input: OPTIONS:
- it is nearby and convenient
- it is a great place for meeting friends
- it is far more comfortable than a bar to have a drink
- it is easy to bump into people they know in a pub , Now, answer this question: Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Whether I'm looking for a good chat with some old Mends or a quiet place to meet a colleague, the pub will be the place I always choose. I could, of course, go to a bar. But a pub, I always find, is far more comfortable and has a more relaxed atmosphere. Many people in the UK also have a favorite pub at the end of the road where they live or nearby to where they work. I can almost always guarantee that I'll bump into someone I know at my "local", as we British call our nearest pub. In fact, many people from the UK say that the pub is a cornerstone of British life. Coming together over a drink, usually of beer, is generally considered the best way to catch up with friends. For those who are a little reserved , as the British sometimes are, it's the best way to open up and get chatting. However, this habit is slowly changing among some British people. According to a survey completed in August by UK trade magazine The Publican, eating, rather than drinking, has become the main source of income for our 52,000 pubs. The gastropub , with its greater emphasis on food, is primarily responsible. All over the country, this more expensive type of pub has been springing up, providing a place for more formal meetings with business partners. Wine is often drunk instead of the traditional beer. But not everyone's happy. Many people hate the fact that some local pubs are closing because new gastropubs are proving more profitable. "Beer sales are sinking and many pubs are struggling to survive," Rob Haward, of the British Beer and Pub Association, told UK newspaper The Daily Mail. For my part, I'm going to do all I can to keep the local British pub alive. It will be the first place I visit when I go back home. Question: . Many British people say that the pub is a cornerstone of British life because _ . Answer:
A:
output: it is a great place for meeting friends

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Testing has taken the place of teaching in most public schools. Pretests, drills, tests, and retests. They know that the best way to read a textbook is to look at the questions at the end of the chapter and then read the text quickly for the answers. I believe that my daughter Erica, who gets excellent marks, has never read a chapter of any of her school textbooks all the way through. And teachers are often heard to say proudly and openly that they teach to the test. Teaching to the test is a curious phenomenon . Instead of deciding what skills students ought to learn, helping students learn them, and then using some methods of assessment to discover whether students have mastered the skills, teachers are encouraged to teach the students in the opposite way. First one looks at a test. Then one chooses the skills needed not to master reading, but to do well in the test. Finally, the test skills are taught. The ability to read or write might suggest the ability to do reasonably well on standardized tests. However, neither reading nor writing develops simply through being taught to take tests. We must be careful to avoid mistaking preparations for a test of a skill with the acquisition of that skill. Too many discussions of basic skills make this misunderstanding because people are tested rather than concerned with the nature and quality of what is taught. Recently, many schools have faced what could be called the crisis of comprehension or, in simple words, the phenomenon of students with grammar skills still being unable to understand what they read. These students are quite good at test taking and filling in workbooks. However, they have little or no experience reading or thinking, and talking about what they read. They know the details but can't see or understand the whole. They are taught to be so concerned with grades that they have no time to think about meaning, and reread things if necessary. Question: In the author's opinion, _ . Answer:

OPTIONS:
- some good methods of assessment should take the place of tests
- more attention should be paid to the nature and quality of what is taught
- students should not be concerned with grades but do more reading and thinking
- students needn't learn grammar skills because they are useless for understanding

Answer: more attention should be paid to the nature and quality of what is taught

Read the following article and answer the question. Article: Have you listened to music on an iPod? Used a computer at home? Those are just two of the ways your life was touched by the work of Steve Jobs. Jobs, one founder of Apple Computers, died on Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at the age of 56. He had been fighting with cancer since 2004. Steven Jobs was born in Los Altos, California. He and his childhood friend, Steve Wozniak, designed and built the first Apple computer in his parents' garage in the 1970s. The Apple II, built when Jobs was just 21 years old, was the first personal computer to be widely sold to the public. Steven Jobs didn't stop there. He went on to invent more devices that allowed people to bring their own creativity to computing: the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad. People found his products beautiful and easy to use. Jobs also changed the music and film industries. He started Pixar, a film production company in 1986. Toy Story was the world's first computer-animated feature film . "Steve was among the greatest of American _ -- brave enough to think differently, confident enough to believe he could change the world, and clever enough to do it," said President Barack Obama. "By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only easy to reach, but fun ... And there may be no greater praise to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his death on a device he invented." All around the world, people are talking about the effects that Jobs' creations have had. By creating products that surprised people, he changed the way people worked and lived their everyday lives. Question: According to Barack Obama, the highest praise for Steve Jobs is that _ . Answer:
OPTIONS:
- his products are widely used all over the world
- his products are thought to be beautiful and easy to use
- people all over the world are sad at his death
- people learned about his death from his products

Answer:
people learned about his death from his products