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[
"successful",
"powerful",
"ridiculous",
"frustrating"
]
| Conan Doyle's short story "A Scandai in Bohemia" has proved to be __ at last. | Within that exclusive group of literary characters who have survived through the centuries--from Hamlet to Huckleberry Finn--few can rival the cultural impact of Sherlock Holmes. Since his first public appearance 20 years ago, the gentleman with the curved pipe and a taste for cocaine, the master of deductive reasoning and elaborate disguise, has left his mark everywhere--in crime literature, film and television, cartoons and comic books.
At Holmes' side, of course, was his trusted friend Dr. Watson. Looming even larger, however, was another doctor, one whose medical practice was so slow it allowed him plenty of time to pursue his literary ambition. His name: Arthur Conan Doyle. As the creator of these fictional icons, Conan Doyle has himself become something of a cult figure, the object of countless critical studies, biographies and fan clubs.
Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859, in a respectable middle-class Catholic family. Still, it was far from an easy life. There was never enough money; they moved frequently in search of lower rents; and his father, a civil servant and illustrator was an alcoholic who had to be institutionalized. Yet the early letters he wrote to his mother are surprisingly optimistic, concerned mainly with food, clothes, allowances and schoolwork. At 14 came his first unforgettable visit to London, including Madame Tussaud's, where he was "delighted with the room of Horrors, and the images of the murderers."
A superb student, Conan Doyle went on to medical school, where he was attracted by Dr. Joseph Bell, a professor with an uncanny ability to diagnose patients even before they opened their mouths. For a time he worked as Bell's outpatient clerk and would watch, amazed, at how the location of a callus could reveal a man's profession, or how a quick look at a skin rash told Bell that the patient had once lived in Bermuda. In 1886, Conan Doyle outlined his first novel, A Study in Scarlet, which he described as "a simple tale of mystery to make a little extra money." Its main character, initially called Sherringford Hope and later called Sherlock Holmes, was based largely on Bell. But Holmes' first appearance went almost unnoticed, and the struggling doctor devoted nearly all of his spare time to writing long historical novels in the style of Sir Walter Scott-novels that he was convinced would make his reputation. It wasn't to be. In 1888, Holmes reappeared in A Scandal in Bohemia, a short story in Strand Magazine. And this time, its hero took an immediate hit and Conan Doyle's life would never be the same. | 88.txt | 0 |
[
"an unparalleled increase in the number of public relations companies",
"shrinking cultural differences and new communications technologies",
"the decreasing number of multinational corporations in the U.S.",
"increased efforts of other countries in public relations"
]
| According to the passage, U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened because of ________. | The rise of multinational corporations , global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign. | 413.txt | 3 |
[
"British companies are more ambitious than U.S. companies",
"British companies place more importance on PR than U.S. companies",
"British companies are heavily involved in planning activities",
"four of the world's top public relations agencies are British-owned"
]
| London could soon replace New York as the center of PR because ________. | The rise of multinational corporations , global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign. | 413.txt | 1 |
[
"limited in outlook",
"like people from the provinces",
"rigid in thinking",
"interested in world financial affairs"
]
| The word "provincial" (Line 2, Para. 3) most probably means "________". | The rise of multinational corporations , global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign. | 413.txt | 0 |
[
"speak at least one foreign language fluently",
"are ignorant about world geography",
"are not as sophisticated as their European counterparts",
"enjoy reading a great variety of English business publications"
]
| We learn from the third paragraph that employees in the American PR industry ________. | The rise of multinational corporations , global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign. | 413.txt | 1 |
[
"American PR companies should be more internationally-minded.",
"The American PR industry should develop global communications technologies.",
"People working in PR should be more fluent in foreign languages.",
"People involved in PR should avoid using the word \"foreign\"."
]
| What lesson might the PR industry take from Ted Turner of CNN? | The rise of multinational corporations , global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign. | 413.txt | 0 |
[
"considerate",
"polite",
"irritating",
"unsmart"
]
| In the restaurant story, the author may most probably think the waiter or waitress was _ 。 | Imagine you went to a restaurant with a date; had a burger, paid with a credit card, and left. The next time you go there, the waiter or waitress, armed with your profile data, greets you with, "Hey Joe, how are you? Mary is over there in the seat you sat in last time. Would you like to join her for dinner again?" Then you find out that your burger has been cooked and your drink is on the table. Forget the fact that you are with another date and are on a diet that doesn't include burgers. Sound a little bizarre? To some, this is restaurant equivalent of the Internet.The Net's ability to profile you through your visits to and interactions at websites provides marketers with an enormous amount of data on you-some of which you may notwant them to have.
Are you aware that almost every time you access a website you get a "cookie"? Unfortunately, it's not the Mrs. Reid's type. A cookie on the Internet is a computer code sent by the site to your computer-usually without your knowledge. During the entire period of time that you are at the site, the cookie is collecting information about your interaction, including where you visit, how long you stay there, how frequently you return to certain pages, and even your electronic address. Fill out a survey to collect free information or samples, and marketers know even more about you-like your name, address, and any other information you provide. While this may sound scary enough, cookies aren't even the latest in technology. A new system called I-librarian Alexa-named for the legendary third century B.C. library in Alexandria, Egypt-does even more. While cookies track what you are doing at one site, Alexa collects data on all your Web activity, such as which sites you visit next, how long you stay there, whether you click on ads，etc. All thisinformation is available to marketers, who use it to market more effectively to you. Not only do you not get paid for providing the information, you probably don't even know that you are giving it. | 480.txt | 2 |
[
"show the good service offered in some Web restaurants",
"criticize some restaurants for too considerate service",
"show the Internet's ability to collect data on you",
"prove the incredible power of the Internet"
]
| The author makes up the restaurant story in order to _ 。 | Imagine you went to a restaurant with a date; had a burger, paid with a credit card, and left. The next time you go there, the waiter or waitress, armed with your profile data, greets you with, "Hey Joe, how are you? Mary is over there in the seat you sat in last time. Would you like to join her for dinner again?" Then you find out that your burger has been cooked and your drink is on the table. Forget the fact that you are with another date and are on a diet that doesn't include burgers. Sound a little bizarre? To some, this is restaurant equivalent of the Internet.The Net's ability to profile you through your visits to and interactions at websites provides marketers with an enormous amount of data on you-some of which you may notwant them to have.
Are you aware that almost every time you access a website you get a "cookie"? Unfortunately, it's not the Mrs. Reid's type. A cookie on the Internet is a computer code sent by the site to your computer-usually without your knowledge. During the entire period of time that you are at the site, the cookie is collecting information about your interaction, including where you visit, how long you stay there, how frequently you return to certain pages, and even your electronic address. Fill out a survey to collect free information or samples, and marketers know even more about you-like your name, address, and any other information you provide. While this may sound scary enough, cookies aren't even the latest in technology. A new system called I-librarian Alexa-named for the legendary third century B.C. library in Alexandria, Egypt-does even more. While cookies track what you are doing at one site, Alexa collects data on all your Web activity, such as which sites you visit next, how long you stay there, whether you click on ads，etc. All thisinformation is available to marketers, who use it to market more effectively to you. Not only do you not get paid for providing the information, you probably don't even know that you are giving it. | 480.txt | 2 |
[
"It was first created by Mrs. Reid.",
"It collects information on you without your knowing it",
"It's some information sent to your computer about yourself.",
"It's the latest in technology."
]
| What can be learned about "cookie" from the second paragraph? | Imagine you went to a restaurant with a date; had a burger, paid with a credit card, and left. The next time you go there, the waiter or waitress, armed with your profile data, greets you with, "Hey Joe, how are you? Mary is over there in the seat you sat in last time. Would you like to join her for dinner again?" Then you find out that your burger has been cooked and your drink is on the table. Forget the fact that you are with another date and are on a diet that doesn't include burgers. Sound a little bizarre? To some, this is restaurant equivalent of the Internet.The Net's ability to profile you through your visits to and interactions at websites provides marketers with an enormous amount of data on you-some of which you may notwant them to have.
Are you aware that almost every time you access a website you get a "cookie"? Unfortunately, it's not the Mrs. Reid's type. A cookie on the Internet is a computer code sent by the site to your computer-usually without your knowledge. During the entire period of time that you are at the site, the cookie is collecting information about your interaction, including where you visit, how long you stay there, how frequently you return to certain pages, and even your electronic address. Fill out a survey to collect free information or samples, and marketers know even more about you-like your name, address, and any other information you provide. While this may sound scary enough, cookies aren't even the latest in technology. A new system called I-librarian Alexa-named for the legendary third century B.C. library in Alexandria, Egypt-does even more. While cookies track what you are doing at one site, Alexa collects data on all your Web activity, such as which sites you visit next, how long you stay there, whether you click on ads，etc. All thisinformation is available to marketers, who use it to market more effectively to you. Not only do you not get paid for providing the information, you probably don't even know that you are giving it. | 480.txt | 1 |
[
"Alexa is named after an ancient hero in Egypt",
"Alexa is installed in libraries.",
"Alexa can collect all the necessary data on you.",
"Alexa can provide more data for marketers than a cookie."
]
| What can be learned about "Alexa" from the second paragraph? | Imagine you went to a restaurant with a date; had a burger, paid with a credit card, and left. The next time you go there, the waiter or waitress, armed with your profile data, greets you with, "Hey Joe, how are you? Mary is over there in the seat you sat in last time. Would you like to join her for dinner again?" Then you find out that your burger has been cooked and your drink is on the table. Forget the fact that you are with another date and are on a diet that doesn't include burgers. Sound a little bizarre? To some, this is restaurant equivalent of the Internet.The Net's ability to profile you through your visits to and interactions at websites provides marketers with an enormous amount of data on you-some of which you may notwant them to have.
Are you aware that almost every time you access a website you get a "cookie"? Unfortunately, it's not the Mrs. Reid's type. A cookie on the Internet is a computer code sent by the site to your computer-usually without your knowledge. During the entire period of time that you are at the site, the cookie is collecting information about your interaction, including where you visit, how long you stay there, how frequently you return to certain pages, and even your electronic address. Fill out a survey to collect free information or samples, and marketers know even more about you-like your name, address, and any other information you provide. While this may sound scary enough, cookies aren't even the latest in technology. A new system called I-librarian Alexa-named for the legendary third century B.C. library in Alexandria, Egypt-does even more. While cookies track what you are doing at one site, Alexa collects data on all your Web activity, such as which sites you visit next, how long you stay there, whether you click on ads，etc. All thisinformation is available to marketers, who use it to market more effectively to you. Not only do you not get paid for providing the information, you probably don't even know that you are giving it. | 480.txt | 3 |
[
"Critical",
"Suspicious.",
"Objective.",
"Optimistic."
]
| Which of the following words can best reflect the author's attitude to cookies and Alexa? | Imagine you went to a restaurant with a date; had a burger, paid with a credit card, and left. The next time you go there, the waiter or waitress, armed with your profile data, greets you with, "Hey Joe, how are you? Mary is over there in the seat you sat in last time. Would you like to join her for dinner again?" Then you find out that your burger has been cooked and your drink is on the table. Forget the fact that you are with another date and are on a diet that doesn't include burgers. Sound a little bizarre? To some, this is restaurant equivalent of the Internet.The Net's ability to profile you through your visits to and interactions at websites provides marketers with an enormous amount of data on you-some of which you may notwant them to have.
Are you aware that almost every time you access a website you get a "cookie"? Unfortunately, it's not the Mrs. Reid's type. A cookie on the Internet is a computer code sent by the site to your computer-usually without your knowledge. During the entire period of time that you are at the site, the cookie is collecting information about your interaction, including where you visit, how long you stay there, how frequently you return to certain pages, and even your electronic address. Fill out a survey to collect free information or samples, and marketers know even more about you-like your name, address, and any other information you provide. While this may sound scary enough, cookies aren't even the latest in technology. A new system called I-librarian Alexa-named for the legendary third century B.C. library in Alexandria, Egypt-does even more. While cookies track what you are doing at one site, Alexa collects data on all your Web activity, such as which sites you visit next, how long you stay there, whether you click on ads，etc. All thisinformation is available to marketers, who use it to market more effectively to you. Not only do you not get paid for providing the information, you probably don't even know that you are giving it. | 480.txt | 0 |
[
"he walks neither too fast nor too slowly",
"he has good characters and good ways to do things",
"he is not only safe but also successful",
"he is either tall or short"
]
| Someone is moderate means _ . | One should be moderate in all things.Moderation is always the safest way to do things anda virtuewe should have. Let's take the studentlife for example. There are some students who studytoo hard and play too little, while there are otherswho play too much and study too little. On one hand,it is harmful to his health if he has too few exercises,and on the other hand, it is harmful to his mind if heplays too much.
In the matter of eating, one also should be moderate. Do not eat too much or too little. Toomuch eating will make you sick, while too little eating will make you weak.
The man of progress is he who neither has too high an opinion of himself nor thinks too poorlyof himself. If a man thinks too highly of himself, he is sure to become very proud, but if he hastoo poor an opinion of himself, he will have no courage to make an advance. Both the conditionsabove will make you lose your advancing aim. A broadminded man is he who always moveswithin the orbit of reasonableness. Whether in any activities in life, moderation is oneof the best ways to enjoy real happiness. | 2471.txt | 1 |
[
"have much more time to study than to play",
"spend most of the time playing different games",
"only study hard without any time to play",
"correctly arrange his time for study and play"
]
| The writer suggests that a student should _ . | One should be moderate in all things.Moderation is always the safest way to do things anda virtuewe should have. Let's take the studentlife for example. There are some students who studytoo hard and play too little, while there are otherswho play too much and study too little. On one hand,it is harmful to his health if he has too few exercises,and on the other hand, it is harmful to his mind if heplays too much.
In the matter of eating, one also should be moderate. Do not eat too much or too little. Toomuch eating will make you sick, while too little eating will make you weak.
The man of progress is he who neither has too high an opinion of himself nor thinks too poorlyof himself. If a man thinks too highly of himself, he is sure to become very proud, but if he hastoo poor an opinion of himself, he will have no courage to make an advance. Both the conditionsabove will make you lose your advancing aim. A broadminded man is he who always moveswithin the orbit of reasonableness. Whether in any activities in life, moderation is oneof the best ways to enjoy real happiness. | 2471.txt | 3 |
[
"eating as much food as one can if the food is tasty",
"eating food rich of fat",
"eating a proper amount of food",
"eating either too much or too little"
]
| Moderate eating means _ . | One should be moderate in all things.Moderation is always the safest way to do things anda virtuewe should have. Let's take the studentlife for example. There are some students who studytoo hard and play too little, while there are otherswho play too much and study too little. On one hand,it is harmful to his health if he has too few exercises,and on the other hand, it is harmful to his mind if heplays too much.
In the matter of eating, one also should be moderate. Do not eat too much or too little. Toomuch eating will make you sick, while too little eating will make you weak.
The man of progress is he who neither has too high an opinion of himself nor thinks too poorlyof himself. If a man thinks too highly of himself, he is sure to become very proud, but if he hastoo poor an opinion of himself, he will have no courage to make an advance. Both the conditionsabove will make you lose your advancing aim. A broadminded man is he who always moveswithin the orbit of reasonableness. Whether in any activities in life, moderation is oneof the best ways to enjoy real happiness. | 2471.txt | 2 |
[
"believe in himself",
"be full of courage",
"enjoy real happiness",
"do everything that is reasonable"
]
| If one wants to be broad-minded, he must _ . | One should be moderate in all things.Moderation is always the safest way to do things anda virtuewe should have. Let's take the studentlife for example. There are some students who studytoo hard and play too little, while there are otherswho play too much and study too little. On one hand,it is harmful to his health if he has too few exercises,and on the other hand, it is harmful to his mind if heplays too much.
In the matter of eating, one also should be moderate. Do not eat too much or too little. Toomuch eating will make you sick, while too little eating will make you weak.
The man of progress is he who neither has too high an opinion of himself nor thinks too poorlyof himself. If a man thinks too highly of himself, he is sure to become very proud, but if he hastoo poor an opinion of himself, he will have no courage to make an advance. Both the conditionsabove will make you lose your advancing aim. A broadminded man is he who always moveswithin the orbit of reasonableness. Whether in any activities in life, moderation is oneof the best ways to enjoy real happiness. | 2471.txt | 3 |
[
"the writer was proud of Elizabeth and Ben",
"both Elizabeth and Ben could become scientists",
"Elizabeth had to learn much about great scientists",
"Ben was good at trying new ideas in lab experiments"
]
| We learn from paragraph 1 that. | Last year my sixth-grader daughter ,Elizabeth ,was forced to put up with science.Her education week after week ,contained mindless memorization of big words like "batholith" and "saprophyte" She learned by heart the achievements of famous scientists who did things like "improved nuclear fu-sion "-never mind that she hasn't the least idea of what nuclear fusion means.Eliza-beth did very well (she's good at memorizing things ). And now she hates science.My eighth-grad-er son ,Ben ,also suffered from science education. Week after week he had to perform lab experiments with answers already known.Ben figured out how to guess the right answers ,so he got good grades.Now he hates science ,too.
Science can provide an exciting way to develop children's curiosity.Science education should teach ways to ask questions and week answers.But my children got the mistaken idea in school than science is difficult dull and has no relation to their everyday interests.
As a physicist ,I am saddened and angered to see "the great science turnoff" I know that science is important in our lives.Yet studies prove that our schools are turning out millions of graduates who know almost nothing about and have almost no interest in science.What's gone wrong ?Who is to blame ? | 3262.txt | 1 |
[
"get students interested in the subject",
"answer students' questions in delightful ways.",
"smooth out difficulties in lab experiments",
"explain the special terms clearly"
]
| The writer thinks that in science education we should first. | Last year my sixth-grader daughter ,Elizabeth ,was forced to put up with science.Her education week after week ,contained mindless memorization of big words like "batholith" and "saprophyte" She learned by heart the achievements of famous scientists who did things like "improved nuclear fu-sion "-never mind that she hasn't the least idea of what nuclear fusion means.Eliza-beth did very well (she's good at memorizing things ). And now she hates science.My eighth-grad-er son ,Ben ,also suffered from science education. Week after week he had to perform lab experiments with answers already known.Ben figured out how to guess the right answers ,so he got good grades.Now he hates science ,too.
Science can provide an exciting way to develop children's curiosity.Science education should teach ways to ask questions and week answers.But my children got the mistaken idea in school than science is difficult dull and has no relation to their everyday interests.
As a physicist ,I am saddened and angered to see "the great science turnoff" I know that science is important in our lives.Yet studies prove that our schools are turning out millions of graduates who know almost nothing about and have almost no interest in science.What's gone wrong ?Who is to blame ? | 3262.txt | 3 |
[
"the difficulty level of the science texts",
"the way science is taught in school",
"the achievements of famous scientists",
"students' poor records in science classes"
]
| By writing the text ,the author questions. | Last year my sixth-grader daughter ,Elizabeth ,was forced to put up with science.Her education week after week ,contained mindless memorization of big words like "batholith" and "saprophyte" She learned by heart the achievements of famous scientists who did things like "improved nuclear fu-sion "-never mind that she hasn't the least idea of what nuclear fusion means.Eliza-beth did very well (she's good at memorizing things ). And now she hates science.My eighth-grad-er son ,Ben ,also suffered from science education. Week after week he had to perform lab experiments with answers already known.Ben figured out how to guess the right answers ,so he got good grades.Now he hates science ,too.
Science can provide an exciting way to develop children's curiosity.Science education should teach ways to ask questions and week answers.But my children got the mistaken idea in school than science is difficult dull and has no relation to their everyday interests.
As a physicist ,I am saddened and angered to see "the great science turnoff" I know that science is important in our lives.Yet studies prove that our schools are turning out millions of graduates who know almost nothing about and have almost no interest in science.What's gone wrong ?Who is to blame ? | 3262.txt | 0 |
[
"European influence on colonial American painting",
"The importance of patronage to artist",
"The changing status of artists in the American colonies in the eighteenth century",
"Subjects preferred by artists in the American colonies in the eighteenth century."
]
| What does the passage mainly discuss? | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 2 |
[
"cause",
"beginning",
"position",
"explanation"
]
| The word "outbreak" in line 5 is closest in meaning to | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 1 |
[
"led to",
"transformed",
"preferred",
"experienced"
]
| The word "undergone" in line 6 is closest in meaning to | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 3 |
[
"paint wheel carriages",
"paint portraits",
"varnish furniture",
"paint flat surfaces"
]
| According to the passage , before the American Revolution the main task of limners was to | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 1 |
[
"considered artists to be superior to painters",
"barely painted portraitists",
"were often very wealthy",
"imitated English painters"
]
| It can be inferred from the passage that artists who were trained in England | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 0 |
[
"made decisions",
"studies",
"agreed",
"associated"
]
| The word "consorted" in line 14 is closest in meaning to | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 3 |
[
"adequate",
"temporary",
"friendly",
"expensive"
]
| The word "sufficient" in line 16 is closest in meaning to | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 0 |
[
"increased the monetary value of the paintings",
"made it more difficult for other artists to copy the paintings",
"supported the artists' image of professionalism",
"distinguished colonial American artists from European artists"
]
| According to the passage , artists such as Copley, West and Peal signed their paintings | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 2 |
[
"Art gallery owners who displayed only European art",
"Art collectors who had a profound influence on American attitudes toward art",
"Artists who gave financial support to other artists",
"Patrons whose helped to encourage artisans to become artists"
]
| The author mentions James Bowdoin III and William Byrd in line 17 as examples of which of the following? | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 1 |
[
"Countries that have not had a political revolution are unlikely to develop great art.",
"The most successful art collectors are usually artists themselves.",
"The value of colonial American paintings decreased after the Revolution.",
"Colonial artists made an important contribution to the evolving culture of the new nation."
]
| With which of the following would the author be most likely to agree? | By 1776 the fine art of painting as it had developed in western Europe up to this time had been introduced into the American colonies through books and prints, European visitors and immigrants, and traveling colonists who brought back copies (and a few original) of old master paintings and acquaintance with European art institutions.
By the outbreak of the Revolution against British rule in 1776, the status of the artists had already undergone change. In the mid-eighteenth century, painters had been willing to assume such artisan-related tasks as varnishing, gilding teaching, keeping shops, and painting wheel carriages, houses, and signs. The terminology by which artists were described at the time suggests their status: "limner" was usually applied to the anonymous portrait painter up to the 1760's; "painter" characterized anyone who could paint a flat surface. By the second half of the century, colonial artists who were trained in England or educated in the classics rejected the status of laborer and thought of themselves as artists. Some colonial urban portraitists, such as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West, and Charles Wilson Peale, consorted with affluent patrons. Although subject to fluctuations in their economic status, all three enjoyed sufficient patronage to allow them to maintain an image of themselves as professional artists, an image indicated by their custom of signing their paintings. A few art collectors James Bowdoin III of Boston, William Byrd of Virginian, and the Aliens and Hamiltons of Philadelphia introduced European art traditions to those colonists privileged to visit their galleries, especially aspiring artists, and established in their respective communities the idea of the value of art and the need for institutions devoted to its encouragement.
Although the colonists tended to favor portraits, they also accepted landscapes, historical works, and political engravings as appropriate artistic subjects. With the coming of independence from the British Crown, a sufficient number of artists and their works were available to serve nationalistic purposes. The achievements of the colonial artists, particularly those of Copley, West, and Peale, lent credence to the boast that the new nation was capable of encouraging genius and that political liberty was congenial to the development of taste - a necessary step before art could assume an important role in the new republic. | 1880.txt | 3 |
[
"Design elements in the Art Nouveau style",
"The popularity of the Art Nouveau style",
"Production techniques for art glass",
"Color combinations typical of the Art Nouveau style"
]
| What does paragraph 1 mainly discuss? | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 0 |
[
"century",
"development",
"style",
"coloration"
]
| The word "one" in line 4 refers to | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 2 |
[
"The distortion of the glass",
"The appearance of the glass surface",
"The shapes of the glass objects",
"The size of the glass objects"
]
| Paragraph 1 mentions that Art Nouveau glass was sometimes similar to which aspect of ancient buried glass? | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 1 |
[
"to compare different Art Nouveau styles",
"to give examples of famous Art Nouveau artists",
"to explain why Art Nouveau glass was so popular in the United States",
"to show the impact Art Nouveau had on other cultures around the world"
]
| What is the main purpose of paragraph 2? | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 1 |
[
"valued",
"universal",
"uncommon",
"preserved"
]
| The word "prized" in line 16 is closest in meaning to | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 0 |
[
"surpassed",
"inclined",
"expressed",
"applied"
]
| The word "overtaken" in line 20 is closest in meaning to | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 0 |
[
"A useful object should not be attractive.",
"The purpose of an object should influence its form.",
"The design of an object is considered more significant than its function.",
"The form of an object should not include decorative elements."
]
| What does the author mean by stating that "function should determine form" (lines 23-24)? | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 1 |
[
"clearly distinguished between art and design",
"appealed to people who liked complex painted designs",
"reflected a common desire to break from the past",
"was easily interpreted by the general public"
]
| It can be inferred from the passage that one reason Functionalism became popular was that it | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 2 |
[
"Its design concept avoided geometric shapes.",
"It started on a small scale and then spread gradually.",
"It was a major force in the decorative arts before the First World War.",
"It was not attractive to architects and designers."
]
| Paragraph 3 supports which of the following statements about Functionalism? | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 1 |
[
"a flowered design",
"bright colors",
"modern symbols",
"a textured surface"
]
| According to the passage , an object made in the Art Nouveau style would most likely include | The end of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth century were marked by the development of an international Art Nouveau style, characterized by sinuous lines, floral and vegetable motifs, and soft evanescent coloration. The Art Nouveau style was an eclectic one, bringing together elements of Japanese art, motifs of ancient cultures, and natural forms. The glass objects of this style were elegant in outline, although often deliberately distorted, with pale or iridescent surfaces. A favored device of the style was to imitate the iridescent surface seen on ancient glass that had been buried. Much of the Art Nouveau glass produced during the years of its greatest popularity had been generically termed "art glass." Art glass was intended for decorative purposes and relied for its effect upon carefully chosen color combinations and innovative techniques.
France produced a number of outstanding exponents of the Art Nouveau style; among the most celebrated was Emile Galle (1846-1904). In the United States, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1843-1933) was the most noted exponent of this style, producing a great variety of glass forms and surfaces, which were widely copied in their time and are highly prized today. Tiffany was a brilliant designer, successfully combining ancient Egyptian, Japanese, and Persian motifs.
The Art Nouveau style was a major force in the decorative arts from 1895 until 1915, although its influence continued throughout the mid-1920's. It was eventually to be overtaken by a new school of thought known as Functionalism that had been present since the turn of the century. At first restricted to a small avant-garde group of architects and designers, Functionalism emerged as the dominant influence upon designers after the First World War. The basic tenet of the movement - that function should determine form - was not a new concept. Soon a distinct aesthetic code evolved: form should be simple, surfaces plain, and any ornament should be based on geometric relationships. This new design concept, coupled with the sharp postwar reactions to the styles and conventions of the preceding decades, created an entirely new public taste which caused Art Nouveau types of glass to fall out of favor. The new taste demanded dramatic effects of contrast, stark outline and complex textural surfaces. | 1939.txt | 0 |
[
"It rose to fame because of the first lady‘s role.",
"It‘s successful and gains international popularity.",
"It still has to win a lifetime-achievement award.",
"It is the most successful show in American history."
]
| What do we learn about Sesame Street from the first two paragraphs? | As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved children‘s show in history, and one of television‘s biggest and most enduring success stories.
The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories around the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live.
Sesame‘s cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. " The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4," says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney - who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) - " children are basically the same, and have been through the years."
But if preschoolers‘ fundamental needs and sensibilities haven‘t changed much, the world around them has - not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids‘ shows and an ever-expanding array of new media.
In 2000, the Children‘s Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age. Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The show‘s famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that it‘s just as important " to keep our curriculum current. The ABC‘s and 123‘s are always there, but we stay relevant by incorporating other things that are interesting and meaningful."
" We focus on all aspects of development - cognitive needs, social and emotional needs, health needs - and bring in advisers who are experts in each area, to make sure we‘re age-appropriate," says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop. " But we never talk down to children, and we‘re not afraid to explore sensitive topics."
Sesame has had its critics in the academic community as well.
For Mary Lynn Crow, a clinical psychologist and professor of education at the University of Texas-Arlington, " shows like Sesame Street lack the potentially deep, personal emotional imprint that can and should occur between a student and teacher in an early educational experience." On the other hand, Crow considers Sesame Street " a beautiful model of what I call high-tech learning. They can teach children about letters, numbers, color and size through repetition in ways traditional education can‘t, and provide early information about attitudes, values and relationships." | 4003.txt | 1 |
[
"They are completely different than they were 40 years ago.",
"Many of them are devoted fans of the performance.",
"Their basic needs haven‘t changed much through years.",
"They continue to watch the show when they have grown up."
]
| What‘s Spinney‘s opinion on the target audience of Sesame Street? | As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved children‘s show in history, and one of television‘s biggest and most enduring success stories.
The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories around the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live.
Sesame‘s cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. " The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4," says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney - who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) - " children are basically the same, and have been through the years."
But if preschoolers‘ fundamental needs and sensibilities haven‘t changed much, the world around them has - not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids‘ shows and an ever-expanding array of new media.
In 2000, the Children‘s Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age. Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The show‘s famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that it‘s just as important " to keep our curriculum current. The ABC‘s and 123‘s are always there, but we stay relevant by incorporating other things that are interesting and meaningful."
" We focus on all aspects of development - cognitive needs, social and emotional needs, health needs - and bring in advisers who are experts in each area, to make sure we‘re age-appropriate," says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop. " But we never talk down to children, and we‘re not afraid to explore sensitive topics."
Sesame has had its critics in the academic community as well.
For Mary Lynn Crow, a clinical psychologist and professor of education at the University of Texas-Arlington, " shows like Sesame Street lack the potentially deep, personal emotional imprint that can and should occur between a student and teacher in an early educational experience." On the other hand, Crow considers Sesame Street " a beautiful model of what I call high-tech learning. They can teach children about letters, numbers, color and size through repetition in ways traditional education can‘t, and provide early information about attitudes, values and relationships." | 4003.txt | 2 |
[
"has slight edge over other shows targeting children",
"has made some changes so as to keep up with the times",
"tries to cater to adults who accompany their children to the show",
"is doomed to fail due to its out-dated content and presentation"
]
| The author says that in the current world, Sesame Street _ . | As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved children‘s show in history, and one of television‘s biggest and most enduring success stories.
The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories around the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live.
Sesame‘s cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. " The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4," says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney - who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) - " children are basically the same, and have been through the years."
But if preschoolers‘ fundamental needs and sensibilities haven‘t changed much, the world around them has - not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids‘ shows and an ever-expanding array of new media.
In 2000, the Children‘s Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age. Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The show‘s famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that it‘s just as important " to keep our curriculum current. The ABC‘s and 123‘s are always there, but we stay relevant by incorporating other things that are interesting and meaningful."
" We focus on all aspects of development - cognitive needs, social and emotional needs, health needs - and bring in advisers who are experts in each area, to make sure we‘re age-appropriate," says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop. " But we never talk down to children, and we‘re not afraid to explore sensitive topics."
Sesame has had its critics in the academic community as well.
For Mary Lynn Crow, a clinical psychologist and professor of education at the University of Texas-Arlington, " shows like Sesame Street lack the potentially deep, personal emotional imprint that can and should occur between a student and teacher in an early educational experience." On the other hand, Crow considers Sesame Street " a beautiful model of what I call high-tech learning. They can teach children about letters, numbers, color and size through repetition in ways traditional education can‘t, and provide early information about attitudes, values and relationships." | 4003.txt | 1 |
[
"It tries to prepare children both for school and life‘s lessons.",
"Its writer has changed the theme of the story for kids.",
"Children seem to be looked down upon in the show.",
"Sensitive topics have always been banned in the show."
]
| What can be inferred about Sesame Street from Rosemarie Truglio‘s words? | As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved children‘s show in history, and one of television‘s biggest and most enduring success stories.
The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories around the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live.
Sesame‘s cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. " The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4," says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney - who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) - " children are basically the same, and have been through the years."
But if preschoolers‘ fundamental needs and sensibilities haven‘t changed much, the world around them has - not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids‘ shows and an ever-expanding array of new media.
In 2000, the Children‘s Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age. Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The show‘s famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that it‘s just as important " to keep our curriculum current. The ABC‘s and 123‘s are always there, but we stay relevant by incorporating other things that are interesting and meaningful."
" We focus on all aspects of development - cognitive needs, social and emotional needs, health needs - and bring in advisers who are experts in each area, to make sure we‘re age-appropriate," says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop. " But we never talk down to children, and we‘re not afraid to explore sensitive topics."
Sesame has had its critics in the academic community as well.
For Mary Lynn Crow, a clinical psychologist and professor of education at the University of Texas-Arlington, " shows like Sesame Street lack the potentially deep, personal emotional imprint that can and should occur between a student and teacher in an early educational experience." On the other hand, Crow considers Sesame Street " a beautiful model of what I call high-tech learning. They can teach children about letters, numbers, color and size through repetition in ways traditional education can‘t, and provide early information about attitudes, values and relationships." | 4003.txt | 0 |
[
"only touches up superficial relationships",
"is too complicated for children to understand",
"goes against ways of traditional education",
"repeats basic knowledge over and over again"
]
| Mary Lynn Crow is negative about Sesame Street because she thinks it _ . | As Sesame Street kicks off its 40th anniversary season Tuesday, with first lady Michelle Obama and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda as guests, it is indisputably the most beloved children‘s show in history, and one of television‘s biggest and most enduring success stories.
The series holds a record 122 Emmy Awards, not including a lifetime-achievement trophy award, and has been adapted in more than 120 countries and territories around the globe. An estimated 100,000 Sesame products have been made available internationally, from T-shirts and costumes to high-tech toys such as Elmo Live.
Sesame‘s cross-cultural, multi-generational appeal has a lot to do with the specific age group it targets. " The bulk of our audience is in the 2s and 3s, though we shoot for 2 to 4," says executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente. At that early stage, says Spinney - who is 75, and has been with the show since Day 1 (he plays Oscar as well) - " children are basically the same, and have been through the years."
But if preschoolers‘ fundamental needs and sensibilities haven‘t changed much, the world around them has - not least of all on the media landscape, where Sesame Street now competes with many other kids‘ shows and an ever-expanding array of new media.
In 2000, the Children‘s Television Workshop, the organization through which creator Joan Ganz Cooney launched Sesame Street on PBS predecessor NET, changed its title to Sesame Workshop, to reflect its expansion into the digital, interactive age. Content and presentation continue to evolve on TV as well. The show‘s famously catchy theme song, Sunny Day, now has a hip-hop beat and a jazzier arrangement. Parente stresses that it‘s just as important " to keep our curriculum current. The ABC‘s and 123‘s are always there, but we stay relevant by incorporating other things that are interesting and meaningful."
" We focus on all aspects of development - cognitive needs, social and emotional needs, health needs - and bring in advisers who are experts in each area, to make sure we‘re age-appropriate," says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education and research, Sesame Workshop. " But we never talk down to children, and we‘re not afraid to explore sensitive topics."
Sesame has had its critics in the academic community as well.
For Mary Lynn Crow, a clinical psychologist and professor of education at the University of Texas-Arlington, " shows like Sesame Street lack the potentially deep, personal emotional imprint that can and should occur between a student and teacher in an early educational experience." On the other hand, Crow considers Sesame Street " a beautiful model of what I call high-tech learning. They can teach children about letters, numbers, color and size through repetition in ways traditional education can‘t, and provide early information about attitudes, values and relationships." | 4003.txt | 0 |
[
"the ability to read andwrite",
"the ability to use",
"literature",
"the knowledge of language"
]
| The word"literacy" (Line 1,Paragraph 1) means _ . | Educators today are more and more oftenheard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary forcollegestudents. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanentaccess to his or her ownmicrocomputer. What advantages do computers offer thecollege students?
Any student who has used a word processorwill know one compelling reason to use a computer: to writepapers. Although notall students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most ,findrevising and editingmuch easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just bypressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite orre-type.Furthermore, since the revision process is less burdensome, students are morelikely to revise as often as isnecessary to end up with the best paperpossible. For these reasons, many freshman English cottrses require the useof aword processor.
Computers are also useful in the contextof language courses, where they are used to drill students in basicskills.Software programs reinforce ESL(English as a Second Language .instruction, aswell as instrnction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By usingthese programs on a regular basis, students can improvetheir proficiency in alanguage while proceeding at their own pace.
Science students take advantage ofcomputers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, forexample, botanystudents can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medicalstudents can learn tointerpret computerized images of internal body structures.Physics students can complete complex calculations farmore quickly than theycould without the use of computer.
Similarly, business and accountingstudents find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensabletomany aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts,marketing, and public relations find thatknowledge of computer graphic isimportant Education majors learn to develop grading systems usingcomputers,while social science students use computers for analyzing andgraphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder, then, that educatorssupport the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A Versatile tool, the computer can help students learn.And that is, after all, the reason for going to college. | 667.txt | 1 |
[
"persuade the educators toincrease computer use in their own classroom",
"analyze advantages anddisadvantages of computer use among college students",
"identify some of the waysthat computers benefit college students",
"describe how computers canbe used to teach foreign languages"
]
| The main purpose of thispassage is to _ . | Educators today are more and more oftenheard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary forcollegestudents. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanentaccess to his or her ownmicrocomputer. What advantages do computers offer thecollege students?
Any student who has used a word processorwill know one compelling reason to use a computer: to writepapers. Although notall students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most ,findrevising and editingmuch easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just bypressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite orre-type.Furthermore, since the revision process is less burdensome, students are morelikely to revise as often as isnecessary to end up with the best paperpossible. For these reasons, many freshman English cottrses require the useof aword processor.
Computers are also useful in the contextof language courses, where they are used to drill students in basicskills.Software programs reinforce ESL(English as a Second Language .instruction, aswell as instrnction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By usingthese programs on a regular basis, students can improvetheir proficiency in alanguage while proceeding at their own pace.
Science students take advantage ofcomputers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, forexample, botanystudents can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medicalstudents can learn tointerpret computerized images of internal body structures.Physics students can complete complex calculations farmore quickly than theycould without the use of computer.
Similarly, business and accountingstudents find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensabletomany aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts,marketing, and public relations find thatknowledge of computer graphic isimportant Education majors learn to develop grading systems usingcomputers,while social science students use computers for analyzing andgraphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder, then, that educatorssupport the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A Versatile tool, the computer can help students learn.And that is, after all, the reason for going to college. | 667.txt | 2 |
[
"revise papers",
"retype papers",
"reduce the psychologicalburden of writing papers",
"improve the writing skillsof a student"
]
| According to the author, aword processor can be used to _ . | Educators today are more and more oftenheard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary forcollegestudents. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanentaccess to his or her ownmicrocomputer. What advantages do computers offer thecollege students?
Any student who has used a word processorwill know one compelling reason to use a computer: to writepapers. Although notall students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most ,findrevising and editingmuch easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just bypressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite orre-type.Furthermore, since the revision process is less burdensome, students are morelikely to revise as often as isnecessary to end up with the best paperpossible. For these reasons, many freshman English cottrses require the useof aword processor.
Computers are also useful in the contextof language courses, where they are used to drill students in basicskills.Software programs reinforce ESL(English as a Second Language .instruction, aswell as instrnction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By usingthese programs on a regular basis, students can improvetheir proficiency in alanguage while proceeding at their own pace.
Science students take advantage ofcomputers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, forexample, botanystudents can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medicalstudents can learn tointerpret computerized images of internal body structures.Physics students can complete complex calculations farmore quickly than theycould without the use of computer.
Similarly, business and accountingstudents find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensabletomany aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts,marketing, and public relations find thatknowledge of computer graphic isimportant Education majors learn to develop grading systems usingcomputers,while social science students use computers for analyzing andgraphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder, then, that educatorssupport the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A Versatile tool, the computer can help students learn.And that is, after all, the reason for going to college. | 667.txt | 0 |
[
"cause-effect analysis",
"comparison andcontrast",
"induction",
"examples"
]
| In this passage, thewriter's argument is developed primarily through the use of _ . | Educators today are more and more oftenheard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary forcollegestudents. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanentaccess to his or her ownmicrocomputer. What advantages do computers offer thecollege students?
Any student who has used a word processorwill know one compelling reason to use a computer: to writepapers. Although notall students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most ,findrevising and editingmuch easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just bypressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite orre-type.Furthermore, since the revision process is less burdensome, students are morelikely to revise as often as isnecessary to end up with the best paperpossible. For these reasons, many freshman English cottrses require the useof aword processor.
Computers are also useful in the contextof language courses, where they are used to drill students in basicskills.Software programs reinforce ESL(English as a Second Language .instruction, aswell as instrnction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By usingthese programs on a regular basis, students can improvetheir proficiency in alanguage while proceeding at their own pace.
Science students take advantage ofcomputers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, forexample, botanystudents can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medicalstudents can learn tointerpret computerized images of internal body structures.Physics students can complete complex calculations farmore quickly than theycould without the use of computer.
Similarly, business and accountingstudents find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensabletomany aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts,marketing, and public relations find thatknowledge of computer graphic isimportant Education majors learn to develop grading systems usingcomputers,while social science students use computers for analyzing andgraphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder, then, that educatorssupport the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A Versatile tool, the computer can help students learn.And that is, after all, the reason for going to college. | 667.txt | 3 |
[
"to learn something",
"to perfect themselves",
"to improve computerskills",
"to make the best use ofcomputers"
]
| According to the author,the reason for students to go to college is _ . | Educators today are more and more oftenheard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary forcollegestudents. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanentaccess to his or her ownmicrocomputer. What advantages do computers offer thecollege students?
Any student who has used a word processorwill know one compelling reason to use a computer: to writepapers. Although notall students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most ,findrevising and editingmuch easier on it. One can alter, insert, or delete just bypressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite orre-type.Furthermore, since the revision process is less burdensome, students are morelikely to revise as often as isnecessary to end up with the best paperpossible. For these reasons, many freshman English cottrses require the useof aword processor.
Computers are also useful in the contextof language courses, where they are used to drill students in basicskills.Software programs reinforce ESL(English as a Second Language .instruction, aswell as instrnction in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. By usingthese programs on a regular basis, students can improvetheir proficiency in alanguage while proceeding at their own pace.
Science students take advantage ofcomputers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, forexample, botanystudents can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medicalstudents can learn tointerpret computerized images of internal body structures.Physics students can complete complex calculations farmore quickly than theycould without the use of computer.
Similarly, business and accountingstudents find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensabletomany aspects of their work, while students pursuing careers in graphic arts,marketing, and public relations find thatknowledge of computer graphic isimportant Education majors learn to develop grading systems usingcomputers,while social science students use computers for analyzing andgraphically displacing their research results.
It is no wonder, then, that educatorssupport the purchase and use of microcomputers by students. A Versatile tool, the computer can help students learn.And that is, after all, the reason for going to college. | 667.txt | 0 |
[
"eighty per cent of American working people were employed in factories",
"twenty per cent of American intellectuals were employees",
"the percentage of intellectuals in the total work force was almost the same as that of industrial workers",
"the percentage of intellectuals working as employees was not so large as that of industrial workers"
]
| It is implied that fifty years ago ________. | Ours has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one out of every five Americans at work was employed, i.e., worked for somebody else. Today only one out of five is not employed but working for himself. And when fifty years ago "being employed" meant working as a factory labourer or as a farmhand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a substantial formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual and technical skills. Indeed, two things have characterized American society during these fifty years: middle-class and upper-class employees have been the fastest-growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that oldest child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance despite the expansion of industrial production.
Yet you will find little if anything written on what it is to be an employee. You can find a great deal of very dubious advice on how to get a job or how to get a promotion. You can also find a good deal of work in a chosen field, whether it be the mechanist's trade or bookkeeping . Every one of these trades requires different skills, sets different standards, and requires a different preparation. Yet they all have employeeship in common. And increasingly, especially in the large business or in government, employeeship is more important to success than the special professional knowledge or skill. Certainly more people fail because they do not know the requirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess the skills of their trade; the higher you climb the ladder, the more you get into administrative or executive work, the greater the emphasis on ability to work within the organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge. | 335.txt | 3 |
[
"factory labourers will overtake intellectual employees in number",
"there are as many middle-class employees as factory labourers",
"employers have attached great importance to factory labourers",
"the proportion of factory labourers in the total employee population has decreased"
]
| According to the passage, with the development of modern industry, ________. | Ours has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one out of every five Americans at work was employed, i.e., worked for somebody else. Today only one out of five is not employed but working for himself. And when fifty years ago "being employed" meant working as a factory labourer or as a farmhand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a substantial formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual and technical skills. Indeed, two things have characterized American society during these fifty years: middle-class and upper-class employees have been the fastest-growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that oldest child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance despite the expansion of industrial production.
Yet you will find little if anything written on what it is to be an employee. You can find a great deal of very dubious advice on how to get a job or how to get a promotion. You can also find a good deal of work in a chosen field, whether it be the mechanist's trade or bookkeeping . Every one of these trades requires different skills, sets different standards, and requires a different preparation. Yet they all have employeeship in common. And increasingly, especially in the large business or in government, employeeship is more important to success than the special professional knowledge or skill. Certainly more people fail because they do not know the requirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess the skills of their trade; the higher you climb the ladder, the more you get into administrative or executive work, the greater the emphasis on ability to work within the organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge. | 335.txt | 3 |
[
"valuable",
"useful",
"doubtful",
"helpful"
]
| The word "dubious" (L. 2, Para. 2) most probably means ________. | Ours has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one out of every five Americans at work was employed, i.e., worked for somebody else. Today only one out of five is not employed but working for himself. And when fifty years ago "being employed" meant working as a factory labourer or as a farmhand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a substantial formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual and technical skills. Indeed, two things have characterized American society during these fifty years: middle-class and upper-class employees have been the fastest-growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that oldest child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance despite the expansion of industrial production.
Yet you will find little if anything written on what it is to be an employee. You can find a great deal of very dubious advice on how to get a job or how to get a promotion. You can also find a good deal of work in a chosen field, whether it be the mechanist's trade or bookkeeping . Every one of these trades requires different skills, sets different standards, and requires a different preparation. Yet they all have employeeship in common. And increasingly, especially in the large business or in government, employeeship is more important to success than the special professional knowledge or skill. Certainly more people fail because they do not know the requirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess the skills of their trade; the higher you climb the ladder, the more you get into administrative or executive work, the greater the emphasis on ability to work within the organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge. | 335.txt | 2 |
[
"less importance than awareness of being a good employee",
"as important as the ability to deal with public relations",
"more important than employer-employee relations",
"more important as the ability to co-operate with others in the organization"
]
| According to the writer, professional knowledge or skill is ________. | Ours has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one out of every five Americans at work was employed, i.e., worked for somebody else. Today only one out of five is not employed but working for himself. And when fifty years ago "being employed" meant working as a factory labourer or as a farmhand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a substantial formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual and technical skills. Indeed, two things have characterized American society during these fifty years: middle-class and upper-class employees have been the fastest-growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that oldest child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance despite the expansion of industrial production.
Yet you will find little if anything written on what it is to be an employee. You can find a great deal of very dubious advice on how to get a job or how to get a promotion. You can also find a good deal of work in a chosen field, whether it be the mechanist's trade or bookkeeping . Every one of these trades requires different skills, sets different standards, and requires a different preparation. Yet they all have employeeship in common. And increasingly, especially in the large business or in government, employeeship is more important to success than the special professional knowledge or skill. Certainly more people fail because they do not know the requirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess the skills of their trade; the higher you climb the ladder, the more you get into administrative or executive work, the greater the emphasis on ability to work within the organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge. | 335.txt | 0 |
[
"to be more successful in his career",
"to be more specialized in his field",
"to solve technical problems",
"to develop his professional skill"
]
| From the passage it can be seen that employeeship helps one ________. | Ours has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one out of every five Americans at work was employed, i.e., worked for somebody else. Today only one out of five is not employed but working for himself. And when fifty years ago "being employed" meant working as a factory labourer or as a farmhand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a substantial formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring intellectual and technical skills. Indeed, two things have characterized American society during these fifty years: middle-class and upper-class employees have been the fastest-growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that oldest child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance despite the expansion of industrial production.
Yet you will find little if anything written on what it is to be an employee. You can find a great deal of very dubious advice on how to get a job or how to get a promotion. You can also find a good deal of work in a chosen field, whether it be the mechanist's trade or bookkeeping . Every one of these trades requires different skills, sets different standards, and requires a different preparation. Yet they all have employeeship in common. And increasingly, especially in the large business or in government, employeeship is more important to success than the special professional knowledge or skill. Certainly more people fail because they do not know the requirements of being an employee than because they do not adequately possess the skills of their trade; the higher you climb the ladder, the more you get into administrative or executive work, the greater the emphasis on ability to work within the organization rather than on technical abilities or professional knowledge. | 335.txt | 0 |
[
"the development of DVR is just like what was predicted",
"the households owning DVRs are relatively rich",
"DVR is frequently used by the households that advertisers most care about",
"owners of DVR use it to skip most of all advertisements"
]
| From the second paragraph we learn that _ . | Ten years ago this week a black box was demonstrated at a broadcasters' convention in Las Vegas. TiVo's digital video recorder（DVR）was expensive: the cheapest model cost $499. But it was hailed as revolutionary. It was much more flexible and easier to programme than a videocassette recorder. It allowed people to record and play back at the same time, so they could start watching a programme 20 minutes after it had started and fast-forward through all the advertisements. Experts forecast a severe, perhaps fatal, blow to advertising-supported television. Yet DVRs turn out to have done little damage. Indeed, DVRs may even have protected television and made it more conservative.
As prices fell and cable and satellite firms began to bundle DVRs with other services, their popularity soared. According to Nielsen, a media-research outfit, 29% of American homes now have one. The boxes are in a higher proportion of the households advertisers most care about. Jack Wakshlag of Turner Broadcasting, a cable company, calculates that DVR-owning households earn about $20,000 more than average. Yet those households do not use them nearly as much as one might expect. Families with DVRs seem to spend 15-20% of their viewing time watching pre-recorded shows, and skip only about half of all advertisements. This means only about 5% of television is time-shifted and less than 3% of all advertisements are skipped. Mitigating that loss, people with DVRs watch more television.
Just because technology enables people to do something does not mean they will, particularly when it comes to a medium as indolence-inducing as television. And people have become lazier. Early adopters of DVRs used them a lot-not surprisingly, since they paid so much for them. Later adopters use them much less（about two-thirds less, according to a recent study）. David Poltrack, head of research and planning at CBS, another broadcast network, reckons the networks have already felt most of the DVR's effects.
Advertisers and television networks have pushed back even against this puny threat. They have developed relatively static advertisements that get a message across even at high speed. They put snippets of programming in the middle of ad breaks. One trick, described by Todd Juenger of TiVo as" closer to a silver bullet" , is to run advertisements that resemble programmes-in some cases featuring stars from the show people are trying to watch.
Far from being revolutionary, in some ways DVR has made television more stable. With the exception of live events it is broadly true that the most popular programmes are recorded the most. Mr Wakshlag describes it as" a hit-saving machine" . Broadcast television receives a bigger boost from DVR playback than cable television. The device has made it harder to introduce a new television programme, particularly at 10pm when people are likely to be playing back shows they recorded at 8pm or 9pm.
One reason television executives have calmed down about DVRs is that they have something else to worry about. Hulu and other video-streaming websites, which are becoming more popular, give a great deal of control to consumers and are thought to pose a threat to advertising-supported television. Does that sound familiar? | 487.txt | 1 |
[
"DVR's influence on television is relatively small",
"people do not always make use of advantages brought by technology",
"technology sometimes make people become lazier",
"the networks survive thanks to the indolence of later DVR adopters"
]
| David Poltrack's comment in paragraph three probably means that _ . | Ten years ago this week a black box was demonstrated at a broadcasters' convention in Las Vegas. TiVo's digital video recorder（DVR）was expensive: the cheapest model cost $499. But it was hailed as revolutionary. It was much more flexible and easier to programme than a videocassette recorder. It allowed people to record and play back at the same time, so they could start watching a programme 20 minutes after it had started and fast-forward through all the advertisements. Experts forecast a severe, perhaps fatal, blow to advertising-supported television. Yet DVRs turn out to have done little damage. Indeed, DVRs may even have protected television and made it more conservative.
As prices fell and cable and satellite firms began to bundle DVRs with other services, their popularity soared. According to Nielsen, a media-research outfit, 29% of American homes now have one. The boxes are in a higher proportion of the households advertisers most care about. Jack Wakshlag of Turner Broadcasting, a cable company, calculates that DVR-owning households earn about $20,000 more than average. Yet those households do not use them nearly as much as one might expect. Families with DVRs seem to spend 15-20% of their viewing time watching pre-recorded shows, and skip only about half of all advertisements. This means only about 5% of television is time-shifted and less than 3% of all advertisements are skipped. Mitigating that loss, people with DVRs watch more television.
Just because technology enables people to do something does not mean they will, particularly when it comes to a medium as indolence-inducing as television. And people have become lazier. Early adopters of DVRs used them a lot-not surprisingly, since they paid so much for them. Later adopters use them much less（about two-thirds less, according to a recent study）. David Poltrack, head of research and planning at CBS, another broadcast network, reckons the networks have already felt most of the DVR's effects.
Advertisers and television networks have pushed back even against this puny threat. They have developed relatively static advertisements that get a message across even at high speed. They put snippets of programming in the middle of ad breaks. One trick, described by Todd Juenger of TiVo as" closer to a silver bullet" , is to run advertisements that resemble programmes-in some cases featuring stars from the show people are trying to watch.
Far from being revolutionary, in some ways DVR has made television more stable. With the exception of live events it is broadly true that the most popular programmes are recorded the most. Mr Wakshlag describes it as" a hit-saving machine" . Broadcast television receives a bigger boost from DVR playback than cable television. The device has made it harder to introduce a new television programme, particularly at 10pm when people are likely to be playing back shows they recorded at 8pm or 9pm.
One reason television executives have calmed down about DVRs is that they have something else to worry about. Hulu and other video-streaming websites, which are becoming more popular, give a great deal of control to consumers and are thought to pose a threat to advertising-supported television. Does that sound familiar? | 487.txt | 0 |
[
"a bullet made of silver",
"a method with much financial input",
"an economical approach",
"an extremely effective solution"
]
| The phrase" silver bullet" （Line 4, Paragraph 4）most probably means _ . | Ten years ago this week a black box was demonstrated at a broadcasters' convention in Las Vegas. TiVo's digital video recorder（DVR）was expensive: the cheapest model cost $499. But it was hailed as revolutionary. It was much more flexible and easier to programme than a videocassette recorder. It allowed people to record and play back at the same time, so they could start watching a programme 20 minutes after it had started and fast-forward through all the advertisements. Experts forecast a severe, perhaps fatal, blow to advertising-supported television. Yet DVRs turn out to have done little damage. Indeed, DVRs may even have protected television and made it more conservative.
As prices fell and cable and satellite firms began to bundle DVRs with other services, their popularity soared. According to Nielsen, a media-research outfit, 29% of American homes now have one. The boxes are in a higher proportion of the households advertisers most care about. Jack Wakshlag of Turner Broadcasting, a cable company, calculates that DVR-owning households earn about $20,000 more than average. Yet those households do not use them nearly as much as one might expect. Families with DVRs seem to spend 15-20% of their viewing time watching pre-recorded shows, and skip only about half of all advertisements. This means only about 5% of television is time-shifted and less than 3% of all advertisements are skipped. Mitigating that loss, people with DVRs watch more television.
Just because technology enables people to do something does not mean they will, particularly when it comes to a medium as indolence-inducing as television. And people have become lazier. Early adopters of DVRs used them a lot-not surprisingly, since they paid so much for them. Later adopters use them much less（about two-thirds less, according to a recent study）. David Poltrack, head of research and planning at CBS, another broadcast network, reckons the networks have already felt most of the DVR's effects.
Advertisers and television networks have pushed back even against this puny threat. They have developed relatively static advertisements that get a message across even at high speed. They put snippets of programming in the middle of ad breaks. One trick, described by Todd Juenger of TiVo as" closer to a silver bullet" , is to run advertisements that resemble programmes-in some cases featuring stars from the show people are trying to watch.
Far from being revolutionary, in some ways DVR has made television more stable. With the exception of live events it is broadly true that the most popular programmes are recorded the most. Mr Wakshlag describes it as" a hit-saving machine" . Broadcast television receives a bigger boost from DVR playback than cable television. The device has made it harder to introduce a new television programme, particularly at 10pm when people are likely to be playing back shows they recorded at 8pm or 9pm.
One reason television executives have calmed down about DVRs is that they have something else to worry about. Hulu and other video-streaming websites, which are becoming more popular, give a great deal of control to consumers and are thought to pose a threat to advertising-supported television. Does that sound familiar? | 487.txt | 3 |
[
"the result of fear about video-steaming website may turn out to be similar as that of DVR",
"video-streaming websites are posing a serious threat to television as DVR did",
"video-steaming websites give consumers much controlling power just as DVR did",
"television executive worry about video-steaming websites as they did about DVR"
]
| In the last sentence of the article, the author implies that _ . | Ten years ago this week a black box was demonstrated at a broadcasters' convention in Las Vegas. TiVo's digital video recorder（DVR）was expensive: the cheapest model cost $499. But it was hailed as revolutionary. It was much more flexible and easier to programme than a videocassette recorder. It allowed people to record and play back at the same time, so they could start watching a programme 20 minutes after it had started and fast-forward through all the advertisements. Experts forecast a severe, perhaps fatal, blow to advertising-supported television. Yet DVRs turn out to have done little damage. Indeed, DVRs may even have protected television and made it more conservative.
As prices fell and cable and satellite firms began to bundle DVRs with other services, their popularity soared. According to Nielsen, a media-research outfit, 29% of American homes now have one. The boxes are in a higher proportion of the households advertisers most care about. Jack Wakshlag of Turner Broadcasting, a cable company, calculates that DVR-owning households earn about $20,000 more than average. Yet those households do not use them nearly as much as one might expect. Families with DVRs seem to spend 15-20% of their viewing time watching pre-recorded shows, and skip only about half of all advertisements. This means only about 5% of television is time-shifted and less than 3% of all advertisements are skipped. Mitigating that loss, people with DVRs watch more television.
Just because technology enables people to do something does not mean they will, particularly when it comes to a medium as indolence-inducing as television. And people have become lazier. Early adopters of DVRs used them a lot-not surprisingly, since they paid so much for them. Later adopters use them much less（about two-thirds less, according to a recent study）. David Poltrack, head of research and planning at CBS, another broadcast network, reckons the networks have already felt most of the DVR's effects.
Advertisers and television networks have pushed back even against this puny threat. They have developed relatively static advertisements that get a message across even at high speed. They put snippets of programming in the middle of ad breaks. One trick, described by Todd Juenger of TiVo as" closer to a silver bullet" , is to run advertisements that resemble programmes-in some cases featuring stars from the show people are trying to watch.
Far from being revolutionary, in some ways DVR has made television more stable. With the exception of live events it is broadly true that the most popular programmes are recorded the most. Mr Wakshlag describes it as" a hit-saving machine" . Broadcast television receives a bigger boost from DVR playback than cable television. The device has made it harder to introduce a new television programme, particularly at 10pm when people are likely to be playing back shows they recorded at 8pm or 9pm.
One reason television executives have calmed down about DVRs is that they have something else to worry about. Hulu and other video-streaming websites, which are becoming more popular, give a great deal of control to consumers and are thought to pose a threat to advertising-supported television. Does that sound familiar? | 487.txt | 0 |
[
"critical",
"positive",
"biased",
"objective"
]
| The author's viewpoint towards the prospect of television industry seems to be _ . | Ten years ago this week a black box was demonstrated at a broadcasters' convention in Las Vegas. TiVo's digital video recorder（DVR）was expensive: the cheapest model cost $499. But it was hailed as revolutionary. It was much more flexible and easier to programme than a videocassette recorder. It allowed people to record and play back at the same time, so they could start watching a programme 20 minutes after it had started and fast-forward through all the advertisements. Experts forecast a severe, perhaps fatal, blow to advertising-supported television. Yet DVRs turn out to have done little damage. Indeed, DVRs may even have protected television and made it more conservative.
As prices fell and cable and satellite firms began to bundle DVRs with other services, their popularity soared. According to Nielsen, a media-research outfit, 29% of American homes now have one. The boxes are in a higher proportion of the households advertisers most care about. Jack Wakshlag of Turner Broadcasting, a cable company, calculates that DVR-owning households earn about $20,000 more than average. Yet those households do not use them nearly as much as one might expect. Families with DVRs seem to spend 15-20% of their viewing time watching pre-recorded shows, and skip only about half of all advertisements. This means only about 5% of television is time-shifted and less than 3% of all advertisements are skipped. Mitigating that loss, people with DVRs watch more television.
Just because technology enables people to do something does not mean they will, particularly when it comes to a medium as indolence-inducing as television. And people have become lazier. Early adopters of DVRs used them a lot-not surprisingly, since they paid so much for them. Later adopters use them much less（about two-thirds less, according to a recent study）. David Poltrack, head of research and planning at CBS, another broadcast network, reckons the networks have already felt most of the DVR's effects.
Advertisers and television networks have pushed back even against this puny threat. They have developed relatively static advertisements that get a message across even at high speed. They put snippets of programming in the middle of ad breaks. One trick, described by Todd Juenger of TiVo as" closer to a silver bullet" , is to run advertisements that resemble programmes-in some cases featuring stars from the show people are trying to watch.
Far from being revolutionary, in some ways DVR has made television more stable. With the exception of live events it is broadly true that the most popular programmes are recorded the most. Mr Wakshlag describes it as" a hit-saving machine" . Broadcast television receives a bigger boost from DVR playback than cable television. The device has made it harder to introduce a new television programme, particularly at 10pm when people are likely to be playing back shows they recorded at 8pm or 9pm.
One reason television executives have calmed down about DVRs is that they have something else to worry about. Hulu and other video-streaming websites, which are becoming more popular, give a great deal of control to consumers and are thought to pose a threat to advertising-supported television. Does that sound familiar? | 487.txt | 1 |
[
"To prepare a meal.",
"To arrange the furniture in a peculiar way.",
"To buy some books from a bookstore.",
"To \"write\" a letter with the computer."
]
| Which of the following activities is NOT a creative one according to t he passage? | According to the dictionary definition of "create", ordinary people are creative every day. To create means "to bring into being, to cause to exist"-something each of us does daily.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First this involves an awareness of our surroundings. It means using all of our sese to become aware of our world. This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture, as well as taste, when we plan a meal. Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things. I f we believe the expression, "There is nothing new under the sun," the creativ ity is remaking or recombining the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to cr eate an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ide as, to apply them to achieve some new results. To think up a new concept is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are involved in all the great works of genius, but they are also involved in many of our day to day activities. | 431.txt | 2 |
[
"creativity is of highly demand",
"creativity is connected with a deep insight to some extent",
"creativity is to create something new and concrete",
"to practise and practise is the only way to cultivate one's creativity"
]
| The author holds that _ . | According to the dictionary definition of "create", ordinary people are creative every day. To create means "to bring into being, to cause to exist"-something each of us does daily.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First this involves an awareness of our surroundings. It means using all of our sese to become aware of our world. This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture, as well as taste, when we plan a meal. Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things. I f we believe the expression, "There is nothing new under the sun," the creativ ity is remaking or recombining the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to cr eate an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ide as, to apply them to achieve some new results. To think up a new concept is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are involved in all the great works of genius, but they are also involved in many of our day to day activities. | 431.txt | 1 |
[
"we can seldom create new things",
"a new thing is only a tale",
"a new thing can only be created at the basis of original things",
"we can scarcely see really new things in the world"
]
| "There is nothing new under the sun." (Par.3) really implies that _ . | According to the dictionary definition of "create", ordinary people are creative every day. To create means "to bring into being, to cause to exist"-something each of us does daily.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First this involves an awareness of our surroundings. It means using all of our sese to become aware of our world. This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture, as well as taste, when we plan a meal. Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things. I f we believe the expression, "There is nothing new under the sun," the creativ ity is remaking or recombining the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to cr eate an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ide as, to apply them to achieve some new results. To think up a new concept is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are involved in all the great works of genius, but they are also involved in many of our day to day activities. | 431.txt | 2 |
[
"It's more difficult to create a new thought than to apply it in practice.",
"To find a new thought will definitely lead to the production of a new thing.",
"One may come up with a new thought, but can not put it into practice.",
"A man with an excellent ability of practice can easily become an inventor."
]
| What does the author think about the relationship between a new though t and its being put into practice? | According to the dictionary definition of "create", ordinary people are creative every day. To create means "to bring into being, to cause to exist"-something each of us does daily.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First this involves an awareness of our surroundings. It means using all of our sese to become aware of our world. This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture, as well as taste, when we plan a meal. Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things. I f we believe the expression, "There is nothing new under the sun," the creativ ity is remaking or recombining the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to cr eate an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ide as, to apply them to achieve some new results. To think up a new concept is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are involved in all the great works of genius, but they are also involved in many of our day to day activities. | 431.txt | 2 |
[
"How to Cultivate One's Creativity",
"What is Creativity",
"The Importance of Creativity",
"Creativity-a Not Farway Thing"
]
| The best title for this passage is _ . | According to the dictionary definition of "create", ordinary people are creative every day. To create means "to bring into being, to cause to exist"-something each of us does daily.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way. First this involves an awareness of our surroundings. It means using all of our sese to become aware of our world. This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture, as well as taste, when we plan a meal. Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things. I f we believe the expression, "There is nothing new under the sun," the creativ ity is remaking or recombining the old in new ways. For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to cr eate an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ide as, to apply them to achieve some new results. To think up a new concept is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are involved in all the great works of genius, but they are also involved in many of our day to day activities. | 431.txt | 1 |
[
"the theatres would be overcrowded",
"it would be a waste of money",
"pensioners wouldn't get free tickets",
"the government wouldn't be able to afford it"
]
| Critics of the plan argued that _ . | Tens of thousands of theatre tickets will be given away to young people next year as part of a government campaign to inspire a lifelong love for theatre.
The plan to offer free seats to people aged between 18 to 26-funded with ￡2.5 million of taxpayers' money-was announced yesterday by Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary. It received a cautious welcome from some in the arts world, who expressed concern that the tickets may not reach the most underprivileged.
The plan comes as West End theatres are enjoying record audiences, thanks largely to musicals teaming up with television talent shows. Attendances reached. 13.6 million in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, itself a record year. Total sales were up 18 percent on 2006 to almost ￡470 million.
One theatre source criticized the Government's priorities in funding free tickets when pensioners were struggling to buy food and fuel, saying: "I don't know why the Government's wasting money on this. The Yong Vic, as The Times reported today, offers excellent performances at cheap prices."
There was praise for the Government's plan from Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court Theatre, who said: "I support any move to get young people into theatre, and especially one that aims to do it all over England, not just in London."
Ninety-five publicly funded theatres could apply for funding under the two-year plan. In return, they will offer free tickets on at least one day each week to 18 to 26-year-olds, first-come, first-served. It is likely to be on Mondays, traditionally a quiet night for the theatre.
Mr. Burnham said: "A young person attending the theatre can find it an exciting experience, and be inspired to explore a new world. But sometimes people miss out on it because they fear it's ‘not for them'. It's time to change this perception."
Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: "The real issue is not getting enthusiastic children into the theatre, but improving arts education so that more young people want to go in the first place. For too many children theatres are a no-go area." | 3522.txt | 1 |
[
"benefit the television industry",
"focus on producing better plays",
"help increase the sales of tickets",
"involve all the young people in England"
]
| According to the supporters, the plan should _ . | Tens of thousands of theatre tickets will be given away to young people next year as part of a government campaign to inspire a lifelong love for theatre.
The plan to offer free seats to people aged between 18 to 26-funded with ￡2.5 million of taxpayers' money-was announced yesterday by Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary. It received a cautious welcome from some in the arts world, who expressed concern that the tickets may not reach the most underprivileged.
The plan comes as West End theatres are enjoying record audiences, thanks largely to musicals teaming up with television talent shows. Attendances reached. 13.6 million in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, itself a record year. Total sales were up 18 percent on 2006 to almost ￡470 million.
One theatre source criticized the Government's priorities in funding free tickets when pensioners were struggling to buy food and fuel, saying: "I don't know why the Government's wasting money on this. The Yong Vic, as The Times reported today, offers excellent performances at cheap prices."
There was praise for the Government's plan from Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court Theatre, who said: "I support any move to get young people into theatre, and especially one that aims to do it all over England, not just in London."
Ninety-five publicly funded theatres could apply for funding under the two-year plan. In return, they will offer free tickets on at least one day each week to 18 to 26-year-olds, first-come, first-served. It is likely to be on Mondays, traditionally a quiet night for the theatre.
Mr. Burnham said: "A young person attending the theatre can find it an exciting experience, and be inspired to explore a new world. But sometimes people miss out on it because they fear it's ‘not for them'. It's time to change this perception."
Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: "The real issue is not getting enthusiastic children into the theatre, but improving arts education so that more young people want to go in the first place. For too many children theatres are a no-go area." | 3522.txt | 3 |
[
"Ninety-five theatres have received funding.",
"Everyone will get at least one free ticket.",
"It may not benefit all the young people.",
"Free tickets are offered once every day."
]
| Which of the following is TRUE about the plan? | Tens of thousands of theatre tickets will be given away to young people next year as part of a government campaign to inspire a lifelong love for theatre.
The plan to offer free seats to people aged between 18 to 26-funded with ￡2.5 million of taxpayers' money-was announced yesterday by Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary. It received a cautious welcome from some in the arts world, who expressed concern that the tickets may not reach the most underprivileged.
The plan comes as West End theatres are enjoying record audiences, thanks largely to musicals teaming up with television talent shows. Attendances reached. 13.6 million in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, itself a record year. Total sales were up 18 percent on 2006 to almost ￡470 million.
One theatre source criticized the Government's priorities in funding free tickets when pensioners were struggling to buy food and fuel, saying: "I don't know why the Government's wasting money on this. The Yong Vic, as The Times reported today, offers excellent performances at cheap prices."
There was praise for the Government's plan from Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court Theatre, who said: "I support any move to get young people into theatre, and especially one that aims to do it all over England, not just in London."
Ninety-five publicly funded theatres could apply for funding under the two-year plan. In return, they will offer free tickets on at least one day each week to 18 to 26-year-olds, first-come, first-served. It is likely to be on Mondays, traditionally a quiet night for the theatre.
Mr. Burnham said: "A young person attending the theatre can find it an exciting experience, and be inspired to explore a new world. But sometimes people miss out on it because they fear it's ‘not for them'. It's time to change this perception."
Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: "The real issue is not getting enthusiastic children into the theatre, but improving arts education so that more young people want to go in the first place. For too many children theatres are a no-go area." | 3522.txt | 2 |
[
"many plays are not for young people",
"many young people don't like theatre",
"people know little about the plan",
"children used to receive good arts education"
]
| We can infer from the passage that in England _ . | Tens of thousands of theatre tickets will be given away to young people next year as part of a government campaign to inspire a lifelong love for theatre.
The plan to offer free seats to people aged between 18 to 26-funded with ￡2.5 million of taxpayers' money-was announced yesterday by Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary. It received a cautious welcome from some in the arts world, who expressed concern that the tickets may not reach the most underprivileged.
The plan comes as West End theatres are enjoying record audiences, thanks largely to musicals teaming up with television talent shows. Attendances reached. 13.6 million in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, itself a record year. Total sales were up 18 percent on 2006 to almost ￡470 million.
One theatre source criticized the Government's priorities in funding free tickets when pensioners were struggling to buy food and fuel, saying: "I don't know why the Government's wasting money on this. The Yong Vic, as The Times reported today, offers excellent performances at cheap prices."
There was praise for the Government's plan from Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court Theatre, who said: "I support any move to get young people into theatre, and especially one that aims to do it all over England, not just in London."
Ninety-five publicly funded theatres could apply for funding under the two-year plan. In return, they will offer free tickets on at least one day each week to 18 to 26-year-olds, first-come, first-served. It is likely to be on Mondays, traditionally a quiet night for the theatre.
Mr. Burnham said: "A young person attending the theatre can find it an exciting experience, and be inspired to explore a new world. But sometimes people miss out on it because they fear it's ‘not for them'. It's time to change this perception."
Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: "The real issue is not getting enthusiastic children into the theatre, but improving arts education so that more young people want to go in the first place. For too many children theatres are a no-go area." | 3522.txt | 1 |
[
"controversial",
"inspiring",
"exciting",
"unreasonable"
]
| According to the passage, the issue to offer free tickets to young people seems _ . | Tens of thousands of theatre tickets will be given away to young people next year as part of a government campaign to inspire a lifelong love for theatre.
The plan to offer free seats to people aged between 18 to 26-funded with ￡2.5 million of taxpayers' money-was announced yesterday by Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary. It received a cautious welcome from some in the arts world, who expressed concern that the tickets may not reach the most underprivileged.
The plan comes as West End theatres are enjoying record audiences, thanks largely to musicals teaming up with television talent shows. Attendances reached. 13.6 million in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, itself a record year. Total sales were up 18 percent on 2006 to almost ￡470 million.
One theatre source criticized the Government's priorities in funding free tickets when pensioners were struggling to buy food and fuel, saying: "I don't know why the Government's wasting money on this. The Yong Vic, as The Times reported today, offers excellent performances at cheap prices."
There was praise for the Government's plan from Dominic Cooke of the Royal Court Theatre, who said: "I support any move to get young people into theatre, and especially one that aims to do it all over England, not just in London."
Ninety-five publicly funded theatres could apply for funding under the two-year plan. In return, they will offer free tickets on at least one day each week to 18 to 26-year-olds, first-come, first-served. It is likely to be on Mondays, traditionally a quiet night for the theatre.
Mr. Burnham said: "A young person attending the theatre can find it an exciting experience, and be inspired to explore a new world. But sometimes people miss out on it because they fear it's ‘not for them'. It's time to change this perception."
Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: "The real issue is not getting enthusiastic children into the theatre, but improving arts education so that more young people want to go in the first place. For too many children theatres are a no-go area." | 3522.txt | 0 |
[
"the sky",
"the gods",
"the earth",
"nature"
]
| People once thought lightning came from _ . | In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient peoples believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.
In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .
The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod . This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.
Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage of more than 15 million volts . A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.
Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.
The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry? | 1303.txt | 1 |
[
"Metal fences.",
"Electricity.",
"lightning rods.",
"Machines."
]
| According to the passage what do you think all buildings need? | In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient peoples believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.
In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .
The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod . This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.
Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage of more than 15 million volts . A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.
Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.
The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry? | 1303.txt | 2 |
[
"as quickly as water",
"not so quickly as electricity",
"at very low speed",
"at very high speed"
]
| Lightning can travel _ . | In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient peoples believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.
In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .
The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod . This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.
Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage of more than 15 million volts . A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.
Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.
The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry? | 1303.txt | 3 |
[
"In the U.S about one person per day dies from lightning.",
"The Empire State Building frequently gets hit by lightning.",
"Swimming during a thunder storm is a good idea.",
"A closed car is the best place to be during an electrical storm."
]
| Which of the following is NOT true? | In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient peoples believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.
In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .
The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod . This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.
Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage of more than 15 million volts . A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.
Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.
The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry? | 1303.txt | 2 |
[
"useful",
"kind",
"useless",
"friendly"
]
| Lightning is probably _ to man. | In earliest times, men considered lightning to be one of the great mysteries of nature. Some ancient peoples believed that lightning and thunder were the weapons of the gods.
In reality, lightning is a flow of electricity formed high above the earth. A single flash of lightning 1.6 kilometres long has enough electricity to light one million light bulbs .
The American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, was the first to show the connection between electricity and lightning in 1752. In the same year he also built the first lightning rod . This device protects buildings from being damaged by lightning.
Modern science has discovered that one stroke of lightning has a voltage of more than 15 million volts . A flash of lightning between a cloud and the earth may be as long as 13 kilometers, and travel at a speed of 30 million meters per second.
Scientists judge that there are about 2,000 million flashes of lightning per year. Lightning hits the Empire State Building in New York City 30 to 48 times a year. In the United States alone it kills an average of one person every day.
The safest place to be in case of an electrical storm is in a closed car. Outside, one should go to low ground and not get under tress. Also, one should stay out of water and away from metal fences. Inside a house, people should avoid open doorways and windows and not touch wires or metal things.
With lightning, it is better to be safe than sorry? | 1303.txt | 0 |
[
"it is not profitable as the underground price of gun far exceeds legal price.",
"Chicago has surprisingly tough restrictions on the ownership and business of guns.",
"the dealers are unable to guarntee whether the deal is really going to happen or not.",
"it is hard to testify the quality of the guns in actual situations."
]
| Some of the gun transactins are unsuccessful mainly because _ | As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.
Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly "thin", attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.
Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. "Tony", who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. "Did it fire?" Mr Venkatesh asked. "I'm not sure. I think it did," Tony said.
Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the "bulge" is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.
Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.
Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. | 3450.txt | 2 |
[
"it hardly attracts the police's attention due to the flexibility of the business.",
"the drug dealings are taking place in higher frequency.",
"there are no fixed and formal spots for drug dealing.",
"drug is affordable to a larger number of people."
]
| Compared with the gun market, the drug market can be "fat" mainly because _ | As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.
Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly "thin", attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.
Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. "Tony", who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. "Did it fire?" Mr Venkatesh asked. "I'm not sure. I think it did," Tony said.
Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the "bulge" is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.
Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.
Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. | 3450.txt | 1 |
[
"transparent.",
"troubling.",
"horrible.",
"stupid."
]
| The word "cumbersome" (Line 4, Pargraph 5) most probably means _ | As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.
Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly "thin", attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.
Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. "Tony", who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. "Did it fire?" Mr Venkatesh asked. "I'm not sure. I think it did," Tony said.
Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the "bulge" is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.
Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.
Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. | 3450.txt | 1 |
[
"that the drug transaction is more prefitable thatn gun-dealing.",
"that the police are more dedicated to the gun-dealing than to the drug-dealing.",
"that the gang-leaders are suppressing the gun-dealing in order to maintain their profit from drug",
"that the gang-leaders are worried about the effect of crime on commerce."
]
| The reason why the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump is _ | As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.
Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly "thin", attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.
Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. "Tony", who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. "Did it fire?" Mr Venkatesh asked. "I'm not sure. I think it did," Tony said.
Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the "bulge" is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.
Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.
Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. | 3450.txt | 2 |
[
"pessimistic.",
"optimistic.",
"desperate.",
"sorrowful."
]
| Towards the future of gun-dealing, the author's attitude is _ | As Americas digest the news of another gun atrocity, a mall shooting in Nebraska on December 5th, they cannot be blamed for thinking that guns are in too ready supply. But an article in the latest Economic Journa suggests that the demand for illegal guns, at least, is not met as easily as people might fear. Sudhir Venkatesh, now of Columbia University, has talked to 132 gang-members, 77 prostitutes, 116 gun-owning youths, 23 gun-dealers and numerous other denizens of Chicago's Grand Boulevard and Washington Park neighbourhoods. He did not find many satisfied customers.
Chicago has unusually tough restrictions on legal handguns. Even so the black market is surprisingly "thin", attracting relatively few buyers and sellers. The authors reckon that the 48,000 residents of the two neighbourhoods buy perhaps 1,400 guns a year, compared with at least 200,000 cocaine purchases. Underground brokers sell guns for $150-350, a mark-up of perhaps 200% over the legal price. They also demand a fee of $30-50 for orchestrating the deal. Even then, 30-40% of the transactions fall through because the seller cannot secure a gun, gets cold feet or cannot agree on a location for the deal.
Buyers also find it hard to verify the quality of the merchandise. They often know little about the weapons they covet. "Tony", who owns a .38 calibre handgun, learnt how to use his weapon by fiddling with it. He even put a stone in it. "Did it fire?" Mr Venkatesh asked. "I'm not sure. I think it did," Tony said.
Fortunately for Tony and his peers, their rivals and the victims of crime cannot tell if their guns work any better than they can. Often, showing the "bulge" is enough to gain the respect of rival gangs. In robberies brandishing the weapon will usually do. Storekeepers do not wait for proof that it works.
Markets can overcome thinness, the paper says; they can also overcome illegality. But they cannot overcome both. A thin market must rely on advertising or a centralised exchange: eBay, for example, has dedicated pages matching sellers of imitation pearl pins or Annette Funicello bears to the few, scattered buyers that can be found. But such solutions are too cumbersome and conspicuous for an underground market. The drugs market, by contrast, slips through the law's fingers because of the natural density of drug transactions. Dealers can always find customers on their doorstep, and buyers can reassure themselves about suppliers through repeated custom. There are no fixed and formal institutions that the police could easily throttle.
Indeed, the authors argue that the gun market may be threadbare partly because the drug market is so plump. Gang-leaders are wary of gun-dealing because the extra police scrutiny that guns attract would jeopardise their earnings from coke and dope. Even Chicago's gang-leaders have to worry about the effect of crime on commerce. | 3450.txt | 0 |
[
"What accounts for the prejudice against the Jews in medieval Europe",
"What conditions caused the discrimination against Oriental people in California in the early twentieth century",
"Which groups are not in ethnic competi- tion with each other in the United States",
"What explanation did the Marxist sociologist give for the existence of racial prejudice"
]
| The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions? | A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system-that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as "racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition," can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers. | 2020.txt | 3 |
[
"unoriginal",
"unpersuasive",
"offensive",
"obscure"
]
| The author considers the Marxist sociologist's thesis about the origins of racial prejudice to be | A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system-that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as "racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition," can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers. | 2020.txt | 1 |
[
"pervasive",
"tolerated",
"ignored",
"nonexistent"
]
| It can be inferred from the passage that the Marxist sociologist would argue that in a noncapitalist society racial prejudice would be | A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system-that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as "racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition," can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers. | 2020.txt | 3 |
[
"directed primarily against the Chinese",
"similar in origin to prejudice against the Jews",
"understood by Oriental people as ethnic competition",
"nonracial in character"
]
| According to the passage, the Marxist sociologist's chain of reasoning required him to assert that prejudice toward Oriental people in California was | A Marxist sociologist has argued that racism stems from the class struggle that is unique to the capitalist system-that racial prejudice is generated by capitalists as a means of controlling workers. His thesis works relatively well when applied to discrimination against Blacks in the United States, but his definition of racial prejudice as "racially-based negative prejudgments against a group generally accepted as a race in any given region of ethnic competition," can be interpreted as also including hostility toward such ethnic groups as the Chinese in California and the Jews in medieval Europe. However, since prejudice against these latter peoples was not inspired by capitalists, he has to reason that such antagonisms were not really based on race. He disposes thusly (albeit unconvincingly) of both the intolerance faced by Jews before the rise of capitalism and the early twentieth-century discrimination against Oriental people in California, which, inconveniently, was instigated by workers. | 2020.txt | 3 |
[
"Food when poisoned can make people sick.",
"Food poisoning means death.",
"Food poisoning comes in varieties.",
"Food poisoning can be serious."
]
| Which of the following statements is NOT true? | Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.
Certain microorganisms（）cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release（）poisons that make people sick.
Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.
Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms.
When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.
Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied. | 3792.txt | 1 |
[
"are always accompanied by a fever",
"are too common to be noted",
"can be noticed within hours",
"can he ignored"
]
| We know from the passage that the symptoms of food poisoning. | Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.
Certain microorganisms（）cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release（）poisons that make people sick.
Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.
Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms.
When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.
Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied. | 3792.txt | 2 |
[
"some chemicals",
"low temperatures",
"some tiny living things",
"certain natural materials"
]
| Food poisoning can be caused by all the following EXCEPT. | Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.
Certain microorganisms（）cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release（）poisons that make people sick.
Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.
Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms.
When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.
Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied. | 3792.txt | 1 |
[
"mushrooms should not be eaten",
"vegetables are safer than meat and seafood",
"natural poisons are more dangerous than chemicals",
"different types of food should be handled differently"
]
| From Paragraph 5,we can learn that. | Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.
Certain microorganisms（）cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release（）poisons that make people sick.
Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.
Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms.
When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.
Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied. | 3792.txt | 3 |
[
"natural materials are safe in food processing",
"chemicals are needed in food processing",
"food poisoning can be kept under control",
"food poisoning is out of control"
]
| It can be inferred from the passage that. | Food sometimes gets poisoned with harmful things. A person who eats such food can get an illness called food poisoning. Food poisoning is usually not serious, but some types are deadly. The symptoms of food poisoning usually begin within hours of eating the poisoned food. Fever is one of the most common symptoms.
Certain microorganisms（）cause most types of food poisoning. Bacteria and other microorganisms can poison eggs, meat, vegetables, and many other foods. After entering the body, these tiny living things release（）poisons that make people sick.
Some chemicals can also cause food poisoning. They are often added to food while it is being grown, processed, or prepared. For example, many farmers spray chemicals on crops to kill weeds and insects. Some people may have a bad reaction to those chemicals when they eat the crops.
Some plants and animals contain natural poisons that are harmful to people. These include certain kinds of seafood, grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and mushrooms.
When people handle food properly, the risk of food poisoning is very small. Microorganisms multiply rapidly in dirty places and in warm temperatures. This means that people should never touch food with dirty hands or put food on unwashed surfaces. Food should be kept in a refrigerator to stop microorganisms from growing. Meat needs to be cooked thoroughly to kill any dangerous microorganisms. People should also wash food covered with chemicals before eating it. Finally, people should not eat wild mushrooms or other foods that grow in the wild. Some of these foods may contain natural materials that are poisonous to humans. In addition, some types of fish can be poisonous.
Most people recover from food poisoning after a few days of resting and drinking extra water. If people eat natural poisons, they must go to the hospital right away to have their stomachs emptied. | 3792.txt | 2 |
[
"Photography did not significantly change the way people looked at reality.",
"Most painters used the images of the camera obscura in preference to those of the daguerreotype.",
"Painters who were concerned with realistic or naturalistic representation were particularly influenced by photography.",
"Artists used the long-awaited invention of photography in just the ways they had expected to."
]
| What can be inferred from paragraphs 1 and 2 about the effect of photography on nineteenth-century painting? | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 2 |
[
"They were equally useful for artists.",
"They could be reproduced.",
"They produced a permanent image",
"They were produced on treated paper."
]
| According to paragraphs 2 and 3 which of the following did the daguerreotype and the calotype have in common? | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 2 |
[
"copied.",
"replaced.",
"handled.",
"clarified."
]
| The word "duplicated" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 0 |
[
"the camera lens.",
"the calotype.",
"the etching.",
"the engraving."
]
| The phrase "Its general effect" in paragraph 4 refers to | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 1 |
[
"improvement.",
"practicality.",
"genuineness.",
"repetition."
]
| The word "authenticity" in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 2 |
[
"Paintings became less expensive because of competition with photography.",
"Photography, unlike painting, was a type of portraiture that even ordinary people could afford.",
"Every style of painting was influenced by the invention of photography.",
"The daguerreotype was more popular than the calotype."
]
| What point does the author make in paragraph 6? | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 1 |
[
"unable.",
"embarrassed.",
"unlikely.",
"unwilling."
]
| The word "reluctant" in paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 3 |
[
"indirect.",
"not expected.",
"unquestionable.",
"beneficial."
]
| The word "unanticipated" in paragraph 8 is closest in meaning to | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 1 |
[
"surprising.",
"unintentional.",
"realistic.",
"unusual."
]
| The word "accidental" in paragraph 8 is closest in meaning to | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 1 |
[
"It inspired artists to use technological themes in their painting.",
"It lent prestige to those artists who used photographs as models for paintings",
"It provided artists with new types of equipment to speed up the painting process.",
"It motivated artists to think about new ways to compose images in their paintings."
]
| Which of the following is mentioned in paragraph 8 as a benefit that artists derived from photography? | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 3 |
[
"provided painters with new insights into how humans and animals actually move.",
"showed that representing movement could be as interesting as portrait art.",
"increased the appeal of painted portraiture among the wealthy.",
"influenced artists to improve techniques for painting faster."
]
| It can be inferred from paragraph 8 that one effect that photography had on painting was that it | Perceptions of the visible world were greatly altered by the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. In particular, and quite logically, the art of painting was forever changed, though not always in the ways one might have expected. The realistic and naturalistic painters of the mid-and late-nineteenth century were all intently aware of photography as a thing to use, to learn from, and react to.
Unlike most major inventions, photography had been long and impatiently awaited. The images produced by the camera obscura, a boxlike device that used a pinhole or lens to throw an image onto a ground-glass screen or a piece of white paper, were already familiar-the device had been much employed by topographical artists like the Italian painter Canaletto in his detailed views of the city of Venice. What was lacking was a way of giving such images permanent form. This was finally achieved by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851), who perfected a way of fixing them on a silvered copper plate. His discovery, the "daguerreotype," was announced in 1839.
A second and very different process was patented by the British inventor William Henry Talbot (1800-1877) in 1841. Talbot's "calotype" was the first negative-to-positive process and the direct ancestor of the modern photograph. The calotype was revolutionary in its use of chemically treated paper in which areas hit by light became dark in tone, producing a negative image. This "negative," as Talbot called it, could then be used to print multiple positive images on another piece of treated paper.
The two processes produced very different results. The daguerreotype was a unique image that reproduced what was in front of the camera lens in minute, unselective detail and could not be duplicated. The calotype could be made in series, and was thus the equivalent of an etching or an engraving. Its general effect was soft edged and tonal.
One of the things that most impressed the original audience for photography was the idea of authenticity. Nature now seemed able to speak for itself, with a minimum of interference. The title Talbot chose for his book, The Pencil of Nature (the first part of which was published in 1844), reflected this feeling. Artists were fascinated by photography because it offered a way of examining the world in much greater detail. They were also afraid of it, because it seemed likely to make their own efforts unnecessary.
Photography did indeed make certain kinds of painting obsolete-the daguerreotype virtually did away with the portrait miniature. It also made the whole business of making and owning images democratic. Portraiture, once a luxury for the privileged few, was suddenly well within the reach of many more people.
In the long term, photography's impact on the visual arts was far from simple. Because the medium was so prolific, in the sense that it was possible to produce a multitude of images very cheaply, it was soon treated as the poor relation of fine art, rather than its destined successor. Even those artists who were most dependent on photography became reluctant to admit that they made use of it, in case this compromised their professional standing.
The rapid technical development of photography-the introduction of lighter and simpler equipment, and of new emulsions that coated photographic plates, film, and paper and enabled images to be made at much faster speeds-had some unanticipated consequences. Scientific experiments made by photographers such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904) demonstrated that the movements of both humans and animals differed widely from the way they had been traditionally represented in art. Artists, often reluctantly, were forced to accept the evidence provided by the camera. The new candid photography-unposed pictures that were made when the subjects were unaware that their pictures were being taken-confirmed these scientific results, and at the same time, thanks to the radical cropping (trimming) of images that the camera often imposed, suggested new compositional formats. The accidental effects obtained by candid photographers were soon being copied by artists such as the French painter Degas. | 352.txt | 0 |
[
"a culture should be accepted and maintained universally",
"a culture should be free from falsehood and evils",
"the items of a culture should be taken for granted by people",
"the items of a culture should be accepted by well-educated people"
]
| According to the author''s definition of culture, _ . | The concept of culture has been defined many times, and although no definition has achieved universal acceptance, most of the definitions include three central ideas: that culture is passed n from generation to generation, that a culture represents a ready-made prescription for living and for making day-to-day decisions, and, finally, that the components of a culture are accepted by those in the culture as good, and true, and not to be questioned. The eminent anthropologist George Murdock has listed seventy-three items that characterize every known culture, past and present.
The list begins with Age-grading and Athletic sports, runs to Weaning and Weather Control, and includes on the way such items as Calendar, Firemaking, Property Rights, and Toolmaking. I would submit that even the most extreme advocate of a culture of poverty viewpoint would readily acknowledge that, with respect to almost all of these items, every American, beyond the first generation immigrant, regardless of race or class, is a member of a common culture. We all share pretty much the same sports. Maybe poor kids don''t know how to play polo, and rich kids don''t spend time with stickball, but we all know baseball, and football, and basketball. Despite some misguided efforts to raise minor dialects to the status of separate tongues, we all, in fact, share the same language.
There may be differences in diction and usage, but it would be ridiculous to say that all Americans don''t speak English. We have the calendar, the law, and large numbers of other cultural items in common. It may well be true that on a few of the seventy-three items there are minor variations between classes, but these kinds of things are really slight variations on a common theme.
There are other items that show variability, not in relation to class, but in relation to religion and ethnic background-funeral customs and co oking, for example. But if there is one place in America where the melting pot is a reality, it is on the kitchen stove; in the course of one month, half the readers of this sentence have probably eaten pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein. Specific differences that might be identified a signs of separate cultural identity are relatively insignificant within the general unity of American life; they are cultural commas and semicolons in the paragraphs and pages of American life. | 3229.txt | 2 |
[
"Baseball, football and basketball are popular sports in America.",
"Pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein are popular diet in America.",
"There is no variation in using the American calendar.",
"There is no variation in using the American language."
]
| Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? | The concept of culture has been defined many times, and although no definition has achieved universal acceptance, most of the definitions include three central ideas: that culture is passed n from generation to generation, that a culture represents a ready-made prescription for living and for making day-to-day decisions, and, finally, that the components of a culture are accepted by those in the culture as good, and true, and not to be questioned. The eminent anthropologist George Murdock has listed seventy-three items that characterize every known culture, past and present.
The list begins with Age-grading and Athletic sports, runs to Weaning and Weather Control, and includes on the way such items as Calendar, Firemaking, Property Rights, and Toolmaking. I would submit that even the most extreme advocate of a culture of poverty viewpoint would readily acknowledge that, with respect to almost all of these items, every American, beyond the first generation immigrant, regardless of race or class, is a member of a common culture. We all share pretty much the same sports. Maybe poor kids don''t know how to play polo, and rich kids don''t spend time with stickball, but we all know baseball, and football, and basketball. Despite some misguided efforts to raise minor dialects to the status of separate tongues, we all, in fact, share the same language.
There may be differences in diction and usage, but it would be ridiculous to say that all Americans don''t speak English. We have the calendar, the law, and large numbers of other cultural items in common. It may well be true that on a few of the seventy-three items there are minor variations between classes, but these kinds of things are really slight variations on a common theme.
There are other items that show variability, not in relation to class, but in relation to religion and ethnic background-funeral customs and co oking, for example. But if there is one place in America where the melting pot is a reality, it is on the kitchen stove; in the course of one month, half the readers of this sentence have probably eaten pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein. Specific differences that might be identified a signs of separate cultural identity are relatively insignificant within the general unity of American life; they are cultural commas and semicolons in the paragraphs and pages of American life. | 3229.txt | 3 |
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