Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Thousands of puffins live in Maine and on islands in the Gulf of Maine. But the puffins may be in danger. Last summer, the percentage of laid eggs that successfully produced baby puffins took a dive. Scientists also found a decline in the average body weight of the adult and baby puffins on Machias Seal Island, home to the area's largest colony. Over the winter, dozens of the seabirds from the region were found dead, likely from starvation. What's causing the puffin trouble? Scientists think it may be a shortage of food. With ocean temperatures rising, fish populations have moved around. Normally, puffins' primary food source is herring, a type of fish. A lack of herring in the area could be causing the problem. Butterfish from the south have become more abundant in the Gulf of Maine and could be a new food source for birds. But Steve Kress says butterfish may be too big and round for baby puffins to swallow. Puffins spend most of their lives at sea. They come ashore to breed each spring and return to the ocean in August. The chicks swim to sea about 40 days after hatching. Puffin populations stretch across the North Atlantic, from Maine to northern Russia. Maine's puffin population has been at risk in the past. In the 1800s, they were hunted for their food, eggs and feathers. By 1901, only one pair of puffins remained in the state. Thanks to the help of local lighthouse keepers and seabird restoration programs, the state's puffin population has been restored to more than 2,000 birds. Scientists aren't sure what will happen to the Gulf of Maine's puffins. The birds may move further north. Kress says he hopes the Gulf population will sustain itself and then he continued. "You never know what climate change will bring," Kress said. "Historically fish could move out and more southerly fish could move in, and puffins may adapt to the new fish. Only they will know how the story will unfold." Question: In the scientists' opinion, _ is contributing to the puffin trouble. Answer:
OPTIONS:
- a lack of herring
- environmental pollution
- the increase of birds
- the huge size of butterfish

Answer: a lack of herring

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: The Last Supper is regarded as one of the supreme masterpieces in the whole field of pictorial art. Tradition has it that Leonardo Da Vinci worked for ten years upon the painting, the monks in the church annoyed at the delay. It was said that Leonardo often painted continuously from dawn to night without eating his meals. But at other times he spent hours before the picture, lost in contemplation, examining, comparing, and measuring his figures. This inactivity aroused the anger of the fussy Prior , the head of the church, who belonged to the large group of those who believed that the busier a man seems, the more he accomplishes; and so he tried to find fault with the idle painter. Leonardo was slightly unhappy and explained to somebody else that there is a great difference between the work of the creative artist and the stonemason. The creative artist needs time for contemplation; he may be busiest when his hands are idlest. Just now he needed two heads to complete the picture: that of Christ, for which no model on earth could be found, for where was the man to be found whose face would express the strength, and beauty, and tenderness, and deep sorrow of the Christ; then he also needed a head of Judas, and that was hard to find as well, for where was the man whose face could express the meanness of that base traitor . But he would look no further; if none came his way, he would be satisfied to take Prior as a model for Judas. This threat silenced the angry Prior, who quite naturally had no desire to pass to descendants in such a fashion. Question: Why did the Prior complain about the delay? Answer:
OPTIONS:
- Because he thought that the painter wasted most of the hours.
- Because he knew that genius might be busiest when seemingly idlest.
- Because he liked the work of a stonemason.
- Because he was eager to be taken as a model for Judas.

Answer: Because he thought that the painter wasted most of the hours.

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Many gardeners believe that "talking" to their plants helps them grow---it turns out that _ may not be crazy after all. According to the scientists from the University of Exeter, plants may keep communicating with each other through a secret "unseen" language. For their experiment, the scientists picked a cabbage plant that is known to send out a gas when its surface is cut. In order to get video evidence of the communication, they changed the cabbage gene by adding the protein---luciderase , which is what makes fireflies glow in the dark. When the changed cabbage plant was in full bloom, they cut a leaf off with a pair of scissors, and almost immediately, thanks to the luciderase, they could see the plant sending out "methyl jasmonate ". While this was a known fact, what was surprising was the fact that the minute this gas began to give out, the nearby cabbage plants seemed to sense some kind of danger and started to send out a gas that they normally have to keep predators like caterpillars away. What the scientists are not sure is whether the plants are trying to warn the other leaves or the near plants about the danger---something that will require further research However, the team, which is led by Professor Nick Smirnoff, is quite excited about the findings because this is the first time it has been proved that plants do not live a passive life, but actually move, sense and even communicate with each other. However, before you get all concerned, they are quite sure that plants do not feel the pain when they are cut, since they do not have nerves---so go ahead and bite into that juicy carrot! Question: According to the experiment, plants _ . Answer:
OPTIONS:
- don't live a passive life
- can feel pain when they are cut
- can warn the other leaves about danger
- can talk with each other

Answer:
don't live a passive life