Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: I felt excited, curious and nervous at the same time. I was excited because I would be skipping two grades. I was curious because I didn't know how high school students were taught. However, I was most nervous at the idea that I would be doing high school homework. I had just walked into the class when the bell rang. This wasn't a good start. But the kid in front of me looked very friendly. Luckily, since it was the first day of school, my teacher talked for about half of the period and we just had the rest of the period to start the class. I didn't know what he was saying at first, but when I saw the problems on the paper, I knew what to do. The next day, the kid said hi and I said hi back. We got into a conversation. It seemed that whenever I was talking to my friend, everyone stopped staring at me. Then the class started. It was easy. But I was still uncomfortable because I couldn't look around without meeting others'eyes, so I just kept my eyes on the whiteboard and on my textbook. However, my friend didn't show up the next day, and the eighth graders just kept on staring at me. I didn't know why. The next day everything changed. My friend was back to school. I was praised for my homework. Everyone stared at me less. Some started to be a little friendlier towards me. I felt at home at last here. My teachers also seemed pretty nice. Question: What may make the author curious? Options: A: What his old friends are doing. B: How high school students study. C: How he will do his high school homework. D: What the eighth graders' homework is.
A: B

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: They can be seen more frequently than ever before on college campuses, wearing flannel and thickframed glasses while listening to music. One might find them playing unusual musical instruments, shopping at secondhand stores or expressing themselves in other unique ways. They call themselves hipsters. Being "hip" used to mean following the latest fashion. But gradually the word has become a sign of "being cool, unique and unusual". Hipsters value independent thinking, progressive politics, an appreciation of creativity and intelligence. Hipsters take pains and pride in not being mainstream. However, their culture has become quite trendy. This irony is central to their culture and offers an interesting conflict. "I do take things in the mainstream with a positive attitude," says Ben Polson, a college student at Brown University. "But sometimes I also question what determines popularity, especially regarding music." Polson represents many hipsters. When lessknown bands become popular, they often lose their former fan base in exchange for a new one. There is a famous hipster saying that goes, "I used to like that band before it got popular," Polson quoted. According to Polson, bands' music changes when they go mainstream. They become less experimental, doing things just to save popularity and fans. The original elements that we were drawn to slowly disappear for the sake of popularity. Many young adults have started to view hipsters' outlook as cool and they are adopting hipsters' antimainstream culture mind to themselves. This has led to specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster consumers. But on the other hand, some such stores, including clothing labels Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, have gained mainstream popularity. This has seemingly made the antimainstream culture become weaker. "A lot of people that are selfdefined hipsters aren't really hipsters. They're just trying to act as hipsters to seem cooler," says Amanda Leopold, a college student from Oberlin College, US. Although Leopold... Question: When describing hipsters, the author speaks _ . Options: A: in an ironic voice B: in an objective voice C: in an angry voice D: in a funny voice
A: B

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Londoners are great readers. They buy vast numbers of newspapers and magazines and of books -- especially paperbacks , which are still comparatively cheap in spite of ever-increasing rises in the costs of printing. They still continue to buy "proper" books, too, printed on good paper and bound between hard covers. There are many streets in London containing shops which specialize in book-selling. Perhaps the best known of these is Charring Cross Road in the very heart of London. Here bookshops of all sorts and sizes are to be found, from the celebrated one which boasts of being "the biggest bookshop in the world" to the tiny, dusty little places which seem to have been left over from Dickens' time. Some of these shops stock , or will obtain, any kind of book, but many of them specialize in second-hand books, in art books, in foreign books, in books on philosophy, politics or any other of the myriad subjects about which books may be written. One shop in this area specializes only in books about ballet! Although it may be the most convenient place for Londoners to buy books, Charring Cross Road is not the cheapest. For the really cheap second-hand volumes, the collector must venture off the beaten track, to Farringdon Road, for example, in the East Central district of London. Here there is nothing so impressive as bookshops. Instead, the booksellers come along each morning and pour out their sacks of books onto small barrows which line the gutters . And the collectors, some professionals and some amateurs , have been waiting for them. In places like this one can still, occasionally, pick up for a few pence an old volume that may be worth many pounds. Question: "Londoners are great readers" means that _ . Options: A: Londoners are great because they read a lot B: There are a great number of readers in London C: Londoners are readers who read only great books D: Londoners read a lot
A: D

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Son's Help Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn't listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup , he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him. It was New Year's Day. Mr. Lang didn't go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn't think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen. "I saw there weren't any policemen outside, daddy," said the boy, "so I went to the crossing and asked some to come." Question: Mrs. Lang did all housework because _ . Options: A: she thought her husband was tired B: she couldn't find any work C: her husband spent all time in gambling D: she wouldn't stop her husband gambling
A: A