People like to look in the mirror often when they have a young and beautiful face. However, when one grows old, nobody wants to see their wrinkled old face in the mirror any more. So, many old people seldom look at their faces in the mirror. This is completely wrong. According to Wu Zhenyun, a professor from the Psychological Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a person's willingness to look in the mirror can reflect his or her mentality. When people don't care too much about their age, they will try to carry themselves with ease and natural poise . They don't mind looking in the mirror to see their own faces. Some people even love to look in the mirror from time to time to see whether they keep a good appearance. In this way, mirror becomes their best friend that help them to look confident. On the other hand, some people are afraid of being old. They don't want to see the wrinkles on their face and their hair turning grey. So they don't want to look in the mirror. This actually reflects a negative attitude they hold towards life. In the long term, they might suffer from psychological pressure or some sort of depression, which is actually not a wise act. " Everyone can make themselves look charming at every age stage. If one is confident, one will always look beautiful, it shows that they accept themselves." professor Wu said. Mirror cannot only give confidence to one. By looking in the mirror, one can even find the traces of some diseases from one's own face. Why does the mirror become the best friend for some people? A) Because it brings much confidence to them. B) Because it makes them more beautiful. C) Because it tells whether they are clean or not. D) Because it helps them find their own faults.
A
(Question)
A long time ago, there was a seed and because he was only a seed, nobody noticed him.Thus, feeling inferior , the seed gave no importance to his existence . Then one day, a wind picked him up and threw him on an open field under the sun.Later, he was given rain. Years later he saw a traveler sitting by his side."Thank God for this.I really need some rest," he heard the traveler say. "What are you talking about?" the seed quickly asked.He thought the man was making fun of him.No one ever spoke to him like that. "Who just spoke?" the shocked man asked. "It is me.A seed." '"A seed?" The man looked at the big tree."Are you joking? You are not a seed.You are a big tree!" "Really?" "Yes! Why else do you think people come here?" "What do they come here for?" "To feel your shade ! Don't tell me you didn't know you had grown over time." A moment passed before the traveler's words brought him pride. The seed thought and smiled for the first time in his life.The years of torture by the sun and the rain finally helped him grow up. "Oh! That means I'm not a little seed anymore! I was actually born to make people feel comfortable.Wow! That's great!" Where does the passage most probably come from? A) A history book. B) A science book. C) A storybook. D) A novel.
(Answer)
C
Ques: Several years ago, the mayor of Chicago, Illinois, visited Germany, a leader in green roof design. Later he decided to have vegetation planted on Chicago City Hall. Today, the tops of many other buildings also look like parks. In Canada, the Coast Plaza Hotel in Vancouver has a forest on its roof. New York City has an unusual example farm for hydroponics. The farm is on a boat called the Science Barge. Rainwater and river water are used to grow lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. The farm shows the possibilities for designing rooftop systems. Green roofs are designed to save energy and capture rainwater. Rooftops covered with plants help keep buildings cool. They can extend the life of a roof. And they can reduce water running off into streets and storming water systems. Experts say green roofs usually do not get much above 27degC. So temperatures might not be a problem for growing. But rooftop gardeners have to be careful not to put too much weight on the roof. This is true whether plants are grown in soil or water. Earlier in 2008, researchers in Texas reported that green roofs can reduce a building's air conditioning costs by about onefifth compared to blacktop roofs. But they also reported that not all green roofs perform equally well. They found that designs differ in their ability to keep buildings cool and to capture rainwater. The researchers put experimental roofs on top of metal insulated boxes, to recreate green roof conditions. The study compared products from six companies to help businesses understand how to improve their designs. Each rooftop had sixteen different kinds of plants native to Texas. The researchers say the presence of native plants likely helped all the green roofs capture water better compared to sedums. Sedums are plants that need little water and often are used on green roofs. The native plants could take in more water and release more of it to the atmosphere. According to the passage, which conclusion is WRONG? A) Sometimes green roofs may break down the house. B) Not all the green roofs can reduce the building's air conditioning costs equally. C) Different designs of green roofs have different effects on buildings. D) Sedums are a kind of plants native to Texas.
Ans: D
By the mid-nineteenth century, the term "icebox" had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns , and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half of the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modern fridge, had been invented. Making an efficient icebox as not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of the physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary . The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping up the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox. But as early as 1803, and ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool. Without an ice box, farmers had to go to the market at night _ . A) to sell their produce at high price B) to go home earlier C) to keep their produce fresh D) to win more customers than their competitors
C