*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind. When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle: "No pain, no gain". He hardly watered his new trees, an attitude which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things tough for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how, if they were not watered, trees would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention. Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some 25 years ago. They were tall and strong. I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. _ seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb's trees in ways comfort and ease never could. Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my prayer. I know my children are going to encounter hardship. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to pray for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be torn apart. Question: Which prayer does the author wish for his sons? Options: A: Have an easy life, without too much to worry about. B: Be able to stand the rain and wind in their lives. C: Have good luck, encountering less hardship in their life. D: Meet people like Dr Gibbs in the future.
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again in Tennessee, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again and see Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here in Ohio. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with food and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy, the folks call her Mrs. Anderson; and the children--Milly, Jane, and Grundy--go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. We are kindly treated. Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. We have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. I would rather stay here and starve--and die, if it should come to that--than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young... Question: Which of the following is RIGHT according to the passage? Options: A: The family name of this letter writer is Anderson. B: The writer is paid the same as he was in Tennessee. C: The writer will certainly get at least 11,680 dollars. D: Safety rather than education weighs a lot to the writer.
**Answer**
A

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: As an American artist and writer of children's books, Tasha Tudor's art and nineteenth-century lifestyle have fascinated adults and children for decades. She received many awards and honors for her contributions to children's literature. When people talk about her creativity in artwork, she said, "I do it to support my dogs and my four children." Her great publishing record, the number of magazine stories that have been written about her over the years, and her admirers have no effects on her at all. Much of Tasha's artwork and her reading are done in the wintertime. "I love winter. It's delightful," she says. "I don't have to go anywhere because I work at home. If I'm snowed in, I can stay this way for months." She hopes for early, deep snow to protect her garden from the hardship of the New England winter, and when it comes she puts on snowshoes when she needs to get down the mile-long dirt path that leads to the road. Given her enjoyment of winter and her fantasy way of life, it's not surprising that Tasha's Christmas is a storybook holiday. She hangs flowers over the front door. Her tree comes from the woods, and it goes up on Christmas Eve, lit by homemade candles and decorated with her great- grandmother's collection that dates from 1850. In a place of honor on the tree are large cookies cut into the shapes of her animals. The grandchildren and friends get presents from Tasha's old dolls; so do the animals and they have their own Christmas tree. "Of course, it's a known fact that all the animals talk on Christmas Eve," she has written. Small, handmade gifts fill a big wooden box. At the end of each year, Tasha can look back and know that her life is perfect, that she has again ignored the twentieth century, and that the magic continues. And for the rest of us,here's a bit of advice, Tasha style: "Nowadays, people are so restless. If they took some tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening listening to light music, they might enjoy life more." Question: Which of the following is TRUE about Tasha? Options: A: She cared little about fame. B: She created an animal fund. C: She wrote many stories for magazines. D: She bought presents for her relatives.
**Answer**
A