questions list | article stringlengths 9 6.44k | id stringlengths 9 14 |
|---|---|---|
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "master"
},
"options": [
"friend",
"master",
"neighbor",
"relative"
],
"question": "According to the passage, the letter was written by Jourdon to his former _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
... | I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again in Tennessee, promising to do better for me than anybody else can.
Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this.
I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here in Ohio. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with food and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy, the folks call her Mrs. Anderson; and the children--Milly, Jane, and Grundy--go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. We are kindly treated.
Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future.
In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. I would rather stay here and starve--and die, if it should come to that--than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young Masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education and have them form virtuous habits.
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me. | high3929.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "she had too much hard experience"
},
"options": [
"she liked staying silent and still",
"she had no friends to talk with",
"she had too much hard experience",
"the people in the shelter all kept silent"
],
"ques... | One day, Soapy Smith and I visited a shelter for badly-treated women located in a deserted section of the city. No one smiled a greeting, and they appeared uninterested in Soapy. One little girl in particular moved like a wisp in the background. The staff informed me that she had been there for over a month and had not spoken the entire time. Her mother said she had talked at one time but not in recent memory. I didn't want to imagine what could have happened to rob this little girl of the natural curiosity and enthusiasm so natural to childhood.
Spreading a blanket on the floor, I sat down and put Soapy on the blanket. As the silent child circled past me, I told the group that Soapy would come to talk to them if they sat on his blanket. Several children did this, including the silent girl. She sat rigidly at the edge of the blanket, legs held stiffly out straight in front of her. She was staring hard at Soapy. It appeared that he kept making eye contact with her. She didn't reach out to him or encourage him in any way. Rather she sat tensely, just staring.
Finally Soapy came to a stop about two inches from her. He quietly reached out and laid his chin on her knee. I was astonished. While a common behavior for dogs, this is not a behavior exhibited by rabbits, especially not by this rabbit.
The child did not reach out to touch Soapy. Instead, she slowly leaned toward him. When her face was within inches of his, she carefully reached out and circled him with her arms. So softly that no one in the room could hear, she began to talk. Folded around the rabbit, she pillowed her head on his back and whispered to him. Soapy remained motionless.
I looked up and noticed that the shelter workers had stopped talking. Every adult in the room froze in place. Time seemed to have stopped.
The little girl reappeared when I was preparing to leave. She reached her hands out and looked me directly in the eye. I held Soapy out to her. She wrapped him in a big hug and pressed her face against him. Suspended from my hands as he was, I was concerned that he would begin to struggle. Instead he reached out his head again and laid it on the child's shoulder. His breathing slowed and he closed his eyes. As quickly as it happened, the little girl released her hug and stepped back. As she turned away, I thought I saw the beginnings of a faint smile.
The rabbit in his cloud of soft, warm fur had touched something deep in the child -- something that had died from too much hard experience. Soapy's innocence and trust appeared to arouse those very same qualities in the little girl. It seems the language of the heart is simple after all. | high7597.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The earth will be destroyed by worldwide wars before long."
},
"options": [
"The earth will be destroyed by worldwide wars before long.",
"It will be hard for humans to avoid disasters on the earth in the future.",
"Lots of g... | Humans: It's time to abandon the earth or face extinction.
This prediction isn't science fiction. It's a glimpse of the future, according to famed British scientist Stephen Hawking. "I see great dangers for the human race," he said in an interview with global forum Big Think. "There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go ."
Hawking says humans must _ our home planet within the next two centuries and expand into space to survive. "I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space," he said. "It will be difficult to avoid disaster on our planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million."
He also voiced some concerns about the future of life on the earth. In April, he spoke about his fear of aliens in an interview for the Discovery Channel. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said. "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become wanderers, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."
But Hawking says he is still hopeful for the future of humanity. "I'm an optimist," he told Big Think. "We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space."
Getting to another planet will prove a challenge, not to mention colonizing it for humanity. University of Michigan astrophysicist Katherine Freese told Big Think that "the nearest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away. That means, if you were traveling at the speed of light the whole time, it would take 4.2 years to get there" --- or about 50,000 years using current rocket science. | high23562.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "emptying waste for recycling"
},
"options": [
"driving to the town field",
"emptying waste for recycling",
"looking for good ideas for reuse",
"clearing items from their basements"
],
"question": "The author's f... | When I was growing up in the suburbs of New York, our first local Earth Day was organized around a drive to a town field where families were urged to empty items from their basements for recycling rather than dropping them in the dustbin. It was an eye opening idea for a kid in 1970.
But as an environmental reporter, I'm bored of the large amount of deals and promotions that arrive by email or in my office or home mailbox on Earth Day. Like Valentine's Day, Earth Day has become a huge marketing opportunity--a way to promote consumption.
In fact, Earth Day is such a good sales opportunity that some shops, like Target, have expanded Earth Day into Earth Month.
There isn't time to give you a variety of the Earth Day shopping opportunities I was informed of this past week. They included deals on buying bottled water and earth-friendly wipes.
My award for the silliest promotion: a plan to gift 25 of the most environmentally conscious stars with unique, useful and "green" products and services, including skin care products, cheese-cake and artwork. My guess is most of the stuff will end up in celebrities' garbage.
Is buying and selling a good way to celebrate and protect the environment? I would argue that Earth Day might be an occasion to consider giving up purchases or habits that are environmentally questionable or that we could happily do without. How about not buying bottled water, but refilling a water bottle? How about not buying foods--even "organic" foods--that are packed in non-recyclable plastic?
Don't get me wrong. The company of Bridgestone is celebrating Earth Day by promising to repurpose a spent tire for every tire that it sells. Verizon will plant a tree for each cell phone you trade in. Some coffee stores will even refill reusable cups at no charge. Target is giving out free reusable carrier bags without requiring a purchase.
But few shopkeepers are taking the next step-charging a fee at the cash register for disposable plastic bags, a common practice in Europe-to encourage customers to use those new reusable carriers.
Earth Day is transient . If you only showed love on Valentine's Day, would that really mean anything at all? | high6689.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "To develop children's creativity."
},
"options": [
"To improve school education.",
"To share achievements of technologies.",
"To develop children's creativity.",
"To predict some unexpected situations."
],
"ques... | On November 15th, 2014, children aged 8 to 12 got together in five cities around the world to participate in the first Global Children's Designation. The event that was organized by a Dutch company called Unexpect, challenged kids to come up with solutions for some of the world's most pressing problems in a day!
The day began with the kids listening to the various challenges that were related to their particular cities and towns. The teams were then asked to brainstorm about which problem they were going to handle and how. There were so many amazing ideas produced on that day.
While some of the ideas were far from perfect, there were many that could be practical like the smart cars which can ease traffic pressure by telling traffic lights of its arrival and also guiding the drivers to the best possible route .
Emer Beamer, the founder of Unexpect, says the purpose of the project is to introduce children to skills they probably never learn in class. She says that for most part, schools focus on teaching things that they will most likely never need to know again. She believes that for kids to be successful in the world, they should be learning how to be creative, handle new technologies and deal with unexpected situations.
Though the first global design challenge was relatively small, involving only a few hundred of the two billion youngsters that are bursting with ideas, the next one will be much bigger. That's because in 2015, Unexpect plans to distribute free tool kits to any school that is interested in hosting their own Children's Designation Challenge. We can't wait to see what ideas kids will come up with next. | high12967.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "234"
},
"options": [
"180",
"414",
"234",
"594"
],
"question": "The author who was at the age of 33 had lost _ pounds in weight during the past three years.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | As a kid,I was always chubby .In college I started _ . It got out of control when I went to law school.
I'd made a decision a thousand times:I'm going to lose weight now. But what motivated me to get serious about it was turning 30. I weighed 414 pounds. I was always tired. Some of my family members have suffered from heart disease,and I was scared. I also wanted to look better. So after my birthday,I walked into the office of a weightloss doctor.
She was very understanding. Her focus was on balanced meals and she wanted me to exercise.
Walking was all I could do at first. I started by walking a few blocks and gradually increased the distance,until one weekend,I found myself saying,"Wow,this seems pretty easy." So I started to run.
I was losing nine or ten pounds a month,and I had more energy. I started to think about the New York City Marathon. For years,I watched the runners and thought,"This looks like fun,but I could never do that." But now I realized that maybe I could. I joined the New York Road Runners. I ran a 10km,then a halfmarathon. I still wasn't confident I could run a full 26 miles. But I told myself I was going to do it,no matter what.
By my 33rd birthday,I was down to 180 pounds. I started formally training for the marathon. And on the morning of November 1,I stood on the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island with more than 40,000 other runners,waiting for the event to start.
It was unbelievable to have the audience cheering me on,handing me cups of water. And I crossed the finish line. My friends sprayed (......) me with beer,as if I'd won the Super Bowl. And at that moment,I knew:If I set my mind to something,nothing is impossible. | high22668.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "It is the consequence of people's unbalanced lifestyle."
},
"options": [
"It is the family genes that make people fat.",
"People are fat because they consume too little energy.",
"A diary of exercise can prevent people from b... | There have always been a lot of commonly believed but exercise. Some people believe that they can't help putting on hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles will turn into fat. Here are some more myths:
false ideas about being fat and doing weight as they get older, while others
I'll never lose weightI come from a fat family
Wrong! While we can't change the body type we are bom with, we can't blame our genes for making us fat. There's plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they
share the same habits of eating too much and exercising too little.
I am fat because I burn calories slowly
Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism . In fact, although fat people consume more energy than slim people,they also fail to realize how much they eat! Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake more accurately.
Exercise is boring
Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it repetitively. The key is to develop a balanced and varied program thafs fun as well as progressive. If you enjoy a Sunday walk,take a different route. If you do yoga,try a tai chi class. If you like swimming, set yourself a distance or time challenge.
No pain, no gain
Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is your body telling you something's wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury. You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but this is your body adapting to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear relatively quickly. If they don't, rest and seek medical advice. | high7583.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "will have three specially-built bodies for the competition"
},
"options": [
"has to finish the competition in 17 hours",
"will be allowed to have a break from time to time",
"will start three weeks earlier than other competit... | He has climbed a high mountain, raced the 24-hour motorcycle track in France and even, walked from Tokyo to Kyoto, a distance of 500 km. Now Evolta, Panasonic's 7-inch Humanoid Robot is getting ready for his biggest challenge -- the Ironman Triathlon Championship in Hawaii.
To compete in this exhausting contest, the green & white robot which is small enough to fit on a human palm, will have to swim 2.4 miles in the rough ocean, bike 112 miles across the hot Hawaiian desert and, run a full marathon distance of 26.2 miles in the painfully hot weather.
Given that he is so tiny and powered by rechargeable batteries of Panasonic, he will be allowed some freedom in the way he competes. For one, he will be starting the race on October 23rd, 2011, three weeks following the real event and, while human competitors have at most 17 hours to complete the triathlon, Evolta will be given 7 days, during which his only "breaks" will be to recharge his batteries.
The biggest difference however, will be that unlike a single human body doing all three races, there will be three different "Evolta" robot bodies competing -- each built for the specific race. Evolta the swimmer will be equipped with special arms to swim forward. Evolta the biker, will be on a little two-wheeler with training wheels, while Evolta the runner, will be fixed on what looks like a wheel.
In spite of all these advantages, the robot's creator Tomotaka Takahashi believes that the race will be a huge challenge -- not only will Evolta have to battle the wind and sun, but also, small road obstacles that humans just step over. The water will be even worse thanks to the strong waves, tides and ocean winds. But if he does complete it, Evolta will add another feather in his cap and just prove the already well-known fact that Panasonic's rechargeable Evolta batteries are indeed the "world's longest-lasting batteries"! | high23576.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "the heart death rate in Ukraine is higher than in Britain"
},
"options": [
"heart disease no longer threatens the British",
"the heart death rate among British men is lower than among women",
"the old mainly dies of stroke in... | Death rates for heart disease in Britain have dropped by more than 40 percent in a decade,UK scientists will report today.
Wide uptake of cholesterol--busting statin drugs ,healthier lifestyles and better medical practices have seen a huge reduction in deaths caused by heart attacks,stroke and other cardiovascular problems.
However,heart disease remains Britain's biggest killer.
The new study,by experts at Oxford University,shows there has been a 44.4 percent drop in death rates among men in the UK and a 43.6 percent drop among women linked to heart problems in the ten years to 2011.
The team compared death rate associated with cardiovascular disease across Europe.They found that Britain has one of the best records in Europe,with 342 deaths as a result of heart disease per 100,000 men in 2011,and 232 per 100,000 women.
Some nations-including Ukraine,Macedonia and Moldova--see more than 1,000 heart deaths per 100,000 of the population.
Overall,heart disease causes 45 percent of all deaths across Europe,but only 27 percent in the UK.The study,led by Dr Nick Townsend,showed that cardiovascular disease is mainly a disease of old age.
But researchers said that across Europe _ still causes more than 1.4million deaths in those aged under 75 and nearly 700,000 deaths in under 65s.Dr Townsend said:'Cardiovascular disease results in 49 percent of deaths among women and 41 per cent among men.' | high12973.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "He had never been caught by the police."
},
"options": [
"He was not afraid of dogs.",
"He knew the owner of the house lived alone.",
"The house had no security alarm.",
"He had never been caught by the police."
],
... | Buster Brown was a thief and a good one too,he thought. He'd never been caught by the police because he never took chances.He was always prepared for any unforeseen event or emergency.
Confidently,he stood outside the house of his intended victim and read the sign on the front gate of the house."Don't worry about the dog--be aware of the owner!" it said.Buster smiled and found his way in.
The house looked quite normal outside,but inside it was very exotic with fascinating objects on display.As he began putting them into his bag,a dog came into the room.It stopped when it saw Buster,then wagged its tail madly and went over to him,licking his outstretched hand. "Good boy," Buster whispered. "What a great guard dog you are--trying to lick me to death." Satisfied he'd made friends with the dog,Bluster began to wander round the house,choosing items to put in his bag.His skilled eye picked out only the best antiques :a pair of silver candleholders,a silver tea-and-coffee service,etc..His new friend,the dog,sat and watched,as if wondering what was happening.
"Well,boy," Buster whispered,finally."That might do.Any more and I won't be able to carry it!" He swung the heavy bag onto his shoulders, just as the lights came on, nearly blinding him. He shielded his eyes with his hand.
"You're a very silly person," the figure in the doorway said, his voice dry and dust. As the man came closer, Buster could see he was well dressed. His face seemed familiar, but Buster couldn't quite place where he had seen him before.
"You should have taken more notice of the sign outside," the man rasped. "I knew about this attempted robbery last week and I also know you will end up behind bars for 20 years. Fancy trying to rob the house of the world's greatest fortune-teller!" | high466.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "cail use your mobile phone"
},
"options": [
"must kethe seatbelt fastened",
"cail use your mobile phone",
"are still on the ground",
"can use the CD or DVD players"
],
"question": "If you find the\"Fasten seatbe... | Welcome you aboard the Finnair Flight and we will do our best to make your trip comfortable and enjoyable.
For your safety and convenience
To begin the trip,we would like to draw your attention to some safety-related details.These are also explained on the instruction card in the seat pocket in front of you.Seat belts must remain while the"Fasten seatbelts"sign is on.It is advisable to keep them fastened at all times while seated.All flights are no smoking.The use of mobile telephones is now allowed when the airplane is on the ground and the"Fasten seatbelts"sign is turned off.During the flight the use of CD and DVD players is now allowed.
For your entertainment
To help you enjoy your trip,we provide a range of newspapers on international flights.On our MD-11 and Boeing aircraft,we are also pleased to provide music and video programmes.On Airbus A321/320/319,aircraft route maps and short videos are shown.Details of entertainment programmes available on MD-11 aircraft are shown on the separate"on the Air"brochure located in your seat pocket.
For your children
Special reading material is provided for children and on longer flights there are also audio and video programs for them.On long-distance flights,first-time flyers between the ages of 2 and 15 can join our Finnair Junior Plus Club.
Meals and drinks
During most flights we serve you a tasty meal with drinks to accompany it, Beer,wine and other drinks are served free of charge.Coffee,tea and juice are served free of charge on all domestic flights of over 35 minutes.On domestic flights leaving before nine and on all flights to northern Finland,a snack is served.
We value your opinion
In this magazine you'11 find a special form for your comments about our service.Kindly return the form to our crew or Finnair office.It will be forwarded directly to the appropriate department.You can also fax it(+358-(0)89819-7729)or send your comments by email to _ .Our crew is pleased to answer your questions during the flight whenever possible. | high24219.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Worried."
},
"options": [
"Worried.",
"Excited.",
"Curious.",
"Skeptical."
],
"question": "How did publishers feel about the rising e-book sales inspired by the Kindle?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"... | Despite the anxiety that Jones'Host-said by some to be the first digital novel-caused in 1993,publishers weren't too concerned that e-books would one day replace printed books.However,that attitude was changed suddenly in 2007 when Amazon's Kindle came onto the market,which led to e-book sales jumping up to 1,260%.Since then,e-books'popularity has continued to steadily rise.The publishing industry seemed to have lost all possible ability to regain its position.Will printed books eventually become a thing of the past?
According to Mike Shatzkin,founder and CEO of the Idea Logical Company,printed books just for plain old reading will,in 10years from now,be unusual."Not so unusual that a kid will say,'Mommy,what's that?'but unusual enough that on the train you'll see one or two people reading something printed,while everyone else is reading off of a tablet."And Shatzkin believes that the demise of print is sure to happen,though such a day won't arrive for perhaps 50to 100or more years.
Robert Stein,founder of the Institute for the Future of the Book,however,believes that books won't disappear entirely,at least not anytime soon."Print will exist,but it will be in a different field and will appeal to a very limited audience,as poetry does today.Like woodblock printing,hand-processed film and folk weaving ,printed pages may assume an artistic value,"he says.He imagines that future forms of books might be developed not by conventional publishers but by the gaming industry.He also predicts that the distinction between writer and reader will be made less obvious by a social reading experience in which authors and consumers can digitally interact with each other to discuss any passage,sentence or line.
Is there anything we risk sacrificing,should print really disappear entirely?According to Maryanne Wolf,director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University,electronic reading can negatively affect the way the brain responds to text,including reading comprehension,focus and the ability to maintain attention to details like plot and order of events."My worry is that we'll have a short-circuited reading brain,excellent for gathering information but not necessarily for forming critical,analytical deep reading skills,"Wolf says.
The field,however,is in an early stage,and findings about the negative effects of e-reading are far from certain.In light of this,Wolf hopes that we continue to maintain a"bi-literate"society-one that values both the digital and printed word."A full reading brain circuit is a huge contribution to the intellectual development of our species.Anything that threatens that deserves our attention." | high19826.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "had suffered from the same illness before."
},
"options": [
"had suffered from the same illness before.",
"lived with his relatives",
"asked her to return to work",
"got home from hospital alone"
],
"question": ... | Dad was lying in the hospital weakly, but his smile was as sure as ever . It was another attack of lung illness. My husband and I stayed with him for the weekend but had to return to our jobs on Monday. Local relatives would help Dad get home from hospital and look after him. But I longed to be able to let him know that we cared about him too, even when we weren't with him.
Then I remembered a family tradition when our children were small. When leaving our grandparents' home after a visit, each child would write a love note to their grandparents. We hid notes in a box, under a hairbrush or next to the phone or even in the microwave oven. For days, our grandparents would smile as they discovered these reminders of our love.
So as I tidied Dad's kitchen and made up a bed for him downstairs in the living room, I wrote some notes. Some were practical, "Dad, I put the food in the fridge so it wouldn't spoil". Some expressed my love, "Dad, I hope you will sleep well in your new bed." Most notes were downstairs where he would stay for several weeks until he recovered strength, but one note I hid upstairs under his pillow, "Dad, if you have found this note, you must be feeling better. We are so glad!"
Just like his medicine strengthened him physically, these "emotional vitamins" would improve his spiritual health. Several weeks later, in one of our regular phone calls, I asked Dad how he was doing. He said, "Pretty good. I just found your note under my pillow upstairs!" | high10802.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "many experts thought it impossible"
},
"options": [
"his son supported him immediately",
"many experts thought it impossible",
"there was no bridge around New York",
"he persuaded the government to support him"
],
... | In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a great bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However, bridge building experts thought that this was an impossible project and told Roebling to forget it. But Roebling could not ignore the vision of this bridge. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an engineer, that the bridge could be built.
The father and son developed concepts of how it could be completed and how the difficulties could be overcome. After that, they began to build their dream bridge.
The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage,which made him unable to walk or talk or even move.
Everyone had a negative comment since the Roeblings were the only one who knew how to build the bridge. In spite of these difficulties, Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge. It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was to move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving it, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. The project was underway again. For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed.
Today the Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory to the victory of one man's determination not to be defeated by circumstances. This is one of the best examples of a neversaydie attitude that overcomes a terrible physical disability and achieves an impossible goal. | high19198.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Meg; Beth"
},
"options": [
"Jo; Amy",
"Meg; Beth",
"Meg; Amy",
"Amy; Beth"
],
"question": "According to the passage, who is the most pessimistic and who the most optimistic?",
"question_type": null
},
{
... | "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
"It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
"We've got father and mother and each other," said Beth, contentedly.
The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly: "We haven't got father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn't say "perhaps never", but each silently added it, thinking of father far away, where the fighting was.
Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone: "You know the reason mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure when our men are suffering so in the army. We can't do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don't"; and Meg shook her head, and she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.
"But I don't think the little we should spend would do any good. We've each got a dollar, and the army wouldn't be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from mother or you, but I do want to buy UNDINE AND SINTRAM for myself; I've wanted it so long," said Jo, who was a bookworm.
"I planned to spend mine on new music," said Beth, with a little sigh.
"I shall get a nice box of Faber's drawing pencils; I really need them," said Amy, decidedly.
"Mother didn't say anything about our money, and she won't wish us to give up everything. Let's each buy what we want, and have a little fun; I'm sure we work hard enough to earn it," cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a gentlemanly manner.
"I know I do - teaching those tiresome children nearly all day when I am longing to enjoy myself at home," began Meg, in the complaining tone again.
"You don't have half such a hard time as I do," said Jo. "How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous, fussy old lady, who is never satisfied, and worries you till you're ready to fly out of the window or cry?"
"It's naughty to fret; but I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world. _ and my hands get so stiff, I can't practice well at all"; and Beth looked at her rough hands with a sigh that anyone could hear.
"I don't believe any of you suffer as I do." cried Amy, "for you don't have to go to school with impertinent girls, who plague you if you don't know your lessons, and laugh at your dresses, and label your father if he isn't rich."
"If you mean libel, I'd say so, and not talk about labels, as if papa was a pickle-bottle," advised Jo, laughing.
"I know what I mean, and you needn't be satirical about it. It's proper to use good words, and improve your vocabulary," returned Amy, with dignity.
"Don't peck at one another, children. Don't you wish we had the money papa lost when we were little, Jo? Dear me! How happy and good we'd be, if we had no worries!" said Meg, who could remember better times.
"You once said you thought we were a deal happier than the King children, for they were fighting and fretting all the time, in spite of their money."
"So I did. I think we are; for, though we do have to work, we make fun for ourselves, and are a pretty jolly set, as Jo would say." Jo immediately sat up, put her hands in her pockets, and began to whistle.
"Don't, Jo; it's so boyish!"
"That's why I do it."
"I detest rude, unladylike girls!"
"I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!"
"Birds in their little nests agree" sang Beth, the peacemaker, with such a funny face that both sharp voices softened to a laugh, and the `pecking' ended for that time. | high21407.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "please her during a weekend visit"
},
"options": [
"celebrate a special family occasion",
"please her during a weekend visit",
"congratulate her on her birthday",
"beg her pardon for ignoring her"
],
"question":... | B Gift Idea
The other day I was shopping for Grandma when I realized I had no gift ideas at all. It was not a birthday gift or anything like that. It was simply sort of a hello gift. That is how we do things in my family. We don't really give gifts for special occasions. Instead, we occasionally just give presents to each other to tell other people that we are thinking about them.
That was why I wanted a gift for Grandma. But it was like my imagination had dried up. I have gone through all of the gift ideas in previous years, fruits, wines, cheeses, little handmade crafts, and anything else that you can give to a grandmother. I had even given her gift watches, and CDs. What else was there?
I have always found gift ideas for men a little bit easier than for women, because for men, you can always get the usual things, such as video games, power tools and things like that. With a woman's gift idea, however, you have to know more about her. You cannot just get someone a book or a CD. You have to know all about her taste in movies, music, and literature.
My grandmother likes to read a lot, but what she likes is always pretty popular. I didn't want to get her a book that she might not like, but I was running out of time. I needed a gift idea for this weekend and went to visit her. After all, I hadn't seen her for a long time. I wanted to give her a gift so she would not feel ignored.
Finally, I came up with the perfect gift idea. I made a collection of all the stories I had written in the past year. It wasn't a typical gift idea like a bunch of flowers, but it really worked in the situation. You see, I am a writer and my grandma has always been my fan.
Anyway, I had been learning about bookbinding recently, and had pretty much mastered the art. I figured that I would add a little bit of handmade artwork to the stories, bind it altogether, and give it to her. It took hours to complete, but it was well worth the effort. She ly loved it. | high18286.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "When the Computer Is Down"
},
"options": [
"When the Computer Is Down",
"The Most Frightening Thing",
"The Computer of. the Airport",
"Asking the Computer"
],
"question": "The best title for the article is _ .... | The most frightening words in the English language are, "Our computer is down." You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, "I'm sorry, I can't sell you a ticket. Our computer is down."
"If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket."
"I can't write you, out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so:"
I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just star, ding there, drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, "What do all you people do?"
"We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not."
"How lorig will the computer be down?" I wanted to know.
"I have no idea. Sometimes it,s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There's no way we can find odt without asking the computer, and since it's down it won't answer, us."
After the girl told me they had no backup computer, I said. "Let's forget the computer. What about your planes? They're still flying, aren't they?"
I wouldn't know," she said, pointino at the dark screen. "Only 'IT' knows. 'It' can't tell me."
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white; some people started to cry and still others kicked.their luggage. | high20719.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To guide readers how to find books needed in a college library."
},
"options": [
"To present readers a brief introduction to a college library.",
"To guide readers how to find books needed in a college library.",
"To tell rea... | College libraries are designed primarily for research and study. To explain its use, let us choose a research topic and follow the step-by-step procedure of looking up the material for the paper.
Suppose your assignment is to write a paper on a novel called The Sun Also Rises by American writer Hemingway.The first step is to go to the main catalog.Many small drawers on the large wooden cabinets are lined up in alphabetical order.Each of the drawers contains hundreds of alphabetical ordered cards.These cards are printed references to all material available in the library.Title cards are cataloged by the first word of the book title, leaving out the articles like "a", "an" and "the".And then you get the cards for the books you need.On the upper left corner of each card is the call number.This is the numerical code that shows where the book is located in the library.The library has open and closed stacks.If your book is on the open stacks, you can go to the open-stack room, and according to the call number find it out by yourself.There are only about 30,000 books on open stacks, while most of the 800,000 books in our library are kept in closed stacks, which are accessible only to teachers and graduate students.
For undergraduates like you, borrowing books from the closed stacks have to be done with the help of our librarian.In that case, you must fill out a call slip for the book, showing the call number, author and title.You can get call slips on tables near the catalog cabinets.You show your call slip together with your library card to a librarian at the information desk.He or she will help you find the book out in the closed stacks. | high4934.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Puppy love may bring young people depression."
},
"options": [
"Puppy love may bring young people depression.",
"Parents should forbid their children's love.",
"Romance is a twoedged sword for adults.",
"Romance is good... | A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people. Puppy love may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is "loss of self". According to the study,even though boys would say "lose themselves in a romantic relationship", this "loss of self" is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions. They won't tell that to their parents.
Dr Marianm Kaufman,an expert on young people problems, says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression. She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up, it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self. She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends,attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for signs of depression--eating or mood changes--and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age.Love will always make us feel young,but only maturity gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects. | high300.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "his singing videos were uploaded to a website"
},
"options": [
"he met with Scooter Braun",
"he released his debut album",
"he won second place in a competition",
"his singing videos were uploaded to a website"
],
... | Justin Bieber used to be an ordinary Canadian boy, but his life totally changed in 2008. With his great musical talent, this 17-year-old boy has become a superstar in the music industry.
Justin Bieber was born in Straford, Ontario and was raised by his single mother. Bieber learned to play musical instruments when he was very young. In 2007,he took part in a local singing competition in his hometown, and he did it just for fun. He never took singing lessons before but surprisingly he placed second in the competition. Then,with the help of his mother, he uploaded videos of him singing on a website and they successfully attracted the attention of viewers. His videos got popular through word of mouth and some of them have received up to 10,000,000 views.
Justin Bieber would have never gotten a career in the music business without his videos. Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, had watched Bieber's videos and he was impressed by the boy's talent. Braun then contracted Bieber and he flew the boy into Atlanta 7 months after the first video was posted. Bieber showed his talent in singing as well as his ability in playing musical instruments. He then got a record deal.
In 2009,Justin Bieber released his first single "One Time" while he was recording the debut album .The single "One Time" tells a story about love. This song had success not only in Canada and the US, but also in the international market. Then he released his debut album "My World 2.0"in 2010 and the song "Baby" became the lead single. This album successfully entered the Top Ten Charts in seven countries. In June 2010, he started his first world tour in Hartford, Connecticut. One month later, he started recording his second album. | high1694.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "an experienced climber"
},
"options": [
"a doctor",
"an experienced climber",
"a beginner",
"a fitness instructor"
],
"question": "The article is written by _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},... | Are you nervous about climbing because you think it's too dangerous? Do you feel you're not fit enough to climb? Do you know how to start climbing?
Let's consider the idea that climbing is dangerous. Being afraid is natural, but if you use suitable ropes and other climbing equipments you will feel completely safe. Climbers are usually very careful because they know what they are doing is dangerous. Accidents happen, but when they do, they tend to attract a lot of publicity. As a result, people think there are many more accidents than there are in reality.
You cannot expect to start climbing straight away. Climbing is a challenge and challenges take time. It is necessary first of all that you achieve a good level of fitness. Begin as soon as you become interested in climbing--go to the gym, go swimming, take up jogging and continue to do so throughout your training period.
Discover as much as you can about climbing. Visit the library and find books especially for beginners or buy climbing magazines and look for articles which describe your situation. Look up information on the Internet. Find out about equipment, methods and places to go.
Next, take a course on a climbing wall. There are plenty of climbing walls all over the country which have trained and qualified people as instructors. Call your local leisure centre to find out if there is one in your area. These training sessions are a quick way to get experience and you are likely to meet other beginners. After this, you can do an outside course or join a club where you can meet climbers of all abilities and eventually join in group-climbing events.
At first you may not understand the importance of a good training period, but after you have completed your first climb and you are standing safely at the top of a rock feeling thrilled, then you will know
was the right thing to do. | high15749.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "has 16 larger forts built into it"
},
"options": [
"is about 15 feet wide",
"has about 60 small forts",
"is seen from the Tyne to the North Sea",
"has 16 larger forts built into it"
],
"question": "We know from ... | Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was built, beginning in 122 AD, to keep Roman Britain safe from attacks from the Picts. The wall, starting from the North Sea to the Irish Sea (from the Tyne to the Solway), is about 73 miles long, 10 feet wide, and 15 feet high. In addition to the wall, the Romans built a system of small forts housing up to 60 men every Roman mile along its whole length, with e towers very 1/3 Roman mile. 16 larger forts holding from 500 to 1000 soldiers were built into the wall, with large gates on the north face.
Israeli West Bank barrier
The Israeli West Bank barrier is a barrier under construction by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier's total length will be nearly 700 kilometers. The barrier is built mainly in the West Bank.
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was the physical boundary between West Germany and East Germany. The Berlin Wall was built in the dead of night in 1961 and for 28 years kept East Germans from escaping to the West. Its destruction (in 1989) was celebrated around the world.
Conwy's Town Walls
Conwy's Town Walls are an ancient defensive project around the town of Conwy in North Wales. The walls were built between 1283 and 1287. They are 1.3 kilometers long and include 21 towers and three gate houses. The project was completed by large quantities of workers and cost around PS15,000. Today the walls form part of the UNESCO world heritage site . | high13338.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Google Maps"
},
"options": [
"Google Maps",
"Twitter",
"Angry Birds",
"Facebook"
],
"question": "American and British spy agencies were both particularly interested in the information gathered from _ .",
"... | The NSA and GCHQ are tapping popular smart phone apps such as Angry Birds to gather the enormous amounts of very personal data those bits of software collect--including age, gender, marital status, income, education level and more, according to new reports from the New York Times and The Guardian.
Citing secret documents provided by Edward Snowden, former NSA staff, the reports detail efforts to gain data collection from cell phone carriers and smart phones by tapping into "leaky" apps themselves.
Both spy agencies showed a particular interest in Google Maps, which is accurate to within a few yards or better in some locations and would clearly pass along data about the area where phone owner is.
"It effectively means that anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system," reads a secret 2008 report by the NSA's sister spy agency, according to the New York Times.
More surprising is the wide range of apps that the agencies search for data, including innocent-seeming apps such as Angry Birds. One document in particular from GCHQ listed what information can be found from which apps, mentioning Android apps but suggesting the same data was available from the iPhone platform.
Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment of Finland said it had no knowledge of any NSA or GCHQ programs for tapping into its users' data.
"Rovio doesn't have any previous knowledge of this matter, and have not been aware of such activity in 3rd party advertising networks," said Saara Bergstrom. "Nor do we have any involvement with the organizations you mentioned."
Mobile photos uploaded to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter appear to be a particularly rich source of information for the spy agencies as well. Metadata in the photos is briefly available. The NSA and GCHQ are able to tap into that metadata to collect a wealth of key data points about a person's life.
"NSA does not profile everyday Americans as it carries out its foreign intelligence mission," the agency told the Times in response to questions about the program.
During a Monday press conference, White House press secretary Jay Carney stressed that same position. "As the president said in his Jan. 17 speech, to the extent data is collected by the NSA, through whatever means, we are not interested in the communications of people who are not valid foreign intelligence targets and we are not after the information of ordinary Americans," he said. | high6110.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "pleased"
},
"options": [
"moved",
"disappointed",
"mad",
"pleased"
],
"question": "George Sang was so _ that he kissed the lost ticket and danced with the violinist.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | On a Friday night, a poor young artist stood at the gate of a New York subway station, playing his violin. Many of passers-by slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.
The next day, at the same place, he put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different than the day before, he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he adjusted the violin and began playing. It seemed more pleasant to listen to.
The words read, "Last night, a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat mistakenly. Please come to claim it soon."
Seeing this, people wondered what it could be. After about half an hour, a middle-aged man ran there hurriedly and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said, "Yes, it's you. You did come here. I knew that you're an honest man and would certainly come here."
"Are you Mr. George Sang"? asked the young violinist.
The man nodded. "Did you lose something?" "Lottery. It's lottery." "Is it?" The violinist took out a lottery ticket and asked.
George nodded promptly and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it, then he danced with the violinist.
The story turned out to be this: George Sang bought a lottery ticket, winning a prize of $500,000. After work, he passed the station and felt the music was so wonderful that he took out 50 dollars and put it in the hat. However, the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to attend further study in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it, he cancelled the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.
When asked why he didn't take the lottery ticket for himself, the violinist said, "Although I don't have much money, I live happily; but if I lose honesty I won't be happy forever." | high5419.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "help students form the habit of doing sports"
},
"options": [
"encourage students to compete bravely in competition",
"teach students how to deal with risks",
"prevent students suffering from heart disease later in life",
... | Skateboarding has become one of several non - traditional activities that PE teachers around America are introducing to inspire kids to exercise regularly. Some PE classes feature in-line skating, yoga, and even rock climbing. Experts have called those types of activities "the new PE".
Such activities are part of a larger effort to help kids develop lifelong fitness habits and to keep them from becoming overweight. Now, 9 million U.S. children and teens are overweight. Obesity can lead to health problems such as diabetes and heart disease later in life.
"Our children and youth are becoming unhealthy and obese," says Lindsey Johnson. "Skateboarding is a great activity that keeps kids doing physical movement and gives them new skills and interest."
Some schools don't allow skateboarding because they say it is dangerous. Cendali, however, argues that regular practice _ a great deal of the danger. "We teach students how to do it and how to do it safely," he says.
Some people say skateboarding teaches life lessons. "Skateboarding teaches kids to believe that if they stick with something they will finally succeed," says education expert Richard Sagor of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Skateboarding inspires kids not to give up in learning difficult skills. "It's natural for kids to want to learn and get better at things," adds Sagor. "When it comes to skateboarding, they'll try a trick hundreds of times before they succeed." That same effort could be made in schoolwork.
Eric Klassen agrees that skateboarding requires kids to stop saying a task is too hard for them. "A baby will attempt to walk 600 to 900 times before he or she is successful," says Klassen. "We tell students that they shouldn't say 'I can't do it' unless they've tried 600 to 900 times." | high2376.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "around 1980"
},
"options": [
"in 1975",
"around 1980",
"four years ago",
"in 1965"
],
"question": "The letter was most probable written _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {
... | To Whom It May Concern:
My husband and I got married in 1965 and for the first ten years of our marriage I was very happy to stay home and raise our three children. Then four years ago, our youngest child went to school and I thought I might go back to work.
My husband was very supportive and helped me to make my decision. He emphasized all of the things I can do around the house, and said he thought I could be a great success in business.
After several weeks of job-hunting I found my present job, which is working for a small public relations firm. At first, my husband was very proud of me and would tell his friends , "My clever little wife can run that company she's working for."
But as his joking remark approached reality, my husband stopped talking to me about my job.I have received several _ and pay increases , and I am now making more money than he is. I can buy my own clothes and a new car. Because of our combined incomes, my husband and I can do many things that we had always dreamed of doing , but we don't do these things because he is very unhappy.
We fight about little things and my husband is very critical of me in front of our friends. For the first time in our marriage, I think there is a possibility that our marriage may come to an end.
I love my husband very much, and I don't want him to feel inferior, but I also love my job.I think I can be a good wife and a working woman, but I don't know how .Can you give me some advice? Will I have to choose one or the other or can I keep both my husband and my new career?
Please help.
"Distressed" | high10631.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "give you advice but respect your own decision"
},
"options": [
"tell you what to do even if you refuse to hear it",
"try to persuade you to change your mind quickly",
"judge your decision according to his, her experience",
... | Friendship can deeply affect the physical and mental health of both men and women. Studies show that people who have no friends or who are lonely, are more likely to die earlier, get sick more often and suffer greater physical wear and tear than those who have a support system of friends.
Sometimes, family members may be more likely to give you advice or tell you what you don't want to hear. It may not be as good as a friend who will listen to you and guide you, but support your decisions anyway. The most important elements about friendship are those who suffer support and do not judge your decisions based on society.
One reason for the link between social support and good health practice seems to be that people who feel cared for by others are less stress-out and protected against the symptoms of depression and loneliness.
Generally, women benefit most because of how they deal with stress. Women are more social in how they deal with stress than men while men are more likely to have a "fight or flight" reaction. Women also tend to have larger, denser social network, in which more people know each other and help each other, while men typically have smaller groups of friends and will rely on their wives or other important people for more support. While all these affect people psychologically , friendship brings comfort that reduces the ill effects of stress, and the sex difference also contributes to the difference in the length of one's life time. | high3068.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "She had no money to pay for the surcharge ."
},
"options": [
"She had missed the only flight to Norway .",
"Her new husband abandoned her suddenly .",
"She didn't have the money to buy a ticket .",
"She had no money to ... | In 1988, Mary Anderson was at the Miami airport checking in for a flight to Norway to be with her husband when she was told she wouldn't be able to check her luggage without paying a $100 surcharge .
Mary had no money as her new husband had left for Norway and she had no one else to call .
" I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without ," says Mary .
As tears ran down her face , a voice behind her said , "That's okay, I'll pay for her ."
Rather surprised , Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before . He had a gentle and kind voice that was firm and decisive .
Although this happened twenty years ago , Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man .
Mary was pleased to bring her luggage to Norway and told the stranger she would give his money back . The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper and gave it to Mary . She thanked him repeatedly . When she finally walked off towards the boarding gate, he waved goodbye to her .
That man turned out to be Barack Obama .
Mary paid the money back to Obama the day she joined her husband . At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker in Chicago , and had started his law studies at Harward University .
In the spring of 2006 , Mary's parents heard Obama was considering a run for President . They wrote a letter saying that they would support him. At the same time , they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier .
And Obama replied , " I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport . I'm happy I could help her then , and I'm delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway . Please send her my best wishes . Sincerely , Barack Obama,
United States Senator ." | high16240.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "had not changed much"
},
"options": [
"had not changed much",
"looked very old",
"was much thinner than before",
"was wearing different clothes"
],
"question": "On his return. Rick _ .",
"question_type": "... | The blue eyes that looked at him from outside the door were like the light through a maginifying glass when it is at its brightest and smallest, when paper and leaves begin to smoke.
"Hey . " said the man in the door. " Remember me? "
" Yes. " the boy said. whispering. "Rick. "
He felt so surprised to see Rick. All of Rick seemed to be shown in the eyes. With a strong feeling that ought to have hurt him.
" You knew me." Rick said. " You hadn't forgotten. "
" You're--just the same. " the boy said. and felt much thankful.
He seemed even to be wearing the same clothes, the same blue shirt and grey trousers. He was thin, but he was built to be lean; and he was still, or again. sunburnt. After everything, the slow white smile still showed the slight feeling of happiness.
" Let's look at you." Rick said, dropping into a chair. Then slowly he felt more at home, and he became once more just Rick as if nothing had happened. There were lines about his eyes. and deeper lines on his cheeks. but he looked like-just Rick, lined by sunfight and smiling.
" When I look at you." he said, " You make me think about me, for we look like each other. "
" Yes, " said the boy, eagerly, " they all think we both look like my grandfather. " | high4707.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "create a game for middle-aged men"
},
"options": [
"make people more interested in sports",
"find a game that is very easy to play",
"give everyone a chance to exercise",
"create a game for middle-aged men"
],
"... | Volleyball has become a worldwide sport that is popular with all age groups, but when did this fun sport start? The history of volleyball dates back to 1895 when William G.Morgan met a Canadian James Naismith, inventor of basketball and was influenced by him and basketball.Then he wanted to invent a new game that was fit for middle-aged men.
Morgan enjoyed the game of basketball, but soon he realized that it was too fast paced for some of the older men.So, he decided to invent a game that was still played on a court , but the players were not required to run up and down--he created the game of "mintonette." Volleyball history shows that the original game of mintonette was played on a full court with a net in the middle.Two teams tossed the ball back and forth over the net, similar to the game of badminton.In order to cut down the equipment costs, the players played the ball with their hands.
The game quickly became popular, and everyone wanted to learn how to play volleyball.It quickly spread to other areas, across the United States, and even to other countries.Several changes were made to the game.
Then specific volleyball rules were set into place.Some of the rules of volleyball included the court size, number of players, and number of hits per team.The rules also stated that players must rotate around the court so that everyone had a turn to serve the ball.Also, a standard volleyball size and shape were decided within a few years.The rules continued to change and adjust throughout the history of volleyball, until the game became what we have today.
Even though volleyball history says that the game was originally created for middle-aged men, the game has become so popular among all kinds of people.Today there are many different kinds of competitive volleyball teams: high school volleyball, college volleyball, women volleyball, men, children, mixed teams, etc.There is an endless amount of possibilities with this game because it is easy to learn, many people can play together, and it can by played indoors or outside. | high19173.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "don't realize we're using body language"
},
"options": [
"find body language very interesting",
"don't realize we're using body language",
"hardly use any body language",
"use body language on purpose"
],
"quest... | During communication, "words" express only 7% of meanings between people. About 23% of meanings are from the "tone of voice" and 70% of meanings come from "body language". So next time you want someone's attention--try body language instead.
Everyone does it, and most interestingly--most do it unconsciously. You may wonder: "Does that mean I have to study psychology to succeed in reading body language?" The answer is "no" because most people are already body language readers.
It's a skill developed since we're babies--think of how most babies can recognize facial expressions and get attention without saying anything. That is, you needn't spend most of your time practicing some of your body language cues !
However, you should know that the context is king. It suggests that, depending on the context of the situation, people will hide body language cues. So sometimes cues can be tricky: a woman who locks her arms may think you are boring--or she may just feel cold. You must learn to read into the context as well as the cues. Sometimes people care more about their body language cues. For example, poker players will consciously hide more of their body language cues.
The first place to start when reading a person's body language is the face. The easiest way to hide your feelings is to cover your face. This is why it's sometimes hard to tell if an Islamic girl likes you.
If the eyes are the windows of the mind, the eyebrows are the windows of the eyes. So, notice how a person's eyebrows will generally rise when they meet someone, see something they like or are surprised at. Eyes generally smile along with the mouth when someone is happy, so everyone knows "^ . ^". | high16526.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "female applicants are at a disadvantage in getting research funding"
},
"options": [
"women are less successful than men in top academic positions",
"female applicants are at a disadvantage in getting research funding",
"NOW'... | Women are still underrepresented in top academic positions. One of the possible explanations for this is the increasing importance of obtaining research funding. Women are often less successful in this than men. Psychology researchers Dr. Romyvan der Lee and professor Naomi Ellemers investigated whether this difference also occurs at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and examined potential explanations.
The researchers were assigned by NWO to carry out this study as part of the broader evaluation of NWO's procedures and its gender diversity policy. The aim was to gain more insight into the causes of the differences in awarding rates for male and female applicants for research funding. The analysis addressed an important "talent programme" of NWO, the Veni grant. "Whoever receives this grant has a greater chance of obtaining an important appointment at a university,"says Naomi Ellemers.
Van der Lee and Ellemers investigated all the applications submitted by male and female researchers over a period of three years: a total of 2823 applications. Under the direction of NWO these applications were assessed by scientific committees consisting of men and women. The results demonstrate that the awarding rates for female applicants (14.9%) are systematically lower than those for male applicants (17.7%). "If we compare the proportion of women among the applicants with the proportion of women among those awarded funding, we see a loss of 4%," said Ellemers.
The study reveals that women are less positively evaluated for their qualities as researcher than men are. "Interestingly the research proposals of women and men are evaluated equally positively. In other words, the reviewers see no difference in the quality of the proposals that men and women submit," says Romy van der Lee.
In search for a possible cause for the differences in awarding rates and evaluations, the researchers also investigated the language use in the instructions and forms used to assess the quality of applications. This clearly revealed the occurrence of gendered language. The words that are used to indicate quality are frequently words that were established in previous research as referring mainly to the male gender stereotype (such as challenging and excellent). Romy van der Lee explains: "As a result, it appears that men more easily satisfy the assessment criteria, because these better fit the characteristics stereotypically associated with men."
In response to the results of this research, NWO will devote more attention to the gender awareness of reviewers in its methods and procedures. It will also be investigated which changes to the assessment procedures and criteria can most strongly contribute to more equal chances for men and women to obtain research funding. This will include an examination of the language used by NWO. NWO chair Jos Engelens said, "The research has yielded valuable results and insights. Based on the recommendations made by the researchers we will therefore focus in the coming period on the development of evidence-based measures to reduce the difference in awarding rates." | high19615.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Whether local bike shops will suffer."
},
"options": [
"Whether local bike shops will suffer.",
"How non-cyclists will respond to it.",
"Whether local bike businesses will oppose it.",
"How the safety of bike riders can... | Bright blue Citi Bikes are becoming a fine sight in the New Yorker street. New Yorkers are gradually getting used to more pedaling passengers on those blue Citi Bikes. But what about local bike shops ? Is City Bike booming at their expense? At Gotham Bikes in Tribeca, a manager who gave his name as "Ben W." said the shop has seen an increase in its overall sales due to the bike-share program. "It's getting more people on the road, more people learning about the sport and getting involved," he said. An employee at Danny's Cycles in Gramercy said Citi Bike is a good option for people in a city famed for its traffic jams and aggressive drivers. "They can try out a bike without buying one:' James Ryan said.
Rentals are not a big part of the business at either Gotham Bikes or Danny's Cycles. But for Frank's Bike Shop, a small business on Grand St., the bike-share program has been bad news. Owner Frank Arroyo said that his rental business has decreased by 90% since Citi Bike was launched last month. Arroyo's main rental customers are European tourists, who have since been drawn away by Citi Bikes.
However, Ben said the bike-share is good for bike sales at his shop. "People have used the bike-share and realized how great it is to bike in the city, then decide that they want something nicer for themselves," he noted.
Christian Farrell of Waterfront Bicycle Shop, on West St. said at first he was concerned about bike-share, though, he admitted, "I was happy to see people on bikes."
Farrell's early concerns were repeated by Andrew Crooks, owner of NYC Velo, at 64 Second Ave. "It seemed like a great idea, but one that would be difficult to put into use:' Crooks said of Citi Bike. He said he worried about inexperienced riders' lack of awareness of biking rules and strong negative reaction from non-cyclists. However, he said, it's still too early to tell if his business has been impacted .
While it's possible bike-share will cause a drop in business, Crooks agreed that the idea is a positive step forward for New York City. | high11249.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Figuring out meaningful sentences based on the words."
},
"options": [
"Changing the received vibrations into digital data.",
"Analyzing the digital data to see what pronunciations it represents.",
"Putting the pronunciations... | IMAGINE if there was a device that could do everything for you - wake you up every morning, chat with you and type your e-mails.
The piece of technology in question would be smart, able to tell you about the weather and where the nearest restaurants are.
The good thing is you no longer need to wonder, because something like this already exists. And its name is Siri.
Siri is a voice recognition application designed for Apple products and the concept has been around for almost a year.
When Siri first came out it could only speak English, but now it has "learned" lots of new languages, including Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese, reported The Wall Street Journal. So, you can give it orders in your mother tongue.
But how could a cell phone or a computer "hear" what you are saying and understand it? This is all because of voice recognition technology.
When you speak, your voice creates vibrations in the air - a bit like waves in the water when you throw a rock into the lake. The microphone receives the vibrations and the computer changes them into digital data that is then divided into many parts. They are analyzed one by one to see what pronunciations each part stands for. The computer then puts these pronunciations together into possible words according to its built-in dictionary.
But figuring out the words is far from enough; building words into meaningful sentences is the most difficult part. The computer has to compare what it hears to a large library of known phrases and sentences to determine what the user is saying.
However, people don't always talk in the most standard way and sometimes make grammatical mistakes. This is why traditional voice recognition software always requires you to remember keywords and to speak in a certain way.
Fortunately, Siri isn't like that. It's not just "voice recognition"; it's "natural language understanding (NLU)". You can ask it things like "Do I need an umbrella today?" and it will know that you are asking about the weather, according to ABC News.
"The key thing is NLU - understanding what you mean and what you want," Neil Grant from Nuance, a software company in the US, told The Guardian. "Historically, you had to learn a huge long list of commands . As NLU progresses, you can say what you want in a way that's natural to you." | high2410.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "The patient will usually forgive the doctor when the mistake are not intentional."
},
"options": [
"The doctor made the mistake deliberately so they do not apologize.",
"Doctors never tell the patient they have made a mistake.",
... | There is nothing in the Hippocratic Oath that tells doctors what to do when they make a mistake with a patient. Nor is there much on this subject in medical school curriculums or in training programs.
_
Much was made of the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report that 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year in hospitals from preventable medical errors, many of them made by doctors.
The report stated much first-hand information to address the problem, but there was little discussion about how doctors, when they have made mistakes, should deal with their patients,
Everyone assumes that the ever-present threat of accusation has made doctors more anxious about admitting error, and no doubt it has, But doctors have always been tight-lipped about their mistakes, in part to preserve an illusion(,) of medical omnipotence
Studies suggest that patients are less likely to accuse doctors when they apologize for mistakes, and many hospitals now encourage their physicians to admit their errors. According to an supportive group called The Sorry Works! Coalition, 16 states have already passed laws giving doctors legal immunity for their apologies to patients.
Of course, there are plenty of doctors with a nice bedside manner who can get away with bad treatment. How else to explain patients who often line up in court to support doctors accused of malpractice ?
The surprising truth is that many patients have a hard time knowing whether they are really getting good medical care.
Because so many diseases change randomly over time, patients sometimes spontaneously improve despite improper treatment. On the other hand, a patient who receives exemplary medical care may fare badly simply because the illness is hard to treat. In other words, doctors are often praised or blamed, when the outcome is in fact a chance event.
Many, perhaps even most, medical errors probably have little ill effect and go unnoticed by patients. Many lawyers would disagree, but doctors ought to let their patients know when they've made a mistake; it humanizes them and builds trust. | high10157.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "it stimulates the body to release awaking hormones at the wrong time"
},
"options": [
"is shortens people's sleeping time",
"it makes people upset and unable to concentrate",
"it releases radiation and increases people's chan... | Don't you find that it is getting increasingly darker every day when you wake up for school ? As winter comes ,days become shorter while the nights become longer ,In the past people slept more in winter ,but in modern times we just use more electric light instead of sunlight to continue our normal routines .
But scientific research is finding that manhandling of electric light is making us sick .
Electric light is fooling the body's biological clock into releasing awaking hormones ( )at the wrong times ,scientists say .This might be leading to seasonal fatigue and depression .
Much more than mental health is at stake ,Recent scientific studies have found that women who work at night ,have higher chances of getting breast-cancer .
"Electric lights are wonderful ,but as with a lot of other things ,we really mess ,things up "said David Avery ,a psychiatrist ." Our ancestors evolved in a very regular light -dark cycle ,and our bodies just work better that way ."
Researchers have known for a long time that all living things have a biological clock that is linked to light ,Being of the natural day-night cycle can cause fatigue ,mood change and depression ,This is known as seasonal affective disorder ,or SAD.
Scientists disagree on the cause of SAD ,Some say it is caused by winter's late sunrises , others blame the early sunsets .
However ,they all agree the perfect solution to SAD is to give up artificial light ,It will quickly bring someone into a cycle of long ,restful nights and easy awakenings at dawn .
But realistically most people need to use electric light in their everyday life . Ironically the next best solution is to use more bright lights to reset the body's biological clock .
By getting bright light first thing in the morning it simulates an earlier dawn and shifts the body clock forward ,according to Alfred Lewy ,a psychiatrist at Oregon Health & Science University .
A 2005 study done by the American Psychiatric Association showed that daily exposure to bright light was about as effective as medicine used to treat several forms of depression . | high20094.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The huge number of bats flying together."
},
"options": [
"The entrance of a deep,dark cave.",
"The bats feeding on insects at night.",
"The huge number of bats flying together.",
"It takes place all summer long."
]... | The sun is setting on a summer night.At the entrance of a deep,dark cave,a few bats fly out.Within a few minutes,millions and millions of bats are pouring out of the cave.
Sounds like a scary horror movie? Believe it or not,this scene takes place all summer long,at Bracken Cave in Texas,where 20 million bats come out to feed on insects every night."It is magical,"says Jim Kennedy of Bat Conservation International in Texas."It is one of the most impressive animal movements on the planet."
Every March or April,Mexican free-tailed bats migrate up to 1,600 kilometers from their winter home in Mexico to their American home in Texas,where they raise their young. Soon after they arrive,each mother gives birth to one baby.As many as 500,baby bats crowd into 30 cubic centimeters of space.and all those bodies create nice warm tem- peratures to keep them cozy and comfortable.
If you have ever lost sight of your parents in a crowded playground,you may be won- dering how mother bats recorgnize their children.They use their sense of smell to tell which baby is theirs when it is time for the babies to have milk.
When twenty million bats fly out of one cave opening,they make a column so thick that they show up on the radar at the nearby airport.It can take three hours for all of them to get out from the cave."You can feel the breeze from their wings,and see the plats wa- ving,"says Kennedy."The movement of all those wings makes a very relaxing soft sound.I've always thought it would make a great relaxation music to help you go to sleep. So much for bats being scary!" | high17638.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "The writer didn't take the teacher's words to heart at first."
},
"options": [
"The writer owes great thanks to Sam for teaching him how to use free time",
"Sam has had a great influence on the writer's study.",
"The writer d... | Sam Trafton was my violin teacher and what he said during one of my lessons often came back to me years later.
One day he asked me how much I practiced, I said three or four hours a day.
"Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?"
"I try to."
"Well, don't," he shouted. "When you grow up, time won't come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day."
When I was teaching at Boston, I wanted to write a novel, but for two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Sam had said. During the next week I did an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my surprise, at the end of the week I had finished a chapter. Later on I continued my novels by the same piecemeal method.Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, every day there were unoccupied moments that could be caught and put to use.
However, you must get into your work quickly. If you have only five minutes for writing, you can't afford to waste four chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.
Sam Trafton has had a great influence on my life. He let me know that life can be _ to supply you short moments and even very short periods of time can add up to all useful hours you need, if you start without delay. | high6676.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Reading and listening."
},
"options": [
"Reading and listening.",
"Reading and writing.",
"Writing and speaking.",
"Speaking and listening."
],
"question": "According to the author, which should you improve firs... | If you want to become a fluent English speaker you should take some advice: There are four skills in learning English. They are reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The most important thing you must remember is that if you want to improve your speaking and writing skills you should first master the skills of reading and listening.
Read as much as you can. But your reading must be active. It means that you must think about the meaning of the sentence, the meanings of the unfamiliar words, etc. There is no need for you to pay much attention to grammars or try to understand all the unfamiliar words you _ , but the fact that you see them for the first time and recognize them whenever you see them, for example in other passages or books, is enough. It would be better to prepare yourself a notebook so you can write down the important words or sentences in it.
As for listening, there are two choices: besides reading, you can listen every day for about 30 minutes. You can only pay attention to your reading and become skillful at your reading, then you can catch up on your listening. Since you have lots of inputs in your mind, you can easily guess what the speaker is going to say. This never means that you should not practice listening.
For listening you can listen to cartoons or some movies that are specially made for children. Their languages are easy. Or if you are good at listening you can listen to VOA or BBC programs every day. Again the thing to remember is being active in listening and preferably taking some notes.
If you follow these pieces of advice, your speaking and writing will improve automatically, and you can be sure that with a little effort they will become perfect. | high9545.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Wessex"
},
"options": [
"Sussex",
"Wessex",
"Essex",
"East Anglia"
],
"question": "In the history of England, _ once was the strongest kingdom.",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
"answer": {... | The name England comes from the words "Angle land".The Angles were people who came from northern Germany in the 5th and 6th centuries,after the Romans had left.The French name for England is Angleterre,which also means "Angle land".There were also invasions of southern England by Saxons and Jutes (people from another part of northern Germany).English people are sometimes called AngloSaxons.The Celts who used to live in this area were forced to move back into Scotland,Ireland,Cornwall and into Western France (the area known as Brittany).
England at first became a series of kingdoms,the strongest of which was Wessex (the name comes from WestSaxon).The names of many of the areas in England come from this period--for example,the name Sussex comes from SouthSaxon,Essex from EastSaxon,and East Anglia from EastAngle.The Vikings then came from Denmark,and later the Normans invaded from France. Eventually England,Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland were united,forming the United Kingdom.
The English language is the main language spoken throughout England,although there are many different accents.It can be difficult to know how to spell or to pronounce some English words,because the language has been influenced by Latin and Greek (languages used at the time of the Romans,and used in religion and education until recent times),German (the language of the Angles,Saxons and Jutes),French(the language of the Normans),Gaelic/Scots (Celtic languages) and Danish (the language of the Vikings).
There are now many people throughout the United Kingdom who speak a foreign language either as their first or second language;mainly due to immigration from Europe or the Commonwealth (countries which used to be part of the British Empire). | high1119.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "How the children behave in the new environments."
},
"options": [
"How the children behave in the new environments.",
"Where the children are from.",
"What the kids' family background is like .",
"How old the children a... | In a nation with a one-child policy, it's understandable for parents to worry over whether they are petting their children. Are the children as truly weak as expected?
The concern has been brought into a hit reality TV series -- Hunan TV's Dad!
Where Are We Going? and Zhejiang TV's First Time In Life. In both, children as young as three have become new public figures . In the show First Time In Life,children chosen from ordinary families are given small tasks to finish by themselves;the ongoing Dad show centers on five fathers and their children who are forced to live a simple life in poor villages, far outside their comfortable city life.
Though they have different family backgrounds, how they behave in the new environments has drawn the attention of the public.
In Dad! Where Are We Going?, the five-year-old daughter of former Olympic diving champion Tian Liang cries and hides behind her father when they arrive at a rural village. In First Time In Life, a young girl in Tianjin cries after being asked by her father to go out alone to buy eggs and a pancake.
In the eyes of some people, these kids always depend on others, and the reason is that their parents give them too much love. But television viewers and parents were encouraged when the crying Tianjin girl finally returned holding the pancake, and Tian's daughter finally began to take care of her younger friends and learned to ask for help from people she didn't know.
The father of the Tianjin girl felt " _ " and said. "She used to
be well taken care of by her mother or grandmother. Now she has the courage to do it all by herself. "
The shows have led many parents to change how they raise their children. Shanghai mother Liang Jing said she would try to "give some training" to her shy son, asking him to tidy up his toys. Lin Yi, a parenting expert in Beijing, said giving kids a chance to do things for themselves helps to raise their sense of success, which carries benefits all through their lives. " | high8883.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "He had great achievements while he lived a simple life."
},
"options": [
"He had great achievements while he lived a simple life.",
"He had high social statue while he wore shabby clothes.",
"He was famous in the world while ... | China's famous scientist, the Cloth Shoes Academician Li Xiaowen passed away on January 10th, 2015 in Beijing at the age of 67. Hundreds of thousands of citizens sang high praise for him online, showing their respect to the leading authority in remote sensing field. Following Li Xiaowen's last wish, his family held a simple funeral for him, while many admirers from all over the country came to the funeral for remembrance. Some national leaders including Premier Li Keqiang also sent a wreath.
Li was a professor at Beijing Normal University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research achievements have advanced the development of remote sensing science, and made China one of the leaders in this field. He also received several famous science prizes from China. He published 1,878 essays on his blog since 2007. All his students have thumbed up to Li for his contributions to the development of remote sensing. He was known to everyone in the remote sensing circle, but was impressive on citizens for a photo.
In recent years, Professor Li's quiet and self-effacing behavior was recognized through social media. In 2014, a photograph of Academician Li was taken by his student, in which he was attentively making a lecture with shabby clothes, grizzled hair and straggling beard, without socks, and wearing black cloth shoes. He looked like an old villager, rather than a famous scientist. The photo became popular on the Internet and earned him the title of the "Cloth Shoes Academician." His simple plain image, kindness to all his students and dedication to his career are three important features on him. All these are precious to educational and academic community.
"The society is changeable but Academician Li is quiet. He faced all stuff with his characters of quietness and simplicity. It is clear that he has become the 'Teacher Immortal'." said Ge Yuejing, a senior leader of Beijing Normal University. | high12740.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "what they see reminds them of their childhood"
},
"options": [
"the buildings are of ageold appearance",
"the design of the doors suggests old times",
"they have already known the Hospital's story",
"what they see remin... | Behind the traffic noise and modernday confusion on Stoney Creek Road in Bexley lies a small but amazing piece of history.Just a century ago,Mr Harold Chapman Snr.founded Sydney's Famous Original Doll Hospital and,although the Hospital has relocated several times,you cannot help but get a sense of days gone by when you walk through the doors.
In 1913 Sydney's first Doll Hospital was opened in Beamish Street.Campsie by Mr Harold Chapman Snr as part of his General Store,all beginning from a simple shipping accident.Harold's brother was in the business of importing dolls from Japan and during the shipping process the rubber bands holding the dolls together would go rotten and it was Harold who found a way to repair them.From such a small beginning grew quite a successful business as demand for doll repairs increased.
The business was taken over in the 1930's by Harold's son,also Harold Chapman who relocated the Doll Hospital to Her Majesty's Arcade in Sydney where the business expanded.The real boom came in 1939 with World War II and the extreme restrictions on production and import.Suddenly new dolls were no longer an option so little children had to have their "best friends" lovingly repaired.
In 1968 the Doll Hospital moved to its present location.It is now run by Mr Geoff Chapman,Harold Jnr's son.The Hospital is not only in its third generation of owners,but also its third generation of "doctors",the skills and knowledge being passed down through the family of repairers.
Flipping through the "Before and After" photo album,you can see just how many wonderful repairs have been carried out and you can just imagine the stories behind them.It is estimated that the Doll Hospital has treated over 2.5 million "patients" so far--that's a lot of childhood memories revived! | high7568.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "2.460,000/0.186"
},
"options": [
"132,000,000x0.1007",
"2.460,000/0.186",
"132,000,000x0.032",
"2.460,000x0.186"
],
"question": "Which of the following is the correct way to calculate Shanghai's population?",
... | Shanghai Faces Aging Problem
The population of citizens aged above sixty in Shanghai City in east China has reached 2.46 million, accounting for nearly 18.6 percent of its total population, a local official said today.
Shen Zhenxin, deputy director of Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, says that the figure mainly shows a social problem brought by the increase in the numbers of elderly people, according to Tuesday's China Daily.
Shanghai was the first city in the country to have an aging society-with 10.07 percent of the population of pensionable age in 1979. It is predicted(told in advance)that the rise in the city's elderly population will reach its top between 2025 to 2030, the newspaper reports.
A recent survey(study)also shows that the population above the age of 60 in China has amounted to(reached)some 132 million so far, and the figure is increasing by 3.2 percent each year.
"Yet fewer children have been born these years, so the social security system should be improved as soon as possible," said Shen.
Shanghai has chosen some communities as pilot neighborhoods to carry out a help-each-other program in an attempt to solve the problem. People can help take care of the elderly people, and they in turn will be looked after by others when they get old, according to China Daily. | high22683.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "She would learn more from failure."
},
"options": [
"Success is boring though beneficial.",
"She would learn more from failure.",
"It's impossible to do everything successfully.",
"He wanted her to be strong enough to f... | Last week, my granddaughter started kindergarten, and I wished her every success. But part of me didn't. I actually wanted her to fail in some ways because I believe that failure can be good for our learning process. Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do, or doing something correctly the first time, which can often be a problematic victory. First-time success is usually a fluke . First-time failure, by contrast, is expected to be the natural order of things. Failure is how we learn.
In Africa they describe a good cook as "She who has broken many pots." If you've spent enough time in the kitchen to have broken a lot of pots, probably you know a fair amount about cooking. I once had dinner with a group of cooks, and they spent time comparing knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much credibility their failures gave them.
I earn my living by writing a daily newspaper column. Each week I am aware that one column I write is going to be the worst column. I try my best every day. I have learned to cherish that column. A successful column usually means that I am discussing my familiar topic, writing in a style I am used to or saying the same things as anyone else but in a fancy way.
My younger daughter is a trapeze artist. She spent three years putting together a show, and she did it successfully for years. There was no reason for her to change it but she did anyway. She said she was no longer learning anything new and she was bored. And if she was bored, there was no point in subjecting (......) her body to all that stress. She risked failure and great public embarrassment in order to feed her soul.
My granddaughter is a perfectionist. She will feel her failures, and I will want to comfort her. But I will also, I hope, remind her of what she learned, and how she can do better next time. I hope I can tell her, though, that it's not the end of the world. Indeed, with luck, it is the beginning. | high6662.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Microsoft and AOL failed to take on Zuckerberg as a member"
},
"options": [
"Facebook suffered immediate failure when it first appeared",
"Microsoft and AOL failed to take on Zuckerberg as a member",
"people agree on the orig... | Mnrk Zuckerberg, born on May 14. 1984, is an American computer programmer and businessman. As a Harvard student. He created the online social website Facebook, a site popular among students worldwide, with fellow computer science major students and his roommates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. He serves as Facebook's CEO. He has been the subject of argument for the origins of his business and his wealth. Time Magazine added Zuckerherg as one of The World's Most Influential people 2008.
Zuckerberg grew up in prefix = st1 /Dobbs Ferry,New York. Early on. Zuckerlrg enjoyed making computer programs, especially communication tools and games. He started programming when he was in middle school. While attending Phillips Exeter Academy in high school, he built a program to help the workers in his dad's office communicate and a version of the game Risk. He also built a music player named Synapse that can learn the user's listening habits. Microsoft and AOL tried to purchase Synapse and employ Zuckerberg, but instead he decided to attend HarvardUniversity.
Zuckerberg started Facebook from his Harvard dorm room on February 4, 2004. it quickly became a success at Harvard and more than two-thirds of the school's studetts signed up in the first two weeks. It started off as just a "Havard-Thing," until Zuckerberg then decided to spread Facebook to other schools and enlisted the help of roommate Dustin Moskovitz. They first spread it to Stanford, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell and Yale, and then to other schools with social contacts with Harvard. By the beginning of the summer, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz had made Facebook available at almost forty-five schools and hundreds of thousands of people were using it. | high23589.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They were brought in from foreign countries"
},
"options": [
"They fell down from space.",
"They floated to the America's shores.",
"They were brought in from foreign countries",
"They has lived here since human settler... | Green invaders are taking over America. Not invaders from space, but plants! You might not think of plants as dangerous, but in this case they are threatening nature's delicate food chain.
The invaders are plants brought here from other countries to make gardens and yards look pretty. Ever since people started to arrive on America's shores, they have carried along trees, flowers, and vegetables from other places. Now there are so many of those plants, they are crowding out the native plants that have lived here since before human settlers arrived.
And that's a problem, says Dr. Doug Tallamy. He's insect expert at the University of Delaware. He explains that almost all the plant-eating insects in the United States are specialized, which means they eat only certain plants. Monarch butterfly caterpillars ,for example, dine on milkweed. If people cut down milkweed and replace it with another plant, the butterflies will not have the food source that they need to survive.
But the trouble doesn't stop there. When insects can't get the right plants to eat and they die off, then the birds don't have enough bugs for their meals. Tallamy points out that almost all migrating birds depend on insets to feed their young.
"We cannot let the plants and animals around us disappear." says Tallamy, "The way to preserve them is to give them food to eat. But when we plant non-native plants, we are _ the food chain, because then we don't have the insects the birds need to live."
Fewer of the right plants mean fewer bugs, and fewer bugs mean fewer birds. And that's bad for the Earth, because we need a variety of living things to keep the planet healthy and beautiful.
The good news is, garden centers sell native plants. "Just Google 'native plants' and your location, and you can find out which plants really belong where you live," says Tallamy | high9551.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "felt it difficult to answer"
},
"options": [
"believed it was easy to do it",
"felt it difficult to answer",
"considered her a creative girl",
"decided to make up a lie at once"
],
"question": "When the girl ask... | Each time I see a balloon , my mind flies back to a memory when I was a six-year-old girl . It was a rainy Sunday and my father had recently died . I asked my mum if my dad had gone to heaven . " Yes , honey . Of course , " she said . " Can we write him a letter ? "
She paused , the longest pause of my short life , and answered , " Yes . " My heart jumped . " Can the mailman go there ? " I asked .
" No , but I have an idea . " Mum drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon . I asked her what it was for . " Just wait , honey . You'll see . " Mum told me to write my letter . Eagerly , I got my favorite pen , and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink . I wrote about my day , what I learned at school , how Mum was doing , and even about what happened in a story I had read . For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive . I gave the letter to Mum . She read it over , and a smile crossed her face . She made a hole in the corner of the letter to tie it to the balloon . We went outside and she gave me the balloon . It was still raining . " Okay , on the count of three , let it go . One , two , three . " The balloon , carrying my letter , flew upwards against the rain . We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds . Later I realized , like the balloon , that Dad had never let his sickness get him down . He was strong . No matter what he suffered , he'd keep on , fly up , and finally go beyond this cold world and his sick body . He rose into sky and became something beautiful . I watched until the balloon disappeared into the grey and white and I prayed that his strength was passed on . I prayed to be a balloon . | high14325.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "A university student who had not yet taken a degree."
},
"options": [
"A worker working in a university.",
"A teacher teaching in a college.",
"A clerk working in a museum.",
"A university student who had not yet taken ... | About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink . As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen
All of a sudden her _ was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.
That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me. | high499.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Species become smaller as climate warms"
},
"options": [
"Why do some species become smaller?",
"How does climate change in Earth's history?",
"Climate change has many negative effects",
"Species become smaller as clima... | "Plants were expected to get larger with increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but changes in temperature, humidity and nutrient availability seem to have _ 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 point out that warmer temperatures and changing habitats, caused by climate change, are possible reasons for the shrinking of creatures.
"We do not yet know the exact mechanisms involved, or why some organisms 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 cold-blooded animals. Only two decades of warmer temperatures were enough to make reptiles smaller. An increase of only 1degC 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.
Warm-blooded 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 isn't 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 longer 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 the future. | high12754.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "get some food and money"
},
"options": [
"keep it alive",
"get some food and money",
"please the soldiers",
"ask them to take care of it"
],
"question": "The boy gave the cub to the soldiers to _ .",
"que... | The story of Voytek the bear in the Iranian mountains, where his mother was killed by hunters when he was only eight weeks old, is very interesting. A young Iranian boy saved the young cub, putting him into his backpack. When a group of Polish soldiers drove up, the boy gave them the cub in exchange for some beef, a chocolate bar, and a few coins.
The cub was near death, and the soldiers didn't think he would survive the night but they slowly nursed him back to health, feeding him out of a bottle filled with milk. During the months that followed, the cub grew larger and stronger. He learned to march in formation with the soldiers. One of his favorite hobbies was wrestling with his Polish friends --- occasionally, he even let them win. "He was just like a dog --- nobody was scared of him," a soldier, Augustyn Karolewski, told The Scotsman.
Though Voytek loved to play, the Polish troops soon realized they could put him to work, too. Who could be better at loading heavy ammunition into their trucks than a bear? During the Battle of Monte Cassino, Voytek helped out his fellow men by loading shells into truck beds for hours and hours without stopping, paving the way for a victory.
After the war ended, Voytek lived the rest of his life at the Edinburgh Zoo, where he was very famous. He died in 1963, and ever since, his remarkable story has gradually been forgotten. But that may be about to change --- a Scottish woman, Alieen Orr, is campaigning for a monument to this military hero.
Orr first heard the legend of Voytek from her grandfather. "I thought he had made it up, to be quite honest," she told The Scotsman. "The story is totally amazing and it would be good if we could have a memorial in Scotland to celebrate the bear's life." | high22697.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "A thief broke into the house."
},
"options": [
"She got scared.",
"She saw a mouse.",
"A thief broke into the house.",
"The doors were unlocked."
],
"question": "Why did Rhubarb bark on a hot night?",
"quest... | Rhubarb loved everyone and every dog. Whenever someone came to the house, she was always happy. We had an older Samoyed named Willie, and it was important that Rhubarb got along well with him. She wanted to play, but was very respectful of Willie and left him alone when he was tired and needed to rest. Willie was not well and died about a year later, but I believe Rhubarb's interaction helped him keep going for longer than ifhe had been alone.
But the interesting thing about Rhubarb was that she never barked. She would sometimes get excited when she saw a mouse and make a little crying sound. One hot night when she was about 4 years old, we went to bed with the windows open and the doors unlocked. At about 3 a.m., I woke up to the sound of Rhubarb barking and growling. I woke Donald and we got out of bed.
Rhubarb was coming toward us with her hackles up. We turned on the lights and noticed the door to the kitchen was open. Then we saw the door leading into the house from the garage was also open. We quickly locked all the doors, and we did not get any sleep that night.
The next day I called the police to report a break-in. I told them nothing had been taken, but they sent a police officer over to talk with us anyway. While he was here, we found out several local homes had been burglarized over the weekend. Most people had their wallets and purses stolen.
My purse was right next to the door, but Rhubarb had scared the robber away before he or she could steal it. When the police officer left, he said we should keep our doors locked and reward Rhubarb with a big steak dinner.
Rhubarb lived to be almost 12, but that night was the only time she barked in her entire life. Fortunately, she never saw the need to warn us of any other danger. We loved her like a member of the family and still miss our sweet dog. | high19601.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "To keep her from dishonest behaviors."
},
"options": [
"To correct her typing mistakes.",
"To find her secrets in the room.",
"To prevent her from slowing down.",
"To keep her from dishonest behaviors."
],
"ques... | While Jennifer was at home taking an online exam for her business law class, a monitor a few hundred miles away was watching her every move.
Using a web camera equipped in Jennifer's Los Angeles apartment, the monitor in Phoenix tracked how frequently her eyes moved from the computer screen and listened for the secret sounds of a possible helper in the room. Her Internet access was locked - remotely - to prevent Internet searches , and her typing style was analyzed to make sure she was who she said she was: Did she enter her student number at the same speed as she had in the past? Or was she slowing down?
In the battle against cheating, this is the _ and a key to encourage honesty in the booming field of online education. The technology gives trust to the entire system, to the institution and to online education in general. Only with solid measures against cheating, experts say, can Internet universities show that their exams and diplomas are valid - that students haven't just searched the Internet to get the right answers.
Although online classes have existed for more than a decade, the concern over cheating has become sharper in the last year with the growth of "open online courses." Private colleges, public universities and corporations are jumping into the online education field, spending millions of dollars to attract potential students, while also taking steps to help guarantee honesty at a distance.
Aside from the web cameras, a number of other high-tech methods are becoming increasingly popular. Among them are programs that check students' identities using personal information, such as the telephone number they once used.
Other programs can produce unique exam by drawing on a large list of questions and can recognize possible cheaters by analyzing whether difficult test question are answered at the same speed as easy ones. As in many university classes, term papers are scanned against some large Internet data banks for cheating. | high4075.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "shortly before the Grammy this year"
},
"options": [
"shortly before the Grammy this year",
"earlier last Sunday",
"a year ago",
"at the annual pre-Grammy party"
],
"question": "Whitney Houston died _ .",
... | A year ago, at the annual pre-Grammy party, Whitney Houston, the great star, walked on stage and closed the evening with a brilliant performance.
Last Saturday, Houston was once again the focus before the Grammy, but her presence was a regrettable one.Earlier that day, the pop music's former queen was found dead in her hotel room.She was 48.This, no doubt, is sad news to the whole music industry and her fans all over the world.
At her peak , Houston was the golden girl of the music world.From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists.She impressed audiences with her effortless, powerful and _ performance.
Besides multi-million record sales, Houston made countless hits such as The Greatest Love of All, I Have Nothing, and the mostly famous I Will Always Love You.She also influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey.
But by the end of her career, there was a shocking fall for this superstar.Houston had been addicted to drugs.Her album sales declined and the hits stopped coming and her once beautiful voice became hoarse , unable to hit the high notes as she used to.
In 2009, Houston staged a successful comeback with the albumI Look To You, which fell on top of the charts.But hoarse voice, canceled concerts, and continuous illness-Houston's comeback trail wasn't smooth at all.In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009, Houston admitted: "It (show business) is too much for me and I wanted out."
Now that Houston has finally taken a break from all the chaos , may she rest in peace. | high2404.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Leading an active life."
},
"options": [
"Ice fishing.",
"Joining a group",
"Leading an active life.",
"Staying in the snow"
],
"question": "What is the important part for many Canadians in winter?",
"questi... | In the winter months the temperature in most of Canada usually stays below 0degC. However, in some parts of Canada, such as southern British Columbia, the temperature rarely goes below 0degC. In most areas where people live, snow will be on the ground from mid-December to the middle of March. Though Canada's winter may be much colder and longer than you are used to, it can be very enjoyable. For many Canadians, being active in winter is an important part of enjoying life. There are many outdoor winter activities, including skiing, ice fishing, walking, and skating. Joining in one of these activities may help you appreciate winter and enjoy your time outside in the snow.
Dressing for winter.
During winter in Canada, you will need warm clothing. If possible, arrive with these items or be prepared to buy them soon after your arrival. You will need:
*A warm waterproof boots.
*A scarf for your neck.
*A hat that covers your ears.
*Gloves for your hands.
*Thick winter coats, pants and sweaters.
Layers keep you warm.
It's a good idea to layer your clothing by, for example, wearing a T-shirt and a sweater underneath a jacket. If you become too hot, it is always easier to remove a piece of clothing than to add another. On the West Coast, prepare to dress for cool rainy or snowy weather. You will need:
*A warm waterproof coat.
*Waterproof hats.
*An umbrella.
*Rain boots or snow boots.
Learn more about weather and seasons across Canada. You can also contact Related Links.com, for example, an immigrant-serving organization in the community where you live for more information about dressing for winter. | high10143.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Phoenix will be sent to find clues of water on Mars"
},
"options": [
"clues of water will be found in Phoenix",
"Phoenix will be sent to find clues of water on Mars",
"August 2007 will see Phoenix lift off",
"the Mars S... | NASA is moving ahead with plans to put a long-armed Lander on Mars' icy North Pole to search for clues for water and possible signs of life.
The $386 million Phoenix Mars is planned to touch down in the Martian arctic in 2008. The stationary probe will use its robotic arm to dig into the icy land and pick up soil samples to analyze. In 2002, the Mars Odyssey orbiter spotted evidence of ice-rich soil near the arctic surface.
Scientists hope the Phoenix mission will find clues to the geologic history of water on the Red Planet and determine whether microbes existed in the ice.
Phoenix will be the first mission of the Mars Scout program, a renewed, low-cost effort to study the Red Planet. "The Phoenix mission explores new territory in the northern plains of Mars analogous to the permafrost regions on Earth," Peter Smith said.
True to its name, Phoenix rose from the ashes of previous missions. The lander for Phoenix was built to fly as part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor program. But the program broke down after the well-known disappearance of the Mars Polar Lander in 1999. The Polar Lander lost contact during a landing attempt near the planet's south pole after its rocket engine shut off _ , causing the spacecraft to fall about 130 feet to almost certain destruction.
The Phoenix probe had been in storage at a Lockheed Martin clean room in Denver before it was reused for its present mission. It will carry science instruments that were designed for the Mars Surveyor program including an improved panoramic camera and a trench-digging robotic arm. Phoenix will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in August 2007 and land on the planet nine months later. | high20080.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "good things come in small packages"
},
"options": [
"the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.",
"too many cooks spoil the soup",
"good things come in small packages",
"two heads are better than one"
],
"questio... | Proverbs are popular around the world. Many proverbs give advice on how to live. Some proverbs are hundreds of years old, but they are still used today.
For example, my son is just like his father in many ways. We often say the two of them prove the proverb that the apple does not fall far from the tree.
My daughter is very short. She would like to be taller. But I tell her that good things come
in small packages. Some valuable things are very small, like diamonds and other jewels. But I also tell my children that all that glitters is not gold. Something may look valuable, but may not really be valuable. Also, I tell them do not judge a book by its cover. You should not judge something only by its appearance.
Sometimes I tell my children to cooperate to solve a problem. After all, two heads are better than one. But another proverb says too many cooks spoil the soup. If too many people try to do something, then the job will not be done well.
I also tell my children that two wrongs do not make a right. You should not do something bad just because someone did the same to you.
Some people are pessimists while other people are optimists. Pessimists always think about
how bad things are or will be; optimists might say that every cloud has a silver lining and they always look on the bright side. Other people are both pessimists and optimists. They hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Some people often worry about what they will do in a situation that might happen in the future. We could tell them do not cross that bridge until you come to it.
It is usually much better to prevent a problem from happening than it is to find ways to solve it.So we say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. | high18279.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "First-class education."
},
"options": [
"The largest enrollment.",
"The strongest government support.",
"The most expensive schools.",
"First-class education."
],
"question": "Which meaning can the term \"the Iv... | The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The term is most commonly used to refer to those eight schools considered as a group. The term is also connected with academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism .
The term became official, especially in sports terminology, after the formation of the NCAA Division I athletic conference in 1954, when much of the nation polarized around favorite college teams. "IV" was used because originally the league consisted only of four members. The use of the phrase is no longer limited to athletics, and now represents an educational philosophy inherent to ( ,)the nation's oldest schools. In addition, Ivy League schools are often viewed by the public as some of the most prestigious universities worldwide and are often ranked amongst the best universities in the United States and worldwide. The eight institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.
All of the Ivy League's institutions place near the top in theU.S. News & World Reportcollege and university rankings and rank within the top one percent of the world's academic institutions in terms of financial endowment . Seven of the eight schools were founded during America's colonial period; the exception is Cornell, which was founded in 1865. Ivy League institutions, therefore, account for seven of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The Ivies are all in the Northeast geographic region of the United States. All eight schools receive millions of dollars in research grants and other subsidies from federal and state government.
Undergraduate enrollments among the Ivy League schools range from about 4,000 to 14,000, making them larger than those of a typical private liberal arts college and smaller than a typical public state university. Ivy League university financial endowments range from Brown's $2.01 billion to Harvard's $26 billion, the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world. | high2362.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Because environments there are getting more and more agreeable for them to live in."
},
"options": [
"Because it is getting warmer and warmer.",
"Because it is being reformed",
"Because environments there are getting more and... | More and more birds are flying to settle at Qinghai Lake, one of the highest inland lakes in China, thanks to the protection efforts of local governments. Covering an area of over 4,000 square kilometers, Qinghai Lake is also the country's biggest salt-water lake.
Located in Northwest China's Qinghai Province, the lake is famous for the two islands at its northwest point--Cormorant Island and Egg Island.
The two islands have plenty of floating grass and various schools of fish, offering rich food sources for birds. The islands have become a paradise for different kinds of groups of birds and have been called 'Bird Islands'.
Each March and April, when ice and snow covering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau starts to melt, over 20 kinds of birds fly to the Bird Islands to lay eggs.
During the months, flocks of birds cover the whole sky over the islands and birds eggs can be found everywhere. Visitors can hear the singing of birds from miles away. These have become a world famous symbol of the lake.
To protect this paradise for birds and support calls for ecological protection, China set up the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone at the end of 1997. Meanwhile, the State has pointed out the Bird Islands and Spring Bay of the Qinghai Lake as central protection zones.
Inspection officials and management employees often patrol the lake, improving local residents' knowledge of related laws and spreading knowledge about animal protection to visitors. They are making great efforts to call on people to love and protect the birds.
At the same time, they have built special fences around the island area, to prevent wolves, foxes and other carnivorous animals, as well as illegal hunters from breaking up the birds' nest-building, egg-laying and breeding. As a result, more and more birds are coming to the islands for sheltering and breeding. | high16254.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Memories of his father and himself."
},
"options": [
"A special car.",
"A big house and lots of money.",
"Skills to support the whole family.",
"Memories of his father and himself."
],
"question": "What was the ... | My father left me a treasure when he died. It wasn't a big house or a car. It wasn't cash or gold. In the eyes of the world my father died a poor man. He was a simple mechanic who worked hard to support his family. My father's treasure, rather, was in a thousand wonderful memories that he gave me over the course of his life.
One particular one stood out in my mind today. I was just a boy playing in the backyard of a friend's house while my father spent the afternoon under the hood of an old car, trying to get it running again. It seemed to take hours and I wasn't sure whether he could bring the ancient car back to life again this time. At long last, though, he closed the hood and turned the key in the ignition . There was a sweet smile of satisfaction on his face as the engine started. There was a twinkle of joy in his eye when he shook his head. And there was a quiet hum of happiness in his voice as we drove back home that day. This memory made a home in my heart and became a priceless pearl for my soul to cherish.
Time and time again, my father showed me that a kind life, a giving life and a heavenly life was created one choice at a time. Not all of his choices were the right ones, but most of them were. He did the best he could. He lived the best he could. And he helped to bring out the best in me, too. He once said to me, "It is lucky that all of your choices are driven by love and inspired by joy." As I look back into those memories my father left me, I realize that each one of them inspired me to live and to love. May all of your choices bring memories of happiness to those around you! | high19167.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "to make it possible for students to interact with each other"
},
"options": [
"for teachers to divide students into small groups",
"to make it possible for students to interact with each other",
"for teachers to find out how ... | Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort in our work. College classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking.
We are in the 21stcentury now, but step into almost any college classroom and you _ . Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The assumption behind such an arrangement is obvious: Everything of importance comes from the teacher.
With a little imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourages interchange among students. In small or standard-size classes, chairs, desks, and tables can be arranged in a variety of ways: circles, U-shapes or semicircles. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else.
Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with movable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four or six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out loud, and see how other students' thinking processes operate---all these are essential elements in developing new modes of critical thinking.
In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine, John, allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. John then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from that time on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students' names and faces. | high12032.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Traveling by train gives people more time to see and do things."
},
"options": [
"There are more services on the train than any other",
"Traveling by train is the quickest way to reach your destination.",
"Traveling by train ... | Taking the train is a wonderful way to see America. In the 19th century, train routes appeared from coast to coast, carrying both people and goods Today, a long-distance Amtrak train trip is a different way to experience the United States.
The long-distance Amtrak trains have lots of room. Coach seats have lots of leg room and wide aisles ,sightseeing lounges have large windows, and sleeping areas can provide a good night's rest. On a train trip, there's time to talk, play cards or board games, and read to one another. On a car trip, parents have to drive while on a train, parents can sit back and watch the scenery go by. Unlike an airplane, traveling by train is not the quickest way to arrive at your destination; the train is the destination in itself.
Amtrak manages long-distance trains that run through the United States. Routes have different names, such as Empire Builder, California Zephyr, Sunset Limited and Southwest Chief. The long-distance trains have double-decker cars(Superliners), sightseeing lounges, and a real dining car. On shorter trains, such as from New York to Washington. DC, the cars are single level and only have a snack bar. In the Superliner trains, the sightseeing lounge is lined with windows on the second level while on the lower level a snack bar and tables can be found. In the evening, videos are shown in the lounge car--either entertaining movies or documentaries.
Tip: As delays are common on Amtrak trains, always call the station before you go there. Otherwise,
. | high15985.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "they fail to take in the information after finishing it"
},
"options": [
"they are working on it carelessly and hurriedly",
"they attempt to get only part of the information memorized",
"they spend too much time doing it with... | After students come home from a tiring day at school, they tend to worry a lot about their homework.
Whether students are working on English or chemistry homework, they are simply working on the assignment in order to get it done, attempting to memorize the concepts for the time being and do not absorb any of the information afterward. Students are wasting their time on insignificant assignments rather than effectively using that time to achieve other accomplishments. According to www.dailymail.com, many parents are concerned that homework is being assigned rather than being used to integrate what teachers are covering in the classroom. In their eyes, if less homework is assigned, students would have much less stress and could focus more on their passions and hobbies.
Homework gets in the way of participating in community service events as well as opportunities for getting a job or being a part of an extra-curricular activity. These responsibilities are important for teenagers to take on because they prepare the teenagers for the "real world." Without the proper exposure to work that is not school related, students will find themselves lost after they graduate. If homework were no longer given, students would have a lot more time to mature in other fields rather than being educated only on academics.
In spite of the fact that teachers want students to do better on tests and absorb the material that they are teaching, homework is not accomplishing its purpose. Because school is becoming increasingly more competitive and challenging, homework is becoming a setback rather than extra practice. Its removal would benefit the well being of teenagers as well as encourage them to get out in the "real world" and discover themselves instead of staring at a pile of assignments. | high6104.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "People around the world sent messages to support her."
},
"options": [
"People around the world sent messages to support her.",
"People sent gifts to her from all over the world.",
"A lot of people offered to donate bone marr... | A cancer-stricken British teenager said on Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online "Bucket List" of things she wanted to do before dying.
Alice Pyne, 15, created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells. "I've been fighting cancer for almost four years and now I know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one," she wrote.
For her list, at the site www. alicepyne. blogspot. com, she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor , swimming with sharks, meeting boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer.
Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter.
"Oh dear! And I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends!" she wrote after her site attracted huge attention. "Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me."
Alice, who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston, said the manager of Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog. A group of local lawmakers have also made efforts with the Anthony blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell projects. | high14443.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "It researched life rhythm in various economies and areas."
},
"options": [
"It calculated a person's walking distance during a certain period.",
"It was carried out for some commercial purposes.",
"It researched life rhythm i... | While on vacation in distant locales, people often find that time moves quite differently than in the places they're used to. Robert Levine and his colleagues have studied the speed of life in cities around the world and across the U.S. In a series of experiments they measured how fast a single pedestrian in a downtown center covered a distance of 60 feet, timed how long it took to complete a simple commercial transaction, and recorded the accuracy of randomly selected clocks in the downtown business area. They found that places with a faster pace of life also had stronger economies, and that people in larger cities tended to move faster than those in less populated areas.
So as you might expect, fast-moving people are associated with fast-moving economies. But does that faster life translate into greater happiness? In faster places, people were more likely to smoke, less likely to take the time to help strangers in need, and more likely to die from heart diseases. Yet Levine and his colleagues found that people in faster places tended to report feeling somewhat happier with their lives than those who lived in slower places. A city's pace of life was indeed "significantly related" to the physical, social, and psychological well-being of its inhabitants.
However, the relationship between income and reported happiness is far from obvious. According to the "Easterlin paradox(,)" (named after economist Richard Easterlin), once people have enough money to meet their basic needs, having more money is not necessarily correlated with higher self-reported happiness. Easterlin's claims are controversial and not universally accepted; even if his theory is correct, wealthier nations might be happier overall if they address the basic needs to more of their people. In any case, the ongoing debate indicates that we need to be careful when making connections between happiness and overall economic factors.
Among individuals in a society, busyness -- or the feeling of busyness -- seems to be an important factor in well-being. That feeling of busyness -- of having a lot to do and too little time in which to do it is often associated with stress and anxiety. However in many contexts being "busy" is badge of honor: Busy parents are seen as devoted to their children's well-being and the busy lawyer can charge a premium hourly rate. In US studies, the happiest people reported that they were busy, in the sense that they had little excess time, yet did not feel rushed.
Levine's work raises the possibility that an individual's feelings about their use of time contribute as much or more to their happiness as does economics. Now the big challenge is to find out which way the causal chain works: Does the feeling of being active, yet not rushed, contribute to happiness? Or does happiness allow people to perceive their use of time in positive ways? | high18251.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "was not willing to tell him"
},
"options": [
"was very happy",
"answered him immediately",
"was not willing to tell him",
"didn't tell him at all"
],
"question": "When the boy asked his father how much he earned... | A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year-old son waiting for him at the door. "Daddy, may I ask you a question?" "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man. "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily. "I just want to know. Please tell me. How much do you make an hour?" pleaded the little boy. "If you must know, I make $20 an hour." "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I please borrow $10?"
The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard every day for such childish behavior." The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? About an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often.
The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep, son?" He asked. "No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy. "I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the man. "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10 you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you, daddy!" he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy counted out his money, then looked up at his father. "Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled. "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied. "Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you." | high17162.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Watchful."
},
"options": [
"Watchful.",
"Hard-working.",
"Clever",
"Strange"
],
"question": "Which of the following words best describes the author?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer": {
"an... | When I was having a walk through the park today, I met a friend I hadn't seen for ages. She stared at me curiously. "You have kept this umbrella for years; it's old and out of date. I wonder why you keep it and take it wherever you go." I smiled, "it means a great deal to me." I simply gave her my shortest answer. Honestly speaking, I, either, could not understand the reason why I kept it.
Then all of a sudden, fallen leaves darkened my eyes with a strong wind. I grabbed the umbrella instinctively. The rain poured down. Thanks to my umbrella, I didn't get wet at all.
"Why have I kept it for so long?" I asked myself, staring at my umbrella. I couldn't remember when and where I bought it, for I'm always tired and lazy to answer questions. It could protect me from the heavy rain, I told myself eventually. Looking at the people rushing through the street, I felt safe. This might be another reason.
It is always so. We know a thunderstorm comes unexpectedly and goes without a warning. The sky cleared up. The sun shone brightly. Just as usual, I seized the umbrella with my left hand. Still there's water dropping down. I walked among the noisy crowd and listened to what they were murmuring in their heart. "Today I will ask for a rise, or I'll leave this company." Good luck to you, I smiled to him. "I'll manage to make you live forever." A little boy held a pet dog close to him. "She'll be all right, because she is blessed." I heard angels singing in this city.
The moment my fingertips touched the umbrella, I felt it's dry, and it's warm. Soon it became hot. I held it up to avoid harmful sunshine. Do I need a reason to explain why? Maybe I should think about it. I need my umbrella when it is sunny as well as when it is rainy. | high11513.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff"
},
"options": [
"they haven't had any life-changing experiences",
"they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff",
"they hope to live life t... | Minimalism is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features.
As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life.
When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned. I knew I couldn't take everything with me, but I kept asking myself "how could I possibly throw this away?", "what if I need it one day?", and "what about all of the memories?" Now that I've moved, and left that stuff behind, I don't even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now.
I've learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it.
You might think nostalgically about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. 1've heard it a hundred times, "you don't need things to make you happy." It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is.
Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move. It's about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don't have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don't need they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff. And when I visit for the holidays, I'll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden.
_ There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans. But after we keep those, how much is left that we don't really need?
Hence, minimalism. And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it's because what really makes me happy is freedom. And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things.
Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy - really living life to our full potential.
I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards, I can't do it with old things weighing me down. And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms. | high3054.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "The \"directors\" of the pairs with little shared knowledge."
},
"options": [
"The \"directors\" of the pairs with little shared knowledge.",
"The \"directors\" of the pairs who shared more knowledge.",
"The partners whose di... | Close relationships, thought to help communication by giving speakers a common context, are actually more likely to make _ when strangers are involved, a new study suggests.
Because close colleagues and friends already share so much common knowledge that they often use short, ambiguous messages which can lead to misunderstandings.
"People are so used to talking with those with whom they already share a great deal of information that, when they have something really new to share, they often present it in a way that they assume the person already knows it." says study-team member Boaz Keysar.
Keysar and his graduate student, Shall Wu, trained 40 pairs of undergraduate students to memorize made-up names and descriptions of strange shapes. In each pair, the "director" had to communicate the identity of one of the 24 shapes. The partner had to use the information to choose the correct shape from a set of three images on a computer monitor.
Half of the partners studied only the first six shapes, while the others learned the first 18 shapes. The directors, who had memorized all the shapes, were aware of their partners' knowledge levels of the shapes.
In the pairs with the most shared knowledge, the directors were more likely to rattle off shape names, compared with pairs with little knowledge overlap , in which the directors were more likely to describe the actual shapes. Not surprisingly, participants with more shared knowledge were twice as likely to ask for clarification as those with less overlap.
Language itself can be confusing. "The reason all this is happening at all is that language in general is ambiguous," said Keysar.
He recalls an ambiguous billboard near a stadium holding a Rolling Stones concert that night. The billboard read, "Avoid LSD tonight." (:LSD"")
Hmmm? "It was about Lake Shore Drive, and I'm sure the writer of the sign didn't realize he was being ambiguous," Keysar said.
"Even though miscommunication can lead to missed meetings or deadlines, people are often unaware when their language is ambiguous," Keysar added, "We don't realize we say things that are ambiguous," he said, "and that's a problem." | high20916.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Ceilings."
},
"options": [
"Light.",
"Ceilings.",
"Windows.",
"Furniture."
],
"question": "What does Joan Meyers-Levy focus on in her research?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
"answer": {... | How Room Designs Affect Our Work and Feelings
Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical(,) basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people focused and lead to relaxation.
Researches show that aspects of the physical environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room's ceiling affects how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more freely, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed outlook.
In additions to ceiling height, the view afforded by a building may influence an occupant's ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who experienced the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.
Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to pay off academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with unblocked views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily overlooked roads and parking lots.
Recent study on room lighting design suggests than dim light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase relaxation. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.
So far scientists have focused mainly on public buildings. "We have a very limited number of studies, _ ," architect David Allison says. "How do you take answers to very specific questions and make broad, generalized use of them? That's what we're all struggling with." | high8101.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Atomic energy"
},
"options": [
"Solar energy",
"Wind energy",
"Bio-energy",
"Atomic energy"
],
"question": "Which of the following does NOT belong to green power? _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
... | Plans to expand wind energy into the most scenic parts of Germany are meeting increasing opposition across the country.
Anti-wind campaigners are angry that areas including the forests made famous by the tales of the Brothers Grimm are among the targets for new turbines . For the first time they have formed a national opposition group to _ the expansion. They say the expansion will damage forests and tourism across the country.
Germany has started a massive expansion of renewable energy since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 in Japan. The government decided to reduce atomic plants and instead increase the opportunities for green power. As a result, solar farms, biogas plants and wind parks are booming. In 2013, 22% of Germany's electricity was generated by renewable energy. Wind has played a major part in this change, making up half of the renewable energy in 2013, and the public has been generally supportive. To date, a majority of the 23,000 wind turbines in the country have been built in the flat northern and eastern parts of the country. But now the focus of expansion is on the areas of dark forest in the central and southern areas of Germany.
One such region is the Rheinhardswald in the northern part of the state of Hesse. This is the home of the magical tales of Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and others, made famous in the books of the Brothers Grimm. This scenic place is a magnet, attracting hundreds and thousands of tourists from all over the world. But now there are also plans to build up to 200 turbines in this scenic place!
Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg is a PhD student and an opponent of the plans. "It is not because this is the area of Sleeping Beauty," she says, "I want the green movement, I want green technology, I don't want nuclear power--- but they should be made in the right way and not by destroying the forests."
The campaigners argue that putting wind turbines in this area makes no sense. The wind speeds are low and the area is home to some extremely rare birds including the endangered black stork. Campaigners say building turbines here would be disastrous for the birds. | high7232.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The benefits of volunteering for teens."
},
"options": [
"The heavy loads faced by teens toady.",
"The benefits of volunteering for teens.",
"The author's son's volunteering experience.",
"The requirements of volunteeri... | There is no doubt that teens today are extremely busy. Homework piles up and extra-curricular activities are time-consuming. Often, teens have to take part in a sport or activity after school, and they are up until 10:00 or later doing homework. Getting teenagers involved in volunteer opportunities can give them a sense of accomplishment that is not connected with sports or school.
Teenagers are often in their own little world. Helping them get involved in volunteering opportunities is the perfect way for them to open up that world and give their time to a good cause.
The key to getting teens involved in volunteer work is to find an opportunity that will fit into their schedule and find something that interests them. Also, keep it close to home. If they have to travel a long distance to volunteer, it's less likely to be accomplished.
My son has helped with the local library's reading program for two summers. It is close to home and the schedule is very elastic. We go in and choose days that work with his schedule and he volunteers for about 2 hours at a time. He is responsible for helping kids get signed up for the summer reading program and helping them record the hours they read. It is only a one-week time commitment, but it is very rewarding.
When teens volunteer they often see that there are others more needy than themselves. They also learn time management. Your teen will become a more rounded, less self-centred individual.
Colleges see thousands of students applying for admission every year. If your teen has shown the devotion to volunteer in the community, it can give him the advantage for college admission or scholarship opportunities. So, volunteering is good for their present and their future! | high13304.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "how to make a sad female friend happy again."
},
"options": [
"why girls can easily get sad.",
"what to do when we are sad.",
"how to make new friends with girls.",
"how to make a sad female friend happy again."
],
... | Girls can easily get sad. If your friend is feeling blue and calls you, what will you do? Here are some tips on how you can make her smile again.
Listen to her. When people feel sad, they often have the feeling of needing to be heard. So, listen carefully to what she is saying and do nothing else. Your friend will surely thank you for being the shoulder she can cry on.
Once you are done with listening, you can offer some advice or remain silent and let her feel everything and let it all out by crying. As a friend, you might think you should give her some advice. But if you have no idea about what to say, just remain silent and be there for her.
In order to be able to help your friend in need, don't be sad for yourself. How can you help your friend when you are also feeling down?
A hug can make a difference in the word. It makes you feel warm and special. A hug makes you feel safe. So give your friend a hug when she needs it the most.
Spend more time with your friend who wants to be happy. Do things together like washing dishes, cleaning, or going out for fun. The more time you spend together, the stronger your friendship will become.
Sometimes, it is much better that you avoid a crying friend in your life. But by doing so, you are also keeping your friend at a distance and will make her wonder if you are her true friend. If you are there when she needs you, your friendship will be much stronger. | high22867.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "we should always keep fit"
},
"options": [
"we should always keep fit",
"if we were healthy, we could spend our days in doing things with less sleep",
"one can eat a lot to stay in good shape",
"one needn't take any exe... | Good health is the most valuable thing a person can have, but one cannot take good health for granted. It is important to remember that the body needs proper care in order to be healthy. There are three things that a person can do to help stay in good shape: eat right food ,get enough sleep, and exercise regularly.
Proper nutrition is important for good health. Your body cannot work well unless it receives the proper kind of "fuel" .Don't eat too much food with lots of sugar and fat. Eat plenty of foods high in protein ,like meat, fish, eggs and nuts. Vegetables and fruits are very important because they provide necessary vitamins and minerals. However, don't overeat. It is not helpful to be overweight.
Getting the proper amount of sleep is also important. If you don't get enough sleep, you feel tired and easily get angry. You have no energy. Over a long period of time a little a amount of sleep may even result in a change of personality .Be sure to allow yourself from seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If you do, your body will feel strong and refreshed, and your mind will be sharp.
Finally, get plenty of exercise. Exercise firms the body, strengthens the muscles, and prevents you from gaining weight. It also improves your heart and lungs. If you follow a regular exercise program, you will probably increase your life-span .Any kind of exercise is good. Most sports are excellent for keeping the body in good shapes: basketball, swimming, bicycling, running and so on are good examples. Sports are not only good for your body, but they are enjoyable and interesting, too.
If everybody, were to eat the right foods, get plenty of sleep and exercise regularly, the world would be a happier and healthier place. We would all live to be much older and wiser. | high1125.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "moving from the south to the north"
},
"options": [
"following the fixed route of migration",
"dying out due to commercial whaling",
"rarely found in the Southern Pacific",
"moving from the south to the north"
],
... | Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have existed on the planet, and they can grow to a length of 100 feet and weigh more than 330,000 pounds. But recently researchers have found that these whales are on the move and they have migrated (moved) from California waters to areas off Canada and Alaska for the first time since commercial whaling ended in 1965.
The researchers identified 15 blue whales that have appeared off the coast of British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since 1997. Four of these whales were recognized as ones that were once sighted off California shores, suggesting that the whales are returning to an old migration pattern between the coasts.
Before commercial whaling began in the early 1900s, blue whales were found widely throughout the North Pacific and California waters. But from the 1920s to the 1960s, whaling severely reduced the whale populations. Blue whales never recovered in the Northern Pacific, making sightings in this area rare. However, much larger groups of whales have been observed close to California since the 1970s.
The scientists had previously thought that the California population was separate from the population that had historically lived in North Pacific waters. But the current study shows that whales off the coast of British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska are likely part of the California population.[:]
To identify the blue whales, the researchers looked at photos of _ taken in the North Pacific Ocean and compared them with a library of blue whale pictures taken along the West Coast of the United States and Southern Pacific. Up to now, the researchers are not quite sure why the whales are changing their migration patterns, but they suspect that the whales may be following their food moving farther north by the changes in ocean conditions. | high13462.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Continuing drought forces Australians to drink recycled sewage."
},
"options": [
"Australians face the choice of life and death.",
"Premier Beattie is worried about his people's health.",
"We should avoid drinking recycled wa... | Australians have been warned that they face a life or death decision over their water--drink recycled sewage or die.
With the drought continuing, the country is set to be forced to use purified waste water for drinking, even though there is great opposition to the measure.
Queensland has become the first state to introduce the policy after a warning from its premier.
"I think in the end, because of the drought, all of Australia is going to end up drinking recycled purified water," said Peter Beattie.
"These are difficult decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There's no choice. It's liquid gold; it's a matter of life and death."
Beattie said Australia's second largest state would become the first to use recycled water for drinking.
Water is recycled in Britain and parts of northern Europe along with the US and Israel.
But Australians have never liked the idea.
To try to change the way Australians think, Prime Minister John Howard and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull have _ Queensland's move.
"I am very strongly for recycling and Mr. Beattie is right and I agree with him completely," Howard said.
"Australian cities, all now facing water shortages because of the worst drought on record, must start to use recycled water." added Turnbull, "All of our big cities have to widen the range of water sources to include sources which are not dependent on rainfall." | high6892.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "The manual docking was completed in almost the same minutes as the automatic docking."
},
"options": [
"China is completely able to transport humans and cargo to an orbiter in space.",
"The manual docking was completed in almost th... | Three Chinese astronauts on June 24 successfully completed a manual docking between the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and the orbiting Tiangong-1 lab module, _ in China's history of space exploration. It means China has completely grasped space rendezvous and docking technologies and the country is fully capable of transporting humans and cargo to an orbiter in space, which is essential for building a space station in 2020.
Astronaut Liu Wang, assisted by his teammates Jing Haipeng and Liu Yang, controlled the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab module at 12:48 p.m., which were reconnected about seven minutes later. About one and a half hours before the docking, Shenzhou-9 parted from Tiangong-1 to a berth point 400 meters away from the module. To leave room for adjustments, engineers set up four berth points for the spaceship on the same orbit 5 km, 400 meters, 140 meters and 30 meters away from the orbiting lab.
"The manual docking was beautifully conducted. The manual docking was completed in only 7 minutes, 3 minutes faster than the automatic docking." said Liu Weibo, who is responsible for China's astronaut system.
Liu explained to Xinhua the three factors behind today's manual docking success. Firstly, Liu Wang has grasped the sophisticated manual docking technologies very well and his psychological status has been sound. Secondly, the three astronauts were in close cooperation. Thirdly, the domestically-made docking system was reliable, he said.
The astronauts, 343 km away from Earth, were also greeted by Chinese oceanauts from the Mariana Trench, 7,020 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean, where they just broke the country's dive record in a manned submersible on Sunday morning.
"We hope the manual docking is a great success and wish for brilliant achievements in China's manned space and manned deep-sea dive causes," read the message sent by the three oceanauts aboard the manned submersible Jiaolong.
Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program, said Sunday the manual space docking was "a complete success." She told a press conference in Beijing that the three Chinese astronauts had already re-entered the space lab module to continue their scientific experiments.
The manual docking is a significant step for China's manned space program that celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, as China has fully grasped space travel, space walk and space rendezvous and docking technologies that are essential to building a space station. China is the third country, after the United States and Russia, to acquire technologies and skills necessary for space rendezvous and docking and be able to supply manpower and material to an orbiting module via different docking methods. | high8667.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "They help brighten the mood."
},
"options": [
"They are inexpensive.",
"They help reach an agreement.",
"They help brighten the mood.",
"They are helpful to express desire."
],
"question": "Why do the bolsters a... | Chinese Emoji Circles Globe
"Funny", a made-in-China emoji, seems to have recently moved beyond China. Now, it is more than an emoji, but a cultural expansion.
Reaching Global Markets
A series of "funny" emoji-based bolsters have attracted the attention of Japanese customers. Even if one bolster is more than three times as expensive as in China, it doesn't kill their desires to buy it. One Japanese customer Miki said, "They are just so cute and I bought three bolsters at one time for my family. And every time I see them, my mood just brightens suddenly."
A Japanese netizen Kiro Kara said, "I think the emoji implies very complicated meanings. My dad will send it when he doesn't agree with someone but he has to say something and behave politely."
Addition to Domestic Social Media
Compared with Japanese impressions of the "funny" emoji, Chinese netizens prefer to use the emoji to tease one another on social media.
One commonly seen online comment is, "We strongly suggest stopping the usage of the emoji. Because every time other people send me the emoji, I feel very uncomfortable and consider myself as a fool."
Regarded as the most popular emoji, the "funny" emoji has received much attention since its release in 2013. In fact, the "funny" emoji is the updated version of its original one; "funny" has a smiley mouth, two eyebrows and a naughty look. All these characteristics present users a sense of satire .
In Everyday Use Abroad
It's not the first time the Chinese emoji takes the world stage. Earlier this year, one emoji from the Chinese basketball celebrity Yao Ming has been spread through the Middle East region. In a city in southern Egypt, Yao's smiling emoji has appeared frequently in local traffic signs to remind people the road ahead is one-way. Many locals do not know Yao Ming but are familiar with his emoji and nickname "Chinese Funny Face".
As a new online language, emojis have become a necessary part of people's daily life, helping people express their views in a more vivid and precise way. Also, it can help foreigners learn about Chinese culture. But how to properly use "the fifth innovation in China" without hurting others and turn them into commercial advantages still need answers. | high15013.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "A newspaper."
},
"options": [
"A novel.",
"A newspaper.",
"An advertisement.",
"A fashion magazine."
],
"question": "Where can the material be chosen from?",
"question_type": "factiod_questions"
},
{
... | Men can be beautiful too,right?
China is going to host the 18th World University Student Beauty Contest in Guangzhou this December.This year for the first time the contest will include a male section.Students from over 130 countries will compete for Mr and Miss Beauty.The contest is one of the most respected beauty contests in the world.It was copied by the United Nations University (an international university belonging to the United Nations) in 1986.
Stick to studying
Li Yining,an economics professor at Peking University,said that he would not encourage students to try their luck in the stock market ."They should stress study," Li said in his speech at Beijing Foreign Studies University.When asked,the professor said he expected house prices in Beijing to continue to rise.Li thinks the government should provide more affordable houses for lowlevel income people.
Campus cinema
Students at over 100 universities will have a digital cinema on campus after the National Day holiday.The 21st Century Digital Film on Campus Project was _ at the end of September.The ticket will cost 3-8 yuan,rather than 30-40 yuan at cinemas in town.Students often download movies online or watch DVDs.Now they can enjoy original films in the digital cinema.The digital cinema will show a variety of films besides Hollywood blockbusters .
Getting practical
All 12,000 graduates from vocational school in Shanxi Province have landed a job,according to the provincial government.In the past five years, it is estimated that over 95 percent of the professional school graduates have found jobs.However,the number for university graduates is 70 percent.Some employers said that they prefer professional school graduates who learned something more practical in school and expected lower salaries than university students. | high7554.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Rats have a natural ability to recognize directions"
},
"options": [
"Rats have a natural ability to recognize directions",
"Rats' hipppcampus is different from that of humans",
"Rats usually find their way without opening th... | Some people are like homing pigeons; Drop them off anywhere.and they'll find their way around.Other people.through, can't tell holding a map upside down.Are the directionally challenged just bad learners?
Not all of your navigational skills are learned.Research shows that your sense of direction is innate.An innate ability is something you are born with.Your brain has special navigational neurons--head-direction cells, place cells, and grid cells --and they help program your inside compass when you're just a baby.
In 2010.scientists carried out an experiment to study baby rates' activity in their brains.Although the rats were newborns.the researchers discovered that their head-direction cells(which help them recognize the direction they're facing) were fully grown and developed.The rats.it seemed.were born with a sense of direction.And they hadn't even opened their eyes yet!
Humans.of course, are not rats.But the hippocampus --the brain we use for navigation--is similar in most mammals.If the rat's compass develops this way.then it's likely a human's compass does, too.
If we're born with a sense of direction.then why are some people so good at getting lost? The scientists found that the two other cells---place and grid cells--developed within the first month.Place cells are thought to help us form a map in our mind.while gird cells help us navigate new and unfamiliar places.The two cells work together, and that's where the trouble might be.
People who took part in a 2013 study played a video game that required them to travel quickly between different places.Monitoring their brains.the scientists.According to researcher Michael Kahana, differences in how gird cells work may help explain why some people have a better sense of direction than others. | high19629.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "pets in Canada"
},
"options": [
"how to keep pets from disease",
"pets in Canada",
"how to take good care of pets",
"life of the old in Canada"
],
"question": "The passage mainly talks about _ .",
"quest... | In Canada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc. in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them as their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections so that they won't carry disease. They have special animal food stores, though they can get animal food in almost every kind of store. Some people spend around two hundred Canadian dollars a month on animal food. When you visit people's houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder( ) in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and go and nobody animal in Canada. They have a law against an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it. | high18537.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To encourage children to play outdoors."
},
"options": [
"To save 30 minutes for watching TV programme each day.",
"To encourage children to play outdoors.",
"To see the documentary film, Project Wild Thing.",
"To teach... | Do you enjoy seeing the stars twinkling at night ? Or do you love the ocean and sea, diving and racing with lovely dolphins? With heavy burdens on their shoulders, teenagers find it hard to pull out. Even if they are free, they prefer to occupy themselves with computer games or watching TV. How to get children away from screens is a great concern for parents. Now there is some good news for those concerned parents and teachers.
A campaign is being launched to encourage children to surrender 30 minutes of screen time a day to head for the great outdoors.
The newly formed Wild Network - a collaboration of nearly 400 organizations - is attempting to attract youngsters away from television and computer screen and into fields, woods and parks.
Organizers say it is the UK's biggest ever campaign to reconnect children with nature and outdoor play, and claim it could help improve fitness, mental alertness and general well-being.
A documentary film, Project Wild Thing, will herald the launch at more than 50 cinemas across the UK from Friday. It looks at the increasingly fragile link between children and nature.
Members of the network include the National Trust, RSPB, Play England and the NHS sustainable development unit.
Andy Simpson, chairman of the Wild Network, said: "The tragic truth is that kids have lost touch with nature and the outdoors in just one generation. Time spent outdoors is down, roaming ranges have fallen drastically, activity levels are declining and the ability to identify common species has been lost."
Suggestions of how to get more time in nature include collecting conkers , camping or snail racing, and observing autumn colour on trees.
From January, the network will aim to make suggestions to politicians on how government can do more _
This is not the first time the message of less screen, more play has been brought up. Children in the 1980s were entreated to do the same by the BBC TV series Why Don't You, which somewhat confusingly called on its viewers to "switch off your TV set, and go do something less boring instead". | high5343.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "benefited from it"
},
"options": [
"benefited from it",
"volunteered to help it",
"dreamed about it",
"told the author about it"
],
"question": "Sophia found out about Make-A-Wish because her best friend had _"... | When 19-year-old Sophia Giorgi said she was thinking of volunteering to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation ,nobody understood what she was talking about. But Sophia knew just how important Make - A -Wish could be because this special organization had helped to make a dream come true for one her best friends. We were interested in finding out more, so we went along to meet Sophia listen to what she had to say.
Sophia told us that Make - A -Wish is a worldwide organization that started in the United States in 1980. " It's a charity that helps children who have got very serious illnesses. Make - A -Wish help children feel happy even though they are sick, by making their wishes and dreams come true, " Sophia explained.
We asked Sophia how Make - A -Wish had first started. She said it had all begun with a very sick young boy called Chris, who had been dreaming for a long time of becoming a policeman. Sophia said lots of people had wanted to find a way to make Chris's dream come true ----so, with everybody's help, Chris, only seven years old at the time, had been a "policeman" for a day. " when people saw how delighted Chris was when his dream came true, they decided to try and help other sick children too , and that was the beginning of Make - A -Wish, " explained Sophia.
Sophia also told us the Foundation tries to give children and their families a special, happy time. A Make-A-Wish volunteer visits the families and asks the children what they would wish for if they could have anything in the world. Sophia said the volunteers were important because they were the ones who helped to make the wishes come true. They do this either by providing things that are necessary, or by raising money or helping out in whatever way they can. | high4049.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "to be unable to think clearly"
},
"options": [
"to be like a blanket",
"to be sure of an answer",
"to be unable to think clearly",
"to show knowledge to the teacher"
],
"question": "To \"blank out\" is probably ... | Anne Whitney, a sophomore at Colorado State University, first had a problem taking tests when she began college. "I was always well prepared for my tests. Sometimes I studied for weeks before a test. Yet I would go in to take the test, only to find I could not answer the questions correctly. I would blank out because of nervousness and fear. I couldn't think of the answer. My low grades on the tests did not show what I knew to the teacher. "Another student in biology had similar experiences. He said, "My first chemistry test was very difficult. Then, on the second test, I sat down to take it, and I was so nervous that I was shaking. My hands were moving up and down so quickly that it was hard to hold my pencil. I knew the material and I knew the answers. Yet I couldn't even write them down!"
These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is uneasy about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the extreme tension and nervousness. Contrary to people's common belief that poor grades are often a result of poor study habits, sometimes test anxiety plays a role in students' achieving low grades. Recently, test anxiety has been recognized as a real problem, not just an excuse or a false explanation of lazy students.
Special university advising courses try to help students. In these courses, advisors try to help students by teaching them how to manage test anxiety. At some universities, students take tests to measure their anxiety. If the tests show their anxiety is high, the students can take short courses to help them deal with their tensions. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. Students are trained to become calm in very tense situations. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work at ease. Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.
An expert at the University of California explains, " With almost all students, relaxation and less stress are felt after taking our program. Most of them experience better control during their tests. Almost all have some improvement. With some, the improvement is very great. " | high3726.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "encourage people around to become confident"
},
"options": [
"succeed without effort and hard work",
"encourage people around to become confident",
"appear more attractive and thus become successful",
"gain the confiden... | Nothing succeeds like confidence. When you are truly confident, it radiates from you like sunlight, and attracts success to you like a magnet . Besides, those who are self-confident can in turninspire (encourage)confidence in others: their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. And gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success.
So how can we build a sense of self-confidence and prepare ourselves on the way to success?
First, do what you believe to be right, even if others _ or criticize you for it. Believe in yourself and believe that you can do it in any situations, because if you believe you can, then you really will. The belief keeps you searching for answers, which means that pretty soon you will get them.
Second, govern your behavior based on what other people think. What's more important, be willing to take risks and go the extra miles to achieve better results, in which case mistakes can not be avoided. Always be ready to admit your mistakes, and learn from them. Next, work hard to settle the problems in order to cover up your mistakes before anyone notices. Building self-confidence is readily achievable, as long as you have the focus and determination to carry things through. And what's even better is that the things you'll do to build self-confidence will also build success -- after all, your confidence will come from real, solid achievement. No one can take this away from you!
As you sow, so will you reap. With your perseverance and improvement, you are getting closer to success. At this stage, wait for others to give congratulations and compliments on your achievements. "Thanks, I really worked hard on it. I'm pleased you recognize my efforts." The congratulations and compliments from others will promote you to gain further success.
Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, and it is no wonder that so many people struggle to find it. Self-confidence really can be learned and built on. Besides, whether you're working on your own self-confidence or building the confidence of people around you, it's well worth the effort! | high2438.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "how Jeremy Lin saved the Knicks, probably including the NBA"
},
"options": [
"why the New Yorkers thought well of Jeremy Lin",
"why Jeremy Lin became a member of the Knicks",
"how the Knicks defeated its opponents in a great ... | With his game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer, Jeremy Lin finished the New York Knicks' dramatic reversed victory to defeat the Toronto Rapters.
The Knicks have won six games in a row, and Jeremy Lin has put up impressive numbers during the continuous period of competitions. Although the season is still _ , the Knicks have reversed course in just one week from the NBA's most disappointing team to a playoff contestant. Lin, not team's high-paid stars, has saved the Knicks season and likely coach D'Antoni's job.
After nearly 15 years of disappointing, sometimes unsuccessful seasons, Madison Square Garden is alive again, and New York City can't stop talking about the Knicks. To put things into perspective , consider this: Just several years back, Knicks fans protested nightly outside of the Garden calling for the team's ownership to fire their resented coach Isiah Thomas.
Now, Madison Square Garden Co. shares are at a record high, the Knicks' average household television rating is up 70 percent since Lin joined the starting lineup , and jersey sales are increasing very quickly. I watched the Knicks-Lakers game at a bar in Harlem, and have not felt that kind of energy from fans since the great playoff between the Knicks and Miami Heat in the late 1990s.
Beyond the Knicks, Lin may be saving the NBA as well. Just a few months back, the NBA took a massive credibility hit during a multi-month lockout , where the owners did not allow the players to go back to play until they accept the new salary levels. As a consequence, the season did not even begin until Christmas Day. Over the past few years, LeBron James' (.) relatively long and unpleasant free-agent events, combined with poor play around the league, have angered fans and damaged the league's brand.
Lin is leading a one-week NBA basketball revival. His legendary story has inspired Asian-Americans, increased NBA sales in China, and turned the basketball world upside down. | high5357.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "by using finger tissue"
},
"options": [
"by using mouth tissue",
"by taking cells from a healthy eye and growing them in a dish",
"by transplant corneas from another person",
"by using finger tissue"
],
"questio... | Japanese doctors have used thin sheets of tissue from people's cheeks repair damaged corneas . A team from Osaka University transplanted thin layers of cheek cells onto the eyes of four patients with a rare and painful eye condition,reports BBC online. Patients whose vision had been cloudy could see well afterwards,and the"new corneas"remained clear more than a year after the operation.
Doctors can also take cells from a healthy eye and grow them in a dish to produce a new cornea,or they can transplant corneas from donors . But these techniques may not work when both eyes are too badly damaged by accident or disease.
The team hope their work may help solve the problem and lead to other types of grow-your-own tissue transplants. The cornea is the clear layer of cells on the surface of the eye. It can be damaged by trauma or by a range of diseases.
The team worked with four patients who had a painful condition that causes cloudy corneas and dry eyes. Often the eye can regenerate cornea cells but none of the four patients had this ability. The researchers took a 3 mm-wide square of tissue from inside the mouth(cheeks)and grew it into a thin layer in the lab. They used a special low temperature technique to separate a very thin sheet off each batch. They then laid that onto the patient's eye. The cell layers stuck onto the eye and developed into tissue that looked and acted like a healthy cornea.
However,long-term follow-up and experience with a large series of patients is needed to assess the benefits and risks this method. Yet,"it does offer the potential of treating severe eye diseases that are resistant to standard approaches,"said the head of the research,Kohji Nishida. | high18523.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "surprising"
},
"options": [
"interesting",
"exciting",
"boring",
"surprising"
],
"question": "According to the author's friends and family,his memoir was _ .",
"question_type": "cloze_questions"
},
{
... | When I decided to write the story of my early years growing up in poverty,many of my friends and family members were shocked.They were more interested in my story of success,such as how I was able to create the nation's largest law firm and sell it to a bank,and how one sells a law firm for millions of dollars.That's the story everyone wanted me to write,but it's not the story I wanted to tell.
Looking back,I see so clearly how often,throughout my boyhood,I was touched by random acts of kindness that helped shape me into the man I am today.And random acts of violence and ignorance played just a powerful role in making me who I am.Becoming a successful lawyer involves hard work,but escaping generational poverty is the hardest thing I have ever done.
I chose to write the story of my childhood years in poverty,with the hope that a child somewhere in the world will read my story and be inspired to break the cycle of poverty.My publisher was quick to point out that the market would be small for a memoir written by a ly unknown author.To everyone's surprise,the book received over 1,000 prepublication orders one month before the scheduled launch date.The book launch scheduled for October 1,was moved up to September 14.Less than four months later,the first print run of 5,000 copies were sold out.
Today,the memoir is being used by universities,high schools and middle schools,as a case study of the behavior patterns of the culture of poverty as well as valuable lessons on how to succeed in life.Here is a quote from the principal of a middle school in Texas on October 27,who is using my memoir for students 5th through 8th grades:"We are halfway through your story.It is changing the lives of our students and the perspectives of our teachers." | high17610.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Using different parts of the brain to think."
},
"options": [
"Watching things from different sides.",
"Having different attitudes towards life.",
"Using different parts of the brain to think.",
"Reacting at different s... | A man enters a store to buy milk. He walks out of the store with milk. That is all-milk. At the same time, a woman enters the same grocery store also to buy milk. She buys it. But she also buys chicken and lemons to make dinner that night. Then she remembers to buy food for her son to eat at school. She also gets a bottle of wine for drinks with friends and a birthday card for her husband's niece. Then she gets coffee for breakfast, ice cream for dessert and remembers stamps to mail the bills. And don't forget soap for the bathroom.
And that is the difference between the female and male brains simply explained in a grocery store.
Generally speaking, men do one thing at a time. Women do many. Now scientific research supports this theory about male and female brains. A recent study has confirmed what we have known all along--men and women think differently.
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania studied brain images of 949 people aged from eight to 22 years old. They found that male brains have more connections on one side of the brain, or hemisphere. In the female brains, they found more activity and connections between the right and left sides of the brain. The left side of the brain is known as the side of "reason." The right hemisphere is known as the "creative" side.
Regina Verma is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She co-wrote the report. She says when women are asked to do something difficult they might use different parts of the brain. Men, she adds, generally use just one side of the brain. As a result, men generally deal directly with a problem. There is a strong connection between the "understanding" and the "action" parts of their brains. Women, however, might include other parts of the brain when solving a problem. Women take a less direct path to find a solution. | high14319.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "An environment report."
},
"options": [
"A story book.",
"A business magazine.",
"An environment report.",
"An economic survey."
],
"question": "Where is the passage probably taken from?",
"question_type": n... | Scientists in Canada say big ocean fish have almost disappeared from the world since the start of industrial fishing in the nineteen-fifties. The scientists found that population of large fish like tuna; swordfish and cod have dropped by ninety percent in the past fifty years.
The study took ten years. The researchers gathered records from fishing businesses and governments around the world. The magazineNaturepublished the findings.
The scientists say the common method called longline fishing is especially damaging to populations of large fish. This method involves many fishing lines connected to one boat. These wires can be close to one-hundred kilometers long. They hold thousands of sharp metal hooks to catch fish.
Longline fishing is especially common in the Japanese fishing industry. Records showed that Japanese boats used to catch about ten fish for every one-hundred hooks. The study says longline fishing boats now might catch one fish per hundred hooks.
The scientists say industrial fishing can destroy groups of fish much faster than in the past. The study suggests that whole populations can disappear almost completely from new fishing areas within ten to fifteen years.
Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia led the study with Boris Worm of Dalhousie and the University of Kiel in Germany. Mister Worm says the destruction could lead to a complete re-organization of ocean life systems. Mister Meyers says the decreased number of large fish is not the only worry. He says even populations that are able to reproduce do not get the chance to live long enough to grow as big as their ancestors . He says not only are there fewer big fish, they are smaller than those of the past.
American government scientists say even with the best efforts to protect fish populations, decreases are to be expected. | high1131.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "A famoust American magician"
},
"options": [
"A famoust American magician",
"A New York locksmith born in Hungary.",
"An Hungarian escapologist born in New York.",
"An elephant trainer in London."
],
"question":... | Harry Houdini(1874--1926) was a world-famous magician and a performer of death-defying stunts . His world fame was based on a series of astonishing escapology tricks. He was able to free himself from obviously escape--proof devices, including leg irons, handcuffs (as many as ten pairs at the same time), locked prison cells and crates which had been nailed shut. His most striking skill was when he escaped from an airtight tank that was filled with water.
Houdini was born in Budapapest, prefix = st1 /Hungary, and his family moved to theUSAwhen he was a child. For a time, they lived in a cheap boarding house inNew Yorkand they struggled to make a living. One of Harry's first jobs was an apprentice to a locksmith , which is where he mastered the art of opening locks without using a key.
In 1891, Houdini became a professional magician, but at first he met with little success. When he began experimenting with escapology, however, he so impressed a theatre manager who saw him that he was strongly advised to concentrate on that part of his act.
Within months, he was a huge success, performing at top theatres, not only in the USAbut also in Europe. He created a sensation inLondon, when he made an elephant disappear from the stage of the Hippodrome Theatre. What the audience didn't know was that below the stage was a swimming pool filled with water, where the somewhat terrified elephant finished up!
Back in the USA, he produced the most dangerous act of his career--the Water Torture. He was suspended(,) upside down in a water tank which was full to overflowing. He had to hold his breath for more than three minutes to escape. In a fictionalised film of his life, he "died" doing this trick. This is not true. He actually died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital. | high22873.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "Unfavorable."
},
"options": [
"Uncaring.",
"Cautious.",
"Unfavorable.",
"Enthusiastic."
],
"question": "What was the author's mother's attitude towards fantasy?",
"question_type": null
},
{
"answer":... | Last year, the most-read children' s books at least in UK were almost all fantasy novels. But why is this the case? What. exactly does fantasy offer to young readers?
What' s important to point out here is that fantasy writing has come to be considered as belonging to popular culture, and is therefore generally regarded as being of lower quality than realism.
This idea was formed in me during childhood by my mother, who believed that fantasy was "rubbish". She was always trying to persuade my two brothers to let go of their dog-eared copies of American author David Eddings' books and read something "proper".
I had also met some people who were against reading fantasy. While living in Finland, where I joined a book club, I was told at my first meeting that the club didn't read "genre" books, which meant that realism was in", but everything else including fantasy was "
When it comes to the subject of children, discussions about which books are "better" for them often focus on the fantasy and realism debate, causing Professor John Stephens to write that: one of the more curious sides to the criticism of children's literature is the strong wish to separate fantasy and realism into competing types, and to state that children prefer one or the other, or "progress"from fantasy to realism or vice versa .
A quick survey of the big children's publishing trends over the past ten years confirms that fantasy is as popular as ever in the children' s book scene. From the 450 million copies of Harry Potter books sold over this period to the more recent Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, it would seem that children are as enthusiastic about fantasy as ever before and rather than "progressing" out of fantasy, the popularity of fantasy in the young adult market would suggest just the opposite. | high13476.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "Mo Yan's success represents recognition of Chinese literature."
},
"options": [
"2012 Nobel Prize in Literature.",
"Mo Yan's success represents recognition of Chinese literature.",
"The success in Chinese literature.",
... | Mo Yan's winning of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature shows the world's recognition of China's contemporary literature, according to the China Writers Association.
It also represents the attention drawn to Chinese writers and the international influences of Chinese literature, said an official statement from the organization on Thursday evening.
Mo is the first Chinese national to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. In the statement, the association congratulated Mo Yan on his success and spoke highly of his "outstanding achievements".
Mo had effectively extended the boundaries of imagination, the depth of thoughts and the state of arts of Chinese literature by focusing on lives in the countryside with a unique national style, said the statement.
He Jianming, vice president of the association, said in a separate interview, "It is not only a joyous occasion for Mo, but also a dream coming true for generations of Chinese writers. "
"The prize also shows recognition in realism writing coming from traditional Chinese literature, " said He.
He cited Mo's latest novel, Frog, which was published in China in 2010, as an example of Mo's focus on realism. The book focuses on the influence of China's "one child" policy in the countryside.
"Mo's works are among the best when it comes to Chinese contemporary literature. "He said, "Adding the award is significant for the development of Chinese literature and will improve confidence in the country's cultural creativity. "
Mo Yan, a pen name for Guan Moye, was born in 1955 and grew up in Gaomi in east China's Shandong Province.
Mo is one of the most widely translated Chinese writers. His best-known work is Red Sorghum, which was made into a film by the director Zhang Yimou. | high6886.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "Those who have two children may find it easier to get a job."
},
"options": [
"They will find it more difficult to ask for a leave in a company.",
"Most of them will be forced to choose to have two children.",
"Many of them w... | The new two-child policy is making job hunting more difficult for women when about 40 percent of them said they were asked whether they planned to have a second child during job interviews, according to a report in Chongqing.
China dropped its decades-long one-child policy in October and allowed each family to have two children. The country now has about 270 million married women of childbearing age.
This change has put millions of career women in a dilemma between family and career. Employers also face big challenges as more female workers will have two childbearing leaves, seven to eight months altogether.
A human resources website www.job.cq.qq.com conducted a survey among 500 employers and 5,000 job seekers about how the two-child policy affects the job market.
Though two thirds of employers said the policy would make no difference to their recruitment , the survey showed that more than 70 percent of job seekers believe that bearing a second child will make women less popular in the job market. Forty percent of employers said they will give priority to married women with two children, according to the survey.
Lin Xia, 29, quit her job after giving birth to her first child. She is now preparing to return to work. After several inquiries at a job fair, she found that the employers are concerned about future birth plans. "I thought it would be easier to find a job after giving birth," she was quoted as saying by the website. "I had to answer whether I will have a second child before I could get a chance for a job interview."
Liang Siqi, 23, a college graduate, said although employers did not ask her the child question yet, she will not plan to have two children. "It (having two children) will definitely affect my career and personal life, so I will have only one," she said.
Zhou Jiansong, who is in charge of human resources at a large private high-tech group in Chongqing, said the company will discuss birth issues with interviewees in order to make a better work plans. "We fully respect a women's right to bear a child or two," he said. "But you don't want them to go on a childbearing leave soon after they join your company." The experts expect more labor dispute cases concerning childbearing leave rights when bearing a second child in future. | high15007.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 2,
"answer_text": "cybersecurity and international cooperation"
},
"options": [
"the safety of the Internet",
"international control and worldwide cooperation",
"cybersecurity and international cooperation",
"network emergency."
],
... | On the second day of the World Internet Conference themed with cybersecurity and international cooperation held in Wuzhen, an official with China's network emergency watchdog said that 6,118 domestic websites have been controlled by the United States, according to Shanghai Securities News.
Among the hacked websites in the first half of this year, 48.8 percent were under the thumb of overseas IP addresses, said Huang Chengqing, director-general of the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team and Coordination Center (CNERT/CC).
He added that the US contributed the most, followed by Hong Kong, which controlled 3,097, and South Korea with 2,307.
Among the overseas IP addresses inserting backdoor programs in domestic websites, the US accounted for 29.3 percent, South Korea for 6 percent and Hong Kong for 5 percent, he said.
In addition, 4.9 percent of government websites have been attacked, and 3.2 percent inserted with backdoor programs.
Huang also said that the number of Chinese computers affected by Trojan Horse viruses reached 190,000 in the six-month period.
To safeguard cybersecurity, the CNERT/CC has cooperated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and built relationships with 59 countries and 127 organizations.
Over the past two years, the center dealt with more than 15,000 cross-border online security cases. | high8673.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "exporting countries should mainly be responsible for this problem."
},
"options": [
"exporting countries should mainly be responsible for this problem.",
"neither rich nor poor countries should be blamed for this problem",
"d... | "Reduce, reuse and recycle, this familiar environmentalist slogan tells us how to reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfills and waterways.
The concept is being used to deal with one possibly dangerous form of waste - electronic junk , such as old computers, cell-phones, and televisions. But this process for managing e-waste may be used in an unscrupulous way more often than not used, a recent report suggests.
"A lot of these materials are being sent to developing nations under the excuse of reuse - to bridge the digital divide," said Richard Gutierrez, a policy researcher.
One of the problems is that no one proves whether these old machines work before they hit the seaways. Because of this, the report says, e-waste is a growing problem in Lagos, Nigeria, and elsewhere in the developing world. Much of the waste ends up being thrown away along rivers and roads. Often it's picked apart by poor people, who may face dangerous exposure to poisonous chemicals in the equipment.
Businessmen also pay workers a little money to get back materials such as gold and copper. This low-tech recovery process could expose workers and the local environment to many dangerous materials used to build electronics. According to Gutierrez, this shadow economy exists because the excuse of recycling and reusing electronics gives businessmen "a green passport" to ship waste around the globe. "Developing nations must take upon some of the responsibility themselves," Gutierrez said. But, he added, "A greater portion of this responsibility should fall on the exporting state."
China, for example, has become a dumping place for large amounts of e-waste. The nation is beginning to take action to stop the flow of dangerous materials across its borders. The Chinese government, after many years of denial, is finally beginning to take the lead. | high7540.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "go to libraries to read more books"
},
"options": [
"use the computer and the Internet regularly",
"ask their parents to buy them cell-phones",
"buy iPods to listen to music",
"go to libraries to read more books"
],... | We live in a digital world now, and a student's technology needs have changed. For the early years, when you are in primary school, you can get by with no technology at all. Even if you have a computer, it's a good idea to get children familiar with libraries. At this age, trips to the library are like family outings.
As you get closer to middle school, a computer with Internet access becomes more of a necessity. Teachers will often give assignments that require a student to use the Internet for research. After a computer, technology choices for students become more difficult to make - especially when it comes to cell-phones. Kids will beg their parents for a cell-phone, especially in middle school. For many parents, it's a safety issue: They want to know that their kids can reach them quickly if necessary. For teachers, cell phones can be used to record lessons when students are absent. But many teachers dislike cell-phones. Some kids send messages or have talks in the class. Sending messages also raises the problem of cheating on exams. More and more schools are now forbidding the use of cell-phones.
Many kids see iPods as necessary things to have. IPods are great for music, but do they do anything good for your children's education? Maybe they do.
s the opinion of Doug Johnson, an educator for 30 years. Johnson says that educators should accept all new forms of technology in the classroom, including iPods. "Some do more with their cell- phones than we can do with our laptops," he jokes. "I don't think we should be afraid. The truth is that it's easier to change the way we teach than to change the technology habits of an entire generation." | high15761.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 0,
"answer_text": "Students selecting basketball had better register early."
},
"options": [
"Students selecting basketball had better register early.",
"Students participating in gym should arrive at 6:00 pm.",
"Hiking usually begins at 2:30 p... | Columbus College , 241 Queen Elizabeth Drive ,Kowloon City
Memo
To: All Staff
From: Jakie Mok, Secretary; Sports Development Committee
Date: May 20, 2010
A week ago, "Sports for Life" programme was sent to the parents, requiring them to select a sport they wanted their child to play. Since then, our staff have received lots of calls from parents asking for more information about it. Here is a memo for your reference when you answer the phones.
Sports 1: Basketball.
We expect that this will be the most popular of the four sports. Therefore, students should be advised to sign up as soon as possible. Students will take a private bus to and from Kwun Tong Sports Park .To cover the cost of hiring a bus , each student will have to pay $10 each time. There will be four basketball courts available for our use with one teacher watching over each game.
Sports 2: Gym
We will be using St. Peter's Memorial Park. There are two reasons for choosing this park. First, it is not very busy and crowded before 6:00 pm. Second, it has lot of trees with plenty of shade. Students must bring along two bottles of water to prevent thirst. Three activities, skipping , jogging , outdoor aerobics ,all of which are free of charge, will be arranged. And there will be a teacher on duty for each of the activities.
Sports 3: Hiking
Hiking will take place at Kowloon Peak. The activity will start at 2:30 pm and finish 90 minutes later. Three teachers will accompany the students, and a hiking instructor will accompany each group of 15 hikers . Each instructor will cost $75/hr. Students are advised to bring plenty of water and sunscreen.
Sports 4: Swimming
The Kowloon City Aquatic Centre is a 10-minute walk from our school. Four teachers will go to the pool and conduct the goings-on from the poolside. We will only be able to reserve the pool for one hour (i.e. 2:45pm to 3:45pm).Only students skilful at swimming can take up this activity. The pool will have two lifeguards present. Girls must wear a swimming suit. The cost is $10 per visit. | high7226.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 3,
"answer_text": "All of the above."
},
"options": [
"Guess its meaning.",
"Ask somebody.",
"Look it up in a dictionary.",
"All of the above."
],
"question": "When you meet a new word in reading, what should you do?",
"questi... | The average person learns most of the 30 000~40 000 words whose meanings he or she recognizes by hearing them or getting familiar with them in the context or simply absorbing them without conscious effort. The best way to build a good vocabulary, therefore, is to read a great deal and to participate in a lot of good talks. There are relatively few words that we learn permanently by purposefully referring to dictionaries or keeping word lists. However, even those extra few are of value, and no one will make a mistake by working on developing a larger vocabulary. Here are some suggestions of how to do it.
Read plenty of good books. When you come across a new word, or a new meaning of an old word, stop and see if you can understand it from its context. If you can't, and if you can manage without interrupting the thought of the book too much, look it up in a dictionary or ask somebody and then repeat its meaning to yourself a couple of times. If you are really conscientious , write the word and its meaning in a personal vocabulary list - preferably using it in a sentence, or you can keep a special vocabulary notebook. Go over the list from time to time. Further, try to use a new word in writing or conversation a few times over the next several days.
Listen to good talks and be alert to new words you hear or to new meanings of words you already know. Then treat them just as you treat the new words you read.
Learn and be alert to the parts of words: prefixes, suffixes and roots. Knowing _ enables you to make intelligent guesses about the meanings of words.
If you are studying a foreign language, be alert to words in that language which relate to words in English. English has inherited or borrowed much of its vocabulary of 500 000~600 000 words from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and German. | high1657.txt |
[
{
"answer": {
"answer_index": 1,
"answer_text": "To find your missing items"
},
"options": [
"To use your phone more wisely",
"To find your missing items",
"To save your phone's power",
"To find other phone users"
],
"question": "What can the Tile app help you... | Do you often lose things? Don't worry. Now a new tool that can be connected to any object you might lose may be the way to solve your problem. The Tile, a small square linked up to your iphone or ipad by means of Bluetooth, lets you see how close you are to your missing item, within a 50-to-150-foot range. If the item goes out of your phone's 150-foot range, it can still be found on other smart phones with the same app.
When you drive the app on your phone, it shows you, with green bars that increase or decrease, how close or far away you are from the Tile. You can also program it to make a sound when you get close to the Tile. And you can link up your phone with up to ten Tiles. And if your lost object--a dog, for example, or a stolen bike--go out of your own phone's 150-foot Bluetooth range, you can set it as a "lost item". If any of the phones with the Tile app comes within range of your lost item, a message will be sent to your phone, telling you its position. The Tile app also has the function to remember where it last saw your Tile, so that you can easily find where you left it.
Since the Tiles use Bluetooth rather than GPS, they are never out of battery or needn't to be charged, and they work for one year before needing to be replaced. And the app works with all generations of iPhones and iPads.
For further information, please visit www. tile666.com. | high13310.txt |
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