questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "existed merely in urban and industries areas"
},
"options": [
"cause widespread damage in the countryside",
"affected the entire eastern half of the United States",
"had damaged effect on health",
"existed merely in urb... | There was one thought that air pollution affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. At present, we realize that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the east of the United States and brought health warnings in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be infected by air pollution. Some scientists consider that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating a "greenhouse effect"-- conserving heat reflected from the earth and raising the world's average temperature. If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be in water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particular matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth's temperature -- a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. Today we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report drafted by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very possible). Perhaps, if we are lucky enough, the two tendencies will _ each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now. Driven by economic profits, people neglect the damage on our environment caused by the "advanced civilization". Maybe the air pollution is the price the human beings have to pay for their development. But is it really worthwhile? | high7812.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "cutting sunlight"
},
"options": [
"cutting sunlight",
"sending cold air into space",
"cooling water in the air",
"cooling air with water"
],
"question": "\"Marine cloud whitening\" has an effect on global warmin... | Special ships that create clouds by sending seawater into the air could be the cheapest way of dealing with climate change, new research has found.
The technique, known as "marine cloud whitening", would create clouds above the Pacific Ocean that would have a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight away from Earth. Nearly 2,000 wind-powered ships would cross the sea, getting seawater and sending it up through tall tubes.
" When you send saltwater into the air, you create bigger and whiter clouds, and thus reflect more sunlight back into space," said David Young from the group of the study.
The paper by Professor Eric Bickel and Lee Lane looked into the costs of the projects. It found that cloud whitening would reduce the effects of climate change this century for no more than PS5.3 billion. This is only a small part of the PS150 billion that leading nations are considering spending to cut CO2 emissions each year. It is also more than 25 times cheaper than the PS140 billion cost of another project which would copy the cooling effect of volcanoes.
The authors also compared the cost benefits that reducing temperatures would have. They found every PS1 spend on other ways would have PS15 of benefits, however every PS1 spent on cloud whitening would bring PS2,000 of benefits. These would include the human costs on health and the influence on other fields.
David Young said, "Marine cloud whitening could achieve as much for the planet as CO2cuts would, but with much less cost." But he warned that these techniques shouldn't be considered as a long-period way to deal with climate change.
" It's important to note that this technique wouldn't reduce CO2emissions or deal with the causes of global warming, but would cover its effects." he said. | high20336.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "optimistic"
},
"options": [
"optimistic",
"pessimistic",
"doubtful",
"cautious"
],
"question": "Jeffrey Miller's attitude towards selfdriving cars is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | What's going to happen in the future? Will robots take over our planet? Will computers become smarter than us? Not likely. But here are some things that scientists say are most likely to happen 10 to 30 years later from now, according to the BBC.
1.Digital money
We used to pay with cash for everything we bought. Now when we swipe our bus pass or use a credit card to shop online, money is spent without us even seeing it. In fact, we are already using one type of digital money.
You have to admit that using a card is much easier than searching your pockets for change. It is also safer than carrying a lot of cash.
When ATM cards were first introduced, they were not accepted everywhere. But now it's hard to live without them. People in Sweden completely stopped using cash last year, according to the Associated Press, and the US might be next.
2.Bionic eye
It's no longer something only in a scifi movie. People who are blind may have a chance to get their sight back--by wearing bionic eyes.
A blind eye can no longer sense light, but a bionic eye can use a camera to "see" the environment and send data directly to the brain.
Although the bionic eye that's out now only allows patients to see lights and unclear shapes, a highresolution version could be just a few years away.
3.Selfdriving cars
Everything is going automatic these days--washing machines, ticket selling machines and even cars. Unlike a human driver, a selfdriving car won't get _ by a phone call, the radio or something outside the window. Sensors and cameras on the car would allow it to stick strictly to the rules of the road and keep a safe distance from other cars. This would greatly reduce the number of road accidents. You could even take a nap while the car drives itself.
Many vehicle companies are now planning selfdriving cars. "By 2040, driverless vehicles will be widely accepted and possibly be the dominant vehicles on the road," said Jeffrey Miller, professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, US, in Wired magazine. | high5963.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "stress the importance of protecting environment"
},
"options": [
"stress the importance of protecting environment",
"enjoy beautiful environment happily",
"try to develop our industrialization fast",
"take severe measur... | Environmental protection is frequently talked about nowadays. The authorities are doing their best to arise the public awareness of the vital importance of the environmental protection. This issue is, indeed, worth following up.
Environmental protection is closely related not only to our personal life, but also to the entire human race and the world's further development. For one thing, the environment, in a narrow sense, determines the quality of our individual life. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, etc. , all come directly from the environment. If they continue to be contaminated, we may have neither clean water, nor healthy food. For another thing, in a broader sense, the environment plays a decisive role in fate of mankind. As is known to all, the earth, up to now, is human being's only dwelling place. We can expect that some day we will live on another planet, but I doubt that this day will come earlier than the day when the earth becomes a globe of waste, if we keep damaging the environment. Finally, the environment is essential to the further development of the world. Extensive industrialization, which has brought about all the convenience and facilities we enjoy today, has been depending on the comprehensive exploitation of the earth's natural resources found in the environment. If we do not protect the environment properly, further development cannot be guaranteed. In a word, to protect the environment is an urgent task.
Nevertheless, environmental protection is indeed a demanding task. Many people are still, either unconscious of the urgency of the task or deliberately damaging the environment for the interests of their own. Hence, we should adopt severe measures to prohibit people from doing more harms to the environment. Meanwhile, we need to make the gravity of the present situation known to all. In other words, punishment and instruction should be equally emphasized. Only in this way can we look forward to a cleaner and greener world. | high20450.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Rendezvous Singapore"
},
"options": [
"Landmark Village Hotel",
"Royal Plaza On Scotts",
"Rendezvous Singapore",
"Swissotel Merchant Court"
],
"question": "If you have a child who loves swimming, you should stay... | Shangri-La Hotel Singapore
22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore, 258350 Singapore General
* Air-condition public areas; * Ballroom(s);
* Ballroom(s); * Bar;
* Elevator/lift; * Gift shops or newsstand(,);
* Restaurant(s) in hotel; * Number of rooms:110;
* Swimming pool--outdoor; * Tennis on site;
* Wired(high-speed) Internet access--free
Check-in time is 2PM
Check-out time is Noon
Pets not allowed
2
Swissotel Merchant Court---Singapore
20 Merchant Road, Singapore, 058281 Singapore General
* Air-conditioned public areas; * Ballroom(s);
* Bar; * Coffee shop or cafe;
* Elevator/lift; * Number of floors:5;
* Number of rooms: 120; * Restaurant(s)in hotel;
* Swimming pool-outdoor; * Television in entrance hall
Check-in time is 3PM
Check-out time is Noon
Pets not allowed
3
Royal Plaza On Scotts-Singapore
25 Scotts Road, Singapore, 228220 Singapore General
* Air-conditioned public areas; *Ballroom(s);
* Bar/lounge; * Elevator/lift;
* Gift shops or newsstand; * Number of floors: 6;
* Number of rooms: 160; * Restaurant(s) in hotel;
* Smoke-free property ; * Swimming pool--outdoor;
Check-in time is 2PM
Check-out time is Noon
Pets not allowed
4
Rendezvous Singapore--Singapore
9 Bras Basah Road, Marina Bay, 189559 Singapore General
* Air-conditioned public areas; * Ballroom(s);
* Bar/lounge; * Coffee shop or cafe;
* Elevator/lift; * Number of floors: 6;
* Number of rooms: 150; * Restaurant(s) in hotel;
* Swimming pool--children's; * Swimming pool--outdoor;
Check-in time is 2PM
Check-out time is Noon
Pets not allowed
5
Landmark Village Hotel - Singapore
390 Victoria Street, Singapore, 188061 Singapore General
Air-conditioned public areas;
* Ballroom(s); * Bar;
* Coffee shop or cafe; * Elevator/lift;
* Number of floors: 6; * Number of rooms: 156;
* Restaurant(s) in hotel; * Swimming pool--outdoor;
Check-in time is 2PM
Check-out time is Noon
Pets not allowed | high11855.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because he could learn how to handle marketing effectively."
},
"options": [
"Because he could enjoy the beautiful song from the young girls.",
"Because he could learn how to deal with life cheerfully",
"Because he could lear... | Last year, I worked as a young marketing person in a company. It was one of those busy days...management meetings, sale calls, planning my travels, booking hotels, and the list was endless. By the end of the day, I was not only tired but was getting angry with myself and everyone around me. It was at this time that Paul invited me to his house for a "chill out ( )."
Although tired, I was all excited to chat up with Paul and share and learn through his rich experience in marketing. As we entered through the main door to his house, Paul started singing a song : I have a dream, to help me through in everything...and so on. I was in no mood to listen to his song; I wanted to hear about how he dealt with difficult sale calls!
As I told him about just that, I was totally surprised at what I saw next. Two young girls, aged between 17 and 20, walked over to Paul and hugged him. They couldn't walk steadily, and neither could they talk properly. Their faces were full of smiles and they also sang a song: No Mummy's kisses only Daddy's smiles. Nobody wants us. Daddy hugs us tonight.
Curious to know, I asked Paul who these girls were. I knew that Paul lived in that house but I had never seen these girls. Paul explained:
"I also have a dream, a dream to make these girls happy. They are my daughters and they were born as 'special children'". And he further added, "They don't have a mother. My wife died when they were very young", and that he is both mother and father to these beautiful daughters.
I was moved to tears. In the office, no one knew what Paul was going through in his personal life. He never looked for any pity from his friends. In fact, he always helped us and encouraged us to move forward in life.
I finished my tea and made my way out, when Paul said to me, "All of us have dreams." | high21996.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "discover the possible origin of words"
},
"options": [
"discover the possible origin of words",
"help detectives to solve mysterious murders",
"write interesting stories for some newspapers",
"explore the English langua... | Etymology, the study of words and word roots, may sound like the kind of thing done by boring librarians in small, dusty rooms.Yet etymologists actually have a uniquely interesting job.They are in many ways just like archaeologists digging up the physical history of people and events.The special aspect of etymology is that it digs up history, so to speak, through the words and phrases that are left behind.
The English language, in particular, is a great field to explore history through words. As a language, English has an extraordinary number of words.This is partly due to its ability to adapt foreign words so readily.For example, "English" words such as kindergarten (from German), croissant (from French), and cheetah (from Hindi) have become part of the language with little or no change from their original sounds and spellings. So English-language etymologists have a vast world of words to explore.
Another enjoyable thing about etymology for most word experts is solving word mysteries .No, etymologists do not go around solving murders, like the great detective Sherlock Holmes.What these word experts solve are mysterious origins of some of our most common words
One of the biggest questions English language experts have _ is how English came to have the phrase OK.Though it is one of the most commonly used expressions, its exact beginning is a puzzle even to this day.Even its spelling is not entirely consistent-unless you spell it Okay, it is hard even to call it a word.
Etymologists have been able to narrow OK's origin down to a likely, although not certain, source .It became widely used around the time of Martin Van Buren's run for president in 1840. His nickname was Old Kinderhook. What troubles word experts about this explanation is that the phrase appeared in some newspapers before Van Buren became well known.It is likely that Van Buren could be called its primary source Etymologists will doubtlessly keep searching for the initial source.However, it is clear that OK's popularity and reputation have topped those of the American president to whom it has been most clearly linked. | high10593.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "They can share similar opinions and thoughts."
},
"options": [
"They can share similar opinions and thoughts.",
"They can make a perfect couple.",
"There can be some competition between them.",
"They are even in a match... | Once I mentioned the story of a friend getting something made for me to give my daughter as a present, and then not letting me pay her back. Writing about that made me think about the problem of communicating feelings, particularly in cross - cultural situations. Let me explain.
If I say to a fellow English - speaker, "I know how you feel," what I am actually saying is that I can imagine myself in the same position, and therefore can imagine how I would feel. But my friend could perfectly correctly reply, "No, you don't! You can't." In truth we can communicate how strongly we feel, but we cannot communicate exactly what we feel.
But if we come from the same linguistic and cultural background, the match can be close enough.
Culture and language cannot be separated, and I think that we have the feelings that are recognized in our culture and therefore represented in our language. One might say that we feel the things that our language allows us to express. So when it comes to trying to explain feelings to someone of a different mother tongue, the difficulties are huge.
I could not explain to my friend how I felt about her not letting me repay her, because Chinese culture, it seems, does not recognize the same feelings on such occasions.
She could understand the words that I was using, but could not understand what I was trying to say.
Some time ago, I was going up in the lift, and a colleague with whom I merely have a nodding acquaintance was offering round some sweetmeat. I knew that I really could not eat it, so I refused politely, only to be told that I was making her lose face.
I have no idea how serious the colleague was being. Causing someone to lose face is a serious social mistake. We have to do all we can to learn the types of situation in which it happens, and to try to avoid them. But we can only know about losing face, we can't feel losing face, as the term is merely a literal translation of Chinese, not one that is native to English. | high23159.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A passer-by."
},
"options": [
"The authorities.",
"A passer-by.",
"Emergency responders.",
"Her families."
],
"question": "Who found the severely damaged car?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | Camilla Broomstick, a missing Camden -area woman, was reported found inside her damaged Chevrolet Malibu Sunday afternoon in a County near Camden New Jersey, at the bottom of an embankment off a highway, according to authorities. Her car, turned upside down, was spotted by a passer-by who had stopped to view scenery and noticed something shining and what looked like a body, authorities said. When emergency responders arrived, they found Broomstick alive inside her severely damaged car. The vehicle rested upside down after flying 120 feet off the highway and rolling an additional 200 feet into an aspen woods.
"The crash alone would have killed her," New Jersey State Trooper Dean Enoch said. "It's surprising that she survived the crash at all, and then to be down there for that amount of days without food or water."
Earlier Monday, the family released a statement at the hospital thanking emergency responders who rushed Broomstick to the hospital and to the man who found her and notified authorities.
"We sincerely appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and kind gestures from the community during such a hard time for our family," the statement read. "While we're hopeful of her prognosis , Camilla was seriously injured and with multiple internal and external injuries. Later this afternoon Camilla will be undergoing surgery here to amputate both of her feet. Doctors were not able to save her feet due to the serious injuries. Camilla is in critical but stable condition at this time and has a very long road ahead."
In the statement, family members mentioned reports that Broomstick wrote a request for help on an umbrella she pushed out the car window. "We cannot comment on that right now because we have not seen the umbrella," the statement said. Family members also asked that the public respect their privacy. | high9181.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "They could not resist animals' attack"
},
"options": [
"They were likely to fall ill.",
"They would probably go hungry.",
"They might fight with the natives.",
"They could not resist animals' attack"
],
"questio... | It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that exploration of the _ world began on a large scale. European middle classes took great interest in collecting new plants. This attraction to exotic plants grew as European nations moved into other parts of the world such as Asia andprefix = st1 /Australia. Brave young men took the opportunity of going on botanical expeditions even though they were to be faced with deadly disease, near-starvation, severe environments and conflicts with the local people.
Sir Joseph Banks was among the brave. In 1760, he collected vast quantities of plants in what is now known as Australia. None of these plants had been recorded by Europeans before. However, Banks was not able to bring those plants back to Europe and let them grow in his homeland because keeping plants alive during long land or sea voyages was a great challenge at that time. Large numbers of seeds failed to grow after long sea voyage or trips across land far away from Europe.
In 1833 the invention of the Wardian case, a tightly sealed portable glass container, made it possible for two cases of British plants to survive the six-month journey to Australia. And the return trip in 1835 with Australian species lasted eight months at sea, all the species successfully arriving inLondon.
China was a land the earliest European plant collectors would explore from time to time. . Not only did Europeans collect large numbers of plants to grow in Western gardens, but also they were very excited with the knowledge that Chinahad a vast variety of plants. A British man called Robert Fortune developed his fluency in Chinese and was disguised as a Chinese man so that he could travel aroundChinaunnoticed. He managed to ship 20,000 tea plants from Shanghai toIndia, where a successful tea industry was established. | high22247.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "tourism industry"
},
"options": [
"restoring the monuments",
"restoring the Pagoda",
"tourism industry",
"exploring the history"
],
"question": "From the passage we can learn that a large sum of money of the loc... | As the capital of China's Shaanxi Province, Xi'an's long history was properly summed up by our English-speaking guide: "If Xi'an is the grandmother of cities, Beijing is a youth and Shanghai is just a baby in the womb. "
However, it was not until 1974, following the chance discovery of the Army of Terracotta Warriors by well-digging farmers, that Xi'an was once again pushed onto the international map. Three decades later, the local government is pouring funds into the tourism sector. Ancient monuments and museums are being restored, and various copies of Buddhist and Tang heritage are being constructed to help Chinese tourists rediscover their national heritage.
One of those ancient monuments is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda-Xi'an's most sacred monument-which was built in 652 by the monk Xuanzang ,who travelled across India for 18 years and returned with a precious collection of Buddhist sacred texts. In 1966,the Red Guards burnt the pagoda's scriptures, silk wall hangings and other relics in a bonfire that raged all night. But that destruction has largely been forgotten as tourists flock to the newly restored pagoda. The only original remainders-the empty shell of the seven-storey pagoda-light up at night, standing out in the city's skyline.
Xi'an is also displaying the glories of the ancient Tang Dynasty, with a 165-acre Tang Paradise Theme Park that is visited by flocks of tourist groups. Although every bit of this Tang heritage is recreated, it is artistically pleasing, landscaped with ponds and lakes, classical gardens, bridges, palaces and pavilions. Explore the vast area on a golf cart, hopping on and off to see shortened operas from the Tang Dynasty days, laser shows on the lake, highly structured man-made waterfalls, as well as murals and statues of historical figures ,philosophers and poets.
A 36km drive northeast takes you to Xi'an's most famous attraction, the Army of Terracotta Warriors. They were made to order in 221BC by the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi, who used the forced labour of 700,000 subjects to create a mausoleum guarded by an entire army. | high12384.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The Byrds"
},
"options": [
"The Beatles.",
"The Byrds",
"Eagles.",
"Guns N' Roses."
],
"question": "Which of the artists playing traditional folk music and Bob Dylan-penned material with rock instruments first?"... | Although Zhang Bichen, a 25-year-old songstress with a powerful yet delicate voice, took the crown of this year's The Voice of China, runner-up Parhat Halik, 32, seems to have impressed more of the audience with his husky , natural and, most of all, distinguished sound.
Despite his unmistakable voice, Parhat Halik's music is also special. Generally, it's rock -- but influenced and mixed by different styles within the genre. Read on and find out where Halik's music gets its inspiration.
Blues rock
Representative artists: Guns N' Roses, The Rolling Stones, John Maye
Blues rock combines improvisation with rock 'n' roll style. It began to develop in the mid-1960s in Britain and the US, when rock bands such as the Rolling Stones experimented with music from older African-American blues musicians. It borrows the idea of instrumental combo from blues but is played at a faster tempo and louder volume, distinguishing it from the blues. The sound is created with the electric guitar, piano, bass and drums.
As the root for several contemporary rock styles, such as heavy metal and hard rock, blues rock had a rebirth in the early 2000s, with artists including John Mayer and The Black Keys.
Folk rock
Representative artists: Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds
As the name indicates, folk rock is a genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. Also developed in the mid-1960s, folk rock was pioneered by the US band The Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and Bob Dylan-penned material with rock instruments, in a style heavily influenced by The Beatles and other British bands.
The genre was most popular among teenagers and college students at the time, because it includes both rock 'n' roll's free spirit and the more serious, culturally authentic and socially aware sounds of folk music.
Soft rock
Representative artists: Bryan Adams, Eagles, Elton John, James Blunt
Compared to hard rock's loud and aggressive nature, soft rock, or light rock, uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer and less threatening sound. Derived from folk rock, it uses acoustic instruments and puts more emphasis on melody and harmony.
Although the genre gets quite a bad name among hardcore rock fans, who see it as "wimpy" , it doesn't mean soft rock is without merit . Soft rock songs often deal with themes like romantic relationships and everyday life in a thoughtful and complex way hard rock simply couldn't. | high9195.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Surfers Rescue Man Caught in Tide"
},
"options": [
"Three Men to Be Praised",
"Notorious Place for Surfers",
"Surfers Rescue Man Caught in Tide",
"Greg Popple-a Lucky Dog"
],
"question": "What would be the best ... | Three surfers rushed to save a man's life after he was left drifting on a notorious stretch of water.
The men stayed with Greg Popple for 30 minutes and had to be rescued themselves by helicopter as the drama unfolded.
The 45-year-old had floated out on a body board near Hutchwns Point at 8:30 am. He found himself in trouble about half-a-mile from the shore and dangerously close to rocks. Surfers Graig Evans, 31, Robert Miles, 19, and Owain Daviees, 23, were risking their own safety to keep him floating for 30 minutes. Luckily a passer-by noticed what was going on and raised the alarm. Porthcawl Coastguard, Porthcaw Lifeboat and an RAF helicopter all took part in the rescue.
"The man who got into trouble was a body boarder-there was a big tide where he was," said Joe Missen. "Three other surfers spotted he was in difficulty and he was going down. They kept him afloat because he was in a state of shock and out of energy. If Mr. Popple was closer to the rocks, it could have been a lot worse, but they managed to keep him from harm".
Mr. Missen's mum Alison, also part of the rescue team, said, "That part of the water is notorious for taking people out to nowhere".
The three men had clocked off a night shift at Ford Motor Company shortly before the incident.
"I headed straight down to the beach for a surf, when I saw him flailing . We just swam straight out to him and kept him calm while the help came".
The four men were taken to the life boat house to recover, without injuries. | high22253.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "treated not as the weaker sex"
},
"options": [
"treated not as the weaker sex",
"treated as the weaker sex",
"cared for on buses and trains",
"better treated than before"
],
"question": "The new generation of wo... | There was a time when, if a lady got onto a crowded bus or train, a gentleman would immediately stand up and offer her his seat. No more, though. Today, a gentleman will probably look out of the window, or, if he feels a bit guilty , hides behind his newspaper. Either way, the lady will have to stand until someone else gets off.
You can't entirely blame men for this change in manners. The days are gone when women could be referred to as the weaker sex. A whole generation of women has grown up demanding equality with men; not just equality in jobs or education, but in social attitudes . Hold a door open for some women and you're likely to get an angry lecture on treating women as inferiors , unable to open doors for themselves. Take a girl out for a meal and she'll probably insist on paying her share of the bill; though on second thoughts perhaps that's not such a bad idea.
It's no wonder, then, that men have given up some of the gestures of politeness and consideration which they used to show towards women. On the other hand, automatic male (men) politeness is perhaps slowly being replaced by true consideration for the needs of women, so that men can see women as equal human beings.
Maybe that's worth standing in the bus or train. | high12390.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "transport workers to protect their safety"
},
"options": [
"transport companies to reduce their costs",
"banks so they could increase their profits",
"transport workers to protect their safety",
"the government to impro... | Stockholm's street magazine sellers no longer only take cash -- they now take cards too.
"More and more sellers were telling us that people wanted our magazine but weren't carrying cash," says Pia Stolt, the magazine's publisher. "So with the help of a local computer company, we came up with a way to accept payment electronically.
"We didn't know how it would turn out, or whether people would be unwilling to give the credit card information to a stranger on the street," says Stolt, "but the results have been great--sales are up 59%." "Swedes are pretty trusting and we're used to taking up new technology so this was the perfect solution," adds Stolt. "The cashless society campaign we're seeing in Sweden is definitely a good move as far as we are concerned--it's unstoppable."
Banks and stores invested heavily in card payment systems in the 1990s and now local consumers are using them in huge numbers. Today, four out of five purchases are made electronically in Sweden and going totally cash-free is the next step.
Sweden's public transport system has already been cashless for several years, after local public transport workers complained that handling cash had become dangerous. "Bus drivers were getting attacked for their money so Sweden banned cash on public transport," says Arn Arvidsson, the president of Cashless, an organization supporting the move to a cash-free society. "There were also a number of bank robberies, so four years ago, the banks began to move away from cash. Now, all of Sweden's big banks operate cash free wherever possible, and the number of bank robberies is at a 30-year low."
There is, however, concern about how well Sweden's 1.8 million pensioners--out of a total population of 10 million--will adapt. "A lot of elderly people feel excluded," says Johanna Hallen of the Swedish National Pensioners' Organization. "Only 50% of older people use cash cards regularly and 7% never use cash cards. So we want the government to take things slowly."
The digital payment revolution is also a challenge for tourists, who need pre-paid tickets or a Swedish mobile to catch a bus in the capital. "There's a worry about crime and theft as well," says Arvidsson. "Figures show that computer-related credit card crime has almost doubled in the last decade." | high14939.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "end poverty and solve the problems about environment"
},
"options": [
"end poverty and make school beautiful",
"find environmental answers and keep the words that they always told themselves",
"end poverty and solve the probl... | When you are little, it's not hard to believe you can change the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed delegates at the Rio Earth Summit. "I am only a child," I told them ."Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environment answers, what a wonderful place this would be. In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not to be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the thing you tell us not to do ? You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words."
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing _ . Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I've sat through many more conferences, I'm not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual's voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I'm learning that as we have to make choices -- education, career, lifestyle -- life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are taught that economic growth is in progress, but aren't taught how to pursue a happy, healthy or sustainable way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for the future when we were 12 was ideal and innocent.
Today I'm no longer a child, but I'm worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change. | high5977.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "the stories are long and the language is out of date"
},
"options": [
"his stories are very boring",
"the stories are long and the language is out of date",
"they are hard to understand",
"his television dramas are more... | The famous English writer, Charles Dickens, is on every British child's school reading list. Though Dickens is one of England's greatest writers, he is not often read. Most people do not read his books because they think they are too long and the language he uses is old-fashioned . Television, however, has rescued this great English writer from disappearing in the modern age.
In the UK for several years, Dickens' novels have been turned into exciting television dramas. His latest book to be filmed is his little known story Little Dorrit. Before the story became a 15-part television drama most Britons were unaware that Dickens had ever written it.
Most of the Dickens television dramas are so well filmed that English students are likely to watch them in class while studying his book. There are, however, some differences between the books and television dramas. The television dramas often give more time to the exciting parts of Dickens' books. For example, there is far more kissing scenes in the television shows than there are in the books.
Some television dramas have also slightly changed Dickens' female characters to make them more acceptable to a modern audience . In Dickens' books his females are often weak and emotional. The TV dramas, however, show them as being fairly independent-minded.
Several TV critics have argued that Dickens' stories are actually better suited to television than they are being read as books. Their reasoning is that Dickens wrote his stories for newspapers. A chapter would appear in the newspaper each week so Dickens ended each chapter at an exciting moment. People then would buy the newspaper the following week to find out what happened later. This makes his stories perfect for being shown on television as 15-part programs. | high20444.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "In a Los Angeles hospital."
},
"options": [
"At home in Los Angeles.",
"In a Los Angeles hospital.",
"On the stage in London.",
"In an ambulance to hospital."
],
"question": "Where did Michael Jackson die?",
... | Michael Jackson, the American pop legend, died of a cardiac arrest in a Los Angeles hospital, just weeks before he hoped to resurrect his four-decade long career with a series of sold-out shows in London. The pop superstar was taken to the University of California at Los Angeles medical centre last night, and doctors tried resuscitation (,) in the ambulance. He did not regain consciousness and was reported dead about three hours later.
"My brother, the legendary King of Pop, passed away on Thursday 25 June at 2:26pm," his brother Jermaine said, "We believe he suffered a cardiac arrest at his home, however the cause of his death is unknown until the results of the autopsy are known. The personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitated him."
A spokesman for the UCLA medical centre said, "When he arrived at hospital at approximately l:14pm, a team of doctors attempted to resuscitate him for a period of more than one hour, but they were unsuccessful." Police said they were investigating, which is the standard procedure in such cases.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long decline from his peak in the 1980s when he was music's greatest all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV. His 1982 album Thriller, which included the blockbuster hits Beat It, Billie Jean and Thriller is still the best-selling album of all time, with over 50m copies sold worldwide.
The world famous entertainer had planned a series of 50 concerts in London from 12 July. Although in the last two decades his reputation was destroyed by charges of child molestation and his fantastic public behavior, all tickets were sold within hours, proving the King of Pop had enduring appeal. | high21982.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To keep the earth safe and clean by adults and kids"
},
"options": [
"To keep the earth peaceful and beautiful by adults and kids",
"To keep the earth balanced by adults only",
"To keep the earth safe and clean by adults and ... | Earth Day is on April 22nd.People say thanks to the Earth and learn ways to keep the Earth safe and clean.But saving the Earth is not just for grow-ups.Kids are also taking an active part in it.
The American writer and filmmaker Lynne made a film called Young Voices for the Planet.It lists a lot of stories about different kids who help to keep our environment clean.
Team Marine, US A group of students at Santa Monica High School started an organization called Team Marine.They tell people why plastic bags are bad for sea animals and environment.In 2011, they successfully made lawmakers in their city stop people using plastic bags.
Felix, 15, Germany In 2007, a 9-year-old boy, Felix, started a club,Plant for the Planet.It encourages children around the world to plant trees in their own countries.Felix helped plant 25 million trees in Germany and 120 million trees worldwide.
Alec, 17, US When he was 12, Alec set up Kids VS Global Warming.It teaches kids about weather change and ways to stop the world getting warmer and warmer.Alec travels widely to encourage people to help stop global warming.He has given more than 70 talks across the country.
Olivia, 13, US When Olivia was 11, she heard about the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.She painted 500 pictures of birds to raise money for the clean-up.She raised more than $200,000 to protect birds and other wild animals. | high10587.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He had a great time there."
},
"options": [
"He had a great time there.",
"Italy has a lot of attractions.",
"His friend invited him there.",
"He didn't stay in Italy long enough."
],
"question": "Why does the a... | One summer my friend and I decided to go to Italy for a holiday and we decided to travel there without going through a travel agency. You know, you would be submerged in crowds of tourists and lose lots of opportunities to get familiar with the country more closely. We started to think over our trip and managed to come up with a free tour of Italy.
The trip was not very long but it was still very impressive. We look forward to going there again! Of course, we spent lots of time arranging the trip, but it was well worth it! Of course I was afraid that something would go wrong and I was especially anxious about my visa, but everything went quite smoothly in the end. ks5u
The most difficult part was getting a visa without an invitation. In the Italian consulate , one must hand in some official paper proving that one has a hotel booked for oneself in order to get the visa. Then we had to solve the ticket problem. Airlines often sell cheap tickets and we bought ours far in advance. The next step was to book a hotel. We finally booked a hotel about thirty km away from the heart of Rome and it was the perfect choice for our trip.
Every day we took a train that carried us to the heart of Rome. Our big house, which was surrounded by the forest, was a rare girl for the fresh air and silence, beautiful views, hospitable hosts, comfortable living conditions delighted us to no end. Besides this, we were very lucky that our mistress was Russian. She gave us a lot of advice that was of great use. She told us what transport to choose and where the best places to go.
Don't be afraid to arrange your trip by yourself. It's not difficult! The only thing I'll say right now is that we really enjoyed traveling by ourselves. We walked with a map and a guide-book to wherever we wanted and we even met some of our fellow countrymen on the way just two or three times. So, if you're also planning a "single" trip, don't forget to take a Russian-Italian phrasebook as people in Italy prefer to speak in their native tongue. | high16848.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Traveling long distances."
},
"options": [
"Infection.",
"High blood pressure.",
"Traveling long distances.",
"Bleeding."
],
"question": "Which is not included in the five leading causes of women's deaths during... | Pregnancy and childbirth kill more than 536,000 women a year. More than half of the cases happened in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, most of the deaths are preventable with basic medical care.
The five leading causes are bleeding, infection, high blood pressure, longtime labor and bad abortions . Mothers' deaths from such causes were largely reduced nearly a century ago in developed countries.
Experts say that what kill many women are "the three delays"-- the woman's delay in deciding to go to the hospital, the time she loses traveling there and the hospital's delay in starting treatment. Only about 15 percent of births have dangerous complications .
Women lack education and information about birth control. Husbands and inlaws, may decide where a woman gives birth and insist that she stay at home to save money. However, there is no single solution to a problem with so many factors--shortages of doctors, nurses, drugs, equipment, roads and transportation--though hospital officials are trying many things now.
One _ measure to solve the problem for the present has been to train assistant medical officers, to perform certain operations. Some African countries are now struggling to train more assistants and midwives , and provide places for pregnant women to stay near hospitals.
But there is a long way to go. Only 20 percent of women in the continent give birth at the hospital. More than 50 percent stay at home to give birth, and the rest go to local clinics that cannot handle emergencies. | high20322.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They care just as much as girls do about their body image."
},
"options": [
"Use this as an opportunity to discover what you're good at.",
"Be yourself.",
"They care just as much as girls do about their body image.",
"J... | Many people think of guys as being carefree when it comes to their appearance. But in fact, a lot of guys spend plenty of time in front of the mirror. 86 .
Body image is a person's opinions and feelings about his or her own body and physical appearance. 87 . You appreciate your body for its capabilities and accept its imperfections.
So, what can you do to develop a positive body image? Here are some ideas:
Recognize your strengths. Different body types are good for different things. What does your body do well? Maybe your speed, strength, or coordination makes you better than others at a certain sport. That may be basketball, table tennis, mountain biking, dancing, or even running. Or perhaps you have non-sports skills, like drawing, painting, singing, playing a musical instrument, writing, or acting. 88 .
Exercise regularly. Exercise can help you look good and feel good about yourself. Good physiques don't just happen. 89 . A healthy habit can be as simple as exercising 20 minutes to one hour three days a week. Working out can also lift your spirits.
Respect your body! Practicing good habits --- regular showering; taking care of your teeth, hair, and skin; wearing clean clothes, and so on --- can help you build a positive body image. | high16690.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "To know when to bring them inside."
},
"options": [
"To know when to bring them inside.",
"To keep them from eating bad food.",
"To help them find shelters.",
"To keep them company."
],
"question": "Why are pet ... | Cold weather can be hard on pets,just like it can be hard on people.Sometimes owners forget that their pets are just as used to the warm shelter as they are.Some owners will leave their animals outside for a long period of time,thinking that all animals are used to living outdoors.This can put their pets in danger of serious illness.There are things you can do to keep your animal warm and safe.
Keep your pets inside as much as you can when the weather is bad.If you have to take them out,stay outside with them.When you're cold enough to go inside,they probably are too.If you must leave them outside for a long time,make sure they have a warm,solid shelter against the wind,thick bedding,and plenty of non-frozen water.
If left alone outside,dogs and cats can be very smart in their search for warm shelter.They can dig into snow banks or hide somewhere.Watch them closely when they are left outdoors,and provide them with shelter of good quality.Keep an eye on your pet's water.Sometimes owners don't realise that a water bowl has frozen and their pet can't get anything to drink.Animals that don't have clean and unfrozen water may drink dirty water outside,which may contain something unhealthy for them. | high13930.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "How desert animals survive in deserts."
},
"options": [
"Why animals live in deserts.",
"What animals live in deserts.",
"How desert animals survive in deserts.",
"Desert --- the home of many animals"
],
"questi... | Living in the desert is really hard! With less than 10 inches of rainfall a year, deserts are dry all year round. Lots of heat from the sun and a shortage of water are just a few of the challenges facing desert animals.
Deserts are homes to many animals and plants. Few large animals have got used to life in the desert because their size makes it difficult to find shelter from the heat and they can't store water.
In order to survive, desert animals have developed a number of ways to live in their special habitat. The most common way is staying under plants or rocks or digging underground in the heat of the day. And many desert animals stay in shelter during the day and hunt at night when it is cool.
Some animals get the water they need from the insects, plants and seeds they eat, and do not need to drink. They do not have sweat glands and pass only small amount of waste water.
Some animals develop their own ways of surviving in deserts. The Thorny Devil is a kind of lizard that lives in Australian desert areas. It has a body that channels raindrops directly into its mouth when it rains. Water-holding frogs spend most of the year underground in Australian desert areas, and develop a sort of cocoon that enables them to store water to keep them going through the dry times. When it rains, they come out to lay their eggs in ponds. The eggs hatch within days and develop quickly, before the water dries out. | high22535.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "took photos of Moscow subway stations"
},
"options": [
"is a world-famous architect",
"is studying Russian history",
"took the subway to and from work",
"took photos of Moscow subway stations"
],
"question": "We... | For many people around the world, a subway journey means speeding from one dull station to the next,surrounded by too many uncomfortable, impatient people. But on the Moscow Metro, taking the subway is like walking through a national heritage site. Depending on where you get off,you'll receive a brief course in architectural movements and face colorful glass windows, marble columns, gilded mosaics and painted scenes from Russian history.
"These extraordinarily beautiful places are unlike any metro station I've ever seen," says Vancouver-based photographer David Burdeny.
When Burdeny, who himself has a master's degree in architecture, first found out about Moscow's metro stations, he was struck by the work of art. In all, he has photographed 20 of the most beautiful stations.
Burdeny had originally planned to focus on Russian stations more generally, taking photos of examples in both St. Petersburg and Moscow.
"But when I saw the stations in Moscow, they just completely blew away the St. Petersburg ones,"he says.
Shooting in the subway sounds simple, but it is not without challenges. For one thing, Burdeny had to figure out a way to access them between 12:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., when the stations were closed.
In the end, he settled on Arbatskaya Metro Station, whose vaulted arches he found the most beautiful. But it also represented a challenge he was not sure he was able to overcome: conveying the hugeness of the spaces. The Arbatskaya platform, for example, stretches 820 feet."Some of the arches are quite long," he says. "When you enter them, they' re just so completely grand." | high14087.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The U.S. - led NATO must answer for all the loss caused by the bombing incident."
},
"options": [
"China's view point on the entry to WTO has changed little.",
"The atmosphere surrounding the WTO accession talks was not at all infl... | China's position on the World Trade Organization(WTO) issue has not changed, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said yesterday at a routine press briefing.
However, the atmosphere surrounding the WTO accession talks has been spoiled by NATO'S bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade , he added.
Zhang stressed the US - led NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia had aroused the strong indignation of the Chinese people, and put Sino - U. S. relations into difficult straits.
The bombing incident has affected the atmosphere surrounding the two sides' negotiation on the WTO accession, he said China demanded prompt, adequate and effective compensation for the Chinese loss of lives, injuries and loss of property.
Shen Guofang, China's acting permanent representative to the United Nations, said on Wednesday that "Kosovo is Part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and it is not the United Nation's trustee territory".
Shen, who took the floor at an international conference on Kosovo as the senior representative of Chinese Foreign Minister TangJiaxuan, called on the international community to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. | high7806.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
},
"options": [
"Uncle Tom's Cabin",
"Harriet Beecher Stowe",
"Plot Summary of a Novel",
"Abraham Lincoln and a Novel"
],
"question": "The best title for the text would be_.",
"question_t... | Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a significant effect on worldwide attitudes toward African-Americans and slavery. In the United States, it is widely thought to have helped deepen the sectional conflict that led to civil war.
Stowe, a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Academy and an active abolitionist , focused the novel on the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering Black slave around whose life revolved the stories of other characters--both fellow slaves and slave owners.
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel, and the second best-selling book following the Bible, of the 19th century and is credited with helping to fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States alone. The book's influence was so great that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the American Civil War, Lincoln is often quoted as having declared, "So this is the little lady who made this big war."
The book also helped create a number of common stereotypes about Blacks, many of which are still popular to this day. These include the affectionate, dark-skinned mother; the stereotype of black children and so on.
The book opened with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife(Emily Shelby) believed that they had a good relationship with their slaves, Shelby decided to raise the needed funds by selling two of them--Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby's maid Eliza--to a slave trader. | high24144.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Young people deserve more understanding"
},
"options": [
"Should the young show respect for the old?",
"A debate between the young and the old",
"Who should be blamed, the young or the old?",
"Young people deserve more ... | Nowadays, the younger generations are often complained about the selfishness and lack of respect by the older generations. It is undeniable that some young people do need to be educated on mutual respect and concern for others, especially senior members of society. But we older people should have some understanding about the young, too.
Today's society is rather different from what it was when we were young. The social, financial and psychological pressure today's young people have to face is much higher than what we did back in the 1950s through the 1990s.
They are in the early stage of their career. They have to find proper jobs to support themselves and work hard to rise. They have to live in smaller houses, because they are unable to afford the rising housing prices. Considering these facts, we may find it understandable why young people sometimes appear aloof and disrespectful.
I don't mean that we should put up with it without reminding them of the need to mend their ways. What I mean is that we should be more patient, understanding and tolerant toward them.
For instance, when we get up on a bus or a subway train, we should not complain about not being offered a seat. A young person does not offer a senior citizen his/her seat probably because he/she has to travel a long way to work or because the carriage is too crowded for one to move at all.
In fact, young people do offer their seats to the seniors. I seldom take a bus or a subway train, but more than a quarter of the times I have done so, I was offered a seat. That is fair enough, considering that I do not look so old. But on occasions, I have seen old people not showing any sign of gratitude when offered a seat.
China has become an aging society since the end of the last century. According to a recent survey, people older than 60 accounted for 11.4 percent of the nation's population. And the percentage is expected to rise because of the one-child family planning policy our country has practiced for more than three decades.
In other words, the younger generations will have to shoulder a heavier burden in looking after the parents and grandparents. Theoretically, there will come a day when one couple may have to support four parents and eight grandparents. What a burden it would be!
All this require that we should show more concern and understanding to our younger generations. | high16860.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "the problem has attracted public attention"
},
"options": [
"judges are no longer serious",
"new laws are introduced in some states",
"the problem has attracted public attention",
"drivers do not appreciate their manly ... | Drunken driving--sometimes called America's socially accepted form of murder--has become a national epidemic . Every hour of every day about three Americans on average are killed by drunken drivers, adding up to an incredible 250,000 over the past ten years.
A drunken driver is usually defined as one with a 0.10 blood alcohol content or roughly three beers, glasses of wine or several glasses of whisky drunk within two hours. Heavy drinking used to be an acceptable part of the American manly image and judges were serious in most courts, but the drunken slaughter has recently caused so many well-publicized tragedies, especially involving young children, that public opinion is no longer so tolerant.
Twenty states have raised the legal drinking age to 21, reversing a trend in the 1960s to reduce it to 18. After New Jersey lowered it to 18, the number of people killed by 18-20-year-old drivers more than doubled, so the state recently upped it back to 21.
Reformers, however, fear raising the drinking age will have little effect unless accompanied by educational programs to help young people to develop "responsible attitudes" about drinking and teach them to resist peer pressure to drink.
Though new laws have led to increased arrests and tests and, in many areas already, to a marked decline in accidents, some states are also punishing bars for serving customers too many drinks. A bar in Massachusetts was fined for serving six or more double brandies to a customer who "obviously drunk" and later drove off the road, killing a nine-year-old boy.
As the accidents continue to occur daily in every state, some Americans are even beginning to speak well of the 13 years of national prohibition of alcohol that began in 1919, what President Hoover called the "noble experiment". They forgot that legal prohibition didn't stop drinking, but encouraged political corruption and organized crime. As with the booming drug trade generally, there is no easy solution. | high2956.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "8,700,000 French-Canadians"
},
"options": [
"30% of the British-Canadians",
"45% of the Canadians",
"29,000,000 Canadians",
"8,700,000 French-Canadians"
],
"question": "About _ live in Quebec.",
"questio... | Canada is a the second largest country in the world. But it has a very small population.
There are only about 29 million people there. Most Canadians are of British or French
origin, 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 Britain. Nearly 30% are of French origin. Most of the French-Canadians live in the
province of Quebec .
Over the years, people have come to live in Canada 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. | high21014.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "More than 18."
},
"options": [
"Under 18.",
"More than 18.",
"16.",
"More than 16."
],
"question": "According to the law what age of person can the store be allowed to sell cigarettes to?",
"question_type": ... | Connie Lau hates smoking. "It smells awful, and it's so bad for you. It breaks my heart to see my friends smoking. I try to get them to give up smoking." She says.
So why does Connie walk into convenience stores and try to buy cigarettes? She is testing to see if stores will sell cigarettes to a kid who is younger than 18. "You have to be 18 to purchase cigarettes, and I'm 16, so if they sell to me, they're breaking the law," Connie says.
Connie isn't a vigilante ; She works with local police in her town of Castro Valley, California. Officers drive her to stores, and she goes in alone to try to buy cigarettes. If the person behind the counter sells her a pack, an officer comes in and writes the business a ticket for breaking the law.
Most stores obey the law and don't sell her cigarettes. The law requires that customers show ID if store employees ask them to. "When they ask your age, you can't lie," Connie says. "Most stores don't sell to me. In a year, we've visited almost 150 stores and had only 15 sales."
Working undercover can be scary, even with police nearby. Connie said one cashier refused to sell her cigarettes and then got angry when he found out her age. He threatened to call the authorities. "To calm him down, the police went in to explain that I was undercover," she says.
Most teens wouldn't think of going undercover for the police. What's Connie's motivation ? For starters, she can't stand smoking. But she also believes it's important for young people like her to try to make a real impact in their communities. In her view, teens can do more than get good grades in school, do chores at home, and do well in out-of-class activities.
Every time she stops the sale of cigarettes to children, she's helping to uphold the law. "A single teenager can make a big difference," Connie says. "For the most part, when stores get caught, they learn their lesson and don't do it again." | high3490.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "On the website."
},
"options": [
"On the website.",
"In a newspaper.",
"In a magazine.",
"On a poster."
],
"question": "Where can the passage be found?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
... | The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina
For the first time ever, two little fairy tale characters meet in one fun-filled, action-packed musical adventure. Trying to find their way in a great big world, Tom Thumb and Thumbelina join forces and face difficulties in a great journey to find their true home.
Starring: Elijah Wood, Peter Gallagher
Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes
Buy with 1 click
Uptown Girls
Carefree Molly Gunn loses her inheritance and must do something she's never done before---to get a job. She ends up as babysitter to an 8-year-old girl who teaches Molly to be a grownup, while Molly teaches her to be a kid.
Starring: Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning
Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
Buy with 1 click
Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story
Based on a true story, the movie Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story is about the British author's rise to fame, from poor single mother to author of the popular Harry Potter books, and one of the wealthiest woman in the world.
Starring: Poppy Montgomery, Emily Holmes
Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
Buy with 1 click
The Book Thief
To everyone's excitement, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson star in this moving film based on the bestseller about a girl who changes the lives of those around her in World War II Germany.
Starring: Emily Watson, Geoffrey Rush
Runtime: 2 hours 11 minutes
Buy with 1 click | high9803.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "tell the parents the locations of their children after school"
},
"options": [
"prove that the partner has told a lie about working late",
"tell the parents the locations of their children after school",
"provide the friends ... | Millions of people will be able to track each and every move by friends and family through their mobile phones,thanks to a new feature launched by Google yesterday.
The new system named "Latitude" uses a map to show exactly where a loved one is at any time, sometimes discovering their location to a few meters.Worried parents will be able to check up on where their children have got to after school, friends can meet for a quick drink if they see they are nearby and wives will be able to see if their husbands really are working late at the office.
The feature was made available immediately on millions of mobile phones that can access the web,such as the BlackBerry.Within weeks Google hopes to launch a new one that wilt also work on computers as well.
"Once you've shared your location,you can hide it from all of your friends at once,or you can turn off Google Latitude completely at any time." said a Google spokesman."You can adjust your privacy settings in Latitude so that you share as much or as little about your location as you want,with whom you want."
Google said that the company had tested the product with thousands of people to make sure that it was safe for the customers,but experts were not so sure.Simon Davies,director of Privacy International,said Latitude would open up a "privacy minefield ".
"It's about the little white lies.You might be avoiding going to work, and now your boss might be able to see that you're at Twickenham instead of at home."said Ian Angell, an information expert at the London School of Economics."You've already got mobile phone technology where husbands and wives track each other in secret.Now Google is so widely used that it will only worsen the situation." | high23603.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "it is natural,nutritious and prepared from real oranges"
},
"options": [
"it contains only a small percentage of real juice",
"it is natural,nutritious and prepared from real oranges",
"it is largely orange-colored sugar wate... | How to eat healthfully can be especially complex for working women who often have neither the desire nor the time to cook for themselves (or for anyone else ).Registered dietitian Barbara Morrissey suggests that a few simple rules can help.
"Go for nutrient-dense foods,"she suggests,"foods that contain a multiple of nutrients. For example,select whole wheat bread as a breakfast food,rather than coffee cake. Or drink orange juice rather than orange drink,which contains only a small percentage of real juice--the rest is largely colored sugar water. You just can't compare the value of these foods, the nutrient-dense ones are so superior,"she emphasizes.
Morrissey believes that variety is not only the spice of life,it's the foundation of a healthful diet. Diets which are based on one or two foods are not only almost impossible to keep up the strength,they can be very harmful, she says, because nutrients aren't supplied in enough amounts or balance.
According to Morrissey,trying to find a diet that can cure your illnesses,or make you superwoman is _ ." As women,many of us are too concerned with staying thin,"she says,and "we believe that vitamins are some kind of magic cure to replace food."
"We need carbohydrates,protein and fat-they are like the wood in the fireplace. The vitamins and minerals are like the match,the spark,for the fuel,"she explains." We need them all,but in a very different proportions . _ ." | high713.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Music helps us to learn"
},
"options": [
"Music helps us to learn",
"We cannot live without music",
"Different music, different lives",
"Music in the classroom"
],
"question": "Which of the following can be the ... | A new study, conducted by British company Mindlab International, has found that listening to music at work increases accuracy and speed,The Telegraphreported. Perhaps, some parents disagree with this idea, saying, "Switch off the music and concentrate!" Well, if that's the case with your parents, you might now be able to convince them that you have science on your side.
The company gave 26 participants a series of different tasks for five days in a row, including spell checking, mathematical word problems, data entry, and abstract reasoning. The participants completed these tasks while listening to music or no music at all.
The results showed that while music was playing, 88% of participants produced their most accurate test results and 81% completed their fastest work. David Lewis, chairman of Mindlab International, toldThe Telegraph, "Music is a very powerful management tool if you want to increase not only the efficiency of your workforce but also their emotional state... _ are going to become more positive about the work."
However, you may have a list of your favorite songs, but not all kinds of music match all homework. For maths or other subjects involving numbers or attention to detail, you should listen to classical music, the study found. In the study, pop music enabled participants to complete their tasks 58% faster than when listening to no music at all. If you are reviewing your English writing, pop music is the best choice, as it is the best kind for spell checking. It cut mistakes by 14%, compared to listening to no music. After finishing your homework, do you often take time to check your answers? Maybe, some dance music is suitable for you. | high14911.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "At school."
},
"options": [
"On the beach.",
"At the hospital.",
"At school.",
"At home."
],
"question": "Where was the writer when she learned her mother was sick?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
}... | I will never forget the day--- September 10th2009, when my class went on a field trip to the beach and I had so much fun.When we returned to school, my teacher told me to go to the headmaster's office.When I got into the office, I saw a police officer.Suddenly, I realized something was wrong.The police officer told me what had happened and we went to pick my sister up.After that, we went to the hospital and waiteD. Time went slowly.Finally, we got to see our mother.It was terrible.
On the next day, the headmaster came and told my two teachers what had happeneD. I was taking a test that day.I knew it had something to do with my mother.I kept thinking that she either died or had gotten better.How I wished that she had gotten better.When my teacher took me outside, my sister ran up to me.She started crying, "She's gone, Terresa, mommy's gone.She's deaD. " I couldn't believe it.We jumped into the car and drove straight to the hospital.Most of my family were there.The silence was terrible.I knew I had to say goodbye.
Today when I look back, I still miss my mother very much, but I know that I will live.My mother was a strong mother, who had the biggest heart.She was an angel walking on the earth.I will always remember her as a living.When someone is asked who their hero is, they usually say someone famous, like Michael Jordan or Britney Spears.When someone asks me who my hero is, I tell them, my mother.My mother lives everyday.That is what makes her a true hero. | high11869.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "stop the dolphinkilling"
},
"options": [
"stop the dolphinkilling",
"win an international award",
"support Greenpeace's efforts",
"make Taiji wellknown in the world"
],
"question": "Ric O Barry made The Cove bec... | All Ric O Barry wants is to stop the dolphinkilling, so he is headed to this seaside Japanese town, Taiji.The American activist, who is the star of a new awardwinning documentary that portrays the dolphinkilling here, got an unwelcome reception when he showed up here this week for the start of the annual hunt.
His movie, The Cove , directed by National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, was released in the United States a month ago but has not yet to come out in Japan.
Scenes in the film, some of which were shot secretly, show fishermen banging on metal poles stuck in the water to create a wall of sound that scares the dolphins-- which have supersensitive sonar --and sends them fleeing into a cove.
There, the fishermen sometimes pick a few to be sold for aquarium shows, for as much as $150,000. They kill the others, spearing the animals repeatedly until the water turns red. The meat from one dolphin is worth about 50,000 yen, and is sold at supermarkets across Japan.
Greenpeace and other groups have tried to stop the hunt for years.Activists hope The Cove will bring the issue to more people internationally--and eventually in Japan.
Already,the Australian town of Broome dropped its 28year sistercity relationship with Taiji last month,partly because of the movie.
"Some regions have a tradition of eating dolphin meat," said fisheries official Toshinori Uoya. "Dolphinkilling may be negative for our international image, but it is not something orders can stop."
The town government in Taiji--which has made whales and dolphins its trademark--refused to comment about The Cove, or the growing international criticism against dolphinkilling.
Many in Taiji take the dolphin hunt for granted as part of everyday life. They are _ about The Cove,seeing themselves as powerless victims of overseas pressure to end a simple and honest way of making a living. | high5787.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "didn't show any talent for sport"
},
"options": [
"was too weak to take part in any sport",
"didn't receive any education at school",
"didn't show any talent for sport",
"was encouraged to teach herself at home"
],
... | As a child,hopelessly unsporty,Rosie Pope nerve made the hockey team. But at the age of 57,in 2003, she ran around the world.
Setting off from home in Tenby,she returned four years, 10 months later,having run 20,000 miles through Europe, Siberia,Alaska,Canada,America,Greenland and Iceland. Moreover,she did it alone with a small cart of food and equipment - running with it through the frozen wastes of Siberia and the streets of New York.
Now Pope is at it again: she has just completed 26 marathons in 26 days. "If I can start out again at 63 and feel like 36,then anyone can,because I don't think I'm a superwoman.I'm a very ordinary person,"she said.
Pope spent her early childhood in remote County Limerick in Ireland with her grandmother after her mother died when she was two.Her father also died at the age of 47.Pope didn't go to school regularly until she was 13;she was encouraged,instead,to spend her time outside,learning about the natural world.But it was her first husband,Colin Swale,a fearless sailor,who introduced her to the world of extreme adventure.In 1973 they became the first to go around Cape Horn in a catamaran .And in 1983,after they separated,Pope went on to sail across the Atlantic alone.After discovering running at 47,she spent her fifties completing a series of marathons in far-away places.
But it was the death of her second husband,Clive,a businessman and photographer,from cancer,that triggered her biggest challenge so far.
She had been thinking of running for cancer awareness,when"something broke through my grief as I was liiking at a world map on the wall.I thought I could do this."Pope is now a motivational speaker."Running around the world,or going to the moon or whatever,is only a metaphor ,"she says."The most extraordinary adventure is every day of your life." | high21766.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "using the brain"
},
"options": [
"using the brain",
"connecting things in your brain",
"lifting weights",
"doing research about the brain"
],
"question": "Training muscles is compared to _ .",
"question_t... | Many people think of the brain as a mystery.They don't know much about intelligence and how it works.When they do think about what intelligence is,many people believe that a person is born smart,average,or dumb--and stays that way in the whole life.But new research shows that the brain is more like a muscle--it changes and gets stronger when you use it.And scientists have been able to show just how the brain grows and gets stronger when you learn.
Everyone knows that when you lift weights,your muscles get bigger and you get stronger.A person who can't lift 20 pounds when he/she starts exercising can get strong enough to lift 100 pounds after working out for a long time.That's because the muscles become larger and stronger with exercise.And when you stop exercising,the muscles shrink and you get weaker.That's why people say "Use it or lose it!"
But most people don't know that when they practice and learn new things,parts of their brain change and get larger a lot like muscles do when they exercise. Inside the cortex of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells,called neurons. The nerve cells have branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems. When you learn new things,these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get stronger.The more you challenge your mind to learn,the more your brain cells grow.Then,things that you once found very hard or even impossible to do--like speaking a foreign language or doing algebra --seem to become easy after learning them for a period of time.The result is a stronger,smarter brain.
Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied animals'brains.They found out that animals that lived in a challenging environment were more _ --they were better at solving problems and learning new things. | high5793.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "keep himself occupied and happy"
},
"options": [
"ease his heart condition",
"keep himself occupied and happy",
"earn money to pay for treatment",
"realize his childhood dream"
],
"question": "The author's fathe... | Many years ago, my dad was diagnosed with a serious heart condition. He was unable to work a steady job. He would be fine for a while, but would then fall suddenly ill and have to be admitted to the hospital.
He wanted to do something to keep himself busy, so he decided to volunteer at the local children's hospital. My dad loved kids. It was the perfect job for him. He ended up working with the seriously ill children. He would talk, play, and do arts with them.
One of his kids was a girl with a rare disease that paralyzed her from the neck down. She couldn't do anything, and she was very depressed. My dad decided to try to help her. He started visiting her in her room, bringing paints, brushes and paper. He stood the paper up, put the paintbrush in his mouth and began to paint. He didn't use his hands at all. All the while he would tell her, "See, you can do anything you set your mind to."
At the end of the day, she began to paint using her mouth, and she and my dad became friends. Soon after, the little girl was sent home because the doctors felt there was nothing else they could do for her. My dad also left the children's hospital for a little while because he became ill. Some time later after my dad had recovered and returned to work, in came the little girl who had been paralyzed, but this time she was walking. She ran straight over to my dad and hugged him really tight. She gave him a picture she had done using her hands. At the bottom it read: "Thank you for helping me walk."
My dad would cry every time he told us this story and so would we. He would say sometimes love is more powerful than doctors, and my dad - who died just a few months after the little girl gave him the picture - loved every single child in that hospital. | high20478.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "get away from the farm"
},
"options": [
"earn more money for his family",
"learn something from a salesman",
"get away from the farm",
"get enough to eat"
],
"question": "Frank took a short business course in or... | Frank W. Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York, in 1852. His family was very poor farmers, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be a farmer. He took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city.
Woolworth realized he had a natural skill for displaying goods to arouse people's interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said: FIVE CENTS EACH. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared.
Soon afterwards, Woolworth opened his own store, selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities directly from the factories. Once, for example, Woolworth went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half.
By 1919, Woolworth had over 1,000 stores in the USA and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made many millions and his name became famous throughout the world. He always ran his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT." | high23171.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "4 oC"
},
"options": [
"10oC",
"-2 oC",
"4 oC",
"-18 oC"
],
"question": "Which is the best temperature for storing your food in the fridge?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | You may think your bathroom is often full of bacteria and so you give it a complete cleaning once a week. But how often do you clean out and disinfect your fridge? Well, probably not often enough, according to a recent study, which found out that the fridge is the second dirtiest place in your house, just behind the bathroom.
Fridge temperatures were often set too high, allowing the growth of bacteria, which included E.coil, Enterobacteria, and S. aureus, all of which will give you an easy access to food poisoning. So what can you do to ensure your fridge---and your food in it---is not a health threat?
For starters, clean the fridge weekly---wipe it and repeat.
Make sure your fridge is at the correct temperature for storing food, between 0 and 5 degrees centigrade. Your freezer should be below-18 degrees centigrade. You can use fridge and freezer thermeters to make sure this is the case.
Some modern fridges have zones to store different types of food ,such as meat and vegetables. Make sure you don`t store meat in the vegetable zone, as the temperature there might be higher.
Make sure you don not leave the door open too long as the temperature in the fridge will quickly rise, creating a breeding ground for bacteria.
Cover food that has not been finished, and eat it within a couple of days.
Keep bottles and jars closed.
Keep raw meat away from cooked meat. Both should be well covered to prevent pollution.
Store raw meat at the bottom of the fridge to stop juices dripping onto other foods.
Finally, use common sense, and throw away old food. | high7184.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The turtle population has decreased in spite of human protection."
},
"options": [
"Nature is quite fair regarding the survival of turtles.",
"Turtles are by nature indifferent to human activities.",
"The course of nature wil... | For hundreds of millions of years, turtles have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings down to the water's edge lest (for fear that) they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead. A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines. With all that attention paid to them, you'd think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct (die out).
But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds. The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana. The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from "threatened" to "endangered"-- meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.
Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway? It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egg-laying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. "The threat is from commercial fishing," says Griffin. Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and longline fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles.
Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems. The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm. Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection. | high14905.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "When he was in his childhood."
},
"options": [
"When he was in his childhood.",
"After his films The Abyss and Titanic.",
"After he achieved great Success in movies.",
"When he began to explore the deep sea alone."
... | Film director James Cameron first became interested in sea exploration when he was a little boy.His love for the ocean grew after he made the 1989 undersea adventure film The Abyss and the 1997 blockbuster Titanic,one of the most successful movies of all time.Following that big success,James Cameron decided to put his film career on hold to become an explorer.
In 2012,James Cameron made a journey to the deepest spot in the Mariana Trench,known as Challenger Deep.And now the great journey has been made into a documentary film,named James Cameron's Deep-sea Challenger 3D.
In James Cameron's fantasy films,such as Avatar and The Abyss,the unexplored areas are decorated in colors and full of danger.But on his dive into Challenger Deep,the reality proved far different: white, deserted and dull.
"I felt like I had gone to another planet,"Cameron said after returning from the cold and dark place in the Western Pacific Ocean,nearly 7 miles below the surface."I really have a sense of being separated and realize how tiny I am down in this big, black and unexplored place."
Cameron captured the moon-like landscape of the deep sea and documented the sea creatures he observed in the ocean.
James Cameron's Deep--sea Challenger 3D tells the story of Cameron' s journey.It is a film about determination,danger and the ocean'S greatest depths.The movie shows a unique insight into Cameron's world when he makes his dream reality and makes history by becoming the first person to travel alone to the deepest point on the planet.
It's an exciting film and inspiring reminder that our beautiful planet still has a lot to explore. | high9817.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Unexpected things will make you excited and surprised."
},
"options": [
"When you watch it, you will certainly feel cold.",
"Something strange will puzzle everyone, including scientists.",
"Unexpected things will make you exc... | What's on stage
An acrobatic show: To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the China Acrobatic Troupe will present "The Soul of China", where the seemingly impossible is made real. Chills will run down your spine as you watch breathlessly as performers take their art and their bodies to the edge.
Time: 7: 30 p. m., September 13-19
Place: Capital Theatre, 22 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District
Exhibitions
Joint Show: A group ink painting exhibition is running at the Huangshicheng Art Gallery in Beijing. About 50 works by 25 young artists including Ge Yun and Yu Yang are on display.
Time :9:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. until September 10
Place:prefix = st1 /HuangshichengArtGallery, 136 Nanchizi Dajie, Dongcheng District
Oil paintings:The Wanfung Art Gallery will host a joint show of oil painting by 10 young and middle-aged artists. On display are, more than 30 of their latest works, which capture the wondrous variety of life in unique styles.
Time:9:00 a. m. - 4:00 p. m. until September 15
Place:136 Nanchizi Street, Dongcheng District
Literature museum: The National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature offers an in-depth study of the evolution of Chinese contemporary literature from 1919 to 1949.
Time: 9:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., daily
Place: 45 Anyuan Donglu, Chaoyang District (Shaoyaoju area)
Concert
Beijing rocks: "The Fashion Night of Chinese Rock" is set to bring rock fans out by the thousands next month. Nine Chinese rock bands will perform at the concert, including older generation bands, middle generation and some recent arrivals. The audience will be given a chance to decide what songs they want to hear, which is sure to bring a storm.
Time:September 11-14
Place:The Olympic Center | high22509.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "show its great achievements to the whole world"
},
"options": [
"attract more athletes to take part in the Beijing Olympics",
"show its great achievements to the whole world",
"prove China has become a great developed country... | China has mapped out plans for its new launches in the Shenzhou program on the next flight. But one conclusion seems to have escaped most reports in the aerospace media.The flight of Shenzhou 7 could be timed to coincide with the Beijing Olympics. Plans for 2008 Summer Olympics call for the events to be held between the 8th and 24th of August in that year. It's reasonable to expect that China will use the event to display its achievements before the world, and human spaceflight is China's most significant recent breakthrough.
Shenzhou 7, China's next manned space mission, was originally advertised for 2007.This fit the pattern of staging a two-gap between crewed Shenzhou missions, which have previously launched in 2003 and 2005.But Chinese media statements have amended this to 2008.Chinese media have reported that the whole program is going well, more time is needed to work on spacesuit that will be used on this flight to stage China's first spacewalk. It's possible that Chinese engineers want to make best preparations for this complex mission.
China could intend to carry out the mission of Shenzhou 7 just as media attention is focused on the lead--up to the Olympics. The crew of the fight, and possibly China's other flown astronauts, could then take part in the opening ceremony. China has previously honnoured her space travelers in great celebrations, such as the Hong Kong event that saw Yang Liwei singing with Jacky Chan. | high23617.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To spend his holiday."
},
"options": [
"To meet his girlfriend.",
"To spend his holiday.",
"To work as an engineer.",
"To visit the Andersons."
],
"question": "Why was Duret in New York?",
"question_type": "... | (NEW YORK) A French tourist highly praised for rescuing a two-year-old girl in Manhattan said he didn't think twice before diving into the freezing East River.
Tuesday'sDaily Newssaid 29-year-old Julien Duret from France was the man who left the spot quickly after the rescue last Saturday.
He lifted the little girl out of the water after she fell off the bank at the South Street Seaport museum. He handed the girl to her father, David Anderson, who had dived in after him.
"I didn't think at all," Duret told theDaily News. "It happened very fast. I reacted very fast."
Duret, an engineer on vacation, was walking with his girlfriend along the pier when he saw something falling into the water. He thought it was a doll, but realized it was a child when he approached the river. Immediately, he took off his coat and jumped into the water.
When he reached the girl, she appeared lifeless, he said. Fortunately, when she was out of the water, she opened her eyes.
Anderson said his daughter slipped off the bank when he was adjusting his camera. An ambulance came later for her, said Duret, who was handed dry clothes from onlookers. Duret caught a taxi with his girlfriend shortly after.
The rescue happened on the day before he left for France. Duret said he didn't realize his story of heroism had greatly moved New York until he was leaving the city the next morning.
"I don't really think I'm a hero," said Duret. "Anyone would do the same thing." | high707.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "You can sleep in the tree house."
},
"options": [
"You can sleep in the tree house.",
"You can choose any of the towers.",
"It is designed for big families.",
"Every room has a walkway."
],
"question": "What is ... | Coolest Hotels in the World
Artau Aragon Towers
The Ariau Amazon Towers hotel lets you sleep in a tree house. Eight towers make up this hotel that offers over 300 rooms. If you really want to get into the spirit, book the Tarzan Suite which is large enough for a big family. You'll be thirty feet up in the air and can travel between the towers through their wooden walkways.
Prices: starting at $300 one night for each person for a regular room and going all the way up to $3000 for the Tarzan Suite.
For more information, visit the website: http://Hwww.ariautowers.com
The Ice Hotel
Every winter in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, a special kind of hotel called the lce Hotel is built. Each year, world-famous artists are invited to design and produce works of art from the ice, many of which can be found in the rooms. You'll have your choice between hot or cold rooms but you will be well advised to stay at least one night in a cold room for a true experience.
Prices: starting at $318 one night for each person for either a cold room or a warm one. For more information, visit the website: http:Hwww.icehotel.com
Propeller Island
Propeller Island City Lodge is a very special hotel that was designed by a German artist. Each room provides you with the possibility of living in a work of art. Every single piece of furniture in the thirty rooms of the hotel has been hand-made and each room is completely different. You'll be able to choose a room based on your own personal tastes.
Prices: starting at just $91 a night, and an additional person for only 20 extra dollars. For more information, visit the website: http://www.propeller-island.com
For information about other cool hotels In the world, visit the website: http://www.bahamabeachclub.com | high1293.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "All of the above."
},
"options": [
"Work.",
"Family.",
"The place we live and the lifestyles we choose.",
"All of the above."
],
"question": "According to the passage, where might the stress come from?",
"qu... | Have you taken inventory of the stress in your life? Stress can come from work. It can come from family. It can come from the places we live and the lifestyles we choose.
In a recent survey, 60 percent of respondents said the city in which they live is noisier now than five years ago. The other 40 percent? They didn't hear the question.
How much stress do you feel? Though not all stress should be avoided, too much pressure can cause lasting harm in practically every area of your life. The solution is to take control.
Robert Reich did just that. As Secretary of Labor in the Clinton cabinet ,Robert B. Reich, told of his decision to resign from the stressful job. He said,"I have the best job I've ever had and probably ever will. No topping it."It was true. He seemed to love his job. But he added, "I also have the best family I'll ever have, and I can't get enough of them."And there was the problem --too much of a good thing. He could not give himself to his family and to this particular career at the same time.
So Reich said,"I had to choose, I told the boss I'll be leaving, and explained why." His boss, of course, was the president of the United States. And the country took notice. Some people were surprised. Here was a high government official who made a decision to step out of an important and powerful position in order to spend more time at home. He took control.
That is the first step to free ourselves from unnecessary stress: take control. Make the hard decision. It may be a decision for less money, a smaller home, a new location, a different job, less prestige ,or a simpler lifestyle. But one thing I believe: it will be a decision you will never regret. | high16874.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Just enough to buy his lunch in the office."
},
"options": [
"Just enough to buy chocolates.",
"Just enough to buy a sandwich.",
"Just enough to buy his lunch in a restaurant.",
"Just enough to buy his lunch in the offi... | Once there was a large ,fat woman who had a small, thin husband .He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly pay every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays ,his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in the office every day. One day the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the radio and eating chocolates there.
"You will never guess what happened to me today, dear." he said.
He waited for a few seconds and then added, "I won ten thousand pounds on the lottery!"
"That's wonderful!" said his wife happily. But then she thought for a few seconds and added angrily, "But wait a moment! How could you afford to buy the lottery ticket?" | high21000.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "1-23456-7"
},
"options": [
"1-2345-67",
"1-23456-7",
"123456-7",
"123-4567"
],
"question": "Which of the following shows the RIGHT structure of the text?",
"question_type": null
}
] | 1Isaac Stern was more than a great violin player. He was one of the most honored musicians in the world. He was an international cultural ambassador. He was a major supporter of the arts in America and in other countries. He was a teacher and activist.
2Isaac Stern was born in 1920 in what is now Ukraine. His parents moved to San Francisco, California the following year. His mother began teaching Isaac the piano when he was six. He began taking violin lessons after hearing a friend play the instrument. Later, he began studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory .He progressed quickly. When he was 16, he played with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The next year, he performed in New York City and was praised by music critics.
3During World War II, Mr. Stern played for thousands of American soldiers. It was the first time many of them had heard classical music. After the war, he was the first American violinist to perform in a concert in the Soviet Union. He also supported young musicians and cultural organizations in Israel.
4In 1979, Isaac Stern visited China. He met with Chinese musicians and students. He taught them about classical Western music. His visit was made into a film, which is calledFrom Mao to Mozart:Isaac Stern in China. It won an Academy Award for best documentary film.
5In 1984, Isaac Stern received the Kennedy Center Honors Award for his gifts to American culture through music. He expressed his thoughts about the part that music plays in life. He said he believed that music makes life better for everyone, especially children.
6Mr. Stern supported and guided younger classical musicians. They include violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, _ Yo -Yo Ma, and pianist Yefim Bronfman.
7Isaac Stern died in 2001 at the age of 81.He was a major influence on music in the 20th century. He leaves the world richer with his many recordings. | high2942.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Taking Medicine, with Microchip under Skin"
},
"options": [
"A New Company Called Microchips",
"A New Way to Take Medicine Every Day",
"Good News for Women with Osteoporosis",
"Taking Medicine, with Microchip under Skin... | Researchers in the United States have developed the first wirelessly controlled device that can supply a drug directly into the body. A small chip is implanted under the skin. It contains the medicine, which it releases at preset times. The developers say the device could improve the lives of millions of people who take medicine for long-term illnesses. A company calledMicrochips began developing the device about fifteen years ago. Last month, the company _ the results of its first successful tests in humans. The tests took place in Denmark with seven women with osteoporosis .
Osteoporosis causes bones to become weak and break easily. The disorder is common among older people especially women. Many patients have to give themselves daily injection of medicine. One type of treatment requires injections for two years. The patients stop taking the medicine because of the pain and stress of the injections. As a result, only twenty-five percent of the patients will go through the entire twenty-four months of treatment.
The microchip is a few centimeters long. It has small sections and each section holds a single dose of medicine. The device has to be programmed with the times to release the drug. Doctors will be able to reprogram the device from a computer or even a cell phone.
For osteoporosis, the physician will program the device, and the device has the ability to release a dose at a given time, every single day. For other diseases, where the physician may want to change the dosing schedule, they will have the ability to wirelessly reprogram that dosing schedule.
The seven women in the study were ages of sixty-five to seventy. The researchers say the implants were just as effective as daily injections. And they say the medicine amounts were more exact than patients often give themselves. | high3484.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "easy"
},
"options": [
"hard",
"easy",
"difficult",
"important"
],
"question": "For many students, it's _ to go to school.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index... | How do you get to school? Do you walk or ride a bike? Do you go by bus or by train? For many students, it's easy to get to school. But for the students in a village in Sichuan province, it is difficult. There is a very big river between their school and the village. There is no bridge and the river runs too quickly for boats. So these students go on a ropeway to cross the river to school.
One 11-year-old boy, Liang liang, crosses the river every day. But she is not afraid. "I love to play with my classmates. And I love my teacher. He's like a father to me."
Many of the students and villagers never leave the village. It is their dream to have a bridge. Can their dream come true? Can you help them? | high16647.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "report a piece of news"
},
"options": [
"describe research findings",
"report a piece of news",
"make advertisements",
"suggest a solution"
],
"question": "The author's main purpose in the text is to _ .",
... | On March 28th, the New York Times will begin charging all but the most infrequent users to read articles online.
In a letter to readers, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the publisher of the paper, laid out the details of the paywall, which he said will go into effect immediately in Canada and on March 28th for the rest of the world. He called the move "an important step that we hope you will see as an investment in the Times, one that will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform."
Sulzberger said that readers will be able to read 20 articles per month at no charge. Once they click on the 21st piece, however, they'll be presented with three payment options: $ 15 for four weeks of online and mobile application access, $ 20 for access to the site and the iPad application, or $ 35 for access to everything. People who already receive the printed paper through home delivery will enjoy free and unlimited access to the Times on all platforms.
These details largely agree with earlier reports on how the paywall would work. The Times had made it clear that it did not want to imitate the total paywalls put into effect by papers such as The Times of London and Newsday, which block access to all contents unless the reader pays.
The paper also signaled that it wants to stay relevant in the social media world. According to Sulzberger's announcement, people who come to the Times site from Facebook, Twitter or from blogs will be able to read those articles even if they have gone over their monthly limit.
However, Sulzberger said that a limit will be placed on "some search engines", meaning that after readers have accessed a certain number of articles from search engines, any further articles they access from there will be added to their monthly count. It was reported that the only search engine that will be affected this way is Google, where there will be a five-article limit. This marks a clear attempt by the Times to close what could be a giant loophole , since so much online traffic is directed through Google. But it also presents a risk for the Times for the same reason.
Sulzberger seems well aware of the risk. "The challenge now is to put a price on our work without walling ourselves off from the global network," he said, adding that the Times must "continue to engage with the widest possible audience." | high4300.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "About 24 hours."
},
"options": [
"about 12 hours.",
"About 6 hours.",
"About 18 hours.",
"About 24 hours."
],
"question": "How long did it take to go from Urumqi to Lanzhou by the usual train before?",
"ques... | The new high-speed railway line between Urumqi,capital of the Xinjiang Uygur self-governing region,and Lanzhou,capital of Gansu province,has cut train travel time by half to less than 12 hours.
The dramatic improvement will benefit many families planning reunions for Spring Festival.
"For the first time,I feel home is not that far away after all,"said Liang Shaofu as he boarded a high-speed train in Urumqi with six members of his family.
The 35-year-old left Lanzhou to set up a dry fruit business in Xinjiang eight years ago,and he has now settled in Urumqi.
The 1,776-km line,which passes through Qinghai province and is the country's first high-speed railway to be built in a high-altitude region,came into service on Dec 26.
"We normally drive home for Spring Festival to avoid the difficulties of buying seven train tickets for the whole family during the peak season,"Liang said."Driving can be very tiring and dangerous sometimes,so one year we even decided not to go back to Lanzhou simply to avoid the trip."
More than 600,000 passengers traveled on the line during its first month,and the Urumqi Railway Bureau said the introduction of high-speed services will ease transport pressure during the Spring Festival peak season.
The existing usual railway line could no longer support Xinjiang's development.All passenger trains will gradually shift to the new link,leaving the old one to be used for goods.As a result,Xinjiang's annual goods ability could reach 200 million metric tons from the current 70 million.
The line passes through areas that experience high winds,and it also crosses parts of the deserted Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the bone-dry sands of the Gobi Desert.
The project could help China to promote its high-speed railway technology abroad,said Ma Xi zhang,director of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway project's _ management department in Xinjiang. | high11128.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "read reviews on the Internet."
},
"options": [
"ask the opinion of others",
"surf famous review sites.",
"ignore topics of review sites.",
"read reviews on the Internet."
],
"question": "Nowadays, before buying ... | It's a natural phenomenon. The minute you think you want to buy something new, you go online to read reviews about it. Not only is this done with shopping, it's also done for movies to see , restaurants to go to and almost everything that is worth having an opinion on. The concept of writing down a review for all to see is something that has caused the birth of reviews sites. These are sites where people post reviews on other people, services, businesses, products and more.
In some cases you have professionals do the review and in some other cases you will have the average person write it up. Review sites have a number of ways in which they can gain _ for themselves in the form of advertising. In some cases, a business can pay his way through to a better listing spot. This does not mean that a positive review will be promoted where it is not warranted .
Review sites are largely a public forum and it is not necessary for people to reveal their identity. Since people are anonymous and sign up access is open to all, there are chances that reviews will be planted or will be negatively written simply to discredit a particular product or service.
There is a lot of criticism towards these websites since they do nothing to control the kind of entries made or the source of these entries. On the other hand, there are professional review sites. These people are accountable for each of their reviews. Any doubts you have will be addressed personally by the one writing the review. Such sites work on much better principles allowing for a fair opinion.
Considering they have a better reputation, they are aware of some the latest products that are released worldwide. This gives you a better chance of finding reviews of the latest product. While a review site will help you narrow down your choice, it by no means should influence your final decision. That is based entirely on the way you see fit. | high2771.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "not found around the poles"
},
"options": [
"not willing to share food",
"not found around the poles",
"more successful than all other animals",
"too many to achieve any level of organization"
],
"question": "We... | There are an extremely large number of antsworldwide. Each individual ant hardly weigh anything, but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles.Foranimals their size, ants have been astonishingly successful, largely due to their wonderfulsocial behavior.
In colonies that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achievethis level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants dependprimarily on pheromone , chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tastedby fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.
In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.
Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective intelligence greater than you would expect from itsindividual parts. | high10236.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "student"
},
"options": [
"teacher",
"director",
"student",
"co-operator"
],
"question": "What does the underline word in Para,5 mean?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"an... | BEIJING(China Daily2010-8-27)---With a rapid increase in the number of Chinese PhD graduates programs in the past decade, it seems the quality of educating doctoral students is falling.
About 70 percent of employers complain that employees who hold PhDs show little creation in their work performance, according a resent survey.
The number of PhD students in China reached 246,300 in2009, about five times the figure in 1999. China replaced the United States to become the world's top producer of doctorate holders in 2008, according to an Asia Times report.
"Nowadays, it is not rare for people in their 30s to become professors in Chinese universities, but I really doubt their experience and capability at such a young age," said Ge Daoshun, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Almost half of the professors admitted each of them had to direct more than seven PhD candidates. Some 60 percent of PhD candidates admitted they have been given more than half of their professors' research projects. The relationship between PhD students and their teachers has become an employment, in other words, a "master-apprentice" relationship, since professors use their students as cheap labor to do research.
"Chinese universities should reform the tutorial system and introduce more stricter requirements for people to get a PhD diploma to improve the quality of education," Ge told China Daily.
However, Liu Xin, a 25-year-oldPhDcandidate at the University of Sussex in England, argued that a major reason China is producing low quality doctorates is that most of the candidates do not have a passion for academic research... "The best college students of China have seldom ended up in academic positions. Most of them want to work in either banking or foreign companies, which pay much better." | high17559.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "People studied more animals and plants to develop the airplane."
},
"options": [
"People carried out a systematic study on pigeons.",
"People studied more animals and plants to develop the airplane.",
"People could fly their ... | Humans might be the most highly-evolved species on the planet, but most animals possess skills we can only dream of having. Imagine how much electricity we could save if we could see in the dark the way cats do. Imagine leaping from tree to tree like a monkey. Giraffes, which are otherwise calm and good-natured, sleep only 4.6 hours a day.
We realized a long, long time ago that nature provides the best blueprint for invention. We've borrowed canals from beavers and reflectors from cat's eyes. Although the words "bionics" became popular only after the 1960s, history shows that nature has always provided ideas on solving everyday problems. Our archives don't go back to the time of Leonardo da Vinci and his bird-like flying machines, but we can take you to the late 19th century, where we applied those same principles for building our first practical airplanes.
To prepare for their flight at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers studied the movements of pigeons to figure out how they stayed high up when they were heavier than air. Their success inspired scores of successors to improve on the airplane by studying various aspects of nature. One of Orville Wright's pupils caught and stuffed seagulls to examine their wingspan. Meanwhile, two French inventors examined spinning sycamore seeds in an effort to apply those same motions, reversed, to a helicopter .
Some examples are more obvious than others. The outside of the airplane designed by the Wright brothers looks like a minimalistic structure. On the other hand, Barney Connett's fish submarine actually looks like a fish.
Some bio-inspired concepts have yet to be invented. In the 1960s, the US Army commissioned several university professors to conduct research on the motor skills animals in hope of applying those same abilities to tanks. Tanks that run like horses or jump like grasshoppers -sounds shocking, doesn't it? But imagine how life would change if we could achieve that. | high6517.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Your body clock still works on weekends."
},
"options": [
"You are not willing to admit that you are old.",
"You need to relax on the weekend.",
"Your body clock still works on weekends.",
"You can never get enough slee... | Sleeping in is one of the best parts of the weekend. After a long, exhausting work week, sometimes all you want to do is sleep. _ Now you can finally catch up on your sleep.
Except you can't. When you open your eyes Saturday morning, it's still early. If this were a weekday, you'd be up before your alarm. So what's the deal?
We hate to break it to you, but you've pretty much done this to yourself. Your body is very good at recognizing patterns and adjusting accordingly. If you've got a 9-to-5 job, you're getting up early five days a week. This effectively sets your body clock to wake you at a certain time each day. You can shut off your alarm clock, but your body clock will just keep ticking.
There's another reason that you probably don't want to think about: You're just not as young as you used to be. We need less sleep as we get older. Babies need between 16 and 20 hours. Teenagers should (but often don't) get nine hours a night. Younger and middle-aged adults need eight. In general, the older you get, the harder it is to snooze the day away.
Even if you do manage to sleep in, you may never fully catch up on your sleep. If your body needs eight hours every night and you only get six or seven from Monday to Friday, you'd have to sleep an extra five to ten hours on Saturday to make it up. And experts say even that may not be enough.
The bottom line: Sleep when you can, and enjoy those extra weekend morning hours. Who doesn't want a longer weekend? | high14050.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Hollywood movies."
},
"options": [
"American novels.",
"Hollywood movies.",
"McDonald's.",
"American music."
],
"question": "What plays an important part in the spreading of American culture in Spain?",
"que... | The influence of America is increasing in my country. Spanish people drink Coca Cola, wear blue jeans, watch Hollywood movies, listen to American music, and eat fast food, and they do these things every day.
I think that American movies are a good way to spread American culture because people are often influenced by what they see in the movies. Most of the programs and documentaries we watch on TV are from America, and most of the movies we go to see are made in Hollywood.
In the last few years, the government has tried to protect the Spanish movies. Now, in our cinemas, at least twenty percent of the movies which are shown must be from Spain or from other countries in Europe.
American culture is a part of Spanish life now. It's certain that many things from America are as much a part of people's lives as Spanish things. For example, Coca Cola is as familiar to everybody as any typical Spanish product. I've known about Coca Cola for my whole life.
However, it's different with Western fast food. For example, I don't think McDonald's is as successful in Spain as it is in other countries. In my opinion, one of the reasons may be the lifestyle of the Spanish people. The Spanish people normally eat at home.
On the other hand, maybe McDonald's hamburgers will eventually replace the famous Spanish tapas. It's true that in every city in Spain you can find a McDonald's, and it is more popular among the Spanish children than among the adults. In any case, it's obvious that American culture is becoming more and more a part of our lives every day. | high9624.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Mr Bunter had somehow fallen down the bridge backwards"
},
"options": [
"Mr Bunter had been punished because of his disbelief in ghost",
"the ghost had hit Mr Bunter and he had fallen backwards",
"Mr Bunter had somehow fallen... | For three days Mr Bunter did not say a word. He looked at people sensibly enough but seemed unable to hear any questions put to him. An officer remarked to the captain, "Those brass plates on the steps of the bridge-ladder are very dangerous things. "
"Are they?" replied Captain Johns, "It takes more than a brass plate to make an able-bodied man fall down in that way. And the weather fine, everything dry, and the ship going on a smooth sea!"
On the fourth day, the chief officer looked better. He could hear and understand and could even speak in a weak voice.
"Well, Mr Bunter," said Captain Johns, "Can you tell us what caused the accident!"
Bunter moved his head slightly and fixed his cold blue stare on the Captain's eyes and said in a whisper, "You--were--right!"
"Bless my soul!" cried out Captain Johns, "Do you mean you had a supernatural experience that night? You saw a ghost on my ship?"
Unwillingness, shame, disgust would have been seen on poor Bunter's face if a good part of it had not been wrapped in bandage . He tried hard and answered, "Yes, I have seen."
"And did it --did it knock you down from the ladder?"
"Come! Am I the sort of man to be knocked down by a ghost?"
Captain Johns pointed a finger at Bunter. "You've been terrified, " he said , "That's what's the matter, even the man at the wheel was frightened, though he couldn't see anything. He felt the supernatural. You've been punished because you wouldn't believe, Mr Bunter. "
"Suppose I have, " said Bunter, "You don't know what I saw. And I can't tell you what it was like. Every man has his own ghosts. I stepped back. I don't remember anything else. "
"The man at the wheel said you went backwards as if something had hit you."
"It was a sort of inward blow, " Bunter explained, "Aren't you satisfied now that I believe?" | high24193.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "was carried out online and offline"
},
"options": [
"was conducted by sohu.com",
"is conducted every year",
"was carried out online and offline",
"covered about half a million netizens"
],
"question": "The natio... | A latest national survey has found that over half of China's netizens are suffering from various mental problems although some 62 percent of them claim at the same time that they are happy on the whole anyway.
This is the result of China's first White Paper on Netizens' Health Conditions issued on Wednesday by 39.net, China's largest authoritative website on health sciences. It is the first most comprehensive health survey on netizens' health situation ever conducted in China in ten years' time. The white paper came out after two months of online and offline research that involved over 150 thousand netizens, covering topics and questions on health knowledge, mental situation, sense of health, and living habits.
According to the white paper, more than 70 percent of China's netizens say they are suffering from mental problems such as bad memory, anxiety, depression, and a lack of confidence. And a similar 72 percent of them also say they are often suffering from diseases like insomnia, dizziness, joint degeneration and achings. Meanwhile, another 53 percent of netizens believe that white collar employees who have bigger work pressures are more likely to catch mental problems.
The white paper adds, doing almost no sports and spending long time surfing online lead to the above mentioned health problems among netizens. Only 9 percent of netizens take up sports on weekends while over 40 percent stay home, surfing. And only 16 percent netizens can assure more than eight hours' sleeping daily.
At present, China has a netizen population of 162 million, with a monthly consumption of 186 yuan, or about 25 dollars, on Internet surfing. | high12421.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": ". terrorist attacks"
},
"options": [
". terrorist attacks",
"luggage damage",
"flight delays",
"air crash"
],
"question": "The new measure was adopted to guard against.",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"... | CHICAGO (AP) On Jan. l,an order went into effect requiring that every checked bag at more than 400 of the nation's commercial airports be screened for bombs and weapons.
Sunday was expected to the heaviest travel day since Jan. l. Yet spot checks on Sunday at several of the nation's airports showed no major delays caused by the new security measures.
At the international terminal for Northwest Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport inprefix = st1 /New York, passengers waited up to 30 minutes longer than usual. Their bags were sent through giant screening machines and workers tore open taped boxes and searched through their contents before closing them up again.
Most travelers simply accepted stricter screening developed since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11,2001,before which only 5 percent of the roughly 2 million bags checked each day were screened for bombs.
The U. S. government has put an additional 23,000 people into airports to carry out the new order.
Sonny Salgatar, a 23-year-old college student flying home to San Diego fromChicago, was told by an airport officer after the first pass that one of his bags was "hot", meaning there was something he couldn't identify and he wanted to open the bag for an inspection.
The "hot" item turned out to be Salgatar's clothing iron.
"Listen, anything they want to do for security is OK for me," Salgatar said. But not all of the passengers hold the same viewpoint as Salgatar's, complaining that they had to arrive at the airport too much time ahead of their schedule. | high23824.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Species become smaller as climate warms"
},
"options": [
"Why do some species become smaller?",
"Species become smaller as climate warms",
"Climate change has many negative effects",
"How does temperature change in Eart... | "Plants were expected to get larger with increased carbon dioxide in atmosphere, but changes in temperature, humidity and nutrient availability seem to trumped the benefits of increased carbon dioxide," said researchers from the National University of Singapore.
45 percent of the species studied now reach smaller adult sizes than they did in the past. The researchers pointed out that warmer temperatures and changing habitats, caused by climate change, are possible reasons for shrinking creatures.
"We do not yet know the mechanisms involved, or why some organism are getting smaller while others are unaffected," the researchers said. "Until we understand more, we could be risking negative consequences that we can't yet quantify."
The change was big in coldblooded animals. Only two decades of warmer temperatures were enough to make reptiles smaller. An increase of 1 degree centigrade caused nearly a 10 percent increase in metabolism . Greater use of energy resulted in tiny tortoises and little lizards. Fish are smaller now too. Though overfishing has played a part in reducing numbers, experiments show that warmer temperatures also stop fish growth. There is a recent report on warmer temperatures' negative effects on plankton , the base of the marine ecosystem.
Warmblooded animals weren't immune from the size change caused by climate change. Many birds are now smaller. Mammals have been miniaturized too. Soay sheep are thinner. Red deer are weaker. And polar bears are smaller, compared with historical records.
This is not the first time this has happened in Earth's history. 55 million years ago, a warming event similar to the current climate change caused bees, spiders and ants to shrink by 50 to 75 percent over several thousand years. That event happened over a long time than the current climate change.
The speed of modern climate change could mean organisms may not respond or adapt quickly enough, especially those with long generation times. So, it is likely that more negative influences of climate change will be shown in future. | high7609.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "he supports the idea of staycation"
},
"options": [
"he has no interest in the scheme",
"he supports the idea of staycation",
"he doubts the benefit of the scheme",
"he cares most about London tourism"
],
"quest... | The British are being encouraged to holiday at home as a major tourism drive offering Olympic themed discounts is launched next week.
A new campaign offering 20. 12% discounted bills at participating venues will be announced publicly for the first time by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday to encourage "staycations".
The scheme includes hotel accommodation, meals, guided tours and entry to attractions, with discounts funded by the industry. Government officials said more than three million hotel rooms were already lined up under the project, which is being backed by a range of companies, including Butlins. Attractions, such as the London Eye and Alton Towers, are also taking part. Reduced prices will also be offered on stays on the Royal yacht Britannia, now harboring in Leith, Edinburgh, and visits to Chatsworth, the historic house in Derbyshire.
Tourists will be able to take advantage of the discount by using a dedicated website before the end of the Paralympics on September 9 to make bookings for this year and 2013.
Mr. Hunt said, "With the Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympic Games, this year is the perfect opportunity for more of us to holiday in the UK "
Mr. Hunt has travelled the UK, urging companies to take part in the scheme, telling them, _ We will never have a year like 2012 to show the world that this is, quite simply, the most exciting, vibrant, cosmopolitan city on the planet. The unavoidable complaints in the run up to an Olympics must not cloud the scale of the opportunity --including our biggest ever tourism marketing campaign to make sure we get a lasting benefit from being in the global spotlight. "
The scheme will be promoted by a PS3 million television advertising campaign -- the first of its kind in the UK.
The government hopes the " Holidays at Home are Great" campaign -- launched by Visit England -- will create 12, 000 jobs, create 5.3 million extra short overnight breaks, and generate PS480 million in extra spending over three years. | high934.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To illustrate the possible situation when pet meets the new baby."
},
"options": [
"To introduce the terrible pets when a mother gets a baby home.",
"To illustrate the possible situation when pet meets the new baby.",
"To exp... | When your pet meets your infant, it might not be love at first sniff.
Baby's Best Friend
When Jennifer Merritt brought her baby, Arielle, home from the hospital, her cherished dogs had very different reactions. Her boxer, Sonya, was immediately gentle and protective. But Tiger, the Pomeranian, was less welcoming: "If any diapers or toys were on the floor, he peed on them!"says the Greenbrier, prefix = st1 /Arkansas, mom. Tiger isn't the first dog to feel jealous of a baby. In the eyes of a pet's, there's a new star in town who's stealing his spotlight. Even the most gentle animal will probably act up if he doesn't get his usual attention. These simple steps will help your pet adjust -- and keep your baby safe.
u Introduce Them with Care
Your newborn and pet's first encounter can set the tone for their relationship. To make it as smooth as possible, try this trick from Caryn Ruiz, of Raleigh, North Carolina: "Before we left the hospital, my husband took blankets home to our dog, Daisy, so she'd know our newborn Devon's smell." When you get home, have your husband carry the baby so you can greet your pet without worrying about her jumping on you. A cat will likely walk away at first, while a dog will probably want to investigate right away.
To introduce your baby, get down on your pet's level and let her have a hello sniff. Don't panic and pull your newborn away unless your pet is barking or hissing, because it'll send the message that the baby is a threat.
u Learn the Safety Basics
No matter how smoothly the introduction goes, there are certain safety rules you should follow, says Bonnie Beaver, DVM, past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Number one: Never leave your baby alone with the pet. Even the gentlest animal can react unpredictably. Your baby's crying could frighten your cat, or your dog could suddenly become territorial. Consider setting up baby gates to limit your pet's access. To keep your cat from jumping into the bassinet , try putting mosquito netting over the top. Cats hate sticky paws, so keep the crib and changing table off-limits by lining the edges with sticky strips made for furniture (available in most pet stores). You can also train your dog to sleep in a crate. | high22284.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "American talk show was pioneered by Oprah."
},
"options": [
"The stop of Oprah's show reflects the decrease of audience.",
"Oprah hosted her show for about 25 years.",
"American talk show was pioneered by Oprah.",
"Opra... | Oprah Winfrey, the queen of American daytime talk TV, is considered one of the most powerful women in the world.Now, after 25 years' hosting The Oprah Winfrey Show, the star has announced she is calling it quits.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the move "signals the beginning of the decline for the daytime talk show." More women are working full-time jobs, and people are turning to cable and pre-recorded shows for their entertainment.
It may be that Oprah isn't quitting so much as moving on.She has created the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), and will most likely move her show to the network.If audiences around the world need Oprah, they well know where to look.
Oprah Winfrey was born to a single teenage mother in a small town in rural Mississippi, US.As a child, she lived with poverty and abuse.But she got a job at a local radio station, where her honesty, emotional style won her many fans.She quickly rose through the ranks of radio and television before launching her own production company and starting her own show.
Oprah's talk show was not the first of its kind, but it quickly became the best and most popular.It made talk shows popular, and others jumped in to start similar shows.But while other talk shows turned ugly, featuring guests who argued and attacked each other with chairs, _
"Part of her power lies in the fact that her life story resonates with her audience, as a kind of version of the American dream," writes Kevin Connolly, a reporter with the BBC.
She became a star because of the way she opened up about her problems to her audience.She shared her own struggles with relationships and weight.She focused on self-help.Connolly believes "something in her honesty and her sometimes painfully emotional directness struck home with a certain type of American". | high12347.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Customers' paying for coffee and having it put on the wall."
},
"options": [
"The waiter's making normal gestures.",
"Customers' buying coffee for the needy.",
"The waiter's attaching coffee orders on the wall.",
"Custo... | I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man called the waiter and placed his order, "Two cups of coffee, one on the wall." We got interested and observed that he was served with one cup of coffee but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter attached a piece of paper to the wall saying "A Cup of Coffee." Similar occasions took place twice while we were there. It seemed that this gesture was quite normal at this place. However, it was something unique and confusing for us.
After a few days, when we again enjoyed coffee there, a man entered. The way this man was dressed did not match the standard or the atmosphere of this coffee shop. Poverty was evident from his looks. As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, "One cup of coffee from the wall." The waiter served coffee to this man with respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper from the wall and threw it in the dustbin.
Now it was no surprise for us; the matter was very clear. The great respect for the needy shown by people in this town moved us to tears.
Coffee is not a necessity. However, the point is that when we take pleasure in any blessing, maybe we also need to think about those people who also appreciate that specific blessing but cannot afford.
Note the waiter, who gets the communication going between the affording and the needy with a smile on his face. Think about the man in need: he enters the coffee shop without having to lower his self-dignity; he has a free cup of coffee without asking or knowing about who has given this cup of coffee to him; he only looked at the wall, placed an order for himself, enjoyed his coffee and left. Besides, we need to remember the role played by the wall that reflects the generosity and care of people in this town. | high13059.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "put themselves in danger"
},
"options": [
"do not influence other walkers",
"do harm to their eyes",
"put themselves in danger",
"can still walk straight"
],
"question": "According to the passage, people texting... | Texting walkers aren't just an annoyance to other walkers, Australian researchers armed with movie special-effects technology have determined scientifically that they're threats to themselves. Using motion-capture technology similar to that used for films, researchers concluded that texting while walking not only affects balance but also the ability to walk in straight line.
"Some people like checking emails while walking to work in the morning" said the study co-author Hoorn, "but they may not know it has a serious effect on the safety of themselves". Other facts have also proved this. A tourist from Taiwan walked off a pier near Melbourne last month while checking Facebook, bringing a sudden and icy end to a penguin-watching visit. Another person who was too _ in his phone to notice dangers walked straight into the fountain in front of a shopping mall.
The Australian study involved 27 volunteers, a third of whom admitted having knocked into objects while texting. They were asked to walk 8.5 meters three times--once without phones, once while reading text and once while writing text, when eight cameras recorded their actions.
They found the volunteers using the phone walked slower, and, more seriously, they locked their arms and elbows in like "robots", which forced their heads to move more, throwing themselves off balance. "In a pedestrian environment, inability to maintain a straight path would be likely to increase potential for traffic accidents", said Mr. Hoorn. "The best thing to do is to step aside and stop, or keep off the phone."
Authorities world-wide have taken note. Signs on Hong Kong's subway system advise passengers in three languages to keep their eyes off their phones. Police and transport authorities have highlighted the danger in Singapore, where the Straits Times newspaper recently declared cellphone-distracted road crossing as "bad habit No. 2" contributing to the rising number of road deaths. Some U.S. states, including New York and Arkansas, are considering bans on what they're calling phone jaywalking. | high14736.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The shepherd hut provides different dining options for the tourists."
},
"options": [
"Vanellus is the biggest shepherd hut around the nature reserve.",
"Tourists cannot continue to use their electronic devices in the hut.",
... | From cosy cabins and yurts to campervans and huts with character and mod-cons, winter camping can be cool, rather than just chilly, in these beautiful UK settings.
Great Langdale, Cumbria
Winner of the Great Outdoors accommodation of the year award 2014, this campsite at the head of a valley is a beautiful spot for winter walks. But while hiking should keep you warm by day, a selection of cosy hideaways will keep you _ at night. Visitors can choose from double-glazed wooden camping pods, which include heating and lighting or, for those who want a more boutique outdoors experience, luxury yurts furnished with Moroccan-style rugs and throws, fairy lights, lanterns and a wood-burning stove. And with the Sticklebarn pub - known for its real ales and good local grub - nearby, you should be able to slip into a pretty comfortable routine in no time.
Standard pods from PS35 a night (two adults, one child), 01539 432733, nationaltrust.org.uk
Vanellus, Elmley national nature reserve, Isle of Sheppey, Kent
In the stunning surroundings of the Isle of Sheppey nature reserve, Vanellus is a large shepherd's hut. From the comfort of your abode (which is hooked up to electricity), you can gaze out through floor-to-ceiling windows as the sun rises and sets, watching birds of prey and other wildlife. The reserve can be explored on foot, or you can book a 4WD tour of the area. The farm has a lounge in a converted barn, where you can hang out or eat communally, but if you really can't bear to step into the cold, you can have meals - including hot bacon rolls for breakfast - delivered to your door.
From PS180 for a two-night stay (sleeps two), 0117 204 7830, canopyandstars.co.uk
The Cabin at NantyrOnnen, near Llandovery, Wales
The Cabin is an unusual octagonal wood structure, built by local craftsmen keen to make an eco-friendly home. The electricity supply, for example, is powered by the nearby stream. From the sheltered veranda you can enjoy views across the hills, and the surrounding countryside is perfect for walking all year round. Inside the cosy hut is a wood-burning stove, and you can also warm up in a recently built spring-fed hot tub.
From PS85 a night throughout December (sleeps two), mulled wine available 15 Dec-4 Jan, 0117 204 7830, canopyandstars.co.uk
Guilden Gate Glamping, Hertfordshire
Just 35 minutes by train from London, the Guilden Gate campsite is ideal for an easy rural family escape from the capital. Set in a woodland glade, a campervan is your main bedroom, and a bell tent can act as another bedroom, or a lounge. There's also a huge wok-shaped hot tub, big enough for six adults. The site is close to Cambridge (20 minutes' drive), so you can explore the city by day - if the icy countryside gets too much.
From PS65 a night (sleeps four, minimum two-night stay), 01763 243960, goglamping.net | high9142.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "was well paid"
},
"options": [
"lived in central London",
"disliked his job",
"missed his children",
"was well paid"
],
"question": "When Daniel was a reporter, he _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"... | As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have. It is likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen a washing machine and a microwave oven. Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need. You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week.
Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long-hours work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes. Many are turning to other ways of living and _ is one of them.
Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs , leaving their two children with a nanny . Most evenings Daniel wouldn't get home until eight or nine o'clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by.
Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales, "I always wanted to have a farm here," says Daniel, "and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift. It's taken some getting used to , but it's been worth it . We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays. However, I think it's made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier."
Liz, however, is not quite sure. "I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours. I'm not really a country girl, but I suppose I'm gradually getting used to looking after the animals. One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children. My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do _ at all." | high20493.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Because they think all the children will do the same."
},
"options": [
"Because they want to be liked by everybody.",
"Because they don't want to make fun of others.",
"Because they are curious about their new friends.",
... | During adolescence , peers play a large part in a young person's life and typically replace family as the center of a teen's social activities. Some kids give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked or because they worry that other kids may make fun of them if they don't go along with the group. Others may go along because they are curious to try something new that others are doing. The idea that "everyone's doing it" may influence some kids to leave their better judgment, or their common sense, behind.
As children grow, develop, and move into early adolescence, contacts with one's peers and the attraction of peer identification increases. As pre-adolescents begin rapid physical, emotional and social changes, they begin to question adult standards and the need for parental guidance. They find it good to turn for advice to friends who understand-- friends who are in the same position themselves. By trying new things and testing their ideas with their peers, there is less fear of being laughed at.
There are two levels of peer pressure. The first is in the large group: for most teens a school or a youth group are examples. This is the situation that gets the most attention. The second is in the close relationship with one or several best friends. This is the situation that is sometimes _ . The large group puts a general pressure on its members. It sets the standard for clothing, music, entertainment, and "political correctness". The pressure can be avoided by keeping quiet or by putting on the appearance of agreement. | high5778.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Refugees can make up the shortage of labor in Germany."
},
"options": [
"Germany has already stepped into aged society.",
"Birth rates in Germany are the lowest in history.",
"She is kind and shows sympathy for homeless peopl... | I love seeing Europeans line up in airports to applaud arriving refugees. But humanitarianism will not guide policy for long. We liberals need to argue from Europe's self-interest: our continent has the need, the space and the ability to accept people.
Many European countries are gradually turning into old people's homes. Germany, Italy, Spain and others have some of the lowest birth rates in human history. It is predicted that about one-third of their populations will be aged over 65 in 2050. Germany needs to import at least 350,000 people a year to keep its workforce stable. Suddenly, young ambitious workers are pouring into the country as if called by a genie with a lamp. No wonder Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, has been more welcoming than David Cameron, British Prime Minister. But all over Europe, carers for old people are already in need. Norway found oil under the seabed but it would have been better off if it had discovered 50,000 nurses there instead.
Many rightwingers think we have reached our limits. This feeling is widespread. And it's true that Western Europe is one of the most densely populated regions on earth. Indeed, density has long been Europe's unique selling point: with so many people of different nations closely packed together, we have always traded goods and exchanged ideas fast. That's why the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries happened here.
But we have plenty more room. Many European cities aren't dense enough. Now east Germany, north-western Spain and gorgeous mountain villages in Italy are losing people. Lots of cities have unused industrial land.
Humans inhabit a slice of the EU's territory. Only about 2.5 per cent of the EU's land is used for housing, estimates the European Commission. By contrast, a whopping 43 per cent was used for agriculture in 2009, it says. That's too much. We could turn more land into forest or into green landscapes where people can relax and play. Making that transition is feasible because we now use agricultural land inefficiently.
Migrants often spend years locked up together in serious government-funded "migrant centers". However, the way to learn a new country's language, make friends and find work is to live with a local. This crisis has shown that lots of Europeans are willing to take refugees into their homes. After Iceland's government said it could take only 50 Syrian refugees, many Icelanders came forward offering to take a far greater number into their own homes. People aren't just sitting around waiting for government to do something.
We need migrants, and we can accommodate them. If opponents just don't like foreigners, they should say so instead of pretending to be hardheaded pragmatists . | high11896.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Tips on How to Manage Stress"
},
"options": [
"Stress Is Good or Not",
"How to Form Good Working Habits",
"Tips on How to Manage Stress",
"Ways to Keep Healthy"
],
"question": "The best title for the passage wou... | A little stress is good, since it helps you keep motivated to meet your goals. However, too much stress is bad for your health. Stress needs to be managed in order to prevent anxiety . Here are some tips on how to manage stress.
Write it out
Write down everything that seems stressful, and ways to deal with each problem. You'll find a things-to-do list much easier to manage than having all messed up in your head. Write down the tasks along with the specific times when you can do them.
One task at a time
Give each task all your attention while you're doing it, and forget the rest. This will keep you from feeling anxious about things you have left to do. Thinking about other tasks only adds unnecessary stress, and can even stop you from doing the task you're busy with at present. You don't need to do everything all at once, or on your own. The feeling of being pressed to finish something on time will somehow disappear if someone is there to help you.
Give yourself a reward
Rewarding yourself for what you've already done, no matter how small, is a great way to motivate yourself to keep going. It will reduce stress, and make you happier to go on with the next task.
Give yourself a break
Breaks of ten to fifteen minutes are important. Visit a cafe or take a quick walk --anything to take your mind off the work for a while. If you need to stay at work, sit with your eyes closed and imagine a peaceful place or some other relaxing scenes. This will remove the stress from your muscles and mind. | high2017.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "will win success this weekend again"
},
"options": [
"will be popular with young people",
"will win success this weekend again",
"will be awarded a big prize this weekend",
"will shock the people for the huge production... | LOS ANGELES ----Disney's "The Lion King", one of the most successful animated films ever, will roar again this weekend with a 3D version that could put it back at the top of the box office with a very proud $12million. The 1994 version was the second highest box-office earning film of that year and ranks fourth on the all-time animated list with over $784 million.
Hot on the heels of the box office success of "The Lion King 3D", Disney and Pixar are remaking four of their classic animated films in 3D versions for movie theaters. Encouraged by the success of "The Lion King 3D", the movie studio said it would release a 3D version of 1991 animated film. "Beauty and the Beast"in January 2012 for a limited run in movie theaters.
It will be followed by Pixar's sea-adventure "Finding Nemo" in September 2012, the classic 1989 Disney romance "The Little Mermaid" in September 2013, following"Monsters, Inc." In January 2013.
"Great stories and great characters are timeless, and at Disney we're lucky to have a treasure of both," said Alan Bergman, president of the Walt Disney Studios. "We're excited to give audiences of all ages the chance to experience these beloved stories in an exciting new way with 3D----and in the case of younger people, for the first time on the big screen," Bergman said in a statement.
Since 1994, "The Lion King " has earned some $883 million at the worldwide box office, including recent sales from the 3D version of the beloved story of the African animal kingdom. Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid" have so far earned $380 million and $228 million worldwide. Pixar's 2001 hit"Monsters, Inc." made $526 million worldwide and the 2003 Oscar winning film "Finding Nemo" made more than $867million. | high21955.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Fish are dangerous to eat because the water is polluted"
},
"options": [
"Fish are sensitive and have personalities",
"He knows fish very well",
"Fish are dangerous to eat because the water is polluted",
"Fish are cleve... | Dr. Sylvia Earle wants you to stop eating fish. It's not because fish are endangered, though wild fish stocks in many oceans are very low. It's not because they're bad for you, though fish in many areas are exposed to poisonous substances in the water. It's because they're smart.
"Fish are sensitive, they have personalities," says the marine biologist. For Earle, eating a fish would be like eating a dog or a cat. "I would never eat anyone I know personally."
There's a lot more to fish than meets the eye: they talk to each other, they like to be touched, and they engage in behavior that can seem very human. They can remember things and learn from experience. Earle and a growing number of animal rights activists see these as strong arguments against eating fish altogether.
The activists also point out that fish feel pain and fish suffer horribly on their way from the sea to the supermarket. "While it may seem _ that fish are able to feel pain, like every other animal, some people think of fish as swimming vegetables," says Dr. Lynne Sneddon. "Really, it's kind of a moral question. Is the enjoyment you get from fishing (or eating fish) more important than the pain of the fish?"
Fishermen and (fried) fish lovers are skeptical. "I've never seen a smart fish," says Marie Swaringen as she finishes off a plate of fish at a Seattle seafood restaurant. "If they were very smart, they wouldn't get caught."
"For years, everyone's been telling us to eat fish because it's so good for us," says another diner. "Now I've got to feel guilty while I'm eating my fish? What are they going to think of next? Don't eat salad because cucumbers have feelings?" | high3309.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "habits"
},
"options": [
"health",
"diet",
"occupation",
"habits"
],
"question": "In the past, a person's appearance could not tell other people about his _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | In Britain today, is it possible to tell a person's class just by looking at him? Physical details alone tell us about health, diet and the type of work a person does. A hundred years ago the working class often looked unhealthy, small and they were either too thin or too fat. The upper classes were often tall, sporting types who were used to a good diet and looked healthy. Today living and working conditions have improved, and such descriptions are no longer true. People are taller now than a hundred years ago. Everyone in Britain today is able to have free medicine, a good diet, acceptable working conditions and enough rest and leisure. WWW.K**S*858$$U.COM
The clothes people choose to wear, however, do provide information about their backgrounds. Expensive clothes look expensive and show their wearer is rich. Clothes can provide other clues as well. The upper classes appear to be less interested in fashion and wear good quality clothes in non-bright colours, made of natural material like wool, leather and cotton. Lower working-class people often choose clothes in bright colours, made of man-made materials. A sociological explanation for this would be that colour and interest are missing from their lives, and therefore any opportunity to produce this is taken.
Clothes are available at a price within most people's reach. New clothes make the wearer feel good and show some degree of wealth to the outside world. Today it is the younger people who spend most money on clothes. Fashion is no longer for the upper classes and the rich. Young people from all social classes spend a lot of money on clothes. Some new fashions are started by working-class people who want to look different and feel important. They want people WWW.K**S*858$$U.COMto look at them. | high16121.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Designing."
},
"options": [
"Drawing.",
"Designing.",
"Painting.",
"Building."
],
"question": "What kind of work did Chris and Ashley do?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Ashley and Chris work in the same department designing postcards. Chris had a college degree in art and deeply felt that the degree of his designs was excellent. His last postcard showed the depth of a desert's beauty and delights.
"It's just a picture of the desert," Ashley said. "Not deep at all."
"Some people desire seeing beauty," Chris replied. "Mine delivers that".
Ashley laughed and said, "well, that depends on what you think beauty is."
Days later, someone delivered a letter to Ashley. The letter said, "You are worthy of the bad things that will come your way. You will know the taste of defeat, and I will destroy you."
Ashley suddenly felt very cold. It was as if the room temperature had dropped 30 degrees. "Who would do such a shocking deed?" she wondered. "I will not let a simple letter defeat me."
Just then, Chris came into the room and offered Ashley a piece of his sandwich.
"Try some," he smiled widely. "It's delicious."
"Are you trying to poison me?" Ashley asked. Chris's answer was delayed from confusion. "What's your problem?" he asked.
The next day, Ashley brought a bat to use to defend herself. When Chris saw her bat, he joked, "Defend and win one for the team."
Ashley took no notice of him. She spent the whole day reading self-defending books and placed her work on delay. "You can't delay your work. Our job demands us to do our work on time," Chris said. "We must meet the demands of our job."
"You're not the boss," Ashley replied. "Don't make demands of me."
Because Ashley failed to do her work, she was fired.
Chris glanced at Ashley's empty desk and smiled. | high4466.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Spanish"
},
"options": [
"English",
"Spanish",
"French",
"ltalian"
],
"question": "We can infer that the official language of Bolivia is most probably _",
"question_type": "summarization_questions"
},
... | I spent three months volunteering with Volunteer Bolivia . It wassometimes annoying, scary and difficult, but also life-changing, satisfying and amazing. Because I had studied Spanish for a couple of years before I went out, I had just one week of classes at Volunteer Bolivia.
Living with a family also helped my Spanish greatly and l felt immediately like one of their daughters. We were good friends from the beginning of my time there and I was looked after very well. I still had a lot of independence. The Volunteer Bolivia centre, with its cafe bar and cultural talks, was a meeting place for all the volunteers and I met some wonderful people from all over the world who were doing the same as me-giving something of themselves to a country which needs so much.
My job was in a caring centre for prisoners' children from the Cochabamba prisons and from the very start I felt welcomed and needed. There I met some inspiring members who put so much of their heart into caring for those children who maybe had no one else to love them. Not only the work itself was very hard but at times it was emotionally demanding, especially sending a group of two-year-olds back into the prison at the end of the day. Despite all this, I learnt a lot through the experience and now I'm more aware of the problems faced daily by many people in South America. The centre has very limited funding c) so they depend heavily on the work of volunteers, and any time people give is very valuable to them.
Since returning to Britain I have kept in touch with the people I worked with and I'm trying to support them as much as possible. Volunteering through Volunteer Bolivia has changed my life and is an experience l will never forget. | high19212.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "he would like to do something in the country's Emergency Services"
},
"options": [
"he liked flying",
"he would like to do something in the country's Emergency Services",
"many Britons were in danger at sea waiting for rescue... | Read the following three passages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage.
Britons stranded at sea or in flooded homes could find a real-life prince riding to their rescue. Prince William announced on Monday that he is to train to be a full-time pilot with the Royal Air Force's Search and Rescue Force (SARF).
William, who is currently a Lieutenant in the Army's Household Cavalry Regiment , will transfer to the RAF and begin an 18-month training course in January 2009.
If successful, he will become a fully operational Search and Rescue pilot in 2010, flying Sea King helicopters at one of the six SARF units based in Britain.
"The time I spent with the RAF earlier this year made me realize how much I love flying," the prince, who spent two weeks with a SARF team while on work experience in 2005, said in a statement.
"Joining Search and Rescue is a perfect opportunity for me to serve in the Forces operationally, while contributing to a vital part of the country's Emergency Services."
It means he will follow a similar career to that of his uncle, Prince Andrew, who was a Sea King helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands war.
The Search and Rescue teams' main duty is to recover RAF personnel but in peacetime they mainly respond to civilian emergencies, dealing with more than 1,000 calls a year.
The units deal with incidents ranging from helping those trapped by sudden major floods to rescuing people lost while out walking on hills.
William, who has spent the last year on secondment to the various branches of the military to prepare for his future role as head of the armed forces, received his RAF wings following a four-month stint with the service earlier this year.
However, his time with the RAF was clouded when the Defense Ministry was forced to fend off criticism for allowing the prince to fly military helicopters to a bachelor party for his cousin and to the family home of his girlfriend Kate Middleton. | high20487.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "O"
},
"options": [
"AB",
"B",
"O",
"all of the three"
],
"question": "People with type A blood can receive type .",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
... | You have been badly injured in a car accident. It is necessary to give you a blood transfusion because you lost a great deal of blood in the accident. However, special care must be taken in selecting new blood for you. If the blood is too different from your own, the transfusion could kill you.
There are four basic types of blood; A, B, AB, and O. A simple test can make sure of a person's blood type. Everybody is born with one of these four types of blood. Blood type, like hair color1 and height, is received from parents.
The four groups must be transfused carefully. A and B cannot be mixed. A and B cannot receive AB, but AB may receive A or B. O can give to any other group; therefore, it is often called the universal donor . For the opposite reason, AB is sometimes called the universal recipient . However, because so many reactions can happen in transfusions , patients usually receive only salt of plasma (liquid part of blood) until their blood can be matched as exactly as possible in the blood bank of a hospital. In this way, it is possible to prevent the transfusion from any bad reactions. | high18118.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "developing countries"
},
"options": [
"big countries",
"small countries",
"developing countries",
"developed countries"
],
"question": "Most people who will die from smoking are from _ .",
"question_type"... | The World Health Organization estimates that more than 4 million people die each year from the effects of smoking tobacco . That number is increasing.
WHO officials expect 150 million people to die from tobacco use in the next twenty years. Seven in ten of those deaths will be in developing countries. These numbers are frightening. Yet people around the world continue to smoke.
It is not easy to stop smoking. However, doctors say you will live longer if you do stop smoking. You will feel better and look better. You will also protect the health of family members who breathe in your smoke.
The American Cancer Society says there is not just one right way to stop smoking. It says that one method or a unit of methods may be successful. These include attending self-help programs or following
directions in a book. The group says any way to stop smoking that is legal, moral and effective is worth trying. This could include taking long walks or spending time in areas where smoking is not allowed. Also, you could eat a small piece of fruit instead of having a cigarette.
The American Cancer Society says the sooner smokers stop smoking, the more they reduce their chances of getting cancer and other diseases. It says blood pressure returns to normal twenty minutes after a smoker smoking the last cigarette. Carbon monoxide (CO) gas levels in the blood return to normal after eight hours. In a day, the chances of a heart attack decrease. In a year, the risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker. | high21941.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Its tradition comes from the ancient Romans."
},
"options": [
"It has been celebrated for a long time.",
"Its tradition comes from the ancient Romans.",
"French people celebrated it because of not knowing that King Charles ch... | Every year on April 1, April Fools' Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. In France, it's called Poisson d'Avril or "Fish of April." In Scotland, the holiday is often called "Gowkie Day." In Iraq, the holiday is called Kithbet Neesan or "April Lie."
History experts say people have celebrated April Fools' Day for a long time. Some believe the tradition comes from the ancient Romans more than two thousand years ago. It was a day of playing games and pretending to be someone else.
Others say the day for fooling began in France in 1564, when King Charles changed the yearly calendar . He moved New Year's Day from April 1 to January 1. Many people did not know about the change because of communication problems back then. Some people continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people called them April Fools and played jokes on them.
In the United States, April Fools' Day is just a day of joking and playing tricks on friends. These kinds of jokes are also called pranks. These jokes typically end in the prankster shouting "April Fools'!"
Simple pranks, like telling a friend a funny lie or making prank phone calls, are still common. But, major companies also get in on April Fools' Day fun in a much bigger way. A few years ago, on April 1, Starbucks announced it was introducing new coffee cup sizes -- Plenta and Micra. The very large cups, bigger than a human head, remained useful for customers even after finishing all that coffee. According to Starbucks, the cups could be used as a rain hat, a pot for plants, or a lampshade .
It did not take long for customers to catch on to the prank!
More and more, people use social media or smart phone apps to play pranks on their friends on April Fools' Day. One very annoying smart phone app, Cat Facts, sends funny facts about cats to your friends' phones, every day. | high10544.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "achieving a goal"
},
"options": [
"ensuring harmonious relationships",
"sharing responsibility with group members",
"achieving a goal",
"identifying new leaders"
],
"question": "The passage indicates that instru... | According to sociologists, there are several different ways in which a person may
become recognized as the leader of a social group in the United States. In the fanfily
traditional cultural patterns confer (~z~,) leadership on one or both of the parents. In other
cases, such as friendship groups, one or more persons may gradually emerge as leaders,
although there is no formal process of selection. In larger groups, leaders are usually chosen
formally through election or recruitment.
Although leaders are often thought to be people with unusual personal ability, decades of
research have failed to produce consistent evidence that there is any category of "natural
leaders." It seems that there is no set of personal qualities that all leaders have in common;
rather, virtually any person may be recognized as a leader if the person has qualities that meet
the needs of that particular group.
Furthermore, although it is commonly supposed that social groups have a single leader,
research suggests that there are typically two different leadership roles that are held by
different individuals. Instrumental leadership is leadership that emphasizes the completion of
tasks by a social group. Group members look to instrumental leaders to "get things done."
Expressive leadership, on the other hand, is leadership that emphasizes the collective
well-beings of a social group's members. Expressive leaders are less concerned with the
overall goals of the group than with providing emotional support to group members and
attempting to minimize tension and conflict among them. Group members expect expressive
leaders to maintain stable relationships within the group and provide support to individual
members.
Instrumental leaders are likely to have a rather _ to other group
members. They give orders and may discipline group members who prohibit attainment
of the group's goals. Expressive leaders cultivate a more personal or primary relationship to
others in the group. They offer sympathy when someone experiences difficulties or is
subjected to discipline, are quick to lighten a serious moment with humor, and try to resolve
issues that threaten to divide the group. As the difference in these two roles suggests,
expressive leaders generally receive more personal affection from group members;
instrumental leaders, if they are successful in promoting group goals, may enjoy a more
distant respect. | high21799.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "In a park in the mountains."
},
"options": [
"In a large city.",
"In a park in the mountains.",
"In a special kind of zoo.",
"In three different countries."
],
"question": "Where are these trips?",
"question... | Trip 1 Black Bear Count
There have been fires in this area in the last few years and the Office of the National Park is not sure how many black bears are still living. Some bears have been seen since the fires, and the Office has asked for young people to help count them. The entire trip will last three hours. Bookings necessary.
Cost: Free When: May 8
Trip 2 Garland Valley
Bring your drink and lunch for this walk in a beautiful area of the Blue Mountains. Garland Valley is close to the town of Garland hut is part of the National Park. Many wild animals live in this area, including many rare birds. This is a great walk for bird-lovers. The trip lasts four hours. Bookings necessary.
Cost: $ 15 When: May 8, May 15
Trip 3 Flashlight Adventure
Put on your warm clothes, bring a flashlight and a pair of glasses, and come for a night walk along the Dungog Valley. A guide will lead the tour. Many of the animals you will see on this trip . The guide will tell you about the lives of the animals you see. Numbers are strictly limited on night trips, so be sure to book early. This walk lasts two and a half hours.
Cost: $ 12 When: May 8, May 15, May22
Equipment to be needed:
* Please bring enough water and food for all walks.
* Wear good walking shoes--no high heels.
* Wear a hat for day walks.
* Dress warmly for night walks.
* Children must be with an adult.
* Make sure your flashlight works well and bring extra batteries for night walks.
* Follow all instructions from guides during the walks. The mountains are a dangerous place.
Bookings:
* Bookings for the above trips can be trade by telephone(893 -- 4847)or on the Internet at | high16135.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Work out a few simple study tips for them to follow."
},
"options": [
"Organize teaches to help students learn effectively.",
"Work out a few simple study tips for them to follow.",
"Ask them to use folders to keep their assi... | We all know that good study habits are essential to success. We probably can reduce the academic dishonesty by promoting good study habits among students. Letting the students know how important good study habits are when they come to school. Still, even procrastination can be overcome by proper study habits, and improving study habits is the key to better studying.
Good study habits are a great tool to have in the toolbox of life. Many of the tips for success for online students are the same as those for students in a classroom. Consider asking the school's student union to take on a study tips project. Following a few simple study tips can help students effectively learn new concepts and theories.
A good way to stay organized is to use folders so that your child can keep his / her assignments. Once children reach the grades where homework and tests are part of the curriculum, there are many things parents can do to encourage good study habits. An effective way is to study before and while they do their homework. Being organized and having homework routines are the most important things in helping your child develop good habits for life.
Learning, however, is a process which settles into certain steps. Students with learning problems, however, may still have generally inefficient and ineffective study habits and skills.
Becoming aware of your child's learning style will help you understand why they sometimes get frustrated with common study methods.
Effective study habits are a very important part of the learning process. Good study habits are all about keeping to a daily routine and giving all subjects equal treatment. If your child's study habits are weak, take a "study skills" course or have someone show him/her good study habits.
The problem is that those high-school study habits are hard to shake. Hard work and good study habits are two characters to be nurtured . Motivation and study habits are obviously very important as well. | high19206.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "about a new animated film --Surf`s Up"
},
"options": [
"that winning can bring you good luck and respect",
"how a penguin can be a good surfer",
"about a new animated film --Surf`s Up",
"about the life of a teenage peng... | Isn't it cool to surf in summer? You catch a wave and enjoy the ride. Surfing is not only our favorite sport, though. A group of penguins enjoy the sport as much as we do. And they show their excitement and skills in the new animated film --Surf`s Up, which came out on June 6, in the US.
Cody loves the sport. Cody's idol is Big Z, a great penguin surfing king. Cody doesn't like his brother and his mother who are not supportive. He really wants to get away. Cody believes that winning a surfing competition will bring him admiration and respect. When Mikey Abromowitz, a talent scout , comes to Antarctica to look for talented penguins for a surfing competition, Cody's really excited, but during his show there are no waves and he _ . But he knows he can't give up. He runs after Mikey's whale and begs until Mikey agrees to take him.
There Cody meets Lani, the island's beautiful lifeguard, as well as his main rival , the surfing champion Evans. The cocky Evans shows no respect for Big Z, which makes Cody angry. For this, he challenges Evans to a surfing match, only to suffer a terrible defeat.
Lani takes Cody to the island doctor. As they spend time together, Cody realizes that this doctor is really Big Z himself. When he learns this, Cody begs him to train him and make him a better surfer.
Cody begins to find his own way. Cody improves his skills with the help of Big Z and discovers that a true winner isn't always the one who comes in first. | high4472.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Sleeping position reflects personality."
},
"options": [
"Sleeping position decides personality.",
"Sleeping position reflects personality.",
"What the six different sleeping positions are like.",
"Different people have... | Did you know that the position you choose to sleep in says something about what kind of person you are?
A study of 1,000British people has been done by Chris,a British professor and director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service in the UK.It looked at the six most common sleeping positions and which personalities tend to match them.Have a look.
1. Fetus position - This is the most common sleeping position. About 41 percent of the _ said they sleep in this position. These sleepers may appear to be strong but they are usually sensitive and shy. The more they curl up, the more worried they are.
2. Log position - This is the second most common position. People who sleep like a log are usually stubborn.
3. Yearner position - This position says that you are open-minded and eager to face challenges.
4. Soldier position - These sleepers lie on their backs with their arms down and close to the body. They are usually reserved and quiet.
5. Freefall position - People who sleep in this position are outgoing but feel a lack of control in their lives. This is the least comfortable position.
6. Starfish position - People who sleep like this are good listeners, helpful, and uncomfortable being the center of attention. | high8248.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He will refer to some famous persons' failure stories."
},
"options": [
"He will go on without thought even though he may fail.",
"He will think of some famous failures in his life.",
"He will start to tell himself some succe... | To succeed in business or life we must continually take actions. Putting yourself on the line day after day can be extremely boring, especially when things do not work out as desired. Each time a disappointing event happens, I like to get reminded of these famous failures:
Gates has literally changed the work culture of the world in the 20the and the 21st centuries, by simplifying the way the computer is being used. He was the world's richest man for more than one decade. However, in the 1970's before starting out, he was a Harvard University dropout. The most ironic part is that he started a software company by purchasing the software technology from someone for only $50 back then.
Lincoln received no more than five years of formal education throughout his lifetime. When he grew up, he joined politics and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America.
Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that Newton was born a genius, but he wasn't! When he was young, he did very poorly in grade school, so poor that his teachers became helpless in improving his grades.
Beethoven is widely regarded as one of history's great composers. His reputation has inspired composers, musicians and audiences who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer, he is hopeless". And during his career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music. A deaf man composing music, ironic, isn't it! | high22290.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "English is a language that has changed a lot as time passes by."
},
"options": [
"The story of English language often changes.",
"English is a language that has changed a lot as time passes by.",
"The old English language has... | _ .The old English language, or old English, is quite different from Modern English.If we do not study old English, we can't understand it.Some of the words are the same, but many are not used now.The story of the English language begins some time after the year 400 AD.At this time, some people came to England from North-west Europe.There were many groups of people.They were called Angles , Saxons and Jutes ,whose language, old English, is like some of the modern language of North-West Europe.In old English, the ending had many meanings.They showed past time and present time and many other things.In Modern English, most of these endings are gone.This is the biggest difference between Old and Modern English. | high12353.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they destroy the wilderness plant life"
},
"options": [
"there are too many wolves",
"they kill large numbers deer",
"they attack cows and chickens for food",
"they destroy the wilderness plant life"
],
"questio... | It is reported that conservation groups in North America have been arguing about the benefits and dangers of wolves. Some groups believe wolves should be killed. Other people believe wolves must be protected so that they will not disappear from the wilderness
For Killing Wolves
In Alaska,the wolf almost disappeared a few years ago,because hunters were killing hundreds of them for sport. However.1aws were established to protect the wolves from sportsmen and people who catch the animals for their fur.So the wolf population has greatly increased. Now there are so many wolves that they are destroying their own food supply.
A wolf naturally eats animals in the deer family. People in the wilderness also hunt deer for food.Many of the animals have been destroyed by the very cold winters recently and by changes in the wilderness plant life.When the deer can't find enough food,they die.
If the wolves continue to kill large numbers of deer,their prey will disappear some day.And the wolves will.too.So we must change the cycle of life in the wilderness to balance the ecology.If we killed more wolves,we would save them and their prey from dying out.We'd also save some farm animals.
In another northern state,wolves attack cows and chickens for food.Farmers want the government to send biologists to study the problem.They believe it necessary to kill wolves in some areas and to protect them in places where there is a small wolf population.
Against Killing Wolves
If you had lived long ago,you would have heard many different stories about the dangerous wolf.According to most stories,hungry wolves often kill people for food.Even today,the stories of the "big bad wolf'"will not disappear.
But the fact is wolves are afraid of people.and they seldom travel in areas where there is a human smell.When wolves eat other animals,they usually kill the very young.or the sick and injured .The strongest survive .No kind of animal would have survived through the centuries if the weak members had lived.And has always been a law of nature.
Although some people say it is good sense to kill wolves,we say it is nonsense! Researchers have found wolves and their prey living in balance.The wolves keep the deer population from becoming too large, and that keeps a balance in the wilderness plant life.
The real problem is that the areas where wolves can live are being used by people.Even if wilderness land is not used directly for human needs.the wolves can't always find enough food .So they travel to the nearest source, which is often a farm.Then there is danger.The "big bad wolf" has arrived! And everyone knows what happens next. | high6265.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To encourage reading."
},
"options": [
"To promote book selling.",
"To encourage reading.",
"To win authors fame.",
"To perfect education."
],
"question": "What is the main aim of the World Book Day?",
"ques... | World Book Day is a celebration of all things wonderful about books for all ages, with author events, school fancy-dress parades and a PS1 book token given to all school children under 18. It is a yearly event on 23rd April, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) to promote reading.
In the United Kingdom, the day is recognized on the first Thursday in March. On 3rd March 2016 children of all ages in the UK will come together to appreciate reading. Sometimes, reading a modern novel can be tough ( Booker Prize winner The Luminaries runs to 832 pages! ), especially if reading is not your strong suit. In fact, one in six people in the UK never pick up a book because they've experienced difficulties or are out of the habit of reading for pleasure.
The Galaxy Quick Reads series are designed to introduce reluctant readers to bestselling short funny novels, which bring the joy of reading without demanding hours of concentrated time. They cover a range of subjects, from romance to comedy.
Jojo Moyes's Paris For One is a romantic adventure in which 26-year-old Nell books a weekend away to Paris with her lazy, neglectful boyfriend. When he fails to turn up, she is alone in the city. That is, until she meets Fabien, who shows her the charms of the French capital -- in more ways than one.
Adele Geras's moving story Out In The Dark was set in World War I, in which young Rob came back from the battlefields. Determined to find the officer's widow to return the photo of her and their daughter that the captain kept with him, he traveled several thousand miles but never gave up.
Dead Man Talking is a fantastic tale of Pat, who had a terrible fight with his best friend, Joe, ten years ago -- but now hears that Joe is dead, and he must attend his funeral. But Joe is not going quietly that very night -- he's lying in his coffin being very chatty indeed. | high14722.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To raise the teaching standards in maths in Britain."
},
"options": [
"To see how children from rich families have become the best at maths.",
"To investigate why the performance of almost all children in China is high.",
"To... | LONDON, Feb. 18,2014 (Xinhua News agency) --Britain will send experts to East China's Shanghai to learn from the city's experience in maths teaching in an attempt to raise the teaching standards.
British Education Minister Elizabeth Truss is to lead a delegation of experts on a fact-finding mission to Shanghai's schools next week to see how children there have become the best in the world at maths, to get a first-hand look at maths classes and teaching methods there, and particularly to investigate why the performance of almost all children in Shanghai is high, regardless of gender or income.
Britain was last year placed 50th out of 148 countries and regions in the World Economic Forum's competitiveness ranking in quality of maths and science education. Two years ago, Shanghai topped the 2012 international PISA tables for maths, while England was ranked in 26th place. The top five were all in Southeast Asia, with 15-year-olds in Shanghai judged to be three years ahead of their peers in maths.
The education department said: "England's performance in maths has lagged behind while other countries have improved and overtaken us, including Poland and Germany." Actually, it is the latest step in the government's drive to raise standards in maths, looking at what has made schools in the far East the most successful in the world in teaching the subject.
"Shanghai is the top-performing part of the world for maths--their children are streets ahead. Shanghai and Singapore have teaching practices and a positive mind that make the difference. They have a belief that diligence makes up for lack of ability," Truss said. "Our new curriculum has borrowed from theirs because we know it works--early learning of key arithmetic, and a focus on times tables and long division , for instance."
She was determined to change the situation as performance in maths is weakening the country's skills base and threatening the productivity and growth. The government is emphasizing maths because of the importance of good grades in the subject to young people competing for good jobs in a global labor market and to the economy more generally.
An education and skills survey released by the Confederation of British Industry last year showed that 30 percent of employers reported dissatisfaction with the standard of school and college leavers' numeracy. More than two-thirds of employers said they wanted both maths and science promoted more in schools. | high6503.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "why music lessons are good for the memory"
},
"options": [
"why music lessons are good for the memory",
"the benefit from extra-curricular training for younger children",
"a study on twelve young children's brains",
"ne... | Music lessons may improve memory and learning ability in your children by promoting different patterns of brain development, a study shows.
After a year of musical training, children aged between 4 and 6 performed better at a standard memory test than did children who were not taught music.The findings suggest that music could be useful for building the learning capacity of your minds.
Earlier studies have shown that older children given music lessons become better at IQ tests than those who are musically untrained, but this is the first to show such a benefit in children so young.
Professor Laurek Trainor, of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, also found clear differences in the ways in which children's brains responded to sound after a year of musical training.'This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently over the course of a year," she said."These changes are likely to be related to the cognitive( )benefit that is seen with musical training."
Professor Trainer's team looked at 12 children, 6 of whom had just started extra-curricular music lessons and 6 of whom were not being taught any music except that included as a standard part of their school curriculum .
During the year all 12 children had their brains examined four times using magneto-encephalography (MEG), and each child was played two types of sound --white noise and a violin tone.The MEG measurements showed that all children responded more to violin sounds than to white noise, reflecting a preferable for meaningful tones, and their response times fell over the course of the year as their brains matured. | high9630.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "can help solve Andy's problem"
},
"options": [
"has the same problem as Andy",
"often stays up late on weekend",
"can help solve Andy's problem",
"always likes playing with small boys"
],
"question": "By saying ... | Andy never wanted to go to bed on time. His parents had explained to him how important it was to go to bed early and get a good rest. But Andy paid no attention to them, and they didn't know what to do until one weekend when they were visiting Andy's grandparents.
Grandpa Peter heard all about it and said, "This sounds like a job for Tubby." So Andy's parents loaded the cat onto the car and returned home.
That night, at bedtime, the same problem happened. Andy didn't want to go to bed, and even though his parents waited a while to see if Tubby would solve the problem, nothing happened. [:++Z+X+X+K]
Hours later, Andy finally decided to go to bed. But what a surprise when he entered his bedroom! Tubby was in his bed, totally sprawling out, pot-belly in the air, and _ like an express train.
Andy tried to move the cat, but there was no way of moving him an inch. That night he hardly slept, lying on one tiny corner of his bed.
The next day the same thing happened, even though Andy was much more tired from not having slept well. When the third day arrived, he had understood that if he wanted to sleep in his bed, he would have to get into it before Tubby did. That night, when his parents only started to mention the topic of bedtime, Andy rushed upstairs and dived into bed. His parents could not believe it. They knew nothing about Tubby in the bed, nor did they understand why Andy went to bed on time without complaint. They were so happy about this that they stayed up quite late, celebrating. | high14044.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A kind of film that is meant for both children and adults"
},
"options": [
"A kind of film that is about history.",
"A kind of film in which the characters are animals.",
"A kind of film that is meant for both children and ad... | TWENTY-FIVE years ago director Stephen Spielberg captured the hearts of Western audiences with his family classic.E.T.Now his Hong Kong director Stephen Chow is trying to do the same trick in China.
Chow's latest movie CJ7(<<>> ),in cinemas now,is a heart-warming story about a poor migrant worker and his son.When a strange alien enters their lives,father and son learn a lesson about the value of family.Chow hopes his movie will help to make family films more popular in China.
Family films have been the main part of the Hollywood market for the last 40 years.They have given audiences movies like E.T., Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park.However, there are few of these movies in China, where expensive history films are more popular.
A family film is not simply a children's movie.It is a film that is not only suitable for children, but appeals to the whole family.
According to Raymound Zhou,a famous film critic,these films are rare in China because "very few families go to the cinema together".Because of this,there is little demand for movies that appeal to the whole family.
However, in the West,it is common for the family to sit down and watch a movie together.Tim Bridges, from London,says:"I love it at Christmas when I sit down and watch a movie with my family."
All family films contain similar messages about being honest, remaining positive and learning there is more to life than money.According to the American movie reviewer,Dave Johnson, this is because "When parents watch a movie,they want their children to be learning good values".
Just like when the alien in Spielberg's E.T.phones home to make contact with his family, Chow will hope Chinese audiences are tuned in and ready to receive his family movie message. | high24187.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "not very easy"
},
"options": [
"very simple",
"quite funny",
"quite interesting",
"not very easy"
],
"question": "Making a film is _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | Making a film takes a long time and is very hard work. Writing the story for the film may take many weeks. Shooting the film often takes at least six months. Actors and camera men work from very early in the morning until late at night. Each scene has to be acted and re-acted, filmed and re-filmed, until it is just fine. Sometimes the same scene has to be acted many times.
The film studio is like a large factory, and the indoor stages are very big indeed. Scenery of all kinds is made in the studio. Churches, houses, and forests are all built of wood and cardboard. Several hundred people work together to make one film. Some of these people are the actors and actresses. The director of the film, however, is the most important person in a film studio. He decides how the scenes should be filmed and how the actors should act.
Most people go to see a film because they know the film stars are in it. Sometimes the film may be very poor. It is best to choose a film made by a good director. Some famous directors make their films very real; people feel that they themselves are among the people in the films. | high12435.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "strange"
},
"options": [
"strange",
"special",
"creative",
"misleading"
],
"question": "The author thinks the claims of who are true Londoners are_.",
"question_type": "summarization_questions"
},
{
... | Speaking of Londoners, a stereotype comes to mind -a man in a dark suit with an umbrella in hand and Big Ben barely visible against the foggy sky. Londoners often give the impression of being reserved.
But The News York Times recently issued a report headlined True Londoners Are Extinct. What defines a Londoner exactly? The criteria can be tricky.
The newspaper discovered that over the last decade, the foreign-born population in London reached 2.6 million, about a third of the city's population.
"Foreigners can't be Londoners," a British political campaigner told the newspaper.
A true Londoner would never support Manchester United, the newspaper quoted a man in a pub. Fair enough, since one has four other top league clubs to choose from, you must be too ignorant to be a Londoner.
Next issue is where you live. There are those who believe that true Londoners are cockneys--those who were born within earshot of Bow Bells.
The oddest claim of all was from a pub goer: "A real Londoner would never, never, ever, eat at one of those bloody Angus steakhouses in the West End. That's how you tell."
Indeed, London is a city "prejudiced" with directions. You quickly discover which part of the city suits your temperament. West London, one woman said to The New York Times, was too "brittle" for her. But the West End is the place where the noble accent was born along with shopping malls and top flight residential estates.
South Londoners hate going north. North Londoners forget there's a south beyond the South Bank. East London is close to the port and the site of early industrial development. It's often considered one of the poorest areas in the city.
"You can't cut the prejudice out of London," a university student said to the newspaper. But it is this uneasy charm that gives the city its unique dynamic. | high23830.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He studied different creatures on the islands."
},
"options": [
"He was attracted by well-known animals of the islands.",
"He completed his famous book on the islands.",
"He was touched by the geography of the islands.",
... | Sitting on the peaceful coast of Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, watching the sun move quietly into the sea, you shouldn't forget that Charles Darwin (1809-1882) arrived here in 1835. He stayed on the islands for five weeks, observing various animals. This finally inspired his famous work,On the Origin of Species. You can certainly follow Darwin's footsteps and enjoy a trip from four to seven days to the islands.
The islands are certainly a paradise for wildlife, as there are no natural killers on the islands and the number of boats and visitors is under government control. Though you cannot walk freely as Darwin did about 200 years ago, each day is as impressive as it could be.
The most well-known animals of the Galapagos is the giant tortoise , which can be seen moving slowly around the highlands of Santa Cruz, the second largest island in the archipelago . Some of these creatures are so old that they might have been seen in their youth by Darwin himself.
Despite strict control over activities and timing, your stay on the Galapagos will be remembered as a chain of incomparable pictures: diving with sea lions that swim and play within inches of you; feeling small sharks touch your feet as you swim; and, most magically, seeing a whale and her baby surface with a great breath of air.
Travelling between the islands and observing the wildlife that so inspired Darwin, you will feel as though you are getting a special view of an untouched world. At night you will sleep on board the ship, leaving the wildlife in complete occupation of the islands, which are as undisturbed now as they have been since the beginning of time. | high920.txt |
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