Read the article and select the best answer. Article: World Reading Day was set up by the UNESCO in 1995 to encourage people, especially teenagers, to discover the pleasure of reading. It is also the day to honor great writers, for example, William Shakespeare, born or dead on that day. Many countries celebrated World Reading Day. Take the UK as an example, on that day, millions of schoolchildren can buy book of special price, a much lower price than usual, in any bookstore. It has been done every year since 1998. World Reading Day 2010 in the UK will take place on Thursday 4th March. Please note that this date applies to the UK and Ireland only. The goal is so well set in schools there that they want to make sure that the Day happens in term time to really make the most of this opportunity to celebrate books and reading. Most other countries hold World Reading Day on 23 rd April every year. World Reading Day is also celebrated in China. Chinese former premier Wen Jiabao, an avid reader, does lots of reading every day though he is very busy. On World Reading Day 2009 he encouraged citizens to do more reading. Wen suggested that young people should spend more time reading. "Books cannot change the world, but people can change the world by changing themselves through reading." Reading can benefit people a lot. Reading helps us to follow the latest developments of science and technology. Reading gives us information about other cultures and places of the world. Reading is also one of the most important ways to learn a foreign language like English. "Reading makes a full man." (Bacon, 1597) Books, magazines, newspapers and other kinds of reading materials can help us to know more about the outside world and perfect us. Therefore, it is necessary for us to spend time on reading every day. Question: According to the passage, reading can help people EXCEPT _ . Options: A: learn a foreign language better B: know more about culture C: improve their memory greatly D: know more about the outside world
C

(Question)
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Everyone knows the story of Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment. He was a man of many gifts and interests. His natural curiosity about things made him try to find ways to make them work better. Although he made important discoveries, Ben didn't "invent" electricity. He did, however, invent the lightning rod which protected buildings and ships from lightning damage. In America, most people warmed their homes by building a fire in a fireplace even though it was kind of dangerous and used a lot of wood. Ben said that he had another better way. His invented an iron stove which allowed people to warm their home less dangerously and with less wood. The stove that he invented is called a Franklin stove. Ben also set up the first fire company and the first fire insurance company in order to help people live more safely. As the postmaster, Ben had to find out the best way for delivering the mail. He went out riding in his carriage to measure the routes and needed a way to record the miles. He invented a simple _ for it. In his old age, Ben retired from business and public service and wanted to spend his time reading and studying. He found, however, that his old age had made it difficult for him to reach books from the high shelves. Even though he had many grandchildren to help him, he invented a tool called a long arm to reach the high books. The long arm was a long wooden pole with a grasping claw at the end. Later, other famous inventors, like Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, would follow in Ben's footsteps by trying to find ways to help people live better. Today's curious thinkers are keeping Ben's traditions alive by inventing new and improved ways to make things work. Question: Benjamin Franklin invented a long arm in order to _ . Options: A: replace his disabled arm B: play games with his grandchildren C: get books from the bookshelf more easily D: clean and tidy his house and the bookshelf
(Answer)
C

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: At Denver there was an crowd of passengers into the coaches on the eastbound B. & M. express. In one coach there sat a very pretty young woman dressed in elegant taste and surrounded by all the luxurious comforts of an experienced traveler. Among the newcomers were two young men, one of handsome presence with a bold, frank face expression and manner; the other a ruffled, glum-faced person, heavily built and roughly dressed. The two were handcuffed together. As they passed down the aisle of the coach the only available seat offered was a reversed one facing the attractive young woman. Here the linked couple seated themselves. The young woman's glance fell upon them with a distant, swift disinterest; then with a lovely smile brightening her face and a tender pink tingeing(,) her rounded cheeks, she held out a little gray-gloved hand. When she spoke her voice, full, sweet, and deliberate, proclaimed that its owner was accustomed to speak and be heard. "Well, Mr. Easton, if you will make me speak first, I suppose I must. Don't you ever recognize old friends when you meet them in the West?" The younger man aroused himself sharply at the sound of her voice, seemed to struggle with a slight embarrassment which he threw off instantly, and then clasped her fingers with his left hand. "It's Miss Fairchild," he said, with a smile. "I'll ask you to excuse the other hand; "it's otherwise engaged just at present." He slightly raised his right hand, bound at the wrist by the shining "bracelet" to the left one of his companion. The glad look in the girl's eyes slowly changed to a bewildered horror. The glow faded from her cheeks. Her lips parted in a vague(,), relaxing distress. Easton, with a little laugh, as if amused, was about to speak again when the other forestalled him. The glum-faced man had been watching the girl's face expression with veiled glances from his keen, shrewd eyes. "You'll excuse me for speaking, miss, but, I see you're acquainted with(,) the officer here. If you'll ask him to speak a word for me when... Question: Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the passage? Options: A: Miss Fairchild was an ambassador B: Easton was an officer with his prisoner C: the glum-faced was considerate and careful D: Easton had been trying to make a big fortune in the West
B