Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Thousands of years ago, people only ate food that was grown near their homes. Some kinds of food were only grown in one place, so people from other places didn't know about them. When Europeans first traveled to Central and South America in the 1500s, they discovered strange kinds of food that they had never seen before. Today, these are grown in a lot of different countries and they're sold in supermarkets all over the world. They don't seem strange any more! Potatoes were first grown in the Andes in South America. In 1586, they were taken to Europe by explorers . In 1719, they were taken to North America. Before 1719, nobody in North America had ever seen or eaten a potato. Today each American eats more than 60 kilos of potatoes a year. Tomatoes were also first grown by native Americans. When European explorers visited the south of America in 1500, they took tomato seeds back to Europe. Soon, tomatoes were grown in Europe, but people in England didn't eat them. At that time, a lot of English people thought that tomatoes were _ ! Chilies have been eaten in Central and South America for more than 8,000 years! In the 1500s, chilies were taken to Europe by explorers. Today, they are grown in hot countries all over the world. Question: According to the passage, we know that _ . Options: A: people only ate food grown near their homes after 1719. B: people in Europe were the first to plant potatoes. C: Chilies have been eaten in Europe for more than 1000 years. D: the European explorers took chilies to Europe in the 1500s.
D

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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Obama Still Smokes in Secret US President Barack Obama has just made life more difficult for cigarette makers. He has just signed a law that will set tough new rules for the tobacco industry. The new law gives the US Food and Drug Administration the power to strictly limit the making and marketing of tobacco products. At a White House signing ceremony Monday, Obama said that he was among the nearly 90% of smokers who took up the habit before their 18 th birthday. Obama, who has publicly struggled to give up smoking, said he still hadn't completely kicked the habit. Every now and then he still smokes in secret. "As a former smoker I struggle with it all the time. Do I still smoke sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No." Obama said at a news conference. "I don' t do it in front of my lads.I don ?t do it in front of my family.I would say that I am 95% cured, but there are times when I mess up, " he said. "Once you go down this path, it' s something you continually struggle with, which is exactly why the law is so important.The new law is not about me, it' s about the next generation of kids coming up.What we don ' t want is kids going down that path," he said. Nearly 20% of Americans smoke and tobacco use kills about 440,000 people a year in the United States due to cancer, heart disease, and other serious diseases. Question: What do we know about Obama? Options: A: He no longer smokes. B: He still smokes as usual. C: He began to smoke at eighteen. D: He is trying hard to give up smoking.
(Answer)
D

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Everybody needs blood Have you ever seen buses on the street for donating blood? Medical workers on board collect blood from volunteers. The blood is then stored up and given to people who have lost a large amount of it due to accidents or diseases. Blood is one of the most important substances supporting our lives. But for now, the only way we can get more of it is through donation. And donated blood has its own problems. First of all, certain blood types are extremely rare. Type O negative blood (O-), for example, only exists in 7 percent of people, according to Sunday Times. There are fewer donors and therefore there isn't enough of this type of blood for everybody who needs it. In addition, donated blood comes from various people, which means that it has to be examined carefully for disease such as hepatitis and HIV to make sure that it's safe for transfusion. This is why scientists all over the world have been trying to make blood in labs. And now, someone finally succeeded--Marc Turner at the Scottish National BloodTransfusion Service has produced blood fit for transfusion, reported Forbes. Unlike many other scientists, who have tried to make blood substitutes by mixing up different ingredients together, Turner chose to grow blood directly from human stem cells . He developed a special technique to create a chemical environment similar to that in our bone marrow . This environment encourages stem cells to develop fully into red blood cell. According to Turner, his version of artificial blood is unlikely to contain disease viruses or produce side effects. And the best part is that what he managed to produce was type O- blood. Not only is it a rare blood type, it's also a universal type, which means it can be transfused into any patient. The new blood is scheduled for human tests in 2016. However, Turner stressed that the new study should not be taken as a signal for people to stop donating blood because it could be another 20 years before... Question: According to the text, a potential danger of blood transfusion is that _ . Options: A: it is impossible to store up large amounts of blood B: blood transfusion may lead to some terrible infections C: it is very hard to find matches for certain blood types D: blood transfusion often leads to serious side effects
Ans: B

Question: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Why can some people sleep through noises like a honking car or flushing toilet, while others are awakened by the lightest sound? To find the answer, sleep researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital conducted an unusual study of 12 self-described deep sleepers. After tests confirmed that the healthy volunteers were solid sleepers, they took part in a three-night study in the university's sleep laboratory. The participants spent the night in a big and comfortable room. But the room also included four speakers positioned near the top of the bed. During the night, the deep sleepers were subjected to 14 different recorded sounds, like street traffic, toilets flushing, an ice machine dispensing and an airplane flying overhead. Next door, the researchers monitored their sleep patterns and brain waves. As expected, all of the participants slept ly well, but there were differences in how they responded to the noisy interruptions. Some of the sleepers didn't wake up even when a sound was blasted at 70 decibels ; others were awakened by sounds at 40 or 50 decibels. The researchers discovered that the difference in a sleeper's reaction to noise could be predicted by the level of brain activity called "sleep spindles''. A sleep spindle is a burst of high-frequency brain activity coming from deep inside the brain during sleep. The source of the spindles is the thalamus, a part of the brain that sends sensory information to the rest of the cortex . Before the study, the Massachusetts researchers theorized that the spindles are the brain's way of preventing sensory information from passing through the thalamus and waking the rest of the brain during sleep. They found that the sleepers who experienced the most sleep spindles during the night were also the soundest sleepers and were least likely to be awakened by noise. Scientists already know that most people become lighter sleepers with age, most likely because older people experience less "slow wave sleep'', which is the deepest stage of sleep. People also produce... Question: Some participants can sleep well through loud noises mainly because _ . Options: A: their brains don't respond to outside noises B: their brains react differently to noises C: they adapt to the environment quickly D: they don't pay attention to the monitors
Answer:
B