*Question*
It's a safe bet that a robot made your car and made your computer. Pretty soon, they could be making your bed and breakfast too. Increasingly, engineers are saying that robots are going to move out of research departments and into your home. Companies including General Electric are working on designs for small robots. Products like the Roomba, a robot that can clean floors, are flying off the shelves. What's behind this new robot revolution? It's partly a matter of technology. Devices that can recognize and respond to a human voice have been developed. There are now a few different ways for robots to move around. They can walk, crawl or ride on wheels. Robots are being made smaller and smaller. They are also becoming more and more able. A bigger part of the story is on the demand side. From the day the television remote control was invented, people around the world have searched for new ways to be lazy. Take into consideration that more and more people can afford robots, and the time seems ripe to introduce robots to the ordinary family. To be sure, robots that walk on two legs and talk like people are still a long way off. However, robots that do basic housework such as cleaning or gardening are sure to come out soon. One thing is certain--when these robots do come into our homes, it will change things forever. Which of the following statements is TRUE? A) Robots have already come into every home. B) Technology is the only basis of the development of robots. C) General Electric is not interested in designing small robots. D) Robots that can walk on two legs and talk like people are still far from us.
**Answer**
D

*Question*
Several different stories are told about the origin of Saint Valentine's day. One legend dates as far back as the days of Roman Empire. According to the story , Claudius , the Emperor of Rome, wanted to increase the size of the army. He knew that it would be easier to get young men who were not married to join the army; therefore, he made a rule that no young men could marry until he had served in the army for a number of years. A priest named Valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great number of young people. Finally, Claudius found out about Valentine and put the priest in prison, where he remained until his death on February 14. After his death, Valentine was made a saint and the day of his death was named Saint Valentine's day--- which is time for people to send one another their greetings of many kinds. February 14, Valentine's Day, is sweetheart's day, on which people in love with each other express their tender emotions. People sometimes put their love message in a heartshaped box of chocolate or a bunch of flowers tied with red ribbons. Words of letters may be written on the flower-covered card, or something else. Whatever the form may be , the message is almost the same: "will you be my Valentine?" According to the rule _ . A) no young men could get married unless they were old enough. B) young men could get married if they had severed in the army for a number of years. C) no one could get married without the emperor's permission. D) young men could get married only in the army.
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Thousands of puffins live in Maine and on islands in the Gulf of Maine. But the puffins may be in danger. Last summer, the percentage of laid eggs that successfully produced baby puffins took a dive. Scientists also found a decline in the average body weight of the adult and baby puffins on Machias Seal Island, home to the area's largest colony. Over the winter, dozens of the seabirds from the region were found dead, likely from starvation. What's causing the puffin trouble? Scientists think it may be a shortage of food. With ocean temperatures rising, fish populations have moved around. Normally, puffins' primary food source is herring, a type of fish. A lack of herring in the area could be causing the problem. Butterfish from the south have become more abundant in the Gulf of Maine and could be a new food source for birds. But Steve Kress says butterfish may be too big and round for baby puffins to swallow. Puffins spend most of their lives at sea. They come ashore to breed each spring and return to the ocean in August. The chicks swim to sea about 40 days after hatching. Puffin populations stretch across the North Atlantic, from Maine to northern Russia. Maine's puffin population has been at risk in the past. In the 1800s, they were hunted for their food, eggs and feathers. By 1901, only one pair of puffins remained in the state. Thanks to the help of local lighthouse keepers and seabird restoration programs, the state's puffin population has been restored to more than 2,000 birds. Scientists aren't sure what will happen to the Gulf of Maine's puffins. The birds may move further north. Kress says he hopes the Gulf population will sustain itself and then he continued. "You never know what climate change will bring," Kress said. "Historically fish could move out and more southerly fish could move in, and puffins may adapt to the new fish. Only they will know how the story will unfold." It can be inferred from the passage that _ . A) Maine's puffin once nearly became extinct B) Maine's puffins' eggs were of high prices C) baby puffins grew up quickly D) the number of Maine's puffins is worrying
**Answer**
A

*Question*
I used to watch her from my kitchen window. She seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys on the playground. The school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids as they played during break. I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but no one could. I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone. One day I asked her why she practiced so much. Without a moment of hesitation she said, "I want to go to college. The only way I can go is to get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don't count." Well, I had to give it to her--she was determined. I watched her through those junior high years and into high school. Every week, she led her school team to victory. One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head in her arms. I walked across the street and sat down in the cool grass beside her. Quietly I asked what was wrong. "Oh, nothing," came a soft reply, "I am just too short." The coach told her that at 5'5" she would probably never get to play for a top ranked team--much less offered a scholarship--so she should stop dreaming about college. She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she truly wanted a scholarship and that nothing could stop her except one thing -- her own attitude. The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was offered a scholarship and on the college team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed of. Which proverb best matches the story? A) Practice makes perfect. B) Rome was not built in a day. C) Where there is a will, there is a way. D) Pride comes before a fall.
**Answer**
C