Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The wedding took place in a Birmingham hotel.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 particular "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 expert put it,"we have enough problems getting young people to take marriage seriously.Marriage should always be about love." The couples 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 of Birmingham,and a car.But will it last? Question: How did the couple's parents react to the wedding? - The bride's mother shared their joy. - The bridegroom's parents were not that joyful. - The bridegroom's parents were quite delighted. - The bride's father felt uncomfortable about the wedding.
The bridegroom's parents were not that joyful.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Mr. King lived with six hundred wild animals on the Greek Island of Kyklos. Ever since he left school, he had traveled all over the word collecting animals for his own zoo. He hoped to collect two examples of every kind of animal on his island. But he was afraid that people would find him someday. He wrote books about his travels and about his animals that he collected. The money from the books helped to pay for all the food that these animals ate. One day, when Mr. King was out looking for drinking water, he found oil. He needed money for his travels and for his zoo, and a little oil would buy enough water for what he needed all his life, but he knew that if he told anyone else about it, it would be the end of his zoo and his life's work. So he decided not to tell anyone else about what he had found, because oil and water couldn't mix. Question: In the passage, "oil and water couldn't mix" means that "  _  ". - Mr. King needed not only water but also oil - oil and water were rather difficult to be mixed together - Mr. King's animals only needed water, not oil - if he told the others he found oil, his life's work would be stopped
if he told the others he found oil, his life's work would be stopped

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The flag, the most common symbol of a nation in the modern world, is also one of the most ancient. With a clear symbolic meaning, the flag in the traditional form is still used today to mark buildings, ships and other vehicles related to a country. The national flag as we know it today is in no way a primitive artifact. It is, rather, the product of thousands of years' development. Historians believe that it had two major ancestors, of which the earlier served to show wind direction. Early human beings used very fragile houses and boats. Often strong winds would tear roofs from houses or cause high waves that endangered travelers. People's food supplies were similarly _ . Even after they had learned how to plant grains, they still needed help from nature to ensure good harvests. Therefore they feared and depended on the power of the wind, which could bring warmth from one direction and cold from another. Using a simple piece of cloth tied to the top of a post to tell the direction of the wind was more dependable than earlier methods, such as watching the rising of smoke from a fire. The connection of the flag with heavenly power was therefore reasonable. Early human societies began to fix long pieces of cloth to the tops of totems   before carrying them into battle. They believed that the power of the wind would be added to the good wishes of the gods and ancestors represented by the totems themselves. These flags developed very slowly into modern flags. The first known flag of a nation or a ruler was unmarked. The king of China around 1000 B.C. was known to have a white flag carried ahead of him. This practice might have been learned from Egyptians even further in the past, but it was from China that it spread over trade routes through India, then across Arab lands, and finally to Europe, where it met up with the other ancestor of the national flag. Question: What does the author know of the first national flag? - He knows when it was sent to Europe. - He believes it was made in Egypt. - He thinks it came from China. - He doubts where it started.
He doubts where it started.

Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: Brownie and Spotty were neighbor dogs who met every day to play together. These two loved each other and played together so often that they had worn a path through the grass of the field between their respective houses. One evening, Brownie's family noticed that Brownie hadn't returned home. They went looking for him with no success and by the next week he was still missing. Curiously, Spotty showed up at Brownie's house alone. Barking, whining   and generally pestering   Brownie's human family. Busy with their own lives, they just ignored the nervous little neighbor dog. Continuously,Ted, Brownie's owner, was disturbed by the angry, determined little dog. Spotty followed Ted about, barking insistently, then rushing toward a nearby empty lot and back, as if to say, "Follow me! It's urgent!" Eventually, Ted followed Spotty to a deserted spot half a mile from the house. There Ted found his beloved Brownie alive, one of his hind legs crushed in a steel leghold trap. Horrified, Ted now wished he'd taken Spotty's earlier appeals seriously. Then Ted noticed something quite remarkable. Spotty had done more than simply led Brownie's human owner to his trapped friend. In a circle around the injured dog, Ted found an array of dog food and table scraps which were later identified as the remains of every meal Spotty had been fed that week! Spotty had been visiting Brownie regularly, in the hope of keeping his friend alive by sacrificing his own comfort. Spotty had evidently stayed with Brownie to protect him from hunger and other dangers, and keep his spirits up. Brownie's leg was treated by a veterinarian   and he recovered. For many years thereafter, the two families watched the faithful friends chasing each other down that well worn path between their houses. Question: When Ted was led by Spotty to Brownie, he  _  . - was curious to find out what had happened - highly appreciated Spotty's help - was worried about Brownie's health - regretted not following Spotty earlier
