Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: "Extra? Extra! Gasoline hits four dollars a gallon!" No one will really be shocked -- except, perhaps, the old-timers who tell about the good old days when gas was three gallons for a dollar, and people drove around "just for the fun of it". As a matter of fact, the price of gas has been rising fast and steadily for several years, and many adjustments have already been made. There was, for a time, considerable unemployment in the auto industry, and three quarters of the garages and service stations have gone out of business. However, the bicycle and motor-scooter business has flourished , and many people have found employment there. Now that Federal Motors has brought out its new Lilliput, which travels forty miles on a gallon, the auto business is picking up again. The factories that haven't switched over to two-wheel transportation are working on their new smaller models. There is talk, too, about bringing out new steam and electric automobiles that will be just as economical as the old cars. In the meantime, streetcars are gradually replacing buses all over the country because of the greater economy of electric power. And many people who have seldom used public transportation are now riding the streetcars while their automobiles rust in their garages. There's no market at all for their big, luxurious cars, for only the wealthy can now afford to operate them. Many people are now shopping in their own neighborhood, and small businesses are thriving. Ministers, educators, and editorial writers are pointing out that there has been a great improvement in family life. Families now stay at home more for their fun, and children and parents are becoming better acquainted. The stores report a booming business in parlor games, hobby materials, books, musical instruments and albums. People have lost their pale indoor look. The revival of the lost art of walking has brought a healthy pink back to many a cheek. This return to the heels has revolutionized... Question: It can be inferred that the author holds a _ attitude to the rising gas price. - positive - doubtful - negative - neutral
positive
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Different countries have different customs. When you travel to another countries, please follow their customs, just as the saying goes, " _ ." Very often people who travel to the United States forget to tip. It is usual to tip _ who help carry your bags, taxi drivers and waiters. Waiters expect to get a 15% tip on the cost of your meal. Taxi drivers expect about the same amount. In England, make sure to stand in line even if there are only two of you. It's important to respect lines there. It's a good idea to talk about the weather. It's a favorite subject of conversation with the British. In Spain, it's a good idea to have a light meal in the afternoon if someone invites you for dinner. People have dinner very late, and restaurants do not generally open until after 9 pm. In Arab countries, men kiss one another on the cheek. Your host may welcome you with a kiss on both cheeks. It is polite for you to do the same. In Japan, people usually give personal or business cards to each other when they meet for the first time. When a person gives you a card, don't put it into your pocket right away. The person expects you to read it. Don't forget to be careful of your body language to express something in conversation. A kind of body language that is acceptable in one culture may be impolite in another. Question: When you travel to the USA, you don't need to tip _ . - porters - waiters - teachers - taxi drivers
teachers
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Last year, on report card day, my son and a group of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald's. "Jack got a laptop for getting straight A's, and Laurie got a cell-phone," one boy said. "Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPod Nano, and she's only in third grade," said another. "And how about Brian? He got $10 for each A." I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell-phone, and the DVD player? I saw the road ahead: _ I saw my comfortable lifestyle disappear before my eyes---no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic carrots. No more organic anything! I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal achieved by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns ? What about the orchestra ? Would first chair pay more than second? I'd be penniless by eighth-grade graduation. "We never paid anything for good grades," said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. "He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that's about it." Don't you just hate that? We're all running around looking for the MP3 player with the most updates, and she's spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation. And what about the primary grades? What do these students get? "When the teacher asked if anyone got rewards for good grades, everyone in my class raised their hands and said they got ice cream cones ," said one third-grader. Question: The author takes her neighbor as an example to show _ . - pizza is the best way to motivate children - it is necessary to reward children for their good grades. - getting rewards for good grades is common nowadays - rewards are not the only way to motivate children
rewards are not the only way to motivate children
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: It is six o'clock in the morning. You are asleep in my left arm and I am learning the art of one-handed typing. Your mother, more tired yet more happy than I've ever known her, is sound asleep in the room next door. When you're older we'll tell you that you were born in Hong Kong in the lunar year of the pig. "It's a boy, so lucky," our neighbours told us. They said you were the first baby to be born in the block this year. This, they told us, was good Feng Shui, in other words, a positive sign. Naturally your mother and I were only too happy to believe that. Your coming has turned me upside down and inside out. I am pained by the memory of each suffering child I have come across on my journeys as a journalist. To tell you the truth, it's nearly too much for me to even think of the children being hurt and abused and killed. Last October, in Afghanistan, when you were growing inside your mother, I met Sharja, aged twelve, motherless, fatherless, guiding me through the grey ruins of her home. Everything was gone, she told me. There is another memory of Rwanda, and the churchyard where I found a mother and her three young children huddled together where they'd been beaten to death. The children had died holding on to their mother. Daniel, these memories explain some of the protectiveness I feel for you, and the occasional moments of blind terror when I imagine anything bad happening to you. Question: Which of the following words best describes the author's feeling when typing this text? - Relieved. - Regretful. - Loving. - Calm.
Loving.
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