*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A film was at the Circle Five Ranch to film a Marlboro commercial. This is in 1868, before they prohibited cigarette ads from American television. Darrell Winfield was watching the crew set up the equipment. The scene included an actor crossing a river on horseback, but when the time came to shoot, the man was too drunk to ride. Someone from the crews saw Winfield and asked him if he would ride the horse for 50. "Hell, " said Winfield, "for 50 bucks, I'll jump that damn horse over the moon!" To people in many countries, Winfield is just a familiar but nameless face, a simple cowboy with an advertising message about a connection between the West and a brand of cigarettes. Few people know that he is advertising message about a connection between the West and a brand of cigarettes. Few people know that he is 55, a family man who's been married to the same woman for 37 years and has 5 children and 7 grandchildren. Most surprisingly, he's a real, working cowboy who raises horses in his ranch in Wyoming. One of the most striking things about the Marlboro Man is that success hasn't changed him much. He says that complete strangers sometimes come up to him and say, "I've met you. know you from somewhere. "Whenever it happens, he says that he gets embarrassed. Question: From the passage, we know that Winfield was _ . Options: A: an ordinary man B: a superstar C: an actor D: a rich man
**Answer**
A

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes in reducing population growth--but more by accident than design.While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates,Brazil has had better result without really trying,says George Martine at Harvard. Brazil's population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990,and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average.Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990,an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries. Martine _ ,among other things,soap operas and installment plans introduced in the 1970s.Both played an important,although indirect,role in lowering the birth rate.Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas.Globo,Brazil's most popular television network,shows three hours of soaps six nights a week,while three others show at least one hour a night.Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction ,they describe middle and upper class values--not many children,different attitudes towards sex,women working,"says Martine."They sent this message to all parts of Brazil and made people realise other patterns of family life and other values,which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile,the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers."This led to change in consumption patterns and consumption did not get along well with unlimited reproduction,"says Martine. Question: Which is the best title of the passage? Options: A: Brazil:the developing world's success B: Soap operas and installment plans C: Brazil:reducing birth rate by accident D: Learn from Brazil,one of the Third World Countries
**Answer**
C

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The most complex object known to humanity is the human brain -- and not only is it complex, but it is one of the few natural phenomena that science has no consciousness of. To try to replicate something that is so poorly understood may therefore seem like pride. But you have to start somewhere, and International Business Machines (IBM) and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, propose to start by replicating "in silico", one of the brain's building blocks. In a partnership announced, the two organizations said they would be working together to build a simulation of a structure known as a neo-cortical column on a type of IBM supercomputer that is currently used to study the molecular functioning of genes. If that works, they plan to use more powerful computers to link such simulated columns together into something that mimics a brain. In a real brain, a neo-cortical column is a cylindrical element about a third of a millimeter in diameter and three millimeters long. It is these columns, arranged side by side like the cells of a honeycomb, which make up the famous "grey matter" that has become shorthand for human intelligence. The Blue Gene/L supercomputer that will be used for the simulation consists of enough independent processors for each to be programmed to mimic an individual nerve cell in a column. The EPFL's contribution to the Blue Brain Project will be to create a digital description of how the columns behave. The database from its Brain Mind Institute will provide the raw material for the simulation. Biologists and computer scientists will then connect the artificial nerve cells up in a way that mimics nature. They will do so by assigning electrical properties to them, and telling them how to communicate with each other and how they should modify their connections with one another depending on their activity. That will be no mean feat. Even a single nerve cell is complicated, not least because each one has about 10,000 connections with others. And nerve cells come... Question: The fundamental purpose of doing the research is probably _ . Options: A: to simulate an entire human brain in silico B: to tell us how some certain disorders emerge C: to discover how the artificial brain would work D: to examine whether Moore's Law is still functioning
**Answer**
C

*Question*
Read the article and select the best answer. Article: When something goes wrong, it can be very satisfying to say, "Well, it's soandso's fault."or "I know I'm late, but it's not my fault; the car broke down."It is probably not your fault, but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation, you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to _ the situation.This is the winner's key to success. Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or,you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don't rely on this person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well. This is what being a winner is all about--creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don't have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So,stop focusing on "whose fault it is."Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stone for success. Question: According to the passage, winners _ . Options: A: meet with fewer difficulties in their lives B: have responsible and able colleagues C: blame themselves rather than others D: deal with problems rather than blame others
**Answer**
D