Article: Yesterday my old neighbor knocked on my door angrily. Obviously, my cat, Rocco, had left a turd in his perfect flower beds. Fortunately, I wasn't home when this happened, so he angrily complained to my friend and neighbor Kate about this. She was kind enough to listen to him and to go down into the garden with him to have a look. She even took a picture. When I got home later, Kate had left a message on my answering machine about the incident. Hearing it was about my cat again, my stomach turned. Several weeks before, he'd gotten so upset that he threatened to put rat traps on the ground, hoping that would frighten me into keeping my cat indoors. So, I was a little _ this time. But I couldn't help but laugh when Kate told me the whole story. I understood what gardening meant to him. Since my old neighbor retired ten years ago, he had spent all of his time on his garden. So when I saw him in the garden later on, I went to talk to him. To my surprise, it turned out quite nice. I was really surprised to find that I had the grace not to respond to his bad words. Instead, I engaged him in a conversation on the beautiful flowers he'd planted, the color combinations and the care he took to create such a sense of order. I tried to convey my understanding and appreciation without complimenting or talking down to him. I was really amazed by how that turned out. We hadn't had a conversation like that for over a year! Question: What can we learn from the text? Yes or no, is the answer "The author's friend dealt with the incident patiently after it happened."?
Yes

Article: There are people in Italy who can't stand soccer. Not all Canadians love hockey. A similar situation exists in America, where there are those individuals you may be one of them who frown when somebody mentions baseball. Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens. They tell you it's a game better suited to the 19th century, slow, quiet, and gentlemanly. These are the same people you may be one of them who love football because there's the sport that values "the hit". By contrast, baseball seems abstract, cool, silent, still. On TV the game is divided into a dozen perspectives, replays, close-ups. The geometry of the game, however, is essential to understanding it. You will view the game from one point as a painter does his subject; you may, of course, project yourself into the game. It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement. The TV won't do it for you. Take, for example, the third baseman. You sit behind the third base and you watch him watching home plate. His legs are apart, knees flexed . His arms hang loose. He does a lot of this. The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive. But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws: the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or brings the glove to a point in front of him, takes a step right or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman's position. Suppose the pitch is a ball. "Nothing happened," you say. The skeptic and the innocent must play the game. And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is. Watch the third baseman. Smooth the dirt in front of you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of ball on wood. If football is a symphony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking ... Question: Those who don't like baseball may complain that _ . Yes or no, is the answer "it is not exciting enough"?
Yes

Article: In the summer of 1999, a small town called Golcuk was shaken by a big earthquake in north-western Turkey. It destroyed the whole town and other nearby places. Soon enough, help from other countries flew there for one purpose, "saving lives". Nowadays wherever an earthquake strikes, other countries are ready to send help. That is really something that, as human beings, we should be proud of. When the earthquake struck, I was living in my hometown of Ankara, capital of the Turkey. Despite the 220-mile distance between the two locations, we still were able to feel the shakes. I had a chance to visit Golcuk a couple times when I was a kid. My uncle who lives in Germany has a summer house there, and every summer they stay in Golcuk for their yearly vacation. After the quake struck, we couldn't contact them, so we didn't know if they were in Golcuk or in Germany during the quake. Our unsuccessful attempts worried us, and the only thing we wanted to hear was that they were OK. Without wasting any more time, my brother, my sister's husband, and I decided to drive there to check on them by ourselves. When we were driving, the damage of the earthquake started to show itself right away. Big, wide, tall trees were laid down on the side of the road. Getting closer to Golcuk, we found the impact of the earthquake was getting worse. Inside the town was total destruction. It wasn't easy to figure out the streets among the ruins. Finally, we were able to find my uncle's apartment and thank God, it was still standing, but nobody was there. Later on we found that they hadn't yet visited Golcuk that year. What luck! Earthquakes are natural disasters and there is no way to avoid them, especially as earthquakes never give a warning in advance. They just strike mercilessly in the middle of the night when people are asleep in their beds. We cannot stop disasters but we can prepare ourselves for their consequences. Question: What is the best title of the passage? Yes or no, is the answer "Memory of an Earthquake in Golcuk"?
Yes

Article: Bangkok has become the world's top tourist destination, with 15.98 million visitors projected to visit Thailand's capital city this year, according to the third annual Global Destination Cities Index released by MasterCard on Monday. Based on data MasterCard collected from governments, central banks, related public agencies and airlines so far this year, the projection for the entire year says Bangkok is surpassing London, the previous holder of the top place, by a very narrow margin. Monday's report marked the first time an Asian city has been projected to be the top-ranked tourist destination. London came in second, with 15.96 million visitors expected in 2013, and Paris, third, with 13.92 million visitors. MasterCard looked at 132 cities. Other Asian cities that made it to the Top-20 Global Destination Cities in 2013 include Singapore at number four, with 11.75 million visitors; Kuala Lumpur at number eight, with 9.2 million visitors; Hong Kong at number nine, with 8.72 million visitors; Seoul at number 11, with 8.19 million visitors; Shanghai at number 14, with 6.5 million visitors, Tokyo at number 16, with 5.8 million visitors, and Taipei, with 5.19 million visitors. The study found that Bangkok is experiencing a large increase in its number of tourists in 2013, up 9.8% from 2009. That compares to New York's increase at 5.0% and London's at 3.8%. Paris, meanwhile, saw a small dip in its number of tourists (negative 0.7%). Caroline Lledo, who was visiting Bangkok from France, said Thailand has many offerings. "We like culture and the people are so nice. We also love shopping here," Ms. Lledo said. MasterCard Worldwide's global economic adviser Yuwa Hedrick-Wong cited overall value for money spent for why Bangkok is attractive. That is true for Thailand overall as well. Question: What attracts visitors to Thailand? Yes or no, is the answer "Culture, people and shopping."?
No