Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: With smart phones taking the world by Storm, a phone that can only send and receive voice calls and text messages may seem like a relic from a bygone age. Yet in East Africa,simple phones like these are changing the face of the economy, thanks to the mobile money services that are spreading across the region. Using the text-messaging function built into the GSM system used by most cell phone networks, these services allow people without a bank account or credit card to use their phone as an electronic wallet that can be used to store. send or receive cash. It works like this: you pay cash to your local agent who then tops up your mobile money account using a secure form of text messaging. That money can be transferred to another person by sending a message to their cell phone account. For some the system is a lifeline. "If I didn't have my mobile phone. I would be very poor, "says Neyasse Neemur, a mother of four children who lives in northern Kenya. "Now I can sell fish." Neemur took up fishing in July last year, but making money from it was a little tricky, especially as Turkana people do not usually eat fish. A truck from Ethiopia to Tanzania passes through her village once a week, and she arranged to have the driver transport the fish several hundred kilometres south to market in Kisumu, where her s sell the fish. "I get the money transfer immediately." says Neemur. "Then I can pay for my children to go to school and for vegetables and beans," she adds, "so I don't need to eat fish." According to the Central Bank of Kenya, payments worth around l billion Kenyan shillings($13 million)per day were transferred through Kenya's mobile money systems in 2009, equaling the country's credit card transactions . The bank expects mobile money transfers to overtake credit cards in 2011. Question: The story of Neyasse Neemur suggests that _ . Options: A: the mobile money service plays a key role in the locals' life B: Neemur uses her mobile phone to contact her customers C: her s tricks Turkana people to eat the fish they sell D: the Bank of Kenya helps her improve her living condition
Ans: A

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: BEIJING, June. 30(Xinhua)----There are ten times as many Chinese newspapers and magazines than there were 30 years ago. That's when the country adopted the reform and opening-up policy. Figures from the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP)show there were 186 newspapers and 930 magazines in China in 1978. Today, the country has 2,081 newspapers and 9,363 different magazines. In the meantime, official figures show China has some 600 publishing houses producing nearly 300,000 kinds of books. That's a dramatic increase from the 105 publishers of the past that produced only 10,000 different books. Rapid economic development and universal education since China adopted the reform has helped fuel the need for more information sources. Under the market economy, hundreds of publishing houses and newspapers have taken steps to restructure management systems into corporations listed on the stock market. The legal system overseeing the news and publishing industries in China has also changed over the last three decades. Since 1990 a law and five relevant regulations were adopted in 1990 to govern the sectors. Since it started in 1993, digital publishing has _ . Its industrial volume amounted to 20 billion yuan (2.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2006. More than 500,000 kinds of digital books were produced last year alone in China, which is more than any other country in the world. Question: Which is true according to this text? Options: A: The development of publishing industry in the past was out of control. B: Hundreds of publishing houses have closed down and turned to stock market. C: China adopted the reform and opening-up policy about 20 years ago. D: China produces more digital books than any other country.
Ans: D

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers.Brain-computer interface(BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines. Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts. In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand.He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts. "Our brain has billions of nerve cells.These send signals through the spinal cord to the muscles to give us the ability to move.But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles," Tavella says."Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices." The researchers designed a special cap for the user.This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp and sends them to a computer.The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path.They help the computer react to commands from the brain. Prof.Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands."The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices.One example is this wheelchair." He says his team has set two goals.One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from.And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time. Question: BCI is a technology that can _ Options: A: help to update computer systems B: link the human brain with computers C: help the disabled to recover D: control a person's thoughts
Ans: B

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Below are the top four supermarket chains in the world in 2012 and the reasons behind their success. Tesco Headquartered in Chestnut, United Kingdom , this global grocery store is one of the largest supermarket chains in terms of revenues and profits. If was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen. Tesco stores can be found across all continents. Even though it was set up only for food and beverages, Tesco has drastically branched out , not only in geographical terms, but also in terms of products. Which now include electronics , clothing, health care, home improvement and even financial services. Safeway Founded in the year 1915 by a young M. B, Skaggs. Safeway developed from just a small grocery store on the fundamentals of providing value to customers and narrow profit margins. The success story of Skaggs becomes more evident when , by the end of the year 1926,he had opened almost 428 stores across ten states. Almost two years later, Safeway was listed at the New York Stock Exchange . At present, there are more than fifteen hundred Safeway stores across US and Canada. The Kroger Company Founded at Cincinnati, Ohio, US in 1883 by Mr. Bernard Kroger, the Kroger Company is now one of the largest supermarket chains not only in the US. but across the world . Over the last couple of decades, the Kroger Company has vastly expanded by acquiring popular brand names, including those of Owen's Market. Its stores are largely spread out across Middle. Western and Central United States. Reve-Gruppe Reve - Gruppe was founded in 1927 and is presently headquartered at Cologne, Germany . This supermarket chain is easily counted among the top supermarket chains of the world . Its vast line of products includes grocery, home improvement, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, optical as well as clothing . Its stores can be found in as many as fourteen European countries, providing employment to more than 325,000 people. Question: According to the passage, the Kroger Company_. Options: A: is presently headquartered in the United Kingdom B: has fifteen stores in the US and Canada C: developed quickly by acquiring popular brand names D: provides employment for more than 325,000 people
Ans:
C