A serious threat to farmers in many parts of the world is erosion. Erosion occurs if a large area of land is cleared of trees and is then badly treated by the farmers. The rain and winds may gradually wash away, or blow away, much of the topsoil. When this happens, crops of wheat or corn become weaker and weaker until nothing grows well. If erosion continues, it will turn good land into a desert. In the past, when erosion appeared, farmers sometimes moved to a new place to farm. Sometimes they could not move, but continued to try to grow food in the unhealthy soil. This caused them to sink into poverty. Soon some people realized that there was little rich, fertile soil in the world, government began to try to stop erosion. One of the first experiments to stop erosion began in the prefix = st1 /United Statesin 1933. The experiment was carried out in the area of the Tennessee River. Floods and had farming in this area had ruined land that had once been rich. As a result, most of the people living around the Tennessee River were very poor. The government built big dams across the river and stored the water for use during the dry season when there was no rain. The government workers also helped farmers to fertilize their soil and to learn new farming methods which could stop erosion. At the beginning, the farmers were not interested. But soon, good healthy crops began to appear on the land where new methods where used. Ten years after the extremely prosperous, the great success of this experiment had led similar projects in the other parts of the world. The passage tells us that erosion is a problem which_. A) first began in the United Statesin 1933 B) occurs mainly in river areas C) affects many parts of the world D) is becoming more and more serious
C
(Question)
Carrie had had enough. She placed a note on the kitchen table, picked up her bags, and then made her way to the bus stop. "Hi, mum," she said after arriving at her house. "What have you done?" she asked, noticing Carrie's luggage in the hallway. "Oh, mum, I've left him. I couldn't bear any more." Shocked, her mum didn't know what to say, so she went to make some coffee. Next day, Carrie had a visitor. "Carrie, please don't do this to me. Come back home?" Tom begged. But was she listening? She ignored him and stepped back inside the house. The weeks went by and Tom became very depressed. There seemed little point in carrying on without her. Then one night he got into his car and drove to a nearby seaside town. After abandoning the car, he walked towards a big stone by the sea. Looking over the edge he saw the waves crashing into the bottom of the rock. His body was shaking -- then he jumped. Carrie was mad when she found out. She paced up and down smoking a cigarette. Her eyes were full of tears. It wasn't all his fault that he had become so bad tempered. He had been finding it difficult looking for another job. She then threw the cigarette to the ground, wiped away the tears and made her way up the long passage and into a room. "Don't you ever, ever do anything like that again,"she said in a temper to the person in the room. "I won't,"Tom said, looking up at her from his hospital bed. Luckily for him, someone had seen him jump and dived in to save him. What might be the relationship between Carrie and Tom? A) Daughter and Father B) Wife and Husband C) Mother and Son D) Sister and Brother
(Answer)
B
Ques: Taking a picture of your tongue with a mobile phone could soon instantly tell you how healthy you are. Researchers believe the images can reveal important information about a patient's health and even give them early warning of serious illness. A team at the University of Missouri is developing a system that can analyze pictures using a 5,000-year-old Chinese principle, which is based on the flow and balance of positive and negative energies in the body, and uses the tongue as a key to learning about a person's physical health, or "zheng" according to Chinese medicine. "Within a year, our goal is to create an application for smart phones that will allow anyone to take a photo of their tongue and learn the status of their zheng," said Dong Xu, chair of MU's Computer Science Department in the College of Engineering and the co-author of the latest study. The software analyzes images based on the tongue's color and coating to distinguish between tongues showing signs of "hot" or "cold" zheng. Shades of red and yellow are associated with hot zheng, whereas a white coating on the tongue is a sign of cold zheng. "Hot and cold zheng doesn't refer directly to body temperature," said Xu, "Rather, it refers to a series of symptoms associated with the state of the body as a whole." For the study, 263 gastritis patients and 48 healthy volunteers had their tongues analyzed. The gastritis patients were classified by whether they showed infection by a certain bacteria as well as the intensity of their gastritis symptoms. In addition, most of the gastritis patients had been previously classified with either hot or cold zheng. This allowed the researchers to test the accuracy of the software's analysis. "Our software is able to classify people based on their zheng status. And as we continue to work on the software we hope to improve its ability," said another co-author Ye Duan, "Eventually everyone will be able to use this tool at home using webcams or smart phone applications, which will allow them to monitor their zheng and... The software mentioned in the passage is based on _ . A) the latest development of smart phones B) a traditional Chinese medical principle C) the changes in one's flow and energy D) symptoms related with the state of the body
Ans: B
Question: MEGADIM, Israel (AP)-The worst forest fire in Israel's history on Thursday destroyed one of the country's few forested areas, killing at least 36 guards on their way to rescue prisoners there, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands. The fire ran through the Carmel forest in Israel's Galilee, reaching the coastal city of Haifa, jumping from place to place in the forest. The fire broke out around midday and quickly spread and was still burning out of control as midnight approached. Investigators supposed that the fire could have been set accidentally, or it might have been a criminal act, but pretty much ruled out some sort of attack by a Palestinian group. "This is a huge disaster," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "The government is using all means to control the fire." He said some countries such as Cyprus, Italy, Russia and Greece agreed to provide backup. Most of the dead were Prison Service guards racing through the fire toward a prison to evacuate the prisoners, most of them Palestinians. A tree fell across the road, blocking their bus. Some guards were burned alive inside, while others died as they tried to escape. Fourteen bodies were found near the burnt bus 10 hours after the fire started. The fire heavily damaged one of Israel's few large forests, made up of natural growth and planted areas, a favorite place for camping and a home for dozens of species of wildlife. Forestry workers tried to evacuate animals from the fire. The forest recovered slowly from a fire in 1989, but experts said Thursday's big fire was many times worse. According to the investigators, which of the following might be the cause of the fire? A) Prisoners set the fire purposely. B) The fire broke out all by itself. C) A Palestinian group did it. D) The fire was started by accident.
Answer:
D