(Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The word "death" is a word many Chinese friends tell me I should not say aloud. They advise me to avoid the word because only speaking of it may bring ill fortune. I deeply believe, however, that to know how to live, we must also know how to die. The problem is how we talk about death. Like everyone in Taiwan this week, I have had "Tomb Sweeping Day". I am proud to be part of a people whose culture sends millions of families to cemeteries on this special day to share memories and endless love. Today, eight days after the death of Pope John Paul II, millions of people of all backgrounds still grieve his passing away. He was a deeply human person who knew how to laugh and show emotions, a writer with a gift for words a leader who appealed to us by the sheer light of his love for life. On the same day and only hours before the Holy Father left us, a friend of mine named Veronica McBride died of cancer in a small Wisconsin city. My friend Veronica was 52 years old. She was an attractive, humorous young woman who, as the saying goes, "never married". She published several humor books with her mother, Mary McBride. She enjoyed traveling, and for years sent Christmas card photos of herself standing beside monuments or odd animals. She fought cancer for five years. She joked about her treatment keeping her pretty because it kept her thin, and told me she didn't mind losing her hair because of . "I get to wear nice wigs!" The last time I saw Veronica was when I visited her family on a sunny day in August in 2003. When she burst into the front door later and saw me in the living room, she ignored me completely in her hurry to hug her newest baby nephew, leaving me shaking my head in laughter at her. As we look to the significance of the Holy Father and his life, surely we must also keep our eyes open to see the wonder and goodness in ordinary people who show us how to live and how to die. Question: The purpose of the article is _ . - to memorize his friend Veronica - to talk about the significance of life and death - to teach us how to face life and death - to compare his friend and the Holy Father Pope John Paul II
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to teach us how to face life and death

(Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: One summer my friend and I decided to go to Italy for a holiday and we decided to travel there without going through a travel agency. You know, you would be submerged in crowds of tourists and lose lots of opportunities to get familiar with the country more closely. We started to think over our trip and managed to come up with a free tour of Italy. The trip was not very long but it was still very impressive. We look forward to going there again! Of course, we spent lots of time arranging the trip, but it was well worth it! Of course I was afraid that something would go wrong and I was especially anxious about my visa, but everything went quite smoothly in the end. ks5u The most difficult part was getting a visa without an invitation. In the Italian consulate , one must hand in some official paper proving that one has a hotel booked for oneself in order to get the visa. Then we had to solve the ticket problem. Airlines often sell cheap tickets and we bought ours far in advance. The next step was to book a hotel. We finally booked a hotel about thirty km away from the heart of Rome and it was the perfect choice for our trip. Every day we took a train that carried us to the heart of Rome. Our big house, which was surrounded by the forest, was a rare girl for the fresh air and silence, beautiful views, hospitable hosts, comfortable living conditions delighted us to no end. Besides this, we were very lucky that our mistress was Russian. She gave us a lot of advice that was of great use. She told us what transport to choose and where the best places to go. Don't be afraid to arrange your trip by yourself. It's not difficult! The only thing I'll say right now is that we really enjoyed traveling by ourselves. We walked with a map and a guide-book to wherever we wanted and we even met some of our fellow countrymen on the way just two or three times. So, if you're also planning a "single" trip, don't forget to take a Russian-Italian phrasebook as people in Italy prefer to speak in their native tongue. Question: What does the author think was the hardest in preparing for his Italian trip? - Buying cheap airline tickets to Italy before the traveling - Getting a visa without an invitation from the Italian consulate. - Booking a comfortable hotel on his own in Rome. - Solving the ticket problem far in advance.
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Getting a visa without an invitation from the Italian consulate.

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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Where have all the boys gone?You may be able to find them in the gym, at work or hanging out, but there's where boys are underrepresented, and the problem seems to be getting worse. These days, at high school graduation ceremonies, there are a lot more girls than boys. In fact, every year, 10 percent more girls graduate from high school than boys. "I think that there's a tendency to focus on boys as problems at this point, rather than recognize that boys have problems," says Joanne Max, PhD. Experts say the problems start in grade school, where there's often an emphasis on sports instead of reading, for example. "I think that with boys there's some idea that it's not masculine to read," says Rob Jenkins, an English professor. There's also a shortage of male teachers as role models. "I think boys need role models, so if you're a boy and you don't have a dad in your home and then you have one male teacher and it's your athletic coach then I don't think you have a message that education is very important," says Carol Carter, another expert. In addition, classrooms often have too little activity and too much passive listening, which is not conducive to boys' learning. Experts say parents can fight back in many ways. Read to your sons early and often; show by your actions that you value their education. Ask them about their schoolwork, offer help, drop by their classroom and finally, appeal to their competitive spirit: challenge them to do better and help them understand that their future depends on it. Question: According to experts,parents should do the following except _ . - often read to their sons when they are young - keep an eye on their sons' studies at school - encourage their sons to compete with others - prevent their sons from taking part in sports
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prevent their sons from taking part in sports