Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Ever wonder how this season's celebrations affect the environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very topic: The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I'm not like most people. I spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and his reindeer are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts. Lately I've been particularly curious as to whether Santa's old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his 8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car. I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to find statistics specific to Santa's magical flying reindeer, so these calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don't complain to the government about the damage Santa is causing the environment based on this article. Santa's yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to push Santa's sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they must travel at a speed of about 3100km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!! So the next question is: how much food is in 980 million calories? Well, if they're eating corn, they'd need to eat 16,500 lbs each -- or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we'll leave for another calculation. We now need to consider that during the global trip the reindeer are "letting out" some of that corn in the form of methane (,). A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing that damage by 1000% that another 20... Question: Which of the following statements would the writer most probably agree with? Options: A: Christmas celebrations are really a waste of money. B: Vegetarians are more likely to survive than meat-eaters. C: Raising animals has a negative influence on environment. D: The car industry does less harm to environment than farming.
Ans: C

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: If you feel at present that you don't have enough friends in your life, one reason may be that you have let yourself become too busy to make time for the relationships you already have. Starting and keeping friendship require effort and commitment(,,). Many of us let our lives become so busy with work and other commitments that we don't get around to scheduling time for pleasure and renewal with the friends, relatives and acquaintances we already have. Making the effort to call your friends more regularly and to accept more of the invitations you receive from others can improve your social life in a hurry! Are there any people you could call right now and be assured of a pleasant welcome? Are there people that you could depend on to help you in time of difficulty? Can you have close talks with them? Do you have fun when you are together? Are you happy to have them in your life? If you haven't seen much of them lately, is it because you have become too busy? Have you grown apart? Was there an argument? If the main reason you haven't been getting together with the people you already know is that you have gotten too busy, take a good look at how you spend your time. Compare it with your real values and priorities in life. Is your busy lifestyle really bringing you the quality of life that you want? If you have become too busy for friends, why has this happened? Are you seeking material joys in your life at the expense of relationships with other human beings? Have you allowed your time to be over-committed because you never say ''No" to anyone? Do you insist on doing things yourself that could be _ o others? If so, why? Do you believe that everything depends on you? Examine whether the way you are now spending your time exactly reflects your deepest values and priorities. Make sure that you schedule enough time for the things that are truly most important to you. If you really want to keep friends in your life, make a space in your schedule, and a space in your heart for them. Question: Which would be the best title for the text? Options: A: Too busy for Friendship? B: Too busy with work? C: How to Spend Your Time D: How to Make New Friends
Ans: A

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: For the Travel section, writers and editors selected special items to profile from a dozen cities. Brussels: Chocolate. Nearly half the chocolate consumed in the world is eaten in Europe, and Belgium--with average consumption of 14.99 pounds per person a year--certainly covers its fair share. While Brussels, the country's capital, is home to hundreds of chocolate makers, what makes a visit necessary is the rich heritage of traditional chocolate makers. Budapest: Paprika The job of preparing Hungarian paprika was once considered too dangerous for mothers to do. A woman who touched her children upon returning from work risked burning them, so only the elderly and unmarried were allowed the delicate task of separating the skin from the flesh. But by the early 20thcentury, sweeter varieties and a machine turned paprika into a common feature of all Hungarian cuisine. Lisbon: Tiles Is there a bluer country than Portugal? The blue sky and Atlantic Ocean embrace the land. The blue moods of Fado, the dark folk music, form the national soundtrack. And all across Portugal, the typically--blue designs of azulejos--ceramic tiles--are spread across churches, castles, palaces, university halls, parks. The result is a beautiful land of Christian saints, Portuguese kings, historical glories, aristocrats at leisure, seascapes and so on. Madrid: Guitars Walking into one the Madrid's storied guitar makers' workshops can feel like stepping into the past. Curly wood shavings, from the palest pine to ebony, fall onto the floor as artisans turn some humble wood into works of art. It's painstaking work--all done by hand--with classical guitar models and the methods of making them changing little over the last century. Question: What does the job of preparing Hungarian paprika suggest? Options: A: The popularity of Hungarian peppers. B: The difficult of processing peppers. C: The unique tradition in Budapest. D: The hot level of Hungarian peppers.
Ans:
D