Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Do you have any skiing equipment you no longer need? A ski school in the far north of India could put it to good use. In March we published a photo story about the extraordinary Zsnskar region in northern India,which is cut off from the outside world for more than seven months of the year,and only accessible via a frozen river.We also included information about the limited use of skiing in the region and the recent creation of the Zanskar Ski School: "Despite the difficulties of travelling through the region when the snow comes,skiing hasn't traditionally been used as a means of transport by the locals,largely because trees don't grow here, so there is little in the way of raw materials from which to make skis.In 1995, a group of British scientists in the region noticed the lack of skis and one of them returned to set up the Zanskar Ski School in Padam.The school provides lessons for a small fee and rents skis to the local people. Among the benefits that the school hopes to bring are improved education--children often find it difficult to get to school through the deep snow--and the possibility of offering ski tours to tourists in the future.So far,more than 300 local people have received training,and local doctors and policemen regularly borrow skis." But what we weren't able to include in the article is that the ski school is always on the look out for old skiing equipment--particularly of a size suitable for children--and, I thought. Now the European ski season is drawing to a close,there might be a few of you out there who have some old equipment you'd like to see go to a good home.If that's the ease you can get in touch with the school via their website www.zanskarski school.org. Question: What's the purpose in writing the text? - To raise money to develop this area - To attract more tourists to the area - To appeal to more locals to attend the school - To ask people to give away their skis to the school
To ask people to give away their skis to the school

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: An energy watchdog is alarmed about the threat to the environment from the increasing electricity needs of gadgets like MP3 players, mobile phones and flat screen TVs. In a report today, the Paris-based International Energy Agency says new electronic gadgets will be three times their energy consumption by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt hours , which is equal to today's home electricity consumption of the United States and Japan combined. The world would have to build around 200 new nuclear power plants just to power all the TVs, iPods, PCs and other home electronics expected to be plugged in by 2030,when the global electric bill to power them will rise to $200 billion a year, the agency said. "Consumer electronics is the fastest growing area and the area with the least amount of policies in place to control energy efficiency, " said Paul Waide, a senior policy analyst at the agency. Electronic gadgets already account for about 15 percent of household electric consumption, a share that is rising rapidly as the number of these gadgets multiplies. Last year, the world spent $80 billion on electricity to power all these household electronics, the energy agency said. " Most of the increase in consumer electronics will be in developing countries, where economic growth is the fastest and ownership rates of gadgets are the lowest , " Waide said. "This will _ efforts to increase energy security and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming." the agency said. Existing technologies' could cut down gadgets' energy consumption by more than 30 percent at no cost or by more than 50 percent at a small cost, the agency estimates, meaning total greenhouse gas emissions from households' electronic gadgets could be held stable at around 500 million tons of CO2 per year. Question: How many terawatt hours did the energy consumption of new electronic gadgets reach? - Nearly l, 700. - Nearly 600. - About 200. - About 60.
Nearly 600.

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The State Council declared Wednesday it would restart China's nuclear power program, ending the hiatus in nuclear construction since Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. China has been the most courageous country in building nuclear power, with the largest number of plants currently under construction. Nuclear power is facing a tough time in developed countries. The Japanese public is demanding the closure of all the country's nuclear power plants. China is at the forefront of nuclear power development. But it has been forced into this position. Rapid economic development coupled with improvements in people's life both demand more electricity. It is impossible to exploit fossil resources forever as the supply of coal, oil and natural gas is limited. China has no choice but to develop nuclear power. China must be the safest user of nuclear power. It should become a leading country in developing nuclear power technologies and increasing the world's knowledge of nuclear power. It needs to do at least two things. First, it needs to promote safety in nuclear power plants, based on the technologies of the West. The former Soviet Union, the US and Japan all had severe nuclear accidents, proving there are risks. China should try to remove these risks. Second, China should establish effective communication mechanisms between the government, power plants and the public. It's wrong to think the government can control every aspect of nuclear power plant construction. The opposition to nuclear power program in developed countries has prevented them from building new plants, but they already have many. These governments are reluctant to close these plants despite strong opposition, because they cannot find better substitutes. Nuclear power only occupies 1.8 percent of China's current electricity grid , much lower than the proportion in many developed countries. China's nuclear power plan should introduce the advantages of the technologies of other countries and also be creative in providing security. Its space... Question: What attitude do people in developed countries have towards nuclear power program? - Supportive. - Opposed. - Indifferent. - Objective.
A: Opposed.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Have you winterized your horse yet? Even though global warming may have made our climate more mild, many animals are still hibernating .It's too bad that humans can't hibernate. In fact, as a species, we almost did. Apparently, at times in the past , peasants in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation . So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French peasants. As soon as the weather turned cold people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end. In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio's The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed fundamentally since the invention of artificial lighting and the electric bulb. When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as "first sleep", which was not clarified, though. Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods. The business of eight hours' uninterrupted sleep is a modern invention. In the past , without the artificial light of the city to bathe in, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves around midnight. The late night period was known as "The Watch" It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals ,although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbours . According to some sleep researchers, a short period of insomnia at midnight is not a disorder .It is normal . Humans can experience another state of consciousness around their sleeping, which occurs in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning .This period can be an extraordinarily creative time for some people .The impressive inventor, Thomas Edison , used this state to hit upon many of his new ideas. Playing with your sleep rhythms can be adventurous ,as anxiety may set in. Medical science doesn't help much in this case. It offers us medicines for a full night's continuous sleep, which sounds natural ;... Question: What is the author's purpose in writing the passage? - To give a prescription for insomnia. - To urge people to sleep less. - To analyze the sleep pattern of modern people. - To throw new light on human sleep.
To throw new light on human sleep.