Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: It is winter in many parts of the world. For some areas, that means snow. Maybe even lots of snow. If you don't have to drive in it or remove it, snow can be very beautiful. When snow covers everything around you, the world looks like a "winter wonderland". That is the name of a very popular song about winter. Richard Smith and Felix Bernard wrote the song back in 1934. There are hundreds of recordings of this happy song. But winter is not always such a beautiful and happy time. It's cold outside. You try hard to keep warm. The days are darker and shorter. The sun rarely shines. The leaves on the trees are brown. It isn't surprising that some people are sad in winter. And some people dream about being somewhere else where it's warm and pretty--like the state of California. The Mamas and the Papas recorded this famous song "California Dreaming". During the 1960s, many other famous rock groups released songs about winter. Here is a poetic song by Simon and Garfunkel called "A Hazy Shade of Winter". They sing about life and hope and possibilities. In 1968, the group Blood, Sweat and Tears recorded this gentle, sad song about winter. They sing about a lost love and forgotten memories in "Sometimes in Winter". In the early 1990s, Tori Amos wrote and recorded the beautiful song called "Winter". She enjoyed singing about winter when she was a child. Finally, on a happier note comes this song written and recorded by Fountains of Wayne in 2003. They sing about a snowstorm in a New England town. Nothing unusual there. But instead of being sad or tense about the snow, they write a song about it. Question: What does the passage mainly talk about? - Songs about winter. - Different ideas about winter. - Winter in different areas. - Winter is cold but happy.
A: Songs about winter.

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: When my daughter realized that she had really hurt another child with a mean word, she cried and immediately wanted to apologize. That was a good thing, but I wanted her to know an apology can't always make things better. So I told her the story of Will, a 9-year-old boy whose father left his mom two years earlier. Will was angry, and he often hurt others with hurtful words. He once told his mom, "I see why Dad left you!" Unable to deal with Will, the mother sent him to spend the summer with his grandparents. His grandmother's strategy to help Will learn self-control was to make him go into the garage and pound a two-inch-long nail into a four-by-four board every time he said a mean thing. For a small boy, this was a hard task, but he couldn't return until the nail was all the way in. After about ten trips to the garage, Will began to be more cautious about his words. In the end, he even apologized for all the bad things he'd said. One day his grandmother made him bring in the board filled with nails and told him to pull them all out. This was even harder than pounding them in, but after a huge struggle, he did it. His grandmother hugged him and said, "I appreciate your apology and, of course, I forgive you because I love you, but I want you to know that an apology is like pulling out one of those nails. Look at the board. The holes are still there. The board will never be the same. I know your dad put a hole in you, but please don't put holes in other people; you're better than that." The truth is that no matter how much we apologize to people, we can't take back what we said. The best thing for us to do is to try not to hurt people in the first place. Question: What does the writer want to tell us by writing this passage? - Parents should never hurt their children. - Children are more likely to listen to their grandparents. - We should not hurt other people in the first place. - Old people are really good at bringing up children.
A: We should not hurt other people in the first place.

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Ann Whimey, a sophomore at Colorado State University, first had a problem taking tests when she began college. "I was always well prepared for my tests. Sometimes I studied for weeks before a test. Yet I would go to take the test, only to find I could not answer the questions correctly. I would blank out because of nervousness and fear. I couldn't think of the answer." The young student was experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is uneasy about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the great nervousness. though poor scores are often a result of poor study habits, sometimes test anxiety causes low scores. Recently, test anxiety has been recognized as a real problem, not just an excuse or a false explanation of lazy students. Special university counseling courses try to help students. In these courses, counselors try to help students by teaching them how to manage test anxiety. At some universities, students take tests to measure their anxiety. If the test shows their anxiety is high, the students can take courses to help them deal with their nervousness. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work at ease, learn information, then come out without difficulty in a test. An expert at the University of California explains, "With almost all students, relaxation is felt after taking our program. Most of them have better control during their test. Almost all have some improvements. For some, the improvement is very great. Question: According to the counselor at the University of California, the program is _ - successful - ineffective - of great help to all - worth showing off
A: successful

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Do you sleep well? Some people get off to sleep as soon as their head hits the pillow, but many others are not so lucky. In fact, the lack of quality sleep has become a public health issue around the world. According to me World Association of Sleep Medicine, 45 percent of the world's population suffer from sleep problems. One in eight people don't sleep well and are easily woken. 7.6 percent sleep less than 3 hours each night. Some even cannot fall asleep for several days in a row. As a basic bodily and mental need, sleep is essential for our survival, it helps us to fight diseases, strengthen our memory, perform better in work and school and improve our quality of life. Lack of sleep is known to have a significant negative influence on health, both in the short and long term. Poor sleep has been associated with obesity, diabetes, weakened immune systems and even some cancers, as well as depression and anxiety. The World Sleep Day, held on the third Friday of March, is an annual celebration of sleep to lighten the burden of sleep problems through better prevention and management of sleep disorders. To achieve this goal, we must figure out what causes sleepiness and sleeplessness. Unhealthy lifestyle may be the first to blame. More and more people use cell phones and computers in bed, with many staying up until midnight. Modern technology does make our life convenient, but abuse of it ruins our health. Environmental conditions, such as temperature, noise, light, bed comfort also play an important Pole in one's ability to get proper sleep. Besides, improper evening diet, like a full or an empty stomach, coffee and alcohol all contribute to sleep problems. Of course, when it comes to causing poor sleep, stress from finances, family or work should never be ignored. However, those who suffer from sleep disorders don't necessarily have to continue to do so -most sleep problems can be managed. Question: Which of the following is not a direct cause of sleep problems? - Unhealthy lifestyle. - Modern technology. - Environmental conditions. - Work stress.
A: Modern technology.