user: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: U.S. Bottled Water Sales Are Booming Again Despite Opposition Despite organized anti-bottled-water campaigns across the country and a noisy debate about bottled water's environmental impact, Americans are buying more bottled water than ever. Why do so many people seem to think they should have any input on what other American's choose to buy or do? If they want to buy bottled water, let them. If they want to eat fast food, let them. If they want to smoke pot, let them. -- Barackalypse People just get tired of paying for others' bad behavior. If many people eat excessive fast food, you pay higher insurance premiums. If many people frequently buy bottled water, your trash bills go up and landfills fill up quickly.www.zxxk.com It's about personal responsibility, which really should be a cornerstone of libertarianism. -- Bdbr So? This is the price you pay to live in a free society. You want to control the life of another just so you can save a few bucks? What would you say when someone do the same to you? -- Norman619 Defend selfish pricks all you like; I'm just glad there are still people who still believe personal responsibility is a good and decent thing. We make your life cheaper and less bothersome. -- Yoyo What a waste of money! It's fine when you're on the road and you need a cold drink, but people who buy cases of bottled water for home are completely crazy. -- Agmlauncher I wish we all can find a way to improve things and benefit from this. The environment needs a lot of help but businesses will always work on what people would need and demand. Is this part of the balance? Hope we can find better ways. -- Skipweis Question: What can we know about bottled water in America? - Americans are consuming more bottled water than tap. - US bottled water sales have increased for the first time. - Activists in several regions have been fighting against it. - Some people worry about its bad effect on the environment.
Some people worry about its bad effect on the environment.


Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: He lived his whole life as a poor man. His art and talent were recognized by almost no one. He suffered from a mental illness that led him to cut off part of his left ear in 1888 and to shoot himself two years later. But after his death, he achieved world fame. Today, Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh is recognized as one of the leading artists of all time. Now, 150 years after his birth on March 30, 1853, Zundert, the town of his birth, has made 2003 "The van Gogh Year"in his honor. And the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, home to the biggest collection of his masterpieces, is marking the anniversary with exhibitions throughout the year. The museum draws around 1.3 million visitors every year. Some people enjoy the art and then learn about his life. Others are first interested in his life, which then helps them understand his art. Van Gogh was the son of a pastor . He left school when he was just 15. By the age of 27, he had already tried many jobs including an art gallery salesman and a French teacher. Finally in 1880, he decided to begin his studies in art. Van Gogh is famed for his ability to put his own emotions into his paintings and show his feelings about a scene. His style is marked by short, broad brush strokes ."Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I have before my eyes, I use color more freely, in order to express myself more forcibly," he wrote in a letter to his brother in 1888. Van Gogh sold only one painting during his short life. He relied heavily on the support from his brother, an art dealer who lived in Paris. But now his works are sold for millions of dollars. His portrait of Dr. Gacher sold for $89.5 million in 1990. It is the highest price ever paid for a painting. "I think his paintings are powerful and the brilliant colors in them are attractive to people," said a Van Gogh's fan. Question: Van Gogh killed himself because of    _   . - the poor life - his illness - his pain from left ear - the objections from the artists of his time
his illness


(Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Many articles have appeared in recent years, claiming that there are no more heroes in the world. The authors says that the young now refuse to admire anyone and that we are living in a world too well informed, too curious showing us the faults of the public figures who could become today's stars, until we lose faith and start looking for defects in any person who seems worthy of respect.  Is it true that we know too much? Were our ancestors lucky to be only partly informed? Those who read the first biographies of George Washington, Joan of Arc, or other great men and women of the past were not told that their hero had bad breath or disliked his mother; they only found a description of his great accomplishments and their admiration was strengthened. In fact, early biographers didn't hesitate to make up an admirable story or two about their hero. The man who wrote the first biography of Washington, for instance, invented the cherry tree; he admitted later that there was no truth in it, but he said that it would give young men a good example to follow. His readers didn't seem to object; the book was reprinted eighty times--a great success in those days. Modern biographers do not invent such stories; they respect the facts, as indeed they should. But we pay a price for their truthfulness, for in their efforts to show "the whole person," they tell us more than we really need to know about private lives, family secrets, and human weakness. The true greatness of a fine man is often forgotten in the display; and people lose not only their admiration for him, but their willingness to trust any other "star" completely. It may be difficult to be a hero in the world these days, under the searching eyes of the society. But surely excellence has not disappeared completely; there are still individuals who are superior to their fellow men by their wisdom, their courage, or their character. They can be heroes if people are willing to ignore their human imperfection and to admit the respect that their admirable qualities... Question: What is essential in solving the problem mentioned in the passage? - People's attitude. - The true greatness of heroes. - The author's arguments. - Biographers' truthfulness.
(A).


assistant: People's attitude.