Read the article and select the best answer. Article: A fierce earthquake struck HaitionJanuary 12, 2010, causing a crowded hospital to fall down and countless houses and buildings were destroyed. The earthquake, the worst in the region in more than 200 years, with a magnitude estimated at 7.0, struck just before 5 p.m. about 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, leaving the region nearly in ruins. As night fell in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, fires burned near the shoreline downtown, but otherwise the city fell into darkness. The electricity was out, telephones were not working and relief workers struggled to make their way through blocked streets. In this earthquake, it was not possible for officials to determine how many people had been killed and injured. It was reported that the headquarters of the United Nations mission was seriously damaged and many employees were missing. Part of the national palace had fallen to the ground. A hospital was totally ruined in Petionville, which is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians. A New York reporter said that a wall at the front of the Hotel Oloffson had fallen, killing a passer-by. A number of nearby buildings was badly damaged, trapping people. People were screaming, calling for help from every corner. Haiti sits on a large fault between the much larger North American plate to the north and the Caribbean plate to the south. The earthquake on Tuesday happened when what appears to be part of the southern fault zone broke. With many poor people living in tin-roof shacks and with many of the buildings in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere in the country of questionable quality, it was expected that the quake caused major damage to buildings and great loss of life. Question: Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text? Options: A: All the hospitals in Haiti were destroyed in the earthquake. B: The earthquake was the worst in Haiti in less than two centuries. C: After dark the city fell into darkness because of the earthquake. D: Communication, electricity and transportation were all affected.
D

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: First it was jogging. Then aerobics . Not too long ago, Americans discovered race walking. Now Americans are into a newfitnesscraze. They'retaking up bicycling. Over hills and down mountainsides and across quiet country roads, Americans are busily rolling along. The number of adults who ride for fitness is around 17 million, an increase of 70 percent over four years ago. Twice as many women as men are coming to the sport. Americans arefalling in love withbiking because it has speed, the benefitsofjoggingand beautiful scenery. Bicycling is a very appropriate sport, which is important to people who injured their knees while jogging or whosejointsareachingfrom aerobics. And biking is a real awakening for people who have been into race walking in the past. Race walking isas dull as watching paint dry. The most popular kind of bicycle for people who are new to the sport is the mountain bike, which has afixed framewith wide tires andupright handles. Mountain bikes also have manygears to make it easier to climb hills. About 5 million Americans ride mountain bikes, compared with 200,000 who rode them only five years ago. Costsrangefrom about $130 for abottom-of-the-linebicycle to more than $2,700 for an expensive bicycle. Mountain biking has attracted somepeoplewho race down the sides of mountainslike a bat out of hell. But most riders ride slowly and theyrarelyventurefar from home. The biking craze has brought an unexpected profit to clothing and bicycle accessory makers. Last year, bikers paid $ 630 million for biking clothes and accessories. Bicycling seems likely to continue its fantastic growth. Question: Race walking is about as dull as watching paint dry because _ Options: A: race walking is a slow-moving sport B: the number of adults who ride for fitness has grown 70 percent in four years. C: it has speed, the benefits of jogging and beautiful scenery. D: Americans are taking up bicycling.
A

Q: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Runners in a relay race pass a stick in one direction. However, merchants passed silk, gold, fruit, and glass along the Silk Road in more than one direction. They earned their living by traveling the famous Silk Road. The Silk Road was not a simple trading network. It passed through thousands of cities and towns. It started from eastern China, across Central Asia and the Middle East, and ended in the Mediterranean Sea. It was used from about 200 BC to about 1300 AD, when sea travel offered new routes. It was sometimes called the world's longest highway. However, the Silk Road was made up of many routes, not one smooth path. They passed through what are now 18 countries. The routes crossed mountains and deserts and had many dangers of hot sun, deep snow and even battles. Only experienced traders could return safe. The Silk Road got its name from its most prized product. Silk could be used like money to pay taxes or buy goods. But the traders carried more than just silk. Gold, silver, and glass from Europe were much found in the Middle East and Asia. Horses traded from other areas changed farming practices in China. Indian merchants traded salt and other valuable goods. Chinese merchants traded paper, which produced an immediate effect on the West. Apples traveled from central Asia to Rome. The Chinese had learned to graft different trees together to make new kinds of fruit. They passed this science on to others, including the Romans. The Romans used grafting to grow the apple. Trading along the Silk Road led to world-wide business 2,000 years before the World Wide Web. The people along the Silk Road did not share just goods. They also shared their beliefs. The Silk Road provided pathways for learning, diplomacy, and religion. Question: What is the best title for the passage? Options: A: The Silk Road: Past and Present B: The Silk Road: East Meets West C: The Silk Road: Routes Full of Dangers D: The Silk Road: Pathways for Learning
A: B

Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Many people seem to think that science fiction is typified by the Bug-eyed Monster, embodying every feature that most people find unpleasant. This is unfortunate because it degrades a worthwhile literary endeavor. Instead, the basic interest of science fiction lies in the relation between man and his technology and between man and the universe. Science fiction is a literature of change and a literature of the future, and the aspects of human life that it considers make it well worth reading and studying for no other literary form does quite the same things. What is science fiction? To begin, the following definition should be helpful: science fiction is a literary subgenre which postulates(...) a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and follows the implications of these changes to a conclusion. The first point that science fiction is a literary subgenre is a very important one, but one which is often overlooked. Specifically, science fiction is either a short story or a novel. There are only a few dramas which could be called science fiction; the body of poetry that might be labeled science fiction is only slightly larger. To say that science fiction is a subgenre of prose fiction is to say that it has all the basic characteristics and serves the same basic functions in much the same way as prose fiction in general, that is, it shares a great deal with all other novels and short stories. Everything that can be said about prose fiction, in general, applies to science fiction. Every piece of science fiction, whether short story or novel, must have a narrator, a story, a plot, characters, setting, and language. The themes of science fiction are concerned with interpreting man's nature and experience around him. Themes in science fiction are constructed and presented in exactly the same ways that themes are dealt with in any other kind of fiction. They are the result to a particular combination of a narrator, story, plot, character, setting, and language. In short, the reasons for reading... Question: Science fiction is called a literary subgenre because _ . Options: A: it is not important enough to be a literary genre B: it cannot be made into a dramatic presentation C: it shares characteristics with other types of prose fiction D: it has a great number of readers keen on reading
C