There are many famous writers in the English world, among whom Jane Austen (1775--1817) has been popular with all ages. But then Jane Austen wrote her novels in England, she was writing about a world that most of us would not recognize. But today Austen's books are in greater demand than ever. In the last ten years, five of the six novels have been made into Hollywood films, while her books continue to be bestsellers. So why is Austen still popular? Richard Jenkyns, a professor of English at Oxford University, argues that her novels still appeal to people because they focus on issues that are as _ today as they were when she wrote them. Her novels are about women trying to find a perfect husband, but also explore issues surrounding marriage, friendship and the family. "The plots are fairly timeless stories about human interaction which are familiar to us," Jenkyns says. The most famous book Austen wrote is Pride and Prejudice,a love story betweenElizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy. At first the two characters do not get on. They finally fall in love, but still have to overcome opposition to their relationship from their families. All of Austen's books are easy to read, making them popular with children and adults, but they work on different levels so people can take what they need from them, author Kate Henry says. Austen is often praised as the greatest romance writer in the English language, so it is surprising she remained unmarried. "Maybe she was too much of a romantic, waiting for a perfect man," Henry says. Which of the following can NOT explain why Austen is still popular? A) Her novels are all about love and marriage. B) Her novels still make sense to today's people. C) All her novels are easy to read. D) Her novels benefit people of different reading levels.
A
I had made up my mind a long time ago that I would not give a homeless person money, because I could never be sure what that money would be used for. Instead, I decided, I would buy them a sandwich, a cold drink on a hot day, a cup of coffee, whatever I could manage. I was out recently and saw a homeless man outside of a _ . I decided I would buy this man lunch. I bought a sandwich and soda. Just as I was leaving the store, two policemen were approaching the man. Obviously the shop owners had complained of his wandering and the police were there to draw him away from the storefronts. Just as they were about to wake him, I asked one of the officers if it was all right if I just gave the man something before he went. I was not sure why I asked the permission but the policeman said sure and I just left the bag in the man's cart, got in my car and drove off. As I was driving off I remember thinking "I hope people saw that". Then I had to seriously ask myself why I hoped people had seen me give the man a sandwich from Starbucks. Was it because I wanted people to think, "She's such a nice person!"? Why did I hope others had seen me do it? I continued to wonder this all evening. The next morning, it came to me that I wanted people to have witnessed that small act of kindness not so that I would receive credit and praise but so that they might be inspired to do the same and in so doing that others still would witness their acts of kindness. Thus the whole spirit of pity and giving would be lasting. What's the purpose of the passage? A) To show the author is great. B) To encourage people to help others. C) To introduce an experience that changed the author. D) To call on people not to give money to a homeless man.
B
Q: Once again, I had run away and really did not know why. I walked out of the gate to go to school and then kept walking, and walking, and walking. I was 11years old. It was almost dark; I was tired, cold, and all alone. I had not eaten all day and was afraid to turn myself over the police. I knew I would receive another beating once I returned to the Children's Home Society. There was nothing for me to do, except keep on walking. As darkness fell, I entered the darkened area in a city park sat down on a wooden bench hoping to avoid the police cars. It was cold and I began to tremble uncontrollably. All was quiet except for the passing cars in the distance. "Well, hello young man." A voice came from behind me. I jumped, almost falling off the park bench. My heart was beating ninety miles per hour. I gasped and I could hardly catch my breath. I looked up and saw a woman standing behind me in the shadows. "You look cold and hungry," she said. She took off her scarf, wrapped it around my shoulders and asked me to follow her. We walked about twenty feet, and then stopped under one of the park streetlights. She held out her hand and said, "Here, you take this letter." Seeing nothing in her hand., I stood still. "Reach out and take the letter from my hand," she insisted. Slowly I reached out, acting as though I was taking something from her hand. "Now hold the paper tightly and take it to any store owner," she instructed. I closed my thumb and finger as though I were grasping the letter and began walking toward Five Points. Several blocks down the road, I came to a store with a woman sitting behind a counter. I opened the door, walked in, and stopped directly in front of her. Very slowly I held out my hand toward her. I watched her face to see if she might think I was crazy or something. She reached out and as her hand touched mine, I opened my tightly closed fingers and stood there waiting. She pulled back, smiled, and looked down at her hands. She immediately turned and walked to the back of the store. After a... What can we learn about the boy? A) Though lost in the city, he didn't feel worried or lonely. B) He had nowhere to go and wandered aimlessly in the street. C) He avoided the police for the fear that he would be sent to prison. D) He had to run away because of his bad performance at school.
A: B
*Question*
Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really made a conscious effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you. Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before. Memory "trick" work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office. We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people's forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never got tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when "trick" of our memory can cause us great trouble. In the passage, the writer seems to tell you . A) forgetting things is serious and dangerous B) always forgetting things is understandable C) forgetting things at times is natural D) the way to protect yourself from memory "tricks"
**Answer**
C