Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Prince Roman was a Polish nobleman, a captain in the army of Czar Nicholas of Russia. When his young wife died, the prince left the army and returned in sorrow to his native Poland. In time, love for his country and its people took the place of his lost love. He joined a Polish rising against the Russians. The rising was crushed, and Prince Roman was taken prisoner. His relatives and friends begged the military court to have mercy on him. The president of the court received these appeals kindly. He was a good Russian, but he was also a good-natured man. Russian hatred of Poles was not as fierce at that time as it became later; and the Russian felt sympathetic as soon as he saw the prince's thin, tired, sun-burnt face. The court of three officers sat in a bare room, behind a long black table. Some clerks sat at the two ends, but no one else was there when the guards brought in the prince. Those four walls shut out from Prince Roman all sights and sounds of freedom, all hopes of the future, all comforting thoughts. How much love for Poland remained in him then? How much love of life? He stood before his judges alone, having refused their permission to sit. He answered their first formal questions -- his name and so on -- clearly and politely although he felt too weary to talk. Then the president of the court seemed to suggest how the young man could best help himself. He asked questions in a way that almost put the right answers in the prisoner's mouth. "Didn't your wife's death drive you to despair? Wasn't your mind unbalanced by that sad event ?" Prince Roman was silent. "You were not fully responsible for you conduct, were you?" Prince Roman was silent. "You made a sudden blind decision to join the rising. You didn't realize that your actions were dangerous and dishonourable. Isn't that the truth of this unfortunate matter?" The judges looked at the prisoner hopefully. In silence the prince reached for a pen and some paper. He wrote, "I joined the rising because I believe it was just." He pushed the paper... Question: What does the passage tell us of Poland at the time? Options: A: Polish officers in the Russian army had to return to Poland. B: Russia was at war with Poland, so the Poles were enemies. C: The Russians were very cruel rulers of Poland. D: It was ruled by Russia, and Poles served in the Russian army.
Ans: D

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Qixi Festival, the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day that fell yesterday, was not only a disappointment for forgotten lovers, but also for businessmen left with empty pockets. The cold reception has prompted cultural experts to seriously worry that the lovers' festival, marked for generations since the Han Dynasty(206 BC-AD 220),is dying out. Some have even called for legislation to make the festival a legal --Chinese Lovers' Day, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar year. But the effectiveness of such a measure is in doubt, although efforts to preserve traditional festivals deserve highly praise. A growing number of traditional Chinese festivals, such as the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, share the same fate of the Qixi Festival. Young people are showing less interest in traditional culture as symbolized by these festivals.Even if all traditional festivals are finally made legal, the risk of them becoming purely formalized celebrations with little meaning is not removed.If the younger generation fails to identify with the cultural significance of these holidays, there is little that can be done. While complaining about traditional festivals' fading appeal, decision-makers should reflect on cultural protection. Undeniably, our country has done a bad job of preserving culture and traditional festivals, compared to neighbouring Japan and the Republic of Korea(ROK). The 2,500-year-old Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The traditional customs and ceremonies of the occasion, which originated in China, have been better preserved in the ROK. Only a few years ago did China begin to realize the significance of preserving intangible cultural heritage when the ROK planned to apply to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to list its version of the Dragon Boat Festival as an important example of intangible culture. Concern about the traditional holidays also reminds people of the growing influence of foreign... Question: The public look at the effectiveness of the legalization of the Qixi Festival with a(n) _ attitude. Options: A: indifferent B: positive C: doubtful D: hopeful
Ans: C

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: I met my step-mom for the first time when I moved to America to be reunited with my father. From the beginning she made sure to let me know that I was safe and welcome. I remember when I first saw her at the airport. It was different but not uncomfortable. After I was picked up from the airport we went home and she unpacked my luggage. Then she took me shopping for new clothes since the ones I had brought with me from Africa were a bit worn. That night before I went to bed she came to my room, which was the first room I had ever had for my own, with the first bed I didn't have to share. She told me she was glad to have me and that she would take good care of me. Before she walked out of my new room, she asked me for a hug. I had no idea what she was talking about. I did not know what the word hug meant, not because I didn't speak English, but I had just never heard the word before, let alone knew what it meant. So, I just looked at her with a questioning expression on my face. But she didn't give up. She called my father into the room and asked him to explain to me what she meant. When my father was explaining I looked at her and wondered why she wanted to hug me. She then told me it was because she loved me and opened her arms wide. Shyly I opened mine and we hugged. That was my very first hug and I was 11 at that time. I'm 23 now and, thankfully, I have received many hugs since then. I consider her my birth mother because life began when I came to stay with her. For the first time there were no kids for me to take care of and I became a child for the first time. There was no work waiting for me every day other than the occasional chores that she gave me to teach me responsibility. Today I say thank-you to my mother; thank you for giving me my childhood back after it had been taken away from me. I am who I am today because of your love! Question: We may learn from the passage that the author _ . Options: A: didn't need to do any work in her second home B: met her new mom when she was nine years old C: felt safe and loved by what her new mom did D: had a very big family to support in Africa
Ans:
C