Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
(CNN) -- The Syrian government has told the parents of a missing American journalist that it doesn't know where their son is, the man's father said Monday at a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon.

Austin Tice last contacted his family on August 13 while in Syria reporting on the uprising there against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. He was reportedly preparing to leave Syria for Lebanon when he went missing, according to his family.

Read more: Family working for journalist's release plans visit to Lebanon

In October, a shaky video surfaced on YouTube showing a man believed to be Tice surrounded by armed men walking him up a hill.

Tice's father, Marc Tice, said that family members have been in touch, "directly and indirectly," with Syrian government officials, but they have learned nothing about his son's location despite traveling to Beirut to seek his release.

"We're reaching out to everyone that we can get in touch with," he said.

Tice's parents say they are willing to go to Syria if that what it will take to get their son back.

"We have no idea what will be required, and we would like to know from whoever is holding him what it is that we need to do," Marc Tice said.

Austin is the oldest of the couple's seven children.

"We are a big, close family. We have all felt the void [of] his absence," said his mother, Debra Tice.

With the holiday season approaching, they are "dismayed by the empty chair at our family table," she said. "We miss Austin. Knowing his smile, big laugh, great storytelling."
1. Who is missing?
2. Who is looking for him?
3. When did he last communicate with his family?
4. Where was he?
5. What was he doing there?
6. Where was he going to be heading after he left Syria?
7. Does he have any siblings?
8. Is he the youngest of them?
9. Will the family go to Syria to look for him?
10. Has there been video evidence that he is still alive?
11. What did it show?
12. When was this?
13. Where could the video be found?

Numbered answers:
1. Austin Tice
2. The Syrian government
3. August 13
4. in Syria
5. Reporting
6. Lebanon
7. Yes
8. No
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. Tice surrounded by armed men walking him up a hill
12. October
13. YouTube

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
Once there was a young boy named Bret who had a cat named Wolfgang. The boy had really wanted a wolf for a pet, but his mother said wolves liked to hog the bathroom and liked to blow things down and they snored. So the boy had to call his cat Wolfie.

He had also thought about naming his cat Sir Purrsalot. Bret himself planned to become a knight when he grew up (or maybe a cowboy) and thought Sir Purrsalot sounded like a good name for his brother knight. The difficulty there was that Wolfie didn't purr a lot. He purred when he was being fed or petted, but no one could say he purred a lot. Plus Bret's mother said knights liked to poke things with their swords and they also liked to hog the bathroom and they clanked.

So Bret was left with a cat named Wolfgang. The neighbors gave him strange looks when he stood in the front yard in the evening and yelled "Wolfie! Here Wolfie!!!", to get Wolfgang to come in for the night. But Bret didn't care what anyone else thought. He had a Wolfie and maybe he'd end up becoming a pet doctor when he grew up instead.
1. Who planned something?
2. what?
3. Who purred?
4. is it something he did all the time?
5. was wolfie a dog?
6. what was he?
7. what did Bret's mother say?
8. did he yell in the yard at night?
9. was he a vet?

Numbered answers:
1. Bret
2. To become a knight or a cowboy
3. Wolfie
4. No
5. No
6. A cat
7. Knights poke things with their swords, hog the bathroom, and clank
8. Yes
9. No

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
The term Muslim world, also known as Islamic world and the Ummah (Arabic: , meaning "nation" or "community") has different meanings. In a religious sense, the Islamic Ummah refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, the Muslim Ummah refers to Islamic civilization, exclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization. In a modern geopolitical sense, the term "Islamic Nation" usually refers collectively to Muslim-majority countries, states, districts, or towns.

The Islamic Golden Age coincided with the Middle Ages in the Muslim world, starting with the rise of Islam and establishment of the first Islamic state in 622. The end of the age is variously given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, Iberian Peninsula. During the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid (786 to 809), the legendary House of Wisdom was inaugurated in Baghdad where scholars from various parts of the world sought to translate and gather all the known world's knowledge into Arabic. The Abbasids were influenced by the Quranic injunctions and hadiths, such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr," that stressed the value of knowledge. The major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. During this period, the Muslim world was a collection of cultures; they drew together and advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations.
1. What is a simlar word for Muslim world?
2. Do they have similar meanings?
3. In what senses can they differ?
4. What does Ummah mean?
5. What two ages coincided in the muslim world?
6. and what did this start?
7. when?
8. when was one of the end of the age suggested?
9. with what?
10. and the second?
11. with the completion of what?
12. Who reigned in 786?
13. until when?
14. Who influenced the Abbasids?
15. and?
16. What does Islamic nation mean in the modern world?
17. and?
Numbered answers:
1. Islamic world
2. they can
3. culturally and relgiously
4. it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam
5. The Islamic Golden Age and the Middle Ages
6. the first Islamic state
7. in 622
8. 1258
9. the Sack of Baghdad
10. 1492
11. with Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus
12. Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid
13. until 809
14. by Quranic injunctions
15. hadiths
16. to Muslim-majority countries
17. towns, districts and states