Read the article and select the best answer. Article: People celebrate birthdays in almost every country on earth. And they celebrate them in many different ways. In China and in Japan, for example, the arrival of New Year is more important than a person's birthday. So everyone adds a year to celebrate their ages on New Year's Day, instead of on their birthdays, In Brazil, the special birthday food isn't cake, but special candles. In China, it's long noodles--for long life. In Iceland, people have pancakes with candies rolled inside them on birthdays. In Britain, a birthday is an all-day celebration. At school, the birthday child is lifted up and "bumped" by his classmates. This means the child is lifted by the feet and arms and bumped to the ground, once for each year once for good growth. In Israel, the same custom is followed, except the birthday person is lifted and lowered while sitting in a chair. In Holland, children not only get presents, but also give things out. They give cakes, cookies and candles to their classmates and teachers on their birthdays. In Mexico, it's good luck to give birthday greetings as early in the day as possible. So it's usual for the birthday child to be woken up at midnight by fiends singing birthday songs. In India, birthday celebrations also begin before dawn. Prayers and blessings must be said before morning comes. In Thailand, two tall candles are lighted the night before the birthday. One is as tall as the birthday person. If it goes out early, it's bad luck. Another customs of Thailand is that they buy live fish and birds for the birthday person and then the birthday person frees the animals, and it brings good luck. In Nigeria, people in a certain age group celebrate their birthdays together, on a certain day. In many countries birthday customs are changing. Old customs are giving way to western style of birthdays, with candle topped cakes. But one thing never changes--birthdays are special days for everyone! Question: What does the text mainly talk about? Options: A: Different countries have different birthdays. B: Celebrating birthdays is exciting. C: Different ways of celebrating the birthday in different countries. D: Everyone likes celebrating his or her birthday.
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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: In face of global warming, much effort has been focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions through a variety of strategies. But while much of the research and innovation has concentrated on finding less-polluting energy alternatives, it may be decades before clean technologies like wind and solar meet a significant portion of our energy needs. In the meantime, the amount of CO2 in the air is rapidly approaching the limits proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). "As long as we're consuming fossil fuels, we're putting out CO2," says Klaus Lackner, a geophysicist at Columbia University, "We cannot let the CO2 in the atmosphere rise indefinitely." That sense of urgency has increased interest in capturing and storing CO2, which the IPCC says could provide the more than 50% reduction in emissions needed to reduce global warming. "We see the potential for capture and storage to play an integral role in reducing emissions," says Kim Corley, Shell's senior advisor of CO2 and environmental affairs. That forward thinking strategy is gaining support. The U.S. Department of Energy recently proposed putting $1 billion into a new $2.4 billion coal-burning energy plant. The plant's carbon-capture technologies would serve as a pilot project for other new coal-burning plants. But what do you do with the gas once you've captured it? One option is to put it to new uses. Dakota Gasification of North Dakota captures CO2 at a plant that converts coal into synthetic natural gas. It then ships the gas 200 miles by pipeline to Canada, where it is pumped underground in oil recovery operations. In the Netherlands, Shell delivers CO2 to farmers who pipe it into their greenhouses, increasing their production of fruits and vegetables. However, scientists say that the scale of CO2 emissions will require vast amounts of long-term storage. Some propose storing the CO2 in coal mines or liquid storage in the ocean, Shell favors storing CO2 in deep geological structures such as saline formations and exhausted... Question: What does the author intend to tell readers? Options: A: How to find more oil and natural gases. B: How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. C: How to deal with the greenhouse gas creatively. D: How to make good use of solar and wind energy.
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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A recent sudden temperature drop in most areas of China has set off fears of a possible return of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the country has mobilized to prepare for another outbreak. North China's Tianjin Port resumed a temperature reporting system on Sunday. Any passengers through the port with a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius would be provided medical observation and reported to relevant authorities. Zhong Nanshan, a well-known anti-SARS scientist during the last outbreak, said it was unlikely the SARS virus would die out naturally and it would definitely come back, but predicted no widespread epidemic outbreak and the epidemic would not cause serious damage again. Caught unprepared this spring, Chinese authorities have learned to act quickly before the epidemic can take a hold. Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi Thursday urged strictly implementing the daily SARS epidemic reporting system and warned that people delaying reporting or hiding the true situation would be severely punished. In Beijing, the disease control center in Dongcheng District has recovered a 24 hour schedule for possible epidemic breakout. Every afternoon before 3:00 o'clock, the center receives SARS reports from every hospital in the district and then reports to the Beijing municipal disease control center and health bureau. In Beijing Xiehe Hospital, plans are ready for fever patients to receive treatment in a special section. Doctors in that ward, wearing protective clothing, will observe patients for any possible respiratory diseases. Patients with high fever and symptoms of respiratory diseases are required to be observed for one or two weeks. North China's Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the two other hardest-hit areas in the last SARS crisis, have both set up an emergency response mechanism and mobilized all concerned departments. The system has also been set up in rural Inner Mongolia. People are urged to pick up again the healthy habits they formed during... Question: This passage is mainly about _ . Options: A: Zhong Nanshan, a well-known anti-SARS scientist B: What happened during the first outbreak of SARS C: How well China is prepared for another likely outbreak of SARS D: What hospitals in Beijing have done
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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It is important to learn business English if you are going to be successful in another country where English is the primary language. It will also be a great idea to practice speaking and writing in business English. If a university offers a course on business English, it will be a good idea to take the class. Reading, writing and speaking English is necessary to start a business. Business English is different from asking where to find the nearest hotel. There are classes you can take to help you but there are things that you can learn on your own. Vocabulary and grammar are a good place to start with. You need to know what words mean. Later, try to pronounce the words and then look them up in the dictionary. Try using them in a sentence and ask someone who is good at English to help you. Once you have an understanding of English, you can use it in business English. In business you will have to learn such things as taking messages, answering the phones with proper words and communicating with your co-workers. You may have to learn how to make travel plans. Business English is very different than spoken English. Grammar is the same but you have to learn things like expressing yourself in a proper manner or maybe making a report in your office. If you are working in the customer service sector , you really have to learn business English. Dealing with the public is sometimes more important than asking your boss for a raise . Most businesses offer training classes and some companies offer classes on how to do the job with proper business English. Question: What's the text mainly about? Options: A: The development of business English. B: The tips on learning business English. C: The introduction to business English. D: The comparison between business English and daily English.
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