(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Each year on the first Saturday in March, a group of middle-aged men and a few women gather at sunrise on a beach near prefix = st1 /St. Petersburg,Fla.Above the high-water line are more than 50 small boats. At exactly 7 a.m., Steve Isaac stands at the water's edge with his arm raised and yells: "Go!" Most of the boats are part of the Everglades Challenge. They head for a finish line many days and 300 miles to the south, at Key Largo. But this Saturday, for the first time, 10 of the brave mariners--including a journalist, whose progress will be available online--will compete in the world's toughest small boat race, called the Ultimate Florida Challenge. Instead of finishing at Key Largo, the 10 boaters will continue around the state, heading north past Miami, the Kennedy Space Center, and Jacksonville, then down the Suwannee River, eventually passing most of Florida before arriving back at the beach near St. Petersburg. It will be 1,200 miles of head winds and burning sun. But it will also take the challengers through some of the most impressive scenery in North America. The rules are no-nonsense: First one back to the beach wins. The voyage must be completed within a month. Human power or sails, only. No motors. No rides in cars or tows from power boats. No help from family or friends. And at least once a day, participants are required to acknowledge by cell phone or radio that they are still alive. The race will be a replay of the tale of the tortoise and the rabbit. The trick, if there is one, is to be a tortoise and just keep moving forward. But the one-month deadline means that being too much of a tortoise may result in failure. So challengers have to be a little bit of a rabbit, as well. Question: This 1,200-mile race is unusual because _ . Options: A: more people will take part B: only men will take part C: its rules are meaningless D: it will be more challenging
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D

(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Australia's worst pests are the rabbits, introduced by a settler who released 24 into the wild for sport hunting. In less than 100 years, the rabbits grow into the millions of ones, leaving large areas of land looking like the surface of the moon due to thousands of rabbit caves. The spread of the rabbits in Australia was the fastest of all animals in the world. The spread of the rabbits' disease in 1950 cut the number, but it was not until 1997 when the spread of another disease targeted the pests that the number was finally brought under control. Farm losses due to rabbits today still remain a surprising total A $200 million (US$112 million) a year. The European red foxes, also released for sport hunting, are growing and eating sheep flocks, costing farmers A$40 million (US $22.4 million) a year. The State of Victoria offers a A$10 (US$5.6) prize for each fox tail and has gathered 25,000 in a few months. Foxes are one of the biggest threats to wildlife in Australia. Foxes kill thousands of lambs , birds and native wildlife. Australia lost its long battle against wild pests. Question: What reduced the number of the rabbits? Options: A: Hunting B: Poisoning C: Disease D: Flood.
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C

(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: I always avoid going on field investigations with the toxics team, unless it's ly necessary. It's not that I mind the hard work, or am afraid of coming into contact with toxic substances. What I fear is quickly losing hope about the work I do. However, doing field research with the toxic team, all I see and feel is filth---nothing else. Even if I close my eyes, I can smell the smell of food processing, rotting organic waste from paper mills and chemicals from clothing manufacturers. One morning, I went to investigate a discharged pipe to document and collect samples of pollutants secretly being emitted by a textile mill. I had to work with the utmost secrecy in order to avoid being discovered by the textile mill. I dipped a long measuring pole into the large polluting pipe to measure the volume of polluted water being emitted. But the surface of the water, covered in oil and filth, made me feel as if to vomit . All of a sudden, I felt someone hit me on my back, it frightened me so much that I almost fell into the water. I grasped the pole and looked behind me to see an old man standing there. He asked: "Can you catch fish here?" I realized that he thought I was holding a fish pole, so I kept calm and said: "Yes, I heard that there's a kind of small fish living in this water, and it has medicinal benefits." The old man grew quite curious and replied: "That may be. If a fish can survive in water as dirty as this, it must have a lot of resistance. So it wouldn't be too strange if such fish had medicinal benefits." It was clear he was just passing by, so I answered: "Yeah, survival of the fittest. Fish that adapt can survive, just like us humans." He kept talking to me and didn't want to leave. He wanted to see whether or not I would catch the small fish with medicinal benefits. Question: What is the writer of the text most probably? Options: A: A newspaper reporter. B: A researcher about pollution. C: A fisherman. D: A worker of the textile mill.
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B