We all enjoy the colors of autumn leaves. Did you ever wonder how and why a fall leaf changes color? Where do the yellows and oranges come from? To answer those questions, we first have to understand what leaves are and what they do. Leaves are nature's food factories. Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose, which is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis, which means " putting together with light. " A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color. As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter. During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small a-mounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. Covered up by the green chlorophyll, we just can't see them in summer. The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves. It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall. Which is the best title for this passage? A) Colorful trees in autumn B) Mysteries of tree colors C) Do you enjoy tree colors? D) Wonderful colors in autumn
B
(Question)
During my first two months in China, I was like a girl in love. Everything I saw and did amazed me. I have journal entries that are pages long describing, in great detail, everything I ate. From the sauce to the kind of chopsticks I used, nothing went unnoticed or unrecorded. Chinese people gape at me when they see me using chopsticks, just because I can. Western eating is so different, not only in the use of cutlery , but also in the rules of eating, for which there are many. For example, everything is cut before it's eaten, except salad. Instead of eating around the bone, as we do here (I do it too, of course), people cut around the bones, which makes eating fish a difficult thing. Also, there is a certain way to eat soup, which involves pushing the spoon away from you, to make sure you don't get splashed, and never slurping or touching your teeth on the spoon. Before I came here, I thought table manners were very important. Now I think that they are silly, worrying and concentrating on changing the fork and knife every time you cut your food takes away from the enjoyment of food. Every time I eat at a restaurant, I try something new. I am not afraid of trying anything and I will eat anything once. At first I would try a bite and not like it. This happened with fish heads, snake, anything spicy, and bitter melon, to name a few. Now I like all of these things. My new favorite dish is spicy fish heads. There are vegetables whose names I don't know in English. I am proficient in Chinese food, and am also at least ten pounds heavier than when I first arrived. I never even like rice before I came here, and now I have it with every meal. I don't like cheese either, and Western food just doesn't taste as good as it once did. Even McDonald's is better here. According to western rules of eating, which of the following is NOT cut before it is eaten? A) Bread. B) Meat. C) Salad. D) Fish.
(Answer)
C
Ques: As you grow rapidly through your teenage years you will experience a lot of changes. The changes may seem monumental and they may seem to happen quickly. Don't panic! You will deal successfully with this time! The changes may seem difficult and your new-found responsibilities may seem daunting but you're not alone. Everyone that you've grown up with is going through the same things! With more responsibilities you will find more freedom to make your own choices. This is a time to be well informed about your choices so that you can make healthy balanced decisions that will help shape your future. You may already know your career path or you may have no idea at all of what you want to do. Both situations are fine! If you are diligent, the right opportunity will be ready for you. Young adulthood means greater freedom and more choices. You will probably begin to want to do things independently of your family/ care-givers. Try not to shut your family out of your life and remember to be considerate even though you are older and are capable of looking after yourself. Your family have been with you since you came into this world and they will be around you when you leave this world. It is also perfectly natural in this time of transition to want to spend more time with your friends than your family. Choose your friends wisely. Real friends are rarer than hen's teeth. A true friend will stand with you, whatever the circumstances are. This period of transition is a part of the circle of life. There are some people who will be with you throughout the life's journey and there will be some people with whom you part and go separate ways. Leaving school/college can be hard. The reality is that you may not ever see all of your classmates again. Sure, there may be reunions and you will keep in touch with some of them. But the fact is you will need to leave some of them behind as you move forwards on the path that you feel is right for you. Facing the changes, some teenagers may feel frightened because _ . A) they feel alone when their family and friends leave them B) there are usually difficult things for them to deal with C) they have no life plans and feel helpless D) they have no freedom to make their own choices
Ans: B
On the wall in my mother's bedroom there was a photo, which showed a soldier with a gun. Below the photo was the word "Speaking". "Who's that soldier called Speaking?" I asked one day. "He was Harold." She said. "He was my only brother. When the Second World War began, Harold was eighteen. I was twelve then, and my sisters were ten and nine". "Harold liked to play with us, and we often quarreled. When we quarreled, we said:We're not speaking to you. But before long we were all happy again, and then we said: I'm speaking now. Are you speaking to me?" "When the war broke out, Harold joined the army. A month later, he came to see us. He brought the gun to show us. Then he went miles away to the war. We didn't see him for three years, three long, empty years. We didn't often hear from him. But one day in May there was a loud bang on the front door..." "I ran to open it. It was Harold! He was an old Harold, a thinner Harold. He looked at me with his two green eyes and smiled. That smile was just the same as before, then he said one word: 'speaking'". "I didn't...I couldn't...answer. I just fell into his arms and he dropped his gun. He stayed with us for a month. We played all our old games again. Then he went back to the war, and never came back again. So I wrote the word on the photo." Why did the mother hang the photo in her bedroom? A) She wanted to keep a memory of her childhood. B) It could awake her happy memories. C) It could show that her brother was a great man. D) She hung it there in memory of her brother.
D