Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: In 1996 I wanted to buy a Honda Civic. I went to the local dealer. "Oh, you want a Civic, do you?" said the fellow. "And I suppose you'd also like us to throw in a couple of front-row Superbowl tickets? Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!" When his laughter ended, he explained that the Civic was such a hit in Europe that Honda was getting an extra $ 2,000 per car there, making Civic practically unavailable in the States. But he did offer to let me add my name to the waiting list--if I agreed to pay $1,000 over the sticker price. When Honda dealerships No. 2 and No. 3 gave me the same story, I was ready to try anything. I carefully looked over to www.autobytel.com. For a _ like me, Auto-By-Tel's scheme is nearly irresistible. You indicate the car you want to buy, compete with the freedom to choose. The nearest participating car dealer mails you back with a cut rate offer. There's no charge for any of this -- and no obligation to accept the offer. It surely seemed no less to me. Sure enough, two days later, a dealer 30 minutes away wrote me. "Unfortunately, 96 Civics are in very short supply," his message said, "The best we can offer you is $1,200 under sticker price. "I was in happiness. Ah! Bliss! Ah, saving! Ah, revenge! When I picked up the car, it got better. Since there was no haggling , the dealership fellow was friendly and congratulatory instead of everything. Now this, I thought, is the way to buy a car. Auto-By-Tel makes money by charging a fee to each participating dealer. The dealers make money by receiving hundreds of ready-to-buy customer names off the Web. And you save money because your price doesn't reflect advertising, test drives, sales commissions, and so on. My only regret is that I didn't think up Auto-By-Tel first. Question: This text mainly tells about the story of _ . - saving money charging - quarrelling with the dealers - the experience of buying a car - regretting buying a new Civic
the experience of buying a car

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Florence,Italy Who should go:Art lovers;Renaissance historians;leather handbag shoppers with high credit limits. When to go:Spring or fall.Travellers usually avoid summer in Florence. Paris,France Who should go:Starving artists;Henry Miler fans;traditional food lovers. When to go:Spring is the best time.That's what they all say,anyway.Autumn isn't bad,either,and I'd rather be rooting around the south of France in search of truffles in autumn.Summer in Paris isn't bad,really. Amsterdam,Holland Who should go:Lovers of Dutch Masters(artists I mean,like Rembrandt,not cigars);bicyclists--it's a bike city in a flat land. When to go:It can rain at any time in Amsterdam,but that's not a reason for not visiting this fascinating city.Off season tourists will be rewarded with good enough weather to stick around.Summer is good for sun lovers. Madrid,Spain Who should go: _ --Madrid never sleeps;art lovers--the Prado is second only to the Louvre in presenting serious art;partygoers. When to go:Spring,when days are warm and the nights are pleasantly cool.Demand for outside eating and drinking starts becoming stronger in March or April.Street life peaks in June,then slows in July and August as the temperature peaks.Autumn is also good,although you'll risk some rain. Venice,Italy Who should go:Romantic dreamers who like walking through automobile-free streets;your mother(she'll want you to take her there,trust me);almost anyone who wants to see something really different and romantic. When to go:February is the time when the famous Venice Carnival is held and the weather is usually cold and foggy--perfect weather for Venice.Summer?A large number of tourists in shorts and whiny children ruin the atmosphere.You'll greatly enjoy yourself there in spring and early fall. Question: If you are interested in looking for truffles in the south of France,you should go there in _ . - early spring - autumn - summer - late spring
autumn

Q: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: On the old-time farm in America, there were chickens, cows, pigs and horses. But there were very few machines. Most of the work was done by the farm family. Sometimes more workmen were needed in busy seasons. Work done by horses took up 79 percent; by men, 15 percent; and machine work only took up 6 percent. Today all that has changed. On many modern farms machines now will do 96 percent of the work, while man does 3 percent. As for horses, they do 1 percent of the whole work. The children go to school by bus every morning; the parents work on the farm or in the house and other people's help is hardly needed. Their work has been replaced by a whole army of farm machines. Question: How many things are compared in the passage? - Two. - Three. - Four. - Five.
A: Three.

(Question)
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Want to live longer? Win an Oscar. A new study says that actors who received the award earn more than larger paychecks. So when 94-year-old Katharine Hepburn once remarked that she was respected internationally "like an old building", she had no idea that her four Oscars directly influenced her longevity . The study says winning actors will live 3.9 years longer than their losing counterparts . Actors who have won more than once, like Hepburn, live up to six years longer than those who were nominated but never won. "We found that they died from the same things we all die from--cancer, heart disease, but they fought them a bit longer and diseases came a bit later," says Dr. Donald Redelmeier, the leading author of the study. Redelmeier says the sense of success and satisfaction makes one's soul become more full of life. "We are not saying that you will live longer if you win an Oscar," explains Redelmeier, "or that people should go out and take acting courses. Our main conclusion is simply that social factors are important." The study's implied conclusion, he says, is that doctors should ask about their patients' personal feelings because mental well-being is related to physical health. Redelmeier says he got the idea for the study when he watched a glowing Gwyneth Paltrow win an Oscar in 1999 for her role in Shakespeare in Love. Redelmeier says, "She looked more full of life than anyone I had seen." "We found, too, those that had multi-nominations and no win had the same life expectancy as those with just a single nomination and no win," Redelmeier adds. Question: The longevity of Oscar winners mainly has something to do with _ . - the big money that was awarded - mental factors - rich and colorful lives - respect from others and better treatment
(Answer)
mental factors