*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Scientists have always been interested in the high level of organization in ant societies. American researchers have watched ants build life-saving rafts to keep afloat during floods. They also have documented how ant colonies choose their next queen--the female whose job is to produce eggs rather than seek food for others. New technology is helping to improve researchers' understanding of the insects. But there is still a lot to be learned. Fire ants living in Brazilian forests are perfectly at home in an environment where flooding is common. To save themselves, the insects connect their legs together and create floating rafts. Some ant rafts can be up to 20 centimeters wide. David Hu who is a mechanical engineer with the Georgia Institute of Technology, also known as Georgia Tech, says, "If you have 100 ants, which means 600 legs, 99 percent of those legs will be connected to a neighbor. So they're very, very good at maintaining this network." David Hu and other Georgia Tech researchers want to study ants and the secret of their engineering. They freeze ant rafts and then look at them with the help of computed technology, or CT, images. The pictures show that larger ants serve in central positions to which smaller ants hold. The larger ants form pockets of air that keep the insects afloat. Scientists say small robots or materials that can change shape could be programmed in a similar way, working towards a shared goal. Researchers at North Carolina State University are also studying ants. They examined how Indian jumping ants choose the leader of the colony when they lose their top female or queen. Question: Why did the larger ants serve in central positions in their ant rafts? - To stress their importance. - To protect the smaller ants. - To attract their enemies. - To save their ant societies.
**Answer**
To save their ant societies.

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Do you often find yourself crying in arguments? Does it feel like you just can't stop your emotions defeating you completely when you are in the middle of a heated discussion with someone, and you particularly want to make clear strong points and express yourself effectively? Many people think that someone who bursts into tears during an argument or a quarrel is 9 / 17 trying to handle the situation by bringing emotion into it. But the person who wells up tears during some heated discussion is not in control of those tears. They just can't control blushing or stop themselves breaking out in a sweat if they feel nervous. The body has a number of such automatic responses that switch on without your decision that you want to respond like this. These instinctive behaviors have evolved over millions of years to protect us. Basically, our brains make associations between things that seem similar, which is important for automatic responses. For example, a snake is a potentially dangerous creature, and you can see why it might be useful if, whenever you see a snake, you will run like crazy. And you can see why it might still be useful if you see a flexible stick and get the same reaction. However, these very simple associations can sometimes be really unhelpful. It's not useful to try to calmly argue an important point with someone, and suddenly find tears running down your cheeks. Tears can generally make you seem weak, or foolish, and less credible. Who's going to take what you say seriously if you're crying? But if these reactions are not under your control, what can you do about it? The good news is that although you can't control automatic reactions directly, you can unlink unhelpful associations. And that means that an unwanted reaction won't get started, and so won't happen. Besides, you can try the following: Begin to notice a change in how you feel about previous times when you were defeated by emotion; Develop a growing sense of confidence and optimism about how things will go in the future. Question: What matters when people are making some automatic responses? - Firm determination. - Great imagination. - Rich knowledge. - Different personalities.
**Answer**
Great imagination.

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Imagine living locked inside a closet. You can't choose when and what to eat or how you will spend your time. You can't even decide when the lights go on and off. Think about spending your whole life like this. This is the life of lab animals. Now consider the needs of these animals. Chimpanzees ,in their natural homes, are never separated from their families. They spend hours together every day. But in a lab, chimpanzees are put in cages alone. There are no families, only cold, hard cages, and loneliness that goes on for so many years that most of them lose their minds at last. Worse yet are the experiments. Animals are given diseases they would never normally get. Experimenters force-feed(......) chemicals to them, conduct repeated surgeries ,and much more, Think of what it would be like to put up with these and then be thrown back into a cage, usually without any painkillers. Often animals see other animals being killed right in front of them. Hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed every year in product tests for shampoos, skin creams and new cancer drugs. Although more than 500 companies have stopped testing on animals, some of them still force chemicals into monkeys' stomachs and rabbits' eyes. Although some facilities are better than others at caring for animals--not every lab worker kills a mouse by cutting off its head with scissors--there are no happy animals inside laboratories. Will the lab life end? When will it end? Question: The author's attitude towards the future of animals for experiment can be described as _ . - positive - worried - satisfied - disappointed
**Answer**
worried

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The most popular names in the west Every year in Englishspeaking countries,people list the most popular names. Here are some examples. In the United States at the moment the three most popular names for girls are Emily,Emma and Madison. For boys,they are Michael,Joshua and Mathew. In Britain a parent today might call their little girl Grace,Jessica or Ruby. If they have a little boy they could call him Jack,Thomas or Oliver. In China names have very clear meanings. If a girl is called Mei,her name means "beautiful". If a boy is called Wu,his name means "like a soldier". Names in Englishspeaking countries are like this too. The girl's name Joy is probably partly chosen because the parents wish their daughter to be joyful and bring joy to others. If a girl is called Ruby,it may be because of the beautiful red precious stone. Parents often pick names that can be shortened. This can be confusing for Chinese people. Parents might choose such names because they want to be able to speak to their kid in a personal way. For example,a popular name is William. But William can be shortened to Will,Willy,Bill and Billy. The same is true of the favourite old name for a girl,Elizabeth. Elizabeth can be shortened to Beth,Liza and Liz. Another reason why kids get the names they do is that parents want to name their boy or girl after someone who is famous,such as an actor,a pop music star or a sports star. David is a popular name in Britain,partly because of the fame of the footballer David Beckham. Question: In Englishspeaking countries,parents often choose shortened names because they want to keep what they and their children talk about _ . - short - quiet - loud - personal
**Answer**
personal