Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Any mistake, which is made in the printing of a stamp, raises its value to stamp collectors. A mistake on a two-penny stamp has made it worth a million and a half times its face value. Do you think it possible? However, it is true. The mistake was made more than 100 years ago in Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean, which was a British colony at that time. In 1847, an order for stamps was sent to London. Thus prefix = st1 /Mauritiusbecame the fourth country in the world which had the stamps made in other countries. Before the order was filled ,that is, the stamps arrived from England, a big dance party was planned by the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces on the island. The party would be held in his house and letters of invitation would be sent to all the important people in Mauritius. So stamps were badly needed to post the letters. Therefore, an islander, who was a good printer, was told to copy the pattern of the stamps. He carelessly put the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid", two words seen on the stamps at that time, on several hundred that he printed. Today, there are only 26 of these misprinted stamps left: fourteen One-penny Reds and twelve Two-penny Blues. Because of so few Two-penny Blues and because of their age, collectors have paid as much as $16,800 for each of them. Question: When a mistake is made in the printing of a stamp, the stamps will _ . Options: A: be no use B: be of more value C: be thrown away D: be worth only its face value
Ans: B

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: When we think about giving help to developing countries, we often think about giving money so that these countries can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs of the people we are trying to help. However, it's far from enough. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got to come up with some better ideas to help them. I was very surprised, then, when I read about a plan to make cheap laptop computers for children in developing countries. A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which can run without electricity. He decided to invent this computer after he visited a school in Cambodia. The laptop which Mr. Negroponte has designed is a little different from the normal laptop computers you can buy in the shops. One difference is that it is covered in rubber so that it is very strong and won't be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle so that children can wind the computer up to give it extra power when needed. These special laptop computers will cost less than 100 US dollars and Mr. Negroponte wants to build as many as 15 million machines in the first year of production. The idea is that these computers will help the children's education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not help the people in developing countries immediately, but by improving children's education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term. Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again. In the UK, and, probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste created by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to recycle them. In this way we will be able to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce... Question: It's an excellent idea to recycle old mobile phones because _ . Options: A: it reduces waste and can help others B: it prevents waste and can earn lots of money C: it can send the waste produced by developed countries to other countries D: it is good for the environment and very educative for phone users
Ans: A

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual. Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying. As you grow older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously. You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things. Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing.On that day you came to understand the secret of language. The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each other. Then, and only then do these people have a LANGUAGE. After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as BOOKS, CHAIRS and SHOES. Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM. And other words describe things, such as GOOD and DIRTY. Soon you learned to put words together to express one's idea, such as "I want to go out and play with my friends." This is language. By means of language people can communicate. So we say languages are means of communication. Question: You could learn words _ . Options: A: before you knew what the language was B: after you knew what the language was C: if you knew the secret of the language D: when you were a baby
Ans: B

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Mark Twain was a famous American writer in his day. He liked to play jokes on his friends. One day one of his friends lost his wallet and asked Mark Twain to pay his train ticket for him. "But I don't have enough money to pay both your ticket and mine," Mark Twain said. The friend didn't know what to do. "We can do this," said Mark Twain." We can get on the train and when the conductor came to check the tickets , you can hide under my seat." Later, however, when the conductor came to check the tickets, Mark Twain gave him two tickets --- one for himself and one for his friend . Then he explained in aloud voice," My friend is a strange man. When he travels on a train, he does not like to sit on the seat." Of course everyone in the train looked at the poor friend under the seat and laughed at him loudly. Question: Twain told his friend that _ . Options: A: he didn't know what to do B: he would buy a ticket for him C: the conductor wouldn't check the tickets D: he hadn't enough money for two tickets
Ans:
D