Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Most students hate their endless homework. The students from Class 2, Senior 2 of the High School Affiliated to Peking University certainly did so before they published their own collection of English novels at home. Their small book contains stories about a holy war, the happy life of a self-taught artist and the story of a laid-off worker who devoted his last breath to playing his beloved accordion . The book becomes an instant hit on campus. About 3,000 copies have been sold and the class is already working on the second volume. "We're up to our ears in homework. Exercises and exams make us out of breath. But to do something creative and full of imagination is such a great achievement," said Yu Xiaoxiao, 16. "I took the writing as an ordinary homework at the beginning, but after I finished the first part of my story, I could not help but let it flow," said Wang An, who wrote "Accordion". Inspired by "Lord of the Rings", Jiang Lu wrote his story about magic wins between angels from the light and the dark side. "The main message of the story was to look at the balance of the world. Both dark and light angels fight with love as their weapons. I want to tell people that selfish love might bring hate," Jiang said. "I was shocked by their work and felt so proud to be the editor of my students' book," said Nathaniel Timmermann, the oral English teacher at the school. Liu Xiuqin, an English teacher, started the project by asking students to write whatever was in their mind every week. "They have performed beyond expectation," Liu said. "They wrote interesting stories and their English has improved after they started to express their real minds." "We never imagined that our homework would be so popular and profitable . We sell the novels at five yuan, but many teachers pay more to encourage us," said Yuan Mengyao. Question: What was NOT the outcome of the students 'homework of writing whatever was in their mind? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- Being popular.
- Being profitable.
- Improving their English.
- Winning prize.
Winning prize.
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Ever walked to the shops only to find, once there, you've completely forgotten what you went for? Or struggled to remember the name of an old friend? For years we've accepted that a forgetful brain is as much a part of ageing as wrinkles and grey hair.But now a new book suggests that we've got it all wrong. According to The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain, by science writer Barbara Strauch, when it comes to the important things, our brains actually get better with age.In fact, she argues that some studies have found that our brain hits its peak between our 40s and 60s--much later than previously thought. Furthermore, rather than losing many brain cells as we age, we retain them, and even produce new ones well into middle age.For years it's been assumed that brain, much like the body, declines with age.But the longest, largest study into what happens to people as they age suggests otherwise. This continuing research has followed 6,000 people since 1956, testing them every seven years.It has found that on average, participants performed better on cognitive tests in their 40s and 50s than they had done in their 20s.Specifically, older people did better on tests of vocabulary, verbal memory (how many words you can remember) and problem solving. Where they performed less well was number ability and perceptual speed--how fast you can push a button when ordered.However, with more complex tasks such as problem-solving and language, we are at our best at middle age and beyond.In short, researchers are now coming up with scientific proof that we do get wiser with age. Neuroscientists are also finding that we are happier with ageing.A recent US study found older people were much better at controlling and balancing their emotions.It is thought that when we're younger we need to focus more on the negative aspects of life in order to learn about the possible dangers in the world, but as we get older we've learned our lessons and are sub-consciously aware that we have less time left in life: therefore, it becomes more... Question: The continuing research has found older people perform better on _ . Answer:
OPTIONS:
- vocabulary tests
- number ability
- perceptual speed
- body balance
vocabulary tests
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: There's something rotten in Rio and the smell is coming from the huge stacks of rubbish pried up on sidewalks all over the city. Rio's street sweepers chose the carnival holiday to demand better salaries. Their wages start at roughly $400 a month. There could hardly be a better time for them to prove their importance. The streets were left a mess after hundreds of carnival parades and now, rubbish pries up in both poor and uptown neighbourhoods and in tourist areas like Ipanema or Copacabana beach. The president of Rio's rubbish collecting company has even appealed to the population to store rubbish at home whenever possible. He says 30% of the city's sweepers have gone on strike. Some of those who have been working have been threatened by the strike movement so now the police has been deployed alongside rubbish collectors to keep them sage as they go about their business. The strike has divided opinions in Rio. On social media, many support the sweepers' demands for better salaries. Others say they are opportunists and the situation is a big embarrassment to the city. But Brazil's culture of littering the streets doesn't help. A video that went viral online shows that even authorities have a problem with that. Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, is seen throwing what seemed to be the rest of an apple on the sidewalk--and now promised to impose himself a fine for his wrongdoing. His government recently created a programme to keep Rio's residents from littering the streets. Question: Rio's street cleaners go on strike to Answer:
OPTIONS:
- prove their importance
- threaten the government
- ask for higher salaries
- appeal to the public not to litter
ask for higher salaries
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: "You're going to the United States to live? How wonderful! You're really lucky!" Does this sound familiar? Perhaps your family and friends said similar things to you when you left home. But does it seem true all the time? Is your life in this new country always wonderful and exciting? A great many facts show that it's not easy for newcomers to adjust to life in a new culture. They have to experience culture shock. What causes culture shock? Maybe the weather is unpleasant. Perhaps the customs are different. Perhaps the public service systems such as the telephone, post office, or transportation are difficult to figure out and you make mistakes. The simplest things seem difficult. The language may be difficult. The food may seem strange to you. If you don't look similar to the natives, you may feel strange. You may feel as if everyone is watching you. In fact, you are always watching yourself. Everyone experiences culture shock in some form or another. But culture shock comes as a surprise to most people. A lot of the time, the people with the worst culture shock are the people who never had any difficulties in their own countries. They were active and successful in their community. They had hobbies or pastimes which they enjoyed. When they come to a new country, they do not have the same positions or hobbies as they already had in their countries. They find themselves without a role, almost without an identity. They have to build a new self-image. Culture shock produces a feeling of disorientation , which may be homesickness, imagined illness, or even paranoia . When people feel the disorientation of culture shock, they sometimes feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the unfamiliar environment. They want to create an escape within their room to give themselves a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to familiarize the person more with the culture. Familiarity and experience are the long-term ways to... Question: Which of the following may cause newcomers to lack a sense of security? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- A new identity.
- Local food.
- Strange environment.
- A new serf-image.
Strange environment.
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