question: (CNN) -- The Syrian government has told the parents of a missing American journalist that it doesn't know where their son is, the man's father said Monday at a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon.

Austin Tice last contacted his family on August 13 while in Syria reporting on the uprising there against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. He was reportedly preparing to leave Syria for Lebanon when he went missing, according to his family.

Read more: Family working for journalist's release plans visit to Lebanon

In October, a shaky video surfaced on YouTube showing a man believed to be Tice surrounded by armed men walking him up a hill.

Tice's father, Marc Tice, said that family members have been in touch, "directly and indirectly," with Syrian government officials, but they have learned nothing about his son's location despite traveling to Beirut to seek his release.

"We're reaching out to everyone that we can get in touch with," he said.

Tice's parents say they are willing to go to Syria if that what it will take to get their son back.

"We have no idea what will be required, and we would like to know from whoever is holding him what it is that we need to do," Marc Tice said.

Austin is the oldest of the couple's seven children.

"We are a big, close family. We have all felt the void [of] his absence," said his mother, Debra Tice.

With the holiday season approaching, they are "dismayed by the empty chair at our family table," she said. "We miss Austin. Knowing his smile, big laugh, great storytelling."
1. Who is missing?
2. Who is looking for him?
3. When did he last communicate with his family?
4. Where was he?
5. What was he doing there?
6. Where was he going to be heading after he left Syria?
7. Does he have any siblings?
8. Is he the youngest of them?
9. Will the family go to Syria to look for him?
10. Has there been video evidence that he is still alive?
11. What did it show?
12. When was this?
13. Where could the video be found?
****
answer: 1. Austin Tice
2. The Syrian government
3. August 13
4. in Syria
5. Reporting
6. Lebanon
7. Yes
8. No
9. Yes
10. Yes
11. Tice surrounded by armed men walking him up a hill
12. October
13. YouTube

question: We usually believe what our brain tells us, but there are some amazing facts which show that the brain tricks us. As a result, we think we can see something that is not actually there or we ignore things that actually are there. Scientists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris have researched this phenomenon , which they call "change blindness". Their experiments show how we sometimes just do not see what is in front of our eyes because _ . Here is one of their most famous experiments. In this experiment, the participants were shown a video of two groups of people (one group in white T-shirts and one group in black T-shirts) who passed basketballs around in a hallway. Each group had three members. Simons and Chabris asked the participants to count how many times the white team passed the ball. While the two teams were passing their balls around, a person dressed up as a big bear walked through the group and stopped to look at the camera. Simons and Chabris found that about half of the research participants did not notice the big bear.
1. What occupation does Christopher Chabris have?
2. Does he share this occupation with Daniel Simons?
3. Are they chemists?
4. What phenomena do they study?
5. When studying this do they use video?
6. What activity are the people doing in their famous video?
7. Are the people wearing special clothing?
8. What?
9. How many people are in the video?
10. Are all people dressed in Tshirts?
11. What does the bear person do?
12. How many people wear tshirts?
13. How many people wear an animal costume?
14. Does the bear pause at all?
15. When people view this video, what do the scientists try to observe about the viewers?
16. Do all most people notice the bear?
****
answer: 1. Scientist
2. yes
3. no
4. change blindness
5. yes
6. passing basketballs
7. yes
8. one group in white T-shirts
9. Seven
10. all but one
11. walked through the group
12. Six
13. One
14. yes
15. to see if they notice the bear
16. half

question: London (CNN) -- Sixty years ago Monday, a 25-year-old woman visiting a remote part of Kenya got a message that her father had died.

She cut her trip short and flew home to London. Prime Minister Winston Churchill met her at the airport -- because with her father dead, she had become Queen Elizabeth II.

Celebrations of her Diamond Jubilee, marking six decades on the throne, officially begin Monday and continue through June, when London will mark the anniversary of her coronation with festivities including up to 1,000 boats sailing up the River Thames.

On Monday, the queen thanked the public "for the wonderful support and encouragement that you have given to me and (husband) Prince Philip over these years."

She said in the open letter that she planned to "dedicate myself anew to your service."

She called on people to "give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart" in a brief letter that she signed simply "Elizabeth R."

She was honored with a 41-gun salute in London's Hyde Park Monday, and a 21-gun salute in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Two new photographs of the queen were released Monday as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, showing her wearing a necklace worn by Queen Victoria in her own Diamond Jubilee portrait in 1897.

She is the oldest British monarch in history, but has not yet passed her great-great-grandmother Victoria as the longest-reigning one.

Elizabeth II was not in line to the throne when she was born April 21, 1926. But the fate of Lilibet, as she was known to her friends, changed when her uncle Edward abdicated the thone to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.
1. what is a Diamond Jubilee?
2. how long has Elizabeth II been Queen?
3. how old was she at that time?
4. who is her husband?
5. How does she sign her letters?
6. how was she honored on Monday?
7. what did the recent photos released show?
8. Was she always in line to be queen?
9. what changed?
10. why did he give it up?
11. What is the queen called by her friends?
12. Is she the longest reigning monarch?
13. who is?
14. how is she related to Elizabeth?
15. what does she plan to do according to her letter?
16. what is one festivity that will take place to celebrate?
****
answer:
1. marks six decades on the English throne
2. Sixty years
3. 25
4. Prince Philip
5. "Elizabeth R."
6. gun salutes
7. her wearing a necklace of Queen Victoria
8. no
9. her uncle Edward abdicated the thone
10. to marry Wallis Simpson
11. Lilibet
12. no
13. Queen Victoria
14. she is her great-great-grandmother
15. "dedicate myself anew to your service."
16. up to 1,000 boats sailing up the River Thames