Clothes can make phone calls, play music, dial your pal's number, keep you warm during cold weather and operate your computer? This is not a fantasy. A British company, called Electrotextiles, has created a wide range of clothes -- clothes that have minds of their own! Scientists, working for the company, have invented a kind of fabric that can be blended  with flexible electronic materials to create intelligent clothing. The result are electronic garments. If you think the wearer has to be wired to different devices, think again. These designer clothes are wire-free, soft to touch and washable!! Like any electronic device, these high-tech clothes have to be powered. Currently, a tiny nine-volt battery serves the purpose. But the researchers hope that in the near future the clothes will generate electricity by using body heat. These clothes are 100 percent shock proof, they say. The Electrotextiles team has also created the world's first cloth keyboard. This keyboard can be sewn into your trousers or skirt. To use this device, you will have to sit down and tap on your lap! These 'lap- tap' gadgets  are all set to take over laptop computers! Another useful garment is the shirt-cum-mobile phone. This handy invention enables drivers to chat comfortably with others at the wheel! Other popular electronic wear include the denim  jacket with flexible earphones sewn into the hood  and the electronic ski jacket with a built-in heater. The ski jacket is also programmed to send signals to a satellite. This technology is known as global positioning system and can be used to track lost skiers and wandering kids. Having completed the cloth keyboard, scientists have already started to work on a new project--a necktie that can be used as a computer mouse. What is the next? Do you have any idea? . The electronic garments are similar to other electronic devices in that   _  . A) they feel smooth and soft B) they use electricity as power C) they can be washed in water D) they are made from flexible materials
B


Life-long learning is the concept that "It's never too soon or too late for learning." -- a philosophy that has taken root in a larger number of different organizations. Life-long learning is an attitude -- learners believe that one can and should be open to new ideas, decisions, skills or behaviors. Life-long learning throws the well-known rule "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" out of the door. Life-long learning provides the general public with learning opportunities at all ages and in different ways: at work, at home and through leisure activities, not just through formal channels such as school and higher education. Life-long education is often achieved through distance learning or e-learning, continuing education, home schooling, etc. It also includes training programs for those who want to improve their qualifications, bring their skills up to date or retrain for a new line of work. In later life, especially in retirement, continued learning takes various forms, crossing traditional academic limits. One of the reasons why life-long education has become so important is the rapid progress of modern science and technology. Although the period of primary, secondary and university education is increased, the knowledge and skills gained there are usually not _ for a professional career spanning  three or four decades. What is the main idea behind life-long education? A) To force people to keep in learning new skills throughout their working life. B) To provide teachers with extra income. C) To allow people to have chances to receive education throughout their life. D) To prevent students from learning at school.
C


Q: Children are very, very _ and have excellent memories. Around Christmas last year, we were heading to Grandma's house. The drive was an hour long, so we had plenty of time to chat. We were waiting to get onto the freeway when my daughter Hayley noticed a homeless man, no sign in hand. "Mom, is that man homeless?" I told her I believed he was. We got onto the freeway and drove away. But the chatting had stopped. Hayley was quiet all the way there. We spent a few hours at Grandma's then packed up to head home. As we drove back, Hayley rustled  around in her seat, trying to reach something on the floor of the car. I asked her to sit still, worried her seatbelt would slip from the booster seat. She mumbled something and sat back. "Mom, will the homeless man still be outside tonight?" I told her I was not sure, maybe. It was a freezing night, and I started to think of the man now too, and how cold he must be. All of a sudden, as we got onto the freeway exit, Haley shrieked  : "There he is! There he is!" and started rolling down her window. "Mom, I found these gloves and scarf back here. Can I give them to him? Can I?" she asked. I pulled over to the edge of the road, and beckoned  the man to come over. Haley smiled at him and handed him her gift. I looked in the front passenger seat, loaded with leftovers from Grandma's house, and handed those out to him as well. The man thanked us, he clutched   my hand in his and I could feel the bitter cold of them. We wished him a safe night and continued on our journey to our warm home. "Haley, that was very sweet of you!" I told her. "Well, they were your gloves and scarf, Mom, but his hands looked colder, and he has to keep looking for his house!" We had talked about homelessness before , and I could hear myself telling her: "Someone who has lost their home." She had taken my words literally and thought the man's home was like a lost puppy. On the ride home, and as I carried my sleeping angel into the house that night, my heart filled with gratitude. The girl thought "a homeless person" was a person who  _  . A) had no home to go to B) had lost his or her puppy C) was in need of gloves and scarves D) couldn't find his or her home
A: D


Q: Lie in bed, by an open window, and listen... "No air conditioning? How can you sleep?" a friend asks, horrified. I tell her my family has decided to shut the air conditioner off and reduce our electric bill. On this first night of our cost-cutting plan, it's only 85 degrees. We're going to suffer, but the three kids complain anyway. They have grown up in 72-degree comfort, protected from the world outside. "It's too hot to sleep," my 13-year-old daughter complains. "I'm about to die from this heat," her brother complains down the hall. "Just try it tonight," I tell them. In truth I'm too tired to turn for long. My face is sweaty, but I lie quietly listening to the cricket choirs outside that remind me of childhood. The neighbor's dog howls. Probably a passing squirrel. It's been years since I took the time to really listen to the night. I think about grandma, who lived to 92 and still helped with my mom's gardening until just a few weeks before she died. And then, I'm back there at her house in the summer heat of my childhood. I move my pillow to the foot of grandma's bed and turn my face toward the open window. I turn the pillow, hunting for the cooler side. Grandma saw me turn over and over. "If you just watch for the breeze ," she said, "you'll cool off and fall asleep." I stare at the filmy white curtain, willing it to move. Lying still, waiting, I suddenly notice the life outside the window. The bug chorus. Neighbors, porch -sitting late, speak in unclear words that calm me. "Mom, did you hear that?" my seven-year-old son cries, "I think it was an owl family." "Probably," I tell him, "just keep listening..." Without the working air conditioner, the house is peaceful, and the natural night noises seem close enough to touch. I hope I'm awake tonight when the first breeze comes in. Which of the following titles best suits the passage? A) Waiting for the Breeze. B) An Interesting Experience. C) Life at Present and Life in the Past. D) Different Times, Different Children

A: A