Planning your to-do list for the coming year? To help you out, we've collected our favorite must-see events across Canada. Ready, go! Red or white? Every spring wine growers get together to celebrate the beginning of another grape-growing season at the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival. The best time to visit the Okanagan is usually from May 1 to 10. The festival allows visitors to taste the best wines in Canada together with unique dishes representing the latest developments in local cuisine. The jazz festival Montreal's downtown comes alive every summer during the International Jazz Festival. The Festival International de Jazz de Montreal is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest held the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. This year the event is scheduled to run from June 29 to July 9. Stages replace cars along busy streets. With a host of free outdoor shows, you'll be snapping your fingers to anything from Dixieland to blues, African beats to modern trip-hop, and everything in between. Are you ready? Just head east to the Newfoundland Targa Rally, which runs from September 9 to 16 this year. The 2,200-kilometre race dashes across the eastern and central parts of the province, and is the largest race of its kind in North America. On these sections you race against the clock rather than other competitors. This is a great chance to test your car's limits and your skills. Hello spring! In 1945, thousands of tulip bulbs gifts from Holland, were planted on Ottawa's Parliament Hill, Canada. These gifts were a thank-you to Canadian soldiers who helped set Holland free in World WarII. Since then, the capital has become home to the Canadian Tulip Festival. From May 4 to 22, Ottawa and Gatineau (a city of southwest Quebec) will be covered with beautiful flowers. Besides three million tulips, visitors can also attend concerts, featuring some of Canada's brightest musical stars. On May 10th, music lovers may go to . A) the Canadian Tulip Festival B) the International Jazz Festival C) the Newfoundland Targa Rally D) the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival
A
(Question)
It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured or stolen. We already know that National Security Agency can dip into your Facebook page and Google searches. And it seems that almost every store we go into these days wants your home phone number and ZIP code as part of any deal. So when Edward Snowden -- now cooling his heels in Russia -- revealed the extent to which the NSA is spying on Americans, collecting data on phone calls we make, it's not as if we should have been surprised. We live in a world that George Orwell predicted in 1984. And that realization has caused sales of the 1949, dystopian novel to spike dramatically upward recently -- a 9,000% increase at one point on Amazon. com. Comparisons between Orwell's novel about a tightly controlled totalitarian future ruled by the everywhere-present Big Brother and today are, in fact, quite similar. Here are a few of the most obvious ones. Telescreens -- in the novel, nearly all public and private places have large TV screens that broadcast government propaganda , news and approved entertainment. But they are also two-way monitors that spy on citizens, private lives. Today websites like Facebook track our likes and dislikes, and governments and private individuals hack into our computers and find out what they want to know. Then there are the ever-present monitoring cameras that spy on the ordinary people as they go about their daily routine. The endless war -- In Orwell's book, there's global war that has been going on seemingly forever, and as the book's hero, Winston Smith, realizes the enemy keeps changing. One week we're at war with Eastasia and friends with Eurasia. The next week, it's just the opposite. There seems little to distinguish the two opponents, and they are used primarily to keep the people of Oceania, where Smith lives, in a constant state of fear, thereby making disagreement unthinkable -- or punishable. Today we have the so-called war on terror, with no end in... What is the writer's attitude towards the phenomenon? A) Optimistic. B) Concerned. C) Angry. D) Indifferent.
(Answer)
B
Ques: Have you ever thought, "I wish I could take a year off and just travel around the world"? Well, three lucky American teenagers were able to do just that. The teens--two males and one female--got an all-expenses paid, yearlong hike to five continents. This trip didn't include any five-star hotels or shopping funs. Eighteen-year-old Jamie Fiel from Keller, Texas, 17-year-old Arsen Ewing from Canyon, California, and 16-year-old Tyler Robinson from Lincoln, Massachusetts, didn't expect fancy treatment. They signed up for the experience of a lifetime, which included hard work, often uncomfortable accommodations, and encounters with some of nature's most dangerous animals and environments. Jamie, Arsen, and Tyler were among hundreds of high school kids nominated by their science teachers to take this trip. Earthwatch Institute sponsored this adventure. Each year, Earthwatch employs thousands of volunteers worldwide to help with scientific research projects. The group went all around the world to get a close look at the most pressing environmental issues of our time. Their assignments were as varied as their locations, and included measuring and attending pink flamingos in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, and tracking giant sea turtles in Costa Rica. As they worked with the Earthwatch scientists, Jamie, Arsen, and Tyler began to understand that we are at a critical moment in the life of our planet. Time for change is running out. As the teens went from country to country and witnessed different environmental dangers and challenges, they understood that solutions to important environmental issues start with the power of one person's actions. They realized that each of them can make a difference. What's true about their journey? A) They had to pay for their journey on their own expense. B) They often had to move from one hotel to another. C) They had to take great pains to collect environmental information. D) They received a warm welcome every time they arrived at a new place.
Ans: C
I learned my first lesson from my grandparents when I was young. They both grew up in very large families and lived through the Great Depression. Saving for a rainy day was their life philosophy. Rather than seeking fulfillment through material items, they chose to spend really simple life together with their family. Over the years my grandparents notice dramatic changes in their community. Every year more farmland was destroyed to build larger and larger homes. As real estate prices rose, many of their neighbors sold their little homes and land. Soon theirs was the only small house surrounded by a sea of mansions. My grandparents built and lived in a small 600-square-foot cottage for most of their adult lives. Lots of family members encouraged my grandparents to expand their little old house. But they didn't want a bigger one. They loved their little house and were content with what they had. My grandparents avoided a consumptive ( ) lifestyle by painting and repairing the house themselves. They lived in a small home, but had a huge garden. They loved gardening and planting because it reduced their grocery bill, improved their health, and gave them an excuse to be outside. They also reused and recycled many things. For in- stance. they had driven the same car for over 15 years and didn't buy a new one until the old Chevrolet was worn out. From my grandparents, I learned an important lesson: it is possible to live a simple life. My grandparents taught me that living a simple life isn't about self-deprivation . Instead ,it's about giving yourself the time, freedom, and money to pursue your dreams. Becoming debt free, downsizing to a smaller home, and going out on foot instead of by car are good ways to take control of your life and start pursuing your dreams. Which of the following is a consumptive lifestyle in the grandparents' opinion? A) Changing cars in a short time. B) Planting vegetables in the garden. C) Reusing and recycling things. D) Repairing the house themselves.
A