Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Irina,now 46,never imagined she'd one day make a living as a balloon artist.The daughter of an engineer and a teacher,she won top academic awards in high school,went on to medical school and became an emergency room physician in a small city. "I loved the science of medicine," she says today,"but being a doctor was very hard.I saw things people don't normally see--women giving birth in the street,people getting drunk and killing someone." Medications were scarce,making it very difficult to treat those in need.When Irina was 33,a girlfriend showed her a magazine photo of an American named Wes Patterson.They began exchanging letters,and married that December.Irina took a public relations job.Then,a few years ago,she watched a man at a party twist a skinny balloon into the shape of a dog. _ Irina soon purchased a tiny pump and a supply of balloons and began practicing on the sidewalks.Observers challenged her to create all kinds of figures.Now,Irina says,"There's nothing I can't make." Many years ago,Irina's husband developed a serious disease which now keeps him homebound."But he is a very wonderful man," Irina says.Thanks to her new career,she is able to support them both,performing about five events weekly and earning as much as $2,000 per appearance. "Irina's a wonder," says Marlene Berg,chief development officer for the Florida Heart Research Institute."She turned the evening into magic." "My whole life has become magic," Irina says,"and it's all come from a balloon." Question: What's Irina's job now? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- An emergency room physician.
- A researcher.
- A public relations worker.
- An artist.
An artist.
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: SYDNEY --- Tobacco companies will be forced to use plain, logo-free packaging on their cigarettes in order to make them less attractive to smokers under laws introduced Thursday by Australia's government. The rules, which will take effect on 1 July 2012, will ban tobacco companies from including logos, promotional text or color1ful images on cigarette packages. A government health warning will be displayed instead, with the brand name at the bottom. The government also announced it would raise the cigarette tax by 25 percent, driving up the price of a pack of 30 cigarettes by about A$2.16(PS1.30). Tobacco companies immediately decided to fight it in court. "Introducing plain packaging just takes away the ability of a consumer to identify our brand from another brand and _ is of value to us," an Imperial Tobacco Australia spokeswoman, Cathie Keogh, told ABC, adding the company plans to take legal action. Retailers said the tax increase would hurt their businesses and encourage the cigarette black market. "It's a policy being pushed by some health advocates," said Mick Daly, the national chairman of Australian supermarket chain IGA. "That is a direct attack on approximately 16 percent of Australians who have made legal lifestyle choices." Time Wilson, director of intellectual property and free trade at Australia's Institute of Public Affairs, said tobacco companies were likely to demand compensation over the forced packaging changes, which could cost taxpayers around A$3 billion a year. "Under Australia's constitution, if the government basically takes someone's property rights, including intellectual property such as trademarks, they have to provide compensation," Wilson said. "I'd be shocked if they didn't seek compensation, because if it happens here, it'll happen all over the world." Opposition leader Tony Abbott said he wanted evidence that changing the packaging would reduce smoking. "I'm not in the business of defending smoking, I want to make that ly clear. But I also want to make ly clear that... Question: According to Tim Wilson, tobacco companies will take legal action because _ . Answer:
OPTIONS:
- retailers are strongly against the policy
- it's a policy pushed by some health advocates
- people all over the world are shocked at the news
- they should demand compensation from the government
they should demand compensation from the government
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Robots make me nervous-especially the ones which seem to think for themselves.I was embarrassed to admit this till I heard that Bill Gates,the founder of Microsoft,felt the same way.Gates said in an interview with the website Reddit:"I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence.First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent.That should be positive if we manage well.A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern." Well,maybe I don't have to worry about my laptop and kitchen appliances yet.After I use them I can always pull the plug.But in the future,machines might find a way to prevent us from switching them off.There's a scary thought! Professor Stephen Hawking warned a few months ago about the possibility that artificial intelligence could evolve and end up beyond human contro1.He suggested that machines could" _ the end of the human race". Maybe the problem with computers too clever for us is not that they are evil or rebellious.What could put us in danger is that they might be too efficient.That's what philosopher Nick Bostrom from the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University believes.He says that machines are indifferent to humans and in pursuit of their own goals,the destruction of people might be just collateral damage.A machine would not take pity on you. I'm glad my machines at home are"dumb".All my vacuum cleaner wants to take over is the carpet in my living room.Let's hope they don't create an appliance which wants to take over the world! Question: What can be inferred about the author? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- He doesn't agree with Bill Gates.
- He is not content with the present kitchen appliances.
- He is scared about the super intelligence of machines.
- He expects that machines will take place of humans.
He is scared about the super intelligence of machines.
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: One day a teacher was giving her young students a lesson on how the government works. She was trying to explain the principle of income tax . "You see ," she began , speaking slowly and carefully , "each person who works must pay part of his or her salary to the government . If you make a high salary, your taxes are high. If you don't make much money, your taxes are low ." "Is that clear?" she asked. "Does everyone understand the meaning of income tax?" The students nodded. Are there any questions?" she asked. The students shook their heads. "Very good!" she said." "Now, I would like you to take a piece of paper and write a short paragraph on the subject of income tax." Little Joey was a slow learner. He had lots of problems with spelling and grammar, but this time he at least seemed to understand the task.. He took his pen and after a few minutes, he handed the teacher the following composition: Once I had a dog. His name was Tax. I opened the door and in come Tax. Question: The teacher was trying to explain _ one day. Answer:
OPTIONS:
- everyone should pay income tax
- how the government works
- the basic principles of the income tax
- how much tax one should pay for his income
the basic principles of the income tax
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