Q: For many people the subject of hiccups is a joke, but for Harry Mendes, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy from Birmingham, it was something quite different. His hiccups began one Sunday lunch time and continued day and night for two weeks. After the first week, Harry's parents took him to hospital, but it took another week for the doctors to cure his attack. Harry, who is now back at school, described what happened to him. "When I began to hiccup, I drank a glass of water but that didn't do any good. That evening I had hiccups every four seconds. We tried everything to stop them. I held my breath and drank cold drinks. My father even tried to give me a shock but that didn't work either." After a week of sleepless nights, he went to hospital. The doctors took an X-ray of his chest but they couldn't find anything wrong. "They gave me some medicine and my hiccups slowed down, but it was another week before the medicine worked completely and my hiccups stopped." Harry was very lucky. The world record holder is the American farmer Charles Osborne, who hiccupped for sixty-eight years. He stopped in 1990 at last, but nobody knows why. Harry's hiccups lasted _ . A) a week B) fourteen days C) twenty-eight days D) one month
A: B

Q: Scientists have written a report on the future of trade and industry. They talk about the role robots will play in industry. What is a robot?Basically ,it is a machine which is designed to do the work of a human being. It is usually controlled by a computer. Once it has been given a set of things to do,it will do the job on its own. Nowadays,Britain has 120 robots at work in industry. This compares badly with other industrial countries. In Japan,there are 4,000 robots in use. In the USA there are 2,000 and in Germany there are 500. According to the report,the government must help people understand how robot technology can be used. Also,people must be educated to know how important this new technology is. The designing of new robots will be very important in the future. The report says that special robot centres should be set up where people who design robots and people who will use them work together. The assembly work of the future will be complex . So firms must develop robots to do it. The report was written by _ scientists. A) English B) American C) German D) Japanese
A: A

Q: Seed of Kindness Jim, a successful businessman, told the experience of his childhood. When he was 12, his parents died. He was alone and didn't get on well with others. People always laughed at him. No one showed kindness to him. His only friend was a dog named Tige. He gave his dog enough to eat and drink, but sometimes he was not polite to it. He didn't know that an unkind work sometimes could cut one's heart like a knife. One day as he walked down the street, a young lady was walking in front of him. Suddenly one of her bags dropped from her arms. As she stopped to pick it up, she dropped other bags. He came to help her."Thank you, dear! You are a nice little boy!"she said kindly, smiling. A special feeling came to him. These were the first kind words he had ever heard. He watched her until she went far away, and then he whistled to his dog happily and went directly to the river nearby. "Thank you, dear! You are a nice little boy!"he repeatedthe woman's words. Then in a low voice he said to his dog,"You are a nice little dog!"Tige raised its ears as if it understood. "Uhum! Even a dog likes it!"he said,"Well, Tige, I won't say unkind words to you anymore."Tige waved its tail happily. The boy thought and thought. Finally he looked at himself in the river. He saw nothing but a dirty boy. He washed his face carefully. Again he looked. He saw a clean nice boy. He was amazed. From then on, he had a new life. After telling this, the businessman stopped for a while, and then he said,"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the very place where that kind woman planted in me the first seed of kindness. All of us should learn about kindness. What a great powerit has!" Which of the following is True according to the passage? A) Jim usually had many friends around him. B) Jim often washed his dirty face in the lake. C) Jim never took good care of his friend, Tige. D) Jim thought the woman planted in him the first seed of kindness.
A: D

Q: My name is Peter and I'm 12 years old. I don't have a brother or a sister. I am in No.2 Middle School. My parents are Gray and Nancy Wilson. My father is a worker and my mother is a music teacher. My father's parents are David and Jacy Wilson. They don't live with us. They live in the nearby city . David is 63 and Jacy is 61. They come to see us once a month . My mother's parents are Henry and Sara Smith. Henry is 62 and Sara is 58. They are farmers. They have a farm. They grow vegetables and rice . I like to go to see my grandparents. Who has a farm? A) Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. B) Peter's parents. C) Mr. and Mrs. Smith. D) Nobody.
A: C