*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: It was my first day back home since starting college. A lot had changed in the last year. Not with my hometown but with me. I had left as a 17-year-old boy and had now returned as an 18-year-old man. In the city, I was living on my own, had a part-time job and was studying. Even the government recognized I was an adult: I had a driver's license. So here I was, on my summer vacation, walking down the main street with my father, desperate for him to acknowledge how mature I was. When his recognition failed to appear, I took matters into my own hands. "Dad," I said casually, "I'm thirsty. Let's go for a beer." It was the first time I'd ever mentioned beer in front of my father, let alone ask him to drink one with me. He turned to me with a curious expression on his face. "A beer ? Well I guess you're old enough now. Let's go to Sailors' Bar. It's where my cousin Tom, your uncle, used to drink. You remember him, right?" I had only some vague memories of my uncle. He was _ . We didn't talk about him much. "What ever happened to Uncle Tom, Dad? I haven't seen him in years," I said as we continued towards the bar. "Neither have I, unfortunately. He was a good kid once. But things changed," my father said sadly. As a boy, he explained, there had been no better-behaved boy than Tom. But after leaving school, he moved to the city and fell in with bad company. He started going out every night, drinking in nightclubs and playing cards. Soon he lost everything and had to beg his mum to pay his debts. She agreed on the condition he returned home. My dad took a deep breath and continued his tale. "Things settled down for a while. He married a lovely woman, gave up his bad habits. But it didn't last. He was soon back to his old ways. He couldn't resist. He was at Sailors' Bar almost every night. His poor mother died of grief and shame. His wife followed her soon after. "What ruined him was alcohol. He told me once, when a man begins drinking, he never knows where it'll end. 'So', Tom warned me, 'beware of your first... Question: What does the young man mean by referring to Uncle Tom as "the black sheep of the family"? Options: A: The family was concerned about Tom because he was always in trouble. B: The family showed sympathy to Tom because he was unfortunate. C: The family felt ashamed of Tom because he was a failure. D: The family felt disgusted about him because he was different.
**Answer**
C

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: I entered high school having read hundreds of books. But I was not a good reader. Merely bookish, I lacked a point of view when I read. Rather, I read in order to get a point of view. I searched books for good expressions and sayings, pieces of information, ideas, themes--anything to enrich my thought and make me feel educated. When one of my teachers suggested to his sleepy tenth-grade English class that a person could not have a "complicated idea" until he had read at least two thousand books, I heard the words without recognizing either its irony or its very complicated truth. I merely determined to make a list of all the books I had ever read. Strict with myself, I included only once a title I might have read several times.(How, after all, could one read a book more than once?)And I included only those books over a hundred pages in length.(Could anything shorter be a book?) There was yet another high school list I made. One day I came across a newspaper article about an English professor at a nearby state college. The article had a list of the "hundred most important books of Western Civilization." "More than anything else in my life," the professor told the reporter with finality(firmly), "these books have made me all that I am." That was the kind of words I couldn't ignore. I kept the list for the several months it took me to read all of the titles. Most books, of course, I hardly understood. While reading Plato's The Republic, for example, I needed to keep looking at the introduction of the book to remind myself what the text was about. However, with the special patience and superstition of a schoolboy, I looked at every word of the text. And by the time I reached the last word, pleased, I persuaded myself that I had read The Republic, and seriously crossed Plato off my list Question: On hearing the teacher's suggestion of reading, the writer thought _ . Options: A: one must read as many books as possible B: a student should not have a complicated idea C: it was impossible for one to read two thousand books D: students ought to make a list of the books they had read
**Answer**
A

*Question*
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Public schools in Washington, D.C. provide students with musical instruments for free. When something goes wrong with an instrument, Charles West and Larry Jernigan do the repairs. Both men approach their work with a passion . For them, it's important that students have a joyful experience with music. The two have worked together for almost 20 years. This year alone, they've fixed about 450 instruments. Both men are musicians and music lovers, so learning to do repairs came naturally. "I have been a musician all my life." says West. "I played in an orchestra here in the city. I majored in music in college. I played in an army band." Jernigan's musical interests are varied. "I was formerly trained in the piano and guitar. The alto sax, and the flute, I picked up while working here." In addition to fixing instruments, the two also go to schools to instruct teachers and students on how to make minor repairs on their own. West believes if children start early and stay concerned with music, it enriches other areas of their lives. "I see that in other kids. I see it in myself. I have seen it hundreds of times and it works," he says. "They learn teamwork. They learn patience and respect." But West has concerns about the future of music in the electronic age. "This instant age has taken away from the sit-down, the patience. And to learn to play an instrument, it takes patience, it takes diligence, it takes time." Being able to enjoy music on the job is one of the benefits of the job. Both men agree their best rewards are the students' performances. Question: What's the job of West and Jernigan at school? Options: A: Teaching music. B: Writing music. C: Making musical instruments. D: Repairing musical instruments.
**Answer**
D