Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Michael, a normal American, stays home on workdays. He plugs into his personal computer terminal in order to connect with the office. After work he puts on his headphones, watches a movie on his home video recorder or plays baseball on the computer. On many days, Michael doesn't talk to any other human beings, and he doesn't see any people except the ones on television. _ . The inventions of modern technology seem to be cutting us off from communicating with our fellow human beings. The world of business is one area in which technology is separating us. Experts say, for example, that many people will soon be able to work at home. With access to a large central computer, employees such as office clerks, insurance agents, and accountants could do their job at display terminals in their own homes. They would never have to actually see the people they're dealing with. Also, the way employees are paid will change. Workers' salaries will be automatically paid into their bank accounts, making paper checks unnecessary. No workers will stand in line to receive their pay or cash their checks. Personal banking will change, too. Customers will deal with machines to put in or take out money from their accounts. Another area in which technology is changing is entertainment. Music, for instance, was once a group experience. People listened to music at concert halls or in small social gatherings. For many people now, however, music is an individual experience. Walking along the street or sitting in their living rooms, they wear headphones to build a wall of music around them. Movie entertainment is changing, too. Movies used to be social events. Now, fewer people are going out to see a movie. Many more are choosing to wait for a film to appear on television or are borrowing videotapes to watch at home. Instead of laughing with others, viewers watch movies in their own living rooms. Question: What is the main idea of the passage? - We may no longer need to communicate with other people. - Modern technology seems to be separating people. - We may no longer need to work in the office. - Modern technology makes it possible for us to work at home.
Modern technology seems to be separating people.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: "Bad luck always comes in three" and last Saturday seemed to prove it. After trouble with the car, the television, we spent the evening waiting for the next trouble. Shortly after dinner we both smelled smoke. My wife, who was often careless when cooking, ran to the kitchen but returned looking puzzled. I rushed up the stairs to see smoke coming from under our bedroom door. I went to the bathroom and tied a wet cloth over my face. Then I returned to the bedroom, opened the door andcrawled in--there would be less smoke at floor level. With one hand reaching out in front of me I advanced carefully feeling for the switch to turn off the electric blanket. At that moment I heard the bell of a coming fire engine. Thank goodness my wife had not been wasting her time. Question: The wife rushed into the kitchen because _ . - the smoke came out of the kitchen - she left something in the kitchen - she was afraid the smoke was caused by her carelessness - things in the kitchen were easy to cause fire
she was afraid the smoke was caused by her carelessness

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our sky-high divorce rate. But this won't necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same. We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the work force was unemployed, it had declined by around 25 percent from 1929. But this does not mean that people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes plummeting and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn't afford to divorce. They feared that neither would be able to manage alone. Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes. After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book, "The Unemployed Man and His Family," described a family in which the husband first reacted to losing his job "with tireless search for work." He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do. The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain (continue). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually defeated their attempts to keep their families together. The rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold. Millions of American families may now be in the initial (earliest) stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment. Today's economic depression could well generate a similar backlog of couples whose relationships have been irreparably ruined. So it is only when the economy is healthy again that we will begin to see just how many... Question: In the initial stage, the current economic crisis is likely to _ . - tear many troubled families apart - contribute to enduring and strong family ties - bring about a drop in the divorce rate - cause a lot of conflicts in the family
A: bring about a drop in the divorce rate

(Q).
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Recently, another study has been carried out about who is the greatest American president. Sixty-five presidential historians took part in it and they judged the past forty-two American leaders based on ten qualities of leadership, which include public persuasion, crisis leadership, the management of economy, moral leadership and international relations. The historians also looked at administrative ability, relations with Congress, goal setting and pursuit of equal justice for all. Finally, the experts considered performance based on the historical period in which the president lived. The historians chose Abraham Lincoln as America's greatest president. He had also been named best president in a similar study in 2000. Abraham Lincoln was the only president in American history to lead the nation during the Civil War in the 1860s. He united the nation at last. And he took the first steps that destroyed the institution of slavery in America. Edna Medford is a professor of history at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was an adviser on this study and the earlier one. She says Abraham Lincoln is seen to represent the values that the nation most honors like truthfulness, moderation and respect for human rights. The historians named America's first president, George Washington, as second on the list of greatest presidents. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman are next in that order. John F. Kennedy, the country's first Roman Catholic president, is sixth on the list. Like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy was murdered while in office. Among recent presidents, Ronald Reagan was named the tenth best president. Bill Clinton was rated fifteenth. And the historians rated former president George W. Bush as number thirty-six. His father, George H.W. Bush, did much better. He was rated as number eighteen. Question: Abraham Lincoln was chosen as America's greatest president mainly because _ . - he led the people to end slavery and united the nation - he caused the Civil War and fought against slavery - he was the only president to join in a civil war - he owned the ten qualities of leadership
(A).
he led the people to end slavery and united the nation