Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Whether I'm looking for a good chat with some old Mends or a quiet place to meet a colleague, the pub will be the place I always choose. I could, of course, go to a bar. But a pub, I always find, is far more comfortable and has a more relaxed atmosphere. Many people in the UK also have a favorite pub at the end of the road where they live or nearby to where they work. I can almost always guarantee that I'll bump into someone I know at my "local", as we British call our nearest pub. In fact, many people from the UK say that the pub is a cornerstone of British life. Coming together over a drink, usually of beer, is generally considered the best way to catch up with friends. For those who are a little reserved , as the British sometimes are, it's the best way to open up and get chatting. However, this habit is slowly changing among some British people. According to a survey completed in August by UK trade magazine The Publican, eating, rather than drinking, has become the main source of income for our 52,000 pubs. The gastropub , with its greater emphasis on food, is primarily responsible. All over the country, this more expensive type of pub has been springing up, providing a place for more formal meetings with business partners. Wine is often drunk instead of the traditional beer. But not everyone's happy. Many people hate the fact that some local pubs are closing because new gastropubs are proving more profitable. "Beer sales are sinking and many pubs are struggling to survive," Rob Haward, of the British Beer and Pub Association, told UK newspaper The Daily Mail. For my part, I'm going to do all I can to keep the local British pub alive. It will be the first place I visit when I go back home. Question: . Which of the following is TRUE according to the article? - The author is in favor of gastropubs. - Wine is thought to show one's class and taste. - British people do not go to pubs as often as before. - Local pubs are being seriously affected by gastropubs.
Local pubs are being seriously affected by gastropubs.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Camaraderie over Competence The importance of liking people is the subject of an article in the Harvard Business Review,which has carried out an experiment to find out who we'd rather work with.Hardly surprisingly,the people we want most as our workmates are both:brilliant at their jobs and delightful human beings.And the people we want least are both unpleasant and useless.More interestingly,the authors found that,given the choice between working with lovable fools and competent jerks ,we irresistibly choose the former.Anyway,who likes those stupid men who annoy or hurt other people?We might insist that competence matters more,but our behavior shows we stay close to the people we like and sharing information with them. What companies should therefore do is get people to like each other more.The trick here is apparently to make sure staffs come across each other as often as possible during the day.They also should be sent on bonding courses and so on to encourage friendliness and break down displeasure.However,more outdoor-activity weekends and shared coffee machines inspire no confidence at all. The reality is that people either like each other or they don't.You can't force it.Possibly you can make offices friendlier by tolerating a lot of chat,but there is a productivity cost to that.In my experience,the question of lovable fool against competent jerk may not be the right one.The two are interrelated:we tend not to like our workmates when they are completely hopeless.I was once quite friendly with a woman whom I later worked with.I found her to be so outstandingly bad at her job that I lost respect for her and ended up not really liking her at all.Then is there anything that companies should be doing about it? By far the most effective strategy would be to hire people who are all pretty much the same,given that similarity is one of the main determinants of whether we like each other.I think this is a pretty good idea,but no one dares recommend this anymore without offending the diversity lobby group.There... Question: According to the research,which kind of colleagues would most people tend to choose? - Nice but unintelligent. - Creative but unattractive. - Competent but unfriendly. - Humorous but unambitious.
Nice but unintelligent.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: I had an experience some years ago which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to conduct two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died "full of years," as the Bible would say; both yielded to the normal wearing out of the body after a long and full life. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence calls on the two families on the same afternoon. At the first home, the son of the dead woman said to me, "If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It's my fault that she died." At the second home, the son of the other dead woman said, "If only I hadn't insisted on my mother's going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the abrupt change of climate, was more than she could take. It's my fault that she's dead." When things don't turn out as we would like them to, it is very tempting to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. Priests know that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course - keeping Mother at home, delaying the operation would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse? There seem to be two elements involved in our readiness to feel guilt. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds. The second element is the concept that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.... Question: People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _ - they couldn't find a better way to express their deep sorrow - they believe that they were responsible - they had overlooked the natural course of events - they didn't know things often turn out in the opposite direction
they believe that they were responsible