Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
There was once an old tree. The children from all around the neighborhood loved to climb the tree. The children also liked to sit under the tree, hang on it and play games around it. Animals liked the tree as well. Birds, cats and all kinds of lizards would climb the tree too! Rabbits, dogs, frogs and and many ground animals loved to play around the bottom of the tree.

One day the children learned the tree was going to be cut down. This made the children, and maybe the animals, very sad. Why was it being cut down? Was it too old? Too weak? Maybe it was dying? The children learned it was because the tree was sick.

The children were very sad to hear about this. They wondered where they would play from now on. The tree was their favorite place and they didn't want to see it go. One little boy, named John, went home to tell his parents the story. His parents could tell he was sad so they told him something that made him very happy. What was it? He wondered. Was a jungle gym going to be put in? A mall, maybe a park? In fact, even better than that, a new tree would be planted in its place.

John was so happy he rushed off to tell his friends. "Big news!", he shouted. "My parents told me a new tree is going to be planted here over the old one!" All his friends cheered in excitement, now knowing they wouldn't lose their favorite spot. John and his friends went to celebrate by getting ice cream. His friends liked chocolate and vanilla but John got strawberry.
1. Had the tree been around long?
2. Was the tree loved?
3. Why?
4. Did anything else like the old tree?
5. What else?
6. What kinds?
7. What was the fate of the old tree?

Numbered answers:
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. Children loved to climb the tree, sit under it, hang on it and play games around it.
4. Yes.
5. Animals.
6. Birds, cats, all kinds of lizards, rabbits, dogs, frogs and and many ground animals. loved to play around the bottom of the tree.
7. It was cut down.

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
Neoplatonism is a modern term for a strand of Platonic philosophy that started with Plotinus in the 3rd century CE. Neoplatonic philosophy derives the whole of reality from a single principle, "the One," an idea which is still popular in modern-day spirituality.

Three distinct phases in Classical Neoplatonism after Plotinus can be distinguished: the work of his student Porphyry; that of Iamblichus and his school in Syria; and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the Academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished. The work of Proclus (412-485) had a lasting influence in the dissemination of Neoplatonism after the closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens in 529 CE by Justinian I.

In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were studied and discussed by Islamic, Christian, and Jewish thinkers. In the Islamic cultural sphere, Neoplatonic texts were available in Arabic translations, and notable thinkers such as al-Farabi, Solomon ibn Gabirol ("Avicebron"), Avicenna and Moses Maimonides incorporated Neoplatonic elements into their own thinking.

Latin translations of Late Ancient Neoplatonic texts were first available in the Christian West in the 9th century, and became influential from the 12th century onward. Thomas Aquinas had direct access to works by Proclus, Simplicius and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and he knew about other Neoplatonists, such as Plotinus and Porphyry, through secondhand sources. Meister Eckhart was also influenced by Neoplatonism, propagating a contemplative way of life which points to the Godhead beyond the nameable God.
1. What fist became available in the 9th Century?
2. When did they become more meaningful?
3. What does Neoplatonism mean?
4. When did it begin?
5. By who?
6. Anyone else?
7. Who?
8. Is it used today?
9. How so?
10. Did different religions use it?
11. When?
12. Which ones?
13. Can you give an example of someone famous that used it?
14. Any others?
15. When was he born?

Numbered answers:
1. Latin translations of Late Ancient Neoplatonic texts
2. from the 12th century onward.
3. it is a modern term for a strand of Platonic philosophy
4. 3rd century CE
5. Plotinus
6. yes
7. Porphyry
8. yes
9. it is still popular in modern-day spirituality
10. yes
11. In the Middle Ages
12. by Islamic, Christian, and Jewish thinkers
13. al-Farabi
14. Solomon ibn Gabirol ("Avicebron")
15. unknown

Question:
Read the text and answer the questions.
John and Bobby joined the same company together just after they completed their university studies the same year. Both of them worked very hard. Several years later, however, the boss promoted Bobby to manager but John was still a worker. John could not take it, and gave his resignation to the boss. He complained that the boss did not think much of those who were hard -working, but promoted only those who flattered him. The boss knew that John had worked very hard for the years. He thought a moment and said, "Thank you for what you said, but I hope you will do one more thing for our company before you leave" John agreed. The boss asked him to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. John went and returned soon. He said he had found a man selling watermelons. The boss asked how much they cost every kilogram. John shook his head and went back to the seller to ask and returned to tell the boss $1.2 every kilogram. The boss told John to wait a second, and he called Bobby to come to his office. He asked Bobby to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. Bobby went and returned, saying, "Boss, only one person is selling watermelons. $1.2 every kilogram, and $10 for 10 kilograms. The seller has 340 melons. On the table there are 58 melons, and each weighs about 2 kilograms. They were brought from the South two days ago. They are of good quality." Hearing what Bobby said, John realized the difference between himself and Bobby. He decided to stay and learn from Bobby.
1. What weighed 2 kilograms?
2. How many did the seller have?
3. Where were the melons from?
4. Who got promoted?
5. What was his new position?
6. Who promoted him?
7. What is John?
8. Who resigned?
9. What was the seller selling?
10. How much were they per kilogram?
11. Was there a discount for a large purchase?
12. How much?
Numbered answers:
1. the 58 watermellons on the table
2. 340
3. the south
4. Bobby
5. manager
6. the boss
7. a worker
8. John
9. watermelons
10. $1.2
11. yes
12. 10 for 10 kilograms.