A town in Oxfordshire has become the first in the UK to have biomethane gas from human waste piped to their homes for gas central heating and cooking. Up to 200 families in Didcot now receive the gas via the national gas power system. Head of energy and technology at British Gas, Martin Orrill, said customers wouldn't notice any difference as the gas is purified to the highest standard and has no smell. The gas is produced at a sewage treatment works plant in Didcot. The entire process takes only less than three weeks, with the sewage being collected and sent first to settlement tanks. The solid waste material is then fed into digesters, where anaerobic bacteria digest the sewage, with the aid of enzymes to speed up the process. The digestion process produces methane, which can be burned to drive machines to produce electricity, or can be purified and fed into the gas network and piped to homes and businesses. British Gas says supplying the gas rather than electricity is far more efficient since around two-thirds of the energy is lost in producing electricity. Partners in the Didcot project, British Gas, Scotia Gas Networks, and Thames Water, all hope to expand the process to other towns, and other companies such as Ecotricity and United Utilities have also announced biomethane projects being planned. One of these projects, in Manchester, could be supplying 500 homes with biomethane by mid next year. Another British Gas project in Suffolk will provide gas from digestion of brewery wastes to around 235 families. The Didcot project cost PS2.5m and was influenced by promises of government aids aimed at encouraging companies to develop renewable technologies. An EU directive means the UK must ensure at least 15 percent of its energy is from renewable sources by 2020. The UK produces about 1.73 million tons of sewage annually. If all sewage treatment works in the UK were fitted with the technology, they could supply gas for up to 350,000 families. What is the function of the enzymes? A) To digest the solid waste material. B) To help get rid of anaerobic bacteria. C) To help purify the biomethane. D) To speed up the digestion process.
D
(Question)
(Reuters)--- A Michigan man credited his dog with saving his life by chewing off his diseased big toe as he lay passed out in a drunken stupor Jerry Douthett, 48, who woke up on a Saturday night in late July in his Rockford, Michigan home to find his Jack Russell Terrier, Kiko, had _ his right big toe. "The dog always lies with me on the bed", said Douthett. "That night, I woke up and looked down at my foot, and it was wet. When I looked, it was blood and there was the dog looking at me with a blood moustache." Douthett's wife, Rosee, rushed him to a hospital where doctors found he was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. His toe was badly infected and surgeons amputated the remainder of the toe. Douthett's wife, a registered nurse, had been urging him for weeks to have his infected toe examined by a doctor. On the night Kiko ate his toe, Douthett said he had been out with his wife and drank about six or seven beers and a pair of giant margaritas--big enough to put goldfish in. "I was self-medicating at this point," he said. "The moral of the story is that the dog saved my life, because otherwise I would never have gone to see a doctor." The couple said they were amazed that Kiko appeared to know Douthett had an infection that needed treatment. "He kind of chewed off the infected part and stopped at the good bone," said Rosee. "We joked that we shouldn't have had to pay the co-pay because he did half the job by chewing off half of the toe." Which is NOT true according to the text? A) It is hard for the couple to explain the dog's behaviour B) Jerry Douthett went to see a doctor because of Kiko's chewing his big toe.. C) The couple shouldn't have to pay the co-pay because Kiko did half the job. D) Kiko didn't hurt the good bone of its master.
(Answer)
C
Ques: The last school bell rings and your kids are off for the summer.For most kids, those thoughts of schoolwork and lessons are a distant memory that they won't be thinking about again until fall.So it's important for them to continue some learning. Have Your Kids Hit the Library Encourage your kids to read by taking them to the library during the summer.If they don't have a library card, get them one.Many local libraries sponsor summer reading clubs that keep your kids wanting to read.Be sure to let your kids pick their own books out; summer is for fun reading. Have Your Kids Read Every Day Ask your kids to read outside in the sun.join in with them, and read aloud their favorite books, no matter how many times you have read them.Pick a time every day when you all stop and read as a family together.Nothing will stimulate a child to read than to have adults reading with them. Find Other Ways to Encourage the Kids If you are planning a family trip, have them check out the map.Let your kids go online and research where you are going.Have your kids check the weather report in the newspaper or what big event is happening and then have them report back on them at dinnertime.Have your kids check out magazines or websites for recipes that can be prepared. Learning to express your thoughts in writing in a logical manner is a skill that is often lost.To help your kids, have them write about things during the summer.If your kids love something such as animals, have them write a short report about them to share with the family.If you are going on a trip, have your kids keep a travel journal The writer wrote this passage to tell parents _ . A) why kids don't like studying during the summer B) how to keep their kids learning during the summer C) how to help their kids go over schoolwork and lessons D) why it is important for kids to study during the summer
Ans: B
In April 2014,the world's oldest known message in a bottle was discovered floating in the Baltic Sea. It had spent 101 years lost in the ocean!The message was finally sent to the author's granddaughter. A German fisherman named Konrad Fischer found the brown bottle near Kiel,Germany. He said he nearly threw the bottle back into the water after pulling it out of a fishing net. Then he noticed something inside. The bottle in good condition contained a Danish postcard with two German stamps,dated May 17,1913. Although dampness had made most of the writing illegible ,the readable part of the message asked whoever found it to return it to an address in Berlin. It even contained two stamps to pay for postage. From the address,researchers found that the postcard was written by a man named Richard Platz,who was 20 years old when he wrote the message. While he was hiking on the Baltic coast with a nature appreciation group,he threw the bottle into the sea. Then the researchers began a search for any living relatives of his. Sure enough,they were able to find his 62-year-old granddaughter,Angela Erdmann,who still lives in Berlin. "It was almost unbelievable,"Erdmann said upon being presented with her grandfather's bottle and message."That was a pretty moving moment. Tears rolled down my face." Erdmann never knew her grandfather,who died in 1946,but says that the discovery of the bottle has made her want to learn more about him. The bottle remained on display at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg until May 1.After that,the researchers examined the postcard and tried to figure out the meaning of the rest of the message. Previously,the oldest message found in a bottle spent nearly 98 years at sea and was discovered in April 2012,according to Guinness World Records. What can be the best title for this passage? A) The finding of a floating bottle at the sea B) A one-century-old letter to a granddaughter C) The world's oldest message in a floating bottle D) The oldest Danish postcard in a floating bottle
C