Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The Winter Palace was built between 1754 and 1762 for Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Unfortunately, Elizabeth died before the palace was completed and only Catherine the Great and her successors were able to enjoy the great interior of Elizabeth's home. Many parts of the palace's impressive interior have been remodeled since then, particularly after 1837, when a huge fire destroyed most of the building. Today the Winter Palace, together with four more buildings arranged side by side along the river embankment, houses the extensive collections of the Hermitage. The Hermitage Museum is the largest art gallery in Russia and is among the largest and most respected art museums in the world. The museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great bought a collection of 255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. Today, the Hermitage boasts over 2.7 million exhibits and displays, a diverse range of art and artifacts from all over the world and throughout history (from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century Europe). The Hermitage's collections include works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, a collection of Rembrandts and Rubens, many French Impressionist works by Renoir, Cezanne, Monet and Pissarro, and several works by Rodin. The collection is really worth a stop for all those interested in art and history. The experts say that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit on show in the Hermitage, you would need 11 years before you'd seen them all. However, we suggest you choose a guided tour instead! Location: Dvortsovaia Naberezhnaia, 32-38. www.ks5u.com Open: 10:30 am to 5:30 pm, Sunday till 5 pm. Closed: Mondays. Ticket-office closes 1 hour before closing time. Question: Which of the following is NOT included in the collections of the Hermitage? - Works by Cezanne - Works by Rodin - Works by Leonardo da Vinci - Works by Catherine the Great
Works by Catherine the Great

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Although hurricane season doesn't begin until June 1, a Pacific storm has already struck. El Salvador, which was ruined by a Caribbean storm in 1995, was hit by Hurricane Adrian on Friday. This is the first Pacific-born hurricane to ever reach land in this Central American country. Some 14,000 people left from the western coast of El Salvador. The storm weakened as it crossed land, heading east. Heavy rains created deadly flooding problems in the hurricane' s wake. Adrian is the first Pacific storm of the season. It reported maximum continuous winds of 75 miles per hour, the minimum strength of a hurricane. A Category 3 hurricane, Adrian also caused damage and flooding in Honduras. It is expected to break up before reaching the Caribbean Sea on the eastern coast of Central America. Hurricane season typically begins June 1 and lasts through November 30. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted seven to nine hurricanes for the 2005 season. "It is difficult to make any kind of an exact prediction of how many of these will strike land," NOAA administrator Conrad Lautenbacher said. He predicts two to three hurricanes will strike the U.S. this season. Last year, six of nine hurricanes reached Category 3 strength or higher. Four of those hit Florida within a six-week period. Altogether, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne caused more than $40 billion in damage in the Sunshine State. This year' s forecast is based on ocean temperatures. Warmer temperatures produce more tropical storms, which can then turn into hurricanes. "The issue, really, this year is the unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic," said Frank Lepore of the National Hurricane Center. Question: We can infer that warmer ocean temperatures _ . - have nothing to do with the hurricane - cause less hurricane - are mo re likely to cause the hurricanes - do a lot of damage to the areas along the coast
are mo re likely to cause the hurricanes

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The opera house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is one of the most beautiful in the United States. It is small and open, with one roof over the stage where singers perform and another roof over part of the audience. This opera house in the mountain is one of the best in the country, which may seem surprising because performances are only given during seven weeks in summer, and because Santa Fe is a very small city. One reason why the Santa Fe Opera is so good is that it attracts many excellent young singers .They all hope to sing in famous opera houses like Metropolitan in New York someday. And they work hard to become well-known during the summer. The musicians and directors are experts who come from the best orchestras and operas in the country during their vacations. They enjoy working there because they like to live in Santa Fe, which is near both the mountains and the desert. It is very beautiful there in summer. The state government of New Mexico advertises the Santa Fe Opera in newspapers all over the country, and a great many tourists come to New Mexico because of the opera ,Still ,most of the audience does come from Santa Fe and other nearby cities. And all the seats in the theater are sold for every show. There is only one thing that some people do not like about the Santa Fe Opera, and that is the cold weather .Because the theater is open, performances cannot start before it gets dark at nine o'clock in the evening, and then the mountain air becomes very cool. Sometimes people complain about the cold air ,but because the opera is good , these people come back again wearing warm coats. Question: From the passage ,we can learn that _ . - the opera house is open without any roofs - musicians always work in Fe - the government advertises to attract more musicians - performances are held in Santa Fe only after it is dark
A: musicians always work in Fe

(Question)
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Workplaces all over the UK are preparing for Christmas and all the traditions and customs that come with it. But will Christmas be a cause for happiness and celebration or embarrassment and disappointment? One way that colleagues in Britain show their appreciation of each other at this time of year is by doing "Secret Santa" present giving. At that time, people who work together buy each other gifts without saying whom they are from. Co-workers all write their names on a piece of paper and then organize a lottery in which each workmate takes another colleague's name at random . Each person then has to buy a present for the colleague whose name they have picked, usually with an agreed price set at a small amount of money such as five or ten pounds. As the gifts are given without knowing the names of the gift givers, the quality of the presents can be very different; gifts that people received are from tickets to the opera to an air-freshener for a car. Another common seasonal workplace tradition is the office Christmas party, when workmates put on their most attractive clothes and enjoy lots of free wine. Although most parties are held _ , sometimes the effects of alcohol cause party goers to regret their drunken antics . The BBC invited people to share their most embarrassing Christmas office party stories, and received hundreds of funny stories, such as the man who split his trousers back to front with his strange dance moves or the drunken lady who spent the entire night with back of her dress tucked into her pants and saw the photos that proved it later at work. But the worst story must surely come from Stuart Vaines, who got so drunk that he put his boss's head into the toilet. Unsurprisingly, he lost his job the very next day. Question: By saying this Christmas will cause embarrassment, the author actually refers to _ . - the workmate who receives a ticket to the opera - the man who receives an air-freshener - the lady who tucked the back of her dress in her pants - the man who put his boss's head into the toilet
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the lady who tucked the back of her dress in her pants