user: (Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The day of my holiday arrived, but I wasn't looking forward to it. I had little money and had only been able to afford to stay with my Aunt Rosa in Spain. So, I wasn't really excited as I knew exactly what it was going to be like: lots of noisy cousins , and Aunt Rosa begging me to take her for a ride. After I had checked in, I made my way slowly to the departure gate. As I was waiting to board the plane, I kept thinking about my ideal holiday destination: Jamaica, with its long, sandy beaches and crystal clear water. As soon as the plane took off, I fell fast asleep and only woke to the sound of the announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten you seat belts, as we will shortly be landing in Kingston." I froze in my seat. Was I dreaming? Kingston? Jamaica? I had boarded the wrong plane! Immediately after the plane landed, I explained the situation to the authorities. It seems there were also three other passengers heading for Spain. Apparently it had been the airline's fault, since the flight numbers for Spain and Jamaica were exactly the same! Therefore, with no flight back to London for a week, the airline had no choice but to pay for our stay. So there I was, lying on the beach, enjoying the music and the marvelous food of Jamaica! As for Aunt Rosa, I suppose she just had to live without me! Question: Why did the writer choose to spend her holiday with her aunt in Spain? - She missed her cousins very much. - Her aunt begged her to go there. - She could hardly afford any better trip. - Spain was her ideal destination.
(A).
She could hardly afford any better trip.


(Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The Baima is a minority group of about 1,400 people. They have lived in Northern Sichuan and Southern Gansu Provinces for centuries. They have long depended on the forests as their main source of income. But since a ban on cutting down forests was introduced in the late 1990s to fight yearly flooding, the villagers have had to look for other means of earning a living. Several are now in the process of developing a small tourism industry as their lands are rich in forests and natural scenery and are the home of the giant pandas. Xiangshujia, in particular, is becoming a popular bed and breakfast centre for tourists heading to Wanglang to see the giant pandas. Visitors are also starting to take notice of the Baima people themselves. As our jeep stopped in the courtyard of a house, we were greeted by the village leader Li Qin and young Baima girls dressed in traditional costumes with white feathers in their hair. As we took our places on wooden benches near an open fire, the girls began to sing traditional songs as they served us. "The number of tourists is growing," said Li Qin. "We realize that to attract visitors we have to show our culture by offering more traditional singing and dancing and ensuring our houses are built in the traditional way." Relations between the Baima people and the reserve were once tense following the ban on cutting down forests. Villagers had to make a new living. They entered the Wanglang Nature Reserve to collect wild mushrooms and herbs  , often at the expense of disturbing the pandas' habitat. But things greatly improved as villagers started receiving training in how to sell things to tourists. "Our aim was to deter the villagers, because they often disturbed the pandas' habitat, and to ensure they could have a long-lasting means of earning a living," emphasized Chen Youping, director of the Wanglang Nature Reserve. "All the money from the reserve goes back into the community and conservation projects," said Chen. "We take into consideration first the animals and then tourism." Question: We can infer that the Baima girls wore their traditional costumes to greet visitors mainly because   _  . - they wanted to look more beautiful - their leader Li Qin asked them to do so - it was a way to show their culture to attract visitors - it was necessary before they sang traditional songs
(A).
it was a way to show their culture to attract visitors


(Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: prefix = st1 /Gland, Switzerland - Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages, according to a new WWF report. The report, World's Top Rivers at Risk, released ahead of World Water Day (22 March), lists the top ten rivers that are fast dying as a result of climate change, pollution and dams. "All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis, which we have been signalling for years," says WWF Global Freshwater Programme Director Jamie Pittock. "Poor planning and inadequate protection of natural areas mean we can no longer assume that water will flow forever. Like the climate change crisis, which now has the attention of business and government, we want leaders to take notice of the emergency facing freshwater now not later."  Five of the ten rivers listed in the report are in Asia alone. They are the Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus. Europe's Danube, the America'sLa Plataand Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Africa's Nile-Lake Victoria andAustralia's Murray-Darling also make the list. Dams along the Danube River -- one of the longest flowing rivers in Europe -- have already destroyed 80 per cent of the river basin's wetlands and floodplains. Even without warmer temperatures threatening to melt Himalayan glaciers, the IndusRiverfaces scarcity due to over-extraction for agriculture. Fish populations, the main source of protein and overall life support systems for hundreds of thousands of communities worldwide, are also being threatened. The report calls on governments to better protect river flows and water allocations in order to safeguard habitats and people's livelihoods. "Conservation of rivers and wetlands must be seen as part and parcel of national security, health and economic success," Pittock adds. "Emphasis must be given to exploring ways of using water for crops and products that do not use more water than necessary." In addition, cooperative agreements for managing shared resources, such as the UN Watercourses Convention, must be ratified and given... Question: We can easily learn from the passage that  _  . - the fresh water crisis will be out of control soon - Asia is facing the most severe challenge of water shortage - to better protect river flows and water allocations is the only solution - fish populations are of vital importance to national economic success
(A).


assistant: Asia is facing the most severe challenge of water shortage