*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: City buses are white and blue. Please board at the front door and pay the fare as you get on. The fare per ride is $1.50 for adults and $1.00 for senior citizens. The fare may be paid by cash, bus pass or multiple passes. Please pay the exact amount directly into the slot at the top of the fare box. Remember that bills are not accepted and drivers cannot make change for riders. When you wish to get off the bus, please notify the driver in advance by pressing one of the buttons provided throughout the bus for this purpose. The bus may pass bus stops without stopping if no one is getting off or waiting to get on. There are five subway lines in the city. The fare is set at five rates from $2.00 to $3.50 according to the number of predetermined "price zones" traveled. To purchase the appropriate ticket, please check the fare on the boards installed above the ticket-selling machines in each subway station. Pass through the automated ticket gates by inserting the ticket into the slot. When getting off the subway at a station beyond the validity of the ticket, pay the additional fare at a fare-adjustment machine. Question: According to the information, all bus riders should _ . Options: A: exit from the back door B: let the driver know in advance if they want to get off C: ask the driver for chang. D: pay according to a "price zone"
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Every April I am troubled by the same concern -- that spring might not occur this year. The landscape looks dull, with hills, sky and forest appearing gray. My spirits ebb, as they did during an April snowfall when I first came to Maine 15 years ago. "Just wait," a neighbor advised. "You'll wake up one morning and spring will just be here." And look, on May 3 that year I awoke to a green so amazing as to be almost electric, as if spring were simply a matter of flipping a switch. Hills, sky and forest revealed their purples, blues and green. Leaves had unfolded and daffodils were fighting their way heavenward. Then there was the old apple tree. It sits on an undeveloped lot in my neighborhood. It belongs to no one and therefore to everyone. The tree's dark twisted branches stretch out in unpruned abandon. Each spring it blossoms so freely that the air becomes filled with the scent of apple. Until last year, I thought I was the only one aware of this tree. And then one day, in a bit of spring madness, I set out with pruner to remove a few disorderly branches. No sooner had I arrived under the tree than neighbors opened their windows and stepped onto their porches. These were people I barely knew and seldom spoke to, but it was as if I had come uninvited into their personal gardens. My mobile-home neighbor was the first to speak."You're not cutting it down, are you?" she asked anxiously. Another neighbor frowned as I cut off a branch. "Don't kill it, now," he warned. Soon half the neighborhood had joined me under the apple tree. It struck me that I had lived there for five years and only now was learning these people's names, what they did for a living and how they passed the winter. It was as if the old apple tree was gathering us under its branches for the purpose of both acquaintanceship and shared wonder. I couldn't help recalling Robert Frost's words: The trees that have it in their pent-up buds To darken nature and be summer woods One thaw led to another. Just the other day I saw one of my... Question: By saying that "my spirits ebb" (Para. 1), the author means that _ . Options: A: he feels relieved B: he feels blue C: he is surprised D: he is tired
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Best friends may be priceless but the cost of keeping the relationship alive is PS23,870. According to a study, a BFF (best friends forever) does not come cheap with devoted friends spending PS4,679 on birthday presents alone over a lifetime. And while it costs nothing to be a shoulder to cry on, _ Britons go the extra mile and spend PS168 on pick-me-ups to get their mate through a rocky patch like the breakup of a relationship. There's a further PS242 spent on presents to show how much they mean from gifts bought on holiday to treats for no reason. And distance does not break up a close friendship as BFFs spend a whopping PS18,000 on travel to see each other despite being miles apart because of university, jobs and marriage. The study by cashback site TopCashBack found on average BEFs who marry can expect PS431 spent on them and a further PS283 on gifts when they have children. And they can rely on their pals to help out when they move houses as they will obtain PS127 worth of housewarming presents and takeaways(a kind of food). The survey based on a friendship lasting 40 years found more than eight in ten adults with a BFF felt their friendships were worth every penny. TopCashback spokesperson Natasha Smith said: "Those friendships which stand the test of time are often the most important in our lives. However, they come at a cost. From train tickets once a month to flights and a new dress for a wedding on the Italian coast, the price paid for having a best mate can soon add up. But when we asked people to compare their friendship with the financial investment , only 14% thought their friendship was equal to their investment with the vast majority thinking it was worth more." Question: To keep the relationship, where do BEFs spend the most money? Options: A: Buying birthday presents. B: Cheering up a friend in low spirits. C: Paying for holiday gifts and other treats. D: Going a particular distance to visit friends.
**Answer**
D

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: I used to think of myself as a person learned in books, but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and an Australian book, my literature collection only consisted of British and American titles. Worse still, I couldn't ever found anything in translation. My reading was limited to stories by English-speaking authors. So, at the start of 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing. With no idea where to get those books, I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop, so I decided to ask the readers all over the world for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English. The response was amazing. People all over the world were getting in touch with me, offering ideas and book lists. Some posted me books from their home countries. In addition, several writers, like Turkmenistan's Ak Welsapar and Panama's Juan David Morgan, sent me unpublished translations of their novels, giving me a rare opportunity to read works unavailable in Britain. Even with such an extraordinary team of bibliophiles behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task. With translations making up only around 4.5 per cent of literary works published in the UK, getting English versions of stories was tricky. One by one, the books from the countries on the list filled my heart with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. Lands that had once seemed exotic and remote became close and familiar to me. At its best, I learned, reading makes the world real. Question: It was not easy to find the books mainly because _ . Options: A: the readers were unwilling to offer help B: there were too few translations in the UK C: the author had no time and no chance to do it D: the writers didn't want to publish their books
**Answer**
B