Legend has it that sometime toward the end of the Civil War (1861 - 1865) a government train carrying oxen was caught in a snowstorm and had to be abandoned. The driver returned the next spring to see what had become of his cargo. Instead of the skeletons he had expected to find, he saw his oxen, living, fat, and healthy. How had they survived?     The answer lay in a resource that unknowing Americans had trampled   underfoot in their haste to cross the "Great American Desert" to reach lands that sometimes proved barren. In the eastern parts of the United States, the preferred grass for forage   was a cultivated plant. It grew well with enough rain, then when cut and stored it would cure and become nourishing hay for winter feed. But in the dry grazing lands of the west, that familiar blue joint grass was often killed by drought. To raise cattle out there seemed risky or even hopeless.      Who could imagine a fairy-tale grass that required no rain and somehow made it possible for cattle to feed themselves all winter? But the surprising western wild grasses did just that. They had wonderfully convenient features that made them superior to the cultivated eastern grasses. Variously known as buffalo grass, not only were they immune to drought, but they were actually preserved by the lack of summer and autumn rains. They were not juicy like the cultivated eastern grasses, but had short, hard stems. And they did not need to be cured in a barn, but dried right where they grew on the ground. When they dried in this way, they remained naturally sweet and nourishing through the winter. Cattle left outdoors to fend for themselves thrived on this hay. And the cattle themselves helped plant the fresh grass year after year, for they trampled the natural seeds firmly into the soil to be watered by the melting snows of winter and the occasional rains of spring. The dry summer air cured them much as storing in a barn cured the cultivated grasses. Which of the following was NOT mentioned as a characteristic of western grasses? A) They have tough stems. B) They are not affected by dry weather. C) They contain little moisture. D) They can be grown indoors.
D


Personality assessments are sometimes used by companies to evaluate potential employees. Often it's because  _ have compared their current top performers and concluded what makes an employee in a given position successful, and are looking for someone similar to place in an open spot. It makes hiring people less risky for managers and makes them more confident about their decisions. Here's something you might not know about these personality tests: even though assessments are given to candidates to evaluate them for a particular job, it's perfectly acceptable for job seekers to use the results of their test when going after any other job at any other company. Say you were given one of these tests, but you didn't get the job. If the company shared those results with you, you can use them in your job search as a credibility builder. If you're working with a recruiter  or even a hiring manager who's on the fence about you, you can offer to share the results of your personality test with them. You simply say something like, "Can I share the results of my personality test with you so that you can see what my characteristics are?" This can also work as part of an email follow-up with a hiring manager after a phone interview. You just send along the results with a quick explanation: " I wanted you to see this personality assessment that I took for another organization, so that you can see who I am ." Then, when they see that your qualities are what they're looking for in a great candidate, they're much more confident in either presenting you to a company, or moving forward in the hiring process. Don't overlook any tools you can use to your advantage in the job search process. This particular one can be a very powerful one to help you land the job. The author suggests people  _  . A) have confidence during the job search B) take a personality test before looking for jobs C) use the results of their personality test in later job searches D) share the results of their personality test with other candidates
C


Q: China's top labor official said the country is planning to push back the age at which workers can retire. Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, demonstrated that we did not put a timetable on the move when he spoke about it during a forum at the weekend. "Delaying the retirement age is a very complicated issue and we will study it according to the situations of population and employment and consider different groups of people," Yin said. He noted that _ in the retirement age have been brought in by many countries and can be a good way to deal with an aging population and ensure the healthy and stable development of social security. The life expectancy of Chinese people is now 73 years and is expected to rise to 74 during the next five years, he said. Nearly three out of 10 Chinese people will be older than 60 by 2040, according to a United Nations forecast. The retirement age in China currently is 60 for men and 55 for female civil servants and 50 for female workers. The idea of delaying the retirement age is being widely supported by government officials, while many laborers and non-government employees were less enthusiastic about the prospect of working for longer. Currently, they have to pay into their pension plans for at least 15 years before they can retire. Chen Xianlian, a female worker at a motorcycle parts manufacturer in Chongqing municipality is among those who would like to see the retirement age left as it is. "I have to do lots of tough and repetitive work every day and I feel very tired after my working day," the 41-year-old said. "All my colleagues are discussing the government's possible move to lift the retirement age. None of us wants to work any extra years." University graduates also fear that any rise in the retirement age could limit their employment opportunities. We can learn from the passage that   _  . A) China is not planning to push back the age at which workers can retire B) China is discussing the problem of delaying the retirement age now C) China is probably going to delay the retirement age D) China has pushed back the age at which workers can retire
A: C


Q: A German study suggests that people who were too optimistic about their future actually faced greater risk of disability or death within 10 years than those pessimists who expected their future to be worse. The paper, published this March in Psychology and Aging, examined health and welfare surveys from roughly 40,000 Germans between ages 18 and 96. The surveys were conducted every year from 1993 to 2003. Survey respondents   were asked to estimate their present and future life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10, among other questions. The researchers found that young adults (age 18 to 39) routinely overestimated their future life satisfaction, while middle-aged adults (age 40 to 64) more accurately predicted how they would feel in the future. Adults of 65 and older, however, were far more likely to underestimate their future life satisfaction. Not only did they feel more satisfied than they thought they would, the older pessimists seemed to suffer a lower ratio   of disability and death for the study period. "We observed that being too optimistic in predicting a better future than actually observed was associated with a greater risk of disability and a greater risk of death within the following decade," wrote Frieder R. Lang, a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Lang and his colleagues believed that people who were pessimistic about their future may be more careful about their actions than people who expected a rosy future. "Seeing a dark future may encourage positive evaluations of the actual self and may contribute to taking improved precautions  ," the authors wrote. Surprisingly, compared with those in poor health or who had low incomes, respondents who enjoyed good health or income were associated with expecting a greater decline. Also, the researchers said that higher income was related to a greater risk of disability. The authors of the study noted that there were limitations to their conclusions. Illness, medical treatment and personal loss could also have driven health... What is the clear conclusion of the study? A) Pessimism guarantees chances of survival. B) Good financial condition leads to good health. C) Medical treatment determines health outcomes. D) Expectations of future life satisfaction decline with age.

A: C