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What was the reason behind you becoming a Wiccan?
I had very bad experiences with the old angry bearded GOD in the Christian religion. He had turned his back on me. He had betrayed me time and time again. So, I left. Still wanting connection with a higher power, I hungered for connection.
I liked communing with the Wiccan Gods. I also liked how They made me feel, at peace, and I felt I had the strength to change my own life for the better.
They are always there for me.
How did you find it?
When I was a teen I heard the word Wicca. I didn’t know what that was. I was curious and decided to investigate it.
So, the next day I went to a book store. I asked the lady behind the counter if they had any books on “Wicca.”
She got excited and whisked me off to the metaphysical section of the store. She told me she was pagan and started handing me book after book into my arms. Soon I could barely see over the books in my arms.
I mumbled behind the books, “Which ONE book would you recommend.”
She then handed me Scott Cunningham’s book Wicca, A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.
I purchased the book and took it home.
With my dyslexia it was not easy for me to read. But I started reading and plowed through the book.
I found many things I was already doing. He talked about things I already understood to be true.
The book rang true for me. I dedicated myself to the God and Goddess when I finished the book.
Have you ever had any bad experiences after completing a spell?
I did a prosperity spell once and got the opposite reaction I was hoping for. I lost all my income! I realized later my mistakes and redid the spell correctly and then got the results I truly wanted. | How does the author feel when the clerk hands them a stack of books? | Overwhelmed | ['Sad', 'not enough information', 'Angry'] |
I did nt even realise we had accts with them . Then again I ' m new . My workload is picking up again , I forsee many hours stuck in bb this month doing verfications . Since D 's on leave , our portfolios have been increased . | What may be the purpose of this post ? | To describe my job | ['None of the above choices .', 'To describe my brother', 'To describe my boss'] |
Let us begin by saying what does not cause our dreams. Our dreams do not come from "another world ". They are not messages from outside source. They are not a look into the future , either .
All our dreams have something to do with our feelings, fears, longings, wishes, needs and memories. If a person is hungry , or tired or cold , his dreams may include a feeling of this kind .If the covers on your body , such as a quilt or a blanket have slipped off your bed , you may dream that you are sleeping on the ice and snow. The material for the dream you will have tonight is likely to come from the experience you have today.
So the subject of your dream usually comes from something that has effect on you while you are sleeping (feeling of cold, a noise, a discomfort, etc.) and it may also use your past experiences and the wishes and the interests you have now.This is why children are likely to dream of fairies, older children of school examinations, hungry people of food, home-sick soldiers of their families and prisoners of freedom.
To show you how this is happening while you are asleep and how your needs and wishes can all be joined together in a dream , here is the story of the experiment.A man was asleep and the back of his hand was rubbed with a piece of absorbed cotton.He would dream he was in hospital and his charming girlfriend was visiting him , sitting on the bed and feeling gently his hands!
There are some scientists who have made a special study of why we dream, what we dream and what those dreams mean.Their explanations of dreams , though a bit reasonable, is not accepted by everyone but it offers an interesting approach to the problem.They believe that dreams are mostly expressions of wishes that do not come true.In other words, dreams are a way of having your wishes carried out. | What is the best title for this passage ? | Why People Dream ? | ['New Findings about Dreams', 'Dream Makes Hopes', 'What Dreams Mean ?'] |
To all of you who drink or do drugs it 's really a testimate of how you can be sober and still be crazy as hell and have fun . Laugh so hard your stomach hurts and your head spins . I love it . I mean i ' m not going to judge people who drink or do drugs . | What may be a fact about the speaker ? | They are able to have so much fun without the use of alcohol or drugs . | ['They need alcohol and drugs in order to have fun .', 'They need the people around them to be drunk to have fun .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
The world's largest solar thermal plant is set to begin producing power in the United States by the end of the year. Wind and energy from the sun are generally considered clean, unlike energy from coal-burning power stations. However, environmentalists now worry that too much solar power development could harm the local environment.
A California company -- BrightSource Energy is building a huge solar power plant in the Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is known as the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. Joe Desmond works for the company. "This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah." explained Desmond. BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially designed mirrors to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers. The steam produced in the boilers will drive turbine to make electricity. Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius. "We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down. There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environmnents where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, explained Desmond.
Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power, however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants on sensitive environment. Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, a private group. She says environmentalists are specifically worried about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert. "Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"said Lisa Belenky. BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $ 50 million to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant. but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer. "We should be reusing areas that have a1ready been disturbed, like old mining sites, for example...either on homes, on businesses, parking lots." said Belenky.
There have also been reports of birds dying at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment which the animals mistake for water. Other birds were killed or suffered burns after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant. As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers are considering what to do to reduce bird death. | Why is the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System being built in the desert? | Because sunlight is highly focused in the desert. | ['Because the temperature is extremely high in the desert.', 'Because there is no life in the desert.', 'Because there is much salt in the desert.'] |
I giggled . " I had a feeling . " Then she tried to throw me off the track by saying , " Yeah , but you do n't know who it 's from . " | How may I be feeling right now ? | Happy | ['None of the above choices .', 'Sad', 'Anxious'] |
Over the last six years I have learned what patience is. Growing up I did not have this virtue and it is a very important virtue to have. Now I can see that if you are patient you will almost always get what you want if you are supposed to have it. I gained patience when I lost my freedom. I knew that I would eventually get it back in time.
I was locked up in prison for a period of six years because at 19 years old I was playing with a handgun and I accidentally shot and killed my friend. The first couple of years was the hardest.I was always stressed out about everything.Time was dragging by because I was always paying attention to it.While I was locked up,Tom who I talked to helped put this virtue in me.He told me that it was possible that he would never make it home but that being patient and believing that one day he would was what had made him feel better.After a while I realized why he said a lot of things to me.Once I stopped paying attention to the days and just kept in mind that I would get freedom,it seemed that my time passed quickly.
Now I am home and can see that patience paid off for me. I now use this virtue in my daily activities. I know that sometimes life gets hard and that it will pay in the end to stay patient and not to get discouraged. So if you are having a hard time in life,be patient and it will eventually work out one way or another. | During the first few years when he was in prison the writer _ . | thought time passed too slowly | ['made a couple of good friends', 'felt his life was full of unexpected things', 'was very nervous and frightened'] |
I ca n't believe you did this for me . Thank you ! " He wrapped his arms around her , breathing in the familiar scent of her and savoring the feeling of her in his arms . He drew back just enough to meet her eyes , intending to say something light and teasing , but the words vanished from his mind when he saw the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes . | Why did he wrap his arms around her ? | None of the above choices . | ['So he could breath her scent .', 'So he could have something to savor .', 'So he could think of the words to say .'] |
I arrived back with the girls still sleeping and the realization that my time and navigation challenged friend also forgot the lighter and axe . I refused to walk back to the little station to pick up a lighter . I was going to wait for the car . | Where might I be if I am in need of a light and an axe ? | I may be out camping with friends and family . | ['I may be at a little station waiting to be picked up .', 'None of the above choices .', "I am at my friend 's house while she is wasting time ."] |
Albert Einstein (1879--1955) was one of the greatest and most original scientific thinkers of all time.
Born of Jewish parents at Ulm in Germany,he completed his education in Switzerland and got his Ph. D at the University of Zurich. He went to live in the United States in 1933 because of the rise of Nazism in Germany and Hitler's persecution of the Jews.
In 1905, while still at Zurich, he published his Special Theory of Relativity, which was based on things everyone may have noticed. If two trains are standing alongside each other and one train starts to move, a person sitting in the train may wonder whether his own train is moving or the other is moving, and before he finds out what is happening, he can see that one train is moving ly to the other. From this and also from other more complicated facts, Einstein came to the conclusion that all motion is and that there are really no such things as motion. Some of the other conclusions he drew are that nothing can go faster than light, and that if something such as a ruler was moving faster and faster it would seem to get shorter and shorter as its speed was near the speed of light. By 1915, Einstein had made his General Theory of Relativity known. He also improved on Newton's theory of gravity. Most of his theories have been tested and found to be true though some may sound strange. For his important work he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics. | In 1933, Einstein went to live in the United States because _ . | he could no longer work in Germany when Hitler came into power | ['he loved the USA more than his own country', 'he wanted to live quietly in the US', 'he had got some friends there with whom he could work together'] |
SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEKEND
Captain Good Fellow
Do you enjoy interesting stories ,funny games and exciting dances? Captain Good Fellow will be ready to teach all these things to children of all ages at the City Theatre on Saturday morning at,10:00,free.
Walking Tour of the Town
Forget your worries on Saturday morning.Take a beautiful walk and learn about the local history.Meet at the front entrance of City Hall at 9:30.Wear comfortable shoes!
Films at the Museum
Two European films will be shown Saturday afternoon at the Museum Theatre.See Broken Window at 1:30.The Workers will be at 3:45. For further information,call 4987898.
International Picnic
Are you tired of eating the same food every day? Come to Central Park on Saturday and enjoy food from all over the world.Delicious and inexpensive.From noon to 5:00 P.m.
Take me out to the Ballgame
It's October,and tonight is the last chance to see the Redbirds his year.Get your tickets at the gate.It might be cold....Don't forget sweaters and jackets.
Do you want to hear "the Zoo"?
"The Zoo",the popular rock group from Australia,will give their first U.S.concert tomorrow night at 8 at Rose Hall,City College. | You can see movies at. | the Museum Theatre | ['the Citv College', 'the Central Park', 'the City Theatre'] |
Suppose there is a man who 'd like looking at the sun , wherever he goes , he keeps looking for the sun and looks at it . When he found the sun and looked at it - whatever kind of the sun it is - what else would he do ? Should he keep looking at the sun all the time or look at something else which exists on this earth ? If he keeps his eyes toward the sun all the time , does he see anything else except for the sun ? | What will happen to the man as he continues to gaze . | He will hurt his eyes . | ['None of the above choices .', 'He will get enlightenment .', 'He will find bliss .'] |
"Just ate chicken feet for lunch. " These were the words I wrote on my blog yesterday. By the next day there were hundreds of comments from my friends. They ranged from "OH MY GOD! That is so disgusting! " to "What were they like?" to "Why can't you eat sandwiches like everyone else?"
To Chinese people, chicken feet are a normal snack. To my friends in Britain, the thought of eating a chicken's foot is----well, weird . As weird, in fact, as eating a bullfrog, scorpion , snake, or turtle.
But if there are two things I love more than anything else in life, they are: trying new things and food.
I arrived in Beijing five months ago. Since then, I've searched for the "weirdest" foods so I can try them, then treat my friends to some "virtual eating" on my blog.
One weekend, I went to Wangfujing, Beijing's "snack street". The trip gave me tons of blog material.
"I chose a stick with three live, wriggling scorpions on it," I wrote. "And it was pretty good. The scorpion was warm and crispy. The legs did have a tendency to get stuck between one's teeth, however. What's more, I am sure scorpion number two stung me with its tail in revenge ."
Next came snake: "A bit like a cross between fish and chicken, with a slightly rubbery texture and meaty taste."
Some people were actually angry when I ate turtle soup----especially when I posted pictures showing the poor little guy's head staring sadly up at us from the bowl. "I am never speaking to you again," wrote one (former) friend.
Still, I will continue my culinary quest.
Next on my list is starfish, though I feel I should have some vegetables too----algae, maybe.
So what am I eating, tonight, you may ask. Pizza. Well, a girl's gotta have a break sometimes. | What is the writer's friends' attitude toward her trying "weird" foods? | They are surprised and even angry. | ['They are satisfied.', 'They are happy.', 'They are sorry.'] |
We got back home from Florida yesterday around 3 pm . It 's good to be home ... Now if I could just have another week of doing absolultely nothing ! This vacation was nice , but definitely not my favorite . | How do I feel about getting back home ? | I 'm glad to be finally back home ! | ["I feel annoyed that I 'm already home .", "I feel that it 's too soon to be home .", 'I feel upset at being at home .'] |
The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety. That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.
Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer . He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up -- how to catch wild elephants.
Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old life. "Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase," she says.
But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun. "My work," she says, "is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man." And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.
The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant. "Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans," she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed! | The passage starts with an elephant story in order to explain that in India _ . | the man-elephant relationship is getting worse | ['people easily fall victim to elephants attacks', 'dogs are as powerful as elephants', 'elephant tamers are in short supply'] |
Why are people interested in eating raw foods or whole foods? One reason is that eating these types of food reduces the risk of acid accumulation in your body.
Raw and whole foods are usually digested more efficiently than cooked and refined foods. When we cook foods, we destroy the natural enzymes that are part of the food in its raw form. These enzymes were intended by nature to help us digest the food. When we consume food without these natural enzymes, our bodies either digest the food improperly or allow too many nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream. In both instances, the result is obesity. When too many nutrients are absorbed at once, the body grows fat. Improperly digested food moves slowly through the digestive tract, where it becomes increasingly acidic . To protect its vital organs from this acidic waste, the body changes the acid into fat and stores it safely away from the organs.
Processed foods contain chemical elements, which might confuse the appetite mechanism that tells us when we've had enough to eat; as a result, people often overeat . Processed foods also upset the digestive cycle. The body will either identify these foods as allergens and then store them safely away from the organs as fat, or the remains of undigested food will become acidic and enter the bloodstream as acid waste, which will stick to the blood vessel walls and block the passage of vital oxygen and nutrients heading for the body's cells. The body's metabolism becomes inactive, and then result is weight gain and obesity.
The accumulation of acid in the digestive tract makes digestion increasingly inefficient. When that happens, even healthy foods can become acidic and the food allergies will become more common.
To stop this vicious circle in its tracks, people need to consume food and supplements that will neutralize (...)the acid already accumulated in body. Eating the right types of raw and whole foods can help. it's also important to restore your enzyme balance. You need to identify and avoid the foods that cause acid accumulation and consume the foods that increase enzyme production. If you truly want to change and help your body heal itself , you need to take an active approach.. | . Processed foods are unhealthy because they _ | may lead to obesity | ["destroy body's cells", 'are difficult to digest', "stop body's metabolism"] |
Do you like football? If so, you can read the following passage and find that it is interesting. In almost every big university in the United States, football is a favorite sport. American football is different. Players sometimes kick the ball, but they also throw the ball and run with it. They try to take it to the other end of the field. They have four chances to move the ball ten yards .
They can carry it or they can throw it. If they move the ball ten yards, they can try to move it another ten yards. If they move it to the end of the field, they receive six points.
It is difficult to move the ball. Eleven men on the other team try to stop the man with the ball. If he does not move the ball ten yards, his team kicks the ball the other team.
Each university wants its own team to win. Many thousands of people come to watch. They all shout for their favorite team. Young men and women come on the field to help the people shout more. They dance and jump while they shout.
Each team plays ten or eleven games each season. The season begins in September and ends in November. If a team is very good, it may play another game after the season ends. The best teams play again on January 1, the first day of the New Year. Many people go to see these games and many others watch them on TV. | Why is it difficult to move the ball? Because _ . | many men on the other team try not to let the ball come near | ['ten yards is a long way', 'the playing field is very large', 'eleven men have to catch the ball one by one'] |
For most South Africans, Nelson Mandela is the father of their nation - many even called him "Tata", a local word for father. It was sometimes forgotten that he was also a real father of six, grandfather of 18, great-grandfather of eight, and husband to three women.
He earned a place in history just like another father of a nation, Mahatma Gandhi. But there was a fundamental difference between these beloved men. While Gandhi was thought to be a depressed family man, Mandela was a strong and loving family man. Even so, Mandela and his family paid dearly for his devotion to his country's freedom.
Mandela himself offered a glimpse into his personal war. "To be the father of a nation is a great honor, but to be the father of a family is a greater joy. _ " he said in April 1992, announcing his separation from Winnie.
In 1944, Nelson Mandela married Evelyn. "I could not give up my life in the struggle," Mandela explained in his autobiography , Long Walk to Freedom, "and she (Evelyn) could not live with my devotion to something other than herself and her family... I never lost my admiration for her, but in the end we could not make our marriage work." They divorced in 1958.
When Evelyn died in 2004, Mandela stood at her graveside with his third wife, Graca. Winnie also attended the funeral.
Mandela married Winnie in 1958. But Winnie bore the hardship of life as Mandela, enduring her husband's 27-year imprisonment. From prison, Mandela wrote some of the greatest love letters to Winnie. "I dust it (your photo) carefully every morning - I even touch your nose with mine to regain the electric current that used to run through my blood whenever I did so."
For many South Africans, it was the end of a fairytale love story when their separation was made public in 1992. "Tensions" had arisen and they had agreed on a separation. The hurt in his words was clear: "Perhaps I was blinded to certain things because of the pain I felt for not being able to play my role as a husband to my wife and a father to my children."
"Unstable personal lives seemed freedom fighters' destiny ," he said. "When your life is the struggle, as mine was, there is little room left for family. That has always been my greatest regret, and the most painful aspect of the choice I made." The couple divorced in 1996. | What is the best title of the passage? | Mandela: not just the father of the nation. | ['Mandela: a devoted leader of the nation.', 'Mandela: a freedom fighter with deep love.', 'Mandela: success and failure.'] |
With fellow knitters , I was n't worried . But I had a long conversation with a loud , opinionated , very cool Cuban woman , and decided to try it out . " You know , it 's weird , I write straight romance , but I ' m married to a girl . " She just leaned forward and asked , " What is THAT like ? " | Where is the person the narrator is conversing with from ? | They are from the Caribbean . | ['They are from the United States .', 'They are from Canada .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
In the shadow of the Seattle Space Needle, almost alien crystalline forms wrap their deft tendrils through the Chihuly Garden and Glass.
Every single petal, bowl, stem and branch of cascading glass has been handblown under the guidance of Washington State native Dale Chihuly (in fact he grew up in nearby Tacoma), and we couldn’t quite believe our eyes.
Having discovered this exhibit through the magic of Jaime’s instagram (she’s a self-named Angloyankophile who grew up in Seattle before moving to London) I knew we would have to visit.
My photos don’t do the undulating forms any kind of justice; but they might just convey the incredible scale of the exhibition.
I’d always been curious to learn more about Chihuly, after being introduced to his incredible sculpture suspended over the V&A Museum information desk, a glowing confection of green and white glass whisps.
In 1968, after receiving a Fulbright Fellowship, he went to work at the Venini glass factory in Venice, observing the team approach to blowing glass, which is critical to the way he works today. In 1971, Chihuly cofounded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. With this international glass center, Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art.
His work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide. He has been the recipient of many awards, including twelve honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has also lost an eye to his passion, and now mostly directs the sculpture design and assembly.
It was truly amazing.
In 1999, Chihuly started an ambitious exhibition, Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem; where more than 1 million visitors attended the Tower of David Museum to view his installations. In 2001, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London curated the exhibition Chihuly at the V&A. Chihuly’s lifelong fascination for glasshouses has grown into a series of exhibitions within botanical settings. | When did the author discover the exhibit Chihuly Garden and Glass? | after seeing an Instagram | ['after watching on Youtube', 'not enough information', 'after seeing a Facebook post'] |
When you close your eyes and try to think of the shape of your own body, what you imagine (or rather, what you feel) is quite different from what you see when you open your eyes and look in the mirror. The image you feel is much vaguer than the one you see. And if you lie still, it is quite hard to imagine yourself as having any particular size or shape.
When you move, when you feel the weight of your arms and legs and the natural resistance of the objects around you, the "felt" image of yourself starts to become clearer. It is almost as if it were created by your own actions and the feelings they cause.
The image you create for yourself has rather strange proportions ; certain parts feel much larger than they look. If you get a hole in one of your teeth, it feels enormous; you are often surprised by how small it looks when you inspect it in the mirror.
Although the "felt" image may not have the shape you see in the mirror, it is much more important. It is the image through which you recognize your physical existence in the world. In spite of its strange proportions, it is all one piece, and since it has a consistent right and left and a top and bottom, it allows you to locate new feelings when they occur. It allows you to find your nose in the dark and point to a pain.
If the felt image is damaged for any reason--if it is cut in half or lost as it often is after certain strokes which wipe out recognition of one entire side -these tasks become almost impossible. What is more, it becomes hard to make sense of one's own visual appearance. If one half of the "felt" image is wiped out or injured, the patient stops recognizing the affected part of his body. It is hard for him to find the location of feelings on that side, and, although he feels the doctor's touch, he locates it as being on the undamaged side. | According to the passage the "felt" image _ the mirror image. | often different from | ['is precisely the same as', 'is as clear as', 'is always much smaller than'] |
I put a resume on a nanny website , a family called me and wanted to to do an application . I did and we talked for a long time . They seemed nice . By the next morning they had booked me a flight to Italy on vacation with them . | What type of line of work is the narrator interested in ? | The narrator wants to be in childcare . | ['None of the above choices .', 'The narrator wants to be in music .', 'The narrator wants to be in marketing .'] |
Now my plan is still the same ( liability ) but my monthly payment has lowered to just a few cents above $ 78.00 a month . So basically I ' m saving $ 30 a month compared to what I used to pay . Honestly I was n't expecting that big of a drop . | Why was the person not expecting his bill to be lowered so much ? | Normally insurance companies will not drop their price without a change in coverage . | ['This person thought his insurance company was had nosed negotiators .', 'This person was expecting a rate hike instead .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
How many times do you check your Moments or Facebook page in a day to see whether your latest post has got another "like" or "thumbs up"?
Although you might be embarrassed to admit how many times you do this, don't worry. Psychological findings have shown it's completely normal.
In fact, the pleasure we derive from getting a "like" is equal to that of eating chocolate or winning money, and we can't help wanting more.
According to the findings of the UCLA Brain Mapping Center, which observed 32 teens aged between 13 and 18, the feedback circuit in the teens' brains are particularly sensitive, and the "social" and "visual" parts of their brains were activated when they received "likes" on a social network. The research also showed that though the thumbs up might come from complete strangers, the good they derive from it worked equally.
So does it mean we should try our best to win as many thumbs up as possible?
Not necessarily so if we know the reasons behind our desire for attention.
In "Why do people crave attention" by M. Farouk Radwan, he explained several cases in which people naturally longed for attention. Radwan said people who were an only child, who were used to being the center of attention in their house, may try to reproduce these conditions. Feeling "overlooked and unappreciated" might also lead you to be eager for attention. Other times, the state of being jealous or wanting to cover your mistakes may also contribute to such longings.
In fact, too much desire for attention can create anxiety, and in turn ruin your happiness even when you get it. So what can we do about it? The answer is quite simple.
"If people could adopt goals not focused on their own self-esteem but on something larger than their self, such as what they can create or contribute to others, they would be less sensitive to some of the negative effects of pursuing self-esteem," wrote psychology professor Jennifer Crocker in the Journal of Social Issues. | Who will NOT naturally expect attention according to Radwan? | People who are living with their parents. | ['Those who lack social recognition.', 'People who are the focus of attention.', "Those who want to blanket what they've done."] |
The total area of land on earth is about 149 million square kilometers, or about 39 percent of the total area of the earth.
The average height of the land is about 750 metres above the sea level .The Eurasian land mass is the largest with an area of 54,527,600 square kilometers .The smallest continent is the Australian mainland, with an area of about 7,614,600 square kilometers, which together with Tasmania, New Zealand, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands, is described as Oceania .The total area of Oceania is about 8,935,500 square kilometres, including West Iran which is political in Asia .
The world's largest peninsula is Arabia ,with an area of about 3,327,500 square kilometres .
The largest island in the world is Greenland, with an area of about 2,175,600 square kilometres. The largest island surrounded by fresh water is the Ilha de Marajo (4,022 square kilometres) in the mouth of the Amazon River, Brazil .The largest island in a lake is Manitoulin Island (2,766 square kilometres) in the Canadian section of Lake Huron . This island itself has on it a lake of 106 square kilometres called Manitou lake, in which there are several islands. | The largest island surrounded by fresh water is in _ . | a river | ['a lake', 'a sea', 'an ocean'] |
Many times when people hear the words social networking, their brains automatically go to sites such as Twitter or Facebook. However, there are sites for those into social networking and into reading. Sound crazy?, It's really not. If you've ever wanted a site where you can receive book recommendations,follow your favorite authors,and keep up with what your friends are reading, then look no further than Goodreads. com.
Goodreads provides useful services for those in the reading world. It is a site where you can win books by going to giveaways and simply entering your information. Some giveaways are even signed by the author. And the books aren't boring,old or torn copies ---- many of them are ARC's (Advanced Readers Copies),for which you can write a short review on the site. Anyone can post reviews of their favorite books or series so that others may _ to read them as well.
Another function of the site is offering book clubs and interest groups. You can have interactive discussions with groups of people reading the same things,sort of like a blog. You can also make friends with people and post statuses similar to Facebook. Your friends can send you book recommendations and you can add them to your shelf if you choose.
Shelves are by far one of the best features on the site. You can categorize your entire library and put books you want to read on your"to-read" shelf. These virtual shelves allow you to see what you've read and also let you keep track of the number of books you've read in a year.
You can even read original writing for free because many people post their own writing on the site to gain feedback and advice on how to improve. Anyone can join this site for free and fall in love with not just a book, but a book site as well. | People who go to the site Twitter or Facebook mostly want to _ . | meet more people and make friends | ['get more books to read', 'buy goods for their daily life', 'post their book recommendations'] |
Nicolai Calabria has already become one of the best 106-pound wrestlers. He has successfully climbed to the top of the highest mountain in Africa, and most importantly, he's changed the attitude of any normal person who watches him compete.
The 17-year-old teenager has one leg. He was born that way, but his goal is to show it's not the one thing that defines him. He would also be the first one to tell you that he just wants to prove to others and himself that he's just like other normal ones.
When Calabria was young, his parents tried different prostheses to find out which was most comfortable for their son as he tried to keep up with the family, who has a preference for sports.
At first, the Calabrias had their middle child in a prosthesis that looked and functioned like a real leg, but soon they decided to choose a different path when they found it wasn't beneficial to his movement. Then the family moved him to arm crutches and from there a new burst of energy was found.
Getting others to believe that he could take off on the soccer field took a little bit longer. When the Calabrias moved to Concord, they had a hard time persuading the town soccer team to allow a child like him to compete with able-bodied kids. After months and months of debates and meetings, the family received the answer they were looking for. Since then, witnessing a young man on crutches who competes against those with two legs has become _ in the Concord community.
"At that time I had nothing but discouragement working with the soccer community; however, now I have nothing but admiration for the fact that he's been allowed to play, and people see that he adds value to game," his father said. "I just think it's a great result." | This passage shows us a boy with one leg _ . | can do what a normal teenager can | ['is realizing as many dreams as he can', 'can make a sport event more valuable', 'can add value to society'] |
In 2004 ,when my daughter Becky was ten , she and my husband ,Joe, were united in their desire for a dog . As for me , I shared none of their canine lust.
But why , they pleaded. "Because I don't have time to take care of a dog." But we'll do it. " Really? You're going to walk the dog? Feed the dog? Bathe the dog?" Yes, yes , and yes ."I don't believe you ." We will . We promise.
They didn't . From day two (everyone wanted to walk the cute puppy that first day ) , neither thought to walk the dog . While I was slow to accept that I would be the one to keep track of her shots , to schedule her vet appointments , to feed and clean her , Misty knew this on day one . As she looked up at the three new humans in her life (small, medium, and large) , she calculated , _
Quickly, she and I developed something very similar to a Vulcan mind meld . She'd look at me with those sad brown eyes of hers , beam her need , and then wait , trusting I would understand -- which , strangely , I almost always did . In no time , she became my feet as I read , and splaying across my stomach as I watched television .
Even so , part of me continued to resent walking duty . Joe and Becky had promised. Not fair , I'd balk silently as she and I walked . "Not fair , " I' d loudly remind anyone within earshot upon our return home .
Then one day -- January 1, 2007 , to be exact -- my husband ' s doctor uttered an unthinkable word : leukemia ( ) .With that , I spent eight to ten hours a day with Joe in the hospital , doing anything and everything I could to ease his discomfort. During those six months of hospitalizations, Becky, 12 at the time, adjusted to other adults being in the house when she returned from school. My work colleagues adjusted to my taking off at a moment's notice for medical emergencies. Every part of my life changed; no part of my old routine remained.
Save one: Misty still needed walking. At the beginning, when friends offered to take her
through her paces, I declined because I knew they had their own households to deal with.
As the months went by,I began to realize that I actually wanted to walk Misty. The walk in the morning before I headed to the hospital was a quiet, peaceful time to gather my thoughts or to just be before the day's medical drama unfolded. The evening walk was a time to shake off the day's upsets and let the worry tracks in my head go to white noise.
When serious illness visits your household, it's , not just your daily routine and your assumptions about the future that are no longer familiar. Pretty much everyone you acts differently.
Not Misty. Take her for a walk, and she had no interest in Joe's blood counts or 'one marrow test results. On the street or in the park, she had only one thing on her mind: squirrels! She Was so joyous that even on the worst days, she could make me smile. On a daily basis she reminded me that life goes on.
After Joe died in 2009,Misty slept on his pillow.
I'm gratefulto a point. The truth is, after years of balking, I've come to enjoy m' walks with Misty. As I watch her chase after a squirrel, throwing her whole being into the here-and-now of an exercise that has never once ended in victory, she reminds me, too, that no matter how harsh the present or unpredictable the future , there's almost always some measure of joy to be extracted from the moment. | Why did the writer continue to walk Misty while Joe was in hospital? | The walk provided her with spiritual comfort. | ["Misty couldn't live without her", "Her friends didn't offer any help", "She didn't want Misty to 'others companion."] |
Singer and songwriter Corrinne May's songs always try to express hope, joy and "a deeper beauty and meaning to the everyday moments of life."
Music seemed to play a part in May's life from the very beginning. Her parents say she hummed songs from the time she was two or three. May began taking classical piano lessons when she was five and started writing songs when she was eight. She won her first songwriting contest at 15.
May didn't always want to be a singer. In fact, at the National University of Singapore, May studied communications and English literature, planning to become a reporter. But upon graduation, her calling to do music was so strong that she decided to study in America at Berklee College of Music.
In 1999, after graduating from Berklee, May went to Los Angeles. She still lives there with her music producer husband, Kavin, and daughter, Claire.
In 2001 at the age of 28, May released her first album, "Corrinne May" and won an award. Since then, she has produced four more albums. May's university education turned out to be excellent preparation for writing music. She may not have become a reporter, but she learned to find material for her songs about daily life. Her understanding of literature also added beauty to her lyrics.
One personal turning point for May came in 2007 when she had a small heart operation. After that, she "began to look deeper into things I had once ignored."
May's song "Beautiful Seed" grew out of this. The song encourages people to go after their dreams and compares every person to a seed with the ability to change the world and her experiences have changed her from a "beautiful seed" into the artist she is today. | Which of the following is TRUE about May according to the text? | She married a music producer. | ['She lives in her hometown with her family now.', 'She graduated from Berklee at the age of 28.', 'She has released four albums.'] |
Parents are fuelling bad behavior among their children by attempting to "buy" their love with expensive gifts nowadays.
Over recent decades we seem to have created a "must have" culture among our young people. Many mothers and fathers believe they are "failing as parents" if they are unable to ensure that their children have the latest toy, electronic devices (the lap-top, cellphones, Game Boy, etc.) along with their friends. In many cases, families also feel pressured to enroll children in "'every interest club or after-school activity that is available" to fill up their time like most of the other children.
But experts warned that the move might affect "precious family time" negatively. Graham Gorton, chairman of the Independent Schools Association, said that parents spent too much time filling their children's lives, which had a series of negative effects on "the very precious family time that exists".
"It seems that those times when a whole weekend without planned work was seen as a luxury and a perfect opportunity to spend time together and share those valuable moments of childhood are long gone," Mr. Gorton said. "As a child I only once said that phrase that parents feared 'I'm bored'. Immediately my mother took action and produced a list of jobs and then insisted that I complete every one of them. Though l didn't think cleaning all the floors could really get rid of my boredom, I enjoyed the feeling of staying at home with my mother and brothers."
Earlier this year, some researchers suggested that relatively wealthy parents were sometimes guilty of failing to teach basic social skills to children. "Often, it's the rich middle classes that buy off their children through the computer and the TV. That then sets them apart from their family, and then the parents are surprised when their child isn' t coming to school." | From the passage we can infer that _ . | only satisfying children's material needs is not a good way of parenting | ["wealthy parents don't like teaching basic social skills to children", 'parents should be much more strict with their children at home', 'children should not be brought up in a wealthy and pleasant environment'] |
Things always look better after a hot cuppa - my mum or gram said something like that . And , of course , it 's tea with milk ( not cream , as the Americans do ) and no sugar . That warm mug of steaming , milky liquid is something I rely upon to take me through an afternoon of work at my computer , reading , writing , transcribing , thinking - whatever . The third need derives from what I can only describe as an oral fixation . | What may be the reason I drink so much tea ? | None of the above choices . | ['I am Swedish .', 'I am German .', 'I am American .'] |
What are the worst examples of false advertising you've seen? Did you fall prey to their claims?
Rather that vouch for myself - my story is trite, and not particularly interesting - I'll relay the tale one of my nurses shared with me when I was laid up in the hospital for a few weeks. Call her R.
R was from an Eastern European country. We chit-chatted a lot, while she was taking my blood pressure readings and stuff. Lots of fun stories! But she relayed to me one of her first U.S. memories:
She wanted to lose weight. She was impressed by some things the U.S. had to offer - "you have actual nutritional information on everything!" - and thus figured everything she encountered was on the level. And she found a "miracle cure" company who was along those lines! "These are AWESOME miracle shoe inserts! Wear them, and the pounds will melt away!" She saved her pennies and dimes; she sprung for the inserts.
She received them... and they were shoe inserts; that much was true. But then there was their documentation: "using these insoles, combined with a 1200 calorie-per-day diet...." Like a 1200-calorie diet won't likely involve weight-loss, no matter what else you did, shoe inserts aside. The inserts did nothing, obviously. It was a sham.
At which point she knew she was snookered, but really had no recourse. She wasn't explicit about it, but I got the feeling that it was a leading factor towards her chosen profession. "I might not have been the most sage medical person ever, but I'm gonna rectify that, and if ever I hear someone falling for that sort of gambit again, I'll be there to nip those sentiments in the bud with my own anecdotes." Which is awesome.
I still feel for her. I wish I had contact information, so I could touch base, and express those thoughts personally. But that's the most personally resonant version of false advertising affecting someone that I've seen. | Why was R impressed? | Actual nutritional information on everything | ['not enough information', 'The large selection of available goods.', 'Clearly labeled prices.'] |
It sucks but it 's only going to be another two months . The hardest thing is having to be disciplined during the 2nd time of the month that I get paid because 90 % of that check covers my rent and after that check goes through I have very little plus whatever I had left over from the payday of the 7th after those bills cleared . The name change announcements were another umm added expense and in hindsight I should ' ve added it to my larger debt before I transferred everything but I did not so I will have to send in a larger payment in on the card that I usually use for my fast trak . | What is the narrator focused on making reforms in ? | Their spending habits . | ['Their business announcements .', 'Their way of making announcements .', 'Their payments to friends .'] |
However we managed to walk all the way around and despite cars driving by no one stopped us . We go back near where we had started . We saw that down in a 12 ft deep moat was an open window . | What will happen with the narrator and the window they have found ? | The narrator will look see what is beyond the window . | ['The narrator will look everywhere but the window .', 'None of the above choices .', 'The narrator will look away from the window .'] |
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump disclosed in a financial report filed with the government’s ethics watchdog Tuesday that he had reimbursed his personal lawyer more than $100,000 for unspecified expenses.
In his annual financial disclosure form, which was released by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that he had “fully reimbursed” his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the range of $100,000 to $250,000 in 2016.
Trump’s lawyers have previously said the president reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 Cohen paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign to keep her quiet about a sexual tryst she said she had with Trump 10 years earlier.
Trump has denied the affair but recently confirmed reimbursing Cohen through a monthly retainer to stop “false and extortionist accusations” made by Daniels about an affair. Cohen has also acknowledged making the payment.
The disclosure said that while the payment to Cohen was not a “reportable” liability, Trump chose to list it “in the interest of transparency.” It did not say why Trump had left it out of his 2017 financial disclosure documents, though one of the president’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, has said that Trump didn’t know about the payment when he reported his finances last year.
The Office of Government Ethics, in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, said it had determined that the payment to Cohen constituted a loan that should have been reported. However, it said the information Trump provided in his latest financial form met “the disclosure requirements for a reportable liability” under the Ethics in Government Act.
Under the Ethics in Government Act, top government officials are required to report all debts in excess of $10,000 during the previous reporting period. “Knowingly or willfully” falsifying or failing to file reports carries civil and criminal penalties. Trump listed several hundred million dollars in liabilities in his financial report.
Critics seized on the OGE’s letter to charge that Trump’s earlier omission of the payment could amount to a violation of federal laws on financial disclosures. | Trump probably feels how about being accused of sexual misconduct? | mad | ['indifferent', 'proud', 'not enough information'] |
The U.S. State Department has asked American embassies and consulates around the world to identify certain groups that should get extra scrutiny when they apply for visas.
A series of directives also instructs U.S. diplomatic posts overseas to review the social media accounts of visa applicants who are suspected of terrorist ties or of having been in Islamic State group-controlled areas.
The diplomatic cables sent by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson directed embassies to convene security and intelligence working groups to determine criteria for "population sets" that would warrant increased scrutiny before traveling to the U.S.
Even if the applicant otherwise qualifies for a visa, those identified as meeting the criteria would require additional scrutiny, leading to a possible visa denial.
It is the first evidence of a plan for the "extreme vetting" of foreigners entering the United States that President Donald Trump promised during his campaign.
The four cables sent between March 10 and March 17 do not define which groups would be considered among the "population sets" requiring more scrutiny.
But in the first glimpse into what "extreme vetting" may look like under the Trump administration, one of Tillerson's memos would have added to the interview process questions about an applicant's workplaces, employers, addresses and travel history going back 15 years, as well as all email addresses and social media handles used in the last five years.
The questions were withdrawn in a following memo, pending approval of the list by another federal agency.
The directives, first reported by Reuters, quickly drew criticism from rights groups and others who've accused Trump of discriminating against Muslims through his now-suspended ban on travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
"These measures could provide license for discrimination based on national origin and religion,'' human rights group Amnesty International wrote in a letter to Tillerson on Thursday. "They could provide a pretext for barring individuals based on their nonviolent beliefs and expression. Social media checks, as well as demands for social media passwords at U.S. borders, have significant implications for privacy and freedom of expression.'' | What is probably true of Tillerson? | He wants to protect the US | ["He has the country's best interest at heart", 'not enough information', 'He is not worried about terrorism'] |
I ' ve had a couple of odd dreams the last couple of nights . Thursday night I did n't sleep well . I kept waking up , tossing & turning , dreaming for a few seconds , and repeating . In the dreams I was at some anime con or something(people were dressed up as anime & video game characters ) and I would take pictures . The thing is , even though it was really crowded , whenever I went to take someone 's picture , I would have a clear shot of them and no one would move between me and them ever . | Why may the narrator be dreaming of such things as anime ? | The narrator is a video game enthusiast . | ['The narrator is a history fan .', 'The narrator is drunk before bed .', 'The narrator is a fan of sports games .'] |
No matter where we were , I wanted to be one with you , forever . But you , in a world where I did n't exist , found happiness , did n't you ? That 's why I ' m going to die . | what can we tell about the narrator | he cared about someone | ['None of the above choices .', 'he wanted to be one with everything', 'he wanted to be one with the skies'] |
Glastonbury Festival:
Time and place: 22nd~26th June, Pilton, Somerse. Recognized as the best summer festival season, Glastonbury is one of the biggest and oldest festivals in the UK. Last year's 40th anniversary was their best ever, even though the supergroup U2 canceled last minute because of Bono injuring his back.
Latitude Festival:
Time and place:14th~17th July, Henham Park, Suffolk. Now in its sixth year, this festival is the choice for more families. It is providing visitors with a range of entertainment to accompany the music, including comedy, show, theatre and literature.
Shrewsbury Folk Festival:
Time and place: 26th~29th August, West Mids Show Ground, Shrewsbury. Announced as one of the best folk festivals in the UK, this festival is only in its sixth year. It takes place over the 4 days of the August bank holiday weekend, and moved to Shrewsbury in 2006.
Download Festival:
Time and place: 10th and 12th, June, Donington Park Derby. It is a three-day rock music festival held every year. The name Download was chosen for the festival for two reasons. Downloading was a dirty work in the music industry at the time because of file sharing and rock is seen as a rebellious type of music. | Which festival is one of the oldest festivals in the UK? | Glastonbury Festival | ['Download Festival', 'Latitude Festival', 'Shrewsbury Folk Festival'] |
One-hundred-and seventh birthdays aren't usually celebrated for authors who aren't alive anymore. But Theodor Seuss Geisel---better known as the children's books author Dr. Seuss ---who came into the world on 2 March, 1904, was an unusual man.
Like generations of children I was raised on his wonderful stories. But when I now read them to my children it's not just the childhood memories I enjoy. His writing is brilliant and imaginative and flows with a self-confidence as sure as the words of a Shakespeare poem. Readers ride his characteristic rhythm with an effortless joy that cannot be matched by any other modern writer:
You have brains in your head
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself any direction you choose
And will you succeed?
Yes indeed, yes indeed!
Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.
Seuss's brilliant cartoons and clever words make his books a delight for adults but they attract mostly children of course. His stories teach kids moral lessons but in indirect and entertaining ways.
The first Seuss book I was given was The Lorax, written just as the 60s were becoming the 70s. Seuss was ahead of his time, and in this book the dawn of concern for environmental problems are shown as the Lorax "who speaks for the trees" battles against an evil businessman who wants to destroy the forest and make goods "which everyone needs".
It's not only a warning of the heavy price of environmental destruction, written well before most people had thought to worry, but it's also a smart analysis of consumer societies: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." This is of course a moral message, but not of the kind designed to persuade the youngsters into behavior that adults want.
I could go on, but hey, it's a birthday, and I'm sure you folks have some good toasts to raise for the party... | Why do adults also enjoy Seuss's books? | His words and pictures are imaginative enough to be enjoyed by all. | ['His books give children obvious moral messages to learn from.', 'He writes about adult topics in a way that is understandable to children.', 'He was the first person to write about the environment.'] |
Eat less and exercise more--it has long been a magic word for reducing those extra weight. But now it seems that all the hard work may have been in vain.
Scientists say there are ten other reasons why people just keep getting bigger. They say that sleeping habits, central heating, medicines and even some pollutants can play a role in weight gain.
Traditionally, people have focused on diet and exercise to solve the problem. However the scientists from top US and Canadian universities say that other things must be considered.
Lack of sleep could be partly the reason. In recent years, the average night's sleep has dropped from nine hours to just seven. Sleep shortage changes levels of the hormones that control food intake and body fat and increase hunger and appetite.
If it is too hot or too cold, we burn calories to cool down or heat up. But if the temperature is just right, the calories may be turned into body fat instead.
Those who take medicine to control their blood pressure can often put on weight. Similarly, studies have shown that going on the Pill can add to a woman's weight.
Mother nature may also be the reason, with our body shape being partly inherited . The overweight are also more likely to settle with partners of a similar size. And their children are more likely to be obese .
And the use of pollutants is on the rise, say the researchers. The man-made chemicals in pesticides and plastics can lead to weight gain.
Your mother's age and your weight at birth are also important, with older woman more likely to have obese children and underweight babies having a bigger chance of being obese in later life.
We also tend to put on weight as we get older. Finally, giving up smoking can also help pile on the pounds.
The scientists from Yale, Cornell and Johns Hopkins said there was some evidence supporting poor diet and lack of exercise as the main causes of obesity. | Which of the following factors doesn't lead to overweight? | Regular and enough sleep. | ['Comfortable living environment.', 'Not enough physical exercise.', 'harmful chemicals in the food.'] |
I had this one guy, who enjoyed being a part time bully and part time neutral to me.
To say the least he was annoying. He'd take the liberty to hide my backpack, borrow my books without consent, doodle scandalous stuff on my notebooks with a pen and yada yada.
So one day, I was showing this cool trick I learned on an anatomy program on the TV to a couple of classmates who used to sit around me. The thing was that you can't flex your ring finger upwards if you put your middle finger under the palm (try that)
We were all kids, and soon everyone in the class started staring at us weirdos looking laughing at out hands. The bully noticed it too, and came near to inquire about this hand stuff. I described the trick and he was impressed.
And then,
I saw our teacher walking up the corridor, just a couple paces behind the class door. So, I asked him (the bully) if he wanted to see another trick and to that he nodded a big yes.
Cool,
What I did was, that I grabbed his right arm by the thumb and put it on my throat right above the larynx. Then I quickly shifted my grip to his wrist. He without batting an eye, asked what I was doing, but then I started beating the desk with my other hand and made squeaking noises while pushing his hand against my throat harder with every turning head. And voilà! Every one in the class (including the teacher) thought he was smothering me.
After a few ifs and buts between him and the teacher, he was summoned at the principal’s chambers, from where, later he was sent home, where presumably judging from the look on his face for the next few days, he was beat to crap by his folks.
And after that, never was I ever bothered by anyone in the school.(^^) | How long did the bullying go on? | Longer than a few months | ['not enough information', "It's still going on", 'A few days at school'] |
Tabitha wakes up with a simle almost everyday . those days that i am not there to wake her up and she cries to get my attention as soon as i walk into her bedroom she smiles and starts to jump up and down excitedly . Zach was never quite this happy and he is now developing into a moody three year old . but Tabitha , she is a just a delight most of the time . | Why does Tabitha cry if she wakes up and no one is there ? | To get her parent 's attention | ['None of the above choices .', 'She wants to go back to sleep', 'She is tired'] |
"YOUR password has expired ," a message said on my screen, with instructions for changing it. Coming up with a new code doesn't seem like a big deal, unless you work at my company, where we have to change it monthly, using at least one uppercase character, one lowercase character, one symbol, and one number. Oh, the whole password can't be fewer than eight characters. And I can't use any of the same passwords I've used in the past three months.
Suddenly I was furious . What didn't make it any better was that I was deeply depressed after my recent divorce. Disbelief about what she had done to me was all I thought about every day.
I remembered a tip I'd heard from my former boss. He'd said: "I'm going to use a password to change my life."
I couldn't focus on getting things done in my current mood. There were clear signs of what I needed to do to get control of my life again.
My password became the sign. My password reminded me that I shouldn't let myself be a victim of my recent breakup and that I was strong enough to do something about it.
I made my password Forgive@h3r.
I had to type this several times a day. The simple action changed the way I looked at my ex-wife. That constant reminder led me to accept the way things had happened and find a new way of dealing with my depression. As the month wore on, I felt a slow healing begin to happen. By the time my server asked me to reset my password the following month, I felt free.
One month later, my dear Exchange server asked me yet again to reset my password. I thought about the next thing that I had to get done.
My password became Quit@smoking4ever.
I quit smoking overnight.
This password was a painful one to type during that month, but doing it helped me to yell at myself in my mind as I typed that statement. It motivated me to follow my monthly goal.
One month later, my password became Save4trip@thailand.
Guess where I went three months later: Thailand.
Seeing how these reminders helped to achieve my goals kept me motivated and excited. While it's sometimes difficult to come up with your next goal, keeping at it brings great results | What message does the author intend to convey through his story? | Setting yourself a goal and keeping at it can bring great results. | ["Never let yourself be a victim of others' faults.", 'Be patient with the healing process for any pain.', 'Constant reminders can be positive as well as negative.'] |
Larisa Grollemond is conducting a comparative study of illuminations in the Mirror of History (Speculum historiale, Miroir historial) as a graduate intern in the Manuscripts Department of the Getty Museum. The massive text, compiled in the 1200s by friar Vincent of Beauvais and translated into French in the 14th century by Jean de Vignay, attempts to compile all of world history from creation to the present into a single source. “If our twenty-first-century way of understanding everything is to put it on the Internet,” she says, “the medieval way of understanding was to create big encyclopedic texts that try to encompass all of human history and biblical history in an organized way.”
Larisa, who recently completed her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on 15th-century French manuscript culture, is focusing on the Getty volumes’ unique program of illuminations. The French translation of the Miroir historial exists in some 40 known copies, and while the text remains mostly unchanged from copy to copy, the illuminations vary dramatically, both in how scenes are depicted and in which episodes artists choose to depict. Larisa has decided to focus on the evolution of depictions of India and its inhabitants across these various copies, because the Getty copy, which dates to 1475, contains images that are different from earlier illuminated versions. While other copies don’t dedicate more than one or two illustrations to India, the Getty copy has several that draw upon the medieval tradition of the “monstrous peoples” as well as knowledge of geography, materials, and customs newly gained through trade.
This work ties into broader scholarly efforts to shed light on globalization in the Middle Ages. “Scholars of medieval art have generally thought of Western Europe as the center and non-European places as the periphery. There has now been a revision of that view,” says Larisa. “These manuscripts provide an interesting glimpse into how late-medieval Europeans made sense of their world, including globalization and multiculturalism,” she adds. | What subject did Larisa probably enjoy the most in high school? | History | ['Mathematics', 'not enough information', 'Physical education'] |
When we don't understand each other's language, we can talk with the help of signs.
A Frenchman was once travelling in England. He could not speak English at all. One day he went into a restaurant and sat down at a table. When the waiter came, he opened his mouth, put his fingers in it, and took out again. He wanted to say . "Bring me something to eat." The waiter soon brought him a cup of tea. The man moved his head from side to side. The waiter understood him and took the tea away. In a moment he came with a cup of coffee. But the man again refused it. He shook his head whenever the waiter brought him something to drink, for drinks are not food. When the man was going away, another man came in. This man saw the waiter , and he put his hand on his stomach. That was enough. In a few minutes there was a large plate of meat and vegetables on the table in front of him.
So you see, we cannot understand the language of signs as well as we can understand the language of words. | A Frenchman signed to the waiter _ . | to ask him for food | ['to give him some medicine', 'to bring him a cup of coffee', 'to tell him what he said'] |
For poets, bird song is a beautiful expression of nature in full bloom. But for scientists, the chirps of birds are far more meaningful than just pretty sounds. Latest studies show the way that young birds learn to sing is similar to that of a human baby learning to speak.
"The question we're trying to answer is how a young bird learns its song," says Professor Michale Fee of MIT. Bird's creative, trial-and-error type of learning provides an ideal model for studying similar processes in humans. An example is how a baby's babble turns into the recognizable syllables of mama and papa.
Also the part of the brain that is involved in bird song is very similar to that of a human. So birds may have something to teach us about our own brains, Fee said.
The study shows that young birds like to create new and imperfect songs. Gradually, the youngsters' songs become less different and more similar to the sound of their parents. Scientists disabled part of a young finch's brain and stopped the learning in midstream. The bird still sings. But never learns the right songs.
Fee's team found that the part of the brain involved is called the anterior forebrain pathway. Its neurons produce random bursts that make the young bird make new sounds and compared it with that of their parents. They also find out that once a bird is old enough that part of the brain will be less active.
The study does not enable us to really understand the meaning of bird language. But Fee believes it will eventually be applied to human brain diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. | According to the scientists,_plays the most significant role in the learning process of young birds. | the part of brain called anterior forebrain pathway | ['the trial-and-error type of learning', 'the example of their parents', 'the creation of new and imperfect songs'] |
"Maybe we're being too harsh with the letter," said Janine.
"Hon, as his parents we have a responsibility to his well being," said Bob.
"I know but I just think he doesn't need this added pressure."
"Jan, I'll be damned if I'm gonna support and house a drug addict."
"I just think maybe he's going through tough times or something. He told me the other day he wanted to see a therapist."
"Hmm."
"Maybe there's something going on we don't understand. I mean didn't he seem a little paranoid to you today at lunch?"
"Paranoia is a side-effect of the marijuana."
"Well I still think we are being a little harsh, I mean, we can't just throw our son out on the street."
"Babe, its our job to be harsh when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's for his own good. Either he chooses to keep living rent free in the condo without the pot or he chooses to ruin his life."
"I know but don't you think we should let this little phase run its course? I mean, we're not entirely innocent ourselves. Eventually he's gonna want to stop smoking pot,"
"I don't know if he is, Jan. He's expressed to me several times that he has no interest in quitting."
"He's said that to me too."
"Well I think that's a pretty big red flag, don't you?"
"Yes."
"He needs to get his priorities in order and realize that drugs aren't gonna do him any good. If we have to force him to do that then that's what has to be done. I mean, tell me you haven't had any difficulty falling asleep at night with the notion that our sons are drug addicts."
"Well at least Ben has a job and is paying his own rent."
"I know but those people he hangs out with, Mack and Allison, those dopers that spend their time smoking weed, they...they're our age, and did you see their house, the stacks of books and newspapers and the marijuana pipes laying on the coffee table? It sickens me that there are people out there like that." | What happened before they were writing a letter? | They had lunch with Bob | ['Jan went shopping', 'Ben got a new condo', 'not enough information'] |
Air pollution, such as haze, has become a serious problem around the world. Besides wearing a mask, what else can we do to protect ourselves from the dirty air?
Scientists have developed a new inhaler that can reduce the effect air pollution has on people. It could help millions of people who are suffering from air pollution,the Guardianreports.
This inhaler is developed by German company Bitop and contains a molecule named Ectoine. The molecule creates a layer that protects lungs from polluted air. It's reported that the inhaler will be affordable to most people when it comes to the market.
Air pollution kills more than three million people a year worldwide and leads to health problems like lung and heart disease and strokes, according to a 2016 research project in the journalNature. It is also linked to brain disease, mental illness and diabetes .
Andreas Bilstein at Bitop believed that the inhaler could be useful around the world, because air pollution is not just a European problem: "Especially in Asia - China in particular - the demand for such a product is even higher."
Many Chinese cities have been suffering from haze. According to World Health Organization, two of the 10 most polluted cities in the world in 2015 were in China. About 800,000 deaths that are linked to air pollution take place in the country every year.
However, such inhalers should never be an excuse for not trying to stop air pollution, said Professor Jean Krutmann at the Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine. "The best thing is that we have clean air and we don't need any prophylactic treatment," he said. | Which of the following is NOT true? | There are no air pollution problems in Europe. | ['Air pollution kills millions of people a year worldwide.', 'Air pollution can cause mental illness.', 'Air pollution is a serious problem in China.'] |
For the last 10 years, job listing site CareerBuilder has put out a list called "The Most Unbelievable Excuses for Calling in Sick." For example, an employee said he couldn't come in because his false teeth flew out the window while he was driving down the highway. The excuses were gathered through a survey that ran among 3,000 workers and 2,000 hiring managers.
The list is entertaining but there is a more serious issue hidden in this story. Federal law does not require private employers to give any paid sick leave, making the US the only one of the world's wealthiest nations that doesn'tguarantee workers this right. Since 2006, cities and states have been adopting their own paid sick leave laws. California, Washington. DC and 13 cities including New York now require many employers to provide some sort of paid sick leave. But according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, 39% of private employees still have no access to paid days off. In the CareerBuilder survey, 38% of respondents said they go to work when they're sick because they can't afford to miss a day's pay. The survey also shows that workers are taking a risk when they come up with _ excuses. Nearly one in five employers says they have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse. If you're spending the day at the beach while pretending to be ill, don't post about it on Facebook. Nearly one in four employers (24%) has caught an employee lying about being sick by checking social media.
The motto of this story: If you really are sick, don't come to work and spread your bacteria around the office. But if you just want to stay home, go with "I'm running a fever." rather than one of these ridiculous excuses. | An employee will run the risk of being fired if he _ . | lies about being sick | ['asks for sick leave', 'posts his holiday on Facebook', 'spreads bacteria around the office'] |
Last Friday, I was coming home late after spending time with friends and thought I'd go down to the $99 cent pizza place. On the way, I saw a man sitting on the stairs alone there. I'd seen him before every day I run late to work, but this time I had no place to rush off to.
There was something about him, a quiet manner, different from many of other homeless people I had seen in New York City. I walked past him, went to the pizza place, and those 10 seconds waiting in line was enough to practice stepping outside of my usual, familiar flow. So with a few slices in hand, I went back to join him. I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, but not for pizza because it made him uncomfortable. He'd rather have a few bucks for chicken and rice since it was easier on his stomach. It's funny, in that moment, he became more real to me.
This man I had seen almost every day was someone with specific conditions, needs, and experiences. We exchanged names and ended up talking for a little over an hour that night as Kevin told me stories from his life, how he had done things when "he was younger and didn't know any better" and how he tried to make amends but too much time had passed. He shared his views on the value for young adults to learn the history of other people.
He talked about his one wish being in his 60's before he leaves this earth, which is to share his story with the teenagers and young adults so they could avoid the mistakes he went through. Throughout the conversation, he eventually got his chicken and rice and gifted me a rose he had been carrying. Shortly afterwards, I made my way home, thinking to myself, "I met an amazing homeless person". | How do you like the homeless man after reading the passage? | Honorable. | ['Learned.', 'Determined.', 'Promising.'] |
Like fine food, good writing is something we approach with pleasure and enjoy from the first taste to the last. And good writers, like good cooks, do not suddenly appear full-blown. Quite the opposite, just as the cook has to undergo a particular training, mastering the skills of his trade, the writer must sit at his desk and devote long hours to achieving a style in his writing, whatever its purpose is--schoolwork, matters of business, or purely social communication.
You may be sure that the more painstaking the effort, the more effective the writing, and the more rewarding.
There are still some faraway places in the world where you might find a public scribe to do your business or social writing for you, for money. There are a few managers who are lucky enough to have the service of that rare kind of secretary who can take care of all sorts of letter writing with no more than a quick note to work from. But for most of us, if there is any writing to be done, we have to do it ourselves.
We have to write school papers, business papers or home papers. We are constantly called on to put words to papers. It would be difficult to count the number of such words, messages, letters, and reports put into mails or delivered by hand, but the daily figures must be extremely large. What is more, everyone who writes expects, or at least hopes whatever he writes will be read, from first word to last, not just thrown into some "letters-to-be-read" files or into a wastepaper basket. This is the reason we bend our efforts toward learning and practicing the skills of interesting, effective writing. | The purpose of the author in writing this passage is to _ . | explain and persuade | ['comment and blame', 'introduce and describe', 'interest and inform'] |
TV IN CHICAGO(May, 7, 2013)
2:30 AM Weekend ABC 7 News(Repeat)
The top local, regional and national news events are presented by the ABC 7
Weekend News Team, along with weather, sports and travel conditions.
3:00 AM Inside Edition(New, TV-PG)
Rumors about mass murderer Charles Manson's secret son.
3:30 AM America This Morning(New)
Live reports from ABC News headquarters in Washington D. C. early morning news events and the top headlines of the day are examined and reported.
4:30 AM ABC 7 News This Morning(New)
The ABC 7 Morning News Team provides a general look at overnight and early morning news events, weather forecasts and traffic updates for early risers.
5:00 AM Mirror Mirror
Reporter Rebecca Spera provides the latest developments in the beauty, health and fashion industries and answers commonly-asked beauty questions.
5:30 AM Home with Lisa Quinn
Professional designer Lisa Quinn shows how to refurnish, reorganize and redesign the home in order to maximize convenience and style.
6:00AM Everyday Living
Quick beauty tips;protect yourself from money problems;the four most commonly parenting mistakes.
7:00AM Windy City Live(Repeat)
Tile ABC 7 team of hosts provides the latest on things of interest in Chicago including cultural events, lifestyle topics, fashion trends and celebrity news.
*TV-PG:programs for children with parents' guidance | Which content should be watched with parents' guidance? | Rumors about Charles Manson's secret son. | ['Commonly-asked beauty questions.', 'Celebrity news.', 'Lifestyle topics.'] |
"Hon? You still awake?"
Quiet.
Jan pulled herself out of the bed and stood up, looking around the dark room for anything. She needed something, something that she could grab onto, and hold, hold until it hurt, hold until blood made racing red lines down her arms, until her hands were raw. She left the room and walked quietly into the now guest room that had been Rob's. Opening the closet, she found the teddy bear that Rob had once confided in and held it in her arms tight as she slumped down on the bed. A quiet sobbing rang through the house accompanied only by the chime of the grandfather clock in the living room every fifteen minutes. As Jan lay on the guest room bed she soon resorted to deep gasps, knowing that meager tears would never be forceful enough to express her worry to those that listened. "Just bring him home, bring him home, bring him home," she mumbled over and over, each time changing the tone slightly in a desperate attempt to make her pleading sound more real.
She could hear the occasional snore of her husband and she hated him for it. What kind of person could find sleep at a time like this? Why wasn't he awake worrying? Why wasn't he with her? Her thoughts became dark like blood, evil little monsters eating at her sanity. If her son was crazy and not just a drug addict she could see how easy it was to fall over the line. "Please God, please God, please God, please Rob, Please Rob, Please Rob, Please Rob." Soon, a sleep came but it was peppered with demons. And as the sliver of sun peeked through the window, she held her false self-control tight and said little. | Rob is likely: | a hophead | ['not enough information', 'in jail', 'laying in an alley'] |
Since Henry Ford turned it into a mass-market product a century ago, the car has delivered many benefits. It has promoted economic growth, increased social mobility and given people a lot of fun. But the car has also brought many problems. It pollutes the air, creates traffic jams and kills people. An astonishing 1.24 million people die, and as many as 50 million are hurt, in road accidents each year.
Drivers and passengers waste around 90 billion hours in traffic jams each year. In some car-choked cities as much as a third of the petrol used is burned by people looking for a space to park.
Fortunately, a new technology promises to make motoring safer, less polluting and less tendency to hold-ups. "Connected cars"--which may eventually develop into driverless cars but for the foreseeable future will still have a human at the wheel-can communicate wirelessly with each other and with traffic-management systems, avoid walkers and other vehicles and find open parking spots.
Some parts of the transformation are already in place. Many new cars are already being fitted with equipment that lets them keep their distance and stay in a motorway automatically at a range of speeds. Soon, all new cars in Europe will have to be able to warn the emergency services if their on-board sensors discover a crash. Singapore has led the way with using variable tolls to smooth traffic flows during rush-hours; Britain is pioneering "smart motorways", whose speed limits vary constantly to achieve _ . Combined, these new inventions could create a much more highly effective system in which cars and their drivers are constantly warned of dangers and showed the ways, traffic always flows at the proper speed and vehicles can travel closer together, yet with less risk of crashing.
In the past, more people driving meant more roads, more jams, more death and more pollution. In future, the connected car could offer mankind the pleasures of the road with rather less of the pain. | Which of the following can be the best title of the text? | The Future of Cars: Wireless Wheels | ['The Future Traffic Management System', 'The Benefits and Problems of Cars', 'The Promising Future of Car Production'] |
I had planned to spend Yule with my mum and family down south , but obviously I ca nt leave him like this when he needs so much looking after and I would just be worried about him , so I ' m in York for mid - winter . I was worried that I would be on my own ( Aaron and Barney will be with Aaron 's mum in Luton , Ellen and Luke will spend Christmas day with Ellen 's family ) with only a crippled cat for company . Luckily there were penguins to the rescue ! Baz and Gemma very nobly agreed to join me in York , and very grateful I am for it . | What holiday is the narrator getting ready for ? | They are celebrating the December 25th holiday . | ['None of the above choices .', 'They are celebrating Hannukah .', 'They are celebrating Thanksgiving .'] |
When a big exam is coming up, you probably feel anxious about any wasted time and want to begin school as soon as you probably can.
But tens of thousands of British high school students will soon be getting up later. They're taking part in a new experiment by Oxford University to see if later classes can improve their exam results.
Grades 10 students in the UK have to take the nationwide General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams. They have to pass these exams in order to study more advanced courses, and later apply for universities.
The Oxford University project means that GCSE students from more than 100 schools across England will start school at 10 am, more than one hour later than the current start time (8:50 am).
The project is based on scientific evidence that teenagers are "out of sync " with traditional school hours, the Telegraph reported. And what they need is more sleep in the morning.
"We know that something funny happens when you're a teenager, in that you seem to be out of sync with the world," said professor Colin Epsie, who is leading the study. "Your parents think it's because you are lazy and opinionated and everything will be OK if you could get to sleep earlier. But science is telling us that teenagers need to sleep more in the mornings."
Everyone follows a natural cycle of sleep and wakefulne ss. Biology has decided that teenagers go to sleep around midnight and don't feel fully awake until 9-10 am, according to scientists. That's two hours later than adults. And their body clocks stay like this until the age of around 21 for males, and 19 for females.
"Society provides school for learning, but the brain provides sleep. So we are exploring the possibility that if you delay the schools start time until 10 am, that will improve learning performance," said Epsie.
The results could be positive, based on previous studies.
An early study at the UK's Monkseaton High School in 2009 found that starting an hour later improved grades in core subjects by 19 percent.
The Oxford project is expecting to publish the results in 2018. It's time to wait and see whether scientists will give us an excuse to get up late. | What's the best title of the article ? | Wake up late to excel | ["It's never too late to learn", "The later you get up, the better you'll learn", 'An excuse to get up late'] |
We continue our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. Now we move on to college life once you are admitted to a school. The first thing you need to value is a place to live. Housing policies differ from school to school. Students might have to live in a dormitory, at least for the first year there.
Dorms come in all sizes. Some have suites. Six or more students may line in one suite. Other dorms have many rooms along a common hallway, usually with two students in each room . Many students say dormitories provide the best chance to get to know other students. Also, dorms generally cost less than apartments or other housing not owned by the school.
Most colleges and universities offer singe-sex dorms, but usually males and females live in the same building. They might live on the same floors and share the same common bathrooms. They may live in the same room only if they are married.
Edward Spencer is the associate vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He says it is important to understand the rules of the building in which you will live. He advises students to ask questions before they decide about their housing. For example, if a student requires a special diet, will the school provide it ?How much privacy can a student expect ? Will the school provide a single room if a student requests one ? And what about any other special needs that a student might have?
Virginia Tech, for example, had a ban against candles in dorms . But it changed that policy to let students light up candles for religious purposes. The university also has several dorms open all year so foreign students have a place to stay during vacation time. | What is the passage mainly about ? | housing polices in the U.S. | ['Places to live in U.S. colleges', 'Advantages of dormitories', 'Rules of single-sex dorms'] |
> > Is there a list somewhere on how to disable all of this stuff so I can get > back to getting something done ? You have a permissions issue . I too went to wwwroot and to a virtual directory that had a web.config file , open it with NotePad and made a change . It would n't let me save the file . | What may happen after they ask for computer help ? | They will receive advice from another person . | ['They will take their computer to a store to get fixed .', 'They will have a technician look at their computer .', 'They will attempt to fix their computer themselves .'] |
Harry is eighteen now. He studies in a middle school. His parents like him very much and hope he can become a famous man. So they often tell him to study hard and they do all for him. They call him at six in the morning, after breakfast his father takes him to school in a car and in the afternoon, as soon as the young man comes back, the supper is ready. Of course, he never washes his clothes or goes to buy something in the shops.
Once, Harry's father was sent to London on business. He would stay there for half a year. Leaving, he told his wife to take good care of their son. The woman had to get up earlier and did all what her husband did before. And two months later she was so tired that she was ill in bed. Now the young man got into trouble. He couldn't do any housework. He had to do as his mother told him. Even he didn't know where to get on the bus!
Yesterday Harry's mother found his shoes were worn out and told him to buy a new pair in the shop. But he didn't know how to choose. The woman had a sigh and gave him a shoe pattern and told him to buy a pair of shoes himself. It's Saturday today and Harry doesn't go to school. With a policeman's help, he found a shop. The shopkeeper was friendly to him. The man brought a lot of shoes and asked him to choose. When he was trying on a pair, suddenly he remembered something and took them off. The man was surprised and asked, "What's the matter, young man?"
"I'm sorry, I've left the shoe pattern at home!" | The woman had to look after her son by herself because _ . | her husband wasn't at home | ['she was stronger than her husband', 'she knew the young man well', 'she was freer than her husband'] |
History is full of examples of leaders joining together to meet common goals. But rarely have two leaders worked together with such friendship and cooperation as American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They both were born in wealthy families and were active in politics for many years. Both men loved the sea and the navy,history and nature.
Roosevelt and Churchill first met when they were lowerlevel officials in World War One. But neither man remembered much about that meeting. However,as they worked together during the Second World War they came to like and trust each other. Roosevelt and Churchill exchanged more than one thousand seven hundred letters and messages during five and a half years. They met many times,at large national gatherings and in private talks. But the closeness of their friendship might be seen best in a story told by one of Roosevelt's close advisors,Harry Hopkins. Hopkins remembered how Churchill was visiting Roosevelt at the White House one day. Roosevelt went into Churchill's room in the morning to say hello. But the president was shocked to see Churchill coming from the washing room with no clothes at all. Roosevelt immediately apologized to the British leader for seeing him naked. But Churchill reportedly said: "The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to hide from the president of the United States." And then both men laughed.
The United States and Great Britain were only two of several nations that joined together in the war to resist Hitler and his Allies. In January,1942,twentysix of these nations signed an agreement promising to fight for peace,religious freedom,human rights,and justice. The three major Allies,however,were the most important for the war effort: the United States,Britain,and the Soviet Union. Yet,Churchill and Roosevelt disagreed about when to attack Hitler in western Europe. And Churchill resisted Roosevelt's suggestions that Britain give up some of its colonies. But in general,the friendship between Roosevelt and Churchill,and between the United States and Britain led the two nations to cooperate closely. | What can be inferred from the passage? | Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. | ['Roosevelt and Churchill had nothing in common.', 'Roosevelt and Churchill had no difference but cooperation.', 'Roosevelt and Churchill always joined together to meet common goals.'] |
Yesterday was no exception . When I arrived inside the airport in front of the United ticket counter area , the first thing I noticed was that the Premier Executive line was closed off . Normally there are United employees out front directing passengers . This time there were none . | Why was the premier executive line closed off ? | United employee service has slipped . | ['United employee service has not skipped a beat . .', 'United employee service has risen .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
Today almost everyone knows computers and the Internet. If I ask you "What is the most important in your life ?" maybe you will say "Computers and the Internet."
The first computer was made in 1946. It was very big but it worked slowly . Today computers are getting smaller and smaller. But they work faster and faster. What can computers do?
A writer has said, "people can't live without computers today."
The Internet came a little later than computers. It is about twenty-five years later than computers. But now it can be found almost everywhere. We can use it to read books, write letters, do shopping, play games or make friends.
Many students like the Internet very much. They often go into the Internet as soon as they are free. They make friends on the Internet and maybe they have never seen these friends. They don't know their real names, ages, and even sex . They are so interested in making the "unreal friends" that they can't put their hearts into study. Many of them can't catch up with others on many subjects because of that.
We can use computers and the Internet to learn more about the world. But at the same time, we should remember that not all the things can be done by computers and the Internet. | The Internet was born in about _ . | 1970 | ['1960', '1980', '1985'] |
Roughly half of college students will have some degree of depression at some point during their time in school . Even more startling , 6.2 percent of college students surveyed in 2012 considered suicide and 1.3 percent attempted it , according to an American College Health Association study released this spring . If you're feeling depressed on campus , you may find the following tips helpful .
Exercise : Physical activity releases endorphins - chemicals that produce an overall positive feeling within the body , which fight depression naturally . Mental health experts claim that exercise is a solution to those feeling mild or moderate depression . However , for those severely depressed , simply doing sports is not enough .
Use school counseling services : Campuses don't employ mental health experts simply to throw thousands of dollars down the drain . Their job is to help students , so experts recommend you use them . Most students , however , are hesitant to take a trip to their college's counseling center , fearing being laughed at by peers . As a result , some schools like Texas Christian University , are testing students for mental health problems when they get sick and visit the campus health clinic .
Take advantage of technology : Staying in touch with family members and friends from childhood and high school has become easier than ever with the coming of Facebook and video chat services like Skype . While mental health experts insist that it's important to make friends in your new environment and be involved in the college community , it's also significant to keep in touch with the people you knew before college .
Go to sleep : Following a fairly regular sleep pattern can defend you against depression . In college , many students' sleep patterns are irregular thanks to late-night studying and partying , which is harmful to their mental health . Research strongly suggests that sleep is the key to learning and memory formation . | Taking advantage of technology is encouraged because it _ | helps students stay in contact with others | ['enables students to get involved in college life', 'offers students a way to make new friends', 'provides a way to avoid getting bored'] |
Imagine having an idea, drawing it on paper, bringing it to a store and seeing it turned into a
physical object. This is now possible with the help of 3D printers. Such machines were once used just
by universities and big companies, but now, stores with 3D printing services are appearing around the
United States.
Bryan Jaycox and his wife opened The Build Shop LLC in Los Angeles two years ago. The store
is filled with tools like a laser cutter, an industrial sewing machine and 3D printers. The Jaycoxs offer
3D printing classes and services for anyone who is interested.
"I think 3D printing is going to be huge. It's going to have a huge effect on society as a whole."
One of the students in a recent class was KiChong Tran. He plans to open a 3D printing business in
Cambodia.
3D printing services are becoming available for American consumers.
The UPS Store is a nationwide retailer ( ) that provides shipping, copying and other
services. The UPS Store recently put 3D printers in three of its independently-owned stores. Burke
Jones owns one of the stores in San Diego.
"The demand has been amazing. It's been much more than I would have imagined." The UPS
Store plans to add 3D printers in three more stores.
At The UPS Store, the cost of the object depends on the amount of materials used. The store
charges up to $95 an hour to design the object with computer software that creates a digital file to
guide the printer.
Mr. Jaycox predicts that within five years, 3D printing technology could become more popular.
But KiChong Tran says even current technology can make a difference in a developing country like
Cambodia.
"With 3D printing, you can give them tools; you put it in their hands so they are responsible
more for their own development and they learn skills beyond just learning English and becoming a
tour guide or something like that or working at a bank; you can actually create things that give value
to the world."
He says it's not just in Cambodia but anywhere where there is a 3D printer that it can turn a good
idea into reality. | The Build Shop LLC is a store _ . | known for tools like laser cutters | ['promoting 3D printers', 'offering 3D printing classes and services', 'selling sewing machines'] |
Sometimes life gets a little dull. What used to be fun and different becomes boring. That is the time to look for something new. It is the time for a big idea to get your mind off everyday life. So why not search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Or even better, why not get your computer to do it for you?
Over two million people have joined the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence(SETI)project. Based in California, the SETI project analyzes information taken from a giant radio telescope based in South America. Its task is to look for signals from outer space that might prove that life exists on other planets.
Processing this information is far too big a job for one computer. So the SETI project workers divide the work among volunteers who visit their website. Each computer gets some information to work out from the SETI network through the Internet. This process is often known as "meta-computing".
It is a wonderful thought. You are sleeping, eating a meal or going out with friends. All this time, your computer is searching the stars for signs that might show something is out there trying to get in touch. Volunteers are proud of being involved in the SETI project. It shows that they understand the potential of computing. They know that it is more than just a way of working or playing games.
Meta-computing may also be creating intelligence as well as looking for _ . This idea is based on the theory that human intelligence is created by the way in which different parts of the brain communicate with each other. As the saying goes, "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." People who join the SETI project sometimes wonder whether their computer will become part of a huge network that has learned to think for itself. | According to the writer, meta-computing may be creating intelligence _ . | because of a network of many computers | ['because human beings are intelligent', 'because a computer works as the brain does', 'because of the number of computers'] |
Birmingham----The wedding took place in aprefix = st1 /Birminghamhotel. The bride and her father arrived in a new black American sports car. Her father looked nervous and uncomfortable in front of the cameras. The bride wore a silk wedding dress. She smiled nervously at the waiting photographers and went to a room on the first floor where she met her future husband for the very first time.
Carla Germaine and Greg Cordell were the winners of a radio station's competition. The aim of the competition was to find two strangers prepared to marry without having met each other. Miss Germaine,23, is a model. Mr. Cordell, 27, is a TV salesman. They were among the two hundred people who entered for a peculiar "experiment" organized by BMRB radio in Birmingham,England. Greg and Carla were among eight finalists who were interviewed live on radio. They took a lie detector test and the station also spoke to their friends and family about their personalities. The competition judges included an astrologer who declared that they were suited.
The couple celebrated their wedding with a wedding breakfast and a party for 100 guests in the evening, but not everyone shared their joy. Miss Germaine's mother looked anxious throughout the wedding and Mr. Cordell's parents are reported to be less than delighted.
Organizations, including the marriage guidance service Relate, have criticized the marriage. As one person put it, "We have enough problems getting young people to take marriage seriously without this. Marriage should always be about love."
The couple are now on a Caribbean honeymoon followed by journalists. Their other prizes include a year's free use of a wonderful apartment in the centre ofBirmingham, and a car. But will it last? | Some experts believe that _ . | young people nowadays are too careless about marriage | ["marriage without the couple's meeting each other first ends up in divorce", 'taking a lie detector test can not solve all the marriage problems', 'most young people take marriage seriously except this couple'] |
He says so . If I am stranded somewhere without a car and I call him , he will come get me no matter what time it is . He 's kind of like my own personal super hero . And he has a cute puppy if I need to smile . | What is the reason they will come not matter what ? | Because he does nt want anything bad to happen to her . | ['None of the above choices .', 'Because he wants to be alone with her as much as possible .', 'Because if he does nt help her , he knows someone else will .'] |
I have raved about My Family Dinners all over the internet . From the first time I went there , I knew it would change my life . Our family eats better and I have so much less stress in my life . One of my favorite things about My Family Dinners is it is a home grown , local business . | What may I be raving about ? | A business in town is impressive . | ['My mother cooks great dinners .', 'My family is quite well off .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
In this confessional age, TV, radio and print rely for much of their content on the sad stories of those 'victims' of life. The story goes something like this: There is the future 'victim' getting on with their quotidian activities and whoosh, they are whisked into a life of gambling, drugs, sex or junk food addiction. After years of struggle, they finally find redemption and become good people again. As in any good tale of redemption, there has to be a 'reason' for why our 'victim' fell off the rails. Take your pick: they were molested, their parents ran away from home, they were denied desserts except on Sundays. Just thinking about it brings a tear to my stony face. How can you not be moved by tales such as these. What is the precipitating cause of the misery in my life? Well, my mother was French and my father was English. And to make things worse, I was brought up Catholic! Yes folks, in today's shorthand of grievance, I'm a half-breed straddling Canada's great language divide and a religious bigot. My hometown was a mixture of French and English-speaking people and the results of their miscenagation. You could never tell by someone's last name who spoke your language (For instance, my good friend P. Arsenault spoke the Queen's English and my cousin Sean Doyle wouldn't have recognized an Oxford Dictionary if you shoved up his nose). As children, we were segregated by language; all the French-speaking kids went to one side of the school where they spoke French all the time. I was fortunate enough to be sent to the English side of the school and got to speak my native tongue. My parents decided my brother and sister wouldn't be quite so lucky. In an effort to bridge the great language divide, they both spent six years learning everything in French and mingling with the French people (My parents did this because it was the firm belief of all forward-thinking families that whatever road you took would be much smoother if you could speak both of Canada's official languages. As it turns out for my siblings and I, this was not to be the case. | the children learned to speak both languages | after the author was born | ['not enough information', 'they never learned', 'before the author was born'] |
The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is quickly made by all
who travel, study, govern or sell. Whether the activity is tourism, research, government, policing or business, the lack of a common language can severely delay progress or can stop it altogether.
Although communication problems of this kind must happen thousands of times each day, very few become public knowledge. Publicity comes only when a failure to communicate has major results, such as strikes, lost orders, legal problems or deadly accidents--even, at times, war. One reported example of communication failure took place in 1970, when several Americans ate a species of poisonous mushroom. No remedy was known, and two of the people died within days. A radio report of the case was heard by a chemist who knew of a treatment that had been successfully used in 1959 and published in 1963. Why had the American doctors not heard of it seven years later? Possibly because the report of the treatment had been published only in journals written in European languages other than English.
Several comparable cases have been reported. But isolated examples do not give an impression of the size of the problem--something that can come only from studies of the use or avoidance of foreign-language materials and contacts in different communicative situations. In the English-speaking scientific world, for example, surveys of books and documents consulted in libraries and other information agencies have shown that very little foreign-language material is ever consulted. Library requests in the field of science and technology showed that only 13 percent were for foreign language journals.
The language barrier presents itself entirely to firms who wish to market their products in other countries. British industry, in particular, has in recent decades often been criticized for its assumption that foreign buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and that awareness of other languages is not therefore a matter to be considered first. In the 1960s, over two-thirds of British firms dealing with non-English-speaking customers were using English for outgoing letters; many had their sales language only in English; and as many as 40 percent employed no one who was able to communicate in the customer's languages. A similar problem was identified in other English-speaking countries, especially the USA, Australia and New Zealand. And non-English speaking countries were by no means free from the same problem--although the widespread use of English as an alternative language made them a bit more able to communicate with other countries.
The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly improved the situation. Industrial training projects have promoted an increase in language and cultural awareness. Many firms now have their own translation services. Some firms run part-time language courses in the languages of the countries with which they are most involved; some produce their own technical glossaries , to ensure consistency when material is being translated. It is now much more readily accepted that marketing efforts can be delayed, damaged or ruined by a failure to take the language needs of the customer into consideration. | Which of the following ways has been used by the British companies to solve the problem of language barrier since the 1960s? | Setting up their own translation services. | ['Employing foreign workers.', 'Providing English training for foreign customers.', 'Stopping exporting goods to foreign countries.'] |
On May 23,1989, Stefania Follini came out from a cave at Carlsbad , New Mexico.She hadn't seen the sun for eighteen and a half weeks .Stefania was in a research program, and the scientists in the program were studying body rhythms . In this experiment Stefania had spent 130 days in a cave ,30 feet in depth.
During her time in the cave, Stefania had been completely alone except for two white mice.Her living place had been very comfortable ,but there had been nothing to feel her the time .She'd had no clock or watches , no television or radio.There had been no natural light and the temperature had always been kept at 21degC | Stefania stayed in the cave for a long time because _ . | she was the subject of a study | ['she was asked to do research on mice', 'she wanted to experience loneliness', 'she needed to record her life'] |
The woman at the airline ticket counter in prefix = st1 /Munich,Germany, just shook her head. "I'm sorry, but there's no more availability on this flight," she said. God, I thought. My husband, Bob, and I had enjoyed every moment of our dream vacation, two weeks in Europe, but I was ready to go home toShreveport,Louisiana, and sleep in my own bed. Bob could see how frustrated I was. "We'll just have to try to get on the flight tomorrow," he said. "Let's enjoy the extra day."
My son Joe, a First Lieutenant in the Army 82nd Airborne Division , would be returning to Ft. Bragg in North Carolina for a short rest and recovery from his tour of duty in Baghdad, and we weren't sure we'd be able to see him in the little time he'd be stateside. Plus, the time was so up in the air! Back at our hotel, I checked my e-mail to see if our daughter-in-law Monica had any news on when Joe was due to arrive. Sure enough, there was a message. "Joe's been delayed again," it read.
The next morning we made it onto our flight back to the States. Unfortunately, we had to stop in Atlanta. Our connecting flight there was delayed because of bad weather. The hours passed. I felt the frustration building. "That's it!" I finally said. "I just want to get home!"
That's when I saw a group of soldiers coming down the ramp from one of the gates. I thought of Joe. They're coming back from a war, I reminded myself, while I'm coming back from vacation. What right do I have to be frustrated? Maybe the troops were God's way of reminding me to trust in his time. Bob grabbed my arm. "Look at those soldiers coming down the ramp."
"I see them," I said. Bob persisted, "Do you see who's in front?" Suddenly, all those delays across all those miles made perfect sense. I rushed toward my son Joe's open arms. | Where did the author happen to run into her son Joe? | At theairportofAtlanta. | ['At theairportofShreveport.', 'At the airport ofFt.Bragg.', 'At theairportofBaghdad.'] |
Many people have been talking about the way in which the world will come to an end in 2012. Everybody wants to find out if December 21, 2012 is the last day of the earth. The rumor has already been spreading for a very long time. The Mayan's predictions can account for the rumor. According to the rumor, the earth will experience dramatic changes in 2012 and the changes will be disastrous to all of the living creatures on earth .It is widely assumed that a Planet X will return to orbit the solar system. The return of Planet of Planet X will have a destructive effect on the solar system as well as on some planets including the Neptune , the Jupiter and the earth. Planet X will cross into their orbits. There's a possibility that Jupiter will change into a little sun at this time, so folks will be well placed to see two suns in the sky in 2012.
The solar flares that occur in a l1-year cycle will reach their highest point in 2012. The powerful solar flares will affect the magnetic field of the earth and cause disasters. On December 21,2012,the sun and the earth will line up in the same line at the equator . The winter solstice only occurs once every 25,800 years.The events in the universe are signals that the world will come to an end.As a result of the solar flares, lots of disasters will happen that will destroy the face of the whole earth.Scientists are making the guess primarily based on the Mayan Long Court Calendar.
Many films have been made about the end of the world including End Game by Alex Jones and End Clock:Nostradamus 2012.The former provides insights about the way the world will become one state.After the world government is in place,it's going to be easy to _ 80%of the people in the world.The rest will continue to live with assistance from advanced technology.
No one knows whether the world will end on December 21,2012,There is no clear answer until the day arrives.Just as the Mayans claims,it will not be the time for the world to end.Instead.it will be the dawn of a flesh start. | What is the author's attitude to the rumor that the world will end? | Optimistic. | ['Sad.', 'Unconcerned.', 'Scared.'] |
After spending a few days in New York City this week , I ventured into Connecticut to spend the weekend with some friends . We had great weather and I enjoyed reconnecting with them after way too long . We enjoyed some great meals including Lenny & Joe 's for amazing fried clams and lobster rolls , the River Tavern in Chester , and O'Rourke 's Diner in Middletown ( try the " Irish Embassy " for breakfast ) . | What may happen during one of your visits to Conneticut ? | I would rekindle old relationships . | ['I would avoid old relationships .', "I 'd only eat Irish food .", 'I would end up going to New York instead .'] |
For dinner we went to a pasta place where we won a dinner for 8 ~ twice ! What a great welcoming gift . The next day was also quite busy . We were still exhausted from the drive , but the movers where supposed to come and unload everything . | How might have we decided to move ? | We have decided to drive and have the movers deliver the things . | ['None of the above choices .', 'We have decided to drive and move the things ourselves .', 'We have decided to fly and have the movers deliver the things .'] |
I threw out my last poly something rug . It was a beauty . But when I researched the production and the chemicals used in the carpet - I felt sick . Underfoot I had seen beauty that changed dramatically and I saw what I had . | Why did they throw out their rug ? | None of the above choices . | ['The smell of the rug was making them ill .', 'The rug was leaking chemicals into their home .', 'The rug had made them fall ill .'] |
June 3, 2013
Suzanne Rogers
Ultra--Ergonomic Furniture
Sales and Shipping Department
Suite 58, 107 Morris Circle
Moorabbin, Victoria 3206
Dear Ms Rogers,
As I'm sure you are aware, our company has been organizing conventions, festivals, and other large corporate events for the last fifteen years. We have relied on your company for purchase and rental supplies of high--quality furniture for that entire period, and we've never had any cause for complaints with regard to your services.
I am writing to you personally to ask a special favor. We recently made an order with your company for the supply of rental furniture that includes chairs, tables, and partitions for an auto show (see order No. 11--35698A). Unfortunately, a serious error was made. In fact the show begins one week earlier than indicated on the order form. The starting date is actually July 7. I would appreciate it very much if you could try to do everything you can to ensure that our order be delivered to us on that date. Also, if possible, I'd like to add 20 Pop-up displays on top of our original order.
Please contact me soon.
Yours sincerely
Michael Robinson
Properties Manager
Mrobinson@btc. com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From: srogers@uef. shipping. com
Sent: June 8, 2013
To: mrobinson@btc. com
Dear Mr Robinson,
Thank you for your letter. I was surprised and of course concerned that you find yourself in this unfortunate situation. And of course I will do my best to help you.
Anyway, I personally look a trip down to our warehouse this morning to have a closer look at our stock to see if we have all the things you need for your convention--which I believe is from July 7 to July 14. I am happy to say that we will be able to provide you with everything you originally requested. However, as for the additional request you made, it won't be possible because we have already rented them out to another client during that week.
Kind regards,
Suzanne Rogers
Sales and shipping Department | Which of the following does Ms Rogers say she will NOT be able to provide? | Pop-up displays. | ['Chairs.', 'Partitions.', 'Tables.'] |
WASHINGTON--More than one in 10 of the nation's airline pilots are cleared to carry a handgun while flying, and the number will continue to grow, according to a Transportation Security Administration projection.
The Federal Air Marshal Service, a TSA agency that runs the armed-pilots program, reports that 85,000 to 90,000 pilots and crewmembers flying domestic passengers and cargo planes are eligible to carry a gun. That puts the number of armed pilots at about 9,500.
The TSA projects the program to grow to 16.5% of eligible pilots by the year 2011. Aviation experts were surprised and alarmed that so many pilots are toting guns in the sky.
"That's a big number compared to what I thought it would be," said aviation-security consultant Rich Roth, who said he had predicted there would be fewer than 1,000 armed pilots. The 5-year-old program trains pilots for one week and arms them with 40-caliber semiautomatic pistols.
"That's a scary number," said Joseph Gutheinz, a former Transportation Department special agent and aviation attorney in Houston. "By allowing so many pilots the opportunity to fly armed, we're giving terrorists opportunity to identify somebody who has a gun and overpower him."
Capt. Bob Hesselbein, head of security for the Air Line Pilots Association, said the number of armed pilots is "a tremendous deterrent " to hijackings. "The challenge of an organized terrorist team is to take control of the cabin, then the flight deck."
Armed pilots have come under scrutiny since March 22 when the gun of a US Airways pilot fired in the cockpit of Flight 1536 as it approached Charlotte from Denver. No one was hurt, and the plane landed safely after the bullet pierced the fuselage. | The best title for this passage is " _ ". | More than 10% of pilots allowed to fly armed | ['Less than 10% of pilots allowed to fly armed', 'More than 16.5% of pilots allowed to fly armed', 'No chances for terrorists to hurt pilots'] |
Is not necessarily worth two of anything, anywhere else. But it can certainly be a heck of a lot of fun. During my days as an inmate in Bridges House at the University of New Brunswick, I shared this space with about 99 other testosterone-addled 'young adults' whose charming tendency to get completely out of hand was barely held in check by the rod of authority of the Don and Resident Fellow. This is not to say that these two worthies weren't good at their jobs; more accurately, their task was more akin to herding cats -- fairly obtuse, barely socialized cats. Given the state of controlled chaos that existed, it wasn't unusual for little conflicts to arise from time to time. Being rather physically small and odd, I came in for a certain amount of abuse from someone called Scut, a large and obnoxious Newfie (hmmm, that's like saying that water is wet). I can't remember what it was he did to me, but it was serious enough that I decided to get my own back. It's been said that revenge is a dish best enjoyed cold. I think revenge is a dish best enjoyed in secret with no chance of counter-revenge to spoil the occasion. And so it was that I laid my plans against Scut. The occasion and place were set. My means of entry was secured. Now I needed material. For me, the only good fish is a live one. Even though I hale from NB, I really don't like free-swimming seafood. Considering the unimaginative cuisine of my youth, it's surprising that I eat anything at all. So with dead, smelly fish in mind, I persuaded my friend Shan to pick one up when he was down at the Saturday Farmer's Market. He returned with a four-pound shad, frozen solid. Shad has even more bones than other fish and you'll never see it featured on any cooking show (except maybe Iron Chef, where the disgusting and unusual seems to be standard). It took me all day to thaw out the fish in the lounge sink?#8364;?an activity which elicited howls of complaint from the guys trying to watch TV. | Where is the narrator residing? | not enough information | ["A men's prison", 'a boarding house', 'a barn'] |
We got some bad news while in Michigan that Brian 's mom was in the hospital . Although she said she was fine ( she was fine , but still had to hear it from the doctors ) and she did not want us to end our trip , we started to head back to Columbus . While on the way back Dad called and asks us if we wanted to attend the Red , White , and BOOM celebration in downtown on the 3rd with my cousin . This has been a tradition in Columbus for that last twenty years or so . | Why did they end their trip early ? | They wanted to be in the hospital with Brian 's mom . | ["Brian 's mom was going to pass away soon .", 'None of the above choices .', "They needed to pick up Brian 's mom from the hospital ."] |
Each year, prizes are presented to adults who accomplish great things in art, writing, science, and economics.So why not give awards to kids?
Harry Leibowitz asked himself that question in 1996.As an answer, he and his wife, Kay, created the World of Children organization and began handing out awards to kids and adults whose work has helped kids all over the world.The awards World of Children presents are nicknamed the "Children's Nobel Prize." On Thursday, World of Children honored six adults and two kids at its 11th Annual Changemakers for Children awards ceremony held at the UNICEF House at United Nations Plaza in New York City.
Talia Leman, from Iowa, was awarded a Founder's Youth Award for Leadership.She is only 13 years old, but she has accomplished a lot.In 2005, she founded "RandomKid." Since then, the nonprofit organization has raised more than $10 million to help kids in 48 states in the U.S.and in 19 other countries develop funding solutions to real-world problems.One place helped by RandomKid was a school built in Cambodia to enable 300 kids to go to school.The organization has also helped fix a school for 200 kids in Slidell, Louisiana, and provided interactive play centers that serve more than 500 kids in hospitals in Iowa.In faraway places like Africa, RandomKid has provided money for the purchase of water pumps.
Talia never thought that the organization she founded would be as successful as it has become."I did a project called TLC, which meant Trick or Treat for the Levy Catastrophe, where kids would trick-or-treat for coins along with getting candy," she told me."My goal was to raise $1 million.That seemed really high, but when you reach a goal, you always wind up reaching higher--and we actually raised $10 million." The money RandomKid raised provided help to the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. | The World of Children organization was created to _ . | honour anyone who has helped kids in need | ['answer questions from chilren', "match the Adults' Nobel Prize", 'give awards to chilren in poor areas'] |
No , I need to prepare in advance and have a battle plan for taking on each day . This includes a proper mind - set . Funny , how this , and much of this entry , is something I know , yet have strayed from in my trading life . | What may be the reason for the post ? | To describe my job | ['To describe my car', 'To describe my family', 'To describe my friends'] |
The Oil Lamp and the Lighthouse
On an island off the coast of a rocky shore stood a great lighthouse. During the day, the white walls of the lighthouse shined under the sunlight, while at night it burned a light for those at sea. Many people visited the lighthouse, and when they did, they commented on its size and strength and admired the beauty that it added to the surroundings. Some told its keeper how its light had saved them during a storm.
All loved the lighthouse except a little oil lamp that lived in the lighthouse. By day it hung forgotten at the bottom of the stairs. At dusk it helped the keeper of the lighthouse make his way from the bottom of the stairs to his bedroom. It seemed to the oil lamp that he is not important. To his way of thinking, his shortcomings were made clear by his nearness to one so much greater than he. Always, the oil lamp labored under this heaviness of heart.
Then one day, after a brilliant afternoon when many visitors had come to play on the sandy beach, there was a knock at the door. It was a boy, searching for a friend who was lost. The sun had set and what had seemed such friendly shores hours before was now dark and cold.
The keeper quickly took the youth inside and hugged him into a blanket. Then he reached to the hook between the door and the stairs and took down the little oil lamp. After carefully making sure that the tank was full of oil, the keeper lit the lamp and whispered, "Burn bright tonight, my dear friend. I cannot take the lighthouse with me. He serves his purpose here, but you were made for times like this. It is now that I need you most!"
In that instant, all of the oil lamp's misgivings were replaced by joy---joy in knowing that here was something only he could do. All through the night, through bushes, the oil lamp burned brighter and more steadily than ever before. He had to; the keeper was depending on him. At last the lost boy was found and brought safely back to the lighthouse and his friend.
Never again did the oil lamp doubt his place or purpose. He had learned a great lesson that night: he was happiest and most useful being himself. | What can we learn from the story? | Each one has his strong points. | ['Every coin has two sides.', 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.', 'Where there is a will, there is a way.'] |
Dear daughter,
As we drove off from Columbia, I wanted to write a letter to you to tell you all that is on my mind.
I want to tell you how proud we are. Getting into Columbia is a real testament of what a great well-rounded student you are. Your academic, artistic, and social skills have truly blossomed in the last few years. You have become a talented and accomplished young woman.
College will be the most important years in your life. It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about. You often question "what good is this course". I encourage you to be inquisitive, but I also want to tell you: "Education is what you have left after all that is taught is forgotten." What I mean by that is the materials taught isn't as important as you gaining the ability to learn a new subject, and the ability to analyze a new problem. That is really what learning in college is about - this will be the period where you go from teacher-taught to master-inspired, after which you must become self-learner. So do take each subject seriously, and even if what you learn isn't critical for your life, the skills of learning will be something you cherish forever.
Follow your passion in college. Take courses you think you will enjoy. Don't be trapped in what others think or say. Steve Jobs says when you are in college, your passion will create many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. In his great speech given at Stanford commencement, he gave the great example where he took calligraphy, and a decade later, it became the basis of the beautiful Macintosh fonts, which later ignited desktop publishing, and brought wonderful tools like Microsoft Word to our lives. His expedition into calligraphy was a dot, and the Macintosh became the connecting line. Enjoy picking your dots, and be assured one day you will find your calling, and connect a beautiful curve through the dots of yourself .
Most importantly, make friends and be happy. College friends are often the best in life, because during college you are closer to them physically than to your family. Also, going through independence and adulthood is a natural bonding experience.
So please treasure your college years - make the best of your free time, become an independent thinker in control of your destiny, evolve yourself into a bi-cultural talent, be bold to experiment, learn and grow through your successes and challenges.
When I faced the greatest challenge and opportunity in my life in 2005, you gave me a big hug and said "bonne chance", which means "good luck" and "good courage". Now I do the same for you. Bonne chance, my angel and princess. May Columbia become the happiest four years in your life, and may you blossom into just what you dream to be.
Love,
Dad (& Mom) | The father may agree that _ . | the skills of learning is very important for his daughter's life | ['you will be well-educated if you forget all is taught', 'there are only master-inspired students in college', 'the daughter will be thinner if she goes on a diet'] |
A study found that young people have a stronger and more unpleasant scent than the elderly,while elderly people's smell was the most distinctive,less intense and unpleasant. Researchers said the change in our smell is driven by the chemicals we release through our glands and the bacteria on our skin.
To test whether or not it really exists,scientists collected a series of samples from three groups of 12 to 16 donors,aged 20 to 30,45 to 55 and 75 to 95.Volunteers wore special T-shirts fitted with underarm pads as they slept for five nights,after which the pads were cut up and put in glass jars. A separate group of 41 people aged 20 to 30 was then asked to smell two jars at a time and asked which group of the donors was older,as well as rating how strong and unpleasant each smell was.
When asked to specify whether a particular sample was from a young,middle aged or old person,they were much more successful at identifying older people. Despite being the most distinctive,the older people's smell was also rated as being obviously less intense and less unpleasant than those from the other groups.
Researchers said their findings appeared to contradict people's negative ideas about the old person's smell but admitted other factors,like smelly breath or skin,could be to blame for its bad reputation.
"Similar to other animals,humans can give off body scents that allow us to identify biological age,avoid sick individuals and pick a suitable partner. Elderly people have a distinctive scent that younger people consider to be not very unpleasant. This was surprising given the popular conception of old age scent as smelly. However,it's possible that other sources of body scents,such as skin or breath,may have different qualities," said Dr Johan Lundstrom,who led the study. | What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? | To report the findings of a study about people's scent. | ['To tell old people how to remove their terrible scent.', 'To prove that people often hold wrong ideas.', 'To show how researchers carried out their study about the scent.'] |
I ca n't believe someone bought one of those . And what a price tag . Sheesh . I 'll be lowering the price , though , so if you do own one it 'll be cheaper than I announced . And here 's some actual bad news : My Mom was diagnosed today with Type-2 Diabetes . | What may my mother be concerned with medically for a while ? | Her blood sugar | ['Her cancer levels', 'Her lower back pain', 'Her stomach ache'] |
Potatoes and peas are cooked with cumin , turmeric , coriander and green chiles , then baked in crescent roll dough chocolate chip cookies crock pot . The recipes don t want to cut the potatoes ? with your son or daughter crock pot is to use it as a topping for a large baked potato . | Why would some people with sensitive diets skip this meal ? | There are many carbs . | ['There is too much cumin .', 'There is too much coriander .', 'There is too much turmeric .'] |
In any family with more than one child, chidren seem to naturally compete for their parents' love and attention. Parents say they love every child equally. But is that true?
Susan, founder of a consulting firm in Chicago, interviewed 216 women and found that even though none of her questions asked directly about a parent favoring one child over another, about two-thirds of the women said there was a favored child. And they also remembered their experience when they were young. One of the women said, "My mother always liked my brother better, and he got to go to summer camp in 1968 and I didn't."
Plumez, who interviewed parents with both biological children and adoptive children for an adoption book in 2008, found that what matters most is whether your temperaments are pleasing. "In some cases, parents would say they felt closer to their adopted children," she says, "Some parents like the children with characters similar to theirs. Two people who are shy and withdrawn might get along well, unless the shy parent doesn't like that aspect of themselves and they try to push the naturally withdrawn child to be more
."
It could be a result of gender, birth order or how easy or difficult a child's temperament may be, but a parent's different treatment has far-reaching effects. Students have found that less-favored children may suffer emotionally, with decreased self-esteem and behavioral problems in childhood. Favoritism is a reason for the next generation not to like each other.
Experts say it is not realistic to say everyone should be treated equally, because no two people are the same and they relate differently to others.
"It does not mean that parent loves or likes one child more. It has to do with which one of them is independent," says psychologist Laurie Kramer of the University of Illinois. | The study carried out by Susan shows that _ . | showing favoritism is common in many families | ['most mothers like their sons better than their daughters', 'only two-thirds of the women interviewed have more than a child', 'it is a favoritism that leads to absence of harmony in most families'] |
Taping off places that need to be protected . Once that was done , the first big task was to re - stain the woodwork . One thing I 'll say for this house is that it has nice six - panel doors , which were originally stained a medium brown rather than painted . Unfortunately all the doorframes and the baseboards ( too narrow and too obviously off the cheap builder 's shelf to be graceful ) were stained to match , setting the whole place instantly and unmistakably in the 1980 's . | What is the advantage of taping off places ? | Parts of the wood or surface that do n't need paint need to be taped and covered to prevent paint or stain from clinging . | ['Taping things mean you mark them for later painting .', 'Taping them will record moments for an on air blog .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
“Please remember me to myself!”
When sliding toward mania in 2016, I begged this of my therapist. He cocked his head.
“What do you mean?”
I had no idea—on a conscious level—what I was asking for, just that I felt in a desperate sense that the self I knew was slipping away. An inability to recognize myself either in my writing or in reflecting upon my own actions was taking over.
And then…? I didn't care.
I wanted to kiss girls.
Which is fine—just not something I ordinarily do.
I wanted to drink, smoke.
Again, fine—but not something I ordinarily do.
“Do I seem…okay?” I asked a colleague at work. A woman I barely knew. Insanely, I thought that since she worked with disabled students, many of whom struggled with mental illness, she would know mania when she saw it.
This was a rather foolish assumption—especially since she's an educator, not a psychiatrist, especially with how skilled I am at wearing the mask of calm, the face of sanity.
“You seem great, Julie. Cheery. Professional as always.”
I let her reassurance placate me. Wanted to be placated.
Yet, within months I lost my job. And not only that, but a chance at a scholarship, two really important long term friendships—relationships I'd enjoyed since high school. I was hospitalized three times between September and February. I lost my ability to trust myself, lost my mind.
It is now a little over two years since I first felt that sliding. Twenty-six months since I knew that somewhere in the deepest parts of who I am, I was slipping. Nine seasons since I begged Dr. Poe, “Remember me to myself!”
I'm still recuperating.
Yes.
I have felt like I wasn't me. | How did Julie feel about losing her job? | She felt anxious and upset. | ['She felt excited about new opportunities.', 'not enough information', 'She felt relieved.'] |
For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, lifting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and touching electronic pages on an iPad, A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston.will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional texts.Apple officials say they know of more than 600 districts that have launched what are called "one-to-one" programs.
At Burlington High in suburban Boston, Principal Patrick Larkin says the $500 iPads is better than textbooks in the long term, though he said the school will still use traditional texts in some courses if suitable electronic programs aren't yet available." Lark/n said of textbooks, "but
But some experts warn that the districts need to ensure they can support the wireless infrastructure , repairs and other costs that accompany a switch to such a tech-heavy approach. Mark Warschauer, an education and informatics professor said, "I think people will like it. I really don't know anybody in high school that wouldn't want to get an iPad," he said. "We're always using technology at home, then when you're at school it's textbooks.so it's a good way to put all of that together." Districts are varied in their policies on how they police students' use.
And the nation's textbook publishing industry, accounting for $ 5.5 billion in yearly sales to secondary schools, is taking notice of the trend with its own shift in a competitive race toward developing curriculum specifically for iPads. Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers' schools division, said all of the major textbook publishers are moving toward electronic offerings, but at least in the short term, traditional bound textbooks are here to stay."I think one of the real key questions that will be answered over the next several years is what sort of things work best in print for students and what smt of things work best digitally, " | What's the problem for iPads to be used in schools at present? | The iPads may be unavailable for some traditional courses. | ["Some students wouldn't like to have iPads in schools.", 'The iPads are too expensive for school students to buy.', 'Most experts oppose the idea that iPads replace paper textbooks.'] |
OLD TOWN - the heart and soul of Key West and the place most visitors spend their time - is only one mile by two. The Crew's house by the cemetery was less than half a mile from where they'd last seen Winston. Walking, it might've taken ten minutes to get there, but on Chloe's Vespa it was a hair-raising three-minute ride away. When they got there, Paul saw no sign of either Winston or Lily, so he assumed they were still inside the rundown shack that passed for a gallery. They parked a block away and approached at a brisk walk, Paul almost jogging to keep up with Chloe's excited strides.
Winston was Chloe's mentor in what they referred to as "The Life," this being a euphemism for a whole range of different activities, groups and lifestyles that fell under the general category of living underground and off the information grid. Paul, after defrauding his former partners and then running afoul of the law in a very public way, had been living The Life for almost a year and a half now. Chloe, as near as he could tell, had been doing it for almost a decade. Winston had started in the late '60s as a 16-year-old member of the notorious Weather Underground. He not only led his own Crew, he was also in contact with dozens, maybe scores of other such groups all over the world, including Chloe and Paul's little Crew of four. On top of all that, he'd once taken a couple bullets while helping Paul out, so, like Chloe, Paul had a soft spot in his heart for the old man.
They hadn't seen him since that bloody night, but Chloe had been in communication with him off and on over the last sixteen months. Winston and his Crew were old school and didn't trust much in the way of electronic communications. Mostly it had been encoded, hand-delivered letters and arcane classified ads in various newspapers. Chloe found this particular breed of paranoia on Winston's part annoying, but Paul admired it. | After the story ends, Chloe and Paul probably: | find Winston | ['send a letter', 'not enough information', 'get shot'] |
April sales figures show a disappointing month for Wal-Mart. The world's largest retailer reported a big drop in sales last month--its worst decline in nearly 30 years. As VOA's Mil Arcega reports, Wal-Mart is not alone.
A three and a half percent drop in sales does not seem like much. But for a company that sells more than $300 billion worth of goods every year, analysts say it is significant.
Alan Murray, the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, says the drop represents Wal-Mart's biggest decline since 1979. "There are a number of things going on. Part of it is early Easter, so some of those sales got moved into March. Part of it is bad weather."
But it may also signal a trend. Across the board, retailers from Target to JC Penny and the Gap, reported weaker sales in April. Analysts say the decline suggests high gasoline prices and the slowing prefix = st1 /U.S.housing market are finally catching up with consumers.Murraysays there may be other factors at play.
"Wal-Mart is not doing what it used to do very well. It made an attempt last year to sell clothes to high scale retailers. That didn't work. It had to back off. It's remodeling its stores. That's not working very well," says Murray.
To bring customers back, some say Wal-Mart needs to go back to its marketing basics. Retail analyst Dana Telsey says that means low priced goods in a friendly retail environment. "I think Wal-Mart is working to enhance its image. It could always be better. Going back to its roots is a way, that hopefully, customers will become familiar with it again."
Wal-Mart is one of the biggest economic indicators in the retail industry. As the world's largest profit making enterprise, Wal-Mart's yearly revenues represents about 2.5 percent of total economic activity in the U.S. | According to the passage, the followings are all reasons for Wal - Mart's sales declined in April except _ . | cheaper goods | ['unfriendly shopping environment', 'early Easter and unpleasant weather', 'high gasoline prices and the slowing housing market'] |
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton called Republican rival Donald Trump dangerous and unqualified for the presidency in a blistering foreign policy speech Thursday in San Diego, California.
"He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility," Clinton said. "This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes."
Trump “doesn’t understand America, or the world,” she said. "It’s not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin."
In anticipation of the address, Trump attacked his Democratic opponent on Twitter. “Crooked Hillary Clinton, who I would love to call Lyin’ Hillary, is getting ready to totally misrepresent my foreign policy positions,” he tweeted.
Clinton emphasized her own experience as first lady, senator and secretary of state, saying she would provide the steady diplomacy the country needs.
“National security is the foundation of how we make sure our interests are pursued in the world,” said Louis Goodman, Emeritus Dean of International Relations at American University in an interview with VOA.
With polls show terrorism is a major concern among Americans, Clinton targeted Trump's positions on the issue.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has promised to temporarily block Muslims from crossing U.S. borders.
"The struggle against radical Islam also takes place in our homeland. There are scores of recent migrants inside our borders charged with terrorism. For every case known to the public, there are dozens more. We must stop importing extremism through senseless immigration policies," Trump said in a foreign policy speech in April.
Trump's other anti-terrorism proposals include a pledge to torture and murder the families of suspected terrorists and target Islamic State.
"I have a simple message for them," Trump said. "Their days are numbered. I won't tell them where and I won't tell them how. But they will be gone. And soon."
But Clinton said Trump's presidency would have the opposite effect.
“A Trump presidency would embolden ISIS,” she said referring to the group also known as Islamic State.
The two presidential candidates have presented very different approaches to terrorism, which experts like Goodman believe would likely produce different results. | When would Trump block Muslim immigration? | after he is elected | ['after reading the npolls', 'after starting a war', 'not enough information'] |
so here 's a story.i need to get rid of that fucking turtle tank . decided i was going to clean it last night . i can be brave and move the turtles by myself , which was a feat , lemme tell ya . i used the net but the little fuckers would n't let go then stopped moving and i thought i suffocated them . | What will happen once the turtle tank is cleaned ? | The turtles will be placed back into the tank and they will have a clean place to live . | ['This person will purchase more turtles so they can have playmates .', 'this person will be get in infection from touching the turtles .', 'None of the above choices .'] |
I mean , I do that too , but that seems kind of unnecessary . Unless you type for a long , long time , or you 're typing up a meme , or the typing is accompanied by pictures , I do n't think it should be there . The whole point of people friending you is so that they can read your rambling . The point if cutting is to stop a person 's flist from stretching or to tell them " HEY , I DID A MEME / MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS OF SOMETHING . | What may be the reason to post this ? | To complain about social media | ['To complain about my life', 'None of the above choices .', 'To complain about the internet'] |
A two - year college ! how awesome is that ? ) And it 's very popular , so they ' ve been wanting to add a planetarium for the furthering of science edumacation thereof . * hearty applause * And as a part of their campaign for this , they got Charlie Duke , 10th man to walk on the moon , to visit our li'l campus . | Why is the narrator excited to go to this college ? | The college will graduate him quicker than he expected . | ['It is a university experience .', 'None of the above choices .', 'It is a four year college .'] |
I found bits and pieces of my posts on scraper sites . No , not scrapper sites , as in scrapbooking , but scraper sites that steal portions of blog contents and post them to their own blogs . They gather content through keyword searches . | what may happen before I found my writeup on scraper sites ? | I would have posted some contents online | ['I would have submitted my post to scraper sites', 'I would have readers on scraper sites', 'I would own a scraper site'] |
I’m sitting at the airport on a Sunday morning waiting for my flight to Las Vegas for the now-annual pilgrimage to the NamesCon conference. A few years ago, Vegas was one of my “bucket list” places – one of those iconic cities that one should visit at least once in their life. For me, once was enough. This is now my 4th (I think?) trip to Vegas, and while the city has a lot to offer, it’s just not my cup of tea.
For one thing, I’m not a gambler, like at all. I don’t have anything against it, I just don’t enjoy it. It either feels pointless or stressful to me. The city itself makes me a little sad – in some cases, it reeks of desperation. Last time I was there, my cab driver entertained me with stories of how she was working 3 jobs to save up enough to join some mega-massive bingo game. She won a small jackpot a few years back and that allowed her to work only one job for a few months. She was hoping to win again so she could cut back to 1 or 2 jobs.
I wondered how many people do similar things – gambling their money away, in big or small chunks, in the hopes of that big score and in the process, putting themselves in a not-great financial situation. I suppose as long it makes them happy, then it’s all OK, but I can’t help but think someone like my cab driver might be happier overall if she only worked 1 job instead of 3, instead of working extra jobs to save up money to gamble her way to financial freedom. But that’s for her to decide, not me.
The juxtaposition of extreme and in-your-face wealth and the homeless people on the Strip also makes me sad. It’s difficult to see people begging for food and sleeping on the street while all around you, millions of dollars are poured into creating a massive playground with every type of indulgence possible. But I’m the first to say that I’ve enjoyed staying in some of the nicer hotel properties there and eating several excellent meals at some of the finer restaurants in the area, so I’m not exactly helping to solve the problem. | Who wanted to enter a mega jackpot Bingo game? | the cab driver | ["the author's friend", 'not enough information', 'the author'] |