Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: US President Barack Obama is asking Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together on efforts to create jobs. The president hosted a meeting with top lawmakers from both parties at the White House on Tuesday. President Obama says Republicans and Democrats can work together to improve the economy, even though they disagree on many issues. "And although the parties are not going to agree on every single item, there should be some areas where we can agree." He said. With the US unemployment rate at 9.7 percent, President Obama hopes Congress will agree to incentives for small business to add workers. "A good place to start, and what I hope to spend a lot of time on these discussions today is how we can move forward on the job issue." President Obama said. Mr. Obama also said he hoped for an agreement on ways to reduce the US debt and budget deficit, which are at record highs. He met with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the top House Republican, House Minority Leader John Boehner, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other lawmakers. The president said he looked forward to having more such meetings in the future. "My hope is that this is not going to be a rare situation," he said. "And I'm very thankful that everybody here has taken the time to come. I'm confident that if we keep in mind what's best for the American people, we should be able to achieve a lot." Mr. Obama's approval ratings average just below 50 percent in recent polls, down sharply from this time last year. Approval ratings for Congress are much lower, averaging just over 22 percent. Question: Compared with last year, we can infer that _ . - Congress has made more achievements. - approval ratings for Congress are higher. - Barack Obama has done a much better job on the economy. - Barack Obama is much less popular with the American public.
Barack Obama is much less popular with the American public.

(Question)
Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: To succeed in business or life we must continually take actions. Putting yourself on the line day after day can be extremely boring, especially when things do not work out as desired. Each time a disappointing event happens, I like to get reminded of these famous failures: Gates has literally changed the work culture of the world in the 20the and the 21st centuries, by simplifying the way the computer is being used. He was the world's richest man for more than one decade. However, in the 1970's before starting out, he was a Harvard University dropout. The most ironic part is that he started a software company by purchasing the software technology from someone for only $50 back then. Lincoln received no more than five years of formal education throughout his lifetime. When he grew up, he joined politics and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the United States of America. Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that Newton was born a genius, but he wasn't! When he was young, he did very poorly in grade school, so poor that his teachers became helpless in improving his grades. Beethoven is widely regarded as one of history's great composers. His reputation has inspired composers, musicians and audiences who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven's music teacher once said of him "as a composer, he is hopeless". And during his career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music. A deaf man composing music, ironic, isn't it! Question: What does the author do if something disappoints him? - He will go on without thought even though he may fail. - He will think of some famous failures in his life. - He will start to tell himself some successful stories. - He will refer to some famous persons' failure stories.
(Answer)
He will refer to some famous persons' failure stories.

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: People think being an artist must be a wonderful way to earn one's living. And of course, there are lots of great things about working for oneself, at home alone, even in a cold studio like mine. What I really like is that nobody tells me what time to start in the morning. I like to paint as soon as I wake up, which is always early, but isn't the same time every day. And nobody tells me what to wear or whether I can take the afternoon off and go to a football match. But then, I have no one to chat with when I'm bored, no one to discuss last night's match with during the office lunch hour. Sure, I can spend the afternoon doing something I enjoy like cycling or gardening if I choose. But the work will still be there when I do finally get back home. Unfortunately, working at home means that people can always find me, whether I'm bored or not, and once I've answered the doorbell, it's too late -- my thoughts have been interrupted. No one would dream of calling in if I worked in an office, but I find myself listening to friends' troubles. As they talk, my ideas disappear and I feel increasingly stressed thinking of my work waiting to be done. However, when I hear the traffic news on the radio, and imagine my friends sitting miserably in their cars in a jam, feeling bored, or waiting unhappily for an overcrowded train in the rain, I realize that I really haven't got much to complain about. I find a CD which will start me thinking, turn it up really loudly and begin another picture. Question: In the passage the writer is trying to _ . - encourage readers to work at home - explain why he decides to be an artist - describe his working life - show how he begins a picture
Ans: describe his working life

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: One summer my friend and I decided to go to Italy for a holiday and we decided to travel there without going through a travel agency. You know, you would be submerged in crowds of tourists and lose lots of opportunities to get familiar with the country more closely. We started to think over our trip and managed to come up with a free tour of Italy. The trip was not very long but it was still very impressive. We look forward to going there again! Of course, we spent lots of time arranging the trip, but it was well worth it! Of course I was afraid that something would go wrong and I was especially anxious about my visa, but everything went quite smoothly in the end. ks5u The most difficult part was getting a visa without an invitation. In the Italian consulate , one must hand in some official paper proving that one has a hotel booked for oneself in order to get the visa. Then we had to solve the ticket problem. Airlines often sell cheap tickets and we bought ours far in advance. The next step was to book a hotel. We finally booked a hotel about thirty km away from the heart of Rome and it was the perfect choice for our trip. Every day we took a train that carried us to the heart of Rome. Our big house, which was surrounded by the forest, was a rare girl for the fresh air and silence, beautiful views, hospitable hosts, comfortable living conditions delighted us to no end. Besides this, we were very lucky that our mistress was Russian. She gave us a lot of advice that was of great use. She told us what transport to choose and where the best places to go. Don't be afraid to arrange your trip by yourself. It's not difficult! The only thing I'll say right now is that we really enjoyed traveling by ourselves. We walked with a map and a guide-book to wherever we wanted and we even met some of our fellow countrymen on the way just two or three times. So, if you're also planning a "single" trip, don't forget to take a Russian-Italian phrasebook as people in Italy prefer to speak in their native tongue. Question: From the text we can know the author _ . - enjoys traveling everywhere in the world - likes being accompanied by tour guides - advises us to arrange trips by ourselves - met with a lot of his countrymen in Italy
Ans:
advises us to arrange trips by ourselves