There are many traditions around the holidays. "Holiday traditions" are things that people do every year during a holiday such as Christmas or Thanksgiving. At Christmas, for example, many people put up a Christmas tree or Christmas lights. These are Christmas traditions that have been going on for many years. But there is a "new" Christmas tradition that has become very popular: _ , a TV channel that shows nothing but a large log fire, blazing in a fireplace. People put it on their TV and it makes them feel like they are watching and listening to a crackling fire. It makes them feel calm and comfortable. The origin dates back to 1986 in Canada. At that time, not very many people knew about it or watched the channel. Today, more than three million people watch the firelog channel during the winter holiday season. That year, the firelog channel was created to give the workers in the company that is now called Shaw Cable, a break at Christmas. By running the firelog during the holidays, everyone could go home for a few days and enjoy a bit of time off. At that time, it was only broadcast to people in Edmonton but today it reaches people across Canada and beyond. This year, the Shaw firelog was updated. It is pretty high tech. Although it's still really just a fire log that has been filmed, it has its own Twitter account (@ShawFireLog), its own Facebook page and it even has a computer App so you can see the burning log on a smartphone or a tablet. The Shaw firelog will burn until Jan. 5 on Shaw Cable, channel 222. What does this passage mainly talk about? A) The origin and popularity of the TV firelog. B) Famous holiday traditions. C) What makes the TV firelog so popular. D) The TV firelog today.
A
(Question)
Mary Cassatt was born in Pennsylvania in 1844. When she was seven, her family moved to Europe. They wanted their children to understand European ways and the people who lived there. They travelled a lot and she had visited many countries by the time she was 10 years old. After four years they returned to America. In those days, women didn't have professions, and there were very few women artists. Her family did not approve when she decided that she would become an artist. She studied first in Philadelphia. She happened to be in Chicago in 1871 when the huge fire broke out there. She lost many of her paintings in that fire. She went to Paris to study painting. She met Camille Pissarro there. He taught her Impressionism, a method of painting where the artists used small strokes of unmixed color1s to create an image. She once said of Pissarro that " _ " because he was such a good teacher. She spent a lot of time at the Louvre Museum copying paintings of the famous artists. In 1874, her sister, Lydia, came to live with her in Paris. Lydia was her best friend and posed for many of Mary's paintings. Three years later, her parents came to Paris, also to live with them. Lydia became very ill and died from a disease. Mary missed her very much. Her parents became elderly and she cared for them, but she still found time to paint. One of the more interesting works of Mary Cassatt is her painting, Portrait of Mrs. Curry, Sketch of Mr. Cassatt. Though she never had children of her own, she loved children and painted portraits of the children of her friends and family. She became known as the painter of mothers and children. She lost her sight due to cataracts in her eyes in 1914 and was not able to paint during the later years of her life. What is the passage mainly about? A) A brief introduction to Mary Cassatt. B) The main works of Mary Cassatt. C) The influence of Impressionism on Mary Cassatt. D) Mary Cassatt's love for her family.
(Answer)
A
Ques: Exploit your parking space An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to PS200 or PS300 a week. Put an advertisement for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark. Rent a room Spare room? Not only will a lodger earn you an income, but also, thanks to the government-backed "rent a room" program, you won't have to pay any tax on the first PS4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy. Make money during special events Don't want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money. Grashpadder can advertise your space. Live on set Renting your home out as a "film set" could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free--but you will be charged if your home gets picked. Use your roof You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment(aroundPS14,000) and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof. If you want to use energy free, you have to _ . A) sign an agreement with the government B) pay around PS14,000 for the equipment C) sell the roof to some energy companies D) keep the roof unchanged within 25 years
Ans: D
Modern society cannot well do without the contribution that women can make in the professions and other kinds of work. There is a serious shortage of nurses and teachers, to mention only two of the occupations followed by women. It is a waste to give years of training at public expense only to have the qualified teacher or nurse marry after a year or two and be lost forever to her profession. The training, it is true, will help her in her duties as a mother, but if she continued to work, her service would be more widely useful. Many factories and shops, too, are largely staffed by women, many of them married. While here the question of training is not so important, industry and trade would be seriously short of staff if married women did not work. We can see then that there are good reasons for regarding it as desirable that married women should have some occupation outside the home. However, there are serious objections. Schools do not keep children occupied the whole day and school holidays are long. The mother's working day will almost certainly end well after the school day and her holiday will not begin at the same time as her children's. There will be therefore a period when children are not taken care of unless a substitute for the mother can be found, or unless it becomes more generally possible for women to work part-time. There seem to be some grounds for believing that there is more bad behavior among the children of working mothers than among those of mothers who stay at home, but more evidence is required before we can be certain of this. What we can be certain of, however, is that many more will continue to do so. According to the writer, women nurses and teachers ought to carry on their occupation after marriage because _ . A) they are not allowed to give up their jobs B) their training should not be wasted C) they want to make a living by themselves D) they must still improve themselves as mothers
B