Pocket Tape-Recorders "Family and Home Magazine" test what's on the market now. Pearl corder S702 $64 This simple model at the bottom of the Olympus range scored the most points for its excellent quality of recording. Background noise hardly affects the sound and recording from a pocket is perfectly possible, but it doesn't turn off automatically. Tape length: 30 minutes per side. Weight : 240 g Sony M9 $49.95 Small and very good looking, Sony's latest offering scored most for appearance. Sounds clear, but there is slight machine noise. The big control buttons are a great improvement on some of the complicated little controls on other tape-recorders. Doesn't switch off automatically but a red light shows if the machine is still running. Tape length : 60 minutes per side. Weight : 195g. Sony M400 $115 Lots of little control buttons that make a noise and are difficult to use. Rcording is good but machine noise loses points. Tape counter and automatic switch-off when tape has finished recording or rewinding are useful. Tape length : 60 minutes per side. Weight : 230g Imperial OEM MC7 $29.95 Cheap and simple compared with the rest, but recording is good as long as there is no background noise. Use only its own make of cassette. No light to show it is on; no fast forward button and the record button makes a loud noise. Tape length: 30 minutes per side. Weight: 285g. Philips 585$ 80 Handsome and simple to use, but recording is very poor at more than the recommended distance of 5 cm designed for dictation. No recording light. Tape length : 15 minutes per side. Weight : 220g. Which machine is unsuitable for general use? A) Pearlcorder S702 B) Sony M400 C) Imperial OEM MC7 D) Philips 585
D
A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high rains, smelly and dirty. Before the trip, I'd had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. "You from New Orleans?" she asked. I said I was, "No charge." She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened. As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We'd began to accept that we'd have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kemmedy in California. He'd read some pieces I'd written about our sufferings for state, the online magazine and wanted to give us ("no conditions attached") a new house across the lake from New Orleans. It sounded a good to her return, but I replied, thinking him for his exceptional generosity, then we to go back. Then the University of Florida offered to let him house to me. While he want to England on his one year, paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet's offer to James Kemdedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months. Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It's almost worth losing you wordy possessions to be reminded that people really when given had a channel. Which would be the best title for the text? A) Terrible Hurricane Katrina. B) Hurricane Is Heartless While Strangers Are Kind. C) Study in Florida. D) The Importance of Helping Others.
B
Q: A mystery surrounds my grandmother's collection of salt cellars . No one in the family seems to know when she started collecting them, or exactly how many she had. My grandmother died just over two years ago. At 91, she had spent 30 years without her right leg, which was removed due to cancer the year I was born. She was a poet, an artist, a food lover and a salt cellar collector. The funny thing about the salts, as she called them -- I never once heard her say salt cellar -- was that although everybody knew they were her hobby and everyone was always searching for them at yard sales or in stores, nobody seemed to know what they meant to her and they just wanted to make her happy. Grandma kept her salts in a dark wooden corner display case in the living room. Since her death the case has remained exactly as she left it. Grandpa tries his best to preserve his memories of her just as they are. Now I am collecting, too. Collecting memories about my grandmother's hobby, a way she spent her time. And as I hold one of them in my hand, I picture her holding it in her hand on the day she got it. She is smiling. My mother and her two sisters all have small collections, but my mother admits that she was more interested in finding salts to send to Grandma. Grandma once wrote a poem titled "When April Comes". The poem contains the line, "When April comes and I am not around, remember me when daffodils are found." Now, Grandpa is working on a poem with the line, "April came and you were not around". But she was, somehow. She was there in the memories left behind by her possessions. What would be the best title for the text? A) Grandma's Salt Cellar Collection B) The Mystery of Grandma's Salt Cellars C) Grandparents' Lifelong Devotion D) A Family's Collection History
A: A
Q: John Smith was a very handsome young man but he was lazy. He had finished his education and was happy to sit in his room and listen to the radio all day long. In fact, he had been doing nothing for almost six months, which worried his father a lot. One day Mr. Smith decided that he had to do something. "Johnny, When I was your age I was working and supporting my ten brothers and sisters. I want you to go out and get a job." So that was what he did. In fact, in the next three months, Johnny started ten jobs and was fired from ten jobs. He explained to his father. "They wanted me to be at work at 8:00 a. m. and told me to do all sorts of unpleasant things." "I don't care how you do it," Mr. Smith said. "Either you earn some money or move out of the house. I gave you one week's time." In the next few days Johnny began to change. He still stayed in his room all day, but spent his time writing letters and reading through the newspapers. More and more posts began to arrive for him. He bought a new suit for himself and invited his parents to the theatre and for dinner afterwards at the most expensive restaurant in town. When his proud parents arrived home after their evening hour, a policeman was waiting at the front door. "John Smith," he said as he handed him a piece of paper, "I'll see you in the court tomorrow." When he got outside, Johnny told his parents everything. "When you told me to earn some money, I decided to put an advertisement in the newspaper saying, 'New way to money fast! Send me $ 5 and I'll tell you my secret.' When I received the money I wrote back telling people to do as I do." Johnny was fined $250 by the court and was ordered to pay all the people back. As he left the court house feeling very ashamed, a newspaper man came up to him, "Young man, would you like to tell your story to my newspaper for $2,500?" Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage? A) How did the parents feel when Johnny invited them to the theatre and dinner. B) What's Johnny's secret. C) What did the policeman want Johnny to do. D) How much did Johnny have to pay all the people back.
A: D