questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Kincaid would have had a dog if he hadn't been away from home too much."
},
"options": [
"Kincaid's parents were dead and he only kept in touch with some distant s.",
"Kincaid would have had a dog if he hadn't been away from home ... | Kincaid looked at his watch: eight-seventeen. The truck started on the second try, and he backed out, shifted gears, and moved slowly down the alley under hazy sun. Through the streets of Bellingham he went, heading south on Washington 11, running along the coast of Puget Sound for a few miles, then following the highway as it swung east a little before meeting U.S Route 20.
Turning into the sun, he began the long, winding drive through the Cascades. He liked this country and felt unstressed stopping now and then to make notes about interesting possibilities for future expeditions or to shoot what he called "memory snapshots." The purpose of these causal photographs was to remind him of places he might want to visit again and approach more seriously. In later afternoon he turned north at Spokane, picking up U.S. Route 2, which would take him halfway across the northern United States to Duluth, Minnesota.
He wished for the thousandth time in his life that he had a dog, a golden retriever, maybe, for travels like this and to keep him company at home. But he was frequently away; overseas much of the time and it would not be fair to the animal. Still, he thought about it anyway. In a few years he would be getting too old for the hard fieldwork. "I must get a dog then." He said to himself.
Drives like this always put him into a sentimental mood. The dog was part of it. Robert Kincaid was alone as it's possible to be--an only child, parents both dead, distant s who had lost track of him and he of them, no close friends.
He thought about Marian. She had left him nine years ago after five years of marriage. He was fifty-two now, that would make her just under forty. Marian had dreams of becoming a musician, a folksinger. She knew all of the Weavers' songs and sang them pretty well in the coffeehouse of Seattle. When he was home in the old days, he drove her to the shows and sat in the audience while she sang.
His long absences--two or three months sometimes--were hard on the marriage. He knew that. She was aware of what he did when they decided to get married, and both of them had a vague(not clear) sense that it could all be handled somehow. It couldn't when he came from photographing a story in Iceland and, she was gone. The note read, "Robert, it didn't work out, I left you the Harmony guitar. Stay in touch."
He didn't stay in touch, neither did she. He's signed the divorce papers when they arrived a year later and caught a plane for Australia the next day. She had asked for nothing except her freedom. | high18482.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "There is a high dropout rate of students under 16 in South Africa."
},
"options": [
"There is a high dropout rate of students under 16 in South Africa.",
"More students with the skills for higher education in math and science are n... | Since the nineteen nineties, education has been required for all South Africans from age seven to fifteen. Last December, the government announced that seventy percent of students passed their final examination to finish high school. In 2008 the passage rate was about sixty-three percent. There have been increases each year since then.
Professor Shireen Motala at the University of Johannesburg says access to basic education is no longer the problem in South Africa. She says most children stay in school until they are about sixteen. The problem now, she says, is that large numbers of them leave without completing high school.
Students take an examination known as the matric in grade twelve, their final or "matriculation" year. Professor Motala notes that less than half the children who started school in 2000 sat for the matric last year. He said, "Only around forty-five percent survived, which means that a large number of children are falling by the wayside. And the concern is that where do those learners actually go to."
Educational researchers also point to another problem. They say South African schools do not produce enough students with the skills for higher education in math and science.
One of those researchers is Graeme Bloch. He says many schools are not well-equipped. "Because of poverty and limited resources, many children do not see laboratories and ninety-two percent of the schools do not have libraries."
Also, education specialists say in many cases, teachers and school principals do not have the skills or training to do their jobs. In other cases, they are simply not doing their duty to provide an education.
Professor Motala says a number of teachers were poorly trained during the system of apartheid, or racial separation in South Africa. Apartheid ended in 1994. Secondly, she says, teachers have been confused by the many educational reform efforts in the last fifteen years. And, finally, she thinks language differences in the classroom have not gotten as much attention as they should. Subjects such as math and science are taught in English starting at about age ten. But South Africa has eleven official languages and many more unofficial ones.
South Africa's minister of basic education promises a number of improvements. Angie Motshega says teacher development efforts will focus on subject and content knowledge, and making sure the correct teachers are in the correct jobs. | high21203.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "all have many tourist attractions to enjoy"
},
"options": [
"all once served as capitals",
"were all destroyed by war once",
"all have many tourist attractions to enjoy",
"all operate under their own laws"
],
"q... | No matter where you travel in Asia, you'll find yourself faced with a new culture, amazing food and special and friendly people. Here are some of these wonderful cities.
Beijing, China
Beijing serves as the capital of China. The city is old. In fact, almost all buildings have some cultural or historical significance --no matter how small they are. Throughout the city you can find temples, palaces, and works of art that can make you breathless.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
The wonderful town of Siem Reap is actually a good place to visit, though most people regard it only as a base point for further trips to Angkor and other nearby attractions. Visitors will be amazed by the beautiful temples and artworks that still exist today.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Located in the heart of the Himalayas, Kathmandu, the largest city and the capital of Nepal, is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in existence today. It is well-known for its beautiful views of the Himalayas. The shopping districts are world-famous and the hotels in Kathmandu are among the best in the world.
Kyoto, Japan
The city of Kyoto served as the capital of Japan from 794 to 1868. No longer the capital, it is known as the seventh largest city in Japan instead. Kyoto was destroyed many times throughout history by fires and wars. Now the city is home to more than 1.4 million people and presents a modern look to the world. | high17969.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "An event in imagination."
},
"options": [
"A historic discovery.",
"An event in imagination.",
"A research on space.",
"A scientific adventure."
],
"question": "What is mainly described in the passage?",
"qu... | The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two pieces will probably hit the southern half of the earth.
On 17 July, a piece of 4 kilometers wide comet enters the Earth's atmosphere with a massive explosion . About half of the piece is destroyed, but the remaining part hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and a huge hole is made in the seabed. Huge waves are created and spread outwards form the hole. The wall of water, a kilometer high, rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned .
Before the waves reach South America, the second piece of the comet lands in Argentina. Earthquakes and volcanoes ash set off in the Andes Mountains. The shock waves move north into California and all around the Pacific Ocean. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tokyo are completely destroyed by earthquakes. Millions of people in the southern half of the earth are already dead, but the north won't escape for long. Because of the explosions, the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. The sun won't be seen again for many years. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later, no more than 10 million people remain alive.
Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the earth. The dinosaurs were on the Earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believe that the Earth was hit by a piece of object in space. The dinosaurs couldn't live through the cold climate that followed and they died out. Will we meet the same end? | high3687.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Treasure the vacation."
},
"options": [
"Live a simple life.",
"Stay at home and relax herself.",
"Treasure the vacation.",
"Walk around with a depressed face."
],
"question": "How will the author spend the fina... | Summer is slipping away from me.Some days, it makes me want to cry.Other days, I feel a sense of expectation within me just thinking about fall that makes me want to burst.Tonight, all five of us were in the family room doing our own things.
At this moment, my littlest kid is my number one trouble and my number one joy.He has a tooth on the way and although it's such a tiny thing, it's causing so much grief.I'm holding him a lot and I'm not going to lie.I live for his afternoon nap so I'm able to actually get dressed and use the restroom.
The big E is starting school soon.The other day, I found myself a bit depressed about the end of summer and the beginning of another school year.I looked out of our front window with eyes that were heavy and a bit teary.Then, I suddenly realized just how silly this end of summer depression of mine is.I can't change time.But, I can change my emotions and my thoughts.I decided not to spend my final days of summer vacation walking around with a sad face.I decided to hug the last few days of summer and remind myself that before I know it, we will be back in our school routine and all will go well.
This week we plan on meeting teachers.I'm taking my girl to have her nails done before her first day of kindergarten.We want to bake a few dozen cookies.We'll take our evening walks as usual and stay up late.And last but not least, I'll get school clothes ready, I'll pack lunches and write lunch notes, we'll read "The Kissing Hand," like we normally do, and I'll tuck my third grader and kindergartener in their little beds before the big first day.
Thank you summer, you've been warm and wonderful, you've been sweet and sticky, you've been refreshing and exactly what we need.And your sunsets have been amazing, so thank you. | high10960.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "review that less than half of the population now reads literature"
},
"options": [
"focus on the role of electronic media and reading",
"show that American young people read less and less",
"give a report of the national fash... | For the first time in modem history, less than half of theprefix = st1 /U.S.adult population now reads literature, according to a recent survey. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading inAmericapresents a detailed review of the decline of reading's role in the nation's culture.
Readingat Risk is a survey of national fashion in adult literary reading. The data source for Reading at Risk is as reliable and objective as any such survey can be. The key results of the survey are presented in the "Summary", but the report can be further explained as: literary reading in Americais not only declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate of decline has been speeded up, especially among the young.Readingat Risk merely shows a great _ that most Americans have already noted - our society's great turn to electronic media for entertainment and information.
Reading a book requires a degree of active attention and devotion. Indeed, reading itself is a progressive skill that depends on years of education and practice. On the contrary, most electronic media such as television, recordings, and radio make fewer demands on their audiences, and indeed often require no more than passive participation. While oral culture has a rich reality and electronic media offer the considerable advantages of variety, print culture affords irreplaceable forms of focused attention and thought that make various communications and views possible. The decline in reading, therefore, equals a larger retreat from participation in public and cultural life.
What is to be done? There is surely no single solution to the present problem, just as there is no single cause. The important thing now is to understand thatAmericacan no longer take active and devoted reading for granted.
Readingis not a timeless, common ability. As more Americans lose this ability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent minded. These are not qualities that a free, inventive, or productive society can afford to lose. | high21565.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "He collects and delivers bags of laundry."
},
"options": [
"He washes the clothes.",
"He drives the laundry truck.",
"He collects and delivers bags of laundry.",
"He operates the machines in the laundry room."
],
... | invites applications for the following posts:
HOUSEKEEPING
Housekeeping Supervisor
Salary: $1,200 per month
At least 2 years similar experience
Female only
Housemaids
Salary: $700 per month
No experience required
Part-time posts for Housemaids only
LAUNDRY
Laundry Valet
Salary: $700 per month
Duties - to collect and deliver laundry parcels
Shift work require
Laundry Attendant
Salary: $700 per month
Male applicants only
Shift work required
Preference will be given to people with some experience.
FOOD AND DRINKS
(for new 24-hour restaurant)
Head waiter
Salary: $1,200 per month
Experienced waiters can apply
Waiter/ Waiters
Salary: $800 per month
No experience needed
(Willing to work shifts)
Part-timers needed for permanent night shift 6 pm to 11 pm.
GENERAL
Car Driver
Salary: $800 per month
Clean driving record
At least 1 year of experience
Willing to work irregular hours
Pool Attendant
Salary: $700 per month
Must know life-saving technique
Some related experience
Both posts for male only.
Interviews will be conducted at the Royal Hotel, East Room, 2nd Level on the 25th and 26th Nov. from 10:00 to 4:00 pm. | high262.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To emphasize that Calement was born a long time ago."
},
"options": [
"To show that Calment had seen famous people and things.",
"To emphasize that Calement was born a long time ago.",
"To indicate that Calement is just as fa... | When Jean Calment entered the world in 1875, telephones and automobiles still lay in the future. Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso were not yet born. The Eiffel Tower was 14 years from being built. As a teenager, she met Vincent Van Gogh, near her home in Arles, in the south of France. He was "very ugly, ungracious, impolite, sick--I forgive him, they called him loco." She recalled. When she died last week at age 122, she was the world's oldest person. (There were others who claimed to the title, but only Calment had the official documents to prove her age)
Each February 21, her birthday, she would share the secrets of long life. Some years it was "a sense of humor", others it was "keeping busy". "God may have forgotten me," she once explained. The truth probably was that she had good genes. Her mother reportedly lived to be 86 and her father 94.
Her life had its sadness: she outlived her husband, her only daughter and her grandson. According to a friend, she was _ "If you can't do anything about it," she reportedly said, "don't worry about it."
In her last years she was nearly blind and deaf, but her health remained good. She ate a few bars of chocolate each week and continued smoking until a few years ago, when she could no longer light her own cigarettes. She never lost her sense of humor. On her 110thbirthday, she commented, "I have only ever had one wrinkle, and I am sitting on it." Her longevity made her famous. Her spirits made her eternal | high6099.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They both had experiences of test anxiety."
},
"options": [
"They are students from the same university.",
"They failed in all the examinations.",
"They both had experiences of test anxiety.",
"They both had the same po... | Doreen Sykora is now a junior at McGill University. She had a difficult time when she first began college. She said, "I was always well prepared for my examinations. But when I go into class to take the exam, I would fall apart. I could just _ because of nervousness and fear." Hitoshi Sakamoto, an anthropology student at Temple University in Tokyo reports similar experiences.
These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is stressed about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the severe tension and nervousness.
Now there are special university courses to help students. In these courses, advisors and psychologists try to help students by teaching them to manage test anxiety. Such a course helps students learn to live with stress and not fail because of it. First students take a practice test to measure their worry level. If the tests show that their stress level is high, the students can take a short course to manage the fear. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. They get training to become calm in very tense situations. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work more easily. Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.
Doreen Sykora saw immediate results after taking such a course. She now has enthusiasm about the relaxation methods. "Mostly, what I do is imagine myself in a very calm place. Then I imagine myself picking up a pencil. I move slowly and carefully. I breathe easily and let all the tension out. With each breath, more worry leaves me. It really works too. My grades have improved greatly! I'm really doing well at McGill now. This relaxation method works not only on examinations, but it has improved the rest of my life as well."
For Hitoshi in Tokyo, the results were much the same. He is enjoying school a lot more and learning more. | high7387.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Not enough is known about hospital teaching."
},
"options": [
"Every child in hospital receives some teaching.",
"Not enough is known about hospital teaching.",
"Hospital teaching is of poor quality.",
"The special chil... | Surprisingly, no one knows how many children receive education in English hospitals, still less the content or quality of that education. Proper records are just not kept. We know that more than 850,000 children go through hospital each year, and that every child of school age has a legal right to continue to receive education while in hospital. We also know there is only one hospital teacher to every 1,000 children in hospital.
Little wonder the latest survey concludes that the extent and type of hospital teaching available differ a great deal across the country. It is found that half the hospitals in England which admit children have no teacher. A further quarter have only a part-time teacher. The special children's hospitals in major cities do best; general hospitals in the country and holiday areas are worst off. From this survey, one can estimate that fewer than one in five children have some contact with a hospital teacher--and that contact may be as little as two hours a day. Most children interviewed were surprised to find a teacher in hospital at all. They had not been prepared for it by parents or their own school. If there was a teacher they were much more likely to read books and do math or number work; without a teacher they would only play games.
Reasons for hospital teaching range from preventing a child falling behind and maintaining the habit of school to keeping a child occupied, and the latter is often all the teacher can do. The position and influence of many teachers was summed up when parents referred to them as "the library lady" or just "the helper". Children tend to rely on concerned school friends to keep in touch with school work. Several parents spoke of requests for work being ignored or refused by the school. Once back at school children rarely get extra teaching, and are told to catch up as best they can.
Many short-stay child-patients catch up quickly. But schools do very little to ease the anxiety about falling behind expressed by many of the children interviewed. | high276.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "illegal gangs"
},
"options": [
"illegal gangs",
"protection providers",
"cruel murderers",
"drug dealers"
],
"question": "Crime in the city of Cliois mainly caused by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questio... | Crime in the city of prefix = st1 /Cliohit a 30-year low last year. "This is ly wonderful for our citizens, our businesses, and our visitors," said Police Chief Louis Gates. Clio has a population of 28,000, but it has at least 30 gangs . The gangs make most of their money from dealing drugs and offering "protection." They also commit violent crimes, such as stealing, robbery or even murder.
There were 1,486 thefts last year. Most of the thefts involved cars. Thieves also robbed the people at gunpoint or pick pocketed them. They broke .into houses and businesses at the alarming rate of two a day two years ago, but that rate was down to only one a day last year. "That's a 50-percent
decrease in one year," said Gates. "I think the police officers deserve a big pat on the back. Even better, maybe they'll get that 10-percent raise that they are all hoping for. "
With an example of how the police force has helped reduce crime, Gates talked about bicycle thefts. "For years and years, kids were locking up their bikes at bike stands in front of schools, libraries, and shopping mails. About 10 percent of the time, the kids would come out of the school or wherever and discover that their bike was no longer there. We wracked our brains( ) trying to find a solution to this problem. Finally, at the beginning of last year, when we simply removed most of the bike stands, then the bicycle theft rate came down quickly.
Most cities in the state have similar problems. They all involve too many people, too much crime, too few police, and too little money. These problems go along with civilization everywhere. They might reduce, but they will probably never disappear. All people can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. | high23366.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They belong to the Huntsman spider."
},
"options": [
"They are smaller in size.",
"They only live in Laos.",
"They belong to the Huntsman spider.",
"About 1100 such spiders were discovered."
],
"question": "What... | Just when scientists think they have discovered and recorded every species of insect that crawls on the earth they find something new.Earlier this month, Peter Jager, the head of Frankfurt's Senckenberg Research Institute reported the discovery of a unique eyeless spider!
The creature that has a leg span of six centimeters and a body size of just twelve millimeters was found in a cave inside the tiny nation of Laos, in Southeast Asia.
It was identified as a member of the Huntsman spider, a large family that consists of 1100 species.However, the other members of the family all have eyes.The spider is the first one that has no eyes.The scientists believe that the reason for the lack of eyes can be that these spiders spend their entire life inside caves.In the past they have seen other members of the Huntsman spiders living in caves with six or less eyes.They believe that the kind of spider has adapted to the fact that they do not really need the eyes to such an extreme measure that they have _ them altogether.
But they are not the only creature to have done that.Over the years, scientists have discovered completely blind cave fish, and even a freshwater crab, which happens to live in the same cave as this eyeless spider!
Surrounded by Burma and China on the northwest, Vietnam on the east, Cambodia on the South and Thailand on the west, the landlocked nation of Laos has been a treasure trove of an incredible number of new and exotic species.In the last few years researchers have discovered the Saola -- never-before seen antelope-like creature, a small deer species called muntjacs, a tiny striped rabbit and a rock rat that was thought to have been extinct 11 million years ago.In addition to that it is also home to over one hundred species of large mammals ranging from tigers to macaques and over 165 species of amphibians and reptiles like the terrible King cobra and the noisy Tokay gecko, a permanent resident inside most Laos households. | high22078.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "lt is an Investment bank with more than one and a half centuries history."
},
"options": [
"lt is an Investment bank with more than one and a half centuries history.",
"It didn't find a buyer after months of searching.",
"It ... | The Growing Credit Crisis Forces Many Companies to Seek Government Help
On September fifteenth, Lehman Brothers, a one hundred fifty-eight year-old investment bank, sought legal protection from its creditors. It had failed to find a buyer after months of searching. With over six hundred billion dollars in debt, Lehman's failure was the largest bankruptcv in United States history At the same time,the nation's biggest insurance company,American International Group, had gotten into trouble selling credit default swaps These are contracts Similar to insurance that protect the holder against credit risk.
Credit rating agencies downgraded A.I.G because of concerns it could not honor its contracts. Unable to get new loans, A.I.G asked for government help The Federal Reserve agreed to loan A .I.G. eighty-five billion dollars in return for eighty percent of the company but it was not enough. By November, the government had extended a total of about one hundred fiftv billion doliars in aid to A .I.G--the most to any single company during the crisis.
As banks refused to lend, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed a plan to loosen credit markets by buylng risky assets. Congress approved the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of Two. Thousand eight on October third The bill provided seven hundred billion dollars to buy hard to-value securltles from banks. But within weeks, the government changed plans. The Treasury moved to invest two handred fifty billion dollars directly in banks to help them lend money again.
Lack of credit not only hurt banks but manufacturers, too. Falling car sales threatened America's carmakers The big three automakers--General Motors, Ford and Chrysler--told Congress that they needed loans or they faced bankmptcy. In December, President Bush offered G.M and Chrysler over seventeen billion dollars in loans.
As the year ended, the Federal Reserve tried to support economic growth by lowering its main interest rate to nearly zero for the first time. But there was one more bad surprise New York money manager Bernard Madoff admitted he had cheated investors out of fifty billion dollars. The news only added to the sense that two thousand eight was the worst economic year since the nineteen thirties. | high7393.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they can't take in enough nutrition"
},
"options": [
"they can't find any green plants",
"they can't take in enough nutrition",
"they are bored with eating nectar",
"they are too old to fly"
],
"question": "Humm... | Hummingbirds have got their name from the distinct "hum" sound made by their rapidlyflapping wings. The size of the bird decides the number of flaps it can do. The average lifetime of a hummingbird is 3 or 4 years, but some of them have lived beyond 12 years also. They are unique in many ways. Besides the number of rapid flaps they can do per second, they can also fly backwards.
Hummingbirds have an amazing sense of assessing the amount of sugar in thenectar they eat. They feed on the nectar of flowers. Hummingbirds do not feed on flowers whose nectar contains less than 10% sugar. Talk about a sweet tooth! As they cannot sustain themselves on nectar alone because of its poor nutritional value, they also feed on insects and spiders, and hummingbird food mixture that one can make at home.
Attracting hummingbirds to your garden will require a little planning. Plant butterfly bush, mimosa, coral bells, foxglove, morning glory, etc. These flowers attract the hummingbirds due to their highvisibility and nectar production. Avoid usingpesticides , as it will not only kill the insects around the flowers, but hurt the hummingbirds as well.
A common food for these birds is the sweettastingsugar syrup . Hummingbird food ingredients are just two: sugar and water. Take a large clean bowl, pour in it four cups of hot water, and dissolve one cup of table sugar in it. Stir slowly until all sugar has dissolved.
Hummingbirds, tiny as they are, collect a lot of nutrition. Providing them with hummingbird food mixture made of sugar water is a sure way to get all these beauties humming in your garden. | high10974.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It built up their confidence in the job market."
},
"options": [
"It was a proof of their professional skills.",
"It would guarantee their quick promotion .",
"It built up their confidence in the job market.",
"It would... | In the past, people who graduated from college felt proud of their academic achievements and confident that their degree would help them to find a good job.
However, in the past four years the job market has changed greatly. This year's college graduates are facing one of the worst job markets. For example, Ryan Stewart, a graduate of San Jose State University, got a degree in religious studies, but he has not gotten any job offers. He points out that many people already working are getting laid off and don't have jobs, so it's even harder for new college graduates to find jobs.
Four years ago, the future looked bright for his class of 2006. There were many high-tech("dot com") job opportunities, graduates received many job offers, and they were able to get jobs with high salaries and benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations. However, "Times have changed. It's a new market," according to an officer of the university.
The officer says students who do find jobs started preparing two years ago. They worked during summer vacations, they have had several short-time jobs, and they majored in fields that are still paying well, such as accounting or nursing.
Even teaching is not a secure profession now. Ryan Stewart wanted to be a teacher. But instead he will probably go back to school in order to become a college teacher. He thinks college teaching could be a good career even in a bad economy.
In conclusion, these days a college degree does not automatically lead to a good job with a high salary. Some students can only hope that the value of their degree will increase in the future. | high21571.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Allowing children to share precious things willingly"
},
"options": [
"Rewarding children for sharing",
"Forcing children to share",
"Allowing children to share precious things willingly",
"Allowing children to share wh... | Getting kids to share their toys is a never-ending battle, and forcing them to do so never seems to help. New research suggests that allowing children to make a choice to sacrifice their own toys in order to share with someone else makes them share more in the future. The new findings are published inPsychological Science.
These experiments were conducted by psychological scientists, Nadia Chernyak and Tamar Kushnir of Cornell University. They found that sharing things with others when they are given a difficult choice leads children to think of themselves as people who like to share. It also makes them more likely to act in a pro-social manner in the future.
Previous research has explained why rewarding children for sharing can _ . Children come to think of themselves as people who don't like to share since they had to be rewarded for doing so. Because they don't view themselves as "sharers", they are less likely to share in the future.
Chernyak and Kushnir were interested in finding out whether freely chosen sacrifice might have the opposite effect on kids' willingness to share. To test this, the researchers introduced five-year-old children to Doggie, a sad puppet. Some of the children were given a difficult choice: Share a precious sticker with Doggie, or keep it for themselves. Other children were given an easy choice between sharing and putting the sticker away, while children in a third group were required by the researcher to share.
Later on, all the children were introduced to Ellie, another sad puppet. They were given the option of how many stickers to share (up to three). The kids who earlier made the difficult choice to help Doggie shared more stickers with Ellie. The children who were initially faced with an easy choice or who were required to give their sticker to Doggie, on the other hand, shared fewer stickers with Ellie. Therefore, children did not benefit from simply giving something up, but rather from willingly choosing to give something up of value.
"You might imagine that making difficult, costly choices is demanding for young children or even that once children share, they don't feel the need to do so again," Chernyak says. "But this wasn't the case: once children made a difficult decision to give up something for someone else, they were more generous, not less, later on." Chernyak concludes. | high5584.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The body doesn't tell when you are in real pain."
},
"options": [
"Teachers lack the knowledge of students' limits.",
"Modern lifestyle decreases our flexibility.",
"The body doesn't tell when you are in real pain.",
"S... | You may have heard about the many benefits of yoga, but a recent New York Times story, has stirred up more than a little controversy in the yoga community.
"How Yoga Can _ Your Body," by science writer William J. Broad, quotes a long-time yoga teacher who "...has come to believe that 'the vast majority of people' should give up yoga altogether. It's simply too likely to cause harm." He goes on to describe a number of cases where people have been injured doing yoga, including himself.
The research in the article isn't groundbreaking: doing any form of exercise you could potentially hurt yourself. If you look at the injury rates of other physical activities, the number of injuries sustained from yoga would pale in comparison.
Practicing yoga is just like anything in life: You have to push yourself in order to grow. But you also have to know your limits and when you're breaking them. If you stick to your comfort zone, you'll never be able to increase your flexibility. If you push to the point where you're not only uncomfortable, but in real pain, you'll likely injure yourself.
The reasons that yoga causes "serious injury", according to the Times story, range from students' physical weaknesses to inexperienced teachers pushing too hard to the growing number of inflexible "urbanites who sit in chairs all day" trying hard to twist themselves into difficult postures.
Yoga is called a "practice" for a reason. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to tackle every pose. It doesn't matter if you can touch the floor with your palms during your first forward bend or your thousandth, or if you never get there.
We go to the mat to learn to better listen to what our bodies are telling us, and to better hear that quiet inner voice drowned out by the noise of our busy lives. It's a shame to discourage the majority of people from practicing yoga and missing out on all of the mind-body benefits that going to the mat has to offer. | high4842.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The trick of faces."
},
"options": [
"The features of faces.",
"The science of judging people by face.",
"The trick of faces.",
"The importance of judging people from their looks."
],
"question": "What's the pas... | We've been judging people based on the way they look for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks turned it into a science, "physiognomy". As early as 500 BC, the mathematician Pythagoras would look carefully at young men's faces to determine if they'd make a good student, not long after Aristotle wrote how large-headed people were mean. It was widely believed at the time that the animal a person resembled was a good judge of character.
By the Middle Ages it was well and truly mainstream. Professionals coined the phrase "stuck-up" to refer from the belief that those with upturned noses had an air of superiority, "high-brow" to refer to the high foreheads of nobles and "low-brow" to the less educated foreheads of the lower classes.
Back in 2016, we're still doing it. We view those who resemble Labradors as warm, while those who resemble lions as more of a ruler. We think of those with "resting moody face" as more aggressive, those who are less attractive as sick and expect people who look familiar to share our values. Many of these judgments occur in as little as 50 milliseconds.
To get to understand and find out why having a babyface is so great, first we need to know what happens when we recognize an actual baby.
In fact, the features of babies and those universally considered "cute" are nothing more than a series of developmental accidents. Our eyes are already fully grown by the time we're born but our heads aren't. Similarly, our bodies do a lot more growing later on than our heads. Babies have more body fat than adults, chubby cheeks, for example. The list goes on.
And regardless of whether you're very maternal or find babies really annoying, we're unconditionally to respond to their features by turning into gentle baby-talking fools. Most importantly, gazing into their innocent faces makes us less aggressive and more generous and helpful.
So there you have it. Next time you find yourself staring affectionately into the eyes of a baby-faced friend, colleague or date, just remember, you may be the latest victim in a long-running systematic evolutionary trick. | high19950.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "hungry"
},
"options": [
"lose weight for a short period",
"unhealthy",
"short of nutrition",
"hungry"
],
"question": "Which is not the result of restricting certain food groups?",
"question_type": "factiod_q... | Any diet on which you eat fewer calories than you need to get through the day -- like an 800-calorie-per-day diet can be dangerous. Diets that don't allow any fat also can be bad for you. Everyone needs a certain amount of fat in their diet -- up to 30% of total calories -- so no one should eat a completely fat-free diet.
Don't have diets that restrict certain food groups, either. A diet that requires you to say no to bread or pasta or allows you to eat only fruit is unhealthy. You won't get the vitamins and minerals you need. And although you may lose weight, you'll probably gain it back as soon as you start eating normally again.
Some people start dieting because they think all the problems in their lives are because of weight. Others have an area of their lives that they can't control, like an alcoholic parent, so they focus on something they can control -- their exercise and food intake.
People who diet may get lots of praise from friends and family when they start losing pounds, which makes them feel good. But eventually a person reaches a weight level -- and doesn't lose as much weight as before because the body is trying to keep a healthy weight, so they aren't any happier.
Some people may find it hard to control their eating, so they stick with _ for a little while, but then eat tons of food. Feeling guilty about the binge, they use laxatives . Eating too little to maintain a healthy weight or eating only to throw up the calories are both eating disorders, which are harmful to a person's health. | high20109.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the decisive factor in making a genius"
},
"options": [
"the function of I.Q. in cultivating a writer",
"the relationship between genius and success",
"the decisive factor in making a genius",
"the way of gaining some s... | The latest research suggests that the key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success. Instead, it's purposeful practice. Top performers spend more hours practising their craft. If you wanted to picture how a typical genius might develop, you'd take a girl who possessed a slightly above average language ability. It wouldn't have to be a big talent, just enough so that she might gain some sense of distinction. Then you would want her to meet, say, a novelist, who coincidentally shared some similar qualities. Maybe the writer was from the same town, had the same family background, or shared the same birthday.
This contact would give the girl a vision of her future self. It would give her some idea of a fascinating circle who might someday join. It would also help if one of her parents died when she was 12, giving her a strong sense of insecurity and fuelling a desperate need for success. Armed with this ambition, she would read novels and life stories of writers without end. This would give her a primary knowledge of her field. She would be able to see new writing in deeper ways and quickly understand its inner workings.
Then she would practise writing. Her practice would be slow, painstaking and error-focused. By practising in this way, she delays the automating process. Her mind wants to turn conscious, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. By practising slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, she forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance. Then she would find an adviser who would provide a constant stream of feedback, viewing her performance form the outside, correcting the smallest errors, pushing her to take on tougher challenges. By now she is redoing problems--how do I get characters into a room--dozens and dozens of times. She is establishing habits of thought she can call upon in order to understand or solve future problems.
The primary quality our young writer possesses is not some mysterious genius. It's the ability to develop a purposeful, laborious and boring practice routine; the latest research takes some of the magic out of great achievement. But it underlines a fact that is often neglected. Public discussion is affected by genetics and what we're "hard-wired" to do. And it's true that genes play a role in our capabilities. But the brain is also very plastic. We construct ourselves through behavior. | high19788.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "banning the use of Chinglish"
},
"options": [
"simplifying the Chinese language",
"limiting the development of language",
"banning the use of Chinglish",
"making the netizens more serious"
],
"question": "The ne... | Chinese netizens who like to create and use cyber words such as "geilivable" might find a new regulation very "ungeilivable". The new regulation by the General Administration of Press and Publication last week banned the use of Chinglish words created by netizens for publishing in the Chinese language.
"Geilivable", combining the pinyin geili(giving strength) with the English suffix for adjectives, literally means "giving power" or "cool". Different suffixes( ) and prefixes were then added to the word. "Hengeilivable" means "very cool", and "ungeilivable" means "dull, not cool at all".
Cyber language is popular among Chinese netizens, who create Chinglish words to reflect phenomenon in society. One example is "antizen", which refers to college graduates who earn a _ salary and live in small rented apartments, like tiny and laborious ants.
David Tool, a professor with the Beijing International Studies University, said it's very interesting to combine Chinese with English to create new words. "English is no longer mysterious to the Chinese people. They can use the language in a flexible way according to their own experiences," Tool said.
At the announcement of the regulation by the General Administration of Press and Publication, netizens expressed their concern.
"The administration is totally 'ungeilivable'," said a netizen named laoda1713. "I know other netizens will shed tears with me... it is a good chance to enrich our language".
"Language is always developing," said a columnist, Wang Pei. "It needs to be updated to absorb foreign culture and folk wisdom."
But an unnamed official with the administration said that, in fact, many senior staff from news media who supported the regulation were worried that years later, the younger generation would forget how to use formal Chinese expressions. The official also pointed out that the regulation was only for formal publications in Chinese language, and it only banned Chinglish words in the publication. | high21217.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Reducing stress by surrounding yourself with positive energy."
},
"options": [
"Adding some elements to your life.",
"Getting positive energy from the company you keep.",
"Changing your self talk with positive affirmation.",
... | Negative self talk and negative energy can affect you in many ways and cause you additional stress. Because of this, developing more positive self talk is an important way to reduce stress in your life. You can help yourself maintain a positive frame of mind which will help with positive self talkby surrounding yourself with positive energy in your life. You can get that by adding some elements to your life.
Listening to music that not only has a pleasant melody, but an uplifting message, can be great for developing positive self talk. Have you ever had a song "stuck in your head" for a few hours or days, the lyrics repeating themselves in your mind? If those lyrics were positive and inspirational, that would be a good thing. It's a much better mental soundtrack to have than a running stream of complaints, criticisms of self-limiting thoughts, or even songs that had more depressing or sad lyrics.
Books on strength, personal power, enlightenment, or self help can be good resources to help you change your outlook and the things you say to yourself. Rather than bringing habitual self-defeating thoughts, you can find yourself thinking of new can-do concepts when times get tough.
One of the most important ways you can get and keep positive energy in your life is with the company you keep. Do your friends uplift you, or bring you down? Are they critical, or approving? Ideal friendships provide support when you're down, fun when you're up, wisdom when you're lost. Good friends can inspire you to reach greater heights, and see your strengths even when you don't always. Pay attention to how your friends make you feel, and if they're less than supportive, start putting your energy and time toward people who are better suited to be your friends.
In addition, positive affirmations can certainly change your self talk from negative to positive. Now, why not begin working positive affirmations into your life in some creative ways? | high6933.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "surprised"
},
"options": [
"proud",
"surprised",
"relaxed",
"excited"
],
"question": "When Zach found Aaron's toys were gone, he was _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Yesterday, I overheard our 9-year-old son, Aaron, talking to his friend, Zach.
"Oh, God!" Zach began, peering in Aaron's closet. "Where are all your toys?"
"Oh, we are doing something called 'Simplicity Plan' , so I basically got rid of 80% of my staff."
"What? Did your mom and dad make you do this?"
"No. I decided to do it because I wanted to. When I give away a lot of my things, I have time for family activities. I did it because I wanted to live differently and have less staff in my life."
"But still, why would you choose to get rid of most of your toys?"
"Part of the reason is that my parents were doing it with their stuff. And my mom talked to me about it and explained how they felt happier afterwards. And I thought maybe I really had spent a lot of my time in my room playing with toys instead of spending time with my parents and sister." "I feel proud because I am a person who has just what I need and not more. And I'm starting new activities like writing how I feel, reading more, and spending more time doing housework around the house."
"Ok. Let me get this straight. You have fewer toys, more housework, and you feel happier?"
"Well, it's not that the housework is fun. But I do it with my parents. We talk and connect while we are doing it, so that is the fun. And we've been doing more activities together, like reading aloud at night. And on weekends, we have conversations or go out together, instead of my dad being at his computer, my mom cleaning and me playing with my toys."
"Maybe you are right." | high23400.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Morality can't be written down in textbooks."
},
"options": [
"Morality doesn't strictly belong to a science",
"Morality is more like a social phenomenon.",
"Different generations have different moral ideas.",
"Morality... | Moral science is taught as a subject in most schools but with little effect. Perhaps part of the problem lies in the fact that morality is not a science, strictly speaking. It is too much of a social phenomenon, and also has too much of the personal and subjective things mixed within. Besides, morality itself changes with generations. So it is impossible to be defined in a textbook.
I remember sitting through forty minutes of moral lessons, which told stories about little children who never told lies and were rewarded for their goodness. It had little effect and left no impression on me, though.
If moral science has to be taught as a subject in schools, it needs a participatory approach. When you tell a child about morals, you also have to deal with social norms and cultural differences. You have to explain that morality can be subjective, and be able to co-exist in society. You will probably have to refer to the morals of the present time.
The best way to tell a child how to live is to show him what is valued. If a child likes his friend, you have to make the child think about why. Once the child notices and recognizes goodness in others, he or she is likely to develop it as well.
In fact, children learn most of their morals by watching people around them. They absorb behavior patterns from teachers and older students. They watch to see what is rewarded and who is punished. They learn on the sports field and through social work. Moral science lessons should simply consist of letting them live and interact, and watch you support correct values and reward good behavior. | high510.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "8 700 000 French -Canadians"
},
"options": [
"30% of the French -Canadians",
". 45% of the Canadians",
"29 000 000 people",
"8 700 000 French -Canadians"
],
"question": "About _ live in Quebec .",
"que... | Canada is a very large country .It is the second largest country in the world .By contrast it has a very small population . There are only about 29 million people there . Most Canadians are of British or French _ ,and French is an official language of Canada as well as English .About 45%of the people are of British origin ,that is ,they or their parents or grandparents , etc ,come from British . Nearly 30%are of French origin . Most of the French -Canadians live in province of Quebec .
Over the years ,people have come to live in Canada from many countries in the world .They are from many countries in the world .They are from most European countries and also from China, besides other Asian countries .
However , Canada was not an empty country when the Europeans began to arrive . Canadian Indians lived along the coast , by the rivers and lakes and in forests . Today , there are only about 350 000 Indians in the whole country , with their own languages . In the far north live the Inuit . There are only 27 000 Canadian-Inuit . Their life is hard in such a difficult climate . | high19978.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Because of its location, facilities and good service."
},
"options": [
"Because of its location, facilities and good service.",
"Because it is in Shanghai.",
"Because its general manager is excellent.",
"Because some cu... | Hilton Shanghai, the city's first international hotel, has been recognized as a top business hotel in Shanghai for its convenient location and outstanding facilities for more than 20 years.
However, the hotel's newly appointed general manager Gerd Knaust says it is the people that make the hotel successful.
More than 380 employees have been working with the hotel for more than 15 years. Some of them have personal relationships with customers.
''It's a people-relation business,'' Knaust says. ''They really tell me about the stories in the last 15 years. It's something very nice to listen to. It's also a lasting memory for the guests.''
In fact, over the years, some of the guests have stayed in the hotel 200 or even 300 times.
Knaust, who has been working in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years, started his career as a chef in Germany. During his early 30s, Knaust already moved to the top in the culinary field as director of kitchen of Hyatt Regency Cologne in Germany.
After holding several general manager positions in Mandarin Oriental hotels, Knaust joined Hilton International as the general manager to open the Conrad and Doubletree by Hilton at Haitang Bay, Sanya in 2010.
When he was appointed as the general manager of Hilton Shanghai in November, he not only was heavily involved in recruitment, sales and marketing strategies but also he worked closely with the food and beverage team to develop the hotel's restaurant concepts and menus.
''I believe that we should offer quality and healthy food.'' he says.
Knaust believes that a hotel must value the customers' comments on Ctrip, Trip Advisor and other platforms, etc.
''It keeps us more on guard to be 100 percent professional,'' he says. | high3863.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "England and Brazil"
},
"options": [
"Japan and Brazil",
"England and Brazil",
"France and Spain",
"Korea and Caribbean"
],
"question": "The writer of the story once went to _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_q... | In this voyage I visited my new colony on the island, saw the Spaniards , had the whole story of their lives and of the villains I left there; how at first they treated the poor Spaniards badly,*how they afterwards agreed, disagreed, unired, separated, and how at last the Spaniards were forced to use violence with them; how they gave in to the spaniards, how honestly the Spaniards used them ---- a history, if it were entered into, as full of variety and wonderful accidents as my own part ---- particularly, also, as to their battles with the Caribbeans, who landed several times upon the Island, and as to the improvement they made upon the Island itself, and how five of them made an attempt upon the main land, and brought away eleven men and five women prisoners, by which, at my coming, I found about twenty young children on the Island.
Here I stayed bout 20 days, left them supplies of all necessary things, and particularly of arms, powder, shot, cloths, tools, and two workmen, which I brought from England with me, namely a carpenter and a smith.
Besides this, I shared the Island into parts with them, reserved to myself the property of whole but gave them such parts _ as they agreed on; and having settled all things with them and encouraged them not to leave the place, I left them there.
From then on I landed the Brazils, from where I sent a bark, which I bought there, with more people to the island; and in it, besides other supplies, I sent seven women, being such persons as I found proper for service, or for wives to such as would take them. As to the Englishmen, I promised them to send them some women from England, with a good cargo of necessaries, if they would apply themselves to planting ---- which I afterwards could not perform. And the fellows proved very honest and diligent after they were mastered and had their properties set apart for them. I sent them also from the Brazils five cows, three of them being big with calf, some sheep, and some pigs, which when I came again were considerably increased.
But all these things, with an account how 300 Caribbeans came and invaded them, and ruined their plantations, and how they fought with that whole number twice, and were at first defeated, and one of them killed; but at last a storm destroying most of their enemies' boats, they destroyed almost all the rest, and renewed and recovered the possession of their plantation, and still lived upon the Island.
All these things, with some very surprising incidents in some new adventures of my own, for ten years more, I may perhaps give a further account of the story. | high20121.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "cold but he still served the young customer"
},
"options": [
"very enthusiastic, hoping for some business to be done",
"cold but he still served the young customer",
"cold, unwilling to serve the young customer",
"very ... | Pete Richards was the loneliest man in town on the day that little Jean Grace opened the door of his shop.
Pete's grandfather had owned the shop until his death. Then the shop became Pete's. The front window was full of beautiful old things: jewelry of a hundred years ago, gold and silver boxes, carved figures from China and Japan and other nations.
On this winter afternoon, a child stood there, her face close to the window. With large and serious eyes, she studied each piece in the window. Then, looking pleased, she stepped back from the window and went into the shop. Pete himself stood behind the counter. His eyes were cold as he looked at the small girl. "Please," she began, "would you let me look at the pretty string of blue beads in the window?" Pete took the string of blue beads from the window. The beads were beautiful against his hand as he held the necklace up for her to see.
"They are just right," said the child as though she were alone with the beads. "Will you wrap them up in pretty paper for me, please? I've been looking for a really wonderful Christmas present for my sister."
"How much money do you have?" asked Pete.
She put a handful of pennies on the counter. "This is all I have," she explained simply. "I've been saving the money for my sister's present."
Pete looked at her, his eyes thoughtful. Then he carefully closed his hand over the price mark on the necklace so that she could not see it. How could he tell her the price? The happy look in her big blue eyes struck him like the pain of an old wound.
"Just a minute," he said and went to the back of the shop. "What's your name?" he called out. He was very busy about something.
"Jean Grace," answered the child.
When Pete returned to the front of the shop, he held a package in his hand. It was wrapped in pretty Christmas paper.
"There you are," he said. "Don't lose it on the way home."
She smiled happily at him as she ran out of the door. Through the window he watched her go. He felt more alone than ever.
Something about Jean Grace and her string of beads had made him feel once more the pain of his old grief. The child's hair was as yellow as the sunlight; her eyes were as blue as the sea. Once upon a time, Pete had loved a girl with hair of that same yellow and with eyes just as blue. And the necklace of blue stones had been meant for her.
But one rainy night, a car had gone off the road and struck the girl. After she died, Pete felt that he had nothing left in the world except his grief. The blue eyes of Jean Grace brought him out of that world of self-pity and made him remember again all that he had lost. The pain of remembering was so great that Pete wanted to run away from the happy Christmas shoppers who came to look at his beautiful old things during the next ten days.
When the last shopper had gone, late on Christmas Eve, the door opened and a young woman came in. Pete could not understand it, but he felt that he had seen her before. Her hair was sunlight yellow and her eyes were sea-blue. Without speaking, she put on the counter a package wrapped in pretty Christmas paper. When Pete opened the package, the string of blue beads lay again before him.
"Did this come from your shop?" she asked.
Pete looked at her with eyes no longer cold. "Yes, it did," he said.
"Are the stones real?"
"Yes. They aren't the best turquoise , but they are real."
"Can you remember to whom you sold them?"
"She was a small girl. Her name was Jean. She wanted them for her sister's Christmas present."
"How much were they?"
"I can't tell you that," he said. "The seller never tells anyone else what a buyer pays."
"But Jean has never had more than a few pennies. How could she pay for them?"
"
" he said.
For a moment there was no sound in the little shop. Then somewhere in the city, church bells began to ring. It was midnight and the beginning of another Christmas Day.
"But why did you do it?" the girl asked.
Pete put the package into her hands.
"There is no one else to whom I can give a Christmas present," he said. "It is already Christmas morning. Will you let me take you to your home? I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas at your door."
And so, to the sound of many bells, Pete Richards and a girl whose name he had not yet learned walked out into the hope and happiness of a new Christmas Day. | high16493.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "is lack of cautiousness"
},
"options": [
"is good at business",
"is lack of cautiousness",
"has good selfdiscipline",
"has a good sense of marketing"
],
"question": "According to the passage, we know that Monty ... | Every month, Julia and her cousins would go to visit their grandparents. They would be excited because their grandfather would give them a few coins. Then they would buy toys and sweets. The grandparents commented that, behaving like this, the children would never learn to manage their money. So they planned a special test, in which the children would have to show, over the course of a year, just what they could manage to get with those few coins.
Some thought that they would save their money, but Rubin and Nico continued spending it all on sweets. So they give up saving.
Monty decided to manage his money by exchanging it: buying and selling things, or bettering it with others. Soon he surprised the whole family. He had accumulated lots of money. However, Monty was not very careful, and he got involved in more and more risky deals. A few months later he became penniless after a losing bet.
Alex, had a will of iron. He saved the money and at the end of the year he had collected more money than anyone. Even better, with so much money, he had managed to buy sweets at a reduced price, so that on the day of the competition he was presented with enough sweets for more than a year. And even then, he still had enough left for a toy. He was the clear winner, and other children learnt the advantages of knowing how to save and how to wait.
There was also Julia. Poor Julia didn't enjoy the competition because even though she had a wonderful secret plan, she had spent her money without giving her plan enough time to work. However, she was so sure that her plan was a good one, that she decided to carry on with it, and maybe change the expressions on her s' faces, who had seemed to be saying "What a disaster that girl is. She couldn't manage to save anything."
When she was about to complete the second year of her plan, Julia surprised everyone by turning up at the grandparents' house with a violin and a lot of money. She did it very well. | high17955.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "increasing, decreasing"
},
"options": [
"increasing, decreasing",
"decreasing, increasing",
"increasing, increasing",
"decreasing, decreasing"
],
"question": "In Americawhen the number of households is_, the num... | Divorce is bad for environment
US researchers raised a new theory on Monday: divorce is bad for the environment.
The global trend toward higher divorce rates has created more households with fewet People,scientists at Michigan State University reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
More households means more houses,fuel and water are Heeded for them,the researchers wrote."Globally,the number of households is increasing much faster than the number of people,"said co-author "Jack" Liu in a telephone interview. "Even in regions with declining population, we see _ increase in the number of households. Divorce is the main reason for reducing the number of people in a household," he said.
The average divorced person's household is about 40 to 50 percent smaller than the average married person's household, Liu said. But whether there are three or six people in a house ,the amount of fuel needed to heat them is about the same.
In the prefix = st1 /United States, divorced households used 73 billion kilowatt--hours of electricity and 2.850 trillion litres of water in 2005 that could have been saved if households had stayed the same size as when they were married.
I the United Statesand 11 other countries between 1998 and 2002, if divorced households had combined to have the same average household size as married households, there could have been 7.4 million fewer households.
The number of divorced households in those countries ranged from 40,000 in Costa Ricato almost 16 million in theUnited Statesaround 2000. The number of rooms per person in divorced households was 33 percent to 95 percent greater than in married households.
"If you really want to get divorced, maybe you can remarry with somebody else, or live together with somebody else you like", Liu said. | high22736.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "have a good sense of humour"
},
"options": [
"have friends",
"have a good sense of humour",
"understand others' humour",
"know the functions of humour"
],
"question": "Radha Karnik's problem is that he doesn't ... | I have heard having a good sense of humour often helps in breaking the ice. Also people remember you because of your humour. But I think I don't have a very good sense of humour. Could you suggest how to build on this?
----Radha Karnik
This is a great question that is unfortunately difficult to answer. I can only give you my views on this topic, which may or may not be correct. I know that my sense of humour developed over time.
When I was younger I was not funny at all, now I can easily make people laugh. At the same time, sometimes I say things that I think are very funny but others do not. Improving wit and humour, I believe, is an ongoing process.
Now, there are various forms of humour and everyone has their individual style. Overall, I believe being fluent in a language is very important for being witty or funny. The way we play around with words adds the "funny" tag to an otherwise normal sentence.
Also, seeing irony is very important. I think humour is often the link between two unrelated things.
In my experience, laughing frequently and appreciating other people's jokes and wit are very important. Within these, finding humour in everyday normal situations is the key.
I often notice what is going on around me and say funny things in my head and laugh to myself. That serves almost as practice for when I am in a group. I watch comedy shows and movies and I am sure that has some effect on helping me improve my sense of humour.
And last, having confidence that you are witty is important. There will always be someone wittier or funnier than you, which is fine. Just work on building your own style.
Remember, if you are trying to be funny and witty in order to break the ice at a business function, be careful.
In those situations, humour has to be mild and politically correct.
Yours,
Brad | high14284.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They absorb extra water from storms."
},
"options": [
"They absorb extra water from storms.",
"They become large or small in size.",
"They absorb pollutants and dissolve them.",
"They are made of soft soil."
],
... | People used to think that wetlands were wasted land. Developers would drain them with ditches ,fill them in with tons of soil,and build houses,schools,and parking areas on them.Then scientists began to realize the important role wetlands played in the environment.
Wetlands act like giant sponges during storms.They soak up extra storm water and afterward release it slowly back into the water cycle.This helps prevent flooding. Towns where people have drained wetlands have found that in a big storm,their streets and homes are often flooded because there are no wetlands to soak up the excess water.
Wetlands also act as giant filters where pollutants are absorbed and dissolved over time.Though wetlands can become polluted from dumping,wastewater,and fertilizer runoff from farm fields,they are able to process some pollutants over time because of all the microorganisms and plants living there.
Wetlands are especially important for providing homes and breeding grounds to millions of birds,fish,and amphibians worldwide. Many wetlands have become national wildlife refuges ,where you can go to take pictures and look at birds and animals.
The Everglades are a huge wetland that once covered more than four million acres of southern Florida. Sometimes called the "river of grass",the Everglades are a shallow sheet of water that slowly flowed across a grassy plain. In the late 1800s people began draining parts of the Everglades for development. Roads were built and towns sprang up.The Everglades shrank to half its original size. Cities like Miami grew up where once there was a thriving wetland. Sewage and waste from the cities were pumped into the remaining wetlands. Over time scientists began to see the importance of the Everglades. Even with its smaller size,the Everglades filtered the pollutants coming from the cities,absorbing the worst of it like a sewage treatment plant. During storms the Everglades protected the cities from storm surge flooding. They also are just a great place to visit and see wildlife. | high8936.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "there is a natural difference between them"
},
"options": [
"baby boys are much more active",
"baby girls like bright colours more",
"their parents treat them differently",
"there is a natural difference between them"
... | Baby girls make their way directly for dolls as soon as they can crawl, while boys will head for cars, a study has shown. The findings, the first to show differences in very young babies, suggest there is a biological basis to their preferences.
Psychologists Dr Brenda Todd from City University London carried out an experiment involving 90 babies aged 9 months to 36 months. The babies were allowed to choose from seven toys. Some were typically boys' toys ---- a car, a digger, a ball and a blue teddy. The rest were girls' toys: a pink teddy, a doll and a cooking set. They were placed a meter away from the toys;and could pick whichever toy they liked their choice and the amount of time they spent playing with each toy were recorded.
Of the youngest children (9 to 14 months), girls spent significantly longer playing with the doll than boys, and boys spent much more time with the car and ball than the girls did. Among the two and three-year-olds, girls spent 50 percent of the time playing with the doll while only two boys briefly touched it. The boys spent almost 90 percent of their time playing with cars, which the girls barely touched. There was no link between the parents' view on which toys were more appropriate for boys or girls, and the children's choice.
Dr Brenda Todd said, "Children of this age are already exposed to much socialization. Boys may be given 'toys that go' while girls get toys they can care for, which may help shape their preference. But these findings agree with the former idea that children show natural interests in particular kinds of toys. There could be a biological basis for their choices. Males through evolution have been adapted to prefer: moving objects, probably through hunting instincts , while girls prefer warmer colors such as pink, the colour of a newborn baby." | high538.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "on bottom-up direction"
},
"options": [
"on top-down direction",
"on nothing but its workers' views",
"on bottom-up direction",
"only on its top leaders' opinions"
],
"question": "A Japanese business bases its d... | Decision-making can be extremely difficult. Decision-making styles are significantly different in different cultures.
In any approach to a problem and in any negotiations, the Western world turns to the"I to you" approach while Japan,the "you to you" approach. The former means both sides present their arguments openly from their own point of view. Naturally, often comes a conflict situation, which Westerners are very skillful in dealing with.The latter is based on each side trying to understand the other person's point of view. Thus, the direction of the meeting is a mutual attempt to reduce confrontation and achieve harmony.
Besides, Western decision-making goes mostly from top management and often does not consult middle management or the worker. However, in Japan great consideration is given to the thoughts and opinions of everyone at all levels. Based on "bottom-up direction", ideas can be created at the lowest levels, travel upward through an organization and have an effect on the final decision.
Difference in decision-making also comes from different communication styles. The Japanese business person works to achieve harmony, even if the deal fallsthrough, and will spend whatever time is necessary to determine a "you to you" approach, communicating personal views only indirectly. They put a thorough job above the Western deadline approach. So the Japanese are thorough in their meetings. Thus Americans are often annoyed by the many meetings in many Japanese businesses. But where the American is pressingfor a specific decision, the Japanese is trying to think up a rather broad direction.
On the other hand, once a given agreement is made, it is the Japanese who sometimes wonderat the slow pace in which Westerners carry out the decision. The Japanese are eager to move forward and Westerners, perhaps, fall behind as they take the time for in-depth planning. | high15824.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The improved design of eighteenth-century colonial houses."
},
"options": [
"The improved design of eighteenth-century colonial houses.",
"A comparison of eighteenth-century houses and modern houses.",
"The decorations used i... | Seventeenth-century houses in colonial North American were simple structures that were primarily functional, carrying over traditional designs that went back to the Middle Ages. During the first half of the eighteen century, however, houses began to show a new elegance. As wealth increased, more and more colonist built fine houses.
Since architecture was not yet a specialized profession in the colonies, the design of buildings was left either to amateur designers or to carpenters who were engaged in translating architectural handbooks imported from England. Inventories of libraries shows an astonishing number of these handbooks for builders, and the houses built during the eighteenth century show their influence. Nevertheless, most household architecture of the first-quarters of the eighteenth century displays a wide _ of taste and freedom of application of the rules laid down in these books.
Increasing wealth and growing sophistication throughout the colonies resulted in houses of improved design, whether the material was wood, stone, or brick. New England still favored wood, though brick houses became common in Boston and other towns, where the danger of fire gave an impetus to the use of more durable material. A few houses in New England were built of stone, but only in Pennsylvania and areas nearby was stone widely used in buildings. An increased use of brick in houses and outbuildings is noticeable in Virginia and Maryland, but wood remained the most popular material even in houses built by wealthy landowners. In the Carolinas, even in closely packed Charleston, wooden houses were much common than brick houses.
Eighteenth-century houses showed great interior improvements over the former ones. Windows were made larger and shutters removed. Large, clear panes replaced the small leaded glass of the seventeenth century. Doorways were larger and more decorative.
Fireplaces became decorative features of rooms. Walls were made of plaster or wood. White paint began to take the place of blues, yellows, greens, and lead color1s, which had been popular for walls in the earlier years. After about 1730, advertisements for wallpaper styles in scenic patterns began to appear in colonial newspapers. | high22050.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The shaper of American English."
},
"options": [
"The shaper of American English.",
"American identity.",
"Webster's dictionary.",
"Spelling differences between American and British English."
],
"question": "Whi... | "Colour" and "color","favourite" and "favorite"... Have you ever wondered why Americans spell those words without a "u"? Is it because they are lazy?
Of course not. In fact,the difference in spelling was created by Noah Webster (1758-1843). He is a teacher who reformed English to make American identity stronger. Linguists celebrated his 250th birthday on October 16. After the Revolutionary War (1775~ 1783),Webster believed that Americans should have their own dictionary,rather than rely on British versions . He dropped the British "u" in some words. And he changed "centre" into "center" for children to learn English by spelling words more like they sounded.
Webster wasn't shy about expressing his opinions. In defining preposterous (unreasonable),he wrote: "A republican government in the hands of females is preposterous."
Webster spent 28 years on the project before completing the 70,000-word dictionary in 1828 with his American-style spellings. He also added local words. His dictionary was widely used in schools. Linguists believed it helped a new nation achieve unity and cultural independence at a time when most were focused on political freedom.
"He was the shaper of our language and the shaper of American identity,"said Joshua Kendall,who is working on a biography about Webster. "He at last bonded us through our language." | high1912.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "understood Shay did need a feeling of being accepted"
},
"options": [
"noticed some of the boys on the field were heisting",
"guessed his presence would affect the boy's decision",
"learned some of the boys on the field knew ... | Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son, mentally and physically disabled, were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy looked around and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning .I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the final inning.
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the final inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously joyful just to be in the game and on the field. In the bottom of the final inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. Would they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was almost impossible. The first pitch came and Shay missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to throw the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The pitcher could have easily thrown he ball to the first baseman and Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game .Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, beyond the reach of all teammates, The audience and the players from both teams started screaming, "Shay, run to first! " Never in his life had Shay ever run that far but made it to first base, wide-eyed and shocked..
Everyone should, "Run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time, could have thrown the ball to the second baseman, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's head.
All were screaming,"Shay,Shay,Shay,all the way Shay." Shay reached third base when one opposing player ran to help him and shouted, "Shay, run to third." As Shay rounded third, all were on their feet, crying,"Shay, run home!"Shay ran to home, stepped on the home base and was cheered as the hero who the who won the game for his team.
That day, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece true love and humanity into this world. Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully hug her little hero of the day! | high12193.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They are not worth helping."
},
"options": [
"They should be given a cheek-up.",
"They really need money to live.",
"They have no pleasure in life.",
"They are not worth helping."
],
"question": "What does the a... | Why I Don't Spare "Spare Change"
"Poor but honest." "The deserving poor. " These words always come to my mind when I think of "the poor. " But I also think of people who, perhaps through alcohol or drugs, have ruined not only their own lives but also the lives of others in order to give way to their own pleasure. Perhaps alcoholism and drug addiction really are "diseases. " as many people say, but my own feeling-based, of course, not on any serious study-is that most alcoholies and drug addicts belong to the "undeserving poor. " And that is largely why I don't give spare change to beggars.
But surely among the street people there are also some who can rightly be called "deserving." Deserving what? My spare change? Or simply the government's assistance? It happens that I have been brought up to believe that it is proper to make contributions to charity , but if I give some change to a beggar, am I making a contribution to charity and thereby helping someone, or, am I perhaps simply encouraging someone not to get help? Or, maybe even worse, am I supporting a cheat?
If one believes in the value of private charity, one can either give to needy people or to charitable organizations. In giving to a beggar one may indeed be helping a person who badly needs help, but one cannot be certain that one is giving to a needy person. In giving to an organization, on the other hand, one can feel that one's money is likely to beused wisely. True, facing a beggar one may feel thatthis particular unfortunateperson needs help atthis moment-a cup of coffee or a sandwich-and the need will not be met unless I put my hand in my pocket right now. But I have come to think that the beggars whom I meet can get along without my spare change, and indeed perhaps they are actually better off for not having money to buy alcohol or drugs.
I know nothing about these beggars, but it's my impression that they simply prefer begging to working. I am not generalizing about street people. I am talking about the people whom I actually meet. That's why I do not give "spare change, " and I don't think I will in the future. | high21559.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He was concerned about his wife's health"
},
"options": [
"He was not a good debater",
"He found a new job in Virginia",
"It was extremely hot in Philadelphia",
"He was concerned about his wife's health"
],
"que... | It is the summer of 1776. Thomas Jefferson is not happy. He'd rather be home in Virginia than attending Philadelphia's Continental Congress
Thomas Jefferson knew he had a job to do. Important men throughout the American colonies were meeting in Philadelphis to discuss and debate the war with Great Briain. The colony of Virginia sent Thomas Jefferson to Philadelphia. But Jefferson wasn't happy. Jefferson wanted to be home that hot summer of 1776. he missed his wife, Martha. She hadn't been feeling well when he left, and he worried about her.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee from Virginia stood up at the Congress and announced that "these American colonies ought to be free and independent states." Jefferson probably knew what was coming next. Here was another resolution to debate. And whenever there was a resolution, there was a declaration.
The American colonies had been at war with Great Britain for more than a year, but surprisingly. The colonies had not formally announced their independence. So the Congress appointed a five-man committee to crate a document declaring America's independence. And the committee chose Thomas Jefferson to write it.
Jefferson knew he was to list the unfair things Great Britain had done to the colonies. For days and days,, Jefferson wrote and rewrote about the king and his unfair laws. About independence. About freedom. He borrowed ideas from other political writers, but he wrote these thoughts in words that all people could understand. He wanted his ideas to be shared with everyone.
And _ were. The Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. on July 8, it was read out loud to a cheering crowd. No one knew who the author was, but they knew what the Declaration stood for-independence and freedom for all.
Still, Thomas Jefferson dreamed of home. In late July he begged Richard Henry Lee to replace him in the Congress. In September, Jefferson's dream finally came true, and he traveled home.
Since then, the words Thomas Jefferson wrote during that hot Philadelphia summer have inspired people throughout the world. Thank goodness Jefferson didn't go home. | high20647.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the origin and present meaning of tipping"
},
"options": [
"different kinds of tipping in different countries",
"the relationship between tipping and custom",
"the origin and present meaning of tipping",
"most American ... | Everybody hates it, but everybody does it. A recent report said that 40%of Americans hate tipping. In America alone, tipping is a $16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting politely ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The common opinion in the past was that tips both rewarded the efforts of good service and reduced uncomfortable feelings of inequality. And also, tipping makes for closer relations. It went without saying that the better the service, the bigger the tip.
But according to a new research from Cornell University, tips no longer serve any useful function. The paper analyzes numbers they got from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The connection between larger tips and better service was very weak. Only a tiny part of the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service.
Tipping is better explained, by culture than by the money people spend. In America, the custom came into being a long time ago. It is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In New York restaurants, failing to tip at least l5% could well mean dissatisfaction from the customers. Hairdressers can expect to get l5%-20%, and the man who delivers your fast food $2. In Europe, tipping is less common. In many restaurants the amount of tip is decided by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all. Only a few have really taken to tipping.
According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell papers' author, countries in which people are more social or outgoing tend to tip more. Tipping may reduce anxiety about being served by strangers. And Mr. Lynn says, "In America, where people are expressive and eager to mix up with others, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off." | high10784.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "a good writer may not be a good speaker"
},
"options": [
"a good writer may not be a good speaker",
"a good writer is always a good speaker",
"a speechless person always writes well",
"a good writer will find himself sp... | Have you ever heard the old saying, "Never judge a book by its cover."? This is a good rule to follow when trying to judge the intelligence of others. Some people have minds that shine only in certain situations. A young man with an unusual gift in writing may find himself speechless before a pretty girl when he speaks. He may not be able to find the right words. But don't make the mistake of thinking him stupid. With a pen and paper, he can express himself better than anybody else.
Other people may fool you into overestimating their intelligence by putting up a good front. A student who listens attentively and takes notes in class is bound to make a favorable impression on his teachers. But when it comes to exams, he may score near the bottom of the class.
In a word, you can't judge someone by appearance. The only way to determine a person's intelligence is to get to know him. Then you can see how he reacts to different situations. The more situations you see, the better your judgment is likely to be. So take your time. Don't judge a book by its cover. | high10948.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "parents with young daughters"
},
"options": [
"parents with young daughters",
"girls who like reading fairy stories",
"girls who think they can change their partners",
"parents with grown-up daughters"
],
"quest... | Warning: reading too much Cinderella to your daughter may damage her emotional health in later life. A paper to be developed at the international congress of cognitive psychotherapy in Gothenburg suggests a link between the attitudes of women abused by their parents and early exposure to the wrong sort of fairy tales. It says girls who identified with Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast were more likely to stay in destructive relationships as adults.
The theory was developed by Susan Darker Smith, a psychotherapist at the University of Derby. She interviewed 67 female abuse survivors and found that 61 put up with severe abuse because they believed they could change their partners with patience, composition and love. The same view was taken by male survivors who had been abused as children. Hardly any of the women in a control group, who had not experienced abuse, thought they could change their partners in this way.
The same view was taken by male survivors who had been abused as children. These women and men said they would leave a relationship rather than put up with abuse from a partner. Ms Darker Smith found the abused women were much more likely to identify with Cinderella and other _ female characters in fairytales, who were later rescued by a stranger prince or hero.
Although most girls heard the stories, damage appeared to be done to those who adopted the characters as role models. "They believe if their love is strong enough they can change their parents' behaviors," she said." Overexposure in children to stories that emphasize the transformational qualities of love may make women believe they can change their partners." For example, they might never have understood the obvious flaw in the story of Rapunzel, who remained locked in a high tower until rescued by a knight on a white horse, who broke the door down. "The question," said Ms Darker Smith, "is why she did not break the door down herself." | high20653.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "he lost a few beloved persons in a short time"
},
"options": [
"he can't afford his house",
"his beloved teacher was dead",
"he didn't know what to do or where to go",
"he lost a few beloved persons in a short time"
... | When I was young, I wished for a good car and a big house. That was my idea of success. I took all the advanced classes and tried to do well in the exams with my mind set on going to a key school. I just knew that I would somehow become famous and be able to afford the car and the dream house. All the way through junior years, my mind was planning this beautiful future.
Then in the eleventh grade, many losses changed my mind. First, one of my friends died at 16. Soon after, my great-grandmother passed away, followed by my beloved fourth-grade teacher. These events left me not knowing what to do or where to go . Death had never touched me so closely.
After a long period of emptiness, it finally struck me: Life is not promised and neither is future success. Though I was attempting to achieve material success, I was not enjoying my daily life. I realized that finding inner peace, purpose and happiness will stick with me forever and that is real success.
Enjoying life's precious quirks ( ) makes an ordinary person more successful than a wealthy person who isn't content and takes everything for granted. The summer before senior years, my attitude changed greatly. Instead of memorizing facts, I began learning skills. Instead of focusing on the future, I focused on today and the many blessings and successes that came with it.
I still get excellent grades, but now I devote weeks to studying instead of struggling for exams, and I think about the future with a deeper sense of meaning. For me, being successful means truly living life each day. | high10790.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It made its first DSDP voyage in 1969."
},
"options": [
"It is a military submarine.",
"It is used to develop tourism.",
"It has gone on over 100 voyages.",
"It made its first DSDP voyage in 1969."
],
"question"... | The ocean bottom, a region nearly 2.5 times greater than the total land area of the earth, is even today largely unexplored. Until about a century ago, the deep ocean floor was completely inaccessible and hidden beneath waters averaging over 3,600 meters deep. Totally without light and in the case of intense pressures hundreds of times greater than at the earth's surface, the deep-ocean bottom is a strange environment to humans, in some way as frightening and remote as the outer space.
Although researchers have taken samples of deep-ocean rocks for over a century, the first detailed global study of the ocean bottom did not actually start until 1969, with the beginning of the National Science Foundation's Deep Sea Drilling Project(DSDP). Using techniques first developed for the offshore oil and gas industry, the DSDP's drill ship, the Glomar Challenger, was able to maintain a steady position on the ocean's surface and drill very deep waters, taking samples of rocks from the ocean floor.
The Glomar Challenger completed 96 voyages in a 15-year research program that ended in November 1983. During this time, it sailed 600,000 kilometers and took almost 20,000 samples of rocks around the world. Those samples have allowed geologists to reconstruct what the planet looked like hundreds of millions of years ago and to make out what it will probably look like millions of years in the future. Today, largely on the strength of evidence gathered during the Glomar Challenger's voyages, nearly all earth scientists agree on the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift that explain many of the geological processes.
The sample of rocks drilled by the Glomar Challenger have also provided a climatic record stretching back hundreds of millions of years. The information of past climatic change can be used to predict the future climate. | high13299.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "trying to save as many starfish as possible"
},
"options": [
"dancing along the beach",
"walking with a dancer",
"picking up starfish for sale",
"trying to save as many starfish as possible"
],
"question": "One ... | Once upon a time there was a wise man that used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought that someone would dance on the beach. So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean.""I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?""The sun is up and the tide is going out, and if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely, then he bent down, picked another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."
There is
in each and every one of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can know that gift, we will gain through the strength of our visions the power to shape the future.
We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our starfish wisely and well, the world will be better. | high15830.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Lookout"
},
"options": [
"Android",
"V.P.N.",
"Lookout",
"Find My iPhone"
],
"question": "Which of the following can warn you against the insecure network?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | Security--for the information on your smartphone, as well as for the phone itself---is a hot topic these days. The truth is that you're packing a lot of sensitive information on your phone, and you should keep it safe.
When it comes to physical security, iPhone users would do well to download Find My iPhone, a free app from Apple that allows you to visit a website and see your (lost, stolen or misplaced) phone on the map. You can then sound an alarm, send a message that will pop up on its screen, lock the phone or erase all your data.
Android does not have an exact equivalent , but there are plenty of alternatives. A free app called Lookout offers the find-my-phone feature. The paid version allows you to wipe the data from your phone remotely.
Then there is your coffee shop's WiFi network. Anyone with minimal technical expert skill can snoop on people using shared wireless networks, harvesting passwords and other personal data. Lookout's apps will caution you when you've logged on to an insecure network, but cannot protect you once you're there.
In order to protect yourself on such networks, you can use a virtual private network, or V.P.N. This turns all your activity into nonsense to anyone trying to read along with you from across the Starbucks. It also keeps websites from tracking you and, if you're traveling, allows you to get access to sites that may be blocked in other countries.
If you have an iPhone, the simplest V.P.N. app is probably Hotspot Shield, whose distinguishing feature is said to be that it automatically kicks in each time you start browsing , as opposed to other V.P.N. apps that require you to start them up manually . This matters, because even if you decide you want a V.P.N. app, you want to spend approximately zero time thinking about it. For the most part, _ was true of Hotspot Shield, though occasionally it took a while to connect or temporarily lost connection without warning. I found myself having to turn the app on and off sometimes, which involved setting my phone constantly.
If even reading about the setting on your phone drives you crazy, then it is probably best to stay away from a V.P.N. app. But if you're the type who can't resist checking your bank balance from your comer bar, the hassle may be preferable to the risk. | high9382.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Angry"
},
"options": [
"Excited",
"surprised",
"Angry",
"Happy"
],
"question": "What does the writer feel?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answ... | Dear Mr. Barton,
I am writing for the _ to inform you of our feelings about your act. We've really had enough of you. Although we have tried to speak to you politely on several occasions, you have always answered with a stream of verbal abuse .
Ever since you moved in three months ago, you have shown very little consideration for the other residents of this building, though many residents expressed their unhappiness with you. For the past six weekends, you have held very noisy parties, which have not finished until early the next morning. As you know, most of the people here are elderly or have very young children, and the noise keeps them awake all night. You don't have to be so noisy, do you? Last weekend the situation _ when two of your friends fought with each other on the first floor. The fighting was so bad that the police had to be called. What's more, your friends left the stairs in a terrible state --- they even broke two windows on their way out! We feel that we can't bear this type of act.
We strongly demand that you pay for this damage to the window soon. If you don't and you carry on being a nuisance . We will kick you out! Legal steps will be taken if necessary.
Yours sincerely | high1906.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "international politics"
},
"options": [
"international politics",
"international business",
"international systems",
"international bodies"
],
"question": "International Studies is a course in _",
"questio... | International Studies (BA)
Key features
*Recognizes the "global community"
* Has close connections with practical research
* Much of the teaching is done in small discussion groups
About the course
The course gives you chances to know great power politics between nation states. It will provide more space to study particular issues such as relationship among countries in the European Union, third world debt, local and international disagreement, and the work of such international bodies as the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and the World Bank.
The course puts theories into the working of the international system with close attention to particular countries. You will also have a better knowledge of methods of solving the international problems.
Related courses
*BA (Hons) Community Management * BA (Hons) Public Policy and Management
Employment possibilities
*International organizations * International business
Earth Science (BSc)
Key features
* Based on key courses and the latest research findings
*Pays much attention to practical skills
*Offers chances for fieldwork
About the course
The demand for natural resources is becoming an increasingly serious problem for the future of mankind. Graduates in Earth Science will play an important role in meeting this demand, and in knowing the meaning of using the natural resources.
The course covers geography and geology. You will carry out fieldwork in the UK and possibly overseas, and a research in an area of interest to you in the final year.
Related courses
BSc (Hons) Geography; BSc (Hons) Geology
Employment possibilities
Mineral , oil, water or other related engineering industries. | high12187.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They take their parents' gifts for granted."
},
"options": [
"They show no interest in their parents' gifts.",
"They can't wait to open their parents' gifts.",
"They show much gratitude to their parents for the gifts.",
... | When we give our kids holiday gifts, many of us can't wait to hear their appreciative cries of"thank you!"once the wrapping gets ripped off. But here's a tip: You'd be wise not to expect much gratitude from them for what they receive.
Gratitude can make us happier, healthier, and even fitter. But do the kids show their gratitude for the stuff we buy them? All the research I've done has convinced me that it won't happen. One mom told me that when she asked her 16-year-old son to thank her for buying him a cellphone, he said, "But that's what moms should do." From a teenager's angle, it's a parent's responsibility to take care of the family. According to Dunham, Yale's assistant professor of psychology, "When teenagers code it that way, a gift is no longer something given freely and voluntarily"--it's just mom and dad living up to their obligation.
Parents do have the right to demand good manners and children should thank sincerely whoever gives them something. But kids can't know how blessed they are unless they have a basis for comparison. And they don't learn that by a parent complaining that they're ungrateful. We need to give our children the gift of a wider world view. Show by example that gratitude isn't aboutstuff--which ultimately can't make any of us happy anyway.It's about realizing how lucky you are and paying your good fortune forward.
You can collect all the charitable appeals and sit down together with the kids to go through them. You set the budget for giving and the kids decide how it's distributed. Once the conversation about gratitude gets started, it's much easier to continue all year. Also you can set up a family routine at bedtime where kids describe three things that have made them grateful. When kids go off to college, you can text them a picture each week of something that inspires your appreciation.
Teaching children to focus on the positive and appreciate the good in their lives is perhaps the greatest gift we can give them. And we can all learn together that the things that really matter aren't on sale at a department store. | high12839.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The hot level of Hungarian peppers."
},
"options": [
"The popularity of Hungarian peppers.",
"The difficult of processing peppers.",
"The unique tradition in Budapest.",
"The hot level of Hungarian peppers."
],
... | For the Travel section, writers and editors selected special items to profile from a dozen cities.
Brussels: Chocolate.
Nearly half the chocolate consumed in the world is eaten in Europe, and Belgium--with average consumption of 14.99 pounds per person a year--certainly covers its fair share. While Brussels, the country's capital, is home to hundreds of chocolate makers, what makes a visit necessary is the rich heritage of traditional chocolate makers.
Budapest: Paprika
The job of preparing Hungarian paprika was once considered too dangerous for mothers to do. A woman who touched her children upon returning from work risked burning them, so only the elderly and unmarried were allowed the delicate task of separating the skin from the flesh. But by the early 20thcentury, sweeter varieties and a machine turned paprika into a common feature of all Hungarian cuisine.
Lisbon: Tiles
Is there a bluer country than Portugal? The blue sky and Atlantic Ocean embrace the land. The blue moods of Fado, the dark folk music, form the national soundtrack. And all across Portugal, the typically--blue designs of azulejos--ceramic tiles--are spread across churches, castles, palaces, university halls, parks. The result is a beautiful land of Christian saints, Portuguese kings, historical glories, aristocrats at leisure, seascapes and so on.
Madrid: Guitars
Walking into one the Madrid's storied guitar makers' workshops can feel like stepping into the past. Curly wood shavings, from the palest pine to ebony, fall onto the floor as artisans turn some humble wood into works of art. It's painstaking work--all done by hand--with classical guitar models and the methods of making them changing little over the last century. | high14290.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To have more time to go out."
},
"options": [
"To have more time to go out.",
"To make money for the family.",
"To find a way to be happy.",
"To improve her IQ on doing business."
],
"question": "Why did the wri... | "No, no, no, dear, I want that wrapped in red paper." A middle-aged woman came through my line and talked to me as if my IQ were that of a grade school kid. When I first started working, it was simply a way to decrease the time I spent at home and make my parents happy. I never thought that a year and a half later, I would still be at Marshalls, waiting for this woman to get through my line.
I smiled and said, "Oh, that's no problem." She bent over the counter to look at the computer and made sure I was doing my job correctly. Her sweater grazed my hand and she smiled like she meant well. I wanted to roll my eyes but instead I just smiled. Ever since I started working here, I've tried not to let people like her get to me. And forget judging a book by its cover, because I have been proved wrong time and time again. The wealthy middle-aged women were far ruder than the teenage boys. At first, I was constantly surprised. Now, I tried not to even guess how the person coming near my line was going to act, because it was never the way I imagine.
I never expected people to be so rude and at the same time nice. But for every rude person I saw, at least five pleasant customers came through my line.
"Here you go," I handed the woman her receipt and hoped her $5 wine glass was wrapped to her liking. "Have a nice day!" I said. And just as I thought I was fed up, the next customer came through. "She had about one more minute and I was going to tell her to get out of line," she whispered to me with a smile. | high8922.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "her second album ranked first in a row with the incredible average sales per week"
},
"options": [
"the sales of her second album achieved an incredible success last week in the UK",
"her second album ranked first in a row with the... | Last week Adele's second album, 21, sold 257,000 copies in the UK, a sales figure that would look incredible as an opening sales week for any album by any global superstar. The fact that the album was celebrating its 10th week at No.1, and that each of the previous nine weeks it had sold over 100,000 copies, makes what Adele has achieved look miraculous. The last female singer to spend that long at No.1 in the UK was Madonna in 1990 with her greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.
For Adele, the success of 21 is part of a perfect storm of talent, timing and a connection that went beyond gender, age and credibility. But what does it say about the state of the music industry? Does Adele's success signal a return to the MOR musical depression, when the likes of James Blunt dominated the charts? Her success may well lead to a great many similar acts aiming for an MOR audience, but that's more the fault of an industry desperate to recreate any kind of success by creating poor copies until the world shouts "stop now".
What seems to have set Adele apart is her apparent ordinariness, besides that incredible voice. While Gaga parades around in a dress made of meat and Beyonce orbits a world out of touch to the majority of most human beings, Adele's chain-smoking, girl-you'd-like-to-go-to-the-pub-with persona stands out. Even for a British act, her ordinariness goes against trend, with fellow Jessie J adopting a very American habit of over-emoting, talking about a "journey" and making the idea of being a pop star seem fairly difficult.
It's this universality and broad appeal that's helped her translate talent into sales. While the first single from 21, Rolling in the Deep, appealed to Radio 1 listeners and bloggers, the second single, Someone Like You, is so successful that silenced the grand O2 Arena during this year's Brit Awards. The press can write pages and pages in that there's enough of a connection of musicians - Rick Rubin worked on the album, there's a cover of the Cure, Mumford & Sons were an influence - while the gossip magazines have been excited by the fact that the album is one long break-up record, eager to find the ex.
In 1990, Madonna was a global superstar with a back catalogue of era-defining hits to her name. She was untouchable and, tellingly, unknowable. She was (and still is) a megastar, but a megastar of a different age. These days, we want to know a bit more about our artists; that they have relationship problems, walk their dog. Her selling point and appeal is precisely the fact that she exists at the point between everyday ordinariness and pop star.
For now, Adele's success should be celebrated, especially for becoming an unlikely global star on her own terms. The danger is that we're headed for a lot of fairly boring pop, a situation that led to the "birth" of Gaga a few years back. Pop goes in cycles and it feels like we're headed back towards the very middle of MOR. | high3877.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Bodily Communication"
},
"options": [
"Bodily Communication",
"Spoken Language",
"Bodily Actions",
"Conversations"
],
"question": "Which of the following is the best title for the passage?",
"question_type":... | Do we think only with the brain? Hardly. The brain is like a telephone exchange. It is the switchboard, but not the whole system. Its function is to receive incoming signals, make proper connections, and send the messages through to their destination. For efficient service, the body must function as a whole.
But where is the "mind"? Is it in the brain or perhaps in the nervous system? After all, can we say that the mind is in any particular place? It is not a thing, like a leg, or even the brain. It is a function, an activity. Aristotle, twenty-three hundred years ago, observed that the mind was to the body what cutting was to the ax. When the ax is not in use, there is no cutting. So it is with the mind. "Mind," said Charles H. Woolbert, "is what the body is doing."
If this activity is necessary for thinking, it is also necessary for carrying thought from one person to another. Observe how people go about the business of ordinary conversation. If you have never done this carefully, you have a surprise in store, for good conversationalists are almost constantly in motion. Their heads are continually nodding and shaking sometimes so vigorously that you wonder how their necks can stand the strain. Even the legs and feet are active. As for the hands and arms, they are seldom still for more than a few seconds at a time.
These people, remember, are not making speeches. They are only common people trying to make others understand what they have in mind. They are not conscious of movement. Their speech is not studies. They are just human creatures in a human environment, trying to adapt themselves to a social situation. Yet they converse, not only with oral language, but with visible actions that involve practically every muscle in the body. In short, because people really think all over, a speaker must talk all over if he succeeds in making people think. | high17799.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "improve the language ability"
},
"options": [
"learn more about holidays",
"understand his culture better",
"improve the language ability",
"take part in foreign meetings"
],
"question": "In the \"homestay\" pro... | "Homestay is a form of study abroad program. It allows the visitor to rent a room from a local family to better understand the local lifestyle. It also helps to improve the visitor's language ability," said a teacher during a school meeting last term. "Students who wish to learn more about foreign cultures or to get foreign experience should join this kind of holiday. I am sure you won't be disappointed."
After this special meeting, I always thought about this kind of holiday. Last month, I had a chance at last to go on such a holiday with some of my schoolmates and we went to London, a place where I had wanted to go since years ago.
As we were still young, we had a group leader who planned things for us and looked after us. After we got to London, we went to stay with different families. I was lucky that my host family was a white couple who had a daughter about my age. They treated me as a daughter of their family during my stay there. They were interested in me and I learnt a lot of things from them, too.
The holiday was filled with activities every day. After breakfast, a local teacher would come to take us in his car. Then we would have classes or go on a sight-seeing trip to different places of interest like the Big Ben, the London Bridge, and the Buckingham Palace. We would go back to our own homes after the activities.
The holiday was a valuable experience for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yet, time really flew fast. Three weeks later, we had to leave "home" for Hong Kong. | high16487.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Water from it contains a lot of impure substances."
},
"options": [
"It is used through the whole process of purification.",
"Only rain water can be collected and stored in it.",
"Water collected can be stored and filtered in... | As rain begins to fall from the clouds, it is very pure. However, as it falls through the air it dissolves some of the gases in the air. It also collects bits of dust and microbes that are floating in the air. When the rain reaches the ground it begins to pick up more dust and dirt. Many kinds of mineral substances dissolve in the water. Sand and mud cannot dissolve in water.
Since water is so important to us, it is very important that the water we use should be clean. Otherwise, we might get some of the diseases that are carried by water. Many microbes are harmful. They are so small that we cannot see them. These microbes must be removed or killed before the water is suitable for drinking. For example, microbes of diseases like cholera live well in water. If the water supply is not clean, people who drink this water may get these diseases. Thus, to provide people with clean water, the government purifies the water.
Purification is a long process and includes three stages: storing, purifying and distributing . The first stage is storing. Man-made lakes are used for this purpose. Water from the rains, other lakes, streams and rivers is collected in the lakes. This water is usually dirty and muddy.
In the second stage, water from the man-made lakes is filtered in a special pond. Stones, sand and other unwanted tiny things are caught in it. After that, tiny microbes are still present in the water. These microbes are removed by "airing" the water and by adding a chemical substance called chlorine to the water. This kills all the microbes in the water. After this, the water can be safely used for drinking.
The third stage is the distribution of the purified water to homes, hospitals, offices, factories and other places. This is done through a network of pipes of various sizes. These pipes must be made of a suitable material. | high17941.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "the name of a magazine"
},
"options": [
"the name of a magazine",
"the name of the research team",
"the name of a hospital",
"the title of a medical report"
],
"question": "The word \"The Lancet\" is probably ... | According to a report published on the British medical magazine,
, a study of 10 German mobile phone users found that when they turned on their phones, their blood pressure goes up by 5--10 millimeters of mercury . | high16108.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "John needed more education badly"
},
"options": [
"his father died when John was very young",
"life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown",
"John needed more education badly",
"there were no schools for Neg... | John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas city in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching the high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
Fortunately he had a strong-willed caring mother. John remembered that his mother told him many times, "Son, you can be anything you want really to be if you just believe."She told him not to depend on others, including his mother. "You have to earn success, "she said. "All the people who work hard don't succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard."
These words came from a woman with less than a third grade education. She also knew that believing and hard work don't mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son, who was then 15, to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land that black southerners were looking for. John's mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power of words--as an editor of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School His wish was to publish a magazine for blacks.
While others discouraged him, John's mother offered him more words to live by."Nothing beats a failure but a try. "She also let him pawn her furniture to get the $ 500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It is natural that difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always keeps his mother's words in mind."Son, failure is not in your vocabulary!"
Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America--worth $ 150 million. | high3320.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Lukla airport is the most dangerous airport because of extremely harsh weather"
},
"options": [
"The transportation of Winston Churchill Avenue might be affected by planes.",
"Lukla airport is the most dangerous airport because of ... | One mile long runway can take people across the oceans, to reach every corner of the world.
That's the magic power of airplanes as well as airports. Similar as most airports are, some do have their unique features.
Lukla Airport
Lukla Airport, is a small airport in the town of in the town of Lukla, eastern Nepal. A program titled Most Extreme Airports, rated the airport as the most dangerous airport in the world. The airport is popular because Lukla is the place where most people start the climb to Mount Everest Base Camp. High wind, cloud cover, and changing visibility often mean flights can be delayed or the airport closed. The airport's runway is accessible only to helicopters and small, fixed-wing, short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. The runway is only 527m with an elevation of 2,845m.
Princess Juliana International Airport
Princess Juliana International Airport is in the country of Saint Maarten. The airport is perhaps best known for very low-altitude flyover landing approaches due to one end of its runway being extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach. The thrilling approaches and ease of access for shooting spectacular images make the airport one of the world's favorite places among plane spotters.
Gibraltar Airport
Gibraltar Airport serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, a tiny peninsula with an area of only 6.8 square kilometers. The lack of flat space there means the peninsula's only runway is bisected by its busiest road, the Winston Churchill Avenue that heads towards the land border with Spain. It is really scary that there is a four lane highway passing through the middle of the runway!
Kai Tak Airport
Kai Tak Airport was officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, when it was closed and replaced by the new one at Chek Lap Kok, 30 kms to the west. With numerous skyscrapers and mountains located to the north and its only runway jutting out into Victoria Harbour, landing at the airport were dramatic to experience and technically demanding for pilots. The low altitude manoeuvre required to line up with the runway was so spectacular that some passengers claimed to have glimpsed the television through apartment windows along the final approach. | high11667.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "slow down the rate of its development"
},
"options": [
"provide more jobs for foreign workers",
"slow down the rate of its development",
"sell the oil it is producing abroad",
"develop more quickly than at present"
... | The Norwegian Government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new law limits exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline; production limits have been laid down (though these have already been raised); and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems, and few people believe that the Government will be able to hold things back for long. As one Norwegian politician said last week: " We will soon be changed beyond all recognition."
Ever since the war, the Government has been carrying out a program of development in the area north of the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this program has had a great deal of success. Tromso has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry. But the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern policy could be in ruins.
The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 percent employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist industry will lose more of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.
The real argument over oil is its threat to the Norwegian way of life. Farmers and fishermen do not make up most of the population, but they are an important part of it, because Norwegians see in them many of the qualities that they regard with pride as essentially Norwegian. And it is the farmers and the fishermen who are most critical of the oil industry because of the damage that it might cause to the countryside and to the sea. | high5989.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The first men ever to reach the top of the mountain are from different countries."
},
"options": [
"Nearly 600 people lost their lives on the slopes of Qomolangma.",
"The first men ever to reach the top of the mountain are from dif... | Climbing to the Top
The year 2013 is the 60th anniversary of the first successful climb to Qomolangma. Do you know why so many people wanted to reach the top of the world?
It was breathtaking. It was wonderful and a bit of frightening. It was Qomolangma, the highest mountain in the world. For many years, it has attracted tens of thousands of people who tried to climb its dangerous slopes. During May's 60th anniversary of the first successful climb, nearly 600 people from around the world, including a 5-year-old Italian boy, tried to reach the "roof of the world". China Central Television(CCTV) also sent a team to join the adventure. It broadcasted a special program, called "Standing at the world's third pole in 2013", from May 18 to 24 to cover the Chinese climbing Qomolangma. Over the last century, the 8848-metre-high peak has proven a great challenge for mountaineers. Those who try to stand on top of the world do so at great risk from extremely cold, avalanches , and falling ice. At 8,500 meters, the air contains just one-third of the oxygen at sea level, requiring most climbers to use oxygen tanks. Some of those who climbed the mountain paid the highest price---175 people have lost their lives on the slopes.
On May29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal became the first men ever to reach the top of the mountain. Nearly half a century later, the sons of the two pioneers, Peter Hillary and Jaming Tenzing Norgay, followed in their fathers' footsteps. In 2002, they also successfully reached the roof of the world.
Over the last 60 years, more than 10,000 men and women have tried to climb the mountain and more than 1,200 have succeeded. The first Chinese climbers reached the top of the mountain in 1960.
Despite the dangers, many different people are drawn towards the challenge. But why do they suffer such hardship and take such risks to climb Qomolangma?
"I don't think climbing the mountain is blindly risky. Instead, it's a chance to challenge oneself," said Chen Qi, a reporter of CCTV. Com, who was among May's mountaineering team.
"Only when you are surrounded by the mountain can you understand the love of nature and the true meaning of life." | high18125.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "It is designed to move like a snake in the ducts."
},
"options": [
"It is a toy car and popular with children.",
"It is designed to move like a snake in the ducts.",
"many LEDs are fitted on it to tell its location.",
"... | Fahad Azad, an engineer in India, invented a robot named DuctBot.The toy-car sized DuctBot measured 23 centimeters in length, 19 centimeters in width and 9 centimeters in height and weighs just two kilograms.
The robot is designed to snake through dark, narrow air conditioning ducts and clean them.A pair of LEDs fitted on the robot light up the dirty scenery, so _ can be captured by a camera.
In order to control it more easily, Mr. Azad chooses to fix DuctBot on wheels.The robot can clean off lots of dirt, as well as dead pigeons and insects.Keeping indoor air in good quality and monitoring carbon-dioxide levels in buildings with central air conditioning is a challenge.It is important in some places where clean air can mean a difference between life and death, such as hospitals.Dirty air has a bad influence on people's health.
EPSCO, a Dubai-based company which specializes in improving indoor air quality, read about Mr. Azad's invention in a national newspaper after he had won an international robotics competition.EPSCO had cleaning equipment, but it needed someone to get into those ducts to do the dirty, dangerous work.Across India, for example, the task still falls to children.They are small enough to go through those ducts.
In 2005, Mr. Azad who was still at university decided to do something about it.Six years later his own company, Robosoft Systems, has Bluestar, EPSCO and the Indian Navy, some leading air condition makers, as partners.
Mr. Azad and his ten employees are currently exploring robot designs to examine oil tanks or sewage pipes.Their biggest challenge is to make the robots user-friendly enough.Mr. Azad hopes that the robot could eventually be operated not by engineers but by workers.There will be lots of difficulties they need to overcome in the future. | high5751.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To tell the readers about the feeling after losing the game"
},
"options": [
"To blame the team for losing the game.",
"To tell the readers about the feeling after losing the game",
"To explain why they played poorly in the g... | One of the worst feelings you have as a professional athlete is the feeling after losing a game to a team that you should have beaten. That happened last night against the lowly Boston Celtics. They had only won 13 games the whole year and were really struggling. We had just come off a very good win against the Orlando Magic on the road and were feeling good about ourselves.
The day did not start out good for us when we learned that T-Mac was going to miss the game with the flu. When you lose your best players (Yao, T-Mac) everyone must play a little harder and do a little bit more on the floor. We inserted Bonzi Wells into the lineup (he was the only one to have a good game for us), in place of T-Mac.
It was a nasty game. We are usually one of the best three point shooting teams in the NBA and we only made 1 of 22 three point shots! I have never seen that happen. Never! Rafer Alston, Luther Head, and me combined to shoot 5 of 33 from the field. Ouch! You aren't going to win too many games like that. Even as poorly as we shot the ball, we STILL had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter but failed to make the winning plays that you must make to leave the floor victorious.
In the locker room after the game, everybody felt terrible. When we play a bad game, we feel that we let our teammates down. There is a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach when you leave the gym and you just want to go home and not talk to anyone. It is a terrible feeling, but it is a feeling that makes you want to try harder and do better the next time.
I'll talk to you guys later.
Shane | high6258.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "New technologies."
},
"options": [
"Advanced weapons.",
"Enough energy.",
"New technologies.",
"A growing population."
],
"question": "What is needed to solve these problems?",
"question_type": "factiod_ques... | What are the biggest problems that society will have to deal with in the new age? There are diseases like AIDS and cancer. There's climate change, of course. And what about producing enough cheap food and energy for the world's growing population? Who's going to solve all these terrible problems? Yes, politicians and world leaders will have a big part to play. Yes, businesses will need to create the economic wealth to pay for some of these things. But who's going to make a much greater difference to something like AIDS or climate change? It's going to be a scientist. It is the scientist who can turn some new bit of science into a new technology to solve these problems.
If you like thinking about the world around you, why not become a scientist? It doesn't mean you have to wear a white coat and plastic glasses and spend all your time in a lab as most people often imagine! Scientists do all kinds of amazing things that are actually interesting!
Military scientists develop not only new weapons but new military technologies that could help make wars out of date. Forensic scientists work with the police to find quite small clues to catch criminals. Scientists work in schools and colleges as the teachers and professors who will train tomorrow's scientists. Don't think a scientist is far away! Maybe you like cooking? You could be a food technologist helping to keep fruit and vegetables fresher for longer. Perhaps sport is your thing? Do you know that most top athletes work with sports scientists in order to improve their performance? You could even be the science writer who gets to spend the life studying the latest advances and sharing them with the world.
Looking for something to do for the rest of your life? My advice? Take a long and hard look at science. It is interesting and ever. | high13070.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "International Friendship Month."
},
"options": [
"National Friendship Day.",
"Women's Friendship Day.",
"International Friendship Month.",
"Old Friends, New Friends Week."
],
"question": "Which of the holidays h... | Of all the things our wisdom tells us will make life entirely happy, the greatest is the possession of friendship. One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.
On the first Sunday in August, it's time to recognize your friends and their contribution to your life. The first Sunday in August was fixed as National Friendship Day by the U.S. Congress in 1935, and remains a tradition observed in many countries and cultures. In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship.
Apparently, there are several friendship holidays, all of which fall on fixed dates.
National Friendship Day is on the first Sunday in August
Women's Friendship Day is on the third Sunday in September
International Friendship Month is February
Old Friends, New Friends Week is the third week of May
People show their appreciation for friendship in various ways. Some expressions may be practical ones, such as flowers, particularly the pink friendship roses, cookies, chocolates, souvenirs from their vacations, a tape of favorite songs, farewell dinners, and welcome balloons.
Recipe for Friendship 2 cups of patience, 1 heart full of love, 2 handfuls of generosity, 2 cups of loyalty, 1 cup of understanding, A dash of laughter. Mix them all well. Spray generously over a lifetime and serve everyone you meet.
Friendship helps to bring peace and positivity to the globe, another great reason to celebrate! Although our friends certainly deserve thanks on more than just one day of the year, what better day to honor them than Friendship Day!! | high1537.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "lives an unhealthy lifestyle"
},
"options": [
"lives an unhealthy lifestyle",
"lives a rich and happy life",
"doesn't get any exercise",
"sets a good example for teenagers"
],
"question": "From the passage we ca... | As we know, many teen celebrities feel and think that having a slimmer figure can do great good to them. But, does size really matter? Are teenage fans trying hard to become like their celebrity idols ? Do celebrities really have the power to influence people, especially teenagers?
For the longest time, many parents blame teen idols for influencing the way their kids act. Have you noticed how teens idolize the celebrities these days? Even, their personal affairs are being followed by kids these days. Take for example the case of Lindsay Lohan of Mary Kate Ashley. They are definitely famous teen stars. But, since they are trying to project an image to satisfy a lot of people in show business, their health and body suffer. Many kids are aware of this problem. But they are easily influenced by these celebrities to exercise and eat less.
It is a fact that the media, and especially famous teen celebrities, can influence people powerfully. But teenagers are easily influenced because teenage years are the period when our personality and identity developments take place. Teens watching TV shows and reading magazines are easily pulled into the dieting and harmful eating habits because the media have some ways to pull these acts. They use thin models and celebrities to endorse products or to star in an up-and -coming shows or movies. With fierce competition, celebrities are forced to eat less and do extreme exercise routines to get the roles or offers that come their way.
Living in today's time and generation is a bit disturbing to a lot of parents. Media, especially as well as the celebrities, have a very powerful influence to drive teenagers to good or bad. It's good that we can control ourselves to avoid bad things from happening. If not, parents should really be aware and guide their teens to determine what's in ad what's out. | high7146.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the scientific community"
},
"options": [
"cultural groups that are formed by scientists.",
"people whose knowledge of science is very limited",
"the scientific community",
"people who make good contribution to science"... | Science is a dominant theme in our culture. Since it touches almost every aspect of our life, educated people need at least some idea of its structure and operation. They should also have an understanding of the subculture in which scientists live and the kinds of people they are. An understanding of general characteristics of science as well as specific scientific concepts is easier to obtain if one knows something about the things that excite and frustrate the scientist.
This book is written for the intelligent student or lay person whose knowledge of science is superficial; for the person who has been presented with science as a musty storehouse of dried facts; for the person who sees the chief objective of science as the production of small devices; and for the person who views the scientists as some sort of magician.
The book can be used to supplement a course in any science, to accompany any course that attempts to give an understanding of the modern world, or independently of any course, simply to provide a better understanding of science. We hope this book will lead readers to a broader perspective on scientific attitudes and a more realistic view of what science is, who scientists are, and what they do.
It will give them an awareness and understanding of the relationship between science and our culture and an appreciation of the roles science may play in our culture. In addition, readers may learn to appreciate the relationship between scientific views and some of the values and philosophies that are widespread in our culture.
We have tried to present in this book an accurate and up-to-date picture of the scientific community and the people who populate it. That population has in recent years come to consist of more and more women. This increasing role of women in the scientific subculture is not an unique incident but, rather, part of the trend evident in all parts of society as more women enter traditionally male-dominated fields and make significant contributions.
In discussing these changes and contribution, however, we are faced with a language that is somewhat sexist, one that uses male nouns or pronouns in referring to unspecified individuals. To balance this built-in bias , we have adopted the policy of using plural nouns and pronouns whenever possible and , when absolutely necessary, alternating him and her.
This policy is far from being ideal, but it is at least an acknowledgement of the inadequacy of our language in treating half of the human race equally.
We have also tried to make the book entertaining as well as informative. Our approach is usually informal. We feel, as many other scientists do, that we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. As the reader may observe, we see science as a delightful pastime rather than as a grim and dreary way to earn a living. | high8275.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "keep a balance between life and work"
},
"options": [
"have more chances at work",
"keep a balance between life and work",
"experience something new",
"have a better sleep"
],
"question": "Some Canadian working ... | Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? A group of timechallenged Canadian women are wishing for a 25hour clock.
Jessie Behan, president of the 25th Hour Coalition which is a group of Canadian women who have changed to a longer day, said the struggle for women to maintain worklife balance motivated her to research the body's natural clock."Many of my girlfriends are having kids,getting married, and I see the sufferings of dealing all that when you're a working woman,"she said."Women like myself are sick of living their lives by a 24hour clock."
A 2007 study by Charles Czeisler found a switch to longer days could be beneficial, especially for frequent travelers, shift workers, astronauts and those who experience trouble sleeping or waking.
In a similar study, Czeisler showed the body's natural clock averages 24 hours and 11 minutes in both young and older people.The current 360degree clock has 720 minutes, giving each minute 0.5 degree.With the new 25hour day, 30 minutes is added to each 12hour period making each minute 0.48 degree.
While still a relatively small movement-the 25th Hour Coalition has 160 Facebook members, Behan is hoping for large changes."The goal is to get as many women on board; there's no harm in just trying it out and seeing.If it gets big, maybe the government will decide to standardize it."
A recent online survey by Reader's Digest, which included 150 people in each of the 13 countries, suggests it's not just Canadians looking for longer days.Readers were asked"what would you do with an extra hour"if given a choice between sleep, work, exercise and family time.In Spain, half of respondents said they'd like an extra hour in the day to devote to family time.The same was found for respondents in Brazil, the US and Britain, who chose family time over sleep, which came in at a close second.Only in India did work top the list with 50 percent of respondents claiming they could use an extra hour at the office. | high7620.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Codes and ciphers"
},
"options": [
"Codes and ciphers",
"Differences between codes and ciphers",
"History of codes and ciphers",
"Inventors of codes and ciphers"
],
"question": "The best title of this passage wo... | If you and your friends wish to share a secret, you can write it in code, and no one else will be able to read it. Codes are one way of writing in secret. Ciphers are another. In a code each word is written as a secret code word or a code number. In a cipher each letter is changed.
Codes and ciphers have played an important role in the history of the world. Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler who defeated almost all the countries in Europe about 2,000 years ago, used a cipher when he sent secret messages to his troops. During the American Revolution, George Washington's spies used a kind of code to send his information about the enemy before his military action. In World War II, the Americans"broke"or figured out Japan's most important navy codes and got enough information to destroy a powerful Japanese fleet.
Storekeepers use codes to mark their goods. The codes show how much is paid for the goods or when they are added to the stock. Businessmen use codes to hide plans from their business enemies. Sometimes personal letters or diaries are written in code. Many people enjoy figuring out codes and ciphers simply as a hobby.
In the 16th century, codes and ciphers were very popular among scientists. They wrote messages to each other in code so that no one else would learn their secrets. Geronimo Gardano, an Italian astrologer , mathematician, and doctor, invented the trellis cipher. He took two sheets of paper and cut exactly the same holes in each one. Then he sent one sheet, which he called a trellis, to a friend and kept the other for himself. Whenever he wanted to write a message, he put his trellis over a clean sheet of paper and wrote the secret message through the holes. There he removed the trellis and filled the rest of the paper with words that would make sense. When his friend received it, he put his trellis over the writing and read the secret message. | high8513.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "help more families get health insurance"
},
"options": [
"help people earn more and pay for the program",
"help more families get health insurance",
"make it free for people to see a doctor",
"help families pay for priv... | Health insurance can be very expensive. Some working people do not make enough money to pay for it. In the US there is a program called Healthy Families. This program offers people health insurance at a low cost.
Families are charged about Y=7.00 a month for every child, and Y=10.00 for every adult. It costs much less than any other kind of health insurance. Having health insurance is very important. With this insurance, people can see a doctor when they are sick or hurt.
The program is not expensive at all, but many people are still not enrolling in it. People say that it still costs too much money. They need all of their money to pay for things like food and rent.
It would be great if everyone could have health insurance. People are working hard to come up with ways to make this happen. One idea is to make the Healthy Families Program free for some people.
It is important for people to see a doctor when they need to. The Healthy Families Program makes it possible for more people to do this. Many ideas are being considered. Hopefully some of them will allow even more families to get health insurance.
The Healthy Families Program is made to help those who don't have welfare and cannot earn enough to pay for private health insurance. It is an important program, but officials say that too many people are signing up for it and then dropping out because of the Healthy Families Program's cost. | high15367.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To limit certain drivers to safe driving."
},
"options": [
"To inform us of the new car system.",
"To introduce some improvement in cars.",
"To limit certain drivers to safe driving.",
"To popularize the built-in car sy... | An Australian company, Smart Car Technologies, has developed a system that lets drivers know when they're speeding. When the technology becomes commercially available, it could help lead-footed drivers avoid tickets and also save lives. The company that developed the product hopes to convince Australian government agencies to put the technology into use in their automobile fleets.
The product, called Speed Alert, links real-time location data and speed obtained with the help of GPS to a database of posted speed limits stored in a driver's PDA or programmable mobile phone. The setup of the product does not need to be hooked up to a car's speedometer. In fact, it is entirely portable. It will also work with newer phones and PDAs that have built-in GPS receivers. If a driver exceeds the speed limit, the speed is shown and an alert sounds.
Michael Paine, an Australian vehicle design engineer and traffic safety consultant, was hired to analyze the product. He told Live Science that his colleagues in the road safety field are "very enthusiastic" about what they're now calling "intelligent speed alert." Other research, according to Paine, shows that 40 percent of all traffic deaths involve speeding. There is also a potentially controversial future use: "Since the system is so portable, it would be easy to make it a requirement for teenage drivers to always use a speed alert device when driving," Paine said. "The system even has the capability to record speeding violations, so parents can monitor their teenage drivers."
The product will soon go on sale in Sydney. | high12408.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "family education"
},
"options": [
"social education",
"school education",
"family education",
"pre - school education"
],
"question": "The whole passage deals with _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"... | It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression that they can never do anything quite right, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent.
My daughter Carla's fifth - grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a prefect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate your child's work at home. Don't always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn't done. If your child completes a difficult task , promise him a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last. | high1251.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "she heard the hen making sounds loudly"
},
"options": [
"her doorstep became very clean",
"she heard the hen making sounds loudly",
"she noticed the children in the tree",
"her cat Michael managed to get her attention"
... | Outside her cottage, old Mrs. Taylor was hanging out laundry on a wire line, unaware that some children were hiding in a nearby tree watching her every move. They were determined to find out if she really was a witch.
They watched nervously as she took a broomstick to sweep the dirt from her stone steps. But much to their disappointment, she didn't get on the broomstick and fly off. The old lady only looked up when her hen began to make sounds loudly --signaling that she had laid an egg in the nest on the top of the haystack. .
The old lady put aside her broomstick and walked to the haystack, followed by Michael, a black cat she had rescued from a fox trap. With only three legs, it was hard for Michael to keep up with his mistress. The cat was proof for the children that only a witch would own a black cat with three legs! Crawling further along the branches, they could clearly see the haystack.
Mrs. Taylor was standing on a wooden box with the new-laid egg in one hand. Placing the egg in her pocket, she readied herself to climb down. Then, without warning, the box broke under her and she crashed to the ground. The children were in horror.
"Should we go and help her?" asked Mia.
"What if it's a trick?" replied Patrick. "She probably knows we're here. Witches know things like that!"
After thinking for a while, Julia said"Anyway, we should go and check whether she is all right."
Approaching _ , they could see a wound on the old lady's forehead. She had knocked her head on a stone and was unconscious.
"Go and get Dad," Mia yelled to her brothers. "Tell him about the accident."
The boys didn't need another excuse to leave. They ran as fast as they could for help, hoping that Mrs. Taylor would not regain consciousness and turn the girls into frogs.
Later, in the hospital, the old lady smiled her thanks. "I was so lucky that you lovely children happened to be passing when 1 fell. I must have yelled quite loudly."
The children exchanged guilty glances, but were very pleased that she was not a witch after all! | high14079.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "learn new skills"
},
"options": [
"just get a college education",
"learn new skills",
"just get a certificate",
"earn grades"
],
"question": "Nowadays, some adults go to continuing education classes to _ .",
... | Ideas about education are changing in the United States. Education today is not just a high school diploma or a college degree. Many adults are not interested in going to college. They are interested in other kinds of learning. For them, learning does not end with a diploma. Continuing education gives these adults the chance to increase their knowledge. It also gives them a chance to improve their old skills or to learn new ones. If they know more or learn more, then they can get a better job or earn more money.
There are usually a large number of classes to choose from. Some adults learn new skills. Some take classes for fun or because the class will be useful for them. Others take classes to improve their own lives because they want to feel better about themselves. And still others learn how to be good parents, or how to get along with other people.
There are many chances for adults to continue their learning. Almost any community college or public school system has a continuing education program. There are classes in schools, buildings, or churches. Most classes are in the evening, so working people can attend. The classes are usually small, and they are inexpensive. Thousands of people take continuing education classes each year. They receive no diploma and no grade for most of the classes they attend. For them, learning is something they do because they want to. | high17570.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Management."
},
"options": [
"Human resources.",
"Architecture.",
"Management.",
"Marketing."
],
"question": "What kind of work is advertised?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Global Architecture Business Development Director
The person filling this position will develop the company's development plan and supervise the expansion of the business.Candidates should be able to have a background in successful business planning.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Responsible for managing external contracts and relationships with local businesses and the local government offices.Responsible for evaluating the success of projects and services.
QUALIFICATIONS,TRAINING and EXPERIENCE
A degree in business management.Minimum of five years' relevant experience,preferably managing a multi-functional team.Excellent sales, negotiation and interpersonal skills are key requirements of the job.Strong numerical and analytical ability and a solid grasp of computer spreadsheet applications are essential. Personnel management required.Good communication skills are essential,both written and verbal.Must be willing to travel.
Send cover letter and resume to:
Marko Cerise
Human Relations Manager
Global Architecture Associates
Dear Mr. Cerise,
I read your job advertisement in Professional Monthly and believe that I am well suited to fill the position.
For the past 6 years I have been working as the regional promotions manager for a national chain of book stores. In this position,1 was responsible for supervising a team of six promotions and marketing staff.It was my responsibility to plan the sales events and promotional campaigns,and produce evaluation reports on the efficacy of each campaign.The position involved regular visits to each of the nine branches in the area,so I am used to spending a significant part of my working week on the road.
A big part of the job was communicating with both senior management and individual store managers to ensure that new product lines were appropriately supported and within budget targets.I have found working in this position to be very rewarding but 1 feel I am ready for a change and look forward to facing new challenges.
In respect to my current position,1 would be willing to start within one month of receiving a job offer.
For further employment and educational details please see the accompanying resum.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Dankert | high18643.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "how to have a nice weekend"
},
"options": [
"why to plan weekends well",
"how to have a nice weekend",
"when to attend weekend activities",
"where to have a picnic with friends"
],
"question": "The passage mainl... | Believe it or not, there is always something nice to do on weekends. If you take some time to think about your weekends and plan them carefully, they may become more exciting, refreshing and as a result more rewarding.
Throughout weekends, you can join in endless activities. You may attend a weekend course to increase your knowledge, for example, listen to a lecture on ancient Egypt. You may also try various activities, such as short countryside trip, or you may want to go skiing on a cold winter weekend.
You may invite your best friend to a picnic, tell each other jokes and enjoy each other's company or you may invite more friends to your weekend party and have one another give a talent show.
You can help out in a local library or nursing home and do some voluntary jobs.
You can go to a sports ground or amusement centre to play various ball games and others. You may do weekend shopping alone or with somebody. Whatever you do, I hope you have a good weekend. | high5037.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "all the students must take part in the exams without any excuse"
},
"options": [
"students can learn about everything from culture to science",
"students can choose not to attend the lectures they don't like",
"world-famous e... | NSE Summer School is suitable for those who are at, or are about to start university. It will begin accepting applications in January 2013.
Courses: Accounting and Finance; Economics; Management; Law; International Relations; Government and Society Dates: Session I: 7 July~25 July Session2: 28 July~15 August
Rate: Standard Rate: One session: $1,400; Both session: $2,400
Reduced Student Rate: One session: $1,100; Both session: $1,875
The reduced student rate applies to full-time students registered at a university or college anywhere in the world. Accommodation is not included, and fees range from $500~~$1,000 for 20 nights. Applicant requirements:
If you have studied in the USA then you do not need any additional English qualifications. Students from other countries will generally not require a visa to study at the Summer School; however, you will enter the USA as a "Student Visitor". You are permitted to change courses before the start of the program and within the first three days of the session.
Contact hours and teaching methods:
Summer School courses are full-time and normally consist of 48 contact hours over the three-week period, taking the form of 36 hours of lectures and 12 hours of classes. Lectures, attended by all students, take place in either the morning or afternoon supplemented by small one-hour classes, of approximately 15 students.
Assessment and examinations:
Assessment for Summer School is based upon the results of either two written examinations, or a final written examination and assessment work. Everyone is required to take the examinations and no exception can be made for any reason.
Summer School lecture series:
Famous economistsTony Giddens and David Held--have agreed to give lectures to Summer School participants in July in 2013.
If any questions, please click here to see our Frequently Asked Questions/ Contact Us Page. | high2758.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The Diets of some Top Olympic Athletes."
},
"options": [
"Good Diet Makes a True Olympian.",
"Olympians Have Olympic-size Appetites.",
"Olympians' Strange Eating Habits.",
"The Diets of some Top Olympic Athletes."
]... | It takes more than just practice to become an Olympian. Gold medal performances require some serious nutrition. Have you ever wondered what these successful athletes eat to stay in peak shape?
Keri Glassman, a registered dietitian and founder of Nutritious Life Meals, appeared on "Good Morning America" today to give you a glimpse into the diets of some top athletes. Some of their meals could surprise you.
Crazy Calorie Count
_ One secret of swimmer Michael Phelps' astonishing performance in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing was consuming as many as 12,000 calories in one day.
Athletes can eat like this and not gain any weight because their workouts are intense. According to Glassman, Phelps' workouts can burn 4,000 to 6,000 calories in a day, and those calories must be replenished in order to train the following day.
Snacking Secrets
Some athletes eat wacky (strange, unusual) foods that they swear improve their performance. Yohan Blake, the Jamaica sprinter and 100-meter world champion, has been making waves for stealing champion sprinter Usain Bolt's thunder on the track during the Olympic trials. Asked about how he gets his stamina, Blake answered that he eats 16 bananas per day, Glassman said.
Jonathan Horton, the lead gymnast on the US team, has a blood sugar problem. His solution is honey. When he starts to feel shaky at the gym, he takes swigs of honey to boost his energy, Glassman said.
Foods for Recovery
What are the best foods to help the body recover after rigorous (strict) competition?
For Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, the recovery meal is grilled chicken breasts with Alfredo sauce, whole-grain spaghetti and a salad with lemon juice and olive oil. Lochte, who recently cut out junk food, candy and soda, has undertaken a rigorous strength-training regimen that involves flipping tractor tires, dragging shipyard chains and tossing beer kegs, Glassman said. | high3446.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They need to submit 3-5 photos once a week for language camp programs."
},
"options": [
"They need to write an essay about their exchange experience.",
"They need to submit a blog about their situation.",
"They need to submit... | Greenheart Travel Correspondent Scholarship
Greenheart Travel offers the opportunity for high school students to broaden their perspective through studying abroad.
Greenheart Travel Correspondent Scholarship Opportunities:
US $3,000 scholarship award for a High School Study Abroad program in China
US $1,000 scholarship award for a Teen Summer Language Camp in France
US $1,000 scholarship award for a Teen Summer Language Camp in Germany
US $1,000 scholarship award for a Teen Summer Language Camp in Italy
*Applicants are only able to apply for ONE scholarship opportunity
Deadline for Application: April 1, 2015
Summary of Submission Requirements of the Scholarship:
In addition to completing the teen program online application, applicants must also submit the following:
Official High School Transcript:
Applicants must have a minimum academic standing of a 3.2 GPA to be _ .
Teacher/Coach Referral:
Applicants must provide the name and phone number of an educator or coach that will be able to recommend the student as a good candidate for the scholarship award. Greenheart Travel will contact this referral prior to announcing the scholarship winner.
Written essay:
In a 500-to 800-word essay, please explain how this cultural exchange experience will benefit both you and your local community.
Summary of Participant Requirements:
Pre-program
Submit one blog or video 2 weeks BEFORE your program Start Date introducing yourself and why you are excited to travel on your program and what you hope to learn while abroad.
During Program
For study abroad programs: submit a written blog post and 3-5 photos or a video, once every 2 weeks by discussed deadlines.
For language camp programs: submit weekly written blog post and 3-5 photos or a video, by discussed deadline.
After Program
Submit one blog or video 2 weeks AFTER your program End Date reflecting on what you learned, your favorite part of the program and tips for anyone wanting to travel abroad. | high11101.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "a large variety of losses among the American people"
},
"options": [
"loss to both the military forces and the ordinary citizens in the U.S.",
"a large variety of losses among the American people",
"greater loss to the Americ... | On Sept. 11, an unseen enemy launched an attack on economic, military and governmental
Landmarks of the United States.
Beyond the tremendous loss of innocent lives and physical property, the attack was clearly aimed at the ideals of America--our values and the economic system that has made the U.S. economy the envy of the world.
Those responsible for these acts portray the United States as the embodiment of all that is evil
With globalization and the worldwide economy it has spawned. They use the failures of globalization as an excuse to exploit their millions of constituents in the underdeveloped world.
Sometime soon, the U.S. military will strike back against those who it is determined have committed these acts. A military response is appropriate - some would say overdue . But even if the military objective is achieved, that alone will not get to the heart of the matter.
It is crucial that the U.S. economy return to full speed ahead and continue to be the driving force behind expansion of the global economy.
Globalization, or at least the present phase of it, generally is viewed as having started with the end of the Cold War in 1989. And for all its shortcomings, the free flow of goods, services, capital and labor across the borders of the world's trading nations -- the process that has come to be called globalization--still offers the best chance to fulfill the dreams of so many of the world's poor. | high4329.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "People used to have full confidence in higher education."
},
"options": [
"People used to question the value of college education.",
"People used to have full confidence in higher education.",
"All high school graduates went ... | The reason for going to college has been accepted without question for more than a generation , All high school graduate ought to go , says conventional wisdom and statistical evidence, because college will help them earn more money, become "better" people , and learn to be more responsible citizens than those who don't go
But college has never been able to work its magic for everyone, And now that close to half our high school graduates are attending, those who don't fit the pattern are becoming more numerous, and more obvious, College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis; college students interfere with each other's experiments and writhed false letters of recommendation in the intense competition for admission to graduate school, Others find no stimulation in their studies, and drop out-often encouraged by college administrators
Some observers say the fault is with the young people themselves-they are spoiled and they are expecting too much But that's a criticize of the students as a whole, and doesn't explain all campus unhappiness, Others blame the state of the world , and they are partly right, We've been told that young people have to go to college because our economy can't absorb an army of untrained eighteen -year-old either
Some adventuresome educators and campus watchers have openly begun to suggest that college may not be the best, the proper, the only place for every young person after the completion of high school, We may have been looking at all those surveys and statistics upside down, it seems, and through the rosy glow of our own remembered college experiences, Perhaps college doesn't make people intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal, or quick to learn things-maybe it's just the other way around,it's just the other way around and intelligent , ambitious happy, liberal, quick-learning people are merely the ones who have been attracted to college in the first place, And perhaps all those successful college graduates, would have been successful whether they had gone to college or not, This is heresy to those of us who have been brought up to believe that if a little schooling is good, more has to be much better, But contrary evidence is beginning to gradually increase in amount. | high17564.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "usually wore a black hat and press card"
},
"options": [
"liked jazz music",
"enjoyed talking with others",
"liked reading Jack Kerouac's works",
"usually wore a black hat and press card"
],
"question": "The aut... | My mind seems always to return to the day when I met Carl. The city bus stopped at a corner to pick up the daily commuters (someone who travels regularly to and from work), a group in which I was included. Boarding the bus, I looked for a place to sit. At last, I found a place near the back.
The man in the seat next to the one I was going for was an older man in a grey suit, well-worn dress shoes, and a black hat like I always pictured reporters wearing, but without the little press card. Seated, I began to read the book I had been carrying, which was Jack Kerouac's On the Road. The man in the seat next to me introduced himself by asking if I had read any other book like the one I was holding. When I told him I had, he seemed to become interested, and so did I. He introduced himself as Carl and asked if I liked jazz, and I told him that I didn't really listen to it, and that I liked rock and roll. Waiting for Carl to tell me that I should listen to real music, I was shocked when he just smiled and nodded. He said, "You remind me of myself when I was your age. I remember how my parents hated jazz and how they couldn't see how I could listen to that awful noise. I bet your parents say the same thing, don't they?" Now it was my turn to smile, amused with how right he was.
As the bus carried us from one side of the city to the other, Carl and I talked about a lot of different things. The more we talked, the more amazed I became at how much the two of us really had in common, despite the age difference. I haven't seen him since we parted, but the thought of our connection that day rarely leaves my mind.
Carl really made me think about how much we can learn from each other if we just break through the blocks between us we've got. I mean, I would have never thought before that day that I could have anything in common with someone so much older than I. But Carl taught me that no matter what we are, we are all just people, and that we should make an extra effort to try and get to know our neighbors and people we see every day, regardless of age, race, religion, sex, or anything else. If we all take the time to attempt to understand each other, I think that the world would be a much better place that we could share together, as humans. | high5023.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "there was no television when the writer was learning the alphabet"
},
"options": [
"there was no television when the writer was learning the alphabet",
"the writer's father was a god who could do many things with strength",
"... | The first memory I have of him---of anything, really---is his strength. It was in the late afternoon in a house under construction near ours. The unfinished wood floor had large, terrifying holes whose big and opening darkness I knew led to nowhere good. His powerful hands, then age 33, wrapped all the way around my tiny arms, then age 4, and easily swung me up to his shoulders to command all I surveyed.
The relationship between a son and his father changes over time. It may grow and flourish in mutual maturity. It may sour in hated dependence or independence. With many children living in single-parent homes today, it may not even exist.
But to a little boy right after World War II, a father seemed a god with strange strengths and strange powers enabling him to do and know things that no mortal could do or know. Amazing things, like putting a bicycle chain back on, just like that, or building a hamster cage, or guiding a jigsaw so it forms the letter F; I learned the alphabet that way in those pre-television days.
There were, of course, rules to learn. First came the handshake, a good firm squeeze accompanied by an equally strong gaze into the other's eyes. "The first thing anyone knows about you is your handshake," he would say. And we'd practice it each night on his return from work, the serious toddler in the old Cleveland Indian's cap running up to the giant father to shake hands again and again until it was firm enough.
One day, I realize now, there was a change. I wasn't trying to please him so much as I was trying to impress him. I never asked him to come to my football games. He had a high-pressure career, and it meant driving through most of Friday night. But for all the big games, when I looked over at the sideline, there was that familiar fedora . And by God, did the opposing team captain ever get a firm handshake and a gaze he would remember?
Then, a school fact contradicted something he said. Impossible that he could be wrong, but there it was in the book. These accumulated over time, along with personal experiences, to strengthen my own developing sense of values. And I could tell we had each taken our own, perfectly normal paths. I began to see, too, his blind spots, his prejudices and his weaknesses. I never threw these up at him. He hadn't to me, and, anyway, he seemed to need protection. I stopped asking his advice; the experiences he drew from no longer seemed relevant to the decisions I had to make.
He volunteered advice for a while. But then, in more recent years, politics and issues gave way to talk of empty errands and, always, to illness.
After much thought and practice " You can do whatever you have to do.", one night last winter, I sat down by his bed and remembered for an instant those terrifying dark holes in another house 35 years before. I told my father how much I loved him. I described all the things people were doing for him. But, I said, he kept eating poorly, hiding in his room and violating the doctor's orders. No amount of love could make someone else care about life, I said; it was a two-way street. He wasn't doing his best. The decision was his.
He said he knew how hard my words had been to say and how proud he was of me. "I had the best teacher," I said. "You can do whatever you have to do." He smiled a little. And we shook hands, firmly, for the last time.
Several days later, at about 4 A.M., my mother heard Dad shuffling about their dark room. " I have some things I have to do," he said. He paid a bundle of bills. He composed for my mother a long list of legal and financial what-to-do's " in case of emergency." And he wrote me a note.
Then he walked back to his bed and laid himself down. He went to sleep, naturally. And he did not wake up. | high18657.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "How you live."
},
"options": [
"How you die.",
"How you live.",
"When you die.",
"When you succeed."
],
"question": "According to the author, what can you decide?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer... | One day my teacher said, " _ ." From that moment, I knew I had to enjoy my life. Do not waste time, because, you know, time will not come back. You cannot buy it. It is one of those things in life that you must really, really value.
When you see an opportunity, take it. You might not get it back. Never let an opportunity pass. And if it is too hard, remember that in the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity.
Remember, you cannot choose how you' re going to die, or when. You can only decide how you' re going to live. Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow. Don' t just think of the present, but also think of your future. Your future is yet another chapter in your life and another way to live it.
Every single living thing has a purpose in life. "The purpose of life is a life of purpose," said Robert Byme.
Learn to use time wisely, take opportunities, and enjoy life. We can discover the meaning of life in three different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; (3) by suffering life. So, what are you buying with yours? | high11115.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the students' ideas were lacking in creativeness."
},
"options": [
"there's one group presenting a catering service.",
"all groups followed his idea of restaurant chains.",
"the students' ideas were lacking in creativeness.",... | I do desire to help my Chinese students to find a better way of learning. I once divided my Chinese MBA students into six groups and set them an assignment: brainstorming on "two-hour business plans", for example: a restaurant chain. Originality would be valued most. As a result, five groups proposed projects for restaurant chains. The sixth showed a catering service. I couldn't help expressing my disappointment, though the time limit had been rather challenging.
Those middle managers and financial analysts from state-owned enterprises and global companies were not untalented or without opinions, but they had been accustomed to an educational system that rarely rewarded critical thinking or Originality. Papers were often copied from the Internet and the Harvard Business Review. Students insisted that copying was a superior business strategy, better than inventing and creating.
In China, you can see almost all kinds of products you can imagine have been made and sold, but so few well developed marketing and management minds have been produced that it will be a long time before most people in the world can name a Chinese brand!
Partnerships with institutions like Yale and MIT have been established so as to solve the problem mentioned above. And there's also the "thousand talent scheme": this new government program is designed to improve technological modernization by inviting top foreign trained scientists to the mainland with large sums of money. But there are concerns about China's research environment, which is known for lacking in encouraging independent thinking and inventiveness, and even high salary offers may not be attractive enough to overcome this.
If China wants to become a major world creator, it is no good just seeking partnerships with top Western universities or gathering a group of well-educated people and telling them to think creatively. It's time to establish a rich learning environment for young minds. Yes, new way of learning is the key! | high2994.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "GONE WITH THE WIND"
},
"options": [
"PETER PAN",
"GONE WITH THE WIND",
"A LITTLE PRINCESS",
"THE SECRET GARDEN"
],
"question": "All of the following books have children as their main characters except _ .",
... | Auther: Margaret Mitchell
Y=25 (in bookstore) Y=18 (online)
Gone With the Wind is a best-seller, which tells a story that happened in the American Civil War. Scarlett Ohara is a woman in the story who is full of energy. She is strong and saves her family but is very selfish at the same time.
A LITTLE PRINCESS
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Y=18.3 (online)
Motherless Sara Crewe was sent home from India to school at Miss Minchin's. Her father was very rich and she lived a rich and comfortable life. Then her father died and Sara lost everything. She had to learn to do with her changed life. Her strong character made her able to fight successfully against her poverty and the scorn of her fellows. It's an excellent book with 4 tapes for children
PETER PAN
Author: J.M Barrie
Y=15 (in bookstores) Y=12 (online)
It is a children's story full of imagination and adventures, which is about Wendy, John, and Michael Darling's adventures in Never-Never Land with Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up. The children are happy and lovely. (with 2 tapes)
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN
Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Y=20 (in bookstores)
The most famous novel in American history, Uncle Tom's Cabin talked about the struggle between free states and slave states during the American Civil War and is as powerful today as when it first came out 150 years ago.
THE SECRET GARDEN
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Y=35 (in bookstores) Y=30 (online)
Mary Lennox, a sickly orphan , finds herself in her uncle's dark house. Why are so many rooms locked? Why is one of the gardens locked? And what is that crying she hears at night? Through the power of hope, friendship, and the magic of nature, the brave girl brings the house and a long-lost garden back to life. | high19549.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "limited"
},
"options": [
"unreal",
"unbelievable",
"achievable",
"limited"
],
"question": "The author takes tax-collecting as an example in the passage to prove that freedom is _ .",
"question_type": "clo... | What is freedom? It seems like such a simple question. Freedom is being able to do what you want to do. Allow me to explain it.
I'm tired of working for a living. I'd rather collect taxes. So that's what I'm going to do: collect a kind of tax. You are ordered to estimate your income from the past 12 months, and write me a check for 1%. I have provided a mailing address for this purpose on my contact page ...
What? You have a problem with my plan? Oh, I see. If you have to send me a check for the tax, then I have hurt your freedom to spend that money as you see fit. We have a conflict! And our basic problem is: we cannot enjoy freedom at the same time; we must settle for a limit. But what limit?
Libertarians believe freedom should be based on self-control. They describe freedom as being able to do what you want to do as long as it doesn't influence the equal right of others to do what they want to do. That is, freedom is being able to do what you like as long as you do not harm another person's life, liberty or property.
You can build a set of legal and ethical rules on the principle of self-control, and libertarians do. Their request for self-control often becomes more important than common sense, or even freedom itself.
The definition rules out the freedom to steal, murder, and so on. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want. There is no problem until you realize that taxation is theft, that war is murder, and that national service is a form of slavery. Since only the government has a legal right to use force, libertarians focus on making the government smaller, or even going without it. The libertarians' definition of freedom is thus freedom from the government. Isn't it ridiculous? | high7634.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A penguin came ashore on a beach thousands of miles away from its habitate."
},
"options": [
"A young penguin found himself far from home during a voyage of moulting.",
"A creature's astonishing journey was incredible in the north ... | The black and white bird came ashore on a beach in the south of the North Island nearly 4,000 miles away from its usual habitat. The creature's astonishing journey was witnessed by a woman walking her dog as the two-foot bird waddled out of the water in front of her. She said, "It was out of this world to see it. It was this glistening white thing standing up on the sand and I thought I was seeing things." The tale of the lost penguin is similar to the 2006 children's film Happy Feet, in which a young penguin finds himself far from home during a voyage of discovery.
Conservationists believe it has completed an incredible journey for such a young bird -- it is estimated to be around 10 months old. The most likely explanation for its appearance in New Zealand is the hunt for food. Experts said it may also have rested on an ice floe during its travels and was carried north for a great distance before it made a swim for dry land. Colin Miskelly, a curator of New Zealand Museum, said, "They can spend months at a time in the ocean and come ashore only to moult (,)or rest." Mr. Miskelly said the brave bird would have to find its way back south soon if it was going to survive. He said, "It is probably hot and thirsty and has been eating wet sand." "It doesn't realize that the sand isn't going to melt inside it because they typically eat snow -- their only liquid."
-- it can inflict painful bites if threatened. | high15373.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "More people will lose their jobs."
},
"options": [
"People will be much lazier.",
"More people will lose their jobs.",
"People may become physically weaker.",
"More people may become less intelligent."
],
"quest... | It's exciting to imagine how future humans will have solved the problems we have now, or what amazing new inventions will make our lives more convenient and interesting. We asked top scientists to share their predictions on what the world will be like in a century. If they're right, the 2114 is going to be really cool.
1. Robots will do your chores and more
Robots will be doing most of our jobs, from building homes to teaching math. There are already robots that clean floors and pump gas. In the future they will be more complicated and useful. Unfortunately, with robots taking all the jobs, unemployment will be high.
2. You will read minds.
Speaking of being social, we will communicate in an entirely different way. Forget texts and emails. Mind-reading technology will allow us to send thoughts to each other without speaking a word. We will also be able to send thoughts to objects around us. (Instead of pressing "start" on the microwave, you could just think "start.") Meanwhile, chips implanted(in our brains will improve memory and intelligence.
3. Your car will drive you
Today, around 30,000 Americans die in car accidents each year. One hundred years form now, accidents will be a thing of the past. According to Mark Safford, consultant or the U.S. Department of Transportation, future cars will drive themselves. These electric cars will communicate with other cars on the road to travel safely in close formation at high speeds.
4. You will eat fake meat.
Raising animals is not an efficient way to produce food, and it harms the environment: Cows, chickens, and pigs eat a lot, and then we have to deal with all that poop(. What's more, that poop can up poisoning lakes, rivers, and streams. Today, scientists can "grow" meat in a lab from animal cells, but it's expensive and not very delicious. In the future, they will have perfected the process. You'll order hamburgers that come from factories, not cows. Scientists may even find ways to make lab-grown meat tastier and healthier than the real thing. | high8507.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "when they think they are being watched."
},
"options": [
"After they going to toilet.",
"when they think they are being watched.",
"When they think their hands are dirty.",
"When they find soap nearby."
],
"ques... | People are more likely to wash their hands properly after using the toilet if they are shamed into it or think they are being watched, scientists said on Thursday.
Hand-washing is the cheapest way of controlling disease but less than one third of men and two thirds of women wash their hands with soap after going to the toilet, a British study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine showed.
But when prompted by an electronic message flashing up on a board asking: "Is the person next to you washing with soap?," around 12 percent more men and 11 percent more women used soap.
Health authorities around the world are stepping up efforts to persuade people to be more hygienic and wash their hands properly to help slow the spread of H1N1 swine flu, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in June.
"Hand-washing with soap has been ranked the most effective way for the worldwide control of disease," the study's authors wrote.
"It could save more than a million lives a year from diarrhoeal diseases, and prevent respiratory infections -- the biggest causes of child mortality in developing countries."
In developed nations, hand-washing can help prevent the spread of viral infections like flu and sickness and diarrhea bugs like norovirus and rotavirus, as well as hospital-acquired infections like MRSA and C-difficile, the authors said.
The researchers studied the behavior of a quarter of a million people using toilets at motorway service stations in Britain over 32 days.Use of soap was monitored by sensors.
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health to mark Global Hand-washing Day, showed that with no reminders, 32 percent of men and 64 percent of women used soap. | high23819.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "ST LUCIA"
},
"options": [
"ST LUCIA",
"GOA",
"DOMINICAN REPUBLIC",
"SOUTH AFRICA"
],
"question": "If you are only available in March,which resort should you choose?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
}... | If you can't wait until the summer for your sunshine fix,why not fly off on a winter break? Here are some great deals for all budgets.
1.ST LUCIA
The beachside resort of St James's Club in Morgan Bay is fairly quiet--the local market is nearly 5kin away--but it has six bars,six restaurants and four outdoor pools. There are plenty of watersports,you can travel through the rainforest,go on a jeep trip or enjoy dolphin-Spot-ting. Average temperature in March is 27degC.
THE DEAL:A seven-night stay with flights from Gatwick for 1,429pp.From March 1.
2.GOA
With an average February temperature of 26degC,scenic Goa makes for a warm winter get away. In the village of Arpora,the Resorte Marinha Dourada is a 10-minute walk from the clear beach--the hotel provides transfers for guests.Alternatively,relax by the outdoor pool and have a drink at one of the hotel's two bars. A visit to Arpora's lively Saturday night market is also recommended. Go bird-watching,beating on the lake,or fishing.
THE DEAL:10 nights' bed and breakfast with flights from Manchester for 1,157pp.From February 18.
3.DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Bayahibe is a beautiful fishing village on the shores of the Caribbean and it is also the Dominican Republic's premier scuba-diving destination.There are around 20 dive sites just off its coast. Enjoy golf,spas,watersports and large outdoor pools.If you simply want to relax,the Catalonia Gran Dominicus hotel is right on a pure white sandy beach,complete with palm trees. With average February temperature of 28degC,it's the perfect escape.
THE DEAL:A seven-night stay with Gatwick flights for 1,403pp. From February 20.
4.SOUTH AFRICA
February is summer in South Africa,with average temperatures in the mid-20sdegC. If you fancy chilling out in the sunshine,the Southern Sun Waterfront hotel has a large outdoor poo1. But it is also in the heart of the city,which makes it easy to explore its many historic attractions. Take a cable car ride up Table Mountain,or a short boat trip to Robben Island,where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner.
THE DEAL:10 nights for 1,662pp,with Heathrow flights. From February 18. | high13064.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "they couldn't find enough seals there"
},
"options": [
"they thought it wasn't a good place",
"they thought it didn't belong to Russia",
"they couldn't find enough seals there",
"they wanted to earn more money from the ... | Before Alaska became part of the U.S., it had been owned by Russia. Trading posts and small settlements were scattered along the coast. The rest of land was left unexplored. The Russians were mainly interested in the wealth of furs from the vast herds of seals they found there.
By the mid-1800's, most of the seal herds had been wiped out, and Russia no longer wanted to keep Alaska. William Seward, Secretary of State for President Johnson, believed the United States should buy Alaska from Russia. President Johnson wasn't so sure it was a wise way to spend U.S. money, but he agreed to let Seward discuss it with the Russians. Acting quickly, Seward made a deal. On March 30, 1867, he signed an agreement for the U.S. to pay seven million dollars for the land.
Many people thought it was a foolish waste of America's money. They called the deal "Seward's folly". Then gold was discovered in Alaska and public opinion changed quickly.
Seward did not live to see the true value of Alaska. He died in 1872, five years after making the purchase . Each year, Alaska's natural resources have brought in many times the $7,000,000 paid for it. Natural gas, coal, oil, lumber, seafood and other minerals, besides the gold first found, have made it a valuable addition to the United States. In 1959, Alaska be-came the 49th state of the United States. | high1523.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "money does not buy as much as it did before"
},
"options": [
"money buys as much as it did before",
"money does not buy as much as it did before",
"paper money buys more than metal money",
"metal money buys more than pa... | Nearly everyone agrees that money doesn't buy as much as it used to, no matter when you want to spend it. This is certainly true of the paper money that passes so quickly through one's hands. But what about coins that seem to do very little except stay in purses and pockets? Unlike notes, metal money becomes more valuable the longer it is held, especially if it is put away where it won't get scratched or worn. Why is this? One reason is that coins, being more durable, fall more readily into a category for collectors. Naturally, the rarer gold pieces must become more valuable as the price of this metal goes up.
But, curiously, one of the rarest coins in the world is not made of gold, but of the relatively cheaper silver. In 1840, the United States mint struck 19570 silver dollars. That is what its records show. Today only six of this original number remain and these are unlikely ever to reach the auction market. So what happened to some 19564 large silver coins, not the easiest sort of things to lose? One of the more romantic theories is that they were part of the payment to Napoleon for the American land then known as Louisiana. But they never reached France. Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, the ship transporting them was sunk, either by a storm or by pirates. The probable answer to the mystery is that they were melted down -- since the silver value was greater than the actual value of the coin. What really happened to the rest will probably always remain a mystery. What is known is that whoever can come up with one will find himself instantly rich. | high7152.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "decided to help animals"
},
"options": [
"decided to help animals",
"asked Girl Scout for help",
"went to the animal center to work.",
"called on others to protect animals"
],
"question": "When Haley and Hayley ... | Sea lions and seals may swim in cold ocean water, but even they get
sometimes. Seeing an injured seal wrapped in a blanket at a marine mammal center gave Haley Humes and Hayley Jeffries an idea for a special Girl Scout project. They decided to make blankets to keep injured animals warm. They would give these blankets to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California.
"We knew we wanted to help animals," Haley said. "We went to the center to ask questions about what they needed. They don't have a heated floor, and all the babies crowded together to stay warm."
Friends since kindergarten, Haley and Hayley made 12 blankets to keep the Marine Mammal Center's seals and sea lions warm. Using fun images like Winnie-the-Pooh, the girls took two hours to make each blanket. The first sea lion to test out a blanket looked pretty in pink.
"It was a sick baby and really liked it," Haley said. "It curled up in it right away."
"The blankets are beautiful and the animals love them!" said the Mammal Center's Michele Hunter. "It's nice to see children taking pride in their work and doing something to help animals."
During the project, the girls took dozens of pictures for the PowerPoint presentations they gave to Girl Scout leaders. Those presentations helped Haley and Hayley raise $250 to buy additional supplies the center needed.
This was the first project the girls ever worked on and took months to plan and carry out.
"I learned that in order to make something happen, you have to take it slowly and step by step," Hayley said. Just as important, the girls discovered that two people really can make a difference. "Knowing you're making a difference......with these animals is amazing," Haley said. "It was like the animals became my new friends."
The Pacific Marine Mammal Center cares for sea lions and seals, as well as for other marine mammals. Since opening in 1971,the center has saved more than 5,000 injured marine mammals. | high15415.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "She lives in a traditional way."
},
"options": [
"She lives in a traditional way.",
"She likes shopping very much.",
"She is kind and very humorous.",
"She always leads a simple life."
],
"question": "What can w... | My mother has always been a follower of traditional methods when it comes to anything. She cooks traditional food,likes dressing up traditionally and likes the traditional way of shopping. She loves going to markets and going from one shop to another to find out what suits her best. She can walk miles when it comes to shopping along with her friends. She knows all the local markets and shops and knows very well where she can get best discounts .
However,now she always gets tired when she goes out in the market. So one day I decided to introduce a new shop,which is much larger than usual markets and where she can also get discounts.I am talking about online gift stores. She has a basic knowledge of computers and can operate computers. At the beginning,she was doubtful about shopping from these online gift shops because she wasn't too sure about the quality of the products.
One day I decided to get her some branded things so that she could build trust in these shops. I ordered a Timex watch and a Sisley handbag for her. She never bought things online,but when they were delivered as a gift,she jumped for joy. She could not believe that I had ordered these gifts for her despite her being not much positive about online shops. However,after she saw both the products,she was assured that these online gift shops sent the promised brands and products,she loved her new watch and handbag.
After this experience she ordered a gift for her friend's wedding. She chose a gift basket that could be made according to her requirements. They sent a beautifully decorated basket with fine wines and chocolates. The basket was so artistically decorated that it became her friend's favorite gift. Since then she has been consistently shopping online. | high8261.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It was probably built of wood."
},
"options": [
"It is far from lakes.",
"It is not popular now.",
"It was probably built of wood.",
"It was built in a short time."
],
"question": "What do we know about a cottag... | For many people, the story of cottages -- small vacation homes away from the city -- is a deeply personal one. For some families, cottages have been the scene of reunions, vacations and family adventures for generations.
In North America, "cottaging " really began during the 19th century. At that time, crowds of people were moving from family farms to cities. Naturally, these people often felt a _ for the natural beauty of the countryside. Frequently located near lakes, in the mountains of woods, cottages provided a perfect solution.
Traditionally small and rustic ,many cottages were once simple log homes without bathrooms, water or electricity. While in most cases that is no longer true, people still go to cottages in large numbers to escape the city and to enjoy "cottage life."
Despite the peaceful setting, there is always plenty to do at a cottage. If you enjoy outdoor activities, try hunting, boating or hiking. Many cottages are located near a lake, so you have opportunities to go swimming, boating or sunbathing around. Enjoy a picnic with your family, or build a campfire to roast hot dogs. On rainy days, curl up on a comfortable chair inside and read, or enjoy board games with your friends and relatives. Want to get out and explore? Take a tour of the lake in a motorboat, or visit one of the many small villages located nearby.
Many families rent cottages instead of owning them, but for those who do, there's always work to be done. Wood must be chopped for the stove. Leaves need to be gathered and gardens taken care of. Since many cottages are old buildings, there's usually something that needs to be fixed or painted.
The story of cottages is one of families, traditions and memories. Are you ready to try cottaging with your family? | high3334.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "a little help for dog owners"
},
"options": [
"Bow-Lingual's inventors",
"dog barks and their different emotions",
"talking dogs",
"a little help for dog owners"
],
"question": "This passage is mainly talking ab... | Dog owners now have a little help understanding their furry friends.A new device called Bow-Lingual "translates" dog barks into English, Korean or Japanese.Bow-Lingual Japanese inventors spent much time and money analyzing dog barks.They found that dog noises can be broken down into six different emotions: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, assertion and desire.
Part of the Bow-Lingual device hangs on the dog's collar.The other part is a handle-held unit for the owner.When the dog barks, the unit displays translated phrases.
Some people have _ at Bow-Lingual."Who would pay $120 to read a dog's mind?" they ask.
But those who have purchased Bow-Lingual praise the device.Pet owner Keiko Egawa, of Japan, says it helps her sympathize with her dog Harry."Before we go to the park, he always says he wants to play," says Egawa, "and after a walk, he always says he is hungry."
Bow-Lingual is not yet available in Chinese.So you'd better keep studying Studio Classroom, or soon your dog may know more English than you do! | high11673.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He said he would connect her in 30 minutes."
},
"options": [
"He said he would connect her in 30 minutes.",
"He promised to see her in 30 minutes.",
"He asked her to call him again after calming down.",
"He felt at a lo... | About 10 years ago my daughter was about 2500 kilometers from Newcastle, and rang me one day crying because of an emotional problem she was facing. She was about 20, and in a town known as Ayrlie Beach in Northern Queensland. I asked her what it was that she needed most in that moment, and she replied that she needed support, and my arms around her would be the best thing that she could hope for! Because I couldn't do that in that exact moment, I asked her to describe her surroundings to me (I have ly no idea 'why', at the time), and said that if she hadn't heard from me in about 30 minutes, she could ring me back. I asked her to stay exactly where she was.
After hanging up the phone, I just sat for a few seconds. After only a very short time a phone number jumped into my head. I rang the number and it was a woman who had bought a house from me about 18 months previously, when I was working in Real Estate. My exact words to her were these, "Oh, it's you Liz, I have no idea why I'm calling you in particular, but my daughter is in trouble in Ayrlie Beach, and I just got the thought to ring you and tell you that. Have you any idea why?"
"It could be because my son lives there," says Liz.
"Oh really, that's got to be it," I said. "Do you mind giving me his phone number, Liz?"
"Of course not, and I can only hope that he can be of some help!"
I rang straight away (only about 5 minutes have passed since telling my daughter that somehow I'd get her help). Fortunately, he answered immediately, and I told him the story of who I was, and why I'd rung.
I gave him the description of my daughter; where she was standing; and that she needed emotional support if he could find it in his heart to help out so unexpectedly like this. "Oh yes, I can see her," he said..."she's right across the street from where I'm standing!" He walked across the street and told my daughter that her Dad had sent him!
Imagine that...she almost fainted: only about 10 minutes had passed since she had rung me! I believe that she said something like this, "Wow, Dad's getting pretty good at this stuff!".
That's intuition at it's best! | high21968.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Why does hair turn gray?"
},
"options": [
"Going gray.",
"Tips to make hair color1 last",
"Why does hair turn gray?",
"Gray hair is in fashion."
],
"question": "What would be the best title for this passage?",
... | Gray hair is simply a part of the normal aging process, and the rate you go silver is genetically predetermined. Going gray is not associated with earlier death, and premature graying is not, generally speaking, a sign of an illness or ill health in younger adults. There are, however, some specific health conditions associated with gray or white hair, but for most of us, going gray is just a fact of life.
Hair color1 comes from the pigment melanin , which determines your individual shade. Hair without any melanin is pure white. The pigment is produced in cells called melanocytes, which inject pigment into the hair. At some point in everyone's lifetime, these cells slow down and eventually stop producing color1. Scientists have yet to identify the exact mechanism by which melanocyte cell death occurs.
A study of more than 4,000 women and men from 20 countries determined that about 75% of people between the ages of 45 and 65 have some gray hair. In general, people of European descent gray earliest followed by Asians and Africans. It's interesting to note that a lucky 1 in 10 has no gray hair by retirement age. Beginning at age 30, your chances of having gray hair go up 10-20% per decade.
It may feel like you have more grays after a stressful event, but that's probably because middle age is basically a series of anxiety-ridden events. Between working, raising kids, and caring for older parents, the "sandwich" years of 45-65 can be stressful, especially for women. They are also when we naturally start to look older.
At this point, there is still no silver bullet to keep away the grays. | high17202.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "some people are anxious about their safety"
},
"options": [
"they all live in big cities",
"they are busy with their homework",
"some people are anxious about their safety",
"headteachers think it's dangerous to explore... | Large numbers of children in Britain are missing out on the natural world, a study from the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) suggests.
The three-year project found that only 21 % of children aged 8 --12 were "connected to nature". Girls were much more likely than boys to be exposed to the great outdoors, while children in Wales had the lowest score across the UK. The RSPB says that a perception among some adults that nature is dangerous or dirty could be holding children back.
There has been an increasing amount of research in recent years underlining the lack of contact and experience with nature among modern children. Some have argued that this is having a negative impact on their health, education and behaviour.
The RSPB says its new study is the first to quantify the scale of British children's exposure, or lack of it, to the natural world. They came up with a definition of what "connected to nature" actually means and then deve -loped a questionnaire with 16 statements designed to assess the level of connection among children.
Some 1, 200 children from across the UK were asked to agree or disagree with these statements. Only 21 % of children in the UK had a level of connection with wildlife and the natural world that the RSPB believes should be realistic and achievable for all youngsters. This "realistic and achievable" value is based on the average scores of children visiting RSPB sites or who are junior members of the organization.
One interesting finding was the gender difference. While 27 % of girls were at or above the "realistic and achievable" target, only 16 % of boys were at the same level. "We need to understand these differences," Sue Armstrong Brown, head of conservation at the charity, told BBC New. "Whether boys and girls are scoring differently on different questions, are girls more empathetic to nature than boys for instance? We need to analyze the data to find that out."
The report also stressed significant regional differences. Only 13% of children in Wales achieved the basic level of exposure, compared with almost twice this number in Northern Ireland and Scotland. | high18131.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Spring Festival in Beijing"
},
"options": [
"Celebrating the Lantern Festival",
"Spring Festival in Beijing",
"the Chinese New Year",
"Little Chinese New Year"
],
"question": "What's the name of the new picture ... | In a new picture book, a 66-year-old Beijinger recaptures the capital's Lunar New Year traditions for children.
In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, which falls on Feb 11 this year, is the "Little Chinese New Year". Traditionally, people will set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the Kitchen God who returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor.
However, such customs have lessened with time in the city and might seem unfamiliar to children nowadays.
In order to preserve traditions for the next generation, Yu Dawu, a 66-year-old painter, recently published a picture book, Spring Festival in Beijing, for children to see how people used to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Based on an essay by Lao She (1899-1966), one of the most significant writers in modern Chinese literature, the picture book starts from the first holiday, La Ba, the eighth day of the 12th lunar month of the past year, when tradition says people should eat _ made of eight ingredients to bring good fortune in the coming year. It concludes with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month of the new year, which marks the end of the Spring Festival.
In the book, Yu creates a local family of four who live in an ordinary quadrangle courtyard, and readers follow the family as it celebrates the festival traditions.
"I am an old Beijinger, so when I was drawing and painting for this book, the memories of childhood rushed into my mind," recalls Yu at a book-sharing party earlier this week. | high9157.txt |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.