option
list | question
stringlengths 11
354
| article
stringlengths 231
6.74k
| id
stringlengths 5
8
| label
int64 0
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
[
"the definition of maturity has changed",
"the industrialized society is more developed",
"more education is provided and laws against child labor are made",
"ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance"
] | The period of adolescence is much longer in industrial societies because . | The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on society's definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of one's life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.
In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver's license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after majority status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence. | 3698.txt | 2 |
[
"graduations from schools and colleges",
"social recognition",
"socio-economic status",
"certain behavioral changes"
] | Former social ceremonies that used to mark adolescence have given place to . | The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on society's definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of one's life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.
In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver's license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after majority status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence. | 3698.txt | 0 |
[
"eleven years old",
"sixteen years old",
"twenty-one years old",
"between twelve and twenty-one years old"
] | No one can expect to fully enjoy the adulthood privileges until he is . | The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on society's definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of one's life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.
In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver's license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after majority status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence. | 3698.txt | 2 |
[
"one will obtain more basic rights",
"the older one becomes, the more basic rights he will have",
"one won't get more basic rights than when he is 21",
"one will enjoy more rights granted by society"
] | Starting from 22, . | The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on society's definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of one's life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.
In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver's license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after majority status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence. | 3698.txt | 2 |
[
"in the late 19th century in the United States the dividing line between adolescence and adulthood no longer existed",
"no one can marry without the permission of his parents until the age of twenty-one",
"one is considered to have reached adulthood when he has a driver's license",
"one is not free from the restrictions of child labor laws until he can join the army"
] | According to the passage, it is true that . | The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on society's definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of one's life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.
In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver's license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after majority status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence. | 3698.txt | 0 |
[
"The influence of science on literature",
"The importance of dialects for realist writers",
"The emergence of realism and naturalism",
"The effects of industrialization on romanticism"
] | Which aspect of late-nineteenth-century United States literature does the passage mainly discuss? | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 2 |
[
"dominated",
"transformed",
"entered",
"generalized"
] | The word "prevailed" in line 4 is closest in meaning to | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 0 |
[
"authors",
"dialects",
"stories",
"relationships"
] | The word "they" in line 8 refers to | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 0 |
[
"the Civil War",
"a recognition that romanticism was unpopular",
"an increased interest in the study of common speech",
"an economic depression"
] | According to the passage , a highly significant factor in the development of realist and naturalist literature was | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 3 |
[
"human relationships",
"characteristics of different regions",
"the idealization of life",
"social and historical theories"
] | Realist writers took an interest in all of the following EXCEPT | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 2 |
[
"emphasized",
"described",
"criticized",
"classified"
] | The word "depicted" in line 11 is closest in meaning to | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 1 |
[
"To contrast the themes of realist and naturalist writers",
"To illustrate how Bret Harte differed from other authors",
"As an example of a topic taken up by realist writers",
"As an example of how setting can influence literary style"
] | Why does the author mention mining camps in line 14? | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 2 |
[
"Ellen Glasgow",
"Sarah Orne Jewett",
"Hamlin Garland",
"Mark Twain"
] | Which of the following wrote about life in rural New England? | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 1 |
[
"was the first realist writer in the United States",
"rejected romanticism as a literary approach",
"wrote humorous stories and novels",
"influenced American prose style through his use of common speech"
] | Mark Twain is considered an important literary figure because he | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 3 |
[
"most difficult",
"interesting",
"most focused",
"leading"
] | The word "foremost" in line 25 is closest in meaning to | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 3 |
[
"He mainly wrote about historical subjects such as the Civil War.",
"His novels often contained elements of humor.",
"He viewed himself more as a social commentator than as a literary artist.",
"He believed writers should emphasize the positive aspects of life."
] | Which of the following statements about Theodore Dreiser is supported by the passage ? | The economic depression in the late-nineteenth-century United States contributed significantly to a growing movement in literature toward realism and naturalism. After the 1870's, a number of important authors began to reject the romanticism that had prevailed immediately following the Civil War of 1861-1865 and turned instead to realism. Determined to portray life as it was, with fidelity to real life and accurate representation without idealization, they studied local dialects, wrote stories which focused on life in specific regions of the country, and emphasized the "true" relationships between people. In doing so, they reflected broader trends in the society, such as industrialization, evolutionary theory which emphasized the effect of the environment on humans, and the influence of science.
Realists such as Joel Chandler Harris and Ellen Glasgow depicted life in the South, Hamlin Garland described life on the Great Plains, and Sarah Orne Jewett wrote about everyday life in rural New England. Another realist, Bret Harte, achieved fame with stories that portrayed local life in the California mining camps.
Samuel Clemens, who adopted the pen name Mark Twain, became the country's most outstanding realist author, observing life around him with a humorous and skeptical eye. In his stories and novels, Twain drew on his own experiences and used dialect and common speech instead of literary language, touching off a major change in American prose style.
Other writers became impatient even with realism. Pushing evolutionary theory to its limits, they wrote of a world in which a cruel and merciless environment determined human fate. These writers, called naturalists, often focused on economic hardship, studying people struggling with poverty, and other aspects of urban and industrial life. Naturalists brought to their writing a passion for direct and honest experience.
Theodore Dreiser, the foremost naturalist writer, in novels such as Sister Carrie, grimly portrayed a dark world in which human beings were tossed about by forces beyond their understanding or control. Dreiser thought that writers should tell the truth about human affairs, not fabricate romance, and Sister Carrie, he said, was "not intended as a piece of literary craftsmanship, but was a picture of conditions." | 390.txt | 2 |
[
"to watch a beautiful sunset",
"to find an actor and an actress",
"to film a scene on the sea",
"to meet the audience"
] | One evening, the director sent his camera crew out _ . | The famous director of a big and expensivemovie planned to film a beautiful sunset over theocean, so that the audiences could see his hero andheroine in front of it at the end of the film astheysaid goodbye to each other for ever. He sent hiscamera crew out one evening tofilm thesunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, ―Have you provided me with the sunset?‖ ―No, sir.‖The men answered.
The director was angry. ―Why not?‖ he asked.
―Well, sir,‖ one of the men answered,‖ we are on the east coast here, and the sun sets inthe west. We can get a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.‖
―But I want a sunset!‖ the director shouted.‖ Go to the airport, take the next flight tothe west coast, and get one.‖
But then a young secretary had an idea,‖ Why don‘t you photograph a sunrise,‖ shesuggested, ―and then play it backwards? Then it would look like a sunset.‖
―That‘s a good idea!‖ the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said,‖Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.‖
The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over thebeach in the middle of the beautiful bay.Then at nine o‘clock they took it to the director. ―Here it is, sir.‖ They said and gave it to him.He was very pleased.
They all went to the studio. ―All right,‖ the director explained, ―now our hero andheroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ?sunset‘behind them.‖
The‖ sunset‖ began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face inhis hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away fromthe beach. | 2597.txt | 2 |
[
"The crew had to follow the secretary‘s advice.",
"If you want to see a sunrise, the east coast is the place to go to.",
"The camera crew wasn‘t able to film the scene the first day.",
"The director ordered his crew to stop filming the ―sunset‖."
] | Which of the following is NOT true? | The famous director of a big and expensivemovie planned to film a beautiful sunset over theocean, so that the audiences could see his hero andheroine in front of it at the end of the film astheysaid goodbye to each other for ever. He sent hiscamera crew out one evening tofilm thesunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, ―Have you provided me with the sunset?‖ ―No, sir.‖The men answered.
The director was angry. ―Why not?‖ he asked.
―Well, sir,‖ one of the men answered,‖ we are on the east coast here, and the sun sets inthe west. We can get a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.‖
―But I want a sunset!‖ the director shouted.‖ Go to the airport, take the next flight tothe west coast, and get one.‖
But then a young secretary had an idea,‖ Why don‘t you photograph a sunrise,‖ shesuggested, ―and then play it backwards? Then it would look like a sunset.‖
―That‘s a good idea!‖ the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said,‖Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.‖
The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over thebeach in the middle of the beautiful bay.Then at nine o‘clock they took it to the director. ―Here it is, sir.‖ They said and gave it to him.He was very pleased.
They all went to the studio. ―All right,‖ the director explained, ―now our hero andheroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ?sunset‘behind them.‖
The‖ sunset‖ began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face inhis hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away fromthe beach. | 2597.txt | 3 |
[
"it went well with the separation of the hero and the heroine",
"when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening",
"it was more moving than a sunrise",
"the ocean looked more beautiful at sunset"
] | The director wanted to film the sunset over the ocean because _ . | The famous director of a big and expensivemovie planned to film a beautiful sunset over theocean, so that the audiences could see his hero andheroine in front of it at the end of the film astheysaid goodbye to each other for ever. He sent hiscamera crew out one evening tofilm thesunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, ―Have you provided me with the sunset?‖ ―No, sir.‖The men answered.
The director was angry. ―Why not?‖ he asked.
―Well, sir,‖ one of the men answered,‖ we are on the east coast here, and the sun sets inthe west. We can get a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.‖
―But I want a sunset!‖ the director shouted.‖ Go to the airport, take the next flight tothe west coast, and get one.‖
But then a young secretary had an idea,‖ Why don‘t you photograph a sunrise,‖ shesuggested, ―and then play it backwards? Then it would look like a sunset.‖
―That‘s a good idea!‖ the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said,‖Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.‖
The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over thebeach in the middle of the beautiful bay.Then at nine o‘clock they took it to the director. ―Here it is, sir.‖ They said and gave it to him.He was very pleased.
They all went to the studio. ―All right,‖ the director explained, ―now our hero andheroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ?sunset‘behind them.‖
The‖ sunset‖ began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face inhis hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away fromthe beach. | 2597.txt | 0 |
[
"because he was moved to tears",
"as he saw everything in the film moving backwards",
"as the sunrise did not look as beautiful as he had imagined",
"because he was disappointed with the performance of the hero and heroine"
] | After the ―sunset‖ began, the director suddenly put his face in his hands _ . | The famous director of a big and expensivemovie planned to film a beautiful sunset over theocean, so that the audiences could see his hero andheroine in front of it at the end of the film astheysaid goodbye to each other for ever. He sent hiscamera crew out one evening tofilm thesunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, ―Have you provided me with the sunset?‖ ―No, sir.‖The men answered.
The director was angry. ―Why not?‖ he asked.
―Well, sir,‖ one of the men answered,‖ we are on the east coast here, and the sun sets inthe west. We can get a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.‖
―But I want a sunset!‖ the director shouted.‖ Go to the airport, take the next flight tothe west coast, and get one.‖
But then a young secretary had an idea,‖ Why don‘t you photograph a sunrise,‖ shesuggested, ―and then play it backwards? Then it would look like a sunset.‖
―That‘s a good idea!‖ the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said,‖Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.‖
The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over thebeach in the middle of the beautiful bay.Then at nine o‘clock they took it to the director. ―Here it is, sir.‖ They said and gave it to him.He was very pleased.
They all went to the studio. ―All right,‖ the director explained, ―now our hero andheroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ?sunset‘behind them.‖
The‖ sunset‖ began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face inhis hands and shouted to the camera crew to stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away fromthe beach. | 2597.txt | 1 |
[
"1990",
"1994",
"1998",
"1999"
] | When did Thierry Henry first appear in a professional football game? | Thierry Daniel Henry(Born 17 August 1977) is a French football striker currently playing for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the French national team.
Henry was born and brought up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne-a suburb of Paris-where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.
It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the gunners shoulder to shoulder; he was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of €24 million.
Henry has enjoyed similar success with the French national squad, having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000(the Delaunay Cup). In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Off the pitch, as a result of his own experience, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. His footballing style and personality have ensured that he is one of the most commercially marketable footballers in the world; he has been featured in advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Renault, Pepsi and Gillette. | 2704.txt | 1 |
[
"wing",
"striker",
"goalkeeper",
"captain"
] | Which position does Thierry Henry usually like to play in a football game? | Thierry Daniel Henry(Born 17 August 1977) is a French football striker currently playing for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the French national team.
Henry was born and brought up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne-a suburb of Paris-where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.
It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the gunners shoulder to shoulder; he was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of €24 million.
Henry has enjoyed similar success with the French national squad, having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000(the Delaunay Cup). In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Off the pitch, as a result of his own experience, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. His footballing style and personality have ensured that he is one of the most commercially marketable footballers in the world; he has been featured in advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Renault, Pepsi and Gillette. | 2704.txt | 1 |
[
"the enemies of Arsenal",
"the coaches of Arsenal",
"the supporters of Arsenal",
"the footballers of Arsenal"
] | According to the passage, the gunners(Para3, Line5) probably means _ . | Thierry Daniel Henry(Born 17 August 1977) is a French football striker currently playing for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the French national team.
Henry was born and brought up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne-a suburb of Paris-where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.
It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the gunners shoulder to shoulder; he was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of €24 million.
Henry has enjoyed similar success with the French national squad, having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000(the Delaunay Cup). In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Off the pitch, as a result of his own experience, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. His footballing style and personality have ensured that he is one of the most commercially marketable footballers in the world; he has been featured in advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Renault, Pepsi and Gillette. | 2704.txt | 3 |
[
"the Premiership League champion",
"the FIFA World Cup",
"the Delaunay Cup",
"the France Cup"
] | Which of the following honors does Thierry Henry NEVER get? | Thierry Daniel Henry(Born 17 August 1977) is a French football striker currently playing for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the French national team.
Henry was born and brought up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne-a suburb of Paris-where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.
It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the gunners shoulder to shoulder; he was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of €24 million.
Henry has enjoyed similar success with the French national squad, having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000(the Delaunay Cup). In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Off the pitch, as a result of his own experience, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. His footballing style and personality have ensured that he is one of the most commercially marketable footballers in the world; he has been featured in advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Renault, Pepsi and Gillette. | 2704.txt | 3 |
[
"Thierry Henry is always a prolific striker from AS Monaco to FC Barcelona.",
"Juventus is where Thierry Henry's splendid football life started.",
"Arsene Wenger is not only a teacher but also a friend as to Thierry Henry.",
"Michel Platini is France's top goal-scorer of all time."
] | According to the passage, which one is true? | Thierry Daniel Henry(Born 17 August 1977) is a French football striker currently playing for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the French national team.
Henry was born and brought up in the tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis, Essonne-a suburb of Paris-where he played for an array of local sides as a youngster and showed great promise as a goal-scorer. He was spotted by AS Monaco in 1990 and signed instantly, making his professional debut in 1994. Good form led to an international call-up in 1998, after which he signed for the Italian defending champions Juventus. He had a disappointing season playing on the wing, before joining Arsenal for £10.5 million in 1999.
It was at Arsenal that Henry made his name as a world-class footballer. Despite initially struggling in the Premiership, he emerged as Arsenal's top goal-scorer for almost every season of his tenure there. Under long-time mentor and coach Arsène Wenger, Henry became a prolific striker and Arsenal's all-time leading scorer with 226 goals in all competitions. The Frenchman won two league titles and three FA Cups with the gunners shoulder to shoulder; he was twice nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year, was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year twice, and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year three times. Henry spent his final two seasons with Arsenal as club captain, leading them to the UEFA Champions League final in 2006. In June 2007, after eight years with Arsenal, he transferred to FC Barcelona for a fee of €24 million.
Henry has enjoyed similar success with the French national squad, having won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000(the Delaunay Cup). In October 2007, he surpassed Michel Platini's record to become France's top goal-scorer of all time. Off the pitch, as a result of his own experience, Henry is an active spokesperson against racism in football. His footballing style and personality have ensured that he is one of the most commercially marketable footballers in the world; he has been featured in advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Renault, Pepsi and Gillette. | 2704.txt | 2 |
[
"his son was not as thrilled by the roller coasters ride as expected",
"his son blasted through the turns and loops with his face stretched",
"his son appeared distressed but calm while riding the roller coasters",
"his son could keep his balance so well on the fast moving roller coasters"
] | The author tell surprised in the amusement park at fact that ________. | Each summer, no matter how pressing my work schedule, I take off one day exclusively for my son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement park, where be discovered that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters in the world. We blasted through face-stretching turns and loops for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, be shrugged and, in a distressingly calm voice, remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he'd been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance.
Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents seemed hard pressed to find new thrills for indifferent kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young faces were looking disappointed and bored.
Facing their children's complaints of "nothing to do", parents were shelling out large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment. In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy transient relief from the terrible moans of their bored children. This set me pondering the obvious question:" How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there's never been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?"
What really worries me is the intensity of the stimulation. I watch my little daughter's face as she absorbs the powerful onslaught of arousing visuals and bloody special effects in movies.
Why do children immersed in this much excitement seem starved for more? That was, I realized, the point. I discovered during my own reckless adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Thrills have less to do with speed than changes in speed.
I'm concerned about the cumulative effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear apathetic and burned out, with a "been there, done that" air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends' children are prescribed medications-stimulants to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives-I question the role of kids' boredom in some of the diagnoses.
My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I've been reflecting more and more on how the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychiatric problems among children and adolescents in our society. | 737.txt | 0 |
[
"unless their parents can find new thrills for them",
"when they don't have any access to stimulating fun games",
"when they are left alone at weekends by their working parents",
"even if they are exposed to more and more kinds of entertainment"
] | According to the author, children are bored ________. | Each summer, no matter how pressing my work schedule, I take off one day exclusively for my son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement park, where be discovered that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters in the world. We blasted through face-stretching turns and loops for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, be shrugged and, in a distressingly calm voice, remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he'd been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance.
Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents seemed hard pressed to find new thrills for indifferent kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young faces were looking disappointed and bored.
Facing their children's complaints of "nothing to do", parents were shelling out large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment. In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy transient relief from the terrible moans of their bored children. This set me pondering the obvious question:" How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there's never been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?"
What really worries me is the intensity of the stimulation. I watch my little daughter's face as she absorbs the powerful onslaught of arousing visuals and bloody special effects in movies.
Why do children immersed in this much excitement seem starved for more? That was, I realized, the point. I discovered during my own reckless adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Thrills have less to do with speed than changes in speed.
I'm concerned about the cumulative effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear apathetic and burned out, with a "been there, done that" air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends' children are prescribed medications-stimulants to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives-I question the role of kids' boredom in some of the diagnoses.
My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I've been reflecting more and more on how the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychiatric problems among children and adolescents in our society. | 737.txt | 3 |
[
"a much wider variety of sports facilities",
"activities that require sophisticated skills",
"ever-changing thrilling forms of recreation",
"physical exercises that are more challenging"
] | From his own experience, the author came to the conclusion that children seem to expect ________. | Each summer, no matter how pressing my work schedule, I take off one day exclusively for my son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement park, where be discovered that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters in the world. We blasted through face-stretching turns and loops for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, be shrugged and, in a distressingly calm voice, remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he'd been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance.
Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents seemed hard pressed to find new thrills for indifferent kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young faces were looking disappointed and bored.
Facing their children's complaints of "nothing to do", parents were shelling out large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment. In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy transient relief from the terrible moans of their bored children. This set me pondering the obvious question:" How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there's never been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?"
What really worries me is the intensity of the stimulation. I watch my little daughter's face as she absorbs the powerful onslaught of arousing visuals and bloody special effects in movies.
Why do children immersed in this much excitement seem starved for more? That was, I realized, the point. I discovered during my own reckless adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Thrills have less to do with speed than changes in speed.
I'm concerned about the cumulative effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear apathetic and burned out, with a "been there, done that" air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends' children are prescribed medications-stimulants to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives-I question the role of kids' boredom in some of the diagnoses.
My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I've been reflecting more and more on how the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychiatric problems among children and adolescents in our society. | 737.txt | 2 |
[
"diverting their interest from electronic visual games",
"prescribing medications for their temporary relief",
"creating more stimulating activities for them",
"spending more money on their entertainment"
] | In Para 6 the author expresses his doubt about the effectiveness of trying to change children's indifference toward much of life by ________. | Each summer, no matter how pressing my work schedule, I take off one day exclusively for my son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement park, where be discovered that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters in the world. We blasted through face-stretching turns and loops for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, be shrugged and, in a distressingly calm voice, remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he'd been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance.
Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents seemed hard pressed to find new thrills for indifferent kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young faces were looking disappointed and bored.
Facing their children's complaints of "nothing to do", parents were shelling out large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment. In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy transient relief from the terrible moans of their bored children. This set me pondering the obvious question:" How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there's never been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?"
What really worries me is the intensity of the stimulation. I watch my little daughter's face as she absorbs the powerful onslaught of arousing visuals and bloody special effects in movies.
Why do children immersed in this much excitement seem starved for more? That was, I realized, the point. I discovered during my own reckless adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Thrills have less to do with speed than changes in speed.
I'm concerned about the cumulative effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear apathetic and burned out, with a "been there, done that" air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends' children are prescribed medications-stimulants to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives-I question the role of kids' boredom in some of the diagnoses.
My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I've been reflecting more and more on how the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychiatric problems among children and adolescents in our society. | 737.txt | 1 |
[
"adjusting the pace of life and intensity of stimulation",
"promoting the practice of dad-son days",
"consulting a specialist in child psychology",
"balancing school work with extracurricular activities"
] | In order to alleviate children's boredom, the author would probably suggest ________. | Each summer, no matter how pressing my work schedule, I take off one day exclusively for my son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement park, where be discovered that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters in the world. We blasted through face-stretching turns and loops for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, be shrugged and, in a distressingly calm voice, remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he'd been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance.
Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents seemed hard pressed to find new thrills for indifferent kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young faces were looking disappointed and bored.
Facing their children's complaints of "nothing to do", parents were shelling out large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment. In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy transient relief from the terrible moans of their bored children. This set me pondering the obvious question:" How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there's never been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?"
What really worries me is the intensity of the stimulation. I watch my little daughter's face as she absorbs the powerful onslaught of arousing visuals and bloody special effects in movies.
Why do children immersed in this much excitement seem starved for more? That was, I realized, the point. I discovered during my own reckless adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Thrills have less to do with speed than changes in speed.
I'm concerned about the cumulative effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear apathetic and burned out, with a "been there, done that" air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends' children are prescribed medications-stimulants to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives-I question the role of kids' boredom in some of the diagnoses.
My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I've been reflecting more and more on how the pace of life and the intensity of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychiatric problems among children and adolescents in our society. | 737.txt | 0 |
[
"as members of the same family tend to use similar amounts of salt",
"to explore the long-term use of a sodium based substance",
"because it was proven that salt caused high blood pressure",
"because of the availability of chemically pure salt and its derivatives"
] | The study of the effects of salt on high blood pressure was carried out _ . | There is evidence that the usual variety of high blood pressure is, in part, a familial disease. Since families have similar genes as well as similar environments, familial diseases could be due to shared genetic influences, to shared environmental factors, or to both. For some years, the role of one
environment factor commonly shared by families, namely dietary salt (i.e., sodium chloride), has been studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies suggest that long excess salt intake can lead to high blood pressure in man and animals. Some individuals, however, and some rats consume large amounts of salt without developing high blood pressure. No matter how strictly all environmental factors were controlled in these experiments, some salt-fed animals never developed hypertension whereas a few rapidly developed very severe hypertension followed by early death. These marked variations were interpreted to result from differences in genetic constitution.
By mating long successive generations of those animals that failed to develop hypertension from salt intake, a resistant strain (the " R" strain) has been evolved in which consumption of large quantities of salt fails to influence the blood pressure significantly. In contrast, by mating only animals that quickly develop hypertension from salt, sensitive strain (the "S" strain) has also been developed.
The availability of these two strains permits investigations possible. They provide a plausible laboratory model on which to investigate some clinical aspects of the human hypertension. More important, there might be the possibility of developing methods by which genetic susceptibility (???) of human beings to high blood pressure can be defined without waiting for its appearance. Radioactive sodium 22 was an important "tool" in working out the characteristics of the sodium chloride metabolism. | 334.txt | 0 |
[
"need for sodium 22",
"rate of mating",
"reaction to salt",
"type of blood"
] | The main difference between "S" and "R" rats is their _ . | There is evidence that the usual variety of high blood pressure is, in part, a familial disease. Since families have similar genes as well as similar environments, familial diseases could be due to shared genetic influences, to shared environmental factors, or to both. For some years, the role of one
environment factor commonly shared by families, namely dietary salt (i.e., sodium chloride), has been studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies suggest that long excess salt intake can lead to high blood pressure in man and animals. Some individuals, however, and some rats consume large amounts of salt without developing high blood pressure. No matter how strictly all environmental factors were controlled in these experiments, some salt-fed animals never developed hypertension whereas a few rapidly developed very severe hypertension followed by early death. These marked variations were interpreted to result from differences in genetic constitution.
By mating long successive generations of those animals that failed to develop hypertension from salt intake, a resistant strain (the " R" strain) has been evolved in which consumption of large quantities of salt fails to influence the blood pressure significantly. In contrast, by mating only animals that quickly develop hypertension from salt, sensitive strain (the "S" strain) has also been developed.
The availability of these two strains permits investigations possible. They provide a plausible laboratory model on which to investigate some clinical aspects of the human hypertension. More important, there might be the possibility of developing methods by which genetic susceptibility (???) of human beings to high blood pressure can be defined without waiting for its appearance. Radioactive sodium 22 was an important "tool" in working out the characteristics of the sodium chloride metabolism. | 334.txt | 2 |
[
"control high blood pressure",
"cure high blood pressure caused by salt",
"tell the \"S\" rats from the \"R\" rats",
"determine what a sodium chloride metabolism is like"
] | We can infer from the article that sodium 22 can be used to _ . | There is evidence that the usual variety of high blood pressure is, in part, a familial disease. Since families have similar genes as well as similar environments, familial diseases could be due to shared genetic influences, to shared environmental factors, or to both. For some years, the role of one
environment factor commonly shared by families, namely dietary salt (i.e., sodium chloride), has been studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies suggest that long excess salt intake can lead to high blood pressure in man and animals. Some individuals, however, and some rats consume large amounts of salt without developing high blood pressure. No matter how strictly all environmental factors were controlled in these experiments, some salt-fed animals never developed hypertension whereas a few rapidly developed very severe hypertension followed by early death. These marked variations were interpreted to result from differences in genetic constitution.
By mating long successive generations of those animals that failed to develop hypertension from salt intake, a resistant strain (the " R" strain) has been evolved in which consumption of large quantities of salt fails to influence the blood pressure significantly. In contrast, by mating only animals that quickly develop hypertension from salt, sensitive strain (the "S" strain) has also been developed.
The availability of these two strains permits investigations possible. They provide a plausible laboratory model on which to investigate some clinical aspects of the human hypertension. More important, there might be the possibility of developing methods by which genetic susceptibility (???) of human beings to high blood pressure can be defined without waiting for its appearance. Radioactive sodium 22 was an important "tool" in working out the characteristics of the sodium chloride metabolism. | 334.txt | 3 |
[
"development of diets free of salt",
"an early cure for high blood pressure",
"control of genetic agents that cause high blood pressure",
"the early identification of potential high blood pressure victims"
] | The most beneficial results of the research might be _ . | There is evidence that the usual variety of high blood pressure is, in part, a familial disease. Since families have similar genes as well as similar environments, familial diseases could be due to shared genetic influences, to shared environmental factors, or to both. For some years, the role of one
environment factor commonly shared by families, namely dietary salt (i.e., sodium chloride), has been studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies suggest that long excess salt intake can lead to high blood pressure in man and animals. Some individuals, however, and some rats consume large amounts of salt without developing high blood pressure. No matter how strictly all environmental factors were controlled in these experiments, some salt-fed animals never developed hypertension whereas a few rapidly developed very severe hypertension followed by early death. These marked variations were interpreted to result from differences in genetic constitution.
By mating long successive generations of those animals that failed to develop hypertension from salt intake, a resistant strain (the " R" strain) has been evolved in which consumption of large quantities of salt fails to influence the blood pressure significantly. In contrast, by mating only animals that quickly develop hypertension from salt, sensitive strain (the "S" strain) has also been developed.
The availability of these two strains permits investigations possible. They provide a plausible laboratory model on which to investigate some clinical aspects of the human hypertension. More important, there might be the possibility of developing methods by which genetic susceptibility (???) of human beings to high blood pressure can be defined without waiting for its appearance. Radioactive sodium 22 was an important "tool" in working out the characteristics of the sodium chloride metabolism. | 334.txt | 3 |
[
"When salt is added rats and human beings react similarly.",
"The near future will see a cure for high blood pressure.",
"The medical field is desperately in need of research.",
"A tendency toward high blood pressure may be a hereditary factor."
] | Which of the statements best relates the main idea of this article? | There is evidence that the usual variety of high blood pressure is, in part, a familial disease. Since families have similar genes as well as similar environments, familial diseases could be due to shared genetic influences, to shared environmental factors, or to both. For some years, the role of one
environment factor commonly shared by families, namely dietary salt (i.e., sodium chloride), has been studied at Brookhaven National Laboratory. These studies suggest that long excess salt intake can lead to high blood pressure in man and animals. Some individuals, however, and some rats consume large amounts of salt without developing high blood pressure. No matter how strictly all environmental factors were controlled in these experiments, some salt-fed animals never developed hypertension whereas a few rapidly developed very severe hypertension followed by early death. These marked variations were interpreted to result from differences in genetic constitution.
By mating long successive generations of those animals that failed to develop hypertension from salt intake, a resistant strain (the " R" strain) has been evolved in which consumption of large quantities of salt fails to influence the blood pressure significantly. In contrast, by mating only animals that quickly develop hypertension from salt, sensitive strain (the "S" strain) has also been developed.
The availability of these two strains permits investigations possible. They provide a plausible laboratory model on which to investigate some clinical aspects of the human hypertension. More important, there might be the possibility of developing methods by which genetic susceptibility (???) of human beings to high blood pressure can be defined without waiting for its appearance. Radioactive sodium 22 was an important "tool" in working out the characteristics of the sodium chloride metabolism. | 334.txt | 3 |
[
"incurred criticism",
"raised suspicion",
"received acclaim",
"aroused curiosity"
] | We learn from Para.1 that Gilbert's appointment has _ . | The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. "Hooray! At last!" wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic.
One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert’s appointment in the Times, calls him "an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him." As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise.
For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes.
Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. There recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today’s live performances; moreover, they can be "consumed" at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert.
One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert’s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into "a markedly different, more vibrant organization." But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America’s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hops to attract. | 3770.txt | 3 |
[
"influential",
"modest",
"respectable",
"talented"
] | Tommasini regards Gilbert as an artist who is _ . | The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. "Hooray! At last!" wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic.
One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert’s appointment in the Times, calls him "an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him." As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise.
For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes.
Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. There recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today’s live performances; moreover, they can be "consumed" at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert.
One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert’s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into "a markedly different, more vibrant organization." But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America’s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hops to attract. | 3770.txt | 1 |
[
"ignore the expenses of live performances",
"reject most kinds of recorded performances",
"exaggerate the variety of live performances",
"overestimate the value of live performances"
] | The author believes that the devoted concertgoers _ . | The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. "Hooray! At last!" wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic.
One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert’s appointment in the Times, calls him "an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him." As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise.
For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes.
Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. There recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today’s live performances; moreover, they can be "consumed" at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert.
One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert’s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into "a markedly different, more vibrant organization." But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America’s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hops to attract. | 3770.txt | 3 |
[
"They are often inferior to live concerts in quality.",
"They are easily accessible to the general public.",
"They help improve the quality of music.",
"They have only covered masterpieces."
] | According to the text, which of the following is true of recordings? | The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. "Hooray! At last!" wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic.
One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert’s appointment in the Times, calls him "an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him." As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise.
For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes.
Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. There recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today’s live performances; moreover, they can be "consumed" at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert.
One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert’s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into "a markedly different, more vibrant organization." But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America’s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hops to attract. | 3770.txt | 1 |
[
"doubtful",
"enthusiastic",
"confident",
"puzzled"
] | Regarding Gilbert's role in revitalizing the Philharmonic, the author feels _ . | The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. "Hooray! At last!" wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic.
One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert’s appointment in the Times, calls him "an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him." As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some Times readers as faint praise.
For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes.
Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. There recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today’s live performances; moreover, they can be "consumed" at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert.
One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert’s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into "a markedly different, more vibrant organization." But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra’s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America’s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hops to attract. | 3770.txt | 0 |
[
"technology renaissance should be pushed forward.",
"technology has a profound impact on their lives.",
"technology actually results in a decline in their life quality.",
"technology should be aggressively championed."
] | According to the passage, corporate executives think that | The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic era possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.
Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said,"No, quite contrary." The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a "technological renaissance" say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends--not to mention strangers. And what's more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
The techno gurus promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape.
If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Interact news and entertainment all seize for our attention.
And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each other's electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver,Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention.
Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values. Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyper speed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect?
Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. ff this new technology revolution is only about hyper efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time--our sense of what it means to be a caring human being. | 91.txt | 2 |
[
"Technology was supposed to free people.",
"The .corn generation became slaves of technology.",
"New technologies occupy much of our time.",
"It is difficult to avoid the influence of technology wonders."
] | Which of the following is NOT true? | The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic era possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.
Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said,"No, quite contrary." The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a "technological renaissance" say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends--not to mention strangers. And what's more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
The techno gurus promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape.
If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Interact news and entertainment all seize for our attention.
And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each other's electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver,Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention.
Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values. Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyper speed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect?
Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. ff this new technology revolution is only about hyper efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time--our sense of what it means to be a caring human being. | 91.txt | 1 |
[
"Technological wonders.",
"Access to information.",
"Time.",
"Time saving devices."
] | What is the most valuable resource for the .com generation? | The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic era possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.
Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said,"No, quite contrary." The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a "technological renaissance" say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends--not to mention strangers. And what's more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
The techno gurus promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape.
If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Interact news and entertainment all seize for our attention.
And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each other's electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver,Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention.
Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values. Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyper speed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect?
Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. ff this new technology revolution is only about hyper efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time--our sense of what it means to be a caring human being. | 91.txt | 2 |
[
"social conservatives blamed the loss of morality on technology.",
"the .com generation was less civil than the earlier generations.",
"the hyper speed culture led to the decline in civility.",
"technology might make people less impatient."
] | In the sixth paragraph, the author implied that | The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic era possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.
Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said,"No, quite contrary." The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a "technological renaissance" say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends--not to mention strangers. And what's more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
The techno gurus promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape.
If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Interact news and entertainment all seize for our attention.
And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each other's electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver,Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention.
Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values. Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyper speed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect?
Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. ff this new technology revolution is only about hyper efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time--our sense of what it means to be a caring human being. | 91.txt | 3 |
[
"The New Internet Life.",
"The Drawbacks of too Much Access.",
"The Failure of Technological Renaissance.",
"The Declining Quality of Life."
] | An appropriate title for the passage might be | The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making a new economic era possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights.
Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOS and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone has said,"No, quite contrary." The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a "technological renaissance" say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friends--not to mention strangers. And what's more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing.
The techno gurus promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape.
If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Interact news and entertainment all seize for our attention.
And while we have created every kind of labor-and time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each other's electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver,Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention.
Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values. Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyper speed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect?
Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connections really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. ff this new technology revolution is only about hyper efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than time--our sense of what it means to be a caring human being. | 91.txt | 1 |
[
"using mouth tissue",
"taking cells from a healthy eye and growing them in a dish",
"transplanting corneas from another person",
"using finger tissue"
] | Now doctors can repair the damaged corneas with the following methods EXCEPT _ . | Japanese doctors have used thin sheets of tissue from people's cheeks to repair damaged corneas. A team from Osaka University transplanted thin layers of cheek cells onto the eyes of four patients with a rare and painful eye condition, reports BBC online. Patients whose vision had been cloudy could see well afterwards, and the "new corneas" remained clear more than a year after the operation.
Doctors can also take cells from a healthy eye and grow them in a dish to produce a new cornea, or they can transplant corneas from donors. But these techniques may not work when both eyes are too badly damaged by accident or disease.
The team hope their work may help solve the problem and lead to other types of grow-your-own tissue transplants. The cornea is the clear layer of cells on the surface of the eye. It can be damaged by trauma or by a range of diseases.
The team worked with four patients who had a painful condition that caused cloudy corneas and dry eyes. Often the eye can regenerate cornea cells but none of the four patients had this ability. The researchers took a 3 mm-wide square of tissue from inside the mouth(cheeks) and grew it into q thin layer in the lab. They used a special low-temperature technique to separate a very think sheet off each batch. They then laid that onto the patient's eye. The cell layers stuck onto the eye and developed into tissue that looked and acted like a healthy cornea.
However, long-term follow-up and experience with a large series of patients are needed to assess the benefits and risks of this method. "Yet, it does offer the potential of treating severe eye diseases that are resistant to standard approaches," said the head of the research, Kohji Nishida. | 974.txt | 3 |
[
"only by using mouth tissue",
"by taking cells from a healthy eye and growing them in a dish",
"by transplanting healthy corneas from donors",
"by none of the mentioned methods."
] | If both eyes are too badly damaged, we can treat them _ . | Japanese doctors have used thin sheets of tissue from people's cheeks to repair damaged corneas. A team from Osaka University transplanted thin layers of cheek cells onto the eyes of four patients with a rare and painful eye condition, reports BBC online. Patients whose vision had been cloudy could see well afterwards, and the "new corneas" remained clear more than a year after the operation.
Doctors can also take cells from a healthy eye and grow them in a dish to produce a new cornea, or they can transplant corneas from donors. But these techniques may not work when both eyes are too badly damaged by accident or disease.
The team hope their work may help solve the problem and lead to other types of grow-your-own tissue transplants. The cornea is the clear layer of cells on the surface of the eye. It can be damaged by trauma or by a range of diseases.
The team worked with four patients who had a painful condition that caused cloudy corneas and dry eyes. Often the eye can regenerate cornea cells but none of the four patients had this ability. The researchers took a 3 mm-wide square of tissue from inside the mouth(cheeks) and grew it into q thin layer in the lab. They used a special low-temperature technique to separate a very think sheet off each batch. They then laid that onto the patient's eye. The cell layers stuck onto the eye and developed into tissue that looked and acted like a healthy cornea.
However, long-term follow-up and experience with a large series of patients are needed to assess the benefits and risks of this method. "Yet, it does offer the potential of treating severe eye diseases that are resistant to standard approaches," said the head of the research, Kohji Nishida. | 974.txt | 3 |
[
"the new technique can be widely used in the operations",
"the new technique needs to be further tested",
"the new technique has more benefits than risks",
"any new technique has risks"
] | We can infer from the passage that _ . | Japanese doctors have used thin sheets of tissue from people's cheeks to repair damaged corneas. A team from Osaka University transplanted thin layers of cheek cells onto the eyes of four patients with a rare and painful eye condition, reports BBC online. Patients whose vision had been cloudy could see well afterwards, and the "new corneas" remained clear more than a year after the operation.
Doctors can also take cells from a healthy eye and grow them in a dish to produce a new cornea, or they can transplant corneas from donors. But these techniques may not work when both eyes are too badly damaged by accident or disease.
The team hope their work may help solve the problem and lead to other types of grow-your-own tissue transplants. The cornea is the clear layer of cells on the surface of the eye. It can be damaged by trauma or by a range of diseases.
The team worked with four patients who had a painful condition that caused cloudy corneas and dry eyes. Often the eye can regenerate cornea cells but none of the four patients had this ability. The researchers took a 3 mm-wide square of tissue from inside the mouth(cheeks) and grew it into q thin layer in the lab. They used a special low-temperature technique to separate a very think sheet off each batch. They then laid that onto the patient's eye. The cell layers stuck onto the eye and developed into tissue that looked and acted like a healthy cornea.
However, long-term follow-up and experience with a large series of patients are needed to assess the benefits and risks of this method. "Yet, it does offer the potential of treating severe eye diseases that are resistant to standard approaches," said the head of the research, Kohji Nishida. | 974.txt | 1 |
[
"A New Invention",
"A New Technique",
"Mouth Tissue Can Restore Your Vision",
"Transplanting Can Restore Your Vision"
] | Which of the following is the best title? | Japanese doctors have used thin sheets of tissue from people's cheeks to repair damaged corneas. A team from Osaka University transplanted thin layers of cheek cells onto the eyes of four patients with a rare and painful eye condition, reports BBC online. Patients whose vision had been cloudy could see well afterwards, and the "new corneas" remained clear more than a year after the operation.
Doctors can also take cells from a healthy eye and grow them in a dish to produce a new cornea, or they can transplant corneas from donors. But these techniques may not work when both eyes are too badly damaged by accident or disease.
The team hope their work may help solve the problem and lead to other types of grow-your-own tissue transplants. The cornea is the clear layer of cells on the surface of the eye. It can be damaged by trauma or by a range of diseases.
The team worked with four patients who had a painful condition that caused cloudy corneas and dry eyes. Often the eye can regenerate cornea cells but none of the four patients had this ability. The researchers took a 3 mm-wide square of tissue from inside the mouth(cheeks) and grew it into q thin layer in the lab. They used a special low-temperature technique to separate a very think sheet off each batch. They then laid that onto the patient's eye. The cell layers stuck onto the eye and developed into tissue that looked and acted like a healthy cornea.
However, long-term follow-up and experience with a large series of patients are needed to assess the benefits and risks of this method. "Yet, it does offer the potential of treating severe eye diseases that are resistant to standard approaches," said the head of the research, Kohji Nishida. | 974.txt | 2 |
[
"the attitude of bankers",
"unfriendliness of customers toward banks",
"economic pressure of the time",
"the outer appearance of bank buildings"
] | The author believes that the unfriendly atmosphere in banks many years a go was chiefly due to ________. | Time was-and not so many years ago, either-when the average citizen to ok a pretty dim view of banks and banking. That this was so, it should be said, was to no small extent the fault of banks and bankers themselves. Banks used to be-and a few still are-forbidding structures. Behind the little barred windows were, more often than not, elderly gentlemen w hose expression of friendliness reflected the size of the customer's account, and nothing less than a few hundred thousand in the bank could have inspired the suggestion of a smile.
And yet the average bank for many years was, to the average citizen, a fearful, if necessary, instrument for dealing with business-usually big business. But somewhere in the 1930's banks started to grow human, even pleasant, and started to attract the little man. It is possible that this movement beg an in medium-sized towns, or in small towns where people know each other by their first names, and spread to big towns. At any rate, the results have be en remarkable.
The movement to "humanize" banks, of course, received a new push during the war, when more and more women were employed to do work previously performed by men. Also more and more "little" people found themselves in need of personal loans, as taxes became heavier and as the practice of installment buying broke down the previously long-held concept that there was something almost morally wrong about being in debt. All sorts of people began to discover that the intelligent use of credit could be extremely helpful. | 3643.txt | 3 |
[
"rich customers",
"friendly businessmen",
"regular visitors",
"elderly gentlemen"
] | The banks of many years ago showed interest only in ________. | Time was-and not so many years ago, either-when the average citizen to ok a pretty dim view of banks and banking. That this was so, it should be said, was to no small extent the fault of banks and bankers themselves. Banks used to be-and a few still are-forbidding structures. Behind the little barred windows were, more often than not, elderly gentlemen w hose expression of friendliness reflected the size of the customer's account, and nothing less than a few hundred thousand in the bank could have inspired the suggestion of a smile.
And yet the average bank for many years was, to the average citizen, a fearful, if necessary, instrument for dealing with business-usually big business. But somewhere in the 1930's banks started to grow human, even pleasant, and started to attract the little man. It is possible that this movement beg an in medium-sized towns, or in small towns where people know each other by their first names, and spread to big towns. At any rate, the results have be en remarkable.
The movement to "humanize" banks, of course, received a new push during the war, when more and more women were employed to do work previously performed by men. Also more and more "little" people found themselves in need of personal loans, as taxes became heavier and as the practice of installment buying broke down the previously long-held concept that there was something almost morally wrong about being in debt. All sorts of people began to discover that the intelligent use of credit could be extremely helpful. | 3643.txt | 1 |
[
"In the last century.",
"Sometime before the war.",
"A few years ago.",
"During the war."
] | When did banks begin to grow human? | Time was-and not so many years ago, either-when the average citizen to ok a pretty dim view of banks and banking. That this was so, it should be said, was to no small extent the fault of banks and bankers themselves. Banks used to be-and a few still are-forbidding structures. Behind the little barred windows were, more often than not, elderly gentlemen w hose expression of friendliness reflected the size of the customer's account, and nothing less than a few hundred thousand in the bank could have inspired the suggestion of a smile.
And yet the average bank for many years was, to the average citizen, a fearful, if necessary, instrument for dealing with business-usually big business. But somewhere in the 1930's banks started to grow human, even pleasant, and started to attract the little man. It is possible that this movement beg an in medium-sized towns, or in small towns where people know each other by their first names, and spread to big towns. At any rate, the results have be en remarkable.
The movement to "humanize" banks, of course, received a new push during the war, when more and more women were employed to do work previously performed by men. Also more and more "little" people found themselves in need of personal loans, as taxes became heavier and as the practice of installment buying broke down the previously long-held concept that there was something almost morally wrong about being in debt. All sorts of people began to discover that the intelligent use of credit could be extremely helpful. | 3643.txt | 2 |
[
"The elderly gentlemen in banks were replaced by younger men.",
"More and more \"little\" people became customers of banks.",
"More banks were set up in small and medium-sized towns.",
"The size of the customer's account was greatly increased."
] | What helped the "humanization" of banks? | Time was-and not so many years ago, either-when the average citizen to ok a pretty dim view of banks and banking. That this was so, it should be said, was to no small extent the fault of banks and bankers themselves. Banks used to be-and a few still are-forbidding structures. Behind the little barred windows were, more often than not, elderly gentlemen w hose expression of friendliness reflected the size of the customer's account, and nothing less than a few hundred thousand in the bank could have inspired the suggestion of a smile.
And yet the average bank for many years was, to the average citizen, a fearful, if necessary, instrument for dealing with business-usually big business. But somewhere in the 1930's banks started to grow human, even pleasant, and started to attract the little man. It is possible that this movement beg an in medium-sized towns, or in small towns where people know each other by their first names, and spread to big towns. At any rate, the results have be en remarkable.
The movement to "humanize" banks, of course, received a new push during the war, when more and more women were employed to do work previously performed by men. Also more and more "little" people found themselves in need of personal loans, as taxes became heavier and as the practice of installment buying broke down the previously long-held concept that there was something almost morally wrong about being in debt. All sorts of people began to discover that the intelligent use of credit could be extremely helpful. | 3643.txt | 1 |
[
"the bank buildings looked forbidding",
"they were comparatively rich before the war",
"they thought it was not proper to be in debt",
"they rarely spent more than they could earn"
] | Ordinary people seldom borrowed money from banks in the past because ________. | Time was-and not so many years ago, either-when the average citizen to ok a pretty dim view of banks and banking. That this was so, it should be said, was to no small extent the fault of banks and bankers themselves. Banks used to be-and a few still are-forbidding structures. Behind the little barred windows were, more often than not, elderly gentlemen w hose expression of friendliness reflected the size of the customer's account, and nothing less than a few hundred thousand in the bank could have inspired the suggestion of a smile.
And yet the average bank for many years was, to the average citizen, a fearful, if necessary, instrument for dealing with business-usually big business. But somewhere in the 1930's banks started to grow human, even pleasant, and started to attract the little man. It is possible that this movement beg an in medium-sized towns, or in small towns where people know each other by their first names, and spread to big towns. At any rate, the results have be en remarkable.
The movement to "humanize" banks, of course, received a new push during the war, when more and more women were employed to do work previously performed by men. Also more and more "little" people found themselves in need of personal loans, as taxes became heavier and as the practice of installment buying broke down the previously long-held concept that there was something almost morally wrong about being in debt. All sorts of people began to discover that the intelligent use of credit could be extremely helpful. | 3643.txt | 0 |
[
"of extreme importance in expressing feelings and exchanging ideas",
"something through which one can see a person's inner world",
"of considerable significance in making conversations interesting",
"something the value of which is largely a matter of long debate"
] | The author is convinced that the eyes are ________. | Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the `precise moment when the speaker reestablishes eye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses. | 3054.txt | 0 |
[
"whose front view is fully perceived",
"whose face is covered with a mask",
"whose face is seen from the side",
"whose face is free of any covering"
] | Babies will not be stimulated to smile by a person ________. | Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the `precise moment when the speaker reestablishes eye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses. | 3054.txt | 2 |
[
"they don't like to keep their eyes on the face of the speaker",
"they need not communicate through eye contact",
"they don't think it polite to have eye contact",
"they didn't have much opportunity to communicate through eye contact in babyhood"
] | According to the passage, the Japanese fix their gaze on their conversation partner's neck because ________. | Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the `precise moment when the speaker reestablishes eye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses. | 3054.txt | 3 |
[
"one temporarily glancing away from the other",
"eye contact of more than one second",
"improperly-timed ceasing of eye contact",
"constant adjustment of eye contact"
] | According to the passage, a conversation between two Americans may break down due to ________. | Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the `precise moment when the speaker reestablishes eye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses. | 3054.txt | 2 |
[
"not to wear dark spectacles",
"not to make any interruptions",
"not to glance away from each other",
"not to make unpredictable pauses"
] | To keep a conversation flowing smoothly, it is better for the participants ________. | Whether the eyes are "the windows of the soul" is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mother's back, infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle reveals that the "proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner."
The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be looking at the speaker at the `precise moment when the speaker reestablishes eye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses. | 3054.txt | 0 |
[
"The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman",
"Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route",
"Driver Escapes Through Car Boot",
"The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident"
] | What is the best title for this newspaper article? | Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route-through the boot.
Mr. Johnson's car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. "Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly," Mr. Johnson said. "I couldn't force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in."
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, "It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came."
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. "It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up."
His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer's wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, "That thirty minutes seemed like hours." Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. | 998.txt | 2 |
[
"The hammer.",
"The coin.",
"The screw.",
"The horn."
] | Which of the following objects is the most important to Mr. Johnson? | Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route-through the boot.
Mr. Johnson's car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. "Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly," Mr. Johnson said. "I couldn't force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in."
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, "It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came."
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. "It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up."
His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer's wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, "That thirty minutes seemed like hours." Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. | 998.txt | 1 |
[
"Mr. Johnson's car stood on its boot as it fell down.",
"Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam.",
"Mr. Johnson's car accident was partly due to the slippery road.",
"Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat."
] | Which statement is true according to the passage? | Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route-through the boot.
Mr. Johnson's car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. "Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly," Mr. Johnson said. "I couldn't force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in."
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, "It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came."
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. "It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up."
His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer's wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, "That thirty minutes seemed like hours." Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. | 998.txt | 2 |
[
"Luckily the door was torn away in the end",
"At last the wrench went broken",
"The lock came open after all his efforts",
"The chance was lost at the last minute"
] | "Finally it gave" (Paragraph 5) means that _ . | Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route-through the boot.
Mr. Johnson's car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. "Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly," Mr. Johnson said. "I couldn't force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in."
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, "It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came."
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. "It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up."
His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer's wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, "That thirty minutes seemed like hours." Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. | 998.txt | 2 |
[
"the ditch was along a quiet country road",
"the accident happened on a clear warm day",
"the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch",
"Mr. Johnson had a tender wife and was well attended"
] | It may be inferred from the passage that _ . | Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route-through the boot.
Mr. Johnson's car had finished up in a ditch at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. "Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly," Mr. Johnson said. "I couldn't force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in."
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, "It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came."
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. "It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up."
His hands and arms cut and bruised, Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer's wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, "That thirty minutes seemed like hours." Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch. | 998.txt | 0 |
[
"They study fish habits and collect information.",
"They have to study science and mathematics.",
"They work in fields as well as in laboratories.",
"They read research papers written by others."
] | What makes the jobs of ichthyologists so varied? | An ichthyologist is a scientist who studies fish. Most people who do this job say they love their work because it is very rewarding and varied. They work not only inside a laboratory, but also out in the field. Fieldwork includes traveling to river?, oceans and lakes in order to collect information and specimens (~2~), Reading, writing and speaking me also very important to the job, Fish scientists need to read the research of other scientists. They must he able to write up their own research clearly so that others can follow it. They also need to be able to give lectures about their findings, so that they can spread knowledge.
Ichthyologists who wish to specialize can choose any one of three areas of study. The first area is aqnaeuhure . This involves the study and practice of fish farming and management. Because it is a rather new study,there are very few job opportunities available. However, as there is so much to discover, many see it as an exciting area for a new ichthyologist to enter. The second area is fisheries science, which means working with a team of scientists to find out more about different fish species. The third area is about the protection of natural fish populations. This is very important today, given that many fish species are in danger of dying out because of the actions of humans.
To become a successful fish scientist, you need to have a curious mind and be able to work on your own. You also need to be able to handle equipment and perform experiments; but most importantly, you must love fish. To become an ichthyologist, you will need to train at a university to pass a Bachelor of Science degree. For this, you will need to be good at mathematics, physical science and biology. Then, you will need to study for another year to complete an henours degree in ichthyology. This honours degree contains eoursework about all aspects of fish. You also need to complete a research paper. | 3306.txt | 2 |
[
"An ichthyologist has an interesting and varied profession.",
"Aquaculture is the study of fish protection.",
"The life of an ichthyologist can involve lots of travel.",
"A fish scientist needs to be independent and curious about things."
] | Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? | An ichthyologist is a scientist who studies fish. Most people who do this job say they love their work because it is very rewarding and varied. They work not only inside a laboratory, but also out in the field. Fieldwork includes traveling to river?, oceans and lakes in order to collect information and specimens (~2~), Reading, writing and speaking me also very important to the job, Fish scientists need to read the research of other scientists. They must he able to write up their own research clearly so that others can follow it. They also need to be able to give lectures about their findings, so that they can spread knowledge.
Ichthyologists who wish to specialize can choose any one of three areas of study. The first area is aqnaeuhure . This involves the study and practice of fish farming and management. Because it is a rather new study,there are very few job opportunities available. However, as there is so much to discover, many see it as an exciting area for a new ichthyologist to enter. The second area is fisheries science, which means working with a team of scientists to find out more about different fish species. The third area is about the protection of natural fish populations. This is very important today, given that many fish species are in danger of dying out because of the actions of humans.
To become a successful fish scientist, you need to have a curious mind and be able to work on your own. You also need to be able to handle equipment and perform experiments; but most importantly, you must love fish. To become an ichthyologist, you will need to train at a university to pass a Bachelor of Science degree. For this, you will need to be good at mathematics, physical science and biology. Then, you will need to study for another year to complete an henours degree in ichthyology. This honours degree contains eoursework about all aspects of fish. You also need to complete a research paper. | 3306.txt | 1 |
[
"Tom, because he likes fishing and outdoor sports.",
"Jack, because he likes to travel and read adventure books.",
"Jenny, because she likes science, mathematics and reading about dinosaurs.",
"Jane, because she likes mathematics, science, biology and searching rock-pools."
] | Who is most likely to become an ichthyologist? | An ichthyologist is a scientist who studies fish. Most people who do this job say they love their work because it is very rewarding and varied. They work not only inside a laboratory, but also out in the field. Fieldwork includes traveling to river?, oceans and lakes in order to collect information and specimens (~2~), Reading, writing and speaking me also very important to the job, Fish scientists need to read the research of other scientists. They must he able to write up their own research clearly so that others can follow it. They also need to be able to give lectures about their findings, so that they can spread knowledge.
Ichthyologists who wish to specialize can choose any one of three areas of study. The first area is aqnaeuhure . This involves the study and practice of fish farming and management. Because it is a rather new study,there are very few job opportunities available. However, as there is so much to discover, many see it as an exciting area for a new ichthyologist to enter. The second area is fisheries science, which means working with a team of scientists to find out more about different fish species. The third area is about the protection of natural fish populations. This is very important today, given that many fish species are in danger of dying out because of the actions of humans.
To become a successful fish scientist, you need to have a curious mind and be able to work on your own. You also need to be able to handle equipment and perform experiments; but most importantly, you must love fish. To become an ichthyologist, you will need to train at a university to pass a Bachelor of Science degree. For this, you will need to be good at mathematics, physical science and biology. Then, you will need to study for another year to complete an henours degree in ichthyology. This honours degree contains eoursework about all aspects of fish. You also need to complete a research paper. | 3306.txt | 3 |
[
"university students",
"science researchers",
"fisheries experts",
"fish farmers"
] | The passage is probably written for _ . | An ichthyologist is a scientist who studies fish. Most people who do this job say they love their work because it is very rewarding and varied. They work not only inside a laboratory, but also out in the field. Fieldwork includes traveling to river?, oceans and lakes in order to collect information and specimens (~2~), Reading, writing and speaking me also very important to the job, Fish scientists need to read the research of other scientists. They must he able to write up their own research clearly so that others can follow it. They also need to be able to give lectures about their findings, so that they can spread knowledge.
Ichthyologists who wish to specialize can choose any one of three areas of study. The first area is aqnaeuhure . This involves the study and practice of fish farming and management. Because it is a rather new study,there are very few job opportunities available. However, as there is so much to discover, many see it as an exciting area for a new ichthyologist to enter. The second area is fisheries science, which means working with a team of scientists to find out more about different fish species. The third area is about the protection of natural fish populations. This is very important today, given that many fish species are in danger of dying out because of the actions of humans.
To become a successful fish scientist, you need to have a curious mind and be able to work on your own. You also need to be able to handle equipment and perform experiments; but most importantly, you must love fish. To become an ichthyologist, you will need to train at a university to pass a Bachelor of Science degree. For this, you will need to be good at mathematics, physical science and biology. Then, you will need to study for another year to complete an henours degree in ichthyology. This honours degree contains eoursework about all aspects of fish. You also need to complete a research paper. | 3306.txt | 0 |
[
"its power source",
"its driving system",
"its monitoring system",
"its seating capacity"
] | One significant improvement in the future car will probably be _ . | Some pessimistic experts feel that the automobile is bound to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all autos will be abandoned and allowed to rust. Other authorities, however, thinkthe auto is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of urban travel in the foreseeable future.
The motorcar will undoubtedly change significantly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer,and more economical, and should not be powered by the gasoline engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Regardless of its power source, the auto in the future will still be the main problem in urban traffic congestion . One proposed solution to this problem is the automated highway system.
When the auto enters the highway system, a retractable arm will drop from the auto and make contact with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically. Once attached to the rail,the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the vehicle will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all of the car's movements.
The driver will use a telephone to dial instructions about his destination into the system. The computer will calculate the best route, and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will then be free to relax and wait for the buzzer that will warn him of his coming exit. It is estimated that an automated highway will be able to handle 10,000 vehicles per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles that can be carried by a present-day highway. | 683.txt | 0 |
[
"How to render automobiles pollution-free.",
"How to make smaller and safer automobiles.",
"How to solve the problem of traffic jams.",
"How to develop an automated subway system."
] | What is the author's main concern? | Some pessimistic experts feel that the automobile is bound to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all autos will be abandoned and allowed to rust. Other authorities, however, thinkthe auto is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of urban travel in the foreseeable future.
The motorcar will undoubtedly change significantly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer,and more economical, and should not be powered by the gasoline engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Regardless of its power source, the auto in the future will still be the main problem in urban traffic congestion . One proposed solution to this problem is the automated highway system.
When the auto enters the highway system, a retractable arm will drop from the auto and make contact with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically. Once attached to the rail,the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the vehicle will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all of the car's movements.
The driver will use a telephone to dial instructions about his destination into the system. The computer will calculate the best route, and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will then be free to relax and wait for the buzzer that will warn him of his coming exit. It is estimated that an automated highway will be able to handle 10,000 vehicles per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles that can be carried by a present-day highway. | 683.txt | 2 |
[
"A rail.",
"An engine.",
"A retractable arm.",
"A computer controller."
] | What provides autos with electric power in an automated highway system? | Some pessimistic experts feel that the automobile is bound to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all autos will be abandoned and allowed to rust. Other authorities, however, thinkthe auto is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of urban travel in the foreseeable future.
The motorcar will undoubtedly change significantly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer,and more economical, and should not be powered by the gasoline engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Regardless of its power source, the auto in the future will still be the main problem in urban traffic congestion . One proposed solution to this problem is the automated highway system.
When the auto enters the highway system, a retractable arm will drop from the auto and make contact with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically. Once attached to the rail,the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the vehicle will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all of the car's movements.
The driver will use a telephone to dial instructions about his destination into the system. The computer will calculate the best route, and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will then be free to relax and wait for the buzzer that will warn him of his coming exit. It is estimated that an automated highway will be able to handle 10,000 vehicles per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles that can be carried by a present-day highway. | 683.txt | 0 |
[
"keep in the right lane",
"wait to arrive at his destination",
"keep in constant touch with the computer center",
"inform the system of his destination by phone"
] | In an automated highway system, all the driver needs to do is _ . | Some pessimistic experts feel that the automobile is bound to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all autos will be abandoned and allowed to rust. Other authorities, however, thinkthe auto is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of urban travel in the foreseeable future.
The motorcar will undoubtedly change significantly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer,and more economical, and should not be powered by the gasoline engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Regardless of its power source, the auto in the future will still be the main problem in urban traffic congestion . One proposed solution to this problem is the automated highway system.
When the auto enters the highway system, a retractable arm will drop from the auto and make contact with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically. Once attached to the rail,the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the vehicle will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all of the car's movements.
The driver will use a telephone to dial instructions about his destination into the system. The computer will calculate the best route, and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will then be free to relax and wait for the buzzer that will warn him of his coming exit. It is estimated that an automated highway will be able to handle 10,000 vehicles per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles that can be carried by a present-day highway. | 683.txt | 3 |
[
"Enthusiastic.",
"Pessimistic.",
"Optimistic.",
"Cautious."
] | What is the author's attitude toward the future of autos? | Some pessimistic experts feel that the automobile is bound to fall into disuse. They see a day in the not-too-distant future when all autos will be abandoned and allowed to rust. Other authorities, however, thinkthe auto is here to stay. They hold that the car will remain a leading means of urban travel in the foreseeable future.
The motorcar will undoubtedly change significantly over the next 30 years. It should become smaller, safer,and more economical, and should not be powered by the gasoline engine. The car of the future should be far more pollution-free than present types.
Regardless of its power source, the auto in the future will still be the main problem in urban traffic congestion . One proposed solution to this problem is the automated highway system.
When the auto enters the highway system, a retractable arm will drop from the auto and make contact with a rail, which is similar to those powering subway trains electrically. Once attached to the rail,the car will become electrically powered from the system, and control of the vehicle will pass to a central computer. The computer will then monitor all of the car's movements.
The driver will use a telephone to dial instructions about his destination into the system. The computer will calculate the best route, and reserve space for the car all the way to the correct exit from the highway. The driver will then be free to relax and wait for the buzzer that will warn him of his coming exit. It is estimated that an automated highway will be able to handle 10,000 vehicles per hour, compared with the 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles that can be carried by a present-day highway. | 683.txt | 2 |
[
"cost reduction is based on competition",
"services call for cross-trade coordination",
"outside competitors will continue to exist",
"shippers will have the railway by the throat"
] | According to those who support mergers, railway monopoly is unlikely because . | In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers.
Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such "captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time-consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases.
Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers.
Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market. | 3352.txt | 2 |
[
"Indifferent.",
"Supportive.",
"Indignant.",
"Apprehensive."
] | What is many captive shippers' attitude towards the consolidation in the rail industry? | In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers.
Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such "captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time-consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases.
Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers.
Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market. | 3352.txt | 3 |
[
"shippers will be charged less without a rival railroad",
"there will soon be only one railroad company nationwide",
"overcharged shippers are unlikely to appeal for rate relief",
"a government board ensures fair play in railway business"
] | It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that . | In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers.
Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such "captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time-consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases.
Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers.
Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market. | 3352.txt | 2 |
[
"who work as coordinators",
"who function as judges",
"who supervise transactions",
"who determine the price"
] | The word "arbiters" (Line 7, Paragraph 4) most probably refers to those . | In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers.
Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such "captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time-consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases.
Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers.
Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market. | 3352.txt | 1 |
[
"the continuing acquisition",
"the growing traffic",
"the cheering Wall Street",
"the shrinking market"
] | According to the text, the cost increase in the rail industry is mainly caused by . | In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers.
Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such "captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time-consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases.
Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers.
Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market. | 3352.txt | 0 |
[
"Describing a new method of estimating decreases in global temperature that have occurred over the last 160,000 years",
"Describing a method of analysis that provides information regarding the relation between the carbon dioxide content of the Earth's atmosphere and global temperature",
"Presenting information that suggests that global temperature has increased over the last 160,000 years.",
"Describing the kinds of information that can be gleaned from a careful analysis of the contents of sheets"
] | In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with doing which of the following? | Analysis of prehistoric air trapped in tiny bubbles beneath the polar ice sheets and of the composition of ice surrounding those bubbles suggests a correlation between carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere and global temperature over the last 160,000 years. Estimates of global temperature at the time air in the bubbles was trapped rely on measuring the relative abundances of hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium, in the ice surrounding the bubbles. When global temperatures are relatively low, water containing deuterium tends to condense and precipi- tate before reaching the poles; thus, ice deposited at the poles when the global temperature was cooler contained relatively less deuterium than ice deposited at warmer global temperatures. Estimates of global temperature based on this information, combined with analysis of the carbon dioxide content of air trapped in ice deep beneath the polar surface, suggest that during periods of postglacial warming carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere increased by approximately 40 percent. | 1927.txt | 1 |
[
"The total volume of air trapped in bubbles beneath the polar ice sheets increased.",
"The amount of deuterium in ice deposited at the poles increased.",
"Carbon dioxide levels in the Earth atmosphere decreased.",
"The amount of hydrogen in the Earth's atmosphere decreased relatively the amount of deuterium"
] | It can be inferred from the passage that during periods of post glacial warming, which of the following occurred? | Analysis of prehistoric air trapped in tiny bubbles beneath the polar ice sheets and of the composition of ice surrounding those bubbles suggests a correlation between carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere and global temperature over the last 160,000 years. Estimates of global temperature at the time air in the bubbles was trapped rely on measuring the relative abundances of hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium, in the ice surrounding the bubbles. When global temperatures are relatively low, water containing deuterium tends to condense and precipi- tate before reaching the poles; thus, ice deposited at the poles when the global temperature was cooler contained relatively less deuterium than ice deposited at warmer global temperatures. Estimates of global temperature based on this information, combined with analysis of the carbon dioxide content of air trapped in ice deep beneath the polar surface, suggest that during periods of postglacial warming carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere increased by approximately 40 percent. | 1927.txt | 1 |
[
"Estimates of global temperature that rely on measurements of deuterium in ice deposited at the poles are more reliable than those based on the amount of carbon dioxide c.ontained in air bubbles beneath the polar surface",
"The amount of deuterium in the Earth's atmosphere tends to increase as global temperature decreases.",
"Periods of post glacial warming are characterized by the presence of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.",
"Increases in global temperature over the last 160,000 years are largely the result of increases in the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in the Earth's atmosphere."
] | The author states that there is evidence to support which of the following assertions? | Analysis of prehistoric air trapped in tiny bubbles beneath the polar ice sheets and of the composition of ice surrounding those bubbles suggests a correlation between carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere and global temperature over the last 160,000 years. Estimates of global temperature at the time air in the bubbles was trapped rely on measuring the relative abundances of hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium, in the ice surrounding the bubbles. When global temperatures are relatively low, water containing deuterium tends to condense and precipi- tate before reaching the poles; thus, ice deposited at the poles when the global temperature was cooler contained relatively less deuterium than ice deposited at warmer global temperatures. Estimates of global temperature based on this information, combined with analysis of the carbon dioxide content of air trapped in ice deep beneath the polar surface, suggest that during periods of postglacial warming carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere increased by approximately 40 percent. | 1927.txt | 2 |
[
"The amount of deuterium in ice deposited on the polar surface is significantly greater than the amount of deuterium in ice located deep beneath the polar surface.",
"Both the air bubbles trapped deep beneath the polar surface and the ice surrounding them contain relatively low levels of deuterium.",
"Air bubbles trapped deep beneath the polar surface and containing relatively high levels of carbon dioxide are surrounded by ice that contained relatively low levels of deuterium.",
"The current level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere exceeds the level of carbon dioxide in the prehistoric air trapped beneath the polar surface."
] | It can be inferred from the passage that the conclusion stated in the last sentence would need to be reevaluated if scientists discovered that which of the following were true? | Analysis of prehistoric air trapped in tiny bubbles beneath the polar ice sheets and of the composition of ice surrounding those bubbles suggests a correlation between carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere and global temperature over the last 160,000 years. Estimates of global temperature at the time air in the bubbles was trapped rely on measuring the relative abundances of hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium, in the ice surrounding the bubbles. When global temperatures are relatively low, water containing deuterium tends to condense and precipi- tate before reaching the poles; thus, ice deposited at the poles when the global temperature was cooler contained relatively less deuterium than ice deposited at warmer global temperatures. Estimates of global temperature based on this information, combined with analysis of the carbon dioxide content of air trapped in ice deep beneath the polar surface, suggest that during periods of postglacial warming carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere increased by approximately 40 percent. | 1927.txt | 2 |
[
"Its benefits plan for freelancers is highly competitive in the industry.",
"Its freelancers cannot receive the same benefits as the full-time employees.",
"The freelancers who are not eligible for benefits should start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1.",
"The freelancers are against the new plan which substantially but their benefit"
] | Which one of the following statements is NOT true of MTV Networks' new benefits plan for freelancers? | Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits.
Waving signs that read "Shame on Viacom," the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network "Sick-elodeon." "I've worked here every day for three years I'm not a freelancer," Mr. Yonda said. "They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees."
The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible.
Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker the first post was headlined "The Viacom Permalance Slave System" a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year had provoked outrage. "They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement," she said.
Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, "There's too many of us to ignore." It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world.
Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. | 3638.txt | 2 |
[
"those who have worked for 160 days.",
"those who have worked for 1 year.",
"those who have worked since March.",
"those who have worked since Jan. 1."
] | According to the new benefits program of MTV Networks, the following freelancers are eligible for benefits except _ | Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits.
Waving signs that read "Shame on Viacom," the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network "Sick-elodeon." "I've worked here every day for three years I'm not a freelancer," Mr. Yonda said. "They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees."
The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible.
Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker the first post was headlined "The Viacom Permalance Slave System" a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year had provoked outrage. "They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement," she said.
Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, "There's too many of us to ignore." It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world.
Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. | 3638.txt | 3 |
[
"redesign.",
"restore.",
"repair.",
"reset."
] | The word "reinstate" (Line 6, Paragraph 3) most probably means _ | Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits.
Waving signs that read "Shame on Viacom," the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network "Sick-elodeon." "I've worked here every day for three years I'm not a freelancer," Mr. Yonda said. "They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees."
The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible.
Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker the first post was headlined "The Viacom Permalance Slave System" a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year had provoked outrage. "They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement," she said.
Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, "There's too many of us to ignore." It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world.
Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. | 3638.txt | 1 |
[
"the figure fluctuates throughout the year and it is impossible to calculate the precise number.",
"the company wants to keep it as a secret so as to better stand the protest.",
"the company has no record of the freelancers since there is no such necessity.",
"the company does not want to provide the freelancers with benefits enjoyed by the full-time employee."
] | The MTV Networks spokeswoman did not provide the number of freelancers on the payroll mostly probably because _ | Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits.
Waving signs that read "Shame on Viacom," the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network "Sick-elodeon." "I've worked here every day for three years I'm not a freelancer," Mr. Yonda said. "They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees."
The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible.
Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker the first post was headlined "The Viacom Permalance Slave System" a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year had provoked outrage. "They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement," she said.
Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, "There's too many of us to ignore." It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world.
Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. | 3638.txt | 1 |
[
"affirmative.",
"negative.",
"biased.",
"neutral."
] | Towards MTV Networks' change on the benefits plan, the author's attitude can be said to be _ | Scores of workers from MTV Networks walked off the job yesterday afternoon, filling the sidewalk outside the headquarters of its corporate parent, Viacom, to protest recent changes in benefits. The walkout highlighted the concerns of a category of workers who are sometimes called permalancers: permanent freelancers who work like full-time employees but do not receive the same benefits.
Waving signs that read "Shame on Viacom," the workers, most of them in their 20s, demanded that MTV Networks reverse a plan to reduce health and dental benefits for freelancers beginning Jan. 1. In a statement, MTV Networks noted that its benefits program for full-time employees had also undergone changes, and it emphasized that the plan for freelancers was still highly competitive within the industry. Many freelancers receive no corporate benefits. But some of the protesters asserted that corporations were competing to see which could provide the most mediocre health care coverage. Matthew Yonda, who works at Nickelodeon, held a sign that labeled the network "Sick-elodeon." "I've worked here every day for three years I'm not a freelancer," Mr. Yonda said. "They just call us freelancers in order to bar us from getting the same benefits as employees."
The changes to the benefits package were announced last Tuesday. Freelancers were told that they would become eligible for benefits after 160 days of work, beginning in January. While that eased previous eligibility rules, which required freelancers to work for 52 weeks before becoming eligible, it would have required all freelancers not yet eligible for benefits to start the waiting period over again on Jan. 1. The 401(k) plan was also removed. On Thursday, acknowledging the complaints, MTV Networks reinstated the 401(k) plan and said freelancers who had worked consistently since March would be eligible.
Fueled by a series of blog posts on the media Web site Gawker the first post was headlined "The Viacom Permalance Slave System" a loose cohort of freelancers created protest stickers and distributed walkout fliers last week. Caroline O'Hare, a unit manager who has worked for MTV for more than two years, said the new health care plan with higher deductibles and a $2,000 cap on hospital expenses each year had provoked outrage. "They think they can treat us like children that don't have families, mortgages or dreams of retirement," she said.
Outside Viacom's headquarters, several workers held posters with the words, "There's too many of us to ignore." It was unclear how many freelancers are on the company's payroll; an MTV Networks spokeswoman said the figure was not known because it rises and falls throughout the year. The company has 5,500 full-time employees, excluding freelancers, around the world.
Two freelancers and one full-time employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, estimated that the percentage of freelancers in some departments exceeded 75 percent. Another labor action is expected to take place outside Viacom later this week. Members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for five weeks, are expected to picket there on Thursday. | 3638.txt | 1 |
[
"an advanced academic degree",
"an ambition to get ahead",
"a firm belief in their dream",
"a sense of drive and purpose"
] | It used to be commonly acknowledged that to succeed in America, one had to have _ . | For the past several decades, it seems there's been a general consensus on how to get ahead in America: Get a college education, find a reliable job, and buy your own home. But do Americans still believe in that path, and if they do, is it attainable?
The most recent National Journal poll asked respondents about the American dream, what it takes to achieve their goals, and whether or not they felt a significant amount of control over their ability to be successful. Overwhelmingly, the results show that today, the idea of the American dream-and what it takes to achieve it-looks quite different than it did in the late 20th century.
By and large, people felt that their actions and hard work-not outside forces-were the deciding factor in how their lives turned out. But respondents had decidedly mixed feelings about what actions make for a better life in the current economy.
In the last seven years, Americans have grown more pessimistic about the power of education to lead to success. Even though they see going to college as a fairly achievable goal, a majority-52 percent-think that young people do not need a four-year college education in order to be successful.
Miguel Maeda, 42, who has a master's degree and works in public health, was the first in his family to go to college, which has allowed him to achieve a sense of financial stability his parents and grandparents never did.
While some, like Maeda, emphasized the value of the degree rather than the education itself, others still see college as a way to gain new perspectives and life experiences. Sixty-year-old Will Fendley, who had a successful career in the military and never earned a college degree, thinks "personal drive" is far more important than just going to college. To Fendley, a sense of drive and purpose, as well as an effective high-school education, and basic life skills, like balancing a checkbook, are the necessary ingredients for a successful life in America. | 2402.txt | 0 |
[
"More and more Americans are finding it hard to realize.",
"It remains alive among the majority of American people.",
"Americans' idea of it has changed over the past few decades.",
"An increasing number of young Americans are abandoning it."
] | What is the finding of the latest National Journal poll concerning the American dream? | For the past several decades, it seems there's been a general consensus on how to get ahead in America: Get a college education, find a reliable job, and buy your own home. But do Americans still believe in that path, and if they do, is it attainable?
The most recent National Journal poll asked respondents about the American dream, what it takes to achieve their goals, and whether or not they felt a significant amount of control over their ability to be successful. Overwhelmingly, the results show that today, the idea of the American dream-and what it takes to achieve it-looks quite different than it did in the late 20th century.
By and large, people felt that their actions and hard work-not outside forces-were the deciding factor in how their lives turned out. But respondents had decidedly mixed feelings about what actions make for a better life in the current economy.
In the last seven years, Americans have grown more pessimistic about the power of education to lead to success. Even though they see going to college as a fairly achievable goal, a majority-52 percent-think that young people do not need a four-year college education in order to be successful.
Miguel Maeda, 42, who has a master's degree and works in public health, was the first in his family to go to college, which has allowed him to achieve a sense of financial stability his parents and grandparents never did.
While some, like Maeda, emphasized the value of the degree rather than the education itself, others still see college as a way to gain new perspectives and life experiences. Sixty-year-old Will Fendley, who had a successful career in the military and never earned a college degree, thinks "personal drive" is far more important than just going to college. To Fendley, a sense of drive and purpose, as well as an effective high-school education, and basic life skills, like balancing a checkbook, are the necessary ingredients for a successful life in America. | 2402.txt | 2 |
[
"It still remains open to debate.",
"It has proved to be beyond doubt.",
"It is no longer as important as it used to be.",
"It is much better understood now than ever."
] | What do Americans now think of the role of college education in achieving success? | For the past several decades, it seems there's been a general consensus on how to get ahead in America: Get a college education, find a reliable job, and buy your own home. But do Americans still believe in that path, and if they do, is it attainable?
The most recent National Journal poll asked respondents about the American dream, what it takes to achieve their goals, and whether or not they felt a significant amount of control over their ability to be successful. Overwhelmingly, the results show that today, the idea of the American dream-and what it takes to achieve it-looks quite different than it did in the late 20th century.
By and large, people felt that their actions and hard work-not outside forces-were the deciding factor in how their lives turned out. But respondents had decidedly mixed feelings about what actions make for a better life in the current economy.
In the last seven years, Americans have grown more pessimistic about the power of education to lead to success. Even though they see going to college as a fairly achievable goal, a majority-52 percent-think that young people do not need a four-year college education in order to be successful.
Miguel Maeda, 42, who has a master's degree and works in public health, was the first in his family to go to college, which has allowed him to achieve a sense of financial stability his parents and grandparents never did.
While some, like Maeda, emphasized the value of the degree rather than the education itself, others still see college as a way to gain new perspectives and life experiences. Sixty-year-old Will Fendley, who had a successful career in the military and never earned a college degree, thinks "personal drive" is far more important than just going to college. To Fendley, a sense of drive and purpose, as well as an effective high-school education, and basic life skills, like balancing a checkbook, are the necessary ingredients for a successful life in America. | 2402.txt | 2 |
[
"It promotes gender equality.",
"It needs to be strengthened.",
"It adds to cultural diversity.",
"It helps broaden their minds."
] | How do some people view college education these days? | For the past several decades, it seems there's been a general consensus on how to get ahead in America: Get a college education, find a reliable job, and buy your own home. But do Americans still believe in that path, and if they do, is it attainable?
The most recent National Journal poll asked respondents about the American dream, what it takes to achieve their goals, and whether or not they felt a significant amount of control over their ability to be successful. Overwhelmingly, the results show that today, the idea of the American dream-and what it takes to achieve it-looks quite different than it did in the late 20th century.
By and large, people felt that their actions and hard work-not outside forces-were the deciding factor in how their lives turned out. But respondents had decidedly mixed feelings about what actions make for a better life in the current economy.
In the last seven years, Americans have grown more pessimistic about the power of education to lead to success. Even though they see going to college as a fairly achievable goal, a majority-52 percent-think that young people do not need a four-year college education in order to be successful.
Miguel Maeda, 42, who has a master's degree and works in public health, was the first in his family to go to college, which has allowed him to achieve a sense of financial stability his parents and grandparents never did.
While some, like Maeda, emphasized the value of the degree rather than the education itself, others still see college as a way to gain new perspectives and life experiences. Sixty-year-old Will Fendley, who had a successful career in the military and never earned a college degree, thinks "personal drive" is far more important than just going to college. To Fendley, a sense of drive and purpose, as well as an effective high-school education, and basic life skills, like balancing a checkbook, are the necessary ingredients for a successful life in America. | 2402.txt | 3 |
[
"A desire to learn and to adapt.",
"A strong sense of responsibility.",
"A willingness to commit oneself.",
"A clear aim and high motivation."
] | What is one factor essential to success in America, according to Will Fendley? | For the past several decades, it seems there's been a general consensus on how to get ahead in America: Get a college education, find a reliable job, and buy your own home. But do Americans still believe in that path, and if they do, is it attainable?
The most recent National Journal poll asked respondents about the American dream, what it takes to achieve their goals, and whether or not they felt a significant amount of control over their ability to be successful. Overwhelmingly, the results show that today, the idea of the American dream-and what it takes to achieve it-looks quite different than it did in the late 20th century.
By and large, people felt that their actions and hard work-not outside forces-were the deciding factor in how their lives turned out. But respondents had decidedly mixed feelings about what actions make for a better life in the current economy.
In the last seven years, Americans have grown more pessimistic about the power of education to lead to success. Even though they see going to college as a fairly achievable goal, a majority-52 percent-think that young people do not need a four-year college education in order to be successful.
Miguel Maeda, 42, who has a master's degree and works in public health, was the first in his family to go to college, which has allowed him to achieve a sense of financial stability his parents and grandparents never did.
While some, like Maeda, emphasized the value of the degree rather than the education itself, others still see college as a way to gain new perspectives and life experiences. Sixty-year-old Will Fendley, who had a successful career in the military and never earned a college degree, thinks "personal drive" is far more important than just going to college. To Fendley, a sense of drive and purpose, as well as an effective high-school education, and basic life skills, like balancing a checkbook, are the necessary ingredients for a successful life in America. | 2402.txt | 3 |
[
"is practiced exclusively by the FBI",
"is more prevalent in business circles",
"has been intensified with the help of the IRS",
"is mainly carried out by means of secret taping"
] | Contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people's privacy ________. | When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.
As an example of what's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues.
Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms.
And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.
You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn't work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." Then it sold your data to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. It merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. Now you know. | 449.txt | 1 |
[
"the state of Minnesota is considering drawing up laws to protect private information",
"most states are turning a blind eye to the deceptive practices of private businesses",
"legislators are acting to pass a law to provide better privacy protection",
"lawmakers are inclined to give a free hand to businesses to inquire into customers' buying habits"
] | We know from the passage that ________. | When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.
As an example of what's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues.
Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms.
And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.
You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn't work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." Then it sold your data to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. It merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. Now you know. | 449.txt | 3 |
[
"you happen to reveal your credit card number",
"you fail to cancel it within the specified period",
"you fail to apply for extension of the deadline",
"you find the product or service unsatisfactory"
] | When the "free trial" deadline is over, you'll be charged without notice for a product or service if ________. | When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.
As an example of what's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues.
Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms.
And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.
You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn't work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." Then it sold your data to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. It merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. Now you know. | 449.txt | 1 |
[
"it is considered \"transaction and experience\" information unprotected by law",
"it has always been considered an open secret by the general public",
"its sale can be brought under control through self-regulation",
"its revelation will do no harm to consumers under the current protection policy"
] | Businesses do not regard information concerning personal bank accounts as private because ________. | When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.
As an example of what's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues.
Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms.
And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.
You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn't work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." Then it sold your data to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. It merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. Now you know. | 449.txt | 0 |
[
"banks will have to change their ways of doing business",
"\"free trial\" practice will eventually be banned",
"privacy protection laws will soon be enforced",
"consumers' privacy will continue to be invaded"
] | We can infer from the passage that ________. | When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland's laws against secret telephone taping. It's our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms.
Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.
As an example of what's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits.
With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a "free trial offer" had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed, they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues.
Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.
The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms.
And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.
You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields "transaction and experience" information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doesn't work. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?
Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that "all personal information you supply to us will be considered confidential." Then it sold your data to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn't "sell" your data at all. It merely "shares" it and reaps a profit. Now you know. | 449.txt | 3 |
[
"there are no such things as UFOs",
"UFOs are visitors from solar system",
"there's no reason for UFOs sooner or later",
"we are bound to see UFOs sooner or later"
] | People who ask the question "Why don't they get in touch with us... and declare themselves?" think that . | A scientist once said: "I have concluded that the earth is being visited by intelligently controlled vehicles from outer space."
If we take this as a reasonable explanation for UFOs (unidentified flying objects), questions immediately come up.
"Why don't they get in touch with us, then? Why don't they land right on the White House lawn and declare themselves?" people asked.
In reply, scientists say that, while this may be what we want, it may not necessarily be what they want.
"The most likely explanation, it seems to me," said Dr. Mead, "is that they are simply watching what we are up to -- that responsible society outside our solar system is keeping an eye on us to see that we don't set in motion a chain reaction that might have unexpected effects for outside our solar system."
Opinions from other scientists might go like this: "Why should they want to get in touch with us? We may feel we're more important than we really are! They may want to observe us only and not interfere with the development of our civilization. They may not care if we see them but they also may not care to say ‘hello'."
Some scientists have also suggested that Earth is a kind of zoo or wildlife reserve. Just as we set aside wilderness areas and wildlife reserves to allow animals and growing things to develop naturally while we observe them, so perhaps Earth was set aside ages ago for the same purpose.
Are we being observed by intelligent beings from other civilizations in the universe? Are they watching our progress in space travel? Do we live in a gigantic "zoo" observed by our "keepers," but having no communication with them?
Never before in our history have we had to confront ideas like these. The simple fact is that we, who have always regarded ourselves as supreme in the universe, may not be so. Now we have to recognize that, among the stars in the heavens, there may very well be worlds inhabited by beings who are to us as we are to ants. | 1553.txt | 0 |
[
"unfriendliness",
"suspicion",
"superiority",
"hostility"
] | According to Dr. Mead, the attitude of beings from outer space toward us is one of . | A scientist once said: "I have concluded that the earth is being visited by intelligently controlled vehicles from outer space."
If we take this as a reasonable explanation for UFOs (unidentified flying objects), questions immediately come up.
"Why don't they get in touch with us, then? Why don't they land right on the White House lawn and declare themselves?" people asked.
In reply, scientists say that, while this may be what we want, it may not necessarily be what they want.
"The most likely explanation, it seems to me," said Dr. Mead, "is that they are simply watching what we are up to -- that responsible society outside our solar system is keeping an eye on us to see that we don't set in motion a chain reaction that might have unexpected effects for outside our solar system."
Opinions from other scientists might go like this: "Why should they want to get in touch with us? We may feel we're more important than we really are! They may want to observe us only and not interfere with the development of our civilization. They may not care if we see them but they also may not care to say ‘hello'."
Some scientists have also suggested that Earth is a kind of zoo or wildlife reserve. Just as we set aside wilderness areas and wildlife reserves to allow animals and growing things to develop naturally while we observe them, so perhaps Earth was set aside ages ago for the same purpose.
Are we being observed by intelligent beings from other civilizations in the universe? Are they watching our progress in space travel? Do we live in a gigantic "zoo" observed by our "keepers," but having no communication with them?
Never before in our history have we had to confront ideas like these. The simple fact is that we, who have always regarded ourselves as supreme in the universe, may not be so. Now we have to recognize that, among the stars in the heavens, there may very well be worlds inhabited by beings who are to us as we are to ants. | 1553.txt | 1 |
[
"doubt",
"warning",
"indifference",
"criticism"
] | The tone of the writer is that of . | A scientist once said: "I have concluded that the earth is being visited by intelligently controlled vehicles from outer space."
If we take this as a reasonable explanation for UFOs (unidentified flying objects), questions immediately come up.
"Why don't they get in touch with us, then? Why don't they land right on the White House lawn and declare themselves?" people asked.
In reply, scientists say that, while this may be what we want, it may not necessarily be what they want.
"The most likely explanation, it seems to me," said Dr. Mead, "is that they are simply watching what we are up to -- that responsible society outside our solar system is keeping an eye on us to see that we don't set in motion a chain reaction that might have unexpected effects for outside our solar system."
Opinions from other scientists might go like this: "Why should they want to get in touch with us? We may feel we're more important than we really are! They may want to observe us only and not interfere with the development of our civilization. They may not care if we see them but they also may not care to say ‘hello'."
Some scientists have also suggested that Earth is a kind of zoo or wildlife reserve. Just as we set aside wilderness areas and wildlife reserves to allow animals and growing things to develop naturally while we observe them, so perhaps Earth was set aside ages ago for the same purpose.
Are we being observed by intelligent beings from other civilizations in the universe? Are they watching our progress in space travel? Do we live in a gigantic "zoo" observed by our "keepers," but having no communication with them?
Never before in our history have we had to confront ideas like these. The simple fact is that we, who have always regarded ourselves as supreme in the universe, may not be so. Now we have to recognize that, among the stars in the heavens, there may very well be worlds inhabited by beings who are to us as we are to ants. | 1553.txt | 3 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.