Read the article and select the best answer. Article: One spring,when 1 was 1 0,during one of my father's layoffs,I could tell my mother was unhappy.I decided to cheer her up by buying her a special Mother's Day gift. One day after school I rode my bike to the Agins,which,I learned years later,was known for its high-end fashions and style.I introduced myself to Sylvia Agins,telling her I was looking for a Mother's Day present. "Do you think she'd like a purse ?"she asked."I think she might."I told her. She took out an Italian purse made of leather.She asked me what I thought,and I told her that my mom would like it. "How much money do you have?''she asked. "Twelve dollars,"I said. "You're in luck,"she told me."It's only $11.You have a dollar left over for the card." She wrapped the purse and thanked me for my business,and I rode off home with the package under my arm. When my mother opened the gift the next Sunday morning,she asked in an accusing tone,"Where did you get this?" "I bought it at the Agins.It cost me$1 1.''I said. My mother was shocked into silence. It wasn't until many years 1ater,when I learned that the purse was worth several hundred dollars,that I appreciated just how wonderful Sylvia Agins had been to me.I always felt regretful that I never had a chance to properly thank her. ''You know,my son,what really amazes me to this day,"my mother said.''Letting you have the purse for just a few dollars was unbelievable enough.But the fact that she let you leave the store with a dollar for the card was a touch of kindness that 9 11 never forget." Question: Which can be the best title for the text? Options: A: A Clever Shop Owner B: A Considerate Mother C: An Unforgettable Event D: A Priceless Mother's Day Gift
D

(Question)
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Whether it's a carol service or an evening of karaoke in the pub, many people will enjoy a good old singsong this Christmas. Singing aloud will not just lift the spirits---it's good for your physical health as well. Filling the lungs with air, increasing the heart rate and getting blood pumping round the body faster can all help our physical health. For the past few years Heart Research UK has been Funding a Christmas campaign aimed at getting people singing, simply for the benefit it can bring. The organizer of the campaign says singing is a safe, simple and social activity that everyone can enjoy. "Singing is linked to long life, stress reduction, and general health protection. It also brings a great amount of happiness. It is impossible to sing well with a long face because it affects your pitch ." Professor Graham Welch, who leads the International Music Education Research Centre at the University of London, has spent more than 30 years studying the effects of singing. He says that singing is a form of exercise. It means we're also having a strong aerobic activity when we're singing, which results in increasing the feeling of pleasure while decreasing that of stress. "And communal singing--like in a singing group, a church service or even a singsong in the pub--helps improve our sense of self-respect. It increases our sense of satisfaction with ourselves, a greater sense of feeling included. " Helen Astrid, a singing teacher, also sees the great effects that singing brings. "It lifts us up on a spiritual level, it helps our self-respect, and it's great for all ages from small kids to grannies--you can have a good sing and _ ." But she warns people not to have too many beers or glasses of wine, though a glass may help them gather courage before taking to the stage during the holidays. Question: Heart Research UK holds a campaign to _ . Options: A: encourage people to sing for God at Christmas B: study the effects of singing on people C: get people to sing and improve their health D: bring happiness to people during holidays
(Answer)
C

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The freezing Northeast hasn't been a terribly fun place to spend time this winter, so when the chance came for a weekend to Sarasota, Florida, my bags were packed before you could say "sunshine". I left for the land of warmth and vitamin C(C), thinking of beaches and orange trees. When we touched down to blue skies and warm air, I sent up a small prayer of gratefulness. Swimming pools, wine tasting, and pink sunsets(at normal evening hours, not 4 in the afternoon) filled the weekend, but the best part- particularly to my taste, dulled by months of cold- weather root vegetables- was a 7 a.m. adventure to the Sarasota farmers' market that proved to be more than worth the early wake-up call. The market, which was founded in 1979, sets up its tents every Saturday from 7:00 am to 1 p.m, rain or shine, along North Lemon and State streets. Baskets of perfect red strawberries, the red-painted sides of the Java Dawg coffee truck; and most of all, the tomatoes: amazing, large, soft and round red tomatoes. Disappointed by many a broken, vine-ripened promise, I've refused to buy winter tomatoes for years. No matter how attractive they look in the store, once I get them home they're unfailingly dry, hard, and tasteless. But I homed in, with uncertainty, on one particular table at the Brown's Grove Farm's stand, full of fresh and soft tomatoes the size of my fist. These were the real deal- and at that moment, I realized that the best part of Sarasota in winter was going to be eating things that back home in New York I wouldn't be experiencing again for months. Delighted as I was by the tomatoes in sight, my happiness deepened when I learned that Brown's Grove Farm is one of the suppliers for Jack Dusty, a newly opened restaurant at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton, where- luckily for me- I was planning to have dinner that very night. Without even seeing the menu, I knew I'd be ordering every tomato on it. Question: What did the author think of her winter life in New York? Options: A: Exciting. B: Boring. C: Relaxing. D: Annoying.
Ans: B

Question: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Dear Editor: While a new school term is about to begin, perhaps we should reconsider the matter of examinations. In July, two writers(letters to the editor) praised the cancellation of exams because they believe "Tests don't tell the whole story". As a teacher who has worked in four countries, I have had the experience that a student who earns good marks is generally a good student, and a student's final mark in a subject is usually a grade average of the year's work. Of course there are expectations, but they do not have the frequency that would give an unfair picture of a student's ability. The simple fact is that proper class work; diligent exam studies and good marks are almost certain indicators of a student's future performance. The opposite is, almost certainly, incompetence. There is no acceptable substitute for competition of quality. How can teachers and future officials determine what a student has learned and remembered? Should we simply take the student's mark for it? Any institution that "liberates" students from fair and formal exams is misguided, if not ignorant and surely the "graduates " of such institutions will lack trustworthiness , not to mention being rejected by foreign universities for graduate or other studies. When all is said and done, I sense that a fear of failure and a fear of unpleasant comparison with others are at the bottom of most ban-exam talks. Excellence and quality fear nothing. On the contrary, they seek competition and desire the satisfaction of being the best. Question: If a student graduated from a university which does not require exams, he would _ . Options: A: have to continue his studies B: not be admitted by foreign institutions C: be incompetent D: have a feeling of failure
Answer:
B