Where can you go to listen to important people talk about important subjects? BigThink.com is a new website that allows Internet users to discuss certain topics with world experts . Subjects discussed on BigThink include the environment, music and questions about happiness and personal identity. The website has been called a YouTube for thinkers. Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins created BigThink.com. They said that people needed an international place to communicate with each other and discuss the important issues of our times. On the BigThink website, when you click on a subject, you will find a video of a person talking about his or her ideas. For example, you can listen to United States Senator Ted Kennedy talking about education and other things. Besides, you can read the comments and questions written by other visitors to the website. More than one hundred experts have expressed their ideas on the website. BigThink's creators started the website by first getting famous people to agree to be videoed. They began by interviewing several well-known professors from Harvard University. Then they used the names of these professors to gain the trust of others and get them to take part in the project. The website says BigThink belongs to everyone. Its motto is: "We are what you think." So, go online and start thinking big. If you visit BigThink.com, you can _ . A) listen to your favorite music B) chat with thinkers face to face online C) communicate with people worldwide D) get an online education
C
The tradition of birthday parties started in Europe a long time ago. It was feared that evil spirits were particularly attracted to people on their birthdays. To protect them from harm, friends and family members would come to stay with the birthday person and bring good thoughts and wishes. Giving gifts brought even more good cheer to keep away from the evil spirits. This is how birthday parties began. The following are some countries' birthday traditions: Canada---Putting butter on the nose. In Atlantic Canada, the birthday child's nose is put butter on for good luck. China---Noodles for lunch. The birthday child pays respect to his / her parents and receives a gift of money. Friends and relatives are invited to lunch and noodles are served to wish the birthday child a long life. England---Money cakes. Certain symbolic objects are mixed into the birthday cake as it is being prepared. If your piece of cake has a coin in it, you will be rich. Ireland---Birthday bump . The birthday child is lifted upside down and " bumped" on the floor for good luck. Italy---Pulling ears. The child's ears are pulled as many times as how old he / she is turning. Japan---New clothes. The birthday child wears new clothes to mark the occasion. New Zealand---Birthday claps. After the candles are hit, the happy birthday song is sung loudly and often out of tune and then the birthday person receives a clap for each year he / she has been alive and then one for good luck. The United States---Cake, candles and the birthday song. A cake is made, and candles are put on top based on how old the person is. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage? A) In New Zealand, an eight-year-old birthday child receives eight claps in all. B) In Ireland, bumping the birthday child means good luck to him/her. C) In England, coins are the only things that can be made into a birthday cake. D) In Italy, the birthday child's ears are pulled when he/she is lifted upside down.
B
Q: My neighbor Mrs. Gargan first told me about it. "Have you seen the tree?" She asked as I was sitting in the backyard enjoying the autumn twilight . "The one down at the corner," she explained. "It's a beautiful tree--all kinds of colors. All the passers-by stop to have a look. You ought to see it." I told her I would, but I soon forgot about the tree. Three days later, I was jogging down the street when a splash of bright orange caught my eyes. For an instant, I thought someone's house had caught fire. Then I remembered the tree. I approached the tree to look at it closely. There was nothing remarkable about the shape of the tree. It was a medium-sized maple. But Mrs. Gargan had been right about its colors. Like the mess of an artist's palette , the tree blazed a bright crimson on its lower branches and burned with vivid yellows and oranges in its center, and deep red at its top. Through these colors were light green leaves as yet untouched by autumn. Walking closer I noticed several bare branches near the top, their small black branches scratching the air like claws. The fallen leaves lay like a red carpet around the trunk. As I was amazed at this beauty, I thought of Ralph Waldo Emerson's comments about the stars. "If the constellations appeared only once in a thousand years, imagine what an exciting event it would be. But because they're up there every night, we barely give them a look," he made a remark in Nature. I felt the same way about the tree. Because its beauty will last only a week, it should be especially precious to us. And I had almost missed it. Once in the 19th century when a man noticed a brilliant display of northern lights in the sky over Massachusetts, he rang a church bell to alert the whole town's people. That's what I felt like doing about the tree. I wanted to awake the countryside to its wonder. I didn't have a church bell, but as I walked home, I did ask each neighbor I passed the same simple but important question Mrs. Gargan had asked me: "Have you seen the tree?". The best title of the passage can be _ . A) Have You Seen the Tree? B) The Most Beautiful Tree C) One of the Wonders in Nature D) The Precious Moment in Life
A: A
(Q).
Waste can be seen everywhere in the school. Some students ask for more food than they can eat and others often forget to turn off the lights when they leave the classroom. They say they can afford these things. But I don't agree with them. Waste can bring a lot of problems. Although China is rich in some resources , we are short of others, for example, fresh water . It is reported that we will have no coal or oil to use in 100 years. So if we go on wasting our resources, what can we use in the future and where can we move? Think about it. I think we should say no to the students who waste things every day. Everybody should stop wasting as soon as possible. In our everyday life, we can do many things to prevent waste from happening, for example, turn off the water taps when we finish washing, turn off the lights when we leave the classroom, try not to order more food than we need, and so on. Little by little, everything will be changed. Waste can be stopped one day, if we do our best. From the passage we know that some students often _ in the school. A) waste things B) don't work hard C) eat too much D) throw rubbish everywhere
(A).
A