The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the America from being discovered by the people of Europe. The Atlantic Ocean is only half as big as the pacific, but it is still very large. It is more than 4,000 miles (6,000 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) wide. There is so much water in the Atlantic that it is hard to imagine how much there is. But suppose no more rain fell into and no more water was brought to it by rivers. It would take the ocean about 4,000 years to dry up. On the average the water is a little more than 2 miles (3.2 km) deep, but in some places it is much deeper. The deepest spot is near Puerto Rico. This "deep" measures 30,246 feet --- almost six miles (9.6 km). Several hundred miles eastward from Florida there is a part of the ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Here the water is quiet, for there is little wind. Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the Far North across the paths of ships. We now have such fast ways of travelling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller. Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four! Suppose it's February 27th, 2000. You take a steamship to cross the Atlantic to North America, when will you probably get there? A) On March 2nd B) On March 3rd C) On February 28th D) In eight hours' time
A


Regrowth Poetry Competition is open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based male and female writers over 16 years of age. This competition is open to poetry submissions. Poems must be based around the theme of "regrowth, birth, survival, and new life" and in any genre. The poem should be between 5 and 30 lines in length (including title). Entry details, rules and regulations to the competition are listed below: 1. All entries must be sent using the form online. 2. Entry will cost PS4.00. You can pay online via PayPal or credit card. You can also pay by cheque, making it payable to Susan Cawte. The postal address is 412 Thorold Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4HF. Multiple entries are allowed. 3. Entries will not be returned. 4. All entries submitted must be work which has not been published elsewhere or submitted to another competition which is currently still open. 5. All entries must be your own work. Any entry found to be _ or printed elsewhere will be disqualified. 6. All entries submitted must clearly state the author's name, address, email address and contact telephone number on the submission. 7. The winner will be notified within one month of the closing date. 8. The closing date for entries is midnight (BST) 30th April 2016. Prizes: 1st: PS50, published story in the magazine, and a feature article about the winning author. 2nd: PS25, story published in the magazine. The 20 shortlisted authors will be listed online in May. Winners will be announced on 1st June 2016. What should be the theme of the poems in the competition? A) Peace. B) Friendship. C) Regrowth. D) Health.
C


Q: Just 25 years ago, the top three career hopes for young people in Britain were teacher, banker and doctor.Now, they want to be sports star, pop star and actor, according to survey by the Guardian newspaper. Rachel, a character in the popular TV show Glee, may be said to speak for British teenagers."Nowadays being nobody is worse than being poor." He said. Emma Brockes, a reporter with the Guardian, believes it is "the bad influence of celebrity  culture"  that is to blame."When children wanted to be doctor, it wasn't because they were really more interested in the functions of human organs than they are now; you go where the respect is." She wrote. It could explain why there has been such an increase in levels of anxiety and depression.Dr Carlo Stranger, of Tel Aviv University, studied the sense of self for his new book The Fear of Insignificance: Searching for Meaning in the 21st Century.He told the Daily Mail that young people now are "affected by the close connection to the global entertainment network, which has turned ranking and rating people according to wealth and celebrity into an obsession ." "As humans, we naturally measure ourselves to those around us, but now we live in a global village.We are comparing ourselves with the most 'important' people in the world and finding ourselves wanting," he said.Today, even high achievers constantly fear that they are insignificant when they compare themselves to success stories in the media. The way out? Simply stop measuring your achievement through a fantasy of wealth and celebrity.Dr Strenger said that it is a process called "active self-acceptance through a constant search for self-knowledge through life." "The fear of insignificance can only be overcome through strong individual and cultural identity over and above measurable achievement," he said. Which of the following is true of Dr Carlo Strenger? A) He is a newspaper reporter. B) He is the spokesman of teenagers. C) He tells success stories on TV. D) He is against ranking people with wealth.
A: D


(Question)
What is great art? On the one hand, we can all see that great art is old art which is called great. But how do we know which art of our own times is great, and which will be forgotten? And who decides? These are important questions, for the great art of the past often was not considered great during its own time. When Shakespeare and Charles Dickens were writing, for example, most critics considered them as hack   writers with little or no literary ability. Similarly, Van Gogh and many of the other Impressionist painters of the late nineteenth century were not allowed to participate in events involving what were thought to be the "real" painters of the time, and often they were very poor. Yet today their paintings often sell for millions of dollars, while those so-called "real" painters are now barely remembered. So what makes great art? Can, for example, rock music be great art? Music videos? Cartoons and comics? Those who call themselves critics of the fine arts often have been the last to recognize great art in the past, and we can probably expect this to be the situation today. Critics often don't recognize great art because they tend to be prejudiced against what is popular. Popular works, whether they are novels, movies, or comics, are usually considered to be produced for the sake of money only, and not for the sake of art. But popularity, it seems to me, is one of the three signs that a present-day work of art may come to be thought of as great. The other two are that it is groundbreaking, and that it is inherently   beautiful. Many works have one or even two of these qualities of being popular, unusual, and beautiful. But having all the three often will mean that a work of art will someday be seen to be great, though it may take a good spoonful of time, such as a century or two, to know for sure. What can be inferred from the passage? A) Critics have changed their attitudes to great works. B) Most of the opinions of critics are valueless. C) The work of art itself, not the critics, determines its greatness. D) Works of Impressionist painters will be great one day.
(Answer)

C