Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on the earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem . Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna surroundings in which it lives, therefore _ of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat. It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas . In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters. Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well. What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem. Question: What is the passage mainly about? - Disappearance of African elephants. - Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants. - The effect of African elephants' search for food. - The eating habit of African elephants.
The effect of African elephants' search for food.
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Maps of the world's population show that the majority of people today live near water. We live along coastlines, around bays, up the course of rivers and streams and on islands. We also vacation at the beach and find comfort fishing on a lake. Nothing makes small children happier than the chance of playing in water. More surprisingly, this human favor for water makes evolutionary sense. Sure, we need drinking water to live, but we have also benefited from what's swimming under the waves. Neuroscientist Crawford of the University of North London has proposed that our ancient ancestors attached to the sea, and that their devotion paid off by allowing the human species to develop large and complex brains. Crawford claims that when humans separated from apes and appeared in the forests of Africa, they stuck close to rivers and beaches and started catching fish, clams and crabs. That seafood was packed with omega-3 fatty acids, essential fatty acids that promote brain cell growth. It's no coincidence, Crawford claims, that human brain growth began to increase rapidly once we left the woods and headed for the beach. Scientists have also discovered that people who eat fish regularly are less likely to suffer from depression than those who eat less seafood. Biochemist Hibbelin of the National Institutes of Health has shown that across cultures there is a direct link between amount of fish eaten each week and rates of depression. More interestingly, Hibbelin and researcher Laura have found that fish is commonly used as a symbol of happiness and good health in various religions and cultures. We know that fish and the sea are good for us, and so we seek them out. We vacation on the coast and see the waves come and go, feeling happiness has taken over our brain. When we move inland, or go home from vacation, we lose touch with our sea roots and feel unhappy. Question: To explain human's favor for water, the author _ . - lists some examples - compares some facts - analyzes some numbers - raises some questions
lists some examples
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Did you know that many people today are getting extra work by taking translating jobs online? It's true! And you can do it too. Many companies in the USA need translators now to translate simple documents online from Chinese to English, such as emails, website content, movie subtitles and more. Companies like Real Translator Jobs are actively seeking translators from China to fill demand. There are more translation jobs than people to complete them. This leaves a big opportunity for anyone to start doing this and earn extra money. Do you have to speak perfect English? No! Even basic knowledge of English is OK. This is really a job for anyone from China who wants to do it. We spoke to one student from Beijing, Harris, who has been doing this for 2 years now and is earning between $150 and $225 every day. He completes about 3 to 4 jobs per day which takes him about 3 hours. It's an incredible amount of money to earn on your spare time! It is great that we now live in the "Information Age" and opportunities like this are available to people in China to earn extra money working from home over the Internet. It's something that our parent's generation could have never imagined. This type of work is surely to do great things for young people in China. If you would also like to do this, it's easy to get started. Just follow these steps: 1. Sign up at Real Translator Jobs (where Chinese translators are needed now), or a similar service. 2. Review the job posting and complete the ones you like. 3. Get paid once per month by cheque, PayPal or bank wire transfer. I hope you enjoyed this information and good luck earning extra money online translating documents. Question: Which of the following is not mentioned about the documents online translated? - Articles. - Emails. - Website content. - Movie subtitles.
Articles.
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Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: A "talking kitchen" teaches students how to cook French dishes and speak French. Researchers at New Castle University have developed the French Digital Kitchen. Professors Paul Seedhouse and Patrick Olivier led the project. Professor Seedhouse says that it works like a satellite navigation system in a car. The kitchen equipment and tools use motion sensor technology similar to the Nintendo Wii game system. The sensors help a computer guide the students through instructions in French. The system can tell whether you've done what you were asked to do or not. For example, the system tells you to take some butter and cut it with a knife. There's a sensor on the package containing the butter so it can tell where the butter's being moved. The sensor in the knife not only knows that the knife is moving, but it also knows what motion the knife is making. So it can tell whether the knife is being used. And so it doesn't go on to the next stage of the program unless you've done what it tells you to do. Students can ask the computer to repeat the instructions or translate them into English. There are vocabulary lessons before and after the cooking. Professor Seedhouse became interested in the idea after he visited a talking kitchen designed for a different purpose. "It was actually for communicating with people who suffer from dementia " .And so, for example, it can speak to those people and tell them that they've left the cooker on and they should turn it off." Question: French Digital Kitchen was developed mainly to _ . - make cooking easier and more interesting - change the traditional way of cooking - improve people's cooking skills at French dishes - offers students a new way to practice French
offers students a new way to practice French
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