*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Several European countries rang in the New Year in new ways. The smoke -filled cafe became a thing of memory inprefix = st1 /France. Cigarettes were forbidden in all indoor locations such as dance clubs, restaurants, hotels, casinos and cafes from Jan. 1, 2008. President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the first traditional New Year's greeting of his presidency, with a "message of hope, faith in life and in the future". In Russia, Vladimir Putin delivered the last New Year's Eve address of his eight - year presidency, boasting of economic improvements and claiming to have restored a sense of unity among Russians, who are likely to see him stay in power as Prime Minister after he steps down in a few months. In Moscow, thousands gathered in Red Square, watching a concert beneath the onion domes of St Basil's Cathedral, and fireworks above. Along with the _ , old traditions were maintained. More than a million people in New York's Times Square cheered at the 100th drop of a giant ball. A century ago the tradition began with a 700 - pound ball of wood and iron, lit with 100 25 - watt bulbs. This year's event featured an energy - efficient ball clothed in Waterford crystals , with 9,576 light - shining diodes that generated a lot of color1s. InLondon, people gathered inTrafalgar Squareand along the banks of the River Thames to watch a firework display and hear Big Ben welcome the New Year with 12 resounding bongs. In Sydney - one of the first cities to celebrate the New Year - one million people cheered as fireworks were launched from theHarborBridgeon New Year's Eve. Question: The word "innovations" here means _ . - strange ideas - new ways - scientific ideas - traditional ways
**Answer**
new ways

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: One of the best things you can do for your health is to drop a few pounds. Or maybe morethan a few pounds. Being overweight increases your danger of heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer,,the list seems almost endless. You'd better find several simple things you can do on a daily basis such as making rules of eating more vegetables and less fat and getting more physical activities. After breakfast, make water your primary drink. At breakfast, go ahead and drink orange juice. But throughout the rest of the day, focus on water instead of juice or soda. The average American consumes an extra 245 calories a day from soft drinks. That's nearly 90,000 calories a year -- or 25 pounds! And research shows that neither the calories nor sugary drinks give you a sense of fullness the way that food does. People take only 2,000 to 3, 000 steps a day. Adding 2,000 steps will help you keep your present weight and stop gaining weight. Adding more than that will help you lose weight. Eat five or six small meals or snacks a day instead of three large meals. A 1999 South African study found that when men ate parts of their morning meal at intervals over five hours, they consumed almost 20 percent fewer calories at lunch than when they ate a single breakfast. Question: Where is the passage probably taken from? - A travelling diary. - A story book. - A science magazine. - An English dictionary.
**Answer**
A science magazine.

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Hungry for the brightest students, many of the country's stronger universities are actively discounting tuition .And it's the high achievers, rather than the needy students, who are getting a good chunk of the money.The practice is remarkably widespread, reaching almost all but the 30 or so Ivy and other top colleges that forbid good grades-based financial aid.Schools are also becoming more aggressive in raising their discounts.At the DePauw University Website, enter an SAT or ACT score, grade point average and class rank, and a computer program immediately tells you what kind of "award".Only "the real unlucky" pay full price any more. About 76% of first-year students got some form of discount this year at 331 private schools.Average award per student: $7,000.At small schools with tuition under about $20,000, the average discount is even higher, with some schools returning over half their tuition. Carnegie Mellon even tells students it will "negotiate " and perhaps match financial-aid packages if kids are offered bigger awards at other schools.Much as banks and insurers offer special rates to their best customers, schools are giving the biggest breaks to their top students.Public four-year colleges, too, are offering discounts. The flip side of big discounts is that less money is available to improve academic programs and keep school infrastructure up to date.Universities that have sharply increased their tuition discount rates have seen graduation rates fall, and that's true even among highly selective schools.They get the students in the door, but don't have the services to keep them. Question: This passage mainly talks about _ . - the great benefit of offering lower tuition - college tuition discounts in popularity - the top students in need of tuition discounts - reducing graduation rates due to big discounts
**Answer**
college tuition discounts in popularity

*Question*
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Twelve years ago, when I was 50,I wondered what 60 or 70 would be like? I looked around and saw only one style of living. It's not fair, I thought. Young people have so many styles to choose from, but older people have just one choice. So I decide to do something about it , something practical. I worked on my fitness by joining exercise classes in town. A few years later, my husband and I moved to a retirement community, and I wanted to teach aerobic classes. The community center wouldn't give me a room to teach in, so I had to walk around and find any available empty room. One day, the community center staff came to me and asked if I would help with the entertainment for a Hawaiian luau they were putting on. I said yes. Then I talked five other ladies into dancing with me. We performed the hula and a war chant and brought the house down. Someone had a camera and took pictures, and then sent them to our local paper. We got requests for more engagements, which in turn led to more publicity and yet more engagements. Soon we had invitations from all over the country. The Dancing Grannies were born! I think the real secret of the Dancing Grannies is out attitude. I was raised extremely poor ---no-food poor. If we wanted toys we had to make things up to play with ,so I learned early to be very creative. And you know,I think being poor was one of the best things that ever happened to me because I learned to look for treasures. That's what I'm still doing today--looking for the treasure in growing old. I'm getting better and better. It's true that _ have to be treated a bit differently, with a little care, but they still have a beauty of their own. Question: Why did the writer have to walk around and find an empty room? - Because she couldn't offer an expensive room. - Because she wasn't given a room to teach in by the community center. - Because she wanted to find a better one. - Because she wanted to keep fit by walking.
**Answer**
Because she wasn't given a room to teach in by the community center.