Mrs. Blake teaches English in a large school in the inner area of a big city on the west coast. Even since she was a young girl, she has wanted to become a teacher. She has taught eight years now and hasn't changed her mind. After she graduated from high school, she went on to college. Four years later, she received her bachelor's degree (BA) in English and her teaching certificate . Then she went to teach in the secondary schools of her state. In the summers, Mrs. Blake takes more classes; she hopes to get a master's degree ( MA ). With an MA, she will receive a higher salary and if possible, she hopes to get a doctor's degree as well. The school day at Mrs. Blake's high school, like that in many high schools in the United States, is divided into one hour each. Mrs. Blake must teach five of these periods. During her free period, which for her is from 2 to 3 P.M, Mrs. Blake must meet with parents, make our examinations, check assignments at all, Mrs. Blake works continuously from the time she arrives at school in the morning till the time she leaves for home late in the afternoon. How long is it since Mrs. Blake graduated from middle school? A) four years B) eight years C) twelve years D) twenty years
C
(Question)
The American local food movement has been all about buying seasonal food from nearby farmers. Now, thanks to the Web, it is expanding to include far-away farmers too. A new start-up, Foodzie, is an online farmers market where small food producers and growers can sell their products. Foodzie was started by Mr LaFave and two of his friends, who met during college at Virginia Tech, where they would pay frequent visits to farmers markets. Last year, while living in North Carolina, one of them, Emily Olson, now 24, came up with one idea. She was working as a brand manager for a _ grocery chain and realized that people who enjoyed fine food but didn't work in the business had no way to discover handmade foods outside their local farmers markets. Small farmers had no way of finding or selling to faraway customers, either. Mr LaFAve and the third co-founder, Nik Bauman, both 25, worked in corporate sales and software development. "With business, food and computer science backgrounds, we figured we had everything we needed." Mr LaFAve said. The three quit their jobs, and opened this site to the public in December and the site has had 43,000 visitors in the past month. So far, 29 sellers have opened shops and 41 are in the process of opening them. The founders recently hired a fourth employee to help Ms Olson recruit new food producers at farmers markets and food shows. Mr LaFAve is convinced that the recession will not reduce people's interest in buying locally grown and handmade food. "There is misunderstanding that all these foods are more expensive than mass-produced alternatives," he said. "People are pouring their heart and soul into these products, and they are of the highest quality." About the three founders, we know that _ . A) they are of the same age B) they gave up their work to start the website C) they used to be colleague D) they majored in farming at college
(Answer)
B
Ques: Seattle, Washington ,is nicknamed "Rain city", but it's snow that is making it famous. On January 12,2013, Seattle residents set the Guinness World Record for the biggest snowball fight More than5,800 people showed up to throw snowballs at one another at the Seattle Centre. It didn't snow in Seattle on that day, but there was snow in a small comer of the city-enough to make a lot of kids' dreams come true. Trucks carried 34 loads of snow from Snoqualmie Pass, an hour away in Washington's Cascade mountain range to the Seattle Center It took 162,000 pounds of the white stuff to build the winter wonderland. The goal! To break the Guinness World Record for the biggest snowball fight The event was also a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Clubs. Seattle businessman Neil Bergquist took three months to organize the playful battle. He wanted to raise money for kids by remembering what it was like to feel like a kid' Although Seattle residents aren't used to snow, they succeeded in getting enough people to come out and play About 6,000 tickets were sold online. Participants were given bar-coded wristbands when they arrived The wristbands were scanned as participants entered and left the location, so Guinness counted the number at all times. There were 130 judges for the official minute-and-a-half snowball fight Anyone not throwing snowball wasn't counted in the total To raise money for the Clubs, companies paid for space to build snow fonts ( ). A Guinness official confirmed the count of 5,834 people. Seattle beat the previous world record of about 5,400 at a 2010 snowball fight in South Korea "We had much fun set a Guinness record, raised some money for kids, and everyone had a chance to act like a 'kid for a day," said Bergquist Seattle prepared for its snowball fight event by _ A) carrying snow from elsewhere B) getting residents to sell tickets C) putting on advertisements on the Internet D) building many clubs
Ans: A
Ques:There was a Bulgarian boy who was an exchange student in the USA. He lived with an American family. One day, he went to his room in the evening, and did his homework. His host-mom came to him and asked if he would like to go along to the movies. He wanted to go, so he shook his head from side to side, said "Yes". His host-mom did a couple of steps back, and looked puzzled. She thought that he didn't want to go out because he shook his head from side to side. However, he wanted to go out to the movies. Bulgarians shake their heads from side to side when they mean "yes". People in other countries shake their heads from side to side when they mean "no". Gestures can have different meanings according to different cultures. For example, in America, putting your index finger and your thumb in a circle is commonly used as an OK sign that means everything is all right. However, in France, that sign is used to express "nothing" or "zero", which can have a negative meaning. Generally speaking, gestures are a type of communication that uses a part of our body, and when speaking with people from other cultures, gestures can be important keys or clues to understand them. However, we need to understand that those gestures vary from culture to culture, and it is necessary for us to have an open mind in understanding the different gestures. Why did the Bulgarian boy shake his head from side to side? A) He thought it rude of him to go with the family. B) He didn't understand what the host-mom said. C) He changed his mind after saying "Yes." D) He wanted to go out to the movies.

Ans:
D