Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Believe it or not, optical illusion can cut highway crashes. Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent strips, called chevrons , painted on the roads make drivers think that they are driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down. Now the American Automobile Association Foundations For Traffic Safety in Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan's success. Starting next year, the foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway crashes. Excessive speed plays a major role in as much as one fifty of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation. To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas where speed-related hazards are the greatest-curves, exit slopes, traffic circles, and bridges. Some studies suggest that straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars. Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower. The result is a longer lasting reduction of highway speed and the number of traffic accidents. Question: On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that _ . Answer: | OPTIONS:
- they should avoid speed-related hazards
- they are driving in the wrong lane
- they should slow down their speed
- they are coming near to the speed limit
A: they should slow down their speed

Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guestroom. Instead the angels were given some space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied,"Things aren't always what they seem." The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer. After sharing a little food they had, the farmer and his wife let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, "How could this happen?" "Why didn't you watch out for the cow? The first family had everything, yet you watched over his house," she accused . "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, you didn't help." "Things aren't always what they seem," the angel replied. "When we stayed in the basement, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked God if I could seal the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. So things aren't always what they seem." Question: Why did the older angel repair the hole for the rich family? Answer: | OPTIONS:
- Because she didn't like the greedy owner.
- Because she wanted to save the gold for the poor.
- Because the basement was too cold to stay in.
- Because she believed that one should always be ready to offer help.
A: Because she didn't like the greedy owner.

Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Japanese Students Suffer from Pressure Last April,15-year-old Rei Iwasaki stopped her piano and flute lessons and began to study every day of the week. Her parents paid to send her to a "cram school ."She wanted very much to pass her exams. In February she did pass an all-day, five-subject examination and entered the high school she hoped to enter. Thirteen-year-old Akio Yoshiwara wasn't so lucky. Unable to take the pressure of the exams, he hanged himself in February. He left a suicide note which said, "I did my best in this dear life, but it's no good." Suicides are now a common part of life among students in Japan. The cause is the incredible pressure of the "examination hell." Even a number of teachers are committing suicide each year. When some students broke windows in a school near Tokyo, the principal blamed himself and wrote the following note: "The incidents were due to the lack of appropriate measures by the principal and I apologize. I am very tired. The Japanese educational system is much different from the American system. It is perhaps the most regimented school system in any of the industrialized nations. Boys and girls wear uniforms and go to school six days a week --- 240 days a year compared to 180 in the U.S. Ninety- five percent graduate from high school compared to seventy-five percent in the U.S. Students don't ask questions in class but only listen respectfully to the teachers. And every few year's students are tested to see which school they will enter next. There is stiff competition for the "best" schools. The result is a well-informed, disciplined student, ideal for factory and company work and excellent at learning specialized skills. But there is little fun in education, little creativity and the incredible pressure of "examination hell." Question: Why did the principal kill himself? Because _ Answer: | OPTIONS:
- He thought it was his fault that some students broke the windows.
- He was very tired.
- He couldn't stand the pressure of the "examination hell".
- He blamed himself and wrote a note.
A: He thought it was his fault that some students broke the windows.

Q: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Taj Mahal, Agra, India As many as 28 different varieties of semi-precious and precious stones were used to decorate the outside of the Taj Mahal. Construction of the Taj Mahal took around 20 years. The building, which was made from white marble from the quarries of Rajasthan, appears pink in the morning, white in the day and golden in the moonlight. Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, Japan It took 10 years to construct the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. It connects the city of Kobe, on Japan's mainland, with Iwaya on Awaji Island. Before it opened, the only way to get between the two cities was ferry. However, the waterway was prone to severe storms and when two ferries capsized in 1955, killing 168 people, public anger convinced the government of the need for a bridge. It's the longest suspension bridge in the world, with a length of 1,991 meters. Panama Canal, Panama More than 4.5 million cubic yards of concrete were used in the construction of this canal's locks and dams. The Panama Canal is a 77-kilometer (47-mile) long waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The earth and rubble excavated to make way for it was enough to bury Manhattan to a depth of four meters. A series of locks allow ships to pass through the water; each of the moveable lock doors weighs 750 tons and each of the locks fills with 52 million gallons of water to accommodate the 15,000 ships that use the canal every year. Completion date: January 7, 1914 after 10 years of building. Grand Canyon Skywalk, Arizona, America The Skywalk's foundation is strong enough to support 71 million pounds. Located 1, 219 meters above the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon's Skywalk consists of one million pounds of steel and 83,000 pounds of glass. It was the creation of Las Vegas businessman David Jin, who approached the Hualapai Tribe with the idea of a glass walkway over the Grand Canyon in 1996. The Skywalk was assembled on site. Completion date: March 28, 2007. Question: Which construction took the longest time to build? Answer: | OPTIONS:
- The Taj Mahal.
- The Panama Canal.
- The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge.
- The Grand Canyon Skywalk.
A: The Taj Mahal.