Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Last week,Bill Gates retired from full-time work at the world's biggest computer software company, Microsoft.He will remain chairman of the company he established with Paul Allen in nineteen seventy-five. Mister Gates leaves Microsoft at a time of change in the computing industry.Microsoft grew at a time when personal computers,or PCs,were replacing big mainframe computers as the main computing tools.He showed that huge profits could be made in software as PCs increasingly were found "on every desk and in every home." Early on,Microsoft understood the importance of the "network effect." That is, software is the kind of product that increases in value as more people buy and use it. Now,free Internet software threatens to replace PC-based software.Devices like "smart phones" connect people to the Internet.Google has become a 1eader in Internet Web searching and advertising.Microsoft has struggled to change with the new computer environment.Its efforts to sell music and its latest operating system,Vista,have not been big successes.And an attempt this year to buy Yahoo for over forty-seven billion dollars failed. In the last several years,Bill Gates has slowly given control of Microsoft to others.In two thousand,he gave the job of chief executive officer to Steve Ballmer, a friend of his since their years at Harvard University.Mister Ballmer has been with Microsoft since nineteen eighty.Still,it is hard to overestimate the influence of Bill Gates on computing.He developed the business model that put the Windows operating system on about ninety percent of the world's one billion PCs.Microsoft now has almost ninety thousand employees. At fifty--two years old,Bill Gates is currently the third richest man in the world.He is worth about fifty-eight billion dollars.He remains Microsoft's biggest shareholder. Mister Gates will now spend most of his time working at his charity organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.The foundation is the world's largest charity with over thirty-seven billion dollars.It... Question: Microsoft's "network effect" probably means_. - the more people use PCs,the more software they will buy - the more people use Internet,the more money Microsoft can make - the better product, the more value - the later operating system,the better software
Ans: the more people use PCs,the more software they will buy

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: "Can't hold a candle to" is a popular expression. It is from the time before electricity, when people used candles for light. Someone who lived in a big house would have a servant light his way by holding a candle. The expression meant that the person who cannot hold a candle to you is not fit even to be your servant. "Hold out" is an expression one hears often in sports reports and labor news. It means refusing to play or work. Professional football and baseball players hold out if their team refuses to pay them what they think they are worth. Members of labor unions hold out and refuse to work until they get the work agreement they want. The expression "hold up" has several different meanings. One is a robbery. A man with a gun may say, "This is a hold up. Give me your money." Another meaning is to delay. A driver late for work may tell his boss, "I was held up by heavy traffic." Someone who was robbed on the way to work might say, "Sorry, boss, I was held up by a hold up." Still another meaning of the expression is for a story to be considered true after an investigation. The same driver late for work could say, "My boss did not believe a hold up held me up. But the police confirmed what I said so my story held up." "Hold on" is another expression. Often it means wait or stop. As you leave for school, your brother may say, "Hold on, you forgot your book." Hold on is also used to ask a telephone caller to wait and not hang up his telephone. Question: Suppose a stranger comes to ask you something when you are talking to your friends on the Phone in the street. What will you say to your friend? - Hold a candle. - Hold out. - Hold up - Hold on.
Ans: Hold on.

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Many businesses today use conferences as a means of discussing new plans of the company. As people are paying more attention to the environment and green problems, more businesses are looking for ways to reduce their negative effect on the environment. Many businesses do this by using Web conferencing. Web conferencing is a technology that allows people to communicate more effectively over the Internet. It's an easy way of hosting and attending conferences without having to leave the office. Each of the people involved in a Web conference will be posted an invitation to the conference with the time and date of the Web conference on it. When the conference is ready to begin, all participants must sit at their computers and they will be connected over the Internet. With Web conferencing all participants attend conference from the comfort of their own desks. Obviously, in doing this no fuel is used in traveling to and from a conference, and less work is taken up in attending a conference. Any material to be used during Web conference is simply e-mailed to all the participants before the conference. Participants can then either choose to print material or read it on screen. This not only saves paper but also greatly reduces mailing costs for the business. As a conference hall or business center isn't being used, it means that the only power that is used is the power that is used by the participants' personal computers. Similarly, conference organizers don't have to arrange for food or overnight accommodation. All this means that less energy is used. Often in business some companies actively choose to do business with other companies that do many things to reduce their negative impact on the environment. And Web conferencing helps you show other businesses that you are willing to work hard for the green cause. Question: Which of the following words best describes the author's opinion about a Web conference? - Useless - Environmentally friendly - Inconvenient - Money-consuming
Ans: Environmentally friendly

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: She must be the wisest woman on this planet, for she has lived up to the three words "Seize the moment". Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, or because they are unwilling to try something new. My sister died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together. I can't remember how many times I was refused when I called her to go to lunch. She would say to me: "I can't. I have clothes on the line." "My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday." "I had a late breakfast." "It looks like rain." Only after her death did I choose to be a little more flexible. Life is not made up of thing that you do at a particular time, but it demands variety and adventure. As we grow older, the list of promises made to ourselves may get longer. Perhaps one morning, when we awaken, we will find to our surprise that our life is full of "I'm going to", "I plan to" and "Someday, when things are settled down a bit." My seize-the-moment friend is open to adventure and ready at any moment to make a new start. She keeps an open mind about new ideas. Her great interest in life is _ . With her around you, you may trade your bad feet for good shoes. I have not touched ice cream for 10 years. The other day, I stopped off and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy. Question: The writer has had a new way of looking at life since _ . - his sister died - he met the wise woman - he turned old - the three words appeared
Ans:
his sister died