Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn't touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman's death? Prosecutors said that he can under the state's murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person's death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery--even if he or she doesn't kill someone on purpose. But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Absolutely, no question about it. The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response , which was originally described by Walter Cannon,the chairman of Harvard University's physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response. The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things... Question: Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged? Options: A: Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman. B: Because he caused an old woman's terror and she died. C: Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack D: Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.
B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Contrary to common belief, social media websites such as Facebook do not weaken personal ties, they strengthen them in unique ways for different age groups, according to a new study. The rapid spread of Facebook, which has more than 500 million users worldwide, has prompted concerns about its negative effects, but researchers at the University of Texas have reached a different conclusion. "Our findings suggest that Facebook is not replacing face-to-face interactions between friends, family and colleagues," said S.Craig Watkins, an associate professor of radio, TV and film who headed the research team. "In fact, we believe there is sufficient evidence that social media afford opportunities for new expressions of friendship, intimacy and community." The researchers questioned 900 college students and recent graduates about how and with whom they interact on Facebook. More than 60 percent of Facebook users said posting status updates was among the most popular activities, followed by 60 percent who wrote comments on their profile and 49 percent who posted messages and comments to friends. The researchers also found that although about the same number of men and women use Facebook, they do so in different ways. "There is a noteworthy difference in aims in how to use a tool like Facebook.We found that for women the content tends to be more affectionate, and (they) are especially interested in using it for connection," said Watkins. "For men, it's more functional," he added. Watkins pointed out that, for example, women are more likely to post pictures of social gatherings with friends, while men are more likely to post pictures of hobbies, or post a political or pop-culture related link. Question: What's the popular viewpoint of ordinary people about the function of social media websites? They think _ . Options: A: It is positive to personal ties B: It has negative effects on personal ties C: It makes no difference to personal ties D: It has both good and bad effects to personal ties
B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The snow cap of Mount Kilimanjaro, famous in literature and beloved by tourists, initially formed some 11,000 years ago, but will be gone in two decades, according to researchers who say the ice fields on Africa's highest mountain shrank by 80 percent in the past century. Lonnie G. Thompson,one professor from Ohio State University, said measurements using modern navigation satellites show that the oldest ice layers on the famous mountain were deposited during an extremely wet period starting about 11,700 years ago.The mountain appears in literature, most notably Ernest Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and some ancient beliefs in Africa hold the mountain to be a sacred place. But a temperature rise in recent years is destroying the 150-foot-high blocks of ice that gave Kilimanjaro its unique white cap."The ice will be gone by about 2030," said Thompson. The disappearing ice already has reduced the amount of water in some Tanzanian rivers and the government fears that when Kilimanjaro is bald of snow the tourists will stop coming. "Kilimanjaro is the number one foreign currency earner for the government of Tanzania," said Thompson. "It has its own international airport and some 20,000 tourists every year. The question is how many will come if there are no ice fields on the mountain." Africa was not alone in the global drought. Thompson said other records show that civilizations during this period collapsed in India, the Middle East and South America. Researchers put markers on the ice field blocks in 1962 and Thompson said measurements using satellites show the summit of the ice has been lowered by about 56 feet in 40 years. The _ of the ice also has moved back more than six feet in the past two years, much smaller than before. "That's more than two meter's worth of ice lost from a wall 164 feet (50 meters) high," said Thompson. "That's an enormous amount of ice." Question: According to Thompson, the disappearing of the snow may mainly influence _ . Options: A: the local water supply B: the local tourism C: the weather in the surrounding areas D: the government foreign currency exchange
B