user: I have been preparing our house for the market and in doing so, I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff! I am definitely the hoarder in our house. My husband could live out of two bags, use about five kitchen items each year, and doesn’t gather anything for future use or hang on to much for sentimental value. (Which probably means the items he has hung on to mean a whole lot more!) I am always tucking something away here or stashing materials there…all in preparation for “some day.” It’s also part of the teacher in me. Do you know many teachers that don’t have a ton of stuff or utilize every bit of storage available? But, over the last several years, I’ve been fairly good about going through things every six months and weeding out a little here and a little there. Today I’ll be sharing six simple ways to declutter your home and why you should! GIVE THINGS AWAY It’s nice to make money, but sometimes you come across something that you really think someone else could use and you don’t want to throw it away. If it’s the perfect fit for that person, they may adopt the item and add their own wear and tear! Anyone that’s had children knows that kids go through things so fast and it’s nice to save a little money by taking hand-me-downs from a friend or relative. If the receiver decides they don’t want the item, let it be. They’ll either get rid of it on their own or decline the offer. If they choose the latter, maybe the rest of this list will help. PACK If you know you don’t want to purge an item from your house AND you know that you will use it in the future, but it’s not an everyday use item, pack it up. We have several containers of things in our garage that are full of items we use once or twice each year. I have added close to 100 boxes of things to simply declutter our home while it’s on the market. I took a look at everything and kept the essentials (well, maybe even more than the essentials), and packed up the rest. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: At the end of the text, the author most likely still has a propensity towards what behavior? Options: - not enough information - hoarding and holding on to items - giving most things away - teach others
hoarding and holding on to items


I don’t know how this rates as “shocking”, I guess it might depend on the culture in which you live, but, it is at the least “repulsive” or disgusting. There was a huge corporation in which I had a contract with. I was called in, to help them uncover what they considered “a very serious series of incidents”. Their own “in house” attempts were fruitless. It turned out, they had an over-sized engineering department, and that it had been announced that this would be scaled back due to completion of contracts. Someone though, within the engineering department, was sabotaging the continued work, slowing the completion. I was to go undercover, posing as a visiting engineer from a distant plant, and find out who the perpetrator/s were, as they wished to file legal action. So, this is at the corporate headquarters, in the late 1980’s. These people were making 6 figure incomes easily. That being said, you kind of expect a bit more of a dignified behavior here than you would with a construction laborer or dishwasher. I completed my job in four days, giving them the evidence and name of the lone individual respsonsible for the sabotage. What exactly was he doing? He carried rubber gloves in his back pocket, and he would periodically use the restroom, and remove his feces from the toilet and smear it all over the walls, covering as much surface as he could. He would also visit restrooms in different departments and do the same. This would cause the unionized individuals, who only had that restroom to use in their area, to walk off their work stations. Seriously, a butt-hurt guy fearing a layoff, so he decided to smear his shit all over the place before it even happened. He readily confessed when confronted by HR, further destroying his work record/career. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: After confessing, the perpetrator was probably Options: - allowed to return to work. - fired, or let go. - not enough information - imprisoned
fired, or let go.


Manny had Bob Marley cranking on the stereo, his van was full of passengers, and the air conditioning was working after a long week of giving him trouble. The sun beat down on the wet-looking asphalt road that ran along the harbor, next to the concrete waterfront. It curved along in front of the brightly colored Dutch Colonial warehouses of Charlotte Amalie, which were now converted restaurants and jewel shops. Tourists in day-glo shirts and daubs of sunscreen rubbed over peeling skin crowded both sides of the waterfront road. Manny slowed somewhat, keeping an eye on them. On the sidewalk by the shops a tall black man stood by a food cart. The hand-painted wooden sign hanging from the cart's side had faded letters. The man wore a grand suit with tails, like an orchestra conductor, and a top hat perched on his shaved head. A cigar burned in his mouth. For a brief second he held Manny's attention. Then the food cart's owner stepped forward and the strangely dressed man disappeared. Manny looked at the other side of the road. A white girl with oval shaped sunglasses and pink leather pants stepped off the sidewalk into the road in front of his van. He slammed on the brakes, trying to dodge her, but the van couldn't respond that fast. Her ponytail flew up towards the windshield and her head struck the star-shaped hood ornament. She bounced along the asphalt. Manny weaved the van to a stop, with swearing from the passengers in the back. He opened the door and stepped out into the heat. Get up, stand up, the radio cried out, and that was what Manny hoped would happen. He hoped that she would at least just stir and be okay. But she just lay there. According to the above context, choose the correct option to answer the following question. Question: What was the weather like? Options: - cloudy - rainy - not enough information - sunny


assistant: sunny