Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: Brighton is in the county of East Sussex, on the South coast of England. Situated between the English Channel and the South Downs, Brighton is 90 km from London. Brighton's nearby neighbor, Hove, is seen by some as a more desirable location than Brighton and it is often referred to by locals as "Hove, actually". Brighton is a small city but there's probably as much going on here as anywhere in the country except London. Brighton has numerous entertainment facilities, which additionally serve a considerable business conference industry. There's a huge range of entertainment venues, including comedy at the Brighton Komedia, world music, opera and ballet at the Brighton Dome, jazz at the Joogleberry, top stars at the Brighton Centre and pre-West End shows at the Theatre Royal. The live music scene is also alive and well with several bands originating from the Brighton area going on to have commercial success in recent years. Every year in May, Brighton hosts the "Brighton Festival" ------ the largest arts festival in England. Brighton's theatres, concert halls, streets and some of the city's most extraordinary venues host an array of art, entertainment and extravaganza . The earliest feature of the festival, "Open Houses" ------ homes of artists and crafts people, opened up to the public as galleries and usually sell the works of the inhabitants and their friends. Students at the two universities in the area give the city a youthful vitality , and in the summer, thousands of young students from all over Europe gather in the city to attend language courses. In addition to the usual coastal attractions, vacationers are drawn to the city's Georgian architecture, trendy shops, and fine restaurants. Points of interest also include the Edwardian Preston Manor, the ornate Royal Pavilion, the engaging Sea Life Center, and a variety of museums and art galleries. Question: What's the author's purpose of writing the passage? Options: A: To introduce Brighton to the readers. B: To attract foreign students to study in Brighton. C: To show his admiration for the city of Brighton. D: To list entertainments in Brighton.
A: A

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: According to US research, it can take up to ten years to become a near-native English speaker. Asian and Spanish students took between five and ten years to reach native speaker performance in English-only schools. Fluency obviously doesn't happen overnight. But time can definitely make you a better speaker. After testing his own memory, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered that humans forget most of what they learn in the first 20 minutes. So cramming right before a speaking exam is not likely to be as effective as practicing regularly over time. The more you practice, the more familiar new words will become. In the classroom, studies have also shown that repeating oral tasks improves a speaker's performance. One of the best repetition exercises is the 4/3/2 technique. Speakers give the same talk to three different listeners with a progressive decrease in delivery time, starting at four minutes, then three, and finally two minutes. This exercise has been proven to help learners speak faster. It can also result in less hesitation and more grammatical accuracy. While time dose make a difference when it comes to speaking perfect English, it would not hurt to brush up on your other language skills. Studies have also shown that reading can increase your speaking vocabulary. After one month of an extensive reading program, a 27-year-old student of French became more familiar with 65 percent of the new words. Aside from choosing the right learning methods, having certain personality traits may also help. US Stephen Krashen believes those with high motivation, self-confidence and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for speaking success. Krashen says students who don't have these qualities are more likely to have a "mental block". "Even if they understand the message, the input will not reach the part of the brain responsible for language acquisition," he writes in his book Principles and Practice in second Language Acquisition. Question: According to the passage, if you want to be a near-native speaker, you need _ . Options: A: long-term speaking practice and much reading B: speaking practice for ten years only C: long-term speaking practice, much reading and certain qualities D: cramming new words every day
A: C

Q: I'm taking a test and have to guess the right answer to the question after the article. Article: The United States is the world's largest consumer of energy. We use electricity, gas and oil to light and heat our buildings and run our cars. The demand for power is growing. But we may not need to build new power plants or find more oil. The best way to increase our supply of energy is to be more efficient. Did you know that when you leave your video-game console on, it consumes more electricity than two refrigerators? Or that those funny-looking, twisty bulbs use 75% less power than traditional light bulbs? We have the tools to save money, reduce pollution and even help our planet, simply by wasting less energy. As President, Barack Obama plans to make energy efficiency in American a major goal. He has promised to cut 15% of all energy used by the Federal Government. In a speech, he called for 75% of government office buildings to be updated for better efficiency. He pointed out that energy-efficient buildings and homes will save consumers billions of dollars on energy bills. An "extra benefit", he added, will be "a cleaner, safer planet." Gas, coal and oil are called fossil fuels. Fossil fuels have been the world's main source of energy for hundreds of years. But burning them releases dirty gases, which cause pollution. There are two main ways to save energy. The first is to use more efficient machines. Hybrid cars use less gas. New appliances are designed to use less electricity. Today's refrigerators are three times more efficient than those before 1973. Laptop computers consume much less energy than desktop computers. The second is to use machines more productively. According to the US Department of Energy, in the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power electronic equipment is standby power . That means power flowing to plugged-in appliances whether or not they are being used. Homeowners can avoid wasting power by pulling the plug on appliances when they are not in use. Efficiency experts argue that today's best techniques could cut US oil and gas use in half, and reduce our... Question: What would be the best title for the text? Options: A: The world's largest consumer of energy B: The world's energy efficiency movement C: We need to find new energy D: We have to be more energy efficient
A: D