Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Comfort is comforting, but it might narrow our experience at work -- and beyond. In our modern world, discomfort is considered a terrible thing. If not terrible, at least a thing of the past. Dishwashers, washing machines, computers, remote controls--yes, they add convenience, but also a level of comfort our forefathers did not enjoy. As pain of any kind discourages happiness, we tend to reason, anything that compromises our ability to feel good must be bad. And that's also particularly true for our careers. Success makes us feel great, not terrible. Such a view, however, is a matter of personal opinion. And it may blind us to hidden opportunities. Artists throughout history have tried to experience suffering, instinctively if not consciously, to produce works that explore the darker hidden sides of the human condition. This was done, in part, because pain is a reality of life for everybody in some form at some time. Pain is something everybody can relate to. And pain makes a person very present. For such artists, to relieve or to deny pain would be to block the creative thinking, which drives them to explore and express. In fact, Germans have a term for this melancholia, " _ ", which means "suffering from the world." Writers, from Lord Byron to Kurt Vonnegut, have used the term to describe the psychological pain encountered along life's roller-coaster journey. It was not to be avoided; it was to be understood, investigated and employed. So I propose that discomfort is good for us. Or, put another way, it tells us that something needs to be addressed. It stretches us by forcing us to view our circumstances through a wholly different lens. Because we're drawn to safety and security, we do our best to create pleasant comfort zones for ourselves and our loved ones through the cars we drive, the homes we live in, and the places we work. But by resisting discomfort, we deny ourselves an important opportunity: the chance to shake ourselves out of our predictable perspectives and allow ourselves to make... Question: The term "Weltschmerz" couldn't be used to describe something like _ . Options: A: social inequality B: mass killings C: racial discrimination D: great achievements
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: My aunt died back in about 2003. She was eighty-four and so was my uncle. When she passed he felt miserable. They had been married for over 60 years. After my aunt's death, he attended his church more frequently and his mourning was nearly unbearable to witness. His only daughter lived clear across the country in the south so he had only himself to make a comfort. My cousin talked him into selling the house that he and my aunt had built together about twenty-five years before. It was very hard to part with the home they built together. One day he called my cousin who was living in Texas and told her that he reconnected with a lady from a church that he and my aunt went to forty years previously. She played the piano and his church was looking for new music. Her husband had died about seven years previously. He said he just wanted someone to go out to dinner with and spend time with. We were happy for them but had no idea how it would turn out. They were both almost eighty-seven years old. They were like lovebirds and spent as much time together as they could. They both had one child each, she a son, he a daughter. The conflict in their relationship came one day when they neither wanted to leave their respective churches. Before too long they realized that they did not want to be apart. They would find a new church together. They planned to marry. When he took her to a jewelry store and bought her a diamond, the employees were so impressed that they had a big write up in our own local paper, "The 'Truth for Valentines' Day. " They prepared for their wedding. They moved the wedding date up because neither wanted to wait any longer to "be together". They got married in her house, where her first marriage took place. It was such a beautiful refreshing thing to see, two people who you would have thought had pretty much lived their lives, were beginning a new one together. Question: Which of the statements is true of my uncle? Options: A: He loved church activities more than anything else all his lifetime. B: He lived in the south of the country, far away from his daughter living in Texas. C: His wedding day fell on Valentines' Day when he borrowed the lady a diamond. D: His conflict with the lady arose in that they were both attached to their own churches.
D

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Farmers could grow more rice and shaky Internet communications could work better someday, thanks to prize-winning discoveries by teenage scientists showed at a national science fair on Monday. High school scientists from across the United States showed off work in genetics, molecular biology, mathematics and other fields that judges said rose to the professional level. "It just blows me away. They're all just unimaginable," said Joel Spencer, aprefix = st1 /New YorkUniversityprofessor who served as judge at the Sidemen's Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Research done by finalists in the nationwide competition could lead to faster Internet speeds, more effective antibacterial drugs and better energy conservation. One team researched black holes in outer space, while another examined more than 700 fossils to better understand why dinosaurs died out. Juliet Girard and Roshan Prabhu won $ 100,000 scholarship for their work proving genes that help some kinds of wild rice flower earlier than others. Drawing on a database that described the genetic makeup of rice, the two students, fromJersey City,New Jersey, identified two genetic sections that directed wild rice to blossom an average of 10 days earlier than the ordinary short-grain rice that feeds much of the world. Their discovery could allow genetic engineers to develop a new strain that would take less time to reach maturity, allowing farmers to produce more and extending the growing region into colder climates. Steven Byrnes of Lexington,Massachusetts, took the top individual prize for his theory describing outcomes in a two-player game called Chomp. Question: What does the writer mainly want to tell us? Options: A: Farmers can grow more rice and shaky Internet communications can work better B: How far advanced science and technology has gone C: High school students can make great contributions to the world in many fields. D: How some of the discoveries get regularly published
A: C

(Question)
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: "Image is everything." An entire industry has been built upon the concept that image is everything, but an appealing image isn't enough when there's no substance behind it. First of all, one should consider how important image is in selling products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. But if the product or service doesn't live up to it, customers will be very dissatisfied. The recent scandal about the Arthur Andersen accounting firm showed that behind that image, it had unfair business practices under the table. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to its downfall. Similarly, personal consultants can build up a very positive public image for politicians and movie stars in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind it, failure is close. To conclude, it's clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the "selling" of a person. But image is only half of the equation . What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself -- the person or product must live up to that image or there's little chance for long-term success. Question: The downfall of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm is due to _ . Options: A: its dishonesty in business B: its bad management C: its previous images D: its poor service
(Answer)
A