Q: When I was little, I'd see tons of bats flying around streetlights at night in my neighborhood in upstate New York. But I'll never forget the first time when I saw a bat up close. By the time I turned 7, though, I noticed something strange: All the bats in my neighborhood had disappeared, and I wondered why. Then, three years ago, when I was 11 and visiting the state fair, I learned what had happened to my town's bats. A disease called "white nose syndrome" had killed 93 percent of New York State's bats. I was horrified. Then I wrote a letter to the host of an environmental program on the local radio station, asking if they could do a show on bats. They did! But I still wanted to find a way to educate people face to face. I reached out to a teacher I had in elementary school and asked if I could make a presentation to her class. I described how bats help farmers by eating crop-damaging insects. It went over so well that other teachers started requesting me. Over the past three years, I've talked in front of everyone from 5-year-olds to senior citizens! Many people think that bats are blind, and that they always carry diseases, but none of that is true. The more I present, the more I notice that I am changing minds. And while getting people to respect bats is pretty hard, getting them to respect me has been difficult too. When I first applied to host a booth at a local street fair, the managers thought I was too young. But I refused to take "no" for an answer. I continued to make my case, and they finally said yes! The best part is, I impressed them so much -- 100 visitors on my first day -- that they now invite me back every year. How did the author save bats? A) By building a new home for them. B) By volunteering to work in the wild. C) By improving their living environment. D) By educating people that they are beneficial.
A: D

Q: He wishes the holiday season would end already . His back aches , his red suit feels like a spacesuit , his cheeks have gone tight from smiling for 12 hours --and still the kids keep coming and coming , like ants at a picnic . As Christmas becomes more commercialized across the U. S. and Canada , so must Santas . As the holiday begins earlier each year , so must its _ . The questions from children these days are harder than ever . Now, with thousands of children expecting a father or mother serving in Iraq or Afghanistan , the questions are as heart-breaking as they are unanswerable . For example , "Can you please bring Daddy home from the war in time for Christmas morning ?" Santas also have a pretty good chance of getting sued . A professional Santa Claus in Canada told a story : A Santa had a girl on his knee , and he commented , "You have nice eyes and nice hair ." The girl later said it was sexual harassment . When a Santa feels anxious , he often shows it in the same ways ordinary people do : The Santas were always seen to hang around at the dinner table when the show ended . Many of them just sleep in bed for several days and don't see other children again . The passage implies that the job of Santa Claus is_. A) well-paid B) very hard C) worth doing D) dangerous
A: B

Q: Located along California's San Andreas Fault, the city of San Francisco is likely to take precautions(,) in the event of the next big earthquake. According to aNew York Timesreport, emergency planners in San Francisco are not only thinking of human evacuation(,) plans in the event of an earthquake, but also of how to care for pets during a natural disaster. Ideally, the planners will be able to train pet-disaster responders who work to evacuate dogs, cats and other household pets from the disaster site to one of the 125 temporary animal shelters that will be set up or, if the pet is injured, it will be brought to an emergency animal medical unit where there will be people on hand to tend to the pet's injury. The city's "no-pets-left-behind" policy results from the great number of pet deaths during the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. As emergency responders arrived to rescue people isolated in their homes during Katrina, hurricane victims were told that they could not take their pets along with them when evacuating; thus, many pet owners were forced to make the heart-breaking decision to save themselves while leaving their pets behind to perhaps meet their deaths. Since then, the U.S. has passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2006, allocating federal funds for animal disaster planning projects. Yet, not all counties are as progressive as San Francisco has been in the effort to protect pets in the event of a natural disaster. Pets are after all, a large part of San Francisco's population -- overnumbering the number of school age children in the city. Over the last three years, San Francisco has received $350,000 in federal funds _ to animal disaster preparedness efforts in order to protect animals in the case of a disaster such as an earthquake. The city is still working on obtaining $300,000 to pay for an emergency animal unit. Until then, animal lovers in San Francisco will continue to work to ensure that pets are never an afterthought when it comes to rescues during earthquakes or... Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage? A) San Fransisco has made great effort to protect pets in a natural disaster. B) The number of school age children in San Fransisco is smaller than that of pets. C) The U.S. government has spent money on animal disaster planning projects. D) All the countries are in the effort to protect pets in a natural disaster.
A: D

Q: Happiness is for everyone. You don't need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time. In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you. Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can't be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. So you cannot always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like arevolving door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person. Which of the following is this passage about? A) Bad luck. B) Good luck. C) Happiness. D) Life.
A: C