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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: When I was growing up in the suburbs of New York, our first local Earth Day was organized around a drive to a town field where families were urged to empty items from their basements for recycling rather than dropping them in the dustbin. It was an eye opening idea for a kid in 1970. But as an environmental reporter, I'm bored of the large amount of deals and promotions that arrive by email or in my office or home mailbox on Earth Day. Like Valentine's Day, Earth Day has become a huge marketing opportunity--a way to promote consumption. In fact, Earth Day is such a good sales opportunity that some shops, like Target, have expanded Earth Day into Earth Month. There isn't time to give you a variety of the Earth Day shopping opportunities I was informed of this past week. They included deals on buying bottled water and earth-friendly wipes. My award for the silliest promotion: a plan to gift 25 of the most environmentally conscious stars with unique, useful and "green" products and services, including skin care products, cheese-cake and artwork. My guess is most of the stuff will end up in celebrities' garbage. Is buying and selling a good way to celebrate and protect the environment? I would argue that Earth Day might be an occasion to consider giving up purchases or habits that are environmentally questionable or that we could happily do without. How about not buying bottled water, but refilling a water bottle? How about not buying foods--even "organic" foods--that are packed in non-recyclable plastic? Don't get me wrong. The company of Bridgestone is celebrating Earth Day by promising to repurpose a spent tire for every tire that it sells. Verizon will plant a tree for each cell phone you trade in. Some coffee stores will even refill reusable cups at no charge. Target is giving out free reusable carrier bags without requiring a purchase. But few shopkeepers are taking the next step-charging a fee at the cash register for disposable plastic bags, a common practice in Europe-to encourage customers to use those... Question: According to the author, it's environmentally friendly to _ . Options: A: buy packed organic foods B: offer stars green products C: refill water bottles D: ask for free plastic bags
(Answer)
C

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Freedom and Responsibility Freedom's challenge in the Digital Age is a serious topic. We are facing today a strange new world and we are all wondering what we are going to do with it. Some 2,500 years ago Greece discovered freedom. Before that there was no freedom. There were great civilizations, splendid empires, but no freedom anywhere. Egypt and Babylon were both _ , one very powerful man ruling over helpless masses. In Greece, in Athens , a little city in a little country, there were no helpless masses. And Athenians willingly obeyed the written laws which they themselves passed, and the unwritten, which must be obeyed if free men live together. They must show each other kindness and pity and the many qualities without which life would be very painful unless one chose to live alone in the desert.The Athenians never thought that a man was free if he could do what he wanted. A man was free if he was self-controlled. To make yourself obey what you approved was freedom. They were saved from looking at their lives as their own private affair. Each one felt responsible for the welfare of Athens, not because it was forced on him from the outside, but because the city was his pride and his safety. The essential belief of the first free government in the world was liberty for all men who could control themselves and would take responsibility for the state. But discovering freedom is not like discovering computers. It cannot be discovered once for all. If people do not prize it, and work for it, it will go. Constant watch is its price. Athens changed. It was a change that took place without being noticed though it was of the extreme importance, a spiritual change which affected the whole state. It had been the Athenian' s pride and joy to give to their city. That they could get material benefits from her never entered their minds. There had to be a complete change of attitude before they could look at the city as an employer who paid her citizens for doing her work. Now instead of men giving to the state, the... Question: What is the author's understanding of freedom? Options: A: Freedom can be more popular in the digital age. B: Freedom may come to an end in the digital age. C: Freedom should have priority over responsibility. D: Freedom needs to be guaranteed by responsibility.
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D

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: More than two million Americans above 65 years of age suffer from depression. And in the next 35 years, twice as many people will find themselves in that age range --including me, and probably you too! So, what activities can prevent depression as we get older? Researchers at UCLA turned to a gentle "Westernized" version of tai chi, the 2,000-year-old Chinese martial art . When a group of adults over 60 on antidepressant drug therapy attended a weekly tai chi exercise class, standard rating scales showed greater improvement in their level of depression, along with improved quality of life, better memory and cognition , and more overall energy when compared to study participants taking the same medicine but going to a weekly health education class. "This is the first study to prove the benefits of tai chi in the management of late-life depression, and we were encouraged by the results," said Dr Helen Lavretsky, a UCLA professor. "We know that nearly two-thirds of elderly patients who seek treatment for their depression fail to achieve relief with a prescribed medication ." In the study, 112 adults above 60 with major depression were treated with the prescription antidepressant medicine for approximately four weeks.Among those participants, 73 who showed only little improvement continued to receive the daily medication but were also assigned to 10 weeks of either a tai chi class or a health education class for two hours per week. "Both groups showed improvement in the severity of depression," said Lavretsky. But greater benefits were noted among those participating in tai chi. This study shows that adding a mind-body exercise like tai chi, which is widely available in the community, can improve the outcomes of treating depression in older adults.With tai.chi, we may be able to treat other, coexisting medical conditions without exposing them to additional medications." Question: Which of the following statements is true, according to the passage? Options: A: This study is the first to prove the benefits of tai chi in the treatment of depression. B: There are about 2 million people with depression in America. C: About 4 million Americans will suffer from depression in the next 30 years. D: Apart from taking medicine, 73 patients also participated in either a tai chi class or a health education class.
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D