Read the article and select the best answer. Article: "Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell." This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown person who lived in Rome in AD 53 wrote it. We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives. But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives? Picture this. You're rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How happy do you feel? Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave up feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they live simpler lives. One family in the UK went "back in time" to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10 and Thomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave , computer or mobile phones. The grandmother, Lyn, said, "The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes." The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a "trendy , beer-drinking granny", to one who cooked things. Question: In the passage the writer describes a picture to show that new inventions _ . Options: A: have speeded up our lives B: have improved the quality of our lives C: may make people feel very happy D: may bring people some trouble
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Dear Addie, Greetings from New Jersey, how is New Zealand? I'm very excited to have you as my pen pal. I guess it's my turn to tell you about myself. First off, I live with my parents, two sisters, and our pet dog Brighty. Our town is called Whippangong. It is only about a half-hour away from New York City. My oldest sister, Ingrid, just turned 17, that means she now has a drive's license. She drives us to the mall. Do you have a mall near you in Te Awamutu? My other sister is 11 and her name is Lucy. I guess I would say that she is my best friend. We still fight, though. She rides horses and takes lessons every Saturday morning. I have to go with her sometimes, and that is truly the most boring thing in the world. Do you like horses? I take tap dancing classes. I like to practice in the food store. The sound of my feet stepping on the hard floors echoes . I play scores in the fall; I'm on the swim team during the summer. I like swim, but I am really looking forward to diving this year. Next year I will start music lessons in school. I think I am going to play the piano. Our house has eight rooms and a small backyard where every year we try to grow vegetables. We mostly get zucchini because the rabbits eat everything else. I guess rabbits don't like zucchini. I have a bike and mum allows me to ride up and down our street, but nowhere else. I hope that I will get to ride it to school someday. Right now I ride the crowed and yucky bus. Well, that is enough about me for now. I look forward to hearing from you again soon. I hope your surfing lessons went well. And I hope your mum does let you learn to play the drums. Write soon Love, Jessica Question: Zucchini is likely to be a kind of _ . Options: A: animals B: vegetable C: flower D: fruit
C

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said. "Look! There's a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag." Thomas said, "It isn't worth the trouble." His father said nothing but picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the pennies he bought some grapes. It was very hot, and there wasn't a house or a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time. his father dropped a grape on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while. his father dropped another grape and once again. his son picked it up and put it in his mouth. And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the grapes and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the grapes, his father said to him. "My dear son, if you had bent down early to pick up that horseshoe. It would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the grapes, always remember the lesson : A person who does not worry about the little things will find that he can not do the great things." Question: From the passage, we can learn that _ . Options: A: if we want to eat grapes. we must pick up a horseshoe B: a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us much money C: we should worry about small things before we do the great things D: It's important to pick up a horseshoe on the road
A: C

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: On April 14th at 7:49 am, the town of Jyekundo in Kham, was struck by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake. My family and I were in our 3rd floor apartment building when the earthquake hit. There was a smaller earthquake (around 4.7) that happened around 4 am and neither my wife nor I could get back to sleep. When the big earthquake hit, my wife was using her computer while our younger son Norbu (18 months old) was playing in the living room. Tsering, our older son who is 3 years old, was still asleep in the back bedroom of the 3 bedroom apartment we were living in. Norbu flew across the room when the earthquake hit. My wife was also thrown to the ground. Everything in our apartment began to be tossed around, breaking when it hit the walls or floor. I ran to the back bedroom and grabbed Tsering as my wife grabbed Norbu off the floor. Together, we ran to the door. I stopped long enough to grab my shoes, coat and a bit of money. I opened the door and one of our neighbors helped us carry Tsering down to the ground floor. I was the only one of my family who managed to get shoes. After the earthquake, we were able to see that this was a major earthquake. We began to hear people crying for help, badly injured people crawling to the road and people weeping for loved ones who had died. Question: What was Tsering doing when the big earthquake hit? Options: A: He was using the computer. B: He was playing in the living room. C: He was sleeping in the back bedroom. D: He was crying for help.
C