Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Bum rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate would be $ 50,000 a month when my new media company started. So, I began looking around for individuals who would be my first investors. "Angel money" it was called. But when I reviewed my list of acquaintances to find those who might be able to help, I found the number got small. With no other choices, I began meeting with the venture-capital companies. But I was warned they took a huge share of your company for the money they put in. And if you struggled, they could drop you cold. As I was searching for "angel money", I started to build a team who trusted me even though I didn't have money for paychecks yet. Bill Becker was an expert in computer programming and image processing at a very famous Media Lab at M. I.T. With his arrival, my company suddenly had a major technology "guy" in-house. Katherine Henderson, a filmmaker and a former real-estate dealer, joined us as our director of market research. Steve White came on as operating officer. He had worked for the developer of a home-finance software, Quicken. We grabbed him. We had some really good people, but we still didn't have enough money. One night, my neighbor, Louise Johnson, came for a visit. She and I were only nodding acquaintances, but her boys and ours were constant companions. She ran a very good business at the time. Louise was brilliant and missed nothing. She had been watching my progress closely. She knew I was dying for money and I had prospects but could offer no guarantees of success. She told me that her attorney had talked to mine and the terms had been agreed upon. She handed me an envelope. Inside was a check for $ 500,000. I almost fell down. I heard her voice as if from heaven. "I have confidence in your plan," she said. "You' 11 do well. You're going to work hard for it, but it' s satisfying when you build your own company." Who would have thought I'd find an angel so close to home? There were no words sufficient for the moment. We just said good night. She... Question: The author easily built a team for his company because _ . Options: A: they were underpaid at their previous jobs B: they were turned down by other companies C: they were confident of the author and his business D: they were satisfied with the salaries in his company
C

(Question)
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: In today's prefix = st1 /Ireland, it seems hard to imagine the grim days of the 19thcentury when so many of the population starved, or that, in those days, many poor people had no clue how to prepare any food other than boil a potato. Nowadays, it is quite possible to eat both well and heartily all over the island. Tourism has made a _ difference to the standards of cooking inIreland. Until recently there was hardly any tradition of eating out in many districts, except perhaps on very few occasions at a local hotel. Patterns of diet were old-styled, based firmly on 'meat and two vegetables' (somewhat overcooked), potatoes (of course) and large quantities of dairy produce. Now things are very different. Tourist demands for predictable, inexpensive fast-food are met, as everywhere, with hamburgers and pizzas - a better bet being fish and chips. But more sophisticated tastes have introduced wholefoods and vegetarian restaurants (almost unheard of before), and a vast number of new restaurants, often French in style, have opened in the main tourist centres. Food 'events' such as Kinsale's Gourmet festival or Galway's Oyster Festival attract large numbers of visitors and reflect the new interest in food. Whatever Irish cooking lacks in finesse , it nearly always makes up for in plenty, and ingredients are of a high quality. Home-grown produce includes rich dairy foods, beef, lamb and pork, and a great variety of seafood. One of its great specialities is soda bread. It is made with buttermilk and is served fresh and warm with every meal. Recently there has been a return to simple Irish foods such as stews and potato dishes. One of the best-value meals in Irelandis breakfast. A 'traditional Irish breakfast' is a plateful of bacon and eggs with soda and potato breads. Accommodation rates are nearly always quoted with a full breakfast included, so you might as well eat enough to keep you going all day and get your money's worth! Question: What was Irish food like until quite recently? Options: A: It was very conservative and uninteresting. B: It was influenced by French cooking. C: It was very unhealthy. D: It was plentiful
(Answer)
A

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Cotton farmers in some Indian villages are flooding to buy Coca-Cola and Pepsi, believing that the sugar in the fizzy drinks kills pests . Farmers say scientists advised them to mix pesticides with a sugary syrup to control pests, and they found the mixture cheaper and more effective than pure chemicals---- although soft drink makers and scientists dismissed the claims. N. Hamunayya, who has become famous in his village in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, said his crop survived an attack of pests which had resisted other solutions. "We found that all the colas had the same effect on pests. The pests became numb and fell to ground," he said.He said the drinks had all the elements they needed: they were cheaper, sticky, fizzy, and attracted ants, which swallowed the larvae( )of the pests. But Thirupathi Reddy, assistant director of the Regional Agri Research station, Guntur, says tests had denied such claims. " We conducted some field trials on cotton crop at our research station. There were no increases of productivity or deaths of pests," he says. Statements from Pepsi and Coca-Cola said there was " no scientific basis" for this practice. But their sellers are enjoying booming sales. Mantan Wali, who sells soft drinks in 17 villages in the region, said sales increased , thanks to the farmers. " For the 10 days between August and September I had booming business. Instead of just 30 cases ( each containing a dozen one-litre bottles) of cola I started selling almost 200 cases, " he said. " We expected the sales to fall suddenly after the argument over pesticide remains in the cola drinks. Now I have to keep extra stock for the cotton farmers, " he said. Question: N. Hamunayya has become famous because _ . Options: A: He is the first farmer to use cola to kill pests. B: He is strongly against the use of cola to kill pests. C: He successfully advised farmers to use cola to kill pests. D: He himself successfully used cola to kill pests and saved his crop.
D