Ques: Rowena and Billy Wrangler are model high school students. They study hard and do extremely well on achievement tests. And next year,Rowena will be attending Harvard University.Billy,her younger brother,hopes to go to Cornell.What makes Rowena and Billy different from most students is that they don't go to school.In fact,they've never been to school.Since kindergarten,they've studied at home.Like many of more than one million people who receive home schooling in the United States, they feel as if they've gotten a good education. The home-schooling trend began in the U.S.in the 1980s with parents keeping their children out of public schools so they could provide religious education at home. Today,as the home-schooling trend continues to grow,parents are more likely to consider home schooling as an option because they believe schools don't do a very good job of teaching and are occasionally dangerous places.But can parents really do a better job? The answer in many cases is yes.In many studies,students taught at home ranked average or above average when compared to students who went to public schools.More importantly,these students were often more self-directed and have a greater depth of knowledge.They were well prepared for academic challenges. One such student,Robert Conrad, now a sophomore at university, claims he really learned how to study and schedule his time during his eight years of home schooling.Still, not every student is as successful as Robert. "For every home-schooling success story,there are an equal number of failures."states Henry Lipscomb,an educational researcher."There are just so many disadvantages that students taught at home have to overcome." For example,they have fewer chances to get in touch with others of their own age.Consequently,they sometimes lack the usual social skills."No matter what,though,"states Lipscomb,"home-schooling is a growing trend.I think we'll be seeing more and more of this." The best title of this text might be   _   . A) Home-schooling:A Growing Trend B) Home-schooling:A Better Choice C) Home-schooling:A Way to Success D) Home-schooling:A New Method of Education
Ans: A

Ques: One of China's most popular folk arts is paper cutting . Archaeological  finds trace the tradition back to the 6thcentury; it is supposed that the beginnings of paper cutting were even a few centuries earlier. Paper cuttings are used for religious  purposes, for decoration  and as patterns . Today, paper cuttings are mainly used as decoration. They _ walls, windows, doors, columns mirrors, lamps and lanterns in homes. They are also used for decoration on presents, and are given as presents themselves. They are of special importance at festivals. At the Spring Festival for example, entrances are decorated with paper cuttings which are supposed to bring good luck. Paper cuttings are not produced by machine, but by hand. There are two kinds of paper cuttings; scissor   cuttings and knife cuttings. Scissor cuttings are fashioned with scissors. Several pieces of paper--- up to eight pieces---are fastened together. The motif  is then cut with sharp, pointed scissors. Knife cuttings are fashioned by putting several layers   of paper on a relatively soft foundation consisting of a mixture of tallow   and ashes. Following a pattern, the artist cuts the motif into the paper with a sharp knife which he usually holds vertically . The advantage of knife cuttings is that considerably more paper cuttings can be made in one operation than scissor cuttings. In the countryside, paper cuttings are usually made only by women and girls. This used to be one of the skills that every girl was to master and that were often used to judge brides . Professional paper cutting artists are, on the other hand, almost always men who have guaranteed   incomes and work together in workshops. Which is the best title of this passage? A) The ways of paper cutting B) The reasons for paper cutting C) The purposes of paper cutting D) Paper cutting
Ans: D

Ques: Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503.He was working on a special painting for a church at the time, but the church painting was not going well. An Italian businessman asked da Vinci to paint a picture of the businessman's second wife. This is the woman who can be seen in the Mona Lisa. All in all, the Mona Lisa is a very good example of da Vinci's work. Da Vinci uses darkness and light in a clever way in the painting. Da Vinci loved science and maths. Right away a person can see that there is a lot of geometry in the Mona Lisa. The face of the Mona Lisa is made of many circles and round shapes like balls. Even her smile can be seen as a small part of a large circle. The woman in the painting is sitting on a balcony , and mountains can be seen behind her. Da Vinci loved to study rocks and mountains, so these can be seen over and over in his other paintings. The woman is sitting with her knees to the side. Her head is turned to look out of the painting. Her hands are held together in front of her. This way of sitting is now used by many artists when they are painting a picture of a man or woman today. What can a person see in the painting? A) A lot of geometry. B) Clever use of light and darkness. C) Mountains. D) All of the above.
Ans: D

Ques: The hole in the Earth's ozone layer  has until now protected Antarctic from the worst effects of global warming, but scientists have warned that as the hole closes up in the next few decades, temperatures on the continent could rise by around 3degC on average, with melting ice contributing to a global sea level increase of up to 1.4 meters. In the past decades the western Antarctic has seen rapid ice loss as the world has warmed, but the other parts of the continent have, , been cooling, resulting in a 10% increase in ice in the seas around the region. This is because the hole in the ozone layer has increased cold winds in Antarctic, making much of the continent surface colder than usual. But now that the gases that cause the ozone hole have been banned, scientists expect the hole to repair itself within the next 50 to 60 years. By then the cooling effect will have faded out and the Antarctic will face the full impact of global warming. This means an increase in average air temperatures of around 3degC and a reduction in sea ice by around a third. The biggest threat to the continent comes from warming seas. Robert Johnson, a scientist who monitors Antarctic ice sheets, said, "The ice sheets in Antarctic are hundreds of meters thick. But once warm ocean waters start flowing underneath, the ice will begin thinning and could break up very quickly." Thinning ice sheets cause ice to break away from the continent and to melt even faster. Escaping ice from western Antarctic has already resulted in a 10% rise in global sea level in recent decades. Johnson believes that international action to reduce global warming is required immediately or it may be too late. "Everything is connected----Antarctic may be a long way away but it is an important part of the Earth's system," said Johnson. "It contains 90% of the world's ice, 70% of the world's fresh water and that is enough, if it melts completely, to raise sea levels by 63 meters." Even in a worse-case situation scientists don't expect the ice to entirely disappear, but... What do scientists think is the biggest danger facing Antarctic? A) Rising sea levels. B) Warming sea water temperature. C) Water pollution. D) Growing ice sheets.
Ans: