Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Gimmicky--and expensive--new gloves allow chatterboxes to take the term 'handsfree' to a new level--by talking into them as they make a call. The gloves are known as 'Talk to the Hand' and costPS1.000 a pair. They come with a speaker unit embedded into the thumb and a microphone built into the little finger that can be connected to any mobile handset using Bluetooth.Artist Sean Miles designed the gloves that double as a phone in part of his project that shows the possibilities of gadget recycling.He combines gloves with parts from mobile handsets recycled through O2,which commissioned the project. Mobile phone users will be able to keep their hands warm while they chat without taking their phone out of their pocket or handbag. Mr Miles designed two pairs of the new gloves--one in pink and the other in brown and yellow.They will appear in an exhibition this July and visitors will be able to win the gloves.If demand is high,they will then be produced on a larger scale. O2 Recycle,which backs the project,estimates that there are already 70 million unused mobile handsets in the UK.The service pays those who recycle gadgets including phones,MP3 players and digital cameras. Designer Scan Miles,hopes his work will get people thinking about recycling.The 41-year-old said:"I hope that my Talk to the Hand project will get people to think again about the waste created by not recycling gadgets.If a few more people recycle their gadgets rather than send them to landfill ,I think this project will have fulfilled its aim." The Talk to the Hand mobile phone gloves are the second product in a series that O2 Recycle and Miles have created.Miles is now working on combining phones with handbags--so people don't spend time rummaging around in their bags to find a phone when it rings. Question: What can we learn about Talk to the Hand? - It has been widely used at present. - It has a pair of gloves that can function as a phone. - It can be connected directly to any mobile handset. - It is expensive but environment--friendly.
It is expensive but environment--friendly.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Large areas of the Amazon rainforest were grassland until just 2,000 years ago when it has been found. Researchers say the find gives new light on the Amazon's history - and show it was a savannah rather than the high forest it is today. They believe much of the area was grassland until a natural shift to a wetter climate about 2,000 years ago let the rainforests form, according to a study that challenges common belief that the world's biggest tropical forest is far older. The arrival of European diseases after Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492 may also have sped up the growth of forests by killing the local people farming the region, the scientists wrote in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "The dominant ecosystem was more like a savannah than the rainforest we see today," John Carson, lead author at the University of Reading in England, said of the findings about the southern Amazon. The scientists said that a shift toward wetter conditions, perhaps caused by natural shifts in the Earth's orbit around the sun, led to growth of more trees starting about 2,000 years ago. The "findings suggest that rather than being rainforest hunter-gatherers, or large-scale forest clearers, the people of the Amazon from 2,500 to 500 years ago were farmers," the University of Reading said in a statement. Carson said that perhaps a fifth of the Amazon basin, in the south, may have been savannah until the shift, with forests covering the rest. In one lake, Laguna Granja, rainforest plants only took over from grass as the main sources of sediments about 500 years old, suggesting a link to the arrival of Europeans. And understanding the forest could help solve puzzles about climate change. The Amazon rainforest affects climate change because trees soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt. Brazil has sharply slowed deforestation rates in recent years. Question: How does the author think about Columbus' crossing the Atlantic in 1492? - Significant. - Necessary. - Valueless. - Destructive.
Destructive.

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Isn't it interesting how we expect others to behave in a certain way so we can feel good about ourselves? And then when people don't behave as we want them to, we feel so disappointed and angry --- when really, most times, we're not actually surprised at their actions? We just want those actions to be different --- actions we'd be more comfortable with. This week I shared a friend a wonderful home-cooked meal and a bottle of wine. About the time we got to the freshly-baked cookies, the conversation turned to her somewhat crazy sister. I had to smile, just a little, since her sister-stories had had much the same theme for the last two decades.When her frustration was just about to peak over her sister's latest unbelievably selfish act, I suggested she begin trying "The Law of Patient Acceptance." "How can I possibly accept her behavior?" my friend asked. "Acceptance doesn't necessarily mean tolerance," I shared. "It just means that you accept the person for who they are and you stop knocking yourself out trying to change them." Everyone has these difficult people in their lives from time to time. "Think of it this way," I said. "If you were to go out and buy an ottoman today, thinking you were buying a chair, you'd be really angry that the ottoman was such a pathetic chair. But once you realize what you're dealing with, once you accept the ottoman for what it is and you stop trying to turn it into a chair, your anger largely goes away." You have to accept people for who they are. Even when you've had high hopes that they might have been able to be someone else. "You can't change people," my Mother always said. And she was right. The best we can do is to see people as clearly and objectively as possible. For they rarely change. Question: According to the writer, _ . - we should accept others for who they are - we should try to change others - we shouldn't make friends with difficult people - we shouldn't have high hopes for ourselves
A: we should accept others for who they are

(Question)
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: A person steps on what seems like solid ground but discovers with horror that the ground is giving way underfoot. The person struggles desperately but is trapped. There is no escape. Slowly the person sinks deeper and at last is gone. The solid ground was solid only in appearance. It was actually quicksand, which is a deep mass of fine sand mixed with water. How is quicksand formed? Water pushes up from below the surface and is held by the sand. The grains of sand are forced apart by the water. They cannot hold any weight. The subsurface water may have come from a spring, a river, or a stream. Sometimes pools of water near beaches become filled with sand. When the soil under these pools does not allow for good drainage , the sand can become stretches of quicksand. Is it true that a person who steps into quicksand is doomed to die? No, for people have fought their way from quicksand to firm land again. It is panic that creates the condition that can result in death, for the more a person struggles, the worse matters become. Quick movements will make the sand yield for a time, but then it rushes back and settles solidly around the body. People trapped in quicksand should either lie back with arms outstretched, or not move at all. When the weight of the sand around his body has displaced equals that person's weight, the victim will stop sinking. With feet held still, and with slow movements of the arms, as in the backstroke in swimming, people have managed to roll to safety and reach firm ground. Question: The passage mainly tells about _ . - what solid ground looks like - the nature of quicksand - stepping into quicksand - escaping from quicksand
(Answer)
the nature of quicksand