Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Most American students have to say goodbye to fancy fruits these days. In school restaurants across the country, cheaper fruits like apples and oranges have taken their place. "People are afraid to spend now." said Linda Morrow, who owns a shoe and handbag store. "They don't know what the future will bring". During the financial crisis , several of the country's biggest banks have been forced to sell or close. This has made lots of Americans afraid to buy expensive things. The crisis began last year. Experts think it was because US banks lend money too easily. Last year a lot of people and companies, who borrowed money, found themselves unable to pay it back. This left the banks, as well as the people who put their money in the banks, without money. Since the banks borrowed money between themselves and even across borders , the whole world was in trouble. This month the US government agreed on a $700 billion plan to try to save the financial market. But no one is sure whether it will help or not. Last week presidents from 20 countries promised to work together to find a way out of the money trouble. Question: This passage is probably taken from _ . - a story book - a novel - a newspaper - an advertisement
a newspaper

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Dear Editor , I used to be a doctor in a children's hospital. Sometimes I treated children who had been poisoned by medicines for older family members. The children didn't know the medicine was dangerous; they just knew it tasted sweet. Children easily opened the bottle that we now use in China. Some days ago I talked about medicine with an American. He showed me a kind of plastic bottle. The design was very quite simple and I'm sure our Chinese factories could produce these bottles. The top of the bottle locks but can be opened by pressing down on it while turning. This is difficult for most young children to do, though grown-ups can open these bottles very easily. I'm certain that the price of making such tops would be very low. As a doctor, I'd love to see this done. And most parents would be grateful. Yours, Li Hua Question: The writer's job in the hospital was mainly to _ . - treat sick children - treat poisoned children - give medicine to people - give medicine to children
treat sick children

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: In this fast-shifting world, there can be no guarantees attached to any particular job. But there is much that you can do to protect yourself from the change of society, by equipping yourself with the skills to manage your career more effectively. You need to be a career activist. If you lost your main source of income tomorrow, could you find a different source to replace it? The most important thing in protecting yourself now and in the future is ensuring that you have choices. Don't let yourself be held back by a lack of skill development, or fear of change. Some people have been good performers in their own organization but discovered that they are stuck. Because they are so closely related to a particular company or industry, their skills are not readily transferred to other jobs. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you limit yourself to one particular area or sector, you limit your opportunity, too. In a global market place, many jobs come and go quickly as changes in the stock market. Today's hottest job may not exist tomorrow. If you love computers, then this work represents a great choice. But don't enter a field just because you think that's where the hot jobs are; even if the job is available, it may not match well with your own skills and abilities. Start with entry of your own strengths and interests, then see where you may match up best in the job market. Question: Some people are afraid of change because _ . - they have got a hot job - they have no other better choices - they have got used to a certain job - they have no other skills and interests
A: they have got used to a certain job

Question: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Most painters discover a style of painting that suits them and stick to that, especially if people admire their pictures. But Picasso, the great Spanish painter, was like a man who had not yet found his own particular style of painting. He kept on struggling to find the perfect expression till his death in 1973. Some of Picasso's paintings are rich, soft color1ed and beautiful. Others are ugly and cruel and strange. But such paintings allow us to imagine things for ourselves. They force us to say to ourselves, "What does he see that makes him paint like that?" And we begin to look beneath the surface of the things we see. Picasso painted thousands of pictures in different styles. Sometimes he painted the natural look of things. Sometimes he seemed to break them apart and throw the pieces in our faces. He showed us what the mind knows as well as what the eye sees. At the age of 90 he remained as curious about the world as he had been when he was young. That's why people have called him "the youngest painter in the world.. Question: Why do people call Picasso "the youngest painter in the world"? - He never stopped painting at an old age. - He looked too young for his age. - He always tried to find new things. - The world remained the same as before.
Answer: He always tried to find new things.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Just outside the northern Italian town of Bra, there rises a church tower with a clock that is a half hour slow. Though not far from the industrial city of Turin, Bra smells of roses, and leisure is the law. It is both the home of an international movement that promotes slow food and one of Italian cities that have joined the slow cities. In Bra, population 27,866, the town fathers have declared that all small food shops be closed every Thursday and Sunday. They forbid cars in the town square. All fruits and vegetables served in local schools must be organic . And as the movement goes well, the slow concept gradually spreads across Europe. The argument for a Slow Europe is not only that it is good, but also that it can work. The Slow City Movement, which started in 1999, has improved local economies by promoting local goods and tourism. Young Italians are moving from larger cities to Bra, where unemployment is only 5 percent, about half the nationwide rate. Slow food and wine festivals draw thousands of tourists every year. Shops are doing well, many with sales rising at a rate of 15% per year. "This is our answer to the world." says Paolo Samrnini, the founder of Slow Cities. France is in favor of slow economics. Most outsiders have long been doubtful of the French model: short hours and long vacations. Yet the French are more productive than those in the United States and Britain, and have been for years. The mystery of French productivity has risen an Europewide debate about the advantages of working more slowly. Question: The church clock that is a half hour slow severs as a symbol of _ . - industrial development - slow movement - global economy - city growth
slow movement