*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: We may not be aware of it, but ordinary family homes in the U.S. and the rest of the world are not energy-efficient. Most of their energy goes to heating and cooling, and a lot of it is wasted, as warm air and cool air escape through fireplace chimneys and thin or poorly fitting windows and doors. A passive house loses almost none."Imagine a thermos ,"said housing developer Brendan O'Neill."You have insulation everywhere, and it's basically completely sealed. And so the idea is to build a house like a thermos. So the windows are sealed. There's insulation completely surrounding the building. We make it as sealed as possible." A 147-square-meter passive house, presented by O'Neill Development Corp. as a demonstration unit just outside Washington, was brought to the site in two boxes."Once it's set and put together, it takes about four weeks to complete the outside construction, to put down carpets,"O'Neill said."If everything is set in place, you put a house like this together in about four months."The total cost of building it was $325,000, or about 17 percent more than constructing an ordinary house. But its utility bill is only around $20 monthly, or one-tenth the amount for the average house of the same size. While passive houses have been around for a long time, the idea has never taken root in the U.S. There was no driving force to push it. However, David Peabody, an architect who designs passive houses said,"I think climate change is now becoming a larger issue. And I think building standards are catching on to that. So people are becoming more aware of energy."Peabody said the cost of building passive houses could come down."What really makes sense for truly affordable housing,"he said,"is to build multi-storey buildings." Question: What's David Peabody's attitude to the future of the passive house? Options: A: Cautious. B: Optimistic. C: Skeptical. D: Concerned.
**Answer**
B

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Tour Inside a Volcano in Iceland Operation dates: From June 15th -July 31st Departure times: 8:00 AM / 10:00 AM /12:00 PM / 14:00 PM. Duration: 5-6 hours (up to 1 hour inside the volcano) Fitness level needed: Average. No knowledge of hiking or climbing is needed. Distance Walked: About 2.5 km (1.7 miles) each way. Age limit: 12 years Included: Pick-up at your hotel in Reykjavik All safety equipment Soup, coffee/tea and perhaps some sweets as well Transfer back to Reykjavik Bring with you: Good shoes. Sneakers will work, but we don't recommend them. Water. The walk over the lava field is a good workout! Outdoor clothing. Dress according to weather for the walk. A warm sweater or a jacket would be useful. About the tour: This volcano tour takes you inside a volcano, through the top crater and down to the bottom of its magma chamber . The Thrihnukagigur volcano has not erupted for 4,000 years and shows no signs of coming to life again anytime soon. Hence, you are safe! You depart from Reykjavik and drive to the area of Blafjoll mountains (About 30 minutes' drive). From there, an easy 35- to 40-minute walk awaits you, in order to get to the volcano. Using a system normally used to carry window cleaners outside skyscrapers, you will go down 120 metres in an open elevator, a basket lift that is supported by cable wires. The group is split into smaller parties of four to five persons. The trip takes about 10 minutes and the first ones to go down will be the first ones to go up. After exploring the volcano on the inside, you will walk back over the lava field where the coach awaits and transfers you back to Reykjavik. Question: Those who want to take the tour need _ . Options: A: to be 12 years old at most. B: to have experience as a window cleaner C: to be ly fit D: to have knowledge of hiking or climbing.
**Answer**
C

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: To most of us,school means classes,teachers,schedules,grades,and tests.But for the children at Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts,school is very different. Firstly,there are no lessons.All the children,aged between 4 and 19,do whatever they want.There are no teachers--only "staff members".The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn,because children want to learn anyway."You do not need to say to a three yearold,'Go explore your environment.'You can't stop them!" says Daniel Greenberg,a founder of the school."But if you make children do what you want all day,they will lose all taste for learning." At Sudbury Valley School,you will permit children to talk,read,paint,cook,work on computers,study French,play the piano,climb trees or just run around.Two boys spent three years just fishing! The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules.Every week,there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote each--even the fouryearolds.They decide the school rules,how to spend the school budget,and even which staff they want and do not want any more. When the school first opened in 1968,people said it would never work.But today,the school has 200 students,and 80%of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today.One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist. Question: What is the main topic of the article? Options: A: An unusual school. B: Children's hobbies. C: A school without rules. D: Education in the US.
**Answer**
A

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Before leaving work, Steve Lee likes to use his cell phone to turn on his heat and air condition system at home. So by the time he gets through traffic into his front door, the temperature inside is perfect. You may wonder what a so-called smart home can do inside. Lee works for a company called Smarthome. com, testing and living with many of his company's home automation gadgets , like this multifunction touch screen that controls devices around the house and even connects to the Internet traffic cameras. "I have cameras, and they follow all the way down the freeway to work, "said Lee with pride, "What's going on at home when you are away? No problem, install some wireless cameras and controllers and from any computer in the world with an Internet connection, you can watch your house. " "You can check on the house, and I can look at the temperature. Believe it or not, if I want to turn on lights ahead of time, I can, "added Lee. We sat in Steve's California kitchen and with the right password, turned on the kitchen counter lights at his boss' house in Wisconsin. Steve did have permission to log on . "If you do know the password and you want to play a trick on your wife, you could turn lights on and off remotely. " This new technology, which can automatically turn on water sprinklers when humidity is low, or turn off a pool pump when it is not in use, is no longer expensive. Several hundred dollars for a basic system is enough and it is not hard to install. Sure the convenience is nice but many people who like the security advantages like making sure kids are safe with the help of camera monitors and bedside alerts. "I can notice that maybe one of my children wakes up in the middle of the night once the light switch is turned on. " What a smart home can't do is get you a snack and you have to leave the couch for that. Question: According to the passage, the following is often a must for a smart home EXCEPT a . Options: A: cell phone B: computer C: camera D: car
**Answer**
D