U.S. lawmakers grilled Trump administration officials Tuesday about the war in Afghanistan, saying the new White House strategy was inconsistent and was not producing results. The comments made at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing reflected growing frustration in Congress about the U.S.-led war, which is entering its 17th year. As recently as November, General John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, acknowledged that the conflict remained a stalemate. Since then, a wave of high-profile insurgent attacks have rocked the capital, Kabul. The Taliban now controls or contests almost half the country, according to latest U.S. estimates. Despite the setbacks, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, who is helping oversee the new White House strategy, gave a positive assessment of the conflict. "The president's South Asia strategy is showing some signs of progress," Sullivan said. "On the battlefield, we are seeing the Taliban's momentum begin to slow." But lawmakers from both parties expressed skepticism. "Something is clearly not working," said Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and longtime Afghan war critic. "By any standard, the current security situation is grim." Some lawmakers took aim at President Donald Trump, who last week said he didn't want to talk with the Taliban a statement that seemingly contradicted his own strategy. After Sullivan and a top Pentagon official told the lawmakers that the U.S. was in fact still open to negotiations with the Taliban, lawmakers pressed for more details. "You can see that the world and those involved in the peace process may be pretty confused about what the U.S. position is. What is it?" asked Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. Sullivan said he thought Trump was expressing a reaction to last month's terrorist attacks, and was pointing out that "significant elements of the Taliban are not prepared to negotiate." "And it may take a long time before they are willing to negotiate," he added. But many in the Senate appear... Question: What is likely true about Trump? Options: A. he's willing to work with his generals. B. his strategy for peace is effective. C. he doesn't like Afghanistan. D. not enough information === The correct answer is
C

(Question)
My father lost something valuable to him that didn't resurface for years after his death. My dad was a World War II veteran and an officer. All officers were issued the classic Ray Ban sunglasses with the wraparound wire rims. He wore them almost all the time for the next thirty years after the War, then one day in the 1970's, he misplaced them. He was heartbroken, crestfallen, that he lost something he cherished from his military servicethe symbolic military issue Bausch & Lombs coveted by every officer who served. I wanted so badly to be my dad's Hero. I overturned every piece of furniture in the house, rifled every dresser drawer, every nook and crannie, underneath beds, the garage, the yard, you name it. I was on a Mission. I wanted to walk up to him and say, beaming, Here Dad! I found your sunglasses! But alas, after several weeks, no success. I was crushed by my own failure. He passed away, and his possessions were divided among our family. Fast forward to a few years ago. My Cocker Spaniel was sniffing around in the bathroom, and a box fell out of the bathroom closet with a crash. I went to investigate and chide the dogwhen the first thing I saw on the bathroom floor next to the overturned box was the yellowed leather case, and his wire rim sunglasses. I picked it up, held it in my hand, and I, a grown man, immediately burst into tears, sobbing. Suddenly, I was nineteen again. My wife asked what was the matter, and I told her the whole story. I figured after his passing, his sunglasseswhich evidently were in the house the whole timewere probably tossed into one of many anonymous cardboard boxes, and I happened to be the one who carried off the box containing them. So here Dad! I found your sunglasses! I love you! Am I still your hero? Question: Who misplaced his Ray Ban sunglasses? Options: A. not enough information B. the son C. the daughter D. the father === The correct answer is
(Answer)
D

Randy Poskin, a soybean farmer in rural Illinois, voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. But ask him now he feels about that decision, and you get a tepid response. "I'm not sure," Poskin said. Like many farmers in the Midwest, Poskin is concerned about getting caught in the middle of a trade war, as Trump ramps up economic pressure on China. Those fears were heightened after Trump announced plans Thursday to impose tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese imports. "I'm fearful they will retaliate on those tariffs," Poskin said. "Soybean exports, wheat, poultry, chicken, beef [there are] any number of products that we export to their country that they could retaliate with." The announcement has unnerved many in Trump's base of supporters in U.S. agriculture. The trade tensions have also rattled global markets, which until recently had performed strongly. Trump's tariff decision was meant to punish Chinese companies that benefit from unfair access to U.S. technology. U.S. businesses have long bristled at Beijing's requirement that they transfer technology to Chinese companies as a condition of entering the Chinese market. U.S. businesses have also had their technology stolen through cyberattacks. "We have a tremendous intellectual property theft situation going on," Trump said during the signing ceremony Thursday. Some U.S. companies in China cheered the move and suggested that concerns about a trade war were overblown. William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, dismissed the "hair on fire" concern that Trump's proposed moves would hurt the global economy. "That the U.S. is willing to risk these disruptions indicates how serious the U.S. administration finds China's forced technology transfer, cybertheft and discriminatory industrial policies," he said in a statement to VOA. Zarit pointed to a recent survey suggesting members of his organization wanted the White House to "advocate more strongly for a level playing field and for reciprocal treatment to... Question: Why did Trump ban Chinese imports? Options: A. Because he felt they were benefiting unfairly from US technology B. not enough information C. Thy killed Americans D. they had banned us exports in their country === The correct answer is
A