How to survive an earthquake prefix = st1 /Indonesia is located on the edge of the volcanic ring that circles the Pacific. This means volcanoes and earthquakes, which can cause serious loss of life. Many people there have heard suggestions of what to do in an earthquake. For instance, they are taught to stand in a doorway or, in a building, avoid the elevators and head for the stairs. Mr. Doug Copp is an expert on earthquakes and is the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International. He has worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985. What his years of involvement have taught Doug is that when roofs and ceilings collapse they fall on objects and furniture, crushing them. Anyone hiding under a desk or a bed is always killed. However, Doug says the falling roofs and ceilings always end up forming triangle of space between the crushed object and the floor, what he refers to as Triangles Of Life. Instead of hiding under a solid object, lie on the floor next to it and you will likely have a space to survive. Doug says paper does not crush and usually where there are boxes of paper in an office building there will be a triangle space next to it. What about the old idea of standing in a doorway because the roof falls into the room? Dough says people who stand in doorways are usually killed, too. If the door falls forwards or backwards you will get crushed by the falling ceiling. If it falls sideways you will get cut in half by the doorway. What about stairs? Stairs have a different "moment of frequency " to the rest of the building and will swing back and forth until they collapse. Getting caught on a destroyed set of stairs means you will probably be injured or even killed by the different parts. Who has the highest probability to survive an earthquake? A) Betty, lying besides a pile of magazines. B) John, standing in a doorway. C) Sarah, hiding under a sofa. D) David, standing next to a door.
A


With its 190 million inhabitants, Brazil has the largest population in Latin America and ranks fifth in the world.  However, Brazil's population growth rate has dropped greatly and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. This achievement really becomes the envy of many other Third World countries. Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes at reducing population growth-----but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had a better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard. Martine  _ , among other things, soap operas(TV series) and installment  plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil's most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most TV series are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction , they describe middle and upper class values-----not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile, the installment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This led to an enormous change in consumption patterns and showed that consumption was in contradiction with unlimited reproduction," says Martine. Soap operas are useful in lowering Brazil's birth rate because   _  . A) they have gradually changed people's way of life B) people are drawn to their attractive package C) they keep people sitting long hours watching TV D) they popularize birth control measures
A


Q: A new age is coming.Call it what you will: the service economy, the information age, the knowledge society.It all translates to a fundamental change in the way we work.Already we're partly there, the percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen dramatically in the Western World.Today the majority of jobs in America, Europe and Japan are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise.More women are in the work force than ever before.There are more part-time jobs.More people are self-employed.But the range of the economic transformation can't be measured by numbers alone, because it also is giving rise to important new way of thinking about the nature of work itself.Long-held ideas about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between individuals and employers - all these are being challenged.  We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead.No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have foreseen the ways in which a single invention, the chip , would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots.Tomorrow's achievements in biotechnology, artificial intelligence or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of dramatic changes.But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more valid, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth.Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write.The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of performing routine tasks will be valued above all else.If you cast your mind ahead 10 years, information service will be superior.It will be the way you do your job. Which of the following is true according to the passage? A) People's traditional concepts about jobs need changing. B) The relation between employees and employers is becoming tense. C) More women than men are in the work force. D) Part-time jobs are more welcome than full-time jobs.
A: A


(Q).
Apple a day may poison children Children who eat an apple or pear a day may be exceeding  the pesticide  safety limit because of remains on the fruit,according to research. Using data of the British Department of Environment on pesticides on fruit collected from supermarkets,scientists thought that each day some children would get a poisonous level of pesticides. The research,published on Sunday,says the government repeatedly claims that the levels of pesticide are safe because,instead of measuring individual apples, researchers buy 10,crush them and take an average reading to see if they are safe. This is the internationally agreed method of checking remains. But government figures show that the pesticide is not averagely spread across the batch ,and one or two apples could contain 90% or more of the pesticide in the batch. It used mathematical modeling to measure exposure  to pesticides for children aged between 18 months and four years old. The pesticides involved can destroy children's hormones and some are suspected  of causing cancer. The good news for British fruit growers is that samples grown in this country had lower _ level than imported fruit,so buying home-produced fruit will reduce the danger,said Emily Diamand,one of the Earth's senior food researchers and one of the authors of the report. Which of the following is NOT true? A) The remains of the pesticides can do harm to the children's health. B) The remains of the pesticides can do harm to the children's hormones. C) Some remains of the pesticides are suspected of causing cancer. D) For safety,we had better not import apples from Britain.
(A).

D