Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Daniel Hillel developed drip irrigation techniques. The techniques make farming possible in places where there is not enough water. Because of this, he won this year's World Food Prize. Hillel is using the techniques in his orchards near his home in Israel. Irrigating drop by drop -- called drip irrigation -- has changed agriculture by greatly reducing the amount of water needed. Farmers now rely on it in places from Spain, to Africa, to America. "We in California grow about 50 percent of the fruits and vegetables of the continental United States," says Jan Hopmans from University of California at Davis. "And these drip irrigation techniques make it possible." Hillel got his start in dry land farming in Israel's Negev Desert in the 1950s. "The key was making good use of water," he says. "There's much land. Water is limited." These farmers did not have the advantage of running irrigation water through channels to their crops. So Hillel and others gave plants just what they needed and just where they needed it. "The idea is to use water little by little," Hillel says. It worked so well that Hillel was soon traveling around the world, showing others how to do it. Experts say drip irrigation's importance is growing, as climate change and rising population make water supplies become few in many parts of the world. "This is where water use, climate change and crop production all meet at one point," Hillel says. "And this has been really the essence of my career." A career whose importance can be measured drop by drop. Question: The writer considers Daniel Hillel's career to be _ . Answer:

OPTIONS:
- worthy of respect
- worthy of understanding
- brief
- hard

Answer: worthy of respect

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: At about 4 am, after hours of being unable to sleep, of shivering in the cold mountain air and trying to silence my crying kids who kept waking up, of attempting to find a comfortable sleeping position, of listening to whether there might have been a bear outside our tent, I finally couldn't stand it any more. I complained, "Everything has gone wrong." My wife and I were in one tent with our two young kids. A hundred yards east away was Summit Lake, where the glorious early morning mist was shimmering off the water. A couple miles to the southwest was the base of the Lassen Peak Trail. The base was 8,000 feet above sea level, and huge snow dotted the scenery even in mid August. Further west still was Bumpass Hell, with steam rising up. As the sun crept up over the edge of the Lassen peak, we fired up the camp stove and had breakfast. Half an hour later, my six-year-old daughter and I were in the parking lot of the Lassen peak trail, getting ready to go up the mountainside. We wouldn't make it all the way, but it didn't matter. We would see nature at its extremes: the volcanic ash that layered on the earth turning the melting snow a mysterious pink as the sun struck it; the blues of the sky shading into the blues of distant lakes, which in turn shaded into the whites and grays of the snow. My daughter grabbed my camera. She wanted to take a photo of "the composite "of _ . Looking out over that scenery, and seeing my daughter fascinated by nature, I felt stupid about my morning complaints. Yes, camping is uncomfortable. And yes, there's a lot to be said for getting out a credit card,reserving a room in a nice hotel, and going out for a fancy meal. But there's also something wonderful about being so close to raw nature. And , as important, there's something vital about getting young children out of their increasingly modern comfort zones and forcing them to meet the world around them. Question: .How did the author's feeling change from the beginning to the end ? Answer:

OPTIONS:
- Calm-Satisfied.
- Excited-Frustrated.
- Sad-Calm.
- Regretful-Satisfied.

Answer: Regretful-Satisfied.

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Everyone may all have the experience of feeling anxious and stressed when having a rough day or having some troubles. Different people may choose different ways to deal with it, and for most people a break for a 10-minute walk may be quite useful.www.zxxk.com Anyway, here is another way around: to get a piece of chewing gum, and chew it. According to a Swinburne University of Technology study, gum-chewing has been found to "relieve anxiety, improve alertness and reduce stress among individuals in a laboratory setting." Some may argue that a laboratory is not the same as an office. But check out the conditions of the study: individuals were monitored while performing "a group of 'multi-tasking' activities." Doesn't it sound like the situation in the office?www.zxxk.com Here's a summary of some of the study's findings: Gum chewers showed a reduction in anxiety as compared to non-gum chewers by nearly 17 percent during mild stress and nearly 10 percent in appropriate stress. Gum chewers showed improvement in alertness over non-gum chewers by nearly 19 percent during mild stress and 8 percent in moderate stress. Improved Performance: Chewing gum resulted in a big improvement in overall performance on multi-tasking activities. Although these aren't major improvements, every little bit works and chewing a piece of gum is a lot quicker and easier than slipping outside for a 10-minute walk. So, how does gum work this magic? In part it does so by lowering the level of cortisol --a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress in your system. A few words of advice before you reach for the gum: don't crack your gum, and be sure to chew it with your mouth closed. In fact, I'd say keep the gum out of meetings, because it really looks impolite to others around you. Question: What does the text mainly talk about? Answer:

OPTIONS:
- How to chew gum.
- How to relieve stress.
- Why people love chewing gum.
- Chewing gum can relieve stress.

Answer: Chewing gum can relieve stress.

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Students at the Yale School of Architecture handed over the keys to a house that they designed and built to its new owners at a ceremony on Sept. 25 at 20 King Place. The ceremony held to hand over the house will mark the completion of the school's First-Year Building Project 2008. since 1967, the Yale School of Architecture has offered its first-year graduate students the opportunity to design and build a structure as a part of their education. Unique among architecture schools, this program is compulsory for all members of the class, and students frequently refer to it as their reason for applying to Yale. This year's class of 64 worked to design, develop and document an idea for a 2,100-square-foot, wheelchair-accessible, two-family house. Students had to use sustainable resources and energy-efficient technology. The budget for the project is always less than actual construction costs, and the builders-in-training had to seek supplementary donations, mostly in the form of construction materials. The result this year was a "designer" home, dressed entirely in cedar , fitted inside with Swedish-designed cabinetry and partially powered by solar energy. The floors are bamboo, another natural material prized for being quickly replenished . This year, the student-builders used a pre-cast foundation system, which, in addition to its other labor-saving virtues, uses 75% less concrete than the poured system. The first-year class of 2008 raised $100,000-worth of donated materials. But when it came to constructing the inside steps of the house, they used old drafting tables from the School of Architecture that would otherwise have been thrown out. Ground was broken in May for the house at King Place, and the whole class worked on site until the construction was finished. Question: How long did it take the students to finish the house ? Answer:

OPTIONS:
- More than five months
- Almost five months
- About six months
- Less than four months

Answer:
Almost five months