Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Will online courses transform world of education? Some may wonder what it feels like to attend a class at Stanford University. The recently popular MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) can satisfy this desire. But they are also most likely to change the situation of higher education. Only last month,both Peking University and Tsinghua University announced plans to start open online course on the edX platform,one of the world's major providers of MOOCs,to explore this new form of online education. Gaining momentum "It's not only a change of platforms from offline to online. It's more about a reform of teaching methods,even the whole education system,"said Chen Jining,president of Tsinghua University. The potential of MOOCs to reform education has been obvious in the US ever since the immediate popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence,taught by Stanford University professor Sebastian Thrun, who later co-founded Udacity, a platform with 1.6 million enrolled students in 200 countries. According to Nature magazine,by June 2013,74 percent of universities in the US offered some type of online course. Lu Fang, vice-president of Fudan University,explains the appeal of MOOCs as a simple case of supply and demand:"The demand for high quality educational resources from both enrolled students and professionals is feeding the rise of MOOCs,in which classes usually taught by top teachers are available to everyone,"said Lu. Too early to replace With easy access and free of charge, MOOCs are said to have the potential to change the present education system. But there are barriers,because hardly any universities offer degree certificates, as college administrators point out, it's difficult to confirm if students are foaming anything in MOOCs,reposed USA Today. The Wall Street Journal also reposed that,presently,a typical MOOC student is likely to have already graduated from college and is using the course to explore an interest or acquire professional skills. Even so, an increasing number of undergraduates are signing... Question: MOOCs have been considered likely to reform education since _ . - the founding of Udacity - the wide application of online education - the popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence - the opening of MOOCs on the edX platform in China
the popularity of the course Artificial Intelligence
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Liverpool city council want to clear the city of fat pigeons . They say that people are feeding the birds, which makes them fat. The pigeons get bigger because they normally eat seeds and insects for their main food, not high-fat junk food they are eating in the city centre. The council want people to know that everyone who feeds the pigeons makes the streets crowded with these birds. They hope to encourage the birds to move away from the city centre and into parks and open spaces. Ten robotic birds have been brought into the city centre to scare the pigeons away and visitors are asked not to give the pigeons any food. The mechanical birds--known as 'robops'--will sit on the roofs of buildings. They can be moved around to different places. They look like a peregrine falcon, which is a bird that kills pigeons. They even make noises and flap their wings to scare the pigeons. They hope that the pigeons will go away before the city becomes the European Capital of Culture in two years. Question: Which of the following is probably true according to passage? - The robots will fly around the city center like real birds. - Pigeons get fat because they eat seeds and insects. - Liverpool is the European Capital of Culture. - The pigeons like the food that people give them.
The pigeons like the food that people give them.
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: One bitterly cold day, a snowstorm blew into our area. Needing firewood, I quickly set out with my best friend, Bruce, to look for a tree to cut down. I was glad to have Bruce along. Cutting down a tree in a snowstorm can be dangerous. So it was important to have a friend who could warn me of dangers. When I chose a big 23-meter-tall tree and prepared to cut it down, my best friend suddenly warned me, "Don't cut down that tree! It's too close to the power line!" I wasn't sure about it. So I decided to _ his warning. I wanted to finish the job quickly and go home. So I began cutting down the tree. When the tree fell, there was no longer any doubt that my friend was right. The tree caught the power line, bringing it to the ground. I considered cutting the tree off the line. After all, electricity can't travel through wood, so I could safely remove the tree. As I reached out my finger to touch the tree, pain ran up my arm and through my head. I had been shocked! After I returned home and told my mother what had happened, she quickly called the power company. Workers from the power company soon arrived on the scene. One of them asked if I had touched the tree, and when I told him I had, his face turned pale. "You should have been killed," he said. So why am I still alive? It was my boots that saved my life. Within two hours, the workers removed the tree. Soon the snowstorm calmed down--but not my mother. Even though she was glad I wasn't hurt, my mother was well serious with me. After all, I shouldn't have brushed off my friend's warning. Through this experience, I learned that it's important to listen to people who offer a different perspective . Taking the time to listen might actually save a lot of time and trouble. It certainly would have kept me from getting the "shock of my life". Question: In spite of Bruce's warning, the author still cut the tree because _ . - he was sure there would be nothing to happen - he wasn't sure whether Bruce was right and was anxious to go home - he didn't hear his friend's warning at all because of the blowing wind - he was angry with his friend and didn't want to listen to him
he wasn't sure whether Bruce was right and was anxious to go home
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Matt and his wife lived in the country. Matt was very mean and hated spending money. One day a fair came to the nearby town. They went to the fair and looked at all the things to buy. Matt's wife wanted to buy a hat only costing $28, but was refused. Later on, a comb of $5 attracted her attention, but he would not let her spend any money. Then, in a nearby field, they saw a small airplane. "Fun flight!" the notice said, "$10 for 10 minutes." Matt had never been in an airplane and he wanted to go on a fun flight. However, he didn't want to pay for his wife either. "I've only got $10," he told the pilot. "Can my wife come with me for free?" The pilot wasn't selling many tickets, so he said, "I'll make a bargain with you. If your wife doesn't scream, she can have a free flight." Matt agreed, and got into the small airplane with his wife. The pilot took off and made his airplane do all kinds of things. At one moment it was flying upside down. When the plane landed, the pilot said, "OK, your wife didn't make a sound. She can have her ride free." "Thank you," Matt said, "it wasn't easy for her, you know, especially when she fell out." Question: The pilot flew the airplane upside down in order to _ . - throw the wife out of the plane - get another $10 by making the wife shout - show off his perfect flying skills - provide the couple with pleasure of excitement
get another $10 by making the wife shout
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