I was being interviewed by a senior manager for a major insurance company. I told him honestly why I wanted the job----I needed to keep my family in Boston. My wife recently died of a heart attack. A job in Boston would help me reduce some of the extreme trauma and pain of the loss for my 16-year-old daughter. It was important for me to keep her in her high school. I could still hardly talk about the loss of my wife. Bruce, the interviewer, was politely empathetic, but he didn't probe any further. He admitted my loss and with great respect, moved on to another subject. After the next round of the interview, Bruce took me to lunch with another person. Then he asked me to take a walk with him. He told me that he, too, had lost his wife. And, like me, he had also been married 20 years and had three children. In his sharing, I realized that he had experienced the same pain as I had -----a pain that was almost impossible to explain to someone who had not lost a beloved one. He offered his business card and home phone number and suggested that, if I need help or just want someone to talk to, I should feel free to give him a call. Whether I got the job or not, he wanted me to know that he was there if I ever needed help. When he had no idea if we would ever see each other again, he helped our family deal with one of the greatest losses. He turned the normally cold business interview into a caring support for another person in need. The writer took part in the interview because _ . A) hehad lost his job and wanted to find a new one. B) he had to support his family in Boston. C) his wife had recently died of a heart attack. D) his daughter needed money for schooling.
B

There are many things we need to know that we do not learn at school. For example, if we want to use our money wisely, we need to shop carefully. We need to know how to compare the prices of things in different shops. We need to be able to compare the quality of different brands . We need to know how to make a choice when we shop. Knowing how to make such choices is a "life skill", and we need these skills if we are to live useful and happy lives. Some of these choices are small. For example, will I take an apple for lunch or a pear? Will I go to school by bus or on foot? Will I wear the red T-shirt or the blue one to the movies? Other choices are more important. For example, will I eat healthy food for lunch or will eat junk food because it is tastier? Will I work hard in all my classes or will I only work hard in the classes I enjoy? We make choices like this every day. We have to realize that the choices we make can affect the rest of our lives. Just as importantly, our choices can also affect other people. The next time you decide to waste time in class, play a joke on someone or talk loudly at the movies, think about this: who else does your choice affect? Which of the following choices is more important than the others? _ . A) Which fruit to take for lunch B) Which subjects to work hard at C) Which T-shirt to wear to the movies D) How to get to school
B

There is a famous saying from the French politician J.A. Brillat-Savarin that goes: "Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of man you are." It can be easy to not really think about what you eat. For example, whenever you go into a supermarket to buy a drink, it is all too easy to pick up an ice cream or a piece of chocolate as well. You might not even really want them, but sometimes their bright, nice packaging can be too hard to refuse. So, in our special food magazine we will show you why you should really pay more attention to what you eat! Food not only influences our health but also our beliefs, customs and personalities. The first article will look at the way fast food is leading to obesity . The famous cook, Jamie Oliver, has made it his purpose to introduce ideas about healthy eating. In a speech, Jamie Oliver told the world that during the 18 minutes that he gave his speech, four Americans would die because of the food that they ate! Obesity is also a growing problem in China. As China Daily reported in February, the number of obese people under the age of 18 in China has reached 120 million. Jamie has worked for 10 years to try and fight this problem. Learning about food is important not just because of health problems but also because many people still don't have enough food today. And we know as the improvement of science sometimes we have to face genetically modified food. Don't worry - we'll make you know more about all these topics in our special article! We'll also tell you something interesting about food. For example, do you know what the largest food on the menu is all over the world? It's the roasted camel and it has been served for several hundred years, often stuffed with chicken, lamb, egg, fish and rice! Hopefully by the time you finish reading this edition , you'll pay more attention to the food that you eat. As Oliver says, food is something that can help us enjoy our life. It is important that we love it! Where is J.A. Brillat-Savarin from? A) America. B) England. C) France. D) Australia.
C

Reading is a good habit, but the problem is, there's too much to read these days, and too little time to read every word of it. There are hundreds of skills to help you read more in less time. Here are two skills that I think are very good. Preview -- if it's long and hard. Previewing is very useful for getting a general idea of heavy reading like long magazine articles and science reports. Here is how to preview. *Read the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs carefully. *Then read only the first sentence of the other paragraphs. Previewing doesn't give you all the details. It tells you not to spend time on things you don't really want or need to read. Skim -- if it's short and simple. Skimming is a good way to get a general idea of light reading, like popular magazines or the sports of your daily paper. Here's how to skim. *Get your eyes to move fast. Sweep them across each line. *Pick up only a few key words in each line. Everybody skims differently. You and I may not pick up the same words when we skim the same piece, but perhaps we'll get the same idea of what it's all about. What should we do when we read a science report? A) Read the first two paragraphs and the last two paragraphs carefully. B) Spend a lot of time reading the details. C) Read the first and the last sentences of each paragraph. D) Pick up only a few key words in each line.
A