Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

My mother, Marisol Torres, came with her family to Australia in the early 1960s. Then my parents' marriage ended and Mum began the study of precious stones. Her interest in opals took her to the New South Wales remote town of Lightning Ridge. There were no luxuries , but she was closer to nature and had a chance to find black opals and make some money. My mother was beautiful with dark hair and brown eyes, but she was also quiet and shy. Early in the Ridge years, she kept to herself, but later, she started going to the neighbourhood centre to make friends. It was her dream to mine, but her get-rich-quick thinking was unrealistic. She was cheated and she was never very successful. But she kept a sense of humour and a charming smile. Then, just as friendships began to blossom, she was diagnosed with cancer and had to return south for treatment. She had the intention of cooking Spanish food as special treat for her Ridge friends, but died too soon. In her honour, my aunt, Marisa, and I fulfilled her desire when we visited the Ridge in March last year. People who mine the Ridge come from a cross section of society, from lawyers to travels. Looks don't mean much: it can be hard to tell who is millionaire and who is poor. Opals attracted Sebastian and Hanna Deisenberger to Lightning Ridge. They planned a two-year stay, but became permanent residents. Then there's Neil Schellnegger, 45, who moved to the area with his parents when he was a child. He lives with his son, Luke. Luke is a shy 19-year-old boy who enjoys helping his dad. They haven't had much luck over the past couple of years, but their passion for opals conquers disappointment. They love the peaceful lifestyle. Danny Hatcher, 38, is a second-generation miner and president of the Lightning Ridge Miners' Association. He is an optimistic man, driven by the desire to find the perfect opal. "It's magic," he explains. "Once you start opal mining you don't want to do anything else... There is always the potential for finding a million dollars. Nothing beats it." It's a place where dreams --- spiritual or material --- can be fulfilled; a place, for one last bet in life.

1. Who is the author's mom?
2. What did she study?
3. Where?
4. What gem was she looking for there?
5. Are they valuable?
6. Was she successful in her search?
7. What illness did she end up having?
8. Did she stay in Lightning Ridge?
9. What was she planning to cook?
10. Did she end up doing it?
11. Who did?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. Marisol Torres
2. precious stones
3. Lightning Ridge.
4. opals
5. unknown
6. no
7. cancer
8. no
9. Spanish food
10. no
11. her child and Marisa

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

(CNN) -- The death of Steve Jobs has renewed comparisons to another great innovator who died 80 years ago this month -- Thomas Edison. But there are important differences between the two men.

In the 80 years between their deaths, consumers came to dominate the economy, a transformation that was only beginning during the later years of Edison's life. Steve Jobs was a master at understanding how to create transformative consumer technologies.

Although Edison was a key innovator in two consumer technologies -- sound recording and motion pictures -- he struggled to understand the consumer markets he helped to create. His most important technological innovation was the electrical system, which made possible the personal computers, music players and smartphones innovated by Jobs. Edison was also more involved in the day-to-day work of invention than Jobs, and his other great innovation was the industrial research and development laboratory

While the differences between Edison and Jobs are important, so, are their similarities. These offer lessons for other innovators. Jobs and Edison succeeded because they were good at envisioning how long-term developments in scientific and technical knowledge could be transformed into new technologies.

At the start of his electric light research Edison described his vision for an entire electric light and power system and then used the knowledge of decades of research on incandescent lamps and generators to create the first viable incandescent lamp and the entire electric light and power system that made it commercially viable.

Similarly, before developing the Macintosh computer, Jobs envisioned how two decades of work on graphical user interfaces and the computer mouse could transform the way people used computers, and also how the development of touchscreens and miniaturization could be transformed into the smartphone.

1. Who is the innovator of Mac computers being compared to?
2. What thing did these two important men have in common?
3. How many years were between their demise?
4. How many inventions was Edison key in making?
5. What were they?
6. Did he get the folks he was making these for?
7. What did Edison do more of between the two men?
8. What was the other man better at?
9. Who was responsible for electricity?
10. What did his invention lead to?

Numbered answers:

A: 1. Thomas Edison
2. envisioning
3. 80 years
4. two
5. sound recording and motion pictures
6. No
7. invention
8. understanding how to create transformative consumer technologies.
9. Edison
10. personal computers, music players and smartphones

Answer the questions at the end based on the text.

(CNN)Thousands gathered in Riyadh on Friday to say farewell to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, a cautious reformer who succeeded in securing broader freedoms in the conservative kingdom, but fell short in gaining greater independence for women.

Abdullah died early Friday, several weeks after the state-run Saudi Press Agency said he was suffering from pneumonia and had been admitted to a hospital. The royal court didn't release an exact cause of death. He was 90.

To ensure a smooth transition, the kingdom quickly appointed his 79-year-old half-brother, Salman bin Abdulaziz, to the throne. His half-brother Prince Muqrin, a decade younger, is the new crown prince.

Who is Salman bin Abdulaziz?

After Friday afternoon prayers at Riyadh's Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Grand Mosque, the body of Abdullah, wrapped in a pale shroud, was carried from the mosque toward a cemetery, followed by a solemn procession of Saudi men in traditional dress.

He was later laid to rest after a simple, swift ceremony. Those present at the graveside -- the royals closest to the late king -- were then to move on to a royal palace, where they were to pay their respects to the new monarch.

The ceremony of "al Bayaah," or pledging of allegiance to the new king, followed the funeral.

Condolences and remembrances poured in from all corners of the globe.

"To God we belong and indeed to him we shall return," said the homepage of the English-language Saudi newspaper Arab News.

Bahrain, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, among others, declared days of mourning. The U.N. secretary-general praised Abdullah for his Arab Peace Initiative to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said he would lead a delegation "in the coming days" to pay respects.

1. Who died?
2. When?
3. How old was he?
4. What he was suffering from prior to his death?
5. Was he taken to the hospital?
6. Did they anything about the cause of the death?
7. Who is the new king now?
8. What's his name?
9. Who is the crown prince now?
10. Is he younger than the new king?
11. How young?
12. Then how old is the king?
13. Where was the funeral service?
14. At what Mosque?
15. Then where the body was carried toward?
16. Was there a procession?
17. Who did that?
18. What is al Bayaah?
19. What other countries declared days of mourning?
20. Who would represent US there?

Numbered answers:

A:
1. King Abdullah
2. Friday
3. 90
4. Pneumonia
5. Yes
6. No
7. Abdullah's half-brother
8. Salman bin Abdulaziz
9. Prince Muqrin
10. Yes
11. A decade younger
12. 79
13. Riyadh
14. Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Grand Mosque
15. A cemetery
16. Yes
17. Saudi men
18. Pledging of allegiance to the new king
19. Bahrain, Jordan and Palestine
20. Joe Biden