Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: It was a bitter cold evening in northern Virginia many years ago. The old man's beard was glazed by winter's frost while he waited for a ride across the river. The wait seemed endless. His body became numb and stiff from the frigid north wind. It was long before he heard the faint, steady rhythm of hooves   along the frozen path. Anxiously watching several horsemen coming up, he let the first one pass by without any effort to get his attention, then another passed by, and another. Finally, the last rider drew near where the old man sat like a snow statue when old man caught his eyes and said, "Sir, would you mind giving an old man a ride to the other side?" Stopping his horse, the rider replied, "Sure! Jump aboard." Seeing the old man unable to lift his half-frozen body from the ground, the horseman got down to help him. The horseman took him not just across the river, but to his destination just a few miles away. As they approached the tiny but cozy cottage, the horseman's curiosity caused him to inquire, "Sir, I noticed you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I came up and you immediately asked me for a ride. I am curious why, on such a bitter night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and left you here?" The old man looked the rider straight in the eyes and replied, "I reckon I know people pretty good. I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately found no concern for my situation. It would have been useless even to ask them for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, your gentle spirit would welcome the opportunity to give me assistance in my time of need." Those heart-warming comments touched the horseman deeply. "I'm so grateful for what you have said," he told the old man. "May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion." With that, Thomas Jefferson turned his horse around and made his way back to the White House. Question: Why didn't the old man ask the previous riders for a ride? Options: A: Because he was waiting for the last rider. B: Because his efforts failed to get their attention. C: Because he assumed they had no concern for him. D: Because he was too numb to lift his half-frozen body.
Ans: C

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Thanks to a young waiter, I only recently discovered that a friend of 20 years was once a yo-yo virtuoso . "Oh, stop it!" Jackie said when I started laughing during our dinner. "I was, too. And I knew how to 'Walk the Dog.' " "Wow, really?" said our waiter, Jumario Simmons, flashing a big smile at us. "Don't encourage her," I said. "What else could you do?" he asked. "I did 'Round the World,'" Jackie said, now ignoring me completely. "That cradle  thing, too." I'd asked Jumario what he did when he wasn't waiting on tables. The 24-year-old waiter was so smart that I knew there had to be more to his story. It turns out that he won a regional yo-yo competition last year. He also gives free lessons to kids. "It gives them something to do," Jumario said. "Keeps them off the streets." One of the great things about eating out is the table talk with strangers, which reminds us that everyone has a life and a name. But the other day I heard that some restaurants are ending this talk between diners and servers. I listened to the reporter describe how their improvements are allowing customers to text orders from their tables to speed up service. The reporter got my attention with this sentence: "Five minutes after typing 'I'm at table 3', a meal arrives at the table." But there wasn't a "please" with this order, which should have been a request, by the way. If you've ever waited on tables, you know that the last thing you need is yet another way for a customer to be unpleasant. Most servers are constantly mediating  between customers' requests for substitutions and overworked cooks' accusations of treason. Except at high-end restaurants, servers also have to hover like mothers of preschoolers so that we might consider them worthy of a large enough tip to lift their pay to minimum wage. Texting a server from a table a few feet away is equal to moving our fingers and shouting, "Hey, you!" It was rude in 1957, and it's rude now. You won't ever find me texting a waiter or waitress. Question: Some restaurants allow diners to text a server from a table to  _  . Options: A: improve their service B: reduce the cost of service C: show respect for diners D: stop talks between diners and servers
Ans: A

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Just as the English language has changed quickly in the previous century, so has the use of it. After the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was founded in 1927, the particular style of speech of the BBC announcers was recognized as standard English or Received Pronunciation (RP) English. Now, most people still consider that the pronunciation and delivery of BBC announcers is the clearest and most understandable spoken English. English has had a strong relationship with classes and social positions. However, since the Second World War there has been a clear change of attitude towards speech snobbery , and marks of class distinction  such as styles of speech have been gradually diminishing, especially in the younger generation. By the end of the 1960s, it had become clear that it was not necessary to speak standard English or even correct grammar to become popular, successful and rich. The fashionable speech of the day was no longer the special right of a special class but rather a defiant  expression of classlessness. The greatest single influence of the shaping of the English language in modern times is the American English. Over the last 25 years the English used by many people, particularly by those in the media, advertising and show business, has become more and more mid-Atlantic in style, delivery and accent. In the 1970s, fashion favored careless pronunciation and a language full of jargon, slang and "in" words, a great quantity of which couldn't be understood by the outside world. What is considered modern and fashionable in Britain today is often not the kind of English taught in schools and colleges. Question: What does the author imply by saying "there has been a clear change of attitude towards speech snobbery"? Options: A: Everyone speaks English as the BBC announcers do. B: There has been a great change of attitudes towards the status of English. C: Most people don't believe the way of speaking by BBC announcers is much better than that of other people. D: It is necessary to speak standard English with correct grammar.
Ans: C

Ques: Read the article and select the best answer. Article: Barack Obama became US President in January, 2009. Since then, the world has been watching him closely to see whether he keeps his promises about the economy , foreign policy and health care. But at home, he has also been under pressure from his two daughters to keep his promise: to give them a new dog as a gift for helping him with his election campaign . On Tuesday the nation's first dog, named Bo, came out. It is a six-month-old water dog which is black with a white chest and white paws . "Bo's got star quality," said President Obama as he and his family took a walk with the dog on the White House lawn  in front of reporters. He then joked, " I finally got a friend. It took some time," mentioning a famous saying, Question: Which of the following is NOT true? Options: A: The dog is called Bo. B: The dog is six month old. C: The dog is black and white. D: The dog is all white.
Ans: