I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Earthquake in Japan.Donald Trump is accused of planting story about actress's height after she rejected him. Mexico arrests ex-police chief in case of 43 missing students. Do you really need to know all these things? Three years ago, I began an experiment. I stopped reading all newspapers and magazines. Televisions and radios were rejected. I deleted the news apps from my iPhone. I didn't touch a single free newspaper and deliberately looked the other way when someone tried to offer me any such reading material. The first weeks were hard. Very hard! I was constantly afraid of missing something. But after a while, I had a new understanding. The result after three years: clearer thoughts, more valuable ideas, better decisions, and much more time. And the best thing? I haven't missed anything important. A dozen reasons exist to _ . Here are the top three: First, our brain reacts differently to different types of information. Shocking, people-based, fast-changing details all appeal to us. News producers capitalize on this. The result: Everything complex, abstract, and profound must be systematically singled out, even though such stories are much more relevant to our lives and to our understanding of the world. As a result, we walk around with a misrepresented mental map of the risks and threats we actually face. Second, news is irrelevant. In the past year, you have probably consumed about ten thousand pieces of news. Be very honest: Name one of them, just one that helped you make a better decision--for your life, your career, or your business--compared with not having this piece of news. No one I have asked has been able to name more than two useful news stories--out of ten thousand. News organizations claim that their information gives you a competitive advantage. Too many fall for this. If news really helped people advance, journalists would be at the top of the income pyramid. Third, news is a waste of time. An average human being spends half a day each week reading about current affairs. This is a huge loss... Question: What's the main purpose of writing the passage? Options: A: To offer tips on choosing news. B: To advocate giving up reading news. C: To share experiences on avoiding news. D: To criticize media's misleading choice of news.
B
(Question)
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Would you like to be a king or queen? To have people waiting on you hand and foot? Many Americans experience this royal treatment every day. How? By being customers. The American idea of customer service is to make each customer the center of attention. Need proof? Just listen to the commercials. Most of them sound like the McDonald's ad: "We do it all for you." Actually, not all stores in America roll out the red carpet for their customers. But wherever you go, good customer service means making customers feel special. People going shopping in America can expect to be treated with respect from the very beginning. Most places don't have a "furniture street" or a "computer road" which allow you to compare prices easily. Instead, people often "let their fingers do the walking" through the store hot lines. From the first "hello", customers receive a satisfying response to their questions. This initial contact can help them decide where to shop. When customers get to the store, they are treated as honored guests. Customers don't usually find store clerks sitting around watching TV or playing cards. Instead, the clerks greet them warmly and offer to help them find what they want. In most stores, the clear signs that label each department make shopping a breeze. Customers usually don't have to ask how much items cost, since prices are clearly marked. And unless they're at a flea market or a yard sale, they don't bother trying to bargain. When customers are ready to check out, they find the nearest and shortest checkout lane. But as Murphy's Law would have it, whichever lane they get in, all the other lanes will move faster. Good stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes get too long. Some even offer express lanes for customers with 10 items or less. After they pay for their purchases, customers receive a smile and a warm "thank you" from the clerk. Many stores even allow customers to take their shopping carts out to the parking lot. That way, they don't have to carry heavy bags out to the car. Question: By quoting the McDonald's ad: "We do it all for you", the author intends to _ . Options: A: suggest that customers believe what commercials say deeply B: show readers the American idea on good customer service C: express all the stores pay much attention to the customers D: persuade readers to choose the stores with ads correctly
(Answer)
B
I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Three Yale University professors agreed in a discussion that the automobile was what one of them called "Public Health Enemy No. 1 in this century". Besides polluting the air and overcrowding the cities, cars are involved in more than half the disastrous accidents, and they contribute to heart disease "because we won't walk anywhere any more," said Richard Weeinaman, professor of medicine and public health. Speaking of many of those man-made dangers of the automobile, Arthur W. Galson, professor of biology, said it was possible to make a kerosene-burning turbine car that would "lessensmog by a very large factor". But he expressed doubt whether Americans were willing to give up moving about the countryside at 90 miles per hour in a large vehicle. "America seems wedded to the motor car--every family has to have at least two, and one has to be a convertible with 300 horsepower," professor Galson continued. "Is this the way of life that we choose because we treasure these values?" For professor Sears, part of the blame lies with "a society that regards profit as a supreme value, under the illusion that anything that's technically possible is, therefore, morally justified". Professor Sears also called the country's dependence on its modern automobiles "terrible economics" because of the large horsepower used simply "moving one individual to work". But he admitted that Americans have painted themselves into a corner by allowing the national economy to become so dependent on the automobile industry. "The solution," Dr Weeinerman said, "is not finding a less dangerous fuel but a different system of inner city transportation. Because of the increasing use of cars, public transportation has been allowed to wither and grow worse, so that if you can't walk to where you want to go, you have to have a car in most cities," he declared. This, in turn, Dr Weeinerman contended, is responsible for the "arteriosclerosis " of public roads, for the pollution of the inner city and for the middle-class movement to the suburbs. Question: According to Dr Weeinerman, the best solution is _ . Options: A: to look for a fuel alternative B: to improve public transportation C: to walk to where people want to go D: to control the production of the automobile
B