Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Hallmark arrived in my hometown of Calcutta, India when I was 16. On Valentine's Day , I waited in line with many other teenagers just for a chance to get into the store. I remember wishing two things. One of them is that the good-looking boy whom I could see through the store window was picking out a gift for me. Unfortunately, Valentine's Day passed and I received nothing but a lecture from my father on how Western capitalism was ruining your culture. The next Valentine's Day, I still didn't have a boyfriend, but I did receive a greeting card from a secret admirer. I can't remember what it exactly said inside the card, but it hardly mattered. I know I'm not the only one who's had the blues because of being single on Valentine's Day. It's not just on Valentine's Day that I'm reminded of these feelings. One night, my friend and I were at the subway station in New York City waiting for the local to arrive. The station was mostly full of college students, and later an older couple walked in. Just at that moment, a street musician started playing She's Only a Woman to Me. The couple began dancing around the station and lost in their own world. On the train, I found myself recalling the time when I was with a date at the subway station, and there he picked me up in his arms like I was a ballerina . My view of romance has changed from when I was 16 in Calcutta to now, 23, and living in Manhattan. This year, I won't focus all my romantic expectations on one particular day. I'll spend Valentine's Day with friends in New York City. But I won't try to hide somewhere or turn off my cellphone. Instead, I'll help my coupled-up friends pack for their weekend trips to Rome. Question: We can infer that in the opinion of the writer's father_. - his daughter should have received a gift - people in India shouldn't celebrate Valentine's Day - people in India should welcome Western culture - his daughter should know more about capitalism
people in India shouldn't celebrate Valentine's Day

(Question)
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Jeanne Calment, a French woman, became a record breaker on 17 October of 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days. Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people's home in the south of France; her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes her as being more like a 90-year-old in good health than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on her 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied: A very short one. She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her. So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips . She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercises every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glassed of strong red wine a day, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86. A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying: Sorry, I'm still alive! Question: Why does Jeanne Calment say "Sorry, I'm still alive" to the local lawyer every year on her birthday? - Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage. - Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed. - Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house. - Because the house she sold to the lawyer isn't worth the money he has already paid.
(Answer)
Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Did you know that Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four years old, and did not read until he was seven? His parents and teachers worried about his rnenta1ability. Beethoven's music teacher said about him,"As a composer he is hopeless." What if this young boy believed it? When Thomas Edison was a young boy,his teachers said he was so stupid that he could never learn anything.He once said,''I remember I used to never be able to get along at schoo1.I was always at the foot of my class...My father thought I was stupid,and I almost decided that l was a stupid person."What if young Thomas believed what may said about him? When the sculptor Auguste Rodin was young; he had difficulty learning to read and write.:. Today, we may say he had a learning disability. His father said of him, "I have an idiot for a son. "His uncle agreed. "He's uneducable," he said. What if Rodin had doubted his ability? Walt Disney was once fired by a newspaper editor because he was thought to have no "good ideas". Enrico Caruso was told by one music teacher, "you can't sing. You have no voice at all. " And an editor told Louisa May Alcott that she was unable to write anything that would have popular appeal. What if these people had listened and become discouraged? Where would our world be without the music of Beethoven, the art of Rodin or the ideas of Albert Einstein and Walt Disney? As Oscar Levant once said, "It's not what you are but what you don't become that hurts. " You have great potential.When you believe in all you can be, rather than all you cannot become, you will find your place on earth. Question: How many successful people are mentioned as examples in the passage? - six. - seven. - eight. - nine.
Ans: seven.

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Well I decided to cut my front lawn today, especially since I live on a main street downtown with lots of traffic. Anyway, I finished mine and decided to cut my neighbor--Jean's grass while I was at it. She is a sweet person who has gone through some _ times in the last year. Her brother passed away of cancer last year; her sister (who lives with her) is mentally challenged--yet so sweet! It was a difficult time with physical and mental challenges that led her employer in our local hospital to let her go after 25 years of service! Lastly, my neighbor Jean, who is a nurse in our local hospital, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December. She went through radiation and a long recovery--but thankful she is in remission . Anyway, in short I was leaving my house this afternoon and she stopped me to thank me for cutting her grass. She told me her dad passed away on Friday and she just arrived home from the funeral service, so she didn't know when I would have time to cut her grass. So, when she arrived home and saw it cut she was more than happy and grateful! I said to her "You are welcome, just a small act of kindness for a neighbor." I did it for exercise and shared pleasure not knowing it meant more to her than just doing a neighbor a favor! Question: Although a lot of unfortunate matters happened to Jean, she is still _ . - pessimistic - optimistic - depressed - disappointed
Answer:
optimistic