Read the article and select the best answer. Article: An early morning winter storm had brought several inches of snow on my small town in the mountains. Schools were canceled, roads were dangerous and all I wanted to do was to stay in bed. Still, I knew I had to get the day started so I put on warm clothes and walked outside. The snow got all over my shoes. The cold wind dried my lips and my eyes. _ Yet, when I looked out on the white blanket that covered the ground, I couldn't help but smile a bit. It was so beautiful. It softened the bare trees and hid the dead grass. In the distance I could hear the sound of the snowplow on the road, the barking of a happy dog and the laughter of children playing outside, enjoying their way off from school. The sweet music of that laughter brought back a hundred memories of winters past. I remembered catching snowflakes on my tongue, building snowmen, making snow angles, running down hills and always losing snowball fights with first my brothers and then my own children. Standing there in that warm coat of memories made the wind a little less cold and my back a little less sore . I turned up my head, stuck out my tongue and for the first time in years caught a snowflake on it. It tasted so fresh and clean. It tasted like youth, like joy and like love. May you always feel young in spirit, no matter how old or achy your body may be. May you always delight in the simple joys of life. May you always share your happiness with the hearts of children. And may you always give your love, your light, your laughter and your warmth to others even on the coldest days. Question: What was the author's first reaction when he knew it snowed heavily? Options: A: He was upset. B: He was happy. C: He was thankful. D: He was moved.
A

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Many people believe that the common garden slug[ is nothing more than a pest that should be wiped out. In attempts to beautify their yards, people employ various poisons, strategically chosen plants, and gardening techniques. Success is attained when no trace of slugs can be found, although the worn-out gardener still watches and waits for their return, as completely ridding a garden of slugs is almost impossible. Experts, however, have discovered that the slug's evil reputation as an enemy of home gardeners may, in fact, be groundless to some degree. Although it is true that a slug can devour[ garden plants from the roots up in amazing quantities, it also produces nutrients for the soil, which help other plants grow. The diet of a slug consists of plant waste and mould, as well as living plants, making it a sort of natural recycling center. The unique structure of a slug digestive system enables it to take these discarded products, transform them into the nutrients that plants need, and then release those nutrients harmlessly as wastes. To some, this situation is unacceptable. No gardener wants to sacrifice his or her plants just to gain a few nutrients that could easily be provided by fertilizers In order to achieve a balance, both slug and gardener may have to compromise some things. One ly easy step is to separate plants with high slug appeal from those with low appeal. That way, the sections of the garden spared for plants with high slug appeal can contain plants that the gardener is willing to sacrifice so as to protect those plants that have a lower slug appeal . Another possibility is to leave some ground-covering plants in a less tidy state, since slugs particularly enjoy semi-decayed plant matter. The slugs will then be drawn toward this decaying matter instead of toward the living plants. These measures may seem slow and difficult but they are still preferable to commercial slug repellents for several reasons. The topsoil of a garden is often highly lacking in nutrients, due... Question: According to the passage, the wise way to deal with slug problem is that we should _ , Options: A: apply as many kinds of commercial repellents as possible to the plant roots B: sacrifice some plants and keep semi-decayed plant matter as food for slugs C: employ all possible gardening techniques to get rid of slugs completely D: protect the garden from slugs by keeping it in a clean and tidy state
B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: The knowledge society will be a highly competitive one, for organizations and individuals alike. Information technology, although only one of many new features of the next society, is already having one hugely important effect: it is allowing knowledge to spread near-instantly , and making it accessible to everyone. Given the ease and speed at which information travels, every institution in the knowledge society--not only businesses, but also schools, universities, hospitals and increasingly government agencies too--has to be globally competitive, even though most organizations will continue to be local in their activities and in their markets. This is because the Internet will keep customers everywhere informed on what is available anywhere in the world, and at what price. This new knowledge economy will rely heavily on knowledge workers. At present, this term is widely used to describe people with considerable theoretical knowledge and learning :doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants chemical engineers. But the most striking growth will be in "knowledge technologists": computer technicians, software designers, analysts in clinical labs, manufacturing technologists, paralegals. These people are as much manual workers and they are knowledge workers; in fact, they usually spend far more time working with their hands than with their brains, but their manual work is based on a substantial amount of theoretical knowledge which can be acquired only through formal education ,not through an apprenticeship . They are not, as a rule, much better paid than traditional skilled workers, but they see themselves as "professionals", just as unskilled manual workers in manufacturing were the _ social and political force in the 21thcentury, knowledge technologists are likely to become the dominant social--and perhaps also political--force over the next decades. Question: All of the following are characteristic of "knowledge technologist" except that _ . Options: A: they spend more time on manual work than on mental work B: they are equipped with a large amount of theoretical knowledge C: they see themselves professionals rather than traditional skilled workers. D: They acquire skills through traditional apprenticeship
D