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[
"moderate cost.",
"local sight-seeing is investigated by the tourist organization.",
"people enjoy the first-rate comforts.",
"everybody can enjoy the ‘grand tour'."
]
| What is ‘grand tour' now? | The Tourist Trade Contributes Absolutely Nothing to Increasing Understanding between Nations
The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming andgoing, you'd expect greater understanding to develop betweenthe nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems ofcommunication by air, sea and land make it possible for us tovisit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was oncethe ‘grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now withineverybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Moderntravelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn'thave dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of theworld remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set outto protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leadsa cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food andsips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to placesof interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want himto see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own;and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. Atits very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of theinhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool isrecreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. Wedon't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believethey are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English,American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous,cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of thepeoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on yourtravels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. Youcome away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, ‘Anglo-Saxons arehypocrites' of that ‘Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends tounderstand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreignfriends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racialhatred and blind us to the basic fact-how trite it sounds! - That all people are human. We are allsimilar to each other and at the same time all unique. | 231.txt | 3 |
[
"He made good use of ideas from others.",
"He produced the first car in the world.",
"He knew how to improve auto parts.",
"He invented the production line."
]
| What do we know about Henry Ford from Paragraph 1 ? | Many people believe Henry Ford invented the automobile . But Henry Ford did not start to build his first car until 1896. That was eleven years after two Germans developed the world's first automobile. Many people believe Henry Ford invented the production line that moved a car's parts to the worker, instead of making the worker move to the parts. That is not true, either. Many factory owners used methods of this kind before Ford. What Henry Ford did was to use other people's ideas and make them better. And he made the whole factory a moving production line.
In the early days of the automobile, almost every car maker raced his cars. It was the best way of gaining public notice. Henry Ford decided to build a racing car. Ford's most famous race was his first one. It was also the last race in which he drove the car himself.
The race was in 1901, at a field near Detroit. All of the most famous cars had entered, but only two were left: the Winton and Ford's. The Winton was famous for its speed. Most people thought the race was over before it began.
The Winton took an early lead. But halfway through the race, it began to lose power. Ford started to gain. And near the end of the race, he took the lead. Ford won the race and defeated the Winton. His name appeared in newspapers and he became well??known all over the United States.Within weeks of the race, Henry Ford formed a new automobile company. In 1903, a doctor in Detroit bought the first car from the company. That_sale was the beginning of Henry Ford's dream.Ford said: "I will build a motor car for the great mass of people. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for one person to operate and care for. It will be built of the best materials. It will be built by the best men to be employed. And it will be built with the simplest plans that modern engineering can produce. It will be so low in price that no man making good money will be unable to own one."
The Model T was a car of that kind. It only cost $850. It was a simple machine that drivers could depend on. Doctors bought the Model T. So did farmers. Even criminals. They considered it the fastest and surest form of transportation. Americans loved the Model T. They wrote stories and songs about it. Thousands of Model T's were built in the first few years. | 3065.txt | 0 |
[
"To show off his driving skills.",
"To draw public attention.",
"To learn about new technology.",
"To raise money for his new company."
]
| Why did Henry Ford take part in the 1901 car race? | Many people believe Henry Ford invented the automobile . But Henry Ford did not start to build his first car until 1896. That was eleven years after two Germans developed the world's first automobile. Many people believe Henry Ford invented the production line that moved a car's parts to the worker, instead of making the worker move to the parts. That is not true, either. Many factory owners used methods of this kind before Ford. What Henry Ford did was to use other people's ideas and make them better. And he made the whole factory a moving production line.
In the early days of the automobile, almost every car maker raced his cars. It was the best way of gaining public notice. Henry Ford decided to build a racing car. Ford's most famous race was his first one. It was also the last race in which he drove the car himself.
The race was in 1901, at a field near Detroit. All of the most famous cars had entered, but only two were left: the Winton and Ford's. The Winton was famous for its speed. Most people thought the race was over before it began.
The Winton took an early lead. But halfway through the race, it began to lose power. Ford started to gain. And near the end of the race, he took the lead. Ford won the race and defeated the Winton. His name appeared in newspapers and he became well??known all over the United States.Within weeks of the race, Henry Ford formed a new automobile company. In 1903, a doctor in Detroit bought the first car from the company. That_sale was the beginning of Henry Ford's dream.Ford said: "I will build a motor car for the great mass of people. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for one person to operate and care for. It will be built of the best materials. It will be built by the best men to be employed. And it will be built with the simplest plans that modern engineering can produce. It will be so low in price that no man making good money will be unable to own one."
The Model T was a car of that kind. It only cost $850. It was a simple machine that drivers could depend on. Doctors bought the Model T. So did farmers. Even criminals. They considered it the fastest and surest form of transportation. Americans loved the Model T. They wrote stories and songs about it. Thousands of Model T's were built in the first few years. | 3065.txt | 1 |
[
"the selling of Ford cars at reduced prices",
"the sale of Model T to the mass of people",
"the selling of a car to a Detroit doctor",
"the sales target for the Ford Company"
]
| "That sale" in Paragraph 4 refers to _ . | Many people believe Henry Ford invented the automobile . But Henry Ford did not start to build his first car until 1896. That was eleven years after two Germans developed the world's first automobile. Many people believe Henry Ford invented the production line that moved a car's parts to the worker, instead of making the worker move to the parts. That is not true, either. Many factory owners used methods of this kind before Ford. What Henry Ford did was to use other people's ideas and make them better. And he made the whole factory a moving production line.
In the early days of the automobile, almost every car maker raced his cars. It was the best way of gaining public notice. Henry Ford decided to build a racing car. Ford's most famous race was his first one. It was also the last race in which he drove the car himself.
The race was in 1901, at a field near Detroit. All of the most famous cars had entered, but only two were left: the Winton and Ford's. The Winton was famous for its speed. Most people thought the race was over before it began.
The Winton took an early lead. But halfway through the race, it began to lose power. Ford started to gain. And near the end of the race, he took the lead. Ford won the race and defeated the Winton. His name appeared in newspapers and he became well??known all over the United States.Within weeks of the race, Henry Ford formed a new automobile company. In 1903, a doctor in Detroit bought the first car from the company. That_sale was the beginning of Henry Ford's dream.Ford said: "I will build a motor car for the great mass of people. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for one person to operate and care for. It will be built of the best materials. It will be built by the best men to be employed. And it will be built with the simplest plans that modern engineering can produce. It will be so low in price that no man making good money will be unable to own one."
The Model T was a car of that kind. It only cost $850. It was a simple machine that drivers could depend on. Doctors bought the Model T. So did farmers. Even criminals. They considered it the fastest and surest form of transportation. Americans loved the Model T. They wrote stories and songs about it. Thousands of Model T's were built in the first few years. | 3065.txt | 2 |
[
"Producing cars for average customers.",
"Building racing cars of simple design.",
"Designing more car models.",
"Starting more companies."
]
| What was Henry Ford's dream according to the text? | Many people believe Henry Ford invented the automobile . But Henry Ford did not start to build his first car until 1896. That was eleven years after two Germans developed the world's first automobile. Many people believe Henry Ford invented the production line that moved a car's parts to the worker, instead of making the worker move to the parts. That is not true, either. Many factory owners used methods of this kind before Ford. What Henry Ford did was to use other people's ideas and make them better. And he made the whole factory a moving production line.
In the early days of the automobile, almost every car maker raced his cars. It was the best way of gaining public notice. Henry Ford decided to build a racing car. Ford's most famous race was his first one. It was also the last race in which he drove the car himself.
The race was in 1901, at a field near Detroit. All of the most famous cars had entered, but only two were left: the Winton and Ford's. The Winton was famous for its speed. Most people thought the race was over before it began.
The Winton took an early lead. But halfway through the race, it began to lose power. Ford started to gain. And near the end of the race, he took the lead. Ford won the race and defeated the Winton. His name appeared in newspapers and he became well??known all over the United States.Within weeks of the race, Henry Ford formed a new automobile company. In 1903, a doctor in Detroit bought the first car from the company. That_sale was the beginning of Henry Ford's dream.Ford said: "I will build a motor car for the great mass of people. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for one person to operate and care for. It will be built of the best materials. It will be built by the best men to be employed. And it will be built with the simplest plans that modern engineering can produce. It will be so low in price that no man making good money will be unable to own one."
The Model T was a car of that kind. It only cost $850. It was a simple machine that drivers could depend on. Doctors bought the Model T. So did farmers. Even criminals. They considered it the fastest and surest form of transportation. Americans loved the Model T. They wrote stories and songs about it. Thousands of Model T's were built in the first few years. | 3065.txt | 0 |
[
"the fact that people of different racial groups reside in different places",
"what types of people move frequently and why they keep changing their places.",
"why people of one type prefer to isolate themselves from those of another type",
"peculiar characteristics of people from different countries in choosing living places"
]
| Geographers who study mobility are most likely to be interested in _ . | Each for its own reason, the study of residential mobility has been a concern of three disciplines: sociology, economics, and geography. For the economist, residential shifts provide a means for studying the housing and land markets. Geographers study mobility to understand the spatial distributions of population types. For the sociologist, interest in residential mobility has two sources: one stemming from the study of human ecology and the other, from a concern with the peculiar qualities of urban life. Of course, there are clearly overlapping concerns and it is often difficult to discern the disciplinary origins of a researcher by only examining the kinds of questions he or she raises about mobility although it is usually easier to identify a researcher's discipline by noting the methods used and the concepts employed.
Urban mobility first appears in the sociological literature as term expressing rather generalized qualities of urban, as opposed to non-urban life. Some sociologists refer to the mobility of the city as the considerable sum of countless and continual sources of stimulation impinging upon the urban dweller, a sort of sensory overload which produces sophistication, indifference, and a lowered level of affect in urban dwellers. There is simply so much to experience that the urban dweller's capacity is reduced to react in a "spontaneous" and "natural" way to urban existence . It is mobility in this sense that produces some of the special qualities of urban life, which appeal to migrants as an escape from the dullness and oppression of rural existence with its lack of change and stimulation, and, on the other hand, produces anomie and alienation in a society where men see each other primarily as means to ends rather than as ends in themselves. | 2671.txt | 0 |
[
"the only way to discern the discipline he or she applies",
"not an ideal way to identify his or her disciplinary origins",
"easier than noting the methods used and the concepts employed",
"too difficult to be used in finding out his or her disciplinary origins"
]
| Examining the kinds of questions a researcher raised about mobility is _ . | Each for its own reason, the study of residential mobility has been a concern of three disciplines: sociology, economics, and geography. For the economist, residential shifts provide a means for studying the housing and land markets. Geographers study mobility to understand the spatial distributions of population types. For the sociologist, interest in residential mobility has two sources: one stemming from the study of human ecology and the other, from a concern with the peculiar qualities of urban life. Of course, there are clearly overlapping concerns and it is often difficult to discern the disciplinary origins of a researcher by only examining the kinds of questions he or she raises about mobility although it is usually easier to identify a researcher's discipline by noting the methods used and the concepts employed.
Urban mobility first appears in the sociological literature as term expressing rather generalized qualities of urban, as opposed to non-urban life. Some sociologists refer to the mobility of the city as the considerable sum of countless and continual sources of stimulation impinging upon the urban dweller, a sort of sensory overload which produces sophistication, indifference, and a lowered level of affect in urban dwellers. There is simply so much to experience that the urban dweller's capacity is reduced to react in a "spontaneous" and "natural" way to urban existence . It is mobility in this sense that produces some of the special qualities of urban life, which appeal to migrants as an escape from the dullness and oppression of rural existence with its lack of change and stimulation, and, on the other hand, produces anomie and alienation in a society where men see each other primarily as means to ends rather than as ends in themselves. | 2671.txt | 1 |
[
"cannot be relieved from urban dwellers",
"produces attraction to rural dwellers",
"produces the dullness and oppression of rural existence",
"is responsible for some evil characters of urban dwellers"
]
| Some sociologists believe that "sensory overload" _ . | Each for its own reason, the study of residential mobility has been a concern of three disciplines: sociology, economics, and geography. For the economist, residential shifts provide a means for studying the housing and land markets. Geographers study mobility to understand the spatial distributions of population types. For the sociologist, interest in residential mobility has two sources: one stemming from the study of human ecology and the other, from a concern with the peculiar qualities of urban life. Of course, there are clearly overlapping concerns and it is often difficult to discern the disciplinary origins of a researcher by only examining the kinds of questions he or she raises about mobility although it is usually easier to identify a researcher's discipline by noting the methods used and the concepts employed.
Urban mobility first appears in the sociological literature as term expressing rather generalized qualities of urban, as opposed to non-urban life. Some sociologists refer to the mobility of the city as the considerable sum of countless and continual sources of stimulation impinging upon the urban dweller, a sort of sensory overload which produces sophistication, indifference, and a lowered level of affect in urban dwellers. There is simply so much to experience that the urban dweller's capacity is reduced to react in a "spontaneous" and "natural" way to urban existence . It is mobility in this sense that produces some of the special qualities of urban life, which appeal to migrants as an escape from the dullness and oppression of rural existence with its lack of change and stimulation, and, on the other hand, produces anomie and alienation in a society where men see each other primarily as means to ends rather than as ends in themselves. | 2671.txt | 3 |
[
"hold hostile views to others",
"are willing to help each other",
"tend to pick up others' shortcomings but ignore their own",
"take advantage of others to fulfill their own goals"
]
| According to the passage, in a society where there is anomie and alienation, people _ . | Each for its own reason, the study of residential mobility has been a concern of three disciplines: sociology, economics, and geography. For the economist, residential shifts provide a means for studying the housing and land markets. Geographers study mobility to understand the spatial distributions of population types. For the sociologist, interest in residential mobility has two sources: one stemming from the study of human ecology and the other, from a concern with the peculiar qualities of urban life. Of course, there are clearly overlapping concerns and it is often difficult to discern the disciplinary origins of a researcher by only examining the kinds of questions he or she raises about mobility although it is usually easier to identify a researcher's discipline by noting the methods used and the concepts employed.
Urban mobility first appears in the sociological literature as term expressing rather generalized qualities of urban, as opposed to non-urban life. Some sociologists refer to the mobility of the city as the considerable sum of countless and continual sources of stimulation impinging upon the urban dweller, a sort of sensory overload which produces sophistication, indifference, and a lowered level of affect in urban dwellers. There is simply so much to experience that the urban dweller's capacity is reduced to react in a "spontaneous" and "natural" way to urban existence . It is mobility in this sense that produces some of the special qualities of urban life, which appeal to migrants as an escape from the dullness and oppression of rural existence with its lack of change and stimulation, and, on the other hand, produces anomie and alienation in a society where men see each other primarily as means to ends rather than as ends in themselves. | 2671.txt | 3 |
[
"urban life is stimulating and rewarding",
"urban people are cleverer than rural people",
"urban people lack creativity and originality",
"urban existence is full of change and stimulation"
]
| The words "spontaneous" and "natural" (para2) indicate that _ . | Each for its own reason, the study of residential mobility has been a concern of three disciplines: sociology, economics, and geography. For the economist, residential shifts provide a means for studying the housing and land markets. Geographers study mobility to understand the spatial distributions of population types. For the sociologist, interest in residential mobility has two sources: one stemming from the study of human ecology and the other, from a concern with the peculiar qualities of urban life. Of course, there are clearly overlapping concerns and it is often difficult to discern the disciplinary origins of a researcher by only examining the kinds of questions he or she raises about mobility although it is usually easier to identify a researcher's discipline by noting the methods used and the concepts employed.
Urban mobility first appears in the sociological literature as term expressing rather generalized qualities of urban, as opposed to non-urban life. Some sociologists refer to the mobility of the city as the considerable sum of countless and continual sources of stimulation impinging upon the urban dweller, a sort of sensory overload which produces sophistication, indifference, and a lowered level of affect in urban dwellers. There is simply so much to experience that the urban dweller's capacity is reduced to react in a "spontaneous" and "natural" way to urban existence . It is mobility in this sense that produces some of the special qualities of urban life, which appeal to migrants as an escape from the dullness and oppression of rural existence with its lack of change and stimulation, and, on the other hand, produces anomie and alienation in a society where men see each other primarily as means to ends rather than as ends in themselves. | 2671.txt | 2 |
[
"The content of modern advertising.",
"The skills of modern advertising.",
"The results of modern advertising.",
"The writing of modern advertising."
]
| What is discussed in this passage? | Advertising gives useful information about which products to buy.But modern advertising does more than gives news about products and services.Today's advertisements,or ads,try to get consumersto buy certain brands.Writers of advertising are so skillful that they can sometimes persuade a consumer to wear acertain kind of clothing,eat a special kind of cereal,or see a movie.Consumers might never even want a product if they did not see or hear advertisementsfor it.
For example,you probably do not need the newest cereal in the supermarket.Thereare probably many cereal brands on your kitchen shelves.You may not have space on your shelf for another.But if you see ads about a new cereal that is your extra tasty and has a free prie in the box,you may want it.Advertising must get attention.To be effective,it must be exciting,entertaining,or provide some pleasure.The secret of writing good advertising copy is to offer a good idea as well as a product.The idea is what the ad is really selling.One example is anad that says eating a certain cereal will make a person do well in sports.That cereal brand may sell better if consumers think it offers strength and energy. | 3517.txt | 1 |
[
"be both persuasive and effective",
"give people useful information",
"show people a product",
"show people a new idea of a product"
]
| According to the passage,a good advertisement should _ | Advertising gives useful information about which products to buy.But modern advertising does more than gives news about products and services.Today's advertisements,or ads,try to get consumersto buy certain brands.Writers of advertising are so skillful that they can sometimes persuade a consumer to wear acertain kind of clothing,eat a special kind of cereal,or see a movie.Consumers might never even want a product if they did not see or hear advertisementsfor it.
For example,you probably do not need the newest cereal in the supermarket.Thereare probably many cereal brands on your kitchen shelves.You may not have space on your shelf for another.But if you see ads about a new cereal that is your extra tasty and has a free prie in the box,you may want it.Advertising must get attention.To be effective,it must be exciting,entertaining,or provide some pleasure.The secret of writing good advertising copy is to offer a good idea as well as a product.The idea is what the ad is really selling.One example is anad that says eating a certain cereal will make a person do well in sports.That cereal brand may sell better if consumers think it offers strength and energy. | 3517.txt | 0 |
[
"modern advertising has less effect on customers",
"once customers s ee ads about a new cereal,they are sure to buy it",
"cereal can make people strong",
"cereal is a kind of food which is popular among people"
]
| From the passage,we can infer that _ | Advertising gives useful information about which products to buy.But modern advertising does more than gives news about products and services.Today's advertisements,or ads,try to get consumersto buy certain brands.Writers of advertising are so skillful that they can sometimes persuade a consumer to wear acertain kind of clothing,eat a special kind of cereal,or see a movie.Consumers might never even want a product if they did not see or hear advertisementsfor it.
For example,you probably do not need the newest cereal in the supermarket.Thereare probably many cereal brands on your kitchen shelves.You may not have space on your shelf for another.But if you see ads about a new cereal that is your extra tasty and has a free prie in the box,you may want it.Advertising must get attention.To be effective,it must be exciting,entertaining,or provide some pleasure.The secret of writing good advertising copy is to offer a good idea as well as a product.The idea is what the ad is really selling.One example is anad that says eating a certain cereal will make a person do well in sports.That cereal brand may sell better if consumers think it offers strength and energy. | 3517.txt | 3 |
[
"Customers can easily be persuaded by advertisements.",
"Custo mers should be persuaded by advertisements.",
"It's impossible for customers to buy a product without advertisements.",
"Customers buy products according to their demands rather than the advertisements."
]
| What can we infer from the passage? | Advertising gives useful information about which products to buy.But modern advertising does more than gives news about products and services.Today's advertisements,or ads,try to get consumersto buy certain brands.Writers of advertising are so skillful that they can sometimes persuade a consumer to wear acertain kind of clothing,eat a special kind of cereal,or see a movie.Consumers might never even want a product if they did not see or hear advertisementsfor it.
For example,you probably do not need the newest cereal in the supermarket.Thereare probably many cereal brands on your kitchen shelves.You may not have space on your shelf for another.But if you see ads about a new cereal that is your extra tasty and has a free prie in the box,you may want it.Advertising must get attention.To be effective,it must be exciting,entertaining,or provide some pleasure.The secret of writing good advertising copy is to offer a good idea as well as a product.The idea is what the ad is really selling.One example is anad that says eating a certain cereal will make a person do well in sports.That cereal brand may sell better if consumers think it offers strength and energy. | 3517.txt | 0 |
[
"The definition of technology",
"Modern technology",
"The application of technology",
"The development of technology"
]
| What is the best title for the passage? | Technology is the application of knowledge to production. Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to increase greatly the efficiency of our work force. New machines and new methods have helped cut down time and expense while increasing overall output. This has meant more production and a higher standard of living. For most of us in America, modern technology is thought of as the reason why we can have cars and television sets. However, technology has also increased the amount of food available to us, by means of modern farming machinery and animal breeding techniques, and has extended our life span via medical technology.
Will mankind continue to live longer and have a higher quality of life? In large measure the answer depends on technology and our ability to use it widely. If we keep making progress as we have over the past fifty years, the answer is definitely yes. The advancement of technology depends upon research and development, and the latest statistics show that the United States is continuing to pump billions of dollars annually into such efforts. So while we are running out of some scarce resources we may well find technological substitutesfor many of them through our research programs.
Therefore, in the final analysis the three major factors of production(land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology. When we need new skills, on techniques in medicine, people will start developing new technology to meet those needs. As equipment proves to be slow or inefficient, new machines will be invented. Technology responds to our needs in helping us maintain our standard of living. | 2842.txt | 1 |
[
"Modern technology is the key to the improvement of standard of living.",
"The three major factors of production (land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology.",
"Technology is the response to our needs.",
"The United States is making great efforts to advance its technology."
]
| Which is the main idea of the passage? | Technology is the application of knowledge to production. Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to increase greatly the efficiency of our work force. New machines and new methods have helped cut down time and expense while increasing overall output. This has meant more production and a higher standard of living. For most of us in America, modern technology is thought of as the reason why we can have cars and television sets. However, technology has also increased the amount of food available to us, by means of modern farming machinery and animal breeding techniques, and has extended our life span via medical technology.
Will mankind continue to live longer and have a higher quality of life? In large measure the answer depends on technology and our ability to use it widely. If we keep making progress as we have over the past fifty years, the answer is definitely yes. The advancement of technology depends upon research and development, and the latest statistics show that the United States is continuing to pump billions of dollars annually into such efforts. So while we are running out of some scarce resources we may well find technological substitutesfor many of them through our research programs.
Therefore, in the final analysis the three major factors of production(land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology. When we need new skills, on techniques in medicine, people will start developing new technology to meet those needs. As equipment proves to be slow or inefficient, new machines will be invented. Technology responds to our needs in helping us maintain our standard of living. | 2842.txt | 0 |
[
"higher quality of life",
"medical technology",
"modern farming machinery",
"technological substitute"
]
| According to the passage, people can live a long life with the help of _ . | Technology is the application of knowledge to production. Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to increase greatly the efficiency of our work force. New machines and new methods have helped cut down time and expense while increasing overall output. This has meant more production and a higher standard of living. For most of us in America, modern technology is thought of as the reason why we can have cars and television sets. However, technology has also increased the amount of food available to us, by means of modern farming machinery and animal breeding techniques, and has extended our life span via medical technology.
Will mankind continue to live longer and have a higher quality of life? In large measure the answer depends on technology and our ability to use it widely. If we keep making progress as we have over the past fifty years, the answer is definitely yes. The advancement of technology depends upon research and development, and the latest statistics show that the United States is continuing to pump billions of dollars annually into such efforts. So while we are running out of some scarce resources we may well find technological substitutesfor many of them through our research programs.
Therefore, in the final analysis the three major factors of production(land, labor and capital) are all influenced by technology. When we need new skills, on techniques in medicine, people will start developing new technology to meet those needs. As equipment proves to be slow or inefficient, new machines will be invented. Technology responds to our needs in helping us maintain our standard of living. | 2842.txt | 1 |
[
"the school servers are unwieldy and unreliable.",
"the information-technology director is not the expert in providing IT-related assistance.",
"the internal E-mail systems are much more backward than those commercially successful email systems.",
"there are no collaboration tools in the internal E-mail systems."
]
| The number of student complaints has grown exponentially because _ | Maintaining internal E-mail systems has long been the bane of the university information-technology director. Servers are unwieldy and unreliable, and in the past several years, the number of student complaints has grown exponentially as forward-moving providers like YahooMail, Hotmail, and Gmail have increased expectations of what E-mail should offer. The solution for a number of colleges has been to wave the white flag and outsource E-mail hosting to the experts.
Microsoft, which owns Hotmail, and Google (Gmail) are the biggest players in the educational E-mail hosting market. Along with the neat-o peripheral gizmos like messaging, calendars, and collaboration tools, the outsourced systems are more stable, have better spam filters, and provide much more storage space than the typical university's in-house system. At the University of Pennsylvania, its old E-mail service gave students 60 megabytes of storage, just 3 percent of the 2 gigabytes Windows Live now provides. In return, Google and Microsoft get almost nothing, at least monetarily and in the short term. Microsoft's Windows Live @ edu and the Google Apps Education Edition are free of charge for schools. Eliminating another source of revenue, the two tech giants stripped their respective services of advertising in an effort to accommodate educators' concerns. Microsoft breaks even on the venture (it does run ads on non-E-mail services like instant messaging), while Google, which makes almost all its money through advertising, runs at a loss.
But what money they don't make at the moment will-the companies hope-pay great dividends in the form of lifelong users in the future, says Google's Jeff Kelter. As quickly as they shuffle out of commencement, graduates see their E-mail transition to the traditional ad-based formats of Gmail and Hotmail. And unlike before, when universities couldn't afford to host thousands of alumni, Google and Microsoft can maintain every account indefinitely, retaining customers as long as customers still want them.
Not all schools are ready to outsource their tech dirty work, with privacy and security topping the list of concerns. Critics worry that by handing over the responsibility of E-mail hosting, colleges also relinquish the freedom to keep the information safe in the best way they see fit. Even in the corporate world, there is great skepticism of consumer technologies like Google Apps. Yet most university IT managers agree that outsiders would do a better job protecting individual E-mail from viruses and spam than their own small operations, and strong word-of-mouth praise has done wonders to supplement the almost nonexistent marketing budgets for these Microsoft and Google projects.
The price tag-or lack of one-isn't a bad sales pitch either. Ramin Sedehi, the vice dean for finance and administration at Penn, says 30 percent of Penn's students already forward their messages to outside clients, and he predicts universities will eventually be out of the E-mail hosting business altogether. Ball State University and the Indiana University Alumni Association are now on Windows Live, and Arizona State University switched to Google Apps in October 2006, already converting at least 40,000 of its 65,000 students to the new system. Penn State University and California Polytechnic State University, to name two, have been in talks, while other schools are watching and waiting. | 3465.txt | 2 |
[
"they want to cater to the requirements of their clients.",
"they are sponsored by schools and do not need the revenue from ads.",
"they want to build up a unique community with life-long loyalty.",
"they want to maintain the stability of the systems at the present."
]
| Microsoft and Google do not run ads on the E-mail systems for schools because _ | Maintaining internal E-mail systems has long been the bane of the university information-technology director. Servers are unwieldy and unreliable, and in the past several years, the number of student complaints has grown exponentially as forward-moving providers like YahooMail, Hotmail, and Gmail have increased expectations of what E-mail should offer. The solution for a number of colleges has been to wave the white flag and outsource E-mail hosting to the experts.
Microsoft, which owns Hotmail, and Google (Gmail) are the biggest players in the educational E-mail hosting market. Along with the neat-o peripheral gizmos like messaging, calendars, and collaboration tools, the outsourced systems are more stable, have better spam filters, and provide much more storage space than the typical university's in-house system. At the University of Pennsylvania, its old E-mail service gave students 60 megabytes of storage, just 3 percent of the 2 gigabytes Windows Live now provides. In return, Google and Microsoft get almost nothing, at least monetarily and in the short term. Microsoft's Windows Live @ edu and the Google Apps Education Edition are free of charge for schools. Eliminating another source of revenue, the two tech giants stripped their respective services of advertising in an effort to accommodate educators' concerns. Microsoft breaks even on the venture (it does run ads on non-E-mail services like instant messaging), while Google, which makes almost all its money through advertising, runs at a loss.
But what money they don't make at the moment will-the companies hope-pay great dividends in the form of lifelong users in the future, says Google's Jeff Kelter. As quickly as they shuffle out of commencement, graduates see their E-mail transition to the traditional ad-based formats of Gmail and Hotmail. And unlike before, when universities couldn't afford to host thousands of alumni, Google and Microsoft can maintain every account indefinitely, retaining customers as long as customers still want them.
Not all schools are ready to outsource their tech dirty work, with privacy and security topping the list of concerns. Critics worry that by handing over the responsibility of E-mail hosting, colleges also relinquish the freedom to keep the information safe in the best way they see fit. Even in the corporate world, there is great skepticism of consumer technologies like Google Apps. Yet most university IT managers agree that outsiders would do a better job protecting individual E-mail from viruses and spam than their own small operations, and strong word-of-mouth praise has done wonders to supplement the almost nonexistent marketing budgets for these Microsoft and Google projects.
The price tag-or lack of one-isn't a bad sales pitch either. Ramin Sedehi, the vice dean for finance and administration at Penn, says 30 percent of Penn's students already forward their messages to outside clients, and he predicts universities will eventually be out of the E-mail hosting business altogether. Ball State University and the Indiana University Alumni Association are now on Windows Live, and Arizona State University switched to Google Apps in October 2006, already converting at least 40,000 of its 65,000 students to the new system. Penn State University and California Polytechnic State University, to name two, have been in talks, while other schools are watching and waiting. | 3465.txt | 0 |
[
"that they can reserve every account with minimum charge.",
"that they can retain every account at customers' wish.",
"that they can maintain every account as long as the customers want.",
"that they can keep every account fro free in a long term."
]
| Compared with the universities, the advantage of Goole and Microsoft in hosting accounts of alumni is _ | Maintaining internal E-mail systems has long been the bane of the university information-technology director. Servers are unwieldy and unreliable, and in the past several years, the number of student complaints has grown exponentially as forward-moving providers like YahooMail, Hotmail, and Gmail have increased expectations of what E-mail should offer. The solution for a number of colleges has been to wave the white flag and outsource E-mail hosting to the experts.
Microsoft, which owns Hotmail, and Google (Gmail) are the biggest players in the educational E-mail hosting market. Along with the neat-o peripheral gizmos like messaging, calendars, and collaboration tools, the outsourced systems are more stable, have better spam filters, and provide much more storage space than the typical university's in-house system. At the University of Pennsylvania, its old E-mail service gave students 60 megabytes of storage, just 3 percent of the 2 gigabytes Windows Live now provides. In return, Google and Microsoft get almost nothing, at least monetarily and in the short term. Microsoft's Windows Live @ edu and the Google Apps Education Edition are free of charge for schools. Eliminating another source of revenue, the two tech giants stripped their respective services of advertising in an effort to accommodate educators' concerns. Microsoft breaks even on the venture (it does run ads on non-E-mail services like instant messaging), while Google, which makes almost all its money through advertising, runs at a loss.
But what money they don't make at the moment will-the companies hope-pay great dividends in the form of lifelong users in the future, says Google's Jeff Kelter. As quickly as they shuffle out of commencement, graduates see their E-mail transition to the traditional ad-based formats of Gmail and Hotmail. And unlike before, when universities couldn't afford to host thousands of alumni, Google and Microsoft can maintain every account indefinitely, retaining customers as long as customers still want them.
Not all schools are ready to outsource their tech dirty work, with privacy and security topping the list of concerns. Critics worry that by handing over the responsibility of E-mail hosting, colleges also relinquish the freedom to keep the information safe in the best way they see fit. Even in the corporate world, there is great skepticism of consumer technologies like Google Apps. Yet most university IT managers agree that outsiders would do a better job protecting individual E-mail from viruses and spam than their own small operations, and strong word-of-mouth praise has done wonders to supplement the almost nonexistent marketing budgets for these Microsoft and Google projects.
The price tag-or lack of one-isn't a bad sales pitch either. Ramin Sedehi, the vice dean for finance and administration at Penn, says 30 percent of Penn's students already forward their messages to outside clients, and he predicts universities will eventually be out of the E-mail hosting business altogether. Ball State University and the Indiana University Alumni Association are now on Windows Live, and Arizona State University switched to Google Apps in October 2006, already converting at least 40,000 of its 65,000 students to the new system. Penn State University and California Polytechnic State University, to name two, have been in talks, while other schools are watching and waiting. | 3465.txt | 2 |
[
"they believe they will have good returns from the would-be lifelong users in the future.",
"it is part of their social commitment to return the society through contributing to education.",
"their strategy is to make profit through advertisement to university alumni.",
"they want the students to propagandize for their projects."
]
| The two giants persist in providing the E-mail services though they run at a loss because _ | Maintaining internal E-mail systems has long been the bane of the university information-technology director. Servers are unwieldy and unreliable, and in the past several years, the number of student complaints has grown exponentially as forward-moving providers like YahooMail, Hotmail, and Gmail have increased expectations of what E-mail should offer. The solution for a number of colleges has been to wave the white flag and outsource E-mail hosting to the experts.
Microsoft, which owns Hotmail, and Google (Gmail) are the biggest players in the educational E-mail hosting market. Along with the neat-o peripheral gizmos like messaging, calendars, and collaboration tools, the outsourced systems are more stable, have better spam filters, and provide much more storage space than the typical university's in-house system. At the University of Pennsylvania, its old E-mail service gave students 60 megabytes of storage, just 3 percent of the 2 gigabytes Windows Live now provides. In return, Google and Microsoft get almost nothing, at least monetarily and in the short term. Microsoft's Windows Live @ edu and the Google Apps Education Edition are free of charge for schools. Eliminating another source of revenue, the two tech giants stripped their respective services of advertising in an effort to accommodate educators' concerns. Microsoft breaks even on the venture (it does run ads on non-E-mail services like instant messaging), while Google, which makes almost all its money through advertising, runs at a loss.
But what money they don't make at the moment will-the companies hope-pay great dividends in the form of lifelong users in the future, says Google's Jeff Kelter. As quickly as they shuffle out of commencement, graduates see their E-mail transition to the traditional ad-based formats of Gmail and Hotmail. And unlike before, when universities couldn't afford to host thousands of alumni, Google and Microsoft can maintain every account indefinitely, retaining customers as long as customers still want them.
Not all schools are ready to outsource their tech dirty work, with privacy and security topping the list of concerns. Critics worry that by handing over the responsibility of E-mail hosting, colleges also relinquish the freedom to keep the information safe in the best way they see fit. Even in the corporate world, there is great skepticism of consumer technologies like Google Apps. Yet most university IT managers agree that outsiders would do a better job protecting individual E-mail from viruses and spam than their own small operations, and strong word-of-mouth praise has done wonders to supplement the almost nonexistent marketing budgets for these Microsoft and Google projects.
The price tag-or lack of one-isn't a bad sales pitch either. Ramin Sedehi, the vice dean for finance and administration at Penn, says 30 percent of Penn's students already forward their messages to outside clients, and he predicts universities will eventually be out of the E-mail hosting business altogether. Ball State University and the Indiana University Alumni Association are now on Windows Live, and Arizona State University switched to Google Apps in October 2006, already converting at least 40,000 of its 65,000 students to the new system. Penn State University and California Polytechnic State University, to name two, have been in talks, while other schools are watching and waiting. | 3465.txt | 0 |
[
"lose.",
"abandon.",
"exchange.",
"waste."
]
| The word "relinquish" (Line 3, Paragraph 4)most probably means _ | Maintaining internal E-mail systems has long been the bane of the university information-technology director. Servers are unwieldy and unreliable, and in the past several years, the number of student complaints has grown exponentially as forward-moving providers like YahooMail, Hotmail, and Gmail have increased expectations of what E-mail should offer. The solution for a number of colleges has been to wave the white flag and outsource E-mail hosting to the experts.
Microsoft, which owns Hotmail, and Google (Gmail) are the biggest players in the educational E-mail hosting market. Along with the neat-o peripheral gizmos like messaging, calendars, and collaboration tools, the outsourced systems are more stable, have better spam filters, and provide much more storage space than the typical university's in-house system. At the University of Pennsylvania, its old E-mail service gave students 60 megabytes of storage, just 3 percent of the 2 gigabytes Windows Live now provides. In return, Google and Microsoft get almost nothing, at least monetarily and in the short term. Microsoft's Windows Live @ edu and the Google Apps Education Edition are free of charge for schools. Eliminating another source of revenue, the two tech giants stripped their respective services of advertising in an effort to accommodate educators' concerns. Microsoft breaks even on the venture (it does run ads on non-E-mail services like instant messaging), while Google, which makes almost all its money through advertising, runs at a loss.
But what money they don't make at the moment will-the companies hope-pay great dividends in the form of lifelong users in the future, says Google's Jeff Kelter. As quickly as they shuffle out of commencement, graduates see their E-mail transition to the traditional ad-based formats of Gmail and Hotmail. And unlike before, when universities couldn't afford to host thousands of alumni, Google and Microsoft can maintain every account indefinitely, retaining customers as long as customers still want them.
Not all schools are ready to outsource their tech dirty work, with privacy and security topping the list of concerns. Critics worry that by handing over the responsibility of E-mail hosting, colleges also relinquish the freedom to keep the information safe in the best way they see fit. Even in the corporate world, there is great skepticism of consumer technologies like Google Apps. Yet most university IT managers agree that outsiders would do a better job protecting individual E-mail from viruses and spam than their own small operations, and strong word-of-mouth praise has done wonders to supplement the almost nonexistent marketing budgets for these Microsoft and Google projects.
The price tag-or lack of one-isn't a bad sales pitch either. Ramin Sedehi, the vice dean for finance and administration at Penn, says 30 percent of Penn's students already forward their messages to outside clients, and he predicts universities will eventually be out of the E-mail hosting business altogether. Ball State University and the Indiana University Alumni Association are now on Windows Live, and Arizona State University switched to Google Apps in October 2006, already converting at least 40,000 of its 65,000 students to the new system. Penn State University and California Polytechnic State University, to name two, have been in talks, while other schools are watching and waiting. | 3465.txt | 1 |
[
"people can learn to recognize faces",
"people have different personalities",
"people have difficulty in describing the features of finger prints",
"people differ from each other in facial features"
]
| By using the example of finger prints, the author tells us that ________. | Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people. Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child-or even an animal, such as a pigeon-can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to think about someone who was kind considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to "type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's or the hero's role. In fact, the words "person" and "personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning "mask". Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because the two types differ in appearance as well as inactions. | 3974.txt | 3 |
[
"telling people apart by how they behave",
"typing each other",
"telling good people from had people",
"recognizing human faces"
]
| According to this passage, some animals have the gift of ________. | Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people. Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child-or even an animal, such as a pigeon-can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to think about someone who was kind considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to "type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's or the hero's role. In fact, the words "person" and "personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning "mask". Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because the two types differ in appearance as well as inactions. | 3974.txt | 3 |
[
"The ancient Greek audience",
"The movie actors",
"Psychologists",
"The modern TV audience"
]
| Who most probably knows best how to describe people's personality? | Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people. Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child-or even an animal, such as a pigeon-can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to think about someone who was kind considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to "type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's or the hero's role. In fact, the words "person" and "personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning "mask". Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because the two types differ in appearance as well as inactions. | 3974.txt | 2 |
[
"people differ in their behavioral and physical characteristics",
"human fingerprints provide unique information",
"people's behavior can be easily described in words",
"human faces have complex features"
]
| According to the passage, it is possible for us tell one type of person from another because ________. | Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people. Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child-or even an animal, such as a pigeon-can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to think about someone who was kind considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to "type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's or the hero's role. In fact, the words "person" and "personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning "mask". Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because the two types differ in appearance as well as inactions. | 3974.txt | 0 |
[
"Why it is necessary to identify people's personality",
"Why it is possible to describe people",
"How to get to know people",
"How best to recognize people"
]
| Which of the following is the major point of the passage? | Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people. Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child-or even an animal, such as a pigeon-can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to think about someone who was kind considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing, his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to "type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's or the hero's role. In fact, the words "person" and "personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning "mask". Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because the two types differ in appearance as well as inactions. | 3974.txt | 1 |
[
"The interview with Iraqi scientists.",
"The warning towards Iraq.",
"The dou about Saddam's disarmament.",
"Sending 480,000 soldiers to Iraq."
]
| What didn't President Bush talk about according to this news report? | United States President George W.Bush yesterday expressed dou on efforts by United Nations arms inspectors to get information from Iraqi scientists, adding the presence of Iraqiofficials as a reason for it. A US official said any interference by Iraq with the interview would be another sign that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was failing to meet UN disarmament demands. "The inspectors are there to decide whether or not he is disarmingYou hear these reports about Iraqi scientists being interviewed, but there's an official in the room." Bush told reporters during a tour of his Texas farm. Bush had been asked whether he was satisfied with the UN inspectors' attempts to interview Iraqi scientists. Bush's answer included broad criticism of Saddam and a warning that a war was near. "He is a man who likes to play gam es andjokes. The question is, will Saddam Hussein disarm?" Bush said. "The first sign isn't very satisfactory that he will voluntarily disarm." Bush talked of Iraq's declaration on its arms, which he called "false", as well as the scientist interviews. "He's got to understand his day is coming," Bush said of Saddam. Bush spoke as more than 11,000 US soldiers prepared to head for the Gulf to join in US preparations for a possible invasion of Iraq to force an end to any programmes Saddam has to make nuclear biological or chemical weapons. The news came the same day as warplanes dropped 480,000 leaflets over two cities in a so called nofly area of southern Iraq on Thursday, pressing Iraqi armyand citiens to listen to US specialforces radio broadcasts to the area, the US armed forces said. | 3456.txt | 3 |
[
"Because the scientists wouldn't like to tell the truth.",
"Because Bush never beli e ved anything the scientists said.",
"Because Iraqi officials were watching them during the interviews.",
"Because Saddam asked them to tell lies during the interviews."
]
| Why didn't Bush believe what the Iraqi scientists said during the inerviews? | United States President George W.Bush yesterday expressed dou on efforts by United Nations arms inspectors to get information from Iraqi scientists, adding the presence of Iraqiofficials as a reason for it. A US official said any interference by Iraq with the interview would be another sign that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was failing to meet UN disarmament demands. "The inspectors are there to decide whether or not he is disarmingYou hear these reports about Iraqi scientists being interviewed, but there's an official in the room." Bush told reporters during a tour of his Texas farm. Bush had been asked whether he was satisfied with the UN inspectors' attempts to interview Iraqi scientists. Bush's answer included broad criticism of Saddam and a warning that a war was near. "He is a man who likes to play gam es andjokes. The question is, will Saddam Hussein disarm?" Bush said. "The first sign isn't very satisfactory that he will voluntarily disarm." Bush talked of Iraq's declaration on its arms, which he called "false", as well as the scientist interviews. "He's got to understand his day is coming," Bush said of Saddam. Bush spoke as more than 11,000 US soldiers prepared to head for the Gulf to join in US preparations for a possible invasion of Iraq to force an end to any programmes Saddam has to make nuclear biological or chemical weapons. The news came the same day as warplanes dropped 480,000 leaflets over two cities in a so called nofly area of southern Iraq on Thursday, pressing Iraqi armyand citiens to listen to US specialforces radio broadcasts to the area, the US armed forces said. | 3456.txt | 2 |
[
"The farm owned by Bush is in California.",
"11,000 US soldiers haven't got to the Middle East.",
"The nofly one is in the northern part of Iraq.",
"Bush thinks Saddam will disarm of himself."
]
| Which of the following statements is true? | United States President George W.Bush yesterday expressed dou on efforts by United Nations arms inspectors to get information from Iraqi scientists, adding the presence of Iraqiofficials as a reason for it. A US official said any interference by Iraq with the interview would be another sign that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was failing to meet UN disarmament demands. "The inspectors are there to decide whether or not he is disarmingYou hear these reports about Iraqi scientists being interviewed, but there's an official in the room." Bush told reporters during a tour of his Texas farm. Bush had been asked whether he was satisfied with the UN inspectors' attempts to interview Iraqi scientists. Bush's answer included broad criticism of Saddam and a warning that a war was near. "He is a man who likes to play gam es andjokes. The question is, will Saddam Hussein disarm?" Bush said. "The first sign isn't very satisfactory that he will voluntarily disarm." Bush talked of Iraq's declaration on its arms, which he called "false", as well as the scientist interviews. "He's got to understand his day is coming," Bush said of Saddam. Bush spoke as more than 11,000 US soldiers prepared to head for the Gulf to join in US preparations for a possible invasion of Iraq to force an end to any programmes Saddam has to make nuclear biological or chemical weapons. The news came the same day as warplanes dropped 480,000 leaflets over two cities in a so called nofly area of southern Iraq on Thursday, pressing Iraqi armyand citiens to listen to US specialforces radio broadcasts to the area, the US armed forces said. | 3456.txt | 1 |
[
"an individual merchant no longer performed all aspects of trading operations",
"a company's home office declined in importance",
"merchants no longer had to transport their goods to distant places",
"the volume of trade declined in areas lacking silver mines"
]
| According to paragraph 1, one effect of the increased use of cash was that | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 0 |
[
"fundamentally",
"quickly",
"unexpectedly",
"gradually"
]
| The word "radically", in the passage is closest in meaning to | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 0 |
[
"understood",
"included",
"delivered",
"supervised"
]
| The word "oversaw" in the passage is closest in meaning to | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 3 |
[
"An increase in credit sales",
"The use of courier services between cities",
"The adoption of simpler accounting procedures",
"The improvement of roads"
]
| According to paragraph 2, which of the following was NOT an effect of the change in business procedures? | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 2 |
[
"the use of trading centers in distant cities",
"a new system of recording commercial transactions",
"the opening of overland trade routes across northern Europe",
"access to markets in about 200 cities"
]
| According to paragraph 3, Hanseatic merchants benefited by all of the following EXCEPT | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 2 |
[
"probable",
"determining",
"helpful",
"limiting"
]
| The word "decisive" in the passage is closest in meaning to | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 1 |
[
"To argue that the wealth created by the commercial revolution benefited only a small number of people",
"To challenge the view that the commercial classes made up a majority of the population of Europe",
"To suggest a reason that the commercial revolution ended around A. D. 1300",
"To emphasize the point that the commercial revolution was brought about by a small part of the population"
]
| Why does the author provide the information in paragraph 4 that the commercial classes never exceeded 10 percent of the population? | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 3 |
[
"Increased wealth for the ruling classes",
"The weakening of the aristocracy",
"The decline of the middle class",
"A reduction in taxes"
]
| According to paragraph 4, which of the following was associated with the rise of modern states? | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 1 |
[
"transactions",
"communications",
"partnerships",
"conflicts"
]
| The word "alliances" in the passage is closest in meaning to | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 2 |
[
"simplify the organization of European society",
"provide employment to agricultural workers",
"encourage merchants to become community leaders",
"change Europe from a rural to a more urban society"
]
| According to paragraph 5, the most important result of the commercial revolution was to | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 3 |
[
"It had very little impact on social attitudes and values.",
"It brought about major political changes throughout Europe.",
"It lessened the influence of the church.",
"It increased the population of small towns."
]
| Paragraph 5 supports which of the following inferences about the commercial revolution between ad 1000 and 1300? | Beginning in the 1160s, the opening of new silver mines in northern Europe led to the minting and circulation of vast quantities of silver coins. The widespread use of cash greatly increased the volume of international trade. Business procedures changed radically. The individual traveling merchant who alone handled virtually all aspects of exchange evolved into an operation invoh/ing three separate types of merchants: the sedentary merchant who ran the "home office," financing and organizing the firm's entire export-import trade; the carriers who transported goods by land and sea; and the company agents resident in cities abroad who, on the advice of the home office, looked after sales and procurements.
Commercial correspondence, unnecessary when one businessperson oversaw everything and made direct bargains with buyers and sellers, multiplied. Regular courier service among commercial cities began. Commercial accounting became more complex when firms had to deal with shareholders, manufacturers, customers, branch offices, employees, and competing firms. Tolls on roads became high enough to finance what has been called a road revolution, involving new surfaces and bridges, new passes through the Alps, and new inns and hospices for travelers. The growth of mutual trust among merchants facilitated the growth of sales on credit and led to new developments in finance, such as the bill of exchange, a device that made the long, slow, and very dangerous shipment of coins unnecessary.
The ventures of the German Hanseatic League illustrate these advancements. The Hanseatic League was a mercantile association of European towns dating from 1159. The league grew by the end of the fourteenth century to include about 200 cities from Holland to Poland. Across regular, well- defined trade routes along the Baltic and North seas, the ships of league cities carried furs, wax, copper, fish, grain, timber, and wine. These goods were exchanged for finished products, mainly cloth and salt, from western cities. At cities such as Bruges and London, Hanseatic merchants secured special trading concessions, exempting them from all tolls and allowing them to trade at local fairs. Hanseatic merchants established foreign trading centers, the most famous of which was the London Steelyard, a walled community with warehouses, offices, a church, and residential quarters for company representatives. By the late thirteenth century, Hanseatic merchants had developed an important business technique, the business register. Merchants publicly recorded their debts and contracts and received a league guarantee for them. This device proved a decisive factor in the later development of credit and commerce in northern Europe.
These developments added up to what one modern scholar has called "a commercial revolution." In the long run, the commercial revolution of the High Middle Ages (A D 1000-1300) brought about radical change in European society. One remarkable aspect of this change was that the commercial classes constituted a small part of the total population-never more than 10 percent. They exercised an influence far in excess of their numbers. The commercial revolution created a great deal of new wealth, which meant a higher standard of living. The existence of wealth did not escape the attention of kings and other rulers. Wealth could be taxed, and through taxation, kings could create strong and centralized states. In the years to come, alliances with the middle classes were to enable kings to weaken aristocratic interests and build the states that came to be called modern.
The commercial revolution also provided the opportunity for thousands of agricultural workers to improve their social position. The slow but steady transformation of European society from almost completely rural and isolated to relatively more urban constituted the greatest effect of the commercial revolution that began in the eleventh century. Even so, merchants and business people did not run medieval communities, except in central and northern Italy and in the county of Flanders. Most towns remained small. The nobility and churchmen determined the predominant social attitudes, values, and patterns of thought and behavior. The commercial changes of the eleventh through fourteenth centuries did however, lay the economic foundation for the development of urban life and culture. | 2381.txt | 0 |
[
"Twelve months.",
"Eleven months.",
"Ten months.",
"Only one month."
]
| How long did Bishop take flying lessons? | Why a 15yearold American boy wrote a suicide note and then crashed a small plane into a tall building is unknown.Charles Bishop wrote a suicide note expressing his support for Osama Bin Laden.Then the boy flew a small plane into the 42storey Bank of America building in Tampa,Florida.
Police chief Bennie Holder said that there was nothing obvious to connect the incident with terrorism."From his actions,we can learn he was a very troubled young man,"said
H older.However,Ross Stewart,15,Bishop's classmate,remembers his as a"teacher's pet"and "a straight A"student who smiled a lot.
"He told me that he wanted to join the US Air Force because he wanted to do something good for his country,"said Gabriella Terry,B ishop's teacher,recalling a class discussion about the September 11 attacks.The plane crash took place after Bishop took off without permission.He was taking a flying lesson at an airport,about 30 kilometres from Tampa,on January 5.Bishop had been taking flying lessons since March 2001.
Only Bishop died.No one in the building was injured.The damage was limited to the 28th floor and the neighbouring ones.The building reopened on January 7,except for the two offices directly hit.It is not clear yet whether Bishop was suffering with depression.The incident came as a huge shock to a nation still covering from the World Trade Center attacks surely now Americans cannot help but wonder what could happen if a teenage boy can still fly a plane into a building. | 4166.txt | 2 |
[
"a very clever but lonely student",
"a student with depression",
"a favorite student in his class",
"a student with poor progress"
]
| According to the passage,we can learn that Bishop was _ . | Why a 15yearold American boy wrote a suicide note and then crashed a small plane into a tall building is unknown.Charles Bishop wrote a suicide note expressing his support for Osama Bin Laden.Then the boy flew a small plane into the 42storey Bank of America building in Tampa,Florida.
Police chief Bennie Holder said that there was nothing obvious to connect the incident with terrorism."From his actions,we can learn he was a very troubled young man,"said
H older.However,Ross Stewart,15,Bishop's classmate,remembers his as a"teacher's pet"and "a straight A"student who smiled a lot.
"He told me that he wanted to join the US Air Force because he wanted to do something good for his country,"said Gabriella Terry,B ishop's teacher,recalling a class discussion about the September 11 attacks.The plane crash took place after Bishop took off without permission.He was taking a flying lesson at an airport,about 30 kilometres from Tampa,on January 5.Bishop had been taking flying lessons since March 2001.
Only Bishop died.No one in the building was injured.The damage was limited to the 28th floor and the neighbouring ones.The building reopened on January 7,except for the two offices directly hit.It is not clear yet whether Bishop was suffering with depression.The incident came as a huge shock to a nation still covering from the World Trade Center attacks surely now Americans cannot help but wonder what could happen if a teenage boy can still fly a plane into a building. | 4166.txt | 2 |
[
"why Bishop could fly a plane into a building",
"when Bishop became very mad",
"what Bishop's suicide note was about",
"how Bishop crashed into a tall building"
]
| The incident now made all the Americans wonder _ . | Why a 15yearold American boy wrote a suicide note and then crashed a small plane into a tall building is unknown.Charles Bishop wrote a suicide note expressing his support for Osama Bin Laden.Then the boy flew a small plane into the 42storey Bank of America building in Tampa,Florida.
Police chief Bennie Holder said that there was nothing obvious to connect the incident with terrorism."From his actions,we can learn he was a very troubled young man,"said
H older.However,Ross Stewart,15,Bishop's classmate,remembers his as a"teacher's pet"and "a straight A"student who smiled a lot.
"He told me that he wanted to join the US Air Force because he wanted to do something good for his country,"said Gabriella Terry,B ishop's teacher,recalling a class discussion about the September 11 attacks.The plane crash took place after Bishop took off without permission.He was taking a flying lesson at an airport,about 30 kilometres from Tampa,on January 5.Bishop had been taking flying lessons since March 2001.
Only Bishop died.No one in the building was injured.The damage was limited to the 28th floor and the neighbouring ones.The building reopened on January 7,except for the two offices directly hit.It is not clear yet whether Bishop was suffering with depression.The incident came as a huge shock to a nation still covering from the World Trade Center attacks surely now Americans cannot help but wonder what could happen if a teenage boy can still fly a plane into a building. | 4166.txt | 0 |
[
"little students can not learn to fly a plane",
"Charles Bishop wanted to join the Air Force",
"a student at age 15 can take flying lessons",
"the plane crash frightened all the Bishop's classmates"
]
| From the article,we can infer that _ . | Why a 15yearold American boy wrote a suicide note and then crashed a small plane into a tall building is unknown.Charles Bishop wrote a suicide note expressing his support for Osama Bin Laden.Then the boy flew a small plane into the 42storey Bank of America building in Tampa,Florida.
Police chief Bennie Holder said that there was nothing obvious to connect the incident with terrorism."From his actions,we can learn he was a very troubled young man,"said
H older.However,Ross Stewart,15,Bishop's classmate,remembers his as a"teacher's pet"and "a straight A"student who smiled a lot.
"He told me that he wanted to join the US Air Force because he wanted to do something good for his country,"said Gabriella Terry,B ishop's teacher,recalling a class discussion about the September 11 attacks.The plane crash took place after Bishop took off without permission.He was taking a flying lesson at an airport,about 30 kilometres from Tampa,on January 5.Bishop had been taking flying lessons since March 2001.
Only Bishop died.No one in the building was injured.The damage was limited to the 28th floor and the neighbouring ones.The building reopened on January 7,except for the two offices directly hit.It is not clear yet whether Bishop was suffering with depression.The incident came as a huge shock to a nation still covering from the World Trade Center attacks surely now Americans cannot help but wonder what could happen if a teenage boy can still fly a plane into a building. | 4166.txt | 2 |
[
"rapidly changing",
"cyclically recurring",
"steadily growing",
"unimportant to the viewers of photographs"
]
| According to the passage, interest among photographers in each of photography's two ideals can be described as | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 1 |
[
"establishing new technical standards for contemporary photography",
"analyzing the influence of photographic ideals on picture-taking",
"tracing the development of camera technology in the twentieth century",
"describing how photographers' individual temperaments are reflected in their work"
]
| The author's is primarily concerned with | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 1 |
[
"They can display a cropped reality.",
"They can convey information",
"They can depict the photographer's temperament.",
"They can change the viewer's sensibilities."
]
| The passage states all of the following about photographs EXCEPT: | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 3 |
[
"how a controlled ambivalence toward photography's means can produce outstanding pictures",
"how the content of photographs has changed from the nineteenth century to the twentieth",
"the popularity of high-speed photography in the twentieth century",
"the relationship between photographic originality and technology"
]
| The author mentions the work of. Harold Edgerton in order to provide an example of | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 3 |
[
"admire instruments of fast seeing",
"need to feel armed by technology",
"strive for intense formal beauty in their photographs",
"dislike the dependence of photographic effectiveness on the powers of a machine"
]
| The passage suggests that photographers such as Walker Evans prefer old-fashioned techniques and equipment because these photographers | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 3 |
[
"value that each places on the beauty of the finished product",
"emphasis that each places on the emotional impact of the finished product",
"degree of technical knowledge that each requires of the photographer",
"way in which each defines the role of the photographer"
]
| According to the passage, the two antithetical ideals of photography differ primarily in the | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 3 |
[
"Photographers, as a result of their heightened awareness of time, are constantly trying to capture events and actions that are fleeting.",
"Thus the cult of the future, the worship of machines and spend, is firmly established in spite of efforts to the contrary by some photographers.",
"The rejection of technical knowledge, how ever, can never be complete and photography cannot for any length of time pretend that it has no weapons.",
"The point of honor involved in rejecting complex equipment is, however, of no significance to the viewer of a photograph."
]
| Which of the following statements would be most likely to begin the paragraph immediately following the passage? | Picture-taking is a technique both for annexing the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two antithetical ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of intrepid, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all.
These conflicting ideals arise from a fundamental uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attractive because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed.
An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression on a par with painting, its originality is inextricably linked to the powers of a machine. The steady growth of thesepowers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullethitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limits imposed by premodern camera technology because a cruder, less high powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier-Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera a an instrument of "fast seeing." Cartier- Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast.
This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over timem with the wish to return to a purer past-when images had a handmade quality. This nostalgia for some pristine state of the photographicenterprise is currently wide-spread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth- century provincial photographers.Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness. | 1960.txt | 2 |
[
"hosts willing to receive foreign students",
"foreigners hoping to build British culture",
"travellers planning to visit families in London",
"English learners applying to live in English homes"
]
| The passage is probably written for _ . | Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals.Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week.You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system.Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential.Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area.It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
◇ Continental Breakfast
◇ Breakfast and Dinner
◇ Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice，cereal , bread and tea or coffee.Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England.Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission.You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
SelfCatering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room??only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room.This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long??stay student.However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. | 3096.txt | 3 |
[
"Room cleaning.",
"Medical care.",
"Free transport.",
"Physical training."
]
| Which of the following will the host provide? | Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals.Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week.You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system.Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential.Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area.It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
◇ Continental Breakfast
◇ Breakfast and Dinner
◇ Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice，cereal , bread and tea or coffee.Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England.Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission.You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
SelfCatering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room??only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room.This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long??stay student.However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. | 3096.txt | 0 |
[
"Zone 4 is more crowded than Zone 2.",
"The business centre of London is in Zone 1.",
"Hosts dislike travelling to the city centre.",
"Accommodation in the city centre is not provided."
]
| What can be inferred from Paragraph 3? | Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals.Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week.You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system.Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential.Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area.It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
◇ Continental Breakfast
◇ Breakfast and Dinner
◇ Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice，cereal , bread and tea or coffee.Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England.Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission.You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
SelfCatering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room??only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room.This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long??stay student.However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. | 3096.txt | 1 |
[
"Dessert and coffee.",
"Fruit and vegetables.",
"Bread and fruit juice.",
"Cereal and cold meat."
]
| According to the passage, what does Continental Breakfast include? | Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals.Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week.You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system.Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential.Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area.It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
◇ Continental Breakfast
◇ Breakfast and Dinner
◇ Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice，cereal , bread and tea or coffee.Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England.Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission.You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
SelfCatering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room??only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room.This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long??stay student.However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. | 3096.txt | 2 |
[
"To experience a warmer family atmosphere.",
"To enrich their knowledge of English.",
"To entertain friends as they like.",
"To enjoy much more freedom."
]
| Why do some people choose self??catering accommodation? | Homestay provides English language students with the opportunity to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of a British home.
What to Expect
The host will provide accommodation and meals.Rooms will be cleaned and bedcovers changed at least once a week.You will be given the house key and the host is there to offer help and advice as well as to take an interest in your physical and mental health.
Accommodation Zones
Homestays are located in London mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4 of the transport system.Most hosts do not live in the town centre as much of central London is commercial and not residential.Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger accommodation in a less crowded area.It is very convenient to travel in London by Underground.
Meal Plans Available
◇ Continental Breakfast
◇ Breakfast and Dinner
◇ Breakfast, Packed Lunch and Dinner
It's important to note that few English families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.Your accommodation includes Continental Breakfast which normally consists of fruit juice，cereal , bread and tea or coffee.Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not normally part of a Continental Breakfast in England.Dinners usually consist of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you wish to invite a friend over to visit, you must first ask your host's permission.You have no right to entertain friends in a family home as some families feel it is an invasion of their privacy.
SelfCatering Accommodation in Private Homes
Accommodation on a room??only basis includes shared kitchen and bathroom facilities and often a main living room.This kind of accommodation offers an independent lifestyle and is more suitable for the long??stay student.However, it does not provide the same family atmosphere as an ordinary homestay and may not benefit those who need to practise English at home quite as much. | 3096.txt | 3 |
[
"was regarded as quite normal",
"used to be very low",
"remained a difficult problem for the federal government",
"reminded people of the principles laid down by Washington"
]
| The U. S. government status in the public mind before the Great Depression _ . | The Reader's digest investigation asked Americans which was the biggest threat to the nation's future-big business, big labor or big government. A whopping 67 percent replied " big government"
Opinion researchers rarely see such a vast change in public attitude. When put in historical perspective, from the time of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to the present, the fallen status of government as a protector and benefactor is extraordinary. We've returned to the instinctive American wariness of Washington so common before the Great Depression.
In our poll, taken before the November elections, the overwhelming majority of our respondents wanted to stop or roll back the impact of government. In answer to another question posed by The Digest, 79 percent said they wanted either no more than the current level of government services and taxes, or less government and lower taxes.
"It seems to me that we in the middle class bear most of the burden," says Jone Nell Norman, 61, a nurse in Dyersburg, Tenn., who often wonders about the government's judgement in spending her money.
Of Americans in our sample, 62 percent believe that politician's ethics and honesty have fallen. And what about Congress? Is it doing a good job? Or do members " spend more time thinking about their political futures than passing good legislation?" Across generations, a thumping 89 percent thought the latter. "Congress always seems to be screwing up," says one young Xer.
However, Americans are satisfied with their own lives and jobs. Four of five respondents were "completely " or " somewhat " satisfied. The figures held up across all ages - including Xer, whom many pundits have claimed are pessimistic about their future.
Looking deeper at jobs, we found 70 percent of Americans believe they are about where they should be, given their talents and effort. This is an issue where age always makes a difference, since older people, who are more established in their jobs tend to be more satisfied, while younger workers are still trying to find the right niche. Sure enough, Xers scored 65 percent, about five points below average. | 907.txt | 1 |
[
"accusers",
"younger respondents",
"college students",
"blue-collar workers"
]
| " Xers" is repeated several times to refer to | The Reader's digest investigation asked Americans which was the biggest threat to the nation's future-big business, big labor or big government. A whopping 67 percent replied " big government"
Opinion researchers rarely see such a vast change in public attitude. When put in historical perspective, from the time of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to the present, the fallen status of government as a protector and benefactor is extraordinary. We've returned to the instinctive American wariness of Washington so common before the Great Depression.
In our poll, taken before the November elections, the overwhelming majority of our respondents wanted to stop or roll back the impact of government. In answer to another question posed by The Digest, 79 percent said they wanted either no more than the current level of government services and taxes, or less government and lower taxes.
"It seems to me that we in the middle class bear most of the burden," says Jone Nell Norman, 61, a nurse in Dyersburg, Tenn., who often wonders about the government's judgement in spending her money.
Of Americans in our sample, 62 percent believe that politician's ethics and honesty have fallen. And what about Congress? Is it doing a good job? Or do members " spend more time thinking about their political futures than passing good legislation?" Across generations, a thumping 89 percent thought the latter. "Congress always seems to be screwing up," says one young Xer.
However, Americans are satisfied with their own lives and jobs. Four of five respondents were "completely " or " somewhat " satisfied. The figures held up across all ages - including Xer, whom many pundits have claimed are pessimistic about their future.
Looking deeper at jobs, we found 70 percent of Americans believe they are about where they should be, given their talents and effort. This is an issue where age always makes a difference, since older people, who are more established in their jobs tend to be more satisfied, while younger workers are still trying to find the right niche. Sure enough, Xers scored 65 percent, about five points below average. | 907.txt | 1 |
[
"the government has cheated her out of her money",
"it is hard for her to earn a living",
"even a retired nurse has lost faith in the government",
"the more the government does the greater stake tax - payers' money will be put at"
]
| The 61-years-old nurse Norman is mentioned in the article to show that _ . | The Reader's digest investigation asked Americans which was the biggest threat to the nation's future-big business, big labor or big government. A whopping 67 percent replied " big government"
Opinion researchers rarely see such a vast change in public attitude. When put in historical perspective, from the time of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to the present, the fallen status of government as a protector and benefactor is extraordinary. We've returned to the instinctive American wariness of Washington so common before the Great Depression.
In our poll, taken before the November elections, the overwhelming majority of our respondents wanted to stop or roll back the impact of government. In answer to another question posed by The Digest, 79 percent said they wanted either no more than the current level of government services and taxes, or less government and lower taxes.
"It seems to me that we in the middle class bear most of the burden," says Jone Nell Norman, 61, a nurse in Dyersburg, Tenn., who often wonders about the government's judgement in spending her money.
Of Americans in our sample, 62 percent believe that politician's ethics and honesty have fallen. And what about Congress? Is it doing a good job? Or do members " spend more time thinking about their political futures than passing good legislation?" Across generations, a thumping 89 percent thought the latter. "Congress always seems to be screwing up," says one young Xer.
However, Americans are satisfied with their own lives and jobs. Four of five respondents were "completely " or " somewhat " satisfied. The figures held up across all ages - including Xer, whom many pundits have claimed are pessimistic about their future.
Looking deeper at jobs, we found 70 percent of Americans believe they are about where they should be, given their talents and effort. This is an issue where age always makes a difference, since older people, who are more established in their jobs tend to be more satisfied, while younger workers are still trying to find the right niche. Sure enough, Xers scored 65 percent, about five points below average. | 907.txt | 3 |
[
"indecisive in making decisions",
"benefiting the nation in earnest",
"making a mess of everything",
"debating hotly"
]
| " Screwing up " in paragraph 5 may be paraphrased as _ . | The Reader's digest investigation asked Americans which was the biggest threat to the nation's future-big business, big labor or big government. A whopping 67 percent replied " big government"
Opinion researchers rarely see such a vast change in public attitude. When put in historical perspective, from the time of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to the present, the fallen status of government as a protector and benefactor is extraordinary. We've returned to the instinctive American wariness of Washington so common before the Great Depression.
In our poll, taken before the November elections, the overwhelming majority of our respondents wanted to stop or roll back the impact of government. In answer to another question posed by The Digest, 79 percent said they wanted either no more than the current level of government services and taxes, or less government and lower taxes.
"It seems to me that we in the middle class bear most of the burden," says Jone Nell Norman, 61, a nurse in Dyersburg, Tenn., who often wonders about the government's judgement in spending her money.
Of Americans in our sample, 62 percent believe that politician's ethics and honesty have fallen. And what about Congress? Is it doing a good job? Or do members " spend more time thinking about their political futures than passing good legislation?" Across generations, a thumping 89 percent thought the latter. "Congress always seems to be screwing up," says one young Xer.
However, Americans are satisfied with their own lives and jobs. Four of five respondents were "completely " or " somewhat " satisfied. The figures held up across all ages - including Xer, whom many pundits have claimed are pessimistic about their future.
Looking deeper at jobs, we found 70 percent of Americans believe they are about where they should be, given their talents and effort. This is an issue where age always makes a difference, since older people, who are more established in their jobs tend to be more satisfied, while younger workers are still trying to find the right niche. Sure enough, Xers scored 65 percent, about five points below average. | 907.txt | 2 |
[
"the future of the whole nation",
"people's well - being in the future",
"a position of higher rank",
"awareness of consistency in policies"
]
| " Political future " in paragraph 5 may be paraphrased as _ . | The Reader's digest investigation asked Americans which was the biggest threat to the nation's future-big business, big labor or big government. A whopping 67 percent replied " big government"
Opinion researchers rarely see such a vast change in public attitude. When put in historical perspective, from the time of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to the present, the fallen status of government as a protector and benefactor is extraordinary. We've returned to the instinctive American wariness of Washington so common before the Great Depression.
In our poll, taken before the November elections, the overwhelming majority of our respondents wanted to stop or roll back the impact of government. In answer to another question posed by The Digest, 79 percent said they wanted either no more than the current level of government services and taxes, or less government and lower taxes.
"It seems to me that we in the middle class bear most of the burden," says Jone Nell Norman, 61, a nurse in Dyersburg, Tenn., who often wonders about the government's judgement in spending her money.
Of Americans in our sample, 62 percent believe that politician's ethics and honesty have fallen. And what about Congress? Is it doing a good job? Or do members " spend more time thinking about their political futures than passing good legislation?" Across generations, a thumping 89 percent thought the latter. "Congress always seems to be screwing up," says one young Xer.
However, Americans are satisfied with their own lives and jobs. Four of five respondents were "completely " or " somewhat " satisfied. The figures held up across all ages - including Xer, whom many pundits have claimed are pessimistic about their future.
Looking deeper at jobs, we found 70 percent of Americans believe they are about where they should be, given their talents and effort. This is an issue where age always makes a difference, since older people, who are more established in their jobs tend to be more satisfied, while younger workers are still trying to find the right niche. Sure enough, Xers scored 65 percent, about five points below average. | 907.txt | 2 |
[
"Naturally occurring nitrogen oxides, as well as those introduced by humans, threaten to deplete the layer of ozone in the stratosphere.",
"A delicate but reasonably constant balance exists between the natural processes that produce and those that destroy ozone in the stratosphere.",
"There is little hope that the increased concentrations of ground-level ozone observed in recent years can offset any future depletion of stratospheric ozone.",
"Meteorologically induced changes in the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere tend to cancel themselves out over a period of time."
]
| Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage? | The stratospheric ozone layer is not a completely uniform stratum, nor does it occur at the same altitude around the globe. It lies closest to the Earth over the poles and rises to maximum altitude over the equator. In the stratosphere, ozone is continuously being made and destroyed by natural processes. During the day the Sun breaks down some of the oxygen molecules to single oxygen atoms, and these reacting with the oxygen molecules that have not been dissociated, form ozone. However, the sunlight also breaks down ozone by converting some of it back to normal oxygen. In addition naturally occurring nitrogen oxides enter into the cycle and speed the breakdown reactions. The amount of ozone present at any one time is the balance between the processes that create it and those that destroy it.
Since the splitting of the oxygen molecules depends directly upon the intensity of solar radiation, the greatest rate of ozone production occurs over the tropics. However ozone is also destroyed most rapidly there, and wind circulation patterns carry the ozone-enriched upper layers of the atmosphere away from the equator. It turns out that the largest total ozone amounts are found at high latitudes. On a typical day the amount of ozone over Minnesota, for example, is 30 percent greater than the amount over Texas, 900 miles farther south. The density and altitude of the ozone layer also change with the seasons, the weather, and the amount of solar activity. Nevertheless, at any one place above the Earth's surface, the long-term averages maintained by natural processes are believed to be reasonably constant.
The amount of ozone near the Earth is only a small percent of the amount in the stratosphere, and exchange of molecules between the ozone layer and the air at ground level is thought to be relatively small. Furthermore, the ozone molecule is so unstable that only a tiny fraction of ground-level ozone could survive the long trip to the stratosphere, so the ozone layer will not be replenished to any significant degree by the increasing concentrations of ozone that have been detected in recent years near the earth's surface. The long-term averages of ozone both near ground level and in the stratosphere are regulated by continuous processes that are constantly destroying and creating it in each of these places. This is why scientists are so concerned about human beings injection into the stratosphere of chemicals like nitrogen oxides, which are catalysts that facilitate the breakdown of ozone. If the ozone layer is depleted significantly, more ultraviolet radiation would penetrate to the Earth's surface and damage many living organisms. | 1974.txt | 1 |
[
"Automobile emissions and seasonal fog that create a layer of smog over a city",
"Planting and harvesting activities that produce a crop whose size is always about the same",
"Withdrawals and deposits made in a bank account whose average balance remains about the same",
"Assets and liabilities that determine the net worth of a corporation"
]
| The processes that determine the amount of ozone in a given portion of the stratosphere most resemble which of the following? | The stratospheric ozone layer is not a completely uniform stratum, nor does it occur at the same altitude around the globe. It lies closest to the Earth over the poles and rises to maximum altitude over the equator. In the stratosphere, ozone is continuously being made and destroyed by natural processes. During the day the Sun breaks down some of the oxygen molecules to single oxygen atoms, and these reacting with the oxygen molecules that have not been dissociated, form ozone. However, the sunlight also breaks down ozone by converting some of it back to normal oxygen. In addition naturally occurring nitrogen oxides enter into the cycle and speed the breakdown reactions. The amount of ozone present at any one time is the balance between the processes that create it and those that destroy it.
Since the splitting of the oxygen molecules depends directly upon the intensity of solar radiation, the greatest rate of ozone production occurs over the tropics. However ozone is also destroyed most rapidly there, and wind circulation patterns carry the ozone-enriched upper layers of the atmosphere away from the equator. It turns out that the largest total ozone amounts are found at high latitudes. On a typical day the amount of ozone over Minnesota, for example, is 30 percent greater than the amount over Texas, 900 miles farther south. The density and altitude of the ozone layer also change with the seasons, the weather, and the amount of solar activity. Nevertheless, at any one place above the Earth's surface, the long-term averages maintained by natural processes are believed to be reasonably constant.
The amount of ozone near the Earth is only a small percent of the amount in the stratosphere, and exchange of molecules between the ozone layer and the air at ground level is thought to be relatively small. Furthermore, the ozone molecule is so unstable that only a tiny fraction of ground-level ozone could survive the long trip to the stratosphere, so the ozone layer will not be replenished to any significant degree by the increasing concentrations of ozone that have been detected in recent years near the earth's surface. The long-term averages of ozone both near ground level and in the stratosphere are regulated by continuous processes that are constantly destroying and creating it in each of these places. This is why scientists are so concerned about human beings injection into the stratosphere of chemicals like nitrogen oxides, which are catalysts that facilitate the breakdown of ozone. If the ozone layer is depleted significantly, more ultraviolet radiation would penetrate to the Earth's surface and damage many living organisms. | 1974.txt | 2 |
[
"Latitude",
"Weather",
"Season",
"Ground-level ozone"
]
| According to the passage, which of the following has the LEAST effect on the amount of ozone at a given location in the upper atmosphere? | The stratospheric ozone layer is not a completely uniform stratum, nor does it occur at the same altitude around the globe. It lies closest to the Earth over the poles and rises to maximum altitude over the equator. In the stratosphere, ozone is continuously being made and destroyed by natural processes. During the day the Sun breaks down some of the oxygen molecules to single oxygen atoms, and these reacting with the oxygen molecules that have not been dissociated, form ozone. However, the sunlight also breaks down ozone by converting some of it back to normal oxygen. In addition naturally occurring nitrogen oxides enter into the cycle and speed the breakdown reactions. The amount of ozone present at any one time is the balance between the processes that create it and those that destroy it.
Since the splitting of the oxygen molecules depends directly upon the intensity of solar radiation, the greatest rate of ozone production occurs over the tropics. However ozone is also destroyed most rapidly there, and wind circulation patterns carry the ozone-enriched upper layers of the atmosphere away from the equator. It turns out that the largest total ozone amounts are found at high latitudes. On a typical day the amount of ozone over Minnesota, for example, is 30 percent greater than the amount over Texas, 900 miles farther south. The density and altitude of the ozone layer also change with the seasons, the weather, and the amount of solar activity. Nevertheless, at any one place above the Earth's surface, the long-term averages maintained by natural processes are believed to be reasonably constant.
The amount of ozone near the Earth is only a small percent of the amount in the stratosphere, and exchange of molecules between the ozone layer and the air at ground level is thought to be relatively small. Furthermore, the ozone molecule is so unstable that only a tiny fraction of ground-level ozone could survive the long trip to the stratosphere, so the ozone layer will not be replenished to any significant degree by the increasing concentrations of ozone that have been detected in recent years near the earth's surface. The long-term averages of ozone both near ground level and in the stratosphere are regulated by continuous processes that are constantly destroying and creating it in each of these places. This is why scientists are so concerned about human beings injection into the stratosphere of chemicals like nitrogen oxides, which are catalysts that facilitate the breakdown of ozone. If the ozone layer is depleted significantly, more ultraviolet radiation would penetrate to the Earth's surface and damage many living organisms. | 1974.txt | 3 |
[
"an interactive relationship",
"a reductive system",
"a linear progression",
"a set of randomly occurring phenomena"
]
| In explaining what determines the amount of ozone in the stratosphere, the author describes natural processes that form | The stratospheric ozone layer is not a completely uniform stratum, nor does it occur at the same altitude around the globe. It lies closest to the Earth over the poles and rises to maximum altitude over the equator. In the stratosphere, ozone is continuously being made and destroyed by natural processes. During the day the Sun breaks down some of the oxygen molecules to single oxygen atoms, and these reacting with the oxygen molecules that have not been dissociated, form ozone. However, the sunlight also breaks down ozone by converting some of it back to normal oxygen. In addition naturally occurring nitrogen oxides enter into the cycle and speed the breakdown reactions. The amount of ozone present at any one time is the balance between the processes that create it and those that destroy it.
Since the splitting of the oxygen molecules depends directly upon the intensity of solar radiation, the greatest rate of ozone production occurs over the tropics. However ozone is also destroyed most rapidly there, and wind circulation patterns carry the ozone-enriched upper layers of the atmosphere away from the equator. It turns out that the largest total ozone amounts are found at high latitudes. On a typical day the amount of ozone over Minnesota, for example, is 30 percent greater than the amount over Texas, 900 miles farther south. The density and altitude of the ozone layer also change with the seasons, the weather, and the amount of solar activity. Nevertheless, at any one place above the Earth's surface, the long-term averages maintained by natural processes are believed to be reasonably constant.
The amount of ozone near the Earth is only a small percent of the amount in the stratosphere, and exchange of molecules between the ozone layer and the air at ground level is thought to be relatively small. Furthermore, the ozone molecule is so unstable that only a tiny fraction of ground-level ozone could survive the long trip to the stratosphere, so the ozone layer will not be replenished to any significant degree by the increasing concentrations of ozone that have been detected in recent years near the earth's surface. The long-term averages of ozone both near ground level and in the stratosphere are regulated by continuous processes that are constantly destroying and creating it in each of these places. This is why scientists are so concerned about human beings injection into the stratosphere of chemicals like nitrogen oxides, which are catalysts that facilitate the breakdown of ozone. If the ozone layer is depleted significantly, more ultraviolet radiation would penetrate to the Earth's surface and damage many living organisms. | 1974.txt | 0 |
[
"they think it academically misleading",
"they have a lot of fun to expect in college",
"it feels strange to do differently from others",
"it seems worthless to take off-campus courses"
]
| One of the reasons for high-school graduates not taking a gap year is that ______. | Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn't it？ And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn't feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn't
academic.
But while this may be true, it's not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There's always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated "race to the finish line," whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits-in fact, it probably enhances it.
Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes-all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.
If you're not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn't surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on. | 434.txt | 2 |
[
"keep students from being unrealistic",
"lower risks in choosing careers",
"ease freshmen's financial burdens",
"relieve freshmen of pressures"
]
| Studies from the US and Australia imply that taking a gap year helps _______. | Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn't it？ And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn't feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn't
academic.
But while this may be true, it's not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There's always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated "race to the finish line," whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits-in fact, it probably enhances it.
Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes-all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.
If you're not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn't surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on. | 434.txt | 3 |
[
"adaptation",
"application",
"motivation",
"competition"
]
| The word "acclimation"（Line 8, Para. 3）is closest in meaning to ________. | Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn't it？ And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn't feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn't
academic.
But while this may be true, it's not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There's always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated "race to the finish line," whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits-in fact, it probably enhances it.
Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes-all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.
If you're not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn't surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on. | 434.txt | 0 |
[
"avoid academic failures",
"establish long-term goals",
"switch to another college",
"decide on the right major"
]
| A gap year may save money for students by helping them _______. | Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn't it？ And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn't feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn't
academic.
But while this may be true, it's not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There's always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated "race to the finish line," whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits-in fact, it probably enhances it.
Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes-all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.
If you're not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn't surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on. | 434.txt | 3 |
[
"In Favor of the Gap Year",
"The ABCs of the Gap Year",
"The Gap Year Comes Back",
"The Gap Year: A Dilemma"
]
| The most suitable title for this text would be ________. | Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn't it？ And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn't feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn't
academic.
But while this may be true, it's not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There's always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated "race to the finish line," whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits-in fact, it probably enhances it.
Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes-all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.
If you're not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn't surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on. | 434.txt | 0 |
[
"What pets bring to their owners",
"How pets help people calm down",
"people's opinions of keeping pets",
"Pet's value in medical research"
]
| What does the text mainly discuss? | Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.
Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners -while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did
It best.Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned
Most quickly to baseline heart rates.With pets in the room ,people also made fewer math mistakes
Than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more released around
Pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don't judge.
A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwesterm Memorial Hospital spent a
Year studying 36 fat people and were put on a diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of
56 fat people without pets were put on a diet program. On average，people lost about 11 pounds，
Or 5% of their body weight.Their dogs did even better，losing an average of 12 pounds，more then
15%of their body weight.Dog owners didn't lose any more weight than those without dogs but ,say
Researchers，got more exercise overall -mostly with their dogs -and found it worth doing. | 3790.txt | 0 |
[
"he has a pet companion",
"he has less stress of work",
"he often dose mental arithmetic",
"he is taken care of by his family"
]
| We learn from the text that a person with heart disease has a better chance of getting well if | Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.
Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners -while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did
It best.Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned
Most quickly to baseline heart rates.With pets in the room ,people also made fewer math mistakes
Than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more released around
Pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don't judge.
A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwesterm Memorial Hospital spent a
Year studying 36 fat people and were put on a diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of
56 fat people without pets were put on a diet program. On average，people lost about 11 pounds，
Or 5% of their body weight.Their dogs did even better，losing an average of 12 pounds，more then
15%of their body weight.Dog owners didn't lose any more weight than those without dogs but ,say
Researchers，got more exercise overall -mostly with their dogs -and found it worth doing. | 3790.txt | 0 |
[
"They have lower blood pressure.",
"They become more patient.",
"They are less nervous.",
"They are in higher spirits."
]
| According to Allen, why did the people do better with pets around when facing stressful tasks? | Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.
Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners -while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did
It best.Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned
Most quickly to baseline heart rates.With pets in the room ,people also made fewer math mistakes
Than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more released around
Pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don't judge.
A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwesterm Memorial Hospital spent a
Year studying 36 fat people and were put on a diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of
56 fat people without pets were put on a diet program. On average，people lost about 11 pounds，
Or 5% of their body weight.Their dogs did even better，losing an average of 12 pounds，more then
15%of their body weight.Dog owners didn't lose any more weight than those without dogs but ,say
Researchers，got more exercise overall -mostly with their dogs -and found it worth doing. | 3790.txt | 2 |
[
"people with dogs did more exercise",
"dogs lost the same weight as people did",
"dogs liked exercise much more than people did",
"people without dogs found the program unhelpful"
]
| The research mentioned in the last paragraph reports that | Science can't explain the power of pets, but many studies have shown that the company of pets can help lower blood pressure and raise chances of recovering from a heart attack, reduce loneliness and spread all-round good cheer.
Any owner will tall you how much joy a pet brings. For some, an animal provides more comfort than a husband/wife. A 2002 study by Karen Allen of the State University of New York measured stress levels and blood pressure in people - half of them pet owners -while they performed 5 minutes of mental arithmetic or held a hand in ice water. Subjects completed the tasks alone, with a husband/wife, a close friend or with a pet. People with pets did
It best.Those tested with their animal friends had smaller change in blood pressure and returned
Most quickly to baseline heart rates.With pets in the room ,people also made fewer math mistakes
Than when doing in front of other companions. It seems people feel more released around
Pets, says Allen, who thinks it may be because pets don't judge.
A study reported last fall suggests that having a pet dog not only raises your spirits but may also have an effect on your eating habits. Researchers at Northwesterm Memorial Hospital spent a
Year studying 36 fat people and were put on a diet-and-exercise programs; a separate group of
56 fat people without pets were put on a diet program. On average，people lost about 11 pounds，
Or 5% of their body weight.Their dogs did even better，losing an average of 12 pounds，more then
15%of their body weight.Dog owners didn't lose any more weight than those without dogs but ,say
Researchers，got more exercise overall -mostly with their dogs -and found it worth doing. | 3790.txt | 0 |
[
"forests",
"rain",
"birds",
"fish"
]
| In the past, the water in Lake Ponkapog was made clean by _ . | Thirty years ago, Lake Ponkapog in Hartwell, New Jersey, was full, of life. Many birds and animals lived beside the water, which was full of fish. Now there are few birds, animals, and fish. The lake water is polluted. It is in a colour of dirty brown, and it is filled with strange plants.
How did this happen? First, we must think about how water gets into LakePonkapog. When it rains, water comes into the lake from all around. In the past, there were forests all around Lake Ponkapog, so the rainwater was clean.
Now there are many homes around the lake. People often use chemicals in their gardens. They use other chemicals inside their houses for cleaning or killing insects. There are also many businesses. Businesses use chemicals in their machines or shops. Other chemicals fall onto the ground from cars or trucks. When it rains, the rainwater picks up all the chemicals from homes and businesses and then .carries them into the lake. They pollute the water and kill the animals.
Boats on the lake are also a problem. Lake Ponkapog is a popular place for motorboats. But oil and gas from boats get into the lake. So more bad chemicals go into the water this way.
People in Hartwell are worried. They love their lake and want to save it. Will it be possible? A clean lake must have clean rainwater going into it. Clean rainwater is possible only if people are more careful about chemicals at home and at work. They must also be more careful about gas and oil and other chemicals on the ground. And they mustn't use motorboats any more on the lake. All these may change people's lives. Only then can Lake Ponkapog be a beautiful, clean lake again. | 742.txt | 0 |
[
"are always clean",
"can help the animals",
"are good for the lake",
"get into the rainwater"
]
| Chemicals from homes and businesses _ . | Thirty years ago, Lake Ponkapog in Hartwell, New Jersey, was full, of life. Many birds and animals lived beside the water, which was full of fish. Now there are few birds, animals, and fish. The lake water is polluted. It is in a colour of dirty brown, and it is filled with strange plants.
How did this happen? First, we must think about how water gets into LakePonkapog. When it rains, water comes into the lake from all around. In the past, there were forests all around Lake Ponkapog, so the rainwater was clean.
Now there are many homes around the lake. People often use chemicals in their gardens. They use other chemicals inside their houses for cleaning or killing insects. There are also many businesses. Businesses use chemicals in their machines or shops. Other chemicals fall onto the ground from cars or trucks. When it rains, the rainwater picks up all the chemicals from homes and businesses and then .carries them into the lake. They pollute the water and kill the animals.
Boats on the lake are also a problem. Lake Ponkapog is a popular place for motorboats. But oil and gas from boats get into the lake. So more bad chemicals go into the water this way.
People in Hartwell are worried. They love their lake and want to save it. Will it be possible? A clean lake must have clean rainwater going into it. Clean rainwater is possible only if people are more careful about chemicals at home and at work. They must also be more careful about gas and oil and other chemicals on the ground. And they mustn't use motorboats any more on the lake. All these may change people's lives. Only then can Lake Ponkapog be a beautiful, clean lake again. | 742.txt | 3 |
[
"more boats on the lake",
"more dirty things in the lake",
"a cleaner lake",
"a dirtier lake"
]
| Cleaner rainwater will mean _ . | Thirty years ago, Lake Ponkapog in Hartwell, New Jersey, was full, of life. Many birds and animals lived beside the water, which was full of fish. Now there are few birds, animals, and fish. The lake water is polluted. It is in a colour of dirty brown, and it is filled with strange plants.
How did this happen? First, we must think about how water gets into LakePonkapog. When it rains, water comes into the lake from all around. In the past, there were forests all around Lake Ponkapog, so the rainwater was clean.
Now there are many homes around the lake. People often use chemicals in their gardens. They use other chemicals inside their houses for cleaning or killing insects. There are also many businesses. Businesses use chemicals in their machines or shops. Other chemicals fall onto the ground from cars or trucks. When it rains, the rainwater picks up all the chemicals from homes and businesses and then .carries them into the lake. They pollute the water and kill the animals.
Boats on the lake are also a problem. Lake Ponkapog is a popular place for motorboats. But oil and gas from boats get into the lake. So more bad chemicals go into the water this way.
People in Hartwell are worried. They love their lake and want to save it. Will it be possible? A clean lake must have clean rainwater going into it. Clean rainwater is possible only if people are more careful about chemicals at home and at work. They must also be more careful about gas and oil and other chemicals on the ground. And they mustn't use motorboats any more on the lake. All these may change people's lives. Only then can Lake Ponkapog be a beautiful, clean lake again. | 742.txt | 2 |
[
"be more careful about chemicals",
"use less water",
"grow fewer plants in the gardens",
"use more motorboats on the lake"
]
| To save Lake Ponkapog, people need to _ . | Thirty years ago, Lake Ponkapog in Hartwell, New Jersey, was full, of life. Many birds and animals lived beside the water, which was full of fish. Now there are few birds, animals, and fish. The lake water is polluted. It is in a colour of dirty brown, and it is filled with strange plants.
How did this happen? First, we must think about how water gets into LakePonkapog. When it rains, water comes into the lake from all around. In the past, there were forests all around Lake Ponkapog, so the rainwater was clean.
Now there are many homes around the lake. People often use chemicals in their gardens. They use other chemicals inside their houses for cleaning or killing insects. There are also many businesses. Businesses use chemicals in their machines or shops. Other chemicals fall onto the ground from cars or trucks. When it rains, the rainwater picks up all the chemicals from homes and businesses and then .carries them into the lake. They pollute the water and kill the animals.
Boats on the lake are also a problem. Lake Ponkapog is a popular place for motorboats. But oil and gas from boats get into the lake. So more bad chemicals go into the water this way.
People in Hartwell are worried. They love their lake and want to save it. Will it be possible? A clean lake must have clean rainwater going into it. Clean rainwater is possible only if people are more careful about chemicals at home and at work. They must also be more careful about gas and oil and other chemicals on the ground. And they mustn't use motorboats any more on the lake. All these may change people's lives. Only then can Lake Ponkapog be a beautiful, clean lake again. | 742.txt | 0 |
[
"boats on Lake Pbnkapog",
"why the water is dirty in Lake Ponkapog",
"clean rainwater",
"dirty lakes"
]
| The passage is about _ . | Thirty years ago, Lake Ponkapog in Hartwell, New Jersey, was full, of life. Many birds and animals lived beside the water, which was full of fish. Now there are few birds, animals, and fish. The lake water is polluted. It is in a colour of dirty brown, and it is filled with strange plants.
How did this happen? First, we must think about how water gets into LakePonkapog. When it rains, water comes into the lake from all around. In the past, there were forests all around Lake Ponkapog, so the rainwater was clean.
Now there are many homes around the lake. People often use chemicals in their gardens. They use other chemicals inside their houses for cleaning or killing insects. There are also many businesses. Businesses use chemicals in their machines or shops. Other chemicals fall onto the ground from cars or trucks. When it rains, the rainwater picks up all the chemicals from homes and businesses and then .carries them into the lake. They pollute the water and kill the animals.
Boats on the lake are also a problem. Lake Ponkapog is a popular place for motorboats. But oil and gas from boats get into the lake. So more bad chemicals go into the water this way.
People in Hartwell are worried. They love their lake and want to save it. Will it be possible? A clean lake must have clean rainwater going into it. Clean rainwater is possible only if people are more careful about chemicals at home and at work. They must also be more careful about gas and oil and other chemicals on the ground. And they mustn't use motorboats any more on the lake. All these may change people's lives. Only then can Lake Ponkapog be a beautiful, clean lake again. | 742.txt | 1 |
[
"Most people in Africa examda.",
"Most people in Europe",
"Few people in Europe",
"Few people in the world"
]
| _ believe that the future is brighter. | They may not be the richest， but Africans remain the world's staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International， a research outfit， shows that， when asked whether this year will be better than last，Africa once again comes out on top.0ut of 5 2，000 people interviewed all over the world。under half believe that things are looking up.But in Africa the proportion is close t0 60％ almost twice as much as in Europe.examda.
Africans have some reasons to be cheerful.The continent'S economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa。the economic powerhouse，growing steadily over the past few years.Some of Africa's long-running conflicts，such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Con90， have ended.Africa even has its first elected female head of state，in Liberia. examda.
Yet there is no shortage of downers t00.Most of Africa remains dirt poor.Crises in places like Cote d'Ivoire。sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved.And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia ant Uganda，once the darlings of western donors，have taken a bad knock.⑦AIDS killed over 2m Africans ir 2005，and will kill more this year. examda.
So is it all iust a case of irrational exuberance?Meril James of Gallup argues that there is，in fact,usually very little relation between the survey's optimism rankings and reality.Africans，this year led by Nigerians，are collsistently the most upbeat，whether their lot gets better or not.On the other hand， Greece--hardly the worst place on earth--tops the gloom-and-doom chart，followed closely by Portugal and France.examda.
Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it.Nine out of ten Africans are religious，the highest proportion in the world.But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be 901den because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse.This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes，such as Kosovo and Afghanistan，rank among the top five optimists. [346 words] | 1215.txt | 0 |
[
"South Africa is the economic powerhouse",
"the economy in Africa is prosperous examda.",
"there have been wars in both Sudan and Congo",
"Liberia is the first country to have a female head"
]
| The Africans'optimism can be explained by the fact that_ | They may not be the richest， but Africans remain the world's staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International， a research outfit， shows that， when asked whether this year will be better than last，Africa once again comes out on top.0ut of 5 2，000 people interviewed all over the world。under half believe that things are looking up.But in Africa the proportion is close t0 60％ almost twice as much as in Europe.examda.
Africans have some reasons to be cheerful.The continent'S economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa。the economic powerhouse，growing steadily over the past few years.Some of Africa's long-running conflicts，such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Con90， have ended.Africa even has its first elected female head of state，in Liberia. examda.
Yet there is no shortage of downers t00.Most of Africa remains dirt poor.Crises in places like Cote d'Ivoire。sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved.And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia ant Uganda，once the darlings of western donors，have taken a bad knock.⑦AIDS killed over 2m Africans ir 2005，and will kill more this year. examda.
So is it all iust a case of irrational exuberance?Meril James of Gallup argues that there is，in fact,usually very little relation between the survey's optimism rankings and reality.Africans，this year led by Nigerians，are collsistently the most upbeat，whether their lot gets better or not.On the other hand， Greece--hardly the worst place on earth--tops the gloom-and-doom chart，followed closely by Portugal and France.examda.
Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it.Nine out of ten Africans are religious，the highest proportion in the world.But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be 901den because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse.This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes，such as Kosovo and Afghanistan，rank among the top five optimists. [346 words] | 1215.txt | 1 |
[
"the economy in South Africa keeps growing",
"there are less crises in Africa than ever before",
"Africa is still the poorest continent in the world",
"both Ethiopia and Uganda enjoy more democracy now"
]
| The pessimism in Africa is rational because_ | They may not be the richest， but Africans remain the world's staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International， a research outfit， shows that， when asked whether this year will be better than last，Africa once again comes out on top.0ut of 5 2，000 people interviewed all over the world。under half believe that things are looking up.But in Africa the proportion is close t0 60％ almost twice as much as in Europe.examda.
Africans have some reasons to be cheerful.The continent'S economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa。the economic powerhouse，growing steadily over the past few years.Some of Africa's long-running conflicts，such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Con90， have ended.Africa even has its first elected female head of state，in Liberia. examda.
Yet there is no shortage of downers t00.Most of Africa remains dirt poor.Crises in places like Cote d'Ivoire。sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved.And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia ant Uganda，once the darlings of western donors，have taken a bad knock.⑦AIDS killed over 2m Africans ir 2005，and will kill more this year. examda.
So is it all iust a case of irrational exuberance?Meril James of Gallup argues that there is，in fact,usually very little relation between the survey's optimism rankings and reality.Africans，this year led by Nigerians，are collsistently the most upbeat，whether their lot gets better or not.On the other hand， Greece--hardly the worst place on earth--tops the gloom-and-doom chart，followed closely by Portugal and France.examda.
Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it.Nine out of ten Africans are religious，the highest proportion in the world.But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be 901den because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse.This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes，such as Kosovo and Afghanistan，rank among the top five optimists. [346 words] | 1215.txt | 2 |
[
"Europeans tend to be more pessimistic",
"optimism isn't necessarily related to people's real welfare",
"Nigerians are consistently the most upbeat",
"the lot of most Africans is better than Europeans"
]
| The optimism in Africa isn't irrational because_ | They may not be the richest， but Africans remain the world's staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International， a research outfit， shows that， when asked whether this year will be better than last，Africa once again comes out on top.0ut of 5 2，000 people interviewed all over the world。under half believe that things are looking up.But in Africa the proportion is close t0 60％ almost twice as much as in Europe.examda.
Africans have some reasons to be cheerful.The continent'S economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa。the economic powerhouse，growing steadily over the past few years.Some of Africa's long-running conflicts，such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Con90， have ended.Africa even has its first elected female head of state，in Liberia. examda.
Yet there is no shortage of downers t00.Most of Africa remains dirt poor.Crises in places like Cote d'Ivoire。sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved.And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia ant Uganda，once the darlings of western donors，have taken a bad knock.⑦AIDS killed over 2m Africans ir 2005，and will kill more this year. examda.
So is it all iust a case of irrational exuberance?Meril James of Gallup argues that there is，in fact,usually very little relation between the survey's optimism rankings and reality.Africans，this year led by Nigerians，are collsistently the most upbeat，whether their lot gets better or not.On the other hand， Greece--hardly the worst place on earth--tops the gloom-and-doom chart，followed closely by Portugal and France.examda.
Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it.Nine out of ten Africans are religious，the highest proportion in the world.But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be 901den because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse.This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes，such as Kosovo and Afghanistan，rank among the top five optimists. [346 words] | 1215.txt | 1 |
[
"religion helps to develop one's optimism",
"2006 will be golden because things are looking up",
"the argument brought forward by the cynics is comprehensible",
"the proportion of people who believe in religion is highest in Africa"
]
| The author thinks that_ | They may not be the richest， but Africans remain the world's staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International， a research outfit， shows that， when asked whether this year will be better than last，Africa once again comes out on top.0ut of 5 2，000 people interviewed all over the world。under half believe that things are looking up.But in Africa the proportion is close t0 60％ almost twice as much as in Europe.examda.
Africans have some reasons to be cheerful.The continent'S economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa。the economic powerhouse，growing steadily over the past few years.Some of Africa's long-running conflicts，such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Con90， have ended.Africa even has its first elected female head of state，in Liberia. examda.
Yet there is no shortage of downers t00.Most of Africa remains dirt poor.Crises in places like Cote d'Ivoire。sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved.And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia ant Uganda，once the darlings of western donors，have taken a bad knock.⑦AIDS killed over 2m Africans ir 2005，and will kill more this year. examda.
So is it all iust a case of irrational exuberance?Meril James of Gallup argues that there is，in fact,usually very little relation between the survey's optimism rankings and reality.Africans，this year led by Nigerians，are collsistently the most upbeat，whether their lot gets better or not.On the other hand， Greece--hardly the worst place on earth--tops the gloom-and-doom chart，followed closely by Portugal and France.examda.
Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it.Nine out of ten Africans are religious，the highest proportion in the world.But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be 901den because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse.This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes，such as Kosovo and Afghanistan，rank among the top five optimists. [346 words] | 1215.txt | 2 |
[
"arning better at school shows power in your job",
"e better you are at school subjects, the more helpful they are in your career.",
"arning each subject well is an ability in many jobs.",
"should think about how to find our career"
]
| We can infer from the first paragraph that _ . | What should you think about when trying to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others. These may show strengths that you can use in your work. A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in an engineering career. A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work. So it is important to know the subjects you do well in at school. On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong subjects but your records show a general satisfactory standard. Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value. A knowledge of history is not required for most jobs but if history is one of your good subjects you will have learned to remember facts and details. This is an ability that can be useful in many jobs.
Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work. You may be good at metalwork or cookery and look for a job where you can improve these skills. If you have had a part-time job on Saturdays or in the summer, think what you gained from it. If nothing else, you may have learned how to get to work on time, to follow instructions and to get on with older workers. You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example. Just as important, you may become interested in a particular industry or career you see from the inside in a part-time job.
Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself. You may be all thumbs when you handle tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures. It is better to face any weakness than to pretend they do not exist. Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background. You should not be apologetic about it but instead recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work. | 3157.txt | 1 |
[
"have no hope in his future work",
"be hopeful to find a suitable job",
"regret not having worked harder at school",
"have an opportunity of a new beginning in his future work"
]
| From the passage we learn that if a student's school performance is not good, he will _ . | What should you think about when trying to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others. These may show strengths that you can use in your work. A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in an engineering career. A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work. So it is important to know the subjects you do well in at school. On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong subjects but your records show a general satisfactory standard. Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value. A knowledge of history is not required for most jobs but if history is one of your good subjects you will have learned to remember facts and details. This is an ability that can be useful in many jobs.
Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work. You may be good at metalwork or cookery and look for a job where you can improve these skills. If you have had a part-time job on Saturdays or in the summer, think what you gained from it. If nothing else, you may have learned how to get to work on time, to follow instructions and to get on with older workers. You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example. Just as important, you may become interested in a particular industry or career you see from the inside in a part-time job.
Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself. You may be all thumbs when you handle tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures. It is better to face any weakness than to pretend they do not exist. Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background. You should not be apologetic about it but instead recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work. | 3157.txt | 3 |
[
"mathematics",
"English",
"history",
"technical drawing"
]
| All the subjects may have direct value for job hunting except _ . | What should you think about when trying to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others. These may show strengths that you can use in your work. A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in an engineering career. A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work. So it is important to know the subjects you do well in at school. On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong subjects but your records show a general satisfactory standard. Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value. A knowledge of history is not required for most jobs but if history is one of your good subjects you will have learned to remember facts and details. This is an ability that can be useful in many jobs.
Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work. You may be good at metalwork or cookery and look for a job where you can improve these skills. If you have had a part-time job on Saturdays or in the summer, think what you gained from it. If nothing else, you may have learned how to get to work on time, to follow instructions and to get on with older workers. You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example. Just as important, you may become interested in a particular industry or career you see from the inside in a part-time job.
Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself. You may be all thumbs when you handle tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures. It is better to face any weakness than to pretend they do not exist. Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background. You should not be apologetic about it but instead recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work. | 3157.txt | 2 |
[
"The relationship between school performance and career",
"how to get a job",
"How to show strengths in your work",
"working experience and knowledge at school"
]
| The passage mainly discusses _ . | What should you think about when trying to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others. These may show strengths that you can use in your work. A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in an engineering career. A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work. So it is important to know the subjects you do well in at school. On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong subjects but your records show a general satisfactory standard. Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value. A knowledge of history is not required for most jobs but if history is one of your good subjects you will have learned to remember facts and details. This is an ability that can be useful in many jobs.
Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work. You may be good at metalwork or cookery and look for a job where you can improve these skills. If you have had a part-time job on Saturdays or in the summer, think what you gained from it. If nothing else, you may have learned how to get to work on time, to follow instructions and to get on with older workers. You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example. Just as important, you may become interested in a particular industry or career you see from the inside in a part-time job.
Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself. You may be all thumbs when you handle tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures. It is better to face any weakness than to pretend they do not exist. Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background. You should not be apologetic about it but instead recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work. | 3157.txt | 0 |
[
"a job description and a job specification",
"what is taught and how it is taught",
"learning about skills and training in using them",
"the savings in time and the savings in cost"
]
| To be successful in our training programmes, we must understand the difference between _ . | As we know, it is very important that a firm should pay attention to the training of its staff as there exist many weak parts in its various departments. Staff training must have a purpose, which is defined when a firm considers its training needs, which are in turn based on job descriptions and job specifications.
A job description should give details of the performance that is required for a particular job, and a job specification should give information about the behavior, knowledge and skills that are expected of an employee who works in it. When all of this has been collected, it is possible to make a training specification. This specifies what the Training Department must teach for the successful performance of the job, and also the best methods to use in the training period.
There are many different training methods, and there are advantages and disadvantages of all of them. Successful training programmes depend on an understanding of the difference between learning about skills and training in using them. It is frequently said that learning about skills takes place "off the job" in the classroom, but training in using these skills takes place "on the job", by means of such activities as practice in the workshop.
It is always difficult to evaluate the costs and savings of a training programme. The success of such a programme depends not only on the methods used but also on the quality of the staff who do the training. A company can often check oh savings in time and cost by examining the work performed by the workers and technicians who have completed a training programme. The evaluation of management training is much more complex than that. | 148.txt | 2 |
[
"the places where the training takes place",
"the correct evaluation of the costs and savings of the programme",
"the performance of the workers and technicians trained in the programme",
"the training methods and the quality of the training staff"
]
| The success of a training programme depends on _ . | As we know, it is very important that a firm should pay attention to the training of its staff as there exist many weak parts in its various departments. Staff training must have a purpose, which is defined when a firm considers its training needs, which are in turn based on job descriptions and job specifications.
A job description should give details of the performance that is required for a particular job, and a job specification should give information about the behavior, knowledge and skills that are expected of an employee who works in it. When all of this has been collected, it is possible to make a training specification. This specifies what the Training Department must teach for the successful performance of the job, and also the best methods to use in the training period.
There are many different training methods, and there are advantages and disadvantages of all of them. Successful training programmes depend on an understanding of the difference between learning about skills and training in using them. It is frequently said that learning about skills takes place "off the job" in the classroom, but training in using these skills takes place "on the job", by means of such activities as practice in the workshop.
It is always difficult to evaluate the costs and savings of a training programme. The success of such a programme depends not only on the methods used but also on the quality of the staff who do the training. A company can often check oh savings in time and cost by examining the work performed by the workers and technicians who have completed a training programme. The evaluation of management training is much more complex than that. | 148.txt | 3 |
[
"the performance required for a certain job",
"the behavior, knowledge, and skills expected of an employee",
"the training contents and methods",
"the costs and savings of the programme"
]
| A training specification specifies _ . | As we know, it is very important that a firm should pay attention to the training of its staff as there exist many weak parts in its various departments. Staff training must have a purpose, which is defined when a firm considers its training needs, which are in turn based on job descriptions and job specifications.
A job description should give details of the performance that is required for a particular job, and a job specification should give information about the behavior, knowledge and skills that are expected of an employee who works in it. When all of this has been collected, it is possible to make a training specification. This specifies what the Training Department must teach for the successful performance of the job, and also the best methods to use in the training period.
There are many different training methods, and there are advantages and disadvantages of all of them. Successful training programmes depend on an understanding of the difference between learning about skills and training in using them. It is frequently said that learning about skills takes place "off the job" in the classroom, but training in using these skills takes place "on the job", by means of such activities as practice in the workshop.
It is always difficult to evaluate the costs and savings of a training programme. The success of such a programme depends not only on the methods used but also on the quality of the staff who do the training. A company can often check oh savings in time and cost by examining the work performed by the workers and technicians who have completed a training programme. The evaluation of management training is much more complex than that. | 148.txt | 2 |
[
"As there exist weak parts in different departments of a firm, the training of its staff is highly necessary.",
"A training specification is based on the information collected from a job description and a job specification.",
"Training in using skills and learning about skills usually do not happen at the same place.",
"It is easier to evaluate management training than to evaluate the training of workers and technicians."
]
| According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true | As we know, it is very important that a firm should pay attention to the training of its staff as there exist many weak parts in its various departments. Staff training must have a purpose, which is defined when a firm considers its training needs, which are in turn based on job descriptions and job specifications.
A job description should give details of the performance that is required for a particular job, and a job specification should give information about the behavior, knowledge and skills that are expected of an employee who works in it. When all of this has been collected, it is possible to make a training specification. This specifies what the Training Department must teach for the successful performance of the job, and also the best methods to use in the training period.
There are many different training methods, and there are advantages and disadvantages of all of them. Successful training programmes depend on an understanding of the difference between learning about skills and training in using them. It is frequently said that learning about skills takes place "off the job" in the classroom, but training in using these skills takes place "on the job", by means of such activities as practice in the workshop.
It is always difficult to evaluate the costs and savings of a training programme. The success of such a programme depends not only on the methods used but also on the quality of the staff who do the training. A company can often check oh savings in time and cost by examining the work performed by the workers and technicians who have completed a training programme. The evaluation of management training is much more complex than that. | 148.txt | 3 |
[
"A Successful Training Programme",
"How to Describe and Specify a Job",
"Staff Training",
"The Importance of Training Workers and Technicians"
]
| The best title for this passage might be _ . | As we know, it is very important that a firm should pay attention to the training of its staff as there exist many weak parts in its various departments. Staff training must have a purpose, which is defined when a firm considers its training needs, which are in turn based on job descriptions and job specifications.
A job description should give details of the performance that is required for a particular job, and a job specification should give information about the behavior, knowledge and skills that are expected of an employee who works in it. When all of this has been collected, it is possible to make a training specification. This specifies what the Training Department must teach for the successful performance of the job, and also the best methods to use in the training period.
There are many different training methods, and there are advantages and disadvantages of all of them. Successful training programmes depend on an understanding of the difference between learning about skills and training in using them. It is frequently said that learning about skills takes place "off the job" in the classroom, but training in using these skills takes place "on the job", by means of such activities as practice in the workshop.
It is always difficult to evaluate the costs and savings of a training programme. The success of such a programme depends not only on the methods used but also on the quality of the staff who do the training. A company can often check oh savings in time and cost by examining the work performed by the workers and technicians who have completed a training programme. The evaluation of management training is much more complex than that. | 148.txt | 2 |
[
"by 1930 Olivetti produced 13,000 typewriters a year",
"Olivetti earned more in the 1960s than in the 1950s",
"some of Olivetti,s 700 staff regularly visited customers in Italy",
"Olivetti set up offices in other countries from the very beginning"
]
| From the text we learn that _ . | The engineer Camillo Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in lvera, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company's head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much lareer than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13,000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camilllo's son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduecd a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and desion specialists. The company developed new and better typewriters and the calculators.In 1959 it prodyced the ELLA computer system. This was the first mainframecomputer designed and brade in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problems. Other companies, especially the Janpanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marking and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one, of the world's leading companies in informationg technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group --- one for personal computers,one for other office equipment, one for systerms and servicse, and two for telecommunications. | 2317.txt | 0 |
[
"A dtiano's death.",
"A period of financial problem",
"its faster progress",
"Its agreements with other companies"
]
| What was probably the direct result of Olivetti,s falling behind in electronic technology? | The engineer Camillo Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in lvera, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company's head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much lareer than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13,000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camilllo's son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduecd a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and desion specialists. The company developed new and better typewriters and the calculators.In 1959 it prodyced the ELLA computer system. This was the first mainframecomputer designed and brade in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problems. Other companies, especially the Janpanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marking and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one, of the world's leading companies in informationg technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group --- one for personal computers,one for other office equipment, one for systerms and servicse, and two for telecommunications. | 2317.txt | 1 |
[
"It produced the best typewriter in the word.",
"It designed the word's first mainframe computer.",
"It exported more typewriter than other computer.",
"It has five independent companies with its head office in lvrea."
]
| What do we know about Olivetti ? | The engineer Camillo Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in lvera, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company's head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much lareer than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13,000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camilllo's son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduecd a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and desion specialists. The company developed new and better typewriters and the calculators.In 1959 it prodyced the ELLA computer system. This was the first mainframecomputer designed and brade in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problems. Other companies, especially the Janpanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marking and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one, of the world's leading companies in informationg technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group --- one for personal computers,one for other office equipment, one for systerms and servicse, and two for telecommunications. | 2317.txt | 3 |
[
"The Origin of Olivetti",
"The Success of Olivetti",
"The History of Olivetti",
"The Producich of Olivetti"
]
| The best title for the text would be _ . | The engineer Camillo Olivetti was 40 years old when he started the company in 1908. At his factory in lvera, he designed and produced the first Italian typewriter. Today the company's head office is still in Ivrea, near Turin, but the company is much lareer than it was in those days and there are offices all around the world.
By 1930 there was a staff of 700 and the company turned out 13,000 machines a year. Some went to customers in Italy, but Olivetti exported more typewriters to other countries.
Camilllo's son, Adriano, started working for the company in 1924 and later he became the boss. He introduecd a standard speed for the production line and he employed technology and desion specialists. The company developed new and better typewriters and the calculators.In 1959 it prodyced the ELLA computer system. This was the first mainframecomputer designed and brade in Italy.
After Adriano died in 1960, the company had a period of financial problems. Other companies, especially the Janpanese, made faster progress in electronic technology than the Italian company.
In 1978, Carlo de Benedetti became the new boss. Olivetti increased its marking and service networks and made agreements with other companies to design and produce more advanced office equipment. Soon it became one, of the world's leading companies in informationg technology and communications. There are now five independent companies in the Olivetti group --- one for personal computers,one for other office equipment, one for systerms and servicse, and two for telecommunications. | 2317.txt | 2 |
[
"pay back",
"pay off",
"pay out",
"pay up"
]
| In the eyes of the public , higher education can _ in terms of obtaining a decent job. | Is Education A Robbery?
One of our expectations about education is that it will pay off in terms of upward mobility. Historically, the correlation between education and income has been strong. But in the early 1970 s a contradiction developed between education and the economy. Our value of education and our average educational attainment outstripped the capacity of the economy to absorb the graduates. Since the 1970s, high-school graduates have experienced a striking decrease in earnings, making them the first generation since World WarⅡ to face a lower standard of living than their parents had.
Experts have argued that this contradiction is at the heart of the problem of public education today. It is not, as business leaders claim, that the schools are failing to properly educate students, that they are turning out young people who are inadequately prepared to function in the workplace. The real problem is a dearth of economic opportunities for students who are not continuing on to college.
College graduates also are having difficulty finding jobs. Even when they do, the jobs may not be commensurate with their training and expectations. Part of the problem is that too many young Americans aspire to have professional jobs, making disappointment and frustration inevitable for some. Many students assumed that what was true of an individu-al - that the higher the education, the better the job opportunities -would also be true for an entire society. But when the numbers of better-educated young people became too great, the economy could no longer absorb them
Another part of the problem is the assumption that greater educational attainment guarantees career advancement. In fact, employers do not routinely reward educational attainment; rather, they reward it only when they believe it will contribute to the employee's productivity.
We should not overlook the fact that there is still a strong correlation between education, occupation, and income. College graduates have a strong advantage over those with less education. But the payoff is neither as large nor as certain as it once was.
Unfortunately, Americans have focused so strongly on the economic payoff that many consider their college education useless if it does not yield a desirable, well-paying job. Only in this sense can we speak of an "oversupply" of college graduates. We could argue that all or at least the majority of Americans would profit by some degree because higher education can enable the individual to think more deeply, explore more widely, and enjoy a greater range of experiences. | 202.txt | 1 |
[
"turned up",
"turned on",
"turned out",
"turned over"
]
| Things _ to be exactly as the professor had foreseen. | Is Education A Robbery?
One of our expectations about education is that it will pay off in terms of upward mobility. Historically, the correlation between education and income has been strong. But in the early 1970 s a contradiction developed between education and the economy. Our value of education and our average educational attainment outstripped the capacity of the economy to absorb the graduates. Since the 1970s, high-school graduates have experienced a striking decrease in earnings, making them the first generation since World WarⅡ to face a lower standard of living than their parents had.
Experts have argued that this contradiction is at the heart of the problem of public education today. It is not, as business leaders claim, that the schools are failing to properly educate students, that they are turning out young people who are inadequately prepared to function in the workplace. The real problem is a dearth of economic opportunities for students who are not continuing on to college.
College graduates also are having difficulty finding jobs. Even when they do, the jobs may not be commensurate with their training and expectations. Part of the problem is that too many young Americans aspire to have professional jobs, making disappointment and frustration inevitable for some. Many students assumed that what was true of an individu-al - that the higher the education, the better the job opportunities -would also be true for an entire society. But when the numbers of better-educated young people became too great, the economy could no longer absorb them
Another part of the problem is the assumption that greater educational attainment guarantees career advancement. In fact, employers do not routinely reward educational attainment; rather, they reward it only when they believe it will contribute to the employee's productivity.
We should not overlook the fact that there is still a strong correlation between education, occupation, and income. College graduates have a strong advantage over those with less education. But the payoff is neither as large nor as certain as it once was.
Unfortunately, Americans have focused so strongly on the economic payoff that many consider their college education useless if it does not yield a desirable, well-paying job. Only in this sense can we speak of an "oversupply" of college graduates. We could argue that all or at least the majority of Americans would profit by some degree because higher education can enable the individual to think more deeply, explore more widely, and enjoy a greater range of experiences. | 202.txt | 2 |
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