Read the following article and answer the question. Article: The Taj Mahal is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn't exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl Mahan: its shortened form Taj Mahan, means "pride of the palace". In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne. He decided out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that had ever been seen. He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was complete. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahan, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 meters square and 6-7 meters high. Towers rise from each of the four corners. The Taj itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble. The emperor planned to build an identical tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across river at the tomb of his beloved wife. Question: The emperor _ . Answer:

OPTIONS:
- died soon after Taj Mahan died
- was killed by his son
- was beloved by his people
- died after 1648

Answer: died after 1648

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: An Announcement It was a small town which lay by the coast.Most people there lived by catching fish.The hurricanes often struck the area from July to October.Some of the people died on the sea when their boats were blown over by the high winds.So they paid much attention to the weather forecasts.They were afraid to meet with the hurricanes when they were catching fish on the sea.Each of the families had a radio and people always took them with themselves and listened to them at any time. It was September.A hurricane attacked the town one night.Plenty of trees were pushed over and all the electric and telephone lines were broken.People couldn't watch TV,or call their friends,or go to work.To their anger,they couldn't listen to the weather forecasts the Town Radio Station broadcast.The food and fresh water would soon be short and the patients couldn't be given medical care--no medicine could be carried there.People didn't know what would happen and they looked anxious. On the fourth day they read an announcement on the Town Weekly.It was written,"Recently we have to stop the weather forecast because of the bad weather.We usually get the forecasts from the airport.But the roads are all blocked by the fallen trees and stones.Whether or not we'll be able to broadcast the weather forecast tomorrow depends on the weather!" Question: Read the announcement,the people were _ . Answer:

OPTIONS:
- encouraged
- happy
- excited
- disappointed

Answer: disappointed

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: In 1996, John Tierney suggested in the New York Times Magazine article that "recycling is garbage." He wrote, "The money spent on recycling programs should have been spent on real social and environmental problems. Recycling programs not only increase energy use and pollution, but also cost more money than the disposal of plain old garbage. Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America." Environmental groups were quick to express their disagreement. They wrote reports on how recycling programs in cities can reduce pollution and cost less than regular garbage pickup and disposal. Michael Shapiro, an official of the US Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), said that "recycling can be good value for money, although there's still room for improvements." But in 2002, New York City, a pioneer of recycling, found that its recycling program was losing money, so it stopped glass and plastic recycling. Other major cities watched closely to see how New York was dealing with its remaining program (the city never stopped paper recycling). But then it closed its last landfill , and private companies out of New York raised prices due to the increased workload of carrying away and disposing New York's garbage. As a result, glass and plastic recycling became profitable for the city again, and New York brought the program back. According to Cecil Adams of The Chicago Reader, the lessons learned by New York are relevant everywhere. He believes that, if managed correctly, recycling programs should cost cities less than garbage disposal. Even though the benefits of recycling over disposal are many, keep in mind that it better serves the environment to "reduce and reuse" before recycling is even considered as a choice. Question: Why did other cities watch closely to see how New York was doing? Answer:

OPTIONS:
- Because New York was doing extremely well.
- Because they didn't want to have a recycling program
- Because they felt worried about the waste of money.
- Because New York was running a new recycling program.

Answer: Because they felt worried about the waste of money.

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Earlier this year,my oldest daughter got braces on her teeth,and let's just say she did not go quietly into that dentist's chair. Fear and hate pretty much describe the days leading up to her first appointment. So when she finally walked out with shiny teeth,a sore mouth and a broken spirit, I told her I was proud of her and took her to Ben & Jerry's for an ice cream reward. Two weeks later, we returned to the scene of the crime.The dentist spent about 45 seconds checking her teeth before sending her on her merry way. Before I could start the car, she was placing her ice cream order. She was shocked when I told her that she wasn't going to get a reward every time we got her teeth checked. Apparently,she's not alone. According to some parenting experts, kids are easily addicted to a benefitproducing system of parental rewards and bribes --not all ice creams, candies and cool toys.Some parents are offering their children novel prizes just to let them sit down and behave in a restaurant--or sleep in their own beds--or score a goal in the next soccer game. While the experts agree that occasional awards are okay,the danger lies in the system's overuse.Kids quickly gain a sense of entitlement ,where they come to expect a big reward for every good thing that they do, no matter how small.To keep things in check,experts say parents should reduce the number of rewards they offer, make sure rewards match the behavior and explain the real benefits of behaving. Question: Misguided by the parental reward system,children easily believe _ . Answer:

OPTIONS:
- they should benefit from their every desired behavior
- they can be successful as long as they work hard
- their parents will give them more presents in the future
- their parents will feel happy when they behave well

Answer:
they should benefit from their every desired behavior