Carnival does not take place only in Louisiana. There are many celebrations around the world. In Brazil, the celebration is supposed to go on from the Saturday before Mardi Gras to Mardi Gras Day, but in some Brazilian cities the celebration can last seven or eight days. Just like New Orleans, not many important things are decided in Brazil from New Year's Day to Mardi Gras Day because everyone is preparing for or celebrating carnival. Most Brazilian parades have a subject, which could be political and historical. The parades had to have a subject related to Brazil until 1996. Some cities in Brazil do not have a street carnival but they might have an indoor ball. Bolivia has carnival parades for children and then more parades for adults. The children dress up in costumes and march in the streets. The adults make traditional dance groups and dance in the streets. But the main part of Bolivia's carnival is getting wet. Almost everyone gets wet from water balloons and water buckets. In Oruru, Bolivia, their carnival is held in the last ten days of the carnival season. People there participate in crafts and dancing, but their main carnival event is a ceremonial parade that lasts for twenty hours and parades for four kilometers. Over 20,000 dancers are involved as well as 10,000 musicians. This parade attracts at least 400,000 people. The carnival in Venice, Italy is often regarded as the most carefully prepared carnival and lasts the ten days before Lent . Many events are held in the canals including shows, concerts, dances, and water processions . The official ending to the celebration is the ball held in St. Mark's Square. What's the best title of the passage? A) Carnivals around the world. B) History of carnival. C) Customs of carnival. D) Carnival parades.
A
(Question)
Crossroads International How does Crossroads work? Crossroads is a resource network. We take goods Hong Kong doesn't want and give them to people who badly need them. We collect those goods and give them out in the welfare arena in Hong Kong, Mainland China, elsewhere in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. So Crossroads is just that: a Crossroads between need and resource. Who do we help? The welfare agencies we help do not run on large budgets . They are grass-root groups who have seen a need and tried to meet it. They can't get the job done without back-up, though, so our task is to help them do their task. Our warehouse is full of goods, from computers to high chairs, clothing to books, stationery to medical provision, cupboards to dinning sets. They send us a list of their needs and we try to match it with the resource we have in stock. How do we operate? Crossroads itself also operates on a low budget. We do not buy the goods we send. They are donated. Similarly, rather than raising funds for freight ,we ask transport companies to donate their services. Nobody in our organization receives a salary. Even our full-time staff works on a voluntary basis. Those that donate goods and services: *Factories*Manufacturers *Hospitals *Hotels *Householders *Offices *Other Charities *Transport Companies *Educational Institutions One resource that we are always in need of is people. While we receive large quantities of goods and there is never a short supply of requests for them, we are always in need of hands to help sort and prepare them for shipping. What can I do? We are always in need of people. We have a lot of tasks. If you are volunteering regularly, we can offer work in some of the following categories, some of the time. You are welcome to number your top three choices and we will do our best to accommodate them. *Clothing categorization *Sewing *Toy categorization *Furniture handling *Driving *Book categorization *Household goods categorization *Office work *Electrical goods categorization *Book keeping... The purpose of this brochure is mainly to _ . A) look for volunteers to work for Crossroads B) call on people to donate more goods C) let people know what Crossroads International is D) tell people what Crossroads can provide
(Answer)
A
Ques: At times we all get angry when we are driving. It might be because we are stuck in a traffic jam or stuck behind a very slow driver. It might be because we think another driver has done something very stupid and dangerous. Whatever the reason, it seems that getting angry in a car is something which happens more and more often and there is now a special term for it "road rage". Some experts even think that road rage is a kind of mental illness! How can we recognize this "illness" of road rage? There are two kinds of road rage: aggressive driving and aggressive reactions to the way other people are driving. Aggressive driving can take different forms: *Driving much faster than the speed limit. *Increasing your speed very quickly. *Driving very close behind the car in front and sounding the horn or flashing the headlights. *Changing lanes very suddenly and blocking another car. *Moving into a parking space where another car is trying to park. There are also different reactions to the way other people are driving. These include: *Making rude signs at people. *Shouting at people and threatening them. *Deliberately driving into another person's car. *Hitting somebody. *Using a weapon such as a baseball bat, or even a gun or a knife. Road rage is certainly not a joke. There have been incidents of road rage which have led to serious injuries and even murder. Experts think that one reason for road rage is that films show a lot of examples of fast and aggressive driving such as car chases where this kind of driving seems to be positive. Experts also think that the punishments for dangerous driving are not serious enough. Experience shows that driving problems can be controlled, but it takes a long time. In the UK in the last 30 years, the police have been quite successful in reducing the number of people who drink and drive. They are now working to stop people using mobile phones when they are driving. Let's hope they can have the same success with the road rage. Which of the following statements does NOT describe aggressive driving? A) Driving much faster than the speed limit. B) Drinking and driving C) Moving into a parking space where another car is trying to park. D) Changing lanes very suddenly and blocking another car.
Ans: B
You've probably heard about sports coaches, fitness coaches, voice and music teachers, career counselors, psychiatrists and other specialists who teach skills and help us cope with daily life. But there's a rapidly growing kind of professional who does a little bit of everything. She or he is called a " _ ". People who are at crossroads in their lives, and corporations that want to give certain employees a career boost, are turning to them for help. The idea that one person's success story can change other people's lives for the better goes back at least to the 1930s. Dale Carnegie's famous self-improvement program "How to Win Friends and Influence People" came along soon thereafter. But this new style of life coaches includes more than enthusiastic speakers or writers. They use their own experiences in business, sports, military service, or psychotherapy to help others make critical life decisions. They often give their approach a slogan, such as "energy coaching" or "fearless living" or "working yourself happy". Dave Lakhani in Boise, Idaho, for instance, works with salespeople to develop what he calls a "road map". He says an ongoing relationship with a coach is like having a personal fitness trainer for one's career and life outside work. Lakhani's Bold Approach coaching firm also donates some of its time to help people who are anything but successful---including battered women and struggling single mothers. But others in the so-called "helping professions" are not thrilled about the life-coaching movement. They say that anyone, trained or untrained, can call himself or herself a life coach, and that slick promoters who mess with people's lives can do more harm than good. What is the author's attitude towards life coaches? A) Cautious. B) Approving. C) Casual. D) Disapproving.
C