Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Today about 70 countries use Daylight Saving Time (DST). Daylight Saving was first introduced during World War I in Australia. During the world wars, DST was used for the late summers beginning January 1917 and 1942, and the full summers beginning September 1942 and 1943. In 1967, Tasmania experienced a drought . The State Government introduced one hour of daylight saving that summer as a way of saving power and water. Tasmanians liked the idea of daylight saving and the Tasmanian Government has declared daylight saving each summer since 1968. Persuaded by the Tasmanian Government, all states except two passed a law in 1971, for a test use of daylight saving. In 1972, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria joined Tasmania for regular daylight saving, but Queensland did not do so until 1989. Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia have had irregular plans, often changing their dates due to politics or festivals . For example, in 1992, Tasmania extended daylight saving by an extra month while South Australia began extending daylight saving by two weeks for the Adelaide Festival. Special daylight saving plans were made during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The differences in daylight saving in Australia continue to cause serious problems in transport and many other social activities. It also reduces the number of hours in the working day that are common to all centers in the country. In particular, time differences along the east coast cause major differences, especially for the broadcasters of national radio and television. Question: What can we learn about DST in some Australian states? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- It doesn't have fixed dates.
- It is not used in festivals.
- Its plan was changed in 2000.
- It lasts for two weeks
It doesn't have fixed dates.
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: In some countries in which there is very little rain at any time, the farmers have to irrigate their fields. Irrigation is easy enough if there is a great river near the crops, and if there is plenty of water in it. Canals carry the river water to the fields when necessary. In some seasons there may be too much water in the river, and the water may flood all the land near it. At other times the river water may not be enough for all the farmers, and then it will be difficult to irrigate the fields. To prevent these difficulties, a dam may be built across the river. This will store water for dry seasons, and in wet seasons it will prevent the flooding of the land. A great lake will, no doubt, be formed behind the dam, and this may mean that houses and fields will be covered with water. Most people will accept _ and will be ready to move to other places. Then the country can have the right amount of water at all times; more crops will be grown, there will be more food for everyone, and there will be no more floods. Dams have been built for centuries in different parts of the world. Modern dame are usually built of concrete but earth dams were used in India and Sri Lanka about 2500 years ago. There was another across the River Tigris very long ago, and large numbers of irrigation canals were made in Iraq to irrigate the land. The Romans were great dam-builders and there was also a famous dam at Ma' rubin Arabia. We cannot use sea water for irrigation; the salt will not allow the crops to grow. Fresh water is always needed, and it is very difficult and costly to make fresh water from sea water. This is done in a few countries, but the fresh water is for drinking. There is not enough at present for irrigation. Perhaps a scientist will one day invent a cheaper way of producing fresh water from the sea. Question: A dam is usually built _ . Answer:
OPTIONS:
- to cover the houses and fields
- for people to have the right amount of water at all times
- to grow crops better
- to form a large lake
for people to have the right amount of water at all times
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Here is a question I have often asked at dinner parties: You're on an island with only one other person, your best friend. He's dying of cancer. In his final days, he tells you, "I have 100,000 dollars in a bank back home. When I die, make sure my son goes to medical school." Then he dies. But his son is a no-good playboy who has no interest in going to medical school and will waste that money away in a very short time. But your son is entering college, and he is willing to become a doctor. Which one do you give the money to for medical school? I've asked this question of everyone from the president of a famous university to an ordinary young soldier, and it has never failed to get a discussion going. Everyone has an opinion, most of them different, but all of them correct. Sometimes this one topic lasts the whole evening. Question: Why does the writer often ask people such a question? Because _ . Answer:
OPTIONS:
- he wants to find the answer for a research
- he is interested in such a question
- he likes to make fun of people at parties
- he wants to offer people a topic in which everyone could say something
he wants to offer people a topic in which everyone could say something
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Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Scientists have long puzzled over how iguanas, a group of lizards mostly found in the Americas, came to live in the isolated Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga. Some scientists used to suppose that they must have traveled there on a raft, a journey of around 5,000 miles from South America to the islands. There are documented cases of iguanas reaching remote Caribbean islands and the Galapagos Islands on floating logs. But new research in January by Brice Noonan and Jack Sites suggested that iguanas may have simply walked to Fiji and Tonga when the islands were still a part of an ancient southern supercontinent. The ancient supercontinent was made up of present-day Africa, Australia, Antarctica and parts of Asia. If that's the case, the island species would need to be very old. Using "molecular clock" analysis of living iguanas' DNA, Noonan and Sites found that, sure enough, _ has been around for more than 60 million years--easily old enough to have been in the area when the islands were still connected by land bridges to Asia or Australia. Fossils uncovered in Mongolia suggest that iguanid ancestors did once live in Asia. Though there's currently no fossil evidence of iguanas in Australia, that doesn't necessarily mean they were never there. "The fossil record of this continent is surprisingly poor and cannot be taken as evidence of true absence," the authors write. So if the iguanas simply walked to Fiji and Tonga from Asia or possibly Australia, why are they not also found on the rest of the Pacific islands? Noonan and Sites say fossil evidence suggests that iguana species did once inhabit other islands, but went extinct right around the time when humans settled in those islands. But Fiji and Tonga have a much shorter history of human presence, which may have helped the iguanas living there to escape extinction. The researchers say that their study can't completely rule out the rafting theory, but it does make the land bridge theory "far more reasonable than previously thought." Question: What did some scientists previously believe about the iguanas? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- They were once discovered in America.
- They traveled by raft to Fiji and Tonga.
- They could survive in poor living conditions.
- They moved to Fiji and Tonga from Australia.
They traveled by raft to Fiji and Tonga.
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