Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Carrying a passenger on a bicycle is an offence punishable by law. Everyone knows that but still some of us do it. I had done it many times before until something happened to teach me never to do it again. It was not the police. Rather it was an unforgettable, and unpleasant, experience. It happened one evening when my friend Segaran and I wanted to go and visit another friend who lived some distance away. I had a bicycle. Segaran did not. So, as usual, he sat side-saddle on the horizontal bar of the bicycle while I pedalled. We had done it many times before, so it should not be any problem. Near my friend's house, we got onto a gravel path made slippery by the recent rain. Still we managed to move along, thoroughly enjoying the rough ride. As we passed by a stream, I made the mistake of going too near the bank. The rain had softened the soil and it could not hold our combined weight. One moment we were going along merrily, the next we were tumbling head over heels into the stream. Splash! Splash! Splash! We plunged into the river bicycle first, followed by Segaran, then me. Normally the stream is only a few centimetres deep with clear water. When we fell in, it was a metre deep with smelly black water. The water prevented us from getting badly injured but we also had to pay the price of swallowing some of it. It tasted horrible. Segaran got the worst of it for being sandwiched between the bicycle and me. Our pride was far more hurt. We walked all the way home. I had to push the bicycle because its front wheel was bent out of shape. From that moment I promised never to carry anyone on a bicycle again. Question: The author felt hurt mainly because _ . Options: A: he swallowed some dirty water B: he got badly injured in the water C: he made Segaran sandwiched and hurt D: he failed in a thing he had thought was easy
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Chinese writer and translator Yang Jiang died early on May 25, 2016 in Beijing at age 104. The longest-living Chinese woman writer, she was known for her modest, subtle and witty writing style. Yang became a household name in China for her novels, essays, plays and translated works. Her most popular novel, Baptism, describing a group of intellectuals adjusting to a new society in the early 1950s, has been translated into French and English. Yang began learning Spanish in 1959 at age 48, and started to translate Don Quixote in 1962. She was the first to translate Don Quixote into Chinese. The work was stopped twice due to the "cultural revolution". She completed it in 1976, and the Chinese edition was published in 1978 and has sold more than 1 million copies. In that year, the Spanish king and queen visited China, and then-leader Deng Xiao-ping gave the royal couple Yang's translation as a gift. Yang was received by Deng at the Great Hall of the People. While shaking hands, Deng asked her when she had completed the translation. "It's just published," she replied, having no time to tell the full story. She was married to Qian Zhongshu, a well-known scholar and author of the best-selling novel Fortress Besieged. Yang's _ about her family, The Three of Us, written after her husband and daughter died, in 1998 and 1997 respectively, was translated into German. Yang never stopped writing. At 94, she started writing the book Walking onto the Edge of Life to reflect on her life. It won China's top book award in 2007. At 100, she was still writing articles for newspapers. Question: In which did she start writing the book Walking onto the Edge of Life ? Options: A: 2005 B: 2006 C: 2007 D: 2008
A

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The financial crisis is reminding Americans of a lesson they first learned in childhood: Share and share alike. They are sharing or swapping tools and books, cars and handbags, time and talent. The renewed desire to share shows up in a variety of examples: A car-sharing service has had a 70 percent membership increase since the crisis occurred. Some companies encouraged his employees to take vanpooling. Governments are putting bikes on the street for public use. How-to-swap Web sites are increasing quickly. The economy reflects the way Americans have cut back, especially on daily items: Department store sales dropped 1.3 percent in June. People are not buying cars, and as a result, auto sales dropped 27.7 percent last month. They are not paying others to do what they can do themselves -- Home Depot reports increased attendance at in-store do-it-yourself clinics. And although paint sales are down in general, according to Sherwin-Williams, individual consumers are still buying. When Tom Burdett needed to cut some tiles at his home outside Annapolis, he refused to buy expensive tools. So he asked his neighbors and friends for help. Sure enough, someone had just what he needed. And when that friend needed help fixing a satellite dish, Burdett volunteered to help. The sharing mind-set is not new to the American culture, but many Americans give it up when the nation changed from an agricultural society to an industrial one, said Rosemary Hornak, a psychology professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. They moved farther from their families and did not have time to connect with new neighbors because they worked so much, she said. Neighborhood conversations tell more of the story as the movement grows organically in communities across the Washington region and the nation. On one street in Arlington, for example, neighbors are collecting their separate money for mulch and dividing it among themselves. Question: Why do people in modern times give up the sharing mind-set? Options: A: Because they don't need it at all. B: Because they aren't interested in it. C: Because they are busy with work. D: Because they hate being disturbed.
A: C

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: This wonderful 16-day tour is designed to highlight South Africa's amazing diversity of cultures, its curious mixture of old and new, as well as its wonderful scenery and wildlife, together with its unique history. Join us to experience Cape Town and the exciting Kruger safari on our tour to South AfricA. We believe that a more naturally beautiful country than South Africa would be difficult to find: from the rocky peaks of the Drakensberg Mountains, to the timeless semi-desert landscapes of the Karoo and then the forested seashores and mirror-like lakes of the Garden Route, the attractive valleys of the Winelands and the symbol of the country, Table Mountain -- all under an endless blue sky.Quite amazing! Included in our price: Return flights from London Heathrow Three-and-four-star hotels, sharing rooms, breakfast and lunch included Internal flight to the beautiful Garden Route Full-day guided safari in the Kruger National Park Visit the legendary Zulu War battlefields of Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift, the historical Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, Apartheid Museum and Blyde River Canyon Travel on Outeniqua steam train or go whale watching depending on the season For more information, call 0845 155 6706. Question: The passage is written to _ .[ Options: A: talk about touring experiences B: attract people to the tour C: talk about the history of Africa D: introduce places of interest in Africa
B