When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than most of the adults in our community. When Dr. Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life's goal was to make it a forest. The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant care and growth. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them so that each successive tree generation would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren't watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured. So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention. Dr. Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They're extremely tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden trembled in a cold wind although I had watered them for several years. It seems that adversity and suffering benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought. Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But I think that it's time to change my prayer because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship. Which of the following may be the author's best prayer for his two sons now? A) I wish them strong wings, with which they can fly higher and touch the sky. B) I wish them nice fortune so that they can meet people like Dr. Gibbs in the future. C) I wish them deep roots into the earth since the rains fall and the winds blow often. D) I wish them great shades under the tree since the sunlight is always sharp and bitter.
C
(Question)
Some beach creatures are wonderful ----- like dolphins, but others are dangerous. Find out more about the dangerous ones -----the blue ringed octopus, puffer fish, the Blue Bottle, and stingrays. The blue ringed octopus The blue ringed octopus is not a very big creature but it is very dangerous. These octopuses are found all around Australian coast. They often lie in rock pools close to shore. The blue ringed octopus is usually a dull color1 but it shows its bright blue rings when it is in danger. If it is taken out of the water, it is able to bite a person and poison them. If this creature bites someone, they will feel numbness around the mouth, face and neck. Puffer Fish Puffer Fish are found in all Australian seas. They are very easy to catch but must not be eaten because their flesh and internal organs contain a poison. Anyone who does eat the flesh can become sick very quickly. They may even stop breathing. The Blue Bottle The Blue Bottle is found in most Australian waters. Blue Bottles float lightly on the surface of the water but their tentacles can be as long as 10 metres. Blue Bottles are much less dangerous than some other jellyfish but they can give a swimmer a bad sting if the swimmer accidentally touches them. Stingrays There are many different kinds of stingrays in Australian waters. They usually swim and feed on the bottom of the sea. Accidents can happen if people stand on them or try to pick them up. Stingrays have a sting on their tail. These stings have poison on them. If someone is stung the wound can easily become infected. Which of the following is less aggressive according to the passage? A) The blue ringed octopus B) Puffer Fish C) The Blue Bottle D) Stingrays
(Answer)
B
Ques: When a tornado hit the small town of Otwell, Indiana years ago, Kathryn Martin, 32, who lived 60 miles away in Evansville, couldn't get the news out of her mind. "I kept thinking, 'Those poor people. Somebody's got to help them,'" she says. She knew firsthand what they were going through. Six months earlier, a tornado had struck her town, taking the lives of her 2-year-old son, C.J. and her mother-in-law. "It was the most terrible experience of my life," she says. "That _ will never go away, and it broke my heart to think about what these families were going through in Otwell." So Kathryn loaded her car with juice boxes, snacks and toys and drove to Otwell. She gave the items to the Red Cross, and as she was leaving, she saw a couple sorting through the ruins of their home while their children were watching. So Kathryn stopped and gave a few toys to the kids and played with them for a while. "The parents couldn't thank me enough for what I did for their children," she says. On the drive back to Evansville, Kathryn came up with an idea to help more kids. She talked her family, friends and neighbors into joining her and spent the next few months organizing fundraisers. Finally, in August 2007, she showed C.J.'s Bus, a 35-foot school bus that was turned into a mobile playroom. In the following years, stocked with video games and DVDs, toys, crafts, books and more, the bus traveled to disaster-torn towns, giving the children there a safe place to play. So far, C.J.'s bus has traveled to three states affected by tornadoes or floods, cheering up more than 756 children, aged 3-13. When she heard that Otwell was hit by a tornado, Kathryn Martin _ . A) felt it was the most terrible experience of her life B) wanted to do something for the people there C) was afraid that a tornado would strike her home D) was extremely worried about her family members
Ans: B
"English may be the global language of business but it is not enough by itself for companies to gain a lasting presence in many markets," the European Commission says in a study published last month. The study collected by the British National Centre for Languages for the EU leader, says over 10 per cent of 2,000 small and medium-sized firms in 29 European countries sampled in the study have lost export contract because of lack of language skills. The study says French is used to trade with partners in Africa, Spanish in Latin America, and Russian in Eastern Europe. "The picture is far more complex than the much-quoted view that English is the world language," the study says. Multilingual Commissioner Leonard Orban admitted that English plays an important role worldwide, but he wants to improve more linguistic variety within the EU. The EU's linguistic headaches have exploded with the group's expansion. Languages have become a sensitive topic in Brussels where English is increasingly eclipsing French as the main working language of the organization. Translation of EU papers into EU's 23 official languages costs 1 billion euros (US $1.31 billion) a year. "We want to be open not only to official languages of the Union, but also to others like regional languages, languages of minorities, immigrants' languages and third countries' languages," Orband said. Many EU students have improved their language skills during non-formal learning activities. Young people from more than 20 different nationalities travel across Europe to participate together in many cultural programmes, language courses, thematic workshops and other activities that are organized in about 100 cities. What is the best title for the passage? A) Don't Ignore That Study B) Pay much Attention to English C) Do Study Many Languages besides English D) The Other Language Is More Important than English
C