option
list | question
stringlengths 11
354
| article
stringlengths 231
6.74k
| id
stringlengths 5
8
| label
int64 0
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
[
"Government is wholly responsible for this troublesome problem.",
"The youth can completely depend on the offered help of govemment.",
"The good combination of education and occupation would be embraceD.",
"The education for youth should be work.orienteD."
] | What is the crucial point of these two solutions for high youth unemployment? | The unemployment rate continues to improve.It was 10％in the fall of 2009.It was 7.5%at this time last year.It has been fluctuatin9 6.3%and 6.7%for the last couple months.
But before we celebrate.we need to examine the numbers behind the numbers.These can mask deeper problems.
Youth unemployment.is one such problem.Young people face higher hurdles to and in the job market.
They have fewer skills.1ess work experience and smaller networks.
The consequences are devastating and the facts bear this out.
Those with more education do beaer but no group is held harmless.Unemployment rates for recent college graduates increased from 3.1%in 2008 to 8％in 2010.High youth unemployment rates predate the recession.In 2000.the general unemployment rate was approximately 4%.For 15 to 24 year olds it was over9%.
High youth unemployment is not confined to the United States.For the 33"developed"countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)，combined 2013 youth unemployment was 16％.But more importantly,individuals，society and the economy suffer from a generation hamstrung by pool little or no work experience.
Solutions are complicated because we are part of a global economy and recession，we are shifting to a knowledge-based economy,and unemployment is tied to complex social problems.
But solutions do exist.
Create a"youth guarantee"similar to the one adopted by leaders of the European Union.It states that"all young people under the age of 25 years receive a good-quality offer of employment，continued education，an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemfDloyed or leaving formal education."This has had success in some countries.
Require that middle and high school programs greatly strengthen their workplace ties through vocational education，apprenticeships，internships，and teaching ofjob skills.
As the economic recovery continues，we must ensure that we understand the numbers behind the numbers.This means not only paying close attention to the needs of our young workers but also responding with significant and decisive action.
The United States has a population of over 300 million.of these.120 million are under the age of 30.Their future is Our future. | 1285.txt | 2 |
[
"Youth unemployment will be serious for many.years even with solutions.",
"Youth unemployment Can be solved by government and schools.",
"Unemployment could be reduced by the efforts ofyouth.",
"We should be clear-headed about numbers and take actions effectively."
] | What is the main idea ofthis passage7 | The unemployment rate continues to improve.It was 10％in the fall of 2009.It was 7.5%at this time last year.It has been fluctuatin9 6.3%and 6.7%for the last couple months.
But before we celebrate.we need to examine the numbers behind the numbers.These can mask deeper problems.
Youth unemployment.is one such problem.Young people face higher hurdles to and in the job market.
They have fewer skills.1ess work experience and smaller networks.
The consequences are devastating and the facts bear this out.
Those with more education do beaer but no group is held harmless.Unemployment rates for recent college graduates increased from 3.1%in 2008 to 8％in 2010.High youth unemployment rates predate the recession.In 2000.the general unemployment rate was approximately 4%.For 15 to 24 year olds it was over9%.
High youth unemployment is not confined to the United States.For the 33"developed"countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)，combined 2013 youth unemployment was 16％.But more importantly,individuals，society and the economy suffer from a generation hamstrung by pool little or no work experience.
Solutions are complicated because we are part of a global economy and recession，we are shifting to a knowledge-based economy,and unemployment is tied to complex social problems.
But solutions do exist.
Create a"youth guarantee"similar to the one adopted by leaders of the European Union.It states that"all young people under the age of 25 years receive a good-quality offer of employment，continued education，an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemfDloyed or leaving formal education."This has had success in some countries.
Require that middle and high school programs greatly strengthen their workplace ties through vocational education，apprenticeships，internships，and teaching ofjob skills.
As the economic recovery continues，we must ensure that we understand the numbers behind the numbers.This means not only paying close attention to the needs of our young workers but also responding with significant and decisive action.
The United States has a population of over 300 million.of these.120 million are under the age of 30.Their future is Our future. | 1285.txt | 3 |
[
"To some extent, intelligence is givenat birth.",
"Intelligence is developed by theenvironment.",
"Some people are born clever andothers born stupid.",
"Intelligence is fixed at birth, butis developed by the environment."
] | Which of these sentences bestdescribes the writer's point in Paragraph 1? | Are some people born clever, and othersborn stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and ourexperiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. Tosome extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of specialeducation can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On theother hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop hisintelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus thelimits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not hereaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held bymost experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence isto some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationshipbetween two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus ifwe take two unrelated people at random from the population,it is likely thattheir degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the otherhand we take two identical twins they will very likely be asintelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents andchildren, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligencedepends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identicaltwins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example,to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We wouldsoon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates thatenvironment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested bythe fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are notrelated at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence. | 905.txt | 3 |
[
"unrelated people are not likely tohave different intelligence",
"close relations usually have similarintelligence",
"the closer the blood relationshipbetween people, the more different they are likely to be in intelligence",
"people who live in close contact witheach other are not likely to have similar degrees of intelligence"
] | It is suggested in this passagethat _ . | Are some people born clever, and othersborn stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and ourexperiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. Tosome extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of specialeducation can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On theother hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop hisintelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus thelimits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not hereaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held bymost experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence isto some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationshipbetween two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus ifwe take two unrelated people at random from the population,it is likely thattheir degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the otherhand we take two identical twins they will very likely be asintelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents andchildren, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligencedepends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identicaltwins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example,to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We wouldsoon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates thatenvironment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested bythe fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are notrelated at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence. | 905.txt | 1 |
[
"have similar intelligence",
"havedifferent intelligence",
"go to the same university",
"go tothe same factory"
] | Brothers and sisters are likely to _ . | Are some people born clever, and othersborn stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and ourexperiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. Tosome extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of specialeducation can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On theother hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop hisintelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus thelimits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not hereaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held bymost experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence isto some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationshipbetween two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus ifwe take two unrelated people at random from the population,it is likely thattheir degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the otherhand we take two identical twins they will very likely be asintelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents andchildren, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligencedepends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identicaltwins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example,to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We wouldsoon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates thatenvironment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested bythe fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are notrelated at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence. | 905.txt | 0 |
[
"intelligence",
"life",
"environments",
"housing"
] | In Paragraph 1, the word"surroundings" means _ . | Are some people born clever, and othersborn stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and ourexperiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. Tosome extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of specialeducation can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On theother hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop hisintelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus thelimits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not hereaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held bymost experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence isto some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationshipbetween two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus ifwe take two unrelated people at random from the population,it is likely thattheir degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the otherhand we take two identical twins they will very likely be asintelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents andchildren, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligencedepends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identicaltwins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example,to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We wouldsoon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates thatenvironment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested bythe fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are notrelated at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence. | 905.txt | 2 |
[
"On Intelligence",
"What Intelligence Means",
"We Are Born with Intelligence",
"Environment Plays a Part inDeveloping Intelligence"
] | The best title for this articlewould be _ . | Are some people born clever, and othersborn stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and ourexperiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. Tosome extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of specialeducation can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On theother hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop hisintelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus thelimits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not hereaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held bymost experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence isto some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationshipbetween two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus ifwe take two unrelated people at random from the population,it is likely thattheir degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the otherhand we take two identical twins they will very likely be asintelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents andchildren, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligencedepends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identicaltwins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example,to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We wouldsoon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates thatenvironment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested bythe fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are notrelated at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence. | 905.txt | 0 |
[
"To determine the position of a ship.",
"To find the direction of a current.",
"To predict the direction of a ship.",
"To carry message across the ocean."
] | Why are drifting bottles used? | The most important use of drifting bottles is to find ocean currents. When the position and direction of currents are known, ships can use the forward movement of a current or stay away from currents that would carry them off their course. Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to use bottles in the study of currents. He wondered why British mall ships needed a week or two longer than U.S. ships needed in order to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Franklin thought the Gulf Stream might explain this difference.
Franklin talked with captains of U.S. ships. He found that they knew each turn of the Gulf Stream. They used the current in every possible way. From his talks with the captains. Franklin made his first map of the Gulf Stream. Then he checked his map by using sealed bottles. The map that he finally made is still used, with only a few changes, today. | 2053.txt | 1 |
[
"U.S. ships were longer than British ones.",
"British ships could sail the Atlantic faster than U.S. ones.",
"U.S. ships could sail the Atlantic faster than U.S. ones.",
"U.S captains knew more about maps."
] | What led Franklin to talk with U.S. captains? | The most important use of drifting bottles is to find ocean currents. When the position and direction of currents are known, ships can use the forward movement of a current or stay away from currents that would carry them off their course. Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to use bottles in the study of currents. He wondered why British mall ships needed a week or two longer than U.S. ships needed in order to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Franklin thought the Gulf Stream might explain this difference.
Franklin talked with captains of U.S. ships. He found that they knew each turn of the Gulf Stream. They used the current in every possible way. From his talks with the captains. Franklin made his first map of the Gulf Stream. Then he checked his map by using sealed bottles. The map that he finally made is still used, with only a few changes, today. | 2053.txt | 2 |
[
"A map of the Gulf Stream.",
"A map of the Atlantic Ocean.",
"A map of ocean currents.",
"A map of his first voyage."
] | What did Franklin make after his talks with U.S. captains? | The most important use of drifting bottles is to find ocean currents. When the position and direction of currents are known, ships can use the forward movement of a current or stay away from currents that would carry them off their course. Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to use bottles in the study of currents. He wondered why British mall ships needed a week or two longer than U.S. ships needed in order to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Franklin thought the Gulf Stream might explain this difference.
Franklin talked with captains of U.S. ships. He found that they knew each turn of the Gulf Stream. They used the current in every possible way. From his talks with the captains. Franklin made his first map of the Gulf Stream. Then he checked his map by using sealed bottles. The map that he finally made is still used, with only a few changes, today. | 2053.txt | 0 |
[
"He compared his own map with other maps.",
"He talked with many U.S. captains.",
"He used drifting bottles to check his map.",
"Both B and"
] | What did Franklin do in order to make an exact map? | The most important use of drifting bottles is to find ocean currents. When the position and direction of currents are known, ships can use the forward movement of a current or stay away from currents that would carry them off their course. Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to use bottles in the study of currents. He wondered why British mall ships needed a week or two longer than U.S. ships needed in order to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Franklin thought the Gulf Stream might explain this difference.
Franklin talked with captains of U.S. ships. He found that they knew each turn of the Gulf Stream. They used the current in every possible way. From his talks with the captains. Franklin made his first map of the Gulf Stream. Then he checked his map by using sealed bottles. The map that he finally made is still used, with only a few changes, today. | 2053.txt | 3 |
[
"moderate.",
"enforce.",
"release.",
"meditate."
] | The word "mitigate" (Line 4, Paragraph 1) most probably means _____ | It is a curious irony that Europe, which often takes a dim view of market forces, letsthem rip in sport, while America, usually the world's most enthusiastic exponent ofcommerce and its consequences for society, has all sorts of arrangements in place tomitigate its effects on the nation's favourite pastimes. But these days, the American modelis gaining adherents in Europe. Sports ministers in many countries are arguing that footballneeds to be exempted from competition law in order to allow governing bodies to equalisethe resources of clubs without risking prosecution. The European Commission's strategypaper on sport, published on July 11th, ignored those calls; but the pressure will not goaway.
Professional sport differs from other businesses in one important respect. Rival teamsneed each other to produce a sellable product: a match. In most businesses co-operationbetween rivals would attract the ire of antitrust authorities. But in sport, an element ofcollusion is unavoidable. The balance between collusion and individualism is a hard one tostrike, but has been managed reasonably well by Europe's trustbusters. The collectiveselling of television rights, now the main source of income for football's elite, has usuallybeen sanctioned by the European Commission's antitrust arm. Joint marketing is defensible,because sports contests are by their nature a collaboration.
Egalitarians quibble that the bulk of the money ends up with rich well-supported clubs.The English Premier League, for instance, collectively sells its television rights and splits theproceeds between clubs. But a club's share partly depends on how many of its games arebroadcast and how high it finishes in the league, so Chelsea and Manchester United get abigger slice. The worry is that the continued dominance of national championships by a fewclubs will drive away supporters.
In the United States the baseball, basketball, hockey and American football leagues tryto mitigate the effects of competition and inequality through revenue- and talent-sharingagreements, such as "the draft" (baseball even has a specific exemption from antitrust law).But it is not clear that this is either necessary or desirable. Measures to increase equalitywithin a league take the edge off competition-and therefore, presumably, off the terrorthat drives sportsmen to excellence.
There is more to sport than watching too well-matched teams vie for supremacy.Professional basketball in America has lost some of its shine since one of Michael Jordan'smany retirements ended the Chicago Bulls' dominance of the sport. The lesson from thisand from golf's popularity since the emergence of Tiger Woods is that sporting prowessmatters more to fans than strict competitive balance.
European football has never been a balanced affair. The very first professional leaguechampionship in 1889 was a cakewalk for Preston North End, which went through a22-game season without losing a match (it won in 1890 too, though never since).Championships in Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and Scotland are nearly always won byjust two or three clubs. Leagues in bigger countries are scarcely less open. ManchesterUnited has won nine out of 15 league titles since the English Premier League was set up in1992. None of this has impeded the global popularity of football, which has done far betteras an export industry than America's more equal sports. | 785.txt | 0 |
[
"the government begins to make use of market forces to influence sport.",
"the government intend to sanction relevant football laws so that all clubs can share resources equally.",
"the factors of both cooperation and collision are better managed in the sport field.",
"it becomes widely expected that sport could be independent of the market forces."
] | In the field of sport, a change or tendency is taking place gradually in Europe that_____ | It is a curious irony that Europe, which often takes a dim view of market forces, letsthem rip in sport, while America, usually the world's most enthusiastic exponent ofcommerce and its consequences for society, has all sorts of arrangements in place tomitigate its effects on the nation's favourite pastimes. But these days, the American modelis gaining adherents in Europe. Sports ministers in many countries are arguing that footballneeds to be exempted from competition law in order to allow governing bodies to equalisethe resources of clubs without risking prosecution. The European Commission's strategypaper on sport, published on July 11th, ignored those calls; but the pressure will not goaway.
Professional sport differs from other businesses in one important respect. Rival teamsneed each other to produce a sellable product: a match. In most businesses co-operationbetween rivals would attract the ire of antitrust authorities. But in sport, an element ofcollusion is unavoidable. The balance between collusion and individualism is a hard one tostrike, but has been managed reasonably well by Europe's trustbusters. The collectiveselling of television rights, now the main source of income for football's elite, has usuallybeen sanctioned by the European Commission's antitrust arm. Joint marketing is defensible,because sports contests are by their nature a collaboration.
Egalitarians quibble that the bulk of the money ends up with rich well-supported clubs.The English Premier League, for instance, collectively sells its television rights and splits theproceeds between clubs. But a club's share partly depends on how many of its games arebroadcast and how high it finishes in the league, so Chelsea and Manchester United get abigger slice. The worry is that the continued dominance of national championships by a fewclubs will drive away supporters.
In the United States the baseball, basketball, hockey and American football leagues tryto mitigate the effects of competition and inequality through revenue- and talent-sharingagreements, such as "the draft" (baseball even has a specific exemption from antitrust law).But it is not clear that this is either necessary or desirable. Measures to increase equalitywithin a league take the edge off competition-and therefore, presumably, off the terrorthat drives sportsmen to excellence.
There is more to sport than watching too well-matched teams vie for supremacy.Professional basketball in America has lost some of its shine since one of Michael Jordan'smany retirements ended the Chicago Bulls' dominance of the sport. The lesson from thisand from golf's popularity since the emergence of Tiger Woods is that sporting prowessmatters more to fans than strict competitive balance.
European football has never been a balanced affair. The very first professional leaguechampionship in 1889 was a cakewalk for Preston North End, which went through a22-game season without losing a match (it won in 1890 too, though never since).Championships in Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and Scotland are nearly always won byjust two or three clubs. Leagues in bigger countries are scarcely less open. ManchesterUnited has won nine out of 15 league titles since the English Premier League was set up in1992. None of this has impeded the global popularity of football, which has done far betteras an export industry than America's more equal sports. | 785.txt | 3 |
[
"it is exempted from the influence of antirust authorities.",
"collusion in sport is not counted as a kind of trust.",
"joint marketing could defend sport from being influenced by antitrust laws.",
"the European Commission support the coalition in sport."
] | Professional sport differs from other businesses in the following aspects except_____ | It is a curious irony that Europe, which often takes a dim view of market forces, letsthem rip in sport, while America, usually the world's most enthusiastic exponent ofcommerce and its consequences for society, has all sorts of arrangements in place tomitigate its effects on the nation's favourite pastimes. But these days, the American modelis gaining adherents in Europe. Sports ministers in many countries are arguing that footballneeds to be exempted from competition law in order to allow governing bodies to equalisethe resources of clubs without risking prosecution. The European Commission's strategypaper on sport, published on July 11th, ignored those calls; but the pressure will not goaway.
Professional sport differs from other businesses in one important respect. Rival teamsneed each other to produce a sellable product: a match. In most businesses co-operationbetween rivals would attract the ire of antitrust authorities. But in sport, an element ofcollusion is unavoidable. The balance between collusion and individualism is a hard one tostrike, but has been managed reasonably well by Europe's trustbusters. The collectiveselling of television rights, now the main source of income for football's elite, has usuallybeen sanctioned by the European Commission's antitrust arm. Joint marketing is defensible,because sports contests are by their nature a collaboration.
Egalitarians quibble that the bulk of the money ends up with rich well-supported clubs.The English Premier League, for instance, collectively sells its television rights and splits theproceeds between clubs. But a club's share partly depends on how many of its games arebroadcast and how high it finishes in the league, so Chelsea and Manchester United get abigger slice. The worry is that the continued dominance of national championships by a fewclubs will drive away supporters.
In the United States the baseball, basketball, hockey and American football leagues tryto mitigate the effects of competition and inequality through revenue- and talent-sharingagreements, such as "the draft" (baseball even has a specific exemption from antitrust law).But it is not clear that this is either necessary or desirable. Measures to increase equalitywithin a league take the edge off competition-and therefore, presumably, off the terrorthat drives sportsmen to excellence.
There is more to sport than watching too well-matched teams vie for supremacy.Professional basketball in America has lost some of its shine since one of Michael Jordan'smany retirements ended the Chicago Bulls' dominance of the sport. The lesson from thisand from golf's popularity since the emergence of Tiger Woods is that sporting prowessmatters more to fans than strict competitive balance.
European football has never been a balanced affair. The very first professional leaguechampionship in 1889 was a cakewalk for Preston North End, which went through a22-game season without losing a match (it won in 1890 too, though never since).Championships in Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and Scotland are nearly always won byjust two or three clubs. Leagues in bigger countries are scarcely less open. ManchesterUnited has won nine out of 15 league titles since the English Premier League was set up in1992. None of this has impeded the global popularity of football, which has done far betteras an export industry than America's more equal sports. | 785.txt | 2 |
[
"Europe should not be too eager to take more measures for the sake of increasing equality within a league.",
"it is unnecessary to mitigate the effects of competition and inequality.",
"it is somewhat intricate whether this is necessary or desirable to seek competitive balance.",
"too much stress on the equality within a league will reduce the sport prowess."
] | Towards the pursue for the equality within a league, the author's attitude is that_____ | It is a curious irony that Europe, which often takes a dim view of market forces, letsthem rip in sport, while America, usually the world's most enthusiastic exponent ofcommerce and its consequences for society, has all sorts of arrangements in place tomitigate its effects on the nation's favourite pastimes. But these days, the American modelis gaining adherents in Europe. Sports ministers in many countries are arguing that footballneeds to be exempted from competition law in order to allow governing bodies to equalisethe resources of clubs without risking prosecution. The European Commission's strategypaper on sport, published on July 11th, ignored those calls; but the pressure will not goaway.
Professional sport differs from other businesses in one important respect. Rival teamsneed each other to produce a sellable product: a match. In most businesses co-operationbetween rivals would attract the ire of antitrust authorities. But in sport, an element ofcollusion is unavoidable. The balance between collusion and individualism is a hard one tostrike, but has been managed reasonably well by Europe's trustbusters. The collectiveselling of television rights, now the main source of income for football's elite, has usuallybeen sanctioned by the European Commission's antitrust arm. Joint marketing is defensible,because sports contests are by their nature a collaboration.
Egalitarians quibble that the bulk of the money ends up with rich well-supported clubs.The English Premier League, for instance, collectively sells its television rights and splits theproceeds between clubs. But a club's share partly depends on how many of its games arebroadcast and how high it finishes in the league, so Chelsea and Manchester United get abigger slice. The worry is that the continued dominance of national championships by a fewclubs will drive away supporters.
In the United States the baseball, basketball, hockey and American football leagues tryto mitigate the effects of competition and inequality through revenue- and talent-sharingagreements, such as "the draft" (baseball even has a specific exemption from antitrust law).But it is not clear that this is either necessary or desirable. Measures to increase equalitywithin a league take the edge off competition-and therefore, presumably, off the terrorthat drives sportsmen to excellence.
There is more to sport than watching too well-matched teams vie for supremacy.Professional basketball in America has lost some of its shine since one of Michael Jordan'smany retirements ended the Chicago Bulls' dominance of the sport. The lesson from thisand from golf's popularity since the emergence of Tiger Woods is that sporting prowessmatters more to fans than strict competitive balance.
European football has never been a balanced affair. The very first professional leaguechampionship in 1889 was a cakewalk for Preston North End, which went through a22-game season without losing a match (it won in 1890 too, though never since).Championships in Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and Scotland are nearly always won byjust two or three clubs. Leagues in bigger countries are scarcely less open. ManchesterUnited has won nine out of 15 league titles since the English Premier League was set up in1992. None of this has impeded the global popularity of football, which has done far betteras an export industry than America's more equal sports. | 785.txt | 1 |
[
"European football is characterized by all sorts of many inequalities.",
"it is impossible to get the absolute competition balance within a league.",
"the charm of sport itself is more important than competition balance within a league.",
"there is no need for Europe to imitate the American model since the latter is commercially unsuccessful in practice"
] | From the cases described in the last paragraph, it can be inferred that _____ | It is a curious irony that Europe, which often takes a dim view of market forces, letsthem rip in sport, while America, usually the world's most enthusiastic exponent ofcommerce and its consequences for society, has all sorts of arrangements in place tomitigate its effects on the nation's favourite pastimes. But these days, the American modelis gaining adherents in Europe. Sports ministers in many countries are arguing that footballneeds to be exempted from competition law in order to allow governing bodies to equalisethe resources of clubs without risking prosecution. The European Commission's strategypaper on sport, published on July 11th, ignored those calls; but the pressure will not goaway.
Professional sport differs from other businesses in one important respect. Rival teamsneed each other to produce a sellable product: a match. In most businesses co-operationbetween rivals would attract the ire of antitrust authorities. But in sport, an element ofcollusion is unavoidable. The balance between collusion and individualism is a hard one tostrike, but has been managed reasonably well by Europe's trustbusters. The collectiveselling of television rights, now the main source of income for football's elite, has usuallybeen sanctioned by the European Commission's antitrust arm. Joint marketing is defensible,because sports contests are by their nature a collaboration.
Egalitarians quibble that the bulk of the money ends up with rich well-supported clubs.The English Premier League, for instance, collectively sells its television rights and splits theproceeds between clubs. But a club's share partly depends on how many of its games arebroadcast and how high it finishes in the league, so Chelsea and Manchester United get abigger slice. The worry is that the continued dominance of national championships by a fewclubs will drive away supporters.
In the United States the baseball, basketball, hockey and American football leagues tryto mitigate the effects of competition and inequality through revenue- and talent-sharingagreements, such as "the draft" (baseball even has a specific exemption from antitrust law).But it is not clear that this is either necessary or desirable. Measures to increase equalitywithin a league take the edge off competition-and therefore, presumably, off the terrorthat drives sportsmen to excellence.
There is more to sport than watching too well-matched teams vie for supremacy.Professional basketball in America has lost some of its shine since one of Michael Jordan'smany retirements ended the Chicago Bulls' dominance of the sport. The lesson from thisand from golf's popularity since the emergence of Tiger Woods is that sporting prowessmatters more to fans than strict competitive balance.
European football has never been a balanced affair. The very first professional leaguechampionship in 1889 was a cakewalk for Preston North End, which went through a22-game season without losing a match (it won in 1890 too, though never since).Championships in Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands and Scotland are nearly always won byjust two or three clubs. Leagues in bigger countries are scarcely less open. ManchesterUnited has won nine out of 15 league titles since the English Premier League was set up in1992. None of this has impeded the global popularity of football, which has done far betteras an export industry than America's more equal sports. | 785.txt | 2 |
[
"accurately described the qualities of the people of the age",
"superficially praised the heroic deeds of the Victorians",
"was highly critical of the contemporary people and institutions",
"was guilty of spreading prejudices against the Victorians"
] | According to the author, Lytton Strachey's book Eminent Victorians _ . | One of the silliest things in our recent history was the use of "Victorian" as a term of contempt or abuse. It had been made fashionable by Lytton Strachey with his clever, superficial and ultimately empty book Eminent Victorians, in which he damned with faint praise such Victorian heroes as General Gordon and Florence Nightingale. Strachey's demolition job was clever because it ridiculed the Victorians for exactly those qualities on which they prided themselves-their high mindedness, their marked moral intensity, their desire to improve the human condition and their confidence that they had done so.
Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in AmericA. allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate-and hence to work on the inner organs of the body-not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew's wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour-reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital-testify to the social conscience that was at the center of "Victorian values".
But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was-the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: "We are our father's shadows cast at noon". | 1064.txt | 3 |
[
"the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria is celebrated",
"the media publicizes events or people about the Victorian age",
"people begin to highly praise Victorian heroes",
"a new book regards Victorians as creators of the modern world"
] | The change in the attidues towards the Vcitorians is revealed in the fact that _ . | One of the silliest things in our recent history was the use of "Victorian" as a term of contempt or abuse. It had been made fashionable by Lytton Strachey with his clever, superficial and ultimately empty book Eminent Victorians, in which he damned with faint praise such Victorian heroes as General Gordon and Florence Nightingale. Strachey's demolition job was clever because it ridiculed the Victorians for exactly those qualities on which they prided themselves-their high mindedness, their marked moral intensity, their desire to improve the human condition and their confidence that they had done so.
Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in AmericA. allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate-and hence to work on the inner organs of the body-not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew's wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour-reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital-testify to the social conscience that was at the center of "Victorian values".
But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was-the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: "We are our father's shadows cast at noon". | 1064.txt | 3 |
[
"devices",
"tools",
"appliances",
"engines"
] | What is the meaning of the word "gadgets" (Paragraph 4)? | One of the silliest things in our recent history was the use of "Victorian" as a term of contempt or abuse. It had been made fashionable by Lytton Strachey with his clever, superficial and ultimately empty book Eminent Victorians, in which he damned with faint praise such Victorian heroes as General Gordon and Florence Nightingale. Strachey's demolition job was clever because it ridiculed the Victorians for exactly those qualities on which they prided themselves-their high mindedness, their marked moral intensity, their desire to improve the human condition and their confidence that they had done so.
Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in AmericA. allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate-and hence to work on the inner organs of the body-not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew's wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour-reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital-testify to the social conscience that was at the center of "Victorian values".
But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was-the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: "We are our father's shadows cast at noon". | 1064.txt | 0 |
[
"surgery",
"seaside holiday",
"funfair",
"mass entertainment"
] | According to the text, the Victorians invented _ . | One of the silliest things in our recent history was the use of "Victorian" as a term of contempt or abuse. It had been made fashionable by Lytton Strachey with his clever, superficial and ultimately empty book Eminent Victorians, in which he damned with faint praise such Victorian heroes as General Gordon and Florence Nightingale. Strachey's demolition job was clever because it ridiculed the Victorians for exactly those qualities on which they prided themselves-their high mindedness, their marked moral intensity, their desire to improve the human condition and their confidence that they had done so.
Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in AmericA. allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate-and hence to work on the inner organs of the body-not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew's wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour-reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital-testify to the social conscience that was at the center of "Victorian values".
But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was-the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: "We are our father's shadows cast at noon". | 1064.txt | 1 |
[
"disclose the social injustices and evils",
"give proof to Karl Marx's Das Kapital",
"manifest the Victorians' good sense of right and wrong",
"show the age's strengths outweigh its weaknesses"
] | The author talks about the darker side of the Victorian period to _ . | One of the silliest things in our recent history was the use of "Victorian" as a term of contempt or abuse. It had been made fashionable by Lytton Strachey with his clever, superficial and ultimately empty book Eminent Victorians, in which he damned with faint praise such Victorian heroes as General Gordon and Florence Nightingale. Strachey's demolition job was clever because it ridiculed the Victorians for exactly those qualities on which they prided themselves-their high mindedness, their marked moral intensity, their desire to improve the human condition and their confidence that they had done so.
Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in AmericA. allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate-and hence to work on the inner organs of the body-not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew's wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour-reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital-testify to the social conscience that was at the center of "Victorian values".
But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was-the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: "We are our father's shadows cast at noon". | 1064.txt | 2 |
[
"the impact of technological advances",
"the alleviation of job pressure",
"the shrinkage of textile mills",
"the decline of middle-class incomes"
] | The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate_______. | In an essay entitled "Making It in America,", the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, "a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines."
Davidson's article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won't earn you what it used to. It can't when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra - their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there's been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, "In the 10 years ending in 2009, U.S. factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs - about 6 million in total - disappeared."
There will always be change - new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education. | 4061.txt | 0 |
[
"work on cheap software",
"ask for a moderate salary",
"adopt an average lifestyle",
"contribute something unique"
] | According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to______. | In an essay entitled "Making It in America,", the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, "a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines."
Davidson's article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won't earn you what it used to. It can't when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra - their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there's been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, "In the 10 years ending in 2009, U.S. factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs - about 6 million in total - disappeared."
There will always be change - new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education. | 4061.txt | 3 |
[
"gains of technology have been erased",
"job opportunities are disappearing at a high speed",
"factories are making much less money than before",
"new jobs and services have been offered"
] | The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that ______. | In an essay entitled "Making It in America,", the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, "a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines."
Davidson's article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won't earn you what it used to. It can't when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra - their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there's been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, "In the 10 years ending in 2009, U.S. factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs - about 6 million in total - disappeared."
There will always be change - new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education. | 4061.txt | 1 |
[
"to accelerate the I.T. revolution",
"to ensure more education for people",
"to advance economic globalization",
"to pass more bills in the 21st century"
] | According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is_____. | In an essay entitled "Making It in America,", the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, "a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines."
Davidson's article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won't earn you what it used to. It can't when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra - their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there's been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, "In the 10 years ending in 2009, U.S. factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs - about 6 million in total - disappeared."
There will always be change - new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education. | 4061.txt | 1 |
[
"New Law Takes Effect",
"Technology Goes Cheap",
"Average Is Over",
"Recession Is Bad"
] | Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text? | In an essay entitled "Making It in America,", the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, "a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines."
Davidson's article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.
In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won't earn you what it used to. It can't when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra - their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.
Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there's been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, "In the 10 years ending in 2009, U.S. factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs - about 6 million in total - disappeared."
There will always be change - new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.
In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education. | 4061.txt | 2 |
[
"write",
"write zero",
"write numbers",
"write sixty-three"
] | Long, long ago people didn't know how to _ . | Long, long ago there was no zero. To write the number sixty-three people wrote 63. To write six hundred and three, people wrote 63. The space between six and three was there to mean." not any "tens. Sometimes people did not remember the space. It was hard to see and read.
Later people used a dot to hold the space. Six hundred and three looked like this 6.3. But the dot was hard to see. So people put a circle around it like this 6⊙3. Then people could see the dot. They remembered the space. At last, only the circle around the dot was used. It was like a zero. This is one story of how the zero came to be used.
Now zero has many important uses. Zero tells how many. Can you tell some other ways of using zero? | 697.txt | 1 |
[
"28",
"2 8",
"228",
"208"
] | Long, long ago if they wrote two hundred-eight, people wrote _ . | Long, long ago there was no zero. To write the number sixty-three people wrote 63. To write six hundred and three, people wrote 63. The space between six and three was there to mean." not any "tens. Sometimes people did not remember the space. It was hard to see and read.
Later people used a dot to hold the space. Six hundred and three looked like this 6.3. But the dot was hard to see. So people put a circle around it like this 6⊙3. Then people could see the dot. They remembered the space. At last, only the circle around the dot was used. It was like a zero. This is one story of how the zero came to be used.
Now zero has many important uses. Zero tells how many. Can you tell some other ways of using zero? | 697.txt | 1 |
[
"\"not any\"",
"letter \"0\"",
"zero",
"a dot"
] | Later _ was used to mean space. | Long, long ago there was no zero. To write the number sixty-three people wrote 63. To write six hundred and three, people wrote 63. The space between six and three was there to mean." not any "tens. Sometimes people did not remember the space. It was hard to see and read.
Later people used a dot to hold the space. Six hundred and three looked like this 6.3. But the dot was hard to see. So people put a circle around it like this 6⊙3. Then people could see the dot. They remembered the space. At last, only the circle around the dot was used. It was like a zero. This is one story of how the zero came to be used.
Now zero has many important uses. Zero tells how many. Can you tell some other ways of using zero? | 697.txt | 3 |
[
"to remember ways",
"to remember numbers",
"not to forget the space",
"to mean nothing"
] | People used circles _ . | Long, long ago there was no zero. To write the number sixty-three people wrote 63. To write six hundred and three, people wrote 63. The space between six and three was there to mean." not any "tens. Sometimes people did not remember the space. It was hard to see and read.
Later people used a dot to hold the space. Six hundred and three looked like this 6.3. But the dot was hard to see. So people put a circle around it like this 6⊙3. Then people could see the dot. They remembered the space. At last, only the circle around the dot was used. It was like a zero. This is one story of how the zero came to be used.
Now zero has many important uses. Zero tells how many. Can you tell some other ways of using zero? | 697.txt | 2 |
[
"how zero came to be used",
"how to write zero",
"what's the use of zero",
"that zero means a dot, a circle or space"
] | The story tells us _ . | Long, long ago there was no zero. To write the number sixty-three people wrote 63. To write six hundred and three, people wrote 63. The space between six and three was there to mean." not any "tens. Sometimes people did not remember the space. It was hard to see and read.
Later people used a dot to hold the space. Six hundred and three looked like this 6.3. But the dot was hard to see. So people put a circle around it like this 6⊙3. Then people could see the dot. They remembered the space. At last, only the circle around the dot was used. It was like a zero. This is one story of how the zero came to be used.
Now zero has many important uses. Zero tells how many. Can you tell some other ways of using zero? | 697.txt | 0 |
[
"tourism contributes nothing to increasing understanding between nations.",
"Tourism is tiresome.",
"Conducted tour is dull.",
"tourism really does something to one's country."
] | The best title for this passage is _ . | The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the ‘grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, ‘Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that ‘Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact-how trite it sounds! - That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. | 275.txt | 0 |
[
"apprehensive.",
"negative.",
"critical.",
"appreciative."
] | What is the author's attitude toward tourism? | The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the ‘grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, ‘Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that ‘Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact-how trite it sounds! - That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. | 275.txt | 2 |
[
"silent.",
"noisy.",
"lively.",
"active."
] | Which word in the following is the best to summarize Latin people shout a lot? | The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the ‘grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, ‘Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that ‘Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact-how trite it sounds! - That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. | 275.txt | 1 |
[
"conducted tour is disappointing.",
"the way of touring should be changed.",
"when traveling, you notice characteristics which confirm preconception.",
"national stereotypes should be changed."
] | The purpose of the author's criticism is to point out _ . | The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the ‘grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, ‘Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that ‘Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact-how trite it sounds! - That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. | 275.txt | 1 |
[
"moderate cost.",
"local sight-seeing is investigated by the tourist organization.",
"people enjoy the first-rate comforts.",
"everybody can enjoy the ‘grand tour'."
] | What is ‘grand tour' now? | The tourist trade is booming. With all this coming and going, you'd expect greater understanding to develop between the nations of the world. Not a bit of it! Superb systems of communication by air, sea and land make it possible for us to visit each other's countries at a moderate cost. What was once the ‘grand tour', reserved for only the very rich, is now within everybody's grasp? The package tour and chartered flights are not to be sneered at. Modern travelers enjoy a level of comfort which the lords and ladies on grand tours in the old days couldn't have dreamed of. But what's the sense of this mass exchange of populations if the nations of the world remain basically ignorant of each other?
Many tourist organizations are directly responsible for this state of affairs. They deliberately set out to protect their clients from too much contact with the local population. The modern tourist leads a cosseted, sheltered life. He lives at international hotels, where he eats his international food and sips his international drink while he gazes at the natives from a distance. Conducted tours to places of interest are carefully censored. The tourist is allowed to see only what the organizers want him to see and no more. A strict schedule makes it impossible for the tourist to wander off on his own; and anyway, language is always a barrier, so he is only too happy to be protected in this way. At its very worst, this leads to a new and hideous kind of colonization. The summer quarters of the inhabitants of the cite universitaire: are temporarily reestablished on the island of Corfu. Blackpool is recreated at Torremolinos where the traveler goes not to eat paella, but fish and chips.
The sad thing about this situation is that it leads to the persistence of national stereotypes. We don't see the people of other nations as they really are, but as we have been brought up to believe they are. You can test this for yourself. Take five nationalities, say, French, German, English, American and Italian. Now in your mind, match them with these five adjectives: musical, amorous, cold, pedantic, native. Far from providing us with any insight into the national characteristics of the peoples just mentioned, these adjectives actually act as barriers. So when you set out on your travels, the only characteristics you notice are those which confirm your preconceptions. You come away with the highly unoriginal and inaccurate impression that, say, ‘Anglo-Saxons are hypocrites' of that ‘Latin peoples shout a lot'. You only have to make a few foreign friends to understand how absurd and harmful national stereotypes are. But how can you make foreign friends when the tourist trade does its best to prevent you?
Carried to an extreme, stereotypes can be positively dangerous. Wild generalizations stir up racial hatred and blind us to the basic fact-how trite it sounds! - That all people are human. We are all similar to each other and at the same time all unique. | 275.txt | 3 |
[
"Because even his spokesman was not aware of the abrupt decision.",
"Because his over-expansion strategy for MAN was a complete failure.",
"Because his management of MAN yielded outstanding performance.",
"Because he succeeded in adding international components to the company."
] | Why did the departure of Hakan Samuelsson shock everyone? | Hakan Samuelsson had been an exemplary boss of MAN, Europe's third-biggest truckmaker. After taking charge in 2005, he transformed it from a clunky conglomerate with interests from printing presses to spaceflight into a business focused on building trucks, turbines and the house-sized diesel engines that power more than three-quarters of the world's big ships. He also put in place a vigorous international expansion plan that included the purchase last year of Volkswagen's Brazilian heavy-truck business and this year of a 25% stake in Sinotruk, China's biggest maker of heavy trucks. Within five years, analysts expected MAN to be earning almost half its revenues in emerging markets. So when Mr Samuelsson abruptly stepped down on November 23rd it came as a shock to nearly everyone. Even his spokesman was on holiday.
The firm mumbled that his departure would allow it to focus on its main business. Some saw this as a reference to allegations that a few of MAN's employees had paid bribes to win contracts, and that by leaving Mr Samuelsson would allow a clean break with the past. But prosecutors, who did not consider him a suspect, were equally surprised by his exit. His response to the allegations had been admirable, appointing independent lawyers and auditors to conduct a thorough investigation, while offering an amnesty to employees who agreed to help them.
A likelier explanation is that he clashed, not for the first time, with the chairman of the Volkswagen Group, the wily Ferdinand Piëch. In 2006 the two sparred when Mr Samuelsson launched a hostile bid for Scania, a Swedish truck firm. VW, which at the time controlled 34% of Scania's stock, did not support the takeover. Instead Mr Piëch turned the tables on Mr Samuelsson when VW bought 20% of MAN（a stake subsequently increased to almost 30%）. Mr Piëch is now chairman of MAN's supervisory board too, and so in a position to realise a long-held ambition to forge a three-way merger that would include VW's truck business-a combination that would leapfrog Volvo and Daimler AG to become Europe's biggest truckmaker. Analysts at HSBC reckon that a merger of just Scania and MAN would lead to annual savings of about 600m（$900m）a year. Mr Piëch has said in the past that a full-blown combination of all three could cut costs by as much as 1 billion a year.
Mr Samuelsson's departure clears the way for his former adversary, Leif Ostling, the head of Scania, to run the new entity. It also hints at how a deal may be structured. The simplest way would have been for MAN to buy Scania, as MAN and VW between them already control 88% of Scania's voting stock. That would, however, have forced VW to book a loss on its Scania stake（acquired at a higher share price than today's）, putting strain on a balance-sheet already stretched by VW's takeover of Porsche. A better option for VW might be for Scania to buy MAN and sell its non-truck operations-a ploy Mr Samuelsson would have resisted. | 442.txt | 2 |
[
"He demonstrated complete support of an independent investigation of the case.",
"He was widely speculated to be involved in abetting bribery.",
"Even the prosecutors were unaware of his exit.",
"He pardoned the employees who were willing to cooperate."
] | Which of the following can be the main reason why the departure of Mr. Samuelsson is irrelevant to the bribery allegation? | Hakan Samuelsson had been an exemplary boss of MAN, Europe's third-biggest truckmaker. After taking charge in 2005, he transformed it from a clunky conglomerate with interests from printing presses to spaceflight into a business focused on building trucks, turbines and the house-sized diesel engines that power more than three-quarters of the world's big ships. He also put in place a vigorous international expansion plan that included the purchase last year of Volkswagen's Brazilian heavy-truck business and this year of a 25% stake in Sinotruk, China's biggest maker of heavy trucks. Within five years, analysts expected MAN to be earning almost half its revenues in emerging markets. So when Mr Samuelsson abruptly stepped down on November 23rd it came as a shock to nearly everyone. Even his spokesman was on holiday.
The firm mumbled that his departure would allow it to focus on its main business. Some saw this as a reference to allegations that a few of MAN's employees had paid bribes to win contracts, and that by leaving Mr Samuelsson would allow a clean break with the past. But prosecutors, who did not consider him a suspect, were equally surprised by his exit. His response to the allegations had been admirable, appointing independent lawyers and auditors to conduct a thorough investigation, while offering an amnesty to employees who agreed to help them.
A likelier explanation is that he clashed, not for the first time, with the chairman of the Volkswagen Group, the wily Ferdinand Piëch. In 2006 the two sparred when Mr Samuelsson launched a hostile bid for Scania, a Swedish truck firm. VW, which at the time controlled 34% of Scania's stock, did not support the takeover. Instead Mr Piëch turned the tables on Mr Samuelsson when VW bought 20% of MAN（a stake subsequently increased to almost 30%）. Mr Piëch is now chairman of MAN's supervisory board too, and so in a position to realise a long-held ambition to forge a three-way merger that would include VW's truck business-a combination that would leapfrog Volvo and Daimler AG to become Europe's biggest truckmaker. Analysts at HSBC reckon that a merger of just Scania and MAN would lead to annual savings of about 600m（$900m）a year. Mr Piëch has said in the past that a full-blown combination of all three could cut costs by as much as 1 billion a year.
Mr Samuelsson's departure clears the way for his former adversary, Leif Ostling, the head of Scania, to run the new entity. It also hints at how a deal may be structured. The simplest way would have been for MAN to buy Scania, as MAN and VW between them already control 88% of Scania's voting stock. That would, however, have forced VW to book a loss on its Scania stake（acquired at a higher share price than today's）, putting strain on a balance-sheet already stretched by VW's takeover of Porsche. A better option for VW might be for Scania to buy MAN and sell its non-truck operations-a ploy Mr Samuelsson would have resisted. | 442.txt | 0 |
[
"He will launch a hostile bid for the Swedish truck firm Scania.",
"He will build the largest truck maker in Europe.",
"He will merge Scania and MAN so as to achieve huge annual savings.",
"He will build a conglomerate by combing Volkswagen, Man and Scania."
] | What kind of action will Mr. Piëch possibly take for his ambition? | Hakan Samuelsson had been an exemplary boss of MAN, Europe's third-biggest truckmaker. After taking charge in 2005, he transformed it from a clunky conglomerate with interests from printing presses to spaceflight into a business focused on building trucks, turbines and the house-sized diesel engines that power more than three-quarters of the world's big ships. He also put in place a vigorous international expansion plan that included the purchase last year of Volkswagen's Brazilian heavy-truck business and this year of a 25% stake in Sinotruk, China's biggest maker of heavy trucks. Within five years, analysts expected MAN to be earning almost half its revenues in emerging markets. So when Mr Samuelsson abruptly stepped down on November 23rd it came as a shock to nearly everyone. Even his spokesman was on holiday.
The firm mumbled that his departure would allow it to focus on its main business. Some saw this as a reference to allegations that a few of MAN's employees had paid bribes to win contracts, and that by leaving Mr Samuelsson would allow a clean break with the past. But prosecutors, who did not consider him a suspect, were equally surprised by his exit. His response to the allegations had been admirable, appointing independent lawyers and auditors to conduct a thorough investigation, while offering an amnesty to employees who agreed to help them.
A likelier explanation is that he clashed, not for the first time, with the chairman of the Volkswagen Group, the wily Ferdinand Piëch. In 2006 the two sparred when Mr Samuelsson launched a hostile bid for Scania, a Swedish truck firm. VW, which at the time controlled 34% of Scania's stock, did not support the takeover. Instead Mr Piëch turned the tables on Mr Samuelsson when VW bought 20% of MAN（a stake subsequently increased to almost 30%）. Mr Piëch is now chairman of MAN's supervisory board too, and so in a position to realise a long-held ambition to forge a three-way merger that would include VW's truck business-a combination that would leapfrog Volvo and Daimler AG to become Europe's biggest truckmaker. Analysts at HSBC reckon that a merger of just Scania and MAN would lead to annual savings of about 600m（$900m）a year. Mr Piëch has said in the past that a full-blown combination of all three could cut costs by as much as 1 billion a year.
Mr Samuelsson's departure clears the way for his former adversary, Leif Ostling, the head of Scania, to run the new entity. It also hints at how a deal may be structured. The simplest way would have been for MAN to buy Scania, as MAN and VW between them already control 88% of Scania's voting stock. That would, however, have forced VW to book a loss on its Scania stake（acquired at a higher share price than today's）, putting strain on a balance-sheet already stretched by VW's takeover of Porsche. A better option for VW might be for Scania to buy MAN and sell its non-truck operations-a ploy Mr Samuelsson would have resisted. | 442.txt | 3 |
[
"Because it clears the way for Leif Ostling to control the company that merges Volkswagen, Man and Scania.",
"Because Mr. Piëch was aware that Mr. Samuelson would not allow the sales of MAN's non-truck operations.",
"Because it makes it much more convenient for VW and MAN to purchase Scania jointly.",
"Because the news will help reduce VW's pressure in terms of loss on the balance sheet."
] | Why is the departure of Mr. Samuelson a good piece of news to Mr. Piëch? | Hakan Samuelsson had been an exemplary boss of MAN, Europe's third-biggest truckmaker. After taking charge in 2005, he transformed it from a clunky conglomerate with interests from printing presses to spaceflight into a business focused on building trucks, turbines and the house-sized diesel engines that power more than three-quarters of the world's big ships. He also put in place a vigorous international expansion plan that included the purchase last year of Volkswagen's Brazilian heavy-truck business and this year of a 25% stake in Sinotruk, China's biggest maker of heavy trucks. Within five years, analysts expected MAN to be earning almost half its revenues in emerging markets. So when Mr Samuelsson abruptly stepped down on November 23rd it came as a shock to nearly everyone. Even his spokesman was on holiday.
The firm mumbled that his departure would allow it to focus on its main business. Some saw this as a reference to allegations that a few of MAN's employees had paid bribes to win contracts, and that by leaving Mr Samuelsson would allow a clean break with the past. But prosecutors, who did not consider him a suspect, were equally surprised by his exit. His response to the allegations had been admirable, appointing independent lawyers and auditors to conduct a thorough investigation, while offering an amnesty to employees who agreed to help them.
A likelier explanation is that he clashed, not for the first time, with the chairman of the Volkswagen Group, the wily Ferdinand Piëch. In 2006 the two sparred when Mr Samuelsson launched a hostile bid for Scania, a Swedish truck firm. VW, which at the time controlled 34% of Scania's stock, did not support the takeover. Instead Mr Piëch turned the tables on Mr Samuelsson when VW bought 20% of MAN（a stake subsequently increased to almost 30%）. Mr Piëch is now chairman of MAN's supervisory board too, and so in a position to realise a long-held ambition to forge a three-way merger that would include VW's truck business-a combination that would leapfrog Volvo and Daimler AG to become Europe's biggest truckmaker. Analysts at HSBC reckon that a merger of just Scania and MAN would lead to annual savings of about 600m（$900m）a year. Mr Piëch has said in the past that a full-blown combination of all three could cut costs by as much as 1 billion a year.
Mr Samuelsson's departure clears the way for his former adversary, Leif Ostling, the head of Scania, to run the new entity. It also hints at how a deal may be structured. The simplest way would have been for MAN to buy Scania, as MAN and VW between them already control 88% of Scania's voting stock. That would, however, have forced VW to book a loss on its Scania stake（acquired at a higher share price than today's）, putting strain on a balance-sheet already stretched by VW's takeover of Porsche. A better option for VW might be for Scania to buy MAN and sell its non-truck operations-a ploy Mr Samuelsson would have resisted. | 442.txt | 1 |
[
"Volvo and Daimler AG are so far the two largest European truck makers.",
"Scania is largely involved in the dispute between Samuelson and Piëch.",
"Leif Ostling was Samuelson's major adversary who forced the latter's exit.",
"Porsche was recently merged into the Volkswagen Group."
] | Which of the following is NOT true according to the last two paragraphs? | Hakan Samuelsson had been an exemplary boss of MAN, Europe's third-biggest truckmaker. After taking charge in 2005, he transformed it from a clunky conglomerate with interests from printing presses to spaceflight into a business focused on building trucks, turbines and the house-sized diesel engines that power more than three-quarters of the world's big ships. He also put in place a vigorous international expansion plan that included the purchase last year of Volkswagen's Brazilian heavy-truck business and this year of a 25% stake in Sinotruk, China's biggest maker of heavy trucks. Within five years, analysts expected MAN to be earning almost half its revenues in emerging markets. So when Mr Samuelsson abruptly stepped down on November 23rd it came as a shock to nearly everyone. Even his spokesman was on holiday.
The firm mumbled that his departure would allow it to focus on its main business. Some saw this as a reference to allegations that a few of MAN's employees had paid bribes to win contracts, and that by leaving Mr Samuelsson would allow a clean break with the past. But prosecutors, who did not consider him a suspect, were equally surprised by his exit. His response to the allegations had been admirable, appointing independent lawyers and auditors to conduct a thorough investigation, while offering an amnesty to employees who agreed to help them.
A likelier explanation is that he clashed, not for the first time, with the chairman of the Volkswagen Group, the wily Ferdinand Piëch. In 2006 the two sparred when Mr Samuelsson launched a hostile bid for Scania, a Swedish truck firm. VW, which at the time controlled 34% of Scania's stock, did not support the takeover. Instead Mr Piëch turned the tables on Mr Samuelsson when VW bought 20% of MAN（a stake subsequently increased to almost 30%）. Mr Piëch is now chairman of MAN's supervisory board too, and so in a position to realise a long-held ambition to forge a three-way merger that would include VW's truck business-a combination that would leapfrog Volvo and Daimler AG to become Europe's biggest truckmaker. Analysts at HSBC reckon that a merger of just Scania and MAN would lead to annual savings of about 600m（$900m）a year. Mr Piëch has said in the past that a full-blown combination of all three could cut costs by as much as 1 billion a year.
Mr Samuelsson's departure clears the way for his former adversary, Leif Ostling, the head of Scania, to run the new entity. It also hints at how a deal may be structured. The simplest way would have been for MAN to buy Scania, as MAN and VW between them already control 88% of Scania's voting stock. That would, however, have forced VW to book a loss on its Scania stake（acquired at a higher share price than today's）, putting strain on a balance-sheet already stretched by VW's takeover of Porsche. A better option for VW might be for Scania to buy MAN and sell its non-truck operations-a ploy Mr Samuelsson would have resisted. | 442.txt | 2 |
[
"Under the Greenwood Tree: Hardy's Ambiguous Triumph",
"The Real and the Strange: The Novelist's Shifting Realms",
"Energy Versus Repose: The Role of:Ordinary People in Hardy's Fiction",
"Hardy's Novelistic Impulses: The Problem of Control"
] | Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage, based on its content? | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 3 |
[
"Literary realism is most concerned with the exploration of the internal lives of ordinary human beings.",
"The term \"literary realism\" is susceptible to more than a single definition.",
"Literary realism and an interest in psychology are likely to be at odds in a novelist's work.",
"Literary realism\" is the term most often used by critics in describing the method of Hardy's novels."
] | The passage suggests that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about literary realism? | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 1 |
[
"a reliable means by which to measure the writer's literary merit",
"most apparent in those parts of the writer's work that are not realistic",
"problematic when the writer attempts to follow perilous or risky impulses",
"shaped primarily by the writer's desire to classify and schematize"
] | The author of the passage considers a writer's style to be | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 0 |
[
"informal",
"confined",
"risky",
"wordy"
] | Which of the following words could best be substituted for "relaxed" (line44) without substantially changing the author's meaning? | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 3 |
[
"They indulged more impulses in their novels than did Hardy in his novels.",
"They have elicited a greater degree of favorable response from most literary critics than has Hardy.",
"In the writing of their novels, they often took pains to effect a compromise among their various novelistic impulses.",
"Regarding novelistic construction, they cared more about the opinions of other novelists than about the opinions of ordinary readers."
] | The passage supplies information to suggest that its author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about the novelists Flaubert and James? | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 2 |
[
"Hardy's use of comedy in his novels tended to weaken his literary style.",
"Hardy's use of comedy in his novels was inspired by his natural sympathy.",
"Comedy appeared less frequently in Hardy's novels than did tragedy.",
"Comedy played an important role in Hardy's novels though that comedy was usually in the form of farce."
] | Which of the following statements about the use of comedy in Hardy's novels is best supported by the passage? | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 2 |
[
"It is Hardy's most thorough investigation of the psychology of love.",
"Although it is his most controlled novel, it does not exhibit any harsh or risky impulses.",
"It, more than his other novels, reveals Hardy as a realist interested in the history of ordinary human beings.",
"In it Hardy's novelistic impulses are managed somewhat better than in his other novels."
] | The author implies which of the following about Under the Greenwood Tree in relation to Hardy's other novels? | Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style-that sure index of an author's literary worth-was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses-a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love-but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. | 1970.txt | 3 |
[
"the burning of the Reichstag.",
"German plans for conquest.",
"Nazi barbarism.",
"the persecution of religious groups."
] | One item occurring before 1937 that the author does not mention in his list of actions that alienated the American public was | The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States. The compete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler's atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo in wars between nations at his discretion.
American opinion began to change somewhat after President Roosevelt's "quarantine the aggressor" speech at Chicago (1937) in which he severely criticized Hitler's policies. Germany's seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August,1939 came the shock of the Nazi-soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland and the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted "cash and carry" exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military services. A Lend Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August, 1940 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter which proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December, 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States. | 1693.txt | 0 |
[
"help the British.",
"strengthen the national defense of the United States.",
"promote the Atlantic Charter.",
"avenge Pearl Harbor."
] | The Lend-Lease Act was designed to | The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States. The compete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler's atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo in wars between nations at his discretion.
American opinion began to change somewhat after President Roosevelt's "quarantine the aggressor" speech at Chicago (1937) in which he severely criticized Hitler's policies. Germany's seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August,1939 came the shock of the Nazi-soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland and the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted "cash and carry" exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military services. A Lend Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August, 1940 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter which proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December, 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States. | 1693.txt | 1 |
[
"watchful.",
"isolationist.",
"peaceful.",
"indifferent."
] | American Policy during the years 1935-1936 may be described as being | The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States. The compete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler's atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo in wars between nations at his discretion.
American opinion began to change somewhat after President Roosevelt's "quarantine the aggressor" speech at Chicago (1937) in which he severely criticized Hitler's policies. Germany's seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August,1939 came the shock of the Nazi-soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland and the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted "cash and carry" exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military services. A Lend Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August, 1940 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter which proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December, 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States. | 1693.txt | 1 |
[
"permitted the selling of arms to belligerent nations.",
"antagonized Japan.",
"permitted the British to trade only with the Allies.",
"led to Lend-Lease Act."
] | The Neutrality Act of 1939 | The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States. The compete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler's atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo in wars between nations at his discretion.
American opinion began to change somewhat after President Roosevelt's "quarantine the aggressor" speech at Chicago (1937) in which he severely criticized Hitler's policies. Germany's seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August,1939 came the shock of the Nazi-soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland and the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted "cash and carry" exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military services. A Lend Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August, 1940 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter which proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December, 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States. | 1693.txt | 0 |
[
"because Germany declared war.",
"because Japan was an ally of Germany.",
"after Germany had signed the Nazi-soviet Pact.",
"after peaceful efforts had failed."
] | We entered the war against Germany | The establishment of the Third Reich influenced events in American history by starting a chain of events which culminated in war between Germany and the United States. The compete destruction of democracy, the persecution of Jews, the war on religion, the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, and especially the plans of Germany and her allies, Italy and Japan, for world conquest caused great indignation in this country and brought on fear of another world war. While speaking out against Hitler's atrocities, the American people generally favored isolationist policies and neutrality. The Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936 prohibited trade with any belligerents or loans to them. In 1937 the President was empowered to declare an arms embargo in wars between nations at his discretion.
American opinion began to change somewhat after President Roosevelt's "quarantine the aggressor" speech at Chicago (1937) in which he severely criticized Hitler's policies. Germany's seizure of Austria and the Munich Pact for the partition of Czechoslovakia (1938) also aroused the American people. The conquest of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939 was another rude awakening to the menace of the Third Reich. In August,1939 came the shock of the Nazi-soviet Pact and in September the attack on Poland and the outbreak of European war. The United States attempted to maintain neutrality in spite of sympathy for the democracies arrayed against the Third Reich. The Neutrality Act of 1939 repealed the arms embargo and permitted "cash and carry" exports of arms to belligerent nations. A strong national defense program was begun. A draft act was passed (1940) to strengthen the military services. A Lend Act (1941) authorized the President to sell, exchange, or lend materials to any country deemed necessary by him for the defense of the United States. Help was given to Britain by exchanging certain overage destroyers for the right to establish American bases in British territory in the Western Hemisphere. In August, 1940 President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met and issued the Atlantic Charter which proclaimed the kind of a world which should be established after the war. In December, 1941, Japan launched the unprovoked attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Immediately thereafter, Germany declared war on the United States. | 1693.txt | 0 |
[
"Nesting material varies according to the parrots' environment.",
"Humidity is an important factor in incubating parrots' eggs.",
"Aviculturists have constructed the ideal nest box for parrots.",
"Wild parrots' nests provide information useful for artificial incubation."
] | What is the main idea of the passage ? | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 3 |
[
"aviculturists",
"birds",
"eggs",
"rates"
] | The word "They" in line 2 refers to | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 0 |
[
"there may be a good chance for successful incubation",
"the embryo will not develop normally",
"the incubating parent moves the egg to a new position.",
"the incubation process is slowed down"
] | According to paragraph 2, when the temperature of the sides and bottom of the egg are cooler than the top, then | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 0 |
[
"soften the bottom of the nest for the newly hatched chick",
"hold the nest together",
"help lower the temperature at the bottom of the nest",
"make the nest bigger"
] | According to paragraph 2, sticks, rocks, or dirt are used to | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 2 |
[
"provide a beneficial source of humidity in the nest",
"loosen the materials at the bottom of the nest",
"keep the nest in a clean condition",
"touch the bottom of the eggs"
] | According to paragraph 2, the construction of the nest allows water to | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 0 |
[
"heating the water vapor as it rises from the bottom of the nest",
"arranging nesting material at the bottom of the nest",
"transferring heat from the parent to the top of the eggshell",
"maintaining a constant temperature on the eggshell"
] | All of the following are part of a parrot's incubation method EXCEPT | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 3 |
[
"build",
"paint",
"hang",
"move"
] | The word "suspend" in line 18 is closest in meaning to | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 2 |
[
"close",
"deadly",
"natural",
"hot"
] | The word "fatal" in line 24 is closest in meaning to | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 1 |
[
"fresh",
"dry",
"safe",
"warm"
] | The word "secure" in line 27 is closest in meaning to | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 2 |
[
"a constant source of humidity",
"a strong nest box",
"more room for newly hatched chicks",
"protection against cold weather"
] | According to paragraph 3, a deep foundation of nesting material provides | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 3 |
[
"They lack the natural temperature changes of the outdoors.",
"They are unable to heat the eggs evenly",
"They do not transfer heat to the egg in the same way the parent bird does.",
"They are expensive to operate."
] | Which of the following is a problem with commercial incubators? | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 2 |
[
"Aviculturists (line 1)",
"gradient (line 8)",
"incubation (line 15)",
"embryo (line 22)"
] | Which of the following terms is defined in the passage ? | Aviculturists, people who raise birds for commercial sale, have not yet learned how to simulate the natural incubation of parrot eggs in the wild. They continue to look for better ways to increase egg production and to improve chick survival rates.
When parrots incubate their eggs in the wild, the temperature and humidity of the nest are controlled naturally. Heat is transferred from the bird's skin to the top portion of the eggshell, leaving the sides and bottom of the egg at a cooler temperature. This temperature gradient may be vital to successful hatching. Nest construction can contribute to this temperature gradient. Nests of loosely arranged sticks, rocks, or dirt are cooler in temperature at the bottom where the egg contacts the nesting material. Such nests also act as humidity regulators by allowing rain to drain into the bottom sections of the nest so that the eggs are not in direct contact with the water. As the water that collects in the bottom of the nest evaporates, the water vapor rises and is heated by the incubating bird, which adds significant humidity to the incubation environment.
In artificial incubation programs, aviculturists remove eggs from the nests of parrots and incubate them under laboratory conditions. Most commercial incubators heat the eggs fairly evenly from top to bottom, thus ignoring the bird's method of natural incubation, and perhaps reducing the viability and survivability of the hatching chicks. When incubators are not used, aviculturists sometimes suspend wooden boxes outdoors to use as nests in which to place eggs. In areas where weather can become cold after eggs are laid, it is very important to maintain a deep foundation of nesting material to act as insulator against the cold bottom of the box. If eggs rest against the wooden bottom in extremely cold weather conditions, they can become chilled to a point where the embryo can no longer survive. Similarly, these boxes should be protected from direct sunlight to avoid high temperatures that are also fatal to the growing embryo. Nesting material should be added in sufficient amounts to avoid both extreme temperature situations mentioned above and assure that the eggs have a soft, secure place to rest. | 2064.txt | 0 |
[
"chimpanzees do not have the capability of mastering a language",
"the Gardners found a new idea to develop the chimpanzee experiment",
"previous experiments failed because they merely focused on chimpanzees' vocal ability",
"chimpanzees can use gestures as well as blind people"
] | From the first paragraph, we learn that _ . | In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physically incapable of speech.
They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.
Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.
The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions（" silent bared teeth" , " relaxed open mouth" , " pant hoot" and so on）almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures （" hard touch" , " reach outside" , " slap ground" etc）did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.
It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other. | 504.txt | 1 |
[
"Washoe was able to develop an entire system of signs and gestures of her own.",
"The vocabulary Washoe learnt is not similar to human language.",
"The Washoe experiment has enlightened further research.",
"The Gardners found that Washoe naturally has her vocabulary of gestures."
] | Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text? | In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physically incapable of speech.
They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.
Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.
The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions（" silent bared teeth" , " relaxed open mouth" , " pant hoot" and so on）almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures （" hard touch" , " reach outside" , " slap ground" etc）did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.
It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other. | 504.txt | 2 |
[
"gestures are more complicated",
"gestures are limited to a certain type of species",
"facial and vocal expressions are more complicated",
"there is no difference between them"
] | According to the author, gestures are different from facial and vocal expressions in that _ . | In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physically incapable of speech.
They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.
Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.
The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions（" silent bared teeth" , " relaxed open mouth" , " pant hoot" and so on）almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures （" hard touch" , " reach outside" , " slap ground" etc）did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.
It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other. | 504.txt | 1 |
[
"Fixed.",
"Changed.",
"Taught.",
"Made."
] | Which of the following best defines the word" hard-wired" （Line 3, Paragraph 3）? | In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physically incapable of speech.
They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.
Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.
The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions（" silent bared teeth" , " relaxed open mouth" , " pant hoot" and so on）almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures （" hard touch" , " reach outside" , " slap ground" etc）did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.
It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other. | 504.txt | 0 |
[
"the apes are the closest species to human being",
"people with normal hearing do not really need to resort to gestures",
"the great apes naturally have the ability to use gestures",
"human language may have developed from signs and gestures"
] | The Pollick and de Waal research probably indicates that _ . | In 1966 Allen and Beatrice Gardner, two psychologists at the University of Nevada in Reno, had a bright idea. They were interested in the evolution of language and the linguistic capabilities of great apes. Previous attempts to teach chimpanzees to talk had ended in failure and the matter was considered by most people to be closed. But the Gardners realised that speech and language are not the same thing. Many deaf people, for example, are unable to speak but are perfectly able to communicate by gestures that have all the attributes and sophistication of spoken language. Given the very different anatomies of the human and chimpanzee larynx, the Gardners suspected that previous experiments had failed because chimps are physically incapable of speech.
They therefore decided to try teaching a chimpanzee to sign in the way that deaf people do. And their chosen subject, a female chimp named Washoe after the county in which the university campus is located, proved an adept pupil. Though there is still debate about whether what Washoe learned was really equivalent to human language, there is no doubt that she learned a lot of words. She now has a vocabulary of about 200. All of this, however, raises a second question. If Washoe and her successors can learn a complex and arbitrary vocabulary of gestures from people, do they have such vocabularies naturally? To examine that possibility Amy Pollick and Frans de Waal, of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, have looked at gestures and expressions in chimpanzees and their cousins, bonobos.
Signalling by facial and vocal expression is ubiquitous among primates. Signalling by gesture is confined to the great apes. The researchers' hypothesis was that the meaning of expressions has been hard-wired by evolution whereas the meaning of gestures is learnt and, at least to some extent, is arbitrary. If that were true, particular sorts of facial and vocal expression would occur only in particular contexts, and that this would be consistent across groups and even species. The same gestures, by contrast, would be used in different contexts.
The researchers found exactly what they expected. Expressions（" silent bared teeth" , " relaxed open mouth" , " pant hoot" and so on）almost always occurred in the same contexts in different groups and different species. Gestures （" hard touch" , " reach outside" , " slap ground" etc）did not. Half of the gestures Dr Pollick and Dr de Waal regularly observed seemed to have completely different meanings in the two species. Moreover, even within a single group, the meaning of a gesture could vary with context, almost as tone of voice can vary the meaning of a human's spoken word.
It is also worth remembering that gesture is still a crucial part of human language, even for those with normal hearing. The old joke that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his hands together has a kernel of truth in it. Evolution does not come up with complicated structures in a single leap. They are built up step by step. This study suggests that the step of speech may have been built on mental attributes that were acquired millions of years ago when the ancestors of apes and men began to wave meaningfully at each other. | 504.txt | 3 |
[
"acid rain has caused air pollution",
"acid rain has caused widespread environmental damage",
"acid rain has become a much-studied subject",
"acid rain travels in all directions before it rains down"
] | From the first sentence of the passage，we Iearn that _ . | Acid rain，which is a form of air pollution，currently becomes a subject of great debate because of widespread environmental damage for which it has been blamed.It forms when oxides of sulfur and nitrogencombine with atmospheric moisture to yield sulfuric and nitric acids，which may then be carried long distances from their source before they drop in the form of rain.The pollution may also take the form of snow or fog or fall down in dry forms.In fact，although the term"acid rain"has been in use for more than a century--it is derived from atmospheric studies that were made in the region of Manchester,England-the more accurate scientific term would be"acid deposition".The dry form of such deposition is just as damaging to the environment as the liquid form.
The problem of acid rain originated with the Industrial Revolution，and it has been growing ever since.The severity of its effects has long been recognized in local settings，as exemplified by the spells of acid smog in heavily industrialized areas.The widespread destructiveness of acid rain，however,has become evident only in recent decades.One large area that has been studied extensively is northernEurope，where acid rain has eroded structures，injured crops and forests，and threatened life in freshwater lakes.In 1984，for example，environmental reports indicated that almost half of the trees in Germany's Black Forest had been damaged by acid rain.The northeastem United States and eastern Canada have also been Darticularly affected by this form of pollution.Damage has also been detected in other areas of these countries and other regions of the world.
Industial emissions have been blamed as the maj or cause of acid rain.Because the chemical reactions involved in the production of acid rain in the atmosphere are complex and as yet little understood.industries have tended to challenge such assessments and to stress the need for further studies and because of the cost of pollution reduction，governments have tended to support this attitude.
Studies released by the USA government in the early 1980s，however，strongly indicated industries as the main source of acid rain，in the eastern USA and Canada. | 1683.txt | 1 |
[
"falls down when the atmosphere is moist",
"is not as frequent as acid rain",
"often falls in the region of Manchester,England",
"is as damaging as acid rain"
] | According to the passage，acid fog _ . | Acid rain，which is a form of air pollution，currently becomes a subject of great debate because of widespread environmental damage for which it has been blamed.It forms when oxides of sulfur and nitrogencombine with atmospheric moisture to yield sulfuric and nitric acids，which may then be carried long distances from their source before they drop in the form of rain.The pollution may also take the form of snow or fog or fall down in dry forms.In fact，although the term"acid rain"has been in use for more than a century--it is derived from atmospheric studies that were made in the region of Manchester,England-the more accurate scientific term would be"acid deposition".The dry form of such deposition is just as damaging to the environment as the liquid form.
The problem of acid rain originated with the Industrial Revolution，and it has been growing ever since.The severity of its effects has long been recognized in local settings，as exemplified by the spells of acid smog in heavily industrialized areas.The widespread destructiveness of acid rain，however,has become evident only in recent decades.One large area that has been studied extensively is northernEurope，where acid rain has eroded structures，injured crops and forests，and threatened life in freshwater lakes.In 1984，for example，environmental reports indicated that almost half of the trees in Germany's Black Forest had been damaged by acid rain.The northeastem United States and eastern Canada have also been Darticularly affected by this form of pollution.Damage has also been detected in other areas of these countries and other regions of the world.
Industial emissions have been blamed as the maj or cause of acid rain.Because the chemical reactions involved in the production of acid rain in the atmosphere are complex and as yet little understood.industries have tended to challenge such assessments and to stress the need for further studies and because of the cost of pollution reduction，governments have tended to support this attitude.
Studies released by the USA government in the early 1980s，however，strongly indicated industries as the main source of acid rain，in the eastern USA and Canada. | 1683.txt | 3 |
[
"the origin of acid rain",
"the cause of acid rain",
"the formation of acid rain",
"the widespread damage of acid rain"
] | The second paragraph is mainly about _ . | Acid rain，which is a form of air pollution，currently becomes a subject of great debate because of widespread environmental damage for which it has been blamed.It forms when oxides of sulfur and nitrogencombine with atmospheric moisture to yield sulfuric and nitric acids，which may then be carried long distances from their source before they drop in the form of rain.The pollution may also take the form of snow or fog or fall down in dry forms.In fact，although the term"acid rain"has been in use for more than a century--it is derived from atmospheric studies that were made in the region of Manchester,England-the more accurate scientific term would be"acid deposition".The dry form of such deposition is just as damaging to the environment as the liquid form.
The problem of acid rain originated with the Industrial Revolution，and it has been growing ever since.The severity of its effects has long been recognized in local settings，as exemplified by the spells of acid smog in heavily industrialized areas.The widespread destructiveness of acid rain，however,has become evident only in recent decades.One large area that has been studied extensively is northernEurope，where acid rain has eroded structures，injured crops and forests，and threatened life in freshwater lakes.In 1984，for example，environmental reports indicated that almost half of the trees in Germany's Black Forest had been damaged by acid rain.The northeastem United States and eastern Canada have also been Darticularly affected by this form of pollution.Damage has also been detected in other areas of these countries and other regions of the world.
Industial emissions have been blamed as the maj or cause of acid rain.Because the chemical reactions involved in the production of acid rain in the atmosphere are complex and as yet little understood.industries have tended to challenge such assessments and to stress the need for further studies and because of the cost of pollution reduction，governments have tended to support this attitude.
Studies released by the USA government in the early 1980s，however，strongly indicated industries as the main source of acid rain，in the eastern USA and Canada. | 1683.txt | 3 |
[
"Because it is a new phenomenon.",
"Because it is not frequent enough.",
"Because its formation is complex.",
"Because it is difficult to study it."
] | Why is acid rain liRle understood? | Acid rain，which is a form of air pollution，currently becomes a subject of great debate because of widespread environmental damage for which it has been blamed.It forms when oxides of sulfur and nitrogencombine with atmospheric moisture to yield sulfuric and nitric acids，which may then be carried long distances from their source before they drop in the form of rain.The pollution may also take the form of snow or fog or fall down in dry forms.In fact，although the term"acid rain"has been in use for more than a century--it is derived from atmospheric studies that were made in the region of Manchester,England-the more accurate scientific term would be"acid deposition".The dry form of such deposition is just as damaging to the environment as the liquid form.
The problem of acid rain originated with the Industrial Revolution，and it has been growing ever since.The severity of its effects has long been recognized in local settings，as exemplified by the spells of acid smog in heavily industrialized areas.The widespread destructiveness of acid rain，however,has become evident only in recent decades.One large area that has been studied extensively is northernEurope，where acid rain has eroded structures，injured crops and forests，and threatened life in freshwater lakes.In 1984，for example，environmental reports indicated that almost half of the trees in Germany's Black Forest had been damaged by acid rain.The northeastem United States and eastern Canada have also been Darticularly affected by this form of pollution.Damage has also been detected in other areas of these countries and other regions of the world.
Industial emissions have been blamed as the maj or cause of acid rain.Because the chemical reactions involved in the production of acid rain in the atmosphere are complex and as yet little understood.industries have tended to challenge such assessments and to stress the need for further studies and because of the cost of pollution reduction，governments have tended to support this attitude.
Studies released by the USA government in the early 1980s，however，strongly indicated industries as the main source of acid rain，in the eastern USA and Canada. | 1683.txt | 2 |
[
"deny that industries causes acid rain",
"admit that they are only partly responsible",
"claim that they are the main sources of pollution",
"think that the cause of acid rain needs further study"
] | According to the passage，Governments _ . | Acid rain，which is a form of air pollution，currently becomes a subject of great debate because of widespread environmental damage for which it has been blamed.It forms when oxides of sulfur and nitrogencombine with atmospheric moisture to yield sulfuric and nitric acids，which may then be carried long distances from their source before they drop in the form of rain.The pollution may also take the form of snow or fog or fall down in dry forms.In fact，although the term"acid rain"has been in use for more than a century--it is derived from atmospheric studies that were made in the region of Manchester,England-the more accurate scientific term would be"acid deposition".The dry form of such deposition is just as damaging to the environment as the liquid form.
The problem of acid rain originated with the Industrial Revolution，and it has been growing ever since.The severity of its effects has long been recognized in local settings，as exemplified by the spells of acid smog in heavily industrialized areas.The widespread destructiveness of acid rain，however,has become evident only in recent decades.One large area that has been studied extensively is northernEurope，where acid rain has eroded structures，injured crops and forests，and threatened life in freshwater lakes.In 1984，for example，environmental reports indicated that almost half of the trees in Germany's Black Forest had been damaged by acid rain.The northeastem United States and eastern Canada have also been Darticularly affected by this form of pollution.Damage has also been detected in other areas of these countries and other regions of the world.
Industial emissions have been blamed as the maj or cause of acid rain.Because the chemical reactions involved in the production of acid rain in the atmosphere are complex and as yet little understood.industries have tended to challenge such assessments and to stress the need for further studies and because of the cost of pollution reduction，governments have tended to support this attitude.
Studies released by the USA government in the early 1980s，however，strongly indicated industries as the main source of acid rain，in the eastern USA and Canada. | 1683.txt | 3 |
[
"he enjoyed climbing mountains",
"he was angry on mountains",
"he lost his senses on mountains",
"he enjoyed climbing mountains very much"
] | "Peter was mad on mountains" means _ . | Peter Fern was mad on mountains.Climbing was the love of his life.Church towers,seaside cliffs,rock faces,ice mountains,anything-"If it's there,"he used to say,"then I want to climb it."So the news of his marriage gave me a surprise.I'd never known him to take much interest in girls.Well,well,Peter Fern,a married man! I couldn't get over it.I wondered whether his wife would try to stop some of his risky adventures.
She was French perhaps-from that place where he usually spent his holidays.Chamonix,wasn't it? From Chamonix he's clim bed Mont Blanc on his seventeenth birthday,and one of the Aifuilles the day after! That was it,then;she was French,from a family,most of whom liked climbing.No dou…No other explanation.
A month later I met them both in town.Anna surprised me because she was English.She was a dancer in the theatre."Never climbed more than sixty steps in my life"she told me."Peter has his interests,and I've got mine.No problems.""None at all,"Pater said,smiling."Where did you spend your honeymoon?"I asked."Somewhere far from theater and mountains,was it?""We had a week's holiday,"Anna said,"I flew to New York to see the drake Dancers on Broaay.A wonderful show!"Peter said,"Didn't want to miss the good weather.So I went to Switerland and climbed the north face of the Eiger with Allen Dunlop.Great fun,the Eiger.Grand place for a honeymoon! I'll show you the photographs we took one day." | 3948.txt | 3 |
[
"might be French living near the mountain,and from a mountaineer family",
"would not stop his climbing",
"perhaps came from French",
"might live near the mountain"
] | The writer had thought the only reason why Fern married was that the girl. _ | Peter Fern was mad on mountains.Climbing was the love of his life.Church towers,seaside cliffs,rock faces,ice mountains,anything-"If it's there,"he used to say,"then I want to climb it."So the news of his marriage gave me a surprise.I'd never known him to take much interest in girls.Well,well,Peter Fern,a married man! I couldn't get over it.I wondered whether his wife would try to stop some of his risky adventures.
She was French perhaps-from that place where he usually spent his holidays.Chamonix,wasn't it? From Chamonix he's clim bed Mont Blanc on his seventeenth birthday,and one of the Aifuilles the day after! That was it,then;she was French,from a family,most of whom liked climbing.No dou…No other explanation.
A month later I met them both in town.Anna surprised me because she was English.She was a dancer in the theatre."Never climbed more than sixty steps in my life"she told me."Peter has his interests,and I've got mine.No problems.""None at all,"Pater said,smiling."Where did you spend your honeymoon?"I asked."Somewhere far from theater and mountains,was it?""We had a week's holiday,"Anna said,"I flew to New York to see the drake Dancers on Broaay.A wonderful show!"Peter said,"Didn't want to miss the good weather.So I went to Switerland and climbed the north face of the Eiger with Allen Dunlop.Great fun,the Eiger.Grand place for a honeymoon! I'll show you the photographs we took one day." | 3948.txt | 0 |
[
"a failure because neither of them likes the other's love",
"happy because each of them respects the other's love",
"painful because each of them would do one's own thing",
"a mistake because either of them wouldn't care the other's love"
] | Peter and Anna's marriage is probably _ . | Peter Fern was mad on mountains.Climbing was the love of his life.Church towers,seaside cliffs,rock faces,ice mountains,anything-"If it's there,"he used to say,"then I want to climb it."So the news of his marriage gave me a surprise.I'd never known him to take much interest in girls.Well,well,Peter Fern,a married man! I couldn't get over it.I wondered whether his wife would try to stop some of his risky adventures.
She was French perhaps-from that place where he usually spent his holidays.Chamonix,wasn't it? From Chamonix he's clim bed Mont Blanc on his seventeenth birthday,and one of the Aifuilles the day after! That was it,then;she was French,from a family,most of whom liked climbing.No dou…No other explanation.
A month later I met them both in town.Anna surprised me because she was English.She was a dancer in the theatre."Never climbed more than sixty steps in my life"she told me."Peter has his interests,and I've got mine.No problems.""None at all,"Pater said,smiling."Where did you spend your honeymoon?"I asked."Somewhere far from theater and mountains,was it?""We had a week's holiday,"Anna said,"I flew to New York to see the drake Dancers on Broaay.A wonderful show!"Peter said,"Didn't want to miss the good weather.So I went to Switerland and climbed the north face of the Eiger with Allen Dunlop.Great fun,the Eiger.Grand place for a honeymoon! I'll show you the photographs we took one day." | 3948.txt | 1 |
[
"Peter didn't like girls",
"Peter was too absorbed in mountain climbing",
"Peter was mad",
"Peter's wife was a dancer"
] | Peter's marriage surprised the writer because _ . | Peter Fern was mad on mountains.Climbing was the love of his life.Church towers,seaside cliffs,rock faces,ice mountains,anything-"If it's there,"he used to say,"then I want to climb it."So the news of his marriage gave me a surprise.I'd never known him to take much interest in girls.Well,well,Peter Fern,a married man! I couldn't get over it.I wondered whether his wife would try to stop some of his risky adventures.
She was French perhaps-from that place where he usually spent his holidays.Chamonix,wasn't it? From Chamonix he's clim bed Mont Blanc on his seventeenth birthday,and one of the Aifuilles the day after! That was it,then;she was French,from a family,most of whom liked climbing.No dou…No other explanation.
A month later I met them both in town.Anna surprised me because she was English.She was a dancer in the theatre."Never climbed more than sixty steps in my life"she told me."Peter has his interests,and I've got mine.No problems.""None at all,"Pater said,smiling."Where did you spend your honeymoon?"I asked."Somewhere far from theater and mountains,was it?""We had a week's holiday,"Anna said,"I flew to New York to see the drake Dancers on Broaay.A wonderful show!"Peter said,"Didn't want to miss the good weather.So I went to Switerland and climbed the north face of the Eiger with Allen Dunlop.Great fun,the Eiger.Grand place for a honeymoon! I'll show you the photographs we took one day." | 3948.txt | 1 |
[
"to show his magical power",
"to pay for the delivery",
"to satisfy his curiosity",
"to please his mother"
] | Mr. Basille gave the boy a quarter out of his coin changer _ . | When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn‘t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note -"Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery"-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr.Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch （）. Every so often my son‘s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk. | 1024.txt | 2 |
[
"He wanted to have tea there.",
"He was treated as a family member.",
"He was a respectable person.",
"He was fully trusted by the family."
] | What can be inferred from the fact that the milkman had the key to the boy's house？ | When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn‘t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note -"Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery"-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr.Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch （）. Every so often my son‘s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk. | 1024.txt | 3 |
[
"Nobody wants to be a milkman now.",
"It has been driven out of the market.",
"Its service is getting poor.",
"It is forbidden by law."
] | Why does home milk delivery no longer exist？ | When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn‘t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note -"Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery"-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr.Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch （）. Every so often my son‘s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk. | 1024.txt | 1 |
[
"He missed the good old days.",
"He wanted to tell interesting stories.",
"He needed it for his milk bottles.",
"He planted flowers in it."
] | Why did the author bring back home an old milk box？ | When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basille. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy, I couldn‘t take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
Of course, he delivered more than milk. There was cheese, eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order, my mother would pen a note -"Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery"-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then, the buttermilk would magically appear.
All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basille even had a key to our house, for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors, so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr.Basille from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table, having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk, thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides, milk is for sale everywhere, and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
Recently, an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch （）. Every so often my son‘s friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood, and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk. | 1024.txt | 0 |
[
"a signal of stress",
"a warning of danger",
"a sign of age",
"a spread of disease"
] | The "alarm" in the first paragraph refers to " _ ". | One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept.For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week's leave-during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach-was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest.Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: "I am so busy."
We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress.The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others.To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax-this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way.We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week-for followers of some religions-for rest and praying.It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful.It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep.It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest.The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work.In fact, "Remember the Sabbath" is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow. | 3444.txt | 1 |
[
"be able to work without stress",
"be more talented than other people",
"be more important than anyone else",
"be busy working without time to rest"
] | According to Paragraph 4, a successful person is one who is believed to _ . | One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept.For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week's leave-during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach-was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest.Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: "I am so busy."
We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress.The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others.To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax-this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way.We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week-for followers of some religions-for rest and praying.It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful.It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep.It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest.The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work.In fact, "Remember the Sabbath" is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow. | 3444.txt | 3 |
[
"think that taking a rest means lacking ambitions",
"fail to realize that rest is an essential part of life",
"fail to realize that religions force them to rest",
"think that taking a rest means being lazy"
] | Some people feel guilty when taking time to rest because they _ . | One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept.For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week's leave-during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach-was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest.Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: "I am so busy."
We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress.The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others.To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax-this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way.We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week-for followers of some religions-for rest and praying.It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful.It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep.It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest.The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work.In fact, "Remember the Sabbath" is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow. | 3444.txt | 1 |
[
"We should balance work with rest.",
"The Sabbath gives us permission to rest.",
"It is silly for anyone to say \"I am so busy\".",
"We should be available to our family and friends."
] | What is the main idea of this passage? | One morning a few years ago, Harvard President Neil Rudenstine overslept.For this busy man, it was a sort of alarm: after years of non-stop hard work, he might wear himself out and die an early death.
Only after a week's leave-during which he read novels, listened to music and walked with his wife on a beach-was Rudenstine able to return to work.
In our modern life, we have lost the rhythm between action and rest.Amazingly, within this world there is a universal but silly saying: "I am so busy."
We say this to one another as if our tireless efforts were a talent by nature and an ability to successfully deal with stress.The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others.To be unavailable to our friends and family, and to be unable to find time to relax-this has become the model of a successful life.
Because we do not rest, we lose our way.We miss the guide telling us where to go, the food providing us with strength, the quiet giving us wisdom.
How have we allowed this to happen? I believe it is this: we have forgotten the Sabbath, the day of the week-for followers of some religions-for rest and praying.It is a day when we are not supposed to work, a time when we devote ourselves to enjoying and celebrating what is beautiful.It is a good time to bless our children and loved ones, give thanks, share meals, walk and sleep.It is a time for us to take a rest, to put our work aside, trusting that there are larger forces at work taking care of the world.
Rest is a spiritual and biological need; however, in our strong ambition to be successful and care for our many responsibilities, we may feel terribly guilty when we take time to rest.The Sabbath gives us permission to stop work.In fact, "Remember the Sabbath" is more than simply permission to rest; it is a rule to obey and a principle to follow. | 3444.txt | 0 |
[
"It is very important to develop tourism.",
"Building roads and hotels is necessary.",
"Support facilities are highly important.",
"Planning is very important to tourism."
] | Which of the following has most probably been discussed in the part that goes before this passage? | Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that were also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants will become unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help a country's economy. It is important to think about the people of a destination country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the wellbeing of local inhabitants.
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country's economy will suffer.
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people will lose jobs. Businesses will also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, broad roads, and other things needed by places of interest. For example, a fivestar tourism hotel needs as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel will lose money.
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, and sewers to handle waste and water .All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost. | 665.txt | 3 |
[
"a bad effect on other industries",
"a change of tourists customs",
"overcrowdedness of places of interest",
"pressure on traffic"
] | Too much tourism can cause all these problems EXCEPT _ . | Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that were also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants will become unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help a country's economy. It is important to think about the people of a destination country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the wellbeing of local inhabitants.
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country's economy will suffer.
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people will lose jobs. Businesses will also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, broad roads, and other things needed by places of interest. For example, a fivestar tourism hotel needs as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel will lose money.
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, and sewers to handle waste and water .All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost. | 665.txt | 1 |
[
"an increase of unemployment",
"a decrease in tourist attractions",
"the higher cost of support facilities",
"a rise in price and a fall in pay"
] | Not enough tourism can lead to _ . | Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that were also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants will become unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help a country's economy. It is important to think about the people of a destination country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance the wellbeing of local inhabitants.
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country's economy will suffer.
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people will lose jobs. Businesses will also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, broad roads, and other things needed by places of interest. For example, a fivestar tourism hotel needs as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel will lose money.
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, and sewers to handle waste and water .All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost. | 665.txt | 0 |
[
"she was young",
"it a pleasure to make friends with her",
"she was beautiful",
"it strange for her to fall in love withhim"
] | The writer talked about the waitress' age because he thought _ . | When the young waitress near my house started saying hello to me every day, I was very happy. She was at least fifteen years younger than I. One day she signedme to come near. When I walked over, she asked,"Are you single?" "Why, yes." I answered, smiling at her happily.
"So is my mother." she said, "Would you like to meet her?" | 2973.txt | 3 |
[
"she lived near his house",
"he often went to visit her mother",
"she wanted to be friendly with him",
"she loved him very much"
] | The waitress said hello to the writer every day because _ . | When the young waitress near my house started saying hello to me every day, I was very happy. She was at least fifteen years younger than I. One day she signedme to come near. When I walked over, she asked,"Are you single?" "Why, yes." I answered, smiling at her happily.
"So is my mother." she said, "Would you like to meet her?" | 2973.txt | 2 |
[
"they kept animals for themselves",
"they ate only vegetables",
"they killed only enough for food",
"they loved animals"
] | Early tribes didn't have much effect on animal population because _ . | Early people had very little effect on the environment. They lived in eaves in very small ' elan'groups. They collected or killed only enough for the dan's survival. Early clans were nomadic, which means that they did not stay in one place. Instead, they moved around, following the animals that were their main food source and seeking areas where seasonal plants grew wild. Moving around seasonally helped to protect the environment. The land had time to recover and animals had time to breed before the clan returned for the next season.
As time went by, these small family clans joined with others to form larger groups for protection. Joining with other clans gave them more hunters and more women to help cut up the meat and share it between families. Eventually, people tamed wild animals such as dogs and horses. People settled around rivers and fertile plains to share responsibilities and duties. Then, people began to plant crops instead of moving to areas where the plant grew. This development changed the environment.
Traditional forms of work also changed. Some people were hatter at performing a particular task than other clan members, so they began to specialize in things they were good at doing. This also meant that they began to exchange their goods for things that others produced.
People began to communicate with distant tribes. Land was cleared for roads. Foreign plants and animals were transported to places where they had not existed before. Specialization also gave people more free time. So art, dance and music became important ways of expressing feelings and thoughts. This was how many great civilizations started.
Compared to the past, modern civilization has experienced many changes to become the highly developed society that exists today. Populations have increased rapidly. Forests have been cleared for farms. Inventions and technology have made work easier.
However, pollution and other serious problems have also resulted from human progress. As concerned citizerns, it is up to us to learn from past mistakes and to help maintain and improve our environment. | 3308.txt | 2 |
[
"to hunt animals",
"to seek safety",
"to share caves",
"to protect environment"
] | The main purpose for small clans to join together was _ . | Early people had very little effect on the environment. They lived in eaves in very small ' elan'groups. They collected or killed only enough for the dan's survival. Early clans were nomadic, which means that they did not stay in one place. Instead, they moved around, following the animals that were their main food source and seeking areas where seasonal plants grew wild. Moving around seasonally helped to protect the environment. The land had time to recover and animals had time to breed before the clan returned for the next season.
As time went by, these small family clans joined with others to form larger groups for protection. Joining with other clans gave them more hunters and more women to help cut up the meat and share it between families. Eventually, people tamed wild animals such as dogs and horses. People settled around rivers and fertile plains to share responsibilities and duties. Then, people began to plant crops instead of moving to areas where the plant grew. This development changed the environment.
Traditional forms of work also changed. Some people were hatter at performing a particular task than other clan members, so they began to specialize in things they were good at doing. This also meant that they began to exchange their goods for things that others produced.
People began to communicate with distant tribes. Land was cleared for roads. Foreign plants and animals were transported to places where they had not existed before. Specialization also gave people more free time. So art, dance and music became important ways of expressing feelings and thoughts. This was how many great civilizations started.
Compared to the past, modern civilization has experienced many changes to become the highly developed society that exists today. Populations have increased rapidly. Forests have been cleared for farms. Inventions and technology have made work easier.
However, pollution and other serious problems have also resulted from human progress. As concerned citizerns, it is up to us to learn from past mistakes and to help maintain and improve our environment. | 3308.txt | 1 |
[
"Early people moved to new places looking for new sources of food.",
"Modem civilization began when people started to live together in big groups.",
"Modem advancements are always good for the environment.",
"People began to exchange goods because they didn't have enough money."
] | Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage? | Early people had very little effect on the environment. They lived in eaves in very small ' elan'groups. They collected or killed only enough for the dan's survival. Early clans were nomadic, which means that they did not stay in one place. Instead, they moved around, following the animals that were their main food source and seeking areas where seasonal plants grew wild. Moving around seasonally helped to protect the environment. The land had time to recover and animals had time to breed before the clan returned for the next season.
As time went by, these small family clans joined with others to form larger groups for protection. Joining with other clans gave them more hunters and more women to help cut up the meat and share it between families. Eventually, people tamed wild animals such as dogs and horses. People settled around rivers and fertile plains to share responsibilities and duties. Then, people began to plant crops instead of moving to areas where the plant grew. This development changed the environment.
Traditional forms of work also changed. Some people were hatter at performing a particular task than other clan members, so they began to specialize in things they were good at doing. This also meant that they began to exchange their goods for things that others produced.
People began to communicate with distant tribes. Land was cleared for roads. Foreign plants and animals were transported to places where they had not existed before. Specialization also gave people more free time. So art, dance and music became important ways of expressing feelings and thoughts. This was how many great civilizations started.
Compared to the past, modern civilization has experienced many changes to become the highly developed society that exists today. Populations have increased rapidly. Forests have been cleared for farms. Inventions and technology have made work easier.
However, pollution and other serious problems have also resulted from human progress. As concerned citizerns, it is up to us to learn from past mistakes and to help maintain and improve our environment. | 3308.txt | 0 |
[
"human progress has brought civilization to the society",
"civilization has improved traditional forms of work",
"our environment has been affected by human progress",
"early people understood environmental protection"
] | It can be concluded from the passage that _ . | Early people had very little effect on the environment. They lived in eaves in very small ' elan'groups. They collected or killed only enough for the dan's survival. Early clans were nomadic, which means that they did not stay in one place. Instead, they moved around, following the animals that were their main food source and seeking areas where seasonal plants grew wild. Moving around seasonally helped to protect the environment. The land had time to recover and animals had time to breed before the clan returned for the next season.
As time went by, these small family clans joined with others to form larger groups for protection. Joining with other clans gave them more hunters and more women to help cut up the meat and share it between families. Eventually, people tamed wild animals such as dogs and horses. People settled around rivers and fertile plains to share responsibilities and duties. Then, people began to plant crops instead of moving to areas where the plant grew. This development changed the environment.
Traditional forms of work also changed. Some people were hatter at performing a particular task than other clan members, so they began to specialize in things they were good at doing. This also meant that they began to exchange their goods for things that others produced.
People began to communicate with distant tribes. Land was cleared for roads. Foreign plants and animals were transported to places where they had not existed before. Specialization also gave people more free time. So art, dance and music became important ways of expressing feelings and thoughts. This was how many great civilizations started.
Compared to the past, modern civilization has experienced many changes to become the highly developed society that exists today. Populations have increased rapidly. Forests have been cleared for farms. Inventions and technology have made work easier.
However, pollution and other serious problems have also resulted from human progress. As concerned citizerns, it is up to us to learn from past mistakes and to help maintain and improve our environment. | 3308.txt | 2 |
[
"When enzymes can be commonly found in living cells.",
"When the technology of producing a new type of fuel cell appears.",
"When the technology of a new type of fuel cell is suitable for mass production.",
"When the technology of mass producing cell phones appears."
] | According to the first paragraph, when can we share our sweet drinks with our cell phones? | Using enzymes commonly found in living cells, a new type of fuel cell produces small amounts of electricity from sugar. If the technology is able to succeed in mass production, you may some day share your sweet drinks with your cell phone.
In fuel cells, chemical reactions generate electrical currents. The process usually relies on precious metals, such as platinum. In living cells, enzymes perform a similar job, breaking down sugars to obtain electrons and produce energy.
When researchers previously used enzymes in fuel cells, they had trouble keeping them active,says Shelley D. Minteer of St LouisUniversity. Whereas biological cells continually produce fresh enzymes, there's no mechanism in fuel cells to replace enzymes as they quickly degrade.
Minteer and Tamara Klotzbach, also of St LouisUniversity, have now developed polymers that wrap around an enzyme and preserve it in a microscopic pocket. "We tailor these pockets to provide the ideal microenvironment for the enzyme," Minteer says. The polymers keep the enzyme active for months instead of days.
In the new fuel cell, tiny polymer bags of enzyme are embedded in a membrane that coats one of the electrodes. When glucose from a sugary liquid gets into a pocket, the enzyme oxidizes it, releasing electrons and protons. The electrons cross the membrane and enter a wire through which they travel to the other electrode, where they react with oxygen in the atmosphere to produce water. The flow of electrons through the wire constitutes an electrical current that can generate power.
So far, the new fuel cells don't produce much power, but the fact that they work at all is exciting, says Paul Kenis, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois at Urhana-Champaign.
"Just getting it to work," Kenis says, "is a major accomplishment."
Sugar-eating fuel cells could be an efficient way to make electricity. Sugar is easy to find. And the new fuel cells that run on it are biodegradable, so the technology wouldn't hurt the environment.
The scientists are now trying to use different enzymes that will get more power from sugar. They predict that popular products may be using the new technology in as little as 3 years. | 1248.txt | 2 |
[
"They had trouble keeping enzymes in fuel cells active.",
"They had trouble keeping biological cells active.",
"They had trouble producing fresh enzymes.",
"They had trouble finding mechanism for producing enzymes."
] | What trouble did Minteer and Klotzhach have in their research? | Using enzymes commonly found in living cells, a new type of fuel cell produces small amounts of electricity from sugar. If the technology is able to succeed in mass production, you may some day share your sweet drinks with your cell phone.
In fuel cells, chemical reactions generate electrical currents. The process usually relies on precious metals, such as platinum. In living cells, enzymes perform a similar job, breaking down sugars to obtain electrons and produce energy.
When researchers previously used enzymes in fuel cells, they had trouble keeping them active,says Shelley D. Minteer of St LouisUniversity. Whereas biological cells continually produce fresh enzymes, there's no mechanism in fuel cells to replace enzymes as they quickly degrade.
Minteer and Tamara Klotzbach, also of St LouisUniversity, have now developed polymers that wrap around an enzyme and preserve it in a microscopic pocket. "We tailor these pockets to provide the ideal microenvironment for the enzyme," Minteer says. The polymers keep the enzyme active for months instead of days.
In the new fuel cell, tiny polymer bags of enzyme are embedded in a membrane that coats one of the electrodes. When glucose from a sugary liquid gets into a pocket, the enzyme oxidizes it, releasing electrons and protons. The electrons cross the membrane and enter a wire through which they travel to the other electrode, where they react with oxygen in the atmosphere to produce water. The flow of electrons through the wire constitutes an electrical current that can generate power.
So far, the new fuel cells don't produce much power, but the fact that they work at all is exciting, says Paul Kenis, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois at Urhana-Champaign.
"Just getting it to work," Kenis says, "is a major accomplishment."
Sugar-eating fuel cells could be an efficient way to make electricity. Sugar is easy to find. And the new fuel cells that run on it are biodegradable, so the technology wouldn't hurt the environment.
The scientists are now trying to use different enzymes that will get more power from sugar. They predict that popular products may be using the new technology in as little as 3 years. | 1248.txt | 0 |
[
"when bags of enzyme are embedded in the new fuel cell",
"when glucose from a sugary liquid goes through the enzyme",
"when the enzyme oxidizes the glucose from a sugary liquid that goes through a pocket",
"when the enzyme oxidizes the sugary liquid that goes through a pocket"
] | According to Paragraph 5, electrons are released _ . | Using enzymes commonly found in living cells, a new type of fuel cell produces small amounts of electricity from sugar. If the technology is able to succeed in mass production, you may some day share your sweet drinks with your cell phone.
In fuel cells, chemical reactions generate electrical currents. The process usually relies on precious metals, such as platinum. In living cells, enzymes perform a similar job, breaking down sugars to obtain electrons and produce energy.
When researchers previously used enzymes in fuel cells, they had trouble keeping them active,says Shelley D. Minteer of St LouisUniversity. Whereas biological cells continually produce fresh enzymes, there's no mechanism in fuel cells to replace enzymes as they quickly degrade.
Minteer and Tamara Klotzbach, also of St LouisUniversity, have now developed polymers that wrap around an enzyme and preserve it in a microscopic pocket. "We tailor these pockets to provide the ideal microenvironment for the enzyme," Minteer says. The polymers keep the enzyme active for months instead of days.
In the new fuel cell, tiny polymer bags of enzyme are embedded in a membrane that coats one of the electrodes. When glucose from a sugary liquid gets into a pocket, the enzyme oxidizes it, releasing electrons and protons. The electrons cross the membrane and enter a wire through which they travel to the other electrode, where they react with oxygen in the atmosphere to produce water. The flow of electrons through the wire constitutes an electrical current that can generate power.
So far, the new fuel cells don't produce much power, but the fact that they work at all is exciting, says Paul Kenis, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois at Urhana-Champaign.
"Just getting it to work," Kenis says, "is a major accomplishment."
Sugar-eating fuel cells could be an efficient way to make electricity. Sugar is easy to find. And the new fuel cells that run on it are biodegradable, so the technology wouldn't hurt the environment.
The scientists are now trying to use different enzymes that will get more power from sugar. They predict that popular products may be using the new technology in as little as 3 years. | 1248.txt | 2 |
[
"Their limitless power generation capacity is amazing.",
"Their limited power generation capacity is a good beginning.",
"Their limited power generation capacity is the result of great efforts.",
"Their limitless power generation capacity is a major accomplishment."
] | What is exciting about the new fuel cells? | Using enzymes commonly found in living cells, a new type of fuel cell produces small amounts of electricity from sugar. If the technology is able to succeed in mass production, you may some day share your sweet drinks with your cell phone.
In fuel cells, chemical reactions generate electrical currents. The process usually relies on precious metals, such as platinum. In living cells, enzymes perform a similar job, breaking down sugars to obtain electrons and produce energy.
When researchers previously used enzymes in fuel cells, they had trouble keeping them active,says Shelley D. Minteer of St LouisUniversity. Whereas biological cells continually produce fresh enzymes, there's no mechanism in fuel cells to replace enzymes as they quickly degrade.
Minteer and Tamara Klotzbach, also of St LouisUniversity, have now developed polymers that wrap around an enzyme and preserve it in a microscopic pocket. "We tailor these pockets to provide the ideal microenvironment for the enzyme," Minteer says. The polymers keep the enzyme active for months instead of days.
In the new fuel cell, tiny polymer bags of enzyme are embedded in a membrane that coats one of the electrodes. When glucose from a sugary liquid gets into a pocket, the enzyme oxidizes it, releasing electrons and protons. The electrons cross the membrane and enter a wire through which they travel to the other electrode, where they react with oxygen in the atmosphere to produce water. The flow of electrons through the wire constitutes an electrical current that can generate power.
So far, the new fuel cells don't produce much power, but the fact that they work at all is exciting, says Paul Kenis, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois at Urhana-Champaign.
"Just getting it to work," Kenis says, "is a major accomplishment."
Sugar-eating fuel cells could be an efficient way to make electricity. Sugar is easy to find. And the new fuel cells that run on it are biodegradable, so the technology wouldn't hurt the environment.
The scientists are now trying to use different enzymes that will get more power from sugar. They predict that popular products may be using the new technology in as little as 3 years. | 1248.txt | 1 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.