby had a baby, and everybody knew that they had hardly any money at all. Maybe it was a cheap baby, and mother wanted something really good, but I felt this did not really matter. The Geneys' baby would have been fine for us. | high18836.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "History of the Amazon rainforests."
},
"options": [
"Understanding of climate change.",
"History of the Amazon rainforests.",
"Time of the arrival of Europeans.",
"Shifts in the earth's orbit around the sun."
],
... | Large areas of the Amazon rainforest were grassland until just 2,000 years ago when it has been found.
Researchers say the find gives new light on the Amazon's history - and show it was a savannah rather than the high forest it is today. They believe much of the area was grassland until a natural shift to a wetter climate about 2,000 years ago let the rainforests form, according to a study that challenges common belief that the world's biggest tropical forest is far older.
The arrival of European diseases after Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492 may also have sped up the growth of forests by killing the local people farming the region, the scientists wrote in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
"The dominant ecosystem was more like a savannah than the rainforest we see today," John Carson, lead author at the University of Reading in England, said of the findings about the southern Amazon. The scientists said that a shift toward wetter conditions, perhaps caused by natural shifts in the Earth's orbit around the sun, led to growth of more trees starting about 2,000 years ago. The "findings suggest that rather than being rainforest hunter-gatherers, or large-scale forest clearers, the people of the Amazon from 2,500 to 500 years ago were farmers," the University of Reading said in a statement.
Carson said that perhaps a fifth of the Amazon basin, in the south, may have been savannah until the shift, with forests covering the rest. In one lake, Laguna Granja, rainforest plants only took over from grass as the main sources of sediments about 500 years old, suggesting a link to the arrival of Europeans.
And understanding the forest could help solve puzzles about climate change. The Amazon rainforest affects climate change because trees soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt. Brazil has sharply slowed deforestation rates in recent years. | high19296.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "was almost fined by the police"
},
"options": [
"was almost stuck in the traffic",
"was almost fined by the police",
"could drive as fast as 60 mph at most",
"had her car slipped into the other side"
],
"que... | On Monday night, back on the way home from school, I was suddenly faced with a big snow storm which I had never met before. The traffic was moving at 5 mph on the freeway where it usually requires at least 60 mph. The road is very slippery. Sometimes the car is out of control, slipping to the other side. I finally managed to drive to the Issaquah. However, I still got stuck in the traffic on an uphill way to my home. Why I lived in the house on the top of the hill? I had no choice but left my car in the road. Fortunately, there was a nice guy coming to help me drive the car to the parking lot so that I would not get a ticket from the policeman. When he first opened my car door and asked me if I needed any help, I thought I saw an angle. No kidding, I was totally frustrated at that moment until I saw the guy.
After waiting in the parking lot for almost 3 hours, my husband's cousin finally managed to come to "rescue" me by his four-wheel drive car and sent me to my in-laws' home because the road to my house was closed. When I got to my bed in the end, it was over midnight. I spent almost 5 hours outside instead of 20 minutes as usual. But I was lucky, because I knew later that some people spent 7 or 10 hours to go home, and just by walking rather than by driving.
This strong snow storm has messed up the traffic of Seattle and I get an unforgettable experience from it. | high21709.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they find it normal to ask their father for everything."
},
"options": [
"she isn't often at home.",
"they are too young to guess the truth.",
"they find it normal to ask their father for everything.",
"they think it na... | Brenda Linson never goes anywhere without an empty spectacles case. It is as vital to her as her purse. Yet, she doesn't wear glasses. The reason she cannot do without it is that she cannot read and she cannot write. If ever she gets into any situation where she might be expected to do either of these things, she fishes around in her bag for the spectacles case, finds it's empty, and asks the person concerned to do the reading for her. Until a few months ago hardly anybody knew about her problem. Her husband didn't know and her children didn't know. The children still don't.
She had many tactics for hiding her difficult--for example, never lingering near a phone at work, in case she had to answer it and might be required to write something down.
It has never occurred to the children that their mother cannot read. She doesn't read them stories, but then their father doesn't either, so they find nothing surprising in the fact. Similarly they just accept that Dad is the one who writes the sick notes and reads the school reports. Now that the elder boy Tom is quite a proficient reader, Brenda can skillfully get him to read any notes brought home from school simply by asking,"What's that all about, then?"
Brenda's husband never guessed the truth in ten years of marriage. For one thing, he insists on handling all domestic correspondence and bills himself. A salesman for a large company, he travels a great deal and so is not around so much to spot the truth. While he's away Brenda cores with any situations by explaining that she cannot do anything until she's discussed it with her husband.
Brenda was very successful in her job until recently. For the last five years she had worked as waitress at an expensive restaurant, and had eventually been promoted to head waitress. She kept the thing a secret there too, and got over the practical difficulties somehow. | high5924.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It can stop the action of an organ for a short time."
},
"options": [
"It is safer than regular X rays.",
"It makes use of computer techniques.",
"It can stop the action of an organ for a short time.",
"It gives clear p... | How can you find out what is going on inside a person's body without opening the patient's body up? Regular X rays can show a lot. CAT scans can show even more. They can give a complete view of body organs.
What is a CAT scan? CAT stands for a kind of machine. It is a special X-ray machine that gets a 360-degree picture of a small area of a patient's body.
Doctors use X rays to study and determine diseases and injuries within the body, X rays can find a foreign object inside the body or take pictures of some inside organs to be X-rayed.
A CAT scanner, however, uses a group of X rays to give a cross-sectional view of a specific part of the body. A fine group of X rays is scanned across the body and around the patient from many different directions. A computer studies the information from each direction and produces a clear cross-sectional picture on a screen. This picture is then photographed for later use. Several cross sections, taken one after another, can give clear "photos" of the entire body or of any body organs. The latest CAT scanners can even give clear pictures of active, moving organs, just as a fast-action camera can "stop the action", giving clear pictures of what appears unclear to the eye. And because of the 360-degree pictures, CAT scans show clear and complete views of organs in a manner that was once only shown during operation or examination of a dead patient.
Frequent appearance before X rays can cause skin burns, cancer or other damage to the body. Yet CAT scans actually don't cause the patient to more radiation than regular X rays do. CAT scans can also be done without getting something harmful into the patient, so they are less risky than regular X rays.
CAT scans provide exact, detailed information. They can quickly find such a thing as bleeding inside the brain. They are helping to save lives. | high2093.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To check whether the searching is in right place."
},
"options": [
"To make assumptions and conclusions of the plane.",
"To check whether the searching is in right place.",
"To encourage the searching crews.",
"To calcu... | An international panel of experts will re-examine all data gathered in the nearly two-month hunt for the missing Malaysia jet to ensure search crews have been looking in the right place, officials said Monday.
Senior officials from Malaysia, Australia and China met in the Australian capital to _ the details of the next steps in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which will center around an expanded patch of seafloor in a remote area of the Indian Ocean off Western Australia.The area became the focus of the hunt after a team of analysts calculated the plane's most likely flight path based on satellite and radar data.Starting Wednesday, that data will be re-analyzed and combined with all information gathered thus far in the search, which hasn't turned up a single piece of debris despite crews searching more than 4.6 million square kilometers of ocean.
"We've got to this stage of the process where it's very sensible to go back and have a look at all of the data that has been gathered, all of the analysis that has been done and make sure there's no flaws in it, the assumptions are right, the analysis is right and conclusions are right," Angus Houston, head of the search operation, told reporters in Canberra.
Investigators have been confused by a lack of hard data since the plane vanished on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.A weeks' long search for surface debris was called off last week after officials determined any debris that may have been floating has likely sunk.
"Unfortunately, all of that effort has found nothing," Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said."We've been confident on the basis of the information provided that the search area was the right one, but in practice, that confidence has not been converted into discovering any trace of the aircraft." Houston has warned the underwater search is likely to drag on for up to a year. | high18188.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "about a million times faster"
},
"options": [
"millions times faster",
"a million times slower",
"about millions of times faster",
"about a million times faster"
],
"question": "Light speed is _ than sound s... | Light travels at a speed which is about a million times faster than the speed of sound. In one second, light travels about 300,000km, but sound travels only 344m. You can get some idea of this difference by watching the start of a race. If you stand some distance away from the starter, you can see smoke come from his gun before the sound reaches your ears. This great speed of light produces some strange facts. Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach us. If you look at the light of the moon tonight, remember that the light rays left the moon 1.3 seconds before they reached you. The nearest star is so far away that the light which you can see from it tonight started to travel towards you four years ago at a speed of nearly 2 million km per minute. In some cases the light from one of tonight's stars started on its journey to you before you were born.
Thus, if we want to be honest, we cannot say " The stars are shining tonight." We have to say, " The stars look pretty. They were shining four years ago but their light has only just reached Earth." | high11812.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Thailand"
},
"options": [
"Cuba",
"Singapore",
"India",
"Thailand"
],
"question": "If the Londoner and his companion travel in March, 2010, they will probably be in",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
}... | Let's travel the world together
Nickname: Zaloxx
Email:jdlxx8@yahoo. com
When to travel: Feb 2010-Apr 2010
Self-introduction.. A 40+ male with strong physical and financial abilities. Hope to travel in
India, Singapore and Thailand for business as well as for fun.
My travel plan: Fly to Delhi and spend 3 weeks in India travelling mostly in north. Fly to
Singapore and Thailand for a few business matters and mainly for fun.
Whom I am looking for: A female to travel with me. She should be an attractive 30-40 healthy romantic lady and love travelling and relaxing.
Together for Christmas and New Year?
Nickname: Rue Rose
Email: sofitsao@taishin, com. tw
When to travel: Dec 2010-Jan 2011
Self-introduction: I am a fit, young, looking 40 years old female, who is easy-going, fun to be with.
My travel plan: Would like to go somewhere hot-Cuba, Africa, Morocco, and so on. Perhaps the Christmas and New Year there are more interesting.
Whom I am looking for: A male much with similar interests. A non-smoker and light drinker.
Travel in good company!
Nickname: Louise
Email: misskennedy@hotmail, co. uk
When to travel: Jan 2010
Self-introduction: 40 years old, fun-loving and easy-going.
My travel plan: I need a break and I am open to anywhere.
Whom I am looking for: A male travel companion , 24-40. A non-smoker who enjoys
outside activities. Prefer someone that speaks Spanish.
Need a travel companion in Thailand!
Nickname: Gio
Email: esteban407@yahoo, com
When to travel: Feb 2010-Apr 2010
Self-introduction: I am 28 years old from London. I like to keep fit and enjoy hiking and camping.
My travel plan: I plan to visit Thailand and travel around the country to enjoy nature and the sunshine.
Whom I am looking for: Someone around my age. A male who is willing to have an active holiday. | high20417.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "both B and C"
},
"options": [
"foreigners",
"job-seekers",
"employers",
"both B and C"
],
"question": "The intended readers of the passage are _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | Careerberg.com is the world's fastest growing online recruitment solution. Here jobseekers and employers are growing very fast on the daily basis. The site was successfully launched on January 2008 worldwide.
Careerberg.com provides an opportunity to job seekers where they can search jobs in their field of interest. Site contains a complete directory of jobs posted throughout the world. You can find job anywhere in the world from careerberg.com. It provides a complete listing of countries like jobs in UK, jobs in Pakistan and other countries as well. And above all it also provides the choice of advance search through which a user can find more jobs fit for him, even for his city as well.
At careerberg.com
*It is simple to find your ideal career
*Stay up-to-date with new career opportunities
*Stay connected with family of Careerberg.com for development of your profession
*Now it's easier to have and develop career which suits your personality
*Guaranteed jobs and secure the future
In the previous years it was difficult for job seekers to find a good match of their skills but careerberg.com solve their problem.
The site contains a complete list of jobs posted which are categorized on the basis of industries and location as well so that it will be easy for users to find exact industry and locality.
Job-seekers must create their account and register them freely with the best online recruitment site worldwide.
The site also provides ease for the employers as well, they can post free jobs, filter resumes , download resumes for free. Besides, it is quick, easy and gives you better chance of success. There are lots of multinational companies registered with careerberg.com which provides an opportunity to job seekers to visit and find exact jobs for them. | high22200.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "sociologists are most interested in the idea of the European Union"
},
"options": [
"sociologists are most interested in the idea of the European Union",
"all the European countries are not willing to join the European Union",
... | For new countries joining the European Union, and older ones getting used to their dark red passports, becoming "Europeans" is a bit like marrying into a large, eccentric family.
Europeans have a lot in common but it is their differences, not their similarities, that attract the attention of sociologists and market researchers, and are more interesting.
* 35% of Germans live alone, but only 9% of Spaniards. Perhaps this explains why Spaniards lead Europe in the habit of going out for a drink.
* The British attend more adult evening classes than anyone else in Europe, and the Belgians least. So it can't just be the dark evenings. There are no figures on how many Britons go for a drink afterwards. If there were, they might be up at the top with Spain!
* The British think black cats are lucky. Every other European country regards them unlucky.
* The Dutch and Germans are the greatest caravaners , but the Germans like bigger beds in their caravans.
* The French are the most athletic Europeans. Next come the Dutch. But the Belgians, just over the border, play fewest sports.
* The Germans spend twice as much on heating as the Spaniards. Well, of course they do, it's colder.
* Dutch husbands do the household shopping a lot more often than Italians or Spaniards.
* The French are the champion public transport commuters of Europe. If you hate commuting, go and live in the Netherlands, where journeys to work are shorter than anywhere else.
* The amount of direct eye-contact between strangers is three times greater among Spaniards than it is among the British or Swedes. Sharing a lift is torture for both the British and the Swedish.
* No European countries really agree with any other about how to make good coffee. All of them are different.
There are exceptions to all these rules. Deal with them in the spirit of my 8-year-old daughter. "If you don't understand each other's language, you just laugh a lot, and eat, and point at things." | high22214.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "it makes people become smarter"
},
"options": [
"it makes people become smarter",
"it makes people more cheerful",
"it helps people to be healthier",
"it relieves people's frustration"
],
"question": "Forgivenes... | While the 1970s pop psychotherapy movement focused on the importance of letting anger out, more recent research suggests that there's a smarter, healthier way to react to life's misfortunes with forgiveness. In a recent study, it was found that when individuals were about to forgive, they experienced greater joy, a greater sense of control over life and less depression. Sound appealing.
*Why holding a grudge can be harmful?
Your boyfriend blows you off for an important date. If you stay angry at him, you'll probably get fresh flowers on your doorstep and maybe a romantic meal or two. But grudge-holding only gives us the illusion of power. If you hold on to that anger on a chronic basis, then it has power over you, eating away at your peace of mind and perhaps even your immune system. A study by Kathleen Lawler, Ph. D., a psychology professor at the University of Tennessee, confirms that people who are unable to forgive report more stress in their lives, more illness and more visits to the doctor than do forgiving folk.
*Going from a grudge to forgiveness
A few ways to develop your capacity to tolerate--Try writing a daily "forgiveness" reminder in your journal; it may sound out of date, but it's a great way to help gain control over your emotional life.--Write a letter to your offender, detailing exactly what's bothering you. Then throw it. You'll feel better, even if your message never reaches its intended target.--What, exactly, makes your blood boil? Forgiveness isn't about swallowing anger or being a doormat. It's not about forgetting, either. On the contrary, it's about acknowledging an offence with your eyes wide open--and then releasing the anger. That means not quarrelling with the person who hurt you, but focusing on the good parts of your life.
*An act of courage
Are you still not convinced that it's worth it to put your energies toward forgiving? Besides the benefits to your mental and physical health, true forgiveness is a sign of strength and spiritual virtue . "It takes a lot of moral muscle to forgive," says Dr Witvleit of Hope College in Michigan. The bottom line: Forgiving eventually benefits the forgiver more than the person who has done wrong. So start putting your own well-being first, and live life with as much interest and love as you can. | high19282.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "there exists a possibility that physical activity leads to higher grades"
},
"options": [
"a research on physical education has been done by the researchers",
"there exists a possibility that physical activity leads to higher grade... | Recently we told you about a finding that more years of school could help students get higherscores on intelligence tests.That was the finding of a study of teenage males in Norway.Now,other research shows that physical activity may help students do better in their classes .
The research comes as educators in some countries are reducing time for activities like physical education.They are using the time instead for academic subjects like maths and reading.The studies appeared between 2007 and 2013.They included more than 55,000 children,aged 6 to 18.
Amika Singh:"Based on the results of our study,we can conclude that being physically active is beneficial for academic performance. There are,first,Physiological explanations,like more blood flow, and so more oxygen to the brain.Being physically active means there are more hormones produced like endorphins .And endorphins make your stress level lower and your mood improved, which means you also perform better."
Also,students involved in organized sports learn rules and how to follow them.This could improve their classroom behavior and help them keep their mind on their work.
The study leaves some questions unanswered,however.Ms.Stash says it is not possible to say whether the amount or kind of activity affected the level of academic improvement.This is because of differences among the studies .
Also.they were mostly observational studies.An observational study is where researchers do not do controlled comparisons.They only describe what they observe.So they might observe a link that students who are more active often have better grades.But that does not necessarily mean being active was the cause of those higher grades.
The researchers said they found only two high - quality studies.They called for more high-
quality studies to confirm their findings.They also pointed out that " _
Still,the general finding was that physically active kids are more likely to do better in school.Ms.Singh says schools should consider that finding before they cut physical education programs.Her paper on "Physical Activity and Performance at School"is published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. | high5930.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "people used to call him Berry"
},
"options": [
"people used to call him Berry",
"his father died of serious illness",
"his father became a finance minister of America",
"his parents attended Harvard University"
],
... | Throughout his early years, Obama was known at home and at school as "Barry". Obama's parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student. They separated when he was two years old and later divorced . His father received Master's degree in Economics from Harvard University, then returned to Kenya, where he became a finance minister before dying in an automobile accident in 1982. His mother married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967. Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, from age 6 to 10, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language.
During his time in Indonesia, he first attended St. Francis Assist Catholic school for almost three years. When Obama was in third grade he wrote an essay saying that he wanted to be president. His teacher later said that his reason for becoming president was that he wanted to make everybody happy.
Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his materal grandparents while attending Punahou School, a private college elementary school, from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979. Obama's mother, Ann, died of cancer a few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir , Dreams from My Father.
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's middle class family. Of his early childhood, Obama writes, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me---that he was black as pitch , my mother white as milk ."
Some of his fellow students at Punahou School later told the Honolulu Star--Bulletin that Obama was mature for his age as a high school student and that he sometimes attended parties and other events in order to connect with African American college students and military service people. | high3399.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "which helps poor people live through crisis"
},
"options": [
"which is funded by the government",
"where people can get food randomly",
"which helps poor people live through crisis",
"where there is enough food supplies... | When looking at Western Europe,we don't usually think about poverty--but in fact,some people in modern--day Britain are so hard up that they can't afford to buy food.
Back in 2008,the financial crisis caused a lot of unemployment.Then there were the cuts to the welfare system in 2013 which added to the problem--and many British people fell into debt.It's estimated that 500,000 people in the UK have turned to food banks,just to get by.
Steph Hagen,who works in a Nottingham food bank,says, "People do not go to a food bank because it's an open door.It's a case where they go to it because they need to.With our food bank--we are an independent one.and we have limited stocks--everyone who comes through our door has no income."
There are checks to make sure nobody is abusing the system.If a doctor or a social worker thinks someone needs to use a food bank--even for a short time--they can give them vouchers .Then the people in need take _ along to the food bank and they get handouts for three days.
Churches and individual donors provide most of the food in the banks.But some businesses might help out too.
And what sort of food is offered in food banks? Hagen says, "Basically,we've got porridge.We do occasionally get fresh produce but it's very rare,especially in the winter months.It's like tinned fruit,tinned ready meals.We have to give out 'no-cooking' food parcels because people can't afford the gas and electricity".
Community spirit has a lot to do with food banks.Volunteers say they are a great meeting place for people who are lonely and depressed.And when facing a crisis,some beneficiaries might need to feed not only their belly--but also their soul. | high11806.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Main streets."
},
"options": [
"Side streets.",
"Main streets.",
"Pavements.",
"Parks."
],
"question": "For people's health, which of the following should NOT be chosen, according to the passage?",
"question... | The main cause of a heart attack is not exercise or stress -- it's air pollution, according to a study published in The Lancetthis month. Researchers found spending time in traffic, whether as a driver or a pedestrian , tops the list of risk factors that bring on a heart attack.
Jon Ayres, professor of environmental and respiratory medicine at the University of Birmingham, says, "Air pollution is not only linked to strokes, heart attacks and cancer -- it has a deep effect on those with existing respiratory conditions." So how can you avoid the damage? We asked the experts for their tips.
TAKE TO THE SIDE STREETS
Avoid main roads. These have the highest number of vehicles and also more traffic jams, which tend to run on diesel . Diesel engines emit tiny particles that reach the lungs most easily. Choose side streets, pavements, parks and avenues lined with trees.
BUY SOME HOUSEPLANTS
We spend 90 percent of our time inside, but studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have found that pollution levels can be two to five times higher indoors than outside. Objects such as synthetic carpets, TV screens can emit chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOC,), which have been linked to diseases such as cancer. Researchers at Curtin University in Perth,
Australia, found an increase in asthma risk among children under three who
had high VOC levels in their homes. Therefore, the application of air fresheners and houseplants can keep the circulation of the air and absorb the pollutants. | high20403.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Safin's success benefited a lot from his family"
},
"options": [
"almost all the women love Safin",
"his strength and forehand and backhand skills are never beaten",
"Safin's success benefited a lot from his family",
"h... | Handsome Safin is loved by many women fans and he is called "the most attractive man". His strength and forehand and backhand skills are the best in the world, which are in fact unbeatable while he is at his best.
Marat Safin was born inprefix = st2 /Moscowon 27th January, 1980, and was introduced to the game at a very early age. His mother Rausa, one of the former top 10 Russian women tennis players, used to take baby Marat with her when she practiced at the local Spartak club. This is where Marat also learned to play.
Marat had picked up his racket almost as soon as he could walk and at five was hitting balls with a little child until 1992.
When Marat was 13, his parents decided to send him abroad for further practice, so in that year Marat and his mother visited a tennis school inValenciawhere Maria Pasqual, former director of Spanish women's tennis, was asked to judge his potential. Pasqual liked what she saw and managed to persuade a Swiss client into keeping him at the school.
In the following four years Marat lived in Valenciaemploying Pasqual as his career advisor, working on his great clay court skills and learning the Spanish language.
Marat's first title came in 1997 at a Challenger in Espinho and soon afterwards he turned professional. He won his first title on the ATP Tour in August, 1999 when he beat Greg Rusedski in the final of the MFS Professional Championships in Boston. In 2000, Safin won his first Grand Slam title--US Open. He also reached the final of the Australian Open in 2002 and 2004. On November 7, 2004, Marat Safin beat Czech qualifier' Stepanek to win his third Paris Masters title. He also won the Paris Masters in 2000 and 2002.
"I really enjoy tennis because it brings about extreme emotions and allows me to live my dreams," said Safin. Yes, the future certainly looks rosy for him. Just like what his former adviser, Maria Pasqual said, "He will be a champion one day" -- surely he already is! | high18822.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the links between seasonal changes and the crime patterns."
},
"options": [
"police records.",
"crime patterns.",
"the links between seasonal changes and the crime patterns.",
"the summer high in crimes."
],
"qu... | Crime has its own cycles, a magazine reported some years ago. Police records that were studied for five years from over 2,400 cities and towns show a surprising link between changes in the season and crime patterns.
The pattern of crime has varied little over a long period of years. Murder reaches its high during July and August, as do rape and other violent attacks. Murder, moreover, is more than seasonal: it is a weekend crime. It is also a nighttime crime: 62 percent of murders are committed between 6 pm. and 6 am.
Unlike the summer high in crimes of bodily harm, burglary has a different cycle. You are most likely be robbed between 6 pm. and 2 am. on a Saturday night in December, January, or February. Which is the most un-criminal month of all? May except for one strange statistic. More dog bites are reported in this month than in any other month of the year.
Possibly, _ thermometers and high humidity bring on our strange and terrifying actions, but police officials are not sure. "There is, of course, no proof of a connection between humidity and murder," they say. "Why murder's high time should come in the summertime we really don't know." | high22572.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To show how much alcohol can hurt people."
},
"options": [
"To introduce Mr. Alcohol to the readers",
"To show how much alcohol can hurt people.",
"To describe the harm alcohol did to his family.",
"To show the great fu... | To Mr. Alcohol
You've been with us for a long time. I won't forget all the pain you've caused for us.
Do you remember the night you almost took my father's life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He's addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went spinning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn't the only one hurt by you that night.
Do you remember the night of my first high school party? You were there. My friends were _ by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen completely. "I'm so embarrassed," they said as I held their hair back so that they could vomit . "I'm sorry," they said when I called taxies for them, walking them out and paying the driver in advance. "This won't happen again," they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped . Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night thanks to you.
Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lessons? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car and killed the two people in the other car? He died the next morning too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn't realize her brother was in the midst of it all. She never saw him again. And it's all your fault.
I wish you'd walk out of my life forever. I don't want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you've caused. Sure, you've made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you've caused in the lives of millions is inexcusable. Stop luring in the people I love. Stop hurting me, please. | high13977.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "guns are out of control in US schools"
},
"options": [
"the number of the expulsions is not large",
"the number of the expulsions is wrong",
"there are soldiers hiding among the students",
"guns are out of control in US... | More than 6000 children were expelled from US schools last year for bringing guns and bombs to school, the US Department of Education said on May 8.
The department gave a report on the expulsions as saying handguns accounted for 58 percent of the 6093 expulsions in 2005--2006, against 7 percent for rifles or shotguns and 35 percent for other types of firearms.
"the report is a dear sign that our nation's public schools are cracking down" on students who bring guns to school, " Education Secretary Richard Riey said in a statement. "We need to be tough-minded about keeping guns out of our schools and do everything to keep our children safe."
In March 2006, a 1l-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy using handguns and rifles shot dead four children and a teacher at a school in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In October, two were killed and seven wounded in a shooting at a Mississippi school. Two months later, a 14-year-old boy killed three high school students and wounded five in Daducab, Kentucky.
"Most of the expulsions, 56 percent were from high schools, which have students from about age 13, 34 percent were from junior high schools and 9 percent were from elementary schools", the report said. | high7699.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "soap"
},
"options": [
"water",
"soap",
"a washing-machine",
"a housewife"
],
"question": "Salt is a snow-melting agent while _ is a cleaning agent.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answ... | Snow-melting Agent
A heavy snow can kill pests and this means a good harvest next year.This will bring as well as trouble to urbanites.
On Nov.16,2003,a cold air current brought a heavy snow to Beijing.To prevent traffic jams,related government departments mobilized people to clear off snow on streets.
One of the most effective ways to clear off snow on roads is to scatter snow-melting agent on the roads.The major component of the snow-melting agent is salt.The snow-melting agent can make snow stop from freezing,make it easier to clear off the road,and allow traffic to flow smoothly.But it also brings about some hidden dangers.In the spring of 2003,over 300 000 trees in Beijing urban districts died.After analyzing soil around these trees,experts discovered that the salt content of these soils was 392 times higher than normal.Where did the excessive salt come from?After investigating,forestry experts found that when clearing snow in the winter,people usually heap snow containing snow-melting agent at trees' roots,and that when the snow melts,this agent penetrates the soil and increases its salt content.The snow-melting agent indirectly killed the trees.
Statistics show that during a heavy snow in 2002,over 1000 tons of snow-melting agent was scatterred on streets in Beijing.Snow water containing a large amount of snow-melting agent got into the soil through sewers.
In addition,salt in the snow-melting agent can expedite the corrosion of steel bars in concrete buildings and cause the concrete to crack and peel,shortening the life of roads.
Scientists and government officials are required to solve traffic problems caused by heavy snows as soon as possible and at the same time try to reduce the negative effects of the snow-melting agent.This is a difficult problem placed before them.Related authorities have framed some local criteria to regulate the production and use of snow-melting agents.
Now,more harmless snow-melting agents are being developed.Now that even snow-melting agents that meet today's criteria must still be used carefully,we have to rely more on our manpower and machines to clear off snow.
This year,in addition to using snow-melting agents,Beijing will use a large number of snow vehicles to clear snow on roads.In more places,citizens are mobilized to clear snow with their hands.This may be a test of a city's civilization level. | high7841.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "tell people the bad effects of phubbing"
},
"options": [
"show the phubbing people are dangerous.",
"tell people the bad effects of phubbing",
"say phubbing is more and more popular.",
"warn people not to use phones any... | Don't you hate it when someone snubs you by looking at their phone instead of paying attention? The word "Phubbing", which comes from "phone" and "snub", describes such behavior . With popularization of smart phones, we see a new "Phubbing" group everywhere in public places: in subway, restaurants, roads, people are checking the mobile phone, ignoring the people around completely. What is worrying us is that not only young people, but also the elderly and kids are getting addicted to Phubbing.
On Dec 29th, a 28-year-old woman--a mother of two in Wenzhou, drowned after she fell into a river while looking at her mobile phone. A Pakistani man was killed on Dec 15th, 2015, after being hit by a fast moving train while trying to take a selfie with it on the track. Last month, Justin, a college student was shot in subway in San Francisco, the U.S. The surveillance video showed that before Justin was killed, the killer pulled out the gun several times, and even wiped his nose with it. However, nobody noticed that. The surrounding passengers all focused on their cell phones.
Phone is the tool for communication, but now it distances people and makes them separated from each other. Therefore, someone jokes "the furthest distance in the world is not the distance between life and death, but that you don't know I stand in front of you while you focus on the mobile."
Phubbing appears harmless; however, it does affect our life. 23-year-old Alex from Melbourne wrote in his blog: "I can no longer focus on what I am eating since I started twittering. My skill of food photography has improved very fast, while my interest in food drops a lot as a result." | high13744.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "always thinks he is more important than others"
},
"options": [
"is down to the earth",
"is easy to deal with",
"always thinks he is more important than others",
"is confident"
],
"question": "If a person has hi... | Down-to-earth means being honest, open, and easy to deal with. It is a pleasure to find someone who is down-to-earth. A person who is down-to-earth is easy to talk to. He or she accepts others as equals. A down-to-earth person may be an important member of society, of course, but they do not let their importance go to their heads, and they do not consider themselves to be better than others who are less important. Someone who is filled with self-importance and pride, often without cause, is said to have his nose in the air. There is no way a person with his nose in the air can be down-to-earth.
Americans use another expression that is similar in some way to down-to-earth. The expression is both feet on the ground. Someone with both feet on the ground is a person with a good understanding of reality. He has what is called common sense. He may have dreams but he does not allow them to block his knowledge of what is real. The opposite kind of person is one who has his head in the clouds. A man with his head in the clouds is a dreamer whose mind is not in the world. Sometimes such a dreamer can be brought back to reality; sharp words from the teacher, for example, can usually get a daydreaming student to put both feet back on the ground.
The person who is down-to-earth usually has both feet on the ground. _ . Someone with both feet on the ground may not be as open and easy to deal with as someone who is down-to-earth. When we have both our feet firmly on the ground, we are realistic and we act honestly and openly toward others, and our lives are like the ground below us, solid and strong. | high1203.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Your emotional relationship with your parents."
},
"options": [
"Your interest in your success.",
"The effort your teacher makes.",
"Opportunity or luck that you have.",
"Your emotional relationship with your parents."
... | Your particular relationships with your parents, not God or genes, determines your academic performance. In my case, it was my father who made the difference.
I had three sisters and my father never showed much interest in their success. He took no notice of the school reports of one of them. They all made it to university. But this was largely because of my mother's encouragement. However badly I did, and it was usually very bad, he always told me I was clever and that I could do well.
When I was eight and remained at the bottom of my class, he tried to coach me in Latin and maths. His main goal was to show me that, if I could make myself concentrate on the dull tasks, I could do them.
He chose the head of my house at public school with great care. He found a man who made a huge effort to teach _ with which he started when I was 13. Together, they convinced me to take exams seriously. But the most important factor was that I knew my dad loved me. He expressed this in many kind letters. When we were together, he would take me in his arms. He encouraged me to think for myself and to enjoy what I enjoyed. He once watched me eating a huge amount of chocolate and said, "Eat as much as you like -- you won't always enjoy it that much."
So I started working hard. I agreed with his own clever ways. And I started to enjoy the learning of knowledge and the expression of ideas. Although exams gave little opportunity for that, I could sort of see _ .
A lot of parents do not realize how important the emotional aspect of the relationship is. It determines their child's performance. I recently heard a parent discussing what school their child might get into. "I don't know how bright he is," she said.
Many parents are troubled by their children's marks at school. Their relationship with the child is almost wholly built around this. It was not at all like that with my dad. Until I was eight, he did not seem to worry about marks. And, after that, it was never exam performance that he was concerned with. Rather, he concentrated on my self-perception . He constantly showed me that I was not stupid by pointing out things I had said that were signs of intelligence. It meant I had a reasonable self-regard. I kept failing exams. But, my father thought there was a difference between my failing one exam and whether I would be a success or failure in life. | high23687.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The land seemed familiar to him."
},
"options": [
"The land seemed familiar to him.",
"The traffic moved more slowly.",
"He could see for miles and miles.",
"The people he passed seemed to be calmer."
],
"questi... | When I left home for college, I sought to escape the limited world of farmers, small towns, and country life. I long for the excitement of the city, for the fast pace that rural life lacked, for adventure beyond the horizon. I dreamed of exploring the city, living within a new culture and landscape, and becoming part of the pulse of an urban jungle.
Yet some of my best times were driving home, leaving the city behind and slipping back into the valley. As city life disappeared and traffic thinned, I could see the faces of the other drivers relax. Then, around a bend in the highway, the grassland of the valley would come into being, offering a view of gentle rolling hills. The land seemed permanent. I felt as if I had stepped back in time.
I took comfort in the stability of the valley. Driving through small farm communities, I imagined the founding families still rooted in their grand homes, generations working the same lands, neighbors remaining neighbors for generations. I allowed familiar farmhouse landmarks to guide me.
Close to home, I often turned off the main highway and took a different, getting familiar farms again and testing my memory. Friends lived in those houses. I had eaten meals and spent time there; I had worked on some of these farms, lending a hand during a peak harvest, helping a family friend for a day or two. The houses and lands looked the same, and I could picture the gentle faces and hear familiar voices as if little had been changed. As I eased into our driveway I'd return to old ways, becoming a son once again, a child on the family farm. My feelings were honest and real. How I longed for a land where life stood still and my memories could be relived. When I left the farm for college, I could only return as visitor to the valley, a traveler looking for home.
Now the farm is once again my true home. I live in that farmhouse and work the permanent lands. My world may seem unchanged to casual observers, but they are wrong. I know this: if there's a constant on these farms, it's the constant of change.
The good observer will recognize the differences. A farmer replants an orchard with a new variety of peaches. Irrigation is added to block of old grapes, so I imagine the vineyard has a new owner. Occasionally the changes are clearly evident, like a FOR SALE sign. But I need to read the small print in order to make sure that a bank has taken possession of the farm. Most of the changes contain two stories. One is the physical change of the farm, the other involves the people on that land, the human story behind the change.
I've been back on the farm for a decade and still haven't heard all the stories behind the changes around me. But once I add my stories to the landscape, I can call this place my home, a home that continues to evolve and changes as I add more and more of my stories.
A poet returns to the valley and says, "Little has changed in the valley, and how closed-minded you all are!" He comments about the lack of interest in sports, social and environmental issues in the poverty and inequality of our life. He was born and raised here, so he might have the right to criticize and lecture us. Yet he speaks for many who think they know the valley. How differently would others think of us if they knew the stories of a grape harvest in a wet year or a peach without a home? | high8541.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "popular both in Japan and in China"
},
"options": [
"popular neither in Japan nor in China",
"popular only in Japan and in China",
"popular both in Japan and in China",
"causing great troubles both in Japan and in China... | 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" .
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 numerologist--make a living by 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 "Toyota" and not "Toyoda" .
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 will tell people how to reverse 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.
In the United States, baseball players sometimes wear their caps backwards when their team is losing. It looks silly, but the baseball players do not mind if it helps them win the game. | high15335.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "speaking"
},
"options": [
"reading",
"writing",
"speaking",
"listening"
],
"question": "From the passage we know the groundwork is _ while you are learning a foreign language.",
"question_type": "cloze_q... | In learning a foreign language, one should first pay attention to speaking. It is the groundwork of reading and writing. You'd better try your best to speak. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. But be careful not to let them keep you from improving the language. While you are doing this, a good exercise is to write - keep a diary, write notes, letters or articles, then if you can, ask someone to go through what you have written and tell you where is wrong . Many mistakes in your speaking will be easily found when you write. Through correcting the mistakes, you can do better in learning a language.
If you are slow in speaking, don't worry. One of the helpful ways is by reading, either aloud or to yourself. The important thing is to choose something interesting to read. It can't be too difficult for you. When you are reading in this way, don't stop to look up the words if you can guess their meanings or if they have nothing important to do with the sentence. You can do that some other time . | high22599.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "go to the Box Office on Sundays"
},
"options": [
"use the Internet",
"ring the booking number and pay for the tickets by credit card",
"go to the Box Office on Sundays",
"complete a booking form and post it to the Box O... | The booking notes of the play The Age of Innocence:
Price:$10
BOOKING
There are four easy ways to book seats for performance:
--in person
The Box Office is open from Monday to Saturday,10 a.m.--8 p.m.
--by telephone
Ring 01324976 to reserve your tickets or to pay by credit card(Visa, MasterCard and Amex accepted)
--by post
Simply complete the booking form and return it to Global Theatre Box Office.
--on line
Complete the on-line booking form at www. Satan-fiedtheatre.com
DISCOUNTS:
Saver: $ 2 off any seat booked any time in advance for performances from Monday to Thursday. Savers are available for children up to 16 years old, over 60s and full-time students.
Supersaver: half-price seats are available for people with disabilities and one companion. It is advisable to book in advance. There is a maximum of eight wheelchair spaces available and one wheelchair space will be held until an hour before the show.
Standby: best available seats are on sale for $ 6 from one hour before the performance for people eligible (suitable) for Saver and Supersaver discounts and thirty minutes before for all other customers.
Group Bookings: there is a ten percent discount for parties of twelve or more.
School: school parties of ten or more can book $6 standby tickets in advance and will get every tenth ticket free.
Please note: we are unable to exchange tickets or refund money unless a performance is canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. | high9887.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "tell us how to save time on the road"
},
"options": [
"explain why there are traffic jams",
"tell us the negative effects of traffic jams",
"tell us what we can do on the road",
"tell us how to save time on the road"
... | With more and more cars on the road, traffic jams are _ Traffic jams can lead to increased accidents as there are more cars, with more people trying to get to their destination, all the while getting worse. Although it's impossible to avoid traffic jams altogether, there are some tips you can follow to reduce the amount of time on the road.
Check for traffic jams before you leave. You can listen to the radio for traffic news, or check on the Internet to get up-to-minute information on traffic. If the route you want to take is heavy with traffic, you can choose another.
Look for a different route permanently. Most traffic jams occur on busy roads. Using country roads could see you avoiding a lot of traffic. Although the distance you may have to travel is further, it can work out quicker.
Set your car radio to receive traffic bulletins. Many new car stereo systems are equipped with a radio system by which you can hear the traffic channel. This way you can get the latest traffic information and change your journey if necessary.
_ . Most traffic jams usually occur during rush hour, so try to avoid this time period if possible. Some jobs offer flexible working hours so that you can travel to work outside of rush hour. Some jobs even allow you to work at home so as to avoid commuting altogether. Ask your manager to see what you can do if traffic is a problem for you.
Use public transport alternatives where available. The easiest way to avoid traffic jams is to take buses or the underground instead of driving your own car. Not only will you avoid traffic jams but you will most likely be saving money as the cost of motoring rises. | high3414.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "pay more insurance"
},
"options": [
"hire a new car",
"pay more insurance",
"buy a RAC Trackstar system",
"inform the National Control Center"
],
"question": "If your car is stolen, you will have to _ .",
... | Your car is a necessary part of your life. You use it every day. Of course, you want to hold on to it so you make sure it has the latest alarm and immobilizer. But despite all these, cars like yours are still stolen every day. In fact, in this country, one car is stolen almost every minute! And if your car is stolen, you only have a 50:50 chance of seeing it again.
Each year, car crime costs nearly PS3 billion. Of course, if you're insured, you won't lose out, or will you? Firstly, you will have to pay extra insurance later on, and then you may not be offered the full amount by the agent. You will probably have to hire a car and you will also lose the value of the contents and accessories in the car.
Now comes the solution. An RAC Trackstar system, hidden in one of 47 possible secret locations in your car, is the key of our system. If your car is stolen, radio signals are sent at twenty-second intervals from the car to the RAC Trackstar National Control Center via a satellite network. Then a computer gives the vehicle's exact location, speed and direction.
The RAC Trackstar National Control Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, will immediately inform the police in the area where the car is located. Because the police receive information every twenty seconds, they will always know the vehicle's location. Once the thief has been arrested, your car will be returned to you.
RAC Trackstar is unique in being able to provide the National Control Center with details of the exact location of your car, its speed and direction. And speed is the key to successful recovery of a stolen vehicle. RAC Trackstar Control will immediately tell the police if you report your car stolen and under the 24-hour Guardian Option. _ will also tell you if your car has been stolen. RAC Trackstar's constant updates mean the police are kept informed of the car's location. All these greatly improve your chances of seeing your car again. | high11153.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They can include a lot of personal information."
},
"options": [
"They are making human rights harder to protect.",
"It's a waste of time to watch videos online.",
"They allow viewers to get to know each other more easily.",
... | Books, software, and videos, no matter what you are looking for, if you turn on a computer and log on the Internet, you are sure to find something.
E-books are all over the Internet; some are free, and some are not. E-books are basically electronic books you can read without having to carry heavy books and flip through all the pages. Now authors not only sell regular books in bookstores but also sell e-books on the Internet. Some e-books are sold on CDs, too.
You can get all types of software right from the Internet. After you download it, you have it. It is so convenient that you can get it even without leaving the house. These are the advantages we have in today's high-tech world.
We can find videos of different people. There are so many websites with videos that it would take you some time to actually go through them all. The cool thing about videos is that some people have their own websites or their own spaces where they can upload videos of their families or of different events and allow other people to view them. It is amazing.
The Internet is an exciting place and it plays a big part in our lives today. You can even pay your bills on the Internet if that's what you want to do. The marketing industry is also doing a lot better because of the Internet. Companies can communicate very quickly with each other over the Internet. | high17522.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "avoid the traffic accidents"
},
"options": [
"predict traffic conditions",
"kill the boring time",
"avoid the traffic accidents",
"collect the current news"
],
"question": "The ClearPath app can mainly be used t... | From New Delhi to Beijing,commuters spend a lot of time stuck in traffic.In the United States,Los Angeles(L.A.)and San Francisco tie for second place for having the worst traffic problems.Washington,D.C.is in first place with the worst traffic,according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
In L.A..drivers spend sixty-one hours every year stuck in traffic.These drivers know all too well how bad the traffic can be.Professor Cyrus Shahabi also knows about traffic jams.He said,"It's a prison of cars.There are too many cars,you can't move around a lot.I live more than 65 kilometers from my office at the University of Southern California.in L.A..I'm always late even with the help of a navigation system.I thought it would be appropriate to do something to solve it."
Therefore,he and PhD student Ugur Demiryurek decided to develop an app for that.The ClearPath app claims to do what other navigation systems cannot.Professor Shahabi says his program uses historical data to predict traffic conditions even before the driver leaves the house.
ClearPath uses two and a half years worth of traffic data from 9,000 sensors on the roads of L.A..It also collects information on accidents.
Professor Shahabi says his system does more than just respond to current traffic conditions.With ClearPath,he says,a driver can enter what time he wants to leave on a specific time and date,and ClearPath will give the fastest route.It looks at the entire road network,including surface streets as well as highways,before the driver hits the road.
Ugur Demiryurek says they will launch the free ClearPath app for roads in L.A.in two months.In a year,he and Professor Shahabi hope to have ClearPath available nationwide and overseas once they can collect traffic data from other cities.
"I thought always that L.A.had the worst traffic,but now I know that Shanghai,Beijing,Seoul,Tokyo,believe it or not,Singapore,Hong Kong definitely are examples that can immediately use this." | high5065.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "an example of peer pressure"
},
"options": [
"a lesson to young people",
"an example of peer pressure",
"a warning of security in shops",
"an introduction to bad behavior in youth"
],
"question": "The story in t... | "Now!" whispered Suki. "Quick, while the clerk's not looking."
Heart pounding, Leah slid two tubes of lipstick into her purse. She looked bored as she followed her friends Suki and Jill out of the store, but inside she felt panicked.
"I can't believe you made me do that," Leah cried. ks5u
"Relax," said Jill. "Everybody does it sometimes. And we didn't make you do it. "
She said nothing, but Leah knew she wouldn't have done that on her own. She was just experiencing huge peer pressure.
Sometimes, though, the stresses in your life can actually come from your peers. They may pressure you into doing something you're uncomfortable with, such as shoplifting, doing drugs or drinking, or taking dangerous risks when driving a car.
The pressure to conform (to do what others are doing) can be powerful and hard to resist. A person might feel pressure to do something just because others are doing it. Peer pressure can influence a person to do something that is ly harmless -- or something that has more serious consequences. Giving in to the pressure to dress a certain way is one thing -- going along with the crowd to drink or smoke is another.
The people who are most easily influenced will follow someone else's lead first. Then others may go along, too -- so it can be easy to think, "It must be OK. Everyone else is doing it. They must know what they're doing. "Before you know it, many people are going along with the crowd -- perhaps on something they might not otherwise do.
Responding to peer pressure is part of human nature -- but some people are more likely to give in, and others are better able to resist and stand their ground. People who are low on confidence and those who tend to follow rather than lead could be more likely to seek their peers' approval by giving in to a risky challenge or suggestion. People who are unsure of themselves, new to the group, or inexperienced with peer pressure may also be more likely to give in. | high17244.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It once developed the A/H1N1 and H5N1 vaccines."
},
"options": [
"It has cured a number of H7N9 cases.",
"It once developed the A/H1N1 and H5N1 vaccines.",
"It has finished clinical studies of an H7N9 vaccine.",
"It is ... | NANJING -- Another human H7N9 case has been found in east China's Jiangsu Province, the provincial health department confirmed on January 31. The patient, a 75-year-old woman from the provincial capital of Nanjing, is in a critical condition. The case brings the number of infections in the province to eight this year. H7N9 has killed 19 in China this year, and the total number of human infections reached 96 on January 26, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
With bird flu cases increasing on a daily basis, public concern over people-to-people transmission during Spring Festival is growing. Li Lanjuan, researcher at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a specialist in H7N9 prevention, said so far there have not been any cases in which one person transmits the flu to another, and the latter transmits the virus to a third person. Her team has identified H7N9 virus mutations this year, but the _ are not large-scale. "Inter-human transmission is very unlikely," said Li, who added that the virus has not evolved to be extensively drug resistant.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission said on Wednesday live poultry markets should close if any case of H7N9 avian flu is detected. The southern metropolis of Shenzhen has closed all live poultry markets until February 13 for a thorough cleaning. The city near Hong Kong has reported 14 human H7N9 cases since December 18. Live poultry trading has been halted in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Jinhua cities in Zhejiang, which reported the largest number of human H7N9 cases.
China has stepped up research for an H7N9 vaccine in the face of the increasing threat from the virus. Beijing's Snovac Hotech Ltd.,which developed the A/H1N1 and H5N1 vaccines, said in a press release on Wednesday that it has completed preclinical studies of an H7N9 vaccine arid prepared several types for clinical testing. The company has submitted an application to the China Food and Drug Administration to start clinical trials. | high18177.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "his grandfather's fighting against cancer"
},
"options": [
"his grandfather's encouraging words",
"his grandfather's fighting against cancer",
"his grandfather's wish before dying",
"his grandfather's pitiful fate"
... | I had a perfect life. No one died; no one was sick; we were all happy and loving life.
Then I discovered my grandfather had cancer. No matter how much I told myself he could live, and that he might not die, somehow I still felt as if it was a death sentence. He was so young, only 63.
He fought so hard. Whenever I feel my own life taking a turn for the worse, as if things will never get better, I remember how many years he lived fighting such a scary and difficult disease.
He died with a huge party going on around him, with all his friends and family. They ate and I honestly didn't know how to cope. I never cried alone. I had the compassion of my friends and the support of my family and teachers. I just remembered my grandfather's wish that we should celebrate his life.
That's how we came up with the idea for Hives for Lives----a business my sister and I started where all the profits go to the American Cancer Society (ACS). We sell honey, honeycomb, beeswax candles and lip balm, which all come from our beehives in Virginia. It started out small, 2 years ago, with just an idea. During our first year we donated more than $2,000 to the ACS. The next year a man who belonged to my grandparents' bee club willed his honey to us, and our little business grew.
We sold at craft fairs, wine festivals, schools, and to anyone else who would buy! We had my uncle sell in California and my grandmother sell in Chicago. We have sold honey in 13 states---even in Puerto Rico.
This year we donated more than $10,000 to the ACS and we're hoping to do more next year. Hopefully our business will help find a cure or just improve the life of someone with cancer.
I feel like Hives for Lives is a way to honor my grandfather. Honor his love, his life and his strength.
With Hives for Lives reminding me of my grandfather every day, I feel as if I can move on in life, that he will always be alive in my heart and memories. It made me capable of coping with his death, because I felt like I had truly honored his wish of celebrating his life.
I have made his spirit everlasting through the business and I honor him every day. He always taught me to make the best of things. Well, grandpa, that's what I'm doing, for you.
I hope he is smiling from heaven. | high5703.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Eating a balanced diet gives your body the energy it needs."
},
"options": [
"Eating a balanced diet gives your body the energy it needs.",
"The top of the pyramid is the smallest level.",
"Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, egg... | Your body works 24 hours a day. It's always building and repairing, feeding and cleansing itself. Its goal is to be ready for your every movement, breath, and thought. The quality of your life depends on how well your body works. And how well your body works depends on how much energy it gets. Energy comes from the food you eat. Food contains nutrients that your body needs for growth and energy.
By eating a balanced diet, your body gets the six important nutrients it needs.Minerals are nutrients that build bones and teeth. Minerals also form red blood cells and other substances.Wateraids digestion and waste removal.Carbohydrates give your body its main source of energy. Two carbohydrates are sugars from foods such as fruits and vegetables and starches found in rice, potatoes, and bread.Fatshelp build cell membranes .Proteinsrepair and grow body tissues . Finally,vitaminshelp your body use carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
The United States Department of Agriculture(USDA) has created a nutritional food pyramid . It shows the daily number of servings you should eat from five food groups. The food pyramid has four levels. The base of the pyramid is the largest level. It contains the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group from which you need six to eleven servings. The next level has two food groups: vegetables and fruits. The USDA recommends three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruit. The third level also has two groups: the milk, yogurt, and cheese group and the meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts group. You need two to three servings from each of these groups. The top of the pyramid is the smallest level. It contains fats, oils, and sweets. These foods have few nutrients, so eat them sparingly . | high3372.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He lost one of his arms."
},
"options": [
"He was badly ill.",
"He had a long journey.",
"He drank too much.",
"He lost one of his arms."
],
"question": "What do you know happened to Dad in the story?",
"que... | Dad came in the midnight. We heard every sound, but we pretended to be asleep.
Next morning he looked weak and thin, sitting in a chair by the kitchen fire. The light of the fire shone through his long empty sleeve. Everything went as usual. Grandma found something to do in the bedroom. Grandpa went out for some water. Mother, with her back to us, was getting the cakes ready for breakfast.
But nothing was right. When grandma came out of the bedroom, she walked on tiptoe. When grandpa came back, he said nothing about the weather. At breakfast Mother passed us the fruit and said something, but her voice was too high.
At last my sister, Lou, pushed back her chair. "It's your turn to wash the dishes." But I had washed the dishes the night before. I said nothing because it was not right to quarrel in front of Dad just home with the empty sleeve.
"It is your turn," Lou said again. I looked at her in surprise.
"It is not," I said because I suddenly remembered Mother had told us to go on as usual.
"Children, children," Mother said in a quiet, glad kind of voice.
And Dad was smiling because he felt at home at last. | high11635.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "she felt it would change his behavior."
},
"options": [
"he liked the life in the army",
"she wanted him to be fit",
"he was very good at playing sports",
"she felt it would change his behavior."
],
"question": ... | As a teenager, Simon Weston wasn't particularly good at his studies, but he was a good football player. He could also be naughty sometimes so his mother decided Simon should join the army when he was sixteen to teach him some discipline .
She was right; Simon really enjoyed army life and became a well-respected member. However, Simon's life was changed forever in 1982. Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, which belong to Britain, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared war . Simon was on board a ship taking troops to the Falklands when it was attacked and set on fire. In an act of great heroism, Simon tried to save one of his friends from being burnt alive. Sadly, he failed and was seriously burnt himself. At the age of 21, Simon's life seemed over.
Simon had 70 operations to rebuild his face and body. He was so badly burnt that his mother walked past him in the hospital without recognizing her son. Simon struggled to call out, "Mum, it's me, Simon." Hearing his voice, his mother broke down in tears. Many thought Simon would die, but to everyone's astonishment, he survived. Although he experienced terrible pain, Simon never gave up hope. After months of treatment, Simon slowly started to recover and, although he would be terribly scarred for the rest of his life, he was able to leave hospital.
This was when _ . The physical pain slowly disappeared; however, the emotional pain became worse. Simon started to gout but was wounded by the stares of people who looked at him like he was some kind of freak . He felt like saying, "I wasn't born like this you know. I was injured defending my country." It took great courage for Simon to continue to go out.
Eventually, Simon became involved in charity work and met his wife Lucy with whom he has three children. Life has never been the same for Simon but his Bravery is an example to us all. | high7114.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He was going to sleep on the bed."
},
"options": [
"He was going to sleep on the bed.",
"He was ready to count numbers.",
"He was going downstairs.",
"He was in the basement."
],
"question": "What was Donald doi... | Donald was shaken by thunder on the bed before he could count "one thousand one". Then he heard the smoke alarm go off. He went downstairs quickly to investigate. When he opened the door to the basement , flames exploded out.
Donald fled back upstairs to call 911 but the phone didn't work. When he tried to go downstairs, he was stopped by a wall of flames. He had to use a towel to cover his mouth. His house was three miles off the main road and so well hidden by trees that Donald knew calling for help would be useless. Actually, he didn't even try to do that.
About one mile away lived Donald's closest neighbor, Jeremie. When he heard some sounds, Jeremie jumped out of bed, holding a phone and a flashlight, and went towards the noise. He dialed 911 the instant he saw the flames. When he came close to the house, Jeremie knew he'd better wait until rescuers came. But he didn't want Donald to die in the fire.
Without hesitation , he rushed into the house. He shouted, "Donald, where are you?" Then he had to run outside to catch his breath. After one more attempt , he gave up and circled around back. He saw Donald on the second-floor balcony, but there was no way to get to him. Suddenly, he noticed a ladder. He dragged it over to the balcony and pulled Donald down just when the second floor fell down.
Within the year, Donald built a new two-story wood house at the site of the fire. Jeremie and Donald don't run into each other regularly, but Donald knows that if he ever needs help, Jeremie will be there. | high8227.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because he is becoming forgetful."
},
"options": [
"Because he is seventy-two years old.",
"Because he is lonely at home.",
"Because he is becoming forgetful.",
"Because he is seriously ill."
],
"question": "Why... | David Brown and Anne are two patients in the Adult Day Care Program at Mercy Hospitals. David Brown is seventy-two years old. He's friendly and likes to talk. He lives with his wife in the city. But David is becoming forgetful. His wife says, "He'll heat up some soup, then forget to turn off the gas." She is sixty-one and still works. She is worried about leaving her husband alone.
Anne is eighty and lives with her 60-year-old daughter. Her daughter says that she needs a rest. "Mom follows me everywhere. She follows me when I read newspapers. I need a rest and she does, too."
And so, several times a week, David and Anne's families take them to the Adult Day Care Center. Many hospitals have this program. Patients come to the Center for a full or half day, from one to five days a week. All the patients live with their families and most are old people.
Mrs. Carol Johnson is the director of the Center. She says, "We are offering both the patients and their families a service of great value. Patients have the chance to get out of their houses. Husbands, wives or grown children can work or have a rest. Most important of all, families are able to stay together." | high15453.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the worries that kids experience vary from one to another"
},
"options": [
"not kids but adults may get worried about something",
"the worries that kids experience vary from one to another",
"kids worry about the same issues,... | Kids don't have to pay bills,cook dinners,or manage car polls .But--just like adults--they have their share of daily demands and things that don't go smoothly.If frustrations and disappointments pile up,kids can get worried.
It's natural for all kids to worry at times,and because of personality differences,some may worry more than others.Luckily,parents can help kids manage worry and deal with everyday problems with ease.Kids who can do that develop a sense of confidence and optimism that will help them master life's challenges,big and small.
What kids worry about is often related to the age and stage they're at.Kids and preteens typically worry about things like grades,tests,their changing bodies,fitting in with friends,a goal they missed at the soccer game,or whether they'll make the team.They may worry about social troubles like cliques (,),peer pressure,or whether they'll be bullied ,laughed at,or left out.Because they're beginning to feel more a part of the larger world around them,preteens also may worry about world events or issues they hear about on the news or at school.Things like terrorism,war,pollution,global warming,endangered animals,and natural disasters can all become a source of worry. | high9139.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "An artist."
},
"options": [
"An emergency room physician.",
"A researcher.",
"A public relations worker.",
"An artist."
],
"question": "What's Irina's job now?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{... | Irina,now 46,never imagined she'd one day make a living as a balloon artist.The daughter of an engineer and a teacher,she won top academic awards in high school,went on to medical school and became an emergency room physician in a small city.
"I loved the science of medicine," she says today,"but being a doctor was very hard.I saw things people don't normally see--women giving birth in the street,people getting drunk and killing someone." Medications were scarce,making it very difficult to treat those in need.When Irina was 33,a girlfriend showed her a magazine photo of an American named Wes Patterson.They began exchanging letters,and married that December.Irina took a public relations job.Then,a few years ago,she watched a man at a party twist a skinny balloon into the shape of a dog. _
Irina soon purchased a tiny pump and a supply of balloons and began practicing on the sidewalks.Observers challenged her to create all kinds of figures.Now,Irina says,"There's nothing I can't make."
Many years ago,Irina's husband developed a serious disease which now keeps him homebound."But he is a very wonderful man," Irina says.Thanks to her new career,she is able to support them both,performing about five events weekly and earning as much as $2,000 per appearance.
"Irina's a wonder," says Marlene Berg,chief development officer for the Florida Heart Research Institute."She turned the evening into magic." "My whole life has become magic," Irina says,"and it's all come from a balloon." | high13022.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Fix mistakenly takes Phileas Fogg for the bank robber"
},
"options": [
"Phileas Fogg is the bank robber whom Fix is trying to catch",
"Phileas Fogg doesn't have a passport for his travels",
"Fix mistakenly takes Phileas Fogg ... | Around the World in Eighty Daysis a classic Adventure novel by Jules Verne. The story starts in London in 1872. One day in the Reform Club, Phileas Fogg, a wealthy gentleman, accepts a wager for PS20,000, which he will receive if he travels around the world in 80 days.
Phileas Fogg sets off immediately, with his servant Passepartout. They reach Suez quickly. While landing in Egypt, he is watched by a British detective named Fix, who is in search of a bank robber. Because Fix mistakes Fogg for the criminal, he follows secretly, as they are getting on a ship to Bombay.
After more than 20-days of travelling, they arrive in San Francisco, and then get on the train to New York. During that trip, the train is attacked by Indians, who take Passepartout away. With some soldiers' help, Fogg succeeds in freeing his companion. To make up for the lost time, Fogg and his companion hasten on to New York, and catch the steamer for the crossing of the Atlantics. They arrive in Ireland in time to reach London before the deadline. However, once on British soil again, Fix arrests Fogg. Although the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up--the actual bank robber had been caught several days earlier. Fogg has missed the train and returns to London five minutes late, sure that he has lost the wager.
However, the next day Fogg learns from the priest that he is mistaken in the date, which he thinks Sunday but which actually is Saturday, due to the fact that they gained a full day on their journey around the globe, by crossing the International Date Line. Fogg immediately sets off for the Reform Club, where he arrives just in time to win the wager. | high1565.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "young people"
},
"options": [
"old people",
"young people",
"dangerous people",
"weak people"
],
"question": "In Britain and the United States,survival courses are popular with _ .",
"question_type": "cloz... | Although there are no state controlled survival courses in Britain or the United States,there are various independent organizations offering similar activities.Students can participate(take part)in outdoor training courses through university clubs and societies.Anyone can register with such groups,which then organize courses,training and trips for all members.
One of the most popular outdoor training programmes in both the US and Britain is Outward Bound .It was founded in 1941 in Wales and attracts hundreds of thousands of adventurous types every year. The courses are intended to broaden minds through experiences that build confidence, self-esteem and character.As well as specialist courses such as canoeing,leadership skills and sailing,participants can take part in week long adventure training camps which include a host of sports and survival training education skills.
Michael Williams,an American student,took part in an Outward Bound course last year.He said:"We learned lots of first aid skills,lots of natural history ,lots of environmental facts, and participated in a wildlife preservation programme.Beyond that,my favorite skills learned were sailing and rock climbing."Courses can last up to 40 days and are open to anyone over the age of 14.Students must be in general good health,but do not need to be experienced in outdoor-sports.There is no selection process;everyone is welcome,although new participants are advised to pick a course matching their physical capacity.Most of the British courses take place in the Brecon Beacons in Wales.Another similar organization is the UK Survival School,which includes courses on learning to 1ive with the environment, sailing and winter survival.On a basic survival weekend students will learn how to get water and food, how to make fire and cook with it,to find and build a shelter,control survival life support,how to cross rivers.Send off a distress signal,and to use compasses by day and night.
According to the leaders,such adventures are "an awakening, an exploration into the unknown."Outward Bound believes that participants will "use mind and body traveling some of the Earth's roughest wilderness areas." | high12328.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "are usually busy doing shopping"
},
"options": [
"don't have to go to work as usual",
"look exactly like the Canadians",
"are usually busy doing shopping",
"stay at home and relax themselves"
],
"question": "On ... | Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It has been regarded as the beginning of the holiday shopping season. Although it's not an official holiday, millions of employers give their employees the day off, and many people use that day to get a jump-start on their holiday shopping. A similar day in Canada and Great Britain is called "Boxing Day".
Black Friday has become somewhat of a marketing sensation in recent years. Since 2005, it has been the busiest shopping day of the year. To _ shoppers, retailers routinely open their doors as early as 4 a.m. and offer special sales and promotions to the shoppers that arrive early. Some of the special deals offered by stores are only available in limited quantities. That is why some shoppers intent on getting the best deals often camp out in front of stores overnight so that they'll be the first in line when the doors open.
But why Black Friday? Historians believe the name started in Philadelphia in the mid-1960s. Bus drivers and police used "Black Friday" to describe the heavy traffic that would block city streets the day after Thanksgiving as shoppers headed to the stores.
Businesses, however, didn't like the negative tone associated with the "Black Friday" name. In the early 1980s, a more positive explanation of the name began to circulate. According to this alternative explanation, Black Friday is the day when retailers finally begin to turn a profit for the year. In accounting terms , operating at a loss is called being "in the red" because accountants traditionally used red ink to show negative amounts. Positive amounts were usually shown in black ink. Thus, being "in the black" is a good thing because it means stores are operating at a profit.
Recently, for those who are too busy to shop on Black Friday or who just don't want to fight the crowds, the Monday following Black Friday has become known as Cyber Monday for the many online deals. | high14981.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "on Wednesday"
},
"options": [
"on Monday and Friday",
"on Tuesday",
"on Thursday",
"on Wednesday"
],
"question": "The school doesn't have Tutor Time _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"... | Absence
If a student is absent, parents are asked to contact the school and report that absence. Simply ring the school and you will be directed to the absence phone system. You should then give the name of the student and their tutor teacher.
Attendance
School hours are 08:35 to 15:00. If a student is late, they must sign in at the Student Office.
School times are as follows: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
08:35 - 09:35 Period 1
09:35 - 10:35 Period 2
10:35 - 10:50 Tutor Time
10:50 - 11:10 Interval
11:10 - 12:05 Period 3
12:05 - 13:00 Period 4
13:00 - 13.45 Lunch
13:45 - 14:05 School-wide reading
14:05 - 15:00 Period 5
Wednesday Only
09:00 - 09:55 Period 1
09:55 - 10:50 Period 2
Rest of the times are the same as for the other days.
Cellphones
The current cell phone policy is that, although permitted at school, they must not be used or turned on during class time. | high7100.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the basic principles of the income tax"
},
"options": [
"everyone should pay income tax",
"how the government works",
"the basic principles of the income tax",
"how much tax one should pay for his income"
],
"qu... | One day a teacher was giving her young students a lesson on how the government works. She was trying to explain the principle of income tax .
"You see ," she began , speaking slowly and carefully , "each person who works must pay part of his or her salary to the government . If you make a high salary, your taxes are high. If you don't make much money, your taxes are low ."
"Is that clear?" she asked. "Does everyone understand the meaning of income tax?" The students nodded.
Are there any questions?" she asked. The students shook their heads.
"Very good!" she said." "Now, I would like you to take a piece of paper and write a short paragraph on the subject of income tax."
Little Joey was a slow learner. He had lots of problems with spelling and grammar, but this time he at least seemed to understand the task.. He took his pen and after a few minutes, he handed the teacher the following composition:
Once I had a dog. His name was Tax. I opened the door and in come Tax. | high8233.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "mastering what you learn in an easy way"
},
"options": [
"sitting up late before exams",
"spending less time each day",
"mastering what you learn in an easy way",
"benefiting from the notes"
],
"question": "Acco... | How to Graduate from College with a High GPA(Grade Point Average)
One Hour a Day
One of the most challenging things about college is time management. It's not that you don't have enough. In fact you usually have too much time, and as a result time gets wasted. If you take good notes in class, and spend one hour reviewing your notes every day before going to sleep, you will make use of the power of the subconscious to absorb information and by the time exams come around you'll know all the material on a subconscious level, and you don't have to sit up the night before exams.
Select Easy Courses
The reason why selecting easy courses is powerful is that it allows you to start off your college career with an extremely high GPA. Good grades have less and less of an impact on your GPA later in your college career and raising your GPA becomes much more difficult. Selecting easy courses in the first term also leaves room for the occasional failure when coursework become more challenging.
Join (or Form) Study Groups
If you go to a large public school where classes often have 700 plus people, study groups are an extremely effective way to ensure good grades. Study groups are often led by older students who have taken the course and received A's in that particular course. They also often provide you with resources such as practice tests, practice problems, and many others that might not be provided by professors.
Use Personal Development
I can honestly say I didn't involve myself in personal development when I was in college. Looking back I realize that I suffered from low self-respect and a very unhealthy self-image. But, if I had combined personal development techniques with the three steps above, my college career would have turned out very differently.
If you have already started school, I recommend developing a strategy that applies these four ideas to your current schedule. If you haven't started school yet, do some research on easier courses and what study groups might be available. If you follow through and commit to the four recommendations above, you'll set yourself up for a very successful first term, and hopefully a very successful college career. | high13036.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The blind and poor-sighted with a certificate"
},
"options": [
"Disabled people with a certificate",
"All the blind and poor-sighted people",
"The blind and poor-sighted with a certificate",
"Both healthy and disabled c... | LG Electronics, the world's fourth largest cell phone producer, has added another feature to the mobile phone-reading books for the visually impaired . The company started marketing the model, the LF1300 on Sep.18.No other people but the blind and visually-impaired with a certificate can buy the talking phone at sales shops of LG Electronics.
"The LF1300 is the world's first mobile phone that is capable of reading books for the print-disabled, who otherwise could not enjoy them.This is not about making money but about continuing to put froth efforts to reduce the digital difference for the disabled," LG Vice President said.
Its users can download about 300 audio books from the Internet site of LG Sangam Library to their phones for free in two ways. One is to access the digital library's Website on a computer designed for the blind to get the audio books and transfer them to cell phones. The other is to download the digital books directly with cell phones through the wireless net work by touching a hot key on the LF1300 phone.
On top of its unique feature of reading books, the LF1300 is no worse than the pupular top-line phones in both outlooks and frnctionalities . The phone is armed with an MP3 player and a Bluetooth headset, enabling users to listen to the music or talk without a cord. The user interface of the LF1300 is also designed for the blind,enabling phone users to control it through a voice guidance system.
However, because the phone's internal mimory of 17MB is small even for a single audio book file, which takes up 80MB on average, a high-volume external memory is a must for the talking book services. | high2078.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "113m"
},
"options": [
"58m",
"100m",
"56m",
"113m"
],
"question": "If I am driving at 100 km/hr, my total stopping distance is about _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Braking and Stopping
Two important factors that influence the distance you take to stop a car are how quickly you react to danger and the speed at which you are traveling.
The average reaction time (from the time driver sees danger to when he/she applies the brakes) is two seconds. Reaction time is affected by the driver's levels of tiredness, alcohol and concentration .
Braking distance ( the distance travelled after the driver has applied the brakes) depends on factors such as your speed, type of brakes, type pressure and tread , vehicle weight, wind speed, slope of the road, surface smoothness and the driver's braking technique.
Remember: As your speed doubles, your total stopping distance more than doubles.
At 60km/hr a vehicle will travel 34 meters while the driver is reacting to the danger, and another 21 meters before the car comes to a stop. Total stopping distance is 55 meters.
Total stopping distances shown in the graph are for vehicles with good brakes, on a dry smooth level road surface, and fitted with good tyres with the correct depth of tread. | high17250.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Great Britain has the same meaning as Britain"
},
"options": [
"Great Britain has the same meaning as Britain",
"all the names refer to England",
"the United Kingdom has the same meaning as Britain or England",
"all the... | Did anyone find the names of "Great Britain", "the United Kingdom", "England" and "the British commonwealth" which have the same meaning? Strictly speaking, these names all refer to something different. None of them are exactly the same as any of the others.
The British isles refer to the main islands and several thousand small ones as well, which you can see on the map. Great Britain, or Britain, refers to the larger of the two main islands. But the word "Britain" is often used as a short form for the United Kingdom or you call it the UK.
Now as for England, it refers simply to the largest of the three countries on the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom is the name of the state and the official name of the country, which many people popularly refer to England.
Finally, the Britain commonwealth is the usual name for what is left of the British Empire . This change shows the weakening of British Empire and the rising of the national liberation movements throughout the world today. | high5717.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because his original name was hard for the teacher to pronounce."
},
"options": [
"Because Mandela respected Admiral Horatio Nelson Very much",
"Because Mandela was very naughty at school.",
"Because Mandela had no formal nam... | Former South African president Nelson Mandela died on 6 December 2013 Beijing time .President Jacob Zuma announced it in a televised speech to the nation. He was 95. Those 95 years were remarkable.
At the age of seven, he entered a local school, where he was given the name "Nelson", after Admiral Horatio Nelson of the Royal Navy, by a teacher who had difficulty in pronouncing his African 'name. That name, Rolihlahla , means "troublemaker" .
In 1927, when Mandela was nine, he decided to become a lawyer, influenced by the cases that came on his father. In 1942 Mandela entered politics by joining the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's major liberation movement and today the country's ruling party. It was during this time that he and a small group of mainly young members of the ANC got down to a task transforming the party into a mass movement.
In 1952, he was charged and brought to trial for his role in the campaign of fighting against Unjust Laws and given a prison sentence. The 1950s turned out to be a time of hardship and suffering for Mandela-he was banned, arrested and imprisoned.
While in prison, Mandela studied by correspondence with the University of London, earning a Bachelor of Law degree. He never faced with his teachers, but his name was familiar to all the teachers by means of his writing letters.
After spending 27 years in prison, Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994. He united a fearful country, bringing together blacks and whites in harmony When South Africa was living through violent and troubled times. After serving a five year term as president of the country, he retired from public life, though not from the public eye.
He is the greatest son of the nation and a great father of his people. More than l, 115 awards and honors, even the Nobel Peace Prize had been on him. More than 85 streets, roads, avenues, bridges, highways had been named after Mandela. | high18163.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Andrews focused on different things from the drug companies"
},
"options": [
"drug companies don't know the negative effect of antidepressants",
"Andrews focused on different things from the drug companies",
"scientists have ... | Antidepressant drugs such as Prozac were viewed in the early 1900's as wonder pills that would remove depressive blues for good. But in the past five years, growing scientific evidence has shown these drugs work for only a minority of people. And now a research journal says that these antidepressants can make many patients' depression worse. This alarming suggestion centres on the very chemical that is targeted by antidepressants-serotonin . Drugs such as Prozac are known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors(or SSRIs). Their aim is to increase the level of this "feel-good" chemical in the brain.
But the new research, published in the journal Frontiers In Evolutionary Psychology, points out that serotonin is like a chemical Swiss Army knife, performing a very wide range of jobs in the brain and body. And when we start changing serotonin levels purposely, it may cause a wide range of unwanted effects. These can include digestive problems and even early deaths in older people, according to the study's lead researcher Paul Andrews. " We need to be much more cautious about use of these drugs," says Andrews, an assistant professor of evolutionary psychology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
Previous research has suggested that the drugs provide little benefit for most people with mild depression, and actively help only a few of the most severely depressed. Famous psychologist Irving Kirsch has found that for many patients, SSRIs are no more effective than a placebo pill. A research in 2010 on Danish children found a small, but significant, increase in the risk of heart problems among babies whose mothers had used SSRIs in early pregnancy. The key to understanding these side-effects is serotonin, says Andrews. Serotonin is also the reason why patients can often end up feeling still more depressed after they have finished a course of SSRI drugs. He argues that SSRI antidepressants disturb the brain, leaving the patient an even greater depression than before.
"After long use, when a patient stops taking SSRIs, the brain will lower its levels of serotonin production," he says, adding that it also changes the way receptors in the brain respond to serotonin, making the brain less sensitive to the chemical. These changes are believed to be temporary, but studies indicate that the effects may continue for up to two years.
Most disturbingly of all, Andrews' review features three recent studies which, he says , show that elderly antidepressant users are more likely to die earlier than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. One study, published in the British Medical Journal last year, found patients given SSRIs were more than 4 per cent more likely to die in the next year than those not on the drugs.
"Serotonin is an ancient chemical," says Andrews. "It is regulating many different processes, and when you disturb these things, you can expect that it is going to cause some harm."
Stafford Lightman, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, and a leading UK expert in brain chemicals and hormones, says Andrews' review highlights some important problems, yet it should also be taken with a pinch of salt. "This report is doing the opposite of what drug companies do," he says. "Drug companies selectively present all the positives in their research, while this search selectively presents all the negatives that can be found. Nevertheless, Andrews' study is useful in that it is always worth pointing out that there is a downside to any medicine. " Professor Lightman adds that there is still a great deal we don't know about SSRIs-not least what they actually do in our brains.
When it comes to understanding why the drugs work only for a limited part of patients, U.S. scientists think they might now have the answer. They think that in many depressed patients, it's not only the lack of feel-good serotonin causing their depression, but also a failure in the area of the brain that produces new cells throughout our lives. This area, the hippocampus, is also responsible for regulating mood and memory. Research suggests that in patients whose hippocampus has lost the ability to produce new cells, SSRIs do not bring any benefit. | high4409.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "what made people willing to help strangers"
},
"options": [
"whether people were as honest as before",
"what made people willing to help strangers",
"what kind of feelings could be caused by a smiling baby",
"how evolut... | If you lose your wallet, how often do you think someone will be kind enough to return it to you, with cash and credit cards?
Some people may be greedy, and others are simply too lazy to bother with the trip to the post office to send back a wallet to a stranger. But according to a psychology study by Dr. Richard Wiseman, there's one thing that'll greatly increase your odds of being reunited with a lost wallet: a photograph of a cute baby.
In the study, hundreds of wallets were scattered around the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland. The psychologists wanted to see how many strangers would take the trouble to return them to the addresses listed on the drivers' licenses inside--but more than that, they wanted to find out what would make a person more likely to help out a stranger.
To finish this, they included personal things in most of the wallets: some included a photo of a happy elderly couple, some contained a cute puppy, some contained a family portrait, and some held a photo of a lovely baby. Others had receipts showing that the wallet's owner had recently donated to a charity . Some contained no personal details.
As the psychologists soon discovered, the sight of a smiling baby is enough to warm nearly any heart: only one in ten of the strangers who _ such wallets did not return them. In contrast, the second most successful image, the puppy, had a 53% return rate. When the wallet included no photograph, it stood only a one in seven chance of being returned to the owner.
The success of the baby photograph shows a human compassion for the young that's been passed down through the ages, according to Dr. Wiseman. "The baby kicked off a caring feeling in people, which is not surprising from an evolutionary perspective ," he told theTimes.
To ensure our species' survival, scientists think that we must feel empathy and compassion for our young. Scientists say that this study supports the argument that we won't feel compassion only for our own babies, but for any that we see--hence, the strong desire a stranger would feel to return a wallet to the baby's parent.
On a more basic level, the study also provides a great tip to help ensure that if your wallet is ever lost, you're more likely to get it back. "If you want to increase the chances of your wallet being returned if lost, gain a photograph of the cutest baby you can find and ensure that it is clearly displayed," said Dr. Wiseman. | high3366.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "speech"
},
"options": [
"report",
"lecture",
"speech",
"announcement"
],
"question": "This passage is most probably taken from a (an) _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Hello, Chicago. If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy ,tonight is your answer.
......
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $ 5 and $ 10 and $ 20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy , who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime--two wars, a planet in peril , the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
......
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there. | high11621.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "is becoming a growing practice in the USA"
},
"options": [
"has been done in most American schools",
"is becoming a growing practice in the USA",
"is not very popular with teachers",
"only aims at high scores at school"... | Now, there is a growing movement to pay the students in American schools---in some cases, even just for coming to class.
Students at one school in New Mexico can earn up to three hundred dollars a year for good attendance. In Baltimore, Maryland, high scores in state graduation tests can be worth more than one hundred dollars. And a New Jersey school system plans to pay students fifty dollars a week to attend after---school tutoring programs.
Schools that pay students can be found in more than one---fourth of the fifty states. Other schools pay students with food or other rewards.
Robert Schaefer is a public education director. He says paying students may improve performance in the short term, but students develop false expectations for the future. He sees a lack of long term planning in these programs because of the pressure on schools to raise test scores.
Public schools need to show improvement under the education reform law. Low---performing schools may lose their federal money; teachers and administrators may lose their jobs. Often these schools are in poor neighborhoods where getting students to go to school can be a continual problem.
Critics say paying students sends a message that money is the only valuable reward. But some students say it makes school more exciting. And some teachers have reported getting more requests for extra help.
In two thousand four, the city schools in Coshocton, Ohio, launched a program. They wanted to see if paying elementary school students as much as one hundred dollars would help in passing the state exams.
Now, Eric Bettinger of Case Western Reserve University (EUCWRU) has reported mixed results. Math scores increased, but only white students were able to get paid. And there was no evidence of higher scores in reading, social studies and science. Official will decide later this year whether to continue the program. | high3400.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "pay some fee if they want to continue after a month"
},
"options": [
"equip themselves with the ability to use the computer",
"pay some fee if they want to continue after a month",
"have some knowledge of the design of websit... | With online courses, anyone can gain knowledge in any field of interest for free. All you need is a computer, laptop or Smartphone, internet connection and a self-made schedule. You can even get a certificate on completing the course.
Udemy
Its goal is to promote the world of education by enabling anyone to learn online. It seeks to dramatically change education by inviting millions of experts worldwide to teach and share what they know. Whether you want to learn excel, business, academics, the arts, health, music or technology, there is a comprehensive course for you. See more at https://udemy.com
iTunes U
If you're a student who uses Apple devices, you will be happy to know that you have access to iTunes U, which gives you access to different educational courses from all leading universities for free! Did you dream of studying at MIT, Oxford, Yale, or Cambridge? This is your chance to learn various subjects from the best colleges and universities in the world. Learn more at https://iTunesU.com
Skillfeed
If you are looking to learning a new skill, or improving on your skills in Photoshop, or HTML, it offers unlimited access to high-quality video courses from a worldwide community of instructors. You have a month's free trial, after which you will pay a monthly fee to gain unlimited access to all courses. See more at https://skillfeed.com
Academic Earth
It has linked to over 750 online courses and 8,500 individual online lectures, giving students of all ages access to college courses they may otherwise never experience. Whether learning existing coursework, or learning for the sake of learning, anyone has the freedom to learn at their own pace from world-famous experts, without being charged more. Learn more at http://academicearth.com
UC Berkeley
It offers courses in bioengineering, Japanese, legal studies and public health. Since they are recordings of actual lectures, they lack lecture notes and extra materials. However, each course has audio recordings of lectures via iTunes or video recordings of lectures via YouTube. Learn more at https://ucberkeley.com | high11147.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Feelings such as stress, fatigue, disappointment and alienation in holiday."
},
"options": [
"The feeling of disappointment and sense of alienation in family reunions.",
"Feelings such as stress, fatigue, disappointment and alienat... | For most of us, the purpose of the holidays is to bring peace, love, and goodwill towards all. Yet, for many, the holiday season often means stress, fatigue, pressure, disappointment and loneliness.
These feelings, often known as the "holiday blues", may be even more prevalent, due to the emotional turmoil of the past few months, not to mention the unsteady economy. Experts say even the more ritual tasks of shopping, decorating, late-night parties, cooking, planning and family reunions can be holiday stressors. In addition, the psychological phenomenon known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, may bring a specific type of depression related to winter's shorter days and longer nights.
"Certainly just because it's the holidays doesn't mean people are going to be happy," says Dr. Doug Jacobs of prefix = st1 /HarvardUniversity. "And this will be a particularly hard holiday for some who are dealing with a lost job, debt, or even a lost loved one."
And with family reunions becoming less frequent events over the years, there is now the added pressure of getting just one chance to get it all right. "Families are much more different now. The disappointment and sense of alienation that often results from family gatherings, is actually a realization that the fantasy is not met." says John Stutesman, a clinical psychologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Still, say experts, the blues should be addressed. The most essential step, says Stutesman, is for the individual to acknowledge their feelings and the reason for their withdrawal. "Denial will only compound the stress they're feeling." Stutesman recommends people do things that are normally comforting in order to get a handle on the holiday stress. "If they're feeling a little blue, they should try to do things personally satisfying for them. Maybe this is exercise, cooking, reading a book, or massage." Stutesman also advises that sometimes "avoidance is actually not such a bad idea." In some situations, fulfilling social obligations may be self-destructive when the best thing may be to just stay home. The healthy choice has to do with taking care of oneself." | high16628.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the good qualities inside of someone"
},
"options": [
"something that can be touched",
"the beautiful things found in nature",
"the good qualities inside of someone",
"the attractive appearance someone has"
],
"... | Anna Craig, 11, has a paper doll covered with stickers. Each sticker is labeled with a word such as creative, cheerful, smart or kind. "We choose stickers that best describe us and put them on our dolls," explains Anna. "All these words are what makes me beautiful!"
The activity is part of a program called Beautiful Me. The Hance Family Foundation, which was created to honor three sisters killed in a car accident, offers the program for free to schools. The program's goals are to help girls and young women build healthy levels of self-esteem and develop skills for handling problems and relationships with others. Beautiful Me explains that self-esteem means how you feel about yourself and what you think your value is as a person.
"Girls of all ages benefit from recognizing what makes each of us valuable and different," says Kate Tuffy, who helped create Beautiful Me. "Our goal is to offer the program to as many girls as possible across the United States." About 6,000 girls have benefited from it due to her efforts.
Beautiful Me organizers train teachers to present the program material to small groups of girls. It includes hands-on art activities, role-playing games about understanding body language and discussions on how to build friendships. Schools and groups present the program when they are ready.
"The Beautiful Me program helps girls understand their feelings, solve problems and get along better in and out of school. Girls and women who have built healthy levels of self-esteem are more likely to be better friends to others and know how to solve conflicts," says Tuffy.
Anna says she has learned all of that from the program. But most importantly, she has learned to appreciate the special qualities in people and that it's important to feel good about yourself. "When you feel good about yourself," Anna says, "it is easy to make others feel good, too! | high17536.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Saint Patrick's Day"
},
"options": [
"Celebrations across the Country",
"An Official Holiday in US",
"The Largest Parade in the World",
"Saint Patrick's Day"
],
"question": "What's the best title of the passage?... | On Saturday, millions of people around the world will celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, which honors Patron Saint(a main religious figure)of Ireland. Communities across the United States will host parades , parties, and other festivities to mark the occasion.
This year, cities like Boston, New York, and Chicago have organized big events celebrating Saint Patrick's Day. In New York City, hundreds of thousands of people will gather to watch the Saint Patrick's Day parade-the nation's largest. It is one of the most watched parades in the world. Last year, almost 2 million watched it , more than 150,000 took part in it and they filled the streets. The parade, first held in 1776, is also one of the oldest.
Chicago also throws a big celebration. Every year, the Chicago River, which crosses the city, shines green as event organizers pour about 40 pounds of fluorescence, a powerful dye , into the water.
Boston keeps its parade rolling for three hours or more. It is the nation's second-largest parade. The city will also show respect to one of its most famous former residents, President John F. Kennedy, by opening the exhibit "A Journey Home:John F. Kennedy and Ireland", at his official library.
Patron Saint lived in Britain in the early fifth century, when it was still part of the Roman Empire. He was caught and sold into slavery in Ireland when he was only 16. He finally escaped slavery and turned to a life of religious devotion. He trained to become a minister and set out to spread Christianity throughout Ireland. After 30 years as a religious leader, Patrick died on March 17, 1461. Saint Patrick's Day is always celebrated on March 17. In Ireland, it is an official holiday. | high18605.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Boring."
},
"options": [
"Exciting.",
"Boring.",
"Relaxing.",
"Annoying."
],
"question": "What did the author think of her winter life in New York?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"ans... | The freezing Northeast hasn't been a terribly fun place to spend time this winter, so when the chance came for a weekend to Sarasota, Florida, my bags were packed before you could say "sunshine". I left for the land of warmth and vitamin C(C), thinking of beaches and orange trees. When we touched down to blue skies and warm air, I sent up a small prayer of gratefulness. Swimming pools, wine tasting, and pink sunsets(at normal evening hours, not 4 in the afternoon) filled the weekend, but the best part- particularly to my taste, dulled by months of cold- weather root vegetables- was a 7 a.m. adventure to the Sarasota farmers' market that proved to be more than worth the early wake-up call.
The market, which was founded in 1979, sets up its tents every Saturday from 7:00 am to 1 p.m, rain or shine, along North Lemon and State streets. Baskets of perfect red strawberries, the red-painted sides of the Java Dawg coffee truck; and most of all, the tomatoes: amazing, large, soft and round red tomatoes.
Disappointed by many a broken, vine-ripened promise, I've refused to buy winter tomatoes for years. No matter how attractive they look in the store, once I get them home they're unfailingly dry, hard, and tasteless. But I homed in, with uncertainty, on one particular table at the Brown's Grove Farm's stand, full of fresh and soft tomatoes the size of my fist. These were the real deal- and at that moment, I realized that the best part of Sarasota in winter was going to be eating things that back home in New York I wouldn't be experiencing again for months.
Delighted as I was by the tomatoes in sight, my happiness deepened when I learned that Brown's Grove Farm is one of the suppliers for Jack Dusty, a newly opened restaurant at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton, where- luckily for me- I was planning to have dinner that very night. Without even seeing the menu, I knew I'd be ordering every tomato on it. | high10259.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "more people went to visit theme parks"
},
"options": [
"more theme parks became available",
"admission fees to theme parks became higher",
"more people went to visit theme parks",
"there were more extreme theme park ent... | It's a good time for a theme park, according to a report. There was a four percent growth in the number of visitors to theme parks in 2014 compared with 2013. There were a total of 223,450,000 visits to the top 25 theme parks in 2014. But even extreme enthusiasts may not be able to get to every park on the top-25 list. Here are six theme parks that are less known to Americans. But they're truly worth a visit.
Ocean Park
Hong Kong's Ocean Park is a marine mammal park, animal theme park and amusement park. It came in at No.13 on the top-25 list.
Lotte World
Located in Seoul, South Korea, Lotte World is famous for having the world's largest indoor theme park together with an outdoor theme park. It's also home to South Korea's largest ice skating rink. It was ranked No.14 on the top-25 list.
Everland
Also in South Korea, Everland is located in Gyeonggi-Do. It includes a zoo and a water park and was ranked No.16.
Europa Park
Europe Park, located in Rust, is the largest theme park in Germany and one of four in Europe to make the top-25 list. It got No.21.
Tivoli Gardens
When you take into consideration that Tivoli Gardens is closed a few months every year, its spot at No.23 is impressive. Located in Copenhagen, it's famous for its fairy-tale atmosphere and antique roller coaster.
De Efteling
De Efteling is a fantasy-themed amusement park in Katsheuvel, the Netherlands. The attractions are based on elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables and folklore. It was ranked No.24. | high13750.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Snowmobilers."
},
"options": [
"Snowmobilers.",
"The police.",
"A rescue team.",
"Local people."
],
"question": "Who found the Swedish man in the snow?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"an... | A Swedish man was dug out alive after being snowed in his car on a forest track for two months with no food, police and local media reported on Saturday.
The 45-year-old from southern Sweden was found on Friday, February17, too weak to say more than a few words.
He was found not far from the city of Umea in the north of Sweden by snowmobilers who thought they had come across a ruined car until they dug their way to a window and saw movement inside.
The man, who was lying in the back seat in a sleeping bag, said he had been in the car since December 19.
"Just incredible that he's alive considering that he had no food, but also since it's been really cold for some time after Christmas." a rescue team member told regional daily Vasterbottens- Kuriren, which broke the news.
Ebbe Nyberg, duty officer at the Umea police, said police saw no reason to doubt that the man had been stuck in the car for a very long time.
"We would not make up something like this. The rescue services were on site too and saw the same as us." he told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.
Umea University Hospital, where the man is recovering after being rescued by police and a rescue team, said in a statement he was doing well considering the circumstances.
Doctors at the hospital said humans would normally be able to survive for about four weeks without food. Besides eating snow, the man probably survived by going into a dormant-like state, physician Stefan Branth told Vasterbottens-Kuriren.
"A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that." he said. "He probably had a body temperature of around 31 degrees which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up."
"Why the man ended up under the snow in the forest remains unknown," police said. | high1217.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "16818"
},
"options": [
"813108",
"121118",
"102220",
"16818"
],
"question": "If a tourist wants to see a performance on March 15, he can call _ to book a ticket.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},... | Keep it in the air: The Chaoyang Theater is one of the Beijing theaters to present acrobatics all year round. Top acrobatic artists invited from all over the country perform for Chinese and foreign tourists. The program contains trick cycling, leaping through hoops and Chinese magic tricks. Some of the artists have won prizes in international competitions.
Time: 7:15 p.m. Daily
Place: 36, Dongsanhuan Beilu, Chaoyang District
Tel: 1716, 16818
Use your head: Green Hat is a new drama given by a group of young Chinese actors. It's a rewrite of American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous novel The Scarlet Letter. It describes the heroine's great courage in finding the true love against the public disagreement.
Time: 7:15 p.m. until March 5, except Mondays
Place: China Children's Theater
Tel: 102220, 102210
Mix and match: Story of Puppets tells of a fairy, Zixia, who looks for true love in the human world. After watching a puppet play Peony Pavilion, she thinks there must be true love in reality, so she uses magic to turn the puppet characters into humans, wanting to fall in love with the puppet hero. But things don't go as she planned...Li Liuyi, the director of the play has made several successful attempts to present different traditional operas in one play. This time he combines Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, and Pingju Opera along with a band, using the structure of modem drama.
Time: 7:30 p. m. until March 10, except Mondays
Place: Small Playhouse of Beijing People's Art Theater
Tel: 121118
Peking Opera: The Beijing Peking Opera Troupe will give two performances at the Chang'an Crand Theater. Each performance includes two classical excerpts . One is Wenxi (a play focusing on singing and dancing); the other is Wuxi (a play full of acrobatic dancing). The first night will be The Crossroad and Presenting a Pearl of the Rainbow Bridge. And the second night will see the performance of The Goddess of Heaven Scatte.
Place: Chang'an Grand Theater
Tel: 813108 | high6578.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "happy"
},
"options": [
"surprised",
"lonely",
"happy",
"sad"
],
"question": "The poet felt _ when he was writing the poem.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}
] | Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Birdies, build your nest;
Weave together straw and feather,
Doing each your best.
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Flowers are coming too:
Pansies, lilies, daffodillies
Now are coming through.
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
All around is _ ,
Shimmer and quiver on the river,
Joy is everywhere.
----William Blake | high7666.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "can influence a person's spirit"
},
"options": [
"is a kind of language",
"can be played much louder than words",
"receives a personal radio signal",
"can influence a person's spirit"
],
"question": "Music has m... | Music is magic! Music speaks louder than words and it is a "language" that the whole world can understand. A piece of music can produce a response in the heart and mind. Like feeling an electrical current or receiving a personal radio signal, music has a spiritual effect on a person. Different kinds of music influence people in different ways.
I have listened to music all my life. When I was twelve years old, the Beatles came to America and my whole world opened up. Maybe young people today cannot understand the influence of the Beatles when they exploded across America. Their influence changed the way we dressed, looked, acted and spoke... even our culture. The Beatles arrived in America from the UK just under three months after the assassination of President John Kennedy, which had put America into a great depression. And the freshness and lively spirit of the Beatles was exactly what the country needed to refresh itself.
Music links the heart of the hearer with that of the composer. This means that it mixes the spirit of the composer with your spirit when you listen to it. And the music can take your spirit out of your body and transport you into another world. Music has a great way of touching people. Music can make you laugh, cry or shout. It's also a great source of inspiration.
Try this one day and notice what happens: make yourself a cup of tea, sit on your sofa and play one of your favorite songs. Close your eyes, and soon you'll find yourself creating vivid mental images--matching the music that you are listening to. | high13988.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Work sharing is aimed at creating more jobs."
},
"options": [
"Work sharing requires more working hours.",
"Work sharing is aimed at creating more jobs.",
"Work sharing provides a more satisfactory salary.",
"Work shari... | Job sharing refers to the situation in which two people divide the responsibility of one full-time job. The people willingly act as part-time workers, enough hours between them to fulfill the duties of a full-time worker. If they each work half the job, for example, they each receive 50 percent of the job's wages, its holidays and its other benefits.
Job sharing differs from conventional part-time work in that it occurs mainly in the more highly skilled and professional areas, which require higher levels of responsibility and employee commitment.
Job sharing should not be confused with the term work sharing, which refers to increasing the number of jobs by reducing the number of hours of each existing job, thus offering more positions to the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing by contrast, is not designed to address the growing number of unemployed people. Job sharing, by contrast, is not designed to address unemployment problems; its focus, rather is to provide well-paid work for skilled workers and professionals who want more free time for other activities.
As would be expected, most job sharers are women. A survey carried out in 1988 by Britain's Equal Opportunities Commission showed that 78 per cent of sharers were female, the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years of age. Subsequent studies have come up with similar results. Many of these women were re-entering the job market after having had children, but they chose not to seek part-time work because it would have meant lower status. Job sharing also offered an acceptable shift back into full-time work after a long absence.
The necessity of close cooperation when sharing a job with another person makes the actual work quite different from conventional one-position jobs. However, to ensure a greater chance that the partnership will succeed, each person needs to know the strengths, weaknesses and preferences of his or her partner before applying for a position. Moreover, there must be a fair division of both routine tasks and interesting ones. In sum, for a position to be job-shared well, the two individuals must be well matched and must treat each other as equals. | high15321.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To provide poor children with nutritious food."
},
"options": [
"To provide poor children with nutritious food.",
"To raise money for some poor children.",
"To develop the afterschool program.",
"To help poor children l... | In the United States, many low income parents cannot afford to buy enough food for their children. A program called Kids Cafe is helping some of these children by providing free nutritious snacks and meals during after-school programs.
At a community center in Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C., children make a snack as part of their afterschool program. "The snack is very healthy for your body, but the main thing is that it tastes really, really good," Keith Clements tells them. He runs the Kids Cafe program.
The children are between the ages of 5 and 11 and are from several local schools. About half have parents from Ethiopia. Many of the children eat their traditional food at home. Kids Cafe, with food offered free by a food bank, gives them an opportunity to try different types of food.
"It's good," says one girl. But Rebecca Nance, whose parents are from the US, is not so sure. "The taste is weird." Her mother, Daffany Nance has two children in the program. She's glad her kids are getting nutritious food. "Even in my house we don't have much junk food," she says, "so it's very important that it's healthy and continues to help them grow better."
The charity , Feeding America, started the national Kids Cafe program in 1993. The charity says more than 16 million children in the United States do not have enough healthy food to eat.
Kids Cafe became part of the afterschool program at this community center five years ago. Lori McFail heads the afterschool program. She says some children do not eat good evening meals because their parents work late or cannot afford healthy food. She hopes the children will make full use of what they've learned about nutrition in their lives. | high9893.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "impress the listener"
},
"options": [
"make fun of the listener",
"impress the listener",
"please the listener",
"interest the listener"
],
"question": "The main reason why people lie about reading is to _ .",... | It happened to me recently that I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama'sDreamsfromMyFatherand how it had changed my views of the current US president.The person I was talking to agreed with me that it was,in his words,"a wonderfully written book". However,he then _ to talk about Mr Obama in a way that suggested he had no idea of his background at all.I sensed that I was talking to a book liar.
And it seems that he is not the only one.Clearly two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven't.In the World Book Day survey,DreamsfromMyFatheris at number 9.The survey lists top ten books,and various authors,which people have lied about reading.As I'm not one to lie too often,I'll admit here and now that I haven't read the entire ten books.But I am pleased to say that I have read the book at number one,GeorgeOrwell's1984.I think it's absolutely outstanding.
Asked why they lied,the most common reason was to impress someone they were speaking to.This could be difficult if the conversation became more indepth!
The World Book Day survey also has some other interesting information in it.It shows that many people lie about having read classical works by Jane Austen,the Bronte sisters,Charles Dickens and so on.But when asked which authors they actually enjoy,they named J.K.Rowling,Jilly Cooper,and Stephen King (ah,the big sellers,in other words).Fortyone percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story.
So which books have you lied about reading--if any--and which is your favourite? | high3428.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "annoyed"
},
"options": [
"ridiculous",
"annoyed",
"strange",
"embarrassed"
],
"question": "How did the writer feel about the questions her European friends asked?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
... | Living in South Africa, I had always taken the wildlife pretty much for granted. Not to say that we were surrounded by it, but the accessibility of game parks and wildlife sanctuaries(,) always made it seem like a natural part of the environment. For this reason, I suppose that the way my European friends used to talk to me, wasn't so strange after all. They would ask me what I thought at the time were really silly questions which got on my nerves. They'd say things like 'Do you have a pet baboon?' or 'Do you travel to school by elephant?'.
When Amanda, a friend of mine who was visiting from England, invited me to join her and a group of friends on a wildlife expedition, I was not filled with enthusiasm. However, from the moment we entered the gates of the Zaluzi game reserve, I knew that this was not going to be anything like I had expected. We had been traveling along the National Road when, suddenly, we turned onto a dirt track which seemed to be hidden in the middle of nowhere. Amazingly, the scenery changed dramatically. The civilized environment took on a wild, chaotic(;) aspect and continued to do so as we walked deeper into the bush.
After having a good night's sleep at one of the reserve's bungalows, we were woken at the crack of dawn. After a quick breakfast we piled into a jeep and set off. Our guide assured us that the early start was necessary in order to have the best chance of seeing what was really worthwhile. Armed with just a thermos of coffee, we set out towards the shore of a small lake where it was expected that we could see that animals that used it as their morning watering hole.
On the way to our destination, we topped a hill and there, against the emerging morning light, were a group of animals. _ was a stunning sight. As we moved closer, the animals did not appear to be alarmed by our presence. Pet baboons aside, I had never before come within such close range of a pride of lions. It did cross my mind, however, that we might be in a certain amount of danger. When I asked Timothy, our game ranger, if we were actually in any danger, he replied straightforwardly that one is never entirely safe in the bush, but his knowledge and experience allowed him to anticipate any danger with reasonable accuracy.
However, the following day there was some cause for alarm. Not having started out so early, we missed the sightings of the day before. We decided to drive around for a while, hoping to come across something of interest. Suddenly our tracker perched up on the back of our vehicle, signaled to the driver to halt and at the same moment I realized that this time we had stumbled right into a pride of lions. The driver promptly turned off the engine and in a low voice warned us to remain seated and not to make any abrupt movements. The lions were picking at what looked like the remains of a zebra. Timothy, later told us how much to our advantage this was. Had their bellies not been full, their reaction to us would surely have been otherwise. As the nearest lion was less than three meters away from the jeep, _ .
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Our near miss with the lions was without a doubt the highlight, but what it taught me yet again was how easy it is to be indifferent to our surroundings and not to have a full appreciation of the beauty around us. | high4347.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because they want to find the meaning of their life."
},
"options": [
"Because they want to achieve more.",
"Because they want to benefit their generations.",
"Because they want to find the meaning of their life.",
"Bec... | Have you thought about what you want people to say about you after you're gone? Can you hear the voice saying,"He was a great man."or"She really will be missed."What else do they say?
One of the phenomena of life is to engage in a work that will last long after death. Isn't that a lot like investing all your money so that future generations can get interest on it? Perhaps, yet if you look deep in your own heart, you'll find something drives you to make this kind of contribution -- something drives every human being to find a purpose that lives on after death.
Do you hope to memorialize your name? Have a name that is whispered with reverent awe? Do you hope to have your face carved upon 50 feet of granite rock ? Is the answer really that simple? Is the purpose of lifetime contribution an ego-driven desire for a mortal being to have an immortal name or is it something more?
A child alive today will die tomorrow. A baby that has the potential to be the next Einstein will die from complications at birth.The circumstances of life are not set in stone. We are not all meant to live life through to old age. We've grown to perceive life as a full cycle with a certain number of years in between. If all of those years aren't lived out, it's a tragedy. A tragedy comes about because a human's potential has never been realized. A tragedy comes about because a spark was snuffed out before it ever became a flame.
By virtue of inhabiting a body we accept these risks. We expose our mortal flesh to the laws of the physical environment around us. The trade-off isn't so bad when you think about it. The problem comes when we construct mortal fantasies of what life should be like. When life doesn't conform to our fantasy we grow upset, frustrated, or depressed.
We are alive; let us live. We have the ability to experience; let us experience. We have the ability to learn; let us learn. The meaning of life can be grasped in a moment. A moment so brief that it often evades our perception.
What meaning stands behind the dramatic unfolding of life? What single truth can we grasp and hang onto for dear life when all other truths around us seem to fade with time?
These moments are strung together in a series we call events. These events are strung together in a series we call life. When we seize the moment and bend it to our will, a will driven by the spirit deep inside us, then we have discovered the meaning of life, a meaning for us that shall go on long after we depart this Earth. | high19533.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "came to England a few months ago"
},
"options": [
"has never been to England",
"came to England a few months ago",
"came to England just now",
"will come to England in there months"
],
"question": "According to ... | Dear Susan,
I have been in England for three months now. I hope you don't think I have forgotten you. There have been so many places to see and so many things to do that I've not had much time for writing letters. I shall soon start my studies at King's College.
So far I've been learning about British ways of living. I won' tell you about London in a traditional way, because there are plenty of books you can read and plenty of pictures you can look at. I'm sure you'll be more interested to know what I think about the life here. I find some of the customs new and interesting. People here do not shake hands so much as we do in Asia. During the first few weeks I was often surprised because people did not put out their hands when I met them. Men raised their hats to women, but not to each other.
Yours ever,
Anne | high16600.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "in 1996"
},
"options": [
"in 1991",
"in 1996",
"in 1997",
"in 2007"
],
"question": "The earliest web-based email came into being probably _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}
] | Cast your mind back to the past twenty years and hardly did anyone have their own email account. The Internet had just taken off in 1991 and people were only using office and PCbased email exchanges.
In the mid 1990s external email providers appeared. The most famous of these was Hotmail, the first free email provider and webbased email service. Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996. And Microsoft took note of and bought Hotmail for $400 million on December 30, 1997, a nice birthday present for Bhatia who turned 29 that day. It was relaunched as MSN Hotmail and in 2007 was relaunched again as Windows Live Hotmail.
Fast forward the present day and most of us have at least a personal webbased email account. It seems impossible to live without them. One of the biggest advantages of email is the fact that communication has become so much easier, especially with those across different time zones. Email takes seconds to send a message whereas letters, as we used to communicate by, could take weeks. Of course there was the fax, that beeping invention from the 1980s, but it wasn't as secure as email and you never knew if the person on the other end had picked up your fax or if it had got lost somewhere in the office.
In conclusion, one of the best inventions from the 1990s has to be email. But sometimes people are too closely connected to their email and have a _ to check it several times a day. At work, people have become lazy and instead of going to speak to the person sitting next to them, they send an email,causing an in box to pile up with more time spent reading email and responding rather than working. Clearly, an invention that saved time because of its quick and speedy connection can now also cause us to waste a lot of time. | high5059.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "our mind has a strong effect on our body"
},
"options": [
"a sound mind is less important than a good health",
"our mind has a strong effect on our body",
"our physical health has nothing to do with our mind",
"mental h... | "Mind over matter" is an English saying meaning that we can control our bodies with our minds. Now scientists are finding increasing evidence that our mind can have a great effect on our physical health. Since our mind influences how we feel, it's not true to say if someone is ill just because he feels ill.
The influence of the mind on how well we feel is the basis of what is known as the placebo effect. A placebo (which is Latin for "I shall please") is a harmless, inactive substance. Patients are sometimes given placebo pills and begin to feel better because they believe that they have been given real drugs and expect to respond to them. The placebo effect is very strong: research on pain suggests that up to 30% of the effect of most painkillers is a placebo effect.
So if it is so powerful, why don't doctors use it today?
According to Dr Persaud, they really do. "All these things like seeing a doctor, going to a hospital, and being scanned have a very strong placebo effect," he says. | high10271.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "alone"
},
"options": [
"with his family",
"with Evelyn",
"alone",
"with his children"
],
"question": "From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage _ .",
"question_type": "summarization_... | I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, "Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love." To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, "That new yellow sweater looks great on you." "Oh, Tom, you noticed", she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, "Evelyn's been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me." We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that's how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
"What's the matter?" I asked her.
"Tom," she said in a voice filled with distress, "I don't?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well...that checkup I had several weeks ago...our doctor...did he tell you something about me? Tom, you've been so good to me...am I dying?"
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
"No, honey," I said, wrapping her in my arms. "You're not dying; I'm just starting to live." | high2736.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "She was taking exercise."
},
"options": [
"She was driving home.",
"She was resting on the road.",
"She was taking exercise.",
"She was feeding wild animals."
],
"question": "What was Sue doing when she was atta... | Alexis, 17, sat quietly in the passenger seat of her dad's car.She let her eyes lazily scan the landscape for wildlife.Then a deer came into view about 200 yards in front of them."Dad, there's a deer there!" Alexis said.It was a male deer with sharp antlers on each side of its head.
As the car moved closer, Alexis saw that the deer's head was bent toward the ground.Then she heard a scream and saw an arm fly up near the deer's head.Alexis realized the deer was attacking a woman.Sue, a 44-year-old mother, had been out for her morning run.The deer followed her and edged closer."I knew I was in trouble," Sue says.She went to pick up a stick for self-defense, and the deer charged.It lifted her with its antlers and threw her into the air.Sue could feel blood flew down her leg.Within seconds, the deer had pushed her off the road.
When Alexis and her father pulled up, the deer was throwing Sue like a doll.Alexis looked into the woman's terrified eyes, and before her father had even stopped the car, the teenager jumped quickly out of the car and ran toward the deer."I was kicking it to get its attention," she says.Then her father, who had followed his daughter, pushed the deer away from the women.
Alexis helped Sue into the car, and then applied a piece of cloth to Sue's injured leg."We're going to get you to a hospital," Alexis said.Then she heard her father shout loudly.He had been knocked to the ground.Alexis took hold of a hammer from the car and ran to where her father lay on his back.She beat the deer's head and neck, but the blows didn't scare it away."I was losing faith," she says."A couple more strikes, Alexis," said her father."You can do it." Turning the hammer around, Alexis closed her eyes and beat the deer's neck with all her strength.When she opened her eyes, the deer was running away.Alexis got in the driver's seat and sped toward the nearest hospital.
After Sue was treated, she tearfully thanked her rescuers."You expect a teenage girl to get on the phone and call for help," she says, "not to beat up a deer." | high13778.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "this will allow them and their kids to have a fun competition"
},
"options": [
"they can give their kids some advice about walking",
"it can prevent them from watching TV too much",
"their kids will not use it if they don't",... | This weekly four-day physical activity schedule will get your kids excited about being active.
Tuesday
When the kids get home from school, don't let them go straight to the TV and get settled in. Encourage them to get moving and get off the couch by giving them a pedometer . Pedometers are the most fun when parents also use one because that turns stepping, walking and running into a game to see who can get the most steps.
Thursday
The kids have done a great job so far this week, but now they long for a little more TV time. Instead of turning on cartoons, let them watch fitness movies made just for kids. These movies encourage watchers to get up and dance along to kid-friendly music.
Saturday
Get the whole family out of the house together and over to a park. Bring lots of sports equipment, pack a healthy picnic and have a family competitive sports day. Kids and adults get into groups and play against each other in tennis, basketball or soccer. After everyone has played hard for a couple of hours, stop for a picnic and then if your family isn't too tired, go back and play some more.
Sunday
Every child loves to play video games and there is no better time to allow kids to play them than on Sunday when no homework is due. But don't let them play a game that forces them to sit down for hours. Dance games with a floor mat to help kids follow the dance moves are popular to kids. | high14017.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "ten books that have made greatest difference to Oprah"
},
"options": [
"ten books that have made greatest difference to Oprah",
"an inspiring , challenging and sustainable woman",
"Oprah's picks from what has taught her a few... | When we asked Oprah to pick the 10 books she's read in the past decade that have mattered to her most, she was momentarily stumped. For someone who describes herself as --inspired, challenged, and sustained by books, it was almost impossible for Oprah to stay within our limit of 10. Still, she offered up the following, but she emphasized that it was only a sampler of delightful titles that have also managed to teach her -- and all of us -- a few things.
1. Discover the Power Within You
By Eric Butterworth
256 pages; Harper One
Advice from the internationally known spiritual teacher.
2. A New Earth
By Eckhart Tolle
316 pages; Plume
There's a reason Oprah picked this for her Book Club in 2008 -- and that she gave audience members Post-it pens along with their copies.So much wisdom, so little time! A real-life guide to living your best life.
3. The Poisonwood Bible
By Barbara Kingsolver
576 pages; Harper Perennial
This novel is about a family involved in the political trouble of postcolonial Africa. It established Kingsolver as one of our wisest observers of history, politics, and human nature.
4. Night
By Elie Wiesel
120 pages; Hill and Wang
A memoir of a childhood suffered in concentration camps during the Holocaust. It's horrific butuplifting. --I gain courage from his courage,|| Oprah says.
5. A Fine Balance
By Rohinton Mistry
624 pages; Vintage
A Dickensian novel about India during the Emergency. Like the aftermath of September 11, it teaches us about cultures we haven't understood. "It takes us out of our own little shell and exposes us to a whole other world out there." Oprah say.
6. East of Eden
By John Steinbeck
608 pages; Penguin
This classic is about good and evil as played out in a late-19th-century California ranch family. If you didn't read it in high school, read it now. If you did, reread it!
7. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
By David Wroblewski
576 pages; Harper Collins
A kind of Hamlet on the prairie, this is the wrenching story of a mute boy and his dog. Oprah compares it to East of Eden and To Kill a Mickingbird.
8. The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett
973 pages; Penguin
About the challenges of building cathedrals in 12th-century England. This novel couldn't be more different in setting, time, and plot from the author's breakthrough success, Eye of the Needle. Oprah declares it simply "great".
9. The Bluest Eye
By Toni Morrison
224 pages; Penguin
How to choose among the great Morrison's novel? Start with this one about a girl who thinks she has to have blue eyes to be beautiful. Oprah considered it one of the best in a crowded Morrison field.
10. The Known World
By Edward P. Jones
400 pages, Harper Collins
When this book was published in 2003, it shocked everybody with its description of slave-owning blacks before the Civil War. A daring, unusual examination of race. | high9663.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "didn't bloom at all"
},
"options": [
"all died quickly",
"didn't bloom at all",
"grew as well as on Mom's farm",
"grew better than those on Mom's farm"
],
"question": "At first, the irises in the author's yard ... | Mom's birthday present? It may be a difficult thing for some people, but for me, it is an easy thing. Mom loved flowers, so every year I sent her flowers. Actually she had a bed of irises in the backyard of her small, Indiana farm. They were beautiful. "Take some," she said, "Dig some up and plant them on the side of your own house."
But in my yard they became lacking in energy. A year passed, then two, but not one flower appeared. I cut back all their green leaves. I was tired of seeing them so lonely. Finally, I dug the irises up and threw them away.
About that time Mom died unexpectedly. My sister and I sold the farm. I never went back to see the irises. I just couldn't bear seeing another family living in our home--Mom's home. Autumn came, then winter. The following spring, as Mom's birthday approached, I struggled with the question of how to remember her. I stared out the window and saw a few stubborn irises in my side yard sprouting , --tall, thin but flowerless. Because of seeing them, I decided to order flowers as I always did on Mom's birthday, and send them to my sister. I wished so badly I could still send flowers to Mom. But that was impossible.
In the morning of Mom's birthday, I was in my car ready to work. Something in the yard caught my eye. The irises! One had bloomed with flowers, big, showy and purple, as lovely as they ever had been on Mom's farm. I smiled and turned my eyes upward. I could no longer send flowers to Mom. But somehow, she'd been able to send them to me. | high6550.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Steve Jobs was thought to have great talent."
},
"options": [
"Steve Jobs was the present CEO of Apple.",
"Steve Jobs was thought to have great talent.",
"Steve Jobs had no idea about his death before.",
"Steve Jobs fou... | Apple Inc co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, counted among the greatest American CEOs of his generation, died on Wednesday at the age of 56, after a-year-long and highly public battle with cancer. Jobs' death was announced by Apple in a statement late on Wednesday. The Apple.com homepage featured a black-and-white picture of him with the words "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011".
A message on the site read, "Apple has lost an imaginary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring leader."
"His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."
"Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple." The Silicon Valley hero who gave the world the iPod and the iPhone had resigned as CEO of the world's largest technology corporation in August, handing the position to current chief executive Tim Cook.
Two years before the iPhone that forever transformed the way people around the world access and use the Internet, Jobs talked about how a sense of his death was a major driver behind that vision.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever got to help me make the big choices in life," Jobs said during a Stanford commencement ceremony in 2005. "Because almost everything-all others' expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure-these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." | high15309.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "this finding doesn't agree with their feelings."
},
"options": [
"they lack common knowledge.",
"this finding doesn't agree with their feelings.",
"they like smoking too much.",
"some researchers have opposite ideas."
... | The poorer mental function seen among alcoholics, many of whom also regularly smoke cigarettes, may be partly caused by the long-term effects of nicotine , new study suggests.
"People who are also smokers are more dangerous," Dr. Jennifer M. Glass, of the University of Michigan's Addiction Research Center, said. In her study, "cigarette smoking had bad effects on IQ and thinking," she said. This finding may seem wrong because many smokers feel better after smoking.
Studies show that up to 87 percent of alcoholics smoke cigarettes. Yet, few studies have looked into cigarette smoking as a reason that might explain the cognitive deficits reported among alcoholics.
To find out that connection, Glass and her partners examined brain function among 172 men from the same community, including 103 men who are alcoholics. The team found that heavy smokers and those alcoholics both had lower IQ scores.
In the further study, the experts found that smoking also appeared to be connected with weaker verbal and visual-spatial reasoning . So, though smoking did not account for all of the poorer mental function among the alcoholics, it did seem to account for some of the effects, the report shows. | high23863.txt |
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