(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The idea about the phoenix goes back to Ancient Egypt, where we find the phoenix described as a handsome, eagle-like bird, with part-golden, part-red plumage, that spent most of its life in the Arabian deserts. It was rarely seen and according to one version of the story, only appeared in Egypt once every five hundred years, when it flew to Heliopolis, "city of the sun", and deliberately burnt itself to ashes by settling on the altar flame there! However, it seems it did not really die because from those same ashes a young, fully formed phoenix was born and flew away, apparently back to Arabia. It is pretty obvious that no one has ever seen or will see a living phoenix. The interesting thing is that we can find certain clues which may explain one aspect of the Egyptians' idea. It may sound unbelievable, but some birds are apparently quite charmed by flames and small fires, especially members of the crow family. One zoologist actually proved this by setting fire to some straw near to a tame rook, a large black bird like a crow. Far from becoming nervous and backing away, the bird deliberately stood over the flames, with raised and vibrating wings. It didn't get burnt, but the image it presented by its strange behavior was almost exactly like that shown in illustrations of the mythical phoenix! Why birds should occasionally behave in this strange way is not clear. One idea is that they carefully use the heat of the flames to relieve the annoyance caused by their feather mites which all birds have. Whatever the reason, it is quite possible that the Ancient Egyptians saw birds behaving in this way, from time to time, and used it as the basis of their phoenix myth, adding fanciful details which closely linked it to their worship of the sun and their belief in _ . Nowadays, the phoenix is much less important to us than it was to the Egyptians. But the logo of modern fire insurance companies, which employ the phoenix as one of their symbols, refers that in one sense the idea of it remains. Question: Which of the following statements is NOT correct? Options: A: The ancient Egyptians worshiped the phoenix. B: The scientists have discovered why birds are attracted by fire. C: The modern people still favor the idea of the phoenix. D: The mythical tales about the phoenix were based on facts.
(A).
B

(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: When I was 4, my parents decided they could no longer live together. That same year, my mom moved to Los Angeles (L.A.) and a therapist was hired to decide where I would live. Playing with a dollhouse in her office, I showed her the mother's room on one side and the father's room on the other. When she asked me about the little boy's room, I told her the little boy didn't know where to sleep. The therapist finally decided I would stay with my dad during the school years and visit my mom on long holidays and for summers. I began flying between two cities and leading two different lives. I remember my last school day in Grade Six. My friends made plans to go to the beach together, but I couldn't join them because I had to fly to L.A. It wasn't that I didn't want to see my mom and stepdad; I just didn't want to leave my friends. It wasn't easy to put up a wall, and pretend I didn't hate saying goodbye to them. In the morning, my dad drove me to school with my packed bags, and after school, my friends went together, and I went to the airport. What has come of this in the end is that I'm always missing somebody. When I'm in northern California, I miss my mom and stepdad, while in L.A. I miss going out with my friends, my dad, and my little brother and sister. But after so many flights, I've learned that it's also fun traveling between two cities and experiencing different lives. Other children may not have the opportunity to experience so much. Question: Why didn't the author like traveling between two cities at first? Options: A: Because the traveling separated him from his friends. B: Because he hated saying goodbye to his mom. C: Because the traveling made it difficult for him to meet his parents. D: Because he wanted to spend his summers with his dad.
(A).
A

(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: You're in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater. You listen to their dialogue: "I can't believe it -- Lorenzo Bertolla! They are almost impossible to find. Isn't it beautiful? And it's a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome." They leave and you go over to see this unbelievable sweater. It's nice and the price is right. You've never heard of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those girls looked really stylish . They must know. So, you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes. Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too. This is the secret of undercover marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it. Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don't pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the MTV generation -- consumers between the age of 18 and 34. It's a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don't believe in ads. So advertising agencies hire young actors to "perform" in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice misleading, but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative. "Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is decreasing." It is true, because everyone knows an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. However, you don't know when a dialogue you overhear is just a performance. Question: What can we infer from the passage? Options: A: Traditional advertising's effectiveness is increasing. B: The MTV generation tends to believe all kinds of ads. C: Undercover marketing will surely be stopped soon by the government. D: That traditional advertising is too direct may lead to its decreasing effectiveness.
(A).
D