Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation? UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined. Although Charles Darwin thought that trees arc competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, _ : trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition "depending on who needs it". Nitrogen  and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi  networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all. Simard talks about "mother trees", usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down "mother trees" with no awareness of these highly complex "tree societies" or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest. "We didn't take any notice of _ ." Simard says sadly. "Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance." If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future. Question: "Mother trees" are extremely important because they  _  . - look the largest in size in the forest - pass on nutrition to young trees - seem more likely to be cut down by humans - know more about the complex "tree societies"
pass on nutrition to young trees

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: As rain begins to fall from the clouds, it is very pure. However, as it falls through the air it dissolves some of the gases in the air. It also collects bits of dust and microbes   that are floating in the air. When the rain reaches the ground it begins to pick up more dust and dirt. Many kinds of mineral substances   dissolve in the water. Sand and mud cannot dissolve in water.    Since water is so important to us, it is very important that the water we use should be clean. Otherwise, we might get some of the diseases that are carried by water. Many microbes are harmful. They are so small that we cannot see them. These microbes must be removed or killed before the water is suitable for drinking. For example, microbes of diseases like cholera live well in water. If the water supply is not clean, people who drink this water may get these diseases. Thus, to provide people with clean water, the government purifies   the water.   Purification is a long process and includes three stages: storing, purifying and distributing . The first stage is storing. Man-made lakes are used for this purpose. Water from the rains, other lakes, streams and rivers is collected in the lakes. This water is usually dirty and muddy.    In the second stage, water from the man-made lakes is filtered   in a special pond. Stones, sand and other unwanted tiny things are caught in it. After that, tiny microbes are still present in the water. These microbes are removed by "airing" the water and by adding a chemical substance called chlorine   to the water. This kills all the microbes in the water. After this, the water can be safely used for drinking. The third stage is the distribution of the purified water to homes, hospitals, offices, factories and other places. This is done through a network of pipes of various sizes. These pipes must be made of a suitable material. Question: What can we know about man-made lakes? - It is used through the whole process of purification. - Only rain water can be collected and stored in it. - Water collected can be stored and filtered in it. - Water from it contains a lot of impure substances.
Water from it contains a lot of impure substances.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The orange towers of the Golden Gate Bridge-probably the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed bridge in the world-are visible from almost every point of elevation in San Francisco. The only cleft  in Northern California's 600-mile continental wall, for years this mile-wide strait was considered unbridgeable. As much an architectural as an engineering feat, the Golden Gate took only 52 months to design and build. Designed by Joseph Strauss, it was the first really massive  suspension bridge, with a span of 4200ft, and until 1959 ranked as the world's longest. It connects the city at its northwesterly point on the peninsula to Marin County and Northern California, and was designed to with-stand  winds of up to a hundred miles an hour and to swing as much as 27ft. Handsome on a clear day, the bridge takes on an eerie  quality when the thick white fogs pour in and hide it almost completely. You can either drive or walk across. The drive is the more thrilling of the two options as you race under the bridge's towers, but the half-hour walk across it really gives you time to take in its enormous size and absorb the views of the city behind you and the head-lands of Northern California straight ahead. Pause at the midway point and consider the seven or so suicides  a month who choose this spot,260ft up, as their jumping-off spot. Monitors of such events speculate that victims always face the city before they leap. In 1995,when the suicide toll from the bridge had reached almost 1000,police kept the figures quiet to avoid a rush of would-be suicides going for the dubious  distinction of being the thousandth person to leap. Perhaps the best loved symbol of San Francisco, in 1987 the Golden Gate proved an auspicious  place for a sunrise party when crowds gathered to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Some quarter of a million people turned up (a third of the city's entire population);the winds were strong and the huge numbers caused the bridge to buckle, but fortunately not to break. Question: Which of the following is TRUE? - The Golden Gate is the longest bridge in the world. - So far about 1000 people killed themselves from the Golden Gate. - It took the workers 52 months to build the Golden Gate. - San Francisco had a population of about 750,000 in 1987.
San Francisco had a population of about 750,000 in 1987.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Renata Di Pietro was studying to be an opera singer. But at 23, while on a music scholarship at the University of Iowa in 1976, her sight began to fail. Soon, it became increasingly difficult to read scores and pick up hand signals from conductors, and the gifted singer was forced to drop out. After moving to Cleveland, Georgia in 2005, Di Pietro relied on guide dogs to get around. Over the years, she became depressed when she'd lose one of the dogs, who had become her best friend, to old age or death. "It's very painful, because you love each one," she says. In 2009, Di Pietro was _ by information from a friend that miniature horses typically live for at least 30 years and make calm and strong guides. She started with a male horse, but he was too hard to control. Angel came next, a mini white female horse Di Pietro has mostly trained herself. "Horses have the ability to avoid the things in the way," she says. "If I am about to run into something, she slides her body in front of me." Di Pietro, now 59, has taught her guide horse to make some sounds with her hoof  when she comes to stairs. "Angel can find a chair and locate the nearest door for me," Di Pietro says. Currently, she's training Angel to pull her wheelchair and to fetch. Despite her disability, Di Pietro still sings, performing with her husband, musician Carl Hummer, at special events. Angel is always by her side. "I fight a battle every day to take courage to engage the world," Di Pietro says. "Angel is my warhorse. We fight that battle together." Question: Why did Di Pietro have to give up her studying in the university? - She disliked her major in music. - She failed to get high scores. - She couldn't understand hand signals from conductors. - She found it difficult to see things clearly.
