I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: As a little boy I read a book with a picture showing a man reading while floating in the Dead Sea. What a miracle! How would it feel to lie back in water so thick with salt that it was impossible to sink? Fed by the Jordan River and smaller streams, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the earth's surface, and its water is ten times saltier than the Mediterranean. As evaporation is its only outlet, salt and other minerals become super-concentrated. Earlier this year, I drove down the long, steep hill to realize my dream. The shoreline was a broad area of bare salt-mud, but the water edge was out of sight. It seemed as if somebody had pulled the Dead Sea's plug . Eli Dior, an Israeli official, explained the problem "The Dead Sea is drying up. Every year, the surface falls about one meter, and as the water level falls, shallow areas are left high and dry." Over the last half-century, the five neighboring countries have used up almost all the water flowing into the Dead Sea to meet human and agriculture needs. Result the Dead Sea is being emptied. With population in the neighbouring countries to double at least in the next 50 years, there is little hope of restoring the water being used in this area. No country has a drop to spare for the Dead Sea, where they know it will just evaporate. To dream of opening the dams and restoring natural balance is unrealistic. Yet one ambitious high-tech dream may turn out to be not only the solution to the Dead Sea but also a ticket to peace around its shores. The "Red-Dead" is a proposed $5 billion project to bring sea water some 240 kilometers by pipeline and canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. The Red-Dead may be the only solution, but even if the project is carried out successfully, the Dead Sea will be 10 to 20 meters lower than now and two thirds of its current size. Whatever the future holds, the Dead Sea's magical mix of sun, mud, sea and salt will surely survive. Many might complain that the Dead Sea is half empty--but for me the Dead... Question: According to the passage,the Dead Sea is drying up mainly because _ . Options: A: nearly no water flows into the Dead Sea B: the water is evaporated in the Dead Sea area C: much water is drawn from the Dead Sea D: there is low annual rainfall in the Dead Sea area
A
(Question)
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: The other day an acquaintance of mine, an outgoing and charming man, told me he had found himself unexpectedly alone in New York for an hour or two between appointments. He went to the Whitney and spent the "empty" time looking at things in solitary happiness. For him it proved to be a shock nearly as great as falling in love to discover that he could enjoy himself so much alone. What had he been afraid of, I asked myself? That, suddenly alone, he would discover that he bored himself, or that there was, quite simply, no self there to meet? But having taken a decisive step, he is now on the edge of adventure; he is about to be launched into his own inner space to the astronaut. His every perception will come to him with a new freshness and, for a time, seem surprisingly original. For anyone who can see things for himself with a naked eye becomes, for a moment or two, something of a genius. With another human being present, vision becomes double vision, unavoidably. We are busy wondering, what does my companion see or think of this, and what do I think of it? The original impact gets lost. "Music I heard with you was more than music." Exactly. And therefore music itself can only be heard alone. Solitude is the salt of personhood. It brings out the authentic flavor of every experience. "Alone one is never lonely: the spirit adventures, walking in a quiet garden, in a cool house, staying single there." Loneliness is very strongly felt with other people, for with others, even with a lover sometimes, we suffer from our differences of taste, temperament and mood. Human intercourse often demands that we soften the edge of perception, or withdraw at the very instant of personal truth for fear of hurting, or of being inappropriately present, which is to say naked, in a social situation. Alone we can afford to be wholly whatever we are, and to feel whatever we feel ly. That is a great luxury! For me the most interesting thing about a solitary life, and mine has been that for the last twenty years, is that it... Question: The writer's purpose for writing this article is to _ . Options: A: persuade people to live alone and pursue the true meaning of life B: teach the young in the modern society to focus on their inner space C: advocate people to have a simple way of living D: share her understanding of solitude with the readers
(Answer)
D
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Organic food, once considered something that only health fanatics desired, is now a regular feature at most supermarkets. And that has created a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, you have a conventionally grown apple. On the other, you have one that's organic. Both apples are firm, shiny and red. Both provide vitamins and fiber, and both are free of fat, sodium and cholesterol. Conventionally grown food generally costs less, but is organic food a better choice? The advantages claimed for such foods over conventionally grown and sold food products are now being debated on a large scale. Supporters of organic foods -- a term whose meaning varies greatly --are frequently telling the world that such products are safer and more nutritious than others. The growing interest of consumers in the safety and nutritional quality of daily foods is a welcome development. However, much of this interest has been aroused by sweeping claims that the conventional food supply is unsafe or inadequate in meeting nutritional needs. Almost daily, the public is surrounded by claims for "no-aging" diets, new vitamins and other wonder foods. There are numerous unsubstantiated reports that natural vitamins are superior to man-made ones, that fertilized eggs are nutritionally superior to unfertilized eggs, that untreated grains are better than those treated with insect spray and the like. Although most of these claims are not supported by scientific evidence, large amounts of written material about the benefits of organic foods makes it difficult for people to separate fact from fiction. As a result, claims that eating a diet consisting of organically grown foods prevents or cures disease or provides other benefits to health have become widely advertised and form the basis for people's opinion. One thing that most organically grown food products seem to have in common is that they cost more than conventionally grown foods. But in many cases consumers are misled if they believe organic foods can maintain health and provide better... Question: What is the author's attitude towards the claims of organic foods? Options: A: Doubtful. B: Enthusiastic. C: Supportive. D: Uninterested.
A