Q: Passage 1 Mobile Phone Madness How much do you love your mobile phone? A Chinese student had to call 110 for help this week after he got his arm stuck in a toilet trying to rescue his mobile phone. After dropping his phone in the toilet, he decided to wrap(,) his arm in newspaper in the hopes of keeping clean. But the newspapers became larger in size in the water, and then even his roommates couldn't help him pull his arm out. So policemen were called and they spent an hour unsticking the stuck student. Passage 2 Crazy Pet Lovers How much do you love your pets? Many people in China are famous for how much they love their pets. They dress them up in fashionable clothing and buy them high quality food. But would they spend 7,000 English pounds (68,000 yuan) on a wedding for their pets? And that's what a couple in Brazil spent on a fancy wedding for their pet Yorkshire terriers( a kind of dog). Passage 3 Oh, rats! When something goes wrong, you can often hear Westerners cry "Oh, rats". But when it comes to Southern China, "Oh, rats!" can mean it's what you want for dinner. According to a report in China Daily, some restaurants in Guangzhou serve rat meat. But, actually, most of those rats are field mice. What would Mickey Mouse say? Passage 4 Liar , liar Here's some news that most women already know. Men tell more lies than women. The London Daily Mail cites a new study that says men tell about three lies a day, while women tell only two lies a day. Men are also less likely to feel guilty about lying, according to this week's survey of 3,000 people by a research organization called One Poll. According to the Poll, lying to our mothers is very popular. But then, so is lying at work. And both men and women will lie when it comes to how much they've drunk. So how easy is it to tell when someone is lying?

Answer the following questions:
1. What kind of pet did the Brazilian couple have?
2. Yorkshire cats?
3. What do restaurants in Guangzhou sometimes serve?
4. According to what source?
5. True or False: Lying to your grandparents is popular according to polls.
6. Who does the poll name as commonly lied to, then?
7. What will both males and females frequently lie about?
8. How many people did One Poll survey?
9. What did the student get stuck in?
10. What part of him was stuck?
11. What country was he from?
12. What was he trying to do?
13. How long did it take to free him?
14. True or False: His roommates freed him.
15. Did they try to help?
16. How much did the Brazilian dog wedding cost in pounds?
17. How much is that in yuan?
18. What animal is the "rat meat" usually from?
19. What source wrote that men lie more than women?
20. What source cited One Poll?
A: 1. Yorkshire
2. no
3. rats
4. China Daily
5. false
6. mothers
7. how much they've drunk
8. 3,000
9. toilet
10. arm
11. china
12. rescue his mobile phon
13. hour
14. false
15. yes
16. 7,000
17. 68,000
18. field mice
19. One Pol
20. The London Daily Mail
Q: Baghdad is the capital of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, , is approximately 8,765,000, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).

Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g., House of Wisdom), garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Centre of Learning".

For five centuries from its founding Baghdad was the largest city of the Middle Ages, peaking at a population of more than a million. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arab culture.

In contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been frequently subjected to insurgency attacks. , Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, and was ranked by Mercer as the worst of 221 major cities as measured by quality-of-life.

Answer the following questions:
1. Who built Baghdad?
2. When?
3. Who sacked it?
4. When?
5. Who led the Mongols at that time?
6. Did they completely destroy the city?
7. Did the city frequently change hands?
8. What liberated Iraq?
9. What medieval power made Baghdad their capital?
10. What modern power uses it as their capital?
11. Is it a good place to live today?
12. How many military conflicts are mentioned in the article?
13. The most recent?
14. What was the city famous as in medieval times?
15. What's the largest city in Arabia?
16. In western Asia?
A: 1. the Abbasid Caliphate
2. the 8th century
3. the Mongol Empire
4. 1258
5. unknown
6. no
7. yes
8. recognition as an independent state
9. the Abbasid Caliphate
10. Iraq
11. no
12. Three
13. insurgency attacks
14. a cultural, commercial, and intellectual center
15. Cairo
16. Tehran
Q: CHAPTER XX. A SAD HOME-COMING

Mr. Lowrie and Auctherlonnie, the Dumfries bo'sun, both of whom would have died for the captain, assured me of the truth of MacMuir's story, and shook their heads gravely as to the probable outcome. The peculiar water-mark of greatness that is woven into some men is often enough to set their own community bitter against them. Sandie, the plodding peasant, finds it a hard matter to forgive Jamie, who is taken from the plough next to his, and ends in Parliament. The affair of Mungo Maxwell, altered to suit, had already made its way on more than one vessel to Scotland. For according to Lowrie, there was scarce a man or woman in Kirkcudbrightshire who did not know that John Paul was master of the John, and (in their hearts) that he would be master of more in days to come. Human nature is such that they resented it, and cried out aloud against his cruelty.

On the voyage I had many sober thoughts of my own to occupy me of the terrible fate, from which, by Divine inter position, I had been rescued; of the home I had left behind. I was all that remained to Mr. Carvel in the world, and I was sure that he had given me up for dead. How had he sustained the shock? I saw him heavily mounting the stairs upon Scipicks arm when first the news was brought to him. Next Grafton would come hurrying in from Kent to Marlboro Street, disavowing all knowledge of the messenger from New York, and intent only upon comforting his father. And when I pictured my uncle soothing him to his face, and grinning behind his bed-curtains, my anger would scald me, and the realization of my helplessness bring tears of very bitterness.

Answer the following questions:
1. Was he happy on his ride home?
2. Had he escaped a bad outcome?
3. What did he credit for his survival?
4. Who did he assume thought he was deceased?
5. Who did he imagined he'd have to lean on when he learned about his death?
6. Where would that gentleman be coming from?
7. To where?
8. Where did the message arrive from?
9. Do images of his father's brother make him feel better?
10. Why not?
11. What does this feeling do to him?
A:
1. no
2. yes
3. Divine inter position
4. Mr. Carval
5. Grafton
6. Kent
7. Marlboro Street
8. New York
9. no
10. the realization of my helplessness
11. bring tears to him