Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Plastic is everywhere because plastic is an extremely useful material. It is cheap, strong and lightweight. What's more, it can take on nearly any form or shape, from soft and stretchy to hard and glasslike. Plastic, however, is far from perfect. It may even be bad for us. Studies now suggest that poisonous chemicals can get out of some types of plastic, get into our bodies, and cause a variety of health problems, including cancer, birth defects and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder . Two types of chemicals in particular have raised special concern lately. They are called phthalates and Bisphenol-A , BPA for short. Not all plastic products contain them. But the ones that do are surrounded by controversy . That's because experts disagree on how dangerous these chemicals are. Plastic is a single word, but plastic isn't just one thing. What all plastics share in common are plasticizers -- special chemicals that allow the material to be changed into nearly any shape or texture. Plasticizers are added to plastic during the manufacturing process. Phthalates and BPA are two types of plasticizers that work in different ways. Phthalates add softness to things like shampoo bottles, raincoats and rubber. They are also used in perfumes and makeup. BPA, on the other hand, gives a hard, clear, almost glasslike feel to products such as infant bottles. BPA also appears in food and soda cans, DVDs and other unexpected places. How do these chemicals get into us? When plastic is heated in the microwave or dishwasher, chewed on or scratched, the chemicals can seep out of the plastic. Even though we can't see them, we eat them, drink them and breathe them in. Scientists and parents are especially worried about young children, who tend to chew on everything, including plastic. Dozens of countries, including the European Union, Japan, Canada and Mexico have already banned phthalates from products made for children younger than three. California and Washington have done the same. And a number of other states are... Question: What is the passage mainly about? - A new ban on plastic products. - Problems caused by the plastic. - Good points of the plastic. - The use of plasticizers.
Problems caused by the plastic.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: A crisis is on the way.Global warming? The world economy? No,the decline of reading.People are just not doing it anymore,especially the young.Who's responsible? What is responsible? The Internet,of course,and everything that comes with it--Facebook,Twitter,etc.. There's been a warning about the coming death of literate civilization for a long time.In the 20th century,first it was the movies,then radio,then television that seemed to end the written world.None did.Reading survived;in fact it not only survived,it has developed better.The world is more literate than ever before -- there are more and more readers.and more and more books. The fact that we often get our reading material online today is not something we should worry over.The electronic and digital revolution of the last two decades has arguably shown the way forward for reading and for writing.Interconnectivity allows for the possibility of a reading experience that was barely imaginable before.Where traditional books had to make do with photographs and illustrations,an e-book can provide readers with an unlimited number of links:to texts,pictures,and videos. On the other hand,there is the danger of trivialization .One Twitter group is offering its followers single-sentence-long"digests"of the great novels.War and Peace in a sentence? You must be joking.We should fear the fragmentation of reading.There is the danger that the high-speed connectivity of the Internet will reduce our attention span--that we will be incapable of reading anything of length or which requires deep concentration. In such a fast-changing world,in which reality seems to be remade each day,we need the ability to focus and understand what is happening to us.This has always been the function of literature and we should be careful not to let it disappear.Our society needs to be able to imagine the possibility of someone entirely in pace with modern technology but able to make sense of a dynamic,confusing world. Question: What is the main idea of the passage? - Technology is an opportunity and a challenge for traditional reading. - Technology pushes the way forward for reading and writing. - Interconnectivity is a feature of new reading experience. - Technology offers a greater variety of reading practice.
Technology is an opportunity and a challenge for traditional reading.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: By 2012,the world may need to cope with as many as 50 million people who have fled their homeland,not for political or economic reasons but because the environment has been so badly changed that it cannot support life. The statement has been released by the United Nations to mark UN Disaster Reduction Day. More people are made homeless by environmental disasters than by war,according to the research by the Red Cross. That reality is proved by the earthquake in Pakistan. The widely publicized disaster has brought aid from the global community,according to Janos Bogardi,director of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security. "If we can move swiftly in and give them a new start where they are,then they may stay in the area. Otherwise,they become environmental refugees. Environmentalrelated migrations are most acute in SubSaharan Africa,but they also affect millions of people in Asia and India. Meanwhile,the United States is witnessing increased pressure from victims of mismanaged and worsening soil and water conditions in Mexico and Latin America." he says. Janos Bogardi says these refugees suffer from the impact of gradual environmental change--global warming,sea level rise,air and water pollution and more intense storms,floods and droughts that degrade the land. This is a slow process,but unfortunately a process that is very difficult to go backwards once final damage is done. Janos Bogardi says they are calling on the global community to recognize the serious situation of environmental refugees and to work together to lessen the impact of environmental disaster. Question: Janos Bogardi's attitude towards solving the problem is that of being _ . - constructive - compromising - controversial - conservative
constructive