We are all interested in equality, but while some people try to protect the school and examination system in the name of equality, others, still in the name of equality, want only to destroy it. Any society which is interested in equality of opportunity and standards of achievement must regularly test its pupils. The standards may be changed ---- no examination is perfect ---- but to have no external tests or examinations would mean the end of equality and of standards. There are groups of people who oppose this view and who do not believe either in external examinations or in any controls in schools or on teachers. This would mean that everything would depend on luck since every pupil would depend on the efficiency, the ideal and the purpose of each teacher. Without external examinations, employers will look for employees from the highly respected schools and from families known to them ---- a form of favoritism will replace equality. At the moment, the bright child from an ill-respected school can show certificates to prove he or she is suitable for a job, while the lack of a certificate shows the unsuitability of a dull child attending a well - respected school. This defense of excellence and opportunity would disappear if external examinations were taken away, and the bright child from a poor family would be a prisoner of his or her school's fame, unable to compete for employment with the child from the favored school. The opponents of the examination system suggest that examinations are an evil force because they show differences between pupils. According to these people, there must be no special, different, academic class. They have even suggested that there should be no form of difference in sport or any other area: all jobs or posts should be filled by unsystematic selection. The selection would be made by people who themselves are probably selected by some computer. These people are not just against school organization, but are at war with the whole idea of modem competitive society and they are... Which of the following sentences is TRUE? A) Most students from poor families can't get a good job. B) Some people are using students to destroy our society. C) The writer thinks it a good way to choose a job by computer. D) The opponents of the examination want to reorganize schools.
D
(Question)
It helps to choose the colors you plan to live with in your home with awareness of how different colors affect your emotional and physical states. Every color has a unique meaning, and this can significantly affect how you feel in a room. A room that is painted red will energize, inspire activity and movement, help passion, and be powerful and stimulating. A red room can also be exhausting and overpowering, and stressful for those who are anxious. Orange rooms encourage happy, joyful, social gatherings. While an orange dining room or family room can stimulate the appetite, it is a great choice for such gathering places. Orange enhances parties, communication, positive feelings, and general good cheer. Yellow rooms inspire intellectual clarity, organization, clear -headed thinking, and happy energy. Yellow is considered a color for the logical left side of the brain. Yellow is also very bright and somewhat energizing. Blue rooms are often chosen for bedrooms and meditation rooms because its cool energy is very calming, restful, peaceful, and spiritual. Blue helps inspire a quiet meditative quality, and color therapy with blue has been found to reduce blood pressure. Blue is also useful to make one to sleep. Green rooms are very restful but combine with an energizing quality. Green is the color of outdoors, calm and active at the same time. Green brings balance and harmony to a room, and can be used as a calming place for people who are troubled or in need of refreshment. What color should his room be painted if a person likes meditation? A) Blue. B) Orange. C) Green. D) Red.
(Answer)
A
Ques: Angkor Wat (City Temple) is a vast temple complex near Siem Reap, about 200 miles from the capital of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. After the city of Angkor fell to invaders, Angkor Wat fell into the jungle but continued as a Buddhist temple and a pilgrimage site over the centuries. Angkor Wat is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture in Cambodia and is so grand in design that some rank it among the Seven Wonders of the World. It appears on the Cambodian national flag, a very rare instance of a flag incorporating an image of a building. The "lost city" of Angkor first attracted the interest of Europeans in the 1800s after Cambodia was colonized by the French. In addition to many tourists, Buddhist monks are daily visitors to Angkor Wat, their bright orange robes making a vivid contrast with the grey stone of the temple. The city of Angkor was capital of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The city of Angkor was founded on political and religious ideas adapted from India, and the temples of Angkor were intended as a place of worship for the king. Angkor Wat was built by King Suryavarman II in the 12th century as a vast funeral temple that would hold his remains, and as a royal temple dedicated to a Hindu God. During its six centuries as imperial capital, Angkor went through many changes in architectural styles and in religion. By the late 13th century, the once crazy pace of Angkor's architectural pursuits had begun to die down, and a more restrained type of religion was on the rise under the growing influence of Theravada Buddhism. At the same time, Angkor and Khmer Empire were increasingly threatened and attacked by invading armies. By the 16th century , the golden age of Angkor was over and many of the great temples began to recede into the jungle. From the 15th to 19th centuries, Theravada Buddhist monks cared for Angkor Wat, and it is thanks to them that the temple remains mostly intact. Angkor Wat became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Southeast Asia. Why did the author write the passage? A) To advise on the protection of Angkor Wat. B) To explain the effect of Angkor Wat. C) To introduce Angkor Wat D) To expect people to visit Angkor Wat.
Ans: C
From bankers to factory staff, employees in the West face a cold _ of losing their jobs as a global recession starts to bite. For colleagues in the East, the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut. Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian companies try harder to preserve jobs in difficult times, which will prevent unemployment and may help Asian economies survive at a time of slowing exports. The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for companies to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, but build up a more loyal and devoted group. "In the Confucian mindset, the right thing to do is to share the burden, which is the sense of collective responsibility. While in the West, it's more about individual survival," said Michael Benoliel, associate professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University (SMU). In contrast, local Western companies from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousand, but at the Asian units of Western multinationals or western units of Asian groups, job cuts will probably be less severe. Japan's jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong's was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January. Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals from abroad. According to Michael Benoliel, the Confucian mindset focuses on _ . A) human rights B) sharing responsibility C) personal profits D) individual survival
B