Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
EL PASO, Texas (CNN) -- The cell phone rang as Jorge Aguirre walked to a friend's funeral in Juarez, Mexico, last November -- a funeral for a fellow journalist who, Aguirre says, was assassinated for the critical stories he wrote.

Mexican federal police recently began patrolling Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

When he answered the phone, Aguirre heard a profanity-laced threat. "They told me I was next," Aguirre told CNN. "I thought they were going to kill me right there."

Aguirre immediately gathered up his family and darted across the border into El Paso, Texas. He hasn't returned to Juarez since that day.

Aguirre is seeking asylum in the United States, and he's part of a growing trend among Mexican citizens looking to escape the violence and corruption of their homeland. Watch journalists met with death threats "

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency that falls under the Department of Homeland Security, the number of Mexican nationals requesting asylum in the United States based on "credible fear" has gone up every year since 2003, even as the overall number of "credible fear" asylum cases remains steady.

In 2003, the USCIS reported 54 asylum cases from Mexican citizens. In 2008, that number reached 312. But asylum requests based on fear of violence aren't easy cases to make. Last year, the United States approved less than half of those cases.

"Whether they're fleeing extortionists or potential kidnappers or they're leaving because of the drug cartels, it tells you there are definitely problems in Mexico right now," said El Paso Mayor John Cook.
1. Who received a threat?
2. Was the threat in person?
3. How was it made?
4. Who was he telling about it?
5. What did he think was going to happen to him?
6. Where did he go?
7. Did he go alone?
8. With whom?
9. Where was he going when he got the threat by phone?
10. What was his friend's job?
11. Why was he killed?
12. Where was the funeral?
13. In 2003 how many asylum cases were there?
14. In 2008?
15. How many were approved?
16. Who is John Cook?
17. What is one reason they seek asylum?
18. And another?

Numbered answers:
1. Jorge Aguirre
2. no
3. by phone
4. CNN
5. he was going to be killed
6. El Paso, Texas
7. no
8. his family
9. a friend's funeral
10. journalist
11. he wrote critical stories
12. Juarez, Mexico,
13. 54
14. 312
15. less than half of those cases
16. mayor of El Paso
17. to escape violence
18. to escape corruption

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
CHAPTER VI.

After the conversation at dinner which we have noticed, the restless and disquieted Coningsby wandered about Paris, vainly seeking in the distraction of a great city some relief from the excitement of his mind. His first resolution was immediately to depart for England; but when, on reflection, he was mindful that, after all, the assertion which had so agitated him might really be without foundation, in spite of many circumstances that to his regardful fancy seemed to accredit it, his firm resolution began to waver.

These were the first pangs of jealousy that Coningsby had ever experienced, and they revealed to him the immensity of the stake which he was hazarding on a most uncertain die.

The next morning he called in the Rue Rivoli, and was informed that the family were not at home. He was returning under the arcades, towards the Rue St. Florentin, when Sidonia passed him in an opposite direction, on horseback, and at a rapid rate. Coningsby, who was not observed by him, could not resist a strange temptation to watch for a moment his progress. He saw him enter the court of the hotel where the Wallinger family were staying. Would he come forth immediately? No. Coningsby stood still and pale. Minute followed minute. Coningsby flattered himself that Sidonia was only speaking to the porter. Then he would fain believe Sidonia was writing a note. Then, crossing the street, he mounted by some steps the terrace of the Tuileries, nearly opposite the Hotel of the Minister of Finance, and watched the house. A quarter of an hour elapsed; Sidonia did not come forth. They were at home to him; only to him. Sick at heart, infinitely wretched, scarcely able to guide his steps, dreading even to meet an acquaintance, and almost feeling that his tongue would refuse the office of conversation, he contrived to reach his grandfather's hotel, and was about to bury himself in his chamber, when on the staircase he met Flora.
1. What was he experiencing or the first time?
2. Who did he not find at their residence the next day?
3. Where was this at?
4. Did he remain there waiting all day?
5. Where was he the night before?
6. What was he looking for?
7. And what was he trying to calm?
8. What had set him off?
9. Who shot past him on his way back the next day?
10. Did the man see him?
11. Where was the jealous man headed when this happened?
12. Did he continue on his journey?
13. Where did he see the man stop?
14. How did the man travel?

Numbered answers:
1. jealousy
2. the family
3. in the Rue Rivoli
4. no
5. Paris
6. distraction
7. his mind
8. unknown
9. Sidonia
10. no
11. towards the Rue St. Florentin
12. no
13. the hotel
14. on horseback

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
(CNN) -- They spent 69 days in the bowels of the earth, 700 meters deep, not knowing if they would survive. For 17 days after the mine in which they were working collapsed, nobody even knew if they were alive. Friday marks the one-year observance of the fateful incident in Chile that trapped 33 miners who were saved in a miraculous rescue that made headlines around the world.

Fame came after the rescue, which faded quicker in their country than abroad, and since then they have traveled to several destinations all-expenses-paid, though many report having money problems.

Four of the miners will observe the anniversary of the event that changed their lives in Washington where an exhibit in their honor is being opened at the Smithsonian Institution.

Mario Sepulveda, one of the miners attending, reflected on the historical significance of the event.

"In spite of our painful experience, it is very important to us that what is being exhibited will show the world what happened," Sepulveda said. He was the second to be rescued from the mine.

Since they were rescued last October, the miners have traveled the world. Edison Pena, the miner whose underground workouts in the darkness garnered attention, ran the New York Marathon less than a month after being rescued.

Pena also appeared on "The Late Show with Dave Letterman" on CBS where he impersonated his idol, Elvis Presley. Then, in January, he was invited as a guest of honor to the Graceland Mansion, in Memphis, Tennessee. Pena had dreamed of visiting the mansion since he became an Elvis fan as a teenager.
1. Who was stuck somewhere?
2. Where?
3. Who was stuck?
4. What were they stuck in?
5. For how long?
6. How deep was it?
7. Did they get out?
8. When?
9. What did Pena like to do in the mine to spend time?
10. Does he run races?
11. What's one of the races he has ran?
12. When did he do that?
13. Is he a music fan?
14. Who is one of his favorite singers?
15. How long has he been a fan?
Numbered answers:
1. Miners
2. Chile
3. 33 Miners
4. In a mine
5. 69 days
6. 700 meters
7. Yes
8. October
9. Underground workouts
10. Yes
11. New York Marathon
12. Less than a month after being rescued
13. Yes
14. Elvis Presley
15. Since he was a teenager.