questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "crossing the road in a mess"
},
"options": [
"crossing the road in a mess",
"waiting for the green light patiently",
"crossing the road with chickens",
"hurting each other in the street"
],
"question": "The writ... | "Why does the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!"
That's an old joke in the west, but it came to my mind again when I saw people crossing the road at the _ of Shanxi Road and Huaihai Road in Shanghai.
When the traffic light was red, a group of people were waiting for the light to change. Suddenly one man began rushing to the other side of the road. Soon others followed him at the crossing and more people did the same. Just like chickens, they didn't mind the honking horns and kept crossing the road in a mess.
Every year several thousand people are either killed or hurt on the roads in Shanghai. And at least one third of them were jaywalking . Jaywalking is very common in Shanghai. It seems that jaywalkers are not afraid of the danger to themselves.
Traffic laws are to keep people safe. So we should obey them, and have good road-crossing habits. When someone starts to jaywalk, we should stop him, and never follow him. That way we can avoid the traffic accidents. | middle1753.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Yes,he did."
},
"options": [
"Yes,he did.",
"No,he didn't.",
"Yes,he didn't.",
"No,he did."
],
"question": "Did the writer take a cell phone with him?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"ans... | I was on holiday in a strange place.One morning I got up early and went off into the forest looking for beautiful birds.But I lost my way,and don't know how to come back.I took a cell phone with me,but it didn't work there.It was night and I was frightened because I was alone and there were full of dangerous animals.I climbed up to a tree and was afraid of sleeping.Next morning I was tired.I thought what I should do to save myself.I tore my clothes into small pieces and tied them to the trees that I passed.At last my friend found me according to the pieces that I left.I was saved.That is an unforgettable experience in my life. | middle7336.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "keeping on learning without any stops"
},
"options": [
"building a bridge to the country",
"keeping on learning without any stops",
"getting new cooking ideas from his family",
"bringing the Italian cooking culture into... | Walter owns three Italian restaurants which are running very well in Rhode Island in America. Every day his restaurants welcome crowds of customers all over the world.
He studied to be a cook, but he sees now that his success is the result of a lifetime education. When he opened his first restaurant, all of a sudden his schooling knowledge , the history of his family and his ethics of his father _ . It made him a person who studied and explored the secrets in the food business.
Walter's learning never stops. He says " The food business is one where you need to stay on top. Cooks should be trained. You have to keep on studying or you will be left behind." So he spent more time in reading. Every time he gets new ideas from the book, he brings them into his work.
Walter also has a clear understanding about success. That is he would like to be remembered as a person who is creative, who believes in the Italian cooking culture in America. Food is like a bridge connecting to the past, to the family and to the country. He says "Success to me is not how much money I make, but if at the end of the day I am able to make fifteen or twenty customers happy, I'm a happy man." | middle8005.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Oranges"
},
"options": [
"Bananas",
"Apples",
"Pears",
"Oranges"
],
"question": "What are those in the basket?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
... | Sam:What's this?It's an American eraser .It's made{}in our hometown{}But it isn't mine .Hi! Jim, is this your eraser?
Jim:No it isn't.. Maybe {}it's Ann's.
Sam: Excuse me ,Ann.
Ann;Yes?
Sam: Is this your eraser?
Ann: No, it isn't .I think it's Lucy's. Lucy, is this your eraser ?
Lucy: Oh,yes. Thank you very much .
Sam; That's all right.
Jim: Look,! What are those?
Lucy: I think they are oranges.
Ann; No, they aren't . I think they are apples----yellow apples.
Jim; Are they in a box ?
Lucy: No, they are in a basket {}
Sam: Whose are they?
Lucy:Sorry ,we really don't know. | middle6028.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it was knocked down by a car"
},
"options": [
"it was badly ill",
"it was knocked down by a car",
"it was too old",
"it fought against other dogs"
],
"question": "The dog died because _ .",
"question_type... | We can't live without love and we know what love is, but we don't say only humans know what love is. Yes, it's impossible for animals to do some things because of their physical body. However, sometimes some of them might be able to show us the love that we have forgotten on our "busy road", just like the following story.
A dog, was knocked down by a car and died in the middle of the road. Later, another dog ran beside the body of the dead dog and he tried to wake his friend up using his legs. When his effort to wake up his friend failed, he tried to push his friend to the roadside. But his friend was too heavy for him to push.
Though traffic was busy and dangerous, he wouldn't want to go away from his friend, just standing beside his friend shouting and crying.
A lot of people saw this story and were very touched . Even a dog can show his loyalty and love to his friend, what can our humans do? | middle1747.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "taking photos"
},
"options": [
"checking weather",
"sending messages",
"reading news",
"taking photos"
],
"question": "Before getting up, many people use their phones to do tasks, not including _ .",
"que... | We use our smart phones to carry out many tasks every day. Many of us have become so _ on them. However, it is bad for our eyes and health to use too much phone.
A study shows that smart phone owners usually start to use their phones early in the morning. They check persona1 emails and Wechat. And before they get out of bed, many people often check the weather, read the news, and send a message or two to friends. After getting up, they often take photos of food, themselves, and even whatever they can see with their phones. They share their photos with their friends. The research finds that users pick up their phones more than l,500 times to do different tasks in an average week. And the smart phone users are on their phone for three hours and sixteen minutes a day. That is to say, people use their phones for almost one full day each week.
Using phones will take much time and it's also bad for our health. Many people stay up late to play phones, And mobile phones will influence our sleep. Without using the phones, many people will feel sad. Many owners also find they use their phones without realizing they're doing so.
How do you think people use their phones too much? | middle5521.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "succeeded in opening their school for the deaf in America"
},
"options": [
"wanted to build a school for the deaf in the USA",
"succeeded in making the deaf speak as ordinary people",
"succeeded in opening their school for th... | In 1816, there were no schools for the deaf in America. Several people started a few schools, but in the end all of the schools closed. There were too many problems. The first people to succeed were Laurent Clerc and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. They opened their school in 1817, and the school did not close. At that time it was the only school for deaf children in America!
Clerc and Gallaudet did not know what would happen after they opened their school. They worked very hard. The school grew, and many more students went to this school. These new students were from all over the country. People thought the school would be big enough for all of the deaf children in America. The school is still open today, but the name was changed. Today it is called the American School for the Deaf. It is in West Hartford, Connecticut.
After Clerc and Gallaudet established their school, many other schools for the deaf were opened as well. Before Gallaudet's death in 1851, 15 other schools for deaf children were built! Many of the teachers at those 15 schools used Gallaudet's teaching methods. Many had even studied with Gallaudet and were deaf themselves! | middle3150.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "four"
},
"options": [
"three",
"four",
"five",
"Six"
],
"question": "There are _ people in the family.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_... | It' s 9:00 in the evening. The family are at home. Jim's father sits in a chair. He's watching TV . His mother stands near the window. She feeds the birds--Polly. Polly says, "Thanks! Thanks!" Where is Jim? Oh, he's behind the door. Kate is looking for him. They play games in Kate's room. | middle3636.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "cleaner"
},
"options": [
"cleaner",
"maker",
"repairer",
"seller"
],
"question": "The boy was a shoe _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answe... | A boy who was cleaning shoes in the street said to a young man passing by, "Let me clean your shoes." The young man said, "No, thank you." "You may pay me only a pound, sir," said the boy. But the young man refused again. Then the boy told him that he would clean his shoes for nothing. The young man agreed to this, and soon one of his shoes was shining brightly. The man put the other shoe on the boy, but the boy refused to clean it unless he was paid two pounds for his work. The young man refused to pay anything and went away. But the dirty one looked so bad that he couldn't walk away. He had to turn back and gave the boy two pounds. In a very short time his shoes shone brightly. | middle4159.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He read books or told stories to Hans."
},
"options": [
"He gathered wild flowers with Hans.",
"He taught Hans to make shoes.",
"He read books or told stories to Hans.",
"He picked remaining wheat with Hans."
],
... | All boys and girls like good stories. I am sure that all children who read The Ugly Duckling will be glad to know something about the 'King of Story Tellers', who wrote it for them. Thousands and thousands of children have read this story, only to ask for it again and again. It has travelled the wide world over, and has been told in every country.
Hans Christian Andersen, the author of "The Ugly Duckling," was born in Denmark. If you look on a map, you will see this little country in northern Europe. There, in the little village of Odense, he spent his boyhood. His father and mother were very poor. The family lived in two little rooms near the top of a house, where his father worked as a shoemaker.
On the roof was a box filled with earth. In this box his mother planted her vegetables. Little Hans loved to walk with his father in the woods, where he could pick wild flowers and hear the birds sing. His father read to him when his work was done, or told him stories. What his father did helped him open up a new world.
Once, when Hans was still a child, he went into a wheat field with his mother and a number of children, to pick the rest wheat which the reapers had left in the field. While they were busy picking only a small amount of wheat for each of them, an angry bailiff came rushing into the field, armed with a whip . All ran, as fast as they could, away from the angry man. _ and the sharp stalks of the wheat plants which had been cut down, cut his feet so that he could not get away.
Unafraid, the boy faced the angry man and his upraised whip. "How dare you hit me when you know God sees you?" he cried, looking fearlessly into the face of the angry bailiff. The whip came down, but not on little Hans. The bailiff admired the boy's courage, and praised him for it. He sent him home with gifts, rather than punishments.[:]
While Hans was still a boy, his kind father died. Then Hans and his mother were left alone, to care for each other.
"What will you do, Hans?" the mother asked "Would you like to become a tailor?"
"No, mother," the boy answered; "I will go to Copenhagen and study. One day I shall write books."
"But where will the money be found to pay your way?" asked the mother.
"I will work, and God will take care of me," Hans replied.
So the boy left his native village and walked all the way to Copenhagen, which was very far. | middle5247.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "was sick"
},
"options": [
"had a vacation",
"hurt his foot",
"needed to read",
"was sick"
],
"question": "He stayed in bed all day because he _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | I didn't feel well when I woke up yesterday morning. My throat hurt and _ . I also felt hot. My mother said I had a bad cold. I didn't want to get up, so she let me stay in bed all day. I don't usually like being in bed during the day, but I like it yesterday. I listened to the music and read a magazine. I slept a lot. I had all my meals in bed, though I didn't want to eat much. I had just soup and toast for lunch and some rice and chicken for dinner. By evening I was beginning to feel better. I asked my mother if I could get up and watch television but she said no. Today I feel much better, so I didn't stay in bed. I didn't go to school again, though. I'll go tomorrow if I feel well enough. | middle2528.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "not interested in them"
},
"options": [
"looking for something",
"worrying about something",
"happy to see them",
"not interested in them"
],
"question": "If you look right and left when people talk to you, they... | It's hard to make friends if you stay at home alone all the time. Be outgoing , get out of the house and do things with other people. It's easier to make friends when you follow these:
Show people what you are good at. Talk about the things you like and you do best. People will be interested in you if there is something interesting.
Look people in the eye when talking with them. That way, they'll find it easier to talk to you, or people may think you're not interested in them and stop being interested in you.
Be a good listener. Let people talk about themselves before talking about yourself. Ask lots of questions. Show an interest in their answers.
Make friends with the people you really like, not just with those who are easy to meet. Be friendly to people. That way, you'll have a bigger group of people to choose and more chances for making friends. | middle1021.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because people were a afraid that birds would lose their way."
},
"options": [
"Because people wanted to save money.",
"Because people liked the dark night.",
"Because people were a afraid that birds would make much noise.",
... | Last week,Chicago became the first city in the US to join the "Lights Out Plan".People turned off the lights in the city's tallest buildings,so that thousands of birds could get to their winter homes.Every year in autumn,some birds fly over Chicago on their way to the south,and come back the next spring.
Lights mean danger to birds.Birds find their way by looking at the stars in the sky.Lights in tall buildings are so bright that birds may mistake them as stars.This means they can not find the right way to go home.
This month,about 300 types of birds are flying over Chicago to go back to the south to live through the cold winter.Birds fly to warmer places for a few reasons.Many birds cannot live in the cold,so they fly to warmer places.But there are other reasons,too.Birds need to look for food in the south.Another reason is that they want to have baby birds.Many birds like to have their baby birds in the same "house" they lived in last year,so they fly back there.
There are about 9,000 kinds of birds in the world,and about 600 kinds of birds _ .Some birds can fly a very long way.Sometimes they fly to other countries.We have fewer birds today because there are fewer places for birds. | middle7450.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "all the above"
},
"options": [
"on TV",
"in magazines",
"in newspapers",
"all the above"
],
"question": "We can see ads _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_inde... | Open today's newspaper. What do you see? Ads! Turn on the TV. Still more ads! Everywhere you look, someone has something to sell.
Here are some ways ads get us to buy.
Some ads use famous people. Stars are paid to sell a product. Think about it. Do they really know about medicine? Do they know about soft drinks? These people may be famous. But they may not know about what they are selling.
Some ads make you think you're getting the words of experts . A man in a white coat comes on TV. He looks nice. "I use White and Black, " he says. This man looks like a doctor. But he is an actor. He has been paid to sell this product.
Does soap have anything to do with a pretty child? Not much. But ads may show their products with something nice, such as the sun, the flowers and so on. Such an ad is about feelings rather than fact.
Ads are full of strong words like "new" and "power" . They can help a product sell. The soap may be called "Spring Rain". A car may be called "Tiger". Strong words work on our feelings.
Some ads make promises . But can they keep them? No. Some ads use our fear of being too late. "Buy now! " they say, "Selling ends soon. " Check to see if this is true. Don't hurry. Take time to think.
All ads hope we will buy something, do something, or think in a certain way. Know what ads are doing. Ask questions to yourself. Don't let their words and pictures fool you.
uld not always believe the ads. | middle6996.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "a magazine"
},
"options": [
"a science book",
"a storybook",
"a magazine",
"the school rules"
],
"question": "You may see this passage in _",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | When you are feeling unhappy or forget how great you are ,there are six ways to make you feel confident about yourself ,
1.Look in the mirror and say to yourself,"I am a special person and there's no one in the world like me. I can do anything!"It may not sound so good ,bur it really works!
2.Do something nice for someone. Helping others always makes you feel so good.
3.Smile! Be friendly to the people you meet. Look for the good things of your friends and family.
4.Learn something new! Do you want to decorate your own room or learn how to swim? Go for it !New challenges are fun and give you a sense of accomplishment when you finish them,
5.Keep a diary. Turn off the TV and let your imagination fly! Write down your thoughts, dreams or anything you want! Writing always helps to express your feelings.
6.Stay with your family. We all need our family time .Talk with your mum or dad or maybe even your cousin | middle3805.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "John."
},
"options": [
"John.",
"Anne.",
"Tom.",
"Mary."
],
"question": "Who finds the shop to buy the present first?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
... | John: Here's a good shop. Shall we buy mother's birthday present here?
Mary: Yes, that's a good idea. Shall we go inside?
Tom: No. Let's look in the window. Shall we buy her a sweater?
Anne: Er, no. It'll soon be summer. Let's buy her a blouse to wear. There's a nice one in the window.
John: No, she has two blouses. Let's buy a ring.
Mary: Oh, no! They're diamond rings. Look at the price. The cheapest is $15.
John: A real diamond ring is at least $500.They only look like diamonds.
Tom: Shall we buy a table? It's only $15.
Anne: It doesn't look good, just like a big box. Mum likes chairs.
Tom: But they haven't any here.
Mary: What about a pen? So cheap! Only $10.
John: She has a lot of pens and pencils. All of them are new.
Tom: Oh, look here. These flowers are beautiful.
Mary: They aren't real and will never die.
John: And they're the cheapest of all these things. Yes, let's buy them.
Anne: All right. | middle238.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Brown"
},
"options": [
"Brown",
"Linda",
"Jeff",
"Emily"
],
"question": "What's Jane's family name?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text... | Hello, I'm Linda. This is a photo of my friend's family. Her name is Jane. These are her parents, Jeff Brown and Emily Brown. Those are her brothers, Harry and Dick. Is that her grandfather? Yes, it is. His name is Henry.
. | middle1974.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The Best Advice I've Ever Had"
},
"options": [
"Not An Enemy, But the Best Friend",
"The Best Advice I've Ever Had",
"My Father",
"My Childhood"
],
"question": "Which do you think would be the best title for t... | When I was about 12, I had an enemy , a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings . Week by week her list grew: I was very thin; I wasn't a good student; I talked too much; I was too proud , and so on. I tried to hear all these as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me quietly. Then he asked, "Are the thing she said true or not? Janet, didn't you ever think about what you are really like? Well, you now have that girl's opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said."
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn't change (like being very thin), but a good number I could --- and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I got a very clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He wouldn't like to take it. "That is just for you," he said, "You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you will find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don't shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do the right thing."
Daddy's advice has returned to me at many important periods. In my life, I have never had a better piece of advice. | middle1960.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "forget his troubles"
},
"options": [
"enjoy novels",
"form the habit of reading",
"learn more",
"forget his troubles"
],
"question": "At first, the writer read in order to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_que... | When I'm in trouble, I always take out a book and read quietly. I put my heart into it so that I'll forget all the troubles. I've formed the habit of reading in this way.
When I was a little boy, I was interested in picture books and storybooks. When I was a middle school student, I began to read novels, plays, essays and so on. I found I could get much from them. Little by little I took great interest in literature and last term I won the first prize in the composition contest among middle school students in our city.
Reading The Emperor's New Clothes, I had to let out a burst of laughter over his silly action. The Little Match Girl couldn't keep me from crying for her misery . Robinson Crusoe took me into a strange world full of danger. And I was also deeply impressed by Helen Keller's perseverance . Besides these, books also tell me other things -- how to be a brave man and how to tell the difference between the right and the wrong. In a word, good books can make me know what I didn't know before. So I think of good books as my best friends.
I'll never forget this famous saying, "Good books are the best friends who never turn their backs upon us." | middle4818.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "black and red"
},
"options": [
"red and yellow",
"purple and brown",
"black and red",
"yellow and green"
],
"question": "My schoolbag is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Hi! My name's Frank. Look! This is my schoolbag. It's black and red. My pens, my ruler and my books are in it. I have 2 pens, they are blue. My ruler is yellow and white. My books are purple and brown. Look! What's this? It's a map. It's red, yellow and green. I like them very much. | middle3811.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "buy shoes"
},
"options": [
"measure his feet",
"buy shoes",
"buy a straw",
"get to town"
],
"question": "One day, a man wanted to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"an... | A long time ago, there was a man. He wanted to buy a pair of new shoes. He measured his feet with a straw ,and then went to a shoe shop in town.
The shopkeeper took out a pair of new shoes, and let him try it on. But when he looked into his pocket, he found that the straw was not there. So he said, "I'm sorry, I forgot to bring the size here! Let me go home to get it." After that, he ran out of the shop. It was very far from his home to the shoe shop. When he got back home, he was out of breath.
With a straw in his hand, he hurried to the shoe shop again. But the shop was closed.
Someone near the man said, "Your feet are with you. Why don't you try which pair of shoes fits ? And why do you believe your straw, but not your feet?" | middle6969.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "quite young"
},
"options": [
"at school",
"quite young",
"in trouble",
"not at home"
],
"question": "When her grandmother died, Sally was _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | One little miracle has been happening to me recently, and it gives me a special joy.
A few months ago, I was telling my daughter, Sally, some stories about my mother. Mydaughter was so young when my mother died that she doesn't remember her well. I told her allI could remember, like how wonderful my mother was and how much she meant to me.
One day, Sally was sad because her grandmother was in heaven and she couldn't
see her. I explained that though her grandmother was dead, now she was still watching over usand could send us something to let us know she was there. She could be anywhere, even ridinginvisibly on the back of a butterfly . Just after I said this, a butterflyflew down right by us, and we laughed happily.
Now many people would say it was just luck that the butterfly flew down at that time. A funnything, however, has happened since then. Every time I go out in any type of weather I seebutterflies. Very often they fly right by my face to get my attention. I always say hi to Mom,send her my love, and thank God for little miracles.
Everyone is always looking for some big miracles to come out and save them when they are introuble, but they don't notice the little miracles that happen every day right in front of theireyes. I know what they really are, however. For me little miracles are the best kind. So manylittle miracles happen around me all the time that I know _ are not just luck.
,. | middle7487.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "in the classroom"
},
"options": [
"on he way to school",
"in the dormitory",
"in the classroom",
"in the washroom"
],
"question": "Middle school students may NOT smoke _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questi... | Smoking is harmful to our health, but many middle school students are smoking. Their teachers, parents or classmates can't stop them because they smoke anywhere they can't be seen --on the way to school, in the dormitory , or even in the washroom.And most of the students think that smoking is very cool.But I want to tell you my story and then you will see that it's wrong to smoke when you are very young.
When I was a middle school student, my friends at school smoked and they asked me to have a try. So I started smoking when I was fourteen. Soon I couldn't wait to smoke as soon as I was free. After a month I couldn't stop smoking. But two years later, I felt what smoking was doing to me. I couldn't run far, I coughed every morning, and I got very weak. So I wanted to stop smoking. It wasn't easy, but now I have stopped it, and I feel better.
If you smoke, you will get ill more easily, and perhaps you can't grow taller, because there is something bad in cigarettes and also you may get some bad behaviors and habits such as stealing , _ and having a fight with others. So you can see smoking is a bad habit. If you smoke, try to stop. Though it isn't easy, you must do it as soon as possible. | middle6941.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Cindy is listening to the radio and Nancy is surfing the Internet."
},
"options": [
"They are listening to the radio.",
"They are surfing the Interact.",
"Cindy is listening to the radio and Nancy is surfing the Internet.",
... | It's Sunday morning. My parents, my uncle, my sisters and I are all at home.
What is my father doing? He is reading a newspaper. My mother is watering the flowers in the small garden. There are some beautiful flowers in it. Some are red, and the others are yellow. My uncle is my mother's brother. He's a waiter. He is watching TV now. He is a basketball fan . And he is good at playing basketball. Now he is watching NBA on TV. Where are my sisters? Cindy is over there. She is listening to the radio . She likes popular music very much. Nancy is in her room. She has a computer. Now she is surfing the Internet . She's writing an e-mail to her friend. What am I doing? I'm doing my homework. " | middle562.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they can't understand each other"
},
"options": [
"her daddy doesn't talk to her",
"her parents don't love her.",
"she doesn't like her parents",
"they can't understand each other"
],
"question": "Zhang Li and h... | Parents are the closest people to you in the world. They love you just because you're you. And they would do anything for you.
Like a lot of middle school students, Zhang Li has a problem. She and her parents don't get on well. "I really want to be my daddy's good girl. But it seems he just doesn't understand. He talks to me but doesn't listen to me," said Zhang Li, a student from Grade Three.
Do you and your parents also have problems?
Well, why don't you take a walk and have a walk on Saturday? May 15 is International Day of families . On that day, people around the world give thanks for good things about families and work on family problems.
A study last year showed that 1500 Beijing families had the same problem as Zhang's family. The children, 12 to 15 years old, didn't like talking with their parents much. They weren't happy at home. Of course, lots of other children feel that way. But you and your parents will be much happier if you can be friends.
Here are some ways to have a good talk with your parents: find a good time to talk, like when you're eating dinner, going out for a walk or watching TV. Tell them something you're interested in, or ask them about their lives when they were young. They love to talk about _ ! Listen to them carefully, and look at them in the eyes. Be honest, your parents will trust you more. And a trusting family is a happy family. | middle6799.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "London zoo told them what kind of snake it was"
},
"options": [
"the snake bit him",
"he left the hospital the next day",
"Mr. Jackson sent the photo to the hospital",
"London zoo told them what kind of snake it was"
... | If a snake bites you, take a photo with your mobile phone! It may save your life. This is the surprising advice of a British cook.
One day Henry Jackson was working in a restaurant kitchen. He picked up a dish from the table, and suddenly a snake appeared... and bit him on the hand.
A few days earlier, the snake came to the restaurant from Asia in a box of bananas. It climbed out of the box and hid under the dish.
"I went to try to pick it up and it bit me again. I threw it across the kitchen, and it landed in the fridge. So I closed the door," Mr. Jackson said.
Anyway, Mr. Jackson stayed cool and he took a photo of the snake with his mobile phone. Soon his hand began to ache and he went to hospital. Then his chest began to hurt. Doctors couldn't say what was wrong because they didn't know what kind of snake it was.
Then Mr. Jackson remembered his mobile phone photo. The doctors sent it to London Zoo. When they knew the kind of snake, they could give Mr. Jackson the right medicine, and he left hospital the next day.
"So my advice is this: if a snake bites you, pick up your phone. Take its photo first and then show the photo to the doctors," suggests Mr. Jackson. "Oh, and if the snake doesn't smile for its photo, don't worry." | middle204.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "play jokes on people"
},
"options": [
"play with his brother",
"help his mother cook",
"play jokes on people",
"go swimming with his friends"
],
"question": "When he was young, the writer liked to _ .",
"... | When I was young,I liked to play jokes on people I knew, especially on my parents and friends. One day my mother was cooking and I was playing with my younger brother Tony. Suddenly I ran to my mother and said: "Tony fell from the open window!" She was very worried and ran out of the kitchen. Then I said: "Don't worry, I'm just joking." My mother shouted at me, "If you do it again, I'll hit you."
Another day I went swimming with my friends in the sea. I wanted to play a joke on them. In the beginning I swam fast and I called out "Help!". All my friends came to help me. However, they found that I was joking. But half an hour later I wasn't joking. I was so fast, soon I got tired and couldn't swim on in water. I tried my best to call my friends for help, but this time nobody came to help me.
In the end they found I was telling the truth. They came and saved my life. They took me to the hospital. This is the best lesson in my life. From then on I haven't joked on anyone. | middle1790.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A lawyer."
},
"options": [
"A teacher.",
"A lawyer.",
"A doctor.",
"A swimmer."
],
"question": "What is Harish Chaturvedi?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index"... | Practicing yoga is a helpful, popular way to keep fit. It has many followers around the world. There are many kinds of yoga. You may have heard of "hot yoga" before. Now, in India, a new kind of yoga, water yoga, is becoming more and more popular among the local people.
In the city of Agra, people practice yoga in water. It is more difficult to practice yoga in water than on land. But practicing yoga in water can be good for your flexibility .
Harish Chaturvedi, a lawyer, teaches people water yoga _ --even the poor people can learn from him. "Water yoga can become more popular than other kind of yoga, because the body does not get tired so quickly," he said. "Everybody can learn to swim, but if they learn yoga at the same time, they will never feel tired."
"The level of Oxygen is very high in water, and you will not have any breathing problem," he added.
Harish believes that water yoga really helps people to keep away from illness. He mainly trains children. He has classes at the swimming pool of a local sports room regularly. Many children are interested in it and come to team from him.
"Harish is very good at performing yoga in water," said Sudhir Narayan, a water yoga student. "He is teaching children free of cost and that is a very good thing." | middle3187.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "how hard the pencil is"
},
"options": [
"the model of the pencil",
"the factory where the pencil is made",
"how hard the pencil is",
"how long the pencil lasts"
],
"question": "The number that goes before the le... | You cannot go without a pencil when writing or drawing something. You have probably noticed letters H and B printed on your pencils.What,for example,do HB,2H or 3H mean?
Those are letters showing the hardness of the lead or graphite in a pencil.H refers to hard lead.The bigger the Arabic number before the letter H,the harder the lead,and the lighter will be the colour. The hardest pencil has 6H on it.Such pencils are often used in making engineering drawings.People seldom write with them.B stands for soft lead.The bigger the number before the letter B,the softer the lead,and the darker will be the colour, the softest being the 6B pencil.Such pencils are favoured by artists.
The HB pencil has a lead core that is neither too soft nor too hard.Its colour is medium in its blackness.It is most suitable for ordinary writing and drawing. | middle4830.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "she waited for the red light to turn"
},
"options": [
"she waited for the red light to turn",
"she gave spare change to him",
"she had a good time that day",
"she wanted to know how he lived"
],
"question": "The... | On the way back from work every evening, more often than not there would be a homeless man standing at the exit of the freeway . He looked to be in his late 40s but was probably a lot younger. He had shoulder length straight black hair and a short beard.
Every day after work I would remember to gather any spare change, and put it aside to give to him if I saw him. A feeling of joy would come over me every time I saw him, while coming off the ramp . So did he. Sometimes the red light would be on for a minute and we would ask each other about our day. His answer would always be the same, "I'm blessed!"
Then one day I was called into my boss's office and was told that I was being laid off. For the rest of that day all I could think of was "how am I going to provide for my kids as a mother, how am I going to pay rent?"
Needless to say that on my way home that day I was very sad and upset. I didn't remember to look for my spare change and keep it ready like I usually did. Yet there he was as always, as I turned the ramp. He set his eyes on me, while still smiling and waving at others as usual.
While I was waiting for the red light to turn, he strolled over to my car. He had a big smile. He looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "Today I will give you a dollar." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill.
You see that day he taught me a valuable lesson more than a dollar bill. No matter what material things are taken from you, no one can take away your choice to be joyful. Every time I'm faced with challenges, I think of the homeless man's valuable lesson and remember that I am blessed. | middle3193.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "a recipe"
},
"options": [
"a poem",
"a piece of news",
"a story",
"a recipe"
],
"question": "This passage is probably _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index":... | Fish and apple soup? Yes, and you won't believe how delicious it is. This first came out of a restaurant in Singapore, but it is now very popular as the du jour soup in Chinese restaurants. Ingredients (serves 4):
1 whole fish. 2 apples, quartered. 4-6 ginger slices . 1 bunch of spring onions, cut into pierces. 1 red tomato, cut into 8 pierces. Oil, salt and pepper.
Methods:
l. Remove the bones from the fish.
2 Pour oil into a pan. Fry the ginger slices, and the spring onions. Add the fish hones and oil.
3. Add enough water and boil it for about 15 to 20 minutes,
4. Add the apples, the fish and the tomato. When the apples go soft, add salt and pepper, | middle4824.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The youngest volunteer was 19 and the oldest was 59."
},
"options": [
"There were 80 volunteers who took part in the study.",
"The youngest volunteer was 19 and the oldest was 59.",
"Some volunteers had babies at that time in... | Once a baby cries, the parents will go to see what happened as soon as possible. According to a new study, a baby's cry can make adults react very quickly, even if they are not related.
Oxford University researchers used the classic game whack-a-mole for the study. Whack-a-mole requires people to hit one of nine buttons . The players must react as quickly as they can to whichever of the buttons lights up at random . It is a game that requires speed and accuracy ( ).
The study included 40 men and women volunteers aged 19 to 59. Some of them had sons or daughters but none had a baby at the time. They played whack-a-mole after listening to different sounds, including babies crying, the crying of adults in trouble and birdsong played at a similar pitch to the babies' cries.
The volunteers' scores were higher after listening to the sound of crying babies. Men and women had similar scores overall. The results showed that a crying baby gets special attention.
"Few sounds make people react quite like the cry of a baby," said Morten Kringelbach of Oxford's psychiatry department, who led the study. "For example, it's almost impossible to ignore(,) crying babies on planes. This is true even though there are so many other noises around."
He added that a baby's cry can increase adults' heart rate and blood pressure. This is understandable, because in the course of human evolution , taking care of babies has always been an important job for adults. When a baby is hungry or feeling bored or unwell, it will cry. As a result, human brains and bodies develop a special reaction to a baby's cry. | middle210.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "fight with your brothers or sisters"
},
"options": [
"give them a hug, a card or a joke",
"try your best to do something",
"fight with your brothers or sisters",
"clean up your room without being asked"
],
"ques... | Mom and Dad are two of the most important people in your life. You probably see at least one of them every day. If your dad worships the Pittsburgh Steelers, you may grow up being a big fan of that football team. And if your mom loves to read,you just may grow up carrying a book everywhere you go, just like she does.
Here are some ways for you to get along well, and build a strong relationship with your parents.
Spend time together. Don't sit there playing computer games or watching TV. Ask your mom and dad to play with you. Go outside together, or do some reading.
Be kind. Little things might mean a lot to your mom or dad. You can (make a parent happy) with a hug,a card,or a joke. It's also lovely when a kid cleans up his or her room without being asked. And if you try not to fight with your brothers or sisters, your parents will be so happy!
Do your best at whatever you do. You don't have to be perfect ,but when you do your best,you make your parents proud. It makes them happy to see how you're turning into a great kid. Why? Because it lets them know _ | middle7493.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "In the street."
},
"options": [
"At a bank.",
"In a shop.",
"In the street.",
"In the woman's car."
],
"question": "Where did this story happen?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer... | A man was walking along the street when he saw a woman carrying a large box. It was half in and half out of her car. So the man went up and said, "The box looks very heavy. Let me give you a hand."
"That's very kind of you," the woman said, "I'm having a lot of trouble with it. Maybe it sticks in the car door."
"Together we'll soon move it," the man said. "I'll get in and take the other end." And he got in the car.
"Right," the man said. "I'm ready," and he began to push the box hard.
For several minutes, the man and the woman tried to move the box. Soon they felt very tired.
They rested for a moment. Then the woman said, "Let's try again. One, two, three!" They went on moving the box.
At last, when they were _ , the man said, "I'm sorry, but I don't think there's any way to get it out of your car."
"Get it out?" the woman cried. "I'm trying to get it in! You know?" | middle576.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "an English teacher"
},
"options": [
"a Chinese teacher",
"an English driver",
"a Japanese teacher",
"an English teacher"
],
"question": "Mr Smith is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"... | Mr .Smith is an Englishman. He teaches English well.His English classes are very interesting.He likes us and we like him,too.
Mr Smith has two children--Tom and Lucy.Tom is seven and his sister Lucy is four.Tom goes to school but Lucy doesn't. Mr Smith likes to wear a T-shirt and jeans .Football is his favorite sport.After school we often have a basketball match.Sometimes Mr Smith watches and joins us.He plays basketball just for fun. | middle4415.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Egypt"
},
"options": [
"China",
"Japan",
"Egypt",
"France"
],
"question": "The Great Pyramid is in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_... | If you go to Egypt, you'll see a lot of pyramids. The biggest of all is the Great Pyramid. It is about 137 meters high and made of 2,300,000 big stones. Each stone weighs about two and a half tons .The biggest ones even weigh fifteen tons. It took more than 100,000 men twenty years to build it. Nobody can tell just how the men cut, carried and lifted the huge stones without our modern machines .
The Egyptian kings told the people to build the pyramids for themselves. They thought they had tombs strong enough to keep their bodies well until they came back to life. But they never thought that about 5,000 years later their bodies would be on show in museums. | middle2064.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a different"
},
"options": [
"a different",
"the same",
"a small",
"a large"
],
"question": "People give each group of the mice _ amount of food every year.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | One way that scientists learn about man is by studying animals.In this lab, the scientists are studying the relationship between diet and health.
They are studying the relationship between the amount of food the mice eat and their health.The mice are in three groups.All three groups are receiving the same healthy food.The first group is eating one cup of food each day, the second group is eating two cups, and the third group is eating three cups.
After three years, the healthiest group is the one that is only eating one cup of food each day.The mice in this group are a little thinner. But _ are more active.Most of the day, they are running, playing with one another.Also, they are living longer.Mice usually live for two years.Most of the mice in this group are still alive after three years.
The second group of mice is healthy, too.They are active, but not as active as the thinner mice.They are only living about two years.
The last group of mice is receiving more food than the other two groups.Most of the day, these mice are eating or sleeping.They are not very active.These mice are living longer than the scientists thought-about a year and a half.But they are not healthy.They are sick more often than the other two groups. | middle6202.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "is the last place to visit"
},
"options": [
"is the first place to visit",
"is the last place to visit",
"is in the Children's Zoo",
"is a part of the Asian Area"
],
"question": "The Butterfly Park _ .",
"... | Welcome to the zoo,everyone!Here is our plan.Listen carefully.First we will visit the Children's Zoo.After that,we will walk to Bird World.Next is the African Area.There are elephants and lions!Don't be afraid.The cages are safe.
Then,we will have lunch.Everybody brought their lunch,right?Some of you don't have drinks.That's all right.There are many places to buy drinks.
After lunch,we will go to the Asian Area.Last,there is the Butterfly Park.Then,we will come back here and get on the bus.Remember,don't feed the animals.OK,let's have some fun! | middle947.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because they can eat quickly."
},
"options": [
"Because they can eat quickly.",
"Because the food outside is more delicious.",
"Because these people feel bored at home.",
"Because these people like to be with their frie... | Many people like to eat out because they can eat quickly and the food is not expensive. Some families go to fast food restaurants. But in the past people went to diners. Do you want to know the story of the first American diner?
In 1872, a man named Walter Scott had the first "diner". It was not really a diner. It was only a simple food cart . People on the street walked up to the cart to buy food. The cart served late-night workers who wanted a cup of coffee and a late night meal. The meal was a sandwich or boiled eggs. In 1887, Samuel Messer Jones built the first big enough diner to allow customers to come inside. However, they had no chairs to sit down. Three years later, people built diners with counters and stools and people sat down while they were eating.
Before long, many diners stayed open around the clock. In other words, people were able to eat in a diner at any time. Diners changed in other ways, too. The earliest menu which only included sandwiches and coffee became bigger. Soup and dishes were added to the menu, and a breakfast menu appeared, too. In addition, diners were no longer carts on wheels.
Diners today are usually buildings with large windows, shining counters and stools, tables and chairs, where people can eat all three meals. | middle6564.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "during the lunch-time"
},
"options": [
"at the afternoon",
"in the morning",
"in the evening",
"during the lunch-time"
],
"question": "There was a heavy storm _ last Sunday.",
"question_type": "cloze_ques... | Last Sunday I saw the hardest storm in years. It came suddenly and went on for more than three hours. After lunch, I went into my room to have a rest. The air was hot, and all was quiet.
Then the strong wind started blowing into my room. Pieces of paper on my desk flew high into the air and some flew out of the open window. As I ran out to catch them, big drops of rain began to fall.
When I came back into the house, it was raining harder. I tried hard to close the window. Then I heard a loudcrashing sound from the back of the house. I ran out of my room to find out what it was--a big tree had fallen down and broken the top of the back room. | middle2702.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "she is getting fatter and fatter"
},
"options": [
"she is ill",
"she is getting fatter and fatter",
"she wants to know her weight",
"she isn't feeling very well"
],
"question": "Miss Green goes to see the doctor... | Miss Green is very fat. She weighs 100 kg and she is getting heavier and heavier every day. So one day she goes to see the doctor. The doctor says,"You need a diet, Miss Green, and I have a good one here." He gives her a small book and says, "Read this carefully and eat the things on Page 11 every day. Then come back and see me in two weeks' time."
Miss Green comes back again two weeks later. She isn't thinner. She is fatter instead. The doctor is surprised and says, "Are you eating the things on Page 11 of the small book?" "Yes, doctor." she answers.
The next day the doctor visits Miss Green during her dinner. She is surprised to see the doctor. "Miss Green," he says, "why are you eating potatoes and bread? They aren't on your diet." "But, doctor," Miss Green answers, "I ate my diet at lunchtime. This is my dinner." | middle4373.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She read a text message from her friend while asleep."
},
"options": [
"She sleepwalked to a friend's house.",
"She dreamed of making plans with a friend.",
"She phoned one of her friends during the night.",
"She read a... | When US student Olivia Priedeman, 17, woke up one morning, she thought she had had a dream about making plans with a friend.
But it wasn't a dream. Her phone showed that during the night, Priedeman had read a text message from her friend. She did it while she was fast asleep.
Reading and sending text messages while asleep--called "sleep texting"--is an unusual sleep behaviour, similar to sleepwalking. It's also a growing concern among doctors: young people can't live without their cell phones.
One in three teenagers sends more than 100 text messages a day, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And at least four out of five teenagers said they sleep with their phone on or near their bed.
Elizabeth Dowdell, a professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, has studied sleeping texting. She said that having a phone nearby all night is a big part of the problem.
Andrew Stiehm, a sleep medicine expert with Allina Health in Minnesota, agrees. It's possible for the part of the brain that controls motor skills to wake up, while the part of the brain that controls memory and judgment may be still asleep. That's why some people can perform basic movements ---such as walking, talking, texting or even driving--while they're sleeping. Some of Dowdell's students said that they're disturbed by their nighttime texting behavior. But because sleep texting is _ , it's a difficult habit to break. Dowdell said she knows of some students who wear socks on their hands to keep themselves from texting.
Marjorie Hogan, a doctor at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, suggests keeping all electronic devices outside the bedroom at certain times. | middle2716.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "classmate"
},
"options": [
"granny",
"classmate",
"teacher",
"friend"
],
"question": "Rose, an 87-year-old lady, was Jack's _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_... | On the first day of school, Jack found a little old lady with a warm smile."Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I'm 87 years old."she said.
"Why are you in university at such a YOUNG age?" Jack asked.
"I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of kids, and then retired and travel." she answered.
Jack knew she's joking but he was surprised what encouraged her to be here at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a university education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. We became friends. Every day they would talk after class. Jack always enjoyed listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with him. And Rose easily made friends wherever she went.
At the end of the term, Rose was invited to make a little speech. She said, "We don't stop playing because we're old. We grow old because we stop playing. Being happy and achieving success may keep you staying young. If you have a dream, hold on. When you lose your dreams, you die."
"Anybody can grow older. _ doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the chance in change..." | middle5079.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "For 75 years."
},
"options": [
"For 25 years.",
"For 75 years.",
"For half a century.",
"For several months."
],
"question": "How many years has the zoo been open?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},... | The baby elephant, Sheila, was moved out of Belfast Zoo because of fears she might be hit by bombers during the Belfast Blitz of 1941.
She was one of the lucky ones. A lot of the animals were killed because of fears they might escape during the bombing and attack people. They included a tiger, a black bear, a wolf, a penguin, and two polar bears.
But Sheila was walked down the road by zoo-keepers to a nearby house where a woman took her in and kept her in her backyard for several months until the bombing was over.
The woman has never been identified and the zoo knows her only as "the elephant angel". As the zoo celebrates its 75thbirthday, people have decided to try to find the elephant's saver. Mark Challis is the manager of Belfast Zoo. He explained a bit more about Sheila's story.
"Well, we know that Sheila, the elephant that was in the zoo at that time spent some time living with a lady relatively near to the zoo and we have one sweet photo, you can see it on our zoo website."
"In the photo you can see the elephant with the lady in her back garden and that's almost all we know. So we're just trying to find a little bit more information and we are not even sure if the lady is alive today, but maybe her relatives or somebody will recognize the back of that house and we can fill in some detail on this story."
Once the bombing was over, Sheila went back to the zoo and lived for another quarter of a century. She died of a skin disease in 1966. | middle4367.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "business people"
},
"options": [
"teachers",
"business people",
"secretaries",
"tourists"
],
"question": "The advertisement is probably written for",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer... | You know what it' s like. You' ve just arrived in Washington D. C. after a long journey and all you really want to do is lie down and relax in your hotel room. But first you have to make a few quick notes for tomorrow's meeting, check your e-mails, and perhaps print out a few- things. And you need to make a few local telephone calls, and one call to your family.
And what do you usually get? Your desk is just about big enough for a cup of coffee, and there's no desk lamp~ the stationary is only several pieces of paper and the only pen there doesn't work at all. If you want to print something, you have to go to the Reception ,and when you try to use your cell phone, you find that it won't work in the U. S. A.
Well, Harmony Hotel is different. Just tell us ahead of time what you're going to need, and we'll make sure that it's waiting for you when you arrive. There will be a printer in your room if you want one, and a cell phone that really works. All you have to pay for is the calls you make.
We can also provide a room for business meetings, even a secretary to take notes. All we ask is a few days' notice.
All of our rooms are of the same high standard and we promise not to increase prices in the next twelve months. But book now, because many people are already calling to book rooms, and we'd hate to disappoint you.
Harmony--the hotel you've always wanted, but never been able to find before. | middle3408.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Something very popular."
},
"options": [
"Something very popular.",
"Styles they have sold out of.",
"Cheap clothes.",
"The most unusual clothes."
],
"question": "What did the shop assistants advise Mary's mothe... | "Ordinary" was the worst word my mother could find for anything. Whenever she took me out for shopping, I found she wouldn't take any notice of the shop assistants when they suggested that some dresses were popular. She would say, "We're not interested in that. Haven't you got anything a little unusual?" And then the assistants would bring out all the strange colours no one else would buy. And later she and I would argue because I wanted to be ordinary but my mother wanted to be unusual.
"I can't stand that hairdo ," she said to me when I was in a boy hairstyle, " _ 's so terribly ordinary... Not ugly, not unsuitable. But ordinary ..."
"Couldn't you please wear something else?" I asked one day when she was dressing for Parents' Day in tight trousers and a bright pink sweater.
"What't wrong with it!"
"It's just that I wish you'd wear something ordinary." I said, "People won't laugh at."
She looked at me angrily, "Are you ashamed of your mother? If you are, Mary, I feel sorry for you." | middle953.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "she thought she hurt her mum's heart"
},
"options": [
"her mum was angry with her",
"her mum didn't know how to answer the question",
"she thought she hurt her mum's heart",
"her mum's answer was hard to understand"
... | Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are busy earning money. They don't act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. My father has a bad temper. When he's tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.
One day, my mother was sewing a quilt .
"Mom, may I ask you a question?" I said.
"What?" "Is there love between you and Dad?" I asked her in a very low voice.
My mother stopped her work and raised her head in surprise. She didn't answer immediately. Then she continued to sew the quilt.
I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. But at last I heard my mother say the following words: "Susan, look at the thread . Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. It makes the quilt strong. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen, but it's really there. Love is inside."
I couldn't understand her until the next spring. My dad got sick suddenly. My mum had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned, they both looked very pale. _ .
After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. The doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn't walk by himself. All of us were worried about him.
"Dad, how are you feeling now?" I asked.
"Susan, don't worry about me," he said gently. "I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life." Looking at his eyes, I knew he loves my mother deeply.
Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But now, I understand that love is just like the thread. Love is inside, making life strong and warm. | middle6570.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Three."
},
"options": [
"Two.",
"Three.",
"Four.",
"Five."
],
"question": "How many main forms of pollution are mentioned in the passage?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index"... | Pollution means adding dirty or harmful things to land, air, water and so on. As a result, they are no longer pleasant or safe to use. Pollution is bad for animals and plants, and it even makes people's health in danger. In our daily life, we can see different kinds of pollution in many places. There are three main forms of pollution: land pollution, air pollution and water pollution.
Land pollution is caused by solid waste, such as cans, bottles and some plastic things which aren't broken down quickly. It makes the environment look very bad. However, air pollution is more serious than land pollution. It is much worse in cities and towns because of the fumes from traffic and the waste from human activities. When people drive their cars, fumes which are most made up of CO2, NO2 and SO2 are given off. After the gases get into the air, they may mix with clouds. Then they will become some harmful chemicals falling on the ground with rain. It is one of the reasons for soil erosion which is one example of water pollution.
Various kinds of pollution will cause many health problems. People have realized they must change this serious situation. There are many ways to control pollution. To develop alternative energy is very popular in many countries. China, for example, has made up its mind to be a leader in this field. It is trying hard to make full use of energy from the sun and wind. It has paid plenty of money to make electric cars and trains instead of traditional traffic. We should also take action to make our environment cleaner every day. Take cloth bags while going shopping and drive cars less. We have only one earth. We must take steps now to help protect our environment for the future wherever we are. | middle1579.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "how Elvis Presley began his career"
},
"options": [
"Elvis Presley' mother",
"the beginning of heartaches",
"how Elvis Presley began his career",
"the way to make a record"
],
"question": "The passage is mainly ... | Elvis Aron Presley, often called "the king of rock music", died on August 16th, 1977, at the age of forty-two. He left a great influence on popular music, and millions of fans. During his lifetime, Elvis sold more than four hundred million records. After Presley died, many of his records rose quickly. When Presley died, many _ journeyed to Memphis, Tennessee, Presley's home, to pay their last respects . While most of these fans knew a lot about the songs of Elvis, few of them knew the story of how Elvis had made his first recording. Elvis did not really want to become a recording star. His first record was for his mother. He paid four dollars to a small Memphis recording shop, and recorded two songs. The songs were "My Happiness" and "That's Where Your Heartaches Begin". Sam Philips, who owned the shop where Elvis made the record, liked Presley's songs. He said he would call him some day. About a year later, Philips did call and asked him to cut a record. This first record had "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on one side, and "That's All Right, Mama" on the other. | middle6216.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Art."
},
"options": [
"Art.",
"Music.",
"Computer.",
"Languages."
],
"question": "What can't children learn in Little Rabbit?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_ind... | We pick up your children at school and give them a safe place to play,do homework,and learn after school.
Experienced Teachers/Lunch&Snacks/Toys&Books
Ages 6 to 12
Our Programs:*Languages *Maths *Computer *Music
Open 11:00 am to 7:00 pm,Mon.to Fri.
26 Market Road,Star City
(between First Street and Second Street,next to the Flower Market)
TEL:8765--4321 | middle7108.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Because they made him feel good before others."
},
"options": [
"Because they were black.",
"Because they made him feel good before others.",
"Because they have a long history.",
"Because they are much cheaper."
],
... | Old George bought the black gloves for just $35 ten years ago. They were made of lamb skin, soft and warm and very strong. Until then, he had worn cheaper man-made material. These gloves never lasted longer than three years. He first decided to buy the expensive gloves, because they would make him feel nice in front of others. George never let a drop of water or rain touch his expensive gloves, so they looked new. Losing this favourite thing was almost like losing a child to him. Bad luck! George lost his expensive gloves on New Year's Day....
Back home, George was at a loss. In deep winter, he could not do without a pair of gloves. If he bought cheap ones again, he would have to replace them very soon. If he bought a new leather pair, it would cost $50 now. He was sad that people no longer returned things they found on the road.
After the holiday, poor George decided to buy another leather pair. Before boarding the subway, he went into Value Mart again to see if his gloves had been returned to the Lost and Found Office . "What colour are they?" the woman in the office asked again. "Black," he gave the same answer.
She looked into her drawer and drew out a pair of men's leather gloves. "Are they?" "Yes! Those are mine!"
George explained, with great joy in his eyes. | middle4401.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Germany"
},
"options": [
"England",
"Japan",
"America",
"Germany"
],
"question": "From the story, we know that _ is the hometown of Snow White.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer":... | Do you remember when your grandma told you the story of Snow White? Ah, the happy days of childhood!
But did you know that Snow White comes from Germany? It's just one story from the 209 in Grimm's Fairy Tales (<<>> ). The Grimm brothers started to collect fairy tales in 1806. Their first book came out in 1812. Why are German fairy tales so interesting? Maybe it's because they come from a great place famous for its stories - the Black Forest. The Black Forest is in southwest Germany. It's the largest forest in the country - and one of the most beautiful. It's famous for its trees and lovely views, There are valleys and waterfalls there. It's a good place to start a story.
Don't forget to bring something back if you visit. People there are good at making clocks, musical instruments and watches. | middle2070.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "jump"
},
"options": [
"hug",
"shaking hands",
"jump",
"kiss"
],
"question": "People have different ways of greeting each other except _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | People have different ways of greeting each other. They might shake hands , kiss or hug . But do you ever wonder how dogs say hello?
If you are a dog lover, you already know the answer to this question. When you arrive home, your dog jumps up into your lap . It wags its tail, and sometimes gives you wet kisses.
Like humans, dogs have five senses : smell, touch, sight, hearing and taste. Humans use sight as the main sense for recognizing one another. But dogs have poor eyesight. They use smell to recognize others. A dog's sense of smell is much better than a human's. It is through its sense of smell that tells the differences between different people.
Dogs use smell to recognize other dogs, too. They tell the differences by the smell of pee and pooh . When two dogs meet, they smell each other's noses. Then they go side to side, and smell each other's butts . By smelling its friend's behind, a dog knows who it is with.
That is also why dogs smell everything they can on the road. By smelling grass, trees and signposts , dogs know which other neighborhood dogs have been around. | middle1551.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They helped the poor man at last."
},
"options": [
"There were two children in her family.",
"They lived a rich and generous life.",
"They helped the poor man at last.",
"They didn't have any money to help others."
... | My kids and I were heading into the supermarket over the weekend. On the way, we spotted a man holding a piece of paper that said, "Lost my job. Family to feed."
At this store, a sight like this is not normal. My 10-year-old noticed him and made a comment on how bad it must be to have to stand outside in the cold wind.
In the store, I asked each of my kids to pick something they thought our "friend" there would appreciate. They got apples, a sandwich and a bottle of juice. Then my 17-year-old suggested giving him a gift card. I thought about _ . We were low on cash ourselves, but ... well, sometimes giving from our need instead of our abundance is just what we need to do! All the kids declared something they could do away with for the week.
When we handed him the bag of food, he lit up and thanked us with watery eyes. When I handed him the gift card, saying he could use it for whatever his family might need, he burst into tears.
This has been a wonderful experience for our family. For days the kids have been looking for others we can help! Things would have played out so differently if I had simply said, "No, we really don't have money to give more." Stepping out not only helped a brother in need, it also gave my kids the _ taste of helping others. It'll go a long way with them. | middle7120.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "difficult but happy"
},
"options": [
"difficult but happy",
"difficult and sad",
"easy and happy",
"easy but sad"
],
"question": "Jane is living a(n) _ life with her family now.",
"question_type": "cloze... | My name is Jane. I'm now living in a small house with my parents. Life for us is difficult but happy. I must study hard to buy a big new house someday. I call it a dream house.
My dream house is near the sea. It has three floors with five bedrooms, three bathrooms, two big dining rooms and two living rooms. When my friends come to visit me, I will have enough bedrooms for them. We have a swimming pool behind the house and a garden in front of the house. In the morning, my parents can _ in the garden to keep them healthy. The air will be very good and nice. When it's hot, we can have a swim in the swimming pool. Life will be easy for us. | middle3346.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "first name"
},
"options": [
"color",
"first name",
"brother",
"family name"
],
"question": "Black is Mark's _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
... | Mark Black is my good friend. He is English. He has a yellow bike. His bike number is 9075. His mother has a black car. The number is CA3566. His father has a black car, too. The number is CA3567. | middle4429.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "In Mike's room."
},
"options": [
"In Mr. Green's room.",
"In Mike's room.",
"At Lily's home",
"At Sally's home"
],
"question": "Where are the friends?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"ans... | Some friends are playing hide-and-seek at Mr. Green' home. They play in Mike's room. It's time for Lily to find her friends. Lily first finds Sally.Sally is behind the door. Then, Lily sees Bob. Bob is under the table. Mike is under the table, too. Now it's time to find David and John. David's hat is on the sofa. Is David under the sofa? No, he isn't.John's schoolbag is on the chair, but he isn't there."Where are they?"Lily thinks.Shh! Don't let her know. They are under the bed! | middle5737.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "When I sat down"
},
"options": [
"After I went into the restaurant",
"When I sat down",
"When I tried the food",
"When my plate was full"
],
"question": "When did the waiters give me a sign?",
"question_type... | Roast is very famous in Brazil. Customs just sit , waiting for waiters to send them all kinds of meat. If you like , you take one ; if you don't , the waiters pass you . If you don't give any messages of stopping , they will go on.
One day when I was in Brazil , I went to a restaurant to try the roast . After I took my seat, the waiter gave me a sign with the color "red" on the side and "green" on the other . I said "thank you", then the waiters began to serve me .My plate was already full, but the waiters still kept on serving me more. I thought I had to eat more quickly . But to my surprise, the waiters still kept on serving more. Then a waiter found out the reason. He helped me turn the sign over, with red outside . When I finished , I found the waiter didn't take a look at me . Do you know Why? It's just like the traffic lights in the street . How wonderful ! | middle5051.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it frees tourists' hands to do other things"
},
"options": [
"they have wheels on the bottom",
"it frees tourists' hands to do other things",
"tourists can feel fashionable",
"they make tourists feel special"
],
... | Look at your classmates around you. You all wear the same uniform and similar sneakers. Do you want to stand out among them? A fashionable and useful backpack can be a great idea!
Backpacks are lightweight and easy to carry.
They are great tools for students. They help you to stay organized. You can keep school things, books and personal items like cell phones and keys neatly . With a _ backpack, you can also stand out among your classmates.
Tourists also love backpacks. With convenient backpacks, backpackers can move freely from one place to another. Meanwhile, they can also free their hands to do other things like taking photos.
But in the very beginning backpacks were not what we see today.
It is thought that US hiker Dick Kelty invented the first modern backpack in 1951. He used nylon and aluminum tubing to make backpacks lightweight. Then he added shoulder straps and waist straps to transfer much of the weight to the hips .
Today, backpacks come in different styles.
Rolling backpacks have wheels on the bottom. Users can pull them along the ground if they are too heavy to carry on their shoulders.
And with more people bringing laptops to school and work, backpacks also offer space for lightweight electronics. | middle3420.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "they were frightened"
},
"options": [
"they were frightened",
"the robbers were very polite",
"the bank manager told them to",
"they knew the police were coming"
],
"question": "Everyone in the bank did what the... | There was a robbery at City Central Bank last yesterday afternoon. Two men entered the bank at about 4 p.m. and told the bank teller on duty to give them $ 1,000,000. The robbers were carrying guns and wearing black masks to cover their faces. The robbers told all the customers in the bank to lie down on the floor. Witnesses said that everyone in the bank was very frightened and did what the robbers told them.
The teller agreed to give them the money but told them they'd have to wait a few minutes. She said the bank manager would have to get the money out of the safety. As the robbers were waiting for the money. the teller tried to press an alarm button that was hidden under the counter. It was a silent alarm, so the robbers didn't realize it had been set off.
Just as the manager arrived with the money, ten police officers entered the bank. The robbers were very surprised that the officers caught them easily. The robbers are now in custody , and will appear in court next week.
Police congratulated Miss Alston , the bank teller , on brave act. The bank manager said that he would give Miss Alston a week's vacation to thank her. | middle1237.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "from July 1,2006"
},
"options": [
"from now on",
"next July 1",
"from July 1,2006",
"from July 1, 2005"
],
"question": "It will take people 48 hours by train to go to Lhasa from Beijing _ .",
"question_ty... | It is well-known that it will take travelers only 48 hours by train to go from Beijing to Lhasa, the capital of west China's Tibet on July 1 this year. Travelers can enjoy the beautiful views during the 48 hour train ride.
The new railway line will be controlled by the Beijing' s West Railway Station from July 1, 2006. The most important part of the line, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, has been completed.
The Qinghai-Tibet part of the railway is the world's highest railway. About 960 kilometers of the train tracks are 4,000 meters above sea level. The highest parts reach 5,072 meters.
The railway is the world' s longest plateau railroad which is 1,956 kilometers long, from Qinghai's capital Xining to Lhasa in Tibet. The Golmud-Lhasa part is 1,142 kilometers long and goes across the Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges.
The trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway have very good conditions. If the passengers feel hard to breathe, they will be provided with oxygen masks, because all of the trains have oxygen supplying equipments. | middle7652.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "a lake"
},
"options": [
"a huge monster",
"a lake",
"a river",
"a country"
],
"question": "From the passage, we know Loch Ness is the name of _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | In northern Scotland there is a deep lake called Loch Ness. It is more than 200 metres deep and it is the deepest lake in the United Kingdom. People say a huge monster lives in the dark, cold water. It weighs more than 1,000 kilos and is at least ten metres long. It has a dark gray colour. Some people say that it looks like a snake. Many people travel to Loch Ness to look for this strange monster, but only a few people say that they saw it. No one knows whether these people really saw it or not.
The Loch Ness Monster is a famous story. People first told it over 500 years ago, but it became popular only in the twentieth century . In 1993, a couple reported that they saw a big monster in the middle of the lake. From then on, many people said that they saw a monster in Loch Ness. A few people took photos, but some of them weren't real photos. During the 1960s, people set up an organization to find out the truth. They took many photos and made movies, but they weren't able to find a monster.
There is no real evidence that there is a monster in Loch Ness, but there is also no evidence that there is not. One thing is true about Loch Ness: there are lots of curious people going there every year. | middle1223.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The children"
},
"options": [
"The old people",
"The teachers",
"The children",
"The parents"
],
"question": "Who usually use computers at school?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer"... | We have now known something about computers---computers work for us at home, in offices and in factories. But it is also true that many children today are using computers at schools before they can write. What does this mean for the future? Are these children lucky or not?
Many people do not know about computers and they think of them as machines that children play with. They worry that children do not learn from experience but just from pressing* a button* and that this is not good for them. They think that children are growing not knowing about the real world. And they are very worried about that their children will lose themselves in the computer games.
But many people understand more about computers, they say that computers can be very good for children. A computer can help them to learn about the real world more quickly, to learn what they want to learn and think for themselves. And for the future, don't we need people who can think clearly, who know how to get information quickly and use it well? What do you think?
For example, e-mail is very popular at this moment. Do you know about e-mail? E-mail is a way of sending messages to other people. E-mail is a fast and cheap way to keep in touch with friends and family. It's much quicker than sending a letter. People who use e-mail have an e-mail address. This address must have letters and dots* and the symbol "@"meaning "at". This is what an address looks like. People can send the messages across the Internet. It is quick, easy and fun. | middle5045.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A pet shop."
},
"options": [
"A food shop.",
"A flower shop.",
"A pet shop.",
"A goldfish shop."
],
"question": "What kind of the shop did the man go into?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | A men went into a shop to buy a parrot.There were three parrots in the shop.One was $1000; another one, $2000; and the third one, $3000. The man asked the owner, "Is this brid really $1000?That's so expensive for this kind of parrot."The owner said, "Because I have trained him and he can talk." Then the man asked him, "How about this one?What can he do that makes him so expensive?" The owner said, "Well, he can not only talk but also do some amusing actions,like dancing and so on.That"s why he's so expensive?" Then the man asked, "How about the third one? What can he do that makes him so expensive" The owner of the shop said, "I don't know.Usually,I have never heard him talk, nor dance, nor say, nor sing, nothing at all! But the other two call him The Boss . | middle3434.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "save the cost of transporting water up to the ISS"
},
"options": [
"protect the ISS",
"make astronauts at ISS work harder",
"provide better water and food for ISS astronauts",
"save the cost of transporting water up to ... | If you knew a bottle of water had been recycled from urine , would you drink it? Astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) may soon do so. NASA said it would use a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater at the ISS. The machine will recycle everything from sweat , the water for washing hands, shower water, water used for brushing teeth, and even urine, to make drinking water.
It will save NASA millions of dollars each year. At present, each ISS astronaut uses about 4.4 liters of water every day. It costs about $24 million a year to transport water up to ISS. NASA says that a liter of water costs about $11,000.
The machine will be sent to the ISS in October 2008. NASA hopes it will recycle about 93% of all water used on the station. Will the water be clean? Scientists say the wastewater will go through a very complicated process . For example, different chemicals will be put in the wastewater; the water will be heated to 130degCto get rid of bacteria . The recycled water is thousands of times better than the water from a city tap, scientists say. | middle3352.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "About 29 million."
},
"options": [
"About 24 million.",
"About 29 million.",
"About 25 million.",
"About 9,980,000."
],
"question": "How many people are there living in Canada?",
"question_type": "factiod_qu... | Canada, the second largest country in the world, lies in the north of America. The population of Canada is about 29 million and the capital is Ottawa. The country covers about 9,980,000 square kilometers and six of the world's 24 time areas as well.
There are two official languages spoken in Canada: French and English. Many people can speak both English and French. More than 60% of Canadians speak English as their language. About 25% of the Canadians speak French. In one province of Canada where French is the common language, the programmes on TV and radios as well as the teaching in schools are all in French. Today, Chinese has become the first inofficial language in Canada.
Canada's climate is not as cold all year around as some may believe. In winter, temperatures fall below freezing point throughout most of Canada. In summer, the southern provinces often experience high levels of temperatures that can reach over 30degC regularly. The weather in Canada is just like the weather in China. It is rather cold in the north while it is fairly warm in the south. Winters in the north last long with snow for half a year. As the cold northern climate, only one-fifth of the land is suitable for farming.
As it is known to all, Canada has one-third of the world's supply of fresh water. It has many great lakes. There are five great lakes in the south. And there are many others, especially in the north. It is also rich in natural resources, such as coal, oil, natural gas of which Canadians make use to produce energy.
People of northern Canada are called Inuit , who came from Asia and settled in Canada about 4,000 years ago. They used to travel around from place to place with teams of dogs which pulled their baggage. Now, they seldom move. There are about 2,500 Inuit in all. The government has started a new school project in which Inuit teach their own young children. So it is hoped that the way of Inuit life will be kept alive for more centuries. | middle1545.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "eleven"
},
"options": [
"ten",
"eleven",
"twelve",
"Thirteen"
],
"question": "Same and Tim are _ years old this year.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index":... | Hi, I'm Sam from New York. I have a brother called Tim. We are twins. We are both eleven this year. I am ten minutes older than him. In some ways, we look the same and in some ways, we look different. However, he is taller than me. I am shy, but he is outgoing. We both like playing sports and we often play football together after class. We are in the same school but we are not in the same class. I am in Class One and he is in Class Three.
Last Monday, Tim was ill and couldn't go to school. The next day, when I was in the hallway, his English teacher, Miss White saw me and asked, "Tim, are you feeling better now?" Haha...she
and she couldn't tell Tim from me. | middle8207.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "By high technology."
},
"options": [
"By high technology.",
"By using solar energy.",
"By encouraging people to live a low carbon life.",
"By making a helping hand around the house."
],
"question": "How is the c... | It is always expected that housework will be done by robots completely in the future. For years, scientists have been working on this dream, but it still remains in science fiction films.
However, people still hope to have a helping hand around the house. A survey showed that 55% of people were going to use robots at home. Easy things like washing and cleaning are becoming the working _ of robots slowly.
Although this dream hasn't been achieved, the idea of finding a helping hand at home for people has been used to improve people's everyday life. In South Korea, the famous company LG is working hard to improve people's everyday life by high technology. Tasks such as answering the telephone, opening the door, and turning on washing machines and air conditioners can be done automatically. At the same time, these services can not only be done inside the home, but also can be done through the Internet, or even by a mobile phone far away.
Do you remember in 1987 when you first saw a man walking down the road with a big phone in his hand? Now mobile phones are small and almost everybody has got one. The future is arriving slowly, even if we didn't notice it. | middle7134.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Exploring the beauty of the wilderness."
},
"options": [
"Watching natural views.",
"Writing about the places he visited.",
"Exploring the beauty of the wilderness.",
"Creating farmland for sheep and cattle."
],
... | Look carefully at the back of a California state quarter.A man with a walking stick is pictured there.A bird called a California condor is flying overhead. Who is this man,and why is he so important that he is featured on the back of a coin?
The man on this quarter is John Muir.Even as a child, Muir loved watching nature. As a young man,he spent much of his life exploring the beauty of the wilderness.He walked more than a thousand miles across the country,through fields and woods.John Muir liked writing about the places he visited,describing their beauty.
Muir also wrote about problems.In order to create more farmland for sheep and cattle, rnany trees were being cut down.This made Muir unhappy and worried,because he knew that trees were important to forests and to the animals that lived in them.Muir believed that nature should be conserved instead of being changed by human beings.He wrote articles in magazines and newspapers to spread the word about conserving forests.Soon,others began to listen.
Muir wrote letters to important people,such as President Theodore Roosevelt.The president admired Muir's love for nature.When Roosevelt came to visit Muir in California. Muir convinced the president to go camping with him for three nights under the trees so they could talk about conservation.Later,President Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of land for national forests and established five national parks.National parks are large areas of land that are protected from development. This means that people cannot build homes or businesses there. One of these parks is Yosemite National Park,the area that is featured on the back of the California quarter.
Though it has been almost one hundred years since John Muir died,people continue his work today.His work as a conservationist helped us to see the beauty of our natural world.John Muir made us understand the importance of protecting our earth and our resources---then,now,and for the future. | middle5910.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "caving"
},
"options": [
"rock-climbing",
"sleeping",
"meeting friends",
"caving"
],
"question": "The writer spent the Saturday morning _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | My friend Matt and I arrived at the Activity Centre on Friday evening. The accommodation wasn't wonderful,but we had everything we needed(beds,blankets,food),and we were pleased to be out of the city and in the fresh air.
On Saturday morning we met the other ten members of our group. Cameron had come along with two friends,Kevin and Simon,while sisters Carole and Lynn had come with Amanda. There were some other members I didn't know. We had come from different places and none of us knew the area.
We knew we were going to spend the weekend outdoors,but none of us was sure exactly how. Half of us spent the morning caving while the others went rock-climbing and then we changed at lunchtime. Matt and I went to the caves first. Climbing out was harder than going in,but after a good deal of pushing, we were out at last. Though we were covered with mud,we were pleased and excited by what we'd done.
,. | middle2919.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "twenty-four"
},
"options": [
"twelve",
"five",
"twenty-four",
"thirty-one"
],
"question": "There are _ solar terms in a year.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_i... | Winter solstice, as the name shows, means the coming of winter. As an important solar term in the traditional Chinese calendar, it is also a traditional holiday for Chinese, which is also called "", "","", etc. Generally, winter solstice occurs between December 21st and 23rd. According to the traditional Chinese calendar, five days constitutes a pentad and three pentads constitutes a solar term. One year is divided into twelve periods and twelve climates which are regarded as twenty-four solar terms. The Winter Solstice is one of twenty-four solar terms. On this day, in the Northern Hemisphere the period of daytime is the shortest of the year and the period of night is longest. . In Northern China during winter solstice there is a custom of eating dumplings. | middle7861.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "five"
},
"options": [
"three",
"four",
"five",
"six"
],
"question": "There are _ people in Becky's family.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"an... | Hello! My name is Becky Sharp. I'm 11 years old. I have one brother. His name is Jason and he's 14. I don't have any sisters.
We live with our mum, dad and grandma in a small house in Chesterfield, in the north of England. There are lots of things to do here. My friends and I sometimes go to the cinema on Saturdays.
Do you like sports? I like football. My favourite team is Manchester United. I sometimes play football with my brother. I am good at it but my brother isn't.
I have lots of pets---one tortoise and six goldfish . I want a dog or a cat, but my mother doesn't like them. | middle984.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "rich"
},
"options": [
"small",
"modest",
"poor",
"rich"
],
"question": "Peter's parents are very _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_tex... | My Family Is Very Poor
A little boy comes to a new city. His name is Peter. Of course ,he lives with his mother and father. His family is very rich . They have a driver and a lot of servants .
Peter is going to a new school. On the first day his parents say to him," peter,be modest at your new school. Don't say we are rich. "And Peter says," Yes,Dad,mom. "
So Peter goes to school. He sees his new teacher. And he sits down with the other children. The teacher says. "Good morning,children. The first exercise today is a composition . The topic of the composition is 'My Family'."So every child writes a composition. This is Peter's composition:
"My name is Peter. My family is very poor . Both my father and my mother are very poor. Our driver is very poor and all the servants are poor..."
,. | middle748.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "4"
},
"options": [
"1",
"2",
"3",
"4"
],
"question": "\"Great Green Wall will make the world better.\" This sentence should be put in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | 1Forests help to keep water from running away, so drought does not often happen. The trees in the forests can keep raindrops from hitting the soil directly, and the dead leaves on the ground can also keep the water from running away.2
Chinese people don't want to see more floods and droughts. We have built the " Great Green Wall" of trees across the northern part of our country.3 Thanks to the " Great Green Wall", we can prevent the wind from blowing the earth away. It will stop the sand from moving towards the rich farmland. That's why more " Great Green Walls" are needed. Trees must be planted all over the world.4
,A, B, C, D,. (10) | middle990.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Fine."
},
"options": [
"How are you?",
"Hello.",
"I don't know.",
"Fine."
],
"question": "When a person in the United States asks \"How are you?\". he or she wants to hear\" _ \".",
"question_type": "cloz... | "How are you?" is a nice question.It's a friendly way that people in the United States greet each other,but "How are you?" is also a very unusual question.It's a question that often doesn't have an answer.The person who asks "How are you?" hopes to hear the answer "Fine", even if the Derson's friend isn't fine.The reason is that "How are you?" isn't really a question and "Fine",isn't really an answer.They are simply other ways of saying "Hello!" or "Hi!".
Sometimes,people also don't say exactly what they mean.For example,when someone asks "Do you agree?".the other person might be thinking,"No,I disagree.I think you're wrong."But it isn't very polite to disagree so strongly,so the other person might say "I'm not so sure."It's a nicer way to say that you don't agree with someone.
People also don't say exactly what they are thinking when they finish talking with other people.For example,many talks over the phone finish when one person says "I have to go now."Often,the person who wants to hang up gives an excuse:"Someone's at the door.""Something is burning on the stove."The excuse might be real,or it might not.Perhaps the person who wants to hang up simply doesn't want to talk any more,but it isn't polite to say that.The excuse is more polite,and it doesn't hurt the other person.
Whether they are greeting each other,talking about an idea,or finishing a talk,people often don't say exactly what they are thinking. It's an important way that people try to be nice to each other,and it's part of the game of language. | middle5904.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "made a short video on the Intemet"
},
"options": [
"made a big dinner for his mother",
"made a short video on the Intemet",
"has graduated from a university",
"sent a dinner to paradise himself"
],
"question": "... | If you had a chance to prepare dinner for your mother, would you choose to make it right now or some day in the future? Watch the video Paradise Dinner by Liu Xiaoyu, a junior at[Hebei Institute of Communications, and you will find a right answer.
Recently the six-minute film Paradise Dinner won a great success on the Internet. It told the story of a son who made a big lunch for his mother, but he can only send the dinner to paradise, because his mother has been dead.
"If you do not show your _ to your mother right now, you might never have the opportunity in the future, because your mother is growing older and older day by day-this is the main theme of my film, " said the 21-year-old Liu.
Liu conceived the story for Paradise Dinner over his 2010 summer vacation.
One day during that holiday, Liu found his parents were not young any more. " So I decided to write a story for Paradise Dinner to call for all people, especially young people, to show more filial piety to their parents," he said.
With the help of his teachers and his schoolmates, he found actors, Zhang who played the mother and Yuan Zhen who played the son. At last he finished the film.
Many Web users said they liked the film very much and most of them cried like Liu's parents when they watched it. | middle3385.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "at home"
},
"options": [
"at school",
"at the station",
"at home",
"in a restaurant"
],
"question": "Tom has breakfast _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index"... | Tom gets up at half past seven in the morning. He has an egg and some milk for his breakfast. Then he begins to go to school slowly. When he is on his way to school, he thinks, "I tell my teacher my mother is ill on Monday morning. I tell him my bike is wrong on Tuesday. What do I tell my teacher today?"
Tom thinks over but he doesn't find a good idea before he gets to school."May I come in?" Tom shouts at the door of the classroom.
" Oh, my boy," says Mr Green. " Please look at the clock on the wall. What time is it now?"
" It's ten past eight," answers Tom.
Mr Green is not happy. " You are late for class three times this week. If all the students are like you, the clock is no use, I think."
" You are right, Mr Green," says Tom. " If we don't have the clock, how do you know I am late for class?" | middle1592.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It is a picture of a classroom."
},
"options": [
"It is a picture of boys and girls.",
"It is a picture of desks and chairs.",
"It is a picture of pens and pencils.",
"It is a picture of a classroom."
],
"questi... | This is a picture of a classroom . You can see a teacher's desk, five desks and six chairs. You can see a girl and a boy, too. Four English books are on the teacher's desk. One pencil-case is on a desk. Two pens and two rulers are in the pencil-case. A schoolbag is behind a chair. A ball is on the floor. The girl is Lily. She is 12.The boy is Mike. He is 11.They are in Class 5.They are good friends. Their teacher is Mr. King. He is not here. | middle760.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "he lives with his family of ten children"
},
"options": [
"he lives with his family of ten children",
"he is always playing tricks on others",
"he sits in front of the teacher s table",
"he is in the school karate club"... | Everyone in our class has our own characters. Each plays his or her part in our class. All in
all,we are a group of young children who are perhaps a bit noisy at times,but on the whole are
well behaved and pleasant to be with.
Ah Keong
We are a noisy group, and that is what our teachers say about us.This is largely because of Ah Keong.He is the noisiest of us all because he lives with his family of ten children.It seems that he cannot talk softly.Actually he does not talk, he shouts.
Padma
Padma is a quiet boy who sits next to me. He is so soft that one would think that he is a girl .This is not so. No one dares to call him"girl", for he is a member of the school karate club.
Doris
Doris is such a model student that all the teachers love her, She sits right in front of the teachers table.We all love her because she is kind and helpful. Every day, she makes sure that the teachers have enough chalk and the classroom is clean.
JJack
Every class has a clown . Our class has jack. He is naughty and always playing tricks on others. He puts tails on the boys pants and frogs in the girls desks. So when we hear someone crying, we know that Jack has played a trick again. | middle7685.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Knowledge"
},
"options": [
"Love.",
"Richness.",
"Vanity",
"Knowledge"
],
"question": "According to the passage, which one did not go to an island for a vacation?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer... | Once upon a time all feelings went to an island for a vacation, and each was having a good time. Suddenly, a warning of a strong storm was announced ,so all rushed to their boats. Yet, Love did not wish to run away quickly. There was so much to do. But as the clouds darkened, Love realized it was time to leave. But there were no boats to spare. Love looked around with hope.
Just then Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love shouted, "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful boat for help, But Vanity said with a cold voice, "No, I can't take you with me. My boat will get dirty with your mummy feet."
Sorrow passed by after some time. Again, Love asked for help. But it was useless. "No, I can't take you with me. I am so sad. I want to be by myself."
When Happiness passed by a few minutes later, Love again called for help. But Happiness was so happy that it hardly concerned about anyone else.
Love was growing restless and hopeless. Just then somebody called out, "Come, Love, I will take you with me." Love did not know who was being so kind, but jumped onto the boat happily.
After getting off the boat, Love met Knowledge. Love asked, "Knowledge, do you know who was so kind to give me a lift when no one else wished to help?"
Knowledge smiled, "Oh, that was Time,"
"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?" Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is." | middle2925.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A drama series."
},
"options": [
"A documentary.",
"A chat show.",
"A drama series.",
"A cartoon."
],
"question": "What kind of TV programme is Best Friends?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | Enjoy wonderful programmes on Hello TV
7.00 a.m.-8.00 a.m.
Follow Billy
As Billy grows up, his tail is becoming longer and longer. He is worried about it very much and wants to ask someone for help. It is said there is an old man in the forest. He has magic power to do everything. Billy decided to visit him. You can have an adventure in the forest with Billy and learn some useful English vocabulary from it.
10.00 a.m.-11.00 a.m.
Best Friends
It is about two kids ----Jane and Alice. They are good friends and always trust and support each other. After watching this drama series, you will know the magic of friendship.
5.00 p.m-6.30 p.m.
World Sport
This is a sports round-up for kids. It covers the recent important sporting events. There are also interviews with some young sports stars. They are hard-working and full of dreams. By answering questions on the phone, you can get some sports posters. | middle4398.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Puppy love will be bad for student's study."
},
"options": [
"Wang Ling told her mother she might fall in love with a boy.",
"Jiang's mother doesn't care about her at all.",
"Puppy love will be bad for student's study.",
... | Wang Ling, a middle school girl, felt angry with her parents after getting a boy's phone call. "A classmate called me to discuss homework. We talked for just a few minutes before my parents got mad," said the girl. "They asked whether I liked the boy. I'm sad Ididn't, but they wouldn't believe me."
Wang's trouble is not strange at all because puppy love becomes a big headache for both parents and schools. They worry that puppy love will be bad for their study. Her school makes it a rule not to allow any talk or any _ between one boy and one girl alone.
Many students say they understand why parents and teachers are so nervous about puppy love. But some think they are going too far. "We have our own thoughts and we know what to do with it." said Wang Ling.
Another girl, Jiang Ting, liked making friends with boys. "Boys and girls can learn from each other," she said. "My mother asks me to study hard. However, she never stops me from making friends with boys." Once Jiang Ting told her mother she might fall in love with a boy. Her mother let Jiang make her own decision. Soon Jiang found that she didn't like him any more because the boy was not as good as what she had thought before. And she did worse and worse in her subjects because she spent much on it. At last she understood the worry from school and most parents about puppy love. | middle2931.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "A travel way to offer the travelers their homes for free."
},
"options": [
"A travel way to offer the travelers their homes for free.",
"Offer food to the travelers for free.",
"Show some places of interest for free.",
... | Have you ever thought about seeing the world for free? Although it may sound impossible, there's a growing community that is making that dream one step closer.
The community is called Couchsurfing. The idea is that people open their homes up to travelers for free, and in exchange both people will learn from each other.
Instead of paying a lot of money staying in hotels, living with locals is both cheap and authentic . Maybe you'll find a hidden attraction in the city. It may be a good place where people like to visit. This is also your chance to ask what life in their country is really like.
It also works as a culture exchange. For example,if you play the guitar and your host is a great cook, teach him or her how to play to say thank you for the dinner. This type of exchange is popular.
But what are some manners of being a good Couchsurfer? First, be careful about cultural taboos . For example, if you eat with Indians, never use your left hand. In Indian culture, left hands are used for the toilet. Also, when you are going to leave, it's a good idea to prepare a small gift. This shows your _ to the home owner.
Now, are you ready to travel like a local? Where will you surf first? | middle5086.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "let them play soccer there"
},
"options": [
"let them play soccer there",
"make friends with them",
"make them become famous players",
"stop them from playing soccer there"
],
"question": "Jeff gave the children... | There was a big garden in front of Jeff's house. So on weekends, many children came to play soccer from morning to late night. They made a lot of noise, so Jeff couldn't do anything.
He thought hard and had an idea. One Saturday evening, he went out and said to them, "It is my happy time when I see and hear you playing here. So I will give you fifty yuan a week if you play in the garden here,"
They felt very happy and on Saturday evening they came to Jeff's house and asked for the money. He did so.
The second week, Jeff said he didn't have enough money and only gave them twenty yuan.
The third week Jeff said he lost his work, but he gave them only 10 yuan. And the boys were very _ .
The fourth week Jeff said he was looking for his job. He gave them only five yuan. And said he couldn't pay them fifty yuan a week. But he would give them two yuan each week.
After that, the boys never played in the garden again. | middle7691.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Keep some animals to protect them."
},
"options": [
"Take care of yourself when you are out.",
"Tell the truth, even when you are wrong.",
"Keep some animals to protect them.",
"Use the Internet, but keep away from bad ... | New rules and behaviour standards for middle school students came out in March. Middle school is going to use a new way to decide who the top students are. The best students won't only have high marks. They will also be kids who don't dye their hair, smoke or drink. Here are some of the new rules.
Tell the truth. Have you ever copied someone else's work on an exam? Don't do it again! That's not honest. If you have played computer games for two hours in your room, don't tell your parents that you have done homework.
Do more at school. Good students love animals and care for other people. April is Bird-Loving Month in our country. Is your school doing anything to celebrate? You should join! That way, you can learn more about animals and how to protect them. Have you ever quarreled with your teammates when your basketball team lost? Only working together can make your team stronger. Be friendly to the people you are with. Try to think of others, not only yourself.
Be open to new ideas. Have you ever thought that people could live on the moon? Perhaps you'll discover Earth II someday. Don't look down at anyone. Everyone's ideas are important. You should welcome them, because new ideas make life better for everyone.
Protect yourself. Has someone ever taken money from one of your classmates? Don't let it happen to you. If you have to go home late, you should let your parents know.
Use the Internet carefully. The Internet can be very useful for your studies. But some things on the Internet aren't for kids, so try to look at Web pages that are good for you. You can use the Web for fun or homework. | middle1586.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Sunny."
},
"options": [
"Rainy.",
"Cloudy.",
"Sunny.",
"Windy."
],
"question": "What was the weather like on that day?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,... | Tony has always loved going to the beach. He spends as much time there as he can. It was a bright, sunny day. The beach was full by the time Tony and his mum got there. It seemed that everyone had the same idea today. When they found a spot , Tony sat down and began to relax.
Soon Tony noticed something strange. There was an empty water bottle in the sand. Then, a paper bag was blowing down by the water. People had littered all over the beach!
Tony was mad. His mum explained that a lot of people littered instead of using garbage cans . If Tony wanted to stop it, he would have to work to save the beach.
He worked hard. Tony got a group to help clean up. He put up signs saying" _ " and got his town to add more garbage cans in the area. Most of all, he let people know how bad littering is for the environment.
Tony worked hard to make a difference! | middle3391.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A cooking pot."
},
"options": [
"Some money.",
"Some food.",
"A cooking pot.",
"Some salt."
],
"question": "What did the traveler have?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"... | A poor traveler arrived at a small village. He had no food or money. He only had a cooking pot. He
made a small cooking fire, placed his pot on it, and poured in some water. When a few villagers asked
what he was doing, he said that he was making stone soup which was a recipe passed down from his
father. He then dropped a round stone into the pot.
Then the traveler told the villagers stories of his travels and the exciting things he'd seen. He tasted
his soup and said it was nice, but a bit of salt would be better. One villager went home and came
back with some salt for the soup.
A few more villagers stopped to see what was going on when they heard the traveler speaking. The
traveler told more stories and said that some carrots or onions would be nice to the delicious soup. So
another villager said he could give a few carrots and brought them from his home.
This continued with the traveler asking for onions, a bit of meat, celery , potatoes to the soup.
Finally, the soup was OK and everyone enjoyed the tasty meal. | middle2110.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "sub@woodland.uk"
},
"options": [
"sub@woodland.uk",
"heal@woodland.uk",
"sport@woodland.uk",
"inf@woodland.uk"
],
"question": "If you want to get more information about arts, you can write to _ .",
"quest... | Woodland High School is an international sch ool. We have students from all around the world. As an international student you can get first-class facilities with trained teachers to help. For further information: inf@woodland.uk
Subjects
We offer a wide choice of subjects for international students, which includes: Arts, IT, French, English, Spanish and other languages. Communication Studies, Social Sciences, etc. For further information: sub@woodland.uk
Tuition Fees
Tuition fees are different from subject to subject, from PS5,000 to PS6,000 a year. For further information: tui@woodland.uk
Accommodation
You can have a room in a 4-bedroom flat, which will cost about PS100 a month with other regular living costs of about PS150 a month for one person. For further information: acc@woodland.uk
Health
The Student Health Service provides excellent medical services for students. The Medical Centre is open five days a week, including student holidays with four doctors and nurses to meet your me dical needs. For further information: heal@woodland.uk
Sports
The Centre is a great place to have sports activities. Trained exercise teachers can help you work out a training plan and keep you active. The sports hall has volleyball, b asketball and indoor football counts and a swimming pool as well.
There are also a large number of sports clubs at Woodland High School. For further information: sport@woodland.uk | middle4561.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "about 60"
},
"options": [
"about 97",
"over 100",
"over 200",
"about 60"
],
"question": "The house is _ years old.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
... | We moved into a beautiful two-story old house. The house was built in 1956. It was repaired in 2003.
At first, really small things began to happen. They didn't make me believe that something was wrong, but as time went on, things started becoming stranger and stranger. Early something was missing, and later on it would be found somewhere else. I just thought I had forgotten where I put it, or perhaps my daughter was playing around with things. Then later on I would hear strange sounds when nobody was at home but me. . . yet it was an old house, and sometimes old houses did make little noises, so again, I didn't really mind.
Then things that I couldn't explain started happening. It was last November and I was at home alone cleaning the house. When I was sweeping the kitchen floor, I felt a very cold wind blowing my hair. I thought the kitchen window must have been opened, but when I checked it, it was closed. The windows were new, and there was no way any cold air came in.
We all felt very strange and moved away from there in October, 2014. I was never really frightened. It was just strange, like something or someone was trying to get my attention or something. | middle7068.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To protect the environment."
},
"options": [
"To help poor children.",
"To protect the environment.",
"To change people's ideas.",
"To change people's behaviour."
],
"question": "What does Greenpeace try to do?"... | Greenpeace is a global group that tries to change people's ideas and behaviour to protect the environment. Now it is inviting people to take part in the"Kids for Forests" project. This project tries to help to save ancient forests. Small children, teenagers, teachers and schools from all over the world are joining the project. Everyone can do a little to help the forests, and every little bit of help is important!
Over 80% of the ancient forests have already been destroyed. There are only seven big ancient forests that are still intact today. Thousand - year - old trees are cut down just to make everyday goods.
Children and young people all over the world are saying"No" to the devastation of ancient forests. They together with Greenpeace have set up"Kids for Forests".The project is working in more than 15 different countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America. And by the way, this is not the first time that"Kids for Forests" has stood up for the protection of ancient forests. In 2001 and 2002, more than 35,000 children and young people fought to save ancient forests all over the world.
Young people all over the world are standing up to protect our ancient forests,and you can,too. Go and join them now! | middle6376.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "east;west"
},
"options": [
"west;east",
"south;north",
"east;west",
"north;south"
],
"question": "The sun rises in the _ and sets in the _ west.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answ... | The sun comes up in the east and goes down in the west. When the sun rises, It is morning. When the sun sets, it is evening. When the sun is shining, it is day. Morning is the time between sunrise and twelve o'clock, or between sunrise and lunch. At twelve o'clock, the sun is the highest in the sky over our heads. The sun is overhead at noon. The sun shines during(......)the day. The moon and the stars shine during the night. When the sun rises, it is light. It's light during the day. During the night, if the moon is not shining, it is dark. What are the days and nights like in summer? In summer the days are longer and the nights are shorter. What about in winter? In winter, the days are shorter and the nights are longer. | middle833.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a student"
},
"options": [
"a student",
"a teacher",
"fourteen",
"from Canada"
],
"question": "Chen Kai is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
... | Chen Kai is a Chinese boy. He is a student. He is 13 years old. He lives in Guangzhou. Chen Kai likes _ . Now he receives a letter from Sam, his pen pal in America. The letter is in English. Sam is 14 and he is a student, too. He speaks English very well. In the letter, Sam says he wants to visit China and study some Chinese.
,. | middle4207.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "know what to do"
},
"options": [
"want to give up",
"finish one problem",
"know what to do",
"get tired of fighting"
],
"question": "The girl complained about her hard life because she didn't _ .",
"questi... | A girl complained to her father about her hard life. She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to give up. She felt tired of fighting and fighting. One problem had been finished but another came over.
Her father, a cook, took her into the kitchen. He poured water into three pans and boiled them. After boiling, in the first pan was put some carrots, the second was put some eggs and the last was put with coffee.
The girl waited impatiently, confused by what her father did. About 20 minutes later, her father took out the carrots and put them in a bowl. He took the eggs and put them in a bowl. After that the coffee was poured into a cup. "My sweet heart, what do you see?" he asked.
"Carrots, eggs and coffee." she replied.
Her father told her to close her eyes and asked her to touch the carrots. She did so and felt that the carrots were soft. After that he asked her to take the eggs and break them. After peeling them, she got the eggs, cooked and hard. The last, the father let her smell the coffee. She asked, "What did you do this for, father?" He explained that each had the same unlucky experience -- the boiling water, but each had a different result. The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak. The _ eggs became hard after being cooked. The coffee was very special, it could change water. "Who are you?" asked her father. "When bad luck knocks at your door, what is your decision? Are you carrots, eggs or coffee?" | middle5119.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "his garden"
},
"options": [
"his garden",
"his garage",
"his house",
"his car"
],
"question": "In the morning Mr Smith finds there is a lot of snow in _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | In the morning Mr Smith comes into the garden at the back of his house. He sees much snow in the garden. Mr Smith wants to take his car out, so he asks a man to clean the road from his garage , to the gate. He says to the man, "Don't throw any snow on that side. It'll damage(, ) the flowers in the street, or policeman will come." Then he goes out. When he comes back, his road is clean. There is no snow on the flowers, on the wall or in the street. But when he opens the garage he sees the garage is full of snow, the snow from the road, and his car is under the snow! | middle2676.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "to ask him to go away"
},
"options": [
"to ask him to go away",
"to ask him to look at the door of the car",
"to tell him where the door of the shop was",
"to let him enjoy the beautiful door of the car"
],
"que... | A young man went to a car shop. He was wearing rubber boots and a dirty jacket. He needed a haircut very much. The young man looked at an expensive car carefully and then asked the shop owner , "How much is this car?" "Nine thousand two hundred and eighteen," the owner answered. "I want sixteen of them," the young man said. The shop owner smiled coldly. He showed the door to the young man.
In another shop on the other side of the street the business was done . The young man took money out of his pocket and paid for the cars. He said the cars were for himself and his friends were. Each of them wanted to get one. He said that he and his friends were working on a fishing-boat. "We have got much money this season," the young man said, "and we want to buy cars. " | middle4213.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Old Wang Shoemaker."
},
"options": [
"Xiwang Toy Shop.",
"Mobile Phone Store.",
"Shanghai Sweater Shop.",
"Old Wang Shoemaker."
],
"question": "If you want to buy a pair of shoes, where will you go?",
"quest... | In our big city there are a lot of shops near the Department Store. They make a big shopping center and sell all kinds of things. You can always buy everything you want here. Here is a list (;) of big shops.
NameTelephoneAddress
Department Store41853051No.189 Yonghua Road
Mobile Phone Store41653789No.67 Xiangyang Road
Old Wang Shoemaker41861736No.180.Yonghua Road
Shanghai Sweater Shop41615789No.75 Xiangyang Road
Yiwu Shopping Market41836547No.190 Heping Road
Zhiyuan Computer Company41653786No.68 Xiangyang Road
Xiwang Toy Shop41586327No.195 Heping Road
Yang Liuqing Painting Store41861861No.192.Yonghua Road | middle6404.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Mike"
},
"options": [
"His mother",
"His mother",
"Mike",
"A and B"
],
"question": "Who doesn't like the soup for lunch ?.",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_... | Mike and his father are sitting at the table . They are having their lunch. " I don't like this soup . I don't want to have it" , says Mike . After lunch , Mike and his father work on the farm . They work hard. In the evening , Mike's father gives him a bowl of soup . "Oh, this soup is nice ", says Mike. His mother says: "It's the same soup." | middle67.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "looking at some birds"
},
"options": [
"looking for a seat in the park",
"passing the street",
"looking at some birds",
"having a pizza"
],
"question": "When the little boy saw the old woman, she was _ .",
... | Where is Love? How can we find Love?
Once a little boy wanted to meet Love. He knew it was a long trip to where Love lived, so he got his things ready with some pizzas and drinks and started off. When he passed three streets, he saw an old woman sitting in the park and watching some birds. She looked very hungry. The boy gave her a pizza. She took it and smiled at him. The smile was so beautiful that he wanted to see it again, so he gave her a Coke. She smiled once again. The boy was very happy.
They sat there all the afternoon, eating and smiling, but they said nothing. When it grew dark, the boy decided to leave. But before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. The woman gave him her biggest smile ever.
When the boy opened the door of his house, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face and asked what had made him so happy. "I had lunch with Love. She has got the most beautiful smile in the world." At the same time, the old woman,s son was also surprised at his mother,s pleasure and asked why.
"I ate a pizza in the park with Love," she said, "and he is much younger than I expected."
If the world is full of love, we can enjoy a better life. | middle827.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Visiting their old teacher."
},
"options": [
"Visiting their old teacher.",
"Enjoying coffee.",
"Complaining about their stress in work and life.",
"Showing each other's good jobs."
],
"question": "What did the ... | These classmates all had good jobs and made lots of money. They talked happily. Then their talk soon turned to complaining about the stress in work and life. The teacher went to the kitchen and came back with a large pot of coffee and many cups--china ones, plastic ones and glass ones. Some are plain looking, some are expensive and some are lovely. The teacher told them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the teacher said, "Can you notice that all of you took nice-looking expensive cups, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones? You want only the best for yourselves, and that is the source of your problems."
"What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you went for the best cups and then began looking at each other's cups."
"Now think about this: life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold, and do not change the life. Sometimes, by caring only about the cups, we fail to enjoy the coffee. So don't let the cups drive you, and enjoy the coffee instead." | middle6362.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "became a famous salesperson in the world."
},
"options": [
"is very lazy.",
"is not friendly to the people .",
"want to find another job.",
"became a famous salesperson in the world."
],
"question": "The salesma... | There is a little story about an insurance salesman in Tokyo. Even though this man tried very hard to promote the insurance, nobody bought it. One day, he came to a small temple and began to brag about his insurance. After listening to his introduction, the monk said: "Your recommendation of insurance can't arouse any of my interests! When you are communicating with others, you must have the charm to attract others, or you will be unpromising in the future. Young man, try to change yourself!"
The salesman thought deeply about each word. From then on, he invited all his friends to point out his weakness and kept on improving himself bit by bit for all his life. Thirty years later, he became a millionaire. And this man is the famous Yuan Yi Ping. His experience reflects one attitude: sometimes, we should change ourselves instead of changing the world. | middle199.txt |
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