Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: B Gift Idea The other day I was shopping for Grandma when I realized I had no gift ideas at all. It was not a birthday gift or anything like that. It was simply sort of a hello gift. That is how we do things in my family. We don't really give gifts for special occasions. Instead, we occasionally just give presents to each other to tell other people that we are thinking about them. That was why I wanted a gift for Grandma. But it was like my imagination had dried up. I have gone through all of the gift ideas in previous years, fruits, wines, cheeses, little handmade crafts, and anything else that you can give to a grandmother. I had even given her gift watches, and CDs. What else was there? I have always found gift ideas for men a little bit easier than for women, because for men, you can always get the usual things, such as video games, power tools and things like that. With a woman's gift idea, however, you have to know more about her. You cannot just get someone a book or a CD. You have to know all about her taste in movies, music, and literature. My grandmother likes to read a lot, but what she likes is always pretty popular. I didn't want to get her a book that she might not like, but I was running out of time. I needed a gift idea for this weekend and went to visit her. After all, I hadn't seen her for a long time. I wanted to give her a gift so she would not feel ignored. Finally, I came up with the perfect gift idea. I made a collection of all the stories I had written in the past year. It wasn't a typical gift idea like a bunch of flowers, but it really worked in the situation. You see, I am a writer and my grandma has always been my fan. Anyway, I had been learning about bookbinding recently, and had pretty much mastered the art. I figured that I would add a little bit of handmade artwork to the stories, bind it altogether, and give it to her. It took hours to complete, but it was well worth the effort. She ly loved it. Question: We can learn from the passage that _ . - the writer is a successful novelist - most people are particular about gifts - the writer's grandma has a good taste in art - the writer's family will give gifts on regular days
the writer's family will give gifts on regular days

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Joker found one of the biggest diamonds in the world right in his own back yard. He sold the stone to a diamond dealer for over three hundred thousand dollars. In New York, the diamond was resold---this time for almost eight hundred thousand dollars. The true value of a diamond is never known until it has been cut. Once cut successfully, its value can increase a thousand times. It's easy to understand why the owner of Joker's diamond went to the best diamond cutter he knew, Kaplan. The cutter studied the diamond for twelve whole months. When he felt he was ready to start work, he discovered a flaw . He had to begin his calculations all over again, or he might have made the stone useless. Six months passed, and Kaplan finally said to the owner, "I am ready to start my work. There will be one excellent diamond that will be comparable one excellent diamond of first-class quality " Kaplan waited a few more days until he felt he was in the best physical and mental condition possible. He picked up his tools and held his breath as he made the diamond exactly as he promised. Question: Kaplan studied the diamond for _ . - more than one and a half years - more than half a year - over eight months - more than nineteen months
more than one and a half years

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: At dawn on Friday, May 19, 1780, farmers in New England stopped to wonder at the pink color of the sun. By noon the sky had darkened to midnight blackness, causing Americans, still in the painful struggle of a prolonged war of independence, to light candles and tremble at thoughts of the Last Judgment. As the birds quieted and no storm accompanied the darkness, men and women crowded into churches, where one minister commented that "The people were very attentive." John Greenleaf Whittier later wrote that "Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp . . ." A recent study of researchers, led by Richard Guyette from the University of Missouri's Tree Ring Laboratory, has shown that vast forest fires in the Algonquin Highlands of southern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada brought this event upon New England. The scientists have discovered "fire scars" on the rings for that year, left when the heat of a wildfire has killed a part of a tree's cambium . Evidence collected also points to a drought that year. An easterly wind and low barometric pressure helped force smoke into the upper atmosphere. "The record fits pretty close," says Guyette. "We had the right fuel, the drought. The conditions were all there." Lacking the ability to communicate quickly over long distances, Americans in 1780 remained in the dark about the event, which had disappeared by the next day. Over the next several months, the papers carried heated debates about what brought the darkness. Some were the voices of angry prediction, such as one Massachusetts farmer who wrote, "Oh! Backsliding New-England, attend now to the things which belong to your peace before they are forever hid from your eyes." Others gave different answers. One stated that a "flaming star" had passed between the earth and the sun. Ash, argued another commentator. The debate, carried on throughout New England, where there were no scientific journals or academies yet, reflected an unfolding culture of scientific enquiry already sweeping the Western world, a revolution... Question: New Englanderscrowded into churches because they were frightened by _ . - the pink color of the sun - the darkened sky at daytime - the Last Judgment on Friday - the American War of Independence
the darkened sky at daytime