option
list | question
stringlengths 11
354
| article
stringlengths 231
6.74k
| id
stringlengths 5
8
| label
int64 0
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
[
"228.",
"77.",
"383.",
"305."
] | How many sailors were held by the pirates up to the time of the report？ | Somali pirates （） robbed three Thai fishing ships with 77 sailors on board nearly 1，200 miles off the Somali coast， the farthest？？off？？shore attack to date， an officer said Tuesday.
Pirates have gone farther south and east in answer to increased patrols（） by warships off the Somali shore. The robbing of the three ships Sunday was about 600 miles outside the normal operation area for the international force， said a spokesman.
The spokesman said the attack so far out at sea was a clear sign that the international patrols against pirates were having a "marked effect on pirate activity in the area"．
"Once they start attacking that far out， you‘re not even really talking about the Somali basin or areas of water that have any connection with Somalia." said an officer， Roger Middleton. "Once you're that far out， it‘s just the Indian Ocean，and it means you're looking at trade going from the Gulf to Asia， from Asia to South Africa."
"This is the farthest robbing to date. They are now operating near the Maldives and India." said another officer.
The three ships－the MV Prantalay 11，12，and 14－had 77 members on board in total. All of them are Thai， the spokesman said. Before the Sunday robbing， pirates held 11 ships and 228 sailors.
Pirates have increased attacks over the past year in hopes of catching more dollar payments. Because of increased patrols and defenses on board ships， the success rate（） has gone down， though the number of successful attacks has stayed the same year over year. | 1035.txt | 3 |
[
"Important Hobbies",
"Tommy‘s Hobby",
"Different Hobbies",
"Hobby of Collecting Butterflies"
] | What‘s the best title for this passage? | The class teacher thought that hobbies were veryimportant for every child. She encouraged all herpupils to have one, and sometimes arranged for theirparents to come and see the work they had done as aresult.
One Friday morning the teacher told the classthat those of them who had a hobby could have aholiday that afternoon to get the things they had made as parts of their hobbies ready for theirparents to see the following afternoon.
So on Friday afternoon, while those of the pupils who had nothing to show did their usuallessons, the lucky ones who had made something were allowed to go home, on condition thatthey returned before five o‘clock to bring what they were going to show, and to arrange them.
When the afternoon lessons began, the teacher was surprised to see that Tommy was notthere. He was the laziest boy in the class, and the teacher found it difficult to believe that hehad a hobby. However, at a quarter to five, Tommy arrived with a beautiful collection ofbutterflies in glass cases. After his teacher had admired them and helped him to arrangethem on a table in the classroom, she was surprised to see Tommy pick them up again andbegin to leave.
―What are you doing, Tommy?‖ she asked.‖ Those things must remain here until tomorrowafternoon. That‘s when the parents are coming to see them.‖
―I know they are coming then,‖ answered Tommy,‖ and I will bring them back tomorrow;but my big brother doesn‘t want them to be out of our house at night in case they are stolen.‖
―But what has it got to do with your big brother?‖ asked the teacher.‖ Aren‘t thebutterflies yours?‖
―No,‖ answered Tommy.‖ They belong to him.‖
―But Tommy, you are supposed to show your own hobby here, not somebody else‘s!‖ saidthe teacher.
―I know that,‖ answered Tommy.‖ My hobby is watching my brother collecting butterflies.‖ | 2560.txt | 1 |
[
"asked the pupils who were in her class to bring something they had made",
"was certain that her pupils were good at making things, so she wanted to show them to theparents",
"invited the parents to come and see what the pupils had made",
"allowed the pupils who had hobbies not to go to class that Friday afternoon"
] | The teacher _ . | The class teacher thought that hobbies were veryimportant for every child. She encouraged all herpupils to have one, and sometimes arranged for theirparents to come and see the work they had done as aresult.
One Friday morning the teacher told the classthat those of them who had a hobby could have aholiday that afternoon to get the things they had made as parts of their hobbies ready for theirparents to see the following afternoon.
So on Friday afternoon, while those of the pupils who had nothing to show did their usuallessons, the lucky ones who had made something were allowed to go home, on condition thatthey returned before five o‘clock to bring what they were going to show, and to arrange them.
When the afternoon lessons began, the teacher was surprised to see that Tommy was notthere. He was the laziest boy in the class, and the teacher found it difficult to believe that hehad a hobby. However, at a quarter to five, Tommy arrived with a beautiful collection ofbutterflies in glass cases. After his teacher had admired them and helped him to arrangethem on a table in the classroom, she was surprised to see Tommy pick them up again andbegin to leave.
―What are you doing, Tommy?‖ she asked.‖ Those things must remain here until tomorrowafternoon. That‘s when the parents are coming to see them.‖
―I know they are coming then,‖ answered Tommy,‖ and I will bring them back tomorrow;but my big brother doesn‘t want them to be out of our house at night in case they are stolen.‖
―But what has it got to do with your big brother?‖ asked the teacher.‖ Aren‘t thebutterflies yours?‖
―No,‖ answered Tommy.‖ They belong to him.‖
―But Tommy, you are supposed to show your own hobby here, not somebody else‘s!‖ saidthe teacher.
―I know that,‖ answered Tommy.‖ My hobby is watching my brother collecting butterflies.‖ | 2560.txt | 2 |
[
"Because Tommy was so lazy a boy.",
"Because the teacher knew so little about Tommy.",
"Because Tommy had made nothing atall.",
"Because Tommy had a strange idea about hobby."
] | After reading the passage the readers will laugh. Why? | The class teacher thought that hobbies were veryimportant for every child. She encouraged all herpupils to have one, and sometimes arranged for theirparents to come and see the work they had done as aresult.
One Friday morning the teacher told the classthat those of them who had a hobby could have aholiday that afternoon to get the things they had made as parts of their hobbies ready for theirparents to see the following afternoon.
So on Friday afternoon, while those of the pupils who had nothing to show did their usuallessons, the lucky ones who had made something were allowed to go home, on condition thatthey returned before five o‘clock to bring what they were going to show, and to arrange them.
When the afternoon lessons began, the teacher was surprised to see that Tommy was notthere. He was the laziest boy in the class, and the teacher found it difficult to believe that hehad a hobby. However, at a quarter to five, Tommy arrived with a beautiful collection ofbutterflies in glass cases. After his teacher had admired them and helped him to arrangethem on a table in the classroom, she was surprised to see Tommy pick them up again andbegin to leave.
―What are you doing, Tommy?‖ she asked.‖ Those things must remain here until tomorrowafternoon. That‘s when the parents are coming to see them.‖
―I know they are coming then,‖ answered Tommy,‖ and I will bring them back tomorrow;but my big brother doesn‘t want them to be out of our house at night in case they are stolen.‖
―But what has it got to do with your big brother?‖ asked the teacher.‖ Aren‘t thebutterflies yours?‖
―No,‖ answered Tommy.‖ They belong to him.‖
―But Tommy, you are supposed to show your own hobby here, not somebody else‘s!‖ saidthe teacher.
―I know that,‖ answered Tommy.‖ My hobby is watching my brother collecting butterflies.‖ | 2560.txt | 3 |
[
"determined",
"marvelous",
"harmful",
"hopeful"
] | The word" detrimental" (Line 4, Para.1) most probable means _ | Whether one spends a year away or many, living abroad is the first opportunity one has to stand on the outside of one‘s country and look in, to compare cultures, procedures, mentalities, etc.We'in the U.S.A.do very little REAL travelling abroad, much less living, and this bent toward isolation is probably detrimental to us in the long run.Living abroad, however, works better when it is a choice and not an obligation.I know of several cases in which a few people were persuaded by others that the solutions to their domestic problems lay in living abroad.In these cases, it was the wrong advice.These people were, for the most part, like fish out of the bowl and overall, everything went wrong and only a few things right.
What country and what part of the world should one choose ? Here, personal interests and/or curiosity enter the picture.Additionally, one need not think in terms of a single country but two or three.It is easier.of course, to get in and out of a" Western World" or" Christian" country since these usually share our sense of values, also, a country traditionally and firmly considered a political ally is an option.such as Japan.Even it is fairly" westernized" .
After choosing several candidate countries, one should do research as extensively as possible on these countries.Contact with the embassies needs to be made in order to find out the degree of difficulty in getting a visa or permit to work.What kind of work is available? Which professions and/or occupations are needed most ? How do the answers to these questions tie in with your profession or occupation? Many of the long-term or permanent expats (The term doesn't necessarily mean unpatriotic!)in any given country usually married foreigners or" locals" and, as a result, enjoy the privilege of having TWO countries in which to live.
One of the countries might be more favorable than the other due to factors such as jobs, lifestyle, cultural interests, pace of living, climate, the couple‘s ages, etc.one who is ambitious sense is unlikely to go and spend five to ten years in a country that pays poor wages, yet the same country might be appropriate for the person who is ambitious to achieve greater depth in culture , academics , spirituality , languages , ect. | 611.txt | 2 |
[
"is the first choice of many Americans",
"is a wrong advice",
"is just a choice",
"can promote cultural communication"
] | According to the author, living _ | Whether one spends a year away or many, living abroad is the first opportunity one has to stand on the outside of one‘s country and look in, to compare cultures, procedures, mentalities, etc.We'in the U.S.A.do very little REAL travelling abroad, much less living, and this bent toward isolation is probably detrimental to us in the long run.Living abroad, however, works better when it is a choice and not an obligation.I know of several cases in which a few people were persuaded by others that the solutions to their domestic problems lay in living abroad.In these cases, it was the wrong advice.These people were, for the most part, like fish out of the bowl and overall, everything went wrong and only a few things right.
What country and what part of the world should one choose ? Here, personal interests and/or curiosity enter the picture.Additionally, one need not think in terms of a single country but two or three.It is easier.of course, to get in and out of a" Western World" or" Christian" country since these usually share our sense of values, also, a country traditionally and firmly considered a political ally is an option.such as Japan.Even it is fairly" westernized" .
After choosing several candidate countries, one should do research as extensively as possible on these countries.Contact with the embassies needs to be made in order to find out the degree of difficulty in getting a visa or permit to work.What kind of work is available? Which professions and/or occupations are needed most ? How do the answers to these questions tie in with your profession or occupation? Many of the long-term or permanent expats (The term doesn't necessarily mean unpatriotic!)in any given country usually married foreigners or" locals" and, as a result, enjoy the privilege of having TWO countries in which to live.
One of the countries might be more favorable than the other due to factors such as jobs, lifestyle, cultural interests, pace of living, climate, the couple‘s ages, etc.one who is ambitious sense is unlikely to go and spend five to ten years in a country that pays poor wages, yet the same country might be appropriate for the person who is ambitious to achieve greater depth in culture , academics , spirituality , languages , ect. | 611.txt | 3 |
[
"The country one is interested in.",
"The country with different religions.",
"The country sharing the same political system.",
"The county in the same continent."
] | What kind of country should be considered while choosing a foreign country? | Whether one spends a year away or many, living abroad is the first opportunity one has to stand on the outside of one‘s country and look in, to compare cultures, procedures, mentalities, etc.We'in the U.S.A.do very little REAL travelling abroad, much less living, and this bent toward isolation is probably detrimental to us in the long run.Living abroad, however, works better when it is a choice and not an obligation.I know of several cases in which a few people were persuaded by others that the solutions to their domestic problems lay in living abroad.In these cases, it was the wrong advice.These people were, for the most part, like fish out of the bowl and overall, everything went wrong and only a few things right.
What country and what part of the world should one choose ? Here, personal interests and/or curiosity enter the picture.Additionally, one need not think in terms of a single country but two or three.It is easier.of course, to get in and out of a" Western World" or" Christian" country since these usually share our sense of values, also, a country traditionally and firmly considered a political ally is an option.such as Japan.Even it is fairly" westernized" .
After choosing several candidate countries, one should do research as extensively as possible on these countries.Contact with the embassies needs to be made in order to find out the degree of difficulty in getting a visa or permit to work.What kind of work is available? Which professions and/or occupations are needed most ? How do the answers to these questions tie in with your profession or occupation? Many of the long-term or permanent expats (The term doesn't necessarily mean unpatriotic!)in any given country usually married foreigners or" locals" and, as a result, enjoy the privilege of having TWO countries in which to live.
One of the countries might be more favorable than the other due to factors such as jobs, lifestyle, cultural interests, pace of living, climate, the couple‘s ages, etc.one who is ambitious sense is unlikely to go and spend five to ten years in a country that pays poor wages, yet the same country might be appropriate for the person who is ambitious to achieve greater depth in culture , academics , spirituality , languages , ect. | 611.txt | 0 |
[
"investigate everything about these countries",
"get adequate information from the embassies",
"predict career future in those countries",
"find some local to marry"
] | As for the candidate countries, one should _ . | Whether one spends a year away or many, living abroad is the first opportunity one has to stand on the outside of one‘s country and look in, to compare cultures, procedures, mentalities, etc.We'in the U.S.A.do very little REAL travelling abroad, much less living, and this bent toward isolation is probably detrimental to us in the long run.Living abroad, however, works better when it is a choice and not an obligation.I know of several cases in which a few people were persuaded by others that the solutions to their domestic problems lay in living abroad.In these cases, it was the wrong advice.These people were, for the most part, like fish out of the bowl and overall, everything went wrong and only a few things right.
What country and what part of the world should one choose ? Here, personal interests and/or curiosity enter the picture.Additionally, one need not think in terms of a single country but two or three.It is easier.of course, to get in and out of a" Western World" or" Christian" country since these usually share our sense of values, also, a country traditionally and firmly considered a political ally is an option.such as Japan.Even it is fairly" westernized" .
After choosing several candidate countries, one should do research as extensively as possible on these countries.Contact with the embassies needs to be made in order to find out the degree of difficulty in getting a visa or permit to work.What kind of work is available? Which professions and/or occupations are needed most ? How do the answers to these questions tie in with your profession or occupation? Many of the long-term or permanent expats (The term doesn't necessarily mean unpatriotic!)in any given country usually married foreigners or" locals" and, as a result, enjoy the privilege of having TWO countries in which to live.
One of the countries might be more favorable than the other due to factors such as jobs, lifestyle, cultural interests, pace of living, climate, the couple‘s ages, etc.one who is ambitious sense is unlikely to go and spend five to ten years in a country that pays poor wages, yet the same country might be appropriate for the person who is ambitious to achieve greater depth in culture , academics , spirituality , languages , ect. | 611.txt | 1 |
[
"jobs and lifestyle are the most important factors in choosing a foreign country",
"no one would like to live in a county with poor wages",
"ambitious people may live in a poor country for no more than five years",
"countries with poor payment may attract those interested in culture and academics"
] | We learn from the last paragraph that _ | Whether one spends a year away or many, living abroad is the first opportunity one has to stand on the outside of one‘s country and look in, to compare cultures, procedures, mentalities, etc.We'in the U.S.A.do very little REAL travelling abroad, much less living, and this bent toward isolation is probably detrimental to us in the long run.Living abroad, however, works better when it is a choice and not an obligation.I know of several cases in which a few people were persuaded by others that the solutions to their domestic problems lay in living abroad.In these cases, it was the wrong advice.These people were, for the most part, like fish out of the bowl and overall, everything went wrong and only a few things right.
What country and what part of the world should one choose ? Here, personal interests and/or curiosity enter the picture.Additionally, one need not think in terms of a single country but two or three.It is easier.of course, to get in and out of a" Western World" or" Christian" country since these usually share our sense of values, also, a country traditionally and firmly considered a political ally is an option.such as Japan.Even it is fairly" westernized" .
After choosing several candidate countries, one should do research as extensively as possible on these countries.Contact with the embassies needs to be made in order to find out the degree of difficulty in getting a visa or permit to work.What kind of work is available? Which professions and/or occupations are needed most ? How do the answers to these questions tie in with your profession or occupation? Many of the long-term or permanent expats (The term doesn't necessarily mean unpatriotic!)in any given country usually married foreigners or" locals" and, as a result, enjoy the privilege of having TWO countries in which to live.
One of the countries might be more favorable than the other due to factors such as jobs, lifestyle, cultural interests, pace of living, climate, the couple‘s ages, etc.one who is ambitious sense is unlikely to go and spend five to ten years in a country that pays poor wages, yet the same country might be appropriate for the person who is ambitious to achieve greater depth in culture , academics , spirituality , languages , ect. | 611.txt | 3 |
[
"they think any financial gain is worthless if it could not guarantee the ultimatum game.",
"they understands how economist are wrong by proving trivial financial gain could be ignored.",
"they believe that it is necessary to reject some trivial gains to get bigger ones.",
"they have known for a long time that from the perspective of psychology, financial gains are not worth pursuing"
] | According to the passage, psychologists are different from economist in that _ | Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists-at least, those of the classical persuasion-believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money.
In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why?
One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men.
Dr Burnham's research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (ie, more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game
As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.
What Dr Burnham's result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species.
Economists often refer to this sort of behaviour as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end-social status-that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant. | 3581.txt | 2 |
[
"taking an uncompromising attitude at the beginning will lose more in the future rounds of the game.",
"people who are not so calculating at the beginning will get good returns in the end.",
"people who are selfless will get more in the end.",
"taking a tough line at the beginning will pay more cost in the future game."
] | In the second paragraph, the sentence "In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game." means that _ | Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists-at least, those of the classical persuasion-believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money.
In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why?
One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men.
Dr Burnham's research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (ie, more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game
As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.
What Dr Burnham's result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species.
Economists often refer to this sort of behaviour as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end-social status-that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant. | 3581.txt | 1 |
[
"men with high testosterone levels are usually more motivated to reject by the low offer.",
"the fact testosterone is closely connected with social dominance proves people could hardly seeing a rival go ahead.",
"men with high testosterone are more likely to reject the tenets of classical economics.",
"men with high testosterone pay more attention to the relative gains."
] | The result of Dr Burnham's study in the one-round game players shows that _ | Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists-at least, those of the classical persuasion-believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money.
In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why?
One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men.
Dr Burnham's research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (ie, more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game
As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.
What Dr Burnham's result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species.
Economists often refer to this sort of behaviour as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end-social status-that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant. | 3581.txt | 3 |
[
"money is irrelevant when people seek for reproductive opportunities.",
"people prefer non-financial ways to fulfill their purpose of gain social status.",
"what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity.",
"the definition of rationality is different between the fields of economics and psychology."
] | The point Dr Burham has concluded from his study is that _ | Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists-at least, those of the classical persuasion-believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money.
In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why?
One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men.
Dr Burnham's research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (ie, more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game
As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.
What Dr Burnham's result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species.
Economists often refer to this sort of behaviour as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end-social status-that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant. | 3581.txt | 2 |
[
"This kind of behaviour is irrational as a matter of fact.",
"This kind of behavior pays more attention to the social status rather than money.",
"This kind of behavior could bring desirable reproductive opportunities.",
"This kind of behavior is ration from a long view."
] | Which one of the following statements is TRUE of the behavior of rejecting a low offer mentioned in the passage? | Psychologists have known for a long time that economists are wrong. Most economists-at least, those of the classical persuasion-believe that any financial gain, however small, is worth having. But psychologists know this is not true. They know because of the ultimatum game, the outcome of which is often the rejection of free money.
In this game, one player divides a pot of money between himself and another. The other then chooses whether to accept the offer. If he rejects it, neither player benefits. And despite the instincts of classical economics, a stingy offer (one that is less than about a quarter of the total) is, indeed, usually rejected. The question is, why?
One explanation of the rejectionist strategy is that human psychology is adapted for repeated interactions rather than one-off trades. In this case, taking a tough, if self-sacrificial, line at the beginning pays dividends in future rounds of the game. Rejecting a stingy offer in a one-off game is thus just a single move in a larger strategy. And indeed, when one-off ultimatum games are played by trained economists, who know all this, they do tend to accept stingy offers more often than other people would. But even they have their limits. To throw some light on why those limits exist, Terence Burnham of Harvard University recently gathered a group of students of microeconomics and asked them to play the ultimatum game. All of the students he recruited were men.
Dr Burnham's research budget ran to a bunch of $40 games. When there are many rounds in the ultimatum game, players learn to split the money more or less equally. But Dr Burnham was interested in a game of only one round. In this game, which the players knew in advance was final and could thus not affect future outcomes, proposers could choose only between offering the other player $25 (ie, more than half the total) or $5. Responders could accept or reject the offer as usual. Those results recorded, Dr Burnham took saliva samples from all the students and compared the testosterone levels assessed from those samples with decisions made in the one-round game
As he describes in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the responders who rejected a low final offer had an average testosterone level more than 50% higher than the average of those who accepted. Five of the seven men with the highest testosterone levels in the study rejected a $5 ultimate offer but only one of the 19 others made the same decision.
What Dr Burnham's result supports is a much deeper rejection of the tenets of classical economics than one based on a slight mis-evolution of negotiating skills. It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species.
Economists often refer to this sort of behaviour as irrational. In fact, it is not. It is simply, as it were, differently rational. The things that money can buy are merely means to an end-social status-that brings desirable reproductive opportunities. If another route brings that status more directly, money is irrelevant. | 3581.txt | 3 |
[
"For the first time in history，urban people outnumbered rural people．",
"An influential figure decided to move from the countryside to the city．",
"It is in this year that urbanisation made a start in Asia and Africa．",
"The population increase in cities reached a new peak in Asia and Africa．"
] | In what way is the year 2008 historic? | At some point in 2008，someone，probably in either Asia or Africa，made the decision to move from the countryside to the city．This nameless person pushed the human race over a historic threshold，for it was in that year that mankind became，for the first time in its history，a predominantly urban species．
It is a trend that shows no sign of slowin9．Demographersreckon that three-quarters of humanity could be city-dwelling by 2050，with most of the increase coming in the fast-growing towns of Asia and Africa．Migrants to cities are attracted by plentiful jobs，access to hospitals and education，and the ability to escape the boredom of a farmer's agricultural life．Those factors are more than enough to make up for the squalor，disease and spectacular poverty that those same migrants must often at first endure when they become urban dwellers．
It is the city that inspires the latest book from Peter Smith．His main thesis is that the buzz of urban life．and the opportunities it offers for co-operation and collaboration，is what attracts people to the city， which in turn makes cities into the engines of art，commerce，science and progress．This is hardly revolutionaD-．tmt it is presented in a charming format．Mr．Smith has written a breezy guidebook，with a series of short chapters dedicated to specific aspects of urbanity--parks，say，or the various schemes that have been put forward over the years for building the perfect city．The result is a sort of high．qfuah． tmttsually rigorous coffee-table book，designed to be dipped into rather than read from beginning to end． In the chapter on skyscrapers，for example，Mr．Smith touches on construction methods．the revolutionary invention of the automatic lift，the practicalities of living in the sky and the likelihood that． as cities become more crowded，apartment living will become the norm．But there is also time for brief diversions onto bizarre ground，such as a discussion of the skyscraper index(which holds that a boom in skyscraper construction is a foolproof sign of an imminent recession)．
One obvious criticism is that the price of breadth is depth；many of Mr．Smith's essays raise as many questions as they answer．Although that can indeed be frustratin9，this is probably the only way to treat so grand a topic．The city is the building block of civilisation and of almost everything people d0；a guidelx)ok to the city is really，therefore，a guidebook to how a large and ever-growing chunk of humanity chooses to live．Mr．Smith's book serves as an excellent introduction to a vast subject，and will suggest plenty of further lines of inquiry． | 1599.txt | 0 |
[
"Its impact is not easy to predict．",
"Its process will not slow down．",
"It is a milestone in human progress．",
"It aggravates the squalor of cities．"
] | What does the author say about urbanisation? | At some point in 2008，someone，probably in either Asia or Africa，made the decision to move from the countryside to the city．This nameless person pushed the human race over a historic threshold，for it was in that year that mankind became，for the first time in its history，a predominantly urban species．
It is a trend that shows no sign of slowin9．Demographersreckon that three-quarters of humanity could be city-dwelling by 2050，with most of the increase coming in the fast-growing towns of Asia and Africa．Migrants to cities are attracted by plentiful jobs，access to hospitals and education，and the ability to escape the boredom of a farmer's agricultural life．Those factors are more than enough to make up for the squalor，disease and spectacular poverty that those same migrants must often at first endure when they become urban dwellers．
It is the city that inspires the latest book from Peter Smith．His main thesis is that the buzz of urban life．and the opportunities it offers for co-operation and collaboration，is what attracts people to the city， which in turn makes cities into the engines of art，commerce，science and progress．This is hardly revolutionaD-．tmt it is presented in a charming format．Mr．Smith has written a breezy guidebook，with a series of short chapters dedicated to specific aspects of urbanity--parks，say，or the various schemes that have been put forward over the years for building the perfect city．The result is a sort of high．qfuah． tmttsually rigorous coffee-table book，designed to be dipped into rather than read from beginning to end． In the chapter on skyscrapers，for example，Mr．Smith touches on construction methods．the revolutionary invention of the automatic lift，the practicalities of living in the sky and the likelihood that． as cities become more crowded，apartment living will become the norm．But there is also time for brief diversions onto bizarre ground，such as a discussion of the skyscraper index(which holds that a boom in skyscraper construction is a foolproof sign of an imminent recession)．
One obvious criticism is that the price of breadth is depth；many of Mr．Smith's essays raise as many questions as they answer．Although that can indeed be frustratin9，this is probably the only way to treat so grand a topic．The city is the building block of civilisation and of almost everything people d0；a guidelx)ok to the city is really，therefore，a guidebook to how a large and ever-growing chunk of humanity chooses to live．Mr．Smith's book serves as an excellent introduction to a vast subject，and will suggest plenty of further lines of inquiry． | 1599.txt | 1 |
[
"It is but an ordinary coffee-table book．",
"It is flavoured with humourous stories．",
"It serves as a guide to arts and commerce．",
"It is written in a lively and interesting style．"
] | How does the author comment on Peter Smith's new book? | At some point in 2008，someone，probably in either Asia or Africa，made the decision to move from the countryside to the city．This nameless person pushed the human race over a historic threshold，for it was in that year that mankind became，for the first time in its history，a predominantly urban species．
It is a trend that shows no sign of slowin9．Demographersreckon that three-quarters of humanity could be city-dwelling by 2050，with most of the increase coming in the fast-growing towns of Asia and Africa．Migrants to cities are attracted by plentiful jobs，access to hospitals and education，and the ability to escape the boredom of a farmer's agricultural life．Those factors are more than enough to make up for the squalor，disease and spectacular poverty that those same migrants must often at first endure when they become urban dwellers．
It is the city that inspires the latest book from Peter Smith．His main thesis is that the buzz of urban life．and the opportunities it offers for co-operation and collaboration，is what attracts people to the city， which in turn makes cities into the engines of art，commerce，science and progress．This is hardly revolutionaD-．tmt it is presented in a charming format．Mr．Smith has written a breezy guidebook，with a series of short chapters dedicated to specific aspects of urbanity--parks，say，or the various schemes that have been put forward over the years for building the perfect city．The result is a sort of high．qfuah． tmttsually rigorous coffee-table book，designed to be dipped into rather than read from beginning to end． In the chapter on skyscrapers，for example，Mr．Smith touches on construction methods．the revolutionary invention of the automatic lift，the practicalities of living in the sky and the likelihood that． as cities become more crowded，apartment living will become the norm．But there is also time for brief diversions onto bizarre ground，such as a discussion of the skyscraper index(which holds that a boom in skyscraper construction is a foolproof sign of an imminent recession)．
One obvious criticism is that the price of breadth is depth；many of Mr．Smith's essays raise as many questions as they answer．Although that can indeed be frustratin9，this is probably the only way to treat so grand a topic．The city is the building block of civilisation and of almost everything people d0；a guidelx)ok to the city is really，therefore，a guidebook to how a large and ever-growing chunk of humanity chooses to live．Mr．Smith's book serves as an excellent introduction to a vast subject，and will suggest plenty of further lines of inquiry． | 1599.txt | 3 |
[
"The automatic lift is indispensable in skyscrapers．",
"People enjoy living in skyscrapers with a view．",
"Skyscrapers are a sure sign of a city's prosperity．",
"Recession closely follows a skyscraper boom．"
] | What does the author say in the chapter on skyscrapers? | At some point in 2008，someone，probably in either Asia or Africa，made the decision to move from the countryside to the city．This nameless person pushed the human race over a historic threshold，for it was in that year that mankind became，for the first time in its history，a predominantly urban species．
It is a trend that shows no sign of slowin9．Demographersreckon that three-quarters of humanity could be city-dwelling by 2050，with most of the increase coming in the fast-growing towns of Asia and Africa．Migrants to cities are attracted by plentiful jobs，access to hospitals and education，and the ability to escape the boredom of a farmer's agricultural life．Those factors are more than enough to make up for the squalor，disease and spectacular poverty that those same migrants must often at first endure when they become urban dwellers．
It is the city that inspires the latest book from Peter Smith．His main thesis is that the buzz of urban life．and the opportunities it offers for co-operation and collaboration，is what attracts people to the city， which in turn makes cities into the engines of art，commerce，science and progress．This is hardly revolutionaD-．tmt it is presented in a charming format．Mr．Smith has written a breezy guidebook，with a series of short chapters dedicated to specific aspects of urbanity--parks，say，or the various schemes that have been put forward over the years for building the perfect city．The result is a sort of high．qfuah． tmttsually rigorous coffee-table book，designed to be dipped into rather than read from beginning to end． In the chapter on skyscrapers，for example，Mr．Smith touches on construction methods．the revolutionary invention of the automatic lift，the practicalities of living in the sky and the likelihood that． as cities become more crowded，apartment living will become the norm．But there is also time for brief diversions onto bizarre ground，such as a discussion of the skyscraper index(which holds that a boom in skyscraper construction is a foolproof sign of an imminent recession)．
One obvious criticism is that the price of breadth is depth；many of Mr．Smith's essays raise as many questions as they answer．Although that can indeed be frustratin9，this is probably the only way to treat so grand a topic．The city is the building block of civilisation and of almost everything people d0；a guidelx)ok to the city is really，therefore，a guidebook to how a large and ever-growing chunk of humanity chooses to live．Mr．Smith's book serves as an excellent introduction to a vast subject，and will suggest plenty of further lines of inquiry． | 1599.txt | 3 |
[
"It does not really touch on anything serious．",
"It is too long for people to read from cover to cover．",
"It does not deal with any aspect of city life in depth．",
"It fails to provide sound advice to city dwellers．"
] | What may be one criticism of Mr．Smith's book? | At some point in 2008，someone，probably in either Asia or Africa，made the decision to move from the countryside to the city．This nameless person pushed the human race over a historic threshold，for it was in that year that mankind became，for the first time in its history，a predominantly urban species．
It is a trend that shows no sign of slowin9．Demographersreckon that three-quarters of humanity could be city-dwelling by 2050，with most of the increase coming in the fast-growing towns of Asia and Africa．Migrants to cities are attracted by plentiful jobs，access to hospitals and education，and the ability to escape the boredom of a farmer's agricultural life．Those factors are more than enough to make up for the squalor，disease and spectacular poverty that those same migrants must often at first endure when they become urban dwellers．
It is the city that inspires the latest book from Peter Smith．His main thesis is that the buzz of urban life．and the opportunities it offers for co-operation and collaboration，is what attracts people to the city， which in turn makes cities into the engines of art，commerce，science and progress．This is hardly revolutionaD-．tmt it is presented in a charming format．Mr．Smith has written a breezy guidebook，with a series of short chapters dedicated to specific aspects of urbanity--parks，say，or the various schemes that have been put forward over the years for building the perfect city．The result is a sort of high．qfuah． tmttsually rigorous coffee-table book，designed to be dipped into rather than read from beginning to end． In the chapter on skyscrapers，for example，Mr．Smith touches on construction methods．the revolutionary invention of the automatic lift，the practicalities of living in the sky and the likelihood that． as cities become more crowded，apartment living will become the norm．But there is also time for brief diversions onto bizarre ground，such as a discussion of the skyscraper index(which holds that a boom in skyscraper construction is a foolproof sign of an imminent recession)．
One obvious criticism is that the price of breadth is depth；many of Mr．Smith's essays raise as many questions as they answer．Although that can indeed be frustratin9，this is probably the only way to treat so grand a topic．The city is the building block of civilisation and of almost everything people d0；a guidelx)ok to the city is really，therefore，a guidebook to how a large and ever-growing chunk of humanity chooses to live．Mr．Smith's book serves as an excellent introduction to a vast subject，and will suggest plenty of further lines of inquiry． | 1599.txt | 2 |
[
"there was no scientific evidence of the correlation between smoking and death",
"the number of early deaths of smokers in the past decades was insignificant",
"people had the freedom to choose their own way of life",
"antismoking people were usually talking nonsense"
] | An argument made by supporters of smoking was that . | Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth's atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel's report: "Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions."
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it's OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now.
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it's obvious that a majority of the president's advisers still don't take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research -- a classic case of "paralysis by analysis."
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won't take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound. | 3056.txt | 2 |
[
"a protector",
"a judge",
"a critic",
"a guide"
] | According to Bruce Alberts, science can serve as . | Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth's atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel's report: "Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions."
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it's OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now.
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it's obvious that a majority of the president's advisers still don't take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research -- a classic case of "paralysis by analysis."
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won't take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound. | 3056.txt | 3 |
[
"Endless studies kill action.",
"Careful investigation reveals truth.",
"Prudent planning hinders progress.",
"Extensive research helps decision-making."
] | What does the author mean by "paralysis by analysis" (Last line, Paragraph 4)? | Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth's atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel's report: "Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions."
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it's OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now.
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it's obvious that a majority of the president's advisers still don't take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research -- a classic case of "paralysis by analysis."
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won't take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound. | 3056.txt | 0 |
[
"Offer aid to build cleaner power plants.",
"Raise public awareness of conservation.",
"Press for further scientific research.",
"Take some legislative measures."
] | According to the author, what should the Administration do about global warming? | Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth's atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel's report: "Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions."
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it's OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now.
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it's obvious that a majority of the president's advisers still don't take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research -- a classic case of "paralysis by analysis."
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won't take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound. | 3056.txt | 3 |
[
"they both suffered from the government's negligence",
"a lesson from the latter is applicable to the former",
"the outcome of the latter aggravates the former",
"both of them have turned from bad to worse"
] | The author associates the issue of global warming with that of smoking because . | Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth's atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel's report: "Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions."
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it's OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now.
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it's obvious that a majority of the president's advisers still don't take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research -- a classic case of "paralysis by analysis."
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won't take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound. | 3056.txt | 1 |
[
"The doctor gets more active professional support from the primary nurse.",
"Each patient is taken care of by a primary nurse day and night.",
"The primary nurse writes care plans for every patient.",
"The primary nurse keeps records of the patient's health conditions every day."
] | Which of the following best characterizes the main feature of the nursing system at Beth Israel Hospital? | Nursing at Beth Israel Hospital produces the best patient care possible. If we are to solve the nursing shortage, hospital administration and doctors everywhere would do well to follow Beth Israel's example.
At Beth Israel each patient is assigned to a primary nurse who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state. Then she writes a care plan centered on the patient's illness but which also includes everything else that is necessary.
The primary nurse stays with the patient through his hospitalization, keeping track with his progress and seeking further advice from his doctor. If a patient at Beth Israel is not responding to treatment, it is not uncommon for his nurse to propose another approach to his doctor. What the doctor at Beth Israel has in the primary nurse is a true colleague.
Nursing at Beth Israel also involves a decentralized nursing administration; every floor, every unit is a self-contained organization. There are nurse-managers instead of head nurses; in addition to their medical duties they do all their own hiring and dismissing, employee advising, and they make salary recommendations. Each unit's nurses decide among themselves who will work what shifts and when.
Beth Israel's nurse-in-chief ranks as an equal with other vice presidents of the hospital. She also is a member of the Medical Executive Committee, which is most hospitals includes only doctors. | 3158.txt | 0 |
[
"compared with other hospitals nurse at Beth Israel Hospital are more patient",
"in most hospitals patient care is inadequate from the professional point of view",
"in most hospital nurse get low salaries",
"compared with other hospital nurses have to work longer hours at Beth Israel Hospital"
] | It can be inferred from the passage that _ . | Nursing at Beth Israel Hospital produces the best patient care possible. If we are to solve the nursing shortage, hospital administration and doctors everywhere would do well to follow Beth Israel's example.
At Beth Israel each patient is assigned to a primary nurse who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state. Then she writes a care plan centered on the patient's illness but which also includes everything else that is necessary.
The primary nurse stays with the patient through his hospitalization, keeping track with his progress and seeking further advice from his doctor. If a patient at Beth Israel is not responding to treatment, it is not uncommon for his nurse to propose another approach to his doctor. What the doctor at Beth Israel has in the primary nurse is a true colleague.
Nursing at Beth Israel also involves a decentralized nursing administration; every floor, every unit is a self-contained organization. There are nurse-managers instead of head nurses; in addition to their medical duties they do all their own hiring and dismissing, employee advising, and they make salary recommendations. Each unit's nurses decide among themselves who will work what shifts and when.
Beth Israel's nurse-in-chief ranks as an equal with other vice presidents of the hospital. She also is a member of the Medical Executive Committee, which is most hospitals includes only doctors. | 3158.txt | 1 |
[
"the present one is refused by the patient",
"the patient complains about the present one",
"the present one proves to be ineffective",
"the patient is found unwilling to cooperate"
] | A primary nurse can propose a different approach of treatment when _ . | Nursing at Beth Israel Hospital produces the best patient care possible. If we are to solve the nursing shortage, hospital administration and doctors everywhere would do well to follow Beth Israel's example.
At Beth Israel each patient is assigned to a primary nurse who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state. Then she writes a care plan centered on the patient's illness but which also includes everything else that is necessary.
The primary nurse stays with the patient through his hospitalization, keeping track with his progress and seeking further advice from his doctor. If a patient at Beth Israel is not responding to treatment, it is not uncommon for his nurse to propose another approach to his doctor. What the doctor at Beth Israel has in the primary nurse is a true colleague.
Nursing at Beth Israel also involves a decentralized nursing administration; every floor, every unit is a self-contained organization. There are nurse-managers instead of head nurses; in addition to their medical duties they do all their own hiring and dismissing, employee advising, and they make salary recommendations. Each unit's nurses decide among themselves who will work what shifts and when.
Beth Israel's nurse-in-chief ranks as an equal with other vice presidents of the hospital. She also is a member of the Medical Executive Committee, which is most hospitals includes only doctors. | 3158.txt | 2 |
[
"is a member of the Medical Executive Committee of the hospital",
"has to arrange the work shifts of the unit's nurses",
"can make decisions concerning the medical treatment of a patient",
"has full responsibility in the administration of the unit's nurses"
] | The main difference between a nurse-manager and a head nurse is that the former _ . | Nursing at Beth Israel Hospital produces the best patient care possible. If we are to solve the nursing shortage, hospital administration and doctors everywhere would do well to follow Beth Israel's example.
At Beth Israel each patient is assigned to a primary nurse who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state. Then she writes a care plan centered on the patient's illness but which also includes everything else that is necessary.
The primary nurse stays with the patient through his hospitalization, keeping track with his progress and seeking further advice from his doctor. If a patient at Beth Israel is not responding to treatment, it is not uncommon for his nurse to propose another approach to his doctor. What the doctor at Beth Israel has in the primary nurse is a true colleague.
Nursing at Beth Israel also involves a decentralized nursing administration; every floor, every unit is a self-contained organization. There are nurse-managers instead of head nurses; in addition to their medical duties they do all their own hiring and dismissing, employee advising, and they make salary recommendations. Each unit's nurses decide among themselves who will work what shifts and when.
Beth Israel's nurse-in-chief ranks as an equal with other vice presidents of the hospital. She also is a member of the Medical Executive Committee, which is most hospitals includes only doctors. | 3158.txt | 3 |
[
"negative",
"critical",
"neutral",
"positive"
] | The author's attitude towards the nurse system at Beth Israel Hospital is _ . | Nursing at Beth Israel Hospital produces the best patient care possible. If we are to solve the nursing shortage, hospital administration and doctors everywhere would do well to follow Beth Israel's example.
At Beth Israel each patient is assigned to a primary nurse who visits at length with the patient and constructs a full-scale health account that covers everything from his medical history to his emotional state. Then she writes a care plan centered on the patient's illness but which also includes everything else that is necessary.
The primary nurse stays with the patient through his hospitalization, keeping track with his progress and seeking further advice from his doctor. If a patient at Beth Israel is not responding to treatment, it is not uncommon for his nurse to propose another approach to his doctor. What the doctor at Beth Israel has in the primary nurse is a true colleague.
Nursing at Beth Israel also involves a decentralized nursing administration; every floor, every unit is a self-contained organization. There are nurse-managers instead of head nurses; in addition to their medical duties they do all their own hiring and dismissing, employee advising, and they make salary recommendations. Each unit's nurses decide among themselves who will work what shifts and when.
Beth Israel's nurse-in-chief ranks as an equal with other vice presidents of the hospital. She also is a member of the Medical Executive Committee, which is most hospitals includes only doctors. | 3158.txt | 3 |
[
"brings a feeling of excitement to most men.",
"makes some men feel proud and others uneasy.",
"has a different meaning for men who have daughters.",
"means a responsibility that men accept unwillingly."
] | From the passage, we learn that fatherhood | "Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it's a girl."
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel pride when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this reconciliation process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of fathers.
It is argued by some writers that the change to the father's role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the change the wife must take to the mother's role. The mother's role seems to require a complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation. On the other hand, the father's role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household. | 99.txt | 1 |
[
"Numerous books have been written about it.",
"Not enough attention has been paid to it.",
"The shift is harder for men than for women.",
"The shift is a difficult but incomplete one."
] | What does the passage say about the shift from the role of husband to that of father? | "Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it's a girl."
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel pride when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this reconciliation process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of fathers.
It is argued by some writers that the change to the father's role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the change the wife must take to the mother's role. The mother's role seems to require a complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation. On the other hand, the father's role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household. | 99.txt | 1 |
[
"mothers get more attention and recognition from society.",
"mothers are innovative and demanding according to some writers.",
"mothers generally stay at home to take care of the children.",
"mothers should help fathers in their reconciliation process."
] | The passage indicates that | "Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it's a girl."
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel pride when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this reconciliation process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of fathers.
It is argued by some writers that the change to the father's role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the change the wife must take to the mother's role. The mother's role seems to require a complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation. On the other hand, the father's role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household. | 99.txt | 0 |
[
"It's as difficult to be a father as it is to be a mother.",
"More books should focus on the role of fathers.",
"The father is still the breadwinner in the household.",
"Fathers are as important to children as mothers."
] | Which of the following will the author most probably disagree with? | "Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it's a girl."
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel pride when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this reconciliation process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of fathers.
It is argued by some writers that the change to the father's role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the change the wife must take to the mother's role. The mother's role seems to require a complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation. On the other hand, the father's role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household. | 99.txt | 2 |
[
"explain why there are few books on the role of fathers.",
"praise mothers for their great contributions to the home.",
"criticize fathers for not taking enough responsibility in bringing up the children.",
"complain about the lack of social programs to help fathers in their role shift."
] | The author's purpose in writing this passage is to | "Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it's a girl."
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel pride when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this reconciliation process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of fathers.
It is argued by some writers that the change to the father's role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the change the wife must take to the mother's role. The mother's role seems to require a complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation. On the other hand, the father's role is less demanding and immediate. However, even though we mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household. | 99.txt | 3 |
[
"will give one encouragement and direction",
"are helpful in finding the right information",
"are the most valuable part of one's personal education",
"will help one to successfully complete school assignments"
] | According to the writer, personal discoveries ________. | The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you! It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally-or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal encounters are the "payoff" in education. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it-but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classroom, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering, an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you. | 2074.txt | 2 |
[
"to fully develop one's personal abilities",
"to use the skills learnt in the classroom",
"to prove that one is a productive writer",
"to demonstrate how well one can accomplish school assignment"
] | It can be inferred from the passage that writing a research paper gives one chances ________. | The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you! It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally-or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal encounters are the "payoff" in education. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it-but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classroom, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering, an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you. | 2074.txt | 0 |
[
"misleading",
"embarrassing",
"stimulating",
"upsetting"
] | From the context, the word "disconcerting" (Para. 3, Line 2) most probably means ________. | The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you! It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally-or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal encounters are the "payoff" in education. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it-but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classroom, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering, an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you. | 2074.txt | 1 |
[
"one should explore new areas in research",
"one should trust one's own ability to meet course requirements",
"one should consider research paper writing a pleasure, not a burden",
"one should use all one's knowledge and skills when doing research"
] | The writer argues in the passage that ________. | The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you! It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally-or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal encounters are the "payoff" in education. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it-but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classroom, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering, an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you. | 2074.txt | 2 |
[
"How to write a research paper.",
"The importance of research in education.",
"How to make new discoveries for oneself.",
"The skill of putting pieces of information together."
] | What will probably follow this passage? | The most exciting kind of education is also the most personal. Nothing can exceed the joy of discovering for yourself something that is important to you! It may be an idea or a bit of information you come across accidentally-or a sudden insight, fitting together pieces of information or working through a problem. Such personal encounters are the "payoff" in education. A teacher may direct you to learning and even encourage you in it-but no teacher can make the excitement or the joy happen. That's up to you.
A research paper, assigned in a course and perhaps checked at various stages by an instructor, leads you beyond classroom, beyond the texts for classes and into a process where the joy of discovery and learning can come to you many times. Preparing the research paper is an active and individual process, and ideal learning process. It provides a structure within which you can make exciting discoveries, of knowledge and of self, that are basic to education. But the research paper also gives you a chance to individualize a school assignment, to suit a piece of work to your own interests and abilities, to show others what you can do. Writing a research paper is more than just a classroom exercise. It is an experience in searching out, understanding and synthesizing, which forms the basis of many skills applicable to both academic and nonacademic tasks. It is, in the fullest sense, a discovering, an education. So, to produce a good research paper is both a useful and a thoroughly satisfying experience!
To some, the thought of having to write an assigned number of pages, often more than ever produced before, is disconcerting. To others, the very idea of having to work independently is threatening. But there is no need to approach the research paper assignment with anxiety, and nobody should view the research paper as an obstacle to overcome. Instead, consider it a goal to accomplish, a goal within reach if you use the help this book can give you. | 2074.txt | 0 |
[
"Spectacular.",
"Beautiful.",
"Romantic.",
"Sparkling."
] | Which word can best describe the final scene in pantomime? | Pantomimes like pageants, need to be very well planned, and it is essential that initial organization should begin many weeks in advance of the production date. Pantomimes are nearly always divided into separate scenes, very often taking place in different countries or even in different centuries. It is therefore necessary that there should be an overall unity of design culminating in the grand finale. This latter is really just an excuse for visual effects, and for once the performers become merely cloths hangers on which to put elaborate garments.
The scene should be discussed at some length with the producer so that the background, which is decided upon, does not present impossibilities for the provision of costumes within the budget or insuperable making problems for the wardrobe. Because of the large numbers of costumes needed full use must be made of the cheapest materials available, such as tarlatan (thin, stiff, open-weave muslin) nets and inexpensive cottons and taffetas. Very often it is possible to pick up goods that have been substantially reduced in price as cheap lines either in the big stores or on stalls in street markets.
Costumes for pantomimes need to be imaginative, gay and fairly bold in conception-this does not mean that they need to be garish. Usually in one scene there needs to be the flavor of what is newest at the moment in clothes. It is always a good idea to make use of a modern gimmick and to point it in some way if this can be conveniently fitted into the scheme. The audience comes to pantomime to have the eye feasted as much as for any other purpose, thus making a great chance for the designer to excel. Because of the very varied audience to be catered for there must be costumes to please patrons of all ages and delight the eyes of toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents.
Usually there is the chance for some country scene involving merry-making peasants in ginghams, stripes of chintzes. There may be a military or naval routine or some number emphasizing precision and calling for trim slick costumes. There is certain to be a ballet which is to look fairy-like or romantic and pretty and which may well need either classical or romantic tutus. The finale, which must be the most spectacular of all, is often set in a ballroom or palace where all the characters come together to make their final bows; and it is for this scene that the glitter of sequins and jewels, the sparkle of tinsel, the gold and silver materials and the waving plumes should be saved.
It may be helpful to examine the different characters and the various scenes in which they are likely to appear. They remain much the same in all pantomimes; the flavor varying according to the setting-so that a s/dash of the Orient, or the particular feeling of a historical epoch is added to the standard costume. | 1739.txt | 0 |
[
"How to Gain Success of a Pantomime.",
"The Most Important Factors in a Pantomime.",
"Pantomime needs to have a very-well.",
"How to Make Preparation for a Pantomime."
] | What is the best title for this passage? | Pantomimes like pageants, need to be very well planned, and it is essential that initial organization should begin many weeks in advance of the production date. Pantomimes are nearly always divided into separate scenes, very often taking place in different countries or even in different centuries. It is therefore necessary that there should be an overall unity of design culminating in the grand finale. This latter is really just an excuse for visual effects, and for once the performers become merely cloths hangers on which to put elaborate garments.
The scene should be discussed at some length with the producer so that the background, which is decided upon, does not present impossibilities for the provision of costumes within the budget or insuperable making problems for the wardrobe. Because of the large numbers of costumes needed full use must be made of the cheapest materials available, such as tarlatan (thin, stiff, open-weave muslin) nets and inexpensive cottons and taffetas. Very often it is possible to pick up goods that have been substantially reduced in price as cheap lines either in the big stores or on stalls in street markets.
Costumes for pantomimes need to be imaginative, gay and fairly bold in conception-this does not mean that they need to be garish. Usually in one scene there needs to be the flavor of what is newest at the moment in clothes. It is always a good idea to make use of a modern gimmick and to point it in some way if this can be conveniently fitted into the scheme. The audience comes to pantomime to have the eye feasted as much as for any other purpose, thus making a great chance for the designer to excel. Because of the very varied audience to be catered for there must be costumes to please patrons of all ages and delight the eyes of toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents.
Usually there is the chance for some country scene involving merry-making peasants in ginghams, stripes of chintzes. There may be a military or naval routine or some number emphasizing precision and calling for trim slick costumes. There is certain to be a ballet which is to look fairy-like or romantic and pretty and which may well need either classical or romantic tutus. The finale, which must be the most spectacular of all, is often set in a ballroom or palace where all the characters come together to make their final bows; and it is for this scene that the glitter of sequins and jewels, the sparkle of tinsel, the gold and silver materials and the waving plumes should be saved.
It may be helpful to examine the different characters and the various scenes in which they are likely to appear. They remain much the same in all pantomimes; the flavor varying according to the setting-so that a s/dash of the Orient, or the particular feeling of a historical epoch is added to the standard costume. | 1739.txt | 3 |
[
"It implies actor and actress outnumber costume.",
"It implies costume costs too much.",
"It implies the funds available is on meager side.",
"It implies a good plan is necessary for a pantomime."
] | What does paragraph two imply? | Pantomimes like pageants, need to be very well planned, and it is essential that initial organization should begin many weeks in advance of the production date. Pantomimes are nearly always divided into separate scenes, very often taking place in different countries or even in different centuries. It is therefore necessary that there should be an overall unity of design culminating in the grand finale. This latter is really just an excuse for visual effects, and for once the performers become merely cloths hangers on which to put elaborate garments.
The scene should be discussed at some length with the producer so that the background, which is decided upon, does not present impossibilities for the provision of costumes within the budget or insuperable making problems for the wardrobe. Because of the large numbers of costumes needed full use must be made of the cheapest materials available, such as tarlatan (thin, stiff, open-weave muslin) nets and inexpensive cottons and taffetas. Very often it is possible to pick up goods that have been substantially reduced in price as cheap lines either in the big stores or on stalls in street markets.
Costumes for pantomimes need to be imaginative, gay and fairly bold in conception-this does not mean that they need to be garish. Usually in one scene there needs to be the flavor of what is newest at the moment in clothes. It is always a good idea to make use of a modern gimmick and to point it in some way if this can be conveniently fitted into the scheme. The audience comes to pantomime to have the eye feasted as much as for any other purpose, thus making a great chance for the designer to excel. Because of the very varied audience to be catered for there must be costumes to please patrons of all ages and delight the eyes of toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents.
Usually there is the chance for some country scene involving merry-making peasants in ginghams, stripes of chintzes. There may be a military or naval routine or some number emphasizing precision and calling for trim slick costumes. There is certain to be a ballet which is to look fairy-like or romantic and pretty and which may well need either classical or romantic tutus. The finale, which must be the most spectacular of all, is often set in a ballroom or palace where all the characters come together to make their final bows; and it is for this scene that the glitter of sequins and jewels, the sparkle of tinsel, the gold and silver materials and the waving plumes should be saved.
It may be helpful to examine the different characters and the various scenes in which they are likely to appear. They remain much the same in all pantomimes; the flavor varying according to the setting-so that a s/dash of the Orient, or the particular feeling of a historical epoch is added to the standard costume. | 1739.txt | 2 |
[
"well-planned preparation.",
"excellent actors.",
"brilliant costume.",
"harmony."
] | The success of a pantomime lie in | Pantomimes like pageants, need to be very well planned, and it is essential that initial organization should begin many weeks in advance of the production date. Pantomimes are nearly always divided into separate scenes, very often taking place in different countries or even in different centuries. It is therefore necessary that there should be an overall unity of design culminating in the grand finale. This latter is really just an excuse for visual effects, and for once the performers become merely cloths hangers on which to put elaborate garments.
The scene should be discussed at some length with the producer so that the background, which is decided upon, does not present impossibilities for the provision of costumes within the budget or insuperable making problems for the wardrobe. Because of the large numbers of costumes needed full use must be made of the cheapest materials available, such as tarlatan (thin, stiff, open-weave muslin) nets and inexpensive cottons and taffetas. Very often it is possible to pick up goods that have been substantially reduced in price as cheap lines either in the big stores or on stalls in street markets.
Costumes for pantomimes need to be imaginative, gay and fairly bold in conception-this does not mean that they need to be garish. Usually in one scene there needs to be the flavor of what is newest at the moment in clothes. It is always a good idea to make use of a modern gimmick and to point it in some way if this can be conveniently fitted into the scheme. The audience comes to pantomime to have the eye feasted as much as for any other purpose, thus making a great chance for the designer to excel. Because of the very varied audience to be catered for there must be costumes to please patrons of all ages and delight the eyes of toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents.
Usually there is the chance for some country scene involving merry-making peasants in ginghams, stripes of chintzes. There may be a military or naval routine or some number emphasizing precision and calling for trim slick costumes. There is certain to be a ballet which is to look fairy-like or romantic and pretty and which may well need either classical or romantic tutus. The finale, which must be the most spectacular of all, is often set in a ballroom or palace where all the characters come together to make their final bows; and it is for this scene that the glitter of sequins and jewels, the sparkle of tinsel, the gold and silver materials and the waving plumes should be saved.
It may be helpful to examine the different characters and the various scenes in which they are likely to appear. They remain much the same in all pantomimes; the flavor varying according to the setting-so that a s/dash of the Orient, or the particular feeling of a historical epoch is added to the standard costume. | 1739.txt | 0 |
[
"The business institutions in America are concerned with commerce",
"Business problems are of great importance to the American government",
"Business is of primary concern to Americans",
"America is a great power in world business"
] | The statement "The business of America is business" probably means "________". | President Coolidge's statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today-that business institutions have more prestige in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions posses this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which si a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, that democracy in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic idea of inherited privilege. | 347.txt | 2 |
[
"when given equality of opportunity",
"through doing business",
"by protecting their individual freedom",
"by way of competition"
] | Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only ________. | President Coolidge's statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today-that business institutions have more prestige in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions posses this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which si a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, that democracy in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic idea of inherited privilege. | 347.txt | 3 |
[
"Honest businessmen.",
"Both businessmen and their customers.",
"People with ideals of equality and freedom.",
"Both business institutions and government."
] | Who can benefit from business competition? | President Coolidge's statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today-that business institutions have more prestige in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions posses this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which si a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, that democracy in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic idea of inherited privilege. | 347.txt | 1 |
[
"its absolute control of power",
"its function in preserving personal freedom",
"its role in protecting basic American values",
"its democratic way of exercising leadership"
] | Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by ________. | President Coolidge's statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today-that business institutions have more prestige in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions posses this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which si a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, that democracy in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic idea of inherited privilege. | 347.txt | 0 |
[
"Americans are more ambitious than people in other countries",
"in many countries success often depends on one's social status",
"American businesses are more democratic than those in other countries",
"businesses in other countries are not as competitive as those in America"
] | It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes ________. | President Coolidge's statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today-that business institutions have more prestige in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions posses this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power. In contrast to one, all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers' dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which si a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, that democracy in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic idea of inherited privilege. | 347.txt | 1 |
[
"she doesn't feel that she should have apologized",
"she does not realize that the child has been hurt",
"the child may find the apology easier to accept",
"the child may feel that he owes her an apology"
] | If a mother adds "but" to an apology, _ . | If you want to teach your children how to say sorry, you must be good at saying it yourself, especially to your own children. But how you say it can be quite tricky.
If you say to your children "I'm sorry I got angry with you, but ..." what follows that "but" can render the apology ineffective: "I had a bad day" or "your noise was giving me a headache" leaves the person who has been injured feeling that he should be apologizing for his bad behavior in expecting an apology.
Another method by which people appear to apologize without actually doing so is to say "I'm sorry you're upset"; this suggests that you are somehow at fault for allowing yourself to get upset by what the other person has done.
Then there is the general, all covering apology, which avoids the necessity of identifying a specific act that was particularly hurtful or insulting, and which the person who is apologizing should promise never to do again. Saying "I'm useless as a parent" does not commit a person to any specific improvement.
These pseudo-apologies are used by people who believe saying sorry shows weakness, Parents who wish to teach their children to apologize should see it as a sign of strength, and therefore not resort to these pseudo-apologies.
But even when presented with examples of genuine contrition, children still need help to become a ware of the complexities of saying sorry. A three-year-old might need help in understanding that other children feel pain just as he does, and that hitting a playmate over the head with a heavy toy requires an apology. A six-year-old might need reminding that spoiling other children's expectations can require an apology. A 12-year-old might need to be shown that raiding the biscuit tin without asking permission is acceptable, but that borrowing a parent's clothes without permission is not. | 1371.txt | 3 |
[
"You have good reason to get upset",
"I'm aware you're upset, but I'm not to blame",
"I apologize for hurting your feelings",
"I'm at fault for making you upset"
] | According to the author, saying "I'm sorry you're upset" most probably means "_ ". | If you want to teach your children how to say sorry, you must be good at saying it yourself, especially to your own children. But how you say it can be quite tricky.
If you say to your children "I'm sorry I got angry with you, but ..." what follows that "but" can render the apology ineffective: "I had a bad day" or "your noise was giving me a headache" leaves the person who has been injured feeling that he should be apologizing for his bad behavior in expecting an apology.
Another method by which people appear to apologize without actually doing so is to say "I'm sorry you're upset"; this suggests that you are somehow at fault for allowing yourself to get upset by what the other person has done.
Then there is the general, all covering apology, which avoids the necessity of identifying a specific act that was particularly hurtful or insulting, and which the person who is apologizing should promise never to do again. Saying "I'm useless as a parent" does not commit a person to any specific improvement.
These pseudo-apologies are used by people who believe saying sorry shows weakness, Parents who wish to teach their children to apologize should see it as a sign of strength, and therefore not resort to these pseudo-apologies.
But even when presented with examples of genuine contrition, children still need help to become a ware of the complexities of saying sorry. A three-year-old might need help in understanding that other children feel pain just as he does, and that hitting a playmate over the head with a heavy toy requires an apology. A six-year-old might need reminding that spoiling other children's expectations can require an apology. A 12-year-old might need to be shown that raiding the biscuit tin without asking permission is acceptable, but that borrowing a parent's clothes without permission is not. | 1371.txt | 1 |
[
"it gets one into the habit of making empty promises",
"it may make the other person feel guilty",
"it is vague and ineffective",
"it is hurtful and insulting"
] | It is not advisable to use the general, all-covering apology because _ . | If you want to teach your children how to say sorry, you must be good at saying it yourself, especially to your own children. But how you say it can be quite tricky.
If you say to your children "I'm sorry I got angry with you, but ..." what follows that "but" can render the apology ineffective: "I had a bad day" or "your noise was giving me a headache" leaves the person who has been injured feeling that he should be apologizing for his bad behavior in expecting an apology.
Another method by which people appear to apologize without actually doing so is to say "I'm sorry you're upset"; this suggests that you are somehow at fault for allowing yourself to get upset by what the other person has done.
Then there is the general, all covering apology, which avoids the necessity of identifying a specific act that was particularly hurtful or insulting, and which the person who is apologizing should promise never to do again. Saying "I'm useless as a parent" does not commit a person to any specific improvement.
These pseudo-apologies are used by people who believe saying sorry shows weakness, Parents who wish to teach their children to apologize should see it as a sign of strength, and therefore not resort to these pseudo-apologies.
But even when presented with examples of genuine contrition, children still need help to become a ware of the complexities of saying sorry. A three-year-old might need help in understanding that other children feel pain just as he does, and that hitting a playmate over the head with a heavy toy requires an apology. A six-year-old might need reminding that spoiling other children's expectations can require an apology. A 12-year-old might need to be shown that raiding the biscuit tin without asking permission is acceptable, but that borrowing a parent's clothes without permission is not. | 1371.txt | 2 |
[
"the complexities involved should be ignored",
"their ages should be taken into account",
"parents need to set them a good example",
"parents should be patient and tolerant"
] | We learn from the last paragraph that in teaching children to say sorry _ . | If you want to teach your children how to say sorry, you must be good at saying it yourself, especially to your own children. But how you say it can be quite tricky.
If you say to your children "I'm sorry I got angry with you, but ..." what follows that "but" can render the apology ineffective: "I had a bad day" or "your noise was giving me a headache" leaves the person who has been injured feeling that he should be apologizing for his bad behavior in expecting an apology.
Another method by which people appear to apologize without actually doing so is to say "I'm sorry you're upset"; this suggests that you are somehow at fault for allowing yourself to get upset by what the other person has done.
Then there is the general, all covering apology, which avoids the necessity of identifying a specific act that was particularly hurtful or insulting, and which the person who is apologizing should promise never to do again. Saying "I'm useless as a parent" does not commit a person to any specific improvement.
These pseudo-apologies are used by people who believe saying sorry shows weakness, Parents who wish to teach their children to apologize should see it as a sign of strength, and therefore not resort to these pseudo-apologies.
But even when presented with examples of genuine contrition, children still need help to become a ware of the complexities of saying sorry. A three-year-old might need help in understanding that other children feel pain just as he does, and that hitting a playmate over the head with a heavy toy requires an apology. A six-year-old might need reminding that spoiling other children's expectations can require an apology. A 12-year-old might need to be shown that raiding the biscuit tin without asking permission is acceptable, but that borrowing a parent's clothes without permission is not. | 1371.txt | 1 |
[
"a social issue calling for immediate attention",
"not necessary among family members",
"a sign of social progress",
"not as simple as it seems"
] | It can be inferred from the passage that apologizing properly is _ . | If you want to teach your children how to say sorry, you must be good at saying it yourself, especially to your own children. But how you say it can be quite tricky.
If you say to your children "I'm sorry I got angry with you, but ..." what follows that "but" can render the apology ineffective: "I had a bad day" or "your noise was giving me a headache" leaves the person who has been injured feeling that he should be apologizing for his bad behavior in expecting an apology.
Another method by which people appear to apologize without actually doing so is to say "I'm sorry you're upset"; this suggests that you are somehow at fault for allowing yourself to get upset by what the other person has done.
Then there is the general, all covering apology, which avoids the necessity of identifying a specific act that was particularly hurtful or insulting, and which the person who is apologizing should promise never to do again. Saying "I'm useless as a parent" does not commit a person to any specific improvement.
These pseudo-apologies are used by people who believe saying sorry shows weakness, Parents who wish to teach their children to apologize should see it as a sign of strength, and therefore not resort to these pseudo-apologies.
But even when presented with examples of genuine contrition, children still need help to become a ware of the complexities of saying sorry. A three-year-old might need help in understanding that other children feel pain just as he does, and that hitting a playmate over the head with a heavy toy requires an apology. A six-year-old might need reminding that spoiling other children's expectations can require an apology. A 12-year-old might need to be shown that raiding the biscuit tin without asking permission is acceptable, but that borrowing a parent's clothes without permission is not. | 1371.txt | 3 |
[
"price data can be distributed quicky and easily.",
"traders can extend their market.",
"doing business is more convenient.",
"the growth of GDP per person can be greatly promoted."
] | The following are advantages of economic services through mobile phones except that _ | The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions (hallo, EthiopiA., they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world.
As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These "branchless" schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash.
There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the "unbanked" masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy.
What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because "it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services."
In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many. | 3435.txt | 3 |
[
"They can prevent safer services than the traditional banking.",
"They could provide the customers with credit services",
"They have been experimented in some developing countrie.",
"They could encourage people to use fiancial services"
] | Which one of the following statements is TURE of the m-banking schemes? | The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions (hallo, EthiopiA., they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world.
As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These "branchless" schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash.
There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the "unbanked" masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy.
What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because "it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services."
In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many. | 3435.txt | 2 |
[
"conversation.",
"combination.",
"similarity.",
"exchange."
] | The word "convergence" (Line 5, Paragraph 4) most probably means _ | The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions (hallo, EthiopiA., they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world.
As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These "branchless" schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash.
There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the "unbanked" masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy.
What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because "it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services."
In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many. | 3435.txt | 1 |
[
"supportive.",
"opposing.",
"indifferent.",
"unclear."
] | Towards m-banking, the governments' attitudes can be said to be _ | The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions (hallo, EthiopiA., they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world.
As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These "branchless" schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash.
There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the "unbanked" masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy.
What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because "it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services."
In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many. | 3435.txt | 3 |
[
"Economic Benefits Brought by Mobile Phone.",
"M-banking-Marriage of Mobile Phone and Banking.",
"Mobile Phone Used for Banking.",
"The Pioneering M-banking Schemes."
] | The best title of this passage can be _ | The idea that mobile phones bring economic benefits is now widely accepted. In places with bad roads, few trains and parlous land lines, they substitute for travel, allow price data to be distributed more quickly and easily, enable traders to reach wider markets and generally ease the business of doing business. Leonard Waverman of the London Business School has estimated that an extra ten mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an extra half a percentage point of growth in GDP per person. To realise the economic benefits of mobile phones, governments in such countries need to do away with state monopolies, issue new licences to allow rival operators to enter the market and slash taxes on handsets. With few exceptions (hallo, EthiopiA., they have done so, and mobile phones are now spreading fast, even in the poorest parts of the world.
As mobile phones have spread, a new economic benefit is coming into view: using them for banking, and so improving access to financial services, not just telecoms networks. Pioneering m-banking projects in the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa show the way. These "branchless" schemes typically allow customers to deposit and withdraw cash through a mobile operator's airtime-resale agents, and send money to other people via text messages that can be exchanged for cash by visiting an agent. Workers can then be paid by phone; taxi-drivers and delivery-drivers can accept payments without carrying cash around; money can be easily sent to friends and family. A popular use is to deposit money before making a long journey and then withdraw it at the other end, which is safer than carrying lots of cash.
There is no need to set up a national network of branches or cash machines. M-banking schemes can be combined with microfinance loans, extending access to credit and enabling users to establish a credit history. Some schemes issue customers with debit cards linked to their m-banking accounts. All this has the potential to give the "unbanked" masses access to financial services, and bring them into the formal economy.
What can governments do to foster m-banking? As with the spread of mobile phones themselves, a lot depends on putting the right regulations in place. They need to be tight enough to protect users and discourage money laundering, but open enough to allow new services to emerge. The existing banking model is both over- and under-protective, says Tim Lyman of the World Bank, because "it did not foresee the convergence of telecommunications and financial services."
In many countries only licensed banks are allowed to collect deposits. Even if a mobile operator forms a partnership with a bank, its agents may have to comply with banking rules covering everything from the height of the counter to the installation of alarms. Financial institutions may have to provide detailed statements to the central bank every week, which is tricky for organisations with agents in remote areas. Some countries have rigid rules on the documents demanded of anybody opening an account, which excludes many. | 3435.txt | 1 |
[
"the different effects of solar dimming and global warming",
"the impact of the solar dimming on the climate system",
"the influence of the solar dimming on the global warming",
"the interaction between the solar dimming and global warming"
] | By" tug-of-war" （Line 4, Paragraph 2）, the author means _ . | The sun is not growing weaker, yet its light appears to be dimming. Between 1960 and 1990, some scientists believe, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface may have declined as much as 10%-and in some places, Hong Kong, for example, more than 35%.
What was going on? Well, it appears that increased air pollution during those 30 years-over Asia, in particular-with the help, perhaps, of some increased cloudiness, may have exerted a cooling influence on the surface of the planet even as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were encouraging the atmosphere to warm. The impacts of that tug-of-war on the climate system could be devilishly difficult to untangle. At the same time, no task could be more urgent. For if global pollution has helped keep global warming in check, says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at San Diego, then the full impact of the buildup of greenhouse gases has yet to be felt. This week, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Montreal, Ramanathan and others will be presenting the latest data on the solar-dimming problem and pondering its implications for the climate system as a whole.
Many scenarios for global warming, for example, invoke a speedup in the hydrological cycle by which water evaporates and then comes down as rain. The cooling produced by solar dimming, however, may slow the rate of evaporation, while higher up in the atmosphere the pollutants responsible for absorbing and reflecting sunlight are likely to interfere with the process that produces rain.
Why? These pollutants, which take the form of tiny, airborne particles called aerosols, act as nuclei around which cloud droplets form. The problem is, there are too many aerosols in the atmosphere competing for water molecules, so the cloud droplets that form are too small and never become weighty enough to fall to the ground. As a result, says Beate Liepert, an atmospheric physicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the atmosphere could be filled with moisture while Earth's surface thirsts for rain.
Many questions remain, including the true extent of the dimming. One analysis pegs the average worldwide darkening to be about 4% over three decades, while another computes it to be more than twice that much. There are also questions about the reliability of the devices that measure the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Known as radiometers, these instruments are nothing more than flat, black solar collectors capped with glass. They are sometimes finicky; a smudge of dirt or a speck of dust can cause bogus readings and change the calculated results.
Solar dimming, in other words, is a problem still in the process of being defined, and as its dimensions become clearer, so will the nature of the challenge the world faces. Although scientists have done a lot of thinking about global warming, they are just beginning to grapple with the problem of how global warming and solar dimming interact. As Ramanathan puts it, " It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the table" -and it could turn out to be a very big gorilla indeed. | 593.txt | 3 |
[
"Serious.",
"Optimistic.",
"Carefree.",
"Panicked."
] | How do the scientists feel about the current climate situation? | The sun is not growing weaker, yet its light appears to be dimming. Between 1960 and 1990, some scientists believe, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface may have declined as much as 10%-and in some places, Hong Kong, for example, more than 35%.
What was going on? Well, it appears that increased air pollution during those 30 years-over Asia, in particular-with the help, perhaps, of some increased cloudiness, may have exerted a cooling influence on the surface of the planet even as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were encouraging the atmosphere to warm. The impacts of that tug-of-war on the climate system could be devilishly difficult to untangle. At the same time, no task could be more urgent. For if global pollution has helped keep global warming in check, says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at San Diego, then the full impact of the buildup of greenhouse gases has yet to be felt. This week, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Montreal, Ramanathan and others will be presenting the latest data on the solar-dimming problem and pondering its implications for the climate system as a whole.
Many scenarios for global warming, for example, invoke a speedup in the hydrological cycle by which water evaporates and then comes down as rain. The cooling produced by solar dimming, however, may slow the rate of evaporation, while higher up in the atmosphere the pollutants responsible for absorbing and reflecting sunlight are likely to interfere with the process that produces rain.
Why? These pollutants, which take the form of tiny, airborne particles called aerosols, act as nuclei around which cloud droplets form. The problem is, there are too many aerosols in the atmosphere competing for water molecules, so the cloud droplets that form are too small and never become weighty enough to fall to the ground. As a result, says Beate Liepert, an atmospheric physicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the atmosphere could be filled with moisture while Earth's surface thirsts for rain.
Many questions remain, including the true extent of the dimming. One analysis pegs the average worldwide darkening to be about 4% over three decades, while another computes it to be more than twice that much. There are also questions about the reliability of the devices that measure the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Known as radiometers, these instruments are nothing more than flat, black solar collectors capped with glass. They are sometimes finicky; a smudge of dirt or a speck of dust can cause bogus readings and change the calculated results.
Solar dimming, in other words, is a problem still in the process of being defined, and as its dimensions become clearer, so will the nature of the challenge the world faces. Although scientists have done a lot of thinking about global warming, they are just beginning to grapple with the problem of how global warming and solar dimming interact. As Ramanathan puts it, " It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the table" -and it could turn out to be a very big gorilla indeed. | 593.txt | 0 |
[
"scientists should have a close look at the solar dimming problem",
"we are facing a new problem which is very complicated and difficult to manage",
"we are just beginning to have research on this new field",
"the new solar dimming problem is beyond scientists' ability to tackle"
] | When mentioning" It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the table" （Lines 4～5, Paragraph 6）, the author implies that _ . | The sun is not growing weaker, yet its light appears to be dimming. Between 1960 and 1990, some scientists believe, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface may have declined as much as 10%-and in some places, Hong Kong, for example, more than 35%.
What was going on? Well, it appears that increased air pollution during those 30 years-over Asia, in particular-with the help, perhaps, of some increased cloudiness, may have exerted a cooling influence on the surface of the planet even as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were encouraging the atmosphere to warm. The impacts of that tug-of-war on the climate system could be devilishly difficult to untangle. At the same time, no task could be more urgent. For if global pollution has helped keep global warming in check, says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at San Diego, then the full impact of the buildup of greenhouse gases has yet to be felt. This week, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Montreal, Ramanathan and others will be presenting the latest data on the solar-dimming problem and pondering its implications for the climate system as a whole.
Many scenarios for global warming, for example, invoke a speedup in the hydrological cycle by which water evaporates and then comes down as rain. The cooling produced by solar dimming, however, may slow the rate of evaporation, while higher up in the atmosphere the pollutants responsible for absorbing and reflecting sunlight are likely to interfere with the process that produces rain.
Why? These pollutants, which take the form of tiny, airborne particles called aerosols, act as nuclei around which cloud droplets form. The problem is, there are too many aerosols in the atmosphere competing for water molecules, so the cloud droplets that form are too small and never become weighty enough to fall to the ground. As a result, says Beate Liepert, an atmospheric physicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the atmosphere could be filled with moisture while Earth's surface thirsts for rain.
Many questions remain, including the true extent of the dimming. One analysis pegs the average worldwide darkening to be about 4% over three decades, while another computes it to be more than twice that much. There are also questions about the reliability of the devices that measure the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Known as radiometers, these instruments are nothing more than flat, black solar collectors capped with glass. They are sometimes finicky; a smudge of dirt or a speck of dust can cause bogus readings and change the calculated results.
Solar dimming, in other words, is a problem still in the process of being defined, and as its dimensions become clearer, so will the nature of the challenge the world faces. Although scientists have done a lot of thinking about global warming, they are just beginning to grapple with the problem of how global warming and solar dimming interact. As Ramanathan puts it, " It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the table" -and it could turn out to be a very big gorilla indeed. | 593.txt | 1 |
[
"The lack of the rain in the earth.",
"The increasing of the pollutants.",
"The forming of the cloud droplets.",
"The less weight of the cloud droplets."
] | Which of the following cannot serve as a factor of causing the cooling surface of the planet? | The sun is not growing weaker, yet its light appears to be dimming. Between 1960 and 1990, some scientists believe, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface may have declined as much as 10%-and in some places, Hong Kong, for example, more than 35%.
What was going on? Well, it appears that increased air pollution during those 30 years-over Asia, in particular-with the help, perhaps, of some increased cloudiness, may have exerted a cooling influence on the surface of the planet even as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were encouraging the atmosphere to warm. The impacts of that tug-of-war on the climate system could be devilishly difficult to untangle. At the same time, no task could be more urgent. For if global pollution has helped keep global warming in check, says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at San Diego, then the full impact of the buildup of greenhouse gases has yet to be felt. This week, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Montreal, Ramanathan and others will be presenting the latest data on the solar-dimming problem and pondering its implications for the climate system as a whole.
Many scenarios for global warming, for example, invoke a speedup in the hydrological cycle by which water evaporates and then comes down as rain. The cooling produced by solar dimming, however, may slow the rate of evaporation, while higher up in the atmosphere the pollutants responsible for absorbing and reflecting sunlight are likely to interfere with the process that produces rain.
Why? These pollutants, which take the form of tiny, airborne particles called aerosols, act as nuclei around which cloud droplets form. The problem is, there are too many aerosols in the atmosphere competing for water molecules, so the cloud droplets that form are too small and never become weighty enough to fall to the ground. As a result, says Beate Liepert, an atmospheric physicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the atmosphere could be filled with moisture while Earth's surface thirsts for rain.
Many questions remain, including the true extent of the dimming. One analysis pegs the average worldwide darkening to be about 4% over three decades, while another computes it to be more than twice that much. There are also questions about the reliability of the devices that measure the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Known as radiometers, these instruments are nothing more than flat, black solar collectors capped with glass. They are sometimes finicky; a smudge of dirt or a speck of dust can cause bogus readings and change the calculated results.
Solar dimming, in other words, is a problem still in the process of being defined, and as its dimensions become clearer, so will the nature of the challenge the world faces. Although scientists have done a lot of thinking about global warming, they are just beginning to grapple with the problem of how global warming and solar dimming interact. As Ramanathan puts it, " It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the table" -and it could turn out to be a very big gorilla indeed. | 593.txt | 0 |
[
"The instruments used in the study are too simple to function well.",
"Living things in the earth will be greatly influenced by solar dimming.",
"There is still a long way to go in the study of solar dimming.",
"The findings that solar dimming has influence on the surface of the planet are doubtful."
] | Which of the following is TRUE according to the text? | The sun is not growing weaker, yet its light appears to be dimming. Between 1960 and 1990, some scientists believe, the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth's surface may have declined as much as 10%-and in some places, Hong Kong, for example, more than 35%.
What was going on? Well, it appears that increased air pollution during those 30 years-over Asia, in particular-with the help, perhaps, of some increased cloudiness, may have exerted a cooling influence on the surface of the planet even as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were encouraging the atmosphere to warm. The impacts of that tug-of-war on the climate system could be devilishly difficult to untangle. At the same time, no task could be more urgent. For if global pollution has helped keep global warming in check, says Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the University of California at San Diego, then the full impact of the buildup of greenhouse gases has yet to be felt. This week, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Montreal, Ramanathan and others will be presenting the latest data on the solar-dimming problem and pondering its implications for the climate system as a whole.
Many scenarios for global warming, for example, invoke a speedup in the hydrological cycle by which water evaporates and then comes down as rain. The cooling produced by solar dimming, however, may slow the rate of evaporation, while higher up in the atmosphere the pollutants responsible for absorbing and reflecting sunlight are likely to interfere with the process that produces rain.
Why? These pollutants, which take the form of tiny, airborne particles called aerosols, act as nuclei around which cloud droplets form. The problem is, there are too many aerosols in the atmosphere competing for water molecules, so the cloud droplets that form are too small and never become weighty enough to fall to the ground. As a result, says Beate Liepert, an atmospheric physicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the atmosphere could be filled with moisture while Earth's surface thirsts for rain.
Many questions remain, including the true extent of the dimming. One analysis pegs the average worldwide darkening to be about 4% over three decades, while another computes it to be more than twice that much. There are also questions about the reliability of the devices that measure the sunlight reaching Earth's surface. Known as radiometers, these instruments are nothing more than flat, black solar collectors capped with glass. They are sometimes finicky; a smudge of dirt or a speck of dust can cause bogus readings and change the calculated results.
Solar dimming, in other words, is a problem still in the process of being defined, and as its dimensions become clearer, so will the nature of the challenge the world faces. Although scientists have done a lot of thinking about global warming, they are just beginning to grapple with the problem of how global warming and solar dimming interact. As Ramanathan puts it, " It's like we have a new gorilla sitting down at the table" -and it could turn out to be a very big gorilla indeed. | 593.txt | 2 |
[
"It makes everybody time-conscious.",
"It is a convenience for work and life.",
"It may have a negative effect on creative work.",
"It clearly indicates the fast pace of modern life."
] | What does the author think of time displayed everywhere? | When it's five o'clock, people leave their office.The length of the workday, for many workers, isdefined by time.They leave when the clock tells them they're done.
These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones andcomputers.That may be a bad thing, particularly at work.New research shows that clock-based workschedules hinder morale and creativity.
Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from9 a.m.to 10 a.m.research from 10 a.m.to noon, etc.On the other hand, task-timers have a list ofthings they want to accomplish.They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task iscompleted.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.
What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us moreproductive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet andAnne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holidayshopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "tasktinge." They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control overtheir lives.Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.They tend to enjoy themoment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.
The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported inbusiness culture.Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into theirstrategies.
This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers arguethat it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.Whilemost people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing shouldbe used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-
doers will be happier. | 2233.txt | 2 |
[
"They combine clock-based and task-based planning.",
"They give priority to the most urgent task on hand.",
"They set a time limit for each specific task.",
"They accomplish their tasks one by one."
] | How do people usually go about their work according to the author? | When it's five o'clock, people leave their office.The length of the workday, for many workers, isdefined by time.They leave when the clock tells them they're done.
These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones andcomputers.That may be a bad thing, particularly at work.New research shows that clock-based workschedules hinder morale and creativity.
Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from9 a.m.to 10 a.m.research from 10 a.m.to noon, etc.On the other hand, task-timers have a list ofthings they want to accomplish.They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task iscompleted.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.
What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us moreproductive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet andAnne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holidayshopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "tasktinge." They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control overtheir lives.Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.They tend to enjoy themoment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.
The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported inbusiness culture.Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into theirstrategies.
This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers arguethat it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.Whilemost people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing shouldbe used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-
doers will be happier. | 2233.txt | 0 |
[
"They seize opportunities as they come up.",
"They always get their work done in time.",
"They have more control-over their lives.",
"They tend to be more productive."
] | What did Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier find in their experiments about clock-timers? | When it's five o'clock, people leave their office.The length of the workday, for many workers, isdefined by time.They leave when the clock tells them they're done.
These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones andcomputers.That may be a bad thing, particularly at work.New research shows that clock-based workschedules hinder morale and creativity.
Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from9 a.m.to 10 a.m.research from 10 a.m.to noon, etc.On the other hand, task-timers have a list ofthings they want to accomplish.They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task iscompleted.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.
What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us moreproductive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet andAnne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holidayshopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "tasktinge." They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control overtheir lives.Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.They tend to enjoy themoment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.
The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported inbusiness culture.Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into theirstrategies.
This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers arguethat it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.Whilemost people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing shouldbe used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-
doers will be happier. | 2233.txt | 3 |
[
"It does not support the strategies adopted by smart companies.",
"It does not attach enough importance to task-based practice.",
"It places more emphasis on work efficiency than on workers' lives.",
"It alms to bring employees' potential and creativity into full play."
] | What do the researchers say about today's business culture? | When it's five o'clock, people leave their office.The length of the workday, for many workers, isdefined by time.They leave when the clock tells them they're done.
These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones andcomputers.That may be a bad thing, particularly at work.New research shows that clock-based workschedules hinder morale and creativity.
Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from9 a.m.to 10 a.m.research from 10 a.m.to noon, etc.On the other hand, task-timers have a list ofthings they want to accomplish.They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task iscompleted.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.
What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us moreproductive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet andAnne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holidayshopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "tasktinge." They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control overtheir lives.Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.They tend to enjoy themoment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.
The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported inbusiness culture.Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into theirstrategies.
This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers arguethat it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.Whilemost people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing shouldbe used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-
doers will be happier. | 2233.txt | 1 |
[
"Task-based timing is preferred for doing creative work.",
"It is important to keep a balance between work and life.",
"Performing creative jobs tends to make workers happier.",
"A scientific standard should be adopted in job evaluation."
] | What do the researchers suggest? | When it's five o'clock, people leave their office.The length of the workday, for many workers, isdefined by time.They leave when the clock tells them they're done.
These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones andcomputers.That may be a bad thing, particularly at work.New research shows that clock-based workschedules hinder morale and creativity.
Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from9 a.m.to 10 a.m.research from 10 a.m.to noon, etc.On the other hand, task-timers have a list ofthings they want to accomplish.They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task iscompleted.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.
What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us moreproductive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet andAnne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holidayshopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "tasktinge." They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control overtheir lives.Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.They tend to enjoy themoment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.
The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported inbusiness culture.Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into theirstrategies.
This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers arguethat it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.Whilemost people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing shouldbe used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-
doers will be happier. | 2233.txt | 0 |
[
"both using open outcry trading as a major trading form",
"partners that are reciprocal in their business activities",
"rivals that are competing in the oil trading market",
"both taking efforts to modernize their trading practice"
] | The NYMEX and IPE are_ . | A battle between two energy exchanges
OPEN-OUTCRY trading is supposed to be a quaint, outdated practice, rapidly being replaced by sleeker, cheaper electronic systems. Try telling that to the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodities exchange. On November 1st the NYMEX opened an open-outcry pit in Dublin to handle Brent crude futures, the benchmark contract for pricing two-thirds of the world's oil.
The NYMEX is trying to snatch liquidity from London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which trades the most Brent contracts; the New York exchange has hitherto concentrated on West Texas Intermediate, an American benchmark grade. The new pit is a response to the IPE's efforts to modernise. On the same day as NYMEX traders started shouting Brent prices in Dublin, the IPE did away with its morning open-outcry session: now such trades must be electronic, or done in the pit after lunch.
The New York exchange claims that customers, such as hedge funds or energy companies, prefer open-outcry because it allows for more liquidity. Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems. Even the IPE has no plans to abolish its floor. Only last month it signed a lease, lasting until 2011, for its trading floor in London.
Dublin's new pit is "showing promise", says Rob Laughlin, a trader with Man Financial, despite a few technical glitches. On its first day it handled 5,726 lots of Brent (each lot, or contract, is 1,000 barrels), over a third of the volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session. By the year's end, predicts Mr Laughlin, it should be clear whether the venture will be viable. It would stand a better chance if it moved to London. It may yet: it started in Ireland because regulatory approval could be obtained faster there than in Britain.
Ultimately, having both exchanges offering similar contracts will be unsustainable. Stealing liquidity from an established market leader, as the NYMEX is trying to do, is a hard task. Eurex, Europe's largest futures exchange, set up shop in Chicago this year, intending to grab American Treasury-bond contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade. It has made little headway. And the NYMEX has dabbled in Brent contracts before, without success.
Given the importance of liquidity in exchanges, why do the IPE and the NYMEX not band together? There have been merger talks before, and something might yet happen. Some say that the freewheeling NYMEX and the more staid IPE could never mix. For now, in any case, the two exchanges will slug it out--across the Irish Sea as well as across the Atlantic. | 1125.txt | 2 |
[
"the preference of its customers",
"the standard practice of energy exchange",
"the long tradition of this trading practice",
"the nostalgic feeling it arouses"
] | According to the author, one of the reasons that the NYMEX takes open-outcry trading is_ . | A battle between two energy exchanges
OPEN-OUTCRY trading is supposed to be a quaint, outdated practice, rapidly being replaced by sleeker, cheaper electronic systems. Try telling that to the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodities exchange. On November 1st the NYMEX opened an open-outcry pit in Dublin to handle Brent crude futures, the benchmark contract for pricing two-thirds of the world's oil.
The NYMEX is trying to snatch liquidity from London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which trades the most Brent contracts; the New York exchange has hitherto concentrated on West Texas Intermediate, an American benchmark grade. The new pit is a response to the IPE's efforts to modernise. On the same day as NYMEX traders started shouting Brent prices in Dublin, the IPE did away with its morning open-outcry session: now such trades must be electronic, or done in the pit after lunch.
The New York exchange claims that customers, such as hedge funds or energy companies, prefer open-outcry because it allows for more liquidity. Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems. Even the IPE has no plans to abolish its floor. Only last month it signed a lease, lasting until 2011, for its trading floor in London.
Dublin's new pit is "showing promise", says Rob Laughlin, a trader with Man Financial, despite a few technical glitches. On its first day it handled 5,726 lots of Brent (each lot, or contract, is 1,000 barrels), over a third of the volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session. By the year's end, predicts Mr Laughlin, it should be clear whether the venture will be viable. It would stand a better chance if it moved to London. It may yet: it started in Ireland because regulatory approval could be obtained faster there than in Britain.
Ultimately, having both exchanges offering similar contracts will be unsustainable. Stealing liquidity from an established market leader, as the NYMEX is trying to do, is a hard task. Eurex, Europe's largest futures exchange, set up shop in Chicago this year, intending to grab American Treasury-bond contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade. It has made little headway. And the NYMEX has dabbled in Brent contracts before, without success.
Given the importance of liquidity in exchanges, why do the IPE and the NYMEX not band together? There have been merger talks before, and something might yet happen. Some say that the freewheeling NYMEX and the more staid IPE could never mix. For now, in any case, the two exchanges will slug it out--across the Irish Sea as well as across the Atlantic. | 1125.txt | 0 |
[
"backwardness",
"disappointments",
"engineers",
"problems"
] | The word ¡°glitches¡± (Line 2, Paragraph 4) most probably means_ . | A battle between two energy exchanges
OPEN-OUTCRY trading is supposed to be a quaint, outdated practice, rapidly being replaced by sleeker, cheaper electronic systems. Try telling that to the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodities exchange. On November 1st the NYMEX opened an open-outcry pit in Dublin to handle Brent crude futures, the benchmark contract for pricing two-thirds of the world's oil.
The NYMEX is trying to snatch liquidity from London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which trades the most Brent contracts; the New York exchange has hitherto concentrated on West Texas Intermediate, an American benchmark grade. The new pit is a response to the IPE's efforts to modernise. On the same day as NYMEX traders started shouting Brent prices in Dublin, the IPE did away with its morning open-outcry session: now such trades must be electronic, or done in the pit after lunch.
The New York exchange claims that customers, such as hedge funds or energy companies, prefer open-outcry because it allows for more liquidity. Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems. Even the IPE has no plans to abolish its floor. Only last month it signed a lease, lasting until 2011, for its trading floor in London.
Dublin's new pit is "showing promise", says Rob Laughlin, a trader with Man Financial, despite a few technical glitches. On its first day it handled 5,726 lots of Brent (each lot, or contract, is 1,000 barrels), over a third of the volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session. By the year's end, predicts Mr Laughlin, it should be clear whether the venture will be viable. It would stand a better chance if it moved to London. It may yet: it started in Ireland because regulatory approval could be obtained faster there than in Britain.
Ultimately, having both exchanges offering similar contracts will be unsustainable. Stealing liquidity from an established market leader, as the NYMEX is trying to do, is a hard task. Eurex, Europe's largest futures exchange, set up shop in Chicago this year, intending to grab American Treasury-bond contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade. It has made little headway. And the NYMEX has dabbled in Brent contracts before, without success.
Given the importance of liquidity in exchanges, why do the IPE and the NYMEX not band together? There have been merger talks before, and something might yet happen. Some say that the freewheeling NYMEX and the more staid IPE could never mix. For now, in any case, the two exchanges will slug it out--across the Irish Sea as well as across the Atlantic. | 1125.txt | 3 |
[
"trading volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session is falling",
"London is a better business location for energy exchanges than Dublin",
"Britain's regulators are less efficient than those of Ireland",
"the Dublin pit of the NYMEX will be more prosperous next year"
] | From Paragraph 4 we can infer that_ . | A battle between two energy exchanges
OPEN-OUTCRY trading is supposed to be a quaint, outdated practice, rapidly being replaced by sleeker, cheaper electronic systems. Try telling that to the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodities exchange. On November 1st the NYMEX opened an open-outcry pit in Dublin to handle Brent crude futures, the benchmark contract for pricing two-thirds of the world's oil.
The NYMEX is trying to snatch liquidity from London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which trades the most Brent contracts; the New York exchange has hitherto concentrated on West Texas Intermediate, an American benchmark grade. The new pit is a response to the IPE's efforts to modernise. On the same day as NYMEX traders started shouting Brent prices in Dublin, the IPE did away with its morning open-outcry session: now such trades must be electronic, or done in the pit after lunch.
The New York exchange claims that customers, such as hedge funds or energy companies, prefer open-outcry because it allows for more liquidity. Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems. Even the IPE has no plans to abolish its floor. Only last month it signed a lease, lasting until 2011, for its trading floor in London.
Dublin's new pit is "showing promise", says Rob Laughlin, a trader with Man Financial, despite a few technical glitches. On its first day it handled 5,726 lots of Brent (each lot, or contract, is 1,000 barrels), over a third of the volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session. By the year's end, predicts Mr Laughlin, it should be clear whether the venture will be viable. It would stand a better chance if it moved to London. It may yet: it started in Ireland because regulatory approval could be obtained faster there than in Britain.
Ultimately, having both exchanges offering similar contracts will be unsustainable. Stealing liquidity from an established market leader, as the NYMEX is trying to do, is a hard task. Eurex, Europe's largest futures exchange, set up shop in Chicago this year, intending to grab American Treasury-bond contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade. It has made little headway. And the NYMEX has dabbled in Brent contracts before, without success.
Given the importance of liquidity in exchanges, why do the IPE and the NYMEX not band together? There have been merger talks before, and something might yet happen. Some say that the freewheeling NYMEX and the more staid IPE could never mix. For now, in any case, the two exchanges will slug it out--across the Irish Sea as well as across the Atlantic. | 1125.txt | 1 |
[
"it's very unlikely that the NYMEX and the IPE could combine their businesses",
"the NYMEX will fail in Ireland as many precedents have shown",
"the two energy exchanges will figure out a way to cooperate with each other",
"the market environment for both energy exchanges is getting better"
] | We can draw a conclusion from the text that_ . | A battle between two energy exchanges
OPEN-OUTCRY trading is supposed to be a quaint, outdated practice, rapidly being replaced by sleeker, cheaper electronic systems. Try telling that to the
New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest commodities exchange. On November 1st the NYMEX opened an open-outcry pit in Dublin to handle Brent crude futures, the benchmark contract for pricing two-thirds of the world's oil.
The NYMEX is trying to snatch liquidity from London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), which trades the most Brent contracts; the New York exchange has hitherto concentrated on West Texas Intermediate, an American benchmark grade. The new pit is a response to the IPE's efforts to modernise. On the same day as NYMEX traders started shouting Brent prices in Dublin, the IPE did away with its morning open-outcry session: now such trades must be electronic, or done in the pit after lunch.
The New York exchange claims that customers, such as hedge funds or energy companies, prefer open-outcry because it allows for more liquidity. Although most other exchanges are heading in the opposite direction, in commodity markets such as the NYMEX, pressure from "locals"--self-employed traders--is helping to prop up open-outcry, although some reckon that customers pay up to five times as much as with electronic systems. Even the IPE has no plans to abolish its floor. Only last month it signed a lease, lasting until 2011, for its trading floor in London.
Dublin's new pit is "showing promise", says Rob Laughlin, a trader with Man Financial, despite a few technical glitches. On its first day it handled 5,726 lots of Brent (each lot, or contract, is 1,000 barrels), over a third of the volume in the IPE's new morning electronic session. By the year's end, predicts Mr Laughlin, it should be clear whether the venture will be viable. It would stand a better chance if it moved to London. It may yet: it started in Ireland because regulatory approval could be obtained faster there than in Britain.
Ultimately, having both exchanges offering similar contracts will be unsustainable. Stealing liquidity from an established market leader, as the NYMEX is trying to do, is a hard task. Eurex, Europe's largest futures exchange, set up shop in Chicago this year, intending to grab American Treasury-bond contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade. It has made little headway. And the NYMEX has dabbled in Brent contracts before, without success.
Given the importance of liquidity in exchanges, why do the IPE and the NYMEX not band together? There have been merger talks before, and something might yet happen. Some say that the freewheeling NYMEX and the more staid IPE could never mix. For now, in any case, the two exchanges will slug it out--across the Irish Sea as well as across the Atlantic. | 1125.txt | 0 |
[
"reading stimulates a desire to travel",
"reading broadens a person's experience",
"people who read much live longer",
"people who read are more relaxed"
] | The sentence "People who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read" suggests that _ . | In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. To have read Gulliver's Travels is to have had the experience of listening to Jonathan Swift, of learning about man's inhumanity to man. To read Huckleberry Finn is to feel what it is like to drift down the Mississippi River on a raft . To have read Byron is to have suffered his rebellions with him and to have enjoyed his nose-thumbing at (……) society. To have read Native Son is to know how it feels to be frustrated in the particular way in which Blacks in Chicago are frustrated. This is effective communication . It enables us to feel how others felt about life, even if they lived thousands of miles away and centuries age. It is not true that "We have only one life to live." If we read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish. | 1964.txt | 1 |
[
"must deal with social problems",
"must teach a lesson",
"is varied in subject and in content ",
"is always exciting and heart--warming"
] | The author implies that good literature _ . | In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. To have read Gulliver's Travels is to have had the experience of listening to Jonathan Swift, of learning about man's inhumanity to man. To read Huckleberry Finn is to feel what it is like to drift down the Mississippi River on a raft . To have read Byron is to have suffered his rebellions with him and to have enjoyed his nose-thumbing at (……) society. To have read Native Son is to know how it feels to be frustrated in the particular way in which Blacks in Chicago are frustrated. This is effective communication . It enables us to feel how others felt about life, even if they lived thousands of miles away and centuries age. It is not true that "We have only one life to live." If we read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish. | 1964.txt | 2 |
[
"produces new income",
"is quite useless",
"satisfies the curious",
"opens new worlds to us"
] | According to the author, reading good literature _ . | In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. To have read Gulliver's Travels is to have had the experience of listening to Jonathan Swift, of learning about man's inhumanity to man. To read Huckleberry Finn is to feel what it is like to drift down the Mississippi River on a raft . To have read Byron is to have suffered his rebellions with him and to have enjoyed his nose-thumbing at (……) society. To have read Native Son is to know how it feels to be frustrated in the particular way in which Blacks in Chicago are frustrated. This is effective communication . It enables us to feel how others felt about life, even if they lived thousands of miles away and centuries age. It is not true that "We have only one life to live." If we read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish. | 1964.txt | 3 |
[
"They will eventually ruin agriculture and the environment.",
"They are used by big businesses to monopolize agriculture.",
"They have proved potentially harmful to consumers' health.",
"They pose a tremendous threat to current farming practice."
] | How do environmentalist opponents view GM foods according to the passage? | I'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession ( ) surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods are simply evil, an understudied. possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses to control global seed markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have never delivered on their supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be better channeled to organic farming and that consumers should be protected with warning labels on any products that contain genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM crops are a key part of the effort to sustainably provide food to meet a growing global population. But more than that, supporters see the GM opposition of many environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than those who question the basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you're pro-agricultural business or anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods, which is why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food controversy. The conclusion: while GM crops haven't yet realized their initial promise and have been dominated by agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and develop them to help meet the enormous challenge of Sustainably feeding a growing planet.
That doesn't mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global agriculture problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency--the amount of crops we can produce per acre of land-- will be extremely useful. GM crops can and almost certainly will be part of that suite of tools, but so will traditional plant breeding, improved soil and crop management--and perhaps most important of all, better storage and transport infrastructure , especially in the developing world. (It doesn't do much good for farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they can't get it to hungry consumers. ) I'd like to see more non-industry research done on GM crops--not just because we'd worry
less about bias, but also because seed companies like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn't be the only entities working to harness genetic modification. I'd like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like corn. I don't think it's vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn't be against it--and industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about the technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that's spent endlessly debating GM crops was focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are much bigger battles to fight. | 1551.txt | 1 |
[
"Breaking the GM food monopoly.",
"More friendly exchange of ideas.",
"Regulating GM food production.",
"More scientific research on GM crops."
] | What does the author say is vital to solving the controversy between the two sides of the debate? | I'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession ( ) surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods are simply evil, an understudied. possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses to control global seed markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have never delivered on their supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be better channeled to organic farming and that consumers should be protected with warning labels on any products that contain genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM crops are a key part of the effort to sustainably provide food to meet a growing global population. But more than that, supporters see the GM opposition of many environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than those who question the basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you're pro-agricultural business or anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods, which is why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food controversy. The conclusion: while GM crops haven't yet realized their initial promise and have been dominated by agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and develop them to help meet the enormous challenge of Sustainably feeding a growing planet.
That doesn't mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global agriculture problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency--the amount of crops we can produce per acre of land-- will be extremely useful. GM crops can and almost certainly will be part of that suite of tools, but so will traditional plant breeding, improved soil and crop management--and perhaps most important of all, better storage and transport infrastructure , especially in the developing world. (It doesn't do much good for farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they can't get it to hungry consumers. ) I'd like to see more non-industry research done on GM crops--not just because we'd worry
less about bias, but also because seed companies like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn't be the only entities working to harness genetic modification. I'd like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like corn. I don't think it's vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn't be against it--and industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about the technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that's spent endlessly debating GM crops was focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are much bigger battles to fight. | 1551.txt | 3 |
[
"Feeding the growing population makes it imperative to develop GM crops.",
"Popularizing GM technology will help it to live up to its initial promises.",
"Measures should be taken to ensure the safety of GM foods.",
"Both supporters and opponents should make compromises."
] | What is the main point of the Nature articles? | I'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession ( ) surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods are simply evil, an understudied. possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses to control global seed markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have never delivered on their supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be better channeled to organic farming and that consumers should be protected with warning labels on any products that contain genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM crops are a key part of the effort to sustainably provide food to meet a growing global population. But more than that, supporters see the GM opposition of many environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than those who question the basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you're pro-agricultural business or anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods, which is why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food controversy. The conclusion: while GM crops haven't yet realized their initial promise and have been dominated by agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and develop them to help meet the enormous challenge of Sustainably feeding a growing planet.
That doesn't mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global agriculture problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency--the amount of crops we can produce per acre of land-- will be extremely useful. GM crops can and almost certainly will be part of that suite of tools, but so will traditional plant breeding, improved soil and crop management--and perhaps most important of all, better storage and transport infrastructure , especially in the developing world. (It doesn't do much good for farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they can't get it to hungry consumers. ) I'd like to see more non-industry research done on GM crops--not just because we'd worry
less about bias, but also because seed companies like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn't be the only entities working to harness genetic modification. I'd like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like corn. I don't think it's vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn't be against it--and industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about the technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that's spent endlessly debating GM crops was focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are much bigger battles to fight. | 1551.txt | 0 |
[
"It has to depend more and more on GM technology.",
"It is vital to the sustainable development of human society.",
"GM crops should be allowed until better alternatives are found.",
"Whatever is useful to boost farming efficiency should be encouraged."
] | What is the author's view on the solution to agricultural problems? | I'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession ( ) surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods are simply evil, an understudied. possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses to control global seed markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have never delivered on their supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be better channeled to organic farming and that consumers should be protected with warning labels on any products that contain genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM crops are a key part of the effort to sustainably provide food to meet a growing global population. But more than that, supporters see the GM opposition of many environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than those who question the basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you're pro-agricultural business or anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods, which is why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food controversy. The conclusion: while GM crops haven't yet realized their initial promise and have been dominated by agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and develop them to help meet the enormous challenge of Sustainably feeding a growing planet.
That doesn't mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global agriculture problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency--the amount of crops we can produce per acre of land-- will be extremely useful. GM crops can and almost certainly will be part of that suite of tools, but so will traditional plant breeding, improved soil and crop management--and perhaps most important of all, better storage and transport infrastructure , especially in the developing world. (It doesn't do much good for farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they can't get it to hungry consumers. ) I'd like to see more non-industry research done on GM crops--not just because we'd worry
less about bias, but also because seed companies like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn't be the only entities working to harness genetic modification. I'd like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like corn. I don't think it's vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn't be against it--and industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about the technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that's spent endlessly debating GM crops was focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are much bigger battles to fight. | 1551.txt | 3 |
[
"It arises out of ignorance of and prejudice against new science.",
"It distracts the public attention from other key issues of the world.",
"Efforts spent on it should be turned to more urgent issues of agriculture.",
"Neither side is likely to give in until more convincing evidence is found."
] | What does the author think of the ongoing debate around GM crops? | I'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession ( ) surrounding genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods are simply evil, an understudied. possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses to control global seed markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have never delivered on their supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be better channeled to organic farming and that consumers should be protected with warning labels on any products that contain genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM crops are a key part of the effort to sustainably provide food to meet a growing global population. But more than that, supporters see the GM opposition of many environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than those who question the basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you're pro-agricultural business or anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods, which is why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food controversy. The conclusion: while GM crops haven't yet realized their initial promise and have been dominated by agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and develop them to help meet the enormous challenge of Sustainably feeding a growing planet.
That doesn't mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global agriculture problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency--the amount of crops we can produce per acre of land-- will be extremely useful. GM crops can and almost certainly will be part of that suite of tools, but so will traditional plant breeding, improved soil and crop management--and perhaps most important of all, better storage and transport infrastructure , especially in the developing world. (It doesn't do much good for farmers in places like sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they can't get it to hungry consumers. ) I'd like to see more non-industry research done on GM crops--not just because we'd worry
less about bias, but also because seed companies like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn't be the only entities working to harness genetic modification. I'd like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like corn. I don't think it's vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn't be against it--and industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about the technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that's spent endlessly debating GM crops was focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are much bigger battles to fight. | 1551.txt | 2 |
[
"They were made last week.",
"They showed undersea sceneries.",
"They were found by a cameraman.",
"They recorded a disastrous adventure."
] | What do we know about the photos taken by Hurley? | A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.
Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding―undoubtedly first-rate photo-journalism―if they had been made last week. In fact, they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous shipwreck, by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival. Many of the images were stored in an ice chest, under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.
The ship was the Endurance, a small, tight, Norwegian-built three-master that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all, to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled across the continent. The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done. Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.
As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well-researched story The Endurance, adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort. Scott's last journey, completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds. Shackleton, a onetime British merchant-navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908, started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography. Frank Hurley, a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic, was hired to make the images, most of which have never before been published. | 4230.txt | 3 |
[
"Frank Hurley.",
"Ernest Shackleton.",
"Robert Falcon Scott.",
"Caroline Alexander."
] | Who reached the South Pole first according to the text? | A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.
Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding―undoubtedly first-rate photo-journalism―if they had been made last week. In fact, they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous shipwreck, by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival. Many of the images were stored in an ice chest, under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.
The ship was the Endurance, a small, tight, Norwegian-built three-master that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all, to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled across the continent. The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done. Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.
As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well-researched story The Endurance, adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort. Scott's last journey, completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds. Shackleton, a onetime British merchant-navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908, started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography. Frank Hurley, a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic, was hired to make the images, most of which have never before been published. | 4230.txt | 2 |
[
"Artistic creation.",
"Scientific research.",
"Money making.",
"Treasure hunting."
] | What does Alexander think was the purpose of the 1914 voyage? | A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.
Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding―undoubtedly first-rate photo-journalism―if they had been made last week. In fact, they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous shipwreck, by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival. Many of the images were stored in an ice chest, under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.
The ship was the Endurance, a small, tight, Norwegian-built three-master that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all, to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled across the continent. The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done. Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.
As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well-researched story The Endurance, adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort. Scott's last journey, completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds. Shackleton, a onetime British merchant-navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908, started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography. Frank Hurley, a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic, was hired to make the images, most of which have never before been published. | 4230.txt | 2 |
[
"inheritance",
"inheritance, competition and environment",
"competition",
"environment"
] | According to the author, what factors contribute to the building of personality? | Personality is,to large extent, inherent --A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring. But the environment must also have a profound effect, since if competition is improtant to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor lives of their children.
One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides ,the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice, we conquer!".
By far the worst form of competition in school is the disproportionate emphasis on examinations . It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well.The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.
Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into 'B's. The would needs types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child's personality to his possible future employment. It is top management. | 1298.txt | 1 |
[
"Schools usually adopt severe competitive policies.",
"Students are often divided by competition results.",
"School is place where children cultivate their characteristics.",
"The stronger desire for winning, the better."
] | Which of the following statements is not true according to the author of the passage? | Personality is,to large extent, inherent --A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring. But the environment must also have a profound effect, since if competition is improtant to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor lives of their children.
One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides ,the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice, we conquer!".
By far the worst form of competition in school is the disproportionate emphasis on examinations . It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well.The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.
Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into 'B's. The would needs types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child's personality to his possible future employment. It is top management. | 1298.txt | 3 |
[
"pull up",
"take up",
"take in",
"pull in"
] | The phrase "soak up" is closest in meaning to _ . | Personality is,to large extent, inherent --A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring. But the environment must also have a profound effect, since if competition is improtant to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor lives of their children.
One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides ,the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice, we conquer!".
By far the worst form of competition in school is the disproportionate emphasis on examinations . It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well.The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.
Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into 'B's. The would needs types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child's personality to his possible future employment. It is top management. | 1298.txt | 2 |
[
"positive",
"negative",
"doubtful",
"neutral"
] | What attitude does the author hold toward examinations in schools? | Personality is,to large extent, inherent --A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring. But the environment must also have a profound effect, since if competition is improtant to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor lives of their children.
One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides ,the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice, we conquer!".
By far the worst form of competition in school is the disproportionate emphasis on examinations . It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well.The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.
Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into 'B's. The would needs types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child's personality to his possible future employment. It is top management. | 1298.txt | 2 |
[
"All students be made into competitive A types.",
"A child's personality be considered in regard to his possible future job.",
"All students be changed into B characteristics.",
"Schools abolish all forms of examinations."
] | what suggestion does the author make concerning the management of schools? | Personality is,to large extent, inherent --A-type parents usually bring about A-type offspring. But the environment must also have a profound effect, since if competition is improtant to the parents, it is likely to become a major factor lives of their children.
One place where children soak up A characteristics is school, which is, by its very nature, a highly competitive institution. Too many schools adopt the "win at all costs" moral standard and measure their success by sporting achievements. The current passion for making children compete against their classmates or against the clock produces a two-layer system, in which competitive A types seem in some way better than their B-type fellows. Being too keen to win can have dangerous consequences:remember that Pheidippides ,the first marathon runner, dropped dead seconds after saying:"Rejoice, we conquer!".
By far the worst form of competition in school is the disproportionate emphasis on examinations . It is a rare school that allows pupils to concentrate on those things they do well.The merits of competition by examination are somewhat questionable, but competition in the certain knowledge of failure is positively harmful.
Obviously, it is neither practical nor desirable that all A youngsters change into 'B's. The would needs types, and schools have an important duty to try to fit a child's personality to his possible future employment. It is top management. | 1298.txt | 1 |
[
"he is fairly familiar with the cost of advertising",
"everybody knows well that advertising is money consuming",
"advertising costs money like everything else",
"it is worthwhile to spend money on advertising"
] | By the first sentence of the passage the author means that . | Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labour, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 per cent more.
And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value.
Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of.
There is one point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was drawing excessively fine distinctions. Of course advertising seeks to persuade.
If its message were confined merely to information -- and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the colour of a shirt is subtly persuasive -- advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants. | 1304.txt | 3 |
[
"Securing greater fame.",
"Providing more jobs.",
"Enhancing living standards.",
"Reducing newspaper cost."
] | In the passage, which of the following is NOT included in the advantages of advertising? | Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labour, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 per cent more.
And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value.
Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of.
There is one point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was drawing excessively fine distinctions. Of course advertising seeks to persuade.
If its message were confined merely to information -- and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the colour of a shirt is subtly persuasive -- advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants. | 1304.txt | 0 |
[
"very precise in passing his judgment on advertising",
"interested in nothing but the buyers' attention",
"correct in telling the difference between persuasion and information",
"obviously partial in his views on advertising"
] | The author deems that the well-known TV personality is . | Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labour, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 per cent more.
And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value.
Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of.
There is one point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was drawing excessively fine distinctions. Of course advertising seeks to persuade.
If its message were confined merely to information -- and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the colour of a shirt is subtly persuasive -- advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants. | 1304.txt | 3 |
[
"advertising can seldom bring material benefit to man by providing information",
"advertising informs people of new ideas rather than wins them over",
"there is nothing wrong with advertising in persuading the buyer",
"the buyer is not interested in getting information from an advertisement"
] | In the author's opinion, . | Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I know of. It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable prices, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices. By drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living. By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labour, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment. It lowers the costs of many services: without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 per cent more.
And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the products and services you buy. Apart from the fact that twenty-seven Acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements. He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising. He will not do so for long, for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once. If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value.
Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of.
There is one point I feel I ought to touch on. Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs. He was drawing excessively fine distinctions. Of course advertising seeks to persuade.
If its message were confined merely to information -- and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the colour of a shirt is subtly persuasive -- advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention. But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants. | 1304.txt | 2 |
[
"could not forgive him for taking the children",
"had been expecting it to happen for some time",
"could not understand why",
"blamed herself for what had happened"
] | When her husband left home, Eileen Doyle _ | Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle's husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again. Eileen was astonished and in a state of despair. They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.
Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a goodbye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and their confused families behind them.
Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were reported missing from home the highest in 15 years. Many did return home within a year, but others rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.
To those left behind this form of desertion is a terrible blow to their pride and self-confidence. Even the finality of death might be preferable. At least it does not imply rejection or failure. Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait seven years before they are free to start a fresh life.
Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than impulsive. "It's typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people's pain and difficulties. Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act. By creating an absence the people left behind feel guilty, upset and empty." | 1450.txt | 2 |
[
"do so without warning",
"do so because of their debts",
"come back immediately",
"change their names"
] | Most people who leave their families behind them _ | Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle's husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again. Eileen was astonished and in a state of despair. They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.
Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a goodbye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and their confused families behind them.
Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were reported missing from home the highest in 15 years. Many did return home within a year, but others rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.
To those left behind this form of desertion is a terrible blow to their pride and self-confidence. Even the finality of death might be preferable. At least it does not imply rejection or failure. Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait seven years before they are free to start a fresh life.
Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than impulsive. "It's typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people's pain and difficulties. Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act. By creating an absence the people left behind feel guilty, upset and empty." | 1450.txt | 0 |
[
"their spouse would feel no pain during the death",
"their spouse's death would not blow their pride and confidence",
"a desertion would not bring a feeling of rejection or failure",
"their spouse's death would make them feel less painful"
] | Some people would even prefer the death to the running away of their spouse because _ | Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle's husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again. Eileen was astonished and in a state of despair. They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.
Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a goodbye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and their confused families behind them.
Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were reported missing from home the highest in 15 years. Many did return home within a year, but others rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.
To those left behind this form of desertion is a terrible blow to their pride and self-confidence. Even the finality of death might be preferable. At least it does not imply rejection or failure. Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait seven years before they are free to start a fresh life.
Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than impulsive. "It's typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people's pain and difficulties. Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act. By creating an absence the people left behind feel guilty, upset and empty." | 1450.txt | 1 |
[
"admits responsibility for the situation",
"wishes the person who has left were dead",
"comes back within a year",
"will have no legal marriage life for seven years"
] | The man or woman left behind with an unfinished marriage usually _ | Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle's husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again. Eileen was astonished and in a state of despair. They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.
Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a goodbye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and their confused families behind them.
Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were reported missing from home the highest in 15 years. Many did return home within a year, but others rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.
To those left behind this form of desertion is a terrible blow to their pride and self-confidence. Even the finality of death might be preferable. At least it does not imply rejection or failure. Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait seven years before they are free to start a fresh life.
Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than impulsive. "It's typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people's pain and difficulties. Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act. By creating an absence the people left behind feel guilty, upset and empty." | 1450.txt | 3 |
[
"an act of despair",
"an act of selfishness",
"the result of a sudden decision",
"the result of the enormous sense of guilt"
] | Paul Brown regards leaving home in such circumstances as _ | Sixteen years ago, Eileen Doyle's husband, an engineer, took his four children up for an early morning cup of tea, packed a small case and was never seen or heard of again. Eileen was astonished and in a state of despair. They had been a happy family and, as far as she knew, there had been nothing wrong with their marriage.
Every day of the year a small group of men and women quietly pack a few belongings and without so much as a note or a goodbye close the front door for the last time, leaving their debts, their worries and their confused families behind them.
Last year, more than 1,200 men and nearly as many women were reported missing from home the highest in 15 years. Many did return home within a year, but others rejected the past completely and are now living a new life somewhere under a different identity.
To those left behind this form of desertion is a terrible blow to their pride and self-confidence. Even the finality of death might be preferable. At least it does not imply rejection or failure. Worse than that, people can be left with an unfinished marriage, not knowing whether they will have to wait seven years before they are free to start a fresh life.
Clinical psychologist Paul Brown believes most departures of this kind to be well planned rather than impulsive. "It's typical of the kind of personality which seems able to ignore other people's pain and difficulties. Running away, like killing yourself, is a highly aggressive act. By creating an absence the people left behind feel guilty, upset and empty." | 1450.txt | 1 |
[
"Tests are not effective in measuring the students' abilities.",
"Tests are an effective measure of the students' abilities.",
"Tests can only measure some of the students' abilities.",
"Tests may not be useful for measuring students' abilities."
] | Which of the following will the author of this passage probably agree with? | Editor:
While a new school term is about to begin, perhaps we should reconsider the matter of examinations. In July, two writers (Letters to the Editor) praised the cancellation of exams because they believe "tests don't tell the whole story."
As a teacher who has worked in four countries, I have had the experience that a student who earns good marks is generally a good student, and that a student's final mark in a subject is usually a grade average of the year's work. Of course there are exceptions, but they do not have the frequency that would give an unfair picture of a student's ability.
The simple fact is that proper class work, diligent exam studies and good marks are almost certain indicators of a student's future performance. The opposite, almost certainly, incompetence.
There is no acceptable substitute for competition and examination of quality. How can teachers and future officials determine what a student has learned and remembered? Should we simply take the student word for it? Any institution that "liberates" students from fair and formal exams is misguided, if not ignorant. And surely the "graduates" of such institutions will lack trustworthiness, not to mention being rejected by foreign universities for graduate or other studies.
When all is said and done, I sense that a fear of failure and a fear of unpleasant comparison with others is at the bottom of most ban-exams talk. Excellence and quality fear nothing. On the contrary, they seek competition and desire the satisfaction of being the best. | 2746.txt | 1 |
[
"opposed judging students by the results of exams",
"must have proposed other ways of testing students",
"regarded exams as a way of punishing students",
"seem to be worried about the poor marks of their students"
] | The two writers mentioned in the first paragraph ________. | Editor:
While a new school term is about to begin, perhaps we should reconsider the matter of examinations. In July, two writers (Letters to the Editor) praised the cancellation of exams because they believe "tests don't tell the whole story."
As a teacher who has worked in four countries, I have had the experience that a student who earns good marks is generally a good student, and that a student's final mark in a subject is usually a grade average of the year's work. Of course there are exceptions, but they do not have the frequency that would give an unfair picture of a student's ability.
The simple fact is that proper class work, diligent exam studies and good marks are almost certain indicators of a student's future performance. The opposite, almost certainly, incompetence.
There is no acceptable substitute for competition and examination of quality. How can teachers and future officials determine what a student has learned and remembered? Should we simply take the student word for it? Any institution that "liberates" students from fair and formal exams is misguided, if not ignorant. And surely the "graduates" of such institutions will lack trustworthiness, not to mention being rejected by foreign universities for graduate or other studies.
When all is said and done, I sense that a fear of failure and a fear of unpleasant comparison with others is at the bottom of most ban-exams talk. Excellence and quality fear nothing. On the contrary, they seek competition and desire the satisfaction of being the best. | 2746.txt | 0 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.