user: As his days in office wane, U.S. President Barack Obama is pushing to commute sentences of non-violent drug offenders convicted under what the White House called "outdated and unduly harsh" sentencing laws. It has become the centerpiece of his effort to reform the country’s criminal-justice system, which has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Last Friday, the President granted commutations to 42 convicted nonviolent offenders, bringing the total so far in his presidency to 348 commutations — more than any president has in nearly half a century. His predecessor, George W. Bush granted clemency in just 11 cases. It's not just Obama pushing for reform. Top Republicans and Democrats in Congress also support relaxing the sentencing laws that have tripled the federal and state prison populations in the last 30 years, reaching more than 1.56 million inmates at the end of 2014. However in Congress, the main legislative effort for sentencing changes, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015, has failed to pass either chamber of Congress. The bill would reduce long mandatory minimum sentences for many nonviolent drug crimes, give judges more control over the terms of punishment and provide inmates with more opportunities to get out early by participating in rehabilitation programs. Failing congressional help, Obama has in recent months relied on his presidential powers to commute the sentences of non-violent offenders. Under the Constitution, the president has the power to grant “pardons for offenses against the United States” or to commute federal sentences. A pardon is an act of presidential forgiveness and wipes away any remaining legal liabilities from a conviction. A commutation reduces a sentence but does not eliminate a conviction or restore civil rights lost as a result of the conviction. The American Bar Association has joined Obama's push and put its support behind the Clemency Project 2014, a national effort by multiple justice groups to help inmates who meet U.S. Department of Justice... According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: What is probably true about Obama? Options: - Obama thinks more people should be in jail - not enough information - Obama thinks that no one should be in jail - Obama thinks the jails are overcrowded
Obama thinks the jails are overcrowded


Some fortunate people can go on a diet, lose the excess fat and then simply get on with their lives. Others get stuck in the eternal cycle of wanting to be thin, dieting, craving, bingeing, regaining the weight and then wanting to be thin again. You want to break free from this exhausting and depressing merry-go-round of losing and regaining weight but you’re not ready to give up doing what you know best. Let’s examine the diet cycle mentality. THERE IS A MAGIC CURE The reason you haven’t lost weight and kept it off is because you haven’t found the right diet that suits you particular physical and emotional needs. You need to eat more carbs, or more fat, you need to cycle your calories or have cleaner re-feeds, and you need a coach for accountability. Once you figure out precisely what the optimum formula is for you and you have an expert to help you then you will lose weight and keep it off. ONE LAST DIET Once you lose the weight, then you will learn how to get in tune with your body’s hunger signals and eat mindfully. You just need to commit totally to this last diet, get to your goal and then you will stop for good. YOU LOVE HEALTH AND FITNESS You really enjoy being in control of your food and planning your training regime. Time spent scouring the latest fitness magazines and entering your weight into a spreadsheet is fun and rewarding. You spend most of your waking hours plotting and planning how you are going to burn that fat! I WANT TO BREAK FREE!! The only way to break free from the diet cycle is to come to the place where you no longer believe the stories you tell yourself. If there was a magic cure that worked for you, you or someone else would have found it by now. Count the number of diet books on your bookshelf, the e-books on your computer and the magazines on the coffee table.  Have any of them given you permanent weight loss? According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: Why does the author believe weight loss is important? Options: - To end the repetition of succeeding and failing - not enough information - To meet their physical needs - To maintain control of their food and planning
To end the repetition of succeeding and failing


Kadin loved the desert. Many creatures lived in the desert. Some learned to survive within her harsh burning grip. Some even learned to thrive in her, building stone monuments to themselves and living their lives surrounded in the lavish luxuries of Gods. How puny their monuments were compared to the desert herself. Where they had castles surrounded by dry moats, the desert had mountains surrounded by thousand year sandstorms. Where they had silks and the most beautiful slaves serving their every greatest desire, she had dunes that stretched for a thousand leagues and a sun that burned huge and deep crimson in the violet sky. Where desert kings, the Danken, dined on the finest food and drank the finest wine, the desert drank every drop of water from the air itself and feasted on men. Kadin knew the desert. He knew her voice whispering in the dark of night like a dangerous lover. The sound he heard now was not her voice but a cry from one trapped within the desert's teeth. It was the cry of a woman. Kadin rose from his makeshift bed in the dip of two dunes. He stood quickly, tying the leather straps of his knife belt around his waist. He pulled on his boots and silently mounted White Ash. THe mare felt his soft touch and made no sound. Kadin listened and heard the cry again. He studied the dunes in the darkness of night. THe blood moon painted the desert a deep red. He felt the echos and turned White Ash towards their origin. He rode quietly into the night. Kadin saw the glow of torchlight long before cresting the hill. He guessed four riders from the sound of their horses and confirmed it when he rose above them. Three men, now on foot, chased a woman in black across the dune. Their horses stood back, panting from a hard ride. The woman's own stallion lay dead, a black arrow buried in its flank. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: Kadin must make a decision about: Options: - Whether to build a castle in the desert. - Whether or not to sell his horse White Ash. - Whether or not to help the woman. - not enough information


assistant: Whether or not to help the woman.