questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Human beings and what they rely on to live."
},
"options": [
"Human beings and everything they do and think.",
"Human beings and what they rely on to live.",
"Citizenship, rights, ethics and time limits.,",
"Social fair... | Society is the term to describe human beings gathered together by social networks tand power networks. It does not refer to everything everybody thinks or does, but, only refer to those things that everybody depends upon ,for example, public services, governments, and all kinds of communities.
A society must keep even the poorest and weakest members willing to help even the richest and strongest, so it is very concerned with citizenship, rights, ethics ( )and time limits. These are basic ways to achieve fairness. If they break down badly, people will think the society is unfair and start taking things from each other, refusing to help each other, or seeing those who have more as cheats.
When this happens, it is time for the society to break down or fail. Theft, violence and war are things that can make a society break down. A new society may be formed out of the collapse of an old failed one when people of different kinds reach an agreement about fairness and are willing to live together in harmony again.
To adapt to the society, people should make sure that their behavior can be supported by the society, that is to say, there must be some social rules on which citizens base what they do. However, some people take risks that the society will support them when they do whatever they intend to. For instance, they may refuse to obey the law, and count on their fellow society members to free them in a court of appeal, which harms the society.
Therefore we need a social contract which sets out rules for the society. One kind of the social contract is a constitution -which allows a jury or court to decide what is right or wrong according to the social rules. | high21143.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "purchase online for a lower price"
},
"options": [
"pay for everything online",
"have better bargaining skills",
"rush to buy things in a store",
"purchase online for a lower price"
],
"question": "According to ... | Showrooming
One of the biggest challenges facing brick-and-mortar retailers in recent years has been the "showrooming".Driven by the desire to get the best prices, many shoppers are now visiting brick-and-mortar stores to personally check on products that interest them, only to leave and then buy the items online.The new trend is forcing retailers to find out new ways to keep consumers from leaving their store for cheaper prices online.
Recent research found that 40 percent of U.S.shoppers have showroomed previously, with big-box retailers suffering the most.Specifically, the study shows that Best Buy, Walmart and Target are the most likely brick-and-mortar stores to have shoppers test out a product in-store and then purchase it online later, while Amazon is benefiting most from the practice, with nearly 60 percent of shoppers using the online retail giant most often to make their showrooming purchases.
Smartphones have pushed showrooming into the front.Shoppers no longer have to wait until they get home to see if they can find a cheaper price for the products they're considering buying.With smartphones, consumers can now compare virtual prices, at both other brick-and-mortar stores and online ones while still inside a retail store.If they can find what they're seeking for less online, the majority will be seeking the first exit.A recent study showed that 45 percent of customers shopping at brick-and-mortar stores walk out and buy their purchase online for a discount of as little as 2.5 percent.
This puts pressure on retailers to provide both an in-store experience worth staying for and an online presence that can attract shoppers who are showrooming in other businesses.
To cut down on showrooming, many retailers are adopting new methods to keep shoppers in their stores.Among the steps they're taking are price-matching guarantees that allow shoppers to pay a discounted price if they find it cheaper online.This ensures that even a showrooming shopper can make the purchase in the store--regardless of whether they find the cheaper price online.
Another popular method to fight against showrooming is to give shoppers the ability to buy something online and pick it up at the store.This reduces shipping costs and gets customers in the store, where they may be encouraged to make an additional purchase.
It is also important for businesses to take into consideration what makes shoppers purchase something in-store rather than online, and meet those needs.Research has found that more than 8 in 10 Americans consider being able to take the goods home immediately and the ability to touch and feel them--the most important aspects when deciding to purchase in a store rather than online. | high12589.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He couldn't afford his two brothers' tuition even if he worked from day to night."
},
"options": [
"His father died in a car accident six years ago.",
"He had to drop out of school to look after his sick mother.",
"He couldn'... | My life suffered a lot in summer five years ago. My father died in a car accident,leaving my mother,my two younger brothers and I alone. At that time,I was a senior high school student. After my father's funeral,I had no choice but to drop out of school and work in a factory.
I really wanted to return to school and wanted to go to college,but I couldn't. I only hoped to bring up my two young brothers. Life was not easy for me,for I can't afford their tuition even if I worked from day to night without stopping. Without my father's protection,I thought I was a slave to the fate.
Later on,something changed my life. I still remember that it was a rainy day. I put myself in the rain and walked slowly in the street.
Suddenly the rain stopped!I raised my head and found "the sky" was in fact a dark blue umbrella. Then I noticed a middleaged man with one leg on crutch standing behind me. He said to me,"Why not run without an umbrella?If you didn't run,you would get drenched."
The man told me that he was a promoter. He once dreamed of being a policeman,but an accident ruined his dream. Though his present job was not suitable for his legs,it was a wonderful start to him. He was very happy that he didn't lose heart and still "ran" on the road of life...
I was encouraged by the man's words. I went to a big city and became an assurance representative. After two years' running,I did well and my family condition turned better little by little. Later I returned to school and succeeded in my entrance to university.
Life is like this. When you are in rainy days in your life,if you couldn't find a way to prevent you from being wet,you would be overwhelmed. But if you decide to get rid of it,you'll discover that the rainy days last not so long as you imagine. | high8492.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Grammy Awards"
},
"options": [
"Grammy Awards",
"Maurer",
"Surviving Survivor",
"Private Practice"
],
"question": "Edna is crazy about pop stars, so she will most likely choose _ to enjoy.",
"question_ty... | Below is a web page from http:// www.tvguide.com/
Tonight's TV Hot List:Sunday January 27,2013
Grammy Awards
Beyonce and Taylor Swift are ready to take home a lot of hardware tonight as they lead all artists with ten and eight nominations.The ladies also perform,along with fellow Album of the Year nominees the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga and the Dave Matthews Band.In addition,Bon Jovi,Green Day,Lady Antebellum,Maxwell, Pink and Zac Brown Band will also take the stage.But perhaps the most expected moment is the Michael Jackson tribute ,which features the 3--D mini-movie "Earth Song" and will be highlighted by performers Celine Dion,Jennifer Hudson,Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood and Usher.
Maurer
A mysterious company named Sabre, headed by an attractive,stubborn CEO(Kathy Bates),appears out of nowhere and buys out Dunder Mifflin. As Michael is unwilling to follow Sabre's new policies, Andy and Erin write a welcome song to greet the company.Meanwhile,Pam and Jim hope to get accepted into a desired local day-care center.
Surviving Survivor
It's hard to believe it's been ten years since the first season of Survivor.But tonight ten of the game's most iconic players,including previous winners Richard Hatch,Parvati Shallow and Tom Westman,discuss the series in detail and provide insights into how the game is actually played and the impact it's had on their lives.
Private Practice
So Maya's pregnant and wants to have the baby. What to do now? Dink(Stephen Lunsford),the boy who did his part to get her into this mess,has a solution:he wants to marry her.You can imagine how Sam and Naomi will feel about that.And if that won't raise the histrionic level enough for you, how about this:a couple has two dying daughters,and only one can be saved.Their choice.And Brian Benben is back,so expect more Pete -Violet-Sheldon angst. | high23754.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "develop closer relations"
},
"options": [
"develop closer relations",
"share the same culture",
"get to know each other",
"keep each other company"
],
"question": "In some countries, eating together at restauran... | Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal. Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job.In many European countries -- like the UK or France -- people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or cafes rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand.I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled.After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other. | high644.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It is hotter than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are worried."
},
"options": [
"It is as cold as usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are pleased.",
"It is hotter than usual in Middlesbrough, and the farmers are pleased... | 1. Summer came early to Middlesbrough yesterday, as temperatures shot up to 22degC (71degF), a record for March. But local NFU agent Jim Wilkes says it could be bad news for farmers. "The crops will think it's summer," he told our reporter, "and start sprouting four weeks before time."
2. The death toll of the Burnside train crash rose to four yesterday when John Phillips, 32, of Petersville died in Wallsend Hospital. Another six people are still on the danger list. Mr. Phillips, an electrical engineer leaves a wife and two children.
3. China and the United States reached an agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights yesterday, after difficult marathon talks.
The agreement is good news for all parties concerned. The Chinese Foreign Trade Minister described the agreement as a "turning point" in Sino-US trade relations that "promises further progress" in the future. The agreement will not only favorably influence trade relations between China and the United States. It may favorably influence the overall relations between the two countries. | high7979.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Shanghai Disney Resort will have some unique Chinese features."
},
"options": [
"Shanghai Disney Resort will have some unique Chinese features.",
"The optimal time for the opening of the resort has not been decided.",
"The re... | Shanghai Disney Resort will officially open and welcome its first guests on June 16, The Walt Disney Company and Shanghai Shendi Group announced early morning today.
"The resort will host a multi-day grand opening celebration, culminating in a spectacular welcoming ceremony for the resort's first official guests." The management of the resort said.
At the opening, it will include the Shanghai Disneyland, a theme park with six themed lands, two themed hotels, Disneytown, a huge shopping, dining and entertainment district and Wishing Star Park. It will also celebrate China's rich heritage and cultural elements.
"Both shareholders and the board of directors agree this is the optimal time to welcome our first official guests to the resort," said Philippe Gas, general manager of the resort.
Major construction of the resort is now complete and will be followed by extensive preparations to ensure the resort is fully operational and ready to greet millions of guests. The resort will continue to hire and train a new cast to join the current team of nearly 2,000 cast members and imaginers, according to the resort.
The theme park's ticketing plan as well as other operational details of the resort will be announced at a later date.
Shanghai Disneyland, the resort's theme park, will have six themed lands: Adventure Isle, Gardens of Imagination, Mickey Avenue, Tomorrow land, Treasure Cove and Fantasyland, with the Enchanted Storybook Castle, the largest castle in a Disney park.
Shanghai Disney Resort broke ground in 2011. The iconic castle topped off in May 2015. | high13697.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The United States Air force."
},
"options": [
"The United States Air force.",
"The Center for UFO Studies.",
"Kenneth Arnold.",
"A report."
],
"question": "Who used the term UFO first?",
"question_type": "fa... | For thousands of years, people have seen things they didn't understand in the sky. The United States Air Force first used the words "Unidentified Flying Object" to describe them. Today everyone uses the term UFO. When people see a UFO, it is usually no more than a weather balloon or an airplane. But the Center for UFO Studies goes on to receive hundreds of reports each year.
In 1947 a businessman and pilot, Kenneth Arnold, was flying near Mount Rainier, Washington when he saw nine shiny, round objects flying through the air. He told a newspaper reporter they looked like "pie plates skipping over water." The reporter used the words "flying saucer " in his story and today that is the popular name for UFOs.
The Center for UFO Studies lists three kinds of contacts with flying saucers. "Encounters of the first kind" are reports of unknown objects or lights in the sky. People have "Encounters of the second kind" when a UFO leaves burn marks or other signs on the ground. People report "Close encounters of the third kind" when they see aliens in or near a UFO. | high23998.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because the woman seemed to be in a hurry."
},
"options": [
"Because there were many other families there.",
"Because the woman seemed to be in a hurry.",
"Because the writer wanted to hear a story.",
"Because the woman... | My daughter and I collected the empty cans and bottles in our home this morning.We had 6 full garbage bags later so I knew we would be spending a bit more of time at the recycling center.When we got there,a man and his kids were also doing the morning recycling and were using two of the four machines to recycle their plastic and cans.Luckily,we were able to use the 2 remaining machines.
Of course,there were others that came,but when they saw the two families with garbage bags full of recycled things,they quickly left.However,one woman came in with just 5 cans and looked as if she was in a hurry.So I stopped what I was doing and let her in to recycle her cans.Of course,she was grateful,and it felt good to let her go ahead of me.But that was not the whole story.
My daughter and I continued to work through the bags,but the plastic recycling machine stopped working because it was full.My daughter was left with nothing to do.The other family was still using the other two plastic recycling machines,but it seemed that they were almost done.I just told my daughter we would have to wait until they were done.But the man of the other family came through with another act of kindness.He offered to let us go ahead of him.I was really surprised,because we had more than 5 bottles,but he didn't seem to mind.I happily accepted _
It was great to give and then to get an act of kindness in turn.It was small,I didn't expect it,but it surely brightened up my day. | high9940.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "close relation usually have similar intelligence"
},
"options": [
"close relation usually have similar intelligence",
"unrelated people are not likely to have different intelligence",
"the closer the blood relationship betwee... | Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people _ from population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If on the other hand we take two identical twins, they will very probably be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence. | high8486.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "An American high school's graduation ceremony"
},
"options": [
"An American high school's graduation ceremony",
"The opening ceremony of a sports meeting.",
"A presentation of college diplomas.",
"A US college's farewel... | Breathe, wave and smile. Along with more than 300 other seniors, I marched into the stadium on the afternoon of May 10. The audience burst into deafening cheers. The huge stadium shook with all the whistling and clapping.
It was as if a Hollywood superstar had walked on stage. And indeed, every single senior that day was a star of the moment. Each deserved it. The seniors had been preparing for four years for this once-in-a-lifetime moment--the commencement .
Seated, I waited anxiously for the opening address. As a foreign exchange student, I was not able to receive a diploma. However, I still had the wonderful feeling of being part of things. Like the other graduates, I was dressed in marron cap and gown .
Our principal, Mr. Glover, delivered a short, warm greeting. The US national anthem followed and then, hands on chests, a solemn Pledge of Allegiance .
Students who had excelled academically gave farewell speeches. The tears in some eyes convinced me that many had deep feelings about the occasion. It was as the class motto says, "Life brings us tears, smiles and memories. The tears dry; the smiles fade; but the memories last forever."
Then came the core of the commencement. Hundreds of names were announced. Each graduate walked across the stage to receive his or her diploma from the principal. From the different cheers each graduate got, we had the funny sense that it was a kind of competition of who could cheer the loudest.
To be honest, the presentation of diplomas got boring. A girl sitting next to me even started yawning. But it wasn't boring for those receiving the diploma: they would treasure the moment the principal placed the sacred brown document in their hands for the rest of their lives.
A new page in the book of that person's life had turned. They were glimpsing their futures: futures of challenge, hardship, perhaps loneliness too, which would take all of their courage. | high888.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He stopped his car some distance back to give her enough space to move in."
},
"options": [
"He drove in front of her car and asked her to follow his car.",
"He signaled to her to drive in when the traffic signal turned green.",
... | It was evening rush hour on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, CA. Drivers lined up from traffic signal to traffic signal and were anxious to get home. On a side street merging into this highway was a timid driver who was afraid to edge in and no one let her in. Some of the drivers backed up behind her and loudly blasted their horns. This made her more upset and nervous.
On the right of this side street, the signal on Pacific Coast Highway turned red and traffic stopped. A driver who saw what was happening to this woman stopped a few car lengths behind her car and motioned to her to pull in front of his car. She quickly did and as he waited, two more cars dashed in behind her car.
While the woman he'd helped waited for the signal to turn green, she sank into her driver's seat and was deeply relieved. Although this thoughtful man couldn't see it, her body language expressed her gratitude.
If you've been in a traffic situation like the one she was in, you know how upsetting it can be. But this little act of kindness allowed her to safely reach her home. She told others about this, which encouraged them to do something nice for someone else.
This kindness spreads. Someone does something nice for you and in turn you're likely to do something nice for that person or for someone else.
A simple act of kindness could have a widespread effect. It's like a stone that drops in a pond and causes ripples in each direction. No one knows how far those ripples will travel but they will affect everything they touch along the way. | high23740.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "198."
},
"options": [
"140.",
"60.",
"80.",
"198."
],
"question": "What is the exact number of whales stranded last Friday?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index... | WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ---- About 140 pilot whales that stranded(...) themselves on a remote stretch of New Zealand beach have died, but conservation workers and volunteers are hoping the remaining 60 or so will survive after they managed to get them refloated, an official said Saturday.
The geography of Farewell Spit on the South Island seems to work against whales, which regularly become stranded there. The stranding of 198 whales on Friday was one of the largest in recent years and inspired 80 workers and volunteers to help out.
By late Saturday, 140 of the whales had died, said Department of Conservation area manager Andrew Lamason.
He said the workers and volunteers worked throughout the day to keep the surviving whales watered and covered before refloating them during Saturday night's high tide.
"We've had a really good crew of volunteers, and people have been wanting to come from all over the country,"Lamason said.
He said the surviving whales had moved to deeper water. But he cautioned that although hopes for their survival were high, whales had been refloated in the past only to return and get stranded again.
Lamason said the scale of the stranding has been tough on the helpers, both physically and mentally.
"It's very sad, they're very intelligent animals," he said. "The common view is that it's part of nature."
The focus will now turn to the dead whales, and the enormous task of dealing with the remains, Lamason said, adding that in the past helpers have typically buried them in the sand, but that he's not sure what the approach will be this time.
He said the department had been experimenting with moving the the dead whales into the water, which has the advantage of providing food for other sea creatures. | high9798.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "make Milo's mother their kids' mom"
},
"options": [
"kill Milo's mother",
"take Milo as their kid",
"make Milo's mother their kids' mom",
"send their kids to Milo's family"
],
"question": "In the movieMars Needs... | What would you do if Martians kidnapped your mom? In the 3-D animated movieMars Needs Moms, a young boy named Milo finds himself in this exact difficult situation. The aliens want to steal Milo's mother's "momness" for their own young. Now it's up to the 9-year-old to get his mom back before she is lost forever.
Every good action movie has a bad guy. The villain in this film is the Martian Supervisor, played by Mindy Sterling. The Supervisor has an icy cold heart. Remarkably, Sterling acted out almost all of her scenes in a special Martian language created just for the movie. "Learning Martian was a piece of cake," Sterling said. "There wasn't too much to learn; sometimes, I just made it up!"
Anyone who has a mother will be moved by this movie. In fact, anyone who loves someone will be moved by this movie. Maybe it is because the story was inspired by a real-life event. The movie is based on a novel by prize-winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. He wrote the book after a dinner-table incident between his wife and son, who was then 4 years old. That night, Breathed's son had thrown his broccoli into the air and rushed out of the room angrily, yelling at his mother on the way out. Breathed told his son, "You might think differently about your mom if she were kidnapped by Martians." He wrote the novel that same evening.
All kids get into arguments with their parents. The fights may be about homework, chores or eating vegetables.Mars Needs Momstells us to look past these silly disagreements and to remember the importance of family and the things that really matter. | high650.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It mainly reports on a recent unique case of sleepwalking."
},
"options": [
"It analyzes what sleepwalking is and its effects on people.",
"It explains to readers why and how sleepwalking forms.",
"It mainly reports on a rece... | Scattered throughout the various reports on sleep research are several that describe some unusual behavior by people who are sleepwalking. These include eating, making phone calls and even murder.
Now, there's a new case appearing in one more study on this strange phenomenon: sleep e-mailing. In an article published in journal Sleep Medicine, prefix = st1 /SetonHallUniversityresearchers document the following case of a 44-year-old woman:
This woman received a puzzling phone call from a friend who said she was accepting her dinner invitation -- an invitation that the woman could not remember having made.
The friend reminded the woman of the e-mail she had sent the night before -- an e-mail of which the woman also had no recollection . However, a quick search through her sent e-mail folder did turn up one strange e-mail. She had apparently sent it to her friend -- at 11:47 the previous night.
The puzzling message said: "I don't get it. Please explain Lucy! Come tomorrow and sort this out! Dinner and drinks, 4 pm? Wine and caviar to bring only. Everything else, a guess?
There were two other e-mails sent to her friend at 11:50pm and 11:53 pm, each of which seemed to be written in a strange language, full of capitalization errors and phrases that didn't make sense. According to Dr Fouzia Siddiqui, lead author of the case study, this particular sleepwalking case was unique and was the first and only published account of "sleep e-mailing".
"Sleepwalking has occurred in the past where people would undertake other activities such as cooking or moving furniture around," Siddiqui said. " But this case is unique in that she wasn't just sleeping but doing complex things like turning on her computer, remembering her user name and password and typing entire e-mails."
Just what is sleepwalking? It is actually a kind of sleep disorder. Studies have found that somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of people are sleepwalkers.
It comes from a mixture of wakefulness and non-REM sleep. Sleepwalkers can carry out complex behavior such as driving, walking, e-mailing and telephoning in a sleep-like state. People with high levels of stress and anxiety, or those who have a family history of sleepwalking are more likely to experience it. | high16923.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "bike"
},
"options": [
"bike",
"bus",
"train",
"plane"
],
"question": "According to the passage, most Chinese people go to school or work by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {... | In China, most people ride bikes to school,or to work,or to places where they want to go.So China is called "kingdom of bicycles".
But Americans are a people on the wheel.Wherever you go, you will see cars.There are so many cars that there is a traffic jam here and there.Now, more and more Americans would not consider it a healthy way of life.In fact, many Americans are strongly against the advancement of the wheel.We should encourage people to use less cars to save our environment and the energy.
Everyone wants to reduce pollution.But the pollution problem is very serious.People drive cars and the waste gas from them causes air pollution.On the other hand, the need for energy increases every day, and some sources of energy are running out. Oil will last for no more than 40 years, while coal could last another 300 years.The way we're heading is towards a world where people are going to go cold and hungry.Now in China many rich men live away from downtown.On holidays they go to some big cities and places of interest.Most of them use their own cars.But China is a country with a population of over 1.3 billion.So, if you have enough money in the future,what will you do? | high20249.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they had enough ready-made watches to ship"
},
"options": [
"the designs were already prepared",
"there was enough space for shipment",
"they could produce enough watches quickly",
"they had enough ready-made watches to... | Sirs,
Your twelve thousand 'Smart' watches were received by our company this morning. However, we wish to make a number of complaints concerning the serious delay in delivery and your failure to carry out our instructions regard to this order.
It was firmly pointed out from the beginning that the delivery date had to be less than six weeks from the original order in order to satisfy our own customers' requirements. While we understand that delays in production are occasionally unavoidable, we must point out that the major reason why the order was placed with your company was that we were assured by you of its simplicity, and that your existing stocks were sufficiently high to ensure immediate shipment. Late delivery of the goods has caused us to disappoint several of our most valued customers, and will have an unfavorable effect on future orders.
The second complaint concerns the difference in colour between the watches we ordered and those delivered. It was stated clearly in the order that watches in combinations of green/purple and orange/purple only were required. However, only half the watches in the delivery received are of the colours specified. Our Hong Kong agent informed you of the importance of following our instructions exactly, since we consider there to be only a limited market in this country for watches of other color1s at the present time. Any watches that are not of the specified colours will, of course, be returned to you.
We are also somewhat concerned about the rather poor quality of the goods received, since it is obvious that the watches that finally arrived have been made from not good enough materials and have been produced to a lower standard than those in the sample. We have also found that a number of the watches do not appear to be working. Whether the latter problem is due to poor production, or damage in transportation is not yet clear, but we should like to point out that we feel this matter to be entirely your fault.
As a result of the above problems, therefore, we feel that the most suitable course of action is to return to you unpaid any of the goods considered unsatisfactory. We shall also, of course, be forced to reconsider whether any further orders should be placed with your company.
We look forward to your early reply.
Yours sincerely,
John Smith | high21157.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "3."
},
"options": [
"1.",
"2.",
"3.",
"4."
],
"question": "How many ways does the phrase \"to face the music\" comes from?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index"... | Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way.
Our expression today is "to face the music". When someone says, "Well, I guess I'll have to face the music," it does not mean he's planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn't do this or that. Awful music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father's angry voice, "I want to talk to you." and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase "to face the music" is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, "Well, it's time to face the music." And that was exactly what they did--facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps _ , especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression "to face the music" came to mean "having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice."
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shiny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely linked to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. For example, when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse. | high2815.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the brains behind Bai Du"
},
"options": [
"the brains behind Bai Du",
"Bai Du's brain trust",
"the brain drain of Bai Du",
"the organ of Bai Du"
],
"question": "According to the text, if you're the CEO of Bai D... | We all know what a brain is. A doctor will tell you that the brain is the organ of the body in the head. It controls our body's functions, movements, emotions and thoughts. But a brain can mean so much more.
A brain can also simply be a smart person, If a person is called brainy, she is smart and intelligent. If a family has many children but one of them is super smart, you could say, "She's the brains in the family. " And if you are the brains behind something you are responsible for developing or organizing something. For example, Bill Gates is the brains behind Microsoft.
Brain trust is a group of experts who give advice. Word experts say the phrase"brain trust" became popular when Franklin D. Roosevelt first ran for president in 1932, Several professors gave him advice on social and political issues facing the U. S.These professors were called his "brain trust. "
These ways we use the word "brain" all make sense. But other ways we use the word are not so easy to understand. For example, to understand the next brain expression, you first need to know the word"drain." As a verb to drain means to remove something by letting it flow away. So a brain drain may sound like a disease where the brain flows out the ears. But, brain drain is when a country's most educated people leave their countries to live in another. The brains are,sort of,draining out of the country.
However,if people are responsible for a great idea,you could say they brainstormed it. Here,brainstorm is not an act of weather. It is a process of thinking creatively about a complex topic. For example, business leaders may use brainstorming to create new products, and government leaders may brainstorm to solve problems.
If people are brainwashed, it does not mean their brains are nice and clean. To brainwash means to make someone accept new beliefs by using repeated pressure in a forceful or tricky way. Keep in mind that brainwash is never used in a positive way. | high11094.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A British captain."
},
"options": [
"Some archaeologists.",
"The Polynesians.",
"Pedro Fermandes.",
"A British captain."
],
"question": "Who gave the Henderson Island its present name?",
"question_type": "fa... | Henderson Island is a coral island raised above the South Pacific Ocean, No people live on it. The island is 9. 6 km long and 5. 1 km wide. It has an area of 37, 3 square kilometers. It became a World Heritage Site in 1988 because of its bird life.
All the four kinds of special land birds can only be seen on Henderson Island. There are also fifteen non-local seabirds. Other local things include nine kinds of plants, four kinds of land snails, and one butterfly.
Although no people live on the island, archaeological evidence suggests that a small Polynesian group lived here between the 12th and 15th centuries until it disappeared. The reasons for its disappearance are unknown, but are probably related to the similar disappearance of the Polynesians on Pitcairn Island. Then Hendersonians would have depended on them for many of the basics of life.
On January 29* 1606, Henderson Island was discovered by Portuguese sailor Pedro Fermandes, who named it San Joao Baptista. On January 17, 1819, the island was rediscovered by British Captain Henderson, who named it Henderson Island. On March 2* 1819* Captain Henry King, sailing on the Elizabeth, landed on the island to find the Union flag already flying. His crew scratched the name of their ship on a tree, and for some years the name of the island was Elizabeth or Henderson.
In the early 1980's, American businessman Arthur expressed interest in buying Henderson Island, and establishing a small settlement with an airport, farm and large houses. But the British government refused it at last* after environmentalist groups persuaded them to protect the natural ecology and environment of the island which became a World Heritage Site later. | high21631.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "make Estonia a clean place"
},
"options": [
"prevent people leaving their rubbish anywhere",
"make Estonia a clean place",
"change people' s attitudes towards the environment",
"make plans for businessmen"
],
"q... | For many years people in Estonia have been leaving their rubbish in the forests. Rainer Nolvak, a businessman and his friends wanted to clean up all the rubbish in Estonia. The rubbish was not just an environmental problem. It was a problem of people's attitudes. Rainer Nolvak got together with a team of 20 friends and they began to make a plan about how to clean up the rubbish. Soon, over 600 people joined in the group.
They named the project Let's Do It! Estonia. The Ministry of the environment gave them some support. Many other companies joined in the group. Famous actors and singers also took part. Even the President of Estonia joined in. They sent information about Let's Do It! Estonia throughout the country.
Technology experts developed a special computer program. Team members went into the forests to find where the rubbish was. They used their mobile phones to mark every place where they found rubbish and send the information to the computer program. Then, the marked rubbish places appeared on the map. Anyone could go on the Internet and see the map.
The team found a surprising result. There were over 10,000 tons of waste in the forests of Estonia. When people saw how much waste was around their own homes, they were shocked. Thousands of people began to help. The team chose May 3, 2008 as the day to clean up the rubbish. On May 3, more than 50,000 people helped to get rid of the rubbish. They moved over 10,000 tons of rubbish in only one day!
This was amazing for the environment in Estonia. But it was also an important step for Estonian society. Rainer Nolvak gave a speech at a conference in the Balkans. He said: "The most important thing we did was build a team. It changed every one of us. We had to connect to people. We had to see that the rubbish was our problem. At times we are afraid of sharing. When we are together and there are many of us, we are not afraid.' | high17383.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Doubtful"
},
"options": [
"Supportive",
"Doubtful",
"Opposed",
"Curious"
],
"question": "What was the school's coaches' attitude towards Brittany's idea of being a cheerleader?",
"question_type": null
},
... | In seventh grade, Brittany Blythe dreamed of being a cheerleader. Her school's coaches were less than enthusiastic. "They said, 'I don't know how you'll be able to do it,' she recalls. "'You won't be able to do it. '"
But Brittany, now a junior at Strath Haven High School near Philadelphia, persisted . And when the junior team cheerleaders won a tournament last year, she was right there, dancing and cheering with the rest of the team.
Not bad for someone whose legs were cut off below the knee when she was two years old.
Brittany, 18, was born without shinbones --"just blood and muscle tissue", as she puts it. When she tried to walk, her legs twisted.
After the operation, she adapted quickly. "From day one, I basically jumped up and wanted to do everything," she says. Prosthetic legs allowed her to move around upright, but too slowly to keep up with her friends. Brittany's solution: take the legs off and walk on her knees---sometimes she still does when safety and comfort permit.
She's rarely _ . Other children laughed at her through the years, especially in junior high school, but she says the challenge only made her stronger. Now she's trying to convince her coaches to let her remove the prostheses and be a flyer, the cheerleader who's thrown in the air and caught by her teammates.
Brittany doesn't think her problems are more difficult than the next person's. "My disability was the first thing I had to get through, and that's going to prepare me for the future," she says. "It's all just a test: If someone throws you a curve ball , what are you going to do?" | high136.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "people respond to stress quite differently"
},
"options": [
"people respond to stress quite differently",
"people make the same response to stress",
"unlike women, men tend to feel depressed more easily",
"personality h... | Mental and health experts believe personality plays an important part in how we experience stress. Personality is the way a person acts, feels and thinks.
Some people are aggressive and always in a hurry. They often become angry when things do not happen the way they planned. They are called "Type A" personalities. Studies suggest that these people often get stress-related disorders. The "Type B" personality is calmer. These people are able to deal with all kinds of situations more easily. As a result, they are less affected by stress.
Studies have also shown that men and women deal with stress differently. Women seem to be better able to deal with stress than men are. However, experts say women are three times more likely to develop depression in reaction to the stress in their lives. American writer John Gray became famous for his book, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." He notes that men and women have opposite ways of dealing with stress. For a man, the best way is to rest and forget about daily problems. But a woman suffering from stress needs to talk about her problems.
Experts say there are several ways to deal with stress, including deep breathing, exercise, eating healthy foods, getting enough rest and balancing the time spent working and playing. Exercise is one of the most effective stress-reduction measures, as physical changes from exercise make you feel better. In addition, exercise can also improve the body's defense system against disease.
Keeping stress to yourself can make problems worse. Experts say that expressing emotions to friends or family members or writing down your feelings can help reduce stress. And they also suggest that people should attempt to accept or change stressful situations whenever possible. | high23026.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Humoristic"
},
"options": [
"Optimistic",
"Humoristic",
"Objective",
"Critical"
],
"question": "Which of the following best describes the author's tone in telling the story?",
"question_type": null
},
{
... | One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river. When he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
The woodcutter told him that he had dropped his axe into water. God went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe.
"Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a silver axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "No."
God again went down and came up with a iron axe." Is this your axe?" God asked.
The woodcutter said "Yes."
God was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all the three axes.
The woodcutter went home happily. One day while he was walking with his wife along the river, his wife fell into the river. W hen he began crying, God appeared and asked him, "Why are you crying?"
"My wife has fallen into water."
God went down into the water and came up with Jennifer Lopez.
"Is this your wife?" God asked him.
"Yes." he said.
God was furious ,"YOU CHEAT !Now I am going to curse you."
The woodcutter quickly said, "Forgive me my lord. It is a misunderstanding. IF I say 'No' to Jennifer Lopez, you will come up with Catherine Zeta Jones, If I also say 'No' to her, you will finally come up
With my wife and I will say, 'Yes.' Then you will give all the three to me .I am a poor man .I will not be able to look after all the three. So that's why I've to say 'Yes' " | high15594.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "an engineer and tech company owner"
},
"options": [
"an app developer",
"a language teacher",
"a professor at college",
"an engineer and tech company owner"
],
"question": "We infer that Elon Musk is most probab... | Put technology in the hands of someone like Elon Musk and it can send people into space, make a future of clean and renewable energy a reality, or build electric cars. Put in your hands, and it can help you achieve all sorts of things, from learning to code to learning a language.
Educational apps are becoming increasingly popular as a supplement , and sometimes as an alternative
, to traditional education. Why? Well, for starters, it's extremely convenient to learn on a pocket-sized device that you already carry around with you at all times. The best apps are also highly interactive and adaptive, _ .
But apps, just like textbooks and language lessons, are a medium through which a language can be studied. The way you use them will affect how successful you are. If you flick through a textbook and don't dare say a word in your language lessons, you'll make slow progress. The keen reader who repeats each exercise in the textbook and engages the teacher in the conversation will move ahead. So how do you ensure you get the most out of your app, and what should you consider before you install one?
Before that, a very quick introduction: I developed the following five points from my experience as both a language teacher and learner, and from working in startups in the field of language. I spent six years teaching in Germany and Spain as well as developing a video learning startup. However, I first came to language learning late. I started learning Spanish at 22, and was able to use Spanish and German freely by about 28. I've been using language apps for the last few years, and participated in two successful one-week challenges to go from zero to hero in Italian and French. If you're interested, you can see the French challenge here.
So, just before downloading an app, here's what you should think about... | high14852.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "people find it hard to focus on their work"
},
"options": [
"people become badtempered",
"people's reaction slows down",
"people find it hard to focus on their work",
"people find it easy to focus on their work"
],
... | It's hardly surprising that weather is a favorite topic for so many people around the world--it affects where we choose to live, what we wear, our moods, and perhaps even our national characteristics.Studies have shown that changeable weather can make it difficult to concentrate, cloudy skies slow down reaction, and hot,dry winds make many people badtempered.
If you live in a place like Britain, where the weather seems to change daily if not hourly,you could be forgiven for thinking that the weather is random.In fact the weather is controlled by systems which move around areas of the globe.In the UK the weather depends on depressions , often called lows,and anticyclones ,also known as highs.These systems start in the Atlantic Ocean, and make their way across the British Isles from the west to the east.Highs bring sunny weather, while lows bring rain and wind.In modern times, human activities seem to be altering weather patterns.Gases produced by heavy industry change the temperature of the earth's surface,and affect cloud formation.Some researchers say that factories in Europe and North America may have been one of the causes of the droughts in Africa in the 1980s.
The human race has always tried to guess the weather,especially in areas of the world where there are frequent changes.Traditional rhymes point to early attempts to identify weather patterns; popular poems include:
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight;red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.
Flies will swarm before a storm.
Rain before 7,clear by 11.
While folk wisdom can provide a guide to help forecast weather, today's methods of prediction increasingly rely on technology.Satellites, balloons,ships, aircrafts and weather centers with sensitive monitoring equipment, send data to computers.The data is then processed, and the weather is predicted.However,even this system cannot predict weather for longer than about a week. | high5834.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Critical."
},
"options": [
"Objective.",
"Favorable.",
"Critical.",
"Doubtful."
],
"question": "What's the author's attitude to fast food advertisements?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | Fast food advertisements greatly influence teens' eating habits and advertisers are increasingly targeting them with a wide range of promotions. Fast food advertisements significantly affect teens' eating habits, leading to consequences such as obesity.
TV Advertising
The television is the largest source of food ads to teens. It is worth noting that TV watching may not be the chief cause of obesity, but rather the fast food commercials. This implies that fast food commercials greatly influence teens' eating habits, since food is the most advertised item on television.
Online Advertising
The Internet has become part of a teen's daily life. Fast food manufacturers have taken advantage of this to target teenagers with food commercials. McDonald's corporation has created websites such as 365Black.com. which target minority groups. MeEncanta. com is a McDonald's website that targets Latino youth, who are four and a half times more likely than other youth to visit the site.
Eating Habits
There is a strong connection between teens' eating habits and fast food commercials. In a study of more than 12,000 teenagers to inquire into the effects of fast food advertising on teenagers, teens who spent more than two hours watching commercial TV were likely to allow themselves to eat more unhealthy foods like fast foods, sugary drinks and snacks than those who did not.
Obesity
Teens who view fast food ads are at a higher risk of becoming overweight than those who do not, reports the American Academy of Pediatrics. In a survey of 3,342 youths aged between 15 and 23 researchers found that a higher percentage of obese and overweight participants identified with fast food ads. | high19386.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Try to develop our skills and be a career activist."
},
"options": [
"Be a good performer in our own organization.",
"Try to develop our skills and be a career activist.",
"Enter a field where the hot jobs are.",
"Trans... | In this fast-shifting world, there can be no guarantees attached to any particular job. But there is much that you can do to protect yourself from the change of society, by equipping yourself with the skills to manage your career more effectively. You need to be a career activist.
If you lost your main source of income tomorrow, could you find a different source to replace it? The most important thing in protecting yourself now and in the future is ensuring that you have choices. Don't let yourself be held back by a lack of skill development, or fear of change. Some people have been good performers in their own organization but discovered that they are stuck. Because they are so closely related to a particular company or industry, their skills are not readily transferred to other jobs.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you limit yourself to one particular area or sector, you limit your opportunity, too. In a global market place, many jobs come and go quickly as changes in the stock market. Today's hottest job may not exist tomorrow. If you love computers, then this work represents a great choice. But don't enter a field just because you think that's where the hot jobs are; even if the job is available, it may not match well with your own skills and abilities. Start with entry of your own strengths and interests, then see where you may match up best in the job market. | high20507.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Most spiders work alone, which makes it hard to understand how the web formed."
},
"options": [
"Most spiders work alone, which makes it hard to understand how the web formed.",
"The huge web causes too many mosquitoes to be killed... | People who have a fear of ugly insects will want to stay far away from Lake Tawakoni State Park in north Texas, US. A giant spider web was recently found there. The thick web is swarming with millions of little spiders.
Stretching across several acres it blankets a number of trees, bushes and even the ground.
While the web may make some people nervous, it has become a big attraction for others-especially for unlucky insects. "At first, it was so white that it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, the park's manager. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown."
Most spiders work alone, which is why the discovery of the huge web has caused such a stir. Scientists across the country have been debating its origin.
Some spider experts' say the monstrous web may have been weaved by social spiders. Social spiders work together to build larger webs to catch small insects. However, those webs take years to build. Park officials say this web was formed in just a few months.
Others say it could be the work of millions of tiny ballooning spiders. These types of spiders 'fly' by throwing out thin threads of silk, which they use to ride air currents . In 2002, a similar giant web made by ballooning spiders was discovered in a field in Canada.
Texas entomologist Herbert Pase says the giant web is very unusual. "From what I'm hearing, it could be a once-in-a-life-time event," he said.
But John Jackman, an entomologist and professor at Texas A&M University, disagrees. Jackman says he hears reports of similar webs, like the one in Canada, every few years. "There are a lot of folks that don't realize spiders do that," he said. "Until we get some samples sent to us, we won't know what species of spider we're talking about."
Park officials expect the web to last until fall when the weather gets cooler. That's when the spiders begin dying off in the park. | high18098.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "enjoys playing online games"
},
"options": [
"works hard at school",
"is active on Facebook",
"enjoys playing online games",
"likes talking with adults"
],
"question": "According to this passage we can infer tha... | There are several ways to break the technology code that teenagers have written among themselves. The following are ideas to help parents understand the sometimes confusing world of the teens.
SocialNetworking Sites: Sites like MySpace and Facebook _ all generations and are a good way for a parent to understand what social standards your teen is living with. There are many ways to help you take part in your child's online activities. You also can be from an onlooker who keeps a bird' s-eye view of his cyber world to an active member of his social group.
MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game comes in the form of games. A child can easily become addicted to them if no limits are set. To fully understand the attraction behind MMORPG, you can make your own account and character to explore the digital world. Playing the online games may seem strange at first to your teen, but experience has led me to only positive feedback from young people who can communicate with adults about their gaming experiences.
Text and Instant Messenger: The ways of teenage communication have produced a whole new language, such as "LOLZ" (laughing out loud) and "PSOS" (parent standing over shoulder). Learning the basic shorthand of teens can open up a whole new world of communication, not only talking to your teens, but being able to listen on their terms as well. You may just find yourself texting faster and ending your correspondence with TTYL (talk to you later). To teens, texting anyone looks cool, even Mom and Dad.
Email: Emailing your child is easy. This, of course, cannot take the place of face-to-face communication, but it provides another way for your child to reach you. Another benefit is that your child cannot act like he didn't hear you. | high11902.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "having some real friends"
},
"options": [
"getting high grades",
"having some real friends",
"developing a good habit",
"knowing how to dress themselves up"
],
"question": "In the author's opinion, _ is more i... | Your kids learn a lot from their friends--things you can't teach them, no matter how much you
want to.
Probably the most important thing kids learn is how to have peer relationships. As a parent, you can't do this, because you and your child aren't equals.
For example, when you're sitting on your family room floor and your very young child asks you to pass him the blocks, you probably hand them right over. If your child is sitting with a peer and asks the same thing, though, he might not get what he wants.
To succeed, your child will need to learn strategies for getting what he wants. For example, he might simply yank the toy out of his friend's hand. If he does that, he may learn that it's not the best way of getting what he wants because it leads to fighting and time-outs. The successful child will learn that he needs to negotiate a trade, to wait patiently, or to find something else equally fun to play with.
Friends also provide emotional support, something that is part of the foundation of healthy adulthood. You can't be with your child on the elementary school playground or at the high school dance. Your child's friends will be the ones to _ her, to include her in games, and later, to tell her she looks great even if her lousy prom date wanders off instead of dancing with her.
Friends also help your children learn. Friends solve problems together, imitate each other, and
pass on knowledge .
Some experts believe that the single biggest predictor of your child's success later in life is her ability to make friends. In fact, they claim it's even more important than IQ and grades.
This doesn't mean that the kids who are most popular in school do the best later on in life. What matters is not the number of friends a child has but rather the quality of the relationships.
This is good news for those of us who hate to think that popularity really is the Holy Grail of childhood and adolescence. While it's true that popularity has many advantages, and that many popular kids really are nice people--and not just the best dressed or best looking--it's better to have a few good friends than to have the admiration of the masses. | high9968.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "FrederickI"
},
"options": [
"FrederickI",
"Frederick WilliamI",
"Peter the Great",
"CatherineII"
],
"question": "The Amber Room was designed for _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answe... | The Amber Room belongs to the eight wonders of the world. It was given the name because almost several tons of amber were used to make it. First it was designed for the palace of FrederickI. Then Frederick William I, the next king of Prussia, sent it to Peter the Great as a gift of friendship from Prussian people.
Later, CatherineII had the Amber Room moved to a palace outside St. Petersburg where she spent her summers and she told her artists to add more details to its design.
Unfortunately, during the Second World War, the Nazi German was at war with Russia. In September 1941, the Nazis secretly stole the Amber Room and sent boxes of the Amber Room on a train for Konigsberg. After that what really happened to the Amber Room remains a mystery. | high13873.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the second time"
},
"options": [
"the first time",
"the second time",
"the third time",
"the fourth time"
],
"question": "It is _ that the iPhone prototypes have been lost in the recent years.",
"questio... | An Apple employee is in trouble after the prototype of its top-secret iPhone5 was left in a bar.
The as yet unreleased prototype was supposedly "misplaced" at Cava22 in San Francisco.
Apple's security team was called in after reports that it had been sold over the internet for PS120.
However, technology website Cnet.co.uk reports that the San Francisco Police Department said Apple had not reported the item as lost.
Cava22 owner Jose Valle has said that neither the SFPD nor Apple have contacted him, although he does remember getting calls about a lost iPhone last month.
It follows a very similar incident in April 2010 when a then-unreleased iPhone4 was left in a beer garden of a German bar in California by an Apple engineer.
The lost iPhone4 was also sold over the internet to the technology blog, which paid PS3,000.
The incident led to Apple strengthening its already stiff security, for it seems difficult to believe that a virtually identical incident would happen for the second time in two years. | high22476.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "He save 8 protesting group."
},
"options": [
"He wanted to have a rest.",
"He save 8 protesting group.",
"He noticed a plane crash.",
"He needed to kick off his shoes"
],
"question": "Why did Craig Schum stop hi... | On the way home from his job at a bakery in Wainscot, New York, one August evening,Craig Schum,33,stopped his car at the East Hampton Airport. A group was protesting, airplane noise,and Schum,who had kicked off his shoes,got out of the car.
Within seconds, though,Schum saw something astonishing.A small plane dived and crashed into the woods about l00 yards from the runway."I don't remember making the decision that I should go help out," he recalls."I just started running."
Sehum ran across the street barefoot,climbed over a six--foot-high chain link fence, and dashed about l00 yards toward the woods.When he got there, he discovered 5l yea r-old pilot Stephen Bochter,his head bleeding,beside the burning plane.Bochter's passenger,his wife, Kim Brillo,was on the ground, unconscious "She had blood all over her."says Schum."I thought she was dead."
Jack Gleeson,17,a high school student working a summer job at the airport,caught up to Schum and,with Bochter's help, 1ifted the chain-link fence and brought Brillo underneath it.Moments later,the entire plane exploded.
After the rescue team arrived,Bochter and Brillo were airlifted to a nearby hospital and treated for cuts,injuries and Brillo's broken arm, Bochter, an experienced pilot, 1ater said that the plane's electrical system had failed shortly after takeoff.He had been attempting to land at the East Hampton Airport when the plane began to nosedive.He managed to level the wings before crashing into the woods.
"Everything was on fire,and Schum came out of nowhere to save us."says Bochter."We're blessed to have lived through it" | high23768.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "various"
},
"options": [
"the same",
"changing with time",
"various",
"very low"
],
"question": "The sea level on both sides of the Grand Canyou is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"an... | Probably you have seen photographs of the Grand Canyon , the great valley in the desert country of Arizona. But you must go there yourself to feel its true size and beauty. Tie Grand Canyon is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world.
The Colorado River formed the Grand Canyon over mil lions of years. Slowly, the river cut down through hard rock. At the same time. the land was rising. Today. the canyon is one and a half kilometres deep and 445 kilometres long. The el dest rocks at the bottom of the canyon are more than 1 billion years old. The width varies from about 200 metres to 29 kilo metres across. The rim or top of the canyon is about 2, 300 metres above sea level tin the South Rim, and about 3,000 metres on the other side, the North Rink As a result, there are different kinds of plants and animals on opposite sides of the canyon. The South Run is dry desert country. The North Rim has tall forests.
The canyon looks different at different times of day. and in different seasons and weather. At sunrise anti sunset the red. gold, brown, and orange colours of the rocks are especially dear and bright. In winter, the canyon is partly covered with snow.
The view from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is the best. Most visitors come to the South Rim and stay in camp- grounds or hotels. Every point along the canyon' s edge offers a different view.
The North Rim of the Canyon is quieter, h takes all day to drive there from the South Rim because there is only one bridge across the Colorado River. On the way, you go through Navado Indian lands, and a colourful pink desert called "The Painted Desert".
You can walk clown into the Grand Canyon, or you can go down oil the back of a mule . You can also lake a boat trip down the Colorado River, and camp on the bea ches at night. But whether you see the Grand Canyon from the top or the honom, it will be an experience that you will never forget. | high24007.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "steam"
},
"options": [
"light",
"darkness",
"liquid",
"steam"
],
"question": "On Pluto's surface, liquid methane boils to form an atmospheric haze, which would be most similar to _ .",
"question_type": "c... | (This selection was originally published in 1992. Pluto is no longer classified as a planet.)
Pluto is in many ways the strangest of the planets. It is small and has a large moon(called Charon). Its orbit is unusual, which may cause it to have seasons in the sense that when it is close to the sun, the liquid methane on its surface boils to form a kind of atmospheric haze . When the planet moves farther away from the sun, it starts to snow solid methane.
Pluto is not dark. Despite its great distance from the sun, the surface of Pluto is probably as bright as a moonlit night on Earth. The reason is all that methane, which is as white as newly fallen snow.
The discovery of Pluto was more accident than design. The American astronomer Percival Lowell had predicted the existence of a ninth planet(he called it Planet X)based on what he took to be irregularities in the orbit of Neptune. Today astronomers argue that these "irregularities" weren't real, but the result of instrumental error. Nevertheless, Lowell produced predictions about where Planet X ought to be(although, to be honest, the predictions changed occasionally when he redid the calculations).In any case, in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, doing a systemic sky survey that would have found the planet no matter where it was, discovered the planet we now call Pluto. By coincidence, its position was pretty close to where Lowell's last prediction said it should be. Was it just luck? We'll never know. | high7945.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Asia"
},
"options": [
"China",
"Europe",
"Vietnam",
"Asia"
],
"question": "These places, Wuyi, Lhasa, Lijiang, Dali, Vientiane and Phnom Penh, lie in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | All young people dream of travelling the world. They are restless and very eager to see new sights. However, they have little idea how they would really do it if given the chance. Because their knowledge of geography is quite limited, they seldom know much about the places they wish to visit or how they would get there.
Already hundreds of thousands of Chinese student tourists are visiting these places-Wuyi, Lhasa, Lijiang, Dali, Vientiane and Phnom Penh. Indeed, these students will soon be the most travelled generation in China's long history. The World Tourist Organization predicts that a quarter of a century from now the number of Chinese tourists going abroad will be twenty times what it is today. The largest percentage of these tourists will visit Southeast Asia. Not all Chinese who travel abroad will be tourists, however. More and more youths are deciding to volunteer their skills in this region; much like their peers in the Peace Corps and VSO.
Critical thinking skills required include planning for a trip and solving problems after the trip has begun. The focus is on how to read an atlas to make travel plans and how to find ways of travelling. An atlas offers a wealth of information about geography and is one way to increase students' awareness of their global environment. Use of an atlas especially addresses the needs of students with different visual and spatial learning styles. | high678.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the increase of people's income"
},
"options": [
"the rising of PM 2.5 readings",
"more people suffering diseases",
"the increase of people's income",
"patients increased in hospital"
],
"question": "The effect ... | Since the beginning of the year, smog has covered parts of North China. In January, Beijing saw only five days without smog. The rising PM 2.5 readings terrified many people, and some health experts said that whenever the smog gets serious, hospitals receive more patients suffering acute respiratory and heart diseases.
Later, news of polluted underground water in some provinces scared people who wondered whether the water they drink is safe.
So the need to emphasize environmental protection while developing the economy is heard everywhere.
Smog especially is a common concern. Like a popular online post said, air may be the only thing that is equal for everyone, despite your income or vocation. People with higher incomes are able to drink only bottled spring water and eat only organic food by paying higher prices, but they breathe the same air as everyone else.
At a meeting on Monday, many Representatives have expressed their concerns about the air quality, too. One talked about his experience in Beijing. "After taking a taxi from the capital airport to my hotel, which took about an hour, I washed my nose and found the inside of my nose was black. We should ask ourselves this question: Why do we want to develop? It's for living a better life. Dirty air is definitely not a better life," he said.
China needs to develop its economy and invest in high-tech. Every Chinese wants a strong country. But without blue sky, clean water and safe food, the achievements in the economy will become meaningless. Space technologies are not to be developed for building a base on Mars so that one day all human beings can migrate to the red planet because _ have destroyed Earth.
What the public wants is a strong and beautiful China. Former president Hu Jintao spoke at the 18th Party Congress last November saying that great efforts must be made to promote ecological progress and build a beautiful China. The words have shown the central government's resolution to address the environment issue. | high4294.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "There is little involvement from teachers."
},
"options": [
"There is little involvement from teachers.",
"Normal school courses are also available.",
"The students meet every week to discuss their courses.",
"It was de... | The Independent Project at the Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is attracting huge interest in the education field. The program is a new concept that has developed a wide variety of students' abilities and excited their interest in education and self-directed learning. They are a group of students that , instead of being educated through the normal school courses, have created their own subjects and project-based interactive learning.
The students are almost completely independent. They choose a goal that they want to accomplish and work on for the whole year. These goals have included some impressive attempts such as writing a novel, writing a play , learning the piano and more. Along with these larger attempts , the students meet every day to ask questions about other subjects like natural sciences , social sciences, etc. Although most of them say that they don't like math, they did eventually develop an interest in math through this independent learning technique.
The education program, which has attracted a huge variety of students, allows the students to learn and develop research skills and questioning techniques and allows them to truly be interested in the subjects they are diving into . They also teach each other what they have learned , which allows them to develop different way of presenting and gathering material that they have researched.
I wish that I could have participated in such a project during my high school career, like writing a novel. I am currently studying English as well as education to pursue a teaching degree. I would love to adapt independent driven projects into a classroom in the future.
This project also raises some crucial questions. Do we need to rethink the structure of the education system itself? Are too many students being simply fed through a conveyor belt that we blindly see as working toward their education? I think that the education system needs some improvements , and different learning styles need to be addressed immediately.
Individual differences in learning are huge keys to the functioning of a classroom. This project takes the idea to a whole new level. This is an extremely important event in the development of the American education system and I think everyone needs to keep an eye out for more programs like this. | high18926.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the monkey demanded for at most 10 years"
},
"options": [
"the mule thought 40 years was enough",
"the dog thought 25 years was suitable",
"the monkey demanded for at most 10 years",
"the man wanted a life as long as po... | God created the mule and told him,"You will be Mule,working constantly from dusk dawn, Carrying heavy loads on your back.You will eat grass, and you lack intelligence.You will live for 40 years."The mule answered,"To live like this for 40 years is too much.Please, give me no more than 20."And it was so.
Then God created the dog and told him, "You will hold vigilance over the dwellings of Man.To him you will be his greatest companion.You will eat his table scraps and live for 25 years." the dog responded,"Lord,to live 25 years as a dog is too much.Please, no more than 10 years."And it was so.
God then created the monkey and told him,"You are Monkey.You shall swing from tree to tree, acting like a fool. You will be funny,and you shall live for 20 years."The monkey responded,"Lord,to live 20 years as the clown of the world is too much.Please,Lord,give me no more than 10 years."And it was so.
Finally,God created Man and told him,"You are Man,the only rational being that walks on the earth.You will use your intelligence to have mastery over the creatures of the world.You will dominate the earth and live for 20 years."The man responded,"Lord,to be Man for only 20 years is too little.Please,Lord,give me the 20 years the mule refused,the 15 years the dog refused,and the ten years the monkey rejected."And it was so.So God made Man live 20 years as a man, then marry and live 20 years like a mule,working and carrying heavy loads on his back.Then,Man is to have children and live 15 years as a dog,guarding his house and eating the leftovers after they empty the pantry .Then,in his old age,to live 10 years as a monkey,acting like a clown to amuse his grandchildren. | high20275.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "fear of others' attitude and reaction"
},
"options": [
"awareness that life is shy",
"lack of courage to speak out in public",
"fear of others' attitude and reaction",
"failure in his participation in class discussion"
... | I was painfully shy as a child. In high school I would avoid participating in class discussions. I was too afraid to talk to anyone but my closest friends~ I would think about being less shy, wanting the courage not only to ask a girl out, but to speak up in class and say what I was thinking. Yet, it never happened. Fears showed themselves in such self-conscious questions as, " What will other people think? What if she says no?" I felt a dark presence in my mind holding me back.
This shyness continued into college. One day, the question occurred to me: Is life shy?
The thought surprised me ! Think of the leaves bursting out in the spring time, the bird singing at dawn, the sheer number of different forms of life, all expressing the wideness and scope of divine life. There's nothing shy about it. Life is everywhere and attention-grabbing . So, if my creator isn't shy about all the life that needs expressing, I don't need to be either.
I realized that if I wanted to overcome fear and shyness, I would have to put this law of life into practice~ Shyness, fear, and loneliness were hindering me from living my life as life: God wanted me to live it. Therefore, I decided to live how life saw me.
One example: I wrote a note to a girl, asking her out on a date. Even as I was writing it, the fears of disaffirmation and unworthiness came to me. This time however, instead of shrinking back and hiding from the fear, I put the note in the campus mail in spite of myself. I thought: whether she says yes or no, it's still right for me not to be shy. I can live with the confidence sent from the source of my life. The girl saw me in class the next day and told me that she would love to go out with me. I should not have been so surprised!
Bit by bit, I was proving that the limited view of myself no longer had control over me. After college, I worked as a newspaper reporter, earned an advanced degree in theater, became a productive writer (a lifelong dream), met a special woman whom I married, and even got a job teaching at a university. | high2829.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Germany"
},
"options": [
"Denmark",
"New Zealand",
"Iceland",
"Germany"
],
"question": "You can tell whether a baby is a girl or a boy according to the first name in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_question... | Strange Baby-Naming Laws
Germany Parents are banned by law from using last names and the names of objects and products as first names. A child's first name must clearly indicate his or her sex, and all names must be approved by the office of vital statistics in the area in which the child was born.
Iceland The country's naming committee consults the National Register of Persons to determine if a name is acceptable. If parents want to go off-list, they must apply for approval and pay a fee, and the name must contain only letters in the Icelandic alphabet.
New Zealand The country's Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 prohibits parents from choosing a name that " might cause offense to a reasonable person; is unreasonably long; or is, includes, or resembles an official title or rank," including, apparently, Adolf Hitler and Yeah Detroit--both names recently rejected.
Denmark If Danish parents prefer a moniker not on the list of 7,000 preapproved baby names, they must get permission from local church and government officials. Fifteen to 20 percent of the 1,100 reviewed names--including creative spellings of common names, last names as first names, and unusual names--are rejected each year. | high4280.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the behavior of building users"
},
"options": [
"zero carbon homes",
"the reduction of carbon emissions",
"sustainable building design",
"the behavior of building users"
],
"question": "As to energy use, the new... | The behavior of a building's users may be at least as important as its design when it comes to energy use, according to new research from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). The UK promises to reduce its carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, part of which will be achieved by all new homes being zero carbon by 2016. But this report shows that sustainable building design on its own--though extremely important--is not enough to achieve such reductions: the behavior of the people using the building has to change too.
The study suggests that the ways that people use and live in their homes have been largely ignored by existing efforts to improve energy efficiency, _ instead focus on architectural and technological developments.
"Technology is going to assist but it is not going to do everything,"explains Katy Janda, a UKERC senior researcher, "consumption patterns of building users can defeat the most careful design." In other words, old habits die hard, even in the best designed eco home.
Another part of the problem is information. Households and bill payers don't have the knowledge they need to change their energy use habits. Without specific information, it's hard to estimate the costs and benefits of making different choices. Feedback facilities, like smart meters and energy monitors, could help bridge this information gap by helping people see how changing their behavior directly affects their energy use; some studies have shown that households can achieve up to 15 percent energy savings using smart meters.
Social science research has added a further dimension, suggesting that individuals' behavior in the home can be personal and cannot be predicted--whether people throw open their windows rather than turn down the thermostat , for example.
Janda argues that education is the key. She calls for a focused program to teach people about buildings and their own behavior in them. | high13867.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "indoor plants can help remove indoor air pollution"
},
"options": [
"plants are very useful to human beings",
"indoor plants can help remove indoor air pollution",
"indoor plants should be raised in both homes and offices",
... | Common indoor plants may prove to be a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. Those plants in your office or home are not only pretty, but NASA scientists are finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing possible harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings.
NASA have announced the finds of a 2-year study that suggested the common indoor plants may provide a natural way of helping fight against "Sick Building Syndrome ".
Research into the use of biological processes as a means of solving environmental problems, both on Earth and in space habitats, has been carried out for many years by Dr. Bill Wloverton, a senior research scientist at NASA.
Based on preliminary evaluations of the use of common indoor plants for indoor air purification ,NASA funded a study using about a dozen popular varieties of attractive plants to determine their effectiveness in removing several key pollutants linked with indoor air pollution. NASA research on indoor has found that living plants are so efficient at absorbing pollutants in the air that some will be launched into space as part of the biological life support system aboard future orbiting space stations.
While more research is needed, Wolverton says the study has shown that common indoor plants can remove certain pollutants from the indoor environment. "We feel that future results will provide an even stronger argument that common indoor plants can be a very effective part of a system used to provide pollution free homes and work places," he concludes.
"Combining nature with technology can increase the effectiveness of plants in removing air pollutants," he said.
NASA research has always shown that living, green and flowering plants can remove several poisonous chemicals from the air inside buildings. You can use plant in your home or office to improve the quality of the air to make it a more pleasant place to live and work--where people feel better, perform better, and enjoy life more. | high7789.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "introduce the seriousness of typhoid"
},
"options": [
"show the unknown history of Athens",
"introduce the seriousness of typhoid",
"tell the situation of the ancient war",
"explain what type of disease. typhoid is"
... | More than 2,400 years ago, a sickness struck Athens. The disease is said to have killed up to one third of all Athenians, including their leader Pericles. The huge loss of life helped to change the balance of power between Athens and its enemy, Sparta, in the ancient world.
Historians say the sickness began in what is now Ethiopia. They say it passed through Egypt and Libya before it entered Greece. Knowledge of the disease has come mainly from the writings of the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, who survived it.
So what caused the fall of Athens? Now, a study based on genetic testing says it was probably typhoid fever.
Greek researchers announced the results. Journal of Infectious Diseases published the findings online last week.
Researchers from the University of Athens tested human remains from an ancient burial place in the Greek capital. The researchers collected genetic material from teeth. They say tests found genetic evidence similar to that of the modern-day Salmonella .
Manolis Papagrigorakis led the University of Athens team. He says the findings throw light on one of the most debated mysteries in medical history.
Typhoid fever is a life-threatening disease that is common today in developing countries. Experts say there are more than 21,000,000 cases each year.
Typhoid can be spread by food or drink that has been handled by a person infected with the bacteria that causes it. Bacteria in human waste can pollute water supplies. So water used for drinking or to wash food can also spread the infection. Hand washing is important to reducing the spread of typhoid. And there are vaccines that can help prevent it.
Some people recover but continue to carry the bacteria. These carriers can get sick again. And they may continue to infect others. Doctors can do tests to make sure the bacteria has left the body. | high22462.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Don't watch them too near."
},
"options": [
"Don't take photos with them.",
"Sit on the legs of the penguin.",
"Don't watch them too near.",
"Never make them angry."
],
"question": "How should you behave when yo... | Discover the beautiful, silent, white world or Antarctica on the holidays of a life-time.Head South to Buenos Aires and then transfer to the world's most southern city, Ushuaia.From there, it's about 1,000 kilometers on a special icebreaker ship to the freezing temperature of Antarctica.
Getting off the ship and taking your first step onto the ice, you will imagine what it is like to be an explorer.Meet penguins sitting on their eggs, or see an Antarctic seal that lives all the year round on the ice.But do not get closer than five meters to any animal, in case you frighten it or make it angry.
The friendly crew of the ship will look after you as you explore the ice continent. We promise you fantastic meals and a comfortable bed -- you sleep in a four-person cabin -- as well as many special treats.If you don't think it is cold enough, try the ''polar plunge" -- jump into a special hole dug in the ice and dip your head under the water.You can then jump into a hot bath and if you succeed we will give you a certificate.
After you wake up for the first time in the Antarctica you will understand why everybody who goes there falls in love with the place.The scenery is different every day because the sea ice is always moving.
Our ships travel to Antarctica from November to March -- phone today and book your dream holiday! | high6497.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "7"
},
"options": [
"2",
"3",
"5",
"7"
],
"question": "How many sticks does the old man ask his sons to break?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"a... | A man had seven sons, who were always quarreling. They left their studies and work, to quarrel among themselves. Some bad men were looking forward to the death of their father, to cheat them out of their property by making them quarrel about it.
The good old man, one day, called his sons around him. He laid before them seven sticks, which were tied together. He said, "I will pay a hundred dollars to the one who can break this bundle ."
Each one tried their best to break the bundle. After a long but useless efforts, they all said that it could not be done.
"And yet, my boys," said the father, "nothing is easier to do." He then untied the bundle, and broke the sticks, one by one, with perfect ease.
"Ah!" said his sons, "It is easy enough to do it so; anybody could do it in that way."
Their father replied, "As it is with these sticks, so it is with you, my sons. So long as you hold fast together and help each other, you will be much richer, and none can harm you.
"But if the brotherhood bundle is broken, it will happen to you just as it has to these sticks, which lie there broken on the ground."
Home, city, country, all are property found, When they hold tightly together. | high7951.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "In bloom."
},
"options": [
"Classical rock, literally.",
"Expansive endeavors.",
"In bloom.",
"Ballet NY."
],
"question": "Where can you enjoy a program free of charge?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"... | Ballet NY
Dancing can provide an outstanding cardiovascular workout, but this week the members of Ballet NY come to Pittshurgh to dance for people whose hearts need help. The performance will benefit the Artificial Heart Program of the Heart, Lung and Esophageal Surgery Institute of UPMC. Ballet NY was founded 10 years ago by former New York City Ballet principal ballerina Judith Fugate and internationally famous dancer Medhi Bahiri, and former members of top dance companies. The performance starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Byham Theater, Downtown.
Admission: $35~$125.
The top price includes post-concert coffee and dessert reception with the dancers.
Details: 412-453-7777.
Classic rock, literally
Mannheim Steamroller will bring a breath of "Fresh Air" to the Benedum Center, Downtown, Monday. The band, which blends classical and rock influences with electronic and ancient instruments, is on the road in its "Fresh Air" tour. The name comes from a series of eight albums with that title. Music begins at 8 p.m.
Admission: $40, &50 or $60.
Details: 412-456-6666.
Expansive endeavors
Outdoors adventure goes beyond fun. It is a way of encountering the weakness of our existence and seeing ourselves as rather small creatures after all. The Banff Mountain Film Festival helps us see that with movies that also are just downright good. Sponsored here by Venture Outdoors, the festival will be at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Byham Theatre, Downtown, with different films each night.
Admission: $10, or $15 for both nights, in advance; $15 at the door.
Details: 412-255-0564.
In bloom
Children with spring fever can find an outlet on Saturday at the Frick Art& Historical Center, which is hosting "Green Kids--What's up?" The program brings children aged 4-8 into the garden on Frick's Point Breeze grounds, so that they can see what flowers are coming up in the early spring. The program, which runs 11-11:45 a.m., is free and includes an interactive tour and take-home activity. Meet in the Visitors' Center at the Frick, 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze.
Details: 412-371-0600. | high24013.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To provide partnership and fun for young people."
},
"options": [
"To offer students public services.",
"To help students improve their grades.",
"To organize sport activities for young people.",
"To provide partnership... | Big Brothers Big Sisters is based on the simplicity and power of friendship.It is a program which provides friendship and fun by matching _ (ages 7-17) with a volunteer adult who can be both a role model and a supportive friend.
Volunteer tutors come from all walks of life--married, single, with or without children. Big Brothers and Big Sisters are not replacement parents or social workers. They are tutors: someone to trust, to have fun with, to talk and go to when needed.
A Big Sister and Little Sister will generally spend between one and four hours together three or four times each month for at least twelve months. They enjoy simple activities such as a picnic at a park, cooking, playing sport or going to a football match. These activities improve the friendship and help the young person develop positive self-respect, confidence and life direction.
Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations exist throughout the world. It is the large and most well-known provider of tutor services internationally and has been operating for 25 years.
Emily and Sarah have been matched since 2008. Emily is a 10-year-old girl who has experienced some difficulties being accepted by her schoolmates at school. " I was pretty sure there was something wrong with me."
Emily's mum came across Big Brothers Big Sisters and thought it would be helpful to Emily by "providing different feedback about herself other than just depending on schoolmates to value her self-worth.
Sarah wanted to take part in a volunteer program. "I googled it and found out how to be a part of it. I thought it would be fun for me to take part in making time to do something because sometimes it is all work and no play."
Big Brothers Big Sisters has been helpful and enjoyable to both Emily and Sarah. They love and look forward to their time together and the partnership has certainly helped Emily be more comfortable in being the wonderful, happy and unusually good girl she is! | high22304.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To ease the traffic."
},
"options": [
"To ease the traffic.",
"To challenge citizens.",
"To attract visitors.",
"To set a record."
],
"question": "Why was Lombard Street built that way?",
"question_type": "f... | Lombard Street (San Francisco, USA)
Known as "the world's most-crooked street," Lombard Street was first built in 1922 to reduce the hill's natural 27 % grade ,which was too steep for most vehicles. Lombard Street owns the record as the street with the most switchbacks in a single block. With eight steep and sharp turns, Lombard Street looks like a giant dizzy snake lying on the road. This famous street in San Francisco is known as the most-challenging street of all.
Parliament Street (Exeter, England)
This street in England is over a hundred years old today, but what makes it as an urban wonder is not its age but its unbelievable narrow size. Usually, a street is where a vehicle can conveniently pass, but that will never happen in the Parliament Street, as the street measures just 25 inches wide which is just enough for a ly medium-built person to pass.
King Fahd's Fountain (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)
The fountain was donated to the city by King Fahd. Being the world's tallest fountain, it deserves to be an urban wonder. It was constructed between 1980 and 1983. This fountain shoots water in an incredible 1023-foot (312m) height which is greater than the height of the Eifel Tower. Because of its seemingly unreachable height, the waters of the King Fahd's Fountain can be sighted even if the visitors are miles apart.
Damanhur Temple (Northern Alps of Italy)
The underground of the modest homes of Italy's northern Alps is where a massive, richly -decorated temple is found. The Damanhur Temple was secretly constructed in the 1970s. Decorated with impressive murals and vividly-color1ed stain glass, the temple was once seized by the Italian government due to illegalities. After some time, it was returned to Oberto Airaudi, the builder and founder of Damanhur. | high19392.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Jobs"
},
"options": [
"Arts",
"Sales",
"Jobs",
"News"
],
"question": "In which column of a newspaper could we find this advertisement?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0... | Cwu
The communication union
Head of reach
Salary:PS55.271
We are looking for a Head of research to manage the CWU Research Department and Information Centre. You would be required to exercise control of all research work of the department and manage a team of three researchers and four support staff.
The person appointed would be expected to carry out research work of a strategic nature across the rang of businesses in which the CWU has or seeks membership and to contribute to the strategic thinking and direction of the union as a whole.
You will need: prove line management skills, especially in managing and motivating a team; good research skills, holding a good degree in a related subject or other similar experience; a high level of mathematical and calculating skills; the ability to produce high quality work under pressure; a commitment to and knowledge of the trade union movement and social democratic politics; knowledge and /or experience of the postal and/or telecommunications industry.
To apply, please request an application pack by emailing _ or by telephoning HR (human Resources) on 020-8971 7482. When applying please state your source.
Closing Date for Application: 4th August 2011/10/24
Anticipated interview date: 17th August 2011/10/24
No agencies please | high20513.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "enjoying a dinner"
},
"options": [
"fooling insects into taking a sip",
"producing nectar",
"tempting insects to come close",
"enjoying a dinner"
],
"question": "If the trap door of a meat-eating plant is closed... | If you travel to a new exhibition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, you will have chances to see some meat-eating plants. Take bladderworts, a kind of such plant, for example. They appear so small and grow in a quiet pond. "But these are the fastest known killers of the plant kingdom, able to capture a small insect in 1/50 of a second using a trap door!"
Once the trap door closes on the victim, the enzymes similar to those in the human stomach slowly digest the insert. When dinner is over, the plant opens the trap door and is ready to trap again.
Meat-eating plants grow mostly in wet areas with soil that doesn't offer much food nutrition. In such conditions, these amazing plants have developed insect traps to get their nutritional needs over thousands of years. North America has more such plants than any other continents.
Generally speaking, the traps may have attractive appearance to fool the eye, like pitcher plants, which get their name because they look like beautiful pitchers full of nectar .
Hair-like growths along the pitcher walls ensure that nothing can escape, and the digestive enzymes can get to work. A tiny insect can be digested in a few hours, but a fly takes a couple of days.
Some of these pitchers are large enough to hold 7.5 liters. Meat-eating plants only eat people in science fiction movies, but sometimes a bird or other small animals will discover that a pitcher plant isn't a good place to get a drink. | high11916.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The Self-fulfilling Effect."
},
"options": [
"A new scientific experiment.",
"The Self-fulfilling Effect.",
"Shaw's play \"Pygmalion\".",
"An improved teaching method."
],
"question": "What's the passage mainly ... | An experiment was carried out at British school into the performance of new pupils. At the start of the year, the pupils were each given a _ , ranging from "excellent prospect" to "unlikely to do well". These were totally untrue ratings and did not reflect how well the pupils had previously performed. However, these ratings were given to the teachers. At the end of the year, the experimenters compared the pupils' performance with the ratings. Despite their real abilities, there was an astonishingly high connection between performance and ratings. It seems that people perform as well as we expect them to.
The Self-fulfilling Effect is also known as the Pygmalion Effect. This comes from an old Greek story. The story was also the basis of George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion", later turned into the musical "My Fair Lady". In Shaw's play, Professor Henry Higgins claims he can turn a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle into a duchess. But, as Eliza herself points out to Higgins' friend Pickering, it isn't what she learns or does that determines whether she will become a duchess, but how she's treated.
The implication of the Pygmalion Effect for leaders and managers is massive. It means that the performance of your team depends less on them than it does on you. The performance you get from people is no more or less than what you expect, which means you must always expect the best. As Goethe said, "Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be." | high2197.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It is a form of influenza which strikes all birds,even humans."
},
"options": [
"It is a form of influenza which strikes all the animals.",
"It is a form of influenza which strikes all birds,even humans.",
"It is a form of in... | What Is Bird Flu?
What is bird flu?It's a form of influenza believed to strike all birds.Though poultry are believed to be especially prone to humans,no human-to-human transmission has been reported.
Where is it?Thailand,Vietnam,Indonesia,Cambodia,South Korea,Japan,Taiwan and China have reported outbreaks in birds in recent months.Thailand and Vietnam have reported human cases.Bird flu was first reported in humans in Hong Kong in 1997.Since then,it's popped up mostly in Asia,although the Netherlands reported an outbreak,including human cases,in 2003.
How many people have been affected?The disease has killed seven people.Vietnam has confirmed six human cases,and all of them have died.Thailand has confirmed three cases,including one death.
How is it passed?Infected birds spread the virus through saliva ,faeces ,and nasal secretions .
So far,only humans with direct contact with sick birds have caught the disease.But scientists are worried that bird flu could link with regular human influenza,mutate ,and become a deadly new virus and cause a pandemic .
What are the symptoms in birds?Loss of appetite,ruffled feathers,fever,weak-
ness,diarrhea ,excessive thirst,swelling.Mortality rate can range between 50 percent to 100 percent.
What are the symptoms in humans?Fever,cough,sore throat,muscle aches,eye infections,pneu-
monia ,viral pneumonia and so on.
World Health Organization(WHO) says this year's strain is resistant to cheaper antiviral drugs,for instance,amantadine(,).Scientists are exploring more expensive treatment.
WHO also recommends quarantining sick people.
There's no evidence that the virus is being passed through eating chicken products,health experts say.Heat kills viruses,and WHO says chicken products should be cooked thoroughly at the temperature of at least 70 degrees Celsius(158 degrees Fahrenheit).WHO also says people should wash their hands after handling poultry so as not to contaminate other objects. | high17630.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "getting viruses from person to person"
},
"options": [
"touching anyone directly",
"touching anyone indirectly",
"cold weather",
"getting viruses from person to person"
],
"question": "The writer thinks the caus... | The common cold is the world's most widespread illness, which is a serious infection that man receives.
The most widespread mistake of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passing on from person to person. You catch a cold by touching directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them forever. But they do not. And in separate Arctic areas, explorers have reported being free from colds until touching again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes.
During the First World War, soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches, cold and wet, seldom caught colds.
In the Second World War, prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp, bare and starved, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds.
At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they gave themselves to the discomforts of being cold and wet for a long time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in a room. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose.
If then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more frequent in winter? Despite the most hard research, no one has yet found out the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and that makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on.
No one has yet found a cure for the cold. There are drugs and pain-killers such as aspirin, but all that they do is to reduce the symptoms. | high2418.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "keep away from alcoholic drinks"
},
"options": [
"sing \"Happy Birthday\" while washing hands",
"eat more fatty foods and colorful fruits",
"keep away from alcoholic drinks",
"refuse communication with patients"
],
... | As A/H1N1 continues to spread, experts from the Centers for Disease Control to the World Health Organization to neighborhood doctors are calling on the people to practice smart flu prevention techniques. Here are some tips to keep body improved and immune system ready to fight infection.
Wash Your Hands
And wash them often, in hot soapy water, and for the amount of time it takes you to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.
Get Enough Sleep
This means slightly different things to different people, but try to get 8 hours of good rest each night to keep your immune system in top flu-fighting shape.
Keep Hydrated
Drink enough water each day to clear poisonous matter from your system and keep up good moisture production in your body.
Eat Immune-Improving Foods
Keeping you body strong and ready to fight infection is important in flu prevention. Fatty foods can slow your metabolism , make you feel inactive, and weaken your immune
system. So stick with whole grains, colorful vegetables, and vitamin-rich fruits.
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is likely to decrease your resistance to infections and further damages the immune system. So avoid alcoholic drinks to keep your immune system strong.
--------------------------?
Proper exercise-for example walking for 30-40 minutes 3-4 times a week-supports the immune system by increasing circulation, oxygenating the body, removing poisonous material through sweat, and reducing tension and stress. So get moving!
Avoid Contact with Sick People
If you're coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth(and then wash your hands),and if you have to be around someone who is sick, try to stay a few feet away from them and avoid physical contact.
Know When to Get Help
A/H1N1 can look like regular flu, so don't feel like you necessarily are infected if you're exhibiting flu-like symptoms . But do go to your doctor if you live in an area where there are recorded cases, or if your symptoms are very serious. | high11241.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Jazz."
},
"options": [
"Hip-hop and rap.",
"Breaking dance.",
"Rock.",
"Jazz."
],
"question": "Which of the following developed the earliest, according to the text?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answ... | Western teens share their top tunes
Have you ever wondered what kind of music kids across the Pacific Ocean are listening to? Are they crazy about Britney Spears? Do they love the Backstreet Boys? Or do they dance to Eminem?
Well, nearly 6,000 teens have taken part in a Teens & Music study, conducted by USA Weekend Magazine last autumn. And the results show what type of music is hot and what is not.
It comes as no surprise that hip-hop and rap are the most popular types of music among American teenagers. They began in the mid-1970s, with young black kids in New York, taking music onto the streets. Hip-hop and rap are well-known for the breakdancing that goes with them.
The word "rap" comes from a 1960s slang word for conversation. It is a rapid, slangy rhyme that is spoken rather than sung.
Eminem is among the most popular rappers ever to hit the US. His first album "The Marshall Mathers LP" topped the American music chart in May 2000. Although about a third of teens in the US showed their support for him, almost as many said that his music was so offensive that they couldn't listen to it.
Compared with Eminem, actor-rapper Will Smith is more of a star for the kids. He was awarded the Wannabe Award, on April 12 at Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards. It is an award given to a celebrity whom kids most want to be.
Pop music, such as Brittney Spears and the Backstreet Boys has always suited the tastes of the general public. It continues to enjoy support among teens and is second most popular after rap.
Third is rock -- music with exciting dance beats and simple lyrics that speak loudly of social problems. The melodies are led by electric guitars. Rock became popular in the US in the early 1950s. American singer Elvis Presley and British group the Beatles became world-famous rock artists.
The study also showed that jazz is least loved by American teens. It developed in the latter part of the 19th century from a mixture of African work songs and hymns . Jazz tends to be the type of music that people enjoy more as they get older. | high21382.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Middle-aged adults."
},
"options": [
"Optimistic adults.",
"Middle-aged adults.",
"Adults in poor health.",
"Adults of lower income."
],
"question": "According to the study, who made the most accurate prediction... | A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse.
The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003.
Survey respondents were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions.
The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio of disability and death for the study period.
"We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade," wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future.
"Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions ," the authors wrote.
Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability.
The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health outcomes.
However, the researchers said a pattern was clear. "We found that from early to late adulthood, individuals adapt their expectations of future life satisfaction from optimistic, to accurate, to pessimistic," the authors concluded. | high4069.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The reduction of the bees' habitat."
},
"options": [
"The birth of new bee species.",
"The rise of the bees' population.",
"The evolution of the bees.",
"The reduction of the bees' habitat."
],
"question": "What... | Jeremy Kerr, a researcher at the University of Ottawa in Canada, and his colleagues analyzed more than 400,000 observations of bumblebee species collected in North America and Europe from 1975 to 2010. When the researchers recorded the locations of these bee populations, they found that many of the 67 species analyzed were moving northward from their southern limits while the northern edges of the bees' ranges are staying in place. What it results in is obvious.
Bees have been paid more attention to in recent years, with populations of honeybees and bumblebees obviously declining in some parts of Europe. Previously, attention on the decline of bee populations has focused on causes including habitat loss, pesticide use and the spread of bee parasites . But the work by Kerr's team found something different.
"For every species, there is one or two species declining and others that are not moving at all," says Kerr. This shift has also been observed in other species, such as butterflies. But due to a new cause -- the rise of temperatures instead of total pesticide use, a change in land use or parasites, bumblebees -- unlike butterflies -- have failed to extend the northern boundaries of their ranges into the territory that is now habitable for them, so bumblebee species across Europe and North America are declining rapidly, the latest study led by Kerr's team finds. "Our data suggest that the new factor plays a leading, or perhaps the leading, role in this trend," says Kerr.
"This study shows that a fourth factor is also beginning to affect it. It is likely that the combined stresses from all of these pressures will have destructive impacts on bumblebees in the not-too-distant future," says Dave Goulson, a bee researcher at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Exactly what can be done to help bumblebees is not clear. Kerr's team suggests that relocating colonies might be an answer but Goulson says that because the insects are mobile they are capable of moving northwards if there is suitable habitat available. | high15027.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "size"
},
"options": [
"size",
"running speed",
"way of hunting",
"claws"
],
"question": "The easiest way to tell a male tiger from a female one is by looking at their _",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Tigers are among the most admired and most feared animals in the world . When we think of a tiger, we think of danger. We think of the big teeth and large feet of it. We also think of beauty.
The tiger is a hunter that hunts alone. In fact , tigers are probably better than any other land mammal at catching large animals without help. Even so, the life of this big-game hunter isn't easy. Finding food can be difficult, especially for a tiger that is old or weak. Most of the animals it tries to attack get away. A tiger sometimes goes weeks without eating. When that happens, it may hunt animals that can be dangerous even for a tiger.
When they are in a bad situation, some tigers may even attack humans. But in fact, tigers kill very few people each year. Most tigers run away when they see people.
What tigers have done to people can't compare to what people have done to tigers. Over the last 200 years, we have almost killed tigers in the wild . Today, the tiger is one of the most endangered animals on Earth.
A tiger may live 20 years or more, if it is not disturbed by humans. Female tigers usually live longer than male tigers, because the males live more dangerously.
It isn't easy for people to tell a male from a female unless the female happens to be with her babies.Only females take care of the young. The big difference between males and females is size. Male tigers are much bigger.
Tigers are big eaters. In a single year, one tiger must eat about 70 deer or other large animals. That is one reason why tigers hunt alone. If they lived in big groups, they could never find enough animals to feed them all. | high8653.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "sweet and lively"
},
"options": [
"sweet and lively",
"gentle and kind",
"smart and knowledgeable",
"shy and attractive"
],
"question": "Temple, as a child movie star, can best be described as _ .",
"ques... | A great loss--Shirley Temple dies at 85
February 12,2014
BYDERRIKJ.LANG ,Associated Press
Shirley Temple Black, who died on February 10that age 85, wasn't just a child star. She was THE child star--the sweet little girl whose shining smile helped _ some of the darkest days the US has known during the Great Depression.
It's hard today to imagine the super star Shirley was once "America's Little Darling". She sang and danced her way to the top of the box office in such films as Bright Eyes, Curly Top and Heidi. By 1940, she had appeared in 43 films. Temple teamed with Bill Robison in four movies, and their dance on the stairs in The Little Colonel is still a legendary film moment.
In the 1930s, her name on a movie introduction assured a packed house. She inspired dolls, dresses, dishes--even a drink (alcohol-free, of course).
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt once famously said that "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right.''
Unlike so many of today's child stars, Temple didn't end up with her name appearing across the headlines for bad behaviors. Instead of getting her photos on front pages or struggling with drugs and alcohol, Temple went on to a second career in diplomacy , including presidential appointments as ambassador to Ghana.
She surprised a lot of people who doubted her with her grace, knowledge and eagerness to serve. In fact, her career in public service (20 years) was longer than her career in movies (19). The role she valued most, however, was as wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
The world has lost a treasured Hollywood legend. But her movies will allow that little dynamic figure to continue charming audiences for a very long time. | high12748.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the lady who tucked the back of her dress in her pants"
},
"options": [
"the workmate who receives a ticket to the opera",
"the man who receives an air-freshener",
"the lady who tucked the back of her dress in her pants",
... | Workplaces all over the UK are preparing for Christmas and all the traditions and customs that come with it. But will Christmas be a cause for happiness and celebration or embarrassment and disappointment?
One way that colleagues in Britain show their appreciation of each other at this time of year is by doing "Secret Santa" present giving. At that time, people who work together buy each other gifts without saying whom they are from.
Co-workers all write their names on a piece of paper and then organize a lottery in which each workmate takes another colleague's name at random . Each person then has to buy a present for the colleague whose name they have picked, usually with an agreed price set at a small amount of money such as five or ten pounds.
As the gifts are given without knowing the names of the gift givers, the quality of the presents can be very different; gifts that people received are from tickets to the opera to an air-freshener for a car.
Another common seasonal workplace tradition is the office Christmas party, when workmates put on their most attractive clothes and enjoy lots of free wine.
Although most parties are held _ , sometimes the effects of alcohol cause party goers to regret their drunken antics .
The BBC invited people to share their most embarrassing Christmas office party stories, and received hundreds of funny stories, such as the man who split his trousers back to front with his strange dance moves or the drunken lady who spent the entire night with back of her dress tucked into her pants and saw the photos that proved it later at work.
But the worst story must surely come from Stuart Vaines, who got so drunk that he put his boss's head into the toilet. Unsurprisingly, he lost his job the very next day. | high13456.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "their answers hardly pleased him"
},
"options": [
"he often misunderstood them and gave them bad marks",
"they often angered and disappointed him",
"their answers often astonished him",
"their answers hardly pleased him... | There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with the students.Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee , the students would be in fear, because he was hardly pleased with the answers they gave.A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him.At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again.
Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee.This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all.
The professor began to ask.The student was asked to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned out to be OK.Then the professor asked about the cure for the illness , and the student , too , answered just as right.
"Good," said the professor, "and how much will you give the patient?"
"A full spoon," answered the student.
"Now you may go out and wait for what you can get," said the professor.
At the same time the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given.Suddenly the student noticed that there was something wrong with his last answer."A full spoon is too much," he thought to himself.Anxiously he opened the door of the room and cried, "Mr. Professor, I've made a mistake! A full spoon is too much for the patient.He can take only five drops."
"I'm sorry, sir," said the professor coldly, "but it's too late.Your patient has died." | high22853.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Taking the train twice."
},
"options": [
"Having a car ride.",
"Taking the train twice.",
"Buying more than one toy.",
"Touring the historic district."
],
"question": "Which was forbidden by Mom on Transportatio... | When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can't take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We'd take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the tram, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn't like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom's friend was waiting to give us a ride home--our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal . She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence--the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just light-rail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox--and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestnut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where's the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I'm writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn't try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me. | high485.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Berbers' real home"
},
"options": [
"a hotel",
"Berbers' real home",
"Luke Skywalker's childhood home",
"the shooting location of \"Attack of the Clones\""
],
"question": "Hotel Sidi Driss was originally _ c... | Plenty of people dream of traveling to other planets. But "Star Wars" fans can actually visit locations where many of the films' most famous scenes were shot. Here are some of the places where "Star Wars" comes to life.
Hotel Sidi Driss, Matmata, Tunisia
Perhaps the most famous "Star Wars" landmark in the world, this is where the interiors of Luke Skywalker's childhood home on planet Tatooine were filmed. Centuries ago, Berbers built the underground structure as a real home. Eventually it became a hotel, which George Lucas used to film the first "Star Wars" film. The set decorations came down when the crew left, but were rebuilt in 2000 for "Attack of the Clones." Since then, they've remained, so guests can eat at the table where young master Luke did.
La Grande Dune, outside Nefta, Tunisia
The igloo outside of Luke's house was filmed about 300 kilometers away on the dried-up salt lake of Chott El Jerid. The igloo is still there, reachable with a decent car at the GPS coordinates 33"50'34. 42"N, 7"46'44.48"E.
The surrounding hotels are man-made, to create the illusion that the underground house is next to it. The igloo from the 1977 movie was taken apart, but again rebuilt for "Attack of the Clones," and later restored by a fan. Nearby is La Grande Dune, site of the Dune Sea. About 30 minutes from the igloo is the set of Mos Espa, the spaceport town where Anakin was discovered as a young slave.
Redwood National and State parks, California
_ , the forest moon home of the furry Ewoks, was filmed among California's giant redwoods. Most of the well-known scenes were shot on private land owned by a lumber company. Since the cast and crew worked on "Return of the Jedi" in 1982, heavy logging has left most of the landscape unrecognizable. But driving through the parks still gives a feel for the set, especially along the Avenue of the Giants highway.
In Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park and the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, plates were filmed for some chase scenes. | high12990.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a college graduate on a tight budget for the time being"
},
"options": [
"a young couple in hope of settling down permanently",
"an individual constantly suffering from cabin fever",
"a college graduate on a tight budget for ... | When young people begin to live independently, home-hunting can bring some stress. But they would do well to remember that a new alternative is available--micro-home.
Called "tiny houses", these houses have all living necessities in a small package, including kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Generally under 50 square meters, most tiny houses accommodate just one or two people though some claim the space for more. What's lost in size is not lost in design as these homes are often quite unique and modern in design.
Besides an attractive appearance, tiny houses can also have unique practical features. Making the best of urban space, the 72- to122-centimeter-wide Keret House in Warsaw, the world's narrowest home, fills in an alley. The Ecocapsule home uses solar power, wind power and rainwater collection to enable its owner to live practically anywhere. A system of rails allows the DALE micro-home to adjust room size and number as well as adding the option of an open or enclosed courtyard.
Visually appealing as micro-homes are, there are a few drawbacks to consider before getting cozy on a mini-couch. Moving into a tiny house requires the removing of most non-essentials, regardless of the emotional connection to them. Guests will also mostly be out of the question as the limited space may even cause a solitary individual to experience some cabin fever . And finally, a micro-home is likely a temporary living option for most people since they will probably start families and acquiremore possessions.
Though the limitations will scare some, there is usually a benefit. A small size results in a small price tag and small bills, making tiny houses easier to save up for and budget. And though you won't have much stuff around the house, this can provide the comfort of simple living and repairs. Micro-homes are also practically mobile and have eco-friendliness that can't be matched by other homes. They probably aren't for everyone or forever, but when it comes to your next (or first) home, they could be just what you need. | high14339.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "There are two versions."
},
"options": [
"There are two versions.",
"They're comfortable but unhealthy.",
"They give you the best quality sound.",
"They're cheaper than other headphones."
],
"question": "What do... | There are a lot of products out there that make your life easier. Some, however, are a little sillier than others -- so much that they seem like joke products. Here are a few products that sound crazy, but actually rule.
Sleep Phones
It's hard to imagine something sillier than a music-playing headband you wear while you sleep, but they exist -- and are quite popular. Sleep Phones won't give you the highest quality sound in the world, but if you prefer to fall asleep to music, they're far more comfortable than normal headphones. While they're a bit expensive, they might be perfect for you. There's also a wireless version if you prefer.
Onion Goggles
If cutting onion _ no matter what you try, it's time for desperate measures. We tested a bunch of methods for avoiding onion tears, and found the best solutions came down to cutting the onion under a vent , or wearing these stylish and awesome goggles.
Lock Laces
There're some great ways to tie your shoes better, but if you long for the laceless shoes of your childhood days, Lock Laces are a pretty good choice. They're basically elastic laces that remove the need to tie your shoes. Sure, people will make fun of you, but you can make fun of them after they trip over their own untied laces. Or you can make your own slip-on shoes with elastic tubing.
2D-Glasses
Hate 3D-movies, but have to go to one? The difference between 2D-glasses and 3D-glasses lies in their lenses . Each lens of 2D-glasses blocks the same picture, so each eye gets the same picture, while each lens of 3D-glasses blocks a different picture, so each eye gets a different picture which the brain interprets as 3D. Now you have a pair of glasses that can save you from the headache caused by wearing 3D-glasses which are popular in our movie theaters. You can buy them or make a pair for yourself. | high13330.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "focus on where crimes take place"
},
"options": [
"focus on where crimes take place",
"seek help from local people",
"depend on new mathematical tools",
"check who are on the crime scene"
],
"question": "To find... | When you think about math, you probably don't think about breaking the law, solving mysteries or finding criminals. But a mathematician in Maryland does, and he has come up with mathematical tools to help police find criminals.
People who solve crimes look for patterns that might reveal the identity of the criminal. It's long been believed, for example, that criminals will break the law closer to where they live, simply because it's easier to get around in their own neighborhood. If police see a pattern of robberies in a certain area, they may look for a suspect who lives near the crime scenes. So, the farther away from the area a crime takes place, the less likely it is that the same criminal did it.
But Mike O'Leary, a mathematician at Towson University in Maryland, says that this kind of approach may be too simple. He says that police may get better clues to the location of a criminal's home base by combining these patterns with a city's layout and historical crime records.
The records of past crimes contain geographical information and can reveal easy targets -- that is, the kind of stores that might be less difficult to rob. Because these stores are along roads, the locations of past crimes contain information about where major streets and intersections are. O'Leary is writing a new computer program that will quickly provide this kind of information for a given city. His program also includes information about the people who live in the city, and information about how a criminal's patterns change with age. It's been shown, for example, that the younger the criminal, the closer to home the crime.
Other computer programmers have worked on similar software, but O'Leary's uses more math. The mathematician plans to make his computer program available, free of charge, to police departments around the country.
The program is just one way to use math to fight crime. O'Leary says that criminology -- the study of crime and criminals -- contains a lot of good math problems. "I feel like I'm in a gold mine and
," he says. "It's a lot of fun." | high15999.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "mother"
},
"options": [
"neighbor",
"friend",
"mother",
"teacher"
],
"question": "The author was probably the girl's _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": ... | I used to watch her from my kitchen window. She seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during break. I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but no one could. I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone.
One day I asked her why she practiced so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, "I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don't count." Well, I had to give it to her--she was determined. I watched her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her school team to victory.
One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head in her arms. I walked across the street and sat down in the cool grass beside her. Quietly I asked what was wrong. "Oh, nothing," came a soft reply, "I am just too short." The coach told her that at 5'5" she would probably never get to play for a top ranked team--much less offered a scholarship--so she should stop dreaming about college. She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she truly wanted a scholarship and that nothing could stop her except one thing -- her own attitude.
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was offered a scholarship and on the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed of. | high7206.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to see the beautiful scene along the banks and hillsides"
},
"options": [
"to watch many boats going up and down the river",
"to see the beautiful scene along the banks and hillsides",
"to hear a song about beautiful siren",
... | Let's pretend we're sailing down the Rhine River on a pleasure boat. The Rhine is one of the main waterways of Germany, and the river traffic is heavy. It's interesting to watch the many boats going up and down the river. But the river traffic is not nearly so interesting as the beautiful scenery along the banks and hillsides. The boat is passing many old castles. We can see people working in the vineyards on the hillsides. There are vineyards as far as the eye can see. Wine from the Rhine Valley is famous all over the world.
Suddenly our boat slows down and begins to turn a little. We are coming to a sharp bend in the river. On our right we can see a rocky cliff over 400 feet high. At first it looks quite ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary about it. There are many stories, poems, and songs about the cliff. We are looking at the Lorelei. Then someone on the boat begins to sing in German, the song of the Lorelei. It is a song about a beautiful siren who has lured many sailors to their deaths.
The siren is supposed to sit on the rock combing her long golden hair and singing. The sailors who hear her forget to steer , and the current of river hurls their boats on the rocks and dashes them to pieces.
Soon other people on the boat begin to sing. The beautiful song adds to special magic to the moment, and you begin to realize why so many people have made this trip down the Rhine to see the rock of the Lorelei. | high15741.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The hole appears about 100 degrees C"
},
"options": [
"Magma is still coming out",
"The hole appears about 100 degrees C",
"The eruption was not over",
"It is very cold."
],
"question": "What do expert think Eyj... | Experts say the temperature in Eyjafjallajokull's hole appears to have fallen to 100C, meaning it is now producing steam, not magma .
But officials warned that it was too early to say whether the eruption was over completely.
Ash clouds from the volcano grounded thousands of flights last month.
Steinunn Jakobsdottir, a geophysicist from the Icelandic Meteorological Office, told the BBC that the volcano was "kind of not active for the moment".
"The history of the volcano is such that it calms down and then it gets energy again," she said.
"There are still earthquakes under the volcano, and the small earthquake is still not quite down to what it was before the eruption."
'Difficult to say'
Magnus Gudmundsson, of Iceland University, flew over the volcano on Sunday and said information from heat cameras showed the temperatures at the crater had fallen below 100C.
But he told the AFP news agency that nothing was promised and that the previous eruption at the volcano had lasted 13 months, from 1821-23.
"It stopped and started again several times with different intervals , so it's difficult to say, difficult to give a timeline," he said.
He also said it was impossible to say whether the neighbouring Katla volcano - a much larger mountain - might also erupt.
At the height of its activity, the volcano sent out huge clouds of ash, which led to airlines grounding their planes for fear it could _ plane engines.
It was the biggest action of closing airspace in Europe since World War II, and affected at least 10 million passengers worldwide. | high3060.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because he didn't want the writer to go through the bill carefully."
},
"options": [
"Because he didn't want the writer to go through the bill carefully.",
"Because it was really a fine day.",
".Because he wanted the writer t... | Our village carpenter , John Hill, came one day and made a dining table for my wife. He made it just the right size to fill the space between the two windows. When I got home that evening, John was drinking a cup of tea and writing out his bill for the job.
My wife said to me quietly, "It's his ninth cup of tea today." But she said in a loud voice, "It is a beautiful table, dear, isn't it?"
"I will decide about that when I see the bill, " I read:
One dining table, 10 November, 1989.
Cost of wood: $17.00
Paint: $1.50
Work: 8 hours ($1 an hour) $8.00
Total: $36.50
When I was looking at the bill, John said, "It's been a fine day, hasn't it? Quite sunny." "Yes," I said, "I'm glad it is only the 10thof November."
"Me, too," said John. "You wait. It'll be a lot colder by the end of the month."
"Yes, colder.... And more expensive! Dining tables will be $20 more expensive on November 30th, won't they, John?" John looked hard at me for half a minute. Was there a little smile in his two blue eyes? I gave his bill back to him.
"If it isn't too much trouble, John," I said, "Please add it up again and you can forget the date."
I paid him $26.50and he was happy to get it. | high20922.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "was a kind man"
},
"options": [
"was a kind man",
"was arrogant",
"was a miserly man",
"was very young"
],
"question": "From the passage, we know that the king _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},... | The king was to pass by a beggar's small poor house and the man was excited, not because he was about to see the king but because the king was known to part with expensive jewels and huge sums of money when moved by sympathy.
He saw the king's carriage just when a kind man was filling his begging bowl with uncooked rice. Pushing the man aside, he ran into the street, shouting praises of the king and the royal family.
The carriage stopped and the king beckoned to the beggar.
"Who are you?" he asked. "One of the most unfortunate of your people," said the beggar. "Poverty sits on my doorstep and follows me about like a dog. I haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon!" "Have you nothing for your king except great sorrow?" said the ruler, putting out his hand. "Give me something." The beggar, astonished, carefully picked up 5 grains of rice from his bowl and laid them on the king's outstretched palm. The king drove away. The beggar's disappointment was great. He complained and cursed the king again and again for his miserliness.
When he returned home in the evening he found a bag of rice on the floor. "Some generous soul has been here," he thought and took out a handful of rice from the bag. To his astonishment, there was a small piece of gold in it. He realized then that the bag had been sent by the king. He emptied the rice on the floor, feeling sure there would be more gold pieces in it, and he was right. He found 5, one for each grain of rice he had given the king.
"It is not the king who has been miserly," thought the man, sadly. "If I had been generous and given him the whole bowl of rice, I would have been a rich man today." | high10639.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They won't accept cloned milk."
},
"options": [
"They expect to serve clone milk to their children.",
"They have already fed their children with cloned milk.",
"They believe using the cloned milk is safe enough.",
"They... | The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to rule soon that milk from cloned animals and meat from their offspring are safe to eat.
The agricultural industry has observed a self-acting stop on using the products of clones, but it has recently become clear that a few offspring of cloned pigs and cows are already flowing into the food supply. Many in agriculture believe such genetic copies are the next logical step in improving the nation's livestock .
Many Americans are likely to be against the idea of serving clones' milk to their children or putting meat from the offspring of clones into the kitchens. When they were asked earlier this year in a survey by the International Food Information Council whether they would willingly buy meat, milk and eggs that come from clones if the FDA declared them to be safe, 63 percent of consumers said no.
Yet scientific evidence suggests there is little cause for alarm, at least on food-safety grounds. Studies have shown that meat and milk from clones are not different from that from normal animals, although work is not complete and researchers say that clones do suffer slight genetic abnormalities .
While milk from clones might reach the shelves, _ They'd be used as breeding stock , so the real question is whether their produced offspring would be safe.
The FDA has been promising a policy for three years, but hasn't produced a final view, and some biotechnology companies involved in cloning have run out of cash while waiting. Livestock producers have called the FDA the"Foot Dragging Administration". | high17156.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because the music is played too much"
},
"options": [
"Because the music is played at random",
"Because it has become more commercial",
"Because the music is played too much",
"Because everyone is familiar with Christma... | Everybody is familiar with Christmas music; its played everywhere. Whether it's the music from a grocery store or random songs on the radio, holiday music remains to flood in the air from the day after Thanksgiving to the beginning of December. Christmas music gets extremely over- played through the Holiday season. "'I think the common seasonal Christmas music is annoying because it keeps being played over and over."said junior Devin McFarland.
The Christmas music still played today is what she heard in her childhood. Some famous Christmas songs have never been changed. The original music is played so much that in some cases people dream about or even sing Christmas music in their sleep. She wishes that there was a wider variety of songs. She likes the newer Christmas songs that bands either re- make or write themselves. "They have a fresher sound to Christmas songs, and they add their own characteristics to them so that they are more like their own songs. " McFarland explained.
Christmas is known as a happy and homecoming festival, so the holiday season is meant to be spent happily with your family. It is recognized that the music media wants to get the point across and add to the festival atmosphere. But isn't the music being pushed to the public too much?
Most grocery stores play the music non-stop ,Christmas song after Christmas song, disgusting the customers who don't like that kind of music. You can walk through stores and attempt turning off the music, but sometimes it's impossible to do so. On the other hand, almost everyone has witnessed random persons walking along happily and either singing or whistling to the tune of the song that's played throughout the store. | high20936.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "our ability to use language"
},
"options": [
"our ability to use language",
"the miracle of technology",
"the amazing power of nature",
"our ability to make noises with mouth"
],
"question": "According to the pa... | Every day we experience one of the wonders of the world around us without even realizing it. It is not the amazing complexity of television, nor the impressive technology of transport. The universal wonder we share and experience is our ability to make noise with our mouths, and so transmit ideas and thoughts to each other's minds. This ability comes so naturally that we tend to forget what a miracle it is.
Obviously, the ability to talk is something that marks humans off from animal. Of course, some animals have powers just as amazing, Birds can fly thousands miles by observing positions of the stars in the sky in relation to the time of day and year. In Nature's talent show, humans are a species of animal that have developed their own special act. If we reduce it to basic terms, it's an ability for communicating information to others, by varying sounds we make as we breathe out.
Not that we don't have other powers of communication. Our facial expressions convey our emotions, such as anger, or joy, or disappointment. The way we hold our heads can indicate to others whether we are happy or sad. This is so-called "body language". Bristling fur is an unmistakable warning of attack among many animals. Similarly, the bowed head or drooping tail shows a readiness to take second place in any animal gathering.
Such a means of communication is a basic mechanism that animals, including human beings, instinctively acquire and display. Is the ability to speak just another sort of instinct? If so, how did human beings acquire this amazing skill? Biologist can readily indicate that particular area of our brain where speech mechanisms function, but this doesn't tell us how that part of our bodies originated in our biological history. | high3074.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "address different problems to different people."
},
"options": [
"take advantage of different kinds of audience",
"make fun of the disorganized people.",
"address different problems to different people.",
"show sympathy... | If you intend using humor in your talk to make people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different.
If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized bosses.
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses' convention, of a story which works well because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by himself. "Who is that?" the new arrival asked St. Peter. "Oh, that's God." came the reply, "but sometimes he thinks he's a doctor."
If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it'll be appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman's notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn't attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.
If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it's the delivery which causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted remark.
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. A twist on a familiar quote "If at first you don't succeed, give up" or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor. | high11533.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "many tradesmen serving local villagers in various ways"
},
"options": [
"the names of so many of the shops in the village around",
"many tradesmen serving local villagers in various ways",
"the variety of services available i... | I came across an old country guide the other day. It listed all the tradesmen in each village in my part of the country and it was impressive to see the great variety of services which were available on one's own doorstep in the late Victorian countryside.
Nowadays a superficial traveler in ruralprefix = st1 /Englandmight conclude that the village tradesmen still flourishing were either selling frozen food to the residents or selling old things to visitors. Nevertheless. This would really be a false impression. There has been smaller village commerce ,but its vigor is still remarkable.
Our local grocer's shop, for example, is actually expanding in spite of the competition from supermarkets in the nearest town. Women prefer to go there and exchange the local news while purchasing, instead of purchasing up at a supermarket. And the shop owner knows well that personal service has a substantial cash value.
His prices may be a bit higher than those in the town, but he will deliver anything at any time. His assistants think nothing of bicycling down the village street in their lunch hour to take a piece of cheese to an aged woman who sent her order by word of mouth with a friend who happened to be passing. The wealthier customers telephone their shopping lists and the goods are on their doorsteps within an hour. I also find it satisfactory because a village shop offers one of the few ways in which a modest individualist can still get along in the world without attaching himself to the big groups of industry or commerce.
Most of the village shopkeepers I know, are individualists in their ways. For example, our shoemaker stares with a cold look at the pairs of cheap, mass-produced shoes taken to him for repair. Has it come to this, he seems to be saying, that he, a craftsman , work upon them. And he makes beautiful shoes for those who can afford such luxury . | high17142.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It is becoming so popular that American zoos are open to visitors at night."
},
"options": [
"The Philadelphia Zoo is America's biggest zoo.",
"It is becoming so popular that American zoos are open to visitors at night.",
"Ro... | As wild animal lovers are not content with watching tigers and gorillas during the day, a growing number of zoos in the US are offering a more thrilling after-dark experience -- overnight stays.
The Philadelphia Zoo is America's first zoo and home to more than 1,300 animals. It has been running its Roars and Snores Overnight Programs for about 20 years. The most popular theme program is the Night Flight Overnight Program where children aged 5 to 12 sleep in the zoo's tree house. The overnight stays are not only popular with young children. Most overnight stays include a night tour during which youngsters experience the mysterious sights and unusual sounds of the zoo. A midnight snack and breakfast are also served.
"It is a unique experience to be at the zoo without the crowds and additional noise," explained Patterson, of the Denver Zoo, which has been running its Bunk with the Beasts program since 1998. With nearly 4,000 animals and 700 species the zoo attracts more than 1.8 million visitors a year. "The things you hear and see in the zoo are completely different," said Patterson. On Denver's two-hour tours, night vision scopes are provided so guests can see nocturnal animals such as owls, and indoor educational games increase the learning experience.
Patterson said parents tend to be more worried about leaving their children than the children themselves. They have rarely had to call up a parent in the middle of the night. "They love it," Patterson said about the children. "For many, it's their first overnight stay away from home. They are so excited that by the end of the day they are so tired that they have no opportunity to worry."
"Guests at the new overnight program at the Queens Zoo make breakfast treats for animals, and watch the keepers feed them to the animals," said Education Curator Tome Hurtubise. The growing popularity of overnight programs has caused zoos that only serve day-time visitors to think again. The Queens Zoo, which started their program this year, is so pleased with its success that they want to continue it next year. | high18271.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "inform us of fear and phobia"
},
"options": [
"show us what kind of role fear plays in our lives",
"discuss if it is good to try to get rid of fear",
"inform us of fear and phobia",
"discuss scientific studies related t... | Almost everyone is afraid of something --- snakes, heights, public speaking and so on.
It is normal and can even be helpful to experience fear sometimes. In dangerous situations, fear can keep our bodies alert so that we can act quickly to protect ourselves.
But for some people, fear develops into a "phobia", which is a strong and unreasonable fear of something. For example, the majority of us feel a little scared when looking down from a tall building. But people with height phobia may have trouble breathing, feel dizzy or turn down a great job just because the company is on the 20th floor.
Phobias can prevent you from living a normal life. "People with spider phobia would stay out of their home or dormitory room for days if they thought a spider was present," Katherina Hauner, a researcher at Northwestern University, US, told ABC news. This is why scientists have been trying to find a cure for this disease.
Since fear comes from experience --- from what we are told, what we see others experience and what happens to us --- some scientists think if they can "rewrite" these unpleasant memories, they might be able to help people overcome their phobias.
In a study by Hauner and other scientists, participants with spider phobia were asked to first touch a spider with a paintbrush. Seeing that it was not actually dangerous, they then tried touching it while wearing a glove. Finally, they could hold it with their hands.
Certain medicine has also been found to be helpful. Back in 2010, researchers at the University of Hiroshima, Japan, injected a special medicine into a fish --- who was afraid of light --- to turn off the fear center in its brain. From then on, the fish no longer feared light.
While the search for solutions to phobias is making great progress, it's an open question whether getting rid of fear is good. Some people want to use these methods to make soldiers fight harder in wars by taking away their sense of fear. Dave Smithson of the charity Anxiety UK thinks that's a bad idea. "It's fear that prevents us from doing crazy things," he says. "There's a name for people who don't have fear of consequences: psychopaths . | high5405.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Rediscover long-lost classmates."
},
"options": [
"Protect the environment.",
"Find a new house or workplace.",
"Rediscover long-lost classmates.",
"Change the behavior towards your friends."
],
"question": "Wha... | In the past, friendships were greatly limited by time, space and attention; increasing home and workplace mobility has made it even harder to keep social relations over time. Through a combination of user controls, new technologies and changing standards of social behavior, Facebook is freeing us from these limitations, making friendships more accessible, pleasant and diverse than ever before.
First, Facebook allows you to find and rediscover friends and then reminds you of these connections, so that you are less likely to fall out of touch with the long-lost school friend, or the family member in a different country. 'Second, Facebook creates an environment that allows you to interact easily with others : you can share your photos,videos,links and thoughts with your friends, and respond to what they share in turn. Third, Facebook's unique technical system helps you to discover your friends,most valuable stories. These technologies allow people to keep and enrich friendships that they might otherwise have been unable to keep.
The effect of this is very great. A recent study by Keith Hampton for the Pew Internet and American Life Project discovered that users of social networking websites have larger, more diverse social circles, online and offline. This outcome comes at no cost to one's closest relationships, which are kept in person and over the phone. Instead, the hour that the average user spends each day socializing on Facebook comes at the expense of less social activities, such as the three or so hours a day the average person spends watching television.
Time may limit our ability to keep social ties, but our desire for social communication is limitless. Just as boats have allowed us to cross oceans and vehicles have allowed us to move mountains, Facebook is a tool that allows us to stay more deeply connected with a larger and more diverse set of friends. | high13324.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they are more likely to meet with complaints"
},
"options": [
"their telephone style remains unchanged",
"they are more likely to meet with complaints",
"the services cost them a lot of money",
"the policies can be appl... | In the more and more competitive service industry , it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today , customer "delight" is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and increase market share.
It is accepted in the marketing industry , and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people : those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal
New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through telephone call centers and the Internet. For example , many companies now have to invest a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the " _ "--caused by delays in answering calls ,being cut off in mid-conversation or left waiting for long periods.
"Many people do not like talking to machines ,"says Dr . Storey Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School. "Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them .The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust-- the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager."
Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering (saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours ,but getting it done within two );replacing a faulty product immediately : throwing in a gift voucher as an unexpected "thank you" to regular customers ;and always returning calls ,even when they are complaints.
Aiming for customer delight is all very well , but if services do not reach the high level promised , disappointment or worse will be the result . This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with _ (for example, "I know how you must feel") , and possible solutions (replacement , compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).
Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care . Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers is an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather , unclaimed luggage and technical problems .
For British Airways staff , a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about bookings and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly , with their name , job title and a "we are here to help" attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen.
British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.
Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as "we do as we please". On the other hand , the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of disappointment. | high1663.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the birthrate is declining as a result of women's pursuit of careers"
},
"options": [
"women today have developed a new role in family life",
"the birthrate is declining as a result of women's pursuit of careers",
"women ... | It would be pleasant to believe that all young girls in the past got married for romantic reasons; but the fact is that many of them regarded marriage as their only chance to gain independence from their parents, to have a provider, or to be assured of a good place in society. A couple of generations ago, an old maid of twenty-five did not have much to look forward to, she was more or less fated to remain with her parents or to live in some relative's home where she would help with the chores and the children. Not so any more. In the first place, women remain young much longer than they used to, and an unmarried woman of twenty-eight or thirty does not feel that her life is over. Besides, since she is probably working and supporting herself, she is free to marry only when and if she chooses. As a result, today's women tend to marry later in life. They have fewer children-or none at all--if they prefer to devote themselves to their profession. The result is a decline in the birthrate.
The new role that women have developed for themselves has changed family life. Children are raised differently; they spend more time with adults who are not their parents: baby sitters, day-care center personnel, relatives, or neighbors. Whether they gain or lose in the process is a hotly debated question. Some child experts believe that young children must spend all their time with their mother if they are to grow sound in body and mind. Others think that children get more from a mother who spends with them "quality time" (a time of fun and relaxation set aside for them) rather than hours of forced and unhappy baby sitting. And many child psychologists point out that children kept in day-care centers every day are brighter than those raised at home. No matter what it is, one thing about child-raising to be certain of is that the longer the child is with the mother, the better. | high7212.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The strong desire to live on."
},
"options": [
"The shouts of her teammates.",
"The strong desire to live on.",
"A sudden change in wind direction.",
"The natural beauty ahead in Antarctica."
],
"question": "Wha... | I was going to die in Antarctica, I was certain. A picture of my frost-covered body, pale and lifeless, filled my mind as I glanced around. In all directions spreads the empty wilderness of Antarctica, the only feature being the division between snow and sky. I sadly stared at my team, who were rapidly disappearing from my sight.
It happened in the year 2009 when I was head of an adventure attempting to reach the South Pole. The team was made up of ordinary women from all around the world--from Jamaica, India, Singapore and Cyprus--many of whom had never seen snow, or spent a night in a tent, before we set off. Our aim was to be the most international all-female team to reach the South Pole.
By the time I realized that my sledge was firmly stuck, the team were already a long way ahead of me. I called out to Era, my teammate from Brunei, who was next in line. Getting no response, I called again, but my shouts were carried away in the opposite direction by the wind. I had stood and watched the line for a while as it marched away from me, confident that at any moment one of my teammates would look behind her. Seconds passed. Nothing. I was gradually being left alone.
I pushed my sledge again, my strength suddenly increased when I thought of a cold, lonely death. This time the sledge moved a little. I kicked at the ice with my ski-pole and boot, desperately trying to break the sledge free and pushed again. The sledge shot forward, knocking me off balance. I struggled to my feet and set off after the team.
I caught up just as they realized I wasn't there. As we continued, my panic slowly faded. I found myself laughing to myself as I noticed Reena checking behind her every few paces. In fact for the whole of the rest of the day each member of the team glanced over her shoulder every few minutes. They were not going to risk losing me again. | high8121.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Watching TV at home alone."
},
"options": [
"Having a talk with a neighbor.",
"Attending a birthday party.",
"Watching TV at home alone.",
"Calling your classmates"
],
"question": "Which is not included in socia... | A team of US psychologists have found that talking to another person for ten minutes a day helps with memory.
"Socializing is just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in
memory and intellectual performance," Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a statement.
In one investigation, they analyzed data on 3610 people, aged 24 to 96.
They found that the higher their level of social interaction , the better their cognitive functioning. Social interaction includes getting together or having phone chats with relatives, freinds and neighbors.
In another experiment, the researchers conducted lab tests on 76 college students, aged 18 to 21, to evaluate how social interactions and intellectual exercises affected the results of memory and mental performance tests.
The students were divided into three groups: the social interaction group had a discussion of a social issue for 10 minutes before taking the tests; the intellectual activities group completed three tasks (including a reading comprehension exercise and a crossword puzzle) before the tests; and a control group watched a 10-minute clip of the Seinfeld television show.
"We found that short-term social interaction lasting for just 10 minutes improved participants' intellectual performance as much as engaging in so-called 'intellectual' activities for the same amount of time," Ybarra said.
The study was expected to be published in the February issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. | high15755.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She could communicate with her body language."
},
"options": [
"She had no sense of hearing at all.",
"She couldn't move except her eyes.",
"She could still speak in an unclear voice.",
"She could communicate with her b... | As we neared the last days of my mom's life, I wanted to understand what she was feeling and seeing. The day before she took her last breath I decided to ask her.
First I wanted to make sure she could comprehend what I was saying. I told her I loved her, and she raised her eyebrows in acknowledgment. Then I shared a funny story about a conversation my sister and I had. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. I could tell that she was taking in every word. And then I went for it.
"Mom, can I ask you a serious question?" She turned her head and opened her eyes fully. I could tell she wanted to grasp every word that came out of my mouth.
"Mom, do you see any of our dead relatives in the room? Do you see your dad?" she shook her head.
Do you see your mom?" She shook her head again.
"Do you see dad?" Her response was quite different this time. She began nodding her head.
"Is he here in this room right now?" She nodded. "Can he see me?" She nodded again. Then she tried to communicate with words, but she couldn't get the words out. The next morning she died peacefully..
A few weeks ago, I was wondering why I haven't had many dreams of my mom since she died. That night I had one of the clearest dreams I've had for a long time. Mom was dressed beautifully. She stared at me with a huge smile. Her eyes were bright and full of life. She was happier than I had seen her in years. And she was younger. We didn't exchange any words, but it was clear that she was happy and free.
I woke up with joy in my heart. | high15033.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "it helps them get good jobs in some organizations"
},
"options": [
"it is a compulsory course in the colleges",
"it offers them conventional economic knowledge",
"it offers them opportunities to do small businesses",
"i... | Professional courses, such as Masters in International Business or MIB, have been taken by many students in the last two decades. They are choosing new-age non-conventional courses that guarantee a better future. MIB is a specialized course that teaches the international business. There are valid reasons for so much popularity of MIB course.
The course content and teaching methods of MIB are quite different from a normal MBA or Master of Business Administration. It has been designed with the sole objective of developing professionals with an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the international trade. The course offers various advantages over the conventional MBA degree course.
The massive increase in the international business and foreign trade gives excellent job prospects to the new generation. Acquiring a degree of MIB offers outstanding growth of job opportunities. Those who want to pursue in the field of marketing also have a good future after completing the degree from a reputed MIB college. Big multinational organizations look for talented people who can handle the job profile of International Marketing Manage, and people with MIB degrees are preferred. The profile needs an in-depth understanding of the overseas markets, because it is the strategic post from the perspective of company's international business growth.
Since business finance and economics are covered at length in the curriculum of MIB, students have great job offers in the field of finance as well. Typically, organizations offer the profile of international finance controllers to those who complete MIB with the specialization of finance. The specialization covers aspects of international taxes, accounts, budgeting and so on. People in this field are well-paid, and growth prospects are unlimited. After completing degree course from a reputed MIB college, there is a good scope in the banking and finance sector as well. International banks appoint people who have an excellent grasp over the international banking policies, currency exchange, and international policies. Thus, MIB is the golden key to success with brilliant job opportunities in national and multinational sectors. | high13442.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "he didn't feel himself a match for the woman"
},
"options": [
"everybody stared at him at that time",
"many guys chased after the woman",
"he didn't feel himself a match for the woman",
"he had the strange habit of drin... | He met her at a party. She was so outstanding that many guys were chasing after her, while he was so ordinary. At the end of the party, he invited her to have coffee with him. She was surprised but due to being polite, she promised.
They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, and she felt uncomfortable, too. Suddenly he asked the waiter, "Would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee." Everybody stared at him. It was so strange! His face turned red but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously, "Why do you have this hobby?" He replied, "When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea, I liked playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, my hometown, and my parents who are still living there." While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched. Then she also started to speak, speaking about her faraway hometown, her childhood, and her family.
That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their love. They continued to date. She found that actually he was a man who met all her demands. He had tolerance, kind-hearted, warm and careful. Thanks to his salty coffee! They married. And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that was the way he liked it. After 40 years, he passed away and left her a letter which said, "My dearest, please forgive my whole life's lie. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but said salt. It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I didn't like the salty coffee then, what a strange bad taste! But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life, for it was prepared by you." | high22847.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because the neighbors of the old man asked them to do."
},
"options": [
"Because the old man had no time to clear it himself.",
"Because the neighbors of the old man asked them to do.",
"Because they couldn't stand the terrib... | An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years.
His house was dirty, and the bad smell coming out of the house was horrible. The neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they asked the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire . They waited outside his house expecting to share the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.
But the old man said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, got into the train and sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
Clearly, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing. What makes us happy is what matters in the end, not what we acquire. | high12984.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they want to start setting up their real estate business"
},
"options": [
"they expect to be happy",
"they know each other pretty well",
"they will spend seven days a week running a business",
"they want to start settin... | My name is Christopher. My family came to America before I was born . In two weeks I am going to be married , and my Fiance'e , Samantha, and expect to be very happy. We do not plan to have honeymoon because we want to spend two weeks setting up our own new business as real estate agents .
My mother , who is very traditional , says that our plans are unreasonable. She thinks that we should just spend two weeks on a holiday in the Caribbean . In her days , and in the old country , young couples didn't start business together. Instead the man went out to work , and the wife stayed home to raise a family.
Both Samantha and I want children in the future , and together we plan to raise them . Needless to say, our plans and my mother's views don't agree . I suppose it's hard for my mother and father to understand our point of view. They are used to another way of setting up a marriage and a life.
Another thing that worries my parents is the fact that Samantha and I are going to be spending seven days a week on our business until it is running smoothly. As my mother has pointed out to us, such a timetable will leave us little time for socializing or for a night in the town. My mother says a young couple should enjoy themselves and get to know each other under less exciting conditions.
Actually. Samantha and I know each other pretty well. We both work hard for our goals, and neither of us minds giving up weekends for a while. We are young and enthusiastic . | high23581.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "another name for Agatha"
},
"options": [
"Agatha's governess",
"the name of Agatha's novel",
"another name for Agatha",
"the heroine of Agatha's novel"
],
"question": "Mary Westmacott is _ .",
"question_ty... | Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was born Agatha May Clarissa Miller in Devon, England in 1890, the youngest of three children in a conservative, well-to-do family. Taught at home by a governess and tutors, as a child Agatha Christie never attended school. She became skillful at creating games to keep herself occupied at a very young age. A _ l child, unable to adequately express her feelings, she first turned to music as a means of expression and, later in life, to writing.
In 1914, at the age of 24, she married Archie Christie, a World War I fighter pilot. While he was off at war, she worked as a nurse. It was while working in a hospital during the war that Christie first came up with the idea of writing a detective novel. Although it was completed in a year, it wasn't published until 1920, five years later.
"The mysterious Affair at Styles" gave the world the unique Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer who was to become one of the most enduring characters in all of fiction. With his waxed moustache and his "little grey cell," he was "meticulous (careful to do things correctly), a tidy little man, always neat, orderly and a bit absurd."
Christie wrote more than 30 novels featuring Poirot. Among the most popular were" The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"(1926), "Murder on the Orient Expredd"(1934), and "Death on the Nile" (1937).
Another of Christie's most well-known and beloved characters was introduced in "Murder at the Vicarage" in 1930. Miss Jane Marple, an elderly single in the old- fashioned English village of St. Mary Mead, solved all manner of mysteries with intense concentration and instinct.
Christies ultimately (finally)became the acknowledged Queen of the Golden Age. In all, she wrote over 66 novel, numerous short stories and screenplays, and a series of romantic novels using the pen name Mary Westmacott. Several of her works were made into successful feature films, the most notable being Murder on the Orient Express (1974). In short, she is the single most popular mystery writer of all time. In 1971 she was awarded the high honor of becoming a Dame of the British Empire. | high9559.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "full-blooded Indians"
},
"options": [
"full-blooded Indians",
"mixed Indian and white",
"white citizens",
"all whites and mixed-blooded people"
],
"question": "The majority of the Bolivian population are _ ."... | Bolivia has a population of three and a half million. About one tenth of the total population are white; one-fourth are mixed Indians and white; and more than half are full-blooded Indians. The government and the industries are under the control of the white people.
The Indians today live in much the same way as their ancestors. Most of them are farmers. Many work in the mines, for mining is the most important industry on Bolivia's. Of all the mining products, tin is the most important, which makes up three-fourths of all Bolivia's exports. The eastern slopes of the Andes, since there are very few roads there, are fertile but not highly developed. The two primary means of transportation are river boats and porters. East of the hill region is the great plains where tropical plants are grown. A serious problem for Bolivia is the transport of food from the warm regions, where it is grown, to the mountainous regions, where most of the people live.
Bolivia gained its independence from Spain about a hundred years ago. It has been slow in developing, but its rich resources promise a better future in it. | high17624.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "wanted to make their home there"
},
"options": [
"enjoy the trip",
"wanted to make their home there",
"wanted to find new grassland there",
"had no water to drink"
],
"question": "In the 19th century, Americans ... | Empty Deserts
In the 19th century Americans from the eastern states moved out west to settle in the rich new lands along the Pacific coast. The most difficult part of their trip was crossing the "Great American Desert in the western part of theprefix = st1 /United Statesby horse and wagon.
The western desert can be very dangerous. There is little water and there are few trees. But the desert also has scenery of great beauty. Tall towers of red and yellow stone rise sharply from the flat sandy valley floor. The scene has been photographed many times and appears in movies and in TV.
In Arizona, man made dams across the Colorado River have made two large lakes in the middle of the dry desert country. At Lake Powell, the red stone arch of Rainbow Bridge rises high above the blue lake.
There are few roads. Many areas ofLakePowell's shore can only be reached by boat or on foot. But hikers in this empty desert land sometimes find very old native American pictures, painted on the rocks.
In Death Valley,California, the summer temperature rises to 130 degrees. There is less than two inches of rain each year. Death Valley is the lowest place in America---- 925 meters below sea level. In the 1800s, many travelers died when they tried to cross this waterless valley in the terrible heat.
Although the desert is dry and seems empty, there is plenty of life if you look closely. Small insects, snakes and rats have learned how to live in the desert heat. They live under ground and come out at night, when it is cool. Plants such as cacti need very little water. When it does rain in the desert (sometimes only once or twice a year), plants grow quickly, and flowers open in a single day. For a short time, the desert is covered with brilliant color1s. | high18517.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Unemployment"
},
"options": [
"Social problem",
"The problem of the pension system",
"More pressure on the family",
"Unemployment"
],
"question": "Which of the following is not caused by an aging society?",
... | "Hey, little boy, will you support me when I'm getting old?" Wang Wenshan, 35, asked his newborn baby as he picked him up at home.
The Chinese tradition of raising sons to support parents in their old age has been weakened by the rapidly growing economy and improving standard of living. As is the case with more and more developed countries, China faces an aging society. People are living longer and having fewer children. Therefore, many Chinese families are falling into a 4-2-1 family pattern: a couple raises one child and supports four elderly parents. But few realize that a problem is likely to happen ahead.
The aging of the population is a trend that now affects a growing number of countries. Not long ago, the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a white paper on measures China is taking to help its elderly population. The paper said China's population entered the aging period at the end of the 20thcentury and the proportion of people aged 60 and above accounted for over 10 percent of the entire population. By the end of 2005, China had nearly 144 million people over 60, accounting for 11 percent of population, according to the white paper.
An expanding aged population _ means that many issues must be settled, as the problem concerns every aspect of society. It puts more pressure on each family, causing disturbing economic consequences and serious social problems. It also challenges the labor force supply and the pension system.
"I used to think that it's not an issue for me to provide for the aged," said Wang, whose parents and parents-in-law all enjoy pensions and medical insurance. But last year Wang's father suffered a serious illness and afterward Wang began to feel the pressure on his shoulders.
After his father recovered, Wang opened bank accounts for each parent and deposited some money into the account every month to prepare for future uncertainties. In addition, he has to save money every month to provide for his son's future education. "I'm now breaking my back working to support my family: saving pensions for the parents, my son's education funds, and living costs."
Wang also bought some commercial old-age insurance for himself. "We have to take precautions before it is too late, and many of my colleagues share the same view," he said. | high5363.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "talk more with their children about people's feelings"
},
"options": [
"give their children more chances to express themselves",
"talk more with their children about people's feelings",
"encourage their children to guess othe... | Young children whose mothers talk with them more frequently and in more detail about people's thoughts and feelings tend to be better at taking another person's perspective than other children of the same age.
That's what researchers from the University of Western Australia found in a new study published in the journal Child Development.
"Parents who frequently put themselves in someone else's shoes in conversations with their children make it more likely their children will be able to do the same," said lead author Brad Farrant.
Researchers of the UWA's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research looked at the influence of how parents interact with their children to learn more about how people develop the ability to take another's perspective.
The two-year study involved more than 120 Australian children aged between four and six, including children with typically developing language and others delayed in language acquisition .
The children completed tasks which were designed to assess their language skills, ability to infer others' beliefs and use these to predict others' behavior, and their ability to shift flexibly between different perspectives.
Among children with typically developing language, the researchers found that mothers who talked more often and in greater detail about people's thoughts and feelings -- commenting on how another person might react to a particular situation as well as their own feelings about the topic -- had children with better language skills and better perspective-taking skills.
Children with delayed language acquisition were also delayed in their development of perspective-taking skills. This displays the role played by language as children develop the ability to take another's perspective.
"Solving the many challenges that the world faces today requires us all to get better at taking the perspective of other people," said Brad Farrant. | high3712.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To see if his sharksuit works."
},
"options": [
"To see if his sharksuit works.",
"To study what sharks feed on.",
"To catch a special kind of white shark.",
"To learn how to swim with sharks safely,"
],
"questi... | Whenever you buy something, it is possible that someone has already worn, eaten, or tested
it to make sure it is safe and do what is supposed to do. But what if you wanted a special suit to keep a shark from hurting you? Who wants to test a product like it?
"I do! " says Jeremiah Sullwan, a scientist in California "You have to believe in what you sell, right?"
Sullivan. owns SharkArmor Tech, a company that makes a $ 49400 sharksuit that even a great white shark can' t bite through. Before Sullivan could sell his sharksuits, he needed to make sure his design would work. Sullivan put on the sharksuit and jumped into a shark feeding ground. "I need to know exactly what a human body could expect to go through," he says. Sharks moved all around him and then attacked his arm. Sullivan felt the bite but no teeth. He was uncomfortable at times, but not painful. The suit works! "
"I've now been bitten thousands of times but. never badly," says Sullivan, who now works with shows like Wild Kingdom, and programs for the Discovery Channel's Shark Week.
So,are you all set to buy a sharksuit? Before you do, you should know that the suit weighs 20 pounds and makes swimming almost impossible-- _ . And in fact, Sullivan wants only professionals, such as filmmakers, scientists and drivers, to have sharksuits. Why? Because even if someone is wearing a sharksuit, they could get seriously hurt if they treat diving with a 4,OOO-pound shark as a game.
During sharksuit testing, sharks have thrown Sullivan to a bottom o/ reefs and tried to take him off into the deepest part of the ocean. "However," Sullivan says," you don't need to be afraid of sharks. It's actually pretty hard to get a shark to bite you, " | high11255.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She takes an active part in many school activities."
},
"options": [
"She goes to public places without wearing make-up.",
"She takes an active part in many school activities.",
"She dares to study at Notre Dame High School."... | Megan Tarzynski, 17, knows she lives in a world where looks are important, especially for teenage girls, but she is not ashamed of (...) her looks.
At Notre Dame High School for girls, Tarzynski takes an active part in many activities. "I am involved with drama club and another club called Polish club," said Megan.
Eighty-five percent of Megan's body is covered with what are called "port wine stains "caused by a serious illness. She also has glaucoma .
Megan has been going to Children's Memorial Hospital for laser treatment since she was a child.
When she was growing up, her mom, Karen Miller, had a hard time dealing with the public.
"I'd be accused of beating her and burning her. I mean, it was very difficult, very difficult, and I was a young mom and just to hear those things from people was hurtful," said Karen.
Support from her family and persons of her age have helped Megan accept herself.
"I only wear make-up if I'm going out in public or some place where I would feel more uncomfortable," she said. "And, if I'm at school, I usually don't wear make-up. I feel pretty comfortable with the girls around me," said Megan.
One of those girls is Megan's new friend Tanan Nicpon. She said, "I don't judge Megan by her looks. She is a really cool person."
"Megan is amazing. There is nothing that she can't do. She doesn't let anybody put her down. She does not let anyone help her in any way; she doesn't want any special treatment. She just does everything. She's amazing," said Karen.
In the autumn, Megan will be a senior at Notre Dame High School. | high21396.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Arithmetic problems"
},
"options": [
"Stories for enjoyment",
"Arithmetic problems",
"Letters from friends",
"News from hometown newspapers"
],
"question": "Which should be read slowly according to the passage?"... | If you wish to become a better reader, here are four important things to remember about reading _ :
* Knowing why you are reading or what you are reading to find out will often help you to know whether to read rapidly or slowly.
* Some things should be read slowly throughout. Examples are directions for making or doing something, arithmetic problems, science and history books, which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important ideas.
* Some things should be read rapidly throughout. Examples are simple stories meant for enjoyment, news letters from friends, pieces of news from local, or home-town, papers, telling what is happening to friends and neighbors.
* In some of your reading, you must change your speed from fast to slow and slow to fast, as you go along. You will need to read certain pages rapidly and then slow down and do more careful reading when you come to important ideas which must be remembered. | high12774.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the teacher doubted his chance of success"
},
"options": [
"the boy was too poor to achieve his dream",
"the teacher doubted his chance of success",
"the boy was not good enough to achieve his goal",
"the teacher looked... | I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch . He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying: "I want to tell you a story. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
"That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.
"He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, 'See me after class.'
"The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, 'Why did I receive an F?' The teacher said, 'This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you'll have to pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.' Then the teacher added, 'If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.'
"The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, 'Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.' Finally, after a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, 'You can keep the F and I'll keep my dream.' "
Monty then turned to the group present and said, "I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace." He added, "The best part of the story is that two years ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. When the teacher was leaving, he said, 'Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams. Fortunately you had enough courage not to give up yours.' "
"Don't let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what," Monty at last concluded. | high9571.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "romantic but disorganized"
},
"options": [
"romantic but disorganized",
"friendly and good-tempered",
"dreamy and impractical",
"strict but thoughtful"
],
"question": "The stereotype about Italians is _ .",
... | "Heaven is where the police are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are English, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, and everything is organized by the Italians."
Obviously the national stereotypes in this old joke are generalizations , but such stereotypes are often said to "exist for a reason". Is there actually a sliver of truth in them? Not likely, an international research team now says.
"National and cultural stereotypes do play an important role in how people see themselves and others, and being aware that these are not dependable is a useful thing," said study author Robert McCrae of the National Institute on Aging. "These are in fact unfounded stereotypes. They don't come from looking around you," McCrae said.
If national stereotypes aren't rooted in real experiences, then where do they come from? One possibility is that they reflect national values, which may become known from historical events. For example, many historians have argued that the spirit of American individualism has its origins in the experiences of the pioneers on the Old West.
Social scientists such as psychologist Richard Robins have given several other possible explanations for stereotypes and why they may be incorrect. Robins notes that some stereotypes may have been correct at one point in history and then remained unchanged while the culture changed.
We may be _ , to some degree, to keep incorrect stereotypes, since we are less likely to notice and remember information that is different from our stereotypes. Generally, according to Robins, when we meet people who are different from our stereotypes, we see them as unique individuals rather than typical national or cultural groups. | high14305.txt |
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