Article: Like many men at some point, I dream about opening a bar. I plan to call it Work Out. It will cater to married women in need of a little fun. On Friday nights, they will be able to come here and enjoy themselves. See, I have a gift for business. I am, as my wife Zsa Zsa likes to note, "A man with a million ideas, none of them very good." Speaking of Zsa Zsa, she is fed up with this plain little life I've made for us----too many kids, too many chores, mind - numbing debt. The other day, she said she thought we needed a new family car. _ I said, and saw my dear Zsa Zsa age about 20 years, and become her mother right before my eyes. Yes, money is our madness. Last year, we thought we had found a little _ when I published a book about the life here in suburban America. It sold 12 copies----six of them to my mother. Four other copies went to various aunts and uncles, who used them for martini coasters , then sold them at yard sales. The two remaining copies went to perfect strangers. (I think I owe you dinner, whoever you are. Call me, OK? We'll arrange something.) When the book didn't take off, I wrote a TV show. Then I penned a short novel based on the earlier TV idea that didn't sell. Currently, I am at work on a set of encyclopedias . In a month, I plan to sell them door - to - door. Such is the life of a writer, sending off the most personal thoughts possible to his hard drive. I am a writer, but also the breadwinner in my family. I'm at the keyboard at 6 almost every morning, hoping to tap out one idea----just one----that will take us up the hill, to the mountain, to the top. Question: According to the passage, the author is leading a/an _ life. Yes or no, is the answer "hard"?
No

Article: All countries have little known interesting facts about them, including Canada. For example, did you know that although Canada is the second largest county with only 30 million people, making it the 28thlargest in population? Because a large part of Canada is covered with lakes and streams, it has the largest source of fresh water in the world. The US has a lot of automobiles on the road. Canada has more automobiles per person than any other country, with at least one automobile for every 2 people. And in Canada, 100 different languages are spoken. Did you know that the Canadian $1 coin is called the Loonie, named after a bird pictured on the coin? Are there any other animals featured on Canadian coins? Yes. The caribou is displayed on the Canadian quarter. Did you also know that Canada has six time zones? Some of the things we love most in America were created by Canadians. Superman, the chocolate nut bar, basketball, and Ginger Ale were all created by Canadians. Famous inventions that are used by many Americans are credited to Canadians including the walker, used by the elderly or the injured, the common garbage bag, the electric cooking range, and the electric light bulb (even though most people think it was invented by Thomas Edison). To make our lives easier, Canadians invented the instant mashed potatoes, paint rollers, snow blowers, the wireless radio and the zipper . For communication or fun, the Canadians invented the television, walkie-talkies, telephone, and the snowmobile. There are many famous people who were born in Canada, including Pamela Anderson, Shania Twain, Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Tilley. Question: The author is most probably from _ . Yes or no, is the answer "America"?
No

Article: In the countries of South and Southeast Asia, the elephant has been an important part of the culture, economy and religion for centuries. And nowhere more so than in Thailand. Unlike its African cousin, the Asian elephant is easily domesticated . The rare so-called white elephants have actually lent the power of royalty to its rulers,and until the 1920s the national flag was a white elephant on a red background. To the early Western visitors, the country's romantic name was" Land of the White Elephant". Today, however, the story is very different. Out of work and out of land, the Thai elephant struggles for survival in a nation that no longer needs it. The elephant has found itself more or less deserted by previous owners who have moved on to a different economic world and a society in the western part. And while the elephant's problems began many years ago, now it has a very low national advantage. How does the national symbol turn into ignored animals? It is a story of worse environment and the changing lives of the Thais themselves. According to Richard Lair, Thailand's expert on the Asian elephant and author of the report Gone Astray, at the turn of the last century, there may well have been as many as 100,000 national elephants in the country. In the north of Thailand alone, it was estimated that more than 20,000 elephants were employed in transport, 1,000 of them alone on the road between the cities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen. This was at a time when 90 percent of Thailand was still forest---a habitat that not only supported the animals but also made them necessary to carry goods and people. Nothing ploughs through thick forest better than lots of sure-footed elephants. By 1950 the elephant population had dropped, but still to the number of 13, 397. However, today there are probably no more than 3,800, with another l,350 wandering free in the national parks. But now, Thailand's forest covers only 20 percent of the land. This deforestation is the central point of the elephant's difficult situation,... Question: What can we know about African elephants from the passage? Yes or no, is the answer "It is hard to domesticate them."?
No

Article: I'm beginning to think whether my grandmother was right when she complains, as she frequently does, that children nowadays aren't as well-behaved as they used to be. She recounts in detail how she used to be told to respect her elders and betters. She was taught to speak when she went out on her own, she was reminded to say please and thank you. Children in her days, she continues, were expected to be seen and not heard , but these days you are lucky if you ever hear parents telling their children to mind her manners. If you give her the chance she then takes out of her writing desk the old photograph album which she keeps there, and which she never tires of displaying. Of course when you look at pictures of her parents you feel sure that , with a father as strict looking as that , you too would have been "seen and not heard". Besides him sits his wife , with their children around her, Granny and her elder brothers. It always occurs to me that perhaps those long, stiff, black clothes were so burdensome to a little girl that she hadn't enough breath left to be talkative, let alone mischievous . It must have been a dull and lonely life too, for she stayed mainly at home during her childhood, while her brothers were sent to school from an early age. However, my childhood was much freer than Granny's. I went to school with my brother. I played football with him and his friends . We all spoke a common language , and we got up to the same mischief. I would have dies if I had to stay indoors , wearing tight , stiff clothes. Question: This passage is mainly about _ . Yes or no, is the answer "children in the past and at present"?
Yes