Q: A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean. The first submarine communications cables, laid in the 1850s, carried telegraphy traffic. Subsequent generations of cables carried telephone traffic, then data communications traffic. Modern cables use optical fiber technology to carry digital data, which includes telephone, Internet and private data traffic.

Modern cables are typically about 1 inch (25mm) in diameter and weigh around 2.5 tons per mile (1.4 tonnes per km) for the deep-sea sections which comprise the majority of the run, although larger and heavier cables are used for shallow-water sections near shore. Submarine cables connected all the world's continents except Antarctica when Java was connected to Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia in 1871 in anticipation of the completion of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line in 1872 connecting to Adelaide, South Australia and thence to the rest of Australia.

After William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone had introduced their working telegraph in 1839, the idea of a submarine line across the Atlantic Ocean began to be thought of as a possible triumph of the future. Samuel Morse proclaimed his faith in it as early as 1840, and in 1842, he submerged a wire, insulated with tarred hemp and India rubber, in the water of New York Harbor, and telegraphed through it. The following autumn, Wheatstone performed a similar experiment in Swansea Bay. A good insulator to cover the wire and prevent the electric current from leaking into the water was necessary for the success of a long submarine line. India rubber had been tried by Moritz von Jacobi, the Prussian electrical engineer, as far back as the early 19th century.

Answer the following questions:
1. When were the first submarine communication cables placed?
2. Where do they lay?
3. What kind of communications did they initially carry?
4. What technology do they currently use?
5. Can they provide internet service?
6. When was the telegraph first introduced?
7. By whom?
8. Did Samuel Morse believe in a oceanic submarine line?
9. Crossing which ocean?
10. What year did he express his support in the project?
11. What year did he perform a test of his own?
12. Which body of water did he use?
13. Who else performed a similar test?
14. Where?
15. How wide are modern cables?
16. Do they reach all of the continents?
17. Which one is excluded?
18. Which continent was the most recent to be connected?
19. What year did it join?
20. Where did it connect?
A: 1. 1850s
2. on the sea bed
3. telegraphy
4. optical fiber
5. yes
6. 1839
7. William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone
8. yes
9. the Atlantic
10. 1840
11. 1842
12. New York Harbor,
13. Wheatstone
14. Swansea Bay.
15. 1 inch
16. no
17. Antarctica
18. Australia.
19. 1872
20. Darwin

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Jack wants to play with his dog, Max. Jack finds the ball. He throws the ball across the yard. Max runs after the ball. Max brings the ball back to Jack. Jack plays fetch with Max for a long time.

Jack now wants to Max for a walk. He looks for Max's leash. He looks on the porch. He looks in the closet. He looks on the hooks by the front door. Jack finally finds the leash in the kitchen drawer.

Jack puts the leash on Max and leads him out the front gate. Jack isn't sure where he wants to go. He thinks about taking Max around the block. He thinks about taking Max to the pet store for a treat. He thinks about visiting his friend. He finally knows where to go. He takes Max to the park. He sees his friends, Jim. Sammy, and Paul, at the park. They are all friends but Jack likes Sammy the best.

Jack has a great time playing with Max at the park. They play with a Frisbee. They chase in other and roll on the ground. Max is very dirty when they got home. Jack has to give Max a bath in the tub.

1. What is the dog called?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. Max

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

Today, at 28, the young German Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is at the top. "She gives radiance to the music," wrote Geoffrey Norris in The Daily Telegraph, prefix = st1 /London. Mutter is also one of the world's youngest professors.

Born in Rheinfelden on June 29, 1963, Anne-Sophie grew up in Wehr, a small town just five kilometers from the Swiss border. Her father, Karl Wilhelm Mutter, and her mother, Gerlinde, considered music lessons part of a good education. Thus, their son, Andreas, began practicing the violin at eight, and his younger brother, Christoph, had piano lessons. It came as no surprise when Anne-Sophie said she wanted a violin for her fifth birthday.

Her parents thought she was too young for the violin, and persuaded her to start on the piano. But Anne-Sophie has always had a mind of her own. "I longed to play the violin," she says. "It seemed to me a much more interesting instrument." After six months, her parents gave in.

The famous violin teacher Erna Honigberger, who lived nearby, became Anne-Sophie's tutor. After only nine months of lessons, she entered the six-year-old in a nationwide competition for young musicians. With Christoph accompanying her on the piano, Anne-Sophie won first prize.

In 1974, Erna, Erna Honigberger died. Anne - Sophie's new teacher was Aida Stucki. She taught Anne-Sophie to develop her own ideas on how a piece should be played, not just to imitate others. This is one of the violinist's strongest most distinctive characteristics today.

Though the Mutters were short of money at time, they limited their daughter's performances to one or two a year. "We are glad we went the family road," says her father. "No outsider can ever have an effect on our daughter's career or push her into playing more concerts than she wants to." Later she was allowed to give six to eight concerts a year and make some recordings. Only when she turned 18 did she begin her professional career.

1. When was Anne-Sophie born?
2. Where?
3. When did she start playing violin?
4. Did she play well?
5. Wass she self taught or did she have a tutor?
6. Who tutored her?
7. Did she have anyone else tutor her?
8. Who?
9. What did she teach her?
10. When did Anne-Sophia turn pro?
11. Did she win any awards before that?
12. What kind?
13. How old was she when she won that?
14. Did she have siblings?
15. What were their names?
16. Were they also musicians?
17. What did they play?
18. Were her parents always supportive of her desire to play violin?
19. What were her parents names?
20. Did they allow her to perform regularly as a child?
21. Why?

Numbered answers:

A:
1. June 29, 1963
2. Rheinfelden
3. Five
4. Yes
5. tutor
6. Erna Honigberger
7. Yes
8. Aida Stucki
9. to develop her own ideas on how a piece should be played
10. when she turned 18
11. Yes
12. nationwide competition for young musicians
13. Six
14. Yes
15. Andreas and Christoph
16. Yes
17. violin and piano
18. Yes
19. Karl and Gerlinde
20. No
21. They said no outsider could push her into playing more concerts than she wanted to.