Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Go to church, then have a big lunch, then go out to play while mum does the housework. That was a typical British Sunday in the 1960s. But things now could not be more different. Some British sociologists recently studied the typical British Sunday. They found that people get up later and do less housework than they did 40 years ago. They are far more likely to be out shopping or enjoying themselves than cooking Sunday lunch. Sunday mornings were busy 40 years ago. Most women caught up on their weekly housework and cooked a nice lunch. They seldom allowed themselves any "leisure" until afternoon, after the dishes were cleaned. Then there would be another rush to the table between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm for tea. But now, Britons can have brunch at the restaurant. Fewer people bother to cook themselves. "You only have two free days a week. You don't want to have to waste one because there is nothing to do but watch boring TV," said Elizabeth Biggs, 25, a producer in London. "On Saturday you are recovering from the week," Biggs added. "Sundays are the last chance for the weekend -- you want to get as much as you can out of the day before you have to go back to work." In the past, British women usually did their shopping during the week, while the husband was at work. "Now men seem to do that as much as women," said Jonathan Gershuny, a professor who took part in the study. Men also do more housework now on Sundays. Back in the 1960s, men were far more likely to spend Sundays out of the house -- at the pub or playing football -- before lunch. Question: Many Britons have brunch at the restaurant because _ . Options: A: They have no time to cook at home. B: They get up too late. C: They won't bother to cook themselves. D: They will go to church.
C

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A camera and a computer can "see" something that perhaps millions of pairs of eyes failed to see for 480 years: the Mona Lisa's necklace. The discovery about the famous painting was made by an American physicist. The Mona Lisa, painted by the Italian, Leonardo da Vinci, has been on show for many years in Paris. Now a row of white spots on the neck have been "seen". They are said to be the remains of a necklace which the artist later painted over. The painting will be examined further by using infrared scanning techniques. Laser technology can be used to show what lies directly under the surface of the finished work, too. This will help us to understand how the artist drew the picture: Did he begin with a quick-made drawing or have second thoughts as he painted the picture? This kind of knowledge will show us the famous artist at work. It may also help to explain Mona Lisa's smile, which has puzzled art lovers for centuries. Question: According to the passage, the white spots on Mona Lisa's neck _ . Options: A: are still invisible to visitors B: have turned into a necklace C: have already appeared before visitors D: are looking more and more like a necklace
A

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The crisis at the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan has raised worries about radiation risks. We spoke Tuesday with Jonathan Links, an expert in radiation health sciences. He is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. Professor Links says workers within the nuclear plant are the only people at risk of extremely high doses of radiation. JONATHAN LINKS: "Of course, we don't know what doses they've received, but the only persons at risk of acute radiation effects are the workers." For other people, he says, there may be a long-term worry. People can get cancer from low doses of ionizing radiation, the kind released in a nuclear accident. Professor Links says scientists can use computers to quickly model where radioactive material has blown and settled. Then they measure how large an area is contaminated. He says if the situation is serious enough, officials could take steps like telling people not to eat locally grown food or drink the water. JONATHAN LINKS: "But that would only be the case if there was a significant release and, because of wind direction, the radioactive material was blown over the area, and then settled out of the air into and onto water, plants, fruits and vegetables." The reactors at Fukushima are on the Pacific coast. But Professor Links says people should not worry about any radioactive material leaking into the ocean. JONATHAN LINKS: "Even in a worst-case scenario accident, the sea provides a very high degree of _ . So the concentration of radioactivity in the seawater would still be quite low." Japan is the only country to have had atomic bombs dropped on it. That memory from World War Two would create a stronger "psychological sensitivity" to radiation exposure, Professors Links says. Next month is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the explosion and fire that destroyed a reactor at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The nineteen eighty-six event was the world's worst accident in the nuclear power industry. A new United Nations... Question: The passage mainly tells us _ . Options: A: What measures the Japan Government takes to solve the nuclear crisis . B: Worries and influences caused by the nuclear crisis . C: With great efforts of scientists , the Japan Government has put the nuclear crisis under control . D: To explain that the nuclear crisis has less effect on its neighboring countries.
A: B

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Humans aren't the only ones getting a buzz from coffee.Caffeine can improve memory among honeybees and lead to better pollination .According to a recent study published in the journal Science. The study was conducted by a team of researchers at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.They found that the nectar of some flowers,such as those from grapefruit and lemon plants,as well as certain coffee flowers,contains low doses of caffeine.To get bees to feed on these flowers,the team trained the insects to associate food with the smell of the flowers.They also trained another group of bees to feed on nectar from flowers that were sweetened with a sugar, but did not contain caffeine.After 24 hours,the bees trained on caffeinated flowers returned to these plants three times as often as those trained on the sweetened flowers returned to the uncaffeinated plants. Professor Geraldine Wright led the researchers."Remembering floral traits is difficult for bees to perform at a fast pace as they fly from flower to flower and we found that caffeine helps the bee remember where the flowers are,"Wright said in a statement. Improved memory led to the better pollination.That's because once bees sip the caffeine nectar, they continue to look for more coffee plants to pollinate.This also suggests that caffeine plays a role in improving the bees'ability to search for food. Researchers found that caffeine's effect on the bee brain is similar to its effect on mammals."The change is similar to that produced by caffeine in neurons associated with learning and memory in the rat brain,"Wright said. Bee populations have declining since 2007.The dramatic drop in the insects'numbers has serious effects for ecosystems and the farming industry.Bees are needed in the reproduction of crops and spreading wild flower species.Understanding what keeps bees buzzing could help to make sure that the insects are able to remember and pollinate their favorite flowers. Question: Which of the following is mentioned in the passage? Options: A: Caffeine has no effect on the rat brain. B: Bee population has been increasing. C: The nectar of lemon plants contains caffeine. D: Bees dislike nectar from sweetened flowers.
A: C