TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given an article, a question which often contains a blank and four options (associated with "A", "B", "C", "D"). Your task is to find the correct answer (from the given options) for the question from the given article and return one of the options from "A", "B", "C", and "D". Do not generate anything else apart from one of the following characters: "A", "B", "C", "D". There is only one correct answer for each question.
PROBLEM: Article: The challenge to drink to the limits of one's endurance has become a celebrated part of college life. In one of the most extensive reports on college drinking thus far, a 1997 Harvard School of Public Health study found that 43 percent of college students admitted binge drinking in the preceding two weeks (Defined as four drinks in a sitting for a woman and five of a man, a drinking binge is when one drinks enough to risk health and well - being ) Experts estimate that excessive drinking is involved in thousands of student deaths a year. And the Harvard researchers found that there has been a dramatic change in why students drink. 39 percent drank "to get drunk" in 1993, but 52 percent had the same objective in 1997. "What has changed is the across - the - board acceptability of intoxication ," says Felix Savino at UW - Madison. Many college students today see not just drinking but being drunk as their primary way of socializing. The reasons for the shift are complex and not fully understood. But researchers guess that it may have something to do with today's instant - satisfaction life - style--and young people tend to take into the extreme. While binge drinking isn't always deadly, it does have other, wide - ranging effects. Academics is one area where it takes a heavy _ (something paid, lost or suffered). Perhaps because alcohol increases aggression and affects judgement, it is also related to 25 percent of violent crimes and roughly 60 percent of vandalism on campus. Facing the many potential dangers, college campuses are searching for ways to reduce binge drinking.
Question: Why has "binge drinking" caused widespread concern?
Options: (A) Because it is directly responsible for the academic problem on campus. (B) Because it has claimed many young lives every year. (C) Because it has had harmful effects on the students' health and well - being. (D) Because it is in close connection with school violence.

SOLUTION: C

PROBLEM: Article: The summer of 2012 was full of reports of extreme weather: one of the warmest years on record in the US, the wettest summer in the UK, and the worst drought in East Africa. In short, extreme weather seems to be becoming the new normal. Weather extremes are not that extreme any more. Heatwaves, droughts and wildfires are the new reality of a warming world. And this should not come as a surprise. Scientists have been warning for years that as the planet heats up, we will have to deal with more dreadful weather. Although not every extreme weather event is the result of climate change, scientists are now much more confident about connecting weather events with climate change. In 2011, the UK had a warm November. Researchers say that it was at least 60 times more likely to happen because of climate change than because of natural changes in the earth's weather systems. All the news shows that climate breakdown is occurring faster than most climate scientists had expected. But isn't it too expensive to stop the climate from changing? Well, yes it costs. So everything is just as usual. It would be wrong to believe that to let things continue as they always do is the cheap choice. Instead, it is very expensive. Just one example: droughts in the US, Russia and the Ukraine sent food prices to a record high. According to the World Bank, the price for corn increased by 113% in some markets in Mozambique and in Sudan. This is the kind of cost that often gets ignored. I believe intelligent climate action can help create new opportunities for jobs in Europe, for encouraging creativity and competitiveness, for spending less money on energy.
Question: According to the passage, in 2012 _ .
Options: (A) the UK had a warm November (B) the US had many wildfires (C) the UK had a dry summer (D) East Africa had little rain

SOLUTION: D

PROBLEM: Article: Online Communication In an age when technology moves faster than most can keep up with, a small group of people still remain in the time of old-fashioned letter. Frankly speaking, I was once certain that traditional letters could never be replaced by other means of communication. But a story about online communication changed my mind. An old man, who suffered a lot from Parkinson's disease, was not able to talk clearly and could hardly write his name. Living totally alone, he managed to keep in touch with nearly all the members of his family. How did he achieve this? He clicked out words on his computer keyboard. I, therefore, managed to get an E-mail box as soon as the opportunity came. My life changed. E-mail, and all online communication, is something truly different. It has capabilities that few other products can match. E-mail is convenient. It takes less time with its fast speed and 24-hour connection. The slow postal service is no match. If you wouldn't want to have a face-to-face talk with your manager, you might talk with him through E-mail even if you are in the same office. Naming all the good things about online communication is not easy. But wait. E-mail can be inconvenient. It can waste time and energy. Just think what may happen when you take a short vacation and return to find your e-mail box filled with 200 unread messages. You could easily spend half a day clearing _ ads. Then, online communication will keep us staying at our computer while it connects us to distant strangers. Once we throw ourselves into the machine, we may forget the human touches we once held so dear. I'm sure there is and always will be a place for the old-fashioned letter, phone call, and face-to-face meeting... even in the world of modern communication. As I listen to the sound of the modem , I was excited at stepping out to the outside world but, at the same time, I sensed a loss of control over something valuable in my personal life.
Question: What does the writer think of online communication?
Options: (A) It should replace old-fashioned letters completely. (B) It is perfect and always does good to you. (C) It is extremely useful and convenient, but it may be inconvenient or even harmful. (D) It does more harm than good.

SOLUTION:
C