Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love. The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with, he had only one eye and where the other should have been was a gaping hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot appeared to have been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner. His tail has long ago been lost, leaving only the smallest stub, which he would constantly jerk and twitch. Ugly would have been a dark grey tabby, striped-type, except for the sores covering his head, neck, even his shoulders with thick, yellowing scabs. Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction. "That's one UGLY cat!!" All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their home or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction. If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around feet in forgiveness. Whenever he spied children, he would come running, meowing frantically and bump his head against their hand begging for their love. If you ever picked him up, he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earring whatever he could find. One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor's huskies. They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly attacked. From my apartment I could hear his scream and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was obvious Ugly's sad life was almost at an end. Ugly lay in a wet circle, his back legs and lower back twisted grossly out of shape, a gaping tear in the white strip of fur that ran down his front. As I picked him up and tried to carry him home,... Question: Why did the tomcat get 3 things with him? Options: A: Because his mother deserted him. B: Because the residents disliked him C: Because other animals always attacked him. D: Because he spent his life outside, which affected him..
D
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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Britain has laws to make sure that women have the same chances as men in education, jobs and training. But it's still unusual to find women doing dirty or heavy jobs. Nikki Henriques is a car _ engineer in London. She used to be a secretary. Barty Philips, a journalist with "The Observer", a Sunday newspaper, asked her why she wanted to work with cars. "My first reason was independence ," she said. "I also wanted to use my hands, and I like learning about how things work. Many people prefer to have a woman repair their cars, too." Nikki didn't find it easy to become a car maintenance engineer. She went to a Government Skill Centre--a special sort of college where people can learn a new job for twenty weeks. "For ten weeks I was the only woman among four hundred men, and some of them were rude to me. It was also very tiring--from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, with only 30 minutes for lunch." Now Nikki works free-lance, that is, she's self-employed, working for herself and not for a garage or a company. Barty Phillips also spoke to Rose, who works as a general builder in Sheffield, an industrial town in the north of England. Like Nikki, Rose used to be a secretary. "I didn't enjoy it at all." she said. "I wanted to do more practical work, and I wanted to be self-employed." Rose joined a women's building co-operative, and she learnt her job from other people and from experience. However, many of the women in her group have been specially trained. Most of the jobs they do are improvements to buildings and general repairs. "People often say, 'Oh, women aren't strong enough,' but I don't think strength is important." said Rose, "The important thing is to get used to doing a different sort of work." Rose would like more women to come into the building industry. "Everything built at the moment is a product of man's world. If women become builders, they will be able to understand the production of their house and their towns." Question: According to Rose, a woman wishing to be a general builder   _  . Options: A: must be specially trained B: should be strong enough C: can learn her job either from others or by experience D: must get used to doing a different sort of work
D
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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Do you want to work with people, animals or machines? Do you want to work indoors or outdoors, directly serve people in need or serve people  behind the scenes? These are the typical questions that volunteer service agencies would ask. Every year, thousands of people in the west offer volunteer service. Volunteering greatly strengthens the community because it helps the old, the young, the weak, the sick, the disabled and the injured to overcome difficulties. Volunteers usually help in many different ways. They may give people advice, offer friendship to the young , drive the elderly to church, counsel kids against drugs, work as assistants in schools or nursing homes, raise funds, plant trees, help out in local libraries and do many other things. Volunteering can be a few hours a week or a few hours a month. Anybody who wants to serve people in need can become a volunteer. The art of volunteering is a process of both giving and receiving. Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people, make new friends and mix with people from all walks of life. Volunteering is an excellent way to experiment,practice and try out new techniques and skills,discover your individual talents and explore career choice. Being a volunteer will take individuals on a wonderful journey and help them learn many important things beyond their school learning. Question: You can infer from the passage that to be a volunteer, Options: A: you need to get trained B: you can get something valuable C: you must be outgoing D: you need to work very long
B
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Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Taxpayers  in America pay less in income tax than many Europeans, according to a Pew Research Center report. Belgium has the highest income tax rate, at nearly 56 percent of income, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. Taxpayers in the U.S. pay less than 36 percent of their incomes into the national treasury. Taxes pay for services provided by the government. The U.S. ranks 25 of the 34 developed countries polled in the report. An unmarried person with no children was used as an example in the report. In America, an unmarried person, with no children, making the average wage of $50,000 in 2014 paid 24.8 percent of their income in federal   income tax and payroll taxes  . A similar person living in Belgium would pay 42.3 percent of their income. The average among the 39 countries in the poll was 27.3 percent income tax. The deadline to pay taxes in America is usually April 15. This year, the deadline is April 18. American taxpayers complain that wealthy people and large companies pay too little tax, according to a Pew Research Center poll from 2015. Americans pay tax to fund programs like Social Security and Medicaid, according to the Pew Research Center. Last year, American taxes paid for $888 billion in Social Security benefits. Social Security pays the elderly an income after they stop working. The government also paid more than $546 billion in Medicaid and Medicare benefits. Those programs pay for health and medical care to people who cannot afford it, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Question: The majority of people benefiting from the taxes in America are   _  . Options: A: wealthy people and corporations B: unmarried people C: married couples D: the elderly retirees
