I do a lot of hiking.And I can step out of my house and within minutes reach a beautiful forest where I walk for exercise every day.I see many photography subjects such as parrots,snakes,hares,big trees and flowers.There are so many different flowers around my place that once I decided to see how many types I could count in a onehourlong walk,and I counted over 100. Needless to say,as a keen amateur photographer,I always take a camera with me.I have three favorites: a Pentax Optio RZ10,a Sony Alpha 390 and a Panasonic Lumix FZ100.I mostly take the Pentax pocket camera with me.This Pentax pocket camera takes images as good as those from much more expensive Single Lens Reflex cameras.It allows you to get to just 1 cm from the subject,and these images are of astonishing clarity .I can stick the camera right into a flower.And the photo shows fantastic details. The Pentax is also good at taking landscapes.The color is natural and price again the details even of distant objects are great.Sometimes,even when I have one of my other cameras with me,I still just use the Pentax pocket camera.About half of all the images on my website were taken with the Pentax. The Pentax takes quality images in poor light and the zoom works well.You have to work hard to get a blurry shot.This is an especially good feature at parties and gatherings.You get fantastic photos of people.You don't have to wait for them to keep still. Keep this camera in your pocket or in the car.It takes up little room;it's light and you'll never regret it! Which of the following cameras did the author use most? A) The Sony Alpha 390. B) The Pentax Optio RZ10. C) The Panasonic Lumix FZ100. D) The Single Lens Reflex camera.
B
(Question)
When a person travels over long distances, the place may not be the only change. When his or her body rhythms get thrown off, he or she suffers from jet lag -- it's hard to sleep and eat at the right times in the new location. Humans and animals have a biological clock in their body that tells them when to sleep, and when to wake. When someone comes to a different place far away, this biological clock takes a while to match the day and night time of the new place. In a new study, reported in November's Science News, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley tested the effects of jet lag on hamsters . They wanted to know how serious jet lag would affect the brain and thinking habits of the animals. They think what happens to hamsters may happen to humans, too. In their experiments, the researchers first moved the hamsters' schedules forward by six hours. The animals' eating schedules, for example, were changed. If a hamster was often fed at noon and 4 pm, then it ate at 6 pm and 10 pm on the new schedule. People who travel from China to Europe experience the same shift, since the two regions are about six hours apart, half the shift between China and the USA. After three days, the scientists did it again - they shifted the hamsters' schedules forward by another six hours. Three days after that, they did it again; and then again three days later. For a full month, the scientists changed the hamsters' routines every three days. During the study, the hamsters slept the same amount every day as they did before the study. However, their sleep patterns had a hard time keeping up with the changing schedule. What's more, they seemed to feel low. The researchers also found that the hamsters had trouble with basic learning exercises during the study. The animals' thinking problems didn't go away when the experiment was over. A month after they went back living on a normal schedule, the hamsters still had trouble with basic mental tasks, such as learning and memory. The scientists concluded that serious... What time is it in France when it is 2 pm in China? A) About 11 am B) About 2 am C) About 8 pm D) About 5 pm
(Answer)
C
Ques: We're all connected. You can send an e-mail message to a friend, and your friend can pass it on to one of his or her friends, and that friend can do the same, continuing the chain. Eventually, your message could reach just about anyone in the world, and it might take only five to seven e-mails for the message to get there. Scientists recently tested that idea in a study involving 24,000 people. Participants had to try to get a message forwarded to one of 18 randomly chosen people. Each participant started by sending one e-mail to someone they knew. Recipients could then forward the e-mail once to someone they knew, and so on. Targets, who were randomly assigned by researchers from Columbia University in New York, lived in 13 countries. They included an Australian police officer, a Norwegian veterinarian, and a college professor. Out of 24,000 chains, only 384 reached their goal. The rest petered out, usually because one of the recipients was either too busy to forward the message or thought it was junk mail. The links that reached their goal made it in an average of 4.05 e-mails. Based on the lengths of the failed chains, the researchers estimated that two strangers could generally make contact in five to seven e-mails. The most successful chains relied on casual acquaintances rather than close friends. That's because your close friends know each other whereas your acquaintances tend to know people you don't know. The phenomenon, known as the strength of weak ties, explains why people tend to get jobs through people they know casually but aren't that close to. So, start networking and instant messaging now. As they say in show business: It's all about who you know. If you want to get into touch with a stranger in the world, how many e-mails might it take for the message to reach him/her? A) 5 to 7 B) 18 C) 13 D) 384
Ans: A
(Q).
There are a lot of public libraries in Britain. These libraries have more than one hundred and fifteen million books, not including those libraries of public schools. Public libraries not only lend books, music records but also help children, patients in hospitals and others to get special play readings, film shows and so on. The first public libraries were founded in about the year 1850. Today's public libraries usually have a reading-room, a lending room and a reference room. The greatest and most famous library in Britain is that of the British Library in London. It was founded in 1973 and has over 10, 000, 000 books. It has nearly every magazine, newspaper and book published in Britain and other parts across the world. Which is the best title? A) Public Libraries in Britain B) The British Library C) The Richest Libraries D) A Famous Library
(A).
D
An explosion on Thursday killed one and injured 21 in a busy street in Tongren, Southwest China's Guizhou Province. The bomb was hidden in a rubbish bin in the city's commercial hub ,where lots of shops and restaurants are concentrated. The ear-splitting blast was heard around 12:50 p.m.,said a local newspaper, citing witnesses. The power of the blast shattered nearby shop windows and ripped the stainless steel rubbish can to pieces. One passer-by,identified only as Zhang,said she was shocked by the noise and saw a lot of pedestrians lying on the ground when she got to the scene. Thirteen of the injured were taken to a local hospital after the explosion. A doctor there said five were in serious condition but already out of danger after emergency treatment. The others were just slightly hurt. "The cause of the explosion is still unknown", said an officer with the Tongren police, but refused to speculate as to the cause. What of the following can be the best title for the passage? A) Bomb Hidden in a Rubbish Bin B) The Cause of the Explosion C) A Terrible Thing D) Market Blast Kills 1 ,Injures 21
D