Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Land Art, sometimes referred to as Earth Art or Earthworks, is a form of art which involves using physical landscapes to create art, taking art out of the museum and into the outside world. Modern Land Art movement really got going in the 1960s when American artists began creating Land Art on a large scale. Today, works of modern Land Art can be seen all over the world, sometimes right alongside much older pieces of Land Art created by people who lived thousands of years ago. Land Art, which is not necessarily unchangeable, can take a number of forms. For examples, in 1970 Robert Smithson created the Spiral Jetty , made of a collection of stones and mud, in the Great Salt Lake. The American artist made a large jetty in a spiral shape which sticks out into the waters of the lake. Reshaping the landscape is a common characteristic of Land Art, which can be created by moving parts around. People can also add things to the environment to create Land Art, like salt, which is added to the Spiral Jetty. It is possible to use plants. In all cases, Land Art is immovable. Land Art is designed to gradually form, change, and eventually decay . That's one of the biggest differences between Land Art and most of the art one sees in the museums. Some works of art can exist only for a few hours or days. Others are exposed to rain and wind so that they develop and decay over time, which is part of the attractiveness in the eyes of the artists. Question: What is the passage mainly about? - Works of Land Art. - History of Land Art. - Changes of Land Art. - Introduction of Land Art.
A: Introduction of Land Art.

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Many of the 85 million people in Irene's path -- from the Carolinas to Maine -- had not experienced hurricanes, or had only been through storms that were weaker, smaller and less damaging. For those unfamiliar with severe hurricanes, Irene was either abstract or not particularly frightening, something to get excited about more than to fear. Given that the way we perceive and respond to risk is affective --not merely objectively analytical, but the sum of the facts and how scary those facts feel -- it was likely that many people might be ignorant of the storm's threat. So it was heartening to see how many did in fact take the warnings to heart and prepared. The long lines at grocery stores, the high demand for batteries and bottled water, and even the patience and understanding about local government orders to evacuate or shut down mass transit systems, show that people took the potential danger seriously. There are two possible lessons from this storm. As much as our affective risk perception system can sometimes produce a dangerous "perception gap" between our fears and the facts -- when we sometimes fear more than we need to, or less than we should -- it's also reasonably good at recognizing risk when _ . Though most of us didn't lose power, we know that 7 million people did. Though most of us did not suffer property damage, we know that millions did. Most of us did not lose loved ones, but we know that at least 21 families did. We know hurricanes can be dangerous, even if for many of us this one wasn't. The other lesson is that rare risks do hide and can spring up with little or no warning, and few of us are prepared for those. Remember the East Coast earthquake last week? It might have been annoying to wait in line for hours for those extra D batteries or food supplies, but it was careful to do so, and it's a good idea to keep them on hand. Just because a risk might not be staring us in the face or feel all that scary, it doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense to be ready. Just in case. Question: From the passage, we can know that Irene _ . - is the way people respond to risk - is the order to evacuate or shut down mass transit systems - was the name of a hurricane - was the author of the passage
A: was the name of a hurricane

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: New research suggests that speaking more than one language may delay different kinds of dementia , that is the loss of mental ability. In fact, researchers say, speaking two languages appears to be more important than the level of education in defending against dementias. A study in India examined the effect of knowing more than one language in delaying the first signs of several dementias. Researchers studied nearly 650 people whose average age was 66. 240 of those studied suffered from Alzheimer's, the most common form of mental decline . 391 of the _ spoke two or more languages. Researchers found the dementias began about four-and-a-half years later in those who spoke two languages compared to those who spoke only one language. The level of education had no effect on the age at the first sign of dementia. Thomas Bak, from the Center of Cognitive Aging at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who helped to organize the study, suggests that individuals who speak more than one language train their brains by moving back and forth between different words and expressions. He also believes this effort improves what scientists called executive functioning, which often weakens in people with dementias. He states that researchers found there was no extra gain in speaking more than two languages. Mr Bak says it does not appear important whether you learn another language at a young age or later in life. It's not something that "you missed the boat when you do not do it as a baby." It is something that is still quite useful and powerful when you do it as an adult. Question: This passage may probably be seen in _ . - a research plan - a health magazine - a book review - a business magazine
A: a health magazine

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Three English dictionaries published recently all lay claim to possessing a "new" feature. The BBC English Dictionary contains background information on 1,000 people and places prominent in the news since 1988; the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary: Encyclopedic Edition is the OALD plus encyclopedic entries; the Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture is the LDOCE plus cultural information. The key fact is that all three dictionaries can be seen to have a distinctly "cultural" as well as language learning content. That being said, the way in which they approach the cultural element is not identical, making direct comparisons between the three difficult. While there is some common ground between the encyclopedic/cultural entries for the Oxford and Longman dictionaries, there is a clear difference. Oxford lays claim to being encyclopedic on content whereas Longman distinctly concentrates on the language and culture of the English speaking world. The Oxford dictionary can therefore stand more vigorous scrutiny for cultural bias than the Longman publication because the latter does not hesitate about viewing the rest of the world from the cultural perspectives of the English-speaking world. The cultural objectives of the BBC dictionary are in turn more distinct still. Based on an analysis of over 70 million words recorded from the BBC World Service and National Public Radio of Washington over a period of four years, their 1,000 brief encyclopedic entries are based on people and places that have featured in the news recently. The intended user they have in mind is a regular listener to the World Service who will have a reasonable standard of English and a developed skill in listening comprehension. In reality, though, the BBC dictionary will be purchased by a far wider range of language learners, as will the other two dictionaries. We will be faced with a situation where many of the users of these dictionaries will at the very least have distinct socio-cultural perspectives and may have world views... Question: The Longman dictionary is more likely to be criticized for cultural prejudice because _ . - its scope of cultural entries goes beyond the culture of the English-speaking world - it pays little attention to the cultural content of the non-English-speaking countries - it views the world purely from the standpoint of the English-speaking people - it fails to distinguish language from culture in its encyclopedic entries
A: it views the world purely from the standpoint of the English-speaking people