I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Farming is moving indoors, where the sun never shines, where rainfall is irrelevant and where the climate is always right. The perfect crop field could be inside a windowless building with controlled light, temperature,humidity,air quality and nutrition. It could be in a New York high- rise or a complex in the Saudi desert. It may be an answer to the world's food problems. The world already is having trouble feeding itself. Half the people on Earth live in cities, and nearly half of those - about 3 billion - are hungry or ill-fed. Food prices, currently increasing, are badly affected by dryness, floods and the cost of energy required to plant, harvest and transport it. And prices will only get more unstable. Climate change makes long-term crop planning uncertain. Farmers in many parts of the world already are using water available to the last drop. And the world is getting more crowded: by mid-century, the global population will grow from 6.8 billion to 9 billion. To feed so many people may require expanding farmland at the expense of forests and wilderness, or finding ways to greatly increase crop output. Gertjan Meeuws and three other Dutch bioengineers grow vegetables and house plants in closed and regulated environments. In their research station, water flows into the pans when needed, and the temperature is kept constant. Lights go on and off, creating "day" and "night", but according to the rhythm of the plant. Meeuws says a building of 100 square meters and layers of plants could provide a daily diet of 200 grams of fresh fruit and vegetables for the entire population of Ken Bosch, about 140,000 people. Their idea isn't to grow foods that require much space, like corn or potatoes. Sunlight is not only unnecessary but can be harmful. Plants need only specific wavelengths of light to grow. Their growth rate is three times faster than under greenhouse conditions. They use about 90 percent less water than outdoor agriculture. And city farming means producing food near the consumer, so there's on need... Question: What is the purpose of the text ? Options: A: To compare traditional and indoor farming. B: To discuss the influence of climate change. C: To explain the world's food problem. D: To introduce a new model of farming.
D
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Millions of families around the world have been given a helping hand out of poverty by micro-credits. These very small loans , usually less than US$200, have enabled the very poorest people to set up or expand businesses and become self-sufficient. The micro-credit movement started with Professor Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Professor Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, used his own money to set up a bank to benefit the poorest people in Bangladesh--families living on less than US$1 a day. There are now hundreds of organizations around the world following his blueprint to help people escape from poverty. So how does the system work? Local microfinance institutions (MFIs) make contact with families and offer loans, usually to women, to enable them to start or expand a business. These are very poor people who would not normally be able to get credit, but as no collateral is required they can get micro-credits. They pay back the loan on a weekly basis, over six months to a year. A very important aspect to the success of the micro-credit system is that receivers get local support. The MFIs educate local communities about ways to improve their lives, and offer practical support as well as collecting weekly loans payments. They encourage people to help each other, so that the whole community can pull itself out of poverty. MFIs may also help with literacy and health problems. Micro-credits are mainly given to women. Experience has shown that women are more motivated to improve their children's lives and will spend the money they make on better nutrition and schooling for their children. This may be the first chance they've had to contribute financially to the family, and their status in the home and the local community is raised. The micro-credit system is not charity. The payments are fixed-term loans and interest is charged. The costs of making such small loans, collecting them and giving personal support are high. This is shown in the interest rates, which range from 15... Question: What can we learn about the micro-credit system? Options: A: Whoever can't afford daily necessities have access to the loan. B: Applicants are required to provide collateral when applying. C: Micro-credits are operated by charity organizations worldwide. D: MFIs offer poor families small loans but charge them much interest.
D
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: When you meet someone for the first time, do you put across a good impression? And what do we mean by "good" in the context? According to Presence, a new book by Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy, people assess you on two main criteria when they first meet you: 1. Can I trust this person? 2. Can I respect this person? Your level of trustworthiness, or warmth, is the most important factor in how people initially admire you, Cuddy says-yet many mistakenly believe that the second factor,characterised as competence, is more important."From an evolutionary aspect,"Cuddy writes,"it is more important to our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust." While displaying competence is certainly beneficial, particularly in a work setting, Cuddy warns that focusing on winning people's respect, while failing to win their trust, can backfire-a common problem for young professionals attempting to make a good impression early on in their careers. "If someone you're trying to influence doesn't trust you, you're not going to get very far", Cuddy says, "A warm, trustworthy person who is also strong elicits admiration, but only after you've established trust does your strength become a gift rather than a threat." In Cuddy's book she also explains some of the science that can help you spot a liar. When a person is lying there is likely to be differences between what they are saying and what they are doing, she suggests. "Lying is hard work," she writes, "We're telling one story while suppressing another, and most of us are experiencing psychological guilt about doing this, which we're also trying suppress. We just don't have the brainpower to manage it all without letting something go-without'leaking'." "It's about how well or poorly our multiple channels of communications-facial expressions, posture, movement, vocal qualities, speech-co-operate,"she adds. "When we're consciously looking for signs of cheat or truth, we pay too much attention to words and not enough to the external body language," the... Question: What can be learned according to the passage? Options: A: Some people tend to think displaying competence to gain respect makes a good impression. B: A liar always experiences a feeling of guilt when a lie is leaked. C: When multiple channels of communication co-operate poorly, a liar can hardly be spotted. D: Words and actions are equally significant in deciding whether a person is trustworthy.
A