Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Walt Whitman was born in eighteen nineteen in New York City. During his long life, he watched America grow from a young nation to the strongest industrial power in the world. Whitman was influenced by events around him. But his poetry speaks of the inner self. He celebrated great people like President Abraham Lincoln. He also celebrated common people. As a young man, Whitman worked as a school teacher, a printer and a newspaper reporter. He was thirty-six years old when his first book of poetry was published. He called it Leaves of Grass. It has only twelve poems. The poems are written in free verse. The lines do not follow any set form. Some lines are short and some are long. The words at the end of each line do not have a similar sound. They do not rhyme. One of America's greatest thinkers and writers immediately recognized the importance of Leaves of Grass. Ralph Waldo Emerson praised Whitman's work. _ The America's Civil War began in eighteen sixty-one. During the war, Whitman worked without pay at army hospitals. He helped care for the wounded and dying soldiers. He sat beside these men for hours. He brought them food and wrote letters for them. After the Civil War, Whitman worked for government agencies. He watched the United States try to heal itself and increase democracy. To Walt Whitman, democracy was more than a political system or idea. It was a natural form of government for free people. Whitman believed democracy was meant to honor the rights of every person and the equality of all people. In eighteen seventy-three, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke. He spent the last few years of his life in Camden, New Jersey and wrote more poems. Whitman was poor and weak during the last few years of his life. He died in eighteen ninety-two. Question: Walt Whitman expressed his feelings by _ . - singing songs - celebrating great people - writing poems - praising common people
Answer: writing poems

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Allen : I've never been a big fan of the bears ,especially the vacation show .On my last trip to Disneyland (1999) we passed it by ,because we didn't want to spend the time on something we didn't really enjoy. If we'd known it would be closed by our next visit, I'm sure we would have watched it one more time. I was just making the point that it wasn't until Disney announced the closing that this feeling suddenly sprang up for the Country Bear show at Disneyland. But I think the idea of keeping some attractions open forever regardless of the number of visitors it gets is a mistake .We all have great memories of the Bears ,but clearly very few kids today (or I should say families today) are making those same memories from this show . That may be a sad fact ,but it's a fact. For whatever reason, the show doesn't pull in the numbers. Isn't it right to use the Country Bear space to bring in a more popular attraction so that more kids today can make those magic memories of an attraction THEY like? Otherwise aren't we just telling kids today that they "have to" make great memories of the Bears ,when it's obvious that the kids themselves are not enjoying the Bears like we did? Roger: I am very disappointed that they have decided to retire the Country Bear Playhouse. I remember going to the show as a child ,and still enjoyed it as a teenager, and now young adult .It is true that there aren't a lot of shows left at DL and with this one closing even less .Being at DL does require a lot of walking ,and it is nice to have a few attractions that are a place to sit and enjoy a good show. I understand that DL has to develop ,but there has to be some history to the Disneyland that Walt Disney first designed .There should be some parts of DL that just never go away ,and this is one of them . By the time I have children it looks like there won't be any attractions that I can say I went to as a child at the rate they are going. Now the Bears are leaving .What I want to say is : stop trying to compete with... Question: Where can this passage be found? - In a web discussion zone. - In a suggestion book. - In a report on the popularity of the Country Bears. - In high school students' compositions.
Answer: In a web discussion zone.

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: XI'AN---Seven people died in a fire early on Wednesday morning in Xi'an, capital of Shanxi Province. A restaurant with a karaoke hall in the southern suburbs caught fire around 2 a. m. and seven waitresses who were sleeping on the second floor of the restaurant were killed. The restaurant was completely destroyed and the waitresses, the local police said, were killed by _ smoke from burning decorations. MANILA---Four people were killed yesterday in the central Philippine island of Tacloban when a bomb they had dug up exploded, local police were quoted as saying. The four people were digging to set up a septic(poisonous)tank in their house when they dug up the bomb. It went off, killing all four people, local police were quoted by radio station DZBB as saying. The police did not say where the bomb came from. Unexploded bombs from World War II are still discovered around the Philippines once in a while. TEL AVIV---An Israeli couple kissed for 30 hours and 45 minutes which, a spokeswoman said yesterday, was a world record. The couple, both in their twenties, started kissing on Monday at 8:30 p.m. along with 250 other couples in a contest. "For nearly 31 hours they didn't eat, drink, talk or even go to the bathroom. And the whole time, they were standing up", said Arielle Goldman, who handled public relations for the event. She said a representative of the Guinness Book of World Records was on hang to witness the event, recorded on video. The previous record was 29 hour and 37 minutes, Goldman said. The winning couple received two round-the-world plane tickets and $ _ . (277 words) Question: Why did so many couples take part in the contest? - Because it was a good chance to enjoy themselves. - Because they were poor and wanted to gain the 2,500 dollars. - Because they wanted to attract people's attention. - Because they aimed at the honor and prize.
Answer:
Because they aimed at the honor and prize.