Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Before you go to another country, it is a great help if you know the language and some of the customs of the country. When people meet each other for the first time in Britain, they say "How do you do?" and shake hands . Usually they do not shake hands when they just meet or say goodbye. But they shake hands after they haven't met for a long time or when they will be away from each other for a long time. Last year a group of German students went to England for a holiday. Their teacher told them that the English people hardly shake hands. So when they met their English friends at the station, they kept their hands behind their backs. The English students had learned that Germans shake hands as often as possible, so they put their hands in front and got ready to shake hands with them. It made both of them laugh. Question: English people usually shake hands when they _ . - meet every time - meet for the first time - say goodbye to each other - very bad
meet for the first time

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: I'm afraid to grow old--we're all afraid. In fact, the fear of growing old is so great that every aged person is an insult and a threat to the society. They remind us of our own death, that our body won't always remain smooth and responsive, but will someday betray us by aging. The ideal way to age would be to grow slowly invisible, gradually disappearing, without causing worry or discomfort to the young. In some ways that does happen. Sitting in a small park across from a nursing home one day, I noticed that the young mothers and their children gathered on one side, and the old people from the home on the other. Whenever a youngster would run over to the "wrong" side, chasing a ball or just trying to cover all the available space, the old people would lean forward and smile. But before any communication could be established, the mother would come over, murmuring embarrassed apologies, and take her child back to the "young" side. Now, it seemed to me that the children didn't feel any particular fear and the old people didn't seem to be threatened by the children. The division of space was drawn by the mothers. And the mothers never looked at the old people who lined the other side of the park. These well-dressed young women had a way of sliding their eyes over, around, through the old people; they never looked at them directly. The old people may as well have been invisible; they offended the aesthetic eye of the mothers. My early experiences were somewhat different; since I grew up in a small town, my children had more of a nineteenth-century flavor. I knew a lot of old people, and considered some of them friends. Question: In the author's opinion, it is a perfect way to _ . - grow old slowly and then die unnoticed - grow old suddenly and then die - shut oneself up from others when growing old - remain young all one's life and then die suddenly
grow old slowly and then die unnoticed

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: My sisters and I have dreamt of a home in the city, but when the Alcott family found itself in a small house at the South End without a tree in sight, only a back yard to play in, and no money to buy any of the beautiful things before us, we children all opposed it and longed for the country again. Anna soon found little pupils, and walked away each morning to her daily task, pausing at the corner to wave her hand to me in answer to my greet with the duster . My father went to his office downtown, mother to her helping the poor, the little girls to school, and I, Lousia, was left to keep house, feeling like an aged sea-gull as I washed dishes and cooked in the basement kitchen where the only thing I could hope for was someone talking with me. Good drill, but very hard, and my only comfort was the evening reunion where all met with such various reports of the day's adventures, we could not fail to find both amusement and instruction. Father brought interesting and attractive news from the upper world; mother, usually in low spirits because she would give away her clothes with sad tales of suffering from the darker side of life; gentle Anna gave a modest account of her success as a teacher, for even at seventeen her sweet nature won all who knew her, and her patience gained her the support of the most naughty pupil. My reports were usually a mixture of sadness and happiness, and the children poured their small joys and troubles into the family where comfort and mercy were always to be found. Question: We know from this passage that the Alcott family was _ . - a happy and united family - an extremely poor family - a family with lots of serious problems - a family that remained in the country
A: a happy and united family

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Planet English is the world's leading interactive multimedia software package for English language teaching and learning. For Students Planet English uses the latest in multimedia and information technology to support students who wish to learn English for international communication. Planet English is an exciting, high-tech, interactive way of learning English. It contains more than 40 hours of video and audio recordings, over 2,500 0riginal graphics, 3,000 interactive screens and 80 different activity types including real time student voice recordings. For Teachers Planet English is more than just a computer program. It includes a package of resources to complement any Eng-lish language teaching programme. Teachers can easily integrate Planet English with classroom activities using the detailed Teacher's Manual and Student Workbooks. Teachers can also manage the learning experience for students using the unique Planet English Courseware Management System (CMS). The CMS allows teachers to tailor courses to their syllabus and to students' needs by "mapping" content for classes or individuals. Activities and exercises that are relevant to the center's syllabus are then delivered to students in the appropriate lesson, ensuring students "navigate" to the right area of the programme of each lesson. For Educational Managers Planet English is the world's leading Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) program. It allows English language teaching centers to enhance the educational quality of teaching programmes, improve learning outcomes and provide professional development for teaching staff. Implementing Planet English allows English language teaching centers to maximize the benefits of computor hardware because it provides teachers and learners with an easy-to-use and highly productive CALL resource. Question: The main purpose of this passage is to _ . - encourage more people to attend the Planet English course in time - promise everyone can learn English well without teachers - call on people who learn or teach English to interact with English speakers - introduce an interactive multimedia software for English learners, teachers and managers
Answer: introduce an interactive multimedia software for English learners, teachers and managers

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Amanda Clement grew up in Hudson, South Dakota. Baseball was always her favorite sport. Once in a while her brother Hank and his friends would let her play first base in their games. More often, however, they asked her to umpire for them, because they knew her calls would be fair and there would be no arguing. One day in 1904, Amanda and her mother traveled to Hawarden, Iowa, to watch Hank play for the home team against Hawarden. When they arrived at the ball field, two local teams were waiting to play a preliminary game. The umpire hadn't arrived, so Hank argued that the teams should let his sister serve as umpire. The players finally agreed. Amanda, then sixteen and standing five feet, ten inches tall, made perfect calls. She was so good that players for the main game asked her to umpire for them and even offered to pay her. Thus, at sixteen, Amanda Clement became the first paid female baseball umpire of all time. She is honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Question: Why did Hank and his friends often ask Amanda to umpire for them? - Because she called them brothers. - Because they wanted to make her happy. - Because no one else wanted to do it for them. - Because she knew the rules well and was fair.
A: Because she knew the rules well and was fair.