Read the article and select the best answer. Article: As the summer time approaches, more and more commercials and advertisements can be seen on the mass media encouraging students to join English study tours abroad. The purpose of these tours is to provide students with an opportunity to learn English in a native speaking environment and use English in real situations. Parents always believe that their children will automatically speak good English after attending these study tours. However, for me, as an English major and former participant of many English study tours, I find these summer tours ineffective. Parents who send their children abroad for a summer to study English usually believe that the native speaking environment, including the courses, teachers, and host families, can help their children to learn English better. This might be true if the students really study hard and they really get an all-English environment. But the fact is that, most of the time, the tour part is more important than the study part. Although these tours take place in foreign countries, students are rarely exposed in an all-English environment. You will find that, in the morning classes, Taiwanese students would like to stick together and speak Chinese with each other, even though there are some students from other countries. In the afternoon, the students go on a sightseeing excursion with their companions from Taiwan; they speak Chinese of course. In the evening, when students return to the host families, they would stay in their room and share the day with their roommate, another Taiwanese student. People who speak the same language with you is like a log in the ocean when living in a foreign country where you can not express yourself well, so that you would naturally stick with them. This is especially true with children. Another unrealistic expectation parents have for these tours is that the experience of living abroad can make their children more independent and mature. However, maturity does not come overnight. It takes time and practice. The most important of all is... Question: Why are students rarely exposed in an all-English environment? Options: A: The study tour itself makes it less important for students to expose themselves. B: Staying with the students from the same country makes study easy abroad. C: They only want to stay with their English teachers. D: They are not sure about their spoken English.
A

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It was blazing hot, just like most July days. I stepped into a tiny ice-cream shop to cool off with a chocolate ice-cream. It was an old woman bent over a table near the door. Her back was so badly twisted that her face nearly touched the tabletop. I sat down facing her a couple of tables away. "Poor woman," I thought, "What does she get out of life? Why God let people live so long past their _ ?" As I thought, another aged lady entered the shop and sat down with her. Soon the two of them were talking about childhood days. They talked of how little the shop had changed in 70 years... In minutes, the two of them were trembling with laughter. I looked again at the first woman, then in the mirror on a nearby wall, catching a picture of myself. I was wearing a dirty shirt. She was well dressed in white, her hands sparking with gold rings. I was sad. She was laughing, smiling. I was putting the pieces of my life together. She had millions of wonderful memories to recall. I sat alone. She was sharing the day with a good friend. I was secretly worried about getting old. She was old, but it wasn't hurting her. As I left the shop, I thought of my foolish question about God letting people live past their prime. Why, that woman was more alive, more sensitive to life than I was. Age has not bent her spirit. Question: Which of the following is the main idea of the passage? Options: A: To tell us the life of old people B: To show that old age does not mean being short of spirit. C: To show the difference between the old and the young. D: To make the reader have a pity on the old people.
B

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: He had travelled thousands of miles in the hope of earning some money, but 18-year old Lin Kongming never knew danger was waiting for him. He and six other migrant workers from Fujian Province spent 36 hours in Iraq as international hostages . But luckily, they were set free last Tuesday morning, unharmed by the people who had taken them hostages. After hard work by Chinese diplomats in the region, the Iraqi kidnappers agreed to hand them over to a local religious group. "The friendly relations between the Chinese and Iraqi people have played a key role in the release of the hostages," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan. China refused to join the US-led coalition in the Iraqi war. Since April 4, over 60 hostages from 12 countries, including America, Italy and Japan, have been taken in Iraq. Some have been released, others were killed. The Iraqi resistance groups have started taking foreigners hostages in an attempt to force the US-led troops out of their country. As a result, many foreigners have left, fearing the situation will get worse. Some nations are also considering removing their troops from Iraq. Thailand has ordered its forces not to leave their camp and may bring them home before September as originally planned. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is considering similar action. But Dan Senor, spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, said that it would not negotiate with "terrorists or kidnappers" to get hostages released. Question: Why did the Iraqi resistance groups start to take foreigners hostages? Options: A: To show their anger towards the occupation of foreign troops. B: To tell the world they would fear nothing. C: To make foreign armies leave their country. D: To resist the American troops.
A: C

(Q).
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It is amazing to note that the Internet is still such a new device,and yet it is one of the fastest and most powerful media tools. But think about it for a moment. On the Internet,a big online company can be run by only two guys in their garage. So it is only reasonable then,that people shopping online would be a little _ of the security levels. Internet giants such as Microsoft knew consumer confidence was the key to getting virtual shopping off the ground,and they work hard to make people feel safe to shop online. Credit card companies,too,quickly saw the potential for online shopping,and have installed things like online shopping insurance for people. If you ever have a problem with your online credit purchases,many credit card companies will happily refund your money and then set their claws on the company that wronged you. Now that's buying power! There are other bonuses for online shoppers,of course. No lineups,for one. No annoying mall shopping carts with broken wheels and kids crying because their parents won't get them what they want. When shopping online,consumers can sit down,have a coffee,and wear their slippers,not having to worry about their hair or parking,and just clicking through sale after sale. Comparison shopping couldn't be any easier. And thanks to courier companies getting in on the act,you never need to wait longer than a day or two to get those all important purchases delivered right to your door. No wonder so many companies are shaking their heads at traditional advertising and instead looking to the"virtual" world to attract online shoppers. Question: The following have made contributions to the popularity of online shopping EXCEPT _ . Options: A: Internet giants B: traditional advertisers C: courier companies D: credit card companies
(A).
B