Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Walls and wall building have played a very important role in Chinese culture. In ancient times, not only towns and villages, but also the houses and the temples within them were surrounded with walls. Also, the houses had no windows overlooking the street. Thus, walking in a city would give the feeling of wandering around a huge maze . The word "city" in Chinese also means "wall". The god of walls and mounts, whose duty was, and still is, to protect and be responsible for the welfare of the residents in these cities, villages, houses and temples. So a great and extremely hard task such as constructing a wall, which was supposed to run the length of the country, might not sound absurd . However, it is indeed a common mistake to think of the Great Wall as a single building structure, and it would also be a mistake to assume that it was built during a single dynasty. Actually, several dynasties somehow contributed to the construction of the Great Wall, the foundations of which had been laid many centuries ago. It was during the fourth and third centuries BC that warring states started building walls to protect their kingdoms, both against one another and against the northern nomads . The Great Wall played an important role in the growth of Chinese economy in history. Many settlements were established along the new border. Armies were instructed to reclaim wasteland and to plant crops there. Also, roads and canals were built. All of the work greatly helped increase the country's trade and cultural exchanges with many remote areas and also with the southern, central and western parts of Asia. Question: Why did ancient Chinese cities seem like a maze? - Because there were usually more walls than houses. - Because the outside walls of houses had no windows. - Because the word "city" means "wall". - Because there were legends about the god of walls.
Because the outside walls of houses had no windows.
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The longest solar eclipse of the century cast a wide shadow for several minutes over Asia and the Pacific Ocean on 22th July, drawing people outside to watch the sight in the sky. Day turned into night. Temperature turned cooler in cities and villages filled with fans of astronomy. The total eclipse could be seen starting in India on Wednesday morning and moving eastward across China and parts of the Pacific. Millions cast their eyes towards the heavens to catch an unusual view of the sun's colorful ring. Cloud in some areas prevented people from fully enjoying the sight. Still, many were frightened. The total eclipse occurs about twice a year as the moon passes between the earth and the sun on the same plane as earth's circle. The local astronomy society gave a flash on how an eclipse happens. Wednesday's event lasted up to more than six minutes in some places. In India, thousands bathed in the Ganges River in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi to clean their souls. It was sunny sky in Hong Kong for the eclipse, where students, parents and the elderly flooded in a primary school to watch. In Shanghai, children climbed up ladders to look through two large telescopes on the school roof to catch sight of the moon moving across the sun. Others looked through a pair of glasses covered with solar filter paper, where they could take pictures of the moon moving over the sun. In some cultures, many old stories are about eclipse. In India, a eclipse was considered unfavorable. In Chinese tradition, there is a story about a heavenly dog eating the sun. As the story goes, people would make noise to frighten off the dog and save the sun. Question: Which of the following statements about eclipse is TURE according to the text? - Most Chinese people used to think eclipses would bring about misfortunes. - Chinese fathers were pleased to watch solar eclipses. - Indians think bad fortune will come about along with eclipses. - The Chinese people are too frightened to go outside when eclipses occur.
Indians think bad fortune will come about along with eclipses.
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: My 3-year-old son and I lived a very hard life because I had been out of work since two years ago. Being poor is a terrible feeling when your 3-year-old finishes his meal and says: "Can I have some more bread and jam please, Mummy?" And you break down in tears, because you don't know how to tell him that there is no more food. With PS6, I went to the supermarket, picked up some food and started to cook at home. It was time for me to make a change and get back on my feet. I began to write a series of articles for the website named Hunger Hurt in July 2011. A few months later, local food bank gave me some help-- with some free vegetables every month, which made my life a little easier. I began to write recipes , posting them on my blog. To my surprise, families, students and those poor people told me how much it helped to see healthy recipes made from affordable supermarket vegetables. My Life took unexpected turns. I was invited to give a speech on food , interviewed for an Oxfam report on food banks and asked to write a cookery book. When I got the money from the book, for the first night in almost two years, I went to bed without worrying. Now, I have a well-paid job and a beautiful home, and I'll never forget the days when I worked hard for a good life. Question: Which could be the best title? - what a loving mother - A lesson hard life teaches me - A mother's dream job - Success lies in your own hands
Success lies in your own hands
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The Barcelonabased architects of the Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost $4.4 million for a threenight stay at the hotel. This price also includes an eightweek training course on an island. During their stay, guests would see the sunrise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt says the project will put his company in a leading position of a new industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecasts space travel will become common in the future. "It's very normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space" he told Reuters Television. A promising space tourism industry is beginning to take shape with construction in progress in New Mexico of Spaceport America, the world's first facility built specifically for passengers. British industrialist Richard Branson's space tours firm, Virgin Galactic, will use the facility to send tourists to space at a cost of $200,000 a ride. Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 280 miles above the earth. "It will take a day and a half to reach the pod, and the passengers will join it for three days," Claramunt said. More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved it. The numbers are similar for Virgin Galactic with 300 people already paid or signed up for the trip, but unlike Branson, Galactic Suite says they will use Russian rockets to transport their guests into space from a spaceport to be built on an island in the Caribbean. But critics have questioned the project, saying the length of time that will be used is unreasonable and also where the money is coming from to support the project. Question: What's Xavier Claramunt's attitude towards the space tourism industry? - Quite critical. - Slightly worried. - Highly optimistic. - Fully satisfied.
Highly optimistic.
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