user: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Thirty years ago not many people would have dreamed of doing the repairs and decorations in their own homes. In those days labor was fairly cheap and most people would have thought it worthwhile to employ a professional painter and decorator, unless of course they were either very hand up or were in the trade themselves. Today, however, it is quite a different story. Men and women in all walks of life turn their hands to all sorts of jobs round the house including painting, papering, putting up shelves and wall units, and tiling walls and floors. Some people with no professional training of any kind have even successfully built their own houses. These jobs have been made easier today by the introduction of prepared materials, which require the minimum amount of skill to use. In every high street throughout Britain nowadays there is at least one "Do-It-Yourself" shop containing a vast range of timber, tiles, paints, wallpapers and floor coverings besides tools of every description including power drills and many accessories. "Do-It-Yourself" is a booming business; all these shops do a roaring trade and look like continuing to do so. Probably the main reason for the craze is the high cost of present-day labor and the shortage of building firms willing to do small jobs. Question: What is the speaker telling us ? Options: A: How DIY comes into being. B: Changes in building. C: Changes in housing. D: Great changes in these thirty years.
A

I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: It's easy to see how to help others, but what about those whose needs aren't so obvious? This story may have happened a while back, but it was a lesson which has stayed with me and helped me ever since. It was Thanksgiving and I was volunteering with my parents at a shelter for the poor. We stood behind the counter dishing out hot food to whoever came in. most of our dinners looked like they had been having hard times, their clothes old, worn and dry. In short, they looked poor! Then, a man came in, who looked anything but poor. He was well dressed, wearing an expensive suit. I wondered what he was doing there and my jaw dropped in amazement when he joined the line for food. The closer he came to my service station, the more I muttered. What was this man doing? I wanted to know. Surely he wasn't gong to take food. Then my mother quietly took me to one side. She said, "You have assumed that the needs of the people who come here must be purely physical: hunger, inadequate shelter and needs are emotional? What if he needs comfort, friends, or just to be among other human beings?" her words hit me like a ton of bricks! I felt like I should apologize to the man, but I didn't. About a week later the shelter received a large donation from an anonymous source. I can't help but wonder if it came from that man. Now, whether I meet others, I remember my mother's words and try to send kindness and blessings to them, regardless of how they look. Needs aren't always visible. But kindness always makes a difference. Question: When the man waited in line, how did the author feel? Options: A: Surprised B: Pitiful C: Excited D: Angry
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Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: John wanted to buy some new clothes, so he went to a shop. First he asked for some trousers and put them on, but then he took them off and gave them back to the shopkeeper and said, "No, give me a coat instead of these trousers." The man gave him a coat and said "This one costs the same as the trousers." John took the coat and walked out of the shop. The shopkeeper ran after him and said, "You have not paid for the coat!"     "But I gave you the trousers for the coat," said John. "They cost the same as the coat, aren't they?"     "Yes," said the shopkeeper, "But you didn't pay for the trousers!"     "Of course I didn't!" answered John, "I didn't take them, I am not stupid! Nobody gives things back and then pays for them." Question: John told the shopkeeper that he had given   _ Options: A: the money for the trousers B: the coat for the trousers C: the trousers for the coat D: the money for the coat
A: C

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I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: The research carried out by the University of Bari in Italy could help clarify hospitals who are charged with wasting money on art and decoration as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients overcome discomfort and pain. A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as Lenoardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. They were then asked to watch either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly paintings, or a blank panel while the team struck a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been hurt by a pin. The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when considering the ugly paintings or the blank panel. Electrodes   measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced response to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings. While distractions , such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital, Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part. The findings, reported in New Scientist, also go a long way to show that beautiful surroundings could aid the healing process. "Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their aesthetic  aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist. "Beauty obviously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. I think these results show that more research is needed into how a beautiful environment can reduce suffering." Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticellis' Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by Pablo Picasso, the Italian 20th century artist Anonino Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero. "these people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would... Question: According to the research, when designing a hospital, we should consider its  _  . Options: A: convenient facilities B: functional operating room C: pleasing environment D: bright waiting room
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assistant: C