Ques: Following up from my recent blog post explaining why dietary supplements offer few benefits for most people, new research has found that people who take a mineral supplement actually consume more minerals from their normal diet than non-supplement users. The notion of the 'worried well' is certainly alive and kicking. Vitamin and mineral supplements are big business. Reported figures in Australia suggest that 27% of women and 15% of men take some form of supplement with vitamin C, B complex, multivitamins, vitamin E and calcium all being popular choices. Contrary to the rationale for needing supplements in the first place, people who take supplements are more likely to be healthier than people who don't take supplements. Supplement users also tend to be leaner, smoke less, exercise more, and eat more fruit and vegetables. While it may seem obvious that people who take supplements likely consume more nutrients from their regular diet to start with, this hasn't been well studied in large population groups. Using data from a nationally representative government health survey, researchers from the United States looked at the mineral intake from food and supplements of over 8000 men and women between 2003 and 2006. The results were clear cut: people taking mineral supplements were consuming more minerals from their normal diet than those who didn't take supplements. The observation was even stronger in women than in men. The eight most popular mineral supplements taken were calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, copper, potassium and selenium. Proving that it is possible to have too much of a good thing, supplement users were more likely to be exceeding the recommended upper level of intake for magnesium, zinc, iron and calcium. For someone who believes that they are reasonably healthy and are conscious of what they eat most of the time, taking a mineral supplement 'just in case' offers little to no benefit. Why do reasonably healthy individuals take supplements? A. for low intake of minerals B. just in case C. for low magnesium levels D. not enough information
Ans: B

Ques: Earlier this year my depression got very bad, very quickly. I'd been having intrusive suicidal thoughts for a while. It was a combination of a bad medication regimen and lots of little stressorsschool, work, a car accident, you name it. I took to a very private social media account that only those I was closest to could see. I used that account to rant about my problems. It was my coping mechanism and how I kept myself sane. Somehow just typing it out got it off my chest in ways writing in a journal couldn't (now, I try to use Quora for this purpose instead). One night in early March I went to a performance that my friends were part of. I went alone. While I was there, I got a series of texts regarding my girlfriend. I knew that what those texts said would cause me an immense amount of stress and sleepless nights. I went onto my social media account. I don't remember exactly what I posted. It wasn't specific, but rather something along the lines of "I'm stressed, this is the cherry on top, I honestly don't know how I'm going to handle this." Whatever it was, someone who followed that account knew I was at my breaking point. They called an anonymous tip line and reported that they believed I was in danger of killing myself. I got home from the performance at midnight and my dad was in my driveway. I asked him why. He told me he'd been contacted and that someone reported a concern about me. I was admitted to the hospital the next day, and I spent a week an an inpatient psychiatric unit where I received better medication, therapy and coaching on positive coping mechanisms. Whoever called saved me, but in a way I saved my own life that day. What I thought was just another routine post about stress got me the help I so desperately needed. I know without it, I would have ended my own life that day. Funny how that works. Who called the tipline? A. His did himself. B. not enough information C. One of his social media followers. D. His dad.
Ans: C

Ques: Zoos are not my favorite places. I always wish the animals could be free. I can't think of anything "funny" I have seen at the zoo exactly although there has to be something. we used to go to Catskill Game Farm and Bronx Zoo in NY so I am sure there has to have been something notable, if not funny. At Catskill Game Farm there were Peacocks that walked around free and made startling noises. There were also punk flamingoes there that were amazing to see. Maybe the funniest (not so funny though) thing was in the area where you could feed deer and baby pigs so sometimes they'd all come around at once and mob you? My daughter wanted to feed who she wanted to feed but the deer and the pigs had their own ideas. The deer liked these crackers kind of like rye crisps and the baby pigs went for the bottles of milk or formula. When my daughter tried to pick and choose and just feed one suddenly she would be surrounded by many. I think my husband must have videos of what transpired. One of these days it might be entertaining to view them again. At the Bronx Zoo I remember going one or more years during the winter to see the animal light sculptures and huge block ice carving and the penguins and polar bears maybe? I can't remember anything funny happening. When we went out to San Diego around years ago during a business trip my husband got to go on then my daughter and I went with him. I took my daughter to the Zoo and Sea World but she was so young then and it was so long ago I can't recall much except standing on line to see the pandas and just collapsing on a open type tour after trying to carry her and a collapsible stroller and diaper bag all around. She was so young but seemed to enjoy jumping on some bouncy trampoline type thing at the Sea World. My husband might remember the funny things better than I do. What probably happened to the ice sculptures after the author saw them at the Bronx zoo? A. not enough information B. They were preserved on site in low temperature storage C. They were allowed to melt D. They were shipped to a colder climate so that they wouldn't melt
Ans: C

Ques: Manny had Bob Marley cranking on the stereo, his van was full of passengers, and the air conditioning was working after a long week of giving him trouble. The sun beat down on the wet-looking asphalt road that ran along the harbor, next to the concrete waterfront. It curved along in front of the brightly colored Dutch Colonial warehouses of Charlotte Amalie, which were now converted restaurants and jewel shops. Tourists in day-glo shirts and daubs of sunscreen rubbed over peeling skin crowded both sides of the waterfront road. Manny slowed somewhat, keeping an eye on them. On the sidewalk by the shops a tall black man stood by a food cart. The hand-painted wooden sign hanging from the cart's side had faded letters. The man wore a grand suit with tails, like an orchestra conductor, and a top hat perched on his shaved head. A cigar burned in his mouth. For a brief second he held Manny's attention. Then the food cart's owner stepped forward and the strangely dressed man disappeared. Manny looked at the other side of the road. A white girl with oval shaped sunglasses and pink leather pants stepped off the sidewalk into the road in front of his van. He slammed on the brakes, trying to dodge her, but the van couldn't respond that fast. Her ponytail flew up towards the windshield and her head struck the star-shaped hood ornament. She bounced along the asphalt. Manny weaved the van to a stop, with swearing from the passengers in the back. He opened the door and stepped out into the heat. Get up, stand up, the radio cried out, and that was what Manny hoped would happen. He hoped that she would at least just stir and be okay. But she just lay there. Manny wants to belive that: A. the girl wasnt actually there B. the girl is dead C. the girl is okay D. not enough information
Ans:
C