I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: In England, Christmas is the most important holiday in the year. Two important things, apart from its religious significance, help to set this holiday apart from all others: the custom of giving presents and the habit of spending it with the family. In the present highly commercialized age we are reminded of Christmas many weeks before the event. In the shops the special Christmas displays appear and outside them the special Christmas decorations. In the shopping centers of very large towns decorations are put up in the streets. In London thousands of people crowded into the centre of the town to see the decorations. The advertisements in all the newspapers remind us every day that there are "Only X more shopping days to Christmas". The Post Office vans are covered with brightly color1ed pictures advising us to "Post Early for Christmas", for hundred of millions of Christmas cards and millions of parcels are sent every year. Everywhere one turns, one is made aware that Christmas, which comes "but once a year", is coming once again. Many people feel sorrow about what they consider the over-commercialization of a sacred holiday, but, underneath all the business activities, a great deal of Christmas spirit is to be found. The custom of giving presents to one's family and friends is a very pleasant one so long as one remembers that it is the spirit behind the present which matters most and not the present itself. And how good it is at Christmas to return to the family home and meet parents, grandparents and as many aunts, uncles and cousins as can be expected to meet. Without the modern means of transport, however, many families would have the Christmas reunion. Question: The writer thinks that _ . Options: A: people can feel the existence of Christmas spirit anyhow B: our society is over-commercialized C: there are too many business activities before Christmas D: there are too many displays and decorations in shops and streets
A
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: A new system that scans customers' fingerprints and subtracts the grocery bill from their bank accounts has taken supermarkets in Germany to use the new system. "Almost a quarter of our customers pay with their fingers," said an employee at the headquarters. Edeka has tried the system at 70 of its supermarkets. It says it will introduce it at 200 others because customers like it. "At first we thought that only the young who really keep up with the latest technology would be interested, but we were wrong," said Stefan Sewoester from IT Werke. "Almost two-thirds of the people who use the system are 40 and older," he said. IT Werke, a computer company, is one of the pioneers of fingerprint payment software in Germany. It has helped about 150 shops, canteens and bars to put in the fingerprint scanning machines. Each costs about 2,000 euros. To sign up for the service, customers must have their fingerprints taken and leave their addresses and banking details with the shop. The shop then takes the cost of goods directly out of the customer's bank account. "It is especially a good thing for elderly people. Now they do not have to remember their pin to pay with their bank cards, or to scratch around for their glasses or cash." Sewoester said. The stores benefit from the system too. It saves more than time in the check-out line. It also cuts out the hidden costs of accepting electronic card payments. Question: According to the passage, the fingerprint system _ . Options: A: was invented by the Edeka supermarket chain B: has caused payment revolution in Germany C: is more popular with young people D: is preferred by most American customers
B
(Q).
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: At age 61, identical twins Jeanne and Susan no longer look exactly alike. Susan smoked for many years and is an admitted sun worshipper, whose habits Jeanne does not share. A new study of twins suggests you can blame those coarse wrinkles, brown or pink spots on too much time in the sun, smoking, and being overweight. Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors, studying twins allows an "opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility ," Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and his colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology. Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors. But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk. Baron's team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northem Midwest and Eastern regions of the US, who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002. At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking. The study group consisted of 52 fraternal and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status. From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage. By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared related to less skin damage. Baron and his colleagues say the current findings, which highlight ties between facial aging and potentially avoidable environmental factors--such as smoking, being overweight, and unprotected overexposure to the sun's damaging rays--may help motivate people to minimize these risky behaviors. Question: The passage is mainly concerned with _ . Options: A: skin cancer and environment B: identical twins research C: aging skin and environmental factors D: genes and lifestyles
(A).
C