Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: It is true that world population is growing, but this is not the cause of our current and future global problems. Believing this will cause us to ignore the real problem and risk long-term damage to our planet. Let me start by explaining why overpopulation is a _ . For one thing, the UN Population Division regularly predicts population growth but provides a low variant , medium variant, and high variant to factor in various possibilities. In the 2010 revision, their high variant suggests that the world population will be almost 16 billion in 2100, but the low variant predicts it will peak at 8 billion and decrease to just over 6 billion by 2100. In most cases, it is the low variant that has come true in the past, suggesting the same will be true of their future population predictions. In addition to this, the size of families is actually decreasing. For another, if the Earth is overpopulated, there needs to be insufficient food, water, and space for humans to live. However, Indian economist Raj Krishna estimates that India alone is able to increase crop produce to the point of providing the entire world's food supply. The World Food Programme confirms that there is sufficient food grown to feed the world and there is the same amount of fresh water on the planet now as there was 10,000 years ago. So how is it possible that the number of people in the world is affecting our planet? Therefore, it is not an increase in population but an increase in consumption that is a severe threat. Materialism and overconsumption are facts of life for everybody in the western world, as possessions reflect a person's status in society and people strive to obtain happiness through owning the latest fashionable goods. Not only that, but waste is a common occurrence which has a huge effect on our resources. It is a sad truth that 80% of the world's resources are currently used by just 20% of the world's population. Our overconsumption must be addressed now to make our lives more sustainable and avoid continuing the terrible... Question: The author stresses that _ . - people should save food and water - economists are making wrong predictions - wrong judgment leads to serious consequences - measures should be taken to reduce population
wrong judgment leads to serious consequences

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: (This selection was originally published in 1992. Pluto is no longer classified as a planet.) Pluto is in many ways the strangest of the planets. It is small and has a large moon(called Charon). Its orbit is unusual, which may cause it to have seasons in the sense that when it is close to the sun, the liquid methane on its surface boils to form a kind of atmospheric haze . When the planet moves farther away from the sun, it starts to snow solid methane. Pluto is not dark. Despite its great distance from the sun, the surface of Pluto is probably as bright as a moonlit night on Earth. The reason is all that methane, which is as white as newly fallen snow. The discovery of Pluto was more accident than design. The American astronomer Percival Lowell had predicted the existence of a ninth planet(he called it Planet X)based on what he took to be irregularities in the orbit of Neptune. Today astronomers argue that these "irregularities" weren't real, but the result of instrumental error. Nevertheless, Lowell produced predictions about where Planet X ought to be(although, to be honest, the predictions changed occasionally when he redid the calculations).In any case, in 1930 Clyde Tombaugh, doing a systemic sky survey that would have found the planet no matter where it was, discovered the planet we now call Pluto. By coincidence, its position was pretty close to where Lowell's last prediction said it should be. Was it just luck? We'll never know. Question: The text mainly wants to _ . - give a brief introduction of Pluto - talk about the discovery of Pluto - prove the exact position of Pluto - describe the strangeness of Pluto
give a brief introduction of Pluto

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Everywhere you will always find "the white--haired boy", sometimes called "the fair-haired boy" He gets special treatment, as if he were above everybody else. You will find him in school, in college, at home, or where you work. In school, he is the teacher's pet, her darling who can do nothing wrong. Sometimes she lets him do little jobs for her. He comes to class in the morning, all shiny and clean, He is always raising his hand, ready with an answer to the teacher's questions. And he knows all the answers. _ especially if you are at the bottom of the class and the teacher thinks you are stupid. How you hate the white-haired boy! In college, he walks--more often strides--across the school grounds as if he owned them. Sometimes he wears a colorful football or basketball shirt or sweater, with a bright red, or green or yellow college letter proudly worn on the front of it--as a big B, for Bullfinch University. What broad shoulders, what muscles he has! He makes the girls happy by just smiling at them. He has the mark of success on him. At home, "the fair-haired boy" is mother's choice, her favorite. Sometimes, he is the oldest son--at times, the youngest. If you are in between, you are out of luck. On the job, you might meet another of these "white-haired boys"; you cannot escape him. For some strange reason, he is the man who always moves ahead. He gets better and better jobs, with more and more money. But you stand still, wondering why, and trying to explain to your-self why you hate him so much. Then, you discover that there are others who share your feelings, ready to "let their hair down" --to tell you their private thoughts. One of them asks: "What does he have that I haven't got?" You ask yourself the same question. Finally, there comes a day when you decide to stop hating him. Is it perhaps because he has been made boss and you find yourself working for him? Question: Which of the following is the best title for the passage? - Try to Be Attractive - Let Your Hair Down - The White-haired Boy - The Top Student
A: The White-haired Boy

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special. However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Roses are the Father's Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died. When children can't visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental(, ). Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad. Question: The United States is special in Father's Day because _ . - many people celebrate the day - only America celebrates the day - America makes it an official day - all men are honored in America
A: America makes it an official day