questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "24"
},
"options": [
"22",
"23",
"24",
"26"
],
"question": "Yao Ming got 13 points on October _ , 2002.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_... | 2.26-meter-tall Yao Ming made his NBA debut on October 23, 2002 and got 6 points for the Houston Rockets in the game. The next day, he got 13 points in another game.
Most people think that Yao Ming is a born basketball player. But Yao said, "When you watch it on TV, it looks very easy. But when you are playing in the NBA, it is really not so easy." He said that joining the Houston Rockets was a new start and a new challenge. "I hope that through very hard work I can make everyone happy and help the Rockets win more games," he said.Yao Ming speaks some English. Both he and his teammates can understand each other. They don't think there is a language problem. While Yao Ming faces this new challenge, the people of Houston have shown great interest in him and they hope Yao Ming will bring new energy to the Rockets. The team has started having lessons to learn more about China, and many people who work for the Rockets have learned to speak some Chinese. | high2803.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "is offered to all the students of Grade 2 in high schools"
},
"options": [
"is considered as part of the advanced education",
"is given to anyone wanting to get a driver's license",
"is carried on at the same time as other co... | In prefix = st1 /America, drivers' education is part of regular high school curriculum. Every student in his or her second year of high school is required to take a class in driver's education. However, unlike other courses, it is not given during the regular school year. Instead, it is a summer course.
The course is divided up into two parts: class time for learning laws and regulations and driving time to practise driving. Class time is not unlike any other class. The students have a text from which they study the basic laws they must know to pass the written driving test that is given to anyone wanting to get a driver's license.
Driving time is a chance for the students to get behind the wheel (steering wheel) and practise starting steering, backing up, parking, switching lanes, turning corners, and all the other maneuvers required to drive a car. Each student is required to drive a total of six hours. The students are divided up into groups of four. The students and the instructor go out driving for two-hour blocks of time. Thus, each student gets half an hour driving time per outing. The instructor and "driver" sit in the front seats and the other three students sit in the back.
Drivers Ed cars are unlike other cars in which they have two sets of brakes, one on the driver's side and one on the other side where the instructor sits. Thus, if the student driver should run into difficulties the instructor can take over. The car also has another special feature. On the top of the car is a sign that reads: STUDENT DRIVER. That lets nearby drivers know that they should use extra caution because the student driver is a beginning driver, not very experienced and prone to driving slowly.
After the student has passed the driver's education course and reached the appropriate age to drive (this age differs in every state but in most cases the person must be 16 years old), they can go to a designated state office to take their driver's test, which is made up of an eye examination, a written test, and a road test. The person must pass all three tests in order to be given a driver's license. If the person did well in his or her driver's education class, he or she will pass the test _ and get a driver's license. | high16935.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Germany, England and China"
},
"options": [
"France, Germany and China",
"Germany, England and China",
"France, China and England",
"Germany, England and France"
],
"question": "Marc Briol has ever worked in _... | Marc Briol started his career at the age of 17 as an apprentice at a hotel in Germany, but his experience in the kitchen started at 12, when he had to cook his own meals after school. The young chef with Belle-Vue, the European restaurant at the Grand Hyatt Shenzhen, believes a chef has to be honest and true to his food.
"If you look at the plate, it says exactly what I have done. You cannot cheat. If you try to take a shortcut, you will affect the taste," he says. "It is also what I appreciate in my job ---- direct communication with my customers."
At just 23, Briol was appointed chef of Belle-Vue in September, when his enthusiasm and inspiration won recognition.
"I am so pleased to welcome Marc to lead the culinary team at Belle-Vue. His creativity and passion will bring new inspiration to the restaurant, and create exciting dining experiences that are approachable and fun," says Martin Riehl, executive chef of the hotel.
Briol creates and combines classic dishes with his own understanding and his signature dishes are featured in the Best of Belle-Vue selection. Most of the dishes are presented in two color1s ---- green and red.
"It is a nice contrast with the white plate at the moment. And it reminds me of something happy and merry."
The color1s are updated according to season, and also on request from regular customers.
Although Briol has only been in Shenzhen about three months, he has fallen in love with Cantonese food.
"I love dim sum ---- all the steamed vegetables, chicken soup and black tea."
One interesting thing about Shenzhen is how people treat food, he says. "If you go to the local market, you will see things such as snakes, which would belong to the zoo back in my country."
He says that in China, everything has a reason. People respect food, which is not always done in Europe.
"In China, if you eat something, it is because it is healthy for your body."
As for the cooking, he says, it is not easy to get raw materials for a European restaurant in Shenzhen.
"It took me about a month to get the fish I want for my cooking. We had to call Shanghai or Hong Kong to ship the food here," he says. "When I worked in London, the process was much easier."
He gets much of his inspiration from food blogs and friends.
"About 80 percent of my friends come from restaurants, and they are bakers, chefs. We will meet and talk to get new ideas for food." Other sources of inspiration are traveling and cookbooks.
During his day off, he will also try to explore new restaurants in Shenzhen.
"Food is all my life. You have to pay lots of effort to get it done, to improve yourself." | high17395.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "there are no national regulation on banning smoking in the public."
},
"options": [
"there are no national regulation on banning smoking in the public.",
"The momentum was not too strong to make the country's public places smoke fr... | Indoor public spaces such as restaurants, workplaces, hospitals and public transport are supposed _ from Jan 9 in China.
On that day five years ago, China approved the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
However with the deadline days away, the government still hasn't come up with a clear message for the ban. An editorial from "China Daily" urges China to speed up its effort to ban smoking in public indoors.
Referring to numbers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the articles says if China fails to reduce tobacco consumption, the number of people killed by cigarettes will double by 2025 and three times by 2050, which is about 1.2 million now every year.
This would cut the productivity of the work force and places a heavy burden on the country's healthcare system. The article says China has let an opportunity slip to change these statistics for the better. The momentum , however was not strong enough to make the country's public places smoke free.
The editorial suggests that China should strengthen its effort to tax heavily smokers as there are no national regulations on banning smoking in public areas. | high20539.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "who you are"
},
"options": [
"where you come from",
"whether you are healthy",
"who you are",
"who shares your ear shape"
],
"question": "The ear scanning system would help to find out _ .",
"question_typ... | Clean your ears, because airport security might soon be scanning them. According to a recent discovery, the shape of ears could provide a reliable new way of identifying people at airports.
Researchers discovered that ears of each person have a unique shape and they have created a system that can scan them. The ear scanning technique uses a technology called image ray transform that highlights all the tubular structures of the ear and measures them. Professor Mark Nixon, a computer scientist who led the team from the University of Southampton, believes ear scanning could take place as passengers walk through security gates, for example, by placing cameras on either side to record an image of their ears. Comparing the results against a database of ear shapes, the new system could help airport security workers instantly identify passengers.
Nixon and his team tested 252 images of different ears and found the system was able to match each ear to a separate image held in its database with 99 percent accuracy.
Besides ear scanning, there have been other systems developed for identity recognition.
"With facial recognition, the systems are often confused by crows feet and other signs of ageing," Nixon said. "Your ears, however, age very gracefully. They grow proportionally and your lobe gets a bit larger, but otherwise your ears are fully formed from birth." What's more, facial recognition software is often confused by changes in expression so people need to control their faces and in some cases even avoid wearing make-up.
An ear scan system would also offer a less _ alternative toretina scanning, which requires passengers to stare at scanners from a close range.
Fingertip detection has long been the most effective way of identifying someone. Nixon expects there to be a combination of different techniques that can be used at the same time to identify a person." | high21627.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The participants' activities were monitored through trackers."
},
"options": [
"The participants included both females and males.",
"The participants' activities were monitored through trackers.",
"The participants' body comp... | If you're looking for a fairly painless way to lose weight, researchers at Brigham Young University have a new solution for you: Put yourself on a regular sleep schedule. People who keep a regular sleep routine have a lower body fat than those who keep irregular sleep hours, says a new study.
Led by Bruce Bailey, professor of exercise science, researchers followed 300 female college students aged 19 to 26, who were given activity trackers to watch their movements and activities, including waking and sleeping times . Researchers also measured their body composition before and after the one-week study period.
What the researchers found:
Body fat varied with sleep quantity. Women who slept between 8 and 8.5 hours a night had the lowest body fat. While those who slept less than 7 hours or over 9 hours had higher body fat.
High quality sleep was associated with lower body fat while poor sleep was connected with higher body fat.
Waking and going to sleep at the same time every day was most strongly linked with lower body fat.
The difference in body weight was greater with more variation in sleep pattern. Women whose sleep patterns varied by 90 minutes a night had higher body fat than those whose sleep patterns varied by 60 minutes or less on average.
The study followed up on a body of research conducted over the last few years that ties quality and quantity of sleep to weight loss and better weight control. While researchers don't know exactly how sleep schedules affect body weight and fat, other studies have shown that sleep has an effect on physical activity, appetite , and the hormones that control metabolism , and the signals that tell us we're full. | high14844.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because of uncontrolled hunting and destroyed its natural living conditions."
},
"options": [
"Because it has lost its natural instincts.",
"Because there is not a complete eco-chain.",
"Because there is no space for it.",
... | Running like the wind, roaring like thunder, tigers have long been feared and respected as a king of the animal world. But last week a report said that there are no more than 30 wild tigers left in south China.
This was the conclusion of a team of scientists from China's State Forestry Administration and the World Nature Fund.
The South China tiger, also known as the Chinese tiger, is native to southern China. In the 1950s, there were over 4,000 tigers found in mountain forests in the country. But due to the destruction of their natural habitat and uncontrolled hunting, it has been pushed on to the list of the world's top ten most endangered species.
Sixty-six of the big cats can be found in the cages of a dozen zoos around China. But they are nothing like their wild cousins. They have lost their natural skills such as hunting and killing. If they were set free they could not look after themselves.
"Breeding has damaged the quality of the species," said Pei Enle, deputy director of the Shanghai Zoo.
To reintroduce the species into the wild, the country started a programme to send five to ten young tigers to South Africa. Four of them have already arrived.
Progress has been made as two elder tigers have recovered some of their instincts and can hunt wild animals by themselves at the African base.
"South Africans are very experienced in reintroducing big animals to the wild. The country has very good natural conditions for the tigers to learn in," said Lu Jun, office director of the National Wildlife Research and Development Centre. "We tried in Fujian Province, but it was not successful as there was not a complete eco-chain and there was a lack of space."
The tigers should return to China in 2009 when the reservations in Fujian are ready. | high23030.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Choosing a job"
},
"options": [
"Getting a Job",
"Kind People to Help You",
"Choosing a job",
"Difficulties Facing Young People"
],
"question": "The best title of this passage is _ .",
"question_type": "c... | One of the most difficult problems a young person faces is deciding what to do. Some people, however, from the time they are six years old "know" that they want to be doctors or teachers or firefighters, but most of us do not get around to making a decision about a job until someone or something forces us to face the problem.
Choosing a job takes time, and there are a lot of things you have to think about as you try to decide what you would like to do. You may find that you will have to take special courses for a particular kind of work, or you may find out that you will need to get enough knowledge for a particular job.
Fortunately, there are a lot of people you can turn to for advice and help in making your decision. At most schools, there are teachers to give you information about jobs. And you can talk over your ideas with family members and friends who are always ready to listen and to offer suggestions. | high120.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The influence of music on the world."
},
"options": [
"Stories that inspire songs.",
"The history of the Grammy Awards.",
"The influence of music on the world.",
"How some famous photos were taken."
],
"question... | The GRAMMY Museum is a musically fascinating journey of music in downtown Los Angeles. Turn up the beat over four floors of modern exhibits, interactive experiences and interesting films that will give you a one-of-a-kind experience. They want to engage you, educate you, and inspire you -- just like music does!
There are over 30,000 square feet of interactive, traveling and permanent exhibits. This includes over two dozen exhibits along that explore the greatest of the GRAMMY music! Your whole family will find something they love -- rock, classical, hip hop to country...
The Crossroads exhibition invites you to explore nearly 160 kinds of music! Open them up on the interactive table in front of you to show photos, songs and stories that describe the influence that music has on the world, as well as the music itself.
Journey down the Songwriters Hall of Fame. How many of these songs do you know? How many songwriters have you heard of? You can also try writing a song with some songwriters in the songwriting kiosks !
Have you wondered how a song gets from someone's head to your radio? The third floor shows the art of recording.
The museum always has a host of programs and events throughout the year, so make sure you keep up to date -- you won't want to miss out!
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Adults: $ 12.95
Children: $ 10.95 (6-17 yrs)
Free: under 5 years old
WHEN CAN WE GO?
Mon-Fri: 11:30 am - 7:30 pm
Weekends: 10:00 am - 7:30 pm
Sometimes shut for private events, so check before you go. | high14850.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A Coal Mine Accident in Central China"
},
"options": [
"Death Toll Rises in an Accident in China",
"A Coal Mine Accident in Central China",
"An Accident in Central China",
"Coal Mine Accidents in China"
],
"ques... | YUZHOU, HENAN -An accident in a central China coal mine killed 21 miners Saturday and left another 16 trapped underground , the government said.
The death
rose to 26 Sunday morning as rescuers were battling to reach the 11 miners who were still trapped underground, rescue headquarters said.
Rescuers were battling to reach the 11 miners still trapped underground, but chances for them to survive were very slim, said Du Bo, deputy chief of the rescue headquarters.
"Based upon past experience, the remaining 11 miners could be buried in coal dust, so the survival chances are frail," Du said.
More than 2,500 tons of coal dust smothered the pit after the gas leak , which hampered the rescue, said Du.
The gas outburst happened at 6:03 a.m. Saturday when 276 miners were working underground in the mine in Yuzhou City. A total of 239 workers escaped but 21 were found dead and 16 trapped.
An initial investigation showed that 173,500 cubic meters of gas leaked out in the accident. Liu Wenbin, a deputy chief engineer of the company that owns the mine, was in the pit when the accident happened. He organized the escape.
"At around 6 a.m., I felt there was something wrong with the airflow in the shaft, and one of the team captains told me he also felt it and had already reported the problem," said Liu
The mine is owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd., a company jointly established by four investors, including Zhong Ping Energy Chemical Group and China Power Investment Corp. | high15596.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "get a friend for astronauts from Japan"
},
"options": [
"keep in contact with Earth",
"get a friend for astronauts from Japan",
"take care of the ISS sometimes",
"keep an eye on the health of the astronauts"
],
... | TOKYO--Lonely astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) may soon be getting a robot friend from Japan.
Japan's space agency is considering putting a talking humanoid robot on the ISS to watch the work while astronauts are asleep, monitor their health and stress levels and communicate to Earth through the microblogging site Twitter.
Japan's space agency JAXA announced this week that it is looking at a plan to send a humanoid robot to the space station in 2013 that could communicate with the ground through Twitter--primarily feeding photos, rather than original ideas --and provide astronauts with "comfort and companionship".
Following up on US NASA's "Robonaut" R2 program, which is set for launch on the Discovery shuttle next week, the Japanese robot would be part of a larger effort to create and refine robots that can be used by the elderly, JAXA said in a statement.
Japan is one of the leading countries in robotics and has a rapidly aging society with one of the world's longest life expectancies.
Improving robot communication capabilities could help elderly people on Earth by providing a nonintrusive means of monitoring the robot owner's health and vital signs and sending information to emergency responders if there is an abnormality, JAXA said.
"We are thinking in terms of a very humanlike robot that would have facial expressions and be able to talk with the astronauts," said JAXA's Satoshi Sano.
The robot was being developed with the advertising and communications giant Dentsu Inc and a team at Tokyo University.
The NASA project has a humanlike head, hands and arms and uses the same tools as station crew members. The "Robonaut" called R2 is intended to carry out maintenance tasks in the station's Destiny lab.
NASA says it hopes that humanoid robots could one day stand in for astronauts during spacewalks or perform tasks too difficult or dangerous for humans.
For now, the $2.5 million NASA robot is limited to activities within the lab. | high14688.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "You know."
},
"options": [
"Whatever.",
"You know.",
"Anyway.",
"It is what it is."
],
"question": "Which tops second among the annoying expression according to the passage?'",
"question_type": null
},
{... | "Whatever",totally tops most annoying word in the poll .So, you know, it is what it is, but Americans are totally annoyed by the use of "whatever,,in conversations. The popular term of indifference was found most annoying in conversations by 47 percent of the Americans surveyed in a Marist College poll on Wednesday.
"Whatever" easily beat out "you know," which especially annoyed a quarter of interviewers. The other annoying expressions were "anyway"(at 7 percent), "it is what it is',(11percent) and "at the end of the day"(2 percent).
"Whatever" is an expression with staying power. It left everyone a deep impression in the song by Nirvana ("oh well, whatever, never mind")in 1991 and was popularized by the Valley Girls in the film "Clueless",later that decade. It is still commonly used, often by younger people.
It can be a common argument-ender or a signal of indifference. And it can really be annoying. The poll found '"whatever" to be consistently disliked by Americans regardless of their race, sex, age, income or where they live.
"It doesn't surprise me because 'whatever,is in a special class, probably,,,said Michael Adams, author of "Slang ~The People's Poetry" and an associate professor of English at Indiana University. "It's a word that and it depends on how a speaker uses it can suggest being not worthy of attention or respect.',Adams, who didn't take part in the poll and is not annoyed by "whatever," points out that its use is not always negative. "It can also be used in place of other neutral phrases that have fallen out of favor, like 'six of one, half dozen of the other,." he said. However, he also noted that the negative meaning of the word might explain why "whatever,was judged more annoying than the ever-popular "you know". | high134.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "About 1,600."
},
"options": [
"About 4,800.",
"About 3,600",
"About 2,400.",
"About 1,600."
],
"question": "How many people of all respondents end a love affair via text?",
"question_type": "factiod_question... | Cellphone feels like a part of your body? A global survey has found that most people can't live without their mobiles, never leave home without them and, if given a choice, would rather lose their wallet.[: _ ]
Calling mobile phones the "remote control" for life, market research firm Synovate's poll said cell phones are so ubiquitous that by last year more humans owned one than did not.
Three-quarters of the more than 8,000 respondents polled online in 11 countries said they take their phone with them everywhere, which Russians and Singaporeans the most attached.
More than a third also said they couldn't live without their phone, topped by Taiwanese and again Singaporeans, while one in four would find it harder to replace the mobile than their purse.
Some two thirds of respondents go to bed with their phones nearby and can't switch them off, even though they want to, because they're afraid they'll miss something.
Mobiles have changed the nature of relationships, with the survey finding a fifth of all respondents set up first dates via text and almost the same number use the same method to end a love affair.
Apart from the obvious calling and SMS-ing, the top three features people use regularly on their mobile phones globally are the alarm clock, the camera and the games.
As for email and Internet access, 17 percent of respondents said they checked their inboxes or surfed the Web on their phones, led by those in the United States and Britain.
One in 10 respondents log onto social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace regularly via mobile, again led by Britain and the United States.[:Zxxk.Com]
Not everyone is tech savvy , however,37 percent of respondents said they don't know how to use all the functions on their phone. | high11928.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The ancient ruins."
},
"options": [
"Its fine weather.",
"The modern culture.",
"The color1ful nightlife.",
"The ancient ruins."
],
"question": "What's the most attractive to tourists in Cyprus?",
"question_... | Cyprus is the third largest island and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea. It attracts over 24 million tourists every year. It gained independence from the UK in 1960. Cyprus is a developed country and has been a member of the European Union since 1 May ,2004. It didn't begin to use the euro until 1 January. 2008.
As a tourist destination, Cyprus has clean beaches and fine weather all the year round. There are Roman and Greek ruins on the island, which attract tourists most.
You can enjoy skiing and hiking in its huge mountains and charming villages. In the
towns and cities, there are some modern hotels, bars and clubs with bright lights and rich nightlife. The story of the island can date back over 10,000 years. Cyprus has long been seen as an important strategic base. Many civilizations have swept through it over the years. In 1974 the Turkish army arrived on the northern coast of Cyprus. They were invited by the Turkish Cypriot leader in order to protect the Turkish villages. Since then the Turkish army took control of the northern third of the island. The Greek Cypriot controlled the other. UN peacekeeping forces kept the peace between the two sides.
Although it has political problems, Cyprus is a country that easily links modern
European culture with its past. Here, visitors can discover clean beaches, all kinds of
grape wine and ancient ruins. With fruit trees around, the old stone villages make
tourists feel that modern Europe seems a very long way away indeed. | high21633.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Many cars on the road are almost empty."
},
"options": [
"People use cars every day.",
"Most families have at least one car.",
"Many cars on the road are almost empty.",
"Electric vehicles are used."
],
"questio... | The oil resources which are left will not last very long. This means that all vehicles such as cars, trains, buses, planes and ships that need oil to work will not be able to run. So it will be necessary to develop a new system of transport which uses a fuel more than oil. Electric vehicles are one possibility. In Britain, most families have at least one car and this car is used every day. It could be that only one person in the family drives the car to work or for shopping. The number of cars on the road which are almost empty perhaps helps to explain why the oil is used up so quickly. The family car is a very useful form of transport but it is also a great waste of energy, especially if it is compared with buses or trains. Much petrol is used by a car which is traveling at 120 kilometers an hour. Clearly, it would be better if there were fewer cars on the road and more speed limits so that the oil which is left will last as long as possible.
About 25% of Britain's total consumption of energy is _ --it is used only in the home. Just over 20% is used for transport. Most of the energy is used in industry. It is difficult to suggest any possible energy conservation in industry because many of the suggestions would mean that some people would lose their jobs. It is important that industry produces the same amount of products using the same amount of workers.
Obviously, conservation is not going to be the answer to the energy crisis . The most it can do is to give more time for a better solution to be found. The more time which is available for new sources of energy to be developed, the better it is because there is still a lot of work to be done in order to find suitable, safe methods of producing energy. | high2817.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "meet the need for nurses in the hospital for a short time"
},
"options": [
"cost a large part of the hospital's budget",
"meet the need for nurses in the hospital for a short time",
"should work on a weekly basis and on a sch... | Is there a nationwide shortage of nurses? It's hard to say. However, some characteristic symptoms often indicate that there is indeed a shortage.
One symptom is the vacancy rate, or the percentage of budgeted positions that are unfilled. New England's hospitals currently report that an average of 7 to 12 percent of their registered nurse positions are vacant, the highest level since the last shortage in the late 1980s. Vermont has a ly low vacancy rate, at 7.8 percent. But its vacancies were at 1.2 percent just five years ago.
Another symptom is the increased use of stopgap measures to fill empty positions. For instance, many nurses report an _ in how frequently they are asked to stay past their shifts. According to Murphy, working in the St. Elizabeth's Hospital, "The shortage has definitely created a lot of opportunities of overtime for our nurses, whether they want them or not." Similarly, a national survey of registered nurses shows that in an average week, nurses in the U.S. work 2.4 more hours than they are scheduled to. Much of this extra time is voluntary, as nurses earn overtime pay when they stay to fill in blanks in the schedule.
When they can't fill open positions by more traditional means, health care providers hire temporary staff to tide them over. Travelling workers are the largest part of the temporary health care workforce, hired for thirteen-week reduction at health care facilities facing short-term lack of workers. Temporary workers, mainly nurses, cost hospitals $ 7.2 billion in 2000.
"Any successful solution to the shortage depends on convincing more people to become nurses, and that is not an easy goal to reach. To achieve it," says Buerhaus, "society needs to place more value on nursing. Legislation can't do that - it should come from people." And if this continues, we might have to learn to care for ourselves in the hospital. | high21155.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "you may shake hands firmly with him"
},
"options": [
"staring at him should be avoided",
"you'd better wear dark-colored clothes",
"you may shake hands firmly with him",
"you are very likely to be invited to a gathering... | International travel has become popular. So, what can we do to enjoy ourselves and also leave a lasting, good impression on the people and places we visit? It goes without saying that we should respect local customs and beliefs. Therefore, a little research into the area where you are travelling may help you.
Pay attention to how people greet each other. In Western countries such as America, it is common to shake hands and look at one another in the eyes when you are greeting someone. In other countries people prefer not to touch each other when they meet.
For example, in Thailand, it is considered to be _ to put your hand on someone's head, especially children's. The head is considered sacred and by touching someone on their head you can prevent their spiritual growth.
Everyone likes to relax when traveling. This can also include wearing more casual or different clothing. It is always good to keep in mind the local culture about dressing. For example, if you go to a country with strong religious beliefs such as those in the Middle East, all of above are banned. So, it is always good to dress modestly, such as in dark-colored clothes.
The better you prepare the more fun you will have. If you are aware of the special foods and customs and have learnt some simple expressions, you might be lucky enough to find yourself invited to a local festival of gathering where you can experience something very special. By meeting some local people you could also discover some special attractions or places of interest. | high10388.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "adults actually have no access to their childhood memories"
},
"options": [
"it is impossible for an adult to recall his experiences",
"adults and children have different brain structures",
"adults think in words while childr... | What's your earliest childhood memory? Can you remember the first time you heard thunder or watched a television program? Adults seldom recall events much earlier than the year or so before entering school, just as children younger than three or four rarely keep any memory of specific, personal experiences.
A variety of explanations have been put forward by psychologists for this "childhood amnesia" . One argues that the _ , the region of the brain which is responsible for forming memories, does not mature until about the age of two. But the most popular theory thinks that, since adults do not think like children, they cannot access childhood memories. Adults think in words, and their life memories are like stories. But when they search through their mental files for early childhood memories to add to this verbal life story, they don't find any that fit the pattern. It's like _ .
Now psychologist Annette Simms offers a new explanation for "childhood amnesia". She argues that there simply aren't any early childhood memories to recall. According to Dr. Simms , children need to learn to use someone else's spoken description of their personal experiences in order to turn their own short-term, quickly forgotten impressions of these experiences into long-term memories. In other words, children hear others talk about their experiences--Mother talking about the afternoon spent looking for crabs at the beach or Dad asking them about their day at Ocean Park. Without the help of this kind of verbal description, says Dr. Simms, children cannot form long-term memories of their personal experiences. | high16921.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "why it is difficult to live in Antarctica"
},
"options": [
"the discovery of Antarctica",
"how people travel around Antarctica",
"different animals found in Antarctica",
"why it is difficult to live in Antarctica"
]... | Today, over six billion people live on the planet. This means that there are very few places on Earth with no people. One place that has very few people is at the bottom of the Earth. In Antarctica, the icy continent surrounding the South Pole, you will not find anyone who lives there all the time.
First, Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. For example, it can be -l30degC in the winter. Humans cannot live in this kind of environment. Because it is so cold, very few plants or animals live there. This means there are no farms and no places to find wild plants or animals to eat.
Second, Antarctica can be dangerous. Many people think that it is safe to travel to Antarctica in the summer months when it is warmer. However, Antarctica is mostly ice, so when it's summer, the ice melts. When the ice melts, the ice can break. So, people cannot travel around Antarctica during the summer. If the ice breaks, they could fall into the water and die.
Another serious problem in Antarctica is the sun. Because Antarctica is mostly ice, there are no trees so there is no shade. Also, the ground is mostly white ice so the sun bounces off it. The light from the sky and the light from the ground can burn people's skin and hurt their eyes. People must be very careful in this situation. For example, they must wear sunglasses to protect their eyes. They must also cover their hands and faces all the time.
Although Antarctica is a tough place to live, explorers have discovered coal in Antarctica. This leads them to believe that Antarctica at one time was a land of swam and forests. | high652.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "show their similarities with cheerleaders"
},
"options": [
"explain the dangers of cheerleading",
"show their similarities with cheerleaders",
"suggest cheerleaders learn to do gymnastics",
"present the guidelines of gy... | Cheerleading is the fastest growing girls' sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. Actually, competitive cheerleading is a sport.
A sport is a "physical activity against/with an opponent, governed by rules and conditions under which a winner is declared, and the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants. "Because cheerleading follows these guidelines, it is a sport.
Competitive cheerleading includes lots of physical activities. Like gymnasts, cheerleaders must learn to tumble . They perform lifts and tosses. This is where the "flied' are thrown in the air, held by " _ " in different positions that require strength and cooperation with other teammates.
Just as basketball and football have guidelines for competitive play, so does competitive cheerleading. The whole routine has to be completed in less than 3 minutes and 15 seconds and the cheerleaders are required to stay within a certain area.
Competitive cheerleaders' goal is to be the best. Just like gymnasts, they are awarded points for difficulty, creativity and sharpness. The more difficult a mount, the sharper the motions, the better the score. Cheerleading is a team sport so without cooperation, first place is out of reach.
Cheerleading is the number-one cause of serious sports injuries to women. Emergency room visits for cheerleading are five times the number of those for any other sport, partially because they do not wear protective gear. While many athletes are equipped with hip pads or helmets, smiling cheerleaders are tossed into the air and spiral down into the arms of trusted teammates. The fliersmust remain tight at all times so that their bases can catch them safely. Also, because cheerleading is not yet recognized as a sport by many schools, neither proper matting nor high enough ceilings are provided to ensure safety. Instead, the girls use whatever space is available. More recognition of competitive cheerleading as a sport would decrease the number of injuries.
So why do many Americans not think cheerleading is a sport? Some people argue that cheerleaders are just "flirts in skirts" with their only job to entertain the crowd, but cheerleaders today work just as hard as other athletes.
Hopefully, cheerleading will become as well-known a sport as football and basketball, and even appear in the Olympics since cheerleaders are just as athletic and physically fit as those involved in the more accepted sports. | high8484.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "often ask their parents to buy things for them"
},
"options": [
"often ask their parents to buy things for them",
"always have more than enough money on their clothes",
"can't enjoy their childhood though they are rich in mat... | Well, more and more companies are beginning to create products and services for teenagers. The Disney Company sells the Hannah Montans television show, music, film and merchandise to teenagers and their parents. You can get everything from branded lunchboxes and mobile phone covers, to monthly fan magazines and clothing. The High School Musical series of films is also intended for a teenage audience. So, it's all about sales, which tells us teenagers must have more money, freedom and influence upon their parents than they've ever had before.
UK teenagers never used to be worried about spending money on clothes and fashion accessories . That's changed. Now, they are much more fashion conscious and concerned about their image. In a world of television programmes that promise overnight success and fame at a young age (for example, the shows Britain's Got Talent and American Idol), some people think it's extremely important to look fashionable.
So what does teenage fashion look like? Well, it's quite horrible really, but then I'm a bit too old to appreciate it, I suppose. It's lots of brightly coloured materials, particularly pink, and usually plain, not patterned. There are plenty of bows, necklaces and bracelets , too. It's all very cute , if that's your taste.
Surely none of the above is a good thing, is it? Can it really be healthy for us to encourage kids to be like adults at such a young age? Are we stealing childhoods in return for a bit of profit? Well, the UK government is certainly concerned, and for that reason has strict laws preventing companies from explicitly marketing their products and services at children.
Even the rest of UK society is concerned. Now that people are aware of the problem, there is a popular backlash against the exploitation of children by commercial marketing. | high13859.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To have irresponsible dog owners remove dog waste."
},
"options": [
"To have irresponsible dog owners remove dog waste.",
"To advise the local government to protect the environment.",
"To praise responsible dog owners for pro... | The name might sound like that of a superhero, but Pooperman's task is much more basic.
He, or she, is trying to shame the irresponsible dog owners of Lincoln into cleaning up behind their pets.
Pooperman sticks notes into dog waste that owners have failed to clean up, warning them not to do it again. The typed notes read, "Don't leave it. You might be the one who steps in it the next time you walk this way."
While welcoming the purpose of the message, local government officers have _ Pooperman for producing even more rubbish.
They say they would prefer it if people told them when there was a problem rather than adding to the rubbish problem. The city of Lincoln government's environmental officer, Tony Garner, said, "The public can help instead by observing dog owners to make sure they clean up after their pets, perhaps asking them to remove the waste if they try to leave it."
"If this doesn't work we can take action -- people can tell us who the owner is, give us a description of the owner and the dog, or simply tell us when and where they allow their dog to produce the waste."
"We can then focus our patrols and take action against irresponsible owners."
Sue Grace, a dog owner from Birchwood, Lincs, said, "I always clean up after my dog. It's very irresponsible if you don't."
"There's nothing worse than stepping in dog waste or dragging your long lead through it, but I don't know that putting notes on it is the answer."
"It's good that the local government is fighting against dog waste, though it might take one or two prosecutions to make any difference." | high9942.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He collected apple seeds and planted apple trees."
},
"options": [
"He had a great love of nature.",
"He liked the American people.",
"He went throughout the country.",
"He collected apple seeds and planted apple trees.... | If the rose can be said to be a special flower, then the apple can be said to be a special fruit. It is very important in American culture. American stories speak of Johnny Appleseed, who went throughout America collecting apple seeds and planting apple trees. He had a great love for nature and went through fields and farms adding richness and beauty to the country.
One of the first sayings taught to school children is, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." This short saying encourages children to eat fresh fruit to keep healthy. If someone always says good words to a person, people will call him an _ . This, however, is not a good name. If someone is very dear to us, we say that he or she is the "apple of our eye".
Most people believe that the fruit which Eve gave to Adam was an apple, even though the Bible never says so. The apple, therefore, is a deep part of the language and stories of America.
An apple is also delicious. Apples can be cooked in many ways, used as a dessert , and made into sweet juice.
In many parts of the country during the harvest season, a popular activity is to go into an apple garden to pick apples. Washington, D. C. and New York are both famous for their apples.
Finally, when it's time to take a vacation to American cities, one can always visit New York, which is "the biggest apple" of all the American cities. | high861.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Over-generalizing might cause you not to accept yourself."
},
"options": [
"We can feel that we are perfect when we set ourselves up for success.",
"We can tolerate the fact that we've done things we aren't proud of.",
"Over-... | We are not born doubting ourselves. We learn to do it. In fact, we are usually taught to doubt ourselves. We can learn some ways that allow us to become more accepting of ourselves. Following are two behaviors that might explain the reasons why you can't move towards greater self-acceptance.
One thing that might cause you not to accept yourself is over-generalizing about something you've done that you don't like.For example, if you fail a test you might generalize and say, "I'm really a stupid person." When you do this you are making a statement about all of you all of the time and not just about this one situation at this time. Instead, you might decide that your grade on this test in this subject at this time was indeed poor, and then go on to decide what you want to do about your poor grade, if anything. Getting stuck in over-generalizing discourages you from taking steps that might allow you to do better on the next exam and to build an expectation of future failure.
Having standards that are impossibly high is a second way you can not accept yourself. It may not come as a surprise to you that most of us are more demanding of ourselves than we are of others. Somehow we can tolerate the fact that other people fail, that they aren't always kind, that they've done things they aren't proud of, but we have difficulty accepting those very human aspects of ourselves. The need to be perfect is another way to set yourself up for failure and enhance the feeling that you are not acceptable. We all make mistakes. Accepting less than perfection simply means recognizing the limitations natural in being born a human being. Learn to value who you are rather than who you could become. Wouldn't it be overpowering if we always had to do what we imagine we could do? Nobody has the time and energy to do all of that. We must make choices about what we will pursue and do them the best we can under the circumstances, which aren't always ideal, by the way. | high23971.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "At a bookstore."
},
"options": [
"In a classroom.",
"In a supermarket.",
"At a bookstore.",
"At a library."
],
"question": "Where did the story most probably take place?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions... | "Dad! He took a book without paying!" I yelled . My father looked surprised. Before the boy could say anything, his mother grabbed his arm and shook it. "Is it true? You stole? Tell me!" Everyone was quiet. The boy began to cry, and he nodded his head. He pulled out the comic book from under his shirt. "Oh, Mr Kim. I am sorry! My Ted made a big mistake!" Mrs Diaz told my father. She tried to take the comic book, _ . "It's OK. He can keep it," my father said with a smile. "Oh, no," Mrs Diaz said. "Let me pay right now..." She dug in her purse. "How much?" "Three seventy-five."
Mrs Diaz's eyes widened, and she dug deeper. I saw her mouth make a small line. "Three seventy-five?" she asked.
"It's OK. You can pay later," my father said. "No," Mrs Diaz said. She kept looking in her purse. "I have money here." I felt bad for yelling, for I realized that Ted had tried to steal the comic book because he didn't have the money. Maybe the boy could have a job, I thought. I had an idea. "What if he worked with me?" I asked. They turned to me. I said, "He can work with me to pay for the comic book." "Good," my father said smiling at me. Mrs Diaz nodded. She turned to her son, "You hear? You will work and buy the comic book!" " Yes, Mama," Ted said, hanging his head.
As they left, Ted looked back, and though he still seemed sad, he stuck out tongue at me.
Ted has been working here for two weeks. He has paid for the comic book, but my father says he is such a good worker that he can work with me as long as he wants. We are friends now. | high7984.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The history of money"
},
"options": [
"The history of money",
"How people traded in the past",
"The invention of paper money",
"The use of coins around the world"
],
"question": "What is the best title for this ... | A long time ago, before there was any money (coins or paper money), people got the things that they needed by trading or exchanging. Salt was one of the first items used to exchange for other items. Later, some of the common things that were used for exchanging were tea leaves, shells, feathers, animal teeth, tobacco, and blankets. Around 3000 BC, barley, a type of grain, was used for exchanging.
The world's first metal money was developed by the Sumerians who melted silver into small bars all weighing the same. This was around 1000 BC. About three hundred years later, people started using coins as official money.
Around 640 BC, people in the ancient kingdom of Lydia ( which was in Turkey) created special coins of exact with and purity . They were made of gold and silver and were stamped with a lion's head.
Later, other empires such as Greece, Persia, and Rome _ the concept of coins and started developing their own in many different shapes and different metals.
Around the year 1000, the Chinese started using paper money. The Chinese were the first to use paper money. The Europeans discovered this thanks to Marco Polo who went to China in 1295. the Chinese had different values for the paper notes which were made by the Chinese government.
Around 1661, Sweden became the first European country to make paper money. Until 1850, the Spanish dollar was the coin most widely used throughout the world. | high21.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He learned to pilot a plane."
},
"options": [
"He learned to pilot a plane.",
"He was employed by a company.",
"He began to drive a spaceship.",
"He made another two new friends."
],
"question": "What did Mirehe... | The 16 operations W.Mitchell received after the motorcycle accident burned more than 65% of his body at age 46 left him unable to pick up a fork,dial a telephone or go to the bathroom without help.But Mitchell never believed he was defeated."I am in charge of my own spaoeship," he said."It's my up,my down.I could choose to see this situation as a setback or afstarting point."
Mitchell bought himself a home in Colorado,a plane and a bar.Later he teamed upwith two friends and co-founded a wood burning stove company that grew to be the second largest private employer in his state.Six months later he was piloting the plane.Then four years after the motorcycle accident,the plane Mitchell was piloting crashed back onto the runway during takeoff, permanently paralyzing(...)him from the waist down.
Still determined,Mitchell worked day and night to regain as much independence as possible.He was elected Mayor of Crested Butte,Colorado, to save the town from mineral mining that would ruin its beauty and environment.
Despite his shocking looks and physical challenges, Mitchell began white water rafting ,fell in love and married, earned a master's degree in public administration and continued flying,environmental activism and public speaking.
Mitchell's unshakable positive mental attitude has earned him appearances on the "Today Show''and "Good Moming America" as well as feature articles in Parade, Time, The New York Times and other publications.
Mitchell has done all these things and more afar two horrible accidents left his face beyond recognition,his hands flngerless and his legs thin:and motionless in a wheelchair.Then what can't we healthy guys achieve? | high6442.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "bring him some trouble"
},
"options": [
"be easy to remove",
"annoy him all the time",
"cause serious health problems",
"bring him some trouble"
],
"question": "The author's birthmark seems to _ .",
"ques... | I'm Evan Ducker. I'm just like every other 15-year-old boy, except I was born with a red birthmark .
Some birthmarks are signs of serious medical conditions. I'm very fortunate--mine isn't. I pretty much live a regular life, except for people asking me about it all the time, which can get annoying sometimes.
When I was about 4 years old, I asked my mom why there weren't any characters with birthmarks in the books she would read to me. When we went to the library, we realized there weren't any available for little kids. Worse than that, the books available to older kids and adults described characters with birthmarks as unattractive. So I decided to write my own.
I based the story on all the real things that happened in my life. But instead of people, the characters in the book are real animals from the Galapagos Islands, including red-footed booby birds . I picked a booby bird as the main character because the birds have red feet due to a vascular condition, similar to a human birthmark!
It was really tough to get my book published. It took a long time because a lot of publishers refused to publish it. They would say there wasn't a big enough market for a book about birthmarks.
But my mom never gave up trying to help make my dream come true. And in 2005, she finally took her own money and self-published "Buddy Booby's Birthmark". After it was published, I got letters from readers all over the world. They all shared their stories and thanked me for sharing mine. Teachers wrote to tell me that my book changed the way classmates treated each other and that my book was helping kids to accept and appreciate their differences.
Then, as more teachers started reading my book, I created a free global reading event, the "International Buddy Booby's Birthmark Read--Along for Tolerance and Awareness." | high14105.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "plentiful water and sunshine"
},
"options": [
"high water temperature",
"rich chemicals in the water",
"a lack of rain",
"plentiful water and sunshine"
],
"question": "The following can not help the blue green a... | GU Zhaodi, 60, had taken water for granted for years. In fact, no one in the beautiful lake city of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province had bothered to spare a thought on water.
But all that changed dramatically overnight last month when taps in the city ran dry. Due to a blue-green algae outbreak in Taihu Lake, China's third largest freshwater lake and the source of drinking water for 4 million Wuxi residents ,water from the city's taps became dark and smelly.
"I can't believe there is no water for drinking, let alone cooking and washing,"said Gu.
The lake was blanketed with the algae, giving off a strong smell of rotting meat. A stone thrown into it took a long time to sink. Experts said that algae usually boom because of hot water and rich chemicals like phosphor in the water.
"High temperature and a lack of rain in the past few months helped the growth of algae,"said Zhang Lijun, an official from the State Environment Protection Administration. "However, pollution from human activity should be most blamed for the disaster."
Taihu Lake is surrounded by many small factories, which _ in the 1980s.Inthe 1990s,many foreign-funded companies joined in. The industries prospered ,Wuxi has grown into one of the wealthiest cities in East China.
But that came at the price of pollution. The lake was treated like a waste dump ,with factories emptying industrial waste and untreated sewage into it.
Although, after the government's effort, life in the city has gone back to normal, the one-week crisis rang a bell for the government and local people."It's time to rebuild the beauty of nature, or our lives will be at risk,"said Gu.
"A safe environment comes first. Economic growth will be nothing without fresh water to drink and clean air to breathe." said China Daily. | high2624.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It can communicate with people."
},
"options": [
"It can find misplaced objects for the elderly.",
"It can help the elderly to move around freely.",
"It can communicate with people.",
"It can tell the same story over an... | Robots that can chat, find misplaced glasses, draw airplanes and play with your children are attracting thousands of visitors during an expo in Tokyo as Japan adapts to changes in society.
Robots, such as the sound-sensitive Chapit, answer simple questions and even joke with people to help the _ fight loneliness and stay alert in old age. "Many old people in Japan live alone and have no one to talk to," said Kazuya Kitamura, a representative of the expo organizer. "Communication robots stay together with old people and don't mind listening to the same stories over and over again."
While Chapit, a relatively simple robot, managed to attract a partner, many researchers, such as Kiyoshi Matsumoto, a professor at the University of Tokyo, struggle to attract sponsors for more expensive projects.
Matsumoto's "Personal Mobility Robot", equipped with four cameras and a sensor to recognize the user's centre of gravity, is designed to help the elderly move around without pressing buttons as in traditional wheelchairs.
The robot can also help find misplaced glasses by recognizing them with a sensor. "We have developed a robot that can assist many people, but because of the high cost, we still haven't found a sponsor," said Matsumoto, who added that the cost of the machine, if produced in large quantities, would be comparable to that of a small car. "In the current economic environment there are few companies willing to invest in such a costly project," he said.
Other robots, such as the award-winning "DiGRO", can support busy parents who have little time to play with their children. The robot can use the Internet to find a simple image and then draw pictures, looking after children while parents work.
Japan is one of the world's fastest-aging countries and the government predicts that by 2050 the population of people over 65 will reach 40 percent. | high10363.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "meeting the educational requirements of employment"
},
"options": [
"no education among young people",
"the weaker standards of education",
"the problem of unemployment",
"meeting the educational requirements of employm... | We believe that there is more to education than preparation for a job.Children must be prepared for all aspects of their adult life work,leisure,personal relationships,creative activities,dealing with money matters,independence,and parenthood.
However,it would be unrealistic to provide an education which gave no consideration to the needs of employers.
What type of training does the business world regard as important?
Many young people applying for jobs were , in the employers' opinions,very weak in the basic skills of handwriting,grammar and spelling.Though further education at university level improved the student's general ability,a report states, "In basic skills the standards remained very low."
It is doubtful whether standards have lowered in recent years.What is certain is that employers do not believe the standard is now high enough.Do technological changes make greater demands upon the students'abilities?
We should also remember that the job expectations of young people have increased.The girls who would have once become shop assistants or hairdressers now want to be secretaries.Boys who sought an apprenticeship 20 years ago now desire to an engineering degree.But it is still _ with the same degree of ability.NO wonder there are problems in reaching the "necessary standards" of the business world.
Many employers believed that it was important for teachers to have experience outside the world of college and school.They should work for a while at some other kind of job to see how the world of business and commerce is different from their own.The teaching profession and society in general needed a greater understanding of manpower needs and therefore of "the desired" direction of the education system. | high16712.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "deciding on the perfect evergreens"
},
"options": [
"taking care of Christmas trees",
"deciding on the perfect evergreens",
"sorting the letters from people",
"deciding the TV programs"
],
"question": "Murbach s... | NEW YORK-- Picking a Christmas tree takes most people a few minutes, or a couple of hours if they head for the woods. Dave Murbach needs 11 months.
Almost every day of every year, Murbach's thoughts turn to vision of a perfectly shaped evergreen tree that will take everyone's breath away.
Murbach is the man responsible for finding the towering tree that makes more attractive Manhattan's Rockefeller Center each Christmas season.
"I'm always looking for a tree," the center's chief gardener says. "I look for it even when I go to the beach in the summer. It' s like a homework assignment hanging over your head."
And if he gets it wrong, there's nothing hiding it.
"Every day it's up, 400,000 people go by, and 2.5 million people watch the lighting celebration on television,"he says.
This year's tree, a 74-foot Nomy spruce from Richfield, Ohio, flown to New York on the world's largest cargo plane, was lighted on December 2.
The arrival of the tree leads in the Christmas season in New York -- a tradition dating back to 1931, when the workers building Rockefeller Center put up a small tree with ornaments .
The search for the next year's tree starts soon after the old tree is chopped up for wood chips and horse-jumping logs.
Murbach has three standards: The tree must be at least 65 feet high, at least 35 feet across and leaves dense enough not to see through.
That's not as simple as it sounds. Though forests are full of evergreens, few get enough sunlight or space to fill out. And branches in snow regions often break under the weight, making trees unbalanced.
Back at the office, he sorts through hundreds of letters from people offering their trees, many addressed simply to "Mr. Christmas Tree Man."
Though there was occasional anxiety attack and sleepless night, Murbach knows the effect the tree has on people: "It's for bringing people together, attempting to bring together people you love. That's what I hope it sets off." But Murbach says he's always too worn out to celebrate Christmas. | high4255.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Level of reliability."
},
"options": [
"Level of knowledge.",
"Level of reliability.",
"Level of competence.",
"Level of flexibility."
],
"question": "According to Amy Cuddy, which is most significant in putting... | When you meet someone for the first time, do you put across a good impression? And what do we mean by "good" in the context? According to Presence, a new book by Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, people assess you on two main criteria when they first meet you: 1. Can I trust this person? 2. Can I respect this person?
Your level of trustworthiness, or warmth, is the most important factor in how people initially admire you, Cuddy says-yet many mistakenly believe that the second factor,characterised as competence, is more important."From an evolutionary aspect,"Cuddy writes,"it is more important to our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust."
While displaying competence is certainly beneficial, particularly in a work setting, Cuddy warns that focusing on winning people's respect, while failing to win their trust, can backfire-a common problem for young professionals attempting to make a good impression early on in their careers.
"If someone you're trying to influence doesn't trust you, you're not going to get very far", Cuddy says, "A warm, trustworthy person who is also strong elicits admiration, but only after you've established trust does your strength become a gift rather than a threat."
In Cuddy's book she also explains some of the science that can help you spot a liar.
When a person is lying there is likely to be differences between what they are saying and what they are doing, she suggests.
"Lying is hard work," she writes, "We're telling one story while suppressing another, and most of us are experiencing psychological guilt about doing this, which we're also trying suppress. We just don't have the brainpower to manage it all without letting something go-without'leaking'."
"It's about how well or poorly our multiple channels of communications-facial expressions, posture, movement, vocal qualities, speech-co-operate,"she adds.
"When we're consciously looking for signs of cheat or truth, we pay too much attention to words and not enough to the external body language," the professor adds. "Truth reveals itself more clearly through actions than it does through our words. | high19421.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "newspaper"
},
"options": [
"newspaper",
"magazine",
"temple",
"person"
],
"question": "From the passage we know that the Globe is a famous _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | Fifteen years ago, I entered the Boston Globe, which was a temple to me then. It wasn't easy getting hired. But once you were there, I found, you were in.
Globe jobs were for life-guaranteed until retirement. For 15 years I had prospered there--moving from an ordinary reporter to senior editor. I would have a lifetime of security if I stuck with it. Instead, I had made a decision to leave. I entered my boss's office. Would he be angry? I wondered. He had a famous temper. "Matt, we have to have a talk," I began. "I came to the Globe when I was twenty-four. Now I' m forty. There' s a lot I want to do in life. I'm resigning. " "To another paper?" he asked. I reached into my coat pocket, but didn't say anything. I handed him a letter that explained everything. It said that I was leaving to start a new media company. We were at a rare turning point in history. I wanted to be directly engaged in the change. "I' m glad for you," he said, quite out of my expectation. "I just came from a board of directors meeting and it was seventy-five percent discouraging news. Some of that we can deal with. But much of it we can' t," he went on. "I wish you all the luck in the world," he concluded. "And if it doesn't work out, remember, there is always a place here for you."
Then I went out of his office, walking through the newsroom for more good-byes. Everybody was saying congratulations. Everybody--even though I'd be risking all the financial security I had carefully built up.
Later, I had a final talk with Bill Taylor, chairman and publisher of the Boston Globe. He had turned the Globe into a billion-dollar property. "I' m resigning, Bill," I said. He listened while I gave him the story. He wasn't looking angry either. After a pause, he said, "Golly, I wish I were in your shoes. " | high16074.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He is interested in finding life in outer space."
},
"options": [
"He is fond of watching Jupiter.",
"He is from a scientist family.",
"He dislikes working with Paul Butler.",
"He is interested in finding life in outer ... | When Geoff Marcy was 14, his parents bought him a telescope. Every night, he would go onto the roof outside his window to see the wonders of the sky.
"What excited me most was whether there were planets in other solar systems where life might exist," he says. "I decided to try to find planets orbiting other stars like our Sun."
And he did. "My fellow researcher, Paul Butler, and I found our first planet in 1995," Dr. Marcy says. "We worked for ten years without finding anything! _ and our patience paid off."
Since then, the two scientists have discovered 65 of the more than 100 planets found orbiting other stars. Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler also spotted the first "family" of three planets. In June 2002 they announced another discovery: a Jupiter-like planet orbiting star 55Cancri.
At first, the two researchers found only planets that orbit close to stars. Recently, the scientists found planets farther out. The planet orbiting 55Cancri is a major breakthrough: it is the first sighting of a large gas planet about same distance from the star as Jupiter is from the Sun.
Why is this important ? Scientists think that life on Earth may exist because of two special features in our solar system. The first is Jupiter.
"Because it's so big, Jupiter pulls comets and asteroids , or they all come and hit the Earth." Dr. Marcy explains. "Without Jupiter , life on Earth would likely have been destroyed."
A second feature is that Earth is a rocky planet where liquid water, which is necessary for life , can exist. Unlike gas planets, rocky planets like Earth have surfaces where water can gather in pools and seas, which may support life. A huge space exists between the Jupiter-like planet and two other planets that lie close to 55Cancri. Is there an Earth-like planet in the space, too small for us to notice? If so, says Dr. Marcy, "We would have two striking similarities to our solar system: a Jupiter-like planet and an Earth-like planet. And there may be life!" | high4533.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Selling greeting cards."
},
"options": [
"Selling greeting cards.",
"Collecting greeting cards.",
"Buying greeting cards.",
"Sending greeting cards."
],
"question": "Why was the kit sent for?",
"question_typ... | When I was nine years old I lived in a small town. I found an ad for selling greeting cards in the back of a children's magazine. I thought to myself I could do this. I begged my mother to let me send for the kit . Two weeks later the kit arrived. The next three hours later, I returned home with no card and a pocket full of money shouting, "Mama, all the people couldn't wait to buy my cards!" A salesperson was born.
When I was twelve years old, my father took me to see Zig Ziegler. I remember sitting in the dark hall listening to Mr. Ziegler raise everyone's spirits up to ceiling. I left there feeling like I could do anything. When we got to the car, I turned to my father and said, "Dad, I want to make people feel like that." My father asked me what I meant. "I want to be a motivational speaker just like Mr. Ziegler," I replied. A dream was born.
Recently, I began pursuing my dream of motivating(inspire) others. I realized that everything I had accomplished -- the graduate degree, the successful sales career, speaking appointments, training and managing for a major fortune 100 company as a senior manager-- had prepared me for this moment. I told my boss who was a great leader I would leave the company though I might not reach such a height in career. He told me to proceed and he believed I would succeed.
Having made that decision, I was immediately tested. One week after I gave notice, my husband was laid off from his job. We had recently bought a new home and needed both incomes to make the monthly mortgage payment and now we were done to no income. I even planned to turn back to my former company, knowing they wanted me to stay but I was certain that if I went back, I would never leave. I decided I still wanted to move forward rather than end up with a mouth full of "if onlys" later on. A motivational speaker was born.
When I held fast to my dream, even during the tough times, the miracles really began to happen. In a short time period my husband found a better job. We didn't miss a mortgage payment. And I was able to book several speaking appointments with new clients . I discovered the incredible power of dreams. I loved my old job, my workmates and the company I left, but it was time to get on with my dream. To celebrate my success I had a local artist paint my new office as a garden. At the top of one wall she marked, "The world always makes way for the dreamer." | high19347.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Four."
},
"options": [
"Four.",
"Five.",
"Six.",
"Seven."
],
"question": "How many kinds of shops or stores on the lower East Side are mentioned in the passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer":... | The lower East Side is neither rich nor beautiful, but it can be a good place to shop.
On Sundays, its streets are crowded with visitors and shoppers like these. They are trying to find a coat or a pair of shoes at a good price.
Most people prefer to shop in the big department stores like Macy's, Gimbel's, or Bloomingdale's because there they can find clothing, furniture, toys, and food in one store.
Some people like the smaller stores of Greenwich Village or other areas when they are looking for an unusual present.
Some streets have only one kind of stores. Bracelets and rings shine in the windows of Canal Street, and wedding dresses fill the stores of Grant Street. There are streets for furs, and, in one area, there are 600 shops for antiques!
Fifth Avenue is the most famous place to shop, and it is usually the most expensive. There you can find the latest styles from Paris, Italy, or New York. You can spend thousands of dollars on Fifth Avenue, or you can just _ and admire the sights for free. | high21800.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To entertain poor people."
},
"options": [
"To put on shows for children.",
"To collect money for poor people.",
"To entertain poor people.",
"To get people interested in theatrical productions."
],
"question": ... | Community theatre is a theatre that is run by a local district with the efforts of volunteers. They offer many different kinds of productions, such as musical theatre, dance theatre and children's theatre. Usually, performers are amateurs who receive no pay, but at other times professionals get involved, and they are paid. Community theatres of today are a little different from the old "little theatres", as most simply run by colleges and their theatre Community theatres are a great way to get involved with local actors. Now, most theatres that put on shows that will entertain or benefit the community.
In the 1880s, "little theatre'' was started in Europe so that poor people could see theatrical productions without having to travel far or pay a lot. In 1910, this idea traveled to the United States. In the early years, community theatres were even funded by the government, but when shows became too political, government funding was stopped.
Community theatres of today are a little different from the old "little theatres", as mist simply want to infuse little culture into the lives of the local citizens. In many cases, these theatres are run by colleges and their theatre departments. These productions are often free of charge, or charge very little money to pay for costumes and other incidental expenses. Many also encourage the participation of children and other young people to let them develop theatrical skills, as well as to keep them busy so that they do not do choose to get into trouble. Additionally, for those who desire strongly to become professional actors and to one day get a chance to act in a national theatre production, it is an exciting place to learn and develop theatrical skills. | high2142.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To show the link between negative childhood experiences and wellbeing in adulthood."
},
"options": [
"To show how to improve wellbeing in midlife.",
"To teach parents how to give their children a happier childhood.",
"To blam... | Many people feel that their parents were harder on them than on their brother or sister. And many are quick to blame negative results in adulthood on it. But results from a Temple University study published this month suggest that it is not necessarily true.
Researchers have found that among siblings in the same family,recalled negative early experiences such as conflicts with parents seem to have little influence over psychological wellbeing in midlife.
"Existing research suggests the importance of early childhood parental treatment on later wellbeing,but respondents in this study who thought they were treated less favorably than their siblings have been found to be just as satisfied in their lives,"said Adam Davey,a psychologist in the College of Health Professions.
Davey's study looked at data collected from 1,369 siblings between the ages of 26--74 from 498 different families to determine the extent to which different childhood treatment reached into adulthood. Each sibling answered a series of questions about their memories of parental affection ,conflicts with their parents when they were young and current wellbeing. Davey and his team found that those who remembered having more conflicts with their parents than their siblings still tended to have generally high levels of wellbeing in adulthood. Not surprisingly,they also found that happier memories,such as memories of affection and warmth,can have positive effects.
Older respondents who were married and had children of their own tended to have a more positive recollection of their childhood. Davey says these findings could suggest that life experience acts as a filter for remembering childhood memories. He adds that personality also plays a role:those who were more outgoing tended to have a better recollection of their childhood.
"Even people who grow up in the same environment can have different ways of recalling the past. And it's not necessarily what happens in the past,but the way we remember it that makes a difference to our wellbeing,"said Davey. | high10405.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Deciding what to do based on their importance."
},
"options": [
"Doing all things at one time.",
"Getting high scores in all fields.",
"Attaining good skill in the exams.",
"Deciding what to do based on their importance... | College provides an important platform for the future professional life.The grades speak well about the kind of student you are and will also determine the chances of further studies.You cannot do all things at one time.At time you need to decide what to do according to their importance.This is one good skill that you will be requiring even after graduation.
There are few tips to help you at college:
Just find the place where you will not be disturbed.Grab your reading material,note pad, pen and other necessities.Distraction is a biggest hurdle in focusing.You need to ask yourself what distracts you the most.Is it music from the neighbors,presence of someone at home, internet or anything else? Try to be aware of your weakest points and then stay away from them as much possible during your study time.The distraction may also include your friends and some other things.It is only you who can decide that what is best for you.
When you are ready for studying,then arrange the reading material and decide what things you need to study first.Put maximum time on your weak and major subjects.Set aside your minor ones for few hours as you know that these are comparatively less important than the majors.
Make a realistic study plan which you can follow and stick to it.There is no point of making all 8hr study schedule daily as you know that it's not possible for you.Start the preparation at least 4 weeks before the exams.
While making a study plan,don't forget the breaks after every 90minutes of study.It will help your eyes to relax and focus in an effective manner.Make a checklist of small milestones and put this on your table so you can see them frequently.When you are done with one or more cross them from the list and focus on the new ones. | high18059.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "collected money for Oxfam"
},
"options": [
"broke the world record",
"collected money for Oxfam",
"destroyed several bikes",
"travelled about l,300 hours"
],
"question": "When Phil White returned from his trip, ... | Phil White has just returned from an 18,000-mile, around-the-world bicycle trip.White had two reasons for making this _ journey.First of all, he wanted to use the trip to raise money for charity, which he did.He raised PS70,000 for the British charity, Oxfam.White's second reason for making the trip was to break the world record and become the fastest person to cycle around the world.He is still waiting to find out if he has broken the record or not.
White set off from Trafalgar Square, in London, on 19th June 2004 and was back 299 days later.He spent more than l,300 hours in the saddle and destroyed four sets of tyres and three bike chains.He had the adventure of his life crossing Europe, the Middle East, India, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas.Amazingly, he did all of this with absolutely no support team.No jeep carrying food, water and medicine.No doctor.Nothing! Just a bike and a very, very long road.
The journey was lonely and desperate at times.He also had to fight his way across deserts, through jungles and over mountains.He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up to 45 degrees, all to help people in need.There were other dangers along the road.In Iran, he was chased by armed robbers and was lucky to escape with his life and the little money he had.The worst thing that happened to him was having to cycle into a headwind on a road that crosses the south of Australia.For l,000 kilometres he battled against the wind that was constantly pushing him.This part of the trip was slow, hard work and depressing, but he made it in the end.Now Mr.White is back and intends to write a book about his adventures. | high6324.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "25."
},
"options": [
"10.",
"13.",
"15.",
"25."
],
"question": "How many Chinese students are there at Valley Forge before this year?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
}
] | "Beating is a sign of affection, cursing is a sign of love."
Many may not expect to hear the words of the old Chinese saying in these modern Times--
with parents wealthier and better educated than they have ever been--but experts say they still
ring true.
Today,it seems,Chinese parents are more likely to send their children to precollege military
academies in the United States in the hope that some tough love will pave the way to success.
"Good education doesn't mean letting your children enjoy privileges, especially our boys."
said Song Wenming,an entrepreneur in Jinhua,East China's Zhejiang province. "They should be raised in tough conditions to know what to fight for in the future."
In August,Song sent his 17yearold son to Valley Forge Military Academy (VFMA) in
Pennsylvania. _ .
Statistics show that an increasing number of Chinese students have been registering with such academies.
A few years ago, there were no Chinese students at Valley Forge. Today,there are 28."All of the Chinese students at Valley Forge came from wealthy families;some of them were spoiled." said Jennifer Myers, director of marketing and communications at the school.
Song's only son, Song Siyu, had a rocky start during his first six weeks at the school. The
teenager said he went to the school voluntarily but did not expect it to be as difficult.
Now, three months later, he has perfected the art of taking a bath in 35 seconds, finishing a
meal without looking at his food, and making his bed with precision. He can even take criticism,no matter how unreasonable.
"The training is hard but I know it is good for selfdevelopment of individuals." said SongSiyu.
"The endless training and scolding are just ways to build up our character;they are not personal."
But his enthusiasm is not universal. Ten of the 13 Chinese students who joined the academy
this year have transferred to other schools.
But for those who stick to it, there is a reward for all the hard work. | high14663.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "They gain the weight back again."
},
"options": [
"They have kidney failure.",
"They gain the weight back again.",
"They keep the weight off.",
"They have less muscle."
],
"question": "After losing weight by die... | The Dangers of Dieting
Thanks to our modern lifestyle, with more and more time spent sitting down in front of computers than ever before, the number of overweight people is at a new high. As people crazily search for a solution to this problem, they often try some of the popular fad diets being offered. Many people see fad diets as harmless ways of losing weight, and they are grateful to have them. Unfortunately, not only don't fad diets usually do the trick, but they can actually be dangerous for your health.
Although permanent weight loss is the goal, few are able to achieve it. Experts estimate that 95 percent of dieters return to their starting weight, or even add weight. While the irresponsible or unwise use of fad diets can bring some initial results, long-term results are very rare.[:**]
Nonetheless, people who are bored with the difficulties of changing their eating habits often turn to fad diets. Rather than being moderate, fad diets involve extreme dietary changes. They advise eating only one type of food, or they prohibit other types of foods entirely. This results in a situation where a person's body doesn't get all the vitamins and other things that it needs to stay healthy.
One popular fad diet recommends eating lots of meat and animal products, while nearly eliminating carbohydrates . A scientific study from Britain found that this diet is very high in fat. According to the study, the increase of damaging fats in the blood can lead to heart disease and, in extreme cases, kidney failure. Furthermore, diets that are too low in carbohydrates can cause the body to use its own muscle for energy. The less muscle you have, the less food you use up, and the result is slower weight loss.
Veteran dieters may well ask at this point, "What is the ideal diet?" Well, to some extent, it depends on the individual. A United States government agency has determined that to change your eating habits requires changing your psychology of eating, and everyone has a different psychology. That being said, the British study quoted above recommends a diet that is high in carbohydrates and high in fiber, with portions of fatty foods kept low. According to the study, such a diet is the best for people who want to stay healthy, lose weight, and keep that weight off. And, any dieting program is best undertaken with a doctor's supervision. | high9017.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Local fishermen have to fish in other areas."
},
"options": [
"Local fishermen have to fish in other areas.",
"The water becomes shallow and fish have to move away.",
"The wind is too strong there and it makes sailing more di... | Plastics are considered one of the most serious pollutants causing environmental problems. The garbage containing plastics end up in the waterways that eventually flow into the oceans. Accumulation of plastic in the ocean endangers marine life and pollutes the water.
Does a plastic continent exist? Yes, a plastic continent does exist and was discovered by Captain Charles Moore a decade ago. The plastic continent is twice the size of Britain and it is the region between the Hawaii Islands and California in the central Pacific Ocean.
One of the causes of the lack of marine life in this region is due to pollution and pollutants are none other than plastics. Captain Charles Moore believes plastic waste started accumulating in the 1950s.
The plastic continent is the man-made continent of floating plastic waste. The fisher men and the sailors have avoided this region for years. The reasons are:
1. There are no fish here because of the lack of nutrients.
2. The zone also lacks the wind that is essential for sailing.
To do research on the ocean pollution, Captain Moore founded Algalita Marine Research Foundation. Other organizations such as Greenpeace supported his cause. The reports of The United Nations Environment Program show that millions of seabirds and marine animals are dying due to the invasion of plastics. The waste plastics can be recycled, but in fact they are being thrown into the oceans. The marine animals mistake these for food and eat them. This leads to their death that affects the marine food chain.
To save the oceans from the plastic continent you need to reduce the use of plastics, reuse plastic bags and recycle plastics. | high12212.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it can cause hearing problems"
},
"options": [
"your parents know what you're doing",
"it can cause hearing problems",
"it makes your parents angry",
"most of you use them improperly"
],
"question": "Using earph... | Compared to the other parts of the body, our ears don't ask for much. They don't need to be brushed once a day like your teeth. But they need some special care, especially if you like listening to music with earphones.
Maybe your mum or dad has told you, "Turn that down before you go deaf!" Well, they are quite right. Loud noise might cause hearing loss for a short time or even forever. Think that earphones are a good way to escape from tour parents' eyes? Well. It may not be as good a way as you expect. American doctors have studied a group of 44,000 people who used earphones more than 15 hours per week. The doctors found that 37,000 of them were getting hearing problems.
If you use earphones for too long a time, your ears might feel painful. You could also lose your hearing for the rest of your life. So don't wear your earphones too long. Use them less than one hour a day. Want sharp hearing? Don't forget to do the following: Try to stay away from places where there is too much noise, like a disco. If you have to go, wear earplugs. When swimming, remember to put earplugs into your ears to stop water from getting in. Never put anything sharp into your ears. If you think you have too much earwax, ask your mum or dad to help you clean it out.
Keep these things in mind! Then you won't be saying "WHAT???" when you are older. | high8309.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To show how much alcohol can hurt people."
},
"options": [
"To introduce Mr. Alcohol to the readers",
"To describe the harm alcohol did to his family.",
"To show how much alcohol can hurt people.",
"To show the great fu... | Dear Alcohol,
You've been around forever. I can remember all the pain you've caused for me.
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 _ 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.
Sincerely,
Anonymous | high6330.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "A Yorkshire terrier."
},
"options": [
"A Yorkshire terrier.",
"A golden retriever.",
"A German shepherd.",
"A Labrador."
],
"question": "Which breed would NOT be trained as a guide dog?",
"question_type": "f... | Guide dogs help blind people who cannot get around by themselves.Although Yorkshire terriers and poodles are good companion dogs,guide dogs are chosen from lager breeds such as German shepherds,golden retrievers,and Labrador retrievers.The young dogs are raised by families until they are eighteen months old.During this time,they get lots of love and attention,but they are also taught to obey.Then the dogs go to a special school where,for four months,they work with a sighted trainer,an individual who can see.The dog forms a close relationship with this person who teaches it how to follow directions such as right,left,straight ahead,and stop.The young dog also learns to watch out for dangerous traffic and wait until it is safe to cross a busy street.
When the dog is two years old,it starts training with the blind person it will live with. The dog and its new owner make many trips from downtown to where the blind person lives so the dog becomes familiar with the normal atmosphere.During the training,a sighted trainer always remains with them. A blind person who is getting a guide dog for the first time will train for about a month. If the individual has had a dog before,the training takes about three weeks.After the training,the blind person depends on the guide dog for between seven and twelve years.At that point,the working dog become a family pet and the owner needs to train with a younger guide dog. | high13118.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "he told the daughter what he suspected."
},
"options": [
"he told the daughter what he suspected.",
"he delayed running the necessary tests.",
"he failed to confirm the parent's disease.",
"he forgot what the consultant... | Honesty, my mum always used to tell me, is the best policy. Of course, this didin't include her when she told me that if I didn't eat all my vegetables Father Christmas would find out and wouldn't give me any presents.
But when it comes to medicine, I had assumed it was important to always be honest with my patients. After all, the doctor patient relationship is based on trust, and therefore honesty is essential, Or so I thought.
I had just started working in geriatrics . Mr. McMahon was brought in when his baby was faound very swollen. I took a medical history from his daughter would accompanied him in the ambulance. She'd been his main carer for years. I stood looking at him as she gave a detailed history. "Has he lost any weight recently?" I asked, "Well, it's funny you should mention that, but yes." She said slowly. There was silence for a few moments. "Why? What are you worried about?" she asked, I hesitated. She was obviously very involved in his care and it was only fair that I told her the truth. "Well, we need to prove it's not cancer." I said and talked briefly about some of the tests I was going to order.
Half an hour later, a nurse called me: "Mr. McMahon's daughter broke down-she said you told her he had cancer." My heart sank. By the time I arrived at the ward, my consultant was already there, explaining that we still had to run lots of tests and that it was by no means confirmed that he had cancer. I stood silently at the end of the bed. My consultant was obviously angry with me and as we left Mr. McMahon, she turned to me. "Why on carch did you do that?" she asked to disbelief. I looked at her andbit my hp. "She asked me what I was worried about and I told her." I said, hanging my head. "And give her more to worry about?" replied my consultant. "You don't say the word 'cancer' until it's confirmed. Even if you suspect it, think very carefully before you tell people."
As it turned out, it wasn't cancer. But I did learn that when somecone is stressed and worried about their loved one they're sometimes selective in what they hear-and as a doctor it's important to be mindful of this. In being truthful, I'd made the situation worse. | high12206.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It put fans in the tunnels."
},
"options": [
"It made the tunnels larger.",
"It put fans in the tunnels.",
"It cleaned the chemical gases in the tunnels.",
"It reduced the number of passengers riding in the train."
... | London Underground
The world's first subway was built in London in 1863. At the time,the government was looking for a way to reduce traffic problems in the city of London. The poor areas of the city were so crowded with people that it was almost impossible for horse carriages to get through. The city officials were interested in trying to make it possible for workers to live outside of London and travel easily to work each day. If people had a cheap and convenient way that they could depend on to go to and from work, they would relocate their homes outside of the city. This would help ease the pressure of too many people living in the poor parts of London. From these problems,the idea of the London Underground,the first subway system,was born.
The plans for building the Underground met with several problems and delays,but the fast track was finally opened in January 1863. A steam train pulled the cars along the fast underground track which was 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) long. About 30,000 people got on the subway the first day. Riders were treated to comfortable seats (standing up while the train was moving was not allowed), and pleasant decorations inside each of the cars. However, the smoke from the engine soon filled the air in the tunnels with ash and soot , as well as chemical gases. Fans had to be put in the tunnels later to keep the air clean enough for people to breathe. Even with its problems,riding in the Underground did
. It carried 9 million riders in its first year. | high15569.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He possibly gets on well with others."
},
"options": [
"He is really a good philosopher.",
"He possibly gets on well with others.",
"He told the writer to reveal her true opinions.",
"The passage doesn't tell us at all.... | Jascha Richter once sang "don't need too much talking without saying anything" to reveal his lonely feeling in a crowd.
Dad always told me never to ever reveal my true opinions towards other people if such opinions are negative. He said this is the "Chu Shi Zhe Xue", the philosophy of dealing with social network.
It seems that everybody here just follows this philosophy very, very well.
Friends. I would say that if I were given true friendship I would definitely treasure it with my greatest care. If I really regard someone as my close friend, I would never leave her alone whenever she's in need, either financially or mentally. And I always believe, as long as I treat people with whole-hearted honesty, I would have some rewards--at least, just ONE true friend of the same gender .
Sometimes I just miss my friends in China. Perhaps when we became friends, we were still young, too young to have been polluted by any dirt in the society. But here, it is simply different. It seems that all of us have learnt how to SURVIVE in a foreign land and such an experience actually makes us learn how to extract the most benefits from the surroundings in order to survive.
All are friends around me. I've looked through all the dark sides of their personalities and yet I have to pretend that I know nothing. THEY ARE GOOD. THEY ARE GOOD. AND WE ARE FRIENDS. And then I can make myself comfortable enough to talk to people I hate the most. And of course, they don't say any words truly from their hearts. Neither do I.
But, sometimes I just feel unwilling to talk to these people. Sometimes, I just want to be alone, quietly, without being forced to listen to their gossip or other useless words.
"Standing on a mountain high
Looking at the moon through a clear blue sky
I should go and see some friends
But they don't really comprehend"
Jascha Richter expresses my feelings also. | high16060.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "respect"
},
"options": [
"dignity",
"doubt",
"respect",
"sadness"
],
"question": "The author introduced the sport item \"rugby\" in Samoa with a tone of _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | Although the Samoan Natives have long claimed to be the indigenous people of their islands, holding firm to the belief that Samoans were birthed by special creation in Samoa, it has been theorized by many linguists, based on linguistic commonalities as well as archaeological findings, that migrants from Southeast Asia arrived in the Samoan Islands approximately 3500 years ago, settling in what has come to be known as "Polynesia" further to the east.
Early contact with Europeans was established in the 18th century. Christianity was formally introduced with the arrival of missionaries in August 1830. During the early 20th century the Samoan Islands were divided by Germany, Great Britain and the USA. Tutuila and Aunu'u islands were claimed by the USA. The western islands became German Samoa. In 1914, New Zealand forces captured the islands from Germany, thus becoming Western Samoa. Western Samoa regained its independence on January 1, 1962.
Samoans are notable in rugby. Despite its small population, the island of American Samoa produces disproportionately a large number of world-class American football players. Samoan Mosi Tatupu was a member of NFL team the New England Patriots. Samoan Troy Polamalu was a member of the NFL team the Pittsburgh Steelers until he retired after the 2014 football season.
Traditional Samoan tattoo proves the strong ties many Samoans feel for their culture. Samoans have practiced the art of tattooing for over 2,000 years. To this day, a man's tattoo widely covers from mid-back, down the sides, to the knees. A woman's tattoo is not quite as wide or heavy. The geometric patterns are based on ancient designs, and often indicate rank and status.
Here is the process of tattooing. The tattoo master dips his cutting tools into black ink made from burnt shells, and then punctures designs into the skin. The cutting tool consists of a short piece of bamboo or light wood with a piece of tortoiseshell bound at right angles at one end. A little bone comb is bound to the lower broad end of the tortoiseshell. The larger the comb, the greater the area on the skin is covered with fewer strokes. The process takes days, and is sometimes partially accomplished over longer periods, with recovery in between. | high19353.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Many of them earned money in a dishonest way."
},
"options": [
"They could earn much, but they had to work hard.",
"Many of them earned money in a dishonest way.",
"They were all from poor families.",
"They were all thi... | Pulling heavy suitcases all day in the summer is hard work, especially when you're a thin 14-year-old.That was me in 1940-the youngest and smallest baggage boy at New York City's Pennsyl-vania Railway Station.
After just a few days on the job, I began noticing that the other fellows were overcharging passengers. I'd like to join them, thinking, "Everyone else is doing it."
When I got home that night, I told my dad what I wanted to do." You give an honest day's work," he said, looking at me straight in the eye." They're paying you. If they want to do that, you let them do that."
I followed my dad's advice for the rest of that summer and have lived by his words ever since.
Of all the jobs I've had, it was my experience at Pennsylvania Railway Station that has stuck with me. Now I teach my players to have respect for other people and their possessions. Being a member of a team is a totally shared experience. If one person steals, it destroys trust and hurts everyone. I can put up with many things, but not with people who steal. If one of my players were caught stealing, he'd be gone.
Whether you're on a sports team, in an office or a member of a family, if you can't trust one another, there's going to be trouble. | high4527.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "she was an AfricanAmerican student"
},
"options": [
"her examination performance is too bad",
"girls were not allowed to go to college",
"she was an AfricanAmerican student",
"her parents had no enough money to support ... | Mary Jean Price Walls graduated second in her class in 1950.She had high hopes when she applied to a local college,Southwest Missouri State College.But after sending off her application,she spent months waiting for a reply.It never came.
Worse than simply being denied admission ,the school didn't reply to her at all.It wasn't a matter of her school records,but of her skin color:Wallsis African American,and in those days,that fact alone closed a lot of doors. "I was sad and I was hurt,"Walls toldABCNews."I did not expect the skin color would affect my application.I thought I could go to university like other students."
Four years later,the government declared that all schools should not discriminate against African Americans-- but it was too late for Walls.She'd moved on with her life, becoming a wife and a mother,and working as an elevator operator.She retired last year,at the age of 77.
She stayed quiet about the unfairness she'd faced in Missouri State.Her son,Terry,went through school records and found that she'd been the first black student to ever apply to the college.Today,four percent of the Southwest Missouri State College body is African American--including Terry.
Although it's too late for Missouri State to change the past,the school is awarding Walls with an honorary degree from the school.While she knows it's too late for herto change the course of her own life with the degree,it's a chance for her to show her family that Missouri State has changed in the last 60 years,and there's not a single door closed to them anymore. | high3248.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "because the sunlight was stopped by peaks"
},
"options": [
"because it sits near the Arctic\nCircle",
"because it is located in a deep valley",
"because the sunlight was stopped by peaks",
"because it 1ies to the southw... | A sun-starved Norwegian town has finally seen the light--by installing giant mirrors on the surrounding mountains to reflect rays onto its market square.
The small town of Rjukan sits deep in the narrow Vestfjord Valley,in the Telemark region south-west of Oslo. The towering peaks that surround it rise to almost 2,000 meters above sea level and block out the sunlight for half the year, meaning Rjukan residents live in a permanent shadow from September to March.
But all that changed this week, with the official launch of a project first proposed a century ago. Three high-tech mirrors,with a combined reflective surface of 50 square meters, have been put into operation on a ridge on Gaustatoppen mountain,brightening up the previously gloomy town center by _ it with up to 600 square meters of sunlight.
Twenty-first century technology has made the $850, 000 project possible, with heliostats--computer-powered mirrors--shifting every 10 seconds to track the movements of the sun during the day.
But the idea to lighten up the dark town actually dates back 100 years. Rjukan was originally founded as a company town for Norsk Hydro, which set up a fertilizer plant here to make use of the hydro power from the nearby 104 meter Rjukanfossen waterfall. The story goes that the aluminum and renewable energy company's founder,Sam Eyde,wanted a way to brighten up the existence of his shadowed 1aborers--and also to make them work more effectively during the winter.
The local newspaper published a suggestion by local bookkeeper Oskar Kittelsen to use a mirror to reflect sunlight onto the town,and Eyde picked up on the idea. Technological limitations of the day meant the plan never came to fruition,however, and instead northern Europe's first cable car was built in 1928 to give Rjukan residents sunlight exposure at the top of the mountain. | high10411.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "will provide campers with instructions"
},
"options": [
"is aimed at increasing teens' confidence in their studies",
"requires participants to have all climbing abilities",
"focuses on protecting the natural environment",
... | The Bear Valley Teen Adventure Camp is a high-energy experience focusing on safe outdoor climbing and an appreciation for the natural environment. Along the way campers can also swim, hike, and canoe . The instructors are professional educators who can increase your teens' confidence, teamwork and climbing skills. All climbing abilities are welcome and no previous outdoor rock climbing experience is required. Participants can choose Day Camp or Overnight Camp. In addition, campers learn to appreciate the wild as well. We look forward to seeing your teenagers smile this summer.
Day Camp includes six adventurous days of rock climbing, hiking, swimming, and canoeing in beautiful Bear Valley. Our focus is climbing but we use additional activities to keep things lively. Instructions and skill development are provided. No experience is required and all equipment is provided. On the last day parents are welcome to join us for a big lunch to hear all about the adventures of camp for nothing.
Overnight campers can get the full experience with family-style meals, evening activities and top accommodations at the BaseCamp Lodge in Bear Valley. A typical schedule is that after Day Camp, campers get a short rest and snack before getting together for a hike or swim. Afterwards, a delicious meal is served as tales from the day are shared around the table.
Dates: July 22-28, 2013
Costs: $575 - Day Camp (6 days + lunches)
$975 - Overnight Camp (7 days, 6 nights & all meals)
Ages: 10-16 years old | high5639.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "was willing to meet challenges"
},
"options": [
"was willing to meet challenges",
"was pushed to make choice",
"failed to find an ideal school",
"wanted to study law"
],
"question": "When choosing her high schoo... | Mrs.Ohama spoke to the graduates of Martin Luther King Jr.High School on Saturday in her only high school commencement speech this year. The ceremony took place in the gymnasium of Tennessee State University
The first lady told the 170 graduates that she spent too much of her time in college focusing on academe achievements.While her success in college and law school led to 8 good job, she said, she ended up focusing on public service. "My message to you today is that don't waste a minute living someone else's dream: she said. It takes lot of real work to discover what brings you joy and you won't find what you love simply by checking mailboxes or surfing the net.
She said MLK reminded her of her own high school experience in Chicago."My No.1 goal was to go to a high school that would push me and challenge me," she said."I wanted to go somewhere that would celebrate achievement.Unfortunately, schools like this don't exist for every kid." she said."You are blessed"
The first lady told graduates that failure may be 8 part of their college lives and careers, and that how they respond determines what they will become. "That's when you find out what you're really made of in those hard times," she said."But you can only do that if you're willing to put yourself in position where you might fail." Overcoming difficulties has been the mark of many great people, she said, "Oprah was demoted from her first job as news reporter, and now she doesn't even need a last name," she said of media giant Oprah Winfrey "And then there's this guy Barack Obama, I could take up a whole afternoon talking about his failures He lost his first race for Congress",the first lady Joked, "and now he gets to call himself my husband" | high17418.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Things to remember when you are having a bad day"
},
"options": [
"Every person has to go through hard times",
"We can learn a lot from our struggles",
"We should accept the fact that life is not perfect",
"Things to re... | Even the hardest days contain lessons that will help you be a better person.Feeling down? Consider these things to remember when you're having a bad day.
No one promised life would be perfect.If you look for perfection,you'11 never be content.Don't condition your happiness on meeting every expectation you set for yourself.It is good to be ambitious,but you'11 never be perfect.If you expect otherwise,your life will be filled with disappointments.
Success doesn't happen overnight. _ .Don't kid yourself into thinking success will come quickly.It isn't easy to be patient,but anything worth doing requires time.If you get frustrated,remind yourself why your goal is important.
There is a lesson in every struggle.And once the storm is over,you won't remember how you made it through or how you managed to survive.But one thing is certain.When you come out of the storm.you won't be the same person who walked in.That's what this storm's all about.Don't complain about how terrible your life is.If you search for the lesson in your present struggle,you'11 be able to make positive changes that would prevent similar situations in the future.
Without hard times,you wouldn't appreciate the good ones.Strength does not come from winning.Your struggles develop your strengths.When you go through hardships and decide not to give in,that is strength.It is hard to find much to smile about when you fail,but how else would you improve yourself? If you look at failure as a part of your evolutionary process,you'11 stay positive and pursue your goals for as long as it takes. | high10377.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because she was sad and lonely and needed a companion."
},
"options": [
"Because she loved horses more than anything else.",
"Because Cowboy was a strong and smart young horse.",
"Because Cowboy had a lot in common with her p... | Thirteen can be a challenging age. Not only did I have to adapt to my changing body, I also had to deal with my parents' bitter divorce, a new family and the upsetting move from my country home to a crowded town.
When we moved, my beloved companion, a small brown pony had to be sold. I was heartbroken and terribly lonely. I couldn't eat or sleep and cried all the time. Finally, realizing how much I missed my pony, my father bought me another horse, Cowboy.
Cowboy was without doubt the ugliest horse in the world. But I didn't care. I loved him beyond all reasons.
I joined a riding club. When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse was judged by appearance, we were quickly "shown the gate". I knew nothing could turn Cowboy into a beauty. My only chance to compete would be in the timed speed events. I chose the jumping race.
For the whole next month we practiced running and jumping for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home, totally exhausted.
All of our hard work didn't make me feel confident by the time the show came. One girl named Becky rode a big brown horse in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons. I sat at the gate and sweated all out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the court and finish in first place.
My turn finally came. At the signal, we dashed toward the first fence, jumped over it without trouble and raced on to the next one. Cowboy then flew over the second, third and fourth fences like a bird and I turned him toward the finish line.
No cheers filled the air. The end of our run was met with surprised silence. Cowboy and I had beaten Becky and her fancy horse by two seconds.
I gained much more than a blue ribbon that day. At thirteen, I realized that no matter what the odds, I'd always come out a winner if I wanted something badly enough to work for it. I can be the owner of my fate. | high11069.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "greet Glenn"
},
"options": [
"greet Glenn",
"see Friendship 7",
"guide Glenn to land",
"celebrate the date of Glenn's flight"
],
"question": "People in the city of Perthturned on lights to _ .",
"question... | One night in February 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr. flew overprefix = st1 /Australia. The man in the Mercury capsule was alone, but friendly voices reached him by radio. Over the dark land 100 miles below, he saw sparkling lights. It marked the city of Perth, where people had turned on their lights as a greeting to him.
In Friendship 7, Glenn radioed, "The lights show up very well. Thank everybody for turning them on." His capsule moved on to the east.
"During his three orbits of the earth, Glenn could always reach one of the 18 tracking stations. Some of them were on ships at sea. Others were in theUnited States.
Many of the stations had been built with the help of other countries. These countries allowed Americans to bring in radio equipment and set it up. Without the help of such lands asNigeria, Zanzibar andMexico, there would have been breaks in the worldwide radio network. John Glenn, Jr. was the first American to orbit the earth. For his flight, the tracking network covered 60,000 statute miles . 500 men worked in the stations along the route. Since his flight, the network has grown. Today, it covers more than 100,000 statute miles and has about 100 stations. One-third of these stations are outside theUnited States. | high16706.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The researchers compare the performances of people with various BMIs."
},
"options": [
"The researchers compare the performances of people with various BMIs.",
"Fifty subjects are required to seek for objects hidden by the research... | People who are obese have a worse memory than their thinner friends, a small study shows.
Tests on 50 people showed that being overweight was linked to worse "episodic memory" or the ability to remember past experiences.
The study in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology argues that a less vivid memory of recent meals may lead to overeating. However, other aspects of memory -- such as general knowledge -- show no signs.
Tests on rats have previously shown that with burgeoning waistlines come poorer performances in memory tests, but the evidence in humans has been mixed.
Fifty people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) ranging from 18 (healthy) to 51 (very obese) took part in a memory test -- a bit like doing a treasure hunt on your own. They had to "hide" objects at different times and on different scenes displayed on a computer screen. They were later asked to recall what they had hidden, when and where. The results showed obese people's scores were 15% lower than thinner people.
Dr. Lucy Cheke, from the University of Cambridge, told the BBC News website, "The suggestion we're making is that a higher BMI is having some reduction on the vividness of memory, but they're not drawing blanks and having amnesia . As a matter of fact, if they have a less strong memory of a recent meal, with a less strong impact in the mind, then they may have less ability to regulate how much they eat later on." Hunger hormones play a huge role in how much we eat, but it has already been recognized that our minds have a key role too.
Dr. Cheke concluded, "It is too early to talk in terms of advice, but we are certainly beginning to observe how obesity causes itself to continue." | high19435.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "What I learned from the air crash."
},
"options": [
"Air crash is always a tragedy.",
"What I learned from the air crash.",
"Life is a miracle as we imagine.",
"How to become a good father."
],
"question": "Whic... | Everyone, please imagine, a big explosion breaks out as the plane takes us high in the sky. The plane is full of smoke and the engine sounds scary. Two minutes later, the engines are turned off. We are now sitting in a plane with no sound. And we can see: Life is over.
That really happened. In January 2009, I had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York.
Now let me tell you the three things I learned when the silence came.
First, I thought about all the people I wanted to reach out to but didn't. I thought about all the experiences I wanted to have but never did. I no longer wanted to put off anything in life. Second, I really regretted the time I wasted on things that did not matter. I decided to remove negative energy from my life. Third, I realized, wow, dying was not scary. But it was very sad just because I only wished I could have seen my kids grow up.
Fortunately, I was given the gift of a miracle of not dying that day. I was given another gift, with which I was to see into the future and come back and live differently.
About a month later, my wife and I were at a performance by my daughter, not much artistic talent. Yet, I'm crying. I realized that above all, the only goal in my life was to be a good father.
Audience, again, imagine the same thing happening on your plane. How would you change? What would you get done? And more than anything, are you being the best parent you can?
Thank you. | high7748.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "She always says what she means in an honest way."
},
"options": [
"She always says what she means in an honest way.",
"She no longer likes reading in her old age.",
"She doesn't want to be friends with the writer any mort.",
... | Maybelle said she wouldn't be coming with me to the library. I asked why, and she said she could get all the short stories she wanted off the Internet. Saved walking all the way to the library, and putting up with my long chat on the way there, and on the way back. Maybelle is very direct like that, always has been.
"But, Maybelle, we've been walking to the library every' Monday for the last fifty years!"
She said," Why don't you get Internet'? We can send each other emails."
So I had to get Internet. I called the local high school. They said they'd send me a good student to tell me all about computers and such.
Evil thing, this Internet. Makes you lose old friends, forces you to learn new complex ideas, even if you're too old. But Maybelle said you have to be modern; otherwise, you're dead.
The kid came the next day. Tall skinny black kid, by tile name of Arsenius, said his work would cost me.
I said, "All right. As long as I get Internet."
"You need a computer, then you need to get hooked up," he said.
"Let's buy a computer and get hooked up, then."
"How much you want to spend?"
"Whatever it takes."
"How many rams you want?"
I wasn't going to show him my ignorance, so I said, "Whatever it takes."
"Let's go to the mall. You got a car?"
"In the garage."
When I opened the garage door, he gasped. Daddy's car is still there, a'57 Chevy. I never drive it. Walk everywhere.
I said," Let's walk. It's only a mile or so."
He said," Let's drive, or you will faint on me in this heat."
"Young man, I don't faint, never have. We're walking."
"I get paid by the hour," he said. "Walking will cost you a lot more. Also, you feel like carrying a computer a mile or so?" | high875.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "How to understand intelligence ."
},
"options": [
"How to understand intelligence .",
"How to become intelligent .",
"The importance of intelligence tests .",
"The causes of different intelligences."
],
"questio... | It pays to be smart. We are not all smart in the same way. Youmaybe a talented musician, but you might not be a good reader . Each of us is different .
Psychologists have two different views on intelligence .Others believe there are many different intelligence .Some psychologists say there is one type of intelligence that can be measured with IQ tests .These psychologistssupport their view with research that concludes that people who dowell on one kind of test for mental ability do well on other tests .They do well on tests using words , numbers or pictures. They do well on individual orgroup tests , and written or oral tests .Those who do poorly on one test , do the same on all tests .
Studies of the brain show that there is a biological basis for general intelligence . The brain waves of people with higher intelligence show a quicker reaction .Some researchers conclude that differences in intelligence resultfrom differences in the speed and effectiveness of information processing by the brain .
Howard Gardner , a psychologist at the Harvard School of Education , has four children .He believes that all children are different and shouldn't be tested by one intelligence test .Although Gardner believes general intelligence exists , he doesn't think it tells much about the talents of a person outside of formal schooling .He think that the human mind has different intelligences .These intelligences allow us to solve the kinds ofproblems we are presented with in life .Each of us has different abilities within these intelligences .Gardner believes that the purpose of school should be to encourage development of all of our intelligences . | high12560.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "use actors to play the role"
},
"options": [
"reports news from where it happens",
"shows the photos of real criminals",
"use actors to play the role",
"announces news for the police"
],
"question": "One importa... | There are hundreds of TV channels in the prefix = st1 /United States. Americans get a lot of entertainment and information from TV. Most people probably watch it for entertainment only. For some people, however, TV is where they get the news of the day. But some new TV programs or shows put entertainment and news together.
This new kind of program in the United States is called "infotainment", which means information (info-) and entertainment (-tainment). These kinds of programs use actors to act out news stories, making the news of the day more interesting and exciting to people. The shows also use special effects.
An example of infotainment is the show "America's Most Wanted". The producers of this program get stories from real cases that the police have dealt with. In most of these cases, the police never found the person who committed the crime . Sometimes they caught the criminal, but he or she ran away again. They use actors to play the parts of all the people in the case. At the end of the story, however, they always show "mug shots" , or police photographs, of the real criminals. | high23965.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "make the crossword puzzles"
},
"options": [
"solve the crossword puzzles",
"make the crossword puzzles",
"find the best crossword puzzles",
"research on the crossword puzzles"
],
"question": "Crossword Weaver is... | Try it and see for yourself--Crossword Weaver is the leading Crossword Puzzle Creator. This crossword puzzle maker, Crossword Weaver, is the leading crossword puzzle software. Type in your words to quickly create two styles of crossword puzzles.
The freeform style uses only your words. Perfect for educators, home scholars, parents, and anyone wanting their puzzle to use only their words. Or, our patented technology mixes your words with a high quality database to give you professional puzzles in just seconds!
Education Discount--Get 25% Off! Teachers, parents, students, home scholars, and religious educators who are purchasing this product qualify for a 25% discount!
The demo mode allows you to try the program to see if it meets your needs before you purchase it. After you purchase an unlocking code and enter the code into the Crossword Weaver demo, it will immediately become the full version. The demo version has limitations on printing, saving, and exporting.
Crossword Weaver is the best program for the best price.
Used by teachers, parents, puzzle lovers, businesses, newsletter editors, publishers, and newspapers all over the world!
Help your students learn vocabulary, spelling, facts, and more.
Easily add a puzzle to your newsletter to make it really special
Quickly make gifts for that special puzzle lover in your life.
New!Play your puzzles online or email to friends.
New!Save your puzzles as PDF's.
New!Easily export to a web site.
Try it for yourself and see how Crossword Weaver can help you with all of your crossword puzzle needs.
License number to unlock the demo $39.95
License number to unlock the demo plus the optional CD $39.95 + $4.95 (includes S&H)
All upgrades are free. Simply download the demo for the new version and type in your unlock code again to get your new version. | high1339.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the name of a TV programme"
},
"options": [
"name of a TV reporter.",
"time of a TV programme",
"the name of a TV programme",
"a police station."
],
"question": "\"Police Five\" is _ .",
"question_type": ... | There are popular programmes about the work of the police on TV. People like them because they are interesting and useful.
In London there is a TV programme called "Police Five". It takes five minutes a week.A TV reporter talks about crimes in London. He asks people for help, because the police station needs their help.
The TV reporter shows picture of lost painting, lost cars and other lost things during the week. Sometimes he shows the picture of the car that the thieves drove away. When people see the picture of such things on TV, they may remember something so that they may tell the police where or when they saw them. With their help the police may catch more thieves.
Sometimes the police find a car or something expensive that has ever been lost, the TV reporter shows them on TV. Then the owners may see them and they can get them back. | high6456.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "give a brief introduction to child psychology."
},
"options": [
"introduce an important psychologist.",
"give a brief introduction to child psychology.",
"compare some of the areas of psychology.",
"explain the developm... | The area of child psychology is one of the most significant and well studied of all the branches of psychology. It aims to help with achieving a greater understanding of the behavior of children through an understanding of their minds. It deals with children who range from the prenatal stage right up to the stage of adolescence.
The psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) has been credited with making a major breakthrough in this area when he put forward his idea that children were not actually less intelligent than adults, rather they just thought in a different way. Preciously the development of children right from birth through to adulthood was an area that was almost completely _ . In fact very little work was done in this area. However, interest in this field has now developed to the point of being one of the most debated of all the areas of psychology.
Despite popular belief that factors such as genetics or personal characteristics are the only determining factors that influence a youth's behavior, this is not in fact the case. In reality, development actually includes many more factors than those contained within an individual. Factors such as environment, which can include social relationships and the surrounding culture, also play important roles. Relationships with both peers and adults will no doubt affect how children think and learn, and therefore develop. These relationships can include those that are found not only within families but also in schools and peer groups.
Culturally speaking, this factor will contribute greatly to how children develop their personality concerning the values they end up holding (perhaps for a lifetime) as well as how they view such things as traditions and customs.
Nowadays, psychologists have agreed that a child's psychology is both unique and highly complex. However, there are debates on many different points in this field and many viewpoints exist. | high35.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To attract more Prime Instant Video customers"
},
"options": [
"To attract more Prime Instant Video customers",
"To win the Golden Globe Award",
"To cooperate with Netflix Inc.",
"To contribute to the film industry."
... | Amazon is taking a leap into movie production, planning to fund a dozen original feature films each year, and to _ the time it takes to move them from theatres to viewers' homes.
The first film projects are expected to begin production at Amazon Studios later this year, and to make their first public appearance in U.S. theatres. But Amazon plans to push them to its Prime Instant Video subscription service as little as 30 to 60 days later.
The long-standing timeline for movie releases is already under pressure, and Amazon's latest move is another step toward collapsing it to satisfy increasingly impatient audiences. But where competitor Netflix Inc. has sought to do away with wait times entirely.
When Netflix promised last October to commission a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and to release it on its streaming site the same day when it would open in theatres in the fall of 2015, cinema owners refused. "We believe the theatrical window is an important part of the overall movie sales cycle," a spokesperson for theatre chain said.
Paul, a senior media analyst, expects many of Amazon's original movies will have the feel of independent films with their more challenging subject matter, often made for $10-million or less. The goal isn't to go toe to toe with "the big blockbuster machine," with their $100-million-plus production budgets."I don't see this as laying down the gauntlet," Mr. Dergarabedian said. "It's a strategy of co-existence."
Prime Instant Video offers online access to a wide array of films and television shows for $99 (U.S.) a year. But it is not currently available in Canada, unless viewers use a virtual private network to disguise their location.
The new company, Amazon Original Movies, will be led by Ted Hope, an American independent filmmaker.
"Audiences already recognize Amazon has raised the bar with productions in the episodic realm, coping with bold material in unique ways and teaming with top talent, both established and emerging," Mr. Hope said. | high9765.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The True Value of Friendship"
},
"options": [
"The True Value of Friendship",
"Helping Hand When Needed",
"Companionship and Laughter",
"Conversation and Helping Others"
],
"question": "Which of the following ca... | Whether you are hanging out with your friends in between classes or going to the movies with them during the weekend, you will find that having friends is a really great thing. Friends are _ who will have a great time with you all the time.
Even if you can't get together with your friends you can usually get a hold of them by phone, email or text messaging. Conversation is another value which people consider with regard to friendship. Everyone needs to talk and share their thoughts and feelings and friends are great in providing this for you.
Friends also lend a helping hand when it is needed. Every once in a while you will find that you have a problem which your friends can often help you out with. Whether it deals with a fight with your parents or other problems, your friends are there for you. This is an important trait when it comes to friendship.
Those who have good friends will also find that laughter is a big part of the relationship. No one can make you laugh like your friends and laughter is so good for keeping your spirits up and making your day bright. You will find that the more good friends you have, the more laughter and happiness you will have in your life. Just keep in mind, though, that it is often quality of friends and not quantity of friends which make a person happy. | high14111.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "made her feel worried at first"
},
"options": [
"wanted to tell her a true story",
"thought she had done something wrong",
"had made up his mind to scold her",
"made her feel worried at first"
],
"question": "Wh... | One day, Anna was about to walk into her office, when the headmaster, Mr. Henry stopped her.
"Now," he said, "I want you to tell me the truth, my dear."
"Naturally," said Anna shortly, fearing that something terrible had happened.
"I have had a most serious accusation made against you by Mrs. Bond."
"Mrs. Bond?" said Anna, not understanding. Janet Bond was a quiet, little mouse of a child. As far as Anna could remember,she had never had cause to speak an angry word to the girl.
"Mrs. Bond," went on Mr. Henry, "tells me that you scolded her daughter yesterday afternoon."
"Scolded?" cried Anna. "I don't scold. At least not in school," she added honestly. "Mrs. Bond's story is that Janet was a little late back to school in the afternoon. She said that the child had to spend some time in the bathroom, which meant she set out from home a little late."
"Just a minute," said Anna, beginning to understand. "She did come late, very late. I had marked her absent, of course. Then she wandered in, when we'd started our paper--cutting, and I believe I said she was a nuisance . She didn't appear to hear, and was certainly quite cheerful."
"Ah, a nuisance." Mr. Henry jumped on the word. "You're sure you only said a nuisance."
"I may not even have said that," Anna replied. "It was no more than slight displeasure that I felt and I certainly didn't scold."?
"Mrs. Bond said that you called her child a blasted nuisance. Is that true?"
"Indeed it isn't," said Anna, "The child or the mother has made it up!"
Mr. Henry was satisfied with Anna's explanation.
"Just as I thought, my dear, but of course I had to make sure." | high18703.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "brighter children are likely to have a healthier lifestyle"
},
"options": [
"brighter children are likely to become vegetarians when they are ten.",
"people with a higher IQ will not be overweight",
"brighter children are lik... | British researchers have found that children's IQ predicts their probability of becoming vegetarians as young adults.
Recent studies suggest that vegetarianism may be associated with lower cholesterol , reduced risk of overweight and heart disease.
"We know from other studies that brighter children tend to behave in a healthier fashion as adults--they're less likely to smoke, less likely to be overweight,less likely to have high blood pressure and more likely to take exercise." lead author Catharine Gale said, "This study provides further evidence that people with a high IQ tend to have a healthier lifestyle."
In the study, Gale's team collected data on nearly 8,200 men and women aged 30, whose IQ had been tested when they were 10 years of age.
"Children who scored higher on IQ tests at age 10 were more likely than those who got lower scores to report that they were vegetarian at the age of 30."Gale said.
The researchers found that 4.5 percent of participants were vegetarians. Of these, 2.5 percent were _ , and 33.6 percent said they were vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken.
There was no difference in IQ score between strict vegetarians and those who said they were vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken,the researchers added.
One expert said the findings weren't the whole answer,however.
"We don't know the beliefs or attitudes of the parents of the children,nor do we know if there was a particular event that led these children to becoming vegetarian in their teens or adulthood." said Lona Sandon, and assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. | high5177.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because he is devoted to the care for the Yangtze River."
},
"options": [
"Because he is devoted to the care for the Yangtze River.",
"Because he is a founder of the Yangtze River.",
"Because he worked as a garbage cleaner.",... | The 48-year-old photographer and adventurer with his trademark black and white beard and shoulder-length hair is also an environmentalist devoted to protecting the source of the Yangtze River.And he likes his new nick-name, "garbage cleaner at the source of the Yangtze River".
Yang Xin , is the founder of Green River, one of the country ' s biggest non-govemmental organizationsto protect the country's major rivers.
The Yangtze River begins from glaciers in the Tanggula Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Garbage was rarely seen in the area about 20 years ago, Yang said, as local nomadic people ledtraditional self-sufficient lives, living in tents. Thanks to increasingly convenient transportation, they ' ve started to use modern products packed in plastics, which can ' t degrade naturally.
"They don' t have a waste management system and just throw rubbish away like before. So tons of garbage are left on the grasslands and river ways," said Yang.
He founded a group with the purpose of dealing with garbage such as plastic bottles, batteries, lunch boxes and so on.
In 1997, Yang and his group founded the Sonam Dhargye Nature Preservation Station in the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, in memory of the anti-hunting hero who sacrificed his life to protect Tibetan antelopes. | high17430.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "By reading novels."
},
"options": [
"By carrying a lot of equipment.",
"By reading novels.",
"By daydreaming.",
"By marking out routes."
],
"question": "How will the author go on adventure?",
"question_type"... | As I sit at home thinking about my upcoming adventure and the things I need to bring, it makes me even more excited to begin my travel. I will be making my way around the world.
The first places on the list are Andalusia and Africa in the book The Alchemist. I will need to pack a lot of things and make sure I have enough money to provide myself with food and enough to drink. The Sahara desert is always hot and requires plenty of water.
Next I will head to Mexico in the bookBorn to Run, where I will meet the Tarahumara Indian tribe . I will need to get into shape and do some jogging if I want to keep up with them. I will have to pack my running shoes, though, because the Tarahumarans have mastered the art of running on the tough land.
After Mexico, my journey takes me to the Egyptian desert in the novelThe Paris Vendetta. There I hope to help uncover an ancient conspiracy that goes back centuries. Just like my trip to Andalusia, I will have to make sure I have plenty of water. Packing the Camelbak products seems like the best idea, so I will have enough on hand at all times. I expect this adventure to be quite interesting, and I am very excited about it.
Lastly, I will make my way back to America in the bookShattered: Struck Down, But Not Destroyed. This makes me feel excited because like the main character in the book, I also wanted to become a professional athlete when I was younger. For this trip, I will go with an open mind and hopefully meet some friends along the way.
I am ready to _ my adventure of traveling, and I cannot wait any longer! | high2618.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "light-hearted"
},
"options": [
"serious",
"ironic",
"scholarly",
"light-hearted"
],
"question": "The tone of the passage as a whole can be described as _ ?",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
}
] | Crash. Shatter. Boom. Crash. Shatter. Boom. Smattering of silly dialogue. Pretty girl screams: "Dad!" Crash. Shatter. Boom. Crash. Shatter. Boom. Silly dialogue. "Dad!!!" Crash. Shatter. Boom.
What? Oh, sorry. We were falling into a trance there.
Which is, dear moviegoer, what may happen to you during Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth Transformers film and lasts 165 minutes, which is precariously close to the three-hour mark that Bay undoubtedly will reach--by our sophisticated calculations, and at the current growth rate, with his sixth installment .
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Despite what you've just read, this film will likely be a massive hit because by now, if you're buying a Transformers ticket, you surely know what you're getting into, and you want more, more, more. And Bay is the Master of More.
Or just take it from the 11-year-old sitting next to me, who reserved any audible judgment--he, too was in a trance, though maybe from sugar intake--until the moment he saw a Transformer become a dinosaur. Overwhelmed by the pairing, he proclaimed, "That's the sickest thing I've ever seen in my life." It was as if peanut butter and jelly had been tasted together for the first time.
This time, there's a whole new human cast. Most important, Mark Wahlberg has replaced Shia LaBeouf as well, Main Human Guy.
A significant part of the movie also takes place in China--clearly a nod to the franchise's huge market in the country.
In any case, we begin in Paris, Texas, where Cade Yeager (Wahlberg), a struggling inventor, is desperatlely seeking a big discovery. He's also a widowed dad, and super-protective (as the movie constantly reminds us) of his high-school daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz, blond and pretty and ineffective, though the one-note script does her no favors).
One day, Cade buys a rusty old truck. Examining it back home, he soon discovers it's none other than Optimus Prime, the Autobot hero, seriously damaged.
As Cade works on fixing him up, his assistant, witty surfer-dude Lucas, has the dumb idea of calling the authorities. What he doesn't know is that the government is plotting to destroy all remaining Autobots in favor of a man-made army of Transformers.
So now, it's evil humans that pitted against the trustworthy Autobots. So much for gratitude. There's also a subplot involving Tessa and her secret boyfriend, Shane (Jack Reynor, underused), whose Irish accent leads Cade to dismissively call him "Lucky Charms"--at least until the two bond in battle.
The obvious question: Is it too much for its own good? Bay is vey talented at all things visual. The 3-D works well and the robots look great. But the final confrontation alone lasts close to an hour. At some point, you may find yourself simply in a daze, unable to absorb any further action into your brain. | high11041.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "create a situation of misunderstanding around which to build a story"
},
"options": [
"show the doctor's knowledge about influenza and its treatment",
"show the boy's illness was quite serious",
"create a situation of misunde... | He came into the room to shut the windows while we were still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.
"What's the matter, Schatz?"
"I've got a headache."
"You better go back to bed."
"No. I'm all right."
"You go to bed. I'll see you when I'm dressed."
But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever.
"You go up to bed," I said, "You're sick."
"I'm all right," he said.
When the doctor came he took the boy's temperature.
"What's is it?" I asked him.
"One hundred and two."
Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in different colored capsules with instructions for giving them. One was to bring down the fever, another a purgative , the third to overcome an acid condition. The germs of influenza can only exist in an acid condition, he explained. He seemed to know all about influenza and said there was nothing to worry about if the fever did not go above one hundred and four degrees. This was a light epidemic(;) of flu and there was no danger if you avoided pneumonia .
Back in the room I wrote the boy's temperature down and made a note of the time to give the various capsules.
"Do you want me to read to you?"
"All right. If you want to, " said the boy. His face was very white and there were dark areas under his eyes. He lay still in the bed and seemed very detached(;)from what was going on.
I read aloud from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates ;but I could see he was not following what I was reading.
"How do you feel, Schatz?" I asked him.
"Just the same, so far," he said.
I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited for it to be time to give another capsule. It would have been natural for him to go to sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at the foot of the bed, looking very strangely.
"Why don't you try to sleep? I'll wake you up for the medicine."
"I'd rather stay awake."
After a while he said to me, "You don't have to stay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you."
"It doesn't bother me."
"No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother you."
I thought perhaps he was a little lightheaded and after giving him the prescribed capsules at eleven o'clock I went out with my gun and the young hunting dog....I killed two quail , and missed five, and started back pleased to have found a covey of quail close to the house and happy there were so many left to find on another day.
At the house they said the boy had refused to let anyone come into the room.
"You can't come in," he said. "You mustn't get what I have."
I went up to him and found him in exactly the position I had left him, white-faced, but with the tops of his cheeks flushed by the fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed.
I took his temperature.
"What is it?"
"Something like a hundred," I said. It was one hundred and two and four tenths.
"It was a hundred and two," he said.
"Who said so?"
"The doctor."
"Your temperature is all right," I said. "It's nothing to worry about."
"I don't worry," he said, "but I can't keep from thinking."
"Don't think," I said. "Just take it easy."
"I'm taking it easy," he said and looked straight ahead, He was evidently holding tight onto himself about something.
"Take this with water."
"Do you think it will do any good?"
"Of course it will."
I sat down and opened the Pirate book and began to read, but I could see he was not following, so I stopped.
"About what time do you think I'm going to die?" he asked.
"What?"
"About how long will it be before I die?"
"You aren't going to die. What's the matter with you? "
"Oh, yes, I am, I heard him say a hundred and two."
"People don't die with a fever of one hundred and two. That's a silly way to talk."
"I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you can't live with forty-four degrees. I've got a hundred and two."
He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine o'clock in the morning.
"You poor Schatz," I said. "Poor old Schatz. It's like miles and kilometers. You aren't going to die. That's different thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind it's ninety-eight."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely," I said, "It's like miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles in the car?"
"Oh," he said.
But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance. | high3506.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "thinking in a positive way helps with work efficiency"
},
"options": [
"depression among bus drivers is common",
"thinking in a positive way helps with work efficiency",
"bus drivers with pleasant memories tend to be less eff... | Exhausted and unhappy, you still have to squeeze a smile to your friends, or teachers. That's just life, you may think. But new research suggests that putting on a fake smile can worsen people's mood and even lower work efficiency.
Lead researcher Brent Scott with other researchers studied a group of bus drivers for two weeks. They tried to find out what happened when the drivers were involved in "surface acting" or fake smiling, and the opposite, "deep acting" which means people put on real smiles by recalling pleasant memories or thinking about their current situation more positively.
The results showed that on days when drivers were forced to smile, they felt depressed and didn't want to work. On days when they smiled due to positive thoughts, their mood improved a lot as well as their work efficiency.
The research goes against the popular belief among companies that employees should be cheerful to customers at all times. They include employees of shops, banks, call center workers and others who have face-to-face contact with members of the public. "Smiling for the sake of smiling can lead to emotional exhaustion and coldness, and that's bad for the organization," Scott told the Daily Mail.
The study also showed that women were harmed more by fake smiling than men. Their mood and work performance both worsened more. But they were helped more by deep acting -- their mood became better and they worked more efficiently.
However, while deep acting seemed to improve mood in the short term, Scott says it's not a long-term solution for unhappiness.
"There have been some suggestions that if you do this over a long period that you start to feel inauthentic ," Scott said. "You may be trying to cultivate positive emotions, but at the end of the day you may not feel like yourself anymore." | high4269.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because Ann was too busy to look after Sam."
},
"options": [
"Because Sam wanted to play with them.",
"Because Bill and Kate wanted to see Sam.",
"Because Sam's father wasn't at home.",
"Because Ann was too busy to look... | One Saturday morning Ann was going on business. Before starting, she took her son Sam to her friends, Bill and Kate, and asked them to look after him for the day. Sam, an independent boy of six years old, had black hair and was wearing a pair of jeans and a bright yellow shirt.
At eleven o'clock Bill took Sam into town. Sam walked along behind Bill, looking at the windows of all the shops they passed. After lunch they went to the park and walked about. The whole place was very crowded. Bill stopped to buy some chocolate. When he turned round to give some to Sam, the boy wasn't there. Bill ran round calling Sam, but he couldn't find him. About an hour later, just in front of a shop, he saw the black hair, the pair of jeans and the bright yellow shirt. The boy looked as if he was waiting for someone to come out of the shop. Bill ran across the road, took the boy by the hand and hurried off, as it was quite late. The boy began to cry and pull hard, but Bill, who didn't know much about children, couldn't understand a word the boy was saying. All the boy made was a lot of noise.
When they got home at last, Bill went straight to the kitchen, with the boy still crying. At the door Bill stopped with an amazed look. There, sitting at the kitchen table with Kate, was a small boy with black hair, in a pair of jeans and a bright yellow shirt. | high21182.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Universities should be aware of diversity"
},
"options": [
"Universities should be aware of diversity",
"Universities should focus on practical courses.",
"Arts courses should be promoted.",
"Arts subjects are inappropr... | University is generally regarded as one of the most important times in a person's life, yet the function of this institution continues to arouse debate. Many believe that arts subjects are too easy, that practical skills are more useful and that a chosen subject for study should be clearly linked to a career. However, this view is far too simplistic. Arts subjects are very difficult. They can prepare students for any number of careers as well as allowing the student to take time to make a decision. The function of the modern university is to cater to different types of student.
Arts subjects are not easy. For example, a degree in Literature is not an easy option. No question in a Literature class has a single, simple answer. Debate is conducted in a spirit of openness, texts are very closely analyzed and skills in close reading are developed. Literature is about language, our primary means of communication. Arts subjects require the same concentrated study as any other subject.
Arts subjects can prepare students for any number of careers. A degree in an arts subject teaches skills in well organized debates and defence of a position through the provision of evidence. These are applicable to many types of career. Law, for example. The point is that an undergraduate degree in any Arts subject trains the student in analysis and structure. Therefore, Arts graduates can pursue any number of careers.
Arts subjects allow the student to take time to choose a career. Love of the subject for its own sake may well be the initial motivation for the Arts undergraduate but because the subject they have chosen is not so clearly linked to a career they have time to reflect, making a decision only when they are absolutely certain. Students who pursue Arts subjects therefore have the leisure to make a carefully considered choice.
In conclusion, it is clear that Arts subjects are not a waste of time. They are flexible when it comes to relating them to a career and they allow the student to discover an appropriate career path. Many industries now acknowledge that a degree in Literature can be just as valuable as any other subject, especially when it is evident that Arts graduates tend to think more creatively. Not all undergraduates have clearly defined goals and not all subjects can be simply matched to a career. Acknowledging this difference should be the main function of a modern university | high15227.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Zhaozhou stone bridge"
},
"options": [
"Great engineer in ancient China",
"Zhaozhou stone bridge",
"Four great inventions",
"How to build a bridge"
],
"question": "The best title of this passage is _ .",
... | If we say the four great inventions (Gunpowder,Compass,Paper and Art of Printing) reflected ancient China's scientific achievements,then Zhaozhou Stone Bridge perfectly represented one of the greatest contributions to ancient China's bridge building.Nobody was unfamiliar with the stone bridge full of legends and vivid folk stories.
The ancient Zhaozhou stone bridge started to be built in 590 during the Sui Dynasty (581~618) and established in 608.The pioneer for building the bridge was Li Chun who overcame unimaginable difficulties,undergoing all hardships.The location of the bridge is in Zhao County south,Hebei Province.It lay across the Xiaoshui River,far away from the mountains that provided rocky materials.In ancient times,it was such a busy,deep and wide river that could be used as an important carriage to transport heavy rocks and other materials.As we know,no train,no lifting machine could be used to move granite blocks to the construction site.As an intelligent stonemason and engineer,Li Chun worked out his plan and design all from his own direct observation and investigation.It took his whole life-time in completing the great historical project inChina.Nowadays it is not only a historical remarkable model of architecture,but also a brilliant Chinese cultural crystallization of wisdom.
The entire length of the bridge is 50.82 meters with 10 meters width.The whole stone bridge looks like a big bow,the span of which is 37.02 meters,and its height from the top to the surface of water at a regular position is 7.23 meters.The bridge arch seems to be moving smoothly and flatly.The whole arch consists of 28 big granite blocks connected each other tightly together.On both end sides of the general arch there are 4 smaller arches,2 of which on one side,the other 2 on the other side.The smaller arches could be used to decrease the weight of the bridge and save stone materials,and help flood get through easily,which seems to be much prettier.Such a hard-thinking and careful consideration of the engineering article is really a model of design and layout.The span was much wider than the other stone bridge in ancient times all over China.
Today Zhaozhou Stone Bridge is one of international cultural relics and perfectly protected and preserved by the concerned administration of China. | high7760.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "actors"
},
"options": [
"porters",
"waiters",
"actors",
"taxi drivers"
],
"question": "When you travel to the USA, you don't need to tip _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Different countries have different customs. When you travel to another country, please follow their customs, just as the saying goes, " _ ."
Very often people who travel to the United States forget to tip . It is usual to tip _ who help carry your bags, taxi drivers and waiters. Waiters expect to get a 15% tip on the cost of your meal. Taxi drivers expect about the same amount.
In England, make sure to stand in line even if there are only two of you. It's important to respect lines there. It's a good idea to talk about the weather. It's a favourite subject of conversation with the British.
In Spain, it's a good idea to have a light meal in the afternoon if someone invites you for dinner. People have dinner very late, and restaurants do not generally open until after 9 pm.
In Arab countries, men kiss one another on the cheek . Your host may welcome you with a kiss on both cheeks. It is polite for you to do the same.
In Japan, people usually give personal or business cards to each other when they meet for the first time. When a person gives you a card, don't put it into your pocket right away. The person expects you to read it.
Don't forget to be careful of your body language to express something in a conversation. A kind of body language that is used in one culture may be impolite in another. | high9995.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A kid-invented device calm dogs' separation anxiety."
},
"options": [
"\"iCPooch\" wins in a young scientist competition.",
"A 16-year-old girl invents a device for dog hunger.",
"A man-made device lets people chat with their... | Brooke Martin's golden retriever Kayla hated being left alone or separated. She would howl, pace, and chew on things. Brooke learned that other people had the same problem with their pets. She wondered: --What if you could talk to your dog if you were gone?
Working with her father in their garage, the 16-year-old came up with several ideas. Finally, she invented a device that allowed pet owners to video chat with their pets! She calls the device iCPooch. --The dog doesn't have to answer the call,explains Brooke. --It comes up immediately on the screen on their end. It's a two-way audio and video--you can see and hear each other.With a click of a button you can even send the dog a treat!
Her invention has earned her a spot competing against nine other finalists in a young scientist competition for middle-school students. These finalists, selected based on their short video presentations, are working with mentors over the summer before heading to the final competition in St. Paul, Minn.
After Martin's video put her among the 10 finalists in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, she was paired with Delony Langer-Anderson, a product development scientist in 3M's consumer health care division. --I just lead her down the product development path,Langer-Anderson told Live Science. This path includes guidance on how to test the potential product, which combines a video chat device that answers immediately on the dog's end with a dog treat device the owner can remotely activate.
One thing I have thought about a lot is, what happens if while the device is on the floor, what if your dog knocks it over, or scratches the screen? Martin said. She and Langer-Anderson discussed this, and Martin is now testing materials at a local dog shelter by taping them to the dog house floors to see how well they withstand sharp teeth and claws.
The finalists create models they can test, with the guidance from a mentor. Their projects include a fuel cell that transforms cut grass into electricity and an app that rewards drivers for not texting or calling. Langer-Anderson tries to help the students work through the scientific method, testing their hypothesis, in a determined way, --so the kids don't get buried in data.she said. | high12548.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "women have so much to share"
},
"options": [
"he is treated as an outsider rather than a husband",
"women have so much to share",
"women show little interest in ballgames",
"he finds his wife difficult to talk to"
]... | Betty and Harold have been married for years .But one thing still puzzles old Harold .How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa ,talking ,go out to a ballgame ,come back three and a half hours later ,and they're still sitting on the sofa ? Talking ?
What in the world ,Harold wonders ,do they have to talk about ?
Betty shrugs .Talk ? We're friends .
Researching this matter called friendship ,psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men .No matter what their age ,their job ,their sex ,the results were completely clear :women have more friendships than men ,and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is "marked and unmistakable ."
More than two -thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman .Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend ,and almost always it was a woman .More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend ,most trusted person ,or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress ."Most women ,"says Rubin ,"identified at least one ,usually more ,trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment ,and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives ."
"In general,"writes Rubin in her new book ,"women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support ,but men's relationships are marked by shared activities." For the most part ,Rubin says ,interactions between men are emotionally controlled -a good fit with the social requirements of "manly behavior ."
"Even when a man is said to be a best friend ,"Rubin writes ,"the two share little about their innermost feelings .Whereas a woman's closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage ,it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa ." | high685.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He was expected unable to walk."
},
"options": [
"He was expected unable to walk.",
"He was born outward in character.",
"He had a problem with listening.",
"He was shorter than a normal baby."
],
"question": "W... | I stood outside New York's Madison Square Garden and just stared, almost speechless. I was a farm boy from County Kilkenny, a child who some thought would never walk, let alone go as far as I had in the world.
From the day I was born, there was a problem. The doctors at the Dublin hospital told my parents I had phocomelia, a _ that affected both legs below the knee, which were outward and shorter than normal and each foot had just three toes.
Life was tough. I couldn't stand, much less walk. I rarely, left the farmhouse---and then only in someone's arms. Mam bundled me up whenever she took me to town, no matter the season.
"The world will see him when he can walk," she told Dad. "And he will walk."
Mam devoted herself to helping me. She tried everything to get me on my feet. When I was three, she and Dad took me to a clinic in Dublin.
A few weeks later we returned to Dublin with my artificial limbs . Back home I practiced walking with my new limbs.
"There's nothing anyone can do but you can't," Mam said. "You and I are going to walk through town."
The next day Mam dressed me in my finest clothes. She wore a summer dress and fixed her hair and makeup. Dad drove us to the church. We stepped out of the car. Mam took my hand. "Hold your head up high, now, Ronan," she said.
We walked 300 meters to the post office. It was the farthest I'd walked, and I was sweating from the effort. Then we left the post office and continued down the street, Mam's eyes shining with a mother's pride.
That night, back on our farm, I lay exhausted on my bed. It meant nothing, though, compared to what I'd done on my walk.
Then I began to pursue my dream of singing. And at every step Mam's words came back to me--Ronan, you can do anything anyone else can do--and the faith she had in God, who would help me do it.
I've sung from the grandest stages in Europe, to music played by the world's finest musicians. That night, I stood at the Madison Square Garden, with Mam's words chiming in my ears. Then I began singing. I couldn't feel the pulse of the music in my feet, but I felt it deep in my heart, the same place where Mam's promise lived. | high1311.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "they were still in their teens"
},
"options": [
"they were still in their teens",
"they began to date each other",
"they began to share their lives",
"Dar returned from the South Pacific"
],
"question": "The aut... | Dar and I loved to dance. It was probably the first thing we did together, long before we would share our lives.
We grew up in a small Oregon mountain community where dances were held almost every Saturday night. Dar was seventeen and l was thirteen when we first danced. He was one of the best dancers on the floor, and so was I. We always jitterbugged. No slow dancing for us; nothing remotely romantic.
Our fathers would stand along the wall and watch. Every once in a while, Dar's dad would smile a little and say, to no one in particular, but my dad could hear, "Boy, my kid can sure dance." _ he acted like he'd never heard. But a while later he would say, to no one in particular, "That girl of mine can sure dance."
Our dancing together stopped for five years while Dar was in the South Pacific in World War II. When we met again, Dar was twenty-two, and l was eighteen. We began to date and dance again. We were as good together as we remembered, and this time we added slow dancing.
For us, life is a dance, a movement of rhythms, directions, stumbles, missteps, at times slow and precise, or fast and wild and joyous. We did all the steps.
Two nights before Dar died, the family were with us. We all ate dinner together, and Dar sat with us. He hadn't been able to eat for several days. After dinner, I put on a Nat King Cole tape. Dar took me in his arms, weak as he was, and we danced and smiled. No tears for us. We were doing what we had loved to do for more than fifty years. It was our last dance---forever unforgettable. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. | high13656.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Express their true feelings."
},
"options": [
"Learn a new subject",
"Keep in touch with friends.",
"Show off their knowledge.",
"Express their true feelings."
],
"question": "What are people encouraged to do at... | Conflict is on the menu tonight at the cafe La Chope. This evening, as on every Thursday night, psychologist Maud Lehanne is leading two of France's favorite pastimes, coffee drinking and the "talking cure". Here they are learning to get in touch with their true feelings. It isn't always easy. They customers-some thirty Parisians who pay just under $2 (plus drinks) per session-care quick to intellectualize ,slow to open up and connect. "You are forbidden to say 'one feels,' or 'people think',"Lehane told them. "Say 'I think,' 'Think me'."
A cafe society where no intellectualizing is allowed? It couldn't seem more un-French. But Lehanne's psychology cafe is about more than knowing oneself: It's trying to help the city's troubled neighborhood cafes. Over the years, Parisian cafes have fallen victim to changes in the French lifestyle-longer working hours, a fast food boom and a younger generation's desire to spend more time at home. Dozens of new theme cafes appear to change the situation. Cafes focused around psychology, history, and engineering are catching on, filling tables well into the evening.
The city's "psychology cafes",which offer great comfort,are among the most popular places.Middle-aged homemakers,retirees,and the unemployed come to such cafes to talk about love,anger,and dreams with a psychologist.And they come to Lehanne's group just to learn to say what they feel."There's a strong need in Paris for communication,"says Maurice Frisch,a cafe La Chope regular who works as a religious instructor in a nearby church."People have few real friends.And they need to open up."Lehanne says she'd like to see psychology cafes all over France."If people had normal lives,these cafes wouldn't exist,"she says."If life weren't a battle,people wouldn't need a special place just to speak."But then,it wouldn't be France. | high14139.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "a piece of cheese helped to catch the thief"
},
"options": [
"the burglar went into the kitchen and ate some food",
"the thief stole some cigarettes and a little money",
"the burglary happened in a small town",
"a piece... | This is a rather strange story but it is quite true. In December 1996, a burglar broke into a golf club in a small town. When the police arrived to look into it, they found an unusual clue--- a piece of cheese with a bite-mark in it. The burglar had gone into the kitchen, and had eaten some food there. Then he had stolen some cigarettes and a little money.
The police man in charge of the case guessed that the burglar was a local man. He thought that professional thieves would not bother to break into a golf club.He made enquires in the town and asked three suspects to come to the police station. When he questioned them about the burglary, they all denied stealing in the club.The policeman then gave each man a piece of cheese and asked them to bite it. He took the pieces of the cheese to a dentist and asked him to compare the bite-marks with that in the piece of cheese at the scene of the burglary.
The policeman set free two of the suspects and questioned the third one. At first the man said that he was innocent . The policeman knew that the man was lying, so he encouraged him to talk until he began to contradict himself . The policeman told him about the bite-marks and the man had to admit his stealing. | high23795.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence"
},
"options": [
"the founding of Udacity",
"the wide application of online education",
"the popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence",
"the opening of MOOCs ... | Will online courses transform world of education?
Some may wonder what it feels like to attend a class at Stanford University. The recently popular MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) can satisfy this desire. But they are also most likely to change the situation of higher education. Only last month,both Peking University and Tsinghua University announced plans to start open online course on the edX platform,one of the world's major providers of MOOCs,to explore this new form of online education.
Gaining momentum
"It's not only a change of platforms from offline to online. It's more about a reform of
teaching methods,even the whole education system,"said Chen Jining,president of Tsinghua University.
The potential of MOOCs to reform education has been obvious in the US ever since the immediate popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence,taught by Stanford University professor Sebastian Thrun, who later co-founded Udacity, a platform with 1.6 million enrolled students in 200 countries. According to Nature magazine,by June 2013,74 percent of universities in the US offered some type of online course. Lu Fang, vice-president of Fudan University,explains the appeal of MOOCs as a simple case of supply and demand:"The demand for high quality educational resources from both enrolled students and professionals is feeding the rise of MOOCs,in which classes usually taught by top teachers are available to everyone,"said Lu.
Too early to replace
With easy access and free of charge, MOOCs are said to have the potential to change the present education system. But there are barriers,because hardly any universities offer degree certificates, as college administrators point out, it's difficult to confirm if students are foaming anything in MOOCs,reposed USA Today.
The Wall Street Journal also reposed that,presently,a typical MOOC student is likely to have
already graduated from college and is using the course to explore an interest or acquire professional
skills. Even so, an increasing number of undergraduates are signing up.
"What we are really establishing are educational pathways for people who want skills that are related to contemporary jobs,"Thrun told The Wall Street Journal. | high6318.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To inform them their blood is used."
},
"options": [
"To ask them for authorization.",
"To inform them their blood is used.",
"To remind them to donate blood immediately. '",
"To tell them the levels of blood groups."
... | Most people think about donating blood. However. Very few actuallv do it. Even the most consistent ones donate an average of just three to four times during their lifetime. Now the officials in Sweden are trying to change the trend with the help of modern-day technology.
The encouragement to donate again begins shortly after the donor leaves the clinic when he/she receives a "thank you" text. Though that certainly helps them feel appreciated, what is even more pleasing is the text they receive each time their blood is used to help someone in need.
Karolina Wiberg, manager of the Stockholm blood service, believes this small gesture not only results in repeat donors, but helps bring in new ones. The program that was started in Stockholm has received such positive feedback that it is now being rolled out across the country.
However, Swedish officials are not stopping there. They are also encouraging local clinics to publish the exact levels of the different blood groups they have at any given time on their websites. This allows potential donors to realize that their blood can make a difference in saving someone ' s life.
While all these outreach programs are great, busy citizens, even the ones with the best intentions have to be occasionally reminded. In order to jog their memories, officials ask people for authorization to send them text, Facebook, and e-mail reminders. Though that may sound disturbing, the citizens do not seem to mind, given that the messages are light-hearted and fun-things like "We won't give up until you bleed."
Though Sweden is currently the only country using modern technology to urge more donations, don't be surprised if more join in, especially if the Nordic country's blood banks start to overflow! | high13130.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Wear animal-shaped clothes"
},
"options": [
"Join in the 5-mile walk",
"Attend courses for free.",
"Wear animal-shaped clothes",
"Enjoy good company of wild animals."
],
"question": "What can children do at Walk... | Check out some fun weekend activities from our friends at Arizona Parenting.
Walk in the Wild: Walk or run for wildlife at the Phoenix Zoo's Walk in the Wild 2016. Put on your favorite animal dress and take part in the one mile or 5K,enjoying the sights and sounds of the Zoo. Walk in the Wild includes a morning full of unique activities you won't find at any other valley walk, including all-day zoo admission and a lakeside after-party.
Register online. 6-10 am. Phoenix Zoo, 455 North Galvin Parkway, Phoenix. 602-286-3800.
Free Museum Day: It is hosted by Sesame Street and HBO at the Children's Museum of Phoenix. Kids can participate in activities, enjoy a performance by the Sesame Street Muppets and get to join the Everyday Heroes Club. An act of kindness is all it takes to become a member. Performances and activities will take place at 10:30--11:30 am and 1:30--2:30 pm.
9 am--4 pm. Children's Museum of Phoenix, 215 N. 7th street, Phoenix. 602-253-0501.
Sunday A'Fair: Sunday A'Fair features free outdoor concerts in Scottsdale Civic Center Park by top Arizona musicians, along with an arts-and-crafts market, fun activities for children and families, guided tours of the sculptures in the park and free admission to Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA). Guests are invited to bring blankets, lawn chairs or picnic baskets, and enjoy a relaxing afternoon of great entertainment. Delicious foods, snacks, beer, wine and soft drinks are also available for purchase.
12-4 pm. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. 2ndSt., Scottsdale. 480-994-ARTS (2787). | high14887.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He is quite an able person as a prisoner."
},
"options": [
"He is treated unfairly in the prison.",
"He is in charge of the federal prison.",
"He is quite an able person as a prisoner.",
"He is the most powerful man in ... | There's a guy like me in every state and federal prison in America, I guess -- I'm the guy who can get these for you: cigarettes, a bag of cigar, if you want that, a bottle of wine to celebrate yourson or daughter's high school graduation, or almost anything else. . . within reason, that is. It wasn't always that way.
I came to Shawshank when I was just twenty, and I am one of the few people in the prison who is willing to admit what he did. I committed murder . I put a large insurance policy on my wife, who was three years older than I was, and then I fixed the brakes of the car her father had given us as a wedding present. It worked out exactly as I had planned, except I hadn't planned on her stopping to pick up the neighbor woman and the woman's son on the way down Castle Hill and into town. The brakes let go and the car crashed through the bushes, gathering speed. Bystanders said it must have been doing fifty or better when it hit the base of the Civil War statue in the town arid burst into flames.
I also hadn't planned on getting caught, but I was caught. I got a pass into this place. My state has no death penalty , but I was tried for all three deaths and given three life sentences, to run one after the other. That fixed up any chance of parole I might have, for a long, long time. The judge called what I had done 'an extremely evil crime', and it was, but it is also in the past now.
Have I transformed myself, you ask? I don't know what that word means, at least as far as prisons and corrections go. I think it's a politician's word. It may have some other meaning, and it may be that I will have a chance to find out, but that is the future. . .
I was young, good-looking, and from the poor side of town. I met a pretty, headstrong girl who lived in one of the fine old houses on Carbine Street. She got pregnant later. Her father was agreeable to the marriage if I would take a job in the company he owned and 'work my way up'. I found out that what he really had in mind was keeping me in his house and under his thumb, like a disagreeable pet that has not quite been housebroken and which may bite. Enough hate eventually piled up to cause me to do what I did.
Given a second chance I would not do it again, but I'm not sure whether that means I am transformed. | high8335.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "More Shanghai Rent Cars for Holidays"
},
"options": [
"How Shanghai People Spend Their Holidays",
"Why So Many Shanghai People Rented Cars for Holidays",
"More Shanghai Rent Cars for Holidays",
"Shanghai Rent SUV Instea... | Shanghai-More Shanghai people are renting cars to travel over the coming National Day holiday, Tom reported today.
Most cars in large local car-rental companies such as Yongda, Anji and Dazhong are leased so far with the Buick Sport Utility Vehichle (SUV) in high demand.
Santana and Jetta were previously the most popular car models rented by Shanghai people for travel, while the high-end Buick models have generated great interest among locals renting cars these years. However, the rent on a Buick GL or GS model is between 650 yuan and 750 yuan a day, nearly double those of the Santana and Jetta cars.
Compared with Santana, Buick looks better, has greater capabilities and is safer and more comfortable, said a car leaser. "I don't mind paying a higher cost for a Buick to enjoy the holiday," he said.
SUV cars are very popular in the car renting market, according to some car rental firms.
"All the 31 Buick GL8SUV cars were leased out several days ago," said an employee with the Shanghai Yongda Car Rental Co.
Local people are more inclined to go travel with groups of friends, so SUV cars are a better choice, said an industry analyst . Moreover, SUV car are safer on rugged and rough roads, the analyst said.
According to the data, most people rented cars for seven days; a less number rented them for two or three days. | high15541.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "You are not my dad, but I begin to love you!"
},
"options": [
"You are not my dad, but I begin to love you!",
"I begin to love you, my son!",
"You can do better, boy!",
"Do you love me, dad?"
],
"question": "The... | Zach drove over to Mary's place. She would be his wife soon. She was in China, visiting her parents. Her son Bradley hadn't gone with her. Bradley was a junior in high school. He neither liked nor disliked Zach, even though he had known Zach for three years. Zach was still trying to get along well with Bradley.
When Zach arrived, he asked if Bradley wanted to drive his car. Bradley had a driver's license. Bradley said all right. Zach told him not to drive fast, but that he could drive anywhere he wanted. Bradley got on the road. Zach gave Bradley a few driving tips: Don't drive next to big trucks, because you never know when they might crush you. Don't drive behind trucks filled with things, because you never know when something in the truck will fly out and hit your car.
On their way back, Zach suggested that they stop at the golf course. He wanted to show Bradley how to play golf. Bradley wasn't interested. He preferred his video games. But Bradley soon discovered that golf was fun! He hit a lot of balls. Zach told him that he was doing well. The next day Bradley, for the first time ever, called Zach. He had a few blisters on his hands. Zach said that usually happened. Then Bradley asked if Zach would come next Saturday so they could take a drive and hit golf balls again. Zach said, of course, and felt happy. | high3260.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "wearing comfortably"
},
"options": [
"eating well",
"wearing comfortably",
"having a healthy weight",
"doing more exercise"
],
"question": "In this passage, health includes all of the following EXCEPT _ .",
... | Almost every day, we discuss the topic of health, especially for kids. But what is health? "Health" means eating well, getting enough exercise, and having a healthy weight. Let's read the following rules. They can help you stay healthy.
1 Eat _ foods, especially fruit and vegetables. We all know that eating fruit and vegetables can help us stay healthy, but many of us only eat our favorite foods. Remember that we can only get the nutrition we need by eating different kinds of food, especially fruit and vegetables.
2 Drink water and milk most often. Everyone knows that water is important. Besides that, kids need plenty of calcium to grow strong bones, and milk has a lot of it. Every day, you should drink at least three cups of milk (1300 milligrams of calcium), when you are 9 years old or older. You should also try to have less sugary drinks, like soda and coca. They include a lot of sugar. Sugar just includes calories, not important nutrition.
3 Listen to your body. When you are eating, notice how your body feels. When your stomach feels comfortably full, stop eating. Eating too much makes you feel uncomfortable. If you do it too often, it can make you unhealthy and fat.
4 Limit screen time. What's screen time? It's the amount of time you spend watching TV, movies, and playing computer games. The more time you spend on these sitting-down activities, the less time you spend playing sports, like basketball, and doing other activities like bike riding and swimming. Try to spend no more than 2 hours a day on screen time. | high10439.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "gets power from a battery pack without wires"
},
"options": [
"is made of titanium and pump",
"brought the patient to the brink of death",
"gets power from a battery pack without wires",
"was invented by two surgeons fr... | A patient on the brink of death has received the world's first self--contained artificial heart--a battery--powered device about the size of a softball that runs without the need for wires,tubes sticking out of the chest.It is powered by a small battery pack worn outside the body that transmits current through the skin.
Two surgeons from the University of Louisville implanted the titanium and plastic pump during a seven-hour operation at Jewish Hospital Monday.The hospital said the patient was''awake and responsive''Tuesday and resting comibrtably.It refused to eve personal details.
The patient had been expected to die within a month without the operation, and doctors said they expected the artificial heart to extend the person's life by only a month.But the device is considered a major step toward inlproving the patient's quality of life.
The new pump,called AbioCor,is also a technological leap from the mechanical hearts used in the l980s, which were attached by wires and tubes to large machinery outside the body.The most famous of those, the Jarvic-7,used air as a pumping device and was attached to an apparatus about the size of a washing machine.
''I think it's potentially a major step forward in the artificial heart development,''said Dr.David Faxon,president of the American heart Association.However,he said the dream of an implantable,permanent artificial heart is not yet a reality:''This is obviously an experimental device whose long--term success has to be demonstrated."Only about half of the 4,200 Americans on a waiting list for donor hearts received them last year,and most of the rest died.
Some doctors,including Robert Higgins,chairman of cardiology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond,said artificial hearts are unlikely to replace donor hearts."A donor heart in a good transplant can last l5 to 30 years.''he said.''It's going be hard replace that with a machine.'' | high18065.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "likes to run after chickens"
},
"options": [
"can make buildings out of anything",
"is a kid who likes to play tricks on teachers",
"keeps lots of chickens",
"likes to run after chickens"
],
"question": "In book... | Book 1: Iggy peck, Architect
----By Andrea Beaty
32 pages, US $ 15.95
This book is the classic oddball story about a kid whose head teacher does not recognize his great talent ( he makes buildings out of anything at hand, including table cloths, fruit and chalk) until it saves her life.
Book 2: The Chicken--Chasing Queen of Lamar County
----By Janice N. Harrington
40 pages, US $ 16.00
Our character here loves to run after chickens, particularly Miss Hen, who's very fat. But, as all farming folk know, this is not a good way to produce happy, productive chickens. What will make her change her ways? The author is a professional storyteller and this book is full of fun, and has great illustrations .
Book 3: Diary of a Fly
----By Doreen Cronin
40 pages, US $ 15.99
This is the diary of a fly. A fly who, when she's not landing on your head or swimming in your soup, is trying to escape her 327 brothers and sisters who are driving her crazy. Even though she's little--just like her best friends, Worm and Spider--she wants to be a superhero. This is the story of a little fly who's not afraid to dream really big.
Book 4:Cherry and Olive
----By Benjamin Lacombe
32 pages, US $ 16.95
Children's books can quickly take little readers into new worlds, such as the big city, 1930s Georgia, or outer space. This book takes us on a little trip to some European capitals. Cherry is fat and likes books, and she has few friends until she meets a stray Shar--Pei puppy . She names it Olive. Through it she finds confidence and friendship. But what will happen when its owner returns? | high5611.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "exchange ideas"
},
"options": [
"exchange ideas",
"practice grammar rules",
"talk with foreigners only",
"learn lists of words"
],
"question": "Language is used to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"... | What is language for? Some people seem to think it's for practicing grammar rules and learning lists of words -- the longer the lists, the better. That's wrong. Language is for the exchange of ideas and information. It's meaningless to know all about a language if you can't use it freely. Many students I have met know hundreds of grammar rules, but they can't speak correctly or fluently . They are afraid of making mistakes. One shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes when speaking a foreign language.
Native speakers often make mistakes and break rules, too. Bernard Shaw once wrote, "Foreigners often speak English too correctly." But the mistakes that native speakers make are different from those that Chinese students make. They are English mistakes in the English language. And if enough native speakers break a rule, it is no longer a rule. What used to be wrong becomes right. People not only make history, but they also make language. But people can only make their own language. They can't make another people's language. So Chinese students of English should pay attention to grammar, but they shouldn't overdo it. When they learn a foreign language, they should put communication first. | high17356.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because the red phone boxes have already become a symbol of Britain."
},
"options": [
"Because millions of people visit Britain to see the red phone boxes.",
"Because the local people could earn a lot of money from the red phone bo... | Britain's symbolic red phone boxes have become out of date in the age of the mobile, but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative intelligence. Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of phone boxes have been given a new life by local communities determined to preserve a typical part of British life. In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old house with a pot of flowers, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and stuck poems on the walls.
They took control of the phone box when telecoms operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that caused such dissatisfaction that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it. "I'd have done it, " insisted Kendall Turner. "It would have been heartbreaking for the village. " Local councilor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box's change, said quite a few people would have joined her, adding, " We couldn't let it go because it's a British symbol."
Only three feet by three feet wide, and standing 2.51-meter tall, the phone boxes were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25thanniversary of the reign of King George V. Painted in "Post Office red" to match the post boxes, they were once a typical image of England and the backdrop to millions of tourist photographs.
Eight years ago there were about 17,000 across Britain, but today, in a country where almost everybody has a mobile phone, 58 percent are no longer profitable and ten percent are only used once a month. "On average, maintaining them costs PS800 a year per phone box-about PS44 million annually," said John Lumb, general manager for BT Payphones. | high11733.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "China"
},
"options": [
"India",
"Canada",
"Turkey",
"China"
],
"question": "The speaker is giving a speech to students in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_in... | Dear Students,
I am delighted to be your guest.
I would like to tell you about myself. I have been a news reporter for the past fifteen years. I chose this job so I could travel the world, but the job has taught me many unforgettable lessons. The work is sometimes difficult. I have seen _ , wars, earthquakes, poverty and death. But I have also seen courage, hope and happiness.
In India, I visited a city where there were many homeless children. Some were as young as four years old. They lived in the streets and survived by begging or stealing. But then a wonderful lady called Rosa opened a home for them. Within one year, she was looking after two hundred children. She clothed them, fed them, and taught them. She gave them hope.
Another time, I was in Turkey after a terrible earthquake, in one place. I found an old lady whose house was in ruins, her son was missing and rescue workers said there was no chance that he was still alive. But the old lady did not give up hope. For four days, she moved heavy stones one at a time by herself. She did not stop until she found her son. He was alive.
Here in China, I met a young boy with a serious condition. He had undergone twenty operations and spent nearly his whole life in hospital. I thought he would be sad, but when I met him, his smile was so warm and welcoming.
In life, we need role models that we can admire and learn from. When my life is difficult, I try to remember the courage and goodness of these three people. | high3274.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "had received no money for that day"
},
"options": [
"had already received some dollars already [: ]",
"had been thinking of taking his own life",
"had received no money for that day",
"had acted as if he was looking f... | A beggar followed a lady and asked her for some money. She refused, so he turned away sadly and said he must do what he had made up his mind to do.
At this word, the lady was greatly frightened for she was afraid for his life. So she called him back and gave him a dollar. The beggar took the money, put it into his pocket, and thanked her a great deal. "You have saved me from a terrible fate," he said. The lady asked him what he meant. The beggar replied, "Madame, I have been begging all day, but only you have taken pity on me. Without this dollar you gave to me, I should have had to go to work now. | high21828.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "experienced"
},
"options": [
"spiritual",
"journalist",
"professor",
"experienced"
],
"question": "The word \"professional\" in this advertisement most probably means \" _ \"",
"question_type": "cloze_ques... | Register in person
Register by phone
Register by mail
1781 N. Winchester ST.
Call 264 8833
Use form given
Chicago
Basic Photography
This is an eight-hour course for beginners who want to learn how to use a 35mm camera. The teacher will cover such areas as kinds of film, light, and lenses . Bring your own 35mm camera to the class.
Course Charge: $150
Jan. 10, 12, 17, 19, Tues. & Thurs. 6-8p.m.
Marianne Adams is a _ photographer whose photographs appear in many magazines.
Understanding Computers
This twelve-hour course is for people who don't know very much about computers, but who need to learn about them. You will learn what computers are, what they can and can't do, and how to use them.
Course Charge: $75
Equipment Charge: $10
Jan. 7, 14, 21, 28, Sat. 9-12 a.m.
Joseph Saimders is a professor of computer science at New Urban University. He has over twelve years of experience in the computer field.
Stop Smoking
Do you want to stop smoking? Have you already tried to stop and failed? Now it is the time to stop smoking using the latest methods. You can stop smoking, and this twelve-hour course will help you do it.
Course Charge: $30
Jan. 4, 11, 18, 25 Mon. 4-7 p.m.
Dr. John Goode is a practicing psychologist who has helped hundreds of people stop smoking.
Typing
This course on weekdays is for those who want to type as well as those who want to improve their typing. You are tested in the first class and practice at one of eight different skill levels. This allows you to learn at your own speed. Each program lasts 20 hours. Bring your own paper.
Course Charge: $125
Materials Charge: $25
Two hours each evening for two weeks.
This course is taught by a number of business education teachers who have successfully taught typing courses before. | high5605.txt |
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