June 5 is World Environment Day. This makes us pay more attention to our environment and the need to protect it. When Wang Boxuan, a Beijing high schoolboy, uses up his exercise books, he does not throw them away. Each one is stored at his school with hundreds of exercise books given by other students. Then they are sold to a Beijing paper making factory. The paper is recycled and used again by students and teachers in the school. At the same time, the money made from the sales goes towards schools in Inner Mongolia for planting trees and grass. This place is one of the sources of the sandstorms that often attack Beijing during springtime. Wang's school is one of the schools in the capital that take part in the "Green Promise" --environmental protection activity. So far, nearly 210,000 students have taken part in the activity, collecting more than 87 tons of waste paper. Students are eager to help make the capital a more pleasant place. What is the money used for? A) Buying new exercise books. B) Helping poor students. C) Planting trees and grass. D) Being stored.
C
(Question)
Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy.After all,you probably sing or whistle when you are happy. Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy.However,they sing most of the time for a very different reason.Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory Do you know what a "territory" is? A territory is an area that an animal,usually the male,claims as its own.Only he and his family are welcome there.No other families 0f the same species are welcome.Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome.If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you,you might shout.Probably this would be enough to frighten him away. If so,you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him.A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time,especially at nesting season.So he is screaming all the time,whether he can see an outsider or not This screaming is what we call a bird's song,and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away. Birds sing loudest in the spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs. You can see that birds have a language all their own.Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories. Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season? A) Because they want to invite more friends B) Because their singing helps get rid of their fears. C) Because they want to find outsiders around. D) Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away.
(Answer)
D
Ques: The Maldives faces the threat of extinction from rising sea levels, but the government said on Thursday it was looking to the future with plans to build homes and a golf course that float. An increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimeters would make the Maldives -- a nation of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean -- virtually uninhabitable by 2100, the UN's climate change panel has warned. President Mohamed Nasheed has vowed a fight for survival, and last month he signed a deal with a Dutch company to study proposals for a floating structure that could support a convention centre, homes and an 18-hole golf course. "It is still early stages and we are awaiting a report on the possibility," a government official said. The company, Dutch Docklands, is currently building floating developments in the Netherlands and Dubai. There was no immediate comment from the firm but its website said it undertook projects that make "land from water by providing large-scale floating constructions to create similar conditions as on land". The Maldives began work on an artificial island known as the Hulhumale near the crowded capital island of Male in 1997 and more than 30,000 people have been settled there to ease _ . The city, which has a population of 100,000, is already protected from rising sea levels by a 30-million-dollar sea wall, and the government is considering increasingly imaginative ways to combat climate change. Nasheed, who staged the world's first underwater cabinet meeting in October to highlight his people's dilemma , has even spoken of buying land elsewhere in the world to enable Maldivians to relocate if their homes are flooded. He has also pledged the Hulhumale to turn his nation into a model for the rest of the world by becoming "carbon neutral" by 2020. His plan involves ending fossil fuel use and powering all vehicles and buildings from "green" sources. What's the main idea of the passage? A) The Maldives plans to build floating homes for the rising sea level. B) The Maldives's president signed a deal with a Dutch company. C) The Maldives staged the first underwater cabinet meeting. D) The Maldives is considering ways to fight against the global warming.
Ans: D
Ques:When she graduates from Columbia University next year with a master's degree in Public health, Eric Wheeler is hoping to get a job in international reproductive health. The 26-year-old post-graduate has always wanted to work in public service. But public service doesn't pay much, and her two-year program at Columbia costs about $50,000 a year with living expenses. She has a scholarship from Columbia that covers just $4,000 a year and has taken out loans to pay for the rest. She worries that she will spend years paying back her student loans and not have money left over to put away in an IRA. Wheeler is wondering what she can do to ease the pain of being in debt. Is there anything she can do to handle the debt? The good news is that in 2007, Congress recognized that there were so many students in Wheeler's position that it passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. There were two programs established by this act that Wheeler should look into. The first is the income-based repayment plan, which allows lower-income graduates with a lot of debt to reduce their monthly payments. Depending on a graduate's income and level of debt, the program, which goes into effect July 1, could limit his or her annual educational loan debt repayment to 15 percent of discretionary income ,said Peter Mazareas, vice charman of the College Saving Foundation. The second is the public service loan forgiveness plan, in which the federal government will forgive the remaining debt of borrowers who make 10-year loan payment while working full time in public-service jobs. But the graduate must have a certain loan which is listed in the plan. Depending on the level of debt Wheeler ends up with and how much she repays over 10 years, Mazareas said she could end up with about $75,000 of her debt forgiven. " Tipically, it is projected that a borrower who performs public service under this program will repay only about one-fourth to one-half as much money as a borrower who does not", he said. He also pointed out that public service is... What's the main idea of the passage? A) The total expense in American universities is too high. B) There are a lot of different programs to help students pay their tution. C) The US government encourages students to choose public service jobs. D) The federal government is trying to relieve graduates from heavy debt.

Ans:
D